Here in the CatBox, I’m quite comfortable. WWWendy is due in about an hour to destink the TomCat. Tomorrow, I have my semi-annual screening for a recurrence of eye cancer with Alison, my ocular oncological surgeon. It’s the one I hate, because the ultrasound right on my eyeball is like fingernails scratching a blackboard inside my head. Please expect no more than a Personal Update tomorrow, and I won’t be sending links messages at Care2.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:34 (average 4:15). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Washington Post: Unions representing federal workers on Saturday declared victory in what they have described as an assault by the Trump administration after a federal judge struck down key provisions of a set of executive orders aimed at making it easier to fire employees and weaken their representation.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington, was a setback to the White House’s efforts to rein in federal unions, which have retained significant power over working conditions even as private-sector unions are in decline.
“It’s a big win for us,” said David Borer, general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees. With 750,000 members, the AFGE was the largest of about a dozen unions to sue the administration to block the new rules affecting 2.1 million civil servants.
Kudos to the judge! Support Labor! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From Alternet: On Friday morning, the family of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced his decision to discontinue treatment for brain cancer. It was a solemn announcement, effectively signalling the imminent end of a man of towering career, service, and legacy, and it ought to have been treated with respect from people of all persuasions.
Sadly, that was more than Fox News’ "Final Thoughts" host Tomi Lahren could muster.
Just hours after the announcement, at a campaign event for Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Kelli Ward, Lahren proclaimed that "we can’t put up another RINO [Republican In Name Only] like McCain
There must be a special place in hell for Lahren and Faux Noise Republicans of her ilk. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From NY Times: Democratic Party officials, after a yearslong battle between warring ideological wings, have agreed to sharply reduce the influence of the top political insiders known as superdelegates in the presidential nomination process.
Under the new plan, which was agreed to on Saturday afternoon in Chicago at the Democratic National Committee’s annual summer meetings, superdelegates retain their power to back any candidate regardless of how the public votes. They will now be largely barred, however, from participating in the first ballot of the presidential nominating process at the party’s convention — drastically diluting their power.
Superdelegates will be able to cast substantive votes only in extraordinary cases like contested conventions, in which the nomination process is extended through multiple ballots until one candidate prevails.
I’d rather see the Super Delegate system eliminated entirely, but this is a giant step in the right direction. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
Cartoon:
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is considering allowing states to use federal grant money to buy guns for schools, people familiar with the matter said.