Politics Plus

Yesterday afternoon, I discovered that when I see two carafes full of coffee in my hand, and see two burners on the coffee maker, it’s easy to put the right eye’s carafe on the left eye’s burner.  ARGH!  Cleaning all that coffee from the floor took me over an hour.  I could actually turn off my A/C for the first time since last Wednesday.  If only it would last.  I’m getting ready to leave for my Podiatrist appointment.  I won’t publish this before I return, and this will be my only article today.

The trip went without incident, and the foot is in excellent shape.  As expected,. George’s foot needed no care.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 8:58).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: John Oliver Asks Donald Trump To "Drop Out"

Oliver is both right and funny, but Trump won’t do it.

From NY Times: As he seeks to revive his embattled candidacy, Donald J. Trump has seized on a new argument to rally his supporters and to explain away a possible defeat in November: that Democrats are preparing to exploit weak voter identification laws to win a “stolen election” through fraudulent voting.

The claim has spurred outrage among Democrats and has alarmed some Republicans who worry his tactics will backfire, angering minority voters and threatening the party’s chances in close races down the ballot.

Since 2010, Republican governors and Republican-held state legislatures have fought for stricter voter identification laws, which Democrats argue are intended to hinder turnout by the poorest voters, many of them black and Hispanic, who tend to vote Democratic.

From a Republican perspective, Trump is right. Weak voter ID laws in some locations will actually allow some Democrats and independents to exercise their right to vote while Black, Latino, Asian, Poor, Disabled, Unionized, Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Female, and/or any other people, who Republicans are trying to disenfranchise.

From Think Progress: Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush in part because of votes lost to third-party candidates. He has a simple message for fellow climate hawks who are contemplating a third-party vote in 2016: Please don’t.

Amen! Please click through for the rest of Gore’s message.

Cartoon:

Yesterday the temperature hit 102°.  Today may well be worse.  My A/C is holding it’s own, but the building’s hallways and restrooms have become super-heated.  After my morning regal trip to the throne at 5:30 AM, taken to contemplate the odor of the Republican Party, I had to change my shirt to one that wasn’t sweat-soaked.  Today I plan to write, attend the live draft of our fantasy football league, care for personal needs, and as little else as I can.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:25 (average 5:03).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Nation: If you watch cable news, you’ve seen someone from an outfit called the “Independent Women’s Forum” promoting a conservative take on the women’s issue of the day. It’s no secret that the group leans right; it grew out of “Women for Judge Thomas,” which formed during Anita Hill’s testimony about Clarence Thomas at his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and was formally launched in 1992 by the late Barbara Olson and Rosalie “Ricky” Silberman, along with a cadre of powerful conservative women that included former second lady Lynne Cheney. Still, it’s always billed itself as “non-partisan” and “independent.” In its early years, it promoted IWF-affiliated author Christina Hoff Sommers’s brand of “equity feminism” and opposed the “radical feminism” of the ’90s women’s movement, which it argued was pushing myths about sexual harassment, pay inequities, and discrimination in the workplace and widespread abuse on college campuses. For years it played no formal role in electoral politics.

But an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), provided exclusively to The Nation, reveals that since 2010, IWF and its political arm, Independent Women’s Voice, have become aggressive players in Republican politics, embedded in the network of organizations backed by Charles and David Koch, advocating for the Koch brothers’ myriad concerns, and playing on their “independent” label to elect GOP candidates. If this country is to elect its first woman president, Hillary Clinton will have to face down this powerful conservative women’s group to get there.

RepubliSpeak Dictionary
Independent Nonpartisan: Koch Sucker

From Media Matters: The Fox Cycle is the process by which Fox News pushes right-wing fringe stories into the mainstream news. Fox distorts facts, spreads myths as truths and devotes heavy, one-sided coverage to make viewers believe in baseless, manufactured stories — and, worse, to convince mainstream media outlets to cover these lies.

Example:

Barf Bag Alert!!

That’s exactly how the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, deceives the .

From Daily Kos: Yet another story whose full import won’t be discussed anywhere that the majority of Americans are likely to see it:

After the Director of the FBI fully exonerated Hillary Clinton and made clear that she broke no laws and told no lies, House Republicans took the extraordinary step of demanding copies if the FBI’s notes from its interview with Clinton. That request was granted, and almost immediately, information from those notes began leaking to the media. The trouble: every word of those notes is, by definition, classified information.

Jennifer Palmieri, the Communications Director for the Hillary Clinton campaign, tweeted this evening that she “Would remind all that this material is classified. So this is leaking of classified material.” Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta added that he’s “Already hearing from people who have been contacted by reporters with knowledge of the content of their interviews in FBI 302’s.”

This is GOP SOP. As a rule Republicans break the law, leak classified information, and threaten national security to gain even a slight political advantage. Don’t take my word for it. Just remember Valerie Plame.

Cartoon:

Never has a village idiot felt so wanted!

Today is the worst day of the heat wave so far.  It’s before Noon and already 90°.  97° is forecast, but it will be hotter.  My A/C is holding its own, albeit barely.  While not comfortable, I’m not miserable either, as long as I remain quiet and expend little energy.  Would you all please keep Nameless in your thoughts and prayers?  He has an important medical appointment.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:50 (average 5:05).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football:

Lefty Blog Friends players, our live draft is tomorrow (Saturday) at 1 PM PDT (2 PM MDT, 3 PM CDT, 4 PM EDT).  Feel free to contact me with questions.

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Funny or Die: The Great Wall of Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

Rump Dump target practice? Now that’s what I call a happy ending!!

From The New Yorker: President Obama is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard when he should be hard at work running ISIS, Donald Trump charged on Thursday.

In an interview with Fox News, the Republican Presidential nominee said that Obama’s preference for golfing in favor of the demanding day-to-day work of running a terrorist organization shows “what a disaster he has been” at the helm of the Islamic State.

“Frankly, he doesn’t deserve to call himself the founder of ISIS,” Trump told Fox’s Sean Hannity. “He is a disgrace.”

Dang Andy!! That’s absurd enough for him to say! If Rump Dump were running his eternal resting place, Hell would need to import portable heaters for frost abatement.

From Alternet: The reign of record hot months in 2016 continues, with last month claiming the title of hottest July on record globally, according to data released by NASA on Monday.

The streak means that 2016 is still well on its way to upsetting last year as the hottest year on record. Or as Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, said on Twitter, there is still a 99 percent chance 2016 will take the top slot.

Every month so far this year has been record hot. In NASA’s data, that streak goes back to October 2015, which was the first month in its data set that was more than 1˚C hotter than average.

I can name two people who believe it: the Squatch and I.

Cartoon:

It’s no surprise that they like Trump too!

The day is going poorly so far.  My A/C tubing came loose last night.  I can’t see to fix it.  If I could, I won’t fit in that corner.  Building maintenance said they’ll come when they can, but are not sure when.  Portland is now under an excessive heat warning through the weekend.  In addition, today is a grocery delivery day.  Late this afternoon, Wendy will be here for my care.  I imagine I may be very stinky by then.

Maintenance arrived over two hours later.  Even though the temperature was still under 70° outside, it was over 85° in here, because the sun had hit the brickwork and was superheating it.  Fortunately, they were able to reconnect the exhaust hose.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:25 (average 5:23).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Funny or Die: Putin Loves Trump

That’s almost as absurd the third party propaganda Putin produces on RT.

From Daily Kos: Rudy Giuliani, stumping for Trump today.

"Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office."

And to think we used to call him Rudi 911! Nevertheless Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian terrorists are a far more deadly threat to the US than the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Muslims of Al Qaeda and the Daesh.

From NY Times: Hillary Clinton does not dispute that the presidential campaign is going well for her at the moment.

But she would rather not dwell on it.

“Don’t be complacent, my friends!” she told supporters on Tuesday inside a high school gym in West Philadelphia. “Even though we’re doing fine right now, I’m not taking anyone, anywhere, for granted.”

As Mrs. Clinton seizes polling advantages over Donald J. Trump in essentially every traditional swing state, her team is working to keep supporters energized and engaged, reminding them that winning public surveys in August is worth exactly zero electoral votes in November.

She’s right!

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