It’s a WWWendy w/wings day here at the CatBox, and in addition to fumigating the stinky TomCat, we have several chores, including the dreaded task.   I miss my beloved Orb!

I just heard from Wendy, who isn’t feeling well and will be late, so I’m rushing to finish, before she gets here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 5:10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Presidential Address Cold Open

No wonder Melania likes Alec better, but Alec gave it away. He held up large hands. RESIST!!

From Newsweek: President Donald Trump has made no secret of his admiration for strongmen leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.

And, according to a tape of closed door remarks Trump made at his Mar-a-Lago estate obtained by CNN, he supports President Xi Xinping of China’s move to extend his power indefinitely. “He’s now president for life,” Trump told Republican donors, after the Chinese Communist party last week moved to alter the constitution to allow Xi to remain in power beyond the two-term limit.

“President for life. And he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day.” [emphasis added]

Both the Fuhrer and the Republican Party would love that. But they only admit it when they think nobody is listening.  RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump warned on Saturday that he would apply higher taxes on imported European cars if the European Union carried through on its threat to retaliate against his proposed stiff new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

“If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter [Fool delinked] from Florida, where he was spending part of the weekend. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”

It was the latest indication that Mr. Trump, despite pressure from foreign allies and American business leaders, is standing by his decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from all countries. The action is likely to be signed this coming week.

The fool claimed this measure would target China, but he appears to be after the EU and Canada. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I made this cartoon six years ago.  We’re still trying!

I’m relieved that I have the start of the month routine behind me, because I have a busy week coming up.  I have an appointment on Wednesday that will interfere with delivery from Store to Door, so I’ll have to use Amazon Prime Now instead.  That’s always complicated.  Then on Friday, I have semi-annual fasting labs for Megan, my PCP.  I better get as much rest as I can over the weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:32 (average 5:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Are Jared Kushner’s Businesses Tied To President Donald Trump Policies?

They’re doing it to pay for 666 5th Ave. And I looked, and behold an orange horse: and his name that sat on him was Trump, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Washington Post Channel): President Trump’s top 5 claims, updated

Barf Bag Alert!!

When Trump is awake and not lying, the Pope is not Catholic, and no bears, anywhere, are shitting in the woods. RESIST!!

From Think Progress: President Donald Trump proposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports on Thursday. On Friday he further claimed [Fuhrer delinked] that “trade wars are good.”

What the president seemingly fails to understand, of course, is that tariffs are not taxes, and Trump’s attempt to protect American industries in this manner is much more likely to harm American consumers than anything else.

Trump reportedly made his tariff proposal public without first alerting his advisers at the Treasury, State, or Defense Departments. His chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, adamantly opposes tariff increases and trade wars, complicating things even further.

So Trump is relying, it appears, mainly on his own knowledge to make major shifts in his administration’s economic and infrastructure policies, despite the fact that his understanding of the subject is relatively thin. When Trump talks about the economy, for instance, he touts stock market gains but neglects to mention slower-than-normal job growth, corporations spending very little on bonuses, and stagnant wages, among other problems.

Trump has made plenty of other comments in the past to buff up his own credentials — all of which sound more than a bit awkward now, given his hasty announcement on Friday.

1. He’s a financial genius

“I agree [that I am a financial genius],” Trump tweeted in November 2014, quoting one of his Twitter followers.

I shared one absurd boast from Resident Idiot. Click through for the other fourteen. RESIST!!

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It’s Monthly Report day, so I’m quite busy.  I also solved a technical problem.  Our Clustrmap disappeared from the site.  I finally discovered that the problem was on my computer.  I use AdGuard, and AdGuard blocked it as an ad.  So, I set up an exception in AdGuard for PP and changed Clustrmap to a spinning globe.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 4:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Merkley Presses Army Corps to Support Tribal Housing Along the Columbia River

Kudos to Jeff for standing up for Native American rights. Oregon leads the way. We RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): "This Is How You Run A Banana Republic"

Painter was not even an Obama appointee. He worked in the GW Bush Regime. The best way to deal with a banana republic is to put banana Republican politicians out of work. RESIST!!

From The Daily Beast: At a time when insane is the new normal, our ability to be outraged is dulled amid daily incoming. But Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee—led by their chairman, Trump lackey Devin Nunes—somehow hit a new low with Thursday’s revelation that they leaked to Fox News texts from Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Mark Warner and a Russian businessman in a desperate attempt to discredit the senator. Those texts were then retweeted by our president, in a brushback pitch for Warner’s insistence on investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election—and potential collusion with the Trump campaign—without fear or favor.

This bombshell story, first reported by The New York Times, is not your garden variety Trump-related drama. It’s worse. At a time when institutional checks and balances are needed more than ever, it underscored just how bad the blood is on Capitol Hill—not just between the two parties, but between the House and the Senate itself.

Devin Nunes—a California dairy farmer who degraded himself by becoming a congressman—deserves disproportionate blame for this pathetic mess. His committee has turned the pursuit of truth into a partisan mockery, choosing to do the White House’s bidding at the expense of honest inquiry and fact-based debate.

The author concludes that Lyin’ Ryan should remove Nunes. I fully agree, but I see far too big an orangish-brown smudge on Ryan’s nose for that to happen. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Just days after losing his top security clearance at the White House, Jared Kushner could soon be eligible to enter another high-security government facility, legal experts believe.

According to Davis Logsdon, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, Kushner could be on the verge of obtaining “long-term clearance” at this separate facility, which, like the White House, is owned and operated by the federal government.

Logsdon said that, although such a facility lacks some of the prestige of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kushner would have access to government benefits there that far exceed what he has received as an unpaid adviser at the White House.

“All of his meals and housing would be fully paid for by the taxpayer,” Logsdon said. “And, if things play out the way some believe they will, Jared Kushner could be receiving these benefits for decades to come.”

Andy, you pictured a prison, but wouldn’t the GOP Gitmo Gulag be a better place for him? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Pardon my brevity, but today, I’m busier than a Russian Hooker at Trump Towers.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:53 (average 4:51).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Trae Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – The Right to Bear Harm

Amen Trae! He’s Southern Fried Borowitz! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Can Trump Fire Mueller?

So the bottom line is this. How desperate does the Fuhrer get and when? RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Wednesday that she was organizing a “Million Liars March” to support her co-worker Hope Hicks.

Calling on “American liars from every walk of life” to march, Sanders said that she had already received commitments from hundreds of liars in the White House, the Cabinet, and Congress.

“These people realize what’s at stake,” she said. “It’s not just Hope Hicks’s career—it’s the lying life style itself.”

“White lies like Hope’s were the lies of a promising beginner,” she said. “If Hope had been allowed to grow as liar, I have no doubt that someday she could have been as consistent a dispenser of ginormous whoppers as I am.”

Dang Andy! Upchuckabee-Sanders can recruit the rabid base of the Republican Reich. That’s around 20 million goose-stepping liars! RESIST!!

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