Politics Plus

Wendy is due in about 25 minutes to de-stink the TomCat and help with housework, so I’ll write until she arrives and finish after she leaves.  Today id a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are worshiping with the Giants in the night game, so I’ll eat supper early and be in full meditation mode afterwards.  May the holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they claim to be oversized.  Tomorrow I have an appointment to pick up and adjust my glasses.  It won’t take long, but by the time we factor in the lift bus, I’ll be gone for around four hours.  I’ll publish, if I can, but I may have only a Personal Update.

Wendy just left.  She thanks you all for your kindness, and JD for the earrings that she will wear watching football this afternoon.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Donald Trump Trucker Rally Cold Open

Alec led his Pence around by the nose just like the Fuhrer does his Pence. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Late Professor William T. Kelley taught Marketing at Wharton School of Business and Finance, University of Pennsylvania, for 31 years, ending with his retirement in 1982.  Dr. Kelley, who also had vast experience as a business consultant, was the author of a then-widely used textbook called Marketing Intelligence — The Management of Marketing Information (originally published by P. Staples, London, 1968).  Dr. Kelley taught marketing management to both undergraduate and graduate students at Wharton. www.upenn.edu/…  Dr. Bill was one of my closest friends for 47 years when we lost him at 94 about six years ago.  Bill would have been 100 this year. 

Donald J. Trump was an undergraduate student at Wharton for the latter two of his college years, having been graduated in 1968. www.thedp.com/…  

Professor Kelley told me 100 times over three decades that “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.”  I remember his emphasis and inflection — it went like this — “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.”  Dr. Kelley told me this after Trump had become a celebrity but long before he was considered a political figure.  Dr. Kelley often referred to Trump’s arrogance when he told of this — that Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything.

Isn’t it a shame that the state of Ivy League education was such that Kelly and his fellow profs passed Trump anyway, instead of flunking the dumb SOB? And why didn’t the Electoral College flunk him out?!!? RESIST!!

From NY Times: In a desolate corner of northeastern Australia, about 100 miles from the nearest town, a grassy stretch of prime grazing land sits above a vein of coal so rich and deep that it could be mined for decades.

The Australian government is considering a proposal to build one of the world’s largest coal mines in this remote locale, known as the Galilee Basin, where acacia and eucalyptus trees grow wild between scattered creeks.

An Indian conglomerate, the Adani Group, has asked for a taxpayer-financed loan of as much as $800 million to make the enormous project viable, promising to create thousands of jobs in return.

But the plan has met intense opposition in Australia and abroad, focusing attention on a question with global resonance: Given the threat of climate change and the slowing global demand for coal, does the world really need another giant mine, especially at the public’s expense?

I hope that the Land of Oz will prefer green energy. Aussies, would it be feasible to invest that $800 million in a giant solar farm or wind farm? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

2017 Russian Missiles Discovered in Washington DC.

I’m feeling tired, lethargic, and unmotivated, so it’s a good day for TGIF13!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Is Mueller Trying to Stop Trump From Pardoning People?

The only people Trump would pardon, other than family, are people, who know enough about his own crimes to be dangerous, if they flip.  Mueller would not have to investigate this, unless he intended to indict Trump, his family, or people who can spill the beans on Trump.  Wooo Hooo!! One possible way is to bring simultaneous indictments in state and federal court. RESIST!!

From Upworthy: The city’s government unveiled an ambitious plan to ban gas-powered cars from the city by the end of the next decade.

"We have planned the end of thermic vehicle use, and therefore of fossil energies, by 2030," Christophe Nadjovski, Paris deputy mayor in charge of transportation, told France Info radio.

The city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, had already announced a plan to ban diesel-powered vehicles from the city by 2024.

Bravo à la France! RESIST!!

From Washington Post: President Trump is throwing a bomb into the insurance marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act, choosing to end critical payments to health insurers that help millions of lower-income Americans afford coverage. The decision coincides with an executive order on Thursday to allow alternative health plans that skirt the law’s requirements.

The White House confirmed late Thursday that it would halt federal payments for cost-sharing reductions, although a statement did not specify when. Another statement a short time later by top officials at the Health and Human Services Department said the cutoff would be immediate. The subsidies total about $7 billion this year.

Trump has threatened for months to stop the payments, which go to insurers that are required by the law to help eligible consumers afford their deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. But he held off while other administration officials warned him such a move would cause an implosion of the ACA marketplaces that could be blamed on Republicans, according to two individuals briefed on the decision.

Health insurers and state regulators have been in a state of high anxiety over the prospect of the marketplaces cratering because of such White House action. The fifth year’s open-enrollment season for consumers to buy coverage through ACA exchanges will start in less than three weeks, and insurers have said that stopping the cost-sharing payments would be the single greatest step the Trump administration could take to damage the marketplaces — and the law.

Trump’s idiocy is a major abuse of power. The job of the executive branch is to enforce existing law, not to refuse to enforce whatever the moron doesn’t like. It will also kill thousands of people, many of whom will be the deplorable idiots that voted for him. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

After my nap, I think I’ll go cross paths.

I have a busy day today.  I’m writing earlier than normal, because I’m waiting for a grocery delivery from Store to Door.  When it arrives, I’ll put the groceries away, have lunch and finish writing.  Wendy is coming this evening to destink the putrid TomCat.  Even though today’s high is forecast at 57°, 100% humidity makes me sticky.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:40 (average 4:23).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Offer:

We need a player to take over Pam’s league leading team in out fantasy football league.  If you’d like to do it, please email me (see contact me under Links in left column) with the email address you use (or want to use) for nfl.com fantasy.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): What Mike Pence’s Cynical Anthem Stunt Cost

Keith has a point. When it comes to wasting YOUR money on their own luxuries, nobody excels like the $1,232,943,000.00, and still counting, Republican Reich! RESIST!!

From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Rick Wiles Says ‘You Don’t Have The Right To Worship Lucifer In This Country’

Barf Bag Alert!!

As a Christian, I have no wish to worship Lucifer, his teased hair, his orange face, his tiny hands, his pee-soaked body, or his Putin-ravished butt. However, if I was sick enough to want to do that, it is my right, no matter what that Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian liar says. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: There are primarily two types of poor people in this country:

1. Those who are struggling because they have an entire power structure rigged against them

2. Those who have no money because they are, frankly, morons

We fight for those in the first category. The second category might as well be referred to as Trump supporters, and I simply don’t have any empathy for proudly ignorant, dirt poor, uneducated racists who are currently getting swindled right now by a supposed “billionaire.” 

President Cheeto just tweeted that “The RNC is taking in far more $’s than the Dems, and much of it by my wonderful small donors.”  He was referring to this article in theWashington Post [sic]—which I suppose he forgot that he called FAKE NEWS just a few days ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump is using money donated to his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee to pay for his lawyers in the probe of alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

If you believe Trump, he is uber-wealthy and doesn’t need anybody’s help to pay his bills. So either he is lying, or gets some kind of kick out of poor dupes donating to help pay his legal fees. Either way, he mocks them and proves our point that they do indeed deserve our scorn. At least when we mock them, we don’t swindle them.

At different times the Fuhrer has denied doing this and bragged about doing it. Republicans, Trump is an expert at sheeple-fleecing, so bend over and say BAA-A-A-A-A-A! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s Monday.  I’m not taking a nap this morning, because I had a lot of paperwork to so, and now that it’s done, I’ll just write earlier than usual and publish right after lunch.  That’s probably a good thing, because I’m battling a mild case of Republicosis again.  I seem to have that more often since my gall bladder was removed, so I think I’m going to cut out stool softeners, except for when I have Republicitis.  In the other hand, that might not be it.  Since there has been an asshole in the White House, mine has decided to RESIST!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:34 (average 5:04).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Media Matters: Buzzfeed News has obtained and published “an explosive cache of documents” confirming Breitbart as the mouthpiece for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the racist right-wing movement known as the alt-right. Buzzfeed’s entire report on Breitbart management’s courting of neo-Nazis and white supremacists can be found here.

Breitbart actively courted and solicited neo-Nazis and white supremacist leaders for stories, even allowing them to contribute ideas and kill stories [emphasis original]

Click through. This is too horrid to ignore. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: San Francisco 49ers Safety Eric Reid had something to say after his team lost to the Indy Colts in overtime — 26-23 — the game which Vice-Resident Mike Pence staged a planned publicity stunt walk out on to whine-protest players exercising the first amendment rights to protest the extra judicial executions of young black men by bad police officers.

Talking to reporters in the locker room Reid said:

"My honest reaction: … Does anybody know the last time he’s (Pence) been to a football game? With that being said, he tweeted out a three-year-old photo of him at a Colts game, so with the information I have, the last time he was at a Colts game was three years ago. So this looks like a PR stunt to me. He knew our team has had the most players protest. He knew that we were probably going to do it again. This is what systemic oppression looks like. A man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple of things out and leaves the game with an attempt to thwart our efforts. Based on the information I have, that’s the assumption I’ve made."

I’d say that’s a safe assumption Eric, and well stated.

I’d say it’s a safe assumption too, since Trump has admitted telling Pence to leave.  WE paid for one damn pricey photo-op!  RESIST!!

From NY Times: The White House on Sunday delivered to Congress a long list of hard-line immigration measures that President Trump is demanding in exchange for any deal to protect the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, imperiling a fledgling bipartisan push to reach a legislative solution.

Before agreeing to provide legal status for 800,000 young immigrants brought here illegally as children, Mr. Trump will insist on the construction of a wall across the southern border, the hiring of 10,000 immigration agents, tougher laws for those seeking asylum and denial of federal grants to “sanctuary cities,” officials said.

As much as I want to protect the dreamers, Trump is charging too high a price in his Republican oppression of other undocumented Latinos and their families.  RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Portland OR celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day!