Month: May 2015
News/Politics 5-5-15
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
I’ll start things off…..
1. First, a good news story.
From TheIndependent “A teenager has been hailed as “the most beautiful student in China” after spending three years giving piggy-backs to his disabled friend so that he doesn’t have to miss a class.
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2. The terrorist attack in Texas is raising some questions about the 1st Amendment. And of course, some on the left want to use it as an excuse to limit free speech they find offensive.
From McClatchy “The two gunmen who opened fire with assault weapons outside the exhibit on Sunday were killed by a police officer. They have been identified by law enforcement as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, both of Phoenix. They appear, from social media posts, to have been motivated by a desire to become mujahedeen, or holy warriors.
The attack highlights the tensions between protecting Americans’ treasured right to freedom of expression and preserving public safety, and it raises questions about when – if ever – government should intervene.
There are two exceptions from the constitutional right to free speech – defamation and the doctrine of “fighting words” or “incitement,” said John Szmer, an associate professor of political science and a constitutional law expert at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“Fighting words is the idea that you are saying something that is so offensive that it will lead to an immediate breach of the peace,” Szmer explained. “In other words, you are saying something and you should expect a violent reaction by other people.”
The exhibit of cartoons in Texas might have crossed the line, Szmer said.
“I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect what they were doing would incite a violent reaction,” he said.”
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3. As much as I dislike Ms. Geller’s methods, to say they had it coming is a bit much to swallow.
From HotAir “When political commentators note that there is no justification for sexual violence, they aren’t adhering to doctrinal feminism but the tenets of civilized Western thought. No woman, a responsible citizen would say, invites violence merely because their assailant was uncontrollably stimulated by their victim’s choice of attire. This is such a bedrock principle of human decency that it barely needs to be said. Only the most brutish and crude among us would contend otherwise. Why then does it appear vogue to imply that a terrorist attack on a Texas American Freedom Defense Initiative event organized by the group’s president, Pamela Geller, was the inevitable result of provocation on the part of the victims?
Yes, the event that was targeted by Islamist militants in Texas was specifically designed to provoke an inflamed response. The AFDI event promised a $10,000 reward for the attendee who drew the best caricature of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed – an offense that inspired the massacre of editors and cartoonists at the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Far from being spontaneous, this act of violence was preceded on Twitter by users praising the attackers as “mujahideen” and approving of their decision to martyr themselves for the cause of radical Islam.”
“To suggest that by attacking the censorious sensibilities of Islamist fanatics with this display of protest is absurd and dispiritingly defeatist. Nevertheless, that’s what so many of the usual suspects have done today.”
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4. Some Democrats are saying the problems in Baltimore could be solved with more money. Of course they always say that. But how much is enough? And why hasn’t that worked in the past?
From TheWashingtonPost/MSN “Along the street where Freddie Gray was arrested, abandoned houses are gashed with gaping holes. The roof on an old red-brick building is collapsed. A storm drain is clogged with concrete.
Sandtown-Winchester is crumbling, and there is little to suggest that two decades ago visionary developer James Rouse and city officials injected more than $130 million into the community in a failed effort to transform it. Instead there are block after block of boarded-up houses and too many people with little hope.
“It’s frustrating,” said Stefanie DeLuca, a Johns Hopkins University sociologist who has studied the neighborhood. “How much money would it take? It certainly seems on an instinctual level that $100 million should have made some difference.”
But for much of Sandtown, life remains bleak. Once home to Thurgood Marshall, Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway, the West Baltimore neighborhood has suffered from unemployment, crime and poverty rates well above the city’s average, census and other data show. The state spends nearly $17 million just to incarcerate its former residents. Life expectancy is 10 years below the national average.”
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And when is it time to say enough is enough? If the past is any indication, the problems are not gonna be fixed by throwing more cash at them.
From TheFreeBeacon “The city of Baltimore received over $1.8 billion from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention.
President Obama claimed last Tuesday that if the Republican-controlled Congress would implement his policies to make “massive investments in urban communities,” they could “make a difference right now” in the city, currently in upheaval following the death of Freddie Gray.
However, a Washington Free Beacon analysis found that the Obama administration and Democratically-controlled Congress did make a “massive” investment into Baltimore, appropriating $1,831,768,487 though the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly known as the stimulus.
According to Recovery.gov, one of Baltimore’s central ZIP codes, 21201, received the most stimulus funding in the city, a total of $837,955,866. The amount included funding for 276 awards, and the website reports that the spending had created 290 jobs in the fourth quarter in 2013.
Of this amount, $467.1 million went to education; $206.1 million to the environment; $24 million to “family”; $16.1 million to infrastructure; $15.2 million to transportation; $11.9 million to housing; and $3.1 million to job training.
ZIP code 21202 received $425,170,937, including a $136 million grant to “improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.” Twenty-nine other ZIP codes listed in Baltimore city received a total of $568,641,684.”
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Our Daily Thread 5-4-15
Good Morning!
On this day in 1471 the Yorkists defeated the Landcastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in the War of the Roses.
In 1626 Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on Manhattan Island.
In 1776 Rhode Island declared its freedom from England two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
In 1942 the United States began food rationing.
And in 1970 Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on students during an anti-Vietnam war protest at Kent State University. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded.
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Quote of the Day
“Learn what is true in order to do what is right.”
Thomas Huxley
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Today is Dick Dale’s birthday.
And some protest music.
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 5-4-15
Anyone have something to share?
Psalm 130
¹Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
News/Politics 5-4-15
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
Our Daily Thread 5-2-15
Good Morning!
Welcome to the weekend! 🙂
Here’s a few more of those birds……..
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On this day in 1797 a mutiny in the British navy spread from Spithead to the rest of the fleet.
In 1865 President Andrew Johnson offered $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
In 1890 the Oklahoma Territory was organized.
In 1946 prisoners revolted at California’s Alcatraz prison.
And in 1970 student anti-war protesters at Ohio’s Kent State University burned down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard then took control of the campus.
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Quote of the Day
“A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity.”
Robert Hall
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Today is Louis Andrew Grammatico’s (aka Lou Gramm’s) birthday. So yeah, these are loud. 🙂
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 5-2-15
Anyone have something they’d like to share?
Psalm 129
¹Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
4 The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.
Rants! and Raves! 5-2-15
It’s Saturday, so you know what that means….
Rants! 😦
and
Raves! 🙂
News/Politics 5-2-15
What’s interesting in the news this weekend?
Open Thread
Our Daily Thread 5-1-15
Good Morning!
It’s Friday!!!
Today’s header photo is from Janice.
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On this day in 1486 Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.
In 1707 England, Wales and Scotland were united to form Great Britain.
In 1931 The Empire State Building in New York was dedicated and opened. It was 102 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world at the time.
And in 1961 Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.
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Quote of the Day
“It was considered the most dangerous route in the Hills, but as my reputation as a rider and quick shot was well known, I was molested very little, for the toll gatherers looked on me as being a good fellow, and they knew that I never missed my mark.”
Calamity Jane
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Today is Judy Collins’ birthday. From Beta Hi-Fi Archive
And it’s Tim McGraw’s too. From Jimmy Kimmel Live
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Wandering Views 