Open Thread for Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Is THIS the guy who conducted Obama's terrible, awful, mean wiretaps on President Trump?

Is THIS the guy who conducted Obama’s terrible, awful, mean wiretaps on President Trump?

Very quickly:

  1. 30 years later, arrest made in ‘gruesome’ Richland County killing — Nice job, Sheriff Lott.
  2. Senators ask FBI for evidence of Trump wiretap claim — Oh, this should be good. Somebody get the popcorn.
  3. Hospitals and Doctors Reject Bill as G.O.P. Moves Ahead — Here’s how this will go: Everybody who knows anything will reject the bill. The House GOP will forge ahead, counting on the support of people whose taxes they’re cutting.
  4. Women protest in D.C. for ‘Day Without a Woman’ as area schools close — OK, so that’s where this was going on. You couldn’t tell around here.
  5. Spring Came Early. Scientists Say Climate Change Is a Culprit. — But you kinda knew that, didn’t you?

Now I need to go run to another meeting…

... Or was it THIS guy?

… Or was it THIS guy?

27 thoughts on “Open Thread for Wednesday, March 8, 2017

  1. Norm Ivey

    #5: It’s this type of thing that I find fascinating and a little bit frightening about climate change. Rising sea levels and powerful storms get all the headlines, but it’s the more subtle impacts of things like an early spring that will have the more immediate impact on us.

    Migratory animals often journey based on food availability, which is usually driven by the growth of plants. Plants bloom. Insects come out to pollinate and live out short, desperate cycles of feeding and reproducing. Migratory birds arrive to feed on the insects. But if the plant blooms early, the insects come out early. The migratory birds arrive too late for the insects to be plentiful, and their population is reduced because there’s not enough resources to support them all, which then affects everything else up the food chain.

    Short-lived organisms like annuals and insects will adapt very quickly. The rest of us will not.

    The other phenomenon that concerns me is disease. There’s evidence that last year’s spread of zika may be related to global warming. Warmer climates encourage mosquito populations and expand their breeding periods, increasing their numbers and therefore, their contact with humans. I had a bout with them a couple of weekends ago already.

      1. Phillip

        Fascinating on so many levels. You got the South Korean impeachment thing, which, with its thousands of protestors on both sides, could be a little taste of what might await us down the road if there ever was to be impeachment proceedings against the Cheeto-in-Chief. Then, you got the internal divide in South Korea about confrontation versus engagement with Pyongyang—-looks like with the coming change in government there, the South Koreans may actually end up being less hardline than the US government, even though they (and the Japanese, and American bases in Japan) naturally are the most immediately threatened by the North Koreans. Will the THAAD system be allowed to stay? (Bargaining chip, maybe, in any case). And the complicated US-China relationship, and the complicated China relationship with North AND South Korea.

        All of this requiring great delicacy, patience, calmness, rationality, and really trying to see through Pyongyang’s eyes, the game they are playing or what their goals are, as difficult as that may be. Unfortunately, those are the kinds of qualities/abilities/attributes that are in short supply in this Administration.

        1. Claus2

          “Cheeto-in-Chief”

          Really? Funny how any derogatory name for Obama was considered racist, yet you’re name-calling based on the color of skin.

          1. Brad Warthen Post author

            I fail to see how that’s funny, or odd, or ironic, or anything.

            “White” and “black” are charged with all sorts of emotional power in our society, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who’s been alive in this country at any time in the past several centuries.

            But “orange” — that has NO sociopolitical import. It’s just weird. Not as weird as his hair, though. I still can’t figure out why a grown man who can afford a decent haircut goes out in public looking like that. It’s bizarre….

          2. Phillip

            Would never make fun of someone’s natural skin color–only the skin one gets from bad spray tans and tanning beds.

  2. Karen Pearson

    Take a look at some of the lovely insect-borne diseases that are found in the US only in our most southerly areas like the southmost part of Texas, such as Dengue fever. As we become more tropical we will approach a habitat that is livable by the creatures that spread such diseases. Oh well, at least we’ll be able to grow pretty flowers.

    I would talk about N. Korea, but with the dangerously narcissistic sociopaths running both countries (theirs and ours) I don’t wanna. Sad.

    1. Margaret Pridgen (Maggie)

      “Oh well, at least we’ll be able to grow pretty flowers.”
      And by then everybody will be covered by much better health care — big, beautiful health care — that will be much cheaper. We’ll all love it.

  3. Karen Pearson

    Hey Brad, why is my comment “awaiting moderation” when I haven’t even typed it yet?

  4. bud

    Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more awful news the Catholic Church offers us a bit of comic relief. From USA Today:

    “Lurid accusations of priests involved in sex orgies, porn videos and prostitution have emerged from several parishes in Italy recently, sending shock waves all the way to the Vatican and challenging the high standards Pope Francis demands of clergy”.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/09/sex-orgies-prostitution-porn-claims-shake-catholic-church-italy/98962674/

    Hey I’m not one to judge but this organization pushes this vile no birth control policy. So it’s really hard not to chuckle just a little. Thankfully it doesn’t appear that any children are involved.

  5. Scout

    I wondered about the low response, as well. OK, here’s something. Nobody seems that interested when I’ve mentioned it before, even though it’s horrifying, but I’ll try again.

    There is a federal voucher bill proposed. It’s a really bad idea. All the bad parts of any voucher bill ever thought of, with no redeeming features. They ought to just call it the reverse Robin Hood plan. H.r. 610. Look it up.

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        Used in a sentence (which I’m making up, but I think I’ve heard someone express this very thought): “Among the various threats that Russia poses to Western security, we’re particularly concerned about cyber.”

        I’ve heard it a good bit, and aside from NPR, I don’t do broadcast.

        I don’t recall seeing it in text, but I probably have.

        Here’s something about it

        1. Bryan Caskey

          Eh, that’s shorthand for “cyber threats” which makes it an adjective.

          Anyone using “cyber” as a noun will lose two points on his final grade.

          1. Scout

            Yea, I realized they were shortening it – I assumed “cyber security” would have been the full form in the contexts I’ve heard. I still don’t like it. It sounds sloppy and lazy and wrong, because it sounds like an adjective being used as a noun.

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