This is my only article today.  I’m feeling slightly better than yesterday, but that isn’t saying much.  Virtually everything I found in my research are just new variations on old themes.  In addition, the Care2 Glitch Monster is so high on my shit list, that I’d just as soon avoid it, and especially the evil CAPTCHA today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:25).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Agony:

Every time I see that Orb, I pray that it’s soaked in Vaseline.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: The special counsel Robert Mueller announced on Saturday that he was closing the Justice Department’s Russia investigation, “effective immediately,” after hearing that President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, said he was innocent of any election meddling.

Moments after learning about Putin’s assertion, Mueller hastily assembled his staff of investigators to inform them that, now that Putin had fully exonerated himself, there was no point in continuing the probe.

“Vladimir Putin says he did nothing,” Mueller told his staff. “That’s good enough for me.”

Andy, that is absurd, but it appears to be what Putin’s Pee-Pee Puppet thinks Mueller should do. RESIST!!

From Alternet: On Sunday night, The New York Times reported that novice energy firm Whitefish Energy was wildly overcharging the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) for the hourly rate it paid line workers.

Whitefish Energy Holdings only had two employees when it was awarded a $300 million contract to restore electricity to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. To meet the shortfall, Whitefish hired contractors from Florida at rates varying from $42 per hour to $100 per hour with an average hourly rate of $63.

However, the company’s “shocking” contract allowed it to bill PREPA $319 per worker per hour.

The Times spoke to industry experts who said that $319 per hour is far, far above the norm about amounts to about 17 times what a Puerto Rican worker would make performing the same job.

Another day, another Republican rip-off. RESIST!!

From Common Dreams: Following the release of a slew of analyses showing that the GOP tax plan would raise taxes on many middle class families—despite repeated promises to the contrary by the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) conceded in an interview with the New York Times Friday that he "misspoke" when he declared last week that "nobody in the middle class is going to get a tax increase."

"I misspoke on that," McConnell told Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg‏.

Bought Bitch Mitch did NOT misspeak. He LIED!! Republicans are trying to raise YOUR taxes!! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I thought about spending the day in bed, but my Republiciosis was sufficiently, severe that I needed to stay up for the five trips to the throne room that it took to empty me (I hope).  Now I won’t let all that research go to waste.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos worship in Foxboro Sunday evening.  I have the Vaseline ready.  It’s also a Wendy day.

Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me 4:38 (average 6:11).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Daily Kos Channel): Fox News "Legal analyst" says sexual harassment "very few and far between"

Barf Bag Alert!!

The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda would rather have a pervert than a Democrat in the Senate. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: [T]he White House wants to get a tax bill passed, and on Thursday—just hours before Senate Republicans unveiled the outline of their tax proposal—Gary Cohn, Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, told CNBC’s John Harwood that the President had laid down “two really important principles” to guide the lawmakers and officials putting the legislation together. “Number one is we have to deliver middle-class tax cuts to the hardworking families in this country,” Cohn said. “Number two, our corporate tax system just is not competitive with the rest of the world. We have to create a corporate tax rate, and along with that a pass-through tax rate, that makes us competitive with the rest of the world so we can attract businesses back to the United States.”

Yet since last week, when Paul Ryan and the House Republicans released their tax plan, it’s been clear that Trump’s two principles have run into conflict with each other. Or, rather, these principles have run into the laws of arithmetic, and the fact that there isn’t enough money in the Republicans’ own budget, even using the fuzzy fiscal math the Party favors, to provide big giveaways for all businesses and all households. Something had to give, and between businesses and households, House Republicans went with the businesses.

From what we’ve seen of the Senate bill, so far, it does the same.

Click through for the rest of this superb article. Since the Republican tax plan cannot deliver the benefits promised to both giant corporations and households, bend over and grab your ankles. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: President Trump said Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin again denied his nation tampered in the U.S. presidential election last year.

The two men spoke during brief conversations on the sidelines of an international summit. Trump told reporters that he and Putin had more than one informal discussion after crossing paths at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Danang, Vietnam, before Trump flew to Hanoi for a bilateral meeting Sunday with Vietnamese leader.

The conversations mostly centered on the war in Syria, Trump said, but he added that he pressed Putin on Moscow’s role in attempting to tamper in the 2016 elections.

“He said he didn’t meddle,” Trump said, answering questions in the press cabin on the Air Force One. “I asked him again. You can only ask so many times. … He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did.”

Do you think Trump was being honest, considering that his ass was fill of Putin’s dick? RESIST!!

Cartoon: