Posts from — November 2017

After Roy Moore threatened to sue them, AL.com responded: We will not be silenced or slowed by Roy Moore’s threat.

Mr. Moore should be familiar with the relevant Supreme Court decision, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan,, a case about an Alabama official trying to sue the media. The media won.

As I expected and we saw with the Harvey Weinstein case, things are continuing to develop with the number jumping to seven and then nine as more women decide to tell their stories of Roy Moore being a creep.

Despite the dire threats of consequences from the Republican Party of Alabama, Richard Shelby, the senior Senator from Alabama says he won’t vote for Moore. Shelby said that he would write in the name of another qualified candidate.

Update: From Techdirt – Roy Moore’s Threat Letter To Sue The Press Is An Artform In Bad Lawyering. [Think Barney Fife with a concussion]

TransCanada has a terrible record, but the Keystone was going to be different – except it wasn’t:

(CNN)A total of 210,000 gallons of oil leaked Thursday from the Keystone Pipeline in Marshall County, South Dakota, the pipeline’s operator, TransCanada, said.

Crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning and officials are investigating the cause of the leak.

This is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota, said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Maybe the 42 thousand jobs they said they were creating were the number needed to clean up after the spills.

I don’t think a couple of bags of cat litter are going to take care of this. 😈

Update: Drone video of the leak area.

The new FireFox update is really annoying. They have moved things around so I have to look rather than knowing where what I want is located. They have redesigned some of the icons/buttons and changed the look of the tabs. They have generally mucked around with things and they broke the one add-on I actually liked and used: FireFTP. FireFox no longer has the ability to connect to my backend within the program. I have reverted to Filezilla, which is fine, but it is a separate program that has to be launched in a separate window, rather than a tab within FireFox.

They told me when it came up how fast the last update made FireFox, but it isn’t fast when I have to juggle another program.

Meanwhile, Australians decisively supported same-sex marriage in their mail-in referendum, and now the Parliament needs to create a law to deal with it. The people are probably more accepting than the politicians, and the politicians are being reduced by questions about their citizenship status, so who knows when the law will actually be passed.

In Africa, Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, is ‘under house arrest’ after army takeover. Mugabe made a decision to remove his long-time Vice President and fellow veteran of the war for independence, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to facilitate naming his wife, Grace, as his successor. The general staff were not happy about that move. Mugabe is 40 years older than his current wife and senior officers of the military are all veterans of the war of independence.

Down in comments, Kryten highlights a decent cause – helping a 10-year-old in Flint, Michigan who is campaigning for a solution to their water crisis. She has met her GoFundMe goal, but she also has t-shirts that you can buy for people on your list ‘who have everything’.

Another woman has come forward to accuse Roy Moore of misconduct.

Roy Moore responded that he doesn’t know the woman and is not familiar with the restaurant she worked at. Mr Moore didn’t explain signing the woman’s high school yearbook, and mentioning the name of the restaurant in his message. He really should know better than to tell lies that are so easy to check.

More and more GOP Senators have deserted Moore, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz.

At 9:19PM local time yesterday a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck 30 km south of Halabjah, Iraq on the Iran/Iraq border.

A huge rescue effort is under way after a powerful earthquake struck Iran’s mountainous border with Iraq, killing more than 400 people and injuring more than 7,000.

Teams are looking for survivors trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The quake is the deadliest in the world this year.

Most people who died were in western Iran in Sarpol-e-Zahab, a town 15km (10 miles) from the border, and other parts of Kermanshah province.

A local dam was damaged by the quake and may fail at any time as a dozen magnitude 4+ aftershocks have been recorded in the area. This is the worst earthquake this year based on casualties and destruction of of property.

Sure, Roy Moore may be a pervert, but to Alabama Republicans he is “their pervert” and they must vote for him or risk a Democrat being elected. Republicans don’t care that he may be a child molester as long as he is on the Republican ticket.

To those who say ‘it was a long time ago’ I would ask “How do you know?” These complaints came after 40 years, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t little girls who were molested more recently and are still afraid to say anything.

Keep in mind that when interviewed by Sean Hannity, Moore said he didn’t “generally” date teens. That is definitely not an absolute denial of what was written in the Washington Post. He admits to knowing some of those mentioned in the article.

Alabama Republicans think that they can escape the reality of choosing a man who may have molested little girls rather than a man who pursued justice for little girls murdered in their church. They may have a hard time getting forgiveness for that decision.

Update: Teresa Jones tweets “As a Deputy DA in Gadsden when Roy Moore was there, it was common knowledge about Roy’s propensity for teenage girls. I’m appalled that these women are being skewered for the truth”. Now it starts, and it will just get worse. People are going to start telling the truth after keeping silent for years.

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 the guns fell silent. The Great War, The War to End All Wars, was over…for a couple of decades.

The red poppies of Flanders fields became a symbol of that war and the veterans that returned from it. Known as Remembrance Day in much of the world, the poppies will be in evidence. Remembrance Day observances have more in common with the American Memorial Day as a day to honor those who have died in war.

First called Armistice Day in the United States, the name was changed to Veterans Day, and its purpose changed to honoring those who are serving, or have served in the military. The change was made to avoid a conflict with the existing Memorial Day observance that goes back to the Civil War era.

A heart felt salute to everyone who managed to survive basic training. We can hope that sooner, rather than later, there will be no need for another generation to put on uniforms.

The revelations of Roy Moore’s Ephebophilia in the Washington Post is not considered confirmed by many, and Alabama Republicans will probably vote for him regardless, unless they have 14-19 year-old daughters.

This matter rests on the credibility of the multiple women who talked to the reporters who wrote the story. As no one has provided any proof that all of these women have been removed from public office twice for misconduct and Roy Moore has twice been found in violation of his oath of office, I tend to believe the women. Roy Moore’s claim of Christianity is belied by his twice putting his hand on a Bible and swearing an oath that he subsequently ignored. His acts are not in line with his claimed beliefs nor do they give me confidence in his ability to tell the truth.

Four women who don’t know each other all describe the same conduct by Moore and their statements are backed up by the testimony of more than two dozen others concerning parts of their stories. I would have pushed to have Moore indicted as a “pervert” because as a deputy district attorney he knew damn well what he was doing was illegal.

Position: 47.0N 45.5W [ 9AM CST 1500 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [035°] near 40 mph [65 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 275 miles [445 km].
Minimum central pressure: 998 mb ↑.

Currently about 360 miles [ 580 km] East of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

The storm is now post-tropical. This is the final NHC advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 42.5N 48.3W [ 9PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [020°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 995 mb.

Currently about 375 miles [ 600 km] Southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

The storm is going over cooler water and is being pulled toward a cold front. It should transition to a post-tropical cyclone late tonight or early Thursday morning.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

This is the centennial of Glorious October Revolution [25 October in the Russian Empire which was using the Julian calendar at the time]. There were a lot of lessons that could be learned from the rise and fall of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Some of those lessons involve the effects of having ignorant amateurs at the controls of government, but people don’t seem interested.

Position: 35.4N 48.5W [ 9PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [010°] near 18 mph [30 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 160 miles [260 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↓.

Currently about 815 miles [1315 km] South-Southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Charlie Pierce doesn’t understand: The Rand Paul Assault Story Just Keeps Getting Weirder.

Paul said he was mowing his lawn when his neighbor tackled him. Was Paul mulching or was he using the mower to blow leaves onto his neighbor’s lawn? It’s Fall and leaves are definitely falling in Kentucky. Among the “cult of the lawn”, blowing your leaves onto your neighbor’s property is a mortal insult that must be dealt with immediately with maximum force. Paul is lucky his neighbor wasn’t clipping a hedge if he was a ‘leaf exporter’.

You may think I’m kidding, but I have watched the arrests in these situations. The ‘cult of the lawn’ are not to be trifled with…

Position: 30.4N 49.9W [ 9PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [010°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1010 mb ↓.

Currently about 890 miles [1430 km] East of Bermuda.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]