Politics Plus

We’re having a heat wave here in Portland, and I’m writing with my right eye shut.  The vision is still quite blurry and I’m seeing double, which are things the doctor told me to expect. At the rate Killer Dawg is getting fed, we may start calling him Killer Donut.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:19 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Samantha Bee on GOP, Trump and Fascism

BEElicious!! Sam could not BEE more right!!

From Daily Kos (Classic 10/2014): 

Michael Price, counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, has a disturbing article up at Salon.com.

Turns out, he bought a new "smart" TV, but is now afraid to turn it on.

You would be too — if you read through the 46-page privacy policy.

The amount of data this thing collects is staggering. It logs where, when, how and for how long you use the TV. It sets tracking cookies and beacons designed to detect “when you have viewed particular content or a particular email message.” It records “the apps you use, the websites you visit, and how you interact with content.” It ignores “do-not-track” requests as a considered matter of policy.

It also has a built-in camera — with facial recognition. The purpose is to provide “gesture control” for the TV and enable you to log in to a personalized account using your face. On the upside, the images are saved on the TV instead of uploaded to a corporate server. On the downside, the Internet connection makes the whole TV vulnerable to hackers who have demonstrated the ability to take complete control of the machine.

More troubling is the microphone. The TV boasts a “voice recognition” feature that allows viewers to control the screen with voice commands. But the service comes with a rather ominous warning: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.” Got that? Don’t say personal or sensitive stuff in front of the TV.

The technocracy, in the employ of Wall Street corporations, has fully jumped the shark. Sharing the audio from the microphone with third parties?

Are liberals really going to allow this steady march into dystopia to continue? And if liberals and Democrats aren’t willing to fight it, who will?

This issuer needs to move to front burner.

From NY Times: With British politics in turmoil, there were already clear indications on Saturday of a tense and bickering divorce from the European Union.

Britons woke up to a diminished currency and much confusion about the consequences of their vote on Thursday to quit the European Union, including who would be their next prime minister. The leaders of the campaign to exit the bloc, or “Brexit,” continued to disagree over what kind of relationship they wanted with Europe, and thousands of Britons started signing a petition asking for a second referendum.

Meeting in Berlin, European leaders told Britain to hurry up and begin the formal process of exiting the union, while Prime Minister David Cameron said that process could wait until his replacement was chosen in October and leaders of the “Leave” campaign suggested it could come even later, after a new round of talks with Brussels.

I can’t say that I blame other EU leaders, but it sounds like many in the UK have buyers’ remorse.

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Yesterday the day started out well, removing the plaque under twilight anesthesia.  When I returned home I learned that the Otis Elevator Company had screwed up my life.  They came to fix the elevator and told the managers they would be done that day.  They disassembled the elevator, told the managers they needed a part that they could not get until Monday and left.  When I returned from surgery, nobody knew how to get me up to the third floor.  The manager called the Fire Department and asked for help.  They refused.  They suggested I go stay with a friend.  The one I could have stayed with ism in NJ.  Finally, they collected four husky guys, who work at other company buildings.  I put on George, and with my arms around the shoulders of two of the guys, I climbed up to the third floor.  Two more guys carried my chair.  That’s the first time I’ve climbed more than three steps.  I was thoroughly winded and sweat soaked.That was the last thing I was supposed to be doing the day of surgery.  Today I removed the patch from my eye for the first time, but I still need to wear it to sleep for protection.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:27 (7:41).  To do it click here.  How did you so?

Killer Dawg and Eye Update:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Across the United Kingdom on Friday, Britons mourned their long-cherished right to claim that Americans were significantly dumber than they are.

Luxuriating in the superiority of their intellect over Americans’ has long been a favorite pastime in Britain, surpassing in popularity such games as cricket, darts, and snooker.

But, according to Alistair Dorrinson, a pub owner in North London, British voters have done irreparable damage to the “most enjoyable sport this nation has ever known: namely, treating Americans like idiots.”

“When our countrymen cast their votes yesterday, they didn’t realize they were destroying the most precious leisure activity this nation has ever known,” he said. “Wankers.”

Andy could not be more literal!

From Daily Kos: Look out, Sen. Richard Burr. Democrat Deborah Ross is nipping at your heels. From Public Policy Polling:

We continue to find him with just a narrow lead over Deborah Ross for reelection—40/37, with Libertarian Sean Haugh at 5%. The overall state of the race remains steady—Burr is unpopular, with only 30% of voters approving of the job he’s doing to 40% who disapprove. That makes voters open to a change. But Ross is currently unknown with 62% of voters having no opinion about her one way or another. They’re open to the possibility of replacing Burr but don’t know enough about Ross yet to decide if they think she would be an upgrade.

“Richard Burr’s the most vulnerable Republican Senator that no one’s talking about,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “His numbers aren’t any better than those of folks like Pat Toomey and Rob Portman who are widely accepted to be facing tough reelections.”

That puts Ross within the 3.2 percent margin of error in this poll.

Here’s what I need to know about Ross. She isn’t Burr!!  Vote Blue!!

From Media Matters: A review of coverage of major speeches this week by presumptive presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump finds that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all devoted at least twice as much coverage directly before and after the speeches to commenting on Trump’s speech than they did Clinton’s two speeches combined.

Media Matters counted how much time the three networks spent discussing the speeches before and after they aired. Comparing how much attention the networks give to the speeches is a way of determining the relative importance they are assigned. In their coverage of this week’s speeches, the networks have treated Trump speaking as a major event worthy of substantial coverage both before and after he begins speaking. They did not afford the same status to Clinton.

And the Republican Reich calls MSNBC librul!

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