It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering groceries sometime this afternoon/ I’m hurrying to try to catch an early nap. On the plus sided, breakfast stayed inside me. Have a great day.
Jug Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Short Takes:
From Willamette Week: A lawsuit filed Feb. 11 by seven tenants against their downtown landlords alleges squalid living conditions in the apartments above a Portland landmark.
The plaintiffs: Seven tenants of the Stewart Hotel at 127 SW Broadway
The defendants: Leon and Pamela Drennan and Pennie Narver, who are associated with the building’s landlord and owner.At issue: The Stewart Hotel, located next to iconic strip joint Mary’s Club, is filled with single-room-occupancy apartments. It’s both a relic of a bygone Portland and a desperately needed home for low-income Portlanders. Monthly rent is about $600.
The claims: The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, documents shockingly unhealthy conditions for Portlanders finding shelter there, even as the hotel’s caretaker has filed for bankruptcy and apparently abandoned all care of it.
The lawsuit lists a horror show of conditions: “holes in walls, cockroach infestations, lack of heat, persistent and potentially dangerous mold, broken washers and dryers, debris in common areas, bed bugs, and inadequate plumbing.”
I actually had to live there when I became disabled, and could not work, and when it took me four years to get SSDI disability approval and three more years on Central City Concern’s waiting list, after which I moved to the Henry. It’s as bad as they say it is. The landlords are pseudo-Christian Republicans. I hope the tenants succeed in their suit. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: In a decision that Donald Trump called “incredibly unfair,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson has sentenced Roger Stone to ten years of house arrest in the home of Senator Susan Collins, of Maine.
As part of the sentence, Senator Collins will be required to live under the same roof as Stone, in Bangor, and insure that he is properly fed, clothed, and exercised until 2030.
The sentence immediately drew howls of protest from Stone, who claimed that living with the ceaselessly waffling Collins would “send me over the edge.”
“Judge, can we revisit the whole prison idea?” Stone begged Jackson.
Dang, Andy! As much as I hate to admit it, I’m on Roger Stone’s side. Having to live with Slithering Susan Collins is clearly cruel and unusual punishment. RESIST!!
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Experts Warn Democracies Facing Autocracy: Protect Your Institutions
Masha Gessen could not have been more accurate in her speech. Her list of rules was just as good, as was Snyder’s. I have been comparing the Republican Party with Germany’s National Socialist Party of the 1930s for years. History proves me right every week. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Ventures – Wipe Out
This is the first song I played publicly in a band after I got my Fender Stratocaster. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!
Vote Blue!!
9 Responses to “Open Thread–2/13/2020”
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5:18 Coffee always looks good (chocolate looks better.)
Cartoon – Unfortunately, only the ones who are gone. Too many are still here with us.
WW – Well, more power to the plaintiffs. It’s been a long time since I have rented, so I’m having sticker shock trying to wrap my head around $600 being considered “low rent.” I suppose these days it is. It’s another long time since you’ve loved there, TC, and I am betting it’s not just as bad as when you were there, but worse.
TNY – Priceless! Just priceless!
MSNBC – Masha Gessen’s article on surviving in an autocracy is what inspired my Everyday Erinyes column. She is absolutely sound. Resignations on principle are a mixed bag. While I understand principle, and wish more people in government were principled, resignation removes them from the front lines. Not resigning, of course, keeps them on the front lines and therefore vulnerable. It is really a tough call.
Past – Maybe you have mentioned this and I missed it, but did you actually surf, besides singing about it?
Sure. I grew up three blocks from the Atlantic Ocean. I had a couple boards and a wetsuit. Waves there were small, except during storms, so I did a lot of surfing in the winter. In the Great March Storm of 1962, most of the island was underwater, and I was surfing big waves half a block from my front door.
Cool beans!
It was a great place to grow up!
Cartoon: Ahhhh….familiar faces and friends. Couldn’t be in a better place. imho.
WW: Oh, my Gawd!! Shame that they couldn’t have filed a lawsuit before/sooner. An animal shelter is kept cleaner than this place, (by the looks of the picture) Shame that you had to live there too, TC. Awful, disgusting place. I hope the tenets win a large monetary reward, and the landlords thrown in jail.
NYer: Sounds good to me. Collins and Stone deserve each other……They could plan on their Friday Pizza Night!!
MSNBC: We’ve heard it. We’ve read it. Scary times, indeed !!
BFTP: Awesome, Tom. Good memories, awesome song for sure!
Glad that you’re having a better Health day today. It’s cold as hell here today. lol Hope that you have a good rest of your day, take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: If subpoenaed, Barr will testify as its part of his duty in front of the judiciary committee. If not, the Sergeant-at-Arms can arrest him. ~ anon. ~
2. “Revenge is petty and unworthy, pest removal is a civic duty.” ~ Steve W. ~
3. “Sentencing Stone is up to the judge. She does not have to accept the DOJ recommendation either. ~Paul G.~
4. Please consider nominating Marie Yovanovitch for the Kennedy Profile in Courage award. I did. TY.
— deadline—15 Feb 2020 *JFK Profile in Courage link:
https://www.jfklibrary.org/events-and-awards/profile-in-courage-award/submit-a-nomination?fbclid=IwAR0_gHbkt370od4HWuDsZAhMaaKZ3jjmoNiDQM_plk9JANHEEqk8CswSqOo
She just received the Trainor award from Georgetown University *pb
https://www.centralmaine.com/2020/02/12/diplomat-ousted-and-slammed-by-trump-gets-diplomacy-award/
2:37 Nice to have a coffee that loves you as much as you love it.
Cartoon: Number of old friends isn’t growing fast enough.
WW: Even if the tenants win their lawsuit, and I really hope they do, it probably will not lead to better housing for an affordable price for low-income tenants. If they win, the hotel will probably not be done up as it’s caretaker has filed for bankruptcy and abandoned all care of it and if they get compensation awarded, they’re unlikely to ever receive it. It’s the sad story of inner-city housing in general.
TNY: I wish it were true! That’s a revolutionary idea for punishing two of these Drumpfian scumbags at the same time.
MSNBC: With each day that passes, Trump and his cronies strengthen their now established kakistocracy, i.e. a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens. America didn’t heed Gessen or Snyder over three years ago, they thought institutions would save them but didn’t stand up for institutions when they were hollowed out or taken down one by one before their very eyes. The FBI, CIA, Congress, the Justice Department, SCOTUS…Trump, or rather the power-hungry men behind him, have torn them down and replaced the impartial with, again, the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens. Those principled men who quit the DOJ will be replaced in the same way until all bow to the king.
The Doom Clock has been brought forward to 100 seconds to 12 because of these developments all over the world in addition to Climate Change chaos. I sometimes despair that, like with Climate Change, we’re too late to turn back that clock.
BFTP: I only vaguely remember this tune, not the band, and still have no idea what Wipe Out stands for.
Lona, I know the people that are suing, and they don’t expect to get anything. They want to tie up the rent they are paying, so the landlords don’t just pocket it. Wipe-out is falling off a surfboard. ;
Quoth Benjamin Franklin: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” That is what we Progressives and guardians of democracy and the U.S. Constitution must do: hang together. We need to put aside any petty differences and focus on where we all agree, namely, that we must speak out in defense of liberty and justice for all.
Here are the 14 characteristics of a fascist regime.
That video is scary as hell, and anybody who isn’t worried is either a) ignorant, b) abysmally stupid, or c) blindly loyal to His Orangeness. People in category C are the kind who make the atrocities of repressive governments possible.
Thanks and shot TGIF Hugs!