TomCat

Joe, Come Clean Please

Posted by TomCat at 9:26 am Politics

Dec 062019

Joe Biden engaged in an unfortunate exchange with an Iowa Voter, who said he is not a Republican. The voter suggested that Biden had been influence peddling by landing his son, Hunter, a plumb job at corrupt Ukrainian utility, Burisma. Hunter was clearly not qualified. Joe extricated himself by yelling at and insulting the voter.

A voter at a campaign event in Iowa got into a spat with Joe Biden on Thursday in an exchange that had the Democratic 2020 hopeful slamming the man as a “damn liar” and seeming to call him “fat”, which had conservatives leaping up to attack the candidate.

The man in the audience took the microphone and described himself as an 84-year-old retired farmer, then argued that Biden is too old to be president and pressed him on his son’s business activities in Ukraine, saying the former vice-president had “sent” Hunter to the country to work with an energy company.

Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden and the 2016 election, while holding up US military aid for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, is at the heart of the congressional impeachment inquiry.

Biden’s son Hunter used to be on the board of a private Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. The voter at the event in New Hampton, Iowa, who declined to give his name when questioned immediately afterwards by reporters, challenged Biden on the integrity of the business arrangement when he was Barack Obama’s vice-president… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Guardian>

Here is a video clip showing the incident and a brief discussion of it.

Joe Biden to voter: You’re a damn liar, man

One of the journalists compared Biden’s anger with Pelosi’s, when accused of hating Trump. The comparison is not valid, because Pelosi’s anger included an explanation. Biden’s did not. It came with a denial an insult.

First, please be assured that I am not attacking Joe Biden. I hope that, if enough people repeat advice similar to mine, he’ll follow it.

Until Biden defuses this issue himself, Republicans will keep bringing it up over and over again. Skilled fascist propagandists from the Republican Reich will be far fiercer opponents than that poor farmer. Biden’s only chance is for the public to know the whole story before that happens.

I think Biden had nothing to do with placing Hunter at Burisma. I think he knew Burisma offered Hunter the job, only because he was Biden’s son. I think Biden knew Hunter was not qualified and voiced his disapproval. However, because Hunter is an adult, he couldn’t stop him. If that is the truth Biden needs to publish it far and wide, even if it means embarrassing his son.

If that isn’t the truth, he needs to reveal what is. But for the sake of his candidacy, the Party, and the nation, he needs to come clean.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/6/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:25 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 062019

It’s a quiet, lazy day here at the CatBox. All yesterday’s groceries are stashed, and except for PP and investing in ZZZZZs, my only appointment today is a visit from Providence Home Medical Equipment to pick up their O₂ concentrator between 10 AM and 1 PM. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:11 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Don’t make light of Nancy Pelosi’s constitutional duties.

A reporter, Sinclair’s James Rosen, decided to shout a question to the House Speaker as she ended her Thursday press conference and announcement that the House will draw up articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.

He asked Nancy Pelosi if she hates the president.

Colleen alluded to this yesterday. Was it a thing of beauty, or what? RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Pete Buttigieg And The Republican Lie

I suspect Pete is lying to help him against more progressive candidates. That takes him down a notch in my estimation. The proof of the matter is in the following chart. He needs to be prepared to support the winner if the Democratic nomination no matter who it is, as do we all.

1206defecit

RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Lyrics~Stand By Me-Ben E. King

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Impeach Eggnog for Christmas!

Posted by TomCat at 9:23 am Politics

Dec 052019

In my younger days, we used to treat our friends to a strong eggnog custard with chopped fruit added. This season, we all get to celebrate our good will with a special treat. Impeach Eggnog. Nancy Pelosi issued the directive shortly after 9 AM EST this morning.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared on Capitol Hill Thursday morning to announce next steps in the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Pelosi began by reviewing some of the same historical foundations for impeachment that were covered in the Wednesday hearings before the House Judiciary Committee. She then provided a brief overview of the public hearings held before the Intelligence Committee, calling those who answered congressional subpoenas to appear “true patriots.”

“The president leaves us no choice but to act, because he has engaged once again in an abuse of power,” said Pelosi. She then announced that she was asking for Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to proceed with articles of impeachment against Trump.

The brief statement makes it clear that there are not going to be further lengthy hearings in the House; instead, articles will be drawn up for a vote before the full House. It appears that the House will complete the business of impeaching Trump before the Christmas break… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Watch full video of Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment statement

I’ll start celebrating early this year. Merry Christmas, with Impeach Eggnog!

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/5/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:22 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Dec 052019

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. I got to bed late last night. My new O₂ compressor arrived, and while installing it, WWWendy and I rearranged the entire wall it was on to make it more accessible than the old one, and to put the microwave closer to the sink and range. Store to Door is delivering groceries today, and I’d like to finish on time to get a partial nap in before they arrive. I also have a mild case of Republicosis. Flush your Republicans!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:24 (average 4:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Republican polluters think that poor non-white neighborhoods should be contaminated.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (RWW Channel): Johnny Enlow: God Is Using Trump as a ‘Hinge of the Ages’

And I looked, and behold a pale motorcycle: and his name that sat on him was Trump, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, the opposite of real authentic Christians, are seriously deranged! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Elizabeth Warren Channel): White Supremacy Threatens Our Democracy

I could not agree more! Fear is the opposite of love. Hate is just a symptom of fear. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

House Intel Committee Report

Posted by TomCat at 9:08 am Politics

Dec 042019

Yesterday the House Intelligence Committee completed their their report outlining some of the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by Resident Donald Trump. I have read the summary and skimmed the document, and it is truly magnificent. It is a shame that Trump will have Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch protecting him in the Senate. Nevertheless you should understand the report, so you can teach others, especially those who are not paying attention, with 2020 in mind.

House Democrats on Tuesday asserted that President Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to help him in the 2020 presidential election, releasing an impeachment report that found the president “placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States.”

The report by the House Intelligence Committee was a sweeping indictment of the president’s behavior, concluding that he sought to undermine American democracy and endangered national security, then worked to conceal his actions from Congress. Democrats left it to another committee to decide whether to recommend Mr. Trump’s impeachment, but their report presented what are all but certain to be the grounds on which the House votes to formally charge him.

“The founding fathers prescribed a remedy for a chief executive who places his personal interests above those of the country: impeachment,” it said.

The intelligence panel adopted it, strictly along partisan lines, hours after its release…

Inserted from <NY Times>

Click here to read the entire impeachment report.

Rachel Maddow has two short segments that explain it well.

Numerous Potential Articles Of Impeachment Sketched Out In Report

The Fastest, Easiest Way To Understand The Impeachment Report

Instead of 78 words, I can sum it up in 12 letters. The first six are GUILTY! The second six are…

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/4/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 042019

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. Yesterday was so hectic and frustrating, that it just tired me out. I finally got my biopsy reset for Tuesday the 17th. I’m listening to the Judiciary Committee. The Republican Reich is fighting like hell to obstruct the hearing. WWWendy is coming tonight, and I’m most ready to be de-stunk. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 5:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: This year’s summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began on a discordant note, on Tuesday, after the other twenty-eight nato leaders challenged Donald Trump to spell nato.

At a preliminary gathering of the leaders, Trump demanded that the other member nations increase their cash contributions to the alliance, prompting Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to issue the unexpected and unwelcome spelling challenge.

“We’ll be happy to give more to nato, Mr. President, if you can spell nato,” she said, drawing raucous applause from the other leaders.

Handing Trump a pencil and a yellow legal pad, Merkel watched as he struggled to spell the word correctly, crumpling page after page in the effort.

After several failed attempts, Trump finally offered up a drawing of several stick figures standing in a row and asked for “partial credit.”

When the other nato leaders rejected his request by a 28–0 voice vote, Trump stormed out of the room, vowing never to return.

Dang Andy! That wasn’t fair! He never had a chance! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Video appears to show world leaders gossiping about Trump

How do Republicans stand it? I feel embarrassed as hell to see the head of this nation, albeit unelected, ridiculed in a forum of world leaders. Of course he deserves it. They have no shame! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): How America Created Its Shameful Wealth Gap with Robert Reich

Solana Rice is right. The Republican Reich mandates poverty for minority Americans. It’s one more way the Republican Reich institutionalizes racism. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Free Bird Lynyrd Skynyrd: Lyrics

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

The Founders and the Demagogue

Posted by TomCat at 8:51 am Politics

Dec 032019

Bob Bauer, a trusted Obama advisor, has written a fascinating editorial on how the founding fathers predicted Donald Trump, Fuhrer of the Republican Reich, but failed to provide the necessary tools to get rid of him. Here is enough of that editorial for you to get the gist of it.

Donald Trump’s Republican congressional allies are throwing up different defenses against impeachment and hoping that something may sell. They say that he didn’t seek a corrupt political bargain with Ukraine, but that if he did, he failed, and the mere attempt is not impeachable. Or that it is not clear that he did it, because the evidence against him is unreliable “hearsay.”

It’s all been very confusing. But the larger story — the crucial constitutional story — is not the incoherence of the president’s defense. It is more that he and his party are exposing limits of impeachment as a response to the presidency of a demagogue.

The founders feared the demagogue, who figures prominently in the Federalist Papers as the politician who, possessing “perverted ambition,” pursues relentless self-aggrandizement “by the confusions of their country.” The last of the papers, Federalist No. 85, linked demagogy to its threat to the constitutional order — to the “despotism” that may be expected from the “victorious demagogue.” This “despotism” is achieved through systematic lying to the public, vilification of the opposition and, as James Fenimore Cooper wrote in an essay on demagogues, a claimed right to disregard “the Constitution and the laws” in pursuing what the demagogue judges to be the “interests of the people.”

Should the demagogue succeed in winning the presidency, impeachment in theory provides the fail-safe protection. And yet the demagogue’s political tool kit, it turns out, may be his most effective defense. It is a constitutional paradox: The very behaviors that necessitate impeachment supply the means for the demagogue to escape it.

As the self-proclaimed embodiment of the American popular will, the demagogue portrays impeachment deliberations as necessarily a threat to democracy, a facade for powerful interests arrayed against the people that only he represents. Critics and congressional opponents are traitors. Norms and standing institutional interests are fraudulent… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

I strongly urge you to click through and read this editorial in it’s entirety. It is too valuable to miss.

If the Trump Residency survives the 2020 election, I strongly question the survival of freedom in the US.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/3/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:51 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 032019

In case you’re wondering why I’m not out getting skewered, you won’t believe this story. Last Friday I went to the Providence website to confirm my biopsy. While I was there I noticed an unknown surgery at the hospital scheduled for Wednesday. So I called the hospital. The scheduler figured out that my anesthesiologist was scheduled for Wednesday. I suggested scheduling the anesthesiologist on Tuesday with the biopsy, since I wouldn’t be there Wednesday. She told me that she has corrected the schedule, and that they would see me Tuesday. However, she had moved the biopsy to Wednesday by mistake. On Monday the hospital called for some last minute clarification for my Wednesday biopsy. I told them it was Tuesday. They realized the scheduler’s mistake, but could not change it back. I told them I have no ride home Wednesday, so I have to reschedule the whole thing. I called to cancel my TriMet Lift bus and learned that they had scheduled me to go to the wrong place. Is Republican Incompetence spreading or what?!!? ARGH! hugs to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:40 (6:02 average). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league.

Scores:

13Scores

Congrats to WWWendy, Patty Monster, and Squatch for winning their games. Had I only started Jackson and benched Mahomas, I would have won. Kudos to WWWendy for the week’s high score.

Standings:

13Standings

Kudos to WWWendy for leading the league.

This coming weekend is the last in our regular season. After that, we have three weeks of playoffs. Stay tuned. I’ll post the brackets with next week’s report.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Schiff: Intel Cmte. To Release Impeachment Report To Public

The reason the Fuhrer’s lawyers have no defense is simple. They have no defense. The miserable thing, however, is that with Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch and the Republican Reich controlling the Senate, the Fuhrer needs no defense. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, is due to release his long-awaited findings in a week, but behind the scenes at the Justice Department, disagreement has surfaced about one of Horowitz’s central conclusions on the origins of the Russia investigation. The discord could be the prelude to a major fissure within federal law enforcement on the controversial question of investigating a presidential campaign.

Barr has not been swayed by Horowitz’s rationale for concluding that the FBI had sufficient basis to open an investigation on July 31, 2016, these people said.

This is exactly what we expect from Barrf! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): somebody to love-jefferson airplane

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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