TomCat

Open Thread – 10/18/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:53 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 182017

It’s a busy day for me. I’m waiting for Store to Door to deliver groceries, and will finish writing, after I put them away and have lunch. Wendy is coming this evening to de-stink the sweaty TomCat. Perhaps I should have warned her to bring a gas mask.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:04 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Donald Trump is F*cking Crazy

I have a small bone to pick with Keith… a VERY small bone. Keith needs to find another expletive to pair with ‘crazy’. ‘F*cking’ requires far more meat than Putin’s Piddle Pervert has. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Former President Barack Obama has started calling every person in America to offer consolation about Donald Trump being President, Obama has confirmed.

“It’s something I meant to do right after the Inauguration,” Obama said, during a brief break from the phone calls. “I feel terrible that I didn’t get to it sooner.”

The former President said that, although the phone calls are a small gesture, he felt that he had to do whatever he could to extend his sympathy about Trump being President.

“There’s a lot of pain out there that a phone call from me can never fix,” he said. “Still, I want people to know that I care.”

Thanks, Andy! It’s about time Obama got around to doing that! RESIST!!

From NY Times: Two leading senators, hoping to stabilize teetering health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act, reached a bipartisan deal on Tuesday to fund critical subsidies to insurers that President Trump moved just days ago to cut off.

At the White House, virtually as the deal was being announced, Mr. Trump voiced support for it while insisting that he would try again to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health law.

The plan by the senators, Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, and Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, would fund the subsidies for two years, a step that would provide at least short-term certainty to insurers. The subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, reimburse insurance companies for lowering deductibles, co-payments and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income customers.

Without them, insurance companies said, premiums for many customers purchasing plans under the Affordable Care Act would shoot up, and with profits squeezed, some of the companies would probably leave the market.

“In my view, this agreement avoids chaos,” Mr. Alexander said, “and I don’t know a Democrat or a Republican who benefits from chaos.”

There are several things about this deal that I do not like, but I think I prefer it to the Republican plan to eliminate cost sharing reduction payments. I’ll reserve judgment, until I can count the beans in the can. Getting it through the House might be impossible. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

And are they sad that we did, or what?

Disrespecting Troops with a Lie

Posted by TomCat at 1:10 pm Politics

Oct 172017

As an antiwar activist from my early teens on, I have opposed every war that the US has undertaken during my lifetime. However, I have always believed that service people are not responsible for starting wars, so loving warriors is equally important with hating war. I have always honored the service of our troops and supported measures for their care. That is not so for Republicans. They claim that we, who oppose war, do not support our troops, but Republican support is only so far as using them as cannon fodder. When Putin’s Pervert disrespected four dead special forces troops and their families, he evaded and projected by lying about Obama’s support.

President Trump falsely asserted on Monday that his predecessor, Barack Obama, and other presidents did not contact the families of American troops killed in duty, drawing a swift, angry rebuke from several of Mr. Obama’s former aides.

Mr. Trump was responding to a question about why he had not spoken publicly about the killing of four Green Berets in an ambush in Niger two weeks ago when he made the assertion. Rather than answering the question, Mr. Trump said he had written personal letters to their families and planned to call them in the coming week. Then he pivoted to his predecessors.

“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference in the Rose Garden with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. “A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate.”

Mr. Trump’s assertion belied a long record of meetings Mr. Obama held with the families of killed service people, as well as calls and letters, dating to the earliest days of his presidency. Before he decided to deploy 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, Mr. Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to greet the coffins of troops…

Inserted from <NY Times>

Rachel Maddow discussed Trump’s disrespect and lies in detail.

In my opinion, Trump may have feared that GOP mismanagement of the military might spark an investigation. After all, had Hillary been elected before this happened, Republicans at all levels of government would be screaming "BENGHAZI!!" through force of habit. On the other hand, Trump may not have notices, because he was too busy spending his free tokens from the Kremlin on a webcam girl from FullRussianHookers.com. Either way, our troops deserve better than anything the GOP will do.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 10/17/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:08 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 172017

It’s a chilly day, and that’s OK with me. I ordered groceries from Store to Door and put the finishing touches on a huge load of γηννα chili, so Squatch had better close her window.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Fantasy Football Update:

Here is the latest from our own fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

6Scores

Wooo Hooo!

Standings:

Congrats to Pam, who left the league in sole possession of 1st place. Condolences to Jack who is even under a Bigfoot foot. I have broken up Pam’s team and her players are available to claim on waivers, through the add player feature. Whether or not any of your claims are successful will depend on your position in the waiver order and who else claims which players. Be sure to make claims today.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Donald Trump is the Harvey Weinstein of Washington

Trump is the Harvey Weinstein of the World, but why no outrage from the Reich? Keith forgot one key element of the Republican world view. IOKIYAR! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Good News: Voting Rights

Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Just minutes after the publisher Larry Flynt offered ten million dollars in exchange for information leading to Donald Trump’s impeachment, Trump contacted Flynt and said that he would gladly provide the information himself in exchange for the cash.

According to Flynt, shortly after their phone conversation Trump sent him a voluminous number of e-mails, phone records, and other evidence of impeachable offenses, after which Flynt wired ten million dollars to Trump’s Swiss bank account.

“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be, to be honest,” Flynt told reporters.

The swift denouement to Trump’s tenure in the White House raised more than a few eyebrows in Washington, with some insiders wondering if Trump’s eagerness to accept the ten-million-dollar payment indicated that his net worth was considerably smaller than he had professed.

Andy, his net worth is way less than he claims. Even if Trump owns $billions, he is worth less than a wormy dawg turd! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

1017Cartoon

Open Thread – 10/16/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:49 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 162017

I just returned from the Optician. The glasses are excellent, but I’m very tired, and research pickings were slim, so this is today’s only article. I’ll be back to full time tomorrow, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Agony:

1015Broncos10-Giants23

Argh! The Giants played like Broncos, and the Broncos played like Giants.

Short Takes:

From Alternet: A new report from the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer claims that President Donald Trump regularly keeps Vice President Mike Pence in his place by mocking his Christian faith.

According to Mayer’s sources, Trump enjoys ribbing Pence for his right-wing Christian views by portraying him as a Taliban-style fundamentalist who wants to execute all LGBT people.

During a recent conversation on gay rights, for instance, Trump allegedly pointed at Pence and said, “Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!”

Dang! For the first time in his life, Trump spoke truthfully. RESIST!!

From Common Dreams: California Senate leader Kevin de Leόn formally announced on Sunday his bid to oust Sen. Dianne Feinstein.His campaign page promises "a bold agenda to increase economic opportunity for all Californians with a focus on maintaining California’s global leadership role in fighting climate change and building a clean-energy economy, rebuilding our state’s infrastructure, public education, work-place and healthcare, equity for women, immigrants, and low-wage workers and public safety."

Taking aim at President Donald Trump, he said, "Every day, his administration wages war on our people and our progress. He disregards our voices. Demonizes our diversity. Attacks our civil rights, our clean air, our health access, and our public safety. We can lead the fight against his administration, but only if we jump into the arena together."

Feinstein announced last week that she was running for a sixth term, prompting calls for more progressive candidates to challenge the 84-year-old. As the LA Times reported last week, "Protesters have dogged Feinstein all year, speaking out about her opposition to single-payer healthcare, her call for ‘patience’ with Trump’s presidency, and her bipartisan efforts."

I clearly prefer de Leon to Feinstein. I prefer Feinstein to ANY Republican! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The Danger of President Pence

Trump’s critics yearn for his exit. But Mike Pence, the corporate right’s inside man, poses his own risks.

Click Through. I’ve been saying this and more all year. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Republicans want to destroy last one.

Republicans on Parade – 10/15/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:49 pm Politics

Oct 152017

Here is the one hundredth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Republican Nazi organizer Richard Spencer. He is so honored for his Republican attitudes about women’s rights, his Fuhrer, and Caucasians’ place in society.

White Nationalist Richard Spencer’s tiki torch rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his distant dream of forming a white ethnostate steal headlines, but his views about women—that their role in politics be shrunk down to a barely visible place that would be unrecognizable to almost anyone in modern America—is seldom highlighted.

I spoke to Spencer this week, and in the context of a discussion about two documents that he admires, the American Naturalization Acts of 1790 and 1795, laws that once set out rules for the United States in limiting naturalization to only free white persons of good moral standing, I pointed out that the U.S. was a fundamentally different country at the turn of the 19th century. More specifically, I asked him if he wanted to return to a time in which women weren’t allowed to vote.

"I’m not terribly excited about voting in general," Spencer said. "I think that mass democracy is a bit of a joke to be honest."

I pressed him on the question again.

“I don’t necessarily think that that’s a great thing,” Spencer said of women voting in U.S. elections… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Newsweek>

That ought to be enough to give this Republican a parade all by itself. However, just in case you forget who this Republican is, here he is celebrating the infestation of the White House by his Fuhrer. You need to see this no matter how much it makes you cringe!

Barf Bag Alert!!

Do you want this Republican Nazi hate to become standard here?

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 10/15/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:48 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 152017

Wendy is due in about 25 minutes to de-stink the TomCat and help with housework, so I’ll write until she arrives and finish after she leaves. Today id a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos are worshiping with the Giants in the night game, so I’ll eat supper early and be in full meditation mode afterwards. May the holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they claim to be oversized. Tomorrow I have an appointment to pick up and adjust my glasses. It won’t take long, but by the time we factor in the lift bus, I’ll be gone for around four hours. I’ll publish, if I can, but I may have only a Personal Update.

Wendy just left. She thanks you all for your kindness, and JD for the earrings that she will wear watching football this afternoon.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Donald Trump Trucker Rally Cold Open

Alec led his Pence around by the nose just like the Fuhrer does his Pence. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Late Professor William T. Kelley taught Marketing at Wharton School of Business and Finance, University of Pennsylvania, for 31 years, ending with his retirement in 1982. Dr. Kelley, who also had vast experience as a business consultant, was the author of a then-widely used textbook called Marketing Intelligence — The Management of Marketing Information (originally published by P. Staples, London, 1968). Dr. Kelley taught marketing management to both undergraduate and graduate students at Wharton. www.upenn.edu/… Dr. Bill was one of my closest friends for 47 years when we lost him at 94 about six years ago. Bill would have been 100 this year.

Donald J. Trump was an undergraduate student at Wharton for the latter two of his college years, having been graduated in 1968. www.thedp.com/…

Professor Kelley told me 100 times over three decades that “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.” I remember his emphasis and inflection — it went like this — “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.” Dr. Kelley told me this after Trump had become a celebrity but long before he was considered a political figure. Dr. Kelley often referred to Trump’s arrogance when he told of this — that Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything.

Isn’t it a shame that the state of Ivy League education was such that Kelly and his fellow profs passed Trump anyway, instead of flunking the dumb SOB? And why didn’t the Electoral College flunk him out?!!? RESIST!!

From NY Times: In a desolate corner of northeastern Australia, about 100 miles from the nearest town, a grassy stretch of prime grazing land sits above a vein of coal so rich and deep that it could be mined for decades.

The Australian government is considering a proposal to build one of the world’s largest coal mines in this remote locale, known as the Galilee Basin, where acacia and eucalyptus trees grow wild between scattered creeks.

An Indian conglomerate, the Adani Group, has asked for a taxpayer-financed loan of as much as $800 million to make the enormous project viable, promising to create thousands of jobs in return.

But the plan has met intense opposition in Australia and abroad, focusing attention on a question with global resonance: Given the threat of climate change and the slowing global demand for coal, does the world really need another giant mine, especially at the public’s expense?

I hope that the Land of Oz will prefer green energy. Aussies, would it be feasible to invest that $800 million in a giant solar farm or wind farm? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

1015Cartoon

2017 Russian Missiles Discovered in Washington DC.

Manafart’s Millions

Posted by TomCat at 1:35 pm Politics

Oct 142017

As time goes on we learn more and more about how deeply the Trump campaign was entwined with Russians, bent on establishing a US administration that could be controlled from the Kremlin. If my interpretation is correct, and I haven’t been wrong yet, I think we can surmise that the criminal conspiracy came to us through Manafart’s Millions.

Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, has much stronger financial ties to a Russian oligarch than have been previously reported.

An NBC News investigation reveals that $26 million changed hands in the form of a loan between a company linked to Manafort and the oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin.

The loan brings the total of their known business dealings to around $60 million over the past decade, according to financial documents filed in Cyprus and the Cayman Islands.

Manafort was forced to resign from the Trump campaign in August 2016, following allegations of improper financial dealings, charges he has strenuously denied. He is now a central figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Investigators have said they are looking into Manafort’s financial ties to prominent figures in Russia…

Inserted from <NBC News>

Click through for more. Rachel Maddow broke the story down in detail.

If you let the video run beyond the end, you’ll also get Rachel’s interview with Richard Engel, the author of the article.

Everything above is well documented. I cannot prove what follows, but I consider it the most likely scenario of how Trump became Putin’s puppet.

I think Deripaska contacted Manafart, told him about the dirt they have on Trump and offered Manafart big money to serve as go between. Manifart offered his free services to the Trump campaign, and told the moron that Russia had pics of hookers peeing on him, and proof of several criminal money laundering deals. Manifart told Trump that the dirt would stay private, and Russia would try to put him in the White House, if he would lift the sanctions against Russia and support Russia’s aggression in eastern Europe. Trump agreed, Russia put him in the White House, Manafart got millions and Trump has tried to normalize Relations with Russia, prevented so far by publicity.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 10/14/2017

Posted by TomCat at 1:34 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 142017

It’s a strange weather day with only 58° forecast and sunny, so the sun hitting the wall makes my room hot, and the open window makes it chilly, depending on my location in the room.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:14 (average 5:04). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): The Iran Deal

Amen! Oppose the Fuhrer’s rush to see Iran with nukes! RESIST!!

From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Dana Loesch Declares Feminism Dead

Barf Bag Alert!!

Ladies, what say you to this Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian? RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Donald Trump said on Friday that his I.Q. is “even higher” now that he knows that the United States Virgin Islands are part of the United States.

“Quite frankly, a few weeks ago, when I learned that Puerto Rico was a part of the U.S., I thought that that boosted my I.Q. to a whole new level,” Trump said. “Now that I also know about the Virgin Islands, my number must be off the charts.”

He said that he was eager to retake his I.Q. test because of “all the amazing things I learned this week.”

Dang Andy! I think the mere mention of Virgin Islands lowered Trump’s IQ, as all the blood flowed out of his itty bitty brain into his itty bitty pecker, as he tried to grope them. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

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