Why we can't fix the things that really matter----- Leon Drolet - Yesterday, I attended a well-publicized town hall...

(6) Leon Drolet - Yesterday, I attended a well-publicized town hall...:

Leon Drolet

May 4 at 10:19am · 

"Yesterday, I attended a well-publicized town hall meeting of the Detroit Regional Transit Authority in Mt. Clemens designed to seek public input and support for a new tax on your home to expand mass transit.

19 citizens showed up (including me) out of a Macomb population of 865,000.

Plus 4 RTA employees, 2 RTA board members, and two reporters.

Cult-like religion was on full display as RTA staff spouted "facts" about the "demand" for more mass transit - saying things like "Residents of Ray Township will benefit because more mass transit money given to rural communities will help those residents get to jobs in places like Troy, Detroit, etc.".

I know Ray Township. Absolutely nobody who lives there is car-less if they work. It is mostly farms. I asked the RTA guy who made the statement how many workers in Ray Twp. need help getting to jobs. He admitted that the RTA had no data, but assured me he had heard so anecdotally. In other words, "Just believe".

During Q&A, one lady in the audience asked why the new RTA plan did not include extending the Detroit People Mover to Mt. Clemens. You have to live in Michigan to understand how preposterously ludicrous such a question is. Yet, the entire meeting was about faith and believing and embracing only the facts that support the One True Faith.

While at least two of the other 18 citizens attending opposed the RTA plan, I assumed the other 16 citizens supported it based on their zen-like state when discussing their god (plus a guy wearing his 'Green Party' pin).

Both the left and the right and libertarians have a fringe element that embraces tenets of their political views in a cult-like manner by seeing the world only through the prism of their doctrine. And the left's worship was on full display among the tiny group at yesterday's town hall.

RTA to collect feedback on transit plan

Transit authority plans six public meetings, online survey to gauge reaction, needs

DETROITNEWS.COM

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Michael Shmina The mantras are contagious and tier healing power know no bounds. Yesterday WDET had a quote from someone opposed to making able bodied Michiganders work 30 houris for Medicaid say first we must address one of the real reasons for rural unemployment: no access to Mass Transit. Hopefully one of the Mt Clemens People Mover stops will connect with a North Avenue Q Line that extends clean up to Berville.

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Mike Moreau Just read the Q line debt will be transferred to the RTA in 2027. Is this an example of the creeping expansion of debt on the taxpayer? What RTA are they talking about? Patterson and Hackel have been vocal in their opposition of the RTA millage and have said they do not want to see it on a ballot. I hope they stand firm.

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Lunch video-----Penn & Teller Helps Gun Control Supporters Understand The 2nd Amendment

Noon-toon-----Wondermark » Archive » #1396; A Page a Day

Wondermark » Archive » #1396; A Page a Day

John Kerry under fire for reported 'shadow diplomacy' to save Iran deal | Fox News

John Kerry under fire for reported 'shadow diplomacy' to save Iran deal | Fox News:

"Former Secretary of State John Kerry is under fire over a report claiming that he has been engaged in “shadow diplomacy” with officials from Iran and Europe as part of a final attempt to save the seemingly doomed 2015 Iran nuclear deal."

Technical ignorance is not leadership | TechCrunch

Technical ignorance is not leadership | TechCrunch
"There is a peculiar pattern that I have noticed among elites in the United States outside Silicon Valley, which is the almost boastful ignorance of technology.
As my colleague Jon Shieber pointed out today, you can see that ignorance among congressmen throughout the whole Facebook/Cambridge Analytica saga.
...Such a pattern is hardly unique to politics though.
Hang out with enough business executives, lawyers, doctors, or consultants, and you will hear the inevitable “I don’t really do the computer,” with an air of detached disdain.
Yet it isn’t just the technical challenges that this class avoids, but anything to do with implementation in general.
In the policy world, wonks spend decades debating the finer points of healthcare and social spending, only to be wholly ignorant at how their decisions are actually implemented into code. 
There is an elitism in policy between those who make the decisions and those who implement them, just as much as there is a social distinction between corporate executives and the people who have to carry out their directives.
In many ways, this disdain for the technical mirrors the disdain for math, where the phrase “I’m not a math person” has become sufficiently ubiquitous in the U.S. as to be covered regularly in the press.
Being bad at math is a way to signal that someone isn’t one of the worker bees who actually have to care about calculations — they just read the reports prepared by others..."
Read all!

#1 Movie this week 1962-----The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Trailer

Swedish child raped by ‘three men’ on her way home: Police refuse to give description of the perpetrators

Swedish child raped by ‘three men’ on her way home: Police refuse to give description of the perpetrators:
"A 10-year-old girl was attacked by three men after she left school and was on her way home.
The child was raped at a cemetery in Östervåla, Sweden’s Aftonbladet reports.
It was Thursday, around 3 pm, that the terrible incident occurred.
According to the police three perpetrators were involved.
At least one of them raped the girl.
“No person has been arrested but we have received a good description of the perpetrators. 
We do not want to publish it in the media”, says police investigator Daniel Nilsson to SVT.
The site has been locked off for a technical examination.
Among other things, police dogs have searched the site for technical evidence.
According to Nilsson, there’s a clear picture of what has happened and there is “no doubt” that the crime occurred at the cemetery.
Nilsson adds he doesn’t want to give more comments on the case now."

#1 This day 1965-----Hermans Hermits - Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter 1965

What if Mueller Questioned Barack Obama? - American Greatness

What if Mueller Questioned Barack Obama? - American Greatness
"Imagine if a right-wing version of Robert Mueller, backed by a properly pro-Trump legal team, had sent former President Barack Obama the same sort of questions that Mueller allegedly delivered this week to President Trump.
The special counsel might dress them up in legalese, innuendo, and with perjury-trap IEDs, thereby casting suspicion with the mere nature of the questions.
If so, the interrogatories might run like the following—
President Obama:

• What did you mean when you were heard, by accident, on a hot mic, providing the following assurances to outgoing Russian Prime Minister Medvedev: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space . . . This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility”?
• Did you and the Russian government have any private agreements to readjust Russian-American relations during your own 2012 reelection campaign? Were there other such discussions similar to your comments to Prime Minister Medvedev? If so, do you believe such Russian collusion had any influence on the outcome of the 2012 election?
• During the email controversies over the illegal use of a private email account and server by your secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, you stated publicly that you first became aware of her improper use of a private server through press accounts. Yet records show that you yourself communicated with Secretary Clinton over her unauthorized email account. How do you reconcile your public statements with your private actions?
• Did you ever at any time improperly transmit classified information over Secretary of State Clinton’s email server under a pseudonymous email account? Do you feel that you violated federal law by communicating with your secretary of state over an unsecured email server?

MUCH MORE, READ ALL!

*****
The point is not to embarrass President Obama, but to demonstrate that any president, past or present, could be forced to answer questions to a special prosecutor, both concerning his original mandate but also far beyond it, including matters of his own personal and business past.
His answers could then be used to collate both with public or even surveilled presidential statements to find evidence  of inconsistency, false testimony, obstruction of justice, or collusion with a foreign government.
Give a special counsel the man—including Barack Obama—and his team of partisan investigators could find the necessary crime to charge him.

You ought to know!

John Kerry under fire for reported 'shadow diplomacy' to save Iran deal | Fox News

John Kerry under fire for reported 'shadow diplomacy' to save Iran deal | Fox News:

"Former Secretary of State John Kerry is under fire over a report claiming that he has been engaged in “shadow diplomacy” with officials from Iran and Europe as part of a final attempt to save the seemingly doomed 2015 Iran nuclear deal."

Carbon Dioxide: U.S. Emissions Down, European Emissions Up - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Carbon Dioxide: U.S. Emissions Down, European Emissions Up - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
"...As the International Energy Agency recently reported,
Global energy-related CO2 emissions grew by 1.4% in 2017, reaching a historic high of 32.5 gigatonnes (Gt)...
While most major economies saw a rise, some others experienced declines, including the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Japan.
The biggest decline came from the United States, mainly because of higher deployment of renewables.
The U.S.'s performance contrasts with that of the European Union, whose carbon dioxide emissions increased by 1.8 percent last year. 
...This drop is largely attributable to a continuing market-driven switch from coal to natural gas...
...a World Resources Institute report last fall concluded that the greenhouse gas emissions of 49 countries (including the U.S.) have already peaked.
The majority of countries whose emissions have peaked did so well before any international climate agreement such as the Kyoto Protocol came into effect."

AM Fruitcake

History for May 7

History for May 7 - On-This-Day.com:
Robert Browning 1812 - Poet, married to poet Elizabeth Barrett, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840 - Composer, Gabby (George Francis) Hayes 1885 - Actor


Gary (Frank James) Cooper 1901 - Actor ("Sergeant York [1941]", "The Virginian"), Eva (Evita) Peron 1919 - Actress, wife of Argentina President Juan Peron, subject of the Broadway musical and film "Evita", Johnny Unitas 1933 - Football player


1763 - Indian chief Pontiac began all out war on the British in New York.


1915 - The Lusitania, a civilian ship, was sunk by a German submarine. 1,201 people were killed.


1940 - Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.


1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp. was founded. The company was later renamed Sony.


1954 - French Colonial Forces surrendered to the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu after 55 days of fighting.


1977 - Rookie Janet Guthrie set the fastest time on opening day of practice for the Indianapolis 500. Her time was 185.607.


1998 - Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler Corp. for close to $40 billion. It was the largest industrial merger on record.


2000 - Russian President Vladimir V. Putin named First Deputy Premier Mikhail Kasyanov as premier.

NRA's Chris Cox: 'It's either going to be Nancy Pelosi's vision, or ours' - Washington Times

NRA's Chris Cox: 'It's either going to be Nancy Pelosi's vision, or ours' - Washington Times:

"Chris Cox, who heads the National Rifle Association’s legislative-lobbying arm, on Saturday warned that “everything will be on table” if Democrats gain ground in coming national elections, saying the agenda of his group’s opponents include impeaching President Trump and abolishing the Second Amendment."

The way we were-----Sammy Davis Jr. - Mr. Bojangles

Boob-tube-----The Little Rascals - 4 classic episodes

Starbucks Drops ADL From Anti-Bias Training; Are Anti-Semitic Farrakhan Supporters Among Black Lives Matter to Blame?

Starbucks Drops ADL From Anti-Bias Training; Are Anti-Semitic Farrakhan Supporters Among Black Lives Matter to Blame?:
"Black Lives Matter activists, not content with Starbucks shutting down locations on May 29 to host an anti-bias training in response to an incident with police in Philadelphia, later pushed the company to drop the nation's most prominent Jewish defense group from that training. 
On Monday, Starbucks announced it would drop the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), one of America's most well-respected civil rights groups, from the training.
...The Black Lives Matter movement has a long history of anti-Semitism.
In 2016, the Movement for Black Lives, an umbrella of BLM-affiliated groups, accused the state of Israel of committing genocide.
The ADL supports the state of Israel and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, told ABC News, "You can't be a piece of an anti-bias training when you openly support a racist, oppressive and brutal colonization of Palestine."...
Read on!

About that Logan Act... | Trending

About that Logan Act... | Trending
"One of the spurious grounds for launching the entire "Russian collusion" assault on the presidency was the notion that former national security adviser Mike Flynn somehow violated the Logan Act as he prepared to take up his duties -- a position in which, thanks to James Comey's crack FBI, the malice of the defeated Democrats, and a thoroughly dishonest media, he lasted only a couple of weeks. 
So what now do we make of this?

John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.

He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. 

...Kerry also met last month with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and he’s been on the phone with top European Union official Federica Mogherini, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the private meetings. Kerry has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron...

The Logan Act, which dates from 1799, states:

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Read on! 

BOMBSHELL: Federal Judge Accuses Mueller's Team Of 'Lying,' Trying To Ruin Trump | Daily Wire

BOMBSHELL: Federal Judge Accuses Mueller's Team Of 'Lying,' Trying To Ruin Trump | Daily Wire:

"On Friday, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III blasted Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team during a hearing on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, saying that they are only concerned with trying to take down President Donald Trump."

Incel: The Death Spiral of Identity Politics | Intellectual Takeout

Incel: The Death Spiral of Identity Politics | Intellectual Takeout
"The incel movement (short for “involuntarily celibate”) movement has been linked to a recent mass killing, mainly of women, in Toronto. 
On April 23, 25-year-old Alek Minassian drove a van through a suburban business district, killing eight women and two men and injuring 16 others.

The spark for the movement – if you can call it that – was a mass murder in 2014 by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger. 

He killed six people and injured 14 others before shooting himself. 

Subsequently, his ravings on YouTube and in a 107,000-word manifesto in which he complains that he had been “forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires all because girls have never been attracted to me”.

His sentiments seem to have struck a chord with other young men who rant on internet sites about their inability to have relationships with women. 

Minassian even posted on Facebook that "the Incel Rebellion has already begun" shortly before his attack.

Incels are sexually frustrated men hostile toward sexually successful men and towards women. 

These are called Brads and Staceys in incel jargon, words that suggest worldly, well-adjusted people who have no trouble getting mates.

What makes such a dark and destructive movement possible?...

Read all!