I’m feeling slightly better than I did yesterday. The pain when I cough is still excruciating, but I’m coughing less and was able to sleep. Today, I put George on for the first time in two weeks. The stretching hurt liked hell, but leaving Stumpy unconfined for so long was bringing back phantom pain. Wendy and I got everything done yesterday, including the dreaded task. This morning I scheduled my first cataract surgery for June 23. There is light at the end of this tunnel.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:21 (average 4:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Unpopular orange blunt object of a President Donald Trump had a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni recently. It’s hard to screw up a press conference introduction but the wannabe tiny-handed model did just that.
Through the ages your country has been a beacon of artistic and scientific achievement. That continues today. From Venice to Florence, from Verdi to Pavarotti—friend of mine. Great friend of mine.—These bonds…
As an American I want to jump out of a window every time he speaks as president. Not since George W. Bush came on the scene has someone seemed so thoroughly unimpressive. He’s also an insane liar and, as the Independent in England reports, Pavarotti’s widow and his family can’t stand the guy—and they don’t imagine their late great Luciano could either. [emphasis added]
To settle the issue, Peach Pinocchio could create an opportunity to meet with Luciano Pavarotti and discuss it. RESIST!!
From RFI: The deciding round of France’s presidential election will pitch Marine Le Pen, the 48-year-old inheritor of the leadership of the far-right National Front (FN) against Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former merchant banker and former economy minister who has never held elected office. What are the big differences in their programmes?
Sunday’s first round saw the candidates of the ruling Socialists, Benoît Hamon, and the mainstream right Republicans, François Fillon, eliminated, with the hard left’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon close behind Fillon and way ahead of Hamon.
So, although Macron was a minister in the outgoing government and Le Pen’s FN has been on the political scene since 1972, neither represent a party that has held the presidency or run the country before.
Many Socialists and Republicans on Monday called for a vote for Macron to stop Le Pen, whose party is strongly anti-EU and anti-immigrant.
Click through for analysis of their policy differences. I can’t say that I’m thrilled with either, but I have to support Macron over Le Pen [R-FR]. RESIST!!
From Think Progress: It all started with Steve Doocy.
On July 6, 2016, former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson sued Roger Ailes, alleging she was sexually harassed. The suit prompted an investigation of Ailes, his eventual firing, and a $20 million settlement for Carlson.
The investigation of Ailes, and the public standard it set for Fox News, set the precedent for the ouster of Bill O’Reilly last week, following numerous allegations of sexual harassment.
But Carlson’s problems with Ailes began when she complained to him about the conduct of Steve Doocy, her co-host on Fox & Friends.
According to Carlson’s complaint, Doocy “engaged in a pattern and practice of severe and pervasive sexual harassment of Carlson.”
Doocy was not named as a defendant. But Carlson claimed Doocy created a “hostile work environment” by treating her in a “sexist and condescending way,” regarding her as a “blond female prop.”
The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda has always reflected the misogyny of the Republican Party by treating women as props, and many of the ones I used to call Faux Noise Bimbettes, knew they were being hired as eye candy and cashed in on it. Since then, I have learned that even a woman’s active participation in the discrimination against her does not keep her from being a victim. Doocy is just one of the Republican crowd there. Put Faux Noise and the Republican Party out of business. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
15 Responses to “Open Thread – 4/24/2017”
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4:13 (4:38 when I did it)
DKos – Though much of the conversation focused on Pavarotti, Verdi did come up, which gave me an opportunity to comment that Verdi was a Freedom Fighter in his day – his "Il pensiero" became an unofficial anthem for the stuggle to get Italy out from under the Austrian thumb. And that opera – Nabucco – will be on PBS television on May 28 at 1:00 p.m. (I always recommend checking local schedules though.) And don't be surprised if it is encored. That is a tradition from before Italy was Italy (and it scared the pants off the Austrian occupation from the get-go). I will consider my watching to be an act of resistance.
RFI – Basically, what I got out of it was that they didn't completely mess it up, but they did give themselves another chance to do so. I certainly hope they don't.
TP – "I have learned that even a woman’s active participation in the discrimination against her does not keep her from being a victim." Thank you a google of times. It can hardly be said enough.
Cartoon – At least that's part of the pledge. We all know there is lots more.
It took a while to figure out.
DK: From Laurel & Hardy: "Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into." Change 'me' to 'us', and that sums it up well. *The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case 1930
RFI: I have to agree with your comment, Tom. Anything to keep Le Pen out!
TP: All of these guys need to go. No one is entitled to make another feel uncomfortable, whether at home, or the working environment. imho.
Cartoon: Every day too!
Little steps each day to recuperate. Glad you got your chores done. I probably won't be here tomorrow, if I am it will be very late, or Wed., as I have company coming in, and I'm making a batch of homemade egg rolls, with cobbler for dessert. Y'all are welcome to stop by. 😉
Take care, and thanks, Tom.
TC doing better is just wonderful!
DK: Perhaps Empty Orange is trying to see how many idiocies he can produce in public within his first 100 days!
TP: Faux news has been a bigly sized cesspool since its inception, with Ailes leading the way, setting the culture, using women as objects, and props, dumbing down the society…but you all know that.
FLASH OF INSIGHT: that inane smile is right out of the Alfred E. Neuman playbook!
Puzzle — 3:37 Our sunset this evening was much like that — simply put GEORGEOUS!!!
Daily Kos — Pavarotti and Drumpf good friends??? Not a chance! The Orange Ogre is lying . . . like usual! Now, to wash that orange filth from your minds for a few moments, click HERE to hear Canada'a Bryan Adams and Luciano Pavarotti singing 'O Sole Mio. It is obvious that the two men are enjoying the experience. I watched it 4 times plus one of the Three Tenors singing La Traviata . . . a wonderful way to put the Orange Ogre in his place.
RFI — Liberté Égalité Fraternité — The French motto born during the French Revolution. Le Pen will make a mockery of those words as Drumpf has made a mockery of Emma Lazarus' sonnet, The New Colossus, that is inscribed at the Statue of Liberty. She must be stopped!
Think Progress — I read quite some time ago that Doocy was one of the main culprits of sexual harassment and misogyny. How he avoided being named in any of the suits is beyond me. Apparently Ailes has been replaced by a twit named Shine who also a misogynist. Faux Noise needs to be cleaned out from top to bottom, as does the Republican party . . . the sooner, the better!
Cartoon — Those inconvenient "truths".
Resist and Persist!!!
Glad you were able to get some sleep and get your chores done, even that hated chore. Good to know we won't have to worry about a naked Puddy Tat. I was busy with a meeting with a financial planner and then the dentist. I go back to the dentist on 05 May 2017 for that broken tooth. The rest of the week is really busy as well. I will need to take next weekend to relax.
So glad you are doing better – we're all rooting for you!
Everything trump says and does is cringeworthy….The things that go thru my mind about him are scary and unprintable.
I see Ivanka has quietly changed the name of her line – since things were not selling, she thinks that will make a difference. HA
Although the pain isn't gone completely you're able to sleep better and you've got a result to look forward to in June, TomCat. So light at the end of the tunnel indeed.
DK: In a 100 days Drumpf has managed to confirm to all other nations that he is no more than an incompetent egomaniac, a buffoon who is an absolute failure in the job he boasted of being the greatest in. So the Italian government will have taken this stupid brag in it's stride, like all governments so far and just laughed it off. The only time people start to take Drumpf serious is when he's moving towards the big red nuclear button. Only then will President Xi call Trump, urges ‘restraint’ as US carrier nears Koreas for the second time after his meeting with Drumpf in Mar-a-lago. Xi obviously feels himself in a tight spot between two madmen while being blamed for not resolving it by Drumpf.
TP: Strangely enough this first round vote is considered a vote against the establishment because centrist Macron is not linked to any party, but a movement and Le Pen's party Front Nationale has never governed before. And now Marine Le Pen has announced she has disassociated herself from the FN because she want to be president for all French. Shades of Drumpf there, but Brussels is happy, because they're sure that Macron, the only pro-European candidate out of 11 contenders, has come out on top and Europe expects him to win. Let's keep our fingers crossed that all voters in lower education, lower income districts, where Le Pen is popular, make the same mistake Americans did.
TP: Both the Republican party and its media extension Faux News should be put out of business sooner than later, and this could be hastened along if women refused to let themselves be their political advocates and their media props. Being a part of either as a woman gives their bosses, their colleagues and their constituents/viewers the chance to shrug off the charges of sexual harassment and say that they knew what they were getting into and asking for it. If all women refused to appear on Faux News for instance, both as presenters, behind the screens, and as guests, the station would soon bleed dry through lack of viewers and sponsors. So:
♀ RESIST & PERSIST!
Thanks for the clarification.
In case nobody noticed, the reason I suggested that the Fuhrer should meet with Pavarotti is that Pavarotti is dead.;
Thanks all! Hugs!!
I did notice, but assumed others would too. And perhaps they did and didn't mention it. Yes, he should meet with Pavarotti, and also with Fred Douglass, and Verdi. Although I doubt whether any of them will be where he's going!
Good point!
I knew Pavarotti was dead and checked Google for the date — 06 Sept 2007 — because I could not remember. That's how I found the vid with Bryan Adams. I sat listening, and yes singing along, with Pavarotti. I sang tenor in my school choir and at church. Such beautiful sound, Pavarotti and Bryan Adams, not me.
I thout a Sasquatch miught sing base.
Bryan Adams is alive, and Pavarotti is gone. One the other hand, Placido Domingo is alive and John Denver is gone.
https://youtu.be/3YnfCH7LNcM
I think you will like this.