Awkward moment. . .

New Zeal

After a Sanders supporter mentions Monica Lewinsky, Clinton accuses his campaign of encouraging vitriol

WaPo

During an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sanders deflected a question about whether the remark was appropriate.

"A brief mention of Monica Lewinsky by a prominent Bernie Sanders supporter sparked controversy on the campaign trail this weekend, with Hillary Clinton’s team accusing her Democratic presidential rival of condoning “vitriol.”

"Actress Rosario Dawson, who has campaigned with Sanders on several occasions, brought up the former White House intern on Saturday during a Sanders rally in Wilmington, Del., referencing the work that Lewinsky now does to combat cyberbullying. Dawson said she and other Sanders supporters were being bullied by Clinton’s allies.

“ 'We are literally under attack for not just supporting the other candidate,” Dawson said in remarks introducing Sanders to the crowd. “Now I’m with Monica Lewinsky with this. Bullying is bad. She has actually dedicated her life now to talking about that. And now as a campaign strategy, we are being bullied, and, somehow, that is okay and not being talked about with the richness that it needs.' ”

Target on the cutting edge of societal changes

340,000 Pledge to Boycott Target over Transgender Bathroom Policy

"More than 340,000 have signed a pledge to stop shopping at Target, in response to the corporation’s announcement this week that transgender employees and customers will be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“ 'This means a man can simply say he ‘feels like a woman today’ and enter the women's restroom... even if young girls or women are already in there,” stated the American Family Association, which started the petition.

"Target on Tuesday became the first giant retailer to weigh in on an issue at the center of a heated national debate.

"The announcement came just after North Carolina passed a law requiring people to use bathrooms in public facilities that correspond with their gender at birth.

“ '#BoycottTarget has resonated with Americans,” wrote AFA president Tim Wildmon." . . .

AN OPEN LETTER TO TARGET: REGARDING YOUR NEW RESTROOM POLICY  

"I am a woman. I am a frequent shopper in your stores. I am first and foremost a mother. Your recent change in policy of who you allow to use each restroom concerns me. You stated in your blog post, “We believe that everyone…deserves to be protected from discrimination and treated equally.” and “…you’ll always be accepted, respected, and welcomed at Target.” As a business owner, I do understand your right to make a stance as a company. As a parent, I will never understand why you would trade the safety of our women and children for the sake of not hurting  feelings.I realize that everyone needs to feel accepted, loved, and wanted. I know the struggles of a person struggling to find their identity. I also know that as of September 2012, a Gallup poll showed that approximately 3.4% of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. If, for argument’s sake, we assume that those groups are of equal representation in that number, that would indicate that of the American population, only 0.85% of Americans identify as transgender.

 

New U.S. Navy Carriers Opt for Gender-Neutral, Urinal-Free Bathrooms

. . . "Urinals are omitted from the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers, due to hit the fleet in 2015, as both a cost-saving measure and an attempt to make bathrooms more gender-neutral. Urinal-free ships allow the Navy to easily switch a bathroom's designation between male and female, helping the ship adapt to changing crews. The U.S. Navy has deployed women on ships since 1994, but every carrier built since then has included urinals.

"In addition, urinals clog more than toilets and can cost more to maintain, Capt. Chris Meyer, manager of the Future Aircraft Carriers Program for the Naval Sea Systems Command, told CNN. Several sailors speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Navy Times that urinals were hard to clean and easily broken, and they were glad to see them go.

" 'There's a lot more at play in the design objectives than (making the toilet areas) gender-neutral," Meyer told CNN. "We're saving money in maintenance costs, and we’re improving quality of life.' " . . .

Then this Facebook post purporting to be from a lady in an LA Target:

"It's true. ..I'm in the women's bathroom at a Target north of LA...they actually took out a stall for women in order to accommodate the ones who have giblets...yes, these are urinals...for men...and so the war on women progresses. ..."  Hat tip to Kathleen Crawford

What Obama has done to our special relationship with Britain

We and the United Kingdom have been allies all of the 20th century. We stood by them when they were alone against Hitler and the Nazis, they stood by us in our trials  and battles. 
Now see what this British writer says Obama and  Democrats have done to our century-plus alliance with our ancestral homeland.
Do you think it wise to keep Democrats in office and continue the damage done this past eight years?  The Tunnel Dweller

PETER HITCHENS: America isn't our special friend. It ruined our Navy, Empire and future 

" Now will we grasp that the United States is not our friend, but a foreign country whose interests are often different from ours?

"President Obama’s blatant intervention in our internal affairs is not a sudden breach of a soppy ‘special relationship’. The USA’s only real special relationship is with Saudi Arabia, a 70-year-old hard pact of oil, money and power, welded together with such cynicism it ought to make us gasp.

"Barack Obama’s open desire for us to stay inside the EU is by no means the first or worst example of White House meddling here in these islands. Bill Clinton forced us to cave in to the Provisional IRA in 1998 and his successor, George W. Bush, continued the policy by making us do Sinn Fein’s bidding afterwards.

"Washington came close to scuppering our recapture of the Falklands in 1982. And with the current state of our Armed Forces, which can nowadays do nothing without American support, I often wonder how the White House and the Pentagon would behave if Argentina once again seized Port Stanley." . . .

"If anyone thinks Hillary Clinton is a great friend of Britain, they’re in for a big surprise."

Regrettably, I do take issue with Mr. Hitchens' point of view on this next:

"In the blackest months of the Second World War, just after the fall of France, the US Congress demanded almost every penny we owned before it would authorise the famous Lend- Lease programme.Secret convoys of Royal Navy warships carried our reserves of gold bullion (estimated to have been worth £26 billion in today’s values) across the Atlantic – mostly never to return. Billions in negotiable securities went the same way, and British assets in the USA were sold off at absurdly low prices."

True, Great Britain did almost bankrupt herself buying war materials from America. We were forced to do cash-and-carry because of the neutrality act and would have legally had to sell to Germany on the same basis. President Roosevelt's concern was for Britain's solvency and his desire was to-as he said- "remove the dollar sign". The American President with the help of Congress and the trade of some British bases approved lend-lease whereby we "loaned" Britain the materials to resist Hitler. This is discussed in some detail in the chapter titled "Lend-Lease" in Winston Churchill's history of World War Two, Their Finest Hour. Sir Winston calls Lend-Lease "the most unsordid act in the history of any nation".

As to Hitchens' opinion of Obama, I am in full agreement.
The Tunnel Dweller