Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Trump is Already Breaking Promises -- Keeping the US Govt Functioning for Special Intererests, the Rich and Privileged


Here

Warren to President-Elect Trump: You Are Already Breaking Promises by Appointing Slew of Special Interests, Wall Street Elites, and Insiders to Transition Team

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Michelle Obama: 'We are gonna be there for the next president' - POLITICO

Michelle Obama: 'We are gonna be there for the next president' - POLITICO

This was a great interview. What a classy lady. We will miss the Obama's terribly.

Taking the high road, being inclusive, working for a clean environment and combating climate change, working for families, being a role model for women and people of color. Really a such a great, great person.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

#AskTheElectors – A tool to email Electoral College members

#AskTheElectors – A tool to email Electoral College members

They vote tomorrow... you can email and tell them your thoughts, even suggest the best candidate to vote for. Maybe one who won the popular vote by a huge margin.

Trump is somewhere between ill-equipped and inappropriate for President and a complete madman. The popular vote was HUGELY in favor of Clinton.
If I were an elector I think I'd have to search my conscience and vote for the candidate who I thought was the best choice for the country.

The extinction crisis is far worse than you think - CNN.com

The extinction crisis is far worse than you think - CNN.com

"First Cause: Climate Change" My heart breaks open every time I read this, & see what the oil-soaked GOP continues to foist (crookedly & knowingly) on citizens & the environment


Saturday, December 17, 2016

Pipeline rupture spews oil into creek 150 miles from Standing Rock | US news | The Guardian

Pipeline rupture spews oil into creek 150 miles from Standing Rock | US news | The Guardian

SOOOOOO... "...176,000 gallons of crude oil [spilled] into a North Dakota creek, according to the pipeline’s operator, about 150 miles from the site of Standing Rock..."

SOOOOOO, you have to call bullshit to all the apologists and oil-investors who think building the fucking pipeline has no potential repercussions for the people of Standing Rock. Let alone the damage it will continue to do after it's sub-par dirty product is burned and spewed into the air, affecting health and damaging the climate worldwide.

#strandedasset

700+ Acres of Ohio's Only National Forest Leased for Fracking

700+ Acres of Ohio's Only National Forest Leased for Fracking

WHAT THE FUCK. This is a national forest, to be preserved for its natural beauty. Not destroyed and strip mined for the short term folly of fossil fuel. WHAT THE FUCK

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Pledge of Resistance to Donald Trump's Assault on America's Environment, Democracy and Civil Rights

Pledge of Resistance to Donald Trump's Assault on America's Environment, Democracy and Civil Rights

My God.

"It's no accident that he's picked ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state; former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (who has taken $11 million in oil-money donations and sits on the board of the company pushing the Dakota Access Pipeline) to lead the Department of Energy; and Scott Pruitt -- a climate-denier and relentless oil-industry advocate -- to run the Environmental Protection Agency."

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Dem. lawmakers: GSA says Trump must give up D.C. hotel stake - POLITICO

Dem. lawmakers: GSA says Trump must give up D.C. hotel stake - POLITICO

Uh, that's pretty clear. See below. At face value too, let's be honest, Trump should get out of the ownership stake in that hotel.

"The new Trump International Hotel sits on federal property and is operated under a 60-year lease issued by GSA, but a provision in the deal prevents any "elected official" from being "admitted to any share or part of this Lease or to any benefit that may arise therefrom."

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Senators Balk at Tillerson Over Putin Before He’s Nominated - Bloomberg

Senators Balk at Tillerson Over Putin Before He’s Nominated - Bloomberg

Uh, yeah.

"Rubio raises doubts on ‘friend of Vladimir’ for State post
Bipartisan group of senators promise Russia hacking probe"

Tillerson choice raises questions of corporate vs. national interest | Reuters

Tillerson choice raises questions of corporate vs. national interest | Reuters

Uh, yeah?

Like a corporate greed monger is the best statesmen the United States has to offer to interface with the rest of the world?

No.

CIA Says Russia Backed Trump, So Democrats Better Fight Like World War III - The Daily Beast

CIA Says Russia Backed Trump, So Democrats Better Fight Like World War III - The Daily Beast

Holy shit.

Keith Olbermann on Twitter: "Tillerson, @realDonaldTrump, is one of Putin's whores. Just like you, you disloyal son of a bitch #Flee https://t.co/Y1b8Cvp2Gl"

Keith Olbermann on Twitter: "Tillerson, @realDonaldTrump, is one of Putin's whores. Just like you, you disloyal son of a bitch #Flee https://t.co/Y1b8Cvp2Gl"

So treason is a word that I don't think people take lightly. Wow.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Trump's pick of Pruitt to run the EPA spells disaster for the environment - LA Times

Trump's pick of Pruitt to run the EPA spells disaster for the environment - LA Times

This is a heinous affront on our collective future. This pick cannot be taken seriously, and needs to be rejected by Democratic and Republican Senators.

Trump must seriously be whacked out on something if he thinks this is kosher, somehow acceptable or can slide by. No, it is not, it is not, and it will not.

@SenSchumer @SenFeinstein @SenJohnMcCain @KamalaHarris Pruitt=prelim EPA choice in abyss. WORST appointment try yet. Antithesis of post -- BLOCK

Tom Udall ‏@SenatorTomUdall 6h6 hours ago

#Trump nominee Scott Pruitt has spent yrs fighting for polluters in court. Not the leader we need at @EPA to ensure #cleanair & #cleanwater




Google Says It Will Run Entirely on Renewable Energy in 2017 - The New York Times

Google Says It Will Run Entirely on Renewable Energy in 2017 - The New York Times

Love it. Progress, smart future.
As Tom Steyer said, "Google it: The world's most successful businesses understand that clean energy is the future."

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Monday, December 5, 2016

Yes!!! No Dakota Access Pipeline!!


Fantastic news! Too long in coming.  

Beautiful pictures of the day from the Huffington Post here

Bernie Sanders @SenSanders Dec 4
Bernie Sanders Retweeted Ali Velshi
I appreciate @POTUS listening to the Native American people and millions of others who believe this pipeline should not be built. 

Description: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/776634921741725696/tFblLXa7_bigger.jpgMichael Brune Verified account @bruneski
BREAKING: US Army Corp will not grant final #DAPL easement! Thx & congrats to the Standing Rock Sioux & millions of others who stood w them!

Keith Olbermann: The Resistance Against Trump Twitter Feed Here

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Two Petitions, One to Obama: STOP the Dakota Access Pipeline and Violence

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-dakota-access-pipeline
https://www.change.org/p/president-barack-obama-shut-down-the-dakota-access-pipeline 

The Army Corps of Engineers cited "reduced proximity to residential areas" in the Bismarck routing change and more tellingly calling it a "“high consequence area.” ("In its environmental assessment, the Corps rejected the Bismarck route to protect wells that serve the municipal water supply, according to according to The Bismarck Tribune.") We could play ethics here and say, sure, a more highly populated (albeit white) area is at more jeopardy than a less densely populated area (by the Indian reservations). So while perhaps Snopes is right by saying 'white outcry' did not primarily cause a re-route of the proposed route per se (although I'm sure there was some, either public and/or private outcry that I will not take the time today to find)... even those on the record statements can be seen to assert very plainly and essentially "WE WILL NOT ROUTE IT NEAR OUR POPULATED [WHITE PEOPLE] CITIES but WE WILL TRY TO ROUTE IT OVER TRADITIONAL SACRED INDIAN LANDS AND JUST UPSTREAM FROM THE INDIAN WATER SUPPLY." You can spin that as you'd like. Just imagine being on the Indian Reservation and seeing that unfold.

Welcome to the post-truth presidency - The Washington Post

Welcome to the post-truth presidency - The Washington Post

Mother f*er. This hits a nail - Trump's ascendancy - on the head.

Quotes per the amazing Washington Post article

"Oxford Dictionaries last month selected post-truth — “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” — as the international word of the year, and for good reason."

"The practice of post-truth — untrue assertion piled on untrue assertion — helped get Donald Trump to the White House. The more untruths he told, the more supporters rewarded him for, as they saw it, telling it like it is.

As Politico’s Susan Glasser wrote in a sobering assessment of election coverage for the Brookings Institution, “Even fact-checking perhaps the most untruthful candidate of our lifetime didn’t work; the more news outlets did it, the less the facts resonated.”

"But today we have the conjunction of a president unconstrained by facts with a media environment both siloed into partisan echo chambers and polluted by fake news. This development poses an urgent challenge — for journalism and for democracy."

"... even as... [Obama]... seeks to prove his wisdom an outmoded relic of a pre-post-truth era."

"The journalist’s challenge is not to tire in refuting the torrent of lies."

"The citizen’s challenge is to remain vigilant against the enticing lure of post-truth politics."

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here