Lu was here this morning. She cut my hair, spotted me while I walked around my hallways using a walker, stopping twice to sit and rest, and she helped me shower, leaving me as a perfumed puddy tat with soft, glowing fur. I’m feeling tired, but I have two articles today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:18 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Marco Rubio has lost Fox News.
[T]his alliance now seems to be over. According to three Fox sources, Fox chief Roger Ailes has told people he’s lost confidence in Rubio’s ability to win. "We’re finished with Rubio," Ailes recently told a Fox host. "We can’t do the Rubio thing anymore."
Which is bad news for Rubio, since his entire base of support is establishment and press Republicans who are willing to inexplicably pump up Marco Rubio. Apparently, though, Ailes has seen the writing on the wall; Rubio can’t win, and Fox News is only going to humiliate themselves pretending otherwise.
This leaves America’s Worst Network in an even bigger bind than before. The network that is used to playing kingmaker has no potential king to make—and the current front-runner, Donald Trump, is openly dismissive of the network and eager to pit his supporters against them. None of the corporate-friendly Republicans that Fox News would usually be hitching their wagon to, from Scott Walker to Chris Christie to Jeb Bush to, now, Marco Rubio, have gone anywhere. Suddenly rallying to podium barnacle John Kasich would be more humiliating than standing behind Rubio.
That leaves Ted Cruz, and while Ted Cruz is certainly a model of the sort of extremist burn-down-the-government type that Fox News has endlessly promoted, Nobody Likes Ted Cruz.
What will the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda do? I think Faux Noise will goose-step behind the Republican nominee, whoever or whatever that is.
From PRWatch: Hold onto your Prius!
The Kochs and their fossil-fuel-fed political network are reportedly gunning for the electric car.
According to an anonymous industry source who spoke to journalist Peter Stone, a new advocacy group will "make the public aware of all the benefits of petroleum-based transportation fuels."
If you think this sounds a bit nutty, you have to remember Koch front groups have also fought the implementation of street cars in city after city.
If the group follows the usual Koch playbook, expect bogus "research" studies by Koch-funded "think tanks," well-placed op-eds that repeat Koch talking points without disclosing ties to the network, and fear-mongering ads that hide their fossil fuel funding behind bland names like "Americans for Energy Freedom." (The group’s actual name has yet to be announced.)
The primary benefits of burning petroleum fuels are obscene profits for Big Polluters and the RepubliCare Death Benefit for everyone else.
From Crooks and Liars: This is a really fascinating video. Governor Kate Brown shows that real people have a need for increasing the minimum wage. She also shows how listening to the needs of various stakeholders gets things done. OregonLive:
The bill gives Oregon the highest statewide minimum wage rates in the nation, to $14.75 inside Portland’s urban growth boundary, $13.50 in midsize counties and $12.50 in rural areas by 2022.
President Barack Obama lauded Brown, saying in a statement: "I commend the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kate Brown for taking action to raise their state’s minimum wage…Congress needs to keep up with the rest of the country. They need to act, and finally give America a raise. And until they do, I’ll continue to encourage states, cities, counties and companies to act on their own to support hardworking families."
Kate, America’s only openly LGBT state governor, keeps doing good things for Oregon, and Oregon leads the way!!
Cartoon:
10 Responses to “Open Thread–3/5/2016”
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5:30 Too badass for me!
DKos – Isn't this interesting. It does leave a sort of vacuum. (So now Progressive have to be a vacuum cleaner?) I agree with you that "I think Faux Noise will goose-step behind the Republican nominee, whoever or whatever that is." but with the qualification, provided that the Party itself goose-steps behind the nominee – and it looks possible they may not!
PRWatch – I've been saying, watch out for low gas prices, they are a trap!! And here they are, putting out even more bait.
Crooks and Liars – Congratulations. Daily Kos Elections Digest said recently that when Kate took over she was an unknown quantity – but that she keeps looking better and better, and, more to the point, more and more electable. Predictions are tough to make, but DKos Elections know their stuff better than just about anyone.
Cartoon – True, if depressing.
Sounds like you're mending well, TomCat. You've been quite busy today, so you can expect to be tired, but as long as it also comes with a glow of satisfaction about what you have accomplished that's quite OK. Just keep pacing yourself and enjoy your soft, glowing fur. With a fur like that you'r sure going to enjoy the weekend.
DK: "We can’t do the Rubio thing anymore." Of course I don't watch Faux News, but I wonder if anyone ever noticed that Rubio thing or knew what it entailed. They probably lay low for a while, waiting for whoever the nominee is going to be and then support him with the same fervor they did Rubio as if nothing happened in between. In the meantime they're hoping for a natural disaster of a terrorist attack so they can focus their hateful "reporting" on that.
PRW: The Kochs have a lot of money left to spend since they haven't made any headway with the candidates they've halfheartedly supported so, like Faux News, they had to look elsewhere to increase their bad influence. And knowing their puppet show, the GOP, isn't as popular as it used to be, with some puppets even trying to get out of the show, they need to get the foundation of their new campaign to promote fossil transportation fuel off the ground quickly and unnoticed while all eyes are on Drumpf. Progressives need to stay alert and not let themselves be sucked in by the 2016 election, so thank you for posting this, TomCat.
C&L: Kudos to gov. Kate Brown and Oregon's legislators for raising the minimum wage. $14.75 per hour may sound like a lot, but it'll take 6 more years to come to fruition fully , so by then that amount will almost have come down to the worth of the $12 that is calculated to be a living wage now. Obama does a great job by bringing this Oregon bill to the attention of the public and praising it openly. Another blow for the Republicans to deal with.
Cartoon: That's the way large parts of America will look like of the Kochs had their way.
DK: Read that about Rubio too. Cruz is in the back seat of the Clown car. Guess who's driving? I don't watch Fox News, at all.
PRW: I wouldn't trust them either, net worth Billonaires, 50.1 B.!!
C&L: Kudos to Gov. Kate Brown for implementing this!! ''What a great day!!!'' Great Video too. 😉
Cartoon: Very, very sad!!
Now that you are all comfy, after your workout and shower, you can rest/catnap. You sound better and better each day, and for that I am very grateful. Enjoy this beautiful day, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Will Fox become less profitable and have to withdraw from some markets? Worth dreaming about…
I've driven a Prius…no one who has would pay any attention to such propaganda…
Brown does give one hope.
Restoration to original beauty without toxins should be a requirement to any such mining approval.
2:47 This little girl (most likely) is quite the looker!
I have to report my score as it was the best I have ever done. Just one minute over average. Usually it is way more.
Glad that you are feeling, doing better, TC.
It is sad that Ailes can set policy so easily, apparently, every single day; thank you, Rupert, you jackass. But, that Marco was going nowhere, whether true, or not, before, is true now, if this story is accurate. Fox's blatant disregard for journalistic competence id obscene. Is anyone else, out there, aware that Ailes is a former G.W.B. aide? What a phenomenal legacy!
PR Watch: The Kochs are more obscene than Ailes, but we can expect Fox to be pushing their proaganda.
Kate Brown is a real human.
Soft, glowing fur is always preferable to mangy!
Daily Kos: Of course, you are right, they will back whomever is the nominee. I just read that Trump won the Ky Caucus. No big surprise.
PR Watch: The Koch Brothers are a danger to us all. They have money to burn and are relentless in their efforts to make more. I suppose they have all ready built a dome to live in when the air outside is unbreathable.
Crooks And Liars: I wish Kate Brown was my governor instead of Matt Bevins.
Cartoon: They have pretty much accomplished it here in E. Kentucky..
Puzzle — 2:47 This little girl (most likely) is quite the looker!
Daily Kos — So you think that Faux Noise will goose-step behind the Republican nominee, whoever or whatever that is? I'm not so sure that will happen if the nominee turns out to be Trump. Trump and Faux have been acting like a pair of scrapping junk yard dogs for the past year. Not only that, Republican Party elites don't like him, many denouncing him in the press.
PR Watch — "The primary benefits of burning petroleum fuels are obscene profits for Big Polluters and the RepubliCare Death Benefit for everyone else." Amen. I heard recently that BC is looking to tax vehicles based on pollution factors, and electric cars will be able to use the HOV lanes at any time regardless of the number of occupants. This would not include the Prius as it is a hybrid running on fossil fuels. The provincial government has a goal of only electric cars by 2050.
Crooks and Liars — There need to be more Kate Browns in state and federal governments. This is what government should be like, not the example set by the federal government, particularly the Republicans.
Cartoon — Stephen Harper's too! Thank goodness we dumped him in the last election.
Thanks all!! Hugs!!