Open Thread – 9/12/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:19 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 122016

Yesterday I was so busy and so tired that I had little time left for the Ellipsoid Orb, but I did check to seed that I’m getting my kitty-butt handed to me in fantasy football. I napped an hour this morning, but still have had little sleep.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: First, a brief recap on Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s painful and pathetic history of dealing with the hatred and venom that Donald Trump spews on a regular basis:

When Trump refused to repudiate support from former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, Ryan said that the GOP doesn’t “prey on people’s prejudices” … and still supported the Republican nominee.
When Trump called an Indiana-born judge unqualified because of his Mexican heritage, Ryan said the comment was “from left field” and that it was ”textbook racism” … and still supported the Republican nominee.
When Trump called for a ban on Muslims coming into the country, Ryan said it was not “reflective of our principles, not just as a party, but as a country” … and still supported the Republican nominee.
When Trump attacked a Gold Star Family, Ryan said he “rejects this idea” … and still supported the Republican nominee.
When Trump suggested a “Second Amendment” remedy if Hillary Clinton is elected, Ryan said he was “too busy” to pay attention to Trump’s “jokes” … and still supported the Republican nominee.

And after that “joke,” Ryan was asked if there was anything that Trump could say that would cross the line and Ryan insisted that Trump doesn’t get a “blank check” and that “Where that line gets crossed, I don’t know where that is.”

Well, now we know

Click through to discover just what it would take to outrage a hypocritical Republican purveyor of hatred like lyin’ Ryan.

From The New Yorker: In a positive development for the Democratic nominee for President, a new poll released on Sunday reveals that likely voters find an unconscious Hillary Clinton “substantially more fit” to be President than a conscious Donald Trump.

In a hypothetical matchup between a Clinton who has been rendered completely unconscious and a fully sentient Trump, voters chose an inert Clinton over an ambulatory Trump by a margin of nine percentage points.

A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign hailed the findings. “We have every reason to believe that Hillary Clinton will be a fully conscious President,” the spokesperson said. “But even if she is not, she is still the far better choice.”

The same poll revealed that a broad majority of voters found an unconscious Donald Trump more fit to be President than a conscious one.

Dang, Andy!! A deceased dawg is more fit to be President than Rump Dump Trump!! If Trump were running against a drunken macaque, that had mange, BO and halitosis, and that masturbated in public and threw feces at passers by, I’d vote for the monkey!

From The Sun-Sentinel: After they stood by kneeling, after they spoke loudly saying nothing, long after four Miami Dolphins players became a national story by their protest during the national anthem, they were joined by a fifth Dolphin.

Steve Ross, the team owner, went up to safety Michael Thomas in the locker room and shook his hand.

"Let’s get ready to do something about this," he said, even in the emotionally crushing aftermath of the Dolphins’ season-opening loss to Seattle, 12-10.

Kudos. At the same time all the Seattle players linked arms during the anthem to signal their unified opposition to the protesting players. Damn Seachickens!!

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Last Week’s Outrageous Republican Moments

Posted by TomCat at 11:19 am Politics

Sep 112016

Almost every week, Republicans join a competition to see who can say the most outlandish things, and in the process, they push the envelope on just how outrageous InsaniTEA can become. I trust that you will believe it, when I tell you that last week was no exception.

5 Outrageous Right-Wing Moments This Week: Republican Gets Brain Stuck in a Blender

While Hillary Clinton caught massive amounts of heat for accurately stating that many Trump supporters are "deplorable" people, a bunch of lovable racists, sexists and homophobes were gathered to spew venom in Washington D.C. At the Family Values Voter Summit gathering of right-wing evangelicals, very holy people like Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pence, Michelle Bachmann, alt-right racists,…

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Open Thread – 9/11/2016

Posted by TomCat at 11:15 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 112016

I expect Wendy to arrive momentarily, and we have a full schedule of chores to complete, including the dreaded task. Today is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos have already meditated. May the blessed light from the Divine Orb shine upon your team.

Wendy just left and we got everything done. I’m pooped!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:41 (average 6:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Erin O’Flaherty, one of the contestants in this weekend’s Miss America pageant, wants fans to know a few things about her: She was raised on a farm; she is a trained livestock judge; and she supports suicide-prevention programs.

But in the brief, get-to-know-me videos posted on her official Miss Missouri Facebook page, there is scant mention of the main reason that she has attracted so much attention before the Miss America 2017 finale on Sunday in Atlantic City: Ms. O’Flaherty is the first openly lesbian contestant to compete in the pageant.

Kudos to Erin for the courage to be the first. It’s a small step in the right direction for the pageant.

From Liberals Unite: Corporate welfare schemes and crony politics rule the day In Rick Scott’s Florida and, sadly, the working-class is stuck with the bill.

Thanks to Gov. Rick Scott’s corporate welfare schemes, Floridians are about to suffer the same disastrous results of trickle down economics that other Republican-owned states are suffering. Huge budget deficits, fueled by tax cuts for the rich and corporate welfare programs, are projected to cause a whopping $1.3 billion deficit in the Sunshine State by 2018.

You Floridians had better get rid of Republicans or both your homes and your economy will be under water!

From Washington Post: "To just be grossly generalistic [sic], you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables [sic],’" Hillary Clinton said at a New York fundraiser on Sept. 9

When Hillary is wrong, I say so. Half is much too low an estimate.

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Is Trump a Bircher?

Posted by TomCat at 2:22 pm Politics

Sep 102016

0910Trump Rump Dump Trump donned his Bircher persona for his visit to the Values Voter Summit, a den of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, who value greed, hate, homophobia, misogyny, racism and violence. They are the exact opposite of authentic Christians. Trump was right at home with them.

John Birch Society Ascendant in Trump's Speech to Evangelical Christians

At the Values Voter Summit, they're partying like it was 1964. That was the year in which insurgent candidate Barry Goldwater snagged the Republican Party's presidential nomination from the sweaty palms of then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, with a mighty assist from a rising faction of right-wing ideologues, and the fear-mongering organizers of the John Birch…

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Open Thread – 9/10/2016

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

Sep 102016

I’m running way late today. After a sleepless night, I had to take a nap this morning. Then I needed to scan some documents, and my scanner won’t work. I’ve been trying to solve the problem for the last three hours without success. Tomorrow I’ll be late too because it’s a Wendy day and a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:26 (average 5:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MSNBC: Rachel and I disagree.

I don’t believe him. She does. If I’m right, Trump is a criminal seditionist, and is not fit to be President. If she’s right, Trump is an idiot, and is not fit to be President.

From Daily Kos: David Farenthold has done a brilliant job of exposing Trump’s grandiose lies about his charitable giving. Now it appears that multiple charities are telling him they never received donations the Trump Foundation claimed on IRS submissions.

Claiming deductions for funds not donated is criminal tax fraud.

From The New Yorker: In an appearance Friday on CNN, Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Presidential nominee, promised that as President he would get tough on East Korea.

“This behavior is unacceptable,” he said. “The East Koreans are making us look like idiots.”

While stressing that he remained, for the most part, an isolationist, he said, “I will do everything in my power as President to support our allies in West Korea.”

FOMCROTFPIMPLMAO!!!!

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Everyday Erinyes #42

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:28 pm Politics

Sep 102016

I have two items today which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them. 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."

Let me first make it clear that I am NOT trying to pick on Oregon. There are jerks and felons in every state, and Oregon has come, since its founding, probably further than any other state. But even a state that is such a leader is not immune.

When "the duckbill," an iconic sandstone foundation at Cape Kiwanda State Park, came down, park officials thought it was natural erosion which took it, and issued a statemen including "The rubble serves as a sobering reminder of the ever present dangers of our fragile coastal rocks and cliffs."

Then a video turned up. I will not embed it but you can click through to it. Be aware the language is as crude as the vandals.

David Kalas, who took the video, asked them why they had done it. The ringleader babbled something about a friend having broken his leg, and it was a safety hazard, and they were doing everyone a favor, yada yada yada. Yeah, right. Kalas himself has I think a better perspective:

(W)hat’s disappointing is how significant that one rock is to so many people. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have taken their picture on it over the years. “People got married on top of the rock, got their engagement photos on top of the rock,” Kalas said. "They can’t share that moment any more with their future children or their grandchildren or anyone like that, it will always just now be a memory," he added.

Let me make my own feeling clear. I see NO moral difference whatsoever between these jerks and the jerks with more money than brains who want to mine for uranium on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Both are treating public property as their own, with complete disregard for the rest of us. The polite term for that is misappropriation. When they steal from or willfilly damage public property, they steal from me. And you. And you. And you.

Oregon State Police, and the rescreation department are now on the case, and say they "take… vandalism of a state park's natural features seriously." But of course, they can only take is as seriously as the law does. The maximum fine is $435.00.

It will take some intensive education to wring any regret from these – people. Alecto and Megaera, prehaps you would team up and turn up the heat. I have another case for Tisiphone today.

Shortly before midnight on August 10, in Gresham, OR, 19-year-old Larnell Malik Bruce, with some friends, was charging his cell phone outside a convenience store, when a red Jeep Wrangler pulled up and a man and a woman got out of it.

The man was 38 year old Russell Courtier, the woman, his girlfriend, 35 year old Colleen Hunt. A fight quickly broke out.

As Courtier smashed Bruce's head into the store's front window, cracking a pane of glass, his girlfriend encouraged the beating.

"Get him, baby," Hunt urged her byfriend, according to police. "Get him, baby."

Eventually, Bruce pulled out a machete and the couple retreated back to their Jeep.

What happened next would be hard to believe if we had not seen so many outrages in just the last year. Bruce started to run, headed towards his home and away from the couple. They began to chase hi down in the Jeep. He attempted to zig zag to avoid them, but they nearly missed him as they gunned the car toward him on the sidewalk. As he tried to cross the street, security footage shows them moving directly toward him and incidentally into oncoming traffic.

Police arrived on the scene moments later, having been called when the fight began, to find Bruce lying in the street with blood gushing from his head and ears.

He died from his injuries days later.

You may, if you look at Courtier's history, wonder why he was actually on the street at the time. He is a long time criminal, has a notorious history as a member of a white supremacist gang called European Kindred (EK), and was on parole at the time of the murder. Yes, that's EK tattooed on his calf in the picture. Not that that is his only tattoo. For example, while in prison, he also tattooed "party bone" on his penis. That and having the "make-shift tattoo gun" in his cell are only two of the almost 40 major prison violations he racked up between 2001 and 2013 How does someone with so many major violations get parole? I don't know.

Courtier and Hunt have both been indicted for murder and are being held on $500,000 bail. Their trial is scheduled to begin October third.

Incidentally Bruce's family has set up a GoFundMe page for help with funeral and medical expenses. It includes this statement – "Though this tragedy has devastated our family, Larnell has the opportunity to save many lives through the Organ Donor program." Well, SOMEONE in this story has class.

Tisiphone – whatever you can do.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4009830

Jill Stein Is Not Alone on Putin’s Propaganda Network

Posted by TomCat at 1:58 pm Politics

Sep 092016

If you've been following this site, you know that on more than one occasion, I have been critical of Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, for making multiple appearances on Vladimir Putin's (R-RU) state-owned propaganda network, RT. I like most of her policies and positions, but I cannot abide her seeking exposure in this way, even though it's helping a foreign power interfere with the US presidential election. But Jill Stein is not alone on Putin's propaganda network.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was doing “a favor” for his friend and television host Larry King when he “accidentally” did an interview on the Russian government-sponsored network RT, shorthand for Russia Today.

“Mr. Trump was never told it would be shared anywhere else,” Jason Miller, a Trump spokesperson, told CNN, explaining that the interview was meant as a “favor” to King. Miller also told the network that “Trump wouldn’t have agreed to do the interview had he known it would be aired on RT.”

During Thursday’s RT interview, Trump shrugged off suggestions the Russian government was influencing the American presidential election, instead hinting that Democrats were the ones behind the Democratic National Committee hacking scandal. U.S. intelligence agencies now have “high confidence” that the Russian government was likely involved… [emphasis added]

From <Think Progress>

25 Minute Barf Bag Alert!!

Note that, after all the free advertising US media has given him, and after all the preferential treatment US media has given him, Trump had the audacity to lambast US media for bias against him!!

Trump's handlers realize that for any candidate to participate with a foreign government's attempt to interfere with a US election is an act of criminal sedition, so if you believe the lie that Trump didn't know it was for his buddy's RT, I own a historic structure that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, and I'll give you a really good deal for it!

Open Thread – 9/9/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:58 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 092016

Last night I attended the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb from the comfort of my bed. I was pretty pleased with Trevor Siemian’s performance. He made lots of mistakes, but you have to expect that with a virtual rookie at QB. I was so tired that I fell asleep late in the scoreless third quarter with the Broncos behind 7 – 17. I woke up a couple hours later to a very pleasant surprise. Yesterday my nerve pain was so severe that I could only get up on George a few seconds at a time. I had to cancel today’s physical tyranny because of it, and was up for most of last night. I had discontinues Gabapentin last month, due to side -effects. Once it was out of my system, I had a doctor’s appointment to choose a new med for nerve pain a week ago, but she had to reschedule it until next Friday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:26 (average 5:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

0908Broncos21-Panthers20

Woooo Hoooo Ellipsoid Orb!!!

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Responding to a question about his qualifications to be Commander-in-Chief, Donald Trump told NBC’s Matt Lauer on Wednesday night, “At my rallies, I have ordered many, many people to attack other people.”

“In the heat of the moment, you have to decide who is going to hit which person, when, and how hard,” Trump said. “I have ordered more people to attack other people than most of our generals have.”

He said that the outcome of the fights at his rallies showed that he has the judgment necessary to be Commander-in-Chief. “You always want to make the bigger guy hit the littler guy,” he said. “That’s how you win.”

Dang Andy! If Rump Dump Trump had possessed the nuclear football at his rallies, the US would be a nuclear wasteland.

From Daily Kos: Wtf? The truth comes seeping out on CNN and don’t kid yourself, what Dana Bash is saying here is exactly how other media outlets are treating Clinton.

Hillary is being held to a higher standard and Trump, with all his hate and scandals is being given a pass because he is not quite the polished politician.

This is breathtaking and piss poor journalism.

Click through for video. It’s the media’s job to inform the public of what is, not to substitute their own value judgments about expectations for individual candidates. It seems virtually all broadcast media have become the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, with the exception of the few honest journalists, like Rachel, left at MSNBC.

From NY Times: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont did well in the Pacific Northwest during the presidential primary season with his lectern-pounding message about fairness, need and corporate greed. A ballot measure here this fall that would sharply raise corporate taxes is now testing just how deeply Mr. Sanders’s message about economic inequality has sunk in.

“Our corporations have to be held accountable!” shouted Kayse Jama, the executive director of a group called Unite Oregon, as he rallied several hundred supporters of the proposal, known as Measure 97, on a recent evening in a local shopping mall. He even sounded a bit like Mr. Sanders, his voice hoarse with passion.

If approved by the voters here in November, Measure 97 would create the biggest tide of new tax revenue in any state in the nation this year as a percentage of the budget, economists said — and one of the biggest anywhere in recent history. Oregon’s general fund would grow by almost a third, or about $3 billion a year, through a 2.5 percent tax on corporate gross receipts. The initiative language says the money would augment state spending on education, health care and senior services, but does not bind the Legislature to a specific plan.

I fully support Oregon Measure 97, because the people of Oregon need the funds, it only effects corporations with over $20 million in annual sales, and Oregon has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the nation. Needless to say, Republicans are siding with greed over need. The Gray Lady covered this unusually well. I strongly recommend clicking through for more info about it.

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