Feb 202018
 

Here in tropical Portland, it’s snowing.  Store to Door has not called to take my grocery order yet, so I called them.  They still plan to call, but it’s possible they may be unable to deliver  my groceries tomorrow due to weather.  ARGH!  I still have not had to turn heat on, but I did have to put on a long sleeve shirt.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me  3:39 (average 5:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Huffington Post (Hat-Tip JL A): New York Magazine is laying out a case for the possible impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The cover story, penned by former executive editor of The New York Times Jill Abramson, described Thomas’ rise to power and his apparent immunity to scrutiny during the height of the #MeToo movement. Citing conversations with three women who worked with Thomas, Abramson also detailed a history of lies told by the judge, beginning during his confirmation hearing.

His dishonesty, not the allegations of impropriety, “raise the possibility of impeachment.”

“Lying is, for lawyers, a cardinal sin. State disciplinary committees regularly institute proceedings against lawyers for knowingly lying in court, with punishments that can include disbarment. Since 1989, three federal judges have been impeached and forced from office for charges that include lying. The idea of someone so flagrantly telling untruths to ascend to the highest legal position in the U.S. remains shocking, in addition to its being illegal,” Abramson wrote.

Impeaching TEAbag Thomas is a wonderful idea, but we need to wait for the votes to convict the pervert in the Senate to remove him. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Your 3 Choices When It Comes to Trump

 

I opt for number three, the choice to RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Guess Who Comes In Last In New Ranking Of Presidents?

 

Forget Buchannan. Most Americans used to agree that Crawford Caligula was the worst ever, and he is dancing for joy, because he no longer is. RESIST!!

From NY Times: …So what happened to the character of the G.O.P.? I’m pretty sure that in this case the personal is, ultimately, political. The modern G.O.P. is, to an extent never before seen in American history, a party built around bad faith, around pretending that its concerns and goals are very different from what they really are. Flag-waving claims of patriotism, pious invocations of morality, stern warnings about fiscal probity are all cover stories for an underlying agenda mainly concerned with making plutocrats even richer.

And the character flaws of the party end up being echoed by the character flaws of its most prominent members. Are they bad people who chose their political affiliation because it fits their proclivities, or potentially good people corrupted by the company they keep? Probably some of both.

In any case, let’s be clear: America in 2018 is not a place where we can disagree without being disagreeable, where there are good people and good ideas on both sides, or whatever other bipartisan homily you want to recite. We are, instead, living in a kakistocracy, a nation ruled by the worst, and we need to face up to that unpleasant reality. [emphasis added]

This is Paul Krugman’s conclusion, and I could not agree more. Click through for the rest. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0220Cartoon

Share

  8 Responses to “Open Thread – 2/20/2018”

  1. 5:01 With leaves like that, who needs flowers?

    HuffPo – I would say about damn’ time – except that look who will appoint a replacement if he is removed now. We need to wait for that as well as the Senate votes to convict.

    Reich – Number three of course … but I find that number one, added in, helps. As does every so often (say, once a month) a number two day to keep rested and active.

    MSNBC – People who are not professional historians feel that Shrub was the worst president because he was so clearly the worst in our lifetimes, and we don’t know jack about Buchanan. I’m willing to believe Buchanan was worse than Shrub. But no one else comes close to Trump.

    NYT – Amen!

    Cartoon – Great moments in hair coloring.

  2. Tinkling on tRump is much too kind compares to what he deserves.

  3. HP: Good news. It amazes me how these people can lie and smile at the same time….ugh!

    RR: Going with #3 too. But I am guilty of pulling my hair out, as shown in #1, as my family can testify.

    MSNBC: Yep, as the hole gets deeper and deeper……

    NYT: I agree. Sad and pathetic, isn’t it?

    Cartoon: Ewww…..upchuck!!

    Hope you can get your groceries! Enjoy your evening, and take good care, Thanks, Tom.

  4. Sorry, but I think impeaching “Justice” Thomas is a TERRIBLE idea – at least at this time.

    Why would we want to remove a 69 y/o wingnut just to let Trump replace him with a 45 y/o wingnut? 

    Either wait until we control at least the Senate (to block any Trump appointment) – or until after January 20, 2021 when the good guy/gal is back in the Oval Office.

  5. HP: Wow!  I just posted a story about SCOTUS having upheld a California law requiring a ten day waiting period for gun ownership, and guess who was the LONE standout on the court?  Noe even Gorsuch voted against it.
    http://www.care2.com/news/member/565542931/4091667
    Yes, we need to wait for the senate to be available, and perhaps by then tDump will not be in any position to nominate, and push through another far right fool!
    MSNBC: I really like that this has been presented to the world this early in the obviously horrid, incompetents’ tenure.  He may choose to ignore this (Yeah, right!) or tweet his ass off about this, but now he has to live with this verdict being out there, for any of the 7 billion humans with access to news to see/read.
    NYT: And this is born out by the book I had been pushing recently: “Democracy in Chains-The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America,” byNancy MacLean.  This book lays out the very intentional, morally bankrupt, program of Charles Koch, whose money has taken the GOP on its ride to hell!
    ‘Toon: I’ll bet Stormy would like a shot at that!

  6. HP: Wonderful! Now let’s get the impeachment train to leave the station by voting Republicans out of Congress, and everywhere else, in November!

    IM: Fantastic ad there, Mr. Reich, telling people where to look if the want to go from choice #1 to #3.
    I truly wish I could chose #3 too and not be stuck in choice #1, in yoked control to the choices the people in the US make and the actions they’re taking.

    MSNBC: Wow, Chris Hayes’s chair and desk must have been replaced after this All In item; he was so caustic he must have burned straight trough them. Of course Drumpf deserves to be “the worst president ever” right now, even after only a year in office, because anyone, even a Republican, can see he’ll get only worse and wreak more havoc as time goes on. Get rid of him while you still can.

    NYT: Too true! And I think the new word I had to look up, kakistocracy, which means “Government under the control of a nation’s worst or least-qualified citizens” (Thomas Love Peacock, 1829), should get a mention here more often as it describes the current American government to a T.

    Is ours a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools? James Russell Lowell, 1876 

    As we step into this world—as we enter the age of kakistocracy—we should remember one thing. This isn’t a departure from [Donald] Trump’s populism. It’s the foundation of it. This is what Trump campaigned on. Jamelle Bouie, 2016

    I have to admit I may also like the word because in Dutch “kak” means “sh*t”, which makes it an even more apt description. ?

  7. Thanks all.  Kak hugs (Republicosis) 01

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.