"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, September 19, 2019
I’ve never been much of a ‘mater sammich kind of guy.
But I had to do something with the 2 HUGE ones which I purchased a few days ago.
So, I made one.
…which I’m eating w/a fork and knife.
Seriously.
I’ve always hated having dirty hands, and eating w my hands.
In fact, I have long known how to eat fried chicken w/a fork.
But that’s beside the point.
What’s on it?
Between two sourdough heels, there’s fresh basil (sweet & chocolate), tomatoes, Vidalia onions, garlic powder, coarse kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, Duke’s mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, with sambal oelek, and a sweet pepper.Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, September 18, 2019
USA Today, ever the paragon of journalistic integrity (hardly), has reported on a young man and woman who were arrested around 11:30PM ET in Nassau County, FL for DUI.
The problem began while they were riding their bicycles.
According to Jordan Culver, writer of the article, an unnamed “Nassau County Sheriff’s Office deputy saw Megan Mondanaro, 35, and Aaron Seth Thomas, 31, riding bikes without lights on around 11:30 p.m. Friday in Fernandina Beach.”
According to the article published September 17, 2019, 6:49PM ET, “Both riders cut into the middle of the road and were nearly hit by a car, which led the deputy to conduct a traffic stop, according to the [Deputy’s] report.”
In the report, the Deputy wrote that the pair was stopped, he “detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from both of them.”
The news story stated that the Deputy “also noted Mondanaro and Thomas both had bloodshot and watery eyes and were slurring their words.”
The story then states that the two were “arrested on DUI charges and placed in the back of the deputy’s patrol car.”
The arresting Deputy then searched Mr. Thomas’ backpack and found 7 full cans, and 1 empty can, of the alcoholic malt beverage “Four Loko.”
The arresting officer’s report then stated in part that, “While I was outside my patrol vehicle, Megan and Aaron took their clothes off and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 17, 2019
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren
Who’ll get the nod?
My money is on Warren.
Why?
She identifies a problem, lays out a case, and states a solution. She’s a mom, teacher, an attorney, a law professor, and now, a politician – a small-town Oklahoma girl who made good, despite the odds against her.
She gets it.
Despite the Current White House Occupant’s attempt to slap a derisive nickname on Senator Elizabeth Warren (ironically defaming Native Americans in the process), Senator Warren has done exceedingly well. For those unaware of American history, Pocahontas was a Algonkian indigenous American, and daughter of Chief Powhatan, a princess who fostered peace among the Jamestown, Virginia English colonists/settlers.
She may be most renown for saving Captain John Smith’s life after he was captured by her father’s men.
Later, she converted to Christianity, was baptized as Rebecca, and accepted a marriage proposal by prominent settler and tobacco farmer John Rolfe, and was wed April 5, 1614.
“The Baptism of Pocahantas,” by John Gadsby Chapman, Artist; Oil on canvas 12′ x 18′, 1839; placed 1840 Rotunda U.S. Capitol
So the history is a dignified, and marvelous story, despite the Idiot-Ignoramus in Chief’s attempt to use a good name to defame her. It only shows what kind of miserably pitiful character he is.
But, more to the point.
The Marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe
If you’ve ever read a prospectus for any financial or investment vehicle – either stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. – you’ve probably read the following disclaimer:
“Past performance is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, September 13, 2019
Warren Acts Like Frontrunner Though Polling 2nd or 3rd
At last night’s Democratic candidate debate at HBCU Texas Southern University in Houston – the 3rd in a field winnowed nearly in half – Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren continued to demonstrate how and why she will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for President.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is also clearly indicating that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren will likely become the Democratic Party’s Presidential Nominee.
“If Republicans abandon the Second Amendment and demoralize millions of Americans who care deeply about Second Amendment rights, that could go a long way to electing a President Elizabeth Warren.”
– Ted Cruz, at a Christian Science Monitor-sponsored breakfast
“We’re going to see record-shattering Democratic turnout. The only element missing to ensure Democratic victory is demoralizing conservatives so they stay home. I hope we don’t do that.”
– Ted Cruz, in response to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Despite his increasingly bizarre and contemptuous behavior, and bull-in-the-china-shop approach to almost everything, I could support perhaps a few of the President’s efforts and positions, and, I could even overlook some of his behaviors as merely eccentric, quirky, or even slightly off-kilter –– much like his well-known penchant for ketchup on steak.
That’s beside his unilaterally-imposed Trade War with China, Mexico, and Canada which continues damaging American families, farmers and industry, and diversion of monies meant for the Military, Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 3, 2019
There’s absolutely and utterly no reason for the senseless gun violence and deaths in our nation which have resulted from laxative gun laws.
Period.
Congress has the authority to act, and efforts to protect our people from such predators is hampered by the GOP, especially and particularly in the Senate.
Full stop.
Offers of “thoughts and prayers” will no longer cut it. Besides, “We the people” do NOT elect national prayer leaders, or religious folks for their alleged ability to call down from the heavens acts by the gods and/or goddesses they purport to represent and/or serve… instead of the people who elected them, who are their constituency.
There’s always truth in humor, and often, satirical illustrations serve to explain the problems sometimes much better than actual explanations of the problems at hand. Comedians such as Dave Chappelle – winner of the 2019 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded annually by the Kennedy Center for the Arts, will be given to him October 27, 2019 – has become renown for his absurdist skits and comedy routines which have included one colloquially known as “The Black White Racist” in which a reporter for Frontline (an actual investigative journalism documentary news show on PBS – see here: https://www.pbs.org/show/frontline/) finds and interviews a blind racist who “has been the leading voice of the White Supremacist movement in America” sequestered in the remote hills of an unnamed rural Southern state.
The skit, recorded when Chappelle was then performing for The Comedy Channel, remains one of his most well-known skits, and may be viewed online here ( ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW):
So, along that line… what if Wal-Mart banned dildos?
Realistically, that idea is not too far-fetched.
Here’s why.
In Alabama, that state’s legislators some years ago – in 1998 – forbade “any person to knowingly distribute, possess with intent to distribute, or offer or agree to distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value.” (Code of Alabama 13A-12-200.2)
In 2007, the law was openly mocked by several individuals in the state who challenged its legality on state constitutional grounds, and illustrated its absurdity and invasion of privacy. On September 11, 2009, the state’s Supreme Court ruled against a legal challenge from the owner of a chain of sex toy stores in the state, and the law became settled. And because almost every law has a legal loophole (exception), the Code of Alabama in Section 13A-12-200.4 Affirmative Defenses states that “It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge of violating Sections 13A-12-200.2 and 13A-12-200.3 that the act charged was done for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose.”
But regardless of the law, those items continue to be sold in the state because they’re marketed as novelty or educational items, while garments are sold as costumes. Because the state has refused to enforce the law, the state’s stance amounts to nothing more than hypocrisy. Politicians who run on the GOD ticket have to make themselves look good to their pastoral flock, you know.
Which again, brings us full-circle to absurdity.
What if Wal-Mart banned dildos?
The GOPers in the Congress have taken a passive aggressive stance by refusing to act, which effectively allows deaths from gun violence to proliferate. The mostly-GOP crowd says they’re not going to do anything but offer “thoughts and prayers,” while GOP Senate Majority Leader “Moscow Mitch” McConnell from Kentucky has said he won’t even consider legislation when he made the following remark on a far right-wing extremist talk radio show hosted by Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Hurricane Dorian will be the “perfect storm” to end President Donald Trump’s autocratic regime.
His administration has mishandled the events in Puerto Rico with Hurricane Maria. Those American citizens STILL haven’t recovered, and his anemic administration has kept the FEMA from doing their job.
Maybe it’s because they’re one of his so-called “shithole countries.”
Imagine that. Puerto Ricans are American. But again, his racism is also equally well known.
But he did toss them some paper towels. That’s been a BIGLY HUGE help. Maybe this time, he’ll airdrop a planeload of them from Air Force One to affected areas.
He has wasted the summer break by not campaigning, and all polls show his approval ratings are well under water. With the storm surge predicted from Hurricane Dorian, it’ll be the end of the USS Trumpanzee in Chief.
There’s great irony in the fact that hurricanes come from Africa. And Hurricane Dorian is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, September 1, 2019
What the hell!?! Damn!
I was ready to go to bed after wrapping up a blog entry on Joe Biden’s support of the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) which was responsible for the “measure that allowed dealers to sell rifles, shotguns and ammunition through the mail, and, eventually, the internet. It limited federal inspections of firearms dealers while allowing them to sell guns at gun shows, which helped them grow in size and popularity. And it made it easier for private collectors to sell guns without obtaining a federal dealers’ license, which would play a role in what later became known as the “Gun Show Loophole.””
First thought that came to my mind was the lead sentence in this entry.
The next thought was, “Ban all guns. The motherfuckers obviously can’t handle them, and don’t need them.”
Then, I thought, “Well… maybe we need to make it more difficult for just anyone and everyone to obtain firearms. Something that’d be ‘Constitutionally-approved.'”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, August 31, 2019
In keeping with the “Who will be the Democrats’ 2020 Presidential nominee?” theme, I present the following for your perusal.
According to the trend lines, barring any unforeseen events, Elizabeth Warren will overtake Joe Biden in average public support polling within the next couple months. And by July 13-16 – dates of the Democratic National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI – she will be within “striking distance” of becoming the presumptive nominee by being only 5 points below Biden in average polling popularity.
That is, of course, if “Sleepy” “Uncle Joe” Biden’s continued demonstration of foot-in-mouth disease, and discovery of his other troubling and long-time political faux pas and other problematic voting track records – such as being the father of the “Gun Show Loophole” by being instrumental in, and voting for the 1986 Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) which the National Rifle Association (NRA) called “the law that saved gun rights” because it rolled back numerous regulations.
The Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) created the so-called “Gun Show Loophole,” rapidly accelerated popularity of gun shows, allowed firearm sales via the U.S. Mail, and the Internet, allowed “straw purchases” of firearms, over-ruled at least 33% of the hundreds of lower court rulings interpreting the Gun Control Act, and undid at least 6 Supreme Court rulings.
Joe Biden, as Ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committe was not merely a proponent of, and voted for the FOPA, he significantly helped advance it by unanimously voting it out of committee. So realistically and ultimately, he bears significant responsibility for the increase in mass shootings and gun violence in America.
“I give credit to Senator HATCH and the National Rifle Association for their willingness to compromise and develop a revised bill that would strike a fair balance between unnecessary restrictions and regulations on lawful owner-ship of rifles and handguns and the legitimate interests of law enforcement in carrying out their responsibilities. I believe the compromises that are now a part of this bill have resulted in a balanced piece of legislation that protects the rights of private gun owners while not infringing on law enforcement’s ability to deal with those who misuse guns or violate laws. During my 12% years as a Member of this body, I have never believed that additional gun control or Federal registration of guns would reduce crime. I am convinced that a criminal who wants a firearm can get one through illegal, nontraceable, unregistered sources, with or without gun control. In my opinion a national register or ban of handguns would be impossible to carry out and may not result in reductions in crime. … However, on the whole, I am satisfied with the revisions to the bill made in committee, and I believe this bill makes improvements to existing law. ”
– Delaware Senator Joe Biden, July 9, 1985 in Congressional Record – Senate, p18229
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Will History Repeat Itself?
Why Trump Worries About GOP Contenders
For the past four decades plus, regardless of party, every incumbent president who faced a serious primary opponent was weakened enough to ultimately lose re-election.
In 1968, Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy (NOT to be confused with U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin)) nearly upset then-POTUS Lyndon Baines Johnson in the New Hampshire primary by winning 40% of the votes to Johnson’s 49%.
Weeks later, Johnson stunned the nation and announced he would not seek another term.
In 1976, President Gerald Ford survived Reagan’s challenge from the right wing of the GOP, but lost to former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 25, 2019
America is a wealthy nation.
There’s no question about it.
Even with the scourges of poverty, and homelessness affecting it, the United States is, per capita, among the wealthiest nations in the world.
The United States Census Bureau reports that “The official poverty rate in 2017 was 12.3 percent, down 0.4 percentage points from 12.7 percent in 2016. This is the third consecutive annual decline in poverty. Since 2014, the poverty rate has fallen 2.5 percentage points, from 14.8 percent to 12.3 percent.”
The 2018 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) by the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that “On a single night in 2018, roughly 553,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. About two-thirds (65%) were staying in sheltered locations—emergency shelters or transitional housing programs—and about one-third (35%) were in unsheltered locations such as on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation. Homelessness increased (though modestly) for the second year in a row. The number of homeless people on a single night increased by 0.3 percent between 2017 and 2018.”
According to various census measures internationally, there are very nearly 7.6 BILLION people in the world today. The United States ranks third globally in population with very nearly 330 Million. Only China and India respectively, are more populous, each with over 1.3 BILLION residents.
Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, and Mexico, in order, round out the Top 10 most populous nations.
Extrapolating from the population, that’s nearly 1 out of every 597 people who are homeless in the United States. Expressed as a percentage, that’s 0.16757575% – a little over 1/10th of 1%… well UNDER 1%.
The International Monetary Fund in 2018 ranked the United States as the 10th wealthiest nation globally. The World Bank in 2017 ranked the United States as 11th wealthiest, and the Central Intelligence Agency from 1993-2017 ranked the United States as the 13th wealthiest nation as measured by Gross Domestic Product per capita.
When measured by adult median wealth, the United States ranks 21st, according to a 2018 Credit Suisse report.
That’s among a ranking of 170-190 nations for all four measures.
And when a ranking of total wealth is considered, the United States ranks first globally – again, according to the Global Wealth Report 2018 by Credit Suisse.
Using the Gini Index – a measure of the overall equality of life – the United States ranks Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, August 17, 2019
You’re fixing to lose the bananas in your breakfast cereal.
And banana pudding will become only a sweet memory.
Grocery stores may no longer be selling bananas.
Why?
The global crop is dying, and will soon be dead.
Global as in worldwide.
Dead as in extinct.
Extinct as the Dodo bird.
Which, by the way, is thought to have become extinct c.1690 – a very long time ago. So naturally, there are no photographs of the Dodo bird, since the development of photography (yes, it’s a bad pun) was begun c.1826 with the image entitled “View from the Window at Le Gras,” which was made by Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France.
A harmful soil fungus, for which there is no known remedy, has begun to affect banana crops worldwide. Found in Taiwan in the 1990’s, the fungus, which resides naturally in the soil, is a variant of Read the rest of this entry »
They state further that, “Commission regulations provide a test, called the “irrespective test,” to differentiate legitimate campaign and officeholder expenses from personal expenses. Under the “irrespective test,” personal use is any use of funds in a campaign account of a candidate (or former candidate) to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or responsibilities as a federal officeholder.”
But indirectly?
That’s a horse of an entirely different color.
In the white-collar criminal underground, that’s called “money laundering,” which is the practice of shifting money through legitimate business enterprises in order to make it appear as if the money was obtained legitimately.
And that is but one reason why the FBI encourages accounting majors in university to consider joining their service – because scouring the financial books of businesses and other entities takes a well-trained eye to discern criminal wrong-doing.
With that remark in part, he announced his candidacy to be the GOP’s nominee for President.
Of note, that was also when he’d made his now-infamous remark that, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably — probably — from the Middle East. But we don’t know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening. And it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop fast.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, August 12, 2019
It’s just fun.
Or money.
It’s the same thing, isn’t it?
Can you hear me now?
–//–
Verizon to Sell Tumblr to WordPress.com Owner
Carrier sheds blogging site for nominal amount as part of media unit revamp
Tumblr is a free service that hosts millions of blogs where users can upload photos, music and art, but it has been overshadowed by rival social-media sites.
By Sarah Krouse
Aug. 12, 2019 4:00 pm ET
Verizon Communications Inc. (stock symbol VZ) has agreed to sell its blogging website Tumblr to the owner of popular online-publishing tool WordPress.com, unloading for a nominal amount a site that once fetched a purchase price of more than $1 billion.
Automattic Inc. will buy Tumblr for an undisclosed sum and take on about 200 staffers, the companies said. Tumblr is a free service that hosts millions of blogs where users can upload photos, music and art, but it has been dwarfed by Facebook, Reddit and other services.
Verizon became Tumblr’s owner through the carrier’s 2017 acquisition of Yahoo (symbol AABA) as part of a bid to build a digital media and advertising business. The wireless carrier began seeking a buyer for Tumblr earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
It discussed a potential transaction with a handful of parties, people familiar with the matter said. The sale price isn’t material to Verizon, one of the people said.
Verizon is in the process of revamping its media group, which struggled to meet revenue targets in recent years. The business, home to legacy Yahoo and AOL web properties such as HuffPost, TechCrunch, feminist media brand Makers and celebrity-interview site Build, is increasingly focused on subscription and original content.
The Tumblr acquisition is the largest ever in terms of price and head count for Automattic, the company’s Chief Executive Matt Mullenweg said in an interview. The San Francisco company has a stable of brands focused on Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 11, 2019
In a recent entry dated August 8, 2019, entitled Reading Democratic Tea Leaves I noted one, or two very fine, somewhat minor points overlooked by most pundits.
One, that like most other Democratic nominee candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden’s support has largely stagnated – even though it has been higher than most other candidates.
Vice President Joe Biden, Official Portrait 2013
And second, only two other candidates have had any SIGNIFICANT INCREASE in their level of support (as defined by polling) since the inception of their candidacy: South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Since the announcement of his candidacy as the Democratic nominee for President, former Vice President Joe Biden’s support has gone from 29.0% to 30.8%. That’s an increase of only 6.21%.
October 26, 2016; South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg
In sharp contrast, “Mayor Pete” has gone from 1.0% and is now (August 10) at 6.5%, and has polled as high as 8.4% from April 20 through May 2. That’s an increase of 550% to date. If fluctuations are considered (low to high), that’s 740%.
Senator Warren, however, has gone from 5.3% and is now at 18.3% – her highest ever polling. That’s an increase, and fluctuation of 245.28%.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, August 10, 2019
NOTE TO READERS: Effectively, because no other parties were named in the indictment against Jeffrey Epstein, the case against him is now just as dead as he is. As well, it’s highly doubtful that any information obtained in the Grand Jury process will be released to the public. However, Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, “Today’s events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in Court. To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing.” Such a statement strongly suggests that the government’s investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking case will continue. There is at least one other potential co-conspirator, and that is Epstein’s long-time confidant-cum-occasional-sexual partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. –Editor
––//––
According to a Press Release by the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons – including numerous independent reports from validated, and verified sources – convicted pedophile, and accused sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein has apparently Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 8, 2019
The Democratic candidates’ field is as great for the upcoming 2020 General Election as the Republicans’ 2016 was – and, that may, or may not be a good sign.
The 2016 GOP clown car was populated by, among others, Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Aside from them, there were 10 others who withdrew before the primaries, so say it was a crowded field, was a gross understatement.
Now, it’s the Democrats’ turn.
The 20-candidate field has not yet been winnowed, per se – at least not by prospective primary voters.
Among them, is one of the last candidates to join that field was former Vice President Joe Biden, who had the advantage of name recognition among all voters, and potential voters.
Because of his name recognition advantage, Biden’s “popularity” within the massive field has led the next closest competitors – which are Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren – sometimes by double digits.
A notable game-changing exception was made following the first Democratic debate at The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, with NBC Moderators Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow and José Diaz-Balart on Night 2 (June 27) when California Senator Kamala Harris took former Vice President Joe Biden to task for his opposition as then-Senator from Delaware to busing to remedy and resolve the problem of segregation in California pubic schools.
Up until that time, Harris was polling 7.0%, while Biden was at 32.0%. After that night, support for Harris doubled to 15.2%, while Biden experienced a corresponding 6-point drop to 26.0%.
Since that high, Harris has continued to fall, and as of August 7 was polling at 8.3%.
Up until then, Sanders, the next-closest competitor, had fluctuated from 16.5% to 24.0% (his highest), to 14.0% (his lowest), and as of August 7, was polling at 15.8%.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 8, 2019
I don’t always think about politics.
Sometimes, I think about music.
Or, more accurately, I sing, or hum a few lines of a song which melody happens to pop in my head.
This morning, it was Donald Fagen’s – of Steely Dan renown – tune known as “What A Beautiful World,” which is properly titled as “I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World).”
Released as a single on his first solo album “The Nightfly” which was certified Gold, and then Platinum by the RIAA based upon sales volume in 1982, and 2001 respectively, the single never reached above 8th position on Billboard’s U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, while on Canada’s RPM Contemporary Adult chart, it topped out at number 2, both in the 1982-83 time frame.
The tune and melody of the song is its most powerful attribute, while the rhythm and bouncing dotted-eighth syncopation is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Within a period of 7 days, 35 people were killed, and 64 were injured in 3 mass shootings in our nation.
July 28, 2019 – 5:48 PM PDT Garlic Festival – Gilroy, CA – 3 Killed, 13 Injured
August 3, 2019 – 10:39 AM CDT Wal-Mart – El Paso, TX – 22 Killed, 24 Injured
August 4, 2019 – 1:05 AM EDT – Historic Oregon District, Downtown Dayton, OH – 10 Killed, 27 Injured
Authorities have identified the assailants and weapons used. In each case, the weapons used were military-grade assault style rifles designed for military use, modeled after the Russian AK-47, and the American AR-15. The exclusive purpose of such firearms as weapons of mass destruction is to kill human beings with great ease, and efficiency – to inflict as much carnage and damage upon as many people as possible, in a short period of time. They are ONLY weapons of war, and nothing else. They were NOT designed for any other purpose than to kill human beings with great ease, and efficiency.
The assailants were:
• Connor Stephen Betts, 24, of Bellbrook, OH (Dayton) – deceased;
• Santino William Legan, 19, of Gilroy, CA and Walker Lake, NV (Gilroy) – deceased, and;
• Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, of Allen, TX (El Paso) – captured.
In none of those cases neither “a good guy with a gun,” nor a border wall was effective to either deter, prevent, or stop the deaths and injuries of 127 people.
But those three tragedies were not the only ones.
Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike Dewine addresses Ohioans about the Dayton mass shooting.
Just today – August 5, 2019 – in Brooklyn, the most populous borough in NYC, there was a mass shooting at 216 Buffalo Avenue where 4 people were injured, with no deaths in which “Police confirm a man was shot in the chest, and two women have also been found with gunshots wounds.”
-and-
A shooting with 4 injuries occurred at 5691 Suitland Road, in Suitland, MD.
Yesterday, there were FOUR mass shootings at:
1800 S Kildare Ave in Chicago, one killed, and 7 wounded;
443 E Shelby Dr in Memphis, one killed, 3 wounded;
2900 block of W Roosevelt Rd in Chicago, 7 wounded;
419 E 5th St in Dayton, OH, 10 killed, 26 wounded.
On July 28, the date of the Gilroy, CA Garlic Festival shooting, there were a total of SIX mass shootings throughout the nation.
According to data from the Gun Violence Archive website, this year to date, there have been 255 mass shootings, resulting in 275 deaths, and 1069 injuries.
No one is happy about this.
No one.
Kentucky Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proudly displaying the Made-in-China Nike brand athletic shoes which he blames for his fall which ironically, injured his LEFT shoulder. As a child born in Alabama, McConnell also had polio.
The paralytic gridlocked Congress is in summer recess, as GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, August 2, 2019
2nd Democratic Debate, Night 2 – Detroit, MI
Analysis
As was earlier mentioned on The Week website, CNN wasted viewers’ time by taking very nearly 30 minutes before the first question was asked, which was in stark contrast to NBC News’ first question within 60 seconds. And then, after an elaborate opening, they went directly to a commercial break, which was followed by candidates’ opening remarks.
CNN pitted the candidates against each other by baiting. The lead question was directed at Senator Harris which attacked Biden and her M4A (Medicare for All) plan.
The candidates’ positions, for the greatest part, were quite similar, and CNN’s efforts were to attack the presumptive leader, which in that night was Biden.
There were 117 so-called “questions” (opportunities for verbal exchange) lobbed by CNN at the 10 candidates, the first 10 of those 117 are:
1.) Senator Harris, this week you released a new health care plan which would preserve private insurance and take 10 years to phase in. Vice President Biden’s campaign calls your plan, quote, “a have-it-every-which-way approach” and says it’s just part of a confusing pattern of equivocating about your health care stance. What do you say to that?
2.) Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator Harris. Vice President Biden, your response.
3.) Your response, Senator Harris?
4.) Senator Harris, thank you. Vice President Biden, your response?
5.) Thank you, Senator Harris. Mayor de Blasio, let’s bring you in here. What’s your response?
6.) Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Vice President Biden, you just heard Mayor de Blasio. He said in the past that Democrats who wanted to keep the private insurance industry are defending a health care system that is not working. What’s your response?
7.) Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Senator Gillibrand, you support Medicare for All. How do you feel about Senator Harris continuing to call her health proposal Medicare for All, when it includes a far more significant role for private insurance than the bill you co-sponsored?
8.) Thank you, Senator Gillibrand. Senator Harris, your response?
9.) Thank you, Senator Harris. Vice President Biden, your response?
10.) Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you. Senator Booker, let me bring you in here. You say you support Medicare for All. You also say you are not going to pull private health insurance from more than 150 million Americans in exchange for a government plan, but that’s what Medicare for All would do. How do you square that?
Within those opening questions/exchanges, former Vice President Biden was mentioned by CNN 12 times, either by surname, by title, or combination of the two. The runner-up was Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, July 31, 2019
America has become like the proverbial frog in a pot of water, which has slowly, but steadily, increased in temperature to the point that it is boiled alive without realizing it.
As the story goes, if the frog were dumped into boiling water, it would immediately jump out.
But, since the water’s temperature was initially comfortable, even pleasant, and only slowly increased, the frog gradually became acclimated to it, and therefore was, in effect, desensitized to the inevitable, impending danger, and died slowly.
For the past nearly 50 years or so, and more specifically, within the last 38, America has swooned under the siren song led by the GOP, which in part started off with the not-so-oblique condemnation that, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” (As Brian Gurney, a private citizen from California, noted: “You can’t govern if you don’t believe in government.” But set up a straw man, and beat it to a pulp – demonize the Constitutional effigy.) And to sweeten the deal, and help matters along, a little bit of “They’re individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life,” was thrown in for good measure (“a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” you know).
In order to facilitate that destruction, first was an appetizer of dessert – across-the-board personal income tax rates were cut 23%, which made the majority of working-class Americans and families very happy.
But then, calling them “job creators,” (veritable sacred cows which should be left alone to wander about in traffic and poop anywhere they desire) another round of personal income tax cuts came around, this time for the elites, and personal income tax rates upon the very wealthiest Americans was dramatically slashed to less than half the former rate – from 70% to 28%.
And then, there came cries and demands for liberty, and freedom from the tyranny of genuine governmental slavery in the form of, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” And truly, who could disagree? But that was quickly transformed into efforts to squelch personal liberty as healthcare decision-making in the most intimate of, and deeply personal matters involving reproduction, by providing opportunity for nosy neighbors (government) to tell others how they ought to run their lives according to the dictates of others’ religious convictions, all under the auspices of government.
Dissatisfied with that aspect of control, they sought to again meddle into the private lives of others – despite the fact that their private liberties were not encroached upon – and the sanction of committed legal relationships in the civil sector were forbidden to select individuals… just like it once was with ethnic minorities. And when in indignation they invited the SCOTUS to step in and rule (hopefully to their advantage, though contrary to their own religious writings), which ruled against their religiously-motivated (no religious test), publicly-sanctioned governmental discrimination (equal protection under law), they loudly cried ‘FOUL!’
And then, when more of their hand-picked, fair-haired children ruled against them, that rights were not absolute (D.C. v Heller), that not just anyone had a right to own, possess, or brandish any firearm, anywhere, at any time, they couldn’t stand it any more, and falsely accused the SCOTUS of partiality and of siding with their opponents whom they continuously maligned, despite the fact that they were ruled against by one of their own most staunch hard-liners.
Feeling emboldened, their most powerful, yet little-known instigator went public and said in part that, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Tonight – Tuesday, 29 July – at the Fox Theater in Detroit, MI, the first night of the second round of debates among the Democratic presidential primary candidates will start at 7PM Central Standard Time, and conclude around 9:30PM CST. The debates will be held two days, 29 and 30 July, beginning the same time both nights.
The debates will air live on CNN, CNN International, and CNN en Español at 8 p.m. Eastern each night.
They’ll also stream live, without requiring log-in to a cable provider, on CNN.com, CNN’s apps for iOS and Android, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, and Android TV.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 30, 2019
UPDATE: Today, around 10AM CST, a fatal shooting occurred at a Wal-Mart store in Southaven,MS – the 3rd largest city in the state, population 49,000, and a rural suburb of Memphis – in which two people died, and one law enforcement officer was wounded.
–//–
Tonight, Tuesday, July 20, 2019, will be the first night of the 2nd Democratic Debate, which will be held in Detroit, MI.
Political Prediction: Joe Biden will go down in flames.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden cops a feel of then-Democratic Presidential nominee, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Scranton, PA airport tarmac on her campaign trail in August 2016.
Why?
Despite the fact of his 10-15 point lead in polls over his next closest competitors, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President creepy “Uncle Joe” Biden remains vulnerable on many political fronts. In his 36-year Senate history, he has voted on thousands of bills, some of which have been very costly to Americans, fiscally, and sociologically.
One such bill was first mentioned by California Senator Kamala Harris, which was Biden’s early opposition to busing as a tool to integrate and desegregate schools. After her announcement of that almost-forgotten historical item at the first Democratic candidates debate in Miami, Biden’s support – as polled – fell at least 15 points.
Senator Joe Biden as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when he helped write the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, which created the “Gun Show Loophole.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 29, 2019
Bye bye, Biden!
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a 36-year career politician as United States Senator from Delaware, has historically been instrumental in establishing many laws which now trouble our nation, which have also proven costly economically, injudicious, racially divisive, and degrading to the moral social fabric of our nation – the family.
Senator Joe Biden (DE) as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when he helped write the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, which created the “Gun Show Loophole.”
Unbeknown (or, more accurately, forgotten) to many, he also helped create the so-called “Gun Show Loophole” – a specially-carved-out niche in Federal firearms legislation (the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act, FOPA) that allowed firearm and ammunition sales via the Internet, and forbade background investigations for firearm purchases at gun shows, which in turn not only popularized the modern gun show, but significantly contributed to mass shootings.
Perhaps he should be called “Gun Show Joe.”
–//–
Cory Booker, United States Senator from New Jersey
Senators Kamala Harris (CA) and Cory Booker (NJ) have signaled the beginning of the end for the Biden campaign by first acknowledging Biden’s historical opposition to busing, and now with Booker’s July 23rd Tweet acknowledging Biden’s support for mass incarceration, which has disproportionately harmed Blacks and Hispanics, both racial/ethnic minority communities, and exacted enormous taxpayer borne tolls – “It’s not enough to tell us what you’re going to do for our communities, show us what you’ve done for the last 40 years. You created this system. We’ll dismantle it.”
Senator Kamala Harris fired the first proverbial shot across the bow of the SS Biden by mentioning that Biden, as Senator from Delaware, opposed school integration by busing.
Now, Senator Booker has proverbially lobbed a grenade – if not fired a mortar round – into the Biden camp.
Biden’s aspirations will be proverbially shot down in this Tuesday and Wednesday night’s debate, July 30, and 31 in Detroit, and the aircraft of his once-flying-high candidacy to be the Democratic party’s 2020 Presidential nominee – and by extension, as President – will go down in flames. One only wonders at what point he’ll parachute from the burning craft, in order to save his own life – which in allegorical and metaphorical context, is his reputation.
Kamala Harris, United States Senator from California
Simply put, Joe’s gotta’ go.
Go home to bake cookies in Scranton, where he belongs — NOT in the White House.
His very own track record will be his political demise.
Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris Ready For Showdown On Race In Debate
“He described Biden as an “architect of mass incarceration,” when speaking with reporters last week at the annual NAACP convention in Detroit.
“Booker was referring to Biden’s role as a champion of the controversial 1994 crime bill, which critics and some experts say led to a disproportionate number of African American men being imprisoned.
“”I’m disappointed that it’s taken Joe Biden years until he was actually running for president to actually say that he made a mistake, that there were things in that bill that were extraordinarily bad. For him not to have a more comprehensive, bold plan to deal with this is unacceptable to me, especially because he is partially responsible for the crisis that we have now.“”
Tennessee River flooding (bottom) contrasted with normal conditions (top) under O’Neal Bridge which joins Colbert (in the south) and Lauderdale (to the north) counties in the Shoals area of NW AL
Some folks talk about a “Green New Deal” as a prospective course of action to remedy (ameliorate) the effects of Climate Change, and to provide economic impetus.
While there may be some merit to some aspects of that now-nebulous idea, there is a much more immediate and concrete need we have in response to Climate Change.
And that is, to build, expand, and repair our Economic Infrastructure in order to reduce – as much as humanly possible – the costly continual damages that are now occurring, and which will continue to occur, because of Climate Change.
When faced with flooding, a proper response is not to try and stop the rain;
it is to build levees, dams, waterways, sluices, ponds, and other hydrological management resources – including pipelines, and other such mechanisms – to prevent the damage that would otherwise occur without implementation of such measures.
Here’s a very real case in point to illustrate that very matter – the North Sea Flood of 1953.
Buid Zeeland, Netherlands 1953 North Sea Flood Image made by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from a U.S. Army helicopter of the 1953 North Sea Flood in the Netherlands.
Described as the worst natural disaster in Europe in modern times, the flooding occurred over a two-day period January 31 – February 1, and affected Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland, with a total of 2551 lives lost, and 1836 in the Netherlands alone.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, July 27, 2019
Mainstream media (MSM) has become more like a “reality” teevee show, than a trusted and reliable source of news. Ernie Pyle, Walter Cronkite, and Tim Russert, along with the spirit of “just the facts,” are dead.
For example, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller testified that, among other things, shortly after being elected, the President lied to the Special Prosecutor, and attempted to exert “undue influence” on Federal law enforcement, in order to protect himself and his allies.
Robert S. Mueller, III (b.1944), FBI Director 2001 – 2013
At any any other time, in any other administration, a decorated Marine officer, Special Prosecutor, and former FBI Director who testified that the President of the United States was a as-yet-unprosecuted Federal felon who encouraged and benefited from an attack upon American democracy in selfish pursuit of political gain would bring the nation to a screeching halt.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, July 25, 2019
Read this and tell me what you think.
—//—
Oversight of the Report on the Investigation into County Interference in the 1996 Mayoral Election: Former Dedicated Prosecutor Richard S. Mabry, Jr.
Councilman Tommy Lawry (Westside):
Thank you Superintendent Mabry for your long history of service to our country, including your service as a Marine, where you earned the Bronze Star with a ‘V’ device. I’d like to now turn to the elements of Obstruction of Justice as applied to the mayor’s attempts to curtail your investigation. The first element of Obstruction of Justice requires and obstructive act. Correct?
Mr. Mabry: Correct.
Lawry: I’d like to direct you to page 97 of Volume 2 of your report, and you wrote there on page 97, quote “Sitter was being instructed to tell the Dedicated Prosecutor to end the existing investigation into the mayor and his campaign,” unquote. That’s in the report – correct?
Mabry: Correct
Lawry: That would be evidence of an obstructive act because it would naturally obstruct an investigation. Correct?
Mabry: Ah… correct.
Lawry: Let’s now turn to the second element of the crime of Obstruction of Justice which requires a nexus to the official proceeding. Again, I’m going to direct you to page 97 – the same page in Volume 2 – and you wrote, quote, “by the time the mayor’s initial one-on-one meeting with LaChance on June 19, 1987, the existence of a grand jury investigation by the Dedicated Prosecutor was public knowledge.” That’s in the report – correct?
Mabry: Correct.
Lawry: That would constitute evidence of a nexus to an official proceeding, because the grand jury investigation is an official proceeding… correct?
Mabry: Yes.
Lawry: I can now turn to the final element of the crime of obstruction of justice. On that same page – page 97 – do you see where there’s an intent section on that page? (unintelligible)
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Yesterday marked the 8th anniversary of the loss of phenomenal 27-year-old Grammy Award-winning British musician-songstress Amy Winehouse.
Her 6 awards included an ironic-now-iconic autobiographical performance of “Rehab” at the 50th annual Grammy Awards February 20, 2008 in Los Angeles, where she won an unprecedented 5 awards for her 2006 album Back to Black – making her the first British female artist to have ever won as many – including Album of The Year for “Back to Black,” Record of the Year and Song of The Year for “Rehab,” Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Rehab, and Best Pop Vocal Album for “Back to Black.”
At the time of the Grammy awards, she was in London performing at the 2008 BRIT Awards via satellite from Earls Court.
Her accomplishments were unprecedented, because she also tied the previous record for the most Grammy awards by a female artist in a single night.
The Grammys honor musical achievement in the year prior, and were for releases between October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007.
On July 23, 2011, she was found unresponsive in her bedroom at her house in the borough of Camden, in northwest London.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Abolish all “social safety net” programs along with all Progressive, New Deal, and Great Society eras’ legislation, agencies, and bureaus, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Clean Air Act of 1970, Clean Water Act of 1972, including reversing Roe v Wade, and repealing the 17th Amendment.
Return America to the “good ol’ days” of a dog-eat-dog, wild-wild-West, unmitigated, unregulated free-for-all.
Face it, many – if not most – GOPers think FDR a pariah, a veritable scion of the dread “socialism,” and LBJ as traitor to the “Lost Cause.”
The GOP is winning – hands down – the rhetoric game. And they’ve allowed it to be ratcheted up to 11 with the 45th president. And if things continue as they have been, he’ll cruise to re-election just as handily as he did before.
Most everyone in the world who has been paying even the least bit of attention, knows full well what he’s capable of saying… er, scratch that. He’s a loose cannon, and as unpredictable as a bull in a china shop, who’ll literally say anything, for any reason, at any time. Just be assured it’ll be an utter wreck by the time he leaves. And he’ll deny he ever did anything.
And the people are completely stupefied and stymied – frozen, like deer in the headlights – by the proliferation of it all. The multiplication of mass media, their advertising-funded talking heads – network, or not – are concerned exclusively with eyes on the set, and website click-bait revenue, and nothing more. It drives ratings, and increases the price they can ask for advertising.
For them, it’s all about the green.
Money.
And that’s the game the GOP plays… in part.
Fear is the other.
Simply let some GOP sycophant say something like “those illegal-alien loving, socialist Democrats are gonna’ take away your jujubees, make harvesting honeycomb illegal -and- raise your taxes!,” and POOF! Just like that, the lemmings are running off… to the voting booth, with a voter guide published by some coalition of religious fanatics who have jumped on the exploitation of victimization bandwagon and falsely claim that the “Big Bad Wolf” of Washington is going to take away their religious freedom, and force their children to be sacrificed to Molech.
But instead, they’ve only laid out their genuine imitation faux sheepskins to be fleeced by the wrong god – the one whose hair they comb every morning. Their shepherds are simply wolves in sheep’s clothing, living in multi-million dollar mansions, flying in their privately owned jets, and living the high life, all financed by the impoverished, and laid upon the broken backs of those whom they claim to heal – all while paying no taxes.
If the Democrats would simply STOP responding to every vacuous, puerile comment made by the pablum-puking infantile Idiot in Chief, and were to take command of any debate on matters of public policy, and explain to the people how they will either be harmed, or positively helped in very concrete ways, they would quickly gain the confidence of many disaffected registered voters who now sit on the sidelines stewing in silent disenfranchisement.
But the sway of stupidity, and the siren song of public opinion, drives the ever-shifting winds of change. And the sands of time fall through the hourglass just as timelessly as it has marched on for the last 50 years and more.
I can understand the immense sense of frustration which was the motivating animus that propelled Trump into the Oval office.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 22, 2019
Here’s a Question for You, the reader:
Do you think it’s possible that within our government, practically unknown to most, that deep within the machinations and operations of the wheels of government – the agencies, the bureaus, the watchdogs – that keep America safe and secure, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare of our nation, with liberty and justice for all… do you think that it is beyond the pale to imagine that there are Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, July 21, 2019
It’s said that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Though Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834–1902), the first Baron Acton) is often attributed with originating that phrase in an 1887 letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, the idea itself was not new to him, and was known to have been expressed in 1770 by in a speech to the UK House of Lords by William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham, who was British Prime Minister 1766–1778.
Our nation’s Founders understood that principle quite well, as evidenced by the systems of oversight, and the establishment of three separate, co-equal branches of government which they established via the Constitution – which was ratified June 21, 1788.
Absolute power, in a market sense, is about money and corrupting influence that almost always accompanies unchecked concentrated power. In this era, we see it commonly as a desire to abolish rules, regulations, and laws designed to protect the people.
That’s but one underlying reason why the GOP wants to abolish “ObamaCare” – so that power (and money) may be concentrated in the hands of the already-powerful.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Ross Perot (1930-2019)
Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire who made his fortune in Information Technology/Computer Data Systems, twice ran for POTUS as an independent candidate, and prophetically warned about the “giant sucking sound” of American jobs moving to Mexico if NAFTA was ratified, has died, aged 89.
Perot was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, which is also why, in part, he chose retired former Vice Admiral James Stockdale – an Annapolis graduate, living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 8, 2019
Alexander Acosta’s resignation letter
UPDATE: Sunday, 14 July 2019 – Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, the former United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who was intimately and directly involved in the Federal government’s non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, whom Acosta granted immunity from prosecution in lieu of his guilty plea to felony charges by the State of Florida of solicitation of prostitution from an underage girl, has announced his resignation 12 July 2019, to be effective one week later, 19 July 2019.
–//–
Yesterday (Saturday, 07 July 2019), after his private Boeing 727 landed in New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport from Paris, multi-millionaire hedge fund manager and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force on at least one charge related to sex trafficking. He will be held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center – a nearby high-security Federal jail which has held notorious criminals like international narcotrafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman – until the Federal indictment against him will be unsealed Monday in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in Manhattan.
The news release of th indictment against him states in part that “JEFFREY EPSTEIN, 66, is charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.”
The beginnings of Epstein’s downfall occurred in 2005 when a 14-year-old girl told Palm Beach police that an older man named “Jeff” had molested her at his residence, which was an unmistakably unique two-story pink mansion on a dead-end street. From that point, police investigations found a pattern of behavior involving nearly 30 young girls, many whom told him they were under age at the time of the offenses.
The Florida State Attorney’s Office in Palm Beach claimed the victims’ testimony wasn’t credible because they were young girls, and only filed one felony count of soliciting underage prostitution against Epstein. In 2006, Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter accused prosecutors of giving special treatment to Epstein and referred the case to the FBI. Thereafter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami drafted a 53-page indictment against Epstein, and an 82-page prosecution memorandum.
Under a controversial plea deal in 2007 with Alex Acosta, then U.S. Attorney in Miami, Epstein plead guilty in 2008 to charges by the State of Florida of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, July 5, 2019
California United States Senator Kamala Harris
There is something FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG in a nation when its largest supermarket chain by revenue – which is also the second-largest general retailer and the eighteenth largest company in the nation – finds it necessary, and plans to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 2, 2019
If you’ve ever heard of the Uncle Remus story of B’rer Rabbit, popularized by Walt Disney’s movie Song of the South, you’ll recognize the line he utters to Br’er Fox saying, “Please Br’er Fox don’t throw me in the briar patch!”
And then, Br’er Fox, thinking he’d do significant harm to him, and even kill him, threw Br’er Rabbit in the briar patch. But Br’er Rabbit pops up unscathed and laughingly mocks Br’er Fox as he exclaims, “I’se born and bred in the briar patch!”
The current White House occupant has said “I’d rather run against, I think, Biden than anybody.”
Of course POS45 wants to campaign against “Sleepy Uncle Joe” Biden!
– former VP Joe Biden, in his first primary “debate” appearance among the 20+ Democratic nominee wanna’ be’s, on the second night of the two-night event in Miami, FL, Thursday, 27 June 2019
Truer words were ne’er spoken.
He’s right.
Your time is up, Joe.
Gotta’ move on.
Joe Biden is a dinosaur, a relic from a different age, but it has nothing to do with his age.
He claims to be a Democrat, but his track record speaks for itself.
When then-Vice President Biden made a ceremonial appearance on the Senate floor Monday, December 5, 2016, in response to the 21st Century Cures Act, which had a major portion of the law renamed after his late son Beau, who earlier died from brain cancer – The Beau Biden Memorial Moonshot – which allocated $1.8 Billion for cancer research, he was asked by a reporter what his plans were after leaving office, and if he had other political ambitions, Mr. Biden flippantly dead-panned saying, “Yeah, I am. I’m going to run in 2020.”
The reporter responded asking, “For what?”
Mr. Biden replied, “For president. What the hell, man! Anyway…”
When he was later asked to clarify his remark, Vice President Biden attempted to retract his remark by saying “I’m not committing not to run. I’m not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago fate has a strange way of intervening.”
The next day later, in an appearance Tuesday, December 6, 2016, on “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert, Mr. Biden said in part, that “I’m a great respecter of fate. I don’t plan on running again. But to say you know what’s going to happen in four years, I just think is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, June 27, 2019
The clear leaders for the first night were Massachusetts United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, and New Jersey United States Senator Cory Booker.
Here’s some analysis.
Historically, Senators have been better poised to win the White House than Representatives, with 16 having become POTUS, while 18 Governors have become POTUS.
The United States Senate website writes this about Senators:
“To date, 16 senators have also served as president of the United States. Three Senators, Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House.”
That’s 16/45, or 35.5%, of all POTUSes who were ever a Senator. And 3/16, or 18.75%, were elected as POTUS directly from the Senate.
The House of Representatives website states this about Representatives who later became POTUS:
“Since 1789, 19 Members of the House have served as President of the United States. Four Members — John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Gerald Ford — were never elected to the Presidency, having succeeded a President who died or resigned. Only Gerald Ford was never successfully elected as either President or Vice President, though he served in both positions.”
For the House, that’s 19/45, or 42.2% who later became POTUS. However, only 1 – James Garfield – ever went directly from the House to the White House, and that’s 1/45, or 2.2%.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, June 22, 2019
Vice President Joe Biden, Official Portrait 2013
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate – among the 20-plus wanna’ be’s – campaigning to be the party’s 2020 Presidential nominee, has recently taken flack for his waffling, wavering, moving-target positions on women, abortion, and civil rights.
Once, he supported the Hyde Amendment.
Now, he opposes it.
Once, he got along with racist bigots.
Now… he apparently still does.
Biden’s wishy-washy, ever-changing positions are nothing new.
In an appearance Tuesday, December 6, 2016, on “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert, Mr. Biden said in part, that “I’m a great respecter of fate. I don’t plan on running again. But to say you know what’s going to happen in four years, I just think is – is not rational. I can’t see the circumstance in which I’d run, but what I’ve learned a long, long, long time ago, Stephen, is to never say never. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Hell, Donald Trump is going to be 74. I’ll be 77 and in better shape. Who knows?”
Now, he’s announced his candidacy to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for President.
And in 1968, then a newly-minted lawyer, having earned the Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law, for six months, Mr. Biden clerked for a Wilmington, Delaware law firm led by William Pickett, who was a prominent local Republican, and said that he “thought of myself as a Republican.”
That same year, Mr. Biden also staunchly opposed forced school busing to combat segregation, and called it “a phony issue which allows the White liberals to sit in suburbia, confident that they are not going to have to live next to Blacks.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 19, 2019
A “rabbit ears” television antenna sat atop television sets to receive television broadcast signals.
Would you pay to watch advertising?
If you have cable teevee, or satellite service, you do.
I dare say most folks are unaware that television signals still come over the airwaves – even digital ones – can STILL be received with Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Biden, Bernie, Warren, Buttegieg, Harris…
Let the winnowing begin!
Much is being made about former Vice President Joe Biden’s candidacy to be the Democratic nominee for President. Pundits point to polling showing him with narrowing leads over Senators Bernie Sanders (VT-I), and Elizabeth Warren (MA), respectively, all whom have double digit support, while South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and California Senator Kamala Harris are contending runners-up, in that order, with single-digit support among those polled.
However, since Biden announced his candidacy – he was the last Democratic candidate to announce, and did so on April 25, 2019 – detractors within and without the party have noted several weaknesses of his, including his historic ham-handed touchy-feely behavior with women, his shifting position on abortion vis-à-vis the Hyde Amendment – which forbids the use of Federal funds to pay for abortion, except in cases to save the life of the woman, or in pregnancy arising from rape, and/or incest – and perhaps most ignobly, his handling as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the matter concerning Anita Hill, who testified under oath that Clarence Thomas, then a nominee for Supreme Court Justice to replace the seat being vacated by the impending retirement of Thurgood Marshall, had sexually harassed her while her supervisor as Assistant Secretary of Education in the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, and then again as the Reagan-appointed Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where he later fired her.
Critics have noted that other female witnesses, all interviewed by the FBI, were prepared to substantiate Hill’s testimony, but were not called because of a private compromise between Biden, as the Committee Chair, and Republicans, who feared their corroborating testimony would sink the 1991 George H.W. Bush nominee.
Additional criticism of Biden’s candidacy revolves around his ethnicity, and the increasing concerns that Anglo candidates – even in the Democratic party – historically have not had the best interests of racial/ethnic minority communities at heart.
Then, there’s the matter of his age – now 77 – which, if elected, would make him even older than the current White House occupant, who was aged 70 when elected. But, consider also that Bernie Sanders is one year older than Biden, and that the majority of POTUSes – 39 (86.66%) – have been aged 45 to 64, while 25 (55.55%) were aged 50 to 59.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 3, 2019
Bob Hayden is a fellow whom I met several years ago in Birmingham, AL at a Dreams Interpretation Workshop, which I attended as part of my own personal, spiritual growth and development.
Bob is a retired Episcopal priest who founded the institute which bears his name in Asheville, NC, which in the years since, has grown significantly in size, scope, and outreach, and now has a presence in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Carl Jung in his study.
It was after attending that workshop that I began to understand the significant genius that Swiss psychiatrist/psychologist Carl Jung Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Here are a few thoughts and three points about so-called “fetal heartbeat” bills enacted by AL & a handful of other states:
1.) Our U.S. Constitution does NOT support the notion that a fetus is a person because – and as the Catholic Church has long taught – life begins at birth, NOT conception. AND, the Scripture clearly states that the Almighty breathed the “breath of life” at which point “the man became a living being” into Adam. So we see clearly from that religious text in Judaic scripture (the Genesis account) that breathing is equated with life, not conception.
For if life began at conception, then “personhood” and citizenship is imbued at that moment (of conception).
An example of the current (2000’s) CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad).
What that effectively means, is that a fetus conceived overseas (to an immigrant couple, for example, who later became naturalized American citizens before giving birth), the conceived fetus would be a citizen of wherever it was conceived… EVEN IF the child was delivered/born in the U.S.A. Clearly, that is contrary to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 16, 2019
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) official portrait
Joe Biden (D), official VP portrait
Much is being made about the impending Sanders v Biden match-up in the Democratic party for the 2020 General Election.
Detractors of the Democratic party say that Biden has a better possibility of being the party’s nominee because – as one Republican pundit wrote – “Biden, and others running for the Oval Office, are terrified that Hispanics and blacks – who reliably vote Democratic – might be swayed by rising wages or better job prospects, to vote for Trump.”
News writers, who are supposed to have (one hopes) some degree of objectivity, seem to have also fallen prey to the Biden 2020 siren song, and have written remarks like “Mr. Biden’s advantage with black voters not only helps him amass delegates ahead of the Democratic convention, but helps counter the widespread perception that he is a candidate running on a bygone appeal to the white working class.”
Recently, a Quinnipiac University Poll published May 15, 2019 found that in Pennsylvania, “former Vice President Joseph Biden is over the 50 percent mark in a matchup with President Donald Trump, leading 53 – 42 percent.” Quinnipiac University is “a private, coeducational university in Southern New England” with campuses “in Hamden and North Haven, Connecticut.”
Overall, the poll found that “Trump leads 90 – 7 percent among Pennsylvania Republicans. Biden leads 93 – 6 percent among Democrats and 51 – 37 percent among independent voters.”
Other top Democratic contenders matched up against Trump as follows:
• Senator Bernie Sanders (I) VT 50% – 43% Trump
• Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren 47 % – 44% Trump
• California Senator Kamala Harris 45% – 45% Trump
• South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg 45% – 44% Trump
• Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) 44% – 46% Trump
In stark contrast to assertions by GOPers and other naysayers of the Democratic party that economic conditions are favoring the GOP and Trump’s re-election, Mary Snow, a Polling Analyst for the Quinnipiac University Poll said that “More than half of Pennsylvania voters say they are better off financially than they were in 2016. But the economy isn’t giving President Donald Trump an edge in an early read of the very key Keystone State.”
Other general detractors to the Democratic party note with some sense of disdain that Vermont’s Independent Senator Bernie Sanders has called himself a “democratic socialist,” and seek to add credence to their argument by noting that some national-level GOP elected officials and others have said that “If we can run a race against a person that’s an out-of-the-closet socialist and promoting socialist ideas, it’s a great contrast for us.”
Donald Trump
Yet the poll also found that among respondents, 53% said “it is more important for a presidential candidate to be a great leader” while 38% said “it is more important for a candidate to have great policy ideas.” And that sets up an immediate turn away from policy to personality – a veritable cult of personality.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 2, 2019
Editor’s Note: This article was originally written 11 May 2015, though unpublished. The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), is/was a “free-trade” pact among the nations of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and United States signed on 4 February 2016, though it was NOT ratified, and thus, did NOT take effect. All 12 members nations signed the TPP 4 February 2016.
However, because it was NOT ratified by all signatories before 4 February 2018, it will become effective ONLY after ratification when at least 6 nations with a combined GDP of more than 85% of the GDP of all signatories have signed.
Further, because the United States withdrew from the TPP, it also significantly and adversely affected it. The TPP agreement will become active only after all signatories have ratified it within two years of signing.
—//—
President Obama recently criticized Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) for her clarion call warning of the potential damage the Trans-Pacific Partnership could do to United States’ economy.
Sen. Warren has said that “This is hardly a hypothetical possibility: We are already deep into negotiations with the European Union on a trade agreement and big banks on both sides of the Atlantic are gearing up to use that agreement to water down financial regulations.”
The President countered saying, “This is pure speculation. She and I both taught law school, and you know, one of the things you do as a law professor is you spin out hypotheticals. And this is all hypothetical, speculative.”
President Obama further dismissed her criticisms out of hand saying, “she’s absolutely wrong,” about the concerns she and others have raised, and appeared to throw down the gauntlet for open, frank discussion of the still-secret trade pact which would include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.
The President gives the USTR broad power to keep secret information about the trade policies it advances and negotiates.
United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said, “More than two months after receiving the proper security credentials, my staff is still barred from viewing the details of the proposals that USTR is advancing.”
A Senate bill – S. 3225 – which would require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to disclose all its TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) documents to every member of Congress was introduced May 23, 2012 by Sen. Wyden, who is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness. In that capacity, his office is responsible for conducting oversight over the USTR and trade negotiations.
Speaking from the Senate floor, Sen. Wyden said the purpose of the bill was “to ensure that the laws and policies that govern the American people take into account the interests of all the American people, not just a privileged few. Congress passed legislation in 2002 to form the Congressional Oversight Group, or COG, to foster more USTR consultation with Congress. I was a senator in 2002. I voted for that law and I can tell you the intention of that law was to ensure that USTR consulted with more Members of Congress, not less.”Read the rest of this entry »
Today, I saw a demonstration video of a toilet made by American Standard (⬆︎linked⬆︎above⬆︎). The company boasts that their Champion 4 model can flush 56 chicken nuggets effortlessly. They also advertise that it can flush 24 golf balls at once.
That’s what caught my attention – the golf balls.
Advertising toilets is much like advertising sanitary napkins or tampons – feminine hygiene products made to absorb menstrual blood flow. On teevee, they’re ALWAYS depicted as absorbing a blue liquid, which is most likely water with bluing added. Never red. Never. Perhaps the advertisers mean to suggest that if women purchase their branded products, they’ll become blue bloods.
Toilets are similarly depicted – never showing life’s reality. It’s just too… real.
So-called “reality” teevee is more surreal than real, especially when a naked man and woman are thrust together in a half-cocked scheme to “find” their way “back to” whatever version of reality from which they originated. There was a time when a naked man and naked woman put together would be finding other, better, more pleasant things to do rather than traipse across the countryside in their birthday suits.
Yet that’s what passes for “entertainment” these days. Never wonder why I’ve not owned a teevee for at least 10yrs.
But, back to the golf balls.
The American Standard Champion 4 model toilet is depicted in advertising as flushing two dozen golf balls in one flush.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, April 24, 2019
About that “government spending” thing being a boost to the economy:
Yes, it’s true. We found that out early on, which was how our nation recovered from the Great Depression.
So… here’s the spending we need now (no, it’s not the “Green New Deal”) – INFRASTRUCTURE!!
Oh, and EVERY red cent that “we the people” spend through our government comes from the Private Sector.
Every material – raw or finished – and all manpower comes from the Private Sector; and only after public notices via competitive open (public) bidding.
Yeah. Think about that one for a while.
There is NO “government factory” in our nation. Never has been, never will be.
So, yeah… every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers rates the overall quality of American economic infrastructure “in the familiar form of a school report card—assigning letter grades based on the physical condition and needed investments for improvement.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Jim Cooper, a Democrat, is the US Representative for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.
Jim Cooper, who represents Tennessee’s 5th Congressional Distict, and is a Democrat, is also a Rhodes Scholar (economics & politics, Oriel College), and Harvard JD grad, after earning the BA in economics from UNC Chapel Hill.
He’s a fiscal conservative, and has long said that, because our government uses a cash accounting system (which is ILLEGAL for businesses to use), our government’s debt is very likely much larger than is estimated.
For that reason, he’s also long advocated changing the accounting method the United States government uses.
TN CD5 is essentially Davidson County (metro Nashville), and includes the adjoining Cheatham & Dickson counties to the WEST.
Oh… and as you might surmise, cutting taxes is NOT how to stimulate the economy. It is by government spending. Which is also why cutting taxes is a very bad idea, since it kills the goose that laid that golden egg. (This Internet thing came about by government spending, which has created an entirely new economy, and billionaires… and, it began as a DARPA research project. Just like GPS.)
As I continue to maintain,
our government is NOT “too big,”
it is MUCH TOO SMALL to be
either efficient,
or effective.
Think about what it’d be like going to a restaurant with a 100-seating capacity, finding it filled with patrons, and only one waiter and one cook. No one would get any service, and they’d be a fool to think otherwise.
That’s what has happened, and is continuing to happen to our government.
With very nearly 329,000,000 people, we are the THIRD LARGEST (most populous) nation on Earth – China ( 1,419,124,987) and India (1,365,986,094) are 1st & 2nd, respectively.
The GOP’s “starve the monster” approach to governance, i.e., kill/reduce/eliminate the source of the “monster’s food,” e.g., taxes, and you’re well on your way to a privatization scheme the likes of which neither our nation, nor the world has ever seen. Hopefully, that won’t happen. But, that’s what you get when Grover Norquist has said,“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
– from an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition, May 25, 2001. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, April 21, 2019
And based upon the outcome, we could get fuct for a lifetime.
Think about it…
Only 5ive people decide the fate of a nation with very nearly 329,000,000 people – which is the 3rd most populous nation on Earth.
5ive.
Just 5ive Justices, that is, who are appointed to life-time jobs – which, when first written, was NOT in the clause which states in Article III Section 1. that “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.”
When the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) was formed by the Constitution in Article III, and after the first U.S. Census was taken in 1790, there were found to be 3,929,214 people in this land.
Fast forward 230 years.
In 2017, New York City’s estimated population was 8,622,698.
Los Angeles’ estimate was 3,999,759.
Chicago’s was 2,716,450.
Houston’s was 2,312,717.
Phoenix’ was 1,626,078.
Philadelphia was 1,580,863.
San Antonio was 1,511,946.
San Diego was 1,419,516.
Dallas was 1,341,075.
San Jose was 1,035,317.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, April 14, 2019
Think about it… a massive global industry and multi-cultural international enterprise with tens, hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of employees, producers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and customers with ZERO Government regulation of any type, on anyone for any reason – no taxes, no regulatory oversight, nor requirements of any kind whatsoever, where a willing buyer and a willing seller meet each other.
And yet, the government seeks to eradicate it (even though their “efforts” have done exactly the opposite), by strengthening Read the rest of this entry »
