Lynn Squance

Mississippi Burning

Posted by Lynn Squance at 9:02 am Politics

Nov 282018

“Mississippi Burning” is the 1988 movie starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe about 2 FBI agents sent to Mississippi in 1964 to investigate the deaths of 3 civil rights workers in a small town in Mississippi. That is a movie, but today’s runoff in the Mississippi special election to replace Republican Senator Thad Cochran who retired for health reasons, is not a movie; is not an event that can just be swept away. There may not be cross burnings and lynchings any more, but this special election between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy has been full of controversies and racial underpinnings.

Politico’s headline reads “Mississippi race is Hyde-Smith’s to lose” and in my opinion, she should lose, but I am sure she won’t.

Politico — Donald Trump returned to Mississippi on Monday to squash any Democratic hopes of closing out the 2018 midterms with a miracle.

The president held two rallies with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on the eve of a runoff to ensure his base turns out to vote in a race that was expected to be much less competitive just weeks ago. Democrats saw an opening to potentially contest the race after a controversial remark the Republican senator made about being first in line to attend a “public hanging.”

Republicans responded with a massive, party-wide investment to prevent a repeat of their disastrous special election loss in Alabama last year. National money and staff from both parties flooded in as the race tightened heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.

Republicans remain confident Hyde-Smith will win, but Trump’s visit shows the party is leaving nothing to chance.

“Don’t take any chances,” Trump implored his supporters at the first rally. “You have to vote. We cannot allow Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to erode [GOP control of the Senate] by winning the great state of Mississippi.”

Hyde-Smith, speaking at Trump’s second rally of the evening, said she was grateful to Gov. Phil Bryant for appointing her to fill the seat earlier this year following former Sen. Thad Cochran’s retirement, and called on Republicans to turn out to elect her for the remainder of the term.

“It is such a critical election tomorrow, we have got to go out,” Hyde-Smith said. “What’s on the ballot tomorrow is not just my name, Cindy Hyde-Smith, it is your conservative values.”

Salon — … has found herself in the middle of yet another scandal.

According to CNN, Hyde-Smith co-sponsored a resolution in Mississippi’s state Senate in 2007 that praised a Confederate soldier for his efforts to “defend his homeland.” She reportedly also pushed a “revisionist view of the Civil War.” The measure, which can be found online, is the latest in a series of controversies that have embattled Hyde-Smith during her campaign, many of which have been interpreted by critics and political observers as having a link to Mississippi’s long history of racism and slavery. …

News of the measure comes as Hyde-Smith faces mounting backlash for “joking” that she would sit “in the front row” at a “public hanging” in a state marred by its history of lynchings and after she said voting should be “a little more difficult” for “liberal folks” — remarks she maintains were made in jest. On Sunday, it was revealed that Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a “segregation academy.” Last week, photos surfaced of Hyde-Smith sporting Confederate soldier gear.

Mississippi Senate race sees new controversy in ‘segregation academy’ revelation

MS Senate race marred by racial controversies

Mike Espy responds to Trump as racial tensions simmer in Mississippi senate race

I am a Canadian who grew up in Canada in the 50s and 60s, during the US civil rights era. I remember seeing news footage of the marches with MLK Jr and others like Rep John Lewis of Georgia, the cross burnings, the talk of lynchings, segregation of schools . . . and I never understood why this all was happening. After all, for me, people are people, all equal and that is how I was raised. Let me also say that I am also aware of my white privilege, although at the time I was not.

The hate that is so manifest in Trump and the Republicans makes no sense to me in many ways, but it is something that must be addressed. In my mind, with the NY Times announcing that Hyde-Smith won today’s run-off, the hate has not been addressed. Hyde-Smith is up for re-election in 2020, at the same time as Trump. The hate must be addressed then if not before.

Candidate	Party	Votes	Pct.
Cindy Hyde-Smith*	Republican	474,471	53.9%
Mike Espy	Democrat	405,486	46.1

879,957 votes, 99% reporting (1,781 of 1,797 precincts)

* Incumbent

Posted to Care2 HERE

Squatch’s Open Thread 28 November 2018

Posted by Lynn Squance at 9:01 am Open Thread, Politics

Nov 282018

Well I spent a bunch of time trying to get my laptop running but nada! The lights come on but nobody answers the door! So I think I’ll have to get it professionally fixed or get a new one which I certainly was not counting on. Thankfully, I still have my desktop computer but it is not as up to date and it is located in the coldest room in the house. As I am teaching tomorrow, I am finishing it Tuesday night and hoping to have this up about 1500 hours on Wednesday. Thursday’s will be late or not at all as I am out for lunch with friends and then a visit to the chiropractor, and Wednesday’s busy schedule precludes working on it then.

JigZone Puzzle

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 4:07). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do? I am definitely not a fast runner!

Fantasy Football

Week 12

Size 9 Stompers 88.34

Lefty Hillbillies 153.48
endthegop 76.66

TomCat Teabag Trashers 93.72
Country Raiderettes 128.70

Monster Mashers 96.58

Congratulations to Vivian, TomCat, and Wendy for winning their week 12 games. Did I get my butt handed to me on a rusty tin plate or what!

						Points
Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	Stk	Waiver	For	Against
1	Country Raiderettes	9-3-0	.750	W6	6	1,508.32	1,344.30
2+1	TomCat Teabag Trashers	7-5-0	.583	W1	5	1,409.28	1,253.48
3–1	endthegop	7-5-0	.583	L2	4	1,416.54	1,431.24
4	Lefty Hillbillies	6-6-0	.500	W4	3	1,411.74	1,364.20
5	Monster Mashers	5-7-0	.417	L4	2	1,304.42	1,290.90
6	Size 9 Stompers	2-10-0	.167	L1	1	1,053.72	1,419.90

* Rank change shown is from week 11 – 12

Congratulations to Wendy for retaining 1st place.

Short Takes

AlterNet — The Trump administration has quietly resumed separating immigrant families at the border, in some cases using vague or unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing or minor violations against the parents, including charges of illegally re-entering the country, as justification.

Over the last three months, lawyers at Catholic Charities, which provides legal services to immigrant children in government custody in New York, have discovered at least 16 new separation cases. They say they have come across such instances by chance and via their own sleuthing after children were put into temporary foster care and shelters with little or no indication that they arrived at the border with their parents.

ProPublica stumbled upon one more case late last month after receiving a call from a distraught Salvadoran father who had been detained in South Texas, and whose 4-year-old son, Brayan, had literally been yanked from his grasp by a Customs and Border Protection agent after they crossed the border and asked for asylum. Julio, the father, asked to be identified only by his first name because he was fleeing gang violence and worried about the safety of relatives back home.

“I failed him,” said Julio, 27, sobbing uncontrollably. “Everything I had done to be a good father was destroyed in an instant.”

ProPublica tracked down Brayan, who has reddish-blond hair and an endearing lisp, at a temporary foster care agency in New York City, and reached out to the lawyer who represents him. Until that phone call, the lawyer, Jodi Ziesemer, a supervising attorney at Catholic Charities, had no idea that Brayan had been separated from his father. The chaos, she said, felt disturbingly like zero tolerance all over again.

Click through for the rest. To say the least, the Trump administrations record of human rights abuses and child abuses is deplorable. Although ordered by the courts to stop separations and return the children to their parents, their lack of compliance is outrageous. Further, all they have done is find ways to circumvent the judicial ruling. A nation of laws? Yeah, right. Not with Trump and the Republicans.

CBS News — Russia says the Ukrainian vessels sparked the confrontation by refusing to yield upon orders from Russian border forces to change their course in Russian territorial waters.

Ukrainian officials insist it was Russian border guards who first rammed into and opened fire on the three Ukrainian navy vessels as they were trying to make their way from the Black Sea toward a Ukrainian port.

On Monday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations called on Russia to “immediately cease its unlawful conduct” in the Black Sea near Crimea during a United Nations Security Council meeting called over the incident.

“We call on Russia to respect its international obligations and not obstruct or harass Ukraine’s transit in the Kerch Strait, to release the seized Ukrainian ships and crew and to de-escalate the tensions it has created,” Haley told the Council, CBS News’ Pamela Falk reported.

Russia extends belligerence toward Ukraine with aggression at sea

U.N. holds emergency meeting after Russia seizes Ukrainian ships

In a Washington Post article covering several topics,

“Trump also threatened to cancel his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a global summit this week because of Russia’s maritime clash with Ukraine. He said he was awaiting a “full report” from his national security team Tuesday evening about Russia’s capture of three Ukrainian naval ships and their crews in the Black Sea on Sunday.

“That will be very determinative,” Trump said. “Maybe I won’t have the meeting. Maybe I won’t even have the meeting. . . . I don’t like that aggression. I don’t want that aggression at all.””

Does this mean his bromance with Putin is over? Certainly Moscow flexing its muscles at Ukraine is disturbing. Putin has something up his sleeve, but what? Is he trying to create a new “Soviet Union”? Or is this just a plain power grab to out power the US? With the power will come money. This would make Putin the king of oligarchs if he isn’t already.

Politico — … America’s democratic institutions are highly vulnerable to foreign influence.

Foreign powers use three basic tools to interfere in democratic politics: cyber operations, disinformation and dark money. Thanks in part to Mueller’s indictments of members of Russia’s military intelligence agency(GRU) and the St. Petersburg troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, we have begun to address election-related cyber attacks and foreign disinformation. But when it comes to foreign dark money – money from unknown foreign sources – we remain woefully unprepared.

The lack of transparency in our campaign finance system combined with extensive foreign money laundering creates a significant vulnerability for our democracy. We don’t know how much illicit money enters the United States from abroad or how much dark money enters American political campaigns, but in 2015, the Treasury Department estimated that $300 billion is laundered through the U.S. every year. If even a small fraction of that ends up in our political campaigns, it constitutes an unacceptable national security risk.

While foreign funding of campaigns is prohibited by federal statute, the body that enforces campaign finance laws – the Federal Election Commission (FEC) – lacks both teeth and resources. Sophisticated adversaries like Russia and China know how to bypass the ban on foreign funding by exploiting loopholes in the system and using layers of proxies to mask their activities, making it difficult for the FEC, the FBI, and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to follow the money. …

The fact that we don’t know exactly how much foreign dark money is being channeled into U.S. politics is precisely why we need to reduce our vulnerabilities. There is ample evidence of dark money penetrating other democracies, and no reason to believe we are immune from this risk.

Money in politics is not a straight line. It is a spider web that travels in all directions and requires clear, non political solutions but the political will to legislate the solutions. With today’s Republicans, I don’t think the political will exists. And to be fair, some Democrats may also lack the political will.

My Universe

Posted to Care2 HERE

Squatch’s Open Thread 27 November 2018

Posted by Lynn Squance at 1:14 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 272018

I wanted to get this OT done “early” so that on Tuesday I can do one for Wednesday when I won’t be able to do a full OT because of physio and teaching. I hope the world does not blow up over night forcing me to compose again. Anyway, I have not heard anything more about TC’s recovery but no news is good news, right? JD and Nameless?

JigZone Puzzle

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:52). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?

AlterNet — … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling on Democrats in Congress to rip a page of out the Georgia Republican’s playbook by creating—and aggressively pushing—a new progressive version of the Contract With America in order to galvanize the nation, offer real solutions to its most urgent problems, and go beyond being simply anti-Trump.

In stark contrast to Gingrich’s original version—”a radical right-wing agenda full of tax breaks for the wealthy, massive cuts to programs vital to working families, and racist and cruel bills to ‘reform’ welfare and our criminal-justice system”—Sanders argues in a Washington Post op-ed on Thursday that Democrats should instead forge a vision that “reflects the needs of working Americans — centered on economic, political, social, racial and environmental justice.” …

… it simply “is not good enough for Democrats to just be the anti-Trump party.” …

Specifically, argues Sanders, the new Democratic majority in the House should spend its first 100 days next year passing an unmistakably bold legislative agenda that includes:

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and indexing it to median wage growth thereafter. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage that must be increased to a living wage — at least $15 an hour. This would give more than 40 million Americans a raise and would generate more than $100 billion in higher wages throughout the country.

A path toward Medicare-for-all. The Medicare-for-all bill widely supported in the Senate has a four-year phase-in period on the way to guaranteeing health care for every man, woman and child. Over the first year, it would lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 55, cover dental, hearing and vision care for seniors, provide health care to every young person in the United States and lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Click through for the other 8 points. From Bernie’s op-ed in the Washington Post:

“To a significant degree, the American people rejected President Trump’s agenda benefiting the wealthy and the powerful, as well as his racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and religious bigotry.”

But are the Democrats willing to go to the wall for American middle and working class families? Love Bernie’s comment in the short video within the Washington Post article: “The Republican Party is bankrupt . . . intellectually.” And more! Amen Bernie!!!

CNN — The storm of false information that never stopped throughout 2018 has led Dictionary.com to name “misinformation” its annual “Word of the Year.”

While the word has been around since the late 1500s, it made a huge comeback this year as the amount of false information on the internet expanded.

“Our #WordOfTheYear2018 isn’t just any word. It’s a call to action. We’ll be sharing the tools to fight #misinformation all day today,” the site tweeted earlier today.

Since it’s an online dictionary, the website felt the need to explain the concept of the word, as it’s often confused with “disinformation.” The words are not interchangeable, the site explained in a report published Monday, and it’s important for people to be able to differentiate between the two.

Read through to get the difference between disinformation and misinformation. Frankly I thought it might be ”fake news”. 2017’s word of the year was “complicit”, and 2016’s was “xenophobia”. We sure can tell that we are in the Trump era can’t we . . . unfortunately.

Think Progress — A group of “centrist” donors spent millions to protect some of the most vulnerable House Republicans in the 2018 election, but now is pushing to dictate the terms of who House Democrats pick to lead their new majority.The No Labels super PAC, an outside group funded heavily by rich Chicago mega-donors, spent more than $2.5 million in the 2018 campaign to buck up vulnerable House Republicans hoping to retain their positions in the face of the blue wave. Several vulnerable GOP incumbents held on, thanks in part to this group’s largess. The biggest beneficiary, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), narrowly won after the group spent nearly $600,000 to help re-elect him, though six-figure “independent expenditures” for Republican Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida ($436,965), Leonard Lance of New Jersey ($420,712), and Mike Coffman of Colorado ($369,935) were not enough to save their seats.

The super PAC reported spending only about half as much (just over $1.25 million) in support of centrist House Democrats.

Now, after impeding the new Democratic majority and helping to limit the size of its majority, No Labels wants to condition which Democrat gets lead the House on a series of House rule changes designed to limit the majority’s power. The group is trying to demand that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) or any other candidate for Speaker of the House agree to a “Break the Gridlock” package being offered by its Congressional arm, the Problem Solvers Caucus.

I had never heard of No Labels until all the kerfuffle about Pelosi’s House Speaker campaign. Slate has an excellent article about Nancy Pelosi’s battle, and the battle for the House. I’ll be clear, I detest the lack of bipartisanship in Congress, but I also detest this kind of move which I think is deceptive. So some of this was in place during the 115th Congress, but guess what . . . Republicans in the House Problem Solvers Caucus did not play by their rules. Surprise! Surprise! Now a big push to limit the majority party, the Democrats. It certainly seems that the Problem Solvers are nothing more than corporate shills. It is clear to me that based on the clearly increasing number to progressives that were elected, a move to the side of corporate interests is not what the electorate voted for.

My Universe

The indignity! I’ll never be able to

show my face in the neighbourhood again!

Posted to Care2 HERE

Squatch’s Open Thread 26 November 2018

Posted by Lynn Squance at 5:35 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 262018

Well here we are . . . 26/11/18 and now less than one month until Christmas. Have I depressed anyone yet with that thought? How about this . . . just over 2 years left to put up with that idiot masquerading as POTUS! And his ill informed antics continue! On a more positive note, it is less than 2 months until the Democrats take the majority in the Congress. As a pastor of mine said to me a number of years ago as we conducted a Seder supper just before Easter for our congregation, “Next year in Jerusalem!” I will paraphrase to “Next year in Washington!”. For me it was a very tiring weekend . . . I minded my Sareena and her friend from 1900 hours Saturday until 0130 hours on Sunday while their parents went out to dinner and a concert. OMG, these girls had more energy than the Energiser Bunny! . . . on steroids!!! Hence, Sunday was a write off!!! And in the words of our beloved Puddy Tat, TomCat, “OGIM!!!”

JigZone Puzzle

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?

Yesterday’s took me 5:00 (average 5:29). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?

Short Takes

AlterNet — Republican Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Sunday pushed back on Donald Trump’s assertion that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did not conclude that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the murder of Washington Postcolumnist Jamal Khashoggi.

“I disagree with the president’s assessment,” Lee told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “It’s inconsistent with what I’ve seen.” …

Lee on Sunday agreed with the CIA’s assessment. “Intelligence I’ve seen suggests this was ordered by the crown prince,” the Republican senator said, later adding he doesn’t “know why [Trump’s] siding with the Saudis.”

Here are two tapes from Lawrence O’Donnell that, IMO, answers Lee’s question.

CIA assessment: Saudi crown prince ordered Khashoggi hit

Trump thanks Saudi Arabia for low oil prices, but ignores murder of journalist

For additional information on Trump’s association with Saudi Arabia, check out Despite denials, Trump ties to Saudi Arabia part of public record at MSNBC under Rachel Maddow. Unfortunately, I can’t find the copy code to imbed it, but to say the least, Trump’s financial dealings with Saudi Arabia are and have been extensive.

Far be it for me to agree with any Republican, but Lee is spot on to ask the question. More Republicans should be questioning Trump and expose him as the fraud he is.

Reuters — When U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to investigate large scale killings of white farmers in South Africa and violent takeovers of land, Pretoria said he was misinformed. Elsewhere, there was quiet satisfaction.

For a little-known South African activist group, Trump’s intervention, following a Fox News show criticizing the land reform plans of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress, signaled a job well done.

“The best possible outcome that we hoped for was for a statement by the president of the USA, which we got,” Ernst Roets, deputy CEO of Afriforum, told Reuters in his office in a quiet suburb of the capital. …

Trump’s intervention stole the limelight during Ramaphosa’s high-profile visit to the U.N. general assembly in September.

Ramaphosa made light of Trump’s comments but an ANC source said he was very angry.

Every president since Nelson Mandela led South Africa out of white-minority rule in 1994 has tried, and largely failed, to redress an imbalance whereby whites – nine percent of 56 million South Africans – own more than 70 percent of agricultural land.

Trump fuelling discord . . . again. Or is it ‘still’! And of course, he has his precious Faux Noise and idiots like Tucker Carlson to stir the boiling pot. The article mentions significant economic inequality. Perhaps Trump should solve the issues of income and economic inequality at home first.

The New Yorker — Robert Mueller’s announcement that he would be offering Cyber Monday plea deals touched off hysteria among disgraced Trump associates desperate for the chance to score a drastically reduced sentence.

Moments after the office of the special counsel went live with its Cyber Monday Web site, Sing4Bob.com, thousands of Trump cronies flooded it with traffic, causing the site to briefly crash.

Harland Dorrinson, the member of Mueller’s team who masterminded the Cyber Monday sale, said that the special counsel was offering a limited number of “prison doorbusters,” with sentences up to seventy-five per cent off.

“I’m not surprised that people are going crazy for these bargains,” Dorrinson said. “Otherwise, you could go to trial and face one of those Obama judges.”

Considering that, according to some news sources, Manafort just breached his plea deal conditions, any takers should watch their step because it could backfire if their attempt is less than honourable. Maybe Trump will pardon, maybe he won’t. He is a serial liar extraordinaire.

And from The Department of Oh Really . . .

Washington Post — President Trump, who once called his attorney general “Mr. Magoo” and referred to the leader of North Korea as “Rocket Man,” has maintained a more respectful nomenclatorial relationship with himself, sometimes going so far as to avoid the pronoun “I” as if it were too informal.

Bill Gates once recalled the president telling him, “Trump hears that you don’t like what Trump is doing,” which is one of many famous examples of what author J.K. Rowling calls “third Trumperson:” the formal means by which Trump speaks of Trump.

At least, those seemed to be the rules until Sunday, when the president addressed himself with a nickname.

“So great that oil prices are falling (thank you President T),” Trump wrote — almost certainly referring to himself, and not the London-based rap musician, @Prez_T (warning explicit content).

“President T”? It should be “President I” for idiot! Read through this short piece for some more depressing humour.

My Universe — My Sunday after the night before . . .

Posted to Care2 HERE

Squatch’s Open Thread 24 November 2018

Posted by Lynn Squance at 4:13 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 242018

Sorry I did not feel up to posting an OT yesterday. I have had an on again, off again acquaintance with flu/cold for the past week or so. Yesterday was definitely a down day so I stayed down. Feeling a bit more energetic today. Nameless posted an update on TC HERE. WWWendy provided an update too:

Hello all this is an update from Wendy. Tom has been out of circulation for the last few days wanted to let everyone know that I had to take him to the hospital for admittance on Thanksgiving day. Tom is doing well and he is where he needs to be but is Recovering from a respiratory infection. He asked that no one spend any money on him please… He will be in the hospital probably till the beginning of next week. I will try and keep you updated all of your thoughts and prayers are appreciated

Tomorrow, there will likely be no OT as I am babysitting my little Sareena this evening and have church in the morning which will make researching a post difficult. I will post again come Monday for sure. As to today’s short takes, the last one should be a stand alone article but I just don’t have the time to separate it out.

JigZone Puzzle

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 4:41). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?

Yesterday’s took me 4:05 (average 5:01). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?

Short Takes

Maclean’s — Scientists were dumbfounded by the discovery of an unusual new migratory pattern this week when a sizable portion of the U.S. population walked into the sea. Early on Wednesday evening, thousands and thousands of Americans just stopped, checked their phones and walked into the ocean.

The mass migration began among individuals with immediate access to an ocean, but before long the phenomenon had spread across the nation. Landlocked Ocean-Walker-Into-Ers from not-coast to not-coast are making the long trek towards the ocean, planning, as the name suggests, to keep trekking right on into it when they get there.

Experts are mostly at a loss to explain the phenomenon. “Nope, I got nothing,” said Dr. Christos Stewart, a research associate in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago when contacted for comment. “With the famous exception of the Homo Sapiens Has A Timeshare In Floridius subspecies, human beings are not known for these kinds of inexplicable migrations. Much like how we can’t figure out why a person would willingly travel to Florida, we haven’t the foggiest idea why all these people decided to up and walk into the ocean.” …

“As always we caution that correlation does not necessarily show causation, but in this case it does seem the inciting incident was a presidential tweet sent out at 7:23 p.m. on Nov. 21,” said Kirsten Stevens Professor of Spontaneous Aquatic Ambulation Studies at the University of Innsbruck. “The sidewalks, highways, shorelines started filling up at 7:24. Sadly, we’ve yet to determine exactly what it was about this tweet that led to such an outsized reaction. To be honest, most of us around here are just happy to find our department so suddenly relevant. I guess this is what it felt like to be a Finnish forester last weekend.”

The tweet in question read: “Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS – Whatever happened to Global Warming?”

Shades of Andy Borowitz!!! Click to read the entire satiric piece from Tabatha Southey @ Maclean’s, Canada’s well respected national magazine. At first, before reading it all, I thought of Trump supporters as lemmings to the sea. But one scientist postulates, “It’s going to take a lot more research before we can be certain, but evidence suggests the one thing that these voluntary saltwater submergers seem to have in common is a capacity to feel shame.”

Robert Reich — The “rule of law” distinguishes democracies from dictatorships. It’s based on three fundamental principles. Trump is violating every one of them.The first is that no person is above the law, not even a president. …

The second principle of the rule of law is that a president cannot prosecute political opponents or critics. …

The third principle of the rule of law is that a president must be respectful of the independence of the judiciary.

As TC would say, the Reich on the left is right, although I much prefer the word ‘correct’ to avoid any ambiguity. Trump says the US is a nation of laws, but what he really means is that the US is a nation of laws of which he, and only he, approves. That sounds completely authoritarian or autocratic! Fascism has arrived in the US in the form of Donald J Trump, but it cannot be allowed to take hold! Click through for Reich’s reasoning. IMO, he is spot on!

DC Report.org — The New York Times disclosed on Tuesday night that Trump had told White House counsel Don McGahn in the spring that he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and the former FBI director James B. Comey, said two people familiar with the conversation.

Apparently, it was only because McGahn warned Trump he could face impeachment for doing so that Trump backed off.

The most concerning part here is not the fate of Clinton or Comey, but the idea that Trump thinks ordering individual prosecutions by the Justice Department is perfectly normal. As The Times noted, “The encounter was one of the most blatant examples yet of how Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies. It took on additional significance in recent weeks when McGahn left the White House and Trump appointed a relatively inexperienced political loyalist, Matthew G. Whitaker, as the acting attorney general.”

Perhaps this is all tit-for-tat, another diversion from the special counsel investigation that Trump himself faces. If he could launch another special counsel against political opponents, perhaps he thinks he could blunt the effects of the all-things-Russia probe. Of course, the fatal flaw here is that the Justice Department, through Comey, has already spoken on the Clinton matters, and there is no evidence of any crime. Comey may have leaked a memo, but it was not classified material.

Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies.

Indeed, according to The Times’ sources, Trump has continued to privately discuss the possible prosecutions and has also repeatedly expressed disappointment in FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, for failing to more aggressively investigate Clinton, calling him weak.

In this first video, Ari Melber from MSMBC and his guests discuss Trump’s spat with Chief Justice John Roberts and his total disregard for an independent judiciary.

Ari: So you think there might be a corrupt approach to the turkey pardon?

Maya: I think the turkey is going to have to demonstrate that it will violate the constitution in order to save its life.

And don’t you know that Trump used the pardoning to go on a rant: (from Daily Kos)

Trump: “Even though Peas and Carrots have received a presidential pardon, I have warned them that House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas. Nonetheless, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I will be issuing both Peas and Carrots a presidential pardon. Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee that your pardons won’t be enjoined by the Ninth Circuit. Always happens. They guarantee it.”

In this second video, again Ari Melber talks with his guests about Trump trying to order an investigation into Hillary Clinton and James Comey, both of whom Trump considers political enemies.

Nick Ackerman, Former Watergate Assistant Prosecutor: “He [Trump] wants to go back to the time of the English kings where anything goes, and that’s where we’re headed.” Now that is so what I see too. Just look at the picture at DCReport.org. Priceless!

Former Senator Robert Torricelli, (D-NJ) in my opinion is a centrist Democrat, an older white male, too willing to see Trump as an inexperienced politician instead of the criminal he is. Yes I know I am speaking in absolutes because nothing has been proven in a court of law, but Trump continues ad nauseum to display his guilt. Also, let’s face it, as someone with no experience, Republicans should not have allowed Trump to stand as their candidate for president.

To me, the fact that Republicans continue to shield Trump and not make him accountable for his bull shit, makes them complicit in this sham administration.

Petition: (Daily Kos)

The Trump administration is brazenly attacking transgender people. In a recent leaked memo, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would redefine gender to be strictly biological, based on genitalia. They are trying to erase trans people from existence. The policy would roll back decades of organizing victories for trans people and rescind Title IX protections for over 1.4 million people.

Sign the petition: Rescind the proposed attack on trans people. All LGBTQ+ communities deserve federal civil rights protections.

My Universe —

I fell asleep at the keyboard . . .

. . . and I landed hard on the floor!

OUCH!!!

Resist the Republican Reich!!!

Posted to Care2 HERE

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Lynn Squance at 9:24 pm Holiday, Politics

Nov 222018

I am not thankful for Trump.

I am thankful for the indigenous peoples of North America!

I am not thankful for Christopher Columbus.

I am exceptionally thankful for Wendy!!!

I am not thankful for Bought Bitch Mitch or Lyin’ Ryan.

I am thankful for TomCat.

I am not thankful for Trump supporters.

I am thankful for all of you.

I am not thankful for pseudo-Christians.

I am thankful for the strength to

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

This is, for the most part, a repeat of Tomcat’s greeting last year. The “I am” on lines 2, 3, 6 and 7 however is me, Squatch, while the rest are from TomCat. Hey, why try to reinvent the wheel.

I am a Canadian and we celebrated Thanksgiving in October. As I wrote last year,

In Canada, Thanksgiving dates back to 1578 and the exploration of the Northwest Passage by Martin Frobisher. Canada was untouched by Columbus but many non Canadian people associate Thanksgiving with the US Columbus Day. Rather our first contact with Europeans came in the 12th century with the arrival of the Norse explorer Leif Erikson of Iceland, and later Greenland. From Wikipedia Thanksgiving in Canada

“Years later, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, in 1604 onwards also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed the Order of Good Cheer and gladly shared their food with their First Nations neighbours.”

The Canadian Thanksgiving “… corresponds to the English and continental European Harvest festival, with churches decorated with cornucopias, pumpkins, corn, wheat sheaves, and other harvest bounty, … drawn from biblical stories relating to the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.”

Whatever country you live in, there are many things for which to be thankful!

Posted to Care2 HERE

Squatch’s Open Thread 22 November 2018

Posted by Lynn Squance at 9:23 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 222018

It has taken me a while to get this done as my computer is acting up — switching pages, freezing etc — and I know it was not my Annie trying to help. It has been pouring rain all day, and I mean pouring! So without further adieu, let’s get this show on the road!

Jig Zone Puzzle

Today’s took me 4:24 (average 4:38). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do? In defence of my time, this blinkity blank computer was playing games. Arrggghhhh!!!!!

Short Takes

YouTube — Trump’s Weir Lie About Raking in Finland: A Closer Look

You have to hand it to Trump, he sure does know how to lie and make himself look like the global village idiot! There is only one problem, there are also approximately 61 million American voters who voted for him and they are all in the category of village idiots on the world stage.

Canadian Press — Five hundred cows, two luxury cars, $10,000, two bikes, a boat and a few cellphones made up the final price in a heated bidding war for a child bride in South Sudan that went viral after the auction was pointed out on Facebook. It is the largest dowry ever paid in the civil war-torn country, the government said.

The highest bidder was a man three times the 17-year-old’s age. At least four other men in Eastern Lakes state competed, said Philips Anyang Ngong, a human rights lawyer who tried to stop the bidding last month. Among the bidders was the state’s deputy governor.

“She has been reduced to a mere commodity,” Ngong told The Associated Press, calling it “the biggest test of child abuse, trafficking and auctioning of a human being.” Everyone involved should be held accountable, he said. …

“You can’t call it bidding as if it was an auction. It’s not bidding. If you see it with European eyes you’ll call it an auction,” government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the AP. “You have to see it with an African eye, as it’s a tradition that goes back thousands of years. There’s no word for it in English.”

I disagree with Ateny — this is an auction. This is slavery, no different than the slave markets in the US South from previous centuries. And with girls as young as 10, this is child abuse! Tradition be damned in this case and others like it! Child marriage with dowries occurs in a number of countries including Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. WHO says there are 39,000 child marriages every day . . . EVERY DAY!!! Check out some more statistics at World Economic Forum. But of perhaps greater concern to me is that this all occurred on Facebook which was very slow to react. We know that Trump values money over people, and now we know Facebook does too.

Insider — Utqiaġvik, the northernmost city in the US, had its last sunrise on Sunday, November 18. Utqiaġvik, the northernmost city in the US, had its last sunrise on Sunday, November 18.

Previously known as Barrow, this Alaskan city won’t see the sun again for 65 days. The next sunrise will appear on January 23. …

Located 330 miles above the Arctic Circle, Utqiaġvik won’t be plunged into complete darkness for the next two months. Instead, it will experience “civil twilight,” which happens when the sun is six degrees below the horizon and creates a little illumination to see things outside. Civil twilight lasts for six hours per night, but it will decrease to three hours per night by the end of December.

Click through for a picture of what daytime looks like at 1130 hours in Utqiagvik. This is referred to as “civil twilight” which lasts for about 6 hours per day, decreasing to 3 hours at the end of December. I lived in northern British Columbia and can attest to the phrase “long winter nights”, although ours were not quite as severe as we had actual sunrises and sunsets. Our shortest days were about 5 hours long and then plunged into complete darkness. In the summer however, this civil twilight would approximate the nighttime which lasted from about 2300 hours until 230 hours . . . then the sun rose again.

Cartoon — How many people remember where they were, what they were wearing and their reaction to the news that JFK was assassinated?

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

May 29, 1917 – Nov 22, 1963 (age 46)

Posted to Care2 HERE

Squatch’s Open Thread 21 November 2018

Posted by Lynn Squance at 8:34 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 212018

It has been a long day with medical appointments. I have finally finished this post. We can all breathe a little easier now that we know TC is safe at home and someone is looking in on him. Nameless posted UPDATE on Wednesday 10:30 CST earlier today and we will continue to check him and provide further updates. There is a saying: Dogs have owners, cats have staff! Good thing that cats have staff because it makes checking up so much easier. Knowing TC as I do, he appreciates all your well wishes and I imagine he’ll say so himself when he gets out of the deep end of his cat box.

Jig Zone Puzzle

Today’s took me 4:59 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?

Fantasy Football — Week 11 results

Size 9 Stompers 118.32

Monster Mashers 95.74
TomCat Teabag Trashers 152.58

Country Raiderettes 157.02
endthegop 97.70

Lefty Hillbillies 176.42

Last week I had my clock cleaned, but it is a different story this week. I cleaned Patty’s Monster Mashers’ clock. Congratulations to Wendy for doing a QB sneak around TomCat, and to Hillbilly Vivian for putting an end to the gop!

						Points
Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	Stk	Waiver	For	Against
1	Country Raiderettes	8-3-0	.727	W5	5	1,379.62	1,247.72
2	endthegop	7-4-0	.636	L1	4	1,339.88	1,337.52
3	TomCat Teabag Trashers	6-5-0	.545	L2	3	1,315.56	1,176.82
4 +1	Lefty Hillbillies	5-6-0	.455	W3	2	1,258.26	1,275.86
5 –1	Monster Mashers	5-6-0	.455	L3	6	1,207.84	1,162.20
6	Size 9 Stompers	2-9-0	.182	W1	1	965.38	1,266.42

* Rank change shown is from week 10 – 11

Wendy proved why she is in first place by kicking some kitty butt!

Short Takes

AlterNet — A Georgia woman has filed a federal lawsuit after she spent nearly four months in jail because a roadside drug test administered by untrained police officers falsely identified a bag of cotton candy as methamphetamine.

Monroe County resident Dasha Fincher filed the lawsuit last week against Monroe County, the two deputies who arrested her, and the company that makes the drug test. The lawsuit argues that the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was reckless and negligent and violated her civil rights.

What the hell Georgia! Four months in jail for possession of cotton candy? This is taking the war on drugs a little too far. There is a significant error rate on this drug test yet the state continues to use it. What’s more, the manufacturer knows of the error rates and continues to sell it. There needs to be proper testing of the test kit and proper training for police in its use. I certainly hope the victims are successful in their law suits!

Think Progress — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) is doing her best to turn a Senate campaign in a state that President Donald Trump captured by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016 into a close race — and Tuesday’s debate was no exception.

Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to the Senate in April after Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) stepped down over health concerns, made headlines earlier this month when she joked about lynching at a campaign event. …

At least five businesses, including Walmart and AT&T, have asked Hyde-Smith to return campaign donations in the wake of her comments.

Things didn’t improve from there. Hyde-Smith was subequently caught on video advocating for voter suppression, saying, “Maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult” for Democrats “that maybe we don’t want to vote.” Then, a 2014 Facebook post from Hyde-Smith’s account resurfaced, in which she is pictured standing next to a member of a a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group wearing a Confederate soldier’s hat with the caption “Mississippi history at its best!” …

It’s unlikely that Republicans are feeling any better about Hyde-Smith after her performance in Tuesday’s debate with Espy.

Over the span of an hour, the GOP senator cited an imaginary Republican colleague, asked for voters’ support on the wrong date, and offered a cringeworthy non-apology for her racist remarks about lynching.

Well isn’t she just the cutest cupcake on the platter . . . NOT!!! There are a number of videos in the article with them being virtually all the same. She rambles on, repeats herself, and definitely does not stick to the topic. There is a chance here for Epsy to take the seat for the Democrats on 27 November 2018, Go Epsy!!!

Daily Kos — The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have been awarded the 2018 International Children’s Peace Prize, for their tireless anti-gun activism in the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day mass shooting that changed their lives. …

Archbishop Tutu is right: The Parkland students have moved the world, while always keeping young people at the center of their work. …

They got the NRA screaming loud and spending tons of money, and even pushed new NRA president Oliver North to call them “terrorists.” They waged a civil protest war on companies that donate to the NRA. They spread a message of love at this year’s Tony Awards. They compelled states to change their gun laws, marking the “best year” in recent memory for gun control lobbying. The NRA blamed the Parkland students’ activism for their financial woes, while Barack Obama celebrated them. They wrote a song to honor their fallen classmates and compelled young people to not just register to vote, but actually cast a ballot.

Click through. These young people clearly have a belief in tomorrow and their place in it. I am very proud of them for trying to make the world a better place.

Sign the petition: Elect the president by national popular vote

My Universe — Toby is four and a half year old cat that was found abandoned in a box, neara shop in Zaslavl, Belarus. He knows perfectly well that he is happy, but he prefers to meow, instead of clapping his ‘hands’.

This is so cute but please click through for this short music video as I can’t imbed it. I nominate Toby for a CMA trophy! . . . honourable mention to the human.

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