Politics Plus

It warmed up to 40° yesterday, but Portland is under another Winter Weather Advisory with more snow expected this evening.  I think I have my meds transition squared away.  In case you forgot, Obama’s farewell address is tonight at 6 PM PST (9 PM EST)(2 AM GMT).  The White House has a live stream.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:56 (average 6:52).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In an emergency meeting at Trump Tower on Monday morning, President-elect Donald J. Trump urged the heads of the nation’s intelligence agencies to “stop picking on Russia” and instead focus on “the very real threat” posed by Hollywood actresses.

Calling the recent allegations against Russia a “witch hunt,” Trump told the intelligence chiefs that their investigations of Russian President Vladimir Putin were distracting them from “America’s real enemy, actresses.”

Growing increasingly irate, he laid out a series of proposals for dealing with what he called a “scourge,” including mandatory registration of actresses and a temporary ban on actresses entering the country.

Andy, this time, I believe you!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (GQ Channel): This Russian Obsession Shows How Trump Will Be Undone | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

Keith made it crystal clear. Russian Spies fed Assange. Assange fed Trump. But let’s not forget that one other politician joined in on the collusion between Putin, Assange and Trump. That was Jill Stein.  RESIST!!

From Washington Post: Senate Democrats are not going to be able to block Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions bid to become attorney general. And they can’t do much to stop Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo from assuming the helm of the CIA.

And they have only themselves to thank for it.

That’s because exactly three years ago, the Democratic Senate majority — led by Harry Reid (Nev.) — rammed through controversial rules fundamentally changing the way the Senate does business. They unleashed in November 2013 what’s called the “nuclear option” allowing senators to approve by a simple majority all presidential appointments to the executive branch and the judiciary, with a big exception for Supreme Court justices.

It is a sad irony that so many Senate Democrats will be accused of being spineless, because of the one thing they did in the last eight years that was not spineless.  I was for invoking the nuclear option, and I was right.  The problem is that Republicans should have never been allowed to ride Trump’s and Putin’s coattails to an undeserved Senate majority.  RESIST!!

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Portland is under an ice storm warning.  Fortunately Wendy is an Iowa girl with a 4 WD truck, so things like that rarely stop her.  She just texted that she’s on the way and should be here before I finish writing this article.  On today’s schedule is emulsify the stinky TomCat, do the dreaded task, cook a casserole, and some light housekeeping. Fortunately, she’ll be done before this afternoon, when freezing rain and wind gusts to 50 MPH are forecast.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:54 (average 4:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos:

A little over a week ago, House Republicans began their attempts to turn our government into an old-timey Stalin-esque politburo by floating out a ban on video and camera use in Congress by lawmakers. They were trying to rid themselves of having the American people actually see how full of shit they are when they attempt to pass crap laws or sit on their manicured fingers while the nation waits for them to enact meaningful legislation. Wednesday, the House Republicans voted to adopt their new rules for the 115th Congress, first session—H. Res. 5 allows fines to be imposed on any “Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner for the use of an electronic device for still photography or for audio or visual recording or broadcasting.”

A fine imposed pursuant to this para- 11 graph shall be $500 for a first offense and 12 $2,500 for any subsequent offense.

Democrats are unified in their defiance of this terrible attempt to thwart democratic practices in our country.

“What other ways will they deprive us for communicating with the American people?” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked before Tuesday’s vote. The fines come as a response to a sit-in led by Democrats last year, in which dozens of legislators took control of the House floor to urge Congress to pass additional gun-control measures following a mass shooting at a Florida nightclub in June. After the sit-in began, Republicans cut camera feeds to the House floor, and in response, Democratic lawmakers used apps like Periscope to live-stream footage of the protests.

Here’s a visual example of elected officials actually doing what they were elected to do and attempting to get meaningful public safety legislation voted on.

It’s nice to see that all Democrats are not turning balls up, like Chuck "my ass is greased for Republicans" Schumer (DINO-NY), whose leadership I have opposed since the day that Leg Hound Harry announced his retirement. RESIST!!

From KP Daily Funnies: The Shocking Truth About Planned Parenthood

Support Planned Parenthood! RESIST!!

From CNN: Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees have still not been properly vetted less than one week before hearings begin on Capitol Hill, the Office of Government Ethics said in a letter to Democratic senators Friday.

"The announced hearing schedule for several nominees who have not completed the ethics review process is of great concern to me," OGE Director Walter M. Shaub wrote in a letter to New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "This schedule has created undue pressure on OGE’s staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews."

Shaub — who said OGE hasn’t received initial drafts from some nominees — continued: "I am not aware of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the nominee had completed the ethics review process."

Bought Bitch Mitch demanded full disclosures, including financial, on all Obama’s appointees eight years ago. There’s a reason Republicans don’t want the ethics reviews completed. Can you guess want it is? RESIST!!

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I fired the mail order pharmacy I’ve been using for over five years today.  I had put them on notice after I went without insulin for four days because of one of their several major screw ups, that they were on notice.  Ten days ago, I ordered 100 insulin syringes.  This morning they gave me a "courtesy call" to inform me that they no longer fill prescriptions  for syringes.  If they wanted to be courteous, they could have informed me a LOT sooner. I have a less that week’s supply left, so I have to pay $12.95 for overnight shipping from another online pharmacy.  Portland is under another winter storm warning.  ARGH!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:23 (average 5:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Stop Jeff Sessions

If Sessions is confirmed, rename DOJ to Department of Injustice. In addition, Alabama’s Fuhrer Bentley would fill Sessions’ Senate seat, and Bentley likes Judge Roy Moore! RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: The will of the American people is not represented by the people taking power. Donald Trump lost the election, by nearly THREE million, and yet there he is ready to infest the Oval Office with his odious presence. In the Senate, Republicans may hold a Senate majority, but add up the votes of every senator, and the 48 senators in the Democratic caucus received 78.4 million votes, while the 52 GOP senators received just 54.9 million votes. Americans have picked Democrats to run the government, yet it’s Republicans in charge. What we have here isn’t a democracy, it’s a mockery of one.

So Democrats in Congress must act to represent that nullified American majority, and the best way it can do that is by halting all work. Just bring it in to a standstill. Pass continuing budget resolutions to keep the government running, but otherwise make sure that not a shred of Trump’s agenda, or that of the undemocratic GOP majority makes it through.

Filibuster everything, as long as the GOP majority allow it. Deny the use of unanimous consent to waive the rules for things like the post-cloture 30-hour period. And deny it for EVERYTHING, even the most routine of Senate business. Grind that f-er to a halt.

This is exactly what I’ve been saying since Putin, Comey, and Stein joined forces to hand the White House to Resident Rectum. RESIST!!

From NY Times: For a band at a tiny, little-known, historically black college, it seems in some ways to be the gig of a lifetime: a chance to march and perform at the Jan. 20 presidential inaugural parade in Washington. Some of the musicians at Talladega College have been excited to see the capital for the first time.

But because the president-elect is Donald J. Trump, the school has become the subject of an impassioned national outcry, with online petitions, threats to end donations and a flurry of how-could-yous from alumni who feel that performing in the parade would betray the values of an institution founded by newly freed slaves 150 years ago.

On Thursday, after days of speculation that the college administration might bow to the pressure and remove the band from the parade roster, the president of Talladega College, Billy Hawkins, issued a statement confirming the participation of the band, the Marching Tornadoes, and argued, in essence, that the 58th presidential inauguration is about something bigger than Mr. Trump.

SHAME! They are betraying Black Americans everywhere, by allowing that rabid racist to use them as tokens! RESIST!!

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I’m writing later than normal today, because Store to Door is coming with my groceries for the week, and I have to be up and awake when they get here.  Then Wendy is coming this evening to ungrungify the TomCat.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update from me.  I’m venturing forth at a time when the temperature will be near 20° for an appointment with Courtney, my Physical Terrorist.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:33 (average 5:11).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (TYT Channel): Megyn Kelly Leaving Fox News

What a terrible move by NBC! When she gets her daytime show, protest to and boycott the sponsors. This is what qualified her to get her job at the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise.

RESIST!!

From All In: Protesters arrested in Sen. Sessions’ office

Larry Cohen, Chair of the Democracy Initiative, a coalition opposing Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions’ nomination as Attorney General, joins Ari Melber to discuss the sit-in and subsequent arrests happening at Sessions’ office today.

Kudos to the protestors!!  RESIST!!

From Rev. John Pavlovitz: I’m a Christian and a pastor and I stand fully against Donald Trump.

Here are 25 reasons why, in no particular order:

1. Because peace-loving Muslims should have as much religious freedom in America as peace-loving Christians.
2. Because LGBTQ people are beautiful and they deserve every right and liberty this country has for its citizens.
3. Because I have a wife and a mom and a sister and a daughter, all of whom I love and respect.
4. Because Black Lives Matter.
5. Because character still counts.
6. Because declaring war isn’t something responsible leaders do cavalierly or for cheap applause.
7. Because a person’s right to marriage shouldn’t be the jurisdiction of someone currently on their third.
8. Because to legitimately claim Christianity you need to at least slightly resemble Jesus.
9. Because we’re all immigrants here.
10. Because I teach my son not to be a bully.

Amen!! Click through for the other fifteen!  How different authentic Christians are from, Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians!

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