Open Thread – 4/4/2019

 Posted by at 11:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 042019
 

It’s another busy day here at the CatBox.  I overslept and am running late.  WWWendy appreciates your kind wishes.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:46). To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Volunteer Work:

I thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of my guys.  The Woman on the lower right is Sandi.  On the rare occasions I can go down, she takes me.

0404MyGuys

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): William Barr’s Rosy Report Spin Frustrates Mueller Investigators: NYT (23.5 min.)

 

There are lots of goodies here for people, who love exposing the truth about Putin’s Piddle Pervert and the Republican Reich. Trump’s Coverup General, Barf Bag Barr, appears to have done his Fuhrer’s bidding. I hope that we get the full report, before US voters, world-renowned for laziness and apathy, stop paying attention. RESIST!!

From YouTube (NY Times Channel): Who Is Lori Lightfoot? She’ll Be Chicago’s First Black Woman Mayor

 

I have no doubt that Lori will be an exponential improvement over the vile Rahmbo. Kudos to Chi Town. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that Donald Trump issue a “complete and sincere apology” to the German people, after Trump claimed incorrectly, on Tuesday, that his father was born in Germany.

“Of the many insulting things that Donald Trump could say to the German people, alleging that his father was born here is by far the most hurtful,” she said. “He must take it back at once.”

Merkel said that Germany would consider breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.S. immediately if Trump did not acknowledge “that his father was born somewhere else.”

I agree with her, Andy. Germany was right to expel Grandpa Drumpfenfarten for draft dodging. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Dr. King had said that he expected to be assassinated by the right.  He was right.

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Open Thread – 4/3/3019

 Posted by at 10:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 032019
 

it’s another busy day here in the CatBox.  Store to Door will deliver my groceries late this morning, and I’ll have to unpack and put them away.  WWWendy comes this evening to de-stink the rancid TomCat.  We have lots of chores to do.  Poor Wendy just had another death in her family, a niece (not the one that fills in for her taking care of me).  Please remember her and her family in your thoughts, wishes, and/or prayers.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:26 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Donald Trump Appears To Be Changing His Mind On Mueller Report Release

 

Could it be that the Fuhrer bought Barr’s BS, until Barr tipped him off that it really is BS? RESIST!!

From The Hill: The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to authorize a subpoena to compel the Justice Department to hand over special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report to Congress.

The committee voted 24-17 along party lines to approve a resolution authorizing subpoenas for Mueller’s report, including accompanying exhibits and other attachments, as well as its underlying evidence, at a business meeting Wednesday morning. The resolution also authorizes the committee’s Democratic chairman to subpoena testimony related to the special counsel’s report.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he would give Attorney General William Barr time to produce the final, unredacted report to Congress before issuing the subpoena, however he did not provide a timeline on when that would happen.

Yesterday would be a good time to issue the subpoena to Barf Bag Barr [R-Trump’s Ass]. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: Pete Buttigieg wants to abolish the electoral college. Sen. Elizabeth Warren hopes to ban gerrymandering. Sen. Cory Booker talks about limiting terms for Supreme Court justices. Beto O’Rourke is weighing an expansion of the high court.

The Democratic presidential hopefuls, prodded by a frustrated base, are pushing fundamental changes to the American political system. Aimed at changing how presidents are chosen and laws are passed, the proposals go beyond typical campaign issues such as health care and taxes to challenge the basic rules of American democracy.

Many of those ideas face long odds against enactment. But the conversation speaks volumes about the state of the Democratic Party in the age of Trump, reflecting a sentiment in the party that the system has stopped working fairly — a grievance once voiced more often by conservatives, including President Trump.

These are all good ideas, and they should be discussed, but they are long term goals that many voters will see as pie in the sky. Without ignoring those issues, we need to put kitchen table issues in the front seat. RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 4/2/2019

 Posted by at 10:22 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 022019
 

I have another busy day with lots to get done, as I prepare to do taxes on Sunday.  It was a muggy night.  I slept poorly.  I hoped to get a Monthly Report done today or tomorrow, but I’m afraid I just don’t have enough time.  I hope I can next month.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:24 (average 5:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Snopes Channel): Did a Banned Federal Study Show That Refugees Bring in More in Government Revenues Than They Cost?

 

Call the report “banned” or “suppressed”, Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten and the Republican Reich are cheerleaders for bigotry and enemies of truth across the board. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: Everything You Need to Know About the New Economy

 

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, have rigged the game for billionaires. All Robert’s ideas must be adopted. Spreading the truth is what I do. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: After praising Donald J. Trump, on Sunday, for cutting aid to “three Mexican countries,” the cast of “Fox & Friends” blamed former President Barack Obama for creating additional Mexicos during his tenure in the White House.

“When Barack Obama took office, there was only one Mexico,” the host Ed Henry said. “He allowed these additional Mexicos to develop.”

Henry’s co-host Jedediah Bila agreed that the problem of multiple Mexicos was Obama’s fault. “It was bad enough having one Mexico without Obama going out and creating a bunch of new ones,” she said, noting that there had been a three-hundred-per-cent increase in the number of Mexicos on Obama’s watch.

Straight news again, Andy? That sounds exactly like the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise.  RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 3/31/2019

 Posted by at 12:01 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Plus, Politics
Mar 312019
 

Big rush.  Wendy’s sister, Katie, will be here soon, and we have a busy morning.

Done, I’m still busy and way pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:43 (average 5:16).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Mueller Report Cold Open

 

Dang!! They mimic the real assholes beautifully! RESIST!!

From YouTube (A blast from the past): Steppenwolf – Born to be wild 1969

 

Ah, the memories! What a drummer! RESIST!!

From NY Times: In a major legal blow to President Trump’s push to expand offshore oil and gas development, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by Mr. Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic coast was unlawful.

The decision, by Judge Sharon L. Gleason of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, concluded late Friday that President Barack Obama’s 2015 and 2016 withdrawal from drilling of about 120 million acres of Arctic Ocean and about 3.8 million acres in the Atlantic “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” She wrote that an April 2017 executive order by Mr. Trump revoking the drilling ban “is unlawful, as it exceeded the president’s authority.”

The decision, which is expected to be appealed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, immediately reinstates the drilling ban on most of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Alaska, a pristine region home to endangered species including polar bears and bowhead whales where oil companies have long sought to drill. Along the Atlantic coast, it blocks drilling around a series of coral canyons that run from Norfolk, Va., to the Canadian border which are home to unique deepwater corals and rare fish species.

Kudos to Judge Gleason and to President Obama for appointing a fair judge. RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 3/30/2019

 Posted by at 10:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 302019
 

I must be feeling pretty tired, because I overslept again.  I just got my A1c results.  I’m quite pleased with 6.0.  Tomorrow Wendy’s niece, Katie, is filling in for her.  I hope to publish normally, but may not have time.  If I can’t I won’t send links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:33 (average 5:04).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): William Barr Improvises Role On Mueller Report Despite Clear Regulations (25 min.)

The more Republicans we subpoena (with cause), the better. Is Coverup General Barr suggesting that Moby Dick might contain evidence of whales, after all? People who believe anything Barr says are fools. RESIST!!

From Huffington Post: Former Nevada Assembly woman Lucy Flores published an op-ed in New York Magazine’s The Cut on Friday alleging that Joe Biden inappropriately kissed and touched her after he offered to help her with her 2014 campaign.

Flores, who was running for Nevada lieutenant governor at the time, described her encounter with the former vice president as making her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused.” During a Las Vegas campaign rally, she alleges he approached her from behind, put his hands on her shoulders, smelled her hair and kissed the back of her head.

“I froze. ‘Why is the vice-president of the United States touching me?’” she wrote.

She detailed the unwanted encounter with the likely 2020 candidate, which took place right before she was set to go onstage and speak.

I don’t want to rush to judgment, but I think it should be investigated and appropriate action taken. The Republican Reich already have a bush bandit running for Resident. Democrats cannot afford to copy them. RESIST!!

From Alternet: National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre issued a stark warning that the group may be forced to shut down due to financial woes in a fundraising letter to supporters.

LaPierre wrote in a four-page letter that the group may be forced to shutter “very soon,” The Daily Beast reported. The NRA chief blamed the financial woes on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who last year directed state regulators to “urge insurance companies, New York State-chartered banks, and other financial services companies licensed in New York to review any relationships they may have with the National Rifle Association.”

LaPierre wrote that Cuomo’s “tactics are already working.”

“Right now we’re facing an attack that’s unprecedented not just in the history of the NRA, but in the entire history of our country. And if this attack succeeds, NRA will be forced to shut down forever,” LaPierre wrote.

That would be wonderful. The demise of the NRA would open the door for the creation of a new organization to do the training in gun skill and safety that it used to do, when I was a member, half a century ago. RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 3/29/2019

 Posted by at 9:49 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion
Mar 292019
 

I had a busy day yesterday, and after a long week, I’m feeling quite tired.  My only medical issue is a yeast infection in the diaper area.  No wonder the antibiotic ointment didn’t work.  My next trip put isn’t until a week from Monday for my semi-annual eye torture.  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Rep. Adam Schiff’s Controlled Anger At GOP’s Indifference On Russia

 

Have truer words than Schiff’s ever been spoken? I think not. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): See DeVos’ reaction to CNN’s questions after testimony

 

Every penny Democrats can’t spend on disabled kids is a penny Republicans can give to a billionaire. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: One inherent danger of allowing a religious minority to install a puppet controlled by religious fanatics in the White House is the now unfolding threat of government officially establishing religion – the Christian religion. Any American’s confidence that the U.S. Constitution is a protection against government establishing religion is grossly misplaced and, that belief is about to be disabused by the current religious conservatives responsible for adjudicating the law of the land.

Because a nearly half-century-old Supreme Court ruling prevented the government from advancing religion, the wall of separation between church and state is almost certainly going to be eviscerated by the Christian conservatives on the current Supreme Court. The crusade to demolish the wall of separation is being advanced by one of the Heritage Foundation SCOTUS nominees confirmed shortly afterTrump corrupted every aspect of  the government his tiny little hands touched. However, it is noteworthy that Neil Gorsuch’s theocratic crusade is wholly supported by Trump’s other SCOTUS appointee, religious serial liar and sexual abuser Brett Kavanaugh. 

The reason the “Establishment Clause” is going to be found unconstitutional by the current Court’s Christian conservatives is crystal clear; they believe a 1970’s-era ruling prohibiting government establishment of religion adhered to the U.S. Constitution and is patently wrong. The prohibition on government establishing religion is appalling to evangelicals and the theocrats on the High Court are not going to tolerate it any longer. 

I agree with this author with one highly notable exception. Republicans are not establishing the Christian Religion. There is nothing remotely Christian about the Republican anti-Christian dogma of hate, lies, and oppression. Their religion is the polar opposite of authentic Christianity. It’s Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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Open Thread – 3/27/2019

 Posted by at 10:33 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 272019
 

It’s a very busy day today, and I’m so worn out that I overslept for an hour.  Store to Door will deliver groceries soon, and I have to unpack and put them away.  WWWendy is coming this evening.  Her sons’ father passed away, and she is taking her son to Iowa for the funeral.  She will be gone from Thursday until Monday night.  Her cousin is filling in Sunday.  We have a ton of tasks to complete.  Today I have a routine medical exam with Megan, my PCP.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update with no links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:48 (average 6:15).  To do it, click here.   How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Why Did So Many Donald Trump Associates Lie About Contact With Russians?

 

Why? They lied to coverup their conspiracy with the Russians. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Attorney General William Barr has just read the classic American novel “Moby-Dick,” by Herman Melville, and found that the book contains “no evidence whatsoever of whales,” Barr stated on Tuesday.

The Attorney General issued his statement on the absence of whales in the Melville classic in a two-paragraph book report released to the news media.

“Those who read ‘Moby-Dick’ looking for whales will be sorely disappointed,” Barr wrote. “There are no whales here.”

To illustrate his point, Barr quoted the book’s first sentence: “Call me Ishmael.”

“As you can clearly see, that sentence does not have a whale in it,” Barr wrote.

Dang, Andy! If Coverup-General Barr had been a literary critic, we’d have the blessing of never having heard of him! RESIST!!

From NY Times: After years of effort, scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service had a moment of celebration as they wrapped up a comprehensive analysis of the threat that three widely used pesticides present to hundreds of endangered species, like the kit fox and the seaside sparrow.

“Woohoo!” Patrice Ashfield, then a branch chief at Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters, wrote to her colleagues in August 2017.

Their analysis found that two of the pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, were so toxic that they “jeopardize the continued existence” of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants, a conclusion that could lead to tighter restrictions on use of the chemicals.

But just before the team planned to make its findings public in November 2017, something unexpected happened: Top political appointees of the Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, blocked the release and set in motion a new process intended to apply a much narrower standard to determine the risks from the pesticides.

The Party of Death strikes again! RESIST!!

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