I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

bluedahlia

Toronto/Ottawa area.

Anonymous

Blue~~I just had Facebook friends in New York asking what that was, because they felt it.



Paula

bluedahlia

E, like your new sign above?

Wendel's ears perked up during the earthquake but Lilah just slept through it.

bluedahlia

Paula, must be pretty widespread.

Enjoyful

I used your E, Blue!

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

Love it!

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

Enough nonsense.....for today!  hahahahahahaaha!

alexandria58

Great pictures, Blue.  Especially love Spock and cat.

It is indeed a great morning.  Beautiful day here in Jersey, from what I can see out my window. Finishing my last cup of coffee and re-editing the first 50 pages of my novel for submission to another contest.  It's great to be writing again.  I haven't been able to get down to it since MIL's illness in February.

Heading for Vermont in three hours.  Mountains!!!

River_Rat

The trees fried my eyes (allergies) so I haven't tried to post and now I'm trying to catch up.

Athena, you have been through the wringer but it sounds like your physical recovery is moving right along. I hope your treatment knocks those liver mets out.

Enjoyful, I hope that your treatment kicks your mets and that you're soon able to ride the beautiful Sampson.

Chickadee, enjoy the cruise...and the chocolate.

All, love the pics and cartoons!...and the button...great button!

IllinoisLady

I love all the nonsense, always. Huge mood lifter though have to admit having the roto-rooter guy here this a.m. is having somewhat the same effect.  Don't know what got into our lines, but the guys here were not having success.  Did not cost as much as I feared.......so the guys get to stay. 

Not a lot of sunshine out but hoping all have a fabulous Friday...or a good one.

See you all later.

Jackie

IllinoisLady

River_Rat

Jackie, sorry you needed the Roto-Rooter guy. That is certainly one of the cringe-inducing things isn't it, waiting to see how much damage and the cost.

Athena, a Cure magazine article led me to a link which took me to a site that might be worthwhile for you, and anyone else with liver mets, to look at:

http://www.beatlivertumors.org

IllinoisLady

A fix for stupid I really love:

IllinoisLady

Speaks for itself:

One day after The White House released 100 pages of Benghazi emails, a report has surfaced alleging that Republicans released a set with altered text.

CBS News reported Thursday that leaked versions sent out by the GOP last Friday had visible differences than Wednesday's official batch. Two correspondences that were singled out in the report came from National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

The GOP version of Rhodes' comment, according to CBS News: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation."

The White House email: "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation."

The GOP version of Nuland's comment, according to CBS News: The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda's presence and activities of al-Qaeda."

The White House email: "The penultimate point could be abused by members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings."

The news parallels a Tuesday CNN report which initially introduced the contradiction between what was revealed in a White House Benghazi email version, versus what was reported in media outlets. On Monday, Mother Jones noted that the Republicans' interim report included the correct version of the emails, signaling that more malice and less incompetence may have been at play with the alleged alterations.

In that April interim report on Benghazi (which Buck noted), the House Republicans cited these emails (in footnotes 56 and 57) to note an important point: "State Department emails reveal senior officials had 'serious concerns' about the talking points, because Members of Congress might attack the State Department for 'not paying attention to Agency warnings' about the growing threat in Benghazi."

Despite the White House's Wednesday move to release emails, Republicans continued to call for more information on Thursday.

"While these hundred are good and they shed light on what happened, we have nearly 25,000 that they haven't released," Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told Fox News on Thursday.

This article is from Huff. Post.

Jackie

IllinoisLady

The PANTS on FIRE Party.

alexandria58

YEAH on catching a Republican sleazy act.

bluedahlia

I've been reading the truth behind all the scandals.  Looks like a concerted effort to me.

On the other hand, she's sooooooooooooooo cute!

Anonymous

Jackie - thanks, I don't read an twitter, but that's the GREATEST 3 words - kinda reminds me of when they posted the Back of the Chair of the President of the United States, with the caption: taken.

What a blessing it is to have such an intelligent President.  Love the sense of humor of his staff too - starts at the top.

IllinoisLady

Byron York’s interview with former Heritage Foundation scholar Jason Richwine is illuminating, not because of any new information—it’s well-established that Richwine has written for white nationalist websites and drew ideas and inspiration from “race realists” like Charles Murray—but because Richwine follows the pattern of everyone outed for their racism. He denies it. Strenuously:

Richwine knew he was in trouble the minute the first story broke. “The accusation of racism is one of the worst things that anyone can call you in public life,” he says. “Once that word is out there, it’s very difficult to recover from it, even when it is completely untrue.” […]

Remember, this isn’t an idle accusation—Richwine is part of a community of race and IQ researchers who maintain that IQ differences between racial groups are partially explained by genetics, despite the fact that there’s nothing genetic that makes someone “black” or “white.” It’s historical and social circumstance that places Barack Obama and Denzel Washington (or Ted Cruz and George Lopez) into the same category, not biology.

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In other words, Richwine’s work—his premise that racial IQ differences have biological origins tied to the particular “races”—is racist by definition. There’s no other way to describe it.

This is par for the course. Whenever someone is accused of racism—even if they are caught saying something patently racist—the response is to deny that they could ever hold any prejudice. We all acknowledge that there is racism in the United States, but we strenuously deny that there are any actual racists. Jason Richwine oncedetailed a hierarchy of racial IQ, telling an audience that “you have Jews with the highest average IQ, usually followed by East Asians, then you have non-Jewish whites, Hispanics, and then blacks.”

If this isn’t racism, then what is?

 

I will probably have the strange marks in here.....but this was a piece entitled

THERE STILL AREN'T ANY RACISTS IN AMERICA -- racism without racists. 

Been reading a couple of articles on it and liked the way this one put it.

Jackie

crazy4carrots

Can you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y?   from PoliticusUSA:

Last week, a day before the IRS apologized for scrutinizing conservatives’ applications for “social welfare” tax exemption, House Republicans sent a letter to the IRS Commissioner demanding an audit of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) claiming the organization does not qualify for tax-exempt status and deserves extra scrutiny.  Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee want the evil IRS to investigate AARP’s finances, but AARP asserts all of its revenue is put to use supporting it mission of assisting senior citizens. The letter sent to the deposed acting-commissioner said “facts laid out in our report strongly suggest that AARP, Inc., and its affiliates may no longer qualify as a tax-exempt organization.” In light of the Republicans’ repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act they failed to thwart in 2010, it is more likely they are meting out punishment on AARP for throwing its considerable weight behind the healthcare reform law, and the hypocrisy in using their new arch-enemy the IRS to do their bidding in revoking AARP’s tax-exempt status is stunning, but not unusual.

pip57

Will it ever stop?

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

hahahahahaha!

Anonymous

AARP is a 501(c)(3) charity.  Donations to those charities are tax deductible by the contributor as well as the organization itself being tax exempt.

Many of the organizations the IRS targeted were applying to be 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations which are tax exempt, but contributions to those organizations are subject to income tax as part of the contributors' income.

The two classifications are significantly different in the activities which are allowed without risking their tax exempt status.  Partisian political activity puts a group's 501(c)(3) status in jeopardy, while it is allowed for a 501(c)(4).

AARP endorses insurance companies for a fee, including a company which provides healthcare insurance, so some of their activities supporting Obamacare may have jeopardized their status as a charity as the tax code is currently written. 

501(c)(3)

Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations

501(c)(4)

Civic Leagues, Social Welfare Organizations, and Local Associations of Employees