TomCat

Open Thread – 11/14/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:23 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 142016

I'm still very tired, because I have had almost no sleep over what is happening to our nation.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today's took me 2:48 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: …But then I thought, Maybe not. There’s a strong argument that there’s nothing more hilarious to a child than the notion of adults screwing up. The cliché of the bumbling sitcom dad, as well as every Kevin James movie ever made, relies on this principle. When kids see adults do something stupid, it makes them feel smarter and more secure about their own place in the world. Finally, I had something I could work with.

When my daughter came home, I sat her down at the kitchen table, gave her a Kit Kat from her hoard of Halloween candy, and offered this explanation of the election: “Imagine the stupidest thing you could ever do, like peeing on a stack of pancakes. Now, imagine that the United States is a stack of pancakes. Millions of grownups just peed on it.”

She started giggling. This explanation made sense to her. As she ran off to play, I was relieved, and grateful for the alacrity with which children laugh at their elders. But I am still waiting for someone to explain the election to me.

Wow Andy! What a perfect way to explain the election of Fuhrer Drumphenfarten to a child. This is the end of the article, Everyone, please click through for the beginning.

From YouTube (SNL Channel)(Hat-Tip JD): Election Week Cold Open

This brought me agonized tears for my country.

If you cannot access this SNL video because you're in Canada or elsewhere, try http://globalnews.ca/news/3063982/kate-mckinnons-hillary-clinton-sings-leonard-cohens-hallelujah-in-post-election-snl-skit/?sf42252769=1

From Think Progress: On Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Steve Bannon as “Chief Strategist to the President.” Bannon is the proprietor of Breitbart, a website that promotes and caters to the alt-right, a euphemism for people who promote white nationalist and white supremacist ideologies.

Ben Shapiro, who worked alongside Bannon as Editor-at-Large of Breitbart, said that under Bannon’s leadership “Breitbart has become the alt-right go-to website… pushing white ethno-nationalism as a legitimate response to political correctness, and the comment section turning into a cesspool for white supremacist mememakers.”

In short, Fuhrer Drumphenfarten's right hand man in the White House is a Nazi. The Alt-Right are calling Bannon "Trump's Minister of Propaganda" and celebrating.

Cartoon:

1114Cartoon

That's what Republican Supply-side Jesus (the opposite of the real Jesus) promised. That's what he did.

Pat A Has a BIG Mouth! ;-)

Posted by TomCat at 2:55 pm Blog News, Politics

Nov 132016

84-PatA

Pat has been a regular commenter here for over two years and followed us on Care2 for over a year before that. She has won once before by posting the 59,000th comment in December 2014. She developed some health issues, and we hadn’t seen her for much too long, when she suddenly popped in again to brighten our day. She hails from across the pond, and is still exactly whom I think of when I see British programing featuring the slightly eccentric Lady of the Manor in a castle where the pets rule. Her heart is huge. She is dedicated to food safety, human rights, animal rights, and the environment. Her sense of humor is magnificent, and her comments make her well loved by all here.

Please join me in reminding Her Ladyship just how special she is. Thanks Pat!

Open Thread – 11/13/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:54 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 132016

I wakened early today from a too brief fitful sleep. I dreamed that I was basking in sunshine on a warm day with a cool breeze. Suddenly a storm rolled in and blotted out the sun. Lightning flashed threateningly and hail battered everything. Then the storm coalesced into an image of Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten. I woke up screaming. Wendy will be coming in just a few minutes to de-stink the TomCat, help with cleaning, help with cooking, and do some repairs on my power chair. It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos and the Saints will be televised in the early game, so this won’t be published until after it is over. My the Orb shine it’s blessed light on every team but one.

We made enough of my green cloud chili to declare war on US voters.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:38 (average 4:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Decrease in Horror:

1113Broncos25-Saints23

The impending rectum Reich prevents ecstasy, but what a finish.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Speaking to reporters late Friday night, President-elect Donald Trump revealed that he had Googled Obamacare for the first time earlier in the day.

“I Googled it, and, I must say, I was surprised,” he said. “There was a lot in it that really made sense, to be honest.”

He said that he regretted that the frenetic pace of the presidential campaign had prevented him from Googling Obamacare earlier. “You’re always running, running, running,” he said. “There were so many times that I made a mental note to Google Obamacare but I just never got around to it.”

Trump also told the reporters that, now that the campaign was over, he had finally found the time to Google Mexico.

Dang, Andy! Do you think that fool will decide to keep part of Mexico too?

From Think Progress: Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., a prominent Trump campaign surrogate and Fox News regular, is reportedly under consideration to be Secretary of Homeland Security in the new administration. But his obsession with shutting down the mostly peaceful anti-Trump protests across the nation seems to be his top concern at the moment.

Seizing on reports that there was some violence at protests, Clarke unleashed a series of tweets denouncing the actions of “goon anarchists” and calling for the the National Guard to get involved.

There are few things uglier than Republican abuse of power by a race traitor.

From TPM: Florida state Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had endorsed Donald Trump presidential bid, said on Friday that she has joined the President-elect’s transition team.

"I’m honored to serve President-elect Donald J. Trump in making this historic transition and assisting in finding the best individuals to bring change to Washington on day one, grow our economy, protect our children and families, and be unafraid to stand up for Americans," Bondi told Politico.

Bondi’s connections to Trump stirred controversy during the campaign when it was revealed that a political group backing Bondi solicited a donation from Trump’s charity as Bondi was considering a lawsuit against Trump University. After the group received the donation from the Trump Foundation, Bondi decided against taking up the lawsuit. Trump’s campaign has insisted that the donation to Bondi was a mistake.

Mistake my ass!! It was a crime!! The list of incompetent criminals on Fuhrer Drumphenfarten’s transition team is growing.

Cartoon:

1113Cartoon

Atop an Anti Trump Rally

Posted by TomCat at 10:38 am Politics

Nov 122016

Yesterday I had heard the sounds of demonstrators throughout the city. As I was dozing off to sleep, I was awakened by loud demonstration sounds, and they were almost under me. I could see the demonstrators from my window. Several chants rang out. "Hands up! Don’t shoot!" "Black Lives Matter!" "My body! My Choice!" "I’m Queer! I’m Here!" "Pussy grabs back!" "Not My President!" The leaders shouted into megaphones that violence and vandalism would not be tolerated. Police loudspeakers ordered the demonstrators to disperse. Instead, they sat down. Then things got ugly.

A third consecutive day of anti-Trump demonstrations turned violent Thursday night, as protesters began with a rush-hour march and chanting but eventually damaged cars at a dealership and rampaged through the Pearl District shattering business windows into Friday morning.

Police declared the demonstration a "riot" more than three hours after its 5 p.m. start, citing "extensive criminal and dangerous behavior." The bureau said it warned the crowd about the designation, then tweeted that rioting is a class C felony. It later tweeted that 26 were arrested in the demonstration, which lasted into early Friday morning.

Officers in riot gear on numerous occasions used flash-bang grenades and fired rubber pepper ball spheres at the crowd after it refused repeated demands to disperse. Police report officers were "taking projectiles;" protesters were seen throwing objects toward officers, and some fired fireworks in their direction.

The officers didn’t move in until after a small fraction of the thousands of protesters became destructive.

Police tweeted that many demonstrators were "trying to get anarchist groups to stop destroying property" and that "anarchists" were refusing to do so. Demonstrators at many points chanted "peaceful protest."

From <The Oregonian>

Video:

Here’s the problem, as I see it. The people who were vandalizing and assaulting people were not the protestors. I saw Republican onlookers wade into the demonstrators and attacking them. I read that one Republican got out of a car on the Morrison Bridge and shot a demonstrator. However, the police attacked the peaceful demonstrators. I saw CS gas being used. I’ve never seen flash bangs before, and they are very loud and very bright. They were going off dangerously close to the demonstrators. Police used a sonic cannon very close to me. The sound was so intense, that I had to hold my hands over my ears, and I had a severe headache for hours afterwards.

In spite of the abuse of power against them, the demonstrators are now raising money to help repair the damage they did not do. I am thoroughly proud of them.

As for the vandals and violent people, they belong with the Republican Party. There is no place for them among progressives, if they are going to act like Republicans.

Open Thread – 11/12/2016

Posted by TomCat at 10:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 122016

I’m still extremely tired. I had little sleep last night, because I inadvertently participated in a riot, and did so from the edge of my bed. See my lead article today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:31 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes (all from Real Time Channel):

From YouTube: Lessons for Democrats

He sure made a point about being too nice.

From YouTube: Eric Holder: Abolish the Electoral College

I disagree with needing a Constitutional Amendment, Visit National Popular Vote to see how to do it.

From YouTube: New Rule: We’re Still Here

I wonder if the North Korean immigration website crashed from attempts by Americans to escape the Fifth Reich of Fuhrer Drumphenfarten. Like most of us, I’m still here. Like far too few of us, I’m fighting back.

Cartoon:

Not the ear.

Michael Moore’s Five Point Plan

Posted by TomCat at 1:17 pm Politics

Nov 112016

The first time I saw Bowling for Columbine I was hooked. Since then I have seen almost everything Michael Moore has produced, except his piece on Rump Dump, and that was only because of my vision problems. I’ve never been disappointed. His five points are the end of a much larger article, and I urge you to click through to read it in its entirety.

…Moore’s full five-point list:

Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably.

Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters, and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn’t let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must "heal the divide" and "come together." They will pull more hooey like that out of their ass in the days to come. Turn them off.

Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist, and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that’s about to begin.

Everyone must stop saying they are "stunned" and "shocked". What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all "You’re fired!" Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.

You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: "HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!" The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don’t. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he’s president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we’ll continue to have presidents we didn’t elect and didn’t want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there’s climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don’t want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage, and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above).

Let’s try to get this all done by noon today.

—Michael Moore

From <Common Dreams>

1. Amen. I have always believed in exterminating the blood-thirsty Republican alligators, before draining the Democratic swamp. I was wrong. Drain the swamp.

2. I disagree. I don’t think we should turn them off, because it’s important that we know what they are doing. I even watch the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, from time to time. Instead, don’t patronize their advertisers, whenever possible.

3. When DINOs step up, tear them a new Trump hole.

4. Good point. In my final prediction, I smelled a rat and guaranteed only that I could make no guarantees. I put forward what I hoped was a worst case scenario and said that I could easily be wrong.

5. I started doing that yesterday.

Open Thread – 11/11/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:16 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 112016

I am still so upset, that sleep does not come. ARGH! I feel exhausted.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:55 (average 6:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: Russian government officials conferred with members of Donald Trump’s campaign team, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday, a disclosure that could reopen scrutiny of the Kremlin’s role in the president-elect’s bitter race against Hillary Clinton.

The statement came from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who said in an interview with the state-run Interfax news agency that “there were contacts” with the Trump team.

“Obviously, we know most of the people from his entourage,” Ryabkov said.

There’s the proof. Not only is Herr Reichsfuhrer Drumpfenfarten (R-#NotMyPresident) is Putin’s dog, but also, he seditiously conspired with a foreign government to hoodwink US voters.

From The Last Word: Electoral College turns a win to a loss

Lawrence provided fascinating history to explain how the people’s will has been overcome by the loser to install a Republican, again.

From The Rachel Maddow Show: Anti-Trump protests grip cities nationwide

I’m proud that Portland is among them.

Cartoon:

1111Cartoon

What the F? Where now?

Posted by TomCat at 12:28 pm Editorial, Politics

Nov 102016

Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Josef Stalin

I keep telling myself that eventually I shall wake up and discover that I have had the worst nightmare of my life, but it's settling in that what I made it a point to warn against, over and over again, has really happened. Almost every state was a swing state. In this editorial, I shall endeavor to make some observations on how it happened and an idea or two on how to move forward.

There's lots of blame to go around. Lets begin with our electoral system. Hillary won the election by over 230,000 votes, but Trump won the electoral college. It's totally unjust that the vote of one goose-stepping fascist Wyoming militiaman counts as much as the votes of six California Patriots. It is the second time in 16 years that the electoral college stymied the popular will. Support the plan from National Popular Vote.

The greatest share of blame goes to those who could, but did not vote. If they want to complain, as I'm sure they will, they can take a long flying you-know-what off a short pier.

The second greatest share of the blame goes to the Republican Party. Ever since they embarked on the Southern Solution, they have cultivated so much hatred and fear in Caucasians that more votes are cast as a reaction than as a decision. There is nothing too deplorable for the Republican Party leadership to embrace. The Republican dominated FBI cooperated with Putin's FSB (the KGB today) hackers to leak propaganda to influence the outcome. Perhaps what boggles my mind most is the voting of white Republican women. Their votes could have elected the first Woman President in US History, and instead they opted for a serial pussy grabber.

The next greatest share of blame goes to the media. This should never have been a contest,but their bottom line is advertising revenue, and a runaway campaign season sells no soap. So instead they kept pushing false equivalence on voters. They Made it a race and raked in their filthy lucre. Voters who didn't know better opted for the "change candidate" thinking there was no difference.

Next in line is the Democratic Party. Deborah Wassermann- Schultz did everything she could to steer the primary to Hillary Clinton and away from Bernie Sanders. As a result, we had the weakest candidate the Democrats have nominated in my memory. She was not the totally corrupt monster that Republicans and the Putin propagandist, Jill Stein, made her out to be. Nevertheless, a stronger candidate could have won. We Democrats need to turn the party over to Bernie, Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Finally are the supporters of boutique candidates. Many of them spread Russian propaganda against Hillary Clinton that was broadcast on RT and backed by Jill Stein in return coverage on RT to build her party. Her betrayal got her less than 1% of the national popular vote. I'm not saying that the throwaway voters were responsible for the loss, but if they voted to stop Trump in Florida, instead of wasting their votes, Trump would have lost by over 150,000 votes, and that would have tipped the scales.

Where do we go from here? We need to do a lot of what Republicans have been doing for the last eight years. We need oppose, obstruct and delay whatever Republicans try to pass. We must publicize their abuses of power far and wide. However, if Republicans should make a proposal that benefits plain folks, and if that proposal does not contain a poison pill, we must do what's good for America, even if Republicans get credit for it. We must take back state governments before the 2020 census, to put Democrats in control of redistricting.

Most of all, we must survive!

God help us all!

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