Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Its All About The Hippie Punching

Republicans in Michigan passed a law preventing local governments from banning the use of plastic bags.

A new law in Michigan will prohibit local governments from banning, regulating or imposing fees on the use of plastic bags and other containers. You read that correctly: It’s not a ban on plastic bags — it’s a ban on banning plastic bags...

The new public act prohibits local ordinances from “regulating the use, disposition, or sale of, prohibiting or restricting, or imposing any fee, charge, or tax on certain containers,” including plastic bags, as well as cups, bottles and other forms of packaging. This means individual cities and municipalities are not allowed to ban plastic bags or charge customers a fee for using them.  

So much for local government knows best, eh?  I'm of the opinion that Republicans' mind set works like this:  "Will this law piss off liberals?  If yes, enact.  If no, table and think of something that will piss off liberals."  The utility of the law, common sense, and demonstrated need do not enter into the calculation.

Lies Of Omission

This should disqualify Sessions.  Automatically.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions,  is withholding decades’ worth of records from his career ahead of his Senate confirmation hearings early next month, according to an exhaustive report issued Friday by progressive advocacy groups.

The groups, which include Alliance for Justice and People for the American Way, reviewed the questionnaire that Sessions filled out for the Senate Judiciary Committee ― it requires complete documentation of employment history, published writings, interviews and speeches, among other things ― and found “astonishingly deficient” responses. He left out major details from his years as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, from 1981 to 1993; as attorney general of Alabama, from 1995 to 1997; and as a first-term U.S. senator, from 1997 to 2002. 

The gaps encompass the time, for example, when Sessions was nominated to be a federal judge in 1986 ― and then rejected after being deemed too racist .

He also omitted  dozens of recent interviews, some of which included controversial statements he made. An October interview in which Sessions gave Trump a pass for making sexist comments, because “everybody knows that Trump likes women” and “uses this kind of talk,” was not cited in his questionnaire. A December 2015 interview in which Sessions says “the predictions aren’t coming true” about climate change having disastrous effects is also not mentioned.

I doubt it will make a difference, because as I've come to learn, if there is one thing Republicans can be counted on doing, its putting party over principle.

Merry Christmas!

The gifts are wrapped, the grilled cheese sandwich for Santa is made, the Frothling checked out Santa's location on the NORAD Santa Tracker, all the kids are in bed, now just waiting for them to fall asleep.

Happy holidays to all of you!

FESTIVUS!

We adhere to the Pastafarian rites on this day.

Your Asshole Of The Day

Its no secret that I am not happy with the results of the recent election, but this sort of behavior is unacceptable.

Ivanka Trump and her three children were harassed by a fellow passenger Thursday on a flight out of New York.

An "out-of-control passenger" was "verbally berating" the 35-year-old daughter of President-elect Donald Trump and "jeering" at her children, according to TMZ.

"Your father is ruining the country," the JetBlue passenger said to Trump, the entertainment news site reports.

Elected officials are fair game for heckling and ridicule, but there is a time and place for it and leave the families out of it, especially children.

Some Good News

Its that time of year when people drop by the station, and deliver cookies, baked goods, and such for the officers to share, as a thank you for the job we do.  This week, a woman dropped off one of those huge decorated chocolate-chip cookies, with a piece of paper that said "To the Officers."

It wasn't until about an hour later, I noticed the paper was a thin card.  Written on the card was a note.  The note related that four years ago, the woman who gave us the cookie attempted suicide in the park.  My troops found her, got her to the hospital, and her life was saved.  The cookie was a "thank you" for saving her life. 

Those are the moments and stories that make my job so satisfying. 

Some Bad News

The Frothling was diagnosed with Lyme disease.  While Lyme is easily curable in its early stages, the longer it goes untreated, the harder it is to treat.  She started exhibiting symptoms three weeks ago.  Since it was the weekend, we were directed to take her to Children's Hospital, which, as an aside, was acquired by The Evil Empire about a decade ago.  Mrs. Froth took her, and I stayed home to watch Frothette and Pumpkin.  They didn't get back until 0300 Monday, with nothing known, but blood drawn for labwork.

I asked Mrs. Froth if The Frothling was prescribed antibiotics as a precaution, as the symptoms seemed similar to Lyme.  She told me no, but she called the next day to request antibiotics, and was told to wait for the test results.

The test results were back on Wednesday, positive for Lyme.  And there they sat.  No phone call to us, no call to our PCP, no call to the rheumatologist that we were directed to make an appointment with.

When the Frothling saw the rheumatologist eight days later, and the symptoms were described, he immediately said, "Oh, that sounds like Lyme."  He was told the hospital ordered blood tests, but we hadn't gotten the results yet.  The doctor called the hospital, and learned that the results came back over a week ago, but were "misplaced."

The rheumatologist said the bite could have occurred up to 2 months ago.  We're probably still in the window where the month-long antibiotic regime will clear the infection, but there is a chance it won't.  The rheumatologist was shocked that the hospital didn't prescribe the antibiotics that night.

So yesterday, the hospital called and spoke with Mrs. Froth, and admitted that mistakes were made.  I, for one, will be consulting with an attorney next week.

The March To The Right Continues For Our "Liberal" Newspaper

Its been happening for awhile, and its obviously accelerated since the Scaife-Review gave up on print.  The tipping point was the Post-Gazette's cowardly non-endorsement in the Presidential race, and today, the paper takes another step towards Trumpism with its glowing praise for Hair Furor's horribly compromised pick for Secretary of State.

Mr. Trump, given his own background, is comfortable naming a successful businessman to the Cabinet position whose occupant plays the largest role after the president in determining foreign policy. Mr. Tillerson will also bring an understanding of economic and financial issues that a strictly political figure, such as Secretary of State John F. Kerry, might lack. Foreign affairs professionals generally agree that George P. Shultz, Ronald Reagan’s long-serving secretary of state, was one of America’s best in that slot, in part because of his business background as president of Bechtel.

One gets the impression that the only thing George Shultz did before becoming Secretary of State was work in the corporate world.  Of course, he was also Secretary of Labor and Secretary of the Treasury, along with heading up the OMB in the 1970's.  In other words, he had extensive government experience, along with academic experience at The University of Chicago and MIT.

Tillerson? He has no governmental experience at all.  He is,  however close to Putin, perhaps as close as his pocket?

I'm rethinking my subscription.

I Read Ruth Ann Dailey So You Don't Have To!

In this week's column, Ruth Ann suggests that fake news spread via social media, media bias, either perceived or real, and political spin are all exactly the same! She even tosses in some BENGHAZI! for good measure, along with a little dose of perceived Christian persecution.  She also seems a tad bit unaware that she is a part of the "mainstream media" she decries.

The Siberian Candidate

Better read this before it disappears down the memory hole.

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

This should be the lead story in every newspaper, on every television and radio newscast, and a topic for discussion on every talk-yakkers show.  Its perhaps the most explosive intelligence finding in my lifetime.