– Glad to see the Angry Black Lady Chronicles returning.
– And you thought the end of Obama’s presidency might mean the end of the GOP’s Saul Alinsky Saul the time obsession.
– As important as it is to call out Mars Hill, how churches avoid becoming the next Mars Hill is probably more important going forward.
– Wasteful as it would be, I would dig the hell out of flame decals on Metro.
I’m sorry to see the US re-involving itself in another useless military campaign in the Middle East. The only way to end Islamic terrorism is to withdraw entirely from the Middle East.
What’s Going On At The Stranger?
Everyone’s leaving — Cienna quit, Goldy was fired, and now Dominic has quit. Did they get bought out by Rupert Murdoch?
@1 Freakin’ pacifist … they’ll cut off your head next.
I dunno what the f is going on at the Stranger ..but I ALSO do not know why HA is ignoring that story.
As a reader, my impression is that the stranger is going ..as they say .. down a slippery slope. Maybe Goldy’s obsession with the ST is a defense mechanism? How come he does not write about Seattle’s “only” newspaper?
Meanwhile, the Stranger is advertising for a new writer! .. see the article over at The-Ave,US.
The Stranger is cutting off its news in favor of becoming a don’t-shake-the-boat advertising rag.
I thought it was pretty telling that a number of people who would have otherwise been on the SECB were “too busy with other assignments” — I’d think being on the SECB would be one of their MOST IMPORTANT assignments.
3
Let’s just get out of the mess over there.
Pretty simple anwser: Goldy is busy with an interesting new job. Probably pays a hell of a lot better to boot.
Others will fill in the blanks I’m sure. It doesn’t have to be HA.
Trackwork to upgrade the Chicago-St.Louis corridor to 110mph is now complete. Over the next two years, crews will be upgrading the signals with Positive Train Control, and new rolling stock delivered.
http://www.globalrailnews.com/.....-complete/
Here’s an interesting business model for a restaurant owner: Lace your noodles with opium to get your customers addicted so they’ll keep coming back for more!
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/24/.....?hpt=hp_t2
Roger Rabbit Commentary: If you are I do it, it’s a crime, and we go to jail for it. If a business owner does it, it’s … business.
In Colorado, students walked out of six high schools to protest a rightwing school board’s attempt at force them to have only positive and patriotic thoughts about American history.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/co.....-proposal/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I’m not familiar with the details, but I suspect that means students will no longer be taught anything about Native American genocide, slavery, lynchings, or McCarthyism and rightwing witch hunts, because if you can’t put a smiley face sticker on it, it isn’t history!
@9
Also the government can pretty much do what it wants when it comes to things like asset seizures and the like.
Yet Another Cop Horror Story
This one involves the violent arrest of a spastic disabled man by ignoramus cops who assumed he was on drugs.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....ail=email#
http://www.wvgazette.com/artic...../140919689
(Warning: The videos will make you want to throw up)
Meanwhile in Ferguson MO at least one cop is wearing an “I Am Darrell Wilson” bracelet to demonstrate solidarity with a cop who gunned down an unarmed teenager.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....tail=email
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I’m not saying we should fire all of America’s cops and start over. But there obviously is an institutional crisis. Militarization, bunker mentality, knee-jerk violence against the citizens they’re supposed to protect — all these things need to change. And if changing it requires replacing every police chief and cop in America, then let’s do it. Because what we have is intolerable. (Are you listening, SPD officers suing the city because you don’t like the mayor’s new UOF policy? You’d better be, because you’re expendable, too.)
Why Americans Aren’t Having Children Anymore
“For a typical married couple with two children, the combined cost of child care, housing, health care and savings for college and retirement jumped 32 percent from 2000 to 2012 … after adjusting for inflation.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102029809
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Can’t afford ’em, simple as that. In case you haven’t noticed America is facing a baby drought. Childbearing is falling off a cliff. So is marriage. But the lack of children is more serious because it means that a generation from now there will be no one left to work or pay taxes. Unless, of course, we let in immigrants.
@14. I can see that. We didn’t adopt a second child like we had planned because we ran the numbers again and again, and we just couldn’t afford to. A second child has just as many expenses and especially college. I know, that sounds like an odd criteria, but how can we tell the second child that the their older brother gets to go to college via GET but they don’t. Two years of college each would be pointless, then they would both be saddled with crippling debt, which we felt was not fair to the kids. I suppose we could have played Grade Sudden Death and given the GET education to the child with the best grades and the McJob to the other one.
Another Grand Jury exonerating the Police> who committed cold blooded first degree murder.
SpittlePuddles must be so proud of the modern Police State that the Conservatives have wrought upon us, with their “outsourcing” (meaning privatization) of Police training and manuals to for-profit, white-supremacist organizations and sutler companies.
Privatize the Police! Privatize the Prisons! Hooraw!
The only thing anyone should worry about is the money. If taxpayers money goes to the taxpayers, then it’s communism. If it gets funneled into murder incorporated, it’s just the free market at work, baby.
DOJ Opens Civil Rights Investigation In Ohio Police Shooting
“Just hours after an Ohio grand jury declined to indict police officers who shot and killed a man inside a Wal-Mart, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced that the Department of Justice plans to open a civil rights investigation into the case.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/do.....-shooting/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: White cop, black shopper with toy gun for his kid, gets you summarily executed in today’s America. Just like jaywalking in St. Louis County does.
NRA Throws Clint Didier Under The Bus
Oh my. The NRA endorsed Dan Newhouse in 4th CD, and an angry Clint Didier wants to know, “Who got to them?”
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/.....t-to-them/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Umm, maybe big GOP donors who don’t want Tea Party crazies shutting down the government again?
Thought you Uber fans would appreciate this
“A suburban Denver woman paid $106 for a 20-mile Uber ride to an Elton John concert. But when she had to get back, she discovered Uber wanted $443.”
http://www.npr.org/2014/09/24/.....ge-pricing
“As a frequent Uber user, I find the problem with the company’s much-lambasted surge pricing isn’t just its high cost (which can sometimes reach as much eight or nine times a ride’s base fare), it’s how unpredictable the whole process is. Until you open the app, you have absolutely no way of knowing what multiplier you’re going to be subject to. Adding to this uncertainty is the mysterious black-box nature of an Uber transaction. Users can only guess what a ride will cost before getting in the car, and the cost is automatically deducted before there is any chance to see the total tab.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/se.....ll-switch/
@19 Sounds like health care — “we’ll send you the bill after you wake up in post-op.” $443 for a 20-mile ride is serious price gouging.* For that kind of money, I’ll ferry people around myself!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SId8.....nt+027.JPG
* That’s more or less what the Paris taxi drivers tried to do to the French government after winning the war for the Allies by ferrying French troops to the gap in the German lines at the Marne.
More Bad News For Scott Walker
A federal appeals court has lifted an injunction against “an investigation into possible illegal coordination between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups.” This investigation involves the recall campaign, and is separate from investigations into Walker’s actions as a county executive that send several of his aides to jail.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/s.....76981.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This court ruling might not have an immediate impact on Walker’s reelection campaign, in which he’s running neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent, but it could derail his ambitions of running for president in 2016.
Handicapping 2016: Rand Paul vs. Hillary Clinton?
I don’t think so. Rand Paul leads in early GOP polls (by a lot) and is currently considered the frontrunner by many pundits, but he’s too far out on the libertarian fringe to be considered a plausible nominee. And the GOP establishment will pull out the stops to stop him, because they (and Wall Street) can’t control him. Jeb Bush is likely the most viable Republican, but it’s not clear he’s running. In his absence, and if not Paul, then who? The GOP bigwigs might well get behind Paul Ryan. But he might not be willing; he puts his family first.
CW (conventional wisdom) holds the Democratic nomination is Hillary’s for the asking, and that’s probably true. But what if she doesn’t run, or can’t for health reasons? Then you’re down to Biden, Cuomo, Schweitzer, maybe Klobuchar, or trying to persuade Warren to run. In other words, without Hillary, the Democrats probably are screwed unless the GOPers completely blow their nominating process.
L.A. Moves Toward $15.37 Minimum Wage
Looks like some Angelos are going to get a higher minimum wage than Seattleites — and get it much sooner.
“Workers at large Los Angeles hotels would see their wages rise to $15.37 an hour under a measure given preliminary approval by city leaders on Wednesday that would grant employees in that sector one of the highest wage floors in the nation.
“The proposal, approved by the Los Angeles City Council by a vote of 12-3, is subject to a final vote next week. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who last month pledged to bring the city’s overall minimum wage to $13.25 by 2017, has said he would sign the hotel measure if it reaches his desk. …
“The $15.37 an hour ordinance for Los Angeles hotel workers, if it gets final approval, would take effect on July 1, 2015, for hotels with 300 or more rooms and a year later for establishments with at least 150 rooms.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102030449
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Yes, the whining by cheap labor conservatives over raising the minimum wage is tiresome; but keep in mind, we’re winning and they’re losing.