While I was pretty successful at keeping my lungs clear yesterday, coughing exacerbated my side in the process and am in more pain. In years past, I have had issues with tree pollen, but this year is the pits. I’ll do what I can day by day.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:40 (average 5:23). To do it,. click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Media Matters: Dan Rather Condemns Media Calling Trump "Presidential" For "Dropping Bombs" And "Having Missile Strikes"
Hudos to Rather! It did not take long before it became crystal clear that Trump’s war mongering was NOT necessary. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos (Classic: 10/2014): What you soon find out is that cats aren’t Republican. Here are 12 reasons why not:…
…7. Cats don’t blame black and brown cats for their troubles.
8. Cats know how to ration their resources.
9. Fat cats are not at the top of the cat hierarchy, are not cat role models, and have more trouble surviving and thriving, not less.
10. While Republicans blindly follow authority, it is said that getting Democrats to act in unison is like herding cats.
11. Cats don’t foul their own nest.
12. Cats are popular and well-liked on the Internet and elsewhere.
I shared the last six. Click through for the other six. Also, because we cats are purrrrfect, we RESIST!!
From NY Times: President Trump does not know Mike Conaway.
A Republican congressman from a long brush stroke of West Texas, Mr. Conaway recalled meeting with him at the White House with other House Republicans. And he has shaken hands with Mr. Trump, a “standard, 500-people-on-a-rope-line, shaken-hand kind of thing.”
“He wouldn’t know me from third base,” Mr. Conaway said.
Whether he has exchanged pleasantries with the president may not have mattered before, but it does now. Mr. Conaway is taking over the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election. He is replacing Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican whose suspiciously cozy relationship with Mr. Trump derailed the inquiry before he was ultimately forced to step aside.
Mr. Nunes’s missteps have thrust Mr. Conaway, a low-profile, old-guard Republican, into the spotlight as the accidental heir to a potentially explosive investigation swirling around a president from his own party. He said he would dutifully pursue an extraordinary allegation that he appears to find dubious: that Mr. Trump’s associates may have worked with Russian officials to disrupt the election.
Strike 1: he’s a Republican. Strike 2: he’s a Republican. Strike 3: he’s a Republican. That’s enough, but what’s the rest of the dirt on him? Pat? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
13 Responses to “Open Thread – 4/17/2017”
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5:01 I thought it was a very old picture, but I guess it's a current picture of a very old pump.
I'm not coughing so much (some, yes), but I am blowing my nose and dribbling a lot. I agree it is the pits. (Regardless how you spell "pits.")
Media Matters – Dan Rather is a JOURNALIST. One of the few older ones left. Which, of course, is why Republicans framed him. I'm so glad he appears to have no intention now of going away/staying away.
DKos – And, of course, everyone knows that getting Democrats to work together is exacty like herding cats.
NYT – "Old guard" sounded positive, but "appears to find dubious" more than undoes that.
Cartoon – Two boys yesterday, and Herself today! Hope it is happy!
Happy Birthday, Lynn!! Hope that you have an awesome Day!!
MM: We need more journalists like Mr. KO, and Mr. Rather, who have integrity, and speak the truth. I mentioned that there was nothing presidential of what dt did, of dropping bombs, R.E.S.I.S.T.!!!
DK: Having been a cat (owner), lover for many years, I find this true. Mine usually dictate how MY day is going to go from dawn to dusk, and will usually let me know if something is amiss with the(ir) schedule. As my Russian Blue is OCD, it works well with me, and I understand. lol.
NYT: Not much on him, really. Rep from Midwest Texas and a Republicon.
Serving his 7th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Mike Conaway represents 29 counties in Texas’ 11th congressional district, including the cities of Midland, Odessa and San Angelo, about 324 miles from my house to Odessa/Midland. Big Oil out there. Very conservative. Friends with GW Bush. Endorsed Mitt Romney in 2008. NPR: "Nunes said that Conaway along with Reps. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Tom Rooney, R-Fla., will "temporarily take charge of the Committee's Russia investigation."
I agree with you. He's a Republican. ;-(
http://conaway.house.gov/biography/
Uh oh! The pollen can exacerbate your condition, hope that it doesn't get any worse. Rest alot, stay hydrated, and take good care. Enjoy your evening, and Thanks, Tom.
Someone with a Big Heart deserves a Big Cake (a "tall order" I think we can fill):
It is lovely! Thank you Nameless! I bought my self a single slice of chocolate cake at the market for my birthday. I ate half last night and will consumer the other half tonight. I did not light any candles though because, at my age, the fire department would not issue me a burning permit, despite all the rain we have had lately.
Happy Birthday, Lynn!
Puzzle — 3:52 Well, I didn't run out of gas.
Media Matters — Rather said that "…what makes one presidential is can you keep the peace." — Amen! Dropping bombs is a bullying tactic, not a tactic to achieve lasting peace. Kudos to Dan Rather for his honesty.
Daily Kos — Cat is where it's at! . . . well at least in my house! There is not a chance that they are Conservatives (Republicans in the US). I think mine are social democrats . . . they would love Bernie!
NY Times — Any Republican overseeing that investigation is a BIG mistake. Mr Benghazi as a joint chairman??? That is rather rich! Guaranteed he'll not do to this investigation what he did to Clinton over Benghazi, and this is hugely more important and has far more widely dispersed implications. I saw an interview with Adam Schiff awhile back in which he said some Republicans said that he should recuse himself from the House investigation if Nunes recused himself. How do Republicans get an equivalence of the two. Must mean that Schiff is on point and Republicans are worried.
Cartoon — Thanks all! I am officially a senior citizen now and will get my Canada Pension and Old Age Security payments for the first time at the end of May. The day was spent doing laundry and playing some Mahjong and Hidden City on my computer. Of course there was the usual checking on the news and cuddling with the furbabes. And being a mum with a birthday does not get me out of cleaning the litter box!
Resist and Persist!!!
One day a year, make them cdlean your box.
So very sorry the pollen have it in for you too, TomCat, and now your muscles are protesting strongly after doing a good job on keeping your lungs clear. That's very important of course, keeping you from a new relapse and on a course to heal, but if the resulting pain actually manages to do the opposite, the progress isn't as good as hoped for. Dear friend, I hope your coughing is over soon, and you feel better and fit enough so you can tackle your next medical project: getting your eyes fixed.
MM: I couldn't agree more with Dan Rather, and as I've said much of the same in comments here before, however I take exception to his last remark: Rather doesn't believe that Drumpf is bombing those countries to deflect from the investigations into his ties to Russia and the Russian influence on the election, but that there is some political strategy behind it although nobody seems to know what that might be. I'm sure there isn't any such thing. I think Drumpf is shoving any hint of the investigation out of the picture and while flexing the muscles of a bully, is calling out for everyone to pay attention to him and not to the investigation. It worked with bombing a Syrian airfield because the media applauded it, so he bombed Afghanistan with MOAB. The media was cheering again. So what's next?
DK: Cats can and will never be conservatives/ Republicans. But truth be told, cats will never be Socialists either. Neither is in their nature.
NYT: "[Mike Conaway] said he would dutifully pursue an extraordinary allegation that he appears to find dubious: that Mr. Trump’s associates may have worked with Russian officials to disrupt the election." Yeah, right. He hasn't started on the job yet, but has it known that he finds the allegations dubious. A clear step up from Nunes, who simply denied the allegations against "his boss" while he was chairman, isn't it.
Happy birthday, Lynn.
Hope you don't mind I use this one twice this year:
Cats love to be spoiled, don't they! I love the picture. My Primo lies like that a lot. All three like belly rubs, gentle, loving belly rubs.
Media Matters: Dan Rather is correct. There is nothing "Presidential" about dropping bombs, missiles in another country. If anything, not-my-president Drumpf is a warmonger and a war profiteer with his own unknown agenda without authorization from Congress. Drumpf now has become and is an american terrorist.
Cartoon: Happy Birthday, Lynn. Hope that you have an Awesome Day with your "new" number. lol.
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Thanks. Pained hugs.
Dan Rather: Agree with all but "Now, I don't think that was his intension (diversion) but I think that was one of the effects of it." I am cetain that that was the ONLY intention!
Many more Happy Birthdays, Lynn!!!!!
NY T: Conway was brought along by G.W. Bush, from his very beginning in politics, even before that, according to what I have read.