Dec 242020
 

It’s a tired day, here in the CatBox.  I overslept this morning, so I’m running a bit late.  It’s Christmas Eve, and if you live in a red state, you need to beware.  I trust that you understand that Republicans have invented a fake version of Jesus, Republican Supply-side Jesus.  He uses Jesus’ name to spread the Nazi Republican pseudo-gospel of war, hate and greed.  Republican Supply-side Jesus is the exact opposite of the real Jesus.  The reason red state residents need to beware is that there is also a Republican Supply-side Santa.  Like the real Santa, he comes down the chimney on Christmas eve, but instead of bringing presents, he steals the presents from poor and middle-class red state children, sells them, and uses the proceeds to buy presents for Republican billionaires, like new sheets and hoods to replace the ones Republicans have worn out through excessive use.  So if you live in a red state, build a big fire in the fireplace, put flash-bangs in the stockings and replacer the cookies with turds.  Merry Christmas Eve to you all, and SantaCat knows who’s been naughty and nice.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:43 (average 8:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Tracking Santa:

 

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Ever-shameless, Donald Trump is now using the pardon power to promote outright corruption. In a slew of pardons tonight, Trump used the power to sabotage convictions of private-contractor war criminals, an array of Republican elected officials caught using their office to engage in crimes, and two of Trump’s own allies who pled guilty to lying to federal law enforcement officials in an effort to block special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of communications between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

Receiving pardons tonight—and surely, there will be many more coming—are George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan, who both pled guilty to lying to federal investigators probing Russian hacking and propaganda efforts on behalf of Trump. They join the previously pardoned Flynn, who pled guilty to lying as part of the same cover-up.

Also receiving pardons are three Republican congressmen caught committing crimes in office. California ex-Rep. Duncan Hunter stole donated campaign funds for his own personal use. New York ex-Rep. Chris Collins pled guilty to lying to the FBI and to attempting to commit securities fraud after being caught engaging in insider trading. Texas ex-Rep. Steve Stockman was convicted of money laundering. All three were unquestionably guilty of corruption in office; in pardoning each of the disgraced House Republicans, Trump is clearly signaling his contempt for those that would attempt to hold his political allies to account.

For good measure, and as reminder that aside from personal fealty of allies there are few things as seemingly dear to Trump’s heart as torturing or killing the innocent, Trump has also pardoned four Blackwater private contractors responsible for killing 17 civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, an act that fomented terrorism against U.S. forces for years afterwards.

There’s no subtlety to these pardons, and its almost certain that they are the prelude to a host of even more egregious ones.

When I think of the egregious losses, grief and suffering these bastards caused to victims and their loved ones, I want to scream!  RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Holy smokes! It looks like Diaper Don was correct with his complaints of faulty election results in at least two states. But he probably doesn’t really want to draw too much attention to them.

In Delaware County, Pennsylvania,, there was a confirmed incident of voter fraud:

In the weeks leading up to the presidential election, Elizabeth Bartman and Elizabeth Weihman registered to vote as Republicans in Nether Providence Township, Delaware County officials said Monday. There was one problem: Both women had been dead for several years.

The man behind those applications, Bruce Bartman, now faces two felony counts of perjury, as well as one count of unlawful voting for successfully casting an absentee ballot for President Donald Trump in the name of Elizabeth Bartman, his long-dead mother.

Bartman was arraigned Friday and released on $100,000 unsecured bail.

His lawyer, Samuel Stretton, said the 70-year-old takes full responsibility for the crimes, and will cooperate with investigators

“In his political frustration, he chose to do something stupid,” Stretton said. “And for that he is very sorry.”.

Bartman used his deceased mother’s driver’s license to register her to vote absentee and successfully cast a ballot for Trump in her name. He tried to do the same thing for his dead mother-in-law. But in that incident, he used her Social Security number, which triggered an alert in the state’s system. Even though Bartman signed a letter confirming that she was alive, he never tried to vote for her.

How many times have I said that, when isolated instances of voter fraud do occur, the perpetrators are virtually always Republican?  RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Trump Vetoes Defense Spending Bill Setting Up Showdown With Congress

 

The disrespect this shoes to our men and women in uniform is totally disgusting! To Trump* and the Republican Reich, our troops matter only as cannon fodder. I have no doubt the veto will be overturned.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): Silent Night arranged by Dan Forrest from Beckenhorst Press

 

Whether or not you are one who you believes in the deity of Jesus Christ, may the celebration of his birth, albeit poorly timed, bring you peace, love, comfort and joy. This year our nation is about to be given another chance. HUGS!!

26 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

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  14 Responses to “Open Thread – 12/24/2020”

  1. Have a wonderful Christmas Eve Day, and get rested for Christmas. May only the real Santa come to your home.

    This was Democratic Underground’s image of the day for yesterday, December 23:

    Seen on the ‘Net: Two Trump supporters die and go to heaven. God meets them at the pearly gates and asks if they have any questions. One of them says, “Yes, what were the real results of the 2020 election and who was behind the fraud?” God says, “My son, there was no fraud. Biden won the electoral college fair and square, 306 to 232.” After a few seconds of stunned silence, the one guy turns to the other and whispers, “This goes higher up that we thought!”

    Video – one of MORAD’s more important responsibilities.

    Pardons – Disgusting is mild for it. But even Kings could not pardon people for future offenses (which is one of the pieces of evidence that, at least in my mind, exonerates Richard III), and they will be closely watched, so they may eventually be brought to justice for something new.

    C&L – No news to anyone here that, when election fraud happens, it is Republicans doing it. At least 99 times out of a hundred.

    Blast – It is so incredibly loved because it is so simple at its base. And that does lend it to lovely and elaborate arrangements.

    • Isn’t sending pence to hell unfair to the current occupants? 14

      • No – they’ll find him pretty bland, but if they can’t spice him up enough, they’ll just feed him to the beast demons.  You did make me think of “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” though, which made me think they will distill some splendid wine out of Trump*.

  2. ‘Toon: The elephant and the NRA,oh, but I’m being redundant.
    DK: Dumpness does nothing that is not motivated by egregious self interest.  It’s just who/what he is.
    C&L: Of course!
    MSNBC: No bottom.

  3. Joanne, It is amazing that Mr. “I’m the most religious person you will ever know about” can say that, and not recognize the hypocrisy.  But, I guess, whatever capacity for thinking he may have been born with, went out with the brainwashing.

  4. Cartoon: Holy Moly! 
    Santa: So exciting to see the little one’s eyes sparkle with delight and anticipation!! Go, Santa!! 
    DK: There are some major players that need to stay in jail for the corruptness they committed. Makes me ill to think that they have all been pardoned. What if dt resigned, and then asked/told Pence to pardon him, and Pence didn’t?? 
    C&L: Took some planning for this man to make it happen. Yeah, R’s are good at this kind of actions, and this guy got caught! 
    MSNBC: He doesn’t care…what a cad for doing this, and he’s such a loser! 
    Loved reading your intro, and I sure hope that Santa is good to you. Plan on attending Mass later on this evening, even while living in a red state, I’m praying for wellness and good thoughts for this Season of Giving. The little ones are psyched for Santa’s arrival, and their excitement is palatable, and it’s only early afternoon here. Hope that you get a chance to see Rudolph in the night sky. Take good good care, Tom, and hope you have a good Eve and Christmas Day. You certainly deserve all that is good for you this Season. 

    *This just in: 3 Satire Headlines from the Borowitz Report. H/T – Andy Borowitz – The New Yorker
    1. “White House offers curbside Pickup of Pardons.” ~ Andy Borowitz ~ 
    2. “El Chapo hurt that he has not received Pardon.” ~ A.B. ~ 
    3. “Santa Claus scathingly rejects Trump’s request to overturn Election.” ~ A.B. ~ 
    4. “The walls are closing in, he has 4 more weeks to be free before Tish James squishes him like a bug.” ~
    ~ Vicki M. ~
    5. “The new strain of Covid-19 has been found in European countries. It is almost certainly in the U. S.” 
    ~ Robert L. ~ 
    6. “29 pardons in the past two days from Trump. Because nothing says innocence than pardoning your conspirators.” ~ Stanley K. ~ 

  5. It’s Christmas day here already, but with the friend, I was going to spend it with, in hospital, I’ve decided not to join her husband and go to his son’s family for Christmas lunch. I actually like it better this way. Will WWWendy join you for a Christmas meal on Christmas day or Boxing day, TomCat?

    4:02 Don’t break your tooth on them.

    Cartoon: Not their own Republican Supply-side Santa too?

    Track: Nice. And it snowed in Santiago (Chile) when I watched too, what a lovely Christmas. 12

    DK: These pardons are pure, sickening spite. Is there any way they can be undone, or is presidential pardon so general it covers those pardoned the rest of their lives?

    C&L: Only a real Trumpian would be stupid enough to register both his dead mother and dead mother-in-law and vote for them. Even after death, his mother-in-law didn’t wat her vote to be cast for Trump and she made sure Karma got him.

    MSNBC: If he thinks he can gather support for a coup by vetoing the military spending bill because it has a clause somewhere to erase the name of confederates from military bases, then he seems to forget that he has now lost the military forever and he can forget about calling for martial law.

  6. I did not know until today that the NORAD Santa Tracker began as a wrong number call generated by a Sears ad.

    HOW A CHRISTMAS TRADITION WAS BORN

    In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran an advertisement in a Colorado Springs-area newspaper with a phone number that children could call to speak with Santa. But rather than being a direct line to the North Pole, the misprinted number instead connected to the red telephone on the desk of the Continental Air Defense Command’s [NORAD] director of operations, Col. Harry Shoup.

    Terri Van Keuren, one of Shoup’s daughters, recalls that red phone being an important one.  “Only a four-star general at the Pentagon and my dad had the number,” Van Keuren told StoryCorps when she and her siblings visited recently to share the story of how the Santa tracking program began.

    So when the phone rang one day that December, Col. Shoup was surprised when a small voice on the other line asked for Santa. Although initially annoyed by the call, Shoup played along.  When the calls continued, Shoup began staffing the line with airmen to answer for Santa. 

    “Next thing you know, Dad had called the radio station and had said, ‘This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center, and we have an unidentified flying object. Why, it looks like a sleigh. ‘Well, the radio stations would call him like every hour and say, ‘Where’s Santa now?'” Van Keuren said.

    And thus was born a wonderful tradition – from a simple phone number typo!

    https://abc7.com/norad-santa-tracker-christmas/448262/

    Back when I had hearing, I remember my favorite Christmas album was “John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together”.  Might be an odd choice for someone who sang in a semi-professional boys choir growing up – but I loved that album.  It had the right mix of traditional songs and new ones.  

    Far and away my favorite of all was a new one: “It’s In Every One of Us”.  I’ll be honest, even now, just remembering it, makes me tear up.

    The only version I could find that includes the moving spoken intro is very static in its graphic presentation – it’s just a photo of the album cover.  But I want to include the whole thing.  So I’ll provide both the spoken and sung lyrics first:

    ALFIE THE CHRISTMAS TREE (John Denver / Lee Holdridge) 1979

    SPOKEN IN RHYME:

    Did you ever hear the story of the Christmas tree

    Who just didn’t want to change the show

    He liked living in the woods and playing with squirrels

    He liked icicles and snow

    He liked wolves and eagles and grizzly bears

    And critters and creatures that crawl

    Why, bugs were some of his very best friends

    Spiders and ants and all

    Now that’s not to say that he ever looked down

    On a vision of twinkling lights

    Or on mirrored bubbles and peppermint canes

    And a thousand other delights

    And he often had dreams of tiny reindeer

    And a jolly old man in a sleigh

    Full of toys and presents and wonderful things

    And a story of Christmas Day

    Oh, Alfie believed in Christmas alright

    He was full of Christmas cheer

    All of each and every day

    And all throughout the year

    To him it was more than a special time

    Much more than a special day

    It was more than a beautiful story

    It was a special kind of way

    You see, some folks have never heard a jingle bell ring

    And they’ve never heard of Santa Claus

    They’ve never heard the story of the Son of God

    That made Alfie pause

    Did that mean that they’d never know of peace on earth

    Or the brotherhood of man

    Or know how to love, or know how to give

    If they can’t, no one can

    You see, life is a very special kind of thing

    Not just for a chosen few

    But for each and every living, breathing thing

    Not just me and you

    So when you’re at Christmas prayers this year

    Alfie asked me if I’d ask you

    Say a prayer for the wind and the water and the wood

    And those who live there too

    SUNG:

    It’s in every one of us to be wise.

    Find your heart, open up both your eyes.

    We can all know everything without ever knowing why.

    It’s in every one of us, by and by.

    It’s in every one of us to be wise.

    Find your heart, open up both your eyes.

    We can all know everything without ever knowing why.

    It’s in every one of us, by and by, by and by.

    • Not surprisingly, I did know that – but I had forgotten the Colonel’s name, which sent me to Google –  because that’s why there is a “Shoup Road in Colorado Springs.  Sometimes good guys get memorialized.

  7. Cartoon: Stinking Rupugs….always have to ruin it for others. 
    Tracking Santa: Shows that he just left Canada and now on his way to Greenland. Brings memories of when my son was little. We’d get ready for Santo coming by leaving him cookies and milk.
    DK: Despicable that tRump has the ability to pardon all of these evil lawbreaking criminals. With the type of crimes they’ve done, I wish there was a way to put them back into prison where they belong.
    C&L: Sure has a lot of guts pulling that off. Hope Bartman got prosecuted for it.
    MSNBC: Leave it to tRump to veto the defense spending bill and also throw back the one to help the people/small business owners. Does it right before he goes to Florida, where he’s out enjoying playing golf today. Plus his partner pEnce is in Colorado, skiing. Show us how heartless they both are when it comes to the people.
    BoC: Beautiful song. Love it.
    Hope that you have a Beautiful. Peaceful Christmas Eve. That goes for all of our member here too.
    Take care. Thanks TomCat

  8. Thanks and Christmas Hugs to all! 🐱

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