Politics Plus

I got to bed late again last night.  As I plugged my iPhone in to recharge, it notified me that it needed to update to sync.  I learned long ago that, if I don’t babysit it to input pins and password on prompt, it tends to upfuckticate instead of update.  It took an hour.  I overslept this morning, so I’m skipping my nap and will probably publish a little early.  My Quicken substitute, CountAbout, is starting to come together, although the documentation is poor and the learning curve is steep.  However, their tech support, unlike Quicken, is quick and efficient, and after my free trial expires, it will cost only $40 a year.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos will be hosting the Raiders, and it may be televised here.  Teams are still TBA.  It is also a Wendy day.  Fantasy Players, make changes in your lineup before 6:30 AM Pacific, as there is another London game.  Monday is my four week cataract follow up, so the Monthly Report for September will be several days late.  In international terms, I’m putting 2 kilos of kitty shit in a one kilo bag.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:48 (average 5:51).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From CNN: President Donald Trump launched an attack on San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz on Saturday for criticizing the White House’s hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, accusing her of “poor leadership” and suggesting that the island’s residents are not doing enough to help themselves.

“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” the President tweeted from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is spending the weekend. “… Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.” [emphasis added]

Here is what Mayor Cruz had said and why.

You’re doing a heck of a job, Trumpie! NOT!! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In an experience that he called “traumatic” and “horrifying,” the departing Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, was seated between two screaming babies Friday night on his first-ever commercial flight.

Price, who was flying from Washington, D.C., to his home in Georgia just hours after resigning from his Cabinet position, reacted with alarm after discovering that the airline had assigned him a middle seat between two passengers holding inconsolably shrieking babies on their laps.

Moments after making his terrible discovery, Price urgently called for a flight attendant and reportedly told her, “There are babies on this aircraft. That can’t possibly be allowed.”

After informing Price that babies were, in fact, permitted on commercial flights, the attendant instructed the former Cabinet secretary to fasten his seatbelt and ignored his request to be served a free glass of Dom Perignon champagne and beluga caviar with toast points.

Dang Andy! I actually have to agree that seating Price between two screaming babies was “traumatic” and “horrifying”. Those poor babies will need psychotherapy to get over being seated next to Price! RESIST!!

From Robert Reich: Trump and Republicans are trying to sell you the idea that American corporations need a tax cut in order to be competitive. That’s rubbish. Here are 6 reasons why:

The Reich on the left is right! As I have long said, Republican supply-side lies are not the solution to the demand-side problems Republicans have created. RESIST!!

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I’m running late today.  I overslept, and have more to share than I can fit in my normal two articles.  Wendy thanks you for your support for her proud but empty nest syndrome.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 4:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): How the Pittsburgh Penguins Became Trump’s Political Pawns

Before I can say whether or not I agree with Keith, I need to know what the players’ position is here. If any wish to attend, given the clear statement that it implies no support of the Fuhrer and his deplorable ways, that must be their choice, even though I disagree.  If any wish not to attend in protest against the Fuhrer and his deplorable ways, that must also be their choice. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Liberal Redneck Channel): Take a Knee, Y’all

Amen Y’all! RESIST!!

From Exposed by CMD: A new study of registered voters in Dane and Milwaukee Counties who did not vote in the 2016 presidential election found that approximately 17,000-23,000 eligible voters in those counties were prevented or deterred from voting by Wisconsin’s voter ID law. Due to financial constraints, the social scientists were only able to do a study of two of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, but the authors say that extrapolating statewide as many as 45,000 people stayed home because of the law.

Donald Trump won the state of Wisconsin by only 22,000 votes, the first GOP presidential victory in the state since Ronald Regan in 1984. The shocking upset garnered national attention and helped deliver the electoral college to Trump as the popular vote went to Clinton.

Republicans plan to establish a permanent, fascist Republican Reich in which elections exist for show only, because Republicans would control who may vote, and who may not! RESIST!!

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The sun has returned, and it hit the wall this morning, so I had to button up and turn on the AC again.  Starting tomorrow, we have a two day heat wave, but a couple 85° days is a lot more bearable than a couple weeks at or near 100°.  I tried a Quicken replacement.  It screwed the pooch.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

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

Scores:

Can anyone spare some Vaseline?

Standings:

Congrats to Pam for leading the league.  And look at Wendy go!  Also, congrats to our beloved Sasquatch for getting some underfooting.  I’m speeding toward her.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): We Will Not Stand for Trump

I could not have said it better. In a wheelchair, nobody asks me to stand anymore, but I would put my hand on a shoulder, or if I had someone to help me back up, I would take a knee. RESIST!!

From The Rachel Maddow Show: Trump dangerous bellicosity raises nuclear war risk with N. Korea

Joe Cirincione, MSNBC nuclear security analyst, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump’s insult-comic threats against North Korea have only escalated the threat of war with North Korea.

We are closer to nuclear war than we have been at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, because the greater idiot took a break from tweets applauding Nazis and tweets demeaning women to provoke the lesser idiot. RESIST!!

From Upworthy: Down Under, Bernardi is known for, among other things, pushing climate change denial, vehemently opposing LGBTQ rights, and calling proponents of abortion access "pro-death."

So, at face value, a tweet he published on Sept. 20 probably wasn’t all that surprising.

"This gender morphing is really getting absurd," Bernardi said, linking to a story about a school in South Australia holding a "Wear a Dress Day."

The first problem with Bernardi’s tweet is that it’s wildly transphobic. The second problem is that it … sort of totally missed the whole point of what "Wear a Dress Day" actually is.

"Wear a Dress Day" has nothing to do with any sort of LGBTQ awareness campaign like Bernardi’s tweet suggests. It’s about girls’ education.

Student leaders at Craigburn Primary School near Adelaide had chosen to support One Girl’s Do It in a Dress campaign on their last day of term — a day in which students are typically allowed to wear casual clothes to class. 

Students who want to wear casual clothing can certainly still do so. But, in recognition of the campaign, students of all genders are also allowed to wear dresses — only if they wish to do so — to boost awareness of girls’ lack of access to education globally, a blog post by the school points out.

Condolences to my Oz friends, because you clearly have Republicans on your side of the world too. RESIST!!

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It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and my Broncos are worshiping with the Bills.  The game is not televised here , but I shall meditate as well as I can.  May the divine Orb shed its blessed light on your team, unless they create a bison plucky hazard.  Today is a Wendy day, and I’m totally ready for a shower.

I let Wendy go a half hour early, as she has a busy day.  My Broncos are currently down 4.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 6:07).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell catapulted himself into the national political discourse on national anthem protests, one intensified by President Trump’s comments over the weekend, as he knelt for the song preceding a game against the Texas Rangers.

Maxwell, a 26-year-old rookie whose family has military roots, is the first MLB player to kneel during the anthem, following in the footsteps of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the anthem ahead of the 2016 NFL season. Since then several dozen athletes, mostly NFL players, have followed suit, using the gesture to protest police shootings of unarmed black men and to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Maxwell, however, knelt also to protest comments by President Trump, according to his agent, specifically Trump’s call on NFL owners to fire or suspend players for kneeling during the anthem. Trump continued that call Sunday morning on Twitter.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” wondered the president at a Friday night rally, “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ”

Kudos to Maxwell. Professional athletes have a guaranteed 1st Amendment right to speak out against the Fuhrer and his Republican Reich. Kneeling in protest does not disrespect the flag, and Trump would not care if it did. He cares only because it disrespects him by opposing the Republican de facto position that cops should kill minority demonstrators. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump on Friday capped a busy week of diplomatic activity by naming the former Alaska governor Sarah Palin the United States Ambassador to Nambia.

By naming Palin to this diplomatic post, the United States has become the first nation in the world to formally recognize Nambia’s existence.

In a joint appearance with Trump at the White House, Palin acknowledged that she “didn’t know a lot about Nambia” but said that she was looking forward to receiving a comprehensive briefing on the nation’s history, culture, and customs from the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.

“Then it’s Nambia, here I come!” Palin exclaimed.

Dang Andy! This is the only time I have ever agreed with the Fuhrer. Nambia is the perfect post for Bloody Bullseye Barbie.  RESIST!!

From NY Times: In an unpredictable political year across Europe, the German election on Sunday has been considered the boring final act. Angela Merkel, the Continent’s most powerful figure, is expected to win a fourth term as chancellor after a colorless campaign. Yet if many Germans seem satisfied enough with their leader, others are unhappy with the wishy-washy consensus of the main political parties.

Troubled by her migration policy and her long tenure, some Germans are turning more toward smaller, more ideological parties. For the first time in more than 60 years, they are expected to vote a far-right, anti-immigration party — the Alternative for Germany, known by its German initials, AfD — into the federal Parliament.

In recent weeks, the party has regained lost ground in the opinion polls. It could emerge as Germany’s third-largest party — and even become the leader of the opposition, if the current coalition of the two largest parties falls apart.

Such a scenario would represent a big shift in the consensus-driven style of politics in Germany. And the historical import is undeniable in a country still shadowed by the Nazi legacy of World War II, which is why the election is generating some angst.

Even the party’s entrance into Parliament “would be a dramatic milestone,” said Frank Decker, a political scientist from the University of Bonn. “In the past there were a few individual old Nazis who made it into the national Parliament, but there has never been a party on the far-right of the political spectrum.”

Our own nation is a sad example of what happens when Republicans take control of a government. It is critically important that other Nazi parties, like the AfD, be denied even the slightest toehold elsewhere. RESIST!!

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