Politics Plus

Here in the CatBox, I began my Easter celebration by oversleeping for 90 minutes, so I’m way behind schedule.  WWWendy will be soon here, and I’ll try to finish everything during breaks in our work.  I hope the Easter Kitten brought you lots of eggs.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:48 (average 4:54).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): McGahn: Details “Accurately Described” In Mueller Report

McGahn’s testimony alone is grounds for impeachment. RESIST!!

From Alternet: Below are 10 examples of “European exceptionalism” and areas in which Europe is way ahead of the United States.

1. Lower Incarceration Rates

Benjamin Franklin famously said that those who are willing to sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither, and the U.S. is more dangerous than most of Europe (especially in terms of homicide) even though it is becoming more and more of a police state. The U.S. incarcerates, per capita, more people than any other country in the world: in 2012, the U.S.’ incarceration rate, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies, was 707 per 100,000 people compared to only 60 per 100,000 in Sweden, 72 per 100,000 in Norway, 78 per 100,000 in Germany, 75 per 100,000 in the Netherlands, 87 per 100,000 in Switzerland, 99 per 100,000 in Italy, 103 per 100,000 in France, and 144 per 100,000 in Spain. Certainly, the failed War on Drugs and the Prison/Industrial Complex are major factors in the U.S.’ appallingly high incarceration rate, and unless the U.S. seriously reforms its draconian drug laws, it will continue to lock up a lot more of its people than Europe.

Could it be because Europe has fewer Republicans? I shared the first of ten. Click through for the other nine. RESIST!!

From NY Times: …Interviews with several dozen Democratic voters around the country show how the party, which enjoyed victories in 2018 that were powered by female and nonwhite candidates, is now grappling with two complicated questions about race, gender and politics in the Trump era.

Is a white man the best face for an increasingly diverse Democratic Party in 2020?

No candidate should be nominated or excluded from nomination on the basis of race, gender, or sexual identity. However, orangeness is a valid reason for incarceration/ RESIST!!

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It’s a muggy day here in the CatBox, and I feel very tired.  It was hot and humid last night, exacerbated by the heat my O₂ concentrator produces.  I slept very poorly.  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:32 (average 5:20).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): Samantha Bee Gears Up For 2019’s Not WH Correspondents’ Dinner

I can’t wait to see that one. Sam will skewer the Orange Obstructer. RESIST!!

From The Atlantic: [J]oe Biden is running. The former vice president will make his candidacy official with a video announcement next Wednesday, according to people familiar with the discussions who have been told about them by top aides.

Seriously, he’s actually made a decision. It’s taken two years of back-and-forth, it’ll be his third (or, depending on how you count, seventh) try for the White House, and many people thought he wouldn’t do it, but the biggest factor reshaping the 2020 Democratic-primary field is locking into place.

I’m actually disappointed. I had hope that Joe would assume a Senior Advisor role. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Gina Haspel, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, made a rare public appearance on Thursday to give a nostalgia-laced recruiting pitch to students at Auburn University. But she was confronted instead by a heckler shouting about her role in torturing suspected militants in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Ms. Haspel was recounting the excitement she felt at the start of her own career when the heckling began. “Tell these young children, tell them who you tortured. You know their names — they’re still in Guantánamo Bay,” an unidentified man shouted.

“You’re a decrepit human being,” he continued before being removed by security. “The only people you should be talking to is a prison guard in a jail cell.”

Kudos to the protester. Republican torturers belong in prison, not heading the CIA. RESIST!!

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It’s a very busy day, here in the CatBox.  Store to Door will deliver my groceries, and I have to unpack and put them away.  Later WWWendy is coming to de-stink the vile TomCat and help with chores.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:38 (average 5:23).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Trump 2020 GOP Challenger: ‘No Limit’ To Damage Another Trump Term Could Do

May this challenger, as bad as his fiscal policies are, weaken Trump so much that his landslide defeat spells the end of the Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Dollemore Channel): White House Officials Afraid They’ll be Punished for Telling the Truth to Robert Mueller!

Spot-on, Jesse. They are right to be afraid. When their Fuhrer says “Tell the truth”, he means “the ‘truth’ I want”. They brought it on themselves by taking jobs in his Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Donald Trump, deplorable in chief, has no qualms whatsoever about the increased number of death threats Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has been receiving since he tweeted a video of edited 9/11 footage interspersed with remarks Omar had made to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Taken out of context, the video made Omar sound as if she was dismissive of the terror attack, when Omar was clearly making the case that more than a billion Muslims were not responsible for the actions of 19 hijackers, 16 of which came from Trump’s favorite ally, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, Trump saw his moment to pounce and take the most racist track possible, loudly barking to his followers that Omar wasn’t American at all, and suggesting she had allegiances elsewhere. Of course, Trump has a history of questioning the loyalty of American citizens of color. Look no further than his racist birther attacks on President Obama for another crystal-clear example.

Why would Trump have regrets because of death threats against Omar. Those threats, especially if carried out, are the reason he did it. RESIST!!

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It’s a chilly day here in the CatBox.  Happy Infernal Revenue Day.  If you just filed and it was so painful that you can’t sit down, a gay friend recommends Butt Butter.  Oh God it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16  (average 4:32).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Tales:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Rep. Mike Quigley Expects DOJ To Reveal “As Little As They Possibly Can” In Redacted Mueller Report

Mueller set a “very high bar”. To combat that, Trump and the Republican Reich set a very low Barr, or should I say Barrf? RESIST!!

From The Guardian: …Bernie Sanders will finish a four-day tour of Trump Country on Monday, with a town hall on the president’s favorite network: Fox News.

It is an unexpected partnership, between a self-described democratic socialist and a media outlet that dedicates primetime to pundits who rail against a purported “creep” of socialism.

The event will be staged in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a state Trump won by less than 1%, and it will be moderated by Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Sanders is the first Democratic presidential candidate to appear on the network for such an event. He says it is a way to speak directly to Trump supporters, to make the case that the president is a “pathological liar” who has misled the working class. The booking is also important for Fox News, which was banned from hosting a Democratic primary debate.

Among Democrats, the booking has drawn criticism. Progressive groups are urging presidential contenders to boycott the network whose stream of pro-Trump commentary has led critics to liken it to unofficial “state TV”.

As much as I detest the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, I’m trying to remain open minded about this. The huge number of voters in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin get all their propaganda from Faux Noise. That may be the only way to expose them to truth about their Fuhrer. Nevertheless, I won’t be watching it. RESIST!!

From Alternet: CNN’s John Avlon on Monday ran down years’ worth of President Donald Trump’s lies in a short three-minute video.

During his “Reality Check” segment titled “Does Trump know we have video of his speeches?”, Avlon took the president and his White House to task for constantly reversing positions they’ve held in the past — and then shamelessly lying about it.

I’d make a two-faced graphic of Trump, except for one thing. No barf bag is big and strong enough to contain the response. RESIST!!

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