Well shit......

Yup. Very sad they say she left a note.

Brisa
 

Sad......

News is saying her husband was in the Manhattan Apt. when it happened.

Kate Spade
 

When I first read this, it was like, who is she, I had no idea who she was, so in a sense, just words about someone I didn't know, and to be honest it didn't mean much to me, BUT then today, I saw this report on her on CBS This Morning.

She was this well-known fashion designer.

Now, I'm the kind of butch who in the rainy season wears checked (aka plaid) flannel shirts, jeans or sweat pants, and comfy Skecher running shoes. In the summer, I wear wrangler shorts or some cargo shorts with those side pockets which I like, short-sleeved checked shirts and my very comfy TEVA sandals. In other words, I know zilch about the fashion industry. I leave that to femmes and those who are fashion-conscious.

But as I am sitting here drinking my moka coffee, and reviewing what I saw on TV, my eyes began to water as I remembered her face, how she talked about quitting her company to raise her daughter (13 years old now, omg how that will affect that child!!!) - how absolutely tragic and sad for someone like her to kill herself, when she was physically healthy. I have never felt suicidal, and yet I felt deeply for the fact that someone ended their life, someone who seemed so full of life, so young (only 55!), still full of promise, who had not seen it all.

They suggested on TV that there was the possibility that she was bipolar, and also conflict between her and her husband, perhaps financial woes, etc. I don't suffer from S.A.D. (which is supposedly mild bipolar) but I know many here in B.C. who do and who have the "blues" in the rainy season. I don't know what the solution for this is, but I think it is important to speak out about such things, and not to hide things (which apparently, she was good at).

I see that online the U.S. stats re: Suicide vs. Homicide, the stats from 2014 are: 41,143 vs. 16,108 as per the following link:

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/u...ide-vs-suicide

I had no idea - 3:1 !

Rest in Peace Kate Valentine Spade - I will never forget your contribution to the fashion industry that for all years you were in it you remained true to yourself and most of all to your style.

June 2008 - I bought my ex her first Kate Spade for her birthday it was like Summer had found Winter and collided.

(f)

If you or anyone you know are having thoughts of suicide or you even suspect they are by their behavior please call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. Save a life.

I didnt realize actor David Spade is her brother in law.

Opinion vs. Truth
 

I understand that you have accepted as "truth" what the APA has tried to explain (which like most analyses change over time).

Personally, I don't accept that as truth - especially from the very people who do the analysis as they themselves tend to suffer from duality by nature, hence always analyzing... and do remember I said "supposedly" mild bipolar...

Everyone I have ever had the opportunity of exchanging with where I live (who has admitted to suffering from the "blues" during the rainy season) has exhibited - bar none - traits of pettiness, meanness of spirit, and selfishness, not to mention the overriding all-too-present characteristic of lying (especially to themselves), among many other toxic behaviours.

I have observed also that a mind that is conditioned to accept what others say is the truth will always have trouble looking at facts, and seeing for themselves whether what they see is true or false. Hence, such a mind is caught in a web of having opinions. The deeper the conditioning, the more that such a mind has a tendency to accept theory as truth - and doing so without question. The facts are that tomorrow someone will come along with a different newer theory, and the old so-called truth will be scrapped. This happens all the time. All exact sciences understand this. Psychology, from what I understand, has never been regarded as an exact science - the DSM is constantly being revised. So, what I am saying is that a conditioned opinionated mind cannot look at a fact except through its idea about such a fact - in other words, its opinion about such a fact. Therefore, the moment that anyone states and offers an opinion, such as, "This is right, or correct", and "This is wrong, or incorrect, or inaccurate", such a mind is condemning; and, in that process, demonstrating a lack self-awareness.

RIP Anthony Bourdain. :(

I awoke to this news...so very sad. :(

Bourdain
 

How tragic his death, really enjoyed watching him on CNN, and omg, they said suicide!

CDC: Suicide has risen 25% since 1999. More than 30% in half of US states
 

Anthony Bourdain, the chef, author and host of “Parts Unknown,” in New York in 2015.CreditAlex Welsh for The New York Times

By Kim Severson, Matthew Haag and Alissa J. Rubin

June 8, 2018

The travel host Anthony Bourdain, whose madcap memoir about the dark corners of New York’s restaurants made him into a celebrity chef and touched off a nearly two-decade career as a globe-trotting television host, died on Friday at 61.

Mr. Bourdain was found dead on Friday morning in his hotel room at the Le Chambard luxury hotel in Kaysersberg, a village in the Alsace region of eastern France, according to a prosecutor in the nearby city of Colmar. The prosecutor, Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel, said the cause of death was hanging. “At this stage, we have no reason to suspect foul play,” he said.

Mr. Bourdain had traveled to Strasbourg in France, near the country’s border with Germany, with a television production crew to record an episode of his show “Parts Unknown” on CNN, the network said. “It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague,” CNN said in a statement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/b...dain-dead.html

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...99.html?bcmt=1

:|

This I am way beyond happy about, if its true. He has done so much for Texas to help find lost loved ones, etc.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/13...84-murder.html

NY AG is suing President Trump & His Children
 

I am watching CNN, and apparently, there are allegations that Trump has used his charity's assets to pay legal bills, promote businesses - and so the New York State Attorney General has filed suit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation for allegations of: "persistent illegal conduct" & "conducted 'repeated and willful self-dealing' to benefit his personal and business interests, and violated 'basic legal obligations' for nonprofits".... details are sketchy...so far, but yikes, no wonder he has held back all of his income tax details

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b0adfb8271b32f

Is this not sufficient grounds for impeachment?

Salmonella has infected 73 people in 31 states. Investigators think the cause might be certain batches of Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal.

The CDC is advising people to check the bottom of the cereal boxes for a UPC code. The smaller cereal box has a code of 3800039103 and the larger 3800014810. If you have those boxes in your house, throw them out, don’t eat them.

Pull dates are for boxes with the use date between June14/2018 to June 14/2019

The CDC says even if some of the cereal was eaten and no one got sick to throw the rest away or return it for a refund and if you store cereal in a container and don't remember the brand name you should throw it out.

Source ABC News June 15, 2018 12:49 PM ET

https://newsok.com/

Oklahoma approved state question 788 for medical marijuana! Proud of my home state!!!!

Kennedy Announces Retirement From The Supreme Court
 

I am cross-posting because this is absolutely horrendous news:

America after Anthony Kennedy

What Kennedy’s departure will mean for abortion, gay rights, and more.

Anthony Kennedy, the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court, is retiring.

Kennedy has, since at least 2005, been the swing vote on many of the Court’s most ideologically charged decisions, responsible for 5-4 rulings that legalized same-sex marriage, preserved Roe v. Wade, upheld warrantless wiretapping, blew up campaign finance restrictions, overturned DC’s handgun ban, and weakened the Voting Rights Act. That position has made him one of the most powerful people in America for well over a decade now, not even counting the 18 years he shared his position as the Court’s swing voter with Sandra Day O’Connor.

But Kennedy, who turns 82 this July, is already the 14th longest-serving justice (out of 113) in the Court’s history. President Donald Trump reportedly nominated Neil Gorsuch, a former Kennedy clerk, to the Court in part to reassure Kennedy that he could trust Trump with picking his replacement. It’s not surprising he decided it was ultimately time to go.

rest of article:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...-supreme-court

Yes, another reason why Trump's election as president was a disaster for us.

I got an urgent email from the ACLU:

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy just announced his retirement, leaving a Supreme Court vacancy at a critical moment in our country's history. Whomever President Trump appoints to replace him will impact our civil rights and civil liberties for generations to come.

In the next few years, the Court may decide on everything from access to the ballot box to the future of Roe v. Wade.

So while we're focused on continuing to fight in the courts, we need to show up in the streets and to the polls. Elections are more important than ever, and if today doesn’t prove that fact to you, I don't know what will.

From what I understand McConnell plans to vote in the fall - before the midterms. They only need 51 votes to confirm a Supreme Court justice and if McCain is unable to vote due to illness they have Pence. So someone like Susan Collins or Jeff Flake would have to vote against - which I personally find unlikely.

So, I'm not sure the Dems are going to be able to hold this off until after the midterms but they should do everything they can to do so.

From a long term perspective, this is definitely the worst thing that has happened in the Chump presidency. I know Kennedy is a conservative but why he would retire to give someone like this horrible dictator-like man the power to set the course of the Supreme Court for decades to come is unreal to me.

And his retirement timing looks suspicious to me - just enough time to try to ram through a confirmation right before the mid terms. I am so ill.

Dems didn't fight hard enough the last time. And McConnell said this in an interview in April:

"The decision I made not to fill the Supreme Court vacancy when Justice Scalia died was the most consequential decision I've made in my entire public career."

Indeed asshole.

Scared the heck out of me earlier today when I heard Kennedy is retiring. Wish he was a few years younger and could stay another couple three years but 82 years old, goodness, he needs a break. He is retiring because he is old and tired though the timing is horrible! :(

He could have retired while Obama was still president or waited until after the midterms but instead he does this. Seriously, how could he with an unhinged man in the White House.

Ruth Bader Ginsbirg is 85. She has fought colon and pancreatic cancer. I really thought she would pass or retire first. I didn't even consider anyone else retiring.

Election night 2016, I was most worried about federal judgeships and the Supreme Court.

I knew Trump would court big business and the top 1% of the rich but he has surpassed my worst fears in all possible ways.

I wish that I had been worried for nothing.

I was listening to NPR today and someone was interviewing Alan Dershowitz, who may be a candidate for Kennedy’s seat, and Dershowitz said Ruth Ginsburg might retire because she would be outnumbered and outgunned (my words) with any Trump-appointed justice. Dershowitz is such an ass (I used to think highly of him, what on earth was I thinking?) and this isn’t the first time he’s daydreamed about RBG’s retirement.

Fortunately, I think we’ll have to carry her out of the Supreme Court on a stretcher as long as Trump is in office.

Now who around here, gay, lesbian, trans who voted for IQ 45 are tickled pink now?

The SCOTUS decision in 2016 legalizing same sex marriages will most definitely be litigated, again. All red states, reproductive choices for women will be drowned in a bathtub, unions will be completely defanged whereby the middle class will be the working poor. Workers will be at the servitude to "the man."

But, but, but.....let's be civil.

NOT

You are so right. People wouldn’t be uncivil (thank you DeNiro, Ms. Waters, and anyone else who raises hell against this president) if Democrats provided effective leadership against Trump.

We wouldn’t have the Supreme Court Blues had the Democrats fought the Republicans when Scalia died. Obama should have chosen a Justice—not Trump!

And, they’re gonna tell people to be civil.

Civil, my ass.

Yes *Anya* ... RMG is one tough cookie to have survived not one but BOTH those cancers. Unbelievably resilient!

Oh, but remember? Hillary would have been SO much worse.
 

If only we could turn back time.


https://i.redd.it/pnmdfwjasnay.jpg

IMHO, a little public embarrassment...
 

Is just what's needed to make Mitch McConnell, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kirstjen Nielsen & Stephen Miller, both champions of Trump's 'zero tolerance' border policy, and countless others to be held accountable for their actions and outright lies when they hurts others.

I have no intentions of being or acting civil to those who lie or try and hurt me!

Thailand boys rescued from cave
 

Good news. All 12 boys and their football coach have been rescued and found alive, after nine days stuck in a cave!! :)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44688909

On July 4th Eve, Jeff Sessions Quietly Rescinds a Bunch of Protections for Minorities

by Colin Kalmbacher and Aaron Keller | 6:50 pm, July 3rd, 2018

On July 3, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the DOJ was “rescinding 24 guidance documents that were unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper.”

Curiously enough, each point of guidance, document or tool rescinded by Sessions — in line with recommendations from Regulatory Reform Task Forces established by President Donald Trump — was initially drafted to offer basic legal and political understanding to various and distinct minority groups, broadly defined, throughout the United States.

Most of the rescissions involve so-called “guidance” documents which merely make the law accessible. Cutting up the guidance documents below does not — for now — repeal the underlying law. However, without these plain-English guidance documents and interpretations, it’ll make it harder for non-lawyers to understand what the law says (or how it protects them). These rescissions could result in less protection for minority groups. Some of the rescissions involve documents which have since been replaced by newer versions, e.g., for a new grant year.

These rescissions could result in less protection for minority groups. Some of the rescissions involve documents which have since been replaced by newer versions, e.g., for a new grant year.

Here’s a tidy summary for understanding what’s on Sessions’ mind as the nation prepares to celebrate her independence from the King of England.

Revocations 1-7 deal with the way children are treated when they are suspected or accused of breaking the law. The federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, signed by President Ford, contains four “core” requirements. These guidance letters affect interpretations of the law.

One of the law’s core requirements is “removal.” It generally requires juveniles to not be housed with adult inmates (with limited exceptions). Another is “separation.” When juveniles are housed with adults under one of those limited exceptions, they must be separated from the sights and sounds of adult incarceration.

Another is “deinstitutionalization.” It seeks to provide alternatives to jail for youths who commit acts which, due to their age, are crimes. Adults would not be arrested for such acts. Examples are drinking, truancy, running away, and smoking.

Revocation 8 involves a federal program which pays back state and local governments for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens who have committed more serious crimes.

Revocation 9 deals with research into whether schools disproportionately dole out punishments on the basis of race, national origin, native language, sex, or disability. It also deals with research into the role of school resource officers.

Revocations 10-11 deal with advice for home buyers and home owners. Revocation 10 involves people seeking a mortgage. Revocation 11 involves warnings against so-called “predatory” home equity loans. It warns people, especially those with poor credit and the elderly, to carefully review the terms of home improvement loans.

Revocation 12 takes aim at a George W. Bush era document prepared to alert all Americans about the unconstitutional nature of being discriminated against on the basis of their national origin. To be clear: this protection technically has nothing to do with immigration status whatsoever–in America, it’s illegal to discriminate against any American over issues arising from their national origin (or a family member’s national origin). But that’s a bitter pill for Sessions, et, al.

Revocations 13-14 deal with workers’ rights for various classes of immigrants to the United States.

Revocation 13 targets a document prepared to assist immigrants who encounter employment discrimination. Revocation 14 targets a guidance document whose name should alone should suffice to mention, “Refugees and Asylees Have the Right to Work.” It’s easy enough to see why Sessions and his apparatchiks have a problem here.

Revocations 15-17 target people who don’t understand English particularly well, but who may nevertheless occasionally find themselves in need of accessing the U.S. court system. As an explanatory point, in 2012, the Obama administration developed a tool “in response to requests for technical assistance from courts and others involved in planning and implementing measures to improve language assistance services in courts for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals.”

Revocations 18-24 are aimed at various recipients of affirmative action policies. The final revocation in this grouping makes Sessions’ decision here easy enough to understand. Revocation 24 expresses official disapproval of a Q&A sheet prepared to explain Supreme Court precedent on affirmative action. That sheet noted, “[This document] reiterates the continued support of the Departments of Education and Justice for the voluntary use of race and ethnicity to achieve diversity in education.”


https://lawandcrime.com/trump/on-jul...ce=mostpopular

The GOP is hard at work trying to make up for that 1 trillion $ deficit tax break they gave the rich
 

House Republicans Are Still Fixated On Making It Harder For Poor People To Eat

Julia Hudson-Richards June 5, 2018

House Republicans have kept busy on the sidelines these past several weeks while most of us trained our focus on the immigration crisis.

On June 19, the GOP proposed a plan to “balance” the country’s budget over nine years that would eviscerate Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to pay for the more than $1 trillion Republican tax cut that most analysts say will benefit the wealthiest Americans.

Then, two days later, the House voted 213-211 to pass a sweeping farm bill that, if enacted, would institute huge changes to the nation’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ― America’s primary food program that is more commonly referred to as food stamps.

The Senate has its own farm bill, approved on June 28, that is much more bipartisan in agreement and that doesn’t include those aforementioned significant changes to SNAP.

But to pass a version at some point this year, the two chambers are going to have to find some common ground amid an election season that sees all 435 members of the House and one-third of Senators up for re-election.

The House farm bill has been promoted as a way to help end people’s reliance on government assistance and pull themselves up out of poverty by closing “loopholes that create disincentives to work.” Supporters of the legislation imply that these loopholes amount to fraud, which could not be further from the truth.

The attack on SNAP is part of a larger attack on our social safety net that threatens a delicate balance in the United States.

In fact, the number of hours people have to work or train each week to qualify for benefits doesn’t change with the House’s proposed bill: Working-age adults would still have to prove 20 hours per week.

So what’s really changing?

According to the Food Research and Action Center, a food policy think tank, the devil is indeed in the details. Under the proposed bill, working-age adults will be defined as adults between the ages of 18 and 60 (instead of the current 50). This change would ignore the persistent problem of ageism in hiring practices that may well prejudice a job market against older workers and put millions of older Americans at serious risk for food insecurity.

The House bill also eliminates a so-called “loophole” that exempted college student parents from work requirements in the absence of adequate child care. This would effectively force such parents to choose between work or school, when the latter could result in a much higher-paying job down the road.

More egregiously, the work requirements in the proposed House bill would also apply to adults with children 6 years of age or older. This ignores the very real challenges parents face in finding adequate ― and affordable ― child care.

Much low-income work (indeed, many American jobs in general) no longer falls between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and SNAP requires participants to take a job if it is offered. But what if that job means your kids are home alone at night because evening child care is too hard to find and pay for? And if a person can find a 9-5 job, what happens in the summer, when school’s out and kids need to be looked after?

The data is clear: SNAP works.
These are realities that many American families face. Just because a child has graduated kindergarten doesn’t mean she or he can stay at home alone – in some states, it’s flat-out illegal.

Other farm bill “loopholes” deal with income flexibility. For example, some states have recently been allowed to apply a family’s net income rather than gross income to their needs assessment, which allows those on the edge of food insecurity to receive or keep benefits even if their income “modestly” exceeds the standard 130 percent of federal poverty levels (In 2017, that meant a gross income of $31,980 for a family of four.)

Eliminating this “loophole” would mean that a family on the cusp may well have to choose between accepting a modest raise and losing benefits, or turning the raise down and keeping them. It would also kick families out of SNAP who are just above the threshold, adding them to a large number of Americans who are food insecure but whose incomes are too high for federal assistance.

How, exactly, does closing this “loophole” disincentivize work? How does it help pull people out of poverty? It doesn’t.

The House bill cuts just under $20 billion; however, rather than helping to incentivize work and lift people out of poverty, it will instead make it more difficult for American workers to make ends meet. It will also make it more difficult for them to work.

Hungry workers are not productive workers, and hungry kids have a hard time keeping up with their peers.

... a family on the cusp may well have to choose between accepting a modest raise and losing benefits, or turning the raise down and keeping them. SNAP, on the other hand, does help keep people out of poverty.

According to a study conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, SNAP kept 10.3 million people, including almost 5 million children, out of poverty in 2012. It kept another 5.1 million people out of “deep poverty” ― below half of the federal poverty line. In 2015, according to a study by the Urban Institute, SNAP removed 8.3 million people from poverty.

The data is clear: SNAP works.

Nearly 40 percent of the more than 142 million jobs in the United States pay a median wage of less than $15 an hour, and many of those pay less than $12 an hour. These workers pick, transport, sell, prepare and serve our food. They care for our children and our grandparents. They do our hair and change our oil.

The attack on SNAP is part of a larger attack on our social safety net that threatens a delicate balance in the U.S. We rely heavily, every day, on low-wage labor, and corporations rely on the government to supplement the incomes of their workers so they can hand out billions to shareholders.

Cutting SNAP and Medicaid, in particular, is a risk that threatens the well-being of millions of American families.

Shredding the social safety net won’t reduce poverty in the U.S. ― it will deepen it. If we lack the political will to have a real conversation about wage stagnation for American workers, then keeping the social safety net in place will protect our most vulnerable citizens.

Food is a basic necessity. Do we really want to say that people are too poor to deserve it? That’s what the House’s proposed farm bill would do.

Julia Hudson-Richards is a food activist and historian who studies the environment, food, and the people who produce it. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Women’s History and the Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b07b827cbb8005

Delay in getting the boys out
 

Oh my, well yes the boys had been found, but getting them out is proving to be quite difficult; one 38 year old Thai (experienced ex-Thai Navy seal) (who had volunteered) died while coming out after delivering supplies to the boys - from a lack of oxygen. God, this is dangerous!
:(

The Rescue is under way :)
 

So, 4 of the trapped ones have been brought out so far, and are proceeding or already ambulanced to hospital. Phew, and it seems that the monsoon has begun, heavy rain falling.

The best of good news
 

All 12 boys & coach have been rescued from cave and are safely out; apparently, they have been asking for chocolate and their favourite foods (grinz). It is so good to wake up & turn on tv and hear such "good news". Full credit to those 18 expert divers. What a story! :happyjump:

Obama endorses 81 candidates in 13 states for November vote..:hangloose:



WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is making good on his promise to use his political cache in the 2018 midterm elections. He's endorsing 81 Democrats up and down the ballot in 13 states around the country, with an emphasis on younger, diverse candidates.

In a statement, Obama says he's publicly supporting candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate but also for state legislatures. They include better-known names as well as rising figures.

For more info you can check his twitter feed I believe........

Unlike Trump, first lady has kind words for LeBron James!




www.apnews.com