This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Monday, November 03, 2014
Big ISPs' efforts to squeeze Netflix lead to slow connectivity for you
What started out as suspicion is now fully documented, in a study that has just been released by a nonprofit research consortium called M-Lab. M-Lab’s data suggests the logical conclusion that Verizon and Comcast, as well as Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, and AT&T, are intentionally squeezing data coming from some incoming networks — in particular, networks associated with Netflix, which competes with these companies in video entertainment. Customers of these eyeball networks are getting degraded service that cannot be explained by anything other than business decisions. And these eyeball networks are acting with an apparent disregard for users not affiliated with Netflix, affecting all kinds of traffic and all kinds of users. By tacitly allowing network traffic jams — affecting only the highways of fiber that Netflix was using to send its bits — everyone else using those routes was getting stuck.{Source}
EXCLUSIVE: Rula Jebreal sounds off on Bill Maher Islam spat: “What he is doing is un-American”
[I am a fan of Bill Maher - I watch his HBO show regularly and I even (recently) paid big bucks for one of his live shows which he then repeated a week later on HBO - I could have seen it for free. Although I don't agree with everything he says, I agree with his disdain for religion and I agree, to a degree - as I said in an earlier post - about his denunciation of Islam as a port-of-storm for violent behavior. BUT - so are many other religions, it's just that Islamic nations are in real turmoil at this time and the jihadists are using their religion as cover for a fight that is largely political.
,
The article I quote from below is misleading, however, because Rula Jebreal, on Real Time with Bill Maher, kept shouting and interrupting without making a damn point. She kept repeating, "This is a conversation we need to have," without ever starting the discussion. Just like Ben Affleck a month or so ago who resorted to stupid finger-pointing and even name-calling ("racist"), they didn't make any points of reason.
,
Now Salon gives Rula a chance for a one-sided debate. That's no fair either. Bill needs to be heard - his point that religious texts can be interpreted in MANY ways and justification for war, abuse, misogyny, and torture is to be found in all of those books. And right NOW - this decade - as Bill pointed out - the Muslims are making the most use of this violence toward people of other religions - and THAT'S what Bill said.
,
Both Affleck and Jebreal are putting words in Maher's mouth and are arguing against a straw-man. THEY need to engage in fair debate with Bill and argue his points, not some made up issue of their own choosing. I understand Bill Maher's frustration with the issue.
Just sayin'. Bozo]
___________________________________
Monday, Nov 3, 2014 08:11 AM EST
Last
weekend witnessed yet another fierce debate over Islam on HBO’s “Real
Time with Bill Maher,” just four weeks after the comedian tussled with
actor Ben Affleck on the issue. This time, Maher’s interlocutor was the
Italian-Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal, who took Maher to task for
what she called his “offensive” criticism of the religion.
.
The impetus for the latest debate was the controversy surrounding Maher’s upcoming commencement address at the University of California-Berkeley, where a group of students circulated a petition protesting the choice of Maher, whom the petition described as a “blatant bigot and racist.” The university ultimately stood by its decision to bring Maher to campus, and during his Friday show, he assailed the attempt to cancel his address as an illiberal effort to shut down free speech. Similarly, Maher has couched his criticism of Islam in liberal terms, arguing that true liberals have a duty to oppose Islamic “illiberalism.”
.
Jebreal would have none of it, objecting to Maher’s framing of the Berkeley controversy as a free speech issue and castigating his criticism of Islam as grossly simplistic. Now, in an interview with Salon, Jebreal sounds off on her “Real Time” appearance, the debate over liberalism and Islam, and whether she’ll ever be back on Maher’s show.
.
Your “Real Time” appearance came just a few weeks after Maher sparked a firestorm of controversy following his heated debate with Ben Affleck. Did you expect Islam to come up during your appearance on the show?
.
Do you think this ongoing debate over Islam is a productive one? And is “Real Time” a good venue for it?
.
{Source}
,
The article I quote from below is misleading, however, because Rula Jebreal, on Real Time with Bill Maher, kept shouting and interrupting without making a damn point. She kept repeating, "This is a conversation we need to have," without ever starting the discussion. Just like Ben Affleck a month or so ago who resorted to stupid finger-pointing and even name-calling ("racist"), they didn't make any points of reason.
,
Now Salon gives Rula a chance for a one-sided debate. That's no fair either. Bill needs to be heard - his point that religious texts can be interpreted in MANY ways and justification for war, abuse, misogyny, and torture is to be found in all of those books. And right NOW - this decade - as Bill pointed out - the Muslims are making the most use of this violence toward people of other religions - and THAT'S what Bill said.
,
Both Affleck and Jebreal are putting words in Maher's mouth and are arguing against a straw-man. THEY need to engage in fair debate with Bill and argue his points, not some made up issue of their own choosing. I understand Bill Maher's frustration with the issue.
Just sayin'. Bozo]
___________________________________
Monday, Nov 3, 2014 08:11 AM EST
The journalist tells Salon about her heated debate with Maher on Friday -- and the "dangerous" impact of his ideas
.
Rula Jebreal, Bill Maher (Credit: HBO)
.
.
The impetus for the latest debate was the controversy surrounding Maher’s upcoming commencement address at the University of California-Berkeley, where a group of students circulated a petition protesting the choice of Maher, whom the petition described as a “blatant bigot and racist.” The university ultimately stood by its decision to bring Maher to campus, and during his Friday show, he assailed the attempt to cancel his address as an illiberal effort to shut down free speech. Similarly, Maher has couched his criticism of Islam in liberal terms, arguing that true liberals have a duty to oppose Islamic “illiberalism.”
.
Jebreal would have none of it, objecting to Maher’s framing of the Berkeley controversy as a free speech issue and castigating his criticism of Islam as grossly simplistic. Now, in an interview with Salon, Jebreal sounds off on her “Real Time” appearance, the debate over liberalism and Islam, and whether she’ll ever be back on Maher’s show.
.
Your “Real Time” appearance came just a few weeks after Maher sparked a firestorm of controversy following his heated debate with Ben Affleck. Did you expect Islam to come up during your appearance on the show?
.
I was told actually that he wanted to discuss the Berkeley thing, and I was told that he wanted to discuss the connection between torture applied by the CIA in prisons like Camp Bucca and the rise of extremism, and also the fact that ISIS is utilizing the same techniques. So I knew that he wanted to discuss that..
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I thought that Berkeley would open up the conversation about that issue. So I thought that he wanted to talk about Berkeley, and make it about free speech – and that was not true. The whole point for me was that nobody is banning him. Actually the students asked to invite him for a debate, where they can have real dialogue. And a commencement speech does not offer that opportunity – and saying it’s a free speech thing and it’s about the principles of liberalism, I don’t think that’s a correct reporting of events.
Do you think this ongoing debate over Islam is a productive one? And is “Real Time” a good venue for it?
.
No, no..
.
Look, I think it’s a productive one if it’s a real debate on this issue. It’s an important issue, no doubt. However, my fear is that even if you’re a secular Muslim or Sufi or Sunni Shafi’i who looks at the jihadis and is appalled by them – and look at the father, the Nigerian father of the Christmas bomber, who actually denounced his own son – and look at the rise of ISIS with a lot of concern and worry – then hear on TV shows that this is Islam, it’s a sweeping generalization. It’s collective. There’s no nuance. No history.
.
To say that the rise of ISIS is Islamic is simply wrong. There is a theology that’s wrong and needs to be reformed. But also, unfortunately, the rise of ISIS a byproduct of the Iraq War and the terrible way that Iraq was administrated. And it’s connected directly to that war. And to exclude the sectarian policies of Maliki – or even to exclude the responsibility of the way we acted inside prisons like Camp Bucca or Guantanamo – not to see the connection is naïve and dangerous. Even people like General James Gerrond, who was in charge of Camp Bucca, he said that he had an impression that they were not there to hold detainees. He had the impression it was a pressure cooker for extremists.
.
And it is true.
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So it’s easy to view it as “this is about Islam” and it’s harder to actually address these real issues. The real issues are Maliki’s policies, the way we invaded Iraq, the terrible administration of Iraq, the responsibility of our allies like Saudi Arabia, which is financing jihadists, which actually supports Wahhabism. Or even look at the responsibility of the Egyptian government. Today we have 20,000 people sitting in jail. Twenty thousand Islamists who are not violent. The next bin Laden is sitting in jail.
{Source}
'God is not a magician': Pope says Christians should believe in evolution and Big Bang
[Pope Francis is surely a guy who is stirring up some conversations. - Bozo]
.
Travis Gettys
28 Oct 2014 at 08:53 ET
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The "Big Bang" and evolution are not only consistent with biblical teachings, Pope Francis told a Vatican gathering - they are essential to understanding God.
"When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything - but that is not so," the pope told a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
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"He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment," Pope Francis said.
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The earth's origins were not chaotic, the pontiff said, but were created from a principle of love, reported Religion News Service.
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"He gave autonomy to the beings of the universe at the same time at which he assured them of his continuous presence, giving being to every reality, and so creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the creator who gives being to all things," the pope said.
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Pope Francis said the theory of evolution did not contradict the Bible or church teachings, as creationists claim.
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"God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life," the pope said. "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."
.
{Source}
.
Travis Gettys
28 Oct 2014 at 08:53 ET
.
The "Big Bang" and evolution are not only consistent with biblical teachings, Pope Francis told a Vatican gathering - they are essential to understanding God.
"When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything - but that is not so," the pope told a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
.
"He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment," Pope Francis said.
.
The earth's origins were not chaotic, the pontiff said, but were created from a principle of love, reported Religion News Service.
.
"He gave autonomy to the beings of the universe at the same time at which he assured them of his continuous presence, giving being to every reality, and so creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the creator who gives being to all things," the pope said.
.
Pope Francis said the theory of evolution did not contradict the Bible or church teachings, as creationists claim.
.
"God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life," the pope said. "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."
.
{Source}
Why Conservatives Opt for Propaganda Over Reality
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Conservatives are consuming a right-wing media full of lies and misinformation, whereas liberals are more interested in media that puts facts before ideology.
.
Or that’s the charitable way to put it. The less charitable way is to say Pew discovered that conservatives are consuming a right-wing media full of lies and misinformation, whereas liberals are more interested in media that puts facts before ideology. It’s very much not a “both sides do it” situation. Conservatives are becoming more conservative because of propaganda, whereas liberals are becoming more liberal while staying very much checked into reality.
.
That this polarization is going on isn’t a myth. Previous Pew research shows the percentage of Americans who are “mostly” or “consistently” conservative has grown from 18% in 2004 to 27% in 2014. During that same period, the percentage of Americans who are “mostly” or “consistently” liberal stayed a little more consistent, growing from 33% to 34% in 10 years. (These statistics don’t measure what you call yourself, but what you rate as on a scale of beliefs about various issues.) While liberals became more liberal, conservatives both became more numerous and more rigidly conservative over time. What gives?
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Enter right-wing media, which has a nifty trick of convincing audiences it’s the other guys who are the liars, all while actually being much less trustworthy in reality. From conservative screaming about the “media elite” to Fox News’s old slogan “Fair and Balanced,” conservative media is rife with the message that everyone is out to get you, conservative viewer, and only in the warm blanket of right-wing propaganda will you be safe.
[...]
{Source}
Know the intent of the founding fathers
Never be discouraged by any Apprehension that Arts are come to such Perfection in England as to be incapable of farther Improvement. As yet, the Quantity of Human Knowledge bears no Proportion to the Quantity of Human Ignorance.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to William Shipley, November 27, 1755
[Over 250 years later it's still true, and I don't mean just in England.]
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{Source}
Sunday, November 02, 2014
Yes, tea party membership is fueled by 'racial resentment'
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Did the tea party come about because a bunch of old white conservatives suddenly got it into their heads that their taxes were too high, or was it a more simplistic—read, racist—reaction to the election of America's first black president? Let's find out, using science!At least to some degree, the Tea Party movement is an outlet for mobilizing and expressing racialized grievances which have been symbolically magnified by the election of the nation’s first black president,” writes a research team led by Florida State University sociologist Daniel Tope.Your membership in the tea party may have stronger ties to anti-black racial resentments than any declared political values? How shocking! How unexpected! And so on, and so forth!The study, just published in the journal Social Science Research, finds this acrimony appears to be aimed specifically at blacks rather than also targeting Latinos. While that’s somewhat surprising, “The findings suggest that, among conservatives, racial resentment may be a more important determinate of membership in the Tea Party movement than hard-right political values.”
[T]he researchers found racial resentment was a “distinct factor” driving membership, one which was “largely independent” from ideological concerns. “Conservatives who were more racially resentful were substantially more likely to claim Tea Party movement membership,” they write.The caveat to all of this is that it is dastardly science, and the people who are out there wearing triangular hats complaining that Barack Obama is clearly the most tyrannicaland out of control president ever insist that they have not suddenly discovered how oppressed they are and how mistrustful of presidential authority they should be because their president is now A Black Guy. That they just happen to also answer a series of questions about race in a manner that clearly demonstrates their hostility to black Americans is, they will insist, purely a coincidence.
[...]
{Source}
Oh Dear. How Could That Happen?
Bad Luck is hard. It seems like only yesterday that I was telling you about that leader of the whacko Texas border 'militia' who got arrested and then had his hotel room raidedwhere the feds found a cache of arms and ammonium nitrate used in making car bombs and other good-time explosives. Actually, it was only yesterday. Well, now it turns out, just a few days earlier 'militia leader' Kevin "KC" Massey had his photograph taken with Texas governor candidate Greg Abbott.
{Source}
After conservative freakout, McConnell confirms that he will fast-track Obamacare repeal
Mitch McConnell, showing the number of positions he's willing to take on any given issue
Flash-forward 48 hours, however, and now McConnell is singing a different song:
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says he would be willing to repeal Obamacare with a simple majority if he takes over as majority leader in January, his spokesman told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
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