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Help me vote in CO! 01: Amendment T (involuntary servitude)
A real-life swing-state voter checking in. I've got the 2016 State Ballot Information Booklet in front of me. Let's do this thing! (aka the "Blue Book," located here)
There's some pretty crazy stuff in here so I plan to go initiative by initiative and hit them all.
Amendment T proposes amending the Colorado Constitution to:
remove language that currently allows slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as punishment
for the conviction of a crime.
Argument For
1) The section of the Colorado Constitution that allows slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a
crime should be updated because it represents a time in the United States when not all people were seen as
human beings or treated with dignity. Removing the language reflects fundamental values of freedom and
equality, and makes an important symbolic statement. There are 25 other states that do not have any language
related to slavery and involuntary servitude in their constitutions, and both prison work and community service
programs are able to operate within those states.
Argument Against
1) Amendment T may result in legal uncertainty around current offender work practices in the state. Prison
work requirements provide structure and purpose for offenders, while enabling skill building and helping to reduce
recidivism. Community service programs allow offenders to engage with the community and make amends for
their crimes.
Personal take: Definitely the least controversial item on the list, so, perhaps a bit boring to start off with. Since our state constitution is so easy to amend currently (more to come on that issue) we might as well make forced labor camps illegal while we can. Planning to vote Yes.
Your thoughts, SN?
Trump's October Surprise: He's SEXIST
It's a wrap! Get ready for President H. R. Clinton!
Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005
Billy Bush was already polarizing. His lewd Donald Trump conversation makes things much worse.
Tape Reveals Donald Trump Bragging About Groping Women
'You Can Do Anything': In 2005 Tape, Trump Brags About Groping, Kissing Women
In talking about kissing women, Trump boasted: "I'm automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
"Grab them by the p****. You can do anything," the Republican nominee continued, using vulgar slang for the female anatomy.
Trump also told Bush — who is the nephew of former President George H.W. Bush and cousin of former President George W. Bush and former 2016 candidate Jeb Bush — about a time he unsuccessfully tried to seduce a married woman.
"I moved on her, and I failed," he said. "I'll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married." He continued, "I moved on her very heavily."
He said he even took her furniture shopping to try to get her to sleep with him.
"I moved on her like a b****," he said, "but I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then, all of a sudden, I see her — she's now got the big phony t*** and everything. She's totally changed her look."
[...] In regard to trying to shift blame to Bill Clinton, Trump has also threatened to bring up the former president's infidelities in an attempt to damage his wife during the next debate. That's despite Trump's having been divorced twice and admitting to his own adultery. At the time of this 2005 recording, Trump had just married his third (and current) wife, Melania.
'America deserves far better': Republicans react to crude comments from leaked Trump audio
"No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever," Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said in a statement, in a sharp, unprecedented response about the party's presidential nominee.
“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”
Kim Kardashian Robbed of $10 Million in Jewelry in Paris
Kim Kardashian Bound, Gagged and Held at Gunpoint: Exclusive New Details on the Robbery in Paris
The French Interior Ministry said five men threatened a concierge with a weapon, handcuffed him and forced him to open Kardashian's private apartment. Per Today, the Paris Prosecutor's office confirmed two of the men gained entry to her room. One of Kardashian's rings, worth an estimated $4.49 million, as well as a jewelry box, worth an estimated $5.6 million, were stolen.
This is a critical moment in human history.
"Smack for a Snack" at Kentucky Daycare
Kentucky day care worker cited for 'smack for a snack' game
The report says two male staff members would play a "Smack for a Snack" game. The report says the only way school-age children could get a yogurt is to allow the men to hit them with a stick on their leg and/or hand. State officials say at least two students had noticeable bruising. Lexington Police cited one staff member with second-degree assault.
An ingenious cost-cutting move that builds character.
More problems are noted in the article.
Hillary Clinton Hacked Audio
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/30/hillary-clinton-center-right/
IN THE HACKED recording of a private conversation with campaign donors in February, Hillary Clinton distanced herself from progressive goals like “free college, free healthcare” and described her place on the political spectrum as spanning from the center-left to the center-right.
Clinton has been inconsistent in the past about espousing political labels. She has at times touted herself as stalwart liberal. For instance, she said last July: “I take a backseat to no one when you look at my record in standing up and fighting for progressive values.” But a few months later, she told a group in Ohio: “You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty.”
The newly disclosed comments came in audio, apparently from hacked emails, that was revealed this week by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative blog run by a Republican communications strategist. Clinton was speaking at a Virginia fundraiser hosted by Beatrice Welters, the former U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, and her husband Anthony Welters, the executive chairman of an investment consulting firm founded by former Clinton aide Cheryl Mills.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-supporters-audio-leak-228997
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-jumps-leaked-audio-hillary-clinton-fundraiser/story?id=42499760
Strength through clarity
I just gave a new device a password of "password". The web interface I'm using says this password is strong.
Throwing gasoline, diesel, and rocket fuel on a fire
A Pennsylvania police officer ... Melissa Adamson of McKeesport, Pa, posted a photo of herself on Snapchat in uniform with the caption "I'm the law today n****.
:O I just can't understand how someone would think noone would have a problem with this behavior.
"I'm not a racist," Adamson told WTAE-TV. "That's not how I plan on portraying myself."
There are exceedingly few people who would accept that someone who would do this isn't racist. Assuming for the sake of argument that it is true, wouldn't this behavior still be incredibly offensive to lots of people around you? Are the police even trying to forge a relationship with the people they serve and protect, or are they just stomping on the ones they rule? It's a good thing this behavior has been quickly and decisively disavowed by her higher ups or it would be impossible to persuade anyone of the former. (It's difficult enough as it is, now.)
Adamson said it was a "stupid mistake," to post the picture, and believes that a former co-worker circulated the photo, WTAE-TV reported.
You bet your life it's a "stupid mistake." It's the kind of mistake that should and did cost her her job. Sounds like she's aiming at the idea that her "mistake" should be overlooked and she should be allowed to continue in a position of force and authority over the people she is denigrating here. Fortunately it doesn't sound like her department is buying it.
"An altercation happened between me and a former police officer, and he’s ... ruining my career, which has been done," she said.
I'm sure he didn't snap the picture or provide the caption, and I'm sure she willingly created this picture or engaged in its creation. Otherwise I'm sure that would have been noted in the article here. This former coworker has helped everybody by publicizing the truth about the way she acts when she thinks she can get away for it. He has held her accountable. Whatever his motivations, he has performed a great service for the public. He didn't ruin her career; she did that herself; he simply helped her employers (ostensibly the public) know why giving her this career is a very bad idea.
There is no way and should be no way for a police officer to dig themselves out of a situation like this. The only correct thing for her to say in this situation should be an acknowledgment of that fact, something akin to "Somebody who behaves like me should not be in a position of trust serving, protecting, and enforcing the law for people that I have insulted in such a horrible fashion."
Debate the debate
Well, H came off as knowledgeable and calm and not sick, but T seemed to hit her well with her past 'baggage'.
T rambles too much and seems ADD with his sentence completi-let me tell you! (Lies, all lies).
H knows her stuff, but all those past 'problems' keep smacking her. She's experienced, just bad experienced (enjoyed that!).
If T could finish a complete sentence and hit her when the time comes (like when how H says that they need to keep inner city minorities safe or like when she says we need to work with our allies, he needs to say that Her/Obama's government SPIED on those minorities and SPIED on those allies.
Kind of a wash: she can finish sentences, but he did well hitting her with her past.
He came off as rambling, but she came off as miss smileyfacei'mhidingsomething.
50/50.
I'd like to give T more, but the rambling...
Lightbulbs and C++
Welcome to my continuing nervous breakdown. I have some new cynicism that I feel the world would benefit from.
Q: How many C++ programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Ten. Six to explain to the world why C++ was the correct solution and the advanced techniques employed in implementing that solution and four to implement a partially-working solution in twice the time that the lone C programmer got a complete, correct solution designed, implemented, tested, documented and signed off in last time.
Q: How many C++ programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Ten. They all set to work analysing their previous partial and unreliable implementation and come up with a new design based on new language features in the latest standard that have been in LISP for over thirty years but they've never heard of before. They draw UML diagrams galore and fire up Visual Studio It Never Rains But It Pours Cloud Enterprise 365+ Edition. Six months later the project is scrapped and declared impossible.
Q: How many C++ programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: We don't know, about ten maybe, but the new language standard has advanced features that will make changing lightbulbs not just a possibility, but achievable by ordinary programmers. Watch this space.
Interesting read
Hadn't heard this elsewhere:
DHS run by 3 Stooges!
