We Need Two New National Holidays.

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Friday June 19, 2015 · 9:03 AM PDT

2015/06/19 · 09:03

Two National Holidays are Needed

Holiday Number One: Appomatox Day, celebrating the victory of America and civilization over the Rebellion of the Slaveholders.

Holiday Number Two: Juneteenth. That's today, as I type, so happy Juneteenth!

Conveniently, one of the dates comes in the Spring, when there are few holidays, and the other happens near the end of the public school year.

A bit more below the fold:

Poll

25 votes Show Results

Do we need the holidays?

25 votes Vote Now!

Do we need the holidays?

Yes

15 votes

Still thinking

3 votes

7 votes

Republicans less bad at losing voters

phillies

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Thursday December 25, 2014 · 7:52 AM PST

2014/12/25 · 07:52

Alas:

I note apparent voter turnout in top of ticket races, 2014 and 2010. Top of ticket is usually governor.

Republican: 40,934,236, down 5.9% from the party’s 2010 total of 43,507,666.

Democratic: 36,887,850, down 10.1% from the party’s 2010 total of 41,043,721

Green: 416,303, down 18.1% from the party’s 2010 total of 508,041. In addition, the Top Two ballot scheme means that the Green Party is effectively excluded from the California general election; in 2010, when there was no top two, for California Governor the Greens had 129,231 votes suppressed in the 2014 total.

Libertarian: 1,471,101, up 44.9% from the party’s 2010 total of 1,015,009. In addition, the Top Two ballot scheme means that the Libertarian Party is effectively excluded from the California general election; in 2010 when there was no top two, for California Governor the Libertarians had 150,895 votes suppressed in the 2014 total.

Readers will correctly infer that it was the Libertarian party that is circulating these numbers. I mean, for the DNC this is not exactly a bragging point.

Bárðarbunga eruption

phillies

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Monday December 22, 2014 · 7:37 PM PST

2014/12/22 · 19:37

As the illustrious Rei appears sadly to have left us, I have searched for reports. http://www.jonfr.com/... appears to be moderately up to date. Apparently weather hinders direct observations. The lava field is now 80 square kilometers. The lava is now flowing on occasion to the edge via lava tubes. Apparently there are fewer large earthquakes inside the volcano, but the nearby (?) volcanoes Geysir and Tungafellsjökull are having earthquakes, with earthquakes at Tungafellsjökull being interpreted in terms of dyke intrusions. Apparently the Bárðarbunga caldera is still subsiding, but more slowly, perhaps less than a foot a day.

The author is in Worcester, Massachusetts, which does not have many active volcanoes.

Tomorrow:March Against Police Brutality

phillies

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Sunday November 30, 2014 · 6:21 AM PST

2014/11/30 · 06:21

You can find local links on Facebook, but this one appears to be the core

https://www.facebook.com/...

The event was scheduled a very long time ago, for tomorrow.

I posted on this a long time ago and had little attention.

Some of the people setting this up are not progressive liberals; others I think are. Your mileage may vary.

Celebrate Cyber Monday! Stand up and move away from your keyboard!

National March Against Police Brutality

phillies

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Sunday August 10, 2014 · 10:43 AM PDT

2014/08/10 · 10:43

I find on the internet that CopBlock and Official Anonymous Florida say that they are organizing a Million March Against Police Brutality. The target date is December 1. This apparently started as a Florida event, but has spread to other places.

I have no inside information on what the organizers are like, either as a group or as persons. Readers who do not like some of them might consider the original T.E.A. Party, which was Libertarian Party Event in Illinois, soon taken over by people who are an opposite of Libertarian. If you oppose police brutality, but are not fond of the founders here, well, you can run away with the effort and make it something true to its claim without the objectionable features.

For more information:

mmapb.org/
facebook.com/OfficialAnonymousFlorida

Events announced to date appear to include:

facebook.com/events/1653012101590814/ (Tampa) facebook.com/events/1450701195191066/ (Tallahassee)
facebook.com/events/601181493336491/ (Fort Myers)
facebook.com/events/505539282913350/ (Cape Coral)
facebook.com/events/335359959957681 (Miami)
facebook.com/events/548177531949403 (Fort Lauderdale)
facebook.com/events/1500890293460973/ (Seattle)
facebook.com/events/1448951168709260/ (Anaheim)
facebook.com/events/1519400254940356/ (Akron)
facebook.com/events/740544522650590/ (Los Angeles)
facebook.com/events/1516722535206125/ (Fullerton) facebook.com/events/248788571998002/ (NYC)

Impeach Clapper and Alexander

phillies

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Wednesday February 05, 2014 · 8:25 AM PST

2014/02/05 · 08:25

The advantage of having a political PAC is that you can do political advertising. As we raise money, you may be seeing more messages like the following. There will also be ads with graphics. You can see one on my facebook page (I am the only user named "George Phillies".) Because I am a Libertarian, I am not asking here for money in support. Instead, send your money to Marcy Wheeler http://emptywheel.net in support of her efforts.

And if any of you are inspired writers, America needs her Emile Zola. America needs her J'accuse.

Impeach them Both
Restore the Fourth Amendment!
Preserve the Constitution!
Impeach Director of National Intelligence Clapper
Impeach NSA Director Alexander

(Yes, this does not remove Alexander from his military positions.)

Impeachment? Yes, Impeach them both.

On what charges?

They lied to Congress.
They violated the Fourth Amendment.
They waged electronic war against America.

Poll

19 votes Show Results

Should Clapper and Alexander be impeached?

19 votes Vote Now!

Should Clapper and Alexander be impeached?

Yes

16 votes

1 vote

That's a slow start

2 votes

Undecided

0 votes

Simple Question for the White House

phillies

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Wednesday September 04, 2013 · 8:01 PM PDT

2013/09/04 · 20:01

Suppose you get your Congressional authorization and start firing cruise missiles at Syria, as is I gather your plan.

If the Syrian antiaircraft defenses engage them, you have a variety of ways to blow the AAA, SAMs, RADAR, etc., to smithereens.

However, there are a stack of Russian warships near their base in Syria.

What is your working plan if President Putin orders the Russian warships to prevent aggression against Syria, by engaging and shooting down the unmanned cruise missiles? What if he declares an air forbidden zone over Syria for foreign aircraft, and tries to enforce it against your air force?

Your opinion 'oh, he won't do that' might even be true, but if you have any military advisers who are even marginally competent, they will have analyzed for this serious contingency. What are you planning to do?

8/31 Anti-War Rallies Go Viral

phillies

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Friday August 30, 2013 · 8:12 PM PDT

2013/08/30 · 20:12

On Saturday, August 31st, rallies are scheduled across the United States against the War on Syria. I have compiled a partial list below the orange maze. The following list is probably very incomplete.

Some of the people organizing these have happily said they have never done anything like this before, and have posted facebook pages omitting minor details like the city or state for their rally location. Also, for facebook announcements there are some anomalies involving which time zone is being posted with the announcement, so check what time these are. Finally, some of these events are not tomorrow. I have done what I could, but the list is very long and some announcements were a tad bit obscure. The following list is not complete, but I got tired of typing.

Organization and publicity for these events is highly disparate, spanning from socialists to survivalist groups and Gadsden flag wavers, sometimes for the same event. Be nice to your fellow Americans, and they will be nice to you.

phillies

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Saturday August 17, 2013 · 12:32 PM PDT

2013/08/17 · 12:32

The eleven members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the Chief Justice who appoints them should be impeached by the House, tried and convicted by the Senate, and removed from office. The FISC Twelve are:

Reggie Walton
Rosemary M. Collyer
Raymond J. Dearie
Claire Eagan
Martin L.C. Feldman
Thomas Hogan
Mary A. McLaughlin
Michael W. Mosman
F. Dennis Saylor IV
Susan Webber Wright
James Zagel
Chief Justice Roberts, who appointed them.

I begin with our Constitution, Article II Section 4, which provides

"The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

"Misdemeanor" is a traditional term of art; it refers to abuses of office whether specifically criminal or not.

Historically, impeachments have usually involved criminal acts such as bribery. However, in 1862 West Humphreys was impeached and removed from office for waging war against the United States.

Much more below the orange sigil of the Worm Ourobouros

Poll

35 votes Show Results

With respect to your position,

35 votes Vote Now!

With respect to your position,

I agree

21 votes

I disagree

3 votes

right problem, wrong cure

7 votes

My Congressman will act, or he/she should contemplate being primaried

0 votes

I don't care

2 votes

For you, I have a recipe

2 votes

Poll on NSA/Conyers-Amash Amendment

phillies

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Saturday July 27, 2013 · 11:44 AM PDT

2013/07/27 · 11:44

As these are progressive Democratic pages, I give credit above first to the progressive Co-Sponsor.

There is considerable controversy over the Amendment of Congressmen Amash and Conyers, an amendment that would only have shut down one program for one year.

Some support the NSA program, some oppose it. I give three levels of each, referring to your Congressman and his position on NSA domestic wiretaps in the form of systematic searches of all electronic metadata, namely

I Support/oppose NSA domestic wiretaps

I Strongly support/oppose NSA domestic wiretaps

I Strongly support/oppose NSA domestic wiretaps, and ready to primary my Congressman if he votes the wrong way.

Poll

85 votes Show Results

What is your position on NSA writetapping

85 votes Vote Now!

What is your position on NSA writetapping

I oppose NSA domestic wiretaps

6 votes

I strongly oppose NSA domestic wiretaps

12 votes

I Strongly oppose NSA domestic wiretaps; ready to primary Congressman if need be

58 votes

I support NSA domestic wiretaps

5 votes

I strongly support NSA domestic wiretaps

0 votes

I Strongly support NSA domestic wiretaps, ready to primary Congressman if need be

4 votes

Former CIA Milan Office Chief Arrested

phillies

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Thursday July 18, 2013 · 12:02 PM PDT

2013/07/18 · 12:02

NOT SNARK! (With Updates)

You can run, but you can't hide. (The CIA has many chiefs, but one Director. This fellow was not the Director.)

The former chief of the Milan CIA Office, Robert Seldon Lady, has been arrested in Panama, reports the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/...

Former CIA Milan chief held in Panama over abduction of Egyptian cleric
Robert Seldon Lady was convicted in absentia by Italian court for 2003 abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan.

America has worked hard to bring the rule of civilized law to the eight corners of the world. Perhaps now they will return the favor to us.

The full Guardian story is quite short, so I do not have a lot of material to work with. There were trials in absentia, there were a bunch of convictions, and now justice is catching up with the miscreants. Readers may recall a variety of retired foreign tyrants who dared not leaved their countries for fear of arrest; now Americans are joining their ranks.

phillies

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Sunday July 07, 2013 · 5:42 PM PDT

2013/07/07 · 17:42

I will not waste vast amounts of space repeating what most people have read at great length. I am phrasing my question to refer to the NSA, though doubtless there is an alphabet soup of government agencies here and abroad in involved in the same matters. I deliberately do not refer to Snowden and his predecessors and hopefully successors (I have an opinion here) in the title; Snowden, et al., are not the issue here.

The issue is the massive and systematic recording of some sort of information from really large numbers of people almost all of whom are not suspected of being criminals. This recording could be done as now, or not, and for each choice there would be consequences.

The question is whether or not you find the current situation to the extent you know about it to be acceptable or unacceptable, and by a little or a lot. "somewhat acceptable" or "somewhat unacceptable" implies that you do or do not approve of the situation, but are not motivated to do something about it. "quite acceptable" or "quite unacceptable" means that you do or do not approve, and are motivated enough to take concrete actions to maintain the status quo (or get more of the same), or to take concrete actions to change the situation in the privacy direction.

Discussing your answer may give people an understanding of your thoughts, and ideas for ways to repeat the poll with a more clever set of choices. If there is enough interest, perhaps PPP will poll something professionally

Poll

45 votes Show Results

As explained above, I find the current situation on privacy to be

45 votes Vote Now!

As explained above, I find the current situation on privacy to be

quite unacceptable

35 votes

somewhat unacceptable

3 votes

somewhat acceptable

1 vote

quite acceptable

6 votes

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We Need Two New National Holidays.

Republicans less bad at losing voters

Bárðarbunga eruption

Tomorrow:March Against Police Brutality

National March Against Police Brutality

Impeach Clapper and Alexander

Simple Question for the White House

8/31 Anti-War Rallies Go Viral

Impeach the FISC Twelve

Poll on NSA/Conyers-Amash Amendment

Former CIA Milan Office Chief Arrested

A simple question on the NSA