Open Thread–4/3/2020

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

Apr 032020

It’s a barfy day here in the CatBox. I’ve been throwing up most of last night and this morning. I think something got caught in my tumor. I feel VERY tired. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0403TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 245,442
Deaths: 6,098
Recovered: 10,411

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Welcome to the COVID-19 Games, where the tributes are governors fighting for the scraps of critical protective gear still available, and where success still depends on kissing Trump’s ass.

Last week Trump was playing quid pro quo with Americans lives, telling governors “it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well.” The result of not doing so is not getting help. Take New York, which requested 30,000 ventilators and got 4,400. And is being outbid by FEMA on the private market, where the state has been trying to procure more. “What sense does this make?” Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Tuesday. “The federal government, FEMA, should have been the purchasing agent. Buy everything, and then allocate it by need to the states.” Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers asked for 190,000 nonsurgical masks from FEMA last week, and has struggled to find ventilators. He has no idea where the masks are.

On the other hand, Oklahoma asked for 16,000 face shields and got 120,000. It had received about 84,000 N95 masks by the end of last week, “more than twice its original request.” Then there’s Florida, which is expecting its third shipment from the feds. It got 100% of what Trump’s good buddy Gov. Ron DeSantis asked for in the first two shipments. Kentucky has gotten more than it requested. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maine have only gotten part of what they’ve requested. (There you go, Sen. Susan Collins, more lessons learned for you.)

For governors to save their people, being just sycophants isn’t enough. They have to become suckophants too! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Sen. Harris On Trump’s Virus Response: ‘This Guy Doesn’t Understand His Job’

Unfortunately, I must disagree. Criminal Fuhrer Trump* does understand his job , and it has two foci: 1. Take the wealth of lower and middle class Americans and use it to provide welfare for billionaires and corporate criminals. 2. Establish a permanent, National Socialist, plutocratic Republican Reich in which elections have predetermined outcomes and exist for show only. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Neil Young – Heart of Gold/Lyrics (Full HD)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–4/2/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 022020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy is stopping by, because she took my keys home by mistake last night. Store to Door is delivering groceries this afternoon, and I have to but them away. I feel very tired.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:42 (average 5:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0402TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 215,395
Deaths: 5,113
Recovered: 8,892

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Issuing a new distancing guideline on Wednesday, Donald Trump said that he was now practicing distancing from all of his previous statements about the coronavirus.

“As of today, I will be keeping a great distance between myself and anything I said about covid-19 in the months of January, February, and March,” he said. “I will be staying at least six feet away from those statements, and probably more like ten thousand feet.”

Trump said that he could not predict how long his new practice of distancing would continue, but indicated, “Next week, I will probably be distancing myself from things I said this week. This could go on for a long time.”

Well Andy, I see you’re back to straight news. You described criminal Fuhrer Trump* perfectly! RESIST!!

From NY Times: Taking their cue from President Trump, Republicans at every level of the party are pushing ahead with plans to put on their national convention this summer and provide Mr. Trump the kind of gauzy coronation he seeks.

Democrats, by contrast, are mired in uncertainty. Access to their convention arena in Milwaukee is contingent on the state of the N.B.A. playoffs, and they won’t have an undisputed nominee until at least early June, while state parties scramble to rewrite rules governing delegate selection.

Even former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the likely Democratic nominee, has said “it’s hard to envision” his party’s convention taking place as planned in July. “The fact is it may have to be different,” he said during an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday night.

There may be a plus side to this. The cream of America’s National Socialist elite may contract Trump* virus through their own stupidity. While I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, it may well be what’s best for America. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Jim Croce – Time in a bottle – 1973

Since Lona Requested ballads, I found a playlist of ballads. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Trump* Has His World Record

Posted by TomCat at 10:50 am Politics

Mar 272020

Criminal Fuhrer Trump* is always claiming that the he has made the US is first at something. Almost invariably, he is lying. But now, he deserves and can take complete credit for this. Trump* has his world record.

On Thursday, we hit a grim watershed. The US overtook Italy and China as the country with the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. This is a dire crisis and an extraordinary failure of President Donald Trump. Americans are suffering and dying because the Trump administration failed to act quickly and decisively to prevent the virus’ spread. The US has now seen about 1,195 deaths and the number is rising rapidly.

On Thursday, the US saw an increase of more than 15,000 cases in one day — a shocking surge that can be explained by both the spread of the virus and increased testing after weeks of shortages — pushing the total number of confirmed cases over 82,000. China, in comparison, has reported 81,285 cases.

There is a fundamental difference between China and the US. China has broken the spread of the virus with a lockdown that first started in Wuhan on January 23 and is now being lifted in stages; only a few dozen new cases are allegedly confirmed each day, and most of these are apparently introduced from abroad. The US has not broken the epidemic. And if Trump has his way, easing guidelines to stay at home by Easter, we will fail to stop the epidemic and millions more will be infected. Even with active control, we might be facing around 81,000 deaths by July according to a new detailed analysis from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle…

…Trump bears direct responsibility for America’s unpreparedness and failed response to the epidemic. Since Trump came into office, he has systematically taken apart our protective public health system. The pandemic unit at the National Security Council was dismantled in 2018 under his watch. Trump slashed the CDC’s epidemic control teams in 39 countries, including China. And when the epidemic hit, Trump ignored it, downplayed it, and made repeated false claims. Even now, he spouts vulgar nonsense about restarting the economy by Easter when public health experts say the threat is going to persist for far longer.

Trump is profoundly culpable, but he is not the only reason for America’s dismal situation in the face of this epidemic. Our for-profit health care system rakes in money on disease, not on health. Instead, we have a system that works for the rich, instead of a public health system for all Americans that readily anticipates and controls new pathogens through testing, contact tracing, and quarantine… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <CNN>

The article could not be correct to point out the need for universal fee for health based medical care, like Medicare for all, instead of the private medical care we have now.

First, here’s criminal Fuhrer Trump* on his virus.

Resident Trump’s*10 most outrageous lines on coronavirus

Barf Bag Alert!!

On a bullshit scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), criminal Fuhrer Trump* rates 50+ for these.

And now, on Trump* Virus…

U.S. Now Has More Coronavirus Cases Than Anywhere In The World. How Did This Happen?

The experts said that it’s Trump’s* fault. Why would they say that? Because it is!

As US Tops Global Tally Of Coronavirus Cases, Trump* Is At Odds With Reality

Trump* is still talking about opening the country for business. Governors who are criticizing Trump* are heroes for telling the truth. Trump* has now put 3.3 million Americans out of work. At the same time, he’s talking about taking control of rationing equipment. I bet he’s hoarding PPE for future distribution to billionaires, while health care workers die in need of it. That’s just how Republicans operate.

RESIST!!

Open Thread–3/27/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 272020

It’s another painful day here in the CatBox, but taking a pain pill at bedtime allowed me a good sleep last night. Thank God it’s Friday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:24 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

Cases: 85,762

Deaths: 1,306

Recovered: 1,868

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Given the intensity of the conspiracy theories on the radical right that have arisen around the coronavirus pandemic—particularly the number of rightists claiming that government lockdown orders are an initial step in the imposition of a tyrannical order—it was only a matter of time before the U.S. experienced its first coronavirus-related act of domestic terrorism.

On Tuesday, a Missouri man named Timothy Wilson made preparations to set off a car bomb at a local hospital in suburban Belton, which was intended as a revolt against the stay-at-home order issued by Belton’s mayor, but his plan was cut short by an FBI raid. When he apparently resisted with a weapon, he ended up being shot and killed.

One Republican terrorist went down, but there are a pants load more to take his place. Some of them even hold elected office. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): House Scrambles Back To DC To Vote On $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill

All it takes to screw up anything is just one Republican. That’s why every Republican in office is one Republican too many! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Amboy Dukes – Journey To The Center Of The Mind

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–3/25/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 252020

It’s a very tired day here in the CatBox. Because I’m out of pain meds, I got almost no sleep last night. I have a dose to take tonight. I saved it, because it’s a WWWendy night. Happy Hump day to all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 4:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Jen Sorenson Cartoon:

Included with permission from and link to Jen Sorenson

Trump* Virus Update:

0325TrumpVirus

Cases: 55,081

Deaths: 785

Recovered: 379

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: As conditions worsen and the novel coronavirus infects more people daily, white supremacists want to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to advance their racist agenda. Extremist groups, including neo-Nazis, are encouraging infected members to spread coronavirus to law enforcement officials and Jewish people, according to intelligence gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to ABC News, “members of extremist groups are encouraging one another to spread the virus, if contracted, through bodily fluids and personal interactions,” the FBI’s New York office warned in an alert Thursday.

According to the alert, racist extremists urged their followers to use spray bottles to spread bodily fluids to police officers on the street. “Anti-government folks in America love to target law enforcement as a symbol of America’s authority,” Don Mihalek, executive vice president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation, told ABC News. “It’s just sad that that’s their focus at a time of crisis in the nation.”

The white supremacist groups also advised followers to go to “any place they [Jews] may be congregated” to spread the virus including businesses, places of worship, and markets, the alert warned. According to ABC News, white supremacists have been blaming Jewish leaders and people for both the coronavirus and global response to it for weeks. Extremists even blamed the Jewish community for the shutdown of government activities in New York, New Jersey, and California, organizations that monitor white supremacist messaging found. Social media posts by extremists and conspiracy theorists are even attempting to connect “Chinese efforts to safely dispose of victims’ bodies to cast doubt on the number of Jews who died during the Holocaust, the Anti-Defamation League reported.

Here in Portland, the police association, notorious for their racism, has often supported the white supremacist Proud Boys against the almost equally loony anarchist Antifa. It would be karma if the their Nazi Republican friends did this to them, but I hope not. The good police would be infected with the Republicans! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: At long last invoking the Defense Production Act, Donald J. Trump has ordered the nation’s factories to begin mass-producing gallons of spray tan.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said that, because millions of Americans have been forced to remain indoors, the country’s stockpiles of fake-tan reserves have fallen to “dangerously low” levels.

“I sent Mike Pence out to buy some yesterday, and he went to store after store and they were all out,” Trump said. “It’s a disgraceful situation.”

Trump said that, although he had been reluctant to invoke the D.P.A., “People are going to lose their tans within days if nothing is done.”

Under the order, the specific hue of spray tan that Trump has demanded will be pumped out by retrofitted factories that normally manufacture orange paint.

Dang Andy! I don’t think it will help criminal Fuhrer Trump*. Former Speaker John Boehner, aka Agent Orange, will buy out the fake tan spray no matter how much they produce! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Lawrence: Trump’s ‘Deadly Nonsense’ On Re-Opening The Country

Millions of dead people would not bother criminal Fuhrer Trump* or the Nazis of the Republican Reich. I don’t want to see any suicides, but I have to admit that just one Trumpicide* would not be a problem. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past) (I used up my previous playlist and needed to find another.): Time Has Come Today(Chambers Brothers-Long Version)with no cuts to song

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–3/19/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 192020

It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox. I’m trying to research ways forward in treating my cancer, without much success. Store to Door is delivering my groceries this afternoon. As a treat, I’m getting some chocolate syrup, so I can have chocolate milk. I need to stay up to put them away. Have a great day, and thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and kindness.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 5:00). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Wendy in her new Wonder Woman romper:

0319WWWendy

Trump* Virus Update:

0319TrumpVirus

0319TrumpVirusTesting

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Back when he was a regular on Fox News, then-Sheriff David Clarke’s main schtick involved vicious attacks on Black Lives Matter and the progressive movement, all of which led to Donald Trump very nearly naming him to a top seat in the Department of Home Security.

Clarke, the onetime sheriff of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin, was denied that spot, for reasons—mainly related to his propensity to spout conspiracy theories and “constitutionalist” nonsense—that became all too apparent over the weekend, as Clarke (who has over 900,000 followers) took to Twitter to denounce measures to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus as “government control” (nefariously manipulated by George Soros) and urging readers to “take the streets” in defiance of it.

Twitter later removed several of the tweets for violating its terms of service, which include a ban on posts urging self-harm.

“GO INTO THE STREETS FOLKS. Visit bars, restaurants, shopping malls, CHURCHES and demand that your schools re-open. NOW! If government doesn’t stop this foolishness…STAY IN THE STREETS. END GOVERNEMNT CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? THIS IS AN EXPLOITATION OF A CRISIS,” Clarke tweeted on Sunday.

Perhaps deplorable Republican Trump* supporters, especially Roberts, Thomas, Scalito, Whoresuch, and KavaNazi should follow his admonishment! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Failure To Identify, Isolate Coronavirus Infections Puts U.S. On Dark Path

We will surpass Italy in the number of deaths, because criminal Fuhrer Trump* chose to ignore the Asian model and do the necessary testing and isolation. Trump* virus is the legacy of the Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Zombies – She’s not there

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–3/15/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 152020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy is due in about ten minutes, so I’ll have to finish this after I am de-stunk. This is my only article today.

Jig Zone:

Today’s took me 2:56 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoons:

Vintage 2018 and unchanged, except Lyin’ Ryan is flushed.

Trump* Virus Update:

0315TrumpVirus

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Raw Story Channel): Fauci refuses support Trump lie that Obama is to blame for coronavirus testing failures

Whose fault are all of Fuhrer Trump’s* crimes? Someone else’s! RESIST!!

From CNN: The nation’s top infectious disease expert on Sunday did not rule out supporting a temporary national lockdown of the country’s restaurants and bars in order to curb the spread of coronavirus, saying he’d like to see a “dramatic” reduction in activity in order to fight the disease.

Asked by CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “State of the Union” if he’d like a “national lockdown” where people are being told they need to stay home and out of restaurants and bars, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he’d “like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction that we see” in those places.

“Whatever it takes to do that, that’s what I’d like to see,” Fauci added.

I think it needs to be done, in addition to locking Trump* in a Mar-a-lago rest room. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the Past): Simon and Garfunkel – Homeward Bound (1966 – Live)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–3/13/2020

Posted by TomCat at 11:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 132020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, as back pain is slowing me down a bit. WWWendy is back to Sunday, as the Trump* virus is shutting down her school. Throw some salt over your shoulder, and stay away from Republicans. They bring bad luck! TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 6:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0313TrumpVirus

This does not include the thousands of Americans that have Trump* virus, but can’t get tested.

Short Takes:

From NY Times: First came the tickle in the throat. Then, a hacking cough. Then, a shortness of breath she had never experienced before. Hillary King, a 32-year-old consultant in Boston who lives down the street from a hotel where dozens of Biogen executives contracted the new coronavirus, decided that she had better get tested.

But getting tested is far easier said than done, even as testing slowly ramps up nationwide. Five days after President Trump announced that anyone who wants a test can get a test, Ms. King’s experience shows how difficult it can be in the United States to find out if you have the coronavirus.

Many who fear they have the virus have faced one roadblock after another as they try to get tested, according to interviews with dozens of people across the country.

Some have been rejected because they had no symptoms, even though they had been in proximity to someone who tested positive. Others were told no because they had not traveled to a hot spot abroad, even though they had fevers and hacking coughs and lived in cities with growing outbreaks. Still others were told a bitter truth: There simply were not enough tests to go around. [emphasis added]

This is exactly what I said yesterday. In spite of lies from the same Republicans, who turned down FREE tests from the WHO, there are far fewer tests than there is need. People are sickening and dying, because of Republican incompetence. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): How A Country Serious About Coronavirus Does Testing And Quarantine

The Fuhrer of the Fifth Reich is handling the Trump* virus pandemic as well as the Fuhrer of the Fourth Reich handled Katrina. Republican incompetence kills! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Righteous Brothers – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (Top Gun 1986)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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