Blackpink - Kill This Love

White House Tried to Hide Name of John McCain from Trump but the Navy Refused

There are reports that during Trump's visit to Japan, the White House wanted the U.S. Navy to move a warship named after the late Sen. John McCain “out of sight” to avoid triggering Trump. 

A tarp was hung over the ship’s name ahead of the president’s trip, according to photos reviewed by the Journal, and sailors were directed to remove any coverings from the ship that bore its name.   "There was a lower level effort to comply with the request but when leadership became aware they ordered the tarp be taken down," a U.S. Navy official later acknowledged. "Navy leadership decided the name should not be obscured."

After the tarp was taken down, a barge was moved closer to the ship, obscuring its name. Sailors on the ship, who typically wear caps bearing its name, were given the day off during Trump’s visit, people familiar with the matter said.

It also appears  that sailors from the USS McCain were excluded from Trump’s speech. Other U.S. ships in the area were allowed to send dozens of sailors to the speech, while the McCain sailors not only didn’t get invitations but were turned away when some tried to attend. The sailors on the USS McCain were given the day off, presumably as part of that whole “not hiding the ship” effort.

The report drew outrage from Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, who has been a frequent political foe of Trump.  "Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life," McCain tweeted. "There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won't let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him. It makes my grief unbearable."

Trump says he was not involved in decision to hide USS John McCain's name during his Japan visit. "I didn't know a thing about it. I would never have done that." But he said whoever did it was "well meaning."

Hate Is On the Rise

Deaths of Privileged People Prompt Soul Searching in Nepal

Actress Mandy Moore celebrated her climb to Mount Everest's base camp this week, saying, "'There is so much magic in these mountains. They represent adventure in the grandest form and in a language all their own."

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough "magic" to go around, as near-record number of people have died this season attempting to reach the summit.   There are 41 teams with a total of 378 climbers authorized by the government to scale the mountain during the spring climbing season. An equal number of Nepalese guides are helping them get to the summit.

A Canadian filmmaker recently shared a haunting photo of Everest climbers stepping over a dead body as they queue for the summit.  The identity of the corpse is not known.

The eerie image shows a long line of adventurers stepping over a rope attached to a frozen corpse which hangs over the mountain almost 29,000 feet above sea level.  Elia Saikaly, from Ottawa, Canada, posted his image to warn climbers of the danger of taking on the world's highest peak.  In his social media post accompanying the image, Saikaly wrote:

'We passed over 60 people during the night and arrived to the south summit just after sunrise.   Minds hypoxic, extremities nearly numb, we all pressed on through the life or death situation.   The early morning light had revealed the gateway to the summit of Everest and in parallel a human being who had lost his life.  Here we all were, chasing a dream and beneath our very feet there was a lifeless soul. Is this what Everest has become?  As I documented the team climbing the iconic step, my mind raced and empathized with every person who struggled to stay alive while undoubtedly questioning their own humanity, ethics and integrity"

"This poor human being perched  for everyone to observe was a reminder of each of our own mortality. Was this the 'Dream of Everest' we all imagined?  My heart bled for the family and loved ones and at the same time I was conscious of the necessity to continue to move. At nearly 9000m above sea level, there is no choice but to carry on.  Who is responsible here? The individuals? The companies? The Government? Is it time to enforce new rules? Will things ever change? What's the solution here?   With great sadness, as the cues pushed onwards and upwards, so did we, as did over 200 people that day."

"I deeply apologize for the sensitivity of this post, but I feel we have a responsibility to inform aspiring future climbers of the seriousness of this undertaking while creating a dialogue around how to make safer, more responsible and more ethical choices with how we approach climbing to the top of the world.  To those that lost their lives this season may their souls Rest In Peace."

Saikaly later said: 'I cannot believe what I saw up there. Death. Carnage. Chaos. Lineups. Dead bodies on the route and in tents at camp 4.   People who I tried to turn back who ended up dying. People being dragged down. Walking over bodies. Everything you read in the sensational headlines all played out on our summit night.'

Four additional bodies were retrieved from Everest last week and have yet to be identified.

Many of the deaths on the world's highest mountain have been blamed on over-crowding with teams waiting sometimes for hours in the 'death zone' where the cold is bitter, the air dangerously thin and the terrain treacherous.

The eleven identified dead climbers are as follows:

Séamus Lawless, a 38-year-old Irish professor, is presumed to have died on May 16 after falling up to 1,600 feet from the balcony area of the mountain.  He was said to be an experienced climber who had reached the summit before.

Ravi Thakar, a 28-year-old Indian climber, died on May 17 while in his sleep in his tent on the mountain’s highest camp site. Thakar successfully reached the summit but began experiencing issues during his descent.  His body was discovered hours later.

Donald Cash, a 54-year-old resident of Utah, had  just achieved his goal of climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, collectively known as the seven summits, before he collapsed at the summit on May 22.  He collapsed again while descending near Hillary Step and could not be revived.

Anjali Kulkarni, a 64-year-old citizen of India, scaled the peak with her husband, Sharad Kulkarni. She died from “energy loss” on her way back to Camp 4. Kulkami and her husband had climbed other mountains together, including Kilimanjaro.

Nihal Bagwan, a 27-year-old physical education teacher from India, suffered from acute dehydration and exhaustion on his way down from the summit on May 23. It was his second attempt to climb Everest after falling short five years ago.

Kalpana Das, a 50-year-old India citizen, scaled Everest twice, but did not survive the second expedition. She became ill and died on her way down the mountain, around the balcony area, on May 23.

Ernst Landgraf, a 64-year-old Austrian builder, also died on May 23 on his way down from the summit.   Landgraf was an experienced mountain climber who was in good physical shape. His trip up Everest had been his final climb of the seven summits.

Kevin Hynes, a 56-year-old Irishman, died in his tent at an elevation of about 23,000 feet on May 24.  He had trekked to a higher altitude a day earlier, but decided to turn back. A strong and experience climber, he had previously reached the summit of Everest last year.

Dhruba Bista, a 32-year-old Nepali climbing guide, fell while trekking down the mountain on May 24.  A Sherpa administered CPR, but Bista did not respond.

Robin Haynes Fisher, a 44-year-old British climber, died 45 minutes after reaching the summit on May 25. Several days earlier, he had warned of overcrowding on Mount Everest in a post on Instagram and announced plans to delay his ascent.  Fisher was 492 feet below the summit when he suddenly “fell down.” A company official said guides were not able to revive him.

Christopher John Kulish, a 62-year-old Colorado lawyer, had returned to Camp IV base camp after reaching the summit, his seventh and final climb in his seven summits journey.  He was reportedly “aware, fit and in a good mood” before entering his tent in the early morning of May 27. A guide later found him and administered CPR for 25 minutes, he said. A cause of death is not yet known.

Crossfit Throws A Flying Kick to Facebook

CrossFit, the branded workout regimen, deleted its Facebook and Instagram pages earlier this week and explained the reasoning through an impassioned press release. The announcement lists various reasons for the indefinite suspension of its accounts, including accusations that Facebook’s News Feeds are “censored and crafted to reflect the political leanings of Facebook’s utopian socialists.”

The issue stemmed from the deletion of an affiliated South Africa-based Facebook group, which the company says happened without warning or explanation. The group has 1.6 million members espousing the benefits of a low-carb, high-fat diet like CrossFit’s recommended nutritional regimen, has since been reinstated. But the damage was done, and the deletion was the final straw in addition to CrossFit’s wariness over how Facebook handles user data.

he company describes itself as a contrarian group that “stands steadfastly and often alone against an unholy alliance of academia, government, and multinational food, beverage, and pharmaceutical companies.”  Its eight main gripes against Facebook are as follows:

1.  Facebook collects and aggregates user information and shares it with state and federal authorities, as well as security organizations from other countries.

2.  Facebook collaborates with government security agencies on massive citizen surveillance programs such as PRISM.

3.  Facebook censors and removes user accounts based on unknown criteria and at the request of third parties including government and foreign government agencies.

4.  Facebook collects, aggregates, and sells user information as a matter of business. Its business model allows governments and businesses alike to use its algorithmically conjured advertising categories as sophisticated data-mining and surveillance tools.

5.  Facebook’s news feeds are censored and crafted to reflect the political leanings of Facebook’s utopian socialists while remaining vulnerable to misinformation campaigns designed to stir up violence and prejudice.

6.  Facebook, as a matter of business and principle, has weak intellectual property protections and is slow to close down IP theft accounts.

7.  Facebook has poor security protocols and has been subject to the largest security breaches of user data in history.

8.  Facebook is acting in the service of food and beverage industry interests by deleting the accounts of communities that have identified the corrupted nutritional science responsible for unchecked global chronic disease. In this, it follows the practices of Wikipedia and other private platforms that host public content but retain the ability to remove or silence—without the opportunity for real debate or appeal—information and perspectives outside a narrow scope of belief or thought. In this case, the approved perspective has resulted in the deaths of millions through preventable diseases. Facebook is thus complicit in the global chronic disease crisis.

Crossfit seems to sustain itself on conflicts and "battles" with the mainstream fitness and healthcare industries, but these complaints against Facebook seem solid and legitimate to me.  Why anyone is still using FB and Instagram is beyond me.

Sunday Prayer

Hate Line

Tame Impala - Patience

Mnuchin Caught Lying to Congress

 

Early this week, The Washington Post published a memo from the IRS that directly contradicts the Treasury Department’s claims that they don't have to turn over Donald Trump’s tax forms without Congress demonstrating a “legislative purpose.”

According to an unnamed IRS official who reviewed the situation, turning over those forms “is mandatory, requiring the Secretary to disclose returns, and return information, requested by the tax-writing Chairs.” The memo left Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin scrambling to explain how everything he’s been saying for weeks isn’t a giant lie, especially when his own department had already informed him that the law “does not allow the Secretary to exercise discretion in disclosing the information provided.”

Mnuchin, who spoke before the House Financial Services Committee, responded to a question from Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton by saying that he had only “looked at [the memo] literally on the way up here” and hadn’t had a chance to read it in full. Wexton asked Mnuchin if somebody made him aware that the memo states that the law does not require legislative purpose in order to release tax forms-- Mnuchin responded as follows:

"Again, I haven’t … Again, let me just say, uh, the legal advice that we’ve relied upon … and again, I understand that there’s three branches of government and when it comes to constitutional issues there could be different interpretations. And that’s why there’s a third branch of government to, uh ..."

Uhhh, that would be a "yes"-- and  if Mnuchin acted to block release of the tax returns despite knowing he had no legal authority to do so, that would constitute contempt of Congress.   Tread carefully, Mr. Mnuchin.

Former Kansas Secretary of State Running New Type of Immigration Scam

Let me introduce you to Kris Kobach, who was the former Kansas secretary of state before he flamed out and lost a gubernatorial race in Kansas to Democrat Laura Kelly.  Even Republicans in Kansas voted against Kobach, having had enough of his extremism, especially when it came to immigration and voting rights.

After all, Kobach was the architect of the most racist law in modern American history, Arizona’s S.B. 1070, which allowed police to stop people of color and/or anyone with an accent and detain them indefinitely, including children, until they prove their citizenship. A family could be going out for ice cream and find themselves in an Arizona jail indefinitely unless they carried the proper paperwork.

Kobach had hoped to spread these laws nationwide. As local governments were convinced to pass these laws, they were (obviously) found to be unconstitutional-- but guess who was hired to come in and defend these laws during the legal process?  That's right-- Kris Kobach privately billed these towns for his legal services after they were hoodwinked into enacting his poisonous legislation. The Kansas City Star interviewed people who’d been swindled by Kobach’s immigration racket.

“Ambulance chasing” is how Grant Young, a former mayor of Valley Park, describes Kobach’s role. Young characterized Kobach’s attitude as, “Let’s find a town that’s got some issues or pretends to have some issues, let’s drum up an immigration problem and maybe I can advance my political position, my political thinking and maybe make some money at the same time.”

More details on this scam-- and how Kobach is getting cozy with white nationalists-- can be found at the Daily Kos.
 
 

As if You Needed Another Reason to Quit Facebook

In the wake of its studding admission that it  stored hundreds of millions of its users’ own passwords insecurely, Facebook is demanding some users fork over the password for their outside email account as the price of admission to the social network.

Facebook users are being interrupted by an interstitial demanding they provide the password for the email account they gave to Facebook when signing up. “To continue using Facebook, you’ll need to confirm your email,” the message demands. “Since you signed up with [email address], you can do that automatically …”

A form below the message asked for the users’ “email password.”

“That’s beyond sketchy,” said security consultant Jake Williams. “They should not be taking your password or handling your password in the background. If that’s what’s required to sign up with Facebook, you’re better off not being on Facebook.”

In a statement, Facebook reiterated its claim it doesn’t store the email passwords. But the company also announced it will end the practice altogether.   “We understand the password verification option isn’t the best way to go about this, so we are going to stop offering it,” Facebook wrote.

It’s not clear how widely the new measure was deployed, but in its statement Facebook said users retain the option of bypassing the password demand and activating their account through more conventional means, such as “a code sent to their phone or a link sent to their email.” Those options are presented to users who click on the words “Need help?” in one corner of the page.

The additional login step was noticed over the weekend by a cybersecurity watcher on Twitter called “e-sushi.” The Daily Beast tested the claim by establishing a new Facebook account under circumstances the company’s system might flag as suspicious, using a disposable webmail address and connecting through a VPN in Romania. A reporter was taken to the same screen demanding the email password.  “By going down that road, you're practically fishing for passwords you are not supposed to know!,” e-sushi wrote in a tweet.

Small print below the password field promises, “Facebook won’t store your password.” But the company has recently been criticized for repurposing information it originally acquired for “security” reasons.

Last year Facebook was caught allowing advertisers to target its users using phone numbers users provided for two-factor authentication; users handed over their numbers so Facebook could send a text message with a secret code when they log in. More recently the company drew the ire of privacy advocates when it began making those phone numbers searchable, so anyone can locate the matching user “in defiance of user expectations and security best practices,” wrote the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group.

Facebook also has a checkered history when it comes to securely handling passwords. Last month the company acknowledged that unencrypted passwords for hundreds of millions of its users had been stored for years in company logs accessible to 2,000 employees.

And just recently, amid a steady drum beat of fresh privacy scandals, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unleashed a thousand-word manifesto describing  a new “privacy-focused vision” for the company built on strong encryption and cutting-edge security tools.

Even then, Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook’s putative pivot-to-privacy would meet with some skepticism. “[F]rankly we don't currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services.”



Why is anyone still using Facebook anymore anyway?

A Message for Graduating Seniors

Muslim Bigot Forced to Pay Up

In 2017, Craig Caldwell of Denver, Colorado decided that it was time to close his fried chicken restaurant.  Unfortunately, he still had five more years on his lease, so he looked around for someone to sublet. His search led him to Rashad and Zuned Khan, who owned a successful Indian restaurant in Boulder and were looking to branch out.

Katina Gatchis, Caldwell's landlady, refused to allow him to sublet to the Khans, insisting he instead find an "American person ... good like you and me," and then followed that up with "These kind, type, they are very dangerous, extremely dangerous," and "They bring all the Muslims from the Middle East, and then I have a problem around here, bam boom, bam boom."

Faster than you can say "bam boom, bam boom",  Katina Gatchis now has to pay them $675,000 because they sued her ass for discrimination and won.  Because here-- in the very America Ms. Gatchis is clearly so fond of-- it is illegal to refuse to rent to someone because you do not like their race or religion.

When Gatchis initially told Caldwell that he could not sublet to Muslims, he was rightfully horrified and decided to call her up and get it on tape. Colorado is a one-party consent state when it comes to recordings, so it was legal for him to do so. Gatchis ended up saying a variety of horrible things on the recording, and didn't even bother to try denying it in court.

Ironically, Ms. Gatchis seems to understand less than immigrants how things are done here in America.  According to Rashan Khan (one of her victims), "If it weren't for me being (in America), I wouldn't have the life I do.  I wouldn't enjoy the freedoms I have, and I wouldn't have the justice system that allowed her to have the consequences for acting like she did."

Damn right!

Even Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Dreams are Delusional

Old comments by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders are going viral again ― and not in a good way.  Several months agao, Sanders said she hoped to be remembered as “transparent and honest” for her role as chief spokesperson for Donald Trump.

However, pecial counsel Robert Mueller's report said Sanders admitted that she lied to reporters after James Comey was fired as director of the FBI.   Now, her “transparent and honest” remarks are being passed around anew after “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill tweeted to say only in Bizarro World would it be true that the Huckster would be remembered as transparent and honest.  Tweeter, of course, piled on:

BTS feat Halsey-Boy With Luv

Evil Stephen Miller Pushiing Plan for Mass Immigrant Raids

The Trump administration wanted to carry out “a blitz operation” to sweep up and arrest as many as 10,000 immigrant parents and children across 10 cities, The Washington Post reports, in a depraved display of state force designed to terrorize immigrant communities.

In a shock to no one, among the loudest voices pushing the plan was White House aide and white supremacist Stephen Miller.

It was Miller who led the recent purge of top DHS officials, including two who objected to the mass arrests, former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Ronald Vitiello. But don’t give those two any credit for being decent human beings. Nielsen and Vitiello reportedly objected to the mass arrests not because rounding up families at gunpoint is a tactic straight out of Nazi Germany, but because of logistics and fear of “public outrage,” sources told WAPO.

Vitiello and Nielsen’s pushback was reportedly a factor in Trump’s decision to oust both officials.  But while the plan did not go forward at that time, it’s unclear whether it’s dead. Then-Deputy ICE Director Matthew Albence joined Miller in supporting the mass arrests. Albence, who once compared migrant family jails to summer camp, is now serving as acting ICE director as the Senate considers Mark Morgan to permanently lead the agency

Navy Unloads Story Behind Sky Penis

The 2017 story of the sky penis spread umbrage and juvenile glee to all corners of the internet.  It prompted viral guffaws from some and online outrage from others.  There are even shot glasses commemorating the event and it birthed memes ahead of the annual Army-Navy game.

But the inside story of how an EA-18G Growler jet crew drew a penis across the clear blue skies of Washington state in 2017 has never been told.  Until now.

It was the work of two junior officers with the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron 130, who had sky time to kill and noticed that the white contrails their jet produced were particularly robust that afternoon.  But they never counted on those contrails lingering long enough for folks on the ground to see their phallic rendering.

A mother who lives in Okanogan, WA who took pictures of the drawings reached out to the local television station to complain about the images, saying she was upset she might have to explain to her young children what the drawings were.

Nervous squadron commanders sent an alert to their chain of command, which eventually reached the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.  “Aircrew maneuvered an EA-18G aircraft in a pattern that resulted in contrails depicting an obscene symbol when viewed from the ground,” it warned. “Media attention is expected.”

The squadron’s commanding officer would later praise the imaginative pilot as a shy introvert and “a ‘whiz kid’ who managed the squadron's training and readiness with higher efficiency and effectiveness than anyone else he had ever seen in a squadron.”  His cockpit partner that day, an electronic warfare officer, or EWO, was “my best junior officer,” the CO noted.

What discipline the Zapper 21 duo faced remains unknown.  Citing privacy regulations, officials declined to provide such records, and all names are redacted in the report released to the public.

Trump Name is Now the Kiss of Death in Real Estate

Now that we have confirmation that Trump is one of the worst businessmen of the past 30 years, now comes word that even the mention of his name is the kiss of death for some real estate owners.

It is now being reported that Trump Tower in New York City has become one of the least desirable luxury properties in Manhattan, with several units selling at more than a 20 per cent loss after adjusting for inflation.

In comparison, Bloomberg reports that only 1 in 400 properties sold over the last two years in NYC were sold at a loss.  "No one wants [a unit] in that building," said Michael Sklar, who recently sold his parents' condo in Trump Tower.

Sklar's parents had a one bedroom, one and a half bath 57th floor unit.  The family originally purchased the condo for $1.4 million in 2004, which is the same as $1.9 million in today's dollars.  The Skiars spent $400,000 to remodel the place-- which means that they needed to sell the property for $2.4 million to break even.  They eventually unloaded the property for $1.83 million-- a loss exceeding a half million dollars.

A 40th floor one-bedroom, one and a half-bathroom was sold for $1.79 million in October 2017, having been bought for $1.875 million in 2009 - a loss of $450,000.

A two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom unit on the 37th floor and with Central Park views went from being listed for $7.75 million in February 2017, to selling in December 2018 for $4.4 million.

One condo currently on the market-- a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom unit on the 32nd floor--  is currently listed for $2.84 million.  Even if it sells at list price, it would represent a $60K net loss-- and that isn't even counting the $90K commission the seller would also have to pay.

A one bedroom, one and a half bath on the 31st floor sold at $600K below the asking price of $2 million  in January--  a $26,000 real-term loss on its 2005 sale for $1.275 million (again, not counting the $45K real estate commission.

Trump Tower is a 36-year-old building that has not been substantially updated in years, and the occupancy rate has plunged over the last seven years.  It went from 99 per cent filled to 83 per cent, which is a vacancy rate that's around twice the average in Manhattan.  Tenants say it has became more difficult to live there after Trump won the election, especially with the increased security. Some say cabs can no longer approach the main entrance and instead must drop them off a few hundred feet away.

New York real estate agents say that clients consistently refuse to look at units in Trump buildings.   Several other Trump-branded businesses have been suffering since he took office. The number of rounds of golf played at his public course in New York are down and many buildings have taken down the Trump name. 

The commercial part of Trump Tower has also been struggling to find tenants for the 42,000 square feet of vacant office space.  Although areas in the Plaza District with views of Central Park usually sell for $100 per square foot, Trump Tower advertised five vacancies in January with prices as low as $72 per square foot.

Trump Hijacks DC Fireworks Tradition, Turning it into Campaign Rally

Donald Trump has taken over the organizational plans for the nation’s annual July 4th celebrations in Washington, DC, according to the Washington Post.

He has moved the fireworks display from the Mall, where it has been held for more than 50 years, to a spot closer to the Potomac River. He has also inserted himself into the program, promising to address the nation from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, turning the usual non-partisan celebration of the nation’s independence into what will amount to a campaign rally.

 Officials said it is unclear how much the changes may cost, but the plans have already raised alarms among city officials and some lawmakers about the potential impact of such major alterations to a time-honored and well-organized summer tradition.

The revised Independence Day celebration is the culmination of two years of attempts by Trump to create a major patriotic event centered on him and his supporters, including failed efforts to mount a military parade modeled on the Bastille Day celebration in France.

The president has received regular briefings on the effort in the Oval Office and has gotten involved in the minutiae of the planning, showing interest in the event that he often does not exhibit for other administration priorities, according to aides.

Who's Going Down in Kings Landing?

California Parents Protest LGBTQ-inclusive Education for Their Kids

In a protest that is sentthe worst possible message to their children, parents in California pulled a total of 650 students from school for a one-day protest. Their cause? They don’t want LGBTQ-inclusive lessons taught to their kids. This protest spanned an entire school district.

In the week prior to the protest, the Rocklin Unified School District adopted LGBTQ-inclusive history and social science curriculums for all grade school kids.   Rachel Crutchfield  is a spokesperson for the Informed Parents of Rocklin, a group which vehemently opposes these inclusive lessons.

“We believe that anyone who has made a significant contribution to society should, of course, be included in our history textbooks,” Crutchfield said. “However, the concept of sexual orientation is far too complex of a topic for elementary-aged children to be introduced to at school. Children in second grade simply do not have the tools to comprehend sexuality, nor do we want them to. Let’s let kids be kids.”

The reality is that kids are exposed to heterosexuality as a default every single day, via social norms, the media, and yes, in school, to the extent that they understand it. This assumption of heterosexuality sends a message that it’s the “right” or “normal” orientation and that deviations of it are, by subsequent logic, abnormal.

Arguing that kids can’t “comprehend” sexual orientations, or that it detracts from their childhood innocence, also suggests that something about LGBTQ identities is perverse or overtly sexual. LGBTQ people being predators, and especially suggesting that they’re unsafe around kids, is an outdated and inaccurate stereotype that apparently still lingers in people’s minds. The idea that a person assumed to be straight makes them “safer” or easier for a kid to understand is rooted in ignorance and fear.

According to reports, an example lesson that some parents objects to is from a second-grade lesson about Sally Ride. The lesson describes her as a “good example for all females” who “joined NASA and became the first female and first lesbian American astronaut.”

Rachel Henry, of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center, says that it is important that schools acknowledge LGBTQ identities in a positive way.  “We know that teaching children tolerance, love, and kindness isn’t enough — we have to actively teach about diversity within our community,” she stated. “Because if we’re not naming those identities, we’re ignoring and silencing them.”

LGBTQ youth face higher rates of bullying and assault than their heterosexual peers. They’re also more likely to drop out of school, get lower grades, and be absent. Most seriously, they’re also more likely to self-harm and attempt suicide.  “We’re just fighting against the idea that straight is “normal”,’ Henry added.  “Aside from gay marriage — which is only one aspect of equality — gay people still aren’t a federally-protected class.”

The very least we can do to help protect and nurture all kids is to teach them acceptance. And for LGBTQ or questioning youth, this can—literally—save their lives.

The Chainsmokers-Who Do You Love

Weaponizing Hate

NYT Uncovers Trump Tax Data That Show He Sucked as a Businessman

The New York Times has obtained IRS transcripts of Donald Trump's tax returns from 1985-1994, which show that the so-called "consummate businessman" incurred over $1 BILLION in losses over that 10-year period.

While the obtained records are not the actual tax returns, they are the internal worksheets used by IRS examiners when auditing his tax history.    The New York Times' source for the new tax data was also able to provide several years of unpublished IRS transcripts for the president’s father, the builder Fred C. Trump. The numbers for Trump Sr. matched up precisely with Fred Trump’s actual returns, which had been obtained by The Times in an earlier investigation.

In contrast to his father’s stable and profitable empire of rental apartments in Brooklyn and Queens, Donald Trump’s primary sources of income changed year after year, from big stock earnings, to a single year of more than $67.1 million in salary, to a mysterious $52.9 million windfall in interest income. But always, those gains were overwhelmed by huge losses from his casinos and other real estate projects.

The years of 1985-1994 were supposedly Trump's prime years..  In 1985, Trump was still riding high from the completion of his first few projects — the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Trump Tower and another Manhattan apartment building, and one Atlantic City casino. He also owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League.  For the first time, Forbes’s ranking of the wealthiest Americans listed Donald Trump individually (independent of his father) with an estimated net worth of $600 million that included the real estate empire Fred Trump still owned.

However, the newly-discovered tax numbers show that by 1985, Trump's fortunes were already heading into the dumpster.   Trump reported 1985 losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.

In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer.   His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.

Trump was able to lose all that money without facing the usual consequences because most of the debt belonged to others--  the banks and bond investors who had supplied the cash to fuel his acquisitions.  And after all these losses, Trump secretly leaned on his father’s wealth to continue living like a winner and to stage a comeback.

Near the end of the ten-year period covered by the tax transcripts, Trump testified before a congressional task force, claiming that the real estate business was in an absolute depression.  "I see no sign of any kind of upturn at all. There is no incentive to invest. Everyone is doing badly, everyone.”

Everyone except for Trump's rich daddy.  While Donald Trump reported hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for 1990 and 1991, Fred Trump’s returns showed a positive income of $53.9 million, with only one major loss: $15 million invested in his son’s latest apartment project.

Brazil's Buffoon Bigot Cancels U.S.Visit Under Fire

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has cancelled a planned trip to the U.S. after protests from gay rights and environmental campaigners. 

Bolsonaro was due to attend a ceremony in his honor in New York later in May organized by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce.  Several venues in the city had decided not to host the event.  Bolsonaro's spokesman blamed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the "pressure of interest groups".

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Bolsonaro was a "very dangerous human being".  De Blasio told reporters, "He's dangerous not just because of his overt racism and homophobia, but because he is unfortunately the person with the most ability to be able to impact what happens in the Amazon going forward."

The American Museum of Natural History had originally agreed to hold a gala dinner for the Brazilian president-- but it drew heavy criticism for agreeing to host a ceremony at which Bolsonaro, who has advocated relaxing environmental policies, was scheduled to receive a person of the year award.

Other sponsors, including Delta Airlines, the Financial Times newspaper and management consultancy Bain & Co, have pulled out of the event.  "We have decided to withdraw our sponsorship of the ... 2019 Person of the Year Awards Gala Dinner," Bain & Co. said. "Encouraging and celebrating diversity is a core Bain principle."

Wells Fargo Still Screwing Over Customers

The story of Methodist pastor Jeff Edwards’ bizarre legal ordeal is a window into the ongoing administrative depravity at Wells Fargo, and the way government authorities ― from Trump-appointed federal regulators to blue-state technocratic functionaries ― can enable and even amplify the bank’s misconduct. 

Over the past two and a half years, Wells Fargo has admitted to mistakenly foreclosing on hundreds of families, illegally repossessing more than 27,000 cars and fraudulently opening over 3 million accounts for people who never asked for them. The bank has undertaken at least four separate marketing campaigns aimed at improving its dreadful corporate image, issuing official apology after official apology for its litany of abuses. It has rolled out a new logo and a new brand tagline, and replaced its CEO twice since the fake account scandal started to make headlines. 

The only thing Wells Fargo hasn’t changed is its pattern of screwing over its own customers.
For Edwards, the madness began in April 2018, when the New Jersey Turnpike Authority noticed a problem with several checks the agency had written. Somehow the checks were being deposited not once but twice, with different dollar amounts each time.

A $216.08 check from the Turnpike Authority to the South Jersey Energy Company became a $1,450.13 check to a woman named Tyler Mathis. Three other forged checks landed in the same bank account after similar alterations. 
 

State police quickly opened an investigation, subpoenaing Wells Fargo for information on the bogus transactions. They interviewed Mathis in July, who said a mysterious man she called “Cousin Swing” had offered to give her a cut of several checks he needed to deposit.  The police decided not to charge Mathis, concluding she was a victim of the scheme, rather than a culprit. It’s common, in fact, for scammers to talk people into depositing checks on their behalf.

None of this should have been a problem for Edwards. He’d never met Mathis or Cousin Swing. But he had deposited four checks of his own on April 16, at the same Wells Fargo branch where Cousin Swing deposited the forgeries. And Wells Fargo seems to have screwed up the surveillance evidence it provided to the police-- handing them images from the bank’s ATM of Edwards depositing his checks, instead of the correct images. Edwards didn’t fit the description Mathis had given police of Cousin Swing ― but police trusted the bank to have its records straight.

After Edwards agreed to be interviewed by the State Police and provided copies of all his bank activity, Detective Condron was skeptical-- but he went back to Wells Fargo and asked the bank to make sure Edwards was the right guy. This should have been a red flag for both the bank and the police. Check fraud isn’t a super-sophisticated crime, but usually the perpetrators are smart enough to avoid using their own local bank. And it's extremely unlikely that the person running a fraud scheme is a long-term customer who just happens to start sprinkling bogus checks in with his regular banking activity.

But the day after Condron asked Wells Fargo to double-check, the bank’s subpoena compliance team reported back that the man in the photo was definitely the guy who’d deposited the fake checks. When the police asked for additional evidence, Wells Fargo again sent them the same surveillance photos of Edwards making his deposits at the ATM ― but this time with the numbers of the fraudulent checks handwritten across the images.

Edwards was given the runaround by bank offices and were completely uncooperative up to the point that Edwards was arrested by the police.   After he was charged, Edwards called Wells Fargo yet again. This time, he was told the bank had “closed” the inquiry into the Mathis account. The ATM that had taken Edwards’ photograph didn’t keep detailed date-and-time records after two weeks. The bank couldn’t provide evidence to clear his name.

As miscarriages of justice go, Edwards ultimately got off pretty easy. A judge dismissed his case in January 2019, citing the prosecution’s lack of evidence. But the fact that it could have been worse doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in either the New Jersey State Police or Wells Fargo. The case against Edwards was a joke, and police tried to pressure him to confess anyway, before wasting the state’s time and money on a frivolous trial. 

Even with at least three different departments on the case, the bank was simply administratively incapable of fixing the problem it created by sending police the wrong photo.  Edwards is now suing both the state police and Wells Fargo for “false arrest, malicious prosecution and humiliation of an innocent man

The fact remains that Wells Fargo is a recidivist institution. It has admitted to defrauding people by the thousands, repeatedly, over the past two years. Nobody at the bank has been prosecuted for any of the infractions. Recently ousted CEO Tim Sloan made $18.4 million last year, $17.4 million the year before that and over $60.4 million at the bank before the fake account scandal broke.

The federal government could do something about this. Federal regulators have the authority to break up a bank into smaller institutions that someone might be able to manage competently. And prosecutors have the authority to bring criminal charges against bank executives who oversee fraudulent enterprises.

But neither the Trump nor the Obama administrations have expressed much interest in white-collar crime prosecutions at big banks. The standard solution for a bank like Wells Fargo is to slap it with a fine and move on. Those fines are becoming an ordinary cost of doing business. Last year, the bank posted a $22.4 billion profit.

 
And state governments aren’t doing much better. In February, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma ― an elected Democrat ― quietly lifted the sanctions her predecessor had imposed.

The Parsippany United Methodist Church has closed all of its accounts with Wells Fargo, but Edwards is still a customer at the bank. He says it’s the only way he’ll ever get an apology.

He’s still waiting.

Lavish But Poorly-Attended Celebrations for Thai King

66-year-old Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been celebrating his three-day long coronation in lavish fashion.  The new monarch was paraded through the streets of Bangkok yesterday in a display of color, pomp and pageantry.  "Vaj the Raj" married a 40-year-old former airline stewardess in a surprise ceremony just days ahead of his coronation. 

Vaj married his first wife in 1977, a cousin, Princess Soamsavali Kitiyakara, with whom he has a daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, born in 1978.   During his first marriage, the Crown Prince had an affair with Yuvadhida Polpraserth, and they had four sons and a daughter while he was still married to his first wife. They finally married in 1994 but divorced just two years later.  The crown prince accused Yuvadhida Polpraserth of adultery, and she and their children first moved to England in 1996. She and their four sons are reportedly still banished from Thailand.  Their daughter was reportedl kidnapped by the Crown Prince himself, taken back to Thailand and elevated to the rank of Princess, while their sons were stripped of all their titles.

In 2001, the Crown Prince married yet again, to former waitress Srirasmi Suwadee but that marriage only became public after she gave birth to a son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, in 2005. They appear together in a leaked video from 2007, where Srirasmi appears in only g-string at a private party for the Crown Prince’s dog Foo Foo, who was given a military rank and was often dressed in formal attire.  Princess Srirasmi, sang happy birthday to the dog topless, and also got on her knees and ate from a dog bowl in the same video.  When the dog died in 2015, he was given a four-day memorial.

By that time, the Crown Prince had also gotten rid of his third wife-- stripping her of her royal titles, and officially divorcing here. Seven of her relatives were accused of corruption, and her mother and father were sentenced to two and half years in prison. Srirasmi received a $6 million settlement and was exiled. Her son remains the King’s only legitimate son.

The crown prince admitted to an interviewer he was unable to tie his own shoe laces at age 12 because courtiers had always done it for him.

The crown prince has spent much of his adult life away from the public eye-- for many years living overseas in Germany, where he gained a reputation as a cruel and corrupt womanizer.  Wikileaks has reported "Vaj the Raj" may have HIV, Hepatitis C or another blood-related illness, perhaps due to a history of debauchery while living in Germany.

The Thai government has spent 1 billion baht ($31.35 million) on the King's coronation ceremonies, and it has been reported that a crowd of around 200,000 people showed up to view the parade.  The government provided free buses for people living outside Bangkok to come to witness the spectacle, and bus and train travel to the site was free in the capital.  Bangkok is home to over 14 million Thai citizens.

Thai people have been encouraged for the past month by the military government to wear yellow to signify devotion to the monarchy but only in the last few days have people in Bangkok joined in on a large scale. When the late King Bhumibol died, Bangkok's streets and public transport were a sea of black for months on end.

The king's coronation comes amid the uncertainty of an unresolved election battle between the current military junta chief and a 'democratic front' trying to push the army out of politics.

India Army Claims to Have Found Yeti Footprint

The Indian army has claimed to have found footprints of the elusive yeti, sparking jokes and disbelief on social media.

The army tweeted to its nearly six million followers that it had discovered "mysterious footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti' at the Himalayan Makalu Base Camp.

The yeti - a giant ape-like creature - figures prominently in South Asian folklore.  The yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman, is a legendary creature that is said to inhabit the upper reaches of the Himalayas. Stories of people seeing the yeti or its footprints are common in parts of India, Nepal and Bhutan. There is no evidence proving yeti exist but the myth retains a strong appeal in the region.

And the army has now added to the legend by sharing pictures of "footprints" in the snow on an official Twitter account.

Although the footprints were discovered last month, the army made the discovery public only after deciding that it matched earlier theories about the yeti.

Reacting to the disbelief on social media, the army said the "evidence" about the yeti had been "photographed " and "handed over to subject matter experts".

"So, we thought it prudent [to go public] to excite scientific temper and rekindle the interest."

There have been numerous attempts in recent years to solve the mystery of the yeti.  Recent research by a British scientist concluded that the legendary Himalayan yeti may in fact be a sub-species of brown bear.

In 2011, DNA tests on a "yeti finger" taken from Nepal to London half a century ago found it to be human bone.

And in 2013, DNA tests on hair samples carried out by Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes found that they matched those from an ancient polar bear. He said the most likely explanation for the myth is that the animal is a hybrid of polar bears and brown bears.

Billie Eilish-Bad Guy

. . . and Now a Word From Wonkette on Anti-Semitism

Get the fuck outta here with that "both sides" bullshit! Like we Jews don't know who's shooting at us. Shouting "Ilhan Omar!" over and over won't hide the fact the the GOP brought these Nazis to the party. Republicans have been bedding down for decades with anti-Semites like Pastor John Hagee, who preach the Holocaust was part of the divine plan to get Jews out of Europe and into Israel to bring about Judgment Day. And now they're bringing the "very fine" tiki Nazis into the fold. Meanwhile, hate crimes against Jews jumped 37% between 2017 and 2019, and Saturday was the second synagogue shooting in six months. So Meghan McCain can spare us the crocodile tears about the anti-Semitic left endangering the poor Hebrews.

I do think when we're having conversations about anti-Semitism, we should be looking at the most extreme on both sides. And I would bring up Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and some of her comments that got so much attention, and in my opinion Nancy Pelosi wasn't hard enough in her response to her trafficking in anti-Semitic language, talking about 'all about the Benjamins,' and how Jewish people had hypnotized the world.

So, I think when you are talking about rhetoric, and you want to talk about President Trump -- and by the way I agree that he needs to have his feet held to the fire as well, but we're talking about it on both sides of the aisle as well.

What the fuck does Ilhan Omar have to do with some 8chan lunatic with an AR-15 whose manifesto refers to a medieval blood libel and who took credit for burning down a mosque? Nothing! And it's disgusting to use the body of Lori Kaye (may her name be for blessing), who was murdered trying to protect her rabbi, to bludgeon a Muslim congresswoman and the Democratic Party generally.
I have been critical of Omar's comments on Israel, but I sure as hell know who my friends are.

The only two Republican Jews in Congress are Lee Zeldin and David Kustoff. Because despite furiously humping Benjamin Netanyahu's leg, Donald Trump is very, very Bad for the Jews. That's why upwards of 75 percent of us voted Democratic in 2018. Because unlike Megs -- "I don't technically have Jewish family that are blood-related to me doesn't mean that I don't take this seriously" -- those of us with actual skin in the anti-Semitism game know who is playing footsie with Nazis and who is not. Hint, it's not the party that sent 35 Jews to the House and Senate. But please, Mr. Trump, tell me more about how Chuck Schumer is anti-Israel, and Steven King is just a proud American.

I appreciate the condolence from Meghan McCain. I'm sure that it's heartfelt. But words have meaning. "Globalist" means JEW. "Cultural Marxist" means JEW. "Soros" means JEW. "New York values" means Jew. And only one side is using that language and winking at white supremacists while Jews, and Muslims, and Hispanics, and African Americans become less safe. So miss me with that BOTH SIDES crap. (((We))) didn't survive 5,000 years because we can't tell who is dangerous. And right now, in America, the danger to Jews is the Republican Party who gave the Nazis permission to come out of hiding and fought for their right to buy arsenals of murder machines.

GOP, YOU OWN THIS.