I have actually slept almost four hours out of the last 24. About two hours ago, the building restoration company finished the job, loaded their equipment and left, so I hope to sleep more, to the extent that congestion from my COPD will allow. Today’s and tomorrow’s high is forecast at 88°. Every other day through 7/8 is forecast at over 90°, so I will get no relief from the extreme weather climate change engenders. Today I have an all Kos short takes section to round out this article. Lets hope I can get some sleep, because I’m bleary-eyed.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:42 (average 4:53). To do it click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Recruiting:
We still need two (maybe one) new players for Lefty Blog Friends, our fantasy football league. How about you? For more information, click here. Viv, did you get the invitation sent you from NFL.com?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Republicans keep making up quotes from Founding Fathers
Barf Bag Alert!!
None of the Founding Fathers said any of these things, ofr course.
From Daily Kos: hxtp://mikehuckabee.com/… [Upchuck Huck delinked]
"The Supreme Court has spoken with a very divided voice on something only the Supreme Being can do-redefine marriage. I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat.
"This ruling is not about marriage equality, it’s about marriage redefinition. This irrational, unconstitutional rejection of the expressed will of the people in over 30 states will prove to be one of the court’s most disastrous decisions, and they have had many. The only outcome worse than this flawed, failed decision would be for the President and Congress, two co-equal branches of government, to surrender in the face of this out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny."
"The Supreme Court can no more repeal the laws of nature and nature’s God on marriage than it can the law of gravity. Under our Constitution, the court cannot write a law, even though some cowardly politicians will wave the white flag and accept it without realizing that they are failing their sworn duty to reject abuses from the court. If accepted by Congress and this President, this decision will be a serious blow to religious liberty, which is the heart of the First Amendment."
So basically he disqualifies himself from becoming President by imposing his religious beliefs on others. Of course he paints himself as being persecuted, that’s the really hilarious part, I get married, he is persecuted, balderdash.
RepubliSpeak Dictionary
Religious Freedom: Their freedom to force YOU to obey the gospel of hate, lies and greed taught by Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity, which has nothing whatsoever in common with authentic Christianity.
From Daily Kos: From The Charlotte Observer:
Charlotte Fire Department is investigating an early morning fire at Briar Creek Road Baptist Church as arson, Senior Fire Investigator David Williams said.
A 911 emergency call received at 12:52 a.m. turned into a third alarm by 1:21 a.m., with a total of 14 engines and 75 firefighters on hand to quell the flames. Williams said it took around an hour to get the fire under control.
…
The pastor at Briar Creek Road Baptist Church, Mannix Kinsey, is African American. The co-pastor is his wife, Rhonda Kinsey. About 100 people, most of them black, attend the church. It also shares the campus with two or three immigrant churches, including one whose members were born in Nepal.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/…
Investigators can’t yet say for sure if it was a hate crime, but they have determined it was arson.
Like so many other Republican Party functions, sheets and hoods were welcome, but optional.
Late Update: SCROTUS ruled for the Arizona Redistricting Commission and for cruel and unusual punishment, condemning death penalty recipients to death by slow torture through lethal injection using experimental poisons.
Cartoon:
62 years ago, I was 5 . A stamp was $.03. Bread was $0.16. I think I’ve waited too long for another infrastructure project.
34 Responses to “Open Thread–6/29/2015”
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Death penalty petition at:
https://secure.90million.org/page/s/join-the-90-million-strong?&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ncadp&utm_content=4+-+If+you+have+not+already+signed+up+for+th&utm_campaign=15EMAIL&source=15EMAIL
In response to OK's use of drug that left people in agony forever…sigh
At least three similar church fires last week…
Kudos to Reid for not enabling others in Congress trying to kill people.
I'm celebrating a couple of days under 100 degrees.
This morning, the Supreme Court ruled against the EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Rule—a rule to slash some of the worst, most toxic air pollution from our coal-fired power plants.
Environmental Defense Fund had a petition to EPA to fix the court's concerns and reissue
Some good court news out of WA:
Groundbreaking Court Ruling Says State Must Address Climate Change, Thanks to Teen Lawsuit
http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/06/29/groundbreaking-court-ruling-says-state-must-address-climate-change-thanks-to-teen-lawsuit/
Excellent, successful lawsuits against states and governments are popping up everywhere!
Petition signed (probably not for the first time). This is a classic article and predates the last elections; Reid is no longer a majority leader. But I agree he did the right thing when he could.
Thanks for posting the link, jla. I feel it is my duty as a human being to sign any petition against capital punishment in any form, so I'm with the 90 million Americans on this one.
Justice Sotomayor said it well:
See today's lead article
Thanks JL! Petition signed!
Canada ceased executions in January 1963 with the last executions in December 1962. We had a long moratorium period that ended 30 June 1987 with the defeat of a bill to reactivate capital punishment. Effective 28 years ago today, capital punishment was officially abandoned in Canada.
Interesting to note is that a total of 719 people were executed between 1759 and 1963 (204 years) by hanging. Compare that to Texas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Canada
IMO, capital punishment is an affront to justice.
3:43 average 4:53. Sorry, it's not ready to eat yet.
DK I – And Lincoln. They also make up quotes from Lincoln. Most of them have been debunked, but there are still plenty of people who believe them. Interestingly, Lincoln DID say (or, technically, write) "I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse it." (Letter to Allen N. Ford, August 11, 1846) We don't hear any Repubs quoting that one, though.
DK II – I just can hardly begin to explain how sacrilegious his statement is, in how many ways. Ans PFAW had a quote that was about as bad, from Bryan Fischer (barf bag alert): "June 26, 2015: I saw Satan dancing with delight, the day the music died in the United States of America." Interestingly, the last time Satan was said to have danced with delight was the death of Jesus, which in fact redeemed the world, but Satan was too stupid to realize that. Any parallel here?
DK III – Fires and arsons like in the 60's. Of course, back then, we did have climate change but didn't know it, so no one blamed anything on it. Too bad fort he Repugs they have denied it so long and loudly they can't blame any fires on it.
Lethal injection – Of course they should not have, and still should not use any experimental poisons (or any poisons at all). But a large part of that torture was not the poison itself but the incompetence of the executioners. They were supposed to IV it into the femoral VEIN. After SIXTEEN tries, they finally founf rhe femoral ARTERY and shoved it in there. No fricking wonder it went wrong.
Oh, yeah, PS – I trust at least some have noticed that NBC has fired Donald Trump?
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nbc-dumps-trump-immigration-comments-20150629-story.html
I sure did notice Joanne–and other promising news from SCOTUS:
The justices voted 5-4 to grant an emergency appeal from the clinics after a federal appeals court upheld new regulations and refused to keep them on hold while the clinics appealed to the Supreme Court
Got an email from FL DEMS saying Trump is leading in GOP polls…
That raises my opinion of NBC! We seldom watch anything on it anymore.
Didn't they though! Magnificent! To quote Trump "You're fired!" No beauty pageant, no Apprentice. In essence, Trump has been trumped! Couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow. Makes me wonder as to the effect on his presidential campaign. Even before this, I thought his chances were less than a snowball's in hell!
DK2, Huckabee is a wannabe, and it is never going to happen. He is pandering to his base.
2:57 Yes. I have no bananas!
2:52 So far, TomCat is hogging all the bananas. I didn't even know that cats like bananas.
2:32 I've got all the bananas! Some cats do like bananas . . . like my three! One of my little girl's nicknames is Princess Monkey because she likes bananas. Another one is Annie Bananie!
Daily Kos 1 ~ They keep repeating all these so-called quotes so they believe them to be true. That's the same thing FAUX does.
Daily Kos 2 ~ If our country followed what the Bible (Old Testament) teaches we would have polygamy, slavery, etc., etc.
Daily Kos 3 ~ All of these fires have been determined to be arson but they don't know if they are "hate crimes"??? http://www.npr.org/2015/06/29/418490411/arsonists-hit-6-black-churches-in-5-southern-states
Update ~ At least they ruled in favor of the people on redistricting.
Cartoon ~ DDE was the last good Republican President.
Here in NY fracking is now banned forever and we have a new plan for going green.
I wish all the states would ban fracking!
We fought hard and long, Edie. Don't give up!
Glad the contractor is gone, maybe you will get some sleep. Take care of yourself. You have followers on here who keep the rest of us informed, but we still miss you.
Top tier GOP candidate Trump dealt blow to business for Mexico remarks
Rachel Maddow reviews the latest developments in the crowded Republican 2016 primary field, including Donald Trump polling in second place nationally but suffering for his remarks about Mexican immigrants, with NBC now severing ties with him. Duration: 15:15
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/top-tier-goper-trump-dealt-blow-for-remarks-473278531950
Thanks Jim. Great coverage from Rachel, as usual.
"Late Update: SCROTUS ruled for the Arizona Redistricting Commission and for cruel and unusual punishment, condemning death penalty recipients to death by slow torture through lethal injection using experimental poisons."
They did WHAT???!!! Dear Heaven above – 'the land of the free' seems to have been tarnished somewhat.
Hope you get some rest now – we all need rest to restore our bodies and even more to fight off illness – happy zzz TC!
Puzzle — 2:32 I've got all the bananas! Some cats do like bananas . . . like my three! One of my little girl's nicknames is Princess Monkey because she likes bananas. Another one is Annie Bananie!
Daily Kos — Allan West "quoting" Thomas Jefferson "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." I was amused by this particular quote because the Republicanus/Teabaggerum wail about too much government but then demonstrate that they are guilty of big government with, for example, laws around women's health matters or regulations for abortion clinics or the abortion process. The Republicanus/Teabaggerum, hypocrites that they are, want big government their way only!
BTW, I googled the quote and came up with the following: http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/bad-government-results-too-much-government-quotation
Don't you love it when the Republicanus/Teabaggerum hypocrites rewrite history according to their wants and desires! Obviously, as in everything else, they are all using the same play book.
Daily Kos — Huckabee said : "…If accepted by Congress and this President, this decision will be a serious blow to religious liberty, which is the heart of the First Amendment." And my question to this hypocritical nitwit is "Whose religious liberty?" My religious liberty, and that of many others including the LGBTQ community, is dealt a serious blow when some people are excluded from the right to marry who they love. Huckabee, keep your pseudo religion to yourself. You are NOT a religious or moral authority, just the opposite!
Daily Kos — What is it now, more than 5 fires nationally at predominately black churches within a very short time frame? Although there is no evidence that I know of yet, my money is on a coördinated attack from the white sheet brigade.
Cartoon — How many of these red lines will disappear because the Republicanus/Teabaggerum will not allocate funds for infrastructurerepair and renewal?
Wall Street likes to calculate return on investment, but their "return" is simply money. The country's return on its investment for the Highway Act is far greater. Imagine a Republican proposing such a project. Today's Republicans seeem to have no consideration for what's good for all the American people, or the future of America. America's future, is debt, thanks to Republican fiscal policies over the last 40 years. Maybe Ike was only thinking about the exceptional growth his Highway Act brought to corporations, but I doubt it. Where did Ike get such an idea? From Europe, the German Autobon, and superior road system. Today's Republicans would call Ike a facist following Hitler like ideas totally un-American and refuse to spend one dime on something like a "European" or "Facist" or "Socialist" or "Communist" Highway Act. "Republicans for American Progress" use to be a Republican political election line in the 1950's. We took a very wrong turn off vthe highway somewhere and are lost now.
I count myself very fortunate I don't have COPD, so I can only imagine what it's like when you can't sleep because your airways are congested, TomCat. But from today I'll know again what it's like to try and sleep in a heat wave. After a long spell of to cold weather, we're in for a heat wave of indefinite length. And although we've also been hit by a drought (30% less water again this spring) our proximity to the coast makes our to hot days always very humid and oppressive. I imagine our weather is very much like yours in Portland, which means that pollution gets worse too, especially in cities. I hope you have a good air filter in your apartment, TomCat, because pollution is very bad for asthma/COPD too.
Daily Kos: You take a quote that sounds a bit like you want it to say and alter it to make it fit your purpose, or you take a quote from someone else entirely, and say: "Thomas Jefferson said:" and very solemnly read out your "quote" from paper – because you had to look it up and write it down – putting in some significant pauses in between and presto, you've got a Foundling Father that is on your side. Soon your Republican colleagues will use the same quote and because they're just as lazy and gullible as their own base, they never bother to check it out. And soon even Thomas Jefferson isn't sure he's said it some time, some place.
Daily Kos: I already was familiar with Huckabee going ballistic on the same-sex marriage decision of SCOTUS, but his rant remains impressive, as far as rants go, nevertheless. "[] this decision will be a serious blow to religious liberty, which is the heart of the First Amendment." This time it's not just a quote from a Foundling Father that's being abused, but the whole First Amendment is violated to suit Huckabee's Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity. Sometimes the telling of lies under the guise of freedom of speech is really getting in the way of Democracy.
Daily Kos: Charlotte's fire department has determined that the fire in a small church whose pastors and most of it's attendants are African-Americans was arson, but officials are not yet sure if it was a hate crime… really? And when they catch the arsonist and he states that he did it to start a racial war, I bet Faux News will still turn it into an assault on a Christian church and on Christian religion.
Cartoon: Are all of these highways still on the map or are some closed off because lack of maintenance makes them to dangerous to drive on?
Supreme Court Strikes Down Kansas & Arizona Attempt to Require Proof of Citizenship to Vote
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/30/1397907/-Supreme-Court-Strikes-Down-Kansas-Arizona-Attempt-to-Require-Proof-of-Citizenship-to-Vote?detail=email
Thanks all. Hugs.
re. SCOTUS and lethal injections. Silly question. Why does the USA still have the "Death Penalty?.Civilised Countries DO NOT.Whilst NO ONE in their right mind would call America "Civilised" I consider it barbaric.and frankly, open to mistaken identity.How SAD. Scotus and the administration need to re think this whole concept.
Time to get beyond an eye for an eye,etc.
Just my two cents!
I don’t think I got the invitation. I’ll have to look again and search for NFL.com and see if I can find it that way. Thanks for the invitation. I will be getting gold of you soon.