I’m in a big hurry to get my writing done before I leave. May the Holy Ellipsoid Orb bless my Broncos tonight. Back!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:52 (average 6:08). To do it, click here. How did you do.
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Merkley Slams GOP Efforts to Kneecap Consumer Rights
Note that both Jeff Flake and Bob Corker voted FOR the legislation that Jeff is speaking against. Oregon leads the way. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Senator Jeff Flake’s decision to abandon his 2018 re-election campaign in Arizona has thrown open the Senate race there, exposing deep fissures not only on the Republican side where a nationalist insurgency is gunning for the party establishment but also among Democrats contending with a rising left.
Establishment Democrats have high hopes for Representative Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist who recently dined in the Blue Room of the White House with President Trump, teaches a bipartisan spin class in the House gym and has broken ranks with her own party on key votes. She was one of only seven House Democrats, for example, who voted to create a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack on the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
But those impulses toward bipartisanship have soured Arizona progressives against the candidacy of a woman who rose to prominence on a biography that included time as a homeless child and an identity that includes being the first open bisexual in Congress.
“There are issues, murmurs within grass-roots groups and the progressive community, the environmental community and others, including immigration advocates,” said Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona and a co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who is withholding his endorsement of her.
Establishment Republicans, meanwhile, are scrambling to find a candidate to replace Mr. Flake and wage a primary challenge against Kelli Ward, a former state senator who aligns herself with Mr. Trump. Ms. Ward, derided by critics as a fringe candidate and a conspiracy theorist, was beaten badly by the senior senator from Arizona, John McCain, in a 2016 primary, and party leaders fear she would lose to Ms. Sinema in the general election.
I certainly prefer a more progressive alternative to Sinema, but a DINO is better than a Republican, especially Kelli Ward. RESIST!!
From NBC News: Given all of the focus on President Trump’s political base — and how he’s still holding on to it – our new NBC/WSJ poll sheds light on a less-discussed development: Trump is losing ground with the middle of the country.
Just 34 percent of independents approve of Trump’s job performance, while 57 percent disapprove (-23). That’s a decline from September, when 41 percent of independents approved and 48 percent disapproved (-7). As for self-described moderates, only 27 percent approve of Trump’s job, versus 68 percent who disapprove (-41). The president’s overall job-approval rating stands at 38 percent — his lowest yet in the NBC/WSJ poll.
What’s more, independents prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress over a Republican-controlled one in next year’s midterm elections by 6 points, 39 percent to 33 percent, while moderates want a Dem-controlled Congress by 32 points, 60 percent to 28 percent.
That might be barely enough to flip the House. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
10 Responses to “Open Thread – 10/30/2017”
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7:00 Who is going to be eating whom here?
Jeff – In a world populated with honorable people, arbitration would not necessarily be corrupt. Needless to say, that is not the world we live in. Flake and Corker are, of course, not alone.
NYT – I’d take Republican expressed fears of Sinema with a grain of salt. Counter-intuitive though it sounds, I think a real progrssive has a better chance against a RWNJ than does a centrist. Like you, I just want a Democrat there at this point.
NBC – The 2018 election is not tomorrow, or even next week. (BTW, those of you who have any actual contested candidates running this year need to be SURE to VOTE, whatever it takes.) We need for the trend to continue until then.
Cartoon – There was a great “diary” in Daily Kos today discussing this and possible ways to respond to it.
Mr. Merkley: Thank Gawd we have him on board. He is against the repugs who want to suck the money/life out of us.
NYT: Vote Blue!!
Cartoon: Oh! So sad, but true!
We lost by a hair. Hope that you had a nice visit. Hope your guys do well tonight. Relax, and have a good evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
CHIEFS vs broncos …
So far so good!
(You got to admit there are other folks rooting for other teams … and I’m one of them! Diversity is what makes America strong!)
Of course, Nameless. We can be close friends 363 days a year (362 if they meet in the playoffs).
NYT: I know next to nothing about Sinema, but too much about the damned Repugs, would vote for the former in a second!
Merkley is wonderful!
NBC: May tRump loose ground until it opens up and swallow his sad ass!
“Toon: HyPENCEpocrisy!
Puzzle — 4:55 Big Bird???
Jeff Merkley — He tells it like it is! Kudos!!!
NY Times — Don’t repeat the 2016 debacle of Clinton and Sanders! Find a way to unity.
NBC News — May a giant sink hole open up under Drumpf and swallow him, sending him into oblivion never to be heard from again. Thinking about that statement, Robert Muëller is the sink hole and prison is oblivion, especially at his age. He’d be in his 90s before he gets out if he gets a sentence of 20 years. I can dream can’t I?
Cartoon — It’s SOP for Republicans unfortunately!
I have meetings at my mother’s care centre all day on 31/10 and then physio and teaching on Wednesday. I may very well be scarce for a few days.
I hope the religious agony isn’t too severe. Broncos lost 19 – 29 against the Chiefs. I imagine that Nameless is beside himself with joy.
Jeff Merkley: “If anyone wanted to see an example of the swamp at work here in DC, we have it on the floor tonight. This is big business taking justice and ripping it out of the hands of consumers across our nation.” Mr. Merkley really didn’t mince his words and let his GOP colleagues, wallowing in the swamp, have it! He had no qualms with calling out paying the judges who arbitrate in these consumer cases for what it is: corruption.
Kudo to Mr. Merkley. A pity all eyes are on Drumpf and speeches like Merkley’s are just ignored, as are the lies that Republican Senators tell to restrict consumer rights.
NYT: It doesn’t bode well for the Democratic party and the chances to take Congress back if the best they have to offer is dINO Kyrsten Sinema. Voters will understand the Dutch saying: It doesn’t matter whether you’re bitten by the dog or by the cat.
NBC: Drumpf may lose some ground with the middle of the country, but his deluded base will never abandon him nor the GOP, no matter what they do. Despite the very slow progress, the GOP may have reached most of their goals on their masters’ agendas and will have gerrymandering and voter suppression at its premium by the time of the midterm elections. The Democrats really need to step up NOW if they want to flip the House, and I can’t see them doing that when they keep pushing establishment Democrats.
Cartoon: Very pertinent if the petitions I come across lately are any indication.
Hope you had a wonderful lunch with your friend, TomCat.
I like the third eye. A very perceptive cute demon!
Thanks all! Very tired hugs!
That cartoon is spot on! Pro-compulsory-birth forces of evil are all about the embryo fetus and nothing about the woman – or the fetus after it becomes a baby. They are zealots that redouble their efforts and redouble them again when they have entirely forgotten their aim.