It’s a very strange day here in the CatBox. YouTube is broken. Videos play just fine, but the embed requester won’t load the code I need to embed videos here. I checked the support forum, and lots of folks have the same problem. When was the last time I posted a normal day without videos? ARGH! Hugs to all!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:13 (average 6:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Fantasy Football Report:
Here’s the latest from our own fantasy football league.
Scores:
Vivian and I had the high scores.
Standings:
Vivian and WWWendy are the league leaders.
Remember to set your lineup before Thurs. evening.
Short Takes:
From Washington Post: CONFLICTING REPORTS were circulating Monday about who launched the devastating attack on Saudi oil production facilities Saturday, and from where. Though Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed credit, Saudi Arabia and the United States said the assault did not come from Yemen; both blamed Iran, but without providing evidence. What is certain is that the strike represented a major escalation in the conflict in the Persian Gulf — and that President Trump, who triggered the crisis with his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, seems to have lost any ability to control it.
Iran has been engaged in aggression across the Middle East for years, including in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. But Mr. Trump’s decision to walk away from the international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program and to apply crushing new sanctions has provoked Iran, inexcusably but predictably, to ratchet up that aggression. The U.S. attempt to block all Iranian oil exports, which has delivered a powerful blow to the Islamic republic’s economy, was itself a virtual act of war. Tehran first responded with attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf, and now comes the stunning air raid on Saudi oil facilities — which, wherever it came from, very likely had Iranian sponsorship or support.
Mr. Trump’s ability to respond effectively is severely limited compared to previous U.S. presidents. Few believe his pronouncements, so barring the presentation of overwhelming evidence, claims of Iranian responsibility will not persuade even close U.S. allies. European states that joined U.S. operations to secure the Persian Gulf in the past are very reluctant to do so now, because they fear Mr. Trump will drag them into a war. Even some of Iran’s foremost adversaries don’t want a conflict with Iran presided over by an erratic and unstable U.S. president, who already canceled one military strike at the last minute.
The attack should not go unanswered, but the best response may not be a military one. Mr. Trump risks compounding his strategic problems if he acts hastily or recklessly. The United States must first work to definitively establish who was responsible for the operation and how it was carried out, and make that information public. Especially since it was Saudi and not U.S. assets that were struck, no retaliatory U.S. military action should be undertaken without consultation with Congress.
Locked and loaded Chicken-hawk Bone Spurs must be stopped from starting a war at the behest of Murderer Salman an Butcher Bibi. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff has issued a press release and a subpoena to the acting Director of National Intelligence over a subject that looks deeply concerning. A month ago, someone inside the U.S. intelligence community filed a whistleblower complaint alleging a “flagrant problem” or “violation of the law.” That complaint appears to have been aimed directly at actions by acting DNI Joseph Maguire. Since that filing, the Inspector General for the intelligence community has looked into the matter and found that it’s not only “credible,” but an “urgent concern.”
A month later, this urgent concern about a flagrant violation is still being hidden by Maguire. The clock ran out for Maguire to release this whistleblower report on Sept. 3. But he did not release it. In fact, he didn’t even let Congress know that there was such a report.
As Schiff notes, even if the original report didn’t allege a violation of the law, the failure to release the report absolutely is a violation of the law. This instance is both extremely serious and utterly unprecedented.
This obstruction of Congress’ oversight rights is an impeachable offense all by itself. RESIST!!
From ProPublica: Medical images and health data belonging to millions of Americans, including X-rays, MRIs and CT scans, are sitting unprotected on the internet and available to anyone with basic computer expertise.
The records cover more than 5 million patients in the U.S. and millions more around the world. In some cases, a snoop could use free software programs — or just a typical web browser — to view the images and private data, an investigation by ProPublica and the German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk found.
We identified 187 servers — computers that are used to store and retrieve medical data — in the U.S. that were unprotected by passwords or basic security precautions. The computer systems, from Florida to California, are used in doctors’ offices, medical-imaging centers and mobile X-ray services.
Your medical records should not be at risk. Tell your Congress Critter to pass a bill to secure the servers. RESIST!!
Vote Blue!!
10 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/17/2019”
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5:40 Looks so easy, right? Wrong!
I don’t ask you to believe me, but the GOP is now starting to get a little too shady even for its candidates. Seriously. Check out the link.
Cartoon – Not even all that new. The Crusades. The Inquisition. The Salem trials. And on and on and on.
Wapo – This is a little different emphasis, but quite pertinent: Trump puts the U.S. military under the control of Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman
DKos – No Republican believes that a Democratic Congress, or even just one house of Congress, has any powers at all over a Republican President. Including the power of subpoena. Certainly, if they send the Sergeant at Arms over to arrest, say, Maguire, even if the Sergeant is not overwhelmed by the staff there, they can only hold Maguire overnight. There’s been a lot of conversation all over the comment sections about what the House can actually do. It’s not promising.
ProPublica: May I quote from a medical professional who is still working in the field? “[M]ost hospitals and major medical practices are very diligent about HIPAA violations and do have security systems in place. You might have noticed the article even states that most of the issues were in stand-alone practices. The problem is in healthcare, a provider might pony up a half-million dollars for an ultrasound machine or 1.5 million for a CT scanner, but they won’t provide new and secure computer systems…because they don’t understand the issue.” This Disqus user (“FrustrationIsMyName”) works in imaging/ultrasound, and she is correct in that the article specifically states that most violations were found in small practices. I’m not a medical professional, but of course, Nameless is, so I’ll be interested to see his take.
Cartoon: Yep!
WaPo: dt doesn’t even know what day of the week it is. Considering the severity of this situation, he’s unable (imho) to even make an educated ‘guess’ at this point. Can he find Iran on a map…for instance? How pathetic and…terrifying.
DK: Sounds really serious, hope that this gets taken care of. somehow…..
PP: Good info, as I d/not know about any of this.
Awww….how sad to read of her passing. Rest in Peace, Ms. Roberts.
Hope that you have a good rest of your day, take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: “Anything about dt’s tweets is just fodder, unless…it’s two terrific words..’I resign.'” ~Helen R. ~ 2. “Trump has vetoed 5 bills as president, 4 of them were efforts to reduce US support to Saudi Arabia.”
~Matthew Y. ~
3. “Not once in the 8 years of the Obama Administration did I go to bed wondering if WWIII would start tomorrow.” ~ Cary D. ~
Thank you for your news TomCat!!🙂
I’m going to save time and recycle my D Kos Comment WRT the Whistleblower here:
Maybe not strong enough teeth, but Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) should provide the means to hold people/institutions accountable for not protecting privacy of patients’ records.
Have you rechecked YouTube embed code? Because it looks like it works for me.
It’s possible that the video you want to embed has select Settings that don’t allow embedding.
It also worked for me when I tried it (I didn’t complete my post because i was just trying it out), but I just figured there was a problem and they’d fixed it. But you certainly may be right too.
No, the function was broken. After they fixed it, I texted the videos I tried to embed yesterday. All worked.
WaPo: Dumpy may just be coming to the same fate, sadly not alone, as “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” The paranoid part of my brain says we were behind the strikes, so Dumpy could have his war, just like G.W.B. want one of his own, which we are still fighting! I’m guessing that with Bolton gone, if this is not our doing, there is less of chance that we go to war.
DK: DNI Maguire is a Republican, right? That explains it.
‘Toon: Nothhing new.
Sorry to see Cokie go.
Cartoon: Sad…but so true.
WP: tRump worries me the way he speaks off the wall comments about this issue. We certainly don’t need another war.
DK: Maguire should be punished/fined for not releasing the whistleblower report. Plus they need to follow through with the whistleblower report now.
RIP Cokie Roberts. I enjoyed watching/listening to her.
Take care. Thanks TomCat
Cokie Roberts — Trump’s reaction to her passing is so typical of him, and of course he turned it into being about him. “She never treated me nicely …” What an asshole!!! If you ask me, she was too nice to this lowlife!
RIP Cokie Roberts
Fantasy Football — I have assumed my normal place in the standings, dead last . . . well second to last but only because the last place team folded.
I have set my line up and I am absolutely sure I will win this one, but this is likely the only game I’ll win this year.
WaPo — “Chicken-hawk Bone Spurs” — LMAO! I love it! ‘CBS’ sure does love his dictators especially when they fawn all over him as MBS does. US allies are right to distance themselves from ‘CBS’ because the fool will lead them right down the garden path into a war that will no doubt escalate into WWIII. Add into the mix his love affair with Butcher Bibi and we have a very toxic brew . . . nitroglycerin!
Daily Kos — Maguire should be given a cell directly adjacent to those of CBS and Barrf! Dare I repeat my comment from today’s lead article about a nation of laws?
ProPublica — With so much online, it makes me wonder about our own systems here north of the 49th. I know our own records are more and more online such as Pharmacare but I don’t know how much and where it is stored. Some storage of information (not necessarily of medical info) sits in servers in the US and because of that, can be accessible to US authorities. That scares the crap out of me!
Cartoon — Yup!!!
Thanks and Hump Day Hugs to all.
RIP Cokie!