It’s another busy day here in the shiny new CatBox. The power chair repairman is due in about an hour to fix my chair. I have no idea how long it will take. Yesterday my Oncologist’s PA explained that the nodes in my lungs are so tiny that they are impossible to biopsy, and that they are probably just scar tissue from my COPD. Therefore, they’ll do another Cat Scan in three months, to make sure they undergo no sudden growth. This is my only article today, but starting tomorrow, I should be back in the saddle until Sunday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:44 (average 6:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): 2020 Animated By ‘Fear Of Trump’
This is great. Unfortunately, this attitude also tends to steer voters toward Joe Biden and against Democratic competitors, who are both more cogent and more competent. Assuming that we win in 2020, an administration that gives Republicans license to screw America in a the misguided pursuit of bipartisanship will guarantee a quick Republican return to power. RESIST!!
From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: The 5-Step CEO Pay Scam
The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, has two kinds of policies: scams and bigger scams. Robert’s plan is spot-on! RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: A man with no identifiable skills is deeply worried that a recession could cause him to lose his job, people close to the man have confirmed.
The man, who has barely clung to his job for the past two and a half years, is justified in believing that an economic downturn would result in his unemployment, experts said.
“When the economy is good, it’s possible for someone like him to hold down a job for which he is woefully unqualified,” Harland Dorrinson, a human-resources specialist, said. “But when the economy goes south, look out.”
Dorrinson said that the unskilled man’s résumé, which lists six bankruptcies and multiple business failures, could come under scrutiny in the event of a recession.
“His employers might find themselves asking, ‘How did he get this job in the first place?’ ” Dorrinson said.
Andy, he got the job by repeating ‘Spasibo, tovarishch Putin’ over and over. RESIST!!
Vote Blue!!
28 Responses to “Open Thread – 8/21/2019”
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MSNBC: Rachel had a way to show the numbers, good explanations, and to our advantage. Blue through and through!!
RR: Good video. Love how he explains this!
NYer: Word ! Andy!
Cartoon: Good grief…!
What a relief for you. Great news to read about your med appointment! Hope all goes good with your repair of your wheel chair too. Hope you have a good day, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: PTSD – “Puerile Trump Stress Disorder.” ~ Patty M. ~
2. The Amazon Rainforest is Burning!!! pb
3. “Trump postpones meeting w/Danish PM after she says Greenland isn’t for sale. Pricked that thin skin, did she?” ~ Yvonne B ~
The citizens of Denmark are celebrating having dodged that particular bullet!
Thank you for the news TomCat!😸
7:11 Peaceful.
Cartoon – Your cartoons are getting to be, like Andy, straight news. Sigh. Not your fault that Republicans are getting so despicable that what used to be exaggeration is now – not.
Lawrence – Of course the poll depends on the polled. Democratic Underground polling looks a little different.
I am in deep agreement with Rachel B, and hope the DNC pays attention. We DO NOT NEED a Joe Biden to win, and, as you say, a Joe Biden win would sabotage us in the long rin (and not so very long a run at that.) Fear is a great motivator, and it is certainly appropriate in the present circumstances, but we cannot let it ride us – we must learn to ride it instead. AND we MUST NOT forget the House and Senate!
RR – Once again, accurate, and very clearly explained. If there’s absolutely no motivation for CEOs (or anyone else), and substantial motivation for them to grift, they will grift. The only way to stop the grift is to remove the motivation (and in the ways Robert advises, there will be other salutary results.)
TNY – I believe I already alluded to Andy being straight news.
MSNBC: As much as hate predictions, in general, as they rarely confirm to what happens, I expect this Rachel is right. I do not know that democratic voters were so “complacent” in 2016, as much as outvoted by the fools who thought Dumpy was the newest savior, and so flocked to the polls. We also, had, recall, the “Anyone but Hillary” crowd!! Some of these were very vocal at the old C2! However, I will be happy with virtually ant Democratic candidate. If Biden still thinks he can engage in across-the-aisle work with the GOPIGGIES, however, he is sorely mistaken.
This just in: Dumpy is having a fit because he can’t buy Greenland. The Times says that he was interested in minerals, but Andy’s Dorrinson just told me that Dumpy want dot buy it so that he could censor the news and claim that Greenland’s ice sheet is actually growing!
RRC: There was a piece in the news yesterday, in the N.Y. Times, about the Business Roundtable issuing a statement saying that “…businesses should no longer advance only the interests of shareholders. Instead, companies must also invest in their employees, protect the environment and deal fairly and ethically with their suppliers. The group was quoted as saying” We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.” The article began by saying “Nearly 200 chief executives, including the leaders of Apple, Pepsi and Walmart, tried on Monday to redefine the role of business society – and how companies are perceived by an increasingly skeptical public.” Time will tell!!
The New Yorker: Harland Dorrinson has a track record of astute political assessments.
‘Toon: On the mark, once again!
P.S.: It is good to hear about the status of your nodes! Nodes news is good news!
GROAN !!
I disagree.
AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!
This just in from El Paso (tissue alert):
https://www.comicsands.com/el-paso-tony-basco-car-2639919760.html
Beautiful folks in EP rallying to help another, when Mr. Basco is mourning, and grieving over his beloved’s heartbreaking death.
Helping others when tragedy strikes, and picking others up from the darkness into the light.
My faith in humanity is restored, what a story of love and compassion, and dignity.
I’m about 9 hours drive from there. (yes, I did get choked up reading and watching the videos..)
Thanks, Joanne for link.
Love the New Yorker Humor. After a couple paragraphs you realize just who the subject is! OK, lets get our buns to the polls in 2020 and make sure that creep does lose his current job!
More hope that Dumpy winds up in jail for making America great in his very own idiosyncratic way-Breaking whatever laws get in his way:
https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/trump-just-got-busted-for-inflating-his-golf-resorts-value-by-165-million-which-could-be-a-federal-crime/
MSNBC: Rachel is right. Sure hope people pay attention. We need a positive change now. We need someone like Warren to beat tRump.
RR: So accurate.
Happy to hear that the nodes may just be scar tissue. Hope your power chair got repaired.
Take care.
3:34 Typical woods of mild-climate Northern Hemisphere. Could be taken in the Netherlands.
So glad the nodes weren’t anything but just nodes, TomCat, and just something to keep a medical eye on.
MSNBC: OK, Democrats need to win, so if Biden is the ticket, so be it. But I do hope that Democrats, being the better-educated group in general, understand that winning is not the same as turning things around and moving forward, and chose a candidate that will defeat Trump AND move the country forward again. Then Biden is not the ticket.
RR: Robert Reich’s 5-step plan is spot-on. Of course. The only trouble with it is its timing. These 5 steps will do little good when we hit the recession that is already waiting by the door. When it hits, everyone will be so busy battling it, and CEO’s will have lost so much too, that the 5 steps will hardly matter. History has learned us that Democrats/Democratic Socialist come to power when economies are at their low point. By the time the wonderful plans and steps finally come to fruition, the Right is back in the saddle, harvesting what the Democrats have build-up again, enriching themselves with it and then leaving the empty shell and the dirty dishes on the table, for the Left to clean-up again.
TNY: It was not hard to guess whom Andy was talking about. It would be terribly ironic that Trump won the presidency on the economical strength the Democrats had help forge and may now lose on the economical weakness he brought about himself with his tax-cuts for the 1% and his idiotic trade wars.
Sorry Tom,that wasn’t the best link.
I removed it for you.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/22/entertainment/simpsons-trump-the-squad/index.html
LOL! Priceless!
Apparently many of their plot points come true. Love to see this come true.
Encouraging news WRT your nodes. (As I noted yesterday: “They were awfully, awfully tiny. Just keep them that way.”)
Biden isn’t my first, second or third choice – but I’m sure we’d ALL take him over Trump!
I really like RR’s videos. But I usually slow them down because he talks so fast the CC goes by too quickly.
There’s a interesting site that let’s you find the compensation package for bigwigs at big corporations:
https://www.salary.com/personal/executive-salaries/
For example, if you enter “Walmart” you’ll be able to select the President & CEO, C. Douglas McMillon – who made $22.5 MILLION last year.
Interesting chart following the explosion of CEO : Worker Salary Ratio through the decades:
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in:
1950 ➡️ 20:1
1980 ➡️ 30:1
2018 ➡️ 361:1
Corporate greed is eviscerating the working class.
Zuckerberg made the same.
Medical Update
My Wound Care Clinic visit yesterday went pretty well.
The Nurse Practitioner switched me from a topical antibiotic dressing (Mepilex) to one (Hydrofera Blue) that I cut from a sheet, soak in saline and then insert into the wound itself.
It’s a bit technically difficult to do because of the location on my lower leg (not to mention painful), so we’ll see how it goes.
I RTC (Return to Clinic) in one week.
Whew! Glad you got something! Sorry it was considered necessary, sorry it’s painful, but glad you got it. Hang in!
Damn! I would not want to have to do that. Did you get that because of your medical expertise?
Not sure, but doubt it.
Sitting in the Wound Care Clinic waiting room, I’m amazed by the number of amputees who seem not just “war-weary” but cheerful.
They all look like they’ve been through more than just packing their own wounds. (NOT that it is something I’d sign up for as a Camp activitity.)
Dang, they packed stumpy in the hospital after my ampution, and even on morphine, it was excruciating.
Thanks and ‘back in the saddle’ hugs to all.