Open Thread – 10/30/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 302020

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. My Republicosis last night was severe enough that I had to get up, pop on George, and make the mad dash three times. Sadly, ice cream before bed was a bad idea. I’m waiting for Diana to come. She is due momentarily. Tomorrow I hope to post a series of election maps. TGIF! (Diana just came.)

Jug Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:29 (average 9:21). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

Click for more maps

US Cases: 9,220,428
US Deaths: 234,262
Plus all Trump*/GOP plague murders Republicans are hiding

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: According to a just-released study, the risk of interference in the coming election by far-right “Patriot” militiamen heavily aligned with Donald Trump is not only real, it’s growing intense in over half the states in the nation, with five states in particular likely to see disruptive behavior and perhaps violence: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Oregon.

Compiled by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the study gathered and examined “the latest data on right-wing militia organizations across the country, identifying the most active groups and mapping the locations most likely to experience heightened militia activity before, during, and after the election.” What it found should send up warning flares to officials at all levels concerned about election security, as well as among law enforcement officers who seem to be currently preoccupied with election-related civic violence coming from the left.

Pennsylvania is the tipping-point battleground state that should give Joe Biden his 270th electoral vote, and Republicans are doing all they can to suppress the vote. No matter where you live, click here to volunteer for a virtual get-out-the-vote activity in Pennsylvania.

As strongly as I support GOTV activity, I urge lefties to avoid confrontations with Republican Nazis. Every time one unarmed left winger defends herself or himself against 50 heavily armed Republican Nazi Gestapo, it will be reported as a left-wing assault. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Jocelyn: Voters Have Right To Cast Ballot ‘Free From Intimidation And Harassment’

The notion that Republican Ammosexuals are allowed to display their guns at a polling place boggles my mind. The best weapons for self defense are ballots, not bullets! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): They say they are married to ‘deplorables’. So they formed a support group

God! Those poor women! Can you imagine the horror of being married to a deplorable Ammosexual idiot who measures penis size in caliber? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Beatles – Here Comes The Sun (2019 Mix)

Ah… the memories! Protest like the 60s! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread – 8/31/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:30 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 312020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Diana should be here in a few minutes for her routine visit, and WWWendy will be here late this afternoon. The score is now WWWendy 1 to TC 1. I plugged the toilet this morning! ARGH! Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0831TrumpVirusMap

Click for interactive map

US Cases: 6,177,092
US Deaths: 187,248
Plus the thousands of GOP plague murder victims Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Alternet: One of the many oddities of the now-terminated Robert Mueller probe into Russian election interference and its links to various members of the Trump campaign and family, and in fact of all known federal probes into Russia’s Trump-related actions, has been the seeming lack of any counterintelligence probe on Donald Trump’s myriad, longstanding financial connections to Russia—and what role those financial ties have played both in the Russian government’s actions on behalf of Trump and their possible leverage over the now-president.

A new story from The New York Times‘ Michael Schmidt reports that that’s because in the first months of the new Trump administration, former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein shuttered that investigation—then ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to steer clear of it himself. It’s not that the counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s known ties to Russian crime figures, to money laundering, and his family’s stated reliance on Russian cash has been kept closely-held: It never existed. And it still doesn’t.

Assuming that we win in November, the investigation blocked by Rosy Rectum Rosenstein needs to be done, and Trump* needs to be prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated for the crimes Republicans are hiding. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Hopped up on Trump rage and Village People music, this white man feels emboldened to walk up to a journalist and verbally abuse and threaten media in New Hampshire.

That is so Republican! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Imagine – John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band (w the Flux Fiddlers) (official music video HD long v)

Kudos to left wing protestors! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread – 8/24/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:21 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 242020

It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox. Diana, my palliative care nurse, is coming between (9:00 and 10:00 this morning for a routine visit. I’m now experiencing a side effect from my new cancer treatment: fatigue. Evelyn, my Oncologist, advised me that was the most likely problem I might have. It’s a fight to keep my eyes open today. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, but it won’t effect my writing. It will be 4:30 to 5:00 PM when she gets here. Starting tomorrow, I shall be covering the Republican National Convention in Open Threads. But you don’t need to stay away. I shall not include any videos, just a brief pictorial summary. Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

At least it’s worst in red states.

US Cases: 5,875,939
US Deaths: 180,618
Plus the many GOP plague murder victims Republicans are hiding from us.

Short Takes:

From Forbes: A majority of Republican voters think that the U.S. coronavirus death toll, which is over 176,000 and rising, is “acceptable,” a CBS News/YouGov poll found Sunday, with an even larger number saying that the national response to coronavirus is “going well.”

That speaks volumes about the incredible lack of empathy among the deplorable Republican Reich. To anyone who gives a damn, 176,000 dead Americans (now over 180,000) is NOT even barely tolerable, let alone “going well”. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Just weeks after President Trump’s administration agreed to pull back federal officers from demonstrations in Portland, Ore., where his attempt at a high-profile crackdown backfired, the fate of the city’s protests now rests to a large extent with an altogether different leader: A brand-new, 39-year-old district attorney whose approach to enforcing the law is as contested as the demonstrations themselves.

The new prosecutor, Mike Schmidt, took office Aug. 1 after defeating an experienced federal prosecutor by a 3-to-1 margin in Multnomah County, which includes most of Portland. Even his critics say the breadth of his victory gave him a mandate to reshape prosecutions in Portland, a city of frequent protests, where there is no clear end in sight to demonstrations against police brutality that began after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

He has not been slow to shake things up: Ten days after taking office, Mr. Schmidt effectively dismissed charges against more than half of about 600 people arrested since the protests began at the end of May.

His directive met with strong objections from the Portland police and Multnomah County sheriff. But it was in keeping with his progressive campaign platform as one of a new generation of prosecutors across the country who are pledging to reduce penalties for low-level nonviolent crimes.

Mr. Schmidt said his office would presumptively decline to prosecute demonstrators for minor offenses such as interfering with the police, disorderly conduct and trespassing — cases that did not involve deliberate violence, property damage or theft. And charges for assault on officers and resisting arrest will now require closer scrutiny, with prosecutors taking into account in filing charges whether the police fired tear gas into crowds.

I voted for Mike. I’m glad I did. Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Confounds the Science – (Parody of) Sound of Silence – REMIX | Don Caron / Linda Gower

We’ve shared this one before, but it certainly warrants another view. Kudos to left-wing protesters. RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

BIG Mouth Awards

Every 1,000th Comment
20 – Infidel – 7/6/2011
21 – SoINeedAName – 7/25/2011
22 – SoINeedAName – 8/17/2011
23 – Maria – 9/7/2011
24 – Phyllis – 9/29/2011
25 – Tom – 10/22/2011
26 – Lynn Squance – 11/25/2011
27 – Deborah – 12/29/2011
28 – Patty – 1/19/2012
29 – Lynn Squance – 2/8/2012
30 – Jolly Roger – 3/8/2012
31 – Patty – 5/4/2012
32 – Marva Dasef – 6/8/2012
33 – Patty – 7/8//2012
34 – Edith Belcher – 8/12//2012
35 – Patty – 9/17/2012
36 – Tasunka – 10/12/2012
37 – Lynn Squance – 11/6/2012
38 – SoINeedAName – 11/29/2012
39 – Lynn Squance – 1/11/2013
40 – Lynn Squance – 2/17/2013
41 – Patty – 3/23/2013
42 – Edith Belcher – 5/29/2013
43 – Jim Phillips – 6/29/2013
44 – Patty – 7/27/2013
45- Lynn Squance – 8/21/2013
46 – Rixar13 – 9/12/2013
47 – Rixar13 – 10/4/2013
48- Lynn Squance – 10/25/2013
49 – Patty – 11/27/2013
50 – Lynn Squance – 1/13/2014
51 – Patty – 3/7/2014
52 – Yvonne White – 4/16/2014
53 – Edie – 5/20/2014
54 – Jerry Critter – 6/23/2014
55 – Lynn Squance – 7/29/2014
56 – Joanne D – 9/5/2014
57 – Patty – 10/19/2014
58 – Arielle – 11/16/2014
59 – Pat A – 12/26/2014
60 – SoINeedAName – 1/24/2015
61 – Lynn Squance – 2/18/2015
62 – Joanne D – 3/21/2015
63 – Vivian B – 4/23/2015
64 – Joanne D – 5/23/2015
65 – Yvonne White – 6/22/2015
66 – SoINeedAName – 7/16/2015
67 – Lona Goudswaard – 8/6/2015
68 – Mamabear – 8/25/2015
72 – Judi Angell – 11/27/2015
74 – Judi Angell – 1/18/2016
75 – Jerry Critter – 1/2/2016
76 – Lona Goudswaard – 3/11/2016
77 – Lona Goudswaard – 4/4/2016
78 – Pat B – 5/5/2016
79 – Mitch D – 6/5/2016
80 – Joanne D – 7/3/2016
81 – Lona Goudswaard – 7/30/2016
82 – Mitch D – 9/2/2016
83 – Joanne D – 10/6/2016
84 – Pat A – 11/10/2016
85 – Pat B – 12/11/2016
86 – Pat A – 1/14/2017
87 – Lynn Squance – 2/18/2017
88 – Vivian Birdwell – 4/5/2017
89 – Vivian Birdwell – 5/16/2017
90 – Lona Goudswaard – 6/23/2017
91 – SoINeedAName – 7/30/2017
92 – Joanne D – 9/4/2017
93 – Pat B – 10/12/2017
94 – SoINeedAName – 11/20/2017
95 – Jerry Critter – 12/31/2017
96 – Joanne D – 2/12/2018
97 – Pat B – 3/27/2018
98 – Richard A – 5/5/2018
99 – Lynn Squance – 6/12/2018
100 – Mitch D – 7/20/2018
101 – Pat B – 8/30/2018
102 – Pat B – 10/5/2018
103 – Joanne D – 11/9/2018
104 – Animae – 12/18/2018
105 – Animae – 1/25/2019
106 – Colleen – 3/2/2019
107 – Joanne D – 4/11/2019
108 – Animae – 6/1/2019
109 – Pat B – 8/9/2019
110- Angelflowers – 09/20/2019
111 – Colleen – 11/5/2019
112 – Pat B – 12/25/2019
113 – None – My Bad
114 – Pat B – 3/24/2020
115 – Freya – 5/24/2020
116 – JL – 7/4/2020
117 – Colleen – 8/13/2020