Donald Trump - Political Suicide Bomber

Last night, Donald Trump strapped on a political suicide vest and pulled the trigger in front of 80 million people on television. There was no glory in Trump’s despicable acts last night. What he did was live out the fantasy of every right-wing conspiracist who has spent the last quarter century with an unremitting hatred for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Trump gave voice to every ugly rumor, innuendo, and debunked theory trafficked in the underbelly of the Internet, on conservative talk radio, and the echo chamber of Fox News. He put the human manifestations of every lurid belief about Bill Clinton in the audience and slashed Hillary Clinton as “the devil,” a woman who had “hatred in her heart” and would be in jail if he were elected (that last one elicited a lusty applause from the audience). 

Trump went after Bill and Hillary Clinton viciously, personally, and often falsely, but that will matter little to people who have been fed a steady diet of Clinton conspiracies for the last 25 years. If you believe that the Clintons ran drugs in Arkansas, faked Vince Foster’s suicide, or sold cattle futures for huge profits there is a direct through line to believing Hillary deleted incriminating emails off her private server, handed out favors to Clinton Foundation donors, and would be in prison but for the good graces of an FBI Director who served as the number two official in the George W. Bush Justice Department.

Trump’s dissection was done with a butcher’s knife not a scalpel, but it mattered little. He stalked the stage ominously and audibly sucked in air as he leveled one false claim after the other, the politics of personal destruction fed to him by his top campaign officials who have made their careers smearing the Clintons and their work. What little he shared in the policy arena was non-sensical. Merely removing barriers to health insurers will magically replace Obamacare, his tax policy won’t blow a massive long-term hole in the deficit (not to mention what it will do to our debt), and beating ISIS will merely require bombing the shit out of them. 

It is tired pablum uttered by someone who knows little about the issues but a lot about how to foment discontent. Trump’s actions will not win him votes but I fear it will harden opposition to Clinton if she becomes President in a way that will make the Tea Party revolt against Obama look mild in comparison. Trump is creating a lynch mob of such radicalism that no Republican will risk running afoul of it for fear of losing their precious seat in Congress. James Carville famously said that “politics ain’t beanbag,” but you would hope it is not whatever we saw on stage in St. Louis either.

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Leigh Day Helli-va Ride

This Thursday evening a group of hardy young lawyers from Leigh Day are going to set out from Hoddesdon in Herts to start a clockwise arc down to Sevenoaks, Kent which will begin the trace of a giant 'H' inside a circle, a heli-pad sign, covering the area that the London Air Ambulance Service serves.

These lawyers are the ones likely to be looking after your financial interests if you are both unlucky enough to be involved in a collision and are a member of British Cycling, so it is nice to know not only that they can cycle but that they are superhuman too.  The ride is just over 300 miles and the team will be riding round the clock aiming to finish in 19 hours.  A remarkable pace given how much of the ride is in congested London.

Not being superhuman - I cannot do 300 miles and I cannot ride through the night and through the following day without being a liability to myself and others - I am planning merely to do the second half.  As dawn breaks on Friday morning I will link up with them just west of Epsom to complete the job.

I am apprehensive about doing half what they are doing.  Even 150 miles is the longest ride I have ever done.   So, as they are doing twice that, they really do deserve support.  So do not sponsor me sponsor them.

Also the cause is a hugely admirable one.  The London Ambulance Service relies upon charitable fund raising of this sort.  They will be there for you if you crash in London.  On a personal note I am extremely lucky they were there for me on 4th January 2014 when I came down very hard during the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon.

So do please support, the link is here:

http://ift.tt/2cyaEZW



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Three Weeks That Might Have Cost Hillary The Presidency

If Donald Trump wins the Presidency, we will likely look back at the roughly three week period between late August and September 11th as the reason why. As you will see, a confluence of bad reporting and tactical decisions by both candidates conspired to change a race that was heading in the direction of a Clinton landslide to a coin toss proposition.

The weeks following both parties’ conventions were not good to Donald Trump. His was a four-day spectacle of oddballs and charlatans and party officials conspicuous by their absence. Her’s was a murderer’s row of validators along with ordinary Americans who testified to Hillary’s compassion, hard work, and decency. What had been a neck-and-neck race before the two conventions quickly turned in Hillary’s favor and she opened large leads in national polls and battleground states while edging within the margin of error in reliably red states like Arizona and Georgia. On August 19th, Trump’s campaign chairman was pushed out after revelations about millions in off book payments he received from the pro-Putin former President of Ukraine became public and in his place Trump promoted a pollster named Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager and the editor of the alt-right website Breitbart.com, Steve Bannon, as his campaign “CEO.” This was the second major shake up of Trump’s campaign in just a few months. His chances of winning the Presidency hovered in the 10-15 percent range on Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight.com website.

But then the worm started to turn. On August 23th, the Associated Press published a “bombshell” report about the number of donors to the Clinton Foundation who were able to get meetings with Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. Never mind that the headline was slanted, the data cherry picked, and some of those donors included Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and U2 singer Bono, this story dominated cable news for days. When emails showed Clinton Foundation staffer Doug Band trying to get various “favors” from the State Department (all of which were denied), the story crystallized - somehow a Foundation getting HIV drugs to poor people in Africa, clean water to Haitians and myriad other philanthropic efforts was being portrayed as some sort of sleazy pay-to-play machine for rich people trying to curry favor with the federal government. 

It would take members of the media a week or more to unwind and fact check these salacious headlines (the AP’s false tweet touting the story was quietly deleted some two weeks later), including one that had to do with Band trying to expedite diplomatic passports for Foundation staffers trying to travel with President Clinton to North Korea to help extricate two Americans being held there. But the damage was already done. Hillary’s schedule was fundraiser-heavy and while she was doing some public events and one-on-one interviews, as the wave of Foundation stories was cresting, reporters started ginning up stories about how long it had been since she had a “formal” press conference. At the exact time the media horde was doubling down on stories that “raised questions” about Hillary’s conduct in public life, she and her team chose not to aggressively knock down the stories. This would prove to be a big mistake.

On the Friday before Labor Day, the FBI released dozens of pages of notes on their interview with Mrs. Clinton regarding her email server. This continued with their highly irregular actions with regard to this investigation that began with a public statement by FBI Director Comey just before the Fourth of July holiday that Clinton would not be prosecuted, but criticizing her actions. Of course, typical procedure is that people who are not indicted for crimes are not publicly excoriated by the FBI, much less have the notes of their interview released publicly, but hey, Hillary, am I right? Another predictable round of media hand wringing ensued and again, she and her team were not nearly as aggressive as they should have been in response. 

The capstone to this was the one-two punch of Hillary calling half of Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables” followed two days later by her getting dehydrated and having to be helped to her vehicle at a 9/11 ceremony, resulting in her disclosure that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia a few days earlier. More “questions were raised” about her secretiveness and her alleged “insult” of Trump supporters (never mind that it was arguably a factual statement but at worst a poor choice of words - “half” as opposed to “some” or “many”). The pneumonia story in particular was too perfect for reporters - it reinforced their belief that she is too secretive (because she did not disclose the illness) and the cell phone video of her wobbling was replayed incessantly on cable news channels. 

While all this was happening, Trump was quietly (for him) retooling his message. Luckily for him, a credulous press corps was ready to throw his insults to a Gold Star family, John McCain, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, all Mexicans, all non-American Muslims, and of course, his birtherism down the memory hole because he decided to do some African-American “outreach” in a largely white suburb of Milwaukee. Trump then made a last-minute visit to Mexico City where because he did not throw up on his shoes at a brief media availability with Mexican President Pena Nieto, the press deemed a success (even “Presidential.”) The “basket of deplorables” comment gave Trump the opportunity to feign outrage at an insult to his supporters and after questioning Hillary’s health in the preceding weeks, the video footage of her stumbling into her motorcade needed no embellishment. 

While there was some investigative reporting being done about Trump and his business dealings, the coverage was dwarfed by the tsunami of coverage given to the Clinton Foundation, the FBI notes, and Hillary coming down with pneumonia. To take the most glaring example, while there was no proof the Clinton Foundation engaged in any illegal (or even unethical) conduct, the Trump Foundation was found to have violated federal law by giving $25,000 to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi - they even paid a fine! But for some reason, this very apparent act of influence peddling (Bondi’s office dropped an investigation into Trump University several days after the donation was received) was not given nearly the attention paid to the Clinton Foundation, where no quid or quo was even remotely shown. Similarly, Trump continued getting a pass on releasing his tax returns, his health records, or information on his Foundation even as the media portrayed Clinton, who had released 40 years of tax returns, the names of all donors to the Clinton Foundation, had 30,000 emails made public, and released detailed medical information, as the one with the transparency problem. 

How did all of this end up impacting the race? Bigly, as Trump might say. On August 25th, Clinton was leading Trump nationally by amounts ranging from four points (right-leaning Rasmussen) to seven points (Reuters-Ipsos) to ten points (Quinnipiac). Six days later, Hillary’s lead had been cut to one in the Reuters poll and the following day, Rasmussen had Trump ahead by one. On August 29th, Nate Silver gave Trump a 19 percent chance of winning. Today, Trump is a slight underdog at 40 percent. In state polls, Trump has gone from high single digit deficits in places like Florida and Ohio to small single digit leads and he has solidified his standing in those red states that just a month ago appeared to be slipping from his grasp.

The after action report of this time period will be interesting. Much of the hysterical reporting on the Clinton Foundation ended up being much ado about nothing, but it allowed the media to reinforce its preferred narrative - that Hillary is untrustworthy, even though she did nothing wrong. They “Swift Boated” a charitable organization and Hillary erred in the same way John Kerry did when the same thing happened to him in 2004 - she did not respond. Of course, in his case, the attacks were coming from the Republicans. Hillary got done by the very media that is supposed to objectively report on the candidates. At the same time, Trump’s mouth was (mostly) under control and because he continues to refuse to release any information about his business dealings, reporters are left to public records requests to try and piece together how he operates. 

These are not small points, particularly because many in the media refuse to take ownership for their part in normalizing Trump, failing to hold him to the same standard they do Clinton (some reporters do not even bother pretending the two candidates are held to the same standard - they readily admit the two are not), or admitting they do much to drive certain stereotypes that are not actually based in fact. This would not be a big deal but for the fact this is happening in a situation where we are picking the person who will take on the most important job in the world.

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End of summer project

With the shortening days my thoughts turn naturally to layers and wool and knitting and the need to make something to keep myself warm. So I'm putting away all the cotton pieces that I didn't get to this summer. They will have another chance next year.

But this weekend is still warm and I am happy that I finished another sleeveless top.

This project started life as a huge man's housecoat. Yes, I am serious! I only wish I had taken a photo but I didn't think of it until it was too late. Thrifted, it was only purchased because it was made of an extremely high quality 100% cotton sateen. The original label is Holt Renfrew. Someone paid a nice amount for that robe. But it wasn't me.

You would think I would have enough to make a garment at least as big. But that isn't how it works. Once I picked off the 4 pockets (all double topstitched with tiny stitches) and realized that it had two-piece sleeves I had enough to comfortably make this sleeveless shirt, including the cut-on front facings, a double yoke in back and bias strips to finish the arm openings.

Look Ma! No raw edges!

At right is a photo of the inside, which I am rather proud of. I even remembered to sew the fusible interfacing to the front facing at the outside edge before fusing. Such a nice finish!

My pattern choice is quirky.

I have a vintage pattern for a sleeveless shirt with a convertible collar, which I rejected. I've made it twice (second effort blogged here). I rejected it because I wanted a slightly less blousey and more modern fit. Specifically, it had too much fabric in the upper chest and shoulder area and was too nipped in at the waist.

Burda Magazine 2010-04-105

I had a blouse with just the fit I wanted in my closet, but the original pattern (line drawing at left) was totally wrong in all the details. It had a stand collar, ruffled front and no front opening for starters. And I wasn't sure how the yoke would work with a convertible collar style.

I had gotten rid of some of those details the first time I made it. (Strangely, that too was a refashioning project.)

This time I also added an overlap and cut-on front facing for a front button closure, extended the front to the top of the shoulder, reduced the back yoke accordingly, and added a convertible collar. I did not completely eliminate the back yoke (even though its existence made for a bit of a sewing puzzle moment when trying to clean finish the inside neckline) because it builds in some very nice back shaping.

The new collar was a bit of a leap in the dark that had me comparing the shoulder and neck shapes of my vintage Simplicity pattern with the modified Burda one (they were amazingly and completely different and my seeming inability to understand how that can be is a little bit terrifying) and puzzling over my pattern drafting books. I decided to just give up and wing it, cut a mock up out of scrap fabric and pinned it in, finding that it was exactly right. I guess I shouldn't overthink these things.

I really like the resulting shirt, which fits just the way I wanted. I wonder how I'll change the pattern the next time I want a sleeveless shirt...




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The Criminal Justice System; How it fails us and how it needs reform

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Who Gets Mesothelioma ?

Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that occurs in the lining of the body's internal organs, a thin layer of cells known as the mesothelium. While very thin, this layer of cells is vitally important to organ function and the health of the inner body structures. There are three recognized types of mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma occurs in the pleural lining of the lungs and is the most common form of the disease. Peritoneal mesothelioma occurs within the peritoneum, which lines the abdominal cavity and is the second most common form of the disease. Pericardial mesothelioma is the rarest variety of the disease and occurs in the pericardial lining of the heart. The primary cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos, though other factors, such as smoking may increase the likeliness of the disease in certain individuals.

About the Disease

Simply put, mesothelioma which is commonly referred to as asbestos cancer, is an aggressive cancer caused primarily by the inhalation of dangerous asbestos fibers. The disease attacks the mesothelium, a protective, two-layered membrane that covers the internal organs of the body including the lungs, heart and abdominal organs. Between these layers, the cells produce fluid, which allows easy movement of the heart and lungs within the chest cavity. The layer that covers the lungs is called the pleura, and the layer that covers the heart is called the pericardium. The peritoneum lines the abdominal cavity. Mesothelium also lines the male and female reproductive organs. Mesothelioma can affect any of these cells, but is usually seen in the pleural or peritoneal mesothelium. The most commonly diagnosed form of this cancer is pleural mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma takes anywhere from 20 to 50 years to develop, which is why older individuals are usually the victims. However, recent cases involving September 11th World Trade Center first responders and clean-up crews show that high concentrations of asbestos can cause the disease to develop much more rapidly. A few WTC workers have already died of the disease.

Effects of the Disease

The invasion of the mesothelium by cancer cells makes it very difficult for the patient to breathe, resulting in the need for oxygen, especially as the disease progresses. Those with the pleural form of mesothelioma may also suffer from pleural effusions. These effusions prevent the smooth movement of the lungs and other organs in the chest. Peritoneal mesothelioma also affects the stomach area and abdominal cavity, causing nausea, vomiting, or loss of appetite, which can result in dangerous weight loss. In addition to breathing difficulties and loss of appetite, mesothelioma victims also complain of excessive coughing, sleeping difficulties, persistent chest pain, fever, and pain in the lower back.

Mesothelioma, in general, is a very painful disease and because it is usually not diagnosed until it's in an advanced stage. For this reason, the symptoms are typically quite serious. Late diagnosis also means that the cancer is more likely to have metastasized, or spread, making successful mesothelioma treatment even more difficult.

Who Gets Mesothelioma?

Statistics show that, because of their work history, the disease most often affects men between the ages of 50 and 70 who were employed in an asbestos-laden environment before asbestos warnings and bans were in place in the 1970s. Though women still have a much lower frequency of the disease, cases of second-hand exposure to asbestos has prompted more diagnoses among women, especially those whose male family members worked with asbestos. The occupations most associated with mesothelioma are shipyard workers, electricians, plumbers, construction industry workers, pipefitters, boilermakers, and anyone subject to heavy exposure to dangerous asbestos and airborne asbestos fibers.

An abundance of cases have also demonstrated that mesothelioma can develop among people who lived in communities where asbestos factories or mines were located. In some instances, entire towns have been adversely affected by the presence of asbestos fibers in the air. For example, in Libby, Montana - site of a former vermiculite asbestos mine - hundreds have already died of mesothelioma.

Though still significantly rarer than other cancers, an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Other countries, notably the United Kingdom and Australia, report a much higher incidence of the disease. Nevertheless, the United States - like many other countries - has seen an increase in asbestos-caused cancer as men who worked in U.S. shipyards in the 1940s and 1950s, at the height of production, are now being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Dealing with Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is most often diagnosed in its late stages, and such a diagnosis is devastating to the individual and his/her family. Though research into the disease has been ongoing, there is currently no cure for mesothelioma. Some patients may be candidates for surgery to remove tumors or even an entire lung, but most are better treated with radiation or chemotherapy. More often than not, these treatments are palliative, serving to lessen the severity of the symptoms of the disease rather than offering a cure.

Medical professionals and research scientists, however, are constantly exploring new ways to combat the disease. For example, doctors know that some combinations of chemotherapy drugs work better than others and tests developed to ascertain earlier diagnosis of the disease or to monitor those most at risk have arrived on the scene.

Who's to Blame?

The reason someone develops mesothelioma is usually the lack of proper protection offered to those who worked with asbestos. Though the dangerous properties of asbestos and asbestos products have been evident for decades, many employers neglected to protect their workers from inhaling asbestos while on the job. It wasn't until public awareness of the dangers of the material were revealed in the 1970s that many employers began offering protective clothing such as respirators, gloves, aprons, and other such items to those working with asbestos on a daily basis.

Due to the negligence of employers, many companies who manufacture asbestos or products that contain asbestos have been subject to literally thousands of lawsuits filed by those who've been harmed by the material. Many of those lawsuits have come from individuals suffering from mesothelioma.

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Mesothelioma Information - 10 Most Asked Q & A

(Apart from|Besides) patients and families, there are many of all of us who {look for|seek out|hunt for} mesothelioma information and have questions we would like answered. {Right here are|In this article are|Below are} 10 of the most often asked questions with answers for those seeking mesothelioma information.

{Exactly|Specifically|Accurately} what is the mesothelium?

The mesothelium is a membrane that completely {addresses|includes|protects} and protects each of the internal organs of {your body|the entire body}. This membrane is made up of two layers of cells, one layer surrounds the {body organ|appendage|body} while the other varieties a sac around it. The mesothelium produces lubricating fluid which is released between these layers, allowing the moving organs {including the} heart and lungs to glide easily against {surrounding|nearby|adjoining} surfaces.

What is mesothelioma cancer?

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that {disorders|hits|moves} the mesothelium membrane, and is caused by {previous|early|prior} exposure to asbestos {contaminants|allergens|debris}. When mesothelioma strikes, {cellular material|skin cells} of the mesothelium become abnormal and divide without control, and malignant {cellular material|skin cells} develop in the mesothelium which can metastasize from their original site to invade and damage {near by|local} tissues and organs within the body. Typically, mesothelioma cancer will {commence|get started} in the pleura or peritoneum.. the {belly|abs} cavity or {lung area|bronchi}.

How common is mesothelioma cancer?

Mesothelioma is a relatively rare form of {malignancy|tumor|cancers}, even though reported {occurrence|prevalence|chance} figures show {a constant|a stable|a regular} increase {in the last|within the last} 20 years or so. Each {12 months|yr|season} approximately 2, 000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the {Usa|Combined|Unified} States alone. Mesothelioma {influences} men more so than ladies and the risk increases with age, but mesothelioma can occur in either sex and at every age.

What are the causes of mesothelioma cancer?

At least 90% of mesotheliomas can be {connected|associated} to {contact with|experience of} asbestos, although usually the exposure will have taken place many years before the {malignancy|tumor|cancers} becomes apparent. It is known that even very low levels of {contact with|experience of} asbestos can lead to the development of mesothelioma cancer, so it is possible that some patients {may well not|might not exactly} have had any known contact with asbestos but may still have breathed in asbestos fibres without realizing it. Exposure to certain chemicals and {rays|the radiation|light} has also been {connected|associated} to mesothelioma, and {a tiny} number of mesotheliomas have been linked to {a kind of|a form of} radiation called thorium dioxide(thorotast). This was used in some x-rays up until the 1950's. {There is absolutely no|There is not any|You cannot find any} {proof|facts|data} linking mesotheliomas with cigarette smoking

How is mesothelioma cancer diagnosed?

The symptoms of mesothelioma are often difficult to diagnose being very similar to the symptoms displayed in other conditions including asbestosis. The {analysis|medical diagnosis|prognosis} of mesothelioma {will need|will demand|requires} a review of the person's health background, including {previous|earlier} history of asbestos {publicity|direct exposure|coverage}. A complete physical {exam|evaluation|assessment} will be performed and x-rays of the {upper body|torso|breasts} and abdomen obtained. A CT scan or MRI may also prove useful in the diagnosis of mesothelioma.

Can mesothelioma be treated?

Treatment for mesothelioma cancer varies {depending on|with regards to the} precise location of the cancer, to what extent the mesothelioma cancer has developed, and the patient's age and {basic|standard} condition. The options for mesothelioma treatment include surgery, radiation therapy, and radiation treatment.

Is there {a remedy|a treatment|a get rid of} for mesothelioma?

The only treatment offering any {wish|desire|expect} of a cure for mesothelioma is an {procedure} to remove the tumor surgically. Unfortunately because mesothelioma cancer is so difficult to diagnose, it is often too far advanced for surgery to be {transported|taken} out safely.

{Exist|Are available|Is there} new treatments available for mesothelioma cancer?

The National Cancer {Company is|Start is|Commence is} currently sponsoring {medical|scientific|specialized medical} trials {in order to|so that you can} discover new treatments for mesothelioma along with improvement of the way current mesothelioma treatments are implemented. Before any new mesothelioma treatment can be recommended for {basic|standard} use, {intensive|comprehensive} trials must be carried out to show that the mesothelioma cancer treatment is safe for patients {and can|and may|and definitely will} prove effective against the disease. {Involvement|Contribution|Engagement} in these clinical {tests is definitely an|tests is usually an|studies is definitely an|studies is usually an|trial offers is definitely an|trial offers is usually an} important treatment option for many patients {struggling|enduring|battling} from the effects of mesothelioma.

Precisely what is the life expectancy for those diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer?

The life expectancy for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer will vary {depending on|with regards to the} type of cancer, where the tumor is, {how long|what lengths} it has spread and {age group|era|grow older} and general health of {the individual|the sufferer|the person}. Studies show average survival periods of between 8 and 14 {weeks|a few months|several weeks} but {it is far from|it is not necessarily|not necessarily} uncommon for patients to have for a few years {subsequent|next|pursuing} diagnosis of {the problem|the situation|the disorder}.

{Therefore|Thus|And so} what is asbestosis?

Asbestosis is a non-cancerous {persistent|long-term|serious} and potentially lethal other disease affecting the {lung area|bronchi}, and is caused by {contact with|experience of} asbestos. Asbestosis can cause {long lasting|everlasting} lung {harm|ruin|affect}, increased risk of dangerous lung infections, and {center|cardiovascular|cardiovascular system} failure.

So those are the most often asked questions by those seeking mesothelioma information, and it is hoped the above answers have enlightened you.

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