August 20 and 21, 2016


News and Views


SANDERS’ AVOIDANCE OF DISCLOSURE

Despite this long listing of Sanders’ potential sins, the statement that Sanders “expertly” avoided filing the form is the worst thing they are able to say about him. They conclude their comments with the mild statement that his finances will probably turn out to be about like all previous years, in other words, no Koch or Wall Street money there. I personally believe that Sanders probably has and will continue to put his gains back into the movement to make US government expenditures much more progressive, remove the Big Money from the campaign finance system – the “buying of the president” -- and remove the undemocratic aspects of the candidate selection process that made the DNC activities a “coronation” rather than an election, thus bringing about a freer and fairer election process. After all, he is a smart cookie and a soldier for good over evil. Those are good things. Go, Bernie!



https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/08/18/20074/how-bernie-sanders-beat-clock-and-avoided-disclosure

Buying of the President 2016
How Bernie Sanders beat the clock — and avoided disclosure
Unlike Trump and Clinton, liberal senator won't reveal personal finances in 2016
By Dave Levinthal
5:00 am, August 18, 2016 Updated: 3:21 pm, August 18, 2016

Center For Public Integrity www.publicintegrity.org *

As a Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont vociferously argued for political transparency, especially when money was concerned.

Sanders insisted, for example, “on complete transparency regarding the funding of campaigns.” He decried “huge piles of undisclosed cash” benefiting candidates.

But when federal law required Sanders to reveal, by mid-May, current details of his personal finances, his campaign lawyer asked the Federal Election Commission for a 45-day extension.

Request granted.

On June 30, Sanders’ campaign requested a second 45-day extension, saying the senator had “good cause” to delay because of his “current campaign schedule and officeholder duties.”

Again, regulators approved Sanders’ punt.

Now that Sanders’ second extension has expired, spokesman Michael Briggs confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity that the senator won’t file a presidential campaign personal financial disclosure after all.

Tracking TV ads in the 2016 presidential race
Who is on the air, and where?

“We were told that since the senator no longer is a candidate there was no requirement to file,” Briggs said.

FEC spokesman Christian Hilland verified that Sanders has not filed a personal financial disclosure. He likewise confirmed that Sanders, who technically ceased to be a presidential candidate when Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic nomination on July 26, is no longer required to file one.

A 2011 legal advisory from the United States Office of Government Ethics provides Sanders cover, stating that “the requirement to file a Public Financial Disclosure Report … ends when the candidate is no longer seeking nomination or election to the office of president.”

On the one hand, who now — beside political voyeurs and snoopy journalists, perhaps — would care about the investments and income of an also-ran presidential candidate who hasn’t been a major factor in Election 2016 for more than two months?

But on the other, Sanders expertly exploited a system that effectively allowed him to delay, delay, delay — all while he chided Clinton receipt of six-figure paydays for delivering closed-door speeches to officials at investment bank Goldman Sachs and other powerful special interests. (Both Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump filed their personal financial disclosures on time in mid-May without asking for extensions.)

Therefore, in the teeth of a Democratic primary where Sanders posed a bona fide threat to Clinton, voters couldn’t definitively know whether Sanders — historically one of the Senate’s least wealthy members — suddenly parlayed his political fame into personal profit. Or, for that matter, whether he sustained financial distress.

The form Sanders didn’t file would have detailed his finances through the middle of May 2016.

His most recent U.S. Senate disclosure, which details only his 2015 assets, show his wealth concentrated in a collection of mutual funds owned by his wife, Jane Sanders.

Beyond his Senate salary, Sanders himself draws a small pension from the government of Burlington, Vermont, where he once served as mayor. And he’s also received a handful of modest honoraria for speeches and television show appearances, although he reported donating them to charity.

Buying of the President 2016

. . . .

Sanders also carried up to $50,000 in credit card debt and up to $1 million in mortgage debt, according to his 2015 U.S. Senate personal financial disclosure.

Sanders filed that Senate disclosure document on June 6. This somewhat undercuts his presidential campaign’s argument, made around the same time, that Sanders was too busy campaigning to complete and submit a presidential disclosure covering his finances during early 2016.

“It’s disappointing that a candidate who spent so much time talking about political reform ... and was critical of Hillary Clinton’s personal finances, chose not to let us know anything about his own,” said policy analyst Richard Skinner of the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for political transparency.

Had Sanders filed a personal financial disclosure report this month, it would have looked more or less like the ones Sanders had filed in the past, Briggs said.

“There’s a couple decades’ worth of congressional financial disclosure reports that show pretty much the same thing from year to year,” Briggs said.

The public will eventually find out how Sanders managed his assets while running for president: As a sitting senator, Sanders must next year file a personal financial disclosure with the U.S. Senate covering calendar year 2016.

Versions of this story were published with NBC News, VTDigger and the Huffington Post.



*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Public_Integrity

Key people
Peter Bale (CEO)

Website
www.publicintegrity.org

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to cause them to operate with honesty, integrity, accountability and to put the public interest first."[1] With over 50 staff members, CPI is one of the largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative centers in America.[2] It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.[3]

CPI has been described as an independent,[4][5] nonpartisan[6][7][8] and progressive[9] watchdog group.[6][10] In their February 16 and 17, 1996, reports on then U.S. presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan's ties to a white supremacy supporter, one journalist from the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times editorial referred to the CPI as a "liberal group."[11][12]

CPI releases its reports via its web site to media outlets throughout the U.S. and around the globe. In 2004, CPI's The Buying of the President book was on the New York Times bestseller list for three months.[13]

Mission[edit]

The mission of the CPI is "to serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions, using the tools of investigative journalism."[14]

. . . .

In 2010, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund merged into the CPI, and eight Huffington Post journalists moved to CPI.[2][30]

In 2011, CPI eliminated 10 staff positions in order to compensate for a $2 million budget shortfall. Buzenberg and other senior staffers also took salary cuts. CPI board chairman Bruce Finzen said the budget would be “reduced between $2 and $3 million, more like $2.5 million. The budget for next year will be in the 6 to 7 million range.” As of 2012, there were over 50 staffers at CPI, making it one of the largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative centers in the country.[2]

In April 2011, with support from the Knight Foundation, CPI launched iWatchnews.org as its main investigative reporting website.[31] In August 2012, CPI stopped using iWatchnews.org and returned to its original domain.[32]

Buzenberg stepped down from CPI at the end of 2014, at which time Peter Bale was named CEO.[33]

. . . .

Ideology[edit]

A 2012 The New York Times editorial described the CPI as a "nonpartisan watchdog group."[6]

In relation to a story in February 1996, CPI was characterized as a "liberal group" by The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.[11][12] Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a progressive media watchdog, has described CPI as "progressive."[9] The Center describes itself as "strictly nonpartisan."[8]

Praise[edit]

Kevin Phillips of National Public Radio has said, "no other investigative organization shines so many probing flashlights into so many Washington dirty-laundry baskets."[17]

In 2006, Slate media critic Jack Shafer described CPI as having "broken as many stories as almost any big-city daily in the last couple of decades".[66]

. . . .
Criticism[edit]

Funding from supporters of legal restrictions on campaign finance[edit]

Writing in The Wall Street Journal in March 2005, commentator John Fund accused CPI of being a member of what he termed the "campaign finance lobby."[76] Citing a speech by Sean Treglia, former program manager at Pew Charitable Trusts, Fund argued that a "stealth campaign" by "eight liberal foundations" fomented a false sense of public demand for new restrictions on the financing of public campaigns.[76] Fund singled out CPI as a front group pushing Pew's agenda, arguing that "reporters are used to attempts to hoodwink officials into thinking an issue is genuinely popular, and they frequently expose them. But when "good government" groups like the Center for Public Integrity engage in the same tactics, journalists usually ignore it."[76]

CPI's Bill Allison responded to criticisms arising from Tregalia's speech by emphasizing that Pew's contributions to the CPI's work on campaign finance have always been forthrightly disclosed.[77] In a published argument with blogger Ryan Sager, Allison also disputed the notion that the CPI's work amounted to advocacy. Allison stated, "the purpose of our grants is to do things like code hundreds of thousands of public records, put them in a database and post them on our Web site so anyone can use them. The amount of money we've gotten to push campaign finance reform is $0.[78]

In another essay on CPI's website, Allison challenged CPI's critics, and Fund specifically, arguing that "[Fund] doesn't cite a single instance in which the Center has attempted to "hoodwink" government officials (or anyone else, for that matter) into thinking campaign finance is a genuinely popular issue, because he can't. We simply don't operate that way. We don't do public relations campaigns. We don't lobby Congress. We don't petition the Federal Election Commission. We don't pretend we have legions of individuals contributing money to support our work. Our paid membership amounts to around six thousand people; we'd certainly be happy to have more...as for Mr. Fund, back in the days when campaign finance issues were of concern to him, he sought us out to lend authority to his writings on John Huang and quoted us in an Oct. 29, 1996, column on the subject. Is it Mr. Fund's view that when he wrote about various DNC campaign finance violations, he was trying to hoodwink federal officials into thinking that people cared about the issue?[79]

Coordination with advocacy groups[edit]

In 2011, Politico called into question CPI's collaboration with advocacy organizations. Politico reported that CPI had coordinated the release of a report on Koch Industries with Greenpeace. Politico also reported that Pew Charitable Trusts, a funder of the Looting the Seas report, hosted a screening of a CPI documentary and then organized a call to action with other NGOs for the protection of bluefin tuna. In 2008, CPI published a report on tobacco that was both funded by and promoted by an advocacy group called Tobacco Free Kids.[86][87][88]



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-hillary-clinton-leads-donald-trump-by-8-percentage-points-nationally/

Poll: Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 8 percentage points nationally
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
August 19, 2016, 3:52 PM


Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump nationally by 8 percentage points among likely voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released Friday.

The poll found 42 percent of people in the U.S. back Clinton while 34 percent support Trump. Nearly a quarter of likely voters said they would not pick Clinton or Trump.

The margin is wider than at this point in the 2012 presidential election when President Obama led then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney by less than 2 percentage points, Reuters notes.

A separate Reuters poll found that in a four-way race, 41 percent of likely voters would back Clinton, 34 percent would support Trump, 7 percent would support Libertarian Gary Johnson and 2 percent would back Stein.

Since late July, Reuters said support for the Democratic presidential nominee has ranged between 41 percent and 44 percent among likely voters. Support for Trump has ranged from 33 percent to 39 percent.

Most people surveyed also said they view both Clinton and Trump unfavorably and two-thirds said they think the U.S. is on the wrong track.

Other recent polls show Clinton leading nationally and in several swing states.

The poll surveyed samples of 1,119 voters and 1,118 voters between August 14 and 18 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.



Most even reasonably well-educated people in this country do seem to favor “Crooked Hillary” over a man who is an opportunist at best and a NeoNazi at worst. This poll is good news.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/turkey-blames-isis-suicide-bombing-apparently-ordinary-kurdish-wedding-gaziantep/

Turkey blames ISIS for “heinous” bombing of apparently ordinary Kurdish wedding
CBS/AP August 21, 2016, 7:21 AM

21 Photographs -- Women mourn as they wait in front of a hospital morgue in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, after a suspected bomber targeted a wedding celebration in the city, Turkey, August 21, 2016. REUTERS/OSMAN ORSAL
22 Photos -- Coup attempt in Turkey
Play VIDEO -- Who is responsible for the rise of ISIS?


ISTANBUL - Turkey’s president on Sunday blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for the bombing of an outdoor wedding party inthe southeast that killed 50 people and wounded dozens of others.

Officials say Saturday’s attack in Gaziantep, near Syria’s border, appeared to be a suicide bombing. It appeared to be just a regular wedding and it wasn’t immediately clear why it was targeted. The BBC reports the bomber appears to have attacked the Kurdish wedding as revelers danced in the streets.

The remains of a suicide vest have been recovered at the site, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the chief public prosecutor’s office.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement early Sunday denouncing the “heinous” bombing and saying that ISIS was “the most likely perpetrator of the Gaziantep attack.”

He said the bomber was between 12 and 14 years old.

The initial death toll was 30 killed and 94 wounded. Later, the Gaziantep governor’s office raised the toll to 50, without giving a number of wounded, according to Anadolu. It is the deadliest extremist attack of 2016.

Turkey has been rocked by a wave of attacks in the past year that have either been claimed by Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party - known by its acronym PKK - or were blamed on ISIS. In June, suspected ISIS militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people. A dual suicide bombing blamed on ISIS at a peace rally in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, in October killed 103 victims.

The attack comes as the country is still reeling from lastmonth’s failed coup attempt, which the government has blamed on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers. Gulen denies any involvement.

Erdogan said there was “absolutely no difference” between ISIS, Kurdish rebels and Gulen’s movement, calling them terrorist groups.

“These bloodthirsty organizations and the powers behind them have neither the will nor power to silence the calls to prayer, lower the flag, divide our motherland and break up our nation,” he added.

Earlier this week, a string of bombings blamed on the PKKthat targeted police and soldiers killed at least a dozen people. A fragile, 2.5 yearlong peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade-long conflict.

The two sides have engaged in violent attacks and reprisals with little sign of a negotiated peace returning. It’s unclear how the wedding attack will affect the conflict.

In Gaziantep, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek and the country’s health minister visited the wounded and inspected the site of the attack.

“This is a massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism,” he told reporters. “We ... are united against all terror organizations. They will not yield.”

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the bombing, which he said turned “a wedding party into a place of mourning” and he vowed to prevail over the “devilish” attacks.

Opposition parties have also denounced the attack. The main opposition Republican People’s Party will be holding an emergency meeting in the late afternoon and a delegation was being sent to Gaziantep by the Nationalist Movement Party. Supporters of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party will be holding a protest against the attack in Istanbul.

Foreign governments have also condemned the attack, with statements issued by the U.S., Sweden, Greece, France, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan.

Police sealed off the site of the explosion and forensic teams moved in.

Hundreds of residents had gathered near the site chanting “Allah is great” as well as slogans denouncing attacks.

Turkish authorities issued a media blackout on coverage of the attack until the investigation is completed.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/calcium-supplements-linked-to-higher-dementia-risk-in-older-women/

Calcium supplements linked to higher dementia risk in some women
By DENNIS THOMPSON HEALTHDAY
August 19, 2016, 10:57 AM

Play VIDEO -- Dangerous ingredients found in dietary supplements


Taking calcium supplements with the hope of keeping osteoporosis at bay may raise an older woman’s risk of dementia, a new study suggests.

And that seems particularly true if a woman has already sustained an event causing poor blood flow to the brain (cerebrovascular disease), such as from a stroke, researchers said.

The study can’t prove cause-and-effect. However, dementia risk was seven times higher in female stroke survivors who took calcium supplements, compared to women with a history of stroke who didn’t use the supplements, the findings showed.

The risk of dementia also was three times higher in women with white matter brain lesions who took calcium supplements, compared to women with white matter lesions who didn’t take the supplements. Lesions in white matter tissue are evidence of a mini-stroke or some other problem impeding blood flow within the brain.

Because the study can’t prove causality, “women with cerebrovascular disease and osteoporosis should discuss this new information with their clinicians,” said lead researcher Dr. Silke Kern. She is a neuropsychiatric researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Kern noted that some guidelines have recommended that seniors consume 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day to prevent osteoporosis.

But, other research has suggested that calcium supplements may increase a woman’s risk of heart attack or stroke, Kern said.

She stressed that the findings apply only to calcium supplements. Calcium from food appears to affect the brain differently than calcium from supplements, Kern explained, and appears to be safe or even protective.

The current study included information from 700 dementia-free women. The participants were between the ages of 70 and 92 at the start of the study. The study began in 2000, and researchers followed the women’s health for five years.

The study participants took a variety of tests at the beginning and end of the study, including tests of memory and thinking skills. Researchers also conducted CT brain scans on 447 participants at the start of the study, which revealed that 71 percent of these women had white matter lesions.

A total of 98 women were taking calcium supplements at the start of the study, and 54 women had already experienced a stroke. During the study, 54 more women had strokes and another 59 women developed dementia.

Initially, the research team found that the women taking calcium supplements were twice as likely to develop dementia as women who did not take supplements.

However, a more thorough analysis of the data revealed that the risk was being driven by women with signs of cerebrovascular disease -- either a previous stroke or signs of white matter damage in their brains.

Kern isn’t sure why calcium supplements might have this effect. Calcium plays a crucial role in cell death, she said, and high levels of calcium in the blood might prompt the early death of neurons. Excess calcium also might somehow affect the blood vessels within the brain.

Dr. Neelum Aggarwal is an associate professor of neurological science and director of research for the Rush Heart Center for Women at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She said that calcium also can affect brain chemistry, and too much calcium might cause a cascade of events that lead to brain cell degeneration.

But Aggarwal cautioned against blaming calcium supplements alone for any person’s dementia risk.

“We need to consider that the combination of nutrients will be more predictive than one nutrient,” she said. “For example, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium all are typically looked at for their effects on multiple organs, and cognitive [mental] functioning will be affected most likely by a combination of these nutrients. To say that only one nutrient increases the risk of dementia is premature, and more studies need to look at a combination of nutrients.”

Osteoporosis is a major problem for seniors, and it’s worth looking further into the tradeoffs that come with calcium supplements, Aggarwal said.

“My suspicion is that M.D.s will not change their prescribing habits at this time based on this article,” she said. “I would hope this type of study will be reproduced in larger populations and more ethnically diverse populations.”

Duffy MacKay is spokesperson for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement trade association. spokesperson. He agreed that little should change for women based on this study.

“This new calcium study provides limited evidence to support its hypothesis, and therefore we caution against jumping to conclusions. Even the authors acknowledge these findings ‘need to be confirmed,’” MacKay said.

“The authors mined data from a decade-old observational study, which was not originally designed to assess calcium intake,” MacKay noted.

“Further, the new analysis included only 98 women who took calcium supplements and did not include any information on their supplemental calcium dose or duration, or dietary intake of calcium, which are needed in order to draw accurate conclusions about the effects of calcium supplementation,” he explained.

The findings were published online Aug. 17 in the journal Neurology.



I am one of the millions of women middle aged or older on these supplements, and I’m not happy to see this article. I will talk to my doctor about reducing it or going off it entirely. I do drink milk every day.



GOOD NEWS FOR THE DAY

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stranger-waiting-in-line-behind-texas-teacher-pays-for-her-school-supplies/

Stranger waiting in line behind Texas teacher pays for her school supplies
By JENNIFER EARL CBS NEWS
August 19, 2016, 5:25 PM

Photograph -- Lester Brown (left) poses with teacher Sabrina Drude after paying for her $97-worth of school supplies. SABRINA DRUDE


SAN ANTONIO -- Sabrina Drude was doing what many teachers do before the start of the school year -- shopping for supplies for her students -- when she noticed a man standing in line at Wal-Mart examining her items.

With a cart full of hundreds of notebooks, pencils and markers, the seventh grade teacher was anticipating an eye roll or two as she checked out.

Instead, she got a question, several actually. The man behind her, noticing she didn’t have any children with her, asked her why she needed the supplies.

The teacher at Francis Scobee Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, explained that she teaches in a very low socioeconomic area where kids can’t always afford what their peers can.

Touched by the woman’s kind gesture, the man offered to pay for everything in the woman’s cart. She thanked him, but said she couldn’t accept his money.

But when $97 flashed on the cash register, the man, later identified as Lester Brown, jumped between Drude and the cashier with a bill in his hand.

“He said, ‘Put your wallet away,’ and I just started crying,” Drude told CBS News. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Drude didn’t understand why someone would do something so sweet for a stranger.

“Because teachers don’t get the recognition that they deserve,” Drude recalled Brown telling her.

Throughout the year, Drude often spends money out of her own pocket to benefit kids in her class. The $250 tax deduction that teachers receive doesn’t even put a dent into what we put into our classrooms, Drude said.

“I teach in a very low socioeconomic area,” Drude explained. “Some of my kids can’t afford what their peers can. I don’t want them to have to deal with that embarrassment or them not even wanting them to tell me.”

Thanks to Brown, Drude’s students have the supplies that they desperately needed.

And Drude said she plans to tell her students about the man’s good deed.

“This is exactly the type of person I want to influence my kids to be,” said Drude, adding that she plans to ask him to join her class for a pizza party. “I want him to inspire my kids just like he inspired me; if any of my kids grew up to be half the man he is I’d be very proud.”



I’m glad to hear his comment about teachers deserving much more than they usually get in the way of pay. They really are a force for good in our society, almost always. Sometimes there is a bad, bad story about a teacher, but it is rare. They usually are motivated by a true desire to be helpful to the kids, and an enjoyment of working with people more than with money or things. Thank you, Mr. Brown!



http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/19/490645511/this-weekend-water-voles-are-making-a-splash-in-england

This Weekend, Water Voles Are Making A Splash In England
RUSSELL NEWLOVE
August 19, 2016 5:03 PM ET

Photograph -- Around 100 water voles are being reintroduced at Malham Tarn, a lake in North Yorkshire in England. This is the first time the endangered mammals have been seen in the area in 50 years.
Richard Rayner/North News & Pictures Ltd/National Trust
Photograph -- Water vole ecologist Coral Edgcumbe holds a water vole. Once a common sight in England, water vole numbers have dropped by almost 90 percent in recent years. Richard Rayner/North News & Pictures Ltd/National Trust
Photograph -- The reintroduction of the voles will take time; for the first two days, the animals will remain in cages placed on the fringe of the tarn.; Richard Rayner/North News & Pictures Ltd/National Trust


The water vole — once a common creature in the British countryside — hasn't been seen in the U.K.'s Yorkshire Dales for more than 50 years. But starting this weekend, the endangered animals might be making a comeback.

Arvicola amphibious has a fine literary pedigree: In The Wind in the Willows, "Ratty" was in fact a water vole. The furry-tailed, water-loving rodents were once in abundance in the Yorkshire Dales but have been eradicated by industrialization. Blame minks, too. Ecologists believe that the predatory critters, escaped from fur farms, devastated vole populations.

In recent decades, voles are thought to have disappeared from some 90 percent of the waterways they once inhabited across the U.K. Between 2004 and 2011, their numbers dropped by more than one-fifth.

The little guys gained the sad title of the U.K.'s fastest-declining wild mammal. Something had to be done.

That's why on Friday the National Trust, a conservation charity in the U.K., released 100 water voles at Malham Tarn, a lake sitting just over 1200 feet above sea level in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England. Media reports in England are calling it the biggest-ever attempt to save the endangered creature.

The National Trust bills it as the highest upland water vole reintroduction project by altitude ever carried out in Britain. They hope that reintroducing the animal to the wetlands will increase biodiversity in the area — rare plants can flourish around voles' burrows. They are also a tasty snack for predators with population problems of their own, such as owls and otters.

Releasing the voles is a steady process. Initially confined to large cages at the water's edge, they'll be coaxed out after three days with the promise of food left floating on rafts — in this case, apples and carrots. After five days, the cages will be removed and the voles will be at the mercy of nature.

Exposure to predators means the average water vole has a life expectancy of just five months. Those bred in captivity can enjoy up to three long, otter-free years. As such, the National Trust does not expect the population to change significantly for at least a year. They don't know what an ideal population size in the region should be, but they'll be monitoring the animals closely.

Prolific breeders, female voles can produce five litters every year, each time squeezing out as many as eight pups.

Ecologists at the site say that if the reintroduction is successful, they'll return in 2017 with another 100 voles.

Russell Newlove is NPR's London producer.



Environmental issues are very closely linked with each other. That’s why a situation like Global Warming is not a bleeding heart liberal issue, but a threat to our planet. When we destroy the environment the animals inevitably die off rapidly.

In this case, these voles improve the plant growth in the areas where they live. Huh! Besides, just look at the photos that come with this article. Voles are adorable!



WHY I LOVE BIOLOGY – THREE ARTICLES

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/googly-eyed-purple-squid-sighting-delights-scientists/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=27873520

Googly-eyed purple squid sighting delights scientists
By KACEY DEAMER LIVESCIENCE.COM
August 17, 2016, 4:27 PM

Photograph -- The stubby squid’s giant eyes, that “look painted on,” caused one researcher to compare the sea creature to a children’s toy. EVNAUTILUS/YOUTUBE
Video -- Googly-eyed Stubby Squid | Nautilus Live by EVNautilus on YouTube


A purple squid with eyes so googly it could easily be mistaken for a character in the movie “Finding Nemo” was recently spotted by scientists off the coast of Southern California.

The so-called stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) is a species of bobtail squid native to the northern Pacific Ocean. These adorable sea creatures can be found in waters from Japan to Southern California, and typically dwell along the ocean floor, at depths of around 984 feet, though they have been spotted as deep as 4,260 feet, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

The stubby squid’s giant eyes, that “look painted on,” delighted the scientists aboard the Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus. In a live stream of the Nautlius’ undersea explorations, one researcher said the googly-eyed squid looks “like some little kid dropped their toy.” [Photos: See the World’s Cutest Sea Creatures]

“On that watch it happened to be a lot of geology folks or ecology folks, so a lot of the commentary was of course more like ‘What is this thing, it’s so cute!’ and sometimes we have less of that when we see rocks,” Samantha Wishnak, a science communication fellow aboard the E/V Nautilus, told Live Science.

The scientists on watch during the squid sighting also initially misidentified the stubby squid as a cuttlefish, which the squid is closely related to. Wishnak said the E/V Nautilus team was able to rule out cuttlefish, as the species is not found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. With a few other ideas for what the species might be, the researchers on board collaborated with scientists ashore and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and MBARI, to identify the stubby squid.

Stubby squids are nocturnal hunters, so Wishnak said it was exciting to see the animal in its “somewhat natural behavior” rather than hidden in the sea floor.

“They actually have this pretty awesome superpower, they can turn on a little sticky mucus jacket over their body and sort of collect bits of sand or pebbles or whatever they’re burrowing into and make a really nice camouflage jacket,” Wishnak said. “When they go to ambush something and prey on something, they’re able to sort of turn off that mucus jacket.”

Other stubby squid sightings by divers have resulted in the same “deer in the headlights” kind of reaction, Wishnak said. The animals are used to being in darker waters, camouflaged from view.

“I think what we encountered was a squid who was not expecting to see us in any way,” Wishnak said.

The E/V Nautilus is currently on a four-month expedition to explore the eastern Pacific Ocean. Next, the ship will move from the coast of Southern California to the San Francisco Bay. The vessel’s mission is to explore the oceans and seek out the unknown, and is operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, a nonprofit organization founded by oceanographer Robert Ballard.

Recent discoveries on this expedition have included a mysterious purple sea orb and a sighting of the world’s largest bony fish, the Mola mola.



Mola mola

http://www.arkive.org/sunfish/mola-mola/

Sunfish description
Photograph -- Sunfish with diver

Not only is the sunfish (Mola mola) the world’s heaviest bony fish, with some individuals weighing in at a staggering 2.3 tonnes (3) (4), but it also possesses a truly bizarre body shape, likened to a gigantic ‘swimming head’ (3) (5). The sunfish has no tail, with the caudal fin reduced to a rudder-like structure, called the clavus. The dorsal and anal fins are placed far back on the body, and are used as ‘oars’ in swimming (the fins are flapped synchronously to propel the fish through the water) (2) (3) (5) (6) (7). The sunfish does not have scales, and instead has a tough, elastic skin which is covered in mucus. Also unlike other fish, it has fewer vertebrae, lacks bony tissue in the skeleton, and does not possess ribs, pelvic fins or a swim bladder (5) (6) (8). The mouth of the sunfish is small, and its teeth are fused together to form a ‘beak’ (6) (9). The sunfish tends to be brownish-blue to silver in colour, often with a slightly iridescent sheen, and it may also exhibit various patterns on the skin (4) (9).



Orb

Both of these articles below are on the same subject, but with different comments. There’s good information in each, and two versions of a neat video from the ocean bottom. The scientists suction the glowing purple orb up into the submersible to examine later in the lab. The fascinating thing is that it is apparently glowing. Nice, but spooky!

Quite a few of the deep water ocean beings do glow, possibly to attract a mate, and partly because it is so dark down where they live that they need some light. I got that from one of my Animal Planet/National Geographic videos pirated off the TV years ago.


http://www.vox.com/2016/7/28/12310762/mysterious-purple-orb-nautlius

Scientists discovered a glowing purple orb at the bottom of the ocean. They have no idea what it is.
Updated by Brian Resnick on July 28, 2016, 12:40 p.m. ET @B_resnick brian@vox.com

Deep under the sea, near the Channel Islands several miles off the coast of California, marine scientists noticed a glowing purple orb hiding in the shadows. They zoomed in on the creature with an underwater robot camera — and were completely mystified. They had never seen anything like this before.

“I’m stumped,” you can hear one of the scientists say in the video below, as they watch a live feed. “I have no idea. I couldn’t even hazard a guess.”

In the video, you can hear the scientists — part of the ocean research vessel E/V Nautilus — chatter in real time, completely agog about what they are approaching.


Some snippets from their conversation:

“What if it’s an egg sack of some sort?”

“Is that a little embryo-type thing inside?”

“Maybe it’s a spider egg sack?”

“Maybe we should leave it, then, we don’t want to mess with spider egg sacks.”

“Get some lasers.”

“It looks like a disco ball right now.”

The team brought it onboard the ship for further analysis. And they still have no idea what it is.


YouTube ‎@YouTube
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E/V Nautilus @EVNautilus
We're still working on an ID for our mysterious purple orb, but it may be a pleurobranch (sea slug relative). Watch: https://youtu.be/pqyKrvk0aZo
6:04 PM - 27 Jul 2016
126 126 Retweets 151 151 likes


Their best guess is that it’s a type of pleurobranch (kind of like a sea slug). Or it could be a newly discovered species altogether. You can watch their Twitter feed for further updates.

As we await the naming of the orb, the video serves as a reminder that the ocean is still a mysterious place, even for marine scientists. In total, humans have explored less than 5 percent of the ocean floor.

Who knows what other glowing wonders are out there?


http://www.geek.com/science/mysterious-purple-orb-discovered-on-the-sea-floor-1664053/

Mysterious purple orb discovered on the sea floor
By Ryan Whitwam Jul. 29, 2016 5:12 pm


It’s often said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the ocean floor. It’s easy to believe that when you get a look at this bizarre purple sphere that was recently discovered by researchers from the Nautilus Live project. No one had a clue what it was at first, and they’re still not entirely certain.

The purple blob was discovered by Nautilus Live while exploring the sea floor around the Channel Islands off the coast of California. This is part of an ongoing project to catalog life in the deep ocean called Nautilus Live. It’s operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust under the direction of famous explorer Dr. Robert Ballard. He’s known for discovering the wrecks of the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck.

The “Live” part of Nautilus Live is the coolest part. The researchers use a remotely operated submersible called Hercules for most observations, and it’s tethered to the surface via a fiber optic cable. Video is sent back up and broadcast in nearly real time. It helps bring the public into the scientific process, which is part of the Ocean Exploration Trust’s mission.

As for this purple blob, the team scooped it up for further analysis. While watching the video, researchers speculated that it might be a type of cnidarian (jellies) or possibly an egg sack. Upon examination, the orb unfolded to reveal two distinct lobes. No tendrils like you’d expect from a jelly were visible.

Nautilus Live is working with the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology to figure out exactly what it is, but the current thinking is it’s a type of pleurobranch — a sea slug. A very unusual one. It might take months or years to determine if this particular species has ever been observed before. So, maybe this video depicts the discovery of a new species. Hopefully it wasn’t the last of its kind.




ON VOICES SPEAKING AGAINST JILL STEIN AND BERNIE SANDERS, SEE BELOW:

SANDERS:


Bernie Sanders has never in his life said anything against Black people, and has fought for their rights in the Civil Rights era, and he didn’t insult, browbeat or respond in kind to the incident when two specific BLM members totally rudely and aggressively took over the stage. Their “reason” for hating Bernie is supposedly that he isn’t behind their goals to a sufficient degree as a black/white issue; and that he is 73 year old white Jewish man.

The hate demonstrated there came from some young angry black people who are “full of themselves” and drunk on their “power.” They need some older wiser heads such as the NAACP to change the movement so that it deals directly with racist laws and police brutality, not merely spewing venom over all whites and causing as much trouble as possible; in other words, stop giving off “more heat than light.”

Thedailybeast article below articulates their side of the Sanders/BLM story, though it doesn’t say a thing against Bernie himself, but against some “overzealous” and reportedly abusive online attacks by some who claimed to be Bernie followers. None of the Bernie followers whom I have met are hate-filled or harmful toward Blacks. If that happened to the “Beast” writer, I’m sorry, and I’m sure Bernie is too. However, just because Sanders has focused on poverty rather than race doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about the issue. He just thinks that the deepest problem that MOST Black people have is their poverty. That keeps them in crime and drug ridden neighborhoods, poor housing, poor quality food, poor physical/mental health and self-esteem issues, and the inability to afford college. That’s a very important problem.

Well-educated people just won’t do some of the most annoying things that some “angry young men” do. There is a certain kind of white person who does not hate black skin, but they do hate young men running around with their pants hanging off their hips. Social misbehavior and poverty are related, but not necessarily causative. Black parents who allow their boys to do that should not get angry at 70 year old white women who don’t want to see somebody’s butt, either Black or white.

Poverty is a highly complex thing which is severely debilitating and prevents the changing of the social class issues which are NOT about skin color to most decent white people, but about pointless rudeness. If your answer for that is, “I feel angry, so I have a right to be as rude as I want to be,” that isn’t going to move society onto an upward path as we need to have happen in this country. We need to heal the wounds, not continue to exacerbate them.

Bernie Sanders wants to boost up those who are so poor that they can’t eat good food or have most other benefits of a Middle Class income, so that life for all citizens in this country will improve, and yes, so that those who have had no hope of college will get a real crack at it. Some of those poor people are members of a racial minority (black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, and now Middle Eastern Islamic groups), but a great many are white. The idea that because Bernie is “an old white man,” he can’t care about and work to change the dire poverty that so many minority people live in, is a falsehood and utterly pessimistic. Come, friends, “Let’s reason together!” Make an honest effort at working in a positive manner to cure a terrible societal problem.

I read this “beast” article with some anger, then I saw a rebuttal to the ideas in it, and a critical look at BLM, though with an acknowledgement to the importance of their issues. My worry here is that racism from blacks to whites, and to blacks from whites is a part of our culture, like mold growing in bread, and should be addressed, but grabbing the mic out of a good man’s hand did not impress me at all. See both articles below. The “beast” article is distinctly abusive to Bernie, however, and sounds a lot like “get whitey” to me. After reading the second fascinating article from thedailybanter, give the issues some contemplation and see what you think.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/26/the-racist-side-of-bernie-sanders-supporters.html

BIPARTISAN BIGOTRY 05.26.16 1:00 AM ET
The Racist Side of Bernie Sanders Supporters

More proof that ‘progressive’ isn’t a synonym for ‘tolerant.’


For decades, one narrative has dominated American politics: That while white liberal Democrats may not be perfect, they are far more trustworthy and far less scary when it comes to race than conservative Republicans.

The backers of Bernie Sanders’s never-ending kamikaze campaign remind us of an older truth: that there are good people and terrible people in both parties and that Republicans do not have a monopoly on intolerance.

Donald Trump has without question run one of the most racially and ethnically divisive presidential campaigns in recent memory. So much so that as former Senator Bob Bennett lay dying, he asked his loved ones if there were any Muslims in the hospital. His reason? So that he could go up and apologize to each one of them for Donald Trump.

Did I mention Bob Bennett was a conservative Republican? He’s far from the only high profile conservative to come out swinging against Trump. Jeb Bush denounced Trump’s infamous Cinco de Mayo tweet in which he professed his love for Hispanics while eating a taco bowl, comparing it to eating a watermelon and saying ‘I love African Americans.’” Going a step farther, Bush said he will not vote for Trump in November. His brother and father, the two most recent former Republican presidents, have declined to endorse the party’s presumed 2016 nominee. Even more telling, they, along with the two most recent GOP nominees for president, Sen. John McCain and former governor Mitt Romney will not be attending this year’s Republican National Convention.

While a number of conservative Trump critics have attempted to diplomatically convey their problems with his rhetoric, and ultimately his candidacy, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has been refreshingly blunt: “He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”

While high-profile Republicans step forward to denounce one of their own and to argue that minorities should be treated with courtesy and respect, plenty of white progressives seem intent on putting us in our place, so to speak, and keeping us there. Though much of the media coverage of so-called Bernie Bros—overzealous, predominantly white, young, and male Sanders supporters—has focused on their treatment of female journalists online, their lack of respect for racial and ethnic minorities who deign to challenge Sanders has been perhaps more chilling.

The Washington Post noted that at one point #MississippiBerning became a hashtag used by Sanders supporters on social media—a witty and clever turn of phrase unless of course you are a black American who hears the words “Mississippi burning” and immediately thinks of church bombings and lynchings.

Black writers and activists who have had the temerity to challenge Sanders’s record have been targeted by his supporters in ways that go against not just civility but even decency. I should know. I’m one of them. For having the gall to share my perspective, buoyed by polling data, that self-described socialists are pretty much unelectable to the American presidency, his supporters attempted to harass me offline. (Emphasis on “attempted.”)

Let me explain what I mean by “harass.”

While thankfully, I have someone who works for me and wades through much of my mail and social media so I can spend as much time as possible writing (and maintaining my sanity and sense of humor), for more than a week Sanders supporters flooded my accounts with nonstop accusations—one more over the top than the next. I am “a disgrace,” “a liar,” a secret paid Hillary Clinton “mole” or “shill.” Apparently it is beyond the realm of possibility that I, as a free-thinking individual with access to polling data and a fairly vigorous intellect of my own may not consider their chosen candidate a strong one. Simply not possible. After all, as one white Sanders supporter informed me: “You need to be better informed on the needs of black people.” Thanks for the tip!

But there were a couple of messages that made their way to me that were particularly troubling. One Sanders supporter pleaded on Facebook for others to stop attacking me and try to “inform me.” (Again this denotes I couldn’t possibly be educated because I don’t agree with them, but at least he sounded civil.) To which another replied, “She chooses to ignore the issues and work for her own personal interest. If that is the case then to me everything is allowed as long as it’s not physical violence.”

Consider that statement for a moment.

He’s certainly right from a legal perspective, but what about from a moral and ethical one? By his rationale, if David Duke encouraged other white nationalists to send endless messages—filled with insults and taunts (but not facts)—but none of them physically threatened me, should I feel safe?

So when news broke that a prominent white, male liberal blogger known for his appreciation of Sanders and disdain for Hillary Clinton had called Neera Tanden, one of the most prominent women of color in progressive politics, a “scumbag” I was not surprised.

And when I learned Sanders supporters had sent death threats to a female Democratic Party official because they were outraged at what occurred at the Nevada state convention, I was not surprised. And when Bernie Sanders declined to denounce such behavior vigorously, I was also not surprised.

Just as Donald Trump’s supporters would not demonstrate thuggish behavior, such as assaulting protesters, without getting signals from their leader that it’s acceptable, the same is true of Sanders’s supporters.

One difference is that Republicans haven’t spent decades selling themselves as the saviors of black Americans or any Americans of color, frankly. The fact that a sizable number of prominent Republicans are willing to lose this election in the name of racial and religious tolerance is actually a jarring contrast to the increasing number of Sanders voters who argue they are willing to forfeit an election to a man many of them consider a racist and xenophobe, one who they know will harm minorities, rather than ever vote for his opponent, a woman they don’t like but who is not Donald Trump.

I have a feeling that whatever the outcome of this election, more minorities have come to realize over the course of this primary season that the word “progressive” is not synonymous with “tolerant.” But perhaps the biggest lesson is that there is no such thing as a specific political party or political label that can save us.

We have to save ourselves, and going forward maybe the best way to do that is to diversify more of our political power among the decent people in American politics—regardless of their party label.



http://thedailybanter.com/2015/08/please-dont-let-idiots-ruin-the-blacklivesmatter-movement-because-it-is-too-important/

Please Don't Let Idiots Ruin the #BlackLivesMatter Movement Because it is Too Important

The Black Lives Matter movement certainly is a matter of life and death, and ruining a Bernie Sanders political rally is about the least effective way of drawing positive attention to it.

BEN COHEN
AUG 10, 2015

With the routine killing of unarmed African Americans by the police, the Black Lives Matter movement could not be more important an issue right now. It should be at the forefront of any serious Presidential candidate's campaign, and anyone who does not address it appropriately should not be taken seriously. With the explosion of cell phone videos and police body cams, there is no hiding how bad the problem is, and there is no turning back.

When it comes to protesting effectively though, strategy must always take precedence over raw feeling. One easy way to become irrelevant in the social media age is to let the extremists become the face of your movement - or in the case of organizations like Code Pink and PETA, become the movement itself. Urgent political movements like Black Lives Matter are too important to be turned into hollow preening contests between perpetually outraged activists.

When members of a local Black Lives Matter chapter in Seattle stormed the stage at a Bernie Sanders event last Saturday, the movement was put in danger by activists who apparently believed publicly harassing a politician who literally spent his entire life fighting economic, racial and social inequality in America, was an effective way to put their agenda on the map. Marissa Janae Johnson, the apparent co-founder of the Seattle chapter and self described "Radical Christian Mullatanist" and "Full time agitator," demanded the crowd hold Sanders accountable for not doing enough for their particular definition of the Black Lives Matter movement.


"Get him in check or we're shutting this event down right now," Johnson told Sanders as one of his managers attempted to stop her from interrupting Sanders, who had literally just started speaking.

"If you do not listen to her, your event will be shut down right now," chimed in Mara Jacqeline Willaford angrily, another cofounder of the Seattle chapter.

Amazingly, Sander's campaign team relented and announced that they would allow them to speak after the Senator had finished his speech, his campaign handler telling them: "We are trying to be reasonable." This resulted in Johnson and Willaford literally screaming at him "WE ARE REASONABLE!!" Sander's campaign handler continued to tell them that they would be allowed to speak after Sanders, prompting Willaford to throw a mini temper tantrum, screaming "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!"

Reasonable indeed.

Marissa Janae Johnson

After forcing Sanders to move away from the podium and getting her way, Johnson demanded the crowd become completely silent before telling them they were “white supremacists” and “racists,” lectured them on racial inequality in Seattle, and finally enforced a four and a half minute silence to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. Not content with their gifted time at an event they had not organized, the duo refused to get off the stage after the silence, demanding Sanders apologize to her and all black people for not doing enough for the movement. Johnson ended their little spectacle by shoving Sanders, a 73 year old man, as he tried to get the microphone back to speak. A saddened Sanders ended up leaving the stage without saying another word to the thousands of people who had turned up to hear him talk.


The unfathomable narcissism displayed by these two 'agitators' aside, the net result of disrupting the speech of the most viable progressive candidate in decades was precisely zero. Not only did Johnson and Willaford embarrass themselves, they put the entire #BlackLivesMatter movement in jeopardy by making it about them. In their respective 20 something years of wisdom, it apparently didn't occurred to them that hijacking political events, throwing temper tantrums, and assaulting the elderly might not be the best thing to further a cause. It also didn't occur to them that picking on Sanders, a Jew who lost half his family to the Holocaust, was arrested for protesting segregation in high schools during the civil rights era, and received a 97% rating by the NAACP for his record on civil rights, might be somewhat idiotic. It didn't occur to Johnson and Willaford because they couldn't be bothered to find out, and couldn't be bothered to study the tactics of the people who fought and died for their rights.

Along with protest and activism, acts of civil disobedience are a vital strategy in bringing attention to civil rights issues. But acts of civil disobedience must be calculated carefully, particularly in the modern media age when events can be easily turned into fodder for gleeful conservatives looking to dismiss protest as self indulgent acts of anarchy. As Matt Taibbi once wrote:

The post-sixties dogma that everyone’s viewpoint is legitimate, everyone‘s choice about anything (lifestyle, gender, ethnicity, even class) is valid, that’s now so totally ingrained that at every single meeting, every time some yutz gets up and starts rambling about anything, no matter how ridiculous, no one ever tells him to shut the fuck up. Next thing you know, you’ve got guys on stilts wearing mime makeup and Cat-in-the-Hat striped top-hats leading a half-million people at an anti-war rally. Why is that guy there? Because no one told him that war is a matter of life and death and that he should leave his fucking stilts at home.

The Black Lives Matter movement certainly is a matter of life and death, and ruining a Bernie Sanders political rally is about the least effective way of drawing positive attention to it. Hopefully, real activists in the movement will tell Johnson and Willaford to shut the fuck up, and if they really do care about the movement, learn from those who have actually sacrificed.

And that includes Bernie Sanders, a man who has arguably done more for economic, racial and social equality than any living politician in America, and certainly Johnson and Willaford who don't appear to know the faintest thing about him.




Tactless, Jill Stein! Still, whites should be able to celebrate the freeing of slaves also.


http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/jill-stein-juneteenth-tweet-backlash/

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein criticized for 'all white' Juneteenth tweet
Alexandra Samuels — June 20 at 10:29AM | Last updated June 20 at 10:30AM

Some say she 'gentrified' a day meant to celebrate black liberation.


Many of the 2016 presidential candidates have received backlash on social media for posting controversial statements. The latest to receive criticism, however, was not either of the presumptive Democratic or Republican candidates.

Green party candidate Jill Stein recently posted a status to both Twitter and Facebook regarding a Juneteenth festival taking place in Philadelphia. But her photo–which features mainly white people–has received flack on Twitter for holding a rally full of white people to honor a day meant for African-Americans.

View image on Twitter
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Dr. Jill Stein ✔ @DrJillStein
Awesome turn out to gather signatures to #GetJillOnTheBallot 🗳 in Pennsylvania at Philly's #Juneteenth festival!
4:27 PM - 18 Jun 2016
311 311 Retweets 859 859 likes

Juneteenth–a contraction of the date "June Nineteenth"–is a celebration which commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Union General Gordon Granger issued General Order Number 3, which stated: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

The announcement came two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which had little influence on Texas and other southern states since there were no Union troops around to enforce Lincoln's orders. Therefore, around 250,000 people remained enslaved in Texas until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston and ordered their freedom. Juneteenth became a Texas state holiday in 1979.

Since the day is usually celebrated by the minority population, Stein's tweet quickly went viral after many voiced their opinions regarding the 'white-washing' of the black holiday.


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Regi @MagicCityRegi
Tried to not look @ politics today...but that Jill Stein #Juneteenth pic
8:40 PM - 18 Jun 2016
1 1 Retweet 3 3 likes

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Spry Guy @SpryGuy
Everything that is wrong with Jill Stein & her supporters in one picture. An all-white privileged Juneteenth. Ugh. https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/744265193471934466 …
2:09 PM - 19 Jun 2016
9 9 Retweets 8 8 likes

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Samuel F Reynolds @sfreynolds
I still can't get over that Jill Stein pic at a Juneteenth meeting in Philly. Hardly any Black ppl, yet ppl surprised she's not on a ballot
11:56 AM - 19 Jun 2016
5 5 Retweets 5 5 likes

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Anthony Bejarano @AntBejarano
Gonna say I haven't laughed harder at a tweet than at that Jill Stein Juneteenth tweet.
9:44 PM - 18 Jun 2016
1 1 Retweet 5 5 likes


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(((Alysa Auriemma))) @allyauriemma
Dr. Jill Stein holding a rally full of white people "in honor of" Juneteenth makes my skin crawl in a very special way.
9:12 PM - 18 Jun 2016
Retweets 11 11 likes

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Jeremy O'Kelley @JeremyOkelley
That picture of Jill Stein "celebrating" Juneteenth with a room of exclusively white people sums up everything wrong with her and Sanders.
9:00 PM - 18 Jun 2016
19 19 Retweets 34 34 likes

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slattern @slatt3rn
Jill Stein just gentrified Juneteenth
8:30 PM - 18 Jun 2016
Retweets 2 2 likes

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Imani Gandy ✔ @AngryBlackLady
Do white people know what Juneteenth even is? Because I have questions about Jill Stein's tweet...
7:49 PM - 18 Jun 2016
50 50 Retweets 137 137 likes
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Shane Ravello @ShaneRavello
Jill Stein's JUNETEENTH gatherings. In Philly. A majority black city. THIS who y'all willing to risk it all for? 😂
11:09 AM - 19 Jun 2016
1 1 Retweet 6 6 likes

"The Stein campaign did not respond to our request for comment."