Politics Plus

Yesterday, I was overly tired for some reason.  I went to the building community meeting.  They are outlawing window air conditioning Un its, because one fell from a window and barely missed a passer by.  I will have to get a free standing A/C with a tube that vents through a window kit.  ARGH!  Today I have PT, OT and the bath-aide all coming. so I have another busy day on tap.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:46 (Average 5:28).  Top do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From HRC: Following the publication this week of a commentary by Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, in which he boasts of being “proud” to lead an institution that sought a waiver from the government so that it could discriminate against transgender people, Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, released the following statement:

“Mr. Piper’s assertions are despicable, but, sadly, not surprising, given his track record of working with anti-LGBT organizations like the World Congress of Families [GOP Hate delinked]. Piper should be ashamed. Imagine what it feels like to be a young LGBT student at Oklahoma Wesleyan University and hearing the president of your school publicly disparage you in this way. His astonishingly callous response to revelations that he sought the right to discriminate against his own students is not only stomach-turning, but anathema to the role of an educational leader.”

In his piece defending the university’s decision to request an exemption to existing civil rights law in order to discriminate against LGBT students on religious grounds, Piper used the same bigoted and hateful language that is his stock-in-trade: referring to transgender people as a “human fabrication,” and non-discrimination efforts as “misogyny.”

I fully agree with Chad Griffin. All people deserve equal rights.

From Daily Kos: In an explosive new piece, the New York Times reports that Republican Sen.Ted Cruz failed to disclose a six-figure loan from Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank where his wife Heidi works, that he used to support his successful upset bid for Senate back in 2012. Cruz was required to report the loan (and another similar one from Citibank)—which may have been worth as much as $500,000—in filings with the Federal Elections Commission but never did so.

Instead, he reported putting some $1.2 million in unspecified "personal funds” into his campaign, claiming to the Times several years ago that he and his wife had “liquidated our entire net worth” to support his quest for public office. This turns out to have been a deception, uncovered because Cruz later filed personal financial disclosures with the Senate that detailed the two low-interest loans.

In the face of such blatant criminal activity, Uranus Inspector should be deported to his birth country,

From YouTube (H/T MoveOn):

The Reich on the Right, Ryan’s Republican Reich, is wrong. And as always, the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. Those seven ideas are the core of the Republican Party’s economic agenda.

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Yesterday, after groceries came, I made five more suppers ns now have 12 meals prepared and frozen.  This afternoon I have a building community meeting.  I’m feeling very tired, so please pardon my brevity.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:17 (average 6:36).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Sometimes a small change in language can reveal an obvious truth.

As I have written about elsewhere, done interviews about, and discussed more generally, if the Bundy Brigands who are engaged in an armed "standoff" in Oregon were "Muslims" or people of color–especially African-Americans–they would at worst be dead by now or at the very least in jail.

The Bundy Brigands have begun to amplify their noxious, aggressive, and threatening behavior towards local authorities and residents who live in the area around Burns, Oregon.

I have made a small change in the language of a recent report from CNN about the Bundy Brigands in order to highlight how the double standard for white, right-wing, domestic terrorists enables their bad behavior and insulates them from consequences, i.e. what conservatives like to call "personal responsibility".

The author is spot-on. If Y’all Qaeda were black they’d be dead.

From PRWatch: Justice Samuel Alito has been scouring the land looking for a case to make his mark on history.

Could he find a way to hold a big bank accountable for ripping off millions of consumers? Could he interpret intellectual property law to give more desperately ill people access to essential medicines? Could he hold a chemical company to account for poisoning people and hiding it for decades?

No. Alito apparently decided to make his mark by helping a massive right-wing funding machine crush wages for teachers, nurses, firefighters, cops and prison guards.

The case is Friederichs vs. California Teachers Association will be heard on Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Click through for more details of what could be Scalito’s legacy in the ongoing case, SCROTUS v. Constitution.

From NY Times: There is no longer any question that Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky plans to shut down the health insurance exchange his state built to enroll residents for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Now that he has notified the Obama administration of his intention to do so, the question is, will it change the law’s substantial impact there?

It is hard to predict, partly because what Mr. Bevin is doing is without precedent. While a few states have been forced to largely rely on the federally run exchange after their own versions failed, Kentucky will be the first to abandon a homegrown exchange that functions well.

Condolences to the residents of Kentucky. On the other hand, they did this to themselves.

Cartoon:

Yesterday was busy.  I worked with PT.  I ordered groceries.  I scheduled two medical appointments.  My bath aid is ill, and she did not come yesterday, so I had a substitute bath-aide today.  She just left.  My fur is soft, and I smell kitty clean, not like a mangy dawg.  Today is a grocery delivery day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:11 (average 5:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Looking ahead to his final State of the Union address, Barack Obama told NBC’s Matt Lauer that he was “celebrating, just celebrating the last time I ever have to talk to these bastards.”

“I’ll be going over some of the accomplishments of the past seven years and outlining some of the challenges for our nation that remain ahead,” the President said, in an interview taped for NBC’s “Today” show. “But inside, I’ll be like, ‘Good Lord, I never have to so much as look at these horrible people again.’ ”

Asked which member of Congress he would most enjoy never looking at again, Obama responded, “That’s tough. It’s a toss-up between Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell. But the beautiful thing is, I don’t have to choose, Matt. After tonight, I don’t have to look at either of them.”

If ever Andy reported straight news, this is it.

From NY Times: As the first nominating contest approaches, Hillary Clinton’s commanding lead nationally in the Democratic primary has largely melted away, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

The tightened race between Mrs. Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is revealing a sharp generational divide within the Democratic Party, with primary voters under 45 favoring Mr. Sanders by a roughly 2-to-1 ratio.

Go Bernie, Go!

From Crooks and Liars: With the Iowa caucuses less than three weeks away and the New Hampshire primary hard on its heels, there is an essential truth in politics today that transcends all others: The Republican Party has finally screwed the pooch and is on a collision course with electoral Armageddon.

This has become such common knowledge — The New York Times climbed on board recently with a thumbsucker reading like the plot outline of Titanic — that the problem for pundits like myself in describing the party’s self-immolation is to somehow sound new and different. And wonder all the while why the heck the party is unable to do anything beyond rearranging deck chairs as it steams full speed ahead toward that iceberg of a presidential election.

That question is actually fairly easy to answer: The loyalists cognizant of the GOP’s parlous condition have been banished from its temple of political purity, and what has become paramount to the forces that now pretty much control the party is defending the five pillars of the temple — rank nativism, economic recidivism, nonsensical beliefs, an aversion to governing and pathological fear of change. This is more important than even winning big elections.

While I agree with this assessment, we cannot stop fighting tooth and nail to win big at all levels of government.

Cartoon:

Yesterday I went top see my new Primary Care Physician.  I was impressed that the scale had bars with which to pull myself up. .I weigh,262.  Her staff was very helpful.  Megan is young, personable and humorous.  She took the time to listen to issues and explain her reasons for her recommendations.  Today PT is coming and my bath aide should be too.  I’ll be ordering groceries and collecting medical information.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2 57 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Screw paid parental leave. Republican presidential candidate (yes, still) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich thinks new mothers and fathers should rely on their employers to “try to be creative” instead of being required to offer paid leave. And if the extent of their employers’ creativity is “come to work or you’re fired,” as it is for so many Americans, oh well.

“The one thing we need to do for working women is to give them the flexibility to be able to work at home online,” Kasich told the man who asked the question. “The reason why that’s important is, when women take maternity leave or time to be with the children, then what happens is they fall behind on the experience level, which means that the pay becomes a differential.

When folks say KKK Kasich is a moderate, call them on it!

From Alternet: Bernie Sanders’s plan to break up the biggest banks and reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act (separating investment from commercial banking) is necessary – and why Hillary Clinton’s more modest plan is inadequate.

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. Bernie’s plan is better than Hillary’s. Click through.

From Crooks and Liars: MoveOn.org’s members voted to endorse Bernie Sanders after members voted overwhelmingly for him in an online poll last week.

According to MoveOn’s executive director Ilya Sheyman, 79 percent of MoveOn’s members said they wanted to endorse Bernie. The vote shatters all previous records for member votes.

Sheyman listed the top reasons members gave for their choice, including Sanders’ commitment to tackling economic inequality, standing for communities facing injustice, saying no to permanent war, and the belief that Sanders is the more electable candidate.

This is a huge endorsement for Bernie, and will give him access to organizing resources and mobilize grassroots support for him.

Kudos to Bernie and to all the MoveOn members who voted for him, including me.

Cartoon:

Republicans would do it again!.