Here’s an actual Tesla coil rifle to shock you awake on this early Sunday morning/late Saturday evening. If you want to build your own, the details are here. I’m going to bed, amuse yourselves!
But What About the Children
This is disgusting, but par for the course with the Republican party:
More than a year after lawmakers originally ordered it, Texas announced Monday it will enact significant cuts to the money that it pays therapists who treat vulnerable children with disabilities in two weeks.
Medicaid reimbursement rates are used to pay for pediatric therapy services provided to disabled babies and toddlers. Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the state’s Health and Human Services Commission, said that Texas will apply cuts on Medicaid rates on Dec. 15 in attempt to achieve savings directed by the Texas Legislature in 2015.
“The most important job we have is making sure kids have the services they need and that we are responsible with taxpayer dollars,” Williams said in an e-mail. “We will monitor the reduction of rates to ensure access to care is not impacted and that Texans around the state receive the much-needed therapies required to improve their lives.”
***“This is terrible news for Texas kids with disabilities and developmental delays and their families,” Rubin said. “Kids with autism, speech delays, Down syndrome, and other disabilities and delays rely on these therapies to learn to walk, communicate with their families, get ready for school, and meet other goals.”
Sociopaths.
If You Don’t Know Who The Patsy At The Table Is, It’s You Part [n+1]
Just a quick update for the “who has Trump f**ked today” file.
AT&T is reportedly feeling confident about its ability to buy Time Warner after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team—even though Trump himself vowed to block the merger during his campaign.
“Donald Trump’s transition team has reassured AT&T that its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner will be scrutinized without prejudice,” the Financial Timesreported yesterday. “After talking with the president-elect’s team, AT&T executives are confident that their deal has a good chance of passing regulatory scrutiny, people informed about the conversation said.” [Ars Technica]
This is a couple of days old, actually. It’s tough to keep up.
To be sure, relative to little things like blowing up the world’s system of states, agreements, and understandings…
…letting a mega-corp misbehave exactly as any Republican president would (and some Democrats, alas) is hardly the top of either my terror or rage list. But still, I do love seeing Trumpkins slowly wake up to the degree to which they’ve been conned/are complicit in the ongoing shit show.
Sorry, folks. You really do need watering twice a day if you trusted the cheeto-faced, ferret-heedit shitgibbon.
That’s about the limit of the fun to be had these days — a respectful nod in the direction of the late, great Molly Ivins. I wish I could enjoy the tears of betrayed Trumpkins a bit more, but there’s too much damage they’ve done to the rest of us to take much satisfaction.
Image: Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors, 1533.
If You Don’t Know Who The Patsy At The Table Is, It’s You Part [n+1]Post + Comments (160)
College Football Open Thread
My plucky little Gators scored on the opening drive against the mighty Tide! I think we’re 24-point underdogs. Time to shock the world!
Later on, it’s Clemson vs. the Hokies and then Wisconsin vs PSU — both at 8 PM ET. Stupid schedulers! Anyhoo, open thread!
Open Thread: Bull(shitter) in A China Foreign Policy Shoppe
The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016
Twitter may be the perfect medium for a Trump ‘presidency’, because 140 characters at a time is about as much of this as a sane person can bear.
White House wasn't told abt Trump’s Taiwan call till after it happened, official says possible fallout "significant" https://t.co/WI6lQmI5D5
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 2, 2016
Trump says Taiwain leader called him, though Taiwain paper says Trump staffer arranged call https://t.co/2NWy4yRlcd pic.twitter.com/olgF3vLR1j
— The Hill (@thehill) December 3, 2016
President-elect Trump calls president of Taiwan today. Meanwhile, Trump Org apparently looking to expand into Tawian https://t.co/WYQj3fQACB
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) December 2, 2016
From @CNN: Stephen Yates, a fellow at @Heritage who is an adviser to Trump's transition, is in #Taiwan and helped facilitate call
— Harry Kazianis (@GrecianFormula) December 3, 2016
Is Trump bullshitting Taiwan? Is Taiwan bullshitting Trump? Are his neocon handlers bullshitting Trump? Who’s zooming who?
CNN reporting China has already contacted the White House over Trump’s call with Taiwan pres pic.twitter.com/4Itscs8Eq1
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) December 3, 2016
Biggest risk of Trump's Taiwan call isn't pissing off China. It's giving Taiwan the idea that we'll support them more than we actually will.
— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) December 2, 2016
Open Thread: Bull(shitter) in A China Foreign Policy ShoppePost + Comments (158)
Reader photos – Dec 3, 2016
A couple landscape shots for Saturday.
Lake Evans, Victoria, Australia, by Peter Russell:
Castlerigg stone circle, Keswick, UK, by Nancy Koprowski:
If you want to participate, email me a link to a couple of your favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put them up in open threads. Send a short caption if you want and let me know how you want to be identified. If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com. There was a good discussion about sharing photos anonymously in another photo thread.
El Clásico Open Thread
Can Barcelona maintain Catalan pride at home or will Real Madrid manage to make it six straight?
Who will get sent off first?