I’m still feeling a bit under the weather, so please forgive my brevity.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took m 4:52 (average 5:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Salon.com: President Donald Trump is staring down the barrel of a very, very unfavorable political climate in 2018.
The foremost problem is the prospect of a Democratic sweep in the upcoming midterm elections, according to Axios. One source told the site that when it comes to the possibility that Democratic victories in November could both thwart the GOP’s legislative agenda and make Trump vulnerable to impeachment, the president "gets it."
Meanwhile Reince Priebus, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s former chief of staff, has been telling Republican Party leaders that they need to have access to the entire data and ground operation for every single congressional district. He also encouraged them to not be thrifty, arguing that they must "spend whatever needs to be spent as if 2020 relies on it."
They will have lots to spend, as Banksters and Billionaires fear losing their Tax Scam welfare, and will contribute heavily. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Retail cannabis shops in California opened their doors on Monday for the first time, inaugurating what proponents say will become the world’s largest market for legalized recreational marijuana.
A transaction that remains illegal in many parts of the country seemed almost banal on Monday for the customers at a dispensary in Oakland who picked out their marijuana, showed their driver’s licenses and walked into the brisk morning air with their drugs in a paper bag.
“This is a whole new world opening up,” said Diana Gladden, 48, who bought marijuana for herself and her aging parents. “My mother, a very strict Southern Baptist, now thinks it’s O.K. because it’s legal.”
One customer left with more than $1,000 worth of cannabis in a large grocery bag.
Dang!! The Oregon Weather Bureau predicts that the cloud from the south will arrive this evening. Don’t RESIST!!
From TPM: Fired former FBI Director James Comey made another dig at President Donald Trump on Twitter over the weekend, writing on New Year’s Eve that he hopes 2018 brings “more ethical leadership focused on truth and lasting values.”
Amen James! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 1/2/2018”
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4:48 I was a little worried that someone had actually painted live cows.
Please feel better. (I used to get a “cold” with every change in the weather, but treating my allergies helped with that. I still have sinus problems, but they are both milder and more stable.)
Salon – As long as they keep spending their money the way they did in Alabama … and we keep spending our resources the way the Democrats did who worked in Alabama … let them spend.
NYT – I smoked tobacco so long and, more to the point, so hard, before I quit, that I never want to smoke anything again. I’ve tried some edibles, and I’ve tried CBD oil as a rub-on over my worst arthritic spots, and the last seems to be the best option for me. (If anyone cares, because it doesn’t contain THC, it’s legal in fifty states and the territories.) I would not call it miraculous, but it does seem to help, and I’ll take that.
TPM – So of course Donnie Dimwit now wants to lock him up along with Hillary, Huma, and Weiner. Sometimes the hardest part of resisting is to prevent death from apoplexy while doing it.
Cartoon – Seeing as those who came through Ellis Island were mostly “white,” I’m not sure they care that much. The descendants of those who came through Ellis Island are often the ones saying things like “My ancestors came here legally! They didn’t just walk across the border!” (like that would be easy to do coming from Germany, Italy, Russia etc.) Hey – maybe I’m the one wanting to send them back! (OK, not really. Just SOME of them.)
Just got an email from Chris Hale, with a Catholic progressive group which supports Pope Francis. He says he and several others are going to The Hill tomorrow for Doug Jones’s swearing in. Yay!
Salon.com: Though humans are awful at predicting the future, tDump staring down the barrel of that which might just unmake him sounds gooooood to me!
NYT: TC and the “Great Contact High!”
TPM: 2018 may just be the year that Comey gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
‘Toon: tDump’s grandfather, Frederick, became a U. S. citizen in 1892, a year after he emigrated here, reportedly to avoid military service. So, even if the GOPigs could “send them back,” he might still slip through.
Salon: Look how far we’ve come!! Dems as a whole can do this! RESIST those basturds!!
NYT: I don’t smoke anymore, but I sure wish I lived in CA, I’m jealous. I’d go there and get a ‘tiny’ bag too! Of course, the righteous R here in my state, think that it’s a sin. I don’t think God would agree. It’s a natural high. lol.
TPM: Mr. Comey is hoping, (as I am), and I can stay with positive thoughts, that justice will be served, on a HUGE plate…for Dumpty and his minions. RESIST!!
Cartoon: Yea, they’d love that!! (sigh!)
I hope you start feeling better. The change in weather, and it being cold here, has stirred up an upcoming cold for me, I can feel the tiredness coming on. Hope that you get some rest, take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
Salon: I’ve had the feeling for some time that the 2018 midterm elections will be a political bloodbath. tRump’s mishandling of the Presidency has made him a lot of enemies in his own party, as well as around the world. Democratic control of Congress will doom furtherance of his demented plans. Very few will be unhappy if he is a one-term POTUS – or if he doesn’t finish even one term.
NYT: Marijuana should be legal EVERYWHERE!
TPM: Go for it, Comey – don’t pull any punches!
Cartoon: That’s the Rethuglican attitude, except when they want cheap labor to mow their lawns and clean their kitchens.
I’ll start off with this YouTube video before I lose my internet connection:
I was forwarded to me by my friend Evelyn B.
So glad your connection was up to this. Nicely done indeed.
Love it!
Salon: I’m getting really uncomfortable about those midterm elections in November. That is 10 months from now and a lot can happen in those 10 months, as we have seen in the past year. My main worry is that after a few victories in the past few weeks, the losses before that seem to have been forgotten and the media is full of “possible, “almost certain”, “victory” for Democrats. This is no time to get complacent about that.
Remember when Democrats were certain that they would have their candidate win the presidential election. And then they pushed the wrong candidate and having her lose in key states? Democrats should learn from that.
This midterm election looks like another battle of the richest. Republicans have always found it easier to gain support, and therefore campaign finances, from the rich who got the promise of tax cuts in return. Republicans also didn’t seem to be above “buying” their votes with their abundance of money. Democrats must not be drawn into making the same mistakes: they want to win the vote of the Democratic voter who is sick and tired of the elitist candidates financed much in the same way by the absurdly rich as their Republican counterparts and behaving much the same way too. The “new” Democratic voter wants progressive candidates financially beholden to as few as possible. The “new” Democratic voter wants Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid, high taxes for the rich and low taxes for themselves, fair pay for the work they do, a fair justice system, and a responsible candidate when it comes to pollution and global warming. If these messages do not come across during their campaigns, democratic candidates will not win the Midterms. So RESIST but also look towards the future, i.e. further than the next elections in 2020.
NYT: What’s so unusual about that news? Forgive me, I’m Dutch.
TPM: Mueller better gets cracking then if he wants to see the dream of a former colleague realized.
Cartoon: Republicans want to do what Australians do with all immigrants who arrive on a boat: send them to a neighbouring country, which can use all the money they get, to have them incarcerated there, and left to rot while they are “processed”, not.
Please take it easy until you’re fully recovered, TomCat. Three articles is a lot of work!
Thanks all. Back to bed hugs!