Politics Plus

I’m running late, because I felt tired and needed to take a nap from Lona this morning.  I managed to reduce my one ton paperwork backlog to 3/4 tin, but it felt good to put a dent in it.  TGIF!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Todays took me 2:24 (average 4:41).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: For those who had any remaining doubts, Kansas has officially gone insane, with its Republican dominated legislature now trying to pass a law effectively nullifying the state’s Judiciary system:

A committee in the GOP-controlled Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a bill that would make "attempting to usurp the power" of the Legislature or the executive branch grounds for impeachment.

Impeachment has "been a little-used tool" to challenge judges who strike down new legislation, said Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle, a sponsor of the measure. "Maybe it needs to be oiled up a little bit or sharpened a little bit."

Senate Bill 439 is currently set for debate before the state’s GOP-stacked Judiciary Committee. If it is approved and signed by Governor Brownback, it will permit impeachment of any Judge who acts contrary to the wishes of the legislature. In other words, any Judge who strikes down or modifies any law  the legislature passes, for any reason– whether the law is blatantly Unconstitutional, violative of existing laws, or otherwise, is thereby subject to impeachment proceedings by the state Legislature. A previous law threatening to cut off all Judicial funding was declared unconstitutional by the state’s High Court. [emphasis original]

Governor BrownNose and his Republican goose-steppers sure are instituting KKKansas!!

From Media Matters: Samantha Bee's Full Frontal Debunks Myth That NRA Can Easily Punish Politicians Who Support Gun Safety Laws

Republican Ammosexuals are KKKrazy!!

From Addicting Info: The Donald Trump supporter who viciously assaulted an African-American protester at a recent campaign rally gave a terrifying interview to Inside Edition, and it confirms what many of us have sensed for a long time: It’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed at a Trump rally.

 Video deleted brcause it autoplayed,

Trump Republicans are simply KKK.

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I’m preparing to leave for an appointment that will take all morning, and I will finish and post this article, after I return.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:53 (average 7:10).,  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: President Obama, resigned to his failure to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, is looking past his time in office and weighing a plan that would preserve at least the principle of a two-state solution for his successor to pursue.

The White House is debating whether the president should lay down the outlines of an agreement, several officials said, perhaps through a resolution at the United Nations Security Council or in a presidential speech. The objective would not be to revive direct negotiations — almost nobody believes that is likely now — but to enshrine the proposals Secretary of State John Kerry made during his last failed effort at peacemaking in 2014.

As much as I hate to say it, this is nothing but smoke and mirrors. There can be no two state solution, as long as Israel remains in violation of treaties in their pursuit of a one state solution. The only proper role for the US is to cut all military aid and stop all military supply to Israel, until Israel decides to honor past agreements.

From Daily Kos: The National Republican Senatorial Committee quickly deleted the tweet below Tuesday afternoon, but “quickly” wasn’t soon enough for a screw-up of this magnitude.

1) Tammy Duckworth is a veteran.
2) Tammy Duckworth is a veteran whose combat-related injuries left her a DOUBLE AMPUTEE—she lost both legs. Under the circumstances, “standing up” may, just may, have been the wrong idiom to use.

Republican "support" for our troops extends no further than using them as cannon fodder in the pursuit of 0.1% profit. This tweet perfectly illustrates their compassion for and commitment to veterans.

From Real Clear Politics: The latest delegate count

In spite of Bernie’s magnificent victory in Michigan, Hillary came away with an increase in her lead of 18 pledged delegates.

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I screwed up.  I thought my grocery delivery this week was tomorrow.  Instead, it’s today, so I have to juggle my plans.  I’m getting Safeway.com, because I have an appointment on Wednesday that conflicts with my normal Store to Door delivery.  I’m in a rush.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:54).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Godwin's Law officially suspended for the duration of the 2016 presidential cycle

Godwin's Law – a common meme used by Republicans, other fascists, pseudo-intellectuals, and people with their heads in the sand or in smellier places, whenever anyone points out the verifiable commonalities between today's Republican Party and Germany's National Socialist Party, just before Hitler became dictator.

From NY Times: Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos quarterback and Super Bowl 50 victor who amassed a passel of records and was among the N.F.L.’s most popular players in his 18 seasons in the league, will retire, hobbled by several career-threatening injuries.

Manning was to speak to the news media on Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern time at the Broncos’ facility south of Denver. ESPN was the first on Sunday to report the news of his retirement.

From TPM: An Idaho pastor was shot in the parking lot of his church on Sunday afternoon, one day after delivering a prayer at a campaign rally for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), NBC News reported.

Police told NBC that Rev. Tim Remington, the 55-year-old senior pastor of the Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, was in critical but stable condition after suffering multiple gun shot wounds to the skull and back.

Couer d’Alene police identified the suspect as Kyle Andrew Odom, a white male in his mid-30s who they said was last seen driving a 2004 silver Honda Accord. In a press release posted to the department's Facebook page, police said they were working to obtain a warrant for Odom’s arrest and warned that he should be considered “armed and dangerous.”

The associate pastor of Altar Church, John Padula, told NBC that surveillance video showed a man sitting in a silver car in the parking lot waiting for Remington to exit the building.

Police did not offer a motive for the shooting.

If I had to speculate, I'd say that Odom is a Republican who supports Hateful Hairball, but that's just an educated guess. If, God forbid, he's a lefty, I condemn his violence and ask him to defect to the Republican Party. There's no pace for such violence on the left.

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Lu was here this morning.  She cut my hair, spotted me while I walked around my hallways using a walker, stopping twice to sit and rest, and she helped me shower, leaving me as a perfumed puddy tat with soft, glowing fur.  I’m feeling tired, but I have two articles today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:18 (average 5:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Marco Rubio has lost Fox News.

[T]his alliance now seems to be over. According to three Fox sources, Fox chief Roger Ailes has told people he’s lost confidence in Rubio’s ability to win. "We’re finished with Rubio," Ailes recently told a Fox host. "We can’t do the Rubio thing anymore."

Which is bad news for Rubio, since his entire base of support is establishment and press Republicans who are willing to inexplicably pump up Marco Rubio. Apparently, though, Ailes has seen the writing on the wall; Rubio can’t win, and Fox News is only going to humiliate themselves pretending otherwise.

This leaves America’s Worst Network in an even bigger bind than before. The network that is used to playing kingmaker has no potential king to make—and the current front-runner, Donald Trump, is openly dismissive of the network and eager to pit his supporters against them. None of the corporate-friendly Republicans that Fox News would usually be hitching their wagon to, from Scott Walker to Chris Christie to Jeb Bush to, now, Marco Rubio, have gone anywhere. Suddenly rallying to podium barnacle John Kasich would be more humiliating than standing behind Rubio.

That leaves Ted Cruz, and while Ted Cruz is certainly a model of the sort of extremist burn-down-the-government type that Fox News has endlessly promoted, Nobody Likes Ted Cruz.

What will the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda do? I think Faux Noise will goose-step behind the Republican nominee, whoever or whatever that is.

From PRWatch: Hold onto your Prius!

The Kochs and their fossil-fuel-fed political network are reportedly gunning for the electric car.

According to an anonymous industry source who spoke to journalist Peter Stone, a new advocacy group will "make the public aware of all the benefits of petroleum-based transportation fuels."

If you think this sounds a bit nutty, you have to remember Koch front groups have also fought the implementation of street cars in city after city.

If the group follows the usual Koch playbook, expect bogus "research" studies by Koch-funded "think tanks," well-placed op-eds that repeat Koch talking points without disclosing ties to the network, and fear-mongering ads that hide their fossil fuel funding behind bland names like "Americans for Energy Freedom." (The group’s actual name has yet to be announced.)

The primary benefits of burning petroleum fuels are obscene profits for Big Polluters and the RepubliCare Death Benefit for everyone else.

From Crooks and Liars: This is a really fascinating video. Governor Kate Brown shows that real people have a need for increasing the minimum wage. She also shows how listening to the needs of various stakeholders gets things done. OregonLive:

The bill gives Oregon the highest statewide minimum wage rates in the nation, to $14.75 inside Portland’s urban growth boundary, $13.50 in midsize counties and $12.50 in rural areas by 2022.

President Barack Obama lauded Brown, saying in a statement: "I commend the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kate Brown for taking action to raise their state’s minimum wage…Congress needs to keep up with the rest of the country. They need to act, and finally give America a raise. And until they do, I’ll continue to encourage states, cities, counties and companies to act on their own to support hardworking families."

Kate, America’s only openly LGBT state governor, keeps doing good things for Oregon, and Oregon leads the way!!

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