Thursday Open Thread

Posted on July 12, 2018 by rikyrah

Hope you’re enjoying the week. I’m listening to some of my all time favorite songs from Earth, Wind and Fire.

Here’s one of many:

And it’s not Friday, and I don’t care. I’m already FUNKED UP.

This entry was posted in Music, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

85 Responses to Thursday Open Thread

  2. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    CHICAS…….Craig Hickman got burned.

    Winthrop legislator recovering from severe burns makes appearance at island event

    Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, was in good spirits Thursday, wearing gauze bandages and with visible wounds resulting from a fire accident at his farm.

    https://www.centralmaine.com/2018/07/12/winthrop-legislator-recovering-from-severe-burns-makes-appearance-at-island-event/

    Reply
  3. Ametia says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Anyone with a brain knows that the GOP are so fake and thuggish. holding a hearing to attack the fucking FBI & staff, instead of holding that POS 45’s feet to the fire.

    JESUS, TAKE THE WHEEL.

    Reply
  8. Ametia says:
    July 12, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    Peter Strzok went ALL

    on Gowdy & Nem…

    Reply
  9. Ametia says:
    July 12, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    Check out the Democrats going all ROGUE on the GOP today.

    GIVING ME THAT LIFE!

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      July 12, 2018 at 3:10 pm

      BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA

      Sheila Jackson lee holding up That photo oF Paulie Manafort is like placing an oxygen mask on me and turning the O2 up to 100 liters!

      LOL

      Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    They were giving out free samples.

    Ice Cream bar said
    gluten-free
    soy-free
    dairy-free

    So, you know, I gave it the side eye, but it said Chocolate, and I’ll give anything chocolate a try.

    IT.WAS.EXCELLENT.

    The name is
    Luna & Larry’s
    Organic Coconut Bliss
    Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bars

    I was stunned.

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    Foreign direct investment in the United States dropped 32 percent, or $120 billion, in 2017 as compared to the year before, according to new figures.

    After a two-year spike in foreign investment, the Bureau of Economic Analysis found that the rate last year dropped to levels similar to 2014 and the years before the financial crisis.

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    Charges dropped against Stormy Daniels after Ohio strip club arrest https://t.co/If3l8fA5Z8 pic.twitter.com/GAZTsABo5O— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 12, 2018

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 11:32 am

    Kensington Palace
    Kensington Palace
    @KensingtonRoyal
    The Duchess of Cambridge, @Wimbledon Patron, and The Duchess of Sussex will attend the Ladies’ Singles Final on Saturday 14th July #Wimbledon

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 11:29 am

    Peter Strzok just DESTROYED the false narrative the Trump Administration and GOP have been trying to use against him in under 2 minutes. pic.twitter.com/787xootd1h

    — Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) July 12, 2018

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 11:28 am

    Darrel Rowland
    ‏@darreldrowland
    5h5 hours ago
    More
    ICYMI: In a move opponents label a flip-flop, Republican Mike DeWine pledges to keep Ohio’s full Medicaid expansion if elected gov. He had previously said it was not fiscally sustainable.

    Reply
  20. Ametia says:
    July 12, 2018 at 11:26 am

    Obama-Era White House Film Plotted With Acquisition Of Ben Rhodes’ ‘The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House’

    https://shadowandact.com/obama-era-white-house-film-being-plotted-with-acquisition-of-ben-rhodes-the-world-as-it-is-a-memoir-of-the-obama-white-house

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Ok, this just made me LOL.

    Jesus, Virginia Foxx is on this panel too? This is the Avengers of insane legislators.— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 12, 2018

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 11:03 am

    Stormy Daniels Touched a woman in a friendly, nonsexual way = JAIL

    Trump accused of:

    – Raping a 13-year-old

    – Walking in on Naked Teens at Miss Univ Dressing room

    – Admitting to grabbing women by the Pussy

    – Raping, groping or sexually assaulting 17 other women

    = NO JAIL

    — Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) July 12, 2018

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:41 am

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    WATCH: Republican try to stop Elijah Cummings from listing guilty Trump officials at Strzok hearing
    Travis Gettys
    12 JUL 2018 AT 11:12 ET

    Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to stop Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) from listing the guilty pleas by Trump campaign officials obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller.

    Cummings called out GOP lawmakers for promising not to interfere with the Mueller investigation, but he said they had recently changed course.

    “Now they’re doing the opposite. behind closed doors, they’re asking individuals involved in the Russia investigation hundreds of questions about confidential human sources, FISA applications and potential witnesses in the special counsel’s criminal probe,” Cummings said. “In public, they’re holding emergency hearings, issuing unilateral subpoenas and threatening contempt and impeachment. They even demanded that the top Justice Department law enforcement officer in charge of this investigation said, and I quote, ‘Finish it the hell up.’”

    “So what has changed?” Cummings continued. “What has changed?”

    Interns held up five large posters showing the faces of three Trump campaign officials and two campaign associates who have pleaded guilty to charges in the special counsel probe.

    “Let me underscore, these are not allegations — these are admissions,” Cummings said. “Trump’s national security adviser admitted that he committed these crimes.”

    Cummings then moved on to Rick Gates, the president’s deputy campaign chairman, who also pleaded guilty to crimes in the Mueller probe, when committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) cut his microphone.

    Goodlatte questioned whether the signs were appropriate, but Cummings and other Democratic lawmakers asked him to cite a rule against them.

    The Virginia Republican was unable to do so, and Cummings continued with his list.

    Reply
  35. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:38 am

    Minutes into the hearing Peter Strzok f’d it up…………😂😂😂#StrzokHearing

    https://twitter.com/BarbaraRacek/status/1017431087872643073

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:33 am

    DA PHUQ?

    In his book, Sean Spicer calls Trump “a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow” https://t.co/WRUy1hQuvu

    — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 12, 2018

    Reply
  37. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:27 am

    #StrzokHearing Peter Strzok has republicans shook. They’re an effing disaster. This is a total clown show.

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:25 am

    Exclusive: Secret money funds more than 40% of outside congressional ads
    Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY
    Published 10:58 a.m. ET July 12, 2018

    WASHINGTON – Secret donors funded more than four out of every 10 television ads that outside groups broadcast this year to influence November’s high-stakes congressional elections, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Kantar Media data.

    Leading the way: Organizations affiliated with billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, whose conservative donor network plows hundreds of millions of dollars into politics and policy debates each election cycle.

    Two Koch-affiliated groups account for more than one-quarter of the House and Senate advertising from groups that don’t disclose their donors, according to a tally of broadcast ads tracked by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG).

    Those Koch advocacy groups, Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Veterans for America, have trained their advertising fire on five Democratic senators up for re-election from red and purple states: Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

    Reply
  40. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:22 am

    They’re know ISH is about to get fugging real and they’re trying everything to stop it but that bullet train is heading down the tracks full speed…. #StrzokHearing

    https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1017428233724317696

    Reply
  44. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 10:14 am

    OMG! Peter Strzokhearing is nothing but got damn drama. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 9:56 am

    This question continues to need to be asked.

    The Trump administration had no intention of reuniting the children with their families….so that leads to a question…with no plan for reunification…what were they going to do with the children. What Were They Going To Do With 3000 Children..has anyone asked this question??

    — Pretty Foot (@PrettyFootWoman) July 12, 2018

    Reply
  48. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 9:34 am

    Oversight of FBI and DOJ: Testimony by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok

    Reply
  50. SouthernGirl2 says:
    July 12, 2018 at 9:26 am

    Be vigilant people. Take nothing for granted. We’re living in very dangerous times. These people are emboldened now. He was going to kill that girl by pushing her into traffic.

    https://twitter.com/rjoseph7777/status/1017392799182802950

    Reply
  55. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 9:14 am

    US Navy now allows women to wear ponytails, lock hairstyles
    By JENNIFER McDERMOTT, Associated Press

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Navy says it will now allow servicewomen to sport ponytails and other hairstyles, reversing a policy that long forbade females from letting their hair down.

    Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said it makes the Navy more inclusive.

    Many black women had asked for changes to the female grooming standards. A female sailor, Yeoman First Class LaToya Jones, announced the new policy during a Facebook Live event Tuesday with Richardson. The new standards went into effect Wednesday.

    Lock hairstyles, or ropelike strands, are also now allowed. Wider hair buns too. And women can wear ponytails while in uniform.

    Capt. Thurraya Kent is the senior member of the working group that recommended the changes. The group told the Navy that adding grooming options would eliminate a distraction, be more inclusive of different hair textures and enable people to keep their hair natural instead of processing it chemically.

    Kent, who has been in the Navy for nearly 26 years, said her hair has been an issue throughout her career, whether it’s figuring out what to do with it while she’s deployed or trying to quickly make sure it conforms to regulations after exercising.

    She recalled being told to take out her braids early in her career even though her hairstyle was allowed.

    Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:59 am

    I simply don’t believe them.

    ………………………..

    Trump administration reunites 57 immigrant children with parents after missing court-imposed deadline
    Alan Gomez, USA TODAY Published 9:56 a.m. ET July 12, 2018

    The Trump administration claims it completed the first round of reunifications Thursday of families separated at the border, but it will be up to a federal judge to decide whether government officials moved fast enough to comply with his order.

    U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw imposed a series of deadlines for the administration to reunite nearly 3,000 children separated from their parents, mostly under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy. The first group, children under 5 years old, were supposed to be reunited with their parents by Tuesday.

    Sabraw made clear during a court hearing Tuesday that his deadlines were firm, and he raised the possibility of punishment for the government if those children were not reunited by the deadline “or within the immediate proximity” of it.

    Reply
  57. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:41 am

    Trump sounds sour note at NATO summit, lack of eggs upsets Kelly

    Rachel Maddow reports on a White House explanation that Chief of Staff John Kelly’s apparent displeasure while Donald Trump was fustigating the bedrock of Western international security was actually because of his unhappiness with the breakfast menu.

    Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:40 am

    Azar’s HHS tempts judge’s wrath over botched reunifications

    Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, talks with Rachel Maddow about the struggle HHS Secretary Alex Azar is having overcoming an apparently broken system to meet a judge’s deadline for returning kids to families separated by Trump policy.

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:33 am

    Manafort judge not amused, orders move to new jail

    Rachel Maddow explains the story of former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort complaining about the location of his jail, getting the judge to agree to a move, withdrawing his request for a move, and now the judge, not interested in games, forcing the move anyway.

    Reply
  60. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:25 am

    GOP stunt to smear counter-intel expert Strzok ripe for backfire

    Rachel Maddow tells the story of the FBI spying on Russian spies in the U.S., “Donald Heathfield” and “Tracey Foley,” and notes the extensive biography of Peter Strzok, who led many of those operations – the same Peter Strzok that Republicans are trying to smear in order to discredit the Mueller investigation.

    Reply
  61. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:19 am

    Sigh..

    Left like a $2 Ho that didn’t even get the $2

    ………………………………..

    North Koreans Are No Show at Scheduled U.S. Talks
    July 12, 2018 at 7:49 am EDT

    North Korean officials didn’t show up for a planned meeting with U.S. counterparts to discuss returning the remains of American war dead… in the latest sign of tensions between the two sides, Bloomberg reports.

    U.S. negotiators arrived Thursday at the militarized border between the two Koreas as previously announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and were kept waiting,

    Reply
  62. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:09 am

    Egyptian archeologists found this massive black sarcophagus — and no one knows what’s inside

    Archeologists think it has been sealed for more than 2,000 years.

    Why does this creep me out?
    Like, just leave it alone…

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 8:04 am

    Migrants describe hunger and solitary confinement at for-profit detention center
    By Bob Ortega, CNN Investigates

    Updated 1:58 PM ET, Wed July 11, 2018

    ……………………………….
    Just two years ago, GEO Group and other private-prison companies saw grim prospects ahead. Several lawsuits over wrongful deaths and many other issues had led to growing public and political concerns over conditions in private prisons. … In August of 2016, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General released a report concluding that, compared with federal facilities, private prisons had higher rates of assault, contraband and lockdowns. The report also identified problems with overuse of solitary confinement and poor medical care. A few weeks later, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a memo directing the federal Bureau of Prisons to phase out the use of private prisons as existing contracts expired.

    GEO Group’s stock price fell 40% in one day.

    The top private-prison companies have long been active politically. In the 2016 election cycle, GEO Group alone donated more than $1.2 million to candidates, parties and outside interest groups….GEO Group donated $275,000 to a Trump-aligned super PAC and $250,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee, according to FEC data. It also spent $1.7 million in lobbying last year, including $550,000 through Ballard Partners, a firm run by former Trump campaign Florida finance chair Brian Ballard.
    …
    Within weeks of Trump’s inauguration, a White House memo to Homeland Security leaked, describing plans to nearly double immigration detention housing to handle more than 80,000 people a night, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times. The following month, newly appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Yates memo.

    GEO Group’s share price, which had fallen to as low as $13 the day the Yates memo was released, soared, climbing by late April to $34.12 a share. That month, GEO Group was awarded the first new immigration detention contract under the Trump administration, a 10-year agreement for a 1,000-bed facility in Conroe, Texas, expected to generate $44 million a year in revenues. In May 2017, the Bureau of Prisons awarded GEO Group a pair of 10-year contracts, expected to generate $66.4 million a year in revenues, to house immigrants convicted of crimes.

    Today, GEO Group operates 141 prisons, detention centers and community re-entry facilities. In October, the company moved its annual leadership conference from Boca Raton, Florida, where it is headquartered, to the Trump National Doral, a Miami golf resort owned by the President.
    …
    GEO Group is fighting two lawsuits in federal court — one filed by the state of Washington — that accuse it of violating labor laws by paying a dollar a day or less, regardless of how many hours they work, to detained migrants whose labor is essential to keep the Northwest Detention Center running.

    According to the Washington attorney general’s office, “Detainees described working through the night buffing floors and painting walls in exchange for chips and candy.” Similar suits target four other detention centers run by GEO Group or another private-prison operator. One suit, against a GEO Group facility in Colorado, noted that the company employed only one janitor on staff there, relying on its captive migrant workers to do almost all the work.

    Based on court filings and its 2015 ICE contract, GEO Group appears to save at least $10 million a year at its Tacoma facility through the work program, compared to paying standard wages. Currently, it is reimbursed by ICE for the dollar a day it pays each immigrant detainee worker.
    …
    In practice, ICE detention facilities operate with little oversight or accountability, according to Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. … “Moreover, ICE does not adequately follow up on identified deficiencies or consistently hold facilities accountable for correcting them,” the OIG report said. “Even well documented deficiencies that facilities commit to fixing routinely remain uncorrected for years.”

    It cited examples of inspectors contracted by ICE submitting false information that made detention facilities look like they were following regulations when they weren’t. The inspector general found a slew of other problems that “include facilities failing to notify ICE about alleged or proven sexual assaults” and conducting strip searches with no reasonable suspicion.

    Reply
  67. rikyrah says:
    July 12, 2018 at 7:26 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

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