Open Thread – 2/5/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:35 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 052021

It’s a painful day here in the CatBox. Stowing the groceries yesterday was difficult. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update. WWWendy is coming in the morning. Have a great day, and TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:20 (average 6:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Calling it “the best news I’ve had in months,” Donald J. Trump has excitedly accepted congressional Democrats’ offer to star in a new, nationally broadcast television show.

Trump boasted to reporters about his new TV opportunity, which was presented to him, on Thursday, by Representative Jamie Raskin.

“It’s going to be similar to ‘The Apprentice,’ because I’ll be sitting behind a table, but it will also be a little different,” Trump explained. “Instead of me asking a lot of questions, people will be asking me the questions. That should spice things up.”

The former President said that the “most amazing” aspect of his new show would be the number of networks broadcasting it.

Dang, Andy!! Hopefully the follow up will a show about the Orange Pervert** broadcast from prison cell. It will be called: Orange** is the New Red! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From Daily Kos: On Tuesday, the body of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was killed by pro-Trump insurrectionists during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, was laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived that evening to pay their respects. Americans were able to watch the ceremony on multiple news channels—but not on Fox News. On Fox News, Sicknick’s ceremony was barely mentioned.

Instead, Fox News’ ever-frothing opinion hosts did what they do best: stoke audience panic over all number of bizarre side issues, from a barrage of far-right conspiracy theories promoted by the fascist Laura Ingraham to Sean Hannity’s important report that somebody got ejected from a Lakers game “FOR HECKLING LEBRON.”

Fox’s attempt to mostly pretend Sicknick’s ceremony was not happening did not go without notice. In fact, it seems pretty much everybody noticed it, to the point that both blasting and mocking Fox for their silence became the evening’s hot Twitter pastime.

Most of the criticism noted that Fox News had long pretended that “Blue Lives Matter,” only to have it not matter at all when it came to an officer murdered by a Trump-devoted mob. The Washington Post even put some numbers to it with an analysis of how often the network even bothered to mention Sicknick compared to competing networks, even after the network ran “thousands” of segments about other police deaths during the previous four years.

Accusing Fox News of hypocrisy over the death of police officers, however, is giving them far too much credit. Fox News is not minimizing the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick because they wish to downplay the violence of Trump supporters toward police. Fox News is minimizing Sicknick’s death because they are accessories to his death. [emphasis added]

Click through! This author (Hunter) could not be more spot on! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): No Apology From Greene As House Removes Her From Committees

Thanks to the 11 Republican Representatives that voted for America and against the Nazi Republican Reich. But the sad fact that there were so few of them is ample evidence to show which side the Republican Party is on. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Dust in the Wind

For me, this seems particularly appropriate at the moment. Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

Video Thread 2/2/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:53 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 022021

DCCC getting into the act. There’s also this – same ad, different district) and probably many more.

Really American – BBA

The Lincoln Project

Meidas Touch

Well, this is something you don’t see every day…

Beau on the Rochester (NY) PD

Open Thread – 2/2/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:18 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 022021

It’s another painful/tired day here in the CatBox. I’ve had several trips to the throne room, and while it’s not Republicosis per se, the twisting, pushing and straining is really hard on my back. Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update. WWWendy is coming in the morning and we have lots of chores to do.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:15 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Republicans who want to distinguish themselves from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene or the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol should understand something: They’re going to need to distinguish themselves from the Republican Party itself. Because in the wake of Donald Trump’s time in the White House, Republicans had a decision to make. They could have tried to revert to being the party they were in 2015 and 2016—far right, ragingly hypocritical, and ruthlessly committed to partisan power, but with some basic allegiance to reality—and instead they have chosen to stay on the Trumpy road with the conspiracy theorists and the flagrant racists.

In recent weeks, Republicans have provided a long list of examples of how extremist the party is going to be going forward. Oregon Republicans passed a resolution saying that the attack on the Capitol was a “false flag” by leftists trying to make Trump supporters look bad. Arizona Republicans censured Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake, and Cindy McCain for insufficient loyalty to Trump and for defending the integrity of the state’s election. Rep. Matt Gaetz went to Wyoming to rally support against Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, for having voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection. Don Jr. is also engaged in the attacks on Cheney.

The party’s treatment of Greene is another key example. It’s not hard to find a Republican who will say they oppose Greene’s conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook or Parkland school shootings, or her repeated expressions of interest in assassinating Democratic political leaders. But far from being marginalized over it, she is on the House Education and Labor Committee, which House Republican leadership would have had to agree to. In other words, it’s a repeat of “responsible” Republican responses when Trump would say or do something especially outrageous—they’d claim to be appalled, but go right on embracing him in every way that mattered. And Greene won her primary in Georgia with the backing of Rep. Jim Jordan and Debbie Meadows, the wife of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

At this point, as never-Trump Republican Bill Kristol put it, House Minority Leader “Kevin McCarthy has been more critical of Liz Cheney than he has been of Marjorie Taylor Greene.” Kristol claims to be astonished by that, but he shouldn’t be. This is the Republican Party right now.

I hoped the party might split between old style Republicans and the Trump** party. It looks like that won’t happen. It appears the KKK, Nazi, TEABuggery branch has won the day. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From The New Yorker: In what is being hailed as an amazing act of canine heroism, President Joe Biden’s two German shepherds have dug up Donald J. Trump’s tax returns on the South Lawn of the White House.

According to sources, shortly after the President let Champ and Major out to play in the snow, they started sniffing one small patch of the lawn and digging intently.

Within minutes, the two White House pooches had unearthed twenty years’ worth of Trump’s federal tax returns, which they eagerly deposited on the Oval Office carpet for their master’s perusal.

Dang Andy, those dawgs need to take a vacation to Mar-a Lago, where they can pee on Trump**! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Democrats Nurse Fresh Memories Of Bad Faith Republican ‘Bipartisanship’

The Republican Reich has not changed. Rachel is saying the same things I said yesterday. She knows what Republicans mean when they say bipartisanship.

RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River (Official Lyric Video)

Ah… the memories! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

Open Thread – 2/1/2021

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

Feb 012021

It’s a tired/painful day here in the CatBox. Yesterday, WWWendy and I got all our chores done. I feel very tired. Tomorrow, I expect to be be back in the saddle again. Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:13 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump will act as his own defense attorney at his impeachment trial after receiving a law degree from Trump University.

Trump bestowed the degree upon himself in his capacity as the dean of the Trump University School of Law, where he graduated first in his class.

In his first official statement as the lead attorney of his defense team, Trump vowed not to quit the team “like those other losers.”

Andy, what a wonderful idea! Trump** will get the quality of representation he deserves! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From Crooks and Liars: Tucker Carlson rants about anyone in the media that has dared to call out Fox for it’s dangerous rhetoric egging on white supremacists, and attacks AOC as a “tool of corporate power” for saying there are white supremacist sympathizers in Congress.

Barf Bag Alert!!

AOC is a tool of corporate power. The Pope is Jewish. And bears never, ever shit in the woods! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From Daily Kos: A counterproposal by ten supposedly “moderate” Republican senators that would reduce COVID-19 pandemic emergency funding to a fraction of what’s being proposed by Democrats is landing with a wet thud today, despite the ten Republicans framing their effort around alleged “bipartisan” cooperation. That’s not a surprise; it’s difficult to believe the proposal, led by the perpetually concerned Sen. Susan Collins and including Sens. Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis, and Rob Portman, was meant as genuine proposal. And Democrats, to their credit, seem appropriately skeptical about its earnestness.

The proposal sketched out by the ten Republicans in a letter to President Joe Biden on Sunday is most notable for its slashing of proposed pandemic funding. Biden and Democrats are moving towards a $1.9 trillion plan; the Republican senators are instead proposing just $600 billion, less than a third of that amount. It would reduce proposed survival checks from $1400 to $1000, and cut them off for Americans earning over $50,000 a year or families earning $100,000.

It also cuts school pandemic funding, with Bill Cassidy telling Fox News Sunday that the “real problem” is not ongoing pandemic dangers but “teachers’ unions telling their teachers not to go to work.”

The ten Republicans are attempting to sell the fractional measure as bipartisanship, and major news outlets are predictably gobbling those claims, with The Washington Post musing that “the GOP offer presents a challenge for Biden, who campaigned on promises to unify Congress and the country” and Reuters framing the measure and its supporters with the much-cherished “moderate” label. (It should go without saying that the nine of ten Republican senators who voted to nullify consequences for Trump attempting to extort a foreign leader for personal gain cannot be sensibly called “moderate.”) Of special note, the Republicans are framing their proposal as a way to dodge the partisanship of Democrats passing the Biden-backed proposal using reconciliation rules, rather than caving to Republican filibuster.

Well, you know what Republicans mean when they say “bipartisan”.

RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): New Kid in Town (2013 Remaster)

Ah… the memories. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!

Video Thread 1/28/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:17 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jan 282021

Meidas Touch

Really American – The one I posted yesterday had no CC when I posted it. I went back later in the evening to get a transcript, and then it did have CC. So my advice on this one is to wait 6 or so hours and then view it on YouTube.

Now This News – the GameStop affair – explained simply

Robert Reich – very short and very accurate.

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian

A Philip Markle parody

Beau on how the impeachment trial “should” go. He makes excellent points. ACCOUNTABILITY

Keith from Tuesday

Open Thread – 1/23/2021

Posted by TomCat at 10:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 232021

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox, but my pain level is better than it was yesterday. I think the Republicitis was exacerbating the pain. Tomorrow is a High Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. I will spend the late afternoon booing Josh Hawley and watching my Portland Chiefs play the Buffalo Bills for the NFC title. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update. I have a video meeting with prison volunteer coworkers and former prisoners. Have a fine weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:09). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Seven Senate Democrats are demanding that the Senate Committee on Ethics open an investigation in the actions of Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz for their actions related to the Jan. 6 violent insurrection against Congress.

The two “amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country,” the Democrats write. The group—Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tina Smith (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH)—notes that the Senate has the exclusive power to determine whether the members’ actions violated Senate ethics rules. They are asking the Ethics Committee to carry out a “thorough and fair investigation and consider any appropriate consequences based on the Committee’s findings.”

“When Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley announced they would object to the counting of state-certified electors on January 6, 2021, they amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country,” the senators write. “While Congress was debating Senator Cruz’s objection, a violent mob stormed the Capitol. These insurrectionists ransacked the building, stole property, and openly threatened Members of Congress and the Vice President.” The two didn’t just help incite the riot, the Democrats wrote, but “[b]y proceeding with their objections to the electors after the violent attack, Senators Cruz and Hawley lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause and made future violence more likely.”

The senators write of their concern that members of Congress could have been involved in the coordination not just of the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, but the attack itself. They provide a detailed and well-researched account of the events of the day as well as the background to it, including the threats of violence that were leveled against officials prior to Jan. 6, threats incited by Trump’s fraud claims and reinforced by Hawley and Cruz, who “lent legitimacy to President Trump’s false statements about election fraud by announcing that they would object to the certification of electors on January 6.”

I fully support this move. If these RNP (Republican Nazi Party) traitors are allowed to get away with it, they and others will surely do it again. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Complete bunk’: Erin Burnett calls out Sen. Hawley’s explanation

As long as Biden agrees to the delay, it works for me. It also gives more time to gather evidence sufficiently obvious that it forces Republicans to either proclaim their own treason, like Cruz and Hawley, or to vote to convict. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (Bernie Sanders Channel): We Cannot Reach Out To Republicans Indefinitely.

I fully agree. Republicans are most adept at holding out a fair negotiated agreement as a promise to Democrats in order to gain an advantage, only to act like Lucy with a football. Give them a chance, but one only. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Fleetwood Mac – Landslide (Official Music Video)

Ah… the memories. We needed a landslide. We got one! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!

Open Thread – 1/21/2021

Posted by TomCat at 11:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 212021

It’s a busy painful day here in the CatBox. Today is a grocery delivery day from Store to Door, and I just finished unpacking and storing everything. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, but she is not coming until early evening, so I should be in the in the saddle. Thinking of the former resident**, I hope a ravenous golf got his balls.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:08 (average 4:16). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Joe, even though Trump** is a draft evader, do NOT pardon him!

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Having made it past November, and even past the Jan. 5 runoff in Georgia, it may seem like the airwaves and signboards near you would finally be free of political ads. However … that’s not quite true. While the idea that ads are already showing up for the 2022 election cycle might even be enough to generate howls, there’s a reason that these ads should be welcomed. Because these ads are all about holding Republicans accountable for what they’ve done over the last four years.

That starts with ads that are going on the air in Wisconsin to detail the explicit connection between Sen. Ron Johnson and the violent attempt to overthrow the government. Voters to the south might not be catching those ads, but they could still run across a Josh Hawley billboard from MeidasTouch. It’s all just part of the move to clear the halls of Congress … of the people who promoted a violent attack on the halls of Congress.

0121hawleybb

I love it, but I bet I know who loves it more! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From NY Times: In 17 executive orders, memorandums and proclamations signed hours after his inauguration, President Biden moved swiftly on Wednesday to dismantle Trump administration policies his aides said have caused the “greatest damage” to the nation.

Despite an inaugural address that called for unity and compromise, Mr. Biden’s first actions as president are sharply aimed at sweeping aside former President Donald J. Trump’s pandemic response, reversing his environmental agenda, tearing down his anti-immigration policies, bolstering the teetering economic recovery and restoring federal efforts to promote diversity.

Here’s a look at what the measures aim to accomplish.

Click through for much more information on what those orders entail. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Biden Signs Executive Orders; Set To Announce National Covid Strategy

I think Joe is off to a great start, but we need to make our voices heard, if he becomes too prone to negotiate based on Republican promises. We know how that worked for Obama. RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from America): God Bless the USA – I’m Proud to be an American~ Lee Greenwood Lyrics

I’ve waited far too many years to be able to say this again, at last! RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!

Video Thread 1/13/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 1:48 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jan 132021

Really American

The Lincoln Project – Well, this should leave a mark.

She is from New York (suburbs west of NYC). No CC, but here’s a transcript:
“I also intend to see that those members of Congress who abetted him; those members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5—a reconnaissance for the next day; those members of Congress that incited this violent crowd; those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy; I’m going to see they are held accountable, and if necessary, ensure that they don’t serve in Congress.”