black321 wrote:

what are rights?

 black321 wrote:
Obviously, when everything is a "right" then it loses its imperative, its importance. 
My usual speech is that people survive without houses, even clothes, but not without food and water. Access to those is imperative #1.
All the other stuff comes afterward.

 black321 wrote:
Well, it's a "proposed amendment" - not an approved amendment.  It needs to be voted on and does not seem likely to pass.

Several California Assembly members this year introduced a constitutional amendment that declares housing a "fundamental right." Who knew? Lawmakers have wrestled with innumerable complex issues over the years, but finally someone realized that all they needed to do to magically solve any problem is to pass a new "right" to something.

Expected soon: constitutional amendments declaring "rights" to a million dollars, to a brand-new electric SUV, and to a dog that's properly housebroken.

https://reason.com/2023/07/14/...

Escaped zebra cobra caught and removed, Raleigh Police say

 buddy wrote:
 

I thought it was a button away either way

so much better now that the "new' is on top, why in the world did it take this long? maybe just DJ Bill had some bad advice.
let's be careful how we use analogue and digital, they have very specific implications/meanings, and you use them incorrexly, I've noticed.
you may want to read up and get a handle on that.

 R_P wrote:
 

Experience: I’ve written a letter to my local paper every day for 40 years

I also hate the overuse of the words “gutted”, “amazing” and “devastated” – all of which are commonly found in local papers. Don’t get me started on Brexit.

I don’t sleep that well, maybe because I keep the radio on all night. I have a notebook next to the bed and, if something piques my interest, I’ll switch the light on and write it down. I’m not one to moan quietly; I harrumph quite a bit. It drives my wife up the wall. She should probably write a letter of complaint.

I’m sticking to my analogue ways in a digital world, and I don’t really want to take up the social media sword. Twitter is full of inconsequential rubbish and the space restriction would hamper me – it’s quite hard to be nuanced in 280 characters.

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 
The university and the Governor have been working on methods of having that statue and others "relocated" but it's met with a lot of resistance from the Conservative corners.  The students had just returned in the last week or so and they apparently decided to take matters into their own hands.  Some of the talk around here is that they figured if they waited for an "official" removal, that a Charlottesville-type calamity would ensue, though the video of the toppling looks more frenzied than calculated.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
That goes for all of us these days.
We have a federal election coming up next year (already? I know!) and the Conservatives are ramping up their fear mongering of 'the other' already. The Koch bros are funnelling money into elections up here too, via the resource extraction industry. Thankfully, Canadians didn't bite on that crap the last time around. 

 Welly wrote:
 

Party officials, not government positions.

The governor will be fine; current gov. is fine, but a little bit of a game-player. Didn't advocate for Medicare expansion then once it was defeated, fought for it. No change yet for our congressional delegation; I hope Barrasso falters but don't count on it.

If the local defeated candidates take a hint and stop trying to install their hateful agenda, it would be a good day.

As a 3:1 political minority in this state, being able to avoid the nutjobs is pretty much a blue ribbon day.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
So, all in all, an improvement? Or simply further disaster averted?
Oh and....You guys sure do elect a lot of people. I've never even heard of Precinct Committeeman before!

 Proclivities wrote: 
Good for them - seriously.

After A Year Of Rising Tensions, Protesters Tear Down Confederate Statue On UNC Campus


Big news around here.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
AnnaBanana posted yesterdays results next door and I was taken by how only about 20K Democrats voted as opposed to over 100K Republicans...I know it was hotly contested on that side but still, dang.

Well, the Wyoming primaries were yesterday, and while Barrasshole and Cheneysdottir both advanced, they also both had challengers that took 1/3+ of the vote. In a GOP state like this, to have the GOP primaries involving an incumbent be contested at all is sort of unheard of. Cheney will win the general in a walk, probably nearing 75%, but Barrasso has a challenger whose only negative for those who talk to him is the (D) by his name. He can sell his vision to anyone, if he can get them to drop the blind party loyalty. Gary Trauner #CountryB4Party
 
The race for Governor went to a guy who endured withering anonymous attacks, some terrible negative advertising, glossy mailings, really nasty stuff that literally made me change parties to vote for the guy. If he upsets the Tea Party wing so much, he's got to be the best of the lot. He beat out Foster Friess, the out-of-state billionaire who backed Trump and decided that in exchange for his support there, the Trump machine would support his bid for elective office. Steve Bannon suggested he run against Barrasso, but decided to run for Governor. He has a home in Jackson Hole, but probably could have run  for any of a few states. Don Trump Junior sent the most lackluster endorsement letter I've ever seen. "From the desk of Donald J. Trump, Jr." all set in Times Roman and just looking like a rough draft. It did have typos. Friess was the guy who advocated using aspirin as birth control. Ladies, just put the tablet between your knees. But the 3rd place out of 7 was a fossil fuels activist and while she would have been better than Friess, she still would have sold our public lands to ...Foster Friess and oil cos. The two of them together split the right-right-wing vote.

A couple of gerrymandered state districts changed hands, a long-time stick-in-the-mud from the next county finally lost to a guy I don't really care for (retired school administrator) but he's eminently more qualified for the position.

Our county commissioners' race had several super-right, tea party is RINO, candidates who all lost. They had run for precinct committeeman a few years ago and were up for it again, and even lost there.

I've always said that real, local, Wyomingites are conservative, but not hateful. These ones who got beat are all from somewhere else and moved here to try to make it an Idaho panhandle white nationalist enclave.

:cheers:

 Proclivities wrote: 
yeah, i saw that a few days ago, too. i'm with you. old-fashioned.

 meower wrote: 
I saw that a few days ago.  It's funny how often I've debated with people about having to use hyphens for compound adjectives (even in here on occasion) and have my argument dismissed as "old-fashioned".

This story represents a clear example of capitalistic greed, the need for regulatory oversight, and  how inept and greedy politicians can twist regulations to suite their own needs at the expense of the public.

Tom Marino is a four-term Republican member of the House who represents a district in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been hard-hit by the opioid crisis. Yet Marino also has been a friend on Capitol Hill of the giant drug companies that distribute the pain pills that have wreaked so much devastation around the nation.

Marino was the chief advocate of the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, which requires the government to meet a higher bar before taking certain enforcement actions.

The Drug Enforcement Administration fought against the bill for years, but finally relented last year after a leadership change at the agency. Marino is now President Trump’s nominee to become the nation’s next drug czar.

The new law makes it virtually impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotic shipments from the companies, according to internal agency and Justice Department documents and an independent assessment by the DEA’s chief administrative law judge in a soon-to-be-published law review article. That powerful tool had allowed the agency to immediately prevent drugs from reaching the street.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/rep-tom-marino-drug-czar-nominee-and-the-opioid-industrys-advocate-in-congress/2017/10/15/555211a0-b03a-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.e91a01ccdcdd