I’m already in a big hurry, because I have a ton of paper work to do, so please pardon my lack of conversation.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:37 (average 4:36). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Mitch McConnell’s deputy, threatened potential Supreme Court nominees that they’d get beat up and their careers would be damaged by the Senate if President Obama even nominates them.
"I think they will bear some resemblance to a piñata," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
"What I don’t understand is how someone who actually wants to be confirmed to the Supreme Court would actually allow themselves to be used by the administration in a political fight that’s going to last from now until the end of the year," Cornyn told a small group of reporters in the Capitol.
He added: "Because there is no guarantee, certainly, after that time they’re going to look as good as they did going in."
Cornyn, by the way, is a member of the Judiciary Committee, that august body that acts as the gatekeeper to the federal judiciary.
This typically Republican tactic from Cornhole Cornyn is no surprise at all.
From Alternet: Stephen Colbert discussed Tuesday’s primary results on last night’s show, including Bernie Sanders’ surprise win over Hillary Clinton. “Michigan was definitely feeling the Bern last night,” Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show, announced. “And it wasn’t just from the water in Flint.”
Colbert then updated his audience on the Republican side, where Trump triumphed, and made a point of getting back at Mitt Romney who had severely criticized Trump last week. Of course, his victory speech had some unusual elements.
Hateful Hairball may love his steaks, but he wants us to ignore all his mistakes.
From Crooks and Liars: Senator Elizabeth Warren used her speech denouncing Republicans for blocking President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee to remind everyone of their hypocrisy when it comes to their "extreme" frontrunners for the 2016 Republican nomination.
Go, Lizzie, Go!! Doesn’t she do a great job of explaining how Republican refusal to consider a Supreme Court nominee just illustrates their normal seditious sabotage of our nation? Will Republicans do their job? Hell, no!!
I’m preparing to leave for an appointment that will take all morning, and I will finish and post this article, after I return.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:53 (average 7:10)., To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NY Times: President Obama, resigned to his failure to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, is looking past his time in office and weighing a plan that would preserve at least the principle of a two-state solution for his successor to pursue.
The White House is debating whether the president should lay down the outlines of an agreement, several officials said, perhaps through a resolution at the United Nations Security Council or in a presidential speech. The objective would not be to revive direct negotiations — almost nobody believes that is likely now — but to enshrine the proposals Secretary of State John Kerry made during his last failed effort at peacemaking in 2014.
As much as I hate to say it, this is nothing but smoke and mirrors. There can be no two state solution, as long as Israel remains in violation of treaties in their pursuit of a one state solution. The only proper role for the US is to cut all military aid and stop all military supply to Israel, until Israel decides to honor past agreements.
From Daily Kos: The National Republican Senatorial Committee quickly deleted the tweet below Tuesday afternoon, but “quickly” wasn’t soon enough for a screw-up of this magnitude.
1) Tammy Duckworth is a veteran. 2) Tammy Duckworth is a veteran whose combat-related injuries left her a DOUBLE AMPUTEE—she lost both legs. Under the circumstances, “standing up” may, just may, have been the wrong idiom to use.
Republican "support" for our troops extends no further than using them as cannon fodder in the pursuit of 0.1% profit. This tweet perfectly illustrates their compassion for and commitment to veterans.
I was out most of yesterday. When I went to drop a storage box off at Lucia's, the house was in an uproar. Lucia was at her new English class and Jonathan was chasing after Loliyo. Arimina, the oldest girl, was minding the kids but things were really out of hand. I stepped in, had the kids do their homework and ended up staying until Lucia arrived home. The two youngest were in tears because of all the screaming. I really need to find a strong male role model for Jonathan. He's been on the Big Brothers waiting list for almost 2 years. Tomorrow is physio and I hope a quiet afternoon.
NY Times — He has been depicted as a snarling demagogue in France, equated with Donald Duck in Spain, and described as worse than Lord Voldemort in Britain.
In Europe, the birthplace of the Enlightenment, Donald Trump has been treated variously as a disturbing curiosity or an entertaining political show barker. His nearly every move and pronouncement has been reported from Paris to Berlin to Helsinki, even as commentators on both left and right have dismissed the notion of President Donald J. Trump as the stuff of fantasy, or, at worst, a momentary lapse of reason.
That is changing. With a series of wins in key Republican primary states, and with the billionaire’s expected strong showing when 12 states hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, the European media, like its American counterpart, is adjusting to the prospect of a seemingly unstoppable Trump juggernaut. The reaction is a mix of befuddlement, outrage and panic, along with admiration in some unlikely quarters.
And satire. The Spanish newspaper El País recently published an imaginary letter from the grave in which Philip II, a 16th-century Spanish king who ruled a vast empire, offers advice to Mr. Trump. Noting that his nation had also suffered from roguish subjects demanding free handouts, and Muslim terrorists masquerading as peaceful citizens, the king advises Mr. Trump to “consider bringing back the Inquisition.”
I chose Hillary, but it was close. The truth is that from a pure ideological standpoint, I’m closer to Bernie but from a pragmatic standpoint, I’m closer to Hillary. That by the way is why I wanted Liz to run so badly as I believed her to be the perfect hybrid of the two.
Good approach in my view. He's not looking short term, but also long term.
Global Research— H/T Joanne D — Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot and killed in her home in La Esperanza, Intibuca, Wednesday. While the killers’ ID remains unknown, activists, media observers and the Cáceres family pointed to the increasingly reactionary and violent Honduran government, which has frequently clashed with Cáceres over her high-profile activism against land dispossession and mining, and her defense of indigenous rights.
There was widespread outcry and grief over her death, and the story was covered by major media in the United States. But there was a glaring problem with the coverage: Almost none of it mentioned that the brutal regime that likely killed Cáceres came to power in a 2009 coup d’etat supported by the United States, under President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Almost nothing is mentioned in the MSM about the 2009 coup d'état which has implications in the assassination of Berta Cáceres. Here is how the Huffington Post reported her assassination:
But we need to call out the actors who share a moral responsibility for the murder of our friend and partner:
• the Honduran government, which leads the country with the world's worst track record of environmental killings, and which did not protect Berta Cáceres even though it had been ordered to do so by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights;
• the dam builder, Desarrollos Energéticos S. A (DESA), which has close contacts with the country's security forces and has orchestrated an intimidation campaign against Berta Cáceres in recent months;
• and finally, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), FMO, Finnfund and Voith-Siemens, the funders and corporations which underwrite the Agua Zarca Project with their loans and equipment contracts.
In terms of the current campaigning, how much of this revelation will come up and make a differtence? Clinton is more hawkish than Bernie, and is that what the US wants and needs?
Mother Jones — Last week, Mitt Romney, the twice-failed GOP presidential candidate, delivered aspeech that blasted Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, calling the tycoon "a phony, a fraud" and citing Trump's "dishonesty" and his "bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics." It was a clear move on Romney's part to rally the GOP establishment against the celebrity real estate mogul whose endorsement he warmly embraced during the 2012 campaign. Naturally, Trump responded in kind. Within hours, at a campaign rally in Portland, Maine, he lashed out at Romney.
Trump noted that Romney had "failed horribly" four years ago. He claimed that Romney had begged Trump to endorse him in that race: "I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees.' He would have dropped to his knees." His audience roared with laughter. …
The three faces of Trump? Andrew Harnik/AP
His comment, not surprisingly, didn't cause a stir. He's been spraying a fire hose of outrageous remarks since he entered the presidential race, and this one got lost in the wash. It's also a statement fully in sync with his arrogant schtick that divides the world into winners and losers. Though he's now blasting Romney for the original 47 percent insult to Americans, Trump, too, apparently views many Americans as parasites. The only difference is that his estimate is higher.
It is amusing to see Romney criticising Trump for the same things for which he was criticised. To me, it appears during these primaries that the Republicans are eating their own.
Because I expect Hillary Clinton to be the eventual Democratic nominee, I have been very happy to watch Bernie Sanders push her to the left on issue after issue. There is, however, one key issue on which Hillary has positioned herself to far right. On this issue especially, she needs to take heed of Bernie’s superior stance and move. Hillary, thou shalt not FRACK!
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both claim to oppose fracking, but only one of them has plans to ban it.
During Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Michigan, where environmental issues are especially critical as residents grapple with a water contamination crisis, moderators asked the candidates where they stand on the controversial gas extraction method that involves injecting chemicals and water deep underground.
Clinton answered, "I don’t support it when any locality or any state is against it, number one. I don’t support it when the release of methane or contamination of water is present. I don’t support it, number three, unless we can require that anybody who fracks has to tell us exactly what chemicals they are using. By the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place."
Sanders countered, "My answer is a lot shorter. No, I do not support fracking."
As the audience applauded, Sanders added, "This is a crisis we’ve got to deal with now."…
I’m running way late this morning, because I felt very tired and cold, so I took an extra nap. Lu should arrive soon fir my shower. Tomorrow I have an appointment that should take all morning, so expect only a Personal Update.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:17 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Canada, already bracing for the possible inflow of millions of American refugees in November, might have made matters worse by releasing an unacceptably adorable photo of its Prime Minister hugging two baby pandas, Canadians fear.
The photo, taken at the Toronto Zoo and showing Justin Trudeau cuddling with two panda cubs, was “the last thing this country needed,” Harland Dorrinson, the executive director of Canadians for Responsible Immigration, a prominent anti-immigration organization based in Ottawa, said.
“Canada is already staring down the potential crisis of millions of Americans pouring over its border later this year,” Dorrinson said. “Did we really have to announce that we have pandas, too?”
Dang, Andy! Trudeau really Canucked-up!!
From Daily Kos: Of all the fictions peddled by the Republican Party and its candidates in this election cycle, the most ridiculous is the trope that the Obama Administration has “failed” the American people economically. This is a lie which apparently has been poll-tested with Republican focus groups as it has popped up again and again in the GOP debates, expressed almost ritualistically by Trump, Cruz and Rubio alike. Listening to the Republicans tell it, one could actually start to believe that the 4.9% unemployment rate the country currently enjoys (for the second straight month) is somehow beside the point—that hidden beneath this robust reflection on the country’s powerful economic resurgence since the Bush disaster lies some terrible undercurrent of “failure” on the part of this Democratic Administration.
And that happened despite seditious Republican sabotage.
From Alternet: Stephen Colbert has not aired a show since last Thursday’s Republican debate, so until last night, the late-night comedian had not had time to weigh in on the fact that Donald Trump brought up the size of his penis. Monday night, Colbert made up for lost time, unleashing a stream of jokes, including some self-deprecating ones, that got right to the meat of the matter.
Again Hateful Hairball has nothing that compares with the magnificence of my kitty dingles.
Former Bush Treasury Official Agrees with Sanders on Breaking Up the Big Banks (video and text)
“Economist Gerald Epstein says President of Minneapolis Federal Reserve Neel KashKari's Support of Bernie's Banking Policy is Both Surprising and Welcome”
Col. Wilkerson: The Foreign Policy of Clinton, Trump, Cruz & Rubio "Frighten Me" (video and text)
“Former Bush administration official Larry Wilkerson says the candidates' hawkish foreign policy record is cause for concern with the potential of a possible North Korea engagement”
NATO Sends Warships to the Aegean Sea to Stop the Mass Exodus of Refugees (video and text)
“Saskia Sassen, the author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy, says it is astounding that Europe and the US have missed opportunities to intervene and prevent this crisis”
To be honest, although it was an excellent debate, I was so tired that I fell asleep midway. but I caught the rest this morning. If you missed, I have both the complete video and the transcript. (Thanks Nameless). In my opinion, Bernie was the clear winner, but I realize that my opinion is based on my depth of knowledge, and recognize that people, who are depending on the media for their context are likely to come away with a distorted view.
Senator Bernie Sanders, anxious that the Democratic nomination is slipping away from him, launched a series of cutting and sarcastic attacks against Hillary Clinton over trade, welfare reform and Wall Street in a debate Sunday night that often felt like a war over Bill Clinton’s legacy and the moderate Democratic policies of the 1990s.
Even Mrs. Clinton joined in the repudiation of her husband’s 1994 crime bill and 1996 welfare law, which both disproportionately harmed African-Americans. Both she and Mr. Sanders are aggressively courting black voters in Michigan, Ohio and other racially diverse states that hold primaries over the next nine days, but Mr. Sanders has an urgent need to cut into Mrs. Clinton’s support among African-Americans.
Mr. Sanders, who has fallen far behind Mrs. Clinton in their all-important race to accumulate delegates to clinch the party’s nomination, has rarely been so aggressive. He portrayed Mrs. Clinton as an unapologetic champion of free trade for much of her career, in hopes of hurting her with Rust Belt Democrats. He tied her aggressively to the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Clinton’s signature trade policy, and to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Obama’s 12-nation trade pact, which she supported as secretary of state but then denounced as a presidential candidate.
Mr. Sanders also attacked Mrs. Clinton’s support of the federal Export-Import Bank, the credit agency that antigovernment populists on both sides have called an instrument of “corporate welfare,” and he feigned amazement when she expressed criticism of some trade deals…
I screwed up. I thought my grocery delivery this week was tomorrow. Instead, it’s today, so I have to juggle my plans. I’m getting Safeway.com, because I have an appointment on Wednesday that conflicts with my normal Store to Door delivery. I’m in a rush.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Godwin's Law officially suspended for the duration of the 2016 presidential cycle
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, just before Hitler became dictator.
From NY Times: Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos quarterback and Super Bowl 50 victor who amassed a passel of records and was among the N.F.L.’s most popular players in his 18 seasons in the league, will retire, hobbled by several career-threatening injuries.
Manning was to speak to the news media on Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern time at the Broncos’ facility south of Denver. ESPN was the first on Sunday to report the news of his retirement.
From TPM: An Idaho pastor was shot in the parking lot of his church on Sunday afternoon, one day after delivering a prayer at a campaign rally for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), NBC News reported.
Police told NBC that Rev. Tim Remington, the 55-year-old senior pastor of the Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, was in critical but stable condition after suffering multiple gun shot wounds to the skull and back.
Couer d’Alene police identified the suspect as Kyle Andrew Odom, a white male in his mid-30s who they said was last seen driving a 2004 silver Honda Accord. In a press release posted to the department's Facebook page, police said they were working to obtain a warrant for Odom’s arrest and warned that he should be considered “armed and dangerous.”
The associate pastor of Altar Church, John Padula, told NBC that surveillance video showed a man sitting in a silver car in the parking lot waiting for Remington to exit the building.
Police did not offer a motive for the shooting.
If I had to speculate, I'd say that Odom is a Republican who supports Hateful Hairball, but that's just an educated guess. If, God forbid, he's a lefty, I condemn his violence and ask him to defect to the Republican Party. There's no pace for such violence on the left.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both 
19 amazing things you don't want to miss in the night sky in 2016.
