It has been raining all day today . . . but no snow! You've probably noted that TC is still sick but a physician's assistant did visit him at home and has him on medication. Rest my friend, drink lots of water and take your medicine. I am sure Wendy will be in to make sure you are fluffed and buffed, and ensure you are eating properly . . . maybe some chicken soup? Personally, I am going to have some beans and toast, comfort food for a rainy day!
Short Takes
Cartoon removed pending clarification.
Khalil Bendib@otherwords.org has a way with 'alternate' words! I think this sums up much of the current situation as far as Drumpfenfarten and Putin are concerned. Of course, this does not explain the 'why?', but it certainly does speak to the extent of the, shall I say, collusion.
The Hill — Preet Bharara, one of the most high-profile federal prosecutors in the country, said Saturday he was fired from President Trump's administration after he refused to resign when asked by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
"I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life," tweeted Bharara, who served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. …
"One hallmark of justice is absolute independence, and that was my touchstone every day that I served," he [Bharara] said in the statement released by the U.S. attorney's office. …
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) heralded Bharara as an "exemplary U.S. attorney."
"His relentless drive to root out public corruption, lock up terrorists, take on Wall Street, and stand up for what is right should serve as a model for all U.S. attorneys across the country. He will be sorely missed," Schumer said in a statement.
Rachel Maddow covered the replacement of 46 federal prosecutors and Bharara's firing in the following segment of her show.
Bharara was told by both Drumpf and Sessions that they wanted him to stay on as the chief federal prosecutor in the SDNY. Could it be that Bharara was just too damned good at his job and Drumpfenfarten and Sessions became nervous after looking at his accomplishments? After all, as Rachel says, Drumpf Tower where Drumpf carries out all his business dealings — you know, those dealings that are supposedly in the hands of his sons who do not discuss anything with their father — is within the SDNY!
Truthout — Autre Murray, 24, never planned to go to college. He thought he couldn't afford it — even with student loans. Besides, he wasn't thrilled with the prospect of ending up in "debt up to the neck." Instead, Murray planned to earn a high school diploma and find a job doing manual labor, maybe somewhere like a factory. He told himself he didn't need a college education to become successful.
But now he's on his way to obtaining a bachelor's degree, as are other members of his Kalamazoo, Michigan, hometown. That's thanks to the Kalamazoo Promise, a scholarship program first announced at a board meeting of Kalamazoo Public Schools in November 2005. The nonprofit of the same name provides scholarships that cover 65 to 100 percent of college tuition and fees for all graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools who meet certain criteria. Students have 10 years from the day they graduate high school to use the scholarship. …
After Kalamazoo, Michigan, offered college tuition for nearly all high school graduates, dropout rates declined and the city's population began to rebound. (Photo: The Kalamazoo Promise / Facebook)
"The donors believe that a community's vitality — politically, socially, and economically — is closely related to the educational level of the community," says Bob Jorth, executive director of the Kalamazoo Promise. "In the knowledge-based economy that we're in, almost all good jobs require some kind of training and education beyond high school."
Kudos to the Kalamazoo Promise! I wonder how fast Betsy DeVos can put the brakes on such an innovation? . . . not that it is within her purview. When did that ever stop a Republican!
Huffington Post — Most of the migrants who recently made the difficult journey across the border into Canada were in the United States legally, making the trend hard to explain, says U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
The majority travelled to the United States with the necessary visas, Kelly said Friday after a meeting in Ottawa with cabinet members including his Canadian counterpart, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
"Everyone was perplexed," Kelly said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"Many of them have only been in the United States a few days before they made the trek north, so it's something we're certainly trying to figure out."
"… it's something we're certainly trying to figure out." ????? There have been Somalis crossing into Manitoba in the dead of winter, literally risking life and limb — 2 have lost many of their fingers to frostbite. In Québec, at a well known crossing point, RCMP officers are often waiting there to arrest the people until they can chat them up properly and they can make their requests for asylum. And U.S. Homeland Secretary John Kelly is 'perplexed' about the migrant surge into Canada? Let's see 1) Donald Trump; 2) pervasive American discrimination of foreigners, particularly Latinos and Muslims; 3) overly zealous border agents; 4) keep adding to the list. My apologies to my American friends, but with the current administration, the US has lost ownership of Emma Lazarus' poem that is on a plaque in the Statue of Liberty.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
YouTube (GQ Channel) — Trump’s Amazing Speech Sure Didn’t Age Well | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
Romney has been supplanted as Mr Flip-flop by none other than Drumpfenfarten. I remember a line from the movie "Clear and Present Danger" that went like this: "He cannot be clear when clarity is not exactly what he wants." White House aide or a Cabinet person talking about the president played by Donald Moffat. Sure seems appropriate to Drumpfenfarten.
Huffington Post — The idea was simple enough: publish as many absurd, obviously fake stories imaginable, and see if anyone actually falls for it. The results of this experiment were both fascinating and disheartening.
“BREAKING: Satire Makes Fools Of Gullible Trump Supporters.”
That’s the headline James McDaniel published on his intentionally fake news website, UndergroundNewsReport.com, earlier this month.
Within just two weeks of his website going online, McDaniel had already amassed more than a million views, thousands of comments on his stories, and hundreds of thousands of “likes” and “shares” on Facebook.
“While writing them, I was aiming for stories that no one would believe, but rather would be satirical in an age where disinformation is so prevalent,” McDaniel wrote on his website. “Just for fun, I decided to post some of the stories in Trump fan groups on Facebook to see the reactions.”
I just had to share this piece with you to give you some light fare, if not depressing, on the intelligence state of Drumpf supporters. Go to http://undergroundnewsreport.com/the-truth/former-white-house-aide-obama-gay-man/ or http://undergroundnewsreport.com/the-truth/obama-tweet-trump-must-removed-means-necessary/ and read the comments at the end of each article. There are several other satirical articles as well. These are SATIRE but sadly, Drumpf supporters believe it all. The world is becoming more dangerous every day.
My Universe
Resist and Persist!!!
10 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 11 March 2017”
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Indeed TC needs to take care. Thank goodness for Wendy.
Otherwords – Now that's a picture that's worth at least a thousand other words.
The Hill – Yeah. It's a purge. Pure and simple. They can't trust anyone already there to properly look into Obama wiretapping the Orange Idiot.
truthout – From a Governmental standpoint, she more or less has put the stop to it. In my opinion, it ought to be government that is offering this – and that she will never do. But I don't see how she can stop a private charity. Getting tuition increased out of their range, maybe. But it's not her state, and private schools are – well – private.
HuffPo – I don't know why they can't figure it out when it is clear to everyone with a brain. No one wants to live in a country where a non-police police agency can stop them arbitrarily at any time, and detain them even if they are citizens. Like Muhammed Ali JR. And the fellow who was born in Montrose, CO, fairly soon after which his family moved somewhere, I forget where, in Central/South America. But he's still a birthright citizen. The excuse was "well, you don't look like you were born in Montrose." (Translation: You look exactly like someone born in Montrose, who are exactly the people we want to get rid of.") They held him for THREE DAYS! No apology necessary, at least not to me. You are right on the money. And I didn't do it.
Keith – Of course Keith is right that the Tangerine Traitor's "speech" was a load of horse puckey (no offense intended to horses), or maybe two loads, nevertheless the speech did change him in one way: it made him even more dangerous. If even Van Jones, who used to be smarter than that (Iwish he would get checked for a possible brain tumor) was sucked in the way he was, what do you think the rest of the country thought? I do realize that his actual voters didn't like it. They prefer the ugly, stupid version. But they are not writing the news (except at Breitbart and Stormfront). We need far less adulation and far more truth. Thank heaven for Keith. Hope he has a bullet-proof vest and good locks at his home.
HuffPo 2 – I know. If you ask the fake news artists, they will readily admit that every time they try it on liberals, the most it lasts is a day or two before getting debunked. So it's no fun to mess with liberal minds. They'd rather mess with conservative ones (if you can call those minds.)
Universe – Ain't it the truth!
I really like this version of "RESIST!!"
TY! If you like the Zebra, you'll love the big cats that aren't done yet.
"They'd rather mess with conservative ones (if you can call those minds.)" — If you can call thosee minds, indeed! I think a gnat has more brains.
Rachel and Keith are so spot on, Love these folks for bringing home the truth!
My Universe: Adorable.
Hope that you start feeling better, stay in bed, and rest! Tom.
Gotta pack and run, y'all have a good week.
Thank you, Lynn for post.
I hope you're having a great visit! See you get back from your sanity trip.
Last night would actually have been a good night to turn the clocks forward because this Sunday turned out to be a glorious spring day with temperatures around 15° C. By the time we get around to it in two weeks time it'll be probably raining cats and dogs too and everyone will be cranky having lost an hour of sleep to be welcomed by a grey day like that. I think I'll stock up on some beans and toast, Lynn.
Otherwords: Nice picture with the mugshots of all the people they need to investigate. Only after the investigation is finished can they determine the relative sizes of the dolls, i.e. who fits into who.
TH/Rachel Maddow: No way this is a coincidence! Bharara was first asked to stay on by a completely clueless Drumpf, probably on a whim, to appease Schumer. Only two days ago ethic watchdog groups asked Bharara to look into Drumpf possibly receiving money from foreign powers. So the noose is tightening around all of their necks, Sessions an Bannon pushed extra for Drumpf to sack all Obama-linked U.S. attorneys, citing the need to purge all Obama remnants to stop the leaks. And they slipped Bharara among them because of the threat this man to Drumpf and to them. Drumpf may have known that Bharara was among those fired, but this happening on a Friday, and Drumpf never reading anything longer than a page and with his mind already on the golf course in Florida, chances are he never even knew, don't you think? Keep digging Rachel and
RESIST, PERSIST & INDICT!
Truthout: Kudos to Kalamazoo Public Schools for creating this college tuition wonderful fund for all of their graduates. What is exceptionally about it that it offers graduates the opportunity to use the scholarship anywhere between graduation and 10 years after, giving them room to try something else first, think on it longer to make a well-considered decision and give some past graduates a chance retroactively. And the whole community benefits from it. Of course!
HP: Apparently many of these migrants, or rather: asylum seekers, had been legally in America, but only for a few days before they risked life and limb AGAIN to flee to Canada. Apparently what they encountered on their arrival in America was so shocking, or so similar to what they had already experienced before they came to the U.S. that they remained in fugitive-mode which carried them right across the border. It could also be that Canada has become a myth, like Great-Britain is for immigrants/asylum seekers coming to Europe. But as this something very recent, doubling the numbers within a month or so, numbers 1, 2 and 3 have made already desperate new arrivals fear for their lives and willing to risk it and flee to Canada. For them, America will never be great.
Keith Olbermann: Spot on, as usual. He didn't have to attack those TV hosts that declared Drumpf president (period) last Tuesday as many others have done. He just leaves it up to Drumpf to dethrone himself again within a matter of days. Excellent job, Keith.
HP: I would suggest to James McDanie and anyone else who wants to try such an experiment to think again. They should realize that their own failure to understand the process by which Drumpfians keep their worldview in tact and their underestimation of the tenacity with which Drumpfians hold on to their "truths", has only added to the credibility of certain fake stories. These fake stories may have been obviously satirical to McDanie, but for most Drumpfians, desperately fighting to not go under in real news, they obviously were not and only helped to set their biases in stone, making them even harder to change than before.
My Universe: And then there's Simon's Cat, making me smile again, though I recognize every one of the six signs cats love me in the smallest detail. 😉
So, did you stock up on beans and toast?
Truthout: The Kalamazoo project rocks!!!
The Russian Dolls says a lot. The "Why?" I would guess is greed!
The Hill, and Rachel are spot on!
Lynn, you are right about the Lazrus poem, sadly!
Keith: Sorry, I could only stomach the first 3:10 minutes of the talk. This is why I do not watch the Flaming Orange Fart…he's all hot air and shit!
Simon's Cat is lovely.
Thanks all!