Not too many people know the history of the Syrian conflict, or indeed where the country is. Here is a five minute video of how the conflict started, and the players involved.....what it doesn't tell you is the protests, starting in 2011, were from over a million farmers who lost their land because the Euphrates river dried up due to drought and climate change, and these people went to the cities for help, which wasn't forthcoming from Assad....
But still a good primer....watch this and you will know more than 95% of Americans....
After four-plus years of fighting, Syria's war has killed at least 250,000 people and displaced 12 million people. And, though it started as a civil war, it's become much more than that. It's a proxy war that has divided much of the Middle East, and has drawn in both Russia and the United States. To understand how Syria got to this place, it helps to start at the beginning and watch it unfold:
One of the best summaries I have read of why the Republican party has collapsed to the chaos we are seeing in both the Presidential race and the drama in the House over trying to find a Speaker....
It's clear, not partisan and very well written by William Greider in The Nation......
Seriously, this is an excellent article.....
Speaker John Boehner. (Official Photo by Caleb Smith / Flickr CC 2.0)
Fresh chatter among Washington insiders is not about whether the Republican Party will win in 2016 but whether it will survive. Donald Trump — the fear that he might actually become the GOP nominee — is the ultimate nightmare. Some gleeful Democrats are rooting (sotto voce) for the Donald, though many expect he will self-destruct.
Nevertheless, Republicans face a larger problem. The GOP finds itself trapped in a marriage that has not only gone bad but is coming apart in full public view. After five decades of shrewd strategy, the Republican coalition Richard Nixon put together in 1968 — welcoming the segregationist white South into the Party of Lincoln — is now devouring itself in ugly, spiteful recriminations.
The abrupt resignation of House Speaker John Boehner was his capitulation to this new reality. His downfall was loudly cheered by many of his own troops — the angry right-wingers in the House who have turned upon the party establishment. Chaos followed. The discontented accuse party leaders of weakness and betraying their promises to the loyal rank and file.
At the heart of this intramural conflict is the fact that society has changed dramatically in recent decades, but the GOP has refused to change with it.
Bill Maher had a nine minute interview with Bernie Sanders.......
Bill Maher apparently had a great time with Bernie Sanders on Friday night’s Real Time because he unofficially indicated he was behind the Vermont Senator’s bid for President.
In the first segment of the show, Maher greeted Sanders by saying “I want to help your campaign. I want to see you get the nomination. I want to see you be president.” One hell of a way to start out an interview. The conversation quickly turned into the two nerding out over Sanders’ brand of “democratic socialism” and the funding model for of some of Sanders’ political agenda.
“My question for you is the word ‘socialist’ — I want to get right to this,” Maher said. “Because I want to help your campaign, I want to see you get the nomination, [so] we have to teach Americans what this is … I don’t think most Americans realize that they’re already socialists.”
This two minute clip is called "Women Who Love Wine"......quite amusing.....
A story from the Miami New Times that's significant not for the content, but because the leading alternative paper in South Florida is telling the residents their city is doomed, no dates of course but it's still a shocker if you live there to read your community won't be there no matter actions are taken to mitigate climate change....
However - they seriously underestimate the timeline because they don't want to start a panic.... a mass exodus will start when banks start refusing to write 30 year mortgages, and that might be sooner than you think....
Unless you're a GOP presidential candidate, you've probably accepted the facts by now: The global climate is changing. The seas are rising. And at some point, low-lying Miami-Dade County is going to do the whole Atlantis thing.
The latest evidence came yesterday, with a new study that found that even in the absolute best-case scenario — massive cuts in carbon emissions worldwide in the very near future — most of Miami would still sink beneath the rising seas. For Dade County, it's probably already too late.
So should everyone in the Magic City just become a nihilist, consigned to our inevitable doom? Not necessarily, says Dr. Benjamin Strauss, coauthor of the newest dire sea-level-rise report.
"There are a few brighter notes, the biggest of which being that there are a lot of people in South Florida government who are working really hard to deal with rising sea levels," says Strauss, who is vice president for sea level and climate impacts at Climate Central, a nonprofit climate research and journalism organization. "Our picture of the long-term rise vindicates their work and shows that it's going to be useful and helpful."
Absolutely hysterical three minute segment from Bill Maher, translating what Bernie Sanders says into Republicanspeak.....Mary and I laughed out loud at some of these jokes....
It starts out with, of course, the Trumpster.....
During tonight’s Real Time, Bill Maher presented a desk piece to the audience that addressed how Republicans largely despise the theme of “socialism”, while also defending certain elements that apply to America.
While discussing the positions held by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Maher brought up GOP support for Social Security and Medicare in order to demonstrate how certain people will pick and choose which socialist ideas to applaud or condemn. Maher rounded out his point by referencing Donald Trump‘s recent speech where he lit Sanders up for being a socialist, communist “maniac.”
“What happens,” Maher explained “is Bernie says something, and they hear something completely different.” As such, Maher decided to do something about this by taking Sanders’ talking points on several issues from the Democratic debate, and explain how the GOP re-interprets them as omens of America’s doom.
The Volkswagen diesel scandal has revealed a larger disaster - the spread of small diesel engines has been terrible for Europe.....
Shutterstock
Last month's news that Volkswagen had been illegally rigging its diesel-powered cars to cheat on pollution tests has sparked all sorts of outrage. Hearings, lawsuits, fines, general opprobrium. And rightly so; the company's deception was appalling.
But there's a broader, far more consequential problem here that a lot of coverage has danced around or hinted at only indirectly. So let's say it: Europe's promotion of diesel vehicles as a "green" transportation option has been a complete and total disaster thus far — for reasons that go well beyond the Volkswagen scandal.
Ever since the 1990s, European governments have been encouraging drivers to buy diesel cars as an alternative to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. The rationale was simple: Diesel engines use fuel more efficiently, so the switch was supposed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and help stave off global warming. Thanks to tax breaks and other incentives, diesel cars now make up one-third of Europe's fleet:
One of my favorite music videos ever is this one from Above and Beyond, with Zoe Johnson....it's a beautiful song, Zoe has a spectacular voice and it's a mini-movie in four minutes........think "Thelma and Louise" set to great music.....
Todays Will Rogers jokes
Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the
greatest political sages this country has ever known.
Some of his sayings:
1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
3. There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.
4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
5. Always drink upstream from the herd.
6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.
8. There are three kinds of men:
The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
10. If you're riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
12. After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring.
He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
ABOUT GROWING OLDER...
First ~Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
Second ~ The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
Third ~ Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me; I want people to know 'why' I look this way.
I've traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren't paved.
Fourth ~ When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.
Fifth ~ You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.
Sixth ~ I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
Seventh ~ One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it's such a nice change from being young.
Eighth ~ One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.
Ninth ~ Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
Tenth ~ Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft.
Today it's called golf.
And, finally ~ If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old.
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