Snowflake's Forum

On the windswept plains of eastern Colorado, dust storms rattled the barracks of the Granada War Relocation Center, has driving grit through the cracks, bending sapling trees, blotting out the sun. It was 1944, and Esther Takei didn’t understand why she had to be languishing there, alienated by the only country she knew. The internment camp was surrounded by barbed wire fences and eight machine gun towers. When her family took walks at night, they were hit by floodlights, as if they were criminals. Esther wanted nothing more than to return to California to start college. That opportunity arrived sooner than expected. On a hot, listless day in the dog days of that summer, an old family friend named Hugh Anderson had come in on the train from Los Angeles with news. The federal government had given him the go-ahead to bring a single Japanese American student back to Southern California to enroll in college. It was a test case for the resettlement of all the detainees of Japan

When Rais Bhuiyan was in his early 20s, he won the lottery. That is, the State Department's annual  visa lottery . The prize: a chance to immigrate to the U.S. and eventually become a citizen. So, Bhuiyan arrived in New York in 1999, full of excitement and optimism. "I love the country, love the people, love the culture, and I felt I found my second home," Bhuiyan said. Bhuiyan had been an officer in the Bangladesh Air Force. His dream was to study and build a career in the technology field in the U.S., but it would take some time to settle in and save money. In the meantime, he moved to Dallas to work at a friend’s convenience store. Four months after that move, his life  — and the country — changed. 'Like A Horror Movie' On Sept. 21, 2001, ten days after the 9/11 attacks, Bhuiyan was working an extra shift at the store. It was early afternoon and business was slow. Bhuiyan was reading the newspaper when a man holding a double-barrel shotgun walked i

Ways to spend the day for those who'd like to skip the whole 'bloodsport of mass consumerism' thing. Leave it to modern America to take the least commercial of holidays – one about family and gratitude and sharing a meal – and turn it into a national day of stampeding and brawling in the name of hoarding cheap stuff. Go USA! - SAY AMEN! It was bad enough when Black Friday started on Friday, but now people set up tents and camp for weeks in parking lots and more and more stores are opening on Thanksgiving Thursday. It’s not my place to judge, different things make different people happy … but it just feels like a sad homage to gratitude when the holiday devoted to thanks turns into frenzied mobs fighting for flat-screen TVs. The day after Thanksgiving does make for a logical day to kick off the holiday season, but there are so many lovely ways to do it that don’t involve mad grabs and fisticuffs. Here are a few ideas: 1. Go to a park, not a parking lot Let’s see

Rayden Overbay winced and arched his back as the boy unloaded punches on him. He stumbled backward against the bathroom stalls looking for some escape, but there were attackers on every side. And behind them onlookers, half a dozen at least, some of them holding up cell phones fixed on an autistic, partially deaf 12-year-old getting the beating of his life. Rayden went home that day with a black eye, a busted lip, a bloody nose and a concussion. Less than 24 hours later, professional mixed martial artist Justin Wren sat at his kitchen table watching the video, which had been posted to social media by one of the kids who shot it. It was like finding a long-lost home movie in the attic. “I know how that feels,” he said to himself. “That was me.” At Rayden’s age, Wren had been attacked in the locker room by a bully who had terrorized him for years. He’d been blindsided with the violent crack of a football helmet to the back of his head. It left an egg the size of a baseball and pl

FORT WORTH, TX—Local conservative man Patrick Porkers thrashed liberals Tuesday for supporting policies that he himself will support in just five years. From medicare for all and a wealth tax to free college and canceling student debt, the conservative systematically dismantled every policy liberals support, though he's going to cave on every single one of these just a few years from now. The man says he's staunchly opposed to how fast progressives are changing things and prefers the conservative approach of changing the exact same things but just on a little bit of a delay. "Liberals are ruining this country," he said, shaking both his head and his fist. "They go and put forth all these radical ideas that will destroy the fabric of our society. Sure, I end up conceding ground to the libs and supporting policies I would have found appalling just five years ago. But I've got to be the voice of reason here and caution everyone against the very ideas I wi

Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda. By   DARREN LINVILL   &   PATRICK WARREN Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t  “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,”  as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy. Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously. MORE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/ Posted by Jamie B.

What is the National Day of Mourning? The National Day of Mourning takes place on the fourth Thursday of November. If this date sounds familiar to you, it’s because the fourth Thursday of November also coincides with Thanksgiving in the U.S. Every year on the National Day of Mourning, Native American people in New England gather together to protest. To them, Thanksgiving serves as a reminder of the unjust treatment that Native Americans have received since the 1620 Plymouth landing. History  of  the National Day of Mourning The National Day of Mourning reminds us all that Thanksgiving is only part of the story. Native Americans, since 1970, have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving Day.  Pilgrims landed in Plymouth and established the first colony in 1620. As such, it’s the oldest municipality in New England. Many  Native Americans , however, don’t celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other

OF COURSE - if the subject matter irks your sensitivities you could always say " I don't care " or accuse people of having TDS, but for the rest of you....... Why not have some fun with this one? WHO IS ANONYMOUS who wrote A WARNING? Speculation has run from it being Mike Pence https://www.newser.com/story/283607/anonymous-anti-trump-author-says-he-will-reveal-identity.html To perhaps Barack Obama https://www.businessinsider.com/all-clues-for-identity-anonymous-trump-official-a-warning-author-2019-11 To  former Pentagon aide Guy Snodgrass https://newrepublic.com/article/155840/guy-wrote-anonymouss-warning Other theories:  It’s  Kellyanne Conway.  It’s  Nikki Haley.  It’s  Jon Huntsman.    Others have  floated names  like  Dan Coats, Jon Lerner,  and  Nick Ayers. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/new-trump-scandals-and-clues-to-the-identity-of-anonymous NOW the author is offering to reveal him or herself: "Anonymous" op-ed author pl

"Last month,   CNBC  ( 10/7/19 ) reassured us that fears of a potential recession are “overblown,” because the “hard data” shows that the “US economy remains strong.” If you’ve been keeping track of corporate media coverage of the US economy over the past several years, you might have noticed a contradictory pattern. You’ll find that corporate media make ubiquitous references to a “strong economy,” while simultaneously providing many reports on the increasingly impoverished and precarious working class alongside the continuously rising fortunes of the rich. Last month, a   New York Times   report ( 10/20/19 ) exemplified this seemingly bizarre practice when it wondered why so many workers are striking when we apparently live in such a “strong economy,” because the piece also discussed how “today’s strikes are fueled by a deeper sense of unfairness and economic anxiety . . ." https://truthout.org/articles/corporate-media-ignore-historic-inequality-in-reports-of-strong

A Thanksgiving Helping of Reality - by Lance https://fee.org/articles/why-the-pilgrims-abandoned-common-ownership-for-private-property I found the to be a very thoughtful and relevant read giving the current political climate and pending holiday.  I am grateful to live in a nation that provides the opportunities we have.  The opportunity to be successful, to be mediocre, or to fail. In my life I have experienced all three.  Failure was simply a catalyst to try again, or try harder.  Success was something I freely shared.  I employed people and gave to those with less. As experienced in our early history the incentive to work harder and learn more helped me first and then those whose lives I could impact.  I could never have appreciated being handed something without effort. Socialism, guaranteed work, living wage and the like are simply put, wrong thinking.  They don't lead to success.  They don't lead to achievement.  The lead to mediocrity and discord.  Much m

These people were told they were chosen by God. Rick Perry thinks Donald Trump was chosen by God. Let that sink in. The Cult of Trump now reaches its apex. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/rick-perry-donald-trump-is-the-chosen-one-sent-by-god-to-lead-us/ Let's remind ourselves what happens to cultists who buy into such nonsense.

While becoming a parent may be easy for many people,  doing a stellar job  in the  role often is not. Here's what the parents of the most  successful   kids  do differently, according to a handful of recent studies. They limit screen time You probably understand that letting your child sit in front of a screen for hours at a time isn't good for his or her development and health. But in reality, policing this aspect of life is difficult considering the ubiquity of digital entertainment and the reality of how young people use social media to relate with one another.  They don't spank The AAP recently issued  its most strongly worded   policy statement  on this topic. According to a bunch of studies conducted in recent years, corporal punishment has multiple detrimental effects on kids. It can lead to aggressive and defiant behavior, increases the risk of mental health disorders and cognition problems and can negatively affect the parent-child relation

Consider some of the gentlemen working for President Donald Trump. Trump presides over an administration unusually tainted by political, financial and legal opportunism and malfeasance, and l’affaire Ukraine offers heightened examples of that troika. It is also true, as the adage goes, that a fish rots from the head. Trump ignores conflicts of interest so those in his Cabinet and elsewhere in his administration follow suit. • Energy Secretary Rick Perry told Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, earlier this year to ponder a slate of Americans, including a former political donor and a Houston oil executive, as advisers on energy sector reform. President Trump has said that his now-infamous July call to Zelensky seeking dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden came about, in part, at Perry’s urging — and because the energy secretary wanted Trump to inquire about Ukraine’s resources. The Associated Press reported that individuals tied to Trump and his personal attorney

LIKE other issues - abortion, guns, voting rights - reactions to the issue of the death penalty are often argued more out of passion and emotion than logic. I found it interesting to come across an article about a family who lost a loved one to murder actually arguing AGAINST the death penalty: Families of murder victims urge Virginia lawmakers to abolish the death penalty https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Families-of-murder-victims-urge-Virginia-lawmakers-to-abolish-the-death-penalty-565343661.html FOR ME - the death penalty is about revenge, not justice, especially considering how many people in the U.S. have been executed who were later found innocent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution Many others were put on death row and later found not guilty: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/innocence The death penalty does not even act as a deterrent as it has claimed to be: The researchers compared murder rates in the ten years after abolition o