Wow! Here’s two ways no one should have to die

Good Day World!

Warning!

The observations I make about the following two news stories may come across as heartless. It’s not intended to be, although some may disagree.

Photo – Would you set one of these mortar tubes off on your head?

The first news article is one of those cautionary tales. Read sign. Obey sign and stay safe. Ignore at your own risk.  

The owners of a private marina put up a sign warning folks not to go swimming in their stretch of the Sabine River located in Southeast Texas. If anyone wondered why, they explained they had sightings of an 11-foot alligator recently.

Local residents couldn’t miss the sign.

Despite that stern warning local resident Tommie Woodward, decided to go there for a late-night swim with a woman. The 11-foot alligator was also out for a swim. The result; the man was mauled to death. 

From the woman’s account she only jumped from a dock after he screamed for help.

Was the woman aware of the sign? Did Woodward feel lucky despite seeing the sign? Or, is it possible he wasn’t aware of the sign? Here’s the article.

The second news article defies the imagination.

Every year I hear about crazy things people do with fireworks during the 4th of July.

Accidental injuries are as common during the holiday as chicken wings and Apple pie. Sometimes the results are tragic. Very often it’s children mishandling fireworks. But the adults do their part too.

Believe it or not, a 22-year-old Maine man was killed after setting a fireworks mortar tube off on top of his head on the Fourth of July.

According to news reports Devon Staples of Calais was killed in what police described as a "bizarre" accident around 10 p.m. Saturday while drinking with friends and setting off fireworks at one of their homes on South Street.

A bizarre accident? Plain stupidity? A case for banning alcohol?

It’s hard to imagine any adult putting a firework mortar tube on their head and lighting it. But it’s true. Here’s the video/article. 

Time for me to walk on down the road…

A close look at the ways the ‘9 Supremes’ can be unduly influenced

                                 Good Day World!

I don’t begrudge the nine most powerful people in America for earning nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year. (source) Federal Judicial Center.

What concerns me about our Supreme Court Justices is all of the side gigs they have going on.

For example: free travel. The justices do not have to disclose the costs of their reimbursed travels. Anyone can pay their travel expenses to get on their good side, and not worry about the world knowing about it.

Why is that? Are the “Supreme 9” satisfied with this gap in their accountability?

They also make money on books, speaking engagements, and teaching on the side. Almost makes you wonder when they actually spend time adjudicating cases. Each of these activities are open to the possibility of influence peddling.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Read This story , it’s part of Justice Obscured. The book  lifts the veil of secrecy surrounding the financial holdings and activities of the nation’s most powerful judges.

There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.

FACT: Majority of Supreme Court members millionaires

Related stories:

1. 5 weeks after filing, justices' finances still not public Associated Press
2. 3 Supreme Court justices maintain substantial stock holdings Associated Press
3. Supreme Court justices held stakes in companies who appeared before court MarketWatch

Time for me to walk on down the road….

4th of July: Glad To Be Free Today

On this day, also known as Independence Day, Americans across the land are celebrating in all the traditional ways: outdoor barbecues, firework displays, and leisure activities.

We are blessed to be free in this chaotic world. There’s too many repressive societies that don’t allow their citizens the freedoms we often take for granted. No country is perfect in the real world – and we have our challenges.

However, I’m still proud to say I’m an American. 

There’s all kinds of Fourth of July activities going on where I live today – check out The Medford (Oregon) Chamber of Commerce’s/Jackson County program – it’s supposed to be the biggest ever.

Interesting fact: The Fourth of July has only been a Federal holiday since 1941. Of course we were celebrating our independence as far back as the American Revolution (1775-83), but Congress never got around to making it official until 1941.

“My dream is of a place and time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope on the planet.” Abraham Lincoln

“I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and the struggle to stop it. I’ve learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.” John F. Kerry

Time for me to walk on down the road…

There’s 3 things you seldom see in the news

Good Day World!

There’s three things you seldom see in our mass media/social media.

In a nutshell:

1) Unbiased reporting.

2) The whole story.

3) and, management’s agenda.

About #1) To accurately identify different types of bias, you should be aware of the issues of the day, and the liberal and conservative perspectives on each issue.

Be aware:

A recent study shows that headlines can have more of an effect on a reader’s interpretation of an article than the text in the article itself – even if the whole article is read.

About #2)

When it comes to our government we seldom – if ever – get to hear the whole story. For example, check out this video: OPM Hack, ‘do we have the whole story?’

The only thing we can absolutely count on is to take whatever our government says with a grain of salt. Then research, and verify.

About #3)

On management agendas; anyone with even a shred of common sense can watch just a handful of Fox News shows and see that the entire channel is nothing more than a propaganda mechanism for the Republican party.

Pundifact found Fox News to have only told the truth 18 percent (15 of 83) of the time for the statements they checked.  And even of that 18 percent, only 8 percent of what they said was completely “True.”  The other 10 percent was rated as “Mostly True.”

It isn’t just Fox News either folks. MSNBC and CNN distort (and select) news items to fit their management agendas which are obviously liberal.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

What this country needs right now is a racist president

Good Day World!

What this country needs right now is a racist president.

Fortunately, we have one running. His name is Donald Trump.

Despite having pinatas made in his image (photo left) by Mexicans on both sides of the border, Trump claims to have a great relationship with Hispanics;

“Thousands of people over the years have worked for me from all the different the Latin countries,” he recently told reporters.

Apparently not all the Hispanics who worked with him, and for him, feel he would make a good president.

Last week, Univision, which also airs the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, announced it would end its relationship with Trump over his “insulting” remarks.

Yes, the Donald started off his bid for the presidency by calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists and suggested they were pouring over the border non-stop.

You can bet that will galvanize Hispanic voters to vote for him – wink! wink!

NBC announced it was cutting ties with Trump over his racists comments in which he vowed to build a wall between Mexico and the United States to keep Mexican criminals and “rapists” from crossing the border if he were elected president.

While the rest of the campaigning Republicans are looking for ways to connect with Hispanic voters, the Donald is busy accusing them of being scum. Pretty crazy strategy eh?

Here’s the scary part…according to the results of a CNN/ORC survey released Wednesday, Trump, at 12 percent, sits second behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (19 percent) in the race for the Republican nomination.

OMG!

The Donald managed to jump 9 points in the polls after making his racist announcement! What does that say? I’m no pollster, but it looks like some people would like to have a racist president.

Like I said earlier…fortunately – for some – the Donald looks like presidential material.

Time for me to walk on down the road… 

 

8 Interesting Things About Today

Good Day World!

Here’s eight important events that took place on this day (July 1st) in history:

1. 1905 - Albert Einstein introduces his theory of relativity.

What do you know about this famous theory? The graphics on the left will give you the real lowdown.

2. 1907 - World's 1st air force established (US Army).

The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) were the military aviation service of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, successor to the United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force.

3. 1916 - Coca-Cola brings current coke formula to the market.

During the 1916 bottler's convention, Coke’s new contour bottle was chosen over other entries and was on the market the same year.

4. 1919 - US 1st class postage drops from 3 cents to 2 cents.

Wow! Congress actually lowered the price of a stamp. That never happened again!

5. 1923 - 1st permanent radio network-AT&T (WEAF NY & WMAF Mass).

The introduction of vacuum-tube amplification for telephone lines allowed AT&T to experiment with sending speeches to distant audiences that listened over loudspeakers.

6. 1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales, was born on this day.

Diana was born into a family of British nobility with royal ancestry as The Honorable Diana Spencer.

7. 1963 - Beatles record "She Loves You" & "I'll Get You."

"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for release as a single in 1963.

"I'll Get You" was written by Lennon–McCartney, and released by the Beatles as the B-side of their 1963 single "She Loves You". The song was initially titled "Get You in the End."

8. 1966 - Medicare goes into effect…

After legislation was signed by President Lyndon B Johnson – Americans started receiving Medicare health coverage. Today, Medicare continues to provide health care for those in need.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Happy Birthday Superman!

Good Day World!

“He’s faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! ("Look! Up in the sky!" "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's Superman!")

Happy Birthday big guy!

Fan’s worldwide will be celebrating the introduction of the world’s first superhero today.

IN THE BEGINNING

Action Comics #1 (June, 1938) is the first issue of the original run of the comic book series Action Comics.

It featured the first appearance of several comic book heroes—most notably the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creation, Superman.

For this reason it is widely considered both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book of all time.

On August 24, 2014, a copy graded 9.0 by CGC was sold on eBay for $3,207,852. It is the only comic to have sold for more than $3 million for a single original copy.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were paid $10 per page, for a total of $130 for their work on this issue.

The original panels were rewritten and redrawn to create the first page of Action Comics #1:

1. Baby Superman is sent to Earth by his scientist father in a "hastily-devised space ship" from "a distant planet" which "was destroyed by old age".
2. After the space ship lands on Earth, "a passing motorist, discovering the sleeping baby within, turned the child over to an orphanage".
3. The baby Superman lifts a large chair overhead with one hand, astounding the orphanage attendants with "his feats of strength".
4. When Superman (now named Clark Kent) reaches maturity, he discovers that he can leap 1/8 of a mile, hurdle 20-story buildings, "raise tremendous weights", outrun a train, and "that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin".
5. Clark decides that "he must turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind, and so was created 'Superman', champion of the oppressed...."

Time for me to walk on down the road…

GOP Fashion Show Should Be Inspirational

Good Day World!

I’d like to invite you to sit back, relax, and to enjoy the following fashion show highlights featuring GOP presidential wannabes strutting their stuff.

There’s already 14 contestants who have declared their intention to run for president.

Like any good fashion show there’s favorites – stars if you will – and newcomers to the catwalk. Here’s the top 7 by my measure.

Jeb Bush will be the first person walking down the runway (all polls indicate this) followed by Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and we must not forget Donald Trump!

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE STARS?

After huddling with political fashion experts, I’ve come to the conclusion this will be a very entertaining show. Here’s what to look for:

Jeb Bush, decked out in a red-white-and blue jumpsuit, will tap dance down the walkway to the tune of "A More Perfect Union" by Titus Andronicus.

Ben Carson, sporting a gold sequined tuxedo, is expected to moonwalk down the catwalk to the sounds of Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Star Spangled Banner.

Ted Cruz, in a silk red and white dinner jacket over white shorts adorned with maple leafs (a nod to where he was born in Canada), is expected to shuffle down the walkway to strains of "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie.

Mike Huckabee will be wearing a stunning J.Edgar Hoover-inspired design in satin and lace while waltzing down the walkway to Simon and Garfunkel’s America.

Rand Paul, who can’t dance, will stride down the catwalk wearing an American flag-themed two-piece bathing suit to the sounds “Living in the USA” by the Steve Miller Band.

Marco Rubio is expected to cause a sensation in his Miami Vice white jacket, orange body shirt, and flowing white trousers trimmed in 14-carat gold. When he comes down the catwalk to “One Nation Under a Groove” by Funkadelic , conservative hearts will flutter!

Donald Trump, wearing a designer version of Uncle Sam’s red-white and blue suit will be sure to turn heads with his fancy footwork down the catwalk to the Spanish version of America The Beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the show.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

America’s ‘craziest governor’ faces impeachement

Good Day World!

Watching the Republican Party trying to cope with Maine’s rebellious Republican Gov. Paul LePage, has been entertaining.

Once dubbed “America’s craziest governor,” LePage has also made national headlines for joking about shooting a newspaper cartoonist, saying the NAACP can “kiss my butt,” and claiming that the worst thing the chemical additive BPA could do is “give women little beards.”

His high-profile antics, Republicans claim, have squandered his political capital.

Citics say his decision to retreat to his office and issue a flurry of vetoes (more than 100 so far this session) shows a lack of leadership and that his attacks on fellow Republicans are counterproductive.

In a demonstration of true pig-headedness, LePage has thwarted lawmakers by threatening to veto every bill until the Legislature passes one of his top priorities.

The real kicker is he admits wasting lawmakers' time because he knew they would be overturned.

Finally, they say his latest actions, including meddling in a charter school's personnel decisions has gone too far.

Lawmakers are accusing LaPage of blackmailing Good Will-Hinckley, a private organization that runs the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, into rescinding an offer of employment to Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves, the Bangor Daily News reports.

After that incident, Sen. Tom Saviello, a moderate Republican said LePage took partisan politics to a "new, dark level."

According to Lance Dutson, a Republican strategist;

"There are members of the Legislature that have stood beside Gov. LePage through thick and thin that are saying that they are done with him. That's something that I've never heard before.”

He’s publicly attacked Senate Republicans for not standing up for tax cuts.

GOP Sen. Roger Katz called his actions "personal, angry and vindictive."

A Maine newspaper splashed the headline "Gov. LeRage." 

Impeachement proceedings launched

If LaPage is impeached it would be a first for Maine. The man however seems to thrive on controversy.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Thinly disguised homophobic comments from Republicans over gay marriage ruling

                                 Good Day World!

Just as race continues to be a hotbed issue, homophobia is still prevalent in America.

Dire warnings are coming from GOP party members over the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states.

Many are framing it as an assault against Christians and American values. To hear them talk you’d think this country is now cursed by allowing equality for all people.

With the ruling the LGBT community can assume their rightful place in our society. That’s repugnant to Republicans who feel the LGBT community should be content to be second class citizens.

What they’re saying:  

Ted Cruz

“Today is the worst day in American history.”

Bobby Jindal

“…the decision will pave the way for an all out assault against the religious freedom rights of Christians who disagree with this decision. Marriage between a man and a woman was established by God, and no earthly court can alter that.”

Mike Huckabee

"I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat."

Rick Santorum

“Today, 5 unelected judges redefined the foundational unit of society. Now it is the people's turn to speak #Marriage”

Bryan Fischer

“June 26, 2015: the day the twin towers of truth and righteousness were blown up by moral jihadists.”

Scott Walker

"As a result of this decision, the only alternative left for the American people is to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reaffirm the ability of the states to continue to define marriage."

Carly Fiorina

"This is only the latest example of an activist Court ignoring its constitutional duty to say what the law is and not what the law should be."

Rick Perry

“I fundamentally disagree with the court rewriting the law and assaulting the 10th Amendment. Our founding fathers did not intend for the judicial branch to legislate from the bench, and as president, I would appoint strict Constitutional conservatives who will apply the law as written.”

Related:

Ridiculous Video shows Americans “coming out” as anti-gay

A Conservative Backlash To Court Rulings Is Coming. Bet On It.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Despite reality, GOP presidential candidates continue Don Quixote-like assault on Obamacare

Editor’s Note: Updated conservative comments below

    Good Day World!

I spoke too soon about Republicans looking for a new boogeyman when the Supreme Court kicked out their last ditch challenge against Obamacare yesterday.

That would have been the sensible thing to do. Move on. But, no!

Instead of conceding defeat and turning their attention elsewhere, some Republicans are going to continue their Don Quixote – like quest to destroy our new health care system that’s already proven it’s working.

Ask over six million Americans who wouldn’t have been able to afford or even get healthcare until the Affordable Health Care Act was enacted.

Like Alonso Quixano in Don Quixote who read so many chivalric romances that he lost his sanity and decided to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, the GOP lost it’s sanity and set out to destroy a healthcare system that was working.

However, there are some Republicans (who remain nameless) that realize they dodged a bullet by losing their challenge against the health care law.

Think about it. 

Had the Supreme Court invalidated the subsidies in some 30 states operating on the federal insurance marketplace, that would have affected nearly 6.4 million Americans, who would have seen their health costs skyrocket by about 300 percent.

Republicans were ready to blame Obama for the potential chaos. But some of them acknowledged the GOP would get the brunt of the blame, especially since they backed the lawsuit challenging the subsidies.

The rest will continue to rail against the law.

Jeb Bush:

"As president of the United States, I would make fixing our broken health care system one of my top priorities I will work with Congress to repeal and replace this flawed law with conservative reforms."

How about that for a ridiculous statement? Nothing is broken, the GOP has tried to break it, but failed. Meanwhile it’s working for millions of Americans. That in itself should be proof.

But not for ideologues like Bush “..replace flawed law with Conservative reforms.” What reforms?

Marco Rubio

"Despite the Court's decision, ObamaCare is still a bad law that is having a negative impact on our country and on millions of Americans. I remain committed to repealing this bad law and replacing it with my consumer-centered plan."

Then we have the “savior” Marco Rubio promising that HIS consumer-centered plan is better than Obamacare. Despite reality – millions being helped and all challenges against the law refuted, Rubio claims the law has had a negative impact.

How so? It’s obvious that Rubio also lives in that ideological fantasyland as Bush and most of the other GOP presidential candidates.

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz attacked Chief Justice John Roberts and other members of the Supreme Court in unusually harsh terms Thursday, referring to them as "rogue justices" and "robed Houdinis"

No one is sure what Cruz meant by ranting about robed Houdini’s. Chances are he doesn’t either, but it made a good sound byte. As for rogue justices, those would be the three who voted against Obamacare.

John Boehner

"Obamacare is fundamentally broken and repeal efforts will continue.”

Presumably that will be for as long as there is a Republican Party and enough idiots dedicated to dismantling a health care system that is working.

John Barrasso

"We'll continue to pick away at the law. But ultimately our goal is to repeal and replace, and that's not going to be possible until after the 2016 elections and a Republican gets in office.”

It’s obvious that I over-estimated the intelligence of most of the GOP players by assuming they’d move on to another windmill to tilt their lances against. Apparently not.

Where’s Sancho when you need him?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Obamacare haters lose again! Justices reject challenge

Maybe now those Republicans who have made it their mission in life to subvert health care in this country will pack it in.

The latest legal challenge by Obamacare haters was stifled with a 6-3 vote in the Supreme Court.

The justices said consumers qualify for a subsidy that lowers the cost of premiums whether they buy their coverage through federal or state exchanges. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion.

So, will this latest challenge be the last?

It’s hard to say. Since the inception of the Affordable Health Care Act Republicans have gone on a crusade to upend it. The moment the law was passed the GOP set their sights on trying to sabotage it.

Never mind the over six millions Americans who now have insurance where they didn’t before. There was never a groundswell movement to destroy Obamacare. It was a carefully organized attack by GOP politicians and their industry cronies.

Perhaps now the GOP will turn it’s attention to something more positive, like trying to reach more bipartisan agreements in Congress, instead of trying to hold Americans hostage to their ideologies.

One can only hope.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Professional home run catcher snags A-Rods 3,000th ball

                                      Good Day World!

Who knew?

Some baseball fans are professionals at snagging home run balls.

Take Zack Hample (photo above), who is credited with collecting more than 8,000 home run balls and has written books about the art. Zack Hample has snagged 8,149 baseballs at 51 different major league stadiums since 1990. Find out how and see what else he's been up to.Here’s his blog.

Quote:

“So . . . as you may have heard, Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th career hit happened to be a home run, and I happened to snag it. (Un-REAL!!) I’m planning to write a long blog entry with lots of photos, but things are so crazy right now that I wanted to get this up quickly.”

Zack Hample, who's retrieved 8,000 baseballs, won't give HR back to A-Rod

It isn’t easy being a home run ball collector. A few years ago Zack was kicked out of this game:

Ballhawk Zack Hample Was Kicked Out Of Nationals Park Last Night, And He Is Pissed About It

In Hample’s own words:

“I was approached by a police officer. He told me he'd gotten a call from someone who reported that I was selling baseballs. I was like, WTF, and told him very calmly that it simply wasn't true and that there must've been a mistake.

Then more cops showed up. Then the head of stadium security showed up, along with his assistant and other stadium personnel.

There were seven of them, and they insisted that I'd sold a baseball, which they told me is illegal to do on their private property.

I told them that I'd snagged more than 6,300 baseballs in my life and never sold one — that I was proud of never having sold one . . . that I once turned down a $10,000 offer for a Barry Bonds home run that I caught, that I'd turned down a $500 offer last year after catching the Mike Trout homer, that I give away baseballs to kids at just about every game I attend, that I've raised all that money for charity, and so on.

I even offered to take a lie-detector test, but they didn't want to hear any of it. They simply insisted that I'd sold a baseball, and they ejected me from the stadium.”

Hample is considered a ballhawk—a member of that fraternity of obsessive dudes who hang around ballparks snagging baseballs. For some reason teams don’t like that – especially when a home run ball by a superstar like A-Rod is caught by a collector like Hample who isn’t interested in selling it!

I see Hample as a super collector, and there’s nothing wrong with what he’s doing. I think his detractors envy his success.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

No praise here for liars, regardless of stupid studies!

Good Day World!

It’s unsettling to see how crazy things are in the 21st century.

The parameters of society that I grew up in during the 50’s & 60’s aren’t so clear now. What was once wrong, is now right. In some cases.

My peers and I were told a story where George Washington supposedly chopped down a cherry tree (a rebellious thing if I ever heard one), but later admitted his misdeed, saying “I can not tell a lie.”

The moral of the story was always tell the truth. Even if that story itself wasn’t true, we got the message… lying is bad.

Which leads me to stupid studies. You know the kind I’m talking about. Frivolous research projects that involve flawed methodologies and idiotic conclusions. Here’s a recent example:     

University of Sheffield psychologists recently tested 135 children (hardly an empirical sampling) to see which ones were liars, and which were honest. They then came to the conclusion it was better to be a liar than to be honest.

Say what?

I’m not making this up. In the study, which was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, children between ages 6 and 7 were allowed to look at answers in a trivia game. Those who checked and denied that they had later proved more skillful on a second memory test.

The conclusion was that the liars were smarter because they had to use more memory skills – a kid who lies needs to be able to keep his/her story straight. Back in my day that was called cheating.

ONE MORE EXAMPLE

In 2014 a Canadian-led study noted that being able to lie convincingly was a skill all children needed to grasp if they were to understand how other people think and feel.

But get this, children who were informed that lying was wrong were more likely to be truthful (go figure!). How 20th century. No praise for liars here!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Fear Flakka! It’s Deadly Delirium is Worse than Crack Cocaine

                                             Good Day World!

That’s all our society needs right now, another drug that is cheap, deadly, and rapidly becoming popular.

It’s called “Flakka,” and has other nicknames.

If you live in Florida the chances are that you’ve heard of it. Flakka has also shown up in parts of Ohio, Houston and Chicago. But the substantial U.S. inroads have been in South Florida, making it the epicenter of the outbreak.

RECENT NEWS REPORT

“For decades, South Florida has battled drug traffickers who ship boatloads of cocaine from South America. Now the region is dealing with a new epidemic - cheap, synthetic drugs that arrive from China through the mail.

As authorities in the Sunshine State battle with the surge of Alpha-PVP, better known as "flakka" or "gravel," police departments have begun equipping officers with field detection kits, employing sniffer dogs at mail facilities and training patrol units to look for signs of delirium.

Users are said to feel a sense of super human strength and delirium.

Unlike cocaine, flakka, is both cheap and accessible. The drug is widely advertised for sale online by Chinese companies and can be shipped in large quantities to U.S. addresses by established global delivery companies. Once it hits the streets, a single dose can sell for as little as $5.

Flakka, which was placed on the U.S. list of illegal controlled substances in 2014, is chemically designed to mimic cathinone, a natural stimulant found in the leaves of the khat plant, chewed traditionally in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.

The drug's popularity, however, is only growing.

In 2014, the first year it appeared in the state, authorities in Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, recorded 190 incidents involving flakka. By early May of this year, the number of incidents involving the drug had already raced past 275.

"Cocaine was king, until this year," said Detective William Schwartz, a veteran narcotics officer with the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

What has law enforcement and drug treatment professionals most concerned are flakka's long-term effects. First-time users can take three to four days to return to a normal state of mind, while for repeat users, it could be 14 to 16 days, according to drug treatment professionals.

Some 27 people have died from flakka-related overdoses in the last eight months in Broward County alone.”

(Reporting by David Adams and Zachary Fagenson, editing by Jill Serjeant and G Crosse)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Justice Scalia Stricken with Faith, Derangement, Syndrome

Good Day World!

What happens when you have a person in a position of power and they’re a complete asshole?

Imagine someone responsible for making or breaking our laws and who is completely out of touch with reality. It’s scary, but it’s happening.

How do you go about declaring a magistrate appointed for life of unsound mind and thus unfit to serve?

That’s my question regarding Antonin Scalia, one of our chief justices in the Supreme Court, and a world-class jerk. Arguably one of the most visible members of the nine-member body charged with the decisive resolution of our republic’s most contentious legal matters, Scalia rejects the fact of evolution.

He doesn’t believe in Global Warming, although 97% of the scientists in the world do, and even Congress reluctantly acknowledged it’s a fact. He can’t be relied upon to adjudicate without prejudice and should be removed from the bench…period.

The fact is, Justice Scalia has Faith, Derangement Syndrome (FDS).

According to writer/editor JEFFREY TAYLER, “ …people with Faith, Derangement Syndrome (FDS) exhibit the following symptoms: unshakable belief in the veracity of manifest absurdities detailed in ancient texts regarding the origins of the cosmos and life on earth; a determination to disseminate said absurdities in educational institutions and via the media; a propensity to enjoin and even enforce (at times using violence) obedience to regulations stipulated in said ancient texts, regardless of their suitability for contemporary circumstances; the conviction that an invisible, omnipresent, omniscient authority (commonly referred to as “God”) directs the course of human and natural events, is vulnerable to propitiation and blandishments, and monitors individual human behavior, including thought processes, with an especially prurient interest in sexual activity.”

Here’s more evidence of Justice Scalia’s FDS-related impairment, at the website of the New Civil Rights Movement.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Father’s Day means many things – foremost, it’s about love!

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years," - Mark Twain

                                     Good Day World!

Happy Father’s Day!

I’m thinking about my father today, Richard Wayne Stancliff, who raised me and my two sisters and brother. He’s going to be 87 in 8 days. Still going strong, and still a very important part of my life.

I’m proud to be a father too. My three sons, Richard Ryan, Nathan David, and Elijah Sundance, are father’s also.

Did you know that Father’s Day didn’t become a permanent holiday until 1972 when president Richard Nixon (aka Tricky Dick) signed it into law?

BRIEF HISTORY

Grace Golden Clayton may have been inspired by Anna Jarvis' crusade to establish Mother's Day; two months prior, Jarvis had held a celebration for her dead mother in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles (24 km) away from Fairmont

After the success obtained by Anna Jarvis with the promotion of Mother's Day in Grafton, West Virginia, the first observance of a "Father's Day" was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church.

Grace Golden Clayton was mourning the loss of her father when, on December 1907, the Monongah Mining Disaster in nearby Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of them fathers, leaving around a thousand fatherless children. Clayton suggested her pastor Robert Thomas Webb to honor all those fathers.

In 1910, a Father's Day celebration was held in Spokane, Washington, at the YMCA by Sonora Smart Dodd, who was born in Arkansas. Its first celebration was in the Spokane YMCA on June 19, 1910.

Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about Jarvis' Mother's Day in 1909 at Central Methodist Episcopal Church, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them.

Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, the pastors did not have enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. Several local clergymen accepted the idea, and on 19 June 1910, the first Father's Day, "sermons honoring fathers were presented throughout the city.”

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972. (Wikipedia)

“The most important thing in the world is family and love," - John Wooden

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Why do politicians use music without asking in their campaigns?

(Dropkick Murphys hate Gov. Scott Walker)

                                  Good Day World!

What ever happened to asking?

Seems like politicians don’t understand what getting permission means, especially when it comes to using musical hits to promote their campaigns.

Examples:

* The punk band the Dropkick Murphys tweeted to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to stop using the 2005 song 'I'm Shipping Up to Boston', which was penned with folk singer Woody Guthrie.

“Please stop using our music in any way...we literally hate you !!! Love, Dropkick Murphys

* In kicking off his Republican campaign for president, real estate tycoon Donald Trump took the stage Tuesday to the Neil Young classic "Rockin' in the Free World." But a statement later released by Young's longtime manager said the blustery billionaire wasn't free to use that song.

* In 2000, Tom Petty told George W. Bush to back down from using his 1989 hit 'I Won't Back Down.' Petty's music publisher sent a letter demanding the then-presidential candidate to stop using it at rallies because it gave "the impression that you and your campaign have been endorsed by Tom Petty, which is not true."

* Tom Petty also didn't appreciate Michele Bachmann using another one of his songs when she was running for president in 2011. Bachmann strode onto stage at one rally with the 1977 song "American Girl" playing. Petty's team later sent her campaign a cease and desist letter, Rolling Stone magazine reported.

* Sarah Palin made her entrance at the 2008 Republican National Convention to Heart's 1977 hit – Barracuda. But sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson were quick to pounce when the former vice presidential candidate used it.

* Palin's 2008 running mate, John McCain, got into his own clash with a prominent artist when John Mellencamp asked him not to use his 2007 song. (McCain's slogan at the time was, "Country First.")

The questions begs;

Has there ever been a Democratic candidate who was asked to stop using a song in their campaign?

The only one I know of is President Obama.

In February 2008, soul music legend Sam Moore told Obama to stop playing the Sam and Dave song “Hold On, I’m Comin’.” The then-candidate’s team had been blasting the tune at rallies without Moore’s permission,and some audience members had been adopting their preferred lyrics: “Hold on, Obama’s comin’.”

Moore’s gracious letter wished Obama well with his campaign for the Democratic nomination, adding:

“Having been hit with rocks and water hoses in the streets, in the day with Dr. King as part of his artist appearance and fundraising team, it is thrilling, in my lifetime, to see that our country has matured to the place where it is no longer an impossibility for a man of color to really be considered as a legitimate candidate for the highest office in our land.”

But please, Moore continued, stop using my song. “I have not agreed to endorse you for the highest office in our land....My vote is a very private matter between myself and the ballot box.”

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Gun Happy: US leads world in gun ownership and deaths

                                      Good Day World!

Another senseless slaughter.

A 21 year-old old white man walks into a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and murders nine people in cold blood.

So many questions.

Why is this happening? Why is America’s gun culture so strong? Why can’t we control guns? Why is it so easy to get a gun, no matter who you are?

And, will we ever be able to curb the growing gun causalities with the likes of the NRA stopping any safety/gun control laws with the help of it’s corporate backers? 

Facts – Not rhetoric:

The United States has more guns and gun deaths than any other developed country in the world, researchers found.

A study by two New York City cardiologists found that the U.S. has 88 guns per 100 people and 10 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people - more than any of the other 27 developed countries they studied.

Here’s how it breaks down:

List of countries by firearm-related death rate

" Americans are 20 times as likely to die from gun violence as citizens of other civilized countries." (source)

* The United States has more firearms per capita, the most permissive gun control laws and a disproportionate amount of firearm-related deaths from homicides, suicides and accidents. (source)

* It seems like a relatively obvious equation: The weaker the gun laws and the higher the rate of gun ownership in a given state, the more deaths from gun violence that state will see. (source)

* States With Most Gun Deaths Have High Gun Ownership And Weak Gun Laws, Report Shows (source)

* Another recent report from researchers at Johns Hopkins and Stanford Universities found a positive link in all 50 states between right-to-carry laws and a rise in violent crimes.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

  

Walk on the wild side with 7 reptile and amphibian stories

Good Day World!

Today, I’ve been ruminating on reptiles and amphibians in the news.

My favorite story is the one about a man who takes his giant tortoise for a daily walk.  

The saddest story is a mystery about an 11-year-old female humpback whale that had been living in one area her entire life, but washed up ashore dead Wednesday.

The scariest story has to be the shark attacks at Oak Island, North Carolina.

The most inspiring story is about the rescue and release of sea turtles in Lima, Peru. 

One of the oddest stories is about an alligator giving a raccoon a ride as recorded by a family out for a stroll in a national park.

The weirdest is the surprising way Jellyfish put themselves back together.

The strangest story is about an author who poses the question, “Does An Octopus Have A Soul?” The author thinks so.

Time for me to walk on down the road…