TomCat

Open Thread – 1/10/2020

 Posted by at 8:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 102020
 

It’s a lazy day, here in the CatBox.  Store to Door called mid-nap to deliver groceries, yesterday. I woke up last night because of the high humidity, and could not get back to sleep.  Tomorrow and Sunday are High Holy Days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the Festival of Divisional Resolution.  May the Orb shine its Holy light on your team.  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 6:57).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: The New York City Bar Association has taken the extraordinary step of asking Congress to investigate Attorney General Bill Barr for being too politically biased to faithfully execute his duties as America’s top law enforcement official.

Bloomberg reports that the Bar Association is claiming that Barr’s recent statements and actions indicate that he may be enabling and encouraging “political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others.”

The association also accuses Barr of disregarding “fundamental obligations in several public statements during the past few months,” including his duty to “act impartially, to avoid even the appearance of partiality and impropriety, and to avoid manifesting bias, prejudice or partisanship in the exercise of official responsibilities.”

Nothing like this has ever happened before. However, there has never been an AG as worthy of disbarrfment as Barrf!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Business Genius Donald Trump Thinks Your 409K Could Be Up 90%

 

Awww… you can’t blame poor impeached Fuhrer Trump*. He’s confused, because he uses Formula 409 to clean the Russian hooker pee stains from his face.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Redbone – Come And Get Your Love – LIVE 1974 The Midnight Special (Guardians Of The Galaxy)

 

I remember the music, but never saw it performed before. Fantastic!!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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Samantha Bee: Make Voting Fair Again

 Posted by at 9:04 am  Politics
Jan 092020
 

The Republican Reich is an ever shrinking minority party.  They get votes from the voters they represent: billionaires, Corporate Criminals, racists, religious bigots, homophobes, misogynists, fascists, deplorables, white supremacists, and every kind of hate monger I forgot to list.  They also get votes from people they do NOT represent but hoodwink into thinking they do.  More and more are seeing through their lies.  That leaves their party with two choices: they can steal elections, or they can lose elections.

0109crusader-kkk-trump

These have not been good times for Democrats wanting a fair shot at representation. The Supreme Court’s 2012 decision to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act was the beginning of a series of rulings rubber-stamping just about every tactic the Republican Party has come up with in its comprehensive war on voting rights, which includes everything from voter ID laws to voter purges to making registering voters all but illegal to partisan gerrymandering.

So when Democrats get any kind of victory in this ongoing battle, as they just did on Tuesday [article from 9/4/2019], it’s a remarkable development. And it shows one path for them to overcome a Supreme Court that is determined to make sure Republicans can continue to rig elections in their favor:…

…Proving the effect of partisan maps, it should be noted, is precisely what the Supreme Court said was impossible to do when it ruled two months ago that the federal courts have no business even trying to judge whether any gerrymander is too partisan, no matter how much it discriminates against voters from one party… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Samantha Bee knows!

Full Frontal Rewind: Make Voting Fair Again

 

I love the way she makes painful truths funny!

There are two other problems that need attention:

First, the Electoral College gives unfair advantage in Presidential elections to rural states with low populations.  A voter in Wyoming gets three times the electoral representation that one in California does.  But to ratify a Constitutional Amendment  to fix it, would require the support of those states that gain unfair advantage from it.  The solution is a National Popular Vote.

Second, the plurality takes all voting system makes it virtually impossible for independent and third party candidates to get votes without helping the major candidate with the opposite ideology.  For example, Republicans have volunteered for and financed Green Party Presidential candidates (Nader and Stein) on two separate occasions, so that the Democratic Candidate lost enough support in key swing states to allow GW Bush and Trump to steal the White House.  The solution is Ranked Choice Voting.  It allows people to vote their conscience, and vote strategically too.

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 1/9/2019

 Posted by at 9:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 092020
 

It’s another tired/busy day, here in the CatBox.  WWWendy was stuck in a traffic jam on the freeway last night, so she arrived late, I ate late, and I got to bed late.  It’s a grocery delivery day from Store to Door, so I have to put them away.  I hope they come in the Noon to 1:00 range, instead of mid afternoon, but I never know.  I’m queasy every day, but I held lunch, supper and breakfast down.  I hope your day is full of love and resistance against the Republican Reich.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 5:05).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump is “incredibly angry” at Iran for taking the American people’s attention away from his impeachment for only about two days, Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

“When I did that drone strike, I was under the impression that it would knock impeachment out of the news for at least a month,” a visibly enraged Trump said. “Instead, it’s Wednesday and we’re back to this Pelosi garbage.”

Trump said that he had hoped that Iranians would react to his provocation in a way that might have forced Democrats to forget about impeaching him altogether, but “all I got for my trouble was a chickenshit couple of days.”

“Honestly, Iran reacted like it was Belgium or something,” Trump said.

Spot-on, Andy! You made it clear that the so-called “terrorist” side of the conflict is more sane than Republican side.  RESIST!!

From NY Times: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose health has become a preoccupation of the American public as the Supreme Court hews rightward under President Trump, announced this week that she was cancer-free.

Justice Ginsburg, 86, one of four liberal justices on the nine-member court, told CNN in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday that treatment for a malignant tumor on her pancreas had been successful.

God bless Justice RBG and keep her alive, safe and healthy, at least until Putin’s Pervert* is no longer the impeached Resident, and Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch is no longer Senate Majority Fuhrer.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Congress Unimpressed By Trump Admin Explanation For Iran Attack

 

Sadly, did we expect anything else? Andy Borowitz gave us the only real explanation for the attack.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Fleetwood Mac – Dreams

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch Has Votes for Show Trial

 Posted by at 7:41 am  Politics
Jan 082020
 

Since virtually all the news today seems focused on War Criminal Trump’s* Iran fiasco, I thought I’d switch back to the Senate’s most evil Republican, Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch.  He has corralled the swing-state Republicans, who we hoped might demand witnesses, to goose-step behind Fuhrer Trump’s* impeachment kangaroo court to be conducted without witnesses or evidence.

0108MoscowMitch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he has the votes to set the ground rules of the impeachment trial for President Donald Trump — without Democrats’ support.

McConnell first made the remarks during a closed-door lunch with his fellow Republican senators on Capitol Hill, an official in the room told CNN, before McConnell made the announcement publicly during a news conference following the lunch. McConnell made clear he had no plans to move forward on a trial until the two articles of impeachment are sent to the Senate, as he has said publicly.

“We have the votes once the impeachment trial has begun to pass a resolution essentially the same, very similar to the 100-to-nothing vote in the Clinton trial, which sets up what’s best described as a phase one,” McConnell said Tuesday.

All McConnell needs is 51 senators — or a simple majority of the 100-member chamber — to vote to approve those ground rules. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah have said they back the leader’s approach…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <CNN>

McConnell Rolls Out Trump Trial Plan Without Witnesses, Democrats Say It’s A ‘Cover-Up’

 

Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch is comparing apples to road apples.  In the Clinton impeachment trial, the testimony of all the major witnesses was already public.  In the Trump* kangaroo court, The Republican Reich has blocked most major witnesses from testifying.  In the Clinton impeachment trial, we had a Republican Senate trying a Democratic President.  They were biased against Clinton.  In the Trump* kangaroo court, a Republican Senate is trying their own beloved Fuhrer and are desperate to protect him from the consequences of his crimes at all cost.  So any attempt by Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch to claim that the two trials are equivalent is pure bullshit.

Maine, Alaska, and Utah need to be plastered with ads about their Senators’ hypocrisy!

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 1/8/2020

 Posted by at 7:40 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 082020
 

It’s a very tired day here in the CatBox.  Last night was so muggy and humid that I kept waking up wet and itchy.  I ate a small bowl of soup for lunch yesterday, a small bowl of chili (without the chili), rice and Brussels sprouts for supper, and a small bowl of cheerios this morning.  I kept it all down with minimal discomfort.  WWWendy comes tonight for some much needed destinking.  Happy Hump day to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:43 (average 4:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Iran Retaliates, Fires Missiles At US Bases In Iraq

Iran could have employed much more accurate missiles in their inventory. This was a very measured response, designed for local propaganda, while stepping back from war.   I hope that War Criminal Trump* lets it end here. I fear that he will not. Rachel is spot-on!  RESIST!!

From TPM: Former Vice President Joe Biden said that he predicts Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may become “mildly cooperative” in a post-Trump era.

“I’m not suggesting all of a sudden everyone’s going to project a new sense of courage and political courage,” Biden said at a campaign event in New York. “What I’m suggesting [is] that the dynamic changes when the right vote, as opposed to the vote you don’t agree with, becomes a possibility if you vote for it.”

Biden has gotten in hot water with progressives before for his optimistic vision of a bipartisan future, though he tried to give his perspective more nuance in the most recent Democratic debate.

I think Biden’s eyes used to be blue.   However, his belief that Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch will be anything but criminally uncooperative means Joe is so full of shit his eyes have turned brown.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Jefferson Airplane – Somebody to Love (Dick Cavett Show)

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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Esther and Assassination

 Posted by at 8:24 am  Politics, Religion
Jan 072020
 

Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, the polar opposite of real, authentic Christians, love to twist the Bible to meet their own perverse ends.  One of them, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now driving Fuhrer Trump’s* foreign policy.  Not only is he committing war crimes, but also, he is casting his Fuhrer as a Biblical character.  How sick!

0107Pompeo

The Washington Post has reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the main force that pushed Trump into assassinating Iranian Major General Soleimani. Pompeo, according to a New York Times reporter, had a fixation with a bible passage about Queen Esther protecting Israel from Iran. Pompeo’s extreme hostility towards Iran is motivated by his extreme religious beliefs.

www.nytimes.com/…

In November, Mr. Pompeo told a reporter for The New York Times Magazine that the Bible “informs everything I do.” The reporter noticed an open Bible in his office, with a Swiss Army knife marking his place at the end of the book of Queen Esther.

 

Mike Pompeo is a conservative evangelical Christian who believes in the rapture and that God is working through Trump and himself…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Here is Pompeo interviewing on CBN (a pseudo-Christian propaganda outlet, that specializes in soaking watchers for money).

EXCLUSIVE Secretary of State Pompeo to CBN News: God May Have Raised Up Trump Like He Raised Up Queen Esther

Barf Bag Alert!!

So they see their role as protecting Israel from Iran.  They are not.  They are just creating more chaos.

Remember.  These people are NOT Christians.  They are the same people, who opposed Jesus and had him murdered.  He called them Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes.  Today they are called Republicans.  This is what Jesus said about them, from Matthew 23:

23 Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses. 3 So obey everything they teach you, but don’t do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else.

4 They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help. 5 Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels for everyone to see. 6 They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the meeting places. 7 And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers.

8 But none of you should be called a teacher. You have only one teacher, and all of you are like brothers and sisters. 9 Don’t call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven. 10 None of you should be called the leader. The Messiah is your only leader. 11 Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. 12 If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored…

…23 You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you’re in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your garden, such as mint, dill, and cumin. Yet you neglect the more important matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the important things you should have done, though you should not have left the others undone either. 24 You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel.

25 You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you’re in for trouble! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes, while inside there is nothing but greed and selfishness. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of a cup, and then the outside will also be clean.

27 You Pharisees and teachers are in for trouble! You’re nothing but show-offs. You’re like tombs that have been whitewashed. On the outside they are beautiful, but inside they are full of bones and filth. 28 That’s what you are like. Outside you look good, but inside you are evil and only pretend to be good.

29 You Pharisees and teachers are nothing but show-offs, and you’re in for trouble! You build monuments for the prophets and decorate the tombs of good people. 30 And you claim that you would not have taken part with your ancestors in killing the prophets. 31 But you prove that you really are the relatives of the ones who killed the prophets. 32 So keep on doing everything they did. 33 You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes! How can you escape going to hell?…  [emphasis added]

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 1/7/2020

 Posted by at 8:23 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 072020
 

It’s still a queasy day here in the CatBox, but I managed to keep a small bowl of soup down last night and six Ritz crackers with peanut butter this morning, so for now, I’m back in the saddle.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:56).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Sadly, Monica has too much class to give Trump a BJ to get him convicted!

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is “completely baffled” as to why he appears to be the only dictator whom Donald J. Trump does not like, the autocrat said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran, the long-reigning tyrant expressed puzzlement and dismay that Trump had not given him the adulation that he has showered on seemingly every other totalitarian in the world.

“Trump loves Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman, and he’s even given Kim Jong Un a cute nickname, but, for some mysterious reason, I leave him cold,” the visibly saddened Ayatollah said. “I just don’t get it.”

Khamenei initially tried not to take Trump’s distaste for him personally, he said, “but when it became clear that he liked even second-tier strongmen like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of Turkey, and Rodrigo Duterte, of the Philippines, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt.”

I guess Andy is back to straight news. If I were Khamenei, my feelings would be hurt too.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Huge crowds turn out for Iranian general’s furneral [sic]

 

I bet that Resident Donald Trump*, aka Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten, has rat-holed this film away, planning to use it to claim these huge crowds turned-out for his inauguration!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Tommy James and the Shondells – Crystal Blue Persuasion

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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