Politics – Page 1054 – Politics Plus

Personal Update–4/12/2015

Posted by TomCat at 2:06 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 122015

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:

0412Cartoon

Liz and Bill Get Together

Posted by TomCat at 11:27 am Politics

Apr 112015

It’s a rare treat when I get to see two of my favorite people together in the same venue, so I’m more than pleased to share a clip from Elizabeth Warren’s appearance with Bill Maher. Bill actually tried to play it straight, but he can’t help being a little bit funny anyway. Enjoy!

The senior Senator from Massachusetts visited the set of Real Time this Friday and failed to take the bait when offered a million dollar donation if she won the Democratic 2016 nomination by host Bill Maher.

Maher spoke to Warren about a variety of subjects, including what it’s been like working in the Senate now that the Republicans have taken over, and the fact that even though their rhetoric has changed, they aren’t willing to actually put their money where their mouths are and do anything that will improve the lives of the working class, such as raising the minimum wage or getting college tuition costs under control.

He wrapped things up by trying to persuade her to throw her hat into the ring for 2016, but didn’t have any more luck than the groups that have been trying to get her to run for some time now…

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

That was a class act!

Open Thread–4/11/2015

Posted by TomCat at 11:27 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Apr 112015

I’m feeling quite tired after yesterday’s trip to the doctor, so I’ll be brief. Expect me to be scarce for the next few days, because something has been sitting on the back burner for too long, due to illness, and I need to get it done this weekend. I’m referring to my annual battle with the Infernal Revenue Service.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:58 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The prolonged prologue to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s second run for the White House will reach its suspenseless [sic] conclusion on Sunday: The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is to announce that she will indeed seek the Democratic nomination for president.

She’s running? Oh MY! I’m sooooooo surprised!! 😉

From Crooks and Liars: Real Time’s Bill Maher took on religious fundamentalists of all stripes during his New Rules segment this Friday night, and has this to say about the recent dust up in Indiana and their so-called "religious freedom" law.

While I can’t say I agree with everything Bill said, when he got evangelical about his atheist faith, he is still hilarious.

From Daily Kos: If anyone was curious if Rick Santorum would pull back a wee bit on publicly hating teh gays in his perennial run for president, his remarks during a meeting with Iowa state legislators yesterday should put any question to rest.

Noting his opposition to the 2003 Supreme Court decision striking down laws against sodomy, Rick thinks that all that frothing he did back in the day provides him all the gravitas needed to be handed the keys to the Oval Office.

The video first posted to the conservative blog Caffinated Thoughts [froth lovers delinked] and later picked up by Right Wing Watch, shows Santorum at his whiny, victimized best. He gnashes his teeth and rends his garments over the press reporting his bigoted and extremist views in practically every race he has ever entered.

Froth Bag Alert!!

Rick "Google Me" Santorum will assure that there is no shortage of GOP hate. Google has cleaned up a lot of the froth, so Google “Santorum definition”.

Cartoon:

Personal Update–4/10/2015

Posted by TomCat at 1:59 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 102015

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:

0410Cartoon

Liz on Hillary

Posted by TomCat at 12:08 pm Politics

Apr 092015

Even though she has not yet formally announces, it seems increasingly apparent that it will soon be time to hold my nose and support Hillary Clinton, because her Republican opponent will be infinitely worse. At least I can take comfort in the knowledge that someone I love and respect seems to feel the same way.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gave less than full-throated support to Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, days ahead of Clinton’s expected entry into the 2016 presidential race that some Democrats to Clinton’s left want Warren to also join.

Asked whether Clinton is the "future of the Democratic Party," the Massachusetts senator hedged.

"Well, I think we have to see, first of all, if she declares, and what she says she wants to run on," Warren said on CBS This Morning. "I think that’s really the interesting question at this point.”

That sounds far short of an endorsement from the political figure who has emerged as the darling of the Democrats’ progressive wing. Warren has repeatedly said she will not run in 2016, and has made no clear moves toward a reconsideration of that stance. Still, a persistent group of disaffected Democrats is urging Warren to challenge Clinton from the left…

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Here’s the video.

Our best hope is that Warren can help mold public opinion sufficiently to force Clinton to represent us.

Open Thread–4/9/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:08 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 092015

Tomorrow, I have the routine quarterly surgery to remove the growth from my foot. It will be the forst time I have left the building in over a month and should serve as a means to measure the extent of my recovery. However, expect only a Personal Update, and that, later than unusl.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:37 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Chuck Schumer, the expected replacement as top Senate Democrat when Harry Reid retires at the end of his term, has made a big splash in the past few days by saying he supports a bill designed to give Congress the clout to wreck a deal with Iran. He is not, of course, the only Democrat backing the Corker-Menendez bill, S. 615, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. Since March 26, when Schumer quietly signed on as the latest of eight Democratic co-sponsors of the bill, it’s had 21 co-sponsors, including one independent, Sen. Angus King of Maine.

But given his clout, Schumer could be key to making it okay for other Democrats to support the bill, giving it the 67 votes it would need to override the veto that President Obama has vowed to impose.

First, please sign their petition. Second, when we win the senate in 2016, under no circumstances may this man be allowed to become Majority Leader. To go from the Nevada Leg Hound to the New York Sellout is NOT progress.

From Upworthy: Here’s two students’ response to an anonymous comment submitted to their university.

They waste no breath. And every single word pulls its own weight.

Their anger is quite discomforting, but spot-on.

From NY Times: A 17-year-old transgender youth, Leelah Alcorn, stunned her friends and a vast Internet audience in December when she threw herself in front of a tractor-trailer after writing in an online suicide note that religious therapists had tried to convert her back to being a boy.

In response, President Obama is calling for an end to such therapies aimed at “repairing” gay, lesbian and transgender youth. His decision on the issue is the latest example of his continuing embrace of gay rights.

In a statement that was posted on Wednesday evening alongside a WhiteHouse.gov petition begun in honor of Ms. Alcorn, Mr. Obama condemned the practice, sometimes called “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, which is supported by some socially conservative organizations and religious doctors.

The petition has received more than 120,000 signatures in three months.

It’s good to see a positive response to the petition system, and fully agree that conversion therapies violate their rights.

Cartoon:

0409Cartoon

Republicans seem to have forgotten this event took place.

Open Thread–4/8/2015

Posted by TomCat at 1:14 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 082015

This is today’s only article. I sleep poorly last night, because I was feeling unhappy, and I can’t catch up now, because I’m waiting for my grocery delivery. Please everyone… do not make donations for me to go to do volunteer work with my guys in prison. The issue is more the physical challenges that overnight travel on public transit than it is finances. Even if I have the money, I do not have the stamina to make such a trip more than once every other month. Thanks for caring.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:29 (average 4:40). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: With an official announcement on his campaign Web site, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has joined a crowded field of people who will never be elected President in their lifetimes.

While Paul and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are the only officially announced Republican candidates with a zero-per-cent chance of ever winning the Presidency, a burgeoning roster of totally pointless candidacies is waiting in the wings.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson are just a few of the men thought to be considering squandering time and money pursuing an office that they will never occupy in a billion years.

From Andy’s mouth to God’s ear.

From NY Times: A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man while the man ran away.

The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.

The shooting came on the heels of high-profile instances of police officers’ using lethal force in New York, Cleveland, Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere. The deaths have set off a national debate over whether the police are too quick to use force, particularly in cases involving black men.

For once it looks like the cop won’t get away with Republican police methods.

From Unworthy: John Oliver flew 10 hours to Russia to interview Edward Snowden and get him on record.

This a 30 minute video, but it’s well worth the time to watch it. Due to an error in YouTube’s embed script, I can’t embed it for you here, but you can click through and watch it there. He treats a serious subject with humor, but crystal clarity. It is especially revealing about the incompetence of US voters.

Cartoon:

0408Cartoon

Matthews Hits Home on Iran

Posted by TomCat at 12:45 pm Politics

Apr 072015

You don’t see me featuring clips of Chris Matthews very often, because I not really a fan of his. Of the MSNBC crew, he ‘s more of a Hillary Democrat than the more progressive Schultz, Hayes, Maddow, and O’Donnell. But every once in a while, he hits home, and this is one of those times.

GOPwarmongers Chris Matthews took apart all of the nonsensical objections to Obama’s negotiations with Iran with a few pointed questions to Michael Rubin from the American Enterprise Institute (aka Koch Industries Thinkers, Inc.)

We begin with the "appeasement" talking point, which is a crowd favorite on the right, despite the fact that it has absolutely no basis in fact. Nevertheless, conservatives have trotted out such knowledgeable beings as Ron Christie, Allen West, John Bolton, and Ted Cruz. Armed with their talking points and media training, each looks straight into the camera and tells their fearful audience this deal is as terrible as Chamberlain’s agreement with Hitler.

Tweety isn’t having it, and reminds that the very same argument was used to get us into the Vietnam war…

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Simply put, if Republicans sabotage this deal, Russia, China and Europe will not back us in proposing a tougher deal that Iran will not accept. Rubin’s better settlement is as big a lie as his claims about Iraq.

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