TomCat

Jun 082020
 

Here is the one hundred seventy-fifth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s winner is an unnamed Portland police officer. He is so honored for beating and pepper-spraying a reporter for having the audacity to film his Republican brother officers illegally torturing a black demonstrator like the Republican Nazis they are.

0608PigsAttackA Portland freelance reporter has penned an account of being beaten and pepper-sprayed by police officers while trying to film them making an arrest last night.

Video taken from a helicopter by WW’s news partner KATU-TV around 11:45 pm on June 6 shows a person filming police in Chapman Square, until an officer turns to him, hits him with a baton and twice pepper-sprays him in the face.

Donovan Farley, a longtime contributor to WW’s Arts & Culture section, says he was that person. His account matches what’s shown in the helicopter video.

Farley says in his account that he approached the scene because he heard a protester say he could not breathe as police officers were forcefully arresting him on the ground. Farley alleges the methods police used to make the arrest resembled those that Minneapolis police applied that killed George Floyd.

“As the man sputtered and spit and gasped, I, for reasons that I’m sure are clear, shouted to get the fuck off his neck,” Farley recalls. “This is the moment a fourth officer approached, reaching for his baton.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Willamette Week>

Here’s the included video.

Although Portland is one of the nation’s most liberal cities, our history of police misconduct, especially against Blacks leaves much to be desired.  Portland, like many cities, needs a citizen review board with teeth.

RESIST!!

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Jun 082020
 

It’s another busy day here in the CatBox.  After research, I lay dawn for 90 minutes to minimize pain.  When I arose, I visited the throne and flushed Republicans.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update from me.  WWWendy is taking me to the hospital for my PET scan.  Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:53 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0608TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 2,008,791
Deaths: 112,506
Recovered: 761,729

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Vladimir Putin has rejected Donald J. Trump’s request for ten thousand active-duty Russian Army troops to guard the perimeter around the White House, Administration and Kremlin sources have confirmed.

After Trump’s call for U.S. troops was rebuffed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, Trump reportedly snapped, “I’ll call Vlad,” and stormed out of the meeting with the two men.

Much to Trump’s disappointment, however, his request for Russian troops met with a chilly response.

“The optics would be terrible,” Putin reportedly told him. “Worse than that crazy thing you did with the Bible. Really, you need to get a grip.”

Dang, Andy! Poor* widdle criminal Fuhrer Trump! It really hurt his feelings, when his perv-daddy Putin [R-RU] pulled out of Trump’s* pooter and zipped up his fly!  RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: The New York Times’ Editorial Page Editor James Bennet has resigned after the publication of an editorial by Sen. Tom Cotton advocating that the military be deployed to end racial injustice protests throughout the United States. Bennet had been the head of the Times’ editorial pages since 2016.

The Times faced immediate and furious backlash for publishing the op-ed, including from within the Times itself. After repeatedly defending the decision to run Cotton’s anti-American screed, it came out that the Times’ editors had themselves solicited for Cotton to make his case—and that Bennet had not even read the piece before publishing it.

It appears to me that the Times has made James Bennet a scapegoat for following the Times editors’ policy, against his own wishes. They should all be fired. However, Bennet should be fired too, for publishing it without reading it.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Animals – The House Of The Rising Sun 1964 (High Quality)


Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Jun 072020
 

I’m afraid I need to go back to bed.  I have no idea why, but I could not sleep at all last night, and I need to get on top of that, before it gets on top of me.  Hopefully, I’ll be in the saddle tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:20 (average 5:14).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Take:

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Jun 062020
 

WWWendy will come to de-stink the rancid TomCat and help with lots of chores.  I plan to lay down first to minimize pain.  This is my only article today.  Tomorrow we’ll see what’s there.  Sundays are slow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:14).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0606TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 1,967,273
Deaths: 111,408
Recovered: 738,729

Short Take:

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchtower (Audio)

He was certainly one of the greatest guitarists in history. Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Trump*/GOP Losing Ground

 Posted by at 11:43 am  Politics
Jun 052020
 

The more time goes on, the better things look for Democrats in November, as criminal Fuhrer Trump* could not be doing more to sabotage himself and the Republican Reich, it he tried.  Nevertheless, we cannot use this as an excuse for complacency.

0605Polls

…Start here: Trump got 306 electoral votes in his 2016 win. Now, consider these 2020 scenarios (all calculations made via 270towin.com):

* If Trump loses Texas (and wins everywhere else he won in 2016), he loses to Biden, 270 electoral votes to 268 electoral votes.

* If Trump loses Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (and wins everywhere else he won in 2016), he loses to Biden 278 to 260.

* If Trump loses Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania (and wins everywhere else he won in 2016), he loses to Biden 279 to 259.

* If Trump loses Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin (and wins everywhere else he won in 2016), he loses to Biden 276 to 262.

* If Trump loses Arizona, Ohio and Wisconsin (and wins everywhere else he won in 2016), he loses to Biden 271 to 267.

The point here is not to say any of these electoral map scenarios are locked in. After all, we are still 152 days away from the November 3 election. (And, yes, I counted.)

Rather, they are to note that Biden, as of right now, has a WHOLE lot of different paths to 270 electoral votes, while Trump has a dwindling number. And of course, the polls on released on Wednesday don’t even deal with potential trouble spots for Trump in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia — all of which he won in 2016…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <CNN>

Trump* is beginning to panic.

New Polls Put Trump In A Perilous Political Position

Trump calls campaign meeting as poll numbers fall

The Senate is slipping from Republicans

In this Republican den of horrors, we all need some good news to give us hope and keep us sane, but remember this.  If you aren’t saying everything you can, you aren’t saying enough.  If you aren’t working as much as you can, you aren’t working enough.  If you aren’t helping all you can, you aren’t helping enough.  If you aren’t giving all you can, you aren’t giving enough.  If you aren’t doing all you can, you aren’t doing enough.

RESIST!!

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Jun 052020
 

It’s another hectic day here in the CatBox.  I had to lay down 90 minutes to alleviate back pain.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update, as it’s a WWWendy day and we have lots of chores to do.  JD, will you cover Bill Maher?  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 5:52).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0605TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 1,925,267
Deaths: 110,218
Recovered: 712,436

Short Takes:

From ProPublica: Police culture can be insular and tough to penetrate. But I’ve been surprised by how often it’s possible, though time consuming, to expose important issues by requesting and examining records and data from police departments and other government agencies and engaging citizens and key leaders. So here are five techniques concerned citizens, journalists and policymakers can use to examine police conduct in their communities.

1. Understand the policies and laws that govern police conduct.

If you’re alarmed by what you saw in Minneapolis, or other recent incidents of apparent police misconduct, the first step is to find out if the agency in question has a written policy on the use of force. Does the policy dictate when officers should or shouldn’t use force? What tactics are they allowed to use? Is there any rule against choking a suspect?

It’s important to know if the officers involved were following the policies and procedures that are supposed to guide their behavior. Police actions that strike an onlooker as inappropriate may actually be within a department’s rules. It’s possible the rules themselves are inconsistent with best practices elsewhere.

Ask the department for its policies on the practices that concern you, like restraining suspects or the use of pepper spray or Tasers. You may also need to request rules set by a county or state authority. Ask for written copies. You may be required to file a formal public records request, which I will describe below. And if there is no existing written policy, that might be something worth questioning itself.

If you’re having trouble understanding a policy, try running it by an attorney, academic, elected official or a journalist in your community.

How I did it: I did a deep dive into policies about drug testing after a police captain was killed in a car crash in 2016, and I exposed that he was drunk and on drugs at the time. I spoke to his chief and learned their department didn’t have a policy for random drug testing. I wondered why that was the case and looked to the state attorney general’s office, which sets many police rules. The rules allowed departments to choose whether they wanted to do random testing, and my reporting identified more than 100 that did not. After our story, the state attorney general mandated random drug testing for cops across the state.

I included one of five ways YOU can help hold police accountable for criminal Republican behavior. Please click through for the other four.  It’s worth the read, and you need to know it.  RESIST!!

From Alternet: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Friday warned that it’s wrong to compare President Donald Trump to President Richard Nixon, on the grounds that Trump is far worse and more dangerous.

Krugman acknowledges that there are some similarities between Trump and Nixon, such as their willingness to use racial grievance to gain power and their cavalier attitude toward obeying the law.

But Krugman thinks that the biggest difference between Trump and Nixon is that the Republican Party of 2020 is not the same as the Republican Party that pushed Nixon out in 1974…

…“The point is that today’s Republican Party wouldn’t object to a Trumpian power grab, even if it amounted to a military coup,” he writes. “On the contrary, the party would cheer it on.”

The Republican Reich, aka the Fifth Reich, has elections with predetermined results.  They exist for show only. If a military coup is needed to bring it about, Republicans are fine with that.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Beatles – Come Together

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Good Dog, Mad Dog!

 Posted by at 12:20 pm  Politics
Jun 042020
 

Back on 12/2016, criminal Fuhrer Trump* appointed Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as Secretary of Defense.  Although the appointment was illegal, I questioned opposing it, in the hope that Mattis would speak truth to power and honor his military oath above loyalty to criminal Fuhrer Trump*.  I published an article, entitled “Is Mad Dog Such a Bad Dog?”.  It took a long time, but he is proving me right.

0604MadDog

James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”…

…“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”

He goes on to contrast the American ethos of unity with Nazi ideology. “Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was “Divide and Conquer.” Our American answer is “In Union there is Strength.”’ We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Atlantic>

Ex-Defense Secretary Mattis condemns Trump as threat to constitution

Remembering that Mattis is as far right as I am left, if not farther, integrity demands that I acknowledge it, when what he says is actually true. In his analysis of the behavior of criminal Fuhrer Trump*, he could not be more spot-on!

Good Dog, Mad Dog!

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Jun 042020
 

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, as Store to Door will be delivering my groceries within the next 90 minutes.  Sitting in my power chair is the single thing that most sets off the pain from my spinal cancer.  I need t accept that, after about four hours, I need to rest in bed for a while.  So this morning, I rose at 5:30, and returner to bed from 9:00 to 10:30.  Other than running late, we’ll see how I do.  They came, and did not bring half my order.  ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 6:10 (average 10:02).  To do it, click here.  How did you co?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0604TrumpVirusMap

Mote the huge brown blob in the four corners area of the Southwest.  That is the Navajo reservation.  There, Republican pseudo-Christian missionaries were protesting over wearing masks and gloves. In the process, they murdered a bunch of Navajo people, as a favor to Republican Supply-side Jesus (the antithesis of the real Jesus).

Cases: 1,903,956
Deaths: 109,176
Recovered: 688,817

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: The Frank Rizzo statue was removed from the Municipal Services Plaza overnight. You don’t have to be from Philadelphia to understand what this means to Philadelphians. Via the Daily Beast:

Rizzo, who served as police commissioner from 1967 to 1971 and mayor from 1972 to 1980, oversaw a legacy of police brutality in the city and of discrimination against minorities. In 1971, he publicly urged supporters to “Vote White.” NBC Philadelphia reports that a crew arrived just after midnight Wednesday to remove the statue from the steps of the city’s Municipal Services Building. Members of the National Guard reportedly surrounded the area as work began. Shortly before 2 a.m., a truck drove off with the statue. City mayor Jim Kenney posted a photo of the empty spot early Wednesday alongside the caption: “The statue represented bigotry, hatred, and oppression for too many people, for too long. It is finally gone.”

I remember Rizzo from the late 1960s, when I lived in New York and Atlantic City. I had family in Philly, so I was often there. On an asshole scale of one to ten, Rizzo was a real Republican!  RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Donald Trump may not want to believe it, but the evidence is beginning to mount around the nation that white supremacists and assorted far-right “Boogaloo Bois” are working overtime to leverage protests around the United States against police brutality in the wake of the George Floyd killing—not to merely join the protests, but to both inflict violence and property damage, as well as to threaten other communities with it, all in order to heighten political tensions around the protests.

The tactics vary: Some are showing up disguised as anarchists or sympathizers, while some are arriving fully armed, in camo and body armor, with the Hawaiian shirts signifying the far-right “Boogaloo” civil-war movement. Others are simply spreading false information on the Internet by posing as antifa and telling smaller suburban and exurban communities that hordes of ravening anarchists are about to descend on their communities and break all their windows—sending those communities into fits of paranoid overreaction.

Trump has been insistent that the violence in the streets has primarily been the work of antifa, while denying the presence of far-right extremists: “I don’t see any indication that there were any white supremest groups mixing in. This is an ANTIFA Organization,” he tweeted on Monday.

In fact, there is abundant evidence that, as The New York Times’ Neil McFarquar observed, the mix at the protests has involved a broad range of actors. And so far, according to The Nation, the FBI has found no indication of organized antifascist involvement in the protest violence.

Some so-called protestors are peacefully exercising their right to dissent. They are almost all Democrats. They are the ones criminal Fuhrer Trump* and the Republican Reich assault.  Some call themselves Antifa, but they are anarchists bent on creating chaos. Since chaos is a Republican tactic classifying these Republicans as Democrats is an error. Some are just looters. Republicans label them as Democrats too, but their primary motivation is greed, a Republican trait. Looters are Republicans too. And some are just MAGA Maniacs. They are obviously Republicans. Don’t be a Republican. Protest peacefully.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Elvis Presley – Can’t Help Falling In Love (Audio)


Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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