Politics Plus

I’m not sure why it is that I’m feeling so lethargic today, but because I am, this is my only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:39 (average 5:40).  To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Agony:

Useless stinking Orb!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Sean Hannity is echoing Alex Jones

Barf Bag Alert!!

Birds of a feather are Republican assholes! RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: If Antarctica’s ice sheets melted, the worlds oceans would rise by 200 – 210 feet, everywhere. Antarctica holds 6,957,470 cubic miles of ice. That represents over 90% of all the ice on the planet and between 60 to 70% of the worlds fresh water. The sea ice begins to expand at the beginning of winter, and eventually advances by 40,000 square miles per day, surrounding the continent and doubling the size of the ice in Antarctica. The snow that falls takes about 100,000 years to flow to the coast of Antarctica before it breaks off the marine extension of glaciers, or ice shelves, and becomes an iceberg. Once an iceberg breaks off the ice platform, any resistance that it provided to hold back the land ice is lost, and the continental ice can accelerate it’s flow to the southern ocean.

The Conversation notes that for the first time in 7,000 years a phenomenon known as upwelling (the upward flow of warm ocean water to the surface) is rotting the ice shelves from below. It is thought that the upwelling has caused the many ice shelf collapses and ice thinning that we have seen over the past decades.

The ocean surrounding Antarctica is extremely cold, but water over 300m deep, Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), is about 3⁰C above the melting point of ice. Normally, the very cold water above keeps this away from ice shelves. But in some areas, CDW is spilling onto the shallow Antarctic continental shelf, causing the ice to thin.

Ice shelf thinning has accelerated in recent decades, but the picture is not the same everywhere. While the east of the Antarctic has shown modest gains in ice thickness, the west has outstripped this with significant ice loss – up to 18% in vulnerable areas like the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas.

I can only hope that a 200′ increase in sea level will coincide with a Trump/Pence/Ryan/McConnell/Koch vacation to Mar-a-Lago. RESIST!!

From NY Times: The Environmental Protection Agency has canceled the speaking appearance of three agency scientists who were scheduled to discuss climate change at a conference on Monday in Rhode Island, according to the agency and several people involved.

John Konkus, an E.P.A. spokesman and a former Trump campaign operative in Florida, confirmed that agency scientists would not speak at the State of the Narragansett Bay and Watershed program in Providence. He provided no further explanation.

Scientists involved in the program said that much of the discussion at the event centers on climate change. Many said they were surprised by the E.P.A.’s last-minute cancellation, particularly since the agency helps to fund the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, which is hosting the conference. The scientists who have been barred from speaking contributed substantial material to a 400-page report to be issued on Monday.

The move highlights widespread concern that the E.P.A. will silence government scientists from speaking publicly or conducting work on climate change. Scott Pruitt, the agency administrator, has said that he does not believe human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are primarily responsible for the warming of the planet.

In context with the last Short Take, we are well and truly screwed. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I’m trying to be as lazy as I can today.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are visiting LA to worship with the Chargers.  The game will not be televised here, because it is at the same time as the damn SeaChickens game.  It’s also a Wendy day, and we have lots to do, including the dreaded task.  May the divine Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they are electrical.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:08 (average 3:54).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Dangerous Policy

For decades, it has been standard Republican misogyny that the right to life begins at conception, and standard Republican misanthropy that it ends at birth. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a stirring defense of Donald Trump’s chief of staff, General John Kelly, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Friday that it was “unpatriotic in the extreme” to offer irrefutable video proof that a four-star general lied.

“It is unpatriotic enough to accuse a four-star general of lying,” Sanders told the White House press corps. “But to make available a video that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that that general lied is unpatriotic bordering on treasonous.”

Warming to her subject, Sanders said that any American who sees undeniable video evidence that a general lied and chooses to believe the video “shows disrespect for our country and hatred for our flag.”

Andy, is this supposed to be unusual? It looks like standard Republican Reich raving to me. RESIST!!

From The Rachel Maddow Show: Trump Chief of staff John Kelly lied in attack on Rep. Wilson

Rachel Maddow reports the latest developments in the mess Donald Trump has made politicizing military next-of-kin notifications with the fact that Trump chief of staff John Kelly’s attack on Rep. Frederica Wilson in his defense of Trump was completely false.

No matter how greasy the sleaze, IOKIYAR! If Kelly were not a goose-stepping Fascist racist, Trump would never have appointed him. If you hoping Kelly will save us if Trump goes for the nuclear football, this is an example of his courage. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I am proud to have been one of those patriots.

It’s been another busy day.  I scheduled medical appointments, and lift bus rides.  I ordered a new cover for Stumpy.  Last night, I asked Wendy to measure my circumference three inches back from the tip.  You should have seen the look on her face, when she asked me what on earth for.  So I told her.  She was most relieved, I was talking about Stumpy.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:15 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Funny or Die Channel): Republican Tax Plan: How Much Does Jared Kushner Get?

They got that right! How much does Kushner get? Too! RESIST!!

From 11th Hour: Fmr. CIA boss Brennan: World may wonder if Trump’s just reckless

For the first time, fmr. CIA Director John Brennan takes on Trump’s foreign policy – issuing dire warnings on the threat of war with North Korea and Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

For a former CIA Director to make such a public statement is unprecedented. RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump on Wednesday backed away from his endorsement of a bipartisan Senate proposal to stabilize health insurance markets, throwing the legislative effort into doubt even as the chief architect of the deal predicted that it would become law before the end of the year.

The latest actions by the White House confused Republicans on Capitol Hill and irked Democrats — but in the end, their effect was not clear. The effort to calm roiled insurance markets appears destined for a showdown in December, when supporters of the compromise, drafted by Senators Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, and Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, will have the most leverage.

The mixed signals began Tuesday, when Mr. Trump appeared to give his blessing to the deal to restore subsidies to health insurers that he said days before he would cut off. Mr. Alexander and Ms. Murray agreed on legislation that would continue federal payments to insurance companies through 2019 to reimburse them for discounts that they are required to provide to millions of low-income people who have coverage under the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

I just received an email from Jeff Merkley [D-OR] that he supports it, but as I said yesterday, the chance of passage is slim at best. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s a chilly day, and that’s OK with me.  I ordered groceries from Store to Door and put the finishing touches on a huge load of γηννα chili, so Squatch had better close her window.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 4:56).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Update:

Here is the latest from our own fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

Wooo Hooo!

Standings:

Congrats to Pam, who left the league in sole possession of 1st place.  Condolences to Jack who is even under a Bigfoot foot.  I have broken up Pam’s team and her players are available to claim on waivers, through the add player feature.  Whether or not any of your claims are successful will depend on your position in the waiver order and who else claims which players.  Be sure to make claims today.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Donald Trump is the Harvey Weinstein of Washington

Trump is the Harvey Weinstein of the World, but why no outrage from the Reich?  Keith forgot one key element of the Republican world view. IOKIYAR! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Good News: Voting Rights

Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Just minutes after the publisher Larry Flynt offered ten million dollars in exchange for information leading to Donald Trump’s impeachment, Trump contacted Flynt and said that he would gladly provide the information himself in exchange for the cash.

According to Flynt, shortly after their phone conversation Trump sent him a voluminous number of e-mails, phone records, and other evidence of impeachable offenses, after which Flynt wired ten million dollars to Trump’s Swiss bank account.

“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be, to be honest,” Flynt told reporters.

The swift denouement to Trump’s tenure in the White House raised more than a few eyebrows in Washington, with some insiders wondering if Trump’s eagerness to accept the ten-million-dollar payment indicated that his net worth was considerably smaller than he had professed.

Andy, his net worth is way less than he claims. Even if Trump owns $billions, he is worth less than a wormy dawg turd! RESIST!!

Cartoon: