Valentines Day has arrived once again.  I gave WWWendy her gift last night.  It’s one that I’ll never get to see.  I hope you all have a purrrrfect day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:10 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): The Best (And Worst) Valentine’s Day Gifts

If I had the button, the light would go out, as soon as I got into the bed. The cinnamon rolls looked good. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Visitors find racially offensive book in congressman’s office

Like most Republican lawmakers, Ferguson loves to study the basis for Republican ideology and policy. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In his first interview since being found guilty on all counts in his U.S. trial, the Mexican drug lord Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán called himself the victim of a “phony witch hunt.”

The former cartel leader made his blistering comments in a phone call to the television program “Fox & Friends,” whose hosts appeared surprised that he had somehow gained access to a phone and was able to get through to them.

“It was a phony witch hunt,” El Chapo said, of his trial. “It was a phony, rigged witch hunt, and the charges against me were fake news and a disgrace.”

Questioned whether he had worked in concert with other drug lords to bring narcotics into the United States, El Chapo said, “There was no collusion. And there was no evidence of collusion, because there was no collusion.”

Dang, Andy! I bet he’s waiting for a pardon from the Fuhrer. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It worked with GW, but wouldn’t with Trump.  He’d enjoy it too much.

It’s a very busy day here at the CatBox.  The Windows Update took half an hour.  When Store to Door delivers my groceries, I’ll have to put them away.  Later WWWendy is coming to de-stink that vile TomCat and help with chores.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:04 (average 4:53).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): ‘(Trump’s Rally In) El Paso’ By Marty Robbins

Think about the way the original song ended. That would also work for Putin’s Pervertivo Bandito. 😉  RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Shameless Donald Trump Favor For Donor Threatens To Normalize Corruption (18:24)

And remember this. Bob Murray is also the Republican corporate criminal that murdered six miners in Utah when he refused to obey safety regulations in his Crandall Canyon coal mine. RESIST!!

From NY Times: The tax preparers at H&R Block had to take a new class before their busy season started this year: empathy training.

They listened to a mock exchange between an employee and a customer whose refund would not just shrink but disappear. The fictitious client had received a $1,500 refund last year, but this year would owe $575.

The playacting was prescient. The tax overhaul that took effect last year promised relief, but now that returns are being filed, some people are baffled. They’re getting smaller refunds — or sometimes having to write a check — even though nothing in their situation seems to have changed.

The average refund among early filers was down 8.4 percent, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

If you are not a millionaire, and if you actually thought that the Republican Tax Scam would do something for YOU, bend over, grab your ankles, and say BAAA-A-A-A-A-A!! RESIST!!

Cartoons:

It’s warmer here in the CatBox, and the weather is wet and muggy.  I’m feeling a little under the weather with a mild case of Republicosis.  That has made it a shitty day.  I got my order into Store to Door, and it’s a big one this week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:15 (average 7:14).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: What is Inequality of Place?

In other words poor, white voters too stupid to understand that changing conditions, decayed infrastructure and Republican greed killed their jobs, not the Blacks and Latinos suffering in mega-cities, are the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich. The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): BBC cameraman attacked at Trump rally

It’s not Trump. The criminal hatred, displayed by the Republican Reich, has been evident for years. Trump just reflects their image. RESIST!!

From Alternet: On Thursday, members of Congress from both parties announced they had a tentative working deal on border security.

And President Donald Trump’s allies are already trashing the deal as no good.

“By the way, on this new so-called compromise,” said [Faux Noise delinked] Fox News host Sean Hannity. “I’m getting details. $1.3 billion? That’s not even a wall, a barrier.” Referencing Trump’s rally in El Paso, Hannity added, “Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain — look at this crowd, look at the country.”

“From the details I have seen,” tweeted [Nazi delinked] Hannity’s fellow right-wing commentator Laura Ingraham, “the word ‘principle’ shouldn’t be used to describe this deal.”

The anger was not just limited to Fox News. House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) raged against the agreement as well.

“This does not represent a fraction of what the president has promised the American people,” Meadows told the Washington Post. “I don’t speak for the president but I can’t imagine he will be applauding something so lacking.”

Under the agreement, Congress would provide $1.3 billion to construct 55 miles of bollard fencing, with restrictions to protect local communities and environments, $1.7 billion for port of entry security and humanitarian aid, and a 17 percent cut to the number of detention beds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

By all accounts, it is an evenly balanced compromise that forces Democrats and Republicans to make concessions and gives both part of what they wanted. But that will not fly with the hardliners in Trump’s camp.

The devil is in the details. Frankly, I think Democrats may have been too generous, but I’m always willing to negotiate, if Republicans negotiate in good faith. If they are, it’s the first time in years.  Assuming it passes, a shutdown becomes a nationally obvious Republican problem, again. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

It’s another cold day here in the CatBox, but upgraded to Winter Storm Watch from Winter Storm Warning.  It’s a slow day for news, but I found material for you.  Kudos to the Denver teachers.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:20).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): FIFTY WAYS TO LEAVE A DONOR – Parody

Thanks Don. Corporate and billionaire donations come with no strings. The Pope is not Catholic. And bears never, ever shit in the woods. (Don replied, “And surfers never pee in the ocean.” I responded, Only when standing on surfboards.”) RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Amy Klobuchar throws her hat in the 2020 ring

If she gets the nomination, I’ll support her, but there are more progressive, less corporatist, candidates I prefer. RESIST!!

From Washington Post:  The last government shutdown may have ended just a few weeks ago, but odds are escalating that another one is just around the corner. With negotiators skeptical that a deal can be struck before Tuesday, it looks as if another shutdown will begin Friday night. So Republicans are going back to scaremongering about violent immigrants.

President Trump set the tone early Sunday morning, tweeting [traitor delinked] that Democrats “want a cap on convicted violent felons to be held in detention!” Republicans on the Sunday talk shows echoed him: “How in the world after that speech does he sign a bill that would reduce the bed spaces available for violent offenders?” asked Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” referring to Trump’s State of the Union address. “We got some problems with the Democrats dealing with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], that is detaining criminals that come into the U.S. and they want a cap on them, we don’t want a cap on that,” said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Protections for violent offenders” sure sounds like an odd stance for a political party to take. So it should be no surprise that it’s not accurate. Yes, Democrats want to cap the number of unauthorized immigrants that ICE can detain at any given time. But the proposed cap — 16,500 — matches the level of detentions inside the United States in recent years. By capping the number, Democrats want ICE to focus on violent illegal immigrants, not waste resources arresting a mother in San Diego in front of her family or holding parents separated from their children.

So the Democratic ask isn’t for protection for “violent offenders.” And it is also quite small. Besides, why wouldn’t Democrats ask for something? Republicans are asking for money for a border wall and in exchange they will not shut the government down … again. Voters gave Democrats the House last fall — it seems only reasonable that they would want something to show for it.

Assuming you have heard just the Republican lies, as I had before researching the issue, you now know how to counter them. RESIST!!

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