Politics Plus

Store to Door has delivered my groceries, and I put them away.  It’s another scorcher that will probably break another record.  It’s down ti 67% now, but when I got up this morning the humidity was 96%.  ARGH!!!  I so glad Wendy is coming this evening.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:58 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (PBS Channel): Why some scientists are concerned a government climate change report won’t be released

While not all leakers are performing a service, and some, like Putin’s other pervert, Julian Assange, are threat to our nation, these leakers are patriots.  They brought to light information that should be in the public domain, because it has nothing to do with national security, but Republicans want to hide it for dishonest political motives. RESIST!!

From Upworthy: With the exception of an infamous trip to see Hamilton last November and a controversy about whether it’s OK to dine with women other than his wife, we’ve heard relatively little about Vice President Mike Pence since the election. In May, CNN even ran a story with the headline, "Mike Pence’s Disappearing Act."

He’s a heartbeat away from the presidency and seems interested in following his own political ambitions beyond this administration, so what exactly has Mike Pence been up to lately? A lot, actually.

Here’s 20 things Mike Pence has done since taking office:

1. In January, Pence and others lobbied Trump to take hard-line positions on abortion, making good on some of his anti-choice campaign pledges…

2. Pence has led the charge to advance Trump’s policy agenda…

3. He’s been very vocal about supporting the use of tax dollars to fund religious schools…

4. In January, Pence met with anti-abortion activists at the White House and delivered a speech at the annual March for Life…

5. Pence spent much of February selling the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court as "mainstream."…

I’ve shared just headers from the first five things done by the man who wants to be Fuhrer of the Republican Rectum Reich. Click through for the descriptions and the other fifteen. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: FBI agents raided the Alexandria home of President Trump’s former campaign chairman late last month, using a search warrant to seize documents and other materials, according to people familiar with the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Federal agents appeared at Paul Manafort’s home without advance warning in the predawn hours of July 26, the day after he met voluntarily with the staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The search warrant was wide-ranging and FBI agents working with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III departed the home with various records. Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort, confirmed that agents executed a warrant at one of the political consultant’s homes and that Manafort cooperated with the search.

The raid came as Manafort has been voluntarily producing documents to congressional committees investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The search warrant indicates investigators may have argued to a federal judge they had reason to believe Manafort could not be trusted to turn over all records in response to a grand jury subpoena.

I bet a dollar against a donut that the FBI found things Manafart was hiding from the Congressional committees. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It has been a hectic day.  I had to put off my bank run.  I kept my debit card pin on the back of an unrelated business card in my wallet, and cleaning out my wallet before cataract surgery, I accidentally discarded the card.  I had to call my bank.  They have reset the pin and are mailing it to me.  I’ll have it by the end of the week.  Then I had to call Amazon to straighten out a delivery problem.  I also had to schedule a Tri-Met Lift ride for Monday’s eye appointment with Christine.  Yesterday’s 92° set another record.  Today’s forecast is only 91°, followed by three days in the high 90°s.  OGIM!! (Oh God It’s Monday!!).

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 5:48).  To do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Media Matters: Recent rumors indicate that Megyn Kelly may take over Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. time slot on Fox News. But the factors in play are much bigger than one hour a night. The imminent Fox News primetime shakeup is more about Fox News’ own brand of misinformation being set to surpass the blunter approach of Rush Limbaugh and right-wing radio hosts.

For a brief bit of historical context before we get to the rumor itself, Fox News’ approach in many ways grew out of Rush Limbaugh’s short-lived television show. Roger Ailes famously produced the show and would take lessons from there to Fox News where he is still the CEO. (As well as taking lessons from his time as a Republican operative, which are well-documented.) And the further back you look at Fox, the more it resembles the worst aspects of Limbaugh’s show. But as Fox has grown, it’s adapted, allowing it to more effectively advance a political agenda.

This adaptation was on full display in Roger Ailes’ 2011 admission to Howard Kurtz, who has since moved to Fox, that Fox News needed to make a "course correction." The big picture result of this is Fox still pushing demonstrable misinformation, but doing so in a way other news networks will be more likely to pick up rather than mock. Their audience might not have had a problem with the old Fox News (at least, Roger Ailes gave no indication that they did), but the network’s reputation was in tatters. (As an aside, CNN’s recent pushing of right-wing Benghazi myths only emphasize the risk of Fox’s revised approach.)

Beware the new PR of the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, but Megyn Kelly is still Bagger bait.

RESIST!!

From Daily Kos:

We now continue our ongoing series exploring just how low Trump’s Republican enablers can sink in their attempts to protect him from our nation’s rule of law. Exhibit the whateverth: Newt Effing Gingrich [Fascist delinked].

President Trump got 68.63% in West Virginia, 4.8% in Washingtoin DC. Guess where Mueller has a grand jury? Guess how biased it will be?

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) August 6, 2017

Now, let’s all first take the necessary moment to just take this masterpiece of bizarre post-modernism in. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, not long ago a Republican presidential candidate himself, appears to be arguing that the whole notion of prosecuting allies of Donald Trump, sitting president, for crimes they are suspected of committing is tainted or invalid because the crimes are suspected of taking place in a location in which Donald Trump is not popular.

Mind you, for all we know the Donald Trump campaign and/or White House may have committed crimes in West Virginia as well. If that is the case, Newt Gingrich can look forward to getting his wish.

What can I say, beyond what I’ve said all along? Newter Newt!! RESIST!!

From NY Times: Vice President Mike Pence declared his loyalty to President Trump on Sunday and denounced a New York Times article suggesting that he was positioning himself to run for president in 2020 if Mr. Trump does not seek a second term.

“Today’s article in The New York Times is disgraceful and offensive to me, my family and our entire team,” the vice president said in a statement [Fascist Theocon delinked]. “The allegations in this article are categorically false and represent just the latest attempt by the media to divide this administration.”

He added: “Whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president’s agenda and see him re-elected in 2020. Any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd.”

How do you spell B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T? On the off chance that the Rectum Reich of Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten survives to 2020, and Putin’s Piddle Puppet seeks re-installation by Russia, Pence will be campaigning, along with a dozen others. We must remember now that the hateful policies Trump is pursuing now are not his own, but what Republicans have craved for years. But it hurts them that Trump brags about what they lie about. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Vintage 2011 and spot-on today.

Yesterday’s high was 101°, 6° hotter than forecast, and breaking another all time record for the date, in addition to smoke.  Today is the "cool" day, with only 93° forecast.  We may have a week in the 80s°, starting a week from tomorrow.  Even giving myself a whore’s bath daily, I can’t stand myself.  Squatch had better hide, because we have a south wind.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:39 (average 6:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Breach of Trust

Kudos to Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Paul Zuklunft, who refuses to break faith with trans service people. RESIST!!

From Think Progress: After the transcript leaked, a panel on an Australian news show devolved into laughter while talking about the conversation Turnbull and Trump had in February. On the call, Turnbull argues that Trump should honor an Obama-era deal that the U.S. would consider taking refugees from Manus Island and Nauru.

Dang! A news show host couldn’t say that here!! They were way too king to Trump! RESIST!!

From TPM: The National Rifle Association continued a streak of publishing decidedly aggressive video content Thursday.

Barf Bag Alert!!

.@DLoesch has a message for the @nytimes: “We’re coming for you.” One
non-#fakenews story is not enough. #NRA #ClenchedFistofTruth pic.twitter.com/Hm1QkJi5Tp

— NRATV (@NRATV) August 3, 2017

Frankly, I think the gray lady will serve these fascist Republican Ammosexuals their own asses on a silver platter. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

We have not had a Republican in the White House that wasn’t a fascist since IKE, with the possible exception of Ford.

It only broke the record by 12° yesterday.  Today is worse.  AC helps, but it’s falling behind.  I have collected the data for the Monthly Report, but I’ll put off writing it until tomorrow.  Does anyone have a spare blizzard?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:38 (average 5:52).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump’s Threats Are Getting Out of Control | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

I’ve noticed that, in the last couple days, Congress has ignored their Fuhrer. Is it the beginning of the end? RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Lt. Col. Amy McGrath (Ret.) has launched a Congressional bid for Kentucky’s 6th district and her introductory ad is phenomenal. McGrath is a former Marine fighter pilot who flew 85 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Aviation Museum in Kentucky in November 2016. She’ll be facing Republican Andy Barr in Kentucky’s 6th District, which Barr narrowly won in 2012.

What a great ad! Bought Bitch Mitch supports her opponent. Isn’t that enough reason to support her?  Also, she has brass cojones!  RESIST!!

From NY Times: Two close associates of Pope Francis have accused American Catholic ultraconservatives of making an alliance of “hate” with evangelical Christians to back President Trump, further alienating a group already out of the Vatican’s good graces.

The authors, writing in a Vatican-vetted journal, singled out Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, as a “supporter of an apocalyptic geopolitics” that has stymied action against climate change and exploited fears of migrants and Muslims with calls for “walls and purifying deportations.”

The article warns that conservative American Catholics have strayed dangerously into the deepening political polarization in the United States. The writers even declare that the worldview of American evangelical and hard-line Catholics, which is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, is “not too far apart’’ from jihadists.

It’s a blessing to see authentic Christians calling out Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians within their own denomination. The Fuhrer likes the pseudo-Christians and hopes to grope the nuns.

Cartoon:

Cousin Pole Cat knows what he’s doing!