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During Friday's protest, four gay activists unfurled a banner quoting the Olympic Charter's ban on any form of discrimination. The protesters, who gathered on St. Petersburg's Vasilyevsky Island, were quickly rounded up by police, according to Natalia Tsymbalova, a local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activist.

The gay rights group All Out told CBS News in an emailed statement that one of the protesters arrested was associated with the organization.

"We just learned that 4 gay rights activists were arrested in St. Petersburg - including All Out's long-term contact and friend Anastasia Smirnova - for taking photos with a banner referring to Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter `Discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic Movement.'"

I think there will be more activism and more arrests during the Olympics. These people are very brave. I salute them.

And the reports filing in about the deplorable condition of the hotel rooms and the inedible food are not going to cease either.

Love the explanation of the ruckus the commercial caused from Bob Garfield, editor at large at MediaPost:

Think back to its "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" ad more than 40 years ago. Coca-Cola was hardly trying to raise a ruckus then, nor is it now. Coca-Cola is not in the stirring-things-up business.

The difference now is the Internet. There have been bigots and xenophobes for years, but now they show up as Internet trolls and appear to have more influence than they do.

In fact, during a nine-year career that was shortened by a severe back injury, Kiner hit an astonishing 369 home runs, had 1,015 RBIs (an average of over 112 per season), and was only the second player in MLB history after Babe Ruth to hit over 40 homers for five consecutive seasons.

Kiner was absolutely the very best thing back then about the perpetually bad Pirates, and he was one of baseball's highest-paid players in his time. When he complained about his salary being cut after the 1952 season, despite having once again led the league in homers during the team's 42-112 campaign, then-Pittsburgh general manager Branch Rickey reportedly told him, "Son, we finished last with you, and we can finish last without you."

But Ralph Kiner is perhaps best known to those of my generation and the next as the Emmy-winning original broadcast voice of the New York Mets for nearly 50 years. He later admitted that some of his colorful misstatements and malapropisms -- known affectionately as "Kinerisms" -- were deliberate and often used for effect: "If Casey Stengel were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave."

CHICAGO (AP) -- A jury acquitted three NATO summit protesters Friday of breaking Illinois' rarely tested state terrorism law, a finding the defense said should dissuade Illinois or any other states from ever pressing such charges in a similar way against activists.
...
The activists were acquitted on all four terrorism charges in the case, including material support of terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism. Jurors also acquitted them of solicitation to commit arson.

But the panel did find them guilty of two arson counts. And, as they were given the option of doing, they switched out the terrorism counts to find the activists guilty of misdemeanor mob action. link

One passage in particular stands out, as Allen confronts Mia Farrow's recent public hint that she had conceived son Ronan with her ex-husband Frank Sinatra, and not with Allen as was widely believed:

"I pause here for a quick word on the Ronan situation. Is he my son or, as Mia suggests, Frank Sinatra's? Granted, he looks a lot like Frank with the blue eyes and facial features, but if so what does this say? That all during the custody hearing Mia lied under oath and falsely represented Ronan as our son? Even if he is not Frank's, the possibility she raises that he could be, indicates she was secretly intimate with him during our years. Not to mention all the money I paid for child support. Was I supporting Frank's son? Again, I want to call attention to the integrity and honesty of a person who conducts her life like that."

You really see that people are the same.

Everyone wants to excel. To have fun. To love and be loved.

Governments designate various countries as evil or good - usually based on successful trade arrangements or lack thereof. And the depiction extends to the people. They are also depicted as evil and expendable. Dronable. Even nukable.

And yet we see the people from all these places. And they are all beautiful and human.

So, I just have to surmise that these conflicts that continually plague us have to do with what governments want - what elitists want - and have little or nothing to do with what people want.

I also must say that I have seen nothing but criticism of Russia regarding these Olympic games.
I'm not saying that criticism is not justified, but it is so unrelenting that it feels like the Cold War revisited. In fact, I was somewhat shocked to see how beautiful the opening ceremony looked. I was anticipating seeing a shambles.

In a new policy memo, the department will spell out the rights of same-sex couples, including the right to decline to give testimony that might incriminate their spouses, even if their marriages are not recognized in the state where the couple lives.

Under the Justice Department policy, federal inmates in same-sex marriages will also be entitled to the same rights and privileges as inmates in heterosexual marriages, including visitation by a spouse, escorted trips to attend a spouse's funeral, correspondence with a spouse, and compassionate release or reduction in sentence based on the incapacitation of an inmate's spouse.

In addition, an inmate in a same-sex marriage can be furloughed to be present during a crisis involving a spouse. In bankruptcy cases, same-sex married couples will be eligible to file for bankruptcy jointly. Domestic support obligations will include debts, such as alimony, owed to a former same-sex spouse. Certain debts to same-sex spouses or former spouses should be excepted from discharge.

SNIP

Last summer, the Office of Personnel Management announced that federal employees in same-sex marriages could apply for health, dental, life, long-term care and retirement benefits. The Department of Health and Human Services said that legally married same-sex seniors on Medicare would be eligible for equal benefits and joint placement in nursing homes.

The Social Security Administration will pay death benefits to survivors of a same-sex marriage. The Department of Homeland Security will treat same-sex spouses equally for the purposes of obtaining a green card if the spouse is a foreign national. And the IRS has begun treating same-sex marriages equally for tax-filing purposes.

Escape From New York: Sean Hannity's House Is For Sale

In the latest sign that the conservative pundit is preparing to move away from New York, Newsday reported Friday that Hannity's Long Island home is on the market for a cool $3.6 million.

Hannity has been making plenty of noise lately about his desire to leave what he called the "United Socialist State of New York" in favor of Florida or Texas (he also said he's open to running for office in either of the southern states).

Administration weighs drone strike against American citizen

The Obama administration is considering lethal force against an American citizen overseas who has allegedly been working with al Qaeda, U.S. officials have told the Associated Press.

"Alfred Wright, a 28-year-old physical therapist, was on his way to see a patient when his pickup truck broke down in Sabine County, Tex. His wife Lauren alerted his parents who went to help him. When Lauren called him back, all she heard was heavy breathing. She grew frantic and knew he was in distress. She sent texts pleading with him to call her. When his parents arrived on the scene, there was no sign of Alfred. His pickup truck was still parked at the package store, CL&M Grocery, Inc., but Alfred was long gone.

[...]

"His lifeless body was found 18 days after he went missing in November 2013 [...] by volunteers and his father. He was stripped to his boxer shorts, wearing only a single sock with his cell phone tucked inside, and both his sneakers. He was missing an ear, two front teeth and his throat was slit. There was not a lot of decomposition in comparison to most bodies found in the elements after 18 days. On November 26, 2013, forensic pathologist John W. Ralston MD, ruled his death 'accidental' due to 'combined drug intoxication,' in other words, a drug overdose - cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamines.

"The family isn't buying it because Alfred never used drugs. His family had their own autopsy and the pathologist concluded that he died of severe trauma to the neck and head and a gash across his throat.

"The county's autopsy report didn't address the cut on his neck or throat area and also went on to report that any damage caused to the body was caused by animal activity, offering no explanation why the cut across his neck was a straight line and why the animals didn't chew him to the bone after being out in the woods for over 18 days."

I think it important to note that back in mid-November, the Sabine Co. Sheriff Tom Maddox suspended the search for Alfred Wright after only four days, purportedly citing a lack of departmental resources. Further, Alfred's wife Lauren is white.

According to KJAS-TV, Sabine County District Attorney Kevin Dutton has recused himself from the investigation and turned it over to the state Attorney General's office, referencing in part certain allegations being made against the sheriff's office. Curiously, the station noted the official autopsy findings of an accidental drug overdose in its report, but said nothing about Wright's throat being cut. The Texas Observer is also reporting that federal officials at the U.S. Justice Dept. are now strongly considering their own investigation into Wright's death.

Let's hope that the authorities get to the bottom of this sad story, and do so quickly. After all, this is the year 2014, and not 1914. And while one doesn't want to think the worst of Sabine County residents, this is the same county where in 1998, the late James Byrd met his end at the hands of some white rednecks with a long rope and a pickup truck.

Sen. Claire McCaskill said Tuesday tht if she were up for reelection this year in a purple state, she "probably" would not have President Barack Obama campaign with her.

The Missouri Democrat was asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" if she would appear with Obama if she were one of the Democrats running for reelection in Arkansas, Louisiana or North Carolina.

"You know, probably not," McCaskill said. "I'm trying to be really candid and honest on this show. You know, the president's numbers are not strong in my state, or in Arkansas, or Louisiana, or North Carolina. He did not win those states when he ran for reelection in 2012."

Ms. Temple Black earned over $3.2 million during her acting career, a most considerable sum in those days, and all but $28,000 of which was subsequently discovered by her at age 22 to have been squandered by her family on a lavish lifestyle and series of bad investments.

After her 1950 marriage to Charles Black, Ms. Temple Black left her Hollywood career and eventually got involved in California GOP politics, which led to her later career in diplomacy and U.S. foreign affairs. In 1969, she was appointed chief delegate to the United Nations (a title since elevated to the cabinet-level post of U.N. ambassador) by President Nixon. She was named as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana in 1974, one of only a mere handful of women to have ever held such a diplomatic rank at the time.

Ms. Temple Black also won considerable praise for her service as the U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia under President George H.W. Bush during a very volatile period in eastern Europe (1989-92), when that country finally broke from the Cold War-era Warsaw Pact and longstanding Soviet domination and turned to Western Europe and the United States.

Wall Street has a rally because Obama and the Fed will keep the spicket on.m who does that help?  See above.

Ironic that the president who has nothing left to campaign on (because he doesn't govern) is turning to income inequality.   As if his monetary policies aren't the direct cause of the expansion in the last few years.

Inequality under Obama.

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Happy Saturday, my friends. Raining madly here, which we need. The big leak in my son's room, that I can live without. ;-)  

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"Barack Obama, in his increasingly metrosexual golf get-ups and his prissy poses on the nation's tony golf courses, wants to stay cool while playing a leisure sport. It reminds us of Stafford Cripps being played by Stalin during World War II. 'Make no mistake about it' and 'Let me be perfectly clear' lose every time. Obama's subordinates violate the law by going after the communications of a Fox reporter's parents; Putin himself threatens to cut off the testicles of a rude journalist.

"Putin is a reminder not just of our dark past, where raw force, not morality, adjudicated behavior, but, more worrisome, perhaps of a dark future as well, in which we in the West will continually overthink, hyperagonize, and nuance to death every idea, every issue, and every thought in terror that it might not be 100 percent fair, completely unbiased, absolutely justified. We will do anything to have the good life above all else; Putin prefers the bad life on his own terms."