It’s been another busy day. I have my groceries put away. I exchanged my sharps container. The 2 gal. size lasted about 18 months and cost me only $18.50 to exchange, including delivery. Wendy is not coming until tomorrow, because we wanted to spread my showers out. It only an 85° day today, but the humidity is 82%. I sure am a sticky kitty.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:48 (average 5:14). To do it, click here.
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): The Trump Resignation End-Game? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
OK, let’s assume Keith is right, Trump resigns, and Pence takes over. What will change? A Fuhrer that brags about Republican evil will be replaced by a Fuhrer that tries to hide Republican evil. All the reasons we have to hate the Trump Reich will still be there. Like Keith, I’ve also had a feeling that the end is approaching, which is why I’ve been stressing that it’s not a Trump problem. It’s a Republican problem. RESIST!!
Like the Republicans they represent, the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, are lying hypocrites! RESIST!!
From Huffington Post: President Donald Trump suggested he will grant Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, a pardon for criminal contempt.
During a campaign-style rally in Phoenix on Tuesday, Trump signaled a pardon could come soon.
“I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine, OK?” Trump said. “But I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy.”
The message was clear. Get convicted for terrorizing Latinos in violation of their civil rights, and you’ll get protection from the Republican Reich. RESIST!!
I’ve had a busy day. Walgreens screwed up again. My Providence Medicare Advantage Plan had told them that it was too soon to refill my Prednisolone drops until September 2. That does me no good, when I need them for my 8/28 cataract surgery. The problem was that it is unusual to schedule both eyes so close together, which we did to accommodate Wendy’s schedule. I called Christine’s Assistant. She called the plan, and they approved it. Walgreens is sending it overnight delivery and paying the extra shipping, because they should have called me and let me know there was a problem. Later Christine’s Assistant called and changed Tuesday’s follow up appointment from mid-afternoon to early morning. I scheduled my Lift ride for that appointment. Store to Door called for my grocery order for delivery tomorrow. I called Providence Home Services to reorder diabetes test strips and lancets. I called my sharps container company to come exchange a two gallon container of used insulin syringes tomorrow. And I called my Providence prescription review for Thursday. I researched today’s articles, and since there was not enough time for my morning cat nap, I spent 45 minutes at the site trying to clean up our TAGS. I only got through G. It’s another 90° day. Tomorrow and Thursday will be cooler. After that, we have at least ten days on the 90°s. ARGH! Would you believe that I’m tired?
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:05 (average 8:58). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): What Happened to Trump’s Beef With North Korea? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Small children have short attention spans. Being far less mature than a small child, Trump was easily distracted by bright shiny Nazis. While I agree with Keith about Trump, I reiterate: it’s a Republican problem! RESIST!!
Long before Trump, using threats of violence had become just a normal part of politics: Republican politics. It’s a Republican problem! RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Trump’s demonstrable inability to spell even the simplest words has reassured many that he lacks the aptitude to correctly enter the nuclear launch codes entrusted to the President of the United States.
While millions of Americans have lost sleep over the thought of Trump being anywhere near the nuclear codes, his failure to spell such words as “heal” and “tap” suggests that mastering a more complicated sequence of letters or numbers would be well above his grade level.
“Giving one person the power to launch the most destructive nuclear arsenal in the world has always been problematic,” Harland Dorrinson, the director of the Society for Nuclear Security, said. “In their infinite wisdom, the American people have solved that problem by electing someone whose brain would be utterly flummoxed by the task.”
Andy, that’s cute, but it’s actually much easier. For a nuclear attack, Trump need only read and recite two letters. RESIST!!
I’m hurrying to get this posted to give God time to respond to the prayer in today’s cartoon. I’ll publish the lead article this afternoon. I’m so ready for my shower!
Later: God has made his intentions clear. RESIST!!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:31 (average 6:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Kudos! Not all of us can do the same things, but we must all do what we can to RESIST!!
From Washington Post: A frantic search continued Monday for 10 sailors missing after a collision between a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer and an oil tanker three times its size off Singapore.
Meanwhile, The U.S. Navy pushed ahead with investigations into the “the facts and circumstances” of the collision involving the USS John S. McCain — the second such incident between a U.S. warship and commercial vessel in the Pacific region this summer.
The John S. McCain arrived at the Changi Naval Base in Singapore, and photos showed a large hole in its side at the waterline. More than 14 hours after the collision, there had been no word of any progress with the hunt for the missing sailors.
Thoughts and prayers for the injured and families of the dead sailors. Could Republican incompetence be trickling down to Captains so fast? RESIST!!
Since all the hate Trump spewed Tuesday came directly from Religious Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, it is clear that hate, Nazism, racism, and white supremacy are not just Trump problems. They are Republican problems. RESIST!!
It’s a very unusual Sunday, because normally, Wendy would be finishing up, and I’d be a perfumed Puddy Tat. I expect she will leave her country music festival in Southern Oregon late this afternoon, and will not be coming, until after she finishes work tomorrow. Therefore, I’m issuing an Air Quality Alert for a 500 mile radius. We’re moving into another heat wave, and it was so muggy last night that I slept very poorly.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:50 (average 5:03). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Ecstasy:
In truth, I was not at all satisfied with the Bronco offence. Their defense was outstanding, and the 49ers did not play up to their potential.
From Daily Kos: Just a quick note here: I never liked Arnold Schwarzenegger. Didn’t care for his movies, his celebrity schtick, his time as California governor, but this video addressing Trump, racism, Nazism, white supremacy, etc. gave me chills.
From Newsweek: President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced Saturday morning that they would not be attending the Kennedy Center Honors celebrations scheduled for this December. The ceremonial weekend, due to include a State Department dinner and gala, honors performing arts figures that have changed American culture. Typically, the people being honored sit next to the president and first lady, according to Rolling Stone.
Not this year.
"The President and First Lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a news release. "First Lady Melania Trump, along with her husband President Donald J. Trump, extend their sincerest congratulations and well wishes to all of this year’s award recipients for their many accomplishments."
If I was being honored, and he were attending, I would boycott. So would most artists, and the Fuhrer is too cowardly to face the rejection. RESIST!!
Today has been one of those days. I did something I have never done before — I slept in until 1450 hours! My furbabes did not even wake me up even though they were hungry! Within 40 minutes, I showered, dressed, fed the babes and was half way to the bakery to pick up some bread before going to my favourite eatery to say goodbye to one of the hostesses who was leaving. She is a wonderful young lady who will be finishing high school this coming year (Bye Andy) and says she will be checking into the blog. Fortunately our temperatures have moderated here in Metro Vancouver so it has been quite pleasant this past week. Nights have been quite cool so I think that autumn is truly on the way.
Short Takes
The Independent — Iceland is close to becoming the first country where no-one gives birth to a child with Down’s syndrome.
Pre-natal tests were introduced in the early 2000s, and the vast majority who receive a positive test have terminated their pregnancy.
While the tests are optional, all expectant mothers are informed about their availability, and up to 85 per cent choose to take it.
It’s called the Combination Test, and uses ultrasound and blood tests – as well as factoring in the mother’s age.
This determines whether the foetus will have a chromosome abnormality, the most common of which results in Down’s syndrome.
The law in Iceland allows for abortion after 16 weeks if the foetus has a deformity, and Down’s syndrome is included in this category.
There is another video at the beginning of the article which I would recommend watching only after reading the article and watching the above video. It is from Faux Noise (need I say more?) and is an interview with Tony Perkins (now I know I need not say more!). To be clear, Iceland does not have a cure for downs syndrome, a genetic condition. What they do have is a different way of looking at abortion than in the US. As the Icelandic counsellor said:
“We ended a possible life that may have had a huge complication… preventing suffering for the child and for the family. And I think that is more right than seeing it as a murder — that’s so black and white.”
“Life isn’t black and white. Life is grey.”
Personally, I am closer to the Icelandic view than the American view. I believe it is up to each woman to decide what is right for her, and make that decision in consultation with her partner and her doctor.
CBC — Around 4,000 people showed up at Vancouver City Hall to protest against a far-right rally on Saturday afternoon.
Tensions rose briefly as protesters from opposing sides began yelling at each other, but Vancouver police quickly escorted several far-right demonstrators away from the crowd. One protester was in handcuffs. …
Thousands showed up to protest an anti-Islam rally planned for Saturday afternoon at Vancouver City Hall. (Tina Lovgreen/CBC)
Plans for the far-right demonstration began circulating on social media earlier in the week, not long after a deadly white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Va.
According to a Facebook page for the event, the rally is protesting Islam and the Canadian government’s immigration policies. The page is no longer live, but the demonstration was expected to begin around 2 p.m. PT.
By 3 p.m., a handful of far-right protesters appeared to have gathered. They held confederate flags and the “alt-right” symbols for Pepe and Kekistan. One wore a shirt in support of U.S. President Donald Trump. …
Rowe-Codner said the coalition saw some pushback about the rally earlier in the week, and not just from the far-right.
“A lot of people [who lean left and central] are saying, maybe if you ignore this situation they’ll go away … But there are a lot of people and communities out there that face white supremacy and who can’t ignore it,” she said.
Ignoring the problem is the same as silence. Silence is consent and THAT is just plain unacceptable! I was very happy to see the numbers in attendance. I had wanted to go but had another commitment. Quite clearly, Charlottesville is having its effects felt far and wide. It encourages me to see more people coming out in support of diversity than those showing up in support of a closed society.
AlterNet — Felix Sater, one of Donald Trump’s shadiest former business partners, is reportedly preparing for prison time — and he says the president will be joining him behind bars.
Sources told The Spectator‘s Paul Wood that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s deep dive into Trump’s business practices may be yielding results.
Trump recently made remarks that could point to a money laundering scheme, Wood reported.
“I mean, it’s possible there’s a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows?” the president said.
Sater, who has a long history of legal troubles and cooperating with law enforcement, was one of the major players responsible to for selling Trump’s condos to the Russians.
And according to Wood’s sources, Sater may have already flipped and given prosecutors the evidence they need to make a case against Trump.
For several weeks there have been rumours that Sater is ready to rat again, agreeing to help Mueller. ‘He has told family and friends he knows he and POTUS are going to prison,’ someone talking to Mueller’s investigators informed me.
Sater hinted in an interview earlier this month that he may cooperating with both Mueller’s investigation and congressional probes of Trump.
Read through to get an idea of a possible timeline. If Sater’s timeline is correct, there could be a change in the leadership in the US before too long. Of course, due process must playout.
CBC — Thousands of people took to the streets of Boston on Saturday to protest hate speech a week after a woman was killed at a Virginia white-supremacist demonstration, and their shouts drowned out the “Free Speech” rally that sparked the counter-protest.
Organizers of the rally had invited several far-right speakers, who were confined to a small pen that police set up in the historic Boston Common park to keep the two sides separate.
Police estimate that as many as 40,000 people packed into the streets around Boston Common. …
On Saturday, Trump on Twitter praised the Boston protesters.
“I want to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one!” Trump tweeted.
Boston was peaceful this weekend as a “free speech” rally mostly fizzled from poor planning, and a larger, louder counter protest in support of diversity. Charlottesville this was not, thankfully! However Trump’s response was in direct contrast to his response to the Charlottesville riot. Where he talked in support of white nationalists in Charlottesville, he applauded those that spoke out against bigotry and hate in Boston. He is at odds with himself but I am inclined to believe that his response to Charlottesville is his true nature.
Hospital bracelets in all three primary colours encircle her wrinkled right forearm, a gold bangle on the left.
But she says she’s ready for today’s trip — the promise of an escape from the Toronto palliative care ward in which she’s spent the past five weeks waiting to die.
David Parker is there to fulfil that promise with the help of his virtual reality goggles.
“What you’ve brought me so far has been beautiful,” Muzzi says, settling the soft black material of the goggles into the creases around her eyes.
The pair has already travelled together through the plains of Africa. And Muzzi reminds her guest that she would have liked to linger longer with the elephants.
Parker already knows this.
He listens to her stories, interviewing Muzzi and all the patients he visits at Bridgepoint Health in Riverdale, so he can store the information away and use it to help them revisit the moments of particular meaning in their lives.
Parker’s idea to offer virtual reality therapy began at Christmas.
The IT consultant received the headset as a gift. He first used them to take his wife’s grandmother to Venice, gliding through the canals on a gondola. Then he realized he could offer the same experience to those in hospice or having long-term hospital stays.
That idea has bloomed into both a pilot project at Bridgepoint and a passion project for Parker. Right now he donates his time and the equipment, but says that — even though he runs a creative agency — he can see this becoming his life’s work.
One of the things that I learned while I looked after my mother was that quality of life is most important. Quantity means nothing if there is no quality. And what makes quality often depends on the person and their situation. For my mother, it was sitting quietly as I brush her hair for hours. For Muzzi, it is travelling and seeing things that gave her joy. Click through for the rest of the story and watch the short video of what Muzzi was viewing. Unfortunately, I could not embed the video properly so that you could see it all.
I overslept this morning and have been running behind ever since. Tonight my Broncos go to worship in San Francisco. Rumor has it that their opponents are all tight ends and wide receivers. I shall be meditating on the Holy Ellipsoid Orb, of course.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:10 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. The color is putrid! How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Still Making Excuses for Trump? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Am I the only one experiencing Deja vu? RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: Brad Thomas is the author of The Trump Factor—whatever the hell that is—and an advisory member of Trump’s league-of-people-who-are-disappointing-their-families. He was on Velshi and Rhule’s MSNBC show trying to do some damage control for the Trump administration after a slew of CEOs decided being a part of the president of the United States’ council was bad for business.
All journalists should nail Republican liars to prevent them from spewing their disingenuous propaganda just like that! RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Attacking the media for its “very unfair” coverage of Monday’s solar eclipse, Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that the sun was equally to blame for blocking the moon.
“The fake news is covering the eclipse from the sun’s side instead of the moon’s side, but if you look at it from the moon’s side the sun is blocking the moon’s side,” he said. “There are so many sides you can’t count all the sides.”
Additionally, Trump tore into the sun itself, calling it a “showboat” for its role in the solar eclipse.
“The sun thinks the world revolves around it,” Trump said. “Sad.”
Andy, after this week, even that could be straight news. RESIST!!
I’m preparing to leave for my medical appointment and will publish this when I return this afternoon. I misread the football schedule. My Broncos play on Saturday evening and will be televised here. Wooo Hooo!! Back. Excellent results!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (RWW Channel): Josh Bernstein Says Liberal Group Leaders Should Be Tried For Treason In Wake Of Charlottesville
Barf Bag Alert!!
Damn that Obama! What criminal audacity he had to govern while black. And he even said that black people should be allowed to vote! Treason!!! … Is this Fascist serious? No wonder the pseudo-Christian sheeple still goose-step with a piddle pervert! RESIST!!
From the New Yorker: After many noticed their silence amid the calamitous events of the past several days, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, confirmed on Wednesday that they have been enjoying a late-summer vacation in a moral vacuum.
In a brief interview with reporters, Trump said that she and Kushner were “just loving” their time in the moral vacuum, calling it “our very favorite place to be.”
“It’s heaven,” she said. “We get up in the morning and never give a thought to our responsibility as Jews, Americans, or moral actors whose decisions have consequences for other people.”
Andy is reporting straight news again. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: \There is still a segment of America out there that believes Trump’s public pronouncements—about African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, really anyone of different color or faith than himself—are some type of political invention, an opportunistic, contrived pose to please the base of people who put him into office.
No. He’s a real, genuine, dyed-in-the-wool racist. The real deal.
Buried in this New York Times piece about how Trump has emboldened the white supremacist movement is an observation about Trump by his aides that explains when Trump is away from the cameras he’s just as much of a racist as he has sounded during this past week:
No word in the Trump lexicon is as tread-worn as “unprecedented.” But members of the president’s staff, stunned and disheartened, said they never expected to hear such a voluble articulation of opinions that the president had long expressed in private.
In other words, Trump wakes up hating African Americans, Latinos, Jews and Muslims, and goes to bed hating African-Americans, Latinos, Jews and Muslims. When he goes to the bathroom or eats his Froot-Loops he’s thinking—and more than that, he’s talking—about how much he hates African- Americans, Latinos, Jews and Muslims.
He’s spouting so much bigotry at his aides in private that they’re embarrassed it’s all now being spilled out in public.
The Fuhrer has pegged himself again! RESIST!!
From NY Times: [In]Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court appointee, is scheduled to address a conservative group at the Trump International Hotel in Washington next month, less than two weeks before the court is set to hear arguments on Mr. Trump’s travel ban.
“At this highly divisive political moment, especially as many Trump decisions are likely soon to reach the court’s docket, one just days later, a healthy respect for public confidence in the court should have led Justice Gorsuch to demur,” he said.
Justice Gorsuch declined to comment, said Kathleen L. Arberg, the Supreme Court’s public information officer.
Whoresuch sees no conflict. He already knows he’ll side with his Fuhrer no matter what evidence is presented. RESIST!!
From LA Times: Exactly one year ago, Donald Trump tapped conservative media insurgent Stephen K. Bannon as chief executive of his campaign, affirming that while Trump was the nominee, his was a hostile takeover of the Republican Party: with Bannon, he would take it in a new direction — nationalist, nativist and economically populist.
Bannon got some credit for Trump’s upset win and then, as chief strategist in the White House, for his early orders against immigrants, refugees, and more. On Friday, suddenly he was out. Perhaps appropriately, his ouster came in a week in which Trump left no doubt his voice is his own. Bannon was no ventriloquist.
Trump is not a Nazi because of his association with Bannon. Trump is a Nazi, because he represents the views of the Republican Party, and they represent his views. Bannon sees the bottom of the bus, only to give Trump a way to hide. Nothing has changed. RESIST!!
By now Wendy is on her way to Southern Oregon for a country music festival. So yesterday I serenaded her that I will never rope my goat again, until I have her love. Unfortunately, that means I don’t get my Sunday morning shower until Monday evening. All Sasquatches, who are downwind, be warned! Tonight is a Holy Night in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, but the worship service between my Broncos and the 49ers will not be televised here. Tomorrow, I have a routine biannual checkup with my Pulmonologist, so please expect no more than a Personal Update tomorrow.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
As we are shocked more and more each day by the hatred and corruption of Trump’s Republican Reich, let’s not get too sidetracked to remember their utter and unprecedented incompetence. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: A growing chorus of Americans is demanding that an offensive symbol of racism be removed from public property.
Creating outrage since it was first installed at a historic landmark in January, the symbol, a figure of a man standing six feet two and weighing approximately two hundred and fifty pounds, has emerged as one of the most despised objects in the country.
Now, less than seven months after the figure’s installation, calls for its removal have spread from home to abroad, with many of the nation’s allies wondering what possessed Americans to put such an odious figure in such a visible position.
Large protests broke out this week in New York City, where the offensive symbol was briefly on display.
And, we should ship that vile symbol to where it belongs and can be displayed by its owner . RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: …No matter how many times someone talks about “economic uncertainty,” anyone who voted for Donald Trump had to be comfortable with someone who was perfectly willing to attack someone based on race, religion, or gender—with disabilities tossed in for a side dish. While pundit and politicians of all stripes are still quick to say that not all Trump voters were racists, that doesn’t matter.
Trump voters were willing to accept racism to get what they wanted. That’s all it takes.
Where Trump is taking Republicans, and the nation, now is only a further step down the road they were already walking. He already told them that Mexicans were worse than they were, and deserving of contempt. They agreed to that. He already told them that Muslims were evil, and deserving of death. They agreed to that. He already told them that African Americans were lazy, and violent, and disrespectful to the police, and unable to think for themselves. Trump voters may contend that they voted for him because he promising more jobs in Ohio, or to burn more coal in West Virginia, or bring more auto factories back to Michigan, or make more steel in Pennsylvania—even though he didn’t say how he would do any of those things. But to get what they wanted, they were willing to accept it.
What Trump is asking of Republicans now is that they only take the next logical step and agree that Nazis, the KKK, and white nationalists of all stripes are okay. Or, if not okay, at least no worse than the people fighting against racism, hatred, and bigotry…
Very well said. Republicans from Putrid Pence, Bought Bitch Mitch and Lyin’ Ryan down have two choices. They can publicly reject Trump and everything he represents, or through their silence, they can embrace the sheet, hood and swastika. There is no middle ground. RESIST!!
Thousands showed up to protest an anti-Islam rally planned for Saturday afternoon at Vancouver City Hall. (Tina Lovgreen/CBC)
I shall be meditating on the Holy Ellipsoid Orb, of course.
