I’m making this a lazy day. I don’t know why, but I slept very poorly last night. Most of the news seems to be rehashing old business. This is my only article today, and I shall not be sending links messages on Care2. Between 10 AM and Noon Amazon.com/New Seasons Market is delivering the bird, a cooked 6-10 lb. Free Range Turkey. Purrrr!! This morning I prepared the Brussels Sprouts Hollandaise. The stuffing and gravy are done. And I look forward to feeding Wonder Woman Wendy (Thanks, Lona!) tomorrow. Tomorrow is also a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos play Wendy’s Raiders, but we don’t get to watch, as it is not televised here.
Later: The turkey came. It’s in the fridge, waiting to be put in the TomCat.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:12 (average 5:29). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Washington Post: President Trump and the outgoing head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau both named acting directors to head the watchdog agency on Friday, throwing its leadership into disarray.
Legal analysts were split over whether the White House or the CFPB had authority to name an acting director, with each side citing the fine print of dueling federal rules. Some added that the laws were open to interpretation and that the courts ultimately would have to decide the matter.
Trump proposed his White House budget director, Mick Mulvaney, as the acting director of the CFPB, which Mulvaney once called a “joke” and said he wished didn’t exist. Several defenders of the agency said they were worried that Mulvaney, if given the helm of the CFPB on a temporary basis, would gut its powers.
The series of events began Friday when the CFPB’s long-time director, Richard Cordray, announced that he would leave at the end of the day — instead of at the end of the month — and promoted his chief of staff, Leandra English, to become deputy director. Cordray said in a letter to CFPB staff that English would serve as the agency’s acting director until a replacement was confirmed by the Senate.
I have no doubt that the CFPB would not survive a week as a functional entity with Mulvaney at the helm. English is the rightful Acting Director, and Trump is trying to duck Senate confirmation. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Despite efforts by Congress, the Obama administration and state attorneys general to stop the predatory practices of for-profit colleges, veterans and service members who rely on funding from the G.I. bill and the Defense Department to attend school are still being targeted by an industry infamous for saddling people with debt and useless degrees.
A Senate committee report sounded a warning on this problem three years ago, when it raised questions about deceptive practices in the industry. State attorneys general and federal agencies at the time were investigating seven for-profit outfits with significant revenue streams from the G.I. bill. Some of these schools have since been forced to shut down.
Nevertheless, a new analysis of federal data by Veterans Education Success, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to student veterans, finds that the for-profit industry is still setting its sights on veterans and service members even as its nonmilitary enrollment has declined.
The Republican Reich views our veterans as prey fit to be ravished by Republican criminals. RESIST!!
From Alternet: As Americans gather for Thanksgiving, we can only hope that the richest among us have the good graces to give thanks for the bounty they expect to receive in a few days thanks to how Donald Trump and the Republican leaders on Capitol Hill conned millions of voters.
The plutocrats should set aside a moment to thank all the voters suckered by the Trumpian promise to drain the swamp. What Trump really meant was to drain the pockets of Americans who make less than $500,000 a year so the richest of the rich can have more.
Amen! Amen!! Amen!!! YOU are the swamp! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
10 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/25/2017”
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My son is going to school in the GI bill and I don’t know what school he is going to. It is in Atlanta and he is taking coding.
This weekend has been SO LONG! I never thought T-giving was so long and drawn out! But not having ANY of my family near enough to visit, we have had a sucky one.
Ah well. This too shall pass! Hope your dinner is stupendous! Have a good one, TC! Happy bird munching!
WP: Every time Drumpf reacts quickly to a perceived “crisis”, i.e. something that might disturb the “spiel” the White House is playing – dismantling democracy, undoing every last thing Obama has done and building a solid plutocracy – I’m wondering who advises him these days. It’s unthinkable that Drumpf would come up with naming Mulvaney acting director of the CFPB and circumventing the Senate by himself (he’s an idiot after all AND too busy playing golf) so he’s either still got a hotline to Steve Bannon or Kushner has a number of Koch think tanks on speed dial. There’s somebody in Drumpfs background who knows how to play the political chess game,. Any ideas?
NYT: These for-profit colleges knew they were in the safe when Drumpf University settled out of court and probably are lobbying their rear-ends off now with the administration and Republican Congressmen alike. There’s probably no resources left to follow the money here, but it would be in the interest of veterans that someone did and rooted out the last of these con schools profiting from the G.I. bill before they start multiplying again under this regime.
Alternet:
Glad your preparations for Wonder Woman Wendy’s so much deserved meal went so well, TomCat, and that you even managed to make it into one of those “Some Days!” Enjoy it while it lasts.
WP: Uh..oh. Not good news at all. I hope Ms. English stays (the course).
NYT: Wow!!! This is pretty detailed, but also, very sad, that our Vets are being targeted like this. dt loves this idea, imho. ugh!
AN: I feel ill with this. As my dad used to gripe and groan, about the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. So true. Rough times ahead. Geez….Thanks for nothing, dt and your cronies!!
Cartoon: Yes, I completely understand!
Awww…..hope that you and Wonder Woman Wendy have a great dinner, and great time! Y’all certainly deserve the best! Enjoy, enjoy, and enjoy! Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*Thanks, Lona for your re-naming Wendy! Describes her to a T !
Re: dt’s naming Mulvaney @ CFPB rather than keeping Ms. English as Acting Director.
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the architects of the consumer agency, disputed Trump’s pick and said Dodd-Frank financial reform law stipulates that the agency’s deputy director should take over the agency’s leadership in case of a vacancy. Warren insisted that “Leandra English is the Acting Director under the Dodd-Frank Act,” saying Trump can’t “override that.” (fingers crossed !)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/warren-trump-cant-override-consumer-protection-deputy
5:32 They don’t look edible. But with what you are cooking, you won’t need them!
WaPo – I’ve been expecting this, since I’ve been reading people who have been expecting this. Well, we’ll see him in court. It’ll be Injunction Junction.
NYT – Yeah. I have a dear friend who lost her job when Everest tanked. Of course she deserves a far better job … but right now she just needs a job, period. And, of course, Everest needed to go down. But it surely would be nice if these evildoers could go down without anyone being hurt.
AlterNet – I wonder who it was that cursed us with “May you live in interesting times.”
Cartoon – Yeah, I need some of that.
These are not the only lyrics for this – clearly it was too good an idea to resist:
Puzzle — 4:44 Pretty but edible???
Washington Post — Elizabeth Warren worked very hard to get the CFPB up and running under Obama. So it comes as no surprise that Drumpf would like to deep six the brain child of “Pocahontas” which was approved by Obama. As far as a new director, I have no doubt that Drumpf is playing games— trying to do an end run around the Senate — just like he did with the Census Bureau last week. Even McTurtle should be concerned about Drumpf’s flagrant thumbing of his nose at the Senate. This does not bode well. Drumpf must be stopped!
NY Times — Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, is working her magic to screw veterans and others. If the system is similar to Canada’s student loan system, these institutions are defrauding tax payers.
“Congress needs to stop the Education Department from dismantling rules that protect students generally, and veterans in particular, from exploitation. It should also close the loophole in the 90/10 rule to ensure that all federal funds are counted as such. That way schools would actually have to attract private money, as the original law intended.”
AlterNet — David Cay Johnston — love the guy! Anyone who believed Drumpf and continues to believe him is in serious need of a brain transplant! Drain the swamp??? Drumpf just made it bigger and one of his exclusive clubs.
Cartoon — I hear you!
I have a sick little boy. I think his plumbing is blocked, or at least partially. He did not eat tonight and he is a bit lethargic. I’m up to make sure he is OK. In the morning, it will be off to the doctor’s. He is purring which is generally good, but it can also mean he is trying to block some discomfort. I suspect they will do an enema which will not make him a happy boy.
I hope you have a great feast with Wendy. You both deserve to have a fabulous and relaxing dinner.
I hope your kitty is ok!
Thanks all! Hugs!
WP: More proof of just what a cluster-eff the tRump Regime is. We are not headed for Interesting Times – we are living in them. It’s gonna be a VERY wild and extremely bumpy ride, so hold on tight and hope that you survive.
NYT: For-profit “schools” don’t give a rat’s buns about education, only how much money they can leech out of students. I would not be the least bit surprised if they are in cahoots with the very entities that offer student loans.
AlterNet: ‘Twas the ancient Chinese who concocted that curse, Joanne.
Cartoon: Everybody has days like this. Hell, sometimes you just plain need to take a “day off” and loll.
WP: Mulvaney would be the Pruitt of the CFPB! It’s what tRump does!
NYT: Bastards!
Alternet; Writing this after Turkey Day, it seems that none of the Plutocrats choked on their turkey bones.