Storm chasers are no stranger to the dangers of Mother Nature. Last year one chaser lost his life when a violent tornado southeast of El Reno, Oklahoma shifted it’s path, rolling the vehicle. But this week in South Dakota, chaser Scott Sheppard got a jolt he never saw coming, filmed it, and lived to tell the tail:
Think this is amazing, check out the video of the Nebraska multiple vortex tornado
Sheppard said the bolt of lightning struck his arm and continued to the ground blowing a hole in the road. He survived, but his car didn’t fair too well and had to be towed.
As an English major I was required to read some of the best pieces of literature of all time and some of the most pathetic pieces of crap ever penned and published. Maya Angelou has long been one of my most favorite authors. The rhythm of her words, whether poetry or prose, roll off a mental tongue in a way that made my mind dance among the letters scrolled on the page.
“Author and poet Maya Angelou, who rose from poverty, segregation and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page, has died. She was 86…
She gained acclaim for her first book, her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” making her one of the first African-American women to write a best-seller.”
Her talent will live forever in her words, but her presence will be missed.
The problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs are bad enough. What’s making matters worse, however, is the political posturing of elected Republican officials who only want to help veterans when it’s convenient for them. I can’t help but notice this level of outrage wasn’t present when it was announced in Februarythat in 2013 military families became more and more reliant on food stamps. The same food stamps that were on the chopping block for Republicans in the House and Senate. I can’t help but notice this level of outrage wasn’t present when just after going to war with Iraq, the Bush Administration shifted $14 billion from veterans to tax cuts for the rich. Or that no additional funding would be needed by the VA when the Bush Administration’s Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs testified before Congress.
While Republicans are already taking their charter bus up to the moral high ground, could you possibly stop by one of the mental health facilities that once helped veterans that was cut due to The Sequester? Or perhaps drop by to visit Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to ask they stop blocking Sen. Al Franken’s bill that would help give $40 million in funding to mental health facilities that also help veterans?
How Republicans have the nerve to stand up and say they support the troops when we have year after year of cuts after cuts while an increasing number of veterans who need services are coming home is beyond me. My fear, is that they make these cuts in efforts to make the system not work, then when it doesn’t work they stand up and use it as proof it doesn’t work and a reason to be shut down or privatized. The VA has worked for years. It’s done more and more with less and less each year – and there is no reason to turn it over to just another government contractor who is going to jack up the price to three times as much. It’s bullshit. And Jon Stewart says it best:
Jon Stewart: YES! These Republican Senators have always stood up for veterans …. when they think it can help them slam the President. It’s slightly different when no one thinks they are watching…
Yesterday President Obama had a meeting at the Department of the Interior and decided to break with tradition and walk over. With U.S. Secret Service in tow, the President proclaimed “The bear is loose!” via the pool reports. A black suit jacket slung over his left shoulder, he greeted tourists and DC regulars along the way “How’s business?” he asked a woman selling pretzels, hot dogs and egg rolls. “Yeah, business is doing all right,” the woman said.
The same thing happened on an episode of the West Wing, but was used for a political tactic instead of a simple enjoyment of the afternoon air. During a government shutdown and negotiations with the Republican Speaker, President Bartlett headed up to The Hill and stopped along the way to speak to a group of tourists who couldn’t visit the monuments or museums. He gave them his pitch about fully funding the government and then walked up Constitution Avenue.
President Obama recalled the experience later during a speech on tourism in Coopertown, New York at the Baseball Hall of Fame:
“When it comes to tourism, the good news is we’ve got a great product to sell. People want to come here. I was reminded of that yesterday. I took a walk from the White House to the Department of the Interior building. Keep in mind, I don’t get a chance to take walks very often. (Laughter.) Secret Service gets a little stressed. But every once in a while I’m able to sneak off. I’m sort of like the circus bear that kind of breaks the chain, and I start taking off, and everybody starts whispering, the bear is loose! (Laughter.)
“So I got out, take a walk — it was a beautiful day. And even though I went for several blocks — it was probably about a 10-minute walk — in that little span of time, I met tourists from Germany, and Israel, and Brazil, and China, and Ukraine on the National Mall. The fact that people come from all over the world to see our parks, to see our monuments, is something we should take great pride in as Americans. And it’s good for our economy.”
Remember that episode of the West Wing where Donna is freaking out about a satellite about the size of a garbage truck was falling from the sky at thousands of miles per hour and no one knew where it was going to land? At some point Josh reveals that this happens all the time and no one has ever been killed by it. That wasn’t just Aaron Sorkin making up fun facts, he’s spot on. Of the 7455 satellites that have been put into orbit, 6,506 have fallen back to earth.
This week the students released a video of the research they did at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in the Urban Theory Lab seminar taught by Professor of Urban Theory Neil Brenner about the intensity of orbital satellite launches from 1957-2013 – watch out at around 2:10, that’s when things get interesting:
Today the IRS announced that it is going to “scrap proposed rules governing the political activities of 501(c)(4) social-welfare groups” according to the National Review.
There were a number of proposed regulations that came after Congressman Darrell Issa’s investigation into the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups that got non-profit status but were still doing “political activity” including voter education and registration. What the IRS was going to do is kind of say “to hell with all y’all” and take away everyone’s ability to do this more than 50% of their time … including groups like ACORN.
What Darrell Issa and the Tea Party never fully realized is that the investigation proved that it was PROGRESSIVE groups that were targeted more by the IRS than right-wing teabagger types. And this new rule would have made it very difficult for progressive organizations to do what they do.
According to a Breaking News alert from Politico, “the IRS said it will draft entirely new regulations. The current rules have been on the books since 1959.”
None of this would have happened without Darrell Issa. We wouldn’t have known Progressive groups were getting targeted, and because of the uprising from the Tea Party – these regulations were thrown out, saving groups like ACORN. Great work guys!!
Woah. My friend Asher is one of the cutest gay guys in Washington, DC. In fact, he is not only cute but incredibly funny and intelligent and SINGLE.
One would think that as a follower of Rep. Aaron Schock’s super sexy homoerotic Instagram account, Asher would be one of the first people Rep. Schock would call up for a date night in DuPont Circle, but sadly no.
The article was merely talking about the popularity of GOP Rep. Aaron Schock’s Instagram account, but poor Asher was given the shaft. And not in a good way. In fact, he was SchockBlock’d from seeing photos anymore. People on twitter are now advocating for Asher’s release directly to the Congressman himself. You can join in the fun by tweeting to @aaronschock too.
Wow… Jon Stewart just went in full attack mode Monday night in response to the insanity at the Veterans Administration. It’s reasonable to see why he’s as mad as hell, those of us who watched our friends and family go off to war are just as pissed off to see them not be able to get the care they need when they come home. THIS is the appropriate response:
JON STEWART: So it’s clear love and respect ain’t gettin’ the job done. So there’s only one way to put our full government resources behind anything. If we really want to improve the life for these veterans, I’m afraid we have to declare war on them. Congress, write a blank check to fund Operation Enduring Wait List: A War on Error. Because if you want Americans to feel shock and awe you’ll fund this f*ckin thing.
Vice President Joe Biden is no stranger to random acts of kindness. After the government shutdown last year, the Veep showed up at the Environmental Protection Agency with muffins on their first day back. The press pool even reported that Vice President Biden worried aloud: “I didn’t bring enough muffins!”
Now the Motivator-in-Chief has done it again. After a polite invitation to Talia Maselli’s senior prom in Newington, Connecticut, she even sweetened the deal with a sly threat saying she would take House Speaker John Boehner if JB declined. Instead, the Hartford Courant reports Ms. Maselli received a reply complete with a corsage:
“I hope you will accept this corsage and enjoy your prom as much as I did mine.” – The VP http://t.co/YuGLBpOPQj
When graduating from Coxsackie-Athens High School in 2010, the valedictorian Erica Goldson, made the speech that we all know is true about the state of education, schools, and the future of our generation. Well now, brilliant cartoonist Gavin Aung Than has re-created the speech in true artistry:
