July 1, 2019

Democrats: Stop apologizing!

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton said that half of Trump supporters were a basket of deplorables. Right-wing anger ensued, and Clinton later apologized for stating the truth. Earlier, during the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama stated, “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” He was right: That bitterness is what ultimately led to Donald Trump being elected in 2016. Candidate Obama apologized shortly after the remarks were made public, and the Clinton campaign jumped on them as derogatory—even though he was right, and was actually prescient about 2016.

Recent history is littered with Democrats apologizing for offending delicate Republican sensibilities. Tell the truth about Republicans, and they will whine and complain about it until the Democrat apologizes. It has become a game with Republicans. The conservative movement in this country has gotten so good at demanding apologies that it was able to get a report from the Department of Homeland Security on right-wing extremism (i.e., terrorism) pulled in 2009.

The report called this convergence of factors the “most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States.”
Conservatives went ballistic.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/30/1867362/-Democrats-Stop-apologizing?detail=emaildkre

June 30, 2019

An 8-year-old girl receives gifts from the crows she feeds

Eight-year-old Gabi Mann has been feeding crows in her family's Seattle backyard garden for about four years now. It started as an accident:
Gabi's relationship with the neighbourhood crows began accidentally in 2011. She was four years old, and prone to dropping food. She'd get out of the car, and a chicken nugget would tumble off her lap. A crow would rush in to recover it. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.
As she got older, she rewarded their attention, by sharing her packed lunch on the way to the bus stop. Her brother joined in. Soon, crows were lining up in the afternoon to greet Gabi's bus, hoping for another feeding session.

A couple of years later, Gabi and her sister began setting out food for the crows on a daily basis. It was after this ritual began that gifts started to appear.
The crows would clear the feeder of peanuts, and leave shiny trinkets on the empty tray; an earring, a hinge, a polished rock. There wasn't a pattern. Gifts showed up sporadically - anything shiny and small enough to fit in a crow's mouth.
One time it was a tiny piece of metal with the word "best" printed on it. "I don't know if they still have the part that says 'friend'," Gabi laughs, amused by the thought of a crow wearing a matching necklace.

No doubt, Gabi's collection is quite impressive. She considers them her treasures, and she meticulously stores, labels, and categorizes each object in a bead storage container. One bag contains a broken light bulb with the caption, "Black table by feeder. 2:30 p.m. 09 Nov 2014." Other objects include paperclips, buttons, earrings, and worn glass. One trinket, a screw, is marked as "third favorite," because as Gabi puts it, "You don't see a crow carrying around a screw that much. Unless it's trying to build its house."


Some of the gifts Gabi has gotten over the years
There has been ample research done over the past few decades that show that birds, specifically crows, are considerably more intelligent than first thought.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/03/03/1368072/-An-8-year-old-girl-receives-gifts-from-the-crows-she-feeds?detail=emaildkcc

Short story, no more at link.
Very cool.....

June 29, 2019

Your dog's food may be linked to canine heart disease

(CNN)The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning dog owners of a possible link between certain dog food brands and a serious form of canine heart disease.

The FDA has investigated more than 500 cases of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs eating certain types of food, according to their statement. DCM is a condition that effects a dog's heart and results in an enlarged muscle. Dogs with DCM tire easily, cough, and have difficulty breathing.

When the FDA first alerted the public in 2018 to cases of DCM, the agency didn't mention specific brands; only foods labeled as "grain-free" and containing peas, lentils, other legume seeds and/or potatoes as the main ingredients.
As part of that investigation, the FDA has now identified 16 brands of dog food which had the most frequent reported cases of DCM. The top three brands, according to the FDA, are Acana, named in 67 reports; Zignature, named in 64, and Taste of the Wild, named in 53 reports.

"We know it can be devastating to suddenly learn that your previously healthy pet has a potentially life-threatening disease like DCM. That's why the FDA is committed to continuing our collaborative scientific investigation into the possible link between DCM and certain pet foods," said Dr. Steven M. Solomon, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.




https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/us/dog-food-linked-to-canine-heart-disease/index.html

Oh, great. We cook for our dogs, but also give them the 4-Health kibble. The research we did said it was one of the highest quality foods. Guess its back to the drawing board. Great Pyrenees have a short enough life span already.

Note: I believe the recall clip on this site is from last year. I couldn't find it anywhere else that is recent.

June 27, 2019

Trump claims Mueller a criminal, is 'very happy' McCain is dead,

and Fed chief is 'a pu— '

There is no bottom.

In an interview today with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo, Donald Trump went on an extended rant that included repeating claims that his campaign was spied on, claiming that Robert Mueller “illegally terminated the emails,” and declaring that the Federal Reserve chair isn’t a tough guy but … something not so tough. And then Trump moved to the stage at a meeting of the Christian organization Faith and Freedom Coalition and informed the Christian crowd that, if he hadn’t won in 2016, Iran would have conquered the entire Middle East. And, most Christian of all, he expressed his hope that John McCain is in hell.

The Bartiromo interview alone might have been enough to send the staff of any normal executive scrambling for a copy of the Constitution and looking up the steps involved in exercising the 25th Amendment. Trump started off by claiming that the FBI and the Department of Justice “got caught spying” on his campaign and that “now they’re running around going wild.” Then he went on to explain how he’s beating up China and scoring billions of tariff dollars that “we’re not paying anything for.” But when it comes to Mexico and Canada, “we gave them a big break, we didn’t have to, but a lot of people in Congress said ‘Please, please give them a break.’ Why they said that, who knows? I decided to go along, because some people in Congress really like me, so I decided to go along.” Who knows? But we did it. Because people really like me.

And then there’s the part where Trump attacked Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell: “I have the right to demote him” and “I have the right to fire him. Here’s a guy—nobody ever heard of him before,” said Trump. “And now, I made him, and he wants to show how tough he is. Okay, let him show how tough he is. He’s a pu— … He’s a … He’s not doing a good job.” And really, the fact that Trump was alert enough to stop himself from saying what he started to say was the high point of the whole interview. Then Trump claimed that the reason we don’t know about the crimes committed by the FBI is that Mueller "terminated the emails. He terminated them. They're gone. And that's illegal. That's a crime."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/26/1867432/-Trump-claims-Mueller-a-criminal-very-happy-McCain-is-dead-and-Fed-chief-is-a-pu-not-tough?detail=emaildkre

OMG!! The man is coming right out an saying he hopes McCain is burning in hell.

June 27, 2019

The World's first Guitar shaped Building : Giant Glass Tower : Seminole Hard Rock

Wowza!

June 26, 2019

Dad Gets Tattoo to Match Son's Heart Surgery Scar

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After his 6-year-old son went under the knife for heart surgery, this dad went under the needle to help his boy feel more comfortable with his scar.

Martin Watts' son Joey was diagnosed with supravalvular aortic stenosis, a birth defect that develops before birth. It impedes the blood flow to the heart and the rest of the body. Joey's parents were given his diagnosis when he was 14 weeks old.

“It’s not easy for a 6-year-old boy or any child of any age to have that type of surgery,” mom Leanne Watts told SWNS. “When Joey saw the scar, he just said, ‘Is this where they have cut me to fix my heart?’ We’ve told him it should be something to be proud of and he shouldn’t be ashamed by what has happened to him.”

Joey had an 8-hour procedure in May and was discharged a few days later. Leanne said he is recovering well but will need more work done in the future.

To help Joey cope with his new marking, Martin got a tattoo on his chest that resembles the scar Joey now bares.

Leanne said Martin's new ink helps Joey feel better about what he's going through.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. It just shows him it’s nothing to be scared of and that he should be proud of what he has achieved in life,” she said.

But the new tattoo isn't just helping Joey. The couple's older son, Harley, also has the condition and will undergo the same surgery later this year. Unlike Joey, Harley was diagnosed while he was still in utero.

“From when they were first born, [doctors] told me there was nothing they could do, we would just have to live with it,” Leanne said. “I was told they could both pass away at any given point. Joey’s condition progressed rapidly. They said if we didn’t try something now the inevitable will be sooner rather than later.”

But Leanna is hopeful that her boys will pull through their diagnoses.

“You take comfort from the way surgeons at Leeds handled things with Joey,” she said. “It will be just as scary but they have given you reason to believe. I thought superheroes wore capes, they don’t, they wear surgical scrubs and gowns."

(No more at link)
https://www.insideedition.com/dad-gets-tattoo-match-sons-heart-surgery-scar-53906

June 26, 2019

Technical question on sound

I suddenly have a problem with video clips playing on DU. There is no sound. No problem with sound on any other site, so why just this one?

thanks!

June 26, 2019

On this date 143 years ago, America began creating the Custer myth

Much of which survives today

?

“Maka ki ecela tehani yanke lo!” —The war cry of Crazy Horse (Tȟašúŋke Witkó). Translation: “Only the Earth lasts forever.” (1876)

"There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry." George Armstrong Custer (1876)

The Custer Myth is a living thing, which refuses to die despite the efforts of careful historians to reduce it to uncontroverted facts. Almost everything about it is in some degree disputed."
—The Custer Myth, by William A. Graham (1953)

On June 25, 1876, the Custer myth got its start as Sioux (Lakota, Dakota), Cheyenne (Tsitsistas), and Arapaho (Hinono'eino) warriors defended themselves and their families against the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry in Medicine Tail Coulee and the surrounding area on the Greasy Grass River (Little Big Horn) in Montana Territory. When the shooting was over, five companies of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's command had been wiped out, with 262 men dead and 68 wounded, half the entire 586-soldier battalion. So startling was the Native victory that when Crow (Apsáalooke) scouts who had been riding with Custer met up with Gen. Alfred Terry the day after the fight and told him what they had seen, he refused to believe them.

So why even care about this event from the distant past in which all the participants and most of the children of every participant are long dead? Because the myth continues today to have a stereotyping impact, warping how non-indigenous Americans view Indians, not just the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, but all Indians.

Since that June day 143 years ago, hundreds of books, most of them bad and some of them brimful of outright lies from beginning to end, and more than 50 movies, most of them dreadful, have kept the myth (or collection of myths) flourishing except among the best scholars. A good deal of this was spun into being by Libby Bacon Custer, the brevet general’s widow, who wrote three books glorifying her husband and transforming him from a reckless, aggressively ambitious military politician into a heroic legend. For most Americans historically, and many still today, Custer’s “last stand” represents the most important part of the story passed down over the decades, the Indian side of what happened as well as contrary white survivors’ versions ignored or denigrated.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/25/1867186/-On-this-date-143-years-ago-America-began-creating-the-Custer-myth-much-of-which-survives-today?detail=emaildkre

Really interesting article. I will look up some of the books mentioned.

June 26, 2019

Democratic bigwigs fear debates will devolve into horror show

The prospect of taking on a sitting president after a months-long internal bloodbath is keeping many Democrats up at night.

Interviews with nearly 20 Democratic elected officials, party chiefs, labor leaders and operatives the past week revealed an air of foreboding verging on alarm that the debates will degenerate into a two-night, bare-knuckle brawl. With the divisive 2016 Democratic primary fresh in their minds and the current presidential candidates starting to take swipes at one another, the fear is that voters will be left with the impression of a bickering, small-minded opposition party.

“I’m worried it’s going to be a scrum — a lot of people trying to score points on each other and looking like scoring points was more important than communicating with the American people,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and a member of the Democratic National Committee. “That circular firing squad is not going to help save our democracy or help working families.”

There are a few reasons Democrats think the presidential hopefuls — after pulling their punches for months — might escalate their attacks on Wednesday and Thursday. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s rivals have increasingly shown a willingness to take him on, especially over his recent remarks about working with segregationists in Congress during his time in the Senate.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/25/democrats-2020-debates-1378848

I'm afraid of this too. It will not help our cause at all. And tRump will certainly be using it to his advantage.

June 24, 2019

China is Forcibly Harvesting Organs from Religious Detainees

More factual than the usual urban legend in the U.S.


This latest report details a sustained and widespread practice of human rights abuses targeting religious minorities and prisoners of conscience. The alleged victims include those practicing the spiritual meditative practice known as Falun Gong in addition to Uyghur Muslims, some Tibetan Buddhists and House Church Christians.

“The conclusion shows that very many people have died indescribably hideous deaths for no reason, that more may suffer in similar ways and that all of us live on a planet where extreme wickedness may be found in the power of those, for the time being, running a country with one of the oldest civilizations known to modern man,” Sir Geoffrey Nice QC said. “There is no evidence of the practice having been stopped and the tribunal is satisfied that it is continuing.”

The Tribunal arrived at these damning conclusions after examining organ donation accounts and noticing that the figures just don’t add up.

An analysis from a 10 day period in 2016 of one province’s data sets appears to show that, although only 30 donors were officially recorded in medical records, 640 organs were transplanted. The analysis notes that would mean each donor would have provided 21 body parts on average, a figure that just isn’t credible.


https://www.care2.com/causes/china-is-forcibly-harvesting-organs-from-religious-detainees.html