Politics Plus

Yesterday I successfully caught up, although it took me over eleven hours work to do it.  This morning I got up early to try to get the blog up and links to it posted, before I leave for my volunteer work in prison.  It looks like I’ll make it.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow I’ll likely be quite tired, as I’ll return home late tonight, so I may be light on content.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 5:02).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Politico: The Justice Department is accusing AT&T of improperly billing a federal subsidy fund for calls made by Nigerian scam artists, in a lawsuit announced today.

AT&T allegedly sought reimbursement from the Telecommunications Relay Services Fund for calls it knew were not eligible for the subsidy, particularly from foreign callers who sought to defraud U.S. merchants, according to the Justice Department. The fund is administered by the FCC for “IP Relay” calls, in which hearing-impaired people make telephone calls to hearing people via Internet messages that are facilitated by IP Relay providers.

You can bet that, if we had a Republican administration in the White House, they would be perfectly content to allow AT&T to rip off US taxpayers.

From MoveOn: One Graphic Republicans Hope You Don’t Share With Your Friends

How many of these things are Republicans trying to destroy?

From USA Today: A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday laid out new standards for criminal plea bargains, saying defense lawyers must do a competent job advising and informing their clients of prosecutors’ offers of less prison time for convictions and guilty pleas.

Justice Antonin Scalia, in a rare move, dissented aloud from the bench, calling the decisions "absurd".

Kennedy defected from the SCROTUS fascists on this one. Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas goose stepped against human rights, as always.

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Today my eyes were sufficiently recovered to put together a slate of articles, albeit just barely.  This illness has my schedule turned around, so don’t depend on me posting at a specific time, until my body lets me know what my sleep schedule will be.  I’m not current on replies, and do not intend to catch up, but I am very grateful for all the good wishes and kind thoughts so many of you have left over the past week.  Tomorrow, I need to go out to run a couple errands.  When, if, and what I can post will depend on how my eyes are then.

Jig Zone Puzzles:

On 3/10 it took me 3:31 (average 4:29).  To do it, click here.  On 3/11 it took me 3:46 (average 4:35). To do it, click here.  On 3/12 it took me 5:16 (average 6:42). To do it, click here.  On 3/13 it took me 5:03 (average 6:02). To do it, click here.  On 3/14 it took me 4:44 (average 5:24). To do it, click here.  On 3/15 it took me 4:31 (average 5:02). To do it, click here.  Yesterday it took me 3:49 (average 4:19). To do it, click here. Today it took me 5:16 (average 6:50). To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The One Question That Will Stump ALL Your Republican Friends

The truth is that they create lies, not jobs.

From Business Week: The Supreme Court rejected requests from news organizations Friday for live, televised coverage of this month’s historic arguments on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, but agreed to release audio recordings of the proceedings on the same day.

The court will post audio files and transcripts on its website ( www.supremecourt.gov) within two hours of the end of the proceedings on each of the three days set aside for argument, March 26-28.

Those arguments should prove most interesting.

From Huffington Post: After a series of Republican ethics allegations, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched HouseOfScandal.com on Monday. The website will feature the Republican members of Congress who have faced scandals and ethics questions since the GOP won the House in 2010.

In a statement released Sunday, the DCCC contrasted the allegedly ethically-challenged politicians with House Speaker John Boehner’s "zero tolerance" policy for lawmakers who have breached ethical standards.

"Voters are finding out that Republicans leaders have zero intention of carrying through on their zero-tolerance pledge for Republicans’ ethics scandals and corruption," said DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson.

That’s a site to bookmark!

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