Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Submitted by on

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

- e. e. cummings


Syrian forces kill 23 rebels in town near Damascus

Government forces stormed a rebel-held town outside Damascus Tuesday after days of fierce fighting, killing at least 23 fighters according to an activist group and a rebel spokesman.

In Aleppo, a Japanese TV reporter was killed Monday while covering the fighting in Syria's largest city. She was the first foreign journalist to die in the city since clashes between rebels and regime forces erupted there almost a month ago.

Damascus and its suburbs have witnessed a dramatic spike in fighting over the past month two months. And regime forces were further stretched when a major battle for control of the northern city of Aleppo erupted around the end of July. Before that, the fighting had been concentrated outside the big cities during the 17-month-old uprising.

Ecuadoreans March In Quito Supporting Asylum To Assange

Hundreds of Ecuadoreans held a rally in the country's capital Quito on Monday in support of their government's decision granting political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that prompted a standoff with the United Kingdom, media reports said.

Rally participants hailed President Rafael Correa for his courageous decision to grant political asylum to Assange who feared that he could be transferred to the United States after his extradition to Sweden to face charges of sexual misconduct.

Assange, an Australian national, has earned the wrath of the United States following WikiLeaks' 2010 release of tens of thousands of classified U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables.

Burma pressed to free remaining political prisoners

Saw Hlaing has been sentenced seven times by Burma’s military-style courts and has spent more than 14 years in jails across the country.

During his most recent term behind bars — some 6½ years — his wife died, so too his father, his son became a man and his daughter gave birth to his first grandchild.

But the former right-hand man of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says he is one of the lucky ones. “There are many more people in prison and they must be released immediately,” he said

Shoot dead Osama bin Laden for $325: Former SEAL recreates compound so people can copy raid on Bin laden complex

The grisly demise of Osama bin Laden has been immortalised on the TV screen and in computer games, and now it has been brought to the world of experience days.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, ex-Navy Seal, Larry Yatch, offers people the chance to participate in a re-enactment of the Seal raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani hideout.

After being kitted out in a flak jacket with a paintball gun, participants practice their aim by shooting at a target.

Court blocks provisions in immigration laws, lets some controversial ones stand

An appeals court on Monday sided with the federal government in blocking several provisions in Alabama and Georgia's controversial anti-illegal immigration laws, while allowing other key parts of those laws to stand.

Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center applauded the decisions, with National Immigration Law Center executive director Marielena Hincapie saying in a statement they "should send a strong message that state attempts to criminalize immigrants and their loved ones will not be tolerated."

Still, while three judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did strike down more challenged provisions than they allowed in a pair of rulings, officials from both Alabama and Georgia pointed out that the vast majority of their states' immigration laws remain valid.

Would-be Samaritans in New Jersey restrain victim as thief gets away with cash, gold chain

Police say a thief got away after two good Samaritans grabbed the wrong person on a northern New Jersey street.

The Samaritans were driving down a street in Plainfield when they saw what appeared to be a man assaulting a woman early Monday.

Semen has direct effect on female brain

A newly-discovered protein in the semen of all mammals - including humans - prompts females to ovulate through a direct effect on the brain.

Surprisingly, it's the same molecule that regulates the growth, maintenance, and survival of nerve cells - nerve growth factor (NGF) which is found primarily in nerve cells throughout the body.

Study shows obesity weighs heavily on the brain

Being obese in middle age is a known risk factor, not only for heart disease, but for dementia.

But in recent years, there’s been some suggestion that the so-called “healthy” obese, those whose obesity is not accompanied by other risk factors like high glucose or high cholesterol, don’t have an increased risk of heart disease or other health conditions. What wasn’t known, however, was whether the healthy obese are also safe from the more rapid decline in cognitive function.

Now, researchers in Europe have answered this question. According to a new study, published in the journal Neurology, obesity in and of itself increases the speed of mental decline over time. There is no "healthy overweight" when it comes to preserving your mind.

Topic: 

Rating: 

0
No votes yet

Comments

Good morning.

Glinda's picture

That is really creepy about the OBL reenactment.

If my magic wand really did work, I'd confiscate every single gun from anyone who participated in that and never allow them to buy another gun.

0
No votes yet

Yes, creepy

geomoo's picture

It is a terrific example of postemotion at work. Re-enactments, everything pre-digested, Emotions being manipulated by the self and others. Frighteningly delusional, but that's what bread and circus is for.

0
No votes yet

I hope you don't mind if I say:

Glinda's picture

I THINK YOU'RE CRAZY.

And not just you. A couple of my really good friends are on that diet, too, and I think they're crazy to eat that way.

But if you insist on this diet, I can link for you a couple videos where people swear by it and explain how they do it. But THEY are under constant medical supervision (and have the bucks to pay for all the laboratory work). (The videos aren't my friends, they're techies I "know.")

I worry about you... for I am a worrier ;)

0
No votes yet

I've lost over 35 lbs. since last October

geomoo's picture

Not that my purpose was to lose weight--high cholesterol and especially blood sugar headed toward the big D. It became more complicated the last few months, during which more weight has come off than I would like, because I am taking a lot of supplements in combination with long-term antibiotics for Lyme. I'm not sick, I'm doing this pre-emptively because I know the little buggers are still in there. Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I merely treat sugar like poison and eat almost no bread. That is all. From that, I have to figure out what TO eat, and it is generally an awful lot more healthy than more former diet. As I say, I lost 35 pounds. I don't want to be this skinny, but I'm going to let my weight end up wherever it goes, as I believe weight should. I hope to remain free of sugar except for a treat every couple of months or so. Incredibly, it hasn't felt very hard to do this time.

0
No votes yet

Re President Rafael Correa,

Glinda's picture

I find it impressive that he is taking a principled stand, while at the same time trying to work out an amicable solution for all parties, although no one is cooperating with him.

I'm still shaking my head over the fact that they had to take the door off going to the balcony prior to Assange speaking in order to keep the entire area under embassy control. If Assange had opened the door and walked through it, apparently he would have been "leaving" the embassy.

0
No votes yet

I keep wonder why he's doing it

geomoo's picture

It is pleasant to think it's a matter of principle. Based on how it seems to be playing at home, it may also have to do with domestic politics. Meanwhile, as commented on by national treasure Jesselyn Radack, the Washington Post editorial board has published an indirect threat to Ecuador:

As we’ve said before, the United States that Mr. Correa so despises allows Ecuador to export many goods duty-free, supports roughly 400,000 jobs in a country of 14 million people and accounts for one-third of Ecuador’s foreign sales. Congress could easily decide to diminish that privileged commercial access early next year.

Good to know that suspected rape has replaced terrorism as the number one priority of the U.S. government, not to mention how reassuring it is to see the independent press makes threats on behalf of the U.S. government. In a more global sense, the mention of jobs in Ecuador reminds me of the myth that rich people shouldn't be messed with because they "create jobs".

Few people will cause me to over-ride my aversion to the site where progressive ideas go to be neutered. Ms. Radack is one of them. She sums it up well:

It [is] a complete circle of F***ed-upedness

Resistance to U.S. "full spectrum dominance" is hanging by a thread. Thank you, Ecuador, whatever the motives.

0
No votes yet

I haven't read anywhere that the

Glinda's picture

U.S. has said they will not extradite Assange.

If I've read correctly, they insist they have nothing to do with Sweden, UK, Ecuador and Assange.

On the contrary, that there is a sealed indictment (maybe), but definitely a grand jury has been impaneled. Plus the recent news of the emails from the Australian Embassy showing the U.S.'s interest in Assange.

Assange and Ecuador have repeatedly requested assurances from Sweden that Sweden would not extradite Assange, and no such assurance has been forthcoming.

And this:

THE head of the US Senate's powerful intelligence oversight committee has renewed calls for Julian Assange to be prosecuted for espionage.

The US Justice Department has also confirmed WikiLeaks remains the target of an ongoing criminal investigation, calling into question Australian government claims that the US has no interest in extraditing Mr Assange.

''I believe Mr Assange has knowingly obtained and disseminated classified information which could cause injury to the United States,'' the chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Dianne Feinstein, said in a written statement provided to the Herald. ''He has caused serious harm to US national security, and he should be prosecuted accordingly.''

0
No votes yet

Brave New Age of No Due Process

geomoo's picture

Since Bush threw out the law books and made "justice" about visceral feelings of the moment, I'm sure much of America could give a crap about fair play and centuries of legal precedents. If they hate him, they want him punished. Good old liberal Dem Dianne.

0
No votes yet

the crust of that biscuit:

triv33's picture

Turley: Well, first of all, there’s a great desire of many people to relieve themselves of the obligation to vote on principle. It’s a classic rationalization that liberals have been known to use recently, but not just liberals. The Republican and Democratic parties have accomplished an amazing feat with the red state/blue state paradigm. They’ve convinced everyone that regardless of how bad they are, the other guy is worse. So even with 11 percent of the public supporting Congress most incumbents will be returned to Congress. They have so structured and defined the question that people no longer look at the actual principles and instead vote on this false dichotomy.
Now, belief in human rights law and civil liberties leads one to the uncomfortable conclusion that President Obama has violated his oath to uphold the Constitution. But that’s not the primary question for voters. It is less about him than it is them. They have an obligation to cast their vote in a principled fashion. It is, in my opinion, no excuse to vote for someone who has violated core constitutional rights and civil liberties simply because you believe the other side is no better. You cannot pretend that your vote does not constitute at least a tacit approval of the policies of the candidate.

0
No votes yet

Never been said so well.

geomoo's picture

That paragraph is worth saving to break out as needed. I had never had the clarity to define the matter as one of being principled, of understanding that it is simply wrong to vote for a person who has violated his oath.

It strikes me that one aspect of this is the American obsession with winning over all. In many discussions of voting, there is an assumption that winning is everything. In the process, there is very little lip service, even, to acting on principle.

And this, from the introduction, could summarize these ideas as a sig line, should one wish to engage in baiting:

President Obama has to be more than Not-Mitt.

0
No votes yet

I'm not sure if it's really relieving themselves of that

Glinda's picture

obligation vs. being too memorized and excited that they're not even realizing they're trashing their principles.

first of all, there’s a great desire of many people to relieve themselves of the obligation to vote on principle."

I've taken a hard look, and in the past I now realize that I'm guilty of relieving myself of that obligation. I was willing to "understand" that you had to do X to get Y.

But no more. I will NOT, repeat NOT be relieving myself of the obligation to vote on principle this year. Sigh... it won't matter anyway.

0
No votes yet

Syria

geomoo's picture

None of us have any idea how many of the U.S. Army's 70,000 Special Ops forces are in and around Syria. These forces are completely beyond democratic control, operating secretly, ready on a moments notice to fuck with the internal affairs of foreign nations. It is no small matter that we have no way of finding out what, if any, impact they are having on what is happening in Syria. The only thing that is certain is that only the naive who are unfettered by a knowledge of past U.S. behavior believe there is no clandestine involvement.

0
No votes yet