No Letters from a Kentucky Jail for Kim Davis

U.S. District Judge David Bunning has proven to be a master of situational control when dealing with the case of Rowan County Clerk (Who Doesn't Understand Her Job) Kim Davis.

Ms. Davis, who was jailed on contempt charges after refusing to do her job and issue marriage licenses to couple of both different and the same sex, was released from jail by Judge Bunning just mere hours before two of the dumber members of the GOP Candidate Clown Car were supposed to visit her while behind bars

This was after Judge Bunning jailed Kim Davis as opposed to fining her daily, so right-wing activists who are threatened by the mere concept of same-sex couples couldn't donate money to pay her fines. At every turn thus far, Davis has been denied her very obvious wish to be some kind of ersatz martyr, suffering for all of us so that we might be spared the idea of two men or two women having a loving, committed relationship sanctioned by the State.

Oh, the horror.

This will likely go on for a while. Because if it isn't Davis pulling this BS, it's a low-level judge in Tennessee refusing to sanction divorces in some muddled protest against same-sex marriage (or as I like to call it...marriage). Stupid is as stupid does, and this country has plenty of stupid to get out of its system.

But the bottom line is that same-sex marriages are legal and people like Davis need to get that through their thick heads. While they're at it, they should also stop using religion as cover for their bigotry. Jesus had this to say about same-sex marriage:

" ... "

Oh yeah. Nothing. But when it came to His Commandment for all of us?

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Oh yeah! We're supposed to treat each other with love and as equals. As opposed to, say, substituting our bigotry for the law.

If you personally don't like same-sex marriage or certain people or S'mores or 65 Ford Mustangs, I don't give a damn. That's your baggage that you have to handle. But you don't get to impose that crap on other people and then claim "religious freedom" as your excuse for it. Especially when you are a government official and beholden to enforce the law.

Keep your idiocy to yourself.

Poor Have Plenty of "Skin In the Game"

He's the real victim, here.

In the 2012 Presidential election, one of the common lines of attack from the Republicans and Mitt Romney was that 47% of Americans were, in essence, moochers. That they took from the government and gave nothing back. The solution? Make them pay more in taxes so that they, too (according to Romney and Pals), had "skin in the game".

So while the petulant whining and butthurt from all these millionaires and billionaires amounted to another defeat, the idea that the poor have it easy and need to pay more in taxes persists. Which makes the news that the poor actually do pay plenty in taxes all the more interesting.

When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit.

That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them all.

According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.

Now, of course, these are not federal taxes so you'll have plenty of Republicans say this doesn't matter. But remember, the complaint was that the poor paid nothing into the system, they were "moochers". When, in fact, they pay plenty into the system.

The reason is simple. Sales taxes, excise taxes, even property taxes, are regressive taxes that take up a larger percentage of low-income wages than the incomes of the one percent. Paying a 6% sales tax on milk, or a television, hits someone making $30,000 a lot more than someone making $300,000. And when a state relies on that kind of income, the result is an unequal system where people who need money the most are the ones without it.

The result is a self-perpetuating system where low-income families are always behind and trying to catch up while the wealthiest pay relatively little. Which, to a rational person, is insane since you cannot build a healthy economy by catering to the economic concerns of a tiny minority of people.

Okay Climate Change Deniers, Here's Your Chance to Make $10,000

My suggestion, though, is that you don't spend it before you win it. Because the chance you actually win this $10,000 is very, very, very...hell, it's zero. The chance you win this money is zero.

Despite the scientific proof, the overwhelming scientific proof that human-instigated climate change is real, there are some ignorant people out there who refuse to believe it. Unfortunately, a good number of these ignorant fools are Republicans in the federal government.

Anyway, this refusal to acknowledge fact has some very real repercussions. Rising tides, drought, disrupted weather patterns...oh, and the end of our way of life as we know it today. That also happens down the road. But none of that matters to these brave deniers of truth. For reasons that usually go "Obama...UN...socialism...no freedom!!!"

Well, one scientist is now giving these fools the chance to profit.

Outraged by the unsavory tactics of climate change deniers, physicist Christopher Keating says he'll give $10,000 to anyone who can use the scientific method to prove that human-instigated climate change isn't real.

Keating has been involved in one way or another with climate change for the past three decades. He's been a professor of physics for over 20 years and has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

Keating taught at Annapolis and New London? Well, there goes the "He's a god-hating liberal" argument out the door. That's going to put these deniers in a tough spot before they even start.

Actually, there are two prizes. $10,000 to anyone who can "prove — via the scientific method — that anthropogenic climate change is not real". In other words, simply saying "It used to be cold a long time ago. Humans exhale CO2 - how can it be bad??" isn't going to cut it.

But if that is too heavy of a lift, Keating will give you a grand to "anyone who can provide any scientific evidence at all that it isn't real."

C'mon deniers!! You talk all the time about all this "evidence" that disproves man-made climate change. But it's ignored or suppressed or what have you. Now's your chance! Make a grand and show this remarkably-qualified scientist that he's wrong.

Something tells me that Dr. Keating's money is safe.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated topic, half of the US is in drought right now. Sure that has nothing to do with climate change.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Of course, you are almost asking for this to happen when some of your biggest donors are oil companies. But that doesn't change that this is complete and utter crap (Dallas Morning News via io9).

The Dallas Morning News has learned that the Perot Museum failed to display a panel that spelled out the link between burning fossil fuels, higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a warming planet.

The 4-by-2.5-foot panel had been designed to hang in its earth sciences hall but was lost in the bustle leading up to the museum’s opening in December 2012, said Steve Hinkley, vice president of programs at the Perot Museum. He did not learn of the panel’s omission until a reporter began inquiring about it earlier this month.

......

The missing panel, titled “Changing Climate,” states that “Volcanic eruptions and burning fossil fuels increase the amount of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. This warms the Earth and can cause sea levels to rise and climates to change.”

A caption below a photo of what looks like a smokestack added: “Humans have altered Earth’s climate by burning coal and other fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide,” according to an image of the panel provided by the Perot Museum and by the panel’s designer.

The article goes on to have Hinkley state the reason the panel is missing is that it was improperly designed for the space and they need to make a new one. Of course, this problem arose a year and a half ago and I am willing to wager it doesn't take that long to make a new panel.

No, the problem is much simpler. Big Oil/Gas/Whatever donates money to these museums and then makes sure that scientific facts that would hurt their bottom line simply disappear or get crowded out by a bunch of noise.

In My Day, We Called It "Being A Spoiled Little Shit"

So it's pretty hard to read a news site or turn on the television without hearing about the spoiled little shit who killed four people while driving drunk and only got probation. The reason? He suffered from (and I am not making this up) "Affluenza". According to his attorneys, the spoiled little shit named Ethan Couch was brought up in a consequence-free environment by his parents. And the judge bought into it. And so now in Texas a spoiled little shit is free while an entire family was buried. All because his parents are apparently worthless when it comes to actually being parents.

What a spoiled little shit looks like

And what did this spoiled little shit do before he killed four people?

Earlier on the night of the accident, June 15, Couch and some friends had stolen beer from a local Walmart. Three hours after the crash, tests showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.24, three times the legal limit, according to the district attorney's office.

But hey, he grew up under the non-existent thumb of over-permissive rich douchebags. So he must not be able to use logic, comprehend basic concepts of right and wrong, or rationalize that it's wrong to steal beer and drive drunk. Let alone kill people. Probation for all!

Wonder how this would have gone down if a poor, black kid had killed four people? I think we all know probation wouldn't be on the table.

People Are Insane

So a few months back I mentioned there is a new drug making the rounds called Krokodil. It's a mixture of codeine and harmless things like gasoline or paint thinner. It has one major side effect: your skin falls off.

Of course it comes from Russia, where they'll apparently drink or inject anything for a momentary high. But to their credit, at least they didn't shoot the drug into their genitals. Because, y'know, your skin falls off

According to José Sotero Ruiz Hernández, an official with Mexico's National Institute of Migration, a 17-year-old girl in Puerto Vallarta presented lacerations to her genitals that she said were caused by her addiction to krokodil.

"The young woman who used this drug had an infection that had rotted her genitals. It wasn't sexually transmitted. She said she'd been using krokodil for the last two months," Hernandez said, according to a Huffington Post translation of Mexican newspaper El Periodico Correo.

It's not like it's hard to find out that this shit rots your skin. How far past the pale do you have to be to willing shoot a flesh-rotting cocktail of crap into your business?

Oh, here's why they do it:

It is significantly cheaper than heroin, and reportedly ten times as potent.

I guess in their minds, the "cheap high > rotting junk" equation makes sense.

It's Better Than Bombing

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

So the usual suspects are freaking out about the interim deal reached with Iran over it's nuclear program:

"This agreement shows other rogue states that wish to go nuclear that you can obfuscate, cheat, and lie for a decade, and eventually the United States will tire and drop key demands," Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks the agreement makes "the world a much more dangerous place". And both Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate want to pass even more sanctions on Iran.

All of this hand-wringing, whining and disappointment miss two key elements when it comes to Iran and it's nuclear program.

1. Iran has signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty: This matters quite a bit because, per the treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. If you are intent on bringing Iran back into global society as a responsible member, you cannot deny them the rights they have under international treaties that they have signed. That's not how it works.

2. Military strikes on Iran's nuclear program are useless: Using air strikes to achieve a goal like stopping ethnic cleansing or preventing incursions into no-fly zones work because those strikes just have to be effective enough to convince the bad actor to stop their actions.

   In the case of Iran's nuclear program, "effective enough" isn't good enough. If you were to use air strikes to eliminate Iran's nuclear program, they would have to be 100% effective AND they'd have to work the first time. Because if they don't, then Iran has no reason to not go ahead and finish weaponizing their fissile material and making a working bomb. There would be no bringing them back to the negotiating table.

   And there is no scenario - none - where there is a 100% guarantee that Iran's nuclear program could be eliminated by air strikes. Could air strikes dent the program and delay it? That is likely. But that only would set Iran on a crash-course to finish weaponizing their material for a bomb. Unless you can guarantee with 100% certainty the strikes would work...the strikes are useless.

Negotiating with your enemies is hard. Especially considering the history that the US and Iran share. But if we could do it with Germany and Japan in 1945...if we could negotiate arms reduction treaties with the Soviets in the 70s and 80s...then we can negotiate with Iran to reduce their nuclear program to a level consistent with peaceful usage.

This isn't North Korea. Unlike them, Iran is engaged with the wider world. And their people are aware of what is going on globally, of the freedoms that exist elsewhere, and want to be a part of that world.

This is a chance to peacefully resolve one of the major foreign policy issues the United States - and the world - face at this moment. We'd be fools to ignore the chance to make it happen.

Worst. Criminal. Mastermind. Ever.

This guy is dumb.

Do you remember the name James Everett Dutschke? No? Then perhaps you remember his other name: "Guy who tried to send a ricin-laced letter to the President".

Yeah, that James Everett Dutschke.

Anyways, it (obviously) didn't work. Nor did his attempt to frame his arch-nemesis - and Elvis impersonator - Paul Kevin Curtis for sending the letter. So, that's it and this loon can't threaten anyone anymore.

Not quite.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man charged with sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and other officials has been charged with trying for a second time to frame the man first arrested in the case — this time, by having someone else send a poisoned letter.

....

The new indictment says Dutschke, while incarcerated, tried to recruit someone to make more ricin and send it to (U.S. Sen. Roger) Wicker, R-Miss.

Not only that, he again tried to frame Curtis for sending the letter. And he did this while in jail, where the authorities can basically read anything you send or receive. So the obvious question is: what did Curtis do to piss off Dutschke so much?

Think about it - you're in jail partially for framing this guy. And then you do the same thing again...while in jail! Either you are duller than a sack of wet mice or you have got hate levels off the chart for this guy.

Big Plane + Little Runway = No Christmas Bonus

So one of the interesting things about the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner - aside from it's super-neat melting batteries - is that there is a plane that hauls the parts for the 787 so it can be built. This plane is a monstrosity called the 747 LCF Dreamlifter. It's the biggest plane Boeing makes. I mean, look at this thing:

Huge.

A plane this size needs a certain amount of runway in order to take off, otherwise there isn't enough lift under the wings and it plummets to Earth like a rock. So this may be a problem:

A Boeing jet is sitting on the runway at Wichita's Jabara Airport - and may be stuck there for awhile.

Elizabeth Cory with the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington tells KAKE News a Boeing 747 LCF Dreamlifter landed at Jabara around 10:20 Wednesday night. Statements from the city of Wichtia confirm the cargo plane was heading for McConnell Air Force Base.

In short, these two airports are about eight miles apart. The crew flying the Dreamlifter somehow mixed the two up and landed at the wrong airport. The problem is that the Dreamlifter needs a 10,000 foot runway to take off ... and Jabra's is just over 6,000.

Apparently they are going to give it a go anyways just after noon. But with a different crew. Which, for everyone involved, is likely the best thing.

Perhaps We Should Drug-Test Representatives?

This may or may not be FL Rep. Trey Radel

So Florida Rep. Trey Radel (R) voted back in September for an amendment to a food stamps bill (SPOILER: Republicans voted to cut food funding) that would allow SNAP recipients to get drug-tested by the states. Because as we all know, if you are poor you are obviously using drugs. This is always a very popular thing for Republicans to insist upon despite it being a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Anyone care to guess where this is going? I think you already know where it's going.

A first-term Florida Republican congressman has been charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, according to charges filed in Washington, D.C., superior court on Tuesday.

Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., faces arraignment on Wednesday in Washington. He was arrested on Oct. 29 for alleged possession of cocaine, which was first reported by Politico. The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 180 days of imprisonment and/or a fine of $1,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

He responded with the usual apologies and that the silver lining is now he can get treatment! You know, the kind of treatment he regularly votes to cut funding for when the coke addicts are poor people as opposed to House Representatives.

Added bonus: he's a Tea Party adherent! Because of course he is.

We Used To Walk To the Hospital. Uphill. Both Ways.

Wimp.

Now I get that people think that kids these days are soft. Pampered. Given everything on a silver platter. But I am almost positive that this is not the way to fix it.

STRAFFORD, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man was charged with child cruelty after he walked his two sons more than a mile to a friend's home after a car crash, delaying medical treatment for injuries including broken bones, state police said.

Investigators said Justin Galenski's two sons, ages 4 and 9, did not receive medical attention until the next day following a crash on a snow-covered road the night of Nov. 12.

Because who needs immediate attention with a concussion and a broken clavicle? Which is only one of the most painful breaks someone can experience.

Suck it up kid!

Fifty Shades of Acyclovir

When you really think about it, this story isn't all that surprising.

Two Belgian university professors decided to apply their knowledge of toxicology screenings to the 10 most borrowed books at the Antwerp library.

...

While the experts found that all 10 books contained traces of cocaine–enough so that people who touched the books wouldn’t feel the effects, but might test positive for the drug–they also found something pretty gross: Fifty Shades of Grey, your weird aunt’s favorite mainstream erotic series, tested positive for traces of the herpes virus.

First of all...gross, Belgium. Really, really gross.

Second...I shudder to think what we would find on a book in a library in New York or Dallas or any other major US metropolitan area.

Third...Books are for reading, people. Not some coke-fueled herpes party.

Now THIS Is A Pope!

A criticism of the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God (aka The Pope) in recent years was that the focus of the Roman Catholic Church was on things like decrying condoms, chastising homosexuals and turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse of young boys. That criticism was accurate and deserved.

But with the arrival of Pope Francis, there is a sense of reform in the Church that really hasn't been seen since the short, short reign of Pope John Paul I. Francis has turned the focus of the Church to ministering to the sick and poor. While the Church still opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, Francis has de-emphasized that as a focus of the Church

“We have to find a new balance, otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel," Francis said in the interview.

"The church has sometimes locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules,' Francis said. "The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials."

He also has attacked the dogmatic, ideologue approach to faith:

"If one has the answers to all the questions - that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble."

And now he is going after Wealth in the Church. There has always been a stark contrast between the son of a carpenter and the opulence of the Church that claims to speak for him. But it appears that Pope Francis isn't going to stand for that.

The Vatican has suspended a senior German Church leader dubbed the "bishop of bling" by the media over his alleged lavish spending.

Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst is accused of spending more than 31m euros (£26m; $42m) on renovating his official residence.

The Vatican said it deemed "appropriate... a period of leave from the diocese" for the bishop.

The suspension comes two days after he met the Pope to discuss the matter.

I am an Episcopalian, so I have fundamental differences with the Catholic Church in issues of theology. I don't believe one man speaks for God, for example. But the Pope's influence is unquestionable. If he is preaching a message of humbleness and service, if he is going after ostentatious displays of wealth...then that is a good thing regardless of whether you believe he is the Vicar of Christ or not.

What's a Little Skin Loss Between Druggies?

This is some seriously fucked-up shit.

Krokodil, already a popular drug in Russia, has finally made its way to the United States. The Banner Poison Control Center in Arizona has reported two cases of the flesh-rotting drug’s use, believed to be the first in the US.

The drug is a mixture of codeine and hydrocarbons like gasoline, paint thinner, or oil that is injected directly into veins. It’s named krokodil because once injected, it rots your skin from the inside out, causing an alligator skin-like appearance.

First off, is anyone surprised this started in Russia? This is the same country that decided drinking anti-freeze made for a great apéritif. Thanks, guys. Thanks a whole lot.

Second of all...how completely fucked up do you have to be to look at this shit and decide "Yeah, my skin may fall off but at least I'll be high for a minute"? That's a level of addiction that makes regular addicts look at you like you're a fuck-up in life. Again, here are the ingredients:

Rather than shoot this shit into your veins, you could at least just huff the damn paint thinner, Yes, it's bad for you but at least you don't look like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.