It’s been a hectic day. Management let me know several months ago that they are doing a major remodel on this building and all residents will have to move in late Spring or early Summer. They will find me a suitable location in one of their other buildings and pay for professional movers to make the move. Nevertheless, the prep work and move itself will be horrid. This week, it’s starting, and we’re doing needs analysis. UGH! Please Remember Carrie B, whom most of you know from Care2, and her husband Barry in your thoughts and prayers. Barry was just admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of kidney failure. Thank you.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:03 (average 6:16). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Women’s March 2018
To be fair, the Women’s March happened concurrently with the Republican Shutdown, and with those media outlets that did not ignore the protests by design, they fell through the cracks for coverage. That was still wrong, bit not intentional. RESIST!!
From Washington Post: FBI Director Christopher A. Wray has been resisting pressure from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to replace the bureau’s deputy director, Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of criticism from President Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
You can bet that came from the Fuhrer! RESIST!!
From Common Dreams: Pennsylvania’s high court on Monday ruled that the state’s gerrymandered congressional map "clearly, plainly, and palpably" violates the state constitution and ordered the state to draw up a new map to be used in the primary.
"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today ruled in favor of voters choosing politicians rather than politicians choosing voters, and that is major victory for all Pennsylvanians," said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, which filed an amicus brief in the case. "The court order will result in new maps in time for the 2018 election so that voters will not be forced to face a fourth congressional election under these unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional districts."
The split decision is the result of a lawsuit brought forth by the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters and 17 individual voters who argued (pdf) that the current map, drawn in 2011 by the GOP-controlled legislature, "was the product of a national movement by the Republican Party to entrench its own representatives in power by utilizing the latest advances in mapmaking technologies and big data to gerrymander districts more effectively than ever before."
Reuters notes that "[e]xperts have long held up Pennsylvania as one of the most extreme examples of partisan gerrymandering."
Kudos!! I understand that Democrats should pick up at least five HR seats because of this, alone. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Issues to under consideration may change from year to year, but the imbalance of the Republican negotiating stance is always the same.
8 Responses to “Open Thread – 1/23/2017”
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5:27 It might be usable as a toy …
New (copyrighted) cartoons
This SNL skit got some noteworthy attention from Sojourners (along with other, more expectable outlets).
MoveOn – It did get some nice overage from liberal outlets, and it certainly had some great signs. Probably the winner (used by many people with many different creative graphics) IMO was “Grab them by the Midterms!” But a personal favorite for me was “I’d call him a c**t, but he lacks warmth. And depth.”
WaPo – Comey has spoken up for Wray over this, BTW. And I’m glad he’s been resisting. Resistance is a good thing.
CD – “Clearly, plainly, and palpably.” I like that. Five seats is great.
Cartoon – But you don’t get to complain about layoffs, no matter how slimy. BBA!
Thanks for the news on Carrie and Barry. Prayers headed out.
(For the Dreamers:)
MM: Most big cities had rallies, and overseas…it was wonderful watching them with their signs, and listening to their conversations, and what they stood for. How refreshing!! *Joanne, that would be my favorite comment to remember too, I laughed when I read it. (so true!!) 😉
WP: Resist!! (all the way to the bank)!!
CD: YAY!! and Kudos to the PA SC!! Great News!!!
Cartoon: UGH!!!
So sorry to read about you having to move. That’s a real bummer, but hopefully will improve your living conditions when you return. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
*Prayers to Carrie and her family during this most difficult time..
I was at the Power to the Polls rally in Atlanta. It was VERY well attended, and did we have a rollicking time! I made some good connections and met a couple candidates for office.
Good to see a victory against the gerrymandering monster. Georgia and Michigan are two other states that have serious gerrymandering problems, but people are raising plenty of hell in both places.
Republican “Jesus”: The antithesis of the real one.
I will be contacting Carrie, thanks!
Common Dreams: Very good news!!
Women’s March: More power to the people, especially women!
GOP Negotiating style: Promise them anything, but give them a s**thole!
MM: What struck me that all the coverage of the Women’s March I saw, even here, downplayed the number of women attending. They all mentioned that thousands of women gathered and did so in 300 different cities across the world, but when I added up the numbers they quoted for just a few of the major American cities, I easily reached over a million protester, with half a million alone for Los Angeles. It may not have been 3 million out there like in 2017, but to speak of “thousands of women marched”? What was that all about?
WP: Kudos to FBI Director Christopher Wray for standing up to Jeff Sessions…uhm make that Drumpf. Yet another insight into how completely dysfunctional this administration is.
CD: Another strike to extreme Republican gerrymandering
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today ruled in favor of voters choosing politicians rather than politicians choosing voters…” That phrase contains the whole gerrymandering problem in a nutshell. There have been a number of cases where extreme gerrymandering was condemned by a court these past months (“State & federal courts have now ruled against GOP gerrymandering in PA, WI, NC, TX, FL, AL & VA.”), ordering the maps to be redrawn in time for the 2018 elections, but unlike this final ruling, others may end up before Republican-biased SCOTUS before November.
I hope better heat and sound insulation is part of the remodeling of your building, TomCat. And new elevators, too. That would make the horrible hassle of moving twice (and setting up your internet connections up twice too) a bit worthwhile for you. Definitely not something to look forward to, even if the temporary accommodation is (hopefully) better than your current one.
I’ve sent Carrie a message, thanks for letting us know.
Thanks, TC. I gotta get my news SOMEHOW! Hope Carrie’s husband gets better. Know of where she’s comin from!
Puzzle — 5:56 This had my wheels spinning!
MoveOn — There was a women’s march here which I did not hear about until the day. Better advertising would be more helpful, but then, I don’t have television so maybe that is the problem. There were over 15,000 at the Vancouver event with additional marches elsewhere in BC and Canada. HERE is some news.
WaPo — Considering that Wray is a Drumpf appointee, kudos to him for resisting the pressure to replace Deputy Director McCabe.
Common Dreams — So there are traces of sanity and courage to take on the Republican winning plan of cheating and stacking the deck! Bravo!!!
Cartoon — How very Republican!!!
Thanks all. Hectic hugs.
Remodeling this building will take one to two years. Once I’m situated, I expect to stay there.