I'm rushing to to finish as much as I can before my CAT scan, I'll say hi to the cat for you.
I'm back. The cat made me drink a quart of cat pee called contrasting agent and then injected more. YUCK! I have my pre-surgery physical tomorrow morning sp expect no more than a late Personal Update.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today's took me 3:25 (average 5:47). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: A federal judge ordered the release of hundreds of documents related to the fraud case against Donald Trump for his now defunct (like most of Trump’s businesses) Trump University. The so-called “university” was a series of real estate seminars that promised to teach people insider secrets of the real estate business. The documents reveal high pressure sales tactics that were designed to play on people’s emotions and carefully convince people to part with their money, often encouraging them to take on huge amounts of debt to finance their “education.” The manual instructed Trump University sales staff to find out personal information and then use that to close the deal and separate already desperate people from what money they had, even if that meant taking on credit card debt…
Everything about Rump Dump, like his CONiversity, is also a lie.
From NY Times: A wave of prominent Republicans have announced their intention to skip the party’s national convention in Cleveland this summer, the latest sign that Donald J. Trump, who last week secured the delegates needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, continues to struggle in his effort to unite the party behind his candidacy.
The list of those who have sent regrets includes governors and United States senators — almost all facing tough re-election fights this year — and lifelong party devotees who have attended every convention for decades. Some are renouncing their seats like conscientious objectors.
“I could not in good conscience attend a coronation and celebration of Donald Trump,” wrote one Indiana delegate, Josh Claybourn, in a blog post resigning his position.
The coolness toward Mr. Trump amounts to a remarkable rebuke. A broad range of party leaders are openly rejecting the man who will be their nominee. And the July 18-21 convention, usually a moment of public catharsis for political parties after contentious primaries, is shaping up to be another reminder of the disarray and disunity that is still rocking the Republican Party after a bitter 17-way fight for the nomination.
Extinction is the only proper fate of the Republican Party.
From Alternet: The City of Portland has created and implemented strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for more than 20 years. In the early 1990s, it became the first city in the United States to adopt a comprehensive carbon dioxide reduction strategy. In 2001, Multnomah County (the most populous of Oregon’s 36 counties) and the City of Portland (which is the seat of Multnomah County and Oregon’s largest city) passed their joint Local Action Plan on Global Warming.
In 2009, Multnomah County and Portland adopted an updated climate action plan (CAP) with expanded categories for actions and more-rigorous reduction targets. The plan identifies 93 action steps in 8 categories to reach its emissions reduction goals, ranging from curbside pickup of residential food scraps to expanding the city’s streetcar and light rail system.
Thanks to strong government leadership, science-informed policy making has long been practiced in Portland. To avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change, the city set its latest emissions reduction target by referring to current science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Portland adopted an 80 percent emissions reduction target by 2050, with an interim goal of 40 percent by 2030. In line with IPCC recommendations, 1990 was set as the baseline year for the reduction target.
Oregon leads the way!
Cartoon:
13 Responses to “Open Thread – 6/2/2016”
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5:03 I'd stay away from the castle and go hunting in the forest if I were a cat. (And if I had any appetite left after all that contrasting agent YECCH.)
DKos – Not sure this was much worse than, say, Everest, whose bankruptcy put a dear friend of mine out of a job when she was going through a divorce (she has one now but it tooka while). But I am certainly glad the judge released those documents.
NY Times – Hope springs eternal. I find this hopeful indeed.
AlterNet – Good for Portland! Any resistance for the other two counties that parts of it lie in? I hope not! (P.S. I am terribly slow sometimes, but just realized this week I can no longer tell which left-coast state is being referred to by the mention of "Governor Brown." I suspect yours is better.)
Cartoon – A typical result of people getting angry enough to resort to bloody revolution in the first place. In fact, a darned near universal result. I suspect that the geographic separation between the rebels and those being revolted against was a big reason it was avoided in the United States in the 1770's and 80's. We will not be so fortunate again if it comes to that.
DK: I read about this yesterday, so very, very sad! Hope these folks win their lawsuits against him.
NYT: YAY!! *Dave, I did read of Lyin' Ryan's endorsement of Drumpf today on the news.
AN: A teacher friend of mine just moved up to OR with his family., and he loves it. The more I hear about your state, it makes me want to move there too! WTG, Portland !!
Hope that all goes well for you, with your physical tomorrow. Do take good care, enjoy your evening, and Thanks, Tom.
Trump wanted people to dupe elderly people into thinking they were caring for them, then you are supposed to dupe them out of their houses? Is that what we want to represent the US? An ADMITTED Con-man! These tactics used by Dump Drumpf is what he is doing NOW TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!
Please have a good trip to the doctor, TC. I hope your surgery comes out better than expected! My hopes and thoughts will be with you with all you have to go through!
Much luck with the medical proceedures!
DK: What utter sleaze! This horse's ass needs to be put behind bars, at the least!
NYT:Coming apart at the seams, perhaps? One can hope, can't one?
Oregon rocks!
Cartoon: The GOP has brought terror onto themselves! Mitch McConnell and crew, John Boehner included, ought to throw their own necks onto the guillotine!
By this time, you would think they could come up with something that did not taste so bad, the situation is usually bad enough without making you gag.
Daily Kos: Will Faux news play this as persecution by the left instead if admitting he is a crook and con artist?
NY Times: Most of those Republicans who are staying away from the convention are also responsible for the state their party is in today. They are driving themselves to extinction.
Alternet: I wish more areas would follow suit, this is long over due for the entire country.
Cartoon: One of your finest!
Puzzle — 6:17 Yet again on my laptop w/o a mouse. My castle was deflated!
Daily Kos — Drumpf is slime! In addition to this man attesting to the scam called Trump University perpetrated against him, I read an article earlier today about the "testimonials" being total scams as well. Oh that was a surprise . . . NOT!!!
NY Times — "The list of those who have sent regrets includes governors and United States senators — almost all facing tough re-election fights this year — and lifelong party devotees who have attended every convention for decades. Some are renouncing their seats like conscientious objectors." So, would their decisions be any different if they weren't facing re-election? Drumpf certainly is not, nor I wager ever will be, the party unifier he claims to be.
Alternet — Kudos to Portland and Multnomah County for their aggressive CAP. "Thanks to strong government leadership, science-informed policy making has long been practiced in Portland." And Republicans think that climate change is a hoax and therefore government should not be involved.
Cartoon — From Wikipedia:
"As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, Robespierre was an outspoken advocate of the poor and of democratic institutions. … Robespierre played an important role in arguing for the execution of King Louis XVI, and the creation of a French Republic. He would campaign for equality of rights and universal male suffrage in France, for price controls on basic food commodities, and successfully advocated for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies."
Robespierre was not a Republican (in the US sense) , but changes happen.
Evelyn posted Jon Stewart's come out of retirement clip like TC says he'd normally post:
http://www.care2.com/news/member/312733850/3989457
or direct:
http://www.downvids.net/demopocalypse-jon-stewart-comes-out-of-retirement-813527.html
Important petition for progressives:
http://www.signherenow.org/petition/stand-up-to-drug-companies/caf/
Petition signed. Drug companies are out of control!
Thanks jla for the petition.
You are welcome. That is the third petition I've signed to the DNC in the past couple of days related to the Party Platform.
A CAT scan isn't anything out of the ordinary for a feline like you, TomCat, but having to drink some other cat's pee must have really put you of these scans. Oh well, you can at least tick off another item on your getting-ready-for-surgery lists. Take it easy this weekend after your trip to the doctor, why don't you.
DK: Instead of teaching his students enrolling at his "university" how to become rich like him, Drumpf taught his sales staff how to make more money…for Drumpf telling them in their manual "to find out personal information [about the wannabe Drumpf University student] and then use that to close the deal". Now doesn't that sound exactly like how you envisaged Drumpf doing his business deals? Let's hope they get him before the judge before the end of the election, because he wouldn't be the first crook to hide behind a political career to safeguard himself from further prosecution.
NYT: I'm keeping my fingers crossed this convention will be the GOP's Waterloo, led into defeat and disbanding by general Drumpf. Not that this will make any difference to Drumpf's voters, just like him they have no loyalty to the GOP whatsoever, the mob is loyal only to Drumpf. And Paul Ryan is endorsing him after all, so what could possibly stand in his way now 😉
Alternet: Three cheers for Portland. Show the rest of the country how it's done!
Thanks all! Exhausted Hugs!