This is so weird.  It feels like Sunday, because WWWendy just left.  In a few minutes, she’ll be headed South for the country music festival in Brownsville, OR.  It’s a little cooler today and tomorrow, and the wind came up to blow the smoke away.  I hope you’re having a great Sunday, even if it is Thursday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:31 (average 4:40).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Unlike Nixon, President Donald Trump Admin Pursues Enemies List In Public

By revoking John Brennan’s security clearance without due cause, Little Donnie Dipshit, aka Putin’s Piddle Puppet, is making the US and the world more dangerous. Brennan was so knowledgeable that he was in the room with Obama when Osama bin Laden (R-SA) was killed. He can no longer be a valuable source of advice, since he may not be read-in on classified crises. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Alternet: In interviews with Politico, an assortment of Republicans admit they are willing to concede the House to the Democrats in the 2018 midterms based on the belief that a move to impeach President Donald Trump would backfire on them

According to the report, Republican believe they will hold their majority in the Senate and would rebuff any attempt by a Democratic-majority House to dump Trump and that voters will want to move on, with Trump’s base becoming even more solidified.

As Politico reports, “more than a dozen Republican politicians, activists and consultants — including some current and former Trump campaign aides with direct lines to the president — said they are increasingly convinced a Democratic victory and subsequent impeachment push would backfire and ultimately help the president in 2020.”

I tend to agree. As much as my soul cries out for impeachment, until we have a DINO-proof super-majority in both branches of the legislature, we will fail. And unless we can impeach Pence simultaneously, we’ll be even worse off than we are today. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From TPM: Aretha Franklin, the undisputed “Queen of Soul” who sang with matchless style on such classics as “Think,” ”I Say a Little Prayer” and her signature song, “Respect,” and stood as a cultural icon around the globe, has died at age 76 from advanced pancreatic cancer.

Publicist Gwendolyn Quinn tells The Associated Press through a family statement that Franklin died Thursday at 9:50 a.m. at her home in Detroit. The statement said “Franklin’s official cause of death was due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type, which was confirmed by Franklin’s oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Karmanos Cancer Institute” in Detroit.

The family added: “In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”

RIP, Hero! Thoughts and prayers, please, for all the survivors that love her. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

It’s horrid hot, humid and smoky here in Portland.  It irritates my COPD and burns my eyes.  Store to Door delivered groceries, and I put them away.  This is my shower night, but WWWendy’s schedule is a bit crazy between having to work overtime and going out of town for a few days.  My shower times will be tomorrow morning instead of this evening, Monday evening instead of Sunday Morning, and Thursday evening instead of Wednesday evening.  Tomorrow that may interfere with my research and writing.  Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:40 (average 5:22).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Reminder:

The live online draft for our own fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends, is this Saturday, August 18, at 9 AM PDT (10 AM MDT, 11 AM CDT, 12 Noon EDT).  I strongly recommend that players log into the league and participate in a mock draft between now and then.  If you cannot attend, the league will draft for you.  See you then!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Senator Bernie Sanders: ‘President Donald Trump Has Got To Be Defeated’

Congrats, Bernie, but only 94%?!!? We will win the struggle between "establishment Democrats" and "social" Democrats by attrition. As time goes on more and more establishment Democrats will become socialists. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: On a night when voters in four states went to the polls, Democrats delivered groundbreaking primary victories for a transgender woman in Vermont, a Muslim woman in Minnesota and an African-American woman in Connecticut, while voters in Wisconsin nominated a top state education official, Tony Evers, to challenge Gov. Scott Walker, one of the most vulnerable high-profile Republicans of the midterms cycle.

These diverse Democrats look like winners to me. Also, Kobitch won the Pigination as Reich-KKKandidate for Governor in KS, improving the Democrat’s chances there. Go Laura Kelly!! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Think Progress: In Arkansas, residents on Medicaid need to report 80-hours-a-month of work or service online to keep their health insurance under new requirements. So far, more than 5,000 people have failed to do so, jeopardizing their continuous coverage.

About 5,426 people who qualify for the public health insurance program designed for low-income people failed to report 80 hours of work in June and July, according to the latest numbers from Arkansas’ Department of Human Services. If they fail to report hours in August, Arkansas officials will boot people who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid off the program for the rest of the calendar year.

In July, only 844 residents actually satisfied the work requirement, which must be reported online. Nearly 13,000 failed to in July. Of the roughly 43,000 residents subject to the work requirement — a number expected to grow as state officials are rolling out the requirements by age group — the majority were exempt from the requirement.

How many will Republicans murder with the RepubliCare Death Benefit: If you can’t pay, you’re allowed to die. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

I got my test results back today, and Megan was very happy with them.  My A1C is 7.0 and everything else is in the good range.  The weather is horrid with 100° forecast, 52% humidity, and severe haze from the many wildfires in Oregon and southern Washington.  The picture below is a color picture from 8 AM here.  Take back Fitzwalkerstan!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 5:37).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): The movement to protect LGBTQ people from conversion therapy

From what I can understand, as an outsider, LGBTQ kids are exactly the way God made them. Ban conversion therapy! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Despite All The Scandal, Carl Paladino Is Back

Whether Collins or Paladino, I see little difference between them. In different ways, they are equally deplorable.  Go Nate McMurray! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: Blasting his former colleague Omarosa Manigault, Donald J. Trump said on Monday that “the White House is no place for a lying lowlife from a reality show.”

“People were impressed by Omarosa because they saw her on a TV show,” Trump told reporters from his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. “Well, I’ve got news for you: being on a reality show does not qualify you to work in the government.”

Explaining why he considered her a “lowlife,” Trump said, “She’s rude, abrasive, and offensive. Having someone like that in the White House is an embarrassment to our country.”

But worst of all, Trump said, was Omarosa’s lying, which he called “constant.”

“She can’t go a day without lying, and what’s more, she’s narcissistic and paranoid,” he said. “A psycho like that shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Situation Room.”

Dang, Andy! If that’s straight news, he’s right! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Alternet: British actor Sacha Baron Cohen has once again punked right-wing America spectacularly on his show, "Who Is America?" This time, his mark — pro-gun activist Dan Roberts — was tricked into aggressively sucking a sex toy on camera.

Roberts, who is the founder of Youth Shooters of America and who has accused the Parkland shooting survivors of "emotional blackmail," was being instructed on how to survive being captured by terrorist militants, with Cohen disguised as his Israeli anti-terror expert character, Erran Morad.

Here’s the video:

LMAO!! I suspect that Republican Ammosexual, Dan Roberts, thought Sacha was his Fuhrer, Trump, in disguise. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Unanimously ratified by our Founding Fathers to flummox Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, the opposite of real authentic Christians.