Yesterday we set another heat record for the date, 88° with extreme humidity.  Now we have two days in the mid 70°s, before the next heat wave including mid 90°s this weekend.  The building’s hallways and bathrooms are still so hot, that after my last trip to Republicate, my hair was sweat soaked and I had to dry it.  Except for the heat, I’m feeling pretty well.  Having gone from extreme Republicitis to extreme Republicosis, I returned to mild Republicitis.  Now I have mild Republicosis.  I guess this is what it takes to return to normal.  I just put in tomorrow’s grocery order, and Thursday is my first outing.  I have the preliminary appointment before my cataract surgery.  Have a Republican-free day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:17 (average 5:27).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump Appears to Be Self-Destructing | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

The Republican Party is desperate to hold the Fuhrer together, until they finish their task of giving the rest of YOUR money to billionaires, destroying YOUR freedom, and establishing their permanent, totalitarian Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From The Last Word: Jon Ossoff responds to Trump’s attacks

On the eve of the Georgia 6th District special election, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff joins Lawrence O’Donnell to react to President Donald Trump’s attacks on him and explains why he is trying to talk about health care as much as possible during the campaign.

Jon is an example of a Democrat, who has tailored a progressive agenda to the needs of his own constituents. RESIST!!

From NY Times: If liberals voted at the same rate as conservatives, Hillary Clinton would be president. Even with Donald Trump’s working-class appeal, Clinton could have swept Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

If liberals voted at the same rate as conservatives, Democrats would control the Senate. Clinton or Barack Obama could then have filled the recent Supreme Court vacancy, and that justice would hold the tiebreaking vote on campaign finance, labor unions and other issues.

If liberals voted at the same rate as conservatives, the country would be doing more to address the two defining issues of our time — climate change and stagnant middle-class living standards. Instead, Trump is making both worse.

RESIST!! And…

VOTE BLUE!!

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I’m waiting for Wendy to arrive to de-stink the sweaty TomCat and to help with chores, including the dreaded task.  If you played Fantasy Football in our league last year and have not told me whether you are still playing, please let me know.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:53).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): A GOP Father’s Day

You know Bought Bitch Mitch and his goose-stepping criminal cronies will only make the bad things in the House Bill worse. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: No experience? No problem! Donald Trump rewards loyalty above all else. Like a king doling out titles and land to loyalists, the U.S. is now Trump’s own personal fiefdom. He’s proved it once again by announcing he’s selected Lynne Patton for a key role at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Patton was appointed Wednesday to head up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II, which includes New York and New Jersey, where she’ll oversee distribution of billions of taxpayer dollars.

What makes her qualified for a job overseeing billions of taxpayer dollars? She coordinated Eric Trump’s wedding, not to mention some ‘celebrity’ golf tournaments.

What’s even sadder is that she may be the most qualified of all of Trump’s appointees. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Many governments must be thinking along the same lines, but few have spelled it out so clearly. Germany did, when Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “The times in which we could rely fully on others — they are somewhat over.” Now Canada, a country tightly bound to its neighbor by history, alliance and the longest border in the world, has declared the need to recognize that the United States is relinquishing its role as the “indispensable nation.”

“The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course,” Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, told her Parliament this month.

Ms. Freeland never mentioned Donald Trump. That wouldn’t be diplomatic. But every line of her speech before a silent House of Commons was clearly about a world order thrown into crisis as President Trump scoffs at trade agreements, hectors allies, rips up the landmark Paris climate accord and otherwise demonstrates disdain for anything that isn’t “America First.” Canada’s course, Ms. Freeland said, would be the opposite of Canada First; it would be “the renewal, indeed the strengthening, of the postwar multilateral order.”

Dear world. It is my fervent hope that we will defeat the Republican Reich and return to the community of civilized nations. RESIST!!

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This is today’s only article from me.  The good news is that I seem to have recovered from Republicosis.  The bad news is that the blog caught it.  I went to update the poll this morning, and went to the administrators’ page that I always use to edit the sidebar widgets.  It is blank.  That means we have a conflict, between one of our plugins and WordPress, between two of our plugins, or between our theme and WordPress.  I’m going to have to deactivate all our plugins and add them back one at a time until I find the culprit.  During the process, the blog will be changing rapidly in appearance and function, so please be patient, and know that you are not the cause of this.  At worst I may need to rebuild from scratch with far fewer bells and whistles. I needed this like America needs Trump!  ARGH!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:23 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): 13 Men Deciding Health Care

I have nothing against men. I am one. I would not want 13 women to make decisions on my absolute need to scratch certain itches, and 13 well-intended progressive men, let alone 13 Republican misogynists, must not be allowed to make decisions on women’s health needs. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Full Frontal Channel): Sessions ‘n Cotton’s Movie Talk

The Red Queen should sue over her comparison to the Fuhrer. RESIST!!

From Exposed by CMD: This year’s legislative season saw a strong push in the states from right-wing groups, bankrolled by the Koch brothers and other ultra-conservative billionaires, hoping to convene a national constitutional convention in order to inject rigid fiscal constraints into our country’s founding document. Advocates of a federal “balanced budget amendment” (BBA) picked up two more states, Wyoming and Arizona, in their drive to win the 34 resolutions needed to bypass Congress and convene a convention to propose changes to the U.S. Constitution.

That momentum, however, was blunted by surprisingly successful campaigns to rescind convention calls in three states, New Mexico, Maryland, and Nevada. As a result, BBA proponents now claim 27 states in their column, down from 28 at the beginning of the year.

Two steps forward and three steps back…from the brink of a political experiment untried since 1787.

Click Through.  A Constitutional Convention of, by, and for Republican Koch Suckers would be an unmitigated disaster. RESIST!!

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What a day!  When I was in the hospital I had to buy one thing online with my credit card, and it was hacked from the hospital guest network.  US Bank caught the first bogus attempt to use it immediately, froze the card, and will have a replacement in my hands by Monday.  Their service is great, but I charge so many things, that I shall have to update a bunch of vendors, and it’s a huge pain in the ass.  Having to reschedule my surgery was a brain fart.  I thought my preliminary appointment was next Thursday.  I was wrong.  It was tomorrow, and I’m not that far healed yet.  So it’s on for Tuesday, 7/18.  My bowels have still not settled down.  I had three days or Republicitis, attacked per doctor’s orders with ever increasing doses of Dulcolax and stool softener.  The breakthrough came this morning.  Instant Republicosis!  Who would have ever believed that so much shit could fit into one person!!!  ARGH!!  My friend Sandi, with whom I do volunteer work, will be here to visit in about fifteen minutes.  Store to Door is coming with my grocery order.  And Wendy comes this evening to de-stink the very stinky TomCat.  This will be my only article today.  What a day!!  (Later: I had a good visit with my friend.)

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:42 (average 4:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: Jeff Sessions DOES NOT RECALL!!!

Sorry about the Morning Joe pollution at the end. The rest of KKK Beauregard’s testimony can be summarized in three words: "I won’t say." RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: As a team composed of Republican Congressman and staffers were practicing baseball at a field near Alexandria, VA, a shooter fired into the field, wounding Congressman Steve Scalise, along with a Congressional staffer and two Capitol Police officers.

The shooter was apparently a white male. According to Congressman Jeff Flake, the shooter was “in his 40s, maybe 50,” white, with dark hair. Several observers noted that he was wearing a blue shirt.

At least two Congressman have reported that they spoke with the man they believed to be the shooter before the incident, with Congressman Jeff Duncan reporting that the man asked if the team practicing was Democrats or Republicans. However, Democrats practice at another field. Multiple Republicans had this morning’s practice, which is preparation for a charity game, noted on their calendars. So it’s likely the shooter would not have arrived on the field, armed, without knowing which team was present.

This is not the way to resist, so I trust this was not a Democrat.  However, it was only a matter of time before disgruntled Republican Ammosexuals opened the season on their Congress critters. RESIST!!

From NY Times: In 2016, the Democratic Party lost the presidency to possibly the least popular candidate in American history. In recent years, Democrats have also lost the Senate and House to right-wing Republicans whose extremist agenda is far removed from where most Americans are politically. Republicans now control almost two-thirds of governor’s offices and have gained about 1,000 seats in state legislatures in the past nine years. In 24 states, Democrats have almost no political influence at all.

If these results are not a clear manifestation of a failed political strategy, I don’t know what is. For the sake of our country and the world, the Democratic Party, in a very fundamental way, must change direction. It has got to open its doors wide to working people and young people. It must become less dependent on wealthy contributors, and it must make clear to the working families of this country that, in these difficult times, it is prepared to stand up and fight for their rights. Without hesitation, it must take on the powerful corporate interests that dominate the economic and political life of the country.

There are lessons to be learned from the recent campaign in Britain. The Conservatives there called the snap election with the full expectation that they would win a landslide. They didn’t. Against all predictions they lost 13 seats in Parliament while Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party won 32. There is never one reason elections are won or lost, but there is widespread agreement that momentum shifted to Labour after it released a very progressive manifesto that generated much enthusiasm among young people and workers. One of the most interesting aspects of the election was the soaring turnout among voters 34 or younger.

The British elections should be a lesson for the Democratic Party. We already have among the lowest voter turnout of any major country on earth. Democrats will not win if the 2018 midterm election turnout resembles the unbelievably low 36.7 percent of eligible voters who cast ballots in 2014. The Democrats must develop an agenda that speaks to the pain of tens of millions of families who are working longer hours for lower wages and to the young people who, unless we turn the economy around, will have a lower standard of living than their parents.

Bernie Sanders makes several valid points here. RESIST!!

From Memes Happen: One that I made.

That Trump was not aborted is the most valid support for abortion that has ever existed.  RESIST!!

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