@joe shikspack

right behind you by about 3:00 a.m.

Seriously, hope you and yours have a lovely trip/visit/weekend. If anyone deserves a break, you do!

Hopefully, by the next time I check in with you Guys, I will have 'put up, or shut up.' Meaning, I hope to have a working Twitter account/hash tag to tackle the attempt by Senators Kaine and Bennett to turn TM, or, Traditional Medicare, into a HMO or managed care plan.

Our weather has been pretty near perfect, lately--north or south. Hope you Guys are as lucky during your weekend travels.

Here's my 'trivia' item for the day,

What is the number of hours of music composed by JS Bach?

Answer: 175 hours

Everybody have a wonderful weekend!

Mollie

“If we can divide the electorate this way, we can have them expending their energies fighting amongst themselves, over issues that for us, have no meaning whatsoever."
--USA Bankers Magazine, August 25, 1924

"The original meaning of 'fiscal conservative' may be gone.

In fact, Democrats have had a better claim on the label in recent years than Republicans."

____David Leonhardt, Journalist, NYT, January 9, 2017

"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
--Author Unknown

i'm hitting the road a little early today, trying to beat traffic to go visit some friends a ways away.

you all have a great evening, a great weekend and have fun!

@divineorder

First he went after Hatch for letting CHIP die and then for not funding it. Here he is going against the tax cuts.

The rest of the democrats? AWOL of course. They are willing to shut down the government for DACA, but that's identity politics. The tax cuts are what their donors want too.

This is so bad. We have just gotten list of amendments to be included in bill NOT from our R colleagues, but from lobbyists downtown. None of us have seen this list, but lobbyists have it. Need I say more? Disgusting. And we probably will not even be given time to read them. pic.twitter.com/Mn0i56JeZg

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) December 1, 2017

Sen. Bernie Sanders​ got in a heated discussion with a Republican senator on the floor, and reclaimed his time to expose the truths of the GOP tax bill: pic.twitter.com/EtXnFmv0jj

— Splinter (@splinter_news) December 1, 2017

@Big Al

If the minimum wage increased at the same rate as
the salaries for college football and basketball coaches, professional athletes, entertainers, sportcasters, mainstream media news and opinion show personalities, bank ceo's, etc., i.e., the upper class one percenters, it would be approximately $150 per hour.

If the minimum wage merely increased at the same rate as the increased productivity it bought from those who earn it, it would be approximately $30 per hour. And that's with all other prices remaining as-is.

We'd be back to a single breadwinner, single job economy -- the way ours once was and should still be today.

The bucks wielded by the 0.1% are stolen. But then, you know that already!

the salaries for college football and basketball coaches, professional athletes, entertainers, sportcasters, mainstream media news and opinion show personalities, bank ceo's, etc., i.e., the upper class one percenters, it would be approximately $150 per hour.
At the upper class level, every year there has to be significant increases, 25% and more, in order to maintain the bogus competitive salary system.

@Benny

A few years after that fateful August 1989 [1990] day (when his copter crashed in WI)

I was at the second to the last SRV performance - Saturday night's show. It too was at Alpine Valley. Robert Cray, SRV, Clapton.

I remember seeing him for $5 and seeing some incredible runs as well as riffs. He came to town every couple of months. Great shows. Believe it or not, Lubbock, TX was a hotbed in which some of the best musicians cut their teeth at Fat Dawgs and a few other places during the 1970's and early 80's.

A few years after that fateful August 1989 day (when his copter crashed in WI), SRV's brother and a few friends came together in Austin to do a tribute concert for Stevie Ray. The YT below doesn't show the artists playing live, but the group was almost the grail of blues/rock & roll artists in SRV's lane: Jimmie Vaughn, BBKing, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Dr. John, and Art Neville.

Here's "Six Strings Down". Music and Lyrics by Jimmie Vaughn

Alpine valley
In the middle of the night
Six strings down
On the heaven-bound flight
Got a pick, a strap, guitar on his back
Ain't gonna cut the angels no slack

Heaven done called
Another blues-stringer back home

See the voodoo child
Holding out his hand
I've been waitin' on you brother
Welcome to the band

Good blues-stringin'
Heaven-fine singin'
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Been lis'nin' to your playin'

Heaven done called
Another blues-stringer back home

Lord, they called
Another blues-stringer back home

Albert Collins up there
Muddy an' lightnin' too
Albert King and Freddy
Playin' the blues
T-Bone, Guitar Slim
Little Son Jackson and Frankie Lee Sims

Heaven done called
Another blues-stringer back home

Lord, they called
Another blues-stringer back home

SRV would have been pleased and humbled. Of course, since that tribute concert, BBKing has joined the Bluesbreakers of the open sky.

@Azazello

This is why Epstein got such a sweet deal for having sex with up to 40 underaged girls. His plea deal was for only 18 months because he promised not to name names. This includes Trump and Clinton.
There were rumors about reopening this because prosecutors didn't let the victims know about the deal that was made. Last article on this was in April, but nothing since.

If you want to read about this, let me know and I'll post the link again. Or you can search for his sweet plea deal. Rich people don't have to pay for their crimes.

It turns out that the President used to hang out with creepy pervert Jeffrey Epstein.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNquvXkj-O8 width:500 height:300]
Might there be other high-profile political figures who have befriended this convicted pedophile ? Think, Cenk, think...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWEu9Rn-PaE width:500 height:300]

@snoopydawg Many are highly educated lot and very worldwise imo.

“Pro-western Russian liberals are dismayed, insulted and angry at the non-stop lunacy churned out by U.S. media.”

“U.S. audiences can’t distinguish one Russian from the other, and know only one Russian face: Putin’s.”

These “pro-Western liberals who look to the United States as an exemplar of democratic values and journalistic excellence,” as the Times describes them, are dismayed, insulted and angry at the non-stop lunacy churned out by U.S. media. If the Times, the Washington Post, CNN and most of the Democratic Party are to be believed, President Putin is a superman, “an almighty force from a James Bond saga,” said Leonid M. Volkov, chief of staff for anti-Putin politician Aleksei A. Navalny . How could the Russian opposition ever hope to overcome such a titan -- a man who can wreck the political order in the world’s reigning superpower with the expenditure of only $100,000 on Facebook? “This image is very bad for us,” Volkov told the Times. “Putin is not a master geopolitical genius.”

Ole Caitlyn sure knows how to hit back at the stupid. After McCain became a hero to many "progressives when he voted against the health care bill, his betrayal of them has made them very sad.

The McResistance Suddenly Remembers That John McCain Is A Bloodsucking Ghoul

Establishment Democrats remind me of infants before they’ve hit the object permanence stage of development. Whatever their story has been for the last few months is what’s been happening forever — George W Bush is a great guy, Russia has always been America’s number one enemy, and John McCain is a caring, compassionate ally who is always looking out for the little guy.

They just can’t believe it. They cannot believe that this demented neocon they fell in love with ten minutes ago is suddenly acting like the thing that he has always been. The fact that John McCain opposes Trump due to his insufficient hawkishness toward Russia and Syria has caused victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome to conclude that he must therefore be their friend, and must therefore have always been their friend.

Check their reactions on Twitter

After careful consideration, I have decided to support the Senate #TaxReform bill. Though not perfect, this bill will deliver much-needed reform to our tax code, grow the economy & provide long overdue tax relief for American families. https://t.co/BeWZAT0SjM pic.twitter.com/6qwYhmyE5p

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) November 30, 2017

@enhydra lutris get me down earlier today.

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