Personal Update – 5/9/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:20 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 092017

Due to a combination of restless concern for our nation, mugginess and building noise, I was unable to sleep last night, so instead of doing more research, I’m returning to bed. Hugs!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:55 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Take:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Sally Yates is an American Hero | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

If the Washington Post had not broken the story, Flynn would still be National Security Advisor. The most rational explanations for this are either that Flynn did what he did following Trump’s instructions or that Putin is already blackmailing Trump with the threat of exposing Trump’s collusion. Keith asked whether Trump is insane or a traitor. My reply: those choices are not mutually exclusive. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Flashback to 5/9/2014

Senate Republicans Continue War on Women

Posted by TomCat at 2:23 pm Politics

May 082017

Many of us, including me, have thought that, now that RepubliCare has moved to the Senate, it would die an embarrassing death and that would be the end of it. However, now he have indications that Bought Bitch Mitch [R-KY] may be trying to revive it. Instead of following the normal committee process, he has formed a Senate health Care Working Group that is conspicuous for its exclusions.

Even as House Republicans were wheeling and dealing to get their health care plan passed, a group of 13 senators have been meeting for weeks now to craft their own measure that is likely to look much different from the version voted out of the House Thursday. And Democrats are already pouncing on the group because of it’s lack of diversity.

The group’s creation is outside of the normal committee process where legislation is crafted but includes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who has signed on to the group.

"As the Senate continues its work on fixing the broken promises of Obamacare, senators from throughout the conference have been working on solutions," McConnell spokesman David Popp said, "Those meetings and efforts continue, including chairmen of the relevant committees and leadership."

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the group, said it was formed to garner consensus.

"The Majority Leader has pulled together a group — a working group that represent different approaches and trying to get consensus there," Cornyn said, "And we’re going through the issues methodically and we’re just getting started."

Notably missing from the working group are any of the five GOP women senators, particularly Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, two moderate votes Republicans will need to get a bill passed through the senate.

And Democrats have already attacked the group for that lack of diversity… [emphasis added]

From <NBC News>

Here’s a video clip from CNN.

Why did Republicans exclude women? It’s obvious. Republicans consider women as chattel, owned by men and existing for men’s pleasure. Therefore, they consider it OK to sacrifice women’s health care needs to appease their pseudo-Christian base. Welcome to the Republican War on Women.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 5/8/2017

Posted by TomCat at 2:21 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 082017

I slept well last night, and although I’m still hurting whenever I breathe, it’s rarely excruciating, so I’m going to return to medical mayhem next week. I have such a huge backlog of appointments put on hold, that I may be quite scarce at times. I’m debating buttoning up the Cat Box and turning on the AC. It’s only 65°, but when the sun hits my outside wall, the wall radiates heat. OGIM! (Oh God It’s Monday!)

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:11 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (PBS Channel): Yates testifying on ousted national security adviser Flynn

I’m anticipating Yates’ testimony. Have you ever seen a TomCat drool? RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: On Sunday, the people of France annoyingly retained their traditional right to claim intellectual superiority over Americans, as millions of French citizens paused to enjoy just how much smarter they were than their allies across the Atlantic.

In bars and cafés across France, voters breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that arrogantly comparing themselves to the U.S. population, a longtime favorite pastime of the French people, would remain viable for the foreseeable future.

Pierre Grimange, a Parisian café-goer, sipped on a glass of Bordeaux and toasted his nation “for not being so dumb as the United States after all.”

Andy, that’s what I said yesterday. Great minds fall in the same ditch. RESIST!!

From NY Times: The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency’s regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research.

A spokesman for the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, said he would consider replacing the academic scientists with representatives from industries whose pollution the agency is supposed to regulate, as part of the wide net it plans to cast. “The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community,” said the spokesman, J. P. Freire.

Putting this more realistically, the foxes are now in charge of hen house protection. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

French Smarter than Americans or Brits

Posted by TomCat at 1:02 pm Politics

May 072017

I’m very pleased to report that unlike the voters in the US, who allowed a Russian plant to infest our White House, and unlike voters in the UK, who fell for Russian propaganda on Brexit and put the extreme right wing or their Conservative Party in charge, French voter showed authentic intelligence by rejecting their Nazi version of Trump and Theresa May, Marine Le Pen, and electing Emmanuel Macron by a wide margin.

Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of European integration, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union, early projections showed.

The centrist’s emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief to European allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president.

Five projections, issued within minutes of polling stations closing at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET), showed Macron beating Le Pen by around 65 percent to 35 – a gap wider than the 20 or so percentage points that pre-election surveys had pointed to… [emphasis added]

From <Reuters>

Kudos to French voters. Thank you for reminding us how to…

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 5/7/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:01 pm Open Thread, Plus, Politics

May 072017

I slept pretty well last night. Today is forecast for sunny weather and a seasonable high of 65°, but it is still muggy, currently 90%. Wendy is due soon. When she leaves at around Noon, I’ll check for French election results, and may add a second article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:53 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Morning Joe Cold Open

Seriously, now that we know the two are involved, it’s easy so see why Mika let herself play the weak token opponent all these years. Joe couldn’t stand up to a real Democrat. Apologies to those where SNL is blocked. RESIST!!

From NY Times: In a suburban Chicago district, Kelly Mazeski, a breast cancer survivor, used the day of the vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act to announce her House candidacy, vowing to make Representative Peter Roskam pay for his vote “to make Americans pay more and get less for their health care.”

In western New York, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul has stirred talk of a congressional race with her slashing criticism of Representative Chris Collins, who rallied fellow Republicans to vote for the health measure, then conceded in a national television interview that he had not read the bill.

And in suburban Philadelphia, Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran challenging Representative Ryan A. Costello, said she would make Mr. Costello’s decision to support the bill in committee, before opposing it on the floor, a central issue.

It is far too early to determine whether 2018 will bring a political wave, but the House’s approval of a deeply unpopular health care bill on Thursday has handed Democrats a potent line of attack for the midterm elections. While Republicans believe that fulfilling a seven-year promise on health care will energize their base next year, Democrats are anticipating a backlash that may put in jeopardy a Republican House majority that once seemed unshakable.

May this be the rope that hangs every House Republican! RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Let’s all enjoy (and by enjoy, I mean RAGE, RAGE, RAGE about) Rep. Glenn Grothman mansplaining to a crowd of men and women at a town hall that he’s A-OK with voting to defund Planned Parenthood because women can simply get birth control and reproductive services at the pharmacy or even the grocery store! Cancer screenings? Meh. Quit your whining, ladies.

Barf Bag Alert!!

Click through for transcript. See the pig lie. Lie pig, lie. Why does the pig lie? The pig is a Republican. That’s why. Make the pig lie from an unemployment line! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Bill Maher from May 5

Posted by TomCat at 1:26 pm Politics

May 062017

It’s that time of week again, and I’m happy to share three excellent video clips from Bill’s show last night. Enjoy!!

Monologue: The Day the Presidency Died

So true. ‘Moderate’ Republicans just dabble in killing people.

Jimmy Kimmel and TrumpCare

Democrats want to tax rich people so babies do not have to die. Republicans want to kill babies so rich people do not have to pay.

New Rule: The Lesser of Two Evils

People lost their fucking minds, and I you all know that kept saying that to friends, as they sang the praises of and convinced others to vote for Putin’s RT traitor, Jill Stein. Next time, WAKE UP! An imperfect friend is far better than a deadly enemy.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 5/6/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:25 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 062017

I got some sleep last night, and I must have been really tired as I napped again this morning. Tomorrow Wendy will be here to de-stink the sticky TomCat and help with assorted chores, including the dreaded task, so please expect no more that a Personal Update or an Open Thread.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 5:08). To di it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Jeff Merkley [D-OR]: In response to President Trump’s executive orders removing protections and moving to reopen risky offshore drilling, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today re-introduced the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act, a major piece of legislation to permanently protect the Arctic from offshore drilling.

The legislation would prevent any new or renewed leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in the Arctic Ocean planning area.

“Opening up new areas to oil exploration in the Arctic at a time when we are already dealing with the devastating impacts of climate change is the height of irresponsibility. The Trump administration’s reckless efforts to open a vast new source of carbon pollution would threaten local communities, resources and ecosystems, while exacerbating the climate change already damaging our economy and environment,” said Merkley. “The Arctic is much too fragile to withstand the type of oil spill that would be inevitable if drilling proceeds. In order to prevent environmental catastrophe, we must put the Arctic Ocean completely and permanently off limits to drilling.”

The Department of the Interior estimates that there is a 75 percent chance of a large oil spill, exceeding 42,000 gallons, should drilling leases in the Arctic be developed. The Arctic has one of the world’s most delicate ecosystems, as well as some of the most extreme and dangerous navigational conditions, severely limiting ability to respond to an oil spill or accident. To date, there has not been a successful oil and gas operation in the Arctic Ocean. Shell’s initial 2012 venture into the Arctic resulted in an abandoned oil rig and a Coast Guard operation to save eight lives.

The Arctic is also home to endangered species such as bowhead whales, polar bears and ringed seals, as well as invaluable and fragile ecosystems that are critical to local fisheries, indigenous populations and subsistence hunters. Drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean will threaten these species and communities, all for oil that will set back efforts to transition to a clean energy economy.

Because of these costs and dangers, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management removed Arctic Ocean leases from its five-year program for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf. Additionally, former President Obama, in conjunction with actions by the Canadian government, moved to permanently protect large areas of the Arctic Ocean from offshore drilling. However, President Trump has already signaled a fossil-fuel focused energy plan and today explicitly pledged to increase offshore oil and gas drilling.

The truth is, we cannot afford to continue burning fossil fuels for decades upon decades if we want to maintain a safe environment for our children. The worst impacts of climate change will happen if we allow global warming to exceed 2 degrees Celsius, or almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The world must transition aggressively and rapidly away from conventional fossil fuels and toward the use of renewable energy, and we certainly cannot continue to push new, dangerous fossil fuel development.

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Senator Merkley first introduced the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act in July 2015. In June of that year, Senator Merkley led a group of Senators in authoring a letter to President Obama urging the administration to rescind Shell Oil Company’s conditional Exploration Permit in the Chukchi Sea. Senator Merkley wrote that new lease sales in the Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean are an unnecessary risk that threatens local communities, fragile ecosystems, and efforts at climate change mitigation.

A PDF of the Stop Arctic Drilling Act of 2017 is available here.

Support Jeff’s Stop Arctic Drilling Act of 2017. Call your Senator. Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From TPM: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said he would “consider” waiving some of the Affordable Care Act’s insurer mandates, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions, as would be an option for states if a GOP Obamacare repeal bill that passed the House this week became law.

Republicans have been arguing that the waivers in RepubliCare do not matter, because no Republican governor would even consider waiving protections for those with preexisting conditions. The former Wisconsin isn’t even bright red, but the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan is just drooling to strip those folks of coverage, even though that would kill several. RESIST!!

From Think Progress: On Wednesday, a customer service representative from the FDA’s Office of Facilities sent an email to staff informing them that TVs in a Silver Spring, Maryland office will now be exclusively turned to Fox News.

The email — a screencap of which was initially obtained and shared to Twitter by journalist Paul Thacker and later by BuzzFeed’s Julia Reinstein— was sent to “let everyone know” why TVs had been changed “from CNN to FOX.” It was sent to researchers at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, the FDA branch that oversees medical products.

“A decision from the current administration administrative officials has requested that all monitors, under our control, on the White Oak Campus, display FOX news,” it says. “Sorry for the inconvenience, but I am unable to change any of the monitors to any other news source at this time.

Poor people! Fo9rdsing them to watch the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda is torture, and that’s against the law!! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0506Cartoon

Everyday Erinyes #73

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:23 am Politics

May 062017

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. Even though there are many more which I can't include. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

It has been a rough week, only slightly alleviated by the news that two law enforcement murderers (out of how many hundred?) will be facing, one a possible penalty (after a plea bargain), the other charges (and what else remains to be seen), for their crimes. The passage of the AHCA (Abysmal Horrible Crap Act) has dominated the news, and, as fury-worthy as it is, there is really nothing to say about it that hasn't already been said, and that multiple times.

Although, perhaps I can come up with some words that have not been seen – at least not nationally – the lamebrain in question probably sent them to the local papers, but I don't know whether anyone bothered to publish them, as predictable and vapid as they are. The Congressman for CO-05, Douglas Lamborn, my Congressman, sent out this statement in an email:

"I have kept my promise to replace Obamacare with a patient-centered plan that reduces government control, lowers costs, and increases the health care choices available to the American people. The AHCA has improved over the last month. The Freedom Caucus has worked with the moderate Tuesday Group to forge a compromise that will lower premiums and increase the flexibility of individual states to manage their health care decisions. Additionally, I personally negotiated with House Leadership to fix an error that locked veterans into the VA health system and prevented them from accessing the benefits of the AHCA. Securing this important victory for our veterans allowed me to support the bill.

With this vote, we have ended the individual mandate, blocked federal funding from going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, phased out Medicaid expansion, reduced regulations and taxes, and gutted Obamacare. I hope that the Senate is able to build upon the good work done by the House and deliver a strong bill to the President. By standing with President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Health and Human Services Secretary Price, I have voted to move us forward to a future of improved health care access and affordability for all Americans."

(It is also on his website, but we don't link to websites of this nature here.) I am sure it is now obvious to everyone here, if it wasn't already, why I make a point of remaining on good terms with Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.

Just for good measure, though, on the National Day of Prayer this week, Shouty McShoutface signed an executive order regarding "Religious Liberty." Naturally it was one of those documents that promulgate and support making it legal for those calling themselves "Christians" to discriminate against anyone not calling him or herself Christian – or, calling him or herself Christian, but not looking exactly like the "Christian" doing the discriminating. And, of course, Congressman CO-05 had on opinion on that too:

"I want to commend President Trump for signing today's Executive Order on Religious Liberty, defending the liberties enshrined in our founding documents, and making good on campaign promises to preserve and protect religious freedom. Along with other Members of Congress, I urged the President to act quickly on this order, to restore to people of faith the freedoms that have been being encroached upon in recent years. Under the Obama Administration, men and women faced crippling penalties for simply living out their faith in everyday lives.

The United States of America has a long and rich history of being a bastion of freedom for those persecuted for living out their religious beliefs. I am grateful for the efforts of this administration to return to those values by reining in the culture of government intimidation and unfair punishments of those seeking to faithfully live out their deeply held convictions. No one should ever be forced to decide between giving up their deeply held convictions or facing the threat of unfair government punishment through crippling fines. Religious liberty takes nothing away from American citizens, but merely underscores the value and right of religious expression for the many millions of Americans who hold to a particular faith."

(The picture shows him accepting the "True Blue" arard from the Family Research Council. No comment.) Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, dealing, as you generally do, directly with prime movers of evil, you may think I want you to go after this guy, and, in a way, you would not be wrong. However, this Congressional District is laid out in such a way that if you took him out, he would most likely be replaced by someone worse. I can't even call that a gerrymander. It became like this when far right Christianist and Dominionist groups all more or less simultaneously decided that Colorado Springs was a wonderful place to headquarter.

So what I really would like to happen is a change to the hearts and minds of the voters of CO-05 so that we can elect an actual human being to Congress. I know that's a tall order. And timeconsuming. It might not happen in my lifetime. It may not happen before the earth burns to a crisp. But I do think it is worth attempting. Dear ladies, thanks. And good luck.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4051167

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