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Friday, December 8, 2017

California inducts nation's first all-LGBT city council



What no illegals?
Where else but California...


Think I'll send them a celebratory fruit basket.



PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- The country's first all-LGBT city council was sworn in this week in California, CBS Los Angeles reports. 


The history-making council's newest members – Lisa Middleton, the first transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in California; and Christy Holstege, an attorney who identifies as bisexual – were sworn in during Wednesday night's meeting of the Palm Springs City Council.

Middleton and Holstege now replace Ginny Foat and Chris Mills, who announced earlier this year that they would not seek re-election.

The two newest council members won last month's election handily, with Middleton receiving 30.9 percent of the vote, and Holstege receiving 30.08 percent.

Middleton is a former senior vice president of internal affairs for the State Compensation Insurance Fund, former ONE PS chairwoman, Palm Springs planning commissioner, board member for the Desert Horticulture Society of the Coachella Valley, LGBT Community Center of the Desert, Equality California and Neighborhoods USA.

They join Mayor Robert Moon, who has been with his husband and partner for 35 years; Councilman Geoff Kors, whose husband is a Palm Springs Unified School Board member; and Councilman J.R. Roberts, who is a single gay man.

Holstege is an attorney focusing on workers' rights, housing and disabilities, a Palm Springs Human Rights commissioner and a Palm Springs Homelessness Task Force member.






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Thursday, December 7, 2017

What idiot came up with this idea?




In the age of Amazon, Walmart is changing its legal name




Photo: Alan Diaz, AP
FILE - This June 1, 2017, file photo shows a Walmart store in Hialeah Gardens, Fla. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is changing its legal name effective Feb. 1, 2018, to Walmart Inc. from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

I hate Walmart but I shop there on occasion. So next time I go I'm not saying... I'm going to Walmart. Instead, I'll say... I'm going to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

How many gazillions of dollars is this going to cost? Like to see the cost-benefit analysis on this one.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is changing its legal name effective Feb. 1 as it shifts away from physical stores in the age of Amazon's increasing dominance.

The world's largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said Wednesday it will change its legal name to Walmart Inc. from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

It said the move underscores its growing emphasis on serving shoppers in different ways beyond just physical stores but also online, on their mobile devices and through pickup and delivery. The company has been making inroads in narrowing the gap between itself and Amazon by making big investments in its online business. It tripled the number of items sold online from a year ago, overhauled its free shipping strategy and is expanding such services as allowing shoppers to pick up online grocery orders curbside at the stores. That has helped drive strong e-commerce sales gains in the past several quarters, most recently 50 percent growth in its fiscal third quarter.

Walmart operates more than 11,600 stores and clubs under 60 different banners worldwide.

"Whether it's in our stores, on our sites, with our apps, by using their voice or whatever comes next, there is just one Walmart as far as our customers are concerned," wrote Doug McMillon, Walmart president and CEO, in a blog post Wednesday.

The discounter's formal legal name when it incorporated on Oct. 31, 1969 was Wal-Mart Inc. It was changed to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Jan. 9, 1970, the same year it went public. It will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange as "WMT." It's been using the current Walmart logo in its operations since June 2008.

But for employees who still want to do the "squiggly" in the Walmart cheer where they move their hips when they get to the hyphen, there is nothing to fear.

"Getting our blood flowing and choosing not to take ourselves too seriously is still part of our culture," McMillon wrote Wednesday. "It's important to have some fun at work, so for our associates in countries where your cheer calls for the squiggly, keep doing it!"





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Second Volkswagen Exec Sentenced to Prison for Diesel-Emissions Scandal


Strange how the judicial system works. This guy is going to do 7 years for a diesel-emissions scandal.


Now compare this to Clinton who denied repeatedly she never sent nor received emails that were "marked" classified on her home-brewed server, which she used exclusively while serving as secretary of state.

Comey:

"From the group of 30,000 emails returned to the State Department in 2014, 110 emails in 52 email chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received," Comey said. "Eight of those chains contained information that was top-secret at the time they were sent."


And with these 'qualifications', she not only avoided jail... she ran for president! 

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The second Volkswagen executive in less than half a year has been sentenced to prison for his role in the automaker’s diesel-emissions scandal, according to reports from a Detroit federal court.

Oliver Schmidt, 48, formerly general manager of the company’s environmental office in Michigan, was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay a $400,000 fine. Schmidt was arrested by the FBI in January while visiting Miami after the Department of Justice issued a warrant for him and five other executives in Germany. Volkswagen pleaded guilty as a corporation that month to three criminal felony charges and was ordered to pay $4.3 billion as part of a settlement. U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox called Schmidt a “key conspirator” who “knowingly misled and lied to government officials,” as quoted by Automotive News reporter Larry Vellequette.

“VW is not going to walk into this room. VW is a group of individuals, and it is individuals who make choices,” said prosecutor Ben Singer. “Maybe it didn’t start out as Mr. Schmidt’s scheme, but it became his scheme. And that’s important.”

Schmidt, according to Automotive News, said he learned of the defeat device in August 2015 and agreed to “talking points” from VW management prior to speaking with California environmental regulators. Those were later found to be lies, although Schmidt had actually attempted, via email to the head of Volkswagen of America in 2014, to warn management regarding a potential indictment and what the Automotive News report called “economic risks.”

“For the disruption of my life, I only have to blame myself,” said Schmidt during his sentencing. “I justified my decisions by telling myself that I was obliged to speak for my superiors. The man that stands before you today no longer believes that.”

James Robert Liang, 63, an engineer who was not part of the original federal indictment from January 2017, was sentenced to 40 months and ordered to pay a $200,000 fine in August. Liang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and to committing wire fraud in violating the Clean Air Act back in September 2016.




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Wednesday, December 6, 2017

PIERS MORGAN: He claims he wants peace but Trump has just enraged a billion Muslims and poured oil on the flames of a war that could consume us all




Morgan is an asshole wuss. 

Didn't Britain just discover a Muslim planned terrorist attack to kill Theresa May?


I'll squash his argument with two indisputable facts.

1. The controversy surrounding the move of the embassy dates back decades. A law passed in 1995 under the Clinton administration considers Jerusalem the capital, and even mandates the move of the embassy there. Trump is the only president who had the balls to do it.

2. He uses the word enraged. Name me a time dating back to the RFK assassination Muslims weren't enraged about something?




It's called fear of Islam.

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Before you start to read good old Piers bear in mind every forthcoming terrorist attack, which was going to happen anyway, will quickly be blamed on Trump's Jerusalem decision. 

BTW...Here are some of Piers buddies after they were allowed to colonize his country:





What's the first thing you're told by your parents as a kid when you're anywhere near fire?

That's right: don't pour oil on it.

Why?

Well, ignore the advice and see for yourself – the fire will instantly erupt into a far larger and more furious ball of violent flame, endangering the lives of everyone in the immediate vicinity.

Today, President Donald Trump has taken a million-ton barrel of oil and tipped it all over the Middle East.

His decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as the new capital city of Israel, and to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, is a staggeringly reckless act of willful provocation even by his tweet-enraging standards.

And it could very quickly turn out to be a far more worrying threat to world peace than even the North Korea crisis.

I don't say this lightly.


U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the proclamation Wednesday that announces the United States recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving its embassy there


To understand the enormity of this decision, it's important to understand the history behind it.

Jerusalem is at the very heart of the Israel/Palestine conflict.

West Jerusalem is the home of Israel's government; East Jerusalem is the home to 300,000 Palestinians.

Both sides insist it must be the capital of their states.

This is why America has trodden very carefully when it comes to Jerusalem, locating its embassy in Tel Aviv since Israel's creation in 1948.

They are not alone in this. No other country in the world has their Israeli embassy in Jerusalem, acknowledging that to do so would be incredibly inflammatory.

Now President Trump is re-igniting this smoldering tinderbox in spectacular fashion.

He apparently considers it a roll of the dice worth throwing to force through a peace settlement.


Palestinian protesters burn the American flag and Israeli flag in the city of Gaza City on December 6 after Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel


Almost everyone else sees it as a desperately dangerous gamble that could have disastrous consequences for the whole already war-ravaged region.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman told Trump personally in a phone call it 'would constitute a flagrant provocation of Muslims all over the world'.

King Abdullah of Jordan said it would have 'serious implications for security and stability in the Middle East'.

Turkish President Erdogan described it as a violation of international law and a 'red line' for Muslims that would force Turkey to sever all diplomatic ties with Israel.

China warned it could 'sharpen regional conflict, initiating new hostility'.

Russia, a key Middle East player, agreed, expressing concern over 'possible deterioration'.


'I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,' Trump said from the White House Wednesday. 'It's the right thing to do'

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking in similar terms to Germany and the UK, told Trump to urgently reconsider the plan, stressing that the status of Jerusalem 'must be resolved through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians'.

Pope Francis spoke of his 'deep worry' about the situation and pleaded for 'wisdom and prudence' to prevail. He said: 'I make a heartfelt appeal so that all commit themselves to respecting the status quo of the city.'

Palestinians, obviously, are livid. Their leader Mahmoud Abbas warned of 'dangerous consequences' and an end to the peace process.

Hamas, the extremist arm of the Palestinians, said it would constitute a 'dangerous escalation' that 'crosses every red line' and called for 'days of rage' to protest.

Despite this extraordinary global opposition, Trump has gone ahead and done it anyway.

As things stand, the only people who will be happy about this are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his right-wing government, and their supporters.

And the Christian Right in America.


French President Emmanuel Macron (left) told Trump to urgently reconsider the plan and Pope Francis (right) spoke of his 'deep worry' about the situation and pleaded for 'wisdom and prudence' to prevail

Having been raised Catholic allow me to say in my lifetime this is the most worthless pope we ever had. As far as Macron goes he'll be wearing this by tomorrow...





But this decision is not even something most Americans support.

A new poll by the University of Maryland found that 66% of Americans, including 44% of Republicans, oppose moving the embassy.

The majority of Americans and American Jews believe that international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital city can and should only come to an agreement with the Palestinians on a two-state solution.

And in that eventuality, parts of the city would be ring-fenced as Israel's capital, other parts as Palestinian's capital – with each side having sovereignty over the areas in which its citizens reside.

Jerusalem is one of the most sacred cities on the planet, home to Muslims, Jews and Christians and some of the most important holy sites of all those religions.

Trump's decision tells the entire Arab and Christian world that it now belongs to the Jews of Israel and not them.

This incendiary move comes at a time when many were hoping real progress could be made in reaching some kind of two-state solution.


Palestinians play cards during U.S. President Donald Trump's televised speech in the West Bank City of Nablus, Wednesday


Protesters shout slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Turkish flags during a protest against the Israel in Istanbul


Indeed, Trump's own son-in-law Jared Kushner has been working for months on behalf of the administration to forge new impetus for a peace deal in an attempt to finally end the conflict.

But all his efforts, and those of the myriad others who devote their lives to this are now likely to go up, quite literally, in smoke.

I'm all for fresh new thinking when it comes to the Israel/Palestine crisis, as Trump put it today because let's be perfectly frank: none of the old thinking has worked.

This, though, is a terrible idea that will make things worse, not better.

In the short term, Trump's decision will inevitably spark a new wave of violence and instability across the region.

In the longer term, it will surely embolden Islamist terror groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS right and act as their greatest possible recruitment drive.

This, self-evidently, will make Israel less safe.

As for America, by moving from peace-broker to blatant side-taker, it is deliberately waving an Israeli red rag in the face of the Arab bull.

That can only make any resolution to this interminable issue even more unlikely.

And I fear it will also make America a less safe country, too.


An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man rides a bicycle as the US and Israeli flags are projected on the walls of Jerusalem's old city, Wednesday


Donald Trump has already enraged the world's Muslims on a regular basis.

During his election campaign, he called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US following a terror attack in California.

This week, his controversial watered-down travel ban, that targets seven predominantly Muslim countries, was given the green light by the Supreme Court.

Last week, Trump retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by a racist, Islamophobe, criminal group named Britain First.

So Muslims already feel this President is their enemy.

Today's announcement won't just confirm that suspicion, it will heavily cement it.

The Palestinian ambassador to London said the move amounts to 'declaring war on 1.5 billion Muslims.'

Hyperbole or not, there is no question that Donald Trump has just poured oil on the fire.

Or worse, as President Erdogan's spokesman put it, he's 'plunging the region and the world into a fire with no end.'

God help us.

Who's pouring oil gas on the fire?






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Al puts another notch on the gun before the guillotine falls tomorrow













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