Rocknation
Rocknation's JournalMy web host also offers domain name registration; my domain name registrar also offers hosting
and my Internet service provider also offers both. I pay for each of mine separately -- and this kind of situation is precisely the reason why.
Handing off control of your ad placements is one thing, but if you don't control your files and hosting, you DON'T control your content and editorial. And I hope Snopes has the actual Snopes.com name registered independently.
The owner of an international message board which I frequent threatened to shut it down because we wouldn't all buy subscriptions, and then he offered to sell it off. The price included the board's Web hosting, but I pointed out that if the board couldn't be sold without it, it wasn't really his to sell. Only the board's physical files, databases of member accounts and posts, and (in many but not all cases) domain name were of value. It is up to the buyer to supply the Web hosting, Internet access, and software for the board's visual layout -- so his asking price would therefore have to be reduced considerably. He changed his mind about selling.
When the company where I started my first blog was sold, and when I've needed Web hosting with better pricing or more advanced features, I have simply found a new Web host; uploaded the latest copies of my databases and physical files to its server (from my home computer -- cloud servers should be used for storage and backup ONLY); and sent redirect instructions to my domain registrar: THAT'S what you should be able to do if things should become "acrimonious."
Let this be a lesson to all: Web content service providers are for supplying Web content services -- supplying and controlling your web CONTENT is YOUR job.
rocktivity
How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Chris "Quadriplegic Duck" Christie
Due to a bout with homelessness (for which I once again thank DU for helping me get out of), I didn't have much of a Christmas. And though I haven't forgotten that I have been bequeathed the stewardship of the Christie Crime Digest, nothing truly noteworthy has happened in Christie-stan since the sentencing of Kelly and Baroni. However, that changed drastically over Independence Day weekend when Christie shut down the government -- which allowed me to feel like I had awakened on Christmas morning to find a roomful of presents!
Christie knows that the measure by itself would not pass...Not only that, the Governor would "allow" an extra $350 million for schools, legal aid for the poor, and other programs to be included in the Budget if the Legislature agreed to vote...Unfortunately, that split democrats (who are in the majority in both houses)...(I)t's on the Governor, not the Legislature.
The ninety-three cents on the dollar Exxon settlement that Christie left on the table would sure come in handy right now -- wouldn't they have been a smarter company to raid?
First, you order a government shutdown that closes all state parks and beaches on the eve of the 4 July holiday weekend. Then you...spend a good chunk of Sunday soaking up the rays with your family on a pristine stretch of sand that thanks to your order you have entirely to yourselves. Asked about reports that his family was staying at the state residence at Island Beach state park while it was closed to the public, Christie...(said) I didnt get any sun.
Told of the existence of aerial pictures of the governor sitting on the beach with...family members, his spokesman, Brian Murray, conceded Christie was on the beach briefly. But Murray insisted: He did not get any sun. He was wearing a baseball cap.

But while Gov. Chris Christie and his family tanned, the other families burned -- with anger. The other Island Beach residents were ordered out of the homes Friday night under the threat of arrest. They packed up and drove off, right past the governor's summer retreat, its lights ablaze with activity...
Meanwhile, christie got special "Greetings from Asbury Park"...

...and a meme was born...




Mine:



He'd offered to blunt his veto pen in exchange for two bills the Legislature also delivered: one pledging the state lottery as an asset to the public pension fund and another giving the state more control over the state's largest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. That proposal deeply divided Democratic lawmakers...Christie blamed the state Assembly leader for the budget impasse...
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, who had refused to allow a vote to be put the lower chamber...and the state Senate health committee chairman tasked with tinkering with the bill emerged from a flurry of private meetings with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Horizon CEO Bob Marino...Within hours they had a new bill and a deal...which Christie promptly signed after making what he called "minor changes" to budget language...
...(T)he full restoration of government operations (on 7/5/17) will return about 30,000 furloughed state employees to work...
Did I call Christie a lame duck? Make that a quadriplegic duck! But seriously, folks, with six months left to his stewardship, we can only hope that's he'll allow us to "close the books" on the Christie Crime Digest gracefully. As for life after politics, I'm pretty sure that Exxon, if not Horizon, wouldn't hesitate to hire him!

rocktivity
Christie Crime Digest Volume V: The Epilogue
Welcome to the beginning of the end of the Chris Christie era.
As the sun sets on Chris Christie's political, professional, and personal credibility, I was more than happy to accept the keys to the Christie Crime Digest from thread starter DU-er Laxman. But I have to confess that between there being just six months left to the Governor Soprano Crime Family regime and the shutting of the Bridge(t)-Gate, I honestly didn't think that another volume would be necessary. No such luck: it looks like Crew Christie are determined not to go gently into that good night, but with a closing volley of their trademark political tone-deafness and social vulgarianism. So here we are...and here are the links to:
My first order of business will be to tie up the loose ends on Bridge(t)-Gate:
Chapters 352, 353: Cue the guy with with the Dragnet hammer - Baroni, Kelly and Wildstein sentenced
Chapter 354: HorizonGate-ShutdownGate-BeachGate: What Chris Christie Did On His Summer Vacation
Chapter 355: Meet one of David Wildstein's character references who wrote the judge who decided his fate.
Chapter 355a: A closer look at Wildstein's plea for leniency -- and self-made banishment from respectability -- plus a link to the complete statement.
Chapter 356: The count is 0 and 2: Christie strikes out as sportscaster, takes in baseball game as fans cry foul (ball).
Chapter 357: It turns out that Christie is qualified to nominate himself as New Jersey senator should a replacement be needed for the indicted Bob Menenedez before Christie's term ends. Too bad he's long since disqualified himself for the job.
Chapter 358: Beach-Gate post mortem: Christie plays the kid card -- even they noticed that perhaps he'd abused his power. And don't miss the video tribute.
Chapter 358a: The New Jersey Dem-pire locks the Beach-Gate shut.
Chapter 359: Why a six-month-old story about something that happened to Christie three years ago suddenly has news significance.
Chapter 359a: Why a seven-month-old story about something that happened to MRS. Christie suddenly has news significance.
THE FINAL CHAPTER: The beginning of the New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy era, for which we give "Eternal Thanks" to Laxman and all the Digest's contributors; "Eternal Gratitude" to the Digest's past, present, and future readers; and most important of all, "Eternal Good Riddance" to you-know-who...
UPDATE: An even better video from the Greater Miami Area Patch
Click here to fast forward to the six-minute mark. At 6:08, a white car pulls up and stops at the first intersection. Venus pulls up and stops behind it at 6:22, but the white car doesn't start moving until 6:30. No oncoming traffic prevents the car from proceeding, so why does it just sit there for least twenty seconds? Because its light was red, most likely.
At 6:33 (and presumably after the light has turned green) the white car completes a left turn, and Venus drives through the first intersection unimpeded. At 6:38, she stops at the second intersection and yields the right of way to a car going in the opposite direction of the Barson car -- strong evidence that Venus was truthful about her light being green. Why? Because of how unlikely it is that her light had turned red ONLY FIVE SECONDS after it had turned green!
While the car she yielded to clears the second intersection, two cars in the lanes next to Barson's pull up and stop at 6:41. Venus starts up again at 6:42 when Barson barrels past the two cars into the intersection, with impact at 6:43.
No way is Venus at fault. Mrs. Barson either failed to yield the right of way to Venus (like the drivers of the two cars that stopped when they got to the first intersection and let Venus go through), ran a red light, or both -- and she's definitely guilty of entering the intersection at an inappropriate speed. Instead of extorting money, Mrs. Barson's lawyers should be trying to persuade the D.A. that the loss of her husband is punishment enough.

rocktivity
Helpful hint for the day: Avoid social media if you're trying to avoid the cops
(B)efore you feel too sorry for him...(he)...was arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping...(O)ne of his friends posted a picture of his confirmation email for ***** tickets on Facebook, along with a seating chart marked with the exact spot where he and his +1 would be sitting...(S)heriffs deputies showed up at the concert, and -- well, there they were...
Click here if you must know where this took place and who this genius went to see -- I have decided to withhold that information out of consideration for both the performer(s) and his/her/their intelligent DU fans. Just suffice it to say that the guy is no longer running free, and can look forward to about twenty wasted years because he's now a prisoner, not a free man...

rocktivity
But wait...there's more...
Man Flashes Guns and Cash on Facebook Live, Gets Raided on Facebook Live
Candidate for the Self-Snitching Hall of Disdain:
22-year-old Breon Hollings, a Jacksonville, Fla. resident, was seen flaunting handfuls of cash during a Facebook Live stream ...while speaking to the camera, but becomes distracted when he sees lights outside of his window... (link)

rocktivity
Christie's "Glinda" Moment
The last time this came up, the Legislature's own researchers found that locals might not save a dime, and that it could even cost them more to handle the job themselves online...(L)ocal governments (that) don't use newspapers...will have to establish secure web sites and hire someone to process...and track...these ads...
So where did Christie get the $80 million figure?..."Multiple state agencies sampled public notices in all daily newspapers in New Jersey over a consecutive 30-day period extrapolating the data over 12 months..." the press office said...(The) League of Municipalities...say this number did not come from them...A survey answered by 147 towns, which tended to be smaller towns, showed the average cost to be just over $7,000...
This is not about saving money. This is the governor's attempt to exact revenge on newspapers, and the reason is that we...point it out when he lies. What's depressing to me is that the Legislative leaders are joining hands with him. It's part of a deal, all struck in the back rooms, as usual. And it was bipartisan...
But like that scene in The Wizard of Oz, the N.J. Dems finally realized that Christie no longer had absolute power over them and dropped a house -- specifically, a house of representatives -- on him!
"I am so disgusted with my colleagues," says Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union). "There is no Democratic Party," says Sen. Loretta Weinberg. (D-Bergen). "Where are our core values?" asks Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex).
...(T)hey are (also) grumbling about the sweetheart book deal, too. Why waive an ethics law to allow the governor to profit from a book while he is in office? Hasn't he ignored his job enough? And the big question: What is the motive? What did Democratic leaders get in return for these big concessions to the most unpopular governor in the country? They got a raise for their staffs and judges, but is that all it takes? Is their price that low?
I asked. They won't say.
What is there to ask? Christie has lost his political leverage, that's all. He hasn't got the support of either the Democrat majority in the state legislature, President Trump, OR the voters. It is now "safe" to just say no to him -- especially when the public interest is hanging in the balance.
Democratic leaders of the Senate said they would not even discuss the bills until it was clear how the Assembly would vote...Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) announced he was postponing a vote on the newspaper bill and that the book measure would not be reconsidered.
...Christie...has often cut deals with Democratic leaders and party bosses to usher through legislation over the last seven years...
Negotiating is not legislating, and bullying is not bipartisanship. Ding, dong, the Christie deals are dead!

rocktivity
USA Freedom Kids now suing Donald Trump
Remember these little darlings?
Popick says he asked for $2,500 in payment for the...performance, in Pensacola. The campaign made a counter-offer: How about a table where the group could presell albums? Popick took the deal. When they arrived at the venue, though, there was no table...In addition to costs spent on promotional materials for the nonexistent table, Popick says he also lost several promotional opportunities due to confusion over his relationship with the campaign...
When Trump...(held) an event for veterans, a representative of the campaign called Popick to see if the Freedom Kids might perform...With the promise that the exposure from the event would be "huge," Popick readily agreed, and the kids and their parents packed up for a direct flight to Chicago...When the plane landed, Popick had a message from the campaign staffer indicating that there was a change of plan (but) invited the performers to attend the rally, which they did...(after) a long drive to Iowa...(and) in their outfits. The campaign asked Popick not to talk to the media, he says, but then gave them seats within arm's length of the press. "They just were constantly coming over...They wanted to take pictures, they wanted to ask questions and I had to be a real jerk." The cost of the flights, rental car and hotel were all absorbed by Popick...
...(Their) album will be out in early September. (The song) Freedom's Call, which included the line "President Donald Trump knows how to make America great" will not be on it.
Maybe Michelle could also sue for the portion of her speech that Melania used...

rocktivity
McIver is no MacGyver
Melania said she wrote most of the speech herself -- McIver has officially made her a liar. McIver says Melania has always liked the wife of her boss' second biggest political enemy -- McIver has officially made her a political ignoramus. McIver says Melania didn't notice that there had been no rewrite of the words she gave to McIver -- McIver has officially made her a bimbo. McIver says she didn't rewrite the words but didn't bother to have them vetted? She should have been fired AND arrested!
Harm was VERY meant -- by the people who pasted those passages into the speech and who should have had it properly vetted. McIver was obviously NOT one of those people, because if she was, she would been fired -- not allowed to resign.
rocktivity
He's "socially" awkward in more ways than one
On the other hand, a consistent pattern of him being a regular at the Pulse (club) for about three years has emerged. Witnesses are coming forward who had interactions with him and are swearing to the terrorist being a gay man. He also had a profile on a gay dating site...
So far, the patterns of a secret life-leading, self-loathing gay Muslim are much more consistent than anything directed by any of the rival terrorist groups that the terrorist claimed to be with at various times and seeking any kind of religious martyrdom. If this turns out to be factual, many of those demanding we ban and scrutinize Muslims more in America will have egg on their face, yet again.
Orlando residents...say that Mateen was a regular at the club and a homosexual seeking to pick up men. Jim Van Horn, said he once struck up a conversation with Mateen, but his friends pulled him away saying there was something strange about him...Another couple, who work together as drag-dancing performers, said they had seen Mateen as many as a dozen times at Pulse, and that he went to the club to escape his home life.
Chris Callen, who goes by the stage name of Kristina McLaughlin, said Mateen began showing up about three years ago..."It could be he just went crazy. Maybe he got radicalised and hated who he was.
Cord Cedeno says he connected with Mateen a couple years ago on Grindr...Mateen -- whose profile was a pic of him in a tie -- would only say "Hi" over and over. He says he eventually blocked Mateen, but knows 4 friends who say the Orlando murderer remained active on other apps. He says Mateen used Adam4Adam to send shots of his penis to men, but never showed his face...(Cedeno) has no knowledge (of) Mateen...hooking up with a man.
On the other hand, a female user on Plenty Of Fish says Mateen reached out to her 18 months ago. She says he was "nice, normal...mentioned he had a child, but said he was single and looking for a good woman to marry." She told us Mateen...rant(ed) about Islam and the Quran, saying people misunderstood his religion. She says he wanted to meet face-to-face, but she too blocked him because he seemed "emotionally unstable."
Oh, well, this is QUITE inconvenient -- it blows away (if you'll pardon the expression) the anti-American jihadist martyr narrative, and just as the presidential election season was getting under way. All the anger, fear and hate of Muslims that the mainstream media, the Rethugs and the gun industry were planning to cash in on has to be replaced by patriotism and sympathy of the gay and pro-gay victims and another round of gun control talk? What a buzzkill! However, one man's buzzkill is another man's buzz -- we'll jut have to take comfort in enjoying things like this:

rocktivity
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Gender: FemaleHometown: New Jersey
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