Day 70. I’m writing for tomorrow and am feeling a bit groggy, having just awakened from a much needed nap. Where have the weekend and the month gone?
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:53 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Multi-millionaire Nick Hanauer is no dummy. He sees the writing on the wall.
I’d strongly suggest you read this entire piece titled "The pitchforks are coming . . . for us Plutocrats"
And what do I see in our future now?
I see pitchforks.
At the same time that people like you and me are thriving beyond the dreams of any plutocrats in history, the rest of the country—the 99.99 percent—is lagging far behind. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting worse really, really fast. In 1980, the top 1 percent controlled about 8 percent of U.S. national income. The bottom 50 percent shared about 18 percent. Today the top 1 percent share about 20 percent; the bottom 50 percent, just 12 percent.
But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution.
And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/…
It’s rare to see truth coming from a billionaire. Click through.
From NY Times: The Libyan militia leader charged in connection with the 2012 attacks in Benghazi that killed the United States ambassador and three others was brought to Washington early Saturday, where he entered a not guilty plea at the federal courthouse, formally opening one of the most complicated terrorism cases the Justice Department has mounted in recent years.
The suspect, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was flown to Washington by helicopter from a Navy warship that had steamed across the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea after he was captured by American commandos at a seaside villa near Benghazi two weeks ago.
Obama is getting away with doing exactly what he is supposed to do. Republicans must be livid!
From Crooks and Liars: This is becoming a habit for Meet the Press host David Gregory. Does anyone think he really does not know that the Republicans and their continued obstruction, blocking rebuilding our infrastructure and President Obama’s jobs plan, shutting down the government and costing the economy billions of dollars and refusing to cooperate on anything if heaven forbid it might make the president look good has harmed our economy?
Whether he does or not, it didn’t stop him from playing concern troll for John Boehner and the Republicans during his interview with former President Bill Clinton this week, from the way he framed this question to begin with, to the follow up question where he pretended to be clueless on the way they’ve governed.
David "Raps with Rove" Gregory could not have been more biased, calling the Republican Recession the “Obama economy”. On the other hand, Slick Willie did a horrible job at debunking Gregory’s BS.
Cartoon:
9 Responses to “Open Thread–6/30/2014”
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3:03 We still have some of these boats on the Erie Canal.
3:14 Reminds me of some of the boats in Europe that ply the canals.
Mashed!
6:14 The pieces seemed to have difficulty discerning the difference between snapping FOR me and snapping AT me. I really need to have a pro look at this 'puter.
Daily Kos – I am so glad you posted Nick Hanauer's article. Not that it's anything you and I and others here haven't said, but it is very well said indeed (five pages well worth taking the time for), and it is from one of their own. Not that they will listen, and they will call (they have called) him crazy. There is a story told by Jesus about a beggar (Lazarus) and a rich guy (some seem to think his name was Dives, but "dives" just mean "a rich guy") in which Lazarus goes to heaven, and the rich guy – um – doesn't. He can see and speak across a chasm between the two, and begs God to let Lazarus go back to warn his brothers. God says, "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they would not listen even if someone rose from the dead." Jesus really had their number, didn't he? (I mean, of course, the real Jesus.)
NY Times – Yes. Wait for it.
Crooks and Liars – I'm getting really old. I can remember when "Meet the Press" was respectable.
Cartoon – Among others.
Day 70 – Cigarettes, like Republicans, never seem to give up. You mustn't either. We are all with you.
Daily Kos – LIke Joanne said, I doubt they will listen to one of their own. Most claim to be Christian but you can't tell by their actions.
NY Times – Maybe this will be Agent Orange's tipping point and he will file his frivolous law suit.
Crooks & Liars – He is always smirking when he asks these inane questions too. They need a new moderator!
Cartoon – The bbeginning of his official "reign of terror."
Naps are good.
Daily Kos: This man speaks truth, how can a billionaire be so in tune with the way our world is turning into a feudal era?
NY Times: Of course the Republicans are livid! Obama obeyed the laws of our country instead of water boarding this man.
Crooks and Liars: I no longer watch Meet the Press because of Gregory. He makes me ill.
Cartoon: Drastic measures by an insane man.
I do hope for all our sakes that the billionaires listen to Nick Hanauer – though history suggests that they won't – and we have all been saying those same things for years ourselves, both here and elsewhere, trying to avoid the horrible probability of something like the French Revolution…. God help us all!
Thanks TC!
Update — I went to see my furbabe after physio today. He is doing well and was purring up a storm while I was there. Hopefully he'll be home tomorrow but it will be about a week before he can eat regularly again. Right now it is about a teaspoon of wet cat food about 10 times per day until his stomache is healed. Don't want to have his tummy burst his stitches on the inside. I am one very happy momma! His sister, Annie, is sure missing him!
Puzzle — 3:14 Reminds me of some of the boats in Europe that ply the canals.
Daily Kos — Since I first heard billionaire Nick Hanauer speak, I have been a fan because with straight talk he lets you know he understands the problem.
He knows the writing is on the wall, and it isn't graffiti.
NY Times — Let the Republicanus/Teabaggers be livid! Obama is doing what has to be done, and doing it legally. Waterboarding at Guantanamo etc is the Bush/Cheney modus operandi . . . an illegal modus operandi!
Crooks and Liars — David Gregory is a "never been", not even a "has been".
Cartoon — I wonder if Boehner would like to follow Herr Hitler's lead? . . . or at least start with the most troublesome Teabaggers . . .
Thanks all. Due to SCROTUS, I've been way busy!