Video Thread 3/14/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:22 pm Open Thread, Politics

Mar 142021

Really American – best ad in a while, IMO

Katie Porter explains the “American Rescue Plan.” It’s 33+ minutes and the sound isn’t that great…but it does have CC and it’s Katie Porter. Maybe bookmark it.

Damage Report – Here’s what actually happened. The senate voted Friday to move her nomination to the full Senate, and the actual confirmation is expected on Monday.

Senator Sheldon Whitehuse on judges. (or on Lawrence O’Donnell about judges.) Important, because mostly overlooked.

Armageddon Update – I think Titus is correct as far as he goes. But I would have named Philip first (and Camilla third.)

VoteVets on Tfucker Carlson

Beau on Tfucker Carlson (pity he doesn’t have a mechanism to flip his hat patch in the middle of a video. That would be something to see.

Open Thread – 3/3/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 032021

It’s a difficult day here in the CatBox. I slept well last night, but I’m ready to sleep all day too. I’m still balancing the methadone and oxycodone. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update as it’d both a grocery delivery day and a WWWendy day. Happy Hump Day!!

Update: I planned to post this about 90 minutes ago, but I dozed off and just woke up.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:24 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Shortly after the sentencing of Nicolas Sarkozy, Donald J. Trump issued a statement claiming that prison time for the ex-President of France sets a “horrible precedent.”

In the statement, Trump called the corruption case against Sarkozy a “rigged hoax” and claimed that the former French leader was being treated “very unfairly.”

“This should never be allowed to happen in that country,” he said.

Dang Andy! I just can’t imagine why Trump** would feel that way! Can anyone guess? RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From Daily Kos: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a critical challenge to what’s left of the Voting Rights Act after the Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority decision in 2013 carved out the core of the law. At issue Tuesday are two Arizona laws, one requiring election officials to toss ballots that are cast in the wrong precincts and another that would restrict the delivery of mail-in ballots, allowing for just the voter, a family member, or caregiver could collect and deliver a voted ballot. That would prevent campaign workers, community activists, or members like church groups from delivering group ballots. With 43 states considering more than 250 voter suppression bills in the past month, the case has even greater import for the future of voting rights.

It puts into jeopardy Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which “prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in one of the language minority groups” identified as protected by the law. It bans any voting procedure that “results in a denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race,” a denial or abridgment that occurs when “based on the totality of circumstances,” racial minorities “have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”

This is one we need to watch, but since the Supreme Court is comprised of three SCOTUS vs six SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD) my hopes are not high. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Senator Warren: Filibuster Gives McConnell A Veto Over Democratic Majority

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times are more. NUKE the FILIBASTARDS! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Nights Are Forever Without You – England Dan & John Ford Coley

Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Don’t Let Republicans Steal YOUR Future!!

Video Thread 2/21/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 2:24 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 212021

The Lincoln Project is finding time for Cruz

Meidas Touch – Voting Rights – and we all know why.

The Damage Report – Why is it cold if there’s global warming? for dummies

The Alt-Right Playbook – I Hate Mondays. This is the last in the series to date. However, the site has a couple of other series which may be worth starting.

SNL Cold Open

Beau – Texas and tough guys…

Open Thread – 9/21/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:04 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 212020

It’s another tired painful day here in the CatBox. I still have no news on getting my stent. I wanted to do more today, but I overslept, and I’m just not feeling up to it. I’m afraid you guys may be carrying the ball until I get my stent and recover more of my strength. Tonight is a WWWendy night. Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:53 (average 4:21). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0921TrumpVirusMap

Click for interactive maps

US Cases: 7,011,463
US Deaths: 204,167
Plus thousands of Trump’s* GOP plague murders Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: MAGA Nutjobs Block Entrance To Voting Site In Fairfax, Virginia

These Trumpanzee idiots are protesting IN-PERSON voting, now. Blocking entry to polling places is a felony, by the way.

Am I the only one not surprised? Nevertheless, ‘Trumpanzee’ is an insult to the apes! RESIST!!

From Alternet:

Aprominent [sic] psychiatrist who spent years studying Nazi Germany has called for mental health professionals to speak out about President Trump’s “falsification of reality” ahead of the election, warning that his attacks on the truth echo those of the Nazis.

Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, distinguished professor emeritus at John Jay College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a leading psychohistorian who has written extensively about doctors who aided Nazi war crimes, has long called for mental health experts to defy warnings from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and speak out about Trump’s mental health. Lifton recently published a book entitled “Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry” and was one of the 27 mental health experts featured in “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” the bestseller edited by Yale psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee in which mental health professionals assessed the president.

Lifton told Salon that the book and a Yale conference on the topic began the movement of “psychologists and psychiatrists speaking out against Trump.”

“I spoke about what I called malignant normality that was being imposed on us, and the need to be witnessing professionals who told the truth and oppose the malignant normality,” he said in an interview last week.

Lifton said that Trump’s supporters and enablers exhibit the same “cult-like behavior” that he has studied, adding that the current administration has “Trumpified” every part of the federal government, in much the same way that the German government was “Nazified” under Adolf Hitler.

What other pattern would Republicans follow? I called GW Bush, aka Nincompoop Nazi, the Fuhrer of the 4th Reich. Republicans planned to make him permanent, but when their policies caused the economy to collapse, they abandoned Bush to let Obama inherit their damage and blame him for it. Now they have chosen Trump* as Fuhrer. That he’s a Nazi goes without saying. Being a Nazi a prerequisite to become Fuhrer of the Republican Reich! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of past protest): Crosby Stills Nash – Carry On / Questions

Love that guitar in Questions! Ah… the memories! Protest like the 60s! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

"No Joy" DeJoy Before the House

Posted by TomCat at 11:31 am Politics

Aug 252020

I was looking forward to see Trump’s* sycophant billionaire Postmaster General, “No Joy” DeJoy”, testify before the US House of Representatives. I had been thoroughly disappointed by his Republican-staged sham hearings before the US Senate. The House did not disappoint!

…1. Democrats are putting DeJoy on the hot spot about whether he knew his service changes would lead to mail delays

In his Senate testimony Friday and again Monday before the House, DeJoy pitched the widespread delays across the nation in recent weeks as unfortunate dips in service, caused mostly by a shortage of postal workers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But House Democrats obtained an internal Postal Service memo written to DeJoy earlier this month that warned his suspension of overtime and extra mail trips would cause such delays. (DeJoy has since stopped the removal of mailboxes and sorting machines — although he won’t put back the hundreds taken away since he started in June).

“Mr. DeJoy, you’re withholding information from us,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the committee holding the hearing, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, “concealing documents and downplaying the damage that you’re causing.”

DeJoy didn’t really have a specific answer to why he didn’t share this memo with Congress or whether he had concerns about mail delays through his changes, although under pressure from Democrats he used stronger language than before to describe mail delays. “We are very concerned with the deterioration and service and are working very diligently [to fix it],” he said.

But overall, DeJoy gave Democrats an opening to make their central case, which is that his actions are politically motivated.

“In the Postal Service’s 240 years of delivering the mail, how can one person screw this up so fast?” a visibly frustrated Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) asked, adding “What the heck are you doing?”

“For anyone thinking of voting absentee, the effect of your changes is to move Election Day from Nov. 3 up to something like Oct. 27,” Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) said. (He’s not wrong, based on best-practices recommendations from both election experts and the Postal Service to mail your finished ballot at least a week before the election.)… [emphasis added]

Inserted from<Washington Post>

This is the first of four listed takeaways from House hearings on the Postal Service. Click through for the other three. You owe it to yourself to do so.

Louis DeJoy Answers For His Corruption

I particularly like how Lynch [D-MA] tore him a new asshole!

Rep. Stephen Lynch Questions Postmaster General DeJoy During Hearing

It is crystal clear that No Joy has his job for one reason only: to help steal the 2020 election for Trump* and the Republican Reich.

RESIST!!

This Great Bill Will Not Become Law!

Posted by TomCat at 9:21 am Politics

Aug 242020

The US House of Representatives passed a relief bill for the USPS. All the Democrats and even a handful of Republicans voted for it. It could not be more needed. However, this great bill will never become law in time to protect the votes of people, like Trump*, who vote by mail from postal sabotage by the Republican Reich.

The House of Representatives voted to approve funding for the U.S. Postal Service as Democrats accuse the Trump administration of sabotaging the mail service ahead of Election Day.

On Saturday, the House approved 257-150 to send $25 billion in funding to the USPS, as well as block any operational changes that were in place on Jan. 1, 2020, according to CNN. The bill isn’t likely to be supported by the Republican-majority Senate.

In her remarks on the floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the cost-cutting measures implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “degrade service, delay the mail and threaten to disenfranchise voters” as more Americans plan to utilize mail-in voting during the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Our Postal Service are the beautiful thread that connects our country, delivering sympathy and love, news and knowledge, peace and goodwill,” Pelosi, 80, said. “And as a grandmother, I will say, we have seen our children and grandchildren write their letters to Santa. We’ve seen messages come from the Tooth Fairy. We’ve seen photos and drawings of families taking joy in each other that no amount of social media can convey.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement [Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch delinked]after the vote, calling concerns over the White House’s connections to the seeming dismantling of the USPS “conspiracy theories.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <People>

House Passes Bill To Send $25 Billion To Postal Service, Reverse Operational Changes

Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch and criminal Fuhrer Trump* are two turds in the same bowl. Isn’t it time to flush?

RESIST!!

If Trump* Gets His Way, He Might Kill Me

Posted by TomCat at 11:37 am Politics

Aug 142020

I am an amputee in a wheel chair. I have stage four metastatic esophageal cancer, spinal cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer. Virtually everything I need to survive, except my chemotherapy treatments at the hospital, I have to buy online. Most of those things, including several of my meds, come by mail. I need USPS to survive, but criminal Fuhrer Trump and the Republican Reich are sabotaging USPS to interfere with the voting rights if people who need to and have the right to vote by mail.

If Americans think that “rigged elections” are something that only happens in far-off countries like Belarus, Trevor Noah had a rude awakening for them. “It already, it’s already starting to rear its ugly head right here,” he said.

The Daily Show host was of course talking about President Donald Trump’s stunning admission in a Fox News interview on Thursday morning that he is actively blocking funding for the U.S. Postal Service to prevent them from being able to accommodate universal mail-in voting.

“They need that money in order to have the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo of two provisions he opposes in the Democrat’s coronavirus relief bill. “But if they don’t get those two items that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.”

“Goddamn,” Noah replied after playing the clip. “I’ve never seen a villain give away a plan like that without seeing James Bond tied to a chair in front of him.”…

Inserted From <The Daily Beast>

Here’s the included video.

Trump Plainly Admits Plan to Limit Mail-In Voting

Barf Bag Alert!!

In short, Trump* and the Republican Reich are trying to steal the votes of millions of Americans. That’s bad enough. Republicans don’t care that they are sabotaging a Constitutionally guaranteed service that millions need to survive. I’m one of them. If Trump* gets his way, he might kill me.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 8/1/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:16 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 012020

It’s a WWWendy day, and I’m in a big rush. This is my only article today. JD, would you cover Bill Maher, please? Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0801TrumpVirusMap

US Cases: 4,709,713
US Deaths: 156,826
World Cases: 17,824,476
World Deaths: 684,197
Trump’s* Share of World Deaths: 22.9%
US Share of World Population: 4.3%

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Welcome to the next election battleground: the post office.

President Trump’s yearslong [sic] assault on the Postal Service and his increasingly dire warnings about the dangers of voting by mail are colliding as the presidential campaign enters its final months. The result has been to generate new concerns about how he could influence an election conducted during a pandemic in which greater-than-ever numbers of voters will submit their ballots by mail…

…But they are warning that a huge wave of ballots could overwhelm mail carriers unless the Postal Service, in financial difficulty for years, receives emergency funding that Republicans are blocking during negotiations over another pandemic relief bill.

At the same time, the mail system is being undercut in ways set in motion by Mr. Trump. Fueled by animus for Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and surrounded by advisers who have long called for privatizing the post office, Mr. Trump and his appointees have begun taking cost-cutting steps that appear to have led to slower and less reliable delivery.

For decades Republican SOP has been to intentionally cause crises and to blame Democrats for their effects. RESIST!!

From Vanity Fair: …Kushner’s team hammered out a detailed plan, which Vanity Fair obtained. It stated, “Current challenges that need to be resolved include uneven testing capacity and supplies throughout the US, both between and within regions, significant delays in reporting results (4-11 days), and national supply chain constraints, such as PPE, swabs, and certain testing reagents.”

The plan called for the federal government to coordinate distribution of test kits, so they could be surged to heavily affected areas, and oversee a national contact-tracing infrastructure. It also proposed lifting contract restrictions on where doctors and hospitals send tests, allowing any laboratory with capacity to test any sample. It proposed a massive scale-up of antibody testing to facilitate a return to work. It called for mandating that all COVID-19 test results from any kind of testing, taken anywhere, be reported to a national repository as well as to state and local health departments.

And it proposed establishing “a national Sentinel Surveillance System” with “real-time intelligence capabilities to understand leading indicators where hot spots are arising and where the risks are high vs. where people can get back to work.”

By early April, some who worked on the plan were given the strong impression that it would soon be shared with President Trump and announced by the White House. The plan, though imperfect, was a starting point. Simply working together as a nation on it “would have put us in a fundamentally different place,” said the participant.

But the effort ran headlong into shifting sentiment at the White House. Trusting his vaunted political instincts, President Trump had been downplaying concerns about the virus and spreading misinformation about it—efforts that were soon amplified by Republican elected officials and right-wing media figures. Worried about the stock market and his reelection prospects, Trump also feared that more testing would only lead to higher case counts and more bad publicity. Meanwhile, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, was reportedly sharing models with senior staff that optimistically—and erroneously, it would turn out—predicted the virus would soon fade away.

Against that background, the prospect of launching a large-scale national plan was losing favor, said one public health expert in frequent contact with the White House’s official coronavirus task force.

Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert….

Click through to read the entire article. What do we call this? Is it murder, sedition or both? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Pink – Dear MR President OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

This song was written for Crawford Caligula, Republican Fuhrer of the Fourth Reich. How much more does it apply to the Nazi Republican Fuhrer of the Fifth Reich? Support left-wing protestors! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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