Open Thread–6/5/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:42 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 052020

It’s another hectic day here in the CatBox. I had to lay down 90 minutes to alleviate back pain. Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update, as it’s a WWWendy day and we have lots of chores to do. JD, will you cover Bill Maher? TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 5:52). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0605TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 1,925,267
Deaths: 110,218
Recovered: 712,436

Short Takes:

From ProPublica: Police culture can be insular and tough to penetrate. But I’ve been surprised by how often it’s possible, though time consuming, to expose important issues by requesting and examining records and data from police departments and other government agencies and engaging citizens and key leaders. So here are five techniques concerned citizens, journalists and policymakers can use to examine police conduct in their communities.

1. Understand the policies and laws that govern police conduct.

If you’re alarmed by what you saw in Minneapolis, or other recent incidents of apparent police misconduct, the first step is to find out if the agency in question has a written policy on the use of force. Does the policy dictate when officers should or shouldn’t use force? What tactics are they allowed to use? Is there any rule against choking a suspect?

It’s important to know if the officers involved were following the policies and procedures that are supposed to guide their behavior. Police actions that strike an onlooker as inappropriate may actually be within a department’s rules. It’s possible the rules themselves are inconsistent with best practices elsewhere.

Ask the department for its policies on the practices that concern you, like restraining suspects or the use of pepper spray or Tasers. You may also need to request rules set by a county or state authority. Ask for written copies. You may be required to file a formal public records request, which I will describe below. And if there is no existing written policy, that might be something worth questioning itself.

If you’re having trouble understanding a policy, try running it by an attorney, academic, elected official or a journalist in your community.

How I did it: I did a deep dive into policies about drug testing after a police captain was killed in a car crash in 2016, and I exposed that he was drunk and on drugs at the time. I spoke to his chief and learned their department didn’t have a policy for random drug testing. I wondered why that was the case and looked to the state attorney general’s office, which sets many police rules. The rules allowed departments to choose whether they wanted to do random testing, and my reporting identified more than 100 that did not. After our story, the state attorney general mandated random drug testing for cops across the state.

I included one of five ways YOU can help hold police accountable for criminal Republican behavior. Please click through for the other four. It’s worth the read, and you need to know it. RESIST!!

From Alternet: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Friday warned that it’s wrong to compare President Donald Trump to President Richard Nixon, on the grounds that Trump is far worse and more dangerous.

Krugman acknowledges that there are some similarities between Trump and Nixon, such as their willingness to use racial grievance to gain power and their cavalier attitude toward obeying the law.

But Krugman thinks that the biggest difference between Trump and Nixon is that the Republican Party of 2020 is not the same as the Republican Party that pushed Nixon out in 1974…

…“The point is that today’s Republican Party wouldn’t object to a Trumpian power grab, even if it amounted to a military coup,” he writes. “On the contrary, the party would cheer it on.”

The Republican Reich, aka the Fifth Reich, has elections with predetermined results. They exist for show only. If a military coup is needed to bring it about, Republicans are fine with that. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Beatles – Come Together

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Good Dog, Mad Dog!

Posted by TomCat at 12:20 pm Politics

Jun 042020

Back on 12/2016, criminal Fuhrer Trump* appointed Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Although the appointment was illegal, I questioned opposing it, in the hope that Mattis would speak truth to power and honor his military oath above loyalty to criminal Fuhrer Trump*. I published an article, entitled “Is Mad Dog Such a Bad Dog?”. It took a long time, but he is proving me right.

James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”…

…“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”

He goes on to contrast the American ethos of unity with Nazi ideology. “Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was “Divide and Conquer.” Our American answer is “In Union there is Strength.”’ We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Atlantic>

Ex-Defense Secretary Mattis condemns Trump as threat to constitution

Remembering that Mattis is as far right as I am left, if not farther, integrity demands that I acknowledge it, when what he says is actually true. In his analysis of the behavior of criminal Fuhrer Trump*, he could not be more spot-on!

Good Dog, Mad Dog!

RESIST!!

Racist Attack and Desecrating a Church for a Photo-op

Posted by TomCat at 11:46 am Politics, Religion

Jun 032020

A few days ago cowardly criminal Fuhrer Trump had a case of buk-buk-buk-buk-bone spurs and hid in the White House bunker for fear that they might hurt him. He had expected to cover it up, but someone leaked it to the press, and before he knew it, people all over the country were laughing at him. The last times he felt that humiliated is when the existence of the pee-pee tape, became public and when people learned that Stormy spanked him. He needed to put on a show to appear heroic.

After a weekend of protests that led all the way to his own front yard and forced him to briefly retreat to a bunker beneath the White House, President Trump arrived in the Oval Office on Monday agitated over the television images, annoyed that anyone would think he was hiding and eager for action.

He wanted to send the military into American cities, an idea that provoked a heated, voices-raised fight among his advisers. But by the end of the day, urged on by his daughter Ivanka Trump, he came up with a more personal way of demonstrating toughness — he would march across Lafayette Square to a church damaged by fire the night before.

The only problem: A plan developed earlier in the day to expand the security perimeter around the White House had not been carried out. When Attorney General William P. Barr strode out of the White House gates for a personal inspection early Monday evening, he discovered that protesters were still on the northern edge of the square. For the president to make it to St. John’s Church, they would have to be cleared out. Mr. Barr gave the order to disperse them.

What ensued was a burst of violence unlike any seen in the shadow of the White House in generations. As he prepared for his surprise march to the church, Mr. Trump first went before cameras in the Rose Garden to declare himself “your president of law and order” but also “an ally of all peaceful protesters,” even as peaceful protesters just a block away and clergy members on the church patio were routed by smoke and flash grenades and some form of chemical spray deployed by shield-bearing riot officers and mounted police… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Reverend describes being pushed out from church for Trump photo-op

Maiming peaceful protestors demonstrating legally? Injuring clergy as they ministered to injured demonstrators? Desecrating’s the church by instigation violence there? There is only one word sufficiently vile to describe such anti-Christian behavior: Republican. And guess who made it happen for his Fuhrer?

Attorney General William Barr is facing demands to step down after the Washington Post reported Tuesday that the nation’s top law enforcement official personally ordered police to beat back peaceful protesters gathered near the White House Monday evening to clear the path for President Donald Trump’s walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Two anonymous federal law enforcement officials told the Post that “the decision had been made late Sunday or early Monday to extend the perimeter around Lafayette Square by one block.” An unnamed Justice Department official said that Barr on Monday afternoon “went to survey the scene and found the perimeter had not been extended.”

“The attorney general conferred with law enforcement officials on the ground, which the official said is captured in a video of the incident,” the Post reported. “He conferred with them to check on the status and basically said: ‘This needs to be done. Get it done,’ the Justice Department official said.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

That’s right! It was Barrf! To make matters worse, Trump never opened his Bible (as if he ever has). He never prayed. It was all just a photo-op! How disgusting! How vile!

RESIST!!

Open Thread–5/25/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:30 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 252020

It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox. Tomorrow, please expect no more than a very brief Personal Update, because I have to leave home at 7:30. WWWendy is taking me to the hospital for my next infusion and to discuss what we need to change to extend my life without killing me. I’ll try to let you know when I’m home safe.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:27 (average 5:12). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Yes I know the chimp is an ape, not a monkey.

Trump* Virus Update:

0525TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 1,688,709
Deaths: 99,348
Recovered: 451,745

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Almost certain to be an enduring meme, that Trump decided that going golfing was appropriate and more important than honouring Americans that have died due to COVID-19. That he did so doing Memorial Day weekend makes it even worse.

Source: Rolling Stone

President Trump, who has faced mounting criticism for his administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis and his lack of empathy throughout, decided to leave the White House on Saturday to play golf.

According to several reports, today’s trip to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, is likely his first outing to one of his private golf courses since early March. However, during the two “working weekends” the president spent at Camp David in May, it is unknown whether or not he played golf.

Trump going golfing is consistent with his reopen theme that he’s been pushing of late, but it still shows a tone-deafness and a lack of empathy. The U.S. pandemic death toll is approaching 100,000, and on top of that it’s Memorial Day weekend, a solemn occasion meant for tributes to Americans lost at war.

What Trump did today is much worse. He insulted fallen heroes by taking his ersatz bone spurs to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Sharply disagreeing with critics of Donald J. Trump’s weekend visit to the Trump National Golf Club, Dr. Anthony Fauci has urged Trump to remain on the golf course until the pandemic is over.

“The people who are giving you a hard time about your golf trip are just haters,” Fauci told Trump on Sunday. “It’s in the best interest of everyone in the country that you keep golfing, Mr. President.”

“Please,” he added.

Andy, I have to admit that Fauci’s point could not be more valid. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the Past): 500 miles – Peter, Paul and Mary [Original Audio]

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread – 11/26/2019

Posted by TomCat at 10:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 262019

It’s a very busy day here in the CatBox. Safeway.com should be here with my groceries within 90 minutes. Speaking of the devil, they came a half hour ago,and I just got everything stowed. That’s the first time in five years they weren’t late. On the down side, they were out of lamb, WWWendy is coming to the rescue, so we have a main course for Thanksgiving dinner. My HTML editor stores the blog format and tags, but the tags had become unmanageable. There were over 2,000 tags, and every time I try to clean them up, I make less progress than the time before. Therefor, I decided it was time to start over, so I deleted them all in a bulk operation. Editors and Managers, please only add new tags that we are likely to use frequently. I’m running way late, so I’m in a rush. This is my only article today. Hectic Hugs to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league.

Scores:

12Scores

Congrats to Vivian, Patty Monster and me for winning our games. Kudos to Vivian for the high score for the week.

Standings:

12Standings

Congrats to Vivian for leading the league.

Players be sure to get your lineup set. There are three games on Thursday.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In a startling break with Thanksgiving tradition, Donald J. Trump refused to pardon the White House turkey after claiming that it was working as a secret operative of the billionaire George Soros.

A group of fourth graders from Bethesda, Maryland, who had gathered on the White House lawn for the annual turkey-pardoning ceremony appeared unprepared for the anti-Soros outburst that Trump unleashed on the Thanksgiving bird.

“That turkey was sent by Soros to spy on me,” Trump said, angrily turning on the fowl. “A lot of people are saying this.”

While the oblivious turkey pecked desultorily at the ground, an increasingly enraged Trump spewed a stream of conspiracy theories linking the feathered animal to global élites, election fraud in Florida, and Jim Acosta.

Andy, couldn’t Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch be the turkey? Then we could all refuse to pardon him! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Ousted Navy Secretary Sounds Off After Trump Jumps Into SEAL Controversy

Good order and discipline is the last thing Trump and the Republican Reich want. They want blind murderous hatred that they can order used against political rivals. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Who – I Can See For Miles

I first heard this in Tompkins Square Park with cactus. I could see that far. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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