Open Thread – 10/15/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:20 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 152020

It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox. Diana should be here in a short time change my patch. Then, it’s a grocery delivery day. Store to Door should be here at around Noon. I scheduled an appointment on the morning of Friday 10/23 for a CAT Scan to get an idea of how bad my tumors are and to what extent, if any, the immunotherapy infusions are helping me. May all your Republicans be unemployed. However, those who are where they deserve to be may have prison jobs. (Diana just left.)

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:06 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

Click for more maps

US Cases: 8,156,124
US Deaths: 221,895
Plus all the Trump*/GOP Plague murders Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Every Republican Supreme Court nomination follows the same pattern:

Nominee builds up a record of statements showing their allegiance to the most extreme positions on a set of topics dear to the far right.
Federalist Society vets the nominee against strict ultraconservative checklist on the same list of topics.
Republican senators pretend that 1. and 2. never happened, as nominee protests they couldn’t possibly speak to any of those topics. Or to anything else.

It’s become commonplace for a candidate who has spent their career signing their name to statements calling the Roe v. Wade decision barbaric to suddenly discover that they have nothing to say on the subject while in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nothing, that is, except for meaningless hand-waving about “precedent.” But sometimes a non-answer can speak more loudly than a scream. That’s the case when a nominee is confronted by a question that should generate a response as automatic as breathing. That was certainly the case on Tuesday morning, as Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett weasel-worded her way through an answer that left absolutely no doubt: She intends to be there if Trump needs her to overturn the results of the election.

Earlier in the session, Barrett had been asked if she would recuse herself on a series of cases in which she had a personal or political position. Barrett’s response on all of these was the same—she would follow the rules of the Supreme Court.

This answer has a simpler meaning. It means “no.” That’s because, unlike lower courts, there are no actual rules requiring a Supreme Court justice to step back from any case. Since there are no spare justices to substitute for a recused justice, each is given absolute personal latitude to determine if they feel they need to recuse themselves on a particular topic. No one can make a Supreme Court justice recuse themselves from a case, even if that case is ruling on something in which they have a deep personal involvement or even a fiscal interest.

That also means that every appeal to Supreme Court guidelines is nothing but a dodge. Because there’s essentially nothing to those guidelines but “whatever you think best.” Barrett repeating that she would follow these guidelines is simply a refusal to answer, nothing more. [emphasis added]

Lets be real for a minute. Nobody in their right mind could think Barrett would have been nominated had she not made it cleat that the will overturn the election on behalf of her Fuhrer, if he needs it! While SCOTUS may use conscience as a guideline, Republican Injustices in SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional Venereal Disease) have no conscience. RESIST!!

From NY Times: On the afternoon of Feb. 24, President Trump declared on Twitter that the coronavirus was “very much under control” in the United States, one of numerous rosy statements that he and his advisers made at the time about the worsening epidemic. He even added an observation for investors: “Stock market starting to look very good to me!”

But hours earlier, senior members of the president’s economic team, privately addressing board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, were less confident. Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, told the group he could not yet estimate the effects of the virus on the American economy. To some in the group, the implication was that an outbreak could prove worse than Mr. Philipson and other Trump administration advisers were signaling in public at the time.

The next day, board members — many of them Republican donors — got another taste of government uncertainty from Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council. Hours after he had boasted on CNBC that the virus was contained in the United States and “it’s pretty close to airtight,” Mr. Kudlow delivered a more ambiguous private message. He asserted that the virus was “contained in the U.S., to date, but now we just don’t know,” according to a document describing the sessions obtained by The New York Times.

The document, written by a hedge fund consultant who attended the three-day gathering of Hoover’s board, was stark. “What struck me,” the consultant wrote, was that nearly every official he heard from raised the virus “as a point of concern, totally unprovoked.”

The consultant’s assessment quickly spread through parts of the investment world.

No matter what fallout effects the economy, some investors will make money and other investors will lose money. The Republican Reich made sure the 0.1%, the super-rich, had the insider information to protect themselves financially, while Trump* lied to the rest of us. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Billy Joel – Piano Man (Video)

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

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Squatch’s Open Thread 14 October 2020

Posted by Lynn Squance at 4:38 am Open Thread, Politics

Oct 152020

Oh my! Twice within one week! I had a favourite meal — turkey and the trimmings! Canadian Thanksgiving is now a memory. Normally I and a number of others would get together for our Thanksgiving feast of turkey, ham, veggies and salads. Of course there would also have been the obligatory pumpkin pie. But alas, COVID-19 put that off until next year at the earliest. Instead, I ordered a turkey dinner with all the trimmings from my favourite restaurant and ate at home. It was sooooooooooooooo good! I also treated my 3 fur babes to fresh roasted chicken which they scarfed up like Hoover uprights! While we were scarfing, the news did not stop. I am taking a course in Indigenous Studies from the University of Alberta online and I am also taking a course on racism based on Ibram Xendi’s book “How to be an Anti Racist” through my church. It has been a busy week of studying and will continue to be until mid November.

CNN — “The unmasking is a massive — it’s a massive thing,” Trump said shortly after the release of the names. “It’s — I just got a list. It’s — who can believe a thing like this? And I watched Biden yesterday on ‘Good Morning America’ being interviewed by one of your colleagues, George Stephanopoulos, and he said he knew nothing about anything. He has no idea. He knows nothing about anything.” …

So important to Trump was this unmasking news that Attorney General William Barr tasked John Bash, the US Attorney in San Antonio, in late May with conducting an investigation into whether the unmasking was politically motivated.

That investigation has ended, according to The Washington Post. And it has ended without any charges being brought against Biden or any other Obama administration official. Or even any public report of its findings. …

There’s a pattern here, of course. From his initial insistence that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election (for which he has provided zero evidence) right through these unmasking claims, Trump has desperately seized onto anything and everything that would suggest that not only did the so-called “deep state” work to keep him from winning but it has also done everything it can to hamstring his presidency. …

Remember how Trump repeatedly raised questions about whether Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 election to help him and hurt Hillary Clinton? Well, the intelligence community, special counsel Robert Mueller and the US Senate Intelligence Committee all said that that’s exactly what happened.

Or how Trump said that the entire Russia investigation was politically motivated by people out to get him? It wasn’t.

Or how Trump said that President Barack Obama and Biden had “spied” on his presidential campaign? Also, debunked.

Or how the DNC email server was somehow in the possession of the Ukrainians? It isn’t.

Or how Google and social media sites are biased against conservatives? Not quite.

The more recent events have led Trump to be extremely unhappy with AG Barr because he did not do Trump’s bidding to Trump’s satisfaction. In a comment within the past few days, Trump was asked if Barr would be his AG pick for a second term should he win. Trump would only say he was not happy. With Trump it is one thing after another, one scandal after another, conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory after another. Trump is a walking case of paranoid delusions and a national security risk.

Canadian Press — She’s accurately predicted the Brexit vote, the 2016 American presidential outcome, and last year’s federal election in Canada.

Now, a Canadian-made artificial intelligence system called Polly is forecasting next month’s U.S. presidential election, using public social-media data and algorithms.

Polly is profiled in the new documentary “Margin of Error,” which premieres Saturday on Ontario’s publicly funded network TVO, and across Canada on tvo.org and the station’s YouTube channel. …

The predictions currently update daily and have a high margin of error that will become smaller closer to the Nov. 3 election, but as of Wednesday afternoon, she had Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with 346 Electoral College votes vs. U.S. President Donald Trump at 192.

Polly also had Biden with 55 per cent of the popular vote vs. Trump at 45 per cent.

“But of course the huge caveat in that, particularly in the U.S., is issues of voter turnout, vote suppression, early voting and discounted ballots,” …

Definitely check out the interactive map at https://advancedsymbolics.com/us-election/. I don’t know about you, but I like Joe Biden’s numbers there. Of course there are many factors involved, but if previous uses are any indication, Polly may have star status . . . assuming nobody screws with the algorithms, this just may a new and reliable tool. The article has more detail so I encourage you to read it.

AlterNet — President Donald Trump urged California Republicans to defy a state order to remove fake “official” ballot drop boxes after numerous top officials called them “illegal.”

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Monday issued an order to the California GOP and three county chapters requiring the removal of unofficial ballot drop boxes erected in front of locations like gyms, gun stores and churches that were falsely marked “official.”

Trump, however, urged the party to fight the order in court.

“You mean only Democrats are allowed to do this? But haven’t the Dems been doing this for years?” the president tweeted, drawing a dubious comparison between the boxes and the legal “ballot harvesting” efforts by Democrats that have drawn his ire. “See you in court. Fight hard Republicans!” …

“Screw you!” Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said in response to Newsom’s tweet, according to Politico. “You created the law, we’re going to ballot harvest.” …

The offices of the attorney general and secretary of state said in a cease-and-desist order to the GOP that the law required “persons to whom a voter entrusts their ballot to return to county election officials provide their name, signature and relationship to the voter.”

Becerra and Padilla also argued during a Monday conference call that the boxes were “illegal,” because they were designed to trick voters by claiming to be “official.” The boxes lack the security requirements mandated for official collection boxes installed by election officials, they added.

Just like a Republican to twist and obfuscate well intentioned laws. I have not read the actual California law, but as Bill Maher says, “I just know it’s true.” Trump has encouraged North Carolinian Republicans to vote twice, once by mail and once in person. I hear the same has been conveyed to Trump supporters in Florida. Now over and above all the other Trump bullshit, he is encouraging voters and the Republican party to break the law . End the madness and DUMP TRUMP and as many Republicans as possible.

The Atlantic — The most important ballot question in 2020 is not Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, or Democrat versus Republican. The most important question is: Will Trump get away with his corruption—will his crooked and authoritarian tactics succeed?

If the answer is yes, be ready for more. Much more.

Americans have lavished enormous powers on the presidency. They have also sought to bind those powers by law. Yet the Founders of the republic understood that law alone could never eliminate the risks inherent in the power of the presidency. They worried ceaselessly about the prospect of a truly bad man in the office—a Caesar or a Cromwell, as Alexander Hamilton fretted in “Federalist No. 21.” They built restraints: a complicated system for choosing the president, a Congress to constrain him, impeachment to remove him. Their solutions worked for two and a half centuries. In our time, the system failed.

Through the Trump years, institutions have failed again and again to check corruption, abuse of power, and even pro-Trump violence.

As Trump took office, I published a cover story in this magazine, arguing that his presidency could put the United States on the road to autocracy. “By all early indications,” I wrote, “the Trump presidency will corrode public integrity and the rule of law—and also do untold damage to American global leadership, the Western alliance, and democratic norms around the world. The damage has already begun, and it will not be soon or easily undone. Yet exactly how much damage is allowed to be done is an open question.”

We can now measure the damage done. As we near the 2020 vote, the Trump administration is attempting to cripple the Postal Service to alter the election’s outcome. The president has successfully refused to comply with subpoenas from congressional committees chaired by members of the opposing party. He has ignored ethics guidelines, junked rules on security clearances, and shut down two counterintelligence investigations of his Russian business links, one by the FBI, the other by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He has assigned prison police and park police to new missions as street enforcers, bypassing the National Guard and the FBI. As in 2016, he is once again welcoming Russian help for his election campaign—only this time, he controls the agencies that are refusing to answer the questions of Congress and the American people.

Those who would minimize the threat that Trump poses take solace in his personal weaknesses: his laziness, his ignorance of the mechanics of government. But the president is not acting alone. The Republican politicians who normally might have been expected to restrain Trump are instead enabling and empowering him. …

…Trump has normalized the minority rule. …

Republicans in the Trump years have gotten used to competing under rules biased in their favor. They have come to fear that unless the rules favor them, they will lose. And so they have learned to think of biased rules as necessary, proper, and just—and to view any effort to correct those rules as a direct attack on their survival. …

To understand how the U.S. system failed in Trump’s first term—and how it could fail further across another four years—let’s look closer at some of Trump’s abuses and the direction they could trend in a second term. …

Inciting Political Violence

Trump has used violence as a political resource since he first declared his candidacy, in the summer of 2015. But as his reelection prospects have dimmed in 2020, political violence has become central to Trump’s message. He wants more of it. After video circulated that appeared to show Kyle Rittenhouse shooting and killing two people and wounding a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, Trump liked a tweet declaring that “Kyle Rittenhouse is a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump.” “The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order,” Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Fox & Friends on August 27. Two nights later, a 600-vehicle caravan of Trump supporters headed into downtown Portland, Oregon, firing paintball guns and pepper spray, driving toward a confrontation during which one of them was shot dead. …

Trump’s appeal is founded on a racial consciousness and a racial resentment that have stimulated white racist terrorism in the United States and the world, from the New Zealand mosque slaughter (whose perpetrator invoked Trump) to the Pittsburgh synagogue murders to mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Gilroy, California. In recent weeks, political violence has caused those deaths in Kenosha and Portland. A second Trump term will only incite more such horror. …

Trump uses power to enrich himself and weaken any institution of law or ethics that gets in the way of his self-enrichment. He holds power by inflaming resentments and hatreds. A second term will mean more stealing, more institution-wrecking, more incitement of bigotry. …

Voters in 2020 will go to the polls in the midst of a terrible economic recession, with millions out of work because of Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. But the country is facing a democratic recession too, a from-the-top squeeze on the freedom of ordinary people to influence their government. Will the president follow laws or ignore them? Will public money be used for public purposes—or be redirected to profit Trump and his cronies? Will elections be run fairly—or be manipulated by the president’s party to prevent opposing votes from being cast and counted? Will majority rule remain the American way? Or will minority rule become not a freak event but an enduring habit? These questions are on the ballot as Americans go into the voting booth.

Although the article is long, to me it is “a call to arms” to VOTE and to vote wisely taking into account Trump’s and Republican corruption. Author David Frum, usually considered right of centre, also covers Trump’s Abuse of the Pardon Power, his Abuse of Government Resources for Personal Gain, and Directing Public Funds to Himself and His Companies. Americans cannot afford to let this mad man take the country hostage for another four years!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!!

Open Thread – 9/12/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 122020

It’s a crazy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy did not co to Crater Lake, because between the wildfires and Trump* virus, virtually everything there is closed. She arrived late, because the visibility is terrible. She cut my hair and is now gooping, while I write. This is my only article today. Have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Vintage 2013

Trump* Virus Update:

0912TrumpVirusMap

Click for interactive map

US Cases:6,639,386
US Deaths: 197,473
Plus thousands of Trump’s* GOP murder victims Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Well before his move to the Department of Homeland Security, Brian Murphy had become known as an ambitious counterterrorism investigator at the F.B.I., determined and relentless. At times, though, colleagues chafed at what some saw as an overzealous disregard for bureaucratic rules.

All of those traits may have been at play this week when Mr. Murphy, a career law enforcement officer, became a whistle-blower.

The Department of Homeland Security was built after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 19 years ago Friday, to keep federal, state and local governments coordinated on national security threats. But in his whistle-blower complaint, Mr. Murphy, the department’s former intelligence chief, said its senior leaders directed him to do the opposite: play down the primary national security threats of white supremacy and Russian election interference, thus distorting intelligence to mirror President Trump’s messaging.

The allegations, coming less than two months before Election Day, add to the growing evidence that Mr. Trump has prioritized his own political goals over the word of his intelligence officials, and that the Homeland Security Department has become an instrument of his personal will. Mr. Murphy’s complaint reflects the current turmoil at homeland security and is another front in Mr. Trump’s battle with the government’s intelligence agencies.

Barrf strikes again! That is far worse than acting as Trump’s* personal lawyer! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Sen. Merkley On West Coast Wildfires: It ‘Puts On Exclamation Point’ On Climate Catastrophe

Criminal Fuhrer Trump* is happy to help kill Oregonians with his storm troopers, the GOP Gestapo, and he loves it when wildfires or Trump* virus kills Oregonians. Could that be because Oregon leads the way? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of past protest): JOAN BAEZ ~ What Have They Done To The Rain ~

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

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread – 8/31/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:30 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 312020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Diana should be here in a few minutes for her routine visit, and WWWendy will be here late this afternoon. The score is now WWWendy 1 to TC 1. I plugged the toilet this morning! ARGH! Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0831TrumpVirusMap

Click for interactive map

US Cases: 6,177,092
US Deaths: 187,248
Plus the thousands of GOP plague murder victims Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Alternet: One of the many oddities of the now-terminated Robert Mueller probe into Russian election interference and its links to various members of the Trump campaign and family, and in fact of all known federal probes into Russia’s Trump-related actions, has been the seeming lack of any counterintelligence probe on Donald Trump’s myriad, longstanding financial connections to Russia—and what role those financial ties have played both in the Russian government’s actions on behalf of Trump and their possible leverage over the now-president.

A new story from The New York Times‘ Michael Schmidt reports that that’s because in the first months of the new Trump administration, former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein shuttered that investigation—then ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to steer clear of it himself. It’s not that the counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s known ties to Russian crime figures, to money laundering, and his family’s stated reliance on Russian cash has been kept closely-held: It never existed. And it still doesn’t.

Assuming that we win in November, the investigation blocked by Rosy Rectum Rosenstein needs to be done, and Trump* needs to be prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated for the crimes Republicans are hiding. RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Hopped up on Trump rage and Village People music, this white man feels emboldened to walk up to a journalist and verbally abuse and threaten media in New Hampshire.

That is so Republican! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Imagine – John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band (w the Flux Fiddlers) (official music video HD long v)

Kudos to left wing protestors! 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 – 8/13/2020

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

Aug 132020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Store to Door should come with my groceries between 11 and 12:30. WWWendy will be coming at around 5:00 to destink the gross TomCat, change my pain patch, goop, and help with chores. My first Pembrolizumab treatment is scheduled next Wednesday. Because of WWWendy’s work schedule, I have to take the TriMet Lift bus there, but I timed it to finish at 4:30 PM so WWWendy can pick me up. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Have a great day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:41 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0813TrumpVirusMap

US Cases: 5,361,269
US Deaths: 169,161
Plus the many dead Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Politico (June): The House’s highest-ranking Republicans are racing to distance themselves from a leading GOP congressional candidate in Georgia after POLITICO uncovered hours of Facebook videos in which she expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.

The candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested that Muslims do not belong in government; thinks black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party”; called George Soros, a Jewish Democratic megadonor, a Nazi; and said she would feel “proud” to see a Confederate monument if she were black because it symbolizes progress made since the Civil War.

Greene finished first in a primary for a deep-red, northwest Georgia seat last week by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over the second-place candidate. She is entering an August runoff as the favorite to secure the Republican nomination for a district where that is tantamount to winning the general election in November. Her initial victory — which has sparked panic in GOP circles — comes as Republicans are grappling with a national reckoning over racial injustice and police brutality after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last month.

Barf Bag Alert!!

Greene, who is also a member of the QAnon Republican conspiracy cult, just won the runoff, so I predict several Parades for this Republican ding bat after January. If I’m dead, someone else will have to take over Parade duty. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Joe: There Is Nothing Radical, Left-Wing About Funding The USPS

Republicans have wanted to defund the post office long before they made Trump* their Fuhrer. UPS and FedEx have contributed BIG bucks for the oligopoly. But criminal Fuhrer Trump* has other reasons. He can’t win without stealing the election or staging a coup through the Gestapo we saw in Portland! Killing USPS serves both crimes. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): DEAR DONALD TRUMP Song

Amen! Kudos to left wing protestors! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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