It’s a busy day and not as hot as yesterday After today, the temperatures will be in the mid-80°s and above for the next ten days. The horrible part is that for that whole time, the humidity will never drop below 45%. I hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend (US).
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:02 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Trump Will Not Be Cleared
Was Trump an unwitting accomplice? Possibly. A dimwitted one? Indubitably! RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: From Vanity Fair:
But a few days shy of her six-month mark on air, Van Susteren’s business is finished on MSNBC, according to people familiar with the situation. The anchor, whose show struggled to gain traction even as the rest of her colleagues were buoyed by anti-Trump hysteria, has parted ways with the network. She will not appear on the show on Thursday evening. She will be permanently replaced by Ari Melber, the network’s chief legal correspondent and host of the The Point on weekends. He will continue to appear across NBC and MSNBC shows as he takes over the 6 p.m. slot next month. (MSNBC and NBC News declined to comment. Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Van Susteren had no comment.)
I never published one of her clips, I gave her the benefit of the (very small) doubt, if any, and watched several when going to MSNBC for material from Chris, Rachel, and Lawrence. It was more like watching the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise. Good riddance to bad rubbish. RESIST!!
From NY Times: With Senate Republicans already bogged down over how to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, President Trump on Friday tossed in a new complication with an old idea: The Senate could repeal the health law now, then replace it later.
Mr. Trump gave his blessing [tweeting twit delinked] in a Twitter post after a Republican dissatisfied with the current repeal bill, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, floated the two-stage approach as a backup plan. Mr. Sasse sent a letter to the president [Fascist delinked] and made a pitch on Fox News [Faux Noise delinked] on Friday as an agreement on a new version of the Senate’s repeal bill remained elusive.
Other conservatives quickly picked up the idea — including Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and the advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, backed by Charles G. and David H. Koch — presenting a new headache to Senate leaders who are trying to focus their conservative and moderate troops on finding a compromise.
It isn’t enough for the Fuhrer and his Koch sucking Republican cronies to take health care away from only 24 million Americans. This will do it to 36 million. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
I made this cartoon five years ago today. It still applies.
12 Responses to “Open Thread – 7/1/2017”
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KO: God, how sad and chilling. Well said, keep ’em coming, Keith.
DK/VF: I saw her on Faux news, but I don’t watch that channel, nor did I listen to her on MSNBC.
NYT: W.T.H.???? o.m.g.! This makes my physically ill. Sick, blood sucking ‘B’s!!!!
Cartoon: 5 years old, and appropriate today. What’s that tell us?? ugh!
It’s a lazy, hazy day here. Fireworks downtown tonight, I don’t go, I have trouble with crowds now. Hope that you have a restful, relaxing evening. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
It tells us that Republicans without Trump are the same as Republicans with Trump. He just creates a distraction to help them hide their evil.
4:31 Salad? Just make sure nothing is toxic.
This link belongs on Erinyes, and I’ll put it there too, but I think it may get seen more here:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/6/29/1676530/-I-ve-just-answered-Kris-Kobach-s-question-Have-you
Keith #92 – Surprised that Sen. Heimrich even asked that. He’s supposed to be a Progressive. I’m very glad that the answer was – well, inconclusive. Because I most certainly do not want Trump cleared.
DKos/VF – So glad the ratings reflected what we all knew or suspected. And even gladder thet MSNBC has done the right thing.
NYT – I can’t believe this idea will go anywhere. Sure, Republicans love it, but constiuents don’t share their blind hatred for Obama’s daring to be President while black. They know it will be political suicide.
Cartoon – Even MORE appropriate today.
I’ll return with a brief summary of the Town Hall, after I get it written up from my notes, and will append it as a reply to this comment.
Well, a Town Hall was held in Colorado Springs today (which is in Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District) with Jared Polis, the Congressman from Colorado’s Second congressional District. You might say this was a part of the “If you won’t talk to your constituents, I will” movement which started in New York. With Representative Polis were a young man from the Green party whose name I didn’t catch; Liz Rosenbaum, proprietor of Her Story Restautant and candidate for Colorado House District 21 in 2018; Stephanie (whose last name I didn’t catch) who will be running against Doug Lamborn in 2018 (and I will know her last name, hopefully soon; I’d love for her to be one of my pithy progressives, so added my name to her emailing list.)
Tens of people were present (my rough estimate was 50-70 but that may be high).
Rep. Polis opened by stating the awfulness of the House and Senate versons of the Health Care bill, and then pointed out that the climate positions of the current administration are equally reprehensible.
Questions were taken by show of hand (there were two guys with mikes covering the room) and by email to the Green party guy’s iPhone. It was quite orderly.
The first question was “How can we reach swing voters?” Rep Polis spoke about having out own clear vision. Stephanie added that our own vision is not enough, we must also losten to people where they are. Liz said that there are some of us who are never going to have direct representation in government, but it is possible to gain some indirect representation by supporting candidates in neighboring areas who can get elected, and we can do that in every way except voting. The Green party guy, a millennial, told us not to dismiss millenials; he gave an impressive autobio of having worked for, including raising finds for, causes from the time he was eight.
There was a question on rural broadband, which all four felt was vital to our infrastructure. There was a discussion on whether those in Congress can work together. Rep. Polis advised that, though there is a sharp divide on national party line issues, the Colorado delegation (9 reps, two Senators) can pretty well work together on issues affecting Colorado, with the exception of one. (Yes, you guessed it – that one is Lamborn.) He also said they can all get along socially – even Lamborn (better him than me.) Not that that means much, but even that is something.
One attendee had a suggestion that there should be a way for every constituent contact to a Rep or Senator to become part of the public record (I am sure she was thinking of McConnell claiming he has not had one phone call on health care – but if she wasn’t, I was.)
Immigration was discussed also. Stephanie pointed out that migration patterns don’t just happen; they are created and affected by the actions of global corporations (so if you don’t like people coming into the country, you should be addressing the corporations whose policies and practices make it necessary for people to come here.)
The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. Rep. Polis had to leave, but the other three stayed for a while, which is when I have Stphanie my contact information. Handicapped access was excellent. I am not committed to Polis as a gubernatorial candidate, but I am not ruling him out.
Good job, JD.
I do worry about the Green siphoning votes from a Democrat. It would be ideal if she could get the nominations of both parties, but I understand that traitor Jill opposes that.
The Green, the young man, isn’t running for anything himself, and seems to have been the one who did the most work of organizing the town hall. I also worry about greens siphoning votes, but he seemed level headed (and, as I say, isn’t running) so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt at this point.
I agree. I’m grateful for his service.
JD, that DK article is excellent. As I recall, when word that Kobach was going to head this travesty, we called it as “the fox guarding the hen house” and it seems that others see it the same way. Wouldn’t it be awesome if a million people took the time to send him a similar reply!
Keith: As we remain still waiting …for the indictments, or anything like them, and this jackass, and his buddies continue to chip, and hack away at that which has (had) already made this country great, one begins to wonder…at least this one does. This pig and his whores are dismantling whatever they can that anyone with half a mind might value in our government, in our culture!
DK: Never even heard of her until she got canned…guess I did not miss much.
NYT: Oh, this must be painting one hell of a smirk on the Lyin’ Ryan’s face!
Cartoon: A picture is worth a thousand words!
Puzzle — 4:00 Pretty posies!
YouTube — I have said it before . . . every time Drumpf opens his mouth, he shoots himself in the foot. In my mind, that proves just how truly dimwitted, nay stupid he really is. When one is so consumed with his own greatness and greed, it is not a stretch to comprehend how he could be duped. Drumpf must resign in the interests of national security.
Daily Kos — I saw her once in passing and was not impressed. I thought I was listening to Faux Noise. How she ever convinced NBC/MSNBC to hire her, I’ll never understand. Good riddance.
NY Times — What a crock of Republican shit! Drumpf ran on the promise of better and cheaper healthcare insurance. Another promise broken, or should I say shredded. I just can’t see how his base can continue to support him. Anyone with any sanity certainly won’t. And what’s more, if it is done in two steps, there is no incentive for Republicans to work out a new healthcare plan. To be sure, it will be on the never never plan.
Cartoon — People are already dying to get in there. They don’t need any help from Republicans.
Resist and Persist!!!
Keith Olbermann #92: Well, there go your best wishes for an enjoyable holiday weekend for Americans, TomCat. Keith sketched such a dark outlook in this video with Drumpf not even getting cleared of being an “unwitting”accomplice, or Drumpfian for that matter, and yet allowed to continue destroying America for Russia’s sake. Keith pints out that the 4th of July is next week and wonders if by then it’ll mean anything in this country. Sad food for thought for an otherwise happy holiday.
DK: I’ve no idea who Greta van Susteren is, but from your comment I gather I haven’t missed much and now do not have to bother with learning more about her.
NYT: Of course Drumpf and his ilk back the Koch backup plan to just repeal Obamacare and replace it with something else later, i.e. never. It can free up the money needed to put those tax-cuts that were promised to them right into their pockets, possibly even this year, when Drumpf/the Kochs and their minions can push through that tax-reform they’ve been working on to further enrich themselves. This will benefit them even more than Drumpfcare will, and with Drumpf’s days numbered, they are in a hurry to get this tax-reform done. They need to grab the money and run before the whole country goes bust. Yes, I can see their point…
Cartoon: I wish it wasn’t so spot-on after all these years, TomCat.
Thanks all! Pooped Hugs!