Open Thread–3/11/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 112020

It’s a difficult day here in the CatBox. I was able to keep my serving of strawberries and cream instant oatmeal down this morning, but I have a lot of back pain. Tonight, WWWendy comes to de-stink the TomCat and help with chores. For some reason, my shower chair really exacerbates my back pain. I have a few Oxycodone left. I’ll take one when she gets here. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0311TrumpVirus

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Critics are denouncing as ‘corporate socialism’ the Trump administration’s reported consideration to offer oil and gas companies in the U.S. fracking industry a massive bailout amid a drop in prices that comes amid the global coronavirus outbreak.

“Corporate socialists seek welfare from Trump administration,” tweeted journalist David Cay Johnson, in response to reporting by the Washington Post on Tuesday.

According to the Post, the administration is looking to bail out the fracking sector due to its instability in the wake of the ongoing financial downturn:

White House officials are alarmed at the prospect that numerous shale companies, many of them deep in debt, could be driven out of business if the downturn in oil prices turns into a prolonged crisis for the industry. The federal assistance is likely to take the form of low-interest government loans to the shale companies, whose lines of credit to major financial institutions have been choked off, three people said.

I fully agree with one caveat. Bailouts for the worst mother fracking corporate criminals is not corporate socialism. It is Republican National Socialism. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Always nice to see the fair and balanced (and not completely deranged) hosts of Fox News, or in this case, Fox Business News, working on behalf of Dear Leader. Trish Regan’s monologue was called the “coronavirus impeachment scam.” I suppose none of which should be in any way surprising, as Fox News and its bizarre offspring, Fox Business News, exist to prop up this failed and inept president, even at the expense of public health and safety.

Barf Bag Alert!!

The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, are so full of shit that their Nazi blue eyes are turning brown. This Republican disinformation will kill people. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): the beach boys – fun, fun, fun

I occasionally dated a gal with a 1957 T-Bird 2 seat convertible (LOVED that car!!). Friends and I used to sing and play this tune to her to tease her. Ah… the memories. RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/10/2020

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

Mar 102020

It’s a difficult day here in the CatBox. I get topo impatient to spend 90 – 120 minutes eating a meal, and I eat too much too fast. As a result, it took me 210 minutes to eat breakfast, half of it ended up in the sink, and I have severe heartburn. On the plus side, I enjoyed my time with my friend yesterday. For news on my cancer, see yesterday’s Open thread, if you missed it.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:24 (average 4:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Irate passengers who have been stranded onboard the Grand Princess cruise ship are demanding to be housed at Mar-a-Lago, the passengers confirmed on Monday.

Frustrated by the Trump Administration’s delay in devising a plan to enable them to disembark, the nearly three thousand coronavirus-exposed passengers said that it was “only fair” that Trump welcome them to his Palm Beach home.

“Donald Trump keeps on saying that he’s not worried about coronavirus,” the passengers’ spokesman said. “Then he shouldn’t object to three thousand of us living with him.”

Andy, I’ll agree under two conditions. First, only people who have tested positive should go. Second, if Trump* is not there, they should be taken to wherever he is. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: Will Donald Trump Get Reelected?

Sadly, the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. There’s nothing too dishonest, despicable, or deplorable for the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich, and their Russian allies, to do to keep their criminal Fuhrer Trump* in power. We must unite behind whoever wins the Democratic nomination and flush the Fascist Republican Reich to oblivion! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Ode to Billie Joe – Bobbie Gentry (BBC Live 1968)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/8/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 082020

It’s a busy tired day here in the CatBox. I sproinged ahead and may recover this month. WWWendy will be here shortly. Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 7:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoons:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Say what you want about him but the guy sure does know how to hire an advertising team!

I hated his candidacy, but surely like his desire to flush criminal Fuhrer Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): The Ingraham Angle Coronavirus Cold Open

Kate McKinnon is amazing. She does a more accurate Ingraham than the real bimbo on the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise! The real Don, Jr. probably has the hots for the real Ingraham. His taste is as bad as his father. As bad as Matthews, is, I don’t think he’ll ever descend to Faux Noise. Kudos to Liz for her wonderful sense of humor! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Jumpin’ Jack Flash　－　The Rolling Stones

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/6/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:37 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 062020

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. It has been so muggy that I have slept poorly. The powdered pills in apple sauce is working well, as long as I add a Splenda packet. Thank God it’s Friday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:10 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: As former Vice President Joe Biden won state after state on Tuesday night, the accusations flew: The Establishment stole the election from Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former rival and current campaign surrogate Marianne Williamson called it “a coup,” in a now-deleted tweet. Another prominent Sanders booster said the “party brass” “wants to foist Biden on the party.” This disrespect for voters needs to stop.

It’s pretty clear that large chunks of the Democratic establishment, however you define it, didn’t want to see Bernie win. But whatever those chunks of that establishment did to block him wasn’t done in some back room conspiracy. It was done out in the open by the most basic, routine of means: in the wake of a big win in South Carolina that suggested Biden was the strongest non-Bernie candidate, two of his competitors dropped out and endorsed him. Some other prominent people endorsed him. And then the voters in 14 states had their say, and it wasn’t good for Sanders—and the fact that that’s all it took to give Biden a surge of this magnitude is something that all of us who were supporting other candidates have to reckon with, seriously.

The real engine for Biden’s comeback was built from voters. That started with the overwhelmingly black voters of South Carolina—people too many Sanders supporters have been eager to dismiss and denigrate, now as in 2016, but certainly not billionaires buying an election or shadowy operatives rigging, well, anything—but it didn’t stop there. While Sanders had built admirable strength among Latino voters and younger voters, he didn’t expand his support enough.

I have to agree with this author with one caveat. What drove voters on Super Tuesday to what they considered a “safe” choice is fear of a Trump second term far too intense to take a chance the more beneficial, but more radical policies of Bernie and Liz. Furthermore, Bernie has done little to broaden his base beyond the coalition that he lost with in 2016, so even though I support him, now that Liz has withdrawn, I do not consider him the likely nominee. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: A resident of Washington, D.C., has been identified as the source of the community spread of coronavirus misinformation throughout the United States.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that the man had ignored the advice of public-health experts and spewed a toxic strain of ignorance, potentially infecting millions.

The man, believed to be a fact-resistant organism, travelled last week to South Carolina, where he came in contact with thousands of people who, as a result of community spread, now believe that coronavirus is a hoax.

The epidemic of cluelessness expanded last night, when the man called in to a Fox News television program to encourage people with coronavirus to go to work rather than stay at home, as scientists have urged.

Andy is reporting straight news again. Would anyone like to guess the identity of this idiot? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Shirelles Will you still love me tomorrow (Top Quality + Lyrics)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/5/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 052020

It’s a busy day, here at the CatBox. Eating is getting easier, since I discovered that pills getting stuck in the tumor were the big problem. I ground them with my mortar and pestle last night, and WWWendy mixed the powder with cottage cheese. YUCK! I’ve eaten better crunchies from my kitty box, but my ham and beans goop over rice went down without issue. This morning I ground them and mixed them with apple juice. They glopped up, but I got them down. Store to Door is delivering groceries this afternoon, so I’ll mix tonight’s grind with apple sauce. I scheduled an initial appointment with my new oncologist, Dr. Evelyn Brosnan on Thursday, March 17. I’ve requested that they release the PET Scan results to me this week, but they may not. Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:42 (average 8:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: As an elementary school art teacher in the Dallas, Texas area, Stacy Bailey introduced herself to her students with a “get to know your teacher” classroom presentation. The presentation included photos of her friends, dog, family members, and fiancée (now spouse), as reported by The Advocate. After the presentation, a parent complained about the image of her fiancée. Bailey was suspended from her position, assigned to another school, and nearly three years later, has been awarded a $100,000 settlement from the school district, as reported by NBC News. Why the complaint and all of this fall-out? Bailey’s fiancée, now-wife, is a woman. The district denies any wrongdoings.

The district says it received complaints from parents because Bailey was talking about her sexual orientation with children. A parent complained Bailey was “promoting the homosexual agenda,” as reported by the Texas Tribune. If you’re curious about what the picture involved, it reportedly showed Bailey and her now-wife, Julie Vasquez, in Finding Nemo costumes, making funny faces. Bailey allegedly explained Vasquez as her “future wife.” In September 2017, Bailey was placed on administrative leave…

…In 2018, after eight months of suspension, Bailey was assigned to teach at a different school in the district. Working with attorney Jason Smith, she sued the school district in federal court, alleging the district violated her constitutionally protected rights. In October 2019, Judge Sam Lindsay ruled in her favor. The settlement of $100,000 was awarded on Monday.

Kudos to Stacy Baily for overcoming Republican hatred of LGBTQ people. There is nothing unusual about straight teachers talking about their families. For the Republican Reich to allow one and deny the other is a Republican level of hypocrisy. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: A harrowing scene unfolded at the White House on Tuesday night as Donald Trump screamed at Mike Pence for “not praying hard enough” to make Joe Biden lose the Super Tuesday primary contests, sources said.

Witnesses to the vituperative dressing-down of the Vice-President reported that the evening started badly after Trump saw the returns from Virginia, which Biden won handily.

“Mike, you were supposed to tell God to make Sleepy Joe lose,” Trump snapped. “A lot of good your ‘praying’ did.”

Trump’s tirade against Pence grew in ferocity after Biden romped to victory in state after state, a string of victories that Trump blamed squarely on Pence’s inadequate praying efforts.

Dang, Andy! As much as I hate to admit it, I was screaming at pseudo-Christion Vice Fuhrer Mike “The HIV Guy” Pence for the exact same reason! Were it not for Republican prayer incompetence, Bernie would have won! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Four Season & Frankie Valli hits live Sherry, Rag doll, Walk

Damn, ! was young then! Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

BREAKING From NY Times: Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts plans to drop out of the presidential race on Thursday and will inform her staff of her plans later this morning, according to a person close to her, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall, but that proved unable to translate excitement from elite progressives into backing from the party’s more working-class and diverse base.

Though her support had eroded by Super Tuesday, in her final weeks as a candidate she effectively drove the centrist billionaire, former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, out of the race with debate performances that flashed her evident skills and political potential.

While I recognize the necessity, I have a one word response: Shit! She has a great future. Liz 2024! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/4/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:29 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 042020

It’s a queasy day here in the CatBox. I’m keeping it down, but just barely. By rotating food items to different meals, I’ve determined that I can eat items I thought I couldn’t eat at lunch, when I have no pills to take. I’ll have my mortar and pestle today, my big jar of applesauce tomorrow, and box of 50 2 oz. plastic cups with lids to store powdered meds and applesauce on Sunday. WWWendy is coming this evening to de-stink the Tomcat and help with chores.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s non-food item took me 4:02 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Take damn his undeserved medal away too!

Short Takes:

From Alternet: A mother and son from Sarasota Military Academy in Florida are being quarantined for COVID-19, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. On the Academy’s Facebook page [Fakebook delinked], the school posted on Monday that the “mother’s contact with a patient at Sarasota Doctors Hospital in her professional role,” had led to both her and her son to be quarantined as a “precautionary measure.” The two reportedly showed no symptoms of the virus.

On Friday, Feb. 28, Trump’s top coronavirus point man and non-believer in science, Mike Pence, held a fundraiser in Sarasota at the home of Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan. At the event, Pence talked about “possible changes in travel status to the United States,” while shaking hands with dozens of supporters and 44 cadets from Sarasota Military Academy. Ruh-roh.

While I would not wish Trump* virus on anyone, spending some quarantine time might teach that hate-spewing pseudo-Christian sycophant a little compassion for his and his criminal Fuhrer’s other Trump* virus victims. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Mitch McConnell’s Do Nothing Republicans

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the right, the evil Republican Reich, has two perfect (for them) shepherds: criminal Fuhrer Trump* and Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch. Flush both in November, and flush all their cronies. Every Republican in office is one Republican too many! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): THIS MAGIC MOMENT-JAY AND THE AMERICANS

Ah… the memories. RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/3/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:22 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 032020

It’s a very busy day here in the CatBox. I had to prepare and send my grocery order. I spent over an hour on the phone trying to line up the oncologist for my cancer treatments. I think I have, but I still have no results from my PET Scan. I’m hoping for a call tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted. I still have to do the prep work for covering Super Tuesday. I am experimenting with mi diet and found that I’m not plugging the passageway as badly, when I eat a soft solid food and goop together. Yesterday for lunch I had a small portion of ground turkey sandwich. That was borderline. For supper, I had chili goop over rice. That worked great. For breakfast, I had New England clam chowder goop with a bite of saltine with each bite of goop. That worked well too. May Liz and Bernie kick ass today!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 5:10): To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: A former Justice Department attorney compared her service under President Donald Trump as somewhere in between Nazi Germany and “The Apprentice.”

Erica Newland went to work at the Department of Justice in the summer before the 2016 election, and stayed under Trump because she liked her colleagues and believed she could make a difference — but soon learned an uncomfortable truth about herself, reported The Atlantic.

“I guess I know what kind [of German bureaucrat] I would have been,” Newland said, imagining how she might have served in the 1930s. “I would have stayed in the Nazi administration initially and then fled.”

She lasted in Trump’s government until October 2018, when an anti-Semitic extremist killed 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, and that same week her colleagues at the Office of Legal Counsel were tasked with justifying Trump’s order to refuse all asylum claims at the southern border — mirroring language the gunman had used against foreign “invaders.”

Newland, who is Jewish, recalled an exchange she had with a supervisor who often reminded staffers they worked for the president by saying, “We’re just following orders.

The bureaucrats under Hitler were “just following orders” too. What’s the difference? Fuhrer Hitler’s Nazi Reich was the Third Reich. Criminal Fuhrer Trump’s* Republican Reich is the Fifth Reich. The similarities are undeniable. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is under intense pressure to drop out of the 2020 race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, her nine supporters announced on Monday.

The announcement from Gabbard’s nine followers surprised many Democrats, who had been unaware that the Hawaii congresswoman was still running.

In a conference call after the South Carolina primary, the nine members of Team Tulsi concluded that Gabbard’s path to the nomination had grown “dauntingly narrow.”

“We believe that Tulsi would be an amazing President of the United States,” Harland Dorrinson, a spokesman for the other eight Gabbard supporters, said. “But we have regretfully come to the conclusion that this is not her time.”

Andy, is that a good idea? The nine fools stupid enough to vote for Tulsi should still vote for her. That way, they won’t damage the nation by voting for Bloombarf or criminal Fuhrer Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): What Bernie Skeptics Need to Know Before Super Tuesday

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the Right, the evil Republican Reich, in addition to corporate Democrats, have their heads up their asses. 1. Amen! FDR was a democratic socialist. Amen! Trump promised reform and delivered National Socialism. 3. Amen! A Wall Street speculation tax to pay for public needs is far better for America than Republican welfare for billionaires. 4. Amen! Congress will pass progressive legislation, if we get off our asses, flush the Republican Reich, and replace DINOs in the primaries. 5. Amen! Bernie acts younger than Biden. 6. Amen! With criminal Fuhrer Trump* in power, the Democrats will unite behind any candidate, who wins the nomination, as long as they win it fairly! However, if DNC Superdelegates take the nomination from the voters’ choice and land it to another, they will destroy the party and the nation. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Monkees – Last Train To Clarksville 1966

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/2/2020

Posted by TomCat at 7:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 022020

Please pardon my brevity. I’ve made ~~five~~ six trips to the throne since 2 AM, and my breakfast experiment went into the sink, leaving screaming heartburn. Oh God, it’s Monday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:26 (average 5:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Radio personality and CNN weekend host Michael Smerconish came under fire Saturday morning—along with the network—for “casually” portraying the surging prospects of Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders as comparable to the threat of the infectious coronavirus which continues to spread in the United States and around the world.

He should be fired immediately. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Buttigieg Suspends 2020 Race To ‘Bring Our Party And Country Together’

I think he’s a good VP choice. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Del Shannon – Runaway (Rare Stereo Version)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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