This is today’s only article. Between the flu, more Republicosis, and the Care2 Glitch Monster running amok, I’m shot.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:18 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (SNL Channel): Roy Moore & Jeff Sessions Cold Open
The real Pence would not want Moore to Withdraw. RESIST!!
From NY Times: After cutting funds for nonprofit groups that help people obtain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is encouraging the use of insurance agents and brokers who are often paid by insurers when they help people sign up.
The administration said in a recent bulletin that it was “increasing partnerships” with insurance agents and viewed them as “important stakeholders” in the federal marketplace, where consumers are now shopping for insurance. But some health policy experts warned that a shift from nonprofit groups, which are supposed to provide impartial information, to brokers and agents, who may receive commissions for the plans they recommend, carries risks for consumers.
Do not entrust your henhouse to Republican foxes. RESIST!!
From Think Progress: The retailer [Wal-Fart] is offering 15 posters of the forced relocation of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans, which occurred during World War II, including ones of children waiting to be transported and a group of Japanese women within the grounds of an internment camp. The pictures are described as “the perfect Wall Art for any home, bedroom, playroom, classroom, dorm room or office workspace.”
Leave it to Wal-Fart Republicans to glorify that. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
The head, not the ear.
16 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/12/2017”
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6:02 (somewhat interrupted by advertising)
Good luck to the Broncos. And feel better!
SNL – Amazing as always. The intercept had something on Roy Moore, but it was in an email (from Ryan Grim) so I can’t link. Basically, he was talking about the feeling journalists get when they run into something they can’t prove, but they (as Bill Maher put it a while ago “know it for a fact.” And that he felt the WaPo writeup contained a good deal of that. I know, and he knows, that’s not proof of anything. But he’s suspecting there is more to the story, and hoping it will come out.
NYT – Insurance agents can be very helpful, because they know a great deal about the products (policies) and how they work that you probably don’t, unless you work in the field yourself. But agents who are less than honest do more harm than good. Unless you have a BS detector with all the extra bells and whistles, I’d recommend signing up through the Exchange (and I did work in insurance, though not health insurance.) There’s a guy named Charles Gaba who has made it his mission to help people get signed up, and he does NOT receive commissions, only donations, directly and through Patreon. If anyone has questions, he’s the guy I’d recommend to answer them.
TP – I had to click through and click a little farther to see this. TC, I know you are both honest and a conscientious researcher, so I believed you, but it surely is in the colloquial sense “unbelievable.” And they previously had the gates of Auschwitz. They said then, ““The item was sold through a third-party seller on our marketplace….” Who is this third party seller? The KKK? Richard Spencer?
Cartoon – Well, with that hat, it’s not possible to point to the more advanced areas of the brain and be clear it’s the brain you are pointing to. But it looks like that arrow is pointing toward the amygdala, and they do kind of use that (or maybe more accurately, it uses them.)
Could the third party seller be the Republican Party?
“… he’s suspecting there is more to the story, and hoping it will come out.”
Maybe like the 16 y/o girl’s High School yearbook that Moore signed – revealed today by his FIFTH SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIM!
Probably that, and also the rumor that MooreOn was banned from the mall, which appears to be an exaggeration – he was banned from individual stores, and was on mall security’s watch list.
SNL: A consistent spot-on for this show. Have always enjoyed it.
TP: Oh, how insensitive, to those who lived it, and their memories.
Cartoon: “I will only hear what I want to hear”, said every Repug ever.
I hope that you start feeling better. My guys are playing the Rams here in a few. Get some rest, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Cartoon: “If I only had a brain.” said Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz
*Point of interest- I think one of the cutest quotes is when Dorothy asks Scarecrow how he can talk if he had no brain, to which he replies: “I don’t know, but some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they? *funtrivia
Just so you know, C2 has been flaking in and out all day today (Sunday). Maintenance, ya know. Maybe some fixin’ too. Maybe some upgrading too. Wish that C2 would let us know ahead of time like they used to do years ago.Maybe even telling us what C2 is doing, eh… sigh.
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I did get an advance notification, Jim. Now I don’t remember how. It wasn’t a PM – I don’t check those enough to have gotten it that way – I think it was a splash across something I was going there for. And I thought it was very odd it was going to start at 11 a.m. Saturday (I guess that was in my time zone since it apparently started at 10 a.m. Pacific.) I don’t remember any mention of how long it would be for. I do remember the verbiage was in green and there was a picture of a tabby cat.
I got no advanced notification.
I had advanced notice of the down time starting at 1000 hours Saturday. It was a banner across the top of the site — gray with white lettering. That’s how I knew to get my Remembrance Day piece posted early.
JD, since Care2 is hosted in California as far as I know, I took it to be 1000 hours Pacific and always have.
SNL: Loved the way Moore would do the right thing…and marry her. And that what Pence really wants him to do too.
NYT: Don’t you admire the way the NYT tries to be fair and as unbiased as possible and puts in a line that experts warn the public that these brokers are payed for by the insurers and therefore may not be impartial. Duh…why do you think this government pushes these brokers now? Follow Joanne’s advice and find someone who is truly impartial.
TP: So Walmart is openly catering to the Alt-right now, is it? I expect their sales of “Mein Kampf” are going through the roof.
Keep yourself warm and well hydrated, TomCat, and stay in bed as long as you need to recover from this nasty cold.
Love the puddy pic. My little girl was contorted like that yesterday only instead of a reed box, she had a box made by me and her 2 brothers. One leg was draped around Winnie (my ginger). If I did that, I’d have a very uncomfortable kink in my neck.
“Moore would do the right thing…and marry her. And that what Pence really wants him to do too.”
Kayla might object, though.
TY/SNL: Just beautiful! Today’s NY Daily News headline:
CREEP
HOME
ALABAMA!
NYT: This is much like the G.W. Bush plan to have Social Security privatized, pushing people to have to go through brokers, who, of course, would skim off some of the people money, for their fees! NEVER trust a GOPig administration!
TP: You have to be joking!! Well, maybe perfect for Sessions office!
‘TooN: You can’t argue with stupid!
Thanks all. Hugs!
Puzzle — 5:00 Good luck going fishing! Take your pelican with you.
SNL — It’s a no go for me, as usual. Not available in Canada.
NY Times — I have a strong distrust of commission only sales persons because in my mind, there is the smell (stench???) of a conflict of interest. When I was working and selling bank mutual funds, I was frequently confronted by clients who thought I was paid more for selling particular funds. I was not paid any commission for any sales. In fact, if I was concerned about the client’s grasp of the product, I refused to do the order. How often does that happen with commission only sales agents? It was the same for mortgages which is very rate sensitive for me. Interestingly enough, I had clients forego a better rate elsewhere to deal with me because I was willing to let a client go if it was in their best interest. Now bank products are not health insurance, the latter being so much more important to a family’s wellbeing, but the idea of being able to get objective assistance is the same. Listen to JD’s advice above.
Think Progress — Disgusting, but then what do you expect from a republican family store! I did not find it online after cruising through 25 pages of posters. It could still be there though under another grouping. Maybe I’m optimistic that Walfart bowed to pressure and removed the offending posters. Perhaps they should remove this offensive poster too:
Cartoon — At least you said head and not the brain. With their professed family values and their penchant for not telling the truth, we know their brains are further south, as in below the body’s equator. You could hang a sign “Space for Rent” on that head, but I doubt you get any progressive to bite.
Please do rest Puddy Tat and drink lots of water, not that brown swill made with water, but that clear stuff straight from nature’s bounty. You’ll pee like a race horse but the bugs will leave too!