Open Thread – 9/4/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:56 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 042018

It’s a cool morning, here in the CatBox, but I expect a high in the high 80°s, so I’m sire I’ll be on A/C by lunch time. While working I’m listening to the Nazi’s conformation hearing. It’s a good thing I’m wearing George. Otherwise he’d be full of barf. I overslept this morning and have been feeling sleepy ever since I awakened.

Chrome crashed and I can’t get it back. ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): U.S. Women See Reason To Reject Donald Trump SCOTUS Pick Brett Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh will tell whatever lives it takes to get confirmed. Then the minions of hell will be unleashed upon us. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Nation of Change: After the 2008 crash, the government bailed out the banks and pumped enough money into the economy to contain the slide. But apart from the Affordable Care Act, nothing was done to address the underlying problem of stagnant wages.

Trump and his Republican enablers are now reversing regulations put in place to stop Wall Street’s excessively risky lending.

But Trump’s real contributions to the next crash are his sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, rollback of overtime pay, burdens on labor organizing, tax reductions for corporations and the wealthy but not for most workers, cuts in programs for the poor, and proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid – all of which put more stress on the paychecks of most Americans.

Ten years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it’s important to understand that the real root of the Great Recession wasn’t a banking crisis. It was the growing imbalance between consumer spending and total output – brought on by stagnant wages and widening inequality.

That imbalance is back. Watch your wallets.

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right! Every Republican must go! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Crooks and Liars: Today begins the hearings to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and Democrats are fighting with every tool at their disposal, few in number. Think David versus Goliath.

As soon as Senator Grassley opened the hearing, Senator Kamala Harris interrupted and Democrats were off to the races. When Senator Blumenthal moved to adjourn the hearing, the room erupted in applause.

Here’s the first two minutes. As I write, we’re 40 minutes into the hearing and they haven’t gotten as far as the introduction of Judge Kavanaugh. We have heard more about Merrick Garland, however.

They are doing opening statements now! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

0904Cartoon

Outspoken

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 8:36 am Politics

Sep 042018

A little over a week ago, we were discussing Bill Maher’s latest “New Rules,” in which Bill suggested we should merge with China. TomCat suggested we would be better off with Canada. I suggested that Australia might be a better fit, to which Animae kindly responded, “Absolutely.” I say that it was kind of her because, although there are many wonderful things abut Australia, I was not thinking of any of those when I made the comment. I was thinking of what I had been reading about their off-shore refugee camps. In fact, though, Australia has many issues similar to issues we see in the U.S., most of which can be bundled into “Republicans.” Called, I gather, “Conservatives” there.

So when Lona sent the “Gang of Five (TC, Nameless, Squatch, herself, and me)” an email about an Anglican priest in Gosford, New South Wales, who is putting up signage at his church which sound like things Jesus might actually say (and getting a lot of flak, also not unlike Jesus), I read it with interest. Lona had seen a news item on him on ABC (Oz Broadcasting Co.), which we in the US and Canada can’t view. But I looked on YouTube and found numerous videos, including a TED talk, which we can view. I picked this four-year-old one to embed rather than the TED talk because it is short and kind of introductory (and has a LOT of signs).

Father Rod Bower is the vicar (or pastor or parish priest or maybe some other term, depending on your tradition) of Gosford (St. Mary’s) Anglican Church, which is, as already mentioned, in NSW, Australia. In 2013, he decided to use the signboard outside the church – the one that letters can be put in and taken out to change the message – for something perhaps more important than announcing the dates and times of services.

It was a personal experience which move him enough to take this step – you might say it radicalized him.

He’d been called to deliver last rites, and the dying man’s family kept his male partner out of the room.

“They were anxious I would be judgmental of this man, and it really pulled me up that they could experience marginalisation because of me and because of what I represent,” Father Bower told [ABC] 7.30.

He returned to his church and put up a sign saying, “DEAR CHRISTIANS, SOME PPL ARE GAY. GET OVER IT. LOVE GOD”.

The sign went viral on social media and Father Bower realised he had a platform.

It’s brought him – well, it kind of reminds me of a verse attributed to Jesus: “Anyone who gives up father and mother, sister and brother, for my sake will receive hundreds, thousands, of fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers, and persecution too.” He has tens of thousands of followers on social media. And he has death threats.

He’s emotional when he speaks about a serious threat before the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 2014, and the conversation he had with his wife Kerry Bower before he set off to take part in the parade.

“We talked about there [being] not just my life at risk here, but also young LGBTI people are taking their own lives because of their experience of marginalisation,” he said.

More death threats followed, and Ms Bower says they both wondered whether they should stop being so vocal.

“We thought, what are we doing? We have children, we have grandchildren, this is crazy, nothing is worth this,” she said.

“But Rod said, ‘No, I can’t stop.’ And I kind of went, ‘I get it, we can’t stop because someone has to challenge this stuff’.”

He originally planned to focus on just three issues – but other things have gotten his attention too. I understand that perfectly. When one sees something – sometimes one just has to say something. Even if that something is not in one’s own nation. One of the biggest responses was to a sign more addressed to the United States than to Australia:

That one made waves all over the United States with those who saw it.

Father Bower has just published a book (literally just published: Amazon posted it just yesterday, and so far, only to Kindle) called Outspoken: Because Justice Is Always Social. But there are other vendors who have it in print.

Speaking as a citizen of the nation which can boast Jim Wallis, John Pavlovitz, and the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber III, I would be delighted – and humbled – to clasp hands across the sea with the nation which lays claim to Father Rod Bower.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.

Labor Day

Posted by TomCat at 12:53 pm Holiday, Politics

Sep 032018

Labor-day2012

For most of my early life I considered Labor Day little more than a day off at the end of summer. That’s because I am not a union man. I have never belonged to a union, nor has anyone in my family. So what has the labor movement done for me? I have learned what organized labor has done to improve the lot of all American Workers, and I have come to understand that Labor Day is a celebration of Union labor, and one that is well deserved. This is a minor variation on last year’s article.

ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:

1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours — almost double what most Americans work now…

2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income…

3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor…

4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930′s and 1940′s led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers…

5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which “requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.” … [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

It’s well worth the time to click through for the rest of this article. Furthermore, here is an excellent video on what labor has done for America.

Therefore, to begin my celebration of Labor Day in the best possible way, I wish to thank all of you who are or have been union workers. My life is better because of you. And to you and everyone else, have a Happy Labor Day!

Sadly, because of predatory Republican impingement on workers’ rights, this article is less true than it was last year. It’s up to YOU to change that trend.

Support Labor!

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

64 DAYS!!

Open Thread – 9/3/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:52 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 032018

Here in the CatBox, the sun has hit the wall, so I buttoned-up and turned on the A/C. I decided that it’s inappropriate for me to work my ass off on Labor Day, so I decided to put off the Monthly Report until tomorrow and have an easier day today. I hope that US readers are enjoying your holiday and the rest of you are surviving Monday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 4:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (A Protest for Labor Day): Woodie Guthrie – All You Fascists are Bound to Lose

If it still fits, sing it! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Nation of Change: A legal precedent has paved the way for Vietnam to demand Monsanto pay compensation to the many victims of Agent Orange, a chemical herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. While previous claims said herbicides produced by Monsanto – and other companies – and used during the war were harmless, the recent guilty verdict in Monsanto vs. Dewayne Johnson refutes those claims, a spokesman for Vietnam’s foreign ministry said.

The company, now part of Bayer AG after an acquisition went through, was ordered to pay $289 million in restitution to Johnson, a former pest control manager for a California country school system, after a jury at San Francisco’s Superior Court in California ruled that Monsanto failed to warn users of it’s product about the cancer risks. Vietnam is now using this as grounds for Agent Orange victims.

I sure hope they win. It’s WAY past due. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: Brian Kemp, the Republican running for Georgia governor, won his party’s nomination with the help of a TV ad that explicitly argued that he is not a moderate guy. Titled “So Conservative,” it portrayed Mr. Kemp as a gun-toting, “politically incorrect conservative” who would personally round up “criminal illegals” in his pickup truck.

But that was then. In his latest TV ad, playing now in the Atlanta Metro market for the November general election, Mr. Kemp, in a check-print, button-down shirt, speaks to the camera in a kindly, drawly baritone about “growing jobs, not government,” investing in education (of the locally controlled variety), and “rewarding legal — not illegal — behavior.”

Stacey should keep rubbing his nose in this! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Barf Bag Alert!!

Cartoon:

And the blessed light burst forth from the Holy Ellipsoid Orb!

Republicans on Parade – 9/2/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:27 pm Politics

Sep 022018

Here is the one hundred thirty-third article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Hypocritical Republican Senator from Maine, Susan Collins. She is so honored for publicly claiming to be undecided on extreme SCROTUS (Republican Unconstitutional VD) Nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. After meeting with Trump, she rubber-stamped Kavanaugh in secret.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) apparently doesn’t want to be elected in Maine again. Maybe she is operating under some delusion that there’s something bigger for her out there, because she sure as hell is burning her bridges with the people who helped get her elected in the first place. Officially, she is undecided on Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court pick of the Russian asset in the Oval Office. Unofficially, however, it appears the fix has been in since even before the nomination was made public.

A source close to Collins’s staff tells the Huffington Post’s Laura Bassett that Collins consulted with Trump before it was finalized, and signed off on Kavanaugh. Collins’s spokeswoman, Annie Clark, gives a weak denial to the report, telling HuffPost “that while the senator talked extensively with Trump throughout the process of choosing a nominee, she ‘never gave [the White House] a list and never committed to supporting anyone.'” Yeah, in all those “extensive” talks with Trump, Collins never indicated who she’d be willing to rubber stamp.

It’s not really been much of a question, particularly after she met with Kavanaugh and told reporters that when she asked him about abortion rights, he said “that he agreed with what [Chief Justice John] Roberts said at his nomination hearing, at which he said that it was settled law,” and that his answer on Roe was “very strong.” Sure, Roberts might have said in his confirmation hearings that Roe is settled law, but that’s talk in a hearing. Since he’s been on the court, he’s voted to uphold a late-term abortion ban, voted with the minority against a majority ruling that states could not place an undue burden on a woman’s access to abortion, and voted to overturn California’s regulation of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Here in Oregon we used to have a Senator named Gordon Smith who talked a very moderate, bipartisan game. He also voted with Democrats, but only when the issue was decided and his vote did not really matter. Whenever the Republican Reich really needed his vote, you’d always see him goose-stepping with Bought Bitch Mitch. I nicknamed him Gordon Goose-step, went to work for his Democratic opponent’s campaign, and helped send him to the unemployment line in November, 2008.

Susan Collins is not as obviously vile as the Republicans who normally get parades, but she is another Republican goose-stepper that pretends to be bipartisan, just like Gordon.

Back in 2008, we replaced Gordon with Jeff Merkley [D-OR], a progressive leader after only ten years. Maine, you can have a Jeff Merkley for your state instead of a goose-stepping Republican on Parade, if you work for it.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

65 DAYS!!

Open Thread – 9/2/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:26 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 022018

It’s another cool morning here in the CatBox, but with a high in the 80°s, I’ll have to button up when the sun hits the wall. WWWendy is due in about thirty minutes, and I’ll finish this after she leaves.

WWWendy just left, and I’m so pooped I’m bleary eyed.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:46 (average 5:47). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (A blast from the past): Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth 1967

I see this one as a memory of the importance of resistance. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: Racist robocalls targeting Andrew Gillum, the first black nominee for Florida governor from a major party, have been placed to residents from an out-of-state white supremacist entity.

Mr. Gillum, 39, the Tallahassee mayor and a progressive candidate who won an upset victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, will face Representative Ron DeSantis, 39, a Republican who embraced the style and policies of President Trump, in the November election.

In the audio of one robocall placed on Friday and obtained by The New York Times, a man pretending to be Mr. Gillum can be heard talking in the exaggerated accent of a minstrel performer. “Well hello there,” it begins, “I is Andrew Gillum.” He then talks for a little over a minute about mud huts and unfair policing practices, and asks repeatedly for the listener’s vote. In the background are the sounds of drums and monkeys.

This is the best that Republicans have to offer. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Raw Story: [S]upporters of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have been deluged by signs for challenger Beto O’Rourke and are furious at his campaign for mismanaging the situation, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

According to the paper, Beto’s distinctive black-and-white yards signs have “seemingly dominated the landscape” in the state.

Cruz’s signs are rarely spotted, and his supporters are reportedly “increasingly agitated,” partly because Cruz’s campaign refuses to prove his supporters with signs.

Hey Cruz! Put a Beto sign in Uranus! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

CruzUranus

Cartoon:

Poll Results – 9/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:49 am Blog News, Politics

Sep 012018

Here are the results of our “Continue, Mueller?" poll. Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories. Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population. Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking of the majority of those who actually do think.

And here are your comments:

Showing comments 1–12 of 12.

Posted by Yvonne White August 13, 2018 at 11:43 am. From: IL (US)

Why would it be necessary to suspend investigations since the trump admin is NOT up for re-election?

Posted by Diane August 3, 2018 at 10:59 am. From: PA (US)

He must continue the investigation at all costs. There has been too much damage done already.

Posted by Nita L August 2, 2018 at 4:44 am. From: TX (US)

Mueller needs to continue as he has been. I think he will hold off on tRump and his regime indictments until after the midterms.

Posted by SoINeedAName August 2, 2018 at 4:10 am. From: MO (US)

Mueller might "pause" the investigation by not issuing any indictments or announcing any guilty pleas.

But "suspend" for two months? I doubt it. This isn’t Europe, and it’s too critical for that.

Posted by gene August 2, 2018 at 1:51 am. From: MN (US)

I hoped Mueller would release the American indictments before the end of August. The investigation will NOT be suspended, my bet. They’re negotiating with Trump still – I truly want that fool on oath, he WILL do himself in, no matter if they ask him three or ten questions. He can’t help himself. Which is good. But no way this "suspends", it IS going to affect the elections. It should, the last one was stolen.

Posted by Lona Goudswaard August 1, 2018 at 11:07 pm. From: (AU)

Mueller shouldn’t suspend his investigations, but continue in the same way he has done so far. However, he shouldn’t start indicting Republicans or Drumpf right before the November elections. He should either do so now, with over 3 months to go, or wait until after the elections. The first is very unlikely to happen, so it’s really business as usual.

Posted by Colleen August 1, 2018 at 2:54 pm. From: CA (US)

Mr. Mueller must continue on. There’s too much at stake.

Posted by Animae August 1, 2018 at 1:45 pm. From: (AU)

NO!

Posted by Lynn Squance August 1, 2018 at 11:24 am. From: BC (CA)

The investigation is too important and has gone on for so long. Drumpf et al have complained about its length continually so it would be folly to change course. On the other hand, by allowing it to continue risks the mid term election results that Republicans want. Personally, I hope that Diaper Don and his racist, moronic retinue get caught up and the sooner the better. They are a cancer in the US and globally.

Posted by Pat B August 1, 2018 at 10:00 am. From: TX (US)

Mr. Mueller will (hopefully) continue this investigation. It’s too important a mission for him not to.

Posted by Mitch D. August 1, 2018 at 9:35 am. From: FL (US)

I do not know about further indictments, but this investigation is too important to allow it to lie fallow! Might folks on the right complain? Sure, but they will find any reason to spout off, at any time. The die-hard, cult-like Trump supporters will not accept any verdict other than complete innocence for anyone caught up in the Mueller probes, anyway.

Posted by Joanne D August 1, 2018 at 9:06 am. From: CO (US)

As tight lipped as Mueller is I certainly trust him, and he is not going to indict anyone who is in office until after the election anyway. Some journalists and "journalists" might need to shut up, however.

We don’t have a poll that’s both unanimous and popular very often. I voted "no", because, if the investigation into Trump’s treason had been public before 11/2016, we’d be bitching about Hillary, and far better off that we are now.

The new poll is up. It asks a question likely to be debated for some time, so it should be interesting. Don’t forget to vote in it, please.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

66 DAYS!!

Open Thread – 9/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 012018

Welcome to a new month. It’s nice and cool here in the CatBox, and I’m feeling a bit chilly. I love it! Later the sun will hit the wall, but that’s later. It’s a very busy day, as I’m changing the poll in addition to collecting the data, preparing the charts, and making the graphics for August’s Monthly Report.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): The Story That Set President Donald Trump Off Today

Oh Canada! Here’s the deal… You take Trump and you can sell all the timber you want here. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Josh Bernstein Promises Bloodshed If Democrats Try To Impeach Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

This is the way Republicans relate to America. This idiot is aping (apology to apes) his Fuhrer! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump is “scared to death” that the 2020 Presidential election will be decided by Americans, an aide to Trump has confirmed.

The aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Trump is panicking over a doomsday scenario in which Americans, sidelined during the 2016 election, play a dominant role in influencing the 2020 contest.

“It sounds paranoid, but, as we speak, representatives of the United States are already plotting to remove him from office in 2020,” the aide said. “They are determined to replace him with someone who takes a move favorable view toward their country.”

The aide said that the Americans, frustrated by Trump’s open hostility to the United States since taking office, will “stop at nothing” to achieve their ultimate goal: installing an agent of the U.S. in the Oval Office.

“It’s pretty clear what the Americans are up to,” the aide said. “They want a puppet who will do the bidding of the United States of America.”

Dang Andy! You’re right! A US supporter in the Oval Office could mean the death of the Republican Reich. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Koch is Republicans’ favorite drug! (vintage 2011).

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