RandomAccess
RandomAccess's JournalMore volcanic action
I'm just fascinated by Kilauea -- here are a few more vids
Hawaii Lava Threatens To Block Remaining Roads For Evacuation | NBC Nightly News
Lava flows VS Streets in Hawaii (May 25, 2018)
Dr. Guillen: Kilauea volcano is officially a triple threat
Hawaii Volcano Eruption Update - Saturday Morning (May 26, 2018)
Volcano spews lava bombs as Hawaiian residents flee area
UPDATE: Hawaii on Pohoiki Road Massive crack in the road is getting bigger in Leilani estates
Stacey Abrams' Roadmap for Red State Elections
Abrams really showed us how to do it. I wish this article went into more depth on her actual campaign strategies and tactics. I heard her interviewed the other day and was simply aghast at how smart and how hard they worked. But it's got some good info in it anyway.
Time to get rid of those old playbooks! We've seen decades of running Republican Lite fail, and it's time for a new way forward.
Stacey Abrams’ Campaign Is A Road Map For Democrats In Red States
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-anoa-stacey-abrams_us_5b05c7b2e4b05f0fc8444251
On Tuesday night, former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams became the Democratic nominee for governor, defeating her primary opponent Stacey Evans by over 50 points, claiming victories in urban and rural counties alike and far exceeding even the most generous poll predictions. If Abrams goes on to win the general election in November, she would become the first African-American woman to become governor in any state.
Yet Abrams’ win should not be limited only to conversations about historical firsts. The success of Abrams’ campaign should be a mandate for the future of Democratic politics and campaigns.
Given the choice between the same failing Democratic playbook of trying to win over moderate conservatives and a bold vision grounded in building a new winning coalition, voters overwhelmingly chose the latter. And by both mobilizing the existing base of the Democratic party and expanding on that coalition by engaging new voters, Abrams reduced the turnout gap between Republican and Democratic voters to just 54,000 votes ― compared to nearly 300,000 the last time both primaries were contested, in 2010.
Sixteen years ago, Republicans dealt a historic blow to Democratic control in Georgia, unseating Sen. Max Cleland and Gov. Roy Barnes, the first time the Democrats had lost that position in more than a century. Since then, Democrats have been trying to win back the voters who left the party in the 1990s. Candidates such as Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter sought to appeal to moderate Republicans in hopes of closing the gap statewide. Yet, there is little to no indication that Republicans are willing to vote Democratic in significant enough numbers to justify continuing to invest in that strategy.
“The approach of trying to create a coalition that is centered around converting Republicans has failed Democrats in the state of Georgia for the last 15 years,” Abrams recently told The New York Times.
Repeating the same thing but expecting a different result is madness. Democrats need to build a coalition based on the Georgia we have today, one that has increasingly grown more diverse since that 2002 sea change.
MORE: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-anoa-stacey-abrams_us_5b05c7b2e4b05f0fc8444251
https://twitter.com/AndrewGillum/status/999652460124868608
ICE sins
These people are Trump's storm troopers, I'm telling you. They NEED to be brought under control. This isn't a new video -- Sept 2017 -- but it amply demonstrates a LOT that's wrong with DHS employees if they are indeed DHS Border Patrol or ICE or whatever. They are thugs. And their behavior -- and appearance -- in this video are unconscionable IMO.
ICE agents approach Latino U.S. citizen, mistake him for undocumented immigrant
Border patrol stop American women for speaking Spanish - Daily Mail
And this is kinda disgusting too, when you watch it for a bit:
Border Patrol asks travelers, 'Are you a U.S. citizen?'
Just had a thought re tomorrow's meeting
What if Rosenstein is doing this with Mueller's blessing -- and they're basically laying a trap for these Congressmen and the White House on Obstruction of Justice?
Too crazy to be plausible??
Email this morning from Stacey Abrams, Dem Candidate for Gov of GA
You did it. Team Abrams just won our primary election, and this victory belongs to you.
The retiree returning to knock on a few more doors before sundown. The Kroger florist who uses her day off to make phone calls. The high schooler who watched elected officials do nothing after Parkland but knew that he could – that he must – do more.
Everyone who stood with us and fought for progress in the face of doubt.
Everyone who believed that a little Black girl who sometimes had to go without lights or running water – who grew up to become the first woman to lead in the Georgia General Assembly – could become the first woman gubernatorial nominee from either party in Georgia's history.
When the world said "no," you joined our campaign. When the pundits pushed back, you shared our vision with your friends. And when logic whispered that what we've accomplished could never be because history had never made it so, you imagined more for Georgia.
You did it because you believed in me. And I'm running because I believe in you.
I believe in our state, and I believe in our ability to imagine more. I believe that every part of Georgia is brimming with promise and untapped potential. But for too many of us, the question of our future remains unanswered. Not because we don't try – but because our leaders never asked.
For 11 months, I asked. Tonight, you answered.
Tonight, communities that are so often overlooked – whose values are never voiced – stood with us to say: Ours is the Georgia of tomorrow. A state where diversity is a strength. A state where progress is more than possible. A state where everyone has the freedom and opportunity to thrive. A state where equal opportunity is our truth, not their buzzwords.
We proved that an unmuted voice can shake the foundations of an "immutable" status quo. We showed the nation that there is power in our voices, and there is power in our feet.
Tonight's victory was only the beginning. The road to November will be long and tough, but the next step is one we take together.
From the bottom of my heart: Thank you for walking with me. I am so grateful for your continued support in the months ahead.
Onward to November,
Stacey Abrams
I hate Civil Forfeiture -- it's fascist and unConstitutional
Our Civil Asset Forfeiture Nightmare – By Brian Krassenstein & Edward Krassenstein
http://ir.net/news/politics/128264/ed-krassenstein-brian-krassenstein/
Edward Krassenstein and Brian Krassenstein were victims of civil asset forfeiture in the United States in 2016. They have decided to tell their full story for two reasons: 1) To convince our representatives in Congress that such laws, which are currently being praised and possibly expanded upon by current Attorney General Jeff Sessions, are unjust and 2) To set the record straight after the ordeal they and their families have had to go through. Here’s their story (written by both of them, told from the perspective of Brian):
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Another nightmare scenario. You've read them. This one's little different from the others except that the victims had the financial wherewithal to fight back and eventually mostly win.
Live volcano action -
Seems to me bigger, louder than when I watched this live cam for a bit yesterday afternoon. And at this hour, it's dark there.
https://www.cnn.com/specials/live-video-1
A few words about the British monarchy
I've never been much of a Royals watcher, but Diana's death hit me hard for some reason.
A friend I used to have had been a fan and follower and anglophile for many years. I said to her once, about 20 years ago, that I didn't see why Elizabeth didn't just retire and let Charles have the throne. She said, "Oh, no!! She would never do that." She went on to explain that the abdication of King Edward VIII, which left her father on the throne, had deeply affected the country and Elizabeth would never step down. Never. She saw it as her duty to stay on the throne.
I found that very odd, but accepted her explanation. I still find it a bit odd, but have learned a little more in the meantime.
Downton Abbey was one source for that learning. As most of you probably know, it was a fictional series about an aristocratic family in the early 20th Century. There too I learned a little about the sense of "duty" that these aristocrats felt toward the town that relied on them. It was economic duty, but more than that. They were looked upon as leaders and had to live up to that and fulfill those obligations. For example, they had periodic events at the Abbey where they invited the townspeople and surrounding area folks to join them.
Yes, yes, yes, I know all about wealth and class inequality and how shameful that all is, and so on and so forth. This isn't an argument against that. MY POINT is that there's yet another dimension to this whole royalty and aristocracy thing than a lot of people understand, certainly than I understood.
The final part of the lesson for me was from Elizabeth herself. I saw a film clip of her at age 21 giving an address to the people of the U.K. (by radio) pledging that whether her life would be long or short, she would devote all of it to serving them. Again, I thought it odd that she or any royal felt she was serving them, but -- that's the way it is, and was, and it wasn't just something they made up, or lip service. I think we need to honor that (even if I can't quite understand it!).
She also served in the military, btw -- learned to drive and repair jeeps!
She became queen suddenly at age 25 when her father died unexpectedly in his sleep, and frankly has done a masterful job of reigning for these 60 odd years -- the longest reigning monarch in British history.
The people of the United Kingdom love their monarchy. They have the ability to end if if and when they please. They so far have chosen not to. I think their choice should be honored. They're doing just fine with their monarchy, and based on this past weekend's events, even have a beautiful lesson or two or ten to share with the rest of the world.
We all need to speak up: NO ONE is holding Trump accountable in any way
Well, TBH the courts are and the 4th estate is doing - eh, okay, but the BIG piece of the checks-and-balances puzzle falling down on the job is Congress.
PLEASE. Let's all start holding our Congresspeople accountable for not fulfilling their jobs, for not honoring their oaths of office. Trump is ruining the country, the government, our foreign relations, everything, and breaking the laws daily to boot. WE HAVE TO SPEAK UP AND TELL THEM TO GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER and do their jobs.
(And if you have Dems in Congress, they ALL could be doing better too -- are they pressuring their GOP colleagues enough? Or they introducing enough bills? Are they COUNTERING THE LIES at the top of their lungs? Are they doing what they can to get in front of cameras -- and not just C-Span cameras -- to help COUNTER THE LIES so that Sarah's lies and Trump's lies about 6 gazillion things don't go unchallenged, as they mostly have been. Lots more they can and should do. Lots.)
Here are the easiest, quickest ways I know of to do this:
Call 24/7: 202-224-3121
Free Faxes (can incl up to 3 pages attached) to Senators: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
Free Faxes (ditto) to Congress: https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php
TEXT your faxes: Text RESIST to 50409
Write your MoC - DEMOCRACY.IO https://democracy.io/#/
Thank you.
People on Mars by 2024 ??
IMO that's way too soon. But I'll be honest: I'm totally biased against the whole thing. Not that I disapprove, just that I'm totally creeped out by the whole idea. And this article does nothing to assuage that at all (but it's a fascinating article, nonetheless). I'm just creeped out by the idea of taking a one-way trip to someplace like that. That's it -- one way only, with NO prospect of EVER getting to come back "home."
I mentioned that once before and someone responded that that's what people were facing when they came to the New World but it's categorically different by an order of magnitude in my book. In the New World instance, it might have been improbable, maybe even nearly impossible, but definitely not totally, completely, no way in hell impossible.
In any case --
In recent years, Elon Musk has said his rocket company, SpaceX, is working toward colonizing Mars with 1 million people. His "aspirational" timeline is to launch an uncrewed Big Falcon Rocket in 2022, followed by the first human landing in 2024.
. . .
Mars is a far more difficult challenge to survive. The red planet is an average of 158 million miles away from Earth, with a small window — just once every 26 months— to launch a relatively quick multi-month mission. Any hiccup in an infrequent supply chain of fresh air, food, and water, such as a launchpad explosion, might doom unprepared explorers.
"If you are stranded there, you need a lot of redundancy so you don't starve to death,'" Phil Sadler, a botanist-turned-machinist in Arizona, told Business Insider. "That's the worst-case scenario you can have, is a crew of six people on Mars calling back saying, 'We're starving to death, we're dying, we just ate Bob.'"
http://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-plants-air-food-water-life-support-2018-5
Needless to say, I'm not a risk-taker to start with, but I can't even IMAGINE the degree of risk-takingness this would require. IMO you'd have to have a death wish to be among the first.
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