The Flower, The Power

 By Hubie & Bertie

This is not a sports blog, but we cats need to observe the passing of a Quebec hockey great, Guy Lafeur.

Not just because he was one of the last gentlemen of sports — of which there are very few, these days — but because he symbolized something that Canada and the wider world needed to recognize: French-speaking Canadians who have contributed mightily to the Canadian identity.

And Canada is standing strong for democracy and NATO.

Liberal democracies, please pay attention: Your minorities believe in you. They contribute to the strength of your nation. They bring you glory. As other democracies struggle against fascism, please support them. We cats PURR.

Mother Nature Takes On The GOP (And Other Adventures)

By Zamboni

Sheesh! It looks like Ottawa will have to brace itself for another invasion of MAGAts and nutcases. This time, it's going to be "Rolling Thunder," a bunch of guys with small penises riding motorcycles and "protesting" who knows what. (They don't.) But authorities swear it won't be a repeat of the trucker debacle that occurred earlier this year. The invaders, they say, won't be allowed downtown. We'll see.

Meanwhile, back in the US, the ever-projecting Republicans have a lot of sex scandals on their hands. They accuse Democrats of being "groomers," and now we know why. Here are just a few examples.

In Idaho, a jury has just convicted former GOP State Rep Aaron von Ehlinger of raping a 19-year-old intern. Von Ehlinger could be sentenced to life in prison, but if he escapes that, he may have to register as a sex offender forever. It won't surprise you to learn that Idaho Republicans targeted the victim and even revealed her identity online.

In Pennsylvania, the ex-president of Young Americans for Liberty has been charged with drugging and raping a student at the University of Pittsburgh in 2013. Cliff C. Maloney is as repulsive physically as you think, which could explain why he feels the need to spike women's drinks. All you need to know is that this shining light of humanity has worked for Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace and Rand Paul.

Finally, on to Nebraska, where Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster has been accused of sexual assault. That didn't keep Benedict Donald from endorsing him, of course. But if you were looking forward to seeing Trump rally with Herbster in Nebraska today, sorry to disappoint you — the event has been canceled because of a tornado. God works in mysterious ways!

Between these assaults on individual women and the recent GOP assaults on reproductive rights, you might wonder why any woman would vote Republican. We cats wonder too, and we HISS.

Republicans In Disarray

By Baxter

If there were a word like disarray that began with an "R" instead of a "D," we'd never hear from lazy journalists about Democrats-in-you-know-what again. We cats have looked for a word like that, but have pretty much come up empty. So let's just say that the GOP is imploding.

The hapless Kevin McCarthy and his tape travails are only part of the story. First, it seems pretty clear that the party is making a coordinated effort to pull the rug out from under Madison Cawthorn's wheelchair. Have you seen and heard the stuff that's been leaked on him lately? Insider trading, women's underwear, and now, crotch fondling? Ugh. See what happens when you out Republicans on their cocaine orgies?

There's more: Matt Gaetz and other Trumpsters are attacking McCarthy and Steve Scalise now. Our own (GACK!) Congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, is having to deny that she leaked the McCarthy tapes. And Marjorie Taylor Greene? That girl is just a wreck.

But the most delicious one is the sight of Florida Governor Ron "Don't Say Gay" DeSantis, hauling his unappealing ass out to Nevada to campaign for the brainless Adam Laxalt for Senate, only to have Benedict Donald make a surprise endorsement of a GOP candidate for Nevada governor while the DeSantis event was underway. As you can imagine, the subsequent headlines were all about Ron & Don and 2024, with Adam ending up an afterthought.

We still don't think that Trump will run for President again, but he's definitely keeping his options open — and just sent an embarrassing shot across Don't Say Gay Man's bow. We cats love it when Republicans fight, and we PURR.

"From The Battlefields Of Ukraine To The Halls Of Our Own Capitol"

Lots of liberals quitting Twitter in the wake of the alleged Elon Musk agreement, but we cats are hanging around for a while. After all, it was Twitter that alerted us to today's fabulous Madeleine Albright eulogy by Hillary Clinton. We cats PURR.

Toxic Workplace

By Sniffles

We cats stick around Twitter for the rumors. (And yes, we also see breaking news from reliable media outlets, which we appreciate.) We don't know Elon Musk, although what we know of him isn't very reassuring. Yet he does strike us as the kind of guy who digs on gossip.

So we expect to still see tweets like the one today that indicated the January 6 Committee was getting intel from Republican House staff members, finking their bosses out. That's appealing — and understandable.

Contrary to romantic portrayals, Capitol Hill is no dream job. The salaries are low and the working conditions cramped, with desks close together and privacy minimal. Also, Congress has a nasty habit of exempting itself from employee-friendly policies and benefits, even the mandatory federal COVID vaccine. (Reminder: working conditions, cramped.) Rents in Washington, DC, are high, so young staffers are often forced to share what scant housing they can find with three or four roommates. We even know one staffer who mostly fed himself by attending Congressional receptions. Ugh.

In fact, it's bad enough that many have tried to jump-start efforts to unionize. Don't hold your breath.

As if all that weren't bad enough, staffers of Republican House members who are linked to the January 6 insurrection have additional worries. It's obvious by now (and from the comments of members like Jamie Raskin and Zoe Lofgren) that the Committee has a ton of evidence that, once it comes to light, will rock the town. If you work for, say, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Lauren Boebert, Speaker-wannabe Jim Jordan and the rest of the merry band of 1/6 traitors, you could be worried about being ensnared — and facing tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills.

(It's also possible that they're spilling beans because they care that their members tried to destroy American democracy. We'll see.)

So, fink on, GOP staffers! We cats are cheering you along, and we PURR.

Confused About When To Wear A Mask?

It's easy: Just put one on whenever you go out in public. Lots of immunocompromised and vulnerable people out there. We cats PURR.

Ill Portents

By Hubie and Bertie

By normal standards, this should have been a pretty good week for Republicans. After all, the Cook Political Report moved 10 House races in their direction. But somehow, it hasn't turned out that way.

In a wild confluence of events, Liz Cheney was named one of the recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award on the same day that two dudes from The New York Times unveiled an embarrassing audiotape of Kevin McCarthy and Cheney on the phone just after the insurrection of January 6. (And followed up with another tape this morning.) They also promised that there are more tapes to come.

Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene has testified under oath in a hearing in Atlanta — the result of a lawsuit by a group trying to keep Greene off the ballot in November (see Section 3 of the 14th Amendment). Marge didn't do so well. She "didn't recall" things 370 times, and she told enough lies that the Twitterverse was inspired to promote a new nickname for her: "Perjury Taylor Greene."

And we while we really don't want to even think about it, photos have surfaced of Madison Cawthorn wearing a bra and corset. (We don't object to the lingerie, just to the hypocrisy.)

We're most interested in the state of the GOP House leadership. Rumors are rampant that the McCarthy audiotape was leaked by Elise Stefanik. Republicans in disarray! On the other hand, you can't help but wonder when the citizens of Orange County, Florida, and environs will realize they're on the hook for $2 billion of Disney debt. We cats see swords of Damocles for Republicans everywhere, and we PURR.

Mean Men

By Miss Kubelik

The GOP's current embrace of Vlad the Invader and Russia isn't the only reason Ronald Reagan is spinning in his grave. Ronnie surely must be aghast at how mean Republicans have become.

Reagan was the ultimate jovial Republican whom Americans allowed to do tremendous damage to the country simply because he was sunny and chortling and nice. George W. Bush followed in his footsteps — remember the "Gee, I'd like to have a beer with this guy" meme? Back then, Republicans understood that they could get away with stuff as long as they seemed like the guy next door. And wow, it was a lot.

Meanwhile, mildly chilly policy wonks, like Michael Dukakis and Al Gore, and remote intellectuals who "looked French," like John Kerry, were rejected at the polls.

Well, come 2016, the nice Republican became a thing of the past. Benedict Donald gave every miscreant in America permission to be his own worst self, and the current crop of post-Trump Republicans isn't much better. In fact, they're worse. Ron DeSantis, beating up on a beloved cartoon mouse, is mean. Ted Cruz is mean. Josh Hawley is mean. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Madison Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar and all the rest of them are unpleasant, abrasive, petty — and mean.

We can only hope that all this will translate to defeat in 2022 and 2024. We'll see. In the meantime, we cats HISS.

Into Darkness

By Zamboni

Everybody's talking about Ron DeSantis's war with Walt World, but is anyone talking about the "other" thing he's doing — aside from that property-tax crisis we wrote about a couple of days ago?

Redistricting. As in, DeSantis is drawing the new Florida Congressional map all his own little self, designing it to break up blocs of Black voters and potentially hand Republicans another four seats this fall. And the State Senate has just rolled over and gone along with it. Why does Florida even bother to have a legislature at all?

Doubtless, this awful map will head to court, and the state will be consumed by nasty fights for the rest of 2022. DeSantis clearly wants not only to be President, he wants to be a dictator.

But his zeal to make the Happiest Place on Earth public enemy number one is puzzling. Dissolving Disney's Reedy Creek tax district as punishment for not agreeing with him on "Don't Say Gay" can't be playing out well in corporate boardrooms — and it should be a wake-up call for big business across America. The years of closing their eyes to what Republicans were saying and doing while writing the GOP huge checks? Let's hope they're over.

Because corporate boards have been stupid and naive. Surely they never expected this kind of payback.

Every year, activist investors and unions introduce shareholder resolutions at annual meetings of publicly traded companies, calling for transparency on political giving and political lobbying. And every year, those resolutions fail. The boards are able to vote them down because the activists and unions represent way less than 50 percent of the voting shares. Now, DeSantis and the Republicans have given us proof positive that the activists and the unions were right all along — and the boards were dead wrong. Egg, meet faces.

It's as inexplicable as Benedict Donald's team marching him into an interview with Piers Morgan without laying down some ground rules first. (Guess they just expected a friendly chat.) We cats HISS.

Marvelous Mallory

By Baxter

This speech by Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow today is brilliant. Every single Democrat (and Republican who disagrees with the nutcases who have taken over the GOP) needs to push back as hard as Senator McMorrow does here. And P.S.: Eppie Lederer, aka Ann Landers, would have been pleased. She loved Ted Hesburgh. We cats PURR.

A BIT OF BACKSTORY: The detestable Republican State Senator whose hate-filled fundraising email inspired McMorrow's takedown is Lana Theis — who clearly is having to go full nutjob to stave off an even-farther-right, Trump-endorsed opponent in her Senate primary. No wonder Theis refused to make eye contact when McMorrow slammed her. 

AND A REMINDER: Former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield (Republican) is under investigation for sexual assault, and State Senator John Bizon (Republican) is up for a year of probation for inappropriate touching of a nurse practitioner when he was receiving treatment for COVID. So who are the predators here? We cats HISS.

State Of Crisis

By Sniffles

Did you know there's a property insurance crisis in Florida? It's so bad, with rates skyrocketing and insurers refusing to do business there, that Ron "Don't Say Gay" DeSantis is threatening to call a special legislative session in May to deal with it — to the tune of who-knows-how-much-money-footed-by-the-taxpayers.

We have questions.

Casualty insurance rates are determined by smart, math-y dudes called actuaries who work with data and science, like flood-plain and fire-risk maps, neither of which can be altered with a Sharpie. So how are Republican know-nothings, who deny such data and science, supposed to be able to fix this crisis?

Property insurance has been a mess in Florida for 20 years. The Republicans have been in control in Tallahassee for more than 20 years. Why is it still a crisis?

Which voices will Republicans listen to as they grapple with this next month? After all, they govern by shutting off debate and denying people who are affected by their policies even a moment of input before they pass their ill-informed legislation.

It's obvious from the get-go that whatever "solution" they come up with, Florida Republicans will blame Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton when it doesn't work. So, two final questions: Why would any business or corporation consider relocating to this clown car of a state? Why would anyone want to buy a house and live there? We cats HISS.

Ponto Vous Dit: Joyeuses Pâques!

Montreal is always under construction — even on Easter. Ponto thinks we might as well make the best of it. We cats PURR.

Happy Easter, Ya'll

 

Not sure we've seen a better riff on major-singers-celebrating-questionable-holidays than this. Thank you, Brittlestar! We cats PURR.

Still Lightfoot, 50 Years Later

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats went to see Gordon Lightfoot in concert last night. (Yes, they allow cats in concert venues, as long as we are masked.) We enjoyed it, even though we knew it was probably the last time we would see him. 

Lightfoot is 83 and hard to understand — unless you know his lyrics by heart. He depends greatly on his backup band of skilled guitarists and percussionists. And at one point during the encore, his wife Kim had to rush onto the stage and give him oxygen. The fact that she was already armed with the mini-tank and burst out from the wings so quickly made it clear that that kind of thing happens all the time.

Why does Gordon Lightfoot still tour? Hard to know, unless it's because diehard fans like us keep turning up. Anyway, while this isn't an entertainment blog, we thought we should say something about the privilege of saying goodbye, at least in person, to a Canadian legend. He didn't perform this song last night — he probably wasn't up to it — but we'll always thank him for the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (recorded here in 1972). And for everything else he wrote. We cats PURR.

When Will They Ever Learn?

By Miss Kubelik

We all know how slavish the Republican Party is to Benedict Donald, but the state of Ohio offers a particularly interesting case in point.

Back when Trump was still calling the shots, he insisted that any John-Kasich-affiliated, so-called moderate Republicans be defenestrated from the state GOP. As state party chair, Jane Timkin obeyed his orders with SS precision. Or, to mix metaphors, she was a Putinesque enthusiast, gleefully pushing non-Trumpers out the party window and even attacking Kasich. You could almost hear her saying: "See, Donald? See how every wish of yours is my command?"

The Ohio party thus purged, Timkin no doubt expected, or at least hoped, to receive Benedict Donald's endorsement of her candidacy to replace retiring Senator Rob Portman. But you can guess the rest.

Today, at 5 PM, not only on a Friday but on a Good Friday, Trump endorsed the repulsive turncoat groveler J.D. Vance. Although Trump's statement seemed partly grudging — "J.D. Vance may have said some not-so -great things about me in the past," he whined — Timkin must be miffed. Or even furious. Vance is a cartoon candidate who's been trailing in the Republican Senate primary. (And we're saying that about a field that includes Josh Mandel.) But now Vance has the endorsement of the GOP's twice-impeached, disgraced former President.

It's astounding that anyone would covet Trump's blessing at all. But since that doesn't appear to be a question, we can only chide Timkin for thinking that Benedict Donald would show anyone — especially a woman — appreciation for loyalty. And can how other Republican women not take a lesson from this? Elise Stefanik, are you listening? As the line from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" goes, "You're next!" We cats HISS.

Breaking Barriers

By Zamboni

Major League Baseball is a mess these days, but that doesn't mean that we can't celebrate some important milestones. Seventy-five years ago, on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American player when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers as an infielder/outfielder.

But he'd started his baseball career the year before as a Montreal Royal. His presence is still felt there, and the city is proud that it was chosen for Robinson's Triple-A debut because of its solid reputation for racial and ethnic tolerance.

Robinson died young, at just 53, in October 1972. He was a Republican, but even with Richard Nixon at its helm, it was a different party back then. Robinson had already become disillusioned by the stampede of whites to the GOP and Nixon's shameless Southern Strategy of appealing to their sense of grievance. Surely today's Republicans would have appalled him even more. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Budget Day Brings Out The Heels

By Baxter

It was Budget Day in Canada last Thursday, and ever since, conservative columnists — white males, mostly — have been wringing their hands over Liberal spending. You have to wonder if part of it is because the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, who tabled (Canadian parlance for "presented") the government's numbers to the House is, as you can see from this video, a woman.

Chrystia Freeland bought some new shoes for the occasion, which is apparently a thing for Finance Ministers tabling budgets. And wow, those are some real Joan Crawford pumps!

But all the right-wing bleating about "billions" has gotten us thinking. Since World War II, the Liberals have been in power in Canada more often than not. And they've always spent. What has all that money gotten their citizens? Quite a lot: Canada routinely lands at the top of lists of the most-livable, most-admired countries in the world. With only 37 million people, it's a leading G7 economy and a valued voice on the international stage. It is one of the world's most stable, vibrant democracies, with good public education, economic opportunity and — the biggie — free healthcare.

So why do conservative pundits complain? Is it reflexive? Maybe they just object to Liberal spending that makes life better for Canadians who don't look like them. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Hope For The Future

Check out this great kid (and Democrat) who's running for the state house in Ohio. He's 18! We cats PURR.

UPDATE: "Holy Cao," here's another one! Sam Cao is running in OH-56. What is it with terrific teens named Sam? We love it!

77 Years Ago

By Sniffles

Once again, we mark the anniversary of the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. Here's Harry Truman taking the oath of office. Check it out — with the exception of Bess next to him, and (we assume) Frances Perkins off to the side, they're all dudes!

We think about stuff like this when we start feeling overwhelmed by how terrible politics is these days. At least now we have more women and people of color in office (starting with the Vice President).

FDR would be appalled to see what's going on in the Republican Party in 2022. But in his own time, he always pushed back against the GOP with brimming confidence. At Madison Square Garden in 1936, he singled out "the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering" and said: "They are unanimous in their hatred for me, and I welcome their hatred."

Today, Joe Biden could add insurrectionists, racists, climate deniers, vote suppressors, homophobes, transphobes and misogynists to that list. Those are the kind of miscreants whose hatred decent people welcome. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Happy NPD!

 

Russia, Ukraine, the French election, gun control, the January 6 Committee, Jared's $2 billion from the Saudis, Don Jr.'s traitor texts, voter suppression, GOP pedophiles...they're all important stories, but no news flash beats out National Pet Day! We cats PURR.

Face-Off

By Hubie amd Bertie

One of our favorite comedians, Stewart Reynolds, trekked up to the Yukon with his wife to visit Gurdeep Pandher, and inject more positivity into our sad, stressed-out world. Here's the result. Peace, love, Canada, everyone. We cats PURR.

Fight For Democracy

By Miss Kubelik

With today's dizzying events in Eastern Europe, it helps to get some context. You've probably heard a lot of discussion about how Vlad the Invader is trying to turn the clock back after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. But that was 30 years ago — so, what does the Russian invasion of Ukraine mean now?

It means that NATO must stand strong for democracy, and that extending its membership under Bill Clinton and, yes, Smirky Bush, has contributed mightily to the solidarity of Western European powers against Putin's anti-Ukraine brutality.

President Clinton, in fact, has an interesting essay in The Atlantic right now, in which he credits Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with a ton of influence on expanding NATO membership and positioning the organization against autocratic ambitions.

"Enlarging NATO," he explains, "required unanimous consent of the alliance’s then-16 members, two-thirds consent of a sometimes skeptical US Senate, close consultation with prospective members to ensure that their military, economic and political reforms met NATO’s high standards, and near-constant reassurance to Russia.

"Madeleine Albright excelled at every step," he wrote. "Indeed, few diplomats have ever been so perfectly suited for the times they served as Madeleine. As a child in war-torn Europe, Madeleine and her family were twice forced to flee their home — first by Hitler, then by Stalin. She understood that the end of the Cold War provided the chance to build a Europe free, united, prosperous, and secure for the first time since nation-states arose on the continent. As UN Ambassador and Secretary of State, she worked to realize that vision and to beat back the religious, ethnic, and other tribal divisions that threatened it. She used every item in her famed diplomat’s toolkit and her domestic political savvy to help clear the way for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to join NATO in 1999."

Which drove Putin crazy, of course.

And we all know what's happened since — but maybe not what Clinton had to report about Albright's last weeks on the planet.

Here's what he said:

"My last conversation with Madeleine Albright was just two weeks before she died. She was vintage Madeleine, sharp and direct. It was clear she wanted to go out with her boots on, supporting the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom and independence. On her declining health, she said, 'I’ve got good care. I’m doing what I can. Let’s not waste time on that. The important thing is what kind of world we’re going to leave our grandchildren.'

"Madeleine saw her lifelong fight for democracy and security as both an obligation and an opportunity. She was proud of her Czech heritage and certain that her people and their neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe would defend their freedom, 'because they know the price of losing freedom.' She was right about NATO when I was President, and right about Ukraine now. I miss her so much, but I can still hear her voice. So should we all." We cats PURR.

What If Clarence Got Wings?

By Zamboni

Remember back in 2005, when Smirky Bush — the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived, until Donald Trump came along — nominated John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

Except he didn't.

Smirky nominated Roberts to be an Associate Justice, replacing Sandra Day O'Connor. But gasp! — then William Rehnquist checked out, so Bush withdrew Roberts's name and renominated him to replace the dead guy. (And then named someone even more terrible — Samuel Alito — to fill the O'Connor vacancy. Ugh.)

We're bringing this up because we had a perverse thought about the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson today. Judge Jackson won't become Justice Jackson until the end of the current SCOTUS term, when Stephen Breyer officially retires. So let's be blunt: There's no better time for Clarence Thomas to die than between now and then.

Now, any time is a good one for Clarence to shuffle off. But if he could manage to do it in the next few months (he was just hospitalized for a week with a mysterious infection, don'tcha know), Judge Jackson could take his place, and Biden could nominate someone else to succeed — you got it, Justice Breyer.

At least, we think that's how it would work. Gosh, the Republicans would be beside themselves, wouldn't they? But when you think about it, how could their behavior get any worse? We cats PURR.

Bad Biking

By Baxter

One of our humans was wondering why he didn't receive Eric Boehlert's regular media-commentary newsletter this morning. Sadly, it turns out that it's tough to crank out new content if you're dead.

With all the awful news lately — from Ukraine to Tennessee to Oklahoma to the upcoming French election, which we've just decided we're worried about — we cats had been feeling lately that the bad guys were winning. Now, hearing about Boehlert, it seems even worse.

Lazy journalists everywhere must be cheering, because Boehlert constantly harangued them for their failings, tirades that they richly deserved. We can only hope that to honor his memory, some eager young blogger-critic will pick up Press Run and, well, run with it.

Meanwhile, in a Boehlert salute, The Atlantic's James Fallows has taken on the media's insidious penchant for framing, and explains how corrosive it is to both the public discourse and the country itself. He gives us four examples:

"The best description of an economy is what makes it look worst" — Or, why the press is mysteriously refusing to give President Biden credit for creating record numbers of jobs. 

"Being independent boils down to acting hostile" — How journalists ask over-the-top adversarial questions of elected officials to generate sound bites and viral videos, but never to illuminate.

"The system is broken (but no one in particular broke it)" — The media's puzzling refusal to acknowledge that the Republican Party no longer believes in democracy.

"We're terrible at predictions, but let's talk about the midterms!" — Nobody knows what's going to happen in November, but everyone seems content to pronounce it a Democratic wipe-out. Really? Redistricting hasn't favored the GOP nearly as much as everyone expected.

We thank Fallows for picking up the Boehlert baton today. And to anybody who's out biking in Montclair, New Jersey, right now, please watch for trains. We cats HISS.

Nice Event, But We're A Little Cranky

By Sniffles

It was generally nifty to see Barack Obama back at the White House today. The occasion was a celebration of the Affordable Care Act, and as the saying goes, a good time was had. And there were lots of jokes — particularly when Barack called Joe "Mr. Vice President," juicy bait that right-wing social media immediately swallowed hook, line and sinker. (Gee, they're dumb.)

And it was wonderful to see Madam Vice President, too. We couldn't help thinking that we were looking at three Presidents on that podium. (And if Al Gore and Hillary Clinton had been there, five!)

But if we may be party poopers for a moment...

While we agree with Obama that passing the ACA is absolutely the kind of thing you get into public life to do, when we hear him say "Nothing made me prouder than providing better healthcare and more protections to millions of people across this country," we just want to scream at him: Then why didn't you sell it?

Obama signed the "BFD" legislation in March of 2010, and then proceeded to treat it as not a very BFD. And then the Democrats got wiped out in the midterms. (They also got wiped out in 2014, but that's a different angry blog post.) Democrats also lost a staggering number of state legislative seats from sea to shining sea — repercussions that reverberate today.

Although they get it now, American voters in 2010 did not understand what the Obama-Biden Administration had just done for them because its provisions didn't kick in right away — but also because, crucially, one of the greatest speechmakers ever to inhabit the Oval Office did not explain it. He and Biden should have hit the road in a nationwide dog-and-pony show to tell them the great things they were going to get from this law. Why they didn't is a mystery to us.

(Even worse, he let Republicans control the narrative. "Obamacare" was an epithet for a long time, you know.)

We love Barack, but we'll bitch at him forever for this. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

The Princess And The Pea-Brain

 Perfection! (And from a cute musical, too.) We cats PURR.

Boosting The Butcher Of Bucha

"Why shouldn't I root for Russia? Which by the way I am."

—Tucker Carlson

April Fool's, And Fools

 

By Hubie and Bertie

Lots of people on social media have been having fun this April Fool's Day. We've seen attorneys tweeting that they're quitting their current jobs to join Truth Social as in-house counsel, and Twitter itself averring that it's working on an edit button. Also a bulletin that Glenn Youngkin resigned as Virginia Governor — which really isn't funny, because the Lieutenant Governor is worse.

And this tweet from former President Obama isn't even an April Fool. But we liked it anyway!

The real April Fool? It has to be Republican Congressman and all-around nutcase Madison Cawthorn. Having been taken to the woodshed (or at least, Kevin McCarthy's version of the woodshed, which is pretty unimpressive) for saying that Republicans in Washington have sex and drug orgies, Cawthorn has gone on the offensive and has started blaming everyone but himself for his current woes.

"My comments on a recent podcast appearance calling out corruption [sic] has been used by the left and the media [sic] to disparage my Republican colleagues and falsely insinuate their involvement in illicit activities," he bleated.

Wow! That's moxie. Transparent, pathetic, ineffectual moxie. But Madison's giving it his all.

Cawthorn can protest all he wants about how he's a victim of "the left" and "the media." But we see one ending, and one ending only, for him. It recalls another immature thug by the name of Pelle Lindbergh, and involves a single car and a tree. At least, we hope it does. In the meantime, we cats HISS.