I’m sorry to say that the heat is returning. Although today’s forecast is only 82°, the sun hit the outside wall at 6:00 AM, and by 8:00, I had to close the windows, lower the blinds, and turn on the AC. It’s another muggy day. Speaking of muggy, I put in the mug order last night. Lona’s is the first I’ve customized, since my eye cancer surgery. I hope I lined everything up right.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:17 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The Rachel Maddow Show: Scientist says EPA asked her to change testimony to Congress
Deborah Swackhamer, chair of the E.P.A.’s Board of Scientific Counselors, talks with Rachel Maddow about the pressure she received from an EPA official to change her congressional testimony and how the EPA’s outside scientific review board has been "decimated."
Kudos to Deborah Swackhamer. She ought to take that hammer and swack Scott Pruitt upside the head. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: Foreign-born recruits who signed up for the military with the promise of U.S. citizenship in exchange for their service are finally getting their thanks in the form of deportation. MAGA.
According to a new report, the Pentagon is considering ending the contracts of a large number of foreign-born recruits in the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest program—which puts service members with foreign-language and other speciality [sic] skills on an expedited path to citizenship—due to an “overtasked vetting process and heightened security risk.”
But according to one former official, this can be something as innocuous as having a foreign relative, which would be expected of a foreign-born applicant in the first place. And due to the fact that the federal government already has so much of their personal information on file, many of these recruits would be “prime targets” for immediate deportation.
Basically, “Thank you for your service. Now get out”
These people served our country honorably and in good faith. It’s disgusting that Republican racists don’t consider promises made to folks they call mud-people binding. RESIST!!
From NY Times: President Trump’s nominee for general counsel of the Transportation Department, Steven G. Bradbury [Pig delinked], is coming under fire by Democrats and human rights advocates for his role in providing legal blessing for waterboarding and other torture techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency on terrorism suspects during the administration of George W. Bush.
Amid interruptions by anti-torture protesters at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Democrats grilled Mr. Bradbury about interrogation memos he wrote as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during Mr. Bush’s second term.
“You lacked the judgment to stand up and say what is morally right when pressured by the president of the United States, and I’m afraid you would do so again,” said Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, who wagged her finger at Mr. Bradbury and accused him of having a dangerous “rubber stamp” mentality. “I cannot oppose this nomination strongly enough.”
Like Tammy, I cannot oppose the appointment of a Republican War Criminal strongly enough, RESIST!!
Cartoon:
7 Responses to “Open Thread – 6/29/2017”
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4:34 Doesn’t look promising from a food standpoint for a kitteh.
Rachel – I often notice people’s names too, but usually when it’s more INappropriate, or at least inappropriate for an ideal world. Like, say, Jeff Flake. Not only is Swackhammer competent and knowledgeable, but she also presents herself with such confidence and clarity, she must absolutely scare the PANTS off Republicans. And she appears exceedingly difficult to intimidate. I would not want to see it happ. One common thing people do which she did is using the word “decimated” when that word is insufficient. A board of 68 that was “decimated” would lose 6 or 7 members depending on how the count started. This is more of a massacre or a holocaust.
If anyone let the vid run, you saw disabled people protesting Cory Gardner. DKos has a fascinating article on the interaction between the police and the protestors (hint: NOT what you’d expect.)
DKos – You are singing my song. This is despicable. Not just actual veterans either, but those who have supported our military in enemy territory, like Iraqi interpreters who repeatedly put their lives on the line to save our troops’ lives. ALL these should be welcomed with open arms!
NYTimes – I am so grateful that Tammy was elected. I am always frightened when a sitting Representative runs that we will lose the election AND the House seat. Thank God that didn’t happen.
Cartoon – Nero loved the sound of his own voice singing. Thank heaven the modern Nero limits it to speaking.
RM: Man, this really is bad. We need science, and we need more Ms. Swackhamers to continue what they do best. (Stand Strong).
DK: This is an insult to those serving, or trying to get into the military or vets. I’m appalled by dt’s shameful treatment (who, happened to be a draft dodger), to those want to serve, and those veterans who served!! ….Honor, Integrity, Commitment gone out the window. Reading one of the comments on page…..**”From Buffalo2 — “Yeah, it’s easier instead to privatize the U.S. military and turn it over to Blackwater, owned by Betsy DeVos’ brother.” to which I agree, more $$$ for dt. dt is a national disgrace, and what he’s doing to the citizens and this country is absolutely reprehensible!!! Insist and Resist!!!!!!!!
NYT: Kudos to Ms. Duckworth for her actions/comments at he hearing for this id.
Cartoon: Very telling, and most depressing. RESIST
I am sure that the mug will turn out wonderful !! It’s hot and muggy here too, not enough rain though. Enjoy your evening, take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
Rachel: When Hitler kicked so many Jewish scientists out of Germany,or they fled, he said something much like “So,we’ll do without science for a year!” G.W. Bush silenced scientists as much as he could, which might have been really difficult for him, as he probably could not even spell the word! Destroying science is not how to “Make America Great,” but how to “Make America a Banana Republic!” And, like so many of those it will have an immensely skewed economic picture.
DK: The GOPigs showing their true character…or lack thereof!
NY T: Tammy rocks!
Cartoon: Some have said that Trump, and Bannon’s agenda is/was exactly what is pictured!!!
Puzzle — 4:20 Unless you are on good terms with that pelican, I think you are SOL for a fish dinner. You might be able to scratch up a grass salad.
TRMS — Kudos to Ms Swackhamer for telling it as it is. I found myself wondering if she disclosed the e-mails etc about altering her testimony. Had she, she would probably be unemployed now.
Daily Kos — The administration may have just created the need for heightened security. It would not surprise me if this administration said “Oh, and before you leave, you must pay back all the costs of your training etc.”
NY Times — This is where the rubber hits the road, your services will not be required. As it is, the administration is already filled with liars and thieves starting at the top.
Cartoon — Drumpf fiddles as the US burns. Always trying to distract.
Resist and Persist!!!
It hasn’t been super hot today but is sure muggy.
Short on time and very late in, but still trying to comment every day:
Rachel Maddow: Kudos to Deborah Swackhamer for standing up to Pruitt, and with that the Drumpf administration, standing up for what science is about, i.e. independent thinking within the standards and framework the scientific community has set itself and for having the guts to go public with the fact she has been put under pressure to change her testimony. However, prof. Swanckhamer still thinks it’ll take the committee she chairs about a year to recruit 70+ new members and catch up with the work, but I think it’ll take forever, and the committee will never review anything the EPA puts out again. From now on the EPA will be just another source of FAKE SCIENCE.
DK: Yes, these men and women have served America in good faith. But then what has good faith ever meant to Republicans. It hasn’t gone well with their own brand of supply-side pseudo-Christian faith for decades, has it.
NYT: My goodness, it really feels like I’m reading a German paper from the thirties: first science was discredited and virtually banned from government, then foreign-born service members without citizenship are not only denied it, but will soon be deported to thank them for their service and now a war criminal is nominated for a post in Drumpf’s extended entourage, mainly because “[He] lacked the judgment to stand up and say what is morally right when pressured by the president of the United States, and [he is likely] to do so again.” Kudos to Tammy Duckworth for pointing out this double risk, but like all the others before him, Steven Bradbury can rest assured that the GOP will get him appointed. Because he has such a useful “rubber stamp mentality.”
Cartoon: History repeats itself, this time not accompanied by singing, but hosted on a reality-TV show.
The parallels between the German Reich and the Republican Reich are uncanny.
Thanks all. Hot muggy hugs.