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Friday, June 29, 2018

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

No Planes on 911 - Part 1 by Gari Jones




No Planes on 911 - Part 2 by Gari Jones



Native American tribes win big at the Supreme Court

An eight-justice Supreme Court just decided a major Indian law case by, well, not deciding it. The justices split 4-4 and issued a per curiam decision, or a decision on behalf of the court that doesn’t specify how each justice voted. Any time the court splits, the lower court’s decision stands. 
The litigation in question surrounds the salmon rights of 21 Northwest Indian tribes who, along with the federal government, sued the state of Washington to replace nearly 1,000 culverts. The case began under the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1970s—that’s why Justice Anthony Kennedy, then on that court, had to recuse himself.
It’s a modern twist on an issue that dates to the 1850s: From tribes’ right to fish salmon, established in the Stevens treaties, we arrive at tribes’ right to keep the state from taking actions that impede the salmon that tribes have a right to fish. Here that means Washington has to replace culverts that have degraded fish habitats and reduced fish populations.
Washington Indian law and water rights attorney J. Nathanael Watson explains the immediate implications: READ MORE

After sharing a dubious 'Chinese proverb' on Twitter, Ivanka is widely mocked in China and the U.S.

Yesterday Ivanka Trump was doing her best to hype the meeting between Donald Trump and murderous North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. From Singapore, she shared a “Chinese proverb” with her followers on Twitter:
Ivanka Trump shares a "Chinese proverb" that says "Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it."
One problem … nobody can find the origin of this so-called ancient proverb. And when we say nobody can find it, that includes millions of Chinese who’ve been searching high and low. From NPR:
After a thorough search of the Analects of Confucius, Taoist texts and everything in between, nothing definitive has come up. But that hasn't stopped millions of Chinese social media users from making wild guesses like these, straight from Weibo, one of China's most popular social media sites:
  • 临渊羡鱼不如退而结网 — It's better to knit a fishnet instead of standing by the river and hoping for fish.
  • 观棋不语真君子 — Don't give advice while watching others playing a chess game.
  • 勿以善小而不为 — Don't ignore small acts of kindness simply because they seem trivial.
  • 己所不欲,勿施於人 — Don't force others to do things you don't want to do yourself.
  • 吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸 — If you haven't tasted the grapes, don't say they're sour.
As you might imagine, her tweet is also being widely mocked by the Chinese.
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ancient Chinese proverb: "Only a fool would lie on the internet." circa 900 b.c. lol

Rudy Giuliani's soon-to-be third ex-wife says he was cheating ... again. And where is Rudy?

Rudy Giuliani, the current personal attorney of Donald J. Trump, is making news again, perhaps not in the way he’d hoped. It was just last week that Giuliani said Trump’s former mistress wasn’t to be believed because, “just look at her.” He pissed off women nationwide with his misogynistic comments, possibly including his soon-to-be ex-wife. His third ex-wife. New York gossip website, Page Six, is reporting their impending divorce is the result of Rudy's cheating ways: As The Post exclusively reported Tuesday, Giuliani has been cheating on wife Judith Nathan with married New Hampshire hospital administrator Maria Rosa Ryan, according to sources. Giuliani denied the affair to The Post, although he added that the dinner and movie he shared with Ryan at a posh spa March 29 — five days before Nathan filed for divorce — occurred when he “was in effect separated.” Nathan shot back in a statement, “My husband’s denial of the affair with the married Mrs. Ryan is as false as his claim that we were separated when he took up with her.” READ MORE

Supreme Court lifts injunction on Trump Muslim travel ban, dismissing threat to religious liberty

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, in a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice Roberts, for the Trump administration and reversed a grant of preliminary injunction in the Muslim travel ban, sending the case back to the lower courts. Dissenting Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg likened the ruling to Korematsu, the decision that declared the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II was constitutional, writing:
The United States of American is a Nation built upon the promise of religious liberty. […] The Court's decision today fails to safeguard that fundamental principle. It leaves undisturbed a policy first advertised openly and unequivocally as a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" because the policy no masquerades behind a façade of national security concerns. But this repackaging does little to cleanse Presidential Proclamation No. 9645 of the appearance of discrimination that the President's words have created. READ MORE

Sunday, June 24, 2018