Yesterday the nursing got so bad that I called in the Charge Nurse to complain.  The straw that broke  the TomCat’s back was the nurse’s insistence that I insert my own suppository, when I cannot because of a partially frozen shoulder.  I was in pain from severe Republicitis for 5 1/2 hours.  The Charge  Nurse agreed that she was completely out of line, and promised never to schedule her to care for me again.  Today is much better, and I took an extra lap, but, dang it, I’m still too slow to ketch me a nurse.

Extreme Religious Agony:

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Like millions of people, I’ve been obsessively following the news from Paris, putting aside other things to focus on the horror. It’s the natural human reaction. But let’s be clear: it’s also the reaction the terrorists want. And that’s something not everyone seems to understand.Take, for example, Jeb Bush’s declaration that “this is an organized attempt to destroy Western civilization.” No, it isn’t. It’s an organized attempt to sow panic, which isn’t at all the same thing. And remarks like that, which blur that distinction and make terrorists seem more powerful than they are, just help the jihadists’ cause.

Think, for a moment, about what France is and what it represents. It has its problems — what nation doesn’t? — but it’s a robust democracy with a deep well of popular legitimacy. Its defense budget is small compared with ours, but it nonetheless retains a powerful military, and has the resources to make that military much stronger if it chooses. (France’s economy is around 20 times the size of Syria’s.) France is not going to be conquered by ISIS, now or ever. Destroy Western civilization? Not a chance.

So what was Friday’s attack about? Killing random people in restaurants and at concerts is a strategy that reflects its perpetrators’ fundamental weakness. It isn’t going to establish a caliphate in Paris. What it can do, however, is inspire fear — which is why we call it terrorism, and shouldn’t dignify it with the name of war.

The point is not to minimize the horror. It is, instead, to emphasize that the biggest danger terrorism poses to our society comes not from the direct harm inflicted, but from the wrong-headed responses it can inspire. And it’s crucial to realize that there are multiple ways the response can go wrong.

Click through for the rest of this excellent Paul Krugman editorial. I agree with him. The Daesh is far too small to overthrow even small Western nations, let alone the US. Climate change is a greater threat to the US than the Daesh will ever be. If we let the Daesh dominate our policies, we are handing them a victory over us.

From TPM: Daily fantasy sports sites — like Fan Duel and Draft Kings — arrived on the scene like “a pack of wolves,” according to host John Oliver on Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight.”

“Daily fantasy sports combine everything dudes love: sports, money and a lack of commitment,” Oliver said.

Congress cracked down on online gambling in 2006, but, as Oliver pointed out, the law exempted fantasy sports.

As a lover of old style fantasy football, I have no doubt that daily fantasy sports is gambling. The law needs to be updated,

From Crooks and Liars: At each NFL football game on Sunday, there was a moment of silence for the people of France who suffered an unimaginable terrorist attack.

Unfortunately, some jerk at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, took the opportunity to prove to the world what an ass he is by yelling an anti-Muslim statement. (Said fool either shouted “Muslim sucks” or “F*ck the Muslims,” depending on which account you listen to.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who came off the field after losing another heartbreaking (for Packer fans anyway) loss, still had the wherewithal and class to denounce the fan who yelled that:

“I must admit I was very disappointed with whoever the fan was that made a comment that was very inappropriate during the moment of silence,” Rodgers said. “It’s that kind of prejudicial ideology that puts us in the position we’re in today as a world.”

Kudos to Aaron Rogers for a very classy statement.

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On the downside, I had to Republicate in a bedpan this morning, and the nurses were 45 minutes late in getting me into my chair.  Therefore my breakfast had to be reheated, ruining my eggs and toast.  On the up side, when a CNI  told me it would be several minutes before she had time to pick up my  tray, I moved my table several times, moved the toxic waste disposal bin, and put the tray on the bed.  Then I went out to cruise the hallways.  The CNI was quite surprised to see me  making my rounds.  Today is a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos meditate with the Chiefs.  I  hope it is televised here.  Later:  It took almost 2 1/2 hours for the nurses to put me back to bed, after I requested it at 10:00 AM.  This is the worst combination I’ve had since I’ve been hare.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The attack in Paris has caused a tsunami of stupid among conservatives on Twitter.  Without further ado:

Judith Miller:

There are several more examples of insaniTEA. Click through.

From Crooks and Liars: Liz Cheney is a neocon looking for a foothold, and current Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis may have just handed it to her.

Cheney, 2016!

Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis announced Thursday she will not seek re-election, and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s elder daughter, Liz Cheney, said she was seriously considering running for the seat.

Lummis is the only female member of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus and plans to finish her current term. She has easily won re-election since first winning Wyoming’s lone spot in the U.S. House in 2008.

Cheney, a television news commentator, briefly challenged Wyoming U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi for last year’s GOP nomination. She cited health issues in her family in bowing out of the race more than seven months before the primary.

Geez! Just what we need!! The Lizard of Lies in Congress!!!

From Alternet: Muslims from around the world are making it clear ISIS does not represent their values. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani denounced the attacks, postponing his trip to Europe to renew peace talks on the Syrian conflict. Iran and Iran-backed Hezbollah fight ISIS and other extremists in Syria (as well as non-Salafists). The day before the Paris attacks, militants claiming allegiance to ISIS bombed a civilian area of Beirut in an effort to undermine Hezbollah’s support there. 

Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the president of Indonesia, the largest Muslim country on earth, roundly condemned the attacks, telling reporters, “Indonesia condemns the violence that took place in Paris.” In a now-viral video on YouTube, a Moroccan man expressed his condolences to the victims, saying, “These so-called jihadists only represent themselves.”

Widodo is spot on.  ISIL does not represent Islam is the same way that Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian terrorists do not represent Christianity.  Perhaps we should call ISIL Republican Supply-side pseudo-Muslims.

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Je suis Parisien!

I just got back to bed after eating breakfast in a wheel chair and taking a hunting trip a around the unit.  I couldn’t ketch one today either.      I’m hoping OT comes today so I can mount the porcelain throne to Republicate.

Short Takes:

From KPTV: In a unanimous vote Thursday, the Portland City Council passed a resolution opposing any project that increases the transportation or storage of fossil fuels in Portland.

Now, city workers will develop rules that move Portland away from projects that involve coal or oil.

Furthermore they recently passed a measure banning explosive oil trains from the city. Oregon leads the way.

From Daily Kos: That Ben Carson gets awfully creative with the truth is by now well established. Here’s one if his more interesting ones, that Medicare and Medicaid fraud  is “huge—half a trillion dollars.” Which is pretty much impossible, since total spending for the two programs is less than a trillion—$980 billion last year, to be exact. But here’s a new wrinkle on that specific claim: Carson has some very personal experience with Medicare fraud: his best friend and business partner has been convicted of it.

The friend in question, indeed Carson’s best friend and business partner, is a Philadelphia-area oral surgeon, Alfonso Costa. 

Carson and Costa have long been tight. They vacation together, and Carson holidays at an Italian resort villa owned by Costa’s company. Costa is president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Ben Carson Scholars Fund, which awards $1,000 college scholarships to students who demonstrate good character and strong academics. And Costa’s real estate development firm helps to oversee a lucrative investment for Carson and his wife, one that last year netted the Carsons between $200,000 and $2 million, according to the GOP candidate’s financial disclosure forms.

As much as a quarter of Carson’s $8 million-plus personal wealth is tied up in various real estate ventures with Costa.

Why am I not surprised? If uncle Token weren’t a criminal, he wouldn’t be a Republican!

From NY Times: The Paris area reeled Friday night from a shooting rampage, explosions and mass hostage-taking that President François Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack on France. His government announced sharply increased border controls and heightened police powers as it mobilized the military in a national emergency.

French television and news services quoted the police as saying that around 100 people had been killed at a concert site where hostages had been held during a two-hour standoff with the police, and that perhaps dozens of others had been killed in apparently coordinated attacks outside the country’s main sports stadium and four other popular locations in the city. But estimates on the total number of dead varied.

Witnesses on French television said the scene at the concert hall, which can seat as many as 1,500 people, was a massacre, describing how gunmen with automatic weapons shot bursts of bullets into the crowd.

This is tragic. I’m sending thoughts and prayers to the survivors, the victims families, all who love them. However you connect with the infinite, please join me.

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