There is little personal news.  If my wounds keep healing as they should, I’ll go back to Vibra  on Friday afternoon.  The pain should be more manageable by then.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

I cannot do today’s puzzle (average 6:26).  To do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: In the long legal struggle against the death penalty, the future has in some ways never looked brighter.

In a passionate dissent in June, Justice Stephen G. Breyer invited a major challenge to the constitutionality of capital punishment. This fall, Justice Antonin Scalia all but predicted that the court’s more liberal justices would strike down the death penalty.

But lawyers and activists opposed to the death penalty, acutely conscious of what is at stake, are bitterly divided about how to proceed. Some say it is imperative to bring a major case to the court as soon as practicable. Others

“If you don’t go now, there’s a real possibility you have blood on your hands,” said Robert J. Smith, a fellow at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute of Harvard Law School. His scholarship was cited in Justice Breyer’s dissent from a decision upholding the use of an execution drug that three death row inmates argued risked causing excruciating pain.

worry that haste may result in a losing decision that could entrench capital punishment for years.

A dissent by Justice Stephen G. Breyer in June was seen as inviting a death penalty challenge. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

But others are wary. “There are reasons to be cautious about pushing the court to a decision too early,” said Jordan M. Steiker, a law professor at the University of Texas.

The divide is partly generational. Many veteran litigators have suffered stinging setbacks in the Supreme Court, and they favor an incremental strategy. They would continue to chip away at the death penalty in the courts, seek state-by-state abolition and try to move public opinion.

Some younger lawyers and activists urge a bolder course: to ask the Supreme Court to end capital punishment nationwide right away.

As much as I believe hat the death penalty is state sponsored murder that must be outlawed, I do not trust the Fascist Five Injustices of SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD) to do it. We need an incremental approach as long as the Republican Reich controls the court.

From Daily Kos: This morning Scarborough appeared to have a severe cognitive collapse during a segment about the Republican Party’s debate-o-phobia (video below). Like most of his ideological allies, he is suffering from the delusion that the American media, owned by a handful of megalithic, multinational corporations, is dominated by liberals. Scarborough set off on a rant about the absence of conservatives on nightly news programs, Sunday shows, and in the executive suites. He badgered his guests to come up with examples of Republicans in those roles, and insisted that they could not do it.

Barf Bag Alert!!

Joe and the Republican Reich are not satisfied with normal pro-Republican media bias. They want a debate panel to include himself, O’Lielly, Hannity, and Glen Beck.

From Omaha.com: Trans­Canada wants a Keystone XL timeout.

The company on Monday asked the State Department to suspend consideration of its controversial pipeline while Nebraska officials review its route through the state.

Rachel Maddow covered this topic very well.

Keystone pipeline dead? Company requests suspension of permit

Elana Schor, energy reporter for Politico, talks with Rachel Maddow about the broader context and likely political calculations behind TransCanada’s request that their U.S. permit for the Keystone XL pipeline be suspended.

Like Rachel said, TransCanada is trying to keep the pipeline alive by suspending it in their hope that Republicans take power and approve it. That must not happen.

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The surgery went very well.  They removed dead tissue from my stump and covered it with a skin graft, cut from my thigh.  That donor site is very painful.  Keeping me doped up makes it barely tolerable.  It also makes it difficult to write, because I’m so drowsy.  I watched football.  Vivian…  GRRRRR!!

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: I’m not going to link to the list, but a list of purported KKK members began circulating this morning, allegedly leaked by the activist group Anonymous, which they are now denying they had anything to do with it.

None of the names have been remotely close to verified as members of the racist group.

One of those named was Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, who regretfully took to her Facebook page to put an immediate and decisive stop to the rumor.

I recently posted that I was looking forward to seeing this list. My bad for being hoodwinked. The problem with Anonymous is their anonymity. Anyone can claim to be the group.

From The New Yorker: According to a format negotiated between the Republican National Committee and the television networks, future Presidential debates during the 2016 campaign will strictly forbid questions about things the candidates “said” or “did,” the R.N.C. confirmed on Monday.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the R.N.C., said that the deal addressed the candidates’ concerns about the previously broadcast debates, which he called “abusively fact-based.”

“In some cases, moderators were asking candidates questions about statements they made two or three weeks earlier,” Priebus said. “This new format will eliminate that kind of ancient history.”

Andy knows that GOP would love to do that. However, only the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda would goose step with the RNC on this scheme.

From Huffington Post: House Republicans are angling to slip two pieces of bank deregulation into a major highway funding bill that is expected to pass with broad bipartisan support.

According to a source familiar with discussions, Republicans are trying to remove tighter regulations that were imposed on banks with at least $50 billion in assets after the 2008 financial crisis. They also are aiming to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — a brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), which has worked to prevent big banks, payday lenders and other financial firms from ripping off households.

The GOP doesn’t need Democratic votes to pass the broader highway bill — it has a wide majority in the House. But while securing federal highway funding is a top Democratic priority, controversial riders like the bank deregulation items may prompt a veto from President Barack Obama that would be impossible to override without Democratic aid. The riders could also serve as a potential test of new House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his willingness to use major legislation to ram through conservative priorities.

Bankster deregulation is a poison pill far too bitter to swallow. We can’t stop it in the House, but be ready to call your Senators.

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