I’m waiting for my new (used) desk to be delivered. I contracted for the installers to transfer the contents from the old to the new. It is to make space to live as an amputee.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:23 (average 5:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Contrary to Republican lies, the pledge, as we know it today, was NOT established by our founding fathers. It was composed in 1892 and expanded in 1923. “Under God” was not added until 1954.
For a large part of the year, I was pretty oblivious to my surroundings, so I was not aware of the extent to which global climate change has propagated disasters here in the US. Therefore the news that FEMA has actually issues 77 disaster declarations this year.
In the warmest year on record, Mother Nature wrought havoc across the country, with large swaths of the west coast ablaze during the summer and the north-east blanketed in snow for most of the winter
2015 has been the warmest year, globally, on record, with the lower 48 states of the US experiencing their balmiest autumn ever measured.
This kind of exceptional heat provided an appropriate setting for the Paris climate summit, where 196 nations agreed to curb greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the sort of dangerous climate change that contributes to floods, drought and damaging sea level rises.
But the past year has also seen a number of severe natural disasters, climate change-fueled or otherwise, that have battered the US. The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued 77 disaster declarations in 2015. Here are some of the disasters that tested Americans this year.
January snow storms
For New Yorkers, the snow in January was something of a near-miss – US National Weather Service warnings of a “potentially historic blizzard” proved erroneous. The subway was shut and driving was banned for what turned out to be just a light coating of snow.
But for those in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts, there was no such escape . Thousands of people lost power, flights were cancelled and sports events were called off as more than 2ft of snow settled in parts of the region. High winds and coastal flooding, with winds gusting to 80 mph in Massachusetts, pounded the Atlantic coast. For many cities in New England, winter storm Juno, as the blizzard was unofficially dubbed, was one of the heaviest snowstorms on record, with at least two people dying as an indirect result of the conditions.
Boston was smothered by snow, with February its snowiest month on record . In total, around 8ft of snow fell on the city, which ran out of places to dump cleared snow. This immense downfall prompted several people to throw themselves from their windows into huge snowdrifts – while videoing the experience, of course. Mayor Marty Walsh was enraged: “This isn’t Loon Mountain, this is the city of Boston!”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Raw Story>
Click through for several more types of disasters and lists of examples. Then remove Republicans from power, before it’s too late.
It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos have the Monday Night service with the Bengals. Otherwise I have to figure out how to combine six drawers into three and free up 1/3 of my desk space. ARGH!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:55 (average 5:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (Best of 2015): I am a Christian business owner in Indiana…
…Not really. But If I were, this is the sign I would put in my door.
"Dear Valued Patrons.
Due to my sincerely held religious beliefs, and in light of the RFRA, recently signed by our Dear Leader Pence, I will no longer be doing business with the following persons; nor permitting them in my establishment:
1. Divorcees. Matthew 19:9: “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.”
2. Anyone who has ever read their horoscope or called a psychic hotline. Leviticus 20:6: "As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people."
3. Anyone with a tattoo. Leviticus 19:28 "You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord."
4. Anyone born illegitimately. Also, anyone who, back to ten generations, is descended from someone born illegitimately. If you can not PROVE, using appropriate church sources, that ten generations of your family were born in wedlock, I will have to err on the side of caution and not serve you. Deuteronomy 23:2 "No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD."
Click through for the other four. And don’t forget Leviticus 25:44. I get to own a Canadian!!
From The New Yorker:
Within this cycle, it’s been a delight to publish Andy Borowitz’s humor column—and to be continually reminded that, sometimes, the only way to make sense of what’s happening in American politics is to laugh. In that spirit, here are fifteen of my favorite Borowitz Reports from the past year, arranged chronologically.
Joe Biden Releases Both E-mails Written While Vice-President
Iran Offers to Mediate Talks Between Republicans and Obama
Indiana Governor Stunned By How Many People Seem to Have Gay Friends
New Hillary Clinton Ad Features Just Kittens
N.F.L. Sentences Brady to a Year with the Jets
Thanks Andy! Click through for the other 10 links.
From NY Times: After decades of debate in South Carolina over the Confederate battle flag, it seemed the matter had been settled in July, when state officials stopped flying the flag on State House grounds and relegated it to a museum for “appropriate display.”
Then came the price tag.
This month, consultants for the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum [Seditious state agency delinked] here introduced a $5.3 million plan to expand the facility and show off the flag, along with an electronic display of the names of the state’s Civil War dead.
That idea proved to be a bust among Democrats who view the flag as an affront to African-Americans, and among members of both parties who balked at the cost.
$5.3 million?!!? Dang!! For 50¢, I’ll commemorate that flag!! Just give me the flag, a big bowl of my five alarm chili, and an outhouse!!
Cartoon:
I’ve heard a lot of crowing about how funding for Planned Parenthood survived the budget deal passed by Congress. Don’t misunderstand me. I’ll all for Planned Parenthood. It’s one of few organizations that received a small year-end gift from me, in spite of all my medical expenses. However, I almost wish their funding had been cut, instead of a couple of the provisions that Republicans slimed in there.
As untold millions of dollars pour into the shadowy campaign troughs of the presidential candidates, voters need to be reminded of the rosy assumptions of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that legitimized the new spending frenzy.
In allowing unlimited spending on candidates by corporations and unions, the court’s decision, in 2010, blithely pronounced, “A campaign finance system that pairs corporate independent expenditures with effective disclosure has not existed before today.” Effective disclosure exists?
The court majority in the 5-to-4 decision should have been watching this month when the Republican-controlled Congress, which has firmly bottled up all campaign disclosure legislation, voted to further cripple disclosure at two of its most vital points.
In the new budget bill, Republicans inserted a provision blocking the Internal Revenue Service from creating rules to curb the growing abuse of the tax law by thinly veiled political machines posing as “social welfare” organizations. These groups are financed by rich special-interest donors who do not have to reveal their identities under the tax law. So much for effective disclosure at the I.R.S.
In another move to keep the public blindfolded about who is writing big corporate checks for federal candidates, the Republicans barred the Securities and Exchange Commission from finalizing rules requiring corporations to disclose their campaign spending to investors. It was Citizens United that foolishly envisioned a world in which: “Shareholders can determine whether their corporation’s political speech advances the corporation’s interest in making profits, and citizens can see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests.”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Everything Republicans do is intended to further one of two goals. The lesser goal is the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the 1%. The second is the establishment of a permanent Republican Reich, a totalitarian plutocracy in which ece3ctions exist for show only. These provisions support both goals. To clarify my earlier statement, how long do you think Planned Parenthood funding will last, is Republicans succeed in establishing their permanent Republican Reich?
Yesterday was an enjoyable holiday. I did quite a bit of cooking for a friend, but only wore George for the time I needed to stand up. I made ham steaks, cheese mashed potatoes, assorted fresh veggies, fresh pears, and store-bought pumpkin pie. Then I ate moderately enough to keep my blood sugar below 120. I was pretty pleased with myself. For the next couple days I want to rest up, as my desk will be replaced with a smaller unit on Monday, and I have both PT and OT coming Tuesday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:10 (average 6:02). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (best of 2015): The most racist areas in the United States
I did not realize the extent to which parts of the Midwest and Northeast are even more racist than large parts of the South.
From NY Times: Foreign arms sales by the United States jumped by almost $10 billion in 2014, about 35 percent, even as the global weapons market remained flat and competition among suppliers increased, a new congressional study has found.
American weapons receipts rose to $36.2 billion in 2014 from $26.7 billion the year before, bolstered by multibillion-dollar agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Those deals and others ensured that the United States remained the single largest provider of arms around the world last year, controlling just over 50 percent of the market.
Isn’t it sad that death is a key and growing US export?
From Alternet: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: ‘Wack Flag.’
It was Jon Stewart’s final season at "The Daily Show," which dismayed many yet made for plenty of memorable moments. After terrorist Dylann Roof murdered nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, the team over at Fox News couldn’t wait to take to the airwaves to criticize those who dared label the crime for what it was. Sean Hannity even took a moment to self-righteously call discussion of Roof’s hate crime and calls for gun control a leftist agenda-advancing “sickness.” “Yes, it’s a sickness, this rush to use tragedy to advance your narrative,” Stewart responded. “Combine that with an inability for self examination, an almost comical degree of self-exculpatory rhetoric, flag pins, a little bit of leg, and a complete immunity to irony: you got yourself a full-blown case of Fox-abetes.” Then he showed footage of how Fox anchors responded to the killing of two New York City cops weeks earlier (spoiler: it involves a lot of blaming Obama, Mayor Bill de Blasio and suggestions of racism), as glorious a display of hypocrisy as has ever been on television.
This is just one of the seventeen best instances of political comedy this year. Click through for the other sixteen.
Cartoon:
This year, once again, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday is appropriate to your beliefs. I have collected a few Christmas Songs for your enjoyment.
Performed by Olivia Newton John
Performed by the Harry Simeone Choir
Performed by Martina McBride
>
Performed by Celtic Woman
And finally, Happy Holidays to our Republican visitors. Here’s what you want most. 😉
Performed by Bing Crosby
Ho! Ho!! Ho!!! Tell SantaCat whether you were naughty or nice! I have friends visiting today, if they show up. So for me, today will be a learning experience on how much I can do. Merry Christmas or whatever greeting you prefer for lefties, centrists, and sane conservatives. Happy Holidays for insane conservatives, aka Republicans.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (classic: 12/1014): Did Ayn Rand send Christmas cards?
According to Scott McConnell’s 100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand she did indeed. Unfortunately, none are included in McConnell’s 656 page book.
Fortunately, with a little help from the Ayn Rand Archives*, we’re able to present to you this exclusive, never-before-seen collection of Ayn Rand favorites.
Click through for 20 more examples of Republican Christmas love.
From Media Matters: On The Bill Press Show, Media Matters’ Katie Sullivan Runs Down The Worst Of Fox News Sexism In 2015
Of course Faux Noise is sexist!
From Common Dreams: Capitulating to the demands of the infamous Kim Davis is not all the newly-anointed Kentucky governor is up to these days.
Less than one month after taking office, Republican Governor Matt Bevin late Tuesday issued a series of executive orders that rolled back the minimum wage, stripped tens of thousands of their right to vote, and sent the state spiraling into regressive new territory.
After his election, Bevin—known as a Tea Party "darling"—vowed that he would pass a measure "right away" that would remove county clerk’s names from marriage licenses to appease those, like Davis, who object to issuing licenses to same-sex couples.
That promise was fulfilled on Tuesday—along with many other gifts to the conservative base.
Among them was a directive to reverse an order issued by his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, which restored voting rights to felons. Bevin’s order strips the new rights from roughly 140,000 former felons who are "overwhelmingly African American and lower income," according to reports.
Merry Christmas, Kentucky, from your Republican Reich!!
Cartoon:
In a few minutes, I’ll be leaving for my post release checkup with my primary care doctor. I imagine, she’ll want to look at stumpy. I want her to do some paperwork, make some referrals, and review my meds. I shall be gone most of the day. In case you don’t get back here tomorrow, merry Christmas, and if you are a Republican, Happy Holidays.
Cartoon:
