Yesterday, Wendy stayed late to make up for the time she missed on Sunday. She cleaned my desk, AKA the Cat Box, and it only took me about forty five minutes to get all the electronics working again. I stayed up to watch the replay of political abortion on MSNBC, and other than filling everything in the house, except George, with barf, I survived the event, albeit barely. This evening I’ll be worshiping in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. Carolina will be visiting my Broncos. May the Holy Orb bless my Broncos, but between you and me, my faith isn’t real strong.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: A staff member for the Carter Administration during the 1970s and Secretary of Labor for President Clinton in the 1990s, the current author, professor and political commentator Robert Reich has seen more than most when it comes to our American politics and politicians.
When it comes to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Reich holds nothing back. Last week, he posted an opinion piece about Trump’s recent immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona that deserves more press. Here is the full Facebook post.
I’ve almost given up trying to correct Trump’s lies because every time he opens his mouth he emits more of them. But his speech yesterday in Pheonix on immigration was so trumped-up that it’s important to be reminded of the truth. Here are 6 Trump whoppers about immigration:
1. Trump’s claim that “illegal immigration costs our country more than $113 billion a year” is pure baloney. In fact, most undocumented workers pay into Social Security and other programs from which they’ll never benefit.
The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, has it right, and the Reich on the right, The Republican Reich has it wrong again. I shared one of six whoppers. Click through for the other five.
From NY Times: …In one of the nation’s most closely watched voting rights cases, the appeals court ruled in July that the Texas law, which required voters to show one of seven government photo IDs before casting a ballot, discriminated against minorities who lacked the IDs and could not easily get them. A lower court later ordered state officials to let people without IDs vote by signing a statement that they “cannot reasonably obtain” one — and told the state to spend $2.5 million to educate voters and local election officials on the relaxed requirement.
But in a motion filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Corpus Christi, advocacy groups and federal lawyers said the state’s education campaign was misleading voters into believing that voting would still be more difficult than it is.
The reason, the motion stated, is that the campaign omits the word “reasonably,” stating instead that voters can cast ballots only if they swear that they “cannot obtain” an identification card. That not only ignores the court’s order, the motion stated, but also leaves voters with the erroneous impression that they cannot vote unless they have exhausted every avenue to acquire an ID.
Texas officials repeatedly refused demands to change the language on official websites or in literature, the motion stated, saying that “cannot obtain” met the court’s requirement…
There are few crimes, if any, Republicans don’t commit trio separate voters from their right to vote.
From Crooks and Liars: Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson was stumped when MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle asked him what he would do about the Syrian city of Aleppo.
He proved two things, First, he has no idea what he’s talking about. Second, he is not fit to be President.
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/8/2016”
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4:11 Very impressive. Clay tile roofs don't deteriorate, but they are not the best in places that get hail. Concrete tile imitations are sturdier, but HEA-VY!
Poor Wendy, she'll have to cart out all the barf. My sympathies to you both.
DKos – Some of this kind of reminds me of Gingrich's false equcalence of feelings and facts. People believe this crap beause knowing the facts is too hard. I blame Dale Carnegie. he started all. All the "inspirational," "motivating" books and speakers convincing people they have no limitations except their own thoughts spring from him. And many, if not most of them, essentially deny facts. Heck, even Ayn Rand knew better than that.
NY Times – Fascinating. I wonder how Texas prosecutors would like it if the gar for criminal conviction were changed from "beyond a reasonable doubt" to "beyond a doubt" without any changes to the law, bu officials claiming "It's the same thing."
C&L – Good grief. If he's that poorly educated, why isn't he favoring Trump The rest of them are. Old story: "A man sees Death in Damascus. Death appears surprised, but warns, -I am coming for you tomorrow. The man takes the first camel out of town. The next day, Death finds him in Aleppo. -But I thought you'd be looking for me in Damascus! – That is why I was so surprised to see you in Damascus, since I knew i was to find you in Aleppo."
Cartoon – Amen! And many more!
3:26 I was in the dark. The light would not go on.
3:16 Me too, Jerry, me too!
I hope there's a full dinner table under the lamp!
. . . only for salad! Therer is lots of salad there, but I doubt any dressing!
DK: So true, Mr. Reich. Somebody have mercy on us, if DT gets the win.
NYT: Gulp!! This is not good. Discrimination at it's worst. smdh!!
C&L: Reminds me of someone else who's running for President, that doesn't know what he's talking about…
Cartoon: Happy Birthday, Bernie!!
Best to you @Church, and may your Team come through for a win! We play 'Da Bears' on Saturday.
Relax, enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Daily Kos: Reich is right, of course, and I shared this with my Red friends. No matter who states the facts, too many are still listening to Trump's lies. I am so disappointed in many people who are otherwise intelligent.
NY Times: Republicans are working hard all over this country to deprive minorities of their voting rights because they know that most of them don't support them. What will they do when whites are the minority, which is expected tohappen?
Crooks and Liars: I loved his explanation, he was trying to think of an Acronym and just went blank. That never worked for me when I took tests in school.
Cartoon: Yes, Happy Birthday, Bernie.
I hope your Bronchos won!
Puzzle — 3:16 Me too, Jerry, me too!
Daily Kos — Drumpf is totally unacquainted with both facts and truth. Humanity would be much better off without him and his lies.
NY Times — The minute some poor soul inserts "reasonably" into their understanding of the Texas law and signs the declaration, Texas Republicans will be there to declare voter fraud and make a big fracas over it. The wording must be changed and to hell with Texas Republicans.
Crooks and Liars — I heard about this on the radio today. Apparently he thought it was an anagram. Duh!!! Presidential material? Nope!
Cartoon — Happy B Day Bernie! May you have many, many more!
Lookee here, I made it through w/o doing a face plant. I saw the doctor today about several things and he thinks at this point, RICE and physio for the leg. He has also suggested anti-inflammatories which I already have on hand but rarely use. So the knee is still throbbing away, but I'll get there.
Hugs for healing!!
Oh no, TomCat. First you lost most of your faith in the American political system and now your faith in your Holy Orb and Broncos is waning. What's next? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that both will be revived by the end of the election and football season.
DK: It could be me, or I'm just on the wrong side of the ocean/news gathering, but it seems to have gone relatively quiet around Drumpf after the presidential candidates were chosen and their campaigns started. Until then Drumpf made headlines every day with some outrageous statement, but now I hear less of him here in Europe, and from America it seems too. Is that because, like Reich, they've almost given up trying to correct his lies. Or have been people been shocked into submission, habituated by each new lie, too pooped to get worked up about another onslaught of racism, xenophobia and misogyny. Let's hope it's only me and Drumpf hasn't succeeded in desensitizing the whole American population yet and people like Reich will re-sensitize them by pointing out all the lies again. All we have to do is hold on and remain outraged for another two months. And then all vote Blue.
NYT: Texan Republicans are incorrigible, willfully ignoring and misinterpreting court decisions that haven't gone their way. Cheating, deceitfulness and underhandedness are the only way they can play the game. It's about time the courts hit them with heavy fines and jail time for holding their judges and their rulings in contempt.
C&L: Gary Johnson not only doesn't know what Alllepo is, he indeed has no clue what he's talking about and has to repeat Republican/Drumpfian lies about Syria with assertions like: join with the Russians (who are aiding chlorine bombing Assad directly) in trying to broker peace, and the Syrian Freedom Fighters are also coupled with the Islamists… There may have been more, but I stopped the video right there and had to reach for my barf bag supply due to the BS of Drumpfian proportions in just a few lines.
Cartoon: Happy birthday Mr. Sanders. May you, your family and progressive America enjoy many more of your years in good health and undiminished fighting spirit for the good of your country.
I adore Robert Reich – one of the few you can always trust to be knowledgeable and speak/write intelligently. Oh, if only it was Bernie and Robert running for president…..
Thanks, Tired hugs, and Amen to all!!
Wow! That was a GOOD one, TC!