herding cats
herding cats's JournalEllen Page Grills Ted Cruz About LGBT Rights At Iowa State Fair w/video
In video posted online by ABC News, Page, clad in a hat and sunglasses, asks Cruz about LGBT discrimination and rights.
"What about the question about LGBT people being fired for being gay-trans?" Page asked the Republican.
"What we’re seeing right now, we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith," Cruz said.
The candidate tried to shut down the impromptu interview by saying he didn't want to have a "back-and-forth debate," but the "Juno" star soldiered on.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-ellen-page-iowa-state-fair
First wolf pack in decades spotted in Northern California
Source: Washington Post
California has its first wolf pack since the state’s gray wolf population went extinct in 1924.
State and federal authorities announced Thursday that a remote camera captured photos earlier this month of two adults and five pups in southeastern Siskiyou County.
They were named the Shasta pack for nearby Mount Shasta.
The pack was discovered four years after the famous Oregon wandering wolf OR-7 first reached Northern California.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/first-wolf-pack-in-decades-spotted-in-northern-california/2015/08/20/41cc036a-4774-11e5-9f53-d1e3ddfd0cda_story.html
Costco and CP Foods face lawsuit over alleged slavery in prawn supply chain
Source: The Guardian
Three California law firms are seeking an injunction to stop the US retail chain Costco selling prawns unless they are labelled as the produce of slavery.
The firms have filed a class action lawsuit against Costco and its Thai seafood supplier, alleging that Costco knowingly sold prawns from a supply chain tainted by slavery.
The claim, lodged in the federal court in San Francisco on Wednesday, alleges that Costco has for several years bought and resold farmed prawns from the leading Thai food group CP Foods, and other companies, that have sourced the raw material for their feed from ships manned by slaves.
The plaintiff in the class action is a California resident, Monica Sud, who has bought prawns from the membership-based wholesale grocer, but the class action potentially affects millions of customers in California, America’s most populous state.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/19/costco-cp-foods-lawsuit-alleged-slavery-prawn-supply-chain
UPDATE: Rosie O'Donnell Says Her 17-Year-Old Daughter, Chelsea, FOUND.
UPDATE:
Rosie O'Donnell's 17-year-old daughter Chelsea has been found, she announced on Twitter on Tuesday evening, hours after announcing that she was missing.
"Chelsea has been found and is safe in police custody -- thank u all for the help and light #missingchildren," she wrote late Tuesday.
O'Donnell's rep also told ABC News that “Rosie wants to thank everyone for their help, especially the South Nyack, N.Y., and Barnegat Light, N.J., police departments."
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/rosie-odonnell-daughter-chelsea-found/story?id=33158499
Chelsea O'Donnell was last seen a week ago, the TV personality said in a post to her website. She said the girl "stopped taking her medicine and is in need of medical attention," and was last seen with her therapy dog.
Police were looking for Chelsea O'Donnell in the New York suburbs. Rosie O'Donnell has a home in Nyack, police there said.
"Chelsea, like millions of people, lives with mental illness," said Cindi Berger, a spokeswoman for Rosie O'Donnell. "It has been a difficult road for Chelsea and her family and they just want her back safe."
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Anyone with information on the girl's whereabouts was asked to call 845-358-0206
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rosie-odonnell-says-her-17-year-old-daughter-chelsea-missing-n411846
Hopefully she'll be found soon now that the word is getting out.
Krugman: Republicans Against Retirement
The issue in question is the future of Social Security, which turned 80 last week. The retirement program is, of course, both extremely popular and a long-term target of conservatives, who want to kill it precisely because its popularity helps legitimize government action in general. As the right-wing activist Stephen Moore (now chief economist of the Heritage Foundation) once declared, Social Security is “the soft underbelly of the welfare state”; “jab your spear through that” and you can undermine the whole thing.
But that was a decade ago, during former President George W. Bush’s attempt to privatize the program — and what Mr. Bush learned was that the underbelly wasn’t that soft after all. Despite the political momentum coming from the G.O.P.’s victory in the 2004 election, despite support from much of the media establishment, the assault on Social Security quickly crashed and burned. Voters, it turns out, like Social Security as it is, and don’t want it cut.
It’s remarkable, then, that most of the Republicans who would be president seem to be lining up for another round of punishment. In particular, they’ve been declaring that the retirement age — which has already been pushed up from 65 to 66, and is scheduled to rise to 67 — should go up even further.
Thus, Jeb Bush says that the retirement age should be pushed back to “68 or 70”. Scott Walker has echoed that position. Marco Rubio wants both to raise the retirement age and to cut benefits for higher-income seniors. Rand Paul wants to raise the retirement age to 70 and means-test benefits. Ted Cruz wants to revive the Bush privatization plan.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/opinion/republicans-against-retirement.html
China explosions: death toll rises to 50 as troops dispatched to assist cleanup
Source: The Guardian
Elite military units trained to deal with chemical, nuclear and biological disasters have been dispatched to the site of a deadly explosion in northern China, where fires still smouldered in a landscape of destruction more than a day after the original devastating blasts.
At least 50 deaths have been confirmed and 701 people admitted to hospital with injuries – 71 of those said to be “severe” – after a fire at warehouse containing “dangerous chemicals” sparked a series of blasts on Wednesday night.
Beijing vowed to deploy “every resource available” to help survivors, as environment groups warned that some of the substances handled near the site of the blast were both toxic and explosive, and said the government needed to keep people informed about risks of pollution.
Four vehicles carrying more than 200 soldiers trained to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical catastrophes were dispatched to Tianjin, which is around 100 miles from Beijing.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/tianjin-explosions-china-sends-troops-cleanup
The series of explosions in the port city of Tianjin – which killed at least 50 and injured hundreds – could leave the region facing huge environmental impacts, according to an analysis of information from the local environmental monitoring station.
The explosion is the latest – and by far the most dramatic – in a series of seven chemical plant blasts so far this year including explosions in the provinces of Jiangsu, Fujian and Shandong according to media reports. There are also reports this evening of a further – smaller – explosion at a boiler factory in northern China.
The Tianjin Tanggu Environmental Monitoring Station data suggests hazardous chemicals stored by the company include sodium cyanide (NaCN), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and calcium carbide (CaC2), all of which are extremely hazardous to health.
Sodium cyanide is highly toxic whilst toluene diisocyanate and calcium carbide react violently with water – a further potential hazard with rain forecast for the region over the next 24 hours.
http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/08/13/tianjin-latest-chinese-chemical-plant-explosion-risks-massive-health-impacts/
China blasts: Shipment explodes in Tianjin port UPDATED
Source: BBC
Updated Article:
Massive explosions have hit China's northern port city of Tianjin, reportedly injuring many people.
According to Chinese state media, the blasts occurred when a shipment of explosives blew up at about 23:30 (16:30 GMT).
Pictures and video shared on social media showed flames lighting up the sky and damage to nearby buildings.
Latest reports in state media suggest that hundreds of people have been taken to hospital.
The first explosion was followed by another 30 seconds later.
Previous content at link:
According to Chinese state media, the explosion occurred when a shipment of explosives blew up at about 23:30 (16:30 GMT).
Pictures and video shared on social media showed flames lighting up the sky and damage to nearby buildings.
At least 50 people have been admitted to hospital, according to state news agency Xinhua.
It added that a fire started by the explosion was "under control" but said two firefighters were missing.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33896292
Previous headline: China Tianjin blast: China blasts: Shipment explodes in Tianjin port
Video of explosion:
Hundreds of people have been injured by a massive explosion at an industrial port in Tianjin in north-east China, caused by a shipment of explosives that went up in flames.
Three or four hundred people arrived at the Tianjin harbour hospital after the blast, some in ambulances and some on their own, the Beijing News reported, quoting an unnamed medic who works there.
An employee of another hospital also said the emergency department was full, and staff are trying to contact all their doctors, the paper reported.
“The hospital cannot count how many patients we have received – there are too many of them and many of them have burn injuries,” said one doctor at another hospital, who had been called back from a conference in Beijing to treat the injured.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/12/explosion-chinese-port-city-tianjin
Google searches for the first 50 minutes of the GOP debate
http://fivethirtyeight.com/liveblogs/2016-election-first-republican-presidential-debate/
The GOP/Koch are going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow to get their preferred candidates in the spotlight.
Get Your Free Tacos Tonight, Courtesy of Donald Trump
http://www.wired.com/2015/08/free-tacos-trump/So far its up to one free taco!
From the early GOP debate via Twitter-Rick Santorum trying to make a point today
I can't embed this, but it's worth it to click on the link.
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CLwjKUGUMAEYp3z.mp4
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