It’s a better Sunday, here in the CatBox. My Fentanyl patch has helped my pain level and reduced my use of Oxycodone considerably. Tomorrow I have a morning visit from a Providence Home Health doctor, so how much I publish will depend on how long she is here. Kudos to all Dads.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:18 (average 5:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Trump* Virus Update:
Cases: 2,331,673
Deaths: 122,005
Recovered: 973,061
Short Takes:
From Alternet: On Friday night, Attorney General William Barr issued a statement saying that the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffry Berman, had resigned. That was a lie. Not only had Berman not resigned, he had told Barr repeatedly that he would not resign, and had turned down other roles at the Department of Justice. So, about an hour after Barr’s statement, Berman issued a statement of his own, telling Barr to stuff it. Actually, Berman stated that he had been “appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York” and that he would only step down “when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate.” Berman is in the middle of a number of highly sensitive investigations, including an ongoing investigation of Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and his associates in Trump’s Ukraine scandal. So his removal clearly signals that Barr is, once again, placing Trump’s desires far ahead of such arcane ideas as justice, or the nation.
On Saturday afternoon, Barr produced a new statement. He’s given up the pretense that Berman has resigned. Instead Barr says, “I have asked the president to remove you as of today, and he has done so.” According to Barr, this makes assistant U. S. Attorney Audrey Strauss the new acting U. S. Attorney, but considering Barr’s knowledge and application of the law, odds are he’s simply lying again. Hilariously, Barr claims there’s no danger of there being an issue with ongoing cases because … the inspector general will see to that. As everyone knows, Trump and Barr just respect the hell out of inspectors general.
SDNY’s Geoffrey Berman has resigned. Perhaps he’ll have time to testify to Congress now.
Criminal Fuhrer Trump* claims that Barrf did this on his own. He claims he had nothing to do with it. One, or far more likely, both, are lying. Barrf lacks the authority to fire a US Attorney. RESIST!!
From YouTube (John Pavlovitz Channel): 5 THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER TO SAY TO GRIEVING PEOPLE. How Our Words Can Magnify Other’s Loss
Very well said, by an Authentic Christian (the polar opposite of a Republican pseudo-Christian). I could not agree more! RESIST!!
From YouTube (CNN Channel):Facts don’t support what Trump, Pence say about coronavirus
Trump* Virus is an ongoing disaster, just like criminal Fuhrer Trump and the Republican Reich, who are making it so much worse. Here in Oregon, the most recent spike comes from a Pentecostal Church in Eastern Oregon. There Republican pseudo-Christians (the opposite of real authentic Christians) are practicing Republican guidelines on Sunday and infecting their neighbors Monday through Saturday. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the past): “REFLECTIONS OF MY LIFE” THE MARMALADE ~ 1969 – original recording ~ HQ AUDIO
Ah… the memories! RESIST!!
Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!
17 Responses to “Open Thread–6/21/2020”
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More good news. Sounds like you may actually be able to enjoy your day, and I hope you do. And that tomorrow’s appontment goes well.
If anyone wants John Bolton’s book, try this link. I can barely imagine anyone actually wanting to read the whole thing – 570 pages, and he’s not exactly scintillating – but there’s an index at the end so one can find the good parts. If the download in the reader doesn’t work (if the site is too busy) try the “file” command in your browser and “save as.”
Cartoon – Actually, no.
Map – Different maps showing different things sort of validates what I said yesterday about Idaho (using made up numbers) – if the whole state has 50 cases and a bunch of bar-hopping idiots in Boise infect 13 among themselves, there’s your 25%+ increase right there – but there are still only 63 cases. (Repeat: Those are made up munbers, just to show how a percentage can be large when actual numbers are small. I have no idea how many active cases there are in Idaho.)
AlterNet (they picked this up from Mark Sumner, a very smart and very professional staff writer at Daily Kos. It’s getting to where I can identify his and several other DK writers’ articles from the style before I check the byline – they are lifting so much from DK.) I had read that Barr cannot fire a U. S. Attorney, and also that in order to force Berman out, there would have to be a Presidential nominee to the position confirmed by the Senate. Now, you might think that’s a slam dunk, but in fact, of all people, Lindsey Graham is making noises suggesting that a Senate confirmation is not going to be quite so fast. Lindsey is in the Senate what Jerry Nadler is in the house (Judiciary Committee Chair), so any nomination would have to pass his committee first. I am so sad that I am allergic to popcorn. I feel morally certain that, if Berman comes to feel that he can at best stall the trolls, he will take steps to insulate all his cases from them. He is probably already working on that. But he’s clearly no pushover.
Ah – here’s the latest –
YT – John is as authentic as they come – and he is also extremely articulate. And the two do not always go together. He has written on this before (his father’s death was truly a defining moment for him, and he has never hidden that.) I’m so glad that, not that he has a YouTube channel, he has presented this video. (It’s far from impossible that, until now, he wouldn’t have achieved enough personal healing to say all of this out loud on camera without tearing up – he almost didn’t even now.) His point about everyone who has lost the same person having lost different private jokes – so profound. And broader in application then even he says. With John’s father gone, not only will he never again hear his father’s private jokes, but he will also never again see his mother’s or siblings’ reactions to a private joke they and his father had together – or to family jokes that all shared.
CNN – Kind of an obvious headline. What sane person doesn’t already know that?
Past – Wow. You clearly picked that to go with John’s video. Very powerful (in 1969 I was working 16 hours a day seven days a week – I remember breaking down from exhaustion but I don’t remember any music at all.)
Joanne,
Tried the link for John Bolton and I got
Error 404 – Not FoundSorry, the page that you are looking for does not exist.
Is there another one to try? Thanks
Aw, shoot. I just corrected it, and it now is a link that was good when I used it, but has now been taken down as a “violation of Google terms and services.” (IOW, it was leaked.) Let me see what else I can come up with.
Why am I not surprised that Bolton would violate Google’s TOS?
I don’t think it was Bolton. I think someone else got and leaked it, and it was the leak – of information which was not the intellectual property of the leaker – that was the violation.
I see. In that case, may he/she take a leak often!
Alas – I thought I might try sending it as an attachment (or multiple attachments) but now I can’t open it either Oh, well.
Cartoon: Wow!
TVU: Don’t know today’s total….
AN: Both liars! dt and barr. One thinks we’ve heard and seen it all, but everyday is something else. Hard to keep track of all the lies too. ugh!! Yes, I hope he can testify in Congress too. W/be interesting to hear the evidence and his side of the story.
JPC: Good advice. He said the most beautiful words that would help someone w/their loss. Such a kind man. ty!
CNN: Texas 50% ugh! South and South West. Not good. At.All.
BFTP: Good song w/lots of memories on this one.
Hope that you day goes good. Best to you with your visit tomorrow, too. Hope that you have a relaxing day and evening. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: “dt disembarking from the vehicle last night. At least the Handrails showed up to support him last night.” ~ Mac M. ~
2. “One of my friends is a member of the stagehand union in Tulsa. He has a head count of 6200 in the arena from last night.” ~ Dave T. ~
3. “Wait!! Kids on Tic-Tok reserved empty seats at Trump’s rally? The President was trolled by our children. Have an extra drink tonight, parents! You’ve done well !! ~ Kelly O. ~
4. re dt: “Last night, the best part of the debacle, is that teens proved that they do have a VOTE. NYT reporting this morning that teens launched a successful campaign to swamp the campaign rally w/ticket requests. Parscale got pranked. Good.” ~William R. ~
TVU: We went up again, both with new cases and deaths. Did you hear the idiot the say last night that he asks them to slow down the testing, so the numbers won’t continue to rise??? Stupid fool.
AN: Amazes me the evil games bArr plays is exactly the kind tRump loves. Yet tRump states he had nothing to do with it. We can see clearly that tRump didn’t want Mr. Berman to continue investigating the cases rUdy gIuliani. Something must be done to prosecute tRump and bArr for their evilness.
JPC: Great words by John. Meaningful message.
CNN: Facts don’t lie. What gets me is that pEnse is now bowing down to tRump’s charades about saying that the Covid-19 is going away. Maybe they will get lucky and catch it from attending the rally last night without wearing masks or social distancing.
BFTP: Didn’t recognize the name of the song or group. But after listening to it, I remember it well. Great tune.
Glad to hear that the Fentanyl patch is finally helping you with your pain. Hope it continues for you.
Good luck with your visit tomorrow.
Take care. Thanks TomCat
Wonderful news that your Fentanyl patch is helping!
The new pain meds sound good.
‘Toon: A little more than $1,200, do ya think?
TVU: Going to Phoenix next week, is he? Nice.
Alternet: Saw that at their site. Barr is Trump’s Goering!
JP: #2 is especially trite! Well, #3 is as well. There is no particular reason. We simply get born and, someday, die…with no magic behind it. Yes, just be there.
CNN: It’s not that Trump thinks there is nothing to worry about anymore! It’s that trump does not give a damn! He’s going to Phoenix, next week, right? And Arizona’ #’s are going where? Jackass!
BFTP: Really nice, with the horn section reminiscent of Blood, Sweat, and Tears; also Chicago.
TJI’s # 3 and 4: I’m having mixed feelings abut this, as it could turn out to work for Trump, in the long run. Now, he can scream about Antifa, or whomever interfering with the what would have been REAL attendance.
I’m glad the Fentanyl patches are doing their job and make your pain more manageable. They made my father a bit drowsy at times in the stronger-dose range, but that’ll be something that’s more manageable than pain f that happens for you too.
3:24 A lot of swaddling with four legs to do.
Cartoon: They’re buying cruise ships that are going for a song now.
Update: Nothing much changes there, does it?
Alternet: Barrf is really out of his league playing these games with a U. S. Attorney of Geoffry Berman’s calibre. That he’s trying to get rid of all the attorneys that are prosecuting or investigating Trump’s cronies to take some heat of off his boss is blatantly obvious and another obstruction of justice, Apparently neither the Administration nor Republicans in Congress care one iota about that anymore, if ever.
CNN: As long as only some media call out Trump and Pence on their dangerous, even murderous, lies but Faux News keeps on putting this propaganda out as the truth, Trump and his minions are allowed to play roulette with American lives.
BFTP: I love this song on so many levels; melody, text, vocals, producing…and had nearly forgotten about it. Thanks for bringing back those memories, TomCat.
Thanks and OGIM Hurry Hugs to all!
Since starting the patch on Sat. I’ve needed only 2 5 mg Oxycodone doses!
Wonderful news. I worry about these drugs on your system. Proud of you.
Thanks, Colleen. The drugs are a lot better than the pain. They cam make my last year (if I’m lucky) more bearable.
Impeach Trump, Pence, and Barr….Vote Blue November 2020