You'd Think By Now He'd Get The Hint...

What's that line about if looks could kill? Mike Pence sure seems to attract his share. We cats PURR.

Donald Trump, Terrorist

By Zamboni

There's nothing new about Donald Drumpf riling up people to threaten the press. The Republicans have been encouraging this kind of behavior for years. Until recently, though, it's been against folks like women trying to obtain abortions, and the doctors who provide them.

In some of those cases, people have died — shot through their windows at home, blown up at a clinic, or gunned down at church.

So we cats don't have a whole lot to add on the jackass who just got arrested for threatening The Boston Globe — except to say that he probably wouldn't consider himself in the same category as Muslim terrorists. But he is. And Trump is complicit. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: Memorial to the staff of Charlie Hebdo, massacred in Paris for daring to speak their minds, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal)

Tidbits And Cat Treats: People Really Care About Healthcare Edition

By Sniffles

Pretty eventful primary day in Florida yesterday. Also, the McCain Marathon continues, plus more. Here are a few of our hump-day observations.

We cats have three words for the Democrats who are squabbling on Twitter about Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum: CUT. IT. OUT. Fact: Andrew Gillum was endorsed by Bernie Sanders. Fact: Andrew Gillum was a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic Convention. Fact: Andrew Gillum bridges both worlds. It's a good thing.

Sarah Palin is not invited to John McCain's funeral. Because she would misbehave? Bring her hideous family? Perhaps it's because Palin, probably the most unqualified running mate in history, is a reminder that McCain's "Country First" slogan was just an empty lie.

So letting nearly 3,000 Americans die is doing "a fantastic job"? What would letting 6,000 American die be? "Outstanding"? "Sensational"? It is simply amazing that nobody is in trouble for this. Which means we've got to have that Blue Wave this fall.

Speaking of which, while we Democrats have an abundance of campaign talking points to hammer on in the midterms, there's only one in which we should be in lockstep: With John McCain gone, and with the Governor of Arizona pledging to replace him with a fellow Trumpster, the Affordable Care Act is officially dead in the Senate. The only way we stop Republicans from ripping health coverage away is by winning back the House. (The Senate would be nice, too, of course.)

Democrats: Polls have consistently shown that Americans want to keep their Obamacare. So speak of nothing else, and you'll cruise to victory in November. That would make us cats PURR.

All This, And Harry Belafonte, Too

By Miss Kubelik

We cats like to go to politically provocative movies in Canada, just to gauge audience reactions. We saw Spike Lee's latest this afternoon — and while folks in the seats around us were guffawing more than gasping in horror at dialogue that echoed every Trump rally you've ever heard, you could have heard a pin drop when the film closed with scenes from Charlottesville and Heather Heyer's face filled the screen. Pretty emotional stuff. We cats recommend it, and we PURR.

A Tale Of Two Letters

By Baxter

Why do we cats have the feeling that thousands of our posts this week are going to be about John McCain? And it's only Monday.

Are we going to discuss half-staff flags today? Speaker phones that don't work? Presidential statements grudgingly squeezed out that could have been painlessly issued 48 hours earlier? We could, but we won't. At least, not now. The week will bring so much more petty drama, because as we know, Trump will be Trump. The feast has just begun.

What's on our minds at the moment is that John McCain, close to death, tried to pull a Jack Layton. McCain issued a final letter exhorting Americans not to lose hope in these screwed-up times — for which, we have to point out, he did a lot to pave the way (i.e., picking Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate).

McCain's letter mimics Jack Layton's last message to Canadians before the NDP leader died, also of cancer, in 2011. The difference between the two? Layton's letter was motivated by love, McCain's by contempt. We'll leave you with Jack's final words, because they make us PURR.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Make It The MSOB

By Zamboni

We cats are all for our Senator Chuck Schumer's idea of renaming the Russell Senate Office Building after John McCain. What an excellent opportunity to get a racist's name off a building and drive Donald Trump and his hideous fans crazy at the same time.

Here's a revolting case in point: Jim Hagedorn, the GOP nominee for Minnesota's first Congressional District, who is such a racist fool that he wants to sandblast Abraham Lincoln off Mount Rushmore. We have yet to hear from him on the Russell renaming, but he's the type.

They're the teabaggers and Trump fans who defensively harp about how it was the Democratic Party that was the party of racists, which — well, yes, it was, at least back in the day when Fred Trump was attending Ku Klux Klan rallies. But as everyone knows, the Solid South flipped after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s. The haters fled to the GOP because we Democrats did the right thing.

Heck, you don't even have to read history to learn this stuff. Just watch HBO's "All the Way" to see how heartbroken Georgia Senator Richard Russell was. (That's him above, played by the great Frank Langella.)

So sure, let's go for it: the McCain Senate Office Building. And why stop there? What else can we rename for McCain to drive the Trumpsters crazy? Our phones are open! And we PURR.

Lest We Furr-get: That Trip To Estonia

By Sniffles

When Woodrow Wilson died in 1924, the Senate deputized Henry Cabot Lodge to represent them at the former President's funeral. Learning this, Edith Wilson took quick action. "Realizing that your presence would be embarrassing to you and unwelcome to me," she wrote the Senate architect of the defeat of the League of Nations, "I write to request that you do not attend." (Lodge didn't.)

We cats can't come up with another historic parallel to this Wilson-Lodge battle royal until now, with the family of Senator John McCain pre-disinviting Donald Trump to McCain's funeral.

Well, now McCain has died, and the funeral will soon be upon us. Because we appreciate pomp and political spectacle, we cats are marveling at who will be there, and who won't.

A few months back, in fact, McCain and his family asked both George W. Bush and Barack Obama not just to attend, but to deliver eulogies.

So let's get this straight: The guy who beat McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary by spreading racist rumors about McCain's adopted daughter will speak. The guy who defeated McCain in 2008 and snatched his dream of the Presidency forever will speak. The current President of the United States is not welcome to walk in the door.

What an incredible indictment of Benedict Donald. And you know what? If the McCain family wanted to throw some additional shade Trump's way, they could invite the Senator's Estonia vodka-drinking buddy to say a few words, too. That would make us cats PURR.

There's No Constitutional Remedy For 2016, But We Like This Anyway

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Interesting Thoughts Edition

By Miss Kubelik

The news sure has been awful for the sociopath who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, hasn't it? We cats are pleased, although it's glee tempered with the knowledge that the country is going to hell in a handbasket. Still, the headlines have inspired some wonderment in our furry little brains. Here are a few examples.

Donald Trump claims he's going to hit the GOP campaign trail "six or seven days a week" this fall. That's a lie, of course — first because he always lies, and second because there aren't enough endangered Republicans in the country who will invite him to their districts. But it got us wondering: Will Trump spend all his time in West Virginia? The yahoos there seem to love him, he constantly needs rallies to boost his fragile ego, and the state is close enough to Washington and New York that he can always be home in his own bed. Bet on it.

Beto O'Rourke is getting lots of kudos today for a brilliant answer he gave a voter who asked whether O'Rourke supported football players taking a knee. "I can think of nothing more American," Beto explained after he eloquently placed the NFL protest in the context of the civil rights movement. What struck us is that the questioner was a veteran who said he found the protests offensive. He sounded like a middle-aged white guy. What was he doing at Beto's event? We're thinking that he must be shopping for a candidate other than Ted Cruz if he showed up and didn't toss a bomb. He asked the question respectfully, and Beto answered it in kind. Something to think about.

Finally, Trump says he "feels very badly" about Paul Manafort's felony convictions, because Manafort is such "a good man" and has a wonderful family. We're puzzled. Is this the same Paul Manafort that Trump said was practically a stranger and hardly worked for his campaign? Something's not right. We cats HISS.

News So Good, It's Criminal

By Baxter

On a day that was like early Christmas for the majority of us Americans who loathe Donald Trump, another unexpected gift arrived.

We'd just finished opening our much-anticipated Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort presents when Santa suddenly dropped another one under our metaphorical tree: GOP Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife have been indicted for using campaign funds to pay for vacations, school and trips to the dentist, among other amusements.

(Gosh, these Republicans are a bunch of self-entitled cheats. And are you surprised that Hunter was the second House member — after Chris Collins, another crook — to endorse Trump? Not!)

But wait, there's more: As you might expect, the indictment has roiled the race for Hunter's district, California's 50th, which is in San Diego. "I think the Republicans just lost another House seat,” said the chairman of the California Democratic Party. It's not clear that Hunter will be able to get off the ballot, and state law disallows write-ins. So the GOP is between a rock and a hard place.

Et enfin, la pièce de la résistance: Check out this photo. It's our CA-50 candidate, Ammar Campa-Najjar. Oh, sigh! We cats PURR.

UPDATE, Aug. 22: There are seven House districts with a Republican incumbent that Hillary won in 2016. Duncan Hunter's district is NOT one of them. So consider the map expanded for the Democrats. We're not sure how this helps build Benedict Donald's "Red Wave." And we PURR.

Si Seulement...

By Zamboni

Enduring the nightmare that is Benedict Donald, we cats have found ourselves a little jealous of Canada's Parliamentary form of government. If the US had one, the Trumpsters would have crashed and burned in a vote of no confidence ages ago.

But we don't: The Founders gave us an ingenious system of three branches checking and balancing one another instead. It usually works — although surely Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the rest never envisioned one of the branches refusing to do its job. We hope that the midterms will rectify that situation.

Meanwhile, we continue to sigh with longing when we see Canadian news like this: The Montreal city council has unanimously voted for a nationwide ban on guns.

Not just in the city, or even in the province — nationwide. "We need bans that are clear and precise to reduce the number of [the] lethal weapons that are circulating in our society," the councilor who presented the motion declared.

Color us impressed. Sure, it took nearly 30 years since the massacre at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique to ask the federal government for a ban, but sometimes these things have to build. Since 1989, Canadians have seen just three mass shootings — the most recent one at a mosque last year — but they've apparently had enough. The Montreal measure restricts gun usage to cops and the military only.

How do our massacres stack up? See above. And why do we think that Canada may succeed where we've failed? Because they have no Second Amendment. We cats wish them luck, and we PURR.

Prisoner Of Russiagate?

By Sniffles

Back when we cats were kittens, we had a P.O.W. — "Prisoner of Watergate" — bracelet. It looked just like the bracelets (see above) that people wore for P.O.W.s in Viet Nam — except, of course, for the inscription. Ours said "John W. Dean, 4-30-73." That was the date Dean was fired as Counsel to the President.

Irreverent? Probably. But it was just our way of saying we supported John Dean, and believed what he was saying about Richard Nixon's involvement in the scandal that ultimately brought him down.

Now the pundits and journos are saying that White House Counsel Don McGahn spent 30 hours cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller because he didn't want to end up in the slammer like John Dean did. And former Republican operatives like Steve Schmidt are saying that McGahn is an honorable man who surely has done the right thing.

"Don McGahn is not getting disbarred or going to jail for Donald Trump," Schmidt said. "He doesn’t work for Donald Trump... He works for the American people. He swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution... to tell the truth to the Special Counsel on behalf of the American people for whom he works and serves."

Okay, if that's true, we cats only have one question. If Don McGahn is such a good guy, why did it take him more than two weeks to fire National Security Adviser Mike Flynn after Sally Yates went to him with her hair on fire to say Flynn was compromised by the Russians?

Like the rest of you, we're waiting for the answer — because that's something the White House has never explained. And if, in the end, Don McGahn is hauled off to the hoosegow after all, we'll consider wearing his bracelet. We cats HISS.

The Three Stooges

By Miss Kubelik

We cats wish John Brennan well on any legal action he may take against Donald Drumpf for ripping away his security clearance. Brennan says he's considering it to keep others from enduring the same hissy-fit treatment (if you can describe the actions of a despot as hissy-fitty).

In the meantime, we're thinking of the future. As in when we Democrats get the White House back.

Once we do, one of the first things President Biden (or whoever) should do is to suspend the security clearances of three people: Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, current CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Why, you ask? Because all three of these people have stood by without a word as Benedict Donald punishes Brennan and threatens to punish more people by revoking their clearances, too. This endangers the our system of government and the national security of the United States.

Unlike the former intelligence pooh-bahs and others who have signed statements of protest against Drumpf, Pompeo, Haspel and Coats have been silent. Anyone with a modicum of moral leadership would have threatened to resign by now. Instead, crickets.

But wait, you say — wouldn't suspending their clearances be just more of the same? Retaliatory, vindictive, political?

Nope. First, we're saying suspend them. There is a defined process for security clearance removal, one that (surprise, surprise) wasn't followed with Brennan. Pompeo, Haspel and Coats deserve the opportunity to defend themselves during those carefully laid-out proceedings.

Second, we're advocating this on moral, not political, grounds. After 18 months under Russian gangster Drumpf, our country's institutions are under grave threat. Anyone close to power who does not speak up now — or ever — is complicit, a coward, and quite possibly a traitor.

Seems like the right thing to do after the nation was attacked. But then, we can't recall anybody getting in trouble for lying us into the Iraq war, either. We cats HISS.

Another August Birthday

Gosh, so many Leos and Virgos in our Democratic neck of the woods. Bill Clinton's the latest: He turns 72 today. We cats send hugs and best wishes, and we PURR.

Why They Care About Comstock

By Baxter

Right now the folks who are in charge of getting Republicans re-elected to the House are facing hard choices. With September just a couple of weeks off, the National Republican Congressional Committee is no doubt debating which Congressional races to try to save this fall, and which to write off. Assuming that Vladimir Putin doesn't interfere, the professional prognosticators are saying the GOP is up against tough odds to keep the majority.

Analyses from three big guns — the Cook Political Report, FiveThirtyEight.com and Sabato's Crystal Ball — all agree that one of the six most endangered incumbents is Barbara Comstock in Virginia's 10th. We cats despise Comstock as we despise our own Republican House member, Elise Stefanik, because they are Republican women who try to skate through with undeserved reputations as "moderates" when, in reality, they vote with Benedict Donald practically down the line.

Virginia-10 is a crucial district for a lot of reasons, and not just because Comstock is only a couple of years into representing it. It's one of those hallowed suburban/exurban places that used to be solidly red but has morphed into purple/light blue as more diverse folks have moved into it. It will be closely watched on Election Night as a bellwether of what's to come.

But there's another factor at work, too, and one that's sure to influence the NRCC's decision: VA-10's Eastern Time Zone location in a solidly purple state (one that Hillary Clinton carried and that went dramatically blue in its 2017 elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and the state legislature). If Comstock is to fall on November 6, she'll be one of the first Republicans to do so. (Polls will close at 7.) Her defeat will set the tone for the whole night. So the GOP will be forced to spend money on her even if she's a hopeless cause.

Imagining all this, we cats are flashing back to Election Night in Canada in October 2015. The first results from the Maritime Provinces came in, and they were so solidly Liberal that the CBC anchors were left nearly speechless, blinking at one another in amazement. May our own midterms be as definitive as that. It would make us cats PURR.

(PHOTO: That's Comstock on the left. Enough said.)

Happy Birthday, Roslaynn!

The subject (with her husband) of a Washington Post appreciation just yesterday, our former First Lady turns 91 today. We hope she has a fabulous celebration and maybe even allows herself a second glass of that bargain-brand chardonnay she and Jimmy drink. We cats PURR.

As Seen In Brooklyn

Whoever did this, we cats approve. And we PURR.

An Electrifying Choice

By Zamboni

Last night's primaries were interesting for a lot of reasons, but we cats want to say that we're especially pleased at Democrat Christine Hallquist's nomination for Governor of Vermont. And not just because we can't wait for Donald Drumpf to tweet off the deep end about her.

(Actually, we're hoping that by the time he realizes Christine exists, Drumpf will have been banned from Twitter for violating their terms of use. He certainly already deserves to be booted off, as many recipients of his threats and insults could attest.)

Not many people are betting on Hallquist, former CEO of the Vermont Electric Cooperative, ousting Republican Phil Scott — but for kinda weird reasons. So the Green Mountain State hasn't failed to re-elect an incumbent Governor since 1962? Big woo. In these days of flouted precedents, stuff like that hardly seems to matter. And if you get an interesting, exciting candidate who talks about issues that are important to people — in a blue wave year, no less — things can happen.

Therefore, GOP, take nothing for granted. (Betcha a few weeks ago you didn't think Chris Collins would be off the New York ballot either.) Meanwhile, we like this congratulatory message from Virginia Delegate Danica Roem, another transgender woman who was told in 2017 that she couldn't possibly win: "If anyone tells you the Republican incumbent is too entrenched for you to defeat in the general election . . . yeah, about that," Roem tweeted with a wink. We cats PURR.

Dog-Tired Of Donald

By Sniffles

Well, we guess we have to say something about this whole "Donald Trump calling somebody a dog" thing.

We normally don't opine on canines, but now that the media are finally (maybe) drawing a line on Trump's behavior (what the heck took them so long?), we should offer a few observations:

First, that even we have to declare that "dog" shouldn't be an insult. Canines can be loyal, devoted, helpful, lifesaving, comforting and fun, even if they have to be walked when it rains.

Second, Trump's habit of calling black people "dogs" is so revolting, he should be impeached just for that.

Third, everyone knows what it means to call a woman a "dog." If it doesn't mean ugly, it means bitch (or both). What were we just saying about impeachment?

We are disgusted that America ended up with this Trump cretin in the first place. It's not like he hid the fact that he's a terrible, awful person — it was on full display throughout the 2016 campaign. So how did it happen? There are many reasons, but one of them really burns us, and it's the false equivalency that the media pushed day after day. We could have had the smart woman who knew her stuff and behaved like a grownup, but the press couldn't stop yammering about emails and how she was "overprepared." Well, we'll take overprepared over loutishness, any day. We cats HISS.

Paladino, Please

By Miss Kubelik

Peter Strzok was fired today, and one of our first thoughts was this: When the Democrats flip 40-plus seats and take the House of Representatives this year, will anyone on our side demand all of the internal 2016 emails from the FBI's New York office — to prove the blatant, obvious and insidious anti-Hillary bias that drove everything they did? That stuff will make our hair stand on end (and Strzok's texts look like child's play).

That's just one of the reasons we cats are licking our chops for Election Day (assuming that Putin lets us all vote): With Democrats in charge, all the investigations into the treasonous Trumpsters will finally be able to kick off, and people will be rightfully held to account.

Speaking of the House, on top of the travails that Republican women are facing this year with a pussy grabber to disavow and a blue wave on its way, it seems that the previously defiant Chris Collins will succumb to his insider-trading arrest and not run for re-election after all. Darn! — we were so looking forward to running against a guy who'd been hauled off to the hoosegow and who couldn't get his name off the ballot. Now, Collins has set the nominating process in motion, with the county chairs of the 27th District picking the replacement candidate. Too bad for us.

But wait! — a glimmer of light has appeared. Carl Paladino, he of the baseball bat and the racism and the homophobia and the vile Michelle Obama insults, has thrown his MAGA hat in the ring. Hooray! We can't think of a quicker way to flip NY-27.

Now, can we please get a Trump tweet endorsing him? Because which of those eight county chairs would have the moxie to pick someone else after Benedict Donald weighs in? We cats PURR.

Antifa Fun

By Baxter

Looks like the big Nuremberg rally in Washington today was a bust. Unless, of course, you think that 25 Nazis make a huge crowd. One poor guy showed up at the Foggy Bottom Metro station at the appointed hour, only to find that his 23 other "friends" had already marched to Lafayette Square and dispersed. Awww.

And the beleaguered bigots couldn't even find a spot to have a cold brew and lick their wounds. Many DC restaurants made it clear: "Unite the Right 2" attendees not welcome!

Whenever we cats get depressed about the state of the nation under Benedict Donald, we get a small dose of comfort from days like this. It makes us think that maybe all is not lost, and we PURR.

Heather Deserves Better

By Zamboni

We cats are pretty fed up with the language people are using about the death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year. The passive tense is disturbing — and yes, we're talking about "both sides."

Here's NPR on the subject: "One year ago, a car rammed into counter-protesters during a violent white nationalist rally..."

Correction, NPR: A white supremacist drove that car into the crowd. The car didn't drive itself.

And here's Donald Drumpf tweet-farting this morning in his usual idiotic way: "The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division."

Nope, Benedict Donald. Charlottesville didn't "result" in Heather Heyer's death. Her death "resulted" because a neo-Nazi took deliberate aim at her. We cats call that murder, and we HISS.

Time To Tend The Home Fires

By Sniffles

Joe Crowley got lazy about his primary in New York's 14th Congressional district, there's no doubt about it. The surprise of the night back on June 26 was Crowley going down in flames to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Bernie Bro-ette who had been pretty much ignored by everyone.

Which meant that Bernie World instantly elevated her to sainthood. And although Bernie hadn't bothered to endorse her in her own race, she quickly accepted the tag. She started racking up frequent-flier miles, campaigning for Bernie-ish candidates around the country as the new progressive darling.

Well, this week her contenders didn't do so well. Brent Welder in Kansas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan tanked to more "establishment" folks.

We cats are not displeased about this. While we welcome all comers to the party and dislike Democrats cat-fighting with one another, we would like AOC to rethink her flight schedules. She should stay home and worry about her own Congressional campaign.

It's not that we expect NY-14 to flip red. But it would be a wise move for these reasons:

• Joe Crowley didn't think he was going to lose, either. So much danger lurks in taking things for granted.
• AOC is risking giving her future constituents the impression she doesn't care about them.
• She is maybe not quite the star she thinks she is — at least, not yet. A sense of entitlement isn't attractive.
• In contrast, humility is. First, AOC should go home and make sure that her campaign operation is doing the work it needs to. (If she wants to help progressive candidates, she can just lend her name to fundraising appeals.) And then when she gets to Congress, she should buckle down, learn the ropes and work her ass off.

So although it was Joe Crowley who took his eye off the ball in NY-14, it's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose work ethic we're a little worried about. We cats HISS.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Post-August 7 Primary Edition

By Miss Kubelik

So much has happened last night on the 2018 election front that our furry heads are still spinning. Here's a quick recap of our thoughts before we settle down for our next nap.

The hapless Republican candidate in OH-12 is claiming victory in a race that's still too close to call. We think he's just trying to do anything he can to goose some faux momentum, but so far it doesn't seem to be working. The Democratic candidate, Danny O'Connor, has not conceded, of course. You know what? We hope he never does. Give the GOP a taste of its own medicine.

Meanwhile, in the middle of all the pundithead speculation that O'Connor's answers to the Nancy Pelosi question hurt him, we cats say, pooh. That is so Inside Baseball, we can't begin to tell you. Plus we're bored with the lazy media's focus on the Nancy Pelosi question, which is just what the Republicans want them to do. (We'd also like to take a moment to defend Nancy Pelosi, especially to anybody who has coverage through Obamacare. Unlike Paul Ryan and the GOP buffoons, Nancy Pelosi really knows how to run the House of Representatives, and if it hadn't been for her, there wouldn't even be an Affordable Care Act. So everybody just cut it out.)

Then, as if last night's election news wasn't gripping enough, Republican Congressman Chris Collins from our own Empire State of New York was arrested today — not indicted, but hauled off the hoosegow — for insider trading. People are starting to buzz that Collins's district, NY-27, which is kinda red, could be winnable for us. It's a textbook example of why it's so important for Democrats to run in every district: You never know when the Republican will be caught romancing a sheep.

Finally, we opened our local paper this morning to note with horror that our own Congressional Republican buffoon, Elise Stefanik, has invited Mr. Bone Spurs himself, Benedict Donald, to NY-21 to sign the — get this — John McCain National Defense Authorization Act. He'll do this before an audience of enlisted personnel (the GOP's favorite prop) at Fort Drum. Either Stefanik has figured out she has to double down on pleasing Benedict Donald's base to win another term, or she's making a Machiavellian play for a leadership position after her party and its female caucus members get wiped out in the fall. We cats aren't sure she's smart enough to do the latter, but either way, we HISS.

Bill Ruckelshaus Massacres A Few Facts

By Sniffles

We cats just read an opinion piece in today's Washington Post by a Republican whose kind no longer exists: one who believes in science (heck, he even headed up the EPA a couple of times) and in the rule of law (he resigned as deputy attorney general rather than fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox).

That would be Bill Ruckelshaus. And while we're glad he's raising the alarm about the current state of the nation, he made a few goofs in his column that we just have to correct.

1. "The cynical conduct of this President, his attorneys and a handful of Congressional Republicans is frightening to me and should be to every citizen of this country."

A "handful"? Ha! Sure, only a few Teabag Caucus crazies signed onto impeaching Rod Rosenstein, but ALL Congressional Republicans are complicit in the Putinizing of America. Even those few who have spoken out, like Jeff Flake, have taken no action to back up their words. (John McCain has a good excuse: He's busy being terminally ill.)

2. "Should the President finally decide to fire Mueller and put in place someone who will do his bidding, the country could be thrown into a political crisis that would scar our democracy and further erode the trust of our people in our governmental institutions."

Sorry, Bill, but we think we're already in that political crisis. Unlike the Saturday Night Massacre, though, it's moving slowly.

3. "I hope the President at last studies the lessons of a history I lived — and that he heeds its warning."

"Studies"? "Lessons"? "History"? That's a howler. Trump studies nothing, learns nothing, knows nothing. That's what makes this so unnerving, and you know what? Hillary Clinton warned us about all this two years ago, but the media preferred to act like stenographers about Benghazi and emails. We cats HISS.

Lest We Furr-get: 1984 (Then And Now)

By Baxter

This Drumpf rally photo is all over the Interwebs today. And that old malapropism crossed our minds for the zillionth time: that if Ronald Reagan were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave. What has his Republican Party come to?

We cats thought we'd find out. After all, we were alive during Reagan's heyday, nightmare that it was. So we decided to look up the Republican Party platform from 1984. Turns out our memories were confirmed: Before they went all soft on former KGB guy Vladimir Putin in 2016, the GOP was pretty darn tough on Putin's ex-Soviet bosses.

"We hold a sober view of the Soviet Union," the platform intoned. "Its globalist ideology and its leadership obsessed with military power make it a threat to freedom and peace on every continent... The...illusion that the Soviet leaders share our ideals and aspirations is not only false but a profound danger to world peace.

"Republicans reaffirm our belief that Soviet behavior at the negotiating table cannot be divorced from Soviet behavior elsewhere. Over-eagerness to sign agreements with the Soviets at any price...should never blind us to this reality. Any future agreement with the Soviets must require full compliance, be fully verifiable, and contain suitable sanctions for noncompliance."

How things have changed! So maybe it's good for Ronnie's sake that he isn't around to see this. But people like James Baker, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, George Shultz, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft are all very much alive. Mrs. Malaprop wants to know why they're not spinning in their graves. As for us cats, we HISS.

Tweet From Benedict Donald (Fake, But True)

Message From Melania (Fake, But It Could Be Real)

LeBron, he support kids. The Donald not so much... aside from cages. Not recognize Barron in hallway the other day.

Avert Your Eyes

By Zamboni

When Donald Drumpf isn't tweeting his support of the wrong candidate in Ohio's 12th district these days, he's going after LeBron James. Wow, big mistake.

We cats can't think of many people we admire more than LeBron. We didn't always, back when he was ditching Cleveland for Miami. But over the years, he's changed our minds — big-time. We loved his self-deprecating turn in "Trainwreck," of course — but that pales in comparison to opening a school for at-risk kids in Akron.

Drumpf, of course, had to tweet insultingly about both LeBron and CNN's Don Lemon last night (we cats were snug in bed already, having better things to do). Today the world is rallying to both men's defense. We just rolled our eyes at Drumpf's latest display of sociopathic behavior, but it bothered us that he ended the tweet with "I like Mike!"

We warned the Twittersphere: Don't fall for that crap. If we get into a discussion about who's better, LeBron or Michael Jordan (who has never demonstrated LeBron's commitment to helping others), we lose. It's exactly what Drumpf wants. Avert your eyes.

Turns out that was a good idea, because Michael Jordan has responded. "I support L.J.," he said. "He's doing an amazing job for his community."

We've occasionally wondered if, after his basketball career and when he's not busy good-deed-doing, LeBron James would consider running for office. This morning's events make us even more interested in that. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Dora Standpipe and Tom Dover from the classic Merrie Melodies cartoon "The Dover Boys" — averting their eyes.)

Crisis Actors

By Miss Kubelik

When Donald Drumpf announced his Presidential candidacy in 2015, reports surfaced of his campaign bringing in bystanders off the street and paying them to join the boisterous boodle.

Well, that practice never stopped. They're just not doing it off the street any more.

In the wake of TV journalist Jim Acosta's dawning realization that Drumpf's demagoguery could get people like him injured or killed, skepticism is growing as to whether the angry Tampa Trumpsters were hurling insults at the press spontaneously or not.

We're leaning toward "not." After all, everything about Donald Drumpf is fake: his wealth, his business smarts, his negotiating skills, his hair — everything. So why shouldn't his rabid crowds be fake, too?

That's why he accuses the media of "fake news" so much: Projection, projection, projection.

We're not saying that journalists shouldn't watch their backs. As we've noted, Trump is whipping up some real danger in a country that's awash in guns. But it would be great if the press would cut out the wide-eyed amazement and see this sociopath and his followers for what they are: phonies and cowards. We cats HISS.

GOP Campaign "Trackers" Go Undercover

By Sniffles

Remember George Allen's "Macaca moment"? It seems like a hundred years ago, but in 2006 the then-Republican-Senator from Virginia spotted an Indian-American tracker in the crowd at a campaign event, singled him out with a race-based slur and "welcomed" the young man (a born-and-bred Virginian) to America.

George Allen lost his Senate race that year to Democrat Jim Webb.

What the "Macaca" kid, S.R. Sidarth, was up to is something that's still done: following a candidate on the trail and videotaping everything he/she says. "Trackers" openly work for opposing campaigns and their presence is pretty much routine and accepted. In 2014, in fact, we cats met Senator Mark Warner's tracker, who shadowed Chinless Ed Gillespie so often that he got to know him. Chinless Ed, he said, was "a nice guy."

But that was then. What's new now, at least to us cats, is that videographers are posing as campaign volunteers for the candidate they're targeting and taking video in secret. This is what happened to Tedra Cobb, the Democratic nominee for Congress in New York's 21st district, who's running against Republican incumbent and Paul Ryan acolyte Elise Stefanik. Pretending to be a supporter, a 17-year-old kid attended a "Teens for Tedra" meeting and recorded Cobb saying that she couldn't come out in favor of an assault weapons ban because it would kill her chances of winning.

The NRCC paid the kid — a Stefanik intern — a thousand bucks for his deception.

We don't know how much of an impact Cobb's statement will have on the race. Our guess is that the true gun nuts up in the Adirondacks weren't going to vote for her anyway. But it'll be interesting to see if Stefanik will be able to skate by with her non-denial denials — particularly to newspapers like the Glens Falls Post-Star, which will only accept on-the-record statements directly from candidates and not from their spinners. That would be the same Post-Star that finally got Stefanik to pledge that she wouldn't lie to them, either. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Q Is For Quackery

By Baxter

What does "Q" mean to you? To us, it's one of our favorite characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation. (See John de Lancie, above. We cats knew his real-life dad, but that's a whole 'nuther story.)

Today, it's all about QAnon, the "deep state" conspiracy mongers whom cable news and other media discovered lurking at Donald Drumpf's rally in Tampa last night. Wait — we take that back: They weren't "lurking," they were front and center, screaming approval at Drumpf's standard spewings, and hurling threats and obscene gestures at the press.

And of course, reporters like Jim Acosta from CNN and columnists like Margaret Sullivan at The Washington Post are appalled. Well, join the club, kids. What took you so long?

Can it be possible that the press is just now figuring out that the dark forces tapped and marshaled by Trump are dangerous? The Trumpsters' aggression was on full display throughout the presidential campaign, egged on by the candidate. Not only that, but Vladimir Putin, whom Trump so fervently admires, assassinates journalists. How many reporters have to get shot in elevators before people like Acosta and his ilk wake up and smell the coffee?

"I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt," Acosta tweeted last night, brow very furrowed, we're sure. Where was he when Trump supporters were pushing and punching black people in 2016? Jim, you are white and clueless. We cats HISS.