Doug the Dem
Doug the Dem's JournalJapanese minister Taro Aso praises Hitler, saying he had 'right motives'
Source: The Guardian
Wednesday 30 August 2017 00.46 EDT
Japan’s finance minister, Taro Aso, has courted fresh controversy after expressing admiration for the Nazis, describing Adolf Hitler as “having the right motives”.
“Hitler, who killed millions of people, was no good even if his motive was right,” Aso told a meeting of his faction of the governing Liberal Democratic party, according to Jiji Press.
Aso retracted the comments on Wednesday after criticism that he appeared to be defending Hitler’s motives for the genocide of millions of Jews during the second world war.
“It is clear from my overall remarks that I regard Hitler in extremely negative terms, and it’s clear that his motives were also wrong,” Aso said in a statement, adding that he did not intend to defend Hitler, but to stress the importance of politicians achieving results.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/30/japan-minister-tara-aso-praises-hitler-right-motives
Aso? Asshole!
Western Louisiana in crosshairs as Harvey moves back to land
Source: Associated Press
By JEFF AMY and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
1 hour ago
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — Western Louisiana residents braced for more wind and water Wednesday as Tropical Storm Harvey headed their way after dumping record rainfall on Texas.
National Weather Service meteorologists expect the deadly storm to make another landfall early Wednesday in southwestern Louisiana, after it lingered over Texas for days before meandering back into the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters say another 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain could fall in western Louisiana.
“We are starting to get down to the end of the tunnel of all this rain,” Meteorologist Roger Erickson said.
Read more: https://apnews.com/b4104cd2cd0647c898899f17de189a79/Western-Louisiana-in-crosshairs-as-Harvey-moves-back-to-land
Harvey goes in, withdraws, goes in again, a perfect metaphor on what Trump is doing to the country.
Just saw "It Follows." IT DOESN'T!
Okay, Greg has sex with Jay, because he doesn't believe in the curse. But she gives it to him, and, a few days later, she witnesses his death. She's in the clear. Then she goes swimming out to a boat with three guys on it, and re-acquires the curse! WTF? Greg was dead! Could somebody please explain this to me? 
Best Buy apologizes for big mistake of price-gouging Texans for water - after their stock tanks
Source: RawStory
Bob Brigham
29 Aug 2017 at 19:27 ET
Electronics retailer Best Buy is apologizing to outraged consumers after a social media storm of complaints against a Houston area store charging $42 for a case of bottled water.
The image, which raced across the internet, shows $42.96 cases of Dasani bottled water, next to a “limited supply” of “Smart Water” for $29.98 a case.
“As a company we are focused on helping, not hurting affected people,” Best Buy told Business Insider. “We’re sorry, and it won’t happen again.”
The company claims the “big mistake” was caused by an employee multiplying the price of a single bottle. The company says the price-gouging signage was only up on Friday and that the Cypress, TX store in question is now closed due to Hurricane Harvey.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/best-buy-apologizes-for-big-mistake-of-price-gouging-texans-for-water-after-stock-tanks/
Apologize when Caught Red-Handed. Praise the Free Market System!
TheRealNews: Racial Profiling Policies, Israeli Style
Published on 29 Aug 2017
No purity. We do it! They do it! Other countries do it! The targeted ethnicities vary from nation to nation, but it's really part and parcel of the same planet-sized mountain of bullshit.
In this particular case, I would suggest that we stop paying $3,000,000,000 per year so that Bibi may continue his aparthied.
Absurd and Fascinating Birtherism Crisis Wreaks Havoc in Australian Parliament
Source: Slate
Aug. 29 2017 3:48 PM
Birtherism is back in the political news, this time in Australia—and unlike the nutty theories about former President Barack Obama, the accusations are based in reality and are costing politicians their jobs. In the latest and daffiest chapter in the saga, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was nominated for 2018 New Zealander of the Year.
A few weeks ago, no one would have imagined he was eligible for the award. But over the past month, several members of the Australian Parliament, including Joyce, have learned a thing or two about their citizenships, running afoul of the constitution in the process. Section 44, now the Australian Constitution’s most famous section, states that a person is ineligible to be elected to the Senate or the House if they are “under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power.” In other words, dual citizens may not run for office unless they renounce their transnational rights, regardless of whether they feel any allegiance to another country or are even aware of their status. “Citizen” is defined loosely, with many people entitled to the privileges of foreign nationals without actually holding the passport.
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It all started on July 14, when popular Greens party Sen. Scott Ludlam stepped down after discovering that he had always been a New Zealand citizen, having received Kiwi rights by default from being born there. He was quickly followed by fellow Greens Sen. Larissa Waters (who made headlines earlier this year for being the first to breastfeed on the Parliament floor), who realized that Canada had changed its citizenship laws since her birth there from application-based to automatic allocation, making her a Canadian and disqualifying her from the Australian Senate. The Australian Greens were derided by the government as careless and unprofessional, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calling it “incredible sloppiness” and “extraordinary negligence.”
Yet it was only the beginning of a Section 44 purge that would begin wiping out members of Parliament by the handful. By July 25, the citizenship shoe was on the other foot. Resources Minister Matt Canavan realized his mother had applied for Italian citizenship on his behalf and resigned from the Cabinet, with the government referring the case to the High Court. There was a rush of overseas-born MPs falling over themselves to produce letters of renunciation, proof of their singular loyalty to Australia. Independent Sen. Nick Xenophon, of Cypriot heritage, teamed up with Iranian-born Labor Party Sen. Sam Dastyari to conduct a mock trilingual press conference to point out that they, as two of the Senate’s more exotic members, were not the ones getting caught out by Section 44. (“We’re feeling much more Aussie than our colleagues today,” quipped Dastyari.) Soon after, Xenophon discovered he was in fact a British citizen because Cyprus had been under British colonial rule when his father fled to Australia in 1951; Xenophon thus referred himself to the High Court.
Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/08/29/dual_citizenship_crisis_in_australia_barnaby_joyce_nominated_new_zealander.html
I wonder how Australians feel about Russian puppets holding high governmental office?
"I'm not Anti-Semitic, I'm just Hebrew-Skeptical"
Clicked on a few right-wing YouTube channels earlier to see how lavishly they'd be praising Trump for his Fearless Leadership regarding Harvey, but one of them was rehashing Charlottesville instead, and there was one of the "Jews will not replace us" yahoos talking. That's how he described himself.
I smell the hand of Frank Luntz in this.
The Secretaries' Rebuke to Donald Trump
President Trump has left us so numbed by his deceit and dishonor that it’s hard for anything said by or about him to shock us. Even so, the remarks this past weekend by two of his top Cabinet officers should sound the alarm bells louder than usual.
On Fox News on Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asked about a U.N. committee’s recent warning about racism in America, which criticized Trump’s wavering attitude toward the neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia. Tillerson replied, “I don’t think anyone doubts the American people’s values,” including those touting “equal treatment of people the world over.” But when asked whether Trump shared those values, he replied, “The president speaks for himself.”
Around the same time, a recent video emerged on Facebook of Secretary of Defense James Mattis telling a small group of American troops, “You’re a great example of our country right now.” He went on, “Our country, right now, it’s got problems that we don’t have in the military. You just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.”
Mattis added that the United States has “two powers” in facing the rest of the world: inspiration and intimidation. “The power of inspiration—we’ll get the power of inspiration back. We’ve got the power of intimidation, and that’s you, if someone wants to screw with our families, our country and our allies.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/08/why_james_mattis_viral_rebuke_of_trump_was_so_disturbing.html
Trump firm's bid for new Scottish golf course blocked by sewage row
Source: The Guardian
Tuesday 29 August 2017 08.39 BST
The Trump Organization faces further conflict with Scotland’s environment agency after its revised plans for a second golf course near Aberdeen were rejected as inadequate.
Solicitors for the US president’s golf resort in Aberdeenshire said the company had dropped plans to use a stream to irrigate the course and to supply a man-made lagoon after the Scottish Environment Protection Agency logged formal objections to its proposals in July.
The Trump Organization has also offered far more detailed proposals for public access paths across the course, linked to a neighbouring country park, in an effort to meet concerns raised by Aberdeenshire council officials.
Sepa, the statutory authority that polices pollution legislation, has welcomed the concessions but intensified its objections to the Trump Organization’s plans to continue using a temporary sewage drain near a cottage and the course’s small clubhouse.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/29/trump-firms-bid-for-new-scottish-golf-course-blocked-by-sewage-row
Is this a matter of urgent geopolitical import? No. But a news headline containing the words "Trump" and "sewage" in the same sentence? How the HELL was I supposed to resist posting that?
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