Sunday Reads: Human Chains Bring Awareness to #EndChildMarriage
Posted: January 21, 2018 Filed under: #EndChildMarriage, Afternoon Reads, Congress, Discrimination against women, Donald Trump, Federal Government Shutdown, Feminists, Government Shutdown, Human Rights, India, misogyny, morning reads, open thread, racism, Republican politics, right wing hate grouups, the GOP, Violence against women, white nationalists, Women's Rights | Tags: #BiharHumanChain2018, #WomensMarch2018, Bihar 13 Comments
An estimated 5 million people (5 crore) came together to create a #BiharHumanChain2018 in the Indian State of Bihar to bring awareness against child marriage and dowry.
Bihar joins hands against dowry, child marriage; Dy CM thanks people
Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi, on Sunday thanked the people of Bihar for participating and forming the largest human chain against child marriage and dowry practices.
Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared a message on Twitter, saying that collective effort is required to eliminate practices of dowry and child marriage in the country and a human chain event will be organised to to show our commitment towards the cause.
Bihar forms world’s longest human chain against dowry | GulfNews.com
Millions of people from all walks of life, age groups and professions joined hands on the streets across Bihar on Sunday to form what officials claimed was the world’s longest human chain against dowry and child marriages — the twin social evils gripping Indian society.
Authorities said more than 40 million people came out on the streets in the bone-chilling cold and stood in queues for about 30 minutes Sunday to demonstrate their resolve against the two social evils. The participants included schoolchildren, college students, teachers, officials, social activists, common men and politicians.
However, two main opposition parties in the state, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, boycotted the initiative, claiming the programme was simply a ploy to help chief minister Nitish Kumar boost his image. They said they could not show solidarity with a man who had brutally “misused the people’s mandate” by going back to partner the BJP and form a new government with its support, while the mandate was given to the erstwhile ruling Grand Alliance comprising the RJD, Congress and the Janata Dal United (JD-U) headed by Nitish Kumar.
Kumar who was the man behind the idea refused to comment on the boycott by the main opposition parties, but said the programme was against social evils in which participation of everyone was solicited. “There are already laws in place yet the twin evils continue and our purpose is to make the people aware about them,” the chief minister told the media on Sunday.
Just a few more links on this human chain…
Bihar sets record through human chain
Bihar set a record of sorts when around five crore people joined hands to form a 13,668-km long human chain in here on Sunday.
The human chain, in which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi also participated, was formed to spread awareness about two social evils – child marriage and dowry.
Apart from ruling party legislators and bureaucrats, lakhs of school and college students, teachers, lawyers and academicians took to the streets, where they lined up forming a human chain from 12 noon to 12.30 pm.
The entire event was captured by 40 drone cameras. A documentary film about the human chain will be shown in 127 cinema halls across Bihar.
This human chain has broken the record set in January 2017, when a human chain of 12,417 km was formed by around four crore people in support of the prohibition implemented by the Nitish regime.
RJD, Cong absent
The only stark difference this year was the absence of RJD and Congress leaders from the event. Only one leader from the parties – Congress MLC Ram Chandra Bharti – attended the event, making Nitish’s former partners in the Grand Alliance conspicuous by their absence.
“Nitish is one chief minister who spends crores in image-branding,” said RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwary.
Congress spokesperson Prem Chandra Mishra demanded a white paper on the exorbitant expenses incurred in organising such an event.
This year, the main function was organised at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, where Nitish flagged off the event.
Similar human chains were formed in the 38 districts of the state.
Bihar’s two main opposition parties -RJD and Congress – on Sunday said that the state government’s much-trumpeted human chainagainst dowry system and child marriage turned out to be “super flop” as participation of common people could not be seen anywhere across the state.
“Only school children who were called by opening their institutions despite being Sunday, their teachers and a section of state government employees were seen standing in the human chain that remained broken here and there. Common people didn’t turn up anywhere to participate in the chain. Participation of common villagers could not be seen anywhere,” RJD’s state president Ram Chandra Purbey said, adding, “The non-participation of common people shows that CM Nitish Kumar has lost peoples’ faith.”
Last year, the same chain was formed in awareness of the campaign to ban alcohol. Only there was cooperation from among all sides of government. I have not followed the situation enough to fully grasp the entire nuance of the political climate…but I wonder just how much the actual subject of this year’s campaign…being tied to an issue like child marriage and dowry, could be a reason for the lack of full support.
Bihar has it’s problems with child marriage. Human Chain 2.0: After Battling Liquor, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Sets His Sights on Dowry – The Wire
A look at the statistics from Bihar prove just how serious and deep-rooted these issues are. According to the 2011 Census, around 3% of girls get married before the age of 14. Figures for under-age marriages from the National Family Health Survey 4 say that 39% of girls become child brides. When it comes to atrocities against women, the state ranks 26th in India, but is no. 2 in dowry-related crimes.
Between 2000 and 2015, out of total 1,15,374 dowry death cases registered in India, 17,257 cases were registered in Bihar. Beyond just cases that pertained to deaths, 18,462 cases were registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act during the same period.
The root of the problem
A complex relationship between child marriage and dowry exists in the state. Among well-to-do families, there is a growing emphasis on educating girls and letting them work. As awareness of social ills continues to grow in these circles, cases of child marriage have dropped drastically, but dowry continues to be a problem. In fact, not only is it still followed, the sums exchanging hands are astronomical at times.
Among financially weaker sections, instead of investing to educate girls, families save to pay dowry. Then, in order to not pay a heavy dowry, they opt to marry off their girls early. There is an added problem that arises from this practice: if underage brides become pregnant, there’s a heavy risk of death during the delivery of both mother and child.
More than that, there is also a market opportunity here. Every year, when the wedding season swings around, advertisements spring up everywhere indirectly indicating what would make for a good dowry present. In fact, as Geetanjali Mukherjee wrote in her book Dowry Death in India, published in 1999, advertisements even advise families on how to save on dowry. The book noted that “until recently, billboard advertisements in Bombay, for instance, made an unabashed appeal to pregnant women to take the expensive and somewhat risky amniocentesis test. It importuned them to spend 500 rupees now on the test in order to save 50,000 rupees in future on a daughter’s dowry”.
In contrast to Nitish’s earlier campaign against liquor where the administrative and legal measures worked quite well, in the case of dowry, there is not much space for the police to act proactively. Data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) tells us that approximately 60% of the dowry-related cases which reach the police are those where there has been a death. This means that most victims avoid going to the authorities, which is why despite strict laws against this practice, dowry-related crimes continue unabated, be it in Bihar or India. The number of cases of dowry deaths in India stood at 6,851 in 2001. That figure jumped to 7,634 in 2015. The same trend was observed in Bihar. During the same period, cases in Bihar increased from 859 in 2001 to 1,154 in 2015.
According to the article in The Wire, unlike the banning of alcohol…the issue of ending child marriage must deal with changing the mindset of people…
More than a law, what is required is changing personal opinions.
Nitish appears to have understood that this is the battle that matters. His campaign against dowry and child marriage will see him act more like a reformer working to swing a big changes in the opinion of the masses more than a chief minister taking the administrative route to fix the state of affairs. This is why he is personally visiting the homes of those who are getting married without the dowry angle. Along with Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi, the deputy chief minister, used the marriage of his eldest son to set an example of a dowry-free marriage.
Nitish has undoubtedly taken on a herculean task, but there are certain doubts in the minds of the public. Is this another tactic to keep cadres busy, much like the plantation drive?
With assembly elections just a year away, there is little scope that the anti-dowry campaign will bear any electoral fruits. But if Nitish’s latest battle bears even some fruit, it’s still a step ahead in the fight for gender justice.
All the same, I feel that bringing awareness to the crisis of child marriage goes far in helping create a dialogue about an issue that will not go away any time soon.
Here are some tweets with images of the day, #BiharHumanChain2018 :
Last week Human Rights Watch came out with their World Report 2018: Fighting for Rights Succeeds | Human Rights Watch
Abdul Kareem, a Rohingya Muslim, carries his mother, Alima Khatoon, to a refugee camp after crossing from Burma into Bangladesh on Sept. 16, 2017.
© 2017 Dar Yasin/AP
In the 643-page World Report, its 28th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth writes that when leaders push back strongly against politicians who demonize minorities, attack human rights, and undermine democratic institutions, they can limit the advance of populists. But where mainstream politicians capitulate to a message of hate and exclusion, the authoritarian populists flourish.
“The past year showed the importance of pushing back against the threat posed by demagogues and their abusive policies,” Roth said. “As we mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2018, the best way to honor its principles is to vigorously defend them against those leaders who seek political advantage by depriving marginalized groups of the rights guaranteed for all.”
Please go to this link World Report 2018 | Status of Human Rights Around the World to read more and to look up how each of the 90 countries square up…
You may find the United States quite interesting:
World Report 2018: United States | Human Rights Watch
The strong civil society and democratic institutions of the United States were tested in the first year of the administration of President Donald Trump. Across a range of issues in 2017, the US moved backward on human rights at home and abroad.
Trump has targeted refugees and immigrants, calling them criminals and security threats; emboldened racist politics by equivocating on white nationalism; and consistently championed anti-Muslim ideas and policies. His administration has embraced policies that will roll back access to reproductive health care for women; championed health insurance changes that would leave many more Americans without access to affordable health care; and undermined police accountability for abuse. Trump has also expressed disdain for independent media and for federal courts that have blocked some of his actions. And he has repeatedly coddled autocratic leaders and showed little interest or leadership in pressing for the respect of human rights abroad.
The individuals most likely to suffer abuse in the United States—including members of racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, children, the poor, and prisoners—are often least able to defend their rights in court or via the political process. Many vulnerable groups endured renewed attacks on their rights during the year. Other longstanding US laws and practices—particularly related to criminal and juvenile justice, immigration, and national security—continued to violate internationally recognized human rights.
Lots and lots more at the link…reading it is like going through an abbreviated list of shithole actions taken by a shithole president.
Before I end with pictures and tweets from yesterday’s marches…
After a year of Trump, women expect less from men – but demand more – The Globe and Mail
One year ago Sunday, the largest single-day protest in U.S. history took place. The Women’s March, which followed the inauguration of Donald Trump, consisted of over 650 marches of roughly five million participants. The organizers were women, most protesters were women, and the targets were the misogynists of the Trump administration and their repressive policies. Protesters warned of the new government’s autocratic tendencies and planned persecution of the marginalized. Their warnings were not heeded by pundits clinging to the illusion of “checks and balances” or the “presidential pivot,” but they were right.
One year later, women remain the backbone of the opposition to President Trump, and those opposing him comprise the majority of the electorate. You would not know this from reading many U.S. media outlets, which focus disproportionately on Trump voters, with papers like the New York Times even surrendering an op-ed page to them. On Saturday, an enormously popular second women’s march caught the country by surprise, as there was little media attention to it paid beforehand despite the massive amount of preparation and participants involved.
I wanted to show you this little bit of the anti-women’s march protest going around today:
Heimbach’s Nazis are returning to Tennessee to protest the Women’s March taking place in Knoxville on Sunday. The Nazis plan to attach themselves to a competing anti-abortion “March for Life” rally. How this will pan out for the fascists is anyone’s guess, but back in October, things didn’t go well for them in the Volunteer State. Heimbach’s crew started a fight with a biracial couple in a Brentwood pub. And their two rallies only put a spotlight on the weakness of their movement and the strength of their opposition. The second event, in Murfreesboro, was a total flop. Heimbach’s Nazis bailed, scared off by hundreds of counter-demonstrators who descended on Murfreesboro’s main square.
It makes me sick.
This is an open thread…what are you reading about today?
Cross-posted / Human Chains Bring Awareness to #EndChildMarriage – Empower Dialogue
Wednesday Reads: Bit of this and that…and no “other”
Posted: September 30, 2015 Filed under: 2016 elections, abortion rights, Accommodation and Compromise, Government Shutdown, Gun Control, Hillary Clinton, morning reads, U.S. Politics 20 Comments
Good Morning
Today the news links are random. Nothing special or spectacular.
The pictures are silly, various pictures of pugs. Bebe is getting a pug when the inheritance of her…absentee grandmother finally is released from the VALIC company. (That is another story for another time.) But to make things funny, I thought we would have pictures of pugs on the post today.
Let’s start with the latest news from here in the States:
John Boehner’s Attempt to ‘Clean the Barn Up’ Before He Leaves Congress – The Atlantic
I doubt that…but Russell Berman, the dude who wrote the article seems to think so.
…it turns out he might not be done quite yet. The speaker won’t leave office for another month, and he has said he wants to “get as much finished as possible” before he goes. “I don’t want to leave my successor a dirty barn,” Boehner said Sunday on CBS’sFace the Nation. “I want to clean the barn up a little bit before the next person gets there.”
So what does Boehner mean by cleaning up the barn?
You know, I would love to see Boehner pull a Cartman when he leaves…
Well, actually…maybe something more explosive.
Oh, yeah…and did you see? Crazy bigot lady from the Blue Grass State got a face to face meeting with the Pope. Go figure. Everyone making such a big deal about how lefty he is, but check it out…he secretly met with this ass:
Pope Francis held secret meeting with Kim Davis, according to her Liberty Counsel attorney
Pope Francis secretly met a Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and gave her words of encouragement, her attorney said.
Mat Staver, attorney and founder of the Liberty Counsel, told CBS News on Tuesday night that the pope met Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her husband at the Vatican embassy in Washington last Thursday during his visit to the United States.
Vatican chief spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said he would neither confirm nor deny the report and that there would be no further statement. This was unusual for the Vatican, which normally issues either denials or confirmations.
The report of the meeting came after Francis largely avoided the contentious issue of same-sex marriage during his historic visit to the United States, where he addressed Congress, met with the homeless and urged the country to welcome immigrants.
The pope, speaking to reporters as he returned home from his 10-day trip to the U.S. and Cuba on Monday, said government officials had a “human right” to refuse to discharge a duty if they felt it violated their conscience.
Of course, don’t let all the talk of forgiveness and whatever he has said fool you. This is the Catholic Church. The shit will never change. According to the article, Staver…
…did not want to disclose the meeting until now to avoid interfering with the pope’s broader message during his visit.
“Because we didn’t want the pope’s visit to be overshadowed with Kim Davis,” Staver said in an interview on the network.
During the meeting, the pope told Davis to “stay strong”, Staver said.
Davis, whose parents are Catholic, has said her beliefs as an Apostolic Christian prevent her from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Her church belongs to a Protestant movement known as Apostolic Pentecostalism.To keep a low profile, Davis went to the Vatican embassy in a sports utility vehicle with her hair in a different style than her normal look, Staver told CBS, adding he was not present.
Ugh…Davis in drag, I mean disguised? Oh boy.
Oh, while we are on the topic of vile people (Davis) this next thread, by TBogg…also from Raw Story: The 13 most punchable faces in America
Can you guess who is number one?
If you are an honest person — and I trust that you are — you will admit that at some time in your life you have wanted to haul off and smack somebody right in the mouth. Just plant your fist right in the middle of their smug smirky stupid face, swinging from out of nowhere with no warning given.
Boom.
Blah, blah…yada, yada….violence this and that. (Stuff about how it is Americans only on the list, so Justin Beiber is out.) And how putting the entire male population at Fox News is cheating. Well, you can go and read that part of the article at the link. Let’s just get to the assholes that deserve a punch in the mouth.
So let’s start this off with the most obvious choice:
Owner of punchable face: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
Occupation: Shit talker, ineffective legislator, egomaniac, subversive Canadian sleeper agent, Texas senator
The face: Knitted eyebrows and a “more in sorrow than in anger because everyone else is an idiot” look of insincerity.
Crimes against humanity: Cruz got himself elected to the U.S. Senate from America’s 2nd worst state and immediately started acting like he owned the place. Also the House. And the White House. And the Supreme Court. Talked idiot House members into shutting down the government at a cost of $24 billion to the economy. Wants to do it again.
Number 3:
Owner of punchable face: Mark Halperin
Occupation: Chronicler of inconsequential conventional wisdom, hack, confused grader, political editor.
The face: The smirk of undeserved success
Crimes against humanity: Says things that are horribly counter-intuitive on TV which inexplicably affects the political zeitgeist making the world stupider than it should be. Briefly suspended from MSNBC for calling the president a “dick” on Morning Joe — a television show featuring a revolving cast of dicks.
Number 6
Owner of punchable face: Jesse Watters
Occupation: O’Reilly coat holder, stalker, insufferable prick, racist, Fox News producer
The face: Celebratory frat bro who just escaped a rape conviction on a technicality
Crimes against humanity: Watters is Bill O’Reilly’s smirky wingman, sent out into the field to harass and stalk women and sneer at poor black people before returning to the studio and gleefuly sharing his tales of adventure while O’Reilly presumably masturbates under his desk onto a loofah. Pro tip: If Watters sticks his microphone in your face, answer every questions with “Andrea Mackris” until he slinks back into his hole.
Go and see the others on the list. For the life of me, I don’t understand why many assholes are missing from the list. Some more obvious than others.
Like this dude, who is one of our dickhead PLUB monsters. Australia doesn’t want him to come into the country. They see him as a security risk.
US anti-abortion campaigner has Australia visa revoked – BBC News
US anti-abortion campaigner Troy Newman has been stopped from flying to Australia after his visa for the country was revoked.
He had already flown from Kansas to Colorado, but was denied boarding the next flight to Los Angeles, from where he would have flown to Melbourne.
Mr Newman was due to speak at events promoted by the group Right to Life Australia.
He has previously called for the execution of abortion doctors.
Australian Labor MP Terri Butler, who wrote to Australia’s immigration minister to ask that Mr Newman’s visa be denied, called him an “anti-choice extremist”.
The minister, Peter Dutton, confirmed to local media that he cancelled the visa amid concerns Mr Newman’s presence could incite violence against abortion doctors and the women using them.
Mr Newman has called women who have abortions “murderers”.
Oh, this ass Newman needs more than a punch in the mouth. I think since he is so interested in a woman’s reproductive organs, perhaps he should have some punch work done on his own set of nuggets of love. That will give him something to think about, because he has time to write this shit on his Facebook wall:
Mr Newman wrote “RED ALERT!!!… It is clear that the pro-abortion crowd does not want anyone to hear the truth about Planned Parenthood’s illegal actions.”
“Please pray for me I’m stuck in Denver airport like a man without a country,” he added.
A man without a country. WTF is that? Crazy ass muthafukker.
The visa decision comes days after the government said it was unlikely American singer Chris Brown would be given a visa because of his record of domestic violence.
Can I say I appreciate the hell out of Australia!
The rest of today’s links in dump fashion.
Slavery, the Second Amendment, and the Origins of Public-Carry Jurisprudence – The Atlantic
Hillary says she’ll work across aisle — and some in GOP agree | TheHill
Africa: Empowered Girls Can Change the World, Say UNFPA Head and Ashley Judd – allAfrica.com
Education Secretary: Want To Save On Prisons? Spend More On Schools.
Iran’s leader demands Muslim world probe haj deaths | Reuters
Series of bombs in China kills at least three: CCTV | Reuters
VW says 1.2m UK cars affected by emissions scandal | Business | The Guardian
This last link is real neat:
Plastic-eating worms may offer solution to mounting waste, researchers discover
Mealworms munch on Styrofoam, a hopeful sign that solutions to plastics pollution exist. Wei-Min Wu, a senior research engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, discovered the larvae can live on polystyrene.
That is interesting…and promising. I wonder if they could actually do some good one day.
Anyway…here is a picture of the little pug Bebe is getting. She is calling him Hugo:
Innit he a cutie?
Hope you enjoyed the pugs…have a good day and please treat this as an open thread.
Wednesday Reads : Sanity by the numbers, one…two…three.
Posted: September 23, 2015 Filed under: 2016 elections, Accommodation and Compromise, Barack Obama, corporate money, Government Shutdown, Hillary Clinton, morning reads, open thread, Political Affective Disorder, Republican politics, U.S. Politics, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights 17 Comments
It’s as easy to learn as your ABCs.
I can’t remember the exact date, but it has been a while.
It must have been around the time when Hobby Lobby was in the news? Or maybe it was before that, Troy Davis? Perhaps.
No, it was after Davis…after the Jesus in my Uterus decisions…and the Bundy Ranch militias, the Wendy Davis defeat and the countless scenes of police brutality and idiotic right-wing shitheads stoking the embarrassing political cable TV dumb ass reality show that stands for our elected officials.
Y’all know what I am talking about. We have seen it here on the blog, Mona aka called it Political Affected Disorder. It was really something serious for a few of us…like me. What would have taken just an evening to bring me down from an anxiety and depressed mood brought on by the absolute ridiculous hate filled rant of Bachmann back in the day, now took days to calm down.
There was other things going on at home, yeah but there was something else about the feelings of defeat and real disgust that were different this time around. I didn’t have that anger like I did in 2008. That anger that pushed me, with a vengeance. No, this was not the same.
I’ve been worn down, depression does that I guess.
My only way to keep some sense of sanity was to avoid the news and stop going online all together.
I could not bring myself to comment on the blog anymore. Doing the afternoon news threads was unbearable. I avoided almost anything, just researching articles the evening before my post…and catching up on the threads that Boston Boomer and Dakinikat had written the days before. (Actually, I still do this…I can’t help it, it is my only way to protect myself because I feel like if I get back involved as I once was…I will really loose it. Mentally.)
So. I check out. Only to “check in” on Tuesday evenings or Wednesday mornings…same goes for Saturday nights and Sunday mornings….that is when I will look at what has happened with the circus show of current events.
The reason I bring all this up, is because I felt I had to explain. The reasons for why I am hardly ever here.
Now a few links to illustrate my point…and then I can toss it over to you.
Better Watch Your Mouth, Donald Trump Suing Everyone Who’s Mean To Him – Wonkette
Digby at Salon: Ted Cruz’s diabolical shutdown strategy: Why the GOP senator wants to watch the world burn – Salon.com
Hillary Clinton Confronted on Whether She Created Birtherism | Mediaite
A stunning stat about pay seems impossible but actually is true – The Washington Post
Once upon a time, American men used to get something called a “raise.”
That is when your employer would actually pay you more money. Now, it is true that some people still have experience with this all-but-forgotten practice, but even the ones who do tend not to get pay increases that keep up with price increases. That is why, as David Wessel of the Brookings Institution points out, the typical male worker actually saw his after-inflation pay fall between 1973 and 2014.
What is four lost decades between friends?
I won’t go into the discussion of women and their earning power, cough….cough.
When the Womb Is a Crime Scene – ProPublica
Alabama has turned hundreds of pregnant women into felons for using drugs — even when they’re legal and the kids turn out fine.
Mathematician Declares War On Kansas Republicans For Committing Election Fraud (VIDEO) «
Donald Trump Heading To Extremist Religious Right Summit | Right Wing Watch
Constitution 101 for Presidents | Linda R. Monk, J.D.
Obama to Pope: “We Stand With You In Defense Of Religious Freedom” | Video | RealClearPolitics
This next thread from Wonkette is something you have to read in full: Let’s Meet The Biggest Loser Candidate In America. His Name Is Carl! – Wonkette
Four candidates are vying for the seat: 1. a dreamy young GOP lawyer who is on the Richmond School Board, 2. a filthy rich Democrat who is a real estate developer and a county supervisor, 3. an independent community organizer who used to be a county supervisor, and 4. our subject today: Libertarian Carl Loser.
And other stories of note:
New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra dies at 90
The baseball world got some sad news late Tuesday evening when the Yogi BerraMuseum announced via their Twitter account that the New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher had died at the age of 90.
Berra is considered the greatest catcher of all-time, and is a New York Yankees legend. His No. 8 jersey is retired at the Yankees monument park.
[…]
The 18-time All-Star took home three MVP awards in 1951, 954 and 1955. He is one of just six managers to lead both the National and American league teams to the World Series.
More than the man himself, Berra was a larger-than-life personality who would speak to the media freely, delivering some of the most memorable quotes in history often known as “Yogi-isms.”
Here are some of the most memorable Yogi-isms from the Yankees’ legendary backstop.
“We made too many wrong mistakes.”
“Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.”
“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
“Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the other half is physical.”
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
“You can observe a lot by just watching.”
“It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
“It ain’t over till it’s over.”
“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.”
We promise there will be a lot of people at your funeral, Yogi. Rest in peace.
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Yogi Berra passed away Tuesday night at the age of 90. #YogiBerrapic.twitter.com/0BSctBzhTb
— Yogi Berra Museum (@Yogi_Museum) September 23, 2015
That is it for today, this is an open thread.
BTW, Happy 18th Birthday Jake…wow…
Woman in Red: Debate, Election and the Shutdown…The GOP’s Albescent-churian Candidate
Posted: September 16, 2015 Filed under: 2016 elections, A My Pet Goat Moment, abortion rights, Accommodation and Compromise, birth control, Bobby Jindal, Federal Budget, Federal Government Shutdown, Fox News, fundamentalist Christians, George W. Bush, GLBT Rights, Government Shutdown, Gun Control, immigration, just because, Main Stream Media, Mental Health, open thread, Planned Parenthood, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, Political and Editorial Cartoons, racism, Rape Culture, Religious Conscience, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, Republican presidential politics, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Tea Party activists, the GOP, The Right Wing, U.S. Politics, VAGINA Rick Santorum, War on Women, Woman in Red protector of the Uteri defender of Vajayjay Rights, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: Ben Carson, Climate change, CNN Republican Debate 2015, Donald Trump, George Pataki, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz 32 Comments
Good Morning
As promised…I bring you the latest edition of The Woman in Red….(It has taken me days, in fact almost the last 24 hours has been straight on through.)
You can read the earlier issues at these links:
The Woman In Red: Battle of the Sexes…Fight Until the Vacuum Cleaner is Broken | Sky Dancing
As before, click the image to see the full size…and then click on the image itself to enlarge the picture, otherwise you will not be able to read the captions.
So….here we go!
Woman in Red:
Debate, Election and the Shutdown…
The GOP’s Albescent-churian Candidate
Tonight is the Republican Presidential Candidate Debate…..
4 things to watch in Wednesday’s Republican debate | MSNBC
Republican Presidential Debate 2015: Start Time, TV Channel, Radio Info For Second GOP Debate
Gloves likely to come off at second GOP 2016 debate – NY Daily News
Let’s take you to the debate venue, shortly before the event is to begin……
Bloody hell, I am exhausted!
Hope you enjoyed this edition of The Woman in Red, and the introduction of the new arch nemesis…S.P.Ermand…The Sperm Man!
This is an open thread.
Sunday Reads: GOP and Agnotology
Posted: October 13, 2013 Filed under: Capital Punishment aka Death Penalty, child sexual abuse, children, Congress, Crime, Federal Budget and Budget deficit, Foreign Affairs, GLBT Rights, Government Shutdown, India, morning reads, physical abuse, Russia, Tea Party activists, the GOP | Tags: "Baby Hope", Agnotology the study of culturally induced ignorance, Classic Horror Movies, Cyclone Phailin, Facebook, Google, Gov. Deal 29 Comments
This vintage ad about sums it up…look at the symbolic GOP elephant and his poison spray can of DDT …
Good Morning
Agnotology. New word, for me at least…read this explanation and tell me if it strikes a chord with you. (Emphasis mine.)
Agnotology is the study of culturally induced ignorance.
Agnotology refocuses questions about “how we know” to include questions about what we do not know, and why not.
Londa Schiebinger, in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1 Sep. 2005.
Historians of science have tended to focus on the processes by which scientific knowledge gets accepted. In recent decades, some scholars have come to see that processes that impede or prevent acceptance of scientific findings are also important. Such processes include the very human desire to ignore unpleasant facts, media neglect of topics, corporate or government secrecy, and misrepresentation for a commercial or political end. They often generate controversy, much of it ill-informed. Examples include the health implications of tobacco and of genetically modified plants, the safety of nuclear power, the environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and the existence or extent of man-made climate change.
Seriously, by that definition alone, and with those examples…you could just say that Agnotology is the study of Republicans.
While we are going through a GOP induced hell here in the states, some parts of India are living a real hell…being hit by one of the strongest typhoons in years. Cyclone Phailin makes landfall in India
A huge cyclone that has forced as many as 500,000 people to flee their homes has made landfall in eastern India.
Winds were measured at 200 km/h (125mph) as Cyclone Phailin hit the coast near Gopalpur, Orissa state, at about 21:15 (15:45 GMT).
Authorities had predicted a storm surge of at least 3m (10ft) that was expected to cause extensive damage.
Officials say they are better prepared than in 1999 when a cyclone killed thousands of people in Orissa.
Cyclone Phailin has been classed as “very severe”, and the head of India’s Meteorological Office, LS Rathore, said it would remain in that category for six hours before losing strength.
An hour before Phailin made landfall, winds were over 150 mph. New York Times is reporting that over 800,00 people have been evacuated…We will learn more as the morning progresses, I will post updates in the comments below.
Heading toward Russia, there was some violence at St Petersburg when a Russian gay rally ends in fights and arrests.
The clashes began after a protester had her rainbow flag ripped from her hands [Reuters]Sixty-seven people were arrested after fightes broke out between gay rights activists and opponents at a rally in the Russian city of St Petersburg, according to local news sources.
Several dozen activists for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual rights had gathered in the centre of the city for a sanctioned LGBT rally, which was held on what activists termed as “international coming out day”.
They were far outnumbered by the anti-gay demonstrators, including several dressed as Cossacks and Orthodox priests, who had occupied the site of the planned demo.
Fights broke out after anti-gay protesters tore a rainbow flag from a woman’s hands, and police then moved in to arrest those involved. They eventually detained 67 people from both sides, Russian news agencies reported.
The Winter Games are going to be one shitty scary mess.
Back here in the states, there was an arrest yesterday in a famous unsolved murder case out of New York City. New York police arrest man in 1991 ‘Baby Hope’ killing
New York City police have arrested a cousin in the killing of a 4-year-old girl dubbed “Baby Hope,” whose body was found crammed in a picnic cooler in 1991, police said on Saturday.
Conrado Juarez, 52, early on Saturday confessed to sexually assaulting and then smothering the girl, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told a news conference.
Police detained him at a Manhattan restaurant on Friday, more than 22 years after the girl’s death, he said.
The girl, dubbed “Baby Hope” by investigators, was never reported missing and was only recently identified.
Kelly named her as 4-year-old Anjelica Castillo.
Her bound, asphyxiated body was discovered stuffed underneath cans of soda inside a blue-and-white cooler alongside the Henry Hudson Highway in northern Manhattan in July of 1991. She had been starved and sexually abused, police said.
New York police announced on Tuesday they had identified the girl’s mother after following through on a tip they received over the summer. Her identity was confirmed through DNA testing and she was cooperating with the investigation, they said.
Finally some closure for the people who have worked this case for all these years, because it is obvious the family didn’t give a damn about this little girl at all. Police say Juarez’s sister, who is dead, helped him dispose of Anjelica’s body. More information at this CNN link: NYPD arrests man in killing of ‘Baby Hope’
Update on Dartmouth: Dartmouth Suspends Wholesome Frat Over Hazing Emails
Meanwhile, Georgia’s Governor Deal may be under investigation. Read this AP report from North Georgia Access…it is a long article. I wonder if anything will come of it.: Attorney who raised questions about ethics complaints against Deal contacted by FBI
I saw this next link via Google News from my hometown of Tampa: 10 News Investigators find memo warning about terrorist “dry-runs” on airplanes | wtsp.com Strange…and again not a lot of news on this in other media outlets.
Of course, if you want to see what is up with the shutdown: Senate leaders take over government shutdown talks – The Washington Post
Hey, I mentioned yesterday that I was having some problems with my gmail account, well…here are two links that you need to read if you use Facebook or Google:
“Who can look up your Timeline by name?” Anyone you haven’t blocked. Facebook is removing this privacy setting, notifying those who had hidden themselves that they’ll be searchable. It deleted the option from those who hadn’t used it in December, and is starting to push everyone to use privacy controls on each type of content they share. But there’s no one-click opt out of Facebook search.
Your Face May Appear in a Google Ad Soon- Mashable
If you’ve ever been appalled to see yourself or your friends used in a Facebook ad, then you’re not going to like Google‘s new terms of service.
The company updated its TOS on Friday to allow an adult user’s profile name and photo to appear in reviews and advertising starting Nov. 11.
And let me tell you, it is a bitch to find the dashboard on Google where you can fix this shit!
We have a personal connection to the PBS Frontline “League of Denial” that aired this past week, Boston Boomer’s brother created the trailer that angered the NFL so much they pressured ESPN to drop out of the project….well here’s a round-up of responses to the show via The Dish: The Football Fan’s Dilemma « The Dish
I think you will find this infographic from Huffpo interesting: The Geographic Inequality Of Death Row (INFOGRAPHIC)
October 10 marks the 11th World Day Against the Death Penalty, and the United States remains one of the top five countries in the world for executing its citizens — along with China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to Amnesty International. The 43 executions we carried out last year happened in just nine states; 15 of them were in Texas.
I am going to move on to the better part of today’s post…nothing depressing or disturbing.
There was this article at The New York Times which touched a personal side for me. Growing Up With a Disabled Sibling
Some research suggests that growing up with a disabled sibling can also infuse a person with a greater sense of responsibility, patience and compassion for others. Some siblings may be inspired to go into a helping profession, like medicine, teaching or public interest law. Others translate their early experience with disability into a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, the wide spectrum of human differences. I confess to keeping my own list of successful and accomplished people who have a sibling with Down syndrome, which includes the Olympic snowboarder Kevin Pearce (now himself disabled by a traumatic brain injury), the actor and singer Jamie Foxx, the actress Eva Longoria, and Amy Chua of “Tiger Mom” fame (and a Yale Law School professor).
That is just one paragraph I want to point out, you have to read the whole op/ed. It is great.I guess it is for me because I know the outcome of growing up with a disabled sibling…in my situation, Denny and I were always a package deal. So I see the hope in that piece.
There are some cool pictures at this link: We Could Stare At These Defaced Bills All Day
And hey…check it out: [VIDEO] ‘Remington Steele’ Reboot — NBC Plans Sequel I used to love that show, Pierce Brosnan was so damn hot.
Oh, and since this is October, two links on horror movies:
A Very Brief History of a Very Famous Mask – She Blogged By Night
And one on Classic Movies from the 50’s:
moviemorlocks.com – Biting the Hand That Feeds You: Movies About the Movies In the 1950s
Finally, this last article…which proves that an animal without a backbone is more intelligent than one of those Republicans, or at least the octopus can assist in the Agnotological study of the Republican Brain: How the Freaky Octopus Can Help us Understand the Human Brain – Wired Science
If you were to measure octopus smarts by the number of neurons the creatures have (500 million to our almost 100 billion), they’d come up pretty dull. But forget that metric. The octopus’s neurons aren’t even concentrated in its head; about two-thirds of its “brains” are distributed in its arms, dedicated to the fine operation of these limbs and each of their hundreds of suckers. The rest of the neurons are split between a central brain—surrounding the esophagus—and large optic lobes behind the eyes. Like we said: alien.
But somehow octopuses do things that suggest they’re brainier than plenty of animals with backbones and more familiar nervous systems. Here’s an easy one: Lots of octopods have learned to twist off standard jar lids. But in 2003, biologists at the Seattle Aquarium challenged Billye, a female Enteroctopus dofleini—a giant Pacific octopus—with a childproof bottle, the kind that can baffle even the smartest Homo sapiens. Billye figured out the push-and-twist trick in a little less than an hour. And in subsequent attempts, she popped those tricky tops in a mere five minutes.
Is the vertebrate brain optimized for intelligence? Ask the octopus. | Robert Eikelpoth/Corbis
This is just the beginning of their abilities. Octopuses in the wild may be using tools—a feat that, not so long ago, was considered the exclusive domain of humans (though now we know it’s the province of other species too, like dolphins and some birds). Researchers have observed octopuses off the coast of Indonesia collecting—and awkwardly carrying—coconut shell halves along the sandy seafloor. For a shelter on the go, they whip out the two pieces of shell, swoop inside, and snap the pair shut. “That’s a spectacular example, because it really does suggest foresight,” says Jennifer Mather, who studies animal behavior at Canada’s University of Lethbridge. “In terms of cognition, that’s pretty good.”
Have a great Sunday!
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