Glenn Kirschner – “Lawlessness begets lawlessness”
Now This News – Paxton Smith Reflects on Her Viral Abortion Speech
Ring of Fire – Scholars Warn That Republicans Have Launched A Total Assault On Democracy
Thom Hartmann – Is the GOP Insanity Being Driven By Trump or 40 Years of Madness? – Our Tom has been saying this for years.
Rocky Mountain Mike – “Bye Bye Blog”
Beau – Let’s talk about coming together under China and good news….
Although I slept well last night, it’s still an exhausted day here in the CatBox. I suspect it will take a few to recover from the vote count. WWWendy is coming mid afternoon, and we’re having BBQ ribs for supper. Oh and Shit (her dawgs) are jumping for joy. They get the bones. Tomorrow is a normal day. Go Broncos!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:30 (average 5:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Short Takes:
From Crooks and Liars: Philadelphia Mayor Has Advice For Trump: ‘Put Your Big Boy Pants On’
Does Trump* actually have any big boy pants? Ask Stormy. She knows! RESIST!!
From NY Times: For a world that held its breath as Americans went to the polls last Tuesday, the triumph of Joseph R. Biden Jr. over President Trump provoked many emotions, but above all, a profound sigh of relief.
As news of Mr. Biden’s victory reverberated from Europe and the Middle East to Asia and Latin America on Saturday, foreign leaders showered him with congratulations. Diplomats and commentators expressed gratitude, satisfaction and even jubilation that a new president would bring a much-needed return to normalcy — something that vanished alarmingly the day Mr. Trump took office.
“Welcome back America!” the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said in a Twitter message to Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hailing Canada’s historic friendship with the United States, said, “I’m really looking forward to working together.” President Emmanuel Macron of France said, “We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let’s work together!” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany declared, “Our trans-Atlantic friendship is irreplaceable, if we want to overcome the great challenges of our time.”
For many world leaders, the importance of this election was as much about removing Mr. Trump as ushering in Mr. Biden.
In 2004 thousands of Americans, including me, sent pictures of ourselves holding “I’m Sorry!” signs to a website that used them to create a collage of Americans apologizing to the world for the reelection of the Fuhrer of the Fourth Reich, GW ChickenHawk, aka Crawford Caligula. Thank God I don’t have to do that again this year, because the Fuhrer of the Fifth Reich, Trump*, makes GW look like a saint! RESIST!!
From Alternet: One day after Donald Trump learned he won’t be serving a second term, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said the president needs to prepare himself for the possibility of criminal indictments the moment President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.
Speaking with host Christi Paul, the former federal prosecutor said the country should expect a flurry of pardons from Trump including the possibility he may try to pardon himself.
“The president by law retains all of his power until January 20th with the inauguration. With that said, what do you expect is going to happen between now and Inauguration Day?” host Paul asked.
“Hold on tight to your seats,” Honig began. “I think President Trump is going to use every last ounce of power right up until 11:59:59 on January 20th. Watch for pardons; he has the pardon power. Many presidents have used the pardon power in their final dates in office. I’d watch for him to pardon his political allies, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos. I would look at the possibility that he might pardon his family members who are under state investigations for fraud. Now presidential pardon doesn’t cover people in a state prosecution, but might well cover them for federal purposes. Then the big question is: will the president try to pardon himself? It’s never happened in our history and we don’t actually know if that’s lawful or not. But if he tries it, we could find out.”
Continuing in that vein, the former prosecutor pointed out what the future holds for the president.
“He loses his protections,” he began. “He’s avoided trouble by being in the White House — there are laws and policies, especially in the Justice Department, that protect a sitting president. He will not be the sitting president at 12:01 on January 20th.”
I’m not sure about that. In fact, It would not surprise me, if Trump resigns before his term expires, so Pence can pardon him. If that does not happen, it’s only because Pence can’t pardon him for State charges. RESIST!!
From YouTube (SNL Channel): Biden Victory Cold Open
As much as I like SNL and Jim Carrey, nothing can hold a candle to the real speech. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the present): BIDEN HARRIS VICTORY music video: ALL ON THE LINE (Unity version Demo)- ANDRES USECHE
How many times can we say AMEN?!!? RESIST!!
It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy is due in about 90 minutes, and we have lots of chores to do. Tomorrow I have my GI appointment. I fear that they will just schedule me for tests at the lab. I so hope I’m wrong. I need some relief NOW! I should be back in the saddle on Christmas Eve. Go Broncos.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Short Takes:
From NY Times: American military and intelligence officials tracking North Korea’s actions by the hour say they are bracing for an imminent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching American shores, but appear resigned to the fact that President Trump has no good options to stop it.
If the North goes ahead with the test in the coming days — Pyongyang promised a “Christmas gift” if no progress had been made on lifting sanctions — it would be a glaring setback for Mr. Trump’s boldest foreign policy initiative, even as he faces an impeachment trial at home.
The score? Fat Korean Maniac 2 – Fat Russian-controlled Maniac 0. RESIST!!
From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): A REPUBLICAN CHRISTMAS – Parody | The Freedom Toast (Guest Post)
Magnificent! The Republican Reich hope they die soon. JD send me an update on them, please. RESIST!!
From TPM: According to newly released documents, the White House moved to freeze military aid to Ukraine less than two hours after President Donald Trump’s July 25th call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The documents were obtained with a FOIA request by the Center for Public Integrity and published Friday night.
“Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration’s plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional DoD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process,” Mike Duffey, an Office of Management and Budget official, wrote in a July 25 email to OMB and Pentagon officials. “Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction.”… [emphasis added]
So what we have here is an order from imFuhrer Trump* to hold up the aid and cover up the act of doing it. That’s a criminal violation of the Impoundment Act. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the past): Rascals People Got To Be Free
Ah… The memories! RESIST!!
The Post has uncovered a treasure trove of documents that bring to light the many falsehoods and failures of three Administrations from both political parties to prosecute the War in Afghanistan, bring it to an end, or even tell the truth about it.
For 18 years, America has been at war in Afghanistan. As part of a government project to understand what went wrong, a federal agency interviewed more than 400 people who had a direct role in the conflict. In those interviews, generals, ambassadors, diplomats and other insiders offered firsthand accounts of the mistakes that have prolonged the war.
The full, unsparing remarks and the identities of many of those who made them have never been made public — until now. After a three-year legal battle, The Washington Post won release of more than 2,000 pages of “Lessons Learned” interviews conducted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Those interviews reveal there was no consensus on the war’s objectives, let alone how to end the conflict.
To augment the previously undisclosed interviews, The Post also obtained hundreds of confidential memos by former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld from the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research institute. Known as “snowflakes,” the memos are brief instructions or comments that the Pentagon leader dictated to his underlings as the war unfolded.
Together, the interviews and the Rumsfeld memos reveal a secret, unvarnished history of the conflict and offer new insights into how three presidential administrations have failed for nearly two decades to deliver on their promises to end the war…
Inserted from <Washington Post>
Scroll down almost to the bottom of the page for text of 611 documents.
Here’s the video.
Exclusive: A secret history of the war in Afghanistan, revealed
Finally, we need to examine earlier history to understand this better.
Let me be clear that Barack Obama was wrong to continue the war, which I said several times at that time. In addition, he was wrong not to challenge the lies of the GW Bush Regime about Afghanistan. But this war is a product of the Republican Party. In the 1980s the CIA under the Ronald Reagan administration created Al Qaeda by funding and arming Osama Bin Laden and other Wahhabi terrorists to commit terrorist acts against the Russian troops occupying Afghanistan. Without this Republican Terrorism, 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, and ISIL would never have happened.
Finally, please keep the Post article as a resource. It’s the best source I’ve seen.