I’m trying to climb back into the saddle today, as with the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade under my window, I won’t get any rest anyway.  I am feeling better, but not fully well.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:40 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): What To Expect From President Trump’s High-Stakes Summit With North Korea

구부리다. That’s Bend Over in Korean. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Huffington Post: Maine will be the first place to use the system, called ranked-choice voting, in statewide races this June (it’s already used in some local elections). The system kicks in for contests that have three or more candidates. Here’s how it works:

• Voters rank the candidates in their party’s primary in order of preference.
• If no candidate gets an outright majority, the candidate who got the fewest first-place votes is eliminated.
• The second-place votes of those who supported the eliminated candidate then get distributed to the remaining candidates.
• The process continues until one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the first-place votes and is declared the winner.

The same system could easily be applied to national elections allowing supporters of outliers an opportunity to vote their conscience without screwing the rest of us.  RESIST!!  VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: After failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act with a Republican-controlled Congress, the Trump administration is seizing on a different strategy for dismantling the law, one fraught with political risk. It is asking a court to throw out major elements, including hugely popular provisions that protect sick people from being denied health insurance or charged higher rates.

Democrats swiftly portrayed the surprise move by the Justice Department, outlined Thursday in a brief supporting a court case filed by Texas and 19 other states, as a harsh blow to Americans with fragile health and their families. Already, Democratic candidates in the midterm elections had been playing up their party’s role in blocking last year’s repeal efforts and their recent success in pushing for the expansion of Medicaid in two more states. Now they have a new talking point, and they lost no time testing it.

Republicans are divided between conservatives who had vowed to eliminate the law and moderates, some in tough races, who want to preserve the popular protections for people who are sick.

The only Republicans who appear to be supporting their constituents are lying.  They just fear of losing their jobs. Republicans want people with pre-existing conditions to get the RepubliCare Death Benefit. Can’t pay? Die! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Vintage 2011 and still valid.

I am completely exhausted and need to take the day off.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:05 (average 5:14).  To do it click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Fifty two years ago today, I graduated high school and celebrated with a three day trip to NYC with debauchery of Republican proportions, except there were no Russian Hookers or Golden Showers.  still fighting Republicosis, I’m not feeling well.  I’m forcing myself to stay up for my grocery delivery and to collect the data for May’s Monthly Report.  Tonight is a WWWendy night.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:21 (average 5:52).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Scott Pruitt Tried To Get His Wife A Chick-Fil-A Franchise

Imagine, if if you can, the Republican response, if a member of the Obama cabinet had done the same thing. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: The Philadelphia Eagles have accepted Robert Mueller’s invitation to come to his office and celebrate their Super Bowl victory with him, Mueller has confirmed.

The special counsel said that he was “absolutely tickled” that the Eagles had accepted his invitation. “I’m a huge fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, and it turns out the feeling is mutual,” he said.

According to one member of the team, the Eagles accepted Mueller’s invitation only after being assured that their visit would not in any way distract the special counsel from “getting his job done.”

Dang Andy! Those Eagles are fantastic! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: Facebook has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics companies, including a manufacturing giant that has a close relationship with China’s government, the social media company said on Tuesday.

The agreements, which date to at least 2010, gave private access to some user data to Huawei, a telecommunications equipment company that has been flagged by American intelligence officials as a national security threat, as well as to Lenovo, Oppo and TCL.

The four partnerships remain in effect, but Facebook officials said in an interview that the company would wind down the Huawei deal by the end of the week.

Saying they will wind it down, years after China has downloaded your personal data, is much too little much too late. With Facebook, the only way to win is not to play! UNPLUG!! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Vintage 2011 and still valid.

Last night street noise awakened me around midnight, and that was fortunate.  I was up the rest of the night with Republicosis.  I’m feeling very tired.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:24 (average 10:02).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): How cable news poisons the conversation about abortion

How about fining the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, $100,000 per lie about abortion and use the $millions in raised revenue to fund Planned Parenthood? RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): The Unconstitutional Census Power Grab

The Reich on the left is right. Republicans have more ways to steal elections than dawgs have fleas.  RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: In what they believe is a legal masterstroke, lawyers for Donald J. Trump are now claiming that he cannot be impeached because he was never actually elected.

In a lengthy memo sent to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, the lawyers pushed back vehemently against any allegation that Trump was legally elected President.

“Because Russian interference made the election of Donald J. Trump wholly illegitimate, any attempt to remove him from an office that he does not legally hold is clearly impossible,” the memo asserted.

The memo claimed that the Constitution contains “no provision for removing a person from office when that person was installed there by a foreign power.”

Dang Andy! That’s a compelling argument!! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Vintage 2011 and equally valid today.