Open Thread – 1/12/2021

Posted by TomCat at 10:52 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 122021

It’s a tired/busy day here in the CatBox. First, although I feel queasy, I have not Republicated in over 24 hours. Yesterday, Deborah confirmed what I had suspected is the reason for my Republicosis. When the Oncologist increased my pain medication that made me more prone to Republicitis. I found a stool softener that I can take with my stent. That made me more prone to Republicosis. I kept taking it and a laxative at max dose, so when the shit hit the fan, the shit really hit the fan. It took four days of Imodium to finally have a better day. Now it’s a matter of getting my condition stabilized on the right balance of medications. It will stake some time. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, but she won’t come until the evening, so I should be in the saddle tomorrow. Tuesday is a flush your Republicans day. I sure hope I have no more to flush.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:22 (average 6:36). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Driven over the edge by his expulsion from Twitter, a deranged Donald J. Trump ordered his two adult sons to hand out flyers with his tweets on them.

The incident occurred at three o’clock Sunday morning, when Trump, wide awake and in a state of extreme agitation, had an idea for a tweet but no platform on which to broadcast it.

Wearing his bathrobe, he summoned his adult sons to the Oval Office and scrawled his tweet on a piece of paper with one of the Sharpies that had served him well in the past.

Reportedly, Trump then commanded Eric and Don, Jr., to go to the nearest copy shop and order ten thousand flyers containing his tweet to hand out on street corners.

According to Trump’s plan, supporters desiring to retweet his tweet would also go to copy shops and hand out flyers, a system he claimed was “better than Twitter.”

Dang Andy! I suspect that the twit* will get writers’ cramp so fast that he’ll stop abusing tweets and go back to abusing twats! RESIST and REMOVE the Republican Reich!!

From Crooks and Liars: If only Rep. Devin Nunes had somewhere like a television station to run to so he could communicate with other conservatives. After the news that Amazon is booting the far right social media site Parler off of its web hosting service, Nunes ran to Fox “news” to gripe to host Maria Bartiromo about how terrible it is that they will no longer have the platform to spread their lies and hatred unabated.

Barf Bag Alert!!

Let’s call this what it is. Treason is not included as a right included in the First Amendment. Can you count Nunes’ lies? RESIST and REMOVE the Republican Reich!!

From OPB (Hat-Tip Daily Kos Elections Digest): U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, considered the most moderate Democrat in Oregon’s Congressional delegation, reportedly told House Democratic colleagues on Friday that he was against impeaching President Donald Trump for inciting the mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol.

Then Schrader likened the attempt to remove Trump to a “lynching,” according to reports from ABC News.

The comment on a caucus call drew immediate criticism from some of Schrader’s allies.

Mark Wiener, a powerful Portland political consultant who has worked for Schrader for years dating back to when the congressman served in the Oregon Legislature, quickly tweeted out that his company, Winning Mark, would be severing ties with the legislator.

“Comparing the impeachment of a treasonous President who encouraged white supremacists to violently storm the Capitol to a “lynching” is shameful and indefensible,” Wiener tweeted.

I supported Schrader, even though he’s a “moderate democrat”, but this goes way too far. He needs to be primary challenged in 2022. RESIST and REMOVE the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Without Accountability, the Next Coup Will Succeed

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the right, the Republican Reich, is guilty. All must be punished. As long as the Republican Reich exists, America will not be safe! RESIST and REMOVE the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): JOAN BAEZ ~ Joe Hill ~

Ah… the memories! Wherever people are trying to defend human rights, Republicans will be trying to murder them! RESIST and REMOVE the Republican Reich!!

7 Days (1 Week) Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Rage – 1/7/2021

Posted by TomCat at 10:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 072021

It’s an outrageous day here in the CatBox. Yesterday when the Republican Reich attacked the US, I was so upset that I swallowed an unprocessed mouthful of food and rushed to the computer without thinking. Needless to say, that plugged my stent and I was sick all afternoon. A couple days ago I opined that this was the wrong time to impeach Trump* and throw him the attention he craves. I take that back. Now a state of war exists between the Republican Reich and the US. We must fight back with every legal weapon at our disposal. These dates shall live in infamy, as long as there is a USA to remember: Dec. 7, 1941, Sep. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021. I am waiting for Store to Door to bring my grocery order, and WWWendy is coming late this afternoon. I hope to be in the saddle tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:23 (average 4:35). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

0107Cartoon

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos (Hat-Tip Mitch [ours]): This is too, too much. The schadenfreude! The sheer, sheer joy!

CNN:

President-elect Joe Biden has decided to nominate Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general, people familiar with the matter tell CNN, a long-awaited decision that was moved toward completion Wednesday as it became apparent that Democrats were on the brink of winning control of the Senate.

The announcement of the attorney general, along with other senior leaders of the Justice Department, is expected to be made as soon as Thursday as Biden moves closer to filling the remaining seats in his Cabinet before assuming power on January 20.

While Garland has been a top contender for weeks, concerns about the vacancy his selection would create on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia raised alarm bells among Biden and many advisers who believed Senate Republicans would block any nomination to that seat. But with Democrats poised to control the Senate after two Georgia runoff races, those concerns were allayed.

I have to love this! And Beat Bitch Baby Bawling Mitch can’t stop it! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): U.S. Capitol Ransacked After Massive Security Failure

These are some of the same questions I have. It appeared to me that some of the police were in cahoots with Trump’s* terrorists who tried to repeat the Reichstag Fire. I agree with Mika that they would have slaughtered BLM demonstrators. I hear people saying this is the time to stay cool. My answer? BULLSHIT! RESIST!!

From YouTube: Live: NBC News NOW – Jan. 7 | Special Coverage On The Riot At The U.S. Capitol

I put this here to give you a chance to keep up with any freaking developments, should they occur. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from yesterday): The Beatles-Revolution Protest Music Video

Given the Republican attack on America, this is all too appropriate! RESIST!!

12 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Personal Update – 1/6/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:32 am Monthly Report, Personal, Politics

Jan 062021

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. I am watching the bogus, treasonous attempt by Trump*, Hawley and the Republican Reich to overthrow the government of the US. They are trying to discard valid electoral votes for Biden, chosen based on the popular vote in those states, and replace them with bogus electoral votes for Trump*, chosen based on their obedience to their Nazi Fuhrer. I have also been watching the Georgia Senate runoffs. Warnock has officially won, and although Ossoff has not, he has a comfortable enough situation that I am certain that he has. At the beginning of Campaign 2020, I predicted that Democrats would hold the House of Representatives. Thank God I was right. I predicted that Democrats would win the White House. Thank God I was right. I predicted that Republicans would hold the Senate. Thank God I was wrong! Tomorrow I should be in the saddle, but busy. It’s a grocery delivery day, and I’ll have a big order, as Store to Door was off two weeks. It’s also a WWWendy day. She will be coming late in the afternoon. Happy Hump Day to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Advancing a new conspiracy theory during a rally on Monday, Donald J. Trump claimed that the United States Constitution is invalid because it was signed by dead people.

“All we’re hearing is, the Constitution this and the Constitution that,” Trump said. “I’m telling you, as sure as you’re sitting there, that every person who signed that piece of paper is dead.”

Trump said that he had his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani investigate the signatories to the Constitution, “and he found a scandal bigger than Hunter Biden’s laptop.”

“Their signatures do not match the signatures of any living person,” he said. “Not only are these people dead, but they have been dead for a long, long time. This should never have been allowed to happen.”

Dang Andy! Is that satire? Trump’s* surprise that the founding fathers are dead is completely credible. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

13 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 1/5/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:08 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 052021

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. Yesterday, WWWendy and I had lots to do. We set refills for pain meds and scheduled my next infusion for Friday the 15th. WWWendy picked up Subway sandwiches. I’m enjoying them, but I trust Mitch (ours, not BBBMMM) will confirm that any NJ denizen knows what comes from Subway isn’t a sub. I’m listening to election day in GA. I look forward to good news. Tomorrow I may have no more than a Personal Update, depending on how much time I need to spend watching Hawley’s Hookers trying to steal the White House AGAIN. Tuesday is Flush Your Republicans Day. If they smell like shit, there’s a reason for that.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:24 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The polling says the runoff races for the two Senate seats in Georgia are tied, and if the polls don’t say that, they’re likely wrong. We don’t need a poll to tell us what we just saw weeks ago in the November general election: Georgia is balanced on a razor’s edge, and the victor will be the party that best gets its voters to the polls. How’s that for a hot take?

But of course Georgia has been voting for weeks, and as such, we have some hints as to what’s coming when the votes are counted.

This article is superior analysis. Click through for much more. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): ‘It’s Unconstitutional’: House Member On Challenges To Biden’s Win

I agree that it’s a bad time to impeach Trump*, as much as I would like to do so. Let’s make Biden the center of attention, not Trump! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964) High Quality [HQ].flv

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

14 Days (2 Weeks) Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 12/22/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 222020

It’s a tired hectic day here in the CatBox. Yesterday’s Safeway delivery was almost a disaster. When the driver arrived, he had just a couple bags in his arms. He said there had been a lot of cancelations. We brought them upstairs. He was in a hurry, but I insisted that we compare the cancellations with what he had. It was soon obvious that the vast majority of my order was not accounted for. We went back downstairs. He went out to check his truck and came back with the rest of my order that “had been hiding”. He needed a hand truck to carry it. We brought upstairs. It took me over an hour to put everything away. There were a few legitimate cancellations that were out of stock in the store. They included all my sweets. Nevertheless, it could have been far worse and would have been a disaster had I not been such a hard ass about it. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update. It’s a WWWendy day. I’ll be back in the saddle on Christmas Eve. Tuesday is Flush your Republicans Day. Take extra care. The closer it becomes to the end the harder they are trying to get away.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:09). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Russian hackers attempting to disrupt the U.S. government were disappointed to discover that it had already been thoroughly disabled, the hackers have confirmed.

Expecting to find a well-oiled machine that they could impair, the hackers instead came upon a barely operational mess that had already suffered what appeared to be four years of degradation.

Dmitri X (not his real name), was assigned to hack the Environmental Protection Agency’s computer systems and was “shocked” by the agency’s weakened condition.

“My job was to access the E.P.A.’s database and delete all of the environmental regulations,” he said. “There was nothing there left to delete.”

That’s straight news, Andy! With Republicans working so hard, Russians need no help to destroy America! RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Everyone wants to show the happy videos of people getting vaccine shots.

The Governors in the 12 states that haven’t passed mask mandates especially want to get in on this hopeful news. They will crow about how Their President got them the vaccine. Not said, but implied, is that their refusal to pass a state-wide mask mandate was justified before and is not necessary now.

Image from: CNN

1222nomask_map

The experts say we will still need masks for months and we should NOT relax the mask protocols…

…Here are some ways to use the vaccination press conferences to pressure 12 Governors to pass mask mandates.

Method 1

Have the top medical experts tell the Governors behind the scenes, “You don’t get to be part of the vaccination press conference unless you pass a mask mandate.”

People in the public health medical community still want to believe that Governors will respond to facts and science. They won’t.

Withholding good PR at a press conference isn’t withholding their vaccine, just the reflected success of a vaccine.

But since most public health experts don’t want to be this direct, and the window for these first press conferences is closing, I suggest:

Method 2

PREPARE THE MEDIA for asking Governors why there is no mask mandate now and why they still won’t pass one.

This is especially important now that Trump botched the vaccine roll out!

First prep the experts to point out the EXCESS DEATHS that will happen because there is no MASK MANDATE. When the Governor still doesn’t respond with a mandate, post photos of DEAD NURSES to call out the GOVERNOR for NOT pushing a mandate before.

Click through for much more info. I fully support both methods. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Maddow: U.S. Mired In ‘3-Way Split Screen’ Of Trump Crises

I agree with Rachel. The one thing that should have been included is that, Republicans wanted mass deaths, because such a high proportion of the deaths are Blacks. I also worry about Trump inciting violence., and agree that he is desperate to escape prosecution that must follow to prevent a Republican Recurrance. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): Beta Radio – Angels We Have Heard on High (Official Audio)

A beautiful arrangement of a classic carol! HUGS!!

28 Days (4 Weeks) Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 9/7/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:04 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 072020

It’s a relatively lazy holiday here in the CatBox. My esophageal tumor is making eating more painful and difficult. I’ll talk to Evelyn about that, when I go in Wednesday. My AC is acting up intermittently. When I woke up, this morning, it was pumping out heat and the inside temp was 89°. It wouldn’t power down, so I flipped the circuit breaker. Then I coaxed it into working again, for now. I’m babying it until Maintenance Dept. gets here. Of course this has to happen on a 3 day weekend. If you’re driving, please stay safe. Thank God it’s Monday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:48 (average 4:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0907TrumpVirusMap

Click for interactive map

US Cases: 6,462,189
US Deaths: 193,259
Plus thousands of GOP plague murder victims Republicans are hiding from us.

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Warning of the very real chance of a “nightmare scenario” in which President Donald Trump misleads the American people over the results of the November election—or refuses to leave office voluntarily if voted out—Sen. Bernie Sanders is raising the alarm and mobilizing his army of supporters to be aware of just how dangerous a game the president is now playing.

In an interview with Politico and an email sent to his massive email list Friday, Sanders suggested that too many news organizations, social media companies, and lawmakers—in addition to the broader public—remain unaware of the manner in which Trump is laying the groundwork for a potentially devastating series of events.

“Trump is now using his lies and misinformation to sow confusion and chaos in the election process and undermine American democracy,” stated in the email, sent to millions of his supporters on Friday. “In other words, he does not intend to accept the results of the election if he loses and leave office voluntarily. This is not just a ‘constitutional crisis.’ This is a threat to everything this country stands for.”

Speaking with Politico earlier in the day, Sanders said one crucial thing to be done immediately is to educate people. “What we have got to do in the next two months is to alert the American people about what that nightmarish scenario might look like in order to prepare them for that possibility and talk about what we do if that happens,” he said… [emphasis added]

I fully agree with Bernie. The people of the US need to be fully informed about Trump’s* likely intent to overthrow the government of the US and how he is setting up an attempt to do so. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Schiff: Barr flat-out misled with a ‘blatantly false statement’

Barrf Bag Alert!!

If Russia, Trump* and the Republican Reich were not working together, their propaganda lies would not be identical. As for Barrf, he’ll never catch up to Trump*, his Fuhrer, in number of lies told, but he sure as hell is trying! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of past protest): Phil Ochs Draft Dodger Rag

Ah… the memories! Protest like the 60s! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

So Much for "No Collusion"

Posted by TomCat at 12:17 pm Politics

Aug 202020

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on Russian interference in the stolen 2016 Residential election, and the cooperation of criminal Fuhrer Trump* and members of his campaign staff with that interference. So much for “No Collusion”!

IT’S WORTH wondering what the impact might have been had the Senate Intelligence Committee’s final report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election appeared six months ago, before the report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the twisted account of it provided by Attorney General William P. Barr. On their own terms, the Senate’s findings, released Tuesday after a bipartisan investigation, are explosive: that then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort “formed a close and lasting relationship” with “a Russian intelligence officer,” with whom he shared inside information from the president’s campaign and collaborated to concoct a false narrative that Ukraine, and not Russia, was behind the election interference.

Further, the Senate report states that the Trump campaign “sought to maximize” the impact of leaks of Democratic documents by WikiLeaks, knowing the original source was the Russian military intelligence agency, GRU. The campaign’s intermediary was Roger Stone, whose prison sentence for lying about his involvement and tampering with witnesses was commuted last month by Mr. Trump; the president, the committee “assesses,” lied when he said he never talked to Mr. Stone about WikiLeaks.

Then there is what the Senate investigators glimpsed but could not nail down. The report cites “fragmentary” evidence that Mr. Manafort’s Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik “may have been connected to the GRU’s hack and leak operation,” and two pieces of information linking the campaign chairman himself. The full truth is unknown in part because Mr. Manafort chose to incur an extended prison sentence rather than tell prosecutors the truth about his relationship with the Russian spy.

It is a sad tribute to Mr. Trump’s skill at obfuscation and disinformation that these revelations will likely be ignored by many voters already sated by conflicting accounts of what the president calls the “Russian hoax.” He did it again Tuesday, and on cue, his Senate sycophants — including, contemptibly, the acting Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — rushed to assert that the report shows “no collusion” between Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

That may be true, in the narrow sense of a criminal conspiracy. Yet the report leaves no doubt that, on instructions of Mr. Putin, Russian intelligence sought to aid Mr. Trump’s election; that Mr. Trump and his campaign welcomed and sought to exploit that aid; and that the president, Mr. Manafort, Mr. Stone and several other key campaign officials then lied about the affair… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Click through for more. This is certainly worth reading!

‘Devastating’: Revelations From Senate Intel Report

If that isn’t bad enough, criminal Fuhrer Trump’s* response to the report is to seek advise from his boss, the holder of the tapes, Vladimir Putin [R-RU].

Defiant Trump Seeks Putin Meeting After Report Finds He Lied To Mueller About Russia

The bottom line is this. Trump* and Putin are still colluding to steal YOUR White House from YOU again. What are YOU going to do about it?

RESIST!!

A Republican to Republicans

Posted by TomCat at 11:44 am Politics

Jul 312020

The following is an editorial by MSNBC Republican host, Joe Scarborough. It is obviously directed to Republicans, but I can’t resist sharing it with you as well. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve disagreed with Joe over the years, I could finance a luxurious retirement for us all, but this time, I could not agree more.

What a tremendous burden it must be for you to still be defending President Trump. You have called yourself a constitutional conservative for decades, but now you sit silently as the president pushes to move this year’s election because he might lose. Even some Republican senators are speaking up. Why aren’t you?

Trump remembers how you ran interference for him when he claimed unlimited powers under Article II of the Constitution, so he thinks you will stay quiet. Remember your silence after Charlottesville? You eventually mustered the nerve to claim Trump never preached moral equivalence between torch-carrying Nazis and protesters. How unthoughtful it was of David Duke to expose you by praising the president’s putrid performance and thanking Trump for his “honesty and courage to tell the truth.” The former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard even bragged to reporters that Charlottesville represented a “turning point” for white nationalism. “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump,” Duke proclaimed. “That’s why we voted for [him].”

Ouch. That one had to sting, but you kept on defending Donald…

…By this time, you began mindlessly regurgitating the former reality TV host’s propaganda about the “Russian hoax,” and hoped Americans would be stupid enough to ignore the mountains of damning evidence against Trump. Your singular focus turned to the Steele dossier’s most lurid tales, and you believed then, and now, that Christopher Steele’s fantastical claims could erase a multitude of Trump’s sins. You repeated the lies of Attorney General William P. Barr and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey O. Graham when they falsely claimed the FBI’s investigation began with Steele’s dossier. And you kept repeating this idiotic defense even after it became painfully evident that Trump’s team welcomed Russia’s interference in American democracy and then tried to cover it up. You still refuse to criticize the Trump team’s use of material stolen by Russia during the last month of the campaign, just like you and your president continue turning a blind eye to any Russian bounties.

None dare call it treason, but perhaps one day they will. [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Please click through and read this editorial in it’s entirety. There is too much essential content to miss.

Here’s a related video.

Joe: ‘Donald Trump Will Lead To The End Of The Party Of Abraham Lincoln’

I could not disagree more with Joe on the opinions he shares about Democrats in this clip, but at least I can respect his integrity.

RESIST!!

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