The Beloved Community of Greensboro North Carolina
"TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway speaks with Pastor Nelson Johnson about the 1979 Greensboro massacre of five protestors and its connection to police violence today." (text and video)
We have an alien infesting us, A hateful creature, armed with a TRUS, invading and putting all life in our nation at risk. Thank heavens we have a true prophet that understands this vile creature. Because the following video clip portrays the alien’s life cycle, it is only proper to issue a Barf Bag Alert!!
I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing that scene from Aliens again, but Samantha Bee went there, illustrating Ted Cruz’s Canadian birth with imagery that you will never, ever forget.
"How come he always looks like he’s covered in a glistening layer of slime, even though we know that can’t possibly be true?"…
Lona is a denizen of Care2, a daily participant here, and a multinational treasure, who spends her time in the Netherlands and Queensland, Australia, This is her second award, the first on 8/6 shortly after she started commenting here, although she has been reading articles for well over a year. Her knowledge of US Politics if far greater than that of the average American voter. She enjoys sending me naps, when I am tired, and those naps are so high in quality that she frequently causes me to oversleep. If fact, she must have zapped me with a nap on the 11th, and in the process, caused me not to even notice that she had posted comment # 76,000, until yesterday. So the late award is her fault!
Please join me in overloading her with hugs and kudos. I only wish we had more like her.
Yesterday turned out to be a thoroughly frustrating day. My LIFT Bus arrived over 45 minutes late. Once it became apparent that I could not make it to my appointment on time, I called my doctor’s office, explained, and asked if I could come in late. They told me not to come and to reschedule. I said I would call as soon as I could get to my computer, where I keep my calendar. When I did, they told me that Megan is going on maternity leave until July. (Rest assured, I didn’t do it). She wasn’t even showing when I saw her before. Fortunately Ellie, Megan’s PA, who took care of me, when I had pneumonia, can fill in for her until she returns. I was very happy with her too. In any case, I rescheduled my appointment for Thursday morning. I’m waiting for Lu to arrive, as I really need to de-stink.
Jug Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:49 (average 5:38). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Republican front-runner Donald Trump was crying foul on Monday after Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders allegedly dispatched an army of vegan thugs to attack a rally of peace-loving Nazis in Cincinnati.
According to Trump, he had begun to address a group of “orderly and civil Nazis” at a downtown arena when his audience was suddenly set upon by an unruly mob of angry vegans, many menacingly clad in Birkenstocks and sustainable garments.
The Sanders supporters, singing an alarmingly militant version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America,” marched into the arena and began “intimidating and threatening” the Nazis, Trump said.
“Make no mistake about who is starting the violence at these rallies,” Trump said. “It’s the vegans.”
Is Andy quoting Hateful Hairball? It sounds like one of his lies.
From Daily Kos: It is a probably too late, but a Republican SuperPAC is finally hitting Trump especially hard with a new ad.
These Republicans made an excellent ad. The irony here is that women would be no better off in their Republican role as chattel under any of the other three Criminal Clowns.
From NY Times: The Obama administration is expected to withdraw its plan to permit oil and gas drilling off the southeast Atlantic coast, yielding to an outpouring of opposition from coastal communities from Virginia to Georgia but dashing the hopes and expectations of many of those states’ top leaders.
The announcement by the Interior Department, which is seen as surprising, could come as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to speak on the record because the plan had not been publicly disclosed.
The decision represents a reversal of President Obama’s previous offshore drilling plans, and comes as he is trying to build an ambitious environmental legacy. It could also inject the issue into the 2016 presidential campaigns, as Republican candidates vow to expand drilling.
Kudos to Obama. Could it be that this decision might spark the reemergence of Drill Baby Dingbat, aka Bloody Bullseye Barbie? Barf Bag Alert!!
OK, I finally finished the Monthly Report and TC reviewed it and posted it. I did not get an Open Thread done yesterday, and I must say I am sick of seeing Drumpf in the headlines. So today's offerings, or at least some of them, are a little more lighthearted. How appropriate that this Tuesday, another primary voting day, is the Ides of March which Wikipedia says
Think Progress — After the hottest winter on record, one Canadian territory raised the weight limit on an ice road crossing at the Arctic Circle from 10 metric tons to 40 metric tons. What could possibly go wrong?
Last Saturday, a fuel tanker broke through an ice road in northern Canada. Fortunately, no one was injured. Just four days prior to this accident, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) provided this helpful tweet:
Great Bear Ice Crossing has been increased to 40,000 kgs. Drive safe!
I wonder if the auto club was able to get the truck freed? Somebody sure wasn't thinking when they put out that tweet which surprises me, because one error like that can cause death. I imagine a head or two will roll.
Alternet — If the growing prospect of President Trump scares the shit out of you, Canada might be looking like a nice cozy bolthole right about now. But it’s not just a kinder, gentler U.S. with better hockey and beer.
Hey, it’s close, civilized, a quick flight from the Northeast. They speak English.
But it really is a foreign country.
A nation almost 100 years younger than the U.S., Confederation was in 1867, creating the first four provinces. For all its vaunted socially liberal policies, it’s also a country with its own history of submission and domination – English over French, the 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children forced for decades to attend brutal residential schools, the unresolved murders of 1,200 indigenous women, prompting the recent allocation of $100 million by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to investigate and address the issue.
While Canada recently welcomed 25,000 Syrian refugees, don’t be too quick to assume there’s an equal welcome for thousands of panicked Americans eager to flee a political scene they find abhorrent.
We have heard many times in the news that many Americans have said they will move to Canada if Drumpf is elected president. Do I think a lot of people will do so? No. I think it is a bit of whimsy on their part. I had to laugh though as I read this somewhat tongue-in-cheek observation of what life might be like here.
Think Progress — The Republican Party has a demographics problem. A recent analysis found that while GOP frontrunner Donald Trump may be energizing a subset of white male voters who normally don’t participate in politics, he is driving away the very groups Republicans need to win the White House this fall: young people, women, naturalized immigrants, Latinos, and blue collar workers. Trump has done so much damage to the GOP’s brand with these groups that he would need to win more than 70 percent of all white men to make up for it, yet he is polling at just 57 percent when matched up with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and 55 percent when squared off against Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Republican Party leaders are openly wondering if Trump will “drive the party into a demographic abyss,” and if the hundreds of Florida voters who gathered outside last night’s GOP are any indication, the GOP has cause for concern.
On Thursday night, as the four remaining candidates debated, hundreds of people from across Florida took to the streets outside the University of Miami to protest the party’s rhetoric on immigration, women’s health, the Puerto Rican debt crisis, and the minimum wage.
The emphasis is mine. I question whether it is Drumpf or the Party that is driving "the party into a demographic abyss", or perhaps both. Let's face it, Republicans have been in ongoing wars with women, immigrants, the 99%, and since 2012, the 47%. Where traditional Republicans are hoping no one is watching their little dance, Drumpf is being loud and brash. No matter what type of spin they try to put on it, Republicans still attract the angry white males.
Common Dreams —There's a vacancy on the most important court in America, and the message from Senate Republicans is crystal clear: forget the Constitution. For Senate Republicans, it does not matter who President Obama nominates because they will allow no votes and will hold no hearings on that nominee. Their response to one of the most solemn and consequential tasks that our government performs is to pretend that the nominee—and President Obama himself—do not exist.
At the same time that they are blocking all possible Supreme Court nominees, Senate Republicans are in a panic because their party appears to be on a path to nominate one of two extremists for president—extremists who attack the legitimacy of their political opponents and demean millions of Americans. Senate Republicans worry that, if either candidate is selected to be the party's standard-bearer, the Republican party will lose in November.
FROM: God a.k.a. Jehovah, Allah, Supreme Being, The Big Guy Upstairs, et al.
When it comes to politics, ordinarily I don't like to get involved. After all, I've got a lot on my plate what with wars, famines and the widespread instability throughout the world.
And my desire for non-involvement goes double when it comes to American presidential politics. When you insist on running campaigns that last longer than the Great Flood, honestly I'd like to steer clear of the whole mess.
Sadly, you folks have made that impossible. Recent events dictate that I must temporarily set aside some of my divine duties and sort things out.
First of all, stop invoking my name to get votes. I've never heard so many candidates claim that they have a personal relationship with me. If you really did, I would expect you to keep it to yourself and not blab it to every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Click through for a tongue-in-cheek yet I think valid look at the presidential race.
I’m preparing to leave for a follow-up appointment with Megan, my Primary Care Physician. We’ll be going over some test results, and I want to discuss pain management. My hands are way overworked, because they have to bear most of my weight every time I transfer to the toilet, haul myself to a sitting position in bed, use the walker, etc. It really plays hell with my arthritis. This is today’s only article. Have an R2 day!!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:24 (average 6:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Notes:
The Denver Broncos have signed two QBs to fill the vacancies left by the Great Peyton and Brock Osweiller: Uncle Rico and Mark Sanchez. Neither can replace Peyton, but both are an improvement over Osweiller. Rico could actually start, because he has an arm like a cannon, but I don’t know if he can manage a complex pro offense. When the holy light from the Ellipsoid Orb returns, may it shine upon my Broncos!
Short Takes:
From Media Matters: The news media coverage of Donald Trump has been abominable. Media outlets have treated him with kid gloves, obsessed over him, and given him free run of the airwaves for the entire news cycle.
It’s even worse than that: The news media has given Donald Trump a special phone privilege, allowing him to call in to shows instead of forcing him to appear via satellite or in studio. As a result of this privilege, Trump can appear on more shows, and he can avoid being confronted by images and demonstrations showing his lies for what they are.
It’s time for it to stop. CBS refused to let Donald Trump call into its morning show. This is a start, but other networks and other shows are still letting Trump call in. Sign our petition, and tell news networks that it’s time to take away Trump’s special privilege.
Please click through and sign the petition. I did.
From NY Times: Establishment Republicans who are horrified by the rise of Donald Trump might want to take a minute to remember the glitch heard round the world — the talking point Marco Rubio couldn’t stop repeating in a crucial debate, exposing him to devastating ridicule and sending his campaign into a death spiral.
It went like this: “Let’s dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing.” The clear, if ungrammatical, implication was that all the bad things Republicans claim have happened under President Obama — in particular, America’s allegedly reduced stature in the world — are the result of a deliberate effort to weaken the nation.
In other words, the establishment favorite for the G.O.P. nomination, the man Time magazine once put on its cover with the headline “The Republican Savior,” was deliberately channeling the paranoid style in American politics. He was suggesting, albeit coyly, that a sitting president is a traitor.
And now the establishment is shocked to see a candidate who basically plays the same game, but without the coyness, the overwhelming front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Why?
The truth is that the road to Trumpism began long ago, when movement conservatives — ideological warriors of the right — took over the G.O.P. And it really was a complete takeover. Nobody seeking a career within the party dares to question any aspect of the dominating ideology, for fear of facing not just primary challenges but excommunication.
Click through for the rest of this excellent Paul Krugman editorial, I can summarize my response in one word: BINGO!!
From Alternet: SNL’s resident Hillary Clinton impersonator, Kate McKinnon, was in the house on Saturday night. The comic genius nailed Hillary Clinton in a spoof campaign ad for the ages.
It is the end of one month and the beginning of a new one. In February, Politics Plus was up from February 2015 in every category except unique visitors and number of visits. Compared to January 2016, Politics Plus is down with the exception of Not Viewed Traffic. February is a shorter month which will account for some of the decrease.
Here is our latest summary:
Reported period
Month Feb 2016
First visit
01 Feb 2016 – 00:00
Last visit
29 Feb 2016 – 23:59
Unique visitors
Number of visits
Pages
Hits
Bandwidth
Viewed traffic *
8,814
25,468
(2.88 visits/visitor)
86,775
(3.4 Pages/Visit)
246,928
(9.69 Hits/Visit)
7.61 GB
(313.22 KB/Visit)
Not viewed traffic *
402,709
500,962
9.84 GB
Compared to February 2015
Reported period
Month Feb 2015
First visit
01 Feb 2015 – 00:00
Last visit
28 Feb 2015 – 23:59
Unique visitors
Number of visits
Pages
Hits
Bandwidth
Viewed traffic *
9,917
27,754
(2.79 visits/visitor)
75,630
(2.72 Pages/Visit)
220,134
(7.93 Hits/Visit)
3.12 GB
(117.87 KB/Visit)
Not viewed traffic *
223,765
258,998
4.49 GB
Here is our latest demographic data from Quantcast:
We are still mostly older, well educated, poor, and politically active. That does not surprise me.
Just a reminder, they have changed their format. When you click the map in the left column, it shows the current month only, no longer the year to date.
The count represents only the people who followed an external link to that specific article. There are two from February that made the cut, and I’m especially pleased that two from one of our new co-administrators made it too. Congrats Squatch!
Here are our top commentators. Normally, as the resident Big Mouth, TC doesn’t count. However, since he is commenting on other's articles, I have left him in. Those who leave their URLs in their comment headers, normally also get “linkey-love” here.
We have 434,893 links on other websites which is up substantially from January
As of Midnight on March1, we have 6,297 articles and 75,669 comments, also up.
Kudos to Jerry Critter for posting the 75,000th comment on 10/02/2016. An amusing little factoid, I let TC know that the date of Jerry's award was incorrect . . . he had a 2014 date. As many know, I write the date differently being a Canuck. I just noticed that TC literally copied me. LOL!!!
I recommend using your own avatar. Go toGravatar. 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.
