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News/Politics 10-2-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Remember the old days when they promised transparency and a “new” way of doing things? Good times…
From NationalReview “Even though Barack Obama rode into office in 2008 on a wave of media adulation, the Obama administration has exhibited a fiercely hostile attitude towards reporters. It has vigorously prosecuted low-level national-security leakers — while it ignores friendly leakers from the White House who puff up its image. This has led former Washington Post editor Leonard Downie to observe, “In the Obama administration’s Washington, government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press.” Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists concluded that Obama “will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.”
The White House’s contempt for the news-gathering process extends to the most petty incidents. On Monday, Michelle Obama came to Milwaukee to campaign for Democrat Mary Burke, who is challenging Governor Scott Walker. To the astonishment of reporter Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, aides to Obama and Burke told her she could not talk to the crowd at a Burke event in Milwaukee.”
“Reporters and photographers were cordoned off in a central area with chairs and tables. Several people in the crowd asked if they could have extra chairs reserved for the media — but reporters were initially forbidden from handing them over. Eventually, some of the Burke staff gave the extra chairs to attendees.”
President Obama himself has often demonstrated his thin skin when it comes to media coverage. In July, at a speech at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, he complained that the media is ignoring his economic successes: “Right now, there are more job openings in America than any time since 2007. That doesn’t always make headlines. It’s not sexy, so the news doesn’t report it, but it’s a big deal.” That’s only one of many complaints Obama has made about media coverage.”
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2. Not good, and not surprising.
From TheWashingtonTimes “Navy sailors harbor “widespread mistrust” in the admirals who command them, complaining of poor leadership and a disciplinary environment that tolerates absolutely no mistakes, says a survey of the fleet.
The disgruntlement runs deepest in the officer corps, where scores of commanders have been relieved of duty in recent years.
“Senior leadership should stop proactively highlighting the reliefs for cause of commanding officers, command master chiefs, and other senior enlisted advisors,” said the report “2014 Navy Retention Study.” “What was originally intended to demonstrate accountability to the public has, instead, resulted in a significant breach of trust with our sailors and resulting in an almost ‘reality TV’ mentality.”
The independent survey was released amid complaints by some aviators about excessive political correctness as the military seeks to stamp out sexual harassment and misconduct in an increasingly gender-integrated Navy.
“Most troubling is the perception sailors hold of senior leadership,” the report says under the heading “Widespread Distrust of Senior Leadership.”
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3. Given how they’ve lied about not spying on American citizens, and how police do illegal, warrantless searches of people’s phones at the drop of a hat, I have a hard time mustering much sympathy.
From Bloomberg “U.S. law enforcement officials are urging Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) to give authorities access to smartphone data that the companies have decided to block, and are weighing whether to appeal to executives or seek congressional legislation.
The new privacy features, announced two weeks ago by the California-based companies, will stymie investigations into crimes ranging from drug dealing to terrorism, law enforcement officials said.
“This is a very bad idea,” said Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, in an interview. Smartphone communication is “going to be the preferred method of the pedophile and the criminal. We are going to lose a lot of investigative opportunities.”
The dispute is the latest flare-up that pits the federal government against the nation’s leading technology companies since National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed last year the extent of U.S. snooping on phone and Internet communications — and how companies cooperated.
U.S. Justice Department and FBI officials are trying to understand how the new Apple and Google Android systems work and how the companies could change the encryption to make it accessible when court ordered. Their requests to the companies may include letters, personal appeals or congressional legislation, said a federal law official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.”
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4. The debate about whether or not to raise the minimum wage continues. In some states folks are already feeling the pinch.
From TheDailySignal “As far as Rob Pluta is concerned, New Jersey lawmakers who say they want to help restaurant workers by raising the state’s minimum wage for tipped employees have it all wrong.
If Trenton wants to help these workers, says Pluta, who owns and operates Leonardo’s II, an Italian eatery in Lawrenceville, it needs to promote the state, not enact even more mandates.”
“Pluta wasn’t wild about the constitutional amendment New Jersey voters approved last year that raised the state’s overall minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 and linked annual increases to the Consumer Price Index.
But he’s even more concerned about legislation introduced by Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-Paterson. Sumter’s bill, A857, which passed in the Assembly’s Labor Committee on a party-line vote last March, calls for an increase in the minimum wage for tipped workers. It would increase the federal minimum of $2.13 per hour to $3.39 by the end of this year and $5.93 by 2016.
For restaurant owners, that’s even worse than it sounds, Pluta says. Under current law, if employees don’t make $8.25 counting tips and base, the employer makes up the rest. Pluta says he’s never had to pay—his employees routinely make $15 to $20 per hour or more.”
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5. This could get really bad if they are this clueless with just one case.
From TheNYTimes “The man who has become the first Ebola patient to develop symptoms in the United States told officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital last Friday that he had just arrived from West Africa but was not admitted that day because that information was not passed along at the hospital, officials acknowledged Wednesday.
The man, Thomas E. Duncan, was sent home under the mistaken belief that he had only a mild fever, a hospital administrator said; the information that he had traveled from Liberia, one of the nations at the heart of the Ebola epidemic, was overlooked.
Mr. Duncan came back to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday and was admitted for treatment, but in those two days in between, his contacts with a number of people — including five schoolchildren and the medics who helped transport him to the hospital — potentially exposed them to Ebola, forcing officials to monitor and isolate them in their homes and to begin a thorough cleaning of the schools the students attended. Mr. Duncan is now in serious but stable condition.”
“Officials said Wednesday that they believed Mr. Duncan came into contact with 12 to 18 people when he was experiencing active symptoms and when the disease was contagious, and that the daily monitoring of those people had not yet shown them to be infected.”
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Our Daily Thread 8-26-14
Good Morning!
The picture below is from Cheryl. For some reason I can’t get it to upload into the header, so I’m posting it this way. It’s a good one. 🙂
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On this day in 55 B.C. Britain was invaded by Roman forces under Julius Caesar.
In 1842 the first fiscal year was established by Congress to start on July 1st.
In 1945 Japanese officials were given surrender instructions on the U.S. battleship Missouri at the end of World War II.
And in 1961 the International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto.
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Quote of the Day
“To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth—all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.” – 1957
Lee de Forest 🙂
That’s not the only quote he totally blew it on. Here’s another…. 🙂
“So I repeat that while theoretically and technically television may be feasible, yet commercially and financially, I consider it an impossibility; a development of which we need not waste little time in dreaming.” – 1926
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Today is Cliff Young’s birthday, so Caedmon’s Call covering Rich Mullins. 🙂
And on this day in 1964 this song was released in the US.
I have no idea what happened there at the end. Television was weird in the old days. 🙂
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Anyone have a QoD?
Here’s one… Do you have a favorite TV show?
Our Daily Thread 8-25-14
Good Morning!
Today’s header photo is from Peter.
Oh, and 2000!
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On this day in 1718 hundreds of colonists from France arrived in Louisiana.
In 1814 the U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces.
In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France making him the first person to swim the English Channel. The feat took about 22 hours.
In 1920 the first airplane to fly from New York to Alaska arrived in Nome.
And in 1944 Paris, France, was liberated by Allied forces ending four years of German occupation.
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Quote of the Day
“Is that your final answer?”
Regis Philbin
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Today is Leonard Bernstein’s birthday. This will wake you up. 🙂
Today is also Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus’. AKA, the other Elvis. And since I like weird stuff, with Diana Krall, and Willie Nelson, singing a song Patsy Cline made famous that was written by Willie.
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 7-30-14
It’s Wednesday, so don’t forget to pray for the Gambia.
Anyone else have something to share?
Psalm 31
¹In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.
5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;
8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.
9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.
22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Our Daily Thread 4-22-14
Good Morning!
Today’s header photo is from Janice.
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On this day in 1861 Robert E. Lee was named commander of Virginia forces.
In 1864 the U.S. Congress passed legislation that allowed the inscription “In God We Trust” to be included on one-cent and two-cent coins.
In 1914 Babe Ruth made his pitching debut with the Baltimore Orioles.
In 1915 the New York Yankees wore pinstripes and the hat-in-the-ring logo for the first time.
And in 1970 the first “Earth Day” was observed by millions of Americans. Tree-hugging Hippies. Fixed it for ya’. 🙂
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Quotes of the Day, but only because actions in our current political climate bear a striking resemblance to what he had in mind. Many today employ his methods. I believe it helps to know what your adversaries think, and what motivates them.
“The press should be not only a collective propagandist and collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.”
“Give me four years to teach the children and the seeds I have sown will never be uprooted.”
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
Vladimir Lenin
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It’s Glen Campbell’s birthday.
And it’s Danny Stephens’ birthday.
From ArdentMusic
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Oregon vs. 
Texas (VALERO ALAMO BOWL)
Duke vs. #21 
Texas A&M (Chick-fil-A BOWL)
Wisconsin vs. #9 
South Carolina- (CAPITAL ONE BOWL)
Iowa vs. #16 
LSU- (OUTBACK BOWL)
#5 Stanford vs. #4 
Michigan State- (ROSE BOWL)
Baylor- (TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL)
Oklahoma vs. #3 
Alabama- (ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL)
Oklahoma State vs. #8 
Missouri- (AT&T COTTON BOWL)
Clemson vs. #7 
Ohio State- (DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL)
Auburn- (VIZIO BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP) 
Wandering Views 