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cali

cali's Journal
cali's Journal
June 16, 2016

Dear Senator McCain: Go fuck yourself. McCain: Obama "Directly Responsible" for Orlando

Shooting.

Your comments, you pos, are unconscionable. Beneath contempt. It will be a pleasure to watch you get blown out of the water in your primary.

With nothing but ill wishes, I remain yours truly.....


Republican Sen. John McCain said Thursday that President Barack Obama is "directly responsible" for the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, because Obama has allowed the growth of the Islamic State group on his watch.

McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, made the comment to reporters Thursday while Obama was in Orlando visiting with the families of those killed in Sunday's attack and some of the survivors.


<snip>

read:http://bigstory.ap.org/58885b65cf714811964305b99ca78d93

June 16, 2016

Sorry, I don't get the cheering going on for LGBT folks rushing out to buy guns

I don't see how you can be pro-gun control and cheer on any particular group rushing out to buy guns. We're awash in the fucking things. That's a big part of the problem. Just too many guns and too many people justifying buying more guns. I'm not all that familiar with the exact statistics, and we all know that you can dig up statistics to bolster any argument you wish.... lies, damn lies and statistics, as the saying goes.

I don't know that a bunch of people carrying that awful night at Pulse would have reduced the deaths and injuries. There was, after all, an off duty cop who engaged him. But it's just as possible that people could have inadvertently hit innocents.

It just doesn't make sense to me.

June 16, 2016

Colbert and Scott Bakula revive 'Quantum Leap' to stop Donald Trump

There are times during this presidential election that many voters probably thought about going back in time and reshaping some things. On the Late Show Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert did just that (kind of). And oh boy, it did not go well.

During a binge-watch of Quantum Leap episodes (as you do), Colbert noticed that Scott Bakula's Sam Beckett actually met a young Donald Trump while leaping into a body of a New York cab driver in the '50s. And knowing what we know now in 2016, Colbert decided to take advantage of this brief meeting and change the future.

<snip>

read:http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/06/16/late-show-colbert-and-scott-bakula-revive-quantum-leap-stop-donald-trump/85975810/

June 16, 2016

There is "Incredibly Strong Evidence Trump Committed Tax Fraud"

Oh, please let this be true.

For months, presumptive Republican presidential nominee has refused to release his tax returns. We speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston about what he may be hiding. His latest piece in The Daily Beast is headlined "New Evidence Donald Trump Didn’t Pay Taxes."

TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn now to one of your former colleagues. We’re going to turn to a new exposé in The Daily Beast headlined "New Evidence Donald Trump Didn’t Pay Taxes," the article published as Trump is refusing to release his tax records. Joining us from Rochester, New York City [sic], is the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston. He used to work at The New York Times, now reporting for The Daily Beast and other publications. David, what did you find?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Well, Donald has done a very good job of trying to keep a number of things out of the public record and shut down investigations, but I found two tax appeals he filed from the year 1984, one with the City of New York and one with the state. And in one of these two cases, Donald filed something called a Schedule C. That’s what a freelancer files. He reported zero income and $626,000 of expenses, with no receipts and no documentation. That’s something that could be construed as tax fraud.

During the hearing, which lasted two days, the CPA and lawyer who had done Trump’s tax returns for years was shown the tax return, and he said, "Well, that’s my signature, but I didn’t prepare that tax return." Now, it was a photocopy. And, of course, you can put a name on a document with a photocopy machine. My first big national investigative reporting award was for just such a device used by a corrupt Michigan politician. And The Trump Organization didn’t respond to any of my questions—the Trump campaign—about this. Donald was hit in one case with a 35 percent penalty. And in the other case, the 25 percent penalty was not applied, only because nobody could find the original tax return, which I think suggests that a photocopy is what was mailed in in the first place.

It also shows, in these two cases, that in the year 1984 Donald paid no federal income taxes. And there’s very good reason to think he doesn’t pay them now, because of a provision in federal law that allows large real estate professionals to live without paying income taxes.

<snip>

read:http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/16/david_cay_johnston_there_is_incredibly

June 16, 2016

I suspect the Johnson/Weld Libertarian Party ticket will have quite the impact

My guess is that it's impact will mostly be its draw from republican voters, but who knows? What we do know is that both Clinton and especially Trump have high unfavorable.

June 16, 2016

How I bought an AR-15 in a Five Guys parking lot- and how the governor responded

A stranger handed me an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle Monday afternoon in a South Burlington parking lot. I handed him an envelope stuffed with $500 cash. We filled out no paperwork and completed no background check. He had no idea who I was nor what my intentions were, and he did not ask. Nine minutes after I met the man, I drove away with the sort of weapon used 39 hours earlier to slaughter 49 people in an Orlando, Fla., nightclub.

In Vermont, home to the nation's most permissive gun laws, everything I did was perfectly legal.


<snip>

Five hours before I bought the AR-15, I dropped by Burlington's King Street Center, where several of the state's top politicians and law enforcement officials were holding a press conference. Twenty minutes into the event, I asked Gov. Peter Shumlin — Vermont's most powerful and uncompromising gun rights supporter — whether the previous day's massacre had changed his views.

"No, because I believe you need a 50-state solution," the third-term Democrat responded. "If you're going to commit some heinous act, and you can buy the gun in New Hampshire, you're gonna go get it in New Hampshire."

I continued: "But right now in Vermont, any one of us here could walk down the street and get the same gun that was used in this attack, without any kind of background check at all. The person could do that if they have a criminal record, if they have a history of mental illness, or they could be on a terrorist watch list. If someone did that in Vermont, would that—"

The governor interjected.

"Paul, you're as aware of the current law as I am, and it's not quite as simple as you suggested," he said. "But all I can say is: You know where I stand."

Indeed, Shumlin's position has barely budged since the start of the mass-shooting era. Even as he's argued that Vermont should lead the way on labeling genetically modified organisms and limiting carbon emissions, he has cautioned against joining the 18 states that require federal background checks before some or all private gun sales. Last year, he threatened to veto a modest gun-control bill until it was diminished to what he called a "shadow" of its former self.

<snip>

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/the-gun-how-i-bought-an-ar-15-in-a-five-guys-parking-lot/Content?oid=3421127

Ugh. So glad to see Shumlin go.

June 16, 2016

Labour MP shot and stabbed by attacker who yelled "Britain First", fighting for her life

A Labour MP has been shot three times - once in the head - by a man who reportedly shouted 'Britain First' while she was out campaigning in Yorkshire.

Mother-of-two Jo Cox, who represents Batley and Spen, was speaking to locals in Birstall near Leeds when she was set upon by the gunman.

An eyewitness said: 'Three times she was shot, the initial time which then she dropped to the floor and two more times. The third time he got close proximity he shot her round the head area.'

Others claimed the man shouted 'Britain First' during the attack, which has left Ms Cox fighting for her life in hospital.

<snip>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3644847/Woman-MP-Jo-Cox-stabbed-shot-twice-man-makeshift-gun.html


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3644847/Woman-MP-Jo-Cox-stabbed-shot-twice-man-makeshift-gun.html#ixzz4BksWIRRK
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June 16, 2016

Bwhahaha. How to Cover Donald Trump Fairly: A Style Guide

This Style Guide to Covering Trump Honestly and Fairly is too late for me, since I work at The Post, which has had its credentials revoked by the Trump campaign.

But it may not be too late for you, other members of the media! Please read and implement!

The Pillars of Covering Trump:

1. Donald Trump is never wrong.

Donald Trump is infallible — like the pope but with more raw sexual charisma. If Donald Trump appears to be wrong in a story, either because of a statement or an action, or some combination of the two, it should be rewritten so that he is not wrong. A good baseline for what is fair and honest coverage is that fair and honest coverage depicts Donald Trump as the shining, golden god he is, envied of men and beloved of women. Unfair, dishonest coverage does not depict Donald Trump this way.

2. Style is as important as substance. A good post about Donald Trump includes at least one of the following words: “huge,” “great,” “manly,” “terrific,” “incredible,” “fantastic,” “remarkable,” “big”/”bigly,” “immense,” “girthy,” “magisterial,” “gargantuan,” “tumescent.” Ideally, this word would be in the headline. A bad post about Donald Trump includes the words or phrases “puny,” “dangerous,” “Godwin’s law,” “cocktail shrimp in a toupee,” “husk of dead skin and hyperbole,” “garbage fart,” “what results if you accidentally leave Guy Fieri in a microwave.”

3. Does Donald Trump contradict himself? Very well; he contradicts himself. Donald Trump is large. Donald Trump contains multitudes.

4. Who among us has not been in the position where what he means to say is something wise and temperate and what actually comes out of his mouth is a garbage fart? Equipped with this knowledge, it is often best to take into account what Donald Trump should have said and to report that instead of what he actually did say. (The great historian Thucydides used to do this, which is why Pericles’s Funeral Oration is so lovely.)

<snip>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2016/06/14/how-to-cover-donald-trump-fairly-a-style-guide/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_2_na

June 16, 2016

It is looking as if Omar Mateen could have and should have been stopped.

Beyond the gun control issue, which I completely support, there was a fucking mountain of evidence that this guy was dangerous. Some of it was old and some of it was very recent. From the dealer who refused to sell him bulk ammunition, to the co-workers who raised concerns about him- and more. So much more. It really looks like the FBI dropped the ball.

read:http://www.wsj.com/articles/orlando-shooter-raised-suspicion-at-gun-shops-1466037291

http://abcnews.go.com/US/details-emerge-orlando-nightclub-shooter-omar-mateen/story?id=39891550









June 16, 2016

I know it's premature, but I'm enjoying some schadenfreude with my chai

Some people here castigate me for my guilty habit of reading the mess that is Freepfuckville- which I do at least once a week. But man, it's like watching lucy snatch the football from Charlie Brown. And that is so much fun. The freeps are in complete denial, convinced (again) that all the polls are made up and that the Trumpus will win in a Reagan style wave election. Well, most of them are, and the ones that dare voice, ever so meekly, that the polls were right 4 years ago, are verbally crucified.

I can't help but look forward to election night when Freepfuckville totally loses their shit. Again.

I won't link to the thread I'm enjoying with my chai out of deference to those who object.

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: born is LA, grew up there and in New Canaan CT
Home country: USA
Current location: East Hardwick, Vermont
Member since: Wed Sep 29, 2004, 03:28 PM
Number of posts: 114,904
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