This will be my only post today.  I’m taking it easy, because I’m very tired.  Yesterday had it’s high and low points.  It started well with me making three laps after breakfast.  After lunch the Occupational Therapist had me practice transfers from bed  to the portable commode and back.  That tired me out.  Then the Physical Therapist came and took me outside.  I took a lap around a circular path in an enclosed garden.  I enjoyed getting out and about, bur wheeling my fat ass and a heavy wheelchair uphill was excruciatingly difficult and exhausted me completely.  When I returned to my room, all the laxatives and stool softeners they have been giving me for Replicitis gave me acute Republicosis.  I made my third trip to the portable commode, since 2 AM.  However, I was so weak and tired that I almost fell, and pulled muscles in my good leg slightly.  Afterwards, I transferred back to bed.  I did not get up for supper, and had a special supper of binding foods.

Today I feel much better, but my good leg is still sore, and my hands are very sore and stiff.  I did two  laps around the unit, and left the unit to go to an observation area, where I can see outside.  I took some pictures for you.  The surgical team removed the Xeroplast bandage from my donor site, which is almost healed.  After I returned to bed, a doctor came to put a stump shrinker on me.  It feels like I’m getting electrical shocks on my nonexistent left foot.  I’ll be getting up for lunch soon, and may have to finish this later.

It’s later.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In a major foreign-policy announcement on Wednesday, the Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson unveiled a detailed plan to Google Syria.

Speaking in Iowa, the retired neurosurgeon told an audience of supporters, “Any responsible policy on Syria must begin with a fact-finding mission, and such a mission must begin with Googling.”

He said that “Google holds the key” to many questions about Syria. “Where is it? Who lives there? How many square miles is it? These are all things that have to be pinned down,” he said.

Carson, who leads several Republican Presidential polls, said that while his search for answers would start with Google, he would “not rule out” seeking information at Wikipedia and beyond. “No Web site should be taken off the table at this time,” he said.

Sorry Andy. Interest in fact finding from anyone in the Clown Car, especially Uncle Token, is just not credible.

From Daily Kos: Okay so, here’s the thing about Black Lives Matter (BLM):  When it comes to black people and the police, there is no question that the police act as judge, jury, and executioner. They kill with impunity. There is no accountability or redress. This is how it’s been historically: The entire justice system appears to act in collusion with this, and structural racism (also known as white supremacy) has facilitated the ease of these attacks on a segment of the population that is a numerical minority. That is BLM’s beef with law enforcement in a tiny nutshell.

Now let’s step outside of that nutshell for a moment. When you step outside of that lens, here is what you see: The police act as judge, jury and executioner with the population at large. They kill with impunity. There is no accountability. And the entire justice system appears to act in collusion with this. This horrible case out of Brunswick, Georgia, appears to bear this out.

And when I say horrible, I mean horror-bull.

Click through for more disgusting details. Every community needs a Citizen Review Board with full investigative powers and the power to fire officers for cause.

From PR Watch: The Center for Media and Democracy, a national watchdog group exposing corporate influence on democracy, has submitted evidence to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman showing how Exxon Mobil has promoted climate change denial through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). CMD believes this information is relevant to the landmark investigation into whether Exxon Mobil deceived its shareholders and the public about the impact that burning fossil fuels has on climate change.

“Exxon Mobil has bankrolled ALEC for decades and has a seat on ALEC’s corporate board, as ALEC has plied legislators with disinformation and denial about climate change and pushed legislation and resolutions to block crucial federal and state efforts to address the climate crisis,” said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice under both Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Janet Reno.

CMD has identified at least $1,730,200 in funding from Exxon Mobil to ALEC between 1998 and 2014, based on publicly available disclosures, although the actual total is likely higher. CMD has documented Exxon funding for ALEC at least as early as 1981.

This funding makes Exxon Mobil one of ALEC’s biggest financial supporters as ALEC has promoted legislation, resolutions, presentations, and publications seeking to stop efforts to address climate change, and has indoctrinated thousands of state legislators with the idea that “a great deal of scientific uncertainty” surrounds the science of climate change and that carbon emissions “may even be beneficial.”

Schneiderman should file charges against both Exxon Mobil and ALEC, and prosecute them to extinction.

Pictures:

The view from the observation area:

Me:

I ketched 2!!

Cartoon:

Yesterday was a much better day.  I made four laps around the unit.  My previous high was one lap.

Short Takes:

From Washington Post (Thanks to Judi Angel {aka JL A} for bringing the issue to my attention.): The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday that it will review whether Virginia lawmakers improperly packed minority voters into one congressional district at the expense of their influence elsewhere in the state.

The court will consider whether earlier court decisions that ruled the districts invalid were correct. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia has twice invalidated the boundaries of a snake-like district that stretches from Richmond southeast to Norfolk — and ordered lawmakers to redraw the election map.

The Supreme Court’s action represents a small victory for Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City), whose chambers would draw up the boundaries. Republicans had insisted on letting appeals play out before they abided by the order in case the high court intervened, as it did Friday.

There are two downsides to this. The first is that the Republican Reich can disobey the District Court decision until SCOTUS decides, which could be as late as the first Monday in October. The Second is the fascist five Injustices of SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD). This case is so obvious that I suspect SCROTUS will decide correctly but too late to implement the decision before the 2016 election.

From Daily Kos: Chris Whipple has written a story at Politico offering a long teaser of the upcoming Showtime documentary The Spymasters. He and two colleagues spent more than a hundred hours interviewing the 12 living CIA directors, with considerable focus on the 9/11 attacks. Although the overall picture of failure by the administration to prevent the attacks has long been known, the story and documentary provide some added details. The key detail is that the warnings the Bush White House received from the CIA in the summer of 2001 were a lot more chilling than the infamous August 6 presidential daily brief.

Click through for more. Perhaps this is because both the Bush and Bin Laden families made a bundle by short selling the companies hardest hit financially. They did this through a wholly owned subsidiary of the Carlyle Group.

From The New Yorker: On Sunday’s edition of “Meet the Press,” Jeb Bush said that it was time for the United States to go to war with ISIS, and to put together an international coalition to rout the jihadis from their strongholds in Syria and Iraq. “We should declare war and harness all of the power that the United States can bring to bear, both diplomatic and military of course, to be able to take out ISIS,” Bush, who is trailing badly in the G.O.P. Presidential polls, said. “We have the capabilities of doing this, we just haven’t shown the will.”

InsaniTEA! If Strike Three is elected, we’re out.

Cartoon:

Place your bets!

On the downside, I had to Republicate in a bedpan this morning, and the nurses were 45 minutes late in getting me into my chair.  Therefore my breakfast had to be reheated, ruining my eggs and toast.  On the up side, when a CNI  told me it would be several minutes before she had time to pick up my  tray, I moved my table several times, moved the toxic waste disposal bin, and put the tray on the bed.  Then I went out to cruise the hallways.  The CNI was quite surprised to see me  making my rounds.  Today is a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos meditate with the Chiefs.  I  hope it is televised here.  Later:  It took almost 2 1/2 hours for the nurses to put me back to bed, after I requested it at 10:00 AM.  This is the worst combination I’ve had since I’ve been hare.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The attack in Paris has caused a tsunami of stupid among conservatives on Twitter.  Without further ado:

Judith Miller:

There are several more examples of insaniTEA. Click through.

From Crooks and Liars: Liz Cheney is a neocon looking for a foothold, and current Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis may have just handed it to her.

Cheney, 2016!

Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis announced Thursday she will not seek re-election, and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s elder daughter, Liz Cheney, said she was seriously considering running for the seat.

Lummis is the only female member of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus and plans to finish her current term. She has easily won re-election since first winning Wyoming’s lone spot in the U.S. House in 2008.

Cheney, a television news commentator, briefly challenged Wyoming U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi for last year’s GOP nomination. She cited health issues in her family in bowing out of the race more than seven months before the primary.

Geez! Just what we need!! The Lizard of Lies in Congress!!!

From Alternet: Muslims from around the world are making it clear ISIS does not represent their values. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani denounced the attacks, postponing his trip to Europe to renew peace talks on the Syrian conflict. Iran and Iran-backed Hezbollah fight ISIS and other extremists in Syria (as well as non-Salafists). The day before the Paris attacks, militants claiming allegiance to ISIS bombed a civilian area of Beirut in an effort to undermine Hezbollah’s support there. 

Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the president of Indonesia, the largest Muslim country on earth, roundly condemned the attacks, telling reporters, “Indonesia condemns the violence that took place in Paris.” In a now-viral video on YouTube, a Moroccan man expressed his condolences to the victims, saying, “These so-called jihadists only represent themselves.”

Widodo is spot on.  ISIL does not represent Islam is the same way that Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian terrorists do not represent Christianity.  Perhaps we should call ISIL Republican Supply-side pseudo-Muslims.

Cartoon:

Je suis Parisien!

I’m having a lousy morning.  I was lest sitting in a chair, without access to my computer, for over 90 minutes.  I need to trim my fingernails.  A “one size fits all” CNI refused to give me my fingernail clippers for fear that I might cut myself.  I’ve been cutting my own nails for over 60 years, and I have never cut myself yet.  ARGH!!  Continuing later, an Occupational therapy nurse came, gave me my nail clippers, and taught me how to move from the wheelchair to a real flush toilet.  I got to Republicate without using a bed pan!  Woo Hoo!!

Short Takes:

From You Tube (H/T Judi Angel aka JL A):

Every once in a while someone from the Religious Right does something truly funny.  Although I disagree with virtually all his Republican Supply-side pseudo- Christian political policies, I do appreciate his talent and humor.

From Daily Kos: When I read that the latest persecution of the rightwing Christian involved Starbucks changing their cups to red for the holiday season, I thought that the War on Christmas had officially hit rock bottom.

The MSM jumped all over the story about a video from a “pastor” saying the red cups Starbucks is using for the holiday season aren’t Christmas enough and that Starbucks literally “hates Jesus“. Video goes viral and rightwing is outraged.  This whole thing is beyond stupid, even for them…

…It wasn’t until I finally read one of the articles that I came across the name of the man who spawned this latest freak-out:  Joshua Feuerstein.  In none of the countless articles does the  MSM bother to discuss who this clown is.   So allow me:

Joshua Feuerstein is a self-described evangelist and “social-media personality”.  I recognized his name because he is the same asshat who harassed one of my local bakeries (and illegally recorded the phone call) because they refused to fill a fake order for an anti-gay cake.  His followers bombarded their Facebook site with Ben Carson-like yarns of their supposed “bad experiences” with the bakery.  Astoundingly, all of these reviews happened immediately after the date Joshua posted his hate-filled video.  The bakery had to temporarily close in response to the harassment, which included death threats. 

Click through for more about this purveyor of TEAbuggery and the media complicity that enables him to spread it.

From NY Times: Efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act have become snarled in the complex rules of the Senate, raising questions about whether the Republican-controlled Congress can fulfill its pledge to send a repeal measure to President Obama.

Repealing the law, passed five and a half years ago, is a goal cherished by Republican politicians, including those running for president, and by elements of the party’s base. Mr. Obama has repeatedly vowed to use his veto power if necessary to preserve the health care law, the biggest change in domestic social policy in a generation.

The House on Oct. 23 adopted a budget-reconciliation package that would repeal core elements of the Affordable Care Act. The bill would eliminate the requirement that Americans have health insurance, and that larger employers offer coverage to full-time employees. It would also repeal taxes on medical devices and high-cost employer-sponsored insurance.

In the Senate, Republicans are determined to dismantle or defund the law using a fast-track procedure that requires a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 votes needed for most hotly contested measures.

But the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled this week that some provisions of the House-passed bill were not eligible for expedited procedures, aides to Senate leaders of both parties said Thursday. Democrats said the ruling meant that Republicans would need a supermajority of 60 votes, which they do not have, to repeal the individual and employer mandates.

This is why that keeping the Senate in 2016 is an absolute imperative.

Cartoon:

Those Justices of SCOTUS sure were better than the fascist five Injustices of SCROTUS!