Sep 152021
 

Yesterday, I changed my mouse battery – twice – because the first “new” battery didn’t work. That may have been the high point of the day – which is fine with me!

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – Texas is pushing the most anti-trans bills in the country. Advocates fear deadly consequences.
Quote – “We just have a fraction of the data and can see that we’re in crisis,” said Victoria Kirby York, deputy executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. “It’s past epidemic, and these state legislatures are making things worse.” … As greater numbers of anti-trans bills have been introduced across more states within the last two years, more trans homicides have taken place in those states. Last year, 56 percent of trans homicides took place in states that attempted to pass anti-trans legislation, per a review of ACLU and Human Rights Campaign data by The 19th. Still, research proving any direct link between the deaths and the legislation is lacking.
Click through for story. There have always been trans people and I don’t remember it being an issue when I was a child or a teen or a twenty-something. I do remember Christine Jorgensen, however. (I don’t remember her getting death threats, though yes, she did get some harassment, but it wasn’t amplified, nor was it legitimized.)

The Hill – Five things to watch in the California recall election
They are – 1. What’s turnout like?
2. Does Democrats’ strategy pay off?
3. Were the polls right?
4. What does the result tell us about the state of politics in California and nationwide?
5. How does scrutiny affect Elder?
Click through for discussion of one or more. By the time you read this, it will be over (though mayme not couted.) Even those of us who don’t live there can learn from watching.

Wonkette – Anti-Maskers Try To Pull A January 6 On School Board, Swear Selves In As Replacements
Quote – Last week, a ragtag group of people who don’t even have children in California’s Poway Unified School District invaded a closed school board meeting, as part of a rally organized by dark money-funded astroturf group “Let Them Breathe,” and refused to leave. Police declined to force them out and instead suggested the school board adjourn the meeting instead. You know, for their own safety.
Click through. I’m not trying to terrify Colleen, especially on e recall election day, but this is all over the news and I can see why. These people have what a former boss of mine ised to refer to as “brass balls the size of church bells.”

Food for Thought –

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Jun 062021
 


Glenn Kirschner with a “Top Five” list o Don McGahn’s testimony

Meidas Touch – More Jason Kande

Armageddon nUpdate – One of Titus’s best. Touching even. It he talks too fast for you, slowing it down to 75% usually helps a lot.

VoteVets now has two ads each aimed at a specific state … and the two states are West Virginia and Arizona. Let me see … what do those twp states have in common?

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, Facebook, and the future….

Keith – I don’t know who he is talking to that thinks Democrats are afrais to arrest Trump**. I don’t see that at all. I’ve heard things like it in the past (over much less consequential actions0, but I’m not hearing it now. And if too hasty arrest causes any case, or any charges, no matter how small, to be tossed out in the courts, Keith is going to look awfully stupid. I love Keith but some one with more prosecutorial knowledge than I needs to sit him down and have a talk.

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May 142021
 

Glenn Kirschner on Two Trump**Stories

Meidas Touch – A Warning

Meidas Touch – BDSM Republicans

Mother Jones has a full leaked video – this has excerpts wiith comments, and a link to the full story.

We deserve answers about the attack.


The Republican Accoutability Project

Now This News – “A Normal Tourist Day”

Robert Reich – Liz Cheney

Beau held this to coordinate it with an event, and then I held it a little because I had so much aterial. But it goes with last weel’s Erinyes.

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Apr 152021
 

The Lincoln Project – Rally Recap

Crooks & Liars – “Socialist” CEO gets last laugh

Really American – Sadly needs to be said.

Frankly, I cannot see John Cornyn having the ability to even find this article. A staffer must have found it. Did the staffer tell him it was satirical? There are multiple scenarios possible here, none of which looks good for Cornyn. (Ms. Clarke has been nominated to head the DOJ Civil Rights Division.)

Now This News (personally, I needed a hanky)

This is your brain on kittens

Beau – I don’ want to spoil it, but you might want a hanky handy.

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Mar 082021
 

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox.  The methadone has ruined the way food tastes for me.  I still haven’t caught up with my sleep.  WWWendy is coming this evening.  Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:16 (average 7:10).  Ti do it, click here.  How did you sdo?

Cartoons:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Disgusting and hateful Senator Tommy Tuberville tried to get an Amendment passed that would have prevented schools from getting funding if they allow transgender students to compete in sports. Sen. Joe Manchin — a Democrat — voted in SUPPORT of the Amendment, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski — a Republican — voted AGAINST it.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) blasted Tuberville for the measure that would have blocked funding for schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports. Murray came out and called a spade a spade, saying that this stunt by Tuberville was “simply an attempt to discriminate against transgender students.”

She added, “For the love of god, can’t we just have a little bit of heart and compassion in this world for someone who doesn’t look or live exactly like you? All students, including transgender students, benefit from participating in sports to challenge themselves, to improve fitness, to be part of a team.”

That ANY Democrat could vote for such a vile amendment makes me want to puke. Unfortunately we can’t challenge DINO Joe in the primaries until the elections of 2024. Even more unfortunately, we need to be damn glad we have him until them, because he alone stands between us and Majority Leader Bought Bitch Mitch!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From Alternet:

A Florida hospital diverted vaccines from the general public to an ultra-wealthy community where its CEO and Republican donors lived.

Gov. Ron DeSantis insists “the state was not involved” in helping to vaccinate 1,200 residents of the wealthy Ocean Reef community in January, but a spokeswoman for Baptist Health Systems, which administered the doses, told Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald that state officials did intervene.

“It is our understanding that the Medical Center at Ocean Reef asked the State of Florida for vaccine doses, and the State of Florida asked Baptist Health to take delivery of the doses to our ultra-cold freezer storage for delivery to the Medical Center at Ocean Reef,” said Baptist Health spokeswoman Dori Alvarez in a statement.

Some of the beneficiaries had donated to the governor’s political action committee, which has garnered almost $4 million, and Baptist Health Systems president and CEO Brian Keeley and his wife own a home in Ocean Reef.

The spokeswoman would not say whether the couple was involved in getting the vaccine doses delivered to their community.

If you believe that that DeSantis had nothing to do with this absurd lie, you should also believe the Pope is not Catholic, Trump** is not an asshole, and bears never ever shit in the woods!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Creedence Clearwater Revival – Proud Mary

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Don’t Let Republicans Steal YOUR Future!!

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Jan 262021
 

It’s another tired-painful day here in the CatBox.  I lost most of my map time yesterday.  My toilet was so badly plugged that Maintenance could not fix it with a regular 10′ snake.  They had to take the toilet out into the hallway and bring a 30′ electric snake from the downtown office.  They were just finishing up when WWWendy arrived.  Tuesday is flush your Republicans Day.  Mine were so vile that they tried to barricade the way down.  I should be in the saddle tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:26 (average 7:00).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

0126Cartoon

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: As Barack Obama’s inauguration kicked off on Jan. 20, 2009, LGBTQ Americans across the country watched with mixed emotions while evangelical pastor Rick Warren delivered the invocation. Though the vast majority of them had voted for Obama, Warren had urged members of his California-based megachurch to vote in favor of a ballot measure stripping marriage rights from same-sex couples; indeed, Proposition 8 narrowly passed on the same night Obama was elevated to the highest office in the land. Election Night had been a double-edged sword for gay and transgender individuals, and Warren’s presence made the inauguration bittersweet as well.

But Obama’s pick of Warren symbolized what ultimately emerged as a stumbling block to his ability to accomplish many of the priorities liberals had voted for in 2008 and which were also broadly popular—action on immigration, climate change, and, at least initially, queer rights. Obama was an incrementalist at heart, and he was still approaching Republicans as rational players in America’s democratic experiment. Including an anti-gay evangelical pastor in his inauguration was one of several olive branches Obama extended to conservatives in the early days of his administration in what would prove to be a fruitless effort to win their cooperation. A dozen years later, however, Obama’s former No. 2—a man who was viewed in the 2020 Democratic primary as far less progressive than Obama was seen in the 2008 contest—is quickly advancing a far more unapologetically progressive agenda from Day One of his administration.

In fact, President Joe Biden has quickly dispensed of many of the old Obama-era battles that flummoxed liberals and eventually drew them to the streets to protest the administration’s inaction. Biden has already sent Congress a bold immigration bill that unequivocally includes a pathway to citizenship, expanded green card access, and fortifies the DACA program for Dreamers established by Obama in 2012. Biden also immediately yanked the Keystone XL pipeline permit—an action Obama didn’t take until 2015, after years of pushing by climate activists. And building on the many hard-fought Obama-era wins on LGBTQ equality, Biden quickly signed an order pushing the most aggressive interpretation of Title VII protections for transgender and gay Americans in employment, housing, and education.

Sure, these are old battles. And to some extent, Biden has benefited from a natural evolution of the issues over a decade. That is particularly true on policies concerning the LGBTQ movement, which emerged from Obama’s presidency lightyears ahead of where it began. But it is also a measure of how far the progressive movement has come over the past decade that we aren’t immediately having to go to battle with a Democratic administration that seems less intent on advancing liberal causes than using them as bargaining chips on the way to accomplishing other goals. So far, that vestige of 90s-era Clintonian politics seems to have finally been laid to rest in the Biden White House.

The departure is clearly throwing some Washington journalists for a loop after decades of watching Democrats kowtow to Republicans.

I really expected Biden to fall into the same trap Obama did, and have repeatedly discussed how we need to hold his feet to the fire. So far, I’ve been wrong and happy to be so.  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From NY Times: Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday dropped his demand that the new Democratic Senate majority promise to preserve the filibuster — which Republicans could use to obstruct President Biden’s agenda — ending an impasse that had prevented Democrats from assuming full power even after their election wins.

In his negotiations with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the new majority leader, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, had refused to agree to a plan for organizing the chamber without a pledge from Democrats to protect the filibuster, a condition that Mr. Schumer had rejected.

But late Monday, as the stalemate persisted, Mr. McConnell found a way out by pointing to statements by two centrist Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, that said they opposed getting rid of the procedural tool — a position they had held for months — as enough of a guarantee to move forward without a formal promise from Mr. Schumer.

“With these assurances, I look forward to moving ahead with a power-sharing agreement modeled on that precedent,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement.

Democrats had been anticipating a capitulation by Mr. McConnell and said they believed he had overreached in the negotiation.

LOL! He chickened-out! This is wonderful! See the Cartoon above.  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Schumer Considering Expanding Judiciary To Balance Courts Packed By McConnell

I agree with him on expanding the judiciary. However, he should be pushing to expand the Supreme Court, because it is now SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD).  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): America – A horse with no name (clip HQ)

Ah… the memories!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!

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A BIG Win for LGBTQ

 Posted by at 10:55 am  Politics
Jun 152020
 

When I learned that the Supreme Court, dominated by the five Injustices of SCROTUS (Republican  anti-Constitutional VD) would be deciding the legality of discriminating against LGBTQ citizens in the workplace, I was sure of the outcome.  Much to my surprise, the decision was a big win for LGBTQ!

0615SCOTUSLGBTQ

Gay and transgender employees cannot be fired from their jobs solely because of their LGBT status, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The court found for the first time that federal civil rights law prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sex also protects employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“An employer who discriminates against homosexual or transgender employees necessarily and intentionally applies sex-based rules,” the court found.

The 6-to-3 ruling, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch, largely turned on the meaning of the word “sex” within Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it unlawful for an employer to “discriminate against any individual” because of their sex.

There was little dispute that Congress did not intend to protect LGBT employees when it passed that landmark civil rights-era legislation. But over 50 years later, lawyers at the hight [sic] court tussled over whether sex-based protections must include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity by consequence.

The Trump administration intervened in the case with a brief arguing that terminating gay or lesbian employees wouldn’t constitute discrimination under Title VII because affected workers of both genders “would be similarly situated—and they would be treated the same.”…

Inserted from <Newsweek>

Please click through.  The article is well worth the read.

Supreme Court says federal law protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination

Although I used to be straight, before I forgot how and became a never-sexual, I could not be more pleased for the LGBTQ community. I’m surprised that Injustice Whoresuch wrote the decision. Of course, Injustices Thomas, Scalito, and KavaNazi opposed.  Nevertheless, it is imperative to take back both the White House and the Senate and keep them long term.  As it it, it will take decades to transform SCROTUS (Republican ant-Constitutional VD) back to SCOTUS.

RESIST!!

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