Up all night. Indigestion. Stomach pain. Gas. Bloating. Nauseas. Feel Awful. Hugs
Jun 042017
Jun 032017
Today I’m catching up on video articles, and I’m still working on the new poll and the Monthly report. If you are in our fantasy football league and have not done so, please let me know if you are playing: Dusty, Jack, Pam, Rob, Robb, and Seth. Patty Monster, Squatch, Vivian, and I have committed.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:22 (average 5:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From All In: White House weighing attempt to block Comey testimony
The President is consider whether to try and stop former FBI Director James Comey from testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee next week by invoking executive privilege.
I don’t think he can win on executive privilege, after all his bragging and threats, but it will proclaim his guilt again, if he tries. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: Asking then FBI director James Comey to flat-out drop the investigation might be the most obvious attempt by Donald Trump to obstruct the Trump–Russia investigation. But it’s far from the only move he’s made to block the truth from coming out.
The White House is telling federal agencies to blow off Democratic lawmakers’ oversight requests, as Republicans fear the information could be weaponized against President Donald Trump.
At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with such requests from Democrats, according to Republican sources inside and outside the administration.
Even more obstruction of Justice. RESIST!!
From NY Times: For years, Republicans savaged Democrats for supporting the Affordable Care Act, branding the law — with some rhetorical license — as a government takeover of health care.
Now, cast out of power in Washington and most state capitals, Democrats and activist leaders seeking political redemption have embraced an unlikely-seeming cause: an actual government takeover of health care.
At rallies and in town hall meetings, and in a collection of blue-state legislatures, liberal Democrats have pressed lawmakers, with growing impatience, to support the creation of a single-payer system, in which the state or federal government would supplant private health insurance with a program of public coverage. And in California on Thursday, the Democrat-controlled State Senate approved a preliminary plan for enacting single-payer system, the first serious attempt to do so there since then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed legislation in 2006 and 2008.
With Republicans in full control of the federal government, there is no prospect that Democrats can put in place a policy of government-guaranteed medicine on the national level in the near future. And fiscal and logistical obstacles may be insurmountable even in solidly liberal states like California and New York.
Yet as Democrats regroup from their 2016 defeat, leaders say the party has plainly shifted well to the left on the issue, setting the stage for a larger battle over the health care system in next year’s congressional elections and the 2020 presidential race.
It’s about time! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
I miss him even more than I thought I would
Jun 022017
I’d like to say yesterday went well, but my Ophthalmologist’s front office really screwed the pooch. The doctor was waiting for me at a different office, where they have all the equipment needed for both tests. However the only way I had been notified was in an the fine print of an online appointment reminder notice at their web portal. That’s the wrong way to inform someone who can barely see! So I had to reschedule the main test, and a technician performed the small test that required only partial dilation. When I was done, I asked Tri-Met if the could move up my ride home and they got me 45 minutes sooner. I was frustrated and exhausted from recent heat and humidity, so I just posted that I was OK, and went to bed. Except for a meal break and Republican depository breaks, I stayed there until morning. I’m feeling recovered, but groggy. The poll change and Monthly Report will be a few days late. I’ll finish ASAP.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:11 (average 5:47). To do it. click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Has Michael Flynn Already Flipped on Trump? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
From Keith’s mouth to God’s ear. RESIST!!
Also from YouTube (GQ Channel): The GOP Must Take Responsibility for Trump | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Why don’t they? This is likely to be the last time that Republican leaders will ever have an opportunity to strip mine all the nation’s wealth, give it to billionaires, and create a totalitarian state. If they desert Trump, their chance goes with him. May they rot in hell. RESIST!!
From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Robert Reich: 7 Reasons Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts Make No Sense
Of course the Reich in the Left, Robert Reich, is right and the Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is anti-American. RESIST!!
From All In: Report: From start, Trump pushed to lift Russia sanctions
In three words, quid pro quo. In one word, treason. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Jun 012017
This is super brief, because I need to be in the lobby at 7:45 AM. When I return, I’ll be fully dilated and mostly blind, but I will try to reply briefly to say I’m OK.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:11 (average 5:09). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
May 312017
I'm waiting for Store to Door to deliver groceries. Wendy comes this evening, and I have plenty of stink to keep her scrubbing for a while. Tomorrow I have two appointments with Christine, my Ophthalmologist in preparation for my first cataract surgery on the 23rd. Please expect only a Personal Update. I'll be fully dilated and virtually blind when I return.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today's took me 3:14 (average 4:19). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Shouldn’t Jared Kushner Be Arrested? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Arrest Kushner Now! RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning that his practice of sleeping only four hours a day was having no impact whatsoever on his ability to cljjryff.
Trump, who repeatedly touted his high energy level during the 2016 campaign, tweeted that, despite his gruelling Presidential schedule, he still had enormous reserves of stamina, which he called “stamgygygyggy.”
In the same tweetstorm, he lashed out at news reports questioning his fitness for office, denouncing them as “fakequez%(™.”
Andy is back to straight news again. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Back from overseas and confronting an unforgiving political environment, President Trump appears increasingly isolated inside the White House, according to advisers, venting frustration over the performance of his staff and openly talking about shaking it up. But as he considers casting off old aides, Mr. Trump is finding it challenging to recruit new ones.
The disclosures from investigations stemming from Russian meddling in last year’s election — coupled with the president’s habit of undercutting his staff — have driven away candidates for West Wing jobs that normally would be among the most coveted in American politics, according to people involved in the search.
By the time the first change in what may be a broader shake-up was announced Tuesday, the White House was left without a replacement. Michael Dubke, the White House communications director, said he would step down, but four possible successors contacted by the White House declined to be considered, according to an associate of Mr. Trump who like others asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
That makes perfect sense. If I were a completely corrupt Republican (tautology intended), I would not accept an appointment from the Fuhrer without a guaranteed full-salary pension for life and a blanket full pardon for all crimes: past, present and future. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
May 302017
At last we have a cool day, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. It was a slow morning for news.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today's took me 4:58 (average 5:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Announcement:
Our own Fantasy Football league, Lefty Blog Friends, will be holding our live draft for next season on Saturday, August 19 at 10 AM PDT (11 AM CDT, 12 Noon MDT, 1 PM EDT). If you played last year and are going to quit, please let me know immediately. May the Holy Ellipsoid Orb bless your team.
Republican Diseases (at Nameless' request):
Republicitis: You're so full of shit that everyone thinks you're a Republican. You need Dulcolax to unload the excess shit.
Republicosis: You're spraying so much shit around that everyone thinks you're a Republican. You need Immodium to get your shit together.
Short Takes:
From The Guardian: As tensions continue in Portland following the racially charged murder of two men on Friday, the top Republican in the city said he is considering using militia groups as security for public events.
How insane! Republican militia groups would have joined the attack on the Muslim women! RESIST!!
From The Hill: Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Tuesday said Russia's “aggressiveness” in interfering in last year's U.S. election was unlike anything he'd seen before.
“Across the board, the aggressiveness in this campaign was unprecedented,” Clapper told CNN’s “New Day.”
“An American citizen should be very concerned about a foreign government, particularly our primary adversary, interfering with the most important foundational process that we have in this country, which is free and fair elections.”
Clapper noted that the Russians have long tried to interfere in presidential elections, but characterized the 2016 efforts as the most aggressive and direct.
They could get away with being so aggressive only because one of the candidates was an active partner in their interference. RESIST!!
From NY Times: In the northern suburbs of Atlanta, where what is likely to be the most expensive House campaign in history is being waged, a band of conservative advocacy groups is grappling with a question that may decide whether the Republican Party keeps its House majority after 2018: Do you run with President Trump or against him?
Somehow, the groups are discovering, they will have to do both.
While this does not apply to the race between Jon Osoff and Karen Handel, former attack dog for Komen Hates Women, current Republican office holders, who want to run against Trump need to prove it NOW. Otherwise it's just BS. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
May 292017
Yesterday the temperature reached 87°, 5° cooler than Saturday, but still a new record high for the date. Today will be another 5° cooler, still way above average. Tomorrow we should return to temperate weather for this time of year. I look forward to it. This morning, the porcelain throne huffed, puffed, strained, and sent the 10% of my body weight that was Republican swirling down to join Scalia and Ailes. 
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:01 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (classic 9/2012):
As a public service to those who find themselves inextricably cornered by aggressively ill-informed Republicans at work, on the train or at family gatherings, presented here are ten indisputably true facts that will seriously challenge a Republican’s worldview and probably blow a brain cell or two. At the very least, any one of these GOP-busters should stun and confuse them long enough for you to slip quietly away from a pointless debate and allow you to get on about your business.
1. The United States is not a Christian nation, and the Bible is not the cornerstone of our law.
Don’t take my word for it. Let these Founding Fathers speak for themselves:
John Adams: “The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” (Treaty of Tripoli, 1797)
Thomas Jefferson: “Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.” (Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814)
James Madison: “The civil government … functions with complete success … by the total separation of the Church from the State.” (Writings, 8:432, 1819)George Washington: “If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.” (Letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789)
You can find a multitude of similar quotes from these men and most others who signed the Declaration of Independence and/or formulated the United States Constitution. These are hardly the words of men who believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by the Bible, as a disturbingly growing number of Republicans like to claim.
2. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a socialist.
The Pledge was written in 1892 for public school celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. Its author was Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, Christian socialist and cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy. Christian socialism maintains, among other ideas, that capitalism is idolatrous and rooted in greed, and the underlying cause of much of the world’s social inequity. Definitely more “Occupy Wall Street” than “Grand Old Party” by anyone’s standard.
3. The first president to propose national health insurance was a Republican.
He was also a trust-busting, pro-labor, Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist. Is there any wonder why Theodore Roosevelt, who first proposed a system of national health insurance during his unsuccessful Progressive Party campaign to retake the White House from William Howard Taft in 1912, gets scarce mention at Republican National Conventions these days?
I shared three. Click through for the other seven. All ten still apply. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump on Saturday accused the media of exaggerating his relationship with Jared Kushner, asserting that “I don’t know him very well.”
“He’s someone I would see around the office and who, I guess, was working for me,” Trump told reporters on the last leg of his foreign trip. “Beyond that, I couldn’t tell you much about him.”
Trump acknowledged that he had spoken to Kushner at times during the 2016 campaign. “I’d pass him in the hall and say hello,” he said. “He seemed like an O.K. person. I never got much of a sense of the guy.”
Dang Andy! With Kushner on his way under the bus, will Russia’s Red Rat pimp Ivanka to someone else? RESIST!!
From The Village Green: About half the students in a group of South Orange Middle School 8th graders touring the Capitol in D.C. this past week refused a photo with House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to students on the field trip.
Elissa Malespina, a school librarian who is also the parent of a SOMS eighth grader, reported that her son was among the students who declined to pose with Ryan for a photo.
“I am so proud of my son and 1/2 the 8th grade at South Orange Middle School,” Malespina wrote on Facebook. “They went to D.C. on a field trip and toured the Capitol building. The kids had a chance to have their picture taken with Paul Ryan and over half the class choose not to, including my son! What a powerful statement.”
The kids gave reasoned opinions for their choice — and said they were not fueled by partisanship.
“I think that taking the picture represents that you agree with the same political views and I don’t agree with his political views so I chose not to be in it,” said Wendy Weeks, an 8th grade SOMS student.
“I can’t take a picture with someone who supports a budget that would destroy public education and would leave 23 million people without healthcare,” said 8th grade SOMS student Matthew Malespina.
“I didn’t want to be in [the picture] because he believes in most of what Trump believes in,” said another SOMS 8th grader, Louisa Maynard-Parisi.
Huge Kudos to the students. I hope someone rubbed Lyin’ Ryan’s long, long nose in this. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
May 282017
I told you it was hot. Yesterday, Portland reached 92°, tying the record high for the date. Today will be a a few degrees cooler, but not much. Wendy will arrive in a few minutes to remove several layers of stink from the TomCat and help with cooking. If I start typing ‘Seig Heil’ as I write, please bear with me until the Dulcolax kicks in. I have Republicitis.
Wendy just left. Never has a cat needed so much scrubbing!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:15 (average 4:33). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (TYT Channel): Kids Will Now Take "Anti-Science" Classes
Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians invented Supply-side Jesus, who, unlike the real Jesus, believes in hate, greed, and lies, but not in science. Cenk is wrong in part. Authentic Christians do not force beliefs on others. We honor their beliefs, as long as those who hold them also respect others’ beliefs. RESIST!!
From Washington Post: President Trump failed to commit to remaining within the Paris climate agreement during a two-day meeting with world leaders that ended here Saturday, but he tweeted that he was still considering it and would announce a final decision “next week.”
In a final communique, the Group of Seven industrialized countries said that the United States “is not in a position to join the consensus.” The other six members reaffirmed their commitment to swiftly implement the 2015 accord to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The G-7 summit marked the last stop of Trump’s first overseas trip as president.
That is tragic, and his failure to support the climate agreement is almost as bad as the tragedy. Isn’t there a way we could have stopped him at the border? RESIST!!
From LA Times:
A 35-year-old white supremacist with a criminal record has been arrested in connection with the stabbing deaths Friday of two men on a light-rail train in Portland, Ore., who intervened when he began to hurl anti-Muslim epithets at two women, one who was wearing a head scarf, police said.
Jeremy Joseph Christian of North Portland was jailed early Saturday on charges of aggravated murder, attempted murder, intimidation in the second degree and felony possession of a restricted weapon. He is being held without bail, and could face additional charges, police said.
The incident occurred on the Metropolitan Area Express light-rail line — known as MAX —during rush hour Friday. The two men who were killed appear to have stepped in to protect the women from racial slurs. One of the men was identified in a Facebook post by his mother as Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, a recent graduate of Reed College.
Condolences to the families. Sadly, there are Republicans even in Portland, OR. Al Orange is a greater terrorist threat than the Daesh. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
It has been Fitzwalkerstan, in thrall to Fartfuhrer Walker, far too long!