I just returned from my Podiatrist. Troy told me that, in the ten years that he has been seeing me, my foot is in the best condition ever. I was gone four hours for the 20 minute appointment, and there was no wait at the Doctor’s office. That’s about typical for the Lift bus. I’m very tired, so this is my only article today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:18 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: USA Today reporter got under Bernie Sanders’ skin when he asked the typical shallow questions we are all used to from our derelict media.
But gee! Bernie never did say who would be running in 2090. Seriously… Right-on!!
From NY Times: Now that he is president-elect, Donald Trump’s anti-corruption promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington lobbyists and powerful insiders seems to be rapidly dissolving in the swamp itself. An untold number of lobbyists and special interest players have been helping the Trump team’s transition to the White House, their path made easier, according to news reports, by vague and porous ethical standards.
The most mischievous of these is a rule by which applicants merely have to de-register as government lobbyists one day to be ready the next for transition and administration jobs. It’s not hard to imagine a lobbyist taking down his shingle on Monday and joining the Trump team on Tuesday, eager to rewrite government regulations that cover his former clients’ areas of interest… [emphasis added]
Employment as a lobbyist ought to disqualify one from government appointments for a minimum of ten years. As for the corruption of Fuhrer Drumphenfarten, the only people who this might surprise are the fools who voted for him.
From The Nation:
In the “Republican Wave” election of 2010, when brothers Charles and David Koch emerged as defining figures in American politics, the greatest beneficiary of Koch Industries largess was the newly elected Congressman Mike Pompeo. Since his election, Pompeo has been referred to as the “Koch Brothers’ Congressman” and “the congressman from Koch.”
Pompeo, who on Friday accepted President-elect Donald Trump’s invitation to take over as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is a foreign-policy hawk who has fiercely opposed the Iran nuclear deal, stoked fears of Muslims in the United States and abroad, opposed closing the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, and defended the National Security Agency’s unconstitutional surveillance programs as “good and important work.” He has even gone so far as to say that NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden “should be brought back from Russia and given due process, and I think the proper outcome would be that he would be given a death sentence.”
Pompeo’s open disregard for privacy rights in particular and civil liberties in general, as well as his penchant for extreme language and more extreme policies, mark him as a profoundly troublesome pick to serve as the head of a powerful intelligence agency. But he is also one of the most remarkably conflicted political figures in the conflicted city of Washington, thanks to his ties to the privately held and frequently secretive global business empire that has played a pivotal role in advancing his political career.
“Congressman Mike Pompeo was the single largest recipient of campaign funds from the Koch Brothers in 2010.”
Great! The entire foreign intelligence mission of the CIA will become Koch sucking.
Cartoon:
His crimes seem small compared to those of Reagan. His seem small compared to those of GW Bush, and his do not even hold a candle to what’s coming in the Fifth Reich.
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/21/2016”
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KOS: Yup, that is telling them that we have important work to do now and let us not worry about who is running for POTUS in 2020. Go, Bernie, GO! lol.
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4:53 I remember seeing this before, and I think remarking that all the pinks look like dark pinks to me.
The TOADY awards voting is here! Cast your vote for the worst toy of 2016! While they are all awful, I went for Game of Life: Empire because it seemed to me the most likely to train kids to be the next Donald Trump. http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/action/2016-toady-awards
DK – Yes, I thought Bernie's answer was great. And polite, even though he was obviously irritated. God Save the Bern!
NYT – Or, as Elizabeth Warren said (paraphrased because I am too lazy to look it up), appointing only swamp mansters to the cabinet and the team is probably not the best way to drain the swamp.
Nation – Geez, I wouldn't even wish a death sentence on Julian Assange. And what Snowden deserves is a medal. With Trump and his people's ties to Putin, I hope Snowden can get to someplace safer than Russia.
Cartoon – Yes, that was considered a scandal then. Right now I just want to cry.
I voted as you did and added "It portrays Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian hate."
DK: Go, Bernie, GO!!!
NYT: This is very concerning, with his disregard for privacy rights, and civil liberties. Gitmo needs to close, and of Snowden being executed (when brought back to the states??!) w.t.H?? Geesh, what a guy! ick.
Cartoon: Yea…ditto on your comment, Tom.
Glad to read that all went well today! Get some much needed rest. Company coming in for the Thanksgiving festivities, here at my ponderosa. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*Joanne, thanks for the link, w/have to look that up and vote. : )
Sorry to hear it took your trips to and from the podiatrist took so long again, TomCat. There's nothing you can do about it, just have to sit it out in the most literal sense. I hope you get some reading done while you're waiting.
DK: Go, Bernie! What is is with the media?! How come they think they're still running on election time and all the candidates have to roll over and play nice doggie to please them and the voters? The media were a major part of the problem and the least they could do now to atone is to address the problems America and the world are facing because of the disastrous election outcome they helped bring about and not just skip over it and pretend it isn't there. Address it, damn you, with all due respect 😉
NYT: Politics and all its machinations are sick to the core. Perhaps it has been so for decades or centuries, but all the ointment, bandages, loose garments and diversions can no longer cover the hideous pestilence underneath. The diagnosis is clear for all to see: the patient is going to die unless each and every one of those festering pustules is cut out, the patient purged and its surroundings disinfected. If the pestilence is allowed to run its course in the next four years, infecting more and more others over time, politics will kill democracy and then self destruct.
TN: So much for Adam Schiff claiming on the Rachel Maddow show that Pompeo wasn't a bad choice, because he knew him well and Pompeo could be nonpartisan and that is what is called for as head of the CIA. Nonpartisan, my $%#; Pompeo turns out to be just a political shill for the Koch brothers with extreme views to boot. Soon you're going to wish it was just Big Brother who's watching you. The next question would be if Drumpf was really aware of what kind of wolf is lurking underneath that "apolitical" sheep clothing when he put Pompeo up for director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Kochs withdrawing their money from Drumpf's campaign to invest in down-poll elections may have been a ruse after all, and it's now payback time. In the Rachel's video running after the one I mentioned, she also pointed out the very strong ties between Pompeo and the Kochs, so apparently it is common knowledge, and Drumpf is again returning the favor of another bunch of "supporters".
Cartoon: Who would have thought that we'd come to think of Nixon as some small-time, nothing to get upset about, that's sooo normal these days kind of crook.
Right on, Bernie! You got them that time! The media just wants something to fill space in their websites. 2020! Ha! We may not survive this "president"!!! Hell! He may change it all up to where he is the LAST president and his sons get in line to be the successors!
Puzzle — 3:31 I was in the dark!
Daily Kos — Right on Bernie!!!
NY Times — "Employment as a lobbyist ought to disqualify one from government appointments for a minimum of ten years. As for the corruption of Fuhrer Drumphenfarten, the only people who this might surprise are the fools who voted for him." — So right you are! I saw a picture of Trump today, can't remember where, but it had the word 'CORRUPT' in bold, all caps stamped across it. No disputing the meaning!
The Nation — Bought and paid for! Campaign finance reform is definitely needed . . . badly!
Cartoon — I never did like Tricky Dickie! The Fifth Reich will be a raging wild fire compared to Nixon's candle!
Thanks and amen all around!
DK: Sock it to them, Bernie!
NY T: "Drain the swamp"? No, no, these asses are going to go swimming in the swamp!
The Nation: Sadly speechless.
Cartoon: One of the problems I had with the Clinton presidency has to do with the nice words Bill had to say when this particular POS died. Oh, for the good old days!