Yesterday I arrived at OSP at about 5:30 to attend my guys’ annual banquet for half of over 100 prisoners in the group and their family guests. The other half is next month. The food was good and I talked to several of my guys and their families about how well they were doing and how their families should take pride in them and their accomplishments. The President (inside) then went to the podium and addressed the assembly about me. He talked about how long I had been coming in, about how I had almost died and lost my leg, about all the help I had provided for them over the years and about how fortunate they are that I am able to return on a limited basis, I felt both surprised and overwhelmed. I went to the front, took the mike and said a few words about how I consider working with such men a privilege, not a sacrifice,. thanked them for their welcome, and promised to keep working become able to expand my role over time. When I returned home, I had a snack and went to bed, It usually takes me a while to fall asleep, but I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Today, I’ve already had a nap and plan to rest.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:53 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From DenverBroncos.com: Standing tall at 6-feet-7-inches, Lynch was dynamic for the Tigers in his three seasons as their starting quarterback. In his best year, his junior season, he completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 3,778 yards with 28 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
Lynch, a first team All-AAC selection in 2015, threw for 8,865 yards and 59 touchdowns in 38 career games at Memphis. The signal caller led the Tigers to bowl games in his last two seasons.
Lynch also has some wheels, compiling 687 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground.
May the Holy Ellipsoid Orb bathe Lynch and all his teammates in its divine light!!
From Daily Kos: Another responsible gun owner, this time it was a retired NYPD officer who just didn’t feel safe enough to go to the doctor’s office without his trusty tool:
According to Nassau County police, the 77-year-old retired officer was in the office when he removed his licensed 10 mm semi-automatic pistol to show to the doctor.
The weapon accidentally discharged a round which struck the owner in the thigh and continued through his leg, striking the doctor in the right foot.
Both victims were taken to an area hospital for treatment of their nonlife threatening injuries.
This Republican ammosexual is so stupid that he actually shot the guy who could have treated him.
I'm back again. I have my course in liberal biblical studies tonight which is interesting but somewhat time intensive — 4 hours of homework in addition to 3 hours of class time plus dinner each week. The course goes for another four weeks after tonight. Tomorrow is teaching at Lucia's house, and then Sunday is the Alzheimer's Walk for Memories and a visit with my mother. Once the course is done, I'll have a bit more time.
Short Takes
NY Times — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas often casts himself as the rightful heir to Ronald Reagan’s mantle of conservatism, and on Wednesday he took a page directly out of the former president’s playbook.
By tapping Carly Fiorina to be his running mate, Mr. Cruz becomes the first presidential candidate since Reagan to name a vice-presidential pick without having the nomination locked up. In 1976, Reagan teamed up with Richard S. Schweiker, a Pennsylvania senator, in a desperate attempt to grab the nomination from President Gerald R. Ford as it was slipping away. At that point, Mr. Ford’s delegate lead had become virtually insurmountable.
Rachel had this to say about Cruz's announcement.
Carly Fiorina?? The word 'dafted' comes to mind as a description for Cruz. He is trying to reignite his campaign but he may just blow it up! After all, this tactic didn't work so well for the patron saint of Republicans, Saint Ronnie Reagan in 1978. He lost to Gerald Ford who then lost the general election to Jimmy Carter.
Defense officials tell The Daily Beast that U.S. special operators have killed 40 “external operations leaders, planners, and facilitators” blamed for instigating, plotting, or funding ISIS’s attacks from Brussels and Paris to Egypt and Africa.
That’s less than half the overall number of ISIS targets that special operators have taken off the battlefield, one official explained, including top leaders like purported ISIS second-in-command Haji Imam, killed in March.
The previously unpublished number provides a rare glimpse into the U.S. counterterrorist mission that is woven into overall coalition efforts to defeat ISIS, and which is credited with crippling ISIS efforts to recruit foreign fighters and carry out more plots like the deadly assault on Paris that killed 130 last fall.
As proof of the campaign’s overall success, Pentagon officials this week said the influx of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria had dropped from up to 2,000 a month last year to just 200, and the overall size of ISIS from a high estimate of 33,000 a year ago to between 19,000 to 25,000 fighters.
I spoke with an Iraqi woman yesterday who said that she hoped Trump would become POTUS for only one reason . . . he'd go after ISIS. Well I don't support her choice of Trump and told her so. But no worries, she lives in Canada. She is sick of the destruction of her native country by ISIS and is quick to say that ISIS does not believe in Islam. They are about power and greed, nothing more.
Alternet — White, who’d been sickened by the debilitating, irreversible and often fatal disease at work in a foundry, watched in disgust as Republicans attempted to overturn the rule that the Labor Department said could save more than 600 lives and prevent more than 900 new cases of silicosis annually.
Last week, GOP House members conducted a hearing to further their case against saving those lives. They did that just days before Workers Memorial Day, April 28, when organized labor renews its solemn pledge to strive for workplace safety rules and formally commemorates those who have died on the job in the previous year.
The totals aren’t in for 2015 yet, but the year before, 4,679 workers died on the job. That’s nearly 90 a week, 13 a day, seven days a week. Twenty-eight members of my own union, the USW, died on the job since Workers Memorial Day 2015.
But the GOP position is clear. Republicans will do whatever it takes to ensure that corporations can sicken and kill workers with impunity. (emphasis added) If the argument is that workers’ lives and lungs must be sacrificed to ensure that foundries and fracking operations and construction companies can make bigger profits by releasing silica particles under 40-year-old standards now considered dangerous, then the GOP will take the side of CEOs who value workers as trivial.
This one image from TC says it all:
My Universe — There is nothing cuter than baby animals. Be prepared for the Aww factor! Here are just a few but click through for the rest of them.
Pardon my brevity. I needed a morning nap. and I need to get this done and up in time to go to the prison. That’s actually a huge sacrifice, because today is a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. The draft is tonight. I hope my Broncos get a good first round pick. Store to Door just left, so I have the rest of my groceries.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:35 (average 4:16). To do it click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Just how desperate is North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory to lay the blame for HB2 on anyone but himself? Well, this sitting governor has now released an attack email against a sitting mayor: Charlotte’s Jennifer Roberts. Nothing like punching downward—that’s what all the political analysts recommend. Jim Morrill has the details on McCrory’s latest re-election strategy, starting with the email’s headline:
“Roy Cooper Ally Jennifer Roberts Admitted She Thought About Leaving Out The Bathroom Mandate, But Pushed It Through Anyway,” a headline says. […]
McCrory’s email includes TV and radio clips of Roberts talking about House Bill 2. […]
“The clips … should help refresh your memory that the topic of bathrooms was first raised by the radical left when – over warnings from the governor and other state leaders that they should have left restroom norms way they were and focus on things … Roy Cooper’s allies decided to push through Charlotte’s radical bathroom mandate anyway,” said McCrory campaign spokesman Ricky Diaz.
Fact: Charlotte passed a measure that affirmed people’s judgment in making the appropriate bathroom choice.
Fact: North Carolina lawmakers passed a Big Brother bill dictating to people which bathrooms they must use, because apparently The People can’t be entrusted with such a decision.
This whole “Charlotte made us do it!” shtick is just ridiculous.
There is only one man who opted to sign HB2 into law, Hatefuhrer of the Republican Theocratic Dictatorship of McCrorystan, Par McCrory,
From The New Yorker: In choosing the former Hewlett-Packard C.E.O. Carly Fiorina as his running mate, Senator Ted Cruz hopes to tap into the immense popularity of one of the most beloved public figures in America.
Minutes after the news of Cruz’s selection leaked, political insiders called the choice of the wildly adored Fiorina a game-changer for the Cruz campaign.
“It’s no secret that Ted Cruz has some trouble with likeability,” the Republican strategist Harland Dorrinson said. “What better way to fix that than by choosing Carly Fiorina, a person everyone is absolutely crazy about?”
Fiorina’s reputation for winning the hearts of everyone she comes in contact with dates back to her days as the incredibly well-liked C.E.O. of Hewlett-Packard and, before that, Lucent Technologies.
Andy may have screwed the pooch here. The HP employees, with whom I dealt regularly for years, all spoke of her in profane uncomplimentary terms, the most common rhyming with stitch. I think that TRUSed Uranus Cruz is so desperate that he’s offering a chance at the VP slot in hopes of getting lucky with Carly. His taste is as extreme as his policies.
From NY Times: Battered by four defeats in Tuesday night’s primaries, Bernie Sanders is planning to lay off hundreds of campaign staffers across the country and focus much of his remaining effort on winning the June 7 California primary.
That confirms the end of the nomination fight, but I will still vote for him in the Oregon Primary. On to the platform fight.
I’m getting another late start today. Julie came, sprayed and buffed me, and did some light cleaning. My ISP was down for a bit. I’m ready for a Lona nap, but I don’t get to take one yet as Store to Door is coming with a big grocery order. Here’s something I have hot said in a very long time. Tomorrow is a prison volunteer day. I’ll be leaving mid-afternoon, and returning late night. I haven’t5 seen my guys in over six months, and I can’t wait!! I will probably have articles tomorrow, but not Friday. Store to Door just lost about 1/3 of my grocery order, so I just have no more time to spend in research. This is today’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Hillary increased her lead by 58 delegates. At this point I see no feasible way for Bernie to win.
From Daily Kos: Thanks to Sanders to taking a first step on the path to helping to the Democratic Party unite and win this November!
“The people in every state in this country should have the right to determine who they want as President and what the agenda of the Democratic Party should be. That’s why we are in this race until the last vote is cast. That is why this campaign is going to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform that calls for $15 an hour minimum wage, an end to our disastrous trade policies, a Medicare-for-all health care system, breaking up Wall Street, financial institutions, ending fracking in our country, making public colleges and universities tuition free and passing a carbon tax so we can effectively address the planetary crisis of climate change.”
According to MSNBC, for the first time I have ever heard, he sent out a message congratulating Hillary Clinton on her victories tonight.
Kudos to Bernie and his campaign. I think they realize that they can’t win. so to begin the healing process, they are changing their focus from the nomination to the platform.
From Alternet: Stephen Colbert got down with some bathroom humor on Tuesday night’s show.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re male or female, what sex or gender identity someone is, I—and I mean this sincerely—do not want to share a bathroom with anyone. For two reasons: No. 1—and No. 2.”
Of course, he was not there to make sophomoric poop jokes; his target was the ridiculous and hateful political posturing around who gets to use which bathroom with whom.
So it has been almost 2 weeks since I last published an article, not because I did not want to, but because I have been very, very busy with all sorts of activities. Something had to give and it was publishing. Last Sunday during a church service, five of us were commissioned and anointed into the ministry of pastoral care having finished our training and police background checks. Of course I have been teaching and attending physio. Last Friday, I looked after Lucia's two youngest while Lucia took some "me time". I was totally wasted by the afternoon when Lucia returned. What's more, I managed to escape a nuclear diaper! I'll do the same next week so Lucia can be with Loliyo at a dance competition. There are also routine things like doctor's and dentist's appointments, and the most important, snuggles with the fur babies. I still have to do the taxes but since neither of us owe any, it isn't a big worry.
Short Takes
The Nation — Global warming is, in the end, not about the noisy political battles here on the planet’s surface. It actually happens in constant, silent interactions in the atmosphere, where the molecular structure of certain gases traps heat that would otherwise radiate back out to space. If you get the chemistry wrong, it doesn’t matter how many landmark climate agreements you sign or how many speeches you give. And it appears the United States may have gotten the chemistry wrong. Really wrong. …
In February, Harvard researchers published an explosive paper in Geophysical Research Letters. Using satellite data and ground observations, they concluded that the nation as a whole is leaking methane in massive quantities. Between 2002 and 2014, the data showed that US methane emissions increased by more than 30 percent, accounting for 30 to 60 percent of an enormous spike in methane in the entire planet’s atmosphere. …
These leaks are big enough to wipe out a large share of the gains from the Obama administration’s work on climate change—all those closed coal mines and fuel-efficient cars. In fact, it’s even possible that America’s contribution to global warming increased during the Obama years. The methane story is utterly at odds with what we’ve been telling ourselves, not to mention what we’ve been telling the rest of the planet. It undercuts the promises we made at the climate talks in Paris. It’s a disaster—and one that seems set to spread.
The Obama administration, to its credit, seems to be waking up to the problem. Over the winter, the EPA began to revise its methane calculations, and in early March, the United States reached an agreement with Canada to begin the arduous task of stanching some of the leaks from all that new gas infrastructure. But none of this gets to the core problem, which is the rapid spread of fracking. Carbon dioxide is driving the great warming of the planet, but CO2 isn’t doing it alone. It’s time to take methane seriously.
MSNBC — I found this interesting segment of The Rachel Maddow Show that showcases some of the Republican bigotry, racism and total lack of sensitivity to history.
Politico — Republicans over the past seven years have come to view Barack Obama not just as an ideological enemy but as a “dictator”—an accusation hurled most recently by both Chris Christie and Glenn Beck—a president who has unconstitutionally abused his executive power with an array of unilateral actions.
But Republicans are hardly passive victims of an overweening executive; they are, in fact, paying for their own unilateral surrender of power. The GOP-dominated Congress has sought to weaken and undermine Obama and instead has achieved the opposite. Unable to pass significant legislation after the Affordable Care Act, the Obama White House filled the vacuum by creative use of executive authority, setting a potentially risky precedent for the future balance between the branches but spurred, ironically, by the very opponents who were trying to contain him.
Is this where we get to say to Republicans "You reap what you sow!"? Personally, I do not see Obama as a dictator, but rather a man trapped by the incompetence and beligerence of political foes . . . foes willing to ruin the country in order to stick to their idiotological principles.
You may view cats as evil creatures, and you may not be entirely wrong with that assumption. Still, you may not realize that owning a cat actually has a variety of benefits for you and your health. These are just a few reasons why you should open your home to a cat.
BTW, people don't own cats. Dogs have owners. Cats have staff!
3. They Do Not Need Baths
Giving cats a bath is not a fun experience. Fortunately, unlike dogs, cats really do not need baths. They are huge neat freaks that frequently groom themselves, making bathing unnecessary. This also goes back to the whole “low maintenance thing”. If you do dare to bath a cat, be sure to wear complete padding because this can get pretty messy though the results are pretty hilarious.
7. They Make Fantastic Alarm Clocks
When cats want their breakfast, they want it now. They do not care if you are sleeping, they will wake you up. In fact, they do not even need to have breakfast for an excuse to wake you up. They will wake you up for whatever reason they have decided to wake you up and you will have to deal with that.
11. They Will Keep You Grounded
All of those jokes about how cats think humans are their slaves? These are completely accurate. Cats believe that you are merely there to serve them and their needs. This will help put you in your place whenever you feel that you are better than you are.
Click through for the other 17 reasons you need at least one cat in your life.
I slept poorly last night, because the druggies partied into the wee hours on the street below and made a lot of noise. So I took another Lona nap this morning. Store to door called and I gave them my grocery order.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:18 (average 5:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists who have spent decades acquiring a world-class collection of Republicans, revealed over the weekend that they are considering purchasing their first Democrat.
“We’ve always bought Republicans, and our father bought Republicans before us,” Charles, the elder Koch, said. “They’re bred to be obedient, and they respond to simple commands.”
He said that he and his brother had considered acquiring a Democrat only after determining that none of the Republicans on offer this year was worth adding to their collection.
Fortunately, Andy, both Bernie and Hillary are too principled to become Koch suckers.
From Daily Kos: James Van Kuilenburg, a trans teenager, attended a Ted Cruz rally with his mother on Thursday. His goal was to hear what Ted Cruz had to say, but also, as The Frederick News-Post reported, "to show Cruz supporters that rhetoric about gay and transgender rights hurts real people, like him."
Republicans consider the First Amendment their exclusive property. Nobody else may exercise it.
From Upworthy: Witness this amazing letter he wrote in 1790 to the largest Jewish community in America at the time, the Hebrew congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Jews had sent a message to Washington, basically congratulating him on being awesome.
While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy — a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington
Now try to imagine a similar epistle coming from a President Fecal Dump Trump or a President TRUSed Uranus Cruz to America’s largest Muslim community. Then vote in November!
I’ve been seeing a political; add lately opposing a so-called plot by Obama to rob senior’s pensions by allowing Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy. So i decided to read up on the issue while watching a John Oliver video, so as to learn and have a couple chuckles at that same time. Now I’ll share it with you.
“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver last night devoted his main segment to Puerto Rico.
The territory now has approximately $7 billion in debt and a 45% poverty rate. In an attempt to chip away at that deficit, the Puerto Rican government has increased sales taxes and closed schools, convincing thousands to leave for the contiguous U.S.
“Right now, Puerto Rico is like the last Tower Records,” Oliver said. “Everything’s overpriced, everyone’s being laid off, and there’s still a weirdly large number of Ricky Martin CDs.”
The seemingly obvious solution for the Puerto Rican government would be to declare Chapter 9, but a 1984 provision slipped without debate into a larger bill specifically exempts the territory from declaring bankruptcy…[emphasis added]
Actually, figuring out this issue didn’t tale rocket science. When every state and every territory in the US has right to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy, why would a Republican Senator slip a provision into a must pass spending bill that made an exception of Puerto Rico, and ONLY Puerto Rico? The only possible purpose would be to enable Banksters and Vulture Capitalist hedge funds create a bubble in speculative Puerto Rican bonds and safeguard the speculators by forcing the territory they have victimized into liquidating their assets to pay off the speculators. This is very similar to what they have done to Greece.
The solution is simple enough. First, overturn the Republican provision that prevents Puerto Rico from declaring bankruptcy. Second, charge Banksters and hedge funds a penalty co cover any losses pensioners may incur. Third, reinstitute Glass-Steagall. Fourth, tax speculation.
Otherwise, we’ll need to rename the island Puerto Pobre.
I don’t know why I’ve been feeling lethargic, but after doing my morning research, I needed to take a nap, so I’m running late again, and still feeling tired. My green cloud is gathering strength.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:46 (average 4:04). To do it click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: In other states, Sam Brownback’s Kansas revolution is still being treated as a model for pared down government, but those close to ground zero are a bit less enthused.
… many of the same Republicans who helped pass Brownback’s plan are in open revolt, refusing to help the governor cut spending so he can avoid rolling back any of his signature tax measures.
If Brownback won’t reconsider any of the tax cuts, they say, he will have to figure out for himself how to balance the budget in the face of disappointing revenue.
Brownback sold the state on a flood tide worth of trickle down tax cuts, arguing that massive reductions would spur a surge of growth in the state and actually generate increased revenue. Instead, Kansas got a huge budget shortfall, education cuts, service cuts, and still more debt as top Republican economists proved for the nth time that they’re simply wrong. Oh, and instead of rocketing growth Kansas has actually underperformed neighboring states.
When Republicans are in charge the only thing that trickles down onto the poor and middle classes is urine.
From NY Times: Even as his chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination slip away, Senator Bernie Sanders and his allies are trying to use his popularity to expand his political influence, setting up an ideological struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party in the post-Obama era.
Aides to Mr. Sanders have been pressing party officials for a significant role in drafting the platform for the Democratic convention in July, aiming to lock in strong planks on issues like a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, breaking up Wall Street banks and banning natural gas “fracking.”
Considering all the effort Bernie is making to transform the Democratic Party, those who would abandon the Party, if Bernie loses, would be working against Bernie.
From Alternet: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, elected last fall, campaigned on a promise that his Liberal government would legalize marijuana. Now, we’re getting an idea of just when that is going to happen.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs Wednesday, Canadian Health Minister Jane Philpott said the government will introduce legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana in spring 2017.
Does this mean our beloved Squatch will be getting even loonier?
“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver last night devoted his main segment to Puerto Rico.
