Happy news from Philadephia cat rescuer Ann Marie:
Good news — Lucy and Luna have found a home. A woman at my office was going to go to the SPCA and get a kitten but decided to take these two mature ladies instead.
Anybody know how to convert video iMove (Apple) clips to a (pc) .flv file that WordPress will accept? Until that can be untangled, here’s the latest update from kitten wrangler Marc:
The kittens continue to develop by leaps and bounds (literally). Their territory now ranges from the master bedroom (where they were born and corralled) down to the computer room at the other end of the condo, with the kitchen and dining room on the route in between. They’ve all discovered The Mirror, and watching each interact with the kitten on the other side was something else. Their physical development and increased coordination has given them newfound wings as to where they can explore.
The two cat trees in the bedroom are now regular places to romp, which they rapidly climb up and down (and occasionally hide in when I’m doing a kitten count). The bed, which used to be a tough climb for them is similarly open territory to use equally as resting place, playground, or stalking position, depending on the mood of the kittens. They still sleep under the bed, but will kitten pile elsewhere (especially after feeding at Mom’s Diner), and I’ve woken up to a kitten or three snuggled next to me.
I’ve started feeding them – canned wet kitten food was placed on separate plates, so as to not let any single kitten crowd out the others, plus to try and feed them about the same amount. Four out of the five kittens chowed down on the first meal like there was no tomorrow. Number five just sniffed it, and wandered away. Needless to say the others took care of that plate after finishing their own. I’ve put down kitten kibble, and they all seem to be taking to that fine, while kitten five was found this morning having First Breakfasts out of it, and finishing off what had been in there overnight. Miri should be starting to wean them soon, since last Friday was their 7th week birthday anniversary.
They’ve all observed Miri use her box, and seem very interested in what she is doing, but I’m not sure if everyone is getting the same message. Litter box skills are… varied. I’m not sure which two, but two are definitely using their litter box for #1 & #2. One kitten is probably using Miri’s box, but due to Miri’s “Digging to China” routine, I can’t really tell, and I’m no CSI: Litter Box expert. I can’t tell for sure how far along the other two are, but when I see any kitten about to use a puppy pad, I rush it into the litter box and it does its business there. I have a couple of puppy pads (99¢ store pack of five) just outside the kittens litter box, and have had to change them after work, but at least the white carpet outside of it is still white. I hope by the end of the week everyone will have graduated litter box school, fingers crossed!
***********
What’s on the agenda, as we start another week?
TheMightyTrowel
KITTENS! what a great start to a cold grey mon morning!
I’m in the uk finishing up my sabbatical – back to oz next month! – and generally thanking my lucky stars i left when i did. The whole uni system here is disastrously fucked – they’ve internalized the rankings and neo liberal party line about how universities make employees (not thinkers). They’re super rigid and status oriented regarding teaching, research etc. As an American i was always an outsider in this world, but i never realized the extent to which that was a good thing. I mean oz is pretty messed up too, but at least no one i work with there would ever think that a research collaboration is less worthwhile because the govt ranked their long term collaborator’s university lower than in previous years. Yikes!
Warren Terra
I’ve no relevant experience, but can suggest one kludge: what about uploading the video to YouTube, and posting it from there? I’d bet Google is a lot more forgiving for video formats than WordPress.
J R in WV
Whoa, totally cuteness!
Thanks to all for caring for little kittehs and grown up cats. The same for puppies and dogs. They need our help to do well in life!
Our next door neighbors have a black lab mutt puppy someone dropped off on our dead-end one lane road, and we’re thinking of adopting him. We have two Lab mutt dogs, one in her mid-teens and one probably about 3, so a new puppy would be a great addition to the family.
We usually give new puppies to the current dogs as a gift, which seems to give them some responsibility for teaching the new pup how the household works. How to get into the car, how to go out to pee and poop in the woods. How not to get lost in the woods, hopefully.
The younger dog chased a deer too far and got lost once. She hasn’t repeated that hungry, lonely, lost experience. We’re very glad she found her way back home.
Our road is so not busy there’s moss on the shady parts, so in general the dogs and cats are very safe from cars and ATVs.
Mustang Bobby
Aw, how cute!
I get to luxuriate a little this morning… I’m taking my antique car in for it’s annual check-up before the car show season starts, and the shop doesn’t open until 7:30, so I get two extra hours to read and enjoy pictures of little kittehs.
Elemecca
@Anne Laurie:
Movavi’s converter tool is probably the simplest option for Windows:
http://www.movavi.com/support/how-to/how-to-convert-mov-to-flv.html
PurpleGirl
The kittehs are getting so big and cute. (But then aren’t all kittehs cute!) Didn’t Marc say he had other, older cats? I wonder how they are doing with Miri and her babies in the house.
ETA: It’s good that Lucy and Luna have found a new home. Wishing them a longer, happy life with a new human.
Patricia Kayden
“I’ve woken up to a kitten or three snuggled next to me.”
Sounds like an adorable way to wake up. Nice kitty pictures to start a new (and cold) week.
satby
Marc is doubly great, for rescuing Miri and her brood and for keeping us in kitten pics. Thanks Marc!
satby
And that’s wonderful news about Lucy and Luna. Great start to the week! Thanks to Anne Marie for finding those sweet girls a new home.
ThresherK (GPad)
Squee! Also this is the right time of year for the kittens to learn about the body heat a human can provide.
OzarkHillbilly
Blechhh…. Kittens. Too much cuteness for a Monday morning.
RedDirtGirl
More beautiful photos to wake up to. Thank you, and everyone in the BJ community have a great day!
WereBear
KITTENS! I adore kittens. And they are coming along marvelously.
Thank you, all Rescuers. Of whatever being they rescue.
Another Holocene Human
@TheMightyTrowel: What a shame.
I’m not a big fan of TED in general, but they did have this lady on TED radio hour this weekend who was talking about hypercompetitiveness being counterproductive in chickens and in business. (Or government.) That’s true of academia too. Actually, she held the schooling system up as part of the problem, rewarding students for succeeding where others fail. Then you get a job and you’re expected to help others succeed. Sometimes extracurriculars teach you that (but sometimes not, plenty of cheating and so on going on in travel leagues, etc).
She was really speaking to me. I felt like school, and I was an academic star for a lot of my school career, trained me to evaluate everybody by their test scores and view the smartest kids in the room, even though they were my friends, as the competition. We didn’t do a lot of curve grading, but it is the worst, if everyone in the class does well, then a majority of people are going to get a mediocre grade they didn’t deserve to serve the curve.
Another Holocene Human
Here’s my report back on US Senate candidates Patrick Murphy and Alan Grayson.
Forgot to add, Grayson was pushing back forcefully against the perception that he is a backbencher on the stump, bragging about how many bills he filed. Not a lot of substance to what he got passed, though. Did I mention the more he talked, the more I couldn’t stand his ass?
A friend’s wife made a point of introducing herself in the hallway. She’s a better person than me. I kept walking. (Also, I was stalking a local candidate who continued to evade me. Bugger!)
Another Holocene Human
Tech bus drivers talking strike
http://gizmodo.com/a-strike-may-park-san-franciscos-tech-buses-1734571754
Remarkably sympathetic article here, what I scanned was true, true, true. Not clear to me what the underlying contract dispute is, and if they do strike over contract they must be confident that it’s hard to get scabs in the current labor environment for their shit-tastic schedules.
Also didn’t see if Teamsters for a Democratic Union was involved or not. TDU was involved in the successful Burlington, VT driver’s strike after their Teamsters steward told them to just suck up a shitty contract.
WereBear
@Another Holocene Human: As they say in Britain, they’ve lost the plot.
The point was to excel and create something, not rig numbers to make you appear more of a winner than other people.
Baud
I wonder if any South Carolina Republicans held up Sandy aid.
Oh well, we are sadly a better people.
Pogonip
Cute!
Baud
@Another Holocene Human:
Thanks. It’s nice to hear reports from the field.
Bart
Seriously: do not convert to FLV and host it in WP unless you want this server to go kaput and John to go bankrupt. Upload the original file to YouTube and embed that video here.
David Koch
@Baud: both SC Senators voted against it
In the house all the SC republicans voted against. Sole Dem (Clyburn) voted for it.
I want some naderite to tell me how there’s no difference btwn the parties.
Iowa Old Lady
@Baud: This nice graphic from the NYT shows that only one SC Republican voted for Sandy Aid.
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/113/house/1/7
David Koch
@Another Holocene Human: the thing about grayson, his divorce is such a fucking mess, that alone makes him dispositively unelectible.
WereBear
@David Koch: And in an age where divorce is no longer a deal breaker!
Another Holocene Human
@David Koch:
I was told the other day that if it doesn’t pass, not a nickel’s worth of difference, I guess because they believe like Republicans that true believers would overrun the halls and declare a dictatorship of the proletariat, march the opposition off in irons, and pass the revolutionary legislation by voice assent in the rump Congress.
David Koch
@WereBear: yup. you have to have a real doozy of a divorce, like gingrich, guiliani, grayson, before it becomes an anvil around your neck.
Another Holocene Human
@David Koch: He didn’t come off looking that badly from the divorce. However, a room full of Democrats started tittering uncomfortably when they found out what the Rep from Disney had named his kids. Sky, Storm, Sage, etc.
(He also said something about having five kids in his bio, like he bore them himself.)
Another Holocene Human
@David Koch: Okay, what is the smoking gun that is so terrible about his divorce, because I’d love to toss that out there when somebody starts up with the Patrick Murphy was a Republican shtick. Personally, I don’t see quitting the GOP once you get a taste of the real world is a bad thing or a sign of bad character!
David Koch
@Another Holocene Human: I haven’t written a list. So off the top of my head: the bigamy; trying to prevent her from getting a single dime; the breast implants; how after 5 kids and 30 years of marriage he viciously attacked her as a “gold digger”, “fraud”, “liar”; he called the cops on her for using a credit card; his wife had to get a restraining order for physical abuse on her and the kids.
David Koch
@Another Holocene Human:
You know who else left republican party after twice supporting reagan and nixon – xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx
eta: it doesn’t matter where you started, what matters is where you are going.
Cervantes
That’s an anti-miracle, like converting wine into water.
Toxic water.
Cervantes
@Iowa Old Lady:
That is a nice graphic from the NYT.
debbie
Such faces!!!
Elizabelle
Kitten Monday! Never tire of those little orange and white ones.
Your Morning Joe (my 70 seconds): Clip of PBO saying he was going to talk about gun violence.
Joe says that’s all he ever does do, talk and talk and talk, it’s his whole administration, all he does is talk, on foreign policy …
Even Mika squawked loudly, but the remote said “click.”
Got to mention that, since raven might be airborne or airport-bound.
Raven
Got to lax at 3am. It sucks.
Baud
@David Koch: @Iowa Old Lady:
Thanks. Why am I not surprised?
I was actually thinking about that last week when it looked like Joaquin might hit the Northeast. I was also curious to see if Christie would behave differently than he did with Sandy. Now we’ll never know.
Iowa Old Lady
Since this is an open thread, let me raise a question. How do we think Rubio would do in the general if he’s the R candidate?
Keith G
Just saw a news feed alert
The Today Show is indeed teasing a town hall-like question and answer session taking place in New Hampshire in a short while.
Elizabelle
Henning Mankell has died at 67, of cancer. Creator of the Kurt Wallender detective series, and many plays, and a very interesting and full life.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady:
Don’t think he can handle the grind or long term exposure to scrutiny. He’ll have a lot of money behind him, however, and media fluffing about how much the GOP really loves Latinos.
Baud
@Keith G:
She’s ramped up her exposure recently. I assume the game plan was to begin the active campaigning in October.
Manyakitty
@TheMightyTrowel: So they’re adopting the US dysfunction. Bummer.
beltane
@Baud: Her timing is good. Donald Trump is fizzling, though not before managing to damage the rest of the Republican field, and people might be ready for a little sanity.
MomSense
Kittens! These have to be some of the cutest kittens I’ve ever seen.
My pup is exhausted today. She had run ins with a pitbull/ridgeback mix (why????), a terrier whose adorable floof was deceiving, an incredibly persistent beagle, and a snappy chihuahua. She looked at me with an expression that said just get me the hell outta here. No way I’m going to try to corral these &^%$&^&*)_&*^%$%&!!!11!!
Baud
@beltane:
Maybe more lucky than good with respect to Trump. My guess is that they game planned the election strategy months ago. But that really is just a guess.
debbie
@Iowa Old Lady:
I think his “thinness” as a candidate will become obvious in a debate with Clinton. Once you get past the slogans and bullet points, there’s nothing there.
Elizabelle
Watched some Hillary. She is coming off great, confident, relaxed, animated, she knows her stuff and really cares about the economy and college opportunity. Good stuff. Thank you, Bernie, for pulling her to bread and butter issues.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Raven: LAX always sucks, I use BUR when I fly.
@Elizabelle: That’s about when I went CLICK as well.
Baud
Speaking of Hillary, this proposal will be launched today, I think.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
I really like the Wallander books and tv series (prefer the Swedish version to the BBC). Sorry to hear about Mankell’s passing.
Elizabelle
Q: “Did Hillary ever get fired from a job, and why?”
Laughs. “Oh, that was a question.” Story about short experience at salmon cleaning plant. Not her forte.
debbie
@Baud:
One thing she needs to do: Point out the ridiculousness of the idea of arming everyone and the delusional belief that any schmoo will remain calm and steady in the moment and not wildly misfire and injure an innocent bystander.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That would be my guess as well.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Salmon cleaning or town halls?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not everyone agrees with this, but I think they’ve been remarkably well disciplined.
Elizabelle
Great audience Q: Is there anyone in the Republican caucus you can work with?
HRC: Worked with Lindsey Graham re National Guard and Reserve policy. Earlier work with others on child healthcare …
Elizabelle
Next Q: woman: thank you for being a role model. What’s your favorite celebratory beverage?
HRC: A vodka martini. In the James Bond way. Shaken.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Good morning, B2016.
Clearly the Town Hall. Salmon cleaning sounds like it was very short experience.
She looks great, in bright red — just very comfortable and approachable up there.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Yes. The very few wingnuts I encounter of FB assure me the prob is gun free zones. They’re ready to whip out a weapon, wherever they are.
Until they’re not. And for their sakes, may that never happen.
Denial of the problem. The first stage. Who knows if they’ll ever get past it.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Good morning, Veep EB.
No email questions yet?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone:)
The Kittens are a good way to start the day :)
rikyrah
Yeah, the woman who has been in politics since the 80’s is the ultimate outsider?
get.da.phuq.outta.here.
Peter Daou
@peterdaou
NEW #HillaryMen – Outsider Election: Hillary is the Ultimate Anti-Establishment Choice http://bit.ly/1LcQ26Z @HillaryClinton
Elizabelle
Q from an Iraq vet: you gave a rousing support of the War Powers Act. Can you promise individuals who profited from the war will not have a place in your admin?
HRC: My vote was a mistake. I misjudged. I am much more wary and prepared to say no because I saw what was done with my vote… I believe in diplomacy (Iran); I’m with Winston Churchill: Talking is always better.
[Take that, Morning Joe.]
bemused
I was watching Anthony Bourdain on CNN late last night and was a little startled to see an ad, actually more an infomercial, touting Dubai health care. Wiki says Dubai is a free economic health care zone.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Think the salmon cleaning story came from social media Q.
Missed the no fly zones Q.
Q: what is your fave book?
HRC: Brothers Karamazov. Read it when I was young and was just overcome/amazed by it. …[also Laura Bush fave book, no?] Why are there people like Assad, barrel bombing his people? Nice segue ..
FB Q: Hypothetically, would you consider a VP position?
HRC: cackle laugh. “Hypothetically speaking, NO.”
Q: would you consider a female running mate:
HRC: most imp is experience …
Baud
@Elizabelle:
AUMF? WPA was in the 70s.
MattF
@Elizabelle: Of course the very first Scandinavian Mystery Writers were Sjowall and Wahloo, the original begettors of Martin Beck. I had the complete set of Martin Beck books, once upon a time, but lent them to a friend who was suffering form CFS– and never got them back.
brent
Your question about the files doesn’t quite make sense to me. That is, if you need to have a video that will play on the web wordpress or not wordpress is not really relevant. WordPress like any other web framework, will accept any web enabled video. Unless for some specific reason, it has to be an flv then you can convert to various types of html5 video with Handbrake (which I would recommend).
If it has to be an flv then others have recommended flv converters but keep in mind that flash is not compatible with most mobile browsers.
Denali
Sorry to mess with the morning cheer of kittens, but was anyone else outraged by our bombing of a hospital – Doctors without Borders run – in Afghanistan? This was sustained and intentional. It is sickening.
Gimlet
WSJ
ATLANTA—The U.S., Japan and 10 countries around the Pacific reached a historic accord Monday to lower trade barriers to goods and services and set commercial rules of the road for two-fifths of the global economy, officials said.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Agreed. I think the only misstep has been on the e-mail. Didn’t take it seriously enuf in the beginning and to be honest I don’t really blame them. I think they should have realized sooner than they did that it was getting some legs with the media but I’m not sure that is really that much of a problem in today’s hyperconnected world.
Time will tell.
Debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
They need to add a new rule to the Rulebook: Take everything seriously.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: A vodka martini.
Dear God. Now I can’t possibly vote for her.
Gin & Tonic
@MattF: Thanks for pointing that out. I also had the complete set of Martin Beck mysteries, which I read back in the 70’s, if I recall. Not sure where those books ended up, but they’ve been re-published, probably as part of the more recent Scandinavian noir phase.
rikyrah
This ranks up there with the Somali Pirates having a spokesman, and Al Qaeda having a Human Resources Dept, complete with expense account reports.
TRUTH is stranger than fiction.
……………..
ISIS unveils two shocking theme parks for children
Oct 4th 2015 4:50PM
As much as these photos may resemble Banksy’s Dismaland theme park, this is unfortunately no joke. ISIS has unveiled two new theme parks to mark last week’s Eid Al-Adha.
https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/650403357820088320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Islamic State showed off photos of its two new fairgrounds on social media. The Daily Mail posted the photos, which show children spinning on tea cup rides, playing bumper cards and miniature train rides.
According to Yahoo News, the parks reportedly opened last week. ‘Ride City’ in ISIS’ self-declared capital of Raqqa in Syria, and the other in Fallujah in Iraq, are both known as war zones.
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/04/isis-unveils-two-shocking-theme-parks-for-children/21244694/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk4%26pLid%3D635460211
OzarkHillbilly
@Debbie: Including Trump? There is a whole world of things that are not worth spending a plugged nickel’s worth of time on.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: LOL. Athough it is shaken.
@Denali: Bombing the Doctors Without Borders/MSF hospital is a horror.
But how “intentional” was it? Was it a horrible mistake? Were US pilots actually targeting a hospital they knew about? I do know they did not stop for 30 minutes once DWB/MSF alerted them. That, and the original targeting, needs severe examination.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yeah, totally thinking about the VP EB stuff. Perhaps the VP slot should rotate — Bella Q is interested, and no doubt better qualified.
Although I think you may be going for the Quayle scenario. I can look like a deer in the headlights with the best of them, although my spelling is frequently better and I would never marry anyone seen in public sporting a ‘do that belongs on a water buffalo. (Removes Marilyn Quayle and Donald Trump from the mix.)
Are you going for the “insipidity in defense of internet liberty is no vice” crowd?
Personally, I think you are missing a great opportunity by not pursuing Amir Khalid. He appears to actually be a Muslim born abroad. Think where just the rumors of same took Barack Obama.
rikyrah
Now, it is a crime to STARE WHILE BLACK.
Uh huh.
Uh huh.
Our very EXISTENCE is a CRIME.
……………………………
Ohio Boy Suspended From School for Staring at White Girl; Court Upholds School’s Decision
A 12-year-old boy claims that he and another student were playing the ‘staring game’ yet he was suspended in 2014 for reportedly intimidating his female classmate. A court recently upheld the suspension.
By: Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Posted: Oct. 5 2015 8:37 AM
A 12-year-old Ohio boy was suspended last year for staring at another student while playing the “staring game” and recently, a court has upheld the suspension.
According to Fox 19, the incident happened in September 2014 at the St. Gabriel Consolidated School in Glendale, Ohio. According to the boy’s parents, who didn’t want him interviewed on camera, the two teens were engaged in a “staring game” when they claim their son was disciplined.
“The perception is he intimidated her,” Candice Tolbert, the boy’s mother told the news station.
“My son stared at a girl who was engaged in a staring game,” she said. “She giggled the entire time.”
The boy’s parents filed a lawsuit in an attempt to get the suspension lifted from their son’s record, noting that the school didn’t give their son due process. The Tolberts told the news station that the incident happened on a Monday. The girl’s parents contacted the school about the incident on Tuesday and on the same day; their son was suspended and apparently wrote an apology letter without their knowledge. They claim that they were not aware of the suspension until Wednesday.
According to court documents viewed by the news station, the girl claimed she “felt fearful.” In the apology letter written by the 12-year-old, he stated, “I never knew she was scared because she was laughing.”
http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/10/ohio_boy_suspended_from_school_for_staring_at_white_girl_court_upholds_school.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
rikyrah
Malia Obama’s College Pick: Ivies, Liberal Arts or Public University?
By NICHOLAS FANDOS
OCT. 4, 2015\
WASHINGTON — President Obama recently had some fatherly counsel for his 17-year-old daughter, Malia, even as he acknowledged that she might not listen to him.
“One piece of advice that I’ve given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college,” Mr. Obama told a group that included high school students in Des Moines last month. “Just because it’s not some name-brand, famous, fancy school doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get a great education there.”
His second piece of advice, the president said as the room broke into laughter, “is keep your grades up until you get in, and after that, make sure you pass.”
It is college application season in America, including at the White House, where Malia Obama, a senior at the elite Sidwell Friends School in Washington, is in the middle of the pressure-filled process of writing personal essays, asking for teacher recommendations and narrowing her choices.
Reports from college newspapers and conversations with campus tour guides indicate that Malia, perhaps the nation’s most eligible 2016 college applicant, is winnowing a list of Ivy League schools, liberal arts colleges and at least one top-ranked public university. Her current grades and SAT scores are not publicly known — the first lady’s office declined to comment for this article — but Mr. Obama, for one, told the students in Des Moines that his daughter was a “hard worker” and that he did not expect her to “start feeling a little slack” in her senior year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/us/politics/malia-obamas-college-pick-ivies-liberal-arts-or-public-university.html?_r=0
Patricia Kayden
@David Koch: Never knew all this about Grayson. Sounds extremely soap opera-ish. Not sure if it’s relevant to politics though since there are already diaper-wearing, prostitute-visiting, philandering Congressmen (not aware of any women) in the House. But I agree that all this doesn’t make Grayson out to be nice on a personal level.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: So they were staring at each other but because she felt “fearful”, he got punished? Talk about ridiculousness. Perhaps Black parents need to tell their children to just concentrate on their education and not socialize — especially if the people you are socializing with can get you into serious trouble with specious accusations.
rikyrah
I am with those that believe Jeb will be the ultimate nominee….but, even I don’t see how. I just don’t think the GOP Establishment has ever lost. So, while I never thought Trump would be the nominee, I always wanted him to stay in as long as possible. Now, we’re in October and he’s still in…teee hee hee
………………………….
Latest polls likely to make the GOP establishment sweat
10/05/15 08:00 AM—UPDATED 10/05/15 08:17 AM
By Steve Benen
In July, it was fairly common to hear the Republican establishment and much of the media see Donald Trump atop 2016 GOP polling and ask, “Sure he’s leading now, but can he sustain this advantage into August?” And then in August, they’d ask, “Sure he’s leading now, but can he sustain this advantage into September?” And then in September, they’d ask, “Sure he’s leading now, but can he sustain this advantage into October?”
It’s October. Here are the latest national results from the Pew Research Center.
1. Donald Trump: 25%
2. Ben Carson: 16%
3. Carly Fiorina: 8%
3. Marco Rubio: 8%
5. Ted Cruz: 6%
6. Jeb Bush: 4%
7. Mike Huckabee: 2%
7. Rand Paul: 2%
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/latest-polls-likely-make-the-gop-establishment-sweat
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yes, I think so. Everything has the potential of taking root and becoming much more embedded in the national consciousness (even if untrue) than when it first came out.
rikyrah
Good for you, Ms. Rhimes.
……………..
Shonda Rhimes Shares How She Lost 117 Pounds but Hated Every Minute of It
Rhimes said her children were a huge motivation when it came to getting healthy.
By: Yesha Callahan
Posted: Oct. 2 2015 7:54 AM
Shonda Rhimes is probably the busiest woman in Hollywood. Between juggling her popular TV shows and being a mother, Rhimes realized that there was one thing she was neglecting, and that was her health.
In a recent interview with Extra, during the ShondaLand TGIT party, she explained that she lost 117 pounds by changing her eating habits and regular exercise.
But it wasn’t easy, and she said she hated it the whole time, but Rhimes had some pretty big motivators.
“I just decided I was going to get it together and get healthy. I have some little kids, and I want to be around them,” Rhimes told Extra.
Rhimes has also gotten used to her new healthy lifestyle and says it’s a little bit easier.
“Once I decided it wasn’t going to be fun, I lowered my expectations,” she explained. “It got kind of easier.”
She added, “I actually eat everything I want to eat. I tried to make it much less and smaller portions, but what’s happened is, is that you change what your palate wants. I’m suddenly craving fish and salad. It’s upsetting,” Rhimes stated. “I’m like, ‘Where’s my cake?’’’
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/10/shonda_rhimes_shares_how_she_lost_117_pounds_but_hated_every_minute_of_it.html
J R in WV
Well, as long as others have gne there with Mornin’ Joe, etc on TV, I’m going to go there too.
60 Minutes last night did a piece on the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. Trigger alert, grisly horrible death in all sorts of ways, so I’m not going to talk much about the story here. But the “Final Solution” was underway the minute the war started with old fashioned methods of guns and open ditches. Here’s the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hidden-holocaust-60-minutes/
As a person who has read a ton about WW II and Hitler’s death madness, there was a ton in this piece that was quite surprising to me. He’s interviewing elderly witnesses, rounding up documents that became available after the fall of the Soviet Union, and pinpointing locations with GPS data. Creating an archive of details.
tl;dr A French Canadian Priest making it his life’s work to find unmarked graves where Jews and Gypsies were slaughtered with guns and buried in rural open pits on the outskirts of tiny rural towns.
There are bones, and horrible moving eye-witness descriptions.
Elizabelle
Sad news, but expected. The El Faro cargo ship confirmed sunk.
ETA: Read over the weekend that four of its crew were from Maine.
rikyrah
Racial pattern in Alabama DMV closings suggests dirty trick
Rachel Maddow reports on the closing of DMV offices in Alabama, ostensibly due to budget problems, but the closures are in predominantly African-American counties, and a driver’s license is the most common form of ID used to comply with the state’s new voter ID law.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/disturbing-racial-pattern-in-alabama-closings-537741891606
MattF
@rikyrah: My completely unscientific interpretation is that people are paying enough attention now to think “Is there really any possibility that people will want another Bush presidency?”
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
because, of course, Black children shouldn’t be allowed to be children.
sigh.
sigh.
debbie
@J R in WV:
I also watched this. Amazing that there are as many witnesses as there are. Between these mass graves and bones still coming up from WWI, Europe overall is a graveyard. Says a lot about the species.
rikyrah
In a Display of ‘Peak Caucasity,’ a White Man Claims He’s the Reason Another White Man Can Live in Brooklyn, NY
This is what happened when a gentrifying pot and a gentrifying kettle collided on a gentrified street in New York City.
By: Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Posted: Sept. 23 2015 1:57 PM
It’s only on depressing days that I need the Internet the most. Not because I obsessively Google phantom ailments (which I do), but because I need to be reminded that all of us—the collective us, not a race us—are better than we let on. It’s that Internet moment of “the kid with the ailment scores several buckets in a high school game” or “a child’s wisdom sums up humanity for us all.”
So I tell you that this moment, this brutally honest moment, between two white men might be the best one of them all. Not because it reminds us that we are all good, but because it speaks to the delusion, privilege and ownership that come up only after two white men argue about who owns Brooklyn, N.Y.
In truth, I don’t know for sure whether both of the men are white, but for the purposes of this essay, let’s assume they are.
It goes like this: Workday starts, ho-hum as always. Co-worker sends video titled “Christopher Columbus of Brooklyn.” Ears perk up and a smile spreads across my face.
Click video, and this is what I see: a white man arguing with another white man. I was sad. Two white men yelling is quite normal on the Internet. Within seconds, it takes a turn. Almost like magic, it happens: One white guy tells the other white guy, “You’re new in this neighborhood; I’ve been in this neighborhood.”
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/09/in_a_display_of_peak_caucasity_a_white_man_claims_he_s_the_reason_another.html
rikyrah
He is fabulous on twitter
Jesse Williams Discusses Biracial Privileges and Social Justice: ‘Black Americans Are Not Angry. They Are Hurting’
He’s not running away from, or ashamed of, the insight he’s gained as a black activist who is half-white.
By: Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele
Posted: Oct. 2 2015 12:38 PM
It has always been a pet peeve of mine when biracial people seem to ignore their white side and act as if the world perceives them as black through and through. I always felt that in their determination to identify solely and sternly as black, they were missing out on an opportunity to share some of the insight they may have about how white people feel and think about race relations. That they might be missing out on an opportunity to act as a conduit between both racial groups.
In an interview with The Guardian, Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams does a fantastic job of articulating the privileges and insights that being biracial affords him, and how he uses that knowledge to inform his work as an activist in working-class black communities. Williams’ mom is white, and his dad is black.
“I have access to rooms and information. I am white and I am also black. I am invisible man in a lot of these scenarios,” Williams said, referring to the Ralph Ellison classic. “I know how white people talk about black people. I know how black people talk about white folks. I know I am there and everyone speaks honestly around me.”
And boy, did white people keep it completely 100 with Williams when he was growing up. He recalled how he cringed when an older white woman basically told him that his brand of blackness was better than that of people who are fully black.
“I remember a mom of a friend of mine in the suburbs made some comment about a black person and—I had to be 12, about 60 pounds—I said something and she said, ‘Oh no, not you. You are not black. You are great.’ It was real. That f–king happened. And she meant it. And she meant it sincerely and sweetly. She was paying me a compliment,” Williams recalled.
Williams is even aware of how some of his European features, like his blue eyes, open doors for him. He’s bringing his social-justice work through those doors and is simultaneously unraveling the idea that his European features are better than any others.
“We are programmed to believe that someone is attractive because they told you that blue eyes are hot. I am not going to participate in that s–t,” Williams said. “I aim to do what I can with what I have. And I have my [looks]—you know, European beauty standards give me access to things.”
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/10/jesse_williams_describes_the_privileges_that_his_biracialness_affords_him.html
rikyrah
good for him..reaching back.
Terrence Southern Wants to Fill the World With Black Scientists
The 37-year-old robotics engineer owes his career success to mentors, and now he’s paying it forward by giving support to the next generation.
By: Nigel Roberts
Posted: Oct. 5 2015 3:00 AM
What will it take for African Americans to close the achievement gap in science, technology, engineering and math? It’s a complex issue that experts say involves, among other factors, the public education system, poverty and teachers’ unconscious racial bias.
So far, the solutions have been elusive. But there’s a consensus that mentorship is a key.
Terrence Southern, 37, knows the challenges that lie ahead for the next generation regarding STEM. He’s a robotics engineer with 15 years in the tech industry who grew up in Detroit, where his dreams were nurtured by an eighth-grade teacher. He wants to be that kind of support for as many young people as possible.
He works currently for GE Transportation as a robotics and automation engineer. But the wealth of his experience came at General Motors in his hometown. In his first position at GM at age 23, he led a robotics team tasked with conducting multimillion-dollar projects. A mentor, who’s now a close friend, guided him around the land mines he encountered.
Southern recalls that he was almost always “the only black kid in the room” at GM. He says some of his colleagues had trouble with not only his skin color but also his youth. They expected—even hoped—that Southern would fail.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/10/terrence_southern_wants_to_fill_the_world_with_black_scientists.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
ruemara
Kittens!! Time to socialize and counter condition them, Marc. Use that wet food to get them used to handling, touching their paws for nail trims, etc. They are too cute.
PurpleGirl
@debbie: I took ballet lessons for about a year when I was a child. The teacher and school owner was a French immigrant who had been in a concentration camp. (Yes, she was Jewish but wasn’t very observant herself.) She never covered up the tattooed number on her arm. She came to the US after the war because she couldn’t restart her dancing career in France. I forget where she met her American husband, her son was my age and was in several of my elementary school classes. There was always a sadness about her.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Black children are not being allowed to be children when one is suspended for playing a game solely on the claim of the person who is playing that game with them. Just like Black kids can’t play in parks with toy guns without losing their lives. Or even buy skittles and wear hoodies without being seen as a threat to be shot down. It’s horrific but true.
debbie
@PurpleGirl:
Yes. A classmate of mine’s mother survived Dachau (the only one in her family). Her (the classmate’s) father was one of the soldiers who liberated the camp. The mother kept her number and also had this palpable sadness about her.
I later saw her videotaped testimony as part of Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Project, and the horror of her story — just one of millions — is beyond description.
Why this stuff hasn’t kept it from happening again and again is beyond me.
gogol's wife
@Elizabelle:
RIP Henning Mankell, but I have to say that when I first glanced at your comment I thought it was Hilary Mantel, and all I could think was, “But she has to finish the trilogy first!”
gogol's wife
@Elizabelle:
In O’Hare yesterday I went in a newsstand and they had the radio blaring. What I heard before I bought my NYTimes and fled was, “Well, Hillary’s running against the media at this point, but she’s losing . . .”
Since when is the media a candidate for president? I know, stupid question.
gogol's wife
@Elizabelle:
Laura Bush’s favorite was the “Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” (a tale written by one of the characters in the Bros. K.). There’s a big difference (like about 900 pages of reading’s worth).
Elizabelle
@gogol’s wife: Thank you.
otmar
This is being passed around in the German-speaking social media: https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/bericht-angriff-aerzte-ohne-grenzen-krankenhaus-kundus
Another Holocene Human
@David Koch: I googled the credit card thing. Yoiks. We do not want this guy going to the general.
Another Holocene Human
@Denali: I agree with MsF director, they need an independent investigation, not Pentagon “nothing to see here, ayup” self investigation.
Another Holocene Human
@Patricia Kayden: Why they can’t just have a mediation given this is a first offense or whatever and it’s clear that the two children did not perceive the interaction the same way ought to be the real question here. It’s administrative malpractice, unless, of course, they’re all a bunch of racist nitwits. Which looks to be the case!
ETA: I mean what a teachable moment for the young man to learn that sometimes young women (and older women too) laugh because they’re nervous and because they’ve been taught never to express their true feelings, especially to males.
Another Holocene Human
@J R in WV: They were called “Einsatzgruppen”. The Wehrmacht was neck deep in this, and they also had help from sympathetic (to Nazis) troops in some Eastern European countries such as Lithuania. That is why from time to time you have controversies over elderly Lithuanians in Chicago who committed war crimes during the Holocaust.
People who spread that lie that the German Army was apolitical and it was just the SS? Can go fuck themselves.
gvg
@rikyrah: I’m sorry, but there isn’t enough info in that article to judge. A staring game is a bad idea that I would give a high likelyhood of intimidating someone. Girls giggle when they are afraid too. How would he know? I can see him not realizing that. I have seen some incompetant school administration up close and read about plenty of racist admins so I am predisposed to be unfavorable but…I just can’t tell.
Years ago I worked with a creepy compulsive liar. He also hit on every woman who walked into the store and his fellow workers made deals to not leave anyone alone with him. We got him fired after a couple of months. There was this sheltered hillbilly girl who had married a 14. She was scared of him and asked our help, but when she was in front of him and he was “flirting” she giggled nonstop. We talked to her and she really was afraid and the giggles were a defensive mannerism she could not help. I think it was the way she was brought up to defer and sooth men but who can say.
A lot of other cultures find staring much more aggressive than we do, Asian cultures for instance. A kid probably wouldn’t know that. if I know my kid was doing it, I would probably try to explain not to but how likely i would know something that seems minor to a kid until there is the backlash? My kid hates telling me about his day.
But there are also a lot of bigots and plain old authoritarians, so I can’t say what is happening.
Cervantes
@rikyrah:
I think the story is a little worse than your excerpt implies. I was told by someone familiar with the school district that the girl in question once poured milk all over another student’s lunch. I will let you guess what her punishment was.
Cervantes
@gvg:
I agree — but did he not apologize?
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@rikyrah:
Sounds like somebody’s parents didn’t like her flirting with a black boy and pressured her into complaining.
rikyrah
@Cervantes:
uh uh uh
Marc
@PurpleGirl: Miri is the oldest. My previous owner, Sabrina was 16 when she passed back in March. I wasn’t sure I was ready for another when the cat bleg popped up on Balloon Juice, but I figured a condo with a cat who needs a home is better than an empty condo. Did I ever hit the jackpot on filling the condo!
Marc
@Cervantes: That’s an anti-miracle, like converting wine into water.
Toxic water.
I understand the viewpoint, but if anyone wants to see video of the kittens, I understand I need to convert it to a format which can be hosted on the blog.
Marc
@ruemara: Getting them used to handling? Ha! I’m just one other item for them to climb, claw (not intentional, just need claws out when climbing up tee shirts, right after the blue jeans…), or otherwise explore. I do sit down and pet them when they are close enough while they are playing (or when they decide I’d make a nice bed to sleep on), and have had to pick them up many times for various reasons (letterbox!). They are quite socialized with me, but since I live alone, I’m the only human they’ve had contact with, so I try my best to be around when they are awake – the bathroom is the only place where the door is closed, and I get the paws under the door treatment…
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Yep.
If this was a game, didn’t everyone know the rules of the game? How did it become something potentially threatening that required a suspension?
Have all staring games subsequently been banned by this school district?
dlm
The kittens are beautiful! They have their Mom’s ears.
Cervantes
@Marc:
Do you object to the video being posted to YouTube or some such and then “embedded” (or even just linked from) here?