May 5, 2016

Barnet polling station 'shambles' as London mayoral election voters turned away in lists blunder

The London mayoral election started with an “absolute shambles” in one borough as voters were turned away from polling stations given incomplete electoral lists.

Hundreds of residents in Barnet said they were told they could not vote without their polling card, while some carrying the document said they were also refused.

Arjun Mittra, a Labour councillor for East Finchley ward, said the “logistical nightmare” affected every one of the borough’s 90 polling stations.

“Out of the seven people who came to my polling station in the first 10 minutes, only one was able to vote,” he told The Independent.

link:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/elections-2016-absolute-shambles-in-barnet-as-voters-turned-away-from-polling-stations-with-wrong-a7014411.html

May 2, 2016

Why I'll Vote for HRC in the GE

I will admit I am not thrilled with HRC as the nominee, ask anyone in the HRC Group; I support Sanders
But it would be rather hypocritical for me, a Corbyn and a Sanders supporter if I didn't
For months I have railed against the Blairites in the UK and their undermining of the guy who won the Labour Party leadership race
They can't seem to accept that Corbyn won and that it is their responsibility to rally around their leader
Instead, there are many of the Labour Parliamentarians who have actively worked to undermine his leadership
The Independent published a poll a few months back that showed almost 1 in 4 Labour supporters were unhappy with what they perceived as chaos within Labour; ie they weren't unhappy with Corbyn per se, they were unhappy with the sniping from the whiny losers within the party

I am an American and I vote. I will vote for Clinton, not because she is my first choice, but because I respect the decision of my friends within the party (about 40% of my friends supported HRC, about 45% supported Sanders, the rest didn't vote for either) who voted for her should/when she is the nominee.
I have read some of the idiocracy posted on DU that have attacked the campaign/character of Sanders, of Clinton and even O' Malley -- my first choice (when he was still in the race) and I do not allow the postings of a few ignorant, hyper-partisans to affect my decision, those are irrelevant in my decision

I expected the Blairites to rally around Corbyn when he won and have been frustrated that they haven't.
I think it's fair to expect the same of myself when my candidate doesn't win in the US elections - Democrats Abroad voted Sanders
Yes, I will continue to send money to the Sanders campaign, just like I would have O' Malley had he not left the race. It's not money wasted because I believe in his message and in him more than Clinton
But. I will respect the decision of my fellow Democrats

May 2, 2016

A thread for DUers that are MIA

I got an e-mail requesting aid for 'torchthewitch' tonight and it got me thinking about those members of DU that haven't been seen or heard from in such a long while
I am fortunate to be able to help a bit
But, it got me thinking about Bobolink who I haven't seen in several years
So this thread is for those DUers who have disappeared, gone away, whatever, without letting us know they were gone (i.e. no I'm leaving thread)
I hope that Bobolink is okay.
I hope torch is as well, but at least I know she is still around
Please feel free to share a DUers who has gone away and you're uncertain what happened to them maybe there is someone who has kept in touch

I think about Bobolink from time-to-time.

as a request, if you feel the need to say something nasty or mean spirited about people that disappeared -- save it for your own post

April 28, 2016

Vet Who Bragged About Killing Cat Fights For Her License

She is really something
Warning... some of this post can be disturbing

The veterinarian who boasted that her “first bow kill” was a cat has wrapped up two days of fighting to keep her veterinary license.

snip

The photo shows Lindsey holding up the cat, who still had an arrow through him and who might still have been alive when the picture was taken.

snip

Dr. William Folger, a veterinarian arguing for the board, said the picture shows the cat was tense with flexed muscles, indicating he still exerted control over his body. Lindsey took the stand to counter this, but a former coworker agreed with the vet’s analysis.

Vet tech Karen Champion told the administrative judge overseeing the case that at the time of the Facebook post she overheard Lindsey talking to her boss and landlord who told her to “take care of the cat,” KVUE reports.

link:
http://petcha.com/pet_care/vet-who-bragged-about-killing-cat-fights-for-her-license-trending/

April 28, 2016

Guide Dogs warn of risks of distracting working animals in new Respect My Uniform campaign

snip

Most people know they are not supposed to touch a working guide dog in a harness, but what many do not realise is that a well-intentioned pat can undo months of training.

Frequent distractions can cause anxiety or serious injury for guide dogs and their handlers.

snip

"It can lose concentration while walking and if you're crossing a road or walking up and down stairs or escalators it can actually be quite dangerous."

snip

"Anytime that he's working and someone pats him, he won't focus on what he's supposed to be doing and that can be quite dangerous," Mr McLaren said.

link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-26/guide-dog-handlers-warn-people-should-not-touch-working-animals/7360480?section=nsw

April 27, 2016

Congrats to the biggest winners in tonight's primaries

the people who voted.
Thank you for voting

Congrats to both Ms Clinton and Sen Sanders on their wins
About 6 more weeks of this and we move on to July

* on note: While I consider Cruz, Trump and Kasich losers. I also consider the Republicans who voted in the winners category. I don't get why, when they can vote, people don't.
In some cases there are Senate primaries, some contested house primaries, local and statewide races and propositions to be voted.

on edit: Yes, this is my monthly (or more) feel-good Polly Anna Post

April 20, 2016

Message in a bottle, promising finder a shilling, bobs up after 108 years

When the distinguished marine biologist threw his message in a bottle into the sea, asking whoever found it to contact him, he wasn’t expecting a speedy response. Which is just as well, because it took just over 108 years – now officially confirmed by Guinness World Records as the oldest such message in the world.

The German woman who found it has been given the reward promised in 1908, by the scientific institution which has inherited the debt of honour: a shilling.

The bottle was among more than 1,000 thrown into the North Sea in batches by George Parker Bidder, as part of his research into the patterns of currents. This one was part of a batch from 30 November 1906, and was found 108 years, four months and 18 days later in 2015 by a retired German postal worker, Marianne Winkler, on holiday on Amrun, one of Germany’s North Frisian islands.

snip

The card promised what had been in 1908 the reasonably handsome reward of a shilling – most were gratefully claimed within the year by fishermen.

link:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/19/message-bottle-washed-ashore-108-years-worlds-oldest

April 18, 2016

Did Phineas and Ferb Foresee a Trump Presidency Ten Years Ago?

Though the video is not really about Trump
The song could easily be by/for Il Douche

on edit - The Lyrics
t's been a charmed life,
Got all I ever wanted,
And I'm not too shy to flaunt it, you see.
It's been a sweet ride,
Everyone is genuflecting
And erecting giant statues of me.

It's like a great lunch
With all you can eat,
And I can leave my wallet at home.
And everyone pays for me,
Because it's compulsory,
Or into the stockade they're thrown.

Still, I'm a nice guy;
How many emperors
Would always remember your name?
How ya doing, Joe?
I must admit, I
May take quite a lot,
But I'll always give you plenty of blame.

It's been a sweet ride;
Life's a bowl of cherries,
And nobody's merrier than me.
Because everyone else is the proletariat,
And baby, I'm the bourgeoisie.
Look it up, Joe!
Baby, I'm the bourgeoisie!
Oh, yeah!

April 18, 2016

UK firm 'employed former child soldiers' as mercenaries in Iraq

A former senior director at a British firm says that it employed mercenaries from Sierra Leone to work in Iraq because they were cheaper than Europeans and did not check if they were former child soldiers.

snip

Aegis Defence Services, which is chaired by Sir Nicholas Soames, a Tory MP and Winston Churchill’s grandson, had a series of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to provide guards to protect US military bases in Iraq from 2004 onwards. From 2011 the company broadened its recruitment to take in African countries, having previously employed people from the UK, the US and Nepal.

snip

“When war gets outsourced, then the companies tries to find the cheapest soldiers globally. Turns out that that is former child soldiers from Sierra Leone. I think it is important that we in the west are aware of the consequences of the privatisation of war,” the film’s maker, Mads Ellesøe, said.

snip

Ellery, who said he was speaking in a personal capacity, told the Guardian that it would be “quite wrong” to ask whether people had ever been child soldiers, as it would penalise people for things they had often been forced into doing.


http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/apr/17/uk-firm-employed-former-child-soldiers-as-mercenaries-in-iraq

Iraq the invasion that keeps on giving

April 17, 2016

Man accidentally discovers 'perfectly preserved' Roman villa in his backyard

Luke Irwin came across the well-preserved Roman villa dating back 1,400 years and which may have been home to an emperor

A man stumbled across a Roman villa in his back garden which is being hailed as the most significant discovery of its kind for a decade.

Luke Irwin, from Wiltshire, was laying an electricity cable in his barn when he uncovered a mosaic underground.

snip

After an eight-day dig, archaeologists uncovered more of the ‘elaborate’ and ‘extraordinarily well-preserved’ villa, thought to be one of the largest ever found in the country.

Dating from between AD 175 and 220, the grand home is thought to have been three storeys high, similar to those found at Chedworth in Gloucestershire.

link
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/man-accidentally-discovers-perfectly-preserved-roman-villa-in-his-backyard-a6987901.html