"Elsie" Fails Again

By Baxter

Public service announcement: Please call or write your Senators and tell them to vote against the so-called SAVE America Act, which will suppress voting rights in November. (It just passed the House.)

Meanwhile, the House has also done something right: It passed a resolution to repeal Benedict Donald's tariffs on Canada. Gee! Guess that means enough of them have realized how much economic pain Trump's tantrums have inflicted on their districts' economies. (For example, Jack Daniel's had to close an entire distillery in Kentucky after Canadians retaliated with a liquor boycott.)

Six Republicans joined Democrats to tank the tariffs: Don Bacon of Nebraska, Kevin Kiley of California, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Jeff Hurd of Colorado, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Dan Newhouse of Washington. It's the first of what promises to be a whole bunch of snap repeals. (Donald's support in the House is cracking as members realize they are facing Armageddon in November.)

Conspicuously missing among the "no" votes is our own Upstate New York representative, Elise "Elsie" Stefanik. She represents the largest land-mass district in the state, which borders Canada and whose economy is significantly affected by Trump's peevishness.

It seems to us that if Elsie genuinely cared about the extended families who live on both sides of the border — if she, with her Kennedy School degree, truly understood the value of the US-Canada relationship on trade, defense, manufacturing, and tourism — then she would have supported this measure.

The fact that she (and the rest of the New York Republican caucus) could not bring themselves to vote "yes" speaks volumes about their false claims of being "bipartisan problem-solvers" and genuine representatives of the people who elect them. And that's the politest thing we can say. We cats HISS.

De Adder Du Jour

 

By Sniffles

All you need to know about the Gordie Howe Bridge — aside from Mark Carney calling Benedict Donald to correct him on the basic facts — is that "Matty" Mouron, the owner of a competing bridge between Detroit and Ontario, met with Jeffrey Epstein pal (and Secretary of Commerce) Howard Lutnick to bitch about the Gordie Howe just hours before Benedict Donald came out against it.

Fun fact: Back in 2018, Trump thought the Gordie Howe Bridge was a swell idea. Surely PM Carney reminded him of that. (And that Canada has paid the entire bill for its construction.) Donald's hissy fit has boosted Canadian confidence and made life more difficult for Michigan Republicans whose names are on the ballot this year.

That's not just for economic reasons. Gordie Howe was Canadian, but he was also a Detroit Red Wings legend, racking up so many great stats and throwing so many elbows that he became known as "Mr. Hockey." Michiganders will not soon forget Trump's insult. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

Committee Contretemps

By Hubie and Bertie

Is there any better proof that the Trumpsters have their backs against the wall than Pam Bondi's behavior in front of the House Judiciary Committee today? When you've got nothing, the theory goes, then insult, obstruct, accuse, and yell (aka, "pound the table"). They think this will make the American people forget about Jeffrey Epstein.

Thanks for playing, Team MAGA. The Epstein saga is metastasizing, and Benedict Donald and his perfidious minions can barely keep up. House Democrats — and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie — hammered Bondi on the Epstein cover-up, forcing her to lose her cool many times. News flash: When you allow yourself to get rattled, you're losing.

Bondi must have known this, though, deep in her heart (or whatever is where her heart ought to be). She had to know that Rep. Pramila Jayapal had boxed her in on apologizing to the Epstein victims. She also had to know that Jayapal had put her front-and-center in what surely will be one of the photos of the decade. (That's a group of Epstein survivors, plus Virginia Giuffre's brother, standing behind Pamela Jo, raising their hands to say that they'd never been asked by DOJ to testify about what Jeffrey did to them.)

Props to Pramila for that — nicely done. And Bondi just got nuttier from there. Donald will surely spend hours lauding her performance on social media tonight, but they have to know they lost the day.

At one point, Bondi called Ranking Member Jamie Raskin "washed up" and "not even a lawyer." Guess again, Blondie. Jamie Raskin is indeed a lawyer, as well as an expert on something Bondi knows nothing about: the US Constitution. Raskin is a graduate of Harvard, which is slightly more respected than (cough, cough) Stetson University College of Law. But true to her alma mater's name, Bondi proved today that she's all hat, no cattle. Meanwhile, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein isn't going anywhere. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

(PS: Will someone in the Trump orbit please tell Pamela Jo that the Dow is not "over 50,000 dollars"? Thank you.)

A Bad Week For MAGA, And It's Only Monday

By Miss Kubelik

Will somebody tell Benedict Donald that Bad Bunny's spectacular Super Bowl halftime show crushed TPUSA's silly counter-program in the ratings? (Trump might not be surprised, since Bad Bunny was even spotted on screens at the Mar-a-Lago Super Bowl party. Hilarious!)

In more bad news for Trump World today, Pam Bondi is scheduled to testify to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, and it should be quite the show. Ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who viewed some of the Epstein files today under the substandard conditions in which DOJ made them available, has said that there are plenty of unexplained redactions (and non-redactions), plus breezy chats about trafficking girls as young as nine. So gross. 

The Epstein fallout is causing a storm in the UK, but here in the United States it's more of a slow roll, which actually might be worse. It means a steady drumbeat of Epstein, Epstein, Epstein from now until November. The Trumpsters may have privately decided that their sacrificial lamb might be Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has shamelessly lied about his Epstein connections and seems generally universally loathed. But MAGA should be warned: Cutting Lutnick loose won't be enough.

Meanwhile, things keep going not so great for the GOP at large. In Colorado, for example, the state party is deep in debt and its leaders are brawling. Financial woes and kerfuffles are unwelcome at any time, but it's particularly bad for Colorado Republicans given that this year they already have to defend one very flippable House seat, plus two others — Lauren Boebert's previous district, and her current one — that could easily be lost in a wave year.

Closer to (our) home, New York Republicans have more headaches on their hands. Bruce Blakeman, the presumed GOP opponent to Governor Kathy Hochul since Elise "Elsie" Stefanik dropped out of the race, was flatly told by Fulton County Sheriff Richard C. Giardino nope, nope, nopity-nope when he asked Giardino to be his running mate. (So, why float Giardino's name in the first place? This is the kind of stuff that happens when you don't know what you're doing.)

Not to be outdone, up in Elsie's soon-to-be-old Congressional stomping grounds of NY-21, two candidates hoping to replace her are in a cat fight to end all cat fights. Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino has threatened Assemblyman Robert Smullen with a cease-and-desist letter over Smullen's accusations that Constantino is a tax cheat. Sticker Mule Anthony is big, big mad, but Smullen is firing back. "It should come as no surprise that Anthony Constantino is accusing me of lying about his tax record," he said. “This is typical of him. Unfortunately for him, I won’t be intimidated and the facts are clearly on our side."

Way to go, guys. Don't focus on keeping the seat in Mikey Johnson's column — just attack one another viciously during the primary. Speaking for Democrats, we love to see it. We cats PURR.

Give This Clever Account A Follow

 

"Some People Happen To Live In Times And At Places Where History Is Made"

Wow, team, this is a truly great speech. Totally worth 30 minutes of your time. It sets the stage for 2026. We cats PURR.

It's -6F Right Now, But Things Are Warm And Friendly For Kathy Hochul

Just a quick follow-up on our Kathy Hochul post: What a difference a year makes. Once, Hochul could do nothing right in the media's eyes. Now she's getting cutesy memes and reposts. We cats PURR.

Example For The World

This message hangs in the Olympic workout space for Team Canada. We cats approve, and we PURR.

We Don't Really Care About The Olympics, But

 

It's totally swell that the US athletes got applause, and that JD Vance was booed. Well done!

Meanwhile, here is Prime Minister Mark Carney's message to Team Canada. We cats aren't really into the Olympics, but we still hope that the games show the world two things: Federal democracies produce great accomplishments and great people. We cats PURR.

Just Posting This For No Reason Whatsoever

Note to the Obamas: Silence is not your best option. We know you usually refrain, but this time, please say something. We cats PURR.