It has been a busy day with over 2 hours of physiotherapy and then 3 hours of teaching. After a quick trip for a loaf of bread — yum, cinnamon bread (has shaved cinnamon in it!) — I arrived home. No cat nap today, although I would have loved one!
Puzzle — Today’s took me 4:03 (average 5:53). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
Alternet — Bill Maher took some time out on Friday night's Real Time to point out the modern GOP was currently worshiping a totally fantastical Jesus. One who's contemptuous of the poor, greedy, and less about values and more about maximizing shareholder value.
Read the remainder of this short Alternet article and watch the video above. Bill is always entertaining.
ABC News — South Carolina is enduring its worst rains "in 1,000 years," Gov. Nikki Haley said Sunday, urging residents to stay off the roads as conditions were "changing by the minute," with roads flooding and rivers at their highest levels in decades.
According to the National Weather Service, one area of downtown Columbia, the South Carolina capital, received nearly 17 inches of rain in 17 hours, and it was still raining.
Consensus has it that this large and powerful storm is not part of Hurricane Joaquin but certainly influenced by Joaquin. Read the rest and see the live reporting at ABC News. There will be more and more extreme weather unless we learn to effectively deal with global warming and climate change. That is not a Democratic thing or a Republican thing. . . that is a human thing. Please keep the people of the affected areas and their families in your thoughts and prayers.
Mother Jones — "It seems like there is nothing like a mass shooting to suddenly spark political interest in mental health," Oliver said, while featuring the talking points of Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Mike Huckabee—all of whom steered away from discussing increased gun control legislation after the shooting in Oregon, to tout the need for better mental health programs.
John Oliver makes some very salient points about mental health and gun control. Society needs to look seriously at how we deal with mental illness , but it also needs to deal with gun control.
My Universe — I love me some Simon's Cat. What cat parent has not had to deal with this?
12 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 06/10/2015”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Bill Maher and John Oliver are both awesome!
Indeed they are!
5:09. Some of the jasmines are poisonous; I don't know about this one.
Alternet – "Supply Side Jesus" is neither a new term nor a new concept to readers of this blog. Good to see both getting some national atention.
ABC News – Well, and then there's this:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/05/1428025/-MUST-WATCH-Trucker-caught-on-video-in-South-Carolina-driving-through-flood-waters
Different folks, different coping strategies.
MoJo – There is nothing mentally ill about having a lizard brain. We all have one; if we didn't, we wouldn't be fully human. The problem appears to be people who make the choice (or maybe it isn't a choice, in which case we need to find out what it is) to stay in their lizard brain all the time. Some discussion of this issue: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/04/1427765/-The-Shootings-are-not-Senseless Also good description of the pattern. Frankly it makes my flesh creep. But it needs to be understood.
Universe – Meow.
And explains all too well why many say the terrorists in this country are a greater risk to us than any overseas…unfortunately Congress is not listening to those voices who make so much sense.
4:00 I don't know how to get down for up here.
Yeah, I understand the cartoon! I have had the same experience with my cats. It doesn't matter which one it is, they are ALL likely to do the EXACT same thing! LOL!
And mine have NEVER been so well behaved that I just have to point to get them off the counter, and they then hop down … all docile and demure.
(But the scratching and clawing is spot-on!)
I've never had that counter issue with any of my cats–never did the prep on a counter, always have done it where their bowl was when they ate (ground level).
Sorry to hear of the ongoing tragedy in South Carolina (and I'm avoiding any obvious allusion to "See – God hates rednecks” so typical of Pat Robertson & other Talibangelical christianists when directed at "libtards").
But now all those SC Rethuglicans come begging for the gubermint to save them with OUR Federal tax dollars (that they've already reaped way beyond what they contributed!).
You would think they would be grateful for all that Federal relief they're getting … and still demanding more, right?
So let's see their voting records of how they helped out their fellow Northern American brethren when Hurricane Sandy hit:
Aid for Hurricane Sandy Relief:
Rep. Gowdy, Rep. Duncan, Rep. Wilson, Rep. Mulvaney, Sen. Graham and Sen. Scott – ALL (R-SC) and ALL voted NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!
Yeah … my flabber is gasted, too!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017298771
I heard Graham said he couldn't remember why he voted no…
If it were NC, the birthplace of Moral Mondays, I'd hope all those who try to blame such things on sin considered the legislation inconsistent with the Pope's Jesus to have been the sins to blame…
Alternet: Bill is sooo right. Supply side Jesus in no way resembles the Jesus I read about in the Bible.
ABC News: I have been watching this closely and it is being called a 1000 year flood by their Republican governor, Rickie Hailey. Surely she and Lindsey Graham will both admit to climate change now.
Mother Jones: Don't know if all of you are old enough to remember when Reagan dismantled mental health care and untold thousands lost coverage for the places they were being helped. It is still very difficult to get mental health care and many cannot afford it. We have seen a rise in mass shootings in the forty years following this, too, and I think there is a direct link. Additionally, the NRA has held its position to protect the wealth of the gun manufacturers to influence Congress not to pass gun control laws. Kentucky passed a conceal/carry law a few years ago, which I hate. I really don't want to wonder if the guy behind me in the check out line is carrying a concealed weapon.
My Universe: I haven't ended up with cat food on my head YET, but I have learned the dance of not tripping over my fat cats while giving them their food, which, more often that not, they will look at with disdain.
Thanks, Lynn for all your hard work.
Time zone differences struck again and both this thread and Wednesday's were in may mailbox at the same time, so I'll do my bit to keep TomCats numbers up, watch the three great videos – thank you so much for posting – but keep my comments to a minimum.
Alternet: Few can thrash the Republican's Supply Side Jesus like Maher can.
ABC news: It's getting worse and we all know it. Twelve people have drowned in flash floods in France this weekend. Because we left Global Warming and the resulting Climate Change far too long, now we have to double our efforts to keep it as the level it is and not make it worse. Which means we better get used to these extremes and prepare for them better, there here to stay.
Mother Jones: John Oliver know that mental illness and gun control are only very partially linked, but do go back to the same source: a government that will not invest in good mental healthcare nor in keeping its citizens safe.
My Universe: Can't get enough of Simon's cat.