TomCat

Monthly Report for August 2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:57 pm Blog News, Monthly Report, Politics

Sep 042018

Compared to July, August results were down in every category except visits. I have no idea why.

Here is our latest summary:

Stats8-2018

Reported period	Month Aug 2018
First visit	01 Aug 2018 – 00:00
Last visit	31 Aug 2018 – 13:29
	Unique visitors	Number of visits	Pages	Hits	Bandwidth
Viewed traffic *	4,786	38,305 (8 visits/visitor)	205,825 (5.37 Pages/Visit)	395,688 (10.32 Hits/Visit)	18.65 GB (510.64 KB/Visit)
Not viewed traffic *			684,887	847,611	21.87 GB

Reported period	Month Aug 2017
First visit	01 Aug 2017 – 00:01
Last visit	31 Aug 2017 – 23:59
	Unique visitors	Number of visits	Pages	Hits	Bandwidth
Viewed traffic *	8,474	26,754 (3.15 visits/visitor)	103,513 (3.86 Pages/Visit)	242,166 (9.05 Hits/Visit)	7.31 GB (286.53 KB/Visit)
Not viewed traffic *			389,428	443,793	10.59 GB

Compared with last August, we are way down in Uniques, and way up in all other categories. Fewer visitors doing much more is a win.

Here is our ClustrMap for 2018 YTD. This is eight months’ traffic.

ClustrMap8-2018

ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.

Here are our top five articles:

Select Election Results from 8/7/2018 8/8/2018 895
Republicans on Parade – 8/7/2018 8/7/2018 880
Republican pseudo-Christian Love 8/5/2018 836
Perez Screwed the Pooch 8/12/2018 805
Bill Maher from 8/17 8/18/2018 805

The count represents only the people who opened the page for that specific article. All were from this year. All were from August. I wrote all five. I would have been happier to see more of our other authors’ work represented here. JD, Nameless and Squatch have written fine articles. Lona has not recovered from the great migration, but has been nʍod ǝdᴉsdn for over a month, so we expect her back soon.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):

Care2 3,074
Google 2,928
Baidu 126

All were down from last month. Google was WAY down. I used to visit Stumbleupon every day, and they kept making "improvements" that drove regulars away. When they drove me away, many were saying they would "improve" it out of business. They did, so they are not on the list.

Here are our top blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http:/bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/
http://jackjodell.blogspot.com/

We had 4sites with 2 or more referrals, down 3 from July. Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their referral support. We still need to improve this. Since May, I cleaned up our blog roll and found most of the sites either were gone or had not published for years. Now I still need to visit the few who remain.

As of midnight September 1, we had 8,440 articles and 101,047 comments.

Kudos to Pat B, who earned a Big Mouth Award in June for making the 101,000th comment. Last month, Mitch opted not to accept his prize. I decided to give the prize of a Politics Plus mug and a Politics Plus T Shirt to the 101,000 level winner. From now on, Big Mouth winners at 10,000 levels will have their choice of a PP mug or a PP T Shirt. Staff will remain eligible to be winners at the 1,000 levels, Winners at prize winning levels will be the first non-staff commenter. If any staff member wants a mug or a T Shirt, let me know.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar. Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar. Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder. Your Editors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster. I promoted them from Author in August 2017 to give them the ability to add graphics to comments and the ability to correct my innumerable typos.

This is our policy on links. We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily. However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article. I also remove topical links. Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.

We now have just a bit over two months, before we will have a major opportunity to reclaim part of our nation from the fascist Reich that possesses all three branches of government. Please do every thing you can.

Thank you for your support here, and kudos for all the good you do, everywhere you do it.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

63 DAYS!!

AvatarTC

Open Thread – 9/4/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:56 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 042018

It’s a cool morning, here in the CatBox, but I expect a high in the high 80°s, so I’m sire I’ll be on A/C by lunch time. While working I’m listening to the Nazi’s conformation hearing. It’s a good thing I’m wearing George. Otherwise he’d be full of barf. I overslept this morning and have been feeling sleepy ever since I awakened.

Chrome crashed and I can’t get it back. ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): U.S. Women See Reason To Reject Donald Trump SCOTUS Pick Brett Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh will tell whatever lives it takes to get confirmed. Then the minions of hell will be unleashed upon us. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Nation of Change: After the 2008 crash, the government bailed out the banks and pumped enough money into the economy to contain the slide. But apart from the Affordable Care Act, nothing was done to address the underlying problem of stagnant wages.

Trump and his Republican enablers are now reversing regulations put in place to stop Wall Street’s excessively risky lending.

But Trump’s real contributions to the next crash are his sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, rollback of overtime pay, burdens on labor organizing, tax reductions for corporations and the wealthy but not for most workers, cuts in programs for the poor, and proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid – all of which put more stress on the paychecks of most Americans.

Ten years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it’s important to understand that the real root of the Great Recession wasn’t a banking crisis. It was the growing imbalance between consumer spending and total output – brought on by stagnant wages and widening inequality.

That imbalance is back. Watch your wallets.

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right! Every Republican must go! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Crooks and Liars: Today begins the hearings to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and Democrats are fighting with every tool at their disposal, few in number. Think David versus Goliath.

As soon as Senator Grassley opened the hearing, Senator Kamala Harris interrupted and Democrats were off to the races. When Senator Blumenthal moved to adjourn the hearing, the room erupted in applause.

Here’s the first two minutes. As I write, we’re 40 minutes into the hearing and they haven’t gotten as far as the introduction of Judge Kavanaugh. We have heard more about Merrick Garland, however.

They are doing opening statements now! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

0904Cartoon

Labor Day

Posted by TomCat at 12:53 pm Holiday, Politics

Sep 032018

Labor-day2012

For most of my early life I considered Labor Day little more than a day off at the end of summer. That’s because I am not a union man. I have never belonged to a union, nor has anyone in my family. So what has the labor movement done for me? I have learned what organized labor has done to improve the lot of all American Workers, and I have come to understand that Labor Day is a celebration of Union labor, and one that is well deserved. This is a minor variation on last year’s article.

ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:

1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours — almost double what most Americans work now…

2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income…

3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor…

4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930′s and 1940′s led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers…

5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which “requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.” … [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

It’s well worth the time to click through for the rest of this article. Furthermore, here is an excellent video on what labor has done for America.

Therefore, to begin my celebration of Labor Day in the best possible way, I wish to thank all of you who are or have been union workers. My life is better because of you. And to you and everyone else, have a Happy Labor Day!

Sadly, because of predatory Republican impingement on workers’ rights, this article is less true than it was last year. It’s up to YOU to change that trend.

Support Labor!

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

64 DAYS!!

Open Thread – 9/3/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:52 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 032018

Here in the CatBox, the sun has hit the wall, so I buttoned-up and turned on the A/C. I decided that it’s inappropriate for me to work my ass off on Labor Day, so I decided to put off the Monthly Report until tomorrow and have an easier day today. I hope that US readers are enjoying your holiday and the rest of you are surviving Monday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 4:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (A Protest for Labor Day): Woodie Guthrie – All You Fascists are Bound to Lose

If it still fits, sing it! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Nation of Change: A legal precedent has paved the way for Vietnam to demand Monsanto pay compensation to the many victims of Agent Orange, a chemical herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. While previous claims said herbicides produced by Monsanto – and other companies – and used during the war were harmless, the recent guilty verdict in Monsanto vs. Dewayne Johnson refutes those claims, a spokesman for Vietnam’s foreign ministry said.

The company, now part of Bayer AG after an acquisition went through, was ordered to pay $289 million in restitution to Johnson, a former pest control manager for a California country school system, after a jury at San Francisco’s Superior Court in California ruled that Monsanto failed to warn users of it’s product about the cancer risks. Vietnam is now using this as grounds for Agent Orange victims.

I sure hope they win. It’s WAY past due. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: Brian Kemp, the Republican running for Georgia governor, won his party’s nomination with the help of a TV ad that explicitly argued that he is not a moderate guy. Titled “So Conservative,” it portrayed Mr. Kemp as a gun-toting, “politically incorrect conservative” who would personally round up “criminal illegals” in his pickup truck.

But that was then. In his latest TV ad, playing now in the Atlanta Metro market for the November general election, Mr. Kemp, in a check-print, button-down shirt, speaks to the camera in a kindly, drawly baritone about “growing jobs, not government,” investing in education (of the locally controlled variety), and “rewarding legal — not illegal — behavior.”

Stacey should keep rubbing his nose in this! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Barf Bag Alert!!

Cartoon:

And the blessed light burst forth from the Holy Ellipsoid Orb!

Republicans on Parade – 9/2/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:27 pm Politics

Sep 022018

Here is the one hundred thirty-third article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Hypocritical Republican Senator from Maine, Susan Collins. She is so honored for publicly claiming to be undecided on extreme SCROTUS (Republican Unconstitutional VD) Nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. After meeting with Trump, she rubber-stamped Kavanaugh in secret.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) apparently doesn’t want to be elected in Maine again. Maybe she is operating under some delusion that there’s something bigger for her out there, because she sure as hell is burning her bridges with the people who helped get her elected in the first place. Officially, she is undecided on Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court pick of the Russian asset in the Oval Office. Unofficially, however, it appears the fix has been in since even before the nomination was made public.

A source close to Collins’s staff tells the Huffington Post’s Laura Bassett that Collins consulted with Trump before it was finalized, and signed off on Kavanaugh. Collins’s spokeswoman, Annie Clark, gives a weak denial to the report, telling HuffPost “that while the senator talked extensively with Trump throughout the process of choosing a nominee, she ‘never gave [the White House] a list and never committed to supporting anyone.'” Yeah, in all those “extensive” talks with Trump, Collins never indicated who she’d be willing to rubber stamp.

It’s not really been much of a question, particularly after she met with Kavanaugh and told reporters that when she asked him about abortion rights, he said “that he agreed with what [Chief Justice John] Roberts said at his nomination hearing, at which he said that it was settled law,” and that his answer on Roe was “very strong.” Sure, Roberts might have said in his confirmation hearings that Roe is settled law, but that’s talk in a hearing. Since he’s been on the court, he’s voted to uphold a late-term abortion ban, voted with the minority against a majority ruling that states could not place an undue burden on a woman’s access to abortion, and voted to overturn California’s regulation of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Here in Oregon we used to have a Senator named Gordon Smith who talked a very moderate, bipartisan game. He also voted with Democrats, but only when the issue was decided and his vote did not really matter. Whenever the Republican Reich really needed his vote, you’d always see him goose-stepping with Bought Bitch Mitch. I nicknamed him Gordon Goose-step, went to work for his Democratic opponent’s campaign, and helped send him to the unemployment line in November, 2008.

Susan Collins is not as obviously vile as the Republicans who normally get parades, but she is another Republican goose-stepper that pretends to be bipartisan, just like Gordon.

Back in 2008, we replaced Gordon with Jeff Merkley [D-OR], a progressive leader after only ten years. Maine, you can have a Jeff Merkley for your state instead of a goose-stepping Republican on Parade, if you work for it.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

65 DAYS!!

Open Thread – 9/2/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:26 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 022018

It’s another cool morning here in the CatBox, but with a high in the 80°s, I’ll have to button up when the sun hits the wall. WWWendy is due in about thirty minutes, and I’ll finish this after she leaves.

WWWendy just left, and I’m so pooped I’m bleary eyed.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:46 (average 5:47). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (A blast from the past): Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth 1967

I see this one as a memory of the importance of resistance. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From NY Times: Racist robocalls targeting Andrew Gillum, the first black nominee for Florida governor from a major party, have been placed to residents from an out-of-state white supremacist entity.

Mr. Gillum, 39, the Tallahassee mayor and a progressive candidate who won an upset victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, will face Representative Ron DeSantis, 39, a Republican who embraced the style and policies of President Trump, in the November election.

In the audio of one robocall placed on Friday and obtained by The New York Times, a man pretending to be Mr. Gillum can be heard talking in the exaggerated accent of a minstrel performer. “Well hello there,” it begins, “I is Andrew Gillum.” He then talks for a little over a minute about mud huts and unfair policing practices, and asks repeatedly for the listener’s vote. In the background are the sounds of drums and monkeys.

This is the best that Republicans have to offer. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From Raw Story: [S]upporters of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have been deluged by signs for challenger Beto O’Rourke and are furious at his campaign for mismanaging the situation, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

According to the paper, Beto’s distinctive black-and-white yards signs have “seemingly dominated the landscape” in the state.

Cruz’s signs are rarely spotted, and his supporters are reportedly “increasingly agitated,” partly because Cruz’s campaign refuses to prove his supporters with signs.

Hey Cruz! Put a Beto sign in Uranus! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

CruzUranus

Cartoon:

Poll Results – 9/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:49 am Blog News, Politics

Sep 012018

Here are the results of our “Continue, Mueller?" poll. Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories. Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population. Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking of the majority of those who actually do think.

And here are your comments:

Showing comments 1–12 of 12.

Posted by Yvonne White August 13, 2018 at 11:43 am. From: IL (US)

Why would it be necessary to suspend investigations since the trump admin is NOT up for re-election?

Posted by Diane August 3, 2018 at 10:59 am. From: PA (US)

He must continue the investigation at all costs. There has been too much damage done already.

Posted by Nita L August 2, 2018 at 4:44 am. From: TX (US)

Mueller needs to continue as he has been. I think he will hold off on tRump and his regime indictments until after the midterms.

Posted by SoINeedAName August 2, 2018 at 4:10 am. From: MO (US)

Mueller might "pause" the investigation by not issuing any indictments or announcing any guilty pleas.

But "suspend" for two months? I doubt it. This isn’t Europe, and it’s too critical for that.

Posted by gene August 2, 2018 at 1:51 am. From: MN (US)

I hoped Mueller would release the American indictments before the end of August. The investigation will NOT be suspended, my bet. They’re negotiating with Trump still – I truly want that fool on oath, he WILL do himself in, no matter if they ask him three or ten questions. He can’t help himself. Which is good. But no way this "suspends", it IS going to affect the elections. It should, the last one was stolen.

Posted by Lona Goudswaard August 1, 2018 at 11:07 pm. From: (AU)

Mueller shouldn’t suspend his investigations, but continue in the same way he has done so far. However, he shouldn’t start indicting Republicans or Drumpf right before the November elections. He should either do so now, with over 3 months to go, or wait until after the elections. The first is very unlikely to happen, so it’s really business as usual.

Posted by Colleen August 1, 2018 at 2:54 pm. From: CA (US)

Mr. Mueller must continue on. There’s too much at stake.

Posted by Animae August 1, 2018 at 1:45 pm. From: (AU)

NO!

Posted by Lynn Squance August 1, 2018 at 11:24 am. From: BC (CA)

The investigation is too important and has gone on for so long. Drumpf et al have complained about its length continually so it would be folly to change course. On the other hand, by allowing it to continue risks the mid term election results that Republicans want. Personally, I hope that Diaper Don and his racist, moronic retinue get caught up and the sooner the better. They are a cancer in the US and globally.

Posted by Pat B August 1, 2018 at 10:00 am. From: TX (US)

Mr. Mueller will (hopefully) continue this investigation. It’s too important a mission for him not to.

Posted by Mitch D. August 1, 2018 at 9:35 am. From: FL (US)

I do not know about further indictments, but this investigation is too important to allow it to lie fallow! Might folks on the right complain? Sure, but they will find any reason to spout off, at any time. The die-hard, cult-like Trump supporters will not accept any verdict other than complete innocence for anyone caught up in the Mueller probes, anyway.

Posted by Joanne D August 1, 2018 at 9:06 am. From: CO (US)

As tight lipped as Mueller is I certainly trust him, and he is not going to indict anyone who is in office until after the election anyway. Some journalists and "journalists" might need to shut up, however.

We don’t have a poll that’s both unanimous and popular very often. I voted "no", because, if the investigation into Trump’s treason had been public before 11/2016, we’d be bitching about Hillary, and far better off that we are now.

The new poll is up. It asks a question likely to be debated for some time, so it should be interesting. Don’t forget to vote in it, please.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

66 DAYS!!

Open Thread – 9/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 11:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 012018

Welcome to a new month. It’s nice and cool here in the CatBox, and I’m feeling a bit chilly. I love it! Later the sun will hit the wall, but that’s later. It’s a very busy day, as I’m changing the poll in addition to collecting the data, preparing the charts, and making the graphics for August’s Monthly Report.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): The Story That Set President Donald Trump Off Today

Oh Canada! Here’s the deal… You take Trump and you can sell all the timber you want here. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Josh Bernstein Promises Bloodshed If Democrats Try To Impeach Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

This is the way Republicans relate to America. This idiot is aping (apology to apes) his Fuhrer! RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump is “scared to death” that the 2020 Presidential election will be decided by Americans, an aide to Trump has confirmed.

The aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Trump is panicking over a doomsday scenario in which Americans, sidelined during the 2016 election, play a dominant role in influencing the 2020 contest.

“It sounds paranoid, but, as we speak, representatives of the United States are already plotting to remove him from office in 2020,” the aide said. “They are determined to replace him with someone who takes a move favorable view toward their country.”

The aide said that the Americans, frustrated by Trump’s open hostility to the United States since taking office, will “stop at nothing” to achieve their ultimate goal: installing an agent of the U.S. in the Oval Office.

“It’s pretty clear what the Americans are up to,” the aide said. “They want a puppet who will do the bidding of the United States of America.”

Dang Andy! You’re right! A US supporter in the Oval Office could mean the death of the Republican Reich. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

Koch is Republicans’ favorite drug! (vintage 2011).

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