After a two day absence, I’m back in the saddle again, and the heat returned with me. I have a busy week next week, so I’d like to rest as much as I can during the weekend. Please pardon my brevity.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:42 (average 5:01). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Newsweek: The first total solar eclipse to pass from the West Coast to the East Coast in almost a century will see parts of the U.S. plunged into darkness over the course of the day on August 21. With only a month to go, Newsweek spoke to Jay Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College, about what the eclipse is, what happens on the day—and what we can learn from the cross-coastal event.
Click through for more information and a video. Portland is in the path of totality. When Republicans deny that the eclipse is happening, RESIST!!
From NY Times: For years the United States was the dominant force and set the agenda at the annual gathering of the leaders of the world’s largest economies.
But on Friday, when President Trump met with other leaders at the Group of 20 conference, he found the United States isolated on everything from trade to climate change, and faced with the prospect of the group’s issuing a statement on Saturday that lays bare how the United States stands alone.
We can only hope that this is a temporary condition, and that we resolve it by removing the Fuhrer And his Republican Rectum Reich from power. RESIST!!
From The Last Word: GOP, White House plot ‘urgent blitz’ for repeal votes
The Trump White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are planning a "final, urgent blitz" to persuade GOP senators to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Washington Post reports. Ari Melber discusses with Indira Lakshmanan and Joan Walsh.
I wonder what the TRUS pervert is getting for his part in this. I told you RepubliCare would be back. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
21 Responses to “Open Thread – 7/8/2017”
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4:51 Not TOO bad for getting interrupted.
Do get as much rest as you can. I tried a wet washcloth (from the freezer, actually) on the back of my neck the other day, and it seemed to help. You may need a stack of them.
Came across another reason to, IMO, avoid the term “identity politics” and instead stresss “equal justice.”
Newsweek Well, I am definitely not in the path. Enjoy your moments of darkness. Don’t you wish Republicans could be convinced that the eclipse was God threatening to destroy the world unless they went full speed ahead int scientific climate control?
NYT – Well, yeah – some countries have sense.
TLW – This is not a case where the result is riding on a fine line. It’s more like a blip from an earthquake chart. Intense passions on both sides, intensely dragging from both directions. I surely hope that we win. But if we don’t, I surely hope we can learn something.
Cartoon – And Republicans are still saying “fake news.”
I think you’ll get 80% – 90%
Very possible – I will keep an eye out.
Greenpeace unfurled a “Resist & Defend” banner from Trump Tower in Chicago yesterday – so I’m using the GIF I made from it:
You are so gifted computer-wise, and in other ways I’m sure, that I could learn a lot from you — making gifs etc. I should come down and learn a thing or two! Guaranteed to drive you crazy! But don’t worry, I don’t have a passport. I’d probably get turned back at the border because I criticise the Fuhrer.
Would love to have you come for a visit – but you don’t need to in order to learn how to create a GIF. Someone way more skilled than I created a template to plug in YouTube or Vimeo videos – then you just select up to 10 seconds of what you want:
https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker
The problem is keeping it under 10,000 kb, because most sites won’t let you upload anything larger than that.
Thanks for sharing, Nameless. I’m sure to have a look too!
NW: Totally awesome! I’m not in the path, darn it!
NYT: Such a crying shame, for the US, and us too!!
LW: Hope it stalls, what a nightmare!
Cartoon: Sweet picture.
Get as much rest as you need. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Hey, TC. I’m on for today. Neck has been unbearable. Have to have something done this year.
I saw the thing with Sri Melber. They are sending the most hated member of the Senate to “blitz”! LOL! Should be a breeze for Cruz. Just hope he doesn’t get thru the FIRST senator without being told how much he is disapproved by the rest of the gop’ers!
Sorry to hear about your neck Viv! I wondered where you were. Welcome back but please take care of you!
Oh, Lord, what Squatch said. By all means get whatever it is done while Obamacare is still in effect! Are you in one of the districts that is having special elections?
Sorry to hear of your neck pain, and hope you find a remedy soon!
So sorry to hear about your ongoing troubles with your neck, Vivian. I hope you can get the medical attention you need to rid you from the pain and disablement very soon.
Viv, I’m so sorry about your neck. Thought’s and prayers! I hope you can get care, before Republicans flush it.
Puzzle — 4:00 It’s all yours Puddy Tat. Too hot for me!
Newsweek — I read about this several days ago. Here, we’ll have a partial eclipse — about 91%. Which is worse — the GOP denying the science when they can’t see their hands in midday, or the evangelicals like Bachmann calling it a sign of the rapture? The fact that eclipses have been documented for several millennia will mean nothing.
NY Times — The US has become a pariah state thanks to Drumpf. He definitely does not play well with others. The adults in the room at the G20 are trying to come to consensus on a number of issues while toddler Drumpf has his little tantrums. And what does one do when a toddler has a tantrum — ignore him. I was reading earlier that Drumpf’s staff deliberately set up the Putin meeting for a time that conflicted with a G20 meeting to keep protesters away from him. He went to the G20 meeting to comment briefly ten left for Putin. Apparently Ivanka sat in the meeting in his place. So when was Ivanka elected to office or hold an office accountable to Congress that she should sit in on these meetings?
The Last Word — May the GOP fail spectacularly!
Cartoon — I can only agree with JD.
Resist and Persist!!!
It was not excessively hot today but by this evening the humidity was piling on. It is 68% right now and 18 C (68 F). Earlier the breeze was fabulous which is probably why I did not feel the heat. Tomorrow should be humid again. Ugh! The furbabes seem to do better than me with the heat. Does anyone notice that you’re busier now than when you working? Or is it that we move a little more slowly as we get older and so fill the day with less?
Newsweek: And here was I thinking that the total solar eclipse started to pass on on Friday, January 20, 2017 and has seen parts of the U.S. plunged into darkness for maybe the next four years.
NYT: The G20 came to some kind of agreement on free trade, allowing some countries to impose trade embargoes under certain conditions, which allowed Drumpf to save face and abuse that loophole as soon as he gets home, but then to slap the face of the G19 by sticking to stepping out of the Paris Climate Agreement. The G19 were livid but stuck to their commitments, with the exception of Turkey’s dictator Erdogan, who is looking to find an ally, i.e. money, and therefore also contemplating to step out of the Agreement.
TLW: Mitch McConnell is “relying” on Pence and Cruz to shake up resisting Republican Senators to vote for TrumpCare. Yes sir, that same Ted Cruz that first was one of the 13 men to draft this monstrosity, but when he didn’t get it his way and Mitch made it a tad little less monstrous than Ted would have liked, said he’s vote against it. Now he’s part of the “bliz” that’s going to convince others to turn coat like him (again)? Either Ted got in some amendments which made the TrumpCare bill even more draconian than it already was, or he’s been promised the biggest part of Mitch’s sludge fund. I too, TomCat, really would like to know how much it was he got to become so “dependable” and turn those renegades to vote for the most unpopular piece of legislation in 30 years
That’s a good point. Republicans hate the light.
I’m in the eclipse’s path, but on the edge. Still, I’m looking forward to it – and hope there’s not a cloud in the sky!
And a lot of public libraries are handing out FREE glasses for safe viewing. Here’s a map to see if one is near you:
https://www.starnetlibraries.org/2017eclipse/registered-libraries-map/
Newsweek: I saw a total eclipse, on Long Island, N.Y., in the early ’70’s, I believe. It was/is memorable. This is stirring up huge amounts of interest, and will be a plus for the power of science, as it is scientists, not dowsers, who predict these things! If only Rumpy won’t start blathering about how the moon can’t be allowed to make the sun shine any bit less on his country!
NYT: Interesting that Georgie Boy had to roll back his tariffs. The GOPigs seem not capable of learning, being so tunnel vision focused on nothing but their agenda. Rumpy, who was alway an economic outlier because of his non-existent “business acumen,” relishes the position now, because it puts him at the center of his very own “nowhere,”…but it is all about him.
Last Word: A pox on all their houses! Cruz is a walking, breathing, pox.
Thanks all. Pooped Hugs!