Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I went to a massage therapist today, and after an hour of being brutalized by a 4’11” woman with hands of steel, I can honestly say I feel amazing and have no interest in reading the news.
My right shoulder feels the best it has post-injury. I was so relaxed that at one point I almost drool through the donut hole my pumpkin sized head was resting in. Going back in two weeks and also am trying out acupuncture with a doctor in Wheeling.
From the Washington Post:
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Dinesh D’Souza to five years of probation, including eight months in a community confinement center, ordering no jail time for the conservative author and pundit who pleaded guilty to using straw donors to make an illegal campaign contribution.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman handed down the sentence, which also includes a $30,000 fine. D’Souza must attend weekly therapeutic counseling sessions and perform community service, the judge said.
The sentence is more lenient than the prison time sought by prosecutors…
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Apart from deploring the way that these RWNJ criminals are never going to learn civilized behavior if we keep letting them off with a slap on the wrist, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Another Scofflaw Walks FreePost + Comments (159)
As I said earlier, I’ve been collecting links on the Ebola outbreak. Slate has published a post from Tara C. Smith, “associate professor of epidemiology at Kent State, studies zoonotic diseases and blogs at Aetiology”, who does a much more professional job of aggregation than I can aspire to, in “Here’s Where We Stand with Ebola“:
It’s nine months into the biggest Ebola outbreak in history, and the situation is only going from bad to worse. The outbreak simmered slowly in West Africa from December 2013, when the first case was retrospectively documented, through March, when it was first recognized by international authorities. It began gaining momentum in June and throughout July. Now, terms like “exponential spread” are being thrown around as the epidemic continues to expand more and more rapidly. Just last week, an increase of 700 new cases was reported, and the case count is now doubling in size approximately every three weeks.
Already, the number of cases (approximately 5,300 as of Sept. 18) and deaths (2,630) has dwarfed the total number of cases and deaths from every reported Ebola outbreak in history—and those are only the cases that we know about…
…[W]e do know that the risk that this outbreak may spawn an airborne Ebola virus is still incredibly tiny. Virologist Vincent Racaniello sums up the history of viruses mutating to a novel route of transmission, noting, “There is no reason to believe that Ebola virus is any different from any of the viruses that infect humans and have not changed the way that they are spread,” and that “the likelihood that Ebola virus will go airborne is so remote that we should not use it to frighten people.”
Even without an airborne form of Zaire Ebolavirus, we still have plenty to be concerned about. Models have suggested that this outbreak could go on for several more months at a minimum. The worst-case situation suggests that half a million cases are possible before the outbreak is finally brought under control. New research proposes that the current outbreak is so different from past Ebola epidemics that modeling is simply not informative, and “as a result, we are not in a position to provide an accurate prediction of the current outbreak.”…
And yet, there are heroes… (to be continued in another post)
If I were Steve Benen I would give you a couple dozen examples of tea party politician types just saying out loud what conservatives are supposed to say only in code, but I am lazy and have a day job. You just have to take my word that the whole epistemic closure business makes closedminded idiots a lot less careful about letting the world know what specific baseless fear or moronic superstition drives them to behave as they do.
Tensions have run high in Jefferson County [CO] schools since three conservative candidates were elected to the school board. These new board members have suggested an extensive rewrite of the way history is taught to the area’s students to a model they believe is more patriotic.
The right-leaning board-members said they believe history teachers should teach nationalism, respect for authority and reverence for free markets. They should avoid teaching any historical events or acts that promote “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.”
[…] Retired New Jersey history teacher Larry S. Krieger told Newsweek, ““As I read through the document, I saw a consistently negative view of American history that highlights oppressors and exploiters.”Krieger is one of the conservative activists leading the charge to change textbooks across the country to reflect a more traditional view of U.S. history and American exceptionalism.
While the narrative may be “historically true,” he argues, “progressives are going to be the heroes in this narrative.”
High school AP history, he said, should be less like a college course and award more plaudits to the founding fathers, captains of industry and other conservative heroes. The liberal bias in the AP curriculum, he said, will turn students against large companies, corporations and wealthy Americans.
Sure this history stuff might be true hand quote-unquote, but if the truth quote-unquote sounds progressive then we’ll just have to go with something else.
Next up: better edit these Bibles to cut out any mention of that communist Jesus fellow.
For ten points, who <em>is</em> John Galt?Post + Comments (75)
Media Matters, with the nut graph:
… On the September 22 edition of his show, O’Reilly claimed that the only credible plan to defeat the Islamic State had to include a mercenary force of 25,000 “English-speaking” fighters that would be recruited and trained by the United States. O’Reilly explained that his mercenary army would be comprised of “elite fighters who would be well-paid, well-trained to defeat terrorists all over the world.”…
(Video at the link, in case you don’t believe them.)
Steve Benen is beyond dubious:
… For some reason, CBS was impressed enough with O’Reilly’s idea that the Fox News host appeared on “CBS This Morning” today where he touted his mercenary approach all over again. “It’s going to happen,” O’Reilly said this morning. “This anti-terror army is going to happen.”
I really doubt that.
In fact, after unveiling his preferred approach, O’Reilly sought an assessment from U.S. Naval War College Professor Tom Nichols. The guest responded, with a polite tone, “Well, Bill, I understand your frustration. I really do. But this is a terrible idea, a terrible idea not just as a practical matter but a moral matter. It’s a morally corrosive idea to try to outsource our national security. This is something Americans are going to have to deal for themselves. We’re not going to solve this problem by creating an army of Marvel Avengers or the Guardians of the Galaxy.”…
.@billmon1 Pretty sure I liked this plan better when it involved marionettes. AMERICA: FUCK YEAH.
— Doctor Memory (@Dr_Memory) September 23, 2014
Open Thread: Terrible People with Terrible IdeasPost + Comments (46)
It’s hard enough to be disabled. Try being disabled and poor. According to a new report released by retiring Senator Tom Harkins (D-IA), 20 million Americans with disabilities are working age and only one third of them are in the workforce:
Americans with disabilities are more likely to be poor than any other demographic group, and their average income in 2012 was about $6,000 less than people without disabilities, according to a report released Thursday….More than 28 percent of adults aged 21 to 64 who have a disability and are not institutionalized live in poverty, compared with the overall 12.4 percent national poverty rate, the report says. The average annual income for adults with disabilities was about $6,000 lower than for people without disabilities.
Disabilities are expensive–a vehicle for someone with cerebal palsy to be able to be mobile can cost $135,000. Not to mention the stigma that many face for mental disabilities and getting help. And in 42 states custody of a child can be rescinded on the basis of a parent’s disability. We talk with Rebecca Cokley, the executive director of the National Council on Disability to get some answers.
Team Blackness also discussed L. Joy’s dreams, the People’s Climate March, and why we’re fed up with the New York Times.
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Don Lemon has stepped in it yet again. This time he has equated disciplining children with disciplining his dog: “You have to teach who’s in control. It doesn’t matter whether it’s fear or what have you, I’m saying this, because it stops you from doing it,” he added. And then he threw in some slavery mentions for good measure.
Please, CNN. Please stop letting this man have a platform. We’d suggest a muzzle, but we realize that people and animals aren’t the same.
Team Blackness also discussed how much a woman’s virginity is worth, the charitable natures of millenials, and Miss America versus conservatives.
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Seriously, Don Lemon. Please Stop Talking.Post + Comments (2)