RandySF
RandySF's JournalKaepernick says he'll stand during anthem if he can play football again
NEW YORK (AP) -- Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has told CBS that he would stand during the national anthem if given a chance to play football in the NFL again.
According to a report by Jason La Canfora on Sunday, Kaepernick has been living in New York and working out privately in New Jersey with the hope of signing with a team this season.
Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem last season to bring more attention to the killings of black men by police officers. The protests spread this season after the former San Francisco 49er was unable to sign on with another team.
The issue has grown this season as Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett recently said he was racially profiled by Las Vegas police during a confrontation, and President Donald Trump aggressively chastised players and owners for protesting during the anthem.
http://www.ktvu.com/sports/kaepernick-says-hell-stand-during-anthem-if-he-can-play-football-again
Blackwater Founder Mulls Senate Run In Wyoming
WASHINGTON — Erik Prince, the founder of the security contractor Blackwater, is seriously considering a Republican primary challenge for a Senate seat in Wyoming, potentially adding a high-profile contender to a fledgling drive to oust establishment lawmakers with insurgents in the mold of President Trump.
Mr. Prince appears increasingly likely to challenge John Barrasso, a senior member of the Senate Republican leadership, according to people who have spoken to him in recent days. He has been urged to run next year by Stephen K. Bannon, who is leading the effort to shake up the Republican leadership with financial backing from the New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah.
Over the weekend, Mr. Prince traveled to Wyoming with his family to explore ways to establish residency there, said one person who had spoken to him.
If he runs, Mr. Prince would face formidable obstacles in seeking to unseat Mr. Barrasso, a popular and genial but low-profile senator who will have the full backing of Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and the well-funded political committees loyal to him. Mr. Prince, who has never run for public office, has been a controversial figure for years, as Blackwater faced a welter of ethical and legal problems over its work for the military in places like Iraq, including an episode in 2007 in which its employees killed 17 civilians in Baghdad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/08/us/politics/erik-prince-blackwater-wyoming-senate.html?_r=0
Candidates 2017: Rick Kriseman for Saint Petersburg Mayor
Rick Kriseman was sworn in as the 53rd mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida on January 2, 2014, ushering in a new era for the Sunshine City.
As mayor, he leads an organization of nearly 3,000 employees and a city of nearly 260,000 residents. Under his leadership, St. Pete has been named one of the top places to visit in the world by the New York Times and has been ranked as Florida’s best-managed and fiscally strongest city.
In less than four years, Mayor Kriseman has delivered on his promise to build a new pier and police station, resolve the stalemate with the Rays in order to secure the team’s future in Tampa Bay, establish community-oriented policing, implement curbside recycling, promote small business, and revitalize St. Pete’s neighborhoods through neighborhood partnership grants and blight elimination. Rick is proudest of his administration’s work with community partners to eradicate poverty and increase opportunity throughout South St. Pete.
As part of St. Pete’s ‘City of Opportunity’ initiatives, Mayor Kriseman has provided second chances for minors who commit misdemeanors, raised the minimum wage for city employees, and provided paid parental leave for moms and dads.
The mayor has received considerable recognition for his work to prepare St. Pete for a changing climate and extreme weather, and to transition the city to 100 percent clean energy. He has been a proponent of alternative transportation, spearheading a regional ferry pilot program, funding St. Pete’s first bike share program, supporting ride-share, and adopting a Complete Streets policy.
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https://krisemanformayor.com
White nationalists return to Charlottesville
White nationalists returned to Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday less than two months after one person was killed and dozens were injured when violence broke out after the "Unite the Right" rally.
White nationalist leader, Richard Spencer, led the group of roughly 30 white nationalists, which gathered at Emancipation Park, according to the Charlottesville's CBS affiliate.
he scene was similar to the white nationalist protest in the normally quiet college town last August.
The group carried tiki torches and chanted "You will not replace us," by a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the park. They also reportedly said, "we will be back."
"Hello Charlottesville, we're back and we're going to keep coming back. You will not replace us, you will not erase us," a protester on a megaphone said.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/354415-white-nationalists-return-to-charlottesville?rnd=1507424944
Just got back from Blade Runner 2049 (NO SPOILERS)
There's not much I can say without giving out details, but it is a worthy sequel that cleverly ties up loose ends left by the original Blade Runner.
Inside Danica Roem's Historic Campaign as a Transgender Woman in Trump's America
We’re both still sweating, wiping our foreheads and noses and chins after a blistering heated yoga class, but Danica Roem doesn’t want to shower just yet. Arms crossed, she leans against the wall outside the women’s locker room at a yoga studio in northern Virginia, waiting until it’s empty before she heads in to strip off her drenched black top and gray and white workout pants. “I take long showers,” she tells me. “I always was the last person to take a shower.”
But there’s also this: “In the off-chance that I've been clocked, that someone knows I'm trans, if that person has internal bias about it, I never want anyone to feel uncomfortable around me,” she says. The 32-year-old yoga lover and former local news reporter, who’s running for a seat in the state legislature to represent Prince William County, in northern Virginia, understands how hostile people can be. “I don't feel that my mere presence in the locker room should make anyone feel uncomfortable. Because I'm not out to do anything. But in this political climate ... some people can be extremely negative toward trans folk. I'm personally very, very fortunate. I've never had a problem in the restroom ever. I don't think that trans people should have to do that. This is a cognizant choice that I have made, so that one, I know I'm gonna take the longest shower, so I just let everyone else shower first. That's just out of courtesy. And then, second, is self-preservation.”
If Roem wins in November, she’ll be the first openly transgender person elected and seated to a state legislature, and one of just a small number of out transgender elected officials in the world. Under a president who has made curtailing transgender rights a through-line of his administration — from casually tweeting a ban on transgender service in the military to rescinding guidance for school districts about how to treat trans kids equally under Title IX — it would be a tremendous victory. To complete the cosmic poetry, she’s running against Bob Marshall, one of the most anti-gay legislators in Virginia, a 25-year Republican incumbent who authored the state’s (rejected) iteration of the “bathroom bill,” which aimed to regulate which bathrooms transgender people could use.
Roem is tall, 5’11, and thin, with long brown hair she flips and twirls constantly. The first day I meet her, at her campaign headquarters in Manassas, her face and arms sparkle when they catch the light ("My eye shadow exploded in my purse,” she explains, “so I've got glitter everywhere”). She immediately starts talking — about how she’ll make life better in her district, her purposeful yoga practice, her thrash melodic death metal band, Cab Ride Home — and, save for small stretches of time, doesn’t stop. She’s charming and refreshingly unfiltered, but she’s also blunt: When I don’t immediately speak after she finishes talking, she chastises me: “This is your chance for a follow-up!”
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a12217328/danica-roem-interview-transgender-candidate-virginia/
Donald Trump cost me $20. I gave it to Ralph Northam for Governor.
I wasn't going to get involved in a high-dollar race, but I'm not going to sit out while Moron tweets falsehoods from the toilet. Damn you, Trump, you cost me 20 bucks.
After Las Vegas, Democratic House members donate their past NRA contributions
Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who once held an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and reaped thousands of dollars in donations from the group, donated a matching sum this week to three prominent gun-control organizations.
“It’s time for Congress to act,” Ryan said in a statement. “We cannot accept the notion that living in America means living with mass shootings as a common occurrence.”
Ryan donated about $20,000, split evenly between Americans for Responsible Solutions, Everytown for Gun Safety and Sandy Hook Promise — groups that advocate expanded background checks and other restrictions that are opposed by the NRA.
Another Democrat who had once been in the NRA’s favor, Rep. Tim Walz (Minn.), also donated a sum matching his past NRA contributions this week. Walz, who is running for governor and was under pressure from a Democratic primary opponent, sent $18,000 to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a nonprofit group that helps the families of service members who are killed or severely wounded.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/after-las-vegas-democratic-house-members-donate-their-past-nra-contributions/2017/10/06/f8a373bc-aacc-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html?utm_term=.750da4dbbdcb&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1
Just heard on KQED that 32 Californians were killed in Vegas last weekend
That’s 32 out of the 59 gunned down by a previously “good guy with a gun”. Every member of the California Congressional delegation should be given photos of the poor souls and use our collective weight to get something done.
Betsy DeVos hides from outraged Canadian teachers, cancels Toronto tour after backlash
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican megadonor whose only qualification was lobbying for failed school privatization schemes in Michigan, has rapidly become the most hated member of Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
And her infamy is not limited to the United States. Her unpopularity is such that she cannot even visit schools in other countries without facing protests.
This week, DeVos was scheduled to tour public schools in Toronto, sparking outrage and protests from Canadian teacher groups.
Chris Cowley, president of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation, furiously condemned the visit. “DeVos represents everything a public education advocate opposes,” Crowley said. “She should keep her backwards ideas out of Ontario.”
After the protests began, DeVos canceled the visit, citing “scheduling conflicts” — a common explanation she uses when declining to meet people who might disagree with her.
https://shareblue.com/betsy-devos-hides-from-outraged-canadian-teachers-cancels-toronto-tour-after-backlash/
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