It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and my Broncos are worshiping with the Bills. The game is not televised here 
, but I shall meditate as well as I can. May the divine Orb shed its blessed light on your team, unless they create a bison plucky hazard. Today is a Wendy day, and I’m totally ready for a shower.
I let Wendy go a half hour early, as she has a busy day. My Broncos are currently down 4. 
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:28 (average 6:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Washington Post: Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell catapulted himself into the national political discourse on national anthem protests, one intensified by President Trump’s comments over the weekend, as he knelt for the song preceding a game against the Texas Rangers.
Maxwell, a 26-year-old rookie whose family has military roots, is the first MLB player to kneel during the anthem, following in the footsteps of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the anthem ahead of the 2016 NFL season. Since then several dozen athletes, mostly NFL players, have followed suit, using the gesture to protest police shootings of unarmed black men and to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Maxwell, however, knelt also to protest comments by President Trump, according to his agent, specifically Trump’s call on NFL owners to fire or suspend players for kneeling during the anthem. Trump continued that call Sunday morning on Twitter.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” wondered the president at a Friday night rally, “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ”
Kudos to Maxwell. Professional athletes have a guaranteed 1st Amendment right to speak out against the Fuhrer and his Republican Reich. Kneeling in protest does not disrespect the flag, and Trump would not care if it did. He cares only because it disrespects him by opposing the Republican de facto position that cops should kill minority demonstrators. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump on Friday capped a busy week of diplomatic activity by naming the former Alaska governor Sarah Palin the United States Ambassador to Nambia.
By naming Palin to this diplomatic post, the United States has become the first nation in the world to formally recognize Nambia’s existence.
In a joint appearance with Trump at the White House, Palin acknowledged that she “didn’t know a lot about Nambia” but said that she was looking forward to receiving a comprehensive briefing on the nation’s history, culture, and customs from the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.
“Then it’s Nambia, here I come!” Palin exclaimed.
Dang Andy! This is the only time I have ever agreed with the Fuhrer. Nambia is the perfect post for Bloody Bullseye Barbie. RESIST!!
From NY Times: In an unpredictable political year across Europe, the German election on Sunday has been considered the boring final act. Angela Merkel, the Continent’s most powerful figure, is expected to win a fourth term as chancellor after a colorless campaign. Yet if many Germans seem satisfied enough with their leader, others are unhappy with the wishy-washy consensus of the main political parties.
Troubled by her migration policy and her long tenure, some Germans are turning more toward smaller, more ideological parties. For the first time in more than 60 years, they are expected to vote a far-right, anti-immigration party — the Alternative for Germany, known by its German initials, AfD — into the federal Parliament.
In recent weeks, the party has regained lost ground in the opinion polls. It could emerge as Germany’s third-largest party — and even become the leader of the opposition, if the current coalition of the two largest parties falls apart.
Such a scenario would represent a big shift in the consensus-driven style of politics in Germany. And the historical import is undeniable in a country still shadowed by the Nazi legacy of World War II, which is why the election is generating some angst.
Even the party’s entrance into Parliament “would be a dramatic milestone,” said Frank Decker, a political scientist from the University of Bonn. “In the past there were a few individual old Nazis who made it into the national Parliament, but there has never been a party on the far-right of the political spectrum.”
Our own nation is a sad example of what happens when Republicans take control of a government. It is critically important that other Nazi parties, like the AfD, be denied even the slightest toehold elsewhere. RESIST!!
Cartoon
19 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/24/2017”
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We have to admit that Dotard calls them as HE sees them …
Kap’s adoptive mother, Teresa, tweeted that apparently that makes her a proud bitch. Let’s see –
Beautiful – check.
Intelligent – check.
Talented – check.
Charming – check.
Honorable – check.
Yup. I’d say so.
Excellent, and Spot On!!, Joanne!
EXCELLENT, Joanne!
Excellent re-framing!
Yup! And the beauty, intelligence, talent, charm and honour are spreading! The one that should be fired is the dotard! What a beautiful word . . . dotard, related to dotage which I have used for years, and so, so appropriate for Drumpf. I’ll bet that word really pisses him off if he even bothered to find out the meaning.
Yeah, he don’t mince no words!
Kudos to both Nameless and JD!
5:04 I didn’t find it sticky enough myself.
WaPo – This probably says more about the whole kerfuffle than anything else (this particular one is available at TeePublic, but, with slight font differences, they are all over. And in many colors.) The message is “Don’t get uppity.” It’s the same message that is sent to any group other than white males (though not ALL white males send it, by a long shot.) BTW, I hear some veterans are claiming they didn’t serve so people could protest. Well, by God
I
did! And they may not realize it, but they actually did too. It’s in the Constitution, y’know.
TNY – I can’t wait till she leaves.
NYT – Now THIS, IMNSHO, is the true expression of demonic power. Not that i am claiming that “demons” exist. But evil certainly does.
Cartoon – You just keep trying, GOP. Hopefully that will distract you from other activities which I won’t mention because I don’t want to give you ideas.
Great T-shirt!
WP: Kudos to Maxwell (and the others) who are united in this cause. Excellent tweets too!, btw.
NYer: omg!!! This is hilarious!!!! LOL, Andy!
Cartoon: I love this Pope more and more! He’s for the people.
My guys lost today, close score too. Hope that you have a good, relaxing evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom. Gotta run!
The things that drumpf said on Twitter today was inexcusable! Thank goodness that the NFL owners are pushing back on his blow-hard B.S.
Andy was RIGHT! Send BBBarbie to Nambia! Even my autocorrect knows THAT is wrong!
WP: I have signed so many petitions about standing with the kneelers, today!
New Yorker: Yeah, DeVos is the perfect educator, and Palin is the perfect diplomat for such a wondrous place!
NYT: Egad!
Puzzle — 3:56 Pretty posies that might be OK in a salad Puddy Tat.
Washington Post — ““Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” wondered the president at a Friday night rally, “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ”” — And what does a country do when its so called leader disrespects the constitution, stated national values, and the rule of law? Get that son of a bitch out of the White House. FIRE HIM!!! Fire Drumpf and lock him up!!! I support the players in their protests as guaranteed under the 1st amendment of the very constitution that Drumpf ignores.
The New Yorker — Well that should be a short briefing but DeVos will likely extend the length with made up information. As for BB Barbie, she’ll be right at home in a made up country.
NY Times — The results as noted in Wikipedia:
While Merkel won the election for her fourth term, she lost 65 seats. The SPD, which has been in a coalition arrangement with CDU/CSU since 2013, lost 50 seats. The AfD gained the most and then the liberal FDP. It is distressing to see the AfD gain so many seats, but at least Merkel, Schultz and Lidner more than offset those 94 AfD seats. Parties based on hate, like the US Republicans and the German AfD, cannot be allowed to grow and flourish for the sake of humanity and the planet.
Cartoon — Don’t Republicans wish . . .
Resist, Persist and Remove!!!
OMG! That the Nazis outperformed the FDP boggles the mind!
WP: Kneeling for a flag is disrespectful? I suppose to Drumpf it would appear that way because people aren’t kneeling to him, as they should, but the flag instead. But whatever way people honor the flag, the fact that the discussion now has reached sports shows how divided America as a nation has become, a fact certainly not ameliorated by a so called president making it both political and racist by wanting that [black] “son of a bitch” fired. America needs to get its priorities straight and fire this imposter first.
TNY: Sarah Palin is perfect for the job because she can see Russia from her new post in Nambia too.
NYT: In addition to what Lynn has already published I would like to note that the SPD, the party which had Merkel move to the left on many points such as a minimum wage and allowing Syrian refugees in, has learned its lesson from partnering with a right wing party like the CDS/CSU. Exactly like the Dutch Labour Party, which had partnered with the liberals (which are right wing in Europe, remember) for four years, the SPD got all of the blame for what went wrong but no recognition for what went right (i.e. left) and both lost brutally. And BOTH have now said they will no longer be part of a coalition. Which means that without the SPD Merkel will have to go through a possible lengthy process to form a coalition of 6 parties to keep the AfD out. If she succeeds, she’ll end up with an unstable coalition (6 is just too much) under siege from both the AfD and the SPD.
Neil deGrasse Tyson just concluded a series of tweets on physics in Westeros with “In the #GameOfThrones Universe, to “bend the knee” represents the very highest form of respect and loyalty.” My, my.
So, what you’re saying Lona is that Lidner’s FDP are actually right wing? If so, that means that there was a tremendous (hate that word which is one of Drumpf’s over used go to words!) shift right in the voting electorate since the AfD and FDP picked up a total of 174 seats between them. I took liberal to be in the Canadian sense which is left of centre, with the exception of the BC Liberals who are right of centre or more readily allied with the federal Conservatives.
Your clarification is appreciated. Thanks
Thanks all. Busy, tired hugs!