It’s a cool morning, here in the CatBox, but I expect a high in the high 80°s, so I’m sire I’ll be on A/C by lunch time. While working I’m listening to the Nazi’s conformation hearing. It’s a good thing I’m wearing George. Otherwise he’d be full of barf. I overslept this morning and have been feeling sleepy ever since I awakened.
Chrome crashed and I can’t get it back. ARGH!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): U.S. Women See Reason To Reject Donald Trump SCOTUS Pick Brett Kavanaugh
Kavanaugh will tell whatever lives it takes to get confirmed. Then the minions of hell will be unleashed upon us. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From Nation of Change: After the 2008 crash, the government bailed out the banks and pumped enough money into the economy to contain the slide. But apart from the Affordable Care Act, nothing was done to address the underlying problem of stagnant wages.
Trump and his Republican enablers are now reversing regulations put in place to stop Wall Street’s excessively risky lending.
But Trump’s real contributions to the next crash are his sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, rollback of overtime pay, burdens on labor organizing, tax reductions for corporations and the wealthy but not for most workers, cuts in programs for the poor, and proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid – all of which put more stress on the paychecks of most Americans.
Ten years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it’s important to understand that the real root of the Great Recession wasn’t a banking crisis. It was the growing imbalance between consumer spending and total output – brought on by stagnant wages and widening inequality.
That imbalance is back. Watch your wallets.
The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right! Every Republican must go! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From Crooks and Liars: Today begins the hearings to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and Democrats are fighting with every tool at their disposal, few in number. Think David versus Goliath.
As soon as Senator Grassley opened the hearing, Senator Kamala Harris interrupted and Democrats were off to the races. When Senator Blumenthal moved to adjourn the hearing, the room erupted in applause.
Here’s the first two minutes. As I write, we’re 40 minutes into the hearing and they haven’t gotten as far as the introduction of Judge Kavanaugh. We have heard more about Merrick Garland, however.
They are doing opening statements now! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
Cartoon:
11 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/4/2018”
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5:03 Salad is GOOD for you.
New ad from VoteVets
Kava-NOOO! – Did you see how he turned his back on, and refused to shake the hand, or acknowledge the existence of, the father of the Parkland student?
Reich – You bet Robert is correct. Even had it been someone other than Trump, Republican policies always lead to economic collapse. But not for the 1%!
C&L – The Senators are doing the best they can. So are the demonstrators. You know how close it is now?
McConnellGrassley (sorry – reflex intruded on fact) refused to allow a vote because Graham and Crapo weren’t there, which means the Dems had a (fleeting, only for the moment) majority!Cartoon – Hear, hear!
MSNBC: Good video about BK. No. No. NO!!!! I signed several petitions saying just that.
DK video…what a callous man to do that to a grieving father,. VV: Excellent !! Thx, JD
NoC: Absolutely correct!! Yea, watch your wallet, they’re coming for it.
C&L: Bravo, for the Dems speaking out!! to all of them! Good news that it’s delayed.
Cartoon: YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!!!!!
It’s hot here, and not only because of the sun, but our AC is out, guy is supposed to be here shortly..we’ll see. Hope that you have a good evening, get your rest, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Don’t forget to watch BETO on ELLEN tomorrow, 9/5/18 !!!
The Rethuglicanazis can ignore Hoi Polloi – and especially women – for only so long. The GOP is its own worst enemy. We The People will not lie down and be trampled on anymore!
Rachel: There are huge numbers of people who have reasons to reject the, apparently previously perjuring clown.
N of C: Yeah, Make America Great Again, by screwing the middle class some more, and creating a situation that Putin can use to put a permanent fleet in the Mediterranean, and then play with his floating war toys!!
C and L: Oh, but it is exactly crooks and liars who are running the show!
‘Toon: She ought to be in SCOTUS!
Hoping Bob Woodward’s new book “FEAR: Trump in the White House” will make a real positive impact on voting this November.
It probably will – among those who can and do read.
MSNBC: Voting to have a blue wave happen is an absolute must, but when that wave arrives it can’t undo the damage done by this administration and Congress by appointing Kavanaugh to SCOTUS. Together with the other Republican judges he will be there for the rest of his life, forming a bigoted, talibangelist majority in an institution which should work independently of politics and be unbiased in its judgement on how the law is applied in cases brought to it. The only thing Democrats can do, if and when they take back Congress, is try to keep Roe v Wade related cases away from SCOTUS as much as possible and put their very best lawyers on it when talibangelists, sponsored by the Kochs and the like, manage to get through. But even then…??
NoC: Of course Robert Reich is absolutely right. But don’t think this a problem unique to the US. It may be worse because of the terrible impact of the Drumpf administration, but we see the same problems in all countries where right-wing politics have taken over. It’s become a global problem and we can all expect to have to watch our wallets but find them empty anyway.
C&L: No matter how unruly Democrats become, they just haven’t got the numbers to stop Kavanaugh’s appointment. And after his appointment Kavanaugh certainly is not letting numbers get in the way of his own biased judgements: “As Justice Kennedy showed us, a judge must be independent, not swayed by public pressure,” Judge Kavanaugh said. So to hell with the 71% of Americans who want Roe v Wade to be left untouched and the choice of abortion a right for all American women to remain intact. I hope progressive states can keep their own abortion legislation in tact.
Cartoon: Excellent, spot-on cartoon, TomCat.
It is possible to impeach a SCOTUS justice. It’s never yet been done, but there is a mechanism for it, if anyone can figure out exactly how to execute it. What there is no mechanism for is removing a justice or anyone else for being in the position illegitimately. I hope that can be corrected, but such correction would not apply to Kavanaugh and Gorsuch because of ex post facto. Our best hope is probably to move to increase the size of the court, which must wait until 2020.
Thanks, hot hugs, and Happy Hump Day!
Thanx TC ?