Nec Hoc Nec Ilud

* "Salisbury poisonings: police name two Russian suspects:" https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/salisbury-poisonings-police-name-and-charge-two-suspects

* "Chinese kindergarten principal fired after kids welcomed with pole dance:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/04/asia/china-pole-dancing-school-intl/index.html

* "Nielsen calls out Putin for election interference:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/politics/kirstjen-nielsen-russian-election-interference/index.html

* 45 wants to suspend the 1st Amendment so he can arrest and imprison protestors. "Trump suggests that protesting should be illegal:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-suggests-protesting-should-be-illegal/2018/09/04/11cfd9be-b0a0-11e8-aed9-001309990777_story.html?utm_term=.e8e4b1136452

* I have faith in the NYT's vetting of sources. However, I have serious doubts about things like motive for doing this, timing of the release of the statement, and the existence and effectiveness of any such right wing resistance. "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration:" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html

* I am long on record as disliking speculation in print about certain things. This is one of those situations I suspect nearly everyone who has been paying attention has guesses about the anonymous editorial writer in the NYT. I know I have some thoughts myself, but I won't be giving them here. While I am loath to amplify this sort of reporting, there will be some tucked into broader commentary around the topic in some of the things I do chose to post. Do not take that as endorsement of an individual candidate for having written the editorial, or for this sort of speculation in general outside of an historical context. I strongly suspect the person will be unmasked relatively soonish anyway. If he hasn't in a few years, it moves into the historical, at which point I'll revisit, but my bet is it'll be much sooner and I'm willing to wait.

* "Maddow on anonymous Op-ed: Somebody is pulling the fire alarm:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-on-anonymous-op-ed-somebody-is-pulling-the-fire-alarm-1313797699568?v=railb&

* "This Dem. congressman introduced a 25th Amendment bill:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/this-dem-congressman-introduced-a-25th-amendment-bill-1313821251519?v=railb&

* "Trump slams damning New York Times op-ed as 'gutless':" https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/politics/nyt-trump-resistance-op-ed/index.html

* "The Latest: Trump wants op-ed writer turned over 'at once!':" https://apnews.com/76948f196ebb4120b209e24b7a78af83

* "Trump reignites threat to news broadcasters:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/04/trump-nbc-broadcast-licenses-806414

* "Mueller Subpoenas Conspiracy Theorist With Roger Stone Ties:" https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Robert-Mueller-Probe-Subpoenas-Roger-Stone-Aide-Corsi-492534701.html

* "Christopher Wray becomes the latest target of Trump's ire:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/christopher-wray-becomes-latest-target-trump-s-ire-n906326

* "EPA watchdog accuses agency of failing to justify Scott Pruitt's security spending:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/epa-watchdog-accuses-agency-failing-justify-scott-pruitts/story?id=57591461

* "Sheldon Whitehouse Says Brett Kavanaugh's Confirmation Hearing Is 'A Sham':" https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-hearing-sheldon-whitehouse_us_5b8efa15e4b0162f4727e447

* "Veracity of Kavanaugh testimony under oath challenged at hearing:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/veracity-of-kavanaugh-testimony-under-oath-challenged-at-hearing-1313924675656?v=railb&

* "Kavanaugh ducks answering on points of personal controversy:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/kavanaugh-ducks-answering-on-points-of-personal-controversy-1313923651778?v=railb&

* "Sen. Amy Klobuchar: Kavanaugh has ‘very expansive’ view of executive power:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sen-amy-klobuchar-kavanaugh-has-very-expansive-view-of-executive-power-1313816131902?v=railb&

* "‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Protestors Fight Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Nomination: ‘He Will Take Away Women’s Basic Rights’:" https://www.indiewire.com/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-handmaids-tale-protest-1202000544/

* Hearings have started even though Republicans refuse to release the documents from his time in the executive Branch for review. Please, please, please if you can manage it, contact your Senators to get them to fight the Kavanaugh nomination. This is geometrically more important if you have a centrist Democrat like Joseph Manchin, Joe Donnelly, and Heidi Heitkamp; or Republicans like Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski. Contact Chuck Schumer and ask him to whip the Democrats so as to get them to stand in united opposition.

Protest in person if you can, but if you can’t, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/

* "Trump says of possible shutdown: 'If it happens, it happens':" https://apnews.com/894164282b024a24a4766ea237756e53/Trump-says-of-possible-shutdown:-'If-it-happens,-it-happens'

* "Court won't force North Carolina redistricting this year:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/04/north-carolina-redistricting-midterms-807155

* TW: Pedophilia, Child Abuse "We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage:" https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christinekenneally/orphanage-death-catholic-abuse-nuns-st-josephs

* "The Brett Kavanaugh Free For All:"

( Embed: )

* "Bob Woodward: Insiders Call The White House 'Crazytown':"

( Embed: )

* "Trump's Cyberbullying Of Jeff Sessions Continues:"

( Embed: )

* "What Was Inside James Corden's Birthday Cake?!:"

( Embed: )

* "There's Another Book Out Telling Us Trump Isn't Great:"

( Embed: )

* "James Corden Breaks Down Summer 2018:"

( Embed: )

* Today my sleep quality was low, though the cats were excellent and took turns on extensive cuddles. Then the lawn and garden machinery started and the apartment flooded with noise, allergens, and the scent of gasoline, chocking me. I dressed as quickly as my difficulty breathing allowed, went out and cleared as many leaves and branches out of my garden as I could manage quickly, and went off to forage, which was desperately needed. To be fair, the bushes did need clearing and it means more sunlight, but i wish there was advanced warning so I could move the containers ahead of time. I'll be picking leaves out of my fruit and vegetables for the next several weeks. Forage was hot and exhausting, but I got things we needed. I hit two grocery stores for desperately needed necessities and to order another case of autumn seasonal, plus the back to get meds money, library, pharmacy, and to get my storage boxes from the comic/gaming store. This doesn't help with my bills, as it's store credit only, alas, and it turned out only the Preachers were really worth anything. Still, three boxes of stuff I don't want or need are gone and i always need more storage space than I have. I got some things the cats need at the dollar store with some of the change from the meds. the rest I will likely blow on more meds next week. I tried to order four more prescriptions tonight after I sorted the last meal planner, but the line was down. Sigh. At hoe thee was lung time, and grocery stowing, and shelling two boxes of lung meds (annoyingly each ampule individually wrapped instead of them being wrapped in sets. annoying either way, but more labor intensive this way.), followed by shelling a set of blister packs for another prescription that half the time comes that way instead of a bottle. I sometimes need them in a hurry, so it is safer to free them from the packaging and store them in one of the bottles from one of the times they came in proper form. Sigh.

I am making slow progress on the fascinating Vita Sackville-West biography, Behind the mask, not through any fault of the author, but because I was too ill or too tired to read properly the last few days. I need to hurry as it's short on time. At least I reached her relationship with Virginia Wolf today.

I decided not to check Rite Aid for flu hots as I'm still a bit peaky. It worries me to wait, given how devastating flu can be for me, but the vaccination will make me sporadically feverish for a weak or two, and really, it's best to be done when I'm sure i'm well for obvious reasons. Sigh.

Given the med expense and last month's shortfall, I calculate I'll be $200ish in arrears. I really need to get well enough to safely set up auctions, but clearly not today as I'm exhausted and in an astonishing amount of pain, and i can't guarantee I'm well and thus safe for buyers. Ugh. It's freaking me out. September-January is the most expensive season with all sort of things needing urgent replacing and expenses I can't avoid. I'm running out of shampoo and conditioner and it's looking an awful lot like the laundry detergent I bought last month is giving me hives. It's the usual brand that is normally safe, but they were out of the two types they sell I know are skin safe (Free & clear or Lavender). I'm guessing this formulation isn't. *shakes fist at manufacturer*

Anyway, if you'd like to chip in towards helping me pay my bills Paypal Lethran@gmail.com or paypal.me/Gwydion

*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.

* "Fires in Greece: how to help:" https://medium.com/@theo.k/fires-in-greece-how-to-help-41ad32fc9232

* Practical ways to protest with scripts. "On the Helsinki summit, election integrity and Mueller:" https://medium.com/@Celeste_pewter/on-the-helsinki-summit-election-integrity-and-mueller-b8ed1acde2c0

* Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is doing a fundraiser for legal defense of refugee children in ICE detention. https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/activism/deliver-them-from-the-hands-of-the-wicked/

* Want to contribute directly to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services fund? "Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services:" https://www.raicestexas.org/

* Support Kids at the Border: http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/175022384240/support-the-kids-at-the-border

This has a call script to help you talk your Republican Senator into voting for the Keep Families Together Act: http://rockinhamburger.tumblr.com/post/175022988673/captacorn-marvelsmostwanted-heres-a-call

* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0

* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/

* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/

* This is a cool person and the swimsuits are being made from an ethical source. LGBTQIA+ swimsuits: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NerdyKeppie?ref=l2-shopheader-name§ion_id=24021616

* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com or paypal.me/Gwydion

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html

* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.comn

* Rep. Louis Gommert is claiming that the Debt Ceiling deadline is a conspiracy by Obama that he's lying about because he wants a win for his birthday bash. I am confused as to why he thinks the non-partisan congressional Budget Office, every reputable economist in the English Speaking world, Moody's, the standard and Poor Index, Fitch's, pretty much all of Wallstreet, and the late Ronald Reagan (judging from a speech when he was president), are all conspiring to make Obama's birthday so special. One can only assume he too thinks Obama has a time machine to suborn Ronald Reagan.

Sorry, but I think it's incredibly illogical to think all these people are conspiring with Obama. Occum's razor points to all the financial figures being correct, and the Wall Street types having a vested interest in saving financial markets, not giving a birth day present to a Democratic President. I am having a really hard time thinking Reagan would have foreseen that a particular black man would be president in 2011, and that he would be wanting to bolster his need for an extra special birthday present.

Of course, Mr. Gommert, Ms. Bachmann, and the other folks floating claims like this are not big on reality based thinking.

* Meanwhile Limbaugh is claiming the debt ceiling deadline is a Muslim conspiracy headed by Obama. *head desk* I mean, we know how notoriously Moody's and the Standard and Poors index are pro-jihadist, right? Right? (That would be sarcasm). Would we still be having this sort of thing if Obama was white? I don't think so. Did Republicans call Ronald Reagan a secret Muslim every time he raised the debt ceiling? No, not once? How about the two Bushes? No?

* Michelle Bachman's handlers physically attacked an ABC reporter today for trying to ask her questions.

* For the record, much as I think Michelle Bachman is unfit for office on the grounds of ignorance and a refusal to let any fact based evidence to effect her thinking, I don't think migraines are a reason to bar someone from office, and attacks on those grounds smack of ableism to me. how many previous office holders have had arthritis? That requires daily medication, yet no one is saying wee should kick everyone with arthritis out of Congress or bar them from the presidency. I think whether or not a medical condition precludes a person from doing a job needs to be made case by case by the person experiencing the medical condition. (Exceptions: things like addiction, brain tumors, uncontrolled schizophrenia, and other conditions that severely effect the person's ability to safely make decisions on one's own and accurately assess one's own ability to function).

* Illegal levels of radiation are turning up in the Japanese food supply.

* I think biomekanic may be on to something; http://biomekanic.livejournal.com/497345.html

* "The Dwayne McDuffie Tribute You WON'T Be Seeing:" http://neo-prodigy.livejournal.com/973938.html?style=mine#cutid1

* "Sometimes all you can do to beat the dark is shed a little light.:" http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/372786.html

* Mesmerizing: Beastie Boys GI Joes vs. Zombies: http://io9.com/5822766/

* The Clutch: