Open Thread–3/3/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:22 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 032020

It’s a very busy day here in the CatBox. I had to prepare and send my grocery order. I spent over an hour on the phone trying to line up the oncologist for my cancer treatments. I think I have, but I still have no results from my PET Scan. I’m hoping for a call tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted. I still have to do the prep work for covering Super Tuesday. I am experimenting with mi diet and found that I’m not plugging the passageway as badly, when I eat a soft solid food and goop together. Yesterday for lunch I had a small portion of ground turkey sandwich. That was borderline. For supper, I had chili goop over rice. That worked great. For breakfast, I had New England clam chowder goop with a bite of saltine with each bite of goop. That worked well too. May Liz and Bernie kick ass today!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 5:10): To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: A former Justice Department attorney compared her service under President Donald Trump as somewhere in between Nazi Germany and “The Apprentice.”

Erica Newland went to work at the Department of Justice in the summer before the 2016 election, and stayed under Trump because she liked her colleagues and believed she could make a difference — but soon learned an uncomfortable truth about herself, reported The Atlantic.

“I guess I know what kind [of German bureaucrat] I would have been,” Newland said, imagining how she might have served in the 1930s. “I would have stayed in the Nazi administration initially and then fled.”

She lasted in Trump’s government until October 2018, when an anti-Semitic extremist killed 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, and that same week her colleagues at the Office of Legal Counsel were tasked with justifying Trump’s order to refuse all asylum claims at the southern border — mirroring language the gunman had used against foreign “invaders.”

Newland, who is Jewish, recalled an exchange she had with a supervisor who often reminded staffers they worked for the president by saying, “We’re just following orders.

The bureaucrats under Hitler were “just following orders” too. What’s the difference? Fuhrer Hitler’s Nazi Reich was the Third Reich. Criminal Fuhrer Trump’s* Republican Reich is the Fifth Reich. The similarities are undeniable. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is under intense pressure to drop out of the 2020 race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, her nine supporters announced on Monday.

The announcement from Gabbard’s nine followers surprised many Democrats, who had been unaware that the Hawaii congresswoman was still running.

In a conference call after the South Carolina primary, the nine members of Team Tulsi concluded that Gabbard’s path to the nomination had grown “dauntingly narrow.”

“We believe that Tulsi would be an amazing President of the United States,” Harland Dorrinson, a spokesman for the other eight Gabbard supporters, said. “But we have regretfully come to the conclusion that this is not her time.”

Andy, is that a good idea? The nine fools stupid enough to vote for Tulsi should still vote for her. That way, they won’t damage the nation by voting for Bloombarf or criminal Fuhrer Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): What Bernie Skeptics Need to Know Before Super Tuesday

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the Right, the evil Republican Reich, in addition to corporate Democrats, have their heads up their asses. 1. Amen! FDR was a democratic socialist. Amen! Trump promised reform and delivered National Socialism. 3. Amen! A Wall Street speculation tax to pay for public needs is far better for America than Republican welfare for billionaires. 4. Amen! Congress will pass progressive legislation, if we get off our asses, flush the Republican Reich, and replace DINOs in the primaries. 5. Amen! Bernie acts younger than Biden. 6. Amen! With criminal Fuhrer Trump* in power, the Democrats will unite behind any candidate, who wins the nomination, as long as they win it fairly! However, if DNC Superdelegates take the nomination from the voters’ choice and land it to another, they will destroy the party and the nation. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Monkees – Last Train To Clarksville 1966

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/26/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:17 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 262020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, as WWWendy will be here in about an hour. I’m feeling a bit better as, after throwing up most of the day yesterday, I kept supper down. Then I kept breakfast down this morning. Have a great Sunday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:07 (average 5:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From NY Times and YouTube: Even before the gas chambers were destroyed and the savage toll of years of industrialized mass murder revealed to the world, prisoners at the largest Nazi concentration camp were already repeating two words: Never again.

But as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz approaches, an occasion being marked by events around the world and culminating in a solemn ceremony at the former death camp on Monday that will include dozens of aging Holocaust survivors, Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, is worried…

…Across Europe and in the United States, there is concern about a resurgence of anti-Semitism. Toxic political rhetoric and attacks directed at groups of peoples — using language to dehumanize them — that were once considered taboo have become common across the world’s democracies.

To find examples of the rabid antisemitism that led to Auschwitz, one need look no further than the US Republican Reich. Impeached Fuhrer Trump called the Republicans in this video “fine people”. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): New audio and video undermine President Trump’s claim about Lev Parnas

So the liar who had “never met Parnas” and didn’t even “know who Parnas is” knew him well enough to discuss the strategy of firing a US Ambassador and blackmailing Ukraine in the face of military aggression from Trump* buddy Putin [R-RU]. The Republican lackeys in the Senate wouldn’t mind hearing witnesses themselves. They already know how guilty Trump* is and don’t care. Those Republican cowards are afraid to have American voters hear the witnesses. RESIST!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Alan Dershowitz Argues for Trump Cold Open

The faces are slightly different, but the satirical reality they display is spot-on! However, Dershowitz should have taken his client downstairs and left him with his perv buddy Jeff! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth 1967

I’ll never tire of this one. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 11/30/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 302019

It’s a chilly day, here in the CatBox, and surprisingly, I was able to find the material I need for articles today. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos play the Chargers. It won’t be televised here, because my Bronco’s stink. May the divine Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they zap with electricity. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day as well, and we shall do chores, de-stink the funky TomCat, and celebrate our Thanksgiving. Therefore, please expect no more than a Personal Update from me tomorrow. Weekend Hugs!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:22 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

2021 is the time to do it again… at least twice.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): CORRUPTION – A Parody

Great tune, Don! Impeach pie is becoming a seasonal favorite! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Police raids uncover Nazi propaganda and weapons in Italy

Isn’t it unfortunate that the Republican Party is opening European branches like these? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past – Hat Tip: JD): Buffy Sainte-Marie – Universal Soldier

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.