Needless to say, most of my medical mayhem free Friday was consumed with medical mayhem. On Monday I have my long awaited initial appointment with an arthritis specialist. I received a packet of paperwork to fill out n advance, so I spent the morning trying to read and fill out six pages of very fine print that was clearly not designed with the slightest consideration for the visually impaired. Then I paid medical bills and household bills. So my plans for a morning nap have evaporated into thin air.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:47 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Over the last week, as the Republican platform committee added planks to their ever growing platform a pattern established itself. Again and again, libertarian forces in the party raised objections to the parts of the platform that drove Republicans ever deeper into social extremism. Again and again, the libertarians lost.
Meanwhile, every time extremists on the right put forward a new idea, whether it was Bundy-esque demands on federal land or gratuitous attacks on President Obama, the plank was accepted. The result is a document that’s far to the right of the 2012 platform, decades out of sync with social reality, and enormously intolerant.
If makes pseudo-Christian dogma a legislative guide, calls for teaching the Bible in public schools, calls for appointing judges who will elevate pseudo-Christian dogma above the Constitution, bars transgender people from public rest rooms, re-legalizes the use of forced conversion therapy for gay teens, builds the Rump Dump wall, pledges no limit on magazine sizes for assault weapons, plans to sell off National Parks and National Forests for fracking and coal mining, calls for overturning Roe v, Wade, and calls coal a source of clean energy. What a conglomeration of Caca!!
From Alternet: On "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert Thursday, Bill Maher, host of "Real Time With Bill Maher" did not mince words when asked about the tragedies of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Dallas Police officers last week.
Bill Maher began the discussion with Colbert by admitting he’s a “bit of a cynic” who believes “civilization is a mile wide and an inch deep,”
Bill said something I have said often, and that is that the thin blue line mentality is a major problem in police culture. The people police have failed to police is their fellow officers. Unless that happens, there will be more Dallas tragedies. They won’t be justified or justifiable, but as long as the injustice of good cops covering up for racist cops persists, the tragedies will happen.
From CNN: Donald Trump said Friday Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is his choice to be his running mate.
"I am pleased to announce that I have chosen Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential running mate. News conference tomorrow at 11:00 A.M.," the presumptive Republican nominee tweeted.
I expected this. Pence is a lackey of the Theocon faction of the Republican Party and should serve to help shore up the Presumptive Rectum’s support among Talibangicals who hate gays, Muslims and Women’s rights. He also has a penchant for TEAbuggery and sucking Koch. I guess that makes him the Presumptive Vice Rectum of the Republican Reich.
Cartoon:
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14 Responses to “Open Thread – 7/15/2016”
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5:49 All tangled up.
DKos – We can only hope and pray that it will repel more people than it attracts. At least maybe it will repel Libertarians enough to send them all scurrying to Johnson.
AlterNet – It is so easy to get hooked in to the warrior cop mindset. I don't know how many here read anything at Sojourners – but in an article this week specifically opposing the warrior cop mentality, Jim Wallis nevertheless used the word "civilian" for the Dallas shooter – which conjures up "as opposed to military." I thought "citizen" would have been a better choice. Maybe someone here can come up with a still better word.
CNN – And have you seen the new logo?
http://images.dailykos.com/images/274121/large/Screen_Shot_2016-07-15_at_12.22.30_PM.png Over 500 comments in less than four hours at Daily Kos.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/15/1548614/-There-are-so-many-many-things-we-could-say-about-Donald-Trump-s-new-logo
Roughly 50-50 referring to the English coinage system and the low value of thruppence, and the other half regarding the sexual innuendo contained in the logo itself.
Cartoon – Indeed.
My, my, my. The logo is down already. Good thing the internet never forgets.
Looks like Pense bent overf for that one!!
Sorry to hear about your medical issues. Have they shared with you whether your vision soon improve any once things settle down?
I read that Stephen Colbert had a funny promo for his show that will follow the RNC convention coverage:
It will take six months before we know how much it will improve.and can start taking corrective measures.
DK: 'The Republican platform even has a statement against “cohabitation,” a fight that was lost some time while the Smothers Brothers was in its initial run.' This platform is definitely way off the cliff, and unbelievably sick, all the way around.
AN: Taking a psychology test for entrants into the police force sounds like a good idea to explore. I agree with your comment on this, and something must change for the good of the police departments, starting with those officers who will not cover up, or side with racism/discrimination but rather 'out' those that do. It would be a good start. But will it happen??
CNN: UGH !! Saw in the comments on DK a new nickname for Drumpf. Kudos to Mojo11 for this one. "Trumplethinskin". I love it!!! 😉
Shame about you having difficulty filling out your paperwork. If I may suggest for you, a Magnifier. It may help you, and not strain your eyes. I have one and it works good for me, in seeing the small print. Reasonably priced too. Well, we (my neighborhood) had a fire yesterday, 7 streets away from my house. 5 Fire Trucks worth. The reason it started? Some one was smoking a ham in the back yard, and left it unattended. It was contained, thankfully. It's a tinderbox here, with no rain in sight.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your day, Thanks, Tom.
"Trumplethinskin" — ROTFLMAO!!! So appropriate!
I have one. Now if I could just see well enough to find it.
Sorry your plans for rest went down the tubes.
DK: The Republican platform is based on so much delusional/magical thinking. I wonder if Bachman helped get the plank about conversion therapy in there, for her criminal husband's (medicare fraud)sake: it does not work…ask the American Psychological Association. As per yesterday's posting: Theocracy will make a strange bed-fellow with professional "friends."
Alternet: I said something very similar to Maher's comment, earlier today, saying that anyone who thinks that civilization is progressing, as time goes on, is totally mistaken. Bloody sad, that really is!
CNN: I do have one thing, maybe two, for which to thank Rumpy: I/we won't have to see, or hear, Christie and/or the Newt, holding forth through the rest of the campaign!!!! That could almost, maybe, lead me to think there is a god.
'Toon: Well, you know, if the children stay on the other side of the border, at least they won't be spending the next few months having to see Rumpy's idiot smile on TV all the time.
Daily Kos: I hope none of their plans come to fruition, if they do we can expect concentration camps next. Or how about a few stonings or beatings on the public square? They rant and rave about Sharia law, do they not see the similarities?
Alternet: "Its a difficult job that you volunteered for", love this quote. Not all policemen are bad but the majority of them will protect a bad cop due to their brotherhood in the profession. That needs to change. We had a Deputy sheriff back in the eighties who specialized in beating the stuffings out of anyone he arrested. The poorer you were, the worse you were beaten. The sheriff at the time condoned his behavior. A new sheriff got elected who did not condone such behavior, the guy was fired the first time he beat up an arrestee. That is the way it should be.
CNN: And he will be malleable so Trump won't have any back talk from him.
Cartoon: And Jesus Wept.
Puzzle — 3:49 I stubbed my toe!
Daily Kos — I have two suggestions — 1) take one of those unlimited magazines and shoot all the Republican planks until they disintegrate; 2) add one more plank and have all the Republicans walk it right into the deep blue sea. I know that second one might constitute pollution, but I'm sure the sharks won't mind a free meal, even if it is Republican. You say caca, I say pure shit!
Alternet — I agree with the "thin blue line" premise. I have friends who are constables and we have talked about this line. One put it this way — he needs to know that if he needs back up, it will be there. If he starts complaining or not backing up the stories of his fellows, he might very well find that he doesn't get back up as needed which could result in injury or death. To me, it is a culture that needs to change all the way down the line. The good need to oust the bad.
CNN — First I heard Thursday that Pence was Drumpf's choice. Then I heard that the announcement was being delayed because of events in Nice, France. What a crock — Drumpf only cares about himself and there was no legitimate reason I could see to hide behind Nice. Word has it that Drumpf wasn't sure about having Pence on the ticket, but word had "leaked" out early. Have a look at this WaPo article https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/15/trump-reportedly-thought-about-dumping-pence-as-vp-which-is-believable-thanks-to-trump/?postshare=4581468609140008&tid=ss_tw .
Cartoon — AMEN! Edie. But the real Jesus! Not the plastic Jesus of the pseudo Chrtstians,
You poor cat, medical mayhem sneeked up on you and started to pester you again, even only indirectly. Even if you're not suffering its attentions physically, medical issues still know where to find you, TomCat. Better recharge your batteries during the weekend then, so you'll have them fully loaded when you go and see the arthritis specialist.
DK: Republicans haven't constructed themselves a platform; they've constructed a scaffold for the gallows on which they'll hang themselves.
Alternet: On the thin blue line mentality, Bill Maher said that only recently the police started admitting that some of that stuff happening, i.e. shooting unarmed black people, perhaps was wrong. "Before this was always: 'They were doing it by the book'. By the book?! Perhaps you need a new book!" Bull's eye, Bill. Most cops are decent people who do a good job, but there's something fundamentally wrong with police culture. It needs to change and to start weeding out the bad seeds and the thin blue line mentality from the force.
CNN: From what I've read about him, Mike Pence could have put the whole Republican 2016 platform, of which Daily Kos spoke of above, together all on his own, so he's a choice that will thrill the Talibangelists no end. Just imagine that, horror of horrors, Drumpf gets to win the White House, but can't finish his term for some reason…then Pence would step up to lead the country. Shudder. You know what to do, my American friends.
Cartoon: Did you get this from a wall in Pence's office, TomCat?
No. Rump dumps!!
Thanks all! Hugs!!