Tag Archives: christmas

Friday Cat Blogging – 23 December 2016

Mother Jones

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As you can see, Hopper is getting ready for Christmas. She has spurned this particular cat bed since the day we bought it, but as soon as we put it under the tree she claimed it as her own.

Does our tree look a little sparse? I assure you we have plenty of ornaments higher up, but we decided to keep the bottom foot of the tree free of distraction. I assume this needs no explanation.

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Friday Cat Blogging – 23 December 2016

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3 Ethical Fashion Companies That Care About the World

Thirtyyears ago, so called “ethical fashion” was essentially non-existent. The manufacturing boom brought with it all sorts of high profile disasters, from child slave labor to unethical sourcing of materials, and big name brands were disproportionately more concerned with making a buck than creating socially and environmentally-responsible items.

Now, more and more traditional mega brands are recognizing the importance of sustainable fashion. And alongside them, dozens of stylish, ethical brands are finding their place in the sun.

What is ethical fashion?

Ethical fashion has come a long way since its dull, scratchy, eco-beginnings. Today, many sustainable brands lead the chargewhen it comes to creating classy, beautiful garmentsthat also honor what it means to be a responsible creator of goods.

The Ethical Fashion Forum saysit this way:

“Ethical fashion represents an approach to the design, sourcing and manufacturing of clothing which maximizes the benefits to people and communities, while minimizing impact on the environment.”

But what does that mean exactly?

Ethical fashion brands are commonly judged on whether or not the brand cares aboutthe following:

Countering fast, cheap fashion and damaging patterns of fashion consumption
Defending fair wages, working conditions and workers’ rights
Supporting sustainable livelihoods
Addressing toxic pesticide and chemical use
Using and/or developing eco-friendly fabrics and components
Minimizing water use
Recycling and addressing energy efficiency and waste
Developing or promoting sustainability standards for fashion
Resources, training and/or awareness raising initiatives
Animal rights

Another way to look at it is through the lens of the “Triple Bottom Line.” This means thatrather than examining a business purely from a profit-perspectivethat the brand’s attention to social and environmental aspects is also considered.

With those criteria in mind, here are the five newcomers to the ethical fashion scene! You may want to consider adding these companies to your Christmas gift short-list.

The Simple Kind

The Simple Kind Website

The Simple Kind is an ethical fashion company that celebrates women and childrenby making”whimsical and timeless dresses that reflect the hearts of the little girls who wear them.” Every item isdesigned in-house in Denver, Colorado, then carefully madeby groups that empower women all over the world.

The company releases just a few specially constructed pieces at a time with the intent to see their high-quality garments last for generations to come. All materials are intentionally and thoughtfully sourced in ethical and environmentally-friendly ways.

You can find out more about the company and its originshere.

UNIFORM

UNIFORM Website

UNIFORM, a new clothing line featuring hip, minimalist clothing, is taking sustainability to the next level. The company was founded by Chid Liberty, a Liberian-American who pioneered Africa’s first Fair Trade Certified apparel manufacturer, Liberty & Justice, and got its start via a Kickstarter campaign.

UNIFORM is on a mission to give back to its West African community by investing in local manufacturing and donating school uniforms to children who otherwise could not attend school.

Help them get to their goal of 50,000 uniforms donated here!

Sseko Designs

Sseko Designs Website

Sseko Designsis an ethical fashion brand that “hires high potential women in Uganda to make sandals, to enable them to earn money through dignified employment that will go directly towards their college educations.” So far, Sseko has sent more than 70 women to university.

Sseko Designs blends a financially self-sustaining business model with a cause: sending young women to school in Uganda and other regions of East Africa. Peruse their website to discover beautiful goodies, from footwear to leather bags and other accessories.
Have you ever shopped ethical brands? Which are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments!

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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3 Ethical Fashion Companies That Care About the World

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Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger: It’s Personal. Very Personal.

Mother Jones

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At Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate, one of the most heated exchanges concerned an unlikely topic: Henry Kissinger. During a stretch focused on foreign policy, Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont, jabbed at former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for having cited Kissinger, who was Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, as a fan of her stint at Foggy Bottom.

“I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country,” Sanders huffed, adding, “I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger.” He referred to the secret bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war as a Kissinger-orchestrated move that eventually led to genocide in that country. “So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger,” Sanders roared. Clinton defended her association with Kissinger by replying, “I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas.” She cast her interactions with Kissinger as motivated by her desire to obtain any information that might be useful to craft policy. “People we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States,” she said.

What Clinton did not mention was that her bond with Kissinger was personal as well as professional, for she and her husband have for years regularly spent their winter holidays with Kissinger and his wife Nancy at the beachfront villa of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who died in 2014, and his wife Annette in the Dominican Republic.

This campaign tussle over Kissinger began a week earlier, at a previous debate, when Clinton, looking to boost her résumé, said, “I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea about what it’s going to take to make our government work more efficiently.” A few days later, Bill Clinton, while campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire, told a crowd of her supporters, “Henry Kissinger, of all people, said she ran the State Department better and got more out of the personnel at the State Department than any secretary of state in decades, and it’s true.” His audience of Democrats clapped loudly in response.

It was odd that the Clintons, locked in a fierce fight to win Democratic votes, would name-check a fellow who for decades has been criticized—and even derided as a war criminal—by liberals. Bill and Hillary Clinton themselves opposed the Vietnam War that Nixon and Kissinger inherited and continued. Hillary Clinton was a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Nixon, and one of the articles of impeachment drafted by the staff (but which was not approved) cited Nixon for covering up his secret bombing of Cambodia. In the years since then, information has emerged showing that Kissinger’s underhanded and covert diplomacy led to brutal massacres around the globe, including in Chile, Argentina, East Timor, and Bangladesh.

With all this history, it was curious that in 2014, Clinton wrote a fawning review of Kissinger’s latest book and observed, “America, he reminds us, succeeds by standing up for our values, not shirking them, and leads by engaging peoples and societies, the sources of legitimacy, not governments alone.” In that article, she called Kissinger, who had been a practitioner of a bloody foreign-policy realpolitik, “surprisingly idealistic.”

This Clinton love-fest with Kissinger is not new. And it is not simply a product of professional courtesy or solidarity among former secretaries of state, who comprise, after all, a small club. There is also a strong social connection between the Clintons and the Kissingers. They pal around together. On June 3, 2013, Hillary Clinton presented an award to de la Renta, a good friend who for years had provided her dresses and fashion advice, and then the two of them hopped over to a 90th birthday party for Kissinger. In fact, the schedule of the award ceremony had been shifted to allow Clinton and de la Renta to make it to the Kissinger bash. (Secretary of State John Kerry also attended the party.) The Kissingers and the de la Rentas were longtime buddies. Kissinger wrote one of his recent books while staying at de la Rentas’ mansion in the Dominican Republic and dedicated the book to the fashion designer and his wife.

The Clintons and Kissingers appear to spend a chunk of their quality time together at that de la Renta estate in the Punta Cana resort. Last year, the Associated Press noted that this is where the Clintons take their annual Christmas holiday. And other press reports in the United States and Dominican Republic have pointed out that the Kissingers are often part of the gang the de la Rentas have hosted each year. When Oscar de la Renta died in 2014, the New York Times obituary reported:

At holidays, the de la Rentas filled their house in Punta Cana with relatives and friends, notably Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy and Henry Kissinger, and the art historian John Richardson. The family dogs had the run of the compound, and Mr. de la Renta often sang spontaneously after dinner. First-time visitors, seeking him out in the late afternoon, were surprised to find him in the staff quarters, hellbent on winning at dominoes.

In 2012, the Wall Street Journal, in a profile of de la Renta, wrote:

Over Christmas the Kissingers were among the close group who gathered in Punta Cana, including Barbara Walters, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Charlie Rose. “We have two house rules,” says Oscar, laughing. “There can be no conversation of any substance and nothing nice about anyone.”

A travel industry outlet reported that Vogue editor Anna Wintour was part of the crew that year. The Times described the house this way: “Though imposing in the Colonial style, with wide verandas (and its own chapel on the grounds), it also had a relaxed feeling.” Last April, the Weekly Standard noted that the Clintons had spent a week around the previous New Year’s at Punta Canta and that Secret Service protection for the trip had cost $104,000. It was during this vacation that Hillary Clinton reportedly decided to run for president for the second time.

This Clinton-Kissinger-de la Renta gathering seems to occur most years. In 2011, de la Renta, a native of the Dominican Republic, told Vogue that he built this seaside estate so he could host his close friends, and he cited the Kissingers and Clintons as examples. “At Christmas,” he said, “we’re always in the same group.”

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Henry Kissinger nor Annette de la Renta.

When awarding herself the Kissinger seal of approval to bolster her standing as a competent diplomat and government official, Hillary Clinton has not referred to the annual hobnobbing at the de la Renta villa. So when Sanders criticized Clinton for playing the Kissinger card—”not my kind of guy,” he declared—whether he realized it or not, he was hitting very close to home.

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Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger: It’s Personal. Very Personal.

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How Sanders and Trump Pulled Off Two Very Different Revolutions

Mother Jones

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In New Hampshire, an angry populist who calls for a revolution and assails the Washington establishment, special-interest lobbyists, big-money politics, and rapacious corporations won an election in a historic move that could shake up and remake American politics.

And Bernie Sanders did, too.

Donald Trump triumphed in the GOP primary bagging about a third of the vote. He lapped the rest of the pack, while John Kasich placed second with about 16 percent, and Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio clumped together at about 11 percent. Trump’s conquest of the GOP came after the xenophobic tycoon reality-show star honed his populist message in a manner that echoed Sanders’ approach. Sanders, the democratic socialist who only recently identified as a Democrat, bested Hillary Clinton, the poster child for the Democratic establishment, by about 18 points. This was a commanding showing for Sanders, after the Clinton campaign tried mightily—with Bill Clinton deriding Sanders’ supporters—to close the gap to single digits. Sanders achieved this win by sticking to his trademark lines: Enough is enough, the banks have to be broken up, the billionaires cabal must be busted so it cannot buy elections, and a “revolution” is needed to smash corporate power, tax “Wall Street speculation,” and deliver universal health care, a living wage, and tuition-free college to the citizenry. He roused young voters and apparently fared well among white working-class men, who presumably share Sanders’ fury regarding what he calls a “rigged economy” that generates income inequality. (These blue-collar voters backed Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary.)

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How Sanders and Trump Pulled Off Two Very Different Revolutions

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Friday Cat Blogging – 8 January 2016

Mother Jones

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The holidays just fly by, don’t they? At least, that’s what we all say after they’re over. This time, though, the inconvenient timing of Christmas means that you never saw the furballs in action on Christmas morning. As usual, the presents we bought them were dirt cheap, but they nonetheless enjoyed them far more than the humans did. The picture below is relatively early in the morning, when the cat presents were still in tolerably good shape. An hour later it was just a mountain of scraps.

By the way, Hopper here is the reason we didn’t have a Christmas tree this year. It would have been a disaster. Maybe next year.

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Friday Cat Blogging – 8 January 2016

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These 19 Big-Name Toothpastes and Face Scrubs Will Be Forced to Ditch Tiny Bits of Plastic

Mother Jones

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Just before Christmas, Congress passed a law banning microbeads—those tiny pieces of plastic that act as exfoliants in face washes, toothpastes, and other personal-care products.

Researchers have found that the beads are too small to be caught by water treatment plants, so they end up in waterways. There, they act as sponges for toxins—such as pesticides, heavy metals, and phthalates—and are frequently mistaken by fish for food. Roughly 300 million tons of the plastics per year end up in US waterways.

The Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which requires companies to stop using plastic microbeads by June of 2017, was introduced to the House in March. The House passed the bill in December, and the Senate passed it a week later with unanimous consent.

The law comes after several states had passed bans on the beads; in response to consumer pressure, large personal-care companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble had already announced initiatives to phase out the microbeads.

But several popular consumer products still contain the plastics, and these brands have some reworking to do before summer of 2017. Here are some big-name products that contain plastic microbeads—and some that don’t.

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These 19 Big-Name Toothpastes and Face Scrubs Will Be Forced to Ditch Tiny Bits of Plastic

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Kentucky’s New Governor Wastes No Time in Revoking Ex-Felons’ Right to Vote

Mother Jones

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Two weeks before leaving office, the outgoing governor of Kentucky, Democrat Steve Beshear, set up an application process to restore voting rights to the state’s ex-felons. Kentucky is one of three states today that permanently disenfranchise everyone with a felony conviction unless the governor expressly restores the right to vote, a system that disproportionately affects African Americans. The most recent data shows that 5.5 percent of Kentucky’s voting-age population is disenfranchised due to a past conviction—but for African Americans, the number is 16.7 percent.

Beshear’s announcement was expected to give 140,000 disenfranchised ex-felons in Kentucky the right to vote. But only a small number of them were able to take advantage of the new system before Beshear’s successor, Republican Matt Bevin, undid it.

Last week, just before Christmas, the governor issued a series of executive orders scrapping the work of his predecessor, including the restoration of ex-felon voting rights. Bevin’s stated reason for undoing the executive order was that the former governor did not have the authority to change the rules. “While I have been a vocal supporter of the restoration of rights, for example, it is an issue that must be addressed through the legislature and by the will of the people,” said Bevin, a tea party favorite. That’s an unusual interpretation of the state constitution, which gives the executive sole power to restore voting rights without any restrictions on how it is done.

The Bevin administration is not shy about claiming executive authority on other matters. On the same day that he ended Beshear’s streamlined process for restoring ex-felons’ rights, he also ended the requirement that marriage licenses bear the name of the presiding county clerk—a concession to Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

“The requirement that the county clerk’s name appear on marriage licenses is prescribed by Kentucky law and is not subject to unilateral change by the governor,” William Sharp, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said last week in response to Bevin’s order. “Today, however, a new administration claims to have that authority.”

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Kentucky’s New Governor Wastes No Time in Revoking Ex-Felons’ Right to Vote

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7 Ways to Keep Your Old Christmas Tree Out of the Trash

It’s such a waste to trash a Christmas tree after the holidays. It took about 10 or 15 years to grow that tree, and then it’s used for a couple of weeks and tossed out.

Instead, here are 7 ways to put your tree to good use so it doesn’t end up in a landfill.

1) Make potpourri or sachets out of the needles – Snip the needles off the branches and collect them in an 8 oz. jar with a tight-fitting lid. From time to time, transfer a couple of tablespoons of needles into a small decorative bowl, or a small cloth bag sachet that closes tightly with a drawstring. Put the bowl in a dresser or in your bathroom. Squeeze the needles, which will release the oil they contain and emit a nice piney aroma. Put the cloth bag in a dresser drawer or bathroom cabinet, where you can give it a squeeze every now and then to release the pine scent. When the needles dry out, replenish them from the fresh ones in the closed jar. Here are instructions on making the sachet.

2) Use the branches as mulch in your garden or landscape – Use garden shears or, for thicker branches, a small saw. Cut the tree branches one by one. Then, layer the branches under trees and bushes. They make an excellent mulch, and provide shelter for wildlife.

3) Create a bird sanctuary –ThisOldHouse.com recommends placing your tree in its stand outdoors. Fill bird feeders and hang them from the boughs. You can also drape the tree with a swag of pinecones coated with peanut butter.

4) Cut the trunk into pieces and use to edge your garden or for pathways – Cut the trunk into pieces 3 inches thick so they won’t decompose quickly in the elements. Place them flat if you’re creating a path out of them, and on their side if you’re using them as edging.

5) Slice the trunk into coasters – While you have your saw out, cut a section of the trunk into slices about a half inch thick. Leave the outer bark on the wood, but use sandpaper on both sides until they’re smooth. Glue felt to the bottom of the slice. Stain the top of the slice with a water-based stain. You can find the rest of the instructions on Instructables here.

6) Cut the trunk into differing heights to create stands for pots or an interesting winter sculpture – If you’re going to use the trunk as a pot stand, it needs to be made from the thickest part of the trunk, and the bottom needs to be completely flat so it is stable. The top also needs to be flat, so whatever you put on it won’t tip over. There are no rules when it comes to making a sculpture! One option is to make a sculpture out of differently sized pieces of wood. Another is to whittle away pieces of the trunk into a fun and visually interesting design. Do whatever makes you happy!

7) Use it to control erosion –FortCollinsNursery.com reports that many communities use old Christmas trees to shore up eroding beaches and to create windbreaks that help sand dunes rebuild.

If none of these options appeal to you, hopefully, your community will pick up the tree for chipping or composting.

What other ways do you use your old Christmas tree? Please share!

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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7 Ways to Keep Your Old Christmas Tree Out of the Trash

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Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Is Far More Sensational Then Jeb Bush’s

Mother Jones

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The folks at the Tax Policy Center have spurned my advice to spend more time with their families, instead spending their holiday weekends beavering away on an analysis of Donald Trump’s tax plan. And the important news is that it’s bigger, more energetic, and altogether more taxerrific than Jeb Bush’s weak-tea excuse for a tax plan. Bush would increase the national debt by 28 percentage points over the next decade. Trump kills it with a 39 point increase in red ink. Bush raises the federal deficit by $1 trillion in 2026. Trump goes big and increases it by $1.6 trillion. Bush’s plan costs $6.8 trillion over ten years. Trump’s plan clocks in at a budget-busting $9.5 trillion. And Bush reduces the tax rate of the super-rich by a meager 7.6 percent. Trump buries him by slashing tax rates for the Wall Street set by 12.5 percent.

Once again, Bush has brought a knife to a gun fight, and Trump has slapped him silly. This is why Trump is a winner. Merry Christmas, billionaires!

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Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Is Far More Sensational Then Jeb Bush’s

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Obamacare Continues to Do Pretty Well

Mother Jones

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Shorter Charles Gaba: For now, it still looks like Obamacare enrollment this year will end up at around 14.7 million. That’s not bad, especially considering that fewer people are dropping out of employer plans than expected.

For everyone except die-hard conservatives who are driven mad by the thought of poor people getting decent health care, this is a pretty good Christmas present. Enjoy it.

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Obamacare Continues to Do Pretty Well

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