I’m very busy and very tired, so please pardon my brevity.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:35 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do.
Short Takes:
From YouTube (CNN Channel): Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Serena Williams, and the women who changed 2018
I grew up in the sugar and spice era, but I like these new feminists. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Just days before a deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, President Trump, Democratic leaders and the Republican-controlled Congress are at a stalemate over the president’s treasured border wall. But House Republican leaders are also confronting a more mundane and awkward problem: Their vanquished and retiring members are sick and tired of Washington and don’t want to show up anymore to vote.
Call it the revenge of the lame ducks. Many lawmakers, relegated to cubicles as incoming members take their offices, have been skipping votes in the weeks since House Republicans were swept from power in the midterm elections, and Republican leaders are unsure whether they will ever return.
It is perhaps a fitting end to a Congress that has showcased the untidy politics of the Trump era: Even if the president ultimately embraces a solution that avoids a shutdown, House Republican leaders do not know whether they will have the votes to pass it.
The uncertainty does not end there. With funding for parts of the government like the Department of Homeland Security set to lapse at midnight on Friday, Mr. Trump and top Republicans appear to have no definite plan to keep the doors open. It is clear that as Democrats uniformly oppose the president’s demand for $5 billion for his border wall, any bill that includes that funding cannot pass the Senate, and might face defeat in the House, too.
How typical. Republicans are just too lazy to finish doing their jobs! RESIST!!
From John Pavlovitz: Christian Friend,
I’ve been meaning to talk to you.
I’m trying to reconcile the things I see right now.
I see your house, carefully strewn with glowing lights, fragrant boughs of holly decking your photo-covered hallways.
I see your ceiling-scraping tree, limbs weighed down with the carefully curated collection of fragile keepsakes and handcrafted mementos acquired over decades.
I see you donning your gay apparel, while making your list and checking it twice, and declaring yourself exceedingly nice.
I see your overflowing shopping cart, packed to bursting with goodness that you plan to soon indulge in, nestled in an abundance that cascades in every direction.
I see the outward displays of reverent religion in needlepoints you make and in cards you’ve sent me and in filtered Instagram posts that arrive from you on my timeline every day.
But I’ve also seen something else.
I’ve also seen your Twitter feed.
I’ve read your Facebook rants.
I’ve watched you watching the news.
I’ve witnessed you tossing-off cruel comments at the dinner table.
I’ve seen your cruelty, your selfishness, your anger.
I’ve heard you declare your contempt for those trying to find refuge here.
And all the while I’ve heard you singing Christmas songs,
With all due respect, I’m not sure you should be singing right now.
Amen John! Please click through. There is so much more to read there. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread – 12/17/2018”
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No surprise the Rethuglicans are putting party ahead of country – and that they are sore about losing their edge in the House. The next two years will be interesting with different parties controlling each chamber. And that is to say nothing of the tRump regime going to sh*t. Those whiny brats want to do as much damage as possible before they leave office, like bitter evicted tenants trashing a house or apartment.
6:52 I didn’t realize they made a camera filter for “wash out.”
Isn’t this interesting. It highlights once again a difference we are already familiar with between left-leaning and right-leaning people (Baylor is a Baptist school, so I assume leans right.) Right leaning people appear to take the position that “Someone in my tribe must be protected in all circumstances.” Left leaning people are more in the “A member of MY tribe had better live up to its ideals, or he or she is toast.” I definitely think the left position is more honorable … but I can surely see how the right position can win elections, especially if the protection goes all the way down.
CNN – I grew up in the “sugar and spice” era too. But I think perhaps the puppy dog tails underestimated the strength of the spice involved. After all, RBG also grew up then (and as of now is back to working out, God bless her.) Maybe pepper spray really is a condiment /S.
NYT – Now this is what poetic justice looks like in real life. Too bad it didn’t happen in Wisconsin and Michigan. Oh, yeah, and Florida.
Pavlovitz – John really puts his finger on it, this time as always, and it’s very effective. If nothing else, the savagery of the comments demonstrates he touches nerves. Not that I could see them in this view … but I’ve been there before.
Cartoon – Yeah, right. Isn’t this the party of the people who are already signing up for space travel to get the pluck out of here?
Good news (albeit too little too late) for one of my favorite people.
Merry Christmas Andrew Gillum! As you say, a little late for the election cycle but just in time for Christmas.
Gillum rocks! I hope to have the opportunity to vote for him, soon!
CNN: What a fantastic vid !! Rise up, Ladies, the time has come!!!
NYT: It will be interesting to see how dt and the repugs try to fix this fine mess that they’ve made, since he’s not getting his wall. ugh!
JP: Amen.
Cartoon: While living in North Carolina, we had an opportunity, twice actually, to visit the Kitty Hawk National Museum. Very interesting! It is also a part of the National Parks, (Dept of the Interior).
Get your rest, and take good care, Tom. Thanks!!!
*Joanne: Boy! Talk about Divine Justice!!! WooHoo!!!
*This just in: “Kushner was working for Saudi Arabia, Flynn was working for Turkey, Manafort was working for Ukraine, Trump was working for Russia. But..hey!!! America FIRST, right?? ~ Keith B. ~
CNN: Beautiful!!!
NYT: They were not there to do their jobs for their constituents, just to take whatever they could, hurting whomever they could, with no sense of loyalty to anyone, anything, but themselves.
Pavlovitz: What he could be singing is a dirge of some sort, in anticipation of his coming end.
Mitch, your comment went to moderation because you misspelled your e-mail address. I’ve obviously released it.
Puzzle — 3:37 Never have been a fan of artificial garden critters . . . unless of course it is a cat . . . or two!
CNN — AMEN!!! I too am from the sugar ‘n spice era, but that was not good enough for me. Once I started working, I wanted to be the first female bank CEO in an industry dominated and run by and for men. I rose up the ladder in management but I did not make that end goal. My goals changed and I started helping other young women to realise their goals. Excellent vid!
NY Times — Slinking out the door like the bad dogs they are. Didn’t Republicans try to say in various ways that they were for the people? Righttttt.
Jon Pavlovitz — AMEN! Jon is so spot on! Too bad that Republicans and right wing evangelicals will never hear his words even if he says them infront of these so called Christians!
Cartoon — Correct! God gave women wings!
CNN: Excellent video.
NYT: I can barely wait to see how it’s going to end up by Friday with tRump threatening about closing the government all because of his precious wall. What a stupid fool….All because he can’t get his way…everyone else has to suffer
Pavlovitz: Spot on. Very effective message.
“All because he can’t get his way…” — Yup! A tantrumping toddler!!!
3:06 (average 5:08) …argh, a garden Drumpf!
CNN: Frances McDermand made the case in point: Women trending this…? No, this is happening NOW. That video warms the cockles of my heart. Women of my generation will not pluck the fruits of this unstoppable change, but we can celebrate, knowing we have done our part.
NYT: Lazy ducks avoiding getting lame too:
Cartoon: Top score for your remark, Joanne. ?
Thanks, Lona. Seeing as Virgin made headlines last week by being the first non-government entity to out a man technically in space (more than 50 miles up is outside the atmosphere), it was fresh in my mind.
Thanks and exhausted hugs to all.