Assaulting The Shepherds

One last, disgusted post about the Trumpy idiots who made downtown Ottawa a living hell this weekend. The Shepherds of Good Hope have been feeding the homeless for almost 40 years. We hope Canadians who see this awful story will show their support for their full recovery. That would make us cats PURR.

Hallowed Ground

 

This is the site that the Trumpy truckers decided to desecrate today. What uber-patriots — like supreme Canadian jackass Don Cherry — will condemn the truckers' actions? We cats HISS.

Here Is All You Need To Know

By Baxter

This is sickening. Forty-five thousand Canadians died in action in World War II, following 60,000 in World War I. Since 1945, Canada has served the world in peacekeeping, and supported the US after 9/11 (although not in the invasion of Iraq in 2003). And these are the flags that the trucker convoy flew in Ottawa today?

As Montreal Gazette journalist Jack Todd has noted, "These convoy people with their Nazi and Confederate flags, aided and encouraged by the Conservatives, have stomped and shat on pretty much everything Canadians hold dear. Where does it end? If this isn't it, what is?"

Time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to condemn these assholes. Just sayin'. We cats obviously HISS.

Trampling On Terry

By Sniffles

Lots of disturbing reports coming out of Ottawa today, what with the crazy anti-vaxx-white-supremacist-let's-overthrow-the-government Canadian truckers descending on the city. Because, gee, they're behaving just like Trumpsters.

Dining inside is forbidden in Ontario restaurants until at least January 31 because of COVID. But many other fast-food places in downtown Ottawa closed today as well — along with tons of retailers who were worried about rowdiness and violence. (The truckers said they wanted a Canadian-style January 6, after all.) This meant that the Trumpy truckers had no place to go to the bathroom, and as you can imagine, they treated downtown Ottawa the same way the insurrectionists treated the US Capitol. Ugh.

The demonstrators also disrespected downtown monuments. It was appalling to see people standing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. But what really seemed to trigger folks was this treatment of the Terry Fox statue. (Fox was an athlete, a cancer patient and an amputee who in 1980 ran cross-country to raise awareness of his disease. Canadians feel protective of him.)

Said Mayor Brad West of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia: "I'm the mayor of Terry Fox’s hometown. He's our city's hero, a national inspiration and a unifier. Whatever your cause, you don’t get to appropriate his legacy, and you don’t touch his statue. Ever. This should be removed immediately." He tagged the city and the mayor of Ottawa.

In case you're wondering, Prime Minister Trudeau is in isolation because one of his children tested positive for COVID. He was moved from Rideau Cottage today for his own safety. Good. Like MAGAts in the US, these "freedom truckers" are disgusting. We cats HISS.

THERE'S A CAT THERE'S A CAT THERE'S A CAT THERE'S A CAT

 

Jeez, it sure took a long time — but we're glad to see Willow Biden is finally at the White House! We cats PURR.

Meanwhile, Up In Canada

By Hubie and Bertie

The fake truckers' convoy from Vancouver to Ottawa may come to a head tomorrow, when the demonstrators are expected to arrive in Canada's capital. Because they've been acting very Trumpy and have threatened violence, Parliament's Sergeant-At-Arms has issued this warning to all MPs. The message: You're a target. (Your families, too.)

After this, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, who is wobbling badly and looking to shore up his support with the MAGA-y base of his party, decided to throw gas on the fire with a stupid tweet that accused Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals of "demonizing" the truckers. Oy.

Let's cut through the nonsense with a few facts here: The Canadian government mandated COVID vaccines for truckers to cross the US border, and then the US government mandated them, too. So it goes both ways. Drivers received plenty of notice to get their shots — months, in fact. And 90 percent of Canadian truckers have been vaccinated and are on the job. These Trumpy idiots are just engaging in a Punch & Judy show to make people think that the industry is in chaos and grocery stores are empty. Neither is true.

However, the situation in Ottawa tomorrow is concerning. Let's hope that, unlike in Washington on January 6 (a day a lot of these "protesters" would like to emulate), things remain peaceful. We cats will keep an eye. In the meantime, we HISS.

Supremely Bad Behavior? Count On It.

By Miss Kubelik

The Republicans sure have us well-trained: When we heard the news about Justice Stephen Breyer, we clutched our furry little chests in panic. And then we remembered that Joe Biden's in the White House and the Democrats have the Senate.

As you can imagine, lots of harebrained suggestions and predictions about Breyer's retirement — and who will replace him — are clogging social media. Barack? Michelle? Hillary? Kamala? — fuhgeddabboutit. President Biden isn't going to do anything showboaty. And anyone expecting Mitch McConnell and the GOP to behave appropriately over this is, frankly, delusional. McConnell stole three SCOTUS seats already, giving ridiculous justifications each time. He's not going to change.

The only questions for us right now — aside from which African-American woman Biden is going to pick — are these: How many of the 50 Republican Senators will absolutely refuse to meet with the nominee? And how many will declare even before he announces his choice that they will not meet with her? The answers will not be zero. We cats HISS.

Encouraging Canadians

By Zamboni

Just when you think the US is utterly consumed with Trump-inspired idiocy, two things can happen: One, Joe Biden calls FOX's Steve Doocy a "stupid son of a bitch," restoring your faith in good grins and righteous truth. Two, you suddenly realize that nutty, Trumpy things are happening up north of us, too.

For example, some Canadian truckers are protesting COVID vaccine mandates by dramatically driving from Vancouver to Ottawa, screaming that making them get the shot will disrupt the supply chain and cause food shortages. Several problems with this: The vast majority of truck drivers are vaccinated and on the job, which means that grocery shelves and produce bins are full. The GoFundMe accounts set up to support the protests are suspiciously non-transparent, and rumors of grifting abound. And of course these anti-vaxx fools will probably end up losing their jobs. Oh, well!

It's gotten so silly on Canada's right wing that Conservative leader Erin O'Toole has had to declare that — well, watch the video. We cats PURR.

49ers Trounce 12

By Baxter

We cats don't know or care a lot about football. We'll be watching the Puppy Bowl on February 13. (But only because they also have kittens.) That said, we're loving all the Aaron Rodgers schadenfreude that we're seeing online today. Fun!

Coincidentally, after the Trumpster Rodgers and his team went down to ignominious defeat last night, Aaron's fellow anti-vaxx nutcases rallied in Washington this afternoon. Not much of a success — it made Benedict Donald's 2017 inaugural crowd look huge by comparison. And hilariously, they had to disperse early when the sound system went kaput.

But we're cats, so we're curious: Did Rodgers have a prominent speaking role? After all, he's not terribly busy today. We cats PURR.

And It's Not Even February Yet

 

Perennial advice from Canadians: Dress in layers. We cats PURR.

Don't Tell Them, But...

By Sniffles

The media are focused on how badly the Biden Administration is doing, but we cats find that odd. Team Biden is in kinda okay shape. But if your name is Donald Trump, you've had a terrible week.

Can we all agree that the walls are closing in?

Trump has lost at the Supreme Court, and all the documents he wanted to keep secret — and, apparently, outtakes from his Rose Garden video on January 6 — have been transferred from the National Archives to the January 6th Committee. New York Attorney General Tish James is alleging fraud at the Trump Organization, and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Wallis has asked to convene a grand jury into Benedict Donald's attempts to undermine the 2020 election.

Somebody, somewhere, is going to indict Donald Trump. The fact that in two of the cases, it could be an African-American woman doing the indicting, is particularly delicious.

'Cuz, see, the Republicans are being particularly shamelessly open about their racism. Their refusal to advance voting rights in the US Senate is shameful, considering the GOP's support of the VRA in the recent past. And of course Mitch McConnell's blatant racism this week encapsulates the entire GOP position on the issue. As far as the Republican Party — the Party of Lincoln, for goodness sake — is concerned, if you're African-American, you don't count. (Memo to Mitch: Since we vote like a lot of Black Americans do, we just want you to know, our votes count, too.)

The mainstream media look upon all this and proclaim us as a nation hopelessly divided. But you know what would unite us? Indicting, arresting and frogmarching somebody for the Trumpy outrages against American democracy. That would make us cats PURR.

Mitch's Glitch

By Hubie and Bertie

You know the old saying, that in Washington a gaffe occurs when a politician accidentally speaks the truth? It needs to be slightly amended: A gaffe is when, after years of successfully masking it, a Republican reveals how awful he truly is. Which is what Mitch McConnell did yesterday — except since "gaffe" doesn't rhyme with "Mitch," we'll call it a "glitch."

Concern about equal access to voting rights, McConnell said, "is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans." Hey, Mitch! As long as you're being honest about your racism, you forgot to the word "real"!

Now, Black people are posting selfies to Twitter and saying, "I am an American," with the hashtag #mitchplease. It warms our hearts every time we see one.

Not being black cats ourselves (like our friend above), we can only show our ardent support for our fellow Americans and our complete and utter disdain for Mitch McConnell, who has to be the most evil Republican now living. Yep, he might even beat out Benedict Donald on that score, although it's neck-and-neck. In our view, McConnell has done more damage to the country over a longer period of time (the Supreme Court being Exhibit A).

Meanwhile, has anybody asked Kentucky's Black (and Republican) attorney general, whom McConnell has been grooming to succeed him in the Senate, how he feels about not being a "real" American? If not, why not? We cats HISS.

In Case You've Wondered

Or in an antiquities museum, for that matter. We cats PURR.

Two Hours Of Kicking Ass

By Miss Kubelik

When we cats were kittens, we heard then-Senator Joe Biden speak on our college campus. He was then-young, too. But we saw the same guy at today's Presidential press conference.

Back then, he held the rapt attention of a large auditorium's worth of students, simply by answering questions and being informative and fascinating. We weren't quite as combative with him then as the press was today, but this afternoon was basically the same experience. In nearly two hours in the East Room, Biden was thorough, patient, frank, and explanatory. He called out the Republicans ("What are they for?"). And he made us Cheshire-cat grin way more than once. (By the way, James Rosen from Newsmax needs to lose his press credentials. Dude was obviously so busy thinking of the stupid question he was going to ask that he forgot to read the room.)

The presser reminded us that for all its successes (there are many) and frustrations (also many, but in governing a democracy, there always are), the first year of Team Biden has been pretty good. At the very least, we've spent every day since January 20, 2021 profoundly grateful that Benedict Donald — who lost a big fight in the Supreme Court today — is out of the White House. We cats PURR.

A Day After MLK Day, What You Can Do

By Zamboni

Looks like Ron Johnson didn't expect this response to his tweet (above). Well, at least now it's clear why Republicans don't want people to vote.

Here's another reason:

Kind of makes the whole "1776" thing irrelevant, doesn't it?

We cats will not be watching the voting rights goings-on in Congress. One, we're busy, and two, we cannot bear the cable-news talking heads and their constant pronouncements of gloom and doom. If you're feeling fretful about all this (and who can blame you?), please bear in mind that Chuck Schumer's goal is not an immediate victory but to put all the bad actors on the record — and on the spot — with their "no" votes. NOTE: This not only includes Senators Manchin and Sinema but, most importantly, the 50 Republican Senators whose intransigence is making this nightmare possible. The process has just begun.

The last time the Voting Rights Act was up for extension — before the Supreme Court gutted it as "no longer necessary" — it passed without a single dissenting vote. What's changed since then is that the GOP no longer believes in democracy. So keep the pressure on, everyone — especially if you have Senators who are Republican. The Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121. We cats PURR.

Lest We Furr-get: People Trump Doesn't Want You To Remember

By Baxter

In the wake of yesterday's hostage-taking at the synagogue in Texas and the all-out white supremacist bullshit that Benedict Donald spewed at last night's Arizona Trump "show," we cats think it's time to put on the brakes and say, whoa.

This really needs to stop. Thankfully, the FBI team (flying in from Quantico — thanks, President Biden) was able to free the Texas hostages. Trump, meanwhile, continues to walk free and spew misinformation and hate.

"If you’re white you don’t get the vaccine or if you’re white you don’t get therapeutics. In New York state, if you’re white, you have to go to the back of the line to get medical health," he said in Florence, Arizona. Complete crap from beginning to end (and we're in New York, so we know). But at least he's open about his racism, right?

Why not be, when some of his insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6 wore "Camp Auschwitz" T-shirts and toted Confederate flags? Why not be, when he jumped to defend the 2017 Charlottesville demonstrators who chanted, "Jews will not replace us"?

The best defense against such outrages, aside from calling Trump and his bigots out, is education. We cats follow the Auschwitz Museum on Twitter, and they give us daily reminders of what can happen when people succumb to indifference. Here's today's. We share it in the hope that more people will follow them, pay respect to the victims, and do everything possible to make sure that it will never happen again.

"January 6, 1938: Dutch Jewish boy Salomon Harschel was born in The Hague. In October 1942 he was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after selection. His mother, Engeltje Harschel-Barendse, was with him." Take a moment to remember them. We cats have.

And We Ain't "Lion"

 

Game, Set, Match, Biden PPO

By Sniffles

In the category of "Things That Are A Whole Lot Better But Don't Necessarily Get Noticed" department, here is Exhibit A from our old office in the Jimmy Carter White House.

This Trump-appointed dude, Darren Beattie, trumpeted the lie that the FBI planted agents in the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6. Team Biden has demanded his resignation from the US Commission on the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.

It seems pretty clear that since the Trumpy insurrection has contributed to the decline of America's standing in the world, anyone who supports the insurrection should be forthwith dispatched from said commission. The fact that Biden's PPO team has lowered the boom so ruthlessly is just icing on the cake.

Make no mistake: The Biden Administration is rooting out these Trumpster fools. No, it doesn't happen overnight. But that's how democracies work. We cats PURR.

Prison Gaetz

By Hubie and Bertie

Reports have come in that Matt Gaetz's former girlfriend testified in his child-sex-trafficking case yesterday. Credible legal beagles were suggesting that we should take this as a signal that prosecutors are close to an indictment. And since the extension agreement for Gaetz pal Joel Greenberg to provide additional evidence runs through March, the timing seems right.

If Gaetz is indeed indicted, will he stay in Congress? Or will he be forced to resign, particularly if Benedict Donald and his traitorous House minions give him the heave-ho?

Frankly, we hope he sticks around. There have been other effective instances of how one stained member can tarnish an entire Congressional caucus.

On the ancient history side, there's Jim Wright. The twangy Texan and Democratic Speaker of the House — he of the impossibly elfin eyebrows — had to quit back in 1989 after an ethics scandal involving a developer from Fort Worth and royalties from a dumb book he wrote that nobody read. Republicans tarred the entire party with the Jim Wright brush. Five years later, the GOP took the House for the first time in decades, and the Gingrich era of horrors began.

More recently, we have the Mark Foley "I send sexy mash notes to Congressional interns" brouhaha of 2006, which, pundits believe, helped Democrats wrest control of the House from the Republicans that November. (It also contributed to Dennis Hastert losing the Speakership, and it might be worth noting that Hastert later went to jail for child molestation. Do we detect a pattern?)

So, let an indicted Matt Gaetz stay, at least through 2022. He certainly continues the Republicans' long and affectionate tradition of rape and sexual abuse of minors. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Legault Lays Down The Law

By Miss Kubelik

Lots of folks in the US are suggesting that insurance companies refuse to cover the hospital bills of anti-vaxxers who get COVID. Sounds like a great idea, although the hospitals might not agree. If they care for these Trumpy idiots, they need to be reimbursed.

Canada, meanwhile, has a far saner system: universal healthcare. So without insurance companies to either provide or withhold coverage, Quebec has come up with an interesting way to teach a lesson to the 10 percent of the population that refuses the COVID vaccine without a valid medical reason.

A financial penalty — otherwise known as "a healthcare contribution."

"Right now, these [anti-vaxxers] put a very important burden on our healthcare network, and I think it's normal that a majority is asking that there be a consequence," Premier François Legault said. The provincial government is still determining the exact amount of the "contribution," but word dans la rue is that it's going to be hefty.

Good. Healthcare systems are going through hell right now, in both Canada or the US, and it's mostly invisible to the average citizen. It's tough to share video and other visuals from hospitals when you have to follow patient privacy rules — so we're left with verbal testimonials from exhausted, angry and frustrated doctors and nurses, when we all know a picture is worth a thousand words.

For Americans who see Legault's solution as over the top, think about this. If you've been diligently vaxxed and boosted and masked and social-distanced, how would you feel if you got in a car accident, or had a heart attack or a fall at home, and had to go to an ER that was overrun with unvaccinated COVID patients? If you were a cancer patient, how would you like it if your treatment was delayed because your local hospital didn't have the bandwidth to care for you? Because that's what's happening. Bien joué, Quebec. We cats PURR.

Desirable "Disarray"

By Zamboni

Have we cats mentioned that governing is complicated and difficult? We know we have. But to be clearer, maybe we should have qualified that statement: In a democracy, governing is complicated and difficult.

Because of all the voices. A democracy has many of them, all speaking up with differing views and interests. And the goal of a democracy like ours here in America is to forge some consensus from it all: E pluribus unum, out of many, one.

In autocracies, dictatorships and cults, though — all of which the GOP is rapidly becoming — that's not the case. So we're tired of the media portraying the give, take, and sometimes maddening negotiations that the Democratic majorities in Congress have had this past year as some sort of calamity — or worse, a fatal infirmity.

It's a democracy, folks. At least, on our side of the aisle it is. So we were pleased to see historian Rebecca Solnit, in a brilliant essay in yesterday's New York Times, agree with us.

"While Republicans assault voting rights and the integrity of our elections, what fuels their advance is the rise of a gullible sector of the public ready to follow their leaders wherever they go," she wrote. "What's often described as a weakness of the Democratic Party — the existence of a variety of views and positions, freely debated or even fought over, and a restless, questioning electorate — is a strength of democracy."

All hail, Rebecca. We cats PURR.

Quebec Solves The Vaccine Mandate Conundrum

By Baxter

The Supreme Court heard arguments about the Biden Administration's vaccine mandates, and first takes on their reactions appear to be that they are skepticacious. Are we surprised, given that six of the nine justices are right wingers?

(Just a quick note that the email lady would not have appointed idiots like the maskless Gorsuch, or Biff, or Amy Coat Hanger. But we digress.)

Meanwhile, although Americans are all hung up on masking and mandates, Quebec appears to have quietly figured out how to make people get their shots — without saying, across the board, that they have to. Just make it mandatory to be vaccinated to buy liquor or pot. Tra la! Problem solved!

Since the province ruled that you must show a vaccine passport to enter an SAQ liquor store or an SQDC cannabis location, first-dose vaccinations have increased fourfold. Brilliant! Maybe in the US, we should mandate vaccines to buy beer, pork rinds, Confederate flags, chinos and tiki torches. We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: To Sir Sidney, With Love Edition

By Sniffles

Okay. All these celebrities we care about need to stop dying. Sidney Poitier? Really? Yes, we know he was 94 — but like Betty White, he was so universally loved that everyone's reaction is "WHAT? NO WAY! WHAT HAPPENED?"

We're thinking a lot of dear Poitier friend Harry Belafonte, who must especially be feeling this loss. Throwing purrs in your direction, Mr. B.

Meanwhile, here are some other stories that are getting our attention:

No sympathy for the unvaxxed couple who both died of COVID, holding hands. The New York Post has tried to position this as a romance for the ages. Sorry, team. It's a portrait of utterly avoidable stupidity and loss. We feel for the healthcare workers who had to care for these idiots, and we will not be contributing to their GoFundMe page.

Rafael Cruz bowed and scraped to Tucker Carlson last night for correctly calling the sacking of the Capitol on January 6 a terrorist attack. Is the ability to grovel a qualification to be President? Surely Benedict Donald proved otherwise when he met with Putin in Helsinki. We guess we just don't understand the Republican definition of manhood.

Just a reminder that Merrick Garland successfully prosecuted both Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber without a single leak while he was building his cases.

Finally, we need to salute two feisty Democratic women who, in the spirit of Joe Biden's in-your-GOP-face speech yesterday, have just humiliated a couple of idiotic Republican men: New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Florida Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried. Hochul smacked back Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman for trying to circumvent the state's mask mandate in schools, while Fried forced the ever-despicable Governor Ron DeSantis to admit that he let a million stockpiled COVID tests expire while his constituents waited in hours-long lines. Both Blakeman and DeSantis were left sputtering and looking, shall we say, flaccid and impotent. We cats love it, and we PURR.

What Joe Knows

By Hubie and Bertie

If we'd been lucky enough to have a post-blistering-speech lunch with POTUS today, we would have said to him, in our best Richard Haydn Sound of Music voice, "You know something." To which he may have mysteriously replied, like the exquisite Eleanor Parker, "Perhaps."

We're always happy for an excuse to post a photo of Parker, but our point is this: President Biden would not have been able to make today's speech a year ago, as some impatient liberals have complained.

First, there were a few little national emergencies that he needed to attend to — like the pandemic, and getting people vaccinated and COVID relief passed. But second, he needed to have some solid investigating at his back. It was clear to us as we listened today that he knows what DOJ and the January 6 committee have so far. A current President wouldn't make such serious accusations against a former President unless he knew them to be true.

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, whose liberal impatience is legendary, called Biden's address "one of the greatest speeches in American history." Not modern American history. Not Presidential history. All of American history. We cats agree, and we PURR.

Film At Eleven

By Miss Kubelik

Events are moving very fast. The media are reporting that in his speech tomorrow on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, President Biden will pin all the blame on Trump.

Which makes us think — on the heels of the Merrick Garland speech today — that they know something. Lots of somethings.

It's also worth noting that this information has leaked after Benedict Donald bowed to the pleadings of Lady Lindsey, Laura Ingraham and others, and canceled his Mar-a-Lago non-press-conference "press conference." Which means now that with Biden blaming him, Trump will lash out at everyone who told him to stand down.

Will that make him go public by other means? A phone interview with Newsmax or OANN? You be the judge.

Meanwhile, this is a pretty transparent (but nonetheless brilliant) tactic by Team Biden to ensure maximum cable coverage of the President's remarks tomorrow. The folks at FOX "News" are surely not happy about having to decide about going live with it. MSNBC and CNN, on the other hand, are probably gleeful and licking their chops. We cats PURR.

A Warning

"Politicians in my home state of Georgia, as well as in others, such as Texas and Florida, have leveraged the distrust they have created to enact laws that empower partisan legislatures to intervene in election processes. They seek to win by any means, and many Americans are being persuaded to think and act likewise, threatening to collapse the foundations of our security and democracy with breathtaking speed. 

"I now fear that what we have fought so hard to achieve globally — the right to free, fair elections, unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power — has become dangerously fragile at home." 

—Former President Jimmy Carter, January 5, 2022

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Big News Day Edition

By Zamboni

Wow, so much news today. And tomorrow's going to be even newsier. We cats have lots of thoughts, but we have to get to the most important headline first.

Pope Francis said — and we still can't believe this — that couples who have pets instead of human children are "selfish." WHAT! — the dude took his name from the patron saint of animals! Not only that, but hey, selfishness is what we pets expect. Doesn't he know that the world revolves around us and our wonderfulness? Ten demerits for Frankie.

Merrick Garland spoke today about the Department of Justice and January 6. He didn't spill a lot of beans, because, well, he's Attorney General. But there was one spilled bean worth noting: DOJ is investigating everybody, not just the goons who broke windows and smeared feces on the walls of the Capitol. "At any level," Garland said. That means prosecutions begin at the bottom, and no one is off the table. Hang in there, folks. We know it's been a year, but building an airtight case takes time.

Ron DeSantis spoke at an event this afternoon and appeared to have trouble breathing. As they say, we're just going to leave that there.

The US added double the number of jobs that experts expected in December — 807,000! When will the Biden socialist nightmare end?

It's been a year since Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff flipped two Georgia Senate seats blue, and we cats are here for it.

Finally, we're sad to say that this is the first time since 1928 that Walter Mondale isn't around to celebrate his birthday. We cats were annoyed that at his passing last year, Fritz didn't receive nearly as much attention as Bob "Democrat Wars" Dole did at his. It's vexing. Mondale was a consequential Vice President — he set the standard for all veeps after him. Which means credit is due to Jimmy Carter, who was secure enough to make Mondale a true governing partner and not relegate him to bucket-of-spit world. We cats salute them both, and we PURR.

Trump Chickens Out

By Baxter

We cats can think of five reasons Benedict Donald has canceled his January 6 "press conference":

His lawyers-slash-advisers — assuming he has anyone with any smarts or credibility in his inner circle these days — told him it would be a really stupid, self-incriminating idea.

The celebrities he invited to stand with him and make it a star-studded event said they weren't interested (or were otherwise engaged).

Folks in the media said they wouldn't cover it live.

Ronna ROMNEY McDaniel told him that if he said anything self-incriminating, the RNC would stop paying his legal fees. Not likely, but interesting.

The Hannity thing has spooked him. We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: First Day Back From The Holidays Edition

 

By Sniffles

Congress is in pretty sad shape these days — metal detectors, threats of violence, PTSD from January 6, and the dreaded first anniversary of you-know-what just a few days away. Vice President Harris at times must be relieved to be away from Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch instead. She sure looks mellow here.

But call us cats overly optimistic: Despite wildly depressing and overwritten prognostications from commentators north of the border, some good things are starting to happen.

Most satisfying is Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's announcement that the Senate will take up the filibuster carve-out for voting rights. And tying it to Martin Luther King's birthday was brilliant.

Also, our state Attorney General, Letitia James, is making the Trump family miserable. Two of Benedict Donald's spawn are resisting General James's subpoena in her Trump Organization civil investigation, but don't worry — Benedict Junior and daughter-wife have no magic wand to wave to make James go away. This is the kind of stuff we New York voters hired Tish to do, and we are well pleased.

And there is much rejoicing that Marjorie Taylor Greene is off Twitter. Now, her fellow right-wing nutcases (example: Dan Crenshaw) are attacking her. That's a cat fight we can get behind.

Finally, the Department of Justice will hear from Merrick Garland about January 6 on Wednesday. We've seen plenty of criticism of Garland from impatient liberals. But we haven't hopped on that train. There's so much we don't know — but will know — about what Garland is doing, and he doesn't trot out to daily press conferences to tell us, which is as it should be. It may well turn out that instead of the weak sister that critics think he is, Garland instead resembles the august personalities of Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence: "Perhaps the reason for their great influence is that they make themselves so rare." We cats PURR.

Do It For Betty

Folks are suggesting that on January 17 — Betty White's 100th birthday — we should all make contributions to animal charities in her honor.

An excellent idea! We cats already have our nonprofit picked out: Best Friends Animal Society. But there are lots of wonderful organizations to support — so, mark your calendars everyone. We cats PURR.

Happy New Year

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats are not in Montréal today, and it's probably a good thing. Because they went from a soft lockdown last week to a harder one this weekend, with little notice.

Still, Premier François Legault seems to be handling things better in Quebec than Premier Doug Ford is in Ontario. Ford, by the way, is missing in action — as Florida's Ron DeSantis was until last night, when he forced his wife, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, to appear maskless at an Orange Bowl super-spreader event.

If all these Republicans (and their Canadian Tory counterparts) die from their pandemic idiocies, we won't be sorry. Let's just hope that they don't bump more-responsible people from getting the healthcare they need from non-COVID-related conditions.

But hey! Let's think positively this first day of 2022. Upstate New York may be blanketed in fog, but thanks to vaccinations and boosters, our latest coronavirus setback could be short-lived. Styrofoam is illegal in our state now. Animal shelters are receiving floods of donations in memory of the great Betty White. And our President played on the beach with his new dog this weekend, instead of golfing at his own properties and tweeting hate. Things could be worse! We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier, father of the Confederation, Mont-Royal, Montréal. One of our favorites.)