Politics Plus

Spring is sproinging!!  Today I have the first of six forecast sunny days with a high over 70°.  It’s definitely time for some kitty basking.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:59 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: When a man asks people to translate a hate message he’s received, their response is unforgettable.

This video illustrates how people naturally react to the hatred Republicans embrace. Here, Republicans continually bombard people with media designed to make them fearful of others in a way that evokes such hatred.

From Daily Kos: Fargo, North Dakota, coffee shop owner Joe Curry does not appreciate the 56 North Dakota legislators who voted against a bill that would have protected LGBT people from discrimination. Curry put up a sign:

"Ban effective immediately. The listed Men & Women are now banned from entering this establishment.* This is based solely on age, gender, race, beliefs, color, religion & disability."

That asterisk points to this statement:

"Unless accompanied by a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersex or Asexual person."

Curry’s coffee shop is the Red Raven Espresso Parlor. His intention is not to discriminate.

Kudos to Joe Curry. I would love to have coffee un the Red Raven!

From Alternet: Shred Safety Nets. Christie thinks he’s being bold by giving a big speech on the safety nets for the elderly and poor. “Democrats believe entitlements are a sacred cow that cannot be honestly discussed, perpetuating a dangerous fantasy to the American people,” he said. As noted above, Christie’s solutions are not honest as they would push millions into poverty. Like the others, he doesn’t touch fair tax increases to fortify social insurance programs or greed in the health care system. And that takes him to attacking Obamacare. “There is no question that America would be better off with a market-oriented, more flexible, more pro-consumer-choice health care system than the one that was jammed down our throats by this President,” he said. All of the GOP 2016 wannabees not only want to repeal it, on tip of cutting safety net spending because of their obsession with the federal debt. None are asking what people need.

This is just one of eight nightmare scenarios that will come to pass if Republican campaign speeches become reality. Click through for the other seven and to see what life would be like under a Republican Reich.

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When I dug into my corporate reporting for my volunteer group, I discovered I have until mid-May to get that done, so I decided to blog instead, in addition to delving into the mess I need to tackle for grocery delivery day tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:38 (average 4:30).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: South Carolina wants to be able to continue to ban gays and lesbians from marrying each other. They want to do that so much that they filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court that they should continue to be able to do so. In it, they make an "originalist" argument that if the Constitution is read just as its drafters understood it, gays can be discriminated against because women can be discriminated against. Mark Joseph Stern at Slate has all the crazy.

Here’s the gist of South Carolina’s fascinatingly sexist argument. The state wants to prove that the 14th Amendment—which guarantees "equal protection of the laws" to every "person"—was not intended to displace state marriage laws. And what did those laws look like at the time? One major feature: In many states, married women were not permitted to own property or enter into contracts and had no legal existence apart from their husbands. According to South Carolina, the framers of the 14th Amendment explicitly preserved the rights of states to deprive married women of the ability to function independently from her husband. This right to deprive married women of basic liberties, South Carolina argues, is enshrined in the 10th Amendment and is not at all undercut by the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equality.

Were SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD) to agree with this brief, not only would gays become the subjects of continued discrimination, but also, "barefoot and pregnant" laws would sweep those states, where Republicans have complete control.

From The New Yorker: Hillary Clinton has followed up the official announcement of her candidacy with a new campaign ad featuring nothing but kittens.

The sixty-second spot stars an assortment of kittens—tabbies, calicoes, Siamese, and a dozen other breeds—in a variety of adorable vignettes.

At various points in the advertisement, the kittens are shown playing in a sock drawer, tangled up in yarn, and chasing a duckling.

Clinton herself appears only in the final seconds of the ad, saying merely, “Hi. I’m Hillary.”

Andy, I certainly hope my kitty cousins are not exploited in such a shameful manner. Wouldn’t it be better to portray the kittens using Republicans as a cat box? I might get in on that action myself!!

From NY Times: One by one, four former Blackwater security contractors wearing blue jumpsuits and leg irons stood before a federal judge on Monday and spoke publicly for the first time since a deadly 2007 shooting in Iraq.

The men had been among several private American security guards who fired into Baghdad’s crowded Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007, and last October they were convicted of killing 14 unarmed Iraqis in what prosecutors called a wartime atrocity. Yet on Monday, as they awaited sentences that they knew would send them to prison for most if not all of their lives, they defiantly asserted their innocence…

…The judge, Royce C. Lamberth, strongly disagreed, sentencing Mr. Slatten to life in prison and handing 30-year sentences to the three others.

My only regret is that the top war criminals, Bush and Cheney, were not sentenced with them.

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I’m feeling that sharp pain between the cheeks that one gets only from a confrontation with Infernal Revenue Service.  On the plus side, my taxes are now done and filed, and I did not owe the feds any money, but I did have to pay $82 to Oregon, and $35 for the Portland Arts Tax, a particularly regressive tax in which people who can never afford tickets pay the same tax as the super rich, who get the enjoyment from the venues.  Completing this took all day, and I have no time left to do research.  I also need some KY Jelly to repair the damage to my… um… soul.  Hugs to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:43 (average 5:27).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

My trip to the podiatrist was somewhat comical, and it took him longer than usual to cut the growth from my foot.  It’s been over a month since I last went anywhere, because I was so sick.  By the time I got to the doctor, I had already walked around half a mile, and while he was trying to cut, the leg was cramping big time.  Fortunately he was patient, and OOPS! did not happen.  All things considered, I survived the trip quite well.  However, my muscles are sore and cramping, and since I suffered from insomnia last night, I’m totally pooped. 

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:54 (average 4:56).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon: