The Obama administration will be remembered in history as the one that brought Osama bin Laden to justice. Its handling of the situation was practically flawless.
Nevertheless, there are two things in which the government erred slightly. With respect to these two matters, the Obama administration’s mistake was to tell the truth. In this cases, it would have been better for the United States if the government had told lies.
Interrogatories
It’s International Picnic Day. What’s in your picnic basket (besides bear repellent)?
It’s also apparently International Panic Day. What makes you want to panic?
George Lucas is predicting eventual $150 movie tickets(!). Do you still go see movies in theaters? What’s the best theater and why? What is the most annoying thing about movie patrons these days?
The Twitter Emitter
The NSA's all like, "Chill out guys, we've been listening to this Kanye West album for weeks."
— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 15, 2013
So if guns kill people, I guess pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat.
— Grumpy Cat (@ItsTheGrumpyCat) June 16, 2013
"I’m gonna get a tattoo that says 'Helvetica', written in Arial. When a woman corrects me on it, I will marry her.”
— Shelby White (@ShelbyWhite) June 17, 2013
The older I get, the more I suspect The Jetsons was based on nothing more than idle guesswork.
— Sixth Form Poet (@sixthformpoet) June 17, 2013
If you can sink to the depths where is there no honor or shame, you can have a regular gig on Fox.
— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) June 17, 2013
Yes, that is a sitting U.S. Congressman opposing expanding voting rights to a demographic group because it would hurt his reelection chances
— Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) June 17, 2013
Is tomorrow's abortion bill vote a distraction from the Obamacare repeal votes the House COULD be doing?
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) June 17, 2013
If Darrell Issa won't release the full transcripts of the IRS investigation, are we allowed to ask Edward Snowden?
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) June 17, 2013
Issa: "I cannot release the full transcripts, as they will show that I've wasted a ton of taxpayer money on a non-issue."
— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) June 17, 2013
I wanted to try pickling but I don't have any mason jars, so I ate a bunch of cucumbers and downed a bottle of vodka.
— Sabrina Adult Witch (@introvertedwife) June 18, 2013
Any tips from experienced progressives on safe ways to set hair on fire ?
— rootless (@root_e) June 16, 2013
Make sure you let your peeps
know where to find you!
PLEASE Do Not Recommend the check-in diary! Recs on the Weather Critter Comment are still welcome. 🙂 |
National Archives, US Gov’t. Navajo man and family.
All The News is a semi-regular feature here in purple. I select articles from news sites around the world, and use other social media for possible stories too. Please share stories you find interesting or comment on anything included here.
Judge: Obama sex assault comments ‘unlawful command influence’
Stars & Stripes; Eric Slavin
Two defendants in military sexual assault cases cannot be punitively discharged, if found guilty, because of “unlawful command influence” derived from comments made by President Barack Obama, a judge ruled in a Hawaii military court this week.
Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton ruled during pretrial hearings in two sexual assault cases – U.S. vs. Johnson and U.S. vs. Fuentes – that comments made by Obama as commander in chief would unduly influence any potential sentencing, according to a court documents obtained by Stars and Stripes.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Fulton approved the pretrial defense motions, which used as evidence comments that Obama made about sexual assault at a May 7 news conference.
…
The judge’s pretrial ruling means that if either defendant is found guilty, whether by a jury or a military judge, they cannot receive a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Sailors found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s Article 120, which covers several sexual crimes including assault and rape, generally receive punitive discharges.The ruling sets the stage for defense attorneys to use the same arguments in sexual assault cases throughout the military.
Obama makes policy comments. Defense lawyer says “oh noes!!!!” Judge rules no one may be discharged for bad conduct? #wtf
Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS):
UPDATE: No rulings in affirmative action, marriage equality cases or voting rights today. We will post another SCOTUS thread on Thursday …
Today more rulings on the merit cases argued in the October 2012 term will be issued at 10am Eastern.
SCOTUS Blog has started their liveblog.
The 19 remaining cases in PDF: Cases Remaining for October Term 2012.
The cases many of us are watching:
Fisher v. University of Texas 11-345 CA5 Oct 10, 2012
Whether this Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, permit the University of Texas at Austin’s use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. (Kagan, J., recused)
Hollingsworth v. Perry 12-144 CA9 Mar 26, 2013
(1) Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State
of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman; and (2) whether
petitioners have standing under Article III, §2 of the Constitution in this case.
Shelby County v. Holder 12-96 CADC Feb 27, 2013
Whether Congress’ decision in 2006 to reauthorize Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act under
the pre-existing coverage formula of Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act exceeded its
authority under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and thus violated the Tenth
Amendment and Article IV of the United States Constitution.
United States v. Windsor 12-307 CA2 Mar 27, 2013
(1) Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State; (2) whether the Executive Branch’s agreement with the court below that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives this Court of jurisdiction to decide this case; and (3) whether the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives has Article III standing in this case.
Interrogatories
It’s Eat Your Vegetables Day? Do you?
What veggies do you love?
What veggies do you hate?
Where do you stand in the War on Drugs? Do you advocate for any or all legalization?
The Twitter Emitter
Where were the right wingers of all stripes when humour was being handed out?!
— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) June 16, 2013
Rick Perry: "Corporations are people. They just don't need regulating, because they don't have vaginas."
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) June 16, 2013
Please remember: we have a government, a president, and politics, but you have a regime, a strongman, and sectarian interests.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) June 16, 2013
Happy Father's Day from your heavenly deadbeat Dad.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) June 16, 2013
The hardest part about Father's Day is Googling my father and finding out yet another thing I didn't know about him.
— Jesse Taylor (@jesseltaylor) June 16, 2013
I can't tell which star leads to baby Kimye.
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) June 16, 2013
BREAKING: Darrell Issa now claims to have evidence that Barack Obama has fathered two children with a Chicago-born woman named "Michelle"
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) June 15, 2013
Lawyer: "George Zimmerman deserves a jury of his peers, so we demand jurors who have defied police orders and committed manslaughter."
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) June 15, 2013
Before being allowed to purchase flip flops you should need a note from a doctor with a foot fetish.
— brownbear (@brownbear952) June 14, 2013
The good thing about Science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2013
Let's save "tyranny" for when the government actually does make us buy broccoli.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) June 6, 2013
Dueling conspiracy theories: If govnt can use all phone records, why did it need subpoenas 4 AP and Fox guy? Hmm..could theory one be WRONG?
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 16, 2013
NSA story is the Triple Crown of bad reporting: deliberate government obfuscation + ideological spin by journalists + zero tech literacy.
— Jonathan Glick (@jonathanglick) June 16, 2013
Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely. Remember to let your peeps know where you are!
Here’s today’s Motley Monday Shot of the Week, taken last week at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.
A few small finishes. Two big projects who could not be closer to being “done”, and a brag for my daughter.
All photos in this diary are by me, the diarist.
Would you like to host The Making Location? Once a week would be lovely! I am just not organized enough, or don’t have fresh photos of weekly progress sometimes . . . Anyone?
It matters if one diplomat finds out another thinks his breath smells bad, it does in the relationship between the two people, scale it up it can matter in the relations of nations. There was something about the truth speaking to power and tree shaking Edward Snowden is doing that truly disturbs me and I wanted to discuss it around a story.
It is now apparent about a 75% of Edward Snowden’s story is completely untrue. From his CIA exploits in Switzerland, his salary, and his disclosure to China and Russia small bits of information along with big yarns of spin do nothing to help the impression one has about his integrity.
It’s fairly obvious the potential damage done to our relationship with Switzerland. We are currently trying to get them to drop veils of secrecy and help us chase down the 1% tax cheats an effort I’m sure Snowden didn’t help. Thankfully the leadership in Switzerland seems to be laughing at Snowden’s story. I want to compare what’s going on with what almost happened in 1983 during an exercise called Able Archer. It’s my intention to show how close we came to all out nuclear Armageddon over the same themes of misinformation and mistrust that seems to infect both left and right.
I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”. For example …..
SEPARATED at BIRTH – publisher/activist Gloria Steinem and the late Hollywood agent Sue Mengers – now being portrayed by Bette Midler on Broadway.
OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.
