It’s Monthly Report day, so I’m quite busy. I also solved a technical problem. Our Clustrmap disappeared from the site. I finally discovered that the problem was on my computer. I use AdGuard, and AdGuard blocked it as an ad. So, I set up an exception in AdGuard for PP and changed Clustrmap to a spinning globe.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:05 (average 4:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Merkley Presses Army Corps to Support Tribal Housing Along the Columbia River
Kudos to Jeff for standing up for Native American rights. Oregon leads the way. We RESIST!!
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): "This Is How You Run A Banana Republic"
Painter was not even an Obama appointee. He worked in the GW Bush Regime. The best way to deal with a banana republic is to put banana Republican politicians out of work. RESIST!!
From The Daily Beast: At a time when insane is the new normal, our ability to be outraged is dulled amid daily incoming. But Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee—led by their chairman, Trump lackey Devin Nunes—somehow hit a new low with Thursday’s revelation that they leaked to Fox News texts from Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Mark Warner and a Russian businessman in a desperate attempt to discredit the senator. Those texts were then retweeted by our president, in a brushback pitch for Warner’s insistence on investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election—and potential collusion with the Trump campaign—without fear or favor.
This bombshell story, first reported by The New York Times, is not your garden variety Trump-related drama. It’s worse. At a time when institutional checks and balances are needed more than ever, it underscored just how bad the blood is on Capitol Hill—not just between the two parties, but between the House and the Senate itself.
Devin Nunes—a California dairy farmer who degraded himself by becoming a congressman—deserves disproportionate blame for this pathetic mess. His committee has turned the pursuit of truth into a partisan mockery, choosing to do the White House’s bidding at the expense of honest inquiry and fact-based debate.
The author concludes that Lyin’ Ryan should remove Nunes. I fully agree, but I see far too big an orangish-brown smudge on Ryan’s nose for that to happen. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Just days after losing his top security clearance at the White House, Jared Kushner could soon be eligible to enter another high-security government facility, legal experts believe.
According to Davis Logsdon, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, Kushner could be on the verge of obtaining “long-term clearance” at this separate facility, which, like the White House, is owned and operated by the federal government.
Logsdon said that, although such a facility lacks some of the prestige of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kushner would have access to government benefits there that far exceed what he has received as an unpaid adviser at the White House.
“All of his meals and housing would be fully paid for by the taxpayer,” Logsdon said. “And, if things play out the way some believe they will, Jared Kushner could be receiving these benefits for decades to come.”
Andy, you pictured a prison, but wouldn’t the GOP Gitmo Gulag be a better place for him? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 3/2/2018”
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Bright blessing on Jeff Merkley! First Nations people have been stepped on and ignored for far too long.
Calling the USA right now a “banana republic” is an insult to bananas!
TDB: More evidence, if not proof, the the tRump regime was doomed even before the first ballots were cast.
TNY: Say what? I wouldn’t trust Kushner to clean the poop out of dog runs at the local pound!
Cartoon: All too true. If I recall correctly, every President who lost the popular vote but won the electoral college has been a Republican. Also, the electoral college is a holdover from the ill days of slavery. It needs to be dumped on the scrap heap of history.
4:13 Technically a raptor, but its favorite food is the nuts of the palm-oil tree – which I assume means it is yet another victim of habitat loss. Sigh.
I did notice the spinning globe but, of course, didn’t know why.
Subject line of an email from PFAW: “Prophets Gather At Trump’s Hotel To Unleash Angel Armies On His Enemies.” FIFY: “FALSE Prophets Gather At Trump’s Hotel To Unleash FALLEN Angel Armies On His Enemies”
In case anyone wants to see the video that Putin really, really wants taken down from the internet, it’s here. 25 minutes, but fully subtitled. (Well, except the last bit, after the closing credits.)
Seen in comments on “Raw Story”: “The only place that color should be separated is in the phuquing laundry.”
Jeff – Of course. When has he ever been on the wrong side?
MSNBC – Yes, even some Republicans are starting to say this – though not actually to fight the regime. As an adise, I have seen a few internet ads that start BAN NRA and I tend to read it as BANANA when I am in a rush.
TDB – Yes, well the Beast is far from the only one who thinks that. I’ll look up his district and see what it looks like for 2018.
TNY – LOL!
Cartoon – Yeah, and that was even before Republicans became modern Republicans. Scary!
JMC: I’m jealous, wish we had senators that cared enough about our Native American Tribes. Well, cared about anything, except themselves. BRAVO! Mr. Merkley.
MSNBC: I agree with your comment, Tom. Get them out & RESIST!!
DB: Hole gets deeper and deeper…..What a cluster those Reththuglicons are!!
NYer: Yep, looks that way, I see the writing on the wall, it’s just a matter of time.
Cartoon: It was a pretty hostile campaign from what I remember from the history books. Yes, the electoral college needs to hit the dust!! But….like you said, he won it the republican way. ugh!!
I like the spinning globe. It adds to the page, imho. Hope you have a good rest of your day, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
JMC: Boy, did that guy seem excited! I can’t stand it!
MSNBC: Painter puts it so simply, so well! And, since bananas no longer reproduce by seed (when was the last time you bit into a banana seed…think about that) they may even go extinct, setting an example for one exceptional family.
DB: Oh, is that the same smudge on Nunes face?
New Yorker: Leavenworth would do.
Oh God, Andy! The taxpayers have paid ENOUGH out to the tRump clan! SURELY, we can keep him from getting a retirement package from us! Keep Jared out of the loop on this stuff!
JMC: I don’t know when the tribal villages were flooded when a dam was put up in the Columbia river, but the fact that the city that served the Caucasian population was rebuilt as promised, as Merkely so neatly put it, but not the tribal villages, is another example of how the government still doesn’t honour its promises to Native Americans and discriminated against them to this very day. Kudos for Merkely for standing up for them and holding the Army Corps to its promises.
MSNBC: Despite his frozen jaw, Painter was remarkably clear on the subject. Can’t argue with anything he said. I also loved watching the two faces put up next to him while they were listening to his tirade of truths and trying to keep a neutral face.
TDB: Painter, in the item above, called it a Banana Republic, but that is a not nearly strong enough term to describe the despicable mess the seat of governing in Washington has become. It’s not only the White House and its administration, but the whole of Congress, and the completely politicized SCOTUS along with it. We need a new, strong term that covers the workings of this degenerate government. Krugman’s kakistocracy comes very close, but as it is defined as a system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens (note the “or”) we need an even stronger term that reflects “the worst AND least qualified AND most unscrupulous citizens.”
TNY: I’m afraid that Andy doesn’t realize that many prisons today are no longer “owned and operated by the federal government,” but are privatized and probably run by a close friend of the Drumpfs/Kushners. So, along with you, TomCat, I think Gitmo would be a far better option, but only if the poor sods that still remain there without trial and due process are either released or brought to the mainland before the Drumpf clan is brought in.
Cartoon: And here I was thinking this only happened in this political day and age. ?
As far as I can gather the Electoral College worked the way it was supposed to work ONCE. That was when it gave us John Quincy Adams. And it definitely has been getting more RWNJ-slanted since about 1920.
Puzzle — 3:33 No fricassée today Puddy tat!!!
Jeff Merkley — Kudos!!! Now for the action. The current régime is noted for action on its pet projects like the wall but finds all sorts of excuses for assisting its own citizens ie Puerto Ricans. It seems that First Nations people would fall into the same category as Puerto Ricans, yes?
MSNBC — Painter, in this case, is spot on. I’ve of course heard him comment a number of times, and dare I say he is a “reasonable” Republican, and an ethics lawyer to boot, that actually cares about his country.
AMEN!!!
The Daily Beast — Lyin’ Ryan do anything in the best interests of the country? Now there is a pipe dream! A brown nose? Does he even have a nose? It is shoved so far up the Fuhrer’s ass that I doubt it even exists! He certainly could not pass a smell test.
The New Yorker — LOL!!! but so true. The Gitmo Gulag. Now that’s a good one too, especially since the word ‘gulag’ is Russian and Kushner, like daddy-in-law, Drumpf, is so enamoured with all things Russian.
Cartoon — Some things never change!
Thanks all. Pooped hugs!