Matt Lauer Is A POS And Good Riddance

By Zamboni

Goodness gracious — we cats don't usually lose our composure, but this Matt Lauer business has caused us, just this moment, to let 'er rip.

We will take a moment to groom and contain ourselves. Thank you.

Because there are a few things we'd like to say about Matt Lauer. 1) We never liked him. 2) We never thought he was attractive. 3) His behavior during the 2016 election was not only despicable but predictive of his overall attitude toward women. 4) Fuck him.

Sorry — we know that last point was a little bit vulgar. Let us just reiterate that we did not mean #4 literally. Unless it involves a heated lead pipe, up Matt Lauer's ass. We cats PURR.

America's Kobayashi Maru?

By Sniffles

This week feels like the darkest one yet since November 8, 2016. The chaos and mayhem that Trump seems to thrive upon is destroying our government's ability to function. Which is probably what the Republicans want in the first place, yes? Or at least, what Grover Norquist wants.

The rest of us 330 million, however, probably feel differently. We'd like our infrastructure to exist, our national parks to be open, our banks to be regulated, our Social Security to be paid, our Medicare to be available, the ACA to be intact, and — oh, by the way — we'd like our safety to be guarded, and not threatened to be blown apart by thermonuclear war with North Korea. Just sayin'.

That aside, it looks like the "tax bill" may pass, so even though three million more Americans voted against stuff like this than voted for it, we may get Obamacare gutted, the middle class and the poor slammed with new taxes, and, in sum, America radically altered — all without Congressional hearings or due diligence — and we haven't even gotten to the subjects of Trump retweeting racist videos and the hollowing out of the State Department.

God, this is just a nightmare.

Is there a ray of hope, anywhere? Will Glinda the Good Witch descend in a bubble and tell us we've always had the power to go back to Kansas?

Well, maybe. There are more of us than of them — and in Virginia, tons of us turned out two and a half weeks ago to say, screw you, Republicans. And so many of those voters were young people — 69 percent — that we think, hey! Trump and the GOP and the haters have awakened a sleeping giant, and they'll get their asses kicked, starting in November 2018.

Hang on to that, folks — and let's keep working our butts off. It isn't easy. The odds are against us and the situation is grim. But it sounds like fun. We cats PURR.

Your Choice: "PC-Ville"? Or Trump's Dark, Dystopian, Carnage-Filled America?

By Baxter

Gosh, when we see news like today's out of Canada, it makes us pine for the kind of country America could be — if it weren't currently run by haters and gangsters.

In the House of Commons this afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a formal apology to Canadian gays and lesbians who had suffered discrimination in government, the military, and elsewhere. "It is our collective shame that you were so mistreated," Trudeau said. "And it is our collective shame that this apology took so long — many who suffered are no longer alive to hear these words. And for that, we are truly sorry."

The Trudeau government is putting money where its mouth is, too: $145 million in compensation to gay civil servants who were hounded out of jobs and careers, and $15 million to education about sexual orientation and the law. And the fact that the apology was delivered by the son of the Prime (then Justice) Minister who decriminalized homosexuality back in the '60s is even sweeter.

It's the second apology from Trudeau to a marginalized minority in less than a week, coming on the heels of his emotional mea culpa to Indigenous youth who decades ago had been forced into boarding schools to make them "assimilate."

We can hear the Trumpsters now: Oh, they must be screaming, how politically correct! Justin is such a loser!

You know what? The guy who insulted Native American World War II veterans to their faces yesterday should think twice before criticizing Trudeau. We cats PURR.

Priorities

By Miss Kubelik

Danica Roem is our new heroine. If we cats still lived in Manassas, Virginia, we'd be sitting on her porch every morning, begging to be let in for coffee and danish and a chat.

Not only did Danica beat a self-righteous Republican pig in this month's House of Delegates race — and gave him a canny twist of the knife with her gracious "Bob is my constituent now" response to the press — she's kept up her laser-like focus on the local issues that helped her soar to victory in the first place.

And this morning Danica unleashed a brilliant tweetstorm that took Virginia Republicans to task for the campaign they just ran.

"I spent 10 months detailing my plan to fix Route 28...Y'all hit me on 'transgenderism,'" she wrote. "At the state level, y'all made a pediatrician who volunteers at a children's hospice out to be a member of MS-13, and campaigned throughout the state on Confederate statues and fiscally reckless tax cuts your own state senators called BS. And you wonder why you lost?

"When you spend an entire year just trying to make people afraid of people in their community and you apply these asinine labels as if you're trying to make people afraid of an ideology or an idea, then you're neglecting the very basics of governing to divide our communities.

"Bottom line: Knock off the divisive BS and actually campaign on boring stuff like infrastructure, because it's the boring stuff that the people pay you with their tax dollars to work on so they don't have to focus on it. That's literally your job. Try doing it."

Brava! She's absolutely right. Thousands of Prince William County residents lose days of their lives stuck in traffic each year, but the only things that matter to the GOP are Danica Roem's sex life and gender orientation? Please.

Have Republicans learned their lesson? Apparently not. Which we hope means that they'll lose even more elections. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Danica does a radio interview over breakfast. Subject? Route 28, of course!)

Just A Coupla Guys Named Joe

By Zamboni

It's time once again for Bill O'Reilly's favorite thing, the War on Christmas. (By the way, do we think that Bill's learned his lesson and will behave himself at holiday parties? We're skeptical. So we'd advise any fellow guests to stay away from the mistletoe.)

Meanwhile, the season marches on — and LGBTers and the people who love them are merrily mixing it up with gay nativity scenes, Christmas ornaments and other amusing gewgaws. We expect the heads of offended faux-Christians to keep exploding in rage.

But what's to be so upset about? After all, like today's LGBT activists, Joseph, Mary and Jesus were simply expanding the notion of what constituted a family. (Not everyone gets to have a God at their dinner table, but still.) We cats PURR.

Another Important Announcement

By Sniffles

We cats just want to get it on the record that we're honored to have played a part in the nabbing of a potential Obama assassin.

"The person behind a plot to harm and possibly kill Barack Obama was identified, authorities said, when tiny cat hairs found on an explosive package were matched to cats owned by a 46-year-old Texas woman," The Guardian has reported.

On the other hand, now we're worried about that woman's cats. If she's going to jail, will someone adopt them? They're innocent by-sitters, after all. We cats PURR.

An Important Announcement

Cat Fancy magazine just called to say we were PROBABLY going to be named Cats Of The Year, but we would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. We said "probably" was no good, and took a pass. Thanks anyway!

Questions For Vendredi Fou

By Baxter

Today is Black Friday. We cats won't be out among the mobs, but we have a few politically oriented questions for the day after Thanksgiving.

Will any mall let Roy Moore shop there today? Ever?

Has there been a rush of donations to food banks from people who saw the Joe Barton nude fat-stomach photo and lost their appetite for Thanksgiving dinner?

Is there any chance that Michael Flynn flipping to Team Mueller means that he hasn't given up Donald Trump?

On that note: Any particular reason that Trump told the Coast Guard yesterday, "You never know about an ally — an ally can turn"?

Finally, will the repeal of net neutrality be the Republican Party's nail in the coffin with young voters? We certainly hope so. There is so much that the GOP has done to kill their prospects with voters across the board — for years. We cats HISS.

Pushing The Boundaries

By Miss Kubelik

Seeking more sanity in a world that politically has gone crazy, we cats spent the afternoon at Montreal's Museum of Contemporary Art in the company of Leonard Cohen. What a tonic.

Then we got back to our computers and realized that some sore-loser, insecure-male Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates is refusing to refer to newly elected Danica Roem as "the gentlewoman from Prince William." Because Danica is transgender, this jackass says, rather than afford her the usual respect, the rules of address in the House need to be changed. We shudder to think which bathroom they'll make her use.

Our next thought? That Danica is too busy and too focused to let this idiocy do anything but roll off her back. The hangups of Richmond Republicans pale in importance to solving the traffic problems on Route 28. And it didn't take long to find out that we were right:

"What matters the most is that I’m [in the House]," Danica said. "What matters the most to the people of the 13th District is that the woman they elected to serve them will be working on their behalf. I will be the delegate from Prince William, and I will conduct myself as the gentlewoman from Prince William while I’m in Richmond and in any other official capacity in which I serve."

(Get that, guys? "Any other official capacity," LOL. Brace yourselves.)

Danica is a groundbreaker, like so many other people we admire: people who are still with us and just starting to make their marks on the world — and people who are gone but who'll never really leave us. Not as long as we can crack open a book of poetry or put on a CD. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Leonard Cohen by Claude Gassian, Trouville, 1988)

If You Turn A Cheek, Maybe Someone Will Rub It.

By Zamboni

How much easier Roy Moore's life would be if he would just follow the teachings of the dude he says he worships, Jesus Christ.

We don't mean Moore abusing underage girls and terrorizing them at the local mall, although we can't picture Jesus doing any of that, and we're pretty sure his teachings would forbid it. We're thinking instead about that exhortation that inconveniently pops up in the Gospel of Matthew.

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,'" Jesus said. "But I say to you...if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

Moore is failing that test, and super-badly. Ever since his sexual-misconduct bombshell derailed his ride to victory in the Alabama Senate race, he's reacted with defiance, fury and threats to sue. The Washington Post, which broke the story, was unimpressed, as were other media outlets. And today we noticed that the TV talking heads routinely referred to Moore as a predator or a pedophile. Without the word "alleged" in front of it, either.

What's Moore going to do? Sue everybody in the world? Wouldn't things be simpler if he just obeyed the dictates of his Savior and submitted gladly to his tormentors? Not only would he save a lot of money on legal fees, he'd score a lot of points in Paradise. Hm! We cats HISS.

Leonard, Vu Par Ses Partisans

One year after Leonard Cohen left us, he gazes serenely over the city of Montreal. We cats PURR.

Whataboutism

By Sniffles

We cats don't usually stoop to the Trumpsters' level, but we can't resist playing a little game of "whatabout" tonight.

Mainly because the Republicans have the biggest, most delicious, most excruciatingly embarrassing example of "whatabout" going. And it's not Donald Trump (although we hear he has some underage-girl problems of his own). And it's not even about Roy Moore (despite that cringeworthy press event Wifey Moore held today).

Nope, the cake must be taken by this dude, former Ohio state rep Wes Goodman — a God-mongering, right-wing, evangelical Republican hypocrite who clearly couldn't bear being gay and had to terrorize other members of the LGBTQ community on public policy while secretly indulging in naughty behavior behind closed doors.

Turns out, though, it wasn't so secret. The Washington Post reports that not only has Goodman (an inappropriate name, considering) had to resign after someone nabbed him having sex with a guy in his office, but two years ago he fondled an 18-year-old at a Washington fundraiser. Even though the teen's stepfather complained at the time, the so-called "Christian" organizations that backed Goodman's candidacy chose to look the other way.

So see, this is what we're talking about.

We Democrats don't believe in telling people how to live their lives when it comes to stuff like this. Republicans, on the other hand, love to do it. They enact laws to do it — usually after a slew of emotional speeches about how America has lost its moral compass and is on the road to hell. So when they get caught with their pants down, literally as well as figuratively, they fall much, much harder.

What's that line about being without sin and casting the first stone? We think it's much more important to give people opportunities to make their lives better, whether it's by providing them with the support they need to get a leg up in this world, or by celebrating their ability to marry whom they love.

So if our guys end up posing for silly photos or having blowjobs in the Oval Office, it's just that much easier to forgive them because when it comes to making policy, they have people's interest at heart. Heck, if you don't believe us, ask this feminist. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Wes Goodman and his hapless, blinkered wife. Wonder what kind of a Friday night they're having? Hmm!)

These Gag Photos Are Amusing. Not Al Franken's.

By Baxter

Never let it be said that we cats are hypocrites and excuse Democrats for bad behavior while slamming Republicans. We were disappointed today in Al Franken, whom we otherwise like very much — mostly for the 11-year-old, faux-breast-grabbing photograph of himself and a sleeping Leeann Tweeden.

We won't reproduce that photo here, mainly because Tweeden has already accepted Franken's apology, which was profuse and eloquent. But gag pictures of sleeping friends and acquaintances can be dicey territory and need to be handled gently, like these. Howard Dean's slumbering campaign staffers must have been amused — once they woke up. (We envision them asking the Gov to sign a copy.) The kid in the picture with President Obama will probably live with enthralled embarrassment — and dine out on the story — for the rest of his life.

So, can we move on? Oh, wait — we still have that guy in Alabama, who creeps out young girls at shopping malls, running for Senate.

If we do tend to forgive Democrats more easily for stuff, it's because they never set themselves up as arbiters of moral behavior the way the Republicans do. So their embarrassment is always less than when the scolds in the GOP turn out to be sinners, cads and hypocrites. It hasn't escaped our notice that Al Franken, a Jewish man, has, before 24 hours have passed, said he was sorry and asked for a Senate ethics investigation — while the alleged super-Christian, Roy Moore, has attacked his accusers and threatened to sue. We cats HISS.

The Eyes Have It (Brrrr...)

We saw photos of Doug Jones and Roy Moore side-by-side yesterday and were struck by how dead Moore's eyes are. They're empty and cold — like a shark's. Now we know how all those girls at the mall must have felt. We cats SHUDDER.

Crapitol Hill

By Miss Kubelik

We cats have always known that Capitol Hill is a lousy place to work. And not just for the nightmarish stories we've seen in the news lately.

Workspace is cramped. The cost of living in DC is high — but pay is low. Members of Congress guard their healthcare plans and other privileges closely, and refuse to share them. Unless you work for a longtime incumbent, job security can be dodgy — just ask Luther Strange's staff how they're feeling these days. And with the way Republicans are running things — i.e., terribly — we're pretty sure that stress levels are through the roof.

Did we really need to hear that $15 million paid to settle sexual harassment and other claims over the last 10 years?

Ugh. We believe in government, but we know a bad operation when we see one. It makes us wonder how adding a known pedophile to its ranks could debase Congress further. We cats hack up a hairball, and we HISS.

Taxing Questions For Elise Stefanik

By Zamboni

We cats are represented in Congress by one of those "moderate" Republicans who manages to skate by on that reputation while voting for obnoxious Trumpy stuff that's harmful to her constituents. (Obamacare, anyone?) This drives us crazy, and one of the top items on our 2018 to-do list is to join with our fellow Democrats in New York's 21st district to kick her butt out of office.

Lately, she's trying to coast along and have it both ways on the Republicans' proposed tax cut for the wealthy. "I do not support this bill as it's currently written," she says. She swears she's going to work on it to make it better.

Since we're certain that the loathsome Paul Ryan has assured her that she'll be able to cast a sham vote against the bill once it's sure to pass the House, we have some questions for her:

• Have you pressured your House leadership to conduct public hearings on this legislation?
• Have you asked that representatives of the home builders industry be allowed to testify on mortgage interest and property tax deductions?
• Have you asked that representatives of local New York school districts and institutions of higher learning be allowed to testify on school-tax and student-loan deductions?
• Have you asked that representatives of New York state and local governments be allowed to testify on the deduction of local taxes?
• Have you asked if struggling New York parents of children with significant health issues or handicaps can testify on medical-expense deductions?
• Have you pressured your Republican colleagues in the Senate to oppose the House version of this legislation?
• In short, have you done anything to demonstrate effective, concerted opposition to this massively destructive bill? Or are you just mouthing words because Paul Ryan said he could afford to lose your vote in the end?

We anxiously await her detailed response, and if she includes copies of news reports about all the stuff she's doing to oppose the bill, even better. But of course, it won't happen because she's doing none of it. We cats HISS.

Change Of Pace

In an era debased by the coarseness of Donald Trump, it was refreshing last night to spend an hour and a half basking in the wisdom and elegance of a great humanitarian, Harry Belafonte. Daylight came and we did NOT wanna go home. We cats PURR.

Moore, Moore, Moore (How Do You Like It?)

By Sniffles

Twenty years ago this January, we cats were wringing our paws over the then-newly exploding Monica Lewinsky story. We remember learning that she was over 21 and feeling vastly relieved about that.

So maybe we should become Republicans, because clearly molesting children is not a problem for the GOP — at least in Alabama. In their frantic defense of Roy Moore, they're reaching for fanciful Biblical stories of super-old-fogey guys shacking up with young women to produce the two leading men of the Gospels, John the Baptist and J.C.

Are we detecting an insidious undercurrent of pedophilia in fundamentalist Christianity? We think we're kinda sophisticated, generally, so how is it we missed stuff like this?

Back here on Earth, where religion should have nothing to do with public policy and the only thing that matters is the rule of law, it's not surprising that these Neanderthal Republicans are excusing Moore's alleged behavior with an underage girl. They're already unfazed that he flouted orders to remove his silly Ten Commandments monument from Montgomery's judicial building and refused to obey the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. Why should they care about the rights of a vulnerable young teenager?

Some in the GOP, though, are putting their money where their mouths are. The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee just booted Moore's campaign from a joint fundraising agreement. Maybe the NRSC should consider Louis C.K. as a substitute candidate instead? After all, he's man enough to admit that the sex charges against him are true. We cats PURR.

Memo To Roy Moore: Hands Off The Kittens

By Baxter

We cats didn't expect to be writing about the Alabama Senate race again so soon, but we checked headlines on The Washington Post this afternoon, and — WHOOPS!

(At least Paul Ryan must be relieved that the spotlight is on Mitch McConnell's problems today. This icky Roy Moore story is sucking up all the uncomfortable questions Ryan might have gotten thanks to a new House Republican committee chair retirement.)

Meanwhile, it's pretty amazing how fast the establishment Republicans moved to get in front of this story. McConnell and the rest of them quickly said Moore should drop out if it's true that he made an under-the-age-of-consent 14-year-old touch his 32-year-old, erect Mr. Winky. It's a sure bet, though, that his diehard supporters are furious and defending him to the hilt. If we still visited our friends the Freepers, which we haven't done in awhile, maybe we could confirm that.

But absentee ballots have gone out — so the only two people who can boot Roy Moore from the race are Roy Moore and the Baby Jesus. And what if Moore stepped aside, remained on the ballot, and still won? Would he have to submit a formal resignation, followed by another corrupt gubernatorial appointment? We aren't familiar with Alabama election law, but Luther-Stranger things have happened.

So much winning! We cats PURR.

Here Comes The Next One

Some pundits are giving Doug Jones only a 10 percent chance against lawbreaker and right-wing sicko Roy Moore in Alabama. We cats guess that means he'll do way better. Help him out!

Decency Beats The Tiki Torches

By Miss Kubelik

So Chinless Ed Gillespie will not be the next Governor of Virginia, and all is right with the world. Chinless tried to thread that irritating needle that the pundits have been screaming about for two weeks now. They were salivating at the thought that he'd be able to ride to victory using Trumpster tactics — but without Trump.

The needle remains un-threaded. Our former neighbors in the Old Dominion, turning out in record numbers and in driving rainstorms, refused to reward hate and misogyny and a government run by knaves and thieves and gangsters. Heck, even that Neanderthal Republican Delegate Bob Marshall went down in flames to a transgender Democrat (Danica Roem, above) — a delicious fate that the ultra-ultra-right-wing Marshall must find intolerable.

As must the narcissistic sociopath who fraudulently lives in the White House. In addition to his stupid pro-Chinless tweets today, Trump apparently also recorded a robocall for Gillespie. So he was all in. How does he explain a six-to-eight-point loss, especially when the so-called momentum (and the blowhards in the media) were all on Gillespie's side in the run-up to Election Day?

Chinless has now lost two statewide races in Virginia: one in a good year for Republicans, and one in a bad year. (Heck, he's lost this one in what looks to be the start of an oncoming wave.) He lost one election as a conservative, establishment-type dude, which is what he is. He lost the other as a Trumpster. Where will he go from here? FOX "News"? We cats PURR and PURR and PURR.

We Like This So Much, We Want To Vote Again (But We Won't)

By Zamboni

We cats have been feeling kinda bad that we don't live in Virginia any more, and can't cast a ballot for Ralph Northam, Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring today. (Which just goes to show that we're not Steve Bannon, who in addition to needing a good dermatologist is known for multiple voter registrations.)

But here's our consolation prize. Isn't this "I Voted" sticker cool? We cats PURR and PURR.

No Wiggle Room

via GIPHY

By Sniffles

Republicans have 52 votes in the Senate. Not 55. Not 60. Just 52.

That may sound good — after all, it's more than 50 percent. But things are getting a little dicey for the GOP when it comes to passing their unholy tax bill.

That's because a few of those Senate Republicans are otherwise occupied. On the medical front, John McCain, Thad Cochran and now Rand Paul all are dealing with illness or injury — from brain cancer to "something urological" to getting beat up by a neighbor. (We're still waiting to hear the back story on that one.) On the who-gives-a-damn front, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake are unleashed and dangerous. Why should they fall in line for a bill that guts healthcare, hurts the middle class and gives a huge tax cut to the rich?

And meanwhile, the sociopath in the White House says he wants a tax vote before Thanksgiving. How will they do it, with five Senators getting sick and going rogue? We'll watch with interest. But in the meantime, two things:

Americans need to fight this bill as fiercely as they fought for healthcare. And every, repeat, every Republican should be asked about Donald Trump's tax returns. We need to see them. No tax returns? No bill. Simple as that! We cats PURR.

More Blood On Their Hands (Not That It Will Matter)

By Baxter

Some guy exercised his Second Amendment rights at a Baptist church today, in a Texas county that went roughly 75-25% for Trump last year.

We cats don't know what to say.

Anything we could add to the cacophony on social media would be superfluous, especially since we're not into the whole thoughts-and-prayers charade — and with the Republicans in charge of Congress and the NRA having Washington in a stranglehold, this'll just be another case of Nothing Getting Done.

Heck, we Democrats were in control of things back in the '90s, and even then we barely got an assault-weapons ban through. And if 20 dead six-year-olds didn't shame us into action five years ago, what will?

So we're not moved to add to the latest outrage beyond wondering why — since Texas has open-carry, and all that — there wasn't a "good guy with a gun" in the pews to take out the bad guy with a gun. Isn't that the NRA's favorite argument? We cats HISS.

We Can Dream, Can't We?

Questions For A Friday Night

By Miss Kubelik

The question is whether teabaggers and haters fired up by a Latino organization's hard-hitting campaign ad will outnumber Hispanic voters at the polls next Tuesday and hand the Virginia Governor's race to Chinless Ed Gillespie and his racist campaign.

Why are we asking? Because the State Department has just sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security recommending that the protected status of 300,000 Central American and Haitian immigrants be withdrawn. So we'll see if anger over the threat of actual deportation cancels out faux Tiki Torch outrage.

And we want to know even more:

The question is whether Donna Brazile will ever explain why she chose this week to make confusing and apparently untrue charges about the 2016 Clinton campaign and the DNC. The question is also whether Brazile will end up apologizing (since she's already trying to walk it back). And whether we cats will ever restore Donna Brazile to our "People We'd Like to Have a Beer With" list.

The question is whether we'll ever find out the identity of the Twitter employee who deactivated Trump's account and whether we'll be able to shake his hand and give him a Daniel Webster cigar.

The question is whether the citizens who rose up against the Obamacare repeal will realize that the Republicans' tax bill ends Obamacare mandates and would effectively destroy healthcare — and whether those citizens will rally against it in equal numbers.

Finally, the question is whether the United States will give in to authoritarianism. So far we think the answer is no. But we're not sure, and that makes us nervous. We cats HISS.

Another One Walks Away

By Zamboni

We cats refuse to engage in the DNC "bombshell" revealed at POLITICO today, which is so Inside Baseball that we're not sure people are going to understand it. We will say that we're disappointed in Donna Brazile, who apparently wants to sell a book. Why else would she try to stir up a Democratic hornet's nest when things couldn't get any worse under Trump and the Republicans? If Donna's thinking she'd only hold her intraparty fire if the GOP had Hitler or Stalin in power — well, guess what? Hitler and Stalin are in power.

In short, this is no time to fight in the War Room.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Paul Ryan has lost another member of his caucus: Lamar Smith of Texas is not running for re-election. The Republican chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee — who doesn't believe in science, space or technology — has announced that "this seems like a good time to pass on the privilege of representing the 21st District to someone else." Well! Could we get a more anti-science clown as the next chair? We're thinking not.

So, head's up, kittens: Watch for coverage from well-informed political writers that focuses on the number of Ryan committee chairs who are leaving Congress — either to run for Senate or Governor, or to just "retire." One thing we bet most media won't focus on is that Democrats are already out-raising Republicans in House races. And since being a committee chair is license to raise money, these guys retiring means that they won't have as much money to spread around to at-risk incumbents, and even challengers, in 2018. We cats PURR.

UPDATE: And as predicted, here's The Washington Post's take. "A lot of Republican lawmakers are just not having that much fun in this unproductive Congress." SAD!

The Truth Will Out

By Sniffles

Here's a news flash from the United Kingdom: Michael Fallon, the Conservative government's equivalent of Secretary of Defense, has resigned after admitting a Harvey Weinstein problem.

Well, maybe his behavior wasn't as bad as Weinstein's. (Was anybody's?) The point is, we don't yet know. And whatever he did, he judged it bad enough to warrant quitting — so we assume there are more cats to be let out of the bag on this story.

But get this: In a post-resignation interview with the BBC, Fallon said, "The culture has changed over the years. What might have been acceptable 10, 15 years ago is clearly not acceptable now."

WHUT?!? Ten and 15 years ago was... 2007 and 2002. We're talking 21st century, not the Mad Men era. What kind of world does Fallon live in?

Wait, don't answer that. Because we're afraid that it's somewhere that the apparently enormous percentage of men who misbehave on the job also inhabit. We cats HISS.

Today's The Day!

Need health insurance? You can get covered and tell the Republicans to go to hell at the same time — by signing up for Obamacare.