February is Black History Month
National Cook a Sweet Potato Day
Paul Robeson was an African American scholar, professional athlete, singer, author and activist who spoke more than 15 languages. He fought against social injustice around the world. He was attacked viciously, but that never stopped him.
Today is George Washington's Birthday.
[When I was a kid, we celebrated both Lincoln's Birthday (February 12), and Washington's Birthday (February 22). We had two days off in February. Let me tell you, there is no easier way to get a child to remember a President's Birthday than giving that schoolchild the day off for it every year! Why would today's schoolchildren need to know these two President's Birthdays?]
1) via John Fugelsang
On this date, in 1967, The Beatles recorded the piano chord that is the final note of “A Day in the Life” from the Sgt. Pepper Album…and David Crosby stopped by Abbey Road for a visit.
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2) Brontophobia is the Fear of Thunder.
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3) Joseph A. Smith, the Founder of the Mormon Religion, was killed by an angry mob.
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4) Bruce Lee won the Hong Kong Cha-Cha Championship in 1958.
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5) Chipotle has had so many problems with contaminated food that they have now instituted a Paid Sick Leave program.
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6) There will be nationwide rallies at Apple stores tomorrow, to support their stance of refusing the Government's demand that they create a back door into the iPhone.
[In my opinion, if this software is created it would be copied by Android phone geeks and eventually lead to Apple having provided a back-door entry into every cell phone on the planet. How could this not end badly?
The local rally near me starts at 5:30 pm in Santa Rosa. So it looks like they are meeting after business hours for greater turnout. You can go to DontBreakOurPhonesDotOrg to find a rally near you.
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7) Plastic waste is so plentiful and so carelessly treated that 92% of Americans have "potentially harmful" plastic chemicals in their urine.
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8) The saxophone is named after Belgian Inventor and Musician, Adolphe Sax, who invented it in 1846. He played the flute and clarinet, and his other inventions are the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba.
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9) CANNABIS WATCH Facebook has been systematically taking down and deleting pages of legal Marijuana businesses, even though it is legal in some form in a majority of states, plus D.C. There is a petition aimed at Facebook circulating on ChangeDotOrg to stop their policy with its antiquated views.
via ChangeDotOrg "Medical cannabis is legal for patients in 23 states, and four states have legalized marijuana for all adults over 21. There's no reason why businesses that cater to these legal customers shouldn't be able to communicate with them online, especially since Facebook has no problem with alcohol pages.
Facebook says the marijuana pages violate the site's "community standards."
But in reality these businesses create thousands of jobs for people raising families and generate tax revenue that's being used to help states and cities pay for education, healthcare, public safety services and drug treatment programs.
A clear majority of voters support legalization, and the marijuana market is now worth $5.4 billion, with legal sales expected to grow to $21.8 billion in 2020.
Facebook needs to catch up to voters and stop letting itself be used to censor cannabis businesses on behalf of an outdated prohibitionist mindset, especially since competitors like Twitter allow truly open communication."
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10) Jeb Bush spent over $100M to finance a losing campaign. Who benefits most from this expenditure? Your TV stations...who are supposed to be reporting the news! They have become nothing more than advertising platforms for our most “elite” candidates. It is astounding to me how much money is wasted on our endless Presidential Campaigns! I can't wait for this one to be over already!
Trump has spent $24M total on his campaign, which includes $6M in donor money, even though he claims that he's not taking any money from anybody! Rubio has spent $76M, Cruz $60M.
I am outraged.
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11) via ThinkProgress
Stanford will now be free to all students from families that earn less than $125,000 per year.
Last week, Stanford University announced that more accepted students won’t have to pay anything for tuition, which normally runs nearly $46,000 a year.
Students whose families make less than $125,000 a year and have assets worth $300,000 or less, including home equity, but excluding anything that they have saved in retirement accounts, won’t have to pay tuition.
Students whose families make less than $65,000 also won’t have to pay for room and board, which can run about another $14,100. Scholarships or grants will cover the costs instead, and the school has a $21 billionendowment.
The thresholds were previously $100,000 for free tuition and $60,000 for free room and board.
Students will still have to contribute at least $5,000 a year from part-time work during the school year, working during the summer, and/or savings.
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12) via Thom Hartmann “There is a widening longevity gap between the rich and the poor. Despite major advances in medicine, education and technology, the average low income American will die more than a decade sooner than their high income equivalent. And that gap has grown substantially in recent years.
In 1960, an average 60-year-old man, in the top half of the income spectrum, could expect to live 1.2 years longer than his low income counterpart.
By 2001 that gap had grown to 5.8 years longer. And today, that gap in life expectancy has jumped to an astonishing 14 years. For women, that gap went from 4.7 years in 2001 to 13 years today.
Researchers believe that higher incidence of smoking among lower income Americans accounts for at least a third of that gap. Other factors like stress levels, food quality, and access to higher quality healthcare has certainly contributed to the longevity of our nation's richest citizens.
Wealthiest Americans can expect to live as long as people in Iceland or Japan, where average life expectancies are the longest, whereas Americans on the lower end of the scale can expect to live as long as people in Poland or the Czech Republic.
And yet another way that the increasing divide between the rich and the poor in our country should be cause for national outrage.
Our paycheck shouldn't determine our lifespan.
That's what happens in a country where you have to be rich to afford good food, quality health care and a little leisure time to relax in the United States."
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *NOTE* - Please understand that I do not claim to be a “journalist”. I am only passing on bits of information, which others have researched, that drift through my awareness, on any given day. I watch, read and listen to any number of different news and entertainment sources, and it’s more than anyone could possibly intake and retain in a day, so I created this little daily “cheat sheet” for myself, so that I could remember all these oddball facts. Then I decided to share these tidbits, and thus was born the Daily TILT. I do this for fun. I hope you enjoy it. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [Snarky comments by me are usually in brackets like this]. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **NOTE: I purposely do not include links or photos in the TILT. The idea is to not have one story be highlighted above all the others. And sometimes links can be stressful. I, myself, sometimes get conflicted when presented with too many choices, so I thought I'd save you the trouble of having to make any of those types of decisions for a few minutes, while you read the Photo and Link-Free TILT!
I encourage you to further research any story that interests you, though. They are easy to Google. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***My Daily Sources are usually one of the following: Democracy Now, The Daily Kos, Thom Hartmann, care2, Mother Jones, David Pakman, Ring of Fire, Jim Hightower, Alternet, Bill Press, Wired UK, John Fugelsang, Lee Camp, Bill Maher, The Huffington Post, The Daily Show, TYT Network, todayifoundout, Truthout, DIGG, Think Progress, Politico, Salon, Star Kelley, Friends of the Earth, Talk Media News, NRDC, Pirate Television, The Upworthiest, The Chase, The View, Soul Pancake, The Petition Site, Bioneers, TechKnow, The Daily Beast, PPP, YouTube and occasionally, MSNBC. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As Thom Hartmann always says, "Democracy is NOT a spectator sport. TAG, you're it!"