Open Thread–2/5/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 052020

It’s a hectic day, here in the CatBox. I still haven’t recovered from Monday’s ordeal. Last night, I accidently heard part of Trump’s* address, almost lost my supper, and felt nauseous for the rest of the evening. This morning, I broke through three days of Republicitis. I’m hoping Republicosis does not follow it, as it often does. WWWendy is coming this evening, and I’m totally ready for de-stinking. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The Rotating (Regional) Primary Plan

Recommended by the National Association of Secretaries of State in 2000, this plan would divide the country into four regions—Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. There would be four primary days, one for each region. They would rotate every cycle. The original plan preserved the Iowa/New Hampshire duopoly, but just ditch it and rotate. Would work fine. Perhaps my favorite.

I guess I wasn’t the first to think of the idea I proposed yesterday. Great minds fall in the same ditch, after all. Please click through to see four more primary scheduling plans. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Calling the delay in the release of the Iowa caucus results “a threat to democracy,” the state of Florida has offered to help Iowa with the vote-counting process.

Harland Dorrinson, a spokesman for Florida’s official electoral commission, said on Tuesday morning that “Florida stands ready and willing to restore credibility to Iowa’s vote-tabulation procedures.”

Dorrinson added that Katherine Harris, Florida’s former secretary of state, was eager to “roll up her sleeves and clean up Iowa’s mess.”

“Just say the word, Iowa, and Katherine Harris will be on the next plane out,” he said.

Dang, Andy! Are you sure that’s Harland Dorrinson? I heard it was his brother, Chad! Or did they hang him? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence – Madison Square Garden, NYC – 2009/10/29&30

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/4/2019

Posted by TomCat at 10:20 am Open Thread, Plus, Politics

Feb 042020

Yesterday’s trip to the hospital was gruesome. TriMet Lift got me there an hour early, so I had to wait there for an hour. The tests, as I had told the doctors all along, was fine. Unlike my fart, my heart is completely healthy. They got done with me two hours early, so I called TriMet to see if I could get an earlier ride. No. In fact, they screwed up and did not pick me up for my 3:34 – 4:04 PM window until 6:10. That Lift Bus was crowded, so I did not get home until 7:25 PM, 25 minutes after my winter bedtime. Needless to say, I’m so pooped, I’m bleary eyed.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 5:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

I’m on O₂ too. I’m not a Republican, so I’m not a moron.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): In What Amounts To GOP ‘Bluff-Calling,’ Joe Manchin Proposes Senate Censure Trump

I must be hallucinating from being over tired. I actually agree with DINO Joe! After the conviction vote fails, a foregone conclusion, I would support a censure vote, as a way to further embarrass Republicans, most of whom would goose-step with criminal Fuhrer Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): GOP Senators Give Lame Excuses For Voting Against Witnesses In Trump Impeachment Trial

Lame excuses? Since when has the Fascist Republican Reich given any other kind? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Mamas & The Papas – Monday Monday

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/2/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 022020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy will be here in about an hour, and this TomCat needs to be de-stunk Big Time. It’s also the highest Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the day of Super Blessing. I will be keeping Mahomes as my fantasy QB next year and will meditate on a Chiefs win. However, if they do, Nameless may not stop crowing for months. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update. I’ll be gone all day getting a cardiac stress test at the hospital. Ellipsoid Orb Hugs to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:22 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The Daily Beast: “Hillary Clinton is back in the news—and this time, she’s coming for Bernie [Sanders],” said The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah Tuesday night.

Yes, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote her upcoming 4-hour Hulu docuseries, which is bowing this week at the Sundance Film Festival, the former secretary of state hit out at the Vermont senator’s “Bernie Bro” supporters, wouldn’t commit to backing him or campaigning on his behalf against Trump if he were the Dem nominee (she later said she would), and said of Sanders in the doc:

“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”

That Hillary Clinton, a career politician and one of the most divisive political figures of our time, accused Bernie Sanders of being a “career politician” and unlikable is, well, pretty astonishing—as is the claim that she wouldn’t support him as the nominee over Trump, thereby prioritizing petty jealousies over the fate of the country. [emphasis added]

After Obama beat Hillary, she appeared in only eight campaign stops in his support for President. After Hillary beat Bernie, Bernie made almost forty campaign stops supporting her. I am not a Bernie Bro. I support Liz Warren, so I have no dog in this hunt. But Bernie deserves far better. Shut the fuck up, Hillary! You didn’t even visit the Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, before the election. If you showed them you care about them, instead of assuming you owned their votes, you may well have won in spite of traitor Jill Stein and Russia. Leave this election to the candidates, who can beat Trump, unlike you. RESIST!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Impeachment Fantasy Cold Open

I knew that someday I would see an SNL sketch, in which the actual events are far more incredible and ludicrous that the actors’ fine satire. Now I have seen it. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Jefferson Airplane – Somebody to love

Ah… The memories! RESIST!!

Open Thread–2/1/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 012020

It’s another muggy day, here in the CatBox. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, so I’m not too sure how much I’ll have for you then. Then Monday, I’ll be gone for my cardiac stress test from 9:30 in the morning until around 5 PM with no food and no nap. I’ll be exhausted, so I may not cover Iowa very well. Have a great weekend!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 5:50). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: 3. The Soviet Union and China achieved state capitalism, not socialism

As leader of the Soviet Union, Lenin once said that socialism was a goal, not yet an achieved reality. The Soviet had, instead, achieved “state capitalism.” A socialist party had state power, and the state had become the industrial capitalist displacing the former private capitalists. The Soviet revolution had changed who the employer was; it had not ended the employer/employee relationship. Thus, it was—to a certain extent—capitalist.

Lenin’s successor, Stalin, declared that the Soviet Union had achieved socialism. In effect, he offered Soviet state capitalism as if it were the model for socialism worldwide. Socialism’s enemies have used this identification ever since to equate socialism with political dictatorship. Of course, this required obscuring or denying that (1) dictatorships have often existed in capitalist societies and (2) socialisms have often existed without dictatorships.

After initially copying the Soviet model, China changed its development strategy to embrace instead a state-supervised mix of state and private capitalism focused on exports. China’s powerful government would organize a basic deal with global capitalists, providing cheap labor, government support, and a growing domestic market. In exchange, foreign capitalists would partner with Chinese state or private capitalists, share technology, and integrate Chinese output into global wholesale and retail trade systems. China’s brand of socialism—a hybrid state capitalism that included both communist and social-democratic streams—proved it could grow faster over more years than any capitalist economy had ever done.

The only Socialism we need to fear in the US is the National Socialism of the Republican Reich. This is the third of ten things you should know about Socialism. Please click through for the other nine. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Watch ER doctor confront Mike Pence

While evading the question, Republican traitor Pence failed to mention that he fought Medicaid expansion in Indiana tooth and nail. It passed in spite of him. What a liar! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline High Quality

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/31/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:45 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 312020

It’s a muggy, tired day here in the CatBox. I missed most of my nap yesterday, due to grocery delivery, and I’m feeling really pooped. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 5:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Sen. Rand Paul has not been getting enough attention during this impeachment process, so he executed his predictable and promised stunt on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, submitting a question to Chief Justice John Roberts during the Q&A session that presumably contained the name of the whistleblower. Roberts refused to read the question, so Paul left the floor to have an “impromptu” press conference (and probably hit the send button on a fundraising email).

CNN’s Manu Raju reports, “At press conference, Paul says: ‘I can tell you my question made no reference to any whistleblower.’ Then Paul reads aloud his question which names a Schiff’s staff member and names the individual who has been reported as possible whistleblower—and asks about their contacts.” This was an apparent effort to get the press to publish the name, since he seems intent on getting the whistleblower killed.

It likely won’t work. One reporter asked, “With all due respect, shouldn’t you be at the impeachment hearing right now?” Of course he should have been, and the sergeant-at-arms should be putting him in the Senate jail right now.

Mitch (ours, not BBMMM) suggested a parade. For now, I’ll just remember his title: Idiot (Rand Paul), Son of Idiot (Ron Paul), Named after Idiot (Ayn Rand). Lock him up! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The convicted drug lord known as El Chapo said on Thursday that he was “outraged” his 2019 trial had included witnesses. He also revealed that he was demanding a new trial without them.

Speaking from ADX Florence, a maximum-security facility in Colorado, the former drug kingpin complained that his trial would have resulted in a speedy acquittal had it not been for the irritating presence of witnesses.

“If I had to point to one reason why I was convicted of all of those crimes, it would have to be witnesses,” he said. “Once the decision was made to include witnesses, things really went downhill for me.”

Andy, El Chapo does make a valid point. If the worst criminal in US History, since Benedict Arnold, gets a trial with no witnesses or documents, fairness demands that witnesses be excluded from all trials. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Unplugged)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/30/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 302020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. First, I awakened just after midnight, itchy and sticky. I finally fell asleep again after 3:30 AM and overslept by a full two hours. Then, I overloaded my computer doing research this morning, crashed it. I had several web pages and several applications open at once, and had not rebooted in a couple days. I lost forty five minutes work. Finally, it’s a grocery delivery day, and I do not know when Store to Door is coming. Some days… You have a good one!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:32 (average 8:18). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoons:

Short Takes:

From Willamette Week: Portland-area voters could open their ballots in three months to find a surprise: a request for $250 million to $300 million a year in taxpayer funding for services to get homeless people off the streets.

WW reported Jan. 27 that the regional government Metro may place such a measure on the May 19 ballot. That marks a stark change since last month, when the Metro Council insisted to advocates it would take as long as two years to grind a measure through the bureaucracy.

Instead, local officials now want to construct a measure and present it to voters in 13 weeks.

This is still overdue, even though Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From USA Today: Attorney Alan Dershowitz, a member of President Donald Trump’s defense team, alarmed Democrats and many legal scholars with his argument in the first day of questions and answers in the Senate impeachment trial that presidents cannot be removed from office for an action they believe could help get them re-elected.

In response to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about whether it mattered if Trump engaged in a “quid pro quo,” Dershowitz said that motive was what mattered and that if an act was in the public interest it was not impeachable. And he said it was reasonable for a public official to equate what is in their own political interest with the public good.

“Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest,” he said. “And if a president does something, which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”

Dershowitz said a quid pro quo that involved an illegal act, or was done for personal financial gain, would be impeachable, however. [emphasis added]

Dershowitz is so full of shit his eyes are brown. Hitler honestly believed that murdering six million Jews was in the national interest. According to the Republican Reich, that’s fine. Who would Fuhrer Trump want to murder…Jews? …Blacks? …Latinos? …Muslims? …Gays? …Seniors? …Poor People? …Libruls? In any case, Dershowitz missed a key point. Since the re-theft (Trump* was NEVER elected) of the White House would result in more personal profit for Trump* from having his entourage stay at Trump* resorts at considerable taxpayer expense, his campaign is for personal gain, so his campaign related acts are impeachable, even by the twisted, devious standards of the Republican Reich! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from Lona’s past): Shocking Blue – Venus

Ah… Lona’s memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/29/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 292020

If not one more drop of rain falls for the rest of the month, it will still be the wettest January in Oregon history. So it’s no surprise that the CatBox has been muggy as hell. I’m feeling so moist and sticky that my wheelchair sores are back. Fortunately, it’s a WWWendy night, as I’m a VERY stinky TomCat. I’m still keeping my food down, and my Republicosis seems to be at bay. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:12 (average 4:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

And Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch is up to much more than that!

Short Takes:

From Politico: …one leading Democratic presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, just days ago unveiled a plan that, among other things, describes how she would move quickly to staff the government if she wins the White House.

In the plan, Warren voices the fears of many Democrats. “This will be no ordinary transition between administrations,” she states. “Unlike previous transitions, we will not be able to assume good faith cooperation on the part of the outgoing administration.”

That Democrats are making transition-related moves more than nine months before Election Day underscores not only their distrust of Trump but also the reality that taking over the U.S. government is a mammoth task with high stakes.

Any government is especially vulnerable during a transition of power, and Democrats who deal with national security are among those most concerned about a Trump-to-Democrat handover.

Crawford Caligula tried to sabotage Obama’s transition, but Trump* will be far worse! As I have said before, we’re going to have to drag him from the White House amid the temper tantrum to end all temper tantrums, with a strong possibility of gunfire from Ammosexual, Fascist Republican militias. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Impeachment Trial: The Big Picture

Of course the Reich on the Left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is wrong. They want only to goose-step with their criminal Fuhrer, Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Trump unveils Middle East plan that was swiftly rejected by Palestinians

Orange Asshole speak with forked tongue. It’s so one sided that that even Haaretz called it an invitation for permanent war. In 18th century Africa, slavers used to say it was good for their victims. This is good for Palestinians in the same way… That’s the Republican way! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Don McLean – American Pie (Good quality)

Ah… Lona’s memories! Thanks Lona!! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/28/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 282020

It’s I tired day here in the CatBox. I haven’t visited the throne since 3:00 AM, si I hope the Imodium caught up to the Republicosis. The Republican Trump* defense team finishes today. Are you as sick of those sphincters as I am? Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 5:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump has “no intention whatsoever” of having John Bolton’s book read aloud to him, Trump confirmed on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, had obtained a draft manuscript of the Bolton book and had offered to read it aloud to him “like she does with all of the other books,” Trump said.

“She reads the books to me slowly and stops when there’s a long word to tell me what it means,” Trump said. “But I told her that the Bolton book was the last book in the world that I wanted to hear.”

Dang Andy! Isn’t it a shame Senate Republicans will imitate their criminal Fuhrer? RESIST!!

From YouTube (Vox Channel): How Iran’s Soleimani became a US target

This is a well presented, unbiased history lesson to help you better understand the region, while allowing you the freedom to make your own judgement without propaganda. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from Lona’s past): The Joker

Ah… Lona’s memories! Thanks Lona! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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