Open Thread – 12/28/2019

 Posted by at 7:49 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 282019
 

It’s a queasy day here in the CatBox.  I’m just barely in the saddle today, but I did manage to keep half a bowl of cereal down this morning.  Tomorrow is a WWWendy Day, so please expect no more than a Personal Update.  Tomorrow is also a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are playing WWWendy’s team, the Raiders in the afternoon game.  Miracle of miracles, the game will be televised here.  May the divine Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they are pirates with patches.  Have a great, safe weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 5:48).  To do it, click here.   How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Paul Begala, one of Bill Clinton’s most trusted political strategists, has a metaphor to explain how the Biden campaign team views the choice voters should be given in the 2020 race. He calls it “the steaming pile of shit theory,” and he explained it to Ryan Lizza of Politico last week (Why Biden’s Retro Inner Circle Is Succeeding So Far):

“You’re sitting down for breakfast and there’s a steaming pile of shit on your table and you say, ‘Can we get this shit off of my table?’” he told me recently. “And Elizabeth says, ‘I’m going to build you a new house!’ And Bernie says, ‘I’m going to build you a new city!’ And I’m like, no, just get this fucking shit off my kitchen table and we’ll get back to normal life!”

You may think Begala’s theory is overly-vivid or disgustingly crude, but I think it is an accurate metaphor for how Joe Biden and his campaign believe that the only major issue Democratic voters are interested in is getting rid of Trump.

Biden has repeatedly stated that he thinks Trump as president is a temporary disturbance in the American political system. Once the aberration of Trump is gone, Biden believes, the Republican Party will return to “normal” — “have an epiphany” — and the supposed pre-Trump environment of bi-partisan comity and cooperation will return to once again make the nation’s capitol a fun place to reach across the aisle and practice the art of the deal.

The Biden campaign is so full of shit that we know where the steaming pile on the table went. Hillary Clinton partially ignored people’s needs to focus on defeating Trump*. That’s a significant reason why Trump* got close enough for Putin and the KKK to steal the White House for him.  Also, “normal” for the Republican Reich, before Trump* was appointed, was for Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch to steal Obama’s Supreme Court appointment, voter suppression, racism, welfare, and more.  A Republican epiphany is BS!   RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Shocking Testimony About SEAL Pardoned By Trump Leaked To NYT

 

It wouldn’t surprise me, if Trump* makes Gallagher, a monster, who almost equals Trump* in evil, the next appointee for Sec. Def.   RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): graham nash- Chicago

 

I was demonstrating at the Democratic Convention in Chicago 1968. Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Share

Pat B Has Another BIG Mouth! ;-)

 Posted by at 7:51 am  Blog News, Politics
Dec 262019
 

112-PatB

I’m out of new things to say about this treasure. Pat followed Politics Plus and commented for quite some time on the now defunct Care2 News Network, where she had been active for years, before she started commenting here at the site. A few months later, she won her first Big Mouth Award for the 78,000th comment in May 2016. She became a daily regular and won her second award for the 85,000th comment in December 2016 and her third for the 93,000th comment in October 2017. She won her fourth for 97,000 in March, 2018. She won her fifth for 101,000 in August 2018, her sixth for 102,000th in October 2018, and her seventh in August 2019. This is her eighth award. She is a progressive activist, an authentic Christian, a proud veteran, and a Michael Moore Fan. If you tell her to go to hell, she’s likely to answer, “I already live there.” The poor girl is still a Texan. On the other hand, she loves her Houston Texans. Her comments are still bright, witty and above all, compassionate. She always greets WWWendy on shower day! I don’t know what else I can say, but please add your kudos with more compliments. She more than deserves it.

RESIST!!

Share

Open Thread – 12/26/2019

 Posted by at 7:50 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 262019
 

It’s a queasy day here in the CatBox.  WWWendy ran out of time, so instead of pressure cooking ham and beans for me, she brought me some of her Christmas dinner: standing rib roast and roast potatoes.  They were a bit hard on my stomach, but when it came to her Marion berry cheesecake pie…, I was a ba-a-a-a-ad kitty!  I’ve been paying the price since.  Tomorrow I may run a bit late.  Store to Door is closed for the week, so I’m getting my groceries delivered from Safeway.com.  On the plus side, I have no medical appointments for the rest of the year.  May America dump the Republican Reich in 2020!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:09 (average 5:53).  To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks  and Liars: Chuck Todd was very very Chuck Todd this year. And above, Chuck worries that Democrats are investigating too many things, and therefore have a “PR problem.”

 

Is that media bias or what? If Democrats’ investigate everything Trump* does, except one, that’s one thing too few!  RESIST!!

From VOA News: Her husband’s steady shift to the political right during their 24-year marriage was a source of frustration and embarrassment for liberal Jennifer Merrill, but it wasn’t until the election of Donald Trump — and her husband’s support for the president — that she’d finally had enough.

Merrill moved out and filed for divorce. 

“I just couldn’t see sharing a bed with somebody that agreed with what Trump was doing when I was so against everything that Trump represented,” says Merrill, a book editor for a trade association, and the mother of three children. “He had no sensitivity for how I felt, that I felt so strongly about it, especially when I was going out and doing protests … and he would just laugh about it and continue to defend [Trump]. So that just made me very, very angry.”

If ever there were just cause for divorce, marriage to a Republican is it!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Share

Christmas 2019

 Posted by at 7:36 am  Holiday, Politics
Dec 252019
 

This year, once again, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday is appropriate to your beliefs.  Since many of the Carols I’ve used in years past stopped working, I had to change the music I’m using to celebrate Christmas with you.

Traditional Christmas Carols

An hour of traditional Christmas carols sung by a church choir. 1. Silent Night 2. O Come All Ye Faithful 3. Away In A Manger 4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 5. Ding! Dong! Merrily On High 6. Joy To The World 7. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear 9. Rocking 10. See Amid The Winter Snow 11. I Wonder As I Wander 12. De Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy 13. A Maiden Most Gentle 14. As With Gladness Men Of Old 15. The Shepherd’s Farewell 16. Past 3 O’Clock 17. A Child This Day Is Born 18. Deck The Halls 19. We Three Kings 20. White Christmas

 

Note that the last Carol is for our Republican friends, who we wish a hearty “Happy Holidays”.

Finally I will restate last year’s warning, as our nation remains in dire peril!

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name

that sat on him was Trump, and Pence followed with him.

And power was given unto them over the fourth part of

the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with

death, and with the beasts of the earth.

RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Share

Open Thread – 12/25/2019

 Posted by at 7:33 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 252019
 

It’s Christmas morning, here in the CatBox.  WWWendy celebrates with her family on Christmas Eve, so my present today is to become a de-stunk  TomCat.  I gave her a set of Mellanni king size sheets.  There are none softer.  For her birthday last week, I gave her a large basket of gourmet sweets.  She loved/hated them.  She’ll be here around three and is bringing ham and beans, cooked in my pressure cooker to make it easier for me to digest.  Merry Christmas to you all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:35 (average 8:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Three pastors at Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Virginia decided to give the holiday gift of school lunch debt relief to local families. While school lunch debt shouldn’t be a thing families (and specifically students) have to worry about, it very much is. So a group of pastors decided to take $17,000 from the church’s budget to erase much of the lunch debt at two local school systems.

The Rev. Brian Bennett, the Rev. Jerry Williams, and the Rev. Andrew Segre donated about $7,000 to Spotsylvania County Public Schools, which covered balances in the entire district, as well as just over $10,000 to Stafford County Public Schools, which covered balances at a few elementary schools.

“It seemed like a good idea, [but] we didn’t know if there was a need because no one ever seems to talk about this,” the Rev. Williams explained in a Facebook video, which quickly went viral. “So we called the school systems. And gosh, wow, was there a need.”

“This is not a churchy thing,” Williams stressed. “This — helping children and families — this is a thing that anyone can do.” He and the other two pastors say they plan to pay off lunch debt again. As The Washington Post reports, donations to cover this lunch debt came from the church’s 2019 budget. Because the church generally saves 10% of its annual budget for charitable projects, Williams suggests they could make a similar donation next year, based on their 2020 budget.

As Baptists are evangelicals, I probably disagree with these gents on a number of issues, but here, we praise and acknowledge the good done by those with whom we disagree too.   They illustrate that, while Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians starve hungry children, authentic Christians feed them.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): 5 Ways to Stop Corporations From Ruining the Future of Work with Robert Reich

 

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich represents the greediest capitalists at all our expense. However, automation in other nations will drive American workers into the unemployment lines . Therefore, in addition to support for labor, profits must also fund volunteerism, child, health, disability and elder care, education, housing and food for those without means, and public research and development, and more, not just the accumulation of money by the greedy rich!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast for the season): Celtic Woman / Chloe Agnew – ”O Holy Night”

 

This is one of my favorites. Mary Christmas to all!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Share

It’s Not Just the South

 Posted by at 9:03 am  Politics
Dec 242019
 

The Republican Party has little to offer in programs and policies.  Therefor, in all but the most brain-dead areas, they would lose any fair election.  As a result, Republicans have become expert at preventing fair elections, and it’s not just in the South.

1224VoterSupression

Democrats in a key battleground state have a plan to use state open records laws to fight back against Republican voter suppression.

“Last week in Wisconsin a county judge sided with a conservative legal group in a lawsuit that will remove more than 200,000 voters from that state’s voter rolls,” Velshi noted.

“Democrats for their part are doing everything they can to push back against these Republican efforts,” he reported. “In Wisconsin, the state Democratic Party plans to use the open records law to find the names of everyone who’s been purged and then work to re-enroll likely Democratic voters.”…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>

Ali Velshi has more.

Democrats Strategize Against Renewed GOP Vote Suppression Efforts

 

Kudos to Wisconsin Democrats.  As a response to Republican harassment, bullying, and intimidation, they are working hard to meet voters at the point of their need!

RESIST!!

Share

Open Thread – 12/24/2019

 Posted by at 9:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 242019
 

Yesterday was not my day.  The gastroenterologist told me I need to get an endoscopy, or camera down the throat.  It’s a same-day inpatient procedure at the hospital.  She told me that I have already eliminated the foods I should avoid, and that I have already tried all the palliative medications she could give me and that I am currently on the the one she would recommend.  They can’t offer more relief because they don’t know what’s causing it.  The length of the wait is because this week and next are holiday weeks.  I’ll be scheduling on the first Tuesday I can get.  That’s the day of the week WWWendy can take me home.  Next, my oncologist called.  Those nodes in my left lung are carcinomas, so I’ll have to have them surgically resected.  ARGH!!  Stay holiday safe please!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:13 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

 

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own Fantasy Football League.

16Playoffs

Congrats to Vivian and me for winning our games.  Kudos to me for beating the Regular Season Champion and for the highest single-week score of the season.  This weekend, I play Vivian in the Super Bowl, WWWendy plays Squatch for 3rd place, and Patty Monster plays the empty team and will win 5th place.  Perhaps we can get Colleen to join the league next year.  Good luck to all!

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports.

The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them.

“These humans appear to have all the faculties necessary to receive and process information,” Davis Logsdon, one of the scientists who contributed to the study, said. “And yet, somehow, they have developed defenses that, for all intents and purposes, have rendered those faculties totally inactive.”

Actually, Andy, that strain it not new. It is a devolution to a pre-hominid state: Sphincterpithicus Republicanis.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Washington Post Channel): Track Santa around the world

 

Santa, save lots of reindeer turds for Trump* stockings in Palm Beach. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Country Joe McDonald – I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag

 

This was one of my favorites, back in the day. Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries