Open Thread – Page 491 – Politics Plus

Open Thread – 7/15/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:57 am Open Thread, Plus, Politics

Jul 152018

It’s the hottest day of the week with forecast high in the low 100°s. UGH!! I’ll stink soon after my shower. WWWendy is coming this morning. I expect her in 30 minutes. The plan is to exert myself as little as possible.

Wendy just left. Most of my shower was cold water by choice. The AC is barely holding it’s own.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Todays took me 3:48 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: The Fog of Trump

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is partially right. Trump’s antics distract from what the Reich on the Right, The Republican Reich, are doing to damage our nation. They have been trying to do all the awful things Robert listed for years, before they put Trump on the pedestal. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From LA Times: California Democratic Party leaders took a step to the left Saturday night, endorsing liberal state lawmaker Kevin de León for Senate in a stinging rebuke of Democratic icon Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

De León’s victory reflected the increasing strength of the state party’s liberal activist core, which was energized by the election of Republican President Trump.

The endorsement was an embarrassment for Feinstein, who is running for a fifth full term, and indicates that Democratic activists in California have soured on her reputation for pragmatism and deference to bipartisanship as Trump and a Republican-led Congress are attacking Democratic priorities on immigration, healthcare and environmental protections.

De León, a former state Senate leader from Los Angeles, received 65% of the vote of about 330 members of the state party’s executive board — more than the 60% needed to secure the endorsement. Feinstein, who pleaded with party leaders meeting in Oakland this weekend not to endorse any candidate, received 7%, and 28% voted for “no endorsement.”

Kudos to CDP! I add my endorsement of DeLeon! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Alternet: It’s all right there in the indictment — day by day, hack by hack, theft by theft — how agents of the Russian intelligence service, the GRU, set out in the spring of 2016 to steal the election for Donald Trump. When you track the actions taken by Russian intelligence in the indictment with statements made by Trump and actions taken on his behalf by members of his campaign, the picture is as clear as an iPhone photo. Agents of the Russian government coordinated with members of the Trump campaign and took cues from Trump himself in order to influence the election of 2016.

In announcing the indictment, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein may have refused to point to a victim of the Russians’ crimes other than to say it was America itself, but the intent of the Russians was clear. They took active measures over a period of at least nine months to aid the campaign of Donald Trump and to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton. They stole the election for Donald Trump, and he helped them do it.

The author concludes that the evidence in the indictment renders the Trump Presidency illegitimate. I fully agree. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

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Personal Update – 7/14/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:14 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 142018

Friday the 13th was a day late. This morning, I was trying to hard boil some eggs in the microwave, something I have done without incident in two previous ovens over fifteen years. This oven seems to be much hotter . One minute thirty seconds before the cycle was done, all six eggs exploded simultaneously, blowing the oven door open, and spewing hard boiled egg pieces, tiny shell fragment, and boiling water all over the table and floor. Cleaning up the mess from my power chair took the entire morning, leaving no time at all for research. Therefore, this is my only article today. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 7/13/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:05 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 132018

Here at the CatBox the heat wave continues. It’s so bad I smell like Saturday night on late Thursday morning. TGIF, and I get to cross your path today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:40 (average 4:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Was John Kelly Really Just Hangry [sic] At NATO Breakfast?

Dang! Who stole Kelly’s breakfast? Or could it be that Upchuckabee-Sanders was, as usual, lying? RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: 7 Truths About Immigration

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Right on the Right, the Republican Reich, is full of racist Trump crap! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: Queen Elizabeth II has cancelled a scheduled Friday meeting with Donald J. Trump after complaining of a “flare-up of bone spurs,” Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

The announcement took many royal watchers by surprise, because in her sixty-six-year reign the Queen had never before complained of bone spurs.

But, according to the Queen’s spokesman, Peter Rhys-Willington, Elizabeth had intentionally kept her chronic bone-spur condition a closely guarded secret until now.

Oh Andy! The poor Queen! I suggest that she flush one Trump and get lots of bed rest. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 7/12/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:42 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 122018

Here at the CatBox the heat wave continues. Yesterday was bad. Today will be 8°-10° worse. Before I go to the rest room, I take off my shirt, so I don’t have to change it, when I get back. ARGH!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 4:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Daily Kos Channel): Russian TV thrills over Trump’s NATO performance

Putin is probably beaming over quid pro quo. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): How German News Covered Trump’s NATO Visit

I understand it’s really Austrian News. Trump has made the US both a laughing stock and a pariah! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, took a break from the nato summit in Brussels on Wednesday to ask the independent counsel, Robert Mueller, if there is anything she can do to help.

According to those familiar with the phone conversation, Merkel told Mueller that she would take a leave of absence as leader of the German government and move to Washington to work full-time for Mueller “if that would be of assistance.”

Touting her credentials, Merkel told Mueller that she was fluent in Russian and could be helpful in translating the thousands of Russian-language documents that the special counsel has in his collection of evidence.

“I will work for free and pay my for my own food,” Merkel said. “I just want to make this stop.”

Dang Andy! Merkel is more American than Republicans are. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

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Open Thread – 7/11/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:04 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 112018

It’s been a busy sweltering day here in the CatBox. The heat wave appears to be long term with the coolest day in the next two weeks forecast at 87°. Store to Door delivered groceries, and I put them away. WWWendy is coming this evening. Happy Hump Days to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:46 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Tales:

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): The Even More Disgraceful Trump Balloon

It looks like the Fuhrer. Every place he goes should make one! Are they also full of flatulence, like him? RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Nazi, White Nationalist Running As Republicans | All In | MSNBC

These Republicans are the ones most like Fuehrer Drumpfenfarten! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: A Washington, D.C., man has won a nationwide essay contest on the topic “Why Donald J. Trump Shouldn’t Go to Prison.”

The man, Brett Kavanaugh, received his award for the winning essay at a ceremony at the White House on Monday night.

Kavanaugh’s essay, which was distributed to the press shortly after he was announced as the winner, reads as follows: “Donald J. Trump should never go to prison because he is the President of the United States and the President of the United States is a very important person in the country. It would look bad if visitors from foreign countries came to the United States and asked, ‘Where is your President?’ and we had to say, ‘He is in prison,’ which in my opinion is another reason Donald J. Trump should not go to prison. For these reasons, if I am ever in a position to keep Donald J. Trump from going to prison, I will do that (keep him from going to prison).”

I see Andy is back to straight news again. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

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0711Cartoon

Open Thread – 7/10/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:10 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 102018

It’s a muggy day, here in the CatBox. It was supposed to be be cloudy, but the sun is on the wall, so there will be no break from the heat wave. I had a ton of paperwork to do this morning, but I still managed to finish my research.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:18 (average 6:12). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Liz Crokin Says Trump Has Confirmed That ‘Pizzgate Is Real’

Barf Bag Alert!!

When Trump confirms something is real, that proves that it’s bullshit! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): President Donald Trump Admin. Won’t Meet Child Reunification Deadline

In reality, those children have rights, but in a Republican Reich all children’s rights end at birth. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Daily Kos: Trump and the GOP want to hold onto their control of the U.S. Senate more than anything in the world. They want it so bad they were willing to go to Moscow and telegraph their new quarterback, Vladimir Putin, to run the same play he ran in 2016, the one where Russian Internet trolls carpet-bombed Facebook and Twitter, spreading nasty smears about Hillary Clinton and thereby allowing Donald Trump to slither into office. Hell, all Trump had to do for this gesture of friendship was launder a hundred million or so in dirty Russian money and make a few minor foreign policy adjustments. Oh, and find a workaround to those pesky sanctions, too.

You can’t argue with that kind of success. The GOP knows that its base only wants a win, and as Trump demonstrated, it doesn’t matter much to those folks in the heartland how you get there. Besides, their constituents are now practically lining up in red states to learn Russian.

Republicans don’t need to rush to learn Russian. If they have their way, Russian will soon be available in US public schools, where English will be taught only as a second language. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 7/9/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:56 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 092018

It’s a slow day for news, dominated by speculation over Trump’s choice of fascists this evening. I had a busy morning juggling medical mayhem. I rescheduled my Cat Scan. After thinking it over, I decided that I could not inflict myself on them, stripped down after three days in the 90°s without a shower. I rescheduled to a Thursday, the day after shower day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:49 (average 4:22). To do it click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Current Affairs: [F]or a person who runs a “current affairs” magazine, I often know embarrassingly little about what is going on in my immediate vicinity. I’m often preoccupied with the national and international at the expense of the local. So I did not realize, until I bumped into it while wandering through my neighborhood, that New Orleans was going to have a demonstration against Trump’s immigration policies yesterday. I came upon it entirely by surprise. Which, in retrospect, was entirely the best way to find it. There is nothing quite like walking alone through a city and suddenly finding yourself surrounded by thousands of sympathetic comrades and friends, demonstrating for an important humanitarian cause.

That author is a lucky fellow! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Crooks and Liars: Normally, I don’t buy into "lesser-of-two-evils" politics. If Democrats nominate a corrupt reactionary Blue Dog I’m at least as incensed as I am over a Republican. That’s not going to change either. And, I’m still saying that "normally" no longer applies, not with Trump and his Congressful of enablers and rubber stamps. I’m telling friends and relatives– my sister lives in Jeff Van Drew’s district– to just hold their noses and vote for anyone with a "D" next to their name.

As Digby has been saying since he moved into the White House, we’re in existential territory here. Boxing in Trump is more important than anything….

…That said, there’s no need to stop reminding the establishment Democratic Party that we need them to stop turning off the base with their Blue Dog/New Dem agenda and their uncontrollable hatred for the Democratic grassroots, for progressives and for the kind of reform that will cut off the spigots of money and power that motivates the careerism of the Hoyers, Wasserman Schultzes, Crowleys (buh bye) and the mirror images the DCCC keeps recruiting as candidates.

The DCCC is now whining how progressives have to get on board the unity train and pull together to elect a Democratic Congress to stop the boogie man in the White House. They’re correct. What they’re not correct about is that that’s a one-way street.The same thing is happening with progressive primary winners all over the country– including in must-win swing districts! Blue America has a page for that: Abandoned By The DCCC.

There are men and women– mostly women– on this list who won their primary races and who the DCCC is refusing to recognize while they’re asking progressives to support wretched Blue Dogs and New Dems because… "TRUMP!" [emphasis original]

Establishment Democrats need to support progressive nominees. Progressives need to support establishment Democratic nominees. We can fight amongst ourselves after Trump and his Reich are defeated. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Daily Caller: Conservative groups are rolling out million dollar ad buys Monday evening immediately after President Donald Trump announces his pick to replace outgoing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a conservative political organization, is launching a $1.4 million ad campaign Monday evening in Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota, and West Virginia. The ads will start right after Trump announces his nominee at 9 p.m. Monday night, featuring an introductory bio on the nominee. In addition to running in those four states, the ads will run on national cable and digital media.

The buy comes after JCN rolled out a seven-figure ad campaign supporting Justice Neil Gorsuch — Trump’s first nominee to SCOTUS. The ad, much like Monday’s, targets vulnerable Democratic senators up for re-election in November in states Trump won in 2016.

In total, JCN will spend $2.4 million backing Trump’s nominee in national cable, broadcast and digital media.

They don’t care which, because they are all goose-steppers, and all will trash YOUR rights. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 7/8/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:06 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 082018

It’s very muggy here in the CatBox. WWWendy is cooking up a tray of super hot taco pasta, specially designed for northward travel. Enjoy Your Sunday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:33 (average 5:01). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Newsweek: Throughout the country, a record number of white nationalists and anti-Semites are running for election this year, many of whom have shown no signs of hiding their views. Among them is John Fitzgerald, who since winning enough votes in June to compete for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives this November has reportedly appeared on several neo-Nazi podcasts.

Last month, Fitzgerald came second in a top-two primary with nearly 25 percent of the vote, which was more than 20,000 votes, and will face off against incumbent Democrat Mark DeSaulnier in November’s midterms. After the primary, the California Republican Party said they do not support the Holocaust-denier who is running as a Republican.

“The California Republican Party’s Board of Directors took swift and decisive action to eliminate any support for John Fitzgerald.

Now that Republicans have the candidate they wanted, they are just pretending they don’t want him. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Politifact: Most political scientists we spoke to said Democrats have no procedural tools at their disposal to delay a Supreme Court confirmation until the midterms.

However, there is an extreme and untested option Senate Democrats could use to try to block the vote, according to Gregory Koger, a political science professor at University of Miami.

At least 51 Senators must be present in the chamber to establish a quorum, the minimum number of members needed to debate and vote. Without a quorum, no business can be conducted. That includes confirmation votes on Supreme Court nominees.

While Republicans currently hold 51 seats, Arizona Sen. John McCain’s failing health has prevented him from voting since last December. If all 47 Democrats (and two Independents) agreed not to attend, Republicans would be unable to maintain a quorum, rendering them unable to confirm a nominee.

Bust the Quorum!! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: Former President George W. Bush is eagerly counting down the days until he is no longer the worst President in U.S. history, Bush confirmed on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at his home, Bush said that he “could hardly wait” until Friday, when he will be officially bounced from the worst-President slot.

“I have to admit, I never thought I’d see this day in my lifetime,” the former President said. “When you leave office with the nation in smoldering ruins, you sort of come to accept that you’re gonna be worst for a long, long time.”

“I guess you could say I set the bar kind of high, worst-wise,” he chuckled.

As the returns came in on Election Night, however, the former President suddenly realized that his days as the worst President in U.S. history might be coming to an abrupt end.

But Andy, Bush will still be the worst President in history, and Trump, the worst Resident. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

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