TomCat

Open Thread – 2/15/2018

 Posted by at 1:11 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 152018
 

Yesterday was yet another lonely Valentine’s day. Desperate for company, I even tried to attract Republicans.  I put out rat traps, but none came.  Smile with tongue out

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:54 (average 4:57).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (RWW Channel): Dave Daubenmire Is Sick Of "Phony Black Christians" Who Voted For "That Quasi-Muslim Freak"

Barf Bag Alert!!

 

Real Authentic Christians just don’t have the hate required to become racist Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Don’t look now, but Democrats just flipped their 36th state legislative seat this cycle.

Tuesday’s win in Florida House District 72 was not only yet another Democratic win in a seat Trump carried in 2016 (by a 51-46 margin), but it was also a stark reminder for Republicans of how much trouble they may be in at the ballot box in November.

Democrat Margaret Good, an attorney and community activist, defeated Republican James Buchanan 52-45 percent, improving on the 2016 Democratic presidential performance in this Sarasota County-area district by 12 points. This historically Republican seat, which has a GOP voter registration advantage of around 13,000, became vacant upon the abrupt resignation of a freshman lawmaker in August 2017.

Woooo Hoooo! RESIST!!

From Common Dreams: Under fire for taking expensive first class flights and staying in luxury hotels on the taxpayer’s dime, EPA chief Scott Pruitt informed the public of the real reason he stays away from coach: to avoid uncomfortable interactions with people who are mad at him for trying to destroy the planet.

"We live in a very toxic environment politically," Pruitt explained in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader this week—an interesting choice of words, given that the EPA chief’s policy moves have greatly contributed to the toxicity of the actual geophysical environment.

He wouldn’t have to worry about a toxic political environment, if he were not creating a toxic physical environment. Also, what Republicans do not live high on the hog at our expense, whenever they can? RESIST!!

Cartoons:

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After two years, is he cooked yet?

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Sanctions Policy Quo for Russia

 Posted by at 12:23 pm  Politics
Feb 142018
 

In order to demonstrate that there was a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump, including the Republican Reich, in the theft of the 2016 Presidential election, we must demonstrate the existence of quid pro quo.  That means "This for that".  Quid, in this case, is all the things Russia did to harm Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump.  Quo is for Trump and the Republican Reich to ignore the sanctions Obama imposed and Congress passed against Russia.

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Three senior Democratic senators on Monday introduced a resolution pushing President Donald Trump to use the new authority over Russia sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly gave him last year.

The symbolic measure from Sens. Ben Cardin of Maryland, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Robert Menendez of New Jersey marks the latest Democratic effort to pressure the Trump administration on its delay in implementing a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill — designed in part as a response to Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election — that the president signed only reluctantly.

The administration’s decision last month to hold off on new penalties targeting the defense and intelligence sectors of President Vladimir Putin’s government infuriated Democrats, who pointed out that the bipartisan bill Congress approved with only five opposing votes last year had designed the sanctions as mandatory.

“The lack of seriousness shown by the administration in the face of a clear national security threat and even clearer congressional intent is alarming and cannot continue,” Cardin said in a statement on the resolution… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Politico>

Rachel Maddow explains how what Russia wants in return for infesting the White House with Trump is sanctions relief, and how the Trump Reich is giving Russia what Putin wants.

There it is!  Quid pro quo quad erat demonstrandum.  If election fraud by a foreign power is an act of war against the United States, and I think it is, then conspiracy with a foreign power to commit such an attack is treason.  Even if it is not an act of war, conspiracy with a foreign power to commit such an attack is sedition.  Both are impeachable and indictable offences.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

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Open Thread – 2/14/2018

 Posted by at 12:21 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 142018
 

It’s a nice comfortably cool day, and I slept well last night.  It’s been a strange winter.  I’m at the same latitude as the border between Wyoming and Montana, but I have not turned my heat on this winter, and I only closed my window overnight once.  I expect a grocery delivery from Store to Door in about an hour.  When I finish putting everything away, I’ll break for lunch.  Then I’ll finish here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): Donald Trump’s Valentine’s Day Card To Melania Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

 

How appropriate! Other than National Socialism, Trump loves only his own ego. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: When evaluating President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen’s new admission that he paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket, it’s worth focusing on what he doesn’t deny: namely, that Trump had anything to do with it.

In a statement first reported by the New York Times and also shared with The Washington Post, Cohen says for the first time that he paid Daniels. The Wall Street Journal had first reported the payment as hush money to keep the adult-film actress from disclosing an alleged affair with Trump, but thus far nobody else had confirmed that the payment existed. Cohen’s hand was apparently forced by the watchdog group Common Cause, which last month announced it was filing a complaint arguing that Cohen’s $130,000 payment could be construed as an illegal 2016 campaign contribution.

I don’t buy it. Cohen is a Republican. Republicans don’t altruistically pay out big bucks like that. When it comes to their own money, they squeeze quarters so tight the eagle shits. Cohen, if not Trump, paid her with campaign money or with our money, both of which are criminal acts.  RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Millions of Americans on Wednesday demanded that Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, issue them checks in the amount of $130,000 for not having sex with Trump.

After Cohen revealed that he had issued such a check to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who he claims never had intimate relations with his client, there was widespread outrage among other Americans who had also not had sex with Trump but had not been paid for not doing so.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Stormy Daniels,” Tracy Klugian, a florist in Santa Rosa, California, said. “I just want my check, too.”

Harland Dorrinson, a bank teller in Akron, Ohio, said that he had already e-mailed Cohen to demand payment. “I have never come close to having sex with Trump, and that should be worth something,” he said. “Specifically, $130,000.”

Andy, Dorrinson is wrong. Albeit non-consensual, he has had sex with Trump.  There isn’t an American in the poor and middle classes that Trump and the Republican Reich haven’t screwed. Where’s my $130,000? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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Poor or Middle Class? Get Vaseline!

 Posted by at 1:27 pm  Politics
Feb 132018
 

Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten and his Republican Reich have released their budget.  The GOP Nazi word for Vaseline is Vienerschleider, and if you don’t know hat that has to do with a Republican budget, it’s time for you to bend over and grab your ankles.  You’re about to find out in the worst possible way.

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The Trump administration wants to slash food aid to low-income families and make up the difference with a box of canned goods — a change that Office of Management and budget director Mick Mulvaney described in a Monday briefing as a “Blue Apron-type program.”

“What we do is propose that for folks who are on food stamps, part — not all, part — of their benefits come in the actual sort of, and I don’t want to steal somebody’s copyright, but a Blue Apron-type program where you actually receive the food instead of receive the cash,” Mulvaney said. “It lowers the cost to us because we can buy [at wholesale prices] whereas they have to buy it at retail. It also makes sure they’re getting nutritious food. So we’re pretty excited about that.”

Mulvaney’s remarks drew raised eyebrows from some critics, who accuse the Trump administration official of drawing an unfair comparison between the food stamp program, which delivers an average of $1.37 per meal to America’s poorest, and a high-end meal kit that runs $10 per serving.

On Monday, the Trump administration proposed cutting food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by $17 billion in 2019 and more than $213 billion over the next decade. The dramatic reductions came as part of a budget proposal that made sweeping, across-the-board cuts to popular safety net programs, including federal housing subsidies and Medicaid.

But the administration’s SNAP proposal was particularly striking, advocates and experts said, because it advocates a fundamental change to the program’s administration. For the past 40 years, the Agriculture Department has distributed benefits as either paper coupons or virtual disbursements on Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, allowing recipients to use them as cash on foods of their choice and at their own grocery store… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>
Photo Credit: Samuel Warde

When you get your GOP food package, say "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!"  But don’t expect a cat to come.  Republicans will be feeding you the portions that the cats rejected.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

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Joanne Dixon Has a BIG Mouth! ;-)

 Posted by at 1:26 pm  Blog News, Politics
Feb 132018
 

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This is Joanne’s seventh Big Mouth award.  She earned her first in September 2013, her second in March 2015, her third in May 2015, her fourth in July, 2016, her fifth in October, 2016, and her sixth in September, 2017. I still predict there are more coming. I still think JD comments more than I do.

A denizen of Care2, she came to us from there, and is now part of management.  She’s super-smart, witty a political junky and an activist for all kinds of human rights.  I have had occasion to correspond with her, and she faces some major issues in her life with exceptional dignity and grace.

In early 2016, I appointed her to a staff position, Politics Plus Author, and in October 2016, I promoted her to Editor. Please join in piling on the praise and kudos she deserves.  Her daily comments and her articles make this a far better site.

Help Her

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

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Open Thread – 2/13/2018

 Posted by at 1:25 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 132018
 

My vision is still a bit blurry from yesterday’s ordeal, but I’m pleased to report that my vision is perfect in both eyes with my glasses, except for the double vision.  The non-malignant remnants of my choroidal cancer are even smaller than they were six months ago.  I could not have received a better report.  I’m running late because of chores, and am hurrying because WWWendy is coming this evening to destink the TomCat.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:49 (average 4:53).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Rise Up Vs. Trickle Down Economics

 

In short, the way to build up the economy is to tear down the Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): America’s Crumbling Infrastructure Under Donald Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

 

There’s the problem. Because the Fuhrer finds America’s infrastructure sexy, he can only be referring to all the pussies he wants to grab. When it comes to actually building America’s infrastructure, Republicans are too preoccupied with tearing it down. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: According to Politico, Susan Collins is shocked to discover that the White House has broken a promise to her.

President Donald Trump’s legislative affairs director, Marc Short, stood just off the Senate floor as Republicans cast a party-line vote on Trump’s tax package late last year, but his moment of triumph was brief.

As she walked off the floor, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins spotted Short — and she exploded.

The White House had promised Collins, a moderate, that it would seek a vote before recess on guaranteeing payments to health insurers in order to stabilize Obamacare markets, a key issue for her. But under intense opposition from pro-life groups and from House conservatives, no such vote materialized.

I don’t buy it. When Senate Republicans passed their Tax SCAM, I said that Collins had to know that "promise" would never be kept. I stand by that. What we see from her now is Kabuki theater to fool her constituents and make her appear innocent. She’s guilty. She’s a Republican! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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Busy day!

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Open Thread – 2/12/2017

 Posted by at 9:32 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 122018
 

I’m rushing to finish in time for my appointment.  This is my only article today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s Took me 6:45 (average 7:14).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Hill: U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon said he would boycott a visit to the White House.

Rippon — the first openly gay athlete selected to a U.S. Winter Olympic team — told the Daily Mail that he would not go to the White House in an effort "to support my community."

"No, I have no desire to go to the White House," he told the Daily Mail.

"But I would like to do something to help my community."

Rippon added he would want to do "something positive and not just stay at home" during the White House visit, such as planning his own event in support of gay rights.

The US would not have won a team figure skating medal, were it not for Rippon’s stellar performance. Hey GOP! Shove that up your Pence! RESIST!!

From The Daily Beast: Julian Assange Offered Hannity Impersonator ‘News’ About Top Democrat

The head of Wikileaks told @SeanHannity__ to seek ‘other channels’ for information on Sen. Mark Warner of the Trump-Russia investigation. ‘@SeanHannity__’ was a woman in Texas.

Anyone care to speculate what "other channels" Assange (R-RU) had for Hannity? RESIST!!

From Think Progress: \Industry-friendly lawmakers are waging a coordinated campaign with the Trump administration to strip Americans of their legal rights to use the courts to hold polluting companies and the government itself accountable for violations of bedrock environmental laws and other important public protections.

Members of Congress have introduced more than 50 bills over the past year that would make it extremely difficult or impossible for people to seek justice in a court of law, according to an in-depth analysis by the Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization. The proposed bills are targeting laws related to environmental protection, public health, consumer rights, and civil liberties.

The number of bills introduced in the current 115th Congress that would strip individuals of their legal rights to seek justice in a court of law have doubled from the previous Congress and quadrupled since the 112th Congress that ended in 2013. Similar to how credit card companies and other retailers block consumers from the use of a court of law to resolve disputes, these bills would have a similar effect by preventing aggrieved members of the public from filing lawsuits to ensure laws are enforced.

Even when polluters harm people directly and intentionally, the Republican Reich protects them from justice. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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