I did not get out the Open Thread yesterday even though it was half done before I went out. I was teaching Lucia when late in the afternoon son Jonathan had not come home from school. I drove about looking for him and did significant walking. Turns out he went to a basketball tournament and forgot to tell his mother. Once I found him safe at home, I went home to rest my foot. I did too much walking during the search and aggravated my foot which had felt much better earlier in the day. Today is better and yesterday's swelling has gone down.
Short Takes
Bloomberg Politics — At a campaign rally in Texas on Friday, Donald Trump laid into 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Click through for the video. For some reason I can't post it here but it is definitely worth watching for the humour!
Huffington Post — Bernie Sanders reeled in the endorsement of a prominent cabinet official from the Clinton years on Friday.
Robert Reich, who served as Bill Clinton's secretary of labor, announced on Twitter that he was throwing his support behind the Vermont independent senator rather than Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
In a Facebook post explaining the decision, Reich said Sanders was leading a "political mobilization" that would "get the nation back from the moneyed interests" that control the political system.
We all know how astute Robert Reich is. This is very good news!
Alternet — …with that victory speech, delivered as news came in of the billionaire businessman’s trouncing of his rivals in the state’s Republican Party presidential caucuses, movement conservatism as the guiding force of the GOP came tumbling down.
By way of thanking a would-be mega-donor, the Republican frontrunner explained how difficult it was to turn down the offer of casino-owner Phil Ruffin to fund the Trump campaign to the tune of $10 million.
“[I]t’s hard for me to turn down money, because that’s not what I’ve done my whole life,” Trump said. “I grab and grab and grab. You know, I get greedy; I want money, money.” …
I’ll bet his followers buy the notion he’ll make America as rich as he is by, as he said on Tuesday night, by bigfooting it around the world. “We get greedy, right? Now, we’re gonna get greedy for the United States,” Trump told a hotel ballroom full of caucus-goers. “We’re gonna grab and grab and grab. We’re gonna bring in so much money and so much everything, we’re gonna make America great again, folks.”
Sounds like that old 19th century American nugget "Manifest Destiny" which, as noted in Wikipedia, "… was an expression of conviction in the morality and value of expansionism that complemented other popular ideas of the era, including American exceptionalism and Romantic nationalism." No doubt, he will face stiff opposition globally. Bullying is too prevalent and we have pink t-shirt days to stand against bullying. And yet here is a Republican presidential candidate openly advocating bullying!
My Universe —
4 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 27/02/2016”
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Bloomberg Politics: Unreal. He's so narcissistic !! Unfortunately, a lot of folks go to his ''shows''.
HP: I read this last night, and am so happy to see Mr. Reich give Mr. Sanders his endorsement. WTG !!
AlterNet: That's why it's so important to get out and vote, and make sure that this man doesn't live in the WH.!!!
My Universe: 1st gif: o.m.g. Priceless!!
Glad to read that your foot in on the mend, and that Jonathan got home safely. Relaxing is a good option for today, it's beautiful here. A quiet Sunday morning. Enjoy your day, and Thanks, Lynn.
Sorry about you overworking your foot and aggravating the pain again, Lynn. I suppose it is time again to sit down with Lucia and Jonathan and having a good talk about responsibilities.
BP: Trump on Mitt Romney "You can't win if you walk like a penguin." Apparently acting like a buffoon will. With my apologies to penguins and buffoons.
HuPo: Reich's endorsement of Sanders is excellent news, but I honestly thought Reich had endorsed him months ago; their political-economical views are so much alike.
Alternet: This article could have done with a barf bag alert, Lynn. "Trump said. “I grab and grab and grab. You know, I get greedy; I want money, money.” …That is absolutely sickening and turning it into America's goal for the future (“We’re gonna grab and grab and grab. We’re gonna bring in so much money and so much everything, we’re gonna make America great again, folks.”) … I have no words for that. But it's not going to change that much in terms of foreign policy as most countries have seen America, and Western allies, do a lot of that in the past. In appealing to the 1%, and that Trump certainly does, he's destroying the little goodwill America has left with other countries after 8 years of Dubya and 8 years of frantic contrariety of Obama by Congress. Trump is showing the world what America and the West always have been about. Da'esh doesn't need to make any more propaganda videos, they get it all for free.
My Universe: The first picture didn't have room left after the first line for "and with their cloacas filled to the brim". Loved the animal hand paintings.
Well, you couldn't have not searched. Sorry about the foot and hope it gets much better fast. Is this dumb, or would more compression help, seeing as it was literally out of shape and needs to get and stay back in it? Or are you already doing all of that possible?
Bloomberg and AlterNet – Repeating myself, but – whatever we are doing to show him up as a clown isn't working. We are going to have to find a strategy that speaks to the people who support him. And if, as I had not heard before but sounds quite likely, the people who support him are the same people who in the 19th century would have been supporting Manifest Destiny, we are in trouble.
HuffPo – Support for a Presidential candidate from a man I would have liked to see as President is a very big thing to me. I wish I didn't have the nagging feeling that if you went out into the street and asked every fifth person "What do you think about Robert Reich," four out of five answers would be, "Who?"
Universe – Statue – I'd be in that crowd! And for many others!
Art – Can you stand just one more elephant? http://cheezburger.com/8590585088/cat-with-paper-on-back-to-make-it-look-like-an-elephant
I would prefer to walk with a penguin!, Walk with TRUMP or ANY of the clowns.NO WAY. ,(and Americans fall for this S–t?) . Get informed Americans, or the whole world will believe that you are REALLY DUMB!