It’s a muggy day today here at the CatBox, and I’m still quite tired.  I’m celebrating my 39th birthday for the 32nd time.  Our server at Blue Host is intermittently offline.  Please be patient.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

I’ll have to include it tomorrow, because the website has been down all day.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): In Memoria – A response to the NRA Ads

They did not sing, but their voices were as clear as a bell. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Inequality Media): The 6 Ways Millennials Are Changing America

I’m a boomer, and I have no objection to any of the ideas Robert attributes to the millennials, with the caveat that the only way to get a viable third party is to elect people, who will change the current plurality rules system, under the two party system. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Furious about her treatment on the CBS news-magazine program on Sunday night, Betsy DeVos spoke to reporters on Monday, and called “60 Minutes” a “total waste of a half hour.”

“I had never watched ‘60 Minutes’ before, but I can tell you this, I will never watch it again,” the Education Secretary said. “I have better things to do with a half hour of my time.”

Calling her interviewer, Lesley Stahl, a practitioner of “gotcha journalism at its worst,” DeVos said that it was “very unfair of her to ask me so many questions about education.”

“She asked me one thing about schools, and then another, and another,” she said. “If I had to answer every question she had about schools, I would have had to bone up on education for a month.”

DeVos said that she was “frustrated” that Stahl neglected to ask her about any of her “really good ideas” for the nation’s schools, such as “purchasing guns for teachers with money that is currently being wasted on books.”

Dang Andy! Betsy Wetsy, as Trump must like to imagine her, is a waste… of skin! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s another warm, sunny day here at the CatBox.  I have not recovered from sproinging yet, so I’m going to get as much rest as I can, until my routine follow-up appointment on Friday.  I got my test results back.  My A1C is 7.0, which is a tiny bit high, but very well controlled for a diabetic.  My Cholesterol and Lipids are in the ideal ranges.  I may live to see 70.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:43).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Huffington Post: Donald Trump has backed down from making the sweeping changes to US gun laws he mooted in the wake of the Florida school shooting last month and will instead support a modest set of fixes.

Opting for a plan the administration officials described as “pragmatic,” Trump backs legislation proposed in Congress aimed at providing more data for the background check system – a database of people who are not legally allowed to buy guns, reports Reuters.

More contentious proposals, such as raising the minimum age for buying guns to 21 from 18, or requiring background checks for guns bought at gun shows or on the internet, will be studied by a commission headed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the officials said.

The change of heart is in stark contrast to a combative televised meeting where he chided lawmakers for being afraid of the National Rifle Association [terrorist Republicans delinked](NRA), one of the most powerful lobbies in the US.

I told you it was all an act. With DeVos heading the commission, it might as well be headed by the NRA. RESIST!!

From Fortune: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice is said to be close to completion, but he may set it aside while he finishes other key parts of his probe, such as possible collusion and the hacking of Democrats, according to current and former U.S. officials.

That’s because Mueller may calculate that if he tries to bring charges in the obstruction case — the part that may hit closest to Trump personally — witnesses may become less cooperative in other parts of the probe, or the president may move to shut it down altogether.

The revelation is a peek into Mueller’s calculations as he proceeds with his many-headed probe, while pressure builds from the president’s advisers and other Republicans to show progress or wrap it up.

The obstruction portion of the probe could likely be completed after several key outstanding interviews, including with the president and his son, Donald Trump Jr. The president’s lawyers have been negotiating with Mueller’s team over such an encounter since late last year. But even if Trump testifies in the coming weeks, Mueller may make a strategic calculation to keep his findings on obstruction secret, according to the current and former U.S. officials, who discussed the strategy on condition of anonymity.

Any clear outcome of the obstruction inquiry could be used against Mueller: Filing charges against Trump or his family could prompt the president to take action to fire him. Publicly clearing Trump of obstruction charges — as the president’s lawyers have requested — could be used by his allies to build pressure for the broader investigation to be shut down.

As much as I want to see Mueller hump on Trump NOW, I see the wisdom in waiting. RESIST!!

From NY Times: The Trump administration is putting the finishing touches on its long-awaited Middle East peace plan, three senior officials said on Sunday, and President Trump is likely to present it soon, despite risking swift rejection by the Palestinians and having already taken on another of the world’s thorniest disputes, with North Korea.

While the exact timing of the plan’s release is still not set, these officials said, the most immediate challenge for the White House is how to roll it out so that it is not proclaimed dead on arrival.

This is why it will be dead on arrival.  The Trump plan would do for Palestinians what the Wannsee Conference did for Jews. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

WWWendy w/Wings will be here in a few minutes, so I’ll have to finish and publish after she leaves.  I sproinged ahead and am feeling out of sorts.  We ought to get to fall back twice a year.

I fed Wendy pizza! ?

Cartoon:

Today’s took me 2:34 (average 4:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Sasquatch

Anytime SNL features a Squatch, I just have to share it, even if she can’t see it.

From Washington Post: President Trump on Saturday again called for enacting the death penalty for drug dealers during a rally meant to bolster a struggling GOP candidate for a U.S. House seat here.

It would be most acceptable, if he were talking about major pharmaceutical manufacturers, but shouldn’t the death penalty be limited to Resident traitors that have sold out the US to Russia? RESIST!!

From Politico: Sen. Elizabeth Warren insisted Saturday that she was not running for the White House in 2020, but the Massachusetts Democrat repeatedly dodged on whether she would serve her full six-year term if she wins re-election to the Senate this November.

“I am in this fight to retain my Senate seat in 2018. That’s where I’m focused,” Warren told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, in an interview scheduled to air in full on Sunday. “That’s where I’m going to stay focused. I’m not running for president.”

Asked repeatedly if she would serve a full six-year term if re-elected, Warren said she was not running for president and would fight “for the people of Massachusetts, and for the people across this country.”

Bear in mind that, if Warren were to say now that she will run for President in 2020, she would likely lose her Senate seat in 2018. We must wait and see. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I don’t have my test results, but they didn’t strike oil.  It’s a warm day here in the CatBox.  I have my window wide open and my door open for cross ventilation.  I’m feeling quite tired after my busy week, and I had to do some paperwork and some computer maintenance this morning.  Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, and I need to get rest, because we’ll be busy.  Nevertheless, I’m back in the saddle.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:20 (average 4:36).  To do it, click here.  Hoe did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Illinois needs Marie Newman

I trust that the staff will agree that Politics Plus proudly endorses Marie Newman for Congress. RESIST!!

From LA Times: Pressed by President Trump, the Pentagon is proposing to stage a military parade in November with veterans in historic uniforms and warplanes, but no tanks — a scaled-down version of the grand display of military might the president envisioned, according to a memo released by the Pentagon on Friday.

Veterans in “period uniforms” from past wars would march from the White House to the Capitol on Nov. 11 — Veterans Day — joined by “wheeled vehicles only, no tanks,” to “minimize damage to local infrastructure,” the planning document says.

Trump asked the Defense Department to plan a parade of the U.S. armed forces to celebrate military strength…

If the parade consists of two recruits on KP, that’s far more parade than Trump deserves. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Only months ago, Mr. Bannon was forced out of the White House and Breitbart News, the alt-right news empire he helped make into a political force, for the sharp criticisms of President Trump’s children attributed to him in a book. “He’s lost his mind,” Mr. Trump said at the time.

But now Mr. Bannon, the architect of Mr. Trump’s populist campaign message and the president’s former chief strategist, has returned with an international mission.

On Saturday, he is set to headline the annual conference of France’s far-right National Front in the northern city of Lille, where he will be introduced by its leader, Marine Le Pen. People with knowledge of Mr. Bannon’s itinerary suggested that he might meet later in the weekend with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, but Mr. Bannon declined to say whether or not he would, only saying that he admired Mr. Orban as a “hero” and “the most significant guy on the scene right now.”

In Zurich, Mr. Bannon says, he had a “fascinating” meeting on Tuesday with leaders of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Watch out Europe! Bullshit Alert!! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Kim Jong Un has revealed to close associates that he has offered to meet Donald J. Trump only as a means of achieving his real goal: meeting the former adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

A confidant of the North Korean dictator said that Kim revealed his true intentions behind the Trump invitation at a high-level government meeting on Thursday night. “Kim said that he was a big fan of Stormy’s, and he decided that meeting with Trump would be a ‘necessary evil’ if he wanted a chance to meet her,” the confidant said.

According to the confidant, Kim first attempted to arrange a meeting with Daniels through his close friend, the former N.B.A. player Dennis Rodman, “but, when Dennis said that he didn’t know Stormy, Kim was, like, ‘Oh, well, I guess I’ll have to go through Trump, then.’ ”

Andy, I have no doubt that Stormy would hook-up with Kim. Since she did Trump, she’ll do anyone. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Like other sheeple, this Republican is too stupid to realize the truck is approaching at high speed.