Open Thread September 9 2024

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 092024
 

Yesterday, I visited Virgil and of course we played cribbage. We had hands ranging from zero (several of those) to 26 (only one of those. I’m thinking next time I go, since I always have to wait a few minutes, I might stack the deck to give him a perfect hand, just to see his face. The drive was easy both ways. A little rain just before getting home, but not enough to annoy me, let alone endanger me.

Also yesterday (late) in her weekly “The Week Ahead” post,. Joyce Vance asks her readers to explain to her, if possible, what makes Trump** voters tick.  I am not a paid subscriber, so i can’t comment on that post, and I am not on Xitter so I can’t reach her that way.  But I would love to recommend that she read the article by Dorothy Thompson in a 1941 issue of Harper’s (link is to archive dot is so no paywall).  There’s a lot in it, but I particularly want to point out that she points out (to bastardize a quote from Shalespeare) that some are born Nazi, some become Nazi, and some have Naziism thrust upon  them.  In other words, there’s not one single reason.  But Thompson’s examples provide clues to determining who is which, which is the only thing I can think of that might help.

There’s a new Schmidt Storm, with the bonus that he provides links to last weeks “The Warning’s. To me, any reportage which promises to answer people’s questions is likely worth looking at – even if the questions aren’t your questions, the answers give insight into what others are thinking and wondering.

Heather Cox Richardson dives into the methods of Russian disinformation work. It’s not pretty. But it shouldn’t be ignored.

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Open Thread July 21, 2023

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 212023
 

Yesterday, it was still cooler, cooler than the day before, and is expected to be even cooler today. But then it goes back up. The highest high predicted in the next nine days, however, is only 94°F. I’m actually good with that. My fans can handle that just fine.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

HuffPost – Why A Victim Of Police Brutality Chose Restorative Justice For The Cop
Quote – Teri Jacobs, a photojournalist, was working at a protest that went awry in Portland on Aug. 18, 2020. When police ordered that the crowd disperse, Jacobs, who identified herself as a member of the press, said she was trying to help a friend when an officer named Corey Budworth began to hit her repeatedly with a baton on the head, neck and back. Jacobs said she went to the hospital the next day with bruises on her face and bumps on her head…. Two years later, Jacobs and Budworth came to a new agreement: They would each participate in a restorative justice program managed by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
Click through for story. Not only is it about restorative justice, but it’s from Portland, OR. How could I not share it here?  TomCat would have been sso proud.

Wonkette – Donald Trump Hoarding Jewish Artifacts At Mar-a-Lago, And We Don’t Mean The Club’s Members
Quote – It’s time for a new episode of our favorite show, “Hoarders: Mar-a-Lago.” What items might our former president Donald “Sticky Fingers” Trump be keeping somewhere deep in the towers of classified documents and old Steak ‘Um packages that line the musty halls in which he will one day die alone, in his bathrobe, muttering “Rosebud” and clenching satellite photos of an Iranian nuclear weapons plant to his chest just before a nurse rushes in for an unenthusiastic round of CPR capped off with a celebratory martini? If you guessed “ancient Israeli antiquities,” well, congrats. According to news reports, Trump has been keeping these antiquities at his home like some sort of 19th Century British lord, and Israel has not been able to get them back.
Click through for details. This is the first Wonkette story I have used since they migrated to Substack, so you may need to click something to continue reading – or you may not. Substack allowed Wonkette to keep its domain address so all bets are off. Becca had the same reaction I did – that this is a really Nazi thing for him to do (see FFT).

Food For Thought

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“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

 Posted by at 4:50 pm  Politics
Mar 252023
 

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

~ Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

 

As someone who takes Dylan Thomas’ advice to heart, I’m please to let centenarian and “Craftivist” Grace Linn introduce herself to us all:

“I am Grace Linn.  I am a hundred years young.  I’m here to protest our school’s district book-banning policy.  My husband, Robert Nicoll, was killed in action in World War II at a very young age.  He was only 26, defending our democracy, Constitution, and freedoms.”

And with that opening salvo clearly aimed at DeSantis earlier this week, Grace Linn brought the house down at the latest Martin County School Board meeting in Florida!  Most of the 500-plus overflow crowd was there to show their support for Ms. Linn’s personal and heartfelt protest of Ron DeSantis’ fascist book banning obsession.

She continued:

“One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books they banned.  They stopped the free press and banned and burned books.  The freedom to read, which is protected by the First Amendment, is our essential right and duty of our democracy.  Even so, it is continually under attack by both the public and private groups who think they hold the truth.”

While addressing the crowd comfortably seated on her walker, a friend of hers displayed the quilt she made last year of just some of the books that have been banned.  At DeSantis’ goading, Florida’s public schools’ libraries have now banned close to 200 “offensive” tomes from their shelves.

Each square of Linn’s quilt shows a stack of books that have been banned and targeted – many of which have been penned by authors honored with numerous literary awards, including several by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison.

Linn said that burning books and banning books is done for the same reason: fear of knowledge.

She made clear she was there to oppose Florida’s schools that are being goaded by DeSantis to ban books that irritate right-wingers and evangelical fundamentalists – a danger she compares to the evil her first husband fought and died for fighting against Nazism in WWII.

“Banning books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason. Fear of knowledge. Fear is not freedom. Fear is not liberty. Fear is control. My husband died as a father of freedom. I am a mother of liberty. Banned books need to be proudly displayed and protected from school boards like this. Thank you very much.”

On her departure, Ms. Linn was greeted as the hero she truly is …

During a later interview Ms. Linn explained the purpose of her quilt:

“To remind all of us that these few of so many more books that are banned and targeted need to be proudly displayed and protected—and read, if you choose to.”

Having lost her first husband in WWII’s battle against Nazis and Fascists, along with two brothers (one who was wounded while battling Hitler’s forces and the other suffering PTSD from personally participating in the liberation of Auschwitz), Ms. Linn (who still drives and lives by herself) promised to continue the good fight.

“I always feel that it’s my duty.  When history is forgotten or not used and not allowed to be used, history will repeat itself and we had enough of that during the Nazism that occurred in Germany.”

 

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Open Thread December 9, 2022

 Posted by at 7:20 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 092022
 

Yesterday, I was glad to see that we finally found someone acceptable to swap for Britney Griner, who is now on her way home. About time, too.  Of course Republicans are screaming bloody murder.  But there are a few other good news items which got me through the day. and I got to see my BFF, who ca  me by to bring me a prescription so I don’t have to go into a store and get exposed to heaven knows what.  The three items which I think really command attention concern Lizzo, Biden, and Kamala Harris.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Germany Arrests 25 In QAnon-Fueled Coup Plot, Proving America Does Too Still Export Stuff
Quote – The plot included a plan to attack Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, to kill members or take them hostage. By golly, we have seen that movie…. In addition to the plan to storm the Bundestag, the group allegedly planned to attack Germany’s electric grid and use the resulting chaos to foment a civil war. All told, while only 25 people were arrested, a total of 50 have been accused of involvement in the terrorist organization.
Click through for story. This appears to be a bit of a scoop – there was a short clip on MSNBC and that was all I found (it’s in the video thread.)

Crooks & Liars – ‘Religious Freedom’ Bites Forced-Birthers Where The ‘Son’ Don’t Shine
Quote – Jewish people, for instance, don’t believe the fetus has a soul until it draws its first independent breath. We prioritize the life of the pregnant person above the life of the fetus for the entirety of the pregnancy, including in situations that put the pregnant person’s emotional health at risk. With the imposition of the GOP’s fetus-fetish laws all over the nation, however, Jews and others whose religions don’t subscribe to the ideology of these nutters are fighting fire with fire.
Click through for details. I applaud this work. I’m so tired of people claiming to be Christians saying abortion is murder when the Bible does not say so, but implies it is not. What clearly IS murder is failing to treat pregnancy issues and thereby causing death. If you’re going to outlaw abortion, you might as well also outlaw the Heimlich maneuver.

Food For Thought – OMG, this is beautiful!

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Friday Fun: Herr Drumpf Doubles Down on His Grifting

 Posted by at 2:57 pm  Politics
Aug 062021
 

From the same grifter that last month offered “autographed” photos of himself for $45, Herr Drumpf this week asked his Trumpkins to vote for their favorite design from four offerings to then become the “Offical” [sic] Trump membership card.   Trump’s Save America PAC, according to Insider, sent out at least two emails with the four selections of red-and gold cards, similar to credit cards.

“The card you select will be carried by Patriots all around the Country,” the first email said. “They will be a sign of your dedicated support to our movement to SAVE AMERICA, and I’m putting my full trust in you.”

The Trump team said in a follow-up email, “We’re about to launch our Official Trump Cards, which will be reserved for President Trump’s STRONGEST supporters.”

“We recently met with the President in his Florida office and showed him four designs,” the email continued. “Originally we were planning on releasing just one design, but when President Trump saw the cards on his desk, he said, ‘These are BEAUTIFUL. We should let the American People decide – they ALWAYS know best!'”

[EDITOR’S NOTE: “They ALWAYS know best!”  He’s right – both Hillary and Biden beat him with landslide votes!]

But two glaring oddities were immediately noticed:

[1] He misspelled “Official” as “Offical”

It’s not all that surprising.  After all, we knew they were Nazis – but obviously they’re not GRAMMAR Nazis.

Even more understandable when you meet the proofreading team for the membership card:

[2] Donnie is no longer even trying to hide his true feelings.  He brazenly included the official symbol of the Nazis that was first used in 1920s Germany.  So it’s not a bit difficult to believe that The Former Guy (TFG) would go with the Third Reich’s official symbol – the Iron Eagle!

As you knew would happen, the Twitterverse pounced!

The Nazi’s Iron Eagle quickly became a favorite topic.

 

 

And it’s not the first time TFG has used the Third Reich’s Iron Eagle.  Remember the Trump/Pence “America First” T-shirts?

 

And since request for an armband was raised, I decided to go ahead and design one for them myself:

Word on the street is the card will be well worth having.  If your Visa or Discover card is declined at Starbucks, you can use it to at least buy a cup of covfefe.  It probably won’t be long before we see TFG borrowing Capital One’s credit card slogan: “What’s in Your Wallet?”  I can see it now:

Of course there will be other perks (but only if those Trump businesses still exist) …

 

Rep. Eric Swalwell was kind enough to add a disclaimer for the card:

 

I think this is a good Bottom Line summary of TFG membership card grift:

 

 

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Open Thread – 2/7/2021

 Posted by at 11:27 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 072021
 

It’s another painful day here in the CatBox.  My recent gastrointestinal issues set off a severe bout of Republicitis, and I just had to spend over 90 minutes on the throne trying to… pardon my literal rendition… shit a brick.  It also my last Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  I stole my Portland Chiefs because they are too good to be Nazi Republican Josh Hawley’s team.  However, turn about is fair play.  Tom Brady is a notorious cheat, and is infamous for playing with his balls in the locker room.  In addition, he is an outspoken Trump** lover.  That seems a perfect match for Nazi Republican Josh Hawley, so we could give Josh the Bucs: the Kansas City Buccaneers.  Can you imagine anyone objecting to that? Winking smile  Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:22 (average 4:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: For many Republican voters across the country, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol inspired by Donald Trump and carried out by his rabid supporters was the last straw. Literally tens of thousands of Republican voters have changed their party registration since the November election, with defections noticeably spiking after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol complex.

Many of those conservative voters switched to “unaffiliated” while others either went third-party or chose to affiliate with the Democratic Party. Lyle Darrah, who lives north of Denver in Weld County, was one voter who made the leap from Republican to Democrat, according to NPR. Darrah, a 49-year-old Coloradan who voted Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, said he was “completely shocked and ashamed” as he watched the events unfold on Jan. 6. “It’s something I felt I could no longer be in support of,” he added, and he hopes the switch sends “a signal” to the Republican Party.

And he’s clearly not alone. In the week from Jan. 6 through Jan. 12, Colorado Public Radio found that about 4,600 Republicans changed their party status in the state. “All told, the Colorado GOP lost about a half a percent of its registered voters in the week after the riot,” writes NPR. The same trend is occurring nationwide, according to a variety of news outlets that have documented the changes since the November election. Here’s a brief rundown:

I certainly disagree with conservative voters most of the time, but being conservative and supporting the Nazis that control the Republican Reich are two completely different things. I can respect a conservative, but not a Nazi Republican.  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Super Bowl Pre-game Show Cold Open

 

FOMCROTFPIMPLMAO!!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon (Official Music VIdeo)

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Build the Future. It Belongs to YOU!!

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Open Thread – 2/2/2021

 Posted by 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!!

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Open Thread -1/8/2021

 Posted by at 11:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 082021
 

It’s a very tired day here in the CatBox.  Unpacking and putting away groceries took over 90 minutes yesterday.  Also, I slept poorly last night, as I wondered how our nation can survive another week and a half.  I expect to be in the saddle tomorrow.  Tomorrow and Sunday are High Holy Days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, but my Portland gave a bye in the Wild Card Week of the playoffs!  TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 5:05).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) has been a Congresswoman for approximately 9 minutes, and saw fit to make herself famous by quoting Adolf Hitler in her speech supporting Trump’s attempted coup to overturn Biden’s win in the 2020 election.

 

It America survives, Trump* will be out office on or before the 20th, but He would never have become Fuhrer, if he did not represent the beliefs of the Republican Party, the Nazi Party of America.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Two Days After Riots, Trump Reverses His Stance On Election Loss

 

The Republican Reich will parrot Trump’s* teleprompter speech and act like everything else never happened. It’s time for Trump* to become Trump** and for him and the rest of the crew to inmates.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Barry McGuire – Eve Of Destruction

 

Ah… the memories! Again?  RESIST!!

11 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

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