Our winter storm turned out to be a doozy. I did get my grocery delivery. It arrived just as the snow was starting to stick. Phew!! Wendy’s main day job is as a secretary for a middle school. She had to work late yesterday afternoon to babysit kids, whose parents had not picked them up because of the weather. When she finished, conditions were so severe, that she could not make it downtown, so I’m even more stinky than normal. She will come today in her 4 WD truck. Late in afternoon, my Physical Terrorist called to cancel my appointment, and TriMet Lift cancelled my ride. The snow is deep, and the high temperature is not forecast above 32° until Sunday. BRRR!! It’s so cold that my poor kitty dingles are acting like castanets!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Hamilton’s Plan to Keep Trump From Becoming President | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
The idea has merit, but I would prefer Colin Powell, He’s more qualified and it would make alt-right Nazis and the KKK baggers shit their pants.
From MSNBC: Michael Moore to Electoral College: Resist!
Filmmaker Michael Moore gives an impassioned plea to the Electors who will choose the American President on December 19th to think hard about the security of the United States.
Electors, don’t make us miss Crawford Caligula. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Mindful of the clock ticking down to a Trump presidency, the Obama administration issued a final rule on Wednesday to bar states from withholding federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates and other health clinics that provide abortions. The measure takes effect two days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump.
The rule was proposed three months ago, when many Democrats assumed the next president would be Hillary Clinton; she presumably would have promoted the rule’s completion if it were still pending. It requires that state and local governments distribute federal funds for services related to contraception, sexually transmitted infections, fertility, pregnancy care, and breast and cervical cancer screening to qualified health providers, regardless of whether they also perform abortions.
Mr. Trump has sent mixed messages on Planned Parenthood’s work, supporting its health-related services other than abortion. Yet with backing from Republican leaders in Congress, he has indicated he will undo many Obama administration rules and regulations, especially last-minute additions. In this case, however, unraveling the new rule would first require a time-consuming process, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kudos to Obama. That time consuming process had better take over four years!
Cartoon:
13 Responses to “Open Thread – 12/15/2016”
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3:52 Honored for their intrepidity – and by their expression, they definitely know it!
Sorry it is cold and messy, but glad you are SAFE!
YT/GQ – Keith is so right on it is difiicult to comment other than "Huzzah!" But the Electoral College essentially became corruptible whan a cap was placed on the Members of Congress, effectively making some votes worth a whole heck of a lot of other votes. Hamilton never contemplated an Electoral College which would be so unrepresentative as the one we have. You know, now that we have technology that would compensate for the chamber of the House being too small for more Representatives, we could fix that. I do love his "In case of emergency, break glass" but it will be interesting to see of we can find almost 40 Republicans who think there is an emergency. (And OMG – Colin Powell – wouldn't THAT be great! But, alas, highly unlikely.)
MSNBC – I would prefer cremation to burial, but you all don't have to remember that, my executrix knows it (I already have my urn).
NYTimes – I am really, really glad that the President is doing this. I would caution, however, that there is one thing that is even more important to Republicans, even rich Republicans, than saving and making money, and that is being able to punish people. So there are places that even this is not going to help.
Cartoon – Yeah. Right.
YT/GQ: Yeah! I'd go for Mr. Powell as a Moderate, either way, ANY one besides Trump as POTUS!
MSNBC: Good video, well said, Michael.
NYT: So glad that he got this in before he leaves office. Get Merrick Garland in for the SCOTUS too, before you go, Mr. Obama. It's been 274 days since the Senate has refused to do their job(s).
Cartoon: Yea, Winter is Coming!
Glad that activities were cancelled due to the snow. Hope that Wendy can make it in to help you out today. Ahhh…she's secretary of a Middle School. Brings back fond memories, good age group, though at this point in my life, I'm glad I retired from my campus. Stay warm, drink hot beverages, and relax! Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
Your kitty dingles may be about to reverse global warming all by themselves, TomCat, but the good thing is you didn't have to brave the snow today and your groceries got delivered in the nick of time. I hope they outlast this arctic spell. I also hope you ordered some air freshener with your delivery so Wendy doesn't have to cut through a wall of kitty perfume to get anywhere near you.
YT(GQC): Great idea as likely to happen as a comet striking the whole Electoral College next Monday, Keith.
MSNBC: I understand and underwrite these pleas by Michael Moore, and Keith Olbermann to the Electoral College. But I'm sorry to say that it sounds so desperate and hopeless. Most Americans pleaded with voters to get themselves to the polls and do the right thing for America and let Clinton win by a landslide. They didn't. So why would those (Republican) members of the Electoral College be any different? Popular vote, Russian interference, a madman at the helm, already taking the lead in the Kleptocracy that once was a Democracy? They don't care. They won't resist. The American people, the majority that didn't vote for Drumpf, must resist.
NYT: Kudos to Obama and his administration for issuing this rule. Let's hope this rule does indeed take at least four years to unravel, because when Drumpf is impeached, Pence takes over and he's even worse for PP and it's affiliates.
Cartoon: Has a whole new meaning this year, hasn't it.
I gave her perfume for her birthday. I had told her it was a new mop.
What really gets me is Drumpf's assumption that he will be in office for "eight years" in some of his speeches!
I like the idea that Keith has. I got the wrong video on the Michael Moore one. I'll find it later. But the one I got was about how long the DNC let an intern take care of the computer security. I can't believe that they didn't have full-time security in the systems that they used!
The MORE that comes out about this CRAP, the more I get ill! I wonder how many LGBT teens have committed suicide from the fear of Drumpf being in office? And there is a LOT of people in the edge of their understanding from fear of Drumpf being in office!
Oh, TC. I feel for ya, dude! All that snow! It would be impossible to get around in it, on two legs or one!!!
I have some sympathy for you with the weather, but our Sunday morning forecast is 22 degrees BELOW zero here in Minnesota
Ah yes, but you're used to it. In MN -22° is a balmy Spring day.
Puzzle — 3:02 No fishie fricassée tonight Puddy Tat. Besides you received your groceries yesterday so you shouldn't be carping about a fish!
Youtube — Another homerun from Keith! Loved his line "In case of emergency break glass"! I was intrigued by a point he made — a moderate Republican President, a Democratic Vice President. Clearly, he was breaking the glass! He is thinking outsid the box, but that is just what the current situation demands. Certainly nobody could claim partisanship from Olbermann as he made quite clear, not Clinton. Based on the past, Republicans only know bi-partisanship as one thing, their way. However, look what their way landed the US — A Republican in name only, a traitorous dictator named Drumpf. As a side note, I read that a judge in Colorado has ordered the EC electors there to vote for Clinton. Keith also made the point that perhaps electors might bite the bullet and go with another candidate along with the Republican anti Drumpfsters. Again, breaking the glass in case of emergency.
MSNBC — The EC MUST do what it was designed to — separate the wheat from the chaf, the good from the bad, and elect a president who will put the country first. In my opinion, that is NOT Drumpf. Moore made a good case.
NY Times — Republicans really need to get their priorities straight — the needs of the people. Kudos to Obama for pushing forward even in the waning days of his administration.
Cartoon — Unfortunately, the white of a Republican Christmas has nothing to do with snow.
Colorado does have a "faithless elector" law, yes. But what I read is that the Secretary of State is going to get them together and make them swear they will vote for Clinton, so that if they don't, he can prosecute them for perjury (apparently the "faithless elector" penalties aren't enough to satisfy him. What was that I said about Republicans and punishment?) If it has gone to a judge, I didn't hear it. But yeah, that's the law. If I were an elector, I would take the penalty for perjury over the penalty of living under Trump (and I know of at least one that agrees). But it remains to be seen.
Were I an elector, if the Governor tryes to make me swear such an oath, I'd tell him to take a long flying ____ off a short pier. (____ rhymes with duck).
In defense of our Governor, he is maybe somewhere between a Dem and a DINO, but this was not his idea. The Secretary of State, a Republican, thought of it all by himself. I can't imagine that it would hold up in court, but it makes it difficult for them.
NY T: The GOPigs don't give a damn!
All the rest: the GOPigs don't give a damn!
Thanks all! Hugs!!