As it does every year, springing forward fouled up my night’s sleep. Worse yet, I’ll have to wait until an hour later, before I can go bask in the sun. 70° forecast. Today’s plan is to het my articles up and try to unspring.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:23 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: The Westboro Baptist Church, long-associated with their deranged and ugly protests at the funerals of US troops, have been thwarted in their attempt to ‘protest’ at the funeral of actor Leonard Nimoy, who died on Friday. According to The Guardian:
The church posted a Twitter update lamenting its inability to picket the event, which it said was due to a lack of publicity over the location.
Awww…that’s a shame: the crazed, rancid bigots couldn’t make it.
Those poor Republicans! How awful it must be to stew in their own hatred!
From NY Times: Senator Rand Paul succeeded on Saturday in persuading the leadership of the Republican Party in Kentucky to help him resolve a predicament that could threaten his plans to run for president in 2016: a state law that prohibits candidates from appearing twice on the same ballot.
To avoid running afoul of the law, Mr. Paul asked the state party to suspend its presidential primary, scheduled for May next year, and hold a caucus instead, a decision the party’s executive committee adopted on Saturday. A caucus would help Mr. Paul in two ways. First, it is likely to be held well before May, meaning it could assist him in building his delegate count early in the Republican nominating contest. Second, because caucuses do not require actual ballots, it resolves the main legal question.
Mr. Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky, has said that he intends to run for re-election while pursuing the Republican nomination for president. The move to a caucus system would relieve him of having to give up his seat.
A temporary rule to allow a Republican to break a permanent law is Republican SOP.
From Think Progress: Months after Attorney General Eric Holder launched an investigation of Ferguson Police Department in the wake of Michael Brown’s death, the Department of Justice released a 102-page report detailing systemic race discrimination and abuses of power in the embattled city. But despite the DOJ’s damning findings, the city’s mayor remains unconvinced that widespread problems exist.
“What they’ve shown is that it has happened. Now, how often has that happened? I don’t know. Their assertion is it happens regularly. Based on what? I’m not sure yet,” said Mayor James Knowles III, during an interview Friday. “Do they have a statistic that tells me that they’ve examined every arrest that we’ve made for the past four years and that half, or all, or 10 percent, or 5 percent are unconstitutional or without cause? They do not have that. They have not examined at that level that I know of at this point.”
He also maintains that there is “no proof” of gross civil rights violations.
Say what?!!? There is equally no proof that the sun rises in the morning, that the Pope is Catholic or that bears shit in the woods. When is the next election in Ferguson? I trust there will be better voter turnout.
Cartoon:
16 Responses to “Open Thread–3/8/2014”
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Glad Nimoy's family got their privacy.
Apparently Paul has no respect for the intent of the law and only occasionally the letter of the law.
There was a pretty successful voter registration drive in Ferguson–perhaps they should aim for recall instead of waiting for the next election.
4:15 average still 4:54. But I don't care two pins.
DKos – ICYMI, here's a Spock Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljjkO5rZNcI
NYTimes – Whatever Idiot son of Idiot named for Idiot does is not going to make him President. Too many people outside of Kentucky will be voting.
Think Progress – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/06/1368959/-Meet-3-Ferguson-employees-cited-by-DOJ-for-racism-corruption-now-in-charge-of-cleaning-up-the-city There seems to be some doubt as to whether the report is the end of it or whether Fergusin will be accountable to the DOJ and followed up upon. We shall see. Incidentally, the Mayor is NOT one of the three – he is a fourth person. If you start to read comments try not to get caught up in the "dehimanizing language" debate. And, as far as elections, most municipal ones are in odd numbered years and are "non-partisan."
Cartoon – You mean because fingers are enough for non-intellectuals, I gather.
WRT Daylight Saving Time, I wish we could KEEP DST all year around. I would prefer NOT to have another winter like last one.
I hope you are right about Rand.
Amen Spock!
3:11 Did you get the point?
3:10 Did you Jerry? I pinned your ears back. Will Patty pin my ears back?
3:25 I missed the point.
The point is that they are not edible.
I see no reason to change the time twice a year. Pick one, I don't care which one, and let's just keep it.
So happy that Westboro couldn’t read the internet and find out where Mr. Spock was being eulogies! Those idiots would protest the Pope’s funeral!
Ferguson will be a constant problem for years to come! They think they don’t have a problem, but the rest of the country sees their stupidity!
Rand Paul should not be able to run in two races at once!! Appalling. Simply APPALLING!
Love that Vivian . . . "Those idiots would protest the Pope’s funeral!" So true, so true!
Puzzle — 3:10 Did you Jerry? I pinned your ears back. Will Patty pin my ears back?
Daily Kos — "Awww…that’s a shame: the crazed, rancid bigots couldn’t make it." Live long and prosper, in peace Leonard.
NY Times — I can hear it now: "Whatever Pauly wants, Pauly gets" from the movie Damn Yankees (Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets). Personally, I think that any candidate for POTUS should have to give up his original position. If he doesn't make it then the candidate goes into business or whatever. That is a risk the candidate takes. There should be no runner-up positions. I know that Paul Ryan did exactly that in 2012, ran in 2 places thus ensuring that if the VP gig didn't work out, he still had his House seat. Wouldn't that have been a hoot if he lost both! Same for Paul in Kentucky. Music to my ears and not "Damn Yankees".
Think Progress — Mayor James Knowles III is morally blind, nay bankrupt if he refuses to see the racial issues within his city, and refuses to lead a campaign to make justice blind to race etc.
Cartoon — Republicanus/Teabaggerum have intellectuals???
Daily Kos: Those people in the Westboro church are miserable excuses for human beings! So glad they didn't get to demonstrate at Spock's funeral. They are "not logical."
NY Times: I will be very surprised if state Republicans don't approve the caucus system for Rand. Yet another way to disenfranchise the voters. I think it should be a federal law that no candidate can run for two offices at the same time. Lieberman comes to mind.
Think Progress: I hope there will be a better turn out in the next election in Ferguson. I also hope they have better candidates to vote for next time.
I love the cartoon!
Daily Kos ~ Obviously, the Force was not with them.
NY Times ~ This is yet another example of how the Rich rule the world. They don't let rules and laws stop them. They just suspend them, change them or eliminate them altogether.
Think Progress ~ Sometimes I wish they would just think! Vote, people of Ferguson and all over the country. If you don't vote then you have no right to complain. By staying home and absenting yourself from the Democratic process, you helped elect these fools and bigots. Become involved! This is the perfect reason for having "community organizers".
Cartoon ~ There are no Repugnant intellectuals.
TY TC. (I hope Paul fails).
Thanks all. I'm hurrying big time.