Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We chat about our lives, our health, our families, our social circles, our pets, etc. We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
This diary series is produced by the Team DFH group but anyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome.
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Good Morning!
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Drop in any time of day or night to say hello. |
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A Few Quotes for This Morning
It has ever been my experience that folks who have no vices, have very few virtues. ~Abraham Lincoln
Idleness is the beginning of all vices. ~Proverb
The vices of the rich and great are mistaken for error; and those of the poor and lowly, for crimes. ~Lady Marguerite Blessington
The Anglo-Saxon conscience doesn't keep you from doing what you shouldn't; it just keeps you from enjoying it. ~Salvador de Madariaga
There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more. ~Woody Allen
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News
The Syrian rebels have a setback...
Syrian Forces Overwhelm Stronghold of Rebels in Homs
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian Army overwhelmed the main rebel stronghold in the embattled city of Homs on Thursday, setting the stage for its elite soldiers to turn their attention — and superior firepower — to other insurgent redoubts farther north, despite the increasing international pressure for a cease-fire and humanitarian access.
In announcing their “tactical withdrawal” from the Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs after enduring a pounding by artillery, tank and sniper fire for nearly a month, the rebel Revolutionary Brigades of Baba Amr said in statement that they were both heavily outgunned and unable to justify keeping thousands of civilians marooned under dire conditions. In a quarter where most buildings are pockmarked by shell blasts, residents lack food, medicine, water and electricity, and are cut off from the outside world.
The rebel retreat was a significant victory for President Bashar al-Assad, as his troops hurry to put down an armed insurgency before international pressure grows so great or the cohesion of the armed forces breaks down under the relentless intensity of a nearly year-old uprising. The Syrian government lacks enough elite troops to subdue all rebellious cities at once; hence its strategy has been to stall for enough time to regain control of one hot spot at a time while pushing its own proposals for limited political change.
Meanwhile, Iran votes today...
Iran religious, political hardliners face off in vote
(Reuters) - Iran's ruling political and religious hardliners will face off in a parliamentary election on Friday, echoing a deepening rift in a conservative establishment grappling with economic sanctions over the country's disputed nuclear program.
The election will by the first since the country's disputed presidential election in 2009, when bloody opposition and pro-democracy protests were stamped out by security forces.
This time round, reformist groups have said they will boycott voting, setting the stage for a straight contest between backers of Iran's most powerful figure and religious authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
And our "ally" Bahrain...
Bahrain delays U.N. investigator, limits rights group visits
MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain has imposed restrictions on groups trying to monitor reforms including the Gulf Arab state's handling of protests and asked the U.N. investigator into torture to postpone a trip, the United Nations and rights groups said on Thursday.
The U.N. human rights office in Geneva said Bahrain formally requested postponing until July the visit by the special rapporteur on torture, which had been scheduled for March 8-17.
The investigator, Juan Mendez, will express his regrets to Bahraini representatives in meetings next week over this "last minute postponement," said Xabier Celaya, a spokesman of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Sigh...
Vietnam’s Nuclear Dreams Blossom Despite Doubts
HANOI, Vietnam — Inside an unheated classroom at the Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology here about 20 young government technicians from Vietnam’s incipient nuclear power industry kept on their winter jackets on the first morning of a 10-day workshop on radiation.
The workshop, sponsored by the semigovernmental Japan Atomic Energy Agency, started with Radiation Physics 101. The students then collected radiation samples with the help of Japanese specialists and analyzed them in a lab built by Japan.
“Nuclear power is important for Vietnam’s energy security, but, like fire, it has two sides,” said one of the students, Nguyen Xuan Thuy, 27. “We have to learn how to take advantage of its good side.”
Marriage equality is passed and signed in Maryland!
Maryland gay marriage bill signed into law
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the state's gay marriage bill into law Thursday evening, capping off a month of big state-level wins for the gay rights movement around the country.
"We're in a much more pro-active place," Michael Cole-Schwartz of the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBT advocacy and lobbying outfit, tells Yahoo News. "We've been able to achieve marriage equality in more places, and at the same time we've seen the public support go up and up."
In February, legislators in Maryland, Washington and New Jersey voted to allow gay couples to marry, though Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the New Jersey bill. The wins follow June's New York same-sex marriage law, the first such bill to pass a Republican-controlled chamber.
The screwing of the public continues...
Bank of America Fees Up? Capitalism at Work, Get Used to It
Less than five months after Bank of America (BAC) backtracked on its $5 monthly debit card fee, the country's second largest U.S. bank is considering charging its millions of customers another fee. This time the fee would be for the use of a bank checking account, or what the bank calls an "Essentials" account. (See: Public Outrage Prompts Bank of America, Wells and Chase to Rethink Debit Fees)
The timing and certainty of the changes remains unclear, but the bank is already testing two options for the rollout in Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Whoops!
Colo. gov. accidentally calls lt. gov. 'sex star'
DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's flattering comments about Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia turned into a bit of a flub.
The governor mistakenly referred to Garcia as a "rising sex star" Wednesday. He made the remark while introducing him at a childhood literacy event attended by about 40 children at a Denver elementary school.