Happy Halloween!

By Miss Kubelik

In the spirit of the day — and if you believe in friendly ghosts and spirits — perhaps a mishap suffered by Republican gubernatorial candidate and Christian nationalist hater Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia will convince you that you're right.

Earle-Sears's campaign bus caught on fire yesterday while it was en route to an event. Hmm! Considering that right-wing Christian maniacs like Earle-Sears used to burn suspected witches (and anyone who deviated from their beliefs), perhaps this bus fire is symbolic? Inquiring minds want to know, but the Earle-Sears campaign isn't saying.

No one was injured, which is a good thing. But if Earle-Sears is consistent, wouldn't she take this incident as some kind of sign from God? Oh, who cares. Virginians, ignore all this culture-wars bullshit. Just get the vote out from now until Tuesday for Abigail Spanberger and the rest of the Democratic ticket. We cats PURR.

Bordering On The Outrageous

By Zamboni

It looks like Republicans in the Senate are in a bit of a mood this week to brush back Benedict Donald on his silly trade wars. Yesterday, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell all voted to end Trump's 35 percent tariff on Canada. (The Kentucky bourbon industry is definitely feeling the chill.) That was on top of a vote on Tuesday to end the 50 percent tariff on Brazil.

The good news? Cracks are forming in the Trumpian foundation. The bad news: Neither Senate bill will get a vote in the House, which as we all know is still on its pedo-protecting, Jeffrey Epstein vacation.

It's also pathetic that every single Republican representing a border state in the Senate should have pushed back on Benedict Donald about the tariff on Canada — but they didn't. We're thinking Ron Johnson in Wisconsin or Alaska's other Senator, Dan Sullivan. Hoeven and Cramer from North Dakota. And given the importance of Canadian tourism to Florida... oh, never mind. They are all gutless cowards. We cats HISS.

Donnie Hates Ronnie, Part Deux

By Baxter

It's almost Halloween, but still — it's kinda scary to say that we cats agree with something Ontario Premier Doug Ford said: Benedict Donald would have blown up trade talks with Canada anyway.

Trump's hissy-fit reaction to the province's Reaganesque ad on the idiocy of tariffs was "not about the ad," Ford said. "It's about finding every excuse in the world to not get a deal."

Yup. Why people don't understand Trump's crazy playbook after 10 years is beyond us. Meanwhile, here's video of Ford from yesterday, commenting on the kerfuffle some more. (Bonus: Gavin Newsom makes a cameo appearance about five minutes in.) We cats PURR.

Ring-A-Ding-Ding

By Sniffles

If you saw this visitor on your Ring Cam, you'd open the door, right? Of course you would! It could be something very important!

But right now it's political canvassing season, so you never know what hijinks could ensue. Especially if you're a local candidate who admits to liking Benedict Donald.

A Republican-endorsed, Conservative-party legislator from Schenectady County, Josh Cuomo — sorry, but that's his name — was asked by a voter whose door he knocked if he supported Trump. He told her he did, and let's just say that the conversation deteriorated from there. "If you ever come back, I'm going to get a gun and shoot you," the woman said.

(What do you think she was most upset about? Her health insurance costs exploding? The end of her SNAP benefits? Jimmy Kimmel? The East Wing? The possibilities are endless.)

Anyway, Cuomo went screaming to the police, and the woman was arrested. This makes no sense to us. Don't right wingers and Republicans want everybody to have a gun? Why wasn't he thrilled that she was on the verge of exercising her Second Amendment rights? It seems illogical.

"To have this kind of political violence and hate in the world right now is not what we need here," Cuomo said later. Gee. Maybe he should check out the malevolent bilge that Donald spewed at the Charlie Kirk memorial, and direct his comments to the White House. We cats HISS.

Look Who's Really Waging The War On Christmas

By Hubie and Bertie

From the Every Accusation Is a Confession Department, it looks like Benedict Donald and the Republicans have managed to cancel Christmas in the upstate New York hamlet of Rhinebeck. Here's the headline we woke up to in the Albany Times-Union this morning:

Trump Tariffs Force Cancellation of Beloved Christmas Festival

"A long-running Christmas celebration has ben canceled due in part to rising costs related to President Donald Trump's tariffs, organizers said.

"The organizing committee of Rhinebeck's Sinterklaas celebration said they had decided to cancel this year's festivities due to financial difficulties, including rising prices for items sold to raise funds. Those items — stars made in India and lights made in China — had nearly tripled in price, making them 'unaffordable for most families,' festival coordinator Jeanne Fleming said.

"Rhinebeck's Sinterklaas festival began several decades ago...held on the first Saturday of December to informally mark the feast of St. Nicholas. [It] culminated with a children's starlight parade in which participants marched with large illuminated stars."

Welp, Republicans have already managed to cancel Thanksgiving for a lot of American families — what with the announcement that SNAP benefits will end on November 1 and no resolution to the GOP government shutdown in sight. Why not pile on, and cancel Christmas, too? We cats are disgusted, and we HISS.

Context

By Miss Kubelik

We cats have taken refuge from the awfulness of the daily news in music, cooking, exercise, and reading.

On that last note, here's a book that we're currently into and which we're really enjoying — and not just because it offers escapism. In fact, far from it. Which is the surprising part.

In this history of the Scopes trial, Brenda Wineapple's Keeping the Faith sets the stage by describing the America of a century ago. And guess what? Things were almost as fucked up then as they are now. The KKK ascendant, an Attorney General out of control, free speech suppressed, oligarchs leaning toward fascism, Black people lynched, fundamentalists alarmed at the alleged licentiousness of society... it all seems incredibly familiar.

We survived then... maybe we'll survive now. Maybe. We cats PURR.

Brittlestar Explains The World Series To Americans

 

We cats are actually okay with either the Jays or the Dodgers winning the World Series, since Benedict Donald has insulted Los Angeles so badly by deploying the Guard. But this video makes us PURR.

Donnie Hates Ronnie

By Zamboni

This is the anti-tariff TV commercial from Doug Ford's Ontario that got Benedict Donald's knickers in a twist.

Honestly, we never thought we'd post something featuring Ronald Fucking Reagan on our blog. We are Carter partisans, after all. But that's how far the Republican Party has strayed from its collective identity in the last 40 years. Where they used to be virulently anti-Communist and anti-Russian, they now embrace (or tolerate) Vladimir Putin. And where they used to champion free trade, they now kowtow to the farthest-right fringes of their party. We have absolutely no idea why Reagan-era Republicans don't call their party to account on these (or other) issues. Are they all dead — or frightened? Somebody let us know.

It's also not clear why Ontario Premier Doug Ford felt it necessary to air this ad beyond an interest to bolster his own profile. (Do not doubt that Ford, a Conservative, has national ambitions.) Anyway, Trump apparently called off US-Canada trade talks because of it, and Ford pulled the ad — maybe at Prime Minister Mark Carney's request. But the internet is forever. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

We Are The Superheroes

By Baxter

It's become pretty clear over the last 10 months that no one is coming to save us. The Founders never envisioned a situation in which the Article I branch of government completely abrogated its responsibility and turned everything over to the executive. And while the lower courts have, by and large, performed generally admirably in curbing Benedict Donald, the Supreme Court is 6-3 Trumpy. That's life.

So we can take to the streets, like we've been doing with No Kings, and we can vote. (Yes, Republicans are trying to gerrymander us all to death and make voting more difficult. But they're not there yet.)

Last weekend's No Kings rallies were terrific — so much so that they obviously drove Trump into a rage. Now, the anti-Trump forces are using this time between rallies to coalesce all the groups that turned out on October 18 into one massive organization. These efforts will bring us closer and closer to the 3.5 percent needed to topple this Administration. Considering Donald's behavior in just the last week, reaching that threshold could very happen before next November.

Meanwhile, we have elections next month. Here in New York, Early Voting begins tomorrow. It's also the deadline for New Yorkers to register to vote for the general election and to request an Early Mail or Absentee ballot. After the Sex Pest was officially endorsed by Mr. Corruption in the New York Mayor's race, we hope that voters in the city know the schedule to register or early vote. (For our part, we intend to turn out for Democrats in our own municipal elections upstate.)

Wherever you're registered, the point is, make your voice heard early so that campaigns can focus on lower-propensity voters between now and November 4. As we said, we are the only ones who can save us. (Or, as Barack Obama quoted — and for which he got mocked by the corporate media — we are the ones we've been waiting for.) We cats PURR.

Now Everybody's Mad.

By Sniffles

We cats were so upset by Benedict Donald's East Wing wrecking ball today that we wrote a ton of extra postcards to voters in New Jersey and Virginia, and a whole bunch of additional letters to California voters about Prop 50. We highly recommend this. Taking an action, no matter how small, helps alleviate anger and anxiety.

So if you'd like to write some Postcards to Voters, click here.

If you'd like to write letters to Californians about Prop 50, click here.

We also suggest you read Jamelle Bouie's column in today's New York Times, about why Trump is unnerved by No Kings. "Despite what might appear to be true in the maps we use to illustrate election results, it is not possible to divide the United States into red and blue teams," Bouie writes. "For as much as Americans are polarized around party affiliation, they do not actually exist in separate societies or civilizations. Wish as we might otherwise, we rise, and fall, together."

Bouie is right. Trump may hope to just cancel "Democrat" programs, but everybody benefits from the policies our party has championed since the New Deal. And today, in our neck of the woods, Trump supporters are lining up with Harris voters at local food banks. MAGA folks are in the next exam room at our doctor's office — getting care, but without enough money to pay for it. Since Donald ultimately can't shield them from the adverse effects of his actions, sooner or later they will feel the pain. (If they aren't feeling it already.)

We suspect that more and more casual Trump voters will be joining us at No Kings rallies. They'll be welcome. And meanwhile, here are some more signs from Saturday to inspire everyone. We cats PURR.

ICE Out! NICE In!

From last night's episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. They need to do this in Montreal next. And then all over Canada! We cats PURR.

Just Posting This For No Particular Reason.

"During the War of 1812 between the United States and England, British troops entered Washington, DC, and burned the White House and the US Capitol building in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, the year before.

"President James Madison asked his wife Dolley to gather important state papers and be prepared to abandon the White House at any moment. Dolley decided to leave the couple's personal belongings behind, and instead gave the order to save a copy that Gilbert Stuart had painted of his full-length portrait of George Washington.

"Stuart's most famous replica of his Washington portrait has hung in the East Room of the White House since 1800."

—History.com and Wikipedia

Groomers

"If you're wondering why Harry Sisson was chosen in the Trump AI video, it's part of the much larger MAGA strategy — and when you see it, all their other decisions make sense: the memes, the childishness, JD Vance defending 'boys.'

"The entire MAGA strategy is about weaponizing young men, and, specifically, young white men. This is why every government account posts memes and tweets like a rageful teenager. This is why Charlie Kirk combed the frat houses. This is why Benny Johnson's thumbnails look like they are aimed at a Roblox gaming audience.

"They are after the boys. That's why they excuse the N-words and F-slurs and Hitler stuff. It's why they behave like dickheads in press conferences. It's why they went to TikTok. They figured out the 14-year-old white boys are their voters of tomorrow — the future 18-year-old white men, who normally never vote much but are the one bloc they can manipulate with anger and power and department of 'war' fantasies and motivate to be on their team.

"And they are all in. Trying to be 'cool' for the kids. Now, TPUSA as we speak is trying to get into every middle school and high school in the country. They are going all out to try and indoctrinate young men into their hate and resentment club at the earliest possible age — using their religion as the icebreaker and gaming as their gateway.

"It's going to get ugly if there isn't some kind of intervention or serious work to prevent this."

—Political Punk, on Twitter

First There Was Sandwich Guy. Now We Have Skateboard Kid!

Could this Trumpy hater's weekend have been any worse? The rumors on the interwebs is that he was a New York Giants fan in town for yesterday's game against the Denver Broncos. Welp, he lost his glasses to this kid with the skateboard, so we're not sure how well he saw the game. He fell not once but twice, gashing his forehead open. And his team blew an 18-point fourth-quarter lead, losing to Denver 33-32. Good job, kid! Good job, Broncos! We cats PURR.

The Senate Could Come Down To: Farmageddon

By Hubie and Bertie

What's worth a hill of beans in this crazy world? Well, maybe that the Trump Administration's fecklessness could cost them the Senate.

Stick with us here. It all has to do with soybeans and Argentina.

It turns out that Benedict Donald's Argentine bailout could actually be $40 billion, than $20 billion. Why is that important? Well, partly because he's propping up a nutcase in a foreign country at the same time that he's shutting off soybean exports to China, our biggest customer.

Last year, total US soybean exports to China were $12.6 billion. Now, with Donald's trade war, American soybean farmers are desperately looking for replacement customers.

"The US is now scrambling to find other markets for soybeans, either via new international buyers or a growing domestic biofuel industry," MinnPost reported. "Farmers...are feeling the squeeze."

This is terrible news for farmers, yes. But in terms of 2026, it's better news for Democrats who want to keep hold of Tina Smith's Minnesota Senate seat, plus Gary Peters's in Michigan, and Dick Durbin's in Illinois. Trump's trade-war idiocy could also help flip Republican Senate seats Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska and Missouri — all of which are on the list of the nation's top-10 soybean producers.

Democrats are already running ads in farm country about this. Good. That makes us cats PURR.

David Beats Dick

"Sir David Attenborough became the oldest person to win a Daytime Emmy on Friday, when he took home the award at age 99," The New York Times reports.

"Attenborough, the British naturalist and broadcaster who will turn 100 in May, broke the record set last year by Dick Van Dyke, who at 98 won for an appearance on Days of Our Lives. Attenborough secured the Emmy for outstanding daytime personality — nondaily, for his work on Netflix’s Secret Lives of Orangutans."

In honor of his accomplishment, let's revisit Sir David's walk through the Buckingham Palace gardens with the Queen. We cats PURR.

No Kings Rocks!

By Miss Kubelik

No Kings organizers in Glens Falls, New York, said that they expected 500 people to show up today. Well, we cats were there this morning, and we saw way more people than that. Plus, the signs calling out Elise "Elsie" Stefanik for her Trumpy complicity were wonderful indeed. Early reports were that more than seven million Americans turned out across the country — final numbers to come once all time zones are accounted for. Meanwhile, Happy No Kings Day, everyone! We cats PURR.

The Fall Of The Princes Andrew

 By Miss Kubelik

As we head into the No Kings 2.0 weekend, it's kind of hard to ignore the simultaneous implosion of two guys named Andrew. Woof, as the dogs say — things are not going well for either of these gents.

Unless something dramatic happens over the next few weeks, Andrew Cuomo is about to get his butt kicked in the New York mayoral race.

This became clearer last night, when his turn on the debate stage cemented his rep as The Former Governor Who Once Got Great Notices But Who Ended Up Fucking Up. Even Republican Curtis Sliwa piled on, refusing to let Cuomo dismiss the sexual harassment problems that made him resign as Governor. "Come on, Andrew, all 13 women were lying?" Sliwa said. "A state trooper, too?" Jesus, what a comedown. Cuomo was on top of the world in 2020, but between being a sex pest, slamming sick people into nursing homes, and using state resources for his COVID memoir, he's no longer the "Andy" Randy Rainbow loved.

Meanwhile, back in Old Blighty... well, let's back up a bit. When we first read the excerpt from Virginia Giuffre's posthumous memoir in The Guardian, our immediate thought was, "This book is going to keep Benedict Donald from pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell." (It's harrowing. Disgusting. Vomit-inducing. Do you want us to go on?) Today, though, in the wake of the memoir it was Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten-Windsor who fell on his sword, renouncing his title as Duke of York. (And as the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order [GCVO] and as the Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. But let's not get distracted.)

If you don't speak Royal Family, relinquishing York is a very big deal. Queen Elizabeth gave Andrew the title when he married Sarah Ferguson back in 1986, and it was rightly seen as a great honor from a loving mum, since her father, George VI, had carried it before. But the Jeffrey Epstein scandal has now not only driven Andrew from the family but also forced him to surrender this last precious gift. (Fergie must, too. No Duke of York, no Duchess of York. And frankly, they've both managed to independently disgrace themselves, you know?)

Moral of the story: The Epstein fallout continues. Who else will be ensnared? There will be more, we promise. We cats HISS.

More Fascist Fallout

By Zamboni

Well, it's about frickin' time. Vermont State Senator and disgraced Young Republican Samuel Douglass must have been waiting to resign his seat so that the announcement would be lost in a Friday Night News Dump — but sorry, Sam, we cats are on the job!

Douglass has said he'll quit, but first he had to put out a way-too-long statement in which he's just so, so upset that people sent him abusive messages after he and his wife were shown by their repulsive text messages to be rancid haters. Where in the world does he get off being appalled by ill treatment? As with the fat-shaming of his colleagues, we couldn't care less — Douglass and the YRs are so routinely cruel to and about others that they richly deserve their just deserts.

Meanwhile, the New York State Young Republicans are no more. As in Kansas, the state party has decided to disband them (for possible reorganization down the road). "The Young Republicans [group] was already grossly mismanaged," party chair Ed Cox said. Oh, that's what it was — not the racism, not the hatred, not the misogyny, not the homophobia, not the rape jokes, not the anti-Semitism. It was mismanagement. Thanks, Ed. Now, take several seats. We cats HISS.

"Those Crazy Kids!"

By Baxter

JD Vance is trying to excuse the Young Republicans who participated in the hate-filled Telegram text messages by claiming it was just youngsters in "a college group chat." Um, no. Let's review some of these GOP characters, shall we? And check on their employment status?

Samuel Douglass is 27 and a Vermont State Senator. Although top Republicans in the state, including Governor Phil Scott, have called on him to resign, Douglass hasn't yet. (PS: His wife Brianna is equally disgusting and, as the text messages show, an anti-Semite.)

Annie Kaykaty is 28. Bluesky accounts we follow are reporting that she's lost her job as a student counselor with Xaverian High School on Long Island. We're haven't been able to confirm that yet — lots of Google results to wade through — but we did check the Xaverian counseling office page, and if it used to list her, it sure doesn't now.

Peter Giunta is 31. He's the one who texted "I love Hitler." He's been fired from his job with New York GOP State Assemblyman Michael Reilly.

Alex Dwyer is 29 and, we presume, out of work, since the Kansas Republican Party has entirely shut down the Young Republican group he headed. He responded with a smiley face to Giunta's "I love Hitler."

Joe Maligno is 35 — kind of not a "college kid." Also, he's no longer employed by the New York State Unified Court System, LOL.

Republican AG of Kansas Kris Kobach has fired William Hendrix as communications assistant. Hendrix is 24, but still not a "college kid," either. He was also the vice chair of the now-defunct Kansas Young Republicans, and according to the chat, is very fond of the n-word.

Bobby Walker's age isn't publicly available. But he's been booted from the campaign of New York State Senator Peter Oberacker, who is planning to run for Democratic Congressman Josh Riley's seat in NY-19. (He also deserves special punishment for referring to the texts in the group chat as "attributed to me." Aren't Republicans supposed to be the party of personal responsibility?)

Meanwhile, Trump and Vance can't seem to quit hate-texter Mike Bartels, who's still with the office of the general counsel office for the US Small Business Administration. Let's hope not for long.

So go ahead and keep defending these cretins, JD. You're just giving the story more legs. We cats thank you, and we PURR.

The Repugnant Generation

By Sniffles

Back in August, our nation's non-Ambassador to the UN, Representative Elise "Elsie" Stefanik, enthusiastically accepted a "Congressperson of the Year" award from the New York Young Republicans. 

Wait, from whom?

If the name "New York Young Republicans" is ringing an unsavory bell, maybe it's because you just learned that the organization's vice chair recently said on Telegram that he thought rape was "epic," while its general counsel wondered in the same chat if gas chambers "fit the Hitler aesthetic." One of its national committee members responded with "I'm ready to watch people burn now."

There's more, of course. With these Republican haters, there's always more. They're part of 2,900 horrendous pages of slop that POLITICO obtained and published yesterday. Since then, some Republicans have been scrambling to distance themselves, including Elsie herself. But so far, too few Republicans are. Vice President JD Couchfucker Vance even tried to say that anyone offended was just "pearl clutching."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul wasn't buying it. "The deflecting and nonstop excuses are bullshit," she said. "Everyone from the President down must forcefully condemn this."

Yes, but. With the possible exception of Vermont Governor Phil Scott, we have yet to find anyone in the GOP whose outrage isn't performative. (Elsie, for example, simply couldn't help herself: She denounced the chat but also accused POLITICO of printing a "hit piece.") And besides, who's truly shocked? After 10 years of Benedict Donald, are we surprised that the next generation of Republican leaders engage in violent, racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic rhetoric?

That's the important point: The folks on this Telegram chat are not a bunch of rapey frat boys. As we said, they are the next generation of the GOP. They're the guys (and a couple of gals) who are coming up directly behind Vance, Stephen Miller, Josh Hawley, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Tom Cotton, Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise, etc.

And don't tell Pete Hegseth, but a lot of these Young Republican foot soliders look pretty fat, too. We cats HISS.

This Is Antifa (Salzburg Chapter)

The words to "Edelweiss" were the last lyrics Oscar Hammerstein wrote for a Richard Rodgers song. Just a reminder that the Von Trapps sang it on the run from Nazis. "Bless my homeland forever." We cats PURR.

Kings, No. Cats, Yes.

By Hubie and Bertie

Are you registered for a No Kings event for Saturday, October 18? If so, you'll be joining millions of your fellow Americans to let Benedict Donald and his MAGA minions know how much you hate what they're doing to the country. The No Kings organizers say more than 2,500 events in the US, Canada and Europe are planned — and they expect that number to increase over the coming days.

The Trumpsters are doing everything they can to discourage people from turning out — calling them "paid protesters," "antifa," and "pro-Hamas." Preacher of the House Mike Johnson even said No Kings demonstrations were "hate America rallies," LOL. They sure seem worried.

Don't let them intimidate you. Our rights as Americans to protest are guaranteed by the Constitution. We also have the right to video anything that's visibly taking place on public property. Cops shouldn't try to stop you doing this, and they can't confiscate or demand to see your videoed content without a warrant. So go ahead and record all the fabulous signs and costumes you see, and share them on the interwebs!

No Kings is holding trainings in English and Spanish this week to help you stay safe and informed on Saturday. To sign up for one, click here. We cats will see you out there, and we PURR.

Some Thoughts On The Gaza Deal

By Miss Kubelik

There is absolutely no reason for Benedict Donald to have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize. The 2025 prize recognizes prior achievements in the pursuit of peace — 2024 and earlier. So, maybe the Trumpsters should set their sights on 2026. Or, maybe Jared will get it (LOL).

Meanwhile, the death toll from October 7, 2023, keeps rising. A survivor from the Nova music festival who saw his girlfriend and best friend killed by Hamas committed suicide the other day. "Roei Shalev, who was shot during the Nova attack and survived, was found dead in his burned car north of Tel Aviv on Friday night," The Guardian reported. "Hours before his death, Shalev, 30, had posted a message on social media saying he felt he could not go on.

"'Please don’t be angry with me, please,' he wrote. 'No one will ever understand me, and that’s OK because you can’t understand. I just want this suffering to end. I’m alive, but inside everything is dead.'"

It's this death and destruction against Israelis that Netanyahu's campaign in Gaza has obliterated from the consciousness of the world — and quite frankly, we cats will never forgive him for it. Dude should be tried in The Hague and hauled off to the hoosegow for the rest of his natural life. (We realize this will only happen in our fondest dreams.)

Meanwhile, the Trumpsters and their Capitol Hill lackeys are still refusing to negotiate over ACA subsidies and end the federal government shutdown — which has thrown this fall's health insurance open enrollment into chaos. People are being asked to sign up for plans without knowing their costs — except that, you can be sure, they're going to go higher (or even skyrocket).

It makes you wonder: What will most American voters care about, come the 2026 midterms — Middle East peace, or the cost of their healthcare coverage (not to mention groceries)? We cats can tell you from our Carteresque experience: It ain't the Middle East. And we HISS.

Diane Keaton, 1946-2025

 

Diane Keaton had an impressive filmography, but for us, her most important performance was in Reds (1981). We cats PURR.

Pobre Donaldo

By Zamboni

Without addressing the sheer ridiculousness of the Trump "campaign" for the Nobel Peace Prize, we cats are tickled pink that María Corina Machado of Venezuela won it this morning. (Even more amusingly, one of our fave Nobel candidates, Chef José Andrés, tweeted in Donald's face: "In a way, this is your win, too." That's going to drive the Spotlight-Hogger-in-Chief out of his tiny mind.)

Machado has been in hiding since Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro refused to accept the results of the country's election last year (sound familiar?). "Maduro remains in power and has retained the support of Venezuela's military and key international backers such as China and Russia," The Guardian reports. "Donald Trump has ordered a major naval buildup off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast in recent weeks, which some suspect could be a prelude to some kind of regime change operation."

Maybe, maybe not. But two things seem true this morning: Vladimir Putin is not happy with the Nobel Committee. And the Trumpsters will surely try to gin up any looming US conflict with Maduro's Venezuela to give Donald the "emergency" he needs to declare martial law. (Which he can't do anyway, by the way).

So, Trump is having to start his day not getting what he wants — an award that he only desires because a Black man who's made him feel puny and inadequate for years received it in 2009. And the MAGAts must already be gearing up for next year's "campaign," yes? We'll see how the Gaza thing works out. Because here's a reminder: Jimmy Carter won the Nobel in 2002 not for his efforts at Middle East peace, but for the international humanitarian work of The Carter Center over two decades. (That mission continues today.) We cats PURR.

Words Matter, But Follow The Money

By Baxter

Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for attorney general in Virginia, is playing defense now that The National Review has unearthed flippant texts he sent three years ago about political violence against then-GOP-state-house-speaker Todd Gilbert. Jones has personally apologized to Gilbert, his family, and the voters.

This is a really stupid own goal, obviously. If Jones had sent these messages 10 years ago, he would have been finished. But now, after so many years of Benedict Donald's terrible behavior and incendiary language, the bipartisan outrage just feels anachronistic.

Meanwhile, Republican Virginia gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears is struggling with money matters. And we don't mean problems fundraising, although that's certainly an issue.

"Earle-Sears built her political brand on transparency and accountability," The Virginia Mercury reports. "But a closer look at her public filings reveals a pattern of omissions and inconsistencies in her financial disclosures — including a $12,000 'gift' far above the state’s legal limit and multiple undisclosed trips funded by outside organizations.

"The records show that Earle-Sears, who has served as lieutenant governor since 2022, repeatedly failed to disclose gifts and travel benefits as required under state law, and in several instances amended her filings only after watchdogs or reporters raised questions."

That $12,000 'gift'? It was from Black Americans to Re-elect the President (that would be Donald), an organization she served as chair. Earle-Sears didn't bother to seek an exemption from Virginia's $100 gift cap when she filed her Statement of Economic Interests (SOEI) in June 2021— and the "gift" didn't fall into any of the categories that would have allowed her to accept it in the first place.

She also didn't report multiple trips she took to speak at events by the right-wing organization ALEC in 2022, 2023 or 2024, and flights she took on a donor's private plane. Hmm, these could all be problems. "Under Virginia law, a public official who knowingly files a false or incomplete SOEI is guilty of a Class 5 felony," the Mercury notes drily.

It looks like instead of living up to her pledge to "restore trust in government," Earle-Sears has continued the old patterns of corruption reminiscent of good ol' "Transvaginal Bob" McDonnell. It's not enough that these Republicans are obnoxious culture warriors. They have to be grifters and gougers, too. (And oh, yes, gun nuts. Ugh.) We cats HISS. 

The Chef Or The Chief?

By Sniffles

If you've created a will, chances are you might have a line in there about how you understand there may be folks out there who think they deserve to be included — but that you deliberately left them out.

(We cats aren't mentioning any names. We're just saying that in many families, succeeding generations often disagree on whether they merit monetary inheritances. If this is you, consider adding that line.)

Why are we bringing this up? Well, the Nobel Committee is scheduled to announce the winner of the 2025 Peace Prize on Friday, October 10. We're making no predictions, although Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chef José Andrés are frequently mentioned among the skeeters we follow on Bluesky. But whoever the Committee chooses, they should include this in their announcement:

"While some people believe this year's prize should be awarded to someone else, we on the Nobel Committee have taken these viewpoints into consideration. Ultimately, we believe that threatening to take Greenland, Panama, and Canada by force, appeasing the world's authoritarians, and unleashing the military on one's own citizens are not the paths to receiving the Peace Prize." 

Please make a note of it. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Marching Orders

"In the coming days, the Democratic Party and the pro-democracy movement needs to speak with one very loud and very clear voice against this fascistic, un-American Trump regime and its mad, ailing, desperate, and dangerous leader.

"Congressional leaders should be doing events with Governors and state AGs, showing our unity of purpose, making it harder for Trump and Miller and Hegseth to isolate their opponents and divide and conquer.

"Every elected Democrat, at every level of office, should be putting out statements denouncing what Trump is doing, and talk to their constituents about what is happening now, in their country, with their tax dollars. Amicus briefs should be flying. Our leaders should be booking themselves to speak to as many No Kings events as possible on October 18. We are here now, and we must fight."

—Simon Rosenberg

I Scream, You Scream

On the subject of "The 25 Most Influential Magazine Covers of All Time," we cats would like to nominate this one from the National Lampoon. Yes, we understand that the Lampoon's "We will shoot this dog" cover probably edged this one out. But for those of us who remember Gerald Ford's interregnum and the gentle mockery that rained down on him for the two short years of his Presidency, it's significant. Get a Baby Boomer to explain it to you if necessary. We cats PURR.

We Still Have The Power

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats want to say a word to all those folks on social media who post comments like "It's so adorable that you think we're going to have free and fair elections in 2026 and 2028."

We understand your concern about the Trumpy attacks on democracy, but this is not helpful.

When you say stuff like this, you can discourage people on our side from voting. Since Benedict Donald and his MAGA minions fear your vote more than anything, we can't see how this attitude is anything but defeatist for our supporters and encouraging for theirs.

We have to make the MAGAts stop us from casting our ballots. If that involves staring down some ICE guy or a member of the military at our polling places, so be it. It's only what Black voters have endured for decades in America — at least, before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, which as we know the Republicans and the Roberts Supreme Court are hell-bent on destroying.

Your vote is your voice. Don't let anyone, even in these terrible times — or maybe, especially in these terrible times — prevent you from using it. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Is That Noble? Or Nobel?

By Miss Kubelik

Print is not (quite) dead, declares The New York Times, with an excellent feature on "The 25 Most Influential Magazine Covers of All Time." We cats enjoyed this, and not just because we have fond memories of pawing through many of the issues the Times profiled.

We agree with many of their choices: National Lampoon's "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog," TIME's Ellen DeGeneres "Yep, I'm Gay" cover, and The New Yorker's somber rendering of the Twin Towers for its September 24, 2001 issue. (Notable because it takes weeks and weeks to finalize a cover.) We could have done without Caitlyn Jennings's Vanity Fair pose, but recognize its inclusion because the photographer was Annie Leibovitz. (She, not her subject, is important.)

We were disappointed that the LIFE entrant the Times chose was a 1965 cover featuring a fetus in the womb. Surely the better choice was the famous shot of the Earth from the moon. The word "iconic" is so overused as to render it meaningless, but it's appropriate here.

Coinkidinkily, what should land in our mailbox today?

A mailing from The Carter Center, with an issue of LIFE devoted entirely to our 39th President. "The enclosed commemorative LIFE magazine...is a tapestry of stories, testimonials, and images woven together to present a humble life marked by extraordinary accomplishments," Carter Center Board Chair Jason Carter wrote. Neat!

So here's the cover. We cats unofficially nominate it as one of the Most Influential Magazine Covers of All Time, because James Earl Carter was surely one of the most influential Americans ever. (And Rosalynn, too.)

You know why Benedict Donald wants the Nobel Peace Prize? Because Barack Obama won it, yes. But also because Democrats like Carter and Al Gore won it, too. Just a little recent history to enlighten folks who may not have their heads totally around it. Meanwhile, happy late 101st birthday, President Carter. We cats PURR.

Madeleine Dean (D-PA) Vs. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Pedophile Protector)

"He knows it. They know it. They've always known it. Amongst themselves, they joke about it. They tell stories about it. They swap advice on how to deal with it.

"But most importantly, to everyone else, they lie about it. They pretend not to see it. They change the subject when they are confronted with it. And that's why they are responsible for the fact that we have deeply mentally ill president, surrounded by other deeply unwell people."

—George Conway

Jane Goodall, 1934-2025

 

In Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, mortality arrives at the front door in time for a dinner party. ("Well, do get Mr. Death a drink, darling.") We're tired of Mr. Death showing up on wonderful people's Ring Cams — most recently, Jane Goodall's. Maybe he could visit some of the people who are destroying our government and democracy? Meanwhile, we cats salute Dr. Goodall's life well lived, and we PURR.