Lieu calls Nunes’ bluff and it is fire!
Not sure I would want to play poker against him.
Politics
It’s time to take politics out of fisheries – The Washington Post
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Chris Moore pens a compelling Op/Ed about the menhaden fishery and what Virginia’s General Assembly should do.
One thing is very clear now that the federal government has backed up the ASMFC and found that Omega Protein put Virginia out of compliance. We need to take politics out of menhaden. This legislative session, Virginia must do the right thing for the environment and let the VMRC manage the largest fishery in the state, just as they do with all the others.”
Source: It’s time to take politics out of fisheries – The Washington Post
Peace Through Flip Flop Superiority
Imagine if peace were as ubiquitous as flip flops?
Flip flops are my footwear of choice, maybe yours as well. Simple, easy to put on, comfortable and easy to care for. What’s not to like? Perhaps you even wear them to make some form of sartorial statement.
How about wearing flip flops to make a political statement, and maybe even help change the focus in war zones from conflict to prosperity?
Let me introduce you to Combat Flip Flops and the Unarmed Forces.
“Each day brings tragic events. Decades of radicalism fueled by ignorance create indifference and helplessness. The cycle of violence and injustice continues. As humans, we should have figured this out by now. Can it change?
We felt the same way too. Asked the same question. As business leaders, we listened to the rhetoric, and saw the hypocrisy. As special operations veterans, we ‘defended our freedom,’ and discovered the wars went against everything we hoped for. Through understanding and compassion, we found a new path forward–a mechanism of change.”
It started when I read about them somewhere online. As a veteran, reading about a veteran-owned business caught my attention. Vet’s make flops, I’m in. So, I order a pair of Floperators. They are adorned with this credo: “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”
As a veteran, I have been asked: “what do you think about war?” I respond with “what do you think about cancer?” Now here is a company making flip flops, shemaghs and other cool stuff that cops to the attitude that wars are stupid.
“As a species, we have been repeating this insane habit of putting little metal projectiles into one another as a method of foreign policy because our leaders can’t figure out how to do their job. Then they sell it to us as an honorable, massive achievement after we spend trillions of dollars putting ourselves in the same position to do it all over again. Wasting human potential and natural resources through the entire process. When you say it out loud, the absurdity of war should be apparent.”
These cats articulated my worldview and even better were putting products out that walked the talk. They earned my money, and I was proud to join the Unarmed Forces.”
This winter they published Steps Ascending: Rise of the Unarmed Forces. Griffin and Lee, the authors, take you behind the scenes to tell the tale of how they used their special operations training to launch Combat Flip Flops. Even better, they help answer this question they pose in the foreword:
“What if funding for schools in the most deserving and necessary parts of the world could come directly from or be supplemented by for-profit business? What if part of that business model simultaneously activated that same underutilized workforce?”
I promise you that answer is there, and it is worth the read to discover it.
So when you see me wearing floperators or a CFF shemaugh, now you know why.
Khashoggi, cash and Trump
Fred Ryan gets it right.
“Stable, peaceful societies, governed by leaders who respect the rights of their people, need journalists who can expose wrongdoing and hold the powerful to account. It is no mere coincidence that many of the worst abusers of press freedom are also some of the world’s most dangerous actors.”
From the “we need to do better” files
I know I am guilty of it and perhaps it is because I think most things that come out of his mouth are bullshit and self-aggrandizing bullshit at that. So I presume everyone is as skeptical as I am.
Still the point is well taken:
“A pattern has emerged: Trump’s proposals are usually reported quickly — often credulously passed along in headlines and tweets — before thorough vetting later yields more skeptical reports.”
And a suggestion on how to do better:
“The key to resisting that tactic, according to journalists and media experts, is not ignoring what the president says but adding context, even if it means taking longer to publish a story.”
As reporters and journalists our credibility is the coin of the realm. Let’s not let Trump make us squander it.
As Belichick says, do your job.
Me included
Read it all here> Source: Press struggles with amplifying Trump’s pre-midterms claims – POLITICO
McCain: Whispering over our shoulders
The passing of Senator McCain allowed some to hit the pause button and reflect.
Notable from Axios AM (02Sep18):
“Obama spoke right after Bush. Both had vanquished McCain for president, but got a call from the senator in his waning months, asking them to eulogize him.
- The unusual invitation gave Obama the line of the day: “It showed his irreverence — his sense of humor, little bit of a mischievous streak. What better way to get a last laugh than to make George and I say nice things about him to a national audience?”
- Bush called McCain “a man with a code”: “John’s voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder: We are better than this. America is better than this.”