Politics Plus

I’m feeling quite pooped, because yesterday was so busy, and today, it took me a ling time to find stories.  Please be careful tonight.  My celebration plans are making a few Z’s.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:58 (average 5:59),  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Agony:

Disappointing, but expected.

Fantasy Football Report:

Here are the final results this year for our own Fantasy Football League.

Playoffs:

Congrats to me.  I won the championship, leaving Wendy in 2nd place.  Vivian won the 3rd place game, leaving Pam in 4th.  Patty Monster won the 5th place game, leaving Squatch in 6th.  Winning the Championship surprised the hell out of me!  What can I say?  CAT is where it’s AT! ;-)  We’re done until next year.  Remember, you can keep two players instead of using your first two draft choices.  It was a fun season.  Hugs and love to all.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Elizabeth Warren forms 2020 exploratory committee

I’m most pleased that Elizabeth has decided to run. She has been my choice to be America’s first woman President for years, so I expect to support her, with the caveat that events between now and then may stimulate a change in my view. RESIST!!

From ESPN: Having just completed their first back-to-back losing seasons since the early 1970s, the Denver Broncos fired Vance Joseph on Monday, a day after the team finished 6-10.

Joseph, who still has two years remaining on the four-year deal he signed in 2017, lasted just 32 games with the team. The Broncos now are on the hunt for the fourth head coach in John Elway’s tenure as the Broncos’ top football executive.

WOOOO HOOOO! That is way past due! RESIST!!

From Washington Post: The big myth in U.S. politics has been that the GOP is the more “adult” of the two parties. The bigger myth that was inaugurated along with Donald Trump was that these “adults in the room” would keep the new reality show in check. Instead, the so-called adults surrounding President Trump in the White House have been emptying like a toy box into the dumpster out back on a regular basis. And then the so-called adults in Congress staged a romper-room raid on the cookie jar, passing a deficit-busting tax cut for the rich. And collectively, all these so-called adults tried to finger-paint Trump’s lies to look like responsible governing, including the lie that climate change can be addressed by ignoring it and burning more coal.

In effect, the Republicans have instead rebranded themselves as quislings, collaborators and fellow travelers, or, more accurately, fellow toddlers. Why did they do this? Because they wanted to get what they could get when they could get it. See also: toddlers.

Now they are stuck with Trump on his sinking ship of fools. They can’t get off the ship or stay on it. They can’t live with Trump or without him.

Voters don’t love Democrats, but what are you going to do at this point? Democrats are the only ones who have talked any sense whatsoever on taxes, health care, budgets, climate, immigration, you name it.

Every Republican in elected or appointed office is one Republican too many. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s another busy day here in the CatBox.  Safeway.com delivered groceries, and I unpacked and put them away.  I worked on my year end paperwork.  I took out the garbage a day early. (My can runneth over).  I also overslept, so I’m running late.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos play the Chargers.  I won’t even bother to beseech the Orb for its blessing.  At this point, I’ll just grit my teeth and grab my ankles.  Tomorrow is also a WWWendy day.  We have so many chores, that I will probably have no more than a Personal Update or an Open Thread, with no links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:59 (average 4:53).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Michael Moore On How 2019 Could Be Even Crazier Than 2018

Triple the number of women running for office. Amen. Do not allow Trump to set the agenda of what we discuss. Difficult, but Amen. Fight for the people. Amen. Pass bills in the House that put Senate Republicans on the hot seat. Amen. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): CNN and Fox News repeatedly gave climate deniers a platform in 2018

Coverage like that could kill us. RESIST!!

From NY Times: A disputed congressional seat in North Carolina could remain vacant for months after incoming Democratic House leaders in Washington on Friday declared they would not seat the apparent Republican winner because of unresolved allegations of election fraud in that race.

Even before Democrats made that fresh vow on Friday afternoon, the chaotic fight for the Ninth District’s House seat had already plunged into deeper turmoil: North Carolina’s state elections board dissolved at noon on Friday under a court order, two weeks before it was to hold a public hearing to consider evidence of the fraud allegations.

“We have entered no man’s land,” said J. Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C.

Friday’s political drama came more than seven weeks after Mark Harris, the Republican nominee for Congress in the Ninth District, seemed to defeat Dan McCready, the Democratic candidate, by 905 votes in November. But Mr. Harris’s apparent victory was soon overshadowed by allegations that a contractor for his campaign engaged in illegal activity to compromise the election. According to witnesses and affidavits, the contractor, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., and people working for him collected absentee ballots in violation of state law.

The accusations led the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement to refuse to certify Mr. Harris as the winner and to open an investigation that has so far involved more than 100 interviews and at least 182,000 pages of records. It also gave Democrats a powerful argument to keep Mr. Harris out of office, at least for now — a pledge they made unequivocally on Friday — under the House’s constitutional authority to be “the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.” Democrats had been signaling such a plan for weeks.

That’s exactly what they should do. When NC’s own state board of ethics refuses to certify, the Republican criminal has not been elected. Why is it that, whenever we actually see a one of the very rare cases of election fraud, the culprit is a Republican? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s been a crazy day here in the CatBox.  First, my internet connection was down for most of the morning.  Second, I had chores to complete.  Third, my cannula (the tubes that carry O₂ into my nose) broke.  I have around 20 spares, but WWWendy "put them away" in an organizing feist and forgot where.  Four phone calls and four guesses later we found them, but it took over an hour.  Fourth, it’s a mud slow day for news.  Because of all that, this is my only article today.  I plan to be back tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 5:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

It’s a lazy Christmas Day, and I have nothing special planned.  WWWendy and I are celebrating tomorrow evening, as it’s only fitting that her family gets Christmas Day.  May you have a safe peaceful Christmas, or whatever Winter holiday, if any, is appropriate for you.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 8:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Agony:

The Browns last week and now the Raiders?  ARGH!!  I said last year that Vance Joseph should be fired.  I was right then and still am.

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league.

Playoffs:

Congrats to Wendy and I for winning our Semifinal games.  We meet next week for the Championship, and my sphincter already hurts from the beating it’s going to take.  Pamela and Vivian play for third place.  Patty Monster and the Squatch play for fifth place.  Good luck to all.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Democrats Aim To Build On Historic 2018 Win, Overcome GOP Skewing (19 min.)

I’m pleased to see that Democrats are willing to fight. We can’t win where we don’t run! RESIST!!

From Think Progress: At least in the short term, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan will serve as acting secretary. Shanahan is a former top executive with the defense contractor Boeing, which received $20 billion in contracts from the Pentagon since Shanahan became second in command at the Defense Department.

That alone might not be disqualifying. Boeing, after all, received billions from the Pentagon long before Trump took office. And the company is allowed to compete for contracts even if a former executive serves in a senior role within the Defense Department.

Shanahan’s obligation, like other officials facing conflicts of interest, is to recuse himself from decisions involving his former employer. Yet a report in the Daily Beast suggests that Shanahan did not recuse himself from a $1.2 billion Boeing contract involving outdated fighter planes

The F-15 Eagle is a 45-year-old, “fourth-generation” fighter jet. The Air Force has not purchased new F-15s since 2001. And while Boeing released an updated version of this older airplane — the F-15X — Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson previously said that her branch of service has no interest in buying Boeing’s updated offering.

I have no doubt we’ll see far more corporate corruption by Republican lackeys. RESIST!!

From Palmer Report:  Defeated and depressed, Donald Trump now sounds like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, if Eeyore were a racist traitor illegally occupying the White House. Trump appeared to bottom out today, tweeting “I am all alone (poor me)” – and he didn’t seem to mean it sarcastically. No one was about to let the moment go unnoticed.

Various people on Twitter compared Donald Trump’s self-centered pity party to the uplifting Christmas Eve message delivered by President Obama. One respondent to Trump quipped “Five kids and grandkids and none want to spend Christmas Eve with you. Sad.” Another mocked his failed border wall con game: “So Why don’t you run down to Mexico and grab that check since you have some free time.”

Another hit the nail on the head: “How is anyone suppose to take you seriously when you whine like a child and act like a lunatic.”

Of course he’s alone. Can you imagine a worse way to spend Christmas than with Trump? RESIST!!

Cartoon: