I’m trying to relax and enjoy the weekend. Tomorrow is a Wendy day. It’s also a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos visit the Eagles for morning worship, and it is televised here. I’ll have to ask Wendy for an application of Vaseline after my shower to prepare for the game. May the Holy Ellipsoid Orb bless your team, unless it is the one slaughtering mine.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:15 (average 6:02). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Merkley Speaks Out Against Anti-Union Attack
Support AFSCME! Impeach Whoresuch! Defeat the Reich that sucks Koch! I could not be more proud of Jeff. Oregon leads the way. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: Marc Lotter, former spokesman for the roundly denied by Americans Pence campaign and current mouthpiece for the trying-to-keep-Mike-Pence-out-of-jail-please campaign, was on Nicole Wallace’s MSNBC show Thursday. Wallace was holding a roundtable to discuss the current state of what we know about the Mueller investigation and more specifically how terrifying it must be for White House officials to know that George Papadopoulos had pled guilty months ago and may very well have been wired while having meetings with other officials. Lotter came on with the kind of incompetent bluster that usually only passes for a Fox News opening monologue where he said that Papadopoulos was both a low level guy with no access and also a guy with high level access who was incompetent. Did your brain freeze yet? Wallace was having none of it.
Barf Bag Alert!!
Woooo Hoooo Nicole! Did she tear that Pence troll a new asshole, or what? RESIST!!
From TPM: Democrats on Capitol Hill want answers from Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
This week’s deluge of fresh information from congressional and federal investigators revealed two previously undisclosed instances in which Sessions was allegedly directly informed about contacts between Russia and Trump campaign staffers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.
Though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) cautioned that perjury allegations were based on a “very careful standard,” he and other top Democrats claim Sessions appears to have failed to disclose the extent of what he knew about these contacts in his testimony to Congress.
That testimony has varied in its specificity. In June, Sessions gave a flat “no” to the Senate Intelligence Committee when asked if he was “aware of any communications” between Trump campaign officials “about Russia or Russian interests in the United States” prior to Trump’s inauguration. He offered a narrower response before the Senate Judiciary Committee in October, saying only that he had seen nothing “that would indicate collusion with Russians to impact the campaign” when asked if he’d ever overheard conversations with campaign staffers “who talked about meeting with the Russians.”
However Sessions chooses to interpret lawmakers’ questions, we now know of at least three instances in which he was allegedly told about or personally participated in communications with Russian officials or institutions during the 2016 campaign.
Click through for the rest. While it is now possible to nail KKK Beauregard for perjury, I think we want him where he is, for now. He cannot interfere with the Mueller investigation, because he has recused himself. If Trump gets to replace Sessions, the replacement will definitely interfere. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
16 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/4/2017”
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7:23 It looks like something that should grow under water. I must have been trying too hard to hold my breath.
We all knew Randy Rainbow would not let this week go by without something!
Jeff – I’m not even an Oregonian and I am proud of Jeff too.
DKos – It’s so confusing for us to have Bernie and Sarah Sanders both in the public eye – and when I hear Nicole Wallace I think of George, which generates more confusion. Yes, she nailed him. (And so will Mueller.)
TPM – I agree we do not want an unrecused attorney general. I’m pretty sure that’s what Rachel said too.
Cartoon – Well, that’s one way – but wasn’t it uncomfortable? (You could also have used a swamp monster costume to dress as a Republican.)
Hi, Joanne
Brilliant song!
Randy is so adorable! His mom must be so proud of him, I sure would be.
Thank you for sharing!
I saw that wonderful piece the other day.
Given my “morbid” Friday Fun Headstones post – how can I NOT love your current “Resist” logo?
Not being a “morbid” person, but here is the word for an abnormal attraction to and desire to visit cemeteries: Coimetromania. Just so you now know. I didn’t.
Cemetery visits have gone way, way down – at least in the United States – something like down 90% in just the last decade. Information courtesy of the national Cremation Society, and not 100% exact because I didn’t write it down. So your word may soon be obsolete.
Incidentally, while many people who are cremated want their ashes scattered, some opt to have their “cremains” put in cemeteries. So there’s that. But with no headstones, they are less interesting to visit. I suppose one could opt for a plaque.
So Jim, what do they call someone who always reads the obits . . . maybe just to confirm they are not dead yet?
My first thought was “headhunter” in reading the obits. But, that description, of course, is not it. Perhaps it is called “morbid curiosity”. But, that does not satisfy as to why. I suppose one could say that it is a morbid Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), probability of not. Since most of us in PP are a bit older (50+), we have had the occasion of thinking about our own impending scenario images of death on how and when we will succumb to it (death). Even to what happens afterwards with funeral, service, obit notice (wordings, commentaries), religion, God, and so on.
“Death anxiety (psychology) Death anxiety is anxiety which is caused by thoughts of death. … It is also referred to as thanatophobia (fear of death), and is distinguished from necrophobia, which is a specific fear of dead or dying persons and/or things (i.e. others who are dead or dying, not one’s own death or dying).”
“The fascination of reading the obituaries forms a purely older adult phenomenon. And it is not a morbid fascination with death, but a testament that the reader is still alive.”
“The philosophy is “it could be worse.” Which brings us back to the fascination older adults have with the obituaries. You are always better than those who are dead.”
I ran into this “Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale”. The Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CLFD; Collett & Lester, 1969) is perhaps the most commonly used instrument that clearly and systematically distinguishes between two key dimensions involving death, (1) the state of death vs. the process of dying, and (2) ones own death vs. the death of others. Best to look it up for yourself and pick the article(s), questionnaire suited to your own sensibilities.
Could not find a more definitive word meaning for obsessive obituary, death notice readings. By the way, I am not one of them. This exploration was something I did not plan on doing this AM at 4 in the morning. I was simply waking up and waiting for my first cuppa of strong hot java. While waiting, I looked up the comments in PP & C2. If anyone else wants, wishes to leave a comment on this topic, please feel free to do so.
Have any of us come close to “death”? I have from 2 heart attacks, 2 motorcycle accidents, training horses and no I am not accident prone, just living everyday life. How about “regrets”… which is probably another topic in itself.
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Randy Rainbow has done it yet again! Kudos!!! And thanks JD for keeping us up to date with Randy.
Thanks for the Randy Rainbow video, Joanne.
But Vaseline in German is Vienerschleider.
Senator Merkley deserves a round of applause for bringing this up. Kudos!! to him!
BBA: I like her, she’s very tenacious! Nicole – “I’ll send an email to Friends and Fox and you can peddle your proganda there.” BOOM!
TPM: Good point, keep the liar there, so dt won’t (hopefully) fire him.
Cartoon: I know you wouldn’t dress like that, but I sure did see alot of these people dressed like this, here, downtown. LOL.
Hope that you have a relaxing evening, tell Wendy HI, and hope your prayers are answered. We play the Colts at noon. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
YT/Merkely: the Anti-Union movement, IMHO, stems from the Rethugs realizing that unions give financial support to Democrats. Also, that unions virtually created the middle class, which the GOPigs wish to shut down. As usual, they can not think of consequences beyond their immediate bank deposits, so they can not see that shutting down the middle class would mean that all those folks would no longer be able to but the commodities whose sales fill those bank accounts, nor pay the taxes that they steal for themselves, and so on!
DK: I will take your word for it, can not stomach listening to these jackasses…and it is getting to be dinner time, here.
TPM: Yes, Sessions, ironically, helps us by hanging on, but my sense of optimism about his eventually ending in the cell next to tRump, in his very own orange jump suit, is growing!
Puzzle — 5:10 Pretty flower but nasty puzzle.
Jeff Merkley — As respectful as Jeff was, I’m surprised that the president of the Senate, or whomever was presiding, didn’t try to make him sit down and be quiet like they did to Elizabeth Warren some time ago. Jeff speaks with his best friends — facts — and clearly speaks for the people. Wouldn’t a presidential ticket with Merkley on it just be the cat’s pajamas in 2020!
Daily Kos — Wallace wasn’t having any of Lotter’s BS. “Did she tear that Pence troll a new asshole, or what?” In a
word YES!!!
TPM — I agree, leave the Keebler elf where he is. However, as I understand, Drumpf could still fire him, although that has its own hazards both legally and politically. But then, anyone willing to risk nuclear war does not appear to be too concerned about hazards.
Cartoon — I thought that was you! Aren’t you glad not many people recognised you!
I hope you had a relaxing day! I stayed in as it started to snow (Jolly Green Giant dandruff type snow) but nothing stuck and it was cold 3C (37 F) and it is expected to go below 0 C at night for a few days next week. Cold never used to bother me but lately . . .
Jeff Merkely: Jeff Merkely, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and a few others are the ones who truly represent progressives whom the majority of the Democratic voters favor and who should be the beacon of that party. If the DNC doesn’t realize this right now, there’s nothing left than for these progressives to start out on their own. If the Tea Party/Freedom caucus can dominate politics in the GOP, surely they could do so too.
DK: Woo Hoo Nicole indeed!
Marc Lotter could throw his pants into the bin with all the teeth marks bloodhound Nicole left in them. But she was nice enough, though, to email Faux News and ask them for a slot to air his propaganda there. Perhaps pence will now also start firing his staff…
TPM: There have been petitions going around to impeach Jeff Sessions for his perjury, but your reasoning makes a lot of sense, TomCat. Although Sessions is creating havoc in all other areas of his department, not being able to interfere with Mueller’s investigation takes priority at this particular moment in time. Any newly appointed AG might create about the same havoc in the justice department AND cut Mueller short. The problem now is that Sessions already offered to resign earlier, but Drumpf didn’t take him up on it despite his continuous twitter harassment of Sessions. This time Sessions may do so again to avoid impeachment and Drumpf may be advised to accept his resignation and find someone who’s well equipped to go after Mueller, never mind the department.
Cartoon: You can come up for air now, TomCat.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, dear friend.
Thanks all! Hugs!