Open Thread – 6/25/2017

Posted by TomCat at 11:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 252017

Yesterday’s 98° high set another new record for the date. Today’s forecast 100° promises to do the same. The AC keeps it bearable in my room, but the temperature in bathroom with the handicapped shower is currently 85°. Wendy is due in about 45 minutes to de-stink the putrid TomCat. As I noted before, I think the TomCat will have to de-stink Wendy too. Later: It was so hot that Wendy was happy to throw on a swimsuit, so we could drench each other with a cool spray. What fun!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:32 (average 7:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Former President Barack Obama used his Facebook page to deliver a message to Republicans as they consider dismantling the Affordable Care Act, “step back and measure what’s really at stake.” Read his thoughtful, heartbreaking statement on the attempt to take away health care coverage from tens of millions of Americans:

Our politics are divided. They have been for a long time. And while I know that division makes it difficult to listen to Americans with whom we disagree, that’s what we need to do today.

I recognize that repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act has become a core tenet of the Republican Party. Still, I hope that our Senators, many of whom I know well, step back and measure what’s really at stake, and consider that the rationale for action, on health care or any other issue, must be something more than simply undoing something that Democrats did.

Thank you, Mr. President. Click through for the rest. It’s worth it. RESIST!!

From NY Times: …On Thursday, Senate Republicans joined their House colleagues in proposing steep cuts to Medicaid, part of the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Conservatives hope to roll back what they see as an expanding and costly entitlement. But little has been said about what would happen to older Americans in nursing homes if the cuts took effect.

Under federal law, state Medicaid programs are required to cover nursing home care. But state officials decide how much to pay facilities, and states under budgetary pressure could decrease the amount they are willing to pay or restrict eligibility for coverage.

“The states are going to make it harder to qualify medically for needing nursing home care,” predicted Toby S. Edelman, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. “They’d have to be more disabled before they qualify for Medicaid assistance.”

States might allow nursing homes to require residents’ families to pay for a portion of their care, she added. Officials could also limit the types of services and days of nursing home care they pay for, as Medicare already does.

Click through. If it passes, RepubliCare will force many seniors out of their nursing homes and leave them helpless in the streets. RESIST!!

From Think Progress: The Nebraska Democratic Party has removed a party official after he was recorded saying he was glad House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) was shot, according to a Fox News affiliate [Faux Noise Delinked].

“His whole job is to get people, convince Republicans to fucking kick people off fucking health care,” Phil Montag, a technology chairman with the state Democratic Party, said in the verified audio recording [Faux Noise Delinked]. “I hate this motherfucker, I’m glad he got shot.”

“I’m glad he got shot, I’m not going to fucking say that in public,” Montag added. An unidentified male later says he would release the recording publicly.

I condemn Montag and his statements as anti-Democratic and anti-American. However, the Democratic party fired Montag for his hatred. Had he been a Republican, saying he was gkas a Democrat had been shot, the Republican Party would have promoted him for it. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Once in a long while, the good guys win one.

Open Thread – 6/24/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:16 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 242017

Here in Portland it reached 91° yesterday. 96° is forecast for today. Even with AC, it’s oppressive, and I’m spending as much time as I can at rest.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:32 (average 4:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): What if Trump Actually Fires Mueller? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

If average US citizens spent half as much time every day making themselves politically aware, as they do sitting on the toilet, the US would be a shining example of progressive governance. RESIST!!

From The Last Word: Paul Ryan’s challenger: Ryan not listening, Trump untrustworthy

Wisconsin ironworker Randy Bryce will challenge Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan for re-election in 2018. If Bryce wins, it would be the third time since 1862 that a Speaker of the House has lost re-election. Lawrence O’Donnell talks to Randy Bryce

Kudos to Randy Bryce. I’m not holding my breath, but I’d love it, if Bryce dumped Lyin’ Ryan. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, perhaps the most vulnerable Republican facing re-election in 2018, said Friday that he would not support the Senate health care overhaul as written, dealing a serious blow to his party’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act just days before a showdown vote.

Using remarkably harsh language, Mr. Heller, who is seen as a pivotal swing vote, denounced the Senate-drafted bill in terms that Democrats swiftly seized on. He said the measure would deprive millions of health care and do nothing to lower insurance premiums.

“I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans,” he said at a news conference in Las Vegas, standing next to Nevada’s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, who accepted federal funding under the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid.

Heller, knows his career is over, if he votes for it, but he’s just one. Counting on Cruz, Paul, and Lee to oppose it would be crazy. We need three Republicans to reject it or it will pass. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0624Cartoon

Open Thread – 6/23/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:08 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Jun 232017

Yesterday my appointment was successful, but altogether grueling. They do make special replacement lenses that would give me vision at all distances, but Medicare does not cover them, and I can’t afford $2,700 to buy them myself. I selected a standard mid-range lens, suitable for most indoor activities. Then I can get a pair of sunglasses for long range outdoor use, seeing hazards to my chair at a distance, and a pair of reading glasses. TriMet Lift delivered me an hour early, I was seen right away, and it took far less time than anticipated. I was done at Noon. I called TriMet, but they were unable to move my ride up from the 2:00 to 2:30 window. They picked me up just after 2:30. On the way home, someone sideswiped another TriMet Lift Bus, and mine was diverted to rescue their passengers. I got to take an unwanted, but necessary, grand tour and finally returned home just after 5:00. Exhausted, I ate, went to bed, and slept well. We are now in the worst heat wave of the year so far, forecast at 92° today, 99° tomorrow, and 100° Sunday. I’m afraid that when Wendy comes Sunday to de-stink the TomCat, the TomCat may also have to de-stink Wendy!! Angel

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:59 (average 5:06). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (RWW Channel): Sam Rohrer Says Opposition To Trump Is ‘Creating The Circumstances" For The Rise Of The Antichrist

Barf Bag Alert!!

Bull. The home of the Antichrist is 666 Park Avenue.

0623-666

RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump cleared up one of the capital’s least suspenseful mysteries on Thursday, acknowledging that he did not record conversations with James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in anger over an investigation into his campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

Meeting a self-imposed deadline of this week to resolve questions he himself raised by implying that he had taped Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump said on Twitter [Traitor delinked] that he had not made tapes of what Mr. Comey has testified were attempts by the president to derail the Justice Department’s investigation.

But if few people believed that Mr. Trump actually possessed recordings, his motives in warning Mr. Comey that he might have taped him remain a mystery, particularly since it set off a chain of events that accelerated, rather than slowed, the investigation into Mr. Trump and Russia.

Mr. Comey testified that it was Mr. Trump’s veiled threat of tapes that led him to authorize the disclosure of memos of his conversations with the president — the details of which prompted the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to look into the case.

If Trump is now telling the truth, always a doubtful hypothesis, he committed Obstruction of Justice by using threats to temper with a witness. RESIST!!

From Raw Story: Life After Hate — a nonprofit group dedicated to de-radicalizing white nationalist and neo-Nazi extremists and combating the rise of right-wing extremism — is losing its funding under the Trump administration.

Politico’s Playbook Plus reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s $10 million grant program “Countering Violent Extremism” was stalled but is set to resume on Friday.

Life After Hate was supposed to receive a $400,000 grant in the last days of the Obama administration. That money was delayed as the program was reviewed and assessed.

“But,” Politico said, “the Trump administration dropped them from the new grant list that’s getting announced today.”

The group has had a “twenty-fold increase in calls for help” since Election Day from people trying to “disengage” from neo-Nazism and white supremacy as well as friends and family looking for help for someone they know.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all, if the Fuhrer and his Republican Reich gave the money to Stormfront instead. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0623Cartoon

Personal Update – 6/22/2017

Posted by TomCat at 7:21 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 222017

I’m headed out to see Christine, my Ophthalmologist for my final planning and measurements appointment before my cataract surgery on 7/18. I’ll be home late this afternoon, but will be visually impaired from being dilated. I should be back in the saddle tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:40 (average 5:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

0622Cartoon

Open Thread – 6/21/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:28 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 212017

I’m feeling very tired, because I could not sleep last night. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it was the excessive humidity. I’m waiting for Store to Door to deliver groceries, and Wendy will be here this evening, because the TomCat is stinky beyond belief. Tomorrow I have my preliminary eye examination, before my cataract surgery. I will be fully dilated. I will post a brief Personal Update before leaving. I doubt that I will be able to reply on my return, as I will be almost blind for the evening. Have a happy hump day, but never hump Trump.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:49 (average 4:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): So, Does Trump Have Tapes of Comey? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

FBI/Comey tapes? Interesting! I believe Trump did make tapes, because his ego is as big as his hands (etc.) are small. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: As Vice President Mike Pence inches closer to the presidency due to, you know, all that stuff his boss keeps doing, here is your periodic reminder, stolen from his Father’s Day rant way back in the Bush era, that Mike Pence is also a complete nut.

“Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts. Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military. I suspect that some mischievous liberal at Disney assumes that Mulan’s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation’s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right. […]

From the original "Tailhook" scandal involving scores of high ranking navy fighter pilots who molested subordinate women to the latest travesty at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, the hard truth of our experiment with gender integration is that it has been an almost complete disaster for the military and for many of the individual women involved.”

This is in addition to his refusal to meet privately with professional women in the workplace lest he be overcome by their female wiles and, of course, a governance record in his own state that nobody in his party dares bring up these days.

This is a reminder that any attempt to remove Trump from office must include Pence. I have said from the beginning that pseudo-Pence is as bad as, or even worse than the Peach Pussy-grabber. RESIST!!

From Me:

I’m sad to announce that the evil Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff 52% to 48% in GA 6. Handel, a betrayer of women, ran mostly on hatred and patriarchy. Ossoff ran mostly on health care and jobs. I expect some in the regressive extreme of the left to claim the loss is evidence of the need to abandon the Democratic Party. It means no such thing. We almost took a district that has been in Republican hands since 1979, and was carefully gerrymandered to keep Newtered Newt in power for twenty years. In the end, a small majority who voted cared more for fostering hatred and keeping women barefoot and pregnant than they did jobs and health care. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I originally published this cartoon six years ago today. Isn’t it sad that it’s as valid now as it was then?

Open Thread – 6/20/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:49 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 202017

Yesterday we set another heat record for the date, 88° with extreme humidity. Now we have two days in the mid 70°s, before the next heat wave including mid 90°s this weekend. The building’s hallways and bathrooms are still so hot, that after my last trip to Republicate, my hair was sweat soaked and I had to dry it. Except for the heat, I’m feeling pretty well. Having gone from extreme Republicitis to extreme Republicosis, I returned to mild Republicitis. Now I have mild Republicosis. I guess this is what it takes to return to normal. I just put in tomorrow’s grocery order, and Thursday is my first outing. I have the preliminary appointment before my cataract surgery. Have a Republican-free day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:17 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump Appears to Be Self-Destructing | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

The Republican Party is desperate to hold the Fuhrer together, until they finish their task of giving the rest of YOUR money to billionaires, destroying YOUR freedom, and establishing their permanent, totalitarian Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From The Last Word: Jon Ossoff responds to Trump’s attacks

On the eve of the Georgia 6th District special election, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff joins Lawrence O’Donnell to react to President Donald Trump’s attacks on him and explains why he is trying to talk about health care as much as possible during the campaign.

Jon is an example of a Democrat, who has tailored a progressive agenda to the needs of his own constituents. RESIST!!

From NY Times: If liberals voted at the same rate as conservatives, Hillary Clinton would be president. Even with Donald Trump’s working-class appeal, Clinton could have swept Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

If liberals voted at the same rate as conservatives, Democrats would control the Senate. Clinton or Barack Obama could then have filled the recent Supreme Court vacancy, and that justice would hold the tiebreaking vote on campaign finance, labor unions and other issues.

If liberals voted at the same rate as conservatives, the country would be doing more to address the two defining issues of our time — climate change and stagnant middle-class living standards. Instead, Trump is making both worse.

RESIST!! And…

VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

0620Cartoon

Open Thread – 6/19/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:21 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Jun 192017

It’s a crazy day. We have 87° and muggy forecast, which would tie the record for this date, so my AC is fighting to keep up with the sun on the wall. I’m afraid it has ruined the lovely shower Wendy gave me yesterday. My replacement credit card came this morning, and I updated my most critical vendors, but there are many more to update. I hope you had a fantastic weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:49 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: A member of President Trump’s legal team said on Sunday that the president was not under investigation by the special counsel looking into Russia’s election-year meddling, contradicting Mr. Trump’s assertion in a Friday morning tweet that he is a subject of the widening inquiry.

The denial on Sunday by Jay Sekulow, one of several personal lawyers Mr. Trump has hired to represent him in the Russia case, is the latest of many examples in which the president’s aides and lawyers have scrambled to avert a public-relations mess created by Mr. Trump’s tweets, off-script remarks or leaked private conversations.

How can you tell if a lawyer is lying? Look for any sign of life. Trump is not under investigation, the Pope is not Catholic, and bears never, ever shit in the woods. RESIST!!

From Huffington Post: Christian and Jewish clergy members have been part of the movement for reproductive rights for decades. Religious denominations, such as the Anglican Communion, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), have passed resolutions supporting birth control. And during the 1960s, religious leaders were actually a “driving force” in the movement to legalize abortion in the United States.

Today, this history of activism has largely been overshadowed by prominent voices on the “religious right,” who promote the idea that it is impossible to be both religious and pro-abortion rights.

There is no conflict between authentic Christianity and a progressive agenda. Conversely authentic Christianity and the Republican Reich are mutually exclusive. RESIST!!

From TPM: Authorities say a noose was found hanging from a lamp post outside a museum in the nation’s capital, the third such incident in recent weeks.

U.S. Park Police Sgt. Anna Rose said the noose was found Saturday afternoon outside the National Gallery of Art.

She said her agency is currently investigating how it got there.

Tourists found a noose last month on the floor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. A few days earlier another noose had been found on the grounds of the Hirshhorn Museum, which features contemporary art and culture.

Ever since the Dixiecrats became Republicans, the noose has been a Republican calling card. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

This is when Dixiecrats became Republicans.

Open Thread – 6/18/2017

Posted by TomCat at 11:59 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 182017

I’m waiting for Wendy to arrive to de-stink the sweaty TomCat and to help with chores, including the dreaded task. If you played Fantasy Football in our league last year and have not told me whether you are still playing, please let me know.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): A GOP Father’s Day

You know Bought Bitch Mitch and his goose-stepping criminal cronies will only make the bad things in the House Bill worse. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: No experience? No problem! Donald Trump rewards loyalty above all else. Like a king doling out titles and land to loyalists, the U.S. is now Trump’s own personal fiefdom. He’s proved it once again by announcing he’s selected Lynne Patton for a key role at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Patton was appointed Wednesday to head up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II, which includes New York and New Jersey, where she’ll oversee distribution of billions of taxpayer dollars.

What makes her qualified for a job overseeing billions of taxpayer dollars? She coordinated Eric Trump’s wedding, not to mention some ‘celebrity’ golf tournaments.

What’s even sadder is that she may be the most qualified of all of Trump’s appointees. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Many governments must be thinking along the same lines, but few have spelled it out so clearly. Germany did, when Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “The times in which we could rely fully on others — they are somewhat over.” Now Canada, a country tightly bound to its neighbor by history, alliance and the longest border in the world, has declared the need to recognize that the United States is relinquishing its role as the “indispensable nation.”

“The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course,” Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, told her Parliament this month.

Ms. Freeland never mentioned Donald Trump. That wouldn’t be diplomatic. But every line of her speech before a silent House of Commons was clearly about a world order thrown into crisis as President Trump scoffs at trade agreements, hectors allies, rips up the landmark Paris climate accord and otherwise demonstrates disdain for anything that isn’t “America First.” Canada’s course, Ms. Freeland said, would be the opposite of Canada First; it would be “the renewal, indeed the strengthening, of the postwar multilateral order.”

Dear world. It is my fervent hope that we will defeat the Republican Reich and return to the community of civilized nations. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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