Increased segregation of Boston schools could deepen racial, economic divides, say advocates
In my mind, that's yesterday's newz, and it's time to chart a new cour$e.
William Gross, set to be sworn in as Boston’s first black police commissioner, was an officer in the making, friends say
Let's hope you kids don't run into him walking a beat.
(flip to below fold)
The next hot place to work? Look north to the Orange Line corridor
Orange is the new magnet?
Trump acknowledges purpose of 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians
Oh, the Trump team hasn't been forthright, huh?
Better steel yourself for this:
"Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor. At the time, the emissary was also promoting a secret plan to use private contractors to destabilize Iran. The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign....."
I'm sorry, NYT, SAY AGAIN?
The contractor is Erik Prince (brother of Betsy DeVos) of Blackwater fame, the specialist is Joel Zamel, whose company employs several Israeli former intelligence officers specializing in collecting information and shaping opinion through social media and was paid up to $2 million, and the emissary would be the infamous Israeli fixer and interventionist George Nader, a convicted pedophile with a shadowy past, who frequently met with Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn.
Looks like the window is literally closing and it is time to move on (now where are you going again?).
**********
"California wildfire claims seventh victim and continues to grow" by Mihir Zaveri New York Times August 05, 2018
NEW YORK — The deadly Carr Fire in California, which is centered about 200 miles north of San Francisco, has been one of this year’s most prominent blazes, an emblem of the yearly destruction visited on a state grappling with extreme weather that has made severe wildfire seasons more likely, scientists say.
Authorities said 16 other major fires continued across the state in what Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday described as the “new normal.”
It's enough to make you wilt.
The Carr Fire grew so intense that at one point it created its own weather systems, including a tornado-like fire whirl.
Hmmmmm.
Patti Wold, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, which is investigating the cause of the Carr Fire, said Sunday it was believed to have been caused by a malfunction with a camper trailer but additional details were unavailable.
The latest victim of the fire was a Pacific Gas and Electric worker who was trying to restore power to houses, a company spokeswoman, Melissa Subbotin, said. She identified the worker as Jay Ayeta, 21, who had been with the company for about two years.
Ayeta, who was in training to become a lineman, was fatally injured in a “vehicle accident” in a remote part of Shasta County, she said. Subbotin said she did not know the details of the accident.
The Carr Fire has claimed six other lives since it began on July 23, including those of a firefighter and a bulldozer operator. Melody Bledsoe of Redding, Calif., and her great-grandchildren, James Roberts, 5, and Emily Roberts, 4, died after the fire engulfed Bledsoe’s home.
A sixth victim was found after the fire consumed the person’s home, Tom Bosenko, the Shasta County sheriff, said last week.
Meanwhile, more evacuations were ordered Saturday evening near twin fires burning in Mendocino and Lake counties across wilderness on both sides of Clear Lake, the Associated Press reported. The so-called Mendocino Complex Fire is now one of the largest on record in the state, officials said.
Related: "On Friday, officials declared the largest wildfire in recorded California history officially extinguished, nearly six months after it ignited and later burned hillsides that washed away in deadly mudslides northwest of Los Angeles....."
On Saturday, Brown said President Trump had approved his request for a presidential disaster declaration for the Carr Fire area, which would help bring in federal aid for emergency recovery and temporary housing. Brown has also sought a presidential disaster declaration for the areas around the Mendocino Complex fires.
Not complaining about him now, are ya'?
As wildfires become a year-round threat, California is moving to change long-standing laws to address the emergency of climate change, the Washington Post reported.
They are just using this to fan the flames of that agenda. There are myriads of reason for the fires. Could be lightning, downed power lines, neglect of fire prevention measures, and gasp, even arson.
Cui bono?
The question before state lawmakers is whether public utilities should remain ‘‘strictly liable’’ for damage from fires that start because of their equipment, even if the utilities are not negligent.
The largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, faces costs that could reach $12 billion for its role in last year’s deadly Northern California fires. Company officials say they cannot continue to afford the escalating payouts.
Insurance companies are fighting any change, given that costs will be theirs alone if utilities escape future liability.
So this flare-up has become the catalyst for..... liability reform to get utilities and insurers off the hook?
Starting to question the origins of it all now, not saying it isn't not happening, but climate change is being used as the cover.
Only Alabama applies the same strict standard, and state utility officials here say the frequency and scale of fire damage in a changing climate make the law obsolete. Six of the 20 most destructive fires in California history have occurred in the past year.
Brown has said ‘‘there is concern that we could lose our utilities’’ to bankruptcy unless the law changes. Utilities here are owned by shareholders, and liability for fire damage has, in the past, been passed on to customers.
If utilities suffer financially because of the strict-liability law, ‘‘our whole program of trying to deal with renewable energy and mitigate climate change would be adversely affected,’’ Brown said.....
The Globe has more to burn.
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Related: 5 killed when small plane crashes in California parking lot
There is an airport named after John Wayne?
Also see: "In Alaska, rescuers are attempting to locate a sightseeing plane that crashed with the pilot and four passengers aboard high on a mountain ridge in Denali National Park and Preserve....."
There was also a crash on Long Island.
"Trump says GOP need not suffer in midterm elections" by Jonathan Lemire Associated Press August 05, 2018
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — President Trump is arguing that Republicans can keep control of Congress by casting the midterms as a referendum on himself.
In a raucous rally in Ohio Saturday, Trump asked voters to back state Senator Troy Balderson, the GOP candidate in Tuesday’s special election.
He questioned the idea that the party that controls the White House suffers in the midterm elections. ‘‘But I say why,’’ Trump declared. ‘‘Why would there be a blue wave? I think it could be a red wave.’’
The only reason I don't want Democrats taking control of either chamber of Congre$$ is because I don't trust them. Not after Spygate.
Though boisterous and bellicose, Trump steered clear of the trouble he stirred up the night before when he blasted one of Ohio’s favorite sons, LeBron James, on Twitter, questioning his intelligence.
Trump predicted a ‘‘tremendous victory’’ for Balderson, who polls say is in a dead heat in his race against Democrat Danny O’Connor, the Franklin County recorder.
Trump also brought to the stage Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, ‘‘a tough cookie.’’ The crowd chanted ‘‘speaker of the House,’’ a reference to the possibility Jordan will seek the speakership.
Trump trained fire on one of his new targets, Democrat Representative Maxine Waters of California. He derided Waters, who is black, as ‘‘an extremely low IQ person.’’ He said journalists are ‘‘terrible people.’’
He went on a screed against illegal immigration and basked in cheers as the crowd chanted a campaign rallying cry: ‘‘Build the wall, build the wall.’’
That is his brand, and it is more appealing than the other one.
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It's the health premiums that are do that will hurt him, or so we have been told:
"Short-term health plans due soon" Associated Press August 05, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump says insurers are ‘‘going wild’’ about his new health care options and ‘‘millions and millions’’ of people will be signing up.
But insurers say it will take time to design plans and get approval from state regulators, and two industry groups are concerned about potential downsides for consumers.
For people who are anticipating cheaper plans, the advice seems to be: Look carefully and read the fine print.
Short-term, limited-duration insurance — just approved — and association health plans represent the Trump administration alternatives to comprehensive but costly policies under the Affordable Care Act.
Both offer lower premiums than comprehensive health insurance but cover less. The plans won’t be sold through HealthCare.gov.
Myra Simon of the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans said consumers are likely to see advertising this fall for short-term plans but association plans may be harder to find, since they’re not open to everybody.
Short-term plans don’t have to take people with preexisting conditions or cover maternity and mental health costs, prescription drugs, and substance abuse treatment. Association health plans do have to accept people with preexisting conditions but they don’t have to cover the full ACA menu.
--more--"
Obummercare is nothing but a shell of its former self, existing in name only, and what is the Democratic alternative?
I was always told not to get into a car with strangers, but.....
"Woman charged with murdering daughter after car sinks" Associated Press August 05, 2018
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A Missouri woman was charged with murder after a car plunged into the Kansas River and the body of her 5-year-old daughter was pulled from the water.
Police said Scharron Renea Dingledine of Columbia, Mo., was arrested on charge of first-degree murder. She also faces an attempted-murder charge stemming from critical injuries to her 1-year-old son.
Police said the children were passengers in the vehicle that sunk Friday in downtown Lawrence. The toddler and the mother were rescued. The vehicle was pulled from the river by search and recovery crews.
In Houston, police said a man suspected of fatally stabbing his two children was hospitalized after police found him with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car.
Jean Pierre Ndossoka, 61, was taken to a hospital in stable condition Sunday after authorities found him in Pasadena, just southeast of Houston. He was expected to survive.
Ndossoka was charged with capital murder, according to court records.
Officials began searching for him Saturday, shortly after his estranged wife found their 8-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter dead at a Houston home. Police said the mother had dropped off the children for a visitation with their father; he later called to tell her the children were dead. She found their bodies.
--more--"
Here is who they called for last rites:
Pittsburgh bishop to release names of accused clergy
See: "The results of a lengthy investigation into the handling of sexual abuse claims by Roman Catholic dioceses throughout Pennsylvania, which victim advocates say will be the biggest and most exhaustive ever by a US state, could be made public within weeks. A statewide grand jury spent nearly two years investigating, and Attorney General Josh Shapiro has said he plans to address the panel’s findings by the end of June. The grand jury investigated six of the state’s eight dioceses, which collectively minister to more than 1.7 million Catholics. The report is expected to reveal details of widespread abuse and efforts to conceal and protect abusive priests. Judge Norman Krumenacker rejected an effort to delay the report’s release or allow people named in the report to challenge parts of it before its release. ‘‘You’re going to learn a lot about this crisis that you never knew before,’’ said Terry McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org....."
I think something is evil in the state of Pennsylvania.
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"Venezuela braces for fallout of presidential assassination attempt" by Rachelle Krygier and Anthony Faiola Washington Post August 05, 2018
CARACAS — Venezuela braced on Sunday for more possible arrests and potential military purges one day after the government said President Nicolás Maduro had survived an assassination attempt in which drones carrying explosives targeted him during a nationally televised address.
Maduro was unharmed in the incident, which officials said had injured seven soldiers in an extraordinary scene captured on video that showed hundreds of Maduro’s troops seemingly fleeing in panic at the sound of an explosion.
Interior Minister Néstor Luis Reverol said six ‘‘terrorists’’ had been detained Sunday, the Associated Press reported. Officials said they are suspected of launching drones laden with explosives.
The assailants flew two drones each packed with two pounds of C-4 plastic explosive toward Maduro, his wife, and other top leaders as he spoke at an event celebrating the 81st anniversary of the National Guard, the AP quoted Reverol as saying. One of the drones was to explode above the president while the other was to detonate directly in front of him, he added, but the military managed to knock one of the drones off-course electronically and the other crashed into apartment building two blocks away from where Maduro was speaking.
Saying a ‘‘shield of love’’ had protected his life, the president accused ‘‘far right’’ extremists linked to Colombia and Venezuelan dissidents living in the United States for the attack during an impassioned speech delivered three hours after the incident.
It is just the kind of bungling effort their operatives would put forth, with exhibit A being all the plots to try and kill Castro.
Although some opposition leaders said they doubted the government’s version, two residents of a nearby building said Sunday they saw the drone, and watched it explode.
Which means in this case, it's likely the truth!
‘‘We saw the drone that looked like the size of half a bicycle. It came from the sky and we thought it was a boy playing with it,’’ said Pedro Peña, 62, who was in a seventh floor apartment with Gladys Miquelena, 56. Seconds after they saw it, it exploded, he said.
Maduro blamed Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos by name for the attack, prompting Santos’s office to issue an ‘‘emphatic denial.’’
‘‘The suggestion that the Colombian president is responsible for this supposed attack against the Venezuela president is absurd and lacking in all foundation,’’ Santos’ office said. ‘‘It is already the custom of the Venezuelan leader to permanently blame Colombia for any type of situation.’’
He's on his way out.
A senior State Department official declined to comment on the incident beyond saying the department was following reports from Caracas. Maduro said that several suspects had been apprehended, but the government did not disclose their identities, nor did it release further evidence from the scene.
A little-known group calling itself Soldiers in T-shirts claimed responsibility for the attack, the AP reported. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified.
This is now starting to stink like the hand of the CIA, sorry.
Experts called on the government to release further video footage and evidence.
If the government or someone else does not put out some footage of these drones or the explosions, it should be considered highly suspect,’’ said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert with the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank.
Then he understands my skepticism behind the government accounts of 9/11, JFK, etc, etc!
Venezuela’s opposition leaders cast doubts on the government’s version of the attack, and accused it of aiming to step up persecutions against army deserters while distracting the public from an economic crisis in which hunger and malnutrition are growing and disease is spreading as hospitals lack even basic medicines.
So what are they saying, it is a government-staged hoax?
As for the economic suffering, sure, socialism may not be great, but the ongoing attempt at regime change is reminiscent of the "make 'em scream" approach taken in Chile during the early 1970s.
Seven journalists covering the story were stopped by security forces and interrogated for hours, according to Venezuela’s National Union of Media Workers. All were freed, but some had their cameras confiscated, the union said.
That won't get you good pre$$ -- unless its Israel doing it. Then they stay silent.
The incident sent shock waves through Venezuela, a country already on edge. The South American nation is in the midst of a political and economic crisis.
With inflation spiraling toward 1 million percent and shortages growing more acute, dozens of officers and soldiers have been arrested by the government in connection with alleged coup plots.
In June 2017, an intelligence police commander flew a helicopter over government institutions and threw grenades at the country’s Supreme Court building. The commander, Oscar Pérez, was executed in January after publishing dramatic videos of his confrontation with military personnel.
That was phase two and was just before the vote.
Hundreds of soldiers have deserted their posts since Maduro — a former bus driver and the successor to Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013 — won an election in May that opposition leaders and dozens of countries, including the United States, called fraudulent.
Somehow the CIA was able to inject him with cancer, probably when he came to the U.N.
Maduro has sought to rally his loyalists to defend the nation after suggestions by President Trump that a military solution remains on the table to force Maduro to restore democracy.....
It would make a hell of an untouchable gas pump for the AmeriKan Empire come WWIII.
--more--"
Could this be Trump's Bay of Pigs?
They called in air support and he sent these?
"WWII-era plane crashes in Switzerland, killing all 20 on board" by Raphael Minder New York Times August 05, 2018
BERN, Switzerland — A propeller plane built at the onset of World War II crashed in the Swiss Alps this weekend, killing all 20 people on board, Swiss police said Sunday.
The German-built Junkers Ju-52 was carrying 17 passengers, all Swiss except for an Austrian couple and their child, Swiss authorities said. Three crew members were also killed in the crash Saturday.
The plane was on an Alpine sightseeing tour from Locarno, in the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland, to Dübendorf, an airport near Zurich, when it crashed into the mountainside near the ski resort of Flims, in eastern Switzerland.
Authorities said that an investigation was underway, but they ruled out an explosion on board or an in-flight collision as the cause of the crash.
The crash occurred shortly after another small plane crashed into the Swiss Alps, in the canton of Nidwalden, killing a family of four on board. President Alain Berset of Switzerland issued a message of condolences Sunday on behalf of the government to the relatives of the 24 people killed in the two plane crashes.
The Ju-52, also known as “Aunt Ju,” was rolled out by Junkers, the German plane manufacturer in the 1930s, initially with a single engine but then as a three-engine aircraft.
It was used by the Luftwaffe, the aerial branch of the German forces during World World II, both as a transport plane and as a bomber. It first came into military use during the Spanish Civil War, notably as part of the German-led bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in 1937.
And no one has noticed this ironic conundrum until now?
During World War II, the Nazis also used the plane, including to help supply their campaign in North Africa.....
The squadron was then taken over in 1982 by an association of Swiss aficionados of such vintage aircraft (Nazi sympathizers?).
--more--"
Just as long as you didn't buy them from Iran, I guess.
"Fighting in Yemen kills 80 in two days" Associated Press August 05, 2018
SANA, Yemen — Fighting in Yemen’s port province of Hodeida between progovernment forces and Shi’ite rebels has killed at least 80 people on both sides over the last two days, Yemeni officials and witnesses said Sunday.
Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been advancing in the area in recent weeks as they battle Iran-allied rebels known as Houthis.
The fighting has escalated as government forces try to retake the port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for food in a country teetering on the brink of famine.
The officials said forces backed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition have been trying to seize the rebel-held district of ad-Durayhimi south of Hodeida city and at least 100 have been wounded over 24 hours.
The rebels have killed at least 30 Emirati-backed forces in an ambush in ad-Durayhimi, they said. Fighting has been ongoing in the district, about 12 miles south of Hodeida International Airport, they said.
Where the print copy ended it, and I know I should be so very thankful for the brief update despite the sanitized report regarding the bombing of a hospital this past week.
The officials and witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi-led coalition launched the campaign to retake Hodeida in June, with Emirati troops leading the force of government soldiers and irregular militia fighters backing Yemen’s exiled government. Saudi Arabia has provided air support, with targeting guidance and refueling from the United States.
Hodeida, home to 600,000 people, is some 90 miles southwest of the capital, Sana. The campaign to take the city threatens to worsen Yemen’s humanitarian situation as it is the main entry point for food, humanitarian aid, and fuel supplies to the country.
I'm waiting for them to mention the world's worst cholera epidemic.
Aid groups fear a protracted fight could force a shutdown of the port, potentially pushing millions into starvation. Some 70 percent of Yemen’s food enters via the port, as well as the bulk of humanitarian aid and fuel supplies. Around two-thirds of the country’s population of 27 million relies on aid and 8.4 million are at risk of starving.
SAY AGAIN?
The Houthis seized control of Sana in September 2014, and later pushed south toward the port city of Aden. The Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in March 2015 and has faced criticism for a campaign of airstrikes that has killed civilians and destroyed hospitals and markets.
I don't want to force the issue, but have they?
The Houthis, meanwhile, have laid land mines, killing and wounding civilians. They have also targeted religious minorities and imprisoned opponents. The war has killed more than 10,000 people, and has left around two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid, and over 8 million at risk of starving.
Well, that would be a Holocaust, that's what that would be.
--more--"
They are still in the hospital waiting room?
Lisbon breaks 37-year temperature record
It's result of a mass of hot air from Africa that has increased the risk of forest fires (which my pre$$ quickly smothered).
"A suicide bomber struck a joint patrol of NATO and Afghan forces near a large military base just outside the Afghan capital Sunday, killing at least three NATO service members and injuring three others, officials said, on a day that saw deadly violence around the country. An Afghan soldier was killed in the eastern city of Jalalabad attempting to stop a suicide bombing at a checkpoint, and in the south, the Taliban continued a bloody assault on the district of Chinato, in Uruzgan province....."
All three service members killed were from the Czech Republic on a routine patrol around the Bagram military base.
**********
"A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, killing at least 82 people and shaking neighboring Bali, one week after another quake on Lombok killed more than a dozen. The latest quake, which triggered a brief tsunami warning, damaged buildings as far away as Denpasar on Bali, including a department store and the airport terminal, where ceiling panels were shaken loose, authorities said. Video showed screaming people running in panic from houses in a Bali neighborhood and vehicles rocking....."
Was this during or after Pompeo's visit?
"Blast kills scientist at Syrian chemical weapons center" by Philip Issa Associated Press August 05, 2018
I object to headline because Syria doesn't have chemical weapons centers. Gave them all up years ago, under U.N. lock and key now, but that's how the AP starts it.
BEIRUT — A research director at a military agency linked to Syria’s chemical weapons program was assassinated, a newspaper close to the Syrian government reported Sunday.
Who would want to do that?
The progovernment al-Watan newspaper reported on its website that Aziz Esber, of the Scientific Studies and Research Center, died in a blast targeting his car Saturday night, in Syria’s Hama province.
It said Israel was suspected of carrying out the attack. There was no comment from Israeli or Syrian government officials.
Oh, then no big deal. Anybody else, furor.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria war through local contacts, also reported Esber’s death. It said he specialized in developing rocket systems at the center’s Masyaf facility in Hama. Esber’s driver was also killed in the blast, according to al-Watan and the Observatory.
An insurgent group calling itself the Abu Amara Brigades claimed responsibility for the operation. The group has claimed attacks targeting officials and militia commanders inside government territory.
Western and Israeli intelligence agencies have long linked the SSRC to Syria’s chemical weapons program.
They used insurgent group cover like in Venezuela, but the Mossad is much more efficient.
In April, the United States, Britain, and France carried out joint airstrikes against the center’s Damascus facilities in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by government forces near the capital.
Yeah, except the investigation by the OPCW that was soon dropped down the ma$$ media memory hole didn't exactly say that, and after the bombing there was no chemical spew coming from the sites. Had there been, the pre$$ would have made sure we all knew about it.
Israel is believed to be behind airstrikes targeting the center’s facilities in Masyaf last month and last September. Israel has been carrying out strikes inside Syria to prevent advanced weapons transfers to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government.
The Israeli airstrikes are acts of war, but excused because Israel can do whatever it damn well wants when it comes to someone else's sovereignty!
Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview in June with Russia’s state-controlled NTV television channel that his government got rid of all its chemical weapons in 2013 and that allegations of their use were a pretext for invasion by other countries.
Yeah, the pre$$ crowed about it when the last ship sailed away.
A UN investigative body determined the government used the nerve agent sarin in an aerial attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 that killed about 100 people and affected about 200 others.
Did it?
If so, they have just exposed themselves as tools of the West.
Washington leveled sanctions against 271 employees of the SSRC less than three weeks after the attack, saying the agency was responsible for ‘‘developing and producing non-conventional weapons and the means to deliver them.’’ Esber was not on the list of targeted individuals.
The United States and its allies also blamed government forces for a sarin gas attack on the suburbs of Damascus in 2013 that killed around 1,000 people.
That brought about Obama's infamous red line.
The US government first leveled sanctions against the agency in 2005. France, the EU, and Britain also have imposed sanctions on the SSRC.
Also on Sunday, the Observatory and Syrian activists reported that the Islamic State group killed a hostage it kidnapped in an ambush on towns and villages in south Syria 12 days ago.
The militants kidnapped more than 30 people, including women and children, from Sweida province when they raided the area on July 25, leading to intense clashes between the group and local militias. More than 200 people were killed in the fighting.
Yeah, okay.
Waving women and children at us changes the subject.
The ISIS militants have been demanding in negotiations with the government the release of 150 captured ISIS fighters as well as a corridor for the militants to escape to the desert in eastern Syria in exchange for the hostages.
The activist-run Suwayda 24 Facebook group said 19-year-old Muhanad Thouqan Abou Ammar was killed by the militants on Thursday.
It posted a video, reportedly filmed by the extremists, of Muhanad, with his arms bound, saying he was about to be killed because talks had failed with the Druze, a minority group that is predominant in Sweida. He warned more hostages would be killed if the ISIS demands were not met. The contents of the video could not be independently verified.
The Druze are bastards.
This all has the smell of crapola since Syria has won the war!
--more--"
You know where he got those weapons, right?
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"Texas Republicans squelch prospects for ‘red flag’ gun law" by Jim Vertuno Associated Press August 05, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials have dismissed a proposal to tighten restrictions on gun access for people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Schools have been adding metal detectors and armed personnel in an effort to improve campus security in response to the deadly May attack at a Houston-area high school that left eight students and two teachers dead.
See: May Memory Holes
In the aftermath of the May 18 attack at Santa Fe High School, Republican Governor Greg Abbott also suggested that Texas should look for ways to keep guns away from people who pose ‘‘an immediate danger to others.’’
So-called red flag laws have been passed by six states since the February massacre at a high school in Parkland, Fla. About a dozen states have red flag laws, including Republican-led Florida, which passed its law after the Parkland attack, but Abbott said he thinks there is growing opposition to the idea of further gun restrictions in the state.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, was even more forceful.
The one-two punch by the state’s top Republicans drew cheers from gun rights advocates.
Over the weekend, hundreds of people staged a protest outside the headquarters of the NRA in Fairfax, Va., to demand stricter gun laws and revocation of the gun-lobbying group’s nonprofit status.
Participants included student survivors of the Parkland massacre who have been making a national bus tour to help register new voters and increase awareness of gun violence.
Funded by Soros?
The Virginia protesters were met by dozens of counterprotests, some of whom arrived with guns strapped to their hips or across their chests. The NRA did not comment on the event.
In a separate development, officials in Parkland said the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, were the Valentine’s Day attack occurred, will not have metal detectors installed for the start of classes on Aug. 15. Officials said they are still trying to determine how to get 3,200 students through detectors each morning.
While red flag laws vary from state to state, they generally allow law enforcement or family members to ask a judge to order the seizure or surrender of guns from someone who is deemed dangerous, often because of mental health concerns or threats of violence.
The House and Senate could hardly wait to pass one in Massachusetts, and the governor signed it.
Of course, the enforcement aspect is another issue. If the cops go to get the guns.... it could make matters worse for all concerned.
Some gun rights activists worry that expanding red flag laws would allow the government to seize guns based on the suspicion of a threat or a false report without that person having acted violently.
Or someone with a grudge to grind.
‘‘Red flag laws are nothing more than ways to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding persons on nothing more than mere suspicion,’’ said C.J. Grisham, leader of gun rights group Open Carry Texas.
Abbott’s suggestion after the Santa Fe attack that Texas should consider keeping guns away from people who pose an immediate danger to others surprised many because neither he nor any of the state’s Republican leaders even suggested tightening gun laws after last November’s massacre at a church in Sutherland Springs, near San Antonio.
Police said the teenage suspect in the Santa Fe shooting took his father’s weapons and that there hadn’t been any prior reports that he may have been mentally ill, but a red flag law might have helped in the church shooting.....
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Don't they make their own guns in Texas?
Influence of organized labor to be tested in Missouri vote
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Globe editorial hit the wrong target on protests at Northeastern over ICE.
*********
Do you need experience as a prosecutor to be a good district attorney?
Webster recovers from tornado after 43 people were displaced
(flip)
Brookline’s Larz Anderson Park offers variety for visitors
That's where they buried Richard Concannon.
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Row your boat (or decorate it) for Great River Race
Is that what you are doing this summer?
*********
Harvard sorority to close in response to policy on single-gender clubs
The harassment you women have to put up with, even though Opposed to all elitism.
Mass. Pike opens to full capacity a day early in Boston
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"Peace-B-Que in Dorchester brings together families touched by violence" by Cristela Guerra Globe Staff August 06, 2018
Using toys and their imaginations, a group of children in Dorchester played in a sandbox Sunday afternoon, creating their view of a peaceful Massachusetts. Together, they created a neighborhood.
There was a toy man lying on a bench. “He’s homeless,” explained Trayonna Flood, 10.
There was also a church and a school, two basketball players, and a cemetery. Tiny toy police officers in uniform were positioned with their tiny guns drawn on several toy men. Most were on their knees, hands folded over their heads. One man was on his back. He was either dead or passed out, the kids said.
In their make-believe world, the police only arrested the bad guys and helped the homeless get food.
Ten-year-old Kailynn Jackson said the neighborhood reflects the world as she’d like to see it.
“I tried to make it as realistic as I could,” she said.
This is sad.
This was peace play, a healing technique meant to help kids reflect on struggles in their community. The exercise was part of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s annual Peace-B-Que, held at its facility on Christopher Street.
For three hours, people of all ages gathered outdoors for an afternoon of dancing the Cupid Shuffle and the Mississippi Cha-Cha Slide, playing basketball on inflatable hoops, and munching hot dogs and burgers.
The celebration of life was like a family reunion, but what many shared was the universal experience of loss.....
I don't want to diminish their grief in any way, shape, or form; however, it's year after year you read this stuff despite the good Globe and such well-meaning leaders (liars and looters, but altruistic) with no mention of all the deaths from the wars based on lies that were blared from the front pages.
As for helping others deal with the trauma of losing a loved one to violence, tell it to the surviving relatives of the victims of USrael.
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"H.F. ‘‘Gerry’’ Lenfest, who made a $1 billion fortune in the cable industry and gave almost all of it away, supporting schools, museums, journalism, and the arts in Philadelphia and beyond, and his wife, Marguerite, made about $1.2 billion when they sold Suburban Cable to Comcast Corp. in 2000. The Lenfests immediately set out to give away the fortune....."
You can take a trip over to the Tuskegee Airman's Museum for the latest attraction if you want.
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Seeing ghosts and digging up graves:
"‘NOT a Nazi’: Worcester County Sheriff’s Office defends employee’s tattoo" by Steve Annear Globe Staff August 03, 2018
The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office this week denounced claims that one of its correctional officers is a Nazi, after a nonprofit group posted a picture of the employee’s tattoo online and said it had ties to white supremacy.
A lot of people say that for many different reasons.
Officials said the tattoo, which depicts the number 88, is actually part of a much larger tattoo that was not shown in the image shared on social media — and was the officer’s number when he played football at Norwich University in Vermont.
He was a football player, huh?
“Employee is a former college football player who was #88. We do complete background checks on all correctional officers. He was asked about tattoo when he was hired,” the sheriff’s office tweeted Thursday. “The Officer is NOT a Nazi & does not hold those beliefs.”
The Anti-Defamation League lists 88 as a “white supremacist numerical code” that signifies an allegiance to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. According to the organization’s website, the letter “H” is the eighth letter in the alphabet, so two eights next to each other translates to “HH” — or “Heil Hitler.”
Oh, yeah?
“One can find it as a tattoo or graphic symbol; as part of the name of a group, publication or website; or as part of a screenname or e-mail address,” the group states.
The swift response from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office in defense of the officer came after someone from the Massachusetts Bail Fund, a group that pays bail for low-income individuals, posted a picture of the tattoo to Twitter and Facebook Wednesday, calling it a “straight up Nazi tattoo.”
“Went to post two bails at Worcester House of Corrections,” the person wrote. “You can learn a lot about the COs by the tattoos.”
The tattoo is on the officer’s bicep and was visible just below his uniform’s shirtsleeve, but officials from the sheriff’s office said the claim was misleading and that a day’s worth of controversy and embarrassment for the employee could have been avoided if the person had asked about the meaning behind the ink, rather than posting about it online.
“It’s sad that people no longer take a moment to talk to each other. If the person who took the photo had taken a second to ask about the tattoo, he would [have] found out that he’s a great guy who played college football,” David Tuttle, superintendent for the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, said on Twitter. “Instead he decided to spread a lie that he was [a] nazi. Sad.”
Whatever advances the agenda, 'eh?
Tuttle forwarded the Globe two photographs of the officer: one showing his college football jersey and the number 88, and the other the entire tattoo.
In the latter picture, just above the 88, is a large tattoo of an eagle, shield, and two swords. Inside the shield are the words, “Norwich Cadets,” the name of the university’s football team.
According to a 2013 article in The Guidon, Norwich University’s student paper, it has long been a custom for players to get that design permanently etched on their bodies, as a symbol of camaraderie.
“For more than 30 years, football has had a tradition of upperclassmen getting the Norwich shield tattooed,” the article said. “Not only does the tattoo provide a bonding experience between freshmen and upperclassmen, but it also connects current players with alumni who also have received the honor to wear the shield.”
In a telephone interview Friday, Tuttle said the officer is a “really good kid” who has been working at the jail for about a year. He said the officer didn’t know about the racist implications of the number. The officer’s name was not released.
OMG!
Now a NUMBER is RACIST!
Where does it all end?
No 88th floors in skyscrapers now?
Tuttle said he spoke with representatives from the Massachusetts Bail Fund on Thursday about the sensitivity to the number “88,” and what it can mean to others. Moving forward, he said, the officer will wear a uniform with longer sleeves so it “covers the entire tattoo.”
I don't like the number 69, what are you going to do about that?
“We’re not trying to hide anything or cover up that he has this tattoo,” Tuttle said. “But we want to be sensitive to the feelings and concerns that people from the Massachusetts Bail Fund have expressed to us.”
And when they say jump do you say how high?
Tuttle, who said the sheriff’s office had to suspend its Facebook account because of an influx of criticism and death threats, added that he was shocked by how quickly the incident spiraled out of control.
And you guys are bending over backwards for them?
Since when?
“Just because you see it on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s true,” he said. “It’s just absolutely shocking how quickly somebody’s life can be ruined.”
Same goes for a jew$paper!
After speaking with Tuttle on Thursday, the Massachusetts Bail Fund issued a follow-up statement about the incident.
“We were able to have a conversation with the Superintendent at the Worcester House of Corrections this afternoon. We discussed the impact of the ‘88’ symbol and how terrifying it is, regardless of the intent behind the tattoo,” the group said. “This individual tattoo needed to be addressed and it was.”
OMG!
So even if something is completely innocuous and innocent, it's still wrong because some agenda-pushing cultural Marxist snowflake had a misperception!!
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Cool enough in there for you?
Related: "Amazon has removed items with Nazi or white supremacist symbols from its website after criticism from advocacy groups. An executive said the company blocked the accounts of some retailers and might suspend them. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to comment further on Sunday. Amazon was preventing the sale of the items in question and was removing them from fulfillment centers."
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Can’t find a starter home? Blame Gen Xers
More like supply and demand in a region stymied by a shortage of properties for sale -- and now it is slowing down even further.
It's the same old debate regarding drug prices, too.
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"The executive producer of the CBS news show ‘‘60 Minutes’’ is delaying his return from vacation until an investigation into sexual misconduct claims wraps up. Allegations against the executive producer, Jeff Fager, and CEO Les Moonves appeared in a New Yorker article last month. CBS hired two outside law firms to investigate claims of sexual misconduct from six spanning three decades. While the article focused on Moonves, it also contained allegations of inappropriate behavior by Fager, who denies any wrongdoing."
Turns out Moonves is now being sued for divorce.
Nonstop flights from Boston to Seoul to begin in spring
Be making a lot of fuel then, huh?
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"Bankruptcy booms among older Americans" by Tara Siegel Bernard New York Times August 05, 2018
NEW YORK — For a rapidly growing share of older Americans, traditional ideas about life in retirement are being upended by a dismal reality: bankruptcy.
The signs of potential trouble — vanishing pensions, soaring medical expenses, inadequate savings — have been building for years. Now, new research sheds light on the scope of the problem: Driving the surge, the study suggests, is a three-decade shift of financial risk from government and employers to individuals, who are bearing an ever-greater responsibility for their own financial well-being as the social safety net shrinks.
Bankruptcy can offer a fresh start for people who need one, but for older Americans it “is too little too late,” the study says. The next generation nearing retirement age is also filing for bankruptcy in greater numbers, and the average age of filers is rising, the study found. Given the rate of increase, Thorne said, “the only explanation that makes any sense are structural shifts,” said Deborah Thorne, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Idaho and an author of the study.....
That's just the “tip of the iceberg.”
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Is anybody there?
A reminder that today is Aug. 6, and that in 1945, during World War II, the US Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named ‘‘Little Boy’’ on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths (Three days later, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki; five days after that, Imperial Japan surrendered), in what I consider the two greatest individual war criminal acts in human history.
