Sunday, March 26, 2017

Sunday Globe Special: Trial Run

"Trial competition gives students experience, confidence" by Nicole Fleming Globe Correspondent  March 25, 2017

The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project was an opportunity to teach not just legal advocacy, but also skills — such as dressing for the courtroom— that she had to figure out on her own as she entered the professional world, she said.

Appearance is everything!

“I remember being like, ‘Ew, their [fashion] taste is so boring,’ ” said the second-year law student at Suffolk, laughing at the recollection. “But when in Rome, you gotta do like the Romans, right?”

Saheed Adebayo was one of eight high school students from the Boston area competing with others from across the country in the Marshall-Brennan moot court competition. The national rounds were held this year at Suffolk University Law School.

Like a little clique.

The 78 high schoolers presented appellate-style arguments in a fictional court case involving a star athlete whose urban high school expelled him for alleged bullying after searching his phone. The athlete’s college scholarship was then revoked, and he sued the high school, claiming first and fourth amendment violations.

Participating high schoolers were mentored by Marshall-Brennan Fellows — law students — at 16 law schools including University of Connecticut, Howard, and Yale. Fellows enroll in a year-long program in which they simultaneously study constitutional law and teach it to urban high school students.

The competition judges, which included practicing attorneys, law professors, and courtroom judges, asked probing questions of the high schoolers, who responded by citing court cases and arguing facts....

I'm told there is “definitely a rush that comes with knowing that you know all of your points, and you get to share that knowledge with other people.”

That's the way I used to feel regarding blogging about the Globe, but I've dispensed with the conceit in recognizing that I'm one lone person trying to find my way in the world using the Bo$ton Globe as it lens while asking questions. I'm not professing to know the truth of anything; however, falsity is easy to recognize.

--more--"

And there they are again.

Just below that article on page B5 of my Sunday Globe was an advertisement for this:

Ruderman Knesset Mission Town Hall 

I notice the Globe featured prominently in their sidebar, too.

I wonder where are the protests, if any, regarding the reception of rabid Zionist supremacists and whether the Globe would report them? Will there be any condemnations from officialdom? I'll bet there would be were it Trump advocates or speakers coming. That is in no way an excuse for that vain tool's policies or presidency. It is simply an observation regarding the palace intrigue at the apex of the power configuration pyramid of AmeriKa.

Turns out all the attention on the health bill was because it was "to pave the way for the rest of their agenda, including tax reform. In other words, the GOP didn’t want to let a detail like tens of millions of people losing their health insurance get in the way of two tax cuts for the rich. Here’s what we knew about the Republican plan...."

Or the Washington Post's version of it anyway.

Related: Slow Saturday: Healthy Stall

"Donald Trump keeps getting in his own way" by Michael D. Shear New York Times  March 25, 2017

I'm told “no administration has ever been off to a worse 100-day start.”

WASHINGTON — On his watch, the military conducted a botched raid in Yemen — which he approved over dinner days into his presidency — and the US military is investigating reports that perhaps as many as 200 civilians have been killed in recent airstrikes in Mosul, Iraq.

The Yemen thing was Trump's Bay of Pigs (operation from previous administration left as a concern), and thank God the lying War Pre$$ is finally taking notice of the bodies, 'eh?

Battle for west Mosul takes heavy toll on civilians

Was that brought up at the meeting?

US investigating Mosul strikes said to have killed civilians

Mosul airstrikes were at the request of Iraq, US command says

That's called passing the buck!

Two Taliban commanders killed in US drone strike

Mounting claims of civilian deaths after U.S. targets al-Qaida in Syria

US airstrike in Syria is said to kill dozens of civilians

Then the staged and scripted crisis drill in London drew attention away from the digging up of bodies.

Airstrikes across rebel-held Syria kill and wound scores

Russians did that one. 

We are getting more war everywhere and it's not a contention of protest; only accepting terrorist refugees is (wow, talk about self-centered).

New York Times then tells me the president has uttered a long list of falsehoods (takes one to know one), and his approval ratings are in the high 30s, the lowest ever recorded at this point in a presidency (except few voters in Trump country blame Trump, meaning he bottoms out around 44%), while the WH points out a number of successes: Gorsuch, the president’s speech to Congress, and the executive orders. Still, Trump is “so angry” while Ryan is sorry.

The New York Times then offers its ADVICE for the new president:

The challenge for Trump is clear: how to move past the daily turmoil and infighting inside the West Wing and prove that he can use his background as a businessman to advance the policies that he promised as a candidate.

The Times is telling us their is daily turmoil and infighting. That may well be true, but is more likely not. Consider the source. The turmoil and infighting (and leaks) are being fomented by holdovers from the previous regime and being passed along to the Times to be reported as "news."

To win an overhaul of the nation’s tax code and a $1 trillion investment in public infrastructure, Trump will need to find a way to build winning coalitions in the House and the Senate by corralling the often-warring factions in the Republican Party. That may be even more difficult on a tax overhaul than it was on health care, given the moneyed interests watching every proposed change. On some bipartisan goals, the president will have to seize the chance to pick up some Democratic votes as well.

Democratic votes? 

"In the face of pressure from liberals to resist all things Trump?" 

Has the Times lost its mind?

(Also notice how every issue in the pre$$, no matter how innocuous, is framed in conditions of war)

To succeed in his use of executive power, the president will need to be more deft in drafting orders that will not be challenged in court. Obama faced similar problems as he increasingly used his executive authority to get around a recalcitrant Republican Congress.

You never see them calling Democrats obstructionist, do you? 

And why does Trump have to be more deft? No one cared that Obama was breaking the law? He was just issuing the "right" orders, right?

To avoid being trapped in endless investigations, Trump will have to tone down his war of words with intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Is that a warning or a threat coming from the IC mouthpiece?

Investigations can drain the political life from a presidency, as Ronald Reagan found during the Iran-Contra scandal and Bill Clinton learned during the Monica Lewinsky investigations.

Waiting for NYT 30-year anniversary and new look at Iran-Contra soon.

And if Trump wants to repair his personal credibility, which has been damaged in part by the many falsehoods he has articulated, he might have to curtail his use of Twitter....

Speaking of credibility being damaged by falsehoods articulated....

--more--"

Yeah, THAT'S THEM!

"Trump supporters rally in Boston, and counter-protesters are there, too" by Evan Allen Globe Staff  March 25, 2017

Much of the rhetoric on both sides was filled with cursing. 

I've actually toned myself way, way down since I started blogging. The anger is gone; there is nothing but sad resignation combined with disgusted laughter at the absurdness of what passes for a paper these days.

A heavy and calm police presence prevented fights from breaking out, though at several points opposing rally-goers threatened each other, with one pro-Trump supporter lunging from behind a line of police bicycles before a friend pulled him back.

Thank God for the police state!

The pro-Trump march, which started at the Old North Church and ended on the Common, was one of about 40 “Make America Great Again” marches scheduled across the country, according to a website for the efforts. Organizers said they collected donations for veterans before the march. The pro-Trump march drew around 75 people; the anti-Trump crowd numbered about 25.

Protests in 40 cities and all I get is a pos article on page B2? 

Were it the anti-Trump women, refugee advocates, global warmers, or supporters of any agenda-pushing color-coded coup, the Globe would have had pages worth of coverage. 

WTF?

Counterprotesters said they had come out to show that racist, sexist, and Islamophobic positions taken by Trump and his supporters would not go unchallenged.

Yup, we are all in this together!!

“I hope that our elected officials see that we care,” said a woman who gave her name as Jess and declined to share her last name because she said she feared retaliation. Like many of the counterprotesters, she covered her face with a bandana because she said the pro-Trump contingent was aggressive.

Anarchist agent provocateur?

The pro-Trump march was not planned with an eye toward the health care debate, but it fell just one day after the GOP’s effort to replace the Affordable Care Act fell apart — a major embarrassment for Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and a party that has spent the last seven years promising to repeal and replace the act.

But marchers suggested the failed legislation was just a first draft and defended Trump’s image as a dealmaker.

“He’s trying his hardest,” organizer Mark VanGordon said. “He’s coming up against a lot. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. . . . The fight’s not over.”

Never will be.

Tara Patenaude, who attended the march with her son Nicholas, rated her satisfaction with Trump at 9 out of 10, and said anyone who didn’t like him could leave the country. As counterprotesters chanted against building a wall, she shouted that they would be deported.

So sayeth the Globe.

Both organizers and counterprotesters said they felt their demonstrations had achieved their goals....

What, driving division to obscure the Zionist's war agenda and interests being advanced?

Well, if anything, this defeat on healthcare proves Trump isn't a fascist Nazi.

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The printed paper didn't come with a Business Section today, but it's not like I care.

Also see:

After leaving the priesthood for love, a return to the altar

Pope visits Milan housing project, urges compassion for poor

God help us all.

Arkansas searches for execution witnesses

Must have gotten their drugs and the Globe has wanted to see one all week.

Michael Che of ‘Saturday Night Live’ stands by Boston comment

They took great offense in the city that is more loving than any other and the model for police community relations. Better watch your language.