Sep 192016
 

I’m sorry about yesterday.  This med still has me pretty wiped out.  I slept all morning, and could go right back to bed, if I would let myself.  On the plus side, the nerve pain is greatly improved.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:43).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

0918Broncos34-Colts20

Staff Notice:

It appears that Alternet and Crooks and Liars have dropped the plug-in they were using to request embedded articles contain their banner, so until they put it back, we can go back to Creative Commons Attribution.

Since I started compressing graphics we have a new media library to which administrators (and hopefully authors too) can upload graphics.  It’s high in the left hand column of the Dashboard.  Please leave all graphics compression to me.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Elizabeth Warren was in Columbus, Ohio campaigning with Ted Strickland.  If you only have time for a snippet of the speech, you can find one at The New Civil Rights Movement.  But the full speech is really worth the 25 [28] minutes.

 

I’ve said it before. Liz is a national treasure!

From Crooks and Liars: Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson stated over the weekend that he was "just grateful that nobody got hurt" by an explosion that injured 29 people in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood.

During a Sunday interview on CNN, host Brian Stelter asked the candidate to respond to the explosion that left 29 people injured Saturday night.

Barf Bag Alert!!

 

Duh! He proved with Aleppo that he’s unfit to be President from a foreign policy perspective. This proves the same from a domestic perspective.

From Alternet:  …Here’s 11 areas where the differences between Clinton and Trump are poised to take the country in starkly different directions.

1. Will there be a revival of American racism against non-whites? There has not been as openly bigoted, racist and pro-white major party presidential candidate in decades. Trump has modeled a catalogue of racist rants and stereotypes and opened the door to a new era of race-based grievance politics. This is not just about immigration, but start there. He wants to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. He wants to build a wall along the Mexican border. He doesn’t want millions of “dreamer” children of the migrants, born here, to have a clear path to citizenship. He wants all Muslims to face extra immigration hurdles and encourages racial profiling. In sharp contrast, Clinton opposes all those stances, and wants the opposite—comprehensive immigration reform and embraces multi-cultural America. Yet Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Tim Pence, have dropped the pretense of dog-whistle politics, where white supremacists mouth neutral-sounding platitudes, like embracing ‘state’s rights,’ code for unequal treatment of minorities. They have coddled a spectrum of white supremacists, from klansman David Duke to Trump national convention delegates to far right-wing radio hosts, all of whom feel white America should not adapt to the nation’s growing multiculturalism. Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign slogan, reflected in her policies, is “Stronger Together.” Which way will the country go?…

I shared one, his extreme racism. Click through for the other ten.

Cartoon:

0919Cartoon

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Sep 172016
 

Here are the results of our “What will Democrats Win?” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0917Poll

Since our polling site no longer enables us to copy and paste your poll comments, you may read them here.

I voted that I expect Democrats to win the Presidency and the Senate, but not the House.  I’d love to be wrong on the House, as long as I’m right on the other two.

The new poll is up, so please get out your deplorability meters and vote.

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Sep 032016
 

82-MitchD

Mitch had been following Politics Plus and commenting for quite some time on Care2, where he has been active since 2010, when he started commenting here at the site a few months ago and won his first Big Mouth Award on June 5.  Now, less than three months later, he’s back for his second.  He comes from the state, where I grew up, NJ, so he lives with the constant danger that PIGnocchio will end his life by sitting on him. His comments are sharp and dry.  His pet peeves are people, who use their religion to promote hatred, bigotry and ethnocentrism. He’s an advocate for human rights of all kinds, and animal welfare.

His daily participation here makes live more interesting for us all.  Please be excessive with praise and  kudos.  He has earned them.

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Sep 022016
 

Last month, all categories were up from July, except for Visits.  The massive increase in Bandwidth occurred, because I optimized thousands of previously uploaded photos, so that aberration won’t repeat.

Here is our latest summary:

Stats08-2016

Reported period

Month Aug 2016

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Aug 2016 – 00:01

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Aug 2016 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

9,252

 

28,152

(3.04 visits/visitor)

124,044

(4.4 Pages/Visit)

362,365

(12.87 Hits/Visit)

24.57 GB

(915.07 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

564,196

642,486

13.25 GB

 

Reported period

Month Aug 2015

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Aug 2015 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Aug 2015 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

9,612

 

32,079

(3.33 visits/visitor)

91,883

(2.86 Pages/Visit)

245,973

(7.66 Hits/Visit)

3.09 GB

(100.86 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

339,768

390,747

5.84 GB

 

Year over year, 2016 Uniques and visits are marginally lower than those from 2015.  Pages, Hits and Bandwidth are higher.

Here is our latest demographic data from Quantcast:

QUS08-2016

They miss a ton of raw data, but among those they can identify they are a valuable source of information.  We are still mostly older, well educated, poor, Democrats, and politically active.  We are  about 45% male and 55% female. 

Here is our archived ClustrMap for August only.

ClustrMap08-2016

ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.  They have changed their format.  When you click the map in the left column, it shows the current month only, no longer the year to date.  You can sure tell the difference in Lona!

Here are our top five articles:

Jane Smiley: Capitalist Pigs 1/17/2010 2,100
Why You Cannot Reason with Trump Supporters 8/19/2016 460
Unquestioning Support for Cops 7/18/2015 384
It’s Not Just the South 8/18/2016 383
Another Appropriate Trump Advisor 8/23/2016 377

The count represents only the people who followed an external link to that specific article.  Two were from earlier years.  The other three were from August.  I sincerely hope our other authors crack the top five next month.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):

Care2 3,297
Google 1,717
Stumbleupon 176
Google (Images) 139

Care2 up by almost 1000,  Google  is up over 250, Stumbleupon is up 40, and Google (Images) is up 36 from July.

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://hamsandwich66.blogspot.com/
http://scaredstiff-tim.blogspot.com/
http://oakcreekforum.blogspot.mx/
http://www.badgirlchats.com/
http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/
http://www.dailynewsbin.com/
http://okjimmseggrollemporium.blogspot.ca/
http://www.addictinginfo.org/
http://marketwatch666.blogspot.co.uk/

We had 11 sites  with 2 or more referrals, up three from July.  Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their support.

While optimizing the site for better performance, I discovered that our Top Commentators plugin was such a resource hog that it was increasing the time it took to load our pages by 33%, so I discontinued it.

We have 258,156 links on other websites, up considerably from July.  I expect that to decrease, because thousands of our links are over five years old, dating back to a time, when we consistently averaged over a million hits a month.  I used to have the time and energy for 7-8 articles per day. Major sites (like Care2), where I used to post links are no longer available, I’ve stopped posting links at other major sites, and I no longer visit 20 – 30 blogs per day, because I just can’t do everything I used to do.  However, as quantity has gone down, quality has gone up.

As of Midnight on September 1, we have 6,793 articles and 81,968 comments.

Nobody won a Big Mouth Award in August, but one for the 82,000th comment will be awarded tomorrow.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder.  Your Authors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster.

This is our policy on links.  We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily.  However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article.  I also remove topical links.  Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.  Please do so, or if you commonly leave links and don’t know how to blank the target, please say so.

Given our expanded talent, I expect to continue our overall upward trend, although my cancer surgeries and resulting problems are still interfering with my writing.  One way you can help is to share our articles, not only with your family and friends, but also, on other sites, linking back to the article here.  The more exposure we get, the better we shall do at fulfilling our stated purpose, “Overcoming Right Wing Insanity One Day at a Time!”

Thank you for all that you do, here and elsewhere.  You are why we succeed!  You are the reason America can survive!!

Now lets keep kicking Baaa Baaa Bagger butt!! Black Sheep Winking smile

Remember . . .

Vote Blue for Dawg Catcher and UP!!!

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Sep 012016
 

Here are the results of our “Trump Assassination” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0901Poll

Since our polling site no longer enables us to copy and paste your poll comments, you may read them here.

I am not the lone idiot who voted they want Rump Dump to be President.

Since Republicans are Ammosexual, and several have called for assassination of Obama and Clinton, I voted that assassination is a Republican tactic.  I voted that Pence is just as bad.  And I voted for the nonviolent solution, impeachment.

I did not vote for expatriation to Canada, because, if Trump is elected, Canada will build a border wall and make Trump pay for it. Winking smile

The new poll is ready for your votes.

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Aug 042016
 

Here are the results of our “How Superdelegates Should Vote” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0804Poll

Since our polling site no longer enables us to copy and paste your poll comments, you may read them here.

I voted with the majority, of course.  However, the one thing that struck me as a non sequitur  is that most of the people that talked about wanting the Superdelegates to override the voters’ will also discussed wanting to remove them altogether.  I have said they should be removed for many years, because they should never be allowed to override the primary and caucus results.

A new poll is up.

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Aug 032016
 

I’m back to doing these, but let’s start with a big hand for the Squatch for doing such a great job with June’s report.  Last month, hits and bandwidth were up from June, but the more important stats were down. 

Here is our latest summary:

Stats07-2016

Reported period

Month Jul 2016

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Jul 2016 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Jul 2016 – 23:58

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

8,435

 

34,090

(4.04 visits/visitor)

100,081

(2.93 Pages/Visit)

256,798

(7.53 Hits/Visit)

8.50 GB

(261.59 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

432,260

498,054

10.24 GB

Reported period

Month Jul 2015

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Jul 2015 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Jul 2015 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

9,760

 

30,626

(3.13 visits/visitor)

89,850

(2.93 Pages/Visit)

235,370

(7.68 Hits/Visit)

3.17 GB

(108.58 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

349,301

394,093

5.84 GB

Year over year, 2016 stats are marginally lower than those from 2015.

Here is our latest demographic data from Quantcast:

QUS07-2016

They miss a ton of raw data, but among those they can identify they are a valuable source of information.  We are still mostly older, well educated, poor, Democrats, and politically active.  We are still about 43% male and 57% female.  I wonder if they are basing that on Squatch’s feet.

Here is our archived ClustrMap for July only.

ClustrMap07-2016

ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.  They have changed their format.  When you click the map in the left column, it shows the current month only, no longer the year to date..

Here are our top five articles:

Jane Smiley: Capitalist Pigs 1/17/2010 2,373
Brussels Unprepared 3/23/2016 304
5 Looniest Right-Wing Moments This Week 1/20/2016 278 (by the Squatch!)
Republicans Move to Legalize Hate 7/11/2016 231
Open Thread – 7/6/2016 7/6/2016 211

The count represents only the people who followed an external link to that specific article.  With the exception of Jane Smiley: Capitalist Pigs, all of the top articles are new to the list, with four from 2016, and two from July.  Congratulations to Lynn, the Sasquatch, for cracking the top five!

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):

Care2 2,333
Google 1,457
Stumbleupon 136
Google (Images) 103

Google is up by almost 100, and Google (images) is back over 100.  Stumbleupon is up 8 while Care2 is down 15.

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://oakcreekforum.blogspot.com/
http://hamsandwich66.blogspot.com/
http://noisyroom.net/blog/category/authors/terresa-monroe-hamilton/
http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php
http://alterx.blogspot.ca/
http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/
http://author.addictinginfo.org/
http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/
http://mauigirlsmeanderings.blogspot.com/
http://theprogressivewing.com/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://buckdogpolitics.blogspot.com/

Once upon a time I included fifteen here with two or more referrals.  This month, there are 14, up from 8 in June, but this time, I included 6 with only one referral.  This is the one stat that still disappoints me most, because it means that we are no longer a go-to site for bloggers.  However, we seem to have become a go-to site for activists!.  Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their support.

Here are our top commentators for July. Those who leave their URLs in their comment headers, also get “linkey-love” here, unless I forget to copy the data before it resets.  We had a tie for fifteenth place.

Joanne Dixon (162)
Lynn Squance (130)
Edie (112)
Lona Goudswaard (105)
jla (84)
Pat B (80)
SoINeedAName (80)
Mitch D. (71)
Jim Phillips (58)
Vivian Birdwell (16)
Jerry Critter (12)
Arielle (8)
Avril Lomas (5)
Carrie Burton (4)
d bishop (3)
Phil Hanson (3)

People who submit articles to Care2 can use their submitted news link from there.. 

We have 172,106 links on other websites, down considerably from June.  This reflects that fact that thousands of these links are over five years old, dating back to a time, when we consistently averaged over a million hits a month.  I used to have the time and energy for 7-8 articles per day. Major sites (like Care2), where I used to post links are no longer available, and I’ve stopped at other major sites, and I no longer visit 20 – 30 blogs per day, because I just can’t do everything I used to do.  However, as quantity has gone down, quality has gone up.

As of Midnight on August 1, we have 6,722 articles and 81,059 comments.

Kudos to Joanne and Lona for posting the 80,000th and 81,000th comments.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder.  Your Authors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster.

This is our policy on links.  We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily.  However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article.  I also remove topical links.  Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.  Please do so, or if you commonly leave links and don’t know how to blank the target, please say so.

Given our expanded talent, I expect to continue our overall upward trend, although my cancer surgeries and resulting problems probably occasioned this temporary drop.  One way you can help is to share our articles, not only with your family and friends, but also, on other sites, linking back to the article here.  The more exposure we get, the better we shall do at fulfilling our stated purpose, “Overcoming Right Wing Insanity One Day at a Time!”

Thank you for all that you do, here and elsewhere.  You are why we are here!  You are the reason we are a success!!

Now lets keep kicking Baaa Baaa Bagger butt!! Black Sheep Winking smile

Don’t forget . . .

Vote Blue to Dump Trump

or he’ll get you in the rump!!

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Jul 312016
 

81-Lona

Lona is still a denizen of Care2, a daily participant here, and a multinational treasure, who spends her time in the Netherlands and Queensland, Australia,  This is her fourth award, the first on 8/6/2015, shortly after she started commenting here, the second on 3/11, and her third on 4/4.  Her knowledge of US Politics remains far greater than that of the average American voter. She enjoys sending me naps, when I am tired. She has also become an Author here, at Politics Plus, writing her "A View from Afar" series, in which she puts a European twist on current events, until she flips herself upside down this week, and switches her viewpoint to Oztralia,

Please join me in inundating her with hugs and kudos. I look forward to her fifth.

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