Friday: Teh Stoopid, Still Burns [UPDATE-2]

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Teh stoopid. So much, a bumper crop today. Put on your hip waders while we listen to a little ska-jazz from The Specials. [Go to bottom of post for update.]

LAST DAY OF THE MONTH
Don’t stand in front of the exit doors today at the House of Representatives. You’ve been warned.

Toobz filled with stoopid

Hélas, Nice
I’ve not forgotten Nice. I can’t go there. Picking my way through French language news to read in detail about the deaths of children and teenagers is a hard limit for me. With children’s blood on its hands from wars to drone killings, the U.S. has no moral authority here. It has doubled down on its authoritarian, racist, kill-its-way-out-of-trouble approach to foreign policy. What can I write here which isn’t utter hypocrisy?

The only observations I can make are that the attackers may be ramping up, as the numbers and methodology testify. 84 dead including 10 children and teens, 52 injured and 25 on life support, all hurt or killed by a driver who was not a known terror suspect. A civilian stopped the attacker by grabbing his hands as he aimed a gun at human targets. Que Dieu soit miséricordieux sur Nice.

Smarter, kinder finish
And now to purge the taste of stupid before I start my weekend…

That’s a wrap, have a safe and restful weekend, including all you peeps at #NN16. Back at it on Monday.

UPDATE — 2:50 p.m. EDT —

The previously-classified pages of the 9/11 report have been released, conveniently during the afternoon on a Friday smack in the middle of the summer during a general election year. Can you say ‘news dump’? Here’s a link to the document at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s site (pdf). Knock yourselves out with this beach read. Note the bit about the alleged Saudi intelligence officers, too.

UPDATE — 5:15 p.m. EDT —

An apparent coup is underway in Turkey; it began with reports of militarized road blocks about two hours ago. Social media platforms have had spotty service though landlines appear to be working. The Erdogan government initially denied a coup was in progress; media outlets in Turkey may not be accurately reporting events. Many European news outlets are still focused on Nice, France. Airports have been closed and a curfew declared. U.S. Embassy has asked U.S. citizens to shelter in place and stay indoors.

For more information about events in Turkey, here’s a selection of active Twitter feeds:
https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews
https://twitter.com/efekerem
https://twitter.com/zeynep
https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint
https://twitter.com/Boutaina

Recent report at Aid works about Turkey’s treatment of refugees at this link.

If you have friends and family in Turkey, recommend they use Tor browser to follow news — this link in case Tor is blocked. See also this tweet from Tor about accessing social media.

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10 replies
  2. bloopie2 says:

    Your post on organic food is good, thanks. In that vein (sort of), the Guardian has a nice couple of articles showing that a large percentage (half or more) of the produce that is grown in America is wasted–never eaten. A huge amount is rejected before distribution as being “not pretty enough”, a lot goes bad in shipment across the country, and a lot is discarded after a meal, etc. It’s really depressing, but think about it—when’s the last time you saw a misshapen apple (just as good) or a watermelon with a badly scratched rind (just as good) on the supermarket shelf? Someone could feed lots of food banks and charities with all of it, but then someone would have to pay for a whole new distribution network, and there just isn’t enough profit in farms and grocery stores to do that. Ah well, two steps forward, one step back.
    .
    And may I say to Denis on yesterday’s topic: A lot of men need continual nagging from rad-fems (bloggers or not), both to (1) be informed on topics of the type raised herein, and to (2) keep their sexist genes in their pants.

  3. Rayne says:

    Alan (2:07) — Thanks for that, completely in sync with what I hear from other Scots. The worst part of May’s bullshit: Scotland cannot file another independence referendum until Article 50 is filed, and May is doing whatever she can to push that out until she has badgered everyone into what her faction within the Tories wants.

    The only other way around this I can see — besides the EU using the “nuclear option” by ejecting the UK under Article 7 — is the Scots refuse to consent to UK’s exit from the EU.

    • rugger9 says:

      May and her cronies can opine all they like about the ability of Edinburgh (Holyrood is a palace there) to call another referendum. I appreciate how delightfully pointed the commentary is, very similar to many football (their name) commentators such as David Hirshey of Kicking and Screaming. Nonetheless, it will be the terms of the home rule act that devolved the parliamentary for internal affairs to Holyrood.
      *
      That would be the Scotland Act of 1998 amended in 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2016. I’ll let local lawyers sort it out, but compliance to the EC regulations is in this, as well as the ability of Westminster to overrule the Scottish Parliament on any of the so-called reserved powers or if there is a threat to an international commitment. Not being a local there, I see no reason why Scotland would not be able to vote on the referendum even if they have to make it non-binding to prevent Westminster from stopping it. If anything, May’s ham-handed attempt to dictate terms means it will probably draw better than the Brexit percentages for leaving the UK and staying in the EU. Once that outcome happens, and I fully expect the SNP to post it (and they do not have to wait for an Article 50 filing, they’ll make Westminster litigate that point) into the parliamentary calendar at the earliest possible time, the political pressure on Westminster from HM the Queen on down will be orders of magnitude higher and very bad press around the world. More than a few countries around the world would like to see the British taken down a few pegs.
      *
      All organic requires is no pesticides. That’s it. GMO, etc., OK. Just remember that it’s not all done by hippies.

  4. Rayne says:

    bloopie2 (2:17) — I don’t know about the pretty food; I buy a lot of food from farm markets and I grow many of my own vegetables. IMO, the big problem with food waste is a combination of cheap but tasteless crap grown for durability and appearance but not for flavor, combined with too much shipping. If we buy local and get to know the growers, the food is fresher, tastier, contributes less to CO2 footprint, and we learn to like it in spite of its less photogenic features.

    Also doesn’t help that we’ve eliminated home economics from education and encouraged too much fast food in lieu of time spent cooking more wholesome food. A lot of food waste happens before the public even sees it in the store or at the fast food counter, rejected by businesses which want more regular produce to ensure sameness of food experience. Blecch.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Exactement. It is as much industrial veggies, grown for longevity and durability, not nutrition or taste, that go to waste. Heirloom and organic varieties are a small portion of the whole. Our innate preference for symmetricality, color and sugar content has long been abused by agribusiness marketers, who substitute such characteristics for taste and nutrition in order to maximize sales. And I agree heartily that we are addicted to too much transport, which requires durability, and consumes far too much energy. Returning to seasonal fruits and veggies might be less profitable; it would be more wholesome and much cheaper. The marketing guys would just have to go back to the drawing board.

  6. scribe says:

    It’s long past time to ban box trucks. Look at the daily carnage they inflict on the peaceable, street using public. And now this.
    .
    Ban the box truck.

  7. Rayne says:

    rugger9 (4:31) — WRT organic crops: not true.

    Prohibited materials include synthetic fertilizers and seeds treated with fungicides, as well as most synthetic (chemical) herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides.

    [source: USDA Guide for Organic Crop Production]

    Certification requires use of organic certified seeds (if commercially available) combined with thorough, auditable documentation about entire transition period and subsequent planting/nurturing/harvesting process. Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers are permitted, but they must comply with the certification process — generally no synthetics allowed. Soap-based herbicides are permitted, for example.

    And none of the hippies I knew as a kid had the attention span or dedication to meet organic certification.

  8. Danny says:

    “Wish I knew the Scots’ Gaelic word for bullshit.”
    Buachar. Though Sturgeon doesn’t speak Gaelic.

    Here is an appropriate and brilliant song –
    The Burns Unit – Since we’ve fallen out

    You’ve quit town
    Ahead of me
    We’ve fallen out
    At least on this we’re agreed
    So don’t come around
    No checking up on me
    Since we’ve fallen out
    I’ve been left here to seethe
    And your enemies
    Became my closest friends

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