End-Of-The-Holidays Reflections

By Zamboni

On this New Year's Eve, we cats have conflicting feelings. The year 2025, which would have had so much promise under a Kamala Harris presidency, was a nightmare of destruction by Benedict Donald. Next year may bring us even more. But at the same time, 2026 offers hope.

Tonight, for example, Trump has pulled the National Guard from LA, and has stopped his planned Guard deployments to Portland and Chicago. No doubt this was in response to the SCOTUS decision upholding a lower court's stay on his Chicago invasion. But he also clearly didn't want to be beaten by Gavin Newsom in a future ruling by SCOTUS on the LA deployment. We suspect that either Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito gave the White House a head's up on a sure defeat in the Court on LA. But barring that knowledge, all we can say is that if you call a bully out on his tactics, the bully will back down.

Meanwhile, Democrats keep racking up decisive, even historic, wins in special and other elections, which says to us that despite the Trumpsters' attempts at manipulating and suppressing, free and fair elections continue to take place in the United States. And Democrats keep winning them — by margins that are too big to rig.

This is all swell, but it doesn't cancel the fact that too many Americans have spent a tense and unpleasant holiday season. Either they're worried about being hauled off to the hoosegow by ICE, or they're dreading the increases in their healthcare premiums that will clock in tomorrow — thanks to Mike Johnson, the Republican House, and their inability to pass an extension of the ACA subsidies. Many other fellow citizens are worried about being able to afford groceries and rent. Affordability will be a key issue in the 2026 midterms, and Republicans haven't got a clue about how to deal with it.

You have to wonder how many times our country will entrust itself to the GOP, which proceeds to wreck everything, and then vote for Democrats, who fix stuff, but whom voters then punish for not making everything perfect. Are we in for another round of that? Or will the destruction wreaked by Trump 2.0 be so extensive that it will usher in a Democratic era akin to FDR-HST in the 1930s and 1940s? We will wait and see. In the meantime, we cats will get to work, and we PURR.

(IMAGE: Jamie Wyeth, Broken Christmas Tree Ball, 1961)

Maybe We Ought To Give Iowa A Try

By Baxter

Here's a big HAHAHAHAHA on the Republicans that we can all celebrate this New Year's Eve: After the right-wing-ish news site The Hill breathlessly speculated that the Iowa GOP could regain its supermajority in the state senate, Democrat Renee Hardman crushed yesterday's special election with a record-breaking win.

We have a couple of excellent morals of this story. First, wishcasting is a bad idea if you're purporting to be journalists. (We cats are not reporters ourselves, but we refrain from rosy spinning nevertheless. It makes you look so silly.) The second moral is that after nearly a year of Benedict Donald 2.0, voters could not be more pissed (or motivated). Even in a Harris-supporting district, this race is another jaw-dropping Democratic overperformance, less than a week after Christmas.

The Hill grudgingly provided some context in their coverage. "With Hardman’s win, Iowa Democrats are closing out the year strong," they wrote. "Back in January, Democrat Mike Zimmer flipped an Iowa state senate district that had overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2024. And in August, Democrat Catelin Drey flipped another open state senate seat, breaking the GOP supermajority."

It's reasonable to assume that Iowa will remain the red state it's become over the last 10 years. But you never know, especially these days. Happy New Year! We cats PURR.

A Good Writer, Gone Too Soon

 

Thanks to Tatiana Schlossberg's brilliant piece in The New Yorker, everyone knew this was coming. But it doesn't make it any easier. We hope Joe Biden was on the phone to Caroline Kennedy today.

Canadians: Kristi Noem Wants To See Your Face

By Sniffles

As of Friday, Canadians crossing the border into the US must be photographed both entering and leaving. Wow. We cats remember when all you had to do was show a driver's license — or maybe just chat up the friendly customs agent. It was a lot more relaxed, because the US and Canada had the longest undefended border in the world.

We still do.

More rigid rules came into effect after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 — but there have been no such attacks since, and the only reason that Canadians are having to put up with this crap now is because Donald Trump and his minions are a bunch of dicks.

Plenty of Canadians on social media are complaining about this rule, and saying that it will only reinforce their decisions to avoid the US for vacations and other travel. Treating our closest ally like a suspicious character has a chilling effect — who knew? Visits by Canadians to the United States have dropped by nearly a quarter. It's not just that they loathe Benedict Donald. They don't want invasions into their privacy, or maybe even the possibility of being detained. Holy smokes!

It's a tribute to the power of our postwar and post-Cold War influence that Canadian goodwill remains at all — they're able to separate the Trump regime from their affection for the American idea. But how long will that last? It's just one of the many things we cats worry about going into 2026, and one of the zillion reasons we know we have to win the midterms. Let's get working, everyone. We cats PURR.

Crazy Cat Lady Crosses The Rainbow Bridge

By Hubie and Bertie

Gee, the folks at Turner Classic Movies have had a rough December. It looks like they're going to have to update "TCM Remembers" again, now that Brigitte Bardot has left the planet.

We cats are conflicted about Bardot. Her animal-rights activism was excellent, and the foundation she established in her name fought against abuses like seal hunting, bullfighting and vivisection. But at the same time, she was openly right-wing, marrying into the political circle of Jean-Marie Le Pen. She also thought the #MeToo movement was ridiculous. Maybe things were different in Europe, where she made her films. (Or maybe she was just wrong.) Let's put it this way: If she were American and MAGA, that would definitely cancel her.

But it's hard to argue with her when she says, "People get on my nerves." We cats PURR and HISS at the same time.

When It Came To Equality, Ol' Blue Eyes Was A Radical Leftist

By Miss Kubelik

Stephen Miller is catching a lot of well-deserved online flak for an idiotic post he made today. "Watched the Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra Family Christmas with my kids. Imagine watching that and thinking America needed infinity migrants from the Third World."

LOL. Of course both Martin and Sinatra were the children of Italian immigrants, which is such obviously stupid irony that it almost makes you forget Miller used that pejorative "Third World" term. Immigrants from Italy may have brought great food and culture to America, but they were definitely looked down upon by folks who arrived earlier than they did. (Indigenous people didn't arrive from anywhere.)

Our suggestion to Hitler Junior is that he check out this short film from 1945. Playing himself, Frank Sinatra teaches a band of young boys who had been chasing a Jewish kid that anti-Semitism is bad and we are all Americans. (By singing, of course.) A valuable lesson if you could hear it over the screams of the bobby soxers in the movie theater.

Can't wait to see what Nancy Sinatra has to say about all this. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Giant Cat Visits For Christmas

Please don't rag on us for these quickie Christmas posts. Yes, they're missing our usual trenchant political analysis — but next year is going to be a busy one, and we're resting up to get ready. We hope you've been able to do the same. Merry merry and happy happy! We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: John Fugelsang)

Jesus The Savior = Larry The Cat

 Were you surprised? Please. We cats PURR.

Theme Of 2025: You're A Mean One, Mr. Trump

To Benedict Donald and every member of Trump 2.0: You're a three-decker sauerkraut/toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce. Your heart is filled with unwashed socks and your soul is full of gunk. We wouldn't touch you with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole. We cats HISS.

A Very Nico Christmas

Nico Carney is a very cute cat. Have you ever wondered why Benedict Donald doesn't have pets? It's because nobody wants to own him. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, on the other hand, is a different story. We cats wish you a happy holiday, and we PURR.

De Adder Du Jour

In our wee corner of the interwebs, Canadians are spending the holidays happy that they are who they are (and not American). Maybe someday we can fix all this. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

What Will Liz Do?

By Zamboni

Elise Stefanik wasn't the only Republican woman calling it quits from politics this week. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis announced on Friday that she won't run for re-election in 2026 after all. She's leaving an open seat in a red, red state. But there's a possible Wyoming wild card named Liz Cheney.

If Liz still has some fire left in her, and wants to get a bit of her own back against Benedict Donald and the MAGA morons who loathe her, she could run for Lummis's seat as an Independent. We cats have even dreamed up the perfect scenario. Check this out:

• Cheney (I) runs, but never states which side she'd caucus with in the Senate, or who she'd support for Majority Leader.

• Wyoming Democrats, sniffing out an opportunity, pull an Evan McMullin and decline to run anyone.

• Trump spends the entire campaign dumping all over her.

• She wins. Then what?
  

Well, let's say that when all the votes are counted, the Senate comes out with 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats plus two Independents, Angus King and Bernie Sanders, who caucus with the Democrats. If newly elected Independent Liz decides to caucus with the GOP, the Republicans will get to 50 — but JD Vance will have to spend every waking moment breaking ties instead of running for President.

But if Liz caucuses with the Democrats as their third Independent, she gets them to 51 — and Chuck Schumer (or Brian Schatz or Chis Van Hollen or Fill In the Blank) becomes Majority Leader.

It probably won't happen, but it's neat to think about. We cats PURR.

TCM Remembers, 2025

Gee, a lot of people we like crossed the Rainbow Bridge this year. As if the last 12 months haven't been bad enough! But Turner Classic Movies always does a fine job on their annual retrospective. As for the rest of you Hollywood folk we cats care about, let's not make a tough year any tougher — so please look both ways before crossing the street between now and December 31. That would make us PURR.

Tit For Tat

This doesn't exist in real life, but signs that do can easily be changed.

Elsie Can Read A Poll

By Baxter

Is it possible that Elise "Elsie" Stefanik is out of our lives now? She just dropped out of the race for New York Governor and says she won't run for re-election to Congress, either. Neat!

Elsie waited until nearly 5 PM on a Friday — and, on this particular Friday, right after the DOJ partially released the Epstein files — to break the news. She kept hanging her decision on the political landscape in New York State, but we cats call litter-box leavings on that.

Sure, Stefanik was trailing Kathy Hochul by 20 points. But it wasn't that long ago that she was calling Bruce Blakeman, her Republican primary opponent, a loser. And now she's saying it's going to be too tough a fight? Stefanik is obviously reading the writing on the wall: Under Benedict Donald, her party is going to get wiped out everywhere, and Trump might not appreciate it that she's acknowledging that.

And hey — what does Congressman Mike Lawler think, since Ed Cox and the New York Republican Party muscled him out of the governor's race for Elsie's benefit? What about all those state legislators who endorsed her? Stefanik has just hung them all out to dry. Sad!

There's got to be more to this story than that tired cliché of wanting to spend time with her family. We're looking forward to the details. In the meantime, what else is there to say but: Poor Elsie! How simply frightful! How humiliating! How delightful! We cats PURR.

Going Over Like A Lead Balloon

 

"This was not a holiday address from the President of a great democracy to its citizens. This was a desperate tin-pot leader yelling into a microphone while cornered in his palace redoubt. Trump has been unraveling for weeks, and his speech tonight, like Trump himself, was unworthy of America and its people."

—Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

A Very Tory Holiday

By Sniffles

Polls in Canada show the Liberal and Conservative Parties nearly tied in approval — within the margin of error, which after a brutal beat-down over the past year, you'd think the Tories would find encouraging.

Alas for them, their leader is in terrible shape. Pierre Poilievre polls 25 points behind Prime Minister Mark Carney, 51 to 26 percent. And the Conservative Party's leadership review is next month — eek.

That's insult added to injury for PP after Ontario MP Michael Ma crossed the floor last week. In the past few days, Poilievre has had to suffer through some combative interviews with Canadian media about why he's losing members to the Liberals. He's responded with Trumpian defensiveness and accusations, as you might expect. Sad!

With more floor crossings possible, and Pundit World smelling blood in the water, nobody really knows what the Conservatives will do. Personally, we cats hope they hold on to PP. Every time he opens his mouth, he reminds Canadians how much they dislike him.

Barring some unforeseen external event — Russia invading Finland, Trump talking annexation again — Carney's lead over Poilievre shouldn't budge much between now and January. And Conservative MPs in swing districts will spend Christmas asking themselves if they want to tie their political future to a guy sitting at 26 percent. We cats PURR.

At Long Last, Have You No Decency?

By Hubie and Bertie

Has Benedict Donald finally gone too far? Maybe.

His deranged (and ultimately ridiculous) tweet about the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner has attracted Republican denunciations, and they may not be done yet. Representative Thomas Massie said, "I challenge anyone to defend it." Marjorie Taylor Greene said the killings were "a family tragedy, not about politics or personal enemies." Even silly election fraudster Jenna Ellis said, "A man and his wife were murdered last night. This is NOT the appropriate response."

And then there's New York Congressman Mike Lawler, who must be shaking in his boots about his re-election chances next year: "This statement is wrong. Regardless of one's political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son."

Hey, New York Republicans, what do your 2026 gubernatorial candidates have to say about Donald's repellent drivel? Apparently, not much.

We expect Elise Stefanik and Bruce Blakeman will try to avoid this shitshow at all costs — not because Trump has crossed a line with them but because they fear any condemnation of Trump's decomposing psyche will cost them dearly in the primary endorsement sweepstakes.

We've all been warned that the absurd MAGA outpourings and accusations after the shooting of Charlie Kirk will pale in comparison to what the Trumpsters will do when Donald himself finally dies. But like Rick Wilson, the majority of Americans may very well find their better angels escaping them. Rob Reiner's films are loved by people on both sides of the aisle — just ask Ted Cruz. We cats HISS.

Well... Except for Ahmed al-Ahmed, A Pretty Terrible Weekend

Sometimes it's hard to take Eric Idle's advice and look on the bright side of life. Rest in peace, son of Carl Reiner.

The Tackle Seen Round The World

By Miss Kubelik

In the category of "Kids! Don't try this at home," here is the video from Sydney, Australia, that broke the interwebs this weekend. This brave passerby disarmed one of the Bondi Beach terrorists and gave us all a small bright spot in an otherwise horrific day.

Australia has had strict gun laws since 1996, but it's obvious that they still have work to do. A national registry would be a good first step, since the number of guns in the country has now hit four million-plus. There's also a growing sovereign citizens movement there, ugh. We Americans know all about that.

Meanwhile, let's celebrate this courageous dude. He may not be Batman, but since this was an attack on a Jewish festival on the first day of Hanukkah, it's gratifying to know that the hero of the day is a Muslim. We cats salute him, and we PURR.

Dick Van Dyke, 1925-???

By Zamboni

Tomorrow (Saturday, December 13) is Dick Van Dyke's 100th birthday. The excellent news is that he's here to celebrate it with us. We love him for many reasons, but mostly for The Dick Van Dyke Show, which aired on network television from 1961 to 1966.

It was a creation of brilliant people, mostly Jews, who were looking for a gentile everyman to make Rob Petrie relatable to American viewers in the early 1960s. Van Dyke understood the assignment, and added amazing physical comedy to make Rob Petrie his own. We own the shows on DVD, and we still watch them and laugh as if it's our first time.

"That's My Boy?" was not just a hilarious Dick Van Dyke episode, but a groundbreaking one. There are so many wonderful memories from this show, but maybe this one is the most important. We cats PURR.

Epstein Is Back

By Baxter

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress last month, sets the deadline for DOJ to release the full files as December 19. That's — whoops! — a week from today. Fun!

No doubt Pam Bondi and the Trumpsters have been frantically scrubbing Benedict Donald's name and redacting anything that involves him before they comply with the Act. But until then, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have been very wily, releasing selected items to remind the nation that yes, the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a pedophile and sexual abuser. Good work, team.

The latest is today's unearthing of photos from Epstein's personal collection. Goodness gracious.

There's Donald with a bunch of unidentified Epstein trafficking victims. And Epstein with pal Steve Bannon (just a coupla guys taking selfies together, aren't they adorable?). There's also a photo of novelty condoms with Trump's picture on them — were they sold at Jeffrey's sex parties? (Was there also a cash bar?) And because we are equal opportunity pundits, we're sharing a picture of Bill Clinton with Jeffrey and Ghislaine Maxwell. 'Cause, see, unlike MAGAts and Republicans, we're willing to toss Bill overboard if anything terrible comes out.

Benedict Donald has had a pretty bad week. His poll numbers are tanking, his witch hunt against Letitia James crumbled for a third time, Indiana Republicans have told him to go to hell, his Homeland Security secretary was humiliated at a House hearing (and fled), and the press is starting to notice his dementia and bandaged hands. And now House Democrats have sprung these photos on him. We can't imagine what screeds he will post tonight. In the meantime, we cats PURR.

Top Of The World, Ma!

By Sniffles

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals are one seat away from a majority government tonight, thanks to Ontario MP Michael Ma crossing the floor (changing parties) from the Conservatives.

Liberals gave Ma a standing ovation at their Christmas party this evening. Fun factito: Ma went to the Conservatives' holiday bash last night, and posed for happy photos with Tory leader Pierre Poilievre.

That's positively gangsta. We cats PURR.

Cat Fight! Stefanik vs. Blakeman

By Hubie and Bertie

Republicans sure are starting to mix it up in the New York Governor's race, aren't they? Elise "Elsie" Stefanik and Bruce Blakeman must be giving State Party Chair Ed Cox serious indigestion. (Yes, that Ed Cox, believe it or not. The years have not been kind.)

Nassau County Executive Blakeman has jumped into the race for the GOP nomination, even though Cox swore up and down that a Republican primary would never, ever happen. Elsie was supposed to have it all sewn up so that she could train her fire from now to next fall on incumbent Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul. (She'd need to, because Hochul is leading her by 20 points in the polls.)

Welp, things haven't worked out that way. As The New York Times reported, Benedict Donald didn't put his thumb on the scale for poor Elsie, whose life he had already ruined by un-nominating her for UN Ambassador. Sad! So Blakeman went on a statewide listening tour, and wrapped it up convinced that he was the perfect candidate to lose to Hochul next November. All righty, then.

Is Elsie not pretty or sexy enough for Donald? (You know, like Kristi Noem or Lindsey Halligan?) Did Blakeman promise to direct more graft Trump's way from Nassau and Suffolk County interests than Stefanik could direct from podunk places like Plattsburgh, Potsdam and Watertown? Hochul's social media team will have a ball with this.

Stefanik used to style herself as a reasonable, reach-across-the-aisle compromiser. Ten years later, she and her team have become Trumpy attack dogs, no substance and all insults. "Everyone knows that Bruce has no shot and is putting his raging ego first," her spokeswoman snapped. Really? It seems that Elsie's the one who's been raging lately. But fight on, kids. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

The Magic City Delivers

By Miss Kubelik

Tuesday was another red-letter day for Benedict Donald. By afternoon, The Atlantic had published new coverage about his physical and mental decline, just as he was about to hit the road for one of his "shows" in Pennsylvania. But Governor Josh Shapiro had pre-butted all of Trump's insane claims about how good the economy is. (As anyone who grocery shops or is looking for a job knows, it isn't.) Nice move, Josh.

Then, by evening, another electoral earthquake had shaken Donald and the GOP: Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami Mayor's race, beating the Trump-endorsed Republican by 60 to 40 percent. 

The race is officially nonpartisan, but figuring out the candidates' party ID is easy as pie. And it's panic-button time for the Trumpsters. Last time around, in 2021, the incumbent (Republican) mayor was re-elected with nearly 80 percent of the vote. Going from 80 percent to 40 means that yesterday, Republicans lost one out of every two Miami votes. 

Move along, nothing to see here, LOL.

So Miami gets its first Democratic mayor since 1997 — and that's after Democrats flipped the mayor's race in Jacksonville in 2023. Chef's kiss is that Higgins's margin of victory was even larger than the resounding wins we had in Virginia and New Jersey last month. Too big to rig means all the election-fraud winds go right out of the Trumpster's sails.

"Midterms will be a bloodbath," tweeted Trumpy nutcase Laura Loomer. Sounds great, Laura! We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: From Orson Welles's classic film Citizen Kane, which was not about Miami but is pretty timeless, 1941)

Spirit Of The Season, 2025

Randy Rainbow's new video just dropped. Feel free to fast-forward through the ad (but don't tell him we told you so). We cats PURR.

An Early Take On The Texas Senate Race

Looks like America's 36th President wants Texas Democrats to nominate a fighter. We cats PURR.

Who Did This?

 

We cats want one, and we PURR.

Lest We Furr-get: Pearl Harbor Day Plus One

 

By Zamboni

Neat! Here is a colorized version of Franklin Roosevelt's speech to Congress on December 8, 1941. Some notes as you watch:

Believe it or not, December 8 (Japan) and December 11 (Nazi Germany) were the last times the US Congress formally declared war. Since then, Presidents have gotten us "involved" in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and a zillion other places. It would be nice if the legislative branch got its mojo back someday, wouldn't it?

The correct FDR quote is "a date which will live in infamy." (Not "day." Lots of people — and, by the way, Google AI — get this wrong.)

Thanks to his polio, Roosevelt was wheelchair-bound, but he seems to be standing at the lectern. It's kind of interesting to note, because now we all know how he pulled that stuff off.

Finally, just look at all the men here. Not a woman to be seen. We've still got a long way to go — only 30 percent of today's Congress are female. But it sure beats nine women in the House and one in the Senate 84 years ago. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Mushroom Cloud For The GOP On The Horizon

By Baxter

There's a nuclear bomb waiting to go off in American politics. Maybe some Republicans realize it, but most of the true Trumpy believers are busy whistling past the graveyard. Allow us to explain.

First, let's recap: Things are already pretty dire for the GOP. Democrats have massively outperformed themselves on elections in 2025, including the gubernatorial races on November 4. Even in this past Tuesday's special election in a ruby-red Congressional district in Tennessee, Democrats moved the needle by 15 points. This is all wonderful. Grand Old Party, you in trouble, girl.

Meanwhile, and looking forward, healthcare looms large.

Although Preacher of the House Mikey Johnson swears he'll hold a vote on healthcare soon, we cats have our doubts. Mikey is barely in control of his caucus — how does he think that he's going to pull off a healthcare plan that Benedict Donald has been promising for 10 years, let alone bring the House together on the question of ACA subsidies? The Republicans are in complete disarray. We're not seeing serious policy taking center stage with them any time soon.

There are serious consequences to this GOP shitshow. People are going into 2026 not knowing how much their healthcare coverage will cost them. And they're mad. "Some voters may punish Congressional Republicans in next year’s midterm elections if expanded Obamacare insurance subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of this month, a new poll released Thursday suggests," The New York Times reports.

"Without the extension of larger subsidies, which lower the cost of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for millions of Americans, many people will see their health expenses rise by about $1,000 next year," the Times said. "Among those facing a spike, most said they would blame President Trump or Republicans in Congress, according to the poll, which was conducted by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group."

Hmm, this seems like a problem for them. We cats are not keen to see people suffer, but voters — especially white Trumpy voters — have to understand what the actions of Benedict Donald and his henchmen mean for them. If that translates to Democratic votes in November 2026, well, GOOD. We have to get the House back to save democracy — so if we can save healthcare for millions of Americans at the same time, big yay. That would make us cats PURR.

Another Harbinger Of A Blue Wave

By Sniffles

Gee, from the look of the coverage, Republicans didn't even get a moment to go "Yay!" about their victory last night in Tennessee Seven. All the headlines were gloom and doom. That's what a 15-point swing to Democrats in a deep-red, gerrymandered district will get you.

Preacher of the House Mikey Johnson had to fly out there and appear on Monday with candidate Matt Van Epps and a bunch of other GOP pooh-bahs, accepting a call from Benedict Donald, who is no longer capable of doing his many road "shows" and therefore literally had to phone it in. That was a lot of firepower for what should have been a slam-dunk win for them. Hence the hand-wringing this morning.

We Democrats, meanwhile, are feeling pretty good. Here's why:

Turnout was at eye-poppingly midterm levels — 179,634 (just shy of 181,822 in 2022). This is amazing for a "special" right after Thanksgiving. That means we got our vote out, bigly. Let's do it again in 2026.

What kind of money and resources were the Republicans forced to spend on TN-07 in a panic? We're guessing a lot. It could mean less for other elections down the road, since politics, like economics, is the allocation of scarce resources among competing choices.

Aftyn Behn was a terrific candidate with a great future, and she should run again. In fact, she's thinking about it. Yippee!

Finally, will Benedict Donald have the energy next year to campaign for every House Republican in a district that's less than plus-16 GOP? Will he even be alive then? Hmm! We cats PURR.

New Randy Rainbow!

That journey from cradle to tomb? Trump wants to make sure it isn't that long a stay. We cats HISS at him but PURR at Randy Rainbow.

JD Flunks The Test

By Hubie and Bertie

It's pretty amazing when one of the stupidest people around — RFK, Jr., who has said that he couldn't get decent grades unless he was doing heroin — stumps couch enthusiast JD Vance on the eight Presidents who hailed from (or had ties to) Ohio.

Kennedy was hosting a "Make America Healthy Again" confab that Vance attended, so the subject was unexpected. Still and all, Vance fell down on the job. In case you're wondering, the Buckeye Presidents were (in order of appearance): William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding. Vance could only come up with Grant and Hayes.

Several questions spring to mind:

Why wasn't Vance able to rattle off his home-state Presidents immediately? As a former Ohio Senator with White House ambitions, he should be able to do that at a moment's notice. Betcha Tim Kaine and Mark Warner know who the dudes from Virginia were.

Why did Vance feel he could get away with dissing the Presidents he wasn't able to name? He said they came from a "black hole" (jeez!). He slings insults like this pretty constantly — the last time was when he spoke to the troops on Thanksgiving and said nobody likes turkey.

Why wasn't Vance able to cite Big Bill Taft, whose name is storied in Ohio and who was the only President who also served as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court? For shame.

And why, oh why, since Benedict Donald has expressed such admiration for William "King of the Tariffs" McKinley, was Vance unable to ID him? Particularly since, um, McKinley's assassination elevated his Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, to the White House? Double shame.

Just because you've written a book, that doesn't make you smart. What a fraud Vance is. We cats HISS.