Oh my glob

McCabe pronounces it "nucular." Homer Simpson is the acting director of the FBI.

It begins: WV reporter arrested for questioning Tom Price

As Tom Price, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, headed to a meeting at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston on Tuesday, a reporter from the Public News Service trailed after him in a hallway.

The reporter, Dan Heyman, wanted to ask about the health care legislation the House passed last week to replace the Affordable Care Act.

With his Android smartphone in hand to use as an audio recorder, Mr. Heyman said in an interview on Wednesday, he reached over some of the staff and security members surrounding Mr. Price.

According to an audio recording Mr. Heyman provided, he asked whether domestic violence was going to be a pre-existing condition under the new legislation.

“Do you think that’s right, or not?” he called out.

He asked twice more and when there was no response, Mr. Heyman said: “You refuse to answer? Tell me no comment.”

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, was with Mr. Price, and at one point in the recording, a man’s voice is heard saying: “Do not get close to her. Back up.”

After persisting in his questions for nearly a minute, Mr. Heyman was pulled to the side by officers of the West Virginia Division of Protective Services, also known as the Capitol Police, handcuffed and charged with a misdemeanor count of willful disruption of governmental processes. He spent eight hours in a local jail before the news service posted a $5,000 bail for his release.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/business/media/reporter-arrested-tom-price.html?_r=0

Pussyhat news part 4

Practical reasons for wearing a pussyhat when you travel:

1. It's easy to spot your traveling companion in a crowd at the Passport lines.

2. When you attend a sporting event that's televised in the US, you can spot yourselves in the audience.

3. It's warm and cheerful.

Pussyhat news part 3

The first one I gave away was to a young woman in the Toronto airport who'd been at the Washington march but didn't get a hat. The Iceland Air flight attendants asked us (we were miraculously bumped up to "Saga Class" and had hovering attendants) about the hats. We explained that they demonstrated support for women's rights and resistance to Donald Trump. One of the women said "You know, he said some very rude things about women,," and when I told her that they were called pussyhats for that very reason, she laughed as much as a Viking can.

On the Iceland Air flight to Heathrow (where we were unfortunately not bumped up and it was hell I tell you) I sat next to a drunk Icelandic schoolteacher, who asked about my hat. I told her, and she said "Trump said he would grab women by their pussy!" so I gave her and one of her colleagues (they were on their way to a conference in Bristol) hats.

In London, we got friendly smiles at our hats, but when we went to Bath, a woman came up to us on the street and asked if they were pussyhats. We said yes, and she asked if she could take a picture. Of course we said yes, and then I asked her if she'd like to have my hat. She was really very happy to have it, immediately plopped it on her head and walked away.

Pussyhat news part 2

My trip to Iceland was with about 20 members of my college class, and a couple of us already had pussyhats. I gave only one away to that bunch, but one of my best college friends, my husband and I, wearing our pussyhats, protested outside the US embassy in Reykjavik on Not My Presidents Day. We were asked to move away from the entrance by a security guard, which made us hope we might get arrested, but no such luck. We were photographed by lots of teenagers who probably had no idea of what we were doing, but we felt pretty proud of ourselves.

Pussyhat news part I

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London last month and were pleasantly surprised to see a pussyhat prominently displayed:

A simple fashion accessory became a powerful symbol on January 21, as women around the globe gathered en masse to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump for the Women’s March. Many were wearing pink pussyhats, with little cat ears, a sartorial reference to the former reality star’s infamous hot mic remarks about how his fame allowed him to get away with groping women.

Just in time for International Women’s Day, which sees women around the world striking from work as a followup to the march for A Day Without a Woman, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London has announced the acquisition of one of those thousands of handmade pink hats, the BBC reports.

The pussyhat became “an immediately recognizable expression of female solidarity and symbol of the power of collective action,” said museum curator Corinna Gardner in a statement, calling it “an important acquisition.”

And another thing about voter fraud

Instead of requiring photo id (which has been found unacceptable in a number of states and which is ineffective anyway because what if you gain 300 lbs. or suddenly go bald or something), remember those poor proud Iraqis showing off their purple fingers, indicating that they'd voted? Cheap and easy: we have voters dip a finger in an ineradicable ink at the time of voting--viola! no more double votes, no matter how many places you're registered in.

And polling officials already have the legal right to make a suspicious vote conditional--everyone who the judge of elections feels might be an illegal immigrant or otherwise not qualified to vote, even if her signature matches the signature in the voter rolls, that vote would be kept aside until that person could prove her identity. Of course the ACLU which is now rolling in dough would have lawyers in every district to help people identify themselves. Give folks four or five days to prove their identity, then either count their votes or toss them. Sure, it would prolong the suspense, but a few elections run like this might finally put an end to RW attempts to suppress the vote in this way.

We must all agree with Donald Trump that there was massive voter fraud

The only remedy is a do-over.

Responses to snide remarks about my pussyhat?

I haven't had to use it yet, but here's what I'm going to say: "Does my hat bother you? Good--that's what it's supposed to do."

I welcome suggestions. I want to memorize responses so I'll be ready for the inevitable nasty crack.

Attention men in search of a date

The pussyhat is a chick magnet, right up there with puppies.

You saw the response of some of the women here to my husband's photo in his pussyhat. Yesterday he wore his pussyhat to a bridge tournament and was instantly surrounded by women.

Last night he wore his pussyhat to a "grandparent" function at his college (to meet members of the Class of 2019) and instantly *all* the female students in the room were gathered around him.

A man in a pussyhat apparently telegraphs to women that he likes and respects them, that he supports choice, and not least that he has a sense of humor about himself. All things I look for in a man.

If only there were some way to monetize this trend...