It’s another busy day. After doing my morning research, I took a brief nap, refilled my pill caddy for the week, and got a haircut. I needed it, as I plan a prison volunteer day on Thursday. With Wendy coming tomorrow, I’ll be itching for less than 24 hours. After my blogging, I have to plan my menu for the week and start to compose next week’s shopping list. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, so may the holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team. My Broncos don’t play until Monday. Pat, I luv ya anyway.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:30 (average 6:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: I know it was unprofessional of me. But I wept when I read Stephanie Woodard’s investigative piece on the killings of American Indians by cops published Monday in the democratic socialist magazine In These Times. It’s no stretch to say it broke my heart.
The reasons for those tears, which continue to spring forth days after my first reading, are many.
Even though none were of my tribe, they were still my people, like me, descendants of the first humans to set foot on this continent 400 generations ago. Like the slayings of so many African Americans killed by police, the deaths of many of them could have easily been avoided by smarter, more compassionate and less trigger-happy cops. And, as is so often the case in matters relating to living indigenous Americans, these dead men and women were invisible. Most didn’t show up in the media or the statistics. Woodard’s story should have been on the front page of The New York Times, the centerpiece of a report on NBC, the subject of speeches on the Senate floor.
Red lives matter.
From NY Times: Major websites were inaccessible to people across wide swaths of the United States on Friday after a company that manages crucial parts of the internet’s infrastructure said it was under attack.
Users reported sporadic problems reaching several websites, including Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb, Reddit, Etsy, SoundCloud and The New York Times.
The company, Dyn, whose servers monitor and reroute internet traffic, said it began experiencing what security experts called a distributed denial-of-service attack just after 7 a.m. Reports that many sites were inaccessible started on the East Coast, but spread westward in three waves as the day wore on and into the evening.
And in a troubling development, the attack appears to have relied on hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices like cameras, baby monitors and home routers that have been infected — without their owners’ knowledge — with software that allows hackers to command them to flood a target with overwhelming traffic.
A spokeswoman said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security were looking into the incident and all potential causes, including criminal activity and a nation-state attack.
Yesterday Lona commented that the attack was perpetrated by Russia and intended to knock Politics Plus offline to keep me from criticizing Rump Dump Trump. If that is the case, I certainly apologize to Twitter, Netflix, the NY Times, and other comparatively minor sites for the inconvenience that the Republican response to my activism has caused. 
From YouTube (PBS Channel): What the latest polls mean for the presidency — and Congress
This shows how important it is for YOU to vote, along with everyone you know. Failure to vote is the most unpatriotic thing an American can do!
Cartoon:
17 Responses to “Open Thread – 10/22/2016”
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6:30 Starting the day slowly. Yesterday was about as punishing as a day can be withoout involving long distance driving.
NARAL has "Nasty Women Vote" stickers FREE but you must reserve by midnight TONIGHT (10/22) to get them before the election. http://actnow.prochoiceamerica.org/signup/161020_nastywomen/
DKos – That's OK, I have others already for next week's Erinyes. (That ditch again!) I will share the comment I made on site: "I CANNOT agree with your believing your tears to be unprofessional. When did compassion become unprofessional? When did empathy become unprofessional? When one is writing with a goal of making change for the better, compassion and empathy are as professional as you can get, and if that means tears, then that means tears. That appears 100% professional to me."
NYTimes – Care2 was also affected for a while. Like for Etsy, I was just getting a 404 error, but on PP, when it was affected, I was getting a 521. So Lona may have something there.
YouTube – I quite like Judy Woodruff (and also Gwen Ifill, and especially the two together.) BTW I voted yesterday (Blue all the way down, of course.) I used the mail, went to the town's postal hub to drop it off, and will follow up on line for it being received and counted.
Cartoon – Isn't that the truth!
DK: Such a national tragedy! So very, very, sad. Yes, ALL lives, and colors of the Rainbow matter! Passing this on to friends, as well.
NYT: As I'm a computer idiot, and not on most of those named, "I sense a dark presence in the Force", if hackers can do this type of thing, and cripple our internet.
YT: I'm planning first thing, Monday morning of going to the polls to Vote Blue!!! I'm a 'Nasty Woman', LOL.
Cartoon: Whoa, now that's scary!!
I used to like grocery shopping, now I don't. I sure hope that my guys are going to be okay with the altitude there, I'm sure they will, but I sure don't want anything 'rigged', ha, ha, HA!! Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom. Love you too, no matter who wins!
Another source for a GET YOUR FREE #NASTY WOMEN VOTE STICKER
http://actnow.prochoiceamerica.org/signup/161020_nastywomen/?t=1&akid=1782.1773247.PrG_lW#.WAuUPSjaZjs
.
Actually that is the same source; I just trimmed down the URL so it wouldn't open with my name.
Daily Kos: I read this article, and shared it. We have a general disgrace in this country for the way indigenous Americans are treated. Red lives do matter. I am 1/16 /Cherokee, and have heard many stories from my grandmother, that her father passed to her. I guess I have been complacent, because they didn't affect me, who is mostly Irish, and looks like white paper. Thanks to Dandelion, I have been made aware of many things that are wrong about the way the People are treated.; It is time they had a voice.
NY Times: Cyber attacks are getting worse all the time. How can they be stopped? We could be in real trouble if a major disruption of the internet happens. I don't have accounts on any of the sites that were hacked, and am on here so late that the problem had ended when I started reading, but this is really worrisome.
PBS: I hope they are right and the Democrats at least take back the Senate. To my horror and disbelief, my niece told me today that she is voting for Trump! She knows all the horrible things about him, but believes the non proven accusations against Clinton. She is normally a very intelligent woman, I just can't believe she feels the way she does. We just agreed to disagree. She is my surrogate daughter and we have always been close, but I guess I failed somewhere. I hope Gray defeats Paul in Kentucky, he will make a great Senator. I have voted in every election since I was 18 years old and could register to vote.
Cartoon: Absolutely.
I hope your holy day goes well.
I don't think you can be held responsible for Hillary Derangement Syndrome. Nor can you singlehandedly cure it – and I don't know her, so I can't even suggest what tack to take. I keep hoping that once she is in office and her accomplishments there can be seen minds may change, and then I think about Obama Derangement Syndrome, and I wonder. ("Why wasn't he in the Oval Office on 9/11? It's his fault! Where was he?" Well, d'oh, he wouldn't be elected for another seven years.) But please be kind to yourself.
Thanks, JD. I have been her confidante since she was ten years old because she had a horrible relationship with her mother. She waited this long to tell me because she knows how I feel. She honestly believes what she has heard. I refuse to argue with friends and family over politics, so let it go. Her dad, my deceased brother, would cringe if he knew she is supporting Trump.
Edie, your cousin is not your fault. Understanding the level of psychosis that induces sane people to believe lies about Clinton and go into denial over obvious truths about Trump requires at least a PhD in Bullshitology!!
Thanks, TC. I know it is not my fault, but I feel awful about it. Thank goodness my son is on the same page as me, I couldn't take it if he supported Trump.
Keep feeding her truth.
Puzzle — 4:24 All that glitters . . .
Daily Kos — I would say "All lives matter", and in so saying, I must acknowledge my white privilege. First Nations peoples encounter challenges that I will never know. African Americans encounter challenges encounter challenges that I will never know. But when I say that "All lives matter", I mean that all lives are equal. All are deserving of mercy, compassion, understanding and respect. Anything less is unacceptable.
NY Times — When I tried to open PP, I received error 1001 and a note about DNS servers. So I just tried again and everything was fine. Obviously I opened up just as everything was 'fixed'. Later I saw the following CBC article which explained what had happened. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hackers-ddos-attacks-1.3817392?cmp=rss This will happen more and more because we are always a step behind hackers etc.
Youtube — I am a Canuck so I cannot vote in US elections. But if I could, I would
VOTE BLUE ALL DOWN THE TICKET!!!
Cartoon — Yup, Republican voting rights!
You and I are both planning menus and groceries. I have an itching for chili so I will make some tomorrow, some good vegetarian chili with lots of légumes and veggies, and savoury spices. No green, or any other colour, clouds to float your way.
Unfortunately Rump Dumpers are using all lives matter, when they mean Black Lives don't.
Rump Dumpers do use all lives matter when they mean that Black Lives don't, because they deny their white privilege, Lynn admits her white privilege, which makes a difference. Still, using all lives matter instead of black lives matter gives "aid and comfort to the enemy." If one feels "Black Lives Matter" is dismissive of other lives, try "Black Lives Matter TOO."
You must be looking forward to Thursday and to seeing your guys on your prison volunteer day again, TomCat. So enjoy your grooming and the worshipping at the Holy Orb and make sure you're all rested for it.
DK: It's about time this is picked up by the media. Research by the CDC showed that: "[w]hen compared to their percentage of the U.S. population, Natives were more likely to be killed by police than any other group, including African Americans." But the silence on these killings has been deafening, " hundreds—hundreds—of police shootings go unreported each year" or are simply ignored. Yes, red lives matter and we all should be more aware of it. With Durmpf devotees already having tarnished the Black Lives Matter slogan with their White Lives versions, indigenous Americans could do with a fresh and equally captivating catchphrase to bring attention to these horrible violations.
NYT: Most servers were well protected against DDos attacks until now because hackers could no longer muster enough bots on virus-protected computers to put enough pressure on a system. This this latest attack, however, "us[ed] hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices like cameras, baby monitors and home routers that have been infected — without their owners’ knowledge — with [malware] software" that was put there by hackers because these devices are not well protected. The forces responsible for it as yet unknown, but it seems to be a "tryout" for a new type of attack, rather than a deliberate attempt to uproot Dyn. That is very worrisome, but of some assurance to you, TomCat. They apparently weren't after you…yet.
YOUTube(PBS): Gonzales ends with "two weeks is a long time to go" And too much depends on swing states. So don't take any chances and Vote Blue all down the ticket and have a Democrat in the White House for a third term, a female president for the first and a Senate that will back her.
Cartoon:Ha. I can just hear Gene saying that soon THEY will be a minority. He'd be right and with Drumpf as their nominee they've practically already hung themselves.
But you were the one that said they were after me.
So I did. But I like you to sleep well this week, Tomcat, so: They apparently weren't after you…yet.
Thanks all! Hugs!!