TomCat

Don’t Get Your Hopes Too High

Posted by TomCat at 9:45 am Politics

Jan 292020

I remember that Democrats were about to add a public option to the ACA, commonly known as ObamaCare. Sen. Chuck “Snake in the” Grassley [R-IA], told Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] that Republicans needed just a little more time to agree on their ideas to make the ACA a truly bipartisan bill. Reid agreed to hold up until after spring break. During spring break Republicans used Koch Brothers’ money to specially train, pay and send busloads od Tea Party extremists from community to community to attend Democratic town halls nationwide. These Tea Baggers, aka Koch Suckers, lectured on non-existent Democratic death panels, disrupted meetings with threats of violence and blindsided the Democratic attempt to educate the public about the ACA. They combined this with a national saturation ad campaign to spread lies about the ACA. In the end, we got the ACA, but just barely. And we did not get the public option, because we responded kindly to Republican calls for bipartisanship. Now Republicans want to talk about a “bipartisan” deal on witnesses, because Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch says he doesn’t have the votes to stop witnesses. Instead of “Snake in the” Grassley, Leningrad Lindsey Poo is his new side-kick.

President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is shifting to questions from senators, a pivotal juncture as Republicans lack the votes to block witnesses and face a potential setback in their hope of ending the trial with a quick acquittal.

After Trump’s defense team rested Tuesday with a plea to “end now,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell privately told senators he doesn’t yet have the votes to brush back Democratic demands for witnesses now that revelations from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, have roiled the trial.

Bolton writes in a forthcoming book that Trump told him he wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until it helped with investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden. That assertion, if true, would undercut a key defense argument and go to the heart of one of the two articles of impeachment against the president.

“I think Bolton probably has something to offer us,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska…

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Here are a pair of video clips for you.

McConnell says votes to block witnesses aren’t there

Has there ever been a time that Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch could not rule his caucus with an iron jack boot? I can’t remember one. This smells like a lie.

Lawrence: Why Mitch McConnell Revealed He Doesn’t Have The Votes

I’m sure Lawrence is right about the motives of Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch. I also think Republicans are playing possum and planning a sneak-attack.

Republicans see that 75% of Americans and even half of Republicans want witnesses and documents. So they’re pretending to be ‘oh so very fair’ in considering that question. But they also know that virtually all their rabid base, the ones that vote in primaries, oppose witnesses and documents. So, when the time to vote on witnesses and documents comes, they will vote against and move quickly to acquit, before we realize what happened.

Remember, when Republicans say bipartisan, they mean this:

RESIST!!

Open Thread–1/29/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 292020

If not one more drop of rain falls for the rest of the month, it will still be the wettest January in Oregon history. So it’s no surprise that the CatBox has been muggy as hell. I’m feeling so moist and sticky that my wheelchair sores are back. Fortunately, it’s a WWWendy night, as I’m a VERY stinky TomCat. I’m still keeping my food down, and my Republicosis seems to be at bay. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:12 (average 4:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

And Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch is up to much more than that!

Short Takes:

From Politico: …one leading Democratic presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, just days ago unveiled a plan that, among other things, describes how she would move quickly to staff the government if she wins the White House.

In the plan, Warren voices the fears of many Democrats. “This will be no ordinary transition between administrations,” she states. “Unlike previous transitions, we will not be able to assume good faith cooperation on the part of the outgoing administration.”

That Democrats are making transition-related moves more than nine months before Election Day underscores not only their distrust of Trump but also the reality that taking over the U.S. government is a mammoth task with high stakes.

Any government is especially vulnerable during a transition of power, and Democrats who deal with national security are among those most concerned about a Trump-to-Democrat handover.

Crawford Caligula tried to sabotage Obama’s transition, but Trump* will be far worse! As I have said before, we’re going to have to drag him from the White House amid the temper tantrum to end all temper tantrums, with a strong possibility of gunfire from Ammosexual, Fascist Republican militias. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Impeachment Trial: The Big Picture

Of course the Reich on the Left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is wrong. They want only to goose-step with their criminal Fuhrer, Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Trump unveils Middle East plan that was swiftly rejected by Palestinians

Orange Asshole speak with forked tongue. It’s so one sided that that even Haaretz called it an invitation for permanent war. In 18th century Africa, slavers used to say it was good for their victims. This is good for Palestinians in the same way… That’s the Republican way! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Don McLean – American Pie (Good quality)

Ah… Lona’s memories! Thanks Lona!! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Slinging it for the Criminal

Posted by TomCat at 9:10 am Politics

Jan 282020

We’re now in the third and last day of stupidity, as displayed by the clown car of hypocrites representing impeached criminal, Donald “quid pro quo” Trump*. Apparently the release of information from John Bolton’s Book caught them off guard. Except for a weak attempt to deflect it near the end of their presentation, they ignored it. In the process, they made fools of themselves.

I am glad I am leaving this place on Tuesday and heading to Iowa, where some decent people are contending to head a government and a political system so corrupted and debased at this point that the ship of state most closely resembles that homeless wandering garbage barge from 1987. The last thing I saw was Republican Senators John Barrasso and Mike Braun, red-faced and hollering, because some reporters wanted to know precisely how much of the bullshit slung by the White House lawyers on Monday afternoon anyone should believe.

Make no mistake about it. From about 4 o’clock, the time former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi rose to speak, until about 6, when a longtime lawyer for El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago named Eric Herschmann wrapped up what amounted to some MAGA rally cosplay, a monstrously obvious fraud was perpetrated on the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment. If any lawyer in any municipal court in the country had lied and misrepresented the facts of a case involving a speeding ticket as thoroughly as Bondi and Herschmann did here, that lawyer’s license would have been pulled by lunchtime. However, Chief Justice John Roberts, perhaps exhausted by the effort it took to extend the work of Breckinridge Long into the 21st century on Monday morning, sat there like one of the marble vice presidents in the niches of the visitor’s galleries above. A fraud was perpetrated on the court over which Roberts was presiding, and he had to know it.

I thought the defense case had scraped bottom when Ken Starr was brought out of cold storage to lecture the Senate on the dangers of a runaway impeachment process. But that turned out to be merely particularly odious concern-trolling. Irony died a long time ago and all Starr was doing was digging up the casket and setting it ablaze. However, it was the Bondi-Herschmann pas de deux ended up shredding the last possible rags of dignity that still clung to the truth in this farce. Bondi began by explaining how it was the House managers that forced her to get up and talk about the Bidens and Burisma. Of course, Bondi was the Florida attorney general who, in 2013, buried that state’s investigation into the fraudulent Trump University after a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation landed in her campaign account. At the moment, she’s making $115-large as a lobbyist for the government of Qatar. So, naturally, she was the lawyer chosen to crank up the innuendo machine regarding the Bidens and Burisma, especially since the Republicans Have The Votes, so nothing else matters.

Reading her prepared argument like a seventh-grader delivering a history report, Bondi found herself inevitably stanning for the deeply corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. In reality, Shokin was removed because the government of the United States, the World Bank, and virtually every official in the western world except Sir Paul McCartney knew he was for sale and wanted him gone. Biden, then vice president, had been tasked with delivering the warning from the United States to Ukraine. Shokin had opened an investigation into Burisma but he had then stuffed it. That was part of why everybody thought he was a crook. Bondi, however, asked us to sympathize with Viktor Shokin, the victim of Biden shenanigans, a theory that has been debunked from here to glory. I swear to god, if they’d put a menu from Denny’s in Bondi’s folder, she’d have blamed Hunter Biden for the Grand Slam breakfast. [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Esquire>

Here are three video clops that shed more light of this absurd defense.

Jake Tapper fact-checks President Trump’s defense team during Senate impeachment trial

Of course the Trump* defense team lied. If they weren’t lying, displaying hate and racism, or acting out predatory greed, we could not tell they’re Republicans.

What Trump’s defense team left out of their impeachment defense

The Republican Reich is desperate to keep the truth away from American Voters.

Joe: A Confederacy Of Dunces Defends President Donald Trump

Joe Scarborough was hilarious, but I think these folks were stating the obvious. If these lawyers were anything but a Confederation of Dunces, they would not be defending the criminal Fuhrer Trump*!

RESIST!!

Open Thread–1/28/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 282020

It’s I tired day here in the CatBox. I haven’t visited the throne since 3:00 AM, si I hope the Imodium caught up to the Republicosis. The Republican Trump* defense team finishes today. Are you as sick of those sphincters as I am? Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 5:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump has “no intention whatsoever” of having John Bolton’s book read aloud to him, Trump confirmed on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, had obtained a draft manuscript of the Bolton book and had offered to read it aloud to him “like she does with all of the other books,” Trump said.

“She reads the books to me slowly and stops when there’s a long word to tell me what it means,” Trump said. “But I told her that the Bolton book was the last book in the world that I wanted to hear.”

Dang Andy! Isn’t it a shame Senate Republicans will imitate their criminal Fuhrer? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Vox Channel): How Iran’s Soleimani became a US target

This is a well presented, unbiased history lesson to help you better understand the region, while allowing you the freedom to make your own judgement without propaganda. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from Lona’s past): The Joker

Ah… Lona’s memories! Thanks Lona! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Bolton Busts His Fuhrer

Posted by TomCat at 8:55 am Politics

Jan 272020

Today we proceed into the second day of Republican Fuhrer Trump’s* defense team attempts to cobble together enough lies to give Republican Senators an excuse to acquit their Fuhrer. It is not going well for them, because every time they stake out a position, more information comes out that blows their case out of the water. In response to the revelations about John Bolton’s book, I predict they will just lie and say the evidence does not exist.

We finally got a taste Sunday night of what former national security adviser John
Bolton might tell President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial — if he’s called to
testify, that is.

What we learned reinforced the potential peril for Republicans if they refuse to lethim do so.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Bolton makes a series of very big
Ukraine-related claims in an unpublished manuscript of his upcoming book, which is now slated to be released in March.

Chief among them:

Bolton writes that he heard Trump say explicitly
that the withholding of military aid would continue until Ukraine announced
an investigation involving the Bidens — implicating Trump directly in a
quid pro quo for the first time and contradicting the Trump team’s
defense.

He writes that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
privately that there was nothing to the Trump team’s claims that
then-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was corrupt — suggesting this
was indeed a smear campaign and that Pompeo recognized it as such, even as
he didn’t defend Yovanovitch publicly.

He writes that he raised concerns about Rudolph W.
Giuliani’s efforts in Ukraine with Attorney General William P. Barr after
Trump’s July call with Ukraine’s president — despite the Justice Department
saying Barr learned about the call in mid-August.

He writes that acting White House chief of staff
Mick Mulvaney was present for one of Trump’s calls with Giuliani about
Yovanovtich, even though Mulvaney has told associates that he stayed out of
those conversations to protect Trump’s and Giuliani’s attorney-client
privilege.

In other words: Bolton is naming names — lots of names — and directly contradicting what top administration officials are saying.

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Adam Schiff had more to day about this.

Adam Schiff: John Bolton’s book blasts a hole in Trump defense

Sadly I fear this will do us no good. I ‘d be willing to bet that Republican Senators are far too vile and craven to allow American voters to see this testimony.

RESIST!!

Open Thread–1/27/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 272020

I’m not feeling too well this morning. I kept my breakfast and all yesterday’s meals down, but I’m suffering from a pretty severe case of Republicosis that has sent me to the throne nine times in the past twenty four hours, including twice in the middle of the night. My poor butt is so raw, it feels like Trump’s* must after a session with Putin [R-RU]. On the plus side, I put my foot down to Medical Mayhem this week. My next appointment is my cardiac stress test next Monday. Oh God! It’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:01 (average 7:00). To do it click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

SCROTUS = Republican anti-Constitutional VD

Short Takes:

From Nation of Change: Democracy 21, a non-profit organization that aims to
combat the influence of private money in politics, has filed a complaint against
Attorney General William Barr for failure to comply with the Department of
Justice norms, rules and standards of conduct…

…Democracy 21’s complaint gives a detailed list of actions Barr has
taken since last year:

Barr testified before Congress, without any
substantiation, that FBI and Justice Department officials engaged in
“spying” on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential
election.

Barr sent a letter to Congress mischaracterizing the
Mueller report ahead of its release, leaving it as the only information
available to the public about the report for almost a month. Barr then
refused Special Counsel Mueller’s request to release the summaries included
in the report and held a press conference hours before the release of the
full report where he continued to mischaracterize it.

Barr failed to recuse himself from overseeing matters
being consideration by DOJ and related to the whistleblower complaint
about President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian President, in which Trump
mentioned Barr by name five times.

Kudos to Democracy 21. They picked a most worthy target in Barrf! I hope DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Departmental Ethics Office act on it. RESIST!!

From YouTube (538 Channel): ‘Sometimes going negative is a necessary evil’: Nate Silver

I tend to disagree. While it may be adventageous for a Democratic candidate to reveal facts about a Democratic rival, it must be done with dignity and respect, because we all need to unite behind our nominee. When attacking Republicans, no such restrictions apply, since for every decency and courtesy we have extended them in recent years, they have returned pure evil, and nothing but. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Stuck in the Middle with you – Stealers Wheel

Ah… Lona’s memories! Thanks, Lona! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/26/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:17 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 262020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, as WWWendy will be here in about an hour. I’m feeling a bit better as, after throwing up most of the day yesterday, I kept supper down. Then I kept breakfast down this morning. Have a great Sunday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:07 (average 5:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From NY Times and YouTube: Even before the gas chambers were destroyed and the savage toll of years of industrialized mass murder revealed to the world, prisoners at the largest Nazi concentration camp were already repeating two words: Never again.

But as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz approaches, an occasion being marked by events around the world and culminating in a solemn ceremony at the former death camp on Monday that will include dozens of aging Holocaust survivors, Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, is worried…

…Across Europe and in the United States, there is concern about a resurgence of anti-Semitism. Toxic political rhetoric and attacks directed at groups of peoples — using language to dehumanize them — that were once considered taboo have become common across the world’s democracies.

To find examples of the rabid antisemitism that led to Auschwitz, one need look no further than the US Republican Reich. Impeached Fuhrer Trump called the Republicans in this video “fine people”. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): New audio and video undermine President Trump’s claim about Lev Parnas

So the liar who had “never met Parnas” and didn’t even “know who Parnas is” knew him well enough to discuss the strategy of firing a US Ambassador and blackmailing Ukraine in the face of military aggression from Trump* buddy Putin [R-RU]. The Republican lackeys in the Senate wouldn’t mind hearing witnesses themselves. They already know how guilty Trump* is and don’t care. Those Republican cowards are afraid to have American voters hear the witnesses. RESIST!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Alan Dershowitz Argues for Trump Cold Open

The faces are slightly different, but the satirical reality they display is spot-on! However, Dershowitz should have taken his client downstairs and left him with his perv buddy Jeff! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth 1967

I’ll never tire of this one. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Bill Maher from 1/24

Posted by TomCat at 8:33 am Politics

Jan 252020

It’s that time of week again, so here are four video clips from Bill’s show last night., three of which were excellent. Enjoy!

Monologue: Knock Her Up!

I wonder if Republicans REALLY chanted that. It wouldn’t surprise me! Forget the coronavirus. Trump is a virus: colonavirus! Clinton got a BJ from Monica. Trump* is getting one from Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch and Lindsey Poo.

Ingrid Newkirk: Animalkind

I wonder how many millions, if not billions, of animals owe their lives to Ingrid. Kudos!

Megyn Kelly

While I fully support her going after pervert and Trump* friend, Roger Ayles, her long term lack of integrity earned by spewing Republican propaganda, such as “Jesus is white” makes her a damp poor representative of #METOO!

New Rule: Big Show with Crazy Maniac

If Trump* is a comedian, than throwing-up is laughter. I do agree that Trump will try to become Fuhrer for life, after he loses.

Except for the excessive deference Bill showed a Faux Noise propagandist, it was a great show.

RESIST!!

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