Politics Plus

It’s a very busy day here in the CatBox.  I swapped out the poll and made that graphic.  I collected all the data and made all the graphics for tomorrow’s report for January.  I worked on SSL to make the site more secure.  I tried to fix Cluster Map Again.  Needless to say, I’m way behind.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:20 (average 5:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Trump Says He Summoned Intel Chiefs After Hearing They Contradicted Him

Either Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten is intentionally lying to cause confusion, or he’s stoned out of his mind. Are his Russian hookers taking THC before his showers? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Fox News claims that the left supports "infanticide"

Barf Bag Alert!!

The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, is fomenting violence from Republican terrorists. Of course, I would never support this idea, except as humor, but "aborting" Faux Noise talking heads years after birth is sphinctercide. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Sen. Cory Booker announces 2020 presidential run

Booker is not my favorite for President. He has a history of corporatism. RESIST!!

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It’s a very busy day here in the CatBox.  Store to Door will be delivering groceries, and I have to unpack and put them away.  Later WWWendy comes fumigate the mangy TomCat and help with chores.  Last night, at 2 AM, a fire alarm blasted me from a sound sleep.  The fire department came and found no fire, but by that time I was up, dressed, ready to be evacuated, and wide awake.  I could not get back to sleep.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:46 (average 8:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Senator Jeff Merkley on CNN New Day

I fully agree with my senator, Jeff Merkley. Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From NBC News: The massive cold weather front descending over the Midwest this week has commentators straining for analogies (“Deep Freeze,” “Arctic Outbreak” and “Ice Age”) and at least some people wondering what has become of global warming.

President Donald Trump and radio provocateur Rush Limbaugh seemed bemused by the notion that the climate is warming at a time when most of America will be hunkering down against sub-freezing temperatures.

But climate authorities, including those inside Trump’s government, said the record-setting cold does nothing to contradict the consensus on climate change. According to a tweet Tuesday morning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “Winter storms don’t prove that global warming isn’t happening.”…

…The discussion of climate and weather, and how much one influences the other, has become politically charged at a time when some political conservatives have rejected the scientific consensus about climate change: that greenhouse gases have warmed Earth’s atmosphere and helped fuel heat waves, extreme storms, droughts and extreme wildfires.

This week’s blast of cold air has been linked to a familiar phenomenon — the polar vortex.

If you don’t understand the connection between polar vortices and global warming, watch this excellent movie: The Day After Tomorrow. RESIST!!

From Alternet: Just over a year after the GOP rammed through its $1.5 trillion tax plan—which has predictably rewarded the ultra-rich while doing virtually nothing for workers—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his Republican colleagues were condemned for pushing yet another “blatant giveaway to their wealthy donors” by introducing a bill on Monday that would permanently repeal the estate tax.

“At a time of record inequality, the very last thing we should do is line the pockets of the rich.”

—Sen. Bernie Sanders

“Greed has no limit for the GOP,” declared Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “We need to reverse direction—not allow the GOP to hand the rich even more tax cuts.”

The deeply unpopular Republican tax law already significantly weakened the estate tax by doubling the exemption, allowing couples with up to $22 million to pass on their fortunes tax-free.

If it passes Congress, the plan introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), and McConnell—and co-sponsored by dozens of Senate Republicans—would accomplish the longstanding GOP goal of completely eliminating the estate tax.

“Ending the estate tax would give a tax break of up to $63 billion to the Walton family and $39 billion to the Kochs—but $0 to 99.8% of Americans,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) noted in a tweet on Tuesday. “At a time of record inequality, the very last thing we should do is line the pockets of the rich.”

I bet Trump’s new election Aide, Howard $chultz, is all for this one. RESIST!!

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He had a great influence on Dr. MLK.

It’s another busy day here in the CatBox.  I had to update my iPhone, and the first two attempts didn’t take.  I got started 90 minutes late.  I also have a mild case of Republicosis.  That could cause a shitty day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:48 (average 5:41). To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: Starbucks’ Schultz: "I am seriously thinking of running for president"

Oh Shit! Here we go again! If this "corporate Democrat" billionaire runs as a so-called independent, he will expose all of us to the heinous threat of a second term for the Tangerine Traitor. RESIST!!

From CNN: Officials from the United States and the Taliban have agreed in principle to a peace framework that could eventually bring Afghanistan’s long-running war to an end, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan said Monday.

In comments given to the New York Times and confirmed to CNN by the US Embassy in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad said the framework for peace would see the insurgent group vow to prevent the country from being used as a hub for terrorism in return for a US military withdrawal.

"We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement," Khalilzad told the Times on Monday. "The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals."

I’ll need to count the beans in the can, before I make a final judgment, but I’m inclined to welcome this. On September 27, 2001, US troops had been fighting in Afghanistan one day too long. RESIST!!

From The Guardian: The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on three companies, including the aluminum giant Rusal, linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Democrats had led a push in Congress to continue the restrictions.

Earlier this month, Senate Republicans blocked an effort to keep the sanctions on Rusal, En+ Group and JSC EuroSibEnergo.

Some lawmakers from both parties have said it is inappropriate to ease sanctions on companies tied to Deripaska, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, while special counsel Robert Mueller investigates whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Moscow.

Deripaska had ties with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. Manafort pleaded guilty in September 2018 to attempted witness tampering and conspiring against the United States… [emphasis added]

How obvious is the quid pro quo here? Senate Republicans are in on it too! RESIST!

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A sad day!

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox.  It always is, because everything I do in this space takes me longer than normal.  Tomorrow I may have no more than an Open Thread.  If so I will send no links messages on Care2.  It’s a WWWendy day, and we have lots of chores, after she de-stinks the putrid TomCat.  It’s also a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the Day of Stars.  My meditation will favor the AFC.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:22 (average 5:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): President Trump Caves On Shutdown As Robert Mueller Indicts Roger Stone

I disagree with one point. Nancy Pelosi did not defeat Trump and the Republican Reich. All the Democrats who stayed unified, all the workers that shared their hardship, all the marchers, all the people who signed petitions and called their legislators, you and I, AND Nancy Pelosi defeated Trump and the Republican Reich. Putin’s Piddle Puppet gets only the walls of his cave (See below). RESIST!!

From ACLU: Eric Patrick Brandt and Mark Iannicelli were handing out pamphlets outside a Denver courthouse in July 2015. They wanted to inform the public about jury nullification — that is, the power of jurors to vote against convicting criminal defendants under laws that the jurors believe are unjust.

Brandt and Iannicelli were trying to participate in a centuries-old and still-thriving discussion. The pamphlets they were handing out included statements such as:

• “Juror nullification is your right to refuse to enforce bad laws and bad prosecutions.”
• “Once you know your rights and powers, you can veto bad laws and hang the jury.”
• “So, when it’s your turn to serve, be aware: 1. You may, and should, vote your conscience; 2. You cannot be forced to obey a ‘juror’s oath’; 3. You have the right to ‘hang’ the jury with your vote if you cannot agree with other jurors.”

But the two activists’ attempts to educate the public led to their arrest. Brandt and Iannicelli were each charged with seven counts of criminal jury tampering under a Colorado law that bars any person from communicating with a juror with the intent to influence the juror’s vote in a case.

On Tuesday, we filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that the application of the jury tampering law to Brandt and Iannicelli’s pamphleting is an unconstitutional restraint of speech.

Click through and read the rest. The charges are absurd. The activists were not demonstrating about any specific case, so they could not be trying to influence any jurors’ votes. Their speech was entirely educational. Such cases are the reasons I’m an ACLU member. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: A furious Donald Trump told reporters on Friday morning that it was “a total disgrace” that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had apparently not been affected by the government shutdown.

Trump, who appeared agitated and was gripping his television remote as he spoke on the White House lawn, said that he had been under the impression that F.B.I. agents had been furloughed and were not going to work.

“You have people across the country, in national parks and places like that, who are not at work, and somehow the F.B.I. is working around the clock?” Trump said. “I think it’s a total disgrace. It’s a sick situation.”

Dang Andy!  I think you’re right. After all, as soon as his main trickster was arrested, he figured his shutdown could not prevent the bust and caved. RESIST!!

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