Sep 192017
 

My dang printer is on the fritz again.  I think I know what’s wrong, that the cable connection jostled loose when Wendy was cleaning.  I think I can work around it until tomorrow night.  Today I’m missing my morning nap, because I cannot print my grocery list, which I usually read to Store to Door from bed.  So I’ll just publish and go down for my afternoon nap a bit earlier.  It’s a cool rainy day, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the cool air washed clean of smoke.  It’s time for Trump to take a vacation in Puerto Rico.  God help everyone else.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:48 (average 4:43).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

Here are the latest results from our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

2Scores

If Pam had reamed my poor kitty butt any worse, I’d think she was a Republican!! Sick smileWinking smile

Standings:

2Standings

Congrats to Pam and Patty Monster, who lead the league. Condolences to our beloved Sasquatch who STILL has nobody under her BIG feet.

Players, please have your lineup set by Thursday night.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump, Russia, and the Facebook Factor

If the Fuhrer does resign, as Keith suggests, pseudo-Pence will pardon him very quickly. If both resign, Lyin’ Ryan will pardon both. RESIST!!

From The Last Word: GOP gives up on bipartisanship, backs new Obamacare repeal

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is pushing a new ACA repeal-replace bill that has gained GOP backing but violates his own “Jimmy Kimmel Test.” Fmr. Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Andy Slavitt and Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin join Lawrence O’Donnell.

If we can stop RepubliCare, with its guaranteed death benefit, one more time, the reconciliation window will be closed for another year. This time, for the worst bill of all, Republicans have set aside ninety seconds total for debate.  Call your Senators!  RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Robert Mueller is renting a massive warehouse facility in suburban Virginia to accommodate the approximately forty cubic tons of evidence against Donald Trump that the independent counsel’s investigation is generating on a daily basis.

Employing over two thousand workers in a warehouse the size of seven football fields, the Mueller investigation has become the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Working twelve-hour shifts, the members of Mueller’s evidence-storage team rarely leave the warehouse, where the punishing task of filing mountains of evidence against Trump proceeds around the clock.

Sorry, Andy. I just can’t buy that one. The space and staff size you suggest are just tiny fractions of the actual resources needed to store the evidence against Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0919Cartoon

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  9 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/19/2017”

  1. 4:11  Brrrr.

    I came across a word that is new to me in a comment somewhere – “Glocksucker.”  do you suppose all ammosexuals are, or only some of them?

    L’shanah tova u’metukah to all from JVP.

    And, Aaargh, me hearties!  it’s National Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Shiver me timbers!

    Keith # 123 – You know, it kind of scares me how many people, many Trump supporters, but I think not all, are apathetic about where campaign money comes from.  There are reasons why it is a Federal crime for money from any other country to be given to and/or used in an American election campaign.  Didn’t people used to understand that at a gut level?  Did Citizens United do this to us – make us resigned to floods of money that isn’t our influencing our elections?  Or is it the other way around?   Did we stop caring first, and therefore too few people were distressed by Citizens United?

    Lawrence – Another thing about this bill is that it doesn’t appropriate any money for CSR reimbursements.  Previous versions eliminated CSRs effective 1/1/19 AND funded them through 12/31/18.  This ine eliminates CSRs effective 1/1/19 but DOES NOT fund them through 12/31/18.  Why this matters:  CSRs are what is keeping premiums down.  Without them, there will need to be a 14% increase in premiums across the board instantly, and Ceiing Cat alone knows what will happen from there.

    TNY – LOL!

    Cartoon – OMG, Emoticons have been around longer than I have been married!

  2. KO: They (repugs), dt on down, need to be in prison. Now, or sooner than later.

    Last Word: We’re screwed if this goes through! This hurts us all !!

    NYer: I believe it !! lol

    Cartoon: Gosh, the years just fly by, don’t they?

    Glad that you are enjoying the cooler weather. We could use some rain here. Not as much, though, as what the Caribbean islands are experiencing (again) right now. Maria is at a Cat 4 or 5, I believe. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.

  3. KO: We are screwed one way, or another.  the election will/can not be a “Do over,” sadly.  The GOPigs will take care of one another.  Trump will be rallying the fools from the tower, and at rallies around the country, telling the fools how sorely he was treated by…”You know who!”  I’m sorry to be so dour about it, but unless we can get the asses out of the cabinet, and not have Pence, or Ryan put in even worse (is that possible?) sickos, it is not going to be good.  We need to get the vote out next year, on steroids!
    LW: GOPig heartlessness at its worst!  Lindsey Graham is one tooth shy of being a vampire politician, and Cassidy is a slime ball.  
    NY’r: Go Bobby, go!  Fill them stadia to the rafters!  Andy rocks!

  4. Andy was FANTASTIC! And, for what it’s worth, too close to the bone!
    The bipartisan ship sailed away as fast as it came in! Drumpf is clapping his tiny little hands at the way it had the goppers twisting in the wind!
    Thanks, TC! It was a fair week for me on FF. I’m 1-1-0 and I’m shopping for a TE!

  5. Puzzle — 3:38  That looks so inviting!

    Fantasy Football — I might be at the bottom of the league but just don’t forget, I have a very large and broad understanding that supports the entire league!  Just call me Atlas!  Besides, we can’t all be first!! . . . not even Puddy Tat!

    YouTube — Drip! . . . Drip! . . . Drip! . . . right into the shark tank!  If any of these Republican rogues are pardoned, that should be a crime!

    The Last Word — The tape above would not play for me so I went to MSNBC.com for it and stumbled into The 11th Hour with Brian Williams which was very telling to me.  In that post, Lindsey Graham said:

    “You can have differing opinions about the quality of this bill.  At the end of the day, this is the only process left available to stop a march towards socialism. … My friends on the other side are never going to agree to a bipartisan proposal that does anything but prop up Obamacare. …”

    I have seen far too many people equate socialism and communism, so when Graham said what he did, I began to wonder if the Republicans are taking instruction from long dead Joe McCarthy, the rabid anti communist of the 50s.

    Republicans are trying to rush this toxic waste bill through under reconciliation so that they only need 51 votes to pass it.  To do that, they are willing to abrogate the accepted and democratic process.  I also heard today that the total time being allowed for debate is 90 seconds but I cannot find the tape where that was mentioned.  I hope I misheard that point and that proper procedures will be followed, although with Republicans, the win is more important than how one wins.  Republicans really are a lower form of life, probably the lowest.

    The New Yorker — I thought Andy’s column was supposed to be satirical.  This sounds more like straight news . . . 7 football fields!  LOL!!!

    Cartoon — Who’d a thunk!  Personally, I like the little smiley versions 16

    Resist, Persist and Remove!!!

    I’m glad to know that there is no such thing as climate change and that the hurricane group — Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria — are merely an act of a vengeful God on Republican stupidity.  Four cat 4 and 5 hurricanes in 3 weeks is monstrous and their ferocity and size clearly attributable to climate change.  Add on top of that 2 earthquakes in Mexico.  I pray for all the people caught in these debacles.  Well I had my bone density scan done last Friday afternoon and had my results today — I have moderate osteoporosis which means I have to take medication for this now too, in addition to some vitamin/minerals.  Arrggghhhh!!!!!  I want less, not more! I guess you could say I am a real pill!

  6. Keith Olbermann #123: Let’s hope Mueller’s drip…drip…drip turns into something like this soon:

    But honestly, I do wish the dripping would stop, because we do not need Drumpf to resign because he sees what’s coming, then get pardoned by Pence or Ryand as you suggest, TomCat, and then walk away with the proceeds of his “presidency” – which will be plentiful – while America is left with Pence and the GOP majority to wreak further havoc on the country.

    TLW: We all knew it wasn’t over after the last try to repeal and replace Obamacare failed; it was only a matter of regrouping, stamping a new name on the old bill and putting pressure on those Republican senators who were against behind the scenes, while on stage the GOP played out their bipartisan act of working with Democrats on an improved bill which they never intended support and now use for their favorite political move: blame it all on the Democrats. There’s nothing new or unexpected here, neither the usual duplicity of the GOP nor the gullibility of the Democrats, not even the prediction that tens of millions of Americans are going to suffer.

    TNY: Oh Andy, back to factual reporting again, are we?

    Cartoon: Oh my goodness, I’m getting really old. I remember using “:-)” AND “:-(” in my early emails composed with a line editor in DOS, but that must have been even before 1982 on the university based email system. Thank goodness for those lovely 14, although “;-)” is still faster to type than finding a “wink” to include. Darn, I had to go back and put quotes around the smileys, because they were replaced by emoticons by the editor!

    I may have remembered incorrectly, but I thought you had a tablet as well, TomCat. If you have, you wouldn’t need to print out your lists but read it from tablet while in bed, wouldn’t you?

    Good luck to anyone in the path of Maria.

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