It’s a cool. but muggy day here at the CatBox.  I overslept, and I feel rushed and groggy at the same time.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:27).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Pence NSA Kept Maria Butina Tie Secret At Senate Confirmation: WaPo

Pence is not the solution to the Trump problem. He’s an equally evil part of the problem. Therefore…Impeach Pence first! RESIST!!

From NY Times: Several Democratic presidential candidates sharply criticized Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday for invoking two Southern segregationist senators by name as he defended himself over accusations of being “old-fashioned” and fondly recalled the “civility” of the Senate in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr. Biden, speaking at a fund-raiser at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City on Tuesday night, stressed the need to “be able to reach consensus under our system,” and cast his decades in the Senate as a time of relative comity. His remarks come as some in his party say that Mr. Biden, the former vice president, is too focused on overtures to the right as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.

At the event, Mr. Biden noted that he served with the late Senators James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, both Democrats who were staunch opponents of desegregation. Mr. Eastland was the powerful chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Mr. Biden entered the chamber in 1973

Biden just doesn’t get it. His Democratic rivals aren’t accusing him of racism. That civility existed only because Biden had not challenged the Dixiecrats’ racist policies. When Democrats did so, the Dixiecrats abandoned the party and became the Republican base. The purge of moderate Republicans from the Reich began in the 1980s.  Democrats keep trying to cooperate civilly with today’s Republicans, but Republicans keep refusing to respond in kind. Biden is chasing a pipe dream. RESIST!!

From Willamette Week: City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly has successfully championed tenant protections designed to offer people with criminal histories a better chance at securing apartments.

The June 19 vote by Portland City Council to approve those protections represents a significant political victory for Eudaly, who worked toward passing the policy for the last two years. She says the final policy came from working and being pushed to understand how black Portlanders and others continue to face discrimination in the housing market.

“It is no secret that Portland has a long history of overtly racist housing laws—the effects of which still shape our city today,” Eudaly said before casting her vote in support. “What we fail to acknowledge more readily is that many of our current laws continue to uphold discriminatory practices. While the language may be less explicit now, the effect is just as clear: we continue to see communities of color, and especially black residents, pushed to the margins of our city and beyond at an alarming rate.”

She continued: “The heart of the Fair Access in Renting policies is about addressing the criteria that continue to be used in as a proxy for race, which includes criminal records, income requirements, and credit scores which leads to discrimination and disparate outcomes.”

Kudos to Eudaly, for whom I voted. As my guys get out of prison, this should help them. Oregon leads the way. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox.  Store to Door will deliver a big grocery order later, and this evening, WWWendy will be here.  I’ll be in the saddle tomorrow after all.  My prison-volunteer friends and I rescheduled our working Lunch until Monday, 7/1.  Happy Hump Day to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): WHEN JOHNNY COMES ROLLING HOME

Amen Don! The Republican Reich gave us Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s two wars too many! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): President Donald Trump Officially Launches His 2020 Re-Election Campaign

Barf Bag Alert!!

The following is a complete list of all the good things Trump said: [end of list]. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a state of panic after their father dispatched troops to the Middle East, Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., have both sought medical notes from a Manhattan podiatrist.

According to an official statement from Donald Trump, Jr.,’s spokesperson, John Barron, Jr., the two Trump boys obtained the medical notes “out of an abundance of caution.”

The podiatrist’s notes, which were made public by Barron, paint a picture of two otherwise healthy young men with foot problems that can only be described as dire.

Dang, Andy! Imaginary bone spurs are hereditary!  Imagine that!  RESIST!!

Cartoon:

This is what triggered the Republican Party to become the Republican Reich.

It’s a temperate day here at the CatBox, but it’s so humid that I’m sticky and the grass pollen count is still very high.  It took me a long time to find my material today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:53).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Compromise With GOP Becomes Point Of Contention Among Democrats

Biden is delusional. To compromise with Republicans, bend over, grab your ankles, and pray. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Jesse Dollemore Channel): Trump AGAIN Teased the Idea That His Supporters Will DEMAND That He Stay Longer Than 2 Terms!

The Fuhrer would like nothing better than to make the 5th Reich permanent. RESIST!!

From Common Dreams: As the Trump administration prepares to deploy 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East in a move critics warned will heighten the possibility of all-out war with Iran, United Nations officials reportedly believe the U.S. is also planning a major “aerial bombardment” of an Iranian nuclear facility.

United Nations officials are “assessing the United States’ plans to carry out a tactical assault on Iran,” the Jerusalem Post reported Monday, citing anonymous diplomatic sources at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

“According to the officials, since Friday, the White House has been holding incessant discussions involving senior military commanders, Pentagon representatives, and advisers to President Donald Trump,” the Post reported. “The military action under consideration would be an aerial bombardment of an Iranian facility linked to its nuclear program.”

One “Western diplomat” told the Post that the bombing campaign would be “massive” but “limited to a specific target.”

Does anyone else think that bombing Iran is insane? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Oh God, it’s Monday!  It’s another muggy day and the super-high pollen count is still messing with my eyes and COPD.  Nevertheless, I should be in the saddle every day this week, except Thursday, when I have a lunch date with a friend to discuss prison volunteer work.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:31 (average 5:11).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Jesse Dollemore Channel): U.S. Military & Intelligence Officials Keeping Ops Hidden From Donald Trump For Fear He’ll Talk!

Amen Jesse. A big problem with the Fuhrer and the Republican Reich is this: no matter how vile their traitorous actions against America are today, they will do far worse tomorrow. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: A leading candidate to replace the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was disqualified after telling the truth repeatedly on his job application, the White House has confirmed.

According to the White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the candidate got high marks in his job interview by demonstrating “utter disregard and contempt for press freedoms.”

“We then had him do a practice press briefing in which he was relentlessly abusive, obnoxious, and insulting,” Mulvaney said. “We were all, like, ‘This is our guy.’ ”

But after a thorough examination of the candidate’s job application, “a troubling series of truthhoods emerged,” Mulvaney said.

That’s straight news, Andy. Anyone, who has ever told the truth, even once, need not apply. RESIST!!

From Alternet: [I]n 2016 all the corporate news media outlets, NPR included, predicted that Trump would lose. They just did not recognize the discontent in America’s rust belt because the economic dislocation that had, and continues to define life there, was just not part of their personal frame of reference.They thought the country was several years into a recovery and the national aggregate unemployment data they had commissioned confirmed it. But nobody lives or votes in the aggregate. And it wasn’t until Trump flipped the 200 counties that Obama had carried twice, that the corporate news media started paying some attention.

And yet, based on the latest handicapping on the 2020 Democratic Primary they appear to be setting themselves up for another big miss that they will, of course, universally declare nobody saw coming — the huge left-wing surge that’s making democratic socialism mainstream and will likely be more seismic than the 2018 mid-terms.

Just look to the West Coast and the latest Los Angeles Times poll that has Joe Biden at 22 percent, Elizabeth Warren at 18 percent, Bernie Sanders at 17, and favorite daughter Kamala Harris at 13 percent. So, just what percentage of that fired up 48 percent that believe in Warren, Sanders, or Harris is Uncle Joe going to peel off with his retro-incrementalism?

It is most likely already over for Uncle Joe. His wing of the Democratic Party got rich sticking up for the credit card companies while they insured the 40 million Americans who owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt can never be free of it even if they declare bankruptcy.

It seems clear to me that the likely Democratic voters have jumped away from centrist corporatism and toward social democracy. I only hope there are no shenanigans from the DNC to prop up Uncle Joe’s campaign beyond its natural life expectancy. The days that people will blindly get behind the leadership are gone. The leadership must learn to get behind the people. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

I’m amazed that France has not demanded it’s return.