Store to Door just delivered groceries, and I put then away. Wendy is coming this evening. I seem to be coming down with a cold, so please pardon my brevity.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): Guess Who Celebrated Election Night With Trump
May the Fuhrer be Saterized. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Donald Trump has accomplished little or nothing in his final year as President, a new poll finds.
According to the poll, a majority of Americans believe that Trump has made no progress on the economy, terrorism, or other key issues in his Presidency’s dwindling final days.
More troubling for Trump, the poll shows that Americans have lost confidence in his ability to salvage his Presidency before his imminent departure from the White House.
Davis Logsdon, a history professor at the University of Minnesota, said that Trump’s failure to accomplish anything of substance during his last year in office is a problem that has plagued other lame-duck Presidents.
From Andy’s keyboard to God’s eyes! RESIST!!
From NY Times: When the world looks at the United States, it sees a land of exceptions: a time-tested if noisy democracy, a crusader in foreign policy, an exporter of beloved music and film.
But there is one quirk that consistently puzzles America’s fans and critics alike. Why, they ask, does it experience so many mass shootings?
Perhaps, some speculate, it is because American society is unusually violent. Or its racial divisions have frayed the bonds of society. Or its citizens lack proper mental care under a health care system that draws frequent derision abroad.
These explanations share one thing in common: Though seemingly sensible, all have been debunked by research on shootings elsewhere in the world. Instead, an ever-growing body of research consistently reaches the same conclusion.
The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns.
Click Through for much more. Although the number of guns is skyrocketing, the number of gun-owning households remains constant. That shows that Republican Ammosexuals are compiling arsenals. Given their propensity for "2nd Amendment Solutions", that trend threatens us all. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/8/2017”
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Trump’s final year in office? Well, we can dream, can’t we? The only problem is, if we kick his orange arse out of the Oval Office, guess what we get. It could be out of the frying pan and into the fire.
IMHO, it isn’t just the huge number of guns contributing to gun violence, but our violent “cowboy” culture. Only when that changes will we see a reduction in shootings. However, changing that is going to take an ENORMOUS effort, and at least a generation to see even the least result.
GREAT cartoon! Far too many people who identify as Christians really know what their lord really said – or meant. As Mark Twain put it, if Jesus was alive today, the one thing he would not be is a Christian.
4:46 They say it’s a succulent … but it also has claws of its own. Be careful.
New ad from VoteVets. They want me to share it, and people here seem to like them.
Keith # 145 – He’s talking of last year’s Election Night, of course. I had to do a double take myself. You know, if it weren’t for Russian co-conspirators, Donald wouldn’t have any friends at all. Or family either. Possibly Barron. Tiffany? Mmmm…
TNY – Absolutely.
NYT – Multiple trolls have been in force recently (not here, but on other progressive sites) saying things like “It didn’t work in Canada,” and “It didn’t work in Australia.” Bull puckey. I mention it because if you comment elsewhere you may want to have a counter-reference handy, and I am not sharing particular links because if we separately google we are likelier to come up with different ones, and then we will be able to hit with multiple voices. (I am also coming across trolls saying white males are “under-represented” among mass shooters. More bull puckey.
Cartoon – Take cover from exploding Republican heads if they see this!
KO: He’s so deep in the hole….! Humpty Dumpty is due to fall, and the wall he sits on will crumble as well.
NYer: He has stated what we already knew of this furuncle, and his calamity to this Nation. He is a plague, isn’t he? Yes! he is!!
NYT: Very, very disturbing, and distressing. Living here deep in the ‘Heart of TX’., one can see that, that even youngsters are encouraged to own a rifle, or gun to hunt wildlife. I have never owned a gun, and I’m not about to go out to buy one either. When dt lies and encourages violence through his words, those individuals listening are encouraged by his hateful rhetoric, and the NRA embraces it. It’s very concerning, imho.
*Joanne: Excellent video. Word !!!! Thank you for sharing!
Oh, no. Hope you start feeling better quickly. Tell Wendy HI. Hope that you have a relaxing evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Keith: “What a wonderful world,” Louis sang, what a beautiful, and randomly marvelous world, I say! The pieces are, or seem to be, falling into place, it seems…not holding my breath, though.
New Yorker: Great idea! A CNN poll, as seen on tv at the gym, says that 64% of Americans believe that he is, essentially, full of BS. Cool, at first glance, but that means that 36% of Americans, belong in the category of the 10% of Americans who believed that Nixon was doing just a fine job, in the week before he resigned office! Thirty six percent apparently have yet to notice not how often he lies, but THAT he lies…incessantly!
NYT: Amazing! I expect that this arsenal creating is related to the NRA and the GOPigs screaming, again, and again, during Obamas’ term, that he was “Coming for your guns!” The munitions manufacturers had a blazing sales record each time that was trotted out by their puppets, I am willing to bet.
Keith Olbermann #145: Wouldn’t it be great that Drumpf’s fall from grace would be helped along by a man who is just as narcissistic and megalomaniacal as Drumpf is himself? But therein also lies the rub: Sater is so much like Drumpf he’ll probably lie his ass off to keep the spotlights on him, even if that spotlight is Mueller’s.
TNY: O(h Andy, if that were only true, the first and last year of Drumpf’s presidency all rolled into one. Or as golfer Drumpf would say: a hole in one. Let’s hope it is a very deep hole indeed Drumpf has dug himself.
NYT: The New York Times have published a number of truly excellent editorial op-eds since the Texas mass shooting; one with the number of days-hours-minutes and ticking seconds since the previous mass shootings the Republicans have refused to talk about “because it is too soon” all the way back to Sandy Hook, and this one. Both worth a read through if you haven’t used up all the free articles for this month. Based on facts (science and statistics) it debunks several myths and reasonable but wrong assumptions; it comes down to one thing and one thing only: too many guns. And the richer an American is the more guns he has. That should tell you something.
Hope you feel better soon, TomCat. Did you get your flu-shot yet?
Perfect graphic Lona!
Puzzle — 4:20 Some rather course salad?
Keith — Ah! Another shoe! May there be many more such that Drumpf and the Republican Reich are completely smothered by shoes!
The New Yorker — ““Trump is desperate for a legislative victory to prove that his final year as President was not a total disaster,” Logsdon said.” That should read “…that his only year as President …” That’s already too long!
NY Times — Republican “sensibilities” about it being too soon after a mass shooting to talk about gun control is just further proof that they have been caught with their hands in the ammo jar! In this latest shooting in Texas, I heard tell of a man in the church pulled out his gun and shot the shooter thus stopping any further carnage. I quite expect that Republicans will use this as their ‘go to’ example of how to fight fire with fire power. “… Republican Ammosexuals are compiling arsenals. Given their propensity for “2nd Amendment Solutions”, that trend threatens us all.” AMEN!!!
Cartoon — Now there’s a guy I can get behind . . . and do! Telling it like it should be . . . everywhere!
You did not need to send that cold north with the last bit of chili! I have the cold in the early stages so far but still not pleased or well. I kept falling asleep at my keyboard after getting home from teaching last night, thus I am commenting this morning. My little student turned 9 years old on Tuesday so I gave her a French/English dictionary for her birthday — a petit Larrouse, the best dictionary in my opinion. She loves it! Please get lots of rest with this cold you have. The cold seems to drain all energy!
Thanks all. Hugs!!