Open Thread–2/15/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 152020

It’s another tired day here in the CatBox. I slept well last night, but I’m pretty run down from a sleep deficit. I need more. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, so please expect no more than an Open Thread. Have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:Today’s took me 3:30 (average 4:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Michael Moore: ‘Trump Is Very Beatable’ In 2020

Who remembers that Michael warned us that Trump* would beat Hillary in 2016? It pleases me to see him say that several Democrats can beat Trump* in 2020, if we do our share. Trump is not worthy of fear, unless Putin successfully puts him in again. The Democratic Party cannot afford to ignore any state in 2020! RESIST!!

From Alternet: “Again, Joni Ernst has shown that she is willing to push our families into poverty with a smile. The programs she plans to cut are a lifeline for millions of Americans. She should be ashamed.”

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa told donors at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. last March that federal spending on non-discretionary programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is “out of control” and will require “changes” in the future.

That’s according to a 55-second audio clip published Wednesday by Iowa Starting Line. In the recording, Ernst is asked by an attendee whether she is on board with Sen. David Perdue’s (R-Ga.) call for cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

“I think we all are because we understand that our non-discretionary spending is growing like this,” replied Ernst, who is up for reelection in 2020. “Everyone focuses on discretionary spending because that is what we can control in Congress. The rest is on autopilot and is out of control. We have to figure out ways to honor the commitments that have been made, but make changes for the future. How we do that, I don’t know.”

Progressive advocacy group Social Security Works tweeted that “changes” is “code for massive cuts.”

Joni Pig Nuts isn’t alone in this. When it comes to slashing YOUR Medicare and Medicaid, the entire Republican Reich want to cut off YOUR nuts and more! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): the kinks- you really got me

Ah… The memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/1/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 012020

It’s another muggy day, here in the CatBox. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, so I’m not too sure how much I’ll have for you then. Then Monday, I’ll be gone for my cardiac stress test from 9:30 in the morning until around 5 PM with no food and no nap. I’ll be exhausted, so I may not cover Iowa very well. Have a great weekend!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 5:50). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Alternet: 3. The Soviet Union and China achieved state capitalism, not socialism

As leader of the Soviet Union, Lenin once said that socialism was a goal, not yet an achieved reality. The Soviet had, instead, achieved “state capitalism.” A socialist party had state power, and the state had become the industrial capitalist displacing the former private capitalists. The Soviet revolution had changed who the employer was; it had not ended the employer/employee relationship. Thus, it was—to a certain extent—capitalist.

Lenin’s successor, Stalin, declared that the Soviet Union had achieved socialism. In effect, he offered Soviet state capitalism as if it were the model for socialism worldwide. Socialism’s enemies have used this identification ever since to equate socialism with political dictatorship. Of course, this required obscuring or denying that (1) dictatorships have often existed in capitalist societies and (2) socialisms have often existed without dictatorships.

After initially copying the Soviet model, China changed its development strategy to embrace instead a state-supervised mix of state and private capitalism focused on exports. China’s powerful government would organize a basic deal with global capitalists, providing cheap labor, government support, and a growing domestic market. In exchange, foreign capitalists would partner with Chinese state or private capitalists, share technology, and integrate Chinese output into global wholesale and retail trade systems. China’s brand of socialism—a hybrid state capitalism that included both communist and social-democratic streams—proved it could grow faster over more years than any capitalist economy had ever done.

The only Socialism we need to fear in the US is the National Socialism of the Republican Reich. This is the third of ten things you should know about Socialism. Please click through for the other nine. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Watch ER doctor confront Mike Pence

While evading the question, Republican traitor Pence failed to mention that he fought Medicaid expansion in Indiana tooth and nail. It passed in spite of him. What a liar! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline High Quality

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Seniors, Disabled and Poor: Beware!

Posted by TomCat at 8:48 am Politics

Jan 242020

Since Vladimir Putin [R-RU] and the Republican Reich helped Donald Trump* steal the White House, he hasn’t changed much. He has a penchant for saying whatever he thinks his audience want to here. On the campaign trail in 2016, his handlers knew that he could not endorse Paul Lyin’ Ryan’s standard Republican plan to gut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If he had, he could never have gotten close enough to steal the election. However, at Davos, talking to fat cats, he forgot that he’s campaigning again, and said what he really thinks.

When President Trump suggested to an interviewer at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that he would, “at some point,” look at cutting entitlement programs, his Democratic critics seized on the comments as evidence that Mr. Trump would gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in a second term.

“Even as the impeachment trial is underway, Trump is still talking about cutting your Social Security,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said at the beginning of a news conference that was ostensibly about the Senate impeachment trial.

The Democratic super PAC Priorities USA posted on Twitter about Mr. Trump’s remarks, and others contrasted his statement with his 2016 campaign pledge not to touch entitlement programs… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Is President Donald Trump Open To Making Medicare Cuts?

This was an obvious gaffe. While running off at the mouth, Fuhrer Trump* confirmed his support for Republican dogma. He and the rest of the Republican Reich want to give seniors the RepubliCare Death Benefit. If seniors can’t pay for care, or for rent or for food, Republicans will allow to die for free! However, they will charge for corpse disposal.

RESIST!!

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