I love feeling comfortable with the AC off, and barring the unforeseen, it will stay that way for the rest of the day.  Now all we have to do is get rid of a Nazi Republican Reich, and I’ll be in a good mood.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:04 (average 5:02).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

I was a rout, and I was quite pleased with the Orb’s holy light.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (PBS Channel): Facebook allowed advertisers to target anti-Semitic groups

Perhaps they should change to a Republican name: Sphincterbook. RESIST!!

From The Independent: A Soviet officer who averted thermonuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union had died aged 77.

Soon after midnight on 26 September, 1983, duty officer Stanislav Petrov was in charge of an early warning radar system in a bunker near Moscow when computer readouts suggested several missiles had been launched from the US towards the USSR.

The protocol for the Soviet military would have been to launch a retaliatory nuclear attack, but Mr Petrov decided not to alert his superiors.

"I had all the data [to suggest there was an ongoing missile attack]. If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it," he told the BBC’s Russian Service in 2013.

However, he suspected a computer error, believing a first-strike nuclear attack by the US would likely involve hundreds of simultaneous missile launches.

"All I had to do was to reach for the phone; to raise the direct line to our top commanders – but I couldn’t move. I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan," he told the BBC.The duty officer decided to call the Soviet army’s headquarters to report a system malfunction.

"Twenty-three minutes later I realised that nothing had happened. If there had been a real strike, then I would already know about it. It was such a relief."

He was a great man. But the USSR under Yuri Andropov was more free and less aggressive than Russia is under Trump’s boss. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos:

A fascinating study was recently reported in Vox and The Root. And the conclusion of that academic study(1) is, as the title sadly suggests, that a mere photograph of a black person can actually make a Trump supporter angry. From The Root:

“When researchers simply asked subjects how they felt about a not-so-complex housing-assistance issue, they were split on their support. But there was a subtle twist to the study: When the information about the issue was accompanied by a picture of a white person, Trump voters were much more likely to support it than when they were cued by an image of a black person.”

If the study ended there, it would probably reveal only what we (sadly) already knew about too many of our fellow Americans.

But there was more:

“The study revealed that when Trump voters were exposed to the “black cue,” it not only made them less supportive of the issue. It made them angry. Yes, a picture of a black man—not an actual black man, but a picture of a black man—made them mad.”

The Republican Reich has carefully cultivated this attitude, ever since they adopted the Southern Strategy under Nixon.  RESIST!!

Cartoon:

My AC is off.  My window is open.  I feel comfortable!  Wooo Hooo!!  Wendy is due momentarily, so I’ll be brief, as I have a lot to get done, before I meditate on the holy Ellipsoid Orb.

Later: Wendy just left, we got everything done, and my AC is still off!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:37 (average 6:37).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Chapter): Under Attack

Don’t let the Republican Reich steal their future. RESIST!!

From Business Insider: FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller reportedly obtained a search warrant for records of the "inauthentic" accounts Facebook shut down earlier this month and the targeted ads these accounts purchased during the 2016 election. 

The warrant was first disclosed by the Wall Street Journal on Friday night and the news was later confirmed by CNN.

Legal experts say the revelation has enormous implications for the trajectory of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference, and whether Moscow had any help from President Donald Trump’s campaign team.

"This is big news — and potentially bad news for the Russian election interference ‘deniers,’" said Asha Rangappa, a former FBI counterintelligence agent.

Rangappa, now an associate dean at Yale Law School, explained that to obtain a search warrant a prosecutor needs to prove to a judge that there is reason to believe a crime has been committed. The prosecutor then has to show that the information being sought will provide evidence of that crime.

Tick… tick… tick… RESIST!!

From Daily Kos:

This will not shock you. House Republicans are advancing legislation, H.R. 620, the so-called ADA Education and Reform Act of 201, that would gut the landmark law that has allowed millions of Americans to participate in public life. The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law more than a quarter of a century ago, and has revolutionized life for many disabled Americans.

However, the job isn’t done and many more still face insurmountable barriers when it comes to accessing private businesses. Now Republicans are trying to push a change in favor of those businesses, putting the onus on their would-be customers to force them to comply with the law.

H.R. 620 would completely change the way in which a business is required to comply with the ADA. Instead of requiring that a business comply proactively, the bill would place the burden on the individual who is being denied access. This bill proposes that after an individual with a disability is denied access she must first notify the business owner, with exacting specificity, that her civil rights were violated, and then wait for six months to see if the business will make “substantial progress” toward access, before going to a court to order compliance.

As one confined to a wheelchair, I often have difficulty getting through doors, navigating aisles that are too narrow, using restrooms without rails, encountering crosswalks without curb ramps, etc.  If I had to wait for six months, just to see if I had access to a business, I’d be inclined to bitch, go elsewhere, and not go through all the hassle of following up. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I made this cartoon in 9/2011.  Was I prophetic or what?

It’s a super muggy day here in Portland, and we have four cool days starting tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a holy day and I shall be meditating upon the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are hosting the Cowboys in the afternoon game, but it will not be televised here.   I play Pam in our fantasy football league, which she leads, and she’s going to be damn tough to beat.  May the Ellipsoid Orb shine it’s holy light on your team, unless they are known for cow pucky!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:08 (average 4:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Sen. Jeff Merkley Backs Medicare for All

Amen Jeff! Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In his most stunning deal yet with Democratic leaders, Donald Trump agreed on Friday to be impeached by the end of 2017.

Emerging from an Oval Office meeting with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a beaming Trump touted the deal for his imminent removal from office.

“Chuck and Nancy and I got a deal done on impeachment,” Trump said. “It was a good deal and it was a fast deal.”

Trump said that the Democrats had convinced him that agreeing to be impeached would make him soar in popularity. “People are going to love me for doing this,” Trump said. “They’re going to love it on all the channels.”

LOL Andy! He’s dumb enough, but Lyin’ Ryan would balk, unless he could impeach Pence too. RESIST!!

From The Rachel Maddow Show: Pence, up to his neck in Russia scandal, losing press secretary

Rachel Maddow looks at the growing list of White House departures, adding Mike Pence’s press secretary to the list, and noting the striking number of lies Pence has told about aspects of the Trump Russia scandal.

Pence is clearly guilty of Obstruction of Justice and much more. If we can just win the House next year, we can remove the Reich from power. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I had a unique experience this morning.  I was doing my research and had the AC off, the window open, and the door cracked for cross ventilation.  I actually felt cold, and by the time I finished, I was shivering.  I LOVED it.  So I took a morning nap and worked on remembering how to snuggle down under the covers.  Of course, the sun hit the wall a half an hour ago, so I had to button up and torn on the AC, but starting Sunday, we have four days of rain forecast, and that brings another dilemma.  Does anyone remember what rain is?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 5:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): It’s Now Dawned on Trump: People Hate Him

How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. You’re a sphincter. Worse, you are an exact personification of the Republican Party. Number of other reasons: ∞. RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump thrust himself back into the racial storms of Charlottesville on Thursday, repeating his charge that those who resisted the neo-Nazis and white supremacists were as much to blame as the alt-right crowds who marched on the Virginia college town.

Despite his desperate attempts to seek attention by feigning bipartisanship, Putin’s Puppet retains his entropy with his Republican base: fanatical white supremacists. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos (checked this one): Republicans House leaders are facing a grim reality: They have produced basically nothing to please their base and now some of the saner members among their ranks are announcing retirements at a frightening clip. TPM’s Cameron Joseph writes:

It’s not much fun to be a House Republican these days. President Trump has repeatedly taken potshots at their conference. Primary challenges burble on the right. Congress has been unable to pass much meaningful legislation in spite of unified control of Washington. Every trip home means an earful both from liberals furious at their support of the president and conservatives irate they’re not doing enough to support his agenda. And members who haven’t seen real competition for years face tough races due to Trump’s deep unpopularity. […]

“There are a number of people, plenty of whom we don’t even know about yet, who are torn” about running again, said one national GOP strategist involved in House races. “Whether there’s measurable progress on tax reform the next 30 days will be determinative. If we get to November 1st and it looks like tax reform isn’t happening, I think there’ll be a mass exodus.”

“It’s a disaster if it doesn’t happen,” conservative Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) warned, referring to a failure to make meaningful progress on tax reform. “That has an effect. People like me who are here for the cause, if we see no hope for the cause, which in my case will never happen, that would have a terribly damning effect on our stamina here.”

As I see it, they are not at all likely to get the victory for their rabid base that they seek. They are too fractured and incompetent to agree among themselves. If they do make a deal with Democrats, they will have to give up so much that their base will consider it a betrayal. This couldn’t happen to a more evil bunch of assholes! RESIST!!

Cartoon: