Open Thread – Page 575 – Politics Plus

Open Thread – 10/22/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:15 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 222016

It’s another busy day. After doing my morning research, I took a brief nap, refilled my pill caddy for the week, and got a haircut. I needed it, as I plan a prison volunteer day on Thursday. With Wendy coming tomorrow, I’ll be itching for less than 24 hours. After my blogging, I have to plan my menu for the week and start to compose next week’s shopping list. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, so may the holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team. My Broncos don’t play until Monday. Pat, I luv ya anyway.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:30 (average 6:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: I know it was unprofessional of me. But I wept when I read Stephanie Woodard’s investigative piece on the killings of American Indians by cops published Monday in the democratic socialist magazine In These Times. It’s no stretch to say it broke my heart.

The reasons for those tears, which continue to spring forth days after my first reading, are many.

Even though none were of my tribe, they were still my people, like me, descendants of the first humans to set foot on this continent 400 generations ago. Like the slayings of so many African Americans killed by police, the deaths of many of them could have easily been avoided by smarter, more compassionate and less trigger-happy cops. And, as is so often the case in matters relating to living indigenous Americans, these dead men and women were invisible. Most didn’t show up in the media or the statistics. Woodard’s story should have been on the front page of The New York Times, the centerpiece of a report on NBC, the subject of speeches on the Senate floor.

Red lives matter.

From NY Times: Major websites were inaccessible to people across wide swaths of the United States on Friday after a company that manages crucial parts of the internet’s infrastructure said it was under attack.

Users reported sporadic problems reaching several websites, including Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb, Reddit, Etsy, SoundCloud and The New York Times.

The company, Dyn, whose servers monitor and reroute internet traffic, said it began experiencing what security experts called a distributed denial-of-service attack just after 7 a.m. Reports that many sites were inaccessible started on the East Coast, but spread westward in three waves as the day wore on and into the evening.

And in a troubling development, the attack appears to have relied on hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices like cameras, baby monitors and home routers that have been infected — without their owners’ knowledge — with software that allows hackers to command them to flood a target with overwhelming traffic.

A spokeswoman said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security were looking into the incident and all potential causes, including criminal activity and a nation-state attack.

Yesterday Lona commented that the attack was perpetrated by Russia and intended to knock Politics Plus offline to keep me from criticizing Rump Dump Trump. If that is the case, I certainly apologize to Twitter, Netflix, the NY Times, and other comparatively minor sites for the inconvenience that the Republican response to my activism has caused. Smile with tongue out

From YouTube (PBS Channel): What the latest polls mean for the presidency — and Congress

This shows how important it is for YOU to vote, along with everyone you know. Failure to vote is the most unpatriotic thing an American can do!

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Open Thread – 10/21/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:56 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 212016

Courtney, aka Lady Torquemada, put me through some hard paces this morning. Fatigue was exacerbated by a malfunctioning thermostat that kept the temperature about 15° too high. On the way home I went to the bank. After lunch I discovered that Politics Plus has been offline most of the day due to a DDoS attack against DNS servers, and thousands of sites are still down all over the country, so I’m not sure when I can publish this.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:35 (average 3:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From You Tube (Media Matters Channel): How “False Equivalence” Ruins Trump-Clinton News Coverage

False-equivalence is especially popular with Russian propagandists and their 3rd party dupes.

From YouTube (GQ Channel): These Insane Excuses From Trump’s Surrogates Are Deplorable | The Closer with Keith Olbermann |

I am soooo glad Keith is back!!!

From YouTube (CSPAN Channel): Hillary Clinton FULL REMARKS at Al Smith Dinner (C-SPAN)

I’d call that a Rump Dump roast! In the interest of fairness, here is the complete list of everything worth hearing Trump said during his segment:

…[end of list].

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Open Thread – 10/20/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:38 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 202016

I’m trying to catch up on a bit of rest today, because tomorrow, I go for my appointment with Courtney, my Physical Terrorist. As a result, please expect no more than a Personal Update tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:15 (average 6:40). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: How Democrats Take Back the Senate

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right about the absolute need to wrest control of the Senate from the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich. I’m particularly proud that he listed Jeff Merkley third in his list of progressive Senators, behind only Liz and Bernie.

From The New Yorker: After learning that Donald J. Trump was still stinging from having lost an Emmy for “The Celebrity Apprentice,” the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences offered to give the former reality-show host a belated Emmy if he will drop out of the 2016 race.

“We never imagined that if we had simply given you an Emmy back in the day our current national nightmare might have been avoided,” a Television Academy spokesman said in an online video.

Displaying an Emmy statuette, the spokesman said, “Here’s your Emmy, Mr. Trump, all gold and shiny, just the way you like things to be.”

Andy, what a wonderful idea!

From Think Progress: Chris Wallace, a veteran Fox News journalist, was already a controversial choice to host Wednesday night’s final presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Wallace is noted for his close relationship with Roger Ailes, who is currently advising Trump on the debates, prompting media experts to raise ethical questions about his involvement.

Ultimately, Wallace did win praise for holding Trump accountable on several issues and keeping both candidates on task throughout the debate. Yet as much as he tried to play things equally, several of his questions showed a clear bias towards conservative ideals, policy positions, and talking points.

Here are a few.

Abortion
Wallace frames his question using the term “partial-birth.”
“I’m going to give you a chance respond but I want to ask you Secretary Clinton I want to explore how far you believe the right to abortion goes. You have been quoted as saying that the fetus has no constitutional rights. You also voted against a ban on late-term partial-birth abortions. Why?”

“Open borders”
This quote mentioned below, often cited in conservative media, has been taken out of context.
“Mr. Trump you want to build a wall. Secretary Clinton you have offered no specific plan or how you want to secure our southern border. … We’ve learned from the Wikileaks that you said this, and I want to quote ‘My dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders,’ so that is the question…Is that your dream, open borders?”

I shared two of five examples of Wallace’s clear Republican bias. Click through for the other three.

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Open Thread – 10/19/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:03 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 192016

We’re having some excitement here in the Rose City, as a contractor ruptured a gas line and a building about 25 blocks from me exploded. I did not hear it, but I knew something was up, because I heard several sirens at once from different distances away. Please join me in prayer, or however you connect to the infinite, for the injured and their loved ones. I have a busy day. Store to Door is delivering groceries later this afternoon, and I have to put them away. Later Wendy will be here to shine and polish the TomCat and do some light cleaning. Then we’ll construct a green cloud and send it north to find the Squatch. That assumes we can hold the chili down, as Hillary will be debating, and Rump Dump will be masdebating at the same time we are eating.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:41 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The courts are not looking kindly at Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s multiple efforts to keep people—primarily Democrats—from voting. Last week, his refusal to extend the voter registration deadline in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew was denied, and voter registration continues into this week. Then on Sunday, a federal judge ruled that the state must allow absentee voters to verify their signatures and have their votes count.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s ruling was a victory for the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee, which sued the state Oct. 3 arguing Florida canvassing boards shouldn’t immediately reject a ballot if a voter’s signature doesn’t match the one on file. The state gives voters who forget to sign their mail ballots a chance to fix the problem before Election Day—but doesn’t offer voters with mismatched signatures the same opportunity. […]

"It is illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre for the State of Florida to withhold the opportunity to cure from mismatched-signature voters while providing that same opportunity to no-signature voters," he wrote. "And in doing so, the State of Florida has categorically disenfranchised thousands of voters arguably for no reason other than they have poor handwriting or their handwriting has changed over time." […]

The Republican War against the right to vote never ends.

From The New Yorker: In an Oval Office ceremony on Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama signed an executive order requiring the loser of the 2016 Presidential election to leave the country forever.

“This will help the healing begin,” the President said.

The executive order calls for the loser of the November 8th election to depart the country on the morning of November 9th and never return.

“Whoever that turns out to be,” the President said.

But Andy, it doesn’t go far enough. Make Rump Dump Whoever leave the earth and go to the Cruz planet.

From CMD: ExxonMobil and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are running an illegal scheme to promote the oil giant’s climate denial policies and legislative agenda in violation of U.S. tax law governing charitable organizations, the Center for Media Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause charged today.

In a new filing to the IRS – adding to an active investigation prompted by a 2012 complaint that ALEC is operating as a corporate lobbying group while registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity – the watchdog organizations detail for the first time how Exxon has used ALEC as a key asset in its explicit campaign to sow uncertainty about climate science, undermine international climate treaties and block legislation to reduce emissions. While ALEC purports to spend zero dollars on lobbying, Exxon has deliberately used ALEC for the past two decades to advance its legislative goals concerning cap-and-trade policies, fracking, the Keystone Pipeline and the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan.

“It has become painfully obvious over the past few years that ALEC is corporate lobby front group masquerading as a charity—at taxpayer expense,” said Arn Pearson, general counsel at CMD. “If the laws governing nonprofits are to mean anything, the IRS needs to take action to enforce them in this case.”

“For years ALEC has been a key asset in Exxon’s multi-billion dollar campaign to push a dangerous climate-denial agenda and secretly lobby politicians on anti-environmental legislation that pollutes the environment,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. “It is time for the IRS to act and curb these blatant abuses.”

Today, CMD and Common Cause provided the IRS Whistleblower Office with extensive evidence obtained through open records requests, original research and public financial documents detailing intentional misuse of ALEC by the Exxon to advance legislation of direct benefit to the company. Over a 17-year period, Exxon and its foundation spent more than $1.7 million to finance lobbying activity by ALEC on legislation and public policies that benefit the corporation, while improperly and illegally claiming a tax deduction for those expenditures.

These Republicans (ALEC) need to be stripped of their 501 status, criminally prosecuted, and put out of business permanently.

Cartoon:

Hat-Tip to Bill Maher for the concept.

Open Thread – 10/18/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:35 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 182016

It’s another busy day with lots of chores, including preparing my grocery list for the week, paying bills and getting prescriptions refilled. Are you going to watch the show tomorrow night?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:31 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

6Scores

Patty Monster monster-mashed my poor kitty dingles!

Standings:

6Standings

Congrats to Vivian and Rob, who are leading the league.

Short Takes:

From Multnomah Democrats: Last Day to Register to Vote (Oregon)

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 (All day)

Event Sponsor:

Oregon Secretary of State

October 18th is the last day register to vote for the November 8th election. Registration cards postmarked by this date or online registrations submitted no later than 11:59 PM on this date are valid. Register or check your registration status here: http://sos.oregon.gov/voting-elections/Pages/my-vote.aspx

If you are an Oregonian and not yet registered click the link NOW. If you have committed a crime, Oregon still allows you to vote.

From YouTube (Real Time Channel): Ann Coulter: In Trump We Trust

Barf Bag Alert!!

Two things about the Coultergeist have not changed. It is still full of shit. It still has its Adam’s apple.

From The New Yorker: Trump’s suggestion that both Presidential candidates submit to a drug test has sparked fears that such a test would reveal that he is not on drugs.

In interviews conducted across the country, voters said that they would be “alarmed” and “distressed” to learn that the billionaire’s statements and actions were the product of a mind unaltered in any way by a controlled substance.

“It never occurred to me that Donald Trump might not be on drugs,” Carol Foyler, an accountant from Toledo, Ohio, said. “That would be terrifying.”

Harland Dorrinson, a mechanic from St. Petersburg, Florida, said that the chilling possibility of Trump not being on drugs was a strong argument against submitting the candidates to drug testing. “If it turns out that he isn’t on anything, this is something that the American people shouldn’t have to find out,” he said. “We’ve suffered enough this election.”

Andy has a great point. We’ve speculated what drug he might be on, but the possibility that he is the way he is, without benefit of addiction, is even more appalling!

From NY Times: Russia’s main English-language satellite network complained on Monday that its British bank was abruptly closing its accounts. The network, which reported on the decision, called it a British-government-sanctioned attempt to interfere with freedom of speech.

It was the latest controversy for the network, RT, originally and still commonly known as Russia Today. [Republicans delinked] The broadcaster presents itself as an alternative to the Western media, but critics call it a Kremlin-financed mouthpiece that seeks to create an alternative to reality.

Kudos to the Bank! Putin’s propaganda network helped convince Bridiots that it was safe to cast a protest vote for Brexit. Now they are telling Americans to cast a protest vote for Stein, because Putin wants to elect Trump. Sadly, Jill Stein has colluded with their scheme in exchange for the majority of her TV coverage.

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Open Thread – 10/17/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:36 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Oct 172016

I’m very tired and running behind, because I have lots of chores today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:27 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Let’s take a break from the presidential debates and non-stop media coverage of the November 2016 election and deal with a particularly urgent matter — whether or it’s legal or not to hunt for the elusive Bigfoot.

Don’t try Bigfoot hunting in California – it could result in your arrest and conviction, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

On May 11, 2012, the CDFW issued a statement in response to media reports about a Texas wildlife official proclaiming that bigfoot hunting is legal in the long horn state.

“The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says that in theory, it would be legal to hunt Bigfoot in their state,” stated a CDFW facebook post. “Not so in California!”

Now, considering her progressive political views, it’s easy to understand why Texans would hunt our beloved Sasquatch, and she would be safer in blue California. But in the end, only one thing matters. Is Bigfoot hunting legal in BC?

From NY Times: When Jen Hatmaker speaks to stadiums full of Christian women, she regales them with stories about her five children and her garden back in Austin, Tex. — and stays away from politics. But recently she took to Facebook and Instagram to blast Donald J. Trump as a “national disgrace,” and remind her legions of followers that there are other names on the ballot in November.

“Trump has consistently normalized violence, sexual deviance, bigotry and hate speech,” she said in an email interview. “I wouldn’t accept this from my seventh-grade son, much less from a potential leader of the free world.”

In the nearly four decades since Jerry Falwell Sr. founded a group called the Moral Majority, evangelical Christians have been the Republican Party’s most unified and reliable voting bloc in November presidential elections. The leaders of what came to be known as the religious right were kingmakers and household names, like Pat Robertson, James C. Dobson, Ralph Reed.

But this year, Ms. Hatmaker’s outraged post was one small sign of the splintering of the evangelical bloc and a possible portent of the changes ahead. While most of the religious right’s aging old guard has chosen to stand by Mr. Trump, its judgment and authority are being challenged by an increasingly assertive crop of younger leaders, minorities and women such as Ms. Hatmaker.

I’m glad to see a splinter in the evangelical camp, and I have been willing to respect the belief of and coexist with folks with different beliefs, even Republican Supply-side Pseudo-Christians, if they are also willing to respect my beliefs and coexist with me. To date, that has been the problem with pseudo-Christians.

From YouTube: "Dangerous"

I endorse Katie McGinty for the US Senate. Flush Toomey in his frack-water!

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Open Thread – 10/16/2016

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

Oct 162016

It’s been a very busy day, I was up early, and I’m quite tired. Wendi and I shined and polished the TomCat, did the floors, counters and dusting, cleaned thy CatBox, filed a pants-load of paperwork, cooked a sic day sausage casserole, and made steak and baked potatoes for brunch. I contributed a big sticky bun to the Southern Exposure Project. I’m looking forward to a nap.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:40 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Although this was all legal, this Virginia man’s protest was frightening for the staff and volunteers at Jane Dittmar’s Palmyra (VA-05) congressional campaign office. Virginia resident Daniel Parks, who says he served in the military, stood outside for 12 hours, staring into the office and intimidating campaign volunteers:

"I’m just trying to provide a voice for someone who might be a closet supporter of trump. Other people who are a little worried to speak out because of possible persecution," he said.

He actually made a point of showing the gun to make campaign workers fearful. I suspect this is a trial run for how we might expect Republicans to behave at polling places.

From NY Times: Britain and the European Union may be getting over the initial shock of the British demand for a divorce. Now comes the bitter fight. Already, both sides have staked out very different positions on immigration, an issue that promises to be the most contentious in the separation proceedings.

Germany, France and other union members have argued that Britain must maintain open borders if it is to enjoy favorable access to Europe’s single market. Many British voters who chose to leave the bloc in June would like to see those borders more tightly regulated by the British government. However this issue is resolved, both sides have an obligation to find ways to minimize the economic damage to Britain and the rest of the union that a new relationship could bring. Formal negotiations are expected to start by the end of March.

The British prime minister, Theresa May, wants unfettered access to the European market, the world’s largest. Under her vision, Britain’s manufacturers would be able to sell products to customers in the bloc without paying duties, and bankers in London could serve businesses and investors anywhere in the union. But she and her colleagues insist on restricting immigration from other European Union countries.

Those demands are unacceptable to leaders like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France who insist that the union can accept the free movement of goods, services and capital only with countries that also accept the free movement of people.

It sounds to me that the Brexit Bridiots, who thought a protest vote was safe, now want all the benefits of membership in the EU, but none of the responsibilities. I don’t think so.

From Think Progress: Most of the grumblings and musings of rebellion have come from everyday Trump voters, but on Saturday, Trump surrogate and Milwaukee Sheriff David A. Clarke, an elected law official, tweeted that it’s “pitchforks and torches time” with a (stock) photo of an angry mob.

Here we have a Republican law enforcement official openly calling for riots, if Rump Dump loses.

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Open Thread – 10/15/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:19 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 152016

I had several extra chores to get done this morning, including renegotiating my cable/internet package. While I’ll never be a big fan of Xfinity, it’s my only option, because my building does not allow dish service. I did manage to more than double my Internet speed, without raising the cost. I’m feeling more tired than I should, and think it’s the Lyrica. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My faith has already been shattered for the week, but may the Holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:30 (average 4:24). To do it click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: We knew this was coming. It came in his speech tonight.

Donald Trump lashed out at global elites who undermine American sovereignty through “international banks” — and many observers couldn’t help but notice the underlying anti-Semitic message.

* * *

Throughout the speech, Trump used harsh language that evoked old and ugly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about international bankers who supposedly infiltrate national governments and control the global agenda. Citing recent Clinton campaign emails published by WikiLeaks, Trump told the crowd that "Clinton meets in secret with international banks in order to plot the destruction of US sovereignty." Echoing the rhetoric of Alex Jones and other conspiracy theorists, Trump repeatedly referred to "globalists" as the true enemy and Clinton as their handmaiden.

The “international bankers” trope is nearly as old as Anti-Semitism itself and needs little explanation. But for those who are unfamiliar, there is Wikipedia.

As other Republicans distance themselves (without withdrawing their endorsements), Rump Dump is lining up all the more with the Alt-Right Nazi Republicans.

From The New Yorker: Hillary Clinton is “plotting to rig the election by getting more votes than I do,” Donald J. Trump warned his supporters on Friday.

Speaking at a rally, Trump detailed what he called Clinton’s “vast conspiracy” to accrue more votes than he does on Election Day.

“The media won’t tell you this, but Crooked Hillary is going around the country every single day, trying to get more votes than I do,” he said. “That’s how she’s going to rig it, folks.”

He called the current sexual-assault allegations against him “a plot by the Clintons to draw attention away from Hillary’s evil plot to get votes.”

But Andy, all Republicans go bananas when Democrats use this strategy!!

From Common Dreams: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday called on President Barack Obama to remove one of his top hand-picked financial regulators, saying the current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had driven the agency off its course.

In a 12-page letter (pdf) to Obama, Warren took aim at SEC chief Mary Jo White, a Republican-leaning Independent who has refused to work on a rule that would enforce transparency in corporate political donations. The Massachusetts senator wrote that White has consistently engaged in "extraordinary, ongoing efforts to undermine the agency’s central mission" since her appointment in 2013, and urged Obama to use unilateral authority to oust her and tap a more qualified SEC member.

"I do not make this request lightly," Warren wrote. "I have tried both publicly and privately to persuade Chair White to direct the agency’s resources toward pressing matters of compelling interest to investors and the public, and toward completing those rules that Congress has required it to implement. But after years of fruitless efforts, it is clear that Chair White is set on her course. The only way to return the SEC to its intended purpose is to change its leadership."

I fully agree with Liz, White is acting like a Republican, and should be ousted.

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