Big Brother is Watching You

[Leo Lyons]

I am now the only family member who can read Mom's writing. Well, Mom probably could, but she doesn't do reading much these days.
Alzheimer's sucks.

All joking, back-stabbing, and put-downs put aside for a moment. . . I sincerely feel your pain, you have my sympathies. I wouldn't wish that on anybody, because I went through that myself with Mom and Dad. They're both in eternal rest now.

[Vrede too]

Hell, you never had no clue AFTER you posted the link! You wrote that it's a widespread and dishonest myth that Common Core is a Dem thing. It originated with the GOP-dominated National Governors Association. You silly dingwoofle, it's a known fact that Bill Gates, a staunch Democrat was and probably still is, the largest contributor to Common Core.

You say that like Bill Gates is a boogeyman that corrupted the National Governors Association, you poor whiny and paranoid thing. The fact is that Common Core was always led by the National Governors Association, and it was "the largest contributor", not Gates, liar.

Bill Gates may indeed be a Democrat given that he's got the brains, initiative, creativity, heart and balls that you cons lack, but "staunch" is yet another lie. He mostly avoids partisan politics, as everyone but you knows, and he's donated very small amounts over the years to Democrats AND Repugs:
https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=bi ... ype=donors

Will you ever forgive me for ever doubting you? Sorry I baited you; you're too easy!

Riiight, your posting how stupid you are and then what a coward you are when busted is somehow baiting me. Ooookay, you got me good. Proud?

Ah, your Schrödinger's Douchebag routine. Post something offensively stupid, and then wait to see how people react to decide whether you were just joking.

Exactly like Seth Milner and Mr.B.

Childish emulation of Mr.B/homerphobe ignored, except to say that the last person that should be spewing pop psychology is someone that defends people that slaughter kids and dishonestly blames the victims.

... Seriously though, the move to remove analog clocks began in Great Britain, and the idea is seriously being tossed around here in NY and NJ. As for cursive writing, I don't recall whose idea that was; I'm too lazy to look it up.

Oooh, you are so close to admitting that you screwed up by blaming the Dems. If you only had a slightly stiffer spine.

Going through life as a victim is a bitch, ain't it! How many years did you have to stay in 3rd. grade?

What part of "it didn't hurt me in any way" was unclear to you? How many years did you have to stay in 3rd grade? Actually, I asserted myself without any repercussions, but you are free to invent any fairy tales that make you think you've successfully deflected, wuss.

I'm not (upset over clocks and cursive), but by reading your reply to my posts, a good dose of Immodium would be in order for you!

Your complained about something you don't care about and you cover for that with a desperate poop joke? Wow, that's childish and stupid.

[Vrede too]

... The best argument I head for cursive is to create a signature....

It's a pretty weak one, imo. Unless one prints in slow and deliberate block letters, a printed signature is as unique as a cursive one.

[O Really]

... The best argument I head for cursive is to create a signature....

It's a pretty weak one, imo. Unless one prints in slow and deliberate block letters, a printed signature is as unique as a cursive one.

Agreed, but it's still a better argument than "they won't be able to read their grandmother's letters." I'm not so sure that a literate person who can read hand printing and type would be totally unable to read script anyway. Most of the letters are close enough to print that it would be possible to "translate." Much like reading script from the 18th and 19th century, where "s" looked like "f" and other style differences make it difficult but not impossible to read comfortably.

[Vrede too]

Agreed, but it's still a better argument than "they won't be able to read their grandmother's letters." I'm not so sure that a literate person who can read hand printing and type would be totally unable to read script anyway. Most of the letters are close enough to print that it would be possible to "translate." Much like reading script from the 18th and 19th century, where "s" looked like "f" and other style differences make it difficult but not impossible to read comfortably.

Agreed. IF we stop teaching cursive I think people will be able to read it long after they've stopped being able to write in it decently.

Grandmother is texting, anyhow , and grandpas like Leo Lyons will bitch about change no matter what it is.

[O Really]

...and grandpas like Leo Lyons will bitch about change no matter what it is.

And apparently be willing to turn any subject into a partisan issue. Reminds me of the old geezers who used to populate Florida beaches, with their shorts up under the arm pits, black socks and sandals, sitting around bitching about everything, especially "the idiots in the government..." You still see some of those occasionally, and I'm sure they're still around, but maybe their keepers don't let them out with the black socks much.

[Vrede too]

And apparently be willing to turn any subject into a partisan issue.

Even picking the wrong party to blame.

Reminds me of the old geezers who used to populate Florida beaches, with their shorts up under the arm pits, black socks and sandals, sitting around bitching about everything, especially "the idiots in the government..."

Public beaches?

You still see some of those occasionally, and I'm sure they're still around, but maybe their keepers don't let them out with the black socks much.

Some are supposedly in Montana.

[O Really]

Miami Beach...Dress-up day.

[billy.pilgrim]

Miami Beach...Dress-up day.

Life is Good. They bought their clothes "back up north" 25 years ago, bought a $49,999.00 condo in Florida and don't have to pay property tax on it. They also don't pay taxes for drugs or food - except for prepared food at the chain restaurant Early Bird Special, which they cover by tipping the waiter a quarter.

[O Really]

And right down the beach...

[Vrede too]

So, I've caught bits and pieces of Haspel's testimony and am uncomfortable with all the focus on "morality" then and now. This captures my sentiments exactly:

Torture as a "moral issue" and a 2004 secret US Command report mistakenly sent to MsSpentyouth

Warning dear readers that I’ve been sick and I’m plumb wore out, so this diary will be briefer and more lightly sourced than it should be; I just want to put a placemark in my 16-year research into our nation’s post-9/11 treatment of detainees, and specifically the policy/practice of U.S. kidnapping and detention of noncombatant children in intelligence and war efforts. There will be more articles coming.

Suspected 9/11 plan architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (known as KSM) had sons who were 7 and 9 years old when their father fled during a 2002 CIA raid on his Pakistan hideout. Mohammed escaped that time, only to be captured a few months later. However, the CIA captured his two sons and we’ve never learned what happened to them, except for a few brief glimpses over the years as reports indicated that KSM’s sons were “used as leverage” in the interrogations of their father and as other detainees in US custody reported seeing them or hearing of them....

Well, blahblahblah and argle-bargle, we know how that went, right? No where. The ICC declined to establish jurisdiction to pursue a war-crimes case against a nation with an operating jurisprudence system and laws that governed the legality of such practices. As long as the US had laws against torture, kidnapping, and illegal/inhumane detention and a legal system that could adjudicate such cases, the ICC believed it could not and would not step in.

I'm really exhausted, so I'll skip ahead to today, when Gina Haspel took part in a hearing to confirm her as head of the U.S. CIA. Most senators asked in the confirmation hearing questions about the "morality" of her part in torturing detainees, or about her participation in destroying evidence of that torture. One of my favorite stoopid questions: "What would she do if the president asked her to do something immoral?"

Torture is not a moral issue. And it's not hypothetical. Who the eff cares what Ms. Haspel "would do" when we aren't even asking what she and others DID do? What, are we convening a hearing to bring these issues to the Dalai Lama, the Pope, hundreds of philosophy experts, and that odious leader of the Southern Baptist Convention? Hell, no. Putting a known torturer and whitewasher-of-torture in charge of the CIA has nothing to do with morality.

Torture is illegal. Destroying evidence of torture is illegal.

Further, the kidnapping and inscrutable detention-without-end of noncombatant children is illegal. But will Gina Haspel even admit it’s not only something the US has done but also is doing and also has developed policies regarding? Policies that deny access to these chidren by the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Amnesty International, and other organizations that care about human beings who are put into cages, jails, prisons? ...

"Torture is illegal. Destroying evidence of torture is illegal." This was true under both US and international law, period. Don't waste my time with discussion of subjective "morality", and don't reward unpunished criminals with official posts.

[billy.pilgrim]

Some idiotic military asshole on fox said torture worked great on Songbird McCain.

How quickly they turn
And how often they lie

[Vrede too]

Some idiotic military asshole on fox said torture worked great on Songbird McCain.

How quickly they turn
And how often they lie

Fox Business Guest Defends Torture: It Worked On John McCain

... McInerney has come under fire in the past for promoting conspiracy theories, including the racist myth that former President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States and that terrorists hijacked missing Malaysia flight 370 in 2014.

Distinguished career, then the dementia set in.

Wiki: Thomas McInerney

... Tom McInerney is noted for insisting on Fox News that terrorists had flown the disappeared Malaysia Airlines 370 to Pakistan ...

In 2010, McInerney provided his support against the court martial of Terrence Lakin who refused to deploy to Afghanistan due to his suspicion of President Barack Obama's birthplace. President Obama had released his short-form birth certificate during his 2008 campaign and released the long-form version in April 2011.

On September 6, 2016, along with 87 other retired US generals and admirals, he endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In an August, 2017 interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the following exchange occurred:

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Well, when I say no good option -- if we have to strike, we're going to incinerate that place. The nuclear fallout, correct me if I'm wrong -- the fallout potential is dramatic. I mean, potentially -- am I right, or overstating the fact that millions could potentially die here?

MCINERNEY: Yeah, but they'll be mostly North Koreans.

[O Really]

I doubt Haspel is any worse or better than anybody else who would be put up for the job, but I find one aspect of her ummmm "testimony" to be very scary. We know she ran a torture shop. We know that now she says she wouldn't because (pick one) it doesn't work or isn't right. Therefore, there is no other conclusion other than she is perfectly willing to "just follow orders" even against her personal beliefs and professional opinion. Well, only conclusion other than that she is currently lying her scummy ass off, which is also possible. Either way, she'd have tossed the Jews into the shower without hesitation.

[Vrede too]

I don't even get to the point of trying to guess what she might do. To me, what she did do is an automatic disqualification.

Manchin (DINO - WV) is a Yea, McCain is a No. I suspect that she'll be confirmed.

[GoCubsGo]

I don't even get to the point of trying to guess what she might do. To me, what she did do is an automatic disqualification.

Manchin (DINO - WV) is a Yea, McCain is a No. I suspect that she'll be confirmed.

I think Rand Paul is still a no . Does Pence vote on a confirmation in case of a tie like in legislation?

[Vrede too]

I think Rand Paul is still a no . Does Pence vote on a confirmation in case of a tie like in legislation?

I'd guess that he does, but idk. I'll also guess that Manchin isn't the only DINO Yea, but I don't have any specific one/s in mind. It's just because some Dems can be so awful on "national security" stuff.

[Vrede too]

And the Democrats want to abolish cursive writing and analog clocks in schools.....

It's a widespread and dishonest myth that Common Core is a Dem thing. It originated with the GOP-dominated National Governors Association.

Re: Does Anyone Still Use Cursive?

I use it all the time, especially when some jackass cuts me off in traffic.

[billy.pilgrim]

I think Rand Paul is still a no . Does Pence vote on a confirmation in case of a tie like in legislation?

I'd guess that he does, but idk. I'll also guess that Manchin isn't the only DINO Yea, but I don't have any specific one/s in mind. It's just because some Dems can be so awful on "national security" stuff.

Paul will vote yes if needed, otherwise he will be the futile but courageous no vote.

[Vrede too]

Paul will vote yes if needed, otherwise he will be the futile but courageous no vote.

CNN thinks Paul is a solid No.

Here's how senators say they'll vote on CIA director nominee Haspel

McCain is not expected to vote and there are lots of supposedly undecided Repugs and Dems, including in NC, SC and FL.

A Brief History of American Torture

Spoiler:

It ain't just Cheney/Shrub.

Police Brutalize 78-Year-Old CIA Whistleblower Protesting at Torturer Gina Haspel’s Senate Hearing
May 9, 2018

Ray McGovern, who worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, disrupted the Senate confirmation hearing for CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, protesting her overseeing of torture. Police threw the 78-year-old whistleblower to the ground, dislocating his arm.



... Alli McCracken, a campaigner for Amnesty International, captured video of the police violently pulling the elderly CIA whistleblower out of the hearing. The human rights campaigner told the police, “Shame on you for hurting him. That was unnecessarily excessive.”

McGovern told the cops, “I wish you wouldn’t beat up an old man.”

That makes me want to post in cursive, :cussing: .