Open Thread – 1/10/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:59 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 102020

It’s a lazy day, here in the CatBox. Store to Door called mid-nap to deliver groceries, yesterday. I woke up last night because of the high humidity, and could not get back to sleep. Tomorrow and Sunday are High Holy Days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the Festival of Divisional Resolution. May the Orb shine its Holy light on your team. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 6:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: The New York City Bar Association has taken the extraordinary step of asking Congress to investigate Attorney General Bill Barr for being too politically biased to faithfully execute his duties as America’s top law enforcement official.

Bloomberg reports that the Bar Association is claiming that Barr’s recent statements and actions indicate that he may be enabling and encouraging “political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others.”

The association also accuses Barr of disregarding “fundamental obligations in several public statements during the past few months,” including his duty to “act impartially, to avoid even the appearance of partiality and impropriety, and to avoid manifesting bias, prejudice or partisanship in the exercise of official responsibilities.”

Nothing like this has ever happened before. However, there has never been an AG as worthy of disbarrfment as Barrf! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Business Genius Donald Trump Thinks Your 409K Could Be Up 90%

Awww… you can’t blame poor impeached Fuhrer Trump*. He’s confused, because he uses Formula 409 to clean the Russian hooker pee stains from his face. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Redbone – Come And Get Your Love – LIVE 1974 The Midnight Special (Guardians Of The Galaxy)

I remember the music, but never saw it performed before. Fantastic!! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/22/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 222019

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!!

Vote Blue!!

Five Absurd Parts of Trump Letter to Pelosi

Posted by TomCat at 9:44 am Politics

Dec 182019

Instead of reporting the impeachment hearing direct, as so many are, I decided to inject a note of levity, when I found a hilarious article by Alex Henderson. in it, he illustrates just how absurd Resident Donald Trump’s [R-RU] protest letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] was. He did so in five examples.

This Wednesday, December 18, the two articles of impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee approved against President Donald Trump — one for abuse of power, the other for obstruction of Congress — are expected to come up for a full vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. If the Democrat-controlled House votes to indict Trump on those articles (which is likely), they would go to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Trump, the day before the expected House vote, sent a long-winded, rambling letter to House Speaker Pelosi and railed against House Democrats for pursuing impeachment.

Here are some of the most absurd things Trump said to Pelosi in his December 17 letter…

…4. Trump claimed his treatment is worse than those accused during the Salem Witch Trials

In the letter, Trump compared impeachment to the Salem witch trials, writing, “more due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”

As HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery wrote, 20 people were killed in the Salem witch trials, a fate that will surely escape the president…

Inserted from <Alternet>

I shared just the fourth of five examples. Please click through for the other five.

Steven Colbert also poked fun at Trump over this.

Trump Complains Of “Spiteful Actions” And “Egregious Conduct” In Angry Letter To Nancy Pelosi

Since 20 witches were killed, one way we could (in jest) make his statement true is burn Fuhrer Witchenfarten at the stake 21 times!

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/9/2019

Posted by TomCat at 10:11 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 092019

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. WWWendy sheared me quite well yesterday, and it’s wonderful to be able to scratch itches on my scalp again. I feel a bit tired, but I plan no trips out before my procedure a week from Tuesday. Oh God, It’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me 4:11 (average 6:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Religious Ecstasy:

1208Broncos38-Texans24

When I first heard the score at halftime, I accused WWWendy of putting a hallucinogen in my coffee!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (CNN Channel): North Korea calls Donald Trump a ‘dotard’ again as tensions increase

Is this not typical of the foreign policy “successes” we see from the Republican Reich? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Jesse Dollemore Channel): THE CULT HAS SPOKEN!!! In New Poll Republicans Say Trump is Greater Than Abraham Lincoln!

Barf Bag Alert!!

Very well said, Jesse. Would someone please open Abe’s casket and clean out the excrement? If I were Lincoln, that Republican “truth” would have made me fill my pants too! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Cant Take My Eyes Off You – Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons + lyrics

Ah… The memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/4/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 042019

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. Yesterday was so hectic and frustrating, that it just tired me out. I finally got my biopsy reset for Tuesday the 17th. I’m listening to the Judiciary Committee. The Republican Reich is fighting like hell to obstruct the hearing. WWWendy is coming tonight, and I’m most ready to be de-stunk. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 5:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: This year’s summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began on a discordant note, on Tuesday, after the other twenty-eight nato leaders challenged Donald Trump to spell nato.

At a preliminary gathering of the leaders, Trump demanded that the other member nations increase their cash contributions to the alliance, prompting Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to issue the unexpected and unwelcome spelling challenge.

“We’ll be happy to give more to nato, Mr. President, if you can spell nato,” she said, drawing raucous applause from the other leaders.

Handing Trump a pencil and a yellow legal pad, Merkel watched as he struggled to spell the word correctly, crumpling page after page in the effort.

After several failed attempts, Trump finally offered up a drawing of several stick figures standing in a row and asked for “partial credit.”

When the other nato leaders rejected his request by a 28–0 voice vote, Trump stormed out of the room, vowing never to return.

Dang Andy! That wasn’t fair! He never had a chance! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Video appears to show world leaders gossiping about Trump

How do Republicans stand it? I feel embarrassed as hell to see the head of this nation, albeit unelected, ridiculed in a forum of world leaders. Of course he deserves it. They have no shame! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): How America Created Its Shameful Wealth Gap with Robert Reich

Solana Rice is right. The Republican Reich mandates poverty for minority Americans. It’s one more way the Republican Reich institutionalizes racism. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Free Bird Lynyrd Skynyrd: Lyrics

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Newer Entries

PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.