I’m headed out to the dentist. ARGH! đ
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:22 (average 6:03). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
RESIST!!
Mar 182019
Mar 172019
It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy is coming, and we have many chores to complete. This is my only article today. Monday and Wednesday will also be one article days, with no links messages on Care2.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
A Special Day:
Short Take:
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Trump Admin Tracked Individual Migrant Girls’ Pregnancies
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone inserted a 20 lb. Saguaro cactus up Scott Lloyd’s butt and made him carry it for nine months? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Mar 162019
It’s a comparatively warm day here in the CatBox as we enter a week of above average temps here. Please expect no more than Personal Updates with no links messages on Care2 tomorrow and Monday. Tomorrow is a very busy TomCat de-stink day with WWWendy. Monday is dentist day.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:36 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Huffington Post: Australian Senator Fraser Anning blames Muslims for the shootings at two mosques in New Zealand that left at least 49 dead in their places of worship.
The politician drew immediate criticism after he released a statement on Friday declaring that the shooter â an avowed white supremacist â was motivated not by bigotry but by the âincreasing Muslim presenceâ in Australia and New Zealand.
âWhilst this kind of violent vigilantism can never be justified, what it highlights is the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence,â he wrote. âLet us be clear, while Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators.â
This bigoted and dangerous point of view is one that Anning has been peddling for some time. In August, he called for a âfinal solutionâ to the Muslim âimmigration problem,â evoking a reference to the Nazisâ âfinal solutionâ terminology used to target Jews during the Holocaust.
This proves that excrement need not be American to be Republican. RESIST!!
From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): FACADE OF PLASTIC PIETY
Amazing, Don! The problem is not from Christianity. It’s from Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity, the opposite of authentic Christianity. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: In an interview with Breitbart, Donald Trump had a not-at-all-subtle message for his opponents. âI have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump,â he claimed. âI have the tough people, but they donât play it toughâuntil they go to a certain point and then it would be very bad, very bad.â
Trump doesnât make it clear who âtheyâ are, or exactly what would have to happen before his collection of soldiers, officers, and bikers would be released to make things âvery bad.â Not that details are required. Trump is making it clear he thinks he has the muscle on his side to get his way by brute force, no democracy required.
Brute force was the way of the extreme right even before the Republican Party became the Republican Reich by putting the extreme right in charge. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Mar 152019
I don’t know why, but I overslept and feel very tired today. I’ll just get done ASAP.
Jig Zone:
Today’s took me 3:44 (average 5:38). To do it, click here. Yow did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): During Fox News’ emergency meeting with ad buyers, protesters tell advertisers to #DropFox
Kudos to the protestors. The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, deserves extinction. RESIST!!
From YouTube (Progressive Politics Channel): CNN Wants To Teach You About Socialism
We are a mixed economy. Fire and police protection, for example, are socialized. Ideal Communism is a state where there is no government. Everyone contributes according to their ability and consumes according to their need. It does not exist on any national scale. Modern Communism is a dictatorship pretending socialism. The Republican goal is plutocratic fascism. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Offering an upbeat assessment of the headline-grabbing college-admissions scandal, Betsy DeVos said on Thursday that bribing colleges gave students âa really neat opportunityâ to learn math.
The Secretary of Education suggested that, rather than keeping children in the dark about the bribes that enable their college acceptances, âParents should sit around the kitchen table with their kids and work on some fun math problems together.â
âLetâs say itâll cost Amber seventy-five thousand dollars to get into Stanford, and itâll cost her twin brother Dylan seventy-five thousand to get into Georgetown,â she said. âHow much money total will their parents have to wire?â
âOr letâs say Jenna has a 470 verbal score, but she needs a 730 to get into Yale,â DeVos said. âHow much will she have to pay to get her score changed?â
Andy, she might not have said that, but you stole her idea. RESIST!!
Cartoons:
Ryan may be gone, but the goal remains.
Mar 142019
WordPress installed an update from 5.1 to 5.1.1 and, in the process, screwed up compatibility with the ARK Comment Editor Plugin that we use. There is no trouble replying to articles. But here’s how we need to reply to comments, until they fix it. The comment form at the bottom for a reply to the article works. Make your reply to a reply there, but do not click the Submit Comment button. Then click the Reply link under the comment to which you are replying. When the fractured,. empty comment form opens, click its Submit Comment button and your comment will be posted in the right place. I’m sorry for the inconvenience and am getting pissed off at the WordPress folks.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:17 (average 6:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (NY Times Channel): Who Is Beto OâRourke?
I listened to him this morning in Iowa. He knew his material. He related to people where they are. He answered questions with progressive solutions. I wish he had more seasoning, but he’s totally constipated. (He has his shit together :-)). RESIST!!
From YouTube (Trae Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – Rich Kids, Poor Parents, and the Least Surprising Scandal Ever
Stealing education was the next logical step for behavior typical of the Republican Reich. RESIST!!
From NY Times: After days of mounting pressure, the United States grounded Boeingâs 737 Max aircraft on Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision in which American regulators said the planes could keep flying after a deadly crash in Ethiopia.
The decision, announced by President Trump, followed determinations by safety regulators in some 42 countries to ban flights by the jets, which are now grounded worldwide. Pilots, flight attendants, consumers and politicians from both major parties had been agitating for the planes to be grounded in the United States. Despite the clamor, the Federal Aviation Administration had been resolute, saying on Tuesday that it had seen âno systemic performance issuesâ that would prompt it to halt flights of the jet.
That changed Wednesday when, in relatively quick succession, Canadian and American aviation authorities said they were grounding the planes after newly available satellite-tracking data suggested similarities between Sundayâs crash in Ethiopia and one involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 in Indonesia in October.
Finally! Normally this announcement would come from the FAA, which has the authority to ground those planes, but Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten claimed credit for it. He lied that they were grounded only because he had declared a so-called “national emergency” to do so. On the other hand, it’s more of a national emergency than his freaking wall. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Mar 132019
It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering groceries later. This evening WWWendy comes to destink the vile TomCat. I’m feeling s tad more geriatric today. Judge Jackson sentenced Paul Manafart to 3.5 years in addition to his other sentence.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:59 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Years of Laura Ingrahamâs anti-immigrant commentary
Barf Bag Alert!!
Ingraham and other commentators at the Republican Reich ministry of propaganda, Faux Noise, should be required to wear their sheets and hoods, when on camera. RESIST!!
From Reuters: The parliament will vote on Wednesday on whether to leave the European Union in 16 days without an agreement as the government said it would eliminate import tariffs on a wide range of goods in a no-deal Brexit scenario.
British lawmakers on Tuesday handed Prime Minister Theresa May a second humiliating defeat on the Brexit plan she had agreed with the EU, plunging the country deeper into political crisis.
The turmoil leaves the worldâs fifth largest economy facing a range of scenarios – it could leave without a transition deal; delay the March 29 divorce date enshrined in law; May could hold a snap election or try a third time to get her deal passed; or Britain could hold another Brexit referendum.
The best way for the people of the UK to show that they are not Brexit Bridiots is to hold another Brexit referendum, defeat Brexit, and dump their right-wing government. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: It would be a giant leap to say that the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people on Sunday was caused by the U.S. government shutdown, but there is reason to believe the aircraftâs safety may have been compromised by the impasse Donald Trump forced over funding for his vanity wall.
The crash apparently bore similarities to that of Lion Air flight 610, which went down near Indonesia last year. And a new software fix to address what happened during that flight was significantly delayed in part because of the shutdown.
After the Lion Air crash, the FAAâwhich, with EU airline regulators, generally sets the tone for aviation safety worldwideâissued a new âairworthiness directiveâ to US operators of the Boeing 737 8 and 9 planes, warning that an âunsafe conditionâ exists on the models and providing flight crews âwith runaway horizontal stabilizer trim procedures to follow under certain conditions.â
Straightforward safety upgrades to the jetsâ software to fix the automated safety feature, were originally expected in January according to multiple reports. But they were delayed until April, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 10, because of âengineering challenges,â âdifferences of opinionâ between federal and Boeing officials, and the 35-day government shutdown, during which âconsideration of the fixes was suspended.â
Don’t tell the Republican Reich. If they find out they helped kill all those black people, it will be party time in GOPville. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Mar 122019
It’s a crappy day here in the CatBox, because I’m fighting off a case of Republicosis. I had a cavity come out of one of my three remaining teeth. I’ll be scarce next week, because I have to get the tooth fixed on Monday, and I have a routine appointment on Wednesday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:27 (average 4:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: The Yuge Republican Lie About the Deficit
Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right! The Reich on the right, the Republican Reich, offer Russian Hooker economics: tinkle down. Sick of getting peed on? Vote Blue! RESIST!!
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Chris Discusses Exclusive New Audio Of Fox News Host Tucker Carlson
Carlson is not the Republican exception. He’s the Republican rule. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trumpâs $4.7-trillion budget raised eyebrows on Monday when government-watchdog groups discovered that it contained twenty million dollars for bail.
The line item for a âbail fundâ was buried in the fine print of the published budget, along with a footnote specifying that the money could be used only to bail out Trump and members of his immediate family.
Dang Andy! Do you think that will be enough? RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Mar 112019
It’s another busy day here at the CatBox. I have a representative of the senior agency that pays about 15% of WWWendy making her annual evaluation this morning. That will tie me up for at least an hour. I probably won’t recover from sproinging for at least a couple more days.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s tool me 2:48 (average 4:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Vox Channel): Why you still don’t understand the Green New Deal
I agree. Use this link for substance. RESIST!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
From Alternet: Despite all of the disproved narratives about the âwhite working class,â it has been repeatedly and conclusively shown that Donald Trump in fact won the White House because of racism and nativism. But sexism was a key element in Trumpâs victory as well. These values, beliefs, and behaviors interact with one another. New research by University of Kansas sociologists David Smith and Eric Hanley demonstrates how a socially combustible mix of racism and sexism, in combination with anger and bullying, put the United States on a path to authoritarianism.
Writing in âThe Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?â, which appeared in a recent issue of the journal Critical Sociology, Smith and Hanley summarize their new research:
We find that Trumpâs supporters voted for him mainly because they share his prejudices, not because theyâre financially stressed. Itâs true, as exit polls showed, that voters without four-year college degrees were likelier than average to support Trump. But millions of these voters â who are often stereotyped as âthe white working classâ â opposed Trump because they oppose his prejudices.
The Republican Reich was not hoodwinked or economically motivated. They love Trump, because they share his evil hatred. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Democrats filed into the House chamber on Thursday â depleted and punch drunk â to vote for an overstuffed resolution condemning prejudice â and end, or so they hoped, a week of infighting that vividly illustrated the perils of policing their own speech.
âI hope this puts an end to all of this,â said Representative Robin Kelly, Democrat of Illinois, moments before the measure, which condemned anti-Semitism and virtually every other form of bigotry, passed with unanimous Democratic support.
It almost certainly will not. The measure, which began as a rebuke to Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota and a freshman lawmaker, and ended as a catchall declaration of tolerance that did not mention her by name, seemed to satisfy no one. Ultimately, the wrenching intraparty fight left unanswered a question that transcends partisan politics: In an era of shouting and provocation, how should Congress respond when its members say hateful or hurtful things?
We need to be careful here. Serious discussion in search of solutions may seem hurtful to some, but they are a necessary step toward progress. On the other hand, discussions intended only to hurt members of a group are hate speech. Hurtful need not be hateful, but hateful is wrong. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
