I’m sorry to say that the heat is returning.  Although today’s forecast is only 82°, the sun hit the outside wall at 6:00 AM, and by 8:00, I had to close the windows, lower the blinds, and turn on the AC.  It’s another muggy day.  Speaking of muggy, I put in the mug order last night.  Lona’s is the first I’ve customized, since my eye cancer surgery.  I hope I lined everything up right.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:17 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Rachel Maddow Show: Scientist says EPA asked her to change testimony to Congress

Deborah Swackhamer, chair of the E.P.A.’s Board of Scientific Counselors, talks with Rachel Maddow about the pressure she received from an EPA official to change her congressional testimony and how the EPA’s outside scientific review board has been "decimated."

Kudos to Deborah Swackhamer. She ought to take that hammer and swack Scott Pruitt upside the head. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Foreign-born recruits who signed up for the military with the promise of U.S. citizenship in exchange for their service are finally getting their thanks in the form of deportation. MAGA.

According to a new report, the Pentagon is considering ending the contracts of a large number of foreign-born recruits in the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest program—which puts service members with foreign-language and other speciality [sic] skills on an expedited path to citizenship—due to an “overtasked vetting process and heightened security risk.”

But according to one former official, this can be something as innocuous as having a foreign relative, which would be expected of a foreign-born applicant in the first place. And due to the fact that the federal government already has so much of their personal information on file, many of these recruits would be “prime targets” for immediate deportation.

Basically, “Thank you for your service. Now get out”

These people served our country honorably and in good faith.  It’s disgusting that Republican racists don’t consider promises made to folks they call mud-people binding. RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump’s nominee for general counsel of the Transportation Department, Steven G. Bradbury [Pig delinked], is coming under fire by Democrats and human rights advocates for his role in providing legal blessing for waterboarding and other torture techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency on terrorism suspects during the administration of George W. Bush.

Amid interruptions by anti-torture protesters at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Democrats grilled Mr. Bradbury about interrogation memos he wrote as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during Mr. Bush’s second term.

“You lacked the judgment to stand up and say what is morally right when pressured by the president of the United States, and I’m afraid you would do so again,” said Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, who wagged her finger at Mr. Bradbury and accused him of having a dangerous “rubber stamp” mentality. “I cannot oppose this nomination strongly enough.”

Like Tammy, I cannot oppose the appointment of a Republican War Criminal strongly enough, RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Yesterday the building had still not bled-off enough heat to be comfortable, but this morning, I could finally turn off the AC for the first time in days.  I did get some sleep, but I need more.  I’m waiting for Store to Door to deliver groceries this afternoon.  This evening Wendy is coming to de-stink the TomCat, who has stunk since an hour after my shower on Sunday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:24 (average 4:53).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Why Are We Appeasing Trump? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

I agree with Keith on everything he said, except for one thing. Overthrowing Trump will not stop the hatred or abuse of power. Trump is where he is for one reason. With very rare exceptions, Trump personifies the politicians in the Republican Party. Putting Pence or Ryan in the White House will be just as bad for America, as is having Trump there now. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: President Trump’s administration will revoke a rule that gives the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority over regulating the pollution of wetlands and tributaries that run into the nation’s largest rivers, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said Tuesday.

Testifying before Congress, Pruitt — who earlier said he would recuse himself from working on active litigation related to the rule — said that the agency would “provide clarity” by “withdrawing” the rule and reverting standards to those adopted in 2008.

The earth is far too precious a ball to sacrifice it to Republicans that don’t have any. RESIST!!

From TPM: Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin filed suit against the New York Times Company on Tuesday, alleging defamation following a June 14 Times editorial that the paper later said incorrectly tied political violence to incitement.

Specifically, Palin alleged that the Times knowingly linked one of her political advertisements — which showed rifle crosshairs hovering over certain Democratically controlled congressional districts — to the 2011 shooting at an event held by one representative under a crosshair, Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ).

After a shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice on June 14, which left Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) in critical condition, a Times editorial asserted that, in the case of the Giffords shooting, “the link to political incitement was clear.”

“Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs,” it added.

The Gray Lady did not link Palin to the Gaby Giffords shooting. Bloody Bullseye Barbie linked herself to it.

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