I have good news.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:20 (average 8:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Jul 182017
Jul 172017
Except for a grocery delivery from Safeway.com in the next seventy minutes, I finally have everything ready for tomorrow’s cataract surgery. I have to report at 7:15 AM for 8:30 surgery. I should be able to leave by 10:30. When I return, either I will post a Personal Update, or Wendy, who is taking me both ways, will do so on my behalf. On Wednesday, I plan to post a Personal Update in the morning. I have to go to Christine’s office for a day one follow-up appointment in the afternoon, and Wendy will pick me up from there on the way to my normal shower evening. Then I’m done with medical mayhem for eight days, god willing. The groceries came and I have put them away.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:33 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Tree Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – (Internet) Freedom Isn’t Free
If I wanted crying dwarf porn, I’d watch Republicans in Congress. Demand Net Neutrality! RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: Donald Trump announced his candidacy back in June of 2015, and though he got some mention in other articles, I went all the way to November before I did my first piece entirely donated to Donald.
Sixty million people died in World War II, but fascism won. It didn’t win on the battlefield. It didn’t win right away. It won because the same fears, the same greed, the same hatred that fueled its growth in the first part of the twentieth century never went away.
The symbols of fascism became anathema, but the causes … went deep. And gradually, slowly, one step at a time, all those vices became first tolerated, then treated as virtues, and then as the only acceptable view.
That was my view of Trump then — the manifestation of how America had grown not just to accept, but celebrate, all the hatred, prejudice, fear, and repression that marks the worst authoritarian dystopias. And the most horrible thing about what’s probably the most horrible article I ever wrote, is that all of it fell utterly short of being horrible enough.
Like too many people, I thought “no, we’re past that, Americans will never accept this level of racism.” I was wrong. I thought “Americans will never tolerate such blatant sexism.” Wrong again. I thought “Christians will never hand their banner to a man who openly, proudly, daily shapes his life around vengeance, a man who thinks forgiveness itself is contemptable.” I was very, very, wrong.
The author, Mark Sumner, and I seem to have an awful lot of thought in common here. Click through for the rest. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Sometime in the next few days the Congressional Budget Office will release its analysis of the latest version of the Republican health care plan. Senator Mitch McConnell is doing all he can to prevent a full assessment, for example by trying to keep the C.B.O. from scoring the Cruz provision, which would let insurers discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Nonetheless, everyone expects a grim prognosis.
As a result, White House aides are already attacking the C.B.O.’s credibility, announcing in advance that whatever it says will be “fake news.” So why should we believe the budget office, not the Trump administration? Let me count the ways.
First, this White House already has a record of constant, blatant lying about health care that is, as far as I can tell, without precedent in modern history. Just a few days ago, for example, Vice President Mike Pence made the completely false assertion that Ohio’s expansion of Medicaid led to a cutback in aid for the disabled — a lie that the state’s government had already refuted. On Sunday, Tom Price, the secretary of Health and Human Services, claimed that the Senate bill would cover more people than current law — another blatant lie. (You can’t cut hundreds of billions from Medicaid and insurance subsidies and expect coverage to grow!)
The point is that on this issue (and others, of course), the Trump administration and its allies have negative credibility: If they say something, the default assumption should be that they’re lying.
Click through for the rest of this fine Paul Krugman editorial. The only time Republicans stop lying is after someone nails the lid on. Our choice is simple. RepubliCare dies, or we do. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Even though I made this cartoon in 2011, InsaniTEA still comes in the same flavors.
Jul 162017
Before I get very far with this, Wendy will be here to help with assorted tasks and fumigate the TomCat. It’s just in time too, because the authorities were about to evacuate the Squatch north of the Arctic Circle for her own defense, if the wind had shifted. Tomorrow will be my last day in the saddle, before my cataract surgery. I hope to be back in the saddle on Thursday, but we’ll see how I see. Later: Wendy has left and we have everything ready for Tuesday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:41 (average 4:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: The former chief G W Bush speechwriter has a column in today’s Washington Post that shows the spreading impact of people processing the events since Saturday when the story of Trump Jr. , Kushner, and Manafort met with the Russian lawyer broke into the public consciousness. Titled In Trump’s world, innocence is proved by guilt, it is very much shaped by the release of the email chain earlier this week.
Yes, it is true the Gerson was never a fan or supporter of Donald J. Trump, but this piece is very pointed, and given who reads Gerson likely to have an impact on a some of the “more reasonable” Republican officers.
Click through to read his take down. I’m sure I disagree with him on many other issues, but seeing a Republican express an ethical position is so rare, I have to applaud it, when I do. As for the rest of the Republican Reich… RESIST!!
From NY Times: A powerful rule finalized last week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will allow consumers to join together in class-action lawsuits against banks, credit card companies and other lenders over price gouging, predatory lending, abusive loan terms and other mistreatment.
Some congressional Republicans have vowed to use special legislative procedures to repeal the rule, which could take effect next year. A quick kill would be of a piece with other efforts to weaken financial regulation and allow firms to operate without accountability to customers or judges.
It’s unclear whether a congressional majority will vote to overturn a rule of such obvious benefit to consumers. What is certain is that killing the rule would be an injustice.
Liz Warren’s CFPB may be the only thing Republicans hate as much as ObamaCare and voting rights. I suspect they will overturn the rules in short order. RESIST!!
From Commonwealth Fund:
|
|
AUS |
CAN |
FRA |
GER |
NETH |
NZ |
NOR |
SWE |
SWIZ |
UK |
US |
|
OVERALL RANKING |
2 |
9 |
10 |
8 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
11 |
|
Care Process+ |
2 |
6 |
9 |
8 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
11 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
|
Access+ |
4 |
10 |
9 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
3 |
11 |
|
Administrative Efficiency+ |
1 |
6 |
11 |
6 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
10 |
|
Equity+ |
7 |
9 |
10 |
6 |
2 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
11 |
|
Health Care Outcomes+ |
1 |
9 |
5 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
10 |
11 |
Click through to read the entire report. What better case could there be for Medicare for all? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Republicans in Congress refuse to allow the residents any power to govern themselves.
Jul 152017
The last couple days have been extremely hectic. On Thursday I went to my Prosthetist, Amanda and got new shoes. They were a little loose, but I figured they were workable, as I broke them in. I lay down to rest for a couple hours after I returned home and published. I found out that, when my foot is up and not in a shoe, it gets smaller. When I put the shoe on to get up for supper, and transferred from my bed to my wheelchair, hopping with my walker, my foot came out of my shoe, and I almost fell. The new shoes have to go back. ARGH! My appointment with Megan was interrupted by a fire drill at Providence Professional Plaza, and they evacuated a large six floor medical building, myself included. Megan cleared me for surgery, and I returned home at around 4:30. I’m very, very tired, but surviving medical mahem.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Trump Wants To Repeal Johnson Amendment So RR Pastors Can Praise Him
Barf Bag Alert!!
Any pastor has always been able to speak out and say that he or she supports a particular candidate. The Johnson Amendment never prevented that, nor was it intended to. What it did prevent is a pastor ordering his church to support a candidate or using the church’s tax exempt facilities for the benefit of a candidate. That should remain a violation of 501(c)(3). I don’t mind paying a little more in taxes so churches’ tax exemption helps pay for the charitable work some churches do. I do mind helping them fund political activities, especially ones I oppose. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: The House Republicans tried to exempt themselves from Trumpcare and the reaction was so angry and so bad that they had to abandon the effort. But that example wasn’t enough to deter Mitch McConnell.
Senate Republicans included a provision that exempts members of Congress and their staff from part of their latest health care plan.
This exemption could have the effect of ensuring that members of Congress have coverage for a wider array of benefits than other Americans who purchase their own coverage.
If RepubliCare becomes law, which I doubt, the Republicans that pass it should be the first to experience the RepubliCare Death Benefit: if you can’t pay, you get to die! RESIST!!
From Washington Post: The White House on Thursday made public a trove of emails it received from voters offering comment on its Election Integrity Commission. The commission drew widespread criticism when it emerged into public view by asking for personal information, including addresses, partial social security numbers and party affiliation, on every voter in the country.
It further outraged voters by planning to post that information publicly.
Voters directed that outrage toward the Trump White House and the voter commission, often using profanity-laced language in the 112 pages of emails released this week.
Just as Trump and his Republican Rectum Reich released these emails from voters, you can be sure that the Republican so-called Election Integrity Commission will either publish voters’ personal information, or forward it to Putin’s FSB (formerly KGB). RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Jul 142017
I’m in a big rush. I need to catch a morning nap, because I’ll be gone all afternoon.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:33 (4:51 average). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Take:
From YouTube (GQ Network): The True Evil of Russia’s Cyber War on America | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
I read Robert Hamner’s short story and have seen the Star Trek episode many times. I could not agree more. It’s not just Trump. Almost the entire Republican Party refused to admit it’s happening, let alone do anything to stop it. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Jul 132017
I slept poorly last night because of the high humidity, and I missed my morning nap, because of my Prosthetist appointment, from which I just returned, so I feel very tired. Amanda put new shoes on both George and I. After wearing nothing else on my foot for a year and a half, it feels strange. She adjusted George, and I will be going back next month for new liners and shrinkers. Tomorrow afternoon I have an appointment with Megan for surgical clearance.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:16 (average 4:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Funny or Die Channel): The Yelling Man Takes On Net Neutrality
Defend Net Neutrality! RESIST!!
From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): I’m one of the lucky ones
Tell ALL Senators! RESIST!!
From NPR: In defiance of a court order, the Justice Department is refusing to release part of a security form dealing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ contacts with the Russian government.
On June 12, a judge had ordered the agency to provide the information within 30 days, a deadline that passed on Wednesday.
What is he hiding? Could the next smoking gun come from KKK Beauregard? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Jul 122017
I’ve been covering the evidence of the criminal conspiracy between Trump, his Republican Reich, and Russia for days. Also, the latest evidence is almost everywhere, so you’ll have no trouble finding it. Therefore, I’m going to cover what the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, did with that evidence.
One of Fox News chief intelligence correspondent Catherie Herridge’s earliest reports on the new revelations regarding Donald Trump Jr.’s willingness to receive damaging information against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton from the Russian government edited out key parts of the email exchange that showed that Trump Jr. knew the information was indeed from the Russian government. Additonally, during reporting of Fox News’ Outnumbered, host Sandra Smith praised the president’s son for “trying to make this as most transparent as possible.”
On July 11, The New York Times published the email correspondence setting up a meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. (Trump Jr., in an apparent attempt to pre-empt the Times report, released some of the emails himself on Twitter shortly before the report was posted.) In the initial email, “a trusted intermediary” wrote (emphasis added), “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump Jr. responded, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”
During Fox News’ Outnumbered, chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reported on the developments, reading “key sections” from the email chain between Trump Jr. and the intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Herridge read:
But, as the ellipses show, Herridge omitted a key section of the quote. Goldstone’s reference to “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump” was not included in the on-screen graphic, and Herridge did not mention that part of the quote during her report… [emphasis added]
From <Media Matters>
Whenever we on the left wonder why Republicans are not aware of the truth about issue after issue, and when confronted, think we’re making it up, we need look no further than the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, and the rest of the Republican Bubble Machine, like Limbarf and Breitfart.
RESIST!!
Jul 122017
It’s a very busy day. I’m still trying to get appointments squared away, I’m waiting for a big grocery delivery from Store to Door, and this evening Wendy will be here to make the TomCat fit to be upwind of people. Please expect no more than a Personal Update, or perhaps an Open Thread, tomorrow and Friday. Tomorrow, I visit my Prosthetist, Amanda to pick up new prosthetic shoes and evaluate what we will need for George for the coming year. On Friday, I see Megan for a release for surgery. It’s a very wasteful hoop through which I must jump. Happy hump day, but don’t hump Trump. The only people who do are Putin and Russian hookers.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:26). To do it, click here. How did you do? (I won’t eat cousin Meer).
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Two Trumps Confess to Conspiracy | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Incarcerate the Republican bastards! RESIST!!
From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Wisconsinites Fight to Protect Health Care
Tell ALL Senators! RESIST!!
From Washington Post: Joe Scarborough, the conservative co-host of MSNBC’s political commentary show “Morning Joe,” is leaving the Republican Party.
He made the announcement Tuesday night during an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” alongside his co-host Mika Brzezinski. A two-minute clip of the segment was teased on the program’s Twitter account earlier Tuesday.
Scarborough tore into what he characterized as a complacent Republican Party unwilling to stand up to President Trump.
“You have to ask yourself, what exactly is the Republican Party willing to do?” Scarborough said to Colbert. “How far are they willing to go? How much of this country and our values are they willing to sell out?”
“Aren’t you a Republican?” Colbert asked.
“I am a Republican, but I’m not going to be a Republican anymore,” Scarborough said to loud applause from the audience. “I’ve got to become an independent.”
You all know that I am NOT a fan of Joe Scarborough or his show. However I would be a hypocrite if I did not applaud his decision to leave the Republican Reich.
Cartoon:
