Monday
Dec012014
The Commentariat -- Dec. 2, 2014
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Monday announced that he would tighten standards on the provision and use of military-style equipment by local police departments, but he stopped short of curtailing the transfer of such hardware or weapons to the local authorities. After a review of the government's decade-old strategy of outfitting local police forces with military equipment, the White House concluded that the vast majority of these transfers strengthen local policing, but that the government should impose consistent standards in the types of hardware it offers, better training in how to use it and more thorough oversight. Mr. Obama announced the steps at a cabinet meeting that was called to deal with lingering tensions from fiery clashes between the police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo...." ...
... White House: "President Obama met with elected officials, community and faith leaders, and law enforcement officials to talk about how communities and law enforcement can build trust and work together":
... Dana Milbank is extremely unimpressed with President Obama's response to Ferguson. "To take a bolder stand on healing racial divisions would be easy for Obama, both because it doesn't require cooperation from Congress and because he already knows the words." ...
... CW: BTW, I disagree with Milbank. Obama can't "heal racial divisions," specifically because he is black. As Chris Rock said to Frank Rich (linked also in yesterday's Commentariat), "to say Obama is progress is saying that he's the first black person that is qualified to be president. That's not black progress. That's white progress. There's been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years.... The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let's hope America keeps producing nicer white people." That is, "healing race relations" is mostly up to white people. If you want to know how white people are progressing, see the posts by Brendan James of TPM & Ed Kilgore, linked below. ...
... CW P.S.: Yeah, I know Obama is "the first black president," but that's not how I think of him. I think of him as the president. Period. If Milbank, et al., want to do their bit for "healing race relations," they could start by not repeatedly pointing at President Obama while shrieking, "OMG, he's black!" followed by scolding, "He should act more black." Dana Milbank probably voted for Obama, at least in 2008, & I'll bet that vote made Dana feel right progressive & big-hearted. Trouble is, Dana thought he was voting for Stepin Fetchit, not for an extraordinary man. ...
... Monica Davey, et al., of the New York Times: "At colleges and high schools, outside police stations, courthouses, city halls and federal buildings, a series of nationwide protests on Monday maintained the momentum of those seeking justice for the unarmed black teenager who was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., almost four months ago." ...
... More White People "Explain" Ferguson. Brendan James of TPM: "MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' panel started the day off on Monday with a segment slamming protestors in Ferguson, shaming the St. Louis Rams football team, and calling slain unarmed teenager Michael Brown a 'thug.'" ...
... Okay, Let's Hear from a Black Person for an Alternate Explanation. Ahiza Garcia of TPM: "Conservative activist and former pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson recently blamed police shootings of black men on the 'Me' generation that grew out of the 'women's lib movement.'" CW: Thanks for setting us slutty girls straight, Dr. Ben. You should run for president. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "I’ve just spent nearly a week back home in exurban Atlanta, and I regret to report that the events in and in reaction to Ferguson have brought back (at least in some of the older white folks I talked with) nasty and openly racist attitudes I haven’t heard expressed in so unguarded a manner since the 1970s." CW: Aah, your elderly, white Southern friends probably don't sound a lot worse than the honkies on "Morning Joe."
Julie Pace of the AP: "The job conditions for President Barack Obama's next defense secretary have already spurred some top contenders to bow out, leaving the White House with a slim list of candidates to fill the post for the administration's final two years. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson became the latest to tell the White House he wasn't interested in the job, according to people familiar with the process." ...
... BUT What About Joe? He's available! I'm seeing some of that old Joe-mentum. ...
... Hahahaha. Al Kamen of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough had contacted him about his thoughts on who should be the next defense secretary. 'I said Lieberman,' McCain told our colleague Steven Ginsberg as he got off the Amtrak Acela from Washington to New York. McCain laughed and said McDonough thanked him for his input, but that McCain did not think his close pal, the former senator from Connecticut, a Democrat turned Independent, would be considered for the job. (After all, he did endorse McCain over Obama in '08.)"
Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is trying to use a massive appropriations bill to loosen campaign finance rules. The Republican leader's office is attempting to attach a policy rider to the omnibus bill that would effectively end limits imposed on coordinated spending by federal candidates and political party committees."
Sí, Se Puede. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Emory University political science Prof. Alan Abramowitz noticed something in Gallup's weekly assessment of President Obama's approval numbers: His approval among Hispanics has shot up by 14 points over the past two weeks. It's now at 68 percent -- the highest it has been this year, and at a level last seen in early 2013.
Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: "Tumbling oil prices are draining hundreds of billions of dollars from the coffers of oil-rich exporters and oil companies and injecting a much-needed boost for ailing economies in Europe and Japan -- and for American consumers at the start of the peak shopping season. The result could be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history, potentially reshaping everything from talks over Iran's nuclear program to the Federal Reserve's policies to further rejuvenate the U.S. economy. The price of oil has declined about 40 percent since its peak in mid-June and plunged last week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] voted to continue to pump at the same rate. That continued a trend driven by a weak global economy and expanding U.S. domestic energy supplies."
Maryclaire Dale of the AP: "Bill Cosby stepped down as a trustee of his beloved Temple University following renewed accusations that he had drugged and sexually assaulted a string of women over many years. The 77-year-old entertainer has been a high-profile booster for his alma mater in Philadelphia and a board member since 1982. 'I have always been proud of my association with Temple University. I have always wanted to do what would be in the best interests of the university and its students. As a result, I have tendered my resignation,' Cosby said in a statement released by the university."
Joe Harris of the AP: "The St. Louis Rams and the NFL will not discipline the five players who stood with their hands raised in a show of solidarity with Ferguson protesters before Sunday's game. Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Monday that it was his players' 'choice to exercise their free speech,' but he would not comment further on their actions." ...
... Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post: Jeff Roorda, spokesperson for the St. Louis Police Association, made "a veiled suggestion that the only thing protecting the Rams and the NFL from mob violence at games is the cops."
The Smoking Gun: "The Republican congressional aide who castigated the Obama daughters for their lack of 'class' and dressing as if they were angling for a 'spot at a bar' was once arrested for larceny during her own 'awful teen years,' court records show.... [Elizabeth] Lauten, then 17, was collared for stealing from a Belk department store in her North Carolina hometown." CW: In Lauten's defense, she was stealing modest, dowdy clothing (which is all they sell at Belk's) & was smiling politely & respectfully while the surveillance cameras rolled. Totally a class act. Thanks to Haley S. for the lead. ...
... Now that the former shoplifter is out of a job, I hope she doesn't have to try to go on food stamps. Her now-former boss, Rep. Stephen Fincher (RTP-Tenn.), who is "one of the largest recipients of [farm] subsidies in the history of the great State of Tennessee." is on a "mission from God" to end the food-stamp program, which he characterizes as "stealing from those in the country to give to others in the country" (which pretty much describes the farm subsidy; only difference: the children of farm subsidy hogs like Fincher aren't going hungry).
The words 'separation of church and state' is [sic.] not in the U.S. Constitution, but it was in the constitution of the former Soviet Union. That's where it very, very comfortably sat, not in ours. -- Rick Santorum
So, we're a Christian nation? Or dupes of the Communist party? Or what? Did Thomas Jefferson, who repeatedly implored the Founders to include a bill of rights in the Constitution, misunderstand the First Amendment? Do explain, Rick. -- Constant Weader
... Speaking of the Constitution. Sahil Kapur of TPM: "An alternative [to impeachment] that has gained some traction among Republicans is to 'censure' the president.... But there's one big problem with this plan: censuring the president might be unconstitutional.... '[A] censure resolution is obviously punitive both in purpose and in effect and would thus appear to constitute a kind of "trial by legislature' outside the ambit of impeachment and accordingly might be deemed a "Bill of Attainder" forbidden by Article I, §9, Clause 3,' [law professor Laurence] Tribe said in an email."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Heidi Moore of the Guardian: "The newsroom of the New York Times was tense Monday as staffers marked the departures of several senior editors and speculated about which of their colleagues would take early exit packages and which could be laid off. The job reductions, which will come first in the form of buyouts, appear likely to continue a generational shift at the paper as veteran reporters and columnists accept lucrative offers to leave." CW: Please, Tom Friedman, take the deal. ...
... No, the New York Times did not publish Darren Wilson's home address. Margaret Sullivan, the Times' public editor, has the details.
Beyond the Beltway
Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Rams vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff, reached late Monday evening by the Post-Dispatch, denied that he issued an apology to the St. Louis County Police Department for the 'Hands Up' gesture on Sunday.... St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar sent an email Monday night to his staff, alerting them that the executive vice president of football operations for the Rams, Kevin Demoff, had called him to apologize for the actions of several players on the field Sunday." ...
... Thanks to Citizen625 for pointing out the Jeff Roorda, the spokesman for the St. Louis Police Association, has a history of being a proven liar & apparently other bad stuff, all of which caused him to be fired from his job as a police officer in Arnold, Missouri. Here's a report of the proceedings against him. CW: I think we have to assume the St. Louis-area police knew this history before hiring Roorda & wanted a spokesperson who was comfortable with being blatantly untruthful.
Presidential Election
Dan Sewell of the AP: "Ohio Sen. Rob Portman says he will not run for president in 2016, choosing instead to seek a second term in the Senate over the Republican nomination for the White House."
Shane Goldmacher of the National Journal: [CW: Oxymoron Alert!] "Rand Paul's brain trust has spent months developing an exhaustive political and legal battle plan to ensure he can run for both Senate reelection and the White House in 2016 -- despite a Kentucky law that suggests otherwise.... The path remains murky, but Paul will take the first step on Tuesday, when he will formally announce he is running for reelection, even as he lays the groundwork to launch a presidential bid next year."
Shushannah Walshe of ABC News: "In an address to an environmental group that fiercely opposes the Keystone XL pipeline Monday evening, Hillary Clinton made no mention of the project. At a fundraising dinner for the League of Conservation Voters, Clinton spent most of her speech expressing support for the president's environmental policies, the need to stay vigilant in combating climate change and the risks around natural gas drilling, but she ignored the pipeline.... Earlier Monday evening she appeared at a New York City fundraiser for Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu who is in a tough run-off in Louisiana. Landrieu strongly supports construction of the Keystone XL pipeline...." CW: I read some while back that when she was Secretary of State, & before environmental groups got up & running against the pipeline, Hillary planned to approve it (no link).
News Ledes
Washington Post: "U.S. officials have designated 35 hospitals around the country to care for Ebola patients, part of the Obama administration's effort in the past two months to improve domestic preparedness to cope with the deadly virus that has ravaged West Africa."
Guardian: "The Obama administration will ask a federal appeals court to overturn a judge's ruling that it must disclose videos depicting its controversial tube feedings of hunger strikers at Guantánamo Bay. The long-expected decision from the Justice Department, filed in court on Tuesday, comes two months after Judge Gladys Kessler of the Washington DC federal district court ruled that the government did possess a compelling rationale for preventing the public from viewing the forcible feedings and detention cell removals of a Syrian detainee."
New York Times: "In a far-reaching deal that helps reunite Iraq in the face of a bitter war with Islamic extremists, the [Iraqi] central government agreed on Tuesday to a long-term pact with the autonomous Kurdish region to share the country's oil wealth and military resources. The deal settles a long dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, the Kurdish capital in the north, over oil revenues and budget payments. It is also likely to halt a drive -- at least in the short term -- by the Kurds for an independent state, which appeared imminent this past summer after a violent territory grab by Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL."
New York Times: "In a decisive move after days of intense political bickering, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel fired his centrist finance and justice ministers on Tuesday and called for the dissolution of Parliament and early elections. Mr. Netanyahu excoriated Yair Lapid, the finance minister, and Tzipi Livni, the justice minister, for attacking his government and its policies from within in recent weeks, declaring in a statement, 'I will no longer tolerate opposition from within the government.'"
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Reader Comments (16)
"Not on MY watch," says the at large governor of that great state of New Jersey re: marijuana legality even when parents of a three year old who suffers from seizures 28 times a day and could be helped by a particular type of marijuana pleaded with Christi to change his mind, which meant these parents had to move, a no mere sacrifice, to a state where they could get the help they needed.
Then we have the pigs. I did some research on those gestation cages because I couldn't get my mind around why those sows had to be so cruelly confined. In the end it has to do with money––cheaper to keep pregnant pigs in a cage than allow them access to fresh air and green fields. They are essentially piglet making machines and apparently nothing else. And Christi nixed the ban on these cages in his own state (luckily many pig farmers in N.J. don't use that method). His cozy relationship with the governor of Iowa who evidently convinced him that overturning the ban would be just the thing smacks of political cow tailing (Iowa where pig farms are numerous with the methods that animal right's groups find appalling.) The irony here is Christi has always says he is FOR the people in N.J.–-that's his priority––but overwhelmingly the people in his state want weed and no gestation cages. I am going to send the governor a copy of "Charlottes Web" and the first season of "Weeds"––might just make him squeal.
Just read that the store that Michael Brown stole the cigars from NEVER called the police. We were told early on that this was radioed in to Wilson and was one of the reasons he stopped the boys.
The reaction to all this by the likes of Hannity, Morning Joe's cabal, et al. makes me sick and yet––– the country is reeling and talking and making loud and significant noise and that's a good thing.
@P.D.Pepe:
Aliyah Fruman of MSNBC: "Iowa is the country’s largest pork producer and the Humane Society has estimated that there are 1.1 million mother pigs in gestational crates so small that the animals can’t even turn around for up to four years of their lives.
"The bill passed in both houses in the New Jersey State legislature in October with bipartisan support. The Assembly voted for the measure with a 53-13 vote, while the Senate passed it 32-1."
I read elsewhere that there are only about 9,000 pigs in New Jersey (or maybe 9,000 sows; can't recall). The veto wasn't about the confinement of sows; it was about the aspirations of one particular political animal. Oink, oink.
Marie
@PD. If you haven't seen this clip from the Samsara movie it's worth taking a look at to get an idea of modern food production methods, including the pig gestation crate. Can't you just envision Christi's head on top of the form shown in the last scene?
http://vimeo.com/73234721
Re; another white guy who does'nt no jack, Talking to a black guy who does no shit and here's what he said. " When the drug dealers brought crack to town it was the end of the traditional family in the inner cities. Before there was a family unit even if it meant gramma and uncle or older family members were the heads of the household. Kids did respect their elders and elders did offer role models that were not all negative. Crack ruined all. Now days we are on to the second or third generation of crack. His sister in Chicago takes in little tiny babies born addicted to crack. Little kids who can't sleep, learn or relax. Out on the street there is no incentive to get through school, get a job, or live a productive life. No hope only dope. Life for a black person in that situation is the life of a pack member."
I said,"Jesus, Larry, is there any hope?"
He shook his head.
There you have it.
Oh no! Now that the plebes have seen the interior of my fancy .01%er Gramercy Park, I can't even walk around the small circles without smelling their presence. Looks like I'm gonna have to sell my key to some other sucker with too much money. Maybe I'll ask the lady with the plastic face who accompanies her maid who walks her dainty poodle if she has a friend with a similarly spoiled poodle.
The Super Rich are always looking to spend some extra moolah for their four footed fuzzies, a much better investment than say charity to help feed the blah folks. And we're creating jobs at the same time damnit! Hell we're supporting an entire airline service through our benevolent giving and our furry little friends. Hiring a private jet service to shuttle my family and pets around costs money, about $67,000 a flight, but it's so worth it to see Fido run wild down the aisle as I sip my Don Julio margaritas. My neighbor says he hires a nanny once a month to fly her and his little pooch from New York to L.A. at $50,000 a flight. On board, the nanny eats her PBJ while the pooch eats his $1,000 rice pilaf with salmon. He deserves it because he works so hard.
If only they'd hurry up and install robotic stewards for the flight, I wouldn't even have to interact with those poor souls....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-01/luxury-jets-pamper-pets-with-pilaf-room-to-roam-globetrotter.html?hootPostID=f1660843dd8ddb585c65da6a499b032b
Just so we're clear about Jeff Roorda, spokesperson for the St. Louis Police Association, http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/11/30/7312145/rams-players-hands-up-dont-shoot-police. The police care so little about public opinion that they have a spokesperson who was fired for lying ("filing false reports"). I think the St. Louis Police Association should fire their spokesperson. He and Darrell Wilson can commiserate over coffee at the diner.
@safari: The poet Carl Sandburg once said that "exclusive" was the ugliest word in the English language. Sounds like you get that.
Actually, I don't begrudge the residents their private greenspace. Though the square started with townhouses & mansions abutting the park, some of which probably had private outdoor spaces, most of those places have been broken up into condos or co-ops, or else they have institutional owners like the Players Club.
Most middle-class suburbanites have their own private parks, which they call "the back yard." There they can do pretty much what they want, as long as they don't get caught violating some local ordinance (burning brush, ferinstance, or shooting at beer cans). The owners of Gramercy Park keys, however, "cannot drink alcohol, smoke, ride a bicycle, walk a dog, play ball or Frisbee, or feed the birds and squirrels" in the park. For the privilege of strolling around the square or sitting on a bench, without benefit of dog, Frisbee, a lovely drink or a cigarillo, the Gramercy keyowners pay $7K a year.
Marie
I hope everyone had a good turkey day and didn't stand around the bird rolling their eyes, showing disrespect for the country, dressed up as if you were looking for a "spot at the bar". Because that would be a clear demonstration of no class at all, I mean, none. Just as if your parents were no good blah people who piled up stacks of Emily Post books for the family bonfire, around which everyone danced like wild savages. I mean, c'mon. Who does that? Oh, wait...
But woe is she, Elizabeth Lauten. The now former congressional staffer's job was "communications" which, I assume, has a public relations component. Good job there, Liz. Very classy. Public relations like you read about.
But don't look now. Word from the other world is that those bad mannered, B-girl wannabe Obama daughters are not the victims here. Neither is that detestable Obama family. Lauten is the real victim in all of this. And maybe she did something, a little bit, maybe a teensy bit wrong, but after Obama got through calling out the dogs on poor Lizzy, her life was over. Over, I tells ya. Just appalling! And she didn't even use the N word! The idea.
You think I'm kidding? Erick Erickson, International Man of Class and Decorum, says that, basically, she did nothing wrong, and that he "...would immediately hire Elizabeth Lauten. She does not deserve what happened to her. And I hope some conservative somewhere will find her a place to land and heal and restore herself."
"...heal and restore herself." You like that? I like that. "Heal and restore." I'm going to do a search of Erickson's writings to see if he ever wondered if Mike Brown's family would find a way to heal and restore themselves. Prob'ly not. After all, Elizabeth Lauten had it way worse than those ungrateful nigg....ahh....blah people.
Just look at what happened to her after a little innocent Facebook comment: (Erickson again)
"The gates of Mordor sprung open at the President’s command. His outrage at the comment was, as a father, understandable. But the lack of mercy, lack of grace, and picking of the carcass reeks of an evil and exceeds the impropriety of the original remarks."
Lack of mercy and grace...carcass picking...evil...etc. Sounds pretty bad, don't it? I guess he never read that back in 2008: "Sen. Barack Obama said firmly that families are off-limits in the campaign for president, reacting to news that GOP running mate Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant."
Musta been an evil liberal lie.
But, you know, in Right Wing World, it doesn't matter. Even if you shoot and kill an unarmed kid and leave his body to rot in the street, YOU'RE THE VICTIM.
And you liberals stop your whining about poor Officer Wilson. He was innocent. The grand jury said so. And now he fears for his life, the poor guy. Who says so? Why, Fox, natch. And to see just how warped these people are, and why then can so effortlessly don the Mantle of Victimhood without the slightest coloring of the cheeks, read this exchange between Sean Hannity and Wilson's attorney, Greg Kloeppel. This is something else. Here is Kloeppel talking about the difficulty of proving civil rights violations by his client:
"...didn't get it there (at the grand jury). Beyond a reasonable doubt, probably wouldn't have got it at trial. And here on the civil rights violation very high standard to prove. I don't think they can get that, as well.
HANNITY: And that bar is so high, I mean, there's never been any instances of racial animus or antipathy"
Did you get that? Never been any instances of racial animus or antipathy. And Hannity is not just talking about the Mike Brown killing, he's talking about anyone, anywhere, at any time. Never been an instance of racial animus. Nevah. Evah.
It's a different world, folks.
And now you'll excuse me, but I have to find a place to heal and restore myself.
Speaking of "you're the victim" as AK points out: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/police-say-rams-apologized-for-hands-up-gesture-team-s/article_aa18ae5b-6eb4-5da7-8056-26badc03cb78.html. The police in St. Louis are really, really gutless victims. And how many groups represent the police there anyhow?
Speaking of the victims, where is the NRA claiming their ration of victim hood since an unarmed teenager was shot half a dozen times in Missouri? They have been remarkably quiet about the whole events. The NRA being quiet, ever, is suspicious.
You may have seen this already. I noticed it the other day but have been too busy practicing sullen insolence while looking disdainfully at the roast turkey. All that eye rolling made me dizzy.
Anyway, I am about to make a public declaration of intent to refrain hereafter (I think) from referring to Rand Paul as "Li'l Randy".
Why? You may well ask.
The Little One....oh, sorry.....Senator Paul, is now, according to Gryphon Publishing, one of the greatest writers in history. Right up there with Washington and John Adams, Hamilton, Cicero, Alexis de Tocqueville, Milton Friedman (wait a minute...), Friedrich Hayek (starting to go down hill), Ronald Reagan (yup, down hill), and George W. Bush (oh, Christ...)
So anyway.....Li'l Randy has published a new book that the people at Gryphon think is one for the ages, even though chunks of it have been plagiarized from right-wing think tanks, but never mind.
And lest you think this is just some gluey-spined salacious drug store hackwork, according to Gryphon "Every volume is bound in leather and embellished with gold stamping of an original design. The raised bands across the spine are distinctive of the classic bookmaker's art. Specially commissioned marbelized endleaves are reminiscent of fine Old World editions." This book is for fondling or for reading? (Maybe salaciousness is not entirely out of the question.)
AND...."The books are designed to last generations."
Hmmph...I expected no less.
So if you're interested in one of the greatest partially plagiarized not gluey-spined drug store salacious hackwork books in the world, you've come to the right place.
The name? "Government Bullies".
The title refers, no doubt, to those who call Li'l Randy on the carpet for his less than authentic authorial status. Next deathless book by the Little One: "Profiles in Plagiarism: Why kidnapping, bong hits, civil rights detraction, white supremacist friends, and a tendency to run away should not rule out my presidency".
It will sell itself.
Speaking of healing, this from the Onion pretty much sums up my thoughts on it: http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-doesnt-know-if-it-can-take-another-bullshit,37541/?fb_action_ids=794460910615193&fb_action_types=og.shares
I'm so relieved that the NFL and the Rams decided not to discipline, fine, or suspend those players for their show of support for Ferguson protesters.
Mighty white of them, don't you think? Mighty white.
Has there ever been a story wondering if NFL players would be disciplined who participated in shows of support for cops who shoot first? For mindless jingoism? For an illegal war? For FREEEDOOOMM (but only for well off white people who vote Republican)?
Never.
But there have been dozens and dozens of demonstrations for those sorts of things over the last 12 to 13 years or so, complete with Air Force flyovers, fireworks, bunting, flags, and dewy paeans to the Greatest Country on Earth.
What would make headlines and spawn a conga line of bug-eyed questioners would be a player who declined to line up and salute an illegal war or the operations of racially biased police forces.
Or support for those protesting the use of lethal violence against unarmed kids.
How un-American.
James,
Articles like that are the reason so many people think the Onion's stories are true.
My favorite Onion headline for a long time has been "Gay man tearfully admits to being governor of New Jersey".
Why I'm staying home for Christmas!
"U.S. officials confirmed to NPR that they've received intelligence that suggests Al Qaeda may be planning to plant bombs on five different commercial flights bound for Europe around Christmastime."
and there's more: "...Officials are discussing whether to require that electronics such as cellphones, iPads and computers be placed in the cargo hold with checked baggage, which goes through a much more rigorous screening process."
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/officials-may-ban-carry-ons-due-to-terrorism.html
Holiday air travel looks to be in for hassle-filled experience in getting on the tarmac.
Roorda is also a Democrat and served in the MO state legislature.
Are there any decent Democrats in Missouri ?
Akhilleus
Very fine and funny post on Lauten . Wish we had a like button.
jjg. Well I sure don't know but you did cause me to go searching around about crack babies 'cause I thought studies had been done and they had...
http://articles.philly.com/2013-07-22/news/40709969_1_hallam-hurt-so-called-crack-babies-funded-study
This old white lady sure as hell doesn't know jack but just plain old poverty shouldn't be overlooked.