Fritz Walter
Fritz Walter's JournalFL Redistricting Session implodes
A special legislative session to redraw congressional district lines ended in chaos Friday as senators staged an abrupt walkout and an angry House refused Senate requests to extend the session until next week.
Gov. Rick Scott has the power to force the Legislature to reconvene and agree on a map before a court-imposed deadline of next Tuesday, Aug. 25. Scott had no immediate comment on the latest legislative meltdown.
Facing an impasse over a remapping of Florida congressional districts, the Senate requested a conference committee to resolve their differences and the House refused.
"You don't get up and leave," said Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, the House redistricting chairman, who called the Legislature "dysfunctional."
So the courts may very easily end up re-drawing Florida's congressional district lines. Cue conservatives' self-righteous indignation about "all them activist judges," simply because their elected officials can't do their jobs!
Stay tuned. Film at Eleven!
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article31733529.html#storylink=cpy
Petition: Provide Bernie Sanders Secret Service protection immediately!
I'm old enough to remember Robert Kennedy's assassination, so recent events at Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign events -- not to mention ammosexuals' and other extremists' actions -- are making me a little uncomfortable.
That's why I signed the petition asking President Obama to extend the same protection to Bernie that W extended to him during his presidential primary campaign. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/provide-bernie-sanders-secret-service-protection-immediately-leading-democratic-presidential-candidate-and-senator
(Please excuse the un-imbedded link, but I'm writing this from an iPad and it closes the browser whenever I try to embed the link into this post's text.)
Simply stated, there is too much at stake for our country's future.
JEB letter to W: You Owe Me!
According to a Boston Globe article, John Ellis BUSH wasted no time reminding his sibling that he handed the White House to Bush 43, with a little help from Bush 41's Supremes (credit where it's due).
This letter was buried in a document dump that John's campaign handed to the Globe at least four months after the Globe requested it and other documents from W's Library and Museum and were stonewalled.
I haven't the time or patience to read the letter but the Globe offers a PDF version linked inside the webpage article.
A couple of thought occur:
1. John didn't write this himself: it's neatly typed -- as opposed to hand-written in crayon -- and it uses a lot of big words that the alleged author cannot pronounce, let alone spell. If you want an indication of James' writing, look no further than this note:
2. The article points out that the letter didn't open with any congratulatory note. That's because the writer didn't need to: if anything, it should have said "You're Welcome!" Or maybe that was the message in one of the documents that is still being withheld.
Just
Elect
Bernie!
Where's your snowball now, Sen. Inhoff?
Heat index above triple digits in much of the country including and especially your home state.
Wildfires in Alaska and Canada having a global impact
http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/alaska-canada-wildfire-smoke
NASA and NOAA Find 2014 the Warmest Year Ever
https://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/january/nasa-determines-2014-warmest-year-in-modern-record
Please, Senator, tell us again how Global Climate Change is not an issue that needs our immediate attention.
The plot to marginalize Bernie Sanders
Finally! A well-researched story draws the solid line between media -- especially Faux Noos -- and traditional candidates, including Hillary Clinton, and their allies.
Salon article: The plot to marginalize Bernie Sanders: The shared agenda that links Fox News and Hillary Clinton surrogates by Sean Illig
Sub-head: "Both parties are owned by plutocrats. Sanders' challenge threatens them both, and their responses are oddly similar"
These emperors and empresses have no clothes.
Thank you, Senator Durbin for exposing University of Phoenix
As someone who works directly with service members, veterans and their families, I sincerely appreciate your request to the Defense Department to thoroughly investigate the practices of the University of Phoenix -- and their parent company -- to undermine the safeguards that President Obama put into place three years ago on profiteering off of veterans' and service members' utilization of Post 9/11 GI Bill scholarships.
I just finished reading the Center for Investigative Reporting's article on UOP and was appalled at what they uncovered. Appalled, but not totally surprised.
"In June 2013, the University of Phoenix was placed on notice by its accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, for failing to support “student learning and effective teaching.” The commission was scheduled to revisit the issue Thursday, with an announcement expected soon. The University of Phoenix’s online program, by far its largest campus, had 24,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans enrolled last year. The graduation rate there was 7.3 percent, according to the Department of Education, and nearly 1 in 5 students default on their loans within three years of leaving school."
Full article available here.
7.3%?!?
Indeed, education is just one example of how so many for-profit corporations have expanded into ventures that had traditionally been efficiently and effectively delivered by government or non-profit entities. And failed miserably. Locally, charter schools' have been draining funds from local public school boards and delivering little or nothing in return.
This failed experiment of corporate greed siphoning tax dollars from the public sector must cease.
Thank you, sir!
Respectfully,
Haters Gotta' Hate. Traitors Gotta'... Continue Their Treason.
On this weekend, when Americans celebrate the birth of our Nation, thousands of South Carolina residents' celebrations are being interrupted with RoboCalls from a dubious group calling itself the Conservative Response Team.
They seem to take such strong issue with the proposed legislation to remove the blood-soaked rag (AKA Confederate Battle Flag) from their capitol, that they are drawing analogies to ISIS, and -- of course -- blaming President Obama. The state's general assembly begins debate on this proposal Monday, so this group is resorting to fear tactics worthy of Joseph Goebbels.
To hear the recording or get more information, visit Raw Story's website.
And "Happy Independence Day, y'all!"
Food City's "Salute" ad
This ad -- presumably aired during the Memorial Day weekend (and for now, I'll overlook the distinction between living veterans and those who died in the line of service) -- is getting a fair amount of attention in their local market as well as worldwide via YouTub (sic).
It begs the question however, as to how willing Food City is to put their money where their advertising mouth is.
For instance...
+Do they actively recruit veterans to join their workforce, including hosting or supporting job fairs for veterans where their stores are located? (In many southeastern states, the unemployment rate for veterans is way higher than for civilians).
+Do they guarantee that their employees who are National Guard or Reserve members and are deployed will have jobs when they come home? And, yes, deployments are still underway.
+Do they give any priority to hiring/promoting spouses of service members, who are trying to build careers that are portable from one community to another?
+Are they actively supporting local programs to assist homeless veterans in their communities? (Again, the statistics show significant percentages of homeless vets in their markets and nationwide).
The Food City corporate website does not yield answers to any of these questions, so I pose them to DU'ers who live in those communities where their stores are located.
I want to believe that they are backing up this heart-rending message with concrete actions, but haven't ruled out the possibility that they are simply -- and shamelessly -- pandering to the drivers of yellow-ribbon-magnet-adorned SUVs whose idea of sacrifice is shedding a tear when they watch this ad.
A "frothy" suggestion
Since the former senator from Pennsylvania announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination earler today, the spreading Santorum link has slid -- oozed -- down a couple pages when one tries to Google "santorum."
It's our public duty to reverse that trend. Please go to a clean Google.com page and type in that key word. When the results come up, please scroll or page down until you find the link to the appropriate page. Then click on it.
Repeat.
And encourage others to do likewise.
Our country needs you. Now!
Thank you!
Ken Burns: "Black Lives Matter!" at Wash U Commencement
This video is worth 21 minutes of your life:
He opens with a paraphrased quote from Mark Twain: "It's not that the world is filled with fools. It's just that lightning isn't distributed right."
The truth doesn't end there. He draws insight from ancient to modern history -- including recent events in Ferguson MO and North Charleston SC before he challenges the graduating seniors to reject fundamentalism and prejudice, and to keep history from repeating itself.
Full transcript here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-burns/commencement-address-at-washington-university-in-st-louis_b_7306636.html
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