Politics Plus

I received some devastating news this morning.  My friend, who is undergoing chemotherapy is also the one who drives me to Salem to do my volunteer work with my guys in prison.  It’s sixty miles away.  Her treatment providers have advised her to stop going for four months, because her immune system will be compromised by her treatment.  So the only way I can go work with my guys before August will be to take the bus and spend the night in a motel.  I figure I will be able to do that once.  ARGH!  I may be intermittent for the rest of the week, because tomorrow is a grocery delivery day, and Friday is my quarterly surgery on my foot.  It will also be my first day out since getting sick.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:46 (average 4:54).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: A second effort in the Tennessee legislature to take up Medicaid expansion failed this week, meaning 280,000 Tennesseans still remain, needlessly, without any kind of healthcare coverage. When one of those Tennesseans confronted Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R), a wealth manager at Morgan Stanley about it, asking him if he’d be willing to give up his own insurance, well, Gardenhire showed his true colors.

One activist, Damien Crisp, asked Gardenhire if he would be willing to give up his own state-subsidized health insurance.

Gardenhire, in a video of the incident taken by another activist, turned around and said something along the lines of "Not giving it up, asshole" or, perhaps, "Why don’t you give it up, asshole?" ("Asshole" is the clearest part of his rejoinder.)

Barf Bag Alert!!

There is only one word demeaning enough to use to describe Gardenhire. He is a Republican.

From The New Yorker: The Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s constant references to Jesus Christ in his speeches and campaign ads are sparking a strong interest in atheism among millions of Americans, atheist leaders report.

Since Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) announced his candidacy two weeks ago with the words “God isn’t done with America yet,” a substantial number of Americans “have begun seriously questioning the existence of God,” said Carol Foyler, the executive director of the American Society of Atheists.

“It’s been amazing,” Foyler said. “We’re getting calls from people who are curious about atheism for the first time in their lives. And when we ask them what got them thinking about it, they all say the same thing: ‘I just heard Ted Cruz talk.’ ”

Foyler said that her group often notices a surge in atheism after natural disasters or other traumatic events that rattle people’s faith, but, she added, “We’ve never seen anything like Ted Cruz.”

After Cruz aired an Easter weekend campaign ad in which he spoke of the transformative power of Christ, Foyler said, “Our phones were ringing off the hook.”

Andy is so spot-on. People who do not realize that Republican Supply-side Jesus has nothing to do with and is the polar opposite of the Jesus worshiped by authentic Christians. That makes Republicans a premiere advertisement for atheism.

From Alternet: That time he shushed a female CNBC anchor on live TV

In the same interview (with CNBC anchor Kelly Evans), Paul spoke about a bill he was co-sponsoring with Sen. Barbara Boxer that would grant companies with assets overseas to bring it to the U.S. with a 6.5 percent “holiday corporate tax rate.” As Evans pressed Paul about the specifics of the bill, he became increasingly condescending: “Hey, hey, Kelly? Calm down a bit here, Kelly,” he said, before literally shushing her.

Bigger Barf Bag Alert!!

This is just one of seven ludicrous Rand Paul moments. Click through for the other six. He almost as misogynistic as the malignant troll… his daddy!

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Because it is a relatively slow day for news, and because I have been pushing myself a little harder than I ought for the last couple days, I’m making this today’s only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 5:47).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Yesterday Memories Pizza was all over the news for saying this:

"If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no," O’Connor told local affiliate ABC 57. "We are a Christian establishment."

Not sure what self-respecting human being would want wedding pizzas in the first place, but okay. We get it. You’re hateful. And guess what happens when you take to the media to trumpet your right to discriminate?

Memories Pizza, a takeout restaurant in Walkerton, Indiana, has closed its doors following outrage over remarks the shop owner made regarding same-sex marriage. […]

Co-owner Kevin O’Connor, whose relation to Crystal is unclear, said Memories is "temporarily" dark until "threatening" calls and online posts die down, according to TMZ.

Funny how when you trumpet to the world that you’re going to discriminate against people, you get an overwhelming negative response—even if you try to claim it’s not discrimination.

May all such Republican businesses close this way.

From NY Times: The uproar set off by legislation in Indiana and Arkansas that sponsors billed as religious freedom measures not only signaled a revival of the culture wars, but also threw into stark relief the expectations and tensions in the coalitions that now make up the two major political parties.

The contrasting reactions to the proposals — Democrats united in opposition, Republicans torn by dissent — illustrates how the parties have effectively traded places.

This phenomena is how Republicans were able to shift the entire political spectrum further and further to the right, over the last 30 – 40 years. Rather that trading places, a more realistic description is that the Republican Reich has moved so far right, that Democrats now enjoy majority support on such issues. The difference now is that instead of giving ground like Democrats did, Republicans seem content to destroy the nation.

From TPM: When it comes to health care at the Supreme Court this year, all eyes are focused on the Obamacare tax credits case, King v. Burwell. But a case decided this week, Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., has raised significant concerns for the availability of quality health care for those who need it most.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court turned against decades of legal precedent and ruled that Medicaid providers cannot use the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to stop state provider payment policies that are inconsistent with the federal Medicaid Act’s requirement for adequate reimbursement rates. That may sound like a bunch of legalese, but the outcome has a real impact on the 68 million-plus people relying on Medicaid. If a state’s Medicaid payment rates are too low (and many providers complain these rates are below their cost of providing services), then provider participation in Medicaid—and the ability of enrollees to obtain care—is at risk.

This is just how RepubliCare works.

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His opposition to Vietnam was a threat to war profits.

I’m still well short of 100%, but the news at hand is too important to leave it to Republicans to misinterpret.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Media Matters: CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled a lawmaker who sponsored Arkansas’ "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" (RFRA), demonstrating the hypocrisy of conservatives who deny that "religious freedom" laws are intended to protect anti-gay discrimination.

Conservative media outlets have been scrambling to defend "religious freedom" laws in places like Indiana and Arkansas, which provide a legal defense for businesses and individuals who cite their religious beliefs in order to refuse service to LGBT customers. Proponents of these two states’ RFRAs have repeatedly denied that the "religious freedom" laws would allow for anti-LGBT discrimination, despite evidence to the contrary.

During the April 1 edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper, Tapper interviewed Arkansas state Senator Bart Hester (R), a sponsor of the state’s proposed RFRA. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declined to sign the measure into law today, suggesting that it be reworked to more closely mirror federal law. Tapper began the interview by asking whether RFRA would allow Christian business owners to discriminate against same-sex couples if they felt serving them would violate their religious beliefs. Hester responded that RFRA doesn’t allow discrimination but would allow Christian businesses to refuse gay customers.

The result was an awkward four minute exchange during which Tapper repeatedly tried to get Hester to acknowledge that refusing service to a gay couple is, in fact, discrimination:

I’m really surprised to see CNN, Faux Lite, put a Republican on the spot to expose the hypocrisy of his bigoted hatred.

From Daily Kos: They say that Facebook has ruined April Fool’s Day, and you can see why.

But Thank God for Congressman Mike Honda (D-Calif), whose social media team has been circulating this press release today:

Rep. Honda Introduces Acronym Act to Clean up Bill Names

Bill Would Prevent Excessive Words Just to Make an Acronym

Washington, DC – Fighting what he calls “an avalanche of verbiage in the name of every bill,” Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA17) today introduced the Accountability and Congressional Responsibility On Naming Your Motions (ACRONYM) Act of 2014.

This bill will prohibit the addition of words to the title of any bill just to create an acronym. “It’s gotten ridiculous,” Congressman Honda said. “We’re getting bills that have over 10 words in the title just so they can spell something that’s supposed to be clever. The last straw was The Pension And Social Security Measuring Equivalence Permanent Linking of Everyone’s Actual Savings Environment (PASS ME PLEASE) Act, which only corrected a typo on Page 346 of the tax code.” The bill failed in a House vote along party lines.

And yes, folks. It’s an April Fool’s joke. But it’s one of those things that we wish were true. So kudos to Mike Honda, you definitely won the Internet today.

LOL!! Nevertheless acronyms can be useful. For example, consider the SPSPT, which has Lynn on their watch list.

From The New Yorker: Shortly after world powers successfully negotiated a nuclear-framework agreement with Iran, Sen. John McCain warned that a lasting peace with the Middle Eastern nation “could greatly limit our ability to bomb it.”

“President Obama is hailing this framework as something that could enhance the prospects for peace in the Middle East,” McCain told reporters at the United States Senate. “For those of us who have looked forward to bombing Iran for some time now, that would be a doomsday scenario.”

“The Iranians know well and good that if they abandon their nuclear program exactly the way we’ve asked them to, we can kiss bombing them goodbye,” he said, shaking his head ruefully. “It’s a damn shame.”

As for President Obama, McCain added, “Sometimes I think the President cares more about making the Iranians happy than about making the people who want to bomb the Iranians happy.”

Andy may not be reporting McConJob’s words, but he has his intent dead to rights.

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