It’s a cool. but muggy day here at the CatBox. I overslept, and I feel rushed and groggy at the same time.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Pence NSA Kept Maria Butina Tie Secret At Senate Confirmation: WaPo
Pence is not the solution to the Trump problem. He’s an equally evil part of the problem. Therefore…Impeach Pence first! RESIST!!
From NY Times: Several Democratic presidential candidates sharply criticized Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday for invoking two Southern segregationist senators by name as he defended himself over accusations of being “old-fashioned” and fondly recalled the “civility” of the Senate in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr. Biden, speaking at a fund-raiser at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City on Tuesday night, stressed the need to “be able to reach consensus under our system,” and cast his decades in the Senate as a time of relative comity. His remarks come as some in his party say that Mr. Biden, the former vice president, is too focused on overtures to the right as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.
At the event, Mr. Biden noted that he served with the late Senators James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, both Democrats who were staunch opponents of desegregation. Mr. Eastland was the powerful chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Mr. Biden entered the chamber in 1973
Biden just doesn’t get it. His Democratic rivals aren’t accusing him of racism. That civility existed only because Biden had not challenged the Dixiecrats’ racist policies. When Democrats did so, the Dixiecrats abandoned the party and became the Republican base. The purge of moderate Republicans from the Reich began in the 1980s. Democrats keep trying to cooperate civilly with today’s Republicans, but Republicans keep refusing to respond in kind. Biden is chasing a pipe dream. RESIST!!
From Willamette Week: City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly has successfully championed tenant protections designed to offer people with criminal histories a better chance at securing apartments.
The June 19 vote by Portland City Council to approve those protections represents a significant political victory for Eudaly, who worked toward passing the policy for the last two years. She says the final policy came from working and being pushed to understand how black Portlanders and others continue to face discrimination in the housing market.
“It is no secret that Portland has a long history of overtly racist housing laws—the effects of which still shape our city today,” Eudaly said before casting her vote in support. “What we fail to acknowledge more readily is that many of our current laws continue to uphold discriminatory practices. While the language may be less explicit now, the effect is just as clear: we continue to see communities of color, and especially black residents, pushed to the margins of our city and beyond at an alarming rate.”
She continued: “The heart of the Fair Access in Renting policies is about addressing the criteria that continue to be used in as a proxy for race, which includes criminal records, income requirements, and credit scores which leads to discrimination and disparate outcomes.”
Kudos to Eudaly, for whom I voted. As my guys get out of prison, this should help them. Oregon leads the way. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Tensions were already smoldering in the Oregon Senate Wednesday, when Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, poured gasoline on the situation, suggesting he would shoot and potentially kill any state trooper sent to haul him unwillingly back to the Capitol. 
