Open Thread–12/13/2015

 Posted by at 10:25 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 132015
 

I have a nurse coming this morning to help me set up services at home, so if this is late, that’s why.  Tomorrow I have to go to TriMet to have my wheelchair measured, so expect only a Personal Update, and that late.  Today is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos service is with the Raiders, and I get to see it.  Wooo Hooo!!

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos (Classic 10/2014):It’s been in the news. Now it has been confirmed. As of this past weekend, Raymond Leo Burke, America’s highest-ranking cardinal at the Vatican, was officially removed from the Vatican’s Supreme Court, and demoted to chaplain of the Knights of Malta, where he will reign with much less responsibility. The ultra-Conservative and anti-gay cardinal, continuously challenges the jurisdiction of Pope Francis, and the Catholic Church’s new receptive stance on homosexuality.

How ironic it is to find the demoted cardinal is from the United States. What does that say about America – that even the Catholic Church and a pope are ahead of so many anti-LGBT lawmakers and extremists in this country.

Weeks after taking office in 2013, Pope Francis asked, ‘Who am I to judge?’ speaking of the LGBT community.

Although I disagree with Francis on many issues, he is more willing to coexist than any other Pope has been.

From NY Times: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas surged to a 10-point lead in a new poll released Saturday of likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, signaling that his campaign is gathering momentum and suggesting that a long nominating fight is ahead.

Donald J. Trump, who continues to lead most national polls, was second in the Iowa poll, with 21 percent naming him as their first choice, compared with Mr. Cruz’s 31 percent.

Ben Carson, after leading an October survey by the same pollster, commissioned by The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics, tumbled to 13 percent, followed by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida at 10 percent.

If anyone could be worse than Hairball, it’s Uranus Inspector.

From Think Progress: In a literally world-changing deal that was almost unthinkable just a year ago, some two hundred leading nations unanimously embraced a plan that will leave most of the world’s fossil fuels unburned.

As part of a concerted effort to avoid catastrophic climate change, the world unanimously committed to an ongoing effort of increasingly deeper emissions reductions aimed at keeping total warming “to well below 2°C [3.6°F] above preindustrial levels.” The full text of this Paris Agreement goes even further, with the parties agreeing “to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.”

Already, global coal use appears to be plateauing, and global oil use will likely follow suit in the next decade as countries ratchet up their CO2 targets.

To get an idea of how challenging these negotiations have been, imagine trying to get a substantive agreement on any major topic in the U.S. Senate if the requirement for success were unanimity! Tragically, conservatives in Congress are doing everything that they can to undermine this deal, which is humanity’s best chance to avoid decades if not centuries of needless suffering for billions of people.

In my view, this plan does not go far enough, but I prefer it to nothing at all.

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Open Thread–12/11/2015

 Posted by at 11:55 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 112015
 

This is today’s only article from me.  Last night I woke up with a severe case of Republicosis.  I had to go so bad that I was careless mounting the throne, fell, and Replicated in my pants.  I had to call the building night clerk to help me get up and clean up.  Later I took a shower with help from my friend.  I’m hurting and pooped.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: A new study conducted by legal scholars indicates that Justice Antonin Scalia would fare better if he served as a judge at a court that was “less advanced” than the United States Supreme Court.

According to the study, Scalia’s struggles to perform his duties in a competent fashion stem from his being inappropriately placed on a court that is “too demanding” for a person of his limited abilities.

Andy should have noted that a more appropriate court for Sturmbannführer Scalia is the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal, as a defendant.

From Daily Kos: File this under “NOT The Onion,” or “Pottery Barn Rules,” or “Houston, We Have A Problem.”  It doesn’t matter what you call it, the cat is out of the bag.  On Tuesday, the front runner for the Republican nomination for President of the United States,  appearing on national television, was asked the following question by George Stephanopoulos:    

"You’re increasingly being compared to Hitler. Does that give you any pause at all?"

The man most likely to get the Republican nomination for President of the United States, answered: 

No.

Compared to Hairball, Hitler was a a lightweight.

From Media Matters: A Fox & Friends demonstration where children neutralized a gunman during an active shooter situation offered dubious advice to parents, as experts emphasize that confronting the gunman should be "a last resort."

The Fox News segment never explained that in an active shooter situation people should prioritize [Faux Nuts delinked] escaping and hiding over physically confronting the gunman — only mentioning the first two actions in passing — and instead emphasized engaging the gunman in a physical confrontation.

The December 8 broadcast of Fox & Friends featured two krav maga [Faux Nuts delinked] instructors and three children who demonstrated martial arts techniques that could be used to disarm an active shooter.

Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck introduced the segment saying, "In an active shooter situation five seconds can mean the difference between life and death. But there are some things that you can do, and your children can do, to make a difference" before asking the instructor to "display for us and exemplify what would happen in an armed shooter situation." The instructor then used a stapler as a prop while his co-instructor demonstrated how to disarm a gunman from behind.

 

This TEAbuggery was brought to you by the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda.

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Open Thread–12/10/2015

 Posted by at 7:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 102015
 

Forgive my brevity.  I have  lot to do today.  Until I’m more stable, I’ll leave Jig Zone duties to our beloved Squatch.

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: A whole lot of us aren’t the best at accepting compliments.

Maybe it’s because we don’t receive them so often. Maybe it’s because we don’t know what to say. Maybe it’s because we don’t believe them. Whatever the reason, the struggle can be real!

 

This article is directed to people I find beautiful. Open-mouthed smile

From PRWatch: What a mess this court has wrought!" Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson declared in the latest chapter in the state’s John Doe legal saga.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s majority contorted itself to find a new way to protect both Scott Walker and the Court’s biggest supporters–not to mention itself–following its decision in July rewriting the state’s limits on money in politics and ending the "John Doe" investigation into Walker’s campaign coordinating with dark money groups.

Wednesday’s ruling was supposed to be a straightforward decision on a motion to reconsider, in light of additional evidence that Walker and his allies had violated the campaign finance laws that the Court upheld in July.

The Court denied that motion, but then (in a lengthy unsigned opinion) went further, rewriting its July decision to fire the Republican Special Prosecutor who had led the investigation, Francis Schmitz, making it harder for him to challenge the justices’ conflicts-of-interest by appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Those conflicts arise from the fact that the same groups that coordinated with Walker’s campaign were among the majority’s biggest financial supporters, raising concerns under U.S. Supreme Court precedent about whether the justices should have heard the case at all.

Sucking Nevermind is still paying off for the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan.  Click through.

From NY Times: A little-noticed health care provision that Senator Marco Rubio of Florida slipped into a giant spending law last year has tangled up the Obama administration, sent tremors through health insurance markets and rattled confidence in the durability of President Obama’s signature health law.

So for all the Republican talk about dismantling the Affordable Care Act, one Republican presidential hopeful has actually done something toward achieving that goal.

Mr. Rubio’s efforts against the so-called risk corridor provision of the health law have hardly risen to the forefront of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but his plan limiting how much the government can spend to protect insurance companies against financial losses has shown the effectiveness of quiet legislative sabotage.

The risk corridors were intended to help some insurance companies if they ended up with too many new sick people on their rolls and too little cash from premiums to cover their medical bills in the first three years under the health law. But because of Mr. Rubio’s efforts, the administration says it will pay only 13 percent of what insurance companies were expecting to receive this year. The payments were supposed to help insurers cope with the risks they assumed when they decided to participate in the law’s new insurance marketplaces.

Mr. Rubio’s talking point is bumper-sticker ready. The payments, he says, are “a taxpayer-funded bailout for insurance companies.” But without them, insurers say, many consumers will face higher premiums and may have to scramble for other coverage. Already, some insurers have shut down over the unexpected shortfall.

“Risk corridors have become a political football,” said Dawn H. Bonder, the president and chief executive of Health Republic of Oregon, an insurance co-op that announced in October it would close its doors after learning that it would receive only $995,000 of the $7.9 million it had expected from the government. “We were stable, had a growing membership and could have been successful if we had received those payments. We relied on the payments in pricing our plans, but the government reneged on its promise. I am disgusted.”

I see risk corridors as a temporary indirect subsidy of insured people, not a additional subsidy of the insurance industry. Of course, the solution is Medicare for all. This sleazy sabotage could ret Border Booter the nomination from the Republican Reich.  Click through.

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On the Edge–12/8/2015

 Posted by at 9:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 082015
 

Once again, this is today’s only article, as I have much to do to prepare for tomorrow’s trip home.  Color me in rush mode.  Expect only a brief Personal Update tomorrow.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: The billionaire Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States has sparked deep disappointment among his supporters, many of whom had hoped he was planning to ban a sizable number of other religions.

In conversations with likely Trump voters across the country, reactions ranged from disenchantment to a sharp sense of betrayal as supporters tried to make sense of his decision to ban members of only one faith.

“I heard him on TV talking about banning Muslims and I was kind of like, ‘Is that it?’ ” said Carol Foyler, a Trump supporter from South Florida. “I mean, banning Muslims is a good start, but I thought a smart businessman like him would be a lot more thorough.”

Harland Dorrinson, a Trump supporter from San Antonio, Texas, agreed. “Saying you’re only going to ban Muslims when there are so many other religious groups to ban just feels like politics as usual,” he said. “I’ll give him a chance to explain himself on this one, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel burned.”

Andy has it spot-on. Republicans would ban all beliefs, except Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity, with their gospel of hate, greed and violence.

From NY Times: President Obama’s address to the nation Sunday was intended to reassure anxious Americans that the United States will defeat the Islamic State, known as ISIS or ISIL, “by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless, and by drawing upon every aspect of American power.” But success, he noted, “won’t depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving into fear. That’s what groups like ISIL are hoping for.”

If that’s true, ISIS must have been cheered by the presidential field, most of whom did their best to talk tough and stoke fear without advancing any workable ideas.

Donald Trump, a bigot without foreign policy experience, showed that there is nothing he won’t say or support to sow hatred. On Monday he outrageously proposed barring all Muslims from entering the country. There is no precedent for denying immigration based on religion, experts say, and any such test would surely be used as an excuse to attack Muslim Americans.

Ted Cruz, Twitter warrior, pledged after Mr. Obama’s speech to “direct the Department of Defense to destroy ISIS.” He played soldier all weekend in Iowa, spouting “We will carpet bomb them into oblivion,” to a tea-party crowd in Cedar Rapids, adding “I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out,” whatever that means.

Marco Rubio took to Fox News [Faux Noise delinked] to remind Americans that they are, or should be, “really scared and worried.” He also said that “people are scared not just because of these attacks but because of a growing sense that we have a president that’s completely overwhelmed by them,” as if he alone had his finger on the pulse of America…

That’s what I would expect from the Clown Car.

From Blue Oregon: Merkley calls it: The Worst Idea from a Presidential Candidate. Ever.

 

That’s my Senator. Oregon leads the way.

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On the Edge–12/7/2015

 Posted by at 9:22 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 072015
 

Because I expect a very busy day today, preparing to return home on Wednesday, this is my only article today.

Religious Ecstasy:

1206Broncos17-Chargers3

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Moments after its conclusion on Sunday night, President Obama’s speech about combating ISIS came under heavy criticism from people with zero better ideas.

The President’s proposals, ranging from coalition air strikes against ISIS to beefing up intelligence about potential terrorists, were blasted for being “nothing new,” with the harshest criticism coming from people with nothing new.

“I was incredibly frustrated hearing the President say he would destroy ISIS,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told CNN. “ISIS needs to be obliterated.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz shared Christie’s scathing assessment of Obama’s speech. “The President seems to think that ISIS will go away just by us bombing them,” Cruz said. “If I am President, I will bomb them so hard that will feel like they have been triple-bombed.”

Andy is reporting straight news again. 😉

From YouTube:

 

Click here for a transcript of Obama’s speech.  Your thoughts?

From NY Times: The international climate change negotiations entering their second and final week encompass a vast and complicated array of political, economic and legal questions. But at bottom, the talks boil down to two issues: trust and money.

In this global forum, no one questions the established science that greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are warming the planet — or that both developed and developing economies must all eventually lower their greenhouse emissions to stave off a future that could wreak havoc on the world’s safety and economic stability.

In a major breakthrough, 184 governments have already submitted plans detailing how they will cut their domestic emissions after 2020.

Those pledges are expected to make up the core of a new accord, which could be signed next weekend. The agreement is also expected to require countries to return to the table at least once every 10 years with even more stringent emissions reduction pledges.

But can those governments be trusted to do what they say they will do?

Republicans are committing sedition to make the international community believe that the US cannot be trusted to keep our word.

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64 years later, the Republican Party is repeating the attack.

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On the Edge–12/6/2015

 Posted by at 10:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 062015
 

I’m already in rush mode, so I’ll be brief.  Today is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos meditate with the Chargers, but I can’t watch it.  Crying face The network is showing the Chiefs and Raiders instead.

Short Takes:

From Bernie Sanders: Say You Support Commonsense Solutions to Make Our Country Safer From Gun Violence

1. We can expand background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. This is an idea that over 80% of Americans agree with, even a majority of gun owners.

2. & 3. We can renew the assault weapons ban and end the sale of high capacity magazines — military-style tools created for the purpose of killing people as efficiently as possible.

4. Since 2004, over 2,000 people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list have legally purchased guns in the United States. Let’s close the “terror gap” and make sure known foreign and domestic terrorists are included on prohibited purchaser lists.

5. We can close loopholes in our laws that allow perpetrators of stalking and dating violence to buy guns. In the United States, the intended targets of a majority of our mass shootings are intimate partners or family members, and over 60% of victims are women and children. Indeed, a woman is five times more likely to die in a domestic violence incident when a gun is present.

6. We should close the loophole that allows prohibited purchasers to buy a gun without a completed background check after a three-day waiting period expires. Earlier this year, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine of our fellow Americans while they prayed in a historic church, simply because of the color of their skin. This act of terror was possible because of loopholes in our background check laws. Congress should act to ensure the standard for ALL gun purchases is a completed background check. No check — no sale.

7. It’s time to pass federal gun trafficking laws. I support Kirsten Gillibrand’s Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention Act of 2015, which would “make gun trafficking a federal crime and provide tools to law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets and away from criminal networks and street gangs.”

8. It’s time to strengthen penalties for straw purchasers who buy guns from licensed dealers on behalf of a prohibited purchaser.

9. We must authorize resources for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study and research the causes and effects of gun violence in the United States of America.

10. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over 21,000 firearm suicides every year in the United States. It’s time we expand and improve our mental health capabilities in this country so that people who need care can get care when they need it, regardless of their level of income.

 

Please join me, and click through to sign! Bernie is spot on!!

From TPM: The head of Oklahoma’s prison system, who presided over two botched lethal injections and a third that was called off because the wrong drug was delivered, announced his resignation Friday amid an investigation into what went wrong with the executions.

Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton said in a news release that he will resign effective Jan. 31, but will begin taking accrued leave on Dec. 25. He said he has accepted a position in Arizona to be closer to family.

While this murdering Republican may be incompetent, his resignation does not solve the problem. End state sponsored murder.

From Think Progress: Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. urged more students to carry guns on Friday, arguing that if the victims of Wednesday’s attack in San Bernardino, California were armed, they would have been able to protect themselves from the attackers.

“I’ve always thought that if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in and killed them,” he said during the school’s convocation, before teasing the students about his own gun.

That’s the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian solution: Assume that Muslims are terrorists and murder them.  Kill a Muslim for Republican Supply-side Jesus (the opposite of the real Jesus).

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