Politics Plus

It’s a WWWendy w/wings day here at the CatBox, and in addition to fumigating the stinky TomCat, we have several chores, including the dreaded task.   I miss my beloved Orb!

I just heard from Wendy, who isn’t feeling well and will be late, so I’m rushing to finish, before she gets here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 5:10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Presidential Address Cold Open

No wonder Melania likes Alec better, but Alec gave it away. He held up large hands. RESIST!!

From Newsweek: President Donald Trump has made no secret of his admiration for strongmen leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.

And, according to a tape of closed door remarks Trump made at his Mar-a-Lago estate obtained by CNN, he supports President Xi Xinping of China’s move to extend his power indefinitely. “He’s now president for life,” Trump told Republican donors, after the Chinese Communist party last week moved to alter the constitution to allow Xi to remain in power beyond the two-term limit.

“President for life. And he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day.” [emphasis added]

Both the Fuhrer and the Republican Party would love that. But they only admit it when they think nobody is listening.  RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump warned on Saturday that he would apply higher taxes on imported European cars if the European Union carried through on its threat to retaliate against his proposed stiff new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

“If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter [Fool delinked] from Florida, where he was spending part of the weekend. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”

It was the latest indication that Mr. Trump, despite pressure from foreign allies and American business leaders, is standing by his decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from all countries. The action is likely to be signed this coming week.

The fool claimed this measure would target China, but he appears to be after the EU and Canada. RESIST!!

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I made this cartoon six years ago.  We’re still trying!

It’s Monthly Report day, so I’m quite busy.  I also solved a technical problem.  Our Clustrmap disappeared from the site.  I finally discovered that the problem was on my computer.  I use AdGuard, and AdGuard blocked it as an ad.  So, I set up an exception in AdGuard for PP and changed Clustrmap to a spinning globe.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 4:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Merkley Presses Army Corps to Support Tribal Housing Along the Columbia River

Kudos to Jeff for standing up for Native American rights. Oregon leads the way. We RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): "This Is How You Run A Banana Republic"

Painter was not even an Obama appointee. He worked in the GW Bush Regime. The best way to deal with a banana republic is to put banana Republican politicians out of work. RESIST!!

From The Daily Beast: At a time when insane is the new normal, our ability to be outraged is dulled amid daily incoming. But Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee—led by their chairman, Trump lackey Devin Nunes—somehow hit a new low with Thursday’s revelation that they leaked to Fox News texts from Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Mark Warner and a Russian businessman in a desperate attempt to discredit the senator. Those texts were then retweeted by our president, in a brushback pitch for Warner’s insistence on investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election—and potential collusion with the Trump campaign—without fear or favor.

This bombshell story, first reported by The New York Times, is not your garden variety Trump-related drama. It’s worse. At a time when institutional checks and balances are needed more than ever, it underscored just how bad the blood is on Capitol Hill—not just between the two parties, but between the House and the Senate itself.

Devin Nunes—a California dairy farmer who degraded himself by becoming a congressman—deserves disproportionate blame for this pathetic mess. His committee has turned the pursuit of truth into a partisan mockery, choosing to do the White House’s bidding at the expense of honest inquiry and fact-based debate.

The author concludes that Lyin’ Ryan should remove Nunes. I fully agree, but I see far too big an orangish-brown smudge on Ryan’s nose for that to happen. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Just days after losing his top security clearance at the White House, Jared Kushner could soon be eligible to enter another high-security government facility, legal experts believe.

According to Davis Logsdon, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, Kushner could be on the verge of obtaining “long-term clearance” at this separate facility, which, like the White House, is owned and operated by the federal government.

Logsdon said that, although such a facility lacks some of the prestige of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kushner would have access to government benefits there that far exceed what he has received as an unpaid adviser at the White House.

“All of his meals and housing would be fully paid for by the taxpayer,” Logsdon said. “And, if things play out the way some believe they will, Jared Kushner could be receiving these benefits for decades to come.”

Andy, you pictured a prison, but wouldn’t the GOP Gitmo Gulag be a better place for him? RESIST!!

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In breaking news, several sources inside the Mueller investigation have revealed that Mueller is probing into Trump’s prior knowledge of and involvement in the release of the DNC emails.  The noose tightens.  I don’t know why, but I had insomnia last night and slept poorly.  Since this is such a busy day, this is my only article, and I’ll send no links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:41 (average 5:49).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Jared Kushner Eyed Over Foreign Contacts, Vulnerability To Manipulation

In any other White House, this would be the biggest scandal in history. But in today’s Republican Reich, it’s just one of the daily dozen. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Paul Ryan: ‘We shouldn’t ban guns for law-abiding citizens’

Barf Bag Alert!!

Republicans always use this "law abiding citizens" BS, coupled with the claim that we need to keep guns out of just the wrong hands. I can prove that they are lying. If that’s what they wanted, they wouldn’t keep refusing to close the gun show loophole. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a moment of high drama at the White House on Tuesday morning, Donald J. Trump dove under his desk after a can of Diet Coke opened with an unexpectedly loud sound.

Moments earlier, Trump had pressed a button on his desk, summoning Vice-President Mike Pence to the Oval Office to serve him the frosty beverage.

According to one aide, when Pence opened the can, it made “an unusually loud noise,” sending Trump ducking under his desk in a millisecond.

At a news conference, minutes later, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, attempted to tamp down speculation that Trump had acted in a cowardly manner during the Diet Coke incident. “The President prudently repositioned himself under his desk in an aggressive crouch,” she said. “He was ready for anything.”

Pence agreed with her assessment. “The President was putting himself in a position where, if need be, he could defend the entire country against an attack,” he said. “I, for one, am honored to serve a man of such valor.”

Dang Andy! Isn’t it miraculous that Donny Dump-in-Pants couldn’t find his nuclear button with his tiny hands? RESIST!!

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May the founding be undone ASAP!!

Well, WWW/wW and I finished our chores yesterday.  I have an easy week this week, but next week medical mayhem will kick in.  I popped on George, skipped my morning nap, and tried to do extra research this morning, hoping to find a third article.  I found a couple extra short takes.  Today I am officially in mourning.  The Olympics distracted me, but now the absence of blessed light from the holy Ellipsoid Orb has become apparent.  Woe to the world!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:27 (average 5:25).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): HE DOESN’T KNOW THE TERRITORY – Parody of the opening scene from The Music Man

Beautifully done. Parody Project Parodied Projection. RESIST!!

From CNN: Lina Crisostomo’s SATs are coming up next week, but college test prep has taken a backseat to funerals, vigils and walkouts.

It’s been like that since a gunman stormed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people and sending Lina running from campus.

"Homework doesn’t really seem that important now," she said Friday, the day before her 17th birthday. "My attention has changed to fighting for these 17 lives."

Lina is one of many Stoneman Douglas students who’s been channeling grief into fighting the gun lobby since the February 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida. In little more than a week, the student-led movement made gains no one predicted, not even the students. Now, with classes set to resume on Wednesday, Lina and others worry about losing momentum.

"I know I have to get back to reality, but it just doesn’t seem as important as fighting," she said.

In a way, I partially understand her. I had to drop out of college in the 1960s, because my class attendance and assignment completion were too sporadic for me to pass. Fighting against the war and for civil rights just seemed more important at the time. RESIST!!

From NY Times: After President Trump signed the Republican tax cut into law, companies put out cheery announcements that they were giving workers bonuses because of their expected windfalls from the tax reductions. The president and Republican lawmakers quickly held up these news releases as vindication for their argument that cutting the top federal corporate tax rate to 21 percent, from 35 percent, would boost workers’ incomes even as it added $1.5 trillion to the debt that future generations would have to pay off.

Now corporate announcements and analyst reports confirm what honest observers always said — this claim is pure fantasy. As executives tell investors what they intend to do with their tax savings and their spending plans are tabulated into neat charts and graphs, the reports jibe with what most experts said would happen: Companies are rewarding their stockholders.

Businesses are buying back shares, which creates demand for the stocks, boosts share prices and benefits investors. Some of the cash is going to increase dividends. And a chunk will go to acquiring other businesses, creating larger corporations that face less competition.

We all knew this was coming! RESIST!!

From Liberals Unite: News website Axios reported late Sunday that Trump considers drug dealers to be worse than serial killers and would love the U.S. to pass laws making capital punishment mandatory for drug traffickers.

In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for drug trafficking offenses. And President Trump loves it. He’s been telling friends for months that the country’s policy to execute drug traffickers is the reason its drug consumption rates are so low.

“He says that a lot,” said a source who’s spoken to Trump at length about the subject. “He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty’.”

A senior administration official told Axios that Trump “often jokes about killing drug dealers… He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them.’”

I oppose the death penalty. It is ironic, that the only possible exception, if any, is for treason. RESIST!!

From RWW: Last week, End Times pastor Paul Begley appeared on “The Hagmann Report,” where he stood by his claim that First Lady Melania Trump had ordered the White House to be “completely exorcised” before she moved in.

After Begley made this claim earlier this month, the story was widely circulated among those who saw it as a sign of President Trump’s growing Christian faith, which eventually prompted the Associated Press to contact the White House for comment, forcing the first lady’s office to declare that Begely’s claim was “not true in any way.”

But Begley is standing by his claim and insisting that the AP’s story denying the exorcism is “fake news.”

Assuming that the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian (same as Antichristian) isn’t lying, the exorcism was a complete failure. The orange dung demon still tweets from there. RESIST!!

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