Open Thread–12/2/2013

I’m writing for tomorrow and waiting for the game to start.  Guitar man major crashed, so I slept almost around the clock.  There may be nothing at all for Tuesday, because I will be at the new place tomorrow working to prepare it.  Hugs to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:33 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

Short Takes:

From TPM: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday that the Iran deal throws nuclear agreements the U.S. has made with other countries "into disarray."

"Their ability to enrich really throws into disarray … all the other agreements that we’re negotiating around the world — with Vietnam, with South Korea …" Corker said on CBS’s "Face the Nation." "I think it throws the proliferation issue into disarray also."

Corker said that by allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium while a final deal is reached, the U.S. is violating non-proliferation standards set by the UN Security Council.

Corker is misrepresenting the deal.  Anyway, how could these standards be in any more disarray than they already are from nukes in the possession of India, Israel, and Pakistan, not to mention North Korea.

From Think Progress: The White House announced on Sunday morning that it has met its “goal” of ensuring that HealthCare.gov “will work smoothly for the vast majority of users,” noting that the beleaguered site can now accommodate 50,000 concurrent users and 800,000 consumers throughout the day. As a result, close to 80 percent of users can now enroll online, which is up from 30 percent in October.

You can be sure the media will focus on the few, who the site was never designed to help, beyond referring them to humans.

From Alternet: Birther preacher Manning: Obama had mother of his lovechild killed.

Despite the Pope’s apparent sanity, there was still plenty of lunacy in the right-wing pulpit this week. Take birther preacher (yes, that’s a category) Rev. James David Manning, pastor of Atlah World Missionary Church, who leveled this bizarre accusation: Remember the apparently mentally ill woman who was shot and killed after she tried to ram her car into a barrier outside the White House in October? Her name was Miriam Carey, and that was no random, tragic incident. According to Manning, that woman was the mother of Barack Obama’s illegitimate child.

The proof, says the good reverend—who also believes Michelle Obama was born a man and that the president was born in Kenya—will come when Miriam Carey’s young child is given a paternity test. Just to make extra sure.

While the incident is being investigated, neither the family nor their attorney has suggested this conspiracy. Their denial of the conspiracy, says Manning, is just more proof that Obama had his secret baby mama killed.

That’s the wonderful thing about conspiracy theories. Everything proves them right.

This is just one of ten outrageous and crazy statements by Republicans in the last week alone. Click through for the other nine.

Cartoon:

43 years later Republicans are still trying to stop it to enable criminal corporate polluters.