Geraldo Rivera resigns from Yale post over Calhoun College rechristening

What a piece of vomit....

After the university changed its residential college’s name, Rivera said Yale was too politically correct for him.

On Sunday, media personality Geraldo Rivera announced he had stepped down from his role as an associate fellow at Yale, following the university’s decision to rename a college that had once been dedicated to a staunch slavery supporter.

Yale University announced it would change the name of Calhoun College to instead honor Grace Murray Hopper, who was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer during World War II and also helped develop the Mark II and Mark III computers. The school had originally been named for John C. Calhoun, who held several high-profile positions in government, including vice president, senator, and secretary of state. Calhoun called slavery a “positive good.”

Rivera described the university’s decision to cease honoring a champion of slavery and instead recognize a female computer scientist as “intolerant” and “lame.”

https://thinkprogress.org/geraldo-rivera-resigns-resigns-from-yale-post-over-calhoun-college-rechristening-fa8e252fc2d8#.5mupjuiik

DU this poll: Do you approve of the job President Trump has done so far?

So much has happened since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, it's hard to believe it's been only a little over two weeks.
There has been an endless stream of news, what with daily executive orders, constant protests, numerous confirmation hearings, presidential tweets and a nomination for the Supreme Court.

A lot of it has been overshadowed with the controversy over Trump's executive order on ceasing immigration from seven nations and the chaos it caused at the nation's airports and on his plans to build a wall at the Mexican border.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2017/02/poll_do_you_approve_of_the_job_president_trump_has.html

Russia parliament votes 380-3 to decriminalize domestic violence

Russia's parliament voted 380-3 on Friday to decriminalize domestic violence in cases where it does not cause "substantial bodily harm" and does not occur more than once a year.

The move, which eliminates criminal liability in such cases, makes a violation punishable by a fine of roughly $500, or a 15-day arrest, provided there is no repeat within 12 months.

The bill now goes to the rubber-stamp upper chamber, where no opposition is expected. It then must be signed by President Vladimir Putin, who has signaled his support.

<snip>

A survey this month by state-run pollster VTsIOM found 19% of Russians said “it can be acceptable” to hit one’s wife, husband or child “in certain circumstances,” the Associated Press reported. The nationwide poll by phone of 1,800 people was held Jan. 13-15. The survey had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

In many ways, this reflects the thrust of an old Russian proverb: “If he beats you it means he loves you.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/27/russian-parliament-decrimiinalizes-domestic-violence/97129912/

Revealing Video of Donald and Melania Trump at Inauguration: Was It Reversed?

This video clip has been circulating on Twitter, showing a rather shocking moment between Donald Trump and his wife Melania. Trump is turned to face her, and she’s beaming at him — but as he turns away to face front again, Melania’s face collapses into what can only be called a miserable frown as soon as he’s not looking at her.

Almost immediately, people started claiming this video was “reversed.” I don’t know where this claim originated, but I suspect it came from Trump followers.

However, there’s another clip available of this exact moment in Franklin Graham’s invocation; it’s from a different angle and doesn’t show Melania, but Trump’s movements match Graham’s words exactly the same as in the shorter clip above. Here it is, queued up to start at the same moment:

Cliff Notes of Trump's speech

Rick Santorum Gets CNN Job

The US media is a serious threat to the country.

One of America's Leading Anti-LGBT, Anti-Immigrant Religious Conservatives
Far right wing religious conservative Rick Santorum, the man whose re-election loss was the largest defeat for a sitting senator in a quarter-century, and the man who produced just three failed films as head of a Christian film studio, has just been hired by CNN as a contributor.

The network's senior media correspondent tweeted the news:


Apparently, CNN has been auditioning the twice-failed GOP presidential candidate the past few weeks:

https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/821328883987443714

https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/821366032287825920


Santorum tweets he has been hired as a "Senior Political Commentator":

https://twitter.com/RickSantorum/status/821404337712857089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw


http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/rick_santorum_gets_cnn_job

Donald Trump's inauguration poem describes Barack Obama as a 'tyrant'

'With purpose and strength he came down from his tower, To snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power. Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd: 'Come out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!'

A poem has been written for Donald Trump's inauguration that pays tribute to his Scottish ancestry and attacks Barack Obama.

The President-elect's mother, Mary Anne Macleod, is a Scot and grew up on the Hebridean island of Lewis.

The poem, which refers to snatching power from “a tyrant” who has “ill-gotten power”, was written by celebrated American poet Joseph Charles McKenzie of the Society of Classical Poets.

The poem, published in full in The Scotsman this weekend, reads as follows:

"Come out for the Domhnall, ye brave men and proud,

The scion of Torquil and best of MacLeod!

With purpose and strength he came down from his tower

To snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power.

Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd:

“Come out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!”

When freedom is threatened by slavery’s chains

And voices are silenced as misery reigns,

We’ll come out for a leader whose courage is true

Whose virtues are solid and long overdue.

For, he’ll never forget us, we men of the crowd

Who elected the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

When crippling corruption polluted our nation

And plunged our economy into stagnation,

As self-righteous rogues took the opulent office

And plump politicians reneged on their promise

The forgotten continued to form a great crowd

That defended the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

The Domhnall’s a giver whilst others just take,

Ne’er gaining from that which his hands did not make.

A builder of buildings, employing good men,

He’s enriched many cities by factors of ten.

The honest and true gladly march with the crowd

Standing up for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

True friend of the migrant from both far and near,

He welcomes the worthy, but guards our frontier,

Lest a murderous horde, for whom hell is the norm,

Should threaten our lives and our nation deform.

We immigrants hasten to swell the great crowd.”

Coming out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

Academe now lies dead, the old order rots,

No longer policing our words and our thoughts;

Its ignorant hirelings pretending to teach

Are backward in vision, sophomoric in speech.

Now we learnèd of mind add ourselves to the crowd

That cheers on the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

The black man, forgotten, in poverty dying,

The poor man, the sick man, with young children crying,

The soldier abroad and the mother who waits,

The young without work or behind prison gates,

The veterans, wounded, all welcome the crowd

That fights for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

Whilst hapless old harridans flapping their traps

Teach women to look and behave like us chaps,

The Domhnall defends the defenseless forlorn;

For, a woman’s first right is the right to be born.

Now the bonnie young lassies that fly to the crowd

Have a champion in Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-inauguration-poem-barack-obama-tyrant-scottish-heritage-a7530506.html

All lives matter: North Dakota Bill Would Protect Drivers Who Accidentally Hit And Kill Protesters

Republican lawmakers in North Dakota are taking aim at protesters with a handful of bills that would make another pipeline protest far more dangerous.

The oil-friendly legislature argues that its constituents are frustrated over the protests, which led federal authorities to halt construction of the $3.8-billion Dakota Access Pipeline as thousands of protesters braved cold weather and violence for months.

A bill that state GOP Rep. Keith Kempenich introduced would exempt drivers from liability if they accidentally hit a pedestrian, according to the Bismarck Tribune. House Bill 1203 was written up in direct response to groups of protesters blocking roadways, Kempenich told the paper. He claims protesters were seen jumping out in front of vehicles.

“It’s shifting the burden of proof from the motor vehicle driver to the pedestrian,” Kempenich said. “They’re intentionally putting themselves in danger.”

<snip>

Other new bills would be a thorn in the side of protesters and the federal government. One measure would make it a crime for adults to wear masks nearly across the board, while another would allow the state to sue the federal government over millions in extra police costs, according to ABC News.

<snip>

The Dakota Access protests have cost the state more than $22 million and locals are reportedly upset over the rise in crime in the area ― police have arrested nearly 600 people in the region since August.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-would-legalize-accidentally-driving-into-and-killing-protesters_us_587a3dabe4b0e58057ff1ebc?j1shw9gh95vkl9dx6r

In Iowa, Trump Voters Are Unfazed by Controversies

MONTICELLO, Iowa — The Table of Knowledge was delving into President-elect Donald J. Trump’s plans to upend government, and marveling at how he had forced his fellow Republicans in the House to reverse themselves on gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics.

“He’s getting responses; things are happening,” Jerry Retzlaff, a retiree, said. “He got Congress to turn themselves around with one tweet.”

“There’s no secret the press doesn’t like him, and neither does a lot of the leadership,” he added. “And that’s because he’s planning on making a lot of changes.”

<snip>

The Iowans I interviewed largely went about their lives outside the political hothouse of social media. They did not follow hour-by-hour developments of the presidential transition. Indeed, on Wednesday, several were unfamiliar with the reports that Russia was holding compromising information on the president-elect, which Mr. Trump addressed in a news conference.

Many were hazy on specific policy details about how, say, House Republicans were seeking to replace Medicare with a voucher system. These voters feared an outbreak of European-style terrorist attacks by Muslims in the United States, maybe in their own communities. And overwhelmingly, Trump supporters did not want their hard-earned money redistributed to people they regarded as undeserving.

<snip>

“I know these guys are really rich,” he said. “They may have pulled off a few plays that weren’t exactly on the up-and-up, but they all had to be pretty smart to be billionaires. If they replace their own concerns with the concerns of the country, they can make things really move forward. That’s what I’m excited about.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/us/donald-trump-iowa-conservatives.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Dont be surprised if Trump himself leaked the story about prostitutes defiling a bed Obama once...

slept...

You should not be surprised that Donald Trump may have hired prostitutes to urinate all over a bed that President Obama once slept in.

The reason is that this salacious tale — part of a super-secret trove of documents just published by Buzzfeed — makes Trump look good.

So good, in fact, that I'm guessing he's the one who leaked it.

As someone who has covered Trump on and off for 25 years, I can heartily testify that he's a jerk. When he wanted to look good, he leaked favorable information about himself to the press — sometimes calling as himself and other times disguising his voice as a publicist named John Miller.

When he hooked up with Marla Maples, it wasn't enough for the public to know he was squiring the Georgia Peach around town. He leaked Maples' sexual satisfaction to the New York Post, which ran it under the headline, "Best sex I ever had."

Here's the problem: Trump was the source of the quote, not Maples. This is a guy who was such a monumental cad that he would not only kiss and tell — but then call the newspaper to exaggerate his skills on behalf of his girlfriend.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/don-shocked-trump-leaked-story-hookers-defiling-bed-article-1.2943370