Poll Results – 2/17/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:02 pm Blog News, Politics

Feb 172017

Here are the results of our “Block Whoresuch” poll. Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories. Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population. Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0217Poll

Since our polling site no longer enables us to copy and paste your poll comments, you may read them here.

Of course, I voted yes. I'm guessing that the no votes were left by Republicans who stopped by and left nasty comments. I did not release the comments, because like most Republicans who comment here, all of them commented under a fake email address.

Since Democrats can filibuster, I think enough will to block the nomination.

The new poll is up. Please vote. Then…

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 2/17/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:02 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 172017

TGIF! I’m still running on a sleep deficit as humidity remains is 93%, having just dropped below 100% for the first time in three days, so I’m already fighting droopy eyelids. I hope you all have a peaceful, Republican-free weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:15 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Harry van Bommel, a left-wing member of the Dutch Parliament, had persuasive allies in convincing voters that they should reject a trade pact with Ukraine — his special “Ukrainian team,” a gleefully contrarian group of émigrés whose sympathies lay with Russia.

They attended public meetings, appeared on television and used social media to denounce Ukraine’s pro-Western government as a bloodthirsty kleptocracy, unworthy of Dutch support. As Mr. Van Bommel recalled, it “was very handy to show that not all Ukrainians were in favor.”

Handy but also misleading: The most active members of the Ukrainian team were actually from Russia, or from Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, and parroted the Kremlin line.

The Dutch referendum, held last April, became a battering ram aimed at the European Union. With turnout low, Dutch voters rejected the trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, delighting Moscow, emboldening pro-Russia populists around Europe and leaving political elites aghast.

It looks like Trump is not the only traitor Russia manipulates. Lona, how could Bommel be considered "left wing" by the Times, when he acts like a damned Republican? RESIST!!

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Is The Trump White House High? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

In Keith’s choice between high or what, I actually have to answer "what". I gave not done drugs for over 30 years, but was a stoner in my day. I never dis a drug that could make someone as stupid, as deplorable, or as evil as the Potomac Puppet and his Reich. RESIST!!

From Salon.com: President Donald Trump’s new secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, doesn’t seem to have a lot of pull in the White House.

Despite a contentious nomination hearing in which Tillerson was confirmed by a party-line vote, Tillerson’s influence is so minimal that senior state department officials need to ask foreign diplomats about President Trump’s impending foreign policy decisions, according to a report by The Guardian. Tillerson has also avoided press questions, such as during his meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. While this could simply be a residual habit from years running a secret multibillion dollar corporation, it could also be the result of Tillerson simply not being knowledgable about the Trump administration’s foreign policy plans.

Tillerson wasn’t consulted about Trump’s controversial Muslim travel ban and no one at the state department was consulted during the dinner when the president approved his disastrous raid in Yemen. Even more telling, Trump rejected Tillerson’s choice for deputy secretary of state, Elliott Abrams, very suddenly and without consulting Tillerson first. The State Department has also issued sweeping layoffs, indicating that the foreign policy-making apparatus is going to be concentrated around Trump’s inner circle rather than through various expert channels.

Tillerson is there to relate work with Russia to destroy the Arctic to get the oil for Putin (R-RU). Foreign policy is conducted via tweets by twits that grab twats. RESIST!!

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0217Cartoon

Friday Fun – Yosemite “Lava Flow” Redux

Posted by SoINeedAName at 8:04 am Politics

Feb 172017

Originally I was going to skip this week because I was planning on heading up to Illinois to do Mom’s income taxes. (She actually pulls everything together, but because of her macular degeneration she can’t fill in the boxes for the accountant.) She got sick with a bit of a bug and had some vomiting. She’s fine now, but I’ve postponed my trip up to Monday – so I won’t have a “Friday Fun” next week.

Since it’s that time of year, I’m going to do a reprise of Yosemite’s Firefall from a year ago.

Given the snow and rain California has gotten this winter, the natural Horsetail Falls Firefall show that only happens once a year in late February should be spectacular. The opportunity to view it lasts for only about 10 days … and only for 10 minutes each day right at sunset. But boy, when the illusion of “lava” flowing down Horsetail Falls’ 1,570 feet (480 meters) face happens – it’s breathtakingly gorgeous!

For five of the past six years Mother Nature did not put on her show because of the drought –and this year’s plentiful snow and rainfall should make it extra breathtaking – IF all the other requirements fall in to place.

Not only must there be abundant water flowing, but the sun must also be aligned perfectly at just the right angle to produce the red, orange and gold reflections to create the illusion. And for that to happen there can be no cloud cover, which can be pretty rare in February. And then you have to be in the perfect spot in Yosemite Valley to view Horsetail Fall, which is on the east face of El Capitan, to capture it all.

(We should note that while the angle of the sun is also properly aligned in October, there’s no water flowing at that time of year to produce the Firefall.)

The natural Horsetail Firefall should not be confused with Yosemite Firefall that began in the summer of 1872 and continued for almost a century. The owners of the Glacier Point Hotel had hot embers from dying fires raked over the edge of Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley 3,000 feet below. From a distance, it appeared as a glowing waterfall.

The Yosemite Firefall was a summer time event that began in 1872 and continued for almost a century, in which burning hot embers were spilled from the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to the valley 3,000 feet below. From a distance it appeared as a glowing waterfall. The owners of the Glacier Point Hotel conducted the firefall. History has it that David Curry, founder of Camp Curry, would stand at the base of the fall, and yell "Let the fire fall," each night as a signal to start pushing the embers over.

The Firefall ended in January 1968, when the National Park Service ordered it to stop because the overwhelming number of visitors that it attracted trampled meadows to see it, and because it was not a natural event. NPS wanted to preserve the Valley, returning it to its natural state. The Glacier Point Hotel was destroyed by fire 18 months later and was not rebuilt.

Glacier Hotel Actual Firefall of Embers

Undoubtedly the Awahneechee Indians, who called Yosemite Valley home for hundreds of years, had observed the natural Horsetail Firefall – but if so, they never shared that information with white settlers who discovered the Valley in 1851.

Galen Rowell is the person who took the first-known photograph of the natural Horsetail Firefall, and that was only in 1973. Now hundreds of photographers from around the world flock to Yosemite in late February hoping they’ll be one of the lucky few to actually view it – an experience they describe as so deeply moving that it brings tears to their eyes along with actual applause from the crowd of shutterbugs!

The most convenient and crowded viewing area for the “lava” show is at the El Capitan picnic area, just shy of 2 miles past Yosemite Lodge at the Falls on Northside Drive. It’s only a small pullout area marked only by a small sign – but in late February, if you keep your eyes peeled for a horde of tripods, you’ll have found it.

Drumpfenfarten Meets The Press

Posted by Lynn Squance at 6:15 am Politics

Feb 172017

Today, Drumpfenfarten went on a tirade that defies all logic and shows just how totally unhinged he is. I'll start with the full video below. Warning: It is almost 2 hours long.

Raw Story — President Donald Trump held a press conference today in which he once again boasted about his November election win and attacked the mainstream media for producing “fake news.”

But beyond the usual boasting and bashing, the president made several jaw-dropping statements that were surprising even by his standards. Below, we’ll go over the seven craziest moments at today’s press conference.

Trump says that while the leaks coming out of his administration are real, the news stories being written about them are still fake news. When asked to explain the seeming contradiction in his desire to both crack down on leaks in his administration and to attack news stories based on those leaks, the president simply said the leaks from the administration were real, but the news they generated was fake.”The leaks are real,” Trump said. “The leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.”
Trump falsely claims that his electoral college victory this past November was the biggest since Ronald Reagan’s. With 306 electoral college votes, Trump’s margin of victory last year was smaller than not only Ronald Reagan’s, but also George H.W. Bush’s victory in 1988, Bill Clinton’s two victories in 1992 and 1996, and Barack Obama’s two wins in 2008 and 2012.When confronted by this, Trump simply replied that he “was given that information,” without acknowledging that the information was false.

These are the first two of seven wacky moments in Drumpfenfarten's weapons-grade crazy press conference. If you don't have time to watch the video, these will give you a flavour of the press conference.

And there are a number of reactions to this so called press conference. In this first one, Shep Smith from Faux Noise lays waste to Drumpf.

Huffington Post — After President Donald Trump spent much of his Thursday press conference lecturing and demeaning reporters, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith defended the role of the media, reminding Trump that “you owe this to the American people” to answer reporters’ questions.

“It’s crazy what we’re watching every day. It’s absolutely crazy,” Smith said, summing up the Thursday face-off. “He keeps repeating ridiculous, throwaway lines that are not true at all and sort of avoiding this issue of Russia as if we’re some kind of fools for asking the question. Really?!”

There are some humourous reactions to take care of your pounding headache!

Huffington Post — President Donald Trump’s combative news conference on Thursday got a YUGE reaction on social media, and the reviews weren’t exactly glowing.

I tried to get one of the pictures over for you, but I couldn't manage it — kept getting an error message. (However Nameless has used it in his comment so I'm editing it in. Thanks Nameless) So have a look and pay particular attention to Ben & Jerry's All Natural Impeachmint Ice Cream.

According to another article in Raw Story most of which is not related,

Pres. Donald Trump’s wild and unhinged press conference on Thursday set tongues wagging across the Internet and, apparently, in the halls of Congress as well.

CNN’s John King said he received a message from a Republican senator who wrote, “He should do this with a therapist, not on live television.”

At what was ostensibly meant to be the announcement of Trump’s new nomination for Secretary of Labor on Thursday, the president launched into a series of long-winded tirades where he lambasted the press, U.S. intelligence agencies, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and anyone else he perceives as hostile to his agenda.

There you have it! Drumpfenfarten at his ~~best~~ usual . . . bluster, liar extraordinaire, xenophobic, racist, misogynist, and narcissistic self.

TC, I think we're going to have to find a new word other than InsaniTEA to describe the philosophy of Drumpfenfarten and his lock-step Republican minions.

Sam Strikes Again!

Posted by TomCat at 12:21 pm Politics

Feb 162017

SamanthaBee4

It’s Thursday again, so it’s time for that combination of relief and wisdom we expect from Samantha Bee. Here are three clips from her show.

The Great Unchecked Legislative Fuckfest of 2017

I had not heard of the Congressional Review Act ARGH!!

Paul Ryan: Portrait in Courage

If Lyin’ Ryan is a moral watch dog, I’m glad I’m a cat!

We’re Still Not There: A Practical Guide to Resistance

In my youth I was an officer in the New York Region of SDS. Some of what I did was "so called" busy work, and I remember an April 1967 march in NYC, before which I stapled so many signs to wooden handles that my hands were bloody from squeezing the stapler. Today I can use my writing to inform and motivate. What can you do?

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 2/16/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:20 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 162017

I slept poorly last night. The highs and lows have been in the high 40°s, and with humidity at 100% for over 36 hours, it's just plain sticky. Last night's chili dogs were delicious. Fortunately for the Squatch, winds are currently out of the ENE.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today's took me 3:26 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

Frons YouTube (GQ Channel): The Enormous Cost of Trump’s War on Immigrants | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

The Hate-filled Hairball and his Republican Reich are the nexus of incompetence and racism. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is special-ordering a pair of “tiny handcuffs,” an F.B.I. spokesman confirmed on Wednesday.

The spokesman, Harland Dorrinson, downplayed the significance of the handcuff purchase, calling it “strictly routine.”

“In reviewing our inventory of handcuffs, we found that we only had models that fit normal-sized hands,” Dorrinson said. “This order is intended to remedy that.”

The F.B.I. spokesperson said that, if regulation-sized handcuffs were used on a suspect with “extremely small or tiny hands,” the suspect could slip out of them and elude capture.

If only it were so, Andy. However, the FBI is working with Trump, Beauregard, Bannon, Flynn, Stein, and Putin. RESIST!!

From Think Progress: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R), Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), might sail through a confirmation vote despite senators never seeing some 3,000 requested pieces of correspondence between his office and oil and gas companies.

Pruitt has been criticized for acting on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. As EPA chief, he would be responsible for enforcing environmental laws that govern how much and what kind of pollution those companies are allowed to emit.

Pruitt’s confirmation vote is expected to be held Friday afternoon, although a hearing over the emails is scheduled in Oklahoma for Thursday.

Center for Media and Democracy “is asking the judge to declare that Pruitt has violated Oklahoma’s Open Records Act and order immediate release of all of the requested emails and other documents,” the group said.

Unless more Republicans come on board, we can kiss the EPA goodbye. In all probability the damn bastards will keep goose-stepping behind the Fuhrer that represents them so fittingly. RESIST!!

From Raw Story: …On Wednesday, former NSA intelligence analyst John Schindler provided some insight into the reaction of national security officials.

“Now we go nuclear,” he wrote on Twitter. “[Intelligence community] war going to new levels. Just got an [email from] senior [intelligence community] friend, it began: ‘He will die in jail.'”

“US intelligence is not the problem here,” Schindler added in another tweet. “The President’s collusion with Russian intelligence is. Many details, but the essence is simple.”

Unless they get him, he'll get us all. RESIST!!

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0216Cartoon

The Noose Tightens, or Does It?

Posted by TomCat at 2:16 pm Politics

Feb 152017

Every day, we get more and more evidence implicating Putin’s Puppet and his deplorable minions in criminal collusion with a foreign power. Most recently, we learned that there were repeated contacts between senior members of the Trump campaign and Russian Intelligence Officers at the same time that Russian Intelligence was interfering with the US election to help Trump usurp the Residency. But will we see justice?

Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.

American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.

The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.

But the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public… [emphasis added]

From <NY Times>

Even as this news came in, Rachael Maddow was already wondering about justice for Republican crimes. Here are three clips from her show. In the first she delves into the litany of questions the Reich had generated, and how partisan loyalty (IOKIYAR) is interfering with investigations.

In the second, she relays the news she had just learned.

In the third, she interviews Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, about the possibility of getting an impartial investigation into the Fuhrer and his Russian Reich.

In short, the chances of that happening are between slim and nil.

Our best bet is to keep raising such a stink that it provokes a public outcry sufficient to make enough Republicans fear for their jobs to throw the Fuhrer under the bus.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 2/15/2017

Posted by TomCat at 2:16 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 152017

Stumpy is behaving much better today, and mounted George without difficulty. It’s a very busy day for me. I took a brief nap this morning to be sure to be upright when Store to Door arrives with a large grocery order. This evening, Wendy will be here to de-stink and polish the TomCat, to help with some light housework, and to have chili dogs for supper. I didn’t tell her, because I did the last time we had chili. She mentioned it at work, and her school cancelled classes the next day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:31 (average 4:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump is Beyond Reckless With Our National Security

Reckless is indeed an understatement! RESIST!!

From The Rachel Maddow Show: DCCC weak contesting Georgia district Trump barely won

Rachel Maddow points out the opportunity for Democrats to take over Tom Price’s Georgia congressional as he moves to become Donald Trump’s HHS secretary and yet the DCCC seems half-hearted about taking advantage.

Contact the DCCC (202) 863-1500 and tell them to get off their asses! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Russian President Vladimir Putin is “starting to get concerned” that the puppets he installed in the executive branch of the U.S. government “might not be up to the task at hand,” sources confirmed on Tuesday.

According to the sources, the flameout of the national-security adviser Michael Flynn was only the most recent event that has caused Putin to wonder if the figureheads he propelled into office are “just too dim-witted” to serve the goals of the Russian Federation.

“When you choose a puppet, you’re looking for a sweet spot,” one source close to Putin said. “You want to choose someone who’s dumb enough to be manipulated, but not so dumb that he can’t find the light switches.”

“Increasingly, it looks like we missed that sweet spot,” the source said.

Spot on, Andy! Fortunately for Putin (R-RU), his puppet has a horde of other equally treacherous Republicans goose-stepping behind their Fuhrer to help him. RESIST!!

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