Last night I was exhausted, but I did not sleep well. Today, I feel so burned out that I just need to tale a day and rest. I should be back in the saddle tomorrow.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:08 (average 6:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
As the election approaches, Republicans are getting sleazier and sleazier in their attempts to fool voters. I’ve noticed that in local ads of candidates for state office, some are Democrats. Others do not identify a political party, but from the positions they advertise, they must be Democrats. But when I check out that latter group, I find that they are Republicans, whose positions are the opposite of what the ads claim. Check before you vote. Since health care is the issue that matters most to voters, Republicans are falsely claiming to be the defenders, not the destroyers they are.
Congressional Republicans spent much of 2017 trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. After a failed drive to pass a repeal bill—the American Health Care Act—they successfully voted to end the individual mandate, a key element of the law that helps stabilize health insurance markets. The Trump administration has also tried to undermine Obamacare, loosening rules, reducing outreach, slashing payments to insurers, and throwing insurance markets into chaos. And at the state level, Republican attorneys general have filed suit in an effort to abolish the law in its entirety.
Republicans still want to repeal Obamacare, but they’re telling voters the opposite. On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are stalwart defenders of the Affordable Care Act and its most popular provision: a regulation that prohibits insurers from discriminating on the basis of pre-existing conditions. More than obfuscation or spin, this is outright lying. And as they do it, Republicans are showing contempt for voters, and further fraying our ability to doelectoral democracy.
“I support forcing insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions,” says Josh Hawley, running for Senate in Missouri, in a television ad defending his record from opponent Sen. Claire McCaskill. And yet, as state attorney general, Hawley joined a lawsuit that, if successful, would wipe out the Affordable Care Act, including its protections for patients with pre-existing conditions. The lawsuit, in fact, specifically argues those provisions have no constitutional basis.
In his final debate with challenger Beto O’Rourke, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz similarly pledged to protect those with pre-existing conditions. “We can protect pre-existing conditions, and you need to understand, everyone agrees we’re going to protect pre-existing conditions.” But Cruz is a front-line fighter in the war against Obamacare and has been for years. In 2013, he shut down the federal government in a drive to defund the law. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Cruz outlined his vision for health care with a pledge to “repeal every word of Obamacare,” offering an alternative that made no mention of patients with pre-existing conditions. This summer, when asked the lawsuit that would gut the law and those protections, Cruz defended the suit.
Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada has also cast himself as a defender of protections for patients with pre-existing conditions as he fights a tough re-election race against Rep. Jacky Rosen of the state’s 3rd District. “I’m fighting to protect pre-existing conditions and increase funding for Nevadans who need it most. Jacky, I’ll stack my record up against yours any day,” he says in a recent television ad. But Heller, like Cruz, is an opponent of Obamacare. And while Heller voted against the most far-reaching Republican repeal bill, he backed a measure that would have let states eliminate pre-existing condition protections…
Inserted from <Slate Magazine>
Those are just a few. There are many more examples.
Joy Reid covered the issue in detail on AM Joy.
Voters need to be informed that Republicans are lying about this.
Long term, we need to pass Medicare for all.
WWWendy is due in 45 minutes to scrub and deodorize the TomCat. We have lots of work ahead, including the dreaded task. It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, but my meditation will be abbreviated, because my Broncos already played. Therefore, may the Orb bless your team, whoever they are.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:22 (average 3:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): What We’re Voting For
These are the things for which Democrats are voting. Republicans are voting for hate, greed, bigotry, abuse of power, racism, homophobia, misogyny, disrespect to allies, honor to enemies, sexually attacking women, and, of course, even more welfare for the 1%. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: Message to Millennials
Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. However, I don’t know any millennials. If you do, would you please pass this on? RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From NY Times: A wide range of evidence indicates that Democratic voters are poised to vote in numbers unseen in a midterm election in at least a decade.
Democrats have largely erased the turnout deficit that hobbled them during the Obama presidency, according to results from more than 50 New York Times Upshot/Siena College polls of the most competitive House battleground districts.
Democrats may even be poised to post higher turnout than Republicans, a rarity, in many relatively white suburban districts on Nov. 6.
But it’s not clear if this blue turnout surge will extend much further, particularly among young and nonwhite voters. Whether Democrats turn out broadly could make the difference between a fairly close fight for control of the House and sweeping Democratic gains of 40 or more seats.
Have you voted? If so you aren’t done. Try to make sure everyone you know votes. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
Cartoon:
The news this week has been dominated by the Saudi assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. He is Saudi, a US resident, the father of two American citizens, and a journalist for the Washington post. Given the several incidents of violent terrorism committed by rabid Republican Trump supporters, one could not pick a worse time to promote violence against journalists. But that’s exactly what Trump did.
[O]ur [
p]resident held a political rally in Montana this week. In between screaming “fake news!” at the fenced-in media and leading attendees in the “lock her up!” chant, Trump decided that a Thursday night in October, less than three weeks before the midterm elections, was the perfect time to tell his adoring audience what a great fighter he is.He found himself in reliably red Montana, which he carried by 20 points in 2016, having to give a rally to support the Republican candidate for Senate, Matt Rosendale, because he is running two points behind the Democratic incumbent, Jon Tester, according to the latest polls.
He was also there to support the campaign of Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte, who is running for re-election. You will perhaps recall Gianforte as the congressional candidate who slammed a reporter for the Guardian to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the face in June of 2017, reportedly because he was “sick and tired” of the reporter asking him questions. “Any guy who can do a body slam, he’s my candidate, he’s my guy,” Trump told his Montana crowd, to applause and loud screams of approval.
During the week his White House has been consumed with finding some way to excuse the apparent murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudis in their embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, Trump decided now was a good time to celebrate the only member of Congress who has been convicted of violently assaulting a journalist who was just doing his job, covering a political campaign…
Inserted from <Raw Story>
Here’s video of the event.
Barf Bag Alert!!
Note the glee with which the deplorable, rabid Republican sheeple celebrated the violent assault and battery against an innocent journalist.
Trump is effectively telling the the Republican Reich that violent crimes against journalists are a good thing. That’s the Republican way!
It’s a muggy day here at the CatBox, and I’ll need to button up soon. Last night was so sticky that I slept poorly, and I feel very tired now.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Jig Zone did not have a new puzzle today. I do not know why.
Short Takes:
From YouTube (CNN Channel): Senator: White House looking to frighten American people
Jeff said, "We need to focus on things that effect Americans’ daily lives." I agree. Focus on the total elimination of the Republican Reich. As for the caravan, find the ones that legitimately need protection and keep them. Treat ALL the children like children, not like terrorists. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From BBC: Turkey has vowed to reveal all details about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after Saudi Arabia admitted for the first time he had been killed in its consulate in Istanbul.
"Turkey will never allow a cover-up," a ruling party spokesperson said.
Saudi Arabia suggested on Friday Mr Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi critic, had died in a "fist fight".
Turkish officials previously said he had been deliberately killed inside the consulate, and his body dismembered.
Earlier this week, unnamed Turkish officials told media outlets they had audio and visual evidence to prove this.
Turkey needs to release that audio-visual evidence to the world press. I have no desire to hear or see the grisly assassination, but the American people need it to be shocked out of their ho-hum complacency about Trump’s role in the Saudi cover-up. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From Alternet: Here are five of the most important points that Jamal Khashoggi made in his final column for the Washington Post.
1. Democracy Is in Short Supply in the Arab World
Khashoggi’s final column addresses human rights, which is bitterly ironic in light of Turkish government officials’ allegation that he was murdered by Saudi agents on orders from the Saudi royal family. Khashoggi opens the column by discussing Freedom House’s 2018 Freedom in the World Report and its assessment of political conditions in Arab countries; Tunisia, Khashoggi laments, is the only one classified as “free” in the report, with Morocco, Jordan and Kuwait being classified as “partly free” and all other countries in the Arab world being classified as “not free.”
I shared one. Click through for the other four. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
Cartoon:
With only 18 Days left before Americans go to the polls with a chance to reclaim part of our nation’s government, the Republican Reich have abandoned campaigning on their much touted economic accomplishment that gushed up instead of trickling down. Instead they are working to stir up hatred with the cry "Caravan and Kavanaugh". Here’s what that’s about.
It’s so easy to get numb – to adjust to things now as they are and say, "Well, they’re not really that much worse than they used to be, are they?" and "Hey, politics has always been a dirty business." Outrage fatigue is real. If you are ever overcome by this, feel free to listen to Steve Schmidt remind you just how absolutely ahistorical and unAmerican this "president" is in his behavior.
There’s never been a genteel period of American politics but what we’re seeing here is something new, particularly from a president. He uses lying at mass rallies to scapegoat minority populations. He alleges conspiracies. He creates a sense of mass victimization and then positions himself as the avenger on behalf of the victims, defending them from the invading hoard of migrants coming from the south, approaching the border. This is all BS of the first order.
Folks, there is a reason our current White House occupant cozies up to dictators. He likes their style. This isn’t new for him – he has always had this approach to his own life and businesses. Lying, cheating, treating people like objects meant to serve him, easily discarded when they stop fulfilling any of his requirements. Only now he has the power of a dictator, too, thanks to Republicans (and a few Democrats) in Congress… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>
Here’s the video included with the article.
I’ve never been a fan of Steve Schmidt, but I prefer his presentation, because it could not contain bias from me or the Democratic Party.
The message from the Republican Reich is that, unless they win, Democrats will do to all what they did to poor innocent Brett Kavanagh, while the caravan of evil greaser criminal will pillage American communities and gang rape American women.
The truth is that Injustice Kava-Nazi is an unrepentant pervert, and the Hondurans are legitimate refugees. Nothing is too dishonest for the Republican Reich and their evil Fuhrer!
It a muggy day, here in the CatBox, and I’m still pretty busy with tasks to perform. TGIF!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:12 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Ecstasy:
I became an honorary mascot, so I could join the game in puddy tat mode. The experience was so tasty, that I was still spitting out red feathers this morning.
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): The message from Fox: Vote Republican or immigrants will invade and ruin your country
Barf Bag Alert!!
The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, is demonstrating that the Republican Reich is racist, xenophobic, and antichristian. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: 3 Easy Fixes for Social Security & Medicare
Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the right, the greedy Republican Reich represents only the 1%! They do not represent YOU! Institute the 3 Fixes ASAP! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump has dispatched the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to Saudi Arabia to provide what the White House on Thursday called “essential lying advice and assistance.”
According to the counsellor to the President Kellyanne Conway, “The President was not happy with the quality of lies coming out of the Saudi royal family, and who better to fix that than Sarah Sanders?”
Sources close to Sanders said that the press secretary was “horrified” during her first meeting in Riyadh to discover that the crown prince’s lying skills were “rudimentary at best.”
Dang Andy! The Fuhrer is really serious. Upchuckabee-Sanders is his biggest BS gun! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
Cartoon:
November 6!
It’s that time of week again, so here are three excellent video clips from Sam’s show last night. Enjoy!
Mob Rule? The Republican Reich is the sphincter mob!
Republicans can’t obey the law. If they don’t cheat, they lose.
People who don’t vote deserve Republican Reich rule.
I have to love Sam!
