They Deserve Each Other, But We Deserve Better

You-Know-Who has endorsed Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for reelection.  Dan is the one with the real power.  Greg Abbott is just a bumbling spokesmodel.  

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/10/donald-trump-endorse-dan-patrick/
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48 thoughts on “They Deserve Each Other, But We Deserve Better”

  4. PatD- Thanks for the link.  Craig usually has to fix them for me.  
    Why does this orange monster still have so much power?   Racism. 

    I’d like to know the best and worst things out of/happening around everyone’s state government. I could do a today-in-stupid-and-horrifying coming out of Austin. The good stuff would mostly be Beto and a few others doing community outreach, etc.

  5. interesting new report from institute for policy studies:

    KEY FINDINGS

    • Of the 100 S&P 500 firms with the lowest median worker wages, 51 bent their own rules in 2020 to pump up executive paychecks.
    • Common manipulations included lowering performance bars to help executives meet bonus targets, awarding special “retention” bonuses, excluding poor second-quarter results from evaluations, and replacing performance-based pay with time-based awards.
    • Among those 51 companies:
      • CEO compensation averaged $15.3 million, up 29 percent from 2019.
      • CEO-worker pay ratios averaged 830 to 1 in 2020.
      • Median worker pay ran $28,187 on average in 2020, 2 percent lower than in 2019.
      • Sixteen firms ended 2020 in the red. This group of profit-losing, rule-bending corporations had the highest average CEO pay, at $17.5 million.
    • Because women and people of color make up a large share of low-wage workers and a tiny share of corporate leaders, extreme CEO-worker pay divides increase gender and racial disparities.
    • Extreme pay divides also decrease organizational effectiveness. Decades of studies back up Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s 1990 “Fair Wage-Effort Theory” that large pay disparities undermine employee morale and productivity.

  6. Funny, but everyone I know has had hours cut or their salary reduced.  There’s a lot of frustration out there, but there’s nowhere else to go right now.

    Shouldn’t employers who whine about unemployment checks being too generous (not finding folks to work for as little as they can get away with paying) be ashamed of themselves for being cheap weasels?

    ps – Has anyone heard from Tiptoe or Corey?

  7. patd, I think I know why the link BID didn’t work. It is being read as text rather than as a hyperlink. If it’s copied and pasted into an address bar it works. Go figure. 

  8. pogo – It was in the little box that said it was embedding. 
    What wonderful or ~wonderful~ things are going on in your part of the world?

  9. on cnn new day:  Al Franken: Republicans always find an excuse to cut unemployment benefits

    cartoon below seems to illustrate the GOPer thinking on the same subject

  10. BiD…  Corey showed up last week to give his condolences to Craig.

  11. The good things here?  Spring’s set in for real and the boat hit the water last weekend (but not with me in it yet).  Decided this year to get serious about trying to get grass to grow in the deep shade of the SE corner of the front yard – could hardly stand up after 3 hours fighting the weed eater with cultivator attachment…I gotta get that thing tuned up.  Other than that, no rest for the wicked at the office, and I’m not happy about that.  But I’m stretching my “chef” chops and starting to look for recipes for different sauces to spice up the usual protein and veggie fare.  Last night there was a maple syrup/pecan glaze for the butternut squash and a honey-mustard (w/ horseradish and habanero) for the salmon.  Mrs. P approved. Tonight it may be back to the grill but it’s early yet and I could change my mind.

  14. So reading Marc Thiessen’s weekly drivel at the Post (forgive for I have sinned) I came across this:

    One anonymous GOP House member told the Hill, “This isn’t about Liz Cheney wanting to impeach Donald Trump; this isn’t about Donald Trump at all. It’s about Liz Cheney being completely out of synch with the majority of our conference.”

    Right Well, I couldn’t let that stand as is.

    “This is only about Liz Cheney wanting to impeach Donald Trump; and is only about Donald Trump. It’s about Liz Cheney being completely out of synch with the majority of our conference, who are totally in synch with Donald Trump.” 
     
    There, anonymous GOP House member, I fixed that for you.

  15. Well Mr. B, I had a sizable hand in assisting Mother N in killing the grass, so I’m trying to help her restore it. When it comes to lawn tractors I tend to belong to the too impatient, too fast club, and around trees and turns that doesn’t help.

  17. Hey, remember when Kevin McCarthy cowered in a corner and called his orange daddy in tears after the latter tried to get him killed?  Good times…

    (edit: “WHILE the latter was trying to get him killed”)

  18. i think that was the same day the President tried to have his own Vice President assassinated 🤔

  19. Well, gas in East Bumfuck went up $.14 since Saturday. Considering that it had already edged up by about $.36 since February or so, the sky isn’t falling…yet.
    And in other news:

    JERUSALEM — A day of upheaval at the holy sites of this contested city quickly widened into a night of warlike violence in communities across the country Tuesday, with hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip resulting in the deaths of at least two Israelis and retaliatory airstrikes killing at least 26 Gazans, according to Palestinian officials and Israeli media.

    Clashes also broke out in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, as well as between Jewish residents, Israeli police and Arab citizens in Arab-Israeli towns and mixed Jewish-Arab towns, leading to hundreds of arrests and at least one Palestinian fatality.

    The armed exchanges, the worst eruption of violence between Israel and Palestinians in recent years, continued into a second day as security officials braced for fighting to escalate even further. Schools in several parts of Israel were closed Tuesday.
    (The insanity continues)

    Not sure which side the finger of accusation should point at this time.

  20. And yes, January 6 was the day McCarthy called Dumbass in a panic and asked him who the ____ (I con’t recall whether it was “hell” or “fuck”) he thought he was talking to.  Shortly thereafter McCarthy said Dumbass encouraged the riot, and shortly thereafter following a groveling kiss-ass trip to Trump’s Mar-A-Lair-O McC declared Trump head of the party. Or something like that.

  21. Yeah, the “big lie” is that GOP goons want Cheney out for refusing to contest the election, when in reality it’s about purging any party members who will recognize the Jan. 6th failed-coup for what it was.  They’d rather talk about Matt Gaetz than Jan. 6

  22. BTW, Bink, I do have some pachysandra in the back yard as a ground cover, and I love the stuff.  Also have some vinca, which Mrs. P detests, but I didn’t plant it so I’m not on the hook for that one.  I’m trying to get grass growing better in the flat but bare “lawn” areas in the front yard.  I have considered planting  pachysandra around the bases of the trees instead of putting mulch down each year, but as you say, mebbe next year.

  23. i’ve been wondering lately about all those so-called christian GOPers adhering to the big lie vis-a-vis that commandment about not lying.   guess even some of the GOPers have been wondering too about the other ten.  here’s an excerpt from an iowan in the blog called Bleeding Heartland: 

    The Republican Party continues its handiwork on the Ten Commandments
    Moses received from Jehovah some 3,500 years ago. First came the so-called eleventh commandment in 1966: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican.”
    A new version of the first commandment emerged over the past five years: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Trump.”
    […]
    The new first commandment, “no god other than Trump,” is evidenced by the party still considering him a candidate for nomination in the 2024 presidential election. They make pilgrimages to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the GOP version of Mt. Sinai and Jerusalem combined.
    […]
    The eleventh commandment, Parkinson and Reagan likely would say, was issued to prevent personal attacks and condemnation of an individual and to facilitate debate on issues. The focus on issues and not on personal attacks was exemplified by Senator John McCain in 2008, when the Republican presidential nominee scolded a GOP partisan for her error-filled condemnation of his Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama. McCain said Obama was a “decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”
    As a harbinger of politics today, many in the crowd booed McCain for saying that.
    In practice, not speaking ill of any Republican means not holding one another accountable for what they advocate.
    Generally, how this plays out in the news media is that the Democratic Party is depicted as torn by division as its leaders dare to hold one another accountable for their stands on issues of importance to the nation. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is reported as bent on raising enough money and “reforming” voting laws to assure Trump a dry path across the Potomac River as he returns in grandeur in 2024.
    So no GOP leader in Iowa spoke out on the harebrained notion of U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene that wildfires in California were caused by space lasers operated by Jews. More recently, she introduced legislation “to award three Congressional Gold Medals to the heroic law enforcement officers and those who protect American cities from Black Lives Matter (BLM) terrorists.”
    […]
    Given the GOP corruption of the Ten Commandments, one fears what is in store for us when they get to 
    the New Testament’s Sermon on the Mount and all those blessings upon the hungry, the merciful, the meek, the pure in heart and the peacemakers.

  24. sounds like bad news for matt

    Report: Matt Gaetz’s Intern Ex-Girlfriend May Soon Be Cooperating With the Feds | Vanity Fair

    The ex-girlfriend is believed to “have knowledge of drug use and arrangements with women,” sources told CNN.

    The Bahamas trip has become a focus of investigators, who are scrutinizing whether women were paid to travel for sex with Gaetz and others, and whether the trip was part of an effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana, CNN has previously reported. Gaetz has a long history of advocating for medical marijuana and has introduced several pieces of legislation seeking to loosen laws regulating the drug, both as a state representative in Florida and as a member of Congress.

    The former girlfriend was also involved in some of the financial transactions that the FBI has obtained, and investigators are pursuing what knowledge Gaetz had about the payments and activities, sources say. She now works in the Florida state government, according to state records.

  25. Gaetz – too bad.  From that Vanity Fair article:

    Last month, Politico reported that the ex-girlfriend was a woman whose nude video Gaetz, embodying a creepy overgrown frat boy, allegedly showed to other members of Congress. In 2017, according to CNN, she was interning for a Republican lawmaker when she was supposedly fired for being a Democrat. At that point, Gaetz asked Florida Democratic representative Darren Soto to hire her as an unpaid intern.

    Oh, THAT ex-girlfriend.   Former girlfriends generally aren’t that helpful in current cases, but I’m sure she will help Matt in any way she can. He better be more concerned about Stan Greenberg.  

  26. BREAKING NEWS:

    A federal judge Tuesday denied an effort by the National Rifle Association to file for bankruptcy protection, ruling that the gun rights group filed the case in an attempt to fend off a civil lawsuit by the New York attorney general.

    “The Court finds, based on the totality of the circumstances, that the NRA’s bankruptcy petition was not filed in good faith but instead was filed as an effort to gain an unfair litigation advantage in the NYAG Enforcement Action and as an effort to avoid a regulatory scheme,” Judge Harlin Hale wrote in a 37-page decision.

    Hale’s decision follows a weeks-long hearing that revealed details about alleged mismanagement and excessive spending by top officials at the influential gun lobby, including Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s controversial leader for the past three decades.
    (CONTINUES)

    Pity.  ~~~

  28. craig, take all the time  you need. 

    we’re here for you and the trail can be a good place to unload some of that burden. 

  29. Liz Cheney made one hell of a speech.  In purging her from the leadership, she exposed her opponents for the greedy, power mad Trump besotted garbage they are.

     

  30. You sound like a Canadian, apologizing for something you shouldn’t, Mr. C.  Hang in there, you’ll just go numb eventually and you can ride that for a good 6 months😭

  31. pogo, i respectfully disagree with you that matt has more to worry about with stan.  it’s likely that the ex  is none too happy with so much exposure (shall we say) because of him.  

    and why is she an “ex”… was it her choice or could she be one of those proverbial “woman scorned” whose fury hath no like even in hell?

    you think an elephant never forgets – well, a dumped dame never forgives nor forgets.

  33. Apologize?  Me?  Well, I am married to a Catholic, and she’d argue that I sound nothing like one of those, and I have known a few Canadians. (I’ll let Renee weigh in on whether I sound like one.)

    But, ride what for 6 months, Bink?  You’re so … obtuse. If you’re talking  about the grass, I dun it. Killed the stuff. Mom had little to do with the lugs on the lawn tractor digging up the grass in a circular pattern around each tree. If it’s the Vinca, that’s on my buddy and former shrub and shrub bed guy. In the end I don’t give a shit. It’s mine to deal with now to try and please Mrs. P. 
     

  34. This PBS special on the history of vaccines should be broadcast on every network and  streamed in every platform. 

  36. jamie, yep.  she has guts. can you imagine the threats she’s getting.  and will continue to get for a long time.

    Liz Cheney: “Our duty is clear: Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy. This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar.”

  37. Craig –
    Amen , it is tough .  After the whirlwind of the moment has passed try going somewhere you love .  It is  a tonic for the heart .

  39. PBS  is on a roll .
    Blue made a comment up thread about tonight’s offering called , ” Extra Life Living Longer ”  .  A 4 part series. 
    (They are doing a really crappy  job of alerting viewers about these new series.)
    But tonight’s effort should be shown to everyone on the planet.  It lays out what I’ve been saying here.  But in a very rich , and interconnected way. 
     
     
    https://www.pbs.org/show/extra-life-short-history-living-longer/
     

  40. If you have a minute hold a good thought for Mr C  He is having surgery tonight putting  a stent to by pass an infected kidney stone 
    thanks
     
     
     

  41. In 1706 the good people in New England bought Cotton Mather a slave.  He carried the idea of vaccination  from Africa.  Africa was being over run by Small Pox. 
    At that time it was called vaculation . Which involved  making a small cut the in skin and smearing  the puss from a victims sore into the wound. 
     
    This is the first recorded  treatment for Smallpox. And it came from Africa in the mind of a slave.
    Everyone should know this .

  42. Oh Ms Cracker , I was just thinking of you and the Sea Hang .
    I loved the idea you and her being bookends here from sea to shiny sea. 
    As a Godless man , I always pray for my friends when they asked. 

  43. Today is the  marker in my life.  The Great Lubbock Tornado . A double vortex EF-5 . 4 days later I was in Grand Lake , Colorado. 
     
    The great thing about  about this campfire was the collective wisdom of it’s campers. 
     

  44. Patd, ahah. If that’s the case I absofuckinglutely agree with Bink. (I am P here and C everywhere else).

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