I’m writing for tomorrow, day 163. It’s a busy day, and I have much to do.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:46 (average 5:43). To do it click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Report:
Here’s the latest from our own fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.
Scores:
Standings:
Since my best players have returned from a bye week, I hope to do better.
Short Takes:
From Rolling Stone (Hat-Tip Daily Kos): [T]he enormity of the Koch fortune is no mystery. Brothers Charles and David are each worth more than $40 billion. The electoral influence of the Koch brothers is similarly well-chronicled. The Kochs are our homegrown oligarchs; they’ve cornered the market on Republican politics and are nakedly attempting to buy Congress and the White House. Their political network helped finance the Tea Party and powers today’s GOP. Koch-affiliated organizations raised some $400 million during the 2012 election, and aim to spend another $290 million to elect Republicans in this year’s midterms. So far in this cycle, Koch-backed entities have bought 44,000 political ads to boost Republican efforts to take back the Senate.
What is less clear is where all that money comes from. Koch Industries is headquartered in a squat, smoked-glass building that rises above the prairie on the outskirts of Wichita, Kansas. The building, like the brothers’ fiercely private firm, is literally and figuratively a black box. Koch touts only one top-line financial figure: $115 billion in annual revenue, as estimated by Forbes. By that metric, it is larger than IBM, Honda or Hewlett-Packard and is America’s second-largest private company after agribusiness colossus Cargill. The company’s stock response to inquiries from reporters: "We are privately held and don’t disclose this information."
But Koch Industries is not entirely opaque. The company’s troubled legal history – including a trail of congressional investigations, Department of Justice consent decrees, civil lawsuits and felony convictions – augmented by internal company documents, leaked State Department cables, Freedom of Information disclosures and company whistle-blowers, combine to cast an unwelcome spotlight on the toxic empire whose profits finance the modern GOP…
Click through for the rest of this inclusive exposé on the evil brothers Republicans love to … nevermind.
From Slate (Hat-Tip Daily Kos): Many of the police officers present during protests that followed the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, did not wear nametags and refused to identify themselves to members of the public when asked, a practice that is prohbited by law in some places and by department policy in many others. Per a Department of Justice letter sent to Ferguson police on Tuesday, Ferguson officers are in fact required to wear identification by the department’s own regulations. The DOJ instructed officers to begin following this requirement immediately. From Reuters:
… the Justice Department said its investigators had observed Ferguson police officers not wearing, or obscuring, their name tags on their uniforms, a violation of the police department’s rules.
"The failure to wear name plates conveys a message to community members that, through anonymity, officers may seek to act with impunity," the letter said.
The Justice Department then reiterated the identification requirement in a second letter to Ferguson police (whose main purpose was demanding that officers stop wearing "I Am Darren Wilson" solidarity bracelets):
It further was reported to us that some officers affirmatively displaying these bracelets had black tape over their name plates. The practice of not wearing, or obscuring, name plates violates your own department’s policies, which we advised you earlier this week when we requested that you end the practice imrnediately.
The second letter is dated Friday.
Indict the pigs! (I use this not a generic term for police officers, but an insult to these racists, who should not be wearing the uniform.)
From NY Times: The Supreme Court on Monday blocked an appeals court ruling that would have restored seven days of early voting in Ohio.
The Supreme Court’s order was three sentences long and contained no reasoning. But it disclosed an ideological split, with the court’s four more liberal members noting that they would have denied the request for a stay of the lower court’s order extending early voting. Dale Ho, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the court’s action “will deprive many Ohioans of the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election as this case continues to make its way through the courts.”
The ruling, which reflected a partisan breakdown in many court decisions nationwide on voting issues, saw the five Republican-appointed justices uphold the voting restrictions enacted by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature in February. The new limits removed the first week of Ohio’s 35-day early voting period, in the process eliminating the only week that permitted same-day registration, a feature most often used by minorities.
The Fascist Five Injustices of SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD) just took another bite out of Democracy. Only Democrats can occupy the White House until these totalitarian bastards are gone!
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread–10/1/2014”
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6:07 average up a little to 5:49. Tough one. Not in Madison County, is it?
Rolling Stone – I have this bookmrked and have read some of it, but have not managed to summon up the intestinal fortitude to read it all the way through. Considerig the length and intensity of their family's feuds, also, I can't grasp how they can stand to look at each other, to say nothing of a mirror, or of how they managed to find females to spawn with. I will eventually make it. I already know enough to guide my voting so there's not a huge hurry for me. Blessings of almighty God on Rolling Stone for publishing it. (No offense to atheists or agnostics, it's just a form of heart-felt superlative.)
Slate – Sometimes it's a pity there is such a thing as jurisdiction, isn't it? I'm pretty sue the DIJ has no jurisdiction to indict them for this. And don't, please don't, whatever you do, try holding your breath until someone who does have jurisdiction does indict them. We need you. It's like the FBI is going to start tracking a wider classification of animal abuse crimes based on information from states – which is good – but does not give them jurisdiction to do any investigating of these crimes on their own. That would require a Federal animal abuse criminal statute. Which might not even be Constitutional, but in any case could not get passed.
NY Times – So what exactly is the difference between the Ferguson Police Department and the Supreme Court Five? Both are systematically abusing the very people they are supposed to protect.
Cartoon – From your server to God's monitor.
In the long run, the Koch-SCOTUS a$$holes working to disenfranchise citzens may not sere them well, as it clearly shows that Rethuglicans are ot to limit voting rights. (But sadly, they're succeeding!)
4:02 I was getting dizzy. I had to hurry across this bridge.
4:11 I slipped part way across.
3:57 Holy crap! I was going to say "a bridge too far" but I guess I can't.
BigFooted.
Rolling Stone ~ I saved this when Daily Kos sent me the link in an email. I need all the ammunition I can get. I'm glad Rolling Stone went back to their journalistic roots.
Slate ~ Cowards for hiding their identites! No one will be indicted. Smoke and mirrors, my friends. That's all the veiled threats are.
NY Times ~ What else is new with the Injustices of SCROTUS?
Cartoon ~ AMEN!
Puzzle — 3:57 Holy crap! I was going to say "a bridge too far" but I guess I can't.
FF — Well lookie thar! I deposed TomCat from second place! Considering that I came no higher than 9 out of 10 last year, I am doing very well so far this year. . . but there is still a long way to go!
Rolling Stone — Now this is rich considering it was Charles Koch who said it.
When did the Kochs ever consider other people or the planet in all their business dealings? The Kochs lack any moral compass or integrity.
This is such a long article that I am going to have to come back to it
Slate — Law and order? To serve and protect? If the Ferguson police can't follow the law and proceedural rules, how can they legitimately serve and protect with integrity? I'm with you TC . . . indict the bastards!
NY Times — With the 5 Injustices of SCROTUS, the Republicanus/Teabaggers, and the Koch brothers, American democracy is in big trouble if Democrats and other liberals don`t get off their collective ass and GET OUT THE VOTE!
Cartoon — Amen!!!
I even offered you a trade.
You did? Where would I see that?
So far, my dudes are doing quite well!
Look in the Updates section. League page, top right.
Rolling Stone: I feel ill after reading about these criminals and knowing that they are buying our government every day, with the active help of many of our politicians.
Slate: Yes they should be indicted. Obscuring their names was a way to commit a crime against citizens without being caught.
NY Times: Is anyone surprised at this ruling? The FAscist Five will always rule in favor of a Republican action. I repeat myself, but there should be a term limit on Supreme Court Justices.
Cartoon: I agree wholeheartedly, and hope we keep the Senate controlled by Democrats.
Thanks all. Pit stop.
TY TC- the Rolling Stone article is very good – and I understand that the author is now under attack – a personal attack – because of it, as seems to be their way.
Slate – that was one thing that the world always admired about America – that its forces of law and order were confident enough (and hopefully good enough) to put their names on their uniforms. Typical of cowards to cover or remove them.
NYT – the fascist five invariably rule along ideological lines, not those of law or justice. They are a disaster for America and the world sadly.