No Lie Here

Should you remember Kathryn Joosten?

What’s important isn’t The West Wing or Desperate Housewives.

Joosten didn’t start acting until she was 42.

Didn’t go to Hollywood until she was in her 50s.

Took the first role you remember her for at 59.

By the time she passed away at 72, she had two Emmys and was loved by millions.

So the next time you think you’re too old to do something big, that’s when you should remember Kathryn Joosten.

Happiest puppies in the world

Not a single pro-life person that I have met is truly pro-life. They’re pro-forced pregnancy. Pro-forced birth. Anti-abortion. Anti-choice. But not pro-life. Else, they would be in Ferguson holding signs. They would counter bullying as though, quite literally, our children’s lives depend on it. They would promote support for mothers, for poor children, for food stamps, for education. They would advocate for gun control, rehab programs, helping the homeless and sick, and suicide prevention. They would fight police brutality, domestic violence, gang violence, the death penalty, hate crimes, human trafficking, the prison industrial complex, every single war, and anything else that kills people. But they don’t. You’ve heard it all before, but I’ll say it again. Nothing—not one single element—of the so-called ‘pro-life movement’ is actually about protecting the living and extending the lives of people.

Death Sentence (via heroes-get-made, truth-has-a-liberal-bias, foulmouthedliberty)

Primer for those who still don’t understand in the wake of the arrest of, incarceration of, and likely murder of Sandra Bland in TX: 1. Asking a cop why they are stopping you/ticketing you is your right. They do not have the right to arrest you for asking, beat you for asking or in any way mistreat you for asking that question. 2. You have the right to say whatever you wish to a cop in response to being stopped. ANYTHING at all, so long as it does not constitute a threat of harm. You can cuss a cop, yell at a cop, and call a cop a fascist pig or a racist if you like. I do not recommend it, you shouldn’t do it (because sadly cops don’t care about the Constitution in far too many cases, and thus, might beat or kill you), and it’s not very nice I suppose (even when deserved), but it is NOT illegal to do so. 3. Refusing to put out a cigarette when asked by a cop is not a criminal offense either. The cop has no lawful right to arrest you for smoking or “disobeying” an order to stop smoking. Only if you are already being arrested for an actual crime and putting out the cigarette is necessary to affect the arrest, can such a request be considered lawful and can failure to do so constitute “resisting arrest.” But refusing to put the cigarette out, in and of itself, does not constitute a crime. 4. If you do any of the above, the cop still does not have the right to beat you or arrest you. And if you end up beaten or killed, it is not your fault. It is entirely and only the cop’s fault. They should be arrested, tried, convicted and jailed. Your “arrogance” or “attitude” is not grounds for brutality, ever. 5. None of the above is made any less true by the fact that “cops have a hard job and put their lives on the line.” That is entirely irrelevant and has no bearing on the rights of the people or the limitations on police power. 6. Any cop who disagrees with the previous points is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs. Any cop who can’t handle being challenged as to their authority, or who in any way disregards the rights of the people is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs. 7. Anyone at all who disagrees with these previous points has contempt for the Constitution and would clearly be more comfortable in a police state. Yet these are the same people who think “government regulation” of industry is tyranny, or that the IRS is equivalent to the Nazi SS or that Obamacare is totalitarianism. So they don’t mind actual authoritarian actions (so long as they are worked out mostly on the bodies of black folks and/or the poor), but God forbid government try and ensure health care, or collect taxes from the rich or try and limit pollution. THEN they scream about big brother and how awful the state is…

Tim Wise (via la-lobalita)

This Guy Narrates People’s Lives Randomly In Public And It’s Hilarious [source]

I had a feeling this guy was going to take the honors today.

Asshole of the Day, November 19, 2013: Tom Brower

by TeaPartyCat (Follow @TeaPartyCat)

Hawaii state Rep. Tom Brower has decided who deserves to have possessions and, more importantly, who doesn’t. And despite being a lawmaker, he decided the law wasn’t enough, so he has been going around town smashing the possessions of the homeless with a sledgehammer. Really.

Much like Batkid, Hawaii has found its own superhero. Except that instead of protecting the powerless from harm, he roams the streets with a sledgehammer and looks for homeless people in order to literally smash their possessions.

Remarkably, this vigilante isn’t just some random Hawaiian, but five-term State Rep. Tom Brower (D).

Noting that he’s “disgusted” with homeless people, Brower told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own personal brand of “justice”: “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process.

You see, he’s disgusted with homeless people, so that justifies his actions in his own mind. And he’s such an asshole that he thinks telling a newspaper is going to make him a hero. Let’s hope Hawaiian voters see him for the bully he really is.

After we posted the nomination of Rep. Brower, this reply came from Twitter which sums it all up:

@assholeofday Compassionate to homeless? No. Returned carts to stores that paid for them? No. Destroys property? Yes. Just a common criminal

— Heather (@SunLovingMama)

November 19, 2013

Just a common criminal. And we hope this asshole of the day is locked up.

Full story: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2966371/hawaii-homeless-smash/

This isn’t right. It’s time to raise the wage. 

Sign the petition now.