It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. It’s a good thing it’s a WWWendy day, as the TomCat is more than ripe. This is my only article today. Diana, my palliative care nurse rescheduled to a week from tomorrow, so I’ll be fully in the saddle tomorrow. Because WWWendy is my caregiver, everyone else should be jealous!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:47 (average 6:44). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Trump* Virus Update:
US Cases: 4,864,282
US Deaths: 159,000
Short Takes:
From John Pavlovitz:
…People ask me every day how they can go on, where they can find hope, what the secret is to staying positive is in these days that seem to provide no respite from enmity—and I only have one answer:
There is no other choice.
For all but a select few of us, this is the place we’re going to be for the duration, and this is the place we’re going to need to defend and this is the place we’re going to need to renovate with the capital of our lives.
It’s the place we’re going to shout down the bigots,
the place we’re going to outnumber the close-minded,
the place we’re going to demand equity,
the place we’re going to tear down the flags and the statues and mindsets that perpetuate white supremacy,
the place we’re going to expand so that every hungry, exhausted, hurting soul finds rest,
and the place we’re going to lock arms and dig in our heels and push back the terrified bullies trying to drag us backward.
This is my home, it’s the place I’ve lived for half a century and poured my life and my gifts and my heart into, and I’d really rather not uproot my family and leave my friends and flee to places that feel less violent and less cruel and more welcoming—because that’s what we’re supposed to be.
America has never been all that the songs declare we are, never approaching the kind of whitewashed, mythical greatness so many dream of returning to—but it’s been a place where tired, poor, huddled masses yearned to reach and breathe in, because it was aspiring to be safe harbor for liberty in a tempest of inhumanity.
And dammit, I’m going to spend myself to make sure it can become that.
The racists are growing desperate. I think their violence is going to get worse. I think they feel the head winds of History blowing fiercely against them and they are going to make one more frantic, brutal, ugly assault on diversity and decency—and we’ll have to be here to be the line that will not be moved.
Yes, I’m done.
I’m done with this America—and I’m ready to fight for a better one.
Lock arms with me, friends.
We have a stand to make.
Please click through for the rest! AMEN!! RESIST!!
From NY Times: Black lives do not matter nearly as much as white ones when it comes to the death penalty, a new study has found. Building on data at the heart of a landmark 1987 Supreme Court decision, the study concluded that defendants convicted of killing white victims were executed at a rate 17 times greater than those convicted of killing Black victims.
There is little chance that the new findings would alter the current Supreme Court’s support for the death penalty. Its conservative majority has expressed impatience with efforts to block executions, and last month it issued a pair of 5-to-4 rulings in the middle of the night that allowed federal executions to resume after a 17-year hiatus.
The extreme systemic racism evident in the administration of the death penalty makes two truths self-evident. First those 5-4 rulings demonstrate the need to fix SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD). Second, the state-murder of helpless convicts, no matter what they did, is the wrong way to convince people that killing is wrong. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast of protest): Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Ohio 1970 Kent State University
In the 1960s I witnessed the murder of peaceful demonstrators by police, national guard, and other Republican thugs on several occasions. Republicans Nazis are even more ready to kill us today. Kudos to left-wing protestors! RESIST!!
Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!
13 Responses to “Open Thread – 8/4/2020”
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High temperatures are expected to run around 90°F this week – with lows around 60°F. Well, that’s Colorado. Hope your day is productive.
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” From The Persian Wars by Herodotus. In stone above the door of the New York City main Post Office. Nor an official motto of the USPS, but sort of an unofficial one. Fortunately for the Persians, no such thing as Trump* then existed. There’s another quote, on the building which now houses the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. “Messenger of Sympathy and Love/Servant of Parted Friends/Consoler of the Lonely/Bond of the Scattered Family/Enlarger of the Common Life/Carrier of News and Knowledge/Instrument of Trade and Industry/Promoter of Mutual Acquaintance/Of Peace and of Goodwill Among Men and Nations.” It’s from the poem “The Letter” by Dr. Charles W. Eliot.
The Womens National Basketball Association is …
If you want to join people sending the WNBA a thank-you for this, here’s the link. Yes, they’ll request a donation, but you can just ignore that and click past it.
Republican Voters Against Trump
The Lincoln Project has three candidate ads up, on Susan Collins, Dan Sullivan, and Steve Daines respectively, using a Trump impersonator, and the mockery is thick
Cartoon – You bet.
Map – I think maybe 2 more days to five mill.
John – He’s good, isn’t he. He says what we feel, but he says it better.
NYT – If we hadn’t had 400 years of black lives not mattering – we wouldn’t need to be fighting for Black Lives Matter. But I will say, on this one point, if the people saying “All Lives Matter” really believed it, we would not still be fighting capital punishment.
Past – We were so shocked. Sadly, though we now are still as angry and still mourn as deeply, the shock and surprise is gone.
“All he does is watch TV, and whine,” is not quite true. It would be better if that was all, but some of the TV he watches is, or was, Info Wars, with Alex Jones, and then, a day or two later, he parrots that the crazy man. Where did I find that? Warning: This may be quite anger provoking-
https://www.pbs.org/video/united-states-of-conspiracy-1phat1/
Cartoon: It’s usually at a covered place on one’s property…Can they just stay in there? I’ll put a lock on the door….
TYU: Not gone up, thankfully.
JP: Beautifully written….and words to read, and re-read.
NYT: Good article. Heartbreaking and compelling information, re: the death penalty. We should do away w/it.
BFTP: One of the most compelling. How very sad. What a song!
Hi, WWWendy! Hope that you are doing good & your family. Hope you get all your chores done, and get a chance to rest and relax this afternoon. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: “Speaking of looting, the Republican covid relief bill includes $686,000,000 for F-35 jets while cutting extra unemployment benefits for 25,000,000 people. ~ Robert Reich ~
2. You can rant all you like, spread all the lies. Stoke all the fear and division you desire…But – We voted during the Civil War, we voted during WWII, and nothing that you can do or say will stop us from voting you out of office on November 3rd, 2020. ~ Adam Schiff ~
3. “When 2 died of Ebola they said Obama should resign. When 4 died in Benghazi, they said Hillary should go to jail. When 154,000 died of Trump virus, they said he should be president for life.” ~ Chip F. ~
4. Tweet – “President Trump will ban Tik-Tok. The Hero we did not know we needed.” =Tomi Lahren =
Reply – “150,000 dead, 50 million lost their jobs, GDP loss of 32% and he’s focused on a kiddie app and Goya beans. Great hero.” ~ Bill J. ~
5. “Perhaps dt doesn’t like the Postal Service because it delivers.” ~ Dan Rather ~
TJI #5 – Ouch! Too bad Trumpublicans are not clever enough to get it.
‘Toon: I hope that’s Poison Ivy growing up the side of the crap-house.
TVU: Not a pretty picture!
Pavlovitz: I ws having a nice conversation with a neighbor, last night. She’s the person who suggested that I send some photos to our “Clubhouse,” which started a series of “local “Wilderness” postings by myself and others. It was a pleasant conversation, until, as we were saying our “So longs,” she threw in a surprising, out of the blue, “We’ve to get our man in.” She must have noticed my smile “run away from my face,” and added that “We have to get Trump in.” I told her that he is a sick man, and she denied this. I had asked if she was ok with his destroying the very institutions that have already made America great, and she ignored this. The next time we see one another, may be very interesting. But, I do not want to make an enemy of her, and her little crowd.
NYT: No surprise.
BOP: With Trump, and Barr in charge the ante has definitely gone up!
I’m afraid she wants to make an enemy of you, because you won’t goose-step behind her Fuhrer.
We will see. The next time I run into her it ought to be interesting.
Cartoon: With my daily IBS/IBD issues, I could load them well.
TVU: Still not slowing down here. Yet our dumba*s leaders keeps saying his fake words, “we have it under control.” He’s insane ready for the mental ward.
John P. Wise words. We must stand together.
NYT: Racism must stop. We are all here on this planet to live equally, no matter what race or sex.
BFTP: Ditto Joanne and Pat.
Hope your day with Wendy went well. That she is doing well.
Take care. Thanks TomCat
I Googled WRT the crescent moon on all outhouse doors. Fairly interesting.
But I came across a bit of Trivia that truly amazed me – but made sense when I thought about it (consider that a Clue).
NO CHEATING!
Guess which state has the most active/used outhouses.
This really is a wild guess – but – New York?
If I had to guess, I’d say Texas, because that state has so many Republican assholes, but that would be no surprise, so I’ll also guess North Dakota. Ir’s rural and Republican. It would also be a surprise because it’s cold.
We are jealous but also very happy that WWWendy is your caregiver, TomCat.
4:34 Could be a picture of any plant, really.
Cartoon: Heads first, please.
Update: There are some large areas where there are no hotspots. But that’s only because nobody lives there.
John Pavlovitz: I know everyone here will lock arms with John. And I hope enough Americans will stand up and lock arms with him when, after he’s been voted out, Trump refuses to leave office.
NYT: Seventeen times!? Is that racist enough for you, SCOTUS? But of course, we shouldn’t be even discussing racist differences in the rate people are executed…people shouldn’t be executed, full stop.
BOF: This should get a lot of airplay now as a worning of things to come.
Thanks and Hump Day Hugs to all!
WWWendy returns your greetings.