Aug 262016
 

Last night, I stayed up late to optimize our site.  First, I analyzed the load times for plugins and found that we had a huge resource hog.  Our Top Commentators plugin used more than three times the resources of all our other plugins combined and was adding 33% to the time it took to load every page.  I really liked it, but dang!!  I took it out.  Next, I optimized the database.  Most important, I have begun optimizing images.  We have over 25,000.  One I have the old ones done, I’ve set up a service to automatically optimize new ones for about $10 per month.  Now I get to venture into the heat for abuse.  I’ll finish when I return.

PT went very well.  Courtney was merciless, but I managed all her tasks.  I stopped at the bank on the way home, but when I got here the elevator was out of service AGAIN.  I had to wait in the heat for an hour, before the repair tech could run the assembled cripples upstairs.  In the interim, I’ve wilted.  This is my only article today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:48 (average 4:15).  To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Warren Hinckle, the flamboyant editor who made Ramparts magazine a powerful national voice for the radical left in the 1960s and later by championing the work of Hunter S. Thompson and helping introduce the no-holds-barred reporting style known as gonzo journalism, died on Thursday. He was 77.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, his daughter Pia Hinckle said.

Ramparts was a small-circulation quarterly for liberal Roman Catholics when Mr. Hinckle began writing for and promoting it in the early 1960s. A born provocateur with a keen sense of public relations, he took over as the executive editor in 1964 and immediately set about transforming Ramparts from a sleepy intellectual journal to a slickly produced, crusading political magazine that galvanized the American left.

0826Ramparts

RIP Warren. Back in the day, I used to read every issue of Ramparts.

From Alternet:

Here are 12 examples [of Rump Dump Racism] cited by Clinton.

1. Deeply Insulting African Americans: Trump’s remarks show he has no appreciation for black culture or achievement, Clinton said, but instead utters one ugly cliche after another. “In just the past week, under the guise of ‘outreach’ to African Americans, Trump has stood up in front of largely white audiences and described black communities in such insulting and ignorant terms. ‘Poverty. Rejection.  Horrible education. No housing. No homes. No ownership. Crime at levels nobody has seen.’ ‘Right now,’ he said, ‘you walk down the street and get shot.’ Those are his words.”

2. Racist then, racist now: Trump has a decades-old history of mistreating and stereotyping blacks, Clinton said, starting with his refusal to rent New York City apartments to them. “When he was getting his start in business, he was sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent apartments to black and Latino tenants,” she said. “Their applications would be marked with a C—C for ‘colored’—and then rejected. Three years later, the Justice Department took Trump back to court because he hadn’t changed… And the pattern continued through the decades. State regulators fined one of Trump’s casinos for repeatedly removing black dealers from the floor. No wonder the turnover rate for his minority employees was way above average.”

3. His racist lies don’t stop: Before the 2016 presidential election, Trump was at the forefront of the right-wing effort to discredit President Obama’s legitimacy by questioning his national origin. “Let’s not forget that Trump first gained political prominence leading the charge for the so-called birthers,” she said. “He promoted the racist lie that President Obama is not really an American citizen; part of a sustained effort to delegitimize America’s first black president. In 2015, Trump launched his own campaign for president with another racist lie. He described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. And he accused the Mexican government of actively sending them across the border. None of that is true.”

I shared three. Click through for the other nine.

From Crooks and Liars: This is unreal. Kellyanne Conway graced the set of The Rachel Maddow Show last night. Among other things, Rachel asked about the "pivot" away from a total ban on Muslims to an "extreme vetting" of those entering the United States.

As usual, Rachel had clearly done her homework. The "extreme vetting" that the Trump campaign correctly identifies as originating during the Cold War, was vetoed by Harry Truman, passed as an override by Congress anyway, and then found unconstitutional. By all modern legal measures, the similar Trump proposal would also be found unconstitutional.

 

No matter how many times Rachel said it’s unconstitutional, Conway ignored her and circled back to her talking points. Like other Republicans, Trump’s Rectumites don’t care about the Constitution.

Cartoon:

0826Cartoon

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  9 Responses to “Open Thread – 8/26/2016”

  1. 4:33   My brain will, but my mouse just won't move that fast.

    NYT  – RIP indeed.  He's earned it.  Now if only we had a young clone of him today!

    AlterNet – #7 mentions Alex Jones – OMG Alex Jones – Just recently, according to PFAW, he said the President has a body odor that attracts flies – so he must be Beelzebub – "Lord of the Flies" in Hebrew – or in other words Satan.  I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.  He cited something Michelle Obama said.

    C&L – Yes, well, they plan on appointing judges so extreme that anything Drumpf wants will be constitutional, and to hell with all modern legal measures.  VOTE BLUE.

    Cartoon – I think I've already said about all I could have to say on this today.

    • And P.S. – If only there were away I could take about 15 degrees F off your hands, I would be glad to.  It was only 55F this morning.  It's only 73F now, but it's raining and feels colder.

  2. NYT: I am sure my father read some of these, back when I was a kid. We talked about politics and current events at the dinner table.  Rest in Peace, Mr. Hinckle.

    AN: How awful!!! Of course, we knew that, didn't we?

    C&L: Rachel: "But the substance….He (Trump), has to make sense when he makes these policy pivots in order for them to be successful". Nope, not gonna happen. His and Conway's rhetoric is awful. Trump's an ID, no holds barred. Vote for my favorite color. Blue.

    Cartoon: I wonder if these were placed in front windows back then. Pretty cool, if they were.

    Thank you for doing all that work on the plugins, and databases. Glad your PT went well, now you get a chance to rest, and take it easy. Enjoy your day/evening, and Thanks, Tom.

  3. Why don't building services get a techie in that optimizes your elevator once and for all, TomCat? Elevator problems are happening far too often these days and leaving you and others who can't use the stairs out in excessive heat, or cold for that matter, is endangering your health. Sounds like the elevator is in for a general overhaul or replacement, but that would take days or even weeks and cause even more problems, I guess. Time for the residents committee to put in on their agenda? But I'm glad you got your optimizing done; I'm sure we all can live without the Top Commentator plugin.

    NYT: Sorry, but I've never heard of Ramparts or Warren Hinckle, so I'll give this a miss.

    Alternet: Well done, Hillary Clinton. I'm sure with a little research that list could be twice as long, but Clinton and her team know how important it is to hold the short attention span of voters, so they picked the obvious and proven examples.
    Drumpf's childish counterattack on Clinton by calling her a bigot has been the source of a lot of mirth here in the Oz media. ABC news just mentioned Drumpf's "retaliation" and then only showed a succession of short clips of Drumpf's own racist and bigot remarks without any further comment. Apparently it's quite safe to assume that most Aussies are smart enough to figure out for themselves how absurd Drumpf's remarks were from that. Sadly this doesn't appear the case for millions of Americans or many in mainstream media.
    Last night's news item on Clinton's speech ended with a remark that really struck home with us: Drumpf says he wants to make America great again, but in reality he's making America hate again. Spot-on, Hillary!

    C&L: Rachel Maddow has never shied away from having controversial guests on her show, but she should know by now that it's impossible to have a sensible debate with the likes of Kallyanne Conway or any other of Drumpf's campaign managers. They're not in the business of making sense or being truthful, they're in the business of perpetuating Drumpf's "lie of the week" and having it firmly implanted in their base's brain by repeating their talking points over and over again. All Rachel really does with interviewing these Drumpf acolytes is confirming the status quo.

    Cartoon: Republicans have reason to want to repeal it: there has been a higher turnout of women voters than men for presidential elections since the 1980's (thanks, Joanne, for that info) and because even Republican women don't fancy misogynist Drumpf much, their vote could really make a difference to the first female presidential candidate.

  4. Kellyann Conway is just like a recording! She always has to take the conversation back to the repukes talking points! It never fails! Like a robot!

  5. You need a break!  The tenants should demand that the elevators be repaired well enough that you don't have so many hours waiting on a repairman.  PT is always cruel, but worth  it.

    NY Times:  We need more like him!

    Alternet:  Trump reminds me of something my grandmother used to say about someone who utterly disgusted her:  "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig."  He is a racist who encourages other racists to be violent. How can any sane person support this man? Never mind, no sane person would.

    Crooks and Liars:  Since I have converted my husband to MSNBC, I got to watch Rachel last night.  Conway is like all the other Trump Barbies.  She has a script and she never deviates, kind of like the Stepford wives.

    Cartoon:  The Republicans would glady get rid of this amendment if they could.

     

  6. Puzzle — 3:19  I want shade and lots of breezes!

    NY Times — I am afraid, like Lona, I have never heard of Hinckle or Ramparts magazine.

    Alternet — "…Trump is an unfiltered, unapologetic racist who should never be anywhere near the Oval Office,…" — AMEN!  And to think that Drumpf calls Clinton a bigot — such a case of projection!

    Crooks and Liars — Kellyanne Conway  did nothing but talk in circles, and as TC said, ignored Rachel's comments about unconstitutionality.  When Rachel was armed with facts about the 1950's extreme vetting on ideological grounds being declared uncnstitutional by the SCOTUS . . .silence from Conway.  What a Putz!

    Cartoon — Republicans would take the country back more than 100 years . . . back into the 19th century at the very least.

    Yesterday I said that I would check on epi-pen prices here in BC and here it is: $107 each straight cash.  If one has Pharmanet which all residents do, and a doctor's prescription, the amount will depend on the individual's deductible but would never be more that $107 each.  For example, if I had to use one today, the price would likely be about $22.  The deductible is based on income.

    Well Friday was hot again going to 32 C (90 F).  Right now at 10:30 on Saturday morning, it is 19 C (66 F) with filtered sunlight.  Forecast high is about 23 C (73 F).  Some respite from the temperatures.  Rain for Sunday and Monday.  If I don't show up on Monday, it is likely because I was arrested for doing my happy dance in the rain!

  7. I remember Ramparts: RIP Warren.

    Alternet: So, what is new?  The clown is an ass, period!  Calling Hillary a bigot is a very simple maneuver, known as "Projection," at which the Rump, and all of the GOPigs are very practiced:  See something in oneself that is an awful characteristic…paint it onto someone else, and then criticize them for it, vehemently!

    C and L: Who does Kellyanne work for? Whose strategist is she? Oh, the GOP?  Well, what the hell else can anyone expect to have come out of her mouth, beyond bull shit, evasive bull shit, even.  No surprise.

  8. Thanka all!  Very tired hugs!!

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