Open Thread – 3/2/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 022018

It’s Monthly Report day, so I’m quite busy. I also solved a technical problem. Our Clustrmap disappeared from the site. I finally discovered that the problem was on my computer. I use AdGuard, and AdGuard blocked it as an ad. So, I set up an exception in AdGuard for PP and changed Clustrmap to a spinning globe.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 4:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Merkley Presses Army Corps to Support Tribal Housing Along the Columbia River

Kudos to Jeff for standing up for Native American rights. Oregon leads the way. We RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): "This Is How You Run A Banana Republic"

Painter was not even an Obama appointee. He worked in the GW Bush Regime. The best way to deal with a banana republic is to put banana Republican politicians out of work. RESIST!!

From The Daily Beast: At a time when insane is the new normal, our ability to be outraged is dulled amid daily incoming. But Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee—led by their chairman, Trump lackey Devin Nunes—somehow hit a new low with Thursday’s revelation that they leaked to Fox News texts from Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Mark Warner and a Russian businessman in a desperate attempt to discredit the senator. Those texts were then retweeted by our president, in a brushback pitch for Warner’s insistence on investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election—and potential collusion with the Trump campaign—without fear or favor.

This bombshell story, first reported by The New York Times, is not your garden variety Trump-related drama. It’s worse. At a time when institutional checks and balances are needed more than ever, it underscored just how bad the blood is on Capitol Hill—not just between the two parties, but between the House and the Senate itself.

Devin Nunes—a California dairy farmer who degraded himself by becoming a congressman—deserves disproportionate blame for this pathetic mess. His committee has turned the pursuit of truth into a partisan mockery, choosing to do the White House’s bidding at the expense of honest inquiry and fact-based debate.

The author concludes that Lyin’ Ryan should remove Nunes. I fully agree, but I see far too big an orangish-brown smudge on Ryan’s nose for that to happen. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Just days after losing his top security clearance at the White House, Jared Kushner could soon be eligible to enter another high-security government facility, legal experts believe.

According to Davis Logsdon, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, Kushner could be on the verge of obtaining “long-term clearance” at this separate facility, which, like the White House, is owned and operated by the federal government.

Logsdon said that, although such a facility lacks some of the prestige of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kushner would have access to government benefits there that far exceed what he has received as an unpaid adviser at the White House.

“All of his meals and housing would be fully paid for by the taxpayer,” Logsdon said. “And, if things play out the way some believe they will, Jared Kushner could be receiving these benefits for decades to come.”

Andy, you pictured a prison, but wouldn’t the GOP Gitmo Gulag be a better place for him? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0302Cartoon

Friday Fun – Up to It …

Posted by SoINeedAName at 7:56 am Politics

Mar 022018

But I just have too much on my plate, what with doing Mom’s taxes, my taxes, taking care of her Estate matters, clearing out her apartment, helping with my brother after his carotid endarterectomy (wish I could say he’s doing better – but at least some improvement), critter care (didn’t take Nike with on the last trip – was only two nights and way too hectic with cleaning out the apartment), etc., etc.

I know everyone complains about “time-crunch” – but normally my life is NOT this busy. Hope to have things, if not on even keel, at least a much better keel in a week.

But I do know someone who, very soon, is going to have time on his hands – LOTS of time …

Poll Results – 3/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:36 am Blog News, Politics

Mar 012018

Here are the results of our “Protect 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.

0301Poll

Since our polling site no longer enables us to copy and paste your poll comments, you may read them here.

I voted for toss up. If the Fuhrer becomes desperate enough, he can engineer another Saturday Night Massacre.

The new poll is up, and you should find it interesting. Please vote.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 3/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:34 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 012018

Pardon my brevity, but today, I’m busier than a Russian Hooker at Trump Towers.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:53 (average 4:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Trae Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – The Right to Bear Harm

Amen Trae! He’s Southern Fried Borowitz! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Can Trump Fire Mueller?

So the bottom line is this. How desperate does the Fuhrer get and when? RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Wednesday that she was organizing a “Million Liars March” to support her co-worker Hope Hicks.

Calling on “American liars from every walk of life” to march, Sanders said that she had already received commitments from hundreds of liars in the White House, the Cabinet, and Congress.

“These people realize what’s at stake,” she said. “It’s not just Hope Hicks’s career—it’s the lying life style itself.”

“White lies like Hope’s were the lies of a promising beginner,” she said. “If Hope had been allowed to grow as liar, I have no doubt that someday she could have been as consistent a dispenser of ginormous whoppers as I am.”

Dang Andy! Upchuckabee-Sanders can recruit the rabid base of the Republican Reich. That’s around 20 million goose-stepping liars! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 2/28/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:38 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 282018

In breaking news, several sources inside the Mueller investigation have revealed that Mueller is probing into Trump’s prior knowledge of and involvement in the release of the DNC emails. The noose tightens. I don’t know why, but I had insomnia last night and slept poorly. Since this is such a busy day, this is my only article, and I’ll send no links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:41 (average 5:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Jared Kushner Eyed Over Foreign Contacts, Vulnerability To Manipulation

In any other White House, this would be the biggest scandal in history. But in today’s Republican Reich, it’s just one of the daily dozen. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Paul Ryan: ‘We shouldn’t ban guns for law-abiding citizens’

Barf Bag Alert!!

Republicans always use this "law abiding citizens" BS, coupled with the claim that we need to keep guns out of just the wrong hands. I can prove that they are lying. If that’s what they wanted, they wouldn’t keep refusing to close the gun show loophole. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a moment of high drama at the White House on Tuesday morning, Donald J. Trump dove under his desk after a can of Diet Coke opened with an unexpectedly loud sound.

Moments earlier, Trump had pressed a button on his desk, summoning Vice-President Mike Pence to the Oval Office to serve him the frosty beverage.

According to one aide, when Pence opened the can, it made “an unusually loud noise,” sending Trump ducking under his desk in a millisecond.

At a news conference, minutes later, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, attempted to tamp down speculation that Trump had acted in a cowardly manner during the Diet Coke incident. “The President prudently repositioned himself under his desk in an aggressive crouch,” she said. “He was ready for anything.”

Pence agreed with her assessment. “The President was putting himself in a position where, if need be, he could defend the entire country against an attack,” he said. “I, for one, am honored to serve a man of such valor.”

Dang Andy! Isn’t it miraculous that Donny Dump-in-Pants couldn’t find his nuclear button with his tiny hands? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

May the founding be undone ASAP!!

Winning Gaily!

Posted by TomCat at 1:10 pm Politics

Feb 272018

It seems to be a week for good news. Yesterday we learned that the racist Latino hatred of Republican Reich suffered a major defeat when a Supreme Court guaranteed DACA for another year or more. Today we learned that the homophobic LGBT hatred of the Republican Reich suffered a major defeat when the courts defined discrimination in our LGBT friends’ favor.

In a victory for LGBTQ Americans, a federal appeals court delivered a blow to the Trump administration’s Justice Department, ruling that the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits anti-gay discrimination in the workplace.

In its ruling on Zarda vs. Altitude Express, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, covering New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, argued that "a woman who is subject to an adverse employment action because she is attracted to women would have been treated differently if she had been a man who was attracted to women. We can therefore conclude that sexual orientation is a function of sex and, by extension, sexual orientation discrimination is a subset of sex discrimination."

The Seventh Circuit Court reached a similar conclusion last year, becoming the first appeals court to argue that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination against employees based on "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin," should be understood to protect LGBTQ Americans.

"There have now been two federal appeals courts to recognize what we’ve always known—that discrimination based on sexual orientation is in fact discrimination, and that there is no room for it in the workplace," said Ria Tabacco Mar, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in a statement. "This decision is also a repudiation of the Trump administration’s Justice Department, which has insisted that LGBT discrimination is acceptable under federal law."

The Trump administration, led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, filed an amicus brief siding with the employer in the case of Zarda vs. Altitude Express. In the case, sky-diving instructor Donald Zarda alleged that he was fired due to his sexual orientation… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

It’s certainly rare that we in the resistance get good news, but good news or bad, our job is clear.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 2/27/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:10 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 272018

I’m waiting for Store to Door to call for my grocery order. Tomorrow is grocery delivery day and shower day. Then on Thursday and Friday, I get super busy with the new poll and the Monthly Report. It’s going to be hectic.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:59 (average 5:02). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Last Word: Lawrence: Trump’s superhero fantasy world

President Trump said that he would’ve run into Stoneman Douglas High School without a weapon to save children from the shooter. Lawrence O’Donnell argues that this superhero version of Trump is a total contrast to what Trump has said — and done — in real life.

Wheelchair, aside, I doubt that I would have run into that school. I have not been trained or equipped for that. I know that I would run into a burning building to save lives, because, trained and equipped, I have done so a few times. That coward would turn tail and run from a kitty fart! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Shortly after he declared that he would have run into a Florida high school unarmed to thwart a mass shooting, Donald J. Trump announced that he was planning a parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate his hypothetical act of heroism.

“Anyone can act with bravery in the moment,” Trump told reporters in the White House. “But it takes a very special kind of hero to tell people about the incredibly brave thing he would have done weeks after the thing happened.”

He added that it was one of his greatest regrets that bone spurs prevented him from serving in the Vietnam War, “because the really courageous things I would have done during that war would have been off the charts.”

Well, I see that Andy is doing straight reporting again. RESIST!!

From Alternet: For some reason, this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, seems to have gotten more attention than usual. That’s saying something, since for the last 15 years or so it’s gotten much more attention than it deserves. CPAC is like a 10-car pile-up — frightening and horrible, but you can’t look away.

Salon’s Jeremy Binckes and Matthew Sheffield have each weighed in on this year’s event — with Binckes making the case that it shows that the GOP is now thoroughly Trumpified while Sheffield argues that it’s now Trump who’s been absorbed by the Republican Party. I think CPAC shows that the Trump strain has always been slithering around under the rock of conservative movement politics, and 2016 just turned it over and let it run amok.

There is one good thing we can say about CPUKE. It’s over. RESIST!!

From TPM: Bernie Sanders’ son says he’s running for Congress in New Hampshire.

Levi Sanders is joining seven fellow Democrats and three Republicans in this year’s race for the 1st Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter is stepping down after her term ends.

The 48-year-old Sanders has lived in New Hampshire for 15 years. He’s in Claremont, in the 2nd Congressional District. The U.S. Constitution requires only that U.S. House members reside in the state they serve, not necessarily in the same district.

The son of the Independent Vermont senator proposes a “Medicare for all health care system;” tuition-free public college; a higher minimum wage; and “sensible gun legislation.”

Kudos to Levi! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Free Leonard Peltier!

DREAMers Can Celebrate

Posted by TomCat at 12:12 pm Politics

Feb 262018

The reason that Democrats agreed to a deal preventing a government shutdown, without reaching a deal to safeguard DREAMers first, is that on January 9, Judge William Alsup ordered the Trump Reich to restart DACA, thus declaring Trump’s termination of DACA, unconstitutional, pending final judicial review, which in this case, can only end in the Supreme Court. The Trump Reich appealed and asked the Supreme Court to strike down Alsup’s injunction immediately. They declined, so DREAMers can celebrate. The March 5 deadline is no more.

The Supreme Court handed President Trump a significant defeat Monday, turning down the administration’s plea for a quick ruling on the president’s power to end special protections for so-called Dreamers.

The court’s decision not to hear the administration’s appeal immediately could keep in place a legal shield for the nearly 700,000 young immigrants for the rest of this year, and perhaps longer.

The Justice Department had sought to leapfrog the U.S. appeals courts in California and New York. The department had asked for an “immediate review” of a nationwide order by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco that required the government to maintain for now the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

The action the administration sought was rare. It has been nearly 30 years since the Supreme Court granted review of a district judge’s ruling before an appeals court could weigh in. And the court said Monday it had no interest in following that course in the DACA case.

The justices, without dissent, turned down the administration’s petition “without prejudice,” meaning that the government could return to the high court once the appeals court rules…

Inserted from <LA Times>

Here’s video.

The Supreme Court’s case load for this year is now full, so the earliest it could rule on this case, after it goes through the appeals process, is over a year away. DREAMERS can celebrate, because they are safe until then. Hopefully, Democrats will have majorities in the House and the Senate by then.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

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