Dear Donald, We All Hate You

By Baxter

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and his blow-up sex-doll wife may be presiding over the Met Gala tonight, but his newspaper, along with Ipsos, just published a poll that shows Benedict Donald in deep doo-doo. (Bezos's paper also won a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service today, in spite of everything he's done to destroy it.)

But back to the poll. It's brutal.

• Sixty-two percent of respondents disapprove of Trump overall.
• Seventy-two percent disapprove of how Trump is handling inflation.
• Seventy-six percent disapprove of how Trump is handling the cost of living.
• Sixty-six percent disapprove of how Trump is handling Iran.
• Sixty-five percent disapprove of how Trump is handling relations with our allies.

Have we ever seen numbers like this? This might be one instance in which Trump's bombast is justified (but of course about the wrong things, from his point of view). We cats will try not to ask how the media would handle this if it were about Joe Biden.

Well, we know the answer to that. Meanwhile, Republicans are saddled with catastrophe, but still don't seem to be able to grab an off-ramp from the disaster that is Donald. They won't support a War Powers Resolution, pull back their support for ICE, or condemn the non-release of the complete Epstein files. To those of us clear-thinking Americans, any one of these stances seems commonsense and obvious. But they're caught between a rock and a hard place — partially because they've already gerrymandered themselves into ruby-red districts where it would be fatal for them to break with Trump.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added eight newly competitive candidates to their "Red to Blue" initiative — including two in Texas's recently redistricted map, LOL.

You know, it's only May, and a long way to November. But you'd be tempted to think that things have gotten so dire for the Trumpsters and the GOP that try as they might, they won't be able to redraw their way out of it. That would be hilarious, and would make us cats PURR.

Rococo Loco

"The White House was designed by James Hoban, an Irish architect who migrated to the US for economic opportunities (what a great American story!). He originally designed it in the Neoclassical style, drawing on Palladian and Georgian influences.

"Neoclassicalism was a reaction against the Rococo movement, which reactionaries saw as overly ornate and frivolous. A bit of gold used sparingly and strategically can look fine in a Neoclassical building, but the amount Trump used has so radically encrusted the room that it's now in Rococo territory, making it look like a mismatch of aesthetics.

"The Oval Office offends on at least three levels: the ersatz nature of the decor, the way it grates against Hoban’s Neoclassical vision, and the way it misunderstands the classical-republican symbolism that the White House was meant to project in the first place.

"As others have noted, this is the kind of decor you'd expect from dictators who rob their own country."

—Derek Guy, on Twitter

Geography

We don't know how Round One of the Stanley Cup playoffs will end up, but we can say for sure that the island of Montréal looks like this right now. (Even after last night's game.) We cats PURR.

Our Plan

This says it all. We cats PURR.

Charles Schools The Trumpsters

"The Founding Fathers were bold and imaginative rebels with a cause. Two hundred and fifty years ago— or, as we say in the United Kingdom 'just the other day'—they declared independence. By balancing contending forces and drawing strength in diversity, they united 13 disparate colonies to forge a nation on the revolutionary idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"They carried with them, and carried forward, the great inheritance of the British Enlightenment—as well as the ideals which had an even deeper history in English common law and Magna Carta.

"These roots run deep, and they are still vital. Our Declaration of Rights of 1689 was not only the foundation of our constitutional monarchy, but also provided the source of so many of the principles reiterated, often verbatim, in the American Bill of Rights of 1791.

"And those roots go even further back in our history: the US Supreme Court Historical Society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789—not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.

"This is the reason why there stands a stone, by the River Thames at Runnymede where Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215. This stone records that an acre of that ancient and historic site was given to the United States of America by the people of the United Kingdom, to symbolize our shared resolve in support of liberty, and in memory of President John F. Kennedy."

—King Charles III, Address to Congress, April 29, 2026

In All Our Hearts Command

By Sniffles

It's been a crappy week, thanks to the Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (google "mifepristone" to find out why), and Benedict Donald posting another ridiculous Jesus meme that his evangelical apologists will refuse to find outrageous. But once again, the world of sports — specifically, hockey — is providing some reassurance.

Quick back story: Did you know that the Buffalo Sabres start each home game with both the Canadian and the American national anthems, even if the Sabres aren't playing a Canadian team? That's because so many Ontarians cross the border to attend. Or at least, they did before Trump started threatening and insulting them.

So it was pretty swell the other night when the anthem singer's mic cut out and the 19,000 fans in the arena immediately rushed to her rescue and sang "O Canada" for her. (Note: Thanks to Trump's tariffs and his menacing jokes about annexation and "the 51st state," one can assume that Canadians' presence in the crowd was sparse. These were overwhelmingly American fans who knew "O Canada" well.)

Donald Trump is a disaster for America and the world. But this terrific moment in the KeyBank Center is a reminder that bullies like him are destined to fade. Well done, Buffalo. We cats PURR.

Banning The Bolt

These Trumpy days call for welcome distractions, and the Montréal Canadiens are providing one. Game Six against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round One of the Stanley Cup playoffs is tomorrow night, giving the Habs the chance to wrap things up on home ice. Meanwhile, Hydro-Québec has made it clear who they're rooting for by removing the lightning bolt from their logo. Fabulous and fun! We cats PURR.

De Adder Du Jour

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net) 

Happy Harper Lee Centenary To All Who Celebrate!

"Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. 

"Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."

Who's In Disarray? (Hint: It's Not Us.)

By Hubie and Bertie

Governor Ron DeSantis may have unveiled his Florida gerrymander map, but one of its biggest critics, eight-term GOP Representative Daniel Webster, has just announced his retirement from Congress. Gee. When he was first elected, Webster was one of the craziest members of the Republican caucus. Now, he seems like one of the saner ones. That's what 25 years of gerrymandering have wrought.

However, the jury is out on the fate of DeSantis's map. Sabato's Crystal Ball rates at least one of the newly proposed GOP pickups as a toss-up, and an additional two as merely Leans Republican, throwing the whole rosy scenario into uncertainty. In short, be careful what you wish for — especially in a dicey year for Republicans like 2026.

Meanwhile, down in Texas — the seat of all these silly mid-decade reapportionment shenanigans — Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is beating both John Cornyn and Ken Paxton in head-to-head match-ups in the polls. That's fun in and of itself, but check out Talarico's eye-popping margins among Independent and self-described moderate voters: He's leading by more than 20 points with Independents, and by more than 40 with moderates.

Holy smokes! If we were Republican, we'd be freaking out right now, because the GOP primary is doing absolutely nothing to help either Cornyn or Paxton with either group. Delicious!

We Democrats have been throwing money at Texas for years now, with nothing to show for it. If you're tempted to send Talarico a contribution, we won't stop you. But bear in mind, he's been a fundraising juggernaut. Maybe spread your love around to other Democratic candidates in Ohio, North Carolina, Alaska, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Georgia right now? Then we'll get back to you. We cats PURR.

Change Of Pace

 

This is a super-duper arrangement of "Layla," and, if you're feeling a little frazzled, a great way to start your week. We cats PURR.

Hillary Was Right About Everything, Part Eleventy-Million, Two Hundred Thousand Thirteen

"While the [Osama bin Laden] raid ultimately happened on Sunday night, Saturday night was first raised as a possibility. But someone pointed out that Obama was scheduled to be at the Correspondents' Association dinner that night, and his absence (and that of other top administration officials) could tip off the journalist-filled room that something was up.

"At which point, Hillary Clinton looked up and said simply, 'Fuck the White House Correspondents' dinner.'"

"You Helped Create This Monster, And Now You're Profiting Off Him"

By Miss Kubelik

On the eve of the ever-awful White House Correspondents Dinner, let's revisit Michelle Wolf's brilliant performance from 2018.

And let's all recall that the inside-the-Beltway journalists took great umbrage when Wolf called them out for their adoration of Donald. Sadly, nothing has changed. It may, actually, have gotten worse.

But here's one real difference between then and now: Trump, his family, and his Administration are plundering the US Treasury and fleecing foreign powers for billions.

Since the Republicans aren't inclined to do anything about it, we all have to wait for Democrats to take over — first Congress, and then the White House. At that point, we'll take a lesson from Watergate, and follow the money. In the meantime, we cats HISS.

J. Edgar Boozer

 

Every Little Breeze Seems To Whisper Louise

By Zamboni

If you're looking for something to propose in response to Benedict Donald's ridiculous Third Reich-y Washington "arch," folks on social media have the perfect solution: a towering monument to State Senator Louise Lucas, who championed the redistricting referendum that Virginia voters passed yesterday.

Republicans, who kicked off all this redistricting nonsense with their power grab in Texas (a question which, by the way, they never put directly to the voters), immediately asked the Tazewell County circuit court to pause certification of the amendment, which was granted. 

But they're just delaying the inevitable. "Republicans have repeatedly taken challenges to the Virginia referendum to a local judge in the most conservative part of the state to get silly rulings that are immediately overturned on appeal," Democratic Rep. Don Beyer said. "The Virginia Supreme Court will have the last say on the referendum."

Benedict Donald must see the writing on the wall, because he's bleating about "RIGGED" elections again. What a pathetic, projecting loser. "What started in Texas didn’t stay in Texas, and what started here will not stay here either," Senator Lucas said. "Virginia sent a message: If you try to rig the system, we fight back. If you try to take powers from voters, we will take it right back." Can someone please get started on that Lucas statue? Meanwhile, we cats salute her, and we PURR.

Nightmare In NY-21

 

By Baxter

Every time we're even vaguely tempted to feel sorry for Republicans yoked to the antics of Benedict Donald, we instantly remind ourselves that they made their bed, and they must lie in it. (See above.)

They passed up so many off-ramp opportunities in the last 10 years. And now, things are much worse for them. Trump 2.0 is way more erratic and weird. MAGA is furious about the Epstein files, the war in Iran, and gas and food prices. Impeachment and the 25th amendment are openly discussed. And Donald just made the GOP's upcoming midterm massacre even bloodier — at least in our neck of the woods.

"President Donald Trump endorsed the CEO of a sticker company to fill outgoing Rep. Elise Stefanik's House seat," POLITICO reports, "[announcing] over social media Tuesday that he's backing Republican Anthony Constantino over Assemblyman Robert Smullen, the preferred nominee of the New York GOP and the state Conservative Party."

Constantino is a nutcase, and Smullen is pretty awful, too. With Trump's interference, what was already promising to be a fun Republican-on-Republican cat fight for Elsie's seat just got more delicious. And what a huge middle finger to GOP state party chair Ed (Tricia Nixon) Cox and the hapless county chairs in the district who had confidently endorsed Smullen before Sticker Mule Man jumped into the race.

As for Elsie, she's on her silly book tour, and no doubt will try to dodge questions. But Trump has just put her in another awkward position. Can she really stay silent? Reporters should hound her mercilessly.

Here's the best part: Smullen is guaranteed to be on the November ballot, on the Conservative Party line. If Constantino wins the Republican primary in June, we don't see how Democrat Blake Gendebien loses a three-way race. We cats PURR.

Happy Queen Elizabeth Centenary To All Who Celebrate!

 

April 21, 1926—September 8, 2022

Labor Pains

By Sniffles

If you've ever had a bad boss, you can imagine how relieved staffers at the Department of Labor must feel tonight.

Because Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out. Like Attorney General Pam Bondi before her, she is allegedly "returning to the private sector." Wherever she (God forbid) lands, you can only imagine she'll continue to terrorize employees with her boozing, her absences, her inappropriate requests, her misuse of financial and other resources, her affairs, and her handsy husband. Ugh. (And gee, drinking on the job. Can Kash Patel's defenestration be far behind?)

Although Chavez-DeRemer was really the only non-100-percent-MAGA person in the Cabinet — some in organized labor, like the Teamsters and the Transport Workers, supported her nomination — we cats agree with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries: The Republicans who keep voting to confirm clowns like her are just as much to blame for this screwy Cabinet as anyone. And sadly, they'll probably vote for whatever worse clown Benedict Donald picks to take her place.

Meanwhile, we'll keep playing the "What If Biden Did This?" game. Can you imagine if Joe, or any Democratic President, had lost so many senior people to scandal in his first 16 months in office? The media would have a feeding frenzy. But with Trump, a new and different outrage will keep us all spinning on the hamster wheel by tomorrow. Besides, the White House press corps is about to honor Trump at their upcoming silly dinner, so they're not about to hold him to account. (Of all the years to boycott the WHCD, this is the year to boycott it the most.) We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: Now-former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer blows out candles at an office birthday party that she said under oath had never taken place. Whoops.)

The Wheels On The GOP Bus Are Coming Off

Please allow this lovely video to brighten your Sunday.

Meanwhile, the special elections roll on. Tuesday, Virginians will go to the polls to vote on redrawing their Congressional districts for the 2026 midterms. This fight wouldn't be happening if the Texas GOP hadn't started it, so if Republicans end up with just one Representative from the Old Dominion, they'll have only themselves to blame.

Are you a voter in Virginia? To check the status of your registration and for information on polling place locations, click here.

Magyar Deep-Sixes MAGA

By Hubie and Bertie

Another lopsided victory for Democrats in a special election last night: Analilia Mejia won Governor Mikie Sherrill's former seat in NJ-11 by 60-40. We can quibble later about whether Mejia would have been our first choice in the primary. The more important point is that she outperformed our 2024 margin in that district by five points, and bested Kamala Harris's Presidential margin there by 12 points.

People are motivated, and they keep voting in outsize numbers. This is what we need for November.

That point was proved by the election in Hungary last weekend. So many pundits and prognosticators said that Victor Orbán would never have to worry about relinquishing power because of how deeply he had gerrymandered the country, and taken over the media and the courts. But Péter Magyar's Tisza party's margin of victory was so enormous, there was no disputing it. Orbán caved. MAGA is sad.

(True to form, Benedict Donald promptly put his good buddy Orbán firmly in the rear-view mirror, because, you know, Orbán's a loser, and everything with Trump is transactional. Plus it's so convenient to just let JD Vance absorb the humiliation, right?)

Maybe the best thing about Magyar's huge win — aside from cutting off Hungary's version of CPAC from any further funding — is his speedy vow to shut down Orbán's version of Fox News/One America/Newsmax. Magyar called it "a factory of lies" and promised to create a "real, independent public broadcaster, one where the opposition finally has a voice too." As the saying goes, this is how you do it. Democrats, we hope you're taking notes, because the poll numbers for both the House and Senate this November are looking good. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Getty Images)

"Treason Worship Shouldn't Be Tax-Deductible"

By Miss Kubelik

Let's all just sidestep the repulsive news about Eric Swalwell, Benedict Donald's continued weird Jesus meltdown, and the deliciousness of JD Vance's sparsely attended rally in Athens, Georgia, to celebrate recent developments in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Governor Abigail Spanberger has been impressive in her first 100 days — giving the Democratic response to Trump's silly State of the Union, signing a flurry of executive orders in support of housing, healthcare, and education, and backing legislation to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution. Now she's signed a bill that ends tax breaks for groups aligned with the former Confederacy. Only 161 years after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, but heck, we'll take it!

The affected organizations include the United Daughters of the Confederacy's Virginia division and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, and for the life of us we have no idea why they didn't pay state property taxes in the first place.

"And oh, the horror," humorist and Substack star John Fugelsang wrote. "Somewhere, a bunch of genteel Lost Cause enthusiasts are clutching pearls —and wallets: 'If our Confederate organizations now have to pay property taxes, how will we continue honoring our ancestors who fought to keep other people as property?'"

Yes, the South lost the war but won the peace, thanks to the federal abandonment of Reconstruction, a hundred years of Jim Crow, and romantic literary and Hollywood treatments that whitewashed America's original sin right out of our collective consciousness. But there's no reason that taxpayers of the Old Dominion need to support Confederate monuments and mythologies. We cats PURR.

Time To Take The Keys Away

"This is not the behavior of a stable, healthy leader. Pope Leo, for his part, said he has no fear of the Administration and will continue to preach the messages of the Gospel. The rest of us, however, should be very worried about a Commander in Chief who is trying to govern the country between social-media binges, who attacks religious leaders in narcissistic frenzy, and who imagines himself as a deity. If an elderly parent did such things, most people would be concerned. The President doing such things is far more alarming.

"The American people must not look away, as they have done so often in the past. They must pay attention to the President’s deterioration, and insist that the House and Senate start acting like functioning branches of the government by asking the White House to explain what is happening, without insults or evasions, before the eyes of the country and the world."

—Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

How The Veep Sweeps Matter

By Zamboni

Eighty-one years ago today, Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia — stunning a world that had no idea how sick he really was. Most stunned of all was probably his Vice President, Harry S. Truman, who had been picked as a running mate only the year before. FDR probably didn't handle the Truman selection as gracefully as he could have, but it soon became clear that he'd made the right choice.

Some Presidents select their running mates wisely. (Walter Mondale is a case in point.) Others make really stupid choices — and then humiliate them in a million ways. Which brings us to the subject of JD Vance.

Vance has just suffered not one but two major embarrassments in less than week. He was dispatched to "negotiate" with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, and he was sent to Hungary to campaign for the despicable strongman Victor Orbán. Iran rolled us in the first instance (and we're all about to pay more at the pump because of it) — and Hungary just overwhelmingly handed Orbán his walking papers. Orbán quickly conceded today's election, but surely only because the margin of victory for his opponent was so wide, he had no other choice.

There are two lessons for us here: One, the best way to defeat a fascist is to do it so resoundingly that he can't possibly claim fraud. Two, the person you pick to step in if you: 1) go under anesthesia, 2) unexpectedly suffer a cerebral hemorrhage at the Little White House, or 3) keel over in the golden-gewgawed Oval Office from too many Double Whoppers, really matters. We cats salute Harry Truman, and dump our dirty litter boxes over JD Vance's head. And we PURR.

Artemis Perfect

 "We went out to dinner and listened to re-entry in the car. Everything has been so shitty and nothing has been good, we really needed this win. So glad everything worked out. Welcome home."

Liberal Love-In

By Baxter

The Canadian Liberal Party is meeting this week in Montreal, and will wrap up tomorrow with an address by Prime Minister Mark Carney at 2 PM. No, we cats aren't there (yet), but we agree with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that for first-time convention attendees, to be able to meet in Montreal is something special.

A year ago, we cats would never have thought we'd write this, but the Liberals are riding high. They not only have historically positive approval ratings, they're also on the brink of a majority, thanks to a few by-elections that are scheduled for April 13. (Merci, Donald!)

Two elections are in reliably Liberal ridings, and the third is in Terrebonne, outside of Montreal, which the Liberals won last time by — literally — one vote. That result was tossed by the courts, and the re-vote is Monday. But because of the recent floor-crossings, Mark Carney doesn't need Terrebonne to get a majority.

Carney has been wily and smart, keeping his caucus together and wooing newcomers, inviting them to join his "big tent." This is all very impressive for an international banker who wasn't exactly known as a savvy politician before 2025. But as he is with the French language, Carney is a quick study. We cats admit it: We're star-struck.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, is in a bad place. How many more defections can he survive before his party demands he resign? We're already seeing calls for him to step down, because his brand of "Maple MAGA" is just not playing well in Canada. And why should it? PP is incapable of surveying the landscape and pivoting to address the reality — all he knows are the talking points that Benedict Donald provides him, and they don't translate well. C'est comme ça que ça devrait être. We cats PURR.

Is The Other Stiletto Heel About To Drop?

By Sniffles

Remember that scene in All the President's Men where the Nixon spokesperson pre-emptively denies that the White House had anything to do with the Watergate break-in? To Woodward and Bernstein (or rather, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman), that was an intriguing tell.

The same kind of thing happened today. Moose & Squirrel made a speech in which she gratuitously brought up Jeffrey Epstein and declared, "I never been friends with Epstein." (Yes, that's a real quote from a woman who allegedly got an Einstein visa to enter the US and who is supposed to be fluent in multiple languages. PS: She also doesn't know how to say the word "trivial.")

Everyone is mystified. Why now? Tweeters and skeeters used to joke that the Iran war was launched as a distraction from Epstein. Was Epstein now being used as a distraction from the Iran war?

That wouldn't be surprising, since the consensus is that Benedict Donald got seriously rolled by the Iranians after he threatened to blow them up. He TACOed, of course — but it's no laughing matter. Here's how Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes sums it up:

"In the best-case scenario, Trump struck a deal to reopen a Strait that was open before the pointless war he started, with the IRGC demonstrating its control over the Strait and potentially extracting fees plus sanctions relief. Thousands of innocents —including hundreds of children — dead in Lebanon and Iran for no reason. US troops killed and wounded. US embassies and bases in the Middle East badly damaged. US standing in the world obliterated. US munitions badly depleted.

"Hundreds of billions spent. Prices up everywhere. More global economic fallout to come. Putin strengthened and enriched. Just a catastrophic situation even in the best of circumstances. A profoundly shameful episode in American history no matter what happens next."

The other prevailing theory about Moose & Squirrel is that something is about to explode from the Epstein files, and she was trying to get ahead of it. People, some of them goofballs, speculated if Russia, Iran, or Israel were involved. But we cats have another theory.

Maybe it's Denmark. After all, Trump has started bleating about Greenland again. Wouldn't that be delicious? We cats PURR.

Leo Can't Go Home Again

By Hubie and Bertie

Here's where the first American pope will spend the Fourth of July: Lampedusa, the southernmost island off Sicily, and the historical entry point for African refugees into Italy. It's also known for its pristine beaches, delicious cuisine, and Sea Turtle Recovery Center. Sounds fabulous — but surely Leo will use his visit to stress the importance of welcoming the refugee (or, as Jesus put it, the stranger).

This is where he's going instead of accepting the Trumpsters' invitation to celebrate Independence Day in a broiling-hot Washington, DC filled with Hitlerian Trump monuments. Can you blame him? Especially after what apparently happened at the Pentagon this past January.

Reports abound that a Defense Department under-secretary named Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who at the time was the Vatican's ambassador to the US, and told him, "America has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side." Rumor has it the Avignon Papacy was pointedly mentioned. The Cardinal was, um, not pleased.

And, it seems, neither was Leo. Not only has the Vatican permanently shelved any possible trip to the US for him in 2026, it's broadly hinting that the Pope may never come here at all — at least, not as long as this Administration is in charge. That must be disappointing for Benedict Donald, who loves to cozy up to famous folks who have golden gewgaws in their homes. Proximity to such people gives him validation.

Interestingly, Leo hasn't backed off his criticism of the Trumpsters one bit, and in fact has doubled down. So whatever the goal of this silly January meeting was, it looks like it backfired big-time.

Sadly, Americans who were hoping to see Il Papa toss out the first pitch for the Chicago White Sox this summer are out of luck. But we hope Leo enjoys some scuba diving and fresh seafood and couscous on Lampedusa instead. He deserves it. We cats PURR.

Here's Another Statement We Liked Today

 

Jason Carter, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The Carter Center

The Bat Man Speaks, Trump TACOs

By Miss Kubelik

Pope Leo may not have taken off after Benedict Donald with a baseball bat today, but when he spoke out against Trump's Iran threats, he might as well have. Leo knocked it out of the park, and as we all now know, Trump caved. Sadly, the farce will start all over again in two weeks.

This is why we try our damndest to limit our exposure to Donald Trump. He's simply not healthy for children and other living things.

We saw a lot of talk on the interwebs today about Congress. Leo himself actually suggested that Americans call their members and Senators to get them to do something. (Did the Capitol switchboard crash? You can only wonder.) We cats mostly lurked on the social platforms, but whenever we got the chance, we reminded tweeters and skeeters that Republicans are in charge of the House and Senate, not us. In Trump's first term, when we had control of the House, we impeached the motherfucker not once but twice. It was Republicans who refused to convict. Which would have prevented him running again.

Meanwhile, we're wondering if Trump's "civilization will die tonight" tweet will have any effect on today's special election in GA-14. The former Congresswoman from that district, Marjorie Taylor Greene, published an absolutely scathing anti-Trump, anti-Iran-war post yesterday. Will that have any effect on the margin? Shawn Harris won't win — but could he come close, and put another scare into the GOP? (Right now, Harris is only three percentage points behind with 40 percent of the vote in.) That would make us cats PURR.

(UPDATE, April 8: Looks like Republican Clay Fuller ended up beating Shawn Harris by 11 points. Less than two years ago, MTG won re-election by 30 points. We hope Harris is willing to run again in November — it'll be fun to make Republicans spend money in a district they should be able to completely take for granted. We cats PURR.)

"Not What They're Paid For"

 A contemplative Randy Rainbow turns in one of his best. We cats PURR.

Time For This Again

"It's really difficult to cover [Trump] in a way that conveys how unhinged he is. That's kind of how people are trained to do political journalism. It's like, OK, what did he say that was newsworthy, what's new? So you kind of pick up those things and convey them to your audience. But in reality, when you actually watch his rallies, you see that they're full of hatred, he's lying constantly, and a lot of it is incoherent.

"It's true that he talks to the press a lot. But he doesn't really convey meaningful information."

—Aaron Rupar, in The Times

"Dignity, Always Dignity"

By Zamboni

This uplifting Easter message from Benedict Donald was not the last word from him today. He was seen later at his golf club in Virginia, not exactly looking chipper — but apparently the White House felt they had to produce him in some fashion because of all the Walter Reed rumors flying around. And now he's allegedly going to have a press conference on Monday at 1 PM.

Maybe he'll clear up why he keeps shifting his so-called "deadline" for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, but that's doubtful, isn't it? (Besides, don't we already kinda know it's all about manipulating the markets?)

It's easy to forget, what with all the (deliberate) chaos, that Trump has delayed that deadline at least five times. And who knows what he's going to say tomorrow? Is he going to give another meaningless Iran ultimatum, or will he announce who won the sweepstakes to be the next Attorney General? Or is the presser just to prove to the world that he's still alive? All we know is, reporters better ask good questions. (Sadly, they probably won't.)

This is all a handy reminder that the Republicans control both houses of Congress, and they could stop this madness any time they wanted to. We cats are disgusted, and we HISS.

Where No One Has Gone Before

 

We cats agree. The best thing about Artemis is that it's NASA, not Musk or Bezos, who can go fuck themselves. We cats PURR.

The Grey Lady Goofs

By Baxter

We cats have often noticed that headline writers have their heads up their ass. But it usually applies to local publications like the Albany Times-Union, not the vaunted paper of record, The New York Times. Well, we guess there's a first time for everything. (Unless, OMG, this isn't the first time.)

Readers across our nation are left to wonder if The New York Times really thinks that NATO is the "North American Treaty Organization," or if this error was a case of an intern gone rogue. Or worse, that their editorial staff really doesn't know the real, spelled-out name of NATO. That implies a whole lot of other, more serious stuff, which we cats don't really want to think about.

This year, Democrats need to message voters about the history of NATO and why it is so important. They need to explain that NATO is not an offensive, but a defensive, organization. (If people are reminded that NATO came to our defense after 9/11, that would make it crystal clear.) Voters also need to understand why NATO is crucial as a bulwark against Russian aggression. They can learn why Ukraine's membership is key to the future of the alliance — and why Putin hates NATO (and why Benedict Donald is doing Putin's bidding in trying to weaken it).

The state of journalism today is wildly worrisome. We cats would like to think that smarter heads will prevail, but to be honest, we're not sure. Until then, we worry, and we HISS.

Bondi Gets The Boot

By Sniffles

Rumor has it that a leading candidate to succeed the reviled and now humiliated Pam Bondi is EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin — the dude that we New Yorkers recently escaped having as our Governor.

Oh, lord, Zeldin is simply terrible. Which of course makes him no different from any of the other contenders — like Todd "I Brokered Ghislaine Maxwell's Cushy Relocation" Blanche. Zeldin has spent the last year gleefully gutting the EPA, menacing endangered species and presiding over the destruction of environmental safeguards that have kept us all healthier for decades. And as a Congressman from NY-01, he voted against certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election. So, yes, awful.

Zeldin would also be one of the least-qualified, if not the least-qualified, AG nominees. His only prosecutorial experience was in the military. He has no experience as a government lawyer outside of his stint at the Port Authority. He briefly had his own law firm before running for state office in New York. Will the 53 Republicans in the Senate really go down that road? It's definitely possible.

But whoever Trump picks, we can be sure of one thing: It will be a renewed, all-out war on Tish James, Adam Schiff, Lisa Cook, Jerome Powell and all the other folks Donald wants revenge on. As Al Jolson said, you ain't seen nothin' yet — because Trump is surely auctioning off the appointment to the highest bidder, whoever will promise to be even more slavish than Bondi was.

Hanging over all this is Donald's never-ending Epstein problem. And the Senate hearings are a guaranteed shitshow, especially if interim AG Blanche ends up being the nominee. Dear Judiciary Committee Democrats: Please get organized to attack in unison rather than going off on individual fishing expeditions. We cats HISS.

How Simply Frightful, Humiliating, Delightful

By Hubie and Bertie

How many of us think that Benedict Donald assumed that the Supreme Court allowed TV cameras in their hearings? Bet he did, bet he did!

Trump probably thought that he would be given a special (maybe golden?) seat. And that he would be the center of admiring attention as his Solicitor General brilliantly advocated for restrictions to birthright citizenship. And, most of all, that he'd be able to stare down the justices into complicity. It must have been a fun fantasy. But what he got instead was a simple spectator's bench, a sketch artist, and a hapless legal team that embarrassed itself in front of skeptical (i.e., Trump-appointed) justices. He left after an hour.

So, another silly stunt backfires. We can only imagine what he has in store for us in his speech tonight.

But do we care? If he announces he's going to pull us out of NATO, Congress will have something to say about that. (Yes, even this Congress.) He can't do anything about gas prices, even if the Strait of Hormuz opens tomorrow. His ridiculous Executive Order on mail-in voting is already being legally challenged. (The challengers will win.) The National Trust for Historic Preservation, bolstered by yesterday's decision by Judge Richard J. Leon, is possibly feeling renewed energy to oppose his Third Reich-ish arch and the other crap he has planned for Washington, DC. In short, Donald's on the downswing.

Interestingly, the more things go south for Trump, the more doubts we're seeing — on social media and in regular media — about the so-called "assassination attempts" on him, and even on the Charlie Kirk murder. (The recent news about ballistics analysis in the Kirk killing has contributed, too.) Donald seems weak, so everything in his orbit seems weak, too — and questionable. Because Trump is in a spiral, this will only continue. We cats are here for it, and we PURR.

Donald Crosses One Line Too Many. Mr. Kristi Noem Just Cross-Dresses.

By Miss Kubelik

There's a perfect headline in The Guardian tonight about Benedict Donald's latest Executive Order: "Trump Signs Order to Restrict Mail-In Ballots in Probably Unconstitutional Move."

Gosh, could American media write headlines like that? After all, as The Guardian correctly points out, "The US constitution gives the President no authority over elections, and expressly authorizes states to set election rules."(Look it up: Article I, Section 4, Clause 1.)

Take it from us, if an Executive Order from the President could magically fix problems with state-run elections, Lyndon Johnson wouldn't have troubled himself to make Congress pass the Voting Rights Act. He could have just wiped out Jim Crow and poll taxes at the ballot box with the stroke of a pen. But it doesn't work that way.

Donald's performative antics have gotten so silly, they deserve nothing more than an exasperated eye roll. Yes, Marc Elias and his valiant team at Democracy Docket will have to contest this latest EO in court. However, judges have become the biggest eye rollers of them all.

Take US District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of the man we used to call The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived. (Trump long ago left George W. Bush in the dust.) Leon put a stop to Donald's $400 million Beyond Bad Ballroom today. It looks like the Congress will have to bless it now, and if folks on Capitol Hill value their jobs, they'll vote it down in a heartbeat. (Hint: It's not popular.)

Also today, US District Judge Randolph Moss permanently blocked a Trump EO that defunded NPR and PBS. "It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch," Moss wrote.

The judicial branch is really the only guardrail left, which seems an odd thing to say in the era of the Roberts Court — but Trump is definitely feeling it. If Donald's in the dumps about all this, he can comfort himself that maybe he's not the most ridiculous person in his orbit these days. There's Kristi Noem, for example. We cats PURR.

Scenes From No Kings 3

If we were Republicans, this would be truly scary. We cats PURR.

De Adder Nails It, Leo Roars

By Zamboni

Not a good weekend for Benedict Donald and his fellow warmongers. Eight million people turned out across the country yesterday for No Kings 3. CPAC was a desultory disaster. Experts are predicting that oil could hit $200 a barrel if the Iran folly stretches into June. And now Pope Leo has smacked Trump upside the head. "Jesus does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them," Leo said in his Palm Sunday address. "Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood." Whoa. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

Jane And Joan

 We cats PURR.

No Kings Three Is A Royal Success!

By Baxter

Happy No Kings Day! We cats went up the road to Glens Falls, New York, for their mid-morning protest, which jived better with our Saturday schedule. And we were not disappointed. Another good turnout, similar to October's, and we were amazed at the number of white guys in pickup trucks who drove by and honked at us in support. What's going on? Maybe they buy gas like the rest of us?

Numbers are still rolling in, so we'll post later with some analysis. The interwebs right now are estimating 7 million to 8 million, but that seems low to us. In the meantime, we'd have to say the turnout in specific locations like Minneapolis (200,000-plus) will be key. We also will be interested in numbers from some of the more contested states like Ohio, Georgia, and Iowa. Film at eleven!

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the enthusiasm spectrum, CPAC is wrapping up a desultory, low-energy confab with lackluster speakers and no Trump. But they still bothered to take a poll for 2028, and it looks like Couch Fancier JD Vance, one of the least-liked politicians in the country, won with 53 percent. (Baby Marco trailed with 35 percent.) So what's going on, team? We hear rumors that Benedict Donald is leaning toward Rubio. We love this for them, and we cats PURR.

"They Already Know Who's In Charge"

The Bidens have adopted two rescue black lab rescue pups. Willow Biden has the situation well in hand. We cats PURR.

We Have Our Marching Orders

By Sniffles

Yes, social media suffered a huge (and deserved) loss in court this week, and we're glad. But we cats wouldn't stay on platforms like Bluesky if they didn't give us a laugh. And sometimes it can even make us grin about a story that we'd seen and found disgusting and despicable.

Exhibit A: the news that Benedict Donald intends to add his signature to US currency, supposedly in honor of the nation's 250th birthday in July. What a bunch of horse hockey. There's no law prohibiting it — but once again, Trump is flouting a 165-year tradition, just to see if he can get away with it (he will) and to assuage his ever-fragile ego. For our part, if we ever received a bill with Trump's signature on it, we'd go to the bank and insist on exchanging it.

It is all sickening, Hitlerian idolatry, and we can't wait to get out of this nightmarish Trumpy timeline we all inhabit. In the meantime, Canada has ridden to our rescue, with this less-than-respectful riff on their own colorful currency. Wilfrid Laurier makes a good-looking Vulcan, doesn't he? Take inspiration from their creativity! We cats PURR.

The Pressure On The GOP? It's Up To Eleven.

By Hubie and Bertie

Benedict Donald spoke at the NRCC fundraising dinner last night, an event that (they say) raised billions and billions for the midterms and that gave attending Republicans multiple opportunities to pat themselves on the back. (Did losing the Florida house district that includes Mar-a-Lago get mentioned? Hmmm.)

And now, this: Sabato's Crystal Ball just moved 11 Democratic US House ratings for 2026 — and all in our direction. Eight went from "likely" Democratic to "safe" Democratic. Two went from "lean" Democratic to "likely" Democratic. One went from "toss-up" to "lean." Here are some Inside Baseball details that are especially satisfying.

The seats occupied by Democrats Pat Ryan (NY-18), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), and John Mannion (NY-22) were all flips for us in recent cycles. And now Sabato says they're safe. Take those off the table, GOP.

Republicans had been kinda hoping to pick up Angie Craig's open seat (MN-02) because she's running for Senate. Now it's likely Democratic. Looks like GOP strategists will have to do some reassessing.

Two of the 11 seats Sabato moved are in Ohio. The redistricting there was supposed to make it easier for the Republicans to pick them up. But OH-01 is the toss-up that changed to lean, and OH-13 went from lean to likely. And the seat in Western Maryland, MD-06, always appears on the GOP's wish list because it's in, well, Western Maryland. Sorry, Republicans: Sabato says it's safe for us now. 

All of this means that 1) we can focus our resources elsewhere, and 2) the Trumpsters just got slapped in the face after their big dinner last night. Now they'll have to take another look at their map and wring their hands. But that's politics: The allocation of scarce resources among competing choices. We cats PURR.

Michael Rousseau, Gagnez Votre Salaire

By Miss Kubelik

We cats get very impatient with the Francophones in Quebec who keep fretting that French is under siege and they must language-police everything. But that said, the CEO of Air Canada is a jackass.

Michael Rousseau (yep, that's a French name) recorded a short video offering condolences after the fatal jet-versus-fire-truck accident at LaGuardia on Sunday night. Except for "bonjour" and "merci," it was English-only. Okay, that's extraordinarily bad.

Several reasons: 1) One of the pilots who died in the accident was a Quebecker from Coteau-du-Lac, outside of Montreal. 2) French is the official second language of Canada, and a quarter of Canadians speak it. 3) Rousseau promised back in 2022 that he was going to learn the language after a previous controversy in which he implied he was "too busy" to do it. Hey, dude, the Prime Minister of the entire country has found time to work on his French, so why can't you?

"I'm ​very disappointed — as others are, rightly so — in this unilingual message of the CEO of Air Canada," PM Mark Carney said. "It shows a lack of judgment, a lack of compassion."

Oui. If, after four years, Rousseau hasn't learned enough French to make a four-minute video — with a teleprompter, even! — after two of his pilots sacrificed themselves to save their passengers, he doesn't deserve to be in his job and make his (one presumes) enormous salary. Aside from everything else, it's PR 101. Nous, les chats, SIFFLONS.

Sunny News From The Sunshine State

By Zamboni

The interwebs started exploding last night with election results from two state legislative districts in Florida. Normally, races like that would fly farther under the radar, but one involved the house district that's home to Benedict Donald's Temu Greenbrier. Long story short: Trump, Moose & Squirrel, and Lurch are all represented in Tallahassee now by a Democrat. (And PS: They all voted by mail.)

On the other side of the state, another Democrat upset a creepy Republican woman with tortoiseshell glasses and a penchant for dressing like something out of Laura Ashley. In spite of that, she was seen as a "rising star" in GOP circles, had oodles of money, and was predicted as late as Monday to have a 95 percent chance of victory. Instead, she was beaten by an electrician who had a lot of union support. Sweet!

There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.

Or maybe it is.

And maybe the corporate news media just keeps missing the boat. We still can't surf the headlines these days without seeing some version of "Democrats in disarray" or "Democrats in despair." But, but, but: We keep flipping these GOP state seats — 30 since the start of 2025. (Republicans: Zero.) It's enough to make the MSM start speculating not only about the US House this November, but also the US Senate. But how is that possible? They keep telling us that we have no message, and nobody likes us. Yet we keep winning.

Here's an answer: The pundits, of whom we are all heartily sick, continue to think 2026 is an election between two choices: unpopular Republicans versus unpopular Democrats. They just can't get past the Democrats' negatives — but that's short-sighted. To the non-pundit, non-MAGA universe, 2026 is a choice between autocracy at its best (and fascism at its worst) versus an imperfect party committed to the Constitutional order. So imperfect wins just about every time.

Since the Trumpsters have the media on their enemies list — and since the heads of anyone in the press will be on Donald's chopping block if he can consolidate power — we don't understand why they don't report it that way. Maybe the No Kings rallies on Saturday will wake them up? Let's hope. Meanwhile, we cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

A Royal Error

By Baxter

Nobody expected to see King Charles II in the news today, but there he was. And all because Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News either made a nearly (if not completely) understandable typo, or he really doesn't know his English monarchs.

Sherman tweeted this morning: "WH expected to announce that KING CHARLES II will make a state visit next month. Likely to include address to joint session." Okay, how is that going to work?

At first we thought maybe it was the White House that got Charles's number wrong. (They're not bright.) But on closer look, Sherman was quote-tweeting an earlier Punchbowl post that had it right. So it was Just Jake. Tweeps immediately jumped in with all sorts of Charles II jocularity. Did you know that was a thing? Apparently it is.

After a few hours, Sherman must have figured out what was going on. "King Charles III," he said. "Not Charles II. The latter died 300 years ago. Sorry." The tweet didn't really help, because the jocularity raged on. 

As everyone pointed out ad infinitum, Charles II was the 17th-century king who succeeded to the throne after the English Civil Wars. He was known for his love of opulent dress, his interest in the arts, and his spaniels. (And in Forever Amber, he was played by George Sanders, which was, take it from us, terrific casting.) Journalism's in a sorry state when we can't decide if Sherman's goof was a typo or not. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Joyeuse Saint-Patrick!

Don't ask us to explain this, but apparently the City of Montreal's St. Patrick's Day parade was today — five days after March 17th — and it took place in a snowstorm. Not only that, the city's mayor, who is of Chilean descent, was out there celebrating with everyone else. This is really cool. We cats PURR.

AIPAC Crashes And Burns

By Sniffles

The midterms' primary season grinds along, and we cats have a few thoughts about the Illinois contests that took place last week. Our particular focus is the Congressional race in IL-09 — not our personal when-we-were-kittens stomping grounds, but close enough for government work, as they say.

IL-09 was one of those races that highlighted the unfortunate role of money from AIPAC — something that we've noticed is a worrying source of discord in our party. The race was to succeed able Congresswoman Jan Schakowski, who is retiring after nearly 30 years. Evanston mayor Daniel Biss came in first with 29.6 percent of the vote. Bernie Broette Kat Abughazaleh was second with 25.9 percent. AIPAC-funded candidate Laura Fine trailed embarrassingly in third place with 20 percent.

This makes us happy, because Biss's win shows us that Jewish Democratic candidates do not need to toe Benjamin Netanyahu's line to be successful. Biss, whose mother is Israeli and who has said that the current Israeli government's behavior is "appalling," has made it clear that AIPAC should not dictate America's foreign policy — and that the lobbying group's tactics against him were deceptive and undemocratic. "AIPAC found out the hard way that my district is not for sale," he said.

You know, at this point, we should just treat AIPAC today as a Republican organization. They are completely Netanyahu-Trump-aligned, and we should salute Jan Schakowski for bucking them — although we're pretty sure that she received a bunch of AIPAC money in her earlier campaigns. (Those were the good old days.) She has had a distinguished career in Congress as a loyal Pelosi lieutenant, has always encouraged and supported women to run for office, and in this race picked the most highly qualified candidate to succeed her.

The other point is that AIPAC —which once had an unassailable reputation in Washington —is now toxic. More evidence that everything Trump touches dies. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.