Subpoena for the Fuhrer?

Posted by TomCat at 12:48 pm Politics

May 022018

As we learn more about the list compiled from Mueller’s briefing to Trump Lawyers, we learn that Mueller said that, if Donald "Putin’s Pervert" Trump, Fuhrer of the Republican Reich, refuses to give Mueller his testimony in a voluntary interview, then Mueller will subpoena him to testify before a grand jury.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller warned he could order Donald Trump to testify as part of a probe into alleged Russian election meddling, US media report.

Mr Mueller suggested the move during talks with Mr Trump’s lawyers in March.

The threat to issue a subpoena, as it is known, was reportedly met with a sharp response from one of Mr Trump’s former lawyers.

It is believed to be the first time the special counsel has raised such a possibility.

Mr Trump’s lawyers insisted during the meeting that the president was under no obligation to face questions by federal investigators in relation to the Russia inquiry, the Washington Post reported.

However Mr Mueller’s team reportedly responded by suggesting they would issue a subpoena if Mr Trump declined. They agreed to provide the president’s lawyers with more specific information about the questions they wished to ask Mr Trump…

Inserted from <BBC>

I would LOVE to see it!

Lawrence O’Donnell covered this story in two segments. In the first, he explained the story and its background.

In the second, he discusses Mueller’s authority to do do with a panel.

Can you imagine the fecal storm that will flood from Trump’s upper sphincter when that happens?

I also look forward to the guaranteed perjury if Trump testifies.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!

Open Thread – 5/2/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:47 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 022018

Today’s high will be only 75° to 80°, but since the sun just hit the brickwork, I’ll have to button up with the AC in an hour or two. It’s also very busy day here at the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering a big load of groceries for me to put away. It’s Monthly Report Day, and WWW Wendy will get here late this afternoon to destink the TomCat. I hope you all have a cooler, less stinky day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:29 (average 4:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Vox Channel): This anti-sex trafficking law could end internet freedom

No decent people want to support sex-trafficking, but Republican pseudo-Christians, the opposite of Christians, have used sex trafficking as smokescreen to attack legitimate sex workers. Democrats went along on the correct belief that, if they didn’t, they would be painted in the media as supporting underage sex slavery. This law is wrong. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Oregonian Channel): Portland Burgerville workers approve federally recognized union

Kudos to the unionizing workers! Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From NY Times: Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, allowed a lobbyist friend to play an unusually influential role in setting his agenda during a visit in December to Morocco, according to internal communications related to the scheduling of meetings reviewed by The New York Times.

Just months after helping to organize the trip, the lobbyist, Richard Smotkin, was hired by the government of Morocco as a $40,000-a-month foreign agent, according to filings with the Department of Justice. Mr. Smotkin participated in several meetings with Mr. Pruitt in Morocco, including with representatives from some industries, according to participants on the trip….

…Members of Congress had questioned whether there was a legitimate government reason for Mr. Pruitt to travel to Morocco and also questioned the cost of the trip. Moreover, the swiftness with which Mr. Smotkin then received the Morocco contract raises questions about whether the trip helped Mr. Smotkin secure the deal.

This is corruption as usual, when Republicans are in power. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0502Cartoon

He already knows who’s naughty and nice!

Poll Results – 5/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:47 pm Blog News, Politics

May 012018

Here are the results of our “2018 Issues” poll. Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories. Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population. Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking of the majority of those who actually do think.

0501Poll

And here are your comments:

Showing comments 1–6 of 6.

Posted by Yvonne White April 19, 2018 at 10:46 am.

The economy directly effects the social issues…so I picked both equally.

Posted by SoINeedAName April 7, 2018 at 12:54 am.

I picked the center line.

Always subject to change if Twitler sticks w/ ramping up his idiotic Trade War w/ China and the economy tanks because of it.

Posted by Joanne D April 5, 2018 at 8:57 am.

Trick question. Social and economic issues are so intertwined that one cannot be truly addressed without the other. Republicans here in the US have been conning us for decades if not centuries trying to convince us that one is more important than the other, ‘Tain’t so.

Posted by gene jacobson April 5, 2018 at 4:21 am.

I went with Lona, economic issues are rising in importance but that’s due to the bungling of Trump more than real issues with our economy and can be handled. What we are truly struggling with are social issues of every king with racism leading the list. Those we MUST deal with and they will decide the 2018 and 2020 elections, in my opinion.

Posted by Lona Goudswaard April 2, 2018 at 11:41 pm.

I voted "more social and less economic issues" because I believe important economic issues such as poverty and the ever widening gap between the 1% and the rest are social issues in core. Even climate change is a social issue and can only be battled in a serious way with equality and shared responsibility.

Posted by Mitch D. April 2, 2018 at 1:23 pm.

Wow! at this point every vote agrees with mine.

At this point, with embargoes creating embargoes, tDump yelling thing about no DACA, and the right wing-nuts trying to demean the kids from Parkland, I think the Dems will do best with a message that revolves around economic and social inclusion.

I voted more economic and less social issues. While I agree that social and economic issues are equally important, I recognize that is a progressive view, and we progressives are a minority of voters. The majority are less concerned with politics and tend to vote their pocketbooks and wallets. Concentrating more on economic issues, without forgetting social issues, and supporting each other’s issues will help attract these voters.

The new poll is up.

VOTE!

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 5/1/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:46 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

May 012018

Happy May day from the CatBox. It’s been a very busy day here. I installed a new poll. I made the graphics and collected all the data I’ll need for tomorrow’s report. I prepared my grocery order and ordered groceries from store to door. I spent a half hour in chat with my HSP. Animae’s ISP is blocking my email replies to her. Animae, if you read this tell them I’m not a damn spammer. They are ignoring email from me asking to be taken off their abuse list. ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 5:01). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): NY Times Publishes Robert Mueller’s Questions For President Donald Trump

I strongly suspect that Mueller already knows the answers to virtually all the questions. He has almost finished with everyone else and is now zeroing in on his main target. For the list of questions, click here. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Michelle Malkin on politics and comedy, then and now

Barf Bag Alert!!

In the first segment, Malkin was reacting to displeasure on the left at GW Bush, the second worst Resident in history, pretending to look for Osama bin Laden under the furniture, treating his own failure, as if it was no big deal. In the second segment Malkin demonstrated Republican hypocrisy. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Many may not know this (most people don’t), but Patrick Conroy, the Chaplain of the House recently forced out by Representative and Ayn Rand devotee Paul Ryan for being insufficiently grateful for the Republican tax cuts, was a Catholic, and as such, unmarried and without children.

Some of the conservatives who now steer the Republican Party’s policies are going to make damned sure that never happens again:

Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), one of the leaders of the committee searching for a replacement for the ousted House chaplain, said the next spiritual leader of the House should be someone with a family who can better relate to and counsel lawmakers with spouses and children.

Walker is Chairman of something called the “Republican Study Committee” and co-chair of something called the “Prayer Caucus” in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.

A Rabbi can have a family, but I bet a dollar they wouldn’t accept a chaplain that says, "Oy gevalt", either. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The National Rifle Association’s decision to ban guns during Mike Pence’s speech at its annual meeting in Dallas this week “leaves him totally vulnerable to a bear attack,” the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, warned on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the Education Department, DeVos said that she was “deeply concerned” that the N.R.A. was underestimating the danger posed to Pence by “the savagery of one rogue bear.”

“All it would take is one angry bear to ruin what otherwise promises to be a really nice gun event,” she said.

Dang Andy! Does the best three word response to the Pence speech begin with, "Ready… Aim…" Winking smile RESIST!!

Cartoon:

The Republican elephant rides the rest of us. Other elephants are blameless.

Cordray for Ohio

Posted by TomCat at 1:35 pm Politics

Apr 302018

The Ohio Governorship is a very important post that Democrats should be able to reclaim in November, unless we shoot ourselves in the foot. I am writing this article in hopes of preventing just such an occurrence, because we have a solid Democrat, who was formerly head of the CFPB,and who has the endorsement of Elizabeth Warren, against an insufferable wing-nut. The problem is that several Bernie Sanders supporters are lining up behind the wing-nut.

Richard Cordray speaks softly and carries a big stack: lime-green index cards, pressed into his shirt pocket, near enough for any sudden onset of note-taking.

A former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he has been endorsed in his bid for Ohio governor by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has told him he needs to learn how to brag more. “I am pretty good at getting back people’s money,” Mr. Cordray managed before an outdoor crowd of dozens here recently. Polite applause followed. He is trying.

Dennis Kucinich speaks until someone interrupts him — and even this is often insufficient — and carries a bag of vegan groceries heavy enough to sink his right arm like a weight-bearing scale of justice.

A former congressman and presidential candidate also running for governor, he has been endorsed in the May 8 Democratic primary by allies of Senator Bernie Sanders, who remember Mr. Kucinich’s lectern-pounding opposition to the Iraq war and his long-ago turn as the “boy mayor” of Cleveland…

Inserted from <NY Times>

I used to be a Kucinich supporter. I considered his opposition to the Republican War for Oil and Conquest in Iraq nothing short od heroic. He was my second choice for President in 2008 until he did something that revealed his true character and rendered him forever unfit for public office. When asked who he would like to choose as his running mate, he picked an Ammosexual, anti-health care, homophobic, misogynist, racist, Republican Bircher: the infamous Ron Paul.

Some of his supporters have denied that he did, so here is the proof.

For examples of my previous articles exposing Ron Paul, click here, here, here, here, and here.

And here are a couple examples of the graphics I used then.

He was the most evil Republican in my lifetime, until Trump took his title.

Back to Kucinich himself, he has been a frequent guest on RT, Putin’s propaganda network, and he has become a correspondent on the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise. Here he is on Faux defending Trump in the Russia investigation.

Barf Bag Alert!!

Supporting Kucinich would be a completely regressive move. Supporting progressive Democrats like Richard Cordray is the only way to…

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 4/30/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:34 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 302018

Yesterday WWWendy rad out to Freddy’s and picked me up a $110 Emerson microwave. It will get me by, until I know where I’m going to be living, and then I can decide if I need something better. Today, I’m back in the saddle and it’s comfortably seasonal here in the CatBox. Bye April!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:24 (average 5:34). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): Confounds the Science – (Parody of) Sound of Silence

This was released on 8/16 and is the first in the channel. It was a great start. RESIST!!

From Share Blue: Panicked about a looming midterm lashing, the GOP’s do-nothing Congress suddenly wants to get something done — literally anything to show voters there’s a reason they should be sent back to Washington, D.C., in November.

“We need some more wins,” Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker told Axios. “We can’t just talk about Neil Gorsuch and tax cuts from here to November.”

The scramble comes after reports have already noted Republicans look like they’ve given up defending the House, and have desperately shifted time and resources toward hanging on to the Senate.

Of course, backslapping Republicans last December thought they had mapped out their re-election strategy by passing a tax giveaway bill to billionaires and corporations. But it turns out there are a lot of non-billionaires who vote, and they don’t think much of the Republican legislation.

We need to keep rubbing Republicans’ noses in two things: everything they have done and everything they haven’t done. RESIST!!

From TPM: In a heated appearance on CNN Monday morning, American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp voiced harsh criticism for comedian Michelle Wolf after her monologue at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday, concluding that it is not her nor any journalist’s place to call out the President for lying.

“Just present the facts and let the American people if they think someone’s lying,” Schlapp said to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “Journalists shouldn’t be the one to say the President or his spokesperson is lying. What that does to 50 percent of the country is make them feel they are not credible to listen to.”

This Republican asshole walked out on Michelle Wolfe. Journalists have a responsibility to the truth. That is their ONLY job! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Everyday Erinyes # 120

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:16 am Politics

Apr 292018

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Last month, the EPA (you know, the Environmental Pollution Agency) sent an emailed memo to employees prescribing how to discuss climate change. Because, you know, “Administrator Pruitt encourages an open, transparent debate on climate science.” Mother Jones obtained the actual email and I quote it in full, with the emphasis which the sender indicated included, and no additional emphasis of mine.

QQ Dear Colleagues:

During the recent meeting of our Cross-EPA Work Group on Climate Adaptation, several individuals suggested it would be helpful to develop consistent messages about EPA’s climate adaptation efforts that could be used across all Program and Regional Offices. I’m pleased to report that the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) has developed a set of talking points about climate change that include several related to climate adaptation. These talking points were distributed today by Nancy Grantham (OPA) to the Communications Directors and the Regional Public Affairs Directors.

The following are the talking points distributed by OPA. I have highlighted those relating specifically to our adaptation work.

EPA recognizes the challenges that communities face in adapting to a changing climate.

EPA works with state, local, and tribal governments to improve infrastructure to protect against the consequences of climate change and natural disasters.

EPA also promotes science that helps inform states, municipalities, and tribes on how to plan for and respond to extreme events and environmental emergencies.

Moving forward, EPA will continue to advance its climate adaptation efforts, and has reconvened the cross-EPA Adaptation Working Group in support of those efforts.

Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.

While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports on climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.

As a key regulatory voice, it is important for the Agency to strive for a better understanding of these gaps given their potential significant influence on our country’s domestic economic viability

Administrator Pruitt encourages an open, transparent debate on climate science.

Best regards,

Joel

Joel D. Scheraga, Ph.D

Senior Advisor for Climate Adaptation

Office of Policy

Dear Furies, – You know what to do.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.

Personal Update – 4/29/2018

Posted by TomCat at 8:25 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 292018

This morning my microwave oven died, and since that is my main cooking appliance, and absolutely necessary to have, I have to spend the day replacing it. Fortunately it’s WWWendy’s regular day. This is my only article today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (C-SPAN Channel): Michelle Wolf COMPLETE REMARKS at 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

This is so funny and so true that, if you haven’t watched it, you owe yourself the treat. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Older Entries Newer Entries