I’ve has almost no sleep, because it has been hot and muggy, a combination that always exacerbates street noise. Portland is under a severe weather warning for excessive heat until Monday evening. Today’s forecast high is 98°. Fortunately, I got up very early this morning to cook, as now it would not be feasible. I hope you’re having a great weekend.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:47 (average 4:37). To do0 it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: The mayor of Airway Heights, Washington—a suburb of Spokane—is refusing calls to resign despite immediate backlash regarding comments he made on Facebook:
The comment in full that was found on Patrick Rushing’s Facebook page read: "Gorilla face Michelle, can’t disagree with that. The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack. Check out them ears. LOL."
I showed Rushing the statement, and he confirmed he had posted it, so I asked him why he would write something like that.
"It’s just playful back and forth banter that my friends and I do," said Rushing.
The Airway Heights City Council was unanimous in their desire to see him resign, but he’s not budging.
By thinking such comments were just joking, this Republican proved that he really is a racist.
From NY Times: Days after a showdown over the Confederate battle flag, House Republicans are barreling toward a new confrontation on another contentious issue: How should Congress respond to the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage?
Legislation granting protections for tax-exempt organizations and individuals objecting to same-sex marriage on religious or moral grounds is gathering momentum in the House. The bills, drafted by Representative Raúl R. Labrador, Republican of Idaho, and Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, already have 130 co-sponsors. On Thursday, the Republican Study Committee, the largest, most organized group of conservatives in the House, demanded a vote.
Once again, Republicans are trying to make Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians above the law.
From Alternet: Elizabeth Warren has drawn a line in 2016’s presidential election sands.
Speaking at the Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix on Friday, she challenged the presidential candidates to stand behind legislation introduced this week that would vastly slow down the revolving door between Wall Street’s financial firms and working for the government—where high-level private sector employees end up making government decisions that favor their past employers over the public.
This a 29 minute video. Every minute is worth watching!
Cartoon:
38 Responses to “Open Thread–7/18/2015”
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This came in my mails a few days ago from Elizabeth Warren:
Hi Jim,
Tens of thousands of people have already signed up to support the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act – my bipartisan bill to separate boring commercial banking and risky investment banking.
Wall Street spent decades – and millions of dollars – to repeal the original Glass-Steagall Act, and you can bet they’ll do whatever it takes to keep it from being reinstated. We need grassroots support from all across the country if we’re going to fight back to make our financial institutions smaller and safer.
Please sign our petition to support Glass-Steagall now. Let’s show the big banks that enough is enough.
http://http://my.elizabethwarren.com/page/s/glasssteagall?source=20150715em
Thanks!
Elizabeth
I think I already signed this but was going to sign anyways. As a career management banker (not a bankster!), I firmly believe in the separation of investment banking and everyday banking. However, the link had an error and would not load.
The correct link for Elizabeth Warren's Glass -Steagall petition is as below:
http://my.elizabethwarren.com/page/s/glasssteagall?source=20150715em#.Var0LN2YnDo
Thanks Jim. Signed
Thanks, Jim, I signed.
Thanks for posting, Jim. This affects us all, so I signed too.
Signed, Jim. Thanks for posting.
Signed, with pleasure, Jim!
Thanks Jim. Been there.!
4:00 (average 4:37) I guess you could call that a fish, but it looks – umm – tough.
Website with scoop on all the announced GOP candidates: http://my.democrats.org/The-2016-GOP-Field
DKos – Excellent example of ignorant racism, yes. Every town/city has its own rules for municipal government and they are so different – even within a state – it would require some research to know how he was "hired" and how he can be "fired." I think I read there is a recall process. Incidentally, this is is also a test case for my claim that political correctness is just another term for manners. His comments were so f***ing RUDE by anyone's standard! Rules are needed because SOME people are just so uncivil.
NY Times – How should Congress respond? Congress should STFU. If they issue any statement, that statement should be a riff on "The Supreme Court has spoken, this is now the law of the land." Yeah, said no Republican ever.
Alternet – She is more lenient than I am. I WOULD make employment on Wall Street an automatic disqualification for a government position regulating Wall Street. However, as a practical matter, we will be extremely lucky to get legislation passed that's anywhere close to her position.
Cartoon – They think they are so American, but the creed was written by a Brit – in irony of course – however, it was probably a Tory creed long before it was a Republican one.
I am not going to set up a poll on a poll site, but I do wonder what people here think – is HuffPo correct to cover the Trump campaign exclusively in the entertainment section? Yes? No? Other thoughts?
JD, I am of 2 minds on your Huff Post/Trump question.
On one hand, I can accept the Huff Post burying Trump in the entertainment section thereby questioning the validity of his campaign. I would think that the entertainment section is not as widely viewed as the news or politics sections.
On the other hand, maybe all of his "bloviating, bombastic bravado stupidity", to quote that master of words, Nameless, needs to be up front so that people can see just what a bigoted, racist fool he really is.
I guess leave him on the front page but make sure there is sufficient "guidance" for those who don't quite get how much of an idiot he is.
Donald Trump is a narcissistic attention seeker and not to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, so the HuffPo has sent exactly the right signals by exclusively covering him in the entertainment section.
I wish HuffPo would put him in the Politics section. That might make him think he is a legitimate candidate. If he stays in the race till the end he will divide the TeapublicanT vote and ensure a win for the Democrat candidate. Not to mention all the comic relief he provides.
I tend to think Hariball should be in Politics. Nothing about hi, is entertaining, and Repbulicans should not have the opportunity to say he does not personify their brand.
I usually change polls on the 1st and 16th. If any of you have an idea for a poll, let me knoiw a few days before, and I'll consider it.
Lynn, interesting you should expect that Entertainment is not as widely viewed as News or Politics. My guess would be the opposite. Remember when John Oliver did the show on, among other things, dick pix? And he showed all those people who had no idea who Edward Snowden is, but could easily identify entertainers?
I agree with HuffPo JD given today's offense:
http://lulac.org/news/pr/LULAC_Condemns_Anti-Immigrant_Bigot_Donald_Trump_for_Insulting_POWs/
3:16 I was dragin' a bit on this puzzle.
2:28 I wasn't dragin'! I was born in the year of the dragon and I love refreshing water so this puzzle is so me!
2:57 I guess I wasn't that thirsty.
No water fore a poor thirsty kitten during a heat wave.
Just came across this video about stress management. It is short at only 3 minutes but what a wonderful 3 minutes! Even mangy, snaggle-toothed TomCats will enjoy it! http://blog.theanimalrescuesite.com/kittentherapymagic/
Works for me. I fostered a pregnant cat last fall, she had five kittens. They were four months old by the time they all got homes. I have to admit, I was getting stressed. I all ready have 4, all rescues, and ten cats is a LOT of work and money. I am ready for another litter, hubby is not.
Scratch my hack and I'll happily help you relieve stress,
By now most of you have heard about Donald Trump shooting himself in the foot with this comment about Sen. John McCain:
Well, as you can imagine, this has sent the GOP into the vapors that only Lindsey Graham is familiar with, saying that Trump crossed WAY over the line.
But what I want to know is, how come this "Line" Trump crossed keeps shifting?
It was "inside the line" for Repubicans to vote down seven bills that would have helped our Veterans
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/16/1091597/-GOP-Voted-Against-7-Bills-to-Help-Veterans
It was "inside the line" for Chambliss to question the patriotism of decorated war hero and triple-amputee Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), virtually calling him a traitor, in order to steal an election.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/24/1163626/-GA-Sen-Don-t-Applaud-Saxby-Chambliss-R
It was "inside the line" for Republicans to viciously mock Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) Purple Heart
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/30/gop.purple.hearts/
… BUT make an untoward comment about one of Republican’s own and suddenly THAT IS WAY OVER THE LINE and BEYOND THE PALE!
Yeah, Trump has another foot to shoot … but I wish he would have held off with a his bloviating, bombastic bravado stupidity for another 6-12 months. He's been a gift to us Democrats!
It is only "over the line" when some of their power is threatened. They love to send our troops to war, but hate to help them recover when they get home. I still don't understand the people who continue to vote for these clowns.
Vile!
So sorry the miserable heat has returned. I thought you had sent it all to me in Kentucky. We are better able to deal with it, I think. Tomorrow's heat index is supposed to be 95 to 105. Yuck.
Daily Kos: Of course he was not joking! He needs to be kicked out of office if he won't resign.
NY Times: Yet again, our Republican congress people are trying to use religion as an excuse to force others into their constituents ideas of what ought to be. We have separation of church and state for a very good reason. This bigoted reaction to gay marriage is one very good example of why we do. I doubt there is a handful of real Christians in either the House or the Senate.
Alternet: I shared this on Facebook and email. Elizabeth speaks for us all. We are fast becoming an oligarchy, if we are not all ready there. Progressives need to continue to fight this as hard as we can.
Cartoon: Did you mean Republican Greed? Because that is what their actions show, greed for power and control of others.
Thank you. The original is Orwell.
Puzzle — 2:28 I wasn't dragin'! I was born in the year of the dragon and I love refreshing water so this puzzle is so me!
Daily Kos — I wonder how quickly he'd try to sue someone who did the exact same thing to him? Good thing that Obama out classes this racist Republicanus/Teabaggerum, a sorry excuse for a human being!
NY Times — The 1st amendment to the Constitution gives eveyone freedom of and from religion. That means everyone may attend and worship at, or not as the case may be, the church of their choice. It also means that everyone may hold religious beliefs, or not, as they will. However, it does NOT give anyone the right to impose their religious beliefs on another under any circumstances. If tax-exempt organizations and individuals want to object to same-sex marriage on religious or moral grounds, that is their business, but they cannot impose those beliefs on anyone else. The SCOTUS has rendered a decision based on the constitution, although I am amazed but very happy that the conservative Injustices didn't win the day. It is past time for the Republicanus/Teabaggerum to STFU and get on with effectively managing the business of all the people, not their select few.
Alternet — WOW!!!! Electrifying and so right on!
Cartoon — The Republicanus/Teabaggerum Screed!
H\e woyld sue them in a heartbeat. It's only OK when THEY do it.
Daily Kos – what a miserable ill-mannered racist – and probably a misogynist too.
Alternet – may God bless and protect Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley et al – please God they make a difference and get people thinking and using their consciences!
Cartoon – too painfully true, they really do think like that.
Amen Pat!!
It's uncanny how hot and humid weather not only keeps you from sleeping well, even with an A/C in the apartment, but also makes for ideal conditions for sound to travel that much further and even intensify in the process, isn't it. I hope the weather forecast is to be trusted (ours hardly ever are these days) and cooler air is on it's way after Monday and you can get some sleep, TomCat. Hold on till then!
Daily Kos: True racists (we call that "in heart and kidneys"), or fanatics of any kind for that matter, don't perceive themselves as racist. According to their world view they are the norm, what is normal, and verything else abnormal. So it makes perfect sense to mayor Patrick Rushing that his remarks were normal, and therefore harmles, jokes amongst friends who share his world view and those complaining and demanding his resignation are extremist, leftist libruls out to get him. There's no reasoning with people like that, even if he left office on his own accord he'd still think the same and blame those n…. lovin' libruls, so these libruls might just as well complete the picture and go out and get him!
NY Times: Legislation to protect people who break a law which was confirmed by SCOTUS? Have Americans really gone out of their minds? Yes, I'm deliberately generalizing here, because this could well become federal legislation so it should speak for the majority of Americans. Oh, but wait! So did the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage!?
Alternet: Kudos to Elizabeth. I'm sure Bernie is going to take her up on that, so the ball is in Hillary's court and those of other Democrats now.
Cartoon: Too true to be funny.
Lona, I tried to explain part of it, in toda's Open Thread. The noils level incerases, because it's too hot for the street people are taking siesta during the day.
Here is a perfect description of Republican Jesus to go along with their "stolen" Creed.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/06/16/republican-jesus/
Bingo!
Excellent piece and so right on! Don't you just love the blonde, blue eyed Jesus . . . er Republican Jesus!
Thanks all. Hot Hugs!