Robert Duvall, 1931-2026

 

"That Mr. Duvall could become practically whomever he chose was foreshadowed in his first film, To Kill a Mockingbird, a 1962 classic based on Harper Lee’s novel about racial prejudice in a Southern town. He played Boo Radley, the reclusive, hollow-eyed neighbor who fascinates and ultimately rescues the two small children of the defense lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck).

"As Mr. Duvall’s career flourished in the 1970s and '80s, it surprised many of his fans, on looking back, to discover him in that film. One person apparently not surprised was Harper Lee. When Mr. Duvall landed the part, she sent him a congratulatory telegram. 'Hey, Boo,' she wrote. It was, he said later, his only contact with her."

—The New York Times

"The Power Of The Presidency Is Nothing Compared To The Power Of The People"

Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) keeps giving swell speeches. This is from Sunday, at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta. You can show Senator Ossoff some love and support by clicking here. We cats PURR.

Points Of Reference

By Miss Kubelik

You know we're not living in normal times when judges keep making nifty source citations in their anti-Trump opinions.

The latest is US District Judge Cynthia Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, who has just ordered the National Park Service to put back the language about enslaved people that it had deleted from a display at the President's House in Philadelphia.

"As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984 now existed, with its motto 'Ignorance is Strength,' this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not," she said.

Rufe's decision comes on top of District Judge Richard Leon, who cited Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in his scathing smackdown of Pete Hegseth's campaign against Senator Mark Kelly. "This Court has all it needs to conclude that defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the Constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees," he wrote. "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

And let's not forget Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who last summer accused her SCOTUS colleagues of "Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. This Administration always wins."

Good work! Anything judges can do to draw attention to their rulings against the anti-Constitutional Trumpsters is great. We cats PURR.

(IMAGES: Calvin & Hobbes, by Bill Watterson)

Happy 15th Anniversary At No. 10, Larry The Cat

(IMAGE: Morton Morland, timescartoons.co.uk)

We Also Can't Improve On This

Please contribute to Senator Jon Ossoff's re-election by clicking here. We cats PURR.

We Can't Improve On This

 

Love is in the air! Hope you all had a happy (and healthier than JD Vance) Valentine's Day. We cats PURR.

Melanin Crashes Out

Well, Ilia, we know you're upset, but look at it this way: At least you don't have to decide if you're going to go to what's left of the White House in a few weeks. We cats PURR.

We Are Russia Now

By Zamboni

Is this where we're at in the story of American democracy? A member of Congress, who's the same party as the President, feels compelled to post this message on a widely viewed platform — just in case? It looks like we've entered the Putin-pushing-you-out-a-window phase of Trump 2.0.

If we were reporters, we would shove this in the face of every elected Republican and ask for comment. Maybe especially Lisa Murkowski's, since she said publicly that folks in her party were "all afraid."

You know who wasn't afraid? Renee Good, who told ICE storm trooper Jonathan Ross, "That's okay, dude, I'm not mad at you." And Alex Pretti, who tried to help a woman that his killers had knocked to the ground. But Republican elected officials, Republican thought leaders, Republican ex-Presidents — they're all quaking in their boots, just as Murkowski said. They are pathetic and disgusting.

Take care, Congressman Massie. In a normal world, we don't agree with you on much — but you're doing the right thing on Epstein. (And oh, gosh, we Democrats must win the midterms.) We cats PURR.

Randy Rainbow Channels His Inner Dusty Springfield

 

"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.