It’s currently intermittently sunny, 40°, and 99% humidity, so I feel chilly and sweaty at the same time, but am not running a fever. ARGH!! I am still not well, but am improving.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:35). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From CNN: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said Sunday he regretted not responding sooner to comments attributed to him that were critical of Donald Trump Jr. in an explosive new book on the White House.
"Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man," read Bannon’s statement, which CNN obtained Sunday from a source close to Bannon. "He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around."
The statement later adds: "I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr has diverted attention from the president’s historical accomplishments in the first year of (Trump’s) presidency."
Dang!! Yesterday I begged for someone to give Putin’s Pervert a BJ. I did not expect such a speedy response. RESIST!!
Also from CNN: Trump initially misquoted conservative columnist Michael Goodwin with two tweets citing Goodwin as saying:
"’His is turning out to be an enormously consensual presidency. So much so that … there has never been a day that I wished Hillary Clinton were President. Not one. Indeed, as Trump’s accomplishments accumulate, the mere thought of Clinton in the W.H., doubling down on Obama’s … failed policies, washes away any doubts that America made the right choice. This was truly a change election, and the changes Trump is bringing are far-reaching and necessary.’ Thank you Michael Goodwin! (Please read entire column) mgoodwin@nypost.com"
Goodwin originally said "consequential", not consensual. The Trump residency is anything but consensual. It’s rape. RESIST!!
From Raw Story: Wikileaks has shared a link to the tell-all book about Donald Trump’s White House that has made waves in Washington D.C.
In a move that appeared to have the success of Michael Wolff’s tome Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House firmly in its crosshairs, the organization tweeted out a link to a full PDF of the book in a move that may have constituted copyright infringement.
Wikileaks is firmly entrenched in the Republican Reich. Their intent is to prevent Wolfe from selling his book, which is available right now for $18.00. I just bought the Audible version for $19.00. Down with Wikifreaks and GOP Pervert Assange! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Then Republicans has their way. Poverty won.
12 Responses to “Open Thread – 1/8/2018”
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3:45 This even looks good to me, and I don’t much like fruit salad.
Boy Howdy! This is a judge you don’t want to piss off. And, surprisingly to me, a Baby Bush appointee.
CNN-I I’m sure leaving out the barf bag alert was just an oversight.
CNN-II It’s being called, among other things, a Freudian slip. I suspect it is pure ignorance myself.
Raw Story – Yes, that was an ugly move, and one which I would have expected from Julian Assange. I am hoping/praying it will backfire. I am hoping/praying this will get enough Trump supporters to read it that at least a few will believe it and drop him. But that’s no reason for Wolff NOT to sue for copyright infringement. If he can figure out a court to sue in, since the weasel is still holed up. BTW, the Kindle edition is $14.99, and, if you don’t have (and don’t want) a Kindle, amazon has a free app for your desktop or laptop which will allow you to read the Kindle edition there. (I got it for a different book, and it does work quite well.)
Cartoon – LBJ tried. He had flaws, major ones, but his heart was in the right place, and he accompished much he seldom gets credit for. He was a thousand times better than either Nixon or Trump (OF course that’s a low bar. Huey Long was also better than either.)
No surprise that the Orange Ogre and his stooges are calling B.S. on “Fire and Fury.” No surprise it is a huge bestseller. Controversy sells!
CNN: Really? Steve?? Get them boots back on, so you can wallow some more….
CNN2: Therefore, “I am a stable genius”.
RS: Why does this not surprise me? Very mean of Assange/Wikileaks to do that. I have my name on the list at the local library to get the book.
Cartoon: Thumbs up!!
Hope with each passing day that you’ll feel better & better. Enjoy your eveing, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
The only stable geniuses I ever heard of were Mr. Ed and before him, Francis (yes, I am that old.)
‘Toon: In regard to the War on Poverty, which the Rethugs, with massive help from the Koch Machine have targeted, I am taking the liberty to refer to TC’s posting of yesterday, regarding the expanding “dead zones” in the world’s oceans. The growth of these dead zones will hugely impact, negatively, many of the poorest in the world!
Despite Pres. Johnson’s lying us into the war in Vietnam, he did some very progressive things, such as trying to attack poverty, press for the Voting Right Act, the Civil Rights Act, and more. These acts propelled the then growing Koch Machine into overdrive, as explained in “Democracy In Chains- The Deep History of the Radical right’s Stealth Plan for America,” by Nancy MacLean. Voting rights, education, equality are all in the sights of the Koch Machine, also known as the Republican Party, nowadays. The war on education, as lived by Betsy deVos is a perfect example of the war on everyone except the wealthy white man, run by the Koch machine. The propaganda they put out, based on that put out for so long by the tobacco industry, involves the selling of the idea of the privatization of education, and this is a deadly idea for America, or anyone, in fact. A battle for the minds of the American population has been raging over the issue of “junk science” and science as a “religion,” going back to the days of Newt Gingrich and his “contract (ON) America.” Charles Koch was there, quietly, in the background, funding, and fueling such BS as Gingrich’s insistence that there was no such thing as acid rain, and portraying scientists as the enemy. Now, Paul Krugman has pointed out that the GOP “…has turned its back on science at a time when doing so puts the very future of civilization at risk.” Now, with the war on science, and the 7 words tDump does not want gov’t scientists to be able to use, the U.S.population is much less sure that global warming is real, and THIS can hurt the world’s poor, including ours.
I urge you to read MacLean’s book!!
CNN: when is Bannon not lying?
Also from Cnn: anything written in the N.Y. Post, Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper, is hugely suspect!
Raw Story: I’m totally with you, TC!
If your outdoors temp is 40F and 99% humidity, when that air is warmed up to your indoor temperature, the humidity will fall as long as no additional water is added to the air. For example, if your room temperature is 70F, your indoor humidity will be around 30%.
That makes sense, Jerry. I just know how it feels.
CNN: So much for strategist Bannon. Wolff’s book sales are exploding, but Drumpf’s hardcore base is giving Bannon a hard time for the things he’s saying in the book, and so are his sponsors. Bannon’s – and Drumpf’s for that matter – trouble is that the are both catering to the same little base and that base has decided to go for Drumpf and not Bannon, something he must have counted on. If Bannon wants to stay in business with Breitbart and such, he’ll need to get back into the fold and that is what he’s trying to do. Very unconvincingly, I think, but then I’m no White Supremacist.
CNN: Semi-literate Drumpf undoubtedly will have read the quote wrong, not understanding the difference, but not caring either. His Twitter-brain only functions if he decides someone praises him or if someone is criticizing him. His whole world is moulded into those two categories, and anything that doesn’t quite fit, is cut away, never to even register with him.
RS: The first news on this was that it was unsure if this was a copy of the final version that went into print or an earlier one. In that case there may be smaller or larger differences with the final vrsion. In any case, I wouldn’t trust any “copy” Wikileaks would pass on for free.
So you bought an Audio version, TomCat. Not read to you by the soothing voice of Sloppy Steve, I hope.
Cartoon: I only knew LBJ as the detested warmonger in Vietnam before, but as I learned more about him in recent years I have come to appreciate him more.
Oh Lona, what a precious picture! That looks almost identical to my little girl, although she has more ginger in her — just the correct amount of spice! . . . and she is definitely a “Resist” kitty!
WRT LBJ – Having been reading information provided by VoteVets, and a couple of other progressive veterans’ groups, I was thinking today that I certainly never expected to see that day when the wars we are now in and the wars that we might get into make the Vietnam War look respectable by comparison! (WRT the pic, Amen to Squatch.)
Thanks all. Sick hugs!
Puzzle — 3:52 I hope you’ll share that fruit salad! It looks so good!
CNN — I would not believe Bannon even if I was paid a million dollars! Bannon only says and does what is right for Bannon and his political agenda.
CNN — “Goodwin originally said “consequential”, not consensual. The Trump residency is anything but consensual. It’s rape.” — I could not agree with you more! There is nothing consensual about an autocrat. I prefer the word ‘despot’ rather than autocrat. As to rape, to me it is rape and pillage for his own gratification and greed. Further, I did not know that Drumpf could read!
Raw Story — I have been reading several articles about the book and it sounds interesting. Wolff was also interviewed, but I can’t remember by whom other than it was a respected journalist. I have it on my list . . . should be better than the National Enquirer, tons better, and it is relevant to the current national tragedy known as the Drumpf régime.
BTW, this out today “Steve Bannon steps down from Breitbart News“. I wonder how Bannon will spin this one!
Cartoon — LBJ tried to reduce the poverty rate. The current WH resident is trying to, and succeeding so far, increase the poverty rate and thereby the wealth gap.
Sorry, I’m late to the party. Had another BS low. My A1Cs were running higher than normal so doctor was not as concerned about previous lows. He switched my insulin to Lantus so we will see how that works. On the other hand, he just about fell off his chair when my blood pressure was good. Glad to hear that you are improving, albeit slowly.