Open Thread – 12/25/2018

 Posted by at 10:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 252018
 

It’s a lazy Christmas Day, and I have nothing special planned.  WWWendy and I are celebrating tomorrow evening, as it’s only fitting that her family gets Christmas Day.  May you have a safe peaceful Christmas, or whatever Winter holiday, if any, is appropriate for you.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 8:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Agony:

1224-Broncos14-Raiders27

The Browns last week and now the Raiders?  ARGH!!  I said last year that Vance Joseph should be fired.  I was right then and still am.

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league.

Playoffs:

P2

Congrats to Wendy and I for winning our Semifinal games.  We meet next week for the Championship, and my sphincter already hurts from the beating it’s going to take.  Pamela and Vivian play for third place.  Patty Monster and the Squatch play for fifth place.  Good luck to all.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Democrats Aim To Build On Historic 2018 Win, Overcome GOP Skewing (19 min.)

 

I’m pleased to see that Democrats are willing to fight. We can’t win where we don’t run! RESIST!!

From Think Progress: At least in the short term, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan will serve as acting secretary. Shanahan is a former top executive with the defense contractor Boeing, which received $20 billion in contracts from the Pentagon since Shanahan became second in command at the Defense Department.

That alone might not be disqualifying. Boeing, after all, received billions from the Pentagon long before Trump took office. And the company is allowed to compete for contracts even if a former executive serves in a senior role within the Defense Department.

Shanahan’s obligation, like other officials facing conflicts of interest, is to recuse himself from decisions involving his former employer. Yet a report in the Daily Beast suggests that Shanahan did not recuse himself from a $1.2 billion Boeing contract involving outdated fighter planes

The F-15 Eagle is a 45-year-old, “fourth-generation” fighter jet. The Air Force has not purchased new F-15s since 2001. And while Boeing released an updated version of this older airplane — the F-15X — Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson previously said that her branch of service has no interest in buying Boeing’s updated offering.

I have no doubt we’ll see far more corporate corruption by Republican lackeys. RESIST!!

From Palmer Report:  Defeated and depressed, Donald Trump now sounds like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, if Eeyore were a racist traitor illegally occupying the White House. Trump appeared to bottom out today, tweeting “I am all alone (poor me)” – and he didn’t seem to mean it sarcastically. No one was about to let the moment go unnoticed.

Various people on Twitter compared Donald Trump’s self-centered pity party to the uplifting Christmas Eve message delivered by President Obama. One respondent to Trump quipped “Five kids and grandkids and none want to spend Christmas Eve with you. Sad.” Another mocked his failed border wall con game: “So Why don’t you run down to Mexico and grab that check since you have some free time.”

Another hit the nail on the head: “How is anyone suppose to take you seriously when you whine like a child and act like a lunatic.”

Of course he’s alone. Can you imagine a worse way to spend Christmas than with Trump? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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Republicans on Parade – 12/24/2018

 Posted by at 12:12 pm  Politics, Religion
Dec 242018
 

Here is the one hundred forty-fifth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Republican Supply-side pseudo-Jew, Dennis Prager. He is so honored for claiming that the War on Christmas has taught heathen youth to let strangers drown instead of saving them.

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[C]onservative radio host Dennis Prager told Fox & Friends on Monday that he says “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays” to honor his country.

During a Christmas Eve interview on Fox & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade asked Prager why it is important to say “Merry Christmas.”…

…“It matters because it’s a national holiday,” Prager explained. “People have to understand, I’m a Jew. Okay? Christmas is not my religious holiday, but Christmas is my national holiday, on de facto and legal grounds. On legal grounds, it’s a national holiday. I honor my country. Number two, the vast majority of my fellow citizens celebrate this holiday.”…“They don’t like ‘In God We Trust’ on our coins, they don’t like Christmas as a national holiday,” Prager complained. “I fear a radically secularized America. I fear it. As a Jew, I fear it.”

“I know what happens when people no longer have a God-based frame of reference for their ethics,” he added. “Two-thirds of the high school kids I’ve asked in the last in the last 40 years, ‘Would you save your dog or a stranger if both were drowning?’ [They] won’t save the stranger because ‘I love my dog, don’t love the stranger.’ But if you have a Judeo-Christian value system, you know that people are created in God’s image, dogs are not.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>
Graphic credit: http://www.amateuridiotprofessionaldad.com/donald-trump-war-christmas/

Here’s the video:

What total BS!  First if 2/3 of the kids Prager asked really said that, he only asked three, and they were paid and told what to say.  One forgot his lines.

Second, as a lifeguard and lifeguard trainer in my youth, I had occasion to rescue several people from drowning over the years.  The notion that they were in God’s image never crossed my mind.  I did it because I saw people in need of help.

Third, I’m proud to be friends with several atheists, who do not have a "God-based frame of reference".  They are more ethical, responsible, and loving than any Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian.  The notion that religious is the same as moral is a lie.

Finally, I am a lefty, and I do not hate Christmas.  In fact, I am a Christian.  Many of the lefties I know are also Christians.  We are not waging war on Christmas, nor are the lefties we know.  I greet most people with "Merry Christmas" at this time of year.  I reserve "Happy Holidays" for Republican-Supply-side pseudo-Christians and one Republican Supply-side pseudo-Jew.

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 12/24/2018

 Posted by at 12:10 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 242018
 

I surprised myself.  I actually found a full slate of articles for today.  If you’re driving, please stay safe.  Holiday hugs!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Less than two hours after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis went to the White House on Thursday to hand a resignation letter to President Trump, the president stood in the Oval Office and dictated a glowing tweet announcing that Mr. Mattis was retiring “with distinction” at the end of February.

But Mr. Trump had not read the letter. As became apparent to the president only after days of news coverage, a senior administration official said, Mr. Mattis had issued a stinging rebuke of Mr. Trump over his neglect of allies and tolerance of authoritarians. The president grew increasingly angry as he watched a parade of defense analysts go on television to extol Mr. Mattis’s bravery, another aide said, until he decided on Sunday that he had had enough.

In a tweet later that morning, the president announced that he was removing Mr. Mattis from his post by Jan. 1, two months before the defense secretary had planned to depart. Mr. Trump said that Patrick M. Shanahan, Mr. Mattis’s deputy and a former Boeing executive, would serve as the acting defense secretary, praising him as “very talented” and adding that “he will be great!”

That means tiny hands can reach the button two months early. Duck world! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): AWAY IN A MANGER in 2018 – Parody

 

Amen Don! Republican Supply-side Jesus is the invention of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians to justify their gospel of injustice, hate and greed. He is the exact opposite of the real Jesus, and if the real Jesus were here in the flesh, Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians would crucify Him all over again! RESIST!!

From YouTube: Track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve with NORAD (live)

 

Don’t let this fool you. The REAL Santa is a cat! RESIST!!

xcat06

Cartoon:

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A Conversation with James Comey by Nicolle Wallace

 Posted by at 11:06 pm  Politics
Dec 232018
 

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace is in conversation with former FBI Director James Comey who was fired by Donald Trump on 09 May 2017 because he refused to play ball with Trump.  This very candid conversation shows a different side of Comey.

Please ensure you set the video to the beginning.  For some reason, it is set to start at the 43 minute mark and it won’t reset.

Part of the conversation is based on his book “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, And Leadership” which Trump has said is about him which could not be further from the truth.  Trump barely gets a mention.  I read the book during the summer and can say it is more about some of life’s lessons, about integrity, about being faithful to values.  I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.  BTW, it is an hour in length and I think I have listened to the conversation 3 times.

 

Posted to Care2 HERE

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Squatch’s Open Thread 23 December 2018

 Posted by at 11:06 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 232018
 

It is Sunday evening and I was so tired after church and lunch that I decided a nap was in order.  I finished the updated version of the book “The Making of Donald Trump” by David Cay Johnston over lunch.  The book delves into greater detail of the spurious nature of Trump, his associates and methods.  To say Trump is nothing more than a third rate carnival barker and scam artist is an understatement.  I recommend reading this short book (217 pages).  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I will be celebrating Christmas with friends.  Then on Christmas Day, I will spend lots of quality time with my fur babes and doing the dreaded task . . . again!  However you celebrate the season, may it be joyful filled with love, peace and hope.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 4:50). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

The Guardian — The resignation of US defence secretary James Mattis was triggered by a phone conversation between Donald Trump and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in which Trump abruptly decided to upend previous US policy and withdraw troops from Syria, according to new accounts of the call.

Mattis went to see the president on Thursday afternoon in a last-ditch attempt to change the president’s mind, and argue for standing by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have take the lead role in ejecting the Islamic State from its Syrian strongholds.  …

“As soon as the US folds its tent and leaves, Turkey will immediately begin an air bombardment followed by a ground attack by the [Ankara-backed] Free Syrian army. Thousands will die, thousands will be displaced and will be given no haven within Syria. They will be turned away at the Turkish border,” said David Phillips, a former senior state department official, and the author of the new book: The Great Betrayal: How America Abandoned the Kurds and Lost the Middle East.

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My Universe
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Posted to Care2 HERE
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Open Thread – 12/23/2018

 Posted by at 12:39 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 232018
 

Wendy is about to arrive and we have a very busy day.  We did.  I’m pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:26 (average 5:09).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: 10 Steps to Save American Democracy

 

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, but how do we get a Constitutional Amendment past the many small states controlled by the evil Reich on the right, the Republican Reich? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): FROSTY THE SNOWMAN – Parody

 

Don could not be more accurate. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Jimmy Kimmel introduced a children’s Christmas book called "How The Trump Saved Christmas," but I think it’s really more fun for adults.

 

Merry Christmas, or whatever seasonal greeting is appropriate for you. And if you are a Republican, Happy Holidays. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

1223Cartoon

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Everyday Erinyes #149

 Posted by at 6:57 pm  Politics
Dec 222018
 

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. 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.”

Universal health care. “Medicare for All.” Socialized medicine. Regardless what one wants to call it, we need it. We need it desperately, and we need it now. Because we can’t go on like this:

[A] Michigan woman seeking a heart transplant publicized a letter she received from the Spectrum Health Richard DeVos Heart and Lung Transplant Clinic—named after the late father-in-law of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—informing her that she is “not a candidate” for the procedure “at this time” because she needs a “more secure financial plan” to afford the required post-operation immunosuppressive medication.

The letter goes on to explicitly recommend “a fundraising effort of $10,000” to help pay for the drugs.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saw the letter. Her reaction was

“Insurance groups are recommending GoFundMe as official policy—where customers can die if they can’t raise the goal in time—but sure, single-payer healthcare is unreasonable,”

Hedda Elizabeth Martin is the woman who received this letter and posted it to Facebook. She also shared that “Only when I have raised that required amount, will I then be ‘reconsidered’ for [a] heart transplant. Not automatically added to [the] list but reconsidered…. This is new.”

This is insane.

Anyone who thinks this is OK needs a transplant themselves – a heart transplant, or a soul transplant, or both, because they are clearly lacking in those areas.

I could go on (and on and on) about the moral bankruptcy of this situation, but you would not find anything that hasn’t been already said, and said far better, by better writers and better humanitarians than I. But I am also a retired insurance professional, so I want to look at this for a minute as an insurance professional.

[A]s Common Dreams reported, a Koch-funded study published earlier this year inadvertently found that Medicare for All would save the American public $2 trillion in healthcare costs over ten years while covering everybody.

WELL OF COURSE IT WOULD. The whole principle of insurance is that you get a group of people together to each chip money into a pool which is then available to help people who experience a catastrophe which happens to few be “made whole” – car repair or replacement, housing repair or replacement, organ repair or replacement covered so the sufferer is not out of pocket, or only a little out of pocket (e.g., for a deductible). The theory is that the premium should be appropriate to the risk, but the larger the pool, the less that ends up mattering. With a huge pool enough in premiums can be taken in to cover pretty much anything that can happen. And “everyone” is the largest possible pool, a pool for which the best coverage can be provided for the least money.

So why the resistance? It can only be because that $200 BILLION per year which would be saved would be a saving to the American people. It would not go into the assets of existing insurance companies to be distributed to their shareholders (and especially to their executives.) It’s not, apparently, a question of how much could be saved, but of who gets to save it.

There are some Democrats who don’t seem to think that Medicare for All is a good idea. They need their feet held to the fire. We can do that, through petitions, letters, phone calls. Demonstrations. Marches. Those who have Twitter and Facebook can use those tools (though I would not advise anyone who doesn’t already have them to get them, since they can be dangerous.) No one other than we the people is going to do it.

Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, open our eyes to see all the petitions and sign every one. Open our hearts to find our own words to add to the words of others, as good as those can be. Light a fire under us.

Speaking of fire, as off topic as it is, I want to share it, for Christmas, with the caveat that, heartwarming as it is, it may warm your heart to such a degree that (as Otto Harbach didn’t exactly say) smoke may get in your eyes. You can blame George Takei for finding it, and of course me for agreeing with him that it’s worthy to pass on.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.

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Shutdown!

 Posted by at 10:37 am  Politics
Dec 222018
 

This was Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten a few days ago: Speaking to Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office, Trump said on December 11, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. … I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”  Of course, that was then, and now Republicans are trying to blame their shutdown on us.  Don’t let them!

1222republicanshutdown

President Donald Trump has vowed that the partial government shutdown that began at midnight — the second government shutdown to occur while Republicans control the White House and both branches of Congress — will last for a “very long time.” The shutdown is the result of Trump reneging on an agreement to pass a “clean” bipartisan spending bill. Republicans then threw in more than $5 billion in funding for the wall, the president’s vanity project, blowing up any agreement they had with Democrats to pass a budget.

Because of Trump’s shutdown, the country will go without a number of important services and employees indefinitely, until Congress can pass a spending agreement.

Almost 400,000 federal workers are furloughed without pay, and the shutdown impacts basic government functions like tax collection, transportation, and even domestic security — including border security.

The partial shutdown closes a number of important federal agencies: Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, the Interior, State, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Commerce, and Justice.

Essential personnel, like corrections officers, FBI agents, TSA agents, Customs and Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, will be forced to work without pay (after other shutdowns, Congress has paid such workers retroactively once a budget or continuing resolution is passed, but the payment is up to Congress).

Federal workers — who aren’t concentrated in D.C. but working at agencies and offices across the country — are often hit hard by shutdowns. Thousands of federal workers make less than $45,000 a year, and going without a paycheck or several could force those households to dip into savings. The bottom 20 percent of American households have an average savings of less than $8,750…. [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Leave it to Republicans to hit the poorest hardest.

Here’s a clip from CNN with a little more detail.

See?  There’s no doubt.  This is a Republican shutdown.  We must resist until they cave-in.

RESIST!!

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