Personal Update – 2/13/2021

Posted by TomCat at 6:24 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 132021

Yesterday I could not go to the bathroom, and the pain was so bad that I went to the ER in an Ambulance. WWWendy was here, but the snow was too deep for my power chair to get to get car door. They gave me a CT Scan. It showed two things. First I has severe Opioid Induced Constipation. They gave me a shot in the belly and about an hour later I Republicated all over everything. Then I wad to wait in one of those horrid ER beds from 2:00 PM until midnight for a medical transport company to tale me home. Portland is shut down. I’ve lived here since 1979 and this is the worst blizzard I’ve seen. In addition, the scan showed that my tumors are all considerably worse, so it’s apparenty that the infusions are not working. I’ll be contacting My oncological team next week. I’m going back to bed. I’ll be back in the saddle when I can.

Cartoon:

And a special one** is on the way.

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

Video Thread 2/12/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:01 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 122021

There are so many awful Senators getting so much attention, it’s too easy to overlook the real heroes there ( especially if they aren’t our own)

Aaron Rupar tweet – This is from a long thread. I finally figured out how to embed just part of it, but it’s still more than I wanted. I was trying for just the second one. (They do have CC, though.) Statehood for USVI! Stacey Plaskett for Senator!

Plaskett: “The defense counsels could put a lot of videos out in their defense, playing clip after clip of black women talking about fighting for a cause or an issue or a policy. It was not lost on me that so many of them were people of color and women.” pic.twitter.com/YgmEZbBnKz

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 12, 2021

Such a nice tweet – three things – Dr. Jill’s Valentine display – two wonderful woozles – and Joe’s thoughtfulness (even as he berates himself for being slow.) No CC – but the discussion is about their getting Major at least in part to keep Champ exercising. Then a reporter (I think) says “If you come back next Friday I’ll bring the donuts,” and then President Biden goes over to her to share the warm coffee on this cold day.

Instead of yelling ‘fake news’ at them, or calling them the ‘enemy of the people’, President Biden gives a reporter his cup of coffee on a cold DC morning. pic.twitter.com/wZM5j82dto

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 12, 2021

The Alt-Right Playbook – The Card Says Moops

A parody headphone commercial fron The Daily Show. Nice.

A John Fugelsang allgory

Beau – This is kind of under the radar, but I think worth considering.

Personal Update – 2/12/2021

Posted by TomCat at 5:14 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 122021

WWWendy will be here shortly and then it’s off to the hospital. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Take:

From YouTube (a blast for JD): John Denver – Rocky Mountain High (Audio)

Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

Video Thread 2/11/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:52 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 112021

Meidas Touch – Is this America?

Now This News – Diana DeGette is from my state – not my district – but her sister Cara was a journalist here until 2009 when she moved to Denver..

Really American with Glenn Kirschner There were 26 people ahead of me for transcripts, but it did get done just as I posted – now I need to edit it. I’ll put it in a comment when done. Shouldn’t take long.

Republican Accountability Project is the new incarnation of Republican voters Against Trump. This ad is a week old because I didn’t realize they had transitioned until now

Robert Reich – I missed this a couple of days ago

This clip from Zerlina Maxwell is over 12 minutes, but Mary is so knowledgeable that I thought it worth posting.

Armageddon Update – Qrazy Qongress Qaren – actually pretty SFW this week – language-wise, anyway. The satire is thick.

Beau – The things people believe. In this case about refugees. Good God.

Open Thread – 2/11/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 112021

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering groceries, and I have to unpack and put them away. Tomorrow my hospital appointment is later than normal, so Wendy will be here first thing in the morning to give me my shower. Then I dress, and we head to the hospital in the blizzard. I hope to return mid to late afternoon, at which time, I’ll be completely exhausted. Portland is under a Winter Storm Warning with 10″ or more of snow forecast to accumulate between now and Saturday afternoon. Tomorrow expect only a brief Personal Update. I’ll try to add a home safe comment when I return. Have a great day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:23 (average 7:14). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: As other networks airing Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday showed chilling new video footage of the deadly January 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol incited by the former president, Fox News opted to cut away to cover different stories.

How vile! God forbid that the fools, who watch the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, should get to see what really happened! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (NBC News Channel): Day 2 Of Donald Trump’s Impeachment Trial In The Senate

This video is 11 hours long, and I put it here so you can skip through it for parts you may want to see. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): California Dreamin’

Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

Video Thread 2/10/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 4:41 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 102021

Sorry I’m so late. I was on hold for about 2 hours and could only do a few things – posting a thread was not one of them.

A very brief excerpt from the new video footage showed today. TC will probably have more tomorrow.

The Lincoln Project

Really American with Glenn Kirschner

Norway responds to the Will Ferrell superbowl ad (which if you missied it is here) https://youtu.be/y4U5nit_WkY

John Fugelsang “Insurrection Dysfunction”

Orange Acres – a new YouTube venture by John Di Domenico – Episode ! (yes, brace yourself, there are more)

Beau – Speaking as a veteran, I’m not sure recruiting needs to change all that much. My experience with enlisted people is that the ones who enlist for the GI Bill, to get an education, already have the curiosity and the attitude which leads to critical thinking. More so, in fact, than many young officers straight from college who never experienced impediments to going through that track (the naïvete of second lieutenants is proverbial in fact, and I assume that’s also true of ensigns.) Many enlisted people who joined for college are actually brilliant. Of course a program where they could turn it into a retention tool – get the education after a 3 or 4 year enlistment, then return for an additional 4 or six year commitment – that couldn’t hurt.

Open Thread – 2/10/2021

Posted by TomCat at 10:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 102021

It’s a better day here in the CatBox. I need to get as much rest as possible, because Friday is my infusion day at the hospital, so I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. I will definitely have just a short Personal Update on Friday. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump’s defense lawyers stunned the United States Senate on Tuesday by acknowledging that their client had incited the Capitol riot, but only because his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, made him do it.

The Senate listened in astonished silence as Trump’s lawyers coldly and methodically hurled Kushner under the bus.

Bruce Castor, one of Trump’s lead attorneys, claimed that the ex-President had been reluctant to speak to the angry mob of supporters on January 6th, and did so only after Kushner assured him, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Dang, Andy! Maybe Jared really did make him do it. That’s credible if you believe that Bears never, ever shit in the woods. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (NBC News Channel): Watch: Day 1 of Donald Trump’s Impeachment Trial In Senate

This video is 7.5 hours long, and I put it here so you can move around within it and see parts you want. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (Daily Kos Channel): Democrats present damning video to begin Trump’s impeachment trial for Jan. 6, 2021

I understand that most Senate Republicans evaded watching the video. The American people need to see this again, and again, and again, and again! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Wild Horses – Rolling Stones

Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

Video Thread 2/9/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:33 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 092021

So OK – this is the video that the impeachment managers showed to Congress. It’s ~ 13.5 minutes and quite dramatic

And here is Raskin’s statement. Hanky alert.

Vote Vets

The Lincoln Project “Don’t Be Distracted”

Meidas Touch podcast

Really American – Overly optimistic, but if it changes any votes, all to the good.

Now This News. One seldom gets such a clear example, and it’s helpful to have one on hand.

Robert Reich – Picked this up yesterday, but thought I’d wait to make sure you didn’t use it first.

Beau – Yes, we need each other. I’m a reformist, and a big part of that is because I have seen that, over time, incremental reform changes hearts and minds. Matbe not fast enough – OK, definitely not fast enough – but enough to change the orientation of state and federal governments, because enough people have moves that the politics needs to move too (and then it will need to move farther.) But without the revolutionaries (I think I might say visionaries) – he’s right, I might not know why or how.

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PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.