Squatch’s Open Thread 15 December 2018

 Posted by at 2:24 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 152018
 

It is late Saturday morning and I am finishing up today’s post.  Unfortunately I was late to rise but the kids are fed and lounging on the floor around my chair so here we go.  I emailed TC last night and his reply is below.  He has also posted an OT and another article for your enjoyment and comments.  We had a rain warning on Thursday followed by a severe wind warning on Friday.  Where I am north of the Fraser River, we definitely had the rain but the wind seemed to knock out power etc south of the Fraser and on Vancouver Island.  Even the ferries to Vancouver Island were shut down because of the wind.  Today is cloudy but dry but I may have to wear my swimsuit to church tomorrow!

TC Update: I’m OK.    The place they dumped me is 1/3 smaller, and I am skewed half sideways to type.  I lost Comcast and had to change to Century Link DSL, so I had to move over a dozen companies to a different email account.  Organizing has kept me busy full time since I moved.  I hope to start posting soon.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:14 (average 5:15). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

The Nation — What the hell is wrong with Paul Ryan? At a point when the whole world is demanding urgent action to end the Saudi-led bombardment and starvation of Yemen, the Speaker of the House has been scheming to prevent congressional debate on a resolution to get the United States out of a humanitarian crisis.

This is not about partisanship or ideology. As Ryan was blocking action in the House this week, 11 Senate Republicans—including some of the chamber’s most conservative members—voted with Democrats to open the Senate debate on ending US military support for the Saudi Arabia’s assault on Yemen.

The 60-39 vote to advance the bipartisan effort by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Mike Lee (R-UT) to invoke the war-powers authority of the Congress to constrain military interventions and engagements by the Executive Branch, cleared that way for a 56-41 vote on Thursday in favor of the S.J.Res. 54: “A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.”

“Today we tell the despotic regime in Saudi Arabia that we will not be a part of their military adventurism,” declared Sanders, who has for months made the case for congressional action on Yemen, waging a two-pronged campaign for the resolution. First, he made a moral argument, telling his colleagues they have a duty to end US support for Saudi abuses that have fostered a “humanitarian and strategic disaster” in Yemen—a crisis so severe that United Nations officials say it could lead to the worst famine in a century. Second, the senator made a constitutional argument, explaining that “The Senate must reassert its constitutional authority and end our support of this unauthorized and unconstitutional war.”

Unfortunately, Ryan continues to do the bidding of the Trump administration and the Saudi regime with which the president is so closely aligned. Ryan refuses to concern himself with reports on what United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund describes as “a war on children.”

“Yemen has become a hell on earth for millions of children. Today every single boy, every single girl in Yemen is facing extremely dire need,” says UNICEF regional director Geert Cappelaere, who reports that, on average, a child is dying every 10 minutes in Yemen—a country where more than 400,000 children are starving and an additional 1.5 million are acutely malnourished.

Some images of Yemen that Ryan is ignoring.  Are these children still alive?  Not likely.

  

  

These are some of the voices that Paul Ryan is ignoring as he fails to allow debate and a vote in the House.  Shame on Paul Ryan!  The Saudi régime, and the complicit US régime must be held accountable.  War is not a one sided affair, but when such as these are the target, I have a problem with it and so should the world.  MbS’s children (if he has any), indeed Saudi children are not being targeted, only Yemeni children.  And what of the current US régime?  Could these be US children if Trump continues to abuse the rule of law and set the US as an authoritarian state?  Trump, Ryan and any others that fail to act to rein in Saudi Arabia are complicit in these murders.

Washington Monthly — On June 3, 1973, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein signaled the end of Richard Nixon’s presidency with a big scoop in the Washington Post. They reported that ex-White House counsel John Dean had “told Senate investigators and federal prosecutors that he discussed aspects of the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon or in Mr. Nixon’s presence on at least 35 occasions” and that he was planning “to testify under oath at the Senate’s Watergate hearings, regardless of whether he is granted full immunity from prosecution.” …

People can be forgiven for not knowing what the future would bring, but we have this precedent now to help imagine our near future.

When Robert Mueller brings his case, however he brings it, it will not be the end of the story. He has built his case by interviewing nearly everyone in Trump’s inner circle, many of whom have become cooperating witnesses and many others of whom have doubtlessly opted to tell the truth rather than risk perjury or obstruction of justice charges. Their information is locked in FBI transcripts and grand jury testimony, and the individuals can be called before Congress to testify.

When the time comes, the witnesses against Trump won’t be members of the special counsel’s office. The witnesses will be people like former White House counsel Don McGahn and firsthand witnesses like Rick Gates and Michael Flynn.  …

They’ll watch the president’s lies fall like dominoes based on the say-so not of Fake News reporters and a biased Deep State, but based on the testimony of former right-wing heroes.

And all of that is before we get into the actual meat of the story, which is the degree to which Trump lied about his business ties with Russia and the extent to which his campaign coordinated with the Russians to exploit the hacked emails.

The idea many have is that the Republicans will have little trouble brushing all of this off, but I don’t see that as a sustainable position for them. What brought Nixon down was the testimony of his own people, and that’s what ultimately will bring Trump down, too. [emphasis added]

The article in AlterNet this week, The coming parade of witnesses against Trump, really is an extension of this Washington Weekly article from 06 December 2018.  Trump is a fool who thinks he is untouchable.  I hope the law shows him that nobody, not even him, is above the law.  May it be so!

Billboard — If you watched the recent Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, you know that Jim Carrey is way more than just a rubbery faced funnyman. The Mr. Popper’s Penguinsstar is also a deep, philosophical thinker and spiritual seeker, and, as viewers learned, an avid painter.

While the canvases in the movie were mostly giant abstract works, Carrey has been focusing his attention lately on portraits of real-life figures, most of them related to Pres. Trump and Republican/right-leaning figures.

Please click through this short article.  This picture, 50 Shades of Decay, is one of 13 contained in the article.  You might not get excited by Carrey’s work in movies etc, but he certainly does know how to represent political characters like Trump in paint.

Canadian Press — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, facing federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest, will be leaving the administration at year’s end, President Donald Trump said Saturday. In his resignation letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Zinke said “vicious and politically motivated attacks” against him had “created an unfortunate distraction” in fulfilling the agency’s mission.

Trump, in tweeting Zinke’s departure, said the former Montana congressman “accomplished much during his tenure” and that a replacement would be announced next week. The Cabinet post requires Senate confirmation.  …

Zinke, 57, played a leading part in Trump’s efforts to roll back federal environmental regulations and promote domestic energy development. He drew attention from his first day on the job, when he mounted a roan gelding to ride across Washington’s National Mall to the Department of Interior.  …

As interior secretary, Zinke pushed to develop oil, natural gas and coal beneath public lands in line with the administration’s business-friendly aims. But he has been dogged by ethics probes, including one centred on a Montana land deal involving a foundation he created and the chairman of an energy services company, Halliburton, that does business with the Interior Department.

Click through for what Zinke’s future might look like.  I wonder if he’ll ride Tonto off into the sunset on 02 January 2019.

My Universe

Dude!  Why don’t you come out to play?

I’ll share my nuts!

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Last Week’s Craziest Republican Moments

 Posted by at 10:14 am  Politics
Dec 152018
 

Once upon a time, I used to post the week’s craziest, most evil, greediest, etc. Republican moments almost every week.  However, I rarely see them anymore.  But Matt Chapman posted a list of five yesterday, featuring Goose Step Gohmerde, the Coultergeist, and more. So without further ado…

1215Q

QAnon conspiracy theorist says it’s a miracle the Clintons haven’t had her murdered yet.

The QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that President Donald Trump is secretly working with special counsel Robert Mueller to take down a world-spanning ring of child sex traffickers led by prominent liberals and Democrats, continues apace, despite many of its core predictions not coming true. But according to Right Wing Watch, Liz Crokin, a pro-Trump "journalist" at the forefront of the QAnon community, claims to be near to cracking the case — and thinks it’s amazing that the Clintons have not yet rubbed her out.

In an interview on the far-right YourVoice America "Steel Truth", Crokin said the NYPD discovered "tons" of evidence of "child rape" implicating Hillary Clinton and "several other elites." And in response to host Ann Vandersteel saying that she was "afraid to go on camera and talk about this because there is a Clinton body count also associated with these people," Crokin agreed: "They’ve tried to come after me," Crokin responded. "They have come after me. It’s a miracle I’m still alive, to tell you the truth."

Watch below:

Crokin and Vandersteel are far from the first ones to paint the Clintons as a pair of mob bosses whacking people left and right. Conspiracy theory lists of people supposedly murdered by the Clintons have circulated for years, most of which are just lists of random people in the Clintons’ orbit who happened to die of diseases or accidents, and almost none of which provide explanations of why these people would be murdered but not, say, Monica Lewinsky or Ken Starr.

Inserted from <Alternet>

Here’s that video.

I shared the first of five crazy Republican moments.  Click through for the other four.

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 12/15/2018

 Posted by at 10:13 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 152018
 

This is the first time I’ve been half able to post since I moved.  The place is 2/3 of what I had, and I have to sit sideways to the keyboard, which tips away from me, because the movers broke the keyboard stand on my desk.  They also broke my computer, and repairing it cost me $239.  Building staff are repairing the handicapped shower, so I’m taking whores’ baths in the sink.  I’ve moved a few dozen times in my life, including across the country.  This one has been far and away the worst.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update.  It’s a WWWendy day, and I’ll be busy.  Great job, Staff!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 4:48).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): GREEN TIDE – Parody

 

I agree. It’s time for the new Democrats. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Jeff Merkley on New Day

 

I’m proud of my Senator.  Oregon leads the way!  The Republican plan is ugly. If the children are not white, killing them is OK. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: How to Hold Corporations Accountable

 

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. I’m not surprised Elizabeth Warren is behind this. Stop the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

TConline

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Squatch’s Open Thread 14 December 2018

 Posted by at 1:55 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 142018
 

It is Thursday evening and I am getting a start on the OT because I am getting a haircut Friday morning.  It will be great to be able to see the computer screen and keyboard again!  Well Winnie did very well at the vet’s today.   His spot glucose reading was 6.4 perfect for a cat’s range, and his fructosamine results won’t likely be available until late Friday.  At this point, there are no more vet appointments until his annual checkup in May.  He is diet controlled, and hopefully, he’ll lose a little more weight which will help things immensely.  Oh how I hate that last word — Trump uses it to such excess!  Friday noon: Winnie’s results were wonderful and he is officially classed as “in remission”.  The haircut did not happen (no hairdresser) so I’ll have resort to ponytails pretty soon.  That should be fun.  I’ll look like these little girls, babies really, who have 3 cm (9~1 in) ponytails all over their heads!  Have a good weekend and stay safe!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:37 (average 8:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

TC’s took me 4:32 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

AlterNet — “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.” That’s freshly minted GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan talking — statements he would eventually recant — at a party celebrating what would have been the prolific author’s 100th birthday,

Rand’s books are a big driver in the long-term right-wing campaign to delude millions of people into believing that there’s no such thing as society — that everyone must look out only for themselves.

1. How Ayn Rand Seduced Generations of Young Men and Helped Make the U.S. Into a Selfish, Greedy Nation

“When I was a kid,” AlterNet contribuer Bruce Levine writes, “my reading included comic books and Rand’s The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. There wasn’t much difference between the comic books and Rand’s novels in terms of the simplicity of the heroes. What was different was that unlike Superman or Batman, Rand made selfishness heroic, and she made caring about others weakness.”

Bruce Levine’s explanation of how Rand has captured the minds of so many is a must-read. “While Harriet Beecher Stowe shamed Americans about the United State’s dehumanization of African Americans and slavery, Ayn Rand removed Americans’ guilt for being selfish and uncaring about anyone except themselves. Not only did Rand make it ‘moral’ for the wealthy not to pay their fair share of taxes, she ‘liberated’ millions of other Americans from caring about the suffering of others, even the suffering of their own children.”

5. Billionaires and Corporations Use Rand’s Writings To Brainwash College Students
Pam Martens reported that Charles Koch, who pushes “millions of dollars through his foundation into economic programs at public universities and mandating approval of faculty and curriculum in some instances,” partnered with the “southern banking giant BB&T … mandating that Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged is taught and distributed to students.”

Click through for the other 8 influences of Ayn Rand.  I have always seen American capitalism as almost cruel and exploitative.  Unfortunately, Republicans display this same exploitative trait showing total disregard for the working, poor and middle classes.

The Atlantic — Opposition is building against a Trump-administration plan to allow certain groups of protected Vietnamese immigrants to be deported, a day after The Atlantic reported that the U.S. is reinterpreting an agreement with Vietnam that shielded some of them from being moved out of the country.

In the latest sign of growing worry over the efforts, a group of at least 22 members of Congress have signed a letter addressed to the White House, as well as the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, to express “deep concern” over attempts to rework the 2008 accord between the U.S. and Vietnam. John Kerry, a former secretary of state and Vietnam War veteran, echoed those concerns, calling the shift “despicable.” That deal protected Vietnamese nationals who came to the United States before July 12, 1995, and committed crimes during their time in the U.S., from the threat of deportation. That specific date, which was when Washington and Hanoi established diplomatic relations, covered those fleeing the Vietnam War. In essence, the Trump administration has now said it believes that the agreement allows for a wider number of Vietnamese migrants to be deported.
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In their letter, the 22 lawmakers—all Democratic members of the House of Representatives— acknowledged that many young Vietnamese refugees, upon arrival in the United States, “were resettled in struggling neighborhoods without support or resources to cope with significant trauma from the [Vietnam] war.”  …
They added that the “refugees have completed their time and are now positively contributing to their communities.” Deporting them, the lawmakers said, would return the immigrants to a country they are not familiar with. They urged the Trump administration “to honor the humanitarian spirit and intention embodied in the current agreement.”
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Click through for more.  WTH!!!  The last US troops pulled out of Vietnam in March 1973 and Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case–Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress.  It was not until April 1975 that Saigon was taken by the communist North Vietnamese.  There had been some South Vietnamese airlifted out of Vietnam — those who had worked with the Americans — when US personnel were airlifted out.  But most were caught in Vietnam.  That is when North America saw a big influx of “boat people” — Vietnamese who paid snakeheads thousands of dollars to get them out of Vietnam.  Many of the boats were not fit for travel across the Pacific but people were desperate.  I was on a committee at my church trying to help resettle these migrants from war and communism.  That was more than 40 years ago!  So why has bone spur Donnie decided it is time to involve himself in the Vietnam war?  Some reporters have posited that Stephen Miller is behind this.  Many of the approximate 5,000 people targeted have paid their debt and are members of the community.  So why drag up old history?  Racism!  They are not white!  Bone spur Donnie must be stopped.
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The Daily Beast — The New Jersey attorney general’s office is looking into claims of “harassment and immigration fraud” at President Trump’s Bedminster golf course, a lawyer for undocumented current and former employees told the New York Daily News. Anibal Romero, lawyer for housekeeper Victorina Morales, told the newspaper the attorney general’s office “reached out to him” regarding claims that five of his clients were “threatened and called racial slurs” while working at Bedminster. His clients also allege that fraudulent documents, like work permits, were provided by the Bedminster staff, and that staff “threatened to report them to federal authorities if they spoke out.”
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And this surprises who exactly?  This is not the first time.  Trump thinks he is above the law, but he is not!

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Les Folies Bergère?

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Friday Fun: Smocking, Redacting, Searching …

 Posted by at 9:54 am  Politics
Dec 142018
 

[Few minor updates & format corrections, since WordPress changed their writing software & I’m still on a learning curve]

Nothing makes the Season brighter than the fact that Mueller now has Twitler in his legal crosshairs and the walls are closing in … provided that Twitler doesn’t go totally bonkers and kills us all.

But Twitler has provided another neologism classic with his “SmockingGun” Tweet – which he misspelled not once, but TWICE.

So pour yourself another cup of smocking hot covfefe, and settle back to see what the Intertubes did with it.

(Although I should note that it is a real word:)

No matter how many crimes and misdeeds Mueller uncovers, we are forced to agree on one issue …

Also in an effort to help Twitler out with something totally foreign to him – The Truth – Mueller’s team has extended their superb redacting skills to his Tweets – and the results have been refreshing:


But sadly, their efforts came too late.  The “Washington Post” Fact Checking editors were forced to create a brand-new category to accommodate Twitler’s endless whoppers since their previous max of four was NOT enough.  Meet the “Bottomless Pinocchio”


And his search for a new Chief of Staff goes on with no success.  (Which is no surprise – who would want to work for an impending felon?)



Let’s close out the week with a heartfelt “THANK YOU!” to Sen. Schumer and Rep. Pelosi for showing the world on real-time TV what a totally incompetent ASS Twitler is.  Here they are triumphantly leaving the White House after destroying him …


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Squatch’s Open Thread 13 December 2018

 Posted by at 12:49 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 132018
 

So we are on the downside of the week whoosing into the weekend with less than 2 weeks until Christmas.  The days will undoubtedly pass quickly for the next few weeks.  When my Winnie was diagnosed with diabetes last September, his hind legs were affected making walking difficult — he was walking on his hocks, rather than his toes like a healthy cat.  I am please to say that he is back to walking on his toes more often.  He will back at the vet’s this afternoon for followup blood work.  That won’t be an easy trip as it is pouring cats and dogs and he does not like “dogs”.  I hope everyone is having a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 6:03(average 6:19). To do it, click here. How did you do?

TC’s took me 4:45 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

AlterNet — For over six hours on Friday, former FBI Director James Comey participated in a voluntary, transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. Republicans are enjoying the last few weeks of their House majority, and seem determined to use every ounce of power they have left before it goes away in January. But if their goal was to use Friday’s testimony to undermine Robert Mueller’s probe, they surely left Capitol Hill disappointed.

As committee Republicans fixated on Hillary Clinton’s emails, the Steele Dossier and text messages between two FBI agents accused of expressing bias against Donald Trump, Comey turned the proceeding into a defense of the special counsel’s investigation and the integrity of the Department of Justice. No wonder President Trump launched into yet another Twitter tirade on Sunday morning, labeling Comey’s testimony “so untruthful!” while complaining that this “whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!”

 

Leakin’ James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day. His Friday testimony was so untruthful! This whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2018

With all of the news happening this past week, reviewing a 235-page transcript was probably not at the top of a lot of people’s to-do lists. With that in mind, here are 10 takeaways that are worth a second look.

7.  As has been the case for two years, Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary Committee used their time with Comey to try and undermine the Russia probe. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., incoming oversight chairman, gave Comey a chance to define the threat posed by Russia. “The aim of the Russian effort in 2016 was to destabilize, undermine, damage our democracy,” Comey told the committees. “That was their overwhelming goal. And so you have a foreign nation that is attacking the United States of America in an effort to undermine that which is essentially us, our democratic process. So that’s a very serious threat. And understanding whether any Americans were part of that effort is incredibly important because the threat of those Americans by virtue of their alliance with the Russians would pose to our country.”

8.  Cummings followed up by asking what would happen if the special counsel’s investigation was impeded or ended prematurely. “Well, in my opinion, it would undermine our national security by not holding accountable people who might have been involved in either the Russians or people who worked with them, first,” Comey responded. “And second, it would send an absolutely appalling message about the rule of law in this country of ours. … The Russians’ goal was for everyone in the world to have doubt about the nature and credibility of the American democracy, to dirty it up so it’s not a shining city on the hill. So their attack had implications for that, the role of the American democratic experiment. And if someone were to order it stopped, the investigation into that, it would have a similar effect.”

These are but 2 of the revelations from James Comey’s interview with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees behind closed doors on 07 December 2018.  Click through for the others.  If you want to peruse the transcript you can HERE. 

The Globe and Mail — The context of the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou – a dangerous move by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in its intensifying conflict with China – matters enormously. The United States requested that Canada arrest Ms. Meng in the Vancouver airport en route to Mexico from Hong Kong, and then extradite her to the United States. Such a move is almost a U.S. declaration of war on China’s business community. Nearly unprecedented, it puts American business people travelling abroad at much greater risk of such actions by other countries.  …

Quite transparently, the U.S. action against Ms. Meng really seems to be part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to undermine China’s economy by imposing tariffs, closing Western markets to Chinese high-technology exports and blocking Chinese purchases of U.S. and European technology companies. One can say, without exaggeration, that this is part of an economic war on China – and a reckless one at that.

Huawei is one of China’s most important technology companies and therefore a prime target in the Trump administration’s effort to slow or stop China’s advance into several high-technology sectors. America’s motivations in this economic war are partly commercial – to protect and favour laggard U.S. companies – and partly geopolitical. They certainly have nothing to do with upholding the international rule of law.

The U.S. appears to be trying to target Huawei especially because of the company’s success in marketing cutting-edge 5G technologies globally. The U.S. claims the company poses a specific security risk through hidden surveillance capabilities in its hardware and software. Yet the U.S. government has provided no evidence for this claim. …

…UN Security Council Resolution 2231 calls on all countries to drop sanctions on Iran as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. Yet the United States. – and only the United States – now rejects the Security Council’s role in such matters. The Trump administration, not Huawei or China, is today’s greatest threat to the international rule of law, and therefore to global peace. [emphasis mine]

Click through for further details.  I don’t know how much coverage this is getting in the US, but in Canada it is getting a lot of coverage.  I have a great deal of disdain for the pernicious ham handed Trump who has no regard for the rule of law except for how to break it when he said 

“If I think it’s good for the country, if I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made – which is a very important thing – what’s good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” … 

For Trump, his foreign relations is all transactional — what do I get out of this through what does the country get out of it.  He wants the title of the great deal maker at somebody else’s expense, in this case Canada and two of her citizens.

I want to say to him, “Stay the hell out of Canadian affairs!”

This video from CTV News.  Additional material from The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail (2) and this second video from CTV News.(which refuses to embed)

Trump is a great threat to world peace.

YouTube — This is Part 3 of an ABC (Australian Broadcast Company) programme examining the Trump Russia relationship.  Some of this is ‘old hat’ while other parts may be new information.  Sarah Ferguson, the interviewer, talks with various people involved with Trump.  

Hopefully you have had a chance to watch the previous two videos.  Did you learn more about Trump’s shenanigans?  Between these videos and reading “The Making of Donald Trump” by David Cay Johnston, Trump is a con man, fraudster, and definitely not deserving of holding the highest elected office in the land, let alone being competent to do the job.  He is in it for the money opportunities even though they are not allowed and for the personal recognition/glory.

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Squatch’s Open Thread 12 December 2018

 Posted by at 8:05 am  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 122018
 

TomCat dropped by  the site yesterday around noon to say that his move was a nightmare and he would likely be scarce for a few more days.  Hopefully, he’ll remember to take it easy and preserve his sanity.  Today is physio and teaching so my time is very tight.  Hopefully I’ll have an OT for Thursday.  Well all, have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 6:03 (average 7:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

TC’s took me 5:11 (average 7:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

Sojourners — Every year from Dec. 16 to 24, Las Posadas begin in many Latin American countries and immigrant communities in the U.S. Roughly translated, posadas means “inn” or “shelter.” Las Posadas recalls the events in Luke’s Gospel leading up to Jesus’ birth. It’s a Catholic Christian observance with a sung liturgy that’s performed on the streets rather than in church.

A posada begins with a street procession that reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter at an inn. Those playing the protagonists of the story, Mary and Joseph, are dressed in costume and carry candles as they follow along a prescribed route, knocking on doors. At each door they ask, through special posada songs, for room at the inn. In rural areas, Mary may even ride on a donkey.

The verses of the song are sung alternately by those outside and those inside the home. This creates a sung dialogue between Joseph and an innkeeper.

Joseph:

En el nombre del cielo                In the name of heaven

os pido posada,                            I ask you for shelter,

pues no puede andar                  for my beloved wife

mi esposa amada.                       can go no farther.

Innkeeper:

Aquí no es mesón                       This is not an inn

sigan adelante,                           Get on with you,

yo no puedo abrir,                      I cannot open the door,

no sea algún tunante.                 you might be a rogue.

Many people from the community follow behind, singing along with them. The neighbors participating in the posada open their doors, and each one purposefully sings their refusal to Mary and Joseph. Only at the very end of the route is there a designated household that finally allows Mary and Joseph to come in. There, too, is a party with Bible readings, food, and piñatas for the children. Now that the holy family has found their welcome, it is time to celebrate.  …

It is also one that ministers and immigration advocates have begun to use to represent the lack of hospitality at the U.S.–Mexico border. Their version is called La Posada Sin Fronteras: Shelter without Borders.

La Posada Sin Fronteras uses the exact same songs as the traditional Posada liturgy. But rather than walking through a neighborhood and knocking on doors, immigration advocates, faith leaders, immigrants, and other supporters gather on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border. There they are watched carefully by the Border Patrol as they begin their reenactment of the journey of Mary and Joseph. The group on the Mexican side represents Mary and Joseph asking for shelter, while those on the U.S. side play the innkeeper, who repeatedly rejects their request for shelter. It’s a reenactment that “contextualizes the bitter drama” of displaced immigrants, writes Ched Myers in Our God Is Undocumented. And it brings participants inside the sacred story of God struggling to enter an inhospitable world.

Click through for the remainder of this fine article.  Now I know that not everybody is Christian, but one does not need to be Christian to be filled with love and compassion at this time of year, indeed at any time.  In the context of the Trump Republican régime, I think everyone can relate to this story, or should be able to relate in some fashion, even if they have not experienced such treatment first hand themselves.  I know my Muslim friends can.  Men, women and babes in arms are gassed by US Border Patrol agents lobbing teargas canisters across the border.  When will the US live up to its words at the Statue of Liberty — The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus?

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Daily Kos — Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer went to the Oval Office Tuesday to serve notice to Donald Trump that the days of doing and saying whatever he damn well pleases with zero facts to back it up are done. Trump’s factless antics had worked fine with a complicit Republican party that did everything possible to keep their Dear Leader pampered and happy, but the pamper party is over.

The two Democrats went to the White House to “negotiate in good faith,” as Pelosi put it, over funding to keep the government open. Trump wants $5 billion for the border wall he originally pledged Mexico would pay for but is now demanding the American taxpayers fund. But pouring that much money into a border wall is a nonstarter for congressional Democrats, who will happily put more money into border security, but not a wall that experts say will accomplish very little, if anything.

Pelosi clearly went into the meeting hoping for decorum and, perhaps, even some progress in the negotiations. Schumer wanted to make it clear that Democrats hoped to avoid a shutdown, but not if the price tag was $5 billion for a wall. Trump planned to ambush them with all kinds of fantastically false statistics written on flash cards about how the border wall would solve nearly all of the nation’s immigration problems (the fact checks will be fun). That’s where the fun began.  …

Trump continued, “You know what I’ll say: Yes, if we don’t get what we want, one way or the other—whether it’s through you, through military, through anything you want to call—I will shut down the government, absolutely.” Trump then added, puffing out his chest a little further, “And I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. […] I will take the mantle, I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it. […] and I’m going to shut it down for border security. Okay.”

OMG!!!  This would be hysterically funny if it were not so sad.  Trump is an absolute idiot and worse than a petulant toddler in the midst of a tantrum! Trump: “Yes, if we don’t get what we want, … I will shut down the government, absolutely.”  Remember those words because you are going to hear “I never said that.” And if the shut down happens, you know Trump will blame it on the Democrats as sure as it snows in January in Colorado.  He had his ass whopped by the Dynamic Duo, “Chuck and Nancy”!  Can the US population put up with this jackass for another 2 years!

YouTube — This is Part 2 of an ABC (Australian Broadcast Company) programme examining the Trump Russia relationship.  Some of this is ‘old hat’ while other parts may be new information.  Sarah Ferguson, the interviewer, talks with various people involved with Trump.  Tomorrow Part 3.

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