October 27, 2015

James Comey admits that he was talking out of his a**

from the Guardian UK:



FBI director concedes he has little evidence to support 'Ferguson effect'
James Comey says it’s ‘common sense’ that police scrutiny has caused crime spike, as White House appears to distance itself from comments


FBI director James Comey conceded on Monday that he had little evidence to support his theory that a recent increase in crime was caused by heightened scrutiny of the police, as the White House appeared to distance itself from his remarks.

Addressing police chiefs at a conference in Chicago, Comey said he could not be certain that the so-called “Ferguson effect”, following unrest in the Missouri city after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old last year, had led to a retreat by officers, but said this was “common sense”.

“The question is, are these kinds of things changing police behavior around the country?” said Comey. “The honest answer is I don’t know for sure whether that’s the case … but I do have a strong sense.”

Barack Obama’s press secretary, however, said at a White House briefing on Monday that available evidence “does not support the notion that law enforcement officers around the country are shying away from fulfilling their responsibilities”. ...........(more)

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/26/fbi-director-ferguson-effect-crime-policing-james-comey

October 27, 2015

David Vitter might soon have more free time to try on diapers

(Salon) I wrote a few weeks ago that Louisiana, a solidly red state, was primed for Democratic victories thanks in part to Bobby Jindal’s tragic tenure. While the initial results of this weekend’s election were mixed, it appears the political winds are indeed shifting. This is especially true of the gubernatorial race, which pitted frontrunner David Vitter against two other Republicans as well as the Democratic candidate, John Bel Edwards.

Louisiana employs a peculiar election system known as a jungle primary, which means all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, compete on a single ballot. If no one gets a majority, the top two candidates compete in a runoff election. On Saturday, Edwards carried 40 percent of the vote to Vitter’s 23 percent (almost a complete reversal of the polling data from a year ago). This means the Edwards will face Vitter in a runoff next month. And Edwards, depending on whom you ask, is now the favorite.

For months, David Vitter was the prohibitive frontrunner. He has name recognition, political clout, a plethora of cash, and a state whose demographics increasingly favor conservative Republicans. But this is a unique political climate. Jindal, one of the worst governors in the history of the state, has made toxic everything he touched, including the Republican brand. Running as a Republican gubernatorial candidate after Jindal was always going to be tricky. In addition to that, Vitter, as James Carville told Salon recently, is “one of the most flawed candidates in American politics.”

Calling Vitter “flawed” borders on charitable, in my view. The man’s political resume is shot through with sin. There’s the famous D.C. Madam Scandal of 2007, which exposed Vitter’s extramarital peccadillos with sex workers (an unfortunate finding for a family values conservative). Miraculously, Vitter managed to recover from this and was poised to win the governorship. But things have spiraled out of control for Vitter in the last month so, with one fiasco after another, and now his entire campaign has cratered. ......................(more)

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/26/david_vitter_lurches_toward_a_humiliating_defeat_a_record_of_scandal_and_hypocrisy_finally_catches_up_to_him/

October 26, 2015

Sacramento RT Considers Rules to Limit 'Noxious Odors,' Other Objectionable Rider Traits

Oct. 25--Sacramento Regional Transit officials on Monday will consider a proposal to ban people from riding trains and buses who are a nuisance to other passengers, including people who "emanate a noxious odor" and who play music other passengers can hear.

The proposed rules are part of an effort by the transit agency to clean up service and improve its image among potential riders. Downtown business leaders and several new members of the Sacramento RT board say the agency needs to make improvements to attract "choice" riders when the downtown sports and entertainment arena opens in October 2016.

The proposed administrative prohibitions, listed in a staff report, are:

--Boarding trains or buses unless clothed above and below the waist and wearing footwear that has a sole.

--Emanating a noxious odor from body, clothing or possessions that discomforts other passengers, unless the odor relates to a disability or medical condition.

--Sleeping on a train that has reached the end of a line.

--Playing sound equipment that's audible to other passengers.

Pam Haney, advocacy coordinator for Wellspring Women's Center in Oak Park, which purchases transit tickets for some of its clients, said the odor proposal looks discriminatory.

.....(snip).....

"It seems as though the primary goal of this change is enabling them to have an administrative route to be additionally discriminatory toward homeless people," Haney said. ..............(more)

http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/12130539/sacramento-rt-considers-rules-to-limit-noxious-odors-other-objectionable-rider-traits

October 26, 2015

America is changing its mind on Israel: How Netanyahu is alienating his most essential ally

(Salon) The current violence in Israel-Palestine—immediately following the debate about the Iran arms deal, which revealed growing fissures in American support of Israel–has brought the conflict into the foreground of U.S. political discourse. The absence of any serious mention of Israel-Palestine during the first Democratic presidential debate thus speaks volumes. It tells us that even as polls show more and more of the Democratic base shifting its support away from Israel, the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination are reluctant to talk about Israel. It will be interesting to see if they shift their stances at all in the next few months, given the stakes that are emerging. Recent polls have shown that Latinos, a critical constituency, are lending their sympathy to the Palestinians. They join the young, progressives, Blacks, and Asian Americans. This is not only the perception of supporters of Palestinian rights, this point of view is shared by advocates of Israel as well.

Everything seems in play, and that calls for our attention. Here’s what is unfolding on the American political scene:

To begin with, let’s look at the reactions of the U.S. State Department regarding the escalation of violence in Israel-Palestine. On October 13, Secretary of State John Kerry declared “What’s happening is that, unless we get going, a two-state solution could conceivably be stolen from everybody… And there’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years, and now you have this violence because there’s a frustration that is growing.”

Upon being accused of laying the blame for the violence on the building of settlements, the State Department rushed to back off from the October 13 statement:

“State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Kerry had not been ‘trying to affix… blame for the recent violence’ during a Tuesday evening address at Harvard University, when the secretary told his audience that ‘there’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years and there’s an increase in the violence because there’s this frustration that’s growing.’ The two ideas, Kirby suggested, were not meant to be interpreted causally.”

Right. It’s hard to believe anyone bought that spin. What this flip-flop indicates is precisely the fluid state of our political discourse on Israel-Palestine. ...............(more)

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/25/america_is_changing_its_mind_on_israel_how_netanyahu_is_alienating_his_most_essential_ally/

October 26, 2015

China Containerized Freight Index Collapses to Worst Level Ever

China Containerized Freight Index Collapses to Worst Level Ever
by Wolf Richter • October 25, 2015


A week ago, we pointed out how China’s dropping exports and plunging imports – the “inevitable fallout from China’s unsustainable and poorly executed credit splurge,” according to Thomson Reuters – had collided with long-term bets by the shipping industry that has been counting on majestic endless growth.

The industry has been adding capacity in quantum leaps, where “the scramble to order so-called ultra-large container vessels had turned into a stampede,” as the Journal of Commerce put it. So we said, Pummeled by Lousy Global Demand and Rampant Overcapacity, China Containerized Freight Index Collapses to Worst Level Ever.

And now, the China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) has dropped to an even worse level.

Unlike a lot of official data emerging from China, the index, which is operated by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange and sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Communications, is raw, unvarnished, not seasonally adjusted, or otherwise beautified. It’s volatile and a reflection of reality, as measured by how much it costs, based on contractual and spot market rates, to ship containers from China to 14 major destinations around the world. ................(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/25/china-containerized-freight-index-ccfi-shanghai-scfi-drop-to-new-lows/

October 24, 2015

CNN hires jolly Islamophobe Bob Beckel, formerly of Fox News

from the WaPo:



CNN’s elastic budget for covering politics strikes again: The network has hired Bob Beckel, the opinionated, liberal pundit who for years spiced up the political banter on Fox News. Beckel will join the likes of Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and gun-rights champion S.E. Cupp on CNN’s daily coverage of the 2016 presidential election, as reported by the Daily Beast.

The move to secure the services of Beckel looks like a transparent attempt to crib some of Fox News’s very own programming magic. Beckel, after all, starred in the role of lone liberal on the excellent program “The Five,” a lively roundtable discussion show on which Beckel commonly and deftly fought off all his fellow panelists, including Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino and Kimberly Guilfoyle. With his trademark suspenders, gruff demeanor and gravelly voice, Beckel played the role of grumpy lefty — and he brought a bio that featured cocaine addiction alongside an appointment in the Carter administration and a role in Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign. He delivered passionate defenses of President Obama and many of his initiatives and bashed Republican politics with stinging regularity.

But when Islamic terrorism struck, Beckel became a Fox News liberal. “I am an Islamophobe. That’s right — you can call me that all you want,” he said in January of this year, following the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. Following the September 2013 Kenya mall attacks, Beckel said that Islam is “not the religion of peace.” Appealing to Muslims, he said, “You moderate Muslims out there…the time has come for you to stand up and say something….No Muslim students coming here with visas, no more mosques being built here until you stand up and denounce what’s happened in the name of your prophet.” The next day, Beckel acknowledged that such conditions couldn’t be attached to building licenses here in America. Earlier this year, Beckel provided this insight regarding President Obama: “He had friends who were Muslims. I think he doesn’t want to make himself believe they can be a nasty group,” said Beckel. At one point, Beckel even drew a comparison between acceptance of radical Islam to acceptance of multicultural dating. Gutfeld saved Beckel’s butt by telling him that he couldn’t possibly mean what he said. Beckel backed off the contention. ....................(more)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/10/21/cnn-hires-jolly-islamophobe-bob-beckel-formerly-of-fox-news/

October 24, 2015

What is up with all these traffic circles?

They seem to be popping up everywhere..... Southfield, Ypsi Township, Shelby Township. I've done quite a bit of driving around the metro area this week and I keep running into them.

October 24, 2015

Moose goes grocery shopping in Wasilla

(HuffPost) Attention shoppers: Hoof prints in aisle six.

This moose is stocking up like any upstanding Alaskan moose is wont to do. Or maybe just on a beer run.

This moose was enticed by al the fabulous goods that this Wasilla, Alaska, supermarket has to offer. The hairy customer simply had to peruse the aisles and experience it first-hoof.

Maybe this moose just wants to cook a nice family meal! And perhaps even extend an invite to fellow Wasillan Sarah Palin.

And maybe, just maybe, this moose can see Russia from its house.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/moose-wanders-into-supermarket-video_562a7e26e4b0ec0a38946f58?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

October 24, 2015

It's come to this.......Even cats can't lay off the sauce

Good thing cats have nine lives, or how else could a kitty have survived a seven-week bender where he opened $44 worth of wine and drank the contents, with a subsequent three-day hangover to boot?

It wasn't uncommon for frisky feline Aljosha to leave his home to strut around the town of Würselen, Germany, and come back home around midday. But, one fateful day in July, the cat didn't return.

In the days after the disappearance, Aljosha's owner, Claudia von Büren, wasn't able to track down her beloved pet. She printed 150 flyers and posted them around town, with no success, The Local reports via German-language publication Bild.

So it was a surprise when, seven weeks later, the kitty emerged from an environment that apparently didn't bode well for the animal's health or sanity: He'd been trapped in a wine cellar a few houses away. ......................(more)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drunk-cat-drinks-wine-bender_562946bee4b0ec0a3893cd0b?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

October 24, 2015

Wisconsin Republicans Fast-tracking Bill that Effectively Kills Workers' Comp

(The Progressive) Wisconsin has the distinction of being the birthplace of the Worker's Compensation system.

Approximately 100 years ago, labor and management struck a "grand bargain" where if a worker gets injured at work, the worker cannot sue their employer for damages—even if the injury is clearly the employer's fault.

Instead, a system was put in place where the pay for any particular injury is dictated by law and simple to figure out, and where any injury that occurs at work, regardless of whose fault it is, is compensated. The benefit for the worker is that they don't have to go to court if they are injured, and the benefit for the employer is that they never get dragged to court for injuries that occur to their workers. Instead, employers simply have a worker's compensation insurance policy that pays out, at a very meager rate, compensation for the injuries that happen at work.

.....(snip).....

Next week, Wisconsin Republicans plan to throw all that out the window. According to memo sent to all legislators late Wednesday afternoon, Rep. John Spiros in the Wisconsin Assembly and Sen. Duey Stroebel in the Senate, plan on jointly introducing the legislation on October 29. (The Legislative Reference Bureau's review of the legislation is below.)

Under the new system, worker's still will not be allowed to sue their employers for workplace injuries, but will be required to prove that the workplace injury wasn't their fault to receive their full compensation-- which is still codified at the meager rate.

- See more at: http://progressive.org/news/2015/10/188374/wi-republicans-fast-tracking-bill-effectively-kills-workers-comp#sthash.FY7AFoqw.dpuf