Palling Around With Jeffrey

By Baxter

We cats have kept our eyes on the continuing scandalous swirl around Bard College president Leon Botstein, who has stubbornly tried to limit the damage to his privileged life ever since he got ensnared in the Epstein files. Botstein's relationship with Epstein, which Botsein has insisted was just related to cultivating the pedophile as a donor, has been coming out in dribs and drabs. Now, though, we might just be at the definitive drib and drab.

"A powerful Democratic lawmaker" — that would be Jamie Raskin — "has called for a criminal investigation into former Bard College president Leon Botstein after Congressional investigators uncovered an email from Botstein to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in which he says Botstein asked if a young woman was 'for me, or are you keeping her for yourself?'

"The latest development appears to have triggered the immediate resignation of Botstein from all Bard-affiliated positions, including his professorship and roles in Bard’s music programs," The Guardian reported. "Botstein had led the college for 50 years and only recently stepped down as president."

Incredible. The Bard community has tried mightily to brush over Bostein's Epstein allegations, allowing him to "retire" from his college presidency, but keep his cushy on-campus housing and his position as Bard's orchestral conductor, among other perks. Why, oh why, do institutions cloak and protect their evildoers? And oh, by the way, the offending email had been initially redacted by the Department of Justice. So throw them into the mix — because, of course, all Epstein roads inevitably lead to Benedict Donald, right?

Well, at least this latest outrage has made Leon give up all his Bard goodies, and now (with any luck) he may be facing criminal indictment. Maybe Tish James can spare a few minutes from her Cornell investigation to look into it? Meanwhile, we cats are pleased to see Botstein get some kind of comeuppance, and that makes us PURR.

Oh, Blake!

By Sniffles

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently added New York's 21st district to its "Red to Blue" list — which means they think it's winnable, and worth dumping some money into. And why not? The Republican candidate, Anthony Constantino, has become so alarmed over recent polls that he's accusing Democrat Blake Gendebien of illegal garbage dumping — on his own dairy farm.

How does he know? He hired a private detective company from Saratoga Springs to survey the Gendebien property in St. Lawrence County with video-taking drones. What Constantino neglected to mention is that the Department of Environmental Conservation has already said that Gendebien has done nothing wrong. "Six-dollar diesel is making farming hard enough without this weirdo drone stalking my home and business," Blake said. “I’ve already been cleared here.”

So, Blake Gendebien's farm wouldn't pass the Martha Stewart* neatness test? No working farm would. The fake outrage needs to stop because, as Gendebien has pointed out, it just shows how little Constantino knows about farming (which a lot of NY-21 voters do).

We're also not sure how Constantino's drone video "exposé" lowers the cost of gas and groceries. Will any enterprising journalist ask him that question? We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

*Martha writes picture books about gracious living. She says that nothing else matters if you can do a nice dried floral arrangement.

Shrinkage

 

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats love this photo pair, mostly because inflatables should be banned from planet Earth. But it's also a potential metaphor for the state of the Republican Party.

Larry Sabato from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia has flagged a new Gallup poll of party identification: For the third quarter of 2026, respondents who identified with the Democratic Party led those who aligned with the GOP, 50 percent to 39 percent.

"Pay attention to this one," he says. "Plus-eleven D for party ID = largest Dem lead since early 2009 (Obama inauguration).

"Gallup is not just another poll; it’s the gold standard."

Sabato refuses, though, to predict that the midterms will wipe out the Republican Party for now and ever, which is sad, because we're convinced that the only way the country will be saved is if the GOP is destroyed and rebuilt — think 1850s-style stuff. Kind of like how colleges need to completely root out fraternities from their campuses. Just our $0.02. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: The Early Cat Gets The Mouse Edition

By Miss Kubelik

The midterms are upon us. Early voting has already begun in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont, and Illinois. This week, early voting gets underway in:

• Maine, California, Montana, and Nebraska (Oct. 5)
• Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wyoming (Oct. 6)
• Arizona (Oct. 7)

There are key races here — Maine, obviously, plus a surprisingly contested Senate race in Nebraska, a terrific Democrat, Deb Haaland, running for governor in New Mexico, and former Senator Sherrod Brown leading the hapless Jon Husted in Ohio — but they're all important. Early voting increases Democratic turnout across the board and makes it easier for our folks on the ground to get less-likely voters to the polls. If you have friends and family in any of these states, urge them to bank their votes now.

Other stories that are getting our attention today pretty much run the gamut. Take a look:

Things don't appear to be going well for Byron Donalds in Florida. Trump's low approval ratings led Donalds to scrub all mention of him from his campaign website — which now has boomeranged into a Trump hissy fit (Trump, of course, denies this). Meanwhile, Democrat David Jolly has either closed the polling to neck-and-neck or slightly ahead. Let's not sleep on this race: Give to Jolly by clicking here.

The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections has resigned in the wake of the horrifically botched execution of Christa Pike. Jeez, why is anybody surprised that this guy with a checkered past would preside over a state-sponsored torture chamber? Sickening. The murder that Pike committed was barbaric, and the execution was barbaric. At some point, the barbarism has to stop.

Two important elections are taking place abroad this week — today's in Brazil, where lefty president Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva is fending off a challenge from jailbird Jair Bolsonaro's son, and tomorrow's in Québec, which will determine whether a pro-secessionist party runs the province. The Parti Québecois has promised no breakaway referendum until Benedict Donald leaves office, but considering the rumors that secessionists in both Québec and Alberta have secretly met with the Trumpsters, that's not very reassuring.

Finally, the Cornell gang-rape story exploded not just because Jane Doe filed her lawsuits. Cornell's student newspaper, The Daily Sun, has been relentlessly covering the story for two years. Now, they've broken the news that the Cornell police made a drug arrest at the Chi Phi fraternity the night before the gang rape. The school was aware of the arrest — which means that they should have forced the fraternity to cancel the party Jane Doe attended. (Frats have to register parties with the university ahead of time, it seems.) The story just keeps getting worse for Cornell, but The Daily Sun deserves the Julie K. Brown Award for never giving up on this beat. Well done, kids. We cats PURR.

The Right Stuff

By Zamboni

A lot of folks on social media have been tweeting about how triggering the Cornell University rape case stories are. By "folks," we mean, of course, women. Because the fact that the system failed the victim at every turn is — we're sad to say — par for the course. But wait!

Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has relieved the Tompkins County DA of his duties and put a total badass in charge of the Cornell investigation. New York Attorney General Letitia James will leave no stone unturned in her pursuit of justice, you can be sure of that.

Benedict Donald has already said that he thinks the Cornell rapists will not "get a fair shake" from James, and we say, bring it on, Trump. In fact, keep talking about how sympathetic you are to these seven fair boys, whose lives had not been upended the way the victim's was — until now. You, Donald Trump, can only add to our midterm victory margins in New York, whether we're talking the Governor's race or the House of Representatives. Bruce Blakeman, Mike Lawler and Anthony Constantino must be hoping you'll shut up soon (well, maybe not Constantino, who is a Trumpy nut).

We cats continue to be smug about the fact that our first vote as New York residents was in 2018, for James as AG. She has been exemplary, and we're proud of her. Go get 'em, Tish! We cats PURR.

Nixon Just Might Be The One

By Baxter

Since yesterday was the end of the quarter, we cats took a few minutes to send some money to Democratic Senatorial candidates. A lot of them were polling well against the Trumpsters, others were neck-and-neck, and still others were behind but showed promise. But we have to admit we didn't make a contribution to Angie Nixon in Florida, our nominee against incumbent GOP appointee Ashley Moody.

We weren't writing Nixon off — just doing our research, as they say.

Now, though, we're pretty tempted. It turns out that JD Vance (known in some jocular quarters as "Couchfuck McGee") went to Florida today to campaign for Republicans. Think about that for a second: Democrats are doing well enough that Vance has to spend time in Benedict Donald's home state. In fact, he's doing a whole itinerary of red states because polls are looking pretty scary for them these days.

Anyway, in his stupid speech in Lakeland, Vance addressed Nixon and told her, "Get the hell out of here. You don't belong in America." Nixon responded on social media, and she did not mince words.

"I don't wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and absent Ashley Moody are used to running away from people when things get tough, because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent.

"But this is my home. The most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to 'get out of America' while they enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors built. Imagine standing on the shoulders of the people who built this country and then telling their descendants they don’t belong here.

"Wanting lower property insurance and healthcare for families isn't un-American. It’s what working people deserve. They can take their tech-bro cash and their weird, intrusive agenda somewhere else, because I'm not going any damn place. 

"I don’t go high when they go low. I get LOUD. Because the soul and humanity of this country are at stake."

Nicely done, Angie Nixon. We'll shoot you a few bucks, just for this post. We cats PURR.

Schmittstorm

By Sniffles

Yes, we're probably overdosing on Eric Schmitt schadenfreude, but we just can't help ourselves. That odious boor from Missouri faceplanted so badly yesterday before the nation and the world that people are still talking, exclaiming, and tweeting about it. May they never stop.

A little more than 24 hours later, a couple of additional humiliations have come to mind.

Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson had to delete his earlier post that said Schmitt "just CAUGHT Jack Smith perjuring himself" and "pulled out the receipts." Benny? Hello? You colluded with Team Schmitt ahead of time and posted too soon, didn't you? (Sean Hannity did, too!)

The Atlanta Hawks franchise used to play in... (drum roll)... St. Louis, from 1955 to 1968. In fact, they won their only NBA championship there, and reached three more NBA finals during that time. C'mon, Eric — you're a Missouri man! We thought you boys knew all this stuff.

Finally, as a Senator who we know has high ambitions for 2028, Schmitt surely had plans to visit Senate and House battlegrounds in the last month of the 2026 midterms. Will any campaign welcome him now?

Poor Eric. How simply frightful — how humiliating — how delightful!

We cats PURR.

Vote Out The Clowns

By Hubie and Bertie

Ain't America great? If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. One day you're a certifiable nonentity from Missouri, and the next, you've broken the interwebs because you made a fool of yourself before the entire world in a Senate hearing.

Everywhere we turn online, there he is — the hapless harlequin known as Eric Schmitt, whose staff had apparently just teased a story to the press that floated him as a possible future VP, because they were so sure they'd have a Jack Smith bombshell today to ride into 2028 on. And it blew up in his face. SAD!

Meanwhile, both the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball have pushed more races the Democrats' way, as Trump dithers while gas, diesel, and groceries go through the roof (and consumers' pocketbooks). A couple of Marist polls from Ohio got our attention recently: Sherrod Brown ahead of Jon Husted in the Senate contest 51 percent to 43 percent, and Amy Action leading Vivek Ramaswamy for the governorship 50 to 44 percent. (Also be sure to check out Sherrod's new ad about how poor Americans don't understand money. Brutal and hilarious.)

Marist is a university poll, so there's no bias. It's possible that their methodology or sampling system is different from other pollsters' — for example, they have 6 percent undecided, so they're not pushing respondents to make a choice. But all or almost all of the credible polls have moved two to three points toward the Democrats in the last two weeks. They can't all be fake or problematic.

We don't know how much voter anger is building out there or whether anything else can happen to upset current trend lines. Our only advice is to ignore the noise, and keep working and giving. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: "Circus Performers," by Walt Kuhn, 1942, via Art But Make It Sports. And, of course, today's clowns.)

De Adder Du Jour

Political cartoonist Michael de Adder is a genius when it comes to drawing Benedict Donald. The only expression missing here? One that shows Trump sound asleep. (Yep, it happened again today.) We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

(IMAGE Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

Worst-Case Scenario, Yes?

By Miss Kubelik

The fall elections are figuring into our dreams. We cats confess to having dreams about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. We can't tell you what they were about — just that he was there.

But why not? Since we travel back and forth frequently across the border, and we're getting to the point where we don't know if we can bring a couple of bottles of Quebec wine home to New York. But the most telling aspect of all this is the fact that The New York Times asked Carney about gaming out plans for an American military invasion of Canada. Really? An American military invasion? Get out of here.

Carney said, "That's just risk management. That's not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to."

Goodness gracious. That's what we've come to?

Let's please win the midterms and put a check on these crazy Trump people as soon as we can. We know that Carney considers invasion an "extreme tail risk" — one that is unlikely to happen, but would be significant if it did — but, still. THIS IS CANADA WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.

In short, stop it. President Ossoff will. But let's put some brakes on while we can. We cats PURR.