Texas Student Suspended for Use of the “One Ring”

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Gene Howington

200px-Unico_Anelloby Gene Howington

Aiden Steward is a nine year old boy with an active imagination. He attends the Kermit Elementary School in Kermit, Texas. He was suspended for making a threat against another student. He said he could “make him disappear”. Aiden’s weapon of choice: the One Ring from J.R.R. Tolkien‘s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings“. Admittedly, the gold band forged in the heart of Mount Doom by the dark sorcerer Sauron is a powerful weapon.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Tolkien_1916

“They did what?” – J.R.R. Tolkien, spinning in his grave.

It can make you invisible, allow you to walk in the shadow realm, and control all the other rings of power including the Nine worn by the Nazgûl – the fearsome undead elite guard of Sauron some of whom are powerful sorcerers in their own right. It is also completely and utterly fictional which damps down its inherent danger as a threat quite a bit. Reduced to zero as any reasonable intelligent person might observe.

According to NYDailyNews.com, his father was as amazed at the school’s reaction as if they had performed real magic of their own.

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Posted in Education, Local Government, Logic, Texas, United States, Weird News | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

File This Under “You Gotta Be Kidding Me”: Backyard Gun Ranges Are Legal in Florida

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

FloridaSealBy Elaine Magliaro

Last February, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board wrote an op-ed about backyard gun ranges being legal in Florida. That’s NRALogoright–you can build a gun range in your own yard in the state of Florida and nobody can stop you! And it doesn’t matter whether you live in a thickly settled area or not. Local governments can’t do a damn thing about it!

Sun Sentinel Editorial Board:

That’s right. Florida law allows people to build and maintain shooting ranges in their backyards. And unless an owner becomes negligent or reckless, there’s nothing a neighbor can do.

For example:

* There’s no restriction on the type of firearms or ammunition that can be used in a backyard shooting range.

* There’s no restriction on the time of day or night your neighbors can use their gun range.

* And there’s no restriction on gun ranges near a public school, day-care center or neighborhood playground. Talk about the need for duck-and-cover lessons.

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Posted in Constitutional Law, Government, Local Government, Politics, Society, States, United States | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Super Bowl Saturday: Looking at the Lighter Side of Deflate-Gate (VIDEOS)

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

The biggest sports news story of the past two weeks has been Deflate-Gate–the controversy over the allegation that the New England Patriots used under-inflated footballs during the first half of the AFC championship game that pitted the team against the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots won be a wide margin: 45-7.

There has been so much discussion in the news about this “soft-ball” scandal. Did the Patriots cheat? Who was responsible for the improperly inflated balls? Was it Bill Belichick? Tom Brady? Fingers have also been pointed at a locker-room attendant who had custody of the Patriots’ balls for a period of time.  Is he the culprit responsible for the under-inflated footballs? The plot thickens! I thought we should take a look at some of the humorous reactions to Deflate-Gate.

Deflate-Gate: The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore: The Patriots’ Tom Brady faces scrutiny for his role in an alleged cheating scandal, but Larry points out that dishonesty in sports is nothing new.

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Posted in Humor, Short Video, United States | 2 Comments

Who Are Charles and David Koch: True Libertarians? Billionaire Hypocrites? Crony Capitalists? Con Artists Looking to Rip You Off?

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro
Charles and David Koch

Charles and David Koch

By Elaine Magliaro

On Monday, officials for the Koch brothers’ political organization announced that the group had budgeted a “whopping $889 million” for the 2016 presidential campaign. Nancy Benac of the Associated Press reported that that amount was “more than double the approximately $400 million it spent in 2012.”

Why do the Koch brothers spend so much money on political elections? Who are they…and what do they want? Senator Bernie Sanders explains:

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Posted in Big Oil, Campaign Finance, Climate Change Deniers, Conservatives, Corruption, Democracy, Economic Policy, Economics, Energy Policy, Fascism, Fascists/Corporatists, Justice, Libertarians, Media, Oligarchy, Political Science, Politics, Propaganda, Socialism, Tea Party, United States | Tagged , , , , , | 69 Comments

Barf Warning #2: Watching This Video of Mika Brzezinski Talking about Her Weekend with the Kochs May Also Induce Vomiting!

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

One would expect a conservative Republican like Joe Scarborough to be enamored of the billionaire Koch Brothers. Earlier this week, he spoke of Charles and David Koch in glowing terms on his MSNBC show Morning Joe after he and his co-host Mika Brzezinski had attended a policy forum hosted by a group affiliated with the wealthy businessmen on Sunday. I wrote about it in my post titled Barf Warning: Watching This Video of Joe Scarborough Talking about the Koch Brothers May Induce Vomiting!

Josh Israel, one of my sources for that post, said that Brzezinski had also “fawned over” the billionaire oil magnates. On Monday, she had said that her weekend with the Kochs was “awesome” and “so fascinating.”

This morning, Mika gushed over the Kochs and her experience at the forum again. Brendan James wrote about it at Talking Points Memo. James said that Scarborough “hasn’t been shy about his support for the industrial billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch, but it took a weekend in Palm Springs for his liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski to see the light.”

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Posted in Big Oil, Campaign Finance, Climate Change Deniers, Climatology, Conservatives, Corruption, Courts, Crime, Energy Policy, Fascists/Corporatists, Liberals, Libertarians, Media, Oligarchy, Politics, Propaganda, Short Video, Society, Tea Party, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

School Principal in Providence Announces Snow Day with a Youtube Parody of “Let It Go”

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

It’s a little after 9:00 am…and, fortunately, we haven’t lost power yet. That said, it’s looks like we’ve got at least eighteen inches of snow so far. We’re due to get another foot..or so. My guess is schools around here will be closed again tomorrow. I thought I’d post this “no school today” announcement made by the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island. It’s a parody of the song “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen.

Adam Olenn, director of communications and community engagement for the Moses Brown School in Providence, said, “Sunday morning we saw the weather report and we said, ‘Oh, we’ve got to get this done.’”

WBUR:

“I’ve seen a couple of funny principal snow day closings and I thought we could really crush that,” Olenn says. The plan was to record the parody song in advance and have something in the can, ready for some future storm. This week that storm arrived.

“Of course, with two little girls,” Olenn says, “I’ve heard ‘Let It Go’ from ‘Frozen’ more than a couple times.”

“I sat down and wrote it in like 15 minutes,” he says. “I do like the fact that I was able to work in the fractals bit that was in the original song.”

Moses Brown – School Is Closed Announcement

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Posted in Humor, Music, Short Video | 4 Comments

Barf Warning: Watching This Video of Joe Scarborough Talking about the Koch Brothers May Induce Vomiting!

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Sunday evening, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers, hosted the American Recovery Policy Forum, which featured some Republican politicians who have their eyes on the US Presidency. Zeke J Miller (Time) said the forum featured Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Miller said that the three politicians “made their case to an audience of well-heeled business owners and featured sharp divisions over foreign policy.” He noted that one area of agreement among the three men was a “defense of the rights of billionaires and millionaires who are playing an ever larger role in the political system.” Miller said that Cruz, Paul, and Rubio “defended the growth of outside spending in politics.”

Josh Israel (ThinkProgress) reported that the forum was moderated by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl. He added that it “was advertised as closed to the public and closed to the press — though networks did have some access to an Internet video stream.” He noted that while reporters were not invited, “MSNBC’s Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were in attendance at the Palm Springs event and fawned over their ‘awesome’ weekend — and about the billionaire oil magnates.”

Morning Joe on the Koch Brothers

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Posted in Campaign Finance, Conservatives, Media, Politics, Short Video, United States | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Blizzard Warning!

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

We’re bracing for the worst up here in my neck of the woods–especially after listening to the latest weather reports. The weather map below indicates that Massachusetts is going to get walloped when what is expected to be a historic blizzard hits New England. We may get well over two feet of snow! I’m hoping we don’t lose power. If so, I’ll be absent for a while.

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Posted in Climatology, Humor, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 27 Comments

James Fallows on “The Tragedy of the American Military”

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

On Friday, I was talking with a friend when he suggested that I read James Fallows’s article about the American military that was published in The Atlantic magazine. In his article titled The Tragedy of the American Military, Fallows looks at the state of the U.S. military after it has spent well over a decade at war.  Fallows wrote about a “chickenhawk nation” that sent troops into combat “without clear strategies, weapons acquisition programs that are expensive and politically connected, and an American public that is largely disconnected from the wars.” He also reported “on the findings of a commission that President Obama requested in 2011 to examine how the Pentagon could best be reformed.”

‘An era of defeat’ for the best soldiers in the world? (PBS NewsHour)
James Fallows speaks with chief foreign correspondent Margaret Warner about his article that was published in The Atlantic magazine.

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Posted in Afghanistan, American History, Barack Obama, Countries, Foreign Policy, Government, Imperialism, Iraq, Political Science, Politics, Presidents, Society, United States, US Army, US Military, USAF, USCG, USMC, USN, War, War on "Terror" | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

Not Eaxctly “Weekend at Bernie’s”: Minnesota Man Suspected of Taking Dead Mother to Bank to Withdraw Money

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro
David Vanzo

David Vanzo

By Elaine Magliaro

Earlier this week, news media reported that police in Plymouth, Minnesota, were investigating a man named David Vanzo  “for elderly neglect and financial exploitation of his mother…” Tom Lyden (MyFox9) said, “Detectives wonder if he brought his mother to the bank to make a withdrawal — after she was already dead.”

According to news reports, Vanzo’s mother Caryl died two weeks ago. David Ferguson of Raw Story said that police believe that on the day of her death, Vanzo took his mother’s dead body to the bank in order to withdraw money from her account. Ferguson said that Vanzo then, allegedly, “reported her death to authorities seven hours later.”

According to Tom Lyden, Vanzo has denied the allegation. Vanzo told MyFox9, “My mother and I had an agreement. I took care of my mom for years, I’m the good guy here, not the bad guy.”

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Posted in Crime, Financial, Law Enforcement, United States, Weird Crime | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments