turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalTori Amos..............Up the Creek
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/07/tori-amos-menopause-is-the-hardest-teacher-ive-met-harder-than-fame
The war against the Southern Poverty Law Center
A coalition of conservative groups has launched yet another attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in an attempt to discredit the organization’s “hate group” labels. Despite the SPLC’s long history of tracking and documenting extremism, the groups contend, in a new open letter issued to the media Wednesday, that it is actually the SPLC that is stoking violence.
The letter, organized by the Family Research Council (FRC) and Media Research Center, was signed by nearly 50 right-wing leaders, many of whom are either affiliated with groups the SPLC has designated as hate groups or have been personally identified as extremists themselves. The signers are predominantly aligned with evangelical Christianity and are known for advocating anti-LGBTQ and/or Islamophobic positions, including Michael Farris (Alliance Defending Freedom), Sandy Rios and Tim Wildmon (American Family Association), Frank Gaffney (Center for Security Policy), and Pamela Geller (American Freedom Defense Initiative).
https://thinkprogress.org/splc-hate-group-letter-13555cadde67/
A proud member that donates to the Southern Poverty Law Center---------------------will do it again, I have there back
The NRA is using national parks to advance some of its worst priorities
Source: Think Progress
In May, the Trump administration announced without much fanfare that Susan LaPierre had been appointed to the board of directors for the National Park Foundation, the charitable arm of the National Park Service. While LaPierre’s biography on the foundation’s website calls her an “accomplished fundraiser,” it fails to directly mention perhaps the most notable details: she is the wife of National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre and co-chair of the NRA Women’s Leadership Forum.
LaPierre’s appointment, along with other recent pro-gun actions taken by the Department of the Interior, indicate that the NRA has found a new avenue to pursue some of its key policy objectives under an administration more than happy to oblige.
With longtime NRA supporter Ryan Zinke at the helm of the Interior Department, the group may be using the agency, and specifically the National Park Service, to tie gun ownership to conservation and the outdoors and, in the process, to close loopholes and sell more guns.
The NRA’s close relationship with Trump’s Interior Department isn’t all that surprising; the organization gave $30 million to Trump’s presidential campaign and worked hard to get Zinke, a lifetime member of the NRA, confirmed as secretary. During then-Representative Zinke’s confirmation process, Chris Cox, one of NRA’s top lobbyists, penned an op-ed urging readers to tell their senators to vote to confirm Zinke.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/nra-trump-national-parks-b342da8b838d/
I hate the f*cking NRA
Elizabeth Warren is the latest Senator to officially support Medicare for All
Source: Think Progress
It’s looking increasingly likely that supporting single-payer health care will be the standard for Democratic lawmakers who want to be considered serious 2020 candidates, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced Thursday that she will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill.
“There is something fundamentally wrong when one of the richest and most powerful countries on the planet can’t make sure that a person can afford to see a doctor when they’re sick. This isn’t any way to live,” Warren said in an email to supporters Thursday morning announcing her decision.
Warren’s support for the bill is unsurprising, as the progressive senator has expressed support for single-payer health care in the past. In June, she told the Wall Street Journal that Democrats running in 2018 and 2020 should run on a single-payer platform.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/support-for-single-payer-2020-standard-b03e1e88205a/
The unprecedented drought that's crippling Montana and North Dakota
When Rick Kirn planted his 1,000 acres of spring wheat in May, there were no signs of a weather calamity on the horizon. Three months later, when he should have been harvesting and getting ready to sell his wheat, Kirn was staring out across vast cracked, gray, empty fields dotted with weeds and little patches of stunted wheat.
“It’s a total loss for me,” said Kirn, who operates a small family wheat farm on the Fort Peck Reservation, an area of north-eastern Montana that lies right in the heart of the extreme climactic episode. “There’s nothing to harvest.”
Kirn’s story is typical across the high plains in Montana and the Dakotas this summer, where one of the country’s most important wheat growing regions is in the grips of a crippling drought that came on with hardly any warning and, experts say, is without precedent.
While much of the country’s attention in recent weeks has been on the hurricanes striking southern Texas and the Caribbean, a so-called “flash drought”, an unpredictable, sudden event brought on by sustained high temperatures and little rain has seized a swathe of the country and left farmers with little remedy. Across Montana’s northern border and east into North Dakota, farms are turning out less wheat than last year, much of it poorer quality than normal.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/07/flash-drought-north-dakota-montana-wildfires
Not to fear the orange hair "guy" has it covered
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141861329
DeVos Will Detail Changes To Policy On How Colleges Handle Sexual Assault
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Collin Binkley Published SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 6:45 AM
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said Obama administration guidance on how colleges should handle sexual assault complaints isn’t working and suggested it needs revisions.
She was expected to detail her plans Thursday in what the U.S. Education Department described as a “major policy address on Title IX enforcement.”
Enacted in 1972, Title IX is a federal law that forbids discrimination based on sex in education. It was once seen as a measure to ensure equity in college sports, but in recent years has been associated with efforts to address sexual assault and harassment at college campuses across the country.
The Obama administration reshaped how colleges handle complaints of sexual assault, setting new rules and launching investigations into colleges accused of straying from them.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/devos-detail-changes-policy-colleges-handle-sexual-assault
Hey, Devos, your future actions on this matter will not go well, and your track record, well speaks for itself..................
You should not be an education head, schemes don't work very well, in fact your participation in the Council of National Policy landed you on the list with the Southern Poverty Law Center, what does this tell you about you and your policies
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/05/17/council-national-policy-behind-curtain
Minnesota set for pivotal House battles
Source: The Hill
Minnesota will be a pivotal battleground in the midterm fight for the House majority, featuring five of 2018’s most contentious races.
Rep. Tim Walz’s (D) decision to run for governor has created an open seat in the 1st District, while freshman Rep. Jason Lewis (R) will try to hold on to his swing seat.
Buoyed by President Trump’s strong performance in the state, Republicans plan to go on the offensive in two seats currently held by Reps. Rick Nolan (D) and Collin Peterson (D). But Democrats have their own plans in the state, aiming to win over well-educated suburban voters who could help them oust Rep. Erik Paulsen (R).
That means five of the state’s eight seats will be getting national attention this year, making Minnesota one of the most competitive states in a cutthroat election cycle.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/349543-minnesota-set-for-pivotal-house-battles
After four Minnesota congressional candidates appeared reluctant to pledge to support Ryan as speaker if elected, the Congressional Leadership Fund, one of the largest super PACs aligned with House Republicans, told The Washington Post it would “prioritize friends and family first.”
Hey, Minnesotans remember one thing, if these "republicans" get into office, they will vote to take away your earned benefits, they do not " "prioritize friends and family." There friends and family is the Koch's, Popes, Mercers, Alderson sitting in the back ground wanting to turn our state into another wisCONsin and that is there friends and family.
The debt trap: how the student loan industry betrays young Americans
Among the 44 million Americans who have amassed our nation’s whopping $1.4tn in student loan debt, a call from Navient can produce shivers of dread.
Navient is the primary point of contact, or the “servicer”, for more student loans in the United States than any other company, handling 12 million borrowers and $300bn in debt. The company flourished as student loan debt exploded under the Obama administration, and its stock rose sharply after the election of Donald Trump.
But Navient also has more complaints per borrower than any other servicer, according to a Fusion analysis of data. And these mounting complaints repeatedly allege that the company has failed to live up to the terms of its federal contracts, and that it illegally harasses consumers. Navient says most of the ire stems from structural issues surrounding college finance – like the terms of the loans, which the federal government and private banks are responsible for – not about Navient customer service.
Yet during a year-long investigation into who profits off of what has become the largest source of American consumer debt, Fusion TV untangled how Navient has positioned itself to dominate the lucrative student loan industry in the midst of this crisis, flexing its muscles in Washington and increasingly across the states. The story of Navient’s emerging power is also the story of how an industry built around the idea that education can break down inequities is reinforcing them.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/sep/06/us-student-debt-loans-navient-sallie-mae
Trump touts plan for 'major, major tax cuts' and praises Democrat in North Dakota
In a speech at a North Dakota oil refinery on Wednesday, Donald Trump touted his plans for major tax cuts – and praised a Democratic senator vulnerable to defeat in the 2018 midterms.
Trump flew in from Washington DC with Heidi Heitkamp, a top Republican target in a state the president won with 63% of the vote. On stage in Mandan, Trump praised Heitkamp, a moderate Democrat, as “a good woman”.
Such praise followed Trump’s agreement earlier in the day to a Democratic proposal for short-term extensions on the debt ceiling and government funding, a move which left congressional Republicans stunned.
In the main part of his speech, Trump outlined his four “basic principles” in his effort to reform the US tax code. The president emphasized “major, major tax cuts [for individuals], the biggest since Ronald Reagan” and an effort to cut “the business tax rate as much as possible, ideally [to] around 15%”. The top corporate tax rate is currently 35%.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/06/donald-trump-tax-reform-speech-north-dakota
Maybe that f*cking refinery should pay a carbon tax for causing the droughts and the hurricane, since they all ready get a f*cking tax break, and lets' not the Lakota for the soon to be oil spill near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation...............
Trump: Drought-stricken Dakotas better off than Harvey flood victims
Source: The Hill
President Trump said the drought-stricken Dakotas are “better off” than cities flooded by Hurricane Harvey last month, and that his administration will make the drought there "go away."
“I know you have a little bit of a drought. They had the opposite, believe me,” Trump said during a tax reform speech in Mandan, North Dakota.
“You’re better off. You are better off, they had the absolute opposite.”
Trump also said he was surprised that droughts could happen "this far north."
“We’re doing everything we can but you have a very serious drought. I just said to the governor, I didn’t know you had droughts this far north. Guess what: you have them,” he said.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/349510-trump-drought-stricken-dakotas-better-off-than-harvey-flood-victims
Hey idiot, could at least admit that it's climate change.............................
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