Today's edition of quick hits:
* Counter-terrorism: "An airstrike by an American drone missile has killed Saeed al-Shihiri, the second in command of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and five others in Yemen, U.S. officials confirmed on Monday."
* Over the weekend, six car bombs killed 51 people in Iraq, capping a day when earlier attacks killed 58 people and fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was sentenced to death on murder charges.
* New evidence for deniers to deny: "The first eight months of 2012 have been the warmest of any year on record in the contiguous United States, and this has been the third-hottest summer since record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National Climate Data Center said on Monday."
* Gitmo death: "Naval investigators are looking into the death of a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay base where prisoners from the war on terrorism are held."
* "Obamacare" is working: "The share of young adults without health insurance fell by one-sixth in 2011 from the previous year, the largest annual decline for any age group since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began collecting the data in 1997."
* Florida Gov. Rick Scott's (R) voter purge has found exactly one person who voted illegally.
* AIG: "The Treasury Department said on Sunday that it was planning its biggest sale of shares in the American International Group to date, making the federal government a minority shareholder in the bailed-out insurer for the first time since it took control of the company four years ago."
* Paul Ryan's lie about his marathon time will be the subject of mockery for quite a while.
* And Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) has reportedly left the Mayo Clinic after being treated for bipolar disorder, and has returned to D.C. It's unclear when he'll resume his official duties.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's (R) voter purge has found exactly one person who voted illegally.
Was it Ann Coulter?
As Governor Scott said "It is better that 100,000 democrats not be allowed to vote than for one person to have voted illegally." Even if it is Ann Coulter!
LOL
so wait its not illegals from south of the boarder? but from the north those Canadians I tell you.
Unions have been at the forefront of politics over the past couple of years (anyone remember Wisconsin) yet did I miss the story about the Chicago teacher strike?
Let's see...they are among the highest paid teachers in the nation at the average of $76,000 (BEFORE benefits). The negotiation has been going on since November of last year but they couldn't reach agreement.
This is ripe for coverage.
They could only wish it was $76,000. It's actually $55,000.
Shade, unless Chicago Public Schools own website is lying or they've had a drastic cut recently, my $76,000 figure is correct. This from CPS website (under Pupil/Teacher Information):
This figure according to the site is from FY2008-2009.
Is there another source I should know about?
(They also have a $665 million dollar budget deficit.)
RobDon
Ceo's compensation is 255 times the average wage earner, why don't you whine about that? Our country has a huge budget deficit but why can't we tax them more? Many of our largest corporations get paid to do business here, that's right they get subsidized.
How much are people with college degrees supposed to earn? People who go into teaching absolutely know they will never get rich, except maybe in satisfaction from contributing to our society.
Class warfare goes both ways. I am happy to pay teachers a decent wage. Since many parents are both working we need qualified people to teach and raise our children.
Whoa, Pat...I never said teachers shouldn't be paid more or that CEOs shouldn't be paid less. I was simply pointing out that generally union strikes are big news here followed in great detail and this one is suspiciously missing.
I then corrected a challenge to my factual information.
Blob, you could care less about teachers or unions, so you and your posts are full of @!$%#.
RobDon,
I'm not sure which figures are correct, but you should know, that the Governor put rules in place that say that teachers ARE NOT ALLOWED to strike unless they strike about wages. Teachers do not teach for prestige or money, and even if they do make over 70K on average (which really doesn't seem right to me), they are really striking to create a better environment for public school children.
I mean geez man, I make more than that a year and all I do is technical editing and graphics from home... those teachers work much harder and have a much larger role in our society as a whole, those who do make 76K are worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. They should be respected, not demonized, and they should be supported by the public for trying to make the future of our country's youth a competitive, educated one.
They are not demanding simply more money, they want the Chicago school board and the US as a whole to reexamine the way these rise to the top/no child left behind laws are forcing our teachers to teach to a idiotic standarized test instead of being able to draw up a curriculum that teaches real skills kids need. They are also trying to draw focus to the problem of charter schools that effectively cripple the public education system even more. There are more nuances to this strike than the "teachers are greedy pigs" headlines I've been seeing all day.
Our public school teachers are not the enemy, they are not greedy scheisters, and they should not be used as political footballs by anyone
KatyVA, I certainly appreciate your comment. First, my comment was not about if the teachers had valid points or concerns but about the lack of coverage of the strike here on the blog and on TRMS given the prominence of union uprising in the past, especially Wisconsin.
Second, I'm sorry you do not believe the Chicago Public School systems reporting of average teacher pay of their teachers.
Since you and others are discussing the validity of the strike:
Would you at least agree that MOST students given 9 months in the classroom of one teacher should make a grade level worth of progress during that time? And that would should be able to measure that progress by asking question that are one grade level more advanced than where he was when he started the year?
I'm not saying that student assessment should be the only evaluation of teacher performance but it should be a part of it.
And on this, we complete stand together. We can disagree and work together to correct differences without demonizing one side or the other.
Ohio Election board members suing
http://www.whiotv.com/ap/ap/crime/fired-dems-sue-ohio-secretary-of-state-over-firing/nR68p/
Romney on Healthcare: We got a plan
Romney on Spending: We got a plan
Romney on Taxes: We got a plan
Romney on Abortion: We got a plan
Romney on Everything: We got a plan
Since the GOP candidate has a plan for everything but can't seem to tell the public jack spit about those plans; since he either outright lies or distorts the truth so far that this in now called the post-truth campaign; since Romney can't seem to give a straight, consistent answer to any question ever posed to him (quick someone ask him if he is an actual American); I've decided to not cast my vote based on the candidates' view. I've decided to vote for the candidate with the biggest balls. Obama clearly has a pair and Romney, he has a plan for some. Vote for Obama
The Vulture/Voucher Campaign Slogan
We have plans!!!
but we cannot tell you the details or you would not vote for us!
The first debate is scheduled for Oct. 3rd. All President Obama has to do is to get Romney all flustered, like he was at the Republican nominee debates and this is in the bag. The Democratic House is back from their 5 week vacation....the Republican Congress have been on a permanent vacation since 2010.They say they're back but, as far as I can tell there is no evidence of that.
Well here's some joyous tidings: Michelle Bachman's is only leading a guy with 38% name recognition by two points.
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/10/poll_bachmann_in_danger/
And, for once, her opponent isn't having to run against some vote-siphoning third party candidate.
For those who don't believe in global climate change check out this site:
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
We are headed to the lowest ice levels in the North Pole in modern history, and the feedback loop is accelerating. Right now we have an ice-free route through the NW passage and across the entire Siberian coastline.
Steve,
I'm with you on this but you need to post that notice over on the Fox News site.
The only deniers over hear are probably the paid Trolls.
Saeed al-Shihiri was released from Guantanamo by the Bush administration in 2007. The findings of the unanimous military board decision as well as the civilian official reviewing the detention were redacted but shortly after al-Shihiri was repatriated to Saudi Arabia where he entered a rehabilitation program for jihadists.
.
I doubt the Dems will use this as another example of GOP incompetence prosecuting the war against al Quaeda, but it sends a dangerous message to the US public- that US deliberative legal review mechanisms are ineffective but Obama's policy of execution without trial is.
Habeas corpus for all! Guantanamo is a disgrace..
Hey.
Dude.
This is way way worse than Guantanamo.
And its our guy doing it.
I'd like to know if anyone outside of the executive branch has any power to block executions of those on the drone kill list. Specifically we need to know:
I'm really, really ambivalent and torn about this one. You know, it's war, they're trying to kill us, they're in lawless territory where they can't be apprehended, he's the Commander-in-Chief, operational security dictates no prior consultation.
But what is a war crime? If he can do it to them, whom can't he do it to?
Sen. Feinstein has stated that she and he colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee get briefed shortly after a strike, and "Committee staff has held 28 monthly in-depth oversight meetings to review strike records and question every aspect of the program including legality, effectiveness, precision, foreign policy implications and the care taken to minimize noncombatant casualties." (LA Times, 5/17/2012)
What is the alternative? I want these guys dead.
I would like to see the people languishing in Guantanamo either be tried or released. We as a country are better than this. Barack could have closed that down by decree as fast as Bush opened it but Barack has proven himself a pussy of the highest order and a liar on par with Rmoney and Ryan. He and our "civil authorites" drone kill entire wedding parties and maybe Al's Quesadilla du jour, meanwhile people rot away in jail with no trial, no recourse. Maybe Barack should drone strike Guantanamo! That's the way to cash in on those swing voters!
"That n!gger is crazy!" they can say as they whoop it up at the polls..
Really, this country is pathetic. American exceptionalism my poopshoot..
Can anyone explain to me why the Romney campaign has requested that Ann Romney stand on the stage next to her husband during the 3 presidential debates? Better still, are the ones sponsoring the debates going to let her?
Borowitz has an acid wit. (link) His tweets are amazing.
We can't he just use an earpiece like Bush did in the Kerry debates in 2004?
Oh....let them do it...oh please.
President Obama is okay with Ann standing next to Mitt only if the organizers let Michelle sing the National Anthem like she was scheduled to do at the Democrat National Convention.
Messerly's Borowitz link is definitely worth clicking on.
What comes to mind is if Ann's hand disappears behind Mitt's back, she'll be Paul Winchell and he'll be Jerry Mahoney.
ADR said:
Translation:
Or, from a darker perspective, will ADR be the shadow President, al la Dick Cheney?
You do realize she never said that don't you? Don't you?
Yeah, I realized that after I looked at some of Borowitz's other stuff. I'd never heard of him before, but John did skip the subtlety flag again (grin, John)
You have to admit, though, it wouldn't be surprising if it WAS true, right?
Her just standing there might actually look even more ridiculous than Clint and his magical vacant chair...if that's possible.
Romney says dont get to bothered about the polls. That's the same thing "W' said right before Florida was declared for Gore. "Not so fast." After LISTENING to Rachel today, I'm convinced their is a plan by Romney and the GOP to steal this election in plain site!