Photo credit: Tux the Dapper Gent
May 052017
May 052017
When I reported on the passage of RepubliCare yesterday, I could only guess at the Ramifications. A day later we’re learning what is actually in there. The more we learn, the more horrific it becomes, and few people are better at digging out the dirt than Rachel Maddow.
Rachel Maddow could not hold back about the catastrophe that is Trumpcare; the AHCA just passed by the Republicans House of Representatives. Maddow spent the time to detail the pain that the AHCA will inflict on Americans if it ever became the law of the land.
Maddow explained with numbers the increased in premiums caused by various preexisting conditions… The premiums would be unaffordable and as such tantamount to not having insurance at all.
Rachel Maddow details the AHCA’s carnage
Maddow then went on to enumerate some of the major draconian features of the bill.
- States can get waivers which will allow insurance companies to charge more for preexisting conditions.
- States can opt out of rules that require insurance companies from providing some basic services.
- Mental health coverage and drug coverage and other similar services will wither away.
- Insurance companies can charge old people five times more for insurance than they do young people.
- Big companies no longer have to provide health insurance to their employees.
- Hospitals will suffer as they lose revenue from both less insured customers and at the same time they do not recover the reduced fees agreed upon when Obamacare was passed.
- If you are poor and dependent on Medicaid, brace yourself, it will be cut substantially.
Maddow did find one sweet spot in the new bill. If you are rich and you make over $200,000 a year, you will partake of a $300 billion tax cut… [emphasis original]
From <Alternet>
Here are two clips from Rachel’s Show. In the first, she looks at key consequences.
In the second she examines RepubliCare as a plan to shift wealth.
That’s right. $900 MILLION from Medicaid.
With the caveat that many Republican legislators are too incompetent to have read the bill, there can be no doubt that the intent of those, who actually know what it contains, is to kill poor seniors and the sickest poor Americans.
RESIST!!
May 052017
The heat wave is over, and it’s 60°, but the humidity is 97%, so it’s still sticky. I slept poorly last night, due to humidity and AC noise, but I did catch a two hour nap this morning.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): The Shame and Cruelty of the GOP | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Amen Keith! Be vengeful! Ruin their careers! RESIST!!
Also from YouTube (GQ Channel): Is a Grand Jury Now Looking into Trump? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
May the drip… drip… drip… give way to SPLAT! RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Moments after House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, millions of Trump supporters celebrated the imminent loss of their health insurance.
From coast to coast, Americans who cast their votes for Donald J. Trump expressed jubilation at finally being relieved of the burden of being insured in the event of catastrophic illness.
“Ever since President Trump was inaugurated, I’ve been counting the days for him to take away my health insurance,” Carol Foyler, a Trump supporter in Houston, said. “Today I just want to say thank you, Mr. President, for keeping your promise.”
Andy, reporting the intellectual level of deplorables is not even news. After all, they voted for him. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
May 052017
Was planning on doing this one last week – but instead I had to head up to Illinois to refill and restock my Mom’s meds. (And unfortunately 3 of the 4 prescription meds she takes had run out of refills, so they all needed new authorization. What a hassle!)
Obviously science has been a big part of my life. I know, I know – it’s a large part of EVERYONE’S life. But unfortunately, we’ve not done a good job of convincing Twitler and his Luddite minions of that fact.
Which brings us to the recent March for Science. A March that was joined by millions not just across our country – but around the world. It was great to see people marching to acknowledge the role that science, in its broadest sense, plays in bettering our lives. So I thought I’d share some of my favorite signs from the March – some funny, some serious and some very clever.
Let’s start with a clever one that takes some familiarity with the building blocks of chemistry, because someone decided to add a new element to the Periodic Table: "Wtf"
But the disbelief that Twitler’s troglodytes have so poisoned the academic arena that we actually had to have a March for Science was a common theme in several signs:
So maybe we should start with the Serious Ones:
[Maybe hard to read. It was from the Boston March:
Nobel Science Laureates
Harvard – 118
MIT – 84
Trump U – ZERO
And one my centenarian Mom would love:
Some Funny Ones:
Some Clever Ones:
And two head-scratchers that were so clever it took me a while to figure out. (Full Disclosure: Along with the help of Google for the first one)
Proudly post your answers in the Comments.
And for all of Twitler’s knuckle-draggers who hated that millions joined the March for Science to protest Twitler’s policies, I’ll close with the wisdom of Albert Einstein
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SIDEBAR:
My “Friday Fun” posts tend to be heavy on the graphics. I made the photos the “Medium” size to take up less real estate. Would you rather I keep them formatted individually – or as a scrolling GIF like the one close to the top?
I can make the GIF larger than the individual photos, and I think the 3.5 second timing is about right. But you cannot stop it like a slideshow if you want to look at just one of the photos.
If you do click on one photo, it will open it in another window, and hangs an additional second or two longer – but then starts scrolling again.
Makes no difference to me, but I’d appreciate your input in the Comments as to individual (takes up more space) versus GIF (less space, but less “control”). And is 3.5 seconds too fast, too slow or about right?
Thanks
May 042017
Sometimes called TrumpCare, RepubliCare is infamous for the RepubliCare Death Benefit. If you can pay, you get care. If you can’t pay, you get to die. In that respect RepubliCare remains unchanged from Alan Grayson’s classic "Die Quickly". The latest iteration passed the House this morning.
After years of promises and months of delays, House Republicans passed their version of an Obamacare repeal and replacement Thursday, muscling the far-right legislation through their chamber by feverishly pressuring moderates in the closing days.
Republicans passed the bill 217-213, with 20 Republicans voting “no” and not a single Democrat voting in support.
But what seems like a victory for House Republicans may ultimately be their downfall.
Democrats were of two minds about Republicans advancing the bill, which would gut some of Obamacare’s most popular provisions (including protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as the Medicaid expansion).
On one hand, Democrats desperately wanted to protect President Barack Obama’s signature law. On the other hand, Democrats believe ― perhaps correctly ― that this extremely conservative bill can’t pass the Senate, and that House Republicans may have just hung a profoundly unpopular legislation around the necks of some of their most vulnerable members.
As Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Republicans during her floor speech before the vote, Democrats plan to tattoo every provision of this bill to the foreheads of Republicans. “You will glow in the dark,” Pelosi said… [emphasis added]
From <Huffington Post>
Lawrence O’Donnell covered some of the key features of this hateful horror.
Under no circumstances may Paul Ryan’s death panels be allowed to pass the Senate.
RESIST!!
May 042017
It’s so sticky here in Portland that I’m about to melt. Fortunately tomorrow will be 20° cooler. JD sent me some lovely earrings featuring the Democratic Party donkey. I’d wear one myself, but I don’t have pierced ears. Wendy loves her pair, and asked me to say thanks. And finally, I got to kiss her ass. Wooo Hooo!! Thanks JD!!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:49 (average 5:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Why Won’t the Press Ask Trump Anything? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Keith could not be more spot-on. With very few rare exceptions (Rachel, Chris, Lawrence) the US media had failed in their obligation to be the fourth estate. Nail Trump and his entire Reich, world media! RESIST!!
From Atlanta Journal Constitution: A federal judge on Thursday ordered Georgia to temporarily reopen voter registration ahead of a hotly contested congressional runoff in the 6th District.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten made the ruling as part of a broader lawsuit by a Washington-based advocacy group, which last month accused Georgia of violating federal law by reducing the amount of time residents have to register to vote.
Voter registration shut down March 20 ahead of the deciding runoff June 20 for the 6th District election, which is being held in the northern suburbs of metro Atlanta.
Batten, however, ordered registration immediately re-opened until May 21.
The Reich can’t win unless they control who votes. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: CNN is now reporting her warning was much more emphatic.
Washington (CNN)Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is prepared to testify before a Senate panel next week that she gave a forceful warning to the White House regarding then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn nearly three weeks before he was fired, contradicting the administration’s version of events, sources familiar with her account tell CNN.
In a private meeting January 26, Yates told White House Counsel Don McGahn that Flynn was lying when he denied in public and private that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia in conversations with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak. Flynn’s misleading comments, Yates said, made him potentially vulnerable to being compromised by Russia, according to sources familiar with her version of events. She expressed "serious concerns" to McGahn, making it clear — without making a recommendation — that Flynn could be fired. …
On February 14, the day after Flynn’s firing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that Yates had simply "wanted to give a ‘heads up’ to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he (Flynn) had sent the Vice President."
Why did it take the White House 17 days to fire Flynn after this warning?
CNN notes that due to national security constraints, we may not hear the full story.
Drip, drip, drip.
The noose tightens. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
May 032017
This is our first Monthly Report for 2017. Because Google analytics are so cumbersome, I’m going back to using the raw data from AWSTATS and our HSP, but bot as extensively as I used to do it. I expect April’s stats to be a low point from which we can build, as I was down sick for almost the entire month.
Here is our latest summary:
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Reported period |
Month Apr 2017 |
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First visit |
01 Apr 2017 – 00:01 |
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Last visit |
30 Apr 2017 – 23:59 |
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Unique visitors |
Number of visits |
Pages |
Hits |
Bandwidth |
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Viewed traffic * |
9,130
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27,885 (3.05 visits/visitor) |
82,700 (2.96 Pages/Visit) |
209,048 (7.49 Hits/Visit) |
6.67 GB (250.88 KB/Visit) |
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Not viewed traffic * |
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401,079 |
456,798 |
8.90 GB |
Here is our ClustrMap for 2017 Year top Date.
ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location..
Here are our top five articles:
Jane Smiley: Capitalist Pigs 1/17/2010 2,346
Friday Fun – Making Math Fun … No Fooling! 4/7/2017 264
A Laugh from Bill Maher 4/2/2017 237
Unquestioning Support for Cops 7/28/2015 225
Open Thread – 4/2/2017 4/2/2017 215
The count represents only the people who followed an external link to that specific article. Three were from April. Congrats to Nameless, who wrote one of them.
Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):
Care2 1,811
Google 1,629
Stumbleupon 227
Here are our top blog/news referrers:
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://oakcreekforum.blogspot.mx/
http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://www.pafundi.com/
http://hamsandwich66.blogspot.com/
http://www.straight-friendly.blogspot.com/
https://jasondylan.wordpress.com/
We had 7 sites with 2 or more referrals, down 2 from November. Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their support.
I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar. Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar. Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.
Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder. Your Editors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster. I promoted them from Author in August to give them the ability to add graphics to comments and the ability to correct my innumerable typos.
This is our policy on links. We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily. However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article. I also remove topical links. Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.
Thank you for all that you do, here and elsewhere. You and other activists are America’s only hope.
We have survived the worst 100 days in US History. For the Fuhrer and the Republic an Reich, they have been an unmitigated failure, because you and activist like you have apposed them at every opportunity. Keep it up. Fight every battle/ We can’t win, if we don’t fight!
RESIST!!
May 032017
The Immodium has not kicked in all the way, but my trips are less frequent than yesterday, and I did get a little sleep. Summer seems to have arrived. From yesterday’s high of 57°, today’s is forecast at 81° and extremely humid. Currently it’s 83%. Needless to say, the AC is going. I’m waiting for Store to Door to come with groceries. Wendy will be here this evening. In this weather the TomCat will need extra destinking.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:42 (average 5:00). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump is Panicking About Russia | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Amen Keith! To clarify, the minute Obama fired Flynn in 2014, his security clearance died with his job, so when he and his co-traitor Jill Stein joined Putin [R-RU] on RT, it was not on Obama’s watch, as Trump claims. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: A class of fourth-grade students touring the White House on Monday had a chance encounter with Donald Trump and were able to answer several of his questions about the Civil War.
The students, on a field trip organized by their Bethesda, Maryland, elementary school, happened upon Trump outside the Oval Office and “cleared a lot of things up for him,” their teacher said.
After Trump invited the children into his office, the ten-year-olds briefed him on the causes of the Civil War, including slavery, states’ rights, and regional economic differences.
“It was really cool,” Tracy Klugian, who had done a diorama about the Civil War while in third grade, said. “Someday I’ll be able to tell my kids that I met the President and taught him about history.”
Andy! Are you spreading Republican propaganda? Clearly anything taught at a 4th grade level is way too advanced for Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten to understand! RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: Donald Trump blamed the Constitution for his repeated failures in his first hundred days in office. He told Fox News that the Constitution is archaic and that the rule of law that has prevented his unconstitutional edicts from being implemented "is a bad thing for the country”. www.theguardian.com/…
In an interview with Fox News to mark the 100-day mark, he declared himself “disappointed” with congressional Republicans, despite his many “great relationships” with them.
He blamed the constitutional checks and balances built in to US governance. “It’s a very rough system,” he said. “It’s an archaic system … It’s really a bad thing for the country.”
Since Trump considers the Constitution a bad thing for the country, we can be sure he will appoint more Injustices like Whoresuch to SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD). Fascist pseudo-Christian ideology will be the basis of their decisions. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
My own definition:
Godwin’s Law – a common meme used by Republicans, other fascists, pseudo-intellectuals, and people with their heads in the sand or in smellier places, whenever anyone points out the verifiable commonalities between today’s Republican Party and Germany’s National Socialist Party, as Hitler became dictator.