TomCat

Lock Him Up?

Posted by TomCat at 12:14 pm Politics

Feb 112019

A lot of the energy surrounding the 2020 presidential campaign is focused on opposition to Donald Trump. That, in my opinion, is an error. Democrats need to focus, not on what he says, but on what we are doing. Elizabeth Warren was trying to make that point, when she suggested that Trump might be in jail in 2020. The crowd went wild! But is locking him up by then a good idea?

Countless Democratic leaders have urged the party not to spend the 2020 campaign tangling with President Trump over tweets and taunts. But Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts made a novel argument on Sunday for ignoring the president: He could soon be in jail.

Addressing a crowd of several hundred at the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Ms. Warren said it was up to Democrats to decide whether they would spend every day parrying “a racist tweet, a hateful tweet, something really dark and ugly” from the president. She said the party should ask: “Are we going to let him use those to divide us?”

“By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president,” Ms. Warren said. “In fact, he may not even be a free person.”

Prodded by reporters to explain the remark a few hours later in Iowa City, Ms. Warren said she was simply noting the proliferation of inquiries into the president… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Here’s a video clip from TIME:

When they made Donald Trump their Fuhrer, the Republican Reich did the most devious thing they have ever done. Trump is do thoroughly deplorable in so many ways that he provides them public deniability every time he acts out their hated, commits their crimes, enacts their policies, appoints the evil judges and Injustices they want, and robs 99% of Americans to give welfare payments to their billionaires. They can say, it was Trump, not us. Liz knows better. I know better. You know better. But the vast majority of the American public does not know better. They are likely to believe those lies. They just aren’t politically sophisticated enough to do the Limbo when confronted with a pay toilet. Winking smile

Seriously, as much as I agree with those screaming supporters that the thought of Putin’s Puppet in an orange jump suit borders on the divine, I’d rather we run against him than a liar that claims to have opposed him, while we are focusing on what we are doing.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 2/11/2019

Posted by TomCat at 12:13 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 112019

It’s another cold day here in the CatBox, but upgraded to Winter Storm Watch from Winter Storm Warning. It’s a slow day for news, but I found material for you. Kudos to the Denver teachers.

0211Teachers

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): FIFTY WAYS TO LEAVE A DONOR – Parody

Thanks Don. Corporate and billionaire donations come with no strings. The Pope is not Catholic. And bears never, ever shit in the woods. (Don replied, “And surfers never pee in the ocean.” I responded, Only when standing on surfboards.”) RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Amy Klobuchar throws her hat in the 2020 ring

If she gets the nomination, I’ll support her, but there are more progressive, less corporatist, candidates I prefer. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: The last government shutdown may have ended just a few weeks ago, but odds are escalating that another one is just around the corner. With negotiators skeptical that a deal can be struck before Tuesday, it looks as if another shutdown will begin Friday night. So Republicans are going back to scaremongering about violent immigrants.

President Trump set the tone early Sunday morning, tweeting [traitor delinked] that Democrats “want a cap on convicted violent felons to be held in detention!” Republicans on the Sunday talk shows echoed him: “How in the world after that speech does he sign a bill that would reduce the bed spaces available for violent offenders?” asked Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” referring to Trump’s State of the Union address. “We got some problems with the Democrats dealing with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], that is detaining criminals that come into the U.S. and they want a cap on them, we don’t want a cap on that,” said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Protections for violent offenders” sure sounds like an odd stance for a political party to take. So it should be no surprise that it’s not accurate. Yes, Democrats want to cap the number of unauthorized immigrants that ICE can detain at any given time. But the proposed cap — 16,500 — matches the level of detentions inside the United States in recent years. By capping the number, Democrats want ICE to focus on violent illegal immigrants, not waste resources arresting a mother in San Diego in front of her family or holding parents separated from their children.

So the Democratic ask isn’t for protection for “violent offenders.” And it is also quite small. Besides, why wouldn’t Democrats ask for something? Republicans are asking for money for a border wall and in exchange they will not shut the government down … again. Voters gave Democrats the House last fall — it seems only reasonable that they would want something to show for it.

Assuming you have heard just the Republican lies, as I had before researching the issue, you now know how to counter them. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 2/10/2019

Posted by TomCat at 12:36 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 102019

It’s 28° F here in the CatBox, and I’m waiting for WWWendy to come thaw the stinky TomCat and help with a pants load of chores. This is today’s only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:03). To do it, click here. How did you do? (I could hide in the bushes and eat the dawgs that use it. Yum!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (NBC News Channel): Elizabeth Warren makes an announcement in Lawrence, Mass.

It was a great speech. You decide. RESIST!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Meet The Press Cold Open

If you really want to know, order a dick pic from Amazon.com. Your Amazon package is on the way. Shitaker was circumcised just below the cranium. RESIST!!

From Raw Story:

Europeans tend to see a lot of American ideals and behaviors as bizarre. In particular, they aren’t wild about our politics and our food (though they love our television and our movies). And when it comes to sex? Well, Europeans tend to view us as the land of the free, home of the batshit crazy. Below are some of the biggest sexual WTFs Europeans have about America….

…3. Our fear of hugs. Research has shown that non-sexual physical contact has a profound impact on people’s emotional and physical well-being. Despite this knowledge, and our hyper-sexualized tendencies, America is one of the most touch-phobic countries in the world. A global study on touch rated the United States among “the lowest touch countries studied.” In contrast, the high-touch countries include Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. Some researchers think our fear of platonic touching actually leads to violence, particularly in young males. In one study, American adolescents were shown to touch each other far less and be more aggressive toward their peers compared with French adolescents.

While there are many reasons why Europe has a much lower violent crime rate than the U.S, could a lack of healthy physical connection add to this trend? In 2012, research conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that the U.S. had a “homicide rate of 4.8 per 100,000 people compared to only 0.3 per 100,000 in Iceland, 0.7 per 100,000 in Sweden, 0.8 per 100,000 in Denmark and Spain, 0.9 per 100,000 in Italy, Austria and the Netherlands, 1.0 per 100,000 in France, and 1.2 per 100,000 in Portugal and the Republic of Ireland.”’

I shared the third out of five. Click through for the other four. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Bill Maher from 2/8

Posted by TomCat at 12:13 pm Politics

Feb 092019

It’s that time of week again, so here are three video clips from Bill’s show last night. Enjoy!

Monologue: The State of Our Union

Bill is fixated on Bezos’ dick, because he knows Donnie Tiny Hands is jealous of it. Thomas Norman will surely be promoted within the Republican Reich.

Gov. Chris Christie (aka PIGnocchio)

Barf Bag Alert!!

I disagree with Bill. PIGnocchio is putting on an act. He was not so nice when he shut down the George Washington bridge and people died. Bill should be challenging him, not coddling him.

New Rule: The Republicans Are the Problem

Congress is not broken. The Republican Party is broken. Bill is as right about this as he was wrong about PIGnocchio.

2/3 of Bill’s show was excellent. He should not have brought PIGnocchio on to plug his book.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 2/9/2019

Posted by TomCat at 12:12 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 092019

It’s still cold here in the CatBox, and we still have a Winter Storm Warning. Tomorrow I may have no more than a Personal Update with no links messages. WWWendy will be here to thaw the stinky, iced TomCat under hot water. We have so much to get done, I’ll have little or no time for research and writing. After hours of work, our transition to SSL is now complete. The authentication and encryption our SSL provide helps secure our content and connections from attacks by the Republican Reich and their Russian allies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:24 (average 5:55). To do it, click here. How did you do.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Ex-DOJ Official: Whitaker Testimony ‘An Embarrassment To The DOJ’

I have no doubt that evidence will surface that Shitaker lied under oath, He is an embarrassment to the country, not just the DOJ. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Whitaker clashes with lawmaker over donations

What America needs to understand is that nobody can qualify for any high office in the Republican Reich without being thoroughly vetted to demonstrate long-term criminal history and intent. Shitaker personifies this truth. RESIST!!

From Alternet: After Justice Brett Kavanaugh was condemned on Thursday for declaring “war” on Roe v. Wade by dissenting against the Supreme Court’s decision to block a Louisiana anti-abortion law, reproductive rights groups quickly turned their ire toward Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for casting the decisive vote to confirm the right-wing judge—and ramped up their efforts to oust her in 2020.

“Paging Senator Collins—this is on you,” UltraViolet declared on Twitter after the high court’s 5-4 decision.

A grassroots fundraising effort to unseat Collins after her decisive vote last year to confirm Kavanaugh has already raised millions of dollars, and the advocacy group Demand Justice announced in an email to supporters on Friday morning that it will run digital ads in Maine highlighting the judge’s dissent in the Louisiana case as yet another reason the Maine Republican should be ousted in 2020.

“Brett Kavanaugh has declared war on Roe, and Susan Collins is the one who made it possible,” Demand Justice director Brian Fallon said. “Even as it was obvious to everyone else that Kavanaugh was a partisan warrior committed to rolling back abortion rights, Collins defended her vote for him by promising that he would follow Supreme Court precedent. It only took four months for Kavanaugh to prove Collins’ promises were a sham.”

I could not agree more. We came close to defeating the nomination of Injustice Pervert Kava-Nazi. We failed when Collins betrayed her promise with the ridiculous excuse that he would protect women’s right to choose. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Is the A for Audacious?

Posted by TomCat at 12:16 pm Politics

Feb 082019

Once upon a time, even before Politics Plus moved to WordPress in March 2010, we only had around twenty tags. One of the first was "Progressive Issues". On those issues, a new champion has arisen in support of green energy, the poor and middle classes, single payer health care, human rights, voting rights, women’s rights and much more. But she may have been fibbing to us about her name. Is it really Audacious Ocasio-Cortez?

Chuck Todd had a fascinating conversation yesterday with Alexandria Casio-Cortez [sic]. They touched on Medicare for All, and the Green New Deal, and the freshman congresswoman showed she knows exactly what she’s doing, and how she’s going to get there.

"Are there specific red lines for you? Medicare for All — do you have to say you’ll do it or is aspiring to it in the future enough for you?" he asked.

"I think that we need commitments with teeth. I don’t want to be placated as a progressive. And I know the progressive movement does not want to be placated in 2020," she said…

…"When I talk about what I want in a 2020 candidate, I want a candidate that says we can do these things, we can be audacious. To overcome this moment, we need to return to our FDR roots as a party."…

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

The more I learn about this young Latino, the more thrilled I become that she is on our side.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 2/8/2019

Posted by TomCat at 12:15 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 082019

It’s not quite as frigid as it was yesterday as the temperature has risen to 29° F. The winter storm warning begins this afternoon. I’m listening to the Whittaker hearing. He’s obstructing and evading. Do you care to guess what else the Republican is doing? TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 4:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer Owner Of Blackmail

AMI, a bunch of peckers, are the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda, Faux Noise, in print. However, after the coming lawsuit, I hope Bezos runs the company better than the Republican Reich has. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): MSNBC and CNN figures shut down Fox News’ and Trump’s caravan fearmongering

May the only ones to believe the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, on caravans (or anything else) be Republicans, whose love life is BAA-A-A-A-AAD! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s facial expression during the State of the Union address came under continued attack from Republicans on Thursday, with the former House Speaker John Boehner joining the chorus of disapproval.

“When I saw her with that pained expression on her face, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Boehner said. “It was like nothing I had ever seen before in my life.”

The former Speaker said that Ocasio-Cortez broke his “No. 1 rule” of reacting to a State of the Union speech: “No matter what the President is saying, be sure to look cheerful and upbeat at all times.”

0208BoehnerStateoftheUnion