Yesterday was such a grueling day that I still have not recovered from it. I spent over two hours in the lift buses, and over three in an unpadded eye surgeon’s chair, while they tried to figure out just how misaligned my eyes are. By the time we finished, my back and my butt were throbbing in pain. The office was so worm that it caused phlegm to drain into my chest, and it was close to midnight before I choked it all up. I feel like something I forgot to bury. It looks like I’ll get the surgery in December.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:47 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, said on Wednesday that he was “dismayed and alarmed” that people in his state had somehow become smarter despite substantial cuts in education.
“Ever since I took office, I have slashed education with the goal of making the voters of this state markedly dumber and incapable of critical thinking,” he told reporters. “Instead, what I am looking at is a doomsday scenario.”
Walker said that his cuts were based on a theory known as “trickle-up stupidity,” in which students in Wisconsin’s schools would become less informed and their ignorance would eventually infect their voting-age parents.
“Clearly, what looked like a can’t-miss plan on paper has not panned out,” he said.
Dang Andy! Hurrah to the voters, who will dump the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan! RESIST!!
From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): What If Everyone Voted?
Demos President Heather McGhee is part of Robert’s Reich, the Reich on the left, so she’s right! Get out the vote. RESIST!!
From The Hill: In an interview Friday with "Bernie & Sid in the Morning" on 77 WABC, the president said he will "probably" not attend the annual gala hosted by the White House press association.
"It’s unlikely I will do the White House Correspondents dinner this year," Trump told the hosts, before taking a swipe at the news media: It’s “so bad and so fake."
Buk-buk-buk-buk-bwaaaaack!! RESIST!!
Also From The New Yorker: Hoping to resolve the seemingly intractable conflict over immigration, Mexico surprised the world on Thursday by agreeing to pay for Donald J. Trump’s psychiatric care.
Speaking to reporters, the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, said that he had authorized funding for the psychiatry and proclaimed, “Work on Donald Trump could begin tomorrow.”
Peña Nieto displayed several photographs showing prototypes of therapists, including a bearded Freudian analyst who he said came highly recommended.
Dang Andy! Enrique ought to toss the Fuhrer in a padded cell, provide a hooker to spank him when he’s naughty, and throw away the key! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
17 Responses to “Open Thread – 4/6/2017”
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4:13 Yes I Cannes.
New from VoteVets. Would affect veterans now, and eventually, EVERYONE.
Oregon leads the way (again)
TNY1 – From Andy’s mouth to God’s ear. (BTW you DO NOT want to know what Franklin Graham said about the special election in WI)
Demos – From Heather’s mouth to God’s ear.
Hill – I can’t help thinking of a truly awful officer who was my supervisor about fifty years ago. (We had three within-office weddings in a year – not that they were unsuited, but the thing was, we were spending so much time at work that no one could MEET anyone outside the office.) At one of the receptions his wife told him, “Let’s go, so they can enjoy the party.” I mean, does ANYONE want Donald at this dinner? Huckleberry Sanders should also stay home.
TNY2 – This makes so much sense that it couldn’t possibly be done. Darn.
Cartoon – And we have all had mixed feelings ever since.
I didn’t know!
Every once in a while I read something here about Colorado that I didn’t know. But it’s usually something awful. Glad this was something nice.
NYer: Yea…that’d be right up his alley, for sure. LOL, Andy. Walker does nothing to help the folks in WI. My extended family despises him up there.
IMC: Good video, passing this on to friends.
Hill: What an AssHat! They’ll probably have a better time w/o him anyways.
NYer: LOL, Andy. Love YOUR comment, right on!!
*Joanne: VV: A National disgrace if this happens! Fight for our Rights!
Governor Brown ROCKS!!
Sounds like you had a day from Hell yesterday. That’s a shame, considering what you had to endure. Hope that this day is better for you. Take good care, rest, and Thanks, Tom.
Kudos to VA’s Will Fischer and Oregon’s gov. Kate Brown, and you for posting, Joanne.
TNY: Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between Onion-esque satire and the inane jabberings of reich-wingers.
IMC: Only winners make policy. Losers have no say. Think of that when you contemplate the upcoming primaries and midterm elections. Make sure your progressive kith and kin are registered if they are of age. Help out at a voter registration drive. Support truly progressive candidates, and above all, VOTE!!! We have normally disenfranchised voters to thank for Jones beating Moore in Alabama.
The Hill: Probably because the Orange Ogre is utterly chickens–t.
TNY Take 2: Laughable Excuse for POTUS belongs in a laughing academy. The trick is to deal with – wait for it – try not to wig out – PRESIDENT PENCE!
For those of you who were around and politically aware in the Reagan Era: How does Pruitt compare to James Watt?
Oh, dear God. Well, I don’t recall Watt being quite as venal as Pruitt … but I think equally crazy. Had we not had sane people all throughout the (then actually staffed) EPA, and had Reagan gone through Secretaries ans Department heads the way Agent Orange is doing, we might not even be here today
If I remember correctly, Watt also wanted to turn the EPA into the Environmental Destruction Agency, buyt was not as individually corrupt.
New Yorker, I: “…the enhancement of fundamental human values is indispensable to our basic quest for happiness.” OOOPS< Sorry! No, Scott Walkerstan would never say that, probably would not be able to understand it, if he could read it. (The Dalai Lama, “The Universe in a Single Atom,” preface, pg. 4.)
IMC: Well, this is exactly what the Scott Walkers of the world are afraid of, Mike Pence, and the rest of the GOPIGS!!!!!!
The Hill: What else did anyone expect. So fake? Sure, that’s why Faux News is no longer broadcasting in the UK. They are simply not as stupid, and/or gullible as we are, here.
New Yorker II: President Enrique Peña Nieto ought not waste his money. One of the truths, one of the bigly few truths, about the Orange Empty, is that he is EMPTY: There is no Empathy, no Motivation for change from within, no Paucity of cruelty, no Thinking, unless it is about his belly-button, and no Yearning for anyone to be free from his sick, venal grasp.
‘Toon: I’m not even going there.
The only thing good about your day it that it’s behind you.
(A un-cushioned chair for three hours?!? What … was The Rack already being used at the time?)
TNY: So glad the wilful dumbing-down of Americans by Republicans has come to a stop in some states and critical thinking is on the rise again. Even the most persistent of governors, Scott Walker, can’t stop this trend. I don’t mind Andy forgot to write satire and went for plain reporting instead, the news is good in any form.
IM: We’ve had automatic voter registration for as long as I know and voter suppression is unheard of. That doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone who can actually votes. Because it isn’t mandatory some people just take the right to vote for granted, but the majority takes the trouble to vote, even for local elections. Compared to the US, our need for change is far less urgent, of course. When the going gets tough, more people use their right to vote well.
TH: Drumpf is a typical bully: hiding his cowardice behind a big mouth.
TNY2: Perhaps Democrats could take Andy’s brilliant suggestion and put it in their next budget bill instead of offering to pay for the wall if Drumpf repealed his DACA repeal. But they should take heed of what those smart Mexicans have suggested too: paying for Drumpf’s psychiatric care may turn out to be costlier than paying for that damned wall.
Cartoon: Regular? Define regular.
So sorry you had such a bad day, yesterday, TomCat. And more sorry for letting you wait for the operation until December while you had hoped for sometime this summer. That really sucks.
Looking through some of the stuff (books) we’re going to ship Down Under, my eye fell on and old edition of Murphy’s Law Complete and then on this gem:
Enjoy the weekend.
The Best of All Possible Worlds
So many people worked on this, it’s tough to be sure who wrote these lyrics. My best guess is Lillian Hellman. It’s not QUITE wicked enough for Dorothy Parker IMO.
Puzzle — 4:02 Picturesque, but I prefer Nice.
The New Yorker — Ooooh, I bet little Scottie is on the Koch brother’s shit list now! Good on Wisconsinites for defying little Scottie’s plan!
Inequality Media — Can you imagine the furor from Republicans if everybody who can vote actually voted? I am not saying that all of that 41.6% of eligible voters would vote Democrat, but many probably would but don’t because they think their vote won’t make a difference. Automatic registration not affiliated with any political party and mandatory voting would make a difference. But other things would also have to change — early voting availability; mandated time off work to vote; polling station staffing and availability; keeping the political parties away from electoral administration; — these and more to kick start the US electoral reform. The US is not the only country with low voter turnout but, IMO, it does the most (of the industrialised nations) to suppress the vote of its citizens.
The Hill — The only thing fake is Drumpf himself! . . . and of course the alt-right idiots like Alex Jones, Hannity, and Sinclair broadcasting who promote their opinion as news, which it isn’t of course. Drumpf at best is a chicken-shit. If there is a danger of being seen in a negative light, he’s out of there.
The New Yorker — “Enrique ought to toss the Fuhrer in a padded cell, provide a hooker to spank him when he’s naughty, and throw away the key!” — That’s cruel and unusual punishment for the hooker! I can agree with the rest.
Cartoon — I’m with Lona . . . define regular because if the current administration and Congress is regular, the US has a heap of trouble.
What an ordeal you went through Puddy Tat, and then to have to wait until December! Not fun at all! I said the other day that my fur babes, particularly Winnie, were having health issues. I finally heard from the vet late yesterday and it seems that they may have contracted a cold and were fighting off a fever etc causing them to stop eating. Winnie was back eating his regular food last night but Primo was still putting up a fuss. He will continue to get some canned, high fat recovery food for a few days mixed in with kibble to stimulate his eating.
So glad it’s a cold your fur babes are fighting, and nothing worse, Lynn. Give them a cuddle from me.
Ditto.
Thanks all. Tired Hugs!