Friday Reads: Same as it ever was

Shirley Bassey

Good Afternoon!

I’ve been perusing headlines today hoping for a sign of progress in a world gone mad.  No headline has obliged me yet.  So, let’s read a little bit of history repeating.

So, there’s an Oil Gusher in the Gulf again. This time it’s Shell Oil who’s the responsible culprit.  Quelle Surprise!  It’s characterized as “not a well-control incident”. So, what have we got once again?

The Coast Guard is responding to a crude oil spill from that reportedly discharged from a Shell subsea well-head flow line, approximately 90 miles south of Timbalier Island, Louisiana, Thursday.

Shell officials said they believe about 2,100 barrels (88,200 gallons) of oil were released in the spill. Authorities said Shell has isolated the leak, and the source of the discharge was reported as secured.

Shell added there are no drilling activities at the Brutus platform, close to where the leak is located, and the spill is not a well-control incident.

Nina Simone

I’ve said this a million times but you have to treat huge corporations like freaking addicts. They are profit addicts. It’s generally all they care about. There are very few corporations that don’t have direct ownership by a family head that’s basically built the business that really care about anything else. It’s like a benchmark of finance research on moral agency. 

You cannot trust a for-profit corporation to maintain/update its infrastructure. PERIOD. It’s a nonproductive cost to them in almost all instances. They suck at doing things that don’t immediately gratify their bottom line. When do we learn from this?

I’m still trying to digest this headline still:  “David Duke Wants To Be Donald Trump’s Vice President: Former KKK Leader Says He’d Be ‘Life Insurance’ For The Donald”  At least he’s honest that Trump’s Presidential slogan really is “Make America all about Straight White Men Again.”

Donald Trump can’t seem to stop receiving support from white supremacists. The latest example involves a mock campaign poster from none other than David Duke himself, the former Ku Klux Klan leader and Trump superfan, who seems to think he’d make a great vice president.

Duke tweeted Thursday a Trump-Duke ticket would be the New York billionaire’s “best life insurance” and offered up a photoshopped campaign poster to help out his chosen presidential candidate.

Of course life in the headlines wouldn’t be complete with out George Zimmerman doing something perfectly horrible and self-serving. Zimmerman is trying to auction off the gun he used to murder Treyvon Martin. His first attempt didn’t go so well. But, he’s still at it.

After the auction site pulled Zimmerman’s gun, stating that his listing didn’t jive with their missionto “provide a safe and secure platform for firearms enthusiasts and law-abiding citizens,” UnitedGun Group seemed to change its mind and briefly allowed bidding to resume. Bidding for the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol started at $5,000 and reached more than $65 million by 5.45 a.m. Thursday night, although that bid appeared to be the work of internet trolls. As of Friday morning, a hyperlink to the listing shows the auction was inactive.

GunBroker.com, another company that had listed Zimmerman’s gun on Thursday, pulled the item from its site after a national outcry that included condemnation from Martin’s family. “We want no part in the listing on our website or in any of the publicity it is receiving,” it said in a statement, reported byUSA TODAY.

The GunBroker.com listing, reportedly authored by Zimmerman on Wednesday, described the gun as “the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from TrayvonMartin,” according to the Associated Press.

“Lady Day” Bille Holliday

Fox New oozes straight white male privilege and no one probably does it better than the O’Reilly Factor. Since Keith Obermann is no longer around to put Jesse Watters up for worse person in the world so here’s Scott Eric Kaufman’s stab at it.

On The O’Reilly Factor Thursday night, roving “reporter” Jesse Watters approached a number of people who looked young and asked them about how they felt about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and not surprisingly, they all provided him with answers he saw fit to mock.

However, as is always the case, most of the millennials he interviewed actually bested him argumentatively.
“This country has become a joke,” one millennial who was being wrongly mocked for his ignorance said, “then Donald Trump is the punchline.”

Jesse asked another group of millennials why, “if Hillary is so tough, she can’t face questions from the press,” apparently having forgotten that she faced hours and hours of questioning before the press and the world about Benghazi and answered them all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

So my libertarian friend Ben gets things right some times which is why I’m sharing this and his comments with you.   He thinks my bit on the Shell spill is overreacting so don’t think he’s reformed completely yet!

“I love it. The son of a famous architect probably committed rape a few times, but he needs to go out of state for rehab, and when he comes back, he promises he’ll be super-sorry about the whole rape thing and won’t do it anymore. A local real-estate guy driving a Lamborghini at 100 mph down Tchoupitoulas crashes and kills his passenger, but the cops don’t release his name to protect his privacy. A surgeon is indicted on an accusation that he raped a woman repeatedly over the course of several years, and he’s allowed out on bond, but only if he promises not to contact her!

What, oh what, could be the common thread tying all of these men together? Surely, it’s not that they’re all well-connected and wealthy! “

And here’s the link to the article  on the architect’s son.  Believe me, if the dude was black or hispanic or a poor white crackhead, he’d have been shot or locked up forever in Angola. Access to justice has so much to do with money in this country it’s not even funny.  It also has a lot to do with race which is where intersectionality comes in and Bernie Bro Brains leave the building.

A Tulane University student accused in a string of January Uptown home invasions was granted permission by a judge Thursday (May 12) to stay at an out-of-state halfway house run by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation as his case moves through court.

Oliver Jerde, 22, was arrested Jan. 21 after New Orleans police say officers caught him mid-burglary at a residence in the 800 block of Pine Street. Police then charged him in connection with two other break-ins, in the 1000 and 1200 blocks of Lowerline Street.

Victims of both the Lowerline burglaries told police they woke up from sleep to find a man standing over their bed, Jerde’s warrant said. One of those women said Jerde’s hand was over her mouth when she woke up. He was seen at one of the residences with a bottle of liquor, and he left a beer can at another scene, his warrant says.

The son of a prominent architect, the late Jon Jerde, Oliver Jerde posted a $150,000 bond four days after his arrest. As a condition of his bond, Magistrate Judge Jonathan Friedman allowed him to be released to River Oaks Hospital, a mental health and addiction treatment facility in Harvey.

You can find the Lamborgini murder story here.  This guy is out walking about too. The Uptown Surgeon Rapist story can be read here. 

So, this is from another New Orleans friend of mine  Glenn Louis DeVillier responding to a friend of his on FaceBook.

“At this point, all I can think is a few people just don’t believe a woman should be president.”

He was responding to this comment by Justin Rosario.

Dinah Washington

It’s strange, of the three people running for president, only one has released decade’s worth of tax returns and runs a huge foundation that is one of the most transparent charities in the country.

But she’s considered the most dishonest? Amazing what 25 years of propaganda will convince people of.

Ya think? Other ideas?  Here’s the Donald telling every one to go fuck themselves about ever seeing his tax returns.  Bernie and Jane just continue to lie and deflect.  At least Donald is upfront with his dishonesty.

Donald J. Trump said Friday that he doesn’t believe voters have a right to see his tax returns, and insisted it’s “none of your business” when pressed on what tax rate he himself pays — a question that tripped up Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race.

Mr. Trump made the comments in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” as he continued to try to answer questions about his change in explanations over the last year about why he won’t release the taxes.

When the interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, asked Mr. Trump directly if he thought voters had a right to see his returns, something that presidential nominees have provided for roughly 40 years, the candidate replied, “I don’t think they do.”

Mr. Trump added: “But I do say this, I will really gladly give them — not going to learn anything but it’s under routine audit. When the audit ends I’ll present them. That should be before the election. I hope it’s before the election.”

When asked what effective tax rate he pays, Mr. Trump said: “It’s none of your business. You’ll see it when I release, but I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible.”

Can you imagine Hillary Clinton getting away with that?

Okay, that’s enough because I’m cynical enough.

Take time to enjoy the voices of some really great jazz singers who I admire very much. It’s important to remember that sometimes the voices we continue to hear in the media aren’t the voices worth hearing.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?