Open Thread – 1/4/2020

Posted by TomCat at 7:58 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 042020

It’s a tired Saturday here in the CatBox. I had a kink in my back last night that was so severe, that I finally gave up at around 2:00 AM and took an Oxycodone. The Republican war to retain power still dominates the news, and since I covered that yesterday, this is my only article today. Today and tomorrow are Holy Days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the Festival of Cards Gone Wild. Good luck, Pat! Tomorrow is also a WWWendy day to de-stink the rancid TomCat. We have lots of chores to do do, so please expect no more than a Personal Update from me. Have a peaceful weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: The reasons that Donald Trump would need a massive distraction at this point are numerous. Every day seems to produce fresh evidence that the White House was fully aware that Trump’s delay of military assistance to Ukraine was simply against the law, and that multiple officials engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover up for Trump and retroactively create an excuse for an inexcusable act. Somewhere right now, Mitch McConnell is probably drafting a statement claiming that the Senate could not possibly consider an impeachment trial “during a time of war.”

But onto that stack of dog-wagging rationales add this one: According to Forensic News, Trump’s loans from Deutsche Bank were underwritten by a Russian state-owned bank. That news reportedly comes from a whistleblower with access to documents from both Deutsche Bank and Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank. VTB Bank was also the proposed lender on the never-completed Trump Tower Moscow project.

The question of why Deutsche Bank would extend a series of huge loans to Trump has been dangling since before he ever announced his candidacy for president on a golden escalator ride. When Trump first went to Deutsche Bank, he was worse than broke. He had just finished bankrupting multiple casinos in New Jersey, and then had convinced investors to back a takeover of those casinos at a fraction of the original value. Then Trump deliberately allowed the investment group to go bankrupt so he could grab the whole deal himself at a fraction of what his investors had paid. Then he went bankrupt. Again. And along the way he was socked with a massive fine for money laundering at his now bankrupt (again) casino.

Trump was so fiscally radioactive that no American bank would let him in the door. But Deutsche Bank turned around and gifted Trump with loans that gave him a fresh start and an apparently miracle turnaround of his New York real estate empire. Those loans have always been the subject of head-scratching over just what Deutsche Bank could have been thinking. But if Forensic News is right, what Deutsche Bank was thinking was that it wasn’t risking a damn thing, because the Russian government was actually vouching for Trump through VTB Bank. If Trump didn’t come through, Vladimir Putin was offering to make it good.

As I have said for over a year, Trump* is Putin’s Pet Pervert! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Erin Burnett calls Trump’s 2011 video about Obama and Iran ‘unbelievable’

Is that projection or what? To be fair, if the Reich can show evidence that the “immanent threat” they claim is real, and that assassinating a leader of one sovereign nation in the territory of another sovereign nation can ameliorate that threat, I’ll be the first to say I am wrong. In the interim, the Republican track record for lying us into three wars, and the Trump* track record for lying about virtually everything, demand disbelief of every claim they make without proof. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Doors – Riders on the Storm (Official Audio)

I can’t stand the words to this song, but the music is incredible. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 1/2/2020

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

Jan 022020

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox, and it’s a very slow day for news, so this is today’s only article from me. I see the thoracic surgeon in two weeks, so I’ll know more about my cancer then. I hope that your your week is Republican free.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:09 (average 5:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Full Frontal Channel): Full Frontal Rewind: How We Destroyed Health Care

Didn’t Sam do a great job with this? American health care is screwed for three identical reasons: the Republican Reich! RESIST!!

From CNN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested immunity from prosecution in three corruption cases in which he faces indictment on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Netanyahu submitted the request to the Knesset late Wednesday night, saying he plans on leading the country “for many years to come.”

“What is being done to me is a field court-martial by misleading the public,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement Wednesday evening in Jerusalem. “The immunity law is intended to protect elected officials from fabricated legal proceedings — from political indictment intended to damage the will of the people. This law intends to ensure that those elected can serve the people according to the will of the people, not the will of the law clerks.”

Charges against Netanyahu were unveiled in November. He’s maintained his innocence throughout the ongoing criminal proceedings, calling them an “attempted coup” led by the left and the media.

Butcher Bibi should share a cell with his beloved idol, from whom he has learned so well to dodge the consequences of his crimes. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Byrds – Eight Miles High – 9/23/1970 – Fillmore East (Official)

I had left NYC and the Lower East Side by then, but I loved the Byrds, I loved this instrumental version, and I loved Fillmore East. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Bullshit*

Posted by TomCat at 8:44 am Politics

Dec 302019

Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten, aka Bone Spurs, aka Putin’s Pet Pervert will now be known throughout eternity as Trump*. Therefore is it not appropriate to identify the lame attempts by Barrf, Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch, Faux Noise, and the rest of the criminal Republican Reich to justify those crimes as Bullshit”?

The New York Times has a comprehensive look this morning at the timeline and actions surrounding the withholding of aid to Ukraine, and I strongly suggest you read it all. But this was the ultimate in political appointees (most with personal and professional ties to Mick Mulvaney) creating rationales to justify whatever Trump wanted: Just ignore the law! Like the political operatives they are, they had little interest in whether there was a valid legal basis for their arguments, they just wanted something that sounded good enough to sell, and came up with something that cemented Trump’s vision of himself as a monarch, unaccountable to anyone:

By late summer, top lawyers at the budget office were developing a proposed legal justification for the hold, based in part on conversations with White House lawyers as well as the Justice Department.

Their argument was that lifting the hold would undermine Mr. Trump’s negotiating position in his efforts to fight corruption in Ukraine.

The president, the lawyers believed, could ignore the requirements of the Impoundment Control Act and continue to hold the aid by asserting constitutional commander in chief powers that give him authority over diplomacy. He could do so, they believed, if he determined that, based on existing circumstances, releasing the money would undermine military or diplomatic efforts.

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

That certainly illustrated the need for more witnesses. The more we discover, the more pleased I an that Speaker Pelosi [D-CA] is standing up to Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch’s bullshit*!

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/29/2019

Posted by TomCat at 7:36 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 292019

This is my only article today. WWWendy is coming to the CatBox for chores and my de-stinking. We have lots to do. In addition my Broncos are televised this afternoon. I did manage to eat a small portion of beans and rice for lunch, a small portion of soup for supper and a small donut for breakfast. It’s a relief to go a whole day without throwing up for the first time in days! Go Broncos!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Republican Senators have not bought into Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s impeachment strategy as the Senate trial looms.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) explained the dynamic during an interview on the Connecticut Network.

“I’ve talked to anywhere from five to 10 of my colleagues who have very severe misgivings about the direction that Mitch McConnell is going in denying a full, fair proceeding with witnesses and documents. My hope is that they will say publicly what Sen. Murkowski did, and really hold Mitch McConnell accountable,” Blumenthal said, as reported by The Hill.

Earlier this week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) publicly questioned McConnell’s strategy during a Christmas Eve interview with local television station KTUU.

Republicans are consummate liars. I’ll believe this, if and only if they vote against Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): NYPD stepping up presence in Brooklyn after a series of possible anti-Semitic hate crimes

It appears there are more Republican hate criminals in Brooklyn than I thought! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past):

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/21/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 212019

It’s a busy time here in the CatBox. My heartburn was so severe last night that I threw up. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos play the Lions, but it won’t be televised here. May the divine Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they are bearded puddy tats. Tomorrow is also a WWWendy day and we lave lots of chores to do. Monday is my gastroenterologist appointment, thank God. I’ll be gone from around 7:00 AM until Noon. Therefore, please expect no more than a Personal Update from me. Please have a safe weekend!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:11 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Baggers, if you remember is short for Republican Tea Baggers.

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): FROSTY THE SNOWMAN (doesn’t have the Climate Blues)

Thanks, Don. I almost missed this due to a hospital procedure. Glad I didn’t. The top ten Democratic Presidential candidates ALL support the Green New Deal! Give that damn snow Republican a furnace for Christmas! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Michael Moore: GOP ‘Dying Dinosaurs,’ Impeach Them

I love Michael Moore! I agree with him about who the Republican Party are, and I agree they are a dying dinosaur, with the caveat that, if they succeed in stealing and replacing our Republic with a National Socialist Reich, America, Not the Republican Party, will become extinct! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): John Lennon-Power To The People-Offical [sic] Video-HQ

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/18/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 182019

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox. Yesterday was a gruesome day. TriMet Lift got me to the hospital 75 minutes early. No complaint. Better that than late. Then the Anesthesiologist was two hours late to my procedure. She was planning a general, but I would likely have to have spent the night, if they did. I ordered her to dope me up as little as possible with twilight drugs, gritted my teeth, and bore up under the pain, which was more severe than I anticipated. The doctor did hit the target, and I should know next week. WWWendy (God bless her!) got me home around five and fed me. I could not be more pleased that day is over! I’m pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:29 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Republicans would love to do this to all minorities!

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the latest in our own fantasy football league.

15Playoffs

Congrats to me and the Squatch for winning our games. Kudos to me for a record high score. This weekend WWWendy plays me, and Vivian plays the Squatch in the Semifinal games. Patty Monster is bye this week and will win the 5th place game next week. Good luck to all!

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The next Democratic presidential debate will go on as scheduled Thursday, after negotiators on Tuesday reached agreement in a labor dispute that had threatened to upend the event while highlighting organized labor’s influence with the leading Democratic presidential candidates.

The debate, which will be held at Loyola Marymount University, had been in question since last week after the seven participating Democrats each said that they would not cross a picket line, if there was one.

The dispute, between a cafeteria workers union and a food services company at Loyola Marymount, involved only about 150 workers and had drawn little notice over nine months. Yet in the heated political atmosphere surrounding the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, the impasse attracted outsized attention this month as the sixth primary debate approached.

Kudos to all the Democratic candidates for supporting the fight against the Republican War on labor! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): McConnell on impeachment trial: I’m not an impartial juror

Since Bought Mitch Moscow Mitch refuses to accede to his Constitutional mandate of impartiality, either he should recuse himself, or Injustice Roberts of SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD) should order him to step down. Fat Chance! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): George Harrison-Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Afghanistan: 18 Years of Lies

Posted by TomCat at 10:12 am Politics

Dec 092019

The Post has uncovered a treasure trove of documents that bring to light the many falsehoods and failures of three Administrations from both political parties to prosecute the War in Afghanistan, bring it to an end, or even tell the truth about it.

For 18 years, America has been at war in Afghanistan. As part of a government project to understand what went wrong, a federal agency interviewed more than 400 people who had a direct role in the conflict. In those interviews, generals, ambassadors, diplomats and other insiders offered firsthand accounts of the mistakes that have prolonged the war.

The full, unsparing remarks and the identities of many of those who made them have never been made public — until now. After a three-year legal battle, The Washington Post won release of more than 2,000 pages of “Lessons Learned” interviews conducted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Those interviews reveal there was no consensus on the war’s objectives, let alone how to end the conflict.

To augment the previously undisclosed interviews, The Post also obtained hundreds of confidential memos by former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld from the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research institute. Known as “snowflakes,” the memos are brief instructions or comments that the Pentagon leader dictated to his underlings as the war unfolded.

Together, the interviews and the Rumsfeld memos reveal a secret, unvarnished history of the conflict and offer new insights into how three presidential administrations have failed for nearly two decades to deliver on their promises to end the war…

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Scroll down almost to the bottom of the page for text of 611 documents.

Here’s the video.

Exclusive: A secret history of the war in Afghanistan, revealed

Finally, we need to examine earlier history to understand this better.

Let me be clear that Barack Obama was wrong to continue the war, which I said several times at that time. In addition, he was wrong not to challenge the lies of the GW Bush Regime about Afghanistan. But this war is a product of the Republican Party. In the 1980s the CIA under the Ronald Reagan administration created Al Qaeda by funding and arming Osama Bin Laden and other Wahhabi terrorists to commit terrorist acts against the Russian troops occupying Afghanistan. Without this Republican Terrorism, 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, and ISIL would never have happened.

Finally, please keep the Post article as a resource. It’s the best source I’ve seen.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/7/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:26 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Dec 072019

It’s a comparatively lazy day, here in the CatBox. Today’s articles are my only chore, except routine food prep and cleanup. I am a bit tired, because stayed up to watch the 13th ranked Oregon Ducks win the PAC 12 by beating the 5th ranked Utah Utes 37 – 15. Tomorrow is a Holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos are playing the Texans. Pat will get to watch it. I won’t. Sadly, no matter how much I yell at Pat, her team is just too horny for my guys. Tomorrow is also a WWWendy Day. One of our planned chores is to fleece the shaggy TomCat, before de-stinking the rancid TomCat. Therefor, please expect no more than a Personal Update. Have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:23 (average 5:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rammed through eight of President Donald Trump’s lifetime judicial picks in just three days this week, accelerating the far-right court takeover that one commentator warned is “absolutely going to hamstring efforts to make the U.S. into a responsible, civilized country, for as long as we live.”

The latest slew of confirmations, according to Bloomberg‘s Sahil Kapur, means that Trump and his Federalist Society allies have now hand-picked “about one in every five American federal judges,” or 170 judges total.

“Nearly all are in their 40s or 50s with lifetime appointments and positioned to shape American law for generations,” Kapur noted on Twitter. “It gets a tiny fraction of attention compared to other stuff he does but this is the Trump legacy that’ll echo for generations after he’s gone.”

I wish I knew what to do. Frankly, I’m at a loss. Can we impeach 170 at once? My best guest is that the majority are guilty of crimes, if only lying during their confirmation process. As soon as we return DOJ to the people, they all should be investigated, and most, indicted, convicted, and/or disbarred. RESIST!!

From YouTube (RWW Channel): RWW News: Rick Wiles Says ‘The Democrats Are Forcing Me to Stockpile Ammunition’

Barf Bag Alert!!

Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, the polar opposites of true authentic Christians, are experts at projection. That is, they accuse the left of committing their own crimes. It is these Ammosexuals, who art plotting the overthrow of America through violent Talibangelical Jihad, not Democrats! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Monkees – I’m a Believer, 1966 (HQ Stereo)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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