Sep 262016
 

I finally had a decent night’s sleep, last night, but feel no better, because it will take several more before I’m back to speed.  I’ll be stocking up on Barf Bags for tonight’s media circus.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:41 (average 4:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

0925Broncos29-Bengals17

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The pitched battle over President Obama’s signature climate change policy, which is moving to the courts this week, carries considerable political, economic and historical stakes. Yet its legal fate, widely expected to be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, could rest on a clerical error in an obscure provision of a 26-year-old law.

That error, which left conflicting amendments on power plant regulation in the Clean Air Act, will be a major focus of oral arguments by opponents of Mr. Obama’s initiative when the case is heard on Tuesday in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The initiative, known as the Clean Power Plan, which Mr. Obama sees as at the heart of his climate change legacy, gave the United States critical leverage to broker the landmark 2015 Paris climate change accord. If the plan is struck down, the United States, the world’s largest carbon polluter over the centuries, will lose its main tool to cut greenhouse gas emissions. If it is upheld, it will transform the nation’s electricity system, closing hundreds of coal-fired power plants and setting in motion a wholesale shift to wind, solar and nuclear power, as well as to improved electric transmission systems.

As things stand now, the Supreme Court will probably vote 4-4, meaning that whatever decision the last Appeals Court will have made will stand. This should demonstrate just how critical it is for Democrats to hold the Presidency and take the Senate.

From Think Progress:

Hours after the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times published separate stories outlining the lies Donald Trump has told during his presidential campaign, Trump’s campaign spokesperson told ABC’s “This Week” that it isn’t the media’s job to factcheck the presidential debate.

“I really don’t appreciate the campaigns thinking it is the job of the media to go and be these virtual fact-checkers,” Kellyanne Conway said, in an apparent attempted jab at the Clinton campaign. She also opposed debate moderators questioning the candidates’ truthfulness in any way…
…Conway went on to praise Matt Lauer’s performance during a candidate forum earlier this month, during which he pressed Clinton on several issues, but accepted Trump’s (false) claim that he opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning.

“We thought he did a great job,” Conway said.

No surprises there.

From Robert Reich: Last week, Congress engaged in a bipartisan barrage of CEO bashing…

…Such shaming before congressional committees tends to reassure the public Congress is taking action. But – especially with Republicans in charge – Congress is doing nothing to prevent the wrongdoing from recurring.

Can we be clear? CEOs have only one goal in mind – making money. If they can make more money by misleading or price gouging, they’ll continue to do so until it’s no longer as profitable…

…So instead of setting up further rounds of CEO perp walks for the TV cameras, Congress should give the Justice Department and regulatory agencies enough funding to do their jobs.

While they’re at it, break up the biggest banks. And regulate drug prices directly, as does every other country.

It’s easy to holler at CEOs. It’s time for to stop hollering and take action.

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The problem is that the Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is still deplorable. They will block reform as long as they have the power to do so.

Cartoon:

0926Cartoon

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  13 Responses to “Open Thread – 3/26/2016”

  1. 4:31  Olé!

    Glad for the religious exstasy!

    NYT – Well, THAT's scary!

    TP – Almost sounds like Andy.

    RR – Virtually no government agency has proper funding to do its job (Defense has enough to perform its actual mission, but is allowed to be spending on so much unnecessary junk that the funding and the needs seldom match.)  It's not just reform that is impossible with Republicans in chanrge, it's all Government functions.

    Cartoon:  All I remember of that debate was a satirical comment made afterwards, imagining both candidates had been asked, "What id two plus two?"  Nixon's answer was about a paragraph of gobbledygook.  Kennedy's answer was "Foah."  I thought it summed them up nicely.

  2. 3:30  I fell asleep on the beach.

  3. NYT: Uh..OH!!

    TP: And..let the 'games' begin'…

    RR: Good article. Well said, Mr. Reich. Actions. Not words!!

    Hope that your sleep balances out, and that you will continue towards getting a full night of rest. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom

  4. Just to be clear, the "Clean Power Plan" case  is being heard en banc (hearing before all the judges, rather than the usual three-judge panel) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – not the Supreme Court.

  5. NYT: If the Clean Power Plan is not upheld, we will gag on the result!

    TP:  Yes, very Andy-like.  Kellyanne Conway has entered the Orange Twilight Zone, has volunteered to put herself there, for whatever recompense, and thus must support any PUCKY the Orange F***Face Monster perpetrates; or, fools like Lauer allow!

    Reich is correct.  It is all for show, as the CEO's get richer.

    'Toon:  I saw that 1st debate, not that I recall any content, but I'll bet there was some actual exchange of ideas going on.

     

  6. NY Times:  It is critical that democrats have control of Congress for sooo many reasons.

    Think Progress:   Of course Conway thinks Lauer did a great job, he did everything but apply for a job with Trump, and showed what a sexist he is by his treatment of Clinton!

    Robert Reich:  I always agree with him!  Congress makes too much money from CEO's to ever enact any serious legislation to control them.

    Cartoon:  I did not see the first debate, I was probably with my friends, but I heard all about it from my grandmother, a life long Republican who fell in love with Jack Kennedy that night.  She was the only registered Republican in my family and I think she did it just being ornery.  She had democratic values, you know, like helping those less fortunate than you, treating everyone the same, no matter their color?

  7. Puzzle — 4:15 The sun was in my eyes!

    NY Times — One has to wonder if anyone noticed this error in the law at the time but chose to say nothing.  Less haste, less waste.  What a pickle!  Garland showed great strength in recusing himself, something Scalia knew nothing about.  I do hope that the plan is upheld.  As the author states, if it goes to SCOTUS, the decision would likely be a 4-4 split resulting in no change to the Appeals Court decision given the "man short" situation in SCOTUS.

    Think Progress — In Canada, the media cannot write/report knowingly false or misleading information by law (that's why no Faux Noise in Canada).  It isn't perfect, but it goes a long way to communicating more reliable information.  KellyAnne Conway and the Drumpf campaign don't want fact checking by the media and moderators questioning the truthfulness of candidates because they know their ship will sink faster and deeper than the Titanic.

    Robert Reich — "It’s easy to holler at CEOs. It’s time for to stop hollering and take action." — AMEN!  Until the CEOs are held to account, until they see the inside of a prison as a result of their nefarious ways, until the fines are so prohibitive, unfortunately little will change.

    Cartoon — May we see another Democrat victory in the debates!

    VOTE BLUE ALL DOWN THE TICKET!!!

  8. Hope you made it through the debate without too much adrenalin coursing through your arteries to prevent you from catching up on some sleep, TomCat. The news here is that it wasn't too bad, but that both appealed to their base and neither will have convinced the "floating" voters to decide in their favor. But I'm sure any lack of sleep will not prevent you from posting on that in the next edition.

    NYT: You must be kidding: the fate of the ecological future of America – and the rest of the world – may depend on a clerical error? Please tell me that isn't so.

    TP: Of course Drumpf and Conway think biased Lauer did a great job last week. Has The new York Times or Think Progress found the "campaign" contribution to Lauer's very personal Drumpf campaign by the Drumpf charity organization yet?

    RR: Hypocritical hollering at CEOs is rather an unusual thing to do for Republicans, I would have thought. Normally they would have defended them, so it must be getting close to election time, right? The bashing is just posturing, and every CEO in the country knows it for what it is; CEOs, banks, pharmaceutical cartels…they can all rest assured that Republicans will stick to their trademark inaction. Any action we'll see from them is spent towards blocking any action from the other side of the isle. Talk is cheap. If you're a Republican, that is.

    Cartoon: A Democratic victory, I presume.

  9. Thanks all.  Hugs.  I slept poorly because it reached 92° testerday with horrid humidity.

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