July 29, 2017

What is Roy Blunt reading ?

This is screengrab from the night of the ACA Repeal vote, and I just noticed this on his desk. Anyone know what it is ? It's "The Darkening .... "

http://imgur.com/t9MvLgl

July 29, 2017

Richard Engel : On Assignment : Russia's meddling in the 2016 Election and more

A really interesting show last night

July 27, 2017

Looks like Scaramucci has gone FULL Malcolm Tucker....

Series 3, Episode 2

Malcolm: Look, don't worry. The PM is not going to sack you after a week. Sacked after twelve months, looks like you've fucked up. Sacked after a week, looks like he's fucked up.

Nicola: I'm not doing terribly, am I?(beat)

Malcolm: (Looking out window) I love the way they've sandblasted everything around here. It's so clean!

Malcolm: (To his driver) Pull in here. And you can take out that cyclist on the way, I think he's Shadow Cabinet.

Robyn: Do you know, Malcolm... (Malcolm stares back, gravely) the best way to clear a paper jam?

Malcolm: I don't know... kill a kid an hour until it sorts itself out?

Ollie: (To Glenn) You can't overwrite minutes! Well, you specifically can't because you don't know how to unlock the PDF file.

Malcolm: (Nicola has accidentally revealed a DoSAC-caused catastrophe to an on-the-record journalist) ...FUCK'S SAKE! JESUS CHRIST! Well, now we've got another fuckin' adjective to add to fuckin' 'smug' and 'glum', haven't we? FUCKIN' 'RETARDED'! Jesus Chri-- Do you not think it would be germane to check who you're talking to?! IT'S A FUCKIN' NEWSPAPER OFFICE! IT'S NOT A FUCKIN' SANATORIUM FOR THE FUCKIN' DEAF, IS IT?! ARE YOU SO DENSE?! Am I gonna have to run around slapping badges on people, with a big tick on some and a big cross on others, so you know when to shut your gob and when to open it?! Jesus Christ! Oh, but that'll probably confuse you as well, won't it?! That'd be too confusing! You'd see the cross and go "Oh, fuck! 'X' marks the spot! Better tell this little person about the Prime Minister's fucking CATASTROPHIC ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION!" Oh, but not to worry, not to worry. You've sent fuckin' Ollie over there to deal with it. FUCKIN' OLLIE! HE'S A FUCKIN', HE'S A FUCKIN' KNITTED SCARF, THAT TWAT! HE'S A FUCKIN' BALACLAVA!!

(Nicola and Terri sit down in Malcolm's office)Malcolm: I just wanted to say to you, by way of introductory remarks, that I am extremely miffed about today's events and, in my quest to try and make you understand the level of my unhappiness, I'm likely to use an awful lot of what we would call "Violent Sexual Imagery", and I just wanted to check that neither of you would be terribly offended by that.

Nicola: I could actually do without the theatrics, I think Malcolm--

Malcolm: Enough. E-fucking-nough. You need to learn to shut your fucking cave, right? Today, you have laid your first, big, fat egg of solid fuck. You took the data loss media strategy and you ate with a lump of E. coli. And then you sprayed it our of your arse at 300mph.

Malcolm: The Kraken awakes!

Nicola: You said yourself that if the PM sacks me after a week, it looks like he's fucked up.

Malcolm: Yeah, but that was before, when your biggest problem was a fucking shit pun in a newspaper and a face like Dot Cotton licking piss off a nettle!

July 26, 2017

Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Just heard him being interviewed on Ari Melber's show, The Beat. Most interesting, especially his discussion about the what Google searches tell us about the 2016 GE. Apparently there were huge amount of racist searches (jokes/memes about African Americans etc) even in areas that were thought NOT to be racist. He also spoke about the amount of searches for Abortion information in Middle America, which are uniformly anti-abortion.

I found this Google Talk he gave in June, which may be of interest.

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

How much sex do people really have?


•How many Americans are actually racist?


•What should you say on a first date if you want a second?


•Is America experiencing a hidden back-alley abortion crisis?


•Where is the best place to raise kids?


•Can you game the stock market?


•Do parents treat sons differently from daughters?


•How many men are gay?


•Do violent movies increase violent crime?


•How many people actually read the books they buy?


In this groundbreaking work, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a Harvard-trained economist, former Google data scientist, and New York Times writer, argues that much of what we thought about people has been dead wrong. The reason? People lie, to friends, lovers, doctors, surveys—and themselves.

However, we no longer need to rely on what people tell us. New data from the internet—the traces of information that billions of people leave on Google, social media, dating, and even pornography sites—finally reveals the truth. By analyzing this digital goldmine, we can now learn what people really think, what they really want, and what they really do. Sometimes the new data will make you laugh out loud. Sometimes the new data will shock you. Sometimes the new data will deeply disturb you. But, always, this new data will make you think.

Everybody Lies combines the informed analysis of Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise, the storytelling of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and the wit and fun of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics in a book that will change the way you view the world. There is almost no limit to what can be learned about human nature from Big Data—provided, that is, you ask the right questions.

July 26, 2017

Shep Smith does it again !

I am sure this will be youtubed but at the end of him being increasingly incredulous, he said "So they'll get to see a bill that affects one sixth of the economy, at 10am on Friday, vote on it before lunch and then GET outta town !" Followed by a look of utter disgust.

July 25, 2017

Has Trump just dropped the UK in it ?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/889821674987761664

My understanding is that it is illegal for the UK to negotiate their own trade agreements while a member of the EU (collective negotiation).

July 25, 2017

Morning Joe says Sessions should be a "Patriot" and stay in his position, let Trump fire him. BUT

that is to misunderstand what Sessions is about, aside from the fact that he is a racist bigot, asking him to be a "Patriot" is laughable. WHEN Sessions leaves the DOJ, he will go into oblivion, his racist agenda unfulfilled. So he will be prized from the AG position from his cold dead tiny hands. Make no mistake what this rat is.

July 24, 2017

Ari Melber : The Beat on MSNBC .... 6pm Est. from tonight, opportunity to show Andy Lack that

Democrats will support progressive shows.

July 23, 2017

Interesting Racial Integration story from Ireland

I think people will like this, but a couple of things first

1. This is filmed in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland, which is towards the western seaboard and a rural farming area.

2. The piece makes reference to Direct Provision. Direct Provision is a system of dealing with asylum seekers in the Republic of Ireland. Direct Provision is how the State meets its obligations with regards to the accommodation of asylum seekers. From Wiki

It is designed to be a cashless system, with residents in receipt of full board accommodation, with their food, utilities etc. fully paid for by the state, while unlike most other EU states, those in Direct Provision have full mainstreamed access to the health system (and education system for children). Asylum seekers in Direct Provision are automatically entitled to full medical cards (ie Free Healthcare). The length of time people spend in Direct Provision has been criticised by human rights watchdogs, with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission calling the delays faced by asylum applicants as "systemic and pernicious."

The system of Direct Provision was originally introduced as an "emergency measure" in 1999, before the scale of the asylum crisis became clear. In 2002 there were almost 12,000 applications for asylum. At the start of 2014, there were 4,360 people in direct provision, with more than 3,000 people have been in the system for two or more years. At the same time, there were more than 1,600 people who have spent five or more years in direct provision.

Direct Provision has been labeled "inhuman and degrading" in a court case being taken against Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton and the Attorney General Maire Whelan, asserting that the system is illegal under both the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, and all other international human rights conventions that Ireland has subscribed to.[5] This case is being vigorously defended by the State on all grounds, including on the basis that it fulfills Ireland's obligations, that is broadly in line (and in many cases better) than the situation in other EU states, and that at a time of competing calls for finite resources, it is not feasible for the State to grant the right to work, access to full social welfare and access to the public housing and/or rent supplement to asylum seekers. The Irish Government's Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, has called it "institutionalised poverty," although in addition to having all of their expenses met, adults in Direct Provision centres are given €19.10 weekly, while children are given €9.60 per week. Many child asylum seekers have been sent here alone while some are born into the direct provision life and that is all they have ever known.[6] In June 2014, there were more than 1,000 asylum cases waiting to be heard in the High Court.[7] The Irish Refugee Council has reported that young people living in Direct Provision centres are more prone to depression and suicide, and in the case of three young people in particular, aged between 11 and 17, stated "for different reasons, these three young people have all expressed the view that they can’t see the purpose of living."[8]

According to responses to parliamentary debates and the Reception and Integration Agency,[9] the majority of adults in Direct Provision have had their initial asylum applications rejected and are either appealing this or seeking to remain in Ireland under other criteria.

More here http://humanrights.ie/tag/direct-provision/

The biggest unresolved problem is the length of time it takes to determine the asylum seekers status. A large part of that is due to Government, but it can also be lengthened by those working their way through the appeals process (which they are entitled to do).

HOWEVER, things are changing, with a new streamlined process coming to respond to the issues mentioned above. The biggest issue is providing social housing for approved cases afterwards, as there is a chronic housing shortage here, both social and private.

Anyway, enjoy this short documentary.

July 21, 2017

MSNBC reports Priebus is 100% behind his great friend

Scaramucci !

Spicey who ?