So I guess 2016 claimed its biggest victim yet - America

My daughter’s science school is keeping them inside during the eclipse to administer standardized testing.

ISIS wishes they were even half as efficient at radicalizing people as the Conservative American Media has been. It’s been going on since the 1980’s, but really kicked into high gear with the election of (audible collective right wing gasp) a black man as President in 2008. With 8 years to perfect the message and the delivery, and dump trucks full of money to invest in doing so, they’ve succeeded like no other propaganda machine before them in all of history.

A sizeable portion of the adult population of the United States of America actually believes the utter shit that pours forth from Fox News, Breitbart and far worse Conservative Media sources daily. Forget for a moment the politicians who have benefitted from this…take Washington and Trump out of the equation and focus more locally. People who consume Conservative Media on a daily basis and believe it to be God’s Own Truth are the same people who are making decisions about the curriculum at your child’s school, the policies followed by your local police force, the laws and regulations of your local government and making the important decisions at your place of employment.

It’s fucking terrifying, and it’s at the root of the entire problem with America right now. Just as important as challenging Republicans for House and Senate seats and eventually the Presidency is the need to challenge Conservative Media for The Truth. There needs to be a concerted effort to bring down organizations like Fox News and Breitbart, people like Alex Jones and Sebastian Gorka and Sean Hannity, expose them for what they really are, liars, racists and con-men, profiteering off the fears of the American people. Unless we do something to combat Conservative Media the situation in America is never going to get better.

God, you’d think they could delay it for an hour or two. These glasses are like a 1.98 at Lowes. At bulk I think they are going for like 50 cents or something. it’s going to be incredible, no matter where you are if you are in the path which is pretty much the whole lower 48.

Are you serious? Call her in sick so she can witness this thing because this is a once in a lifetime event for most people.

Not being facetious here…are we certain those things work?

I tested all mine this morning, 3 pairs of glasses, and one more expensive binocular. I can see the sun in them and nothing else. The instructions say that’s correct. Not even a really bright light works on these, just the sun which according to NASA and all those groups is what’s supposed to happen.

A bit paranoid on my part, but my brother has spots burned on his retina from looking at an eclipse as a kid.

Back in those days we were supposed to use cardboard boxes with pinholes in them. The light hits the pinhole and casts a shadow of the eclipse on the ground. Very high tech.

I remember back in high school in Hawaii there was a partial eclipse and we were all gathered out in the field. One of the teachers had one of those cardboard box/pinhole deals on his head. I have to confess my first reaction was ‘my God, he looks like a dork!’

Teenagers are so shallow.

These are filtered lenses, very dark glasses. Think… if you put them on you can literally not see anything through the lenses except the sun… just black. I can’t see the sky through them. I can only see the sun if I look directly at the sun.

Also:

Fun snippet in the comments section of an LA Times article about the eclipse.

Sarcasm? Who knows anymore?

Avatar
Scott Alan
17 day(s) ago
Remember. the crowd that warns you about looking at the sun are morons with nothing to do in their miserable pathetic little lies. These annoying losers have had their day. They honestly think we are fools. Fact. The do gooders are bad people and dumb down everyone. They can shut up and the world will be better.

Avatar
PDuffLA
in reply to
Scott Alan fRemember. the crowd that warn…more »
4 day(s) ago
What does your therapist say about your anger issues?

Avatar
missik777
in reply to
Scott Alan fRemember. the crowd that warn…more »
7 day(s) ago
The last total eclipse I saw was when I was in 3rd grade. Everyone said, "Don’t look at the sun, you will damage your retinas or go blind.I looked at the sun and watched it, thinking that if I damaged my retinas at least I would always remember the amazing sight of the eclipse. It didn’t do anything to my eyes at all. Perfectly fine!

Avatar
Scott Alan
in reply to
Scott Alan fRemember. the crowd that warn…more »
17 day(s) ago
It’s America vs the PROGRESSIVES!

I know “never read the comments” is a common adage but seriously, never read the comments of a newspaper’s online articles. It’s where the super crazies congregate.

The local news ran a report yesterday on “people” selling eclipse glasses that were fake and didn’t work. What some people won’t do for a buck.

We used welding goggles borrowed from the shop class. And the cardboard box method, but that’s kind of lame in comparison.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/08/11/amid-all-the-craziness-dont-forget-trump-is-using-the-presidency-to-enrich-his-family/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

It doesn’t come cheap: Guests have paid, on average, $652.98 a night to stay there, according to the Post investigation; a special cocktail in the bar costs $100, and a bartender might try to sell you a $2,500 bottle of bubbly. With a social media-obsessed president, patrons are eager to post about reveling in the opulence and in praise of the Trump brand.

As Walter Shaub, the since-departed director of the Office of Government Ethics, has said of Trump’s refusal to divest from his business holdings, “a conflict of interest is anything that creates an incentive to put your own interests before the interests of the people you serve.” Trump’s continued stake in the hotel and ongoing promotion of it by using his name as the draw risks the appearance of “using the presidency for private gain,” Shaub told Vox.

But while the D.C. hotel is the most prominent example of Trump profiting off his office, it’s not the only one. Richard Painter, who served as George W. Bush’s ethics counsel, has called the hotel “really just a tip of the iceberg.”

There’s an even more cynical twist to the story that shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Consider the working-class voters Trump has duped into believing he’s come to Washington to save their jobs and way of life. They couldn’t possibly dream of spending the kind of money it takes to stay at Trump’s hotel. But Trump is continuing to use one of his chief selling points in running for president — his success as a businessman — to maintain support from this base. And the money Trump rakes in from his hotel feeds that image. For Trump and his supporters, then, those profits are not an abuse of his office, they are proof of the financial success he says is the mark of a strong leader.

Completely serious. And yes, we’re pulling her out of school and taking her up into the totality zone.

Kathryn Shelton, a Georgia voter who was at Rep. Carter’s August 8 town hall in Homerville, Georgia, sent Jezebel a video of Carter giving a remarkable response to an attendee’s question about the state’s rape kit backlog (which, as of January 2017, includes 10,314 untested kits).

“What can you do as a congressman to help Georgia process these rape kits?” a woman asks in the video. (The version below has been cut down for length.)

“There are grants available, and we’ll do everything we can to help,” Carter replied, after some prodding. “Unless they’re a sanctuary city,” he laughed.

Shelton followed up on this response a few minutes later. “Were you serious about the sanctuary city remark, or was that just a joke? Like, you wouldn’t provide grants to test rape kits if it was a sanctuary city?”

“No, we do not, I voted for a bill that does not allow federal law enforcement grants to go to any sanctuary cities, I was very serious about that,” Carter replied.

“Do you feel like that serves your constituents?” Shelton asked.

“Yes, it does,” Carter said. “It does serve my constituents, because if you’re a sanctuary city, that means you are refusing to enforce our immigration laws here in the United States, and if you’re doing that then I don’t want to be sending you any federal grants to go to your city.”

The most populous Republican state in the country, the good ole’ state of Texas, has just passed a bill in the House of Representatives that will essentially force women to buy rape insurance if they seek to have an abortion.

Critics of the bill are calling it especially cruel and a detriment to women’s health in general. If put into law, the bill will take effect as soon as Dec. 1 and force women to buy supplemental plans if they wish to have abortions, even if induced by rape.

Considering the Senate has already passed a very similar measure, and Governor Greg Abbott has already come out publicly showing his support, it’s only a matter of time before the bill gets signed.

When is the GOP going to learn to just shut up when it comes to rape?

Like seriously, just stop talking guys.

When all the stupid liberals stop trying to convince people that women have bodily autonomy?

Not sure yet what to make of what happened today with Omarosa Manigault at the NABJ panel.

Apparently she was told she would be alone with a moderator, and then at the last minute they switched to a panel instead. Much drama ensued after she tried to evade/deflect questions about the WH and Trump, trying to talk about her own life experiences instead. The audience murdered her and she was booed off the stage.

Bunch of real-time twitter observations and then the stories. (I hope someone provides a full video.)

https://twitter.com/lpolgreen/status/896104910441164800





Edit: Sorry, here’s some video: