These last few days sure have been busy, and I hope that I can finally get the data collection and graphics for January’s report done later in the day.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (GQ Channel): The 50 Craziest Things Trump Has Done As President | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann
If Keith could go longer without breathing, he could have made it 500. RESIST!!
From Think Progress: \Authoritarianism” is one of the most misunderstood words in America today.
As Cornell government professor Thomas Pepinsky writes, authoritarian nations rarely resemble Nazi Germany. People don’t necessarily live in fear of a secret police, or even fear that there will be consequences for dissent. Rather, the dividing line between democracy and authoritarianism comes down to something much more basic: “you know that you are no longer living in a democracy because the elections in which you are participating no longer can yield political change.”
By this definition, there is a thick cord of authoritarianism winding its way around the Republican Party.
Think of the gerrymanders. The voter suppression laws. The voter purges. The lawsuits asking courts to toss out ballots. None of these cancel elections outright, or even prevent most Democrats from participating in elections. But they make it much less likely that voters who are dissatisfied with Republican governance can bring about political change.
Those of you that have known me for years know that, as long as you have known me I have said that what Republicans do can always be explained by one of their two defining goals. One is the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the super-rich. The other is the establishment of a permanent totalitarian Republican Reich, a fascist plutocracy in which elections exist for show only, because Republicans control who votes and how the votes are counted. RESIST!!
From Salon.com: “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert agrees with President Trump: Just because the Bowling Green massacre never happened, doesn’t mean the media should be ignoring it.
Where were you, when you didn’t hear nothing happened? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread – 2/7/2017”
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4:22 "Half hardy herbaceous"? Whatever.
This ad, made and paid for by VoteVets, was on Morning Joe this morning. We can't be sure Trump saw it, but he watches Morning Joe and was awake, because he was tweeting around that time. Some of us may need a hanky alert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3qG5u1A_98
YT/GQ – Average of one every 20 seconds. That's about the same as real life, isn't it? The one thing I didn't realize was the extent of Holocaust victims in Schumer's family tree. That touched me.
TP – Solid stuff. Thanks.
Salon – Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. And you though you were through with that old character. Sigh.
Cartoon – Be careful! Don't fall!
YT: KO should do this every week. dt's a total A- – Hat! Yea, I agree, "GET HIM O.U.T. of here!!!!" Should have started proceedings the first week!
TP: Good article, passing this one on too.
Salon: I can't stomach this woman. However; I remember the Bowling Green Massacre, an event that didn't happen, I offered my condolences to those non-existent victims that day. What a (not) sad day!
Glad that you are getting things done, I wish I could say the same. I did rake this morning, does that count?
Hope that you have a good rest of your day, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
*Joanne: Spot on!! Thx!!
Thanks, fellow vet.
Hope you got your tasks done without too much hassle and with a little time tio spare for yourself, TomCat. How about a catnap (but not on that railing, please)?
Keith Olbermann: Don't let the top fifty get to a top 100 in another two weeks. Who cares, if it's for his own good. Get that madman out of there. For your own good.
RESIST!
TP: Authoritarianism by any other definition smells just as bad.
Stephen Colbert: I'm afraid we'll have to join in, TomCat, and start putting good news out there as it doesn't happen.
Cartoon: Aren't cats amazing? Thank goodness they're there to keep us sane.
Oh, Keith! We need you now more than ever!
I watched Stephen Colbert last night and I thought I'd bust a gut! He was on tRump the whole show! Loved it! Loved EVERY minute of it!
The repukkklicans have painted themselves into a very tight corner! They let Betsy DeVos in to the head of education! That is gonna cost them a LOT come time for the election in '18. Just wait and see! This may be the straw that broke the camel's back!
Take care TC! Then doctor's appts are brutal sometimes!
I had a very dear friend that was killed in the Bowling Green Massacre.
He was only 23 years-old. Why, it hardly seems he even lived!
</snark>
And I certainly hoped that slumbering puddy-tat got of the balustrade safe and sound!
YT/GQ: the man snowed his way to the W.H., and just keeps on going. Meanwhile, the Republicans, in unison, just keep on jumping as high as he insists they do! I did not know about Schumer's fammily, either, but he's not alone in that.
Salon: What the hell is Conway smoking?
Conway would probably do better if she was smoking something!
Puzzle — 3:16 Is it edible as well as beautiful?
YouTube — 50 of the craziest things that Drumpfenfarten has done as POTUS, but not all as Keith reminds us. There will be many more daily for as long as he "governs". May that be a very short time!
Resist!!!
Think Progress — "No non-incumbent Republican president has won the popular vote since 1988. Democracy is not on the GOP’s side, and it knows it." — The only way that Republicans can win is by stacking the deck using voter suppression, gerrymandering and the like. Now they hope to have another tool in their box — an arch conservative Injustice who will help to blurr the lines between the 3 branches of government even further. Democracy and Republicans in the same sentence is an oxymoron!
Resist!!!
Salon — LOL Stephen! Conway is a useless twit who certainly has no acquaintance with the truth. A true Republican mouth piece.
Resist!!!
Cartoon — Your high wire act could be dangerous to your health Puddy Tat! 9 lives can be used up quickly with stunts like this.
Kellyanne Conway must no longer be considered a news source. Conway is fast becoming the laughing stock darling in the media. Conway lives in an alternate reality.
Report: CNN Turns down White House Offer of Kellyanne Conway to Appear on Sunday Shows
The Trump spokeswoman recently blamed refugees for a fictitious massacre in Bowling Green.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/report-cnn-turns-down-white-house-offer-kellyanne-conway-appear-sunday-shows?akid=15178.176640.IEpZnK&rd=1&src=newsletter1071685&t=10
Sign the petition to news media: Stop interviewing Conway. She lies to you. You don't win points by pointing out her lies. There's an easier way to prevent it—Just stop interviewing her.
The news media must stop booking Kellyanne Conway, who knowingly lied to the public and used her power and platform to broadcast falsehoods rebranded as "alternative facts."
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/kellyanne-conway-remove
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Speaking of LIARS, here is a doozy!
Yesterday I received an unsolicited mail from VP Mike Pence. Here is the complete letter verbatim:
Friends,
Today, I cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos.
The vote the President asked me to cast wasn’t just for Betsy – it was also for America’s future.
Our nation’s success depends on the education of our students. In Betsy DeVos, we have one of America’s foremost advocates for educational opportunity and excellence.
For nearly three decades she has devoted her time, her talent, and her treasure to ensure that every child in America has the best shot at a better life. Countless students have benefitted from her efforts to promote an educational marketplace defined by innovation, opportunity, and real, meaningful choice.
The President and I agree that our children’s futures should not be determined by their zip code. Students should not be trapped in a system that puts the status quo ahead of a child’s success.
Betsy DeVos will have great impact as Secretary of Education. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a public school, a private school, a parochial school, a charter school, or any other kind of school – she will help ensure that every student has access to a good school.
We are grateful to Senate Majority Leader McConnell and all the Republican Senators who stood with us on this important vote.
The President is fully committed to this mission. Today’s vote was the first of its kind in our nation’s history, but the real history will be made through our unwavering dedication to America’s children – and to America’s future.
Thank you for all your help and support.
Sincerely,
Michael R. Pence
Vice President of the United States
.
Thanks for the petition to stop interviewing Conway, Jim, I was looking for that.
And how's your computer desk; did you manage to get it clean after your read Pence's surprise email on DeVos
Looks like there's a power struggle in the White House and they're trying to outdo each other in the amount of lies and sickening pseudo-patriotism they can cram into an e-mail. Tweets are apparently no longer the medium to do the trick; not long enough. That leaves Drumpf out of the race; he has trouble enough with putting 144 characters in a coherent order. But we didn't think he was the man in power anyway.
Seems Conway should almost be FLOTUS since she lies almost as much as Drumpf and just as deliberately. Signed
And with just as straight-face as he does.
It comes to
bothALL of them as easily as breathing – AND as often!Hugs! Huge Rush!!