Politics Plus

Yesterday was relatively easy.  PT (Becky) had me see Wow many times I can stand from a sitting position, with no rest in between.  She stopped me at eight, but I could have continued.  She also had me practice stand-pivot transfers, rotating toward George, the more difficult direction.  I did not see OT (Courtney).

Short Takes:

From Media Matters: Right-wing radio host Alex Jones is suggesting that a mass shooting that claimed at least 14 lives in San Bernardino, California “appears to be geared to elicit widespread public outrage.” Jones pushed the conspiracy theory only a few hours after an interview with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, where the candidate praised Jones’ “amazing” reputation.

Jones and his website frequently promote far right-wing conspiracy theories arguing that high-profile mass shootings and other tragic events are staged by the government. He has claimed that both the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting and Aurora, Colorado, movie theater mass shooting were “staged.”

The Hairball and Jones are a perfect diabolical match.

From Daily Kos: This execution took place earlier today (Wednesday, Dec 2nd) in the Bayview District of San Francisco.

Another day, another murder by police.

From NY Times: While the nation suffered through the shock of another bloody massacre, on Thursday every Senate Republican except Mark Kirk of Illinois voted against legislation to prevent people on the F.B.I.’s consolidated terrorist watchlist from purchasing guns or explosives.

The measure has been introduced repeatedly since 2007. The Government Accountability Office has documented that over years of congressional blockage, hundreds of suspected terrorists on the watchlist bought guns.

Republicans are fighting to preserve gun manufacturers’ profits derived from sales to terrorists.

Cartoon:

A day of wailing and gnashing of teeth for today’s Republicans.

Yesterday I had a difficult day.  PT was working me on fall recovery techniques.  I was able to get back up to stationary objects, but when I tried a one person assist from ground to wheelchair, I found that I lack the physical strength to lift myself without being able to support more weight with my arms.  I tried so hard that I strained the knee on my good leg in the process, but it’s almost better today.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: According to his 2nd ex-wife Robert Luis Dear, the accused Colorado Planned Parenthood murderer, was a violently abusive extreme right-wing neo-Christian anti-abortion zealot end-timer who after committing an act of rape believed every thing vile he did would ultimately be “forgiven” by God.

Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian politicians and pundits, the blood is on your hands!

From NY Times: …Democrats, including President Obama, emphasize the need to address America’s problems with guns. Republicans talk about the need to address mental health. Both are right.

First, guns, the central issue: We need a new public health approach based not on eliminating guns (that simply won’t happen in a land awash with 300 million guns) but on reducing the carnage they cause.

We routinely construct policies that reduce the toll of deadly products around us. That’s what we do with cars (driver’s licenses, seatbelts, guardrails). It’s what we do with swimming pools (fences, childproof gates, pool covers). It’s what we do with toy guns (orange tips).

It’s what we should do with real guns.

I reference this Republican hack only to demonstrate how biased he is..  Kristof is twisting some crucial facts in his article. First, while Republicans SAY we need to address mental health needs, they keep slashing the spending on mental health. Only Democrats are actually trying to address those needs. Second Republicans are blocking all attempts by Democrats to treat guns as a public health problem.

From Upworthy: Ironically, the rate of Arctic melting has essentially snowballed — the factors add up exponentially, and the effects get bigger and bigger and bigger (even as the snow itself disappears). So while yes, there are still winters and it still gets cold, the ecosystem is disastrously out of balance, and it’s only getting worse.

But fear not! There’s still hope!

Or maybe do fear a little bit, if that’s the kind of motivation that you need to make sustainable environmental changes in your life or to urge President Obama to take action before it gets too late. Because we seriously need to do something — and fast.

Here’s a little more information, courtesy of National Geographic.

The need us deadly serious. Please join me in signing the NDRC petition, supporting green initiatives, and reducing your own carbon footprint as much as possible.

Cartoon:

Yesterday I worked on recovering from a fall, both with and without George.  Other than a mat-skinned knee, I was no worse for the wear, but I did learn that, when it happens in real life, I will have an easier time, if I remove George before trying to recover.  Today, I think I’ll be working on how to instruct a bystander to help me, if I have been pitched out of a wheelchair.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: We often get upset at Fox News viewers for the alternate state of reality they generally live in. We shouldn’t be. It is our civic duty to first understand how it is possible for them to see the world so differently than those who accept information from various sources.

The video below is a classic example of how Fox News encourages one to allow themselves to be willfully ignorant. This is not restricted to conservative right-wing people, but to us all. To be clear, many Americans do very little reading of consequence and get most of their information from the mainstream broadcast media or the right-wing broadcast media like Fox News.

Barf Bag Alert!!

 
This is how Fox News create ignorant viewers by ewillies

We already know that people, who get their infoganda from the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, are more poorly informed than people , who have no media access.

From The New Yorker: Now that the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference is under way in Paris, two main issues arise: Will an agreement to reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere be reached? And, if so, will it do any good? The answer to the first question is: almost certainly. The answer to the second question is: some, but not enough.

The good news is that, after more than twenty years of trying, the nations of the world are finally closing in on a deal that has the backing of all the major polluters. This much was clear from Monday’s opening ceremony, which attracted a host of global leaders. If politicians like President Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t think a positive outcome was likely, they wouldn’t have made the trip.

Of course, it is always possible that the negotiations, which are scheduled to last for nearly two weeks, will break down, as they did in 2009, when a similar meeting was held in Copenhagen. For at least two reasons, though, that seems unlikely.

Click through for an extensive explanation. I hope that the agreement is something upon which we can build, before it is too late.

From NY Times: Hours after President Obama pledged Tuesday in Paris that the United States would be in the vanguard of nations seeking a global response to climate change, Congress approved two measures aimed at undercutting him.

In a provocative message to more than 100 leaders that the American president does not have the full support of his government on climate policy, the House passed resolutions, already approved by the Senate, to scuttle Environmental Protection Agency rules that would significantly cut heat-trapping carbon emissions from existing and future coal-fired power plants.

The House votes — by 242 to 180 and 235 to 188, mostly along party lines — expanded to a global level the already profound gulf between Mr. Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress on domestic issues, demonstrating that the United States was hardly unified on the issue of climate change even as the president and other leaders sought to project solidarity.

The measures will be sent to the White House, where Mr. Obama has said he will veto them.

Republicans, by trying to sabotage Obama’s rightful authority, are committing sedition, not just against the US, but against the entire world.

Cartoon:

Compared to today’s Republicans, McCarthy was almost liberal.

Another month has arrived,  and I’m enjoying the thought that the next time I begin a month, I will do so from home.  Yesterday George and walked the furthest we have to date.  Today, the plan is learning to get back up after a fall.  I received a care package from Judi today.  Somehow I get the feeling my blood sugar might become a bit elevated!!

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Calling criticism of her misrepresentations about Planned Parenthood “typical left-wing tactics,” the Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said, on Sunday, “I will not be bullied into telling the truth.”

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” the former Hewlett-Packard C.E.O. denied that spreading misinformation about Planned Parenthood was “in any way incendiary,” but added, “What is truly incendiary is demanding that someone who is seeking the highest office in the land stop lying.”

Fiorina noted that many of her rivals for the Republican nomination—including Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz—had successfully used lying as a key element of their campaign strategies. “All I am trying to do is level the playing field,” she said.

Andy is spot-on about Crazy Carly!!

From Daily Kos: Once again, the people who watch Fox News are demonstrating their appalling lack of decency and, ironically in this case, respect for human life. News reports about an active shooter situation at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs are still somewhat vague as to the shooter’s motives and the status of victims. There are confirmed reports of police officers wounded by gunfire, and citizens are virtually trapped in nearby shops as they await a conclusion.

In the heat of this live crisis the Fox News website is hosting some of the most nauseating responses imaginable. [Faux Noise delinked].  They run the gamut of hateful rhetoric from anti-choice extremism (“Too bad the abortion doctor and the nursing staff weren’t all killed.”) to overt racism (“I know this isn’t PC….but n***gers are just plain bad news.”). Never mind that there is little information about the shooter or his motives (he has been identified in one report as a white male), the Fox News audience is focused entirely on their inbred hostilities toward minorities, women, and President Obama, whom some are accusing of setting this up.

This typifies today’s Republican Party!

From Alternet: Muslim Cab Driver Shot by Passenger Ranting About ISIS Terrorists

A bizarre conversation in a cab leads to tragic violence.

Click through for the whole story. Here we have another example of Republican terrorism.