I’m writing for tomorrow and am feeling a bit tired from my cool cat binge of the last couple days. It’s been a slow news morning, as most everyone in the mainstream are squabbling over things I’ve already covered, at least for now. Nevertheless I am going to post two, counting this one. Day 26.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:53 (average 6:32). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: On a scale from 1 to 10 on the WTF meter, this is pretty much off the charts. Millions of kids are sitting in classrooms this school year where they could be taught inaccuracies about HIV and sex. Folks, it’s clear we are doing it wrong. I don’t know about you, but I think we owe it to kids to tell them the truth so they are not surprised by an unwanted pregnancy or an STD. Can’t we at least get on board with that idea?
Click through for a series of maps that demonstrate how Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians have forced dogma over science in sex-ed.
From NY Times: The Obama administration’s legal team has told Congress that if Guantánamo Bay detainees were relocated to a prison inside the United States, it is unlikely that a court would order their release onto domestic soil.
In a nine-page, unclassified report delivered late Wednesday, the Justice Department and the Pentagon expressed confidence that existing law provided “robust protection of the national security.” It added that Congress could also take steps to further reduce any legal risk that detainees transferred to the United States could be released.
Under President Obama’s plan to close the Guantánamo prison, detainees who are deemed too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release would continue to be held in indefinite detention somewhere else. In Mr. Obama’s first term, his national security team considered sending them to a high-security prison in Standish, Mich., or Thomson, Ill., before Congress prohibited transferring them onto domestic soil for any reason.
Obama continues to try to close the GOP Gulag at Gitmo. Republicans continue to sabotage those attempts.
From Robert Reich: Timothy Geithner’s new book about the financial crisis, “Stress Test,” is basically an argument that the Wall Street bailout succeeded. That’s hardly surprising, given that Geithner was in charge of the bailout when Treasury Secretary (as was his predecessor at Treasury, Hank Paulson), and so has an inherit interest in telling the public it succeeded.
Even so, the bailout clearly did succeed, if success means avoiding another Great Depression.
But another Great Depression might have been avoided if the crisis had been handled differently — for example, by allowing the bankruptcy laws to do what they were intended to do, and forcing the big Wall Street banks to reorganize under them.
In fact, the bailout was a colossal failure in several respects Geithner barely mentions in his book, or avoids completely:
Never let it be said that I don’t pick on Democrats, when needed. The three blind mice, Timmy "The Tool" Geithner, Ben "Bankster Butt" Bernanke, and Larry "Always Wrong" Summers, are Obama’s three worst appointees. He should never have listened to Hillary about them. Click through for Robert Reich’s analysis of what they should have done, but didn’t do. The Reich on the left is right!
Cartoon:
21 Responses to “Open Thread–5/17/2014”
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5:53. Well, now that's gettting down to brass (oops, of course I mean plastic) tacks.
Upworthy – OK, so Fox News doesn't have to tell the truth. Science teachers don't have to tell the truth. Sex educators don't have to tell the truth. Well, that's American exceptionalism all right. Exceptionally dumb. Then we wonder why people vote Republican.
NY Times – This must make us really popular internationally. We have a teenager we can't handle, so we lock him up in the neighbor's house. What, wait a minute? In the neighbor's house?
Robert Reich – I see the contact form on his blog is no longer accepting submissions. I woner whether too many people were using it to beg him to run for office or accept a new political appointment. I know I would love to see him in a position to lay down law and regulations. (The three Democrats you criticize I would call DINOs myself.)
Cartoon – That was a wonderful day. But we should never have wimped out into allowing the charter schools the new Republicans came up with to get around it. Yes, there are some excellent charter schools, but way too many are an excuse to avoid integration.
Amen to exceptionally dumb!
I want to correct a misperception I’ve seen a lot at the Liberal sites I’ve visited this morning.
They’re all gloating about the huge FAIL of “Operation American Spring” because Teabaggers were predicting 10 Million people, and only a handful showed up.
But that’s WRONG!
They were actually only predicting 10 MILLING people.
Isn't it amazing the difference one letter of the alphabet can make!
The estimate was 10 – 30 million people. It was in that range, close to 10. 😉
To be honest, I was getting a bit concerned for Oregon's Sen. Merkley because the GOP had recruited a pretty attractive potential opponent. (GOP Primary is ~ May 20) in Dr. Monica Wehby.
She's a pediatric neurosurgeon, quite attractive with much better than typical Rethuglican credentials. But she apparently is not only a stalker, but has quite a few other problems.
http://www.blueoregon.com/2014/05/monica-wehby-creepy-stalker/
http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/261269/speedreads-romney-endorsed-candidate-wehby-is-having-a-bizarre-month
Great minds fall in the same ditch. I had plugge the Politico verson into today's.
The Right is wrong, vote Left… 😆
Further to your post on Net Neutrality a few days ago TC, Credo Mobile has a petition which I just received this morning. Hope everyone will sign. Here's the link:
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/obama_nn_2014/?akid=10709.4312055.oG95G6&rd=1&t=3
I of course have signed and posted it to FB. I also linked your net neutrality post from the other day so perhaps you'll get some hits.
I'm back but this time trying to spread the word about the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. Here is an infographic and petition to BC Premier Christie Clark to stand strong. (Click on "Stand Strong") near the top. If Stephen Harper approves the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, which in my personal opinion he will do since he is not known as environmentally friendly and his political base is in Alberta, Christy Clark can still stop it from being built.
http://standstrongchristy.ca/
Thanks everyone.
Had already signed thed first. Signed the second.
4:30 I got pinned to the floor. TomCat went over the tacks with his steamroller.
3:54 ~ ARRRGH!
4:53 How to get pushed around and your ears pinned back!
MY A/C installation got me used to tacky.
Upworthy: A sad representation of states that refuse to give proper information in sex education. Do they really not know that kids are sexually active at a much younger age these days, and need the info to protect themselves?
NY Times: Gitmo is and has been a disgrace to our country. The Republicans started it, and I guess they think it would show how wrong they were if they allowed it to close. I am tired of being protected from terrorism to the exclusion of everything else that is right and moral.
I agree with Reich. The bail out did avoid a depression, but it has allowed the big banks to become even more powerful with the knowledge that they will be all right, no matter how many other live are ruined by their decisions.
Cartoon: One of the best rulings ever made!
They know, but they think they can use ignorance to controll thed problem. That doesn't work anymore.
Puzzle — 4:53 How to get pushed around and your ears pinned back!
Upworthy — Accurate sex and sexual health education MUST never be a political issue. Too many lives depend on having medically accurate information.
NY Times — There is no doubt that Guantanamo must be shut down. But one thing that I find puzzling is in the following statement:
What is "too difficult to prosecute"? Either the prosecution is able to make a satisfactory case or it isn't. And "indefinite detention" seems akin to torture. I agree that in the circumstances, releasing prisoners on US soil is foolhardy, returning them to their country of origin should be done. Republicanus/Teabaggers will always thwart all Obama's attempts to close Gitmo for no other reason than they are obstructionist ideologues.
Robert Reich — I agree with Reich, especially his 3rd point:
I think of the Americans who lost their homes and livelihoods to predatory lending practices and intractable big banks. The Banks are hugely successful again, providing you measure success in dollars, but have they been successful in making changes to stabilise the financial deallings of the country? As Reich says, they are back to making the same risky decisions, only this time with a sense of impunity.
Cartoon — I saw an article recently (damned if I know where!) that discussed Brown vs the Board of Education as a bright spot that has been seemingly lost now. Many public schools, according to the article, have a higher percentage of Blacks and Latinos and other ethnicities. The funding for these schools is dropping and charter schools, who have a higher percentage of white and Asian students are getting more funding. Seems like segregation is back.
Essentially there are a few really dangerous terrorists that we cannot prosecute, because The Bush Reich used illegal means to extract confessions making the evidence inadmissable in court. Their own countries refuse to tke them. Nobody else wants them.
Corn Cobb Crunch Nuggets… 👿
5:59 – Puzzle