turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalNRA threatens legal action over Virgin Islands firearm confiscation order
Source: The Hill
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is threatening legal action to stop a seizure of guns and ammunition by U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp (I) ahead of Hurricane Irma, the group said Tuesday.
"People need the ability to protect themselves during times of natural disaster," said Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA'S Institute for Legislative Action. "This dangerous order violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens and puts their lives at risk."
In an order on Monday, Mapp activated the National Guard to "restore public order, and to guarantee the safety of life and property" in anticipation of the hurricane, the Daily Caller first reported.
The order authorizes and instructs the islands' adjutant general to seize "arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material, and any other property that may be required by the military forces for the performance of this emergency mission," as approved by the territory's Department of Justice.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/349305-nra-condemns-us-virgin-island-firearm-confiscation-plan
FU............................ NRA your f*cking logic is that if the government collapses during this event, that its just fine to lock and load---------------FU because your paranoid logic, when people will be dying in mud slides, and flooding.....................
Deep Purple-Child in Time
?list=RDjJnhdBpoBKMWhat is your problem? MSNBCs Hallie Jackson spanks DACA opponent Kris Kobach
Kris Kobach for lying about Dreamers.....................
West failing to tackle Russian hacking and fake news, says Latvia
The west is failing to get to grips with Russian hacking and fake news, the Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has said.
Speaking on a visit to London, Rinkēvičs said there was increasing evidence that Russia was automating disinformation on social media. Pointing to new Nato-sponsored research showing more than five times the number of Russian language tweets sent in Latvia concerning Nato came from bots, instead of from individuals. The figure in Estonia was nine times as many. He described the tactic as ”very systematic and a new way to spread propaganda amongst young people”.
He urged US Congress to press ahead with its inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, saying “it is essential for all US allies to understand the mechanics of how you combine cyber attack and then use it as [an] information weapon to influence people’s opinions”.
Rinkēvičs said: “If you have hacking, fake news with a purpose, it is very difficult to react. We can find out what happened, but it is very difficult to prove. The whole law in this area needs addressing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/05/west-failing-to-tackle-russian-hacking-and-fake-news-says-latvia
Why hasn't the dubious republicans held any more open committee hearings on this issue-------------------they have held none
The last one 3/30/2017 had this:
And then we had this:
Most Native Americans live in cities, not reservations. Here are their stories
As I left my small, remote hometown of Joseph, Oregon, driving two hours to the nearest airport to fly south, I thought about my father, a Caddo/Delaware Native American man who spent most of his life in the Bay Area.
Dad arrived in California as a child due to the assimilation policies enacted by the US government in the 1950s, which forcefully relocated Native Americans from their land into urban areas to become “productive” members of society. It also intentionally placed Indian orphans into the homes of white families. Today, 78% of Native Americans live off-reservation, and 72% live in urban or suburban environments.
Those policies had devastating effects. Relocated tribal members became isolated from their communities. Low paying jobs and higher expenses, combined with the inability to return to reservations which had often been dissolved, left many in precarious circumstances.
In the case of my dad, this translated to growing up on the rough streets of Richmond, CA, and spending much of his life burying his trauma at the bottom of a bottle. He was orphaned twice; first when my Native grandmother died in our tribal territory, then when his adopted white mother passed when he was 16. Dad never knew who his birth father was, and his adopted father was also an alcoholic who died not many years after his wife.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/native-americans-stories-california
Trump's voter suppression efforts must be defeated. Here's one thing we can do Russ Feingold
So much news in the US recently has been upsetting, and rarely uplifting; but the champions of voting rights have reasons to be both aghast at recent headlines and encouraged by them. On the one hand, the Trump-Pence “election integrity” commission’s every move continues to underscore concerns that it is driving at 90mph towards national voter suppression. Then there is the sudden decision by Donald Trump and attorney general Jeff Session’s Department of Justice to support purging voter rolls in Ohio. It’s enough to make voters feel like they have a target on their back.
Trump commission can resume collecting voter data, federal judge rules
Read more
On the other hand, Rhode Island recently became the ninth state to enact AVR – automatic voter registration – and on 28 August Illinois became the 10th when its Republican governor signed the bill into law. While the federal government perpetuates myths and conspiracies in an effort to justify taking the vote away from citizens, more and more states are taking local action to strengthen and protect this most fundamental democratic right.
Roughly 41% of eligible voters didn’t vote in the 2016 election. Such low voter participation is a significant dent in the credibility and legitimacy of our elections. Our government gains its legitimacy by being representative of the people, but if the reality is that it only represents a little more than half of eligible voters, that premise is shaky.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/05/forget-purging-voter-rolls-improve-democracys-legitimacy
Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why?
Children playing feet away from open pools of raw sewage; drinking water pumped beside cracked pipes of untreated waste; human faeces flushed back into kitchen sinks and bathtubs whenever the rains come; people testing positive for hookworm, an intestinal parasite that thrives on extreme poverty.
Pittsburgh officials may have 'deflected' attention from lead-contaminated water
Read more
These are the findings of a new study into endemic tropical diseases, not in places usually associated with them in the developing world of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, but in a corner of the richest nation on Earth: Alabama.
Scientists in Houston, Texas, have lifted the lid on one of America’s darkest and deepest secrets: that hidden beneath fabulous wealth, the US tolerates poverty-related illness at levels comparable to the world’s poorest countries. More than one in three people sampled in a low-income area of Alabama tested positive for traces of hookworm, a gastrointestinal parasite that was thought to have been eradicated from the US decades ago.
The long-awaited findings, revealed by the Guardian for the first time, are a wake-up call for the world’s only superpower as it grapples with growing inequality. Donald Trump has promised to “Make America Great Again” and tackle the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, but he has said very little about enduring chronic poverty, particularly in the southern states.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty
This is outrageous...............
STEELY DAN - Reelin in the Years (1973)
An excellent guitarist great songwriter: Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker dead at 67
Source: Raw Story
Walter Becker, co-founder of the legendary Steely Dan, has died at age 67.
According to Variety, the death of the guitarist/bassist of the band that was a radio staple during the 70’s was announced on his website
As Variety notes about Becker and co-founder Donald Fagen, “The pair’s gimlet-eyed, covertly perverse music, garbed in gleaming pop melodies, bebop-derived harmonies and shimmering production, was variously performed with a core working band in the group’s initial heyday; those players were ultimately, and permanently, supplanted by a rotating cast of mostly jazz-schooled studio sidemen.”
In a statement, (see below) Fagen complimented his long-time partner as “An excellent guitarist — great songwriter”
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/an-excellent-guitarist-great-songwriter-steely-dan-co-founder-walter-becker-dead-at-67/
Now I am depressed.........................
Labor unions are trying to take back politics in the Midwest
Source: Think Progress
On Labor Day — designated a federal holiday in 1894 to honor America’s labor movement — at least eight Democratic candidates will hold rallies in five Midwest cities to tell workers just how far the country has veered from its pro-labor roots.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) has helped turn the state red by decimating public-sector unions. In Iowa, Republicans rolled back an increase in the minimum wage in March. Just last week, Illinois’ Republican governor vetoed a bill that would have raised the minimum wage. And Republican governors in Michigan and Ohio have also pushed for regulations that would cripple workers.
In 2018, each will face challenges from unconventional, labor-aligned candidates inspired to run by President Trump’s election and the decline of pro-worker lawmakers, which has resulted in a political system in the Rust Belt that favors the wealthy over the working class. Each candidate will center their campaigns on their support for a $15 minimum wage, progressive health care, and pro-union policies.
Cathy Glasson, a registered nurse and union leader in Iowa who will officially announce after Labor Day her campaign for governor in 2018, said that before this year, she had never considered running for elected office.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/labor-unions-midwest-eeae1de51e34/
Here is a list of candidates for each state..................
https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_candidates_running_in_U.S._Congress_elections,_2018#tab=Wisconsin
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