Tidbits And Cat Treats: 2026 Electoral Update Edition

By Sniffles

We cats are headed to Quebec tomorrow, and we hope they let us in. (KIDDING — of course they will, but we wouldn't blame them if they were a bit surly. If they are, we'll just speak French with a good accent.)

Meanwhile, we have a few observations about elections around the US of A.

South Carolina — It was a little surprising, after her silly gaffe the other night, that the Republican Senate runoff was called pretty early for Darline Nordone (we refuse to call her Graham). But while the MSM is portraying her victory as a Benedict Donald triumph, we're not convinced. Trump had to haul his fat ass down to Myrtle Beach to campaign for her, and — although we know the Republicans have more money than God — they still had to spend almost a million dollars on a GOTV phone bank. In South Carolina! Oh, Mary, please.

By the way, if you're ready to send some love to Democratic candidate Dr. Annie Andrews, click here.

Michigan — Abdul El-Sayed would not have been our choice for Senate nominee for Gary Peters's seat, but too bad, he won. We've also been encouraged by the way he's bringing it to Trump and the Republicans. First, his relentless focus on Benedict Donald is very smart. But also, his recent appearance on Fox "News" with Jesse Watters has received universally good reviews. Even Watters himself admitted he liked him. What's not to like about a guy who asks if you're circumcised?

Here's a link to El-Sayed's website if you're of a mind to contribute.

Texas — All righty then, we all know that James Talarico is running rings around Ken Paxton, raising a ton of money (which he'll need, by the way), while Paxton is vacationing in the UK and running a lackluster campaign. But other things are happening in Texas, too. Sabato's Crystal Ball has changed the governor's race from "Safe Republican" to "Likely Republican," mostly because of Democratic energy and voters' potential weariness with their multi-term guv. But get a load of TX-15.

That's a Trumpy district — plus-18 in 2024 — but the Democrat, Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, is leading incumbent Republican Monica De La Cruz by five points. This is South Texas, folks. Sabato's Crystal Ball has moved the race from "Leans Republican" to "Toss-Up."

Exciting! You can send Bobby some support by clicking here.

These are just three races around the country where Republicans are wringing their hands and in some cases spending unexpected money. Thanks to Trump, the GOP has similar dilemmas in places like Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Alaska, Virginia, Iowa, Maine... the list goes on. We'll keep you updated, but right now, going into Labor Day weekend soon, we're liking where the Democrats are. We cats PURR.

Kiss And Make Up

By Zamboni

Republicans must be so disappointed about the speed at which Democrats coalesced around their candidates in Michigan today. The winner in yesterday's Senate primary would not have been our first choice, but although Haley Stevens ended up making it a race, it was probably better for the sake of the party that Abdul El-Sayed pulled it out. As we learned to our dismay in 2016 and 2024, Bernie Bros (and Broettes) are not dependable in a general election.

Meanwhile, the so-called Democratic "establishment" prevailed in other races. US Rep. Wesley Bell beat former Rep. Cori Bush (again) in Missouri's first Congressional District. It wasn't close: 70.7 percent to 25.8 percent. Shannon Taylor won in Virginia's first CD with 53 percent of the vote, while former Rep. Elaine Luria waltzed to victory in the second CD with 80 percent. And Rep. Don Beyer defeated Mo Seifeldein in VA-08. We are noting these wins even if the media don't.

Back in Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson romped to victory in the Democratic gubernatorial primary with 84.6 percent of the vote. She will headline a party unity event on Friday in Detroit, with El-Sayed, Stevens, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Mallory McMorrow, and special guest and famous Michigan resident Pete Buttigieg (above). We cats are looking forward to it, and we PURR.

De Adder Du Jour (And Some Observations)

By Zamboni

It's primary day in Maine, which means it's time for us cats to finally weigh in on the Graham Platner kerfuffle (*sigh*). Cartoonist Michael de Adder pretty much says it all, in our opinion.

It's rare for us to back a Bernie Bro. (Sanders endorsed Platner way back on Labor Day 2025.) We choose not to slam them online for a lot of very good reasons, but when it comes to deciding on a primary candidate, we generally choose someone else. However, this Maine situation is different: Governor Janet Mills dropped out of the race amid fundraising difficulties (and questions about her age). While she's still on the ballot, if we cats were voting in Maine today, we'd vote for Platner.

He's popular with Mainers, and poised to win tonight, and — most important — we must get the Senate back. We're in a national emergency, after all. "A Republic, if you can keep it," as Ben Franklin famously said. Unseating Susan Collins will help us do that.

A word of warning: Collins will not be easy to beat, despite the polls we're seeing today. Last time around, she had a Democratic opponent who enjoyed the backing of her party's establishment, and Collins looked to be in danger of getting shown the door. She ended up winning by nearly nine points. She won't go easily this year, either, whether we run Platner or someone else against her. So let's let Mainers sort out this primary, and then in November we can get behind our nominee and help save the country. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

Citizen Trump Is Very Unhappy

By Sniffles

Here we go again. Not only did Benedict Donald shovel his "rigged election" nonsense at Kristen Welker this weekend, Preacher of the House Mikey Johnson and other Trumpy minions are taking up the call, mostly complaining about California.

They're doing it for a couple of reasons.

First, their preferred candidates (particularly Spencer Pratt) are faltering in Tuesday's jungle primary. Second, it's preparation for the November midterms, of course — they're laying the groundwork to cast doubt on everything. Why does it take soooooooo loooooooonnnnnnggg to count the votes in California? There must be fraud!

Nope, nope, nopity nope. Here's a quick explainer, courtesy of Marc Elias and Democracy Docket:

California is huge: It has 40 million people. Estimates are that 23 million voters cast ballots in the primary. Trump, whose math skills aren't much above the sixth-grade level, should try counting 23 million votes and see how long it takes. 

California is a universal vote-by-mail state. It sends mail-in ballots to every registered voter. Lots of people use them.

California counts all ballots that people mailed on time, even if they're received after Election Day.

California verifies all ballots before they're counted. (Which means, guess what — there's no fraud!)

California allows voters to fix any mistakes — like adding missing signatures —so their votes can count.

In short, California is one of the most voter-friendly states in the nation. No wonder Trump and his henchmen constantly attack it. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: From Citizen Kane, 1940. Authoritarians screaming about rigged elections is nothing new.)

CRAP (Congressional Republicans Always Punt)

By Sniffles

John Thune and his merry band of spineless Senate enablers were — well, not so merry today. With the entire world throwing up over Benedict Donald's billion-dollar slush fund for Trumpsters who beat cops, their reconciliation bill was stuck. Finally, they just called it a day and went home. (This was after House Republicans put the Iran war powers resolution on ice — they didn't have the votes to kill it.)

Meanwhile, Americans are paying a shit-ton more for gas, groceries, and healthcare, and the GOP — in charge of all branches of the federal government — are doing nothing about any of it. It's not governing by morons — it's complete and utter non-governing. (By morons.)

It's becoming increasingly clear that if you stand up and say no, good stuff happens. Remember, Democrats refused to bend on funding for ICE and border patrol. Eventually, the Republicans buckled and passed Homeland Security funding, thinking they would take care of the rest in reconciliation. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way, did it?

Donald, wanting billions for his silly ballroom and for insurrectionists, has put his party — you know, the one that the media say he has in an "iron grip" — in this terrible bind. And now, we have unhappy Republicans in disarray. Hanging tough pays off. We cats PURR.

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)

Hochul Ascendant

By Baxter

We cats are very pleased with our New York Governor, Kathy Hochul.

Of course, we kinda always knew that she would end up in the place she's in now. But her canny sense of all things political received official recognition today by The Grey Lady herself, The New York Times, which has essentially dubbed her The Comeback Kathy.

"With the election nine months away, Ms. Hochul is heading to Syracuse for the State Democratic Party convention on Friday in a somewhat surprising position of strength," the Times reports in its inimitable, New York Times-y way. The paper observes that Hochul's Republican opponents — most prominently, Elise "Elsie" Stefanik — have melted away like the Wicked Witch of the West. Her Democratic primary opponent, Antonio Delgado, is behind by 50 points (yep, 50). And the presumed GOP nominee for Governor, Bruce Blakeman, just committed political suicide by criticizing Renee Good and defending ICE.

Hochul has also handled the emergence of socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani with patience and savvy, partnering with him on issues she cares about, like child care. And it earned her his endorsement for re-election yesterday. If Republicans and the political press were hoping for a Mamdani-Hochul foofaraw, they're out of luck.

But on top of all this good news, we've noticed something else: Thanks to Trumpism, Governor Hochul has been able to embrace a persona she wasn't particularly known for as either a Congresswoman or Lt. Governor — the Feisty Gal From Buffalo. This has manifested itself both IRL and online (see above). Most excellent, Gov! We don't know if you've hired away some of Gavin Newsom's social media team members — but whatever, please keep it up. We cats PURR.

The GOP Is "Cooked"

"Okay, Trump wants to 'cancel the midterms.'

"How does he get the Virginia state board of elections to cancel the midterms? How does he get the Georgia board of elections to do it? How does he convince Republican House members to quit their jobs and give up their paychecks?

"What does he do about the fact that in most states, midterms and statewide elections are on the same cycle, so 'canceling the elections' might mean that Tennessee doesn't have a governor next year? How does he convince Tennessee Republicans to give up power in their own states?

"ICE can't even deal with irate, middle-aged Midwesterners. How does he occupy hundreds, if not thousands, of polling cites and precincts? Trump v. Illinois clarified that he has no legal authority to unilaterally commandeer National Guards. How does he move forward from there?

"Now, of course, when you point out the practical obstacles to 'canceling the elections,' people move the goal posts to 'voter suppression and various shenanigans.' Yeah, those things exist and they always have. But the other thing is that those things work at the margins.

"You can't actually suppress away a wave of discontent. (Relatedly, I think a lot of you have no idea how large this country is and how small its various military and security forces are relative to its population).

"A lot of you are responding with 'You think guardrails and institutions will hold!' And that is a sign you aren't actually engaging with the words you're reading.

"If I want water from the sink, I have to turn on the faucet. If I want to ride my bike, I have to pedal and engage the gears. There is a mechanism. My point is that there is no mechanism by which elections can be canceled. It's not about norms, it is about how things work."

—New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, on Bluesky

Im-Plaque-Able

By Hubie and Bertie

Last week was such a shitshow that we cats never really got around to mentioning that Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of the Trump-incited 2021 attack on the US Capitol. But of course it was, and — true to form — the White House unveiled a timeline on its website that blamed Democrats and the police for the riot. It's up to the rest of us to make sure that they're not allowed to twist history for good.

At the same time, though, another crack appeared in Benedict Donald's Congressional support system, as the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously voted to hang the January 6 plaque honoring the Capitol Hill police and other defenders of democracy that day. (Mikey Johnson and his Trumpy minions in the House have been refusing to hang it, even though its display is required by law. MAGA Republicans don't care much about the law these days, do they?)

The vote in the Senate was unanimous. While we wait for someone on the Capitol custodial staff to find the real plaque, here's a suggestion for every Democratic member of both chambers: Hang a replica on the wall outside your office.

Several members already do this. (This photo is from outside Rep. Jamie Raskin's door.) But everybody should. Democrats could also post a small banner with it, saying something like "We truly back the blue." Let everybody know what liars and hypocrites the Republicans are.

PS: Each Democratic member might want to order 100 or so extra replicas. Because you never know when a pardoned Jan-Sixer or other sick Trumpster will wander by and try to tear it down. We cats HISS.

Will George Take Manhattan?

By Baxter

If we cats lived in NY-12, we'd not only be very wealthy (it's the third-richest Congressional district in the country), we'd be mighty tempted to vote for George Conway in the Democratic primary to succeed Representative Jerrold Nadler, who is retiring.

Did we just type those words? George Conway supported Benedict Donald. He wrote legal briefs for Paula Jones. He was married to Kellyanne. He has said he wept "tears of joy" on Election Night 2016.

But now, Conway is a registered Democrat. He launched his Congressional campaign today, and as we all know, he's done a complete 180 on Trump. There's no shortage of candidates for Nadler's seat, but Conway is intriguing because if elected, he would make Benedict Donald's life just miserable — especially with Democrats in charge.

We don't live in Manhattan (or the Bronx or Staten Island too), but there's still something we can do: Send Conway and a few other Democrats some money this week. Trump and his madmen have gone so far off the deep end — invading Venezuela, threatening Greenland — that until we take to the streets, we can let our wallets do the talking. Think about giving a few bucks to Conway (here), Roy Cooper for Senate in North Carolina (here), or Jon Ossoff for Senate in Georgia (here). Or whatever Democratic candidate you like.

Let's rack up some big early fundraising numbers, just to send Trump and the Republicans a message. That would make us cats PURR.

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.

We Are The Superheroes

By Baxter

It's become pretty clear over the last 10 months that no one is coming to save us. The Founders never envisioned a situation in which the Article I branch of government completely abrogated its responsibility and turned everything over to the executive. And while the lower courts have, by and large, performed generally admirably in curbing Benedict Donald, the Supreme Court is 6-3 Trumpy. That's life.

So we can take to the streets, like we've been doing with No Kings, and we can vote. (Yes, Republicans are trying to gerrymander us all to death and make voting more difficult. But they're not there yet.)

Last weekend's No Kings rallies were terrific — so much so that they obviously drove Trump into a rage. Now, the anti-Trump forces are using this time between rallies to coalesce all the groups that turned out on October 18 into one massive organization. These efforts will bring us closer and closer to the 3.5 percent needed to topple this Administration. Considering Donald's behavior in just the last week, reaching that threshold could very happen before next November.

Meanwhile, we have elections next month. Here in New York, Early Voting begins tomorrow. It's also the deadline for New Yorkers to register to vote for the general election and to request an Early Mail or Absentee ballot. After the Sex Pest was officially endorsed by Mr. Corruption in the New York Mayor's race, we hope that voters in the city know the schedule to register or early vote. (For our part, we intend to turn out for Democrats in our own municipal elections upstate.)

Wherever you're registered, the point is, make your voice heard early so that campaigns can focus on lower-propensity voters between now and November 4. As we said, we are the only ones who can save us. (Or, as Barack Obama quoted — and for which he got mocked by the corporate media — we are the ones we've been waiting for.) We cats PURR.

The Chef Or The Chief?

By Sniffles

If you've created a will, chances are you might have a line in there about how you understand there may be folks out there who think they deserve to be included — but that you deliberately left them out.

(We cats aren't mentioning any names. We're just saying that in many families, succeeding generations often disagree on whether they merit monetary inheritances. If this is you, consider adding that line.)

Why are we bringing this up? Well, the Nobel Committee is scheduled to announce the winner of the 2025 Peace Prize on Friday, October 10. We're making no predictions, although Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chef José Andrés are frequently mentioned among the skeeters we follow on Bluesky. But whoever the Committee chooses, they should include this in their announcement:

"While some people believe this year's prize should be awarded to someone else, we on the Nobel Committee have taken these viewpoints into consideration. Ultimately, we believe that threatening to take Greenland, Panama, and Canada by force, appeasing the world's authoritarians, and unleashing the military on one's own citizens are not the paths to receiving the Peace Prize." 

Please make a note of it. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Kimmel Prevails

By Hubie and Bertie

Happy to report that Sinclair and Nexstar have caved and said they will air Jimmy Kimmel's show on their affiliate stations after all.

You know what? Per their contracts, both companies can probably only pre-empt a certain number of Kimmel shows before they're in contractual violation and subject to fines.

Still and all, we'll take the win. Sinclair, Nexstar, Disney, and ABC all felt the pressure. To everyone who canceled their subscriptions, contacted advertisers, and/or wrote their representatives, thank you! You should feel powerful today, because you are. We cats PURR.

Here's Your Post-Jimmy-Kimmel To-Do List

By Miss Kubelik

A lot of folks on social media are reporting that they've canceled their subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and others to protest ABC's sidelining of Jimmy Kimmel. They're also reporting from time to time that the customer service people they're talking to say tons of people have been doing the same.

This is excellent! It's a welcome addendum to our previous post, in which we said we could march in the streets and/or vote. We can also speak with our wallets. (So this means no trips to Disney theme parks, which are getting more and more unaffordable anyway. Or watching college football if it's on ABC. You get the idea.)

You can also tell ABC/Disney directly how you feel. Click here. 

Finally, be sure to write your representatives in Congress and ask for an investigation of Brendan Carr and the FCC. This is especially important if your Senator serves on the Subcommittee for Telecommunications and the Media. (You can check the list of subcommittee members here.)

And mark your calendars for the next national No Kings Day: Saturday, October 18. See you there! We cats PURR.

Donald Can't Shake The Epstink

By Sniffles

Another fun day in the never-ending Jeffrey Epstein scandal. For us, that is, not for the Trumpsters.

Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken up at last, saying Pam Bondi needs to 'splain herself. MSM is portraying this as a "major break" from Trump, but in our view, it just means that Mikey has gotten so much pressure from the conspiracy theorists in his caucus that he had to mildly jump into the fight. Still, you've got to know that Trump can't be happy about it.

Wired broke the bombshell story that the raw video from outside Epstein's prison cell actually has nearly three minutes missing, not just one. (But... but... the DOJ said the video was unedited! Gosh!) Obviously, all hell will continue to break loose, but what we're wondering is how a 32-year-old bimonthly tech magazine is running journalistic rings around august news outlets like AP and proud papers like The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Donald keeps getting asked about it, and he responds, and his answers keep getting worse. Today he said of Epstein, "He's dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don't understand what the fascination is. The credible information has been given. It's pretty boring stuff." Since everything Trump says is a lie, including the words "and" and "the," we all know for sure now that the full Epstein material is the very, very opposite of boring.

Last night, House Republicans outvoted Democrats on the Rules Committee and managed to smack down any call on the committee for the Epstein files' release. But Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) isn't giving up. He and co-sponsor Ro Khanna (D-CA) are trying to use a discharge petition to force a vote of the full House. Remember, the point is not necessarily whether they'll succeed, although getting every weaselly Republican on record about this would be swell. The point also is to keep the story, unlike Epstein himself, alive.

Even though he keeps stumbling, Trump is still trying to change the subject. Today he accused Senator Adam Schiff of mortgage fraud. Sorry, Donald, but your shiny object isn't going to work. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: The boys with Moose & Squirrel in 2000. Has anyone asked her what she thinks about all this? Or can't she be found?)

Gavin Newsom Addresses The Nation

By Baxter

We cats don't want to hear any social-media prattling about the 2028 Presidential election right now, and we won't engage in any of it ourselves. Let's see if we can get through 2025 first, shall we? And the 2026 midterms? Maybe after that it'll become clear if we'll even have an election in 2028.

Which means all the nonsense comments like "Gavin Newsom for President!" or "I won't vote for Gavin because I hate his podcast!" really need to stop. Let's focus our energy on defending democracy, please.

That said, Governor Newsom delivered an excellent speech last night, to Californians and to the whole country. He didn't just address the situation in Los Angeles, but covered all the outrages that Benedict Donald has committed against American democracy. He had the right to do that: As the world's fourth-largest economy, with a $4.1 trillion GDP and 40 million people, California is practically a country itself. Perhaps that's why Newsom seems to trigger Donald so much.

The Trump Nazis are threatening more cities, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, and New York. So we hope that Democratic Governors Josh Shapiro, JB Pritzker, Bob Ferguson and Kathy Hochul are closely watching Newsom and taking copious notes. This is how you push back against authoritarianism. We cats PURR.

"I Will Not Yield To Disrespectful Men"

By Zamboni

We've probably said this before, but when Bernie Bro-ette Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress in 2018, our first thought was, "OMG, she's going to be a pain in the ass."

Boy, were we wrong. Totally wrong. AOC is so, so impressive.

From the moment of her arrival in 2019, she learned the rules of the House, worked with then-Speaker Pelosi and her fellow Democrats across the ideological spectrum, refused to take any bait from clowns like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and, without a lot of fanfare, went to work. Any time the spotlight was on her, it was usually because others shone it her way and not because she gratuitously sought it.

She's also grabbed headlines because she's particularly brilliant in Committee. (Like this example from yesterday.)

And there's an even happier ending: AOC's antagonist, Republican Congressman Randy Weber from Texas, ate some humble pie — to the chagrin of MAGAts everywhere, no doubt. "Alexandria, you didn’t deserve what I hit you with," he said. "I shouldn’t have done that and I apologize." Replied AOC, "I completely accept."

Emasculation complete — and well-deserved. We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: V-E Day (And Other Victories) Edition

By Hubie and Bertie

Today was not a good day for Benedict Donald — his "big trade announcement" with the UK was not big (at least, the details are murky), and ended up being completely overshadowed by the new Pope. An American Pope! Trump was so upset about all this that he toddled out onto the West Colonnade to beg some attention from the press. We consider this a win. And in fact, here are some more:

Robert Francis Prevost is not just American, he's Peruvian — the second Pope from Latin America, since he served many years in Peru and holds citizenship there. So, okay, he's not going to be a trailblazer on issues like women and gay rights, but he's berated JD Vance on social media and is a champion of migrants. Consider him a Trump nemesis (as nemesis-y as pontiffs can be, that is). We didn't get the progressive Filipino guy or the Italian named Pizzaballa (we kid you not), but that's all right, we're not Catholic. So we'll take Prevost.

Also pleasing is Prevost's choice of name — first, because the most famous Leo is a cat (Leo the Lion, of course), but also because the most recent Leo was known as "the social Pope" and "the Pope of the Workers." Leo XIII supported workers' rights, trade unions, and fair wages. He must have been a real shocker in the late 19th century! (Not to mention today, because the MAGAts are not, not, not happy. Yay!)

All that serious stuff aside, the Pope jokes on the interwebs today — most of them Chicago-themed — were top-drawer. (Our favorite is "And also with youse.") Well, done, everybody.

Meanwhile, amid all the pope-y excitement, Benedict Donald folded on his revolting nomination for US attorney in Washington, DC. Ed Martin was a Jan-Sixer who was fomenting violence at the Capitol that day, for God's sake! He was truly one of the worst nominees Trump could have possibly come up with (with the possible exception of Jeanine Pirro, rumored to be Martin's replacement, but we'll see how far Judge Box o' Wine gets). Bottom line? If there was ever any doubt that Martin critic Thom Tillis of North Carolina would get a Trump-endorsed primary opponent, this pretty much seals the deal.

Finally, let's not forget that today is the 80th anniversary of the Allies' victory in Europe in World War II. Trump observed it idiotically, as you'd expect, with a post featuring a famous image from the Pacific theater. But who cares about him? The important thing is that the West defeated fascism once before, and if necessary, we can win the battle once again. The recent elections in Canada, Australia — and even the freaking College of Cardinals — give us hope. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Celebrations in London, 1945 — Getty Images)

Canadians Not Yet Popping The (French) Champagne

By Zamboni

Despite the 30-day "pause" in Benedict Donald's stupidly ruinous tariffs, Canadians are still mad. Nobody's saying they're going to buy California wine and Kentucky bourbon again, and some are clamoring for the federal government to print maple leaf stickers that retailers can use to identify Canadian products. Today, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh popped into a Montréal grocery store for a press avail and photo op. "Boycott anything that's made in the United States," he urged shoppers.

What makes all this even more ridiculous is that both Canada and Mexico — like Colombia last week — agreed to negotiating "terms" that they'd already worked out with the US when President Biden was in office. It's unclear how many Americans realize this, but surely a lot of folks both north and south of our border do.

As for the world of sports, an additional note: We've already warned the Colorado Avalanche that they should brace themselves for some boos in Alberta this week. But that's not all, because — hang onto your toques — the US will play Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament at Montréal's Bell Centre on Saturday, February 15. We already feel sorry for whoever has to sing our national anthem that night. We cats HISS.