I actually got to watch the Olympics for a few minutes last night. I hope I live through the 2020 games. I’d hate for my last Olympics to be the one I could not see well. It’s a busy day with lots of paperwork to do.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:57 (average 5:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: At a speech in Detroit on Monday, the Republican Presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, spelled out the details of his economic plan, which calls for every American to inherit millions of dollars from his or her father.
“There are people at my rallies, desperate people, desperate because they want jobs,” he told his luncheon audience at the Detroit Economic Club. “Once they inherit millions from their father, they will never want a job again.”
Using an anecdote to show how his economic plan would work, Trump explained, “A man with zero dollars who inherited forty million dollars from his father would become forty million dollars wealthier.”
“We are going to make America rich again,” he said.
So, Andy, do you plan to return to doing satire?
From Daily Kos: And now for some friendly advice for my Republican friends. If you want to criticize President Obama on anything having to do with Iran, don’t waste your energy seething about "Iran" and "ransom" and "hostages" and what Ronald Reagan would do. It won’t end well for you. After all, it wasn’t Reagan’s inauguration that secured the release of 52 Americans held captive in Tehran, but months of negotiations by the Carter administration. And as it turned out during the Iran-Contra scandal, the American president who actually paid a "ransom" and "negotiated with terrorists" was none other than St. Ronnie himself.
In the midst of Republican accusations about Iran, don’t forget that Republicans love to project, accusing Democrats of vile sins against God, nature, and their patron Saint Ronnie, when the one who actually committed them was Saint Ronnie Ray Gun, himself.
From Alternet: “None of us will vote for Donald Trump,” a letter signed by 50 of the right’s top national security officials read. Dozens of top aides and cabinet members for President George W. Bush issued the letter Monday to warn against the Republican presidential nominee as a “risk” to America’s national security.
“From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief,” read the letter drafted by legal adviser at the National Security Council and the State Department under former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Several of Rice’s many of closest aides at the White House and the State Department are all signatories to the anti-Trump letter, although the former secretary of state has issued no public statements on Trump’s White House bid.
In March, more than 100 GOP national security advisers signed a similar anti-Trump letter, calling the political neophyte “fundamentally dishonest” who “would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe.” Monday’s letter, however, is signed by several, even more prominent national security officials who cited Trump’s recent remarks about Russia as a catalyst for action. More on the signatories from the New York Times:
Among the most prominent signatories are Michael V. Hayden, a former director of both the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency; John D. Negroponte, who served as the first director of national intelligence and then deputy secretary of state; and Robert B. Zoellick, another former deputy secretary of state, United States trade representative and, until 2012, president of the World Bank. Two former secretaries of homeland security, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, also signed, as did Eric S. Edelman, who served as Vice President Dick Cheney’s national security adviser and as a top aide to Robert M. Gates when he was secretary of defense.
I hate to say it, but that’s 100 endorsements we don’t want, considering that around ninety of them should be tried for war crimes.
Cartoon:
It’s either Republicitis or Republicosis!!
12 Responses to “Open Thread – 8/9/2016”
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4:43 But would Drumpf let it into the US?
New Yorker – Andy says "his or her" and "people," but the true Trump plan is shown in "A man who…." Wealth in his opinion is not for women.
DKos – Oh, yeah. Sigh. If they would quit projecting, they wouldn't have anything to say.
AlterNet – Drumpf won't listen, maintaining, as he does, that he knows more than the generals. And his supporters eat that up. But I find it very telling when Drumpf is such a loose cannon that he even scares war criminals. (Also, not all of them are endorsing. Some are. Some will just not vote.)
Cartoon – Yeah, they are so full of it thet everything they touch turns to it.
In response to your first question, not bloody likely!
Well, TomCat:
WRT the 2020 Olympics, sometime you should sit-down and tabulate – but I don't think you're anywhere NEAR your allotted "Nine Lives"
I'm not sure. I undestand they had to restart me severaql times last fall.
NYer: 40 Million. I can't even wrap my head around that number. Of course, his kids will embrace that. LOL, Andy!
AN: Hope more sign against the Don. Would be nice they disavowed him. Wouldn't that be great?
Cartoon: Great picture!! That poor kitty!!
I'm glad that you are enjoying the Olympics. Hope that you have a good evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Puzzle — 3:02 Sorry flutterby but I couldn't save you from those rapacious Puddy Tat jaws.
The New Yorker — Good one Andy, but what is Drumpf's plan for those who no longer have fathers because their fathers died from the lack of affordable healthcare?
Daily Kos — In the view of Republicans, if it is something good, then they were responsible for producing it. If it was bad, then they project the deed and its consequences onto Democrats. And so, Reagan took credit for Carter's work (I remember this because I was incensed at the time that Reagan took credit for this publicly.) And now, Republicans are accusing Obama of "paying a ransom" when in fact, it was Reagan that did this and lied about it. I remember the Iranian request for the return of the money destined for an arms purchase. It was not made for many years because Iranian assets, of which this money was part, were frozen by the US government. Republicans can surely dance a jig and make the uneducated think that it is Democrats who are dancing a jig.
Alternet — I read the letter and it is, in my mind, a perfect description of the character and attitude of Drumpf. One thing, it does not say that they endorse Clinton, but rather that they will not vote for Trump. Two quite different things.
Whether they will vote for Clinton, vote for a write in, or not vote at all is their decision.
Cartoon — Check with your vet, but I think a diet rich in cooked mashed pumpkin should express the Republicans out of your system w/o giving you Republicosis.
Good point. Of course the Hillary haters are calling it an endorsement.
The New Yorker: That sums up his entire platform! I am so tired of hearing, "he is a successful business man". People need to read more. If my father could have left me 40 million dollars I would be wealthy, too. And, he would not have died from black lung disease from working in coal mines.
OOPS! I hit reply too soon.
Daily Kos: This is all they have done for the last thirty years. If I heard a Republican commentator tell the truth, I would faint!
Alternet: I agree with your assessment, they should be prosecuted. However, maybe enough Trump supporters will take heed when even his own party members don't trust him.
Cartoon: They make me take Pepto Bismol.
The NYer: Andy has decided to do serious journalism till Drumpf gets BEAT! LOL!!!
Poor Kitty-Boo!! Put some hairball stuff on its paw so it can get rid of that nasty plug! Poor baby!!!
Sorry you can't see much of the Games, TomCat, but I'm sure you'll be able to see all you like in four years time.
TNY: It's not that Andy's satire isn't funny anymore, because it still is very much so, but Drumpf has been bombarding us with these atrocious statements for so long, we've been thinking along the same lines Andy does in his columns for quite some time. So we recognize it immediately and it feel it comes close to actual reporting, just a tad funnier and less like our own angry or scared thoughts.
DK: Not to worry, from November on Republicans will stop blaming Barak Obama and start to blame everything on Hillary Clinton. They've been having some practice runs already and starting to get the hang of it. Because that's the nice thing about projecting: it's so easily transferred from one person to the next.
Alternet: It seems America is in complete political turmoil. On the one hand Democrats are happy with every Republican who denounces Drumpf, especially when he or she does it for the right reasons such as national security. On the other they do not want many of them to endorse Clinton, as that would tarnish her and could make her appear more DINO than she is or because these Republicans are bad to the core and Democrats don't want to be associated with them. I'm sure many will not like me for saying this, but from my perspective this is somewhat akin to Berners having to hold their nose and vote for "the lesser of two evils" to make sure Drumpf doesn't get to close to the red button. If America doesn't want Drumpf for president, they'll have to take all who oppose him on board, the "good and the bad" so to speak, especially when they have something valid to say and may convince some Republican voters to disown Drumpf too. After the election, when the dust has settled, the 50 and 100 Republicans who have spoken against Drumpf will return to being the same Republicans they were before and probably oppose Clinton as much do Obama now, but she can deal with that when the time comes.
Cartoon: Yes, no middle ground there 😉
Thanka all!! Hugs!!