Politics Plus

I got lots of Zzzzzzzs yesterday.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow appears OK, but on Monday I have two routine medical appointments on one day, so expect no more than an Open Thread on Monday, if that.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:59 (average 4:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Reason #8493 Jon Stewart Is Pretty Much One Of The Smartest People On Television

The irony here is that whether or not to hate IS a choice, just as it is a choice for the Republican Party to pander to those who are drowning in their own hatred.

From Click on Detroit: "Today, Governor Snyder has decided to unilaterally take over control of the City of Detroit from its democratically elected leaders. This is nothing but a hostile take-over; we would expect this from a CEO, but not from a Governor,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair, Lon Johnson.

There are real problems in Detroit, but we will only solve them with everyone at the table. We should trust in the democratic process. The process advocated by our Governor is one of subtraction – removing elected leaders, removing stakeholders, removing the voices of the people.

Herr Schneider is goose-stepping a great city into the clutches of fascism.

From YouTube: Why Obama is all wrong about the Jedi mind meld

First of all, there is no Jedi mind meld. It is a Vulcan mind meld. Obama is certainly no Vulcan. If he were, Republicans would accuse him of being an alien, demand to see his birth certificate, and call him a Muslim. Furthermore, Spock only had to mind meld with a Horta, and Hortas are FAR more human than Republican politicians.

Cartoon:

I’m making an attempt at a normal day.  Wish me luck.  I’m current with replies, however briefly.  Let’s hope this lasts into tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:56 (average 5:02).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Ever Wonder Where The $50 You Fill Up Your Gas Tank With Goes?

With such huge revenues, not to mention outlandish profits, Big Oil does NOT need subsidies and/or loopholes. Say no to Republican terrorism.

From Public Integrity: During a heated exchange Tuesday night, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., accused Fox News host Sean Hannity of being "a shill for the Republican Party."

Hannity’s response: denying the charge and betting Ellison $10,000 that he is not a registered Republican.

Incidentally, that’s about the same amount of money that Hannity donated to Republicans in 2010.

If Hannity were not a total liar, he would be working somewhere else.

From my email: In December 2010, a majority of Canada’s MPs voted in favour of a motion to permanently ban bulk crude oil tanker traffic through Canada’s North Pacific coast, including the waters of the Great Bear Rainforest. The motion was symbolic — Prime Minister Harper was under no obligation to act — but it sent a clear signal that Canada’s political parties were willing to co-operate to protect our coast. The NDP, Liberals and the Bloc Québécois all stood up that day to vote for the motion.

Today, we risk losing some of that hard-won ground.

The federal Liberal party is choosing a new leader, and so far only one of the eight candidates is staying true to the party’s historic commitment to protect B.C.’s coast from oil tankers and oil spills. The one candidate standing up so far is B.C. MP Joyce Murray. In fact, Murray is taking an even stronger stand, by clearly opposing Kinder Morgan’s oil tanker plans for our south coast as well.

Would you be willing to sign up to participate in the federal Liberal leadership vote to help hold this ground? It doesn’t cost anything and you can sign up in less than five minutes.

This action alert is for Canadians only.  We support their efforts to protect the environment.

Cartoon:

I guess I ate too much too soon yesterday, because by noon, I was urping again.  I’m current with replies and am shooting for tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:47 (average 4:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: A growing number of shooting enthusiasts are creating legal trusts to acquire machine guns, silencers or other items whose sale is restricted by federal law — a mechanism that bypasses the need to obtain law enforcement approval or even undergo criminal background checks.

The trusts, called gun trusts, are intended to allow the owners of the firearms to share them legally with family members and to pass them down responsibly. They have gained in popularity, gun owners say, in part because they may offer protection from future legislation intended to prohibit the possession or sale of the firearms.

But because of a loophole in federal regulations, buying restricted firearms through a trust also exempts the trust’s members from requirements that apply to individual buyers, including being fingerprinted, obtaining the approval of a chief local law enforcement officer and undergoing a background check.

Unless you realize that a number of these so-called "shooting enthusiasts" are NRA Republicans bent on committing TEAbuggery, see me about the ski resort I have for sale in the Central Kansas Alps.

From Houston Chronicle: Two U.S. Supreme Court justices – Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer – took the rare step of admonishing a federal prosecutor from Texas on Monday after reading a racially inflammatory statement he made while questioning a defendant in a drug case.

Sam Ponder, an assistant U.S. attorney working in San Antonio office of the Western Texas district court, invoked race and ethnicity at a 2011 trial.

"You’ve got African-Americans, you’ve got Hispanics, you’ve got a bag full of money. Does that tell you – a light bulb doesn’t go off in your head and say, ‘This is a drug deal?’ " Ponder asked during cross-examination.

I’m assuming that the Fascist Five had no problem with this, because only these two signed onto the separate concurring opinion.

From AOL: In theory it should be possible to be both a loyal employee and a responsible person at the same time. So when bartender Twyla DeVito last week noticed one of the regular customers at the American Legion Post in Shelby, Ohio, enter the bar in a heavily intoxicated state, she felt that it was her duty to alert local police when the patron hit the road. Her reward? She got fired, she says.

Is it any surprise that the Legion gives 86% of their political donations to Republicans?

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Even misogyny is bigger in Texas! 😉

Yesterday some Immodium AD got half of my problem under control, but when it comes to anything solid,  my stomach is still reversing the old maxim, “What goes up must come down.”  It would be a great time to visit Rush Limbarf.  I’m going to stay down.  I’m current with replies’ and hope to be back tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:09 (average 5:49).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Fox News Doesn’t Fact Check : Lesbian Wedding Edition

LMAO!!!! Actually I disagree with the premise. I think Faux Noise, the Republican Ministry of propaganda, fact checks everything. Anything factually accurate ends up on the cutting room floor.

From NY Times: Major banks have quickly become behind-the-scenes allies of Internet-based payday lenders that offer short-term loans with interest rates sometimes exceeding 500 percent.

With 15 states banning payday loans, a growing number of the lenders have set up online operations in more hospitable states or far-flung locales like Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade statewide caps on interest rates.

While the banks, which include giants like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, do not make the loans, they are a critical link for the lenders, enabling the lenders to withdraw payments automatically from borrowers’ bank accounts, even in states where the loans are banned entirely. In some cases, the banks allow lenders to tap checking accounts even after the customers have begged them to stop the withdrawals.

This is one of the reasons why the CFPB needs an Director, and why Republicans have said they will filibuster every appointee for this agency. Thank the Nevada Leg Hound, Harry Reid.

From Crooks and Liars: Watch: Paul Ryan on Sequester

This is the same Lyin’ Ryan that is now calling it Obama’s sequester.

Cartoon:

Ironically, the Constitution does not explicitly give them this power.