Jun 252020
 

It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox.  Store to Door will be delivering groceries, and I have to put them away.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update or an Open Thread.  I have a doctor coming from Providence Medical Group at Home.  What I can publish depends on how long she is here.  How many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?  The answer is ∞.  Republicans want to keep you (and their idiot Sheeple) in the dark.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0625TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 2,463,923
Deaths: 124,308

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Cory T. Wilson of Mississippi to a New Orleans-based circuit court over united Democratic opposition, handing President Trump the 200th federal judicial confirmation of his tenure and achieving a Republican goal of filling every appeals court opening by the end of the year.

In winning Senate approval, Judge Wilson, a conservative state court judge and former Mississippi legislator, became the 53rd federal appeals court judge installed by Mr. Trump and cemented a milestone in a judicial legacy that has reshaped the federal courts during his administration, including putting in place two Supreme Court justices. Republicans lauded the achievement. The vote was 52-48.

This is a sad day for America. There are now 200 more reasons that justice here will be undermined for many decades.  RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Union County, Oregon is tied to 236 cases of COVID-19 in the area — in a county with 258 cases.

And of course, the church in eastern Oregon cited Donald Trump’s demand that states allow churches to open as the reason they restarted services, against the law which didn’t allow religious groups to convene in large gatherings.


These Republican pseudo-Christians (the opposite of real authentic Christians) love to infect their neighbors with Trump* virus for their beloved criminal Fuhrer Trump*!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Adam Schiff Channel): Rep. Schiff on CNN: Barr is the Second Most Dangerous Man in America

Since Barrf is the third most dangerous man in the country (You forgot Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch), impeach him!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline High Quality


Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Dump Barrf!

 Posted by at 11:09 am  Politics
Jun 242020
 

AG Barr, aka Barrf, has been using the DOJ to further the desires of criminal Fuhrer Trump* and the Republican Reich.  To do so, he has interfered with legitimate prosecutions and denied the American people the justice that is our right.  He should be impeached.

Two prosecutors in the Justice Department will ratchet up the criticism of Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday with remarkable congressional testimony accusing senior Justice Department officials of politicizing DOJ investigations and the sentencing of a friend of President Donald Trump.

Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, plans to testify that the sentencing recommendation for Trump’s longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone was watered down due to political pressure from the “highest levels” of the Justice Department, according to Zelinsky’s prepared remarked released Tuesday. Zelinsky, who now works in the Maryland US Attorney’s Office, said the pressure came due to Stone’s “relationship with the President.”

John Elias, a career Justice Department prosecutor in the Antitrust Division, accused Barr of ordering investigations into 10 mergers of cannabis companies because he did not like the industry, according to a copy of his testimony. Elias also charged that political leadership in the Antitrust Division pushed an investigation into California’s emissions standards last year following a tweet from the President attacking the state.

Wednesday’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee comes amid a new flurry of questions surrounding Barr’s decision to fire Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which has investigated Trump and his associates. Berman initially refused Barr’s request for his resignation, vowing to remain until the Senate confirmed his replacement sparking a chaotic situation that ended after Trump and Barr fired him and Berman agreed to leave…

Inserted from <CNN>

Barrf is so corrupt that the faculty of the George Washington University School of Law have written a letter asking the university to strip Barrf of his honorary degree, according to above the law.  The powers that be are considering it.  To read a copy of that letter (PDF), click here.

‘Torching Its Legacy’: DOJ Insider Says AG Barr ‘Should Be Resigning’ After ‘Bombshell’ Allegation

I know, I said that Barrf should be impeached, and I’m right!  However, there’s no way in hell that we can ever get a fair trial, let alone a conviction, in the Senate, as long as it is in the fetid grip of Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch and the Republican Reich.  Therefore, we need to keep exposing Barrf’s crimes and educating people about them.  Hopefully, in 2021 a Democratic President will appoint a REAL Attorney General, who will have Barrf investigated and indicted.  Then the court can tell him, “Go to jail!  Go directly to jail!  Do NOT pass go!  Do NOT collect $200,000,000!”  It will be even better, if he meets his beloved criminal Fuhrer Trump* there!

RESIST!!

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Emails About George Floyd

 Posted by at 12:44 pm  Politics
May 312020
 

It being a slow newsday, I thought I’d share a couple of emails which I received, written and sent as responses to the death of George Floyd. Neither one is easy reading – too much truth. Both are moving.

First is this one from Mike Baillie at Avaaz. He didn’t write most of it, and I’m not sure who transcribed it. It is – well, you’ll see.

These are the last words of George Floyd, a 46-year-old man who died as a US police officer pinned him down, kneeling on his neck for seven minutes, until he suffocated:

“It’s my face man
I didn’t do nothing serious man
please
please
please I can’t breathe
please man
please somebody
please man
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
please
(inaudible)
man can’t breathe, my face
just get up
I can’t breathe
please (inaudible)
I can’t breathe sh*t
I will
I can’t move
mama
mama
I can’t
my knee
my nuts
I’m through
I’m through
I’m claustrophobic
my stomach hurt
my neck hurts
everything hurts
some water or something
please
please
I can’t breathe officer
don’t kill me
they gon’ kill me man
come on man
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
they gon’ kill me
they gon’ kill me
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
please sir
please
please
please I can’t breathe”

Then his eyes shut and the pleas stop. George Floyd was pronounced dead shortly after.

Some of you may be familiar with the name Heather Mizeur. She was a “delegate” (State Representative) in Maryland for about 8 years, could not run for both reelection and governor, so lost the seat when she lost the Democratic primary. Since the election of 45*, she has founded a nonprofit (Soul Force Politics) and has been making podcasts. She sent this heartfelt letter:

I spent all of last night writing to get this off my chest. Let’s get to work.

George Floyd. Amaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. Bothem Jean. Atatiana Jefferson. Elijah Al-Amin. Philandro Castro. Alton Sterling. Jordan Davis. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Trayvon Martin. Tamir Rice. Sandra Bland. Freddie Gray.

These are only the names I can remember.

I can barely contain the rage at there being too many to name them all.
Innocent, unarmed, beautiful black people are being murdered by white people because they deign to run in our neighborhoods, wear hoodies, listen to rap music “too loud,” play with toy guns, or resist arrest from police they cannot trust to protect them.

Quick to see and easy to condemn, this illness of overt racism.

Meanwhile, its more invisible sibling, white supremacy, is fed, harbored, and allowed to metastasize all around us.

We must dismantle all of it.

It starts in the naming of uncomfortable truths.

White-bodied people must look racism in the eye and not avert our gaze when we see our own reflection in the shadows. Racists are not some “other” version of white people. It is all of us. We disarm it by owning it.

Our historic resistance to admitting to and healing from our nation’s original sin of slavery has left a core wound to fester. These incidences of violence against black people are not suddenly surging in the Trump era. We just finally have the technology in every hand to bear witness to it.

Black people cannot fix this. This is the work of white people. When we go there, the door to healing that we open is not just our own; it’s a collective consciousness that emerges renewed.

Walk through this door with me. Step out of whiteness. Commit to more than just posting your anger and regrets on social media at the next gruesome video.

Change. Your. Behavior.

Very few harbor intentional ill-will and active prejudices against people of color. However, most of us are untrained to see how racism seeps into every corner of our lives.
Let’s be clear that saying “I’m a racist” doesn’t mean what you think it does. You aren’t hosing people down with water and unleashing attack dogs, burning crosses in lawns, or administering choke holds. You are not denying someone a job or scholarship because you are prejudice against their color.

For a long time, the absence of those overt behaviors was evidence enough of innocence.
The truth knows a deeper subtlety. Racism is also a collection of unearned benefits white-bodied people have received but have not earned – merely for being perceived as white. Bank loans with favorable interest rates, better schools, nicer neighborhoods, jobs with upward mobility and the gift of constantly being given the benefit of the doubt and presumed innocence.

Some will say we have earned everything through hard work. But we have been competing within a system that has rigged all the rules in our favor.

In acknowledging this, we allow space to come forward that helps us see more clearly how people of color have had a boot in their face every time they try to climb the ladder of the “American Dream.”

This dream never included them from the beginning. But we can change this now. Through our desire to give up unearned privileges and taking on the hard work of discussing reparations, we can begin to truly dismantle the legacy of racism.

You ask, “But what if I am one of the ‘good ones’ who goes to trainings and reads the right books – you’re not including me in this, right?” Yes, my friend, I am. We call ourselves anti-racist racists.

All white people have a place deep within that is inviting each of us to be brave, face our fears of this difficult topic, and embrace an opportunity to heal what is broken in all of us.

My favorite anti-racism teacher, the Reverend angel Kyodo williams, reminds us that whites were seduced, induced, or reduced into participation with white supremacy systems. Some of our ancestors were seduced by the financial gains of enslaving black people. Others were immigrants eager to trade their status for the privilege of being seen as white. Some were induced through not-so-veiled threats that either you do this or it will be your family we come for – cleaving divisions of people, fighting among themselves for status and protection.

Most of us have no idea how the nets of seduction and induction entangled our ancestors. But we do know that we have all been reduced by this. Shame, guilt, and self-hatred is the white inheritance of complicity with this unspeakable history. Our collective lineage has passed on to us a hidden trauma of whiteness that continues to inflict so much injury.

We hate ourselves, so we take it out on you.

White fragility is a thing. And we have to get over ourselves.

The work of undoing racism is upon us. This is the calling of our generation.

Truth liberates us. And when we step into our power to shift the dynamic of racism in our lives, we heal in multiple directions – ourselves, our ancestors, and the children yet unborn.

See the ugly truth of white supremacy all around you — not just the obvious racists pulling guns on innocent black people — see the legal system that gives disproportionate sentencing based on skin color. See the mothers and babies that receive inadequate health care compared to their white peers. Notice the toll that the Coronavirus is taking on black and brown communities. Call out corporations that dump their toxic waste in black and brown neighborhoods and governments that refuse to provide clean drinking water in Flint, MI. Pay attention that you do not have to pay attention to anything when the police pull you over for a routine stop. See the weaponized fear that the “Karens” and “Beckys” use to their advantage to put black people back in their place. Condemn police brutality. Notice the not-so-subtle jabs and jokes whispered in hushed tones in the comfort of other white people.

And vow to disrupt it.

Agitate for law changes and vote in political representatives who will champion them.
In mixed spaces, shut your mouth and open your heart. Whiteness often has us speaking first, looking for applause. We do not always have to get it right. We do not have to possess the best, fastest, rightest answers. Performance does not prove who we are. We must unlearn the ways that we have been taught to take measure. Let other people shine.

Give up some of that power which has been unfairly bestowed upon you and share more of the resources that we have horded to protect our status.

Racism is embedded in our system of existence. Commit yourself to overturning it. Embody your awareness. Teach your children a different way. For these pervasive daily injustices are just as lethal as the life-ending ones.

Start speaking up against racism in white spaces. It gets easier with each step, with each word. Use your voice of privilege. Let your heart lead you.

Love is the pathway to liberation. Radical love is our partner in undoing racism.

With all my love,

Heather

Heather R. Mizeur, CEO + Founder | Soul Force Politics

And I – have no words.

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May 012020
 

It’s a tired day, here in the CatBox, and my back is in a lot of pain.  I’m ready for an Oxycodone, lunch and a nap, when I finish here.  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:39).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0501TrumpVirusMap

Coronavirus Cases: 1,099,275
Deaths: 63,972
Recovered: 156,089

Our Poll:

I owe you all an apology.  What with all the medical mayhem and personal mayhem surrounding my impending demise, I neglected our poll for months, without updating it.  If you would like to read the results and comments, click here.  I have put up a new poll.  Please vote now and in November.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The concept of a living wage is apparently still unfathomable for South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who on Wednesday promised he would do everything in his power to fight an extension of federal coronavirus relief that would give those who are unemployed an extra $600 a week, according to The Post and Courier. “I promise you over our dead bodies will this get reauthorized,” Graham said of himself and Republican Sen. Tim Scott. “We’ve got to stop this.”… [emphasis added]

Hmmm… reauthorizing an extra $600 per worker in Trump* virus relief over the dead bodies of Lindsey Graham [R-SC] and Tim Scott [R-SC] is the best idea Lindsey Poo has had this year!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Vox Channel): How to vote during a pandemic

How to vote during a pandemic of Trump* virus? Vote no matter what! Vote by mail, if possible! If not, vote VERY carefully! Finally, vote Blue, no matter who, top to bottom! Every Republican in office is one Republican too many.  Flush them all!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind

Ah… the memories… RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Apr 242020
 

It’s a crappy day, here in the CatBox… literally.  I woke up at 1:00 AM with severe Republicosis and almost didn’t make it.  I did nor get back to bed until 2:45.  I was back on the throne at 5:45.  I suspect the next trip will be soon.  Wish me luck, or better yet, does anyone have a spare cork?  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:38 (average 4:04).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

0424Cartoon

Trump* Virus Update:

0424TrumpVirusMap

Short Takes:

From Willamette Week: Forty-two percent of Oregon’s small business payrolls were covered by the federal Paycheck Protection Program last week.

The $350 billion program was designed by Congress to give companies with up to 500 employees the equivalent of two-and-half months of payroll in forgivable loans.

Oregon’s yield from the program—42 percent of eligible payrolls covered—was the third-lowest figure in the country, according to calculations by Ernie Tedeschi, an analyst at the New York investment banking firm Evercore ISI. Those findings were first published by Bloomberg News.

Tedeschi’s numbers show an imbalance: The top three states—Nebraska, North Dakota and Kansas—got an average of 79.4 percent of their small business payrolls covered. All are red states. The bottom three, Oregon, New York and California, which got an average of 40 percent, vote blue.

The picture in the article of a Portland business says it best.

0424WW

RESIST!!

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): Meet The Former Dog Breeder In Charge Of Coronavirus Response At HHS

Wouldn’t we all be better off, if criminal Fuhrer Trump* had appointed the dawg instead of the Republican asshole?  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): George Harrison-My Sweet Lord (Studio Version) Original


Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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The Fuhrer’s Vengeance

 Posted by at 11:11 am  Politics
Apr 042020
 

Government employees need to beware, and the more they care about doing their jobs, the more they need to watch out.  That’s because anyone that says or does anything that criminal Fuhrer Trump* doesn’t like is a sure target for the Fuhrer’s vengeance.  Here are two examples.

0404TR

Sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier cheered for Capt. Brett Crozier as he disembarked the ship for the last time, an overwhelming show of support for their leader who was relieved of his command after issuing a stark warning about a coronavirus outbreak onboard.

New video obtained by CNN shows a large crowd gathered to give Crozier a warm and loud send off, clapping and chanting his name as he left the ship. It was a clear expression of appreciation for their former commander who was removed for what the acting Navy Secretary called “poor judgment.”

“Today at my direction the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Captain Brett Crozier, was relieved of command by carrier strike group commander Rear Admiral Stewart Baker,” acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly announced on Thursday.

The decision came days after Crozier wrote a memo warning Navy leadership that decisive action was needed to save the lives of the ship’s crew. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,” it read, three US defense officials confirmed to CNN…

Inserted from <CNN>

Sailors cheer Navy captain relieved of duty over coronavirus warning

Kudos to Brett Crozier for his extraordinary good judgement in saving his crew. He embarrassed criminal Fuhrer Trump*. Vengeances is Republican SOP.

0404trump-atkinson-fired

Donald Trump has fired the inspector general for the intelligence community who handled the whistleblower complaint that led to his impeachment, prompting fierce criticism from Democrats.

The US president chose a Friday night, with America consumed by the coronavirus pandemic, to tell the House of Representatives and Senate intelligence committees of his decision to dismiss Michael Atkinson.

In a letter, Trump claimed it was “vital” that he had confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general, and “that is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general”.

The president would nominate an individual who has his full confidence at a later date, he added.

There was swift condemnation from Democrats. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, said: “President Trump fires people for telling the truth…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Guardian>

Trump Fires IG Who Flagged Ukraine Whistleblower Complaint

Kudos to Michael Atkinson for doing his job. Vengeance is mine, sayeth criminal Fuhrer Trump*.

RESIST!!

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Mar 022020
 

Here is the one hundred seventy-second article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s winner is Republican State District Judge [LA] and pseudo-Christian racist, Jessie LeBlanc. She is so honored for her racist slurs, perversion of justice and Republican family values.

0302LeBlancOn Thursday, State District Judge Jessie LeBlanc of Louisiana signed and sent letters of resignation. This comes after calls from the community for her resignation due to a slew of scandals rocked the Louisiana judge, and led to calls from numerous attorneys as well as Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards for her to step down.

The first scandal came out in January that Judge LeBlanc had had an affair with Assumption Parish Chief Deputy Bruce Prejean that is now over. This led to an announcement that a review of around 600 cases the judge and chief deputy were connected to would begin. At the time, Leblanc denied everything, but subsequently admitted to the affair. Prejean was demoted.

Then, Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon released text messages, reported on by WBRZ, between Judge LeBlanc and Chief Deputy Prejean, in December of 2018 when their relationship apparently soured. According to reports, while the two remained friends after their affair ended in 2016, LeBlanc seems to have received an “anonymous package” in December of 2018 with information that ended her and Prejean’s friendship.

In the angry text messages, LeBlanc goes on racist rants, dropping N-bombs while calling Assumption Deputy Erick Taylor “thug N***** Erick.” She also accuses Prejean of cheating on her with the law clerk—who is African American—of another judge, saying “At least I was never unfaithful to you with anyone — much less a N*****.” As a result of these new revelations, District Attorney Ricky Babin told WBRZ that his office would be informing “every single defendant,” who had appeared before LeBlanc since 2012…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Racist Edomite LA Judge Resigns After Admitting To Sending Racist Text Messages (That Hatred)

Barf Bag Alert!!


This Republican is so worthy of her parade, that she has a bright future un the Republican Reich.  I suspect that criminal Fuhrer Trump* will nominate her for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and Bought Bitch  Midnight Moscow Mitch will  ensure her confirmation.

RESIST!!

 

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Feb 192020
 

It’s an exhausted day here at the CatBox, so this is my only article today.  Yesterday, they started my test an hour early.  The nurse inserted my IV in a very small vein, and the pain I felt when the anesthesiologist shot the Jungle Juice was extreme and intense for the minute or two it took to knock me out.  I was done and ready to go home at 12:30.  WWWendy’s school had told her she could leave an hour early at 2:30.  But both of her co-workers called in sick, so they let her go an hour late at 4:30,  and she hit rush hour traffic.  She did not get to the hospital until after 5:30, and it was after 6:30, before she got me home.  None of this was her fault, and I am blessed to have her.  I have a very sore throat and raging heartburn.  I have a tumor growing where the esophagus meets the stomach, partially blocking the passage.  Food gets hung up there, and when it can’t go down, it comes up.  The doctor said it looks malignant, but we won’t know for sure until the lab results from the biopsies come back.  The pictures he took are sitting on WWWendy’s dashboard.  I’ll scan and post them for you tomorrow, as tonight is a WWWendy night.  Those are not the results I wanted to get.  ARGH!  I just can’t catch a break these days.  Happy Hump Day to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:07 (average 6:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The Borowitz Report: In an apparently successful attempt to get under the skin of Donald Trump, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has purchased Greenland from Denmark.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, would not disclose the price that Bloomberg paid for Greenland but indicated that it was an “all-cash offer.”

“Mr. Bloomberg has a lot of money,” Frederiksen added.

News of Bloomberg’s purchase of Greenland reportedly infuriated Trump, who immediately ordered his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to make an offer to buy the Faroe Islands from Denmark.

Andy, is it true that Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten* was so pissed that he went to Nambia for a Hamburder?  RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Lawrence & Rachel Question Reports That Barr May Leave DOJ Over Trump Tweets

I so wish Barrf would quit that I can taste it, but if you believe it, we really do need to talk about that bridge I’m selling.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): How Democrats Clean Up the Messes Left by Republicans with Robert Reich


Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is shitting all over America with their welfare for billionaires. This is NOT Trump. The Republican Reich had done this for years, and I have been calling them on it for years too. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Ricky Nelson – Travelin’ Man 1961


I danced the cha cha to this, when I was 13. Ah… the memories!   RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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