L'Affaire Platner: Red Cards All Around

By Hubie and Bertie

What a long time ago early June seems. Back then, as Mainers were going to the polls in the Democratic primary for Senate, we cats speculated that if we were in line to vote, we'd most likely support Graham Platner. He seemed like the candidate with the best chance to beat Susan Collins, which we have to do to win the Senate.

All we can say now is, thank goodness we live and vote in New York. Ugh. Mainers, you have our condolences. And Mitch McConnell must be so mad that he's dead and missing all this. (Yeah, he's dead.)

But back to Platner. There's plenty of blame to go around, and most of it is Inside Baseball — the kind of stuff that party people argue and point fingers about. Chuck Schumer did not recruit Platner to run, but he did throw his weight behind a 77-year-old soon-to-be-former Governor for the seat when the vibe of 2026 was clearly skewing younger and non-establishment. A truly tone-deaf move.

At the same time, though, Bernie Sanders has to take responsibility for elevating Platner as a pushback against Mills. Platner, Sanders said last summer, is "a Mainer through and through, and he is building a movement strong enough to take on the oligarchy," blah, blah, blah. (Ye gods, lefties — please find a different word. Most voters don't know what an oligarchy is.)

This hamfisted own goal by Schumer and Sanders is doubly unforgivable when you review the list of possible candidates to replace Platner. They all seem credible and acceptable: Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah, and former state Senate President Troy Jackson. With folks like that around and available, how did we end up in this mess?

Never mind, we know how. Meanwhile, people are getting impatient as the clock ticks down to 5 PM on July 13. Platner needs to stop dilly-dallying — Maine Democrats have a candidate to pick, and we have an election to win. We cats HISS. 

(IMAGE: Nick Anderson, Tribune Content Agency)

Well, All Right / Okay / You Win / We're In Love With You

 

The Mamdani Administration just budgeted $750,000 for New York City's first-ever pet food pantry — and another $750,000 for affordable spay and neuter services. Nicely done, Your Honor! We cats PURR.

Maybe We Want Hercule Poirot To Win

By Miss Kubelik

We cats spent the last 10 days in Montreàl, and vis-à-vis the World Cup, it was an interesting experience. Montreàl said "non" to being a host city, and therefore escaped being fleeced by the ever-corrupt organization known as FIFA. But there was still a lot of buzz around the games, and we had to be careful about choosing restaurants since so many either had screens, or set up screens to watch.

No worries. We didn't even have a problem when Morocco fans turned out onto the sidewalks to dance and celebrate after their team beat Canada. (Even though, ugh, too bad.) The city was alive with small demonstrations like that, and with cars flying flags of Argentina, Colombia, Norway, and everything in between.

We figured we'd pay attention until we returned to the US. After all, watching the matches in Canada meant that we saw them on TSN, RDS or CTV, so we weren't putting money in Fox's pocket. Now that we're back in the US, something else is on our TV. We'll track the World Cup through other venues, thank you.

But we still heard about Benedict Donald getting FIFA to reverse the red card on US star player Folarin Balogun so he can play against Belgium tomorrow. Is there any more proof that FIFA is corrupt? Nah.

Aside from the outrage from the rest of the world, two thoughts here:

If Balogun had any integrity, he would say, thank you, but I received the red card, and I will sit this one out.

Two, does Donald realize that Balogun is a so-called anchor baby? He was born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents from Nigeria — just the kind of person that Trump, Stephen Miller, and one-third of the Supreme Court would like to outlaw and deport. It all makes us sick, and ready to root for the Belgians tomorrow. We cats HISS.

So Much Is Different. So Little Is Different.

When historians write about Trump 2.0, this image will take a prominent place in the narrative. It ranks right up there with Rosa Parks getting fingerprinted, MLK at the Lincoln Memorial, and the shooting of James Meredith on the 1966 March Against Fear. But maybe Rosa Parks most of all. We cats salute whoever this woman is, and we PURR.

(PHOTO: Cheney Orr @orr_photo)

"They Saw New York City. They Saw America."

By Zamboni

Since our previous post about the bigots who own A Taste of Italy in Latham, we've learned that the restaurant reopened after 24 hours. Well! So much for "until further notice."

But on this conflicted Fourth of July, let's savor this photo of construction worker Anthony Soraci instead.

Grandson of Italian immigrants, as Sen. Amy Klobuchar ID'd him in her tweet, Soraci is leaning in to kiss the Statue of Liberty during restoration work on her back in 1984.

So, yeah, 40+ years ago. Let's hope that Trump giving people permission to be their worst selves will not, in the end, erase images like this. Because this is what America 250 is all about. We cats PURR.

E Pluribus Not Unum

By Baxter

A Muslim family visiting the New York Capital Region is holding a funeral today for their seven-year-old son who drowned in a neighbor's pool. The boy's body wasn't found for a couple of days, but in the meantime, hundreds of people from the area dropped their holiday-week plans and helped search for him — a true caring community in action.

Except, as you might expect, in this Time of Trump, somebody had to be an asshole.

"Let's not forget if that boy lived in a Muslim country his Muslim family would have killed him a long time ago," one owner of the Latham restaurant A Taste of Italy wrote on her business account. She continued by calling Islam "a horrific fake religion" and a "terrorist organization," and said, "No Muslim should be in any place of Authority in America." (Trumpy capitalization hers.)

Disgusting. But the good news is that protesters showed up after the owner's comments went viral, creating such a brouhaha that the restaurant had to close its doors "until further notice," the other owner stated. "In no way, shape or form am I prejudiced against Muslims, Blacks, gays or any of that stuff," he bleated. ("Stuff"?)

You'll also be unsurprised that A Taste of Italy's owners, who don't deserve to be named, have turned out to be sales-tax scofflaws who owe the state of New York $366,000 and who have been in hot water for racist, homophobic and other trashy online comments in the past. They were planning to open another Italian restaurant in Albany next week, but oops! — maybe that won't happen now.

Mr. Rogers famously said that when upsetting things happen, look for the helpers. We should all focus on the goodness of the neighbors who joined the search and try not to think about the people who, during a week that's supposed to celebrate the goodness of America, jumped at the opportunity to milk a seven-year-old's death for hate. Let's hope that A Taste of Italy has to shut its doors forever. We cats HISS.

(PHOTO: The Times-Union)

Bonne Fete Du Canada

Fed up with Trump's endless grifting and unseemly appropriation of America's 250th? Take a moment to appreciate our Neighbors to the North, who are celebrating 159 years of Confederation. They're looking awfully sane compared to how things are going for us these days. Happy Canada Day! We cats PURR.

Very Red, Hot, And Blue From Randy Rainbow (Thanks, Cole)

 

Benedict Donald thinks his second act means Anything Goes — he can trash monuments and memorials, the rule of law, and the Constitution in equal measure. But Randy Rainbow has a delightful, delicious, delectable, delirious, de-lovely response. We cats PURR.

A Hot Take On July 4

By Sniffles

We're about to observe the 250th anniversary of the American colonies' Declaration of Independence from England, but we might have to admit that sometimes the British have a good idea or two. As in, if you have a King, maybe celebrate his birthday when the weather is good.

Charles III, for example, just presided over that grand spectacle, the Trooping of the Colour, as his mum did before him. Elizabeth II was actually born in April, a month that can be unreliable and squally, and Charles made his first appearance in dreary late November. June can more easily promise sunshine and warmth.

Conversely, if you want cooler temperatures, perhaps it would be better for some national observances to move to earlier or later in the year — rather than in, say, early July when everything is beastly hot.

Especially this year. Thanks to a summer supercharged by climate change and a strong El Niño, North America and Europe are baking in unbearable heat waves this week. But we're stuck with the fact that the founders signed the Declaration on the Fourth. So even if Benedict Donald's offensive "Freedom 250 state fair" was appealing, well-managed, and in good taste, 105-degree temperatures in DC will keep the already-sparse crowds down even more. Sad!

Here's a suggestion for when sane people return to power in Washington: Global warming ain't going away. Let's follow the example of the Britons, and move our Independence Day celebrations to a different, potentially more temperate, date. In fact, why not center them around the Constitution instead? We could mark the anniversary of its framing (September 17, 1787) or the day it took effect (March 4, 1789).

After all, since Trump has been violating the damn thing every day since he got back into office, our poor, abused Supreme Law of the Land could maybe use a little love. Just a thought. We cats PURR.

Don't Tell Donald

 

Who had a bigger crowd this weekend? The Montreal Alouettes in their game tonight against Ottawa? Or Benedict Donald's mishap-laden "Great State Fair" in Washington? You be the judge! We cats PURR.