Open Thread – 12/30/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 302019

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, and the year is almost over. How much I have for the rest of the week will depend on two factors: my health and the availability of good material. Oh God it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:28 (average 6:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Religious Ecstasy:

1229Broncos16-Raiders15

What a wild finish, with ballsy moves by both teams. It’s a pity that someone had to lose.

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the final report of the season from our own fantasy football league.

17Playoffs

Congrats to Vivian, WWWendy, and Patty Monster for winning their games.

Kudos to Vivian, me, and WWWendy for taking the first, second, and third place trophies. I’ll be in touch with our players in late spring/early summer with reminders for what we need to do for next season. In the meantime, we desperately need one or three more players for next season. Colleen? Pat? Anyone? Please?

Thank you all for a great season. We had a blast!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): 24 MONTHS OF TRUMP’S MESS (2017-18) – a New Year Parody

Thanks Don. Frankly, I thing that border wall is a great idea. Build it around Trump*, Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch, pseudo-Christian Pence, Faux Noise, and more! RESIST!!

From YouTube (NBC News Channel): Australians Flee Devastating Wildfires As Thousands Of Koalas Feared Dead

Tears and prayers for our Aussie friends. This is the cost of ignoring climate change! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Abraham. Martin, John & Bobby

This one still brings profound sadness. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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 – 12/28/2019

Posted by TomCat at 7:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 282019

It’s a queasy day here in the CatBox. I’m just barely in the saddle today, but I did manage to keep half a bowl of cereal down this morning. Tomorrow is a WWWendy Day, so please expect no more than a Personal Update. Tomorrow is also a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos are playing WWWendy’s team, the Raiders in the afternoon game. Miracle of miracles, the game will be televised here. May the divine Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they are pirates with patches. Have a great, safe weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Paul Begala, one of Bill Clinton’s most trusted political strategists, has a metaphor to explain how the Biden campaign team views the choice voters should be given in the 2020 race. He calls it “the steaming pile of shit theory,” and he explained it to Ryan Lizza of Politico last week (Why Biden’s Retro Inner Circle Is Succeeding So Far):

“You’re sitting down for breakfast and there’s a steaming pile of shit on your table and you say, ‘Can we get this shit off of my table?’” he told me recently. “And Elizabeth says, ‘I’m going to build you a new house!’ And Bernie says, ‘I’m going to build you a new city!’ And I’m like, no, just get this fucking shit off my kitchen table and we’ll get back to normal life!”

You may think Begala’s theory is overly-vivid or disgustingly crude, but I think it is an accurate metaphor for how Joe Biden and his campaign believe that the only major issue Democratic voters are interested in is getting rid of Trump.

Biden has repeatedly stated that he thinks Trump as president is a temporary disturbance in the American political system. Once the aberration of Trump is gone, Biden believes, the Republican Party will return to “normal” — “have an epiphany” — and the supposed pre-Trump environment of bi-partisan comity and cooperation will return to once again make the nation’s capitol a fun place to reach across the aisle and practice the art of the deal.

The Biden campaign is so full of shit that we know where the steaming pile on the table went. Hillary Clinton partially ignored people’s needs to focus on defeating Trump*. That’s a significant reason why Trump* got close enough for Putin and the KKK to steal the White House for him. Also, “normal” for the Republican Reich, before Trump* was appointed, was for Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch to steal Obama’s Supreme Court appointment, voter suppression, racism, welfare, and more. A Republican epiphany is BS! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Shocking Testimony About SEAL Pardoned By Trump Leaked To NYT

It wouldn’t surprise me, if Trump* makes Gallagher, a monster, who almost equals Trump* in evil, the next appointee for Sec. Def. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): graham nash- Chicago

I was demonstrating at the Democratic Convention in Chicago 1968. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/26/2019

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

Dec 262019

It’s a queasy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy ran out of time, so instead of pressure cooking ham and beans for me, she brought me some of her Christmas dinner: standing rib roast and roast potatoes. They were a bit hard on my stomach, but when it came to her Marion berry cheesecake pie…, I was a ba-a-a-a-ad kitty! I’ve been paying the price since. Tomorrow I may run a bit late. Store to Door is closed for the week, so I’m getting my groceries delivered from Safeway.com. On the plus side, I have no medical appointments for the rest of the year. May America dump the Republican Reich in 2020!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:09 (average 5:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: Chuck Todd was very very Chuck Todd this year. And above, Chuck worries that Democrats are investigating too many things, and therefore have a “PR problem.”

Is that media bias or what? If Democrats’ investigate everything Trump* does, except one, that’s one thing too few! RESIST!!

From VOA News: Her husband’s steady shift to the political right during their 24-year marriage was a source of frustration and embarrassment for liberal Jennifer Merrill, but it wasn’t until the election of Donald Trump — and her husband’s support for the president — that she’d finally had enough.

Merrill moved out and filed for divorce.

“I just couldn’t see sharing a bed with somebody that agreed with what Trump was doing when I was so against everything that Trump represented,” says Merrill, a book editor for a trade association, and the mother of three children. “He had no sensitivity for how I felt, that I felt so strongly about it, especially when I was going out and doing protests … and he would just laugh about it and continue to defend [Trump]. So that just made me very, very angry.”

If ever there were just cause for divorce, marriage to a Republican is it! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/25/2019

Posted by TomCat at 7:33 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 252019

It’s Christmas morning, here in the CatBox. WWWendy celebrates with her family on Christmas Eve, so my present today is to become a de-stunk TomCat. I gave her a set of Mellanni king size sheets. There are none softer. For her birthday last week, I gave her a large basket of gourmet sweets. She loved/hated them. She’ll be here around three and is bringing ham and beans, cooked in my pressure cooker to make it easier for me to digest. Merry Christmas to you all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:35 (average 8:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Three pastors at Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Virginia decided to give the holiday gift of school lunch debt relief to local families. While school lunch debt shouldn’t be a thing families (and specifically students) have to worry about, it very much is. So a group of pastors decided to take $17,000 from the church’s budget to erase much of the lunch debt at two local school systems.

The Rev. Brian Bennett, the Rev. Jerry Williams, and the Rev. Andrew Segre donated about $7,000 to Spotsylvania County Public Schools, which covered balances in the entire district, as well as just over $10,000 to Stafford County Public Schools, which covered balances at a few elementary schools.

“It seemed like a good idea, [but] we didn’t know if there was a need because no one ever seems to talk about this,” the Rev. Williams explained in a Facebook video, which quickly went viral. “So we called the school systems. And gosh, wow, was there a need.”

“This is not a churchy thing,” Williams stressed. “This — helping children and families — this is a thing that anyone can do.” He and the other two pastors say they plan to pay off lunch debt again. As The Washington Post reports, donations to cover this lunch debt came from the church’s 2019 budget. Because the church generally saves 10% of its annual budget for charitable projects, Williams suggests they could make a similar donation next year, based on their 2020 budget.

As Baptists are evangelicals, I probably disagree with these gents on a number of issues, but here, we praise and acknowledge the good done by those with whom we disagree too. They illustrate that, while Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians starve hungry children, authentic Christians feed them. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): 5 Ways to Stop Corporations From Ruining the Future of Work with Robert Reich

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich represents the greediest capitalists at all our expense. However, automation in other nations will drive American workers into the unemployment lines . Therefore, in addition to support for labor, profits must also fund volunteerism, child, health, disability and elder care, education, housing and food for those without means, and public research and development, and more, not just the accumulation of money by the greedy rich! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast for the season): Celtic Woman / Chloe Agnew – ”O Holy Night”

This is one of my favorites. Mary Christmas to all! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/24/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 242019

Yesterday was not my day. The gastroenterologist told me I need to get an endoscopy, or camera down the throat. It’s a same-day inpatient procedure at the hospital. She told me that I have already eliminated the foods I should avoid, and that I have already tried all the palliative medications she could give me and that I am currently on the the one she would recommend. They can’t offer more relief because they don’t know what’s causing it. The length of the wait is because this week and next are holiday weeks. I’ll be scheduling on the first Tuesday I can get. That’s the day of the week WWWendy can take me home. Next, my oncologist called. Those nodes in my left lung are carcinomas, so I’ll have to have them surgically resected. ARGH!! Stay holiday safe please!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:13 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the news from our own Fantasy Football League.

Congrats to Vivian and me for winning our games. Kudos to me for beating the Regular Season Champion and for the highest single-week score of the season. This weekend, I play Vivian in the Super Bowl, WWWendy plays Squatch for 3rd place, and Patty Monster plays the empty team and will win 5th place. Perhaps we can get Colleen to join the league next year. Good luck to all!

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports.

The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them.

“These humans appear to have all the faculties necessary to receive and process information,” Davis Logsdon, one of the scientists who contributed to the study, said. “And yet, somehow, they have developed defenses that, for all intents and purposes, have rendered those faculties totally inactive.”

Actually, Andy, that strain it not new. It is a devolution to a pre-hominid state: Sphincterpithicus Republicanis. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Washington Post Channel): Track Santa around the world

Santa, save lots of reindeer turds for Trump* stockings in Palm Beach. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Country Joe McDonald – I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag

This was one of my favorites, back in the day. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 12/22/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 222019

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy is due in about 90 minutes, and we have lots of chores to do. Tomorrow I have my GI appointment. I fear that they will just schedule me for tests at the lab. I so hope I’m wrong. I need some relief NOW! I should be back in the saddle on Christmas Eve. Go Broncos.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From NY Times: American military and intelligence officials tracking North Korea’s actions by the hour say they are bracing for an imminent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching American shores, but appear resigned to the fact that President Trump has no good options to stop it.

If the North goes ahead with the test in the coming days — Pyongyang promised a “Christmas gift” if no progress had been made on lifting sanctions — it would be a glaring setback for Mr. Trump’s boldest foreign policy initiative, even as he faces an impeachment trial at home.

The score? Fat Korean Maniac 2 – Fat Russian-controlled Maniac 0. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): A REPUBLICAN CHRISTMAS – Parody | The Freedom Toast (Guest Post)

Magnificent! The Republican Reich hope they die soon. JD send me an update on them, please. RESIST!!

From TPM: According to newly released documents, the White House moved to freeze military aid to Ukraine less than two hours after President Donald Trump’s July 25th call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The documents were obtained with a FOIA request by the Center for Public Integrity and published Friday night.

“Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration’s plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional DoD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process,” Mike Duffey, an Office of Management and Budget official, wrote in a July 25 email to OMB and Pentagon officials. “Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction.”… [emphasis added]

So what we have here is an order from imFuhrer Trump* to hold up the aid and cover up the act of doing it. That’s a criminal violation of the Impoundment Act. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Rascals People Got To Be Free

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!!

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