I’m really enjoying the cool weather, but I’m running a bit late, because I have several tasks to complete today. Tomorrow, I get to spend the morning and early afternoon going to pee in a cup. It’s routine Urologist appointment time again. Therefore, please expect only a Personal Update tomorrow, late in the day, and no cards on Care2. I’ll try to behave and not claw urologist’s TP to shreds, all over the rest room, but its so very tempting! 
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’;s took me 3:00 (average 4:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Ecstasy:
Unfortunately, my fantasy team is getting shredded. I’ve already lost two starters for the season, and we don’t even start until 9/10.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (classic: 4/2014): At some point you have to recognize that the "gun enthusiasts" have lost the plot.
Belinda Padilla does not pick up unknown calls anymore, not since someone posted her cellphone number on an online forum for gun enthusiasts. A few fuming-mad voice mail messages and heavy breathers were all it took.
Then someone snapped pictures of the address where she has a P.O. box and put those online, too. In a crude, cartoonish scrawl, this person drew an arrow to the blurred image of a woman passing through the photo frame. “Belinda?” the person wrote. “Is that you?”
Her offense? Trying to market and sell a new .22-caliber handgun that uses a radio frequency-enabled stopwatch to identify the authorized user so no one else can fire it.
There was no issue here about government mandates or the like, mind you. Her crime was the supposition that some gun owners might want a safer gun, which is all it took for a wave of outraged "enthusiasts" to come surging toward her house like a tsunami of stupid…
Having guns that can not easily be converted for use by criminals is too big a threat to gun manufacturers’ profits, so they whipped Republican Ammosexuals, far too stupid to realize they are being used, into a frenzy of hate.
From NY Times: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Saturday that if he were elected president he would combat illegal immigration by creating a system to track foreign visitors the way FedEx tracks packages.
Mr. Christie, who is far back in the pack of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, said at a campaign event in New Hampshire that he would ask the chief executive of FedEx, Frederick W. Smith, to devise the tracking system.
I have a better idea. Lets track PIGnocchio the way Goodyear tracks blimps! 
From Alternet: George Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin who was last seen hawking paintings of the Confederate battle flag that praised the Second Amendment, took to Twitter in the wake of yesterday’s shootings of Alison Parker and Adam Ward to condemn the “Black [piece of shit]” who murdered them and the “Ignorant Baboon” in the White House who mentioned gun control in his comments about their murders.
Presumably because he knows a thing or two about killing people in cold blood…
If Strike Three wins the nomination, here’s a potential running mate just slightly right of him to appeal to the Republican base.
Cartoon:
26 Responses to “Open Thread–8/30/2015”
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3:55 (4:31) Looks to me less like a stream and more like a drain. I think I'd be depending on the kindness of tourists myself.
Daily Kos – Yeah. So much for the infallibility of the free market.
NY Times – Yes, well, of course I am not a crazy Republican, but just the thought of technology that tracks people like packages sends me into "1984" mode. Today immigrants, tomorrow the world.
Alternet – Well, whatever else he knows, he SHOULD know a thing or two about ignorance, but I'll bet he doesn't. Your "Strike Three running mate" suggestion is not bad. Certainly no one else would touch him because of his mother.
Cartoon – And isn't that the truth! If only they would remember that precedent involved moving out of the United States, and follow that part too.
3:20 I'm just taking a leisurely stroll.
2:51 No butterflies to chase Puddy Tat, nor birds or fish over which to salivate!
Your rain sounds delightful–I am glad I'm spared Florida's of the moment (and the mudslides CA would have).
I feel for Belinda–if the NRA rhetoric were true, they would be supporting her big time.
Sounds like Christie wants to chip humans like pets get.
Sad that Zimmerman is even deserving of news coverage for his sick, hate-based quotes.
It does appear that the current GOP prefers to emulate Arnold instead of Lincoln or Eisenhower or someone else deserving of gratitude.
A Bernie analysis worth reading:
http://ourfuture.org/20150831/bernie-already-won-a-movement-is-launched?utm_source=progressive_breakfast&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pbreak
Good news via email this morning:
"
Obama Gets One More Vote Closer To ‘Yes’ On Iran Deal. NPR: “Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley announced on Sunday that he will support the White House-backed nuclear deal with Iran. Merkley becomes the 31st Senate Democrat to endorse the agreement publicly, leaving the Obama administration just three votes shy of having enough votes to sustain a veto of a congressional resolution of disapproval — that is, of being able to advance the deal over Republican objections.”
Vote tally supporting Iran nuclear deal rises to 31 in Senate. CBS News: “Merkley’s backing puts supporters within reach of the 34 votes required to uphold a presidential veto of a congressional resolution disapproving the agreement, which curbs Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. … Republicans are unanimously against the deal. But with an overwhelming number of Senate Democrats in favor, some have now begun aiming to amass 41 yes votes, which would allow them to kill the disapproval resolution outright in the Senate and protect Obama from having to use his veto pen.”
Source: Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's Future.
Excellent links. Thanks!
Daily Kos: Yep, these kinds of .22 are available. Be nice if ALL handguns used this technology. Maybe even with those semi-auto, auto weapons sold freely in the open markets should also have this technology. There are other technologies being studied: hand print, finger print, voice recognition and so on.
NY Times: How can anyone miss Chris' girth, stature and his very long nose… A vast majority of people living in good ole USA are already being insidiously tracked as with people in other parts of the world.
Alternet: Don't forget that it was Jeb Bush who passed the Stand Your Ground into law in Florida with other states following. Zimmerman and his lawyers took advantage of that law. Strike 3 & Zimmerman would make excellent bed mates.
Cartoon: Waiting for the mass exodus of GOPers to leave… soon.
That's the reason I paired him with Strike Three.
Reading is hard enough, killing time between two flights and lightheaded from the lack of sleep and jet lag, but commenting on a pad by typing each character in on a virtual keeboard, is driving me crazy. So forgive me for being both brief and blunt. See you all tomorrow.
Have you ever tried SwiftKey keyboard? I use it for my Android phone (Samsung) and have been very happy w/ it.
You can select (to some degree) the size of the keys, and it does a very good job of predicting the word you're trying to type – so you can just enter it.
It does take a while for it to "learn" you're style – and I don't like the "swipe" feature of picking letters – but it's been very good. AND it's FREE!
http://www.cnet.com/news/best-keyboard-apps-for-android/
Good luck, tomorrow, hope it isn't too bad for you.
Daily Kos: The NRA owns almost as much of our country as the Koch Bros. Mess with them and you have problems. They are using enough propaganda to scare everyone into buying a gun. The shootings in Roanoke are still receiving press notice, but that will fade of course. The father of one of the victims noted that the press would soon turn to whatever outrageous thing Trump has said, and this tragedy would fade from attention. I think he is right.
NY Times: Maybe that is Christies version of 666,
Alternet: Zimmerman just won't go away. If he had been tried someplace else, where a "Stand your ground" law didnt exist, he would be in prison.
Cartoon.: And they still adhere to it.
Puzzle — 2:51 No butterflies to chase Puddy Tat, nor birds or fish over which to salivate!
Daily Kos — Hats off to Belinda Padilla for thinking of safety. I am not an American and not enamoured of the 2nd amendment. To watch and listen to the NRA, they are still in the era of the wild, wild west. I think JD is correct too when she states "So much for the infallibility of the free market.". It is a free market only when you don't piss-off the lobby, in this case the NRA.
NY Times — Christie is an asshole who speaks out of both sides of his mouth. "I have a better idea. Lets track PIGnocchio the way Goodyear tracks blimps!" Works for me!
Alternet — Too bad Zimmerman's mother didn't have an abortion before he was born! He is a hate filled bigot that deserves no quarter.
Cartoon — Perhaps the Republicanus/Teabaggerum can be moved out to "a tropical island(s) in the Pacific" . . . say Bikini Atoll to take advantage of American imperialism.
Well last night we had a humdinger of a storm with rain and 80 km/hour winds. And tonight is supposed to be bad too. Because of the lack of moisture previously, some trees like cottonwoods have no give and are breaking, destroying homes and cars. About 120,000 are still without power in Metro Vancouver, but at its height, there were close to 500,000 without power. I watched as a very large fir tree bent in the wind and wondered if it would come through the roof. It terrified the babes who like to look out of the den window, but it didn't break.
YIKES! Glad you and the critters came through unscathed!
Me, too! I know that kind of scary–we have had it with the elm trees in Sacramento. Locally, we just have our August surprises that are common for old/ancient valley oak trees (many over 100 years old) where a major branch just breaks off without warning or the whole tree topples (statistically more common with drought). A couple of deaths and a couple of thank God no one was in the space ones in my circle, including across the street.
Ditto that!
MJoving them to Bikini is great, but we should use a time machine to habe them arrive on June 30, 1946.
Daily Kos – after the horrendous murders that have happened in America, especially, but by no means only at Sandy Hook school, and all the ones before and since, the gun lobby fought viciously to have all their assault rifles and other multiple killing machines available to all, no matter how unhinged or even lunatic – and some even on a 'watch list' (wasn't THAT effective!). I am so sorry for the decent people in America.
As Adam Hills pointed out in The Last Leg (Channel Four) – the Second Amendment was just that – an AMENDMENT – so it can be altered in its turn (despite its quasi sacred status to the Right). If this were not so then America would still have slavery (another amendment) and would still be a place that banned alcohol….. which took one amendment to ban alcohol in the first place and another one to cancel it.
Pat, once an Amendment is ratified, it becomes part of the Constitition. The only way to alter it is to adopt another Ammendment.
Loved the outcome of the game!
3-0!!
AKA-when religion gets it right
BREAKING: Puerto Rico Religious Proclaim Jubilee
Nearly half of Puerto Rico's people live in poverty and your support is urgently needed to move the US government to action.
Tell Congress, the White House and the Federal Reserve to support debt relief and policies that will grow Puerto Rico's economy.
http://jubileeusa.nationbuilder.com/pr_petition?utm_campaign=me_puertorico&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jubileeusa
Guess Congress doesn't consider them part of the USA…..
Thanks all. I'm WAY pooped!
Oh, Tom, your Broncos beat my 49ers and I did not know it until just now.