TomCat

Open Thread – 12/24/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:10 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 242018

I surprised myself. I actually found a full slate of articles for today. If you’re driving, please stay safe. Holiday hugs!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Less than two hours after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis went to the White House on Thursday to hand a resignation letter to President Trump, the president stood in the Oval Office and dictated a glowing tweet announcing that Mr. Mattis was retiring “with distinction” at the end of February.

But Mr. Trump had not read the letter. As became apparent to the president only after days of news coverage, a senior administration official said, Mr. Mattis had issued a stinging rebuke of Mr. Trump over his neglect of allies and tolerance of authoritarians. The president grew increasingly angry as he watched a parade of defense analysts go on television to extol Mr. Mattis’s bravery, another aide said, until he decided on Sunday that he had had enough.

In a tweet later that morning, the president announced that he was removing Mr. Mattis from his post by Jan. 1, two months before the defense secretary had planned to depart. Mr. Trump said that Patrick M. Shanahan, Mr. Mattis’s deputy and a former Boeing executive, would serve as the acting defense secretary, praising him as “very talented” and adding that “he will be great!”

That means tiny hands can reach the button two months early. Duck world! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): AWAY IN A MANGER in 2018 – Parody

Amen Don! Republican Supply-side Jesus is the invention of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians to justify their gospel of injustice, hate and greed. He is the exact opposite of the real Jesus, and if the real Jesus were here in the flesh, Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians would crucify Him all over again! RESIST!!

From YouTube: Track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve with NORAD (live)

Don’t let this fool you. The REAL Santa is a cat! RESIST!!

xcat06

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 12/23/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:39 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 232018

Wendy is about to arrive and we have a very busy day. We did. I’m pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:26 (average 5:09). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: 10 Steps to Save American Democracy

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, but how do we get a Constitutional Amendment past the many small states controlled by the evil Reich on the right, the Republican Reich? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): FROSTY THE SNOWMAN – Parody

Don could not be more accurate. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Jimmy Kimmel introduced a children’s Christmas book called "How The Trump Saved Christmas," but I think it’s really more fun for adults.

Merry Christmas, or whatever seasonal greeting is appropriate for you. And if you are a Republican, Happy Holidays. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Shutdown!

Posted by TomCat at 10:37 am Politics

Dec 222018

This was Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten a few days ago: Speaking to Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office, Trump said on December 11, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. … I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.” Of course, that was then, and now Republicans are trying to blame their shutdown on us. Don’t let them!

President Donald Trump has vowed that the partial government shutdown that began at midnight — the second government shutdown to occur while Republicans control the White House and both branches of Congress — will last for a “very long time.” The shutdown is the result of Trump reneging on an agreement to pass a “clean” bipartisan spending bill. Republicans then threw in more than $5 billion in funding for the wall, the president’s vanity project, blowing up any agreement they had with Democrats to pass a budget.

Because of Trump’s shutdown, the country will go without a number of important services and employees indefinitely, until Congress can pass a spending agreement.

Almost 400,000 federal workers are furloughed without pay, and the shutdown impacts basic government functions like tax collection, transportation, and even domestic security — including border security.

The partial shutdown closes a number of important federal agencies: Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, the Interior, State, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Commerce, and Justice.

Essential personnel, like corrections officers, FBI agents, TSA agents, Customs and Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, will be forced to work without pay (after other shutdowns, Congress has paid such workers retroactively once a budget or continuing resolution is passed, but the payment is up to Congress).

Federal workers — who aren’t concentrated in D.C. but working at agencies and offices across the country — are often hit hard by shutdowns. Thousands of federal workers make less than $45,000 a year, and going without a paycheck or several could force those households to dip into savings. The bottom 20 percent of American households have an average savings of less than $8,750…. [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Leave it to Republicans to hit the poorest hardest.

Here’s a clip from CNN with a little more detail.

See? There’s no doubt. This is a Republican shutdown. We must resist until they cave-in.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/22/2018

Posted by TomCat at 10:36 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 222018

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, but a slow one for government workers. Today and tomorrow are Holy days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos play the Raiders on Monday night, but I can’t get ESPN here. May the Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they wear eye patches and say HAR. Tomorrow is also a Wendy day, and we have lots of work to do. Please expect no more than a Personal Update or Open Thread with no links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Congressional GOP Saves Room For Cheese Amid Shutdown Crisis

These chemically and biologically altered Republican Supply-side cheeses are as phony and useless as Republican Supply-side Jesus (not the REAL Jesus). If you wanted more proof, here it is. This shutdown is 100% Republican. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Washington Post Channel): The most bizarre political moments of 2018

Barf Bag Alert!!

Wouldn’t it be easier to feature the moments in 2018 that were not bizarre, if there were any at all? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Full Frontal Channel): The Least Terrible Season of the Year | Christmas on I.C.E. Part 1

This is the first of nine parts. Click here to watch the other eight. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I made this in 2012.

Animae Has a BIG Mouth! ;-)

Posted by TomCat at 12:02 pm Blog News, Politics

Dec 212018

104-Animae

It’s a very rare pleasure for me to bestow someone’s very first award. Animae is a denizen of Care2, where she has followed us for over two years. She made a single comment here in the summer of 2016. After that, she was gone until April, 2018. Then she jumped in with both feet, started commenting every day, and became a valuable member of our community.

Animae lives upside down, as her feet are anchored in the land of Oz. She is a Buddhist, and believes in unconditional goodwill. She is an animal lover, and is also passionate about human rights. I thoroughly enjoy her sense of humor. She can’t stand the evils of the Republican Reich. Her comments are compassionate and insightful.

Please join me in offering Animae thanks and kudos for making Politics Plus a kinder place to be and for her determination to…

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/21/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:01 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 212018

I got my blood test results last night. It’s A-1 prime. Tomorrow I will post Samantha Bee’s Christmas Special. After that, I expect things to slow down for Christmas, or if you are a Republican, for the Holidays. So, if I only have one article or do not send a links message, you will know why. If you are traveling, please take every precaution to keep yourself safe. You are too valuable to waste.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): President Trump Infidelity To Allies Drives Jim Mattis To Resign In Protest (22 min.)

Fidelity is a word the Fuhrer does not know. “Mad Dog” was the sanest person left in the White House. Nobody else the has the balls to challenge Putin’s Pervert. RESIST!!

From CNN: Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley is joining forces with a Republican congressman to stop Agriculture Department researchers from euthanizing kittens used in their work.

Merkley told CNN he introduced on Wednesday a Senate version of the KITTEN Act — officially, the “Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act of 2018.”

“The USDA breeds up to 100 kittens a year, feeds them parasite-infected meat in order to have the parasite’s eggs harvested for use in other experiments, and then kills the kittens,” Merkley said. “This bill would essentially stop this process.”

I’m proud that my Senator is fighting the Republicans that hate kittens. Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Capping an extraordinary 2018, Donald J. Trump announced on Thursday that he had been named Man of the Year by the terrorist organization known as isis.

Trump made the announcement after receiving the news from the leader of isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whom Trump called “a terrific, fabulous guy.”

“I got along great with him, and he said a lot of nice things about me,” Trump said. “He said isis didn’t even consider anyone else.”

Andy, that’s obvious. When ISIS has a traitor in the White House, they have no need to consider anyone else. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Personal Update 12/20/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:31 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 202018

I passed my post-hospital medical exam with flying colors. It’s been a long day. I’m very tired, aqnd this is my only article. I expect to be back in the saddle tomorrow. Hugs and RESIST!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:22 (average 5:12). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Republicans on Parade – 12/19/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:53 pm Politics, Religion

Dec 192018

Here is the one hundred forty-fourth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Republican DOJ Public Affairs Director appointee Kerri Kupec. She is so honored for substituting Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian hatred against LGBT Americans for fair equal treatment.

A top job in the Department of Justice may seem out of reach for a graduate of a bottom-tier law school, but if that bottom-tier law school is Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, Donald Trump is president, and said graduate embraces a future of hatemongering, the sky is the limit. Just ask Kerri Kupec, the recently appointed director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Justice Department.

Kupec, a 2011 Liberty Law grad [pseudo-Christians delinked], is perfect for her new position, which opened up after the ouster of Attorney General Jeff Sessions just after the midterm elections. Kupec replaces Sarah Isgur Flores, a longtime Sessions ally, according to the Daily Beast; Flores now works for Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein….

…So how does a fairly recent graduate of a subpar law school find herself in such a crucial PR position? For Kupec, it took years of hard work spreading homophobia and the right-wing agenda through the Alliance Defending Freedom [GOP hate group delinked], a nonprofit that describes itself as “an alliance for victory,” founded because “Christian leaders … recognized that Christians … needed to unite in order to defend religious freedom before it was too late.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, on the other hand, has identified the ADF as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

(T)he Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that has supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has linked homosexuality to pedophilia and claims that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society. ADF also works to develop “religious liberty” legislation and case law that will allow the denial of goods and services to LGBT people on the basis of religion.

Since the election of President Donald Trump, the ADF has become one of the most influential groups informing the administration’s attack on LGBT rights working with an ally in Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The SPLC also notes that the ADF is essentially a farm system for the conservative machine in D.C.

Kupec has spent the last four years as a mouthpiece [GOP hate group delinked] for the powerful organization, typically ranting about supposed attacks on religious freedom on such respected networks as the Christian Broadcasting Network and Fox News. The new DOJ OPA director also made the rounds on the Christian college keynote circuit…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

She is now responsible with how DOJ interacts with the media.

The article included a video of her defending unequal treatment of a gay couple. Watch her talk of love, while spewing hateful lies.

For the record, Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, like Kupec, are the exact opposite of real authentic Christians. She and her ilk are like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes that Jesus rebuked regularly. America needs better!

RESIST!!

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