Feb 142014
Feb 142014
I’m writing for tomorrow, and although my COPD is severe, it’s not as bad as it was for the last couple days. I’m in a bit of a rush, as I hope to get out to run errands. I wonder id I shall be successful at giving myself away this year. 😉
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:54 (average 4:36). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Responding to the news that Washington Governor Jay Inslee had suspended the death penalty in his state, Texas Governor Rick Perry seized on the opportunity to urge Washington residents to “vote with your feet and move to Texas, where the death penalty is thriving.”
At a hastily called press conference this afternoon, the Texas Governor made an emotional appeal to Washingtonians who might be disappointed by the sudden suspension of executions in their state: “Come to Texas. The death penalty is alive and well here.”
Andy, are you sure this is satire? Seriously, I do volunteer work with a coupled prisoners, who used to be on death row. They will never breathe free air, but they have found meaning in their lives in prison by helping others learn how to avoid the mistakes they made in their downward spiral. I believe they have helped save the lives of people who never became victims, because of the efforts of these men. Had the state strapped them down and murdered them for revenge, the potential victims they saved would be dead.
From Upworthy: Dear Advertisers: Please Stop Portraying Women Like This In Adverts. Regards, Women
This is a fake advert. I repeat, it is satire, and fortunately for us, Swiffle isn’t a real product. But it may as well be because it rings so true to what we see depicted so often on our screens. These two women are ripping into those annoying cleaning supply commercials for their lazy stereotyping of women.
Sad as it it, I am convinced of two things. First, although this is satire, women just this really exist. Second, they are Republicans.
From Daily Kos: Winter Storm Gidget (or whatever that channel is calling it these days) is about to get underway across the southern and eastern United States, bringing with it the promise for a historic crippling ice storm and possibly the most snow some areas have seen in half a decade or more.
Click through for a bunch of detailed maps and data. I sure feel sorry for you folks, because I just lived through what you are now getting. Please take care for your safety. No doubt Republicans will say that this extreme weather is not related to global climate change, and that it is Republican Supply-side Jesus (not the real Jesus) punishing gay America for committing the sin of ObamaCare.
Cartoon:
Feb 132014
Here are the results of our Debt Ceiling Poll. Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories. Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population. Nevertheless, our polls are often both accurate and indicative of the nation’s view. This time, however, only two of us got it right.
And here are your comments:
Showing comments 1–7 of 7.
Posted by SoINeedAName February 9, 2014 at 2:28 pm.
Harming Americans?
It’s what they do.
What can you expect? It’s in the Repubican DNA!
Posted by Joanne D February 2, 2014 at 5:29 am.
Actually right now I am sweating getting my last 1099 to file taxes before they freeze everything. I won’t starve, I have savings, but it could be an inconvenience. I know, first world problem.
Posted by Edie February 1, 2014 at 5:02 pm.
They will have to posture and show their "strength" before they will pass it, in the meantime the rest of us will suffer.
Posted by Lynn Squance February 1, 2014 at 9:27 am.
I truly believe that the Republicans are so blinded by their ideology that they are incapable of learning from their past actions and mistakes.
Posted by mamabear February 1, 2014 at 4:48 am.
I voted other but yes after they do more to brainwash the country. After all Tom Obama is the one who is "Alien from another country."
Posted by dave c February 1, 2014 at 3:25 am.
no clue….can’t figure out the brainless
Posted by Patty February 1, 2014 at 2:17 am.
Of course they will have to hurt the country before they do anything even slightly positive.
I was one of the two people who voted correctly that Republicans would cave-in and pass a clean debt-ceiling. This is an election year, and the Republican leadership remember what happened the last time they shut down the government. Provoking another major public outcry, this close to an election, would have worked at cross purposes to their highest goal, establishing a permanent, totalitarian Republican Reich. As humiliating as the cave-in was, the alternative was even worse for them.
A new poll is up. Don’t forget to vote.
Feb 132014
I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling quite tired, because congestion from COPD has been interfering with my sleep, and because, now that the ice is gone, street noise is high from picking up days of built up garbage.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:36 (average 7:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Potential Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said today that he believes he has a “secret weapon” that will derail Hillary Clinton’s 2016 White House bid: “A little-known affair between her husband and a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.”
Appearing on the Fox News Channel, Paul told the host Sean Hannity, “Sean, when the American people find out about this scandal, they are going to be shocked, truly shocked. It didn’t get a lot of coverage at the time.”
Asked by Hannity how the scandal could have remained under wraps for so long, Paul replied, “You’ll have to ask Bill and Hillary that. Let’s just say they’ve pulled a lot of strings to keep this story out of the mainstream media.”
LOL Andy! That does seem to be what Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot thinks. I guess 24/7 wasn’t enough for him.
From Daily Kos: The Newark Star Ledger reports:
The New Jersey legislative committee investigating the Bridgegate scandal will probe records of helicopter rides Gov. Chris Christie took to see if he flew near Fort Lee while lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge were closed, sources told The Post … Sources in the governor’s office said that Christie took a ferry to Ground Zero from Jersey City on the 9/11 anniversary and then flew back to Trenton, but that Wildstein was not on board.
I was particularly struck by the reference to the helicopter ride on 9/11, because I was recently told by an informed source that "if the records are subpoenaed for the governor’s trip back from the 9/11 Memorial event, they will demonstrate that the governor flew over the George Washington Bridge" on that day. It appears that those records have been subpoenaed and the governor’s office has not issued a denial that the flyover occurred.
I bet PIGnocchio’s pilot betrayed him by flying over the crime scene without his knowledge, and that PIGnicchio was asleep at the time. NOT!
From NY Times: The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy, yet nearly six million Americans are denied that right, in many cases for life, because they have been convicted of a crime. Some states disenfranchise more than 7 percent of their adult citizens.
In an unflinching speech before a civil rights conference Tuesday morning, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. described this shameful aspect of our justice system for what it is: a “profoundly outdated” practice that is unjust and counterproductive.
State laws that disenfranchise people who have served their time “defy the principles — of accountability and rehabilitation — that guide our criminal justice policies,” Mr. Holder said in urging state lawmakers to repeal them. “By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.”
I fully agree with Holder. In my volunteer experience, I have seen that the more of a stake former prisoners have in their communities, the more likely they are to invest themselves in staying crime free. Restoration reduces recidivism.
Cartoon:
Feb 122014
There a few things that the Republican base know, beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt. One of them is that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton murdered four Americans in Benghazi. The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, have broadcast repeatedly that Obama officials ordered the military to stand down, to prevent them from saving the Americans from Obama’s Muslim terrorist allies.
In a new report released on Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee concludes that there was no way for the U.S. military to have responded in time to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya to save the four Americans killed that night. In doing so, the report debunks entirely a right-wing myth that says the White House ordered the military not to intervene.
For months after the attack that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, conservative media was awash in reports that on the night of the assault the Obama administration at some point ordered the military not to take action that would have saved lives. This supposed “stand down order” led to a bevy of right-wing conspiracies [propaganda delinked] about why the President and his administration had let the Americans die.
“Who told the SEALs to stand down?” Rep. Steve King asked in Nov. 2012, in just one of many interviews with Republicans referring to the response to Benghazi as “worse than Watergate.”
As Media Matters reports, Fox News cited reports of a stand-down order no fewer than 85 times during prime-time segments as of June 2013. As the new report — which the Republican majority of the committee authored –makes very clear in its findings, however, no such order ever existed. “There was no ‘stand down’ order issued to U.S. military personnel in Tripoli who sought to join the fight in Benghazi,” the report says, noting that the military was not positioned to respond to the attack.
“Given the military’s preparations on September 11, 2012, majority members have not yet discerned any response alternatives that could have likely changed the outcome of the Benghazi attack,” the report concludes… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
There was just no way that even the Republicans, who quietly issued this report, could twist the evidence to conform with their conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, they knew that the report would do little damage, because most Republican voters will never know it exists. Why? It will never be reported on Faux Noise, or anywhere else within the Republican media bubble.
Feb 122014
I’m writing for tomorrow, and my COPD is still severe, but I do have another article. The ice storms are over, for now, and it looks like I’ll be able to get out, after today. I hope you enjoy what Abe wants for his birthday.
Late Note: I was right on the first short take.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:49 (average 4:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NY Times: The House is likely to vote Wednesday on a plan to extend the government’s borrowing authority into 2015 in exchange for reversing a cut to the pensions of working-age military veterans that Congress approved just two months ago to try to trim the budget deficit.
The plan, presented to House Republicans on Monday evening by their leaders, represents a dramatic reversal for the House after three years of using the debt ceiling to extract major spending cuts and conservative policy changes. In this instance, the debt ceiling deadline — looming at the end of this month — will be used to reverse the only difficult spending cut included in a budget and deficit-reduction deal reached in December.
For its part, the Senate voted Monday evening 94 to 0 to take up a Democratic bill that reverses the same spending cut without paying for it with other savings.
This sounds like an attempt at projection by Republicans, to hide a cave-in, because they were the ones who originally insisted on these cuts on the conference committee, and Democrats are the ones that have been trying to reverse these Republican cuts. I doubt that Republicans will actually vote to repeal those cuts. I think they are about to cave-in.
From Alternet: Crazy: Fox Host Lashes Out At Lego Movie for ‘an Anti-Business Message to Kids’
Barf Bag Alert!!
If the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, had their way, kids would get to see only The Birth of a Nation.
From Right Wing Watch: President Obama can do nothing right in the eyes of the GOP, it seems: Even the president’s National Prayer Breakfast speech defending religious freedom has stoked the ire of one Republican congressman.
Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL) told Family Research Council president Tony Perkins on Washington Watch [Pseudo-Christians delinked] last week that he was “stunned” and “shocked” by the president’s speech and was angry that Obama would “insult those who really believe” in the freedom of religion — like him.
President Obama can do nothing right in the eyes of the GOP, it seems: Even the president’s National Prayer Breakfast speech defending religious freedom has stoked the ire of one Republican congressman.
Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL) told Family Research Council president Tony Perkins on Washington Watch [Pseudo-Christians delinked] last week that he was “stunned” and “shocked” by the president’s speech and was angry that Obama would “insult those who really believe” in the freedom of religion — like him.
Barf Bag Alert!!
RepubliSpeak Dictionary – Religious Freedom: License to impose their beliefs and exclude those of others.
Cartoon:
Feb 112014
When Republican here, Gary Zimmerman was on trial for murdering Trayvon Martin, Republicans were quick to point out how Zimmerman had the right to an aggressive defense, as they promised support for his appeals, if Zimmerman had been justly convicted. Although I remain firm in my opinion that Zimmerman is guilty, I certainly agree that he has a right to representation, because it is guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment. It appears that Republicans and I agree, but we do not. I believe the right is absolute. Republicans believe it is conditional. Consider this:
Senate Republicans are vowing to continue their vocal opposition to President Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile to head the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, expressing outrage over the fact that he once served as a legal representative for an internationally known convicted cop-killer.
Adegbile, 47, spent more than a decade working for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and served as the group’s in-house voting rights expert. In was in that role that Adegbile contributed to appeals filed on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police Sgt. Daniel Faulkner.
Asked about his participation in Abu-Jamal’s appeals during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on his nomination in January, Adegbile insisted that, despite Abu-Jamal’s conviction, he deserved legal representation during his appeals… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
What hypocrisy! Whatever you believe about Mumia’s conviction, he has a right to representation. Providing that representation was Adegbile’s job. From this, the answer is clear. Republicans would deny the Sixth Amendment, unless it is invoked on behalf of someone they support.
Feb 112014
I’m writing for tomorrow, and although my COPD is still severe, I do have a second article for you today. Conditions are improving, but still horrid. The freezing rain advisory ends later today, and I should be able to get out again before the end of the week.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:24 (average 4:12). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: Meet Nick Hanauer. He’s a very wealthy man, his family owns a lot of things, and he’s invested in some big companies that started out small (ahem … Amazon…). He’s got a few things to say about who the job creators really are in our country, and it goes totally against the standard trope you usually hear from politicians and talking heads. Delightfully so.
INEQUALITY FOR ALL – The Power of Job Creators from New Birch on Vimeo.
It is certainly refreshing to see a member of 0.1% recognize that he and his ilk are not the job creators. We are.
From NY Times: …Some Republicans justified last week’s filibuster with the tired old argument that we can’t afford to increase the deficit. Actually, Democrats paired the benefits extension with measures to increase tax receipts. But in any case this is a bizarre objection at a time when federal deficits are not just falling, but clearly falling too fast, holding back economic recovery.
For the most part, however, Republicans justify refusal to help the unemployed by asserting that we have so much long-term unemployment because people aren’t trying hard enough to find jobs, and that extended benefits are part of the reason for that lack of effort.
People who say things like this — people like, for example, Senator Rand Paul — probably imagine that they’re being tough-minded and realistic. In fact, however, they’re peddling a fantasy at odds with all the evidence. For example: if unemployment is high because people are unwilling to work, reducing the supply of labor, why aren’t wages going up?
But evidence has a well-known liberal bias. The more their economic doctrine fails — remember how the Fed’s actions were supposed to produce runaway inflation? — the more fiercely conservatives cling to that doctrine. More than five years after a financial crisis plunged the Western world into what looks increasingly like a quasi-permanent slump, making nonsense of free-market orthodoxy, it’s hard to find a leading Republican who has changed his or her mind on, well, anything.
And this imperviousness to evidence goes along with a stunning lack of compassion…
I snipped this from the middle of an excellent Paul Krugman editorial on Republican soft heads and hard hearts. Click through for the rest. It’s well worth the read.
From TPM: The tea party has taken a series of hits since it goaded Republican leaders into a costly and self-defeating government shutdown last fall. But the conservative movement remains formidable when it comes to pushing Republican leaders to just say no, at all costs, to new economic and domestic initiatives that aren’t essential to avert immediate crisis.
The emerging dynamic is one where the tea party can no longer hold the basic functions of government hostage to conservative policy reforms, but has effective veto power over major new proposals that require bipartisan deal-making. It’s an important shift from the last three years since the nascent movement helped the GOP win more than 60 congressional seats and re-take the House in the 2010 elections, spurring a party-wide lurch to the right.
In spite of mainstream Republican efforts to reign in the open InsaniTEA that is too obvious for them to successfully hide from voters, there is little actual difference between the two, except that Baggers are too stupid to realize how few people actually agree with them. The Tea Party provides a venue for the hatred, without which the Republican Party has no base.
Cartoon:
