Politics Plus will reinstitute the holiday,
when and if we actually have a President.
RESIST!!
Feb 182019
Feb 182019
It’s a cold day here in the CatBox, as Portland us under a freezing fog watch. That often brings black ice. I’m sure glad I don’t have to go out today. Oh God It’s Monday!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:33 (average 5:06). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube: The Seekers – A World of our Own
Ah the memories… A world of our one is one in which atmospheric carbon is decreasing, and every Republican politician is unemployed. RESIST!!
From NY Times: European leaders have long been alarmed that President Trump’s words and Twitter messages could undo a trans-Atlantic alliance that had grown stronger over seven decades. They had clung to the hope that those ties would bear up under the strain.
But in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.
A senior German official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on such matters, shrugged his shoulders and said: “No one any longer believes that Trump cares about the views or interests of the allies. It’s broken.”
The most immediate danger, diplomats and intelligence officials warned, is that the trans-Atlantic fissures now risk being exploited by Russia and China.
I have no doubt that Putin’s pervert is pushing Europe away to align with Russia. RESIST!!
From Willamette Week: In an interview this week, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) offered a new reason he might not run for president: fear that if he doesn’t seek reelection to the Senate, that could provide an opening for Republicans.
It sounds a little odd in a state that has elected precisely one Republican to statewide office since 2002.
Merkley told the NW Labor Press that he’s still weighing his options.
“Because others may run,” he explained. “The Republicans may get an opportunity to have a strong candidate. And I cannot let an Oregon Senate seat go to someone who is fighting for the privileged and powerful.”
Oregon does not allow a name to appear on the ballot for two different offices.
I’d like to see Jeff become better known before making a Presidential run in a year in which he does not have to give up his Senate seat to run. Assuming we win in 2020, 2028 would be a good year for it. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Feb 172019
It’s a chilly day here in CatBox. WWWendy says hi to all, and assurer that the TomCat is de-stunk. This is today’s only article from me.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:38 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (SNL Channel): Trump Press Conference Cold Open – SNL
Once again, Alec Baldwin does a better Trump impersonation than Trump. RESIST!!
From Raw Story: Wyoming state senator says she supports the death penalty because that’s how Jesus died.
On Thursday, the Wyoming state Senate voted down a proposal to abolish the death penalty 18 to 12 — the sixth straight session in which the legislature rejected this proposal, although the margin was closer than usual as some Republicans decided capital punishment is too expensive. By far the most memorable argument in the debate, however, came from the other side, when GOP Sen. Lynn Hutchings argued Wyoming needs to keep the death penalty because that’s how Jesus died.
“The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty for you and me,” said Hutchings. “I’m grateful to him for our future hope because of this. Governments were instituted to execute justice. If it wasn’t for Jesus dying via the death penalty, we would all have no hope.”
As a Republican Pharisee, Hutchings wants to be able to kill Democrats, whose policies reflect the views of the real Jesus. This is the fifth of five Republican outrages last week. Click through for the other four. RESIST!!
From The Palmer Report: During his incoherent and rambling Rose Garden meltdown late last week, Donald Trump gave away a number of things that would have been better kept to himself. For instance, during a particularly deranged rant about President Obama, Trump revealed that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. This revelation has quickly led to the whole thing being exposed as a fraud.
Because Prime Minister Abe was suddenly caught in the middle of one of Donald Trump’s international disasters, major Japanese newspaper Asahi has fired back by exposing the real story. It’s true that Abe nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize – but only because the United States government asked Abe to do so. There are almost no words to describe how bad this is for Trump.
There are only two possibilities here. One is that Donald Trump had his people ask Abe to nominate him for the Nobel prize, because Trump was trying to put himself on par with President Obama, who won a Nobel prize while in office. The other possibility is that Trump’s people went behind his back and asked Abe to nominate Trump, in an attempt at making Trump think it happened organically, thus boosting Trump’s flagging spirits.
My money is on Door Number One. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Only because it stopped!
Feb 162019
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.”
It’s still Black History Month. Going on the theory that Black History Month should help people learn, not just about Black History, but also about aspects of white racism which may well never have occurred to them. Now, I could write about this until the cows come home, but I’m just a white broad. I would rather let people of color speak for themselves. So I’ve looked up a bunch of videos, four of which I’m embedding, and the rest linking to. None of them is over five minutes, and most considerably less, so I could embed more without monopolizing your day (or month). But I figure that, if I link some instead, the sidebars on the YouTube sites may lead you to other videos which, depending on your own experiences, may turn out to be even more educational. Sneaky, amirite?
I’ll start with this video on things white people do and say without (probably) intending to be racist in the least, but which need to stop. (At least one also needs to stop for disabled people, but that’s another story.)
Next, here are links to two videos addressing children and racism. The first will teach you how racist centuries-old nursery rhymes can be. The second is sort of an antidote to that – some books to lift up black children and black imagination.
This next video is about the misconceptions which lay people, medical students, and even certified doctors have about the physiological differences between patients with different skin colors I alluded to some of this in a comment Thursday, but it goes deeper than that.
And the next link will take you to a short video on actual, as opposed to imaginary, genetic differences. Note that at least some of these difference are not just between black and white, but between black and black. One trait is characteristic of West Africans – another of some Kenyans (which lies on the east coast.)
Here is a video summarizing a study on who has to wait longer just to cross a street. You can probably guess the answer – though maybe not the care that was taken to match up every factor BUT skin color, or the number of trials the math is based on.
Here are two links to videos addressing the relationships between people of color and business. The first points out some markets which, based on the usage of the products by people of color, black entrepreneurs ought to dominate. The second shares something you may never have even thought about – which highly successful corporations today were built in some measure upon slavery.
Now let’s take a deep dive into the darkness inside white people, with a study on how the percentage of black people overrepresented in prisons affects the willingness of white people to fight for criminal justice reform.
OK, that’s as deep as I can handle today. I will share one video about ten of the most racist movies of all time – I doubt they’ll surprise you – the only thing that surprised me was that six others 
preceded “Birth of a Nation,” which says something about the importance of LISTENING to people who are most affected, because someone less affected may not see things the same way. Finally, I link to a video that is actually about history: the history of “the Moors” and their occupation of chunks of Europe, and exactly how that occupation benefited Europe and, by extension, all white people today.
Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, please help us learn, for the sake of our own consciences, and also to help us better educate others, what reality really, really is like.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 HERE.
Feb 162019
It’s that time of week again, so here are six excellent video clips from Bill’s show last night. Enjoy!
Monologue: National Emergency!
Call the nursing home? Inflict him on disabled retirees?!!? A national emergency isn’t the only thing that should be used on Trump. The Republican Reich that enables him is just as bad.
Chicago should celebrate on May 20. Rahmbo retiring is no loss. The other adjectives that best describe him are ones he shares with Republicans. He is the corrupt asshole that kept pushing Bill Clinton to cave-in.
Love the song. Bill does not seem to realize that Republicans support criminal justice reform is only to save on the cost of incarceration and give the money to billionaires. The savings must be used to support programs to help former prisoners assimilate as free, law-abiding community members.
Racists don’t belong in office? The entire Republican Reich should resign!
Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten should never be seen with just his girdle. EWWW!
New Rule: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Not fair. Warren has native-American genes. Trump has no human genes. Our candidate will be good enough!
Six is a bonus of Bill.
RESIST!!
Feb 162019
It’s another dank sticky day here at the CatBox. I slept poorly last night and feel tired. I’m also suffering from the lack of Orb light. Tomorrow, WWWendy will be here and we have a full slate of tasks, so please expect no more than a Personal Update with no links messages on Care2.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:01 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. Hoe did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Merkley Supports Plan to Strengthen Social Security
That’s my Senator! Oregon leads the way! Scrap the cap! RESIST!!
From Alternet: Leftist scholar Noam Chomsky has a message for voters who refused to cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton to prevent Donald Trump from winning the White House: You made a “bad mistake.”
On both moral and practical levels, Chomsky told Al Jazeera‘s Medhi Hasan, the choice was clear.
“Do you vote against the greater evil if you don’t happen to like the other candidate?” asked Chomsky, who spoke out during the election against Trump’s candidacy—and in fact predicted his rise six years ago. “The answer to that is yes.”
With an argument similar to the one made by political scientist Adolph Reed prior to the election, Chomsky insists that voters did not have to ignore Clinton’s serious shortcomings in order to recognize Trump as the much more serious threat.
We’re not talking about a mere liberal here. He’s a Democratic Socialist that is well to the left of Bernie. His criticisms of Hillary were often used as ammo by the fools on the left that helped elect Trump. I didn’t like Hillary either, but once nominated, I supported her, fought for her and voted for her? Why? Putting one’s brain on hold during elections is a very foolish thing to do. Vote Blue! RESIST!!
From Think Progress: Late Friday afternoon, a flurry of activity by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office pulled back the curtain on their case against Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone, who last month was arrested in his Florida home and charged with lying to federal prosecutors, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
In documents submitted to the U.S. district court, the special counsel’s office detailed some of the evidence against Roger Stone, acknowledging for the first time they possess direct communications between Stone and Russian operatives known collectively as Guccifer 2.0, as well as WikiLeaks.
The communications were gathered in connection to an indictment that Robert Mueller brought against 12 Russian intelligence operatives last year. Those individuals, who were all members of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, operated under aliases including DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0.
The only chance that Stone has to save his own ass is to flip on his Fuhrer and partner in treason. He should have learned from Manafart that, to the Fuhrer, loyalty is a one way street. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Feb 152019
[Sidebar: Some of us (like TC) are much more conscientious in getting things posted in a timely manner than others of us (like ME). There was just too much news happening today – I let the bright shiny object get my attention, just like a dog …]
Woozles Want Equal Time
And speaking of dogs, while many of us have shared our delight in having Pooties, I have no doubt we have our fair share of Woozle lovers out there, too. I think they deserve some equal time – and what better way to provide it to them than some clips from this week’s Westminster Kennel Dog Show?
Not being a dog-person myself, I’ll be honest in saying that I was surprised how much I truly enjoyed the Agility Course Run competition – especially the weaving part. So here are some GIFs of the winners while weaving.
[NOTE: The heights refer to both the height of the bars they have to jump AND the dog’s height. A dog cannot compete at a higher height than their own actual measured height.]
8” Division Winners
Lark
12” Division
Pixel
16” Division
Pink
Boss
Here are the entire runs of all the top winning competitors. It really is quite entertaining!
Notorious RBG Returns to Work Today – YIPPEE!
How’s this for some great news? One of our favorite Supreme Court Justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (AKA Notorious RBG) today has returned to her actual workplace – first time since her lung cancer surgery in late December.
(Even though not physically present, she has been keeping up with the Court’s workload while recuperating at home – although she has missed two weeks of oral arguments.)
No doubt her regular workout routines have helped the 85 year-old Justice in her rapid recovery from her fall, rib fractures and lung cancer surgery.
And it’s reported she enjoyed the Get Well Card that was signed by a few folks wishing her a speedy recovery whose names you might recognize: Steven Spielberg, Lady Gaga, Spike Lee, Glenn Close, Laura Dern, Amy Adams, Ron Howard, Ted Danson, Helen Mirren, Stephen Colbert, Meredith Vieira and MORE!
Rosalynn Gets Bussed on Camera
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, 94 year-old Pres. Jimmy Carter took Rosalyn to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game. They were there to receive a humanitarian award from the Hawks for all the good deeds they do, and also to honor the LGBTQ community during the Hawk’s first “Pride Night” celebration.
The theme for the night was “Love Wins” – so it’s not surprising that the couple (who were married in 1946) was featured on the Hawk’s “Kiss Cam”. And this is not the first-time they’ve been on a “Kiss Cam”. The Atlanta Braves featured them twice, in 2015 and 2016.
A Presidential Kiss Cam featuring President Jimmy Carter ?#TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/fehHljid4C
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 15, 2019
Winter Road Rage – Canadian-Style
Despite Thursday being Valentine’s Day, everything was not all love, kisses and roses in Canada. A couple people caught videos of some brutal winter road rage, Canadian-style:
Now THAT’S something we would all welcome crossing our borders!
In closing, I suppose for fairness’ sake, we should also give our Pooties some “face-to-face” time … with a window washer. No doubt there was enjoyment happening on BOTH sides of the window pane in this video clip.
The best thing I’ve seen today… 🙂
— It’s Mueller Time (@BookHookah) February 9, 2019
Feb 152019
Looking back at all the acts of quid pro quo, inductive reasoning makes it clear that the Resident of the United States rules more on Russia’s behalf than for the people of the US. It was not so easy to see back in the early days of the Republican Reich. Fortunately, we had a national hero in those early days. Andrew McCabe preserved the data we would need to investigate, before Republicans could make it disappear.
Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director, said in an interview aired on Thursday that top Justice Department officials became so alarmed by President Trump’s decision in May 2017 to fire James B. Comey, the bureau’s director, that they discussed whether to recruit cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.
The dire concerns about the president’s actions also prompted Mr. McCabe to order the bureau’s team investigating Russia’s election interference to look into whether Mr. Trump had obstructed justice by firing Mr. Comey. The F.B.I. also began examining whether Mr. Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.
Mr. McCabe’s explosive remarks were made in an interview with “60 Minutes” scheduled to air in full on Sunday. He was promoting his memoir, “The Threat: How the F.B.I. Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” which will be released next week.
Mr. McCabe said he spoke to Mr. Trump just after Mr. Comey was fired, and the next day he met with the team investigating Russia’s election interference.
“I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion,” Mr. McCabe said. “That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
You can learn a lot more from the following two video clips.
The first concentrates on McCabe.
The second also shows part of Trump’s tantrum in reaction.
I, for one, am damn glad he was there!
RESIST!!