Obama Wants to Build a Super-Supercomputer

IBM 360 195 at Lawrence Livermore Labs. The 195 was also the first IBM Machine that used a CRT Tube to enter control instruction (machine code, an early Assembler) instead of flip switches.

My first professional job was with IBM. In those days, the IBM 360 generation computer was on the way out to be replaced by the 370. IBM’s Mainframes, which were sold in the commercial market were General Purpose Computers. They were fast, but not very good at mathematical calculations of the types used to model weather, aircraft, or even some weapons systems. Control Data Corporation was king in that field, until their principal designer, Seymour Cray left to start Cray Computer. Cray is still around despite the tragic death of their founder in an auto accident. IBM had a habit of building special purpose computers, for big customers. From that came the first IBM Supercomputer, the IBM 360 –  195. It was blazingly fast for it’s day, operating at 10 Million Instructions per Second (MIPs). It also was the first supercomputer I actually got to lay hands on. IBM only built 28 of these, as I recall. It was the first IBM Computer to use a technique called “pipelining” which allowed the Operating System to predict where the next memory location would be that a program would use, and dynamically schedule memory allocation. Unless one of my “Geek Qualified” Readers asks, that is as far as I will get into Supercomputer internals and how they work.

The Cray 1 was a radically different design with a liquid nitrogen cooled “core. And yes, you could sit there – but I am not sure anyone would let you.

The next real “Monster” came in terms of the Cray 1.

The new Cray operated at 80 MFOPS. This one was the most popular model of Supercomputer ever built selling over 80 units. The round design was based on minimizing the distance travelled between two points inside the computer by the wiring. It was supercooled to further increase the speed, as electrons travel faster a near zero temperature. The machine operated in the nanosecond range. Electricity has time only to travel about a foot through a copper or gold wire in that time.

The Cray 2 – was 100 times faster.

The next major step was to develop machines with multiple processors, instead of just one. The best in the US is the Titan have 552,960 processors running 17.6 petaflop/s. And yes, the like to make them “pretty” now. Here is a list of the “Bad boys” over the last 20 years.

The came the Chinese…

Since 2012, they have had the fastest Supercomputer on the block, the Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2), owned by the Chinese Army

 

Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2)

Which isn’t something making the US Government happy.

To give a reference as to why these things are important, some years ago an associate of mine was doing work on calculating planets around a star located light years away. This was done then by measuring the “wobble” of the star (no I don’t totally understand it). At his University system, it took nearly 20 hours to run one calculation – and they had a fairly big system. It also stopped other users from doing their work. He got access to one of the supercomputers, which did the calculations in just under 1 second. This is critical to maintaining America’s global lead in research and science.

And if Obama gets this done…It is going to be a Monster.

Obama Wants the US to Build the World’s Fastest Supercomputer

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA has signed an executive order authorizing the creation of new supercomputing research initiative called the National Strategic Computing Initiative, or NSCI. Its goal: pave the for the first exaflop supercomputer—something that’s about 30 times faster than today’s fastest machines.

Supercomputers are at the heart of a huge number of important scientific and defense research projects. They’re used by aerospace engineers to model planes and weapons, and by climatologists to predict the the near-term impact of hurricanes and the long-term effects of climate change. Researchers involved in the White House’s Precision Medicine initiative believe exaflop speed supercomputers could aid the creation of personalized drugs, while the European Commission’s Human Brain Project hopes they will help unlock the secrets of the human brain.

Several government agencies, most notably the Department of Energy, have been deeply involved in the development of supercomputers over the last few decades, but they’ve typically worked separately. The new initiative will bring together scientists and government agencies such as the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation to create a common agenda for pushing the field forward.

The specifics are thin on the ground at the moment. The Department of Energy has already identified the major challenges preventing “exascale” computing today, according to a fact sheet released by the government, but the main goal of the initiative, for now, be to get disparate agencies working together on common goals.

It’s hard not to see the initiative as a response to China’s gains in supercomputing. Earlier this month TOP500, an organization that ranks supercomputers by performance,announced that China’s 33.86 petaflop Tianhe-2 is still the fastest supercomputer in the world. The US still has more computers on the TOP500 list than any other country in the world, but researchers have worried for years about falling behind China.

An exoflop is about 1,000 petaflops, and would represent a massive leap forward in computing power. But creating an exaflop computer is about more than just finding a way to build faster hardware. Creating applications that can take advantage of such an architecture is a challenge in its own right. NCSI will also prioritize the creation of supercomputers that can handle vast quantities of rapidly changing data.

 

Bill O’Reilly is “The One reporter on national news who has done the most to highlight racially motivated violence”

It doesn’t get any funnier!

Bunch of things wrong here.

1. Most black folks are a bit wary of strange right-wing white folks waving cameras at a Civil Rights meeting – something to do with COINTELPRO trying to create dirt on MLK in the Civil Rights Movement days, James Keen/Breitbart’s fake white pimp videos to attack ACORN, and the fake Shirley Sherrod video… Their history in abusing the medium precedes them.

2. To be the “Gestapo”…You have to be in charge. Sorta like the old Russian KGB…You ARE the government. I haven’t seen any evidence the BlacLivesMatters is running the country …Yet…But one can always hope.

3. O’Reilly blackmails a low level Fox Reporter with the question. Faced with the choice of getting fired, or kissing O’Reilly’s behind – she punts with “I don’t know” to O’Liars’s pandering question.

Hysterical Fox News Man Compares #BlackLivesMatter to Gestapo

On Wednesday, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly highlighted a reporter who tried to cover a Black Lives Matter protest in Chicago but was told to turn off his camera by activists. O’Reilly somehow linked that to black-on-black crime, the condemnation of white people and himself as the reporter giving the most coverage to the Black Lives Matter movement. Also: Nazis.

While he’s smart for trolling America on a nightly basis, in this case, Bill O’Reilly isn’t funny, he’s dangerous. As countless black people die at the hands of police and random white people likeDylann Roof feel empowered to murder churchgoers, O’Reilly still thinks race baiting is a timely joke. It’s not.

Last night during O’Reilly’s chat with Andrea Tantaros and Jehmu Greene, Tantaros speculated that the Black Lives Matter movement will protest outside of the Republican National Convention next year but was somehow befuddled as to why they wouldn’t protest outside of the Democratic National Convention.

On the other side, as Greene tried to explain that she understood the anger exhibited by the protestors captured on tape but didn’t agree with their demand to turn the reporter’s camera off, O’Reilly cut her off and compared the activists to … the Nazis.

“Their message means nothing if they do these gestapo tactics, they lose all credibility,” he said. “Their message will only fall on ears sympathetic to them.”

Bill O’Reilly Compares #BlackLivesMatter Movement To Gestapo

Bill O’Reilly compared the Black Lives Matter movement to the gestapo Wednesday night, shortly before proclaiming he is the reporter who has done the most to “shed light” on violence against young black men.

During a segment on “The O’Reilly Factor,” O’Reilly and Fox News commentator Andrea Tantaros discussed a Black Lives Matter conference in Ohio where attendees prevented a reporter from filming.

“Their message means nothing if they do these gestapo tactics,” O’Reilly said. “They lose all credibility. The group is never going to be taken seriously.”

It’s unclear how the gestapo — the Nazi secret police group dedicated to oppressing and terrorizing Jews, gay people, and basically anyone the Nazis deemed undesirable — is at all similar to a group that fights the oppression and brutalization of black people by law enforcement in the U.S.

Less than a minute later, O’Reilly asked Fox News correspondent Jehmu Greene, “The reporter in this country who has shed the most light on young black men being killed is who?” When Greene said she didn’t know, O’Reilly informed her, “That would be me.”

If by “shedding light,” O’Reilly means using debunked statistics to downplay police brutality, he’s right.

O’Reilly’s criticisms of Black Lives Matter are notably inconsistent. His “gestapo” comment came just one day after he criticized the movement for being “anarchistic” — a trait not exactly typically linked to Nazi-like behavior.

 

Walton County, Florida — Out With the Old confederate flag…In With the New

Well…At least the new flag is more historically accurate…

The “Old” confederate flag , supporting slavery, Jim Crow, and racism…

This  county in Florida has come up with a “solution” to the confederate flag debate.

County Removes Confederate Flag, Replaces It With Another Confederate Flag

In the wake of the reignited controversy over the Confederate battle flag, Walton County, Florida, voted Tuesday to remove the flag from the county courthouse grounds — only to replace it with a different Confederate flag.

“It’s perplexing how this is perceived as any compromise,” Daniel Uhlfelder, a key force in the local movement to have the flag taken down, told The Huffington Post.

He said he’s been working with community leaders and organizations like the NAACP to get the flag removed since 2002. After South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the battle flag’s removal from South Carolina Capitol grounds, Uhlfelder and others pressured their county officials to follow suit.

The “new” confederate flag supporting slavery, Jim Crow, and racism….

The battle flag used by the Army of Northern Virginia has flown on the lawn of the Walton County Courthouse in DeFuniak Springs since 1964 — the year President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The flag was positioned next to a Civil War monument. County commissioners voted 4-0 to replace that flag with the traditional “stars and bars” that was the first official flag of the Confederate States of America.

The county wanted to put up a version of that flag with 13 stars, but one wasn’t immediately available, County Public Information Officer Louis Svehl told HuffPost. On Wednesday, they put up a version with seven stars as a temporary stand-in.

“The soil of Walton County has been enriched with the blood and sweat of the people who came before every one of us, some who fought and died in the war between the states,” Commissioner Sara Comander said prior to the vote, the Tampa Bay Times reported. “I want to honor all of those who came before us, but I also want to be cognizant of those that the present flag seems to offend.”

The previous flag has a unique link to mid-20th-century segregation that the “stars and bars” does not. However, it’s just as divisive.

“They replaced a symbol of segregation with a symbol of slavery and secession,” Uhlfelder said.

“Diet Coke and Coke are still the same thing: a Coke product,” his wife and fellow activist, Michelle Uhlfelder, said in an email. “The Confederate flag and the Confederate battle flag on Walton County’s Courthouse lawn endorse the same statement: this County does not believe in equal rights for all within the halls of justice.”

Daniel Uhlfelder pointed to research by Florida State University psychologist Joyce Ehrlinger from 2008 that suggests exposure to the Confederate flag increases racial prejudice. “When you go into a courthouse, you shouldn’t have your prejudice amplified,” he said.

Why would this happen, you ask?

A quick look at Walton County’s demographics according to Wiki…

As of the census^[9] of 2000, there were 40,601 people, 16,548 households, and 11,120 families residing in the county. Thepopulation density was 38 people per square mile (15/km²). There were 29,083 housing units at an average density of 28 per square mile (11/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 88.41% White, 6.98% Black or African American, 1.28% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 2.09% from two or more races. 2.17% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Presidential elections results

Year	Republican	Democratic	Other
2012	75.9%	23.3%	1.5%
2008	72.1%	26.4%	1.5%
2004	73.2%	25.9%	0.9%
2000	66.5%	30.8%	2.7%

‘Nuf said.

 

Gonna Need a Bigger Clown Bus

The official Double Decker Republican Clown Bus is at capacity with the entry of former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore…

Filling out the field to 18 declared candidates.

Of course…There is the sepeate Trump bus..

And the “Official Campaign Photo”…

Yet Another Republican Is Running For President. Seriously.

Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore filed the necessary paperwork on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission to join the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the Associated Press reported.

Gilmore joins a large field seeking the 2016 nomination that includes former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, businessman Donald Trump and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

As most Virginians know, Mr. GIlmore will be the short clown on the left waving the confederate flag…

Gov. James S. Gilmore III today proclaimed April as Confederate History Month in Virginia but broke with recent tradition by adding a condemnation of slavery, managing not only to anger defenders of white Confederate heritage but to disappoint some civil rights leaders, too.

 

The Man Who Killed Simba

Fury Erupts After Walter Palmer Is Named As Cecil The Lion’s Killer

Outcries could be heard around the globe after a Minnesota dentist was identified as the man who killed Zimbabwe’s beloved Cecil the Lion.

Dr. Walter Palmer was named by the Telegraph as the man who paid $55,000 to hunt the famous 13-year-old animal, luring him out of Hwange National Park with dead meat, piercing him with a bow and arrow, and then following him for 40 hours before shooting him dead with a rifle. Cecil was ultimately skinned and beheaded.

Outrage ensued. People tweeted death threats directed at Palmer and posted contact information for his Bloomington, Minnesota, dental practice, BuzzFeed wrote. The Yelp page for his practice was flooded with over 6,000 reviews, lambasting Palmer for his actions and resulting in a one-star rating.

He closed his dental practice and shut the blinds at the office, but that did not stop people from leaving stuffed animals and notes outside the building in memory of Cecil, Fox’s Minneapolis station KMSP reported.

Cecil was wearing a GPS collar as part of an ongoing research project with the University of Oxford, according to the Guardian. After he was killed, the collar was removed.

“Palmer shot Cecil with a bow and arrow, but this shot didn’t kill him,” Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said. “They tracked him down and found him 40 hours later when they shot him with a gun. The hunters then found that the dead lion was wearing a tracking collar, which they unsuccessfully tried to hide.”

Palmer released a statement to the media, claiming he thought his hunt was legal:

I hired several professional guides, and they secured all proper permits. To my knowledge, everything about this trip was legal and properly handled. I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt. Again, I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.

In 2006, Palmer pleaded guilty to killing a black bear in Wisconsin outside a permitted zone, NBC noted. He was given three years’ probation and a $3,000 fine.

Almost 400,000 people have a signed a petition on Care2 demanding justice for Cecil.

 

Congressman Chaka Fattah Indicted

Looks like another member of Congress is getting ready to join the Orange Jumpsuited Politician Group!

Rep. Chaka Fattah Indicted On Corruption Charges

WASHINGTON — Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Penn.) was indicted on federal corruption charges on Wednesday in connection with fraud around his unsuccessful 2007 campaign for mayor of Philadelphia.

In a 29-count indictment, federal prosecutors charged that Fattah and his associates were part of a racketeering conspiracy that involved “several schemes” intended to further their “political and financial interests.”

Prosecutors said Fattah, who was elected to Congress in 1994, and four associates were involved in a scheme to borrow $1 million from a wealthy donor, disguising it as a loan to a consulting company. After losing the election, Fattah reportedly returned $400,000 in unused campaign funds to the donor, then engaged in a series of maneuvers — including the misuse of federal grant funds — to repay the outstanding $600,000.

In addition, the indictment alleges a number of improper dealings between Fattah and Herbert Vederman, a lobbyist and a former deputy mayor of Philadelphia who served as the finance director for Fattah’s mayoral campaign. Vederman continued to serve in that capacity until at least 2011 as he negotiated the campaign’s outstanding debts, according to the indictment.

Fattah allegedly accepted payments and other things of value from Vederman while doing him a number of personal and political favors. The congressman offered a job to Vederman’s girlfriend, the prosecutors say, and at another point signed and hand-delivered a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to give Vederman an ambassadorship.

Fattah and his wife, Renee Chenault Fattah, also allegedly used bribery proceeds to “close on a vacation home” in the Poconos by falsely disguising an $18,000 payment on the home as a sale of their Porsche to Vederman.

The indictment also alleges that Fattah used campaign funds to pay for his and his wife’s personal expenses, as well as his son’s student loans…More...

 

Cincinnati — Police Officer Indicted in Killing of Samuel DuBose

The funeral for Samuel Dubose at the Church of the Living God in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

University of Cincinnati police officer who shot man during traffic stop charged with murder

A University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted Wednesday on a charge of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed black man during a traffic stop earlier this month.

“It was so unnecessary for this to occur,” Joe Deters, the Hamilton County prosecutor, said at a news conference Wednesday.

Sam Dubose, 43, was shot and killed during a July 19 traffic stop by Officer Ray Tensing. The officer initially said he was dragged by Dubose’s car, leading to the shooting. Deters said that Dubose “was subdued,” adding that Tensing had his license plate number.

“This office has probably reviewed upwards of hundreds of police shootings, and this is the first time that we’ve thought this is without question a murder,” he said.

While a university police report stated that Tensing said he had been dragged by the car before shooting, Deters said that the officer not dragged. Rather, Tensing fell backwards after shooting Dubose in the head, Deters said.

Deters called the situation “a pretty chicken-crap stop” and a “senseless, asinine” shooting. He also said that if Dubose began to leave, the officer should have just let him go rather than shoot him in the head. An arrest warrant had been issued for Tensing, the prosecutor said.

“I’m treating him like a murderer,” he said. “They’re out to get him.”…

Just released Body Cam video shows officer shooting DuBose as he pulls away in his car.

 

Maintaining Systemic Poverty Through Credit

One of the ways young black folks who do all the right things are held back is by a system of predatory credit based on race. In America it is virtually impossible to generate Generational Wealth without credit as the principal vehicle for the middle class gathering that wealth has been their homes.

Back when I was a youngster making very good money in my first professional job, as well as bankable money in several side enterprises. I wound up at 22 years old with about $6k in savings  – which was a fairly tidy sum in the early 70’s for a guy just starting out. Now, my parents, despite being homeowners, never taught me about how to buy a house – but I recognized, with the advice of friends what a tremendous investment it could be. I owned an old ’75 Mustang I had bought used, and which ran pretty well. A fairly fancy new car at that point was about $3500 – and in terms of Pony cars that was one with a few upgrades in terms of horses. Working a side job as a DJ in the emerging Disco scene, I noticed the previously run down portion of town (Georgetown for those who know DC) was undergoing a transformation as hip white adults began to buy up the old Townhouses. Prices on the main drag were far beyond my reach – but 3 blocks off, there were a group of unrestored – dilapidated townhouses, which had been cut up into rentals.

The owner held the entire block. Most of the residents were black, which for white investors presented a problem in terms of doing anything less than taking out the whole block. Asked the owner if he would consider selling a smaller portion of the property. He agreed on a block of 3 houses for $21,000 or two for $17,000. I had $6k, and anyway you look at it that is nearly a 30% down payment on the block of 3. I would have to decide what to do with them – and decided, being handy with tools, I could renovate them and sell them while living in one.

Could not get a loan. Really didn’t matter that I made $12k a year in my “day job”, 30% or better down… Nyet!

Very few banks loaned to black folks in those days…And the few that did didn’t loan money to us 22 year old tech upstarts, because they had no comprehension that I would double my income in less than 2 years. No way to raise the money before he sold those houses as a block to a developed… They sell for about $2 million per house now.

Seems that things haven’t really changed. Meanwhile US Home ownership has dropped to its lowest level since 1967.

Getting a Home Loan Is Expensive—Especially for Black Women

A recent study in the Journal of Real Estate and Finance Economics finds that black home loan borrowers are charged higher interest rates than their white counterparts—and that black women pay the highest rates of all.

The three finance professors who authored the study analyzed the mortgages and demographic characteristics of more than 3,500 households during the height of the housing boom—2001, 2004, and 2007—using the Federal Reserve’s triennialSurvey of Consumer Finances. They found that on average, black borrowers were charged between 0.29 and 0.31 percentage points more in interest than whites, even after controlling for their debt and credit history.

The racial disparity was most pronounced for subprime borrowers who couldn’t qualify for low-interest mortgages (the left side of the chart above), with black borrowers paying interest rates that were at least 0.4 percentage points higher than whites in the same group.

Within this group paying the highest interest rates, black women paid the highest rates of all, at an average rate of 7.9 percent. But a statistically significant disparity persisted even among those who paid lower interest rates (the right side of the chart), the study notes. In this group, black borrowers paid interest rates between 0.1 percent and 0.4 percentage points higher than their white counterparts.

Over at Quartz, Melvin Backman explains how these disparities translate into dollars: According to Freddie Mac’s mortgage cost calculator, a $200,000, 30-year mortgage would cost a black man about $3,000 more than a white man over the course of the loan. A black woman getting the same loan would pay nearly $9,000 more than a white woman.

The study adds to a body of research showing that black mortgage applicants aremore likely to be denied credit than white applicants, and are more likely to be charged higher interest rates than whites. It also appears to confirm the racial disparities identified in lawsuits against several of America’s top mortgage lenders, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America’s Countrywide, which faced hefty payouts in a slew of discrimination lawsuits following the housing-market crash. The lawsuitshad even prompted the Obama administration to set up a new unit in the Department of Justice’s civil rights division to deal with the caseload.

But the new study also suggests more granular disparities between black and white borrowers. Among black borrowers, for example, younger homeowners without a college education paid some of the highest interest rates. And among those paying higher interest rates, black women, who already face stiff obstacles to economic mobility, were likely to be charged interest rate premiums two to three times that of what black men were charged. While they do not speculate about the causes of these racial and gender gaps between borrowers, the authors conclude, “it is the more financially vulnerable black women who suffer the most.”

Another Dream Deferred…

 

 

Confederate Flag Auto Plates

In my state there are at least 200 different License Plate designs you can choose from. It is a good deal for the State, which tacks on an additional $10 a year fee to purchase the plate. Most States have followed suit, vanity plates being an easy source of revenue.  One of the Virginia Plates, , the “Sons of Confederate Veterans” Plate has come under attack in the state post Charleston.

My view of the SCV is that it is a legitimate organization. A lot of what they promote is historical reinvention and falsehood (which any of my more savvy readers can suss out with a quick glance at their Web Page) but, in the spirit of “Live and let Live” – I really don’t care about what they want to do, as long as it doesn’t infringe upon the rights of other people. These are the guys who historically are more likely found dressing up in the Grey for a historical reenactment than driving their pickup trucks adored with the confederate flags through black neighborhoods. Unfortunately, they have been invaded by the racist whackjobs , and there is contention over the direction of the group. They, as a group wholeheartedly buy into the Southern Myth.

9 States, all except Maryland in the South offer plates with the SCV Logo. Florida offers a “confederate Heritage” Plate, which is a bit more questionable in my view.

Poll: Virginians Split on Confederate Flag License Plate Option

Virginia voters are divided 46 – 45 percent on whether the Confederate flag should be removed from state license plates, according to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released Monday morning.

In Virginia, support for eliminating the option of ordering a license plate with a Confederate flag is 73 – 19 percent among Democrats and 48 – 42 percent among independent voters, with Republicans standing by the Stars & Bars 71 – 24 percent.

Black voters say 73 – 16 percent eliminate the Confederate flag option, while white voters say 55 – 37 percent keep it.

The plate I personally have the most problem with is this one…

There is no Republican, or Democrat, or Green plate – why exactly should there be one for the Tea Party?

 

Black Folks Group Guilt…White Folks Individual Craziness

Racial Stereotyping is a Box Office Business in the US. From the media to the political theater, these stereotypes drive our politics, out Justice system, and our interaction with Law Enforcement…

Recent Mass Murderers

We blame minority groups for individual crimes. Why do white conservatives get a pass?

When will we start holding racism and misogyny accountable for the violence they rationalize and inspire?

The man who opened fire in a Lafayette, La., movie theater showing of the arguably feminist film “Trainwreck” was, by all accounts, a far-right ideologue. “He was anti-abortion,” a radio host who knew shooter John Russell Houser said. “The best I can recall, Rusty had an issue with feminine rights.” He reportedly encouraged “violent” responses to abortion and the idea of women in the workforce. A bar Houser owned reportedly flew a Nazi flag out front as an anti-government statement. He lashed out against “sexual deviants.” He posted comments against immigrants and the black community. Plus, he ranted against social service programs and “had lot of anti-tax issues,” another person who knew Houser said.

Houser was steeped and stewing in right-wing xenophobic, homophobic, misogynist and racist hate. He was obviously crazy. It’s generally safe to assume everyone who commits mass murder is. But Houser was crazy and held some beliefs that were variations of more mainstream conservative beliefs. The roots of some of Houser’s political views are hard to distinguish from ideas espoused by many, if not most, of the candidates running for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

I want to be very clear here: I am NOT saying any of them would endorse or remotely condone Houser’s violence or the extremities to which he took his beliefs. Period, full stop.

Still it’s naïve, not to mention counterproductive, not to acknowledge that what ensnarled Houser’s singular mind grew from seeds of a widely sowed ideology. Houser was a bad seed, of course. And he fell far from the tree. But he was of it.

Look at Donald Trump saying that Mexican immigrants are mostly rapists and drug dealers. Or Rand Paul saying paying taxes is tantamount to slavery, or Mike Huckabee calling gay marriage a “perversion” and Ben Carson calling women who take birth control “entitled.” Not to mention the GOP repeatedly encrusting anti-gay and anti-woman policies into its official platform while consistently working to block everything from comprehensive immigration reform to basic non-discrimination laws to equal pay. Again, to say this rhetoric causes tragedies like those in Lafayette would be too simplistic. But to say there’s no connection at all is downright stupid.

When there’s evidence that a mass shooting suspect who’s Muslim espoused anti-American, pro-radical Islamicist views, we  tie that suspect to the broader ideology. Consider the shooter in Chattanooga, Tenn., for instance, whom conservative politicians linked not only to radical Islam but to ISIS specifically, despite the lack of evidence for that link and even some evidence to the contrary.

Black Americans are presumed to bear blame as a group even when they’re the victims of violence. This weekend, after a national gathering in Cleveland, leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement were tear-gassed by police. Some online instantly implied that the activists must have done something to provoke the police — reflecting the inherent bias about which Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in warning to his black son that “you must be responsible for the worst actions of other black bodies, which, somehow, will always be assigned to you.” We automatically pathologize all black people whether they’re perpetrating violence or the victims, regardless of the facts.

And yet when white men shoot up movie theaters or black churches, they’re given the benefit of individuality. We don’t automatically assume that they represent some disease within all, or even a subset of, other white men. Even in the face of evidence such as espoused racist, misogynistic views and participation in organized hate groups, we still resist drawing any broader conclusions about any white men other than the shooter. Meanwhile, most mass shooters are white men. Communities of color or of minority religions, as a whole, are rarely given the benefit of the doubt of collective innocence. White men, and white people in general, always are. That white privilege extends even to white mass murderers shows just how insidious it is….More...

 

Guns for Toddlers

In response to the recent theater mass shooting in Louisiana, on the 237 Republican clowns residing in the Clown Bus came up with “More guns in civilian hands is the solution!”

How that works…

Watch what happens when regular people try to use handguns in self-defense

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, the National Rifle Association proposed putting more guns in schools. After a racist shot up a Charleston prayer group, an NRA board member argued for more guns in church. And now predictably, politicians and gun rights advocates are calling for guns in movie theaters after a loner killed two people at a theater in Louisiana.

The notion that more guns are always the solution to gun crime is taken seriously in this country. But the research shows that more guns lead to more gun homicides — not less. And that guns are rarely used in self-defense.

Now a new study from researchers at Mount St. Mary’s University sheds some light on why people don’t use guns in self-defense very often. As it turns out, knowing when and how to apply lethal force in a potentially life-or-death situation is really difficult.

The study was commissioned by the National Gun Victims Action Council, an advocacy group devoted to enacting “sensible gun laws” that “find common ground between legal gun owners and non-gun owners that minimizes gun violence in our culture.” The study found that proper training and education are key to successfully using a firearm in self-defense: “carrying a gun in public does not provide self-defense unless the carrier is properly trained and maintains their skill level,” the authors wrote in a statement.

They recruited 77 volunteers with varying levels of firearm experience and training, and had each of them participate in simulations of three different scenarios using the firearms training simulator at the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland. The first scenario involved a carjacking, the second an armed robbery in a convenience store, and the third a case of suspected larceny.

They found that, perhaps unsurprisingly, people without firearms training performed poorly in the scenarios. They didn’t take cover. They didn’t attempt to issue commands to their assailants. Their trigger fingers were either too itchy — they shot innocent bystanders or unarmed people, or not itchy enough — they didn’t shoot armed assailants until they were already being shot at…More…

And if you are wondering about that open carrying a gun while black thing…

Now, those of you who know BTx3 know I am not anti-gun…But I am anti-stupidity. I grew up with relatives in the mountains and farming community, who owned guns and used them in hunting. So having guns in the house was no big deal. Having guns safely stored in the house, out of the reach of the little ones was. Wasn’t unusual to see a shotgun mounted on a rack above the back door in rural homes, especially by the older folks for several reasons. One, protection of the farm animals from predators such as foxes, hawks, and snakes, second for protection from the local KKK whack jobs real or imagined threat.

Carrying a gun on the street is a whole different animal. Just as the guys in the country were better hunters than we “city-slickers”, Cops are better at it than some jumped up civilian exercising his questionable “Constitutional Rights”. The simple reason is training …Not just once in a Concealed Carry Course..But over and over again in situational mock ups. Despite all of that, Cops still make numerous mistakes. I can’t imagine the carnage some John Wayne wannabe would unleash trying to confront a crazy shooting up a movie theater.

 

Hitting Bottom – Bill Cosby

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for America’s former favorite Jello man …You know it’s going to be a bad day when…

 

‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being * Hackers have for some reason taken this site down although it likely will be back up again soon.

 

President Obama Cuts a Step in Kenya

The singers are a group called Sauti Sol, and the song is Sura Yaku. Sauti Sol is a hugely popular group in Kenya, whose music is now reaching across the region into Uganda, Tanzania, and throughout eastern Africa. The dance is called the Lipala, and historically it has been a pre-wedding dance. Sauti Sol has turned it into the latest Kenyan dance craze.

Another major hit this year has been Neria, which I believe is a marvelous demonstration of these guys incredible vocal talents…

 

 

Some Lives Just Matter More

This guy was the former Attorney General under “Governor Gifty”, our former Governor who is now spending time in jail for corruption. The “Chuch” as he is nicknamed also ran for Governor… He lost.

Ken Cuccinelli Says ‘Black Lives Matter’ Insults White People

A panel discussion on CNN got heated Sunday when former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) argued that “Black Lives Matter” is a poor message because it makes white people feel less valued.

After former South Carolina Rep. Bakari Sellers (D) explained that as a black man, he was “the only person at this table whose next interaction [with law enforcement] may cause them to be a hashtag,” Cuccinelli suggested that the “Black Lives Matter” slogan and hashtag should be amended, according to CNN footage shared by Raw Story.

“Adding t-o-o at the end puts it in a context that makes sense,” he argued. Sellers answered that message is already implicit in the slogan.

“Well, you may say that,” Cuccinelli told Sellers. “And there’s plenty of reason to understand that. But I don’t think every American hears it that way. They hear, ‘Here we are. Yes, we have this political motivation that we’re separating out this one category of Americans and saying they matter more than everybody else.'”

Sellers tried to reframe the message for the former attorney general.

“We’re saying stop killing us,” he said.

“I understand that,” Cuccinelli replied, “but that’s why you have the retort, ‘No, all lives matter.’ We’re not leaving these out.”

The push to adopt the “All Lives Matter” message has been widely criticized as ignoring data that shows black Americans face the greatest risks when confronted by law enforcement. Young black people are 4.5 times more likely to be killed by police than any other age or racial group, according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, and while black Americans comprise just 13 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 26 percent of those shot by police.

 

“Black Don’t Crack”

International Supermodel Iman at 60 years of age…