I’m writing for tomorrow, day 74. My helper-friend came this morning, and we worked all day. There was no time for sleep or research. Hugs to all.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:45 (average 5:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 73. I have a friend coming over to help me with laundry and heavy cleaning today. (Later: she called and rescheduled for Saturday, screwing up both days).
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Joanne’s Humor:
Short Takes:
From The Nation (Hat-Tip Joanne Dixon): …The true measure of Democrats’ sincerity will determine how hard they push for these policies in the near term, and also to what extent these ideas will become part of the Democratic agenda in 2016. Should the party retain the White House and maybe even win back Congress in two years, this might decide whether Washington can actually act to slow down dangerous Wall Street trading and exorbitant CEO pay while funneling the benefits back to the middle class.
Really, it goes beyond those particular policies—are Democrats ready to take on the wealthy and corporate classes at full steam, Citizen’s United be damned?
It’s a question where progressives should resist easy answers. Loyal partisans will dutifully tell you Democrats mean business. Cynical progressives trained to thoroughly distrust the motives of any elected Democrat will tell you otherwise…
This is a tiny snippet from an extensive article. Click through. I can only hope that democrats are learning from and not just trolling the left, because the only other alternative, for now, is the Republicans.
From CREW: More than four years after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging former Republican Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell had converted more than $20,000 of campaign funds to her personal use, the FEC finally sued O’Donnell and her campaign treasurer, Matt Moran, for exactly that. Most astonishingly, we’ve learned that in November, the current slate of commissioners voted 6-0 – a nearly unprecedented display of unanimity – to find probable cause to believe O’Donnell and Moran had violated the law. Then last week – again in a 6-0 vote – the Commission authorized the filing of a lawsuit to recover the money.
CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan stated, “Contrary to all of Christine O’Donnell’s whining, she is not and never was an innocent victim of partisan attacks. Rather, she was an otherwise jobless scam artist who fleeced donors to support herself.”
CREW’s September 2010 complaint, which formed the basis of the FEC’s lawsuit, alleged O’Donnell violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by illegally using campaign funds to pay rent and utility bills for a townhouse, where she lived and out of which her campaign operated.
In case you’ve forgotten Christine O’Dingbat… Barf Bag Alert!!
Kudos to CREW. Click through for details and documents. This goes to show that even the most insane Republicans consider themselves above the law. I liked Elvira’s version better.
From Daily Kos: One of the first things the new Republican-led Senate has done is moved a bill forward to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. Ten Democratic senators and independent Angus King of Maine voted Yea, as seen above.
Five of the eleven are from states won by Mitt Romney in 2012. Angus King, Tom Udall, and Tom Carper, however, are from states President Obama won by more than 10 points.
If you own one, tear them a new asshole. Obama intends to veto the bill.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 72. I’m getting a late start, because I slept late and I’ve been busy with other things, but I do have articles for you.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:42 (average 5:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Mitch McConnell was full of promises last November about how things were going to be different in the Senate when he was in charge. Like how the Senate was going to start working on Fridays. That promise was broken last Thursday, the first week of the session. The other thing the Senate was going to do under his watch—open amendments. Republicans had grumbled incessantly over the last six years about how Harry Reid was a dictator who refused to allow them to offer up their amendments, almost all of which were poison pills that had little or nothing to do with the underlying legislation. Well, the worm has turned with Republicans now in power, and McConnell doesn’t like it one bit. In fact, he’s pretty whiny about it.
"Some of our colleagues on the other side continue to filibuster the motion to proceed to this bill. All senators should know that we will get on this bill today and begin the amendment process—either this afternoon by consent, or shortly after midnight without consent,” he said. […]
McConnell vowed he would not let Democrats use their ability to offer amendments to stretch out floor debates for weeks simply to burn up the calendar.
"We will conduct a fair and open amendment process but not an open-ended one," he said.
And so much for open amendments. That fair and open process apparently won’t include one proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) intended to put Republicans on the record about the connection between humans’ greenhouse gas emissions and global warming in the Keystone XL debate.
Speaking of greenhouse gas emissions, one of the biggest sources of methane in Washington, DC is Bought Bitch Mitch.
From The New Yorker: Citing what he called “security concerns,” House Speaker John Boehner said on Wednesday that he would do all of his drinking at the office for the foreseeable future.
Boehner said that he may have to stay at work later in order to get his drinking done, but added, “I’m doing it for the American people. They need to know that their Speaker is safe.”
I wonder if Andy equates “safe” with preserved by pickling.
From Media Matters: Fox News hosts have repeatedly denied that moderate Muslims denounce violent extremists following terror attacks, ignoring that on their very network, Muslim guests have condemned terrorism and defended their faith. Watch five Muslim guests make their case on Fox:
Barf Bag Alert!!
When a Muslim makes a good point, when Faux is live, we see it once only, and they hate it when anything like that slips through, as their reactions divulge.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 71. Yesterday’s group in prison went very well. Our CoDA group doubled in size, so I have some new guys that I had never met before. We discussed making lists of people we have harmed and the importance of authenticity in our willingness to make amends. Many fear this process, because people have a tendency to guilt trip ourselves. However, done truly, it works to free us from self-crippling guilt. It’s now late evening. I’ve had some sleep but need more, as I had to be up for Store to Door to deliver groceries and put them away, so I’m more than ready for more sleep. This is tomorrow’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:24 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: The Albuquerque PD has shot another victim and this time its one of their department’s own officers working undercover. The circumstances surrounding this latest shooting have yet to be released.
$60 meth bust led to shooting of officer
By Ryan Boetel
It was an undercover operation to bust two men for selling $60 worth of methamphetamine, but things didn’t go as planned.
An Albuquerque police lieutenant shot a fellow officer who was working undercover in a McDonald’s parking lot near Central and Tramway just before noon Friday.
Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said Saturday the male officer remained in critical condition at University of New Mexico Hospital. He is in the intensive care unit and has undergone multiple surgeries.
Vester went into a room at the motel and came back to the vehicle with the meth, according to the complaint.
Garcia then drove to the McDonald’s nearby and gave the bust signal. It was then that the shooting took place. Witnesses said they heard around five shots. Police said the officer was shot multiple times, but the exact number wasn’t known.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the car doors where Bailey and Vester were sitting were open, but police haven’t released details about any perceived threat or why the lieutenant opened fire. The complaint makes no mention of the suspects having a gun at the scene.
Albuquerque PD were notorious for police who abuse their power, even back in the 1970s, when I used to go there on business. If you believe that it is really not known how many times police shot their fellow officer, talk to me about buying my glacier in Miami. I’m selling it for just a few $million. They can’t use all their standard lies in this case, unless they knew he was undercover and thought he’d been talking to IA or DOJ.
From NY Times: To choose a jury in the trial of the man charged with killing 12 people in a packed Colorado movie theater, court officials mailed notices to 9,000 people in suburban Arapahoe County, casting such a wide net that residents ran about a one-in-50 chance of being tapped as potential jurors. An uncle, a father, husbands and friends of people who work in the prosecutor’s office received jury summonses. So did 12 people who are slated to be prosecution witnesses.
The numbers speak to the huge scale of a murder trial set to begin next week, more than two and a half years after a gunman sprayed bullets into a crowd of people at a midnight screening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”
The defendant, James E. Holmes, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After multiple delays, Colorado is bracing for the start of his trial, one of the most complicated and emotionally wrenching judicial proceedings the state has faced.
Isn’t a shame that the NRA and the Republican party are not codefendants in this case?
From Upworthy: The president’s a busy guy, so he only had three and a half minutes to explain what’s up. Here’s what you need to know:
Growing up, we all hear rumors about magical places.
Fantastic places. Places where the Internet actually works well. Where you can download a movie in under a minute. Where your Wi-Fi doesn’t stop working for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Maybe you read about them in storybooks. Maybe your friends whispered about them to you on the playground. Maybe your grandma told you old tales about them as she tucked you in at night. But as you grew older, more and more people told you that it was all made up, a myth for children. Those places didn’t really exist. Can you believe we all thought they did? And you nodded and laughed about how silly it all sounded in retrospect. But secretly, deep down, you always believed.
Well, those places are real. There are places that have reliable, fantastic, extremely zippy Internet!
To all the Internet junkies, who have Republican government, and who did not get off your butt to vote, or cast a protest vote for an independent with no chance, when a Democrat could have won: You probably won’t get this. You did this to yourselves.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 70. This will be a brief article. I’m about to leave for prison.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:39 (average 5:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: I wonder what would happen if these ads replaced the 500 fake ones that we see every day? Would people still judge women based on their skin tone, size, height, waistline, hair length, shoe size?
These real women are not what we see on the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise.
From The New Yorker: In a possible setback for Mitt Romney’s latest Presidential ambitions, a new poll reveals that a majority of Americans now regard the former Massachusetts governor as a stalker.
The poll results suggest that Romney’s presence in every Presidential campaign in recent memory has taken its toll on the American people, who have expressed disbelief that he would return after being repeatedly told in no uncertain terms that he was not wanted.
Additionally, many of those surveyed said that they previously felt harassed by the Massachusetts governor’s relentless e-mails and phone calls, and favored some form of intervention to keep Romney from contacting them in the future.
In an indication of how much Romney’s serial candidacies have traumatized the American people, more than fifty per cent said that they would support a restraining order to keep the former nominee five hundred feet from the United States until the 2016 election had safely passed.
Does Andy have Little Lord Willard pegged or what?
From Daily Kos: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and would-be president has a new book out, since that’s the thing that presidential candidates do. Politico excerpts 10 key quotes that demonstrate, according to the paper, how Rubio "tries hard to come across as an ‘ideas guy.’" They include his quote on Social Security and Medicare, which demonstrates that he is basing his ideas on total ignorance of actual policy.
"It is hard for me to imagine retiring at 65 and spending the next quarter century not working. I expect to be working, doing something productive and fulfilling."
Rubio supports raising the retirement age for Social Security as a way to ensure the system’s solvency and to reflect longer life expectancies. It’s perhaps the most politically risky territory he treads in the book. He says acting soon will allow people currently over the age of 55 to be spared. Rubio also advocates reducing the growth of benefits to upper-income seniors as well as eliminating the payroll tax on workers who have already reached retirement age.
On Medicare, he supports a voucher-like system in which seniors would get a set amount of money and can choose between traditional fee-for-service Medicare and private providers.
In other words this lying, Latino-hating Latino is a … Republican.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 69. Tonight Oregon Plays Ohio State in the inaugural BCS championship game. Then tomorrow is a prison volunteer day, so please expect me to be scarce for the next two to three days.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:07 (average 5:00). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Fox News just reported that Obama is going to ban doughnuts!
And not just doughnuts. Watch the report. Obama's jack-booted FDA is coming after (and they list these) popcorn, Christmas cookies (ohhh he hates Christmas!), crackers, frozen pizza, and canned frosting. Fox News host Clayton Morris actually said they would be prohibited!
Cenk is quite hilarious with this Republican lie. I wonder if Republican cops turned their back on de Blasio, because he's a Democrat, and they think he will help Obama take away their donuts. 😉
From YouTube: Elizabeth Warren: Break Up the Banks to Restore Economy for All
She is a glimmer of light in the dark ages.
From UPI: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been made the chair for the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, which oversees NASA.
OMG! Bend over! Republicans want to explore Uranus!! 😈
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 68. I’m hurrying to finish before it’s time to meditate on the Holy Ellipsoid Orb.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Ultimate Religious Agony:
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: George Zimmerman, 31, made his first court appearance on Saturday morning after being arrested by Lake Mary police on Friday evening.
According to Zimmerman’s attorney, the arrest was due to allegedly throwing a wine bottle at a girlfriend "several days ago."
Zimmerman was arrested in 2013 for alleged domestic violence against a girlfriend, although a Lake Mary police spokeswoman said "this alleged "victim is not the same (woman) as in 2013.
I wonder if this Republican hero used one of the guns Republican Ammosexuals gave him to replace the gun he used to murder Trayvon.
From NY Times: For all the clichés about pistol-packing Texas, the state is one of the few that has not yet succumbed to the gun lobby’s big push to let citizens carry handguns at the hip wherever they go. That may be about to change as the State Legislature convenes next week with open carry a top priority of the Republican majority and with Governor-elect Greg Abbott pledging to sign it into law. The result could produce a far from reassuring civic tableau if even a modest number of the 800,000 Texans who have concealed-carry licenses choose to strap their weapons on in public.
Who would have ever thought I’d have an opportunity to say that Texas is about to get more insane?!!?
From Washington Post: Mitt Romney sent a very clear message to a group of major donors in New York City on Friday: I’m thinking about running for president in 2016. Then, as he knew they would, those donors spread that message to every media outlet in the country.
It’s a stunning reversal from public — and private — assertions from Romney and his allies that, after two runs for president in 2008 and 2012, he was absolutely, 100 percent done with running.
He etched his sketch and poof!! His is a face we know well.
In fact, both are.
Cartoon:
I bet they’re about to try it again.
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 67. I’m still quite tired, after yesterday’s outing, but it was worth it. The pain in my foot is completely gone and will be for a couple months, when the cyst will be growing back. Today is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and I will be meditating, but tomorrow is my main concern, because my Broncos are entertaining the Colts in the late service. May big horses overwhelm little ones.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:59 (average 5:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Media Matters: Fox News contributor and radio talk show host Erick Erickson declared that "the terrorists won in Atlanta" after right-wing media falsely claimed that Atlanta’s anti-gay fire chief was terminated for his religious beliefs.
On January 6, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed dismantled conservatives’ claims that Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran was fired over a book that he wrote which contains anti-gay remarks, explaining that Cochran’s lack of judgment in distributing the book to his employees, and not following instructions regarding his month-long suspension over publishing the book without notice to the city, is what led to his termination.
On January 7, hours after a horrific terrorist attack against staffers of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that left 12 people dead, Erickson wrote [fascist delinked] a blog post that likened the LGBT community to terrorists for objecting to the former Atlanta fire chief’s book, and stated that "the terrorists won":
The Bottom line is this Republican hatemongers don’t get to use freedom of religion as an excuse to violate others’ legally guaranteed rights. However, comparing LGBT Americans to the French terrorists is beyond obscene.
From The New Yorker: President Obama’s plan to offer Americans two years of college for free has come under fire from congressional Republicans, who are calling it a blatant plot to make Americans smarter.
The G.O.P., which has benefited from the support of so-called “low-information voters” in recent years, accused Obama of cynically trying to make people smarter as a way of chipping away at the Republican base.
“You take low-information voters and give them information, and pretty soon they’re Democrats,” Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said.
Andy is right. It’s one of those socialist, Kenyan conspiracies!!
From Daily Kos: Last week Jon Stewart had an "impromptu theme" of social injustice. In one his skits he enumerated all the black males that were killed by police recently. In the process of his enumeration he had a bad call. It turned out according to the coroner’s report that Dante Parker died from from drugs in his body and not from police action. This was according to San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos.
Fox News just has to be right once by ewillies
Jon makes an excellent point in a hilarious manner.
Cartoon:
