Open Thread October 23 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 232025

Yesterday, Robert Reich announced the issue of a coffee mug with one of his drawings on it. It’s pricier than I would want (but with Robert Reich, you know whatever he makes from it will be spent on saving democracy), and I’m pretty sure it only comes in one size, but it is Robert Reich, and I wanted to give everyone here a chance to know about it. Last Sunday might, Heather Cox Richardson‘s daily letter summed up No Kings Day from both sides (and there’s no comparison), and I wanted to share that. Sorry I’m late with it, but I think it’s timeless. Also yesterday, the “border czar” (and if we don’t want kings, we really don’t want czars!) announced that he plans to deport 600,000 more people this year. That’s in addition to the 2 million already deported so far. It’s difficult to find a way to express that meaningfully, and I know my math isn’t 100% accurate, but I think it does at least provide an order of magnitude. He’s talking about 0ne out of every thousand people who are still here. So if you know 50 people, you have a 5% chance of someone you know being deported between now and January. Also yesterday – you can call this a typo or you can call it a Freudian slip – The Root made a reference to “Fox News hose Jesse Watters.” (I’m for the Freudian slip.)

There is a lot in this that we need to know. But if you take nothing else away from it, I hope you will take note of why Malcolm Nance gives the people he does the platform he gives. I think he’s on to something – specifically, a window into the mind of the Apricot Antichrist that those who are still close to him may see but would never say publicly any of what they see there. There is a history of thousands of years of converts being the most devout believers, and that is and has been true way beyond just religiously. Remember Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer.”

The Intercept has no paywall, but its popups are so big I tend to just archive them so as not to scare anyone away. (Their content is more than scary enough – by design, since they want to fully inform readers.) The protest that started this chain was in July, but the court case, which is the scariest part, is ongoing.

Huff Post‘s popups are if possible even more obtrusive than The Intercept’s, so I archived this too. The video is not live, but I couldn’t get it to load, and anyway it’s very short (1:33), so I doubt we’re missing much.

Footnote – Jeff Merkley has been filibustering. TomCat would have been so proud. Here’s a link to a letter thanking him.

Open Thread – 3/7/2021

Posted by TomCat at 10:25 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 072021

It’s a very tired day here in the cat box. For the last week I had a pants load of long appointments setting up my hospice services, and all that chair time exacerbated my back pain. My hospice nurse adjusted my methadone dose to my new level of pain. That was too high for my normal level of activity, causing all the side effects. I told her that’s what I thought, and she agreed to put me back to 10 mg methadone every eight hours. I’m feeling better. Here is my new schedule. This is what I said I would explain today. Monday is a Wendy day, usually in the evening. Thursday a shower aide comes around 9 AM. Then Store to Door delivers groceries between 11:30 AM and Noon. That will be a rough day. Saturday morning is a Wendy day. My hospice nurse will come every two weeks on Monday. Then I will have occasional visits from Jo, the chaplain. I like her. She is an authentic Christian and loves the definitions for Republicitis and Republicosis. So except for the initial confusion everything is doing pretty well. Nevertheless, it will take a few days for me to catch up on sleep. May you be well and truly blessed this Sunday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:41 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you fo?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos:

…”It will be a Democratic Party Armageddon in 2022 if we sit here on our butts and say, ‘Oh, we’re sorry, we’re not as determined to get our agenda passed as Republicans were,'” Sen. Jeff Merkley, the Oregon Democrat spearheading filibuster reform efforts, told the Post. He’s right. With the Supreme Court seemingly ready to gut the remains of the Voting Rights Act and 43 states considering some 253 voter restriction bills, it could be Armageddon for Democrats. If the elections reforms passed by the House don’t become law, Democratic voters will be blocked from the polls. If President Biden’s critical agenda to address the pandemic, economic inequality, climate change, immigration—everything!—is stymied, Democratic voters won’t want to go to the polls in 2022.

Biden sure as hell recognizes that. That’s why the former longtime member of the Senate is open to filibuster reform. “One thing that is nonnegotiable is him delivering for the American people,” Emmy Ruiz, the White House political director, told the Post. “The number one priority here is to get this agenda, this bold agenda, passed through Congress.” Another White House official said the “‘strategy is adjusting every single day,’ reiterating Biden’s position that the filibuster is not sacrosanct while the agenda is.”…

Jeff could not be more correct. Oregon leads the way! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Trump State Department official charged for attacking police in Capitol riot

Could the Republican Reich be more guilty of treason than this? RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Crimson and Clover – Tommy James & The Shondells

Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Don’t Let Republicans Steal YOUR Future!!

Open Thread–5/30/2020

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

May 302020

It’s a painful day here in the CatBox. Sitting in my chair to write exacerbates my spinal cancer pain. The pain seems to become severe about two hours before my Oxycodone dose. I’ll talk to my palliative care team on the 16th. Wendy is alive and well in Wyoming. Have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:53 (average 4:19). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0530TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 1,795,635
Deaths: 104,581
Recovered: 519,709

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: In case there was any questions about Jo Rae Perkins’ devotion to the cultish QAnon conspiracy theory universe—raised, no doubt, by her campaign statement last week after she won the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate race in Oregon—she answered them fulsomely the next day in interviews.

Thank God this Fascist dingbat is running against Jeff Merkley. She doesn’t stand a chance! RESIST!!

From YouTube (John Pavlovitz Channel): HOW TO PROTEST RACIAL INJUSTICE THE “RIGHT WAY”

John Pavlovitz epitomizes what it means to be a real authentic Christian, as opposed to a Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian. Republicans are not racist, the Pope is not Catholic, and bears never, ever shit in the woods! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Trey Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – Minnesota Burning

You have to hand it to Trey. How often is it that you get to heat such profound truth in that accent? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads (Live from The Wildlife Concert)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–2/6/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 062020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering groceries some time this afternoon. I hoped to get an early nap., My stomach acted up all day yesterday, and Stumpy has been underdoing a rare bout of phantom nerve pain for over 24 hours. It feels like someone is stabbing my left ankle with a knife, but I don’t have a left ankle. I hoped to get an early nap, but that appears unlikely. ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:03 (average 6:51). To to it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In the aftermath of Pete Buttigieg’s strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, Donald J. Trump accused the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor of engaging in “suspicious travel” to Afghanistan.

“People are saying that he went to Afghanistan for seven months in 2014,” Trump told the hosts of “Fox & Friends” in a phone call. “Seven months is a long time to be running around in a Muslim country full of terrorists, don’t you think?”

He added that Buttigieg reportedly had a gun with him while he was in Afghanistan, a fact that Trump said “sounds fishy to me.”

“Let’s see, you fly all the way to a Muslim country full of all of these terrorists who need guns, and you’re bringing a gun into a country like that?” Trump said. “Who was he planning to give that gun to?”

“I don’t know if he was part of some caliphate or just helping them out, but we ought to find out,” he said. “I have a call in to the President of Afghanistan.”

Dang Andy! Do you think he was part of an evil conspiracy with gay Muslim terrorists? Far more likely, Trump* will get a second asterisk on his name from his coming “perfect” call to President Ashraf Ghani! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Trae Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – Pelosi Disrespects Trump

FOMCPIMPROTFLMAO! I could not agree more! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Statement on the Senate Impeachment Vote of Donald J. Trump

Spot-on, Jeff! Once again I’m proud to have volunteered for his campaign. Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly • Main Theme • Ennio Morricone

Ah… the spaghetti westerns! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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.