Politics Plus

It’s a very busy day.  Store to Door delivered groceries, which I unpacked and put away.  I got a haircut.  I was so shaggy that I’m temped to act like a Sheeple and say BA-A-A-A-A-A!  Wendy is coming this evening to de-stink the TomCat and help with chores.  Carrie’s husband Barry is improving.  His kidneys are working again.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:43 (average 5:09).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): STORMY (DANIELS) – A parody of "Stormy"

I wonder if Stormy rained on Putin’s Piddle Puppet. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) sought to defend himself against an accusation of sexual harassment Tuesday, saying he “developed an affection” for a decades-younger staffer he considered his “soul mate” but never sought a romantic or sexual relationship with her.

I don’t buy it.  The only souls Republican Congress critters have are the souls they are: ass-souls! RESIST!!

From Think Progress: There’s never been a ballot measure asking voters to weigh funding for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion until Oregon’s. On Tuesday, voters statewide were asked to decide whether to keep taxing insurance companies and hospitals to pay for health insurance or tell the state legislature to return to the drawing board and think of something else. They chose the former.

Expanding Medicaid coverage to all people living in poverty has been a decades-long priority for Oregon. But covering everyone — not just pregnant women, kids, seniors, and adults with disabilities — who lives 100 percent below the federal poverty level led to some budget setbacks over the years. So when the federal government agreed to pay for 100 percent of the costs associated, at least for a few years, Oregon opted to further expand Medicaid coverage to people living up to 138 percent of poverty.

Now 94 percent of Oregonians have health insurance — one of the nation’s highest insured rates.

Last year, states needed to start pitching in financially; per the health law, the federal government’s financial share fell to 95 percent in 2017 and will fall to 90 percent by 2020. How Oregon intends to pay for its share is on Tuesday’s ballot.

By voting yes to Measure 101, voters upheld temporary taxes passed by the state legislature and okay-ed by the governor last year. (Three Republican state legislators who opposed the taxes petitioned to get the bill on the ballot.) The 1.5 percent tax on some insurers and managed care organizations and 0.7 percent tax on large hospitals would raise anywhere between $210 to $320 million over the next two years. (Due to a federal labor law, states can’t tax self-insured plans.) The measure also raises revenue for the state’s reinsurance program, which helps lower premiums for plans offered on the Obamacare marketplace.

This actually costs me money, because the Insurance Network, Providence, that offers my Medicare Advantage plan is one paying the tax, and my income is barely above the level required for the benefit. Nevertheless, I was proud to vote for it. Oregon leads the way!  RESIST!!

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It’s another muggy, sticky day, so I’m going to be as brief as possible.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:18 (average 4:16).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: The United States will open its embassy in Jerusalem next year, Vice President Pence said Monday, accelerating plans to move the mission in line with the Trump administration’s controversial decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital.

Claiming support for Israel, Pence and the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are trying to board their freight train to Armageddon, where they believe they can enjoy seeing all but 144,000 Jews fried into crispy critters. RESIST!!

From SI Live: Global temperatures in 2017 were the second warmest on record since 1880, according to NASA.

Last year’s temperatures were second only to 2016, which holds the record for the hottest year since 1880, when global estimates first started.

Earth’s average temperatures in 2017 were 1.62 degrees warmer than the 1951 to 1990 mean, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

Ladies, get out your bikinis. Soon the Alaskan Riviera will be open for tropical fun. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: These are the Democratic heroes that voted against the foolish cave-in.

Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.)
Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.)
Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
Jon Tester (D-Mont.)
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

The rest intended well and were trying to negotiate in good faith, but when has a promise from Bought Bitch Mitch ever been worth more than paper, after you wipe your ass with it.

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It’s another stinky, muggy day, and I slept poorly.  I can’t wait for shower day tomorrow.  Welcome to the first day of the second year of Trump’s Russian Republican Reich and the first day of the Republican Shutdown.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:58 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): This is Trump’s Shutdown

Even then, Trump was lying. Last night, after the Senate vote failed, Schumer even offered Trump funding, as demanded, for the wall. Trump refused. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump is “scared to death” that the 2020 Presidential election will be decided by Americans, an aide to Trump has confirmed.

The aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Trump is panicking over a doomsday scenario in which Americans, sidelined during the 2016 election, play a dominant role in influencing the 2020 contest.

“It sounds paranoid, but, as we speak, representatives of the United States are already plotting to remove him from office in 2020,” the aide said. “They are determined to replace him with someone who takes a move favorable view toward their country.”

The aide said that the Americans, frustrated by Trump’s open hostility to the United States since taking office, will “stop at nothing” to achieve their ultimate goal: installing an agent of the U.S. in the Oval Office.

Andy seems to have a window into Putin’s Pervert’s psyche. RESIST!!

From Politico: “The shutdown rests at the feet of the GOP and it appears a majority of Americans agree”

Michael Steele is a former chairperson of the Republican National Committee.

Despite the rhetorical effort to paste Democrats with “Schumer’s Shutdown” and to redefine what constitutes majority control of the senate (“60”? Really?), the fact remains that this shutdown rests at the feet of the GOP and it appears a majority of Americans agree. I don’t like it. It certainly could have been avoided, but the President wound up negotiating against himself by taking a potential agreement off the table, leaving Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lament, “As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I would be convinced that we were not just spinning our wheels.” That put Republicans in the position to spin their wheels right into another government shutdown. Pitiful.

We need to call this disaster what it is: the Republican Shutdown! RESIST!!

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It’s another super muggy day, and I’m very tired, because I slept intermittently last night.  So please pardon my brevity.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:37).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Jimmy Kimmel Channel): The Porn Donald Trump Doesn’t Want You to See

Barf Bag Alert!!

Frankly, I don’t believe it. It overrated his performance. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Republican senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley have been back home in Iowa to hold small town halls in rural areas, places they probably thought would be ‘safe spaces’ from angry voters. WRONG. The rural voters who turned out were not happy with Donald Trump and they unloaded on Ernst and Grassley. In one particularly embarrassing moment for Sen. Ernst in Red Oak, Iowa (population 5,476), she drew laughter and scorn.

Pig Nuts Barf Bag Alert!!

Joni Pig Nuts is too stupid to know that both Sweden and Finland are between Norway and Russia. RESIST!!

From NY Times: It was a made-for-TV moment, perfect for a presidential campaign advertisement.

His fists clenched and his voice rising, Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, delivered a 10-minute verbal thrashing to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen this week, recalling his “tears of rage” when he learned that President Trump had used vulgarities to describe African nations.

Not to be outdone, Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, who was seated next to Mr. Booker, also skewered Ms. Nielsen, suggesting that Americans could draw a “reasonable inference” that she is racist.

The next presidential election is nearly three years away, but in the Capitol the race is already unfolding, with no fewer than six senators — Mr. Booker and Ms. Harris, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — eyeing the Democratic nomination in 2020, with each angling to get to the left of the others.

Personally I think this is premature. Our eyes need to be focused on 2018, not 2020. RESIST!!

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