It’s a rough day here in the CatBox. I was up early this morning with Republicosis. On the second trip, I asked myself just how much crap could fit into one Puddy Tat. A couple hours later, I broke the record I had just set. I hope the Imodium AD kicks in soon. At 8:00, I received a Robocall from Store to Door that, due to weather conditions, they have to cancel my grocery delivery this week. Wendy has chains on her pickup, so she will do my shopping on the way here for my shower this evening. Of course, I will pay her for the time she spends doing it. This, for obvious reasons, is my only article today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:27 (average 5:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Who Should Get Into the USA?
Democrats prefer admitting the needy. Republicans prefer admitting the greedy. The only restriction I would place is a criminal background check. RESIST!!
From Reuters UK: U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years on the pulpit, died on Wednesday at the age of 99, a spokesman said.
He was an evangelical televangelism pioneer, who became a pioneer of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity. RESIST!!
From CNN: Linda Belcher, a Democrat, won the special election for Kentucky’s House District 49 on Tuesday with 3,386 votes. Rebecca Johnson, a Republican, received 1,561 votes, according to official results from Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Johnson is the widow of Republican state Rep. Dan Johnson, who narrowly defeated Belcher, then an incumbent, in 2016 and committed suicide late last year. The lawmaker had been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 2013 in a report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. He committed suicide a day after he denied the allegations.
Trump won the district with 72% of the vote in 2016.
That is a satisfying result. A Democrat has the seat, and the Republican that used to have it is talking politics with Scalia. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Vice President Mike Pence had planned to secretly meet with a high-level delegation of North Korean leaders while he was at the Winter Olympics in South Korea this month, but the North Koreans canceled at the last minute, according to the State Department.
If you believe that, how about buying some Eau de Puddy Tat for $250,000/kitty fart. It has magical healing properties. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
10 Responses to “Open Thread – 2/21/2018”
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Reuters: Normally, I believe in the principle of “nil nisi bonum”; however, in Graham’s case, I can make an exception. Good riddance!
CNN: There is hope for this country yet. Let’s hope the momentum continues all the way to November and beyond.
4:52 Some jellyfish, of course, are toxic.
New (copyrighted) cartoons
Reich – It makes so much more sense to admit primarily the needy. The greedy just take away from everyone, whereas the needy are workers and givers. (Just as an aside, he is not going to find any greedy takers in Norway who want to come here, because they have it much better where they are.) As to criminal background checks … I’d even be cautious of those. We are not the only nation which indicts and convicts a lot of poor people just because, while real criminals never even see a courtroom (except maybe to extort via lawsuits.) I’d want the checking to be done very, very well.
Reuters – He leaves behind a son, Franklin, who makes Billy look like Dr. King by comparison. I think the Good Lord took the wrong one, myself.
CNN – Percentage wise, compared to the Presidential election, this is a changeover of 89 percentage points. That is freaking amazing.
Cartoon – NYT – I’m not going to go there, or not very much. If Pence had any such intention, I’m sure it was only in his own mind.
Cartoon – You must be getting our snow. I wouldn’t mind sharing, but our water table is going to be a disaster this summer without more snow landing here, or at least in the mountains.
As the old saying goes: Why not both?
So right. Thanks for the line.
RR: Make Lady Liberty proud!! Embrace our DACA, and with no limits on Immigration. Period.
Reuters: Went to a Billy Graham revival many years ago, but left early because my beliefs were (and still are) different in how I was raised, and of what he preached.
CNN: YAY!!!!! WE can do it, YES we CAN !!!!
NYT: Yea, right, I don’t see that ever happening. What drama. I wouldn’t meet with him either.
Cartoon: Yikes!! Really cold!!
Such a wonderful lady and lifesaver Wendy is!!! Kudos to her!! Hope you have a good evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
IMC: Reich has yet to make a claim, of which I am aware, that i can not go with, wholeheartedly.
Reuters: Bye now! I wish you could take your damned legacy with you, and show Scalia where to shove it! If William Randolph Hearst had not insisted that his paper give you over the top coverage, in your beginnings, you would have probably done a nice, quiet, fade…deservedly!
CNN: In Kentucky, of all places! Wonderful! Idiot Faux News, seen at the gym, had a banner on a show, this evening, which read “CNN news story editorializes in tits banner.” Well, what the hell was that? What else does Faux news do with most anything but editorialize and call it news?
‘Toon: I expect no animals were harmed in the making of that cartoon especially you?
Ummm – WHAT kind of a banner did they say that was?
IM: Robert Reich in his seminar shows how immigration, like most issues, is subject to changes in society: changes in the philosophy and changes in the way we view one another and ourselves. Most importantly he shows that even in societies which for a large part consist of people who are first or second generation citizens, who can thank their own status on more lenient immigration views in the past, the trend is towards merit based restrictions. In this America doesn’t stand alone. Australia, has equally strict, merit based immigration policies and while Canada may be more welcoming to refugees, it’s policies are inherently merit based also, I believe. It is a global trend and will not alter back into a more humane one until societies have changed for the better.
CNN: Good news, and from her website she comes across as a little progressive too, so that makes it really good news. Congrats to Linda Belcher.
NYT: The WHite House would have us believe that Pence had planned to meet with North Korean delegates? Oh, please ?
The NYT also reports: “United States officials have publicly insisted that they would agree to talks with Pyongyang only if North Korea agreed beforehand to give up its weapons programs, a precondition most observers believed was a nonstarter for the country.” and also that Pence icily ignored the North Koreans during his stay, so the US never intended this meeting to happen. You don’t buy into it, I don’t buy into it and obviously the NYT doesn’t buy into it either.
“”The White House and State are clumsily attempting damage control after Pence’s poor P.R. performance in South Korea last week,” said Lee Sung-yoon, a Korea expert at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.” Yup, and the way to do it, as usual, is to try and shift blame to North Korea. Clumsy indeed.
Cartoon: Temperatures are about to go down again here to, so I’ll soon see my cats sprinting through the backyard like that.
WWWendy to the rescue again! You’re so lucky to have this treasure, TomCat.
Thanks all. Very tired hugs! ?
Puzzle — 4:01 This is not the type of jelly to put on your toast!
Inequality Media — My only criteria for immigration would be for criminal activity, and not only based on the laws of the native state but also of Canada. For example, honour killings. Speaking of immigration and criminal activity, THIS just reported.
We don’t knowingly allow criminals in either!
Reuters UK — I was never a follower of Graham’s but my paternal grandfather, to whom I was very close, did follow his ministry. Hearing that he was ” … a pioneer of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity” gave me pause. Then I read this in Wikipedia:
Now at least, I understand my grandfather’s decision. Having said that, the son, Franklin III, certainly appears to be an apple that has fallen away from the tree.
CNN — Well it seems that voters in Kentucky House District 49 came back to their senses electing a Democrat and soundly rebuking Drumpf! May that happen ten thousand fold across the country during the mid terms!
Get them by the mid terms!!!
NY Times — Pence meeting NK leaders in Seoul? Poppy cock!!! Nothing more than optics for Drumpf’s base who will look no further and not think even in the most basic way! As I said, pure optics!
Cartoon — Looks like here! Even with their little white mittens on, my 3 won’t go out in the snow at all!
I was out teaching yesterday and did not get home until 2230 hours after having dinner with the family. It snowed much of yesterday but today is sunny and bright. But look out tomorrow! We are scheduled for a snow dump. Good thing that we have sunshine today so that I can put my insurance decal on my car (the 2017 decal expires today). It was down to -7 C (~19 F) last night so the sunshine today is very welcome.