Video Thread 8/31/20

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 1:15 pm Politics

Aug 312020

Here are five videos posted between yesterday and today which are worth looking at IMO – enjoy.

Don Winslow – Hey, it’s worth trying

Really American – “Put Dictator Trump on TV in Florida” – an “in his own words” mashup ad

Two from the Lincoln Project –
“Doc” Doc Rivers, and some blunt truth.

“School” and the dangers of letting kids go to it – let alone making them go to it.

Beau is actually much farther to the left than any of us, but he has a strategy of playing on his appearance and speaking modestly, leading up to his conclusions, to avoid alienating inawakened people, many of whom are his neighbors or just like his neighbors. No one here could make that work, and he certainly isn’t reaching everyone, but he has enough former and current Trump supporters following him and not trolling that it’s not toally without merit. It’s also why I’ve so often said when I’ve posted one of his, “Hear him out.” Unfortunately no CC on this. It’s regarding his appointment of Dr. Atlas.

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 – 8/29/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:21 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 292020

It’s another tired day here in the CatBox. I overslept again. Yesterday I had a rough afternoon. My pulled pork BBQ goop still had chucks that were too big, and it plugged my tumor. That kept me awake all afternoon. WWWendy regooped it when she made a pit stop to change my pain patch. At least its cooler. We have three days in the 70°s before a week in the 90°s. Have a fine weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:59 (average 5:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Remember Larry?

Trump* Virus Update:

0829TrumpVirusMap

Click for interactive map

US Cases: 6,103,398
US Deaths: 186,167
Plus the thousands of GOP plague victims Republicans are hiding from us.

Short Takes:

From NY Times: It started with an unexpected call last week from Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump associate who oversees federal housing programs in New York.

Ms. Patton told a leader of a tenants’ group at the New York City Housing Authority, the nation’s largest, that she was interested in speaking with residents about conditions in the authority’s buildings, which have long been in poor repair.

Four tenants soon assembled in front of a video camera and were interviewed for more than four hours by Ms. Patton herself. Three of the tenants were never told that their interviews would be edited into a two-minute video clip that would air prominently on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention and be used to bash Mayor Bill de Blasio, the three tenants said in interviews on Friday.

“I am not a Trump supporter,” said one of the tenants, Claudia Perez. “I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back.”

The episode represents another stark example of how President Trump has deployed government resources to further his political ambitions.

My response can be condensed into one word: typical! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Trae Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – This Week in Hell

Dang, Trae! That’s the best RNC analysis I’ve heard! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a long blast of protest!): Live From the Left Coast

28 fantastic minutes against the Republican Reich! Kudos to left wing protestors! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

"No Joy" DeJoy Before the House

Posted by TomCat at 11:31 am Politics

Aug 252020

I was looking forward to see Trump’s* sycophant billionaire Postmaster General, “No Joy” DeJoy”, testify before the US House of Representatives. I had been thoroughly disappointed by his Republican-staged sham hearings before the US Senate. The House did not disappoint!

…1. Democrats are putting DeJoy on the hot spot about whether he knew his service changes would lead to mail delays

In his Senate testimony Friday and again Monday before the House, DeJoy pitched the widespread delays across the nation in recent weeks as unfortunate dips in service, caused mostly by a shortage of postal workers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But House Democrats obtained an internal Postal Service memo written to DeJoy earlier this month that warned his suspension of overtime and extra mail trips would cause such delays. (DeJoy has since stopped the removal of mailboxes and sorting machines — although he won’t put back the hundreds taken away since he started in June).

“Mr. DeJoy, you’re withholding information from us,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the committee holding the hearing, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, “concealing documents and downplaying the damage that you’re causing.”

DeJoy didn’t really have a specific answer to why he didn’t share this memo with Congress or whether he had concerns about mail delays through his changes, although under pressure from Democrats he used stronger language than before to describe mail delays. “We are very concerned with the deterioration and service and are working very diligently [to fix it],” he said.

But overall, DeJoy gave Democrats an opening to make their central case, which is that his actions are politically motivated.

“In the Postal Service’s 240 years of delivering the mail, how can one person screw this up so fast?” a visibly frustrated Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) asked, adding “What the heck are you doing?”

“For anyone thinking of voting absentee, the effect of your changes is to move Election Day from Nov. 3 up to something like Oct. 27,” Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) said. (He’s not wrong, based on best-practices recommendations from both election experts and the Postal Service to mail your finished ballot at least a week before the election.)… [emphasis added]

Inserted from<Washington Post>

This is the first of four listed takeaways from House hearings on the Postal Service. Click through for the other three. You owe it to yourself to do so.

Louis DeJoy Answers For His Corruption

I particularly like how Lynch [D-MA] tore him a new asshole!

Rep. Stephen Lynch Questions Postmaster General DeJoy During Hearing

It is crystal clear that No Joy has his job for one reason only: to help steal the 2020 election for Trump* and the Republican Reich.

RESIST!!

So Much for "No Collusion"

Posted by TomCat at 12:17 pm Politics

Aug 202020

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on Russian interference in the stolen 2016 Residential election, and the cooperation of criminal Fuhrer Trump* and members of his campaign staff with that interference. So much for “No Collusion”!

IT’S WORTH wondering what the impact might have been had the Senate Intelligence Committee’s final report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election appeared six months ago, before the report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the twisted account of it provided by Attorney General William P. Barr. On their own terms, the Senate’s findings, released Tuesday after a bipartisan investigation, are explosive: that then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort “formed a close and lasting relationship” with “a Russian intelligence officer,” with whom he shared inside information from the president’s campaign and collaborated to concoct a false narrative that Ukraine, and not Russia, was behind the election interference.

Further, the Senate report states that the Trump campaign “sought to maximize” the impact of leaks of Democratic documents by WikiLeaks, knowing the original source was the Russian military intelligence agency, GRU. The campaign’s intermediary was Roger Stone, whose prison sentence for lying about his involvement and tampering with witnesses was commuted last month by Mr. Trump; the president, the committee “assesses,” lied when he said he never talked to Mr. Stone about WikiLeaks.

Then there is what the Senate investigators glimpsed but could not nail down. The report cites “fragmentary” evidence that Mr. Manafort’s Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik “may have been connected to the GRU’s hack and leak operation,” and two pieces of information linking the campaign chairman himself. The full truth is unknown in part because Mr. Manafort chose to incur an extended prison sentence rather than tell prosecutors the truth about his relationship with the Russian spy.

It is a sad tribute to Mr. Trump’s skill at obfuscation and disinformation that these revelations will likely be ignored by many voters already sated by conflicting accounts of what the president calls the “Russian hoax.” He did it again Tuesday, and on cue, his Senate sycophants — including, contemptibly, the acting Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — rushed to assert that the report shows “no collusion” between Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

That may be true, in the narrow sense of a criminal conspiracy. Yet the report leaves no doubt that, on instructions of Mr. Putin, Russian intelligence sought to aid Mr. Trump’s election; that Mr. Trump and his campaign welcomed and sought to exploit that aid; and that the president, Mr. Manafort, Mr. Stone and several other key campaign officials then lied about the affair… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Click through for more. This is certainly worth reading!

‘Devastating’: Revelations From Senate Intel Report

If that isn’t bad enough, criminal Fuhrer Trump’s* response to the report is to seek advise from his boss, the holder of the tapes, Vladimir Putin [R-RU].

Defiant Trump Seeks Putin Meeting After Report Finds He Lied To Mueller About Russia

The bottom line is this. Trump* and Putin are still colluding to steal YOUR White House from YOU again. What are YOU going to do about it?

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 8/18/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:22 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 182020

It’s a hot day (high 80°s), here at the CatBox. Yesterday my visit with Diana was routine. She’s a very nice lady, who pulls no punches and tells it like it is, but does so with compassion. Tomorrow is my first Pembrolizumab infusion at the hospital. I’ll leave after lunch on a TriMet Lift van, and WWWendy will pick me up between 4:30 and 5:00 PM. When we get home, it will be a regular WWWendy day with TomCat destinking, patch changing, food gooping, and chores. So I’ll be taking a morning nap to rest as much as I can first. Therefore, please expect no more than a Personal Update from me. Assuming that I have no adverse reactions, I’ll be back in the saddle on Thursday. Tuesday is flush Republicans day. Lower the lid so none get away.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0818TrumpVirusMap

US Cases: 5,613,357
US Deaths: 173,778
Plus the many GOP murder victims Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Willamette Week: A right-wing “flag wave” event in downtown Portland on Saturday ended with a far-right protester firing two gunshots into a crowd of Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

Seaside, Ore., resident and conservative activist Haley Adams advertised her Aug. 15 “Rally Against Domestic Terrorism” as a “flag wave” and stressed the group’s intent to remain peaceful. About 25 people attended the rally in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center.

This reporter saw several members of the protest arrive with weaponry—they open-carried a Scorpion 9 mm carbine and an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. Others held Mace, paintball guns and a 9 mm handgun.

The flag wave rally exchanged chants and taunts for approximately an hour with a group of Black Lives Matter protesters before Adams’ group embarked on a march through downtown Portland. Counterprotesters [sic] followed closely, and there was a small exchange of violence between the two groups: Flag wave protesters were seen Macing BLM protesters and shooting them with paintball rounds and hard plastic pellets. Counterprotesters [sic] returned fire with Mace and Silly String.

At approximately 1:35 pm, about 15 conservative protesters retreated into the SmartPark garage at Southwest 4th Avenue and Yamhill Street. Ten minutes later, three cars sped out of the garage and down 4th Avenue. The driver of one car—a blue Dodge Dart—fired two shots at a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters as he left but didn’t hit anyone. Some of the BLM protesters recovered a 9 mm casing at the scene of the shooting.

When Republican Ammosexuals say “peaceful”, this is what they mean. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Bernie Sanders on How Democrats Can Win the Working Class

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right! Combined with Bernie, he’s twice as right. The Reich on the right, the Republican Reich, are wrong and need permanent vacations behind bars! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Vote Him Away (The Liar Tweets Tonight)

Amen! Amen!! Amen!!! Kudos to left-wing protestors! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread – 8/15/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:33 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 152020

It’s a steamy day, here in the CatBox. Portland is under an Excessive Heat Warning today and tomorrow with temperatures of 100°+ both days. With my O₂ concentrator acting like a space heater, and when the sun hits my big windows in the afternoon, the A/C unit is hard pressed to keep it in the 80°s inside. Tomorrow WWWendy is coming to destink the foul TomCat, change my pain patch, goop, and help with chores. Therefore please expect no more than a Personal Update from me tomorrow. Have a fine day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:40). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

It’s Republican SOP!

Trump* Virus Update:

0815TrumpVirusMap

US Cases: 5,478,009
US Deaths: 171,568
Plus the many plague murder victims Republicans are hiding

Short Takes:

From ProPublica: Guards in an immigrant detention center in El Paso sexually assaulted and harassed inmates in a “pattern and practice” of abuse, according to a complaint filed by a Texas advocacy group urging the local district attorney and federal prosecutors to conduct a criminal investigation.

The allegations, detailed in a filing first obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, maintain that guards systematically assaulted at least three people in a facility overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — often in areas of the detention center not visible to security cameras. The guards told victims that no one would believe them because footage did not exist and the harassment involved officers as high-ranking as a lieutenant.

According to the complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and shared with prosecutors, several guards “forcibly” kissed and touched the intimate parts of at least one woman. She faces deportation next week — meaning investigators could lose a key witness. Her attorneys have requested that immigration officials pause her deportation pending a review of the matter.

The best defense that those Republican perverts have is that they were following the example of their Fuhrer. RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump’s top two officials at the Department of Homeland Security are illegally serving in their positions, with appointments that violated the laws governing who can fill Senate-confirmed posts, according to a report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office.

Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, his deputy at the sprawling agency, are serving in violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which specifies orders of succession when senior officials resign, according to the G.A.O., Congress’s nonpartisan watchdog.

The report said the improper appointments began after Kirstjen Nielsen was forced out of office as the department’s secretary in April 2019.

“Because the incorrect official assumed the title of acting secretary at that time, subsequent amendments to the order of succession made by that official were invalid,” the Government Accountability Office said on Friday. The agency said that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli “are serving under an invalid order of succession.”

Should anyone be surprised that Republicans are not following the rules? The Republican SOP that rules and laws are for others, not them, has been in force for decades. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Bruce Springsteen & Joe Grushecky ☜❤☞ That´s What Makes Us Great (ANTI-TRUMP-SONG 2017 )

Amen! Kudos to left-wing protestors! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

How Will Trump* Try to Cling to Power?

Posted by TomCat at 11:05 am Politics

Aug 112020

The more time that goes on, the more obvious it becomes that Resident Donald Trump*, traitor, criminal, and Fuhrer of the Republican Fifth Reich, cannot win the November 2020 election. That leaves him two ways to try to cling to power. Will he try to steal the election? Failing that, will he ignore it?

CNN reporter April Ryan believes if President Trump loses the 2020 presidential election, he will have to be removed from the oval office by force.

Many have wondered whether Trump will leave willingly if he loses the election and what would happen if he refuses to concede to Joe Biden. Trump didn’t calm fears when he refused to give a straight answer about accepting a Democratic win on November 3.

During a Sunday appearance on CNN Newsroom with host Ana Cabrera, Cabrera asked Ryan and guest Bill Kristol about the president downplaying mail-in ballots and attempting to delay mid-term elections. Ryan responded calling Trump a hypocrite for using mail-in ballots himself and said he’s trying to suppress votes… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Black Enterprise>

Trump Wielding Presidency Like An Autocrat: To Preserve His Power

Trump* is the symptom, not the disease. Long before Trump* became Fuhrer of the Republican Reich, I have warned you over and over again. Republicans will do whatever they can to establish a permanent, National Socialist, plutocratic Republican Reich. They want elections to exist for show only, as they decide who gets to vote, and they count the votes. Right now they have never been closer to achieving that goal. We must stop them at all costs!

RESIST!!

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