Thought For The Day: Juneteenth Gives Us All An Opportunity To Pause And Learn

 
"Join me on the journey to freedom," says the Harriet Tubman mural in Cambridge, Maryland. You can learn more about the Harriet Tubman Underground Railway here. We cats PURR.

The Event In Chicago Today Felt Like The *Real* Celebration Of America 250

And here's a wickedly good cartoon to go along with it. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

De Adder Du Jour (Plus Some Simpletons, Fools, And Lunatics)

By Sniffles

The Reflecting Pool's icky algae seems symbolic of the mess the next President will have to clean up after Trump/Vance and their storm troopers leave office. (Yes, we assume a Democrat wins next time.)

This "mop-up-after-Republican-disasters" phenomenon isn't just a case of FDR having to save the country from Herbert Hoover's Depression-era fecklessness. It happens all the time. Bill Clinton had to come in and fix the lousy economy that George H.W. Bush left behind. Later, Barack Obama inherited a financial meltdown from Bush's smirky son that made Daddy's fiasco pale in comparison. Then Joe Biden had to pull us all out of the COVID pandemic that Benedict Donald screwed up so royally.

But now, things are even worse. President Ossoff will have a real clusterf*ck on his hands when he takes over, won't he? On top of all the terrible things Trump has done, his Iran disaster will haunt our foreign policy and standing in the world for decades. And our allies won't forgive and forget easily — if ever.

Here's just one example from today's Globe & Mail (Canada) — "Trump's Iran Deal Is a National Humiliation":

"If you're looking for the silver lining [in the deal], the 'yes, but,' you can stop looking. This is Trump, after all. He is a simpleton, surrounded by fools and lunatics. They had no idea of what they were getting into with this war, no plan to prosecute it, and no clue as to what would come after. A few days' bombing, a decapitated leadership, and they'd leave everyone else to clean up the mess."

Good grief. It looks like Ossoff will need to take a page from Obama's book and pick a superstar to serve as Secretary of State — somebody who can speak with absolute authority and assuage lots of bad feelings abroad — while he attends to things at home. And we know the perfect person for the job. Brush up your résumé, former Vice President Kamala Harris, your country will need you. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

"Contractions Are Painful But They Are Necessary For New Birth"

We don't know about you, but we're rushing out to buy Raphael Warnock's book. Thank you, Senator Reverend! We cats PURR.

Work Of Art

 

Njideka Akunyili Crosby's official portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama was unveiled at the Obama Presidential Center yesterday, and — coming on the same day as that tacky event at the White House — it was a cleansing bit of good news. We cats like the painting very much. It's especially interesting to us that its dominant figure is not the President but the First Lady — a brilliant, accomplished, commanding, beautiful Black woman. Take that, Josh Hokit. We cats PURR.

Oh, Lordy, As They Say

By Hubie and Bertie

How many individual scandals can you roll into one big, fat, ugly, stinky, scary scandal? By our count, it's three.

The "Somebody In The White House Gave Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan Recordings from the Situation Room" Scandal — It was bad enough that Regime Change authors Haberman and Swan had a blow-by-blow of the Sit Room Epstein confab in the first place. But tapes? OMG. "Such a taped leak would be a shocking breach of one of the most secure settings on Earth," Axios reports. "Independent recording devices in the Situation Room are forbidden."

The "Republicans Will Excuse Serious Breaches in National Security As Long As They're the Ones Doing It" Scandal — That scrambling sound you hear is Lindsey Graham frantically trying to concoct a defense of the indefensible that he can then parrot on TV and social media.

The "My Book Is More Important Than Your Right to Know" Scandal — Reporters like Haberman and Swan sitting on alarmingly massive scoops just so they can write and sell books months later is everything (well, nearly everything) that's wrong with journalism today.

Finally, not a scandal, but a haunting refrain: Can you imagine the reaction if something like this happened under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden? Every one if them would be impeached, tarred and feathered, drawn and quartered, and then shot. But Donald and the Trumpsters? Don't hold your breath. We cats HISS.

Return To Normalcy

 

We realize that to erase the stain of Donald going forward, we will have to endure all sorts of last-minute, emergency-stay, please-don't shenanigans — but, if we persevere, we will succeed. We cats PURR.

(UPDATE, June 14: Looks like the curtain has not fallen. In fact, it looks pretty permanent. Apparently Donald doesn't want anyone to see that his name is no longer there. What a child. We cats HISS.)

No Kings, Just Presidents

This is just a reminder that tomorrow, if you're on social media, you need to post something complimentary about this man, accompanied by a stunning photo (like this one). Because it will drive You-Know-Who crazy. Thank you for your attention to this matter! We cats PURR.

Oy!

By Miss Kubelik

We cats don't make it there very often because it's so popular (and crowded), but we enjoy breakfast at Arthur's Nosh Bar in the historic St.-Henri neighborhood of Montréal. It's got great comfort food — the kind your bubbe would serve with love. But now Arthurs in the crosshairs of the Quebec language police.

If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see "Nosh Bar" stenciled on its window. Big no-no and a grave threat to the French language, apparently. This is a pain in the ass for the owners, who have been in business for 10 years and who have taken the trouble to trademark the name. They're trying to figure out a work-around.

There's no solving the idiocy of the current provincial government and the majority party, the Coalition Avenir du Quebec, but we have a possible solution for Arthurs. The French word for "nosh" (at least, according to our iPad translator, LOL) is "bouffe." If they just stencil in "Bouffe Bar" on the window below "Nosh Bar," they can maybe satisfy the gendarmes and enjoy some alliteration at the same time.

It's all so ridiculous. We look forward to the CAQ getting booted out of power in this fall's election. Meanwhile, we cats HISS.

Randy Rainbow, Very Able (And Yes, A Genius)

 

Randy Rainbow has updated one of his best song parodies, and for the first time, we feel like we could enjoy all of the 250th birthday nonsense. This is the spirit of America! We cats PURR.