Politics Plus

The weather remains somewhat hot but excessively humid today and tomorrow.  Then Portland will be back under an Excessive Heat Warning from Thursday through Sunday, so it looks like no relief in the Cat Box.  The big problem is that, as tired as I feel, it’s too damn sticky to get comfortable to sleep.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:31 (average 4:40).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Update:

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

Short Takes:

From USA Today: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is consolidating the support of the Millennials who fueled Bernie Sanders’ challenge during the primaries, a new USA TODAY/Rock the Vote Poll finds, as Republican Donald Trump heads toward the worst showing among younger voters in modern American history.

The survey shows Clinton trouncing Trump 56%-20% among those under 35, though she has failed so far to generate the levels of enthusiasm Sanders did — and the high turn-out that can signal — among Millennials.

"I get worried about the bigoted element of our country, and that they will stick with Trump regardless of his stupidity," says Elizabeth Krueger, 31, an actress in New York City who was among those surveyed. She supports Clinton. "She is not going to be a perfect president, but who would be?"

It’s good to see that most of the Bernie supporters are separating themselves from those on the left who think our nation is better served by their hatred of Hillary than by their support for Bernie.

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump lashed out at a new target on Monday, blaming his bad poll numbers on the existence of the numerical system.

In sometimes rambling remarks at an outdoor rally in Ohio, the Republican Presidential nominee called the numerical system “rigged” and unleashed a torrent of abuse on numbers themselves, calling them “disgusting” and “the lowest form of life.”

“It’s why I won’t release my taxes,” he said. “They’re full of goddam numbers.”

While Republican candidates in the past have attempted to exploit their supporters’ distrust of math, Trump is believed to be the first nominee to call into question the numerical system itself.

Dang Andy!! Before you know it he’ll blame ME for math!

From Alternet: Hillary Clinton earned a powerful progressive endorsement Tuesday, landing the support of the Working Families Party, which enthusiastically endorsed Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.

“The change we need next year starts with electing Secretary Clinton, but it doesn’t end there,” WFP National Director Dan Cantor said in a press release, noting its major platform concerns include the student debt crisis, money in politics, racial injustice and climate change.

The group says it plans to pressure the Clinton administration to follow through with her progressive campaign promises. Clinton was forced to the left on several issues during the hard-fought primary battle; following Sanders’ concession speech, she laid out an economic plan that promised to tackle student debt and oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, among other policies embraced by Sanders and his supporters.

I support both the Working Families Party endorsement, and their pledge to hold Hillary’s feet to the fire. I’m glad they realized that the most progressive thing we can do between now and election day is to keep Rump Dump Trump out of office.

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Wendi should be here momentarily, and I don’t know how much I can do.  I’m still feeling queasy and quite lethargic, and I think I may have had a reaction to a tetanus vaccine received Friday.  Tomorrow I have an appointment with my Urologist (routine), so please expect no more than a Personal Update.

Wendi just left, so the TomCat is primped and polished.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 5:37).  To do it, click here.  Hoe did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: When you’re busy accusing political opponents of founding terrorist organizations, and you’re tired of saying just kidding, what are you going to do about it? When you finish your political show trials for opponents you’ve accused of consorting with the devil, just where are you going to lock her up?

A President Donald Trump might push for Americans accused of terrorism to be tried in military tribunal at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Republican nominee told the Miami Herald on Thursday.

“I would say they could be tried there, that would be fine,” Trump said in a brief interview ahead of his speech to home builders in Miami Beach.

Regular US prisons are too good for them. And of course, ordinary justice is too good for them. Those accused by the pointing orange finger get special treatment.

I’ve been calling it the GOP Gitmo Gulag for years. Was I wrong?

From The New Yorker: Clarifying his position on a key national-security issue, Donald Trump said on Friday that as President he would be willing to use nuclear weapons, “but only in a sarcastic way.”

“People who are worried about me having the nuclear-launch codes should stop worrying, O.K.?” Trump told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “If I ever used nuclear weapons, it would be really obvious that I was just being sarcastic.”

Pressed by Blitzer to explain the difference between a sarcastic and non-sarcastic nuclear attack, Trump responded, “You’d use the weapons and everything, but then you’d say, ‘Just kidding.’ ”

Andy, evilly is the only way Republicans would use nukes, but I can sure see them saying that.

From Alternet: Why are they still supporting him? In Krugman’s view, because their proposals are con jobs, and all they want to do is reduce taxes on the rich, which will be much harder to do if Clinton wins. That’s the short answer.

Krugman suggests that the key to Republican thinking lies in one number: 34.

What’s that? It’s the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the average federal tax rate for the top 1 percent in 2013, the latest year available. And it’s up from just 28.2 in 2008, because President Obama allowed the high-end Bush tax cuts to expire and imposed new taxes to pay for a dramatic expansion of health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Taxes on the really, really rich have gone up even more.

If Hillary Clinton wins, taxes on the elite will at minimum stay at this level, and may even go up significantly if Democrats do well enough in congressional races to enable her to pass new legislation. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that her tax plan would raise the average tax rate for the top 1 percent by another 3.4 percentage points, and the rate for the top 0.1 percent by five points.

But if “populist” Donald Trump wins, taxes on the wealthy will go way down; in particular, Mr. Trump is calling for elimination of the inheritance tax, which these days hits only a tiny number of really yuuuge estates (a married couple doesn’t pay any tax unless its estate is worth more than $10.9 million).

So if you’re wealthy, or you’re someone who has built a career by reliably serving the interests of the wealthy, the choice is clear—as long as you don’t care too much about stuff like shunning racism, preserving democracy and freedom of religion, or for that matter avoiding nuclear war, Mr. Trump is your guy.

Preserving inherited wealth in a nutshell is the mainstay of the conservative movement. How noble!

Greed from Republicans is expected. It is shocking that they dupe so many on the right and even a few on the left to vote against their own interests.

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I’m about to leave for my routine appointment with Megan, my PCP.  Now that she’s back from maternity leave, I won’t be the red headed step child, passed from hand to hand, anymore.  I’m quite tired after yesterday, but it was great to get out for a few hours.  Terry and Sandi tossed my power chair into the trunk, and we went to Denny’s for a chat, mostly about the unfair Parole Board practice that allows prosecutors and those opposing release unlimited witnesses to testify, but allows prisoners only one witness to testify for them.  The prisoner can have only an attorney or a witness, not both.  One of my guys went to the Board a while back, and his victim’s family were not allowed to speak on his behalf.  JD, Terry returns your greetings.  She also sends greetings to the gent with whom she spoke.  I presume he needs a name.  Portland is under an excessive heat warning, so I’ll wait to publish this until I return, so you’ll know I made it home safely.

I’m hone, hot, and pooped!!  Hugs!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:37).  To do it, click here.  How did you do.

Cartoon:

Wendy has returned to her day job as a Secretary in a school, so my Wednesday fluff, buff and stuff is moving to late afternoon/early evening.  It’s also a grocery delivery day.  They come early/mid afternoon.  So the only time for a commando Lona nap was this morning, and I took it.  Tomorrow I’m meeting with the gals with whom I do volunteer work in prison, and Friday I have an appointment with Megan, my PCP, who has finally returned from maternity leave.  Therefore, it’s likely that I will publish only a Personal Update and send no links messages both days.  The heat is returning.  I was watching Olympics while eating breakfast this morning, and Australia was playing the Netherlands in Beach Volleyball.  I thought of Lona and how that must be difficult for her.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Daily Show: Donald Trump Predicts a Rigged Election

Click through to warch the video clip.  The embed code is defective.

Of course it’s funny, but that’s because it touches on reality.

From Crooks and Liars: Joe Scarborough did some serious mansplaining this morning for Mika, saying her opinion meant nothing to Republicans who have to figure out what to do about Donald Trump.

Scarborough sure went into BS mode to cover his Republican sexism. For a minute I thought Mika, Joe’s submissive token Democrat, was actually growing a pair!

From Alternet: A recent analysis of more than 100 industry documents conducted by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, has revealed that the oil industry knew of the risks that their business posed to the global climate decades before originally suspected.

It has also long been assumed that, in their efforts to deceive investors and the public about the negative impact their business has on the environment, Big Oil borrowed Big Tobacco’s so-called tactical “playbook.” But, as these documents indicate, that infamous playbook appears to have actually originated within the oil industry itself.

If that is true, it would be highly significant—and damning for Big Oil—because the tactics used by the tobacco industry to downplay the connection between smoking and cancer were eventually deemed to have violated federal racketeering laws by a federal court. The ruling dashed efforts by Big Tobacco to find legal cover under the First Amendment, which just happens to be the same strategy that ExxonMobil and its GOP allies are currently using to defend the company against allegations of fraud. If the playbook was in fact created by the oil and gas industry and then later used by ExxonMobil, it ruins the company’s argument of plausible deniability, making it highly likely that the company violated federal law.

Bring it on!! Sue the bastards, recover the $billions, and invest them in green energy development!!

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