I had a dozen chores this morning, so I’m way late and very tired.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:20 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Report:
Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league.
Playoffs:
Congrats to Pam and Vivian for winning their first round games. WWWendy and I had first round byes. Patty Monster and Squatch do not have second round games, but they will the following week.
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: In a tense meeting on Monday, leading Cabinet members warned Donald J. Trump that shutting down the federal government would make it exponentially harder for them to steal from.
Led by his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, the Cabinet members begged Trump to prevent a government showdown that would bring their brazen spree of pillaging the nation’s coffers to a screeching halt.
“Mr. President, with the federal government up and running, I was able to take seven trips on military aircraft at a cost of eight hundred thousand dollars,” Mnuchin said. “I implore you, sir: don’t make me fly coach.”
Trump’s three oldest children, Ivanka, Eric, and Don, Jr., who have piled up impressive taxpayer-funded travel bills of their own, chimed in with an emotional plea to their father. “Daddy, please don’t make us stop plundering government money,” Ivanka said. “Not right before Christmas.”
Dang, Andy! That’s a valid point! But Trump is too stupid to get it. RESIST!!
From YouTube (NY Times Channel): The Secret History of Muslims in the U.S
Cool! I do have a Muslim friend. In fact, he’s a gay Muslim friend. He couldn’t be nicer or kinder. Reject GOP hatred. RESIST!!
From NBC: While she didn’t win the crown, Angela Ponce broke barriers on Monday in the 67th Miss Universe pageant. The 27-year-old Spanish beauty became the first transgender woman to ever participate in the international competition.
Kudos to Angela. She has courage and looks good. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
16 Responses to “Open Thread – 12/18/2018”
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6:02 I doubt he’ll ever be called “too cute to eat.”
TNY – Jarvanka – well, the whole family – will be hurting from the loss of his “Foundation.” Looking forward to seeing that play out.
Muslims – There were a lot of Muslims in Spain any time after about 800 C.E., and Spanish architecture still shows Muslim influence anwhere they went. (Ever heard Recuerdos de la Alhambra? It doesn’t get much more Spanish than that.) And that sabre is called a “Mameluke.”
NBC – Good for her!
Cartoon – Let’s ask George Takei about that.
Angela Ponce is gorgeous!! BRAVO to her!!!
Congrats!
NYT: Funny! but oh, so true!!! Andy!
NYTC: How interesting, I didn’t know some of the facts. Awesome!
NBC: Isn’t this so wonderful? Congratulations and Kudos to Ms. Ponce!!
Cartoon: A dark stain on our history, so very, very sad.
Get your rest, and take good care, enjoy your evening, and Thanks, Tom.
TC –
I’m fine w/ sticking w/ the “Classic Editor”. But when I went to look at a New Post, that’s what it opens in. And I didn’t see any option for WordPress 5.0 (Gutenberg).
That’s fine, like I said, I doubt it would offer much for my level of posting – but I wonder if there is a way to use it? I looked in Plugins and didn’t see it. And if it’s not, that’s perfectly fine w/ me. But I thought I might give it a try is all.
Nameless, I went into the Classic Editor settings and set “allow users to switch editors”. Let me know how that works.
Bravo for Ms. Ponce, Spain and the Miss Universe pageant!
Gotta wonder if Trump still owned the Miss Universe pageant, would he still be strolling into the dressing room to try to catch a view of naked contestants as he used to do there and at Miss Teen USA (which he also owned).
Twitler is a pervert through-and-through, and the sooner our country is rid of him, the better. (And he’s going DOWN!)
NewYorker: Yes, the folding of the Trump Foundation will hurt the Trumpista children, may just cut down on their weekly allowance. Then, there might be less motivation for people to serve in his cabinet, as well. Sad.
NYT: Cool! I did not know much of that, either.
NBC: Kudos to Angela!!!!!! Yes, Nameless, I was thinking along similar lines. I’m sure she would have been disqualified immediately, and ridiculed!
‘Toon: We were at a museum showing about the incarceration, a while back, awful!
3:07 (average 5:48) I think it looks a bit creepy.
TNY: Oh, come on Andy. If Drumpf closes down government he’s given all of those lame ducks a perfect excuse not to return for a vote. Those that never want to return even though they were elected, will be begging Drumpf to leave it closed. Lazy SOBs.
NYT: In 2016 the number of people who self-identified as Muslim in Australia, from all forms of Islam, constituted 604,200 people, or 2.6% of the total Australian population. It i estimated that more than half are non-practicing” muslim. The Dutch population is about 4% Muslim. We have numerous Muslim friends and I’ve worked with even more. So what are you on about in America. ?
Cartoon: Good old times, eh?
4% in the Netherlands. 2.6% in Australia. 1% here. You have more chances of meeting someone than we do. And in some areas it’s worse. I just looked up the Islamic Society in my home town and the last activity they had was in June of 2016. Well, I’ll keep trying.
According to Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey, there were 1,053,945 Muslims in Canada, or about 3.2% of the population, making Islam the second largest religion in the country after Christianity. And this is before the Syrian refugee crisis so it is definitely higher now.
NYT: Oh so true. All the money tRump and his family spend on their pleasures, I could honestly see Ivanka and her brothers saying that.
NYTC: Interesting. No to hatred.
NBC: Congrats to Angela Ponce,
Puzzle — 4:14 My gingerperson! . . . well at least until Lona comes in to take it. She’s good at puzzles. I suppose she would be doing me a favour since all that icing would be bad for me!
The New Yorker — LMAO!!! Pillage and plunder the public purse — these fools should never have been allowed anywhere near the public purse so in a perverse sense, a shutdown may be a good thing. The only problem, it hurts others too, but then Trump does not give a damn about that as long as he gets what he wants.
NY Times — Very interesting! JD mentioned the Moors from North Africa who invaded Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and Malta) in 711 CE. But Muslims also influenced large parts of the Middle East. For example, the Zoroastrian Persians (Iran) were taken over in the 15th century and are Shia Muslims while much of the rest of the Muslim world is Sunni. I have quite a few Iranian friends and acquaintances and it is from these friends that I am learning Farsi or Persian.
NBC — Very cool! I am very happy for Angela Ponce. In 2012, Miss Universe Canada, Jenna Talackova, was prevented from participating in the Miss Universe Pageant because she was not born a female. She overcame the objections in Canada with the legal help of Gloria Allred but she was not allowed to compete in Miss Universe International courtesy of Trump. Here’s a CNN story and video. Talachova is beautiful too.
Cartoon — Canada also relocated 22,000 Japanese Canadians — a despicable act perpetrated on innocent people. I worked with a woman in 1986 and had a few friends who were relocated during the war. 22 September 1988, the PM apologised in Parliament. There was also a financial redress.
Has anyone tried to embed an MSNBC video recently? I did within the last week or so but last night I could not. I was able to embed but it would not load. Any suggestions?
According to Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey, there were 1,053,945 Muslims in Canada, or about 3.2% of the population, making Islam the second largest religion in the country after Christianity. And this is before the Syrian refugee crisis so it is definitely higher now.
Remind me in a week and I might have time to research it.
Thanks all. Very tired hugs!