October 19 and 20, 2017


News and Views


EMPTY BARREL, REALLY? THE TRUMP ERA POLITICS IS HALF SINISTER AND HALF SILLY. THERE IS A LOGIC BEHIND THE PHRASE, BUT IT IS TOTALLY NEW TO ME. WHERE DO PEOPLE SAY THIS? AND AS FOR WILSON’S “LISTENING IN ON” THE CONVERSATION, WHENEVER ANYONE PUTS THEIR PHONE ON “SPEAKERPHONE,” OF COURSE EVERYBODY IN THE CAR WILL HEAR IT. SO WHAT IS KELLY’S POINT? SHOULD WILSON KEEP EARPLUGS IN HER HANDBAG FOR SUCH SITUATIONS? PEOPLE HAVE LAUGHED AT ME FOR THE NUMBER OF THINGS THAT I KEEP IN MY BAG, BUT I HAVE NO EARPLUGS THERE, AND I WON’T GO OUT AND BUY ANY TODAY, EITHER. I WILL ADD THAT FREDERICA WILSON WAS NEW TO ME, BUT SHE IS A CLEVER AND WELL-SPOKEN PERSON, AND HER “COWBOY HAT,” WHICH WAS DERIDED IN ONE OF THE ARTICLES ON THE WHOLE SUBJECT, A BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT RED HAT IS REALLY PRETTY, AND LOOKS GREAT ON HER.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-reg-wilson-kelly-tape-of-speech-20171020-story.html?dfdfdfd
Full video of Frederica Wilson's 2015 FBI speech shows John Kelly got it wrong
Larry Barszewski Contact Reporter Sun Sentinel

VIDEO -- Exclusive video of Frederica Wilson's 2015 speech contradicts W.H. chief of staff
PHOTOGRAPH -- A South Florida Sun Sentinel video from 2015 shows the full speech of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson at the dedication ceremony of a new FBI building in Miramar, Florida, named for two slain FBI agents. The speech has drawn attention after White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly criticized her for claiming "she got the money" for the new building. At a White House press briefing Thursday, Kelly was critical of Wilson for listening in on the conversation between Trump and the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson. Wilson was in a car with the widow and Johnson’s mother going to the airport for the arrival of Johnson’s body, and the call was placed on speakerphone. He then continued his criticism of Wilson for claiming to secure the $20 million funding for the federal building.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, criticizing Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, misrepresented a 2015 speech she made at the opening of a new FBI building, an exclusive South Florida Sun Sentinel video of her speech shows.

Kelly made the comments at the White House Thursday while discussing President Donald Trump’s conversations with the families of four soldiers killed in an Ambush in Niger earlier this month.

Kelly criticized Wilson for listening in on the conversation between Trump and the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson. Wilson was in a car with the widow and Johnson’s mother going to the airport for the arrival of Johnson’s body, and the call was placed on speakerphone.

Kelly then continued his criticism of Wilson, mentioning the 2015 dedication of the Miramar FBI building, saying she focused in her speech that she “got the money” for the building.

FBI dedicates new headquarters to slain agents

Wilson said Kelly’s comment was a fabrication, that she wasn’t even elected to Congress when the funding for the building was approved. A Sun Sentinel video of the event supports Wilson’s version of the events.

Wilson did take credit for securing approval of the naming of the building just days before the dedication for two slain FBI agents.

Copyright © 2017, Sun Sentinel
Frederica Wilson Donald Trump


THIS RATHER STRANGE “BARREL” COMMENT IS YET ANOTHER TRUMPIAN BROADSIDE, THOUGH UTTERED BY KELLY INSTEAD, IS NOT IN MY VIEW RACIST (OR IF IT IS, I DON’T SEE THE RACIAL CONNECTION). IT IS MERELY “INCOMPETENT, IRRELEVANT AND IMMATERIAL.” IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, YOU JUST HAVEN’T WATCHED ENOUGH PERRY MASON SHOWS.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-of-the-saying-an-empty-barrel-makes-the-most-noise-How-did-it-first-come-into-existance
What is the meaning of the saying "an empty barrel makes the most noise"? How did it first come into existance?

3 Answers (These two that I included here were the most informational as to the background of the phrase.)

Robert Ball
Robert Ball, studied at College of the Holy Cross (1973)
Answered 5h ago

Shakespeare definitely used the phrase an empty vessel makes the loudest sound, but indicated he was quoting a saying he had heard.

Many people say it originated with Plato as an empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers but there’s actually no evidence he said that.

Others say it came down from the Romans as empty pots make the most noise.


Robert Thorne, Owner (1996-present)
Answered 9h ago

“We say an empty vessel makes the most noise.”

It means as already said and it arose from physics, as Dominique states, as empty vessel makes a louder noise when struck as there is more room for the sound to reverberate, hit an empty saucepan with a spoon, you will get a loud ringing that lasts for a while. Now fill it with water and do the same, you will get a muffled sound that dies almost immediately.

It does raise a moot point for the pedant, in what is empty?

In both cases the saucepan is full, in the first instance of air, through which sound waves travel easily, in the second water, through which they don’t.

Common usage indicates empty to mean not filled with the contents the container was designed to hold.



THANK YOU, PRESIDENT BUSH! YOU SAID IT ALL. THE INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT WHEN I WAS YOUNG WAS COMPARABLY POSITIVE, AND THOUGH THERE WERE INCIDENTS OF VILE RACISM, MOST OF DAILY LIFE (IN MY WHITE SIDE OF TOWN) LEANED MORE TOWARD AN OVERT BELIEF IN FAIRNESS. THE RACISM WAS THERE, BUT IT DIDN’T POP UP IN THE NEWS AS IT SEEMS TO BE DOING NOW. THEN SCHOOLS AND MOST THINGS IN SOUTHERN LIFE WERE SEGREGATED, SO THE IMPETUS AMONG WHITES TO BECOME VIOLENT WASN’T AS GREAT. THEY WERE GETTING EVERYTHING THEY WANTED, WHEN AND HOW THEY WANTED IT. BLACKS WERE STILL “IN THEIR PLACE.”

THEN A NUMBER OF BLACK PEOPLE WERE ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICES, AND THE OVERT USE OF VERBAL OR PHYSICAL SLURS BECAME GROUNDS FOR A CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT. THAT INFURIATED THOSE WHITES WHO HAD NEVER APPROVED OF BLACK PEOPLE VOTING, GOING TO SCHOOL WITH WHITES OR EVEN GETTING TOP GRADE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS. IT WAS “SEPARATE, BUT NOT QUITE EQUAL,” THE WAY GOD MEANT IT TO BE. IF YOU THINK I’M BEING EXTREME HERE, I CAN ONLY SAY THAT I BEG TO DIFFER. AT SOME TIME IN OUR LIVES, WE HAVE TO SPLIT FROM “THE SOCIETY” ENOUGH TO NURTURE BASIC GOOD OVER EVIL IN OUR OWN PERSONAL LIVES AND IN THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY WHICH WE PRAISE SO HIGHLY.

A LARGE NUMBER OF WHITES IN THIS COUNTRY HAD NEVER QUESTIONED THE VALIDITY OF THE WIDE RANGE OF WHITE PRIVILEGE ISSUES THAT I LIVED WITH. THE ATTITUDE WAS, “I WON’T ATTACK YOU IF YOU WAIT YOUR TURN (LAST, THAT IS) AND DON’T FIGHT BACK FOR ANY REASON.” IN THE 1960’S THE FACADE FELL AWAY FROM THE APPEARANCES OF AMERICAN LIFE WITH BLACKS IN THE SAME TOWN AND THE SAME WORLD.

IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT WE ARE SEEING THESE DAY IS JUST THE GROTESQUE DRAINAGE FROM THE INFECTED WOUNDS OF THE PRE-CIVIL WAR SOCIETY. IF WE HAD PUT MORE MONEY INTO PUBLIC EDUCATION TO MAKE IT THOROUGH AND CREATIVE FOR ALL, SO THAT THE INNER SPIRITS OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD BE HEALED, MAYBE WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS HORROR THAT HAS EMERGED FROM WITHIN THE AMERICAN SPIRIT. I KNOW EDUCATION, A SUFFICIENT INCOME, AND FAIR LAWS WON’T TOTALLY CURE OUR SOCIETAL PROBLEMS, BUT THEY WOULD GO A LONG WAY TOWARD THAT GOAL. WE NEED A NEW AND ONGOING DIALOGUE THAT WILL BE POSITIVE RATHER THAN GREEDY AND SIMPLY VICIOUS.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/bush-freedom-event/index.html
George W. Bush: Bigotry and white supremacy are 'blasphemy' against the American creed
By Maegan Vazquez, CNN
Updated 3:24 PM ET, Thu October 19, 2017

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
He added that "bigotry seems emboldened"
The 43rd president also addressed Russian influence on the United States

Washington (CNN)Former President George W. Bush condemned bigotry and white supremacy Thursday while endorsing policies that run counter to those supported by President Donald Trump.

"Our identity as a nation, unlike other nations, is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood. ... This means that people from every race, religion, ethnicity can be full and equally American," he said during remarks at the George W. Bush Institute in New York City. "It means that bigotry and white supremacy, in any form, is blasphemy against the American creed."

He added that "bigotry seems emboldened," though he didn't explain why.

"We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," Bush said, adding, "Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions, forgetting the image of God we should see in each other."

Bush didn't mention Trump during his remarks but did criticize the "governing class." In his recommendations to strengthen American democracy, he said US institutions must "step up" and "we need to recall and recover our own identity."

The speech marks a rare political appearance for Bush since leaving office. The former president has remained mostly out of the spotlight since he left the White House, reserving his political capital for his charitable works and a handful of his brother Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign stops.

He brought up growing concerns over misinformation, saying politics seems "more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication."

The 43rd president, who left the presidential section of his ballot blank instead of voting for Trump, also addressed Russian influence on the United States.

"The Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other," he said, adding that while Russian interference will not be successful, "foreign aggressions, including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated."

Bush, who entered into several free trade agreements during his tenure in the White House, referred to a trend towards protectionism, an apparent allusion to some of Trump's trade actions, which have included his decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership early this year and his warning that he's considering "stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea."

Bush also praised the positive contributions of immigrants -- a statement seemingly aimed at the Trump administration's hardline stances on immigration and border security.

"We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism -- forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," Bush said. "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade -- forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism."

The former president also addressed concerns over bullying among American leaders.

"Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children, the only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them," he said.

CNN's Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.


UFL CONTROLS VIOLENCE

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/10/20/who-got-inside-richard-spencer-speech-university-florida/785646001/
Who got inside the Richard Spencer speech at University of Florida?
USA TODAY NETWORKArek Sarkissian, Naples (Fla.) Daily News Published 5:12 p.m. ET Oct. 20, 2017

VIDEOS -- RICHARD SPENCER SPEAKS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Florida governor prepares for violence before Richard Spencer speech | 1:11
White nationalist Richard Spencer is scheduled to speak Thursday in Florida, his first speech since the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
11 Photos – University of FL braces for Richard Spencer Speech
Photograph -- People react as white nationalist Richard Spencer, who popularized the term "alt-right" speaks at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on October 19, 2017, in Gainesville, Florida.
(Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

Wallace Mazon, 23, had no trouble entering the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Before making his attempt, he discarded a large sign he made and folded another in his pocket.

“They just let us get tickets,” Mazon said. “I just showed them my student ID and they let me in, which is surprising because I’m black.”

Mazon said Spencer’s security team became more selective as the event was about to start and the line for tickets grew longer. The pick-up location was vague, but an area where a large number of Florida Highway Patrol troopers had gathered marked the spot, he said.

“We were in the front of the line, that first group of people, so it was easy,” Mazon said. “And there were other groups that got in, like the Florida Young Democrats, which was crazy because they had brown and black people, too.”

People who were selectively denied access were thought to have led the protesters that swarmed the center just before the speech.

“I think if they saw they were leading people as they marched they didn’t get in,” Mazon said. “But I think at one point they were like, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

Spencer himself published a Twitter message just before his staff handed out tickets that everyone was welcome to attend. The university initially planned to start distributing tickets the Saturday before the event. But Spencer’s organizers decided to hand out tickets themselves about an hour before the event after hearing word of Gainesville bars offering to trade them for free beer.

More: 'Go home, racist!' Richard Spencer shouted down at University of Florida speech

More: University president: Richard Spencer hoping for violence to build movement

Spencer’s ticketing plan created another security challenge, but logistics for the event, such as timing and location, were still controlled by the university. The event was on a weekday, during daylight hours and it was on the western edge of a 2,000-acre campus.

“That definitely worked for us, too,” university president Kent Fuchs said. “They wanted it in the middle of the campus and at night and we said no.”

Jackson said timing kept many of Spencer’s supporters away. Without the lenient rules for entry, most of the 800 tickets would have been unused. During his speech he asked for a show of hands from people who agreed with his ideas and only 30 people responded.

“And I think those were the group that actually were with him, like they were inside when we got in there,” Jackson said. “It was just those people out of maybe 500 people who were in there.”

Jackson grew up just south of Gainesville in Marion County, where she said several people share Spencer’s beliefs. But everyone she knew who would have wanted to attend the event had work.

“I definitely know people who would have killed to be there to hear him speak,” she said. “But they can’t just attend an event like that in the middle of the day.”


UF PRESIDENT ASKS FOR PEACE, BUT WAS LOADED FOR BEAR, WHICH WAS A GOOD THING.

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/10/18/uf-president-fuchs-richard-spencer-hoping-violence-build-movement/777376001/
UF president Fuchs: Richard Spencer hoping for violence to build movement
Arek Sarkissian, arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com; 850-559-7620 Published 7:10 p.m. ET Oct. 18, 2017 | Updated 7:28 p.m. ET Oct. 18, 2017

Florida Highway Patrol deputies prepare for white nationalist Richard Spencer who is visiting the University of Florida in Gainesville on Oct. 18. Arek Sarkissian/Naples Daily News

GAINESVILLE – University of Florida President Kent Fuchs said white nationalist Richard B. Spencer wants the speech he will deliver Thursday to spark violence that will gain sympathy for the Alternative Right movement he represents.

Spencer and his supporters will thrive on any confrontation brought by anti-fascist protesters, Fuchs warned. They hope to provoke the same violent clashes that broke out during an August rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one woman dead.

“Now, for the first time in the history of our nation, very different racist groups are coming together under one person who speaks their language and their words and speaks their views on racism and white supremacy," Fuchs said. “They’re coming to campus with the intentions of confrontation and with the intention of having all of us repeat their view on the world."

More: UF security concerns grow for Richard Spencer speech

AG Bondi urges students to avoid Richard Spencer speech

Gainesville braces for white supremacist's speech

Organizers for Spencer’s speech further complicated security arrangements by planning to wait until an hour and a half before the event to distribute tickets. Only people who look like Alt-right supporters will be among the 700 people allowed inside the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

“They’re picking and choosing – it definitely isn’t us,” Alachua County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Sims said. “They are the requester of the event and these tickets belong to them, but yes, it’s absolutely a safety concern."

Cameron Padgett, an organizer for Spencer’s National Policy Institute, said people who disagree with Spencer's racist rhetoric planned to receive tickets from the university and then throw them away. At least one bar also offered to trade the tickets for booze.

"There's only so many tickets we're allowed to have for the event, so it didn't make sense to let that happen," Padgett said.

Regardless of when the tickets are distributed, Padgett said security isn’t his problem. That’s on law enforcement.

"I don't say that's going to create a security issue — that's their job," said Padgett, who suggested there might be trouble from anti-fascist groups, also known as Antifa. "If Antifa wants to show up and make it a security issue then start arresting them and do your job."

The potential for violence at the event was enough for Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell to ask Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency. The order Scott issued on Monday allows Darnell to call on specialized security teams from across the state. It also places the Florida National Guard on standby.

Fuchs said his university is the first to host one of Spencer's speeches after the deadly rally in Charlottesville. Along with UF, Padgett also applied for Spencer to speak at the Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati.

U.S. Supreme Court case law upholds his right to speak, Fuchs said.

“We’re now going to be this test point of whether, again, this is the beginning of what we’re going to see increasingly or continued so – universities being used as places where these people come with their horrific looking weapons and secondly their horrible message,” Fuchs said. “But we’re also wrestling with how we should respond.”

BREBrd2_08-15-2017_Daily_1_A006~~2017~08~14~IMG_AP17225128159607_2_1_HLJAEKJ

Richard Spencer, a leader in the alt-right movement, gives remarks after a white nationalist rally was declared an unlawful assembly Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The University of Florida has denied Spencer’s group’s request for Spencer to speak on the UF campus in Gainesville next month. (Photo: AP)

Fuchs first rejected Spencer's request to speak in September due to security concerns so soon after Charlottesville. But now all that remains is the potential for violence.

"If they don’t have that or evidence that something terrible will occur, I don’t see how they’ll stand a chance in federal courts in banning him forever," Fuchs said.

One advantage UF has is its massive campus. The Phillips Center sits on its western edge, away from most classrooms. And unlike Charlottesville, the university has had weeks to prepare. Protesters will be separated from Alt-right supporters by bulky barriers, and law enforcement officers will be patrolling on foot, Fuchs said.

Troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol spent Wednesday patrolling the Phillips Center in military formation. University crews boarded up metal parking booths and placed barriers throughout the area.

Fuchs hoped that most of the activity associated with Spencer's visit will be kept away from students still attending class. He also hoped students would skip the event.

"They want you to yell and scream, you're doing what they want you to do," Fuchs said. "My hope is that students stay away and not fall for it."



THE FOLLOWING STORY IS ONE ABOUT THREE OF SPENCER’S FOLLOWERS WHO SHOT INTO THE GROUP OF PROTESTORS AT GAINESVILLE AFTER SPENCER’S SPEECH. APPARENTLY, NOBODY WAS HIT. THIS TRIO ARE MORE WILD-EYED THAN MOST, OR SO I HOPE. STILL THAT ELEMENT IS CLEARLY AMONG THE GROUP, AND INTERESTED IN ACTING THEIR HATE OUT VIOLENTLY. IN THIS CASE, THEY WERE ARRESTED INSTEAD. TOUGH LUCK, GUYS!

WHITE NATIONALISTS ARE BEGINNING TO IRRITATE ME BADLY. EMOTIONALLY, THEY ARE A COMBINATION OF VICIOUSNESS AND STUPIDITY. “WILLIAM AND COLTON FEARS (BROTHERS)ARE BEING HELD ON $1 MILLION BOND, TENBRINK’S BOND HAS BEEN SET TO $3 MILLION.” NOW THIS IS THE KIND OF LEGAL TEETH WHICH IF USED, WOULD MAKE BAD BOYS THINK TWICE, UNLESS THEY’RE BILLIONAIRES LIKE TRUMP. EVEN IF THEY AREN’T CONVICTED, THEY WON’T BE OUT OF JAIL TOO SOON, I DON’T BELIEVE.

WE, AS A CIVILIZED SOCIETY (MORE OR LESS) NEED TO CHANGE OUR FREE SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION LAWS TO ALLOW GROUPS WHICH ARE BUILT ON PURE EVIL AND VIOLENCE TO BE DISBANDED, OR PERHAPS THE LEADERS SHOULD BE JAILED UNTIL THEY AGREE TO MANDATORY MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT. IF SPENCER OR OTHERS LIKE HIM CONTINUE TO INCITE VIOLENCE LIKE THIS, THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED. ISN’T THERE A LAW AGAINST THAT? [SEE THE FOLLOWING LEGAL ARTICLE ON THE SUBJECT.]

WE HAVE TOO MANY YOUNG MEN, BLACK AND WHITE, WITH FRAGILE MENTAL HEALTH, NO JOB AND TOO LITTLE EDUCATION. WHAT DO THEY DO? THEY COMMIT CRIMES, WHAT ELSE? WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE LAWS THAT ARE ON THE BOOKS DO DEFINE CULTURAL VIOLENCE OF ANY KIND AS A SPECIAL CLASS OF CRIME, AND PUNISHED STRONGLY.

I AM PERHAPS A SOMEWHAT STRONG PROGRESSIVE, POLITICALLY, BUT I DON’T COMMIT CRIMES OR CONDONE IT. I DON’T WANT A PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED, NO MATTER HOW MUCH I DISLIKE HIM. THE KEY IS NOT JUST IN THE BELIEF WE HOLD, BUT IN THE CRIME WE MIGHT COMMIT IN ITS’ NAME. FOR ANY PERSON, FROM RICHARD SPENCER TO DONALD TRUMP, TO SPEAK IN SUCH AN INFLAMMATORY AND HATE ACTIVATING WAY AS TO PRODUCE THIS MASS INSANITY IN THE LISTENERS, SHOULD BE A CRIME, IN MY VIEW.

IT HAS BEEN MENTIONED LATELY BY A NUMBER OF PEOPLE, INCLUDING REPUBLICANS, THAT A STRONGER STRAIN OF SOCIAL VOLATILITY IS ACTIVE AT THIS TIME THAN WE’VE HAD SINCE THE 1970S. AFTER THE END OF WWII, THERE WAS A GIDDINESS THAT TOOK OVER, MUCH LIKE THE ROARING TWENTIES. IN BOTH OF THOSE PERIODS, INCREASED RACIAL STRESS EMERGED ALONG WITH THOSE “GOOD TIMES.” WITHIN MY MEMORY IT BEGAN WITH “ROCK ’N ROLL.” SOME WHITE PEOPLE CALLED THAT BLACK PEOPLE’S MUSIC, THOUGH THAT ISN’T THE WORD THEY CHOSE. THAT, TO THEM, WAS A DAMNING DESCRIPTION. I WAS YOUNG, THOUGH, AND I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS FUN.

FUN WAS PRETTY MUCH AGAINST THE RULES BACK THEN FOR THE BAPTISTS. IT WAS EASY TO GET “A REPUTATION,” AND ONE OF MY FAVORITE CLASSMATES IN HIGH SCHOOL ANNOUNCED AT THE END OF THE YEAR THAT SHE WAS “GETTING MARRIED.” ANOTHER, TO WHOM I WASN’T PARTICULARLY FRIENDLY, DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL AND “GRADUATED EARLY.” NO MARRIED OR PREGNANT GIRLS WERE ALLOWED BACK IN SCHOOL IN THOSE DAYS.

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, THOUGH, THERE WAS NONE OF THIS CONSCIOUS AND PURPOSEFUL AROUSAL OF DEEP ANGRY EMOTION THAT RICHARD SPENCER DOES, WHICH IS NOTHING OTHER THAN PURPOSEFULLY “INCITING TO VIOLENCE”; AND THAT VIOLENCE IS ALREADY OCCURRING. HOW CAN WE STOP THE BEHAVIOR? HOW DO WE DEFINE WHAT THINGS SHOULD BE DECLARED A “CRIME” ANYWAY? BY THE AMOUNT OF HARM THAT THEY DO, SURELY, AND THIS POLITICAL “MOVEMENT” COULD PLUNGE US INTO SERIOUS AND WIDESPREAD VIOLENCE OR EVEN THE LOSS OF OUR DEMOCRACY, BEFORE WE EVEN SEE IT COMING. IT WILL SURELY INCLUDE VIOLENCE AGAINST PEOPLE BASED ON DIFFERENCES OF RACE, GENDER, SEXUAL PREFERENCE, AND YES, RELIGION. THERE ARE NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ANTI-SEMITIC ACTS NOW, ALSO. THAT SLUNK UNDER A ROCK AND DISAPPEARED AFTER WWII, BUT IT HAS REMAINED ALIVE AND WELL. THE SHEER LOVE OF SUCH THINGS IS THE SOURCE OF “MOVEMENTS” LIKE THE ALT-RIGHT.

SO, CITIZENS, PLEASE LOOK AT THE TREND AND KNOW IT FOR WHAT IT IS. IT’S AN ATTEMPTED COUP BY A MIXED GROUP OF FASCISTS, RUSSIANS, OPPORTUNISTS WHO WANT A PLACE IN THE NEW US GOVERNMENT, AND MANY UNLEARNED OR MENTALLY UNBALANCED INDIVIDUALS. HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW MANY MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURES BOTH STATE AND FEDERAL HAVE JUMPED ON THE BOAT WITH THE TRUMPITES? THE SITUATION IS ALREADY AT A DANGEROUS POINT. WE NEED TO OUST TRUMP, FIRST; LOOK FOR THE LEADERS OF THIS NEO-NAZI MOVEMENT AND STOP THEM IN WHATEVER WAY WE CAN, SECOND; AND THEN LOOK AT THE LAWS THAT ARE ALLOWING SUCH PEOPLE TO GET INTO POWER. THAT’S WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN NOW – OR, OF COURSE, WE CAN JUST TURN UP THE FOOTBALL GAME AND POP THE TOP ON ANOTHER BEER. WHERE ARE THE CHIPS AND DIP?

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/3-men-arrested-for-attempted-homicide-after-richard-spencers-speech-gave-nazi-salute-before-shooting-at-protestors/
3 men arrested for attempted homicide after Richard Spencer’s speech gave Nazi salute before shooting at protestors
ELIZABETH PREZA
20 OCT 2017 AT 12:14 ET

Photographs -- Tyler Tenbrink, William Fears and Colton Fears (GAINESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT)

Police in Gainesville, Florida on Thursday arrested three white men in connection to a shooting that took place following a speech by avowed white supremacist Richard Spencer.

Tyler Tenbrink, William Fears and Colton Fears—two of whom police say have known ties to extremist organizations—are being held in the Alachua County Jail on charges of attempted homicide after allegedly firing on another group of people during a violent encounter shortly after Spencer’s speech.

According to police, the trio argued with and threatened a group of protestors demonstrating against Spencer, who was addressing a small crowd at the University of Florida Phillips Center for Performing Arts.

The men reportedly began threatening to “f*cking kill” and “shoot” the protestors, before eventually offering the Nazi salute and shouting “Hail Hitler.” Police say Tenbrink, a convicted felon, fired the shot. One of the protestors managed to write down the license plate of the silver Jeep the three men were riding in.

“I am amazed that immediately after being shot at, a victim had the forethought to get the vehicle’s license number,” Gainesville police spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said. “That key piece of information allowed officials from every level of multiple agencies to quickly identify and arrest these persons. This was an amazing team effort by everyone involved.”

William and Colton Fears are being held on $1 million bond, Tenbrink’s bond has been set to $3 million.


FIRST AMENDMENT VS GOOD COMMON SENSE. AT SOME TIME AND IN SOME WAY, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RECREATE SOME PARTS OF OUR CONSTITUTION, IN A MEASURED AN PEACEFUL WAY. THERE ARE PEOPLE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM WHO ARE CALLING FOR A NEW CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. THAT SOUNDS LIKELY TO BECOME PURE POLITICAL BEDLAM RATHER THAN A MATTER OF REASON; BUT FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE MADE UP OF A FAIR BALANCE OF MEMBERS OF ALL PARTIES AS WELL AS INDEPENDENTS TO SIT DOWN TOGETHER AND BEGIN TO CONSIDER WHAT PARTS OF THE CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE REVISED, WOULD BE A GOOD THING, I THINK. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION SHOULD BE KEPT, I BELIEVE, BUT BOTH COULD BE TRIMMED UP AROUND THE EDGES TO MAKE THEM FIT INTO MODERN LIFE BETTER.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_v._Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Court held that government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."[1][2]:702 Specifically, it struck down Ohio's criminal syndicalism statute, because that statute broadly prohibited the mere advocacy of violence. In the process, Whitney v. California (1927)[3] was explicitly overruled, and doubt was cast on Schenck v. United States (1919),[4] Abrams v. United States (1919),[5] Gitlow v. New York (1925), and Dennis v. United States (1951).[6]

Background[edit]
Clarence Brandenburg, a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader in rural Ohio, contacted a reporter at a Cincinnati television station and invited him to cover a KKK rally that would take place in Hamilton County in the summer of 1964.[7] Portions of the rally were filmed, showing several men in robes and hoods, some carrying firearms, first burning a cross and then making speeches. One of the speeches made reference to the possibility of "revengeance" against "niggers", "Jews", and those who supported them. One of the speeches also claimed that "our President, our Congress, our Supreme Court, continues to suppress the white, Caucasian race", and announced plans for a march on Washington to take place on the Fourth of July. Brandenburg was charged with advocating violence under Ohio's criminal syndicalism statute for his participation in the rally and for the speech he made. In relevant part, the statute – enacted in 1919 during the First Red Scare – proscribed "advocat[ing]...the duty, necessity, or propriety of crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform" and "voluntarily assembl[ing] with any society, group or assemblage of persons formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal syndicalism".

Convicted in the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, Brandenburg was fined $1,000 and sentenced to one to ten years in prison. On appeal, the Ohio First District Court of Appeal affirmed Brandenburg's conviction, rejecting his claim that the statute violated his First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court of Ohio dismissed his appeal without opinion.

The rather cursory way in which the Ohio courts dismissed Brandenburg's constitutional arguments is unsurprising in light of the state of First Amendment law in the pre-Brandenburg era. Although Yates v. United States[8] had overturned the convictions of mid-level Communist Party members in language that seemed suggestive of a broader view of freedom of expression rights than had been accorded them in Dennis v. United States,[9] all Yates purported to do was construe a federal statute, the Smith Act. Thus, Dennis's reading of the First Amendment remained in force: advocacy of law violation, even as an abstract doctrine, could be punished under law consistent with the free speech clause.

The decision[edit]

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed Brandenburg's conviction, holding that government cannot constitutionally punish abstract advocacy of force or law violation. The majority opinion was per curiam (issued from the Court as an institution rather than as authored and signed by an individual justice). The earlier draft had originally been prepared by Justice Abe Fortas before he was forced to resign in the midst of an ethics scandal, and would have included a modified version of the clear and present danger test. In finalizing the draft, Justice Brennan eliminated all references to it, substituting instead the "imminent lawless action" language.[10] Justices Black and Douglas concurred separately.



SPEAKING OF DONALD TRUMP, HE’S DONE IT AGAIN. THE BRITS ARE MAD AT HIM, FROM THE TOP DOWN. ONE MORE TWEET, SIR... JUST ONE MORE! ONE OF THE COMMENTS DESERVES A REPETITION: “LABOUR'S DEPUTY LEADER, TOM WATSON, TWEETED: "OFFICER, I'D LIKE TO REPORT A HATE CRIME.’”

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41695667
Anger over Donald Trump's UK crime tweet
October 20, 2017
From the section UK Politics

Photograph -- Donald Trump, Getty Images

The US President, Donald Trump, has been accused of fuelling hate crime with a tweet linking a rise in the UK crime rate to "radical Islamic terror".

He said: "Just out report: 'United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.' Not good, we must keep America safe!"

The Labour MP, Yvette Cooper, chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said the statement was "inflammatory and ignorant".

The Home Office declined to comment.

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Reality Check: Is crime up or down?

Crime in England and Wales went up by 13% in the 12 months to June, fuelled by a 26% increase in knife crime and a 19% increase in sexual offences, according to the latest figures, published on Thursday.

The number of homicides (cases of murder and manslaughter) increased by 46 to 629, excluding the terror attacks in London and Manchester.

'Outright fear mongering'

Yvette Cooper said in a statement: "Hate crime in the UK has gone up by almost 30% and rubbish like this tweet from Donald Trump is designed to provoke even more of it.

"It is appalling that we have reached the point where inflammatory and ignorant statements from the President of the United States are now seen as normal.

"If we are to properly tackle hate crime and every other crime, we have to challenge this kind of nonsense."

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called on Theresa May to "publicly condemn" Donald Trump for "outright fearmongering".

She added: "Donald Trump's reactionary tweet isn't just inaccurate, it's also inflammatory.

"It's about time that the British government take a stand against Trump's bigotry, and make a clear public statement saying that his damaging remarks are unwelcome."

Homicide rate

Conservative backbencher Nicholas Soames, grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, responded to Mr Trump's tweet by calling the US president a "daft twerp" who needed to "fix gun control."

Former Labour minister, Hilary Benn, told BBC News: "I am sure we would all appreciate it if we could see a reduction in the number of tweets like this from the president of the United States."

Labour's Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, tweeted: "Officer, I'd like to report a hate crime."

Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson also responded to the president's tweet, accusing him of "misleading and spreading fear".

The Office for National Statistics said it would not comment on Mr Trump's tweet, but added that the survey relates to all crimes in England and Wales between 2016 and 2017.

The statistics show that in the year ending June 2017, of the 664 homicides in England and Wales, 35 were caused by the London and Manchester terror attacks.

Scotland has a similar survey on perceptions of crime that runs every two years.

In the most recent one, published in 2016, crimes committed against adults were down 16% since the previous survey in 2012-13.

Crimes recorded by the police in Scotland are at their lowest level since 1974.



“CAN YOU PLEASE STICK OUT OF OUR BUSINESS ... TWERP ... “SCAREMONGERING TROLL.” TRUMP’S TWEET WAS NOT ENTIRELY WRONG, HOWEVER. “THERE WAS A ‘SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE’ --59 PERCENT -- IN THE NUMBER OF ATTEMPTED MURDER OFFENCES OVER THE PAST YEAR, DUE LARGELY TO THE LONDON AND MANCHESTER TERROR ATTACKS.” ANOTHER REPORT MENTIONS MORE SPECIFICALLY THAT A RISE IN CRIME RELATED TO MUSLIMS HAS OCCURRED, DUE TO THE FACT THAT BRITISH CHRISTIANS HAVE INCREASED THE NUMBER OF THEIR ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS! UNFORTUNATELY, THE ALT-RIGHT AND THE RUSSIANS ARE CELEBRATING OVER THIS SITUATION IN THE US. DIVIDE AND CONQUER WORKS THIS WAY.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-20/brits-tells-trump-stay-out-of-our-business-after-crime-tweet
Brits Tell Trump to Mind His Own Business After Crime Tweet
By Thomas Penny
October 20, 2017, 8:34 AM EDT

Donald Trump can’t seem to stop tweeting about terror in the U.K. This time, he weighed in on a dense 33-page statistics document, extrapolated a single crime number and linked it to “radical Islamic terror.”

“Just out report: "United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror." Not good, we must keep America safe!” the U.S. president tweeted on Friday.

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The backlash was immediate. Opposition Labour Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said: “Can you please stick out of our business with such divisiveness? You clearly don’t understand difference between causation and correlation.”

Even the grandson of Winston Churchill, whose bust sits alongside Trump every day in the Oval Office, was appalled. Nicholas Soames, grandson of the wartime leader, tweeted his reaction, using a hashtag that included the insult “twerp,” aimed at the president.

The Office of National Statistics bulletin makes no link between rising crime and “radical Islamic terror.” However, it does note that there was a “substantial increase” --59 percent -- in the number of attempted murder offences over the past year, due largely to the London and Manchester terror attacks. Excluding those attacks showed homicides following a “general upward trend seen in recent years,” the report said.

GRAPHIC IMAGE – A MIXED PICTURE OF CRIME

A separate report into hate crime published on Tuesday does make a link between Islamist terror and a increase in crime. That rise, it explains, was caused by attacks on Muslims after the terror attacks in London and Manchester.

“Hate crime in the U.K. has gone up by almost 30 percent and rubbish like this tweet from Donald Trump is designed to provoke even more of it,” said Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. “It is appalling that we have reached the point where inflammatory and ignorant statements from the President of the United States are now seen as normal.”

Gary Lineker, one of Britain’s most recognizable faces and a famous soccer player from the 1980s, had just two words in response: “scaremongering troll.”

— With assistance by Alex Morales, and Hayley Warren


HOW DEPRESSING SOME OF THESE NEWS ARTICLES ARE. FREUD THE FAMOUS PSYCHIATRIST IS KNOWN FOR HIS EXPLORATION INTO HIS PATIENT’S SEX LIVES, WHICH DOESN’T SEEM TO ME TO BE THE BEST WAY TO DO THERAPY. I CAN SEE, THOUGH, THAT SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IS PERHAPS THE BOGEYMAN OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES. WHAT DISTURBS ME ARE THE GLIMPSES LIKE THIS ARTICLE OF HOW DEEPLY SOME ARE DAMAGED, CAUSING THEM TO DO SOMETHING AS DEPRAVED AS MOLESTING A CHILD.

I ALSO HATE TO SEE THE TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO ARE CAUGHT IN THESE STINGS. IT’S CLEAR THAT JUST BECAUSE A MAN OR WOMAN IS WELL RESPECTED IN SOCIETY, THEY CAN STILL BE A PREDATOR. WHILE I THINK THEY SHOULD BE “PUNISHED,” BY A PRISON SENTENCE OF SOME LENGTH, IT SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT PROGRAM. THERE WAS AN INTERESTING NEWS-RELATED DOCUMENTARY MAYBE 5 YEARS AGO, SHOWING A GROUP THERAPY SESSION IN WHICH THE PREDATORS WERE TO SEE THE SEX ACT FROM THE VICTIM’S STANDPOINT – THE PAIN AND SHAME.

IT SEEMED TO CAUSE SOME OF THE PEOPLE TO TURN AWAY FROM THEIR ABUSIVENESS. OF COURSE, I’VE ALSO HEARD THAT SEXUAL PREDATORS ARE NEVER “CURED.” THE TERM, “IN REMISSION” MAY BE A BETTER ONE. THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE GROUP EXPERIENCE THAT HELPS PEOPLE TO BE STRONGER IN AVOIDING FURTHER PARTICIPATION.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41704429
Brazil police arrests 108 in major anti-paedophilia operation
October 20, 2017 2 hours ago
From the section Latin America & Caribbean

Photograph -- Brazilian police used special software provided by the United States

Police in Brazil say they have arrested 108 people in the biggest operation ever against paedophiles in Latin America.

Suspects were arrested in 24 states and the capital, Brasilia.

Justice Minister Torquato Jardim said those detained were part of a ring that shared pornographic images of children through computers and mobile phones.

The operation comes at the end of a six-month investigation, which involved US and European immigration officials.

Investigators have found more than 150,000 files containing disturbing images.

They were accessed through the dark web, a part of the internet not reached by most search engines.

Among those arrested were retired policemen, civil servants and people in charge of football youth clubs.

Photograph -- Woman arrested as part of major anti-paedophilia in Brazil Image copyrightAGENCIA BRASIL; Image caption -- More than 1,000 officers were involved in the operation

Mr Jardim said the paedophiles use sophisticated techniques to evade police investigations.

"They store their illegal, criminal photos in a computer of someone in another part of the country or even abroad," he said.

"And often the people storing the content are unaware," added Mr Jardim.

The operation initially targeted suspects of sharing illegal paedophile material.

But after seizing dozens of computers, mobile phones, CDs and hard drives, investigators found out that the criminal group was also producing pornographic material to distribute on the internet.

The files contained disturbing images of babies and young children being abused.

Some of the children and teenagers denounced their own parents or other relatives to officers taking part in the operation.

It is not clear if the paedophile ring operated independently in Brazil or if it was connected with other criminal networks abroad.



LIQUID WATER FOUND

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2150642-astronaut-wee-could-show-us-how-the-plumes-on-enceladus-work/?cmpid=ILC|NSNS|2017_webpush&utm_medium=ILC&utm_source=NSNS&utm_campaign=webpush-astronaut-wee
SHORT SHARP SCIENCE 17 October 2017
Astronaut wee could show us how the plumes on Enceladus work
By Leah Crane

Photograph -- A little like wee
NASA

It’s just a wee moon, but Saturn’s icy satellite Enceladus is one of the most promising places in the solar system in the hunt for alien life. Examining how spaceships vent urine could help us understand the small moon’s jets of water, which may spew out signs of life along with liquid.

At Enceladus’s south pole, plumes of liquid water spurt up from an ocean hidden under a thick sheath of ice made of varying sizes of tiny shards. Despite the pictures we have of this region from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, we don’t know much about the inner workings of the plumes because the probe could only detect one size of ice grain at a time, leaving scientists to guess at the overall distribution.

But Ralph Lorenz at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland says that we could use other jets of water in space – the ones formed as spacecraft release astronaut pee and waste water from fuel cells – as an analogue to better understand that distribution. He presented this work at the American Astronomical Society’s meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences on 17 October.

Whizzing water

When water whizzes out into the cold vacuum of space, some of it freezes instantaneously. In 1989, researchers at a telescope in Hawaii observed this process as the Discovery space shuttle dumped water from its fuel cells.

“There was a population of ice grains that were basically the size of the vent, but there’s a second population of much smaller grains that were interpreted as basically recondensing from the vapour,” says Lorenz. “That is probably the type of distribution that we’ll see on Enceladus.”

The plumes on Enceladus are far bigger and likely less uniform on the inside than a simple metal tube spraying out water, though. On the space shuttle, water being dumped formed long icicles on the outside of the nozzle in some cases, so the same may happen at Enceladus and change the structure of the vents over time, Lorenz says.

Urine vented from the space shuttle left a residue when tiny particles of wee ice hit the craft’s panels, so he suggests that future missions to Enceladus could have detectors that look for signatures of life in the miniscule dents left by ice grains there.

A bit of a stretch

“It seems like a stretch to me,” says Hunter Waite at the Southwest Research Institute in Texas. “The temperature of the water reservoir and how the liquid interacts with the ice walls that are several kilometres thick are important factors, and they don’t seem to have an analogue in this system.”

Lorenz says that even though the spacecraft water-dumping process is much simpler than Enceladus’s vents, it could still help us validate our models of the moon’s jets.

“These observations don’t tell us directly what’s happening on Enceladus, but they provide a sort of anchor for our interpretations of what we’re seeing on Enceladus and our designs for a new mission to go there,” says Lorenz.

Read more: Enigmatic plumes from Saturn’s moon caused by cosmic collision


MADDOW ON THE WORLD

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/18/17
Trump disgrace laid bare in interactions with gold star families
Rachel Maddow struggles to process how it could be reality that Donald Trump has picked a fight with the families of people who died in service to the United States, to whom Americans owe a debt, not an insult. Duration: 17:31


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/17/17
Mueller interviewing former Trump staffers
Rachel Maddow relays a report that former Trump communications director Sean Spicer is among the former Trump staffers who have now been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller, leading to speculation about how far along Mueller is in his inquiry. Duration: 5:41


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/19/17
CIA forced to walk back director's statement on Russian meddling
Rachel Maddow shares video of CIA director Mike Pompeo stating falsely that the U.S. intelligence community's assessment is that Russia's meddling did not affect the outcome of the election. The CIA would later walk that statement back. Duration: 1:31


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/19/17
Inexplicable Trump travel ban decision preceded US Niger exposure
Rachel Maddow looks at the utterly confounding decision by the Donald Trump White House to add important partner Chad to the latest iteration of the travel ban, and how it might put U.S. military lives in danger in places like Niger. Duration: 25:22


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/19/17
FEMA grants dubious contracts in wake of hurricane disasters
Matthew Philips, politics and policy editor for Bloomberg Businessweek, talks with Rachel Maddow about reporting his team has been doing into the companies being given FEMA contracts to help in the recovery from this season's hurricanes. Duration: 5:27


INTERESTING PERSONALITIES –

Dolly Parton down through the years
https://youtu.be/Db1qH7wnVy0

Malia Obama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj6eZ4co95k