Open Thread–5/5/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:30 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 052020

It’s a tired day, here in the CatBox, as yesterday completely wore me out. I’ve avoided tatoos all my life, but now I have five. They are small dots on my abdomen to serve as targeting guides. I almost asked them to roll me over and put two eyes above my butt hole. That would have given me a Trump* tattoo that acts just like the Fuhrer does!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:38 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0505TrumpVirusMap

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: There is an op-ed in the Kansas City Star written by Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren (www.kansascity.com/…) promising to use the power of the government to punish the blatant corruption that is obvious everywhere:

The Biden administration will appoint an inspector general to review every coronavirus relief transaction currently evading serious scrutiny. Wasteful, corrupt deals and giveaways will be rooted out and undone. Suspicious transactions will be referred to the Justice Department for investigation and prosecution. Every Trump administration official and business executive contemplating such deals should hear us loud and clear. Trump may wink and nod at this corruption. We will not.

Imagine what this means for Jared Kushner? Or everyone involved in the open piracy of stealing medical supplies from a state that paid for them (and arranged transportation)? Or all the companies selling our national stockpile for high profits?

When this unfortunate virus has stabilized, we need a national truth and reconciliation committee. And with real jail time!!

Wow! If they really follow through this time, unlike far too many past instances, we’ll need to build more prisons to hold those Republican corporate criminals. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): New Ad From Conservative Group Angers Trump

I think the Lincoln Project made a fantastic ad. On most things, I completely disagree with most conservatives. However, I am willing to respect them, coexist with them, and compromise with then, with one caveat. It must be mutual. That cannot happen with today’s Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Donovan – Catch the wind

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–4/30/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Apr 302020

It’s a crappy day here in the CatBox. I spent a lot of time on the throne this morning. The problem with eating goop is like the problem with computer programming. Goop in; goop out. I talked to Megan (my PCP) and Evelyn’s (my Oncologist) nurse this morning. We all agree that the best way to deal with Republicosis is Imodium AD. Thursday is send Republicosis to criminal Fuhrer Trump* Day!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 5:00). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0430TrumpVirusMap

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Vice-President Mike Pence has started wearing a mask after Anthony Fauci told him that it will protect him from women, Fauci has confirmed.

After seeing video of a maskless Pence touring the Mayo Clinic, on Tuesday, Fauci said, “I knew I had to come up with something fast” to get through to Pence.

Fauci immediately got on the phone with the Vice-President and informed him that “clinical research” had demonstrated that a mask is “an effective female-repellent.”

I believe you, Andy. That brown-nose sycophant, Pence, would love ensure that the use of his butt is reserved exclusively for his beloved criminal Fuhrer Trump*. RESIST!!

From Alternet: Countless non-fundamentalist churches in the United States, from Catholic to Lutheran and Episcopalian, have embraced social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and temporarily moved their activities online. But many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals have been irresponsibly downplaying the dangers of COVID-19 and doing so with deadly results: journalist Alex Woodward, in the U.K.-based Independent, reports that the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 30 pastors in the Bible Belt.

“Dozens of pastors across the Bible Belt have succumbed to coronavirus after churches and televangelists played down the pandemic and actively encouraged churchgoers to flout self-distancing guidelines,” Woodward reports.

What Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians (the polar opposite of authentic Christians) fail to realize is that their false god carries a pitchfork and has horns, cloven hooves, and a pointy tail. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): From Ukraine to Coronavirus: Trump’s Abuse of Power Continues, featuring Robert Reich

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. Criminal Fuhrer Trump* exactly reflects the values and policies of the Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich. Every Republican in office is one Republican too many. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast): If it be Your will – Leonard Cohen – Lyrics

I hadn’t heard this before, but given my current situation, it really hits home. RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–4/23/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:51 am Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 232020

It’s a pleasure to be back in the CatBox, after an absence of over two weeks. Our HSP shut us down for a TOS compliance violation for using a © image several years ago. One of our Administrators had purchased a membership from a photo sharing site that misrepresented that its members could use the images there for all noncommercial purposes. They did not tell members that the original photographers retained ownership of the images. This particular photographer has a long history of scamming site owners with bogus lawsuits. For our protection from such scams, I keep our domain anonymously held. He couldn’t find out who we are to sue us. All he could do is complain to our HSP, Bluehost. They apparently emailed me in late March, warning me to correct the problem by removing the image. I never noticed it. They send me SPAM every day, trying to sell me business services that we will never want or need. I suspect I trashed the warning with those. They shut us down on 4/6, when I did not comply with their warning. Normally, their CS is excellent, but an inadequate response to Trump* Virus has put their CS in the toilet. I deleted the image from the Bluehost site. Then, over the next two weeks, I spent over 48 hours in chat and wrote a dozen emails, while fighting with incompetent underlings. Finally one got the info to a competent tech. He reviewed it yesterday and restored our access to the site. It has been a Republican cluster f*ck! I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. Catching up will take a few days!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:25 (average 4:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0423TrumpVirusMap

Damn! Talk about sticker shock! The last time I did a TVU Trump’s* Republican murder total was only 8,454 dead.

My New Sweater:

0423JD1

JD made me this beautiful sweater! Thank, you, JD! This may also be my last pic with hair, as I have chemo again Monday.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Well we knew it was just a matter of time, per The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Officials have identified seven people who appear to have contracted COVID-19 through activities related to the April 7 election, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said Monday.

Six of the cases are in voters and one is a poll worker, Kowalik said.

By the end of this week, officials hope to have additional information on the cases that were reported between April 7 and Monday, she said.

The Wisconsin GOP, the five SCOTUS Conservatives, Trump and all his enablers are responsible for this…

And all those Republican murderers, who voted, voted by mail. RESIST!!

From Salon.com: A Yale psychiatrist has warned that pro-Trump lockdown protesters, who exhibit similar psychology as “child soldiers,” could quickly turn into “armed troops in the streets” if the president loses his re-election bid.

Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine who has mostly taught at Yale Law School, said the armed protests were a natural evolution of the loyalty President Trump demands from his supporters. Many of these protests have evidently been organized by deep-pocketed groups allied with the president.Lee, the author of the textbook “Violence,” has been sounding the alarm about the danger posed by the president for years. She edited “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” after his election, with a group of fellow mental health professionals. The book’s authors recently started a chat series entitled “Is America in an Abusive Relationship With Its President?”

Lee has also served as a project group leader for the World Health Organization Violence Prevention Alliance. She told Salon that Trump’s recent call to “liberate” Democratic-led states was a dog whistle to his core supporters.

I fully agree. Bill Maher and I have both suggested that criminal Fuhrer Trump* and the Republican Reich will resort to violence to stay in power after they lose the election, unless they are able to steal it again! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Bob Dylan – Lay, Lady, Lay (Audio)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Even some Republicans are Trashing their Fuhrer!

Posted by TomCat at 11:30 am Politics

Apr 032020

Democrats and Independents trash criminal Fuhrer Trump* on a regular basis. It’s a completely natural thing to do. Trashing Trump is as obvious as peeing in a toilet. Republicans, on the other hand tend to fall between brainwashed and braindead, so they tend to love their criminal Fuhrer Trump* to the point of their own destruction. So I was very surprised to discover that even some Republicans are trashing their Fuhrer.

Republicans for the Rule of Law, a group of anti-Trump conservatives who backed the president’s impeachment, has released a brutal new ad that features longtime Republican voters hammering Trump’s leadership on the coronavirus pandemic.

The ad features Republican voters from all across the United States taking turns reading from a script describing their disillusionment with the president’s actions during the pandemic… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>

Graphic credit: Decaffeinated Politics

Crisis of Leadership: Republican Voters Denounce Trump’s Coronavirus Failure

To be sure, since these folks are conservative Republicans I will agree with them on very little indeed, but I can agree with them on impeachment and on his lethal Trump* virus response. I can also respect them for having more integrity than over 99.44% of their fellow Republicans. Finally, I can thank them for their courage.

RESIST!!

Open Thread–4/3/2020

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

Apr 032020

It’s a barfy day here in the CatBox. I’ve been throwing up most of last night and this morning. I think something got caught in my tumor. I feel VERY tired. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:09 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0403TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 245,442
Deaths: 6,098
Recovered: 10,411

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Welcome to the COVID-19 Games, where the tributes are governors fighting for the scraps of critical protective gear still available, and where success still depends on kissing Trump’s ass.

Last week Trump was playing quid pro quo with Americans lives, telling governors “it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well.” The result of not doing so is not getting help. Take New York, which requested 30,000 ventilators and got 4,400. And is being outbid by FEMA on the private market, where the state has been trying to procure more. “What sense does this make?” Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Tuesday. “The federal government, FEMA, should have been the purchasing agent. Buy everything, and then allocate it by need to the states.” Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers asked for 190,000 nonsurgical masks from FEMA last week, and has struggled to find ventilators. He has no idea where the masks are.

On the other hand, Oklahoma asked for 16,000 face shields and got 120,000. It had received about 84,000 N95 masks by the end of last week, “more than twice its original request.” Then there’s Florida, which is expecting its third shipment from the feds. It got 100% of what Trump’s good buddy Gov. Ron DeSantis asked for in the first two shipments. Kentucky has gotten more than it requested. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maine have only gotten part of what they’ve requested. (There you go, Sen. Susan Collins, more lessons learned for you.)

For governors to save their people, being just sycophants isn’t enough. They have to become suckophants too! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Sen. Harris On Trump’s Virus Response: ‘This Guy Doesn’t Understand His Job’

Unfortunately, I must disagree. Criminal Fuhrer Trump* does understand his job , and it has two foci: 1. Take the wealth of lower and middle class Americans and use it to provide welfare for billionaires and corporate criminals. 2. Establish a permanent, National Socialist, plutocratic Republican Reich in which elections have predetermined outcomes and exist for show only. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Neil Young – Heart of Gold/Lyrics (Full HD)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Indefinite Detention for Republicans’ Enemies

Posted by TomCat at 10:54 am Politics

Mar 312020

On September 11, 2001, I was standing in the lunchroom of my company, watching the TV. Knowing that I was a political blogger, a group of coworkers asked me how I thought our government would react. Knowing that GW Bush, aka Crawford Caligula, had criticized his father for “’not finishing the job in Iraq’, I predicted that he would use 9/11, a terrorist act perpetuated by Saudis, as an excuse to attack Iraq. Also, knowing that Bush was trying to establish the Fourth Reich, I predicted that he would use 9/11 as an excuse to crack down on US civil liberties. The un-PATRIOT Act was a down payment for that. The failure of the Fourth Reich (Katrina and Republican Recession of 2008) killed that attempt. Therefore, I’m not surprised that, since criminal Fuhrer Trump* is now trying to establish the Fifth Reich, he has directed Barrf to set up indefinite detention for Republicans’ enemies.

As the US continues its scrambling response to the coronavirus outbreak, it has closed borders, quarantined some neighborhoods, and shut down businesses in a number of the most populous states.

Behind the scenes, federal and state governments have also been pushing for a series of draconian measures to respond to the virus, which would disproportionately affect asylum seekers, people embroiled in the justice system and even those seeking an abortion.

The efforts have already had a striking impact on civil liberties, and bear hints of a 2020 version of the US government response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which ultimately led to the Patriot Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that allowed, among other things, the government to collect citizens’ phone data, in an unprecedented encroachment on personal rights.

Amid the indisputable need to contain the coronavirus outbreak, many of the measures have civil rights advocates concerned. With the Trump administration’s poor record on openness and on freedom – seen especially in its treatment of undocumented workers – there is a real risk of Covid-19 having a permanent impact on society.

One of the most troubling efforts is a government proposal that would allow it to detain people indefinitely without trial during national emergencies. The justice department sent a request for the move to Congress around 20 March, in response to the coronavirus outbreak… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Guardian>

Virus power-grab? Trump admin seeks ‘sweeping’ powers to detain without trial during pandemic

In short, as is their history, Republicans are trying to use public fear to get extraordinary power, and when they have succeeded, they have invariably abused that power. There is a special word for anyone who concedes acceding to Barrf’s demand for his criminal Fuhrer Trump*: fool!

RESIST!!

Open Thread–3/31/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 312020

It’s a very tired day here in the CatBox. Yesterday’s trip was a success, but the trip exhausted me. I am Big Time pooped. The doctor and I were on the same page. Since my cancer cells did not react favorably to immunotherapy, and the best chemo regimen would fill my home with Republicosis, I asked her of there was another chemo drug that would not cause such a severe reaction. She had anticipated my request and there is: Docetaxel. They will install an infusion port in my chest and pump me full of chemo goop every two weeks. It will give me nausea, but they have meds to help that. I will lose my hair. If it’s effective, I should have a year. If not, I may make it six months. That’s the plan. Tuesday is flatulence at Republicans day. Ready… Aim… FIRE!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0330TrumpVirus

Cases: 164,798
Deaths: 3,178
Recovered: 5,507

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Donald Trump called in to Fox & Friends Monday morning and openly admitted that if more people vote, Republicans will lose. Democrats are pushing for vote by mail so that people don’t have to risk coronavirus to exercise their right to vote. Asked about “special interest projects” added to coronavirus relief bills, that is right where Trump’s mind went.

“The things they had in there were crazy,” he said. “They had levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” You might think it’s amazing to hear a politician in a democracy saying that democracy is bad, but Trump joins a long line of Republicans saying that too much voting is bad.

Criminal Fuhrer Trump* is not the first Republican to voice this sentiment, and he won’t be the last. Republicans want to make the Fifth Reich permanent and establish a National Socialist plutocracy in which elections are only for show, because Republicans control who gets to vote. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a conversation over the weekend that reportedly left the President “shaken,” Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Donald Trump that if everyone in the United States dies, it would adversely affect his television ratings.

Although Fauci was quick to add that the everyone-dying scenario was purely hypothetical, he stressed that, from a medical perspective, alive people were more likely than dead ones to watch television.

According to a source familiar with the conversation, the possible impact of covid-19 fatalities on Trump’s ratings “totally blindsided” the President, who immediately convened an emergency meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

“It’s time you losers started taking this situation seriously,” Trump reportedly barked. “Especially you, Pence.”

I wondered why criminal Fuhrer Trump flip-flopped to support social distancing. Andy has explained it. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Status Quo – Pictures Of Matchstick Men

I hope that those of you who had not heard some of my psychedelic hippie music are enjoying it. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–3/29/2019

Posted by TomCat at 10:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 292020

I’m in a hurry, as WWWendy will be here in a few minutes. This is my only article today, and I may have to finish it later. Tomorrow I have my oncologist appointment, so please expect only a short Personal Update. Have a fine Sunday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:27 (average 5:04). To do it, click here. Bow did you do?

Cartoon:

Even though he’s a crispy critter, SCROTUS is still as bad or worse.

Trump* Virus Update:

0329TrumpVirus

Cases: 123,828
Deaths: 2,229
Recovered: 3,238

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Dr. Anthony Fauci spent several hours on Saturday gently explaining to Donald J. Trump why it would be “a bad idea” to hold a giant parade to celebrate the great job the President is doing to combat covid-19, Dr. Fauci has confirmed.

Trump first raised the idea of a massive parade early Saturday morning, arguing that it would address the “biggest problem” created by the pandemic thus far: the lack of appreciation for his own efforts regarding it.

“A parade would put Jay Inslee and that woman in Michigan in their place,” Trump bitterly insisted.

As Trump began drawing up plans for a parade, a panicked Dr. Fauci interceded and tried to explain that such a celebration would be “much nicer” if held after the pandemic is over.

“Would I still be able to have tanks?” a crestfallen

Trump asked.

“Yes, you could have tanks,” Fauci replied.

Andy must be on a straight news kick. I’d be amazed, if this did not really happen. RESIST!!

From NY Times: At a White House briefing on the coronavirus on March 20, President Trump called the State Department the “Deep State Department.” Behind him, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, dropped his head and rubbed his forehead.

Some thought Dr. Fauci was slighting the president, leading to a vitriolic online reaction. On Twitter and Facebook, a post that falsely claimed he was part of a secret cabal who opposed Mr. Trump was soon shared thousands of times, reaching roughly 1.5 million people.

A week later, Dr. Fauci — the administration’s most outspoken advocate of emergency measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak — has become the target of an online conspiracy theory that he is mobilizing to undermine the president.

I’m shocked that Fauci has lasted this long. For our sake, I hope he is mobilizing to undermine criminal Fuhrer Trump, the Resident, NOT the President! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): White Bird- It’s A Beautiful Day –1968

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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