I, for one, missed Sam during her month long absence. It’s that time of week again, so here are three excellent video clips from Sam’s show last night. Enjoy!!
Both are cults, but the NRA demands far too many human sacrifices.
His MAGA hat proves he’s a sicko!
What a jerk! Ayn Rand by any other name…
She came back at full speed ahead!
This hectic week continues here at the CatBox. Please expect no more than a Personal Update or an Open Thread from me tomorrow. I have my routine, semi-annual fasting labs for Megan, my PCP, tomorrow morning. Labs are a pain, but fasting labs are the pits. I already made a turkey sandwich to take, so I can drown my kitty sorrows in bird, as soon as the labs are done.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:10 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Senator Elizabeth Warren: I Want To See A Democratic Party That Picks Fights | All In
I love and agree with Liz, but I want to clarify one thing she did not explain. What some Democratic Senators voted to do is to open debate on the bill, not pass it. That gives them the opportunity to fight to remove those elements we don’t want and include the ones we do. In my opinion, they were foolish, because they based that vote on the hope that Republicans will negotiate in good faith. That will not happen, but some Senators are stuck in the mindset of collegiality. It will take another supermajority vote (60) to close debate, before it can be passed by the Senate. Any Democrats that vote for it then should be exposed, berated and primaried, but let’s not knee-jerk ahead of time foolishly. RESIST!!
From YouTube (Vox Channel): Guess Who will leave the Trump White House next
He didn’t mention that replacements hired are increasingly more incompetent, because competent people don’t want jobs, where the boss does not return the loyalty he demands, where the jobs may be permanent black marks on their resumes, and where the jobs may cost them millions in legal fees. RESIST!!
From Raw Story: [E]arlier this year, a report emerged claiming that President Donald Trump would personally rig the Miss Universe pageant to benefit contestants from countries where he had business relationships.
Now a new report published by Michael Isikoff and Mother Jones’ David Corn claims that Trump would also veto certain contestants if he deemed them to be “too ethnic.”
Specifically, one former Miss Universe staffer tells them that Trump would personally “make changes” to the list of finalists “if there were too many women of color” on it.
Another former Miss Universe staffer similarly tells them that Trump would weed out candidates who were too “dark-skinned.”
“He often thought a woman was too ethnic or too dark-skinned,” the staffer explains. “He had a particular type of woman he thought was a winner. Others were too ethnic. He liked a type. There was Olivia Culpo, Dayanara Torres [the 1993 winner], and, no surprise, East European women.”
That’s the Fuhrer! Today, that bigotry is the basis for Republican immigration policy. RESIST!!
Cartoons:
I’m about to leave for my meeting in a few minutes, so I’ll have to finish this when I return. WWWendy will be here this evening.
I’m back. My pillow calls!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:59 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): Hallelujah Parody – Letter to Wayne LaPierre, NRA
Are they spot on, or what? Support them here. RESIST!!
From USA Today: U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Wednesday on the back of news that Gary Cohn, the chief economic adviser to President Donald Trump, resigned from his post.
The Dow Jones industrial average opened more than 300 points lower. It was trading down about 160 points at 9:40 a.m. The S&P 500 declined 0.7%, with energy as the worst-performing sector. The Nasdaq composite pulled back 0.6%.
Cohn, the free trade advocate and former president at Goldman Sachs, chose to step down from his position after Trump announced that he would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Cohn’s departure date is expected to come in the following weeks.
The rat is deserting the sinking ship. RESIST!!
From Texas Tribune: For much of the past year, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz did not acknowledge Beto O’Rourke’s name — or even, for a while, the fact that he had a Democratic opponent for re-election.
That abruptly changed Tuesday evening, when Cruz convened several state reporters for a conference call in the final hours before polls closed in the state’s primaries.
“Tonight’s election marks the beginning of the general election,” Cruz said. “In November, the voters of Texas will have a clear and stark choice for the United States Senate. Congressman O’Rourke is a left-wing, liberal Democrat — he is running like Bernie Sanders across the state, and the voters of Texas will have a decision of what policies and values reflect their own values.”
I trust the rest of the staff will agree with me in endorsing Beto over Ted "Uranus Inspector" Cruz. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Resident Donald Trump is so totally corrupt that he runs the US just like he ran Trump University. If he were a President, not just a Resident infesting the White House, he would be the most corrupt President in US history. To find multiple examples of scandal, one need look no further than his son-in-law, Jared "666" Kushner.
Jared Kushner has problems.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators are reportedly interested in the senior White House adviser for a plethora of reasons — including, but not limited to, the central topic of whether the Trump team worked with Russia to interfere with the 2016 campaign.
Meanwhile, Kushner’s security clearance was recently downgraded. For unclear reasons, the FBI has refused to grant him full “top secret” status — throwing his position in the White House into doubt.
Additionally, and probably not coincidentally, more and more questions have been raised about Kushner’s efforts in recent years to drum up investments in his family’s real estate projects — and whether those efforts inappropriately overlapped with his work in the Trump transition or White House.
This week alone, the New York Times reported that Kushner’s family business got big loans from two US financial institutions shortly after he met with their executives in the White House, and the Washington Post reported that foreign officials have discussed using his business entanglements to manipulate him, and NBC News reported Mueller is asking whether the Kushner business influenced Trump’s foreign policy. Meanwhile, and separately from Mueller’s probe, federal prosecutors and state regulators have both recently sought documents on Kushner Companies’ finances.
Looming over so much of this is the fact that the Kushner company owes $600 million on a money-losing Manhattan tower that’s fully due in just one year. The Kushners have spent much of the past few years trying to get wealthy foreigners to finance an expensive redevelopment plan for the property — but so far, all those efforts have failed…
Inserted from <Vox>
Now, Kushner alone, makes this one of the most scandal ridden governments in US history, but he is just the tip of the iceberg. Rachel Maddow has tied together many of the recent "follow the money" stories the Republican Reich is inflicting on us.
As we move into the 2018 midterms we must get out the vote to remove the Republican Party, first from power, but ultimately, from existence. May our great grandchildren survive to ask, "What was a Republican?"
I’m waiting for Amazon Prime Now to deliver groceries between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning. Tomorrow I have an appointment that will tie me up all morning, so please expect no more than a Personal Update or an Open Thread.
The groceries came, and I have put them away, so I’ll publish early and try to enjoy a restful afternoon.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 7:29 (average 8:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): The real story about ICE
Isn’t it time to put ICE on ice? RESIST!!
From CNN: North Korea is willing to talk to the United States about giving up its nuclear weapons, South Korea said Tuesday, in a remarkable development that followed unprecedented meetings in Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has also agreed to refrain from conducting nuclear and missile tests while engaging in dialogue with South Korea, Seoul’s national security chief Chung Eui-yong said after returning from talks with Kim.
Chung said Pyongyang expressed willingness to talk to the United States "in an open-ended dialogue to discuss the issue of denuclearization and to normalize relations with North Korea."
North Korea clarified that it had no reason to retain nuclear weapons if "the military threat to North Korea is resolved" and the country’s security can be guaranteed, Chung said.
It’s a startling statement from a nation that only months ago declared it could wipe the United States off the face of the Earth.
Poor widdle Donnie Tiny Hands, etc.! If the peace efforts he and his Republican Reich tried to prevent bear fruit, he may not get to play with his button and make the world go BOOM. RESIST!!
From DC Report: When our children are massacred we get “thoughts and prayers” from members of Congress instead of action to save lives.
But when it comes to their own safety, lawmakers act swiftly–and at our expense.
The House passed a resolution allowing them to use our tax dollars to buy bulletproof vests. And that’s not all. They can use their expense accounts to pay for security guards at official events or just to hang out in their district offices.
They can even use the money to install bulletproof glass in their district offices, although that has to be embedded in the rent, not paid for separately. One might read that provision as the first move on a slippery slope toward hiding security expenses.
So, is there a pressing need for this use of taxpayer dollars to protect our lawmakers from people with guns hell-bent on murder?
David Cay Johnston is spot on. Click through for more. Frankly, I think anywhere a Republican Politician is appearing should be an Open Carry zone, until they protect the children. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Here is the one hundred eleventh article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is just fired Republican teacher and Trump supporter Dayanna Volitich. She is so honored for turning her public school classroom into a Republican white supremacist propaganda mill.
A social studies teacher at a Florida public middle school has been outed as the host of a white supremacist podcast.
The Huffington Post reports 25-year-old Dayanna Volitich, who teaches at Crystal River Middle School in Crystal River, boasted about spreading her racist views to her students during a recent episode of her podcast, “Unapologetic.” Volitich had attempted to conceal her identity by adopting a pseudonym, Tiana Dalichov, while hosting her podcast or publishing bigoted articles and blog posts.
As Dalichov, Volitich has called for genocide against Muslims, who she believes should be “eradicated from the face of the Earth” unless they can somehow alter the Koran so it no longer calls for the killing of “infidels.” She has written that Islam does not belong in the United States and says the world’s second-largest religion poses an existential threat to Western civilization.
Volitich has also praised Kevin MacDonald, an anti-Semitic author, as well as white supremacists including David Duke. She has said that “science” has proven that certain races are more intelligent than others — guess which — and has repeatedly denied the existence of institutional racism and white privilege… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Daily Kos>
With a face like hers, one would be slow to realize that hers is the face of evil. The Republican Reich surely got their money’s worth from her. Not only did she spread her hateful Republican propaganda to the next generation, but also, she did it at taxpayer expense. That has to warrant a parade.
It’s another busy day here in the CatBox as grocery shopping on Amazon Prime Now is very time consuming. Wendy’s late arrival threw off my schedule, but I was more sorry she felt ill than inconvenienced. She just texted me that she is feeling better today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:00 (5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Trump’s Brand is Ayn Rand
Like I’ve said from the beginning, Rump Dump Trump is not an aberration from the Republican Reich. He’s a reflection of it. Our Reich (Robert) is better. RESIST!!
From NY Times: When Representative Daniel Lipinski, a conservative-leaning Democrat and scion of Chicago’s political machine, agreed to one joint appearance last month with his liberal primary challenger, the divide in the Democratic Party was evident in the audience that showed up.
Mr. Lipinski’s outnumbered supporters were the diminished lunch-pail Democrats that once dominated his Southside district. Those of his rival, Marie Newman, came from the party’s ascendant coalition — young progressives and women like Elizabeth Layden, a Patagonia-clad teacher who explained her opposition to Mr. Lipinski in blunt terms.
“Because he’s a dinosaur, ’cause he’s a phony, ’cause he’s a Republican who claims to be a Democrat,” said Ms. Layden, 49, who has been making phone calls and knocking on doors to help unseat Mr. Lipinski, a seven-term House member, in the primary race this month. “Hello, women’s rights, and hello, my reproductive rights. Get out of my uterus.”
As the midterm election season gets underway with races in Texas on Tuesday and Illinois on March 20, contests like this one illustrate the turmoil of the Trump-era Democratic Party. Democrats need to pick up 24 seats to take back control of the House and are hoping a surge of grass-roots energy, activism and fund-raising at levels unseen since the rise of Barack Obama can help play a crucial role.
Yet the backlash to President Trump’s divisive politics has also fueled a demand by the party’s progressive wing for ideological purity and more diverse representation, a tension that could reshape what it means to be a Democrat.
“This is part of the reason Donald Trump won,” Mr. Lipinski said in an interview, adding, “Democrats have chased people out of the party.”
Click through for an interesting read. I believe that the Democrats need to lean toward progressive ideological purity, but if Democratic voters choose a moderate, or even a DINO, over a progressive in the primaries, then we should support the voters’ choice. The worst DINO is far better than the best Republican. RESIST!!
From Alternet: Former MI6 spy Christopher Steele has reportedly told special counsel Robert Mueller that he believes the Russian government directly intervened to block President Donald Trump from appointing Mitt Romney as his secretary of state.
In a New Yorker profile of Steele published Monday, reporter Jane Mayer writes that Steele — who authored the infamous Fusion GPS dossier alleging deep ties between President Donald Trump and the Russian government — wrote a memo in late 2016 claiming that Russia worked to stop then-President elect Trump from making noted Russia hawk Romney his chief diplomat.
“This memo, which did not surface publicly with the others, is shorter than the rest, and is based on one source, described as ‘a senior Russian official,’” writes Mayer. “The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he’d heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney.”
He with the tiny hands, etc. would never disobey the man with the key to the pee tapes and a ton of other dirt. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Last week Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten met with legislators, listened to suggestion from both sides, and frequently encouraged and agreed with Democrats. He promised full support for fast action to keep guns out of the wrong hands. Of course none of it was real. He know that his faithful allies, like Bought Bitch Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would take that common sense gun control, and substitute a pile of Crapo.
Wouldn’t you think that after the “Valentine day massacre” at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, government officials would be chomping at the bit to discuss gun control? This would be true if we were talking about Australia, England, Germany or any other civilized country, and not the United States. Here, the Republican Party is being held hostage by the NRA and other lobbying groups.
As reported by CNN, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday that the Senate will turn to a banking bill next week, dashing the hopes of many Senators in both parties that the Senate would be able to pass gun legislation quickly in the wake of the mass shooting. Asked if there will be a way forward on guns next week, McConnell replied, “No, we’re going to the Crapo bill next week.” He was referring to the proposal inked by the Idaho Senator Mike Crapo which would repeal the Dodd-Frank Act implemented by President Obama.
The Dodd-Frank Act is the federal law that places regulations on the financial industry in the hands of the government. This process would limit risk by enforcing transparency and accountability. This would decrease the risk of another recession like we experienced during the Bush presidency. Republican critics say the 2010 Dodd-Frank law went too far and curbs banks’ ability to lend, while many Democrats say it provides critical protections for consumers and taxpayers. Crapo’s bill would ease restrictions on small banks and credit unions, but also includes a number of provisions beneficial to all but the largest U.S. banks… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <The Palmer Report>
Dodd Frank makes sure Banksters carry enough reserves. It outlaws Bankster Gambling by banning speculation with our money for their own profit. It empowers the SEC to regulate risky derivatives. It requires Hedge funds to reveal all trades to the SEC. It oversees credit rating agencies. It regulates credit cards, loans, and mortgages. It increases supervision of insurance companies. And it reforms the Federal Reserve.
In other words, Dodd-Frank addresses the abuses by corporate criminals that caused the Republican Collapse and Recession of 2008. Allowed to resume those abuses, Banksters could steal more profit, but the end result would probably be another economic collapse and recession.
Allowing Banksters and other corporate criminals to do this is the pile of Crapo that Republicans consider so necessary that they are willing to pay for it with the blood of more murdered students.
