Open Thread – 12/18/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 182019

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. Yesterday was a gruesome day. TriMet Lift got me to the hospital 75 minutes early. No complaint. Better that than late. Then the Anesthesiologist was two hours late to my procedure. She was planning a general, but I would likely have to have spent the night, if they did. I ordered her to dope me up as little as possible with twilight drugs, gritted my teeth, and bore up under the pain, which was more severe than I anticipated. The doctor did hit the target, and I should know next week. WWWendy (God bless her!) got me home around five and fed me. I could not be more pleased that day is over! I’m pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:29 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Republicans would love to do this to all minorities!

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the latest in our own fantasy football league.

15Playoffs

Congrats to me and the Squatch for winning our games. Kudos to me for a record high score. This weekend WWWendy plays me, and Vivian plays the Squatch in the Semifinal games. Patty Monster is bye this week and will win the 5th place game next week. Good luck to all!

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The next Democratic presidential debate will go on as scheduled Thursday, after negotiators on Tuesday reached agreement in a labor dispute that had threatened to upend the event while highlighting organized labor’s influence with the leading Democratic presidential candidates.

The debate, which will be held at Loyola Marymount University, had been in question since last week after the seven participating Democrats each said that they would not cross a picket line, if there was one.

The dispute, between a cafeteria workers union and a food services company at Loyola Marymount, involved only about 150 workers and had drawn little notice over nine months. Yet in the heated political atmosphere surrounding the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, the impasse attracted outsized attention this month as the sixth primary debate approached.

Kudos to all the Democratic candidates for supporting the fight against the Republican War on labor! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): McConnell on impeachment trial: I’m not an impartial juror

Since Bought Mitch Moscow Mitch refuses to accede to his Constitutional mandate of impartiality, either he should recuse himself, or Injustice Roberts of SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD) should order him to step down. Fat Chance! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): George Harrison-Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/14/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 142019

It’s another tired day here at the CatBox. My heartburn flared up last night, and I slept poorly. Tomorrow a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos visit the Chiefs and I look forward to reading about how they do. It’s not televised here, of course. May the Divine Orb shine it’s blessed light on your team, unless you need a name. 😉 It’s also a WWWendy day, and it’d been so humid that I need extra de-stinking. Also, we have chores to do, so please expect no more than a personal update. Have a fine weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:01 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Across the United Kingdom on Friday, Britons mourned their long-cherished right to claim that Americans were significantly dumber than they are.

Luxuriating in the superiority of their intellect over Americans’ has long been a favorite pastime in Britain, surpassing in popularity such games as cricket, darts, and snooker.

But, according to Alistair Dorrinson, a pub owner in North London, British voters have done irreparable damage to the “most enjoyable sport this nation has ever known: namely, treating Americans like idiots.”

“When our countrymen cast their votes yesterday, they didn’t realize they were destroying the most precious leisure activity this nation has ever known,” he said. “Wankers.”

Amen, Andy! Are they a bunch of Bridiots, or what? RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Mitch McConnell On Impeachment: We’ll Be In ‘Total Coordination’ With White House

Bought Bitch Barf Bag Alert!!

I don’t think there is anything illegal about this, probably because nobody ever envisioned the total lack of ethics from Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch. Imagine a criminal trial in which the Chairman, of the jury, is “coordinating closely” with the defendant and his lawyers. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 11/26/2019

Posted by TomCat at 10:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 262019

It’s a very busy day here in the CatBox. Safeway.com should be here with my groceries within 90 minutes. Speaking of the devil, they came a half hour ago,and I just got everything stowed. That’s the first time in five years they weren’t late. On the down side, they were out of lamb, WWWendy is coming to the rescue, so we have a main course for Thanksgiving dinner. My HTML editor stores the blog format and tags, but the tags had become unmanageable. There were over 2,000 tags, and every time I try to clean them up, I make less progress than the time before. Therefor, I decided it was time to start over, so I deleted them all in a bulk operation. Editors and Managers, please only add new tags that we are likely to use frequently. I’m running way late, so I’m in a rush. This is my only article today. Hectic Hugs to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own fantasy football league.

Scores:

12Scores

Congrats to Vivian, Patty Monster and me for winning our games. Kudos to Vivian for the high score for the week.

Standings:

12Standings

Congrats to Vivian for leading the league.

Players be sure to get your lineup set. There are three games on Thursday.

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In a startling break with Thanksgiving tradition, Donald J. Trump refused to pardon the White House turkey after claiming that it was working as a secret operative of the billionaire George Soros.

A group of fourth graders from Bethesda, Maryland, who had gathered on the White House lawn for the annual turkey-pardoning ceremony appeared unprepared for the anti-Soros outburst that Trump unleashed on the Thanksgiving bird.

“That turkey was sent by Soros to spy on me,” Trump said, angrily turning on the fowl. “A lot of people are saying this.”

While the oblivious turkey pecked desultorily at the ground, an increasingly enraged Trump spewed a stream of conspiracy theories linking the feathered animal to global élites, election fraud in Florida, and Jim Acosta.

Andy, couldn’t Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch be the turkey? Then we could all refuse to pardon him! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Ousted Navy Secretary Sounds Off After Trump Jumps Into SEAL Controversy

Good order and discipline is the last thing Trump and the Republican Reich want. They want blind murderous hatred that they can order used against political rivals. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Who – I Can See For Miles

I first heard this in Tompkins Square Park with cactus. I could see that far. 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.