Politics Plus

Julie just left. and I am a pleased and pristine puddy tat.  She also gets a lot more done than  Lu used to, so I’m thrilled with her.  I have a grocery delivery coping this afternoon, so I’ll get to put everything away.  It’s another hot muggy day, not at all normal for April in Oregon, where April showers bring May rain.

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Today’s took me 3:06 (average 4:58),  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Real Clear Politics:

In New York, Hollary posted an impressive 15 point spread. To win, Bernie needs 1193 more delegates. Hillary needs 452. To have the majority of pledged delegates, Bernie needs 875 more. Hillary needs 598 more.

From Daily Kos: Fox and other right-wing outlets have always used certain “go-to" logical fallacies in their ideological arguments: ad hominem, straw man, and non sequitur. (Actually, if you listen to any one of Trump’s speeches, you can usually hear examples of all three in the same speech.) Although the right wing still uses these the most, lately I have noticed the increased use of several uncommon fallacies that are becoming more and more common in conservative circles. Although there are literally hundreds of logical fallacies, I’m just going to focus on these few. Let’s begin …

1. ONUS IMPROBATIONIS (“Burden of disproof”)

This is a type of Ad ignorantiam, which is to claim something is true because it cannot be proven false. What this subcategory refers to is putting the burden on you to disprove their belief. The problem is that this is impossible. Decades ago, my statistics teacher gave me an example that I still remember: the Loch Ness Monster. Even if you somehow managed to drain the entire loch, and had teams of people scouring the ground, would that satisfy the believers? Of course not. They’d argue that the mythical beast just went into hiding, or was transported, or some other such nonsense.

I always think about this fallacy when I hear the Birthers. They are a PERFECT example. No amount of evidence will ever satisfy them: experts, analysis of the document, records, birth announcements in newspapers—nothing. I recalled seeing the segment below years ago and specifically searched for this because I really want you to hear what birther Alan Keyes says immediately after  the host read through ALL of the evidence of Obama’s birth in Hawaii. It starts at the 1:10 mark. He says two words that blew my mind—and prove my point.

I promise it’s worth it:

TEAbuggery most foul!! This is the first of several logical fallacies (also called criminal thinking errors in my volunteer work in prison, or InsaniTEA in politics). Click through for the rest.

From The New Yorker: America’s racists, who have long viewed New York with a mixture of hostility, contempt, and fear, are suddenly feeling much more positive about the Empire State a cross-section of racists confirmed on Tuesday night.

In interviews conducted shortly after 9 P.M., racists from coast to coast echoed the opinion of Fresno, California, bigot Harland Dorrinson, who remarked, “You know, maybe New York isn’t such a bad place after all.”

“I always thought that New York seemed like a hellhole to be avoided at all costs,” Dorrinson said. “Now I’m thinking I might want to take the family there on vacation. Maybe even take in a few Broadway shows.”

Andy, most folks don’t realize that less then 10% of New York State residents are registered Republicans. This racist idiot fringe has been getting extra attention, because of the primary,

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The birthday of the first modern Republican.

I went to my medical appointment, and they sent me to the lab for x-rays and a blood test, because the arthritis in my hands is so severe.  When I finally got done, the bus cruised by when I was 50’ from the stop,  Grrr!!  It’s now 2:00 PM, to late to begin research, so this will be it for today,   I have the results from my CAT-Scan,  My COPD has not worsened, and I have no signs of lung cancer.  Have a fantastic afternoon and evening,

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:44 (average 4:10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

The Republicans are coming!  EEK!  Call out the Barf Bag Brigade!!

I’m waiting for Julie to come fore my first appointment with her.  My appointment yesterday went poorly.  In less than five tears my nevus has grown from nothing to 3.6mm and thick, so the Retinal Ophthalmologist thinks that I have a 75% chance that it’s a choroidal melanoma, and is referring me to the two specialists at Casey Eye Institute that do nothing else.  You’ll know more when I do.  tomorrow my articles may be late or missing, because I can’t do anything else before my taxes are done.  Later:  Julie came.  She’s fantastic.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

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

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The Senate Republicans’ most vulnerable member is running awfully hard away from his party, as he runs for reelection. Illinois’ Mark Kirk is running furiously from his party, now that voters are actually paying attention in race against Democrat Tammy Duckworth.

Kirk is one of just two outliers in the Senate GOP Conference on whether the chamber should vote on Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court this year and has bent over backward to show he disagrees with his fellow Republicans. Aside from telling other Republicans to "man up" and vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee, Kirk has circulated memos to Republicans touting Garland and boasted about a personal note from Obama thanking Kirk for advocating for his nominee.

Just this week, Kirk co-sponsored a criminal justice reform bill that would loosen some mandatory minimum sentences, despite complaints within the GOP that it would unwittingly release violent criminals early from prison. And he joined with five of the most liberal senators to urge the NBA to move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to the state’s controversial new law that bans anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people. […]

He’s so full of Republican, that his eyes are brown. Before election season, Kirk was goose-stepping with the Reich, and if elected, he will be again. Yay Tammy Duckworth!!

From NY Times: It was the sort of question — Does Israel have a right to defend itself as it sees fit? — that had often caused candidates, especially those with designs on winning a primary in New York, to produce paeans to the strength of the Israeli-American relationship and a stream of pro-Israel orthodoxy.

But Senator Bernie Sanders dug in.

“There comes a time when if we pursue justice and peace, we are going to have to say that Netanyahu is not right all of the time,” Mr. Sanders said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, amid cheers from the crowd at Thursday’s Democratic debate in Brooklyn. He added: “All that I am saying is we cannot continue to be one-sided. There are two sides to the issue.”

I agree with Bernie 100%. Sadly, Most liberal US Jews, are ultra-conservative on maintaining an "Israel. Right or wrong" stance. J Street supporters, Jews who recognize Bibi as the butcher he is, are far too few and far between. Sadly, Bernie’s integrity will cost him dearly in NY, but I admire and commend him for it.

From TPM: Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders enjoyed a visit with Pope Francis Saturday during his trip to the Vatican.

According to NBC News, Sanders met with the pope just outside the Vatican’s breakfast room at 6 a.m. The New York Times reported the meeting lasted just five minutes.

"In terms of economic justice, the need to combat climate change — nobody in the world has been more profound and articulate than the pope, and I’m delighted to go forward with him on those issues," Sanders told NBC News.

So, is Francis feeling the BERN?

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