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stevenleser
stevenleser's Journal
stevenleser's Journal
August 22, 2015
What's the GOP dream administration? Someone jokingly sent me this pic (Projectile vomit alert)...
Don't gag (or at least try not to)...
And I jokingly tweeted it to some of my conservative pundit friends with the caption "You would like this, wouldn't you". They responded yes and retweeted it to their fans. The response was an almost universal enthusiastic "Yes".
Just FYI
August 22, 2015
For many teenagers, winning a Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 16 might offer some license to coast through the rest of school—but most teenagers are not the young Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. For her, being the youngest person ever to win the world’s most prestigious award didn’t overshadow the importance of studying for her school-leaving exams.
In recent months, Malala, now 18, has put aside some of her busy agenda of appearances and international talks, and focused exclusively on her studies at Edgbaston High School, the private girls’ school in Birmingham she has been attending since she relocated from Pakistan in 2013. She came to the UK for treatment after surviving being shot in the head at the age of 15 on her way home from school in Pakistan by a Taliban gunman, who targeted her because of her advocacy for girls’ education.
Today her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, proudly announced her academic success on Twitter. She received her General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) with straight As—including six scored at the top of the scale as A*.
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.
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The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistan’s Taliban group, also reacted to the news, albeit less enthusiastically, according to the Pakistani publication Khabaristan Times. “You can get as many As in the worldly, Zionist, CIA-sponsored education system but the only A that matters is for Allah,” read the press release.
The TTP’s press release closes with a renewed threat to the activist: “Malala, no matter how much the Pakistani armed forces spank us, you’ll always be our number one enemy.”
Malala graduates from High School with Straight A's, Taliban apoplectic
http://qz.com/485120/heres-how-a-nobel-prize-winning-teenager-did-on-her-school-exams/For many teenagers, winning a Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 16 might offer some license to coast through the rest of school—but most teenagers are not the young Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. For her, being the youngest person ever to win the world’s most prestigious award didn’t overshadow the importance of studying for her school-leaving exams.
In recent months, Malala, now 18, has put aside some of her busy agenda of appearances and international talks, and focused exclusively on her studies at Edgbaston High School, the private girls’ school in Birmingham she has been attending since she relocated from Pakistan in 2013. She came to the UK for treatment after surviving being shot in the head at the age of 15 on her way home from school in Pakistan by a Taliban gunman, who targeted her because of her advocacy for girls’ education.
Today her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, proudly announced her academic success on Twitter. She received her General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) with straight As—including six scored at the top of the scale as A*.
.
.
.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistan’s Taliban group, also reacted to the news, albeit less enthusiastically, according to the Pakistani publication Khabaristan Times. “You can get as many As in the worldly, Zionist, CIA-sponsored education system but the only A that matters is for Allah,” read the press release.
The TTP’s press release closes with a renewed threat to the activist: “Malala, no matter how much the Pakistani armed forces spank us, you’ll always be our number one enemy.”
August 13, 2015
Number of uninsured drops below 10% for first time in 50 year history of CDC Study of Uninsured
Yeah, really horrible that Obamacare. 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/08/12/for-first-time-americas-uninsured-rate-is-below-10/
For the first time in more than 50 years of surveys, the CDC on Wednesday reported that more than 90% of Americans — 90.8% of us, to be specific — have health insurance.
Until now, no major survey had ever found that the uninsured rate in America has hit single digits.
The data comes from the National Health Interview Survey, which the CDC has been conducting for more than 50 years. The questions have sometimes changed, but until this year, the answers haven’t: More than 10% of respondents, and sometimes as many as 18% of Americans, have reported that they’ve been uninsured.
August 12, 2015
Updated to include full text:
I agree with this OP. This is unfortunately not a new problem. If you are Jewish in this day and age
as I am, Farrakhan is hardly the only issue you have to deal with. For instance, I am in favor of the Iran deal. But it is also hard to escape the fact that key members of the Iranian leadership have uttered some harshly anti-Semitic stuff. Not just anti-Israeli stuff, anti-Semitic. So do we Jews say, don't deal with those antisemitic assholes and watch the situation devolve into yet another war? Or a situation in which Iran goes nuclear?
As far as Farrakhan is concerned, being a mixed race person in addition to being Jewish makes Farrakhan's status as a leader in the AA community particularly painful for me. The only solace I take is that outside of these occasional spates of activism, he doesn't seem to have much effect on the country.
But there are many other examples of situations like this that we Jews simply seem to have to deal with. We deal with a torrent of antisemitism all the time all over the place.
FYI, my post about the Farrakhan march (updated)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7069893Updated to include full text:
I agree with this OP. This is unfortunately not a new problem. If you are Jewish in this day and age
as I am, Farrakhan is hardly the only issue you have to deal with. For instance, I am in favor of the Iran deal. But it is also hard to escape the fact that key members of the Iranian leadership have uttered some harshly anti-Semitic stuff. Not just anti-Israeli stuff, anti-Semitic. So do we Jews say, don't deal with those antisemitic assholes and watch the situation devolve into yet another war? Or a situation in which Iran goes nuclear?
As far as Farrakhan is concerned, being a mixed race person in addition to being Jewish makes Farrakhan's status as a leader in the AA community particularly painful for me. The only solace I take is that outside of these occasional spates of activism, he doesn't seem to have much effect on the country.
But there are many other examples of situations like this that we Jews simply seem to have to deal with. We deal with a torrent of antisemitism all the time all over the place.
August 10, 2015
Question submitted by stevenleser
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August 10, 2015
Russia, in midst of exploding HIV epidemic, plans to ban importation of condoms
Another brilliant move brought to you by the administration of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-plans-to-stop-condom-imports-despite-rise-in-hiv-1.2311698
Russia has unveiled plans to ban state procurement of imported condoms, prompting a wave of risque jokes in the country’s media. But for anyone following the alarming rise in HIV infections in Russia the proposal was hardly a laughing matter.
Russia is one of the few places in the world where the HIV virus is still rapidly spreading, driven mainly by intravenous drug use and unprotected sex.
Within five years at least two million people are expected to be officially registered as HIV-positive, while three million – or 2 per cent of the total population – will be carrying the virus, according to Dr Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of the Russian Federal Aids Centre.
In most cases infection is an avoidable tragedy. However at “an adult level there are hardly any information campaigns to warn the public to take steps to protect themselves against the virus. We need to attend to these problems very urgently,” Dr Pokrovsky told The Irish Times.
Russia is one of the few places in the world where the HIV virus is still rapidly spreading, driven mainly by intravenous drug use and unprotected sex.
Within five years at least two million people are expected to be officially registered as HIV-positive, while three million – or 2 per cent of the total population – will be carrying the virus, according to Dr Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of the Russian Federal Aids Centre.
In most cases infection is an avoidable tragedy. However at “an adult level there are hardly any information campaigns to warn the public to take steps to protect themselves against the virus. We need to attend to these problems very urgently,” Dr Pokrovsky told The Irish Times.
August 10, 2015
Would love to hear from members of this group regarding this OP I created in GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027061488
August 10, 2015
Protest 101: Raise the visibility of your group and it's goals - BLM's netroots and seattle are wins
You may not like how they protested or whom they protested, but their actions are successful by at least one major criteria of protesting.
They have raised the visibility of Black Lives Matter and thus its goals. And by that important criteria, they did it right and were successful.
We're probably going to be talking about BLM and what to do about protecting the lives of African Americans for the rest of the 2016 election season.
And that is as it should be.
August 7, 2015
Trump's Implosion in the Debate was Breathtaking to Behold.
Frank Luntz' focus group of grassroots Republicans went from overwhelmingly pro-Trump to absolutely despising him.
I was tweeting during the debate that Trump's performance was a disaster but you never know for sure how Republicans will see things.
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Name: RuggedRealistGender: Male
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Member since: Tue Jan 4, 2005, 05:36 PM
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