The elevator is finally fixed. I’m running late, because Julie and I went to the bank, and we’ve been planning her cross country exodus next week. I will miss her terribly. Please pardon my brevity. I will need the Squatch to do the Monthly Report for June. I’ll learn what we need to do to correct this double vision on 7/6. Pardon my brevity.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:53 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: The billionaire Donald J. Trump’s bid to become a born-again Christian failed over the weekend after Jesus Christ turned down his friend request, campaign officials have acknowledged.
Jesus, who has not generally been active on Facebook, made a rare appearance on the social network on Monday to announce His decision to ignore the presumptive Republican nominee’s request for a personal relationship with Him.
In a brief post, Jesus offered the following explanation: “Just everything.”
The turndown from Jesus Christ, the inspiration behind one of the world’s most prominent religions, caps what has been a tough month for the Trump campaign.
Privately, campaign staffers fretted that the candidate would pen a disparaging tweet about Jesus, which might alienate evangelical voters in key battleground states.
I think Andy is making fun of us. If Jesus really had responded to Rump Dump Rectum, He would have said LMAO!!
From Daily Kos: Trump gave 5-minute sales pitch about his resort, was surrounded by swastika golf balls (seriously)
Read the article!
From NY Times: In the most significant victory in a generation for a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, the Supreme Court on Monday struck down Texas’s harsh and dishonest anti-abortion law by a vote of 5 to 3.
The justices’ reasoning in overturning the law applies to hundreds of other attempts in recent years by Republican lawmakers around the country to restrict or destroy constitutionally protected reproductive rights.
While the decision was unquestionably correct, the vote should have been unanimous. The 2013 Texas law — which forced abortion clinics and their doctors to meet absurd, pointlessly strict medical standards — was the textbook definition of what the court had prohibited in a major 1992 ruling on abortion: “unnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion.”
Roberts, Scalito [sp. intentional], and Thomas were in the minority. If regressives successfully sabotage the Democratic Party, and allow a Republican win, as they did in 2000, this will be overturned, and women’s rights will be history.
Cartoon:
15 Responses to “Open Thread – 6/28/2016”
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4:36 It may be a "blossom," but it looks kind of tough.
Well, thank God the elevator is fixed.
New Yorker – Si non e vero, e ben trovato. (Usually translated, "If it isn't true, it ought to be!"
DKos – Thoroughly enjoyed this article from Jen Hayden ("Scout Finch"), who does so many articles on such a wide variety of subjects. I would kind of like to point out she is about to start a battle with breast cancer http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/6/17/1539847/-Last-month-I-went-for-a-routine-mammogram-Next-month-I-begin-the-fight-of-my-life and I wish her the best. Every time now I see her byline I am just blown away that the is so on top of things.
NY Times – No kidding. BTW they also upheld a law taking guns out of the hands of people with domestic violence convictions, which was also beneficial to women's health (and everyone else's) VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO. And all the way down ticket.
Cartoon – I was SO PLEASED to hear it is now a Natinal Monument. Please forgive all the caps throughout the post!
Nyer: How funny! Better yet…Jesus would have said, "Kiss my A- -, Donny"!!
DK: What a total loser/ID.It's all about him, nothing else. "Amazing". NOT!! Nice touch with the golf balls too!
NYT: Thank the Lord for the SCOTUS' decision!! Hip, Hip, Hooray!!! Me inTexas.
Cartoon: "To this day, the LGBT community around the globe commemorates that historic time here at The Stonewall Inn by holding Pride Parades.Those celebrations of Gay pride are to recognize how far we have come, to remember those less fortunate who came before us and to remind those who may have grown complacent, how far we still must go to achieve true equality." WTG, Stonewall !! *http://www.thestonewallinnnyc.com/StonewallInnNYC/HISTORY.html
I know it will be a sad day, when Julie leaves, I wish her well. Stay cool, take care, and rest/relax this evening. Off I go for more power washing the driveway. ugh. I'll be glad when it's done. Take care, Tom, and Thanks.
Glad to hear Otis is running – even if only up and down. (I suppose that'd be like running in place.)
H.B 2 was a ludicrous bill. It was a Rethuglican "solution" in search of a problem, and rightfully struck down.
I think Justice Kennedy may be starting to be concerned with his "Legacy" – and wants to be on the right side of history.
I kinda like that idea about Kennedy…and see whether it plays on more cases.
Ditto that!
Glad you feel free to get around again with Otis restored to original health. Hope your eye solution is easier and faster to find.
Glad SCOTUS made it so very clear and definitive for the cases in lower courts–and it afects more than 20 others states beyond TX, too.
The New Yorker; Andy is superb! Loved this one.
Daily Kos: The man is craven. It boggles my mind that so many are supporting Trump.
Ny Times: So glad for the women of Texas. Meantime, Matt Bevin has closed the only abortion clinic in Lexington, Ky. for "safety reasons" saying they were over crowded. Funding has been cut to Planned Parent hood in Ky, too. He vowed to do this before he was elected.. And, women voted for him? NOt this woman.
Cartoon: I think it is wonderful that it has been made a National Monument. We have had some progress, just not enough.
Puzzle — 3:10 A banana tree in need of a monkey!
The New Yorker — LMAO certainly works for me!
Daily Kos — Golf Balls 1 – Drumpf 0 or is it more accurate to say "Truth in advertising!" Drumpf is such a narcissist!
NY Times — Good on 5 Justices. There was also a decision about a pharmacy in Washington state — the pharmacy tried to argue about their right to not fill some birth control prescriptions based on their religious beliefs. Give me break!! Then Alito got in on the action in his descent. See Think Progress. Unbelievable!
Cartoon — A national monument! About time!
Will line up for the monthly report but will need the Care2 number and your magic fingers on the graphs when I am done. A shame that Julie has to go . . . and taking Killer Dawg too.
Thanks for the Think Progress link, Lynn. Alito's descent was both shocking and disgusting. A man that allows his extreme religiously bias to stand in the way of unbiased ruling based solely on the law and who in effect is acting unconstitutionally by ignoring the separation of church and state in a juridical body whose main purpose is to ophold the constitution, should be dismissed (impeached) from that body.
Ummm .. I think that's "dissent" (I'm not sure it's even possible for Alito to descend any lower).
So it is, Joanne. LOL He ended up in the same place with both though: the pits.
LOL!
Great catch on Scalito.
You shouldn't even be apologizing for your brevity, you silly cat. You should be taking it easy and recuperate
I'm so sorry Julie, and Killer Dawg, are leaving. You're losing a friend and a treasured and trusted aid. I hope she does well on the "other side" and updates you regularly on how she and the dawgie are doing. And I hope for you that her replacement turns out to be a treasure too; you deserve one.
TNY: Andy's sarcastic again, as usual when it comes to Drumpf, but If Jesus made it publicly known on Facebook that he wouldn't befriend Drumpf because of 'everything', I think it would be very unlikely that Drumpf would restrain himself from making disparaging tweets about Jesus, however weak and lame or however long it took him to come up with. something stupid. There are very few religions whose deity and believers he hasn't offended, so there's little room for maneuver there; Drumpf will have to stick to the ever decreasing population of angry white pseudo-Christian males
DK: Lee Nelson probably bought the swastika golf balls in the resort's shop where they're sold along other Drumpf memorabilia to make even more money out of the place. Because that's what it's all about, isn't it. In his first "press conference" aka advertisement for Drumpf goods, he congratulates the British on the Brexit and freeing themselves from the "shackles" of the EU on a Scottish golf course where the Scots have voted to remain in the EU and are now thinking of leaving the UK. Next time he addresses the Scottish media again, not a word about Brexit, but another sales pitch and making threatening gestures to comedian Simon Brodkin (stage name Lee Nelson) who is of short stature.Afterwards he mentions to the press “If the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly,” he said, referring to the location of his resort. “For traveling and for other things, I think it very well could turn out to be positive.” Positive for Drumpf, and only Drumpf. Americans need to make sure that this man not only is cut down to the size of his tiny fingers in the election, but that he goes bust for real this time too. No more bankruptcies that make him richer and leaving everyone else in ruins. Because if he gets to be president, this is exactly what he's going to do to the country.
NYT: Texan women, and those in other repressive states, can be very happy with this result, but the Op-ed is absolutely spot on when it states that this should have been a unanimous decision if it was based on law and on SCOTUS' own earlier rulings and not a political ruling. So on the one hand it has made it possible to upturn all the other restrictive and destructive anti-abortion laws passed in these states, on the other voters must make sure that Republican influence in those states and in SCOTUS is brought back to a minimum. The Alitos in politics and jurisdiction must be rendered ineffective by voting them out of office or, where people aren't elected and in their 'jobs' for life, turned into a powerless minority.
Cartoon: An excellent decision to turn it into a national monument. But please take care it commemorates the LGBT victims and community only and not a place to stir up anti-Muslim hate.
Thanks all! Hugs!!