Random Politics & Religion #00

Knowledge is one thing. Applying it within context is another.

I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.

....darn

youtube is down, lordgrim will be malleable until it's fixed!

The ***?

Do people want to stay poor for their entire lifetime?

Think of the children!

Saving is not good?

You're supposed to rack up debt with credit cards and loans, not save. Debt saves the economy, but kills the individual.

A California jury on Friday cleared venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers of gender discrimination claims brought against it by a woman former partner in a trial that transfixed Silicon Valley.

After further deliberation, the jury also cleared Kleiner on a claim that the firm had retaliated against former partner Ellen Pao by terminating her employment after she sued in 2012.

The verdict dashed Pao's hopes for personal vindication, but the trial's embarrassing disclosures about how Pao and other women were treated at Kleiner have cast a long shadow over Silicon Valley corporate culture and its lack of diversity.

The California Superior Court case laid bare the personnel matters of the firm that backed Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc, with Pao's attorneys painting Kleiner as a quarrelsome pressure cooker where a former male partner used business trips as opportunities to make advances to female colleagues.

Pao, now interim chief executive at social-news service Reddit, claimed her standing at Kleiner crumbled after she ended a brief affair with partner Ajit Nazre. Her career deteriorated after he and Kleiner started retaliating against her, amid a climate that was overall unfriendly toward women, her lawyers argued.

The firm disputed those charges, presenting evidence that Kleiner went out of its way to hire women.

Pao sought to illustrate her point with testimony from former Kleiner partner, Trae Vassallo, who said Nazre appeared at her hotel room on a business trip. He wore a bathrobe and carried a glass of wine, according to testimony.

Kleiner countered that it investigated Nazre after Vassallo complained, after which he quickly left the firm.

Obamacare sucking up all that disposable income.

Obamacare sucking up all that disposable income.

Thanks Obama.

The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding.

The 52-46 vote on the non-binding budget resolution put Congress on a path to complete its first full budget in six years. It came at the end of a marathon 18-hour session that saw approval of dozens of amendments ranging from Iran sanctions to carbon emissions and immigration policies.

Two Republican senators who are running or considering running for president, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, voted against their party's budget plan, which is similar to one passed by House Republicans on Wednesday.

In addition to aiming to eliminate deficits within 10 years, both documents seek to ease the path for a repeal or replacement of President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law.

But differences between the two documents still need to be worked out and a combined budget passed next month by both chambers. Doing so would allow Republicans to invoke parliamentary rules to repeal "Obamacare" with a simple majority in the Senate rather than a tough-to-achieve 60 vote threshold.

Under the convoluted U.S. spending process, the budgets do not become law, but influence government agency funding bills later in the year. They also showcase the fiscal vision for Republicans, who now control both Houses of Congress for the first time since 2006 and are eager to demonstrate their ability to govern.

"This balanced budget is an important first step to help Washington live within its means, just like hardworking families have to do every day," said Republican Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi.

He added that once a final budget is passed lawmakers would begin to work to find alternate savings that would allow them to ease statutory budget caps on military and domestic programs.

The Senate budget seeks to eliminate U.S. deficits by 2025 without raising taxes through deep cuts to social safety net programs, investments in transportation and education and other domestic programs.

At the same time, it proposes to boost defense spending by adding about $38 billion to an off-budget war funding account, and offers core Pentagon budget increases in subsequent years.

More than 50 non-binding amendments were considered on Thursday and Friday in an open "vote-a-rama" process that allowed senators to promote pet causes or try to force opposition members into votes that may be used in campaign ads.

Republicans passed a symbolic roll-back of the Obama administration's carbon emissions rules for power plants, while a Democratic proposal to recognize climate change risks for the military won approval.

Another Democratic amendment to let all Americans earn paid sick leave passed with a surprisingly strong 61 votes, with support from 14 Republicans. The Senate also voted unanimously to make it easier to reimpose sanctions if Iran violates any nuclear deal.