Wendi should be here momentarily, and I don’t know how much I can do. I’m still feeling queasy and quite lethargic, and I think I may have had a reaction to a tetanus vaccine received Friday. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my Urologist (routine), so please expect no more than a Personal Update.
Wendi just left, so the TomCat is primped and polished.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:35 (average 5:37). To do it, click here. Hoe did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: When you’re busy accusing political opponents of founding terrorist organizations, and you’re tired of saying just kidding, what are you going to do about it? When you finish your political show trials for opponents you’ve accused of consorting with the devil, just where are you going to lock her up?
A President Donald Trump might push for Americans accused of terrorism to be tried in military tribunal at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Republican nominee told the Miami Herald on Thursday.
“I would say they could be tried there, that would be fine,” Trump said in a brief interview ahead of his speech to home builders in Miami Beach.
Regular US prisons are too good for them. And of course, ordinary justice is too good for them. Those accused by the pointing orange finger get special treatment.
I’ve been calling it the GOP Gitmo Gulag for years. Was I wrong?
From The New Yorker: Clarifying his position on a key national-security issue, Donald Trump said on Friday that as President he would be willing to use nuclear weapons, “but only in a sarcastic way.”
“People who are worried about me having the nuclear-launch codes should stop worrying, O.K.?” Trump told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “If I ever used nuclear weapons, it would be really obvious that I was just being sarcastic.”
Pressed by Blitzer to explain the difference between a sarcastic and non-sarcastic nuclear attack, Trump responded, “You’d use the weapons and everything, but then you’d say, ‘Just kidding.’ ”
Andy, evilly is the only way Republicans would use nukes, but I can sure see them saying that.
From Alternet: Why are they still supporting him? In Krugman’s view, because their proposals are con jobs, and all they want to do is reduce taxes on the rich, which will be much harder to do if Clinton wins. That’s the short answer.
Krugman suggests that the key to Republican thinking lies in one number: 34.
What’s that? It’s the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the average federal tax rate for the top 1 percent in 2013, the latest year available. And it’s up from just 28.2 in 2008, because President Obama allowed the high-end Bush tax cuts to expire and imposed new taxes to pay for a dramatic expansion of health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Taxes on the really, really rich have gone up even more.
If Hillary Clinton wins, taxes on the elite will at minimum stay at this level, and may even go up significantly if Democrats do well enough in congressional races to enable her to pass new legislation. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that her tax plan would raise the average tax rate for the top 1 percent by another 3.4 percentage points, and the rate for the top 0.1 percent by five points.
But if “populist” Donald Trump wins, taxes on the wealthy will go way down; in particular, Mr. Trump is calling for elimination of the inheritance tax, which these days hits only a tiny number of really yuuuge estates (a married couple doesn’t pay any tax unless its estate is worth more than $10.9 million).
So if you’re wealthy, or you’re someone who has built a career by reliably serving the interests of the wealthy, the choice is clear—as long as you don’t care too much about stuff like shunning racism, preserving democracy and freedom of religion, or for that matter avoiding nuclear war, Mr. Trump is your guy.
Preserving inherited wealth in a nutshell is the mainstay of the conservative movement. How noble!
Greed from Republicans is expected. It is shocking that they dupe so many on the right and even a few on the left to vote against their own interests.
Cartoon:
11 Responses to “Open Thread 8/14/2016”
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4:53 South America? They must have gotten in before Trump was born.
DKos – Of course you were and are right correct. A Constitution-free zone.
New Yorker – Boy, does this ever encapsulate Drumpf.
AlterNet – Inherited wealth indeed. And I remind you that these are the people claiming that they deseerve so much consideration because they have worked so hard and done everything for themselves. And before progressivec can pick our jaws up from the floor at the NERVE of such arrogance, Republican sheep have already voted for them. (Said it before, but I'll say it again: if they REALLY believed in people hauling themselves up by their bootstraps, they would raise the estate tax to 100%. Yeah, right.)
Cartoon – and thank God for it – and Republicans are STILL trying to dismantle it.
LMAO JD!!! … before Trump was orn.
Let's be fair, here. Donald Trump started out with absolutely nothing – and worked very hard …
To be born to a multi-millionaire father!
DK: No, you're right on your comment. WTH?? What in tarnation is DT thinking?? Oh, never mind.
NYer: Scary, very scary!!
Cartoon: Seventy-five years ago, the government cut 65-year-old Ida May Fuller a check. It was numbered 00-000-001 – the first Social Security payout. She received $22.54, on January 31, 1940.
*Read more here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2932568/Meet-Ida-May-Fuller-recipient-1st-Social-Security-check.html
Hope Wendy's visit will be all right, and that you get some rest after. Best to you tomorrow in seeing your Urologist. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
Continue to focus on your heatlh as "Priority #1".
Why a tetanus shot? I doubt you stepped on a rusty nail.
I am not a doctor, but I assumed it was a TDAP, which combines several ailments, and in my age bracket the main target is not really tetanus or diphtheria, but more whooping cough.. I also would be looking for a preservative as the cause of the reaction myself, rather than any of the killed organisms. But I am not knowledgeable on anyone's medical history except my own – I only know TC is close to my age bracket.
Puzzle — 3:28 (average down to 5:27) Very pretty leaves on that flower. My hair is almost that colour!
Daily Kos — If there was any doubt that Trump knows shit about the Constitution and the law, this should seal it!
The New Yorker — Drumpf needs to understand there are things you can be sarcastic about, and things you cannot. Nukes and launch codes are part of the latter. One of the things I tell all my ESL students is "seek first to be understood, then build speed". Drumpf might want to think about that — seek first to be understood.
Alternet — Go Hillary!
Cartoon — Turn it over to banksters to manage and watch it disappear!
Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief — This was interesting. There is nothing to incriminate Manafort yet, but there is smoke. I wonder what kind of spin will be on this one in the Trumpoverse, especially given Trump's alleged ties to Russian oligarchs and his love of all things Putin.
Thanks JD for the greetings to my mum. I got home just before 2200 and I am bagged. It is always hard to sleep after seeing her. She was not nearly as animated as the last time but she ate well. Maybe it is the heat. It is scheduled to be 30 C for the rest of the week . . . moan!!! I just may have to get the garden hose out and stand under it!
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Sorry to hear you're under the weather especially if the weather is so hot and humid, TomCat. Try to stay cool and take it easy until you feel beter. We'll be here when you get back to us.
DK: And where is Drumpf locked up after he's been tried and convicted for two counts of treason?
TNY: Andy, can you explain the difference between sarcastic and a non-sarcastic satire and tell us which category this one falls in? I think this one can't even be called satire.
Alternet: There's a hard core of GOPers who have said that they'll vote for the devil (Drumpf) if that means Hillary is kept from becoming the next Democratic president in the White House. Of course they fail to mention that Drumpf will give them even more tax cuts than they already have. And since they've been imprinting their rabid base with the same revulsion of a Democratic president for the past 7-8 years, this base will follow suit and vote against Hillary without knowing why or understanding they're being duped and will end up paying for those tax cuts out of their own pockets. And of course they rather be duped again than admit they have allowed themselves to be taken for a ride. Again.
Thanks all! Pooped Hugs!!
The man knows nothing about the Constitution! Never did! His use of innuendo, "Could," and the like are all designed to be deniable.
Krugman is point on!