TC will be offline for a few days as he moves. He did provide an “Emergency Update”. Although the move was anticipated, he thought it would be another week before moving day arrived. He said there was a bit of a snafu for the internet connection, but he will definitely be back in a few days. So you know what that means — you will have to put up with me and my crazy cat universe for a few days. JD and Nameless will be on hand, and I hope Lona with her View From Afar too. Thanks to everyone for checking out our posts. You are the reason we are here Fighting Rightwing InsaniTEA, one day at a time.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:45 (average 7:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
AlterNet — As the dust refuses to settle from the 2018 midterms, there are stubborn reminders that there really are two Americas when it comes to voting and elections.
This week, Republican-majority legislatures in Michigan and Wisconsin—both created by GOP-led extreme gerrymanders in 2011—are trying to rush through legislation to strip power from Democratic statewide winners of executive branch offices in November.
In Wisconsin, the GOP wants to limit the power of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general over how public benefit programs can be run, and on how regulations can be implemented—the fine print of governing. In Michigan, where voters elected a Democratic governor, attorney general and secretary of state, it’s even worse, as GOP legislators want to limit the attorney general’s power to litigate (and to create a new legislative power to do so) and to pre-empt campaign finance regulation.
“They lost and they’re throwing a fit,” was how Jon Erpenbach, a Wisconsin Democratic state senator, put it to the New York Times.
But that’s not quite correct. In many otherwise purple states, the GOP has been rejecting political norms—such as respecting popular vote outcomes—and grabbing power in any manner it can for years. The Wisconsin and Michigan moves echo what North Carolina Republicans have pursued since 2016 after that also GOP-gerrymandered state elected a Democratic governor, where its legislature targeted gubernatorial powers, state election boards and even its state judiciary.
Click through for the rest of this article on, in my words, the decline of American democracy. On 14 July 1933, the German Nazi Party banned the formation of any other political party. Prior to this, in February 1933, as borne out by history and as recorded in finding Dulcinea,
“The following day [28 February 1933], Hitler issued a decree “for the Protection of the People and the State,” commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree. It stripped citizens of their constitutional liberties and allowed the Nazi government to arrest communist leaders. Many historians believe that the Reichstag fire was started by the Nazis to justify the decree. [emphasis added]
Hitler’s coalition government would gain a small majority in the March general elections and, with communist officials in prison, pass the Enabling Act on March 23. It stripped the Reichstag of its legislative powers and created the legal basis for Hitler’s dictatorship.” [emphasis added]
I am not particularly given to closely comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler, but when I can recall easily from my history studies such a similar track, I am going to mention it. Is it any wonder why here at PoliticsPlus we refer to the current Republican Party as the Republican Reich! As seen in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina to name just a few, Republicans are trying to stay in power any way they can by any means they can dream up. Republicans have not as such declared the Democrat Party illegal, but they are certainly moving to limit its influence in various states. American democracy is in trouble. Rise up! Resist!!!
Politico — Triumphant California Democrats returned to the state capitol in Sacramento this week with a mandate and a mission: defying President Donald Trump, whose enduring toxicity in the state helped power historic gains in the legislature and Congress.
Two years into a presidency whose policies are anathema to California’s dominant party, Democrats are picking up where they left off: challenging the Trump administration in policy and rhetoric as they seek to make America’s most populous state apart a counterexample to the dysfunction in D.C.
Newly introduced bills seek to rebuff the Trump administration on immigration and the environment while again working to pry loose his tax returns. Ambitious health care proposals seem guaranteed to energize the state’s liberal base, offering Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom an early opportunity to advance his oft-stated goal of making the state a shining alternative to Trumpism.
Even before they had been formally sworn in, Democratic legislators were rallying against the Trump administration’s proposal to bar immigrants who use public services from obtaining legal status. …
“I was struck by not only have California legislators passed an agenda to counter what was done by the Trump administration but how much they ran on it and won,” Wright said. “It’s not just that California policymakers are taking a different direction than the Trump administration, it’s that the voters have endorsed and voted to take a different direction.” (emphasis added)
Do you want that resistance supersized? It appears good things are happening in California and Trump will not like that! Go California!!!
Global News — In late 2015, as Europe grappled with a migration crisis of a scale not seen since the Second World War, the United Nations decided to convene a meeting to address how member nations can respond.
A year later, 193 member countries signed on to the New York Declaration, which called for the adoption of a migration pact by the end of 2018.
As a result, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was born. A draft of the pact was agreed upon by UN members — except for the United States — in July.
Here’s a look at the UN’s unprecedented international migrant pact, its objectives and arguments for and against adopting it:
What are the pact’s objectives?
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration purports to set out “a common understanding, shared responsibilities and unity of purpose regarding migration.”
It claims to be rooted in a shared understanding that better international cooperation is needed to handle migration in a way that’s fair to states, but protects the human rights of migrants and refugees.
To that end, the pact proposes a “360-degree vision of migration” that recognizes that better cooperation is needed to facilitate safe and orderly migration.
That “vision” is laid out in the form of 23 objectives.
The GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION can be viewed HERE. Pages 5 and 6 list the 23 objectives. It should be noted that the document clearly states that the document is non binding, and it “reaffirms the sovereign right of States to determine
their national migration policy and their prerogative to govern migration within their jurisdiction,
in conformity with international law”, two very big concerns for many countries. I am not a solicitor, but I do not see why a country would balk at signing on. The US was the only country saying no initially but a few more are now not signing as well. If we as part of the human family can’t come together to solve the problems that initiate migration, what are we prepared to do?
My Universe
TC getting some paperwork done while
exercising in preparation for his move!
Posted to Care2 HERE
24 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 06 December 2018”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Mailbox 4:48 [4:48] Srsly.
Rhinoceros 5:10 [7:27] New? Or people just never saw a rhinoceros before?
AO-C has announced she is going to pay her interns (15 an hour.) If she can, they all can. Petition.
Quote from The New Yorker (from an email): “What does it tell you that the feel-good events in D.C. these days are funerals?
AlterNet – There’s certainly no shortage of news (and opinions) today on may subjects, and this is a huge one. Here from AlterNet/Raw Story is an article on martial law – tighten your belt and/or put on suspenders, because it might scare the pants off of you. One quote:
QQ There is a vast set of laws, an entire parallel legal regime, that becomes available to the president when he declares an emergency,” Goitein said, adding that such a declaration is entirely up to the president. “Some of these laws and the powers they give the president are perfectly sensible, but some of them are more like the stuff of authoritarian regimes. We’re talking about powers to shut down wire communications, to freeze Americans’ bank accounts, to deploy the military to act as a domestic police force and more.
Politico – If it weren’t so impossibly expensive to live in California, I’d seriously consider returning to my roots.
Global News – There do seem to be a few principles which Republicans (including Hairman Mao) share, one of which is “If it helps poor people anywhere in the world, tear it down and stamp it out.” I can see the surrent US regime refusing to sign it on principle – that principle.
Universe – Don’t you wish you could deal with paperwork that fast?
Petition signed. Thanks
It was certainly no surprise to me that the US was not involved and did not sign the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. Let’s face it, Trump (and Republicans) have no principles, only principals, themselves.
I sure wish paperwork was that easy!
Thanks.
Oh, they have principles. EVIL ones.
AN: The repugs would be pitching a FIT if this were reversed!! How low can they go?? ugh!!
Politico: The CA dems are doing what they promised to do, and working towards taking positive steps despite what dt says…good for them!!!
GN: I don’t have an answer to this ongoing situation, (or how it can be resolved), but I do know that this is important for ALL nations, including the US, to help/provide/support migrants coming to the borders. Whichever, country, those people need help, not to be turned away!! We need to be humane about this crisis. Shame on us, if we don’t either.
MU: My cat would view this as ‘too much work’, but my little Shih Tzu has done this, and enjoys the mess that she makes, and is so, so proud of her handiwork! lol
Thanks, Lynn for your post, in covering for TC as he goes through the chores of moving. I certainly appreciate what you, Joanne, Nameless, & Lona do to keep this up & running. Thank you, ALL !!!!
*This just in – Sarah Palin: “I can see Russia from my house. DT: “I can see Russia in my tax returns!” ~ Bobbi D ~
YVW!
Love the This just in! No doubt, if we ever get to see Trump’s tax returns, Russia will be in them!
Me? I have no compunction WRT comparing Twitler to Hitler. If the shoe fits …
Got a kick out of TC doing his “paper work” in your “My Universe” GIF.
Recently came across an article WRT the “correct” way to hang toilet paper from a scientific point of view.
And while I agree with them from a bacterial aspect, I can also say they’ve never had to deal w/ a cat who would enjoy unwinding TP hung in the “correct” way.
Actually, if you check out the gif, that toilet paper is hung the bad way. I don’t think that cats have a preference as long as it goes around and is shreddable.
Sadly, those who want a Fascist, or other dictatorship, badly enough, all seem to hit upon the same recipe for getting there:
Totalitarian narrative has no need of facts. They are beside the point. Like other ideas that aspire to ‘total explanation’, the narrative pretends ‘to know beforehand everything that experience may still have in store’. Armed with omniscient knowledge of the ‘true’ cause for all events, believers are relieved of their sense of insecurity. Here, at last, is a consistent explanation for everything. Totalitarian ideas emancipate their believers from reality: their worth lies in presenting a coherent absolute narrative of the world, which, as Arendt noted in Origins, is ‘more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself’. Experience is irrelevant: there is nothing new to be learned about the situation. The idea of a Jewish world conspiracy was once made to seem more true than reality by the Nazis, who simply acted ‘as though the world were dominated by the Jews and needed a counterconspiracy to defend itself’. Truth is simply not as relevant as what seems to be the truth.
That’s my point: It IS hung the “bad” (under) way.
But at least hanging it the “bad” way means it won’t end up w/ an entire roll of TP on the floor.
If it were hung the “good” way, as Nameless points out, it wouldn’t be shredded (probably) – just dragged through the house in circles like stiffed trick-or-treaters.
Agreed, but the roll will be ruined as those claws will make multiple holes that extend way down into the roll. I once tried to unroll it and finally gave up. My little girl likes paper towel rolls and they are the same. I finally gave up trying to fix it and she still uses that same roll 2 years later. Yet get her a scratching post and she won’t use it!
Well, after all, a cat is a cat and that is that!
HA! How about that, i have always hung loo paper the correct way!!!
i adore the;
“TC getting some paperwork done while
exercising in preparation for his move!” GIF!!!
I am with the third cat — he looks so much like my Winnie!
Alternet: Mich., Wisc. and N.C. show what immense disdain the GOP has for democracy! It makes me pine for a hero who can show them what is really meant by “Truth, justice, and the American way!”, whether he/she can fly, or not!
Politico: California rocks!
Global News: This compact seems like a major step trying to land its feet. “…evidence based policies,” does this mean that the U.S. has been disinvited? Is the U.S. sending a delegation, to represent Dumphy…of deluded jackasses?
My Universe: Boy, TC can really move along!
“Disinvited?” Damned, friggin’, Dumphy would not sign on!? The world, 193 countries of it, will meet for 2 days, next week, in Morocco, and the U.S. is in the same relative place as it is in regard to the Paris Accord!! Out there, somewhere, in La La land, making itself “Great!” all by itself, just like “The GREAT state of Mississippi,” where they can elect a “Hanging” clown to congress!!??
La La Land? I heard that was a nickname for California. I don’t think Trump or any of his minions is in California. After all, California is effectively giving him the finger, and rightfully so.
Before it was applied specifically to California, it was applied to the state of mind of ayone who was delusional in any way. Which Trump voters certainly are. I think it was the similarity of “la” to “LA” that got it applied to Southern California. I don’t think I personally have ever heard it applied to California as a whole, but i don’t doubt that has happened.
Rhinoceros: 3:43
Mailbox: 3:18
Alternet: The article states correctly that this isn’t the first time the GOP has tried to hang on to state power when a Democratic governor was elected. They’ve also tried to impeach all “Democratic” justices of state Supreme Courts because they didn’t like their rulings, Whatever happened to that? Drowned out by Drumpf’s antics, I bet. And now they try to strip the AG’s power to litigate and try to bestow it to a newly created, non elected, power. I’m sorry, Lynn; when you say: “American democracy is in trouble”, I can’t agree. IMO America has already lost a major part of of its democracy through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and unconstitutional power grabs as described above; all at the hands of the Republicans. However, your parallel drawn with Nazi Germany in the 1930 is, sadly, spot on.
Politico: Three cheers for California. But it’s policy makers still have the wrong end of the stick.
“It’s not just that California policymakers are taking a different direction than the Trump administration, it’s that the voters have endorsed and voted to take a different direction.” Really? Policy makers a so full of themselves. Surely it should be the other way around! They should be following the different direction their voters have taken and now are dictating by their vote.
GN: Sad but not surprising that the US was the one to step out of this global agreement on immigration. After all it stepped out of the Paris global agreement on reduction on CO2 emission (which wasn’t binding either, just like this one isn’t binding). I think there are several reasons for Drumpf not signing. First of al because he both too stupid to understand the pact an too senile to admit not understanding it; he therefore refuses to have it explained to him. The Republicans are very happy with Drumpf stepping out of both of them, it’s what they want, but he can take the blame. But Drumpf does listen to one man, Putin, who instructs Drumpf with one goal only: divide this global block as much as possible, destabilize the world as much as possible by having other countries join America in stepping out and then let Russia be magnanimously cooperative at all these summits and come out on top.
MU: I do hope that TomCat, unlike this extremely focussed feline, knows when to stop ?
“American democracy is in trouble” Perhaps I did not say it as strongly as I meant it . . . American democracy is on death’s doorstep, and largely for the reasons you mention. Call me a bit of an optimist but I think there is still some hope providing progressives like Bernie, Merkley and newcomers like Ocasio-Cortez can stay the course and lead the way.
AN: I agree with Pat that if this was going on tor the Repugs, they’d be having a fit, maybe even a cow.
Politico: There has to be a way to help these immigrants. tRump being so racist, and so much for his so called
Wall. I hope the Democrats can get something going.
MU: Yes it would be nice to get thru paperwork that quickly.
Signed the petition Joanne listed.
Thanks Colleen.
A FIT is an understatement. I think they would mobilise the militias etc — like the Bundys did in Nevada a few years back. There would be violence.
Thanks all!