27 Oct: Daily Homily and Tweets

by | Oct 27, 2017 | Tweets | 20 comments

One of the tweets Ann German brought to my attention today is about the judicial system in Mississippi. The situation is so outrageous that I feel I have to do more than just present the tweet.

A poor, young, woman had a baby. When the baby was four months old, she and the baby were passengers in a car that was pulled over in a traffic stop. (The baby was properly secured in a car seat.) When the officer made a check on her he found both women had quite a few unpaid fines and so he arrested them. Why he was checking on the passenger as well as the driver is an unanswered question.

When he arrested the mother, he of course took her away from her baby. The baby’s grandmother came to the police station immediately, but still the police officer charged the mother with abandoning her baby. The police officer insisted that the charge of abandonment go ahead and the grandmother was awarded custody of the baby.

You think this is bad? I haven’t even got to the most outrageous part of the story yet.

Next, the mother came up before the judge. He forbade her from seeing her baby until all her fines were paid! The baby is now 18 months old. It’s mother hadn’t seen it for fourteen months until recent intervention by an attorney from the MacArthur Center. This would never have happened if she wasn’t poor.

While looking into this mother’s case, the attorney made the discovery that this sort of thing is common in Mississippi. This particular judge was one of the worst and has now resigned.

There are other rorts going on in the Mississippi Justice system, such as the requirement for those on probation to pay fees to the contractors who supervise them! You can read more by going to the link in the tweet below.

First, let me remind you that this is the richest, most powerful country that the world has ever seen. The US holds itself up as an example to the rest of the world – the “shining city on the hill.” Its government criticizes the systems in the EU, Great Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, where this would never happen.

 

Political Tweets

I used to go through and regularly purge anyone that hadn’t sent out a tweet for more than six months, though I admit it’s a few months since I last did it. Looks like Trump prefers to keep the fake ones to boost his numbers.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Donald Trump is releasing most of the JFK files. I think this might be the first good thing Trump has done. However, his reputation precedes him!

 

It’s possible now that a majority of US states will make marijuana legal while the federal government continues to insist it should be illegal. In fact, AG Jeff Sessions is actually blocking research on marijuana! That will create the situation where it’s Republican states that are refusing to cooperate with the Trump administration in some situations, not just Democratic ones. That is already happening over the ridiculous Voter Fraud investigation of course, but this would be far more serious.

 

Vladimir Putin is an a$$hole! With this veto at the UN, he’s basically given Bashir al-Assad new support for his murderous regime.
Warning: This video contains very distressing images of children suffering from a Sarin gas attack.

 

Religion Tweets

Now here’s some good news! I was going to put this in as a Human Rights tweet, but it was religion that was the root cause of the problem.

 

Environment Tweets

This gives a new meaning to the phrase “dumpster diving.”

 

Science Tweets

Cool sketch showing the similarities between the five apes.

 

Scenic Tweets

France is one of the top countries on my bucket list. There’s so much there I want to see.

 

Another amazing temple in Thailand.

 

Art Tweets

Cool pic!

 

Space Tweets

The earth and the sun to scale.

 

Marine Tweets

The absolutely gorgeous Feather Starfish.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Other Animals Tweets

I’m not sure why USians put this in the “LOLBOOK” category. It’s serious and important work to protect endangered species, and it’s great the Mexican government gets involved.
(Via Ann German,)

 

A fantastic “good news” story – restoring water voles into northern England. “Ratty” in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame was a water vole. Check out this site for a cool water colour of Ratty.

 

A wee treat – three little hoglets!

 

Insect Tweets

Excellent! ????
(Via Ann German.)

 

Bird Tweets

I’m not sure what this is due to it’s age. Can anyone tell me?
(Via Ann German.)

 

Owls are so cute!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Those of you who follow Why Evolution is True may remember this video from a while ago, but it’s nice to see it again.

 

Dog Tweets

Sweet puppy!

 

Having fun when you’re a dog! I’ve got video of my brother’s kids doing this too!

 

Cat Tweets

Meet Paddles, the First Cat of New Zealand. We met Paddles during the election campaign. He was very popular then too. His staff are new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford. While they are members of the Labour Party of course, Paddles declares himself to be independent. Former Mormon Ardern is now an agnostic, which means she’s not yet quite up to outing herself as an atheist, but she has the right pet for the club!

 

This was Paddles on Election Night with his staff, and future prime minister, Jacinda Ardern.

 

???? Very Cool! ???? And I’m glad the size of your audience doesn’t matter, or I would have given up on this website a long time ago. It’s months since my subscriber numbers went up! ????
(Via Ann German.)

 

A tweet from @catsnkittys directed me to a post where an Aussie artist Rachel Aslett has matched a whole lot of internet cat pics with old pin-up girls pics. They’re pretty cool, so I’ve copied 25 of them into a slide show for you.

 

 

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20 Comments

  1. Diane G.
    Diane G. on 27th October 2017 at 5:51 pm

    The other four apes must think we’re pretty ugly. 😉

    Reply
    • nicky
      nicky on 29th October 2017 at 4:16 pm

      I remember that picture of the male great apes from my youth. What did not strike me then, but does now, is the fuzziness of their genitals.
      With four different mating systems, their genitals are among the more interesting parts of their anatomy, differing between them E.g. the promiscuous chimps have huge balls, while gorillas with their secure harems have tiny ones.

      Reply
  2. Federico Bär
    Federico Bär on 28th October 2017 at 3:18 am

    —When he arrested the mother, he of course took her away from her baby. The baby’s grandmother came to the police station immediately, but still the police officer charged the mother with abandoning her baby. The police officer insisted that the charge of abandonment go ahead and the grandmother was awarded custody of the baby.—

    A police officer takes a baby away from a mother, and then he fines her for abandoning her child. I’m always ready to learn new forms of logic. – Next control of my car’s documents, I hope the police won’t rip them off my hands and then charge me for not handing them over voluntarily.

    What a sad story. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing it.
    .-

    Reply
  3. nwalsh
    nwalsh on 28th October 2017 at 11:06 am

    “shining city on the hill” indeed. don’t get me started on the practise of a private jails….Spell check didn’t like my use of practise, but I’m sticking with it.

    Reply
  4. Jenny Haniver
    Jenny Haniver on 28th October 2017 at 11:57 am

    I particularly like the cartoon commentary of Trump “discovering” evidence of Hillary and Obama at the Grassy Knoll. Also the feather starfish — amazing. The Thai temple is very cool, too.

    But belatedly, I must say how grand it was to see the 11 year-old girl who developed the device to help Flint residents test their water. May she go on to make many more wonderful and useful discoveries of all kinds.

    Japanese visions of hell, also very cool and scary.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 28th October 2017 at 4:19 pm

      Cheers “Jenny Hanvier”. That 11 yo is amazing. To have done this at such a young age – she has a great future ahead of her. I love that feather starfish as well. There are heaps of really cool creatures in the ocean!

      Reply
  5. Jenny Haniver
    Jenny Haniver on 28th October 2017 at 5:18 pm

    Thinking about women and science, may I call your attention to this video clip of a recent documentary about the late Marian Diamond http://lunaproductions.com/brain/, entitled “My Love Affair With the Brain.” She was a neurobiologist who realized the neuroplascicity of the brain very early on, and who should be credited with starting this explosion in the neuroscience of neuroplasticity. Of course, she was disbelieved and dissed, but she persisted, and this film is a fitting tribute to her. From the website: “How can you not fall in love with a woman who carries around a preserved human brain inside a giant flowery hat box? Meet Dr. Marian Diamond, renowned academic and research scientist, and prepare to be smitten.” Of course, I’m smitten.

    Reply
  6. nicky
    nicky on 28th October 2017 at 6:51 pm

    I find that story of the baby being taken away and then the mother being accused so outrageous that I have difficulty to believe it. Is there more detail about this story? Was she a MOC? Was she really charged with abandoning her baby after arrest? Sounds so outrageous that even Kafka could not have written it.

    [And another thing, what is this hang-up about unpaid traffic fines: arrest, stricken from voter-rolls*, separation from your beloved baby, what more? I find that scary, I think I paid all my traffic fines, but it is possible one or two slipped through.]
    *(note, in SA even convicted felons in prison have the right to vote).

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 29th October 2017 at 3:28 am

      There’s a link there to a Washington Post story – a reliable source.

      Reply
      • nicky
        nicky on 29th October 2017 at 4:52 pm

        Checked several other sources, not always independent, but several were, and indeed it turns out to be true. UNBELIEVABLE, SHOCKING, but true.
        Mr Shirley, the judge in question, had to resign over this case, good for him. Such people, that have completely lost all sense of proportion, should not be judges.
        I suspect that ‘mother A’, ‘an empoverished mother from Jackson’ (where, btw, was the father?) was a MOC, so racism probably played a role too.
        Would fit with the unpaid traffic fines being used to disenfranchise voters (VOC’s, that is),

        Reply
        • Heather Hastie
          Heather Hastie on 30th October 2017 at 7:18 am

          I shouldn’t be, but I’m routinely shocked by the level of racism that’s still around in many parts of the US.

          Reply
          • j.a.m.
            j.a.m. on 30th October 2017 at 11:11 am

            How many parts of the USA have you observed first hand for any extended period?

            My dream is for your followers to pitch together and sponsor you on a sabbatical for a year or two to travel the length and breadth, and discover that just about everything you think you know is flat wrong (same goes for your very unrepresentative flock).

            A former NPR executive, who had never ventured beyond his typical liberal bubble, did just that and has a forthcoming book about his epiphanies.

            http://nypost.com/2017/10/21/the-other-half-of-america-that-the-liberal-media-doesnt-cover/

  7. Andrea
    Andrea on 28th October 2017 at 11:43 pm

    Great post! Please don’t give up!

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 29th October 2017 at 3:31 am

      Thanks Andrea. I won’t give up, but I need to oull back a bit. Apart from my injuries, there’s another reason which I will let everyone know at a later date.

      Reply
  8. Yakaru
    Yakaru on 29th October 2017 at 7:34 am

    Reading that appalliung story from Mississippi made me want to remix that old Ian Dury song ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ into ‘Permission to be Stupid’ — which is the effect Trump has on loons, idiots and a**holes around the world.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 29th October 2017 at 1:11 pm

      There’s a Washington Post article today about, among other things, a survey on the effect Trump has had on US politics. I tweeted it and will post the tweet in my next tweets post.

      Reply
  9. nicky
    nicky on 29th October 2017 at 4:54 pm

    Those pin-up pussycats are hilarious!

    Reply
  10. nicky
    nicky on 29th October 2017 at 5:56 pm

    That grey wobbly ancient one appears to be a kind of vulture chick.
    The invisible man, an owl I suspect, is even weirder.

    Reply

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