August 2014 archive

Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition

Punting the Punditsis an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with George Stephanopolis: The guests on Sunday’s “This Week” are: Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D -HI).

The roundtable guests are: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile; Daily Beast contributor Kristen Soltis Anderson; and ABC News Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Mr. Schieefer’s guests are: Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO);  NAACP president Cornell William Brooks; Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson; and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI).

His panel guests are Gerald Seib, The Wall Street Journal; Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post; Michael Gerson, The Washington Post; and Peter Baker, The New York Times.

Meet the Press with David Gregory: We bid a long over due farewell to host David Gregory, fondly known for his dancing skills with his erstwhile partner Karl Rove. Sad to say he is only being replaced with NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd who will no doubt continue the tradition of white male right winger nut jobs with their perpetual false talking points.

Guests on “MTP” are: Jay Nixon (D-MO); Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH); and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D).

State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Ms. Crowley’s guests are Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO); Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO); and NYPD Police Commissioner and convicted felon Bernard Kerik.

Her panel guests are actor and activist Jesse Williams; CNN Contributor LZ Granderson; and journalist and Political Strategist Tara Wall.

Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Dozens defy Missouri curfew in riot-hit Ferguson

 17 August 2014 Last updated at 07:32

 BBC

US police fired smoke bombs and tear gas at a crowd which defied an overnight curfew in Ferguson, where a black teenager was shot dead by police last week.

About 150 protesters refused to disperse before a midnight (05:00 GMT) deadline in the St Louis suburb.

The governor of Missouri has imposed the curfew until 05:00 (10:00 GMT).

The move comes after a week of violent clashes between heavily armed local police and protesters.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot dead on a street in Ferguson on 9 August.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the main road in Ferguson in poor weather conditions hours before the curfew was due to go into force on Saturday evening.




Sunday’s Headlines:

On race, America has far to go. Ferguson won’t be the last flash point

Iraq crisis: Iraqi minority says massacre of civilians not over yet

Ukraine separatists ‘receive recruits trained in Russia’

China promotes mixed marriages in Tibet as way to achieve ‘unity’

New restrictions in Kenya for travelers amid Ebola fears

Random Japan

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 A collection of 20 creative ‘sushi’ rolls that were invented outside of Japan

   Krista Rogers

Love it or hate it, every country has their own take on sushi. While some of the creations, such as the California roll, are fairly tame and are now accepted as part of a normal sushi menu, we’ve also seen some of the odder versions out there, such as Hong Kong’s ‘killer sushi’, Nutella sushi in France, and my personal favorite-the absolutely adorable but sadly inedible cat sushi!

The quintessential component of sushi is vinegared rice, so while these creations can’t technically be called sushi, they’ve definitely taken a stylistic cue from the rolled shape of makizushi. And we have to admit, some of those fillings do look tasty…

Health & Fitness

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Cool Summer Fish

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Fish can be challenging. We’re told to eat it twice a week because it’s such a lean, high-protein, high-omega-3 animal, but we’re also told to avoid certain fish like swordfish and large tuna because of high mercury content, other types like Atlantic cod (or what’s left of it) because of overfishing and farmed salmon because of ecological considerations.

But it’s worth it to become friendly with different types of fish, not just the farmed salmon found in every supermarket. If you seek a fishmonger that has a reputation for sustainably caught or raised, fresh seafood, you’ll be on the right track. Broaden your repertoire; think sardines, petrale sole and Pacific cod.

Cold Poached Pacific Cod with Spices

If you use a whole fish, you can use the bones to make a fish stock for poaching. But fillets can also be poached in a lighter broth. They are rubbed with a Middle Eastern spice mix.

Cold Steamed Petrale Sole with Uncooked Tomato Sauce

A perfect dish for summer tomatoes. It works well with two uncooked sauce options: one sweeter, one mintier.

Salmon or Tuna Carpaccio with Wasabi Sauce

Sushi-grade salmon or ahi tuna will work nicely for this easy, delicate dish, and you don’t even have to be a whiz with a knife to make it.

Sardines in Vinegar (Escabeche)

This dish combines a recipe learned in Provençe with a recipe from Spain. The escabeche highlights sardines and saffron.

Veracruzana Vinegar-Bathed Shrimp

Summary: The cuisine of the state of Veracruz in Mexico has much in common with Spain’s, including this spicy cousin of the Spanish escabeche. The dish calls for a mild vinegar.

The Breakfast Club (Renaissance Man)

breakfast beers photo breakfastbeers.jpgSo today the Wayback Machine takes you to the sunny days of the Renaissance (well, sunny in comparison to the Dark Ages or even late Medieval Period) commonly dated to 1400 – 1600 more or less.

Now among the signal advances musically during this time period is the development of recognizably ‘modern’ musical notation, though to contemporary eyes it’s bears about the same relationship to the scores you performed in Band, Orchestra, or Choir (heh, worked in a BÖC reference there) as a First Folio does to an Annotated Complete Works.  For one thing color was used to denote duration in a variety of contradictory schemes, more to the point previously solid heads were opened in the manner of the current whole and half note because of the replacement of vellum with paper which was instrumental in making the printing press so successful.

And you thought it was just for words.

Nope, the systematized notation of music and printing of same made the spread of musical ideas philosophy, science, and theology (the latter of which was pivotal in the political struggles of the period) much easier than previously possible.

But in 1410 – 20 when John Dunstaple was active during the early Renaissance it was still all just one big happy Catholic family though those pesky theological issues would raise their ugly head soon enough.

Early Renaissance music owed much to the sacred music of the Late Medieval where most works were commissioned directly by Cathedrals and Monasteries for performance during services and were rarely exclusively instrumental.  The lyrics taken from prayers (in Latin of course).  The institutions hired or trained their own composers who hardly ever traveled or changed positions and most instruction and direction was personal and transmitted by word of mouth.  As a result musical performance and culture was very insular and idiosyncratic. Because of it’s origins in the Medieval tradition to contemporary ears the music seems droning and repetitive, soporific is the word I’d use to describe it.

Dunstaple was certainly no exception for the most part musically though he is noted for his adoption of tri-tones, thirds, and sixths in harmony, but in other respects he was quite unusual.  That he was a lay person as opposed to a priest or monk we infer by the large number of wives that predeceased him.  His influence on European music was widespread, from his native England to the remotest eastern principalities of the Holy Roman Empire though it had a particular resonance with their Burgundian rivals.  He wrote secular and instrumental music as well as sacred.

The secret of his success?  The printing press and musical notation.  It’s possible we know much of his work, but all music of the period is at best loosely attributed and much authorship disputed by scholars between him and his contemporary Leonel Power, also English.

The musical output of medieval England was prodigious, yet almost all music manuscripts were destroyed during the English Reformation, particularly as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536-1540. As a result, most of Dunstaple’s work has had to be recovered from continental sources (predominantly those from northern Italy and the southern Alps).

He’s arguably the most influential English composer of all time, yet very few people today know about him.  About 50 works are definitively attributed to him with the first collection ever published in 1953, 500 years after his death, and those almost immediately subject to scholarly debate (academese for knockdown drag-out fighting).

Not disputed are a collection of 12 Motets of which 6 are easily discoverable on-line.

Quam pulcra es

Did I say soporific?  I’m sure I (yawn)…  Anyway, the other 5 as well as the Obligatories, News, and Blogs below.

On This Day In History August 16

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 137 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1896, Gold discovered in the Yukon.

While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on this day in 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West.

Hoping to cash in on reported gold strikes in Alaska, Carmack had traveled there from California in 1881. After running into a dead end, he headed north into the isolated Yukon Territory, just across the Canadian border. In 1896, another prospector, Robert Henderson, told Carmack of finding gold in a tributary of the Klondike River. Carmack headed to the region with two Native American companions, known as Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie. On August 16, while camping near Rabbit Creek, Carmack reportedly spotted a nugget of gold jutting out from the creek bank. His two companions later agreed that Skookum Jim–Carmack’s brother-in-law–actually made the discovery.

Party at SHG- Sing Along

Hey there Partiers! You know those tunes you sing along to whenever you hear them? Sure you do. So, tonight we’re going for videos with lyrics to help everybody else sing along too. Hopefully, by the end of the evening we’ll all have had our fill of the intoxicant of our choice and be full out, head thrown back, singing along at the top of our lungs right at our screens~

Kryptonite

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Working Families Party Claims Scalp of R-D

Marilyn Moore, the Working Families Party endorsed candidate beat the incumbent “Reliable Democrat” Anthony Musto in the Democratic Primary for State Senate this Tuesday.

Moore upsets Musto in 22nd District

Linda Conner Lambeck, CT Post

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

A jubilant Marilyn Moore, of Bridgeport, upset incumbent Anthony Musto, of Trumbull, on Tuesday in a Democratic primary in the 22nd state Senate race.

An unofficial tally appeared to give Moore the advantage.

The district covers all of Trumbull, and portions of Bridgeport and Monroe.

“Look what we did,” Moore, 65, shouted as dozens of campaign workers around her erupted into cheers and group hugs. “Can you believe it?”

…….

Among Anthony’s many “reliable” accomplishments were delaying a vote to raise Connecticut’s minimum wage.

Connecticut’s Working Families celebrate!

Punting the Pundits

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Elizabeth R. Beavers amd Michael Shank: Get the Military Off of Main Street

Ferguson Shows the Risks of Militarized Policing

FERGUSON, Mo., has become a virtual war zone. In the wake of the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, outsize armored vehicles have lined streets and tear gas has filled the air. Officers dressed in camouflage uniforms from Ferguson’s 53-person police force have pointed M-16s at the very citizens they are sworn to protect and serve.

The police response has shocked America. The escalating tension in this town of 21,200 people between a largely white police department and a majority African-American community is a central part of the crisis, but the militarization of the police is a dimension of the story that has national implications. [..]

Militarizing our police officers does not have to be the first response to violence. Alternatives are available. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s statement Thursday highlighting resources like the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services office is welcome. This is where the government should be investing – instead of grants for guns.

Police militarization is a growing national threat. If the federal government doesn’t act to stop it, the future of law enforcement everywhere will look a lot like Ferguson.

Jeff Bachman: War Crimes: Is Obama Looking for a Bailout?

On Aug. 1, President Barack Obama stated in an oddly casual manner that “we tortured some folks.” As Obama is well aware, torture is a violation of international law. It is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), all of which have been signed and ratified by the United States. Further, although the ICCPR allows for some derogation from some of its requirements under extraordinary circumstances, torture is an act that is never permitted. [..]

According to Obama, the character of the United States “has to be measured in part not by what we do when things are easy, but what we do when things are hard.” Prosecuting Bush administration officials for torture would have been politically difficult. There’s no doubt about that, but that’s why we have laws. Laws are not meant to be enforced when it is convenient to do so; laws are meant to be objective and applied to all, equally. Unfortunately, despite the pious calls for justice elsewhere, protecting American officials against prosecution for war crimes is a time-honored tradition in the United States. Whether the crimes were committed during WWII, the Korean War, in Vietnam, Iraq or the wider “war on terror,” not a single high-level official has been held accountable for his or her crimes.

Obama’s contribution to U.S. hypocrisy does not end with the sheltering of Bush administration officials. The Obama administration is suspected of committing a number of crimes of its own, including violations of the Torture Convention. Despite multiple warnings of systematic torture in Afghan detention facilities, the administration continued to enter detainees into these facilities with full knowledge they could become victims of torture. Although some might argue this is a relatively lesser crime than directly authorizing these detainees’ torture, the end result is quite the same. Obama also allows for the continuing torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoners who are on a hunger strike. Jon Eisenberg, a human rights attorney who defends one of the prisoners, believes that when combining the varied practices associated with the force-feeding of detainees, “it all adds up to torture.”

Paul Krugman: The Forever Slump

It’s hard to believe, but almost six years have passed since the fall of Lehman Brothers ushered in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Many people, myself included, would like to move on to other subjects. But we can’t, because the crisis is by no means over. Recovery is far from complete, and the wrong policies could still turn economic weakness into a more or less permanent depression.

In fact, that’s what seems to be happening in Europe as we speak. And the rest of us should learn from Europe’s experience.

Before I get to the latest bad news, let’s talk about the great policy argument that has raged for more than five years. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, but basically it has been a debate between the too-muchers and the not-enoughers.

The too-muchers have warned incessantly that the things governments and central banks are doing to limit the depth of the slump are setting the stage for something even worse. Deficit spending, they suggested, could provoke a Greek-style crisis any day now – within two years, declared Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles some three and a half years ago. Asset purchases by the Federal Reserve would “risk currency debasement and inflation,” declared a who’s who of Republican economists, investors, and pundits in a 2010 open letter to Ben Bernanke.

Bina Shaw: Want to end sexual violence against women? Fix the men

A crisis of masculinity needs to be addressed in order to see a reduction in sexual violence against women.

The Global Summit to End Violence Against Women in Conflict took place in London in June 2014, with 1700 delegates from 129 countries and 79 ministers attending, drawing much-needed attention to the problem of women suffering sexual assault in war zones.

Yet as I studied the programme’s fringe events and followed the coverage in the news, I wondered what exactly a conference in London could truly do, beyond the call to action, to help women in places like Syria, Iraq, or Egypt, where women have suffered systematic rape and sexual assault as a “weapon of war”, as summit keynote speaker Angelina Jolie put it.

It’s vital to commit to tackling sexual violence in conflict and supporting victims, as the summit’s action statement outlined, as fresh conflicts erupt across the Middle East and South Asia. But while the summit stated its aim was to “end the use of rape and sexual violence in conflicts around the world”, it didn’t give more voice to key elements: honesty about the true origins of the violence – the skewed concept of masculinity in patriarchal societies, which operates in both war and peace – and the concomitant need to confront male perpetrators of violence against women with a prescription that goes beyond the conventional formulae of legal reform and punishment for sexual crimes.

Robert McImtyre: Walgreen Co. Did the Right Thing, But Most Corporations Won’t Without a Change in Tax Rules

I experienced a brief moment of joy when news broke last week that pharmacy chain Walgreens has, for now, set aside plans to invert, which is a euphemism for using paperwork to reincorporate as a foreign company for tax purposes. But my joy lasted for about one minute.

While Walgreen Co. has decided to remain American for tax purposes, a lot of what consumers buy in Walgreens drug stores may come from companies that are not such outstanding corporate citizens. The prescriptions you have filled there may be made by AbbVie, which plans to become a British company for tax purposes, or Mylan, which plans to become a Dutch company, or Pfizer which is also considering a corporate inversion.  [..]

But this is a distraction. Few American corporations actually pay anything close to 35 percent of their profits in federal income taxes thanks to all sorts of loopholes, and lowering the tax rate would accomplish nothing because the ultimate goal of many inversions is to shift profits to countries like Bermuda or the Cayman Islands where the tax rate is zero. So many companies are inverting to Ireland and the Netherlands because those countries have famously lax rules when it comes to using more paperwork to make profits appear to be earned in these zero-tax countries.

If this sounds a little complicated, well, that’s why it’s the sort of policy issue that Congress is supposed to resolve. It would be nice if everyone deciding which bananas or yogurt to buy could brush up on inversions and avoid companies that engage in these tax dodges, and perhaps these consumer discontent would pressure these companies to do the right thing as did Walgreen. But my guess is that this crisis will only grow worse until Congress and President Obama act to end it.

The Breakfast Club: 8-15-2014

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Everyone’s welcome here, no special handshake required. Just check your meta at the door.

Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

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This Day in History

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