Politics Plus

News is still in short supply, unless one wishes to repeat the same stories, day after day, where only the individual identities of the targets of hatred from the Fuhrer and Republican Rectum Reich are new.  Nevertheless, I’m back in the saddle.  Yesterday’s bank run proved most interesting.  In the shower, Stumpy had bee3n hanging down without a shrinker, causing him to expand, and the hot water made it worse, so as I dressed to go out, Stumpy would not fit into George.  Thankfully, Wendy accompanied me to the bank, and in return, I treated her to burritos from a neighborhood food cart.  Fortunately George popped on without difficulty today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

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

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: As the Republican Congress prepares to vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act, gutting Social Security benefits for seniors and the disabled, and other measures to please their billionaire donor base, they are apparently deathly afraid of the American public seeing them do it, and even more afraid of allowing the public to see the Democrats’ response:

House members could be fined and referred to the Ethics Committee if they break rules governing electronic video and pictures in the House chamber under a new rule proposed by House Republicans more than six months after the Democrats’ guerrilla sit-in over gun control.

"Any subsequent offense will be assessed at the higher amount, regardless of whether it is connected to any other offense by time or proximity," part of the proposal reads.

The “fine" would be $500 for the "first offense" of photographing or videotaping, with $2500 for every "subsequent offense," according to the proposed Rule.

In addition, the new Republican rule would ban anyone from seeing organized protests by the opposition, because sit-ins in the House well will be banned as well.

The First Amendment is suspended for the Republican Rectum Reich.  RESIST!!

From Robert Reich: [Resident]-elect Donald Trump is accusing President Obama of putting up “roadblocks” to a smooth transition.

In reality, I think President Obama has been too cooperative with Trump.

In the waning days of his administration, I’d recommend Obama take the following last stands:

1. Name Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the President power to fill any vacancy during the recess of the Senate. The Supreme Court is no exception: Justice William Brennan began his Court tenure with a recess appointment in 1956. Any appointments made this way expire at the end of the next Senate session. So if Obama appointed Garland on January 3, the appointment would last until December 2017, the end of the first session of the 115th Congress.

The Reich on the left is right. I shared one. Click through for the other six. I particularly like number three.  RESIST!!

From The Rachel Maddow Show:

Taking credit where credit is NOT dueVice President Biden’s Former Economic Advisor Jared Bernstein talks to Ari Melber about how Trump is trying to take credit for job growth when his policies could very well undermine his constituents.

You can be sure that, as soon as the Pumpkin Plutocrat is responsible for any economic developments, he will give "credit" for them to Democrats.  RESIST!!

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I’m waiting for my grocery delivery from Safeway.com to arrive.  It’s another slow day for news.  Last night, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell all took the night off.  My YouTube subscriptions were more nekkid than a TomCat in a depilatory factory.  The Gray Lady looked anorexic.  Therefore this is today’s only article.  Tomorrow, I may have no more than a Personal Update.  Because Wendy is off from school, she wants to come in the morning, instead of the evening.  When she’s done, I have to go out to the bank, because it’s the only day this week with no rain, snow or ice forecast.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:53 (average 5:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

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

Congrats to Matt and Robb for making it to the championship game.

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Undeterred by a resounding defeat at the United Nations, Israel’s government said Monday that it would move ahead with thousands of new homes in East Jerusalem and warned nations against further action, declaring that Israel does not “turn the other cheek.”

Just a few days after the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn Israeli settlements, Jerusalem’s municipal government signaled that it would not back down: The city intends to approve 600 housing units in the predominantly Palestinian eastern section of town on Wednesday in what a top official called a first installment on 5,600 new homes.

The defiant posture reflected a bristling anger among Israel’s pro-settlement political leaders, who not only blamed the United States for failing to block the Council resolution, but also claimed to have secret intelligence showing that President Obama’s team had orchestrated it. American officials strongly denied the claim, but the sides seem poised for more weeks of conflict until Mr. Obama hands over the presidency to Donald J. Trump.

At that point, Butcher Bibi can complete the slaughter of the Palestinian people, while Resident Nincompoop Nazi watches and cheers. Resist!!

From Liberals Unite!: Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles)  told MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff that she would refuse to meet with Trump at the White House and vowing to “fight him every inch of the way.”

Suboroff began the interview asking if Rep. Waters agreed with Senate Minority Leader Chuch Schumer’s strategy to work with Trump whenever possible or if she thought that “Democrats are being too nice” to the president-elect.

Waters blasted Trump in response telling Soboroff: “I tell you, that has been a problem in my party. That when we are in power, we’re nice. We bend over backwards to work with people.”

Spot on Maxine! Would that all Democrats had such big brass balls! Resist!!

From Salon.com: Julian Assange — who once argued that “since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of government” — came out with high praise for both President-elect Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Friday.

I know many progressives consider this criminal a hero. This confirms my repeated claim to the contrary, since he became Putin’s stooge. Resist!!

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Just to give you an idea how busy I've been, today is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and I didn't even know it until five minutes ago.  Most of the league meditates today, but my Broncos meditate with the Chiefs in one of the two Christmas games tomorrow, so I'll get to watch it.  So for today, may the Orb shine its blessed light on your team.  I'm running late, even thought I arose early, because I cooked the ham for tomorrow's feast with Wendy.  And, of course, I'm pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today's took me 2:51 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (TYT Channel): Trump Backer: Michelle Obama Should Live In Africa With Apes

Paladino, who the Reich nominated for Governor in NY, typifies the Fuhrer's Republican Party.

From NY Times: Within hours of confirming plans to appear at the inauguration of Donald J. Trump, the Radio City Rockettes were plunged into a maelstrom of social media outrage on Friday amid reports that the performers were contractually obligated to dance at the ceremony or lose their jobs.

But as the day wore on, both the Madison Square Garden Company, which manages the Rockettes, and the dancers’ union, the American Guild of Variety Artists, said that any of the dancers could opt out of the Jan. 20 performance in Washington.

They should all boycott. In this position, Rockettes are far too vulnerable to be grabbed by the Peach Pervert.

From Think Progress: Officials from Donald Trump’s transition team submitted requests to at least two cabinet departments demanding they hand over the names of any government employees who are working on programs that seek to combat the rise of violent extremism, according to a report from Reuters.

The news wire obtained a copy of an email sent from members of Trump’s transition team to the State Department, asking for the identities of anyone working on anti-extremism programs. “Please indicate names of people serving in those roles and status (political or career),” the email says.

While the State Department deals largely with threats posed by foreign extremists and international terrorist organizations like ISIS, a similar request was made of the Department of Homeland Security. In addition to their work on international terrorism, DHS focuses on domestic threats as well, including the rise of right-wing extremism. A 2012 report from DHS outlined the growing threat of so-called “sovereign citizen extremists,” pockets of far-right activists who reject, sometimes violently, the authority of government… [emphasis added]

I have no doubt that the Tangerine Traitor will ask his adopted Russian daddy to prepare accommodations for them in Siberia.

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I’m getting a late start today.  Wendy’s plane from Lost Wages was delayed, and when she arrived, traffic was so bad that she waited an extra hour for her son to pick her up, and then it took her 2 1/2 hours to get home with her sons and niece, drop them off, and return here.  As a result, I got to bed quite late.  She also lost my whole $2.   I slept poorly, so I needed to take a nap after doing my morning research.  After lunch, I started to work on Christmas dinner.  This my first major meal since I lost my leg.  Being half blind doesn’t help.  Today I cooled 2 lb of fresh Brussels sprouts.  They were quite dirty, so I had to wash them.  Then I had to trim the ends and remove the outside leaves of each sprout, before cooking them.  I’ll make the stuffing tomorrow, roast the ham on Saturday, and make the stuffed potatoes and Hollandaise sauce for the sprouts on Christmas day.  Yes, I’m pooped, but what else is new?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:34 (average 5:25).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): How Our New Corporate Overlords Plan to Thrive

Here’s a special note to third party voters and stay-home non-voters who made this tyranny possible. Bend over, grab your ankles, and while you’re screaming ask yourselves why you made the rest of us suffer this with you. Then RESIST!!

From EgbertoWillies.com: Bill O’Reilly became the chief Trump white nationalist mainstream propaganda mouthpiece with this deceiving rant meant to create political dissension.

“Abolishing the electoral college,” O’Reilly said. “That is the subject of this evening’s’ Talking Points Memo.”

Bill O’Reilly then proceeded with his provocative if not downright racist rant.

BIG Barf Bag Alert!

What Republican Racist O’Lielly isn’t telling you is that when he says marginalizing white rural voters, he means making their votes count the same as those of black urban voters.

From Daily Kos: While Republicans in North Carolina thwart the democratic process of our Constitution by stripping the elected incoming governor of his powers, the Republican governor of Ohio—John “I love war” Kasich—is abusing his powers.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Monday signed legislation blocking next year’s special election vote on whether to raise Cleveland’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, according to his office.

Senate Bill 331 prohibits communities in the state from raising the minimum wage beyond the state’s minimum wage rate, currently set at $8.10 per hour. State lawmakers passed the bill earlier this month at the request of Cleveland city officials and others, who sought to forestall a special election on the wage hike next May.

Despite claims to the contrary, KKKasich is NOT a reasonable Republican. Combined with Republican, reasonable is an oxymoron. With or without reasonable, a Republican is just a moron.

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