Is this how the world now sees the United States of America?

MoonHowler

New Zealand Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson apparently sees a different America from the one that was drawn together by tragedy on September 11, 2001. Today, America seems divided by a crude incivility that looks at our differences rather than our common ground.

A tiki torch seems to have replaced the beacon of light held by lady liberty as we reflect on the events in Charlottesville, children kidnapped from their parents at our southern border and a president double fist pumping at a somber gathering of mourning in Shanksville, PA on 9-11-18.

America is better than this.

Trump rally violence continues

MoonHowler

Talkingpointsmemo.com:

A black protester was jostled and shoved by white Donald Trump supporters Tuesday at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky, according to local news station WLKY.

Video published by the news station showed the black protestor, whom it did not identify, being confronted and pushed by white rally attendees until she left. The protester told WLKY on Tuesday night that she was doing well but trying to “process everything.”

Blogger and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King later identified the protester as University of Louisville student Shiya Nwanguma. Nwanguma alleged in a Facebook video that the rally attendees called her “a n***** and a c***.”[ED. Note:  expletives redacted by admin. @Moonhowlings.net]

“I just got escorted out by the police,” she said in the video. “The people at the rally, they were pushing and shoving at me, cursing at me, yelling at me, called me every name in the book. They’re disgusting and dangerous.”

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California legislature approves physician assisted suicide

MoonHowler

New York Times:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a landmark victory for supporters of assisted suicide, the California State Legislature on Friday gave its final approval to a bill that would allow doctors to help terminally ill people end their own lives.

Four states — Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont — already allow physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to some patients. The California bill, which passed Friday in the State Senate by a vote of 23 to 14, will now go to Gov. Jerry Brown, who will roughly triple access to doctor-assisted suicide across the country if he signs it. Mr. Brown has given little indication of his intentions.

Leaders of the “death with dignity” movement said they hoped the passage of the California law could be a turning point.

As human beings, we should have control over our own deaths with dignity if we are faced with a terminal illness.  Good for California.  There are now 4 civilized states in the Union.  Only 46 more to go.

Of course there have to be safe-guards.  However, why should the state have the final jurisdiction over our very lives.  Anyone who has ever been with a loved one with a terminal illness knows exactly what I am talking about.

No everyone doing their fair share

MoonHowler

fair share

Obviously not everyone is doing their fair share.  The wealthier gulf states have taken in no refugees since the Syrian conflict began.  Those states closest to Syria have taken in millions of people.  Many of these refugees have lived in tent cities and have been dependent of the host country as well as international relief efforts.

At some point, the “six Gulf countries — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain must step up to the plate and offer assistance, relief and shelter to those who have been impacted by civil war and by the Islamic State thugs.

Hopefully, President Obama will speak very directly the Saudi King on this issue.  I would be taking him to McDonalds if I were Obama.

The United States has taken in 1500 Syrian refugees since their civil war began.  We could do far better!

Go Set a Watchman: Tonight’s the Night

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

And herein lies the paradox at the heart of “Watchman” that many white Americans still cannot or will not comprehend: that one can at once believe in the ideal of “justice for all” — as Atticus once purported to — and yet maintain a deeply ingrained and unexamined notion of racial difference now based in culture as opposed to biology, a milder yet novel version of white supremacy manifest in, for example, racial profiling, unfair and predatory lending practices, disparate incarceration rates, residential and school segregation, discriminatory employment practices and medical racism.

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Former first lady sentenced

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — Former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in federal prison — a penalty less than what federal prosecutors had sought but one that will still put her behind bars briefly.

U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said he struggled to understand the true nature of the former first lady — who seemed at times to be a loving mother and wife devoted to her family and other times a greedy and tyrannical woman who made others miserable.

“It’s difficult to get to the heart of who Mrs. McDonnell truly is,” Spencer said.

Spencer allowed Maureen McDonnell to remain free on bond while her appeal is pending.

I am not sure it is really up to Judge Spencer to understand Mrs. McDonald nor should figuring her out have any bearing on her sentence.  She either did it or she didn’t.  (whatever “it” is)  I am one of those who do not think either McDonald belongs in jail.

It is highly probable that Mrs. McDonald is greedy and did make everyone around her miserable.  Perhaps that is the toll that politics takes on some couples.  Money also takes a high toll, especially when the couple is middle class.    Mrs. McDonald was expected to dress to the nines, look like a million dollars on a shoestring budget.  She was a middle class lady playing on a field of high rollers.

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Federal judge orders local judges to issue marriage licenses

MoonHowler

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 


newyorktimes.com:

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge here ruled on Thursday that the local probate judge cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, potentially adding some clarity to a judicial quarrel that has roiled Alabama for most of a week.

The order by Judge Callie V. S. Granade of Federal District Court came after a brief hearing and prompted cheers and crying in the halls of the probate court here, where several couples obtained licenses and were married before the license office closed.

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Monica Lewinsky: Hell hath no fury

MoonHowler

GTY 493253239 E ACE ENT USA NY

Timing is everything.  Monica Lewinsky, who laid low for the past 16 years, has resurfaced.

usatoday.com:

Teary eyes brought out sympathetic murmurs for Lewinsky today, after she got emotional in a speech to more than 1,000 millennials at Forbes magazine’s inaugural 30 Under 30 summit in Philadelphia.

“It is only my fourth time delivering a speech in public,” she said. “So if I seem nervous, forgive me, because I am. And a little emotional, too.”

It was Lewinsky’s first public speech since she resurfaced for the first time in years in a Vanity Fair essay in May. It was also her most extensive public remarks since she was outed as President Clinton’s go-to intern for extracurricular sex in the White House in the late 1990s.

Now 41, she was there to talk up her plan to launch a “cultural revolution” against cyberbullying, which she says helped ruin her life. The revolution will be be Twitterized; she just joined.

 

There is a little more to all this than just cyber-bullying.  Lewinsky became a prominent national figure because of her behavior.  Her attempts to paint herself as a victim fell on deaf ears with me.   Think what you want about Bill Clinton.  Monica wasn’t a victim.  She was a grown woman and most importantly, she knew that Clinton was a married man.

I am sure she fantasized that he would leave Hillary and marry her.  She had had at least one other affair with the director of a play she was in.  He, too, was married.  Perhaps Lewinsky was a collector of men.  She calls herself Patient 1.  That doesn’t even make sense.  Boo Hoo, Monica.

She isn’t a victim.  If you don’t want to be in an instant fish bowl, don’t fool around with a married man who just happens to be the most powerful man in the world.  The world will be watching and  some of its inhabitants will have something to say about you and your behavior.

The ‘woman scorned” is coming out in her and is exhibited by her timing–right before Hillary announces her bid for the presidency.  Lewinsky still looks stupid and bitter.  I expect her efforts to scuttle Hillary will have the reverse effect.

 

James Brady death ruled a homicide

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Monday’s death of President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary James S. Brady has been ruled a homicide resulting from the gunshot wound he suffered in the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981, more than three decades ago.

The ruling was made by the medical examiner’s office in Virginia, where Brady, 73, died in an Alexandria retirement community, and was announced Friday by Gwendolyn Crump, the D.C. police department’s chief spokeswoman.

There was no immediate word on whether the shooter, John W. Hinckley Jr., who has been treated at St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital since his trial, could face new criminal charges. Hinckley, 59, was found not guilty by reason of insanity after he shot Reagan and three others on March 30, 1981.

But the decision to pronounce Brady’s death a homicide 33 years after he was wounded outside the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue NW raises questions about whether prosecutors can, and will, try to get around double jeopardy — the legal concept that protects a person from being tried twice for the same crime — and pursue a murder charge.

Isn’t charging John Hinckley with murder really overkill?   Why on earth should Hinckley be charged with murder some 30 years after the fact?  He has been incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital for over three decades.  He was found not guilty by reason of insanity at the time.  What are prosecutors hoping?  He will be less insane?  More insane?  Even if he had been charged and convicted of murder, he might be eligible for freedom after 3o years.

Suggestion:  Leave it alone.  Recharging Hinckley just costs the taxpayer more money with very little end result.   It seems to me that the medical examiner was acting out of political motivation.  Had Hinckley shot anyone else, would the ME really declare a death  a homicide  after 30 some years?  Probably not.

Self-Immolation on the Mall

MoonHowler

Just when you thought things couldn’t get more bizarre, on Friday a man doused himself with gasoline right there on the mall and set himself on fire. Just the thought of the act brings back bad flashbacks to the Vietnam War era where Buddhist monks set themselves on fire during the Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem regime .  That was a rather horrifying form of protest and also where the term ‘self-immolation’ evolved.

We don’t know much about Friday’s incident.  It more or less got buried in the midst of shutdown news.  Perhaps we have just become desensitized by recent events.  We also aren’t hearing a strong debate over the fact that law enforcement in DC shot and killed an unarmed woman with a child in the car, putting passersby, tourists, and federal employees at risk of being caught in the crossfire.

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RIP, Kenny Diaz #43

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

A Woodbridge High School football player was fatally stabbed Saturday at a Prince William County park, an incident that has left his friends and teammates struggling for answers and mourning the death of the 18-year-old linebacker.

Police said Sunday that they are investigating the killing of Kenny Joseph Diaz, who was stabbed in the stomach at Marumsco Acre Lake Park, east of Interstate 95 near the Occoquan Bay in Woodbridge. Officers responded at 3:15 p.m., police said, and Diaz was taken to a hospital, where he died.

In a news release, police said the stabbing “does not appear to be random,” indicating that Diaz might have known his attacker or attackers. Prince William County police asked for the public’s help in providing information about the attack, the fourth homicide this year in the large suburban county.

Diaz’s death shook the Woodbridge High School community over the weekend.

Woodbridge High School was on a real high after their victory over Stonewall Jackson High School on Friday night.  The joy and celebration turned to horror as word spread of Kenny’s death  Saturday afternoon.   How does anyone make any sense of this tragic murder?

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Amy Wolfe honors son’s life and sacrifice with ballet entitled “Colin”

Angelina_Apr

WJLA.com:

A Manassas mother is honoring her son’s memory the best way she knows how – through dance.

After 9/11, Colin Wolfe of Manassas decided to trade in ballet to serve our country. But after less than two months in Afghanistan, he was killed by a roadside bomb in 2006.

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Bones: Richard III found under parking lot in Leicester

MoonHowler

richard iii skull

The remains of English Monarch Richard III have been found under a parking lot in Leicester (pronounced Lester), England.

According to Yahoonews.com:

Archaeologists announced today (Feb. 4) that bones excavated from underneath a parking lot in Leicester “beyond reasonable doubt,” belong to the medieval king. Archaeologists announced the discovery of the skeleton in September. They suspected then they might have Richard III on their hands because the skeleton showed signs of the spinal disorder scoliosis, which Richard III likely had, and because battle wounds on the bones matched accounts of Richard III’s death in the War of the Roses.

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Will pot go legal this election?

MoonHowler

Huffingtonpost.com:

NEW YORK — Voters in three states will decide next month whether to legalize the sale and use of marijuana. If a ballot measure in one of those states succeeds, as supporters predict, it may create a rare truce in the war on drugs — and trigger a showdown with the federal government.

State-level legalization would climax decades of struggle by reformers to convince voters that marijuana presents less of a threat to public safety than legal drugs, including alcohol. It would also show that pro-pot activists have learned from previous losses, like California’s Proposition 19.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that at least one of them will pass,” said Dan Riffle, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project.

His confidence appears justified. A September poll put support in Washington state at 57 percent. A Colorado poll out Monday from The Denver Post showed 48 percent in favor, versus 43 percent opposed. Support in Oregon was lagging.

Proponents have picked their battles. Legalization is only on the ballot in libertarian-leaning western states. Still-hostile state legislatures have been bypassed with ballot initiatives. And the presidential election will draw marijuana- friendly younger voters to polls.

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GOP goes wild and some get nekkid in the Sea of Galilee

MoonHowler


From Politico.com:

The FBI probed a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee that involved drinking, numerous GOP freshmen lawmakers, top leadership staff – and one nude member of Congress, according to more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses.

During a fact-finding congressional trip to the Holy Land last summer, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) took off his clothes and jumped into the sea, joining a number of members, their families and GOP staff during a night out in Israel, the sources told POLITICO. Other participants, including the daughter of another congressman, swam fully clothed while some lawmakers partially disrobed. More than 20 people took part in the late-night dip in the sea, according to sources who were participants in the trip.

You know, why can’t members of Congress behave, especially when out of the country?   Is this the same GOP who gets all prissy over behavior and  wants ultrasounds for women seeking abortion?  Is this the same GOP who wants us all to reliquish our reproductive rights? Is this the GOP who wants to tear down that wall of separation between church and state?

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