First, a morsel of good news, via Jezebel:
Shanesha Taylor, the Phoenix mother who left her two young children alone in her car when she attended a job interview in Scottsdale, was granted custody of her children following a hearing Thursday morning in a Maricopa County courtroom…
“I finally breathed,” Taylor said after the 20-minute hearing. “I don’t think I breathed for three days before that.”…
“She’s been doing everything right,” Benjamin Taylor said. “She’s been doing everything the judge told her to do and she’s a veteran of the United States Air Force.”…
News of Taylor’s arrest and her emotional booking photo sparked a national discussion about poverty and access to public assistance. In two months, more than $114,775 was donated through a charity fundraising website to assist with Taylor’s legal fees and other expenses.
Taylor said she is still looking for a job and hopes to work in the service industry. “I like working with people and helping them get what they need,” Taylor said…
Her kids have been staying with family. There’s video at the link, but it’s on autoplay.
*******
And a bleg from loyal commentor Bella Q:
Thursday is an important day for mental health activism, and I’m wondering if you’d consider a post on #ACT4MENTAL HEALTH – NAMI’s national day of action for talking about the issue. I’ve attached the NAMI flyer about it. The “donate” link is to NAMI Warren County, which is the chapter I direct until January 2015 when it will be officially absorbed by the larger Cincinnati (Hamilton County) affiliate. Several Juicers made (greatly appreciated) donations to our 2014 walk. Due to the acquisition, we will not have a walk this, but rather solicit small donors for this and Mental Illness Awareness Week in October.
NAMI’s National Day of Action is a national campaign in which we are asking supporters all across the country to stand up for the issues that are important to us. We are asking Congress to take action, pass legislation and support individuals living with mental illness and their families and we need your help.
No one is more effective at delivering this message to the U.S. Congress than those they are elected to serve. Join with thousands of others on September 4th, to bring national attention to the need for comprehensive mental health legislation. Mental illness affects everyone and it’s time that we spoke up.
Reach out to your member of Congress by calling, emailing or tweeting and tell them it is time to make mental health a priority in America. Check out all of the ways you can join the conversation.
Learn more about NAMI and #Act4MentalHealth <- at these links. Tweet
Share your own tweet or use one that we came up with to tell your member of Congress to take action. Don’t forget to use the #Act4MentalHealth twitter tag and follow @NAMICommunicate.Call
Call your member of Congress and State Representative and tell them why you want them to pass mental health legislation.Social Media
Show your support and raise awareness for mental health on your personal social media pages by changing your profile picture or cover photo.Support the Cause
Make a donation to NAMI and support our efforts to raise awareness and fight stigma.
Mustang Bobby
Good on you, Bella Q. A good and worthy cause.
What a relief for Ms. Taylor.
Schlemizel
I know that its just me & my glass is twice the size it needs to be thinking but I can’t help but feel if Ms. Taylor had shot an unarmed black teen she would have a lot more than $114k walking around money. Hopefully things will get a lot better for them all now.
OzarkHillbilly
In the case of Ms Taylor, I would like to say justice was done. But there were so many injustices inflicted upon this woman and her family (and continue to be) that it is impossible for me to fathom. “Greatest Country in the World” ™ my ass.
On the cool side, meet Laniakea, “immeasurable heaven”, our galaxy’s supercluster. Beautiful. Watch the video if you have the time.
OzarkHillbilly
Oooooppps… Laniakea
Schlemizel
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just great! Now not only are we far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy, we are also out on the far outskirts of Laniakea.
Its enough to make a guy think he was not the center of the universe.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemizel: I had the same thought.
Mustang Bobby
@Schlemizel: Well, on the bright side, the Borg probably won’t find us.
Schlemizel
@Mustang Bobby:
I keep praying for Vogons but apparently even they are not interested.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Schlemizel:
I blame Obama. He’s Hawaiian, Laniakea’s Hawaiian; coincidence, I think not.
Keith G
One of the better commentaries about Obama and ISIL that I have come across is from Mike Pesca on his podcast, “The Gist” This episode, free at iTunes or at Slate, dropped last night and focuses on the “war of words”.
The commentary takes up the last 7.5 minutes of the podcast. It is well worth a listen – as is most of what Mike Pesca does there.
Schlemizel
@Keith G:
as I short take I like this one:
http://www.gocomics.com/tim-eagan/2014/09/04
it seems to be good for just about any situation, not just ISIS
(and can someone tell me how ISIS became ISIL?)
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemizel: I always like to say, “Don’t just do something, Sit there!” Amazing how often things can work themselves out as long as you don’t get involved and f’ it up.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Except elections. Goddammit people, vote!
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemizel: ISIL: Islamic State in Levant ISIS – ISIL have been interchangeable since first appearing
SiubhanDuinne
@OzarkHillbilly:
That is fascinating and beautiful. It’s a cliché to say this, but trying to wrap my head around the sheer vastness of the universe does help put my own small problems in perspective. Thanks for the link.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Joe Scar and Steve Schmit say it’s gona be a wave election like 2010, why bother.
/typical dem voter
Botsplainer
Would love to see that Balko article on suburban St Louis policing front-paged.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Some of us do get the government we deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us get the same government.
ETA: I agree with Wayne LaPierre!
Tommy
@SiubhanDuinne: I can’t wrap my mind around it either. So here is a happy video for you. The entire movie on Youtube. Baraka.Watched it late last night for like the tenth time and I still can’t really explain it. I know this is a bold statement, but maybe the most beautiful film ever made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OXNjyUHY-o
Cheryl from Maryland
@OzarkHillbilly: That mode of action is called the “Queen Elizabeth 1st method of decision making” at my office. Just wait it out until you absolutely have to do something, like the Armada. Worked very well for her.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
ObOpenThread: One for BiP. Initial MH17 report due September 9. Final report to take about a year.
Imagine that – there are rules about civil aviation investigations and releasing the reports…
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
Speaking of life’s problems, I learned not too long ago that an ancestor of mine (great-great-great-great-great-grandfather), who rejoiced in the name Eliphalet Follett, was slaughtered in the Wyoming Valley Massacre.
I decided to modify my trip and spend last night in Wilkes-Barre, PA to do a little genealogical research before heading over to Rhode Island later today. The Wyoming Monument commemorating and honouring the men who lost their lives is about five miles from where I am right now. I’m heading over there in about half an hour to pay tribute and take a few pictures.
Later on this trip, I’ll be in Salem, MA, where Eliphalet’s great-grandfather (an immigrant from England) settled in the mid-17th century, and in Royalton, VT, where Eliphalet’s great-grandson (my great-great-grandfather) lived all his life.
Betty Cracker
@Schlemizel: And now it’s been rebranded to “Islamic State,” which sounds like the worst college ever. Seriously, I’d rather go to BYU.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Ahem. That’s THE Islamic State.
SiubhanDuinne
@Tommy:
I love Baraka!! I have it on DVD at home and have watched it several times, although admittedly not for a while, so thank you for reminding me!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: Have you ever been to Provo? I’m sure you’d rethink that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
LOL, Baud!
Tommy
@Baud: Yes we do get the government we deserve. I often talk about my small rural town. Now I live in a very, very blue district. Hard to find somebody in government that isn’t a Democrat. Well expect for my town. But here is the happy story. About 15 years ago we hired a city manager. The dude rocked at his job. We built a $60M high school. $20M primary school. We wired all the government buildings with fiber. Heck we have a fiber backbone and we are going to court with Verizon to offer free Internet access. We built parks. We paid local artist to make art work for them. We have the lowest property taxes in the area. The town has almost doubled in size.
Now nobody know the guy was a raging liberal. When the mayor and city council found out they drummed up some way to fire him. In the next election we voted 76% to be able to recall our elected officials. Told to rehire him and they did. So government CAN work for you. You just have to hold the elected officials feet to the fire and demand they embrace the will of their citizens.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: There’s a difference?
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Check out the cribs at Newport.
Tommy
@SiubhanDuinne: Very happy I am not the only person that knows about this movie. I’ve shown to a lot of people that never heard of it and they are stunned. Often say things like how didn’t I know about this.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t think it’s interchangeable so much as it’s an indication that they’ve spread further than Syria’s borders. They were ISIS when they were just in Syria, and now they’re ISIL because they’ve moved into Iraq too. There’s a lot of jeering from the Right about the two different acronyms for some stupid reason.
Or maybe I’ve missed the snark again.
Tommy
@debbie: I have a thought about ISIS. We should just walk away. Totally not get involved. Here is my thinking. Saddam was not a good person and started a war with Iran. But for a long time no other nation was invading another in the area. It seems ISIS will. I’d think this would worry Iran and Turkey (just to name two). Make them act.
From everything I can gleam from our media ISIS is a ruthless group of evil people. But they don’t have near the military of Iran or Turkey. If we made it clear we were washing our hands and heading out maybe the people that actually live in the region would act. Police their own backyard.
Just some idle musings …..
Schlemizel
@Betty Cracker:
You have to admit though Islamic State would have a great football team. When the offense blows a hole in the defensive line IT REALLY BLOWS A HOLE!
I could see them on a par with Liberty U academically/socially.
raven
Good news, Bohdi has a broken tooth and our doggie health insurance is covering 80%. Embrace has been really good!
SiubhanDuinne
@Tommy:
There are a number of films in that genre that I like very much. The Qatsi trilogy. Chronos. Others I cannot bring to mind right now. They all, one way or another, point up the twin facts that we are unique yet universal; individual yet interconnected; solitary yet social. Just some extraordinary film-making.
debbie
@Tommy:
Walking away is too similar to Reagan and Bush’s hands off attitude in the Balkans in the 1980s. (“They’re just Mooslims.”) I don’t know what the right answer is, but doing nothing in the face of evil is its own evil. No man is an island, etc.…
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: How much does the insurance cost?
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Might do that tomorrow morning before I head up to Boston (Red Sox-Blue Jays game at Fenway tomorrow night. I’m wearing my 1995 Braves World Series champs t-shirt to the game.)
Schlemizel
@raven:
Have you been happy with the dogging health insurance? I have been trying to talk our daughter into it as they have very little income & a dog that seems to need serious vet care about once a year.
Tommy
@Schlemizel: I have a client that offers insurance for pets so I won’t mention them directly. But I have the insurance and it is pretty amazing. You can research it online or Raven can tell you who he uses but I thought it was a joke. I just buy it because my client sells it. Then I used it for shots and a few pills and I was amazed by the savings. I had some out of pocket expenses but far less then if I didn’t have the policy.
Schlemizel
@Tommy:
The brochure at our vets office was way too vague, sort of ‘set the price you want to pay & we’ll cover what you want”. My fear is the few bucks a month they could afford will still leave them digging for a couple hundred buck when they take the dog in. Whats the name of your company, I’ll google them, thanks
BTW, their dog was imported to MN from GA because MN humane is able to unload more dogs than appear around these parts. It is some sort of pit mix (though the local people tried to BS my daughter with some crap about some other breed but photos make it clear it is not that) and it has a bunch of health issues. Recently I have heard many stories of American Bull Terrier mixes with a lot of issues. Not sure its coincidental or if the bastards doing the breeding are just that stupid.
Tommy
@Schlemizel: I won’t mention his company but the product he resells is Pet Assure. Google it cause I attempted to post another comment here with a link and it just went away.
Now I am not an expert on dogs. But I do know that many breeds like a pit bull, terrier, lab have a lot more health problems then a mut. They are inbreed because people want the “best” dog. That causes them to live shorter lives and have many health issues.
Schlemizel
@Tommy:
I have a brother & SIL that raised & showed purebred dogs. Hip dysplasia was just beginning to be an issue in a few breeds because of sloppy breeders trying to maximize profits. I was part of a lot of discussions with a lot of different breeders & have never heard of the laundry list of ailments, even in some of the most inbred models as the ones these current rescue pits are showing.
Pet Assure was the one from the flyer at the vet I think – thanks
rikyrah
How municipalities in St. Louis County, Missouri profit from poverty
By Radley Balko September 3 at 1:30 PM
On March 20th in the St. Louis County town of Florissant, someone made an illegal U-turn in front of Nicole Bolden. The 32-year-old black single mother hit her brakes, but couldn’t avoid a collision. Bolden wasn’t at fault for the accident, and wanted to continue on her way. The other motorist insisted on calling the police, as per the law. When the officer showed up, Bolden filled with dread.
“He was really nice and polite at first,” Bolden says. “But once he ran my name, he got real mean with me. He told me I was going to jail. I had my 3-year-old and my one-and-a-half year old with me. I asked him about my kids. He said I had better find someone to come and get them, because he was taking me in.” The Florissant officer arrested and cuffed Bolden in front of her children. Her kids remained with another officer until Bolden’s mother and sister could come pick them up.
Nicole Bolden with her daughters Liyah and Lexus. (Photo courtesy of Nicole Bolden)
The officer found that Bolden had four arrest warrants in three separate jurisdictions: the towns of Florissant and Hazelwood in St. Louis County, and the town of Foristell in St. Charles County. All of the warrants were for failure to appear in court for traffic violations. Bolden hadn’t appeared in court because she didn’t have the money. A couple of those fines were for speeding, one was for failure to wear her seatbelt, and most of the rest were for what defense attorneys in the St. Louis area have come to call “poverty violations” — driving with a suspended license, expired plates, expired registration, and a failure to provide proof of insurance.
The Florissant officer first took Bolden to the jail in that town, where Bolden posted a couple hundred dollars bond and was released at around midnight. She was next taken to Hazelwood and held at the jail there until she could post a second bond. That was another couple hundred dollars. She wasn’t released from her cell there until around 5 pm the next day. Exhausted, stressed, and still worried about what her kids had seen, she was finally taken to the St. Charles County jail for the outstanding warrant in Foristell. Why the county jail? Because the tiny town of 500 isn’t large enough to have its own holding cell, even though it does have a mayor, a board of aldermen, a municipal court, and a seven-member police department. It’s probably most well-known locally for the speed trap its police set along I-70.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/?hpid=z2
Cervantes
@debbie: Iraq is not part of the Levant.
Tommy
@Schlemizel: I hope Pet Assure is a quality product. I use it and have been happy with it. But not sure they are the best product out there. I don’t want to be the guy that recommends a bad product.
Now onto the dogs. I am a cat guy myself. They are eight and don’t seem to be slowing down. No health care for them. My brother married into a family that likes labs. Hip dyspepsia as you noted is the first problem. But also a lot of tumors. They have spent thousands and thousands. Not sure what is going on but seems to me a dogs life should be long then 6-8 years.
Patrick
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yesterday I was talking to a guy who appeared to be a teabagger. He said regarding ISIS/ISIL that we need a Ronald Reagan right now. Reagan would have done something by now. When I reminded him that Reagan didn’t do anything except for withdrawing our marines from Lebanon in 1983, it got awfully quiet. It was like FoxNews had never informed him about the REAL Reagan.
Cervantes
@Tommy:
Take a deep breath. You may want to sit down. I have news for you.
So to speak.
rikyrah
don’t wanna hear no more bullshyt about Affirmative Action.
……………………
Tim Russert’s son Luke to be a regular face on ‘Meet The Press’
By Emily Smith
NBC is bringing in Luke Russert, son of the late beloved “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert, as a regular panelist on the Sunday morning show in a bid to turn around its catastrophic ratings slide, Page Six has exclusively learned.
Also joining new moderator Chuck Todd’s team will be former Republican congressman and “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough, who sources say “is taking on a larger role within NBC News as a senior political analyst and would be one of the regular Sunday panelists.”
We’re told the move is part of a plan to bring a right-leaning voice to the program to appeal to viewers turned off by the show’s famously left-leaning former hosts including the ousted David Gregory.
http://pagesix.com/2014/09/03/tim-russerts-son-luke-to-be-a-regular-face-on-meet-the-press/?_ga=1.28479804.1095428863.1396443557
rikyrah
As an admitted TV Addict, I admit I always love the ritual of Fall TV Season Premieres
………….
10 new shows to watch this fall
By Frazier Moore
AP
It’s a time-honored rite harking back to an era of black-and-white TVs and the trio of networks whose programs they delivered: the grand unveiling of new fall fare. As part of the ritual, this latest fall crop is an occasion for handicapping the good and the … moremisfires. Granted, it’s a risky business to rate a new series’ prospects on the basis of its pilot episode, which is typically the only thing critics have to go on. But even if it doesn’t guarantee a great series will follow, a pilot must at least trigger interest at a level to get viewers to return the second week. Here are 10 new series that might catch your fancy:
http://tv.msn.com/10-new-shows-to-watch-this-fall/photo-gallery/
Patrick
@rikyrah:
OMG – I had stopped watching it a decade ago because it is too far right-leaning. Do these clowns really think that people on the right are going to watch Meet the Press when they have FoxNews? As it is, viewers like me have nothing.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
LOL, WHUT!?!?!
Thunderbird
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s the New York Post. A Murdoch rag. Of course they think David Gregory’s a raging pinko commie.
rikyrah
I hope one of the FPers will talk about the Kansas Senate race
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: $49 a month.
debbie
@Cervantes:
Some have considered Iraq to be in the Levant region. It’s a cultural as well as a geographical region.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: There’s a (very) small town in RI named Wyoming. I wonder if it’s related to this in any way.
Cervantes
@debbie: “Some” do all sorts of things, of course, but you’re right: my statement should not have been categorical. Thanks.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic: Her Wyoming is in Pennsylvania. Yours is in Rhode Island. There are also Wyomings in Massachusetts, New York, and elsewhere. And then there’s the state, of course. The relationship among them is etymological: the word “Wyoming” has to do with riparian geography and comes from an Algonquin language that’s now almost extinct.
Gin & Tonic
@Cervantes: The omniscient Wikipedia says the state was named after the Pennsylvania Wyoming. Makes sense, as I didn’t think there were any Algonquians on that side of the big river.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic: Right, more or less.
Mnemosyne
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought that sounded like a Hawaiian name — makes sense given where the observations were made. Plus I like that astronomers are going outside of the usual Greek/Roman names.
Apropos to the debate of the last few days, here’s a headline off to the side of that article: “Jennifer Lawrence naked photo leak: to click or not to click?”
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
There’s also the Spanish writer/director El Gran Wyoming. Just for completist purposes.
Muertos de risa (Dying of Laughter) is one of the funniest dark comedies I’ve ever seen. It takes the whole concept of a comedy team that secretly hates each other way too far.
tsquared2001
@rikyrah:
Thanks for the link. That is one helluva story
lurker dean
@rikyrah: i know gawker and aggregator sites are not everyone’s cuppa tea, but gawker is pretty left leaning and hit it out of the park with this title:
http://gawker.com/meet-the-press-to-be-reimagined-as-garbage-dump-1630469450
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
@Cervantes:
At a rest stop and thought I would check FB, email, and BJ. Cervantes gave the answer I was going to, from Wikipedia:
WaterGirl
@raven: I don’t consider Bohdi having a broken tooth to be good news at all, you brute! (kidding, of course) The 80% coverage is great.
How did Bohdi break a tooth? Poor baby.
WaterGirl
@Schlemizel: I LOVE Pet Plan, that’s who insures all three of my guys.
They have options, and your insurance costs vary depending on what you select. $50, $100 or $200 deductible, per condition per year. Gold, silver or bronze plans, which have different annual limits, but they are all good. You choose what they cover after the deductible – 80%, 90% or 100%
I will never be without pet insurance again. I sign up the day I bring my guys home.
My boy kitty has a chronic UTI condition. I pay the $50 deductible, and then they cover the other $250 for the preventive stuff I sprinkle on his food, they cover every every urine test when we think he might have an infection, they cover the antibiotics and they cover the follow-up tests.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I know! I nearly fell out of my chair when I read that. Alternate reality.
Edit: Oh, i see the thread is dead. Just ignore me.
Anne Laurie
@Schlemizel:
I do believe there’s some mathematical rule stating that, just as the fortunate ‘hybrid’ will get the best of both genetic lines, the crossbreed at the other end of the spectrum is gonna get all the bad genes.
More specifically, one mostly-unspoken reason dogs end up in shelters in the first place is that they’ve got chronic, not-always-visible health issues. People who want a dog as a lifestyle accessory, or who actually can’t afford to budget for a dog with special needs, will “abandon” the dog rather than paying to have it put to sleep. Shelters can’t/don’t always pick up on these problems (it can be difficult for volunteers to tell whether digestive issues, skin problems, “weird” behavior might be just a psychological reaction to being in doggy jail). So a well-meaning adopter ends up with a much more expensive pet than they planned on.