Nov 062015
 

TGIF!!!!!  Mind, when you're retired, it doesn't make a big difference.  Well I had a wonderfully long sleep last night which was great.  As you may have seen, TC's 10 year old laptop committed suicide so he will be scarce for awhile. But rest assured, we will continue to keep you abreast of his activities, including wheelies in the halls and nurse chasing.  I am off shortly to teach but will return late this afternoon. 

Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:53 (average 5:32). 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 — Rubio replied he would like to have a beer with football legend Dan Marino, Russian chess prodigy Gary Kasparov and Malala Yousafzai.

Click through for the rest of this short piece.  Does this remind you of anyone from the Republican 2012 Presidential race . . . maybe Herman Cain?  To wit, I offer evidence of Cain's stupidity which looks a lot like Rubio's.  Hang your head in shame Marco!

 

Mother Jones — Elizabeth Warren wants to give seniors the same pay raise enjoyed by CEOs—and to raise taxes on some executive pay in the process. The liberal senator from Massachusetts is introducing a bill on Thursday to boost Social Security payments for 2016 with a one-time bump in benefits.

Click through for the rest of the article.  If CEOs can get a raise of average 3.9%, then surely SS recipients should be entitled to an increase.  Let's see, SS recipients are faced with price and cost increases daily but they haven't had an increase so they aren't even keeping up.  But CEOs don't have to spend all their money on the necessities of life as do  SS recipients, yet they get a 3.9% average increase.  There is a big disconnect here.  Go Lizzie!!!

From the files of "You've Got to be Kidding!" — Continuing the Republican party’s rich history of condescending to black voters and assuming rap is the only language African-Americans speak or understand, Ben Carson unveiled a new hip-hop radio ad today. And it is just as unhip, patronizing and irrelevant as you might expect! Check chickity-check it out for yourself, hippity-hoppin’ homies!

laughing cat

Check out rappin' Ben Carson at Alternet.  All I can say Ben is don't give up your day job, whatever it is, because with disingenuous garbage like this, you are going nowhere!

Mother Jones — The exclusion of black people from juries is a hot topic this week, as the United States Supreme Court considers the case of Timothy Foster, a black man charged with murdering an elderly white woman in Georgia some three decades ago. In 1987, Foster was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury, after prosecution lawyers used their so-called peremptory strikes to disqualify all the blacks in the jury pool, citing "race-neutral" reasons.

Up until this point in the case, the courts had accepted those alternative rationales. But the prosecutors' notes from jury selection, which were finally revealed thanks to a Public Records Act request, suggest a deliberate exclusion strategy. On the list of prospective jurors, the black names were circled, highlighted in green, and marked with a "B." They were also ranked, as an investigator for the prosecution noted in an affidavit, in case "it comes down to having to pick one of the black jurors." Ouch. 

Whatever happened to the right to be judged by a jury of the defendants peers?  Click through for the rest of the article.

My Universe — 

I cracked up when I saw this picture because this is like one of my exercises at physio.  Keep the cats away!

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  22 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 06/11/2015”

  1. Yes, I'm plugging the Rachel Maddow Show for tonight: 

    Rachel Maddow – TONIGHT Nov 6, 2015 – DEMO FORUM 

    The First in the South Democratic Candidates Forum is fast approaching. Rachel Maddow will be moderating that on Friday, 11/6, from 8-10 p.m. ET. 

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rachel-maddow-moderate-democratic-candidates-forum   

    • Cain and Carson, what a team…dumb and crazy!

      Far too many prosecutors, I am sure, nad not only in Georgia (DUH!) have screwed with the jury process.  I am glad this has come out, though it has done so very late.

      Carson Rap?  It sounds stupid at first, but I am not surprised to see a GOPig play yet another version of the race card. 

      Rubio and Malala?  He is, after all, an acolyte of the Jebbie!

  2. TPP is hot in the C2 News today.

    Democracy Now!

    Full Text of TPP Trade Deal Revealed — and Critics Say It’s Even Worse Than They Thought

    VIDEO:  http://publish.dvlabs.com/democracynow/360/dn2015-1106.mp4

    Transcript:  http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/6/full_text_of_tpp_trade_deal

     

  3. 2:53 ~ It's a tie! Where's Jerry???

  4. Alternet: Got a head start in the Clown car, I see. What an ID.

    MJ: Warren's bill, dubbed the SAVE Act (short for Seniors and Veterans Emergency Benefits Act), would offer a one-time 3.9 percent increase. I'm all for this. Go! Ms. Warren!

    AlterNet2: Uhh….where'd my Barf bag go?

    MJ2: Wow!! what an eye opener. Prosecutors claiming to be doing the right thing, yet discriminating and showing bias towards defendants by picking jurors they want to serve. The striking of jurors based on ethnicity should be outlawed, and those prosecutors who practice this, should lose their license.

    My Universe: I can't walk or work out chewing gum. I get TMJ when I do, so that cures that.

    Hope the rest of your day goes good, Thanks Lynn.

  5. 4:32 (5:32)  I wish they wouldn't make him sound like something you could get at a White Castle, though.

    AlterNet – I've been reading a lot about this, and I do think many people are missing the point – two points.  First, he really wasn't, IMO, thinking about giving a teen girl alcohol which is against her religion in order to seduce her.  He was thinking in terms of "having a beer with" as being another way of saying "hanging out with and getting to know better."  So I don't really think he was being creepy.  Second, however, I do believe he was being unbelievably arrogant and privileged.  What could make him think Malala would give him the time of day?  Just because he is Marco Rubio?  Oh, come now!  Srsly, Marco, she's WAY too good for you.  Now, Emma Watson, that's different.  Malala and Emma had a conversation reported in Take Part that is just great.

    MoJo – I've certainly been signing for it.

    AlterNet YGTBK – I did listen – and yes – it is awful.  Don't go there.

    MoJo II – I don't suppose they thought anyone would ever question this or ever look at their notes.  They couldn't have.  Surely if it had, they would have taken steps to keep it out of the public record 30 years ago.  Wouldn't they?  Well, maybe not.  Maybe they really are that stupid.

    Universe – Well, that's one way to deal with potential methane flares.

    • I agree with your assessment on Rubio.  He might admire Malala, but is totally insensitive to other factors.  He does not appear to be the brightest star in the sky.

  6. Looks like you're getting the hang of blogging, fitting researching and posting a wonderful array of articles in with your other activities and still keeping space for a little me-time or a good snooze. Excellent!

    Alternet: You can expect answers like that from candidates who want to show how "with it" they are and then throw in a female name, one that seems to be popular, but have no clue whom they're talking about. There's always this need to impress, to show off, but if they answered these questions honestly they wouldn't make a fool of themselves. Just show how dull and unglamorous they really are. Which is a lot better than stupid, uninformed, egocentric and Amerocentric.

    Mother Jones: Kudos to Elizabeth Warren for continuing the fight for Social Security! She not only fights like a tiger against any cuts to these "entitlements" the Republicans are proposing, she even wants a fair raise, equal to the raise CEO's have been making this year. It's very unlikely her bill will pass, the GOP opposition is far to strong, but be getting most if not all Democrats behind it, she gives the Democratic party an enormous boost in popularity, something it sure can use right now. Unfortunately she seems to be one of the few Democrats who is able to overlook the whole playing field and isn't only interested in her personal little corner.

    You've got to be kidding: My goodness, this man is getting so pathetic. Won't someone help him out of his misery and pull the plug on his campaign?

    Mother Jones: What surprises me most that the courts had accepted the rationales to dismiss all black candidates from the jury. If the notes had not been made public, the courts would have carried on as if nothing untoward had happened, now they had to act. Some justice.

    My Universe: I'd make that: Never swallow your gum after having a portion of TomCat's chili. 

  7. P.S.: The bubble gum story in a picture is fairly priceless!

  8. Hey Rubio – So you want to have a beer w/ Malala?  Two crucial facts:

    [1] She's underage

    [2] She's a Muslim

    Proving yet again, Marco, you not only are tone-deaf – you're an IDIOT!

    Now Sen. Warren's proposal is brilliant – that is one shrewd move to tie it to CEO's income.

    It's simple to understand.  It pays for itself.  And it'll irritate the hell out of the One Percenters.  (So of course Rethuglicans will hate it!)

  9. Love Lizzie's genius.

    Carson City is in NV surrounded by desert and Sierra snow limits reaching CA–can we confine him there?

    Lots of cases had this problem–and lots of women have been faced with all male juries, too, including when they were the victim of sexual assault…not peers at all.

    Schools are getting those kind of balls along with things to pedal for reading time since the research says reading while exercising is increasing reading gains.

  10. Great job, Squatch.  The hospita; doesn't get MSNBC, but I'll stream it.  smiley

  11. Thanks, Lynn, for all your hard work.  Hope TC gets back soon, I am sure you are getting eye strain from all the research.

    Alternet:  I agree with Joanne's assessment of Rubio. He had seemed to be the smartest of the lot of them.

    Mother JOnes:  Love Warren, she keeps fighting for the poor and middle class.  I have signed multiple petitions supporting her in her fight for Social Security.

    I think Ben Carson's rap song will alienate more black voters than it will recruit from this silly song.

    Mother Jones 2:  I hope that revealing this misconduct by the prosecuting attorney will result in exoneration for Timothy Foster and others who have have been mistreated this way.

    My Universe:  Funny!

    Sorry for my absence last night.  We went to visit Cousin Phillip and thehotel where we stayed had lousy internet service.  Care 2 would open and close,open and close.  Phillip is much improved since our last visit and is still very upbeat.  The wound doctors have decided to delay any amputation of his fingers, because many of them are healing.  This is great news because they originally thought they would have to remove almost all his fingers. He is starting his 17th week in ICU>

    • Glad to hear that Phillip's fingers will not need to be amputated. 

    • If 17 weeks is the price to pay for keeping your fingers, as annoying as hospital stays are, it is worth it!  If all of this is a result of a surgical error, I hope Phillip is adequately compensated for pain and suffering.  Prayers continue.

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