Mass Murder

One hundred years ago today one of the most prosperous African-American communities in the US was systematically destroyed by a white mob. Three hundred people died. But how many Americans learned about the Tulsa race massacre in school? We don't know anyone who did. It's never too late to be educated, but it still makes us HISS.

Lest We Furr-get: Well Done, Jacob Garfinkle

By Baxter

This Memorial Day weekend, let's annoy the right wingers by saluting a patriotic lefty, the actor John Garfield.

Born in New York City in 1913, Garfield was unable to serve in World War II because of a heart condition. So he and Bette Davis threw themselves into opening the Hollywood Canteen and selling war bonds instead. And he starred in memorable war-era films like "Air Force," "Destination Tokyo," "Pride of the Marines" and "Gentlemen's Agreement" — that last one particularly (and sadly) relevant today in its tackling of the issue of anti-Semitism.

Garfield was blacklisted in the 1950s and died early, in 1952. The country he loved and served the best he could ended up treating him pretty shabbily.

Today, President Biden said in his Memorial Day address that "all of us who remain have a duty to renew our commitment to the fundamental values to our nation...the values that have inspired generation after generation to service and that so many have died to defend." We cats count patriotic Americans like John Garfield among that number, because even though America didn't believe in him, he believed in America. And we PURR.

(IMAGE: Garfield, George Tobias, and Harry Carey Sr. listen to reports of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in "Air Force," 1943)

This Gigi Is A Fool Without A Mind

By Sniffles

We cats usually refrain from posting photos of nincompoops like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the like, because we don't want to contribute to the infamy that they probably deeply enjoy. But we're making an exception for Gigi Gaskins, a hat-shop owner in Nashville, because we want her to be hunted, haunted and drummed out of society for the rest of her life.

You probably know the story by now: Gaskins started selling yellow Star of David patches to COVID vaccine resisters (see her proudly modeling one, above). The blowback was fierce, and as observers we admire have said, she learned a lesson in capitalism pretty darn quickly when Stetson and other hat makers pulled their merchandise from her store.

Also, those protesters who showed up with signs and a huge banner probably put a crimp in some of her traffic. Let's hope she goes out of business and ends up begging on the street.

That sounds pretty harsh, but remember, you can draw a direct line from Donald Trump's 2016 anti-Hillary tweet — which featured a pile of cash and a six-pointed star — to this moron in Nashville. After initially defending herself on Instagram, Gaskins followed up with a non-apology, perhaps hoping to woo back Stetson. "This is not who I am," claimed the woman who just showed the world exactly who she is. We cats HISS.

P.S. If you're Jewish and a member of the Party of Trump, and have stood by silently while stuff like this happens, shame on you.

Milestones

 

By Hubie and Bertie

Sure, we could focus on today's big story, that Senate Republicans have blocked the creation of a bipartisan January 6 commission.

We could point out that the GOP's opposition is a fool's errand, because the Democratic House can convene a Benghazi-esque committee tonight. (With no Republican input on subpoena power, etc.) We could reiterate President Biden's commitment to holding Republicans accountable for every anti-American move they make. We could state how despicable it is that Republican Senators turned away Officer Brian Sicknick's mom, who fruitlessly implored them in person to approve the commission, wearing a pendant that contained her son's ashes.

But instead, hey! Let's celebrate the fact that Kamala Harris is the first woman ever to address the US Naval Academy commencement!

Why? Because while the GOP is behaving like a bunch of assholes — and betraying America at every turn — under the political radar, good stuff is happening. Team Biden is undoing a bunch of disgusting Trumpian moves, and setting some interesting records at the same time. (Example: Kristen Clarke just became the first Black woman to head the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.) Scary, anti-democratic things are happening out in the states, so let's mark these other, not-insignificant victories while we brace for the fight ahead. We cats PURR.

Badass Biden Strikes Again

By Miss Kubelik

Joe Biden surprised everybody on his trip to Ohio today by holding up a list of Congressional Republicans who have boasted to their constituents about the good things the American Rescue Plan is doing for them. You know, that legislation that only Democrats voted for.

"My Republican friends in Congress, not a single one of them voted for the rescue plan," Biden said with a good-natured edge. "I’m not going to embarrass anyone, but I have here a list. Back in their districts, they’re bragging about the rescue plan. They touted the restaurant revitalization fund...They touted grants to community healthcare centers. Some people have no shame."

Biden smiled his best Joe-from-Scranton smile as he stuck the shivs in. And immediately people on social media began playing the game he intended. Who's on the list? Oh, look! — there's Elise Stefanik! There's Madison Cawthorn! And gosh, there's Kevin McCarthy!

The Presidential taunting was particularly great given its timing: Congressional Republicans are in the middle of trashing the infrastructure negotiations and are about to reject the independent January 6 commission. Biden was warning them today that he's going to hang all of it around their necks in 2022.

It was something a more restrained Barack Obama would never do. But we cats love the fact that Joe is showing receipts, and we PURR.

De Adder du Jour

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder)
 

Simply Grand

By Zamboni

Celebrating that grand jury that New York prosecutors have convened against Benedict Donald? This will make you feel even better: Here is a US Marine at the White House, holding the door to the West Wing open for the daughter of George Floyd — so she and her family could visit with President Biden and Vice President Harris today.

What a difference an election makes. Take a moment to remember where we were a year ago. Floyd had just been murdered, the racial justice demonstrators in Lafayette Square had yet to be tear-gassed, and a half-million Americans had not yet died of COVID (but would). Thank goodness, 81 million of us turned out in November to end the Trump sh*tshow once and for all.

And now half of American adults are vaccinated. (Hot on the heels of half of Canadians, too.) Sure, things will continue to take time — more shots have to go in arms, and the grand jury may not decide on charges for months. And there's no police reform legislation yet. But we're going in the right direction. We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: One Year Later Edition

By Baxter

Victoria Day in Canada has just about wrapped up, and we cats would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to our neighbors to the north for passing an important milestone over the weekend: 50 percent of Canadians have received at least one COVID vaccine. They're really ramping up! And here are some other news stories we're occupying ourselves with at the moment.

Things have gotten so fraught on the Republican side of life. The party is still being taken over by the crazies, and it's getting worse. The Republican Party of Clark County, Nevada, for example, was supposed to have met tomorrow night, but they've canceled the confab — out of concern that their members would not be safe. Seems that a bunch of local Proud Boys and Stop the Steal maniacs have been threatening people's lives if they don't vote "the right way." (And yes, they've been posting on an anti-Semitic messaging app. What lovely people.)

Which brings us to Marjorie Taylor Greene. The nutjob Republican Congresswoman has stirred up a whole bunch of deserved outrage by comparing the House's face-mask mandate to the Holocaust. (Gee, we weren't aware that Jews back then could have gotten some sort of vaccination that would have kept them safe from the Nazis.) Now the criticism is spilling over on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who's being portrayed and too weak and wishy-washy to rein Greene in. We cats have a different take: What if McCarthy is refusing to take any action against Greene because he secretly agrees with her?

Finally, can you believe that this edition of The New York Times was one year ago today? Now, unbelievably, we're edging close to 600,000 deaths — which is what happens when you don't get a competent Administration running things until they're sworn in eight months later. You know, Benedict Donald will probably get his comeuppance on tax issues, like Al Capone. But he's really a mass murderer. We cats HISS.

Miles And Miles And Miles

This is not an entertainment blog — but we'll tie this classic rouser from "Damn Yankees" to politics by remembering how Harvey Milk always said, "You have to give people hope." (Plus, it's baseball season.) We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Victoria Day Weekend Edition

By Sniffles

It's a long weekend in Canada, the unofficial start of summer. Next weekend is the American version. We cats have hope for favorable developments in both countries. In the meantime, here are some of our thoughts tonight.

Rick Santorum is an oozing boil on the butt of the world, and we never understood why CNN gave him a moment of commentator airtime. Now, we'll never understand why it took the network nearly a month to fire him after he made racist comments about Native Americans. But at least it's done.

We want to know what GOP Congressman Lee Zeldin, who is running for Governor of New York, thinks about his colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene comparing the House mask mandate to the Holocaust. And journalists should never stop asking him about it. (PS: Not only should nothing be compared to the Holocaust, Republicans could just resolve the mask thing by getting the freaking vaccine.)

We're not going to give Ted Cruz's inane comments any more pixels, but suffice to say that a pasty dude with his fat belly hanging over his jeans belt has criticized the physical fitness of the US military.

We do not understand the appeal of Andrew Yang. And now that we know the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is all in for him in the New York Mayor's race, we understand it even less.

The Biden Administration has granted temporary protected status to Haitian immigrants. Cue Republican outrage in five, four, three, two... (Haitians are black, after all).

Finally, we cats are still feeling very good about our vote for state Attorney General in New York. We're confident that Letitia James can handle both the Cuomo and the Trump investigations to our satisfaction. And if you'd like a succinct recap of how she and Cy Vance could make various Trumps' lives miserable, click here. We cats PURR.

The Peril Of Predictions

By Hubie and Bertie

The guards who were on duty the night that Jeffrey Epstein allegedly killed himself have formally admitted that they falsified the records of their activities that night.

Which makes us stop and go, wow. Epstein was a good bud of Donald Trump. What other shoes can drop between now and the midterms?

Well, here are a few: investigations by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Two defamation lawsuits against Benedict Donald, from Summer Zervos and E. Jean Carroll. Election subversion in Georgia. Tons of revelations to come around the insurrection of January 6. And a major Supreme Court decision on abortion, due to pop in June of next year. So tell us why the GOP is expected to clean up in 2022?

Long story short: In the category of Trump Stuff We Don't Know Yet But That Will Make Us Sick When We Find Out, there's a trove of information that will spill between now and a year from November. Just sayin'.

In lashing itself to Donald Trump, the Republican Party is refusing to get into the Titanic lifeboats and opting instead to stay with the sinking ship. And yes, we know — if you read the electoral map (once it's gerrymandered to the Republicans' content), and acknowledge the tradition that the party in power typically loses the midterms, things look bleak for us in 18 months.

But these are no ordinary times. If we cats were TV pundits, we would pause before lazily repeating all those 2022 tropes. And we PURR.

Pedo Who?

By Miss Kubelik

One of the fixations of QAnon conspiracy theories is pedophilia. That is, that Democrats are a bunch of kid-fanciers who traffic children and drink the blood of babies...or something like that.

(We can't believe we're even talking about stuff like this. But that's how far off the deep end the Republican Party has gone.)

Anyhoo, it's dawned on us that our political party is not the one with the pedophilia problem. Here's a rather impressive Republican list:

• Failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore lurked around a major shopping mall, trying to pick up young girls — to the point where he was banned by the mall.
  

• Congressman Matt Gaetz is in potential hot water for paying for sex with a 17-year-old. (His faithful sidekick, Joel Greenberg, has pleaded guilty to same. Film at eleven.)

• Senate Republican Conference and Trump digital strategist Ruben A. Verastigui was arrested on child porn charges in February. (Need we also mention he worked for pro-life groups?)

• George Nader, a 2016 Trump campaign adviser, pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking and possession of child porn in January 2020.

• Donald Trump has always made it clear that he would love to have sex with his daughter.
  

• And now, a Republican candidate hoping to depose Liz Cheney from her Congressional seat has been revealed to have impregnated a 14-year-old.

In the past, Democrats have often been accused of having madcap social lives. We can't remember anyone raping a child, however. Willing to be corrected, in the meantime, we cats HISS.

Taking A Stand Against Hate

 

By Zamboni

When the COVID-19 Hate Crimes bill was passed by the Senate, Josh "Mr. Zero Percent in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary" Hawley of Missouri was the only one to vote against it. This week, 62 House members, all Republicans, joined Hawley in that hall of shame. But no matter — today, President Biden signed the bill into law.

It's important to take a moment to remember why this law became necessary. Sure, people may have reacted irrationally about the coronavirus's origins without his help, but there's no doubt Benedict Donald made things exponentially worse with his racial slurs about the disease. You can lay a lot of the blame for this past year's attacks on Asian-Americans at his feet.

And what a Trumpy rogues' gallery those 62 GOP members are! Nutcases like Boebert, Gaetz, Greene, Cawthorn, Biggs, Brooks, Foxx, Gohmert, Hice, Clyde, Gosar, Massie, Jordan... the list goes on. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell attended today's signing ceremony. Guys with Asian-American wives will do that.

So, Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland: The ball's in your court — take it and run with it. In the meantime, look at all those vaccinated Democrats who got together at the White House to celebrate this afternoon. We cats PURR.

Gallows Humor?

By Baxter

If The Daily Beast is to be believed, Jill Biden had some choice words for Kamala Harris after the 2019 Democratic debate in which Harris sharply questioned Joe Biden on racism and busing. OMG! Jill used the F-word! And Joe's sister Valerie Owens went cool on Harris as a possible running mate! Everything is terrible!

Um. Will anyone point out that Biden did indeed pick Harris to be on his ticket, and they're running the country now?

Personally, we cats thought this story didn't sound very Jilly. But even if it is, who cares? Jill is famous for her fierce devotion to, and protection of, her family — her kids, grandkids, and especially, her spouse.

Meanwhile, over at Team Pence... you know them? The folks whom the Bidens so graciously entertained at the Naval Observatory after the 2016 election? Well, Republican Congressman Greg Pence of Indiana just voted against establishing a commission to investigate the insurrection against the government on January 6 — the riot that saw Trumpsters setting up a gallows and chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!"

Wow. Don't tell us what's going on in that family. Is Greg Pence's vote evidence of some sort of twisted sibling rivalry, or just a crude joke? We don't want to know. But we'll take Jill Biden's fearless protectiveness to Pence's nonchalant "Oh, they want to hang my brother?" any day. We cats HISS.

(PHOTO: Getty Images)

Know-How vs. Know-Nothings

By Sniffles

"What a lot you know," young Sarah Layton says to Lady Ethel Manners in the second novel of Paul Scott's Raj Quartet (which PBS viewers know better as The Jewel in the Crown). 

Lady Manners, an old hand at British-Indian politics and statesmanship, laughs. "It's one of the few advantages of old age, to be a repository of bits and pieces of casual information that sometimes come in useful," she says. "I didn't really mean that," Sarah replies. "I meant know, as distinct from remember."

The same could be said of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. He looks like a total badass who's having a terrific time in this photo. But what a lot he knows.

We're blogging about this again because with tomorrow officially marking 46's first four months, journalists are starting to notice it. "Biden is not only the oldest US President but arguably the most well-prepared," reports The Los Angeles Times. "In dealing with Congress, he draws on the experience of 36 years in the Senate...Biden entered office having years-long relationships with numerous members of Congress, including Republicans, a deep understanding of how government works and the humbling experience of past defeats."

Biden has confidence born of experience. Even with a razor-thin Democratic Senate majority that could, God forbid, vanish with one fatal COVID case or heart attack, he keeps the Republicans floundering. He's proposed $6 trillion — that's trillion, with a "t" — for his New New Deal, and the GOP can only talk about culture-war crap and bend its knee to the soon-to-be-indicted-and-maybe-jailed Florida mobster who used to live in the White House.

"When Sarah said 'What a lot you know,' she made it sound like a state of grace," Lady Manners observes a few paragraphs on. We cats don't know if the country is in a state of grace yet, but it sure is in a state of Biden. That makes us PURR.

The New McCarthyism

By Hubie & Bertie

Even without the pandemic and the disastrous policies they pursued for four years, the Trump years were the most destructive of our nine lives. As anyone who values reproductive freedom is about to find out, the three Supreme Court nominations were reason enough.

But nothing disturbs us more than the Republican Party doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin, working hard to undermine democracy. By sowing doubt in an election that even in the middle of COVID-19 was the biggest and most secure in our history, and by supporting an attack on the Capitol as Congress met to certify that election, the GOP has gone fully over to the side of the dictators.

That's Putin and Trump, but you can also throw in there overseas autocrats like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Viktor Orban in Hungary, and the dudes in Poland, just to name a few. It's disturbing enough to see strongmen like this rise to power and democracy weakening around the world, but when it starts happening in your own back yard, it's even worse.

Leading that charge is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is deeply implicated in the January 6 insurrection and who now has come out against the brokered agreement to establish a bipartisan 1/6 commission. Why? Because Liz Cheney accurately suggested that he would be subpoenaed. McCarthy is a major fact witness from the day. He spoke directly to Benedict Donald. He's lied about it since.

Like Matt Gaetz and his lurking sex-trafficking-of-a-minor scandal, McCarthy and other Republicans complicit in the attack on the Capitol (Boebert? Greene? Gosar?) know that sooner or later, the truth will out. So they're throwing up every smokescreen imaginable in the meantime — the integrity of the American experiment be damned.

These people are criminals and traitors. In the words of Benedict Donald, lock them up. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: You can support this Mad Dog PAC billboard. Click here.)

Carrying On The Fight

The Lincoln Project has had its problems of late — but from the look of their recent video output, they've picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and started all over again. This one makes our tails get fat and our hair stand on end. We cats PURR.

Bibi Blows It

Israel today destroyed a building in Gaza City that served as the headquarters for multiple international news organizations, including the AP, the BBC and Al-Jazeera. Journalists had a one-hour warning to evacuate, which they spent frantically gathering equipment so they could continue to do their jobs. It's unclear why the building was targeted, but Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Trump-loving Prime Minister who has had trouble cobbling together a government of late, has a lot of explaining to do.

One thing's for sure: With Netanyahu's attack on the free press, Trumpsters are sure to love Bibi even more. But the rest of the world? Not so much. We cats HISS.

Return To Normalcy

By Miss Kubelik

We cats saw stirrings of some kind of New York Times hit piece (at least, we assumed it was a hit piece) about Joe Biden's style as President. We immediately assumed Maggie Haberman had a byline on it. Okay, we were wrong. Apologies to Haberman, who's probably too busy working on her book about Trump (and continuing to curry favor with traitors, fiends and insurrectionists).

But the article-not-by-Maggie-Haberman was still kind of a head-scratcher. Joe Biden, it seems, grills his aides for minute details on issues before he makes decisions. If they try to skate by via generalities and assumptions, he grows impatient and sends them off to do their homework. He asks granular questions about how his policies will affect working-class Americans, the kind of folks he grew up with in Pennsylvania. (Luckily for his climate-change team, they were able to readily answer them.) Sometimes he calls aides at 10:30 or 11 at night, asking for more information to get ready for his meetings the next day.

OMG, we're doomed! The President is a careful, deliberative, thoughtful, caring person!!!

Say no more: If it was meant to sow concern, the Times piece is ridiculous. If it wasn't meant to do that, we don't know what the point of it was. Unless the reporters were simply dying to get into print the fact that Biden has a Venmo account. (He uses it to send money to his grandchildren for ice cream, a Biden passion. So at least, this is one case where "ice cream" really means ice cream.)

None of this would be a story if the country hadn't lived under a narcissistic psychopath for four years. We cats HISS.

The GOP Is Deeply Unwell

By Zamboni

After CNN released a video of Marjorie Taylor Greene screaming at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez through her Capitol Hill office mail slot, AOC was charitable in her remarks to reporters today.

"This is a woman that’s deeply unwell," she said of Greene, "and clearly needs help...I think that this is an assessment that needs to be made by the proper professional."

Meanwhile, Greene's recent Villages travel buddy, Matt Gaetz, must be spending an interesting weekend, knowing that his former BFF Joel Greenberg is pleading guilty to six counts — including sexual trafficking of a minor — and pledging to cooperate in ensnaring more accomplices in his crimes. (This is on top of Gym Jordan looking the other way as his wrestlers at Ohio State were molested, not to mention the two-dozen-plus women who have accused Benedict Donald of sexual harassment and rape. What a party.)

And now Greene apparently filed a homestead exemptions on two homes in Georgia, which is against state law. In other words, she's a tax cheat. Are we surprised?

This seemed like a particularly bad week for the GOP. They defenestrated Liz Cheney for speaking out against an unpopular President who lost their party the House, the White House, and the Senate. They elevated a soulless opportunist to Cheney's position — a woman and a so-called former moderate, window dressing that fooled no one. The House remained bound by mask mandates, because while all Democrats are vaccinated, only 44 percent of Republicans are. And after several despicable GOP members tried to portray the January 6 insurrection as a "normal tourist day" on Capitol Hill, the House unexpectedly came to an agreement on a 1/6 commission.

Oh, and Neera Tanden got a White House job. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Team, we are super-worried about what will happen if the House goes Republican in 2022. Because even with Trump in exile at Mar-a-Lago, the GOP has gone so far off the deep end that democracy is still in danger. We need to figure out a way to keep this from happening. In the meantime, we cats HISS.

Out From Behind The Mask

By Baxter

One of things that has been most politically frustrating about the pandemic (aside from everything) is that the President and the Vice President (ours, not the former guys) were highly responsible and wore masks. We never begrudged them doing the right thing — in fact, we applauded it. But both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have wonderful smiles, and we missed them.

Well, miss them no more. Today, among the vaccinated, the masks came off at the White House. Hooray! We just hope that people are smart enough to understand when they still need to wear them. "The relaxation of masking does not apply to airplanes, buses, trains and other public transportation, to healthcare settings, or where state or local restrictions still require them," said the head of the CDC.

So here in New York State, with about 41 percent of the population vaccinated, wearing a mask will still be a thing. We'll be keeping them in every jacket pocket and in our cars for, probably, months to come. And when flu season rolls around, they'll come popping out again. They're just really effective.

America owes a debt POTUS and VPOTUS for their leadership on this. It sure beats chugging down bleach and shining flashlights up your ass, doesn't it? We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Evan Vucci, Associated Press)

"Fellow Citizens, We Cannot Rewrite History"

For those Republicans who are trying to claim January 6 was something it wasn't, here is what it was.

Cat Fight! Elise Stefanik vs. Melissa DeRosa

By Sniffles

Liz Cheney spoke on the House floor tonight, on the eve of her defenestration from leadership by the Party of Trump. And hmmm, it sounds like she's just getting cranked up. "I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former President's crusade to undermine our democracy," she said. As the old saying goes, film at eleven.

Meanwhile, intriguing details about NY-21's own Trumpette Congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, are emerging as the news media take a closer look. Did you know she was BFFs with Melissa DeRosa?

(In case you don't know who DeRosa is, check out video from any one of Governor Andrew Cuomo's COVID briefings last year. She'll be sitting next to him or just a couple of seats over. Yes, at least when it came to personal friendships that went back to middle school, Elise definitely reached across the aisle.)

But Elise and Melissa are no longer best buds. They broke up over Benedict Donald's first impeachment trial, when Stefanik went completely MAGA — and no doubt Melissa was ticked by Elise's constant criticism of the Governor she called "the worst in America." (Gee, Andrew has his problems, but we can think of lots of govs who are worse.) "By 2021, they were in open war," observes a reporter from TIME who is speaking to others from Stefanik's past, and who promises more revelations soon.

The question in our minds is, which is the real Elise? The press has portrayed her as a reasonable, problem-solving moderate gone astray, seduced by the notion that future paths to power go through Trump. But what if in reality, she was always a Trumpster and a hater at heart? What if the "moderate" Elise was the fake one?

Since Stefanik is as much of a liar as Trump, we may never know. But it's interesting to note that Elise vs. Liz is not the only cat fight in town. We cats PURR with anticipation.

Lose A Jolly Four Minutes (And Your Heart) To Randy Rainbow

 

Word has it that it took Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane multiple tries before they satisfied producer Arthur Freed, who kept insisting, "No, no no! I want a trolley song!" How fitting that the classic they finally came up with was for a film called "Meet Me in St. Louis." Will Missouri Senator Josh Hawley get the connection? Doubtful. We cats PURR.

Count Us In

Dr. Fauci has suggested that in the future, wearing masks could become a seasonal practice. "We’ve had practically a nonexistent flu season this year merely because people were doing the kinds of public health things that were directed predominantly against COVID-19," he said.

Sounds good to us. Pre-pandemic, we used to see the occasional pedestrian in Montreal toddling around in a mask during flu season, and we bet that those masks kept people warm, too. So now that we've all learned this valuable lesson, let's hop aboard, shall we?

Besides, since wearing masks seem to trigger the Trumpsters, let's do it just to annoy them. We cats PURR.

Ostriching

By Hubie & Bertie

Last month, Liz Cheney's hair stood on end at a briefing by the National Republican Congressional Committee, when it dawned on her just how much trouble the GOP was in. (You wouldn't know this from sites like POLITICO, which relentlessly reports gloom and doom for Democrats and little on Republicans. But we digress.)

The NRCC toadies omitted a key finding from their polling on House races for 2022: that Benedict Donald's "unfavorable ratings were 15 points higher than his favorable ones in...core [battleground] districts...Nearly twice as many voters had a strongly unfavorable view of the former President as had a strongly favorable one." It was the second time, Cheney realized, that Republican pollsters had left out bad Trump results in leadership briefings.

But wait, there's more.

"The internal NRCC poll partially shared with lawmakers in April found that President Biden was perilously popular in core battleground districts, with 54 percent favorability," The Washington Post reports. "Vice President Harris was also more popular than Trump, the poll showed. Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus plan and his $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure package both polled higher than the former President’s favorability, which was at 41 percent, compared to 42 percent in February."

So the GOP is so cowed by Trump that they're not giving their members honest briefings on their own polls? Incredible. Now that the Post has let the cat out of the bag, will any of them break ranks? If not, what will it take? A few insurrectionist indictments? We cats HISS.

Goodbye To Bo

 

Sure, Bo was a dog, not one of us (superior) cats. But he seemed nice. Condolences to the Obama family.

Cannibalism 101

By Miss Kubelik

It's Friday night, and we're back. Yes, we took yesterday off, but mostly because we wanted to leave that Fat Elise picture up at the top of the blog as long as we could. Meow!

Speaking of Elise, she's starting to curdle. We thought days ago that for the Republicans to let their leadership fight drag out until May 12 was a judgment error of the highest order, and we haven't seen anything yet to convince us we're wrong. Elise has been subject to some withering analyses by folks who usually don't write about North Country politics, and she's not coming out very well. Media closer to home jumped on the opportunity to call Stefanik out for her hypocrisy and to rake her over the coals for not holding town halls or meeting with them. And now the GOP conference vice chair has whined about a Queen Elise "coronation."

Fight, fight, fight! The Republicans should be properly disgruntled that none of this would be happening if Kevin McCarthy were smarter.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the Ohio GOP has censured Republican Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, who voted to impeach Benedict Donald for inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The state party's governing board even called on him to resign.

This seems really counterproductive for them. Gonzalez is a first-termer, a former Ohio State football player, and of Cuban descent. (His grandparents fled Castro in 1960 on pain of death. Baby Marco, anything to say about this?)

So now we have Mothers Day weekend, during which surely a ton of Republicans will be on the phone with each other, grousing or importuning about an unnecessary squabble of their own making. And Elise, who is not a mother, will be getting ready for her big meeting with the Gym Jordan caucus on Monday, where she must defend her less-conservative-than-Liz-Cheney voting record and lay their doubts to rest. Let them expend all this energy. We cats will focus on how the Biden-Harris Administration is making things better. And we'll PURR.

(IMAGE: The Atlantic)

Soul-Selling

By Baxter

This is one of the most unflattering photos of Elise Stefanik that we've ever seen — which is, naturally, while we chose to post it.

Because having Elise Stefanik as our Congresswoman continues to be an insult, to us and to all the people of NY-21. We'd be better off if Liz Cheney represented us. Her voting record and Elise's are not the same, but at least Cheney believes in democracy.

Now, Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise are actively working against Cheney and in favor of Stefanik for the Republicans' number-three House leadership position. What they really want, sneers Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a withering takedown, is a "non-threatening female."

You wonder if Elise fills that bill, but then, you wonder about Elise, period. She began her Congressional career self-identifying as a reach-across-the-aisle problem solver, and since then she's morphed into a scheming, principle-lacking, opportunistic Trumptress. Clearly she's decided that running for Governor of New York is a no-go, since fellow Trumpy House member Lee Zeldin jumped in the race and scooped up all the money. So unless the New York state legislature gerrymanders her out of existence, it looks like we're stuck with her for a while.

And with McCarthy and Scalise greasing the skids for her, things are looking good for her to succeed Liz. We just hope that Cheney, who vows to make them fire her instead of quitting, has her deal cut with Pelosi so she can announce it five minutes after she's canned.

Meanwhile, note to Elise: If you're so determined to elevate your profile, maybe think about spending some extra time on the treadmill? We cats MEOW.

More Warp Speed, Please

By Sniffles

While the erstwhile Party of Lincoln appears hell-bent on defenestrating Liz Cheney, we Democrats have problems of our own: redistricting, and retirements. We weren't pleased that Charlie Crist intends to run for his old job in Tallahassee again. Cheri Bustos calling it a day in Illinois was unwelcome news. The census is reshuffling the Congressional district deck (although we must point out that it could have been worse). And Democratic seats opened up by members either dying or leaving to serve in the Biden Cabinet are having their special elections delayed by vengeful Republican Governors.

So, Mr. President, a word, please: Things are tight on Capitol Hill. You need to get done what you need to get done — now.

Yes, in political terms, the 2022 election is eons in the future. The economy is set to roar after months of pandemic-induced, pent-up demand, and with so many insurrectionists copping to plea deals, lots of unsavory stuff about January 6 is sure to come out. So the climate will be quite different in 12 months. But Joe, you haven't a moment to waste. Your agenda (and the nation) simply cannot allow "Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy" to happen.

But it's more than just McCarthy, toad that he is. To have a major political party embrace the Big Lie and sow doubt in our democratic processes will bring an end to the American experiment. The country dodged not just a bullet but a cannonball in ousting Donald Trump from the White House. But things are even more dangerous now, because after Republicans' split second of sanity after the attack on the Capitol — when they rightly placed blame on Benedict Donald and, in the case of Lindsey Graham, even declared the relationship over — the party has now given itself completely over to full-blown Trumpism.

There was a time in the GOP when to cross a Cheney meant that bloody bodies would soon litter the ground. But this time, the consequences are less clear. Sure, Liz will scream from her soapbox, and Dad Dick might call up Republican donors and tell them to put their wallets away. But after 12 years out of the spotlight, his influence may have softened. We never dreamed we'd see the fate of Liz Cheney linked to the future of the Republic, but now they appear inextricably entwined. We cats worry, and we HISS.

Who's Chatting Up Cheney?

By Hubie and Bertie

Does Speaker Nancy Pelosi have somebody who's speaking to Liz Cheney about, um, stuff? You'd hope so, especially since the Liz-is-about-to-be-defenestrated story has ratcheted up several notches over the last few days. (Similarly, Willard Romney got booed by Republicans in Utah over the weekend, but we don't care about that. Willard has no balls. Liz, on the other hand, has plenty.)

We have this fantasy that Cheney gets dumped out of her leadership position by the House GOP, turns Independent, and takes a few of the other impeach-Trump Republicans with her: Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, say, or Fred Upton and Peter Meijer from Michigan. (Or, heck, all nine of them.) In a chamber as closely divided as this one, a small, united group of Independents could have real power — enjoying some deference from the majority instead of being derided and marginalized by their own (former) party.

Pelosi is such a good politician that we're confident she's been making overtures to Liz for some time now. The only question is who the back-channel person is. Since Cheney is the Republican Conference Chair — the number-three position in her party's leadership — it would have to be someone pretty senior. Our theory is that it's Steny Hoyer. Wooing from the House Majority Leader would show the proper respect, and he could proffer an interesting committee chairmanship if necessary.

We are no fans of Liz Cheney, but the Republican Party has become such a menace to our form of government and the rule of law that drastic measures are called for. The GOP needs to die before democracy does. We cats PURR.

Top And Bottom

By Miss Kubelik

In New York, 46.5 percent of the population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Almost 35 percent of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated.

So, progress. Worth a celebratory dance by Gurdeep Pandher of the Yukon, yes? (Here he is two months ago, sending positive vibes about his first shot. He's fully vaccinated now.)

But wait, there's more. Multiple states are way ahead of us in the one-dose category. Per the Centers for Disease Control, here are the Top 10:

• New Hampshire — 73%
• Massachusetts — 69%
• Connecticut — 67%
• Vermont — 67% 
• Maine — 66% 
• Hawaii — 66% 
• New Jersey — 65% 
• New Mexico — 65%
• Rhode Island — 64% 
• Pennsylvania — 62% 

Notice anything about that list? Oh! They're all blue states. (And yes, New England, you get a gold star. All six of your states are in the Top 10.) Without further ado, here are the Bottom 10:

• South Carolina — 46% 
• Arkansas — 46% 
• Idaho — 45% 
• Georgia — 45% 
• West Virginia — 44% 
• Wyoming — 44% 
• Tennessee — 44% 
• Louisiana — 42% 
• Alabama — 41% 
• Mississippi — 40%

Republicans in charge in all of them. Which means that anyone with a brain shouldn't be traveling to the Bottom 10, right? Will that get their governors' and state legislatures' attention? We cats HISS.

The Vexing Vaxx Mystery

By Zamboni

How strange is it that Trumpsters want Benedict Donald to get credit for Operation Warp Speed, but so many of them refuse to take the vaccine?

This bugs us, not because we care about whether Trumpsters live or die, but because we want the US to achieve herd immunity so we can all go back to our normal lives and so that Canada will open its border again.

The New York Times rubbed this in our faces this morning with a feature on rural, conservative, Christian Tennessee, and the yahoos there who refuse to get the shot. Very annoying — and perplexing. We keep seeing obits of people who are way too young to be checking out — in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s — and they're dying from COVID. Why would you want to chance it?

So we were trying to think: Who could come out as pro-vaccine who these people would listen to? The execrable FOX "News" hosts (Ingraham, Hannity and Carlson)? Of course, they'd never do it. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is probably admired in northeastern Tennessee, but then last year, he announced he was voting for Biden. Ted Nugent should — but he won't. Maybe Rush Limbaugh? WHOOPS, too late.

Then suddenly it dawned on us that the only person who could turn these folks around would be Benedict Donald himself. The fact that he's taken no action on this, despite having been vaccinated himself, is not surprising — but just more proof of what a selfish, disgusting, genocidal monster he is. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: Getty)