TomCat

Personal Update – 12/18/2020

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

Dec 182020

It’s a painful exhausted day here in the CatBox. After the hospital screwed me up so badly three weeks ago, they treated me like royalty yesterday to make sure everything went smoothly. The got me infused and out early. They increased my Fentanyl patch from 50 mg to 75 mg. We stopped for take out pizza an the way home. The notary came, and I got writers cramp with all the signing. I commented that, if I had any idea how big a pain in the ass it is to die, I would have opted to live instead. I was up from 5:00 AM until 4:30 PM, and that left me exhausted and in severe pain. Today I have to do an online shop at Safeway.com as Store to Door is closed for the holidays. I should be back in the saddle tomorrow. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 5:00). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

A Thought from Mitch (ours, not BBMM):

When I was 18, I lived in New York City in my first apartment, I had this on a poster framed above my bed. In an “Ah… the memories” moment, Mitch emailed it to me.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, 1948

Short Take:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): THE TWELVE STAINS OF TRUMP’S MESS – A Christmas Parody

Wonderful Don! The cleaning crew comes on 1/20. RESIST!!

32 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Personal Update – 12/17/2020

Posted by TomCat at 7:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 172020

It’s Horrible Hospital Day here in the CatBox. Don’t be surprised if the next you hear from me is a “back to bed” Personal Update in the morning. Hospital Horror Hugs!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:18 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Take:

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): The Most Popular Christmas Songs Ever!!! Best Traditional Christmas Music Playlist 2020

If you spend an hour listening to this, you will enjoy it more than I will enjoy my morning. HUGS!!

33 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 12/16/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 162020

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox, and I’m hurrying to get back to bed. Tomorrow is gruesome hospital day. Please expect no more than a very brief Personal Update. Because of the notary appointment afterwards, I will probably not have the time or strength for a back and OK message, but if anything is wrong, I’ll text Nameless to let you know. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:11 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaign claims she had no idea she was posing for a photo with a former Ku Klux Klan leader who was once convicted of a violent assault on a Black man. Loeffler was photographed beaming alongside Chester Doles at a Friday campaign event.

“Kelly had no idea who that was, and if she had she would have kicked him out immediately because we condemn in the most vociferous terms everything that he stands for,” a campaign spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But Loeffler was at a September event for QAnon candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene that Doles attended—and was kicked out of. You’d think that someone being a no-go for Greene would stick in the mind. After that event, a Loeffler campaign spokesperson said Loeffler didn’t know who Doles was. But again, that was her opportunity to learn. Apparently she didn’t bother.

We need all hands on deck to win the Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, and you can volunteer from wherever you are. Click here to see the Georgia volunteer activities that work best for you.

1216LoefflerKKKDoles

Perhaps the reason she doesn’t recognize him in plain clothes is that, when they are together, both are almost always dressed in their sheets and hoods. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: The U.S. government pays disability benefits to people with a serious condition that leaves them unable to work full time. But the Trump administration has been trying to cut the number of people on the program for a while, and now Trump is planning to redefine full-time work as 30 hours per week for purposes of determining whether someone is disabled. Many people would lose their meager benefits as a result. Via Huffington Post:

This is not Trump’s* sole doing. Stealing money from the needy to provide more welfare to greedy billionaires is what Trump has to do to keep a few Republican elected officials actively supporting his election theft and sheeple-fleecing operations. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): The First Noël

Beautiful! Ah… the memories. HUGS!!

34 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Personal Update – 12/15/2020

Posted by TomCat at 7:16 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 152020

It’s an exhausted day here in the CatBox, with good news and bad news. The good news: Bye Bye Barrf!! The bad news: a midnight kitchen fire in the building ruined my night’s sleep. I need to go back to bed. Tuesday is Flush your Republicans Day. Be extra careful with the lid today. It might be Barrf!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:08 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Take:

From YouTube (a blast for Christmas): Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1959 Version)

Of course around here, it’s SantaCat! HUGS!!

35 days (5 Weeks) Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 12/14/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:33 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 142020

It’s a Republicitis day here in the CatBox. I just spent 45 minutes on the throne and cast an unbelievable number of electoral votes, among other things. Speaking of Republican feces, we just passed 300,000 Americans murdered by Donald Trump* and the Republican Reich with their plague. WWWendy is coming tonight. I want to get as much rest as I can this week, because Thursday is a Hospital/Infusion day, followed by a will notary appointment, followed by a WWWendy day all on the same day. Expect exhaustion. Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:31 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Religious Ecstasy:

1213Broncos32-Panthers27

And a glorious, wonderful Orb it is!

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: One of the great strangenesses and perversions in the QAnon conspiracy theory is that part of what Donald Trump—a man who was good friends with convicted child molester Jeffrey Epstein—is doing in his fight against the “deep state,” is to clean up a vast child-sex human trafficking cabal. The idea that there are powerful people engaged in illegal human sex trafficking that involves underage children is very believable. In fact, Donald Trump seems to have intimately known some of those people, and even hired the former Florida Attorney General Alexander Acosta—one of the main guys who cut a deal to let one of those human traffickers off with a hand slap.

Anywhos, QAnon theorists have evolved the Hillary Clinton and Pizzagate and whatever else anti-Semitic globalist bullshit theory that makes them feel like they know what’s going on. It’s like chemtrail conspiracy theory with a touch of sex and child abuse because QAnon is even more of a religious cult than Pizzagate was. And religious cults usually help define themselves by saying other groups of people do terrible things to children. And guess what? Republican QAnon conspiracy theorist and failed Louisiana candidate Ben Gibson was just pulled into custody on Wednesday and charged for … yup: four counts of possession of child pornography “involving juveniles under the age of thirteen.”

I’m not surprised. Republicans are not original enough to invent new crimes and perversions for their conspiracy theories, so they fall back on their own behavior for reference material and accuse Democrats of doing it. We call this projection. RESIST!!

From NY Times: In Michigan, Democratic electors have been promised police escorts from their cars into the State Capitol, where on Monday they will formally vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In Arizona, state officials are holding the vote at an undisclosed location for safety reasons, far from what is expected to be a heated hearing on election integrity issues that Republicans will conduct in the Statehouse.

Even in Delaware, the tiny, deeply Democratic home state of the president-elect, officials relocated their ceremony to a college gymnasium, a site considered to have better security and public health controls.

For decades, Electoral College voters have served as the rubber-stamping bureaucrats of American democracy, operating well below the political radar as they provided pro forma certification of a new president. Despite its procedural nature, the role has long been considered an honor, bestowed as a way to recognize political stature or civic service.

This year, the Electoral College is another piece of routine election mechanics thrown into the cross hairs of President Trump’s sustained assault on voting integrity. After five weeks of lawsuits, recounts and Republican inquiries into unfounded claims of fraud, Americans will turn to the 538 members of the Electoral College to provide a measure of finality to Mr. Biden’s decisive victory.

And as small-town electors face harassment and more prominent figures adapt to increased security measures, a duty long considered a privilege has also become a headache.

I find it shameful that these people have to perform their civic duty under the threat of death and violence from the Republican Reich! As of now 168 Biden votes have been cast. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): Frank Sinatra *☆* Adeste Fideles * (O’ Come All Ye Faithful)

Believe it or not, I first learned to sing this carol in Latin, as an assignment for sixth grade Latin class. Ah… the memories! HUGS!!

36 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 12/13/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 132020

It’s another busy day here in the CatBox, and my back is in a lot of pain. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, but she won’t come until late afternoon, so I’ll be in the saddle. Last I heard my Broncos were winning 13-7.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:12 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did toy do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Progressives are pushing for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to avoid seating any Republican House members who have publicly supported President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the election from Democratic President-Elect Joe Biden.

That’s because Section 3 of the 14th Amendment literally says that anyone who has tried to rebel against the Constitution after having pledged to protect it can’t hold political office. This would include any GOP House members who signed onto an amicus brief supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s bogus Supreme Court case seeking to toss hundreds of thousands of votes in four swing states, so that Trump can steal a democratically decided election.

The Section reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. ”

It would be fully justified, and Pelosi ought to do it, but she won’t. No tiene los cojones! RESIST!!

From NPR: Immigration activists are gearing up for a fight to push President-elect Joe Biden to do more to counter the measures taken by President Trump that made life more uncomfortable for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the county.

But they may find they get less than they hope for from the Biden administration, which finds itself having to balance the demands of activists with the inherent limits on executive powers.

Biden pledged during his campaign to use those powers to reverse many of President Trump’s most controversial actions. His plan includes a 100-day moratorium on deportations, restoring protections for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, and eliminating Trump’s restrictions on asylum seekers.

But some immigrant-rights groups like the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, Movimiento Cosecha and United We Dream want more.

Personally, I think we should happily accept whatever help the Biden administration gives immigrants and refugees. Then we should fight for more. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): Nat King Cole – O Little Town of Bethlehem

Ah… the memories! HUGS!!

37 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 12/12/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:37 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 122020

It’s another sore day here in the CatBox, but better today than yesterday. I plan to be in the saddle tomorrow, but Sunday is often a slow news day. Time will tell. It’s also a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos are playing the Panthers, but the game won’t be televised here. Have a fine weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:24 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

They would again, if they had the slightest excuse.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: After World War II, Germany was subject to a round of de-Nazification. When Saddam Hussein was routed, Iraq underwent de-Bathefication. When Joe Biden moves into the White House, there’s no doubt the whole government is going to need a serious round of de-Trumpification to clear the lobbyists, zealots, and simple incompetents that Donald Trump has spread around federal agencies. But before any of that can happen, Biden is calling in the cleaners to scrape away the heavy coating of Trump-shed coronavirus.

As Politico reports, the General Services Administration (GSA) is bringing in a private contractor once Trump has been escorted off the premises. The specialist will go over every surface in both the East and West Wing. The plan is to “thoroughly clean and disinfect” everything from doorknobs to desks before anyone on the Biden team has to touch them. The GSA will also bring in a commercial mister to kill viruses in the air and on fabrics. It is not known whether this will remove the odor of Filet O’ Fish or clean up orange stains that could be either nacho cheese or excess “bronzer.”

I’m having a triple size helping of my infamous green-cloud chili, normally used for fumigating the Sasquatch. I will allow federal staff to compress several clouds for use in fumigating the White House. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Suddenly Rush Limbaugh doubts two different outlooks can exist in the same country while ignoring that he has stoked the fires of hate and division for decades. In the end stages of lung cancer, not only does Rush argue this dishonest point, but he also argues for secession. We just can’t all get along anymore.

Here’s where it begins (transcript courtesy of Media Matters):

I thought you were asking me something else when you said, “Can we win?” I thought you meant, “Can we win the culture, can we dominate the culture.” I actually think — and I’ve referenced this, I’ve alluded to this a couple of times because I’ve seen others allude to this — I actually think that we’re trending toward secession. I see more and more people asking what in the world do we have in common with the people who live in, say, New York? What is there that makes us believe that there is enough of us there to even have a chance at winning New York? Especially if you’re talking about votes.

For 240 years or so we’ve had plenty in common with one another, or at least we DID until the likes of Rush Limbaugh came along and began pointing fingers at “The Other.” Then suddenly it’s time to secede because God knows we couldn’t get along with New Yorkers.

LimBarf Bag Alert!!

Actually, secession might not bad idea. Remove everything of value from a few acres of wasteland somewhere, build a wall around it, call it the Confederated National Socialist State of Bullshitania and let Rush Limbarf be the pied puker to draw the Republicans in. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Liberal Redneck Channel): Buttercream Dream / Liberal Redneck MASHUP

Trump is a symptom. How many times have you seen me say that? On a scale of one (low) to ten (high), give Trey a fifty for this one! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Supreme Court Derails Trump Legal Fight And FDA Clears Vaccine

These are the two biggest stories of the weekend. I only wish we would get rid of Trump’s* Republican plague as well as we seem to be succeeding in getting rid of Trump*! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): O Holy Night (1968 Version)

This is my favorite carol. In my younger days, our choral group did a medley of carols in which each of us sung one as a solo. This was mine. Ah… the memories! HUGS!!

38 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

Open Thread – 12/11/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 112020

It’s a painful day here in the CatBox. I overdid it yesterday when pitting groceries away. WWWendy is coming late this afternoon. I will be in the saddle tomorrow. To give you a heads up, next week will be gruesome. Happy Hanukkah! Thank God it’s Friday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 7:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: A furious Donald J. Trump attempted to fire the Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, sources report.

According to the sources, Trump was so irate about the Supreme Court’s dismissal of his election challenge on Tuesday that he phoned Barrett directly to inform her that she was “history.”

“I hired you to get a job done, and you didn’t get it done,” Trump angrily informed Barrett. “You’re out of here.”

Sources say that Barrett had the unenviable task of informing Trump that Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life and therefore cannot be fired, a revelation that left Trump “flabbergasted.”

Dang, Andy! I thought this was satire, until the part that Trump* didn’t know that it’s a lifetime appointment before Injustice Amy Coney Bullshit told him. Now I believe it. RESIST!!

From Alternet: Rep. David Byrd (R-TN) made a post on Facebook [Fakebook delinked] this Thursday saying that he may be soon placed on a ventilator due to coronavirus, and asked people to pray for him.

“I really need a miracle today!!” Byrd wrote Thursday. “My doctor said if my oxygen level doesn’t improve then he has no choice but to put me on a ventilator. So please pray that God will breathe His healing spirit into my lungs!!”

Byrd was flown by helicopter from Wayne County Hospital to St. Thomas in Nashville, where he still remains. According to the Tennessean, he was among the nearly 70 House Republicans who attended a caucus meeting held in the House chamber on November 24. A week and a half later, he was hospitalized with the virus. Reports say he was seen on the House floor without a mask. Just days before, he hosted a dinner for dozens of his fellow caucus members at a restaurant.

I’ll tell you what infuriates me. Because he’s a Republican pseudo-Christian Nazi who helped his Fuhrer spread Trump* virus to dozens (if not hundreds) of innocents, he will get special drugs and special treatment not available to those who deserve it. That is so sick! RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: After the Electoral College presumably votes Monday to affirm Joe Biden’s win, some Republican senators are reportedly preparing to acknowledge the de facto truth that never should have been in question: Donald Trump lost fair and square.

Many Senate Republicans have viewed the Dec. 14 vote both literally and figuratively speaking as the moment of truth, according to CNN. After electors in state capitals across the country finalize the certified results, those same Republicans are realizing they may have to actually part ways with their whiny, rage-y, delusional Dear Leader.

Now that’s a shit storm I can’t wait to see! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): Bing Crosby – Silent Night

As a small child, this is the first carol I ever learned. Ah… the memories! HUGS!!

39 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

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