The Wheels Have Come Off The Wagon

By Miss Kubelik

Advice to Fox "News" from former CBS correspondent Scott MacFarlane: Never interview the dude who seems really eager to talk. Because he's probably setting you up.

It makes you wonder how the Fox crew is vetting their stand-ups. Maybe they're not doing a very good job? Like Team Trump not being able to keep hecklers from getting into Benedict Donald's rallies? Or canceling in-person rallies and then rescheduling them again? What a bunch of amateurs. Clearly, the White House and the GOP are in chaos — and not just in the run-up to Tuesday.

The Trumpsters clearly don't know what they're doing. Which means the only thing between us and the total destruction of America is the fact that they're so terribly inept. Thank God for that! We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Campaign Catch-Up Edition

By Zamboni

Less than a week until Election Day, and so many stories to follow. Here are a few we've noticed.

A new New York Times/Siena poll has Democrat Peggy Flanagan leading Republican Michele Tafoya in the Minnesota Senate race, 54 percent to 40 percent. This got a lot of attention today, because it's far better for Flanagan than previous polls have been. Hmmm: Trump's approval rating in Minnesota is 35 percent — but Flanagan is associated with what is either a scandal-plagued or witch-hunted state government, depending on your point of view. But Tafoya can't outperform Trump's number by more than five? Sad!

Speaking of the Times, there's something really odd about its Mary Peltola article today. Peltola's former campaign manager, who was fired several months ago and was a source for the story, contacted the newspaper and said she wanted to take back everything she told them. "I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity," she said. Weird! Meanwhile, the article should have no bearing on the DOJ suit against the state of Alaska — the wording on the ballot is crystal clear (even though Trump thinks Alaska voters are too stupid to know what the term "incumbent" means).

PS: The GOP's hands are very, very dirty when it comes to running fake or "ghost" candidates. They've done it in Florida (of course), and this year in New York, they've recruited spoilers to run on ballot lines for smaller political parties, like Working Families. Pot, meet kettle.

Roll Call has published its lists of vulnerable Senators and House members. Of the 10 on the House list, eight are Republicans, while seven of the eight on the Senate list are. (And #8 is really a stretch, because it's Jon Ossoff. Jon Husted in Ohio is #1, and Susan Collins in Maine is #2.) But tell us again how all the polls are wrong, GOP.

Nobody seems to know what's going to happen with the election in Israel (although Benjamin Netanyahu has already accused the Arab-Israeli parties of "stealing" it). And after failed presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro said he would never leave Brazil, he skipped town and landed in Miami today. "I'm the leader of Brazil!" he bleated. God, we cats are so sick of these Trumpy right-wing crybabies. Is there not a man among them? They make us hack up hairballs, and we HISS.

Blowhards

By Baxter

Preacher of the House Mikey Johnson is the quintessential guy who never should have had his current job in the first place. Honestly, there's never been a time when he wasn't in over his head.

Recently, he daydreamed about going back to Louisiana and opening a lawn-care business if/when he loses his gavel. Now, he's telling pretend journalist Laura Ingraham that all the polls are wrong.

All of them. All. Never mind that in the last two midterm elections, 2022 and 2018, polling was spot on.

Ingraham didn't ask about this, of course, because she's a stupid, hateful fraud, but what happened to the 26 Congressional districts that the Republicans were once so confidently targeting, including ones they added because of their nefarious mid-decade gerrymandering?

A well-informed (and actual) journalist could ask:

• How many staffers from the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee are in those districts right now?
• How much has the RCCC spent in those districts since October 1?
• How many of those districts are currently seeing RCCC ads?
• How many Trump 2024 districts is the RCCC planning to win?

Pretty tough queries for Mikey and Republicans to answer, especially when analysts like Sabato's Crystal Ball keep moving races our way (20 more today — with one, VA-07, just changed to Safe Democratic). But reporters should keep asking, anyway. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Eleven Days To Go Edition

By Hubie and Bertie

Lots of news related to the midterms today. Here are some stories that are getting our attention.

The Cook Political Report has changed its rating of the Ohio gubernatorial race from "Toss-Up" to "Lean Democratic." Gee, wonder why? The notorious Vivek Ramaswamy ad is not only repulsive in and of itself, but Donna Arthur — Amy Acton's mom — is, too. She was convicted of animal cruelty back in 2021. We won't share the details, because they're upsetting, but they involve kittens. Pile child sexual abuse, plus passing some bad checks, on top of that, and you've got the perfect person for Republicans to clutch to their bosoms.

Trump is dropping certain tariffs on Canada to try to help Susan Collins. So what does Troy Jackson say now? Easy-peasy: "This just shows how impotent Susan Collins is. She couldn't prevent the tariffs in the first place, and now Trump comes in less than two weeks before Election Day with a Hail Mary pass? Please. There's also no guarantee that the day after the election — no matter what the outcome — that Trump won't reimpose the tariffs." (Mainers, take note.)

By the way, weren't the Trumpsters just stamping their feet about supposed Canadian interference in the US election? The irony!

Impeachable offense #28,936: Benedict Donald states that he ordered the Justice Department to challenge the Alaska Senate results if Dan Sullivan loses. (We don't favor impeachment speculation at the moment, but Democrats should consider this if/when we get Congress back. The Alaska ballot clearly indicates who the incumbent is.)

Speaking of impeachment, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is at the top of our list — for so many reasons. But let's do it because he and his inept staffers broke Dwight Eisenhower's globe.

Reporters should stop tolerating Trump's verbal abuse.

Finally, to the voters of Mississippi: You really need to elect Scott Colom to the Senate. Not just because Cindy Hyde-Smith has been bad at her job, but to send a message to Trumpsters and cop-apologists that killing a one-year-old is unacceptable. The mom was suspected of shoplifting diapers. Do you know what Pope Leo (or Jesus) would say? It would be: "Do you need formula to go with that, ma'am?" Because, really, has anyone read Les Misérables? Come on, people. We cats HISS.

Time's Up

By Baxter

Gee, Benedict Donald had another terrible week. The question is, does he know it? (Natalie probably doesn't tell him.) Meanwhile, it's weird how the guy who became a reality-show star by telling people "You're fired" has so much trouble telling people in real life that... they're fired. Katie Zacharia's debut and heave-ho was so chaotic, humiliating, and passive-aggressive that Anthony Scaramucci was tweeting sympathetically to her. Go home and enjoy your family, he basically said. The universe has done you a favor. (He ought to know.)

As the DC drama continues — the atmosphere inside the White House is starting to sound like World War Z — and as prognosticators continue to move House and Senate races the Democrats' way, stories and videos keep surfacing online that make it all feel like a wave year (both north and south of the 49th Parallel). Such as:

Republican Dan Sullivan whined to the moderators of last night's Senate debate in Alaska, asking if questions had been provided in advance — all because Democrat Mary Peltola had been referring to her notes (which one assumes was allowed, or she would have been stopped). The moderators looked appalled. "Absolutely not." Peltola said, "I'm prepared!" Send her some love by clicking here.

Benedict Donald was in Georgia today, talking about how he doesn't think Jon Ossoff is good-looking but that Mike Collins is. (Did Collins's ass come up, as Jon Husted's did? This is just getting weirder.) Then when he left the podium, Donald walked right past the opened door of The Beast. Something is wrong with him, and it's astounding that a news media that used to berate Joe Biden for his choice of comfy shoes refuses to acknowledge Trump's obvious decline.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy apparently has taken out a fourth Russian data center. We think we're in love.

Finally, with the midterms upon us, you may not have noticed that early voting has started in the Canadian province of Alberta on the question of separation. Our two cents: This is a minority opinion that the right-wing, Trump-loving premier of Alberta has tried to "walk a tightrope on" but has basically allowed to get out of hand because she secretly agrees with it (she's not very bright).

The separatists didn't bank on a Prime Minister like Mark Carney, who grew up in Alberta and who now has a 71 percent approval rating across the country. Carney has been barnstorming the province and making great speeches to adoring crowds. Sign him up as TIME's Person of the Year without delay. We cats PURR.

Oh, Blake!

By Sniffles

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently added New York's 21st district to its "Red to Blue" list — which means they think it's winnable, and worth dumping some money into. And why not? The Republican candidate, Anthony Constantino, has become so alarmed over recent polls that he's accusing Democrat Blake Gendebien of illegal garbage dumping — on his own dairy farm.

How does he know? He hired a private detective company from Saratoga Springs to survey the Gendebien property in St. Lawrence County with video-taking drones. What Constantino neglected to mention is that the Department of Environmental Conservation has already said that Gendebien has done nothing wrong. "Six-dollar diesel is making farming hard enough without this weirdo drone stalking my home and business," Blake said. “I’ve already been cleared here.”

So, Blake Gendebien's farm wouldn't pass the Martha Stewart* neatness test? No working farm would. The fake outrage needs to stop because, as Gendebien has pointed out, it just shows how little Constantino knows about farming (which a lot of NY-21 voters do).

We're also not sure how Constantino's drone video "exposé" lowers the cost of gas and groceries. Will any enterprising journalist ask him that question? We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

*Martha writes picture books about gracious living. She says that nothing else matters if you can do a nice dried floral arrangement.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: The Early Cat Gets The Mouse Edition

By Miss Kubelik

The midterms are upon us. Early voting has already begun in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont, and Illinois. This week, early voting gets underway in:

• Maine, California, Montana, and Nebraska (Oct. 5)
• Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wyoming (Oct. 6)
• Arizona (Oct. 7)

There are key races here — Maine, obviously, plus a surprisingly contested Senate race in Nebraska, a terrific Democrat, Deb Haaland, running for governor in New Mexico, and former Senator Sherrod Brown leading the hapless Jon Husted in Ohio — but they're all important. Early voting increases Democratic turnout across the board and makes it easier for our folks on the ground to get less-likely voters to the polls. If you have friends and family in any of these states, urge them to bank their votes now.

Other stories that are getting our attention today pretty much run the gamut. Take a look:

Things don't appear to be going well for Byron Donalds in Florida. Trump's low approval ratings led Donalds to scrub all mention of him from his campaign website — which now has boomeranged into a Trump hissy fit (Trump, of course, denies this). Meanwhile, Democrat David Jolly has either closed the polling to neck-and-neck or slightly ahead. Let's not sleep on this race: Give to Jolly by clicking here.

The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections has resigned in the wake of the horrifically botched execution of Christa Pike. Jeez, why is anybody surprised that this guy with a checkered past would preside over a state-sponsored torture chamber? Sickening. The murder that Pike committed was barbaric, and the execution was barbaric. At some point, the barbarism has to stop.

Two important elections are taking place abroad this week — today's in Brazil, where lefty president Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva is fending off a challenge from jailbird Jair Bolsonaro's son, and tomorrow's in Québec, which will determine whether a pro-secessionist party runs the province. The Parti Québecois has promised no breakaway referendum until Benedict Donald leaves office, but considering the rumors that secessionists in both Québec and Alberta have secretly met with the Trumpsters, that's not very reassuring.

Finally, the Cornell gang-rape story exploded not just because Jane Doe filed her lawsuits. Cornell's student newspaper, The Daily Sun, has been relentlessly covering the story for two years. Now, they've broken the news that the Cornell police made a drug arrest at the Chi Phi fraternity the night before the gang rape. The school was aware of the arrest — which means that they should have forced the fraternity to cancel the party Jane Doe attended. (Frats have to register parties with the university ahead of time, it seems.) The story just keeps getting worse for Cornell, but The Daily Sun deserves the Julie K. Brown Award for never giving up on this beat. Well done, kids. We cats PURR.

Journalists Find Their Balls

 

By Hubie and Bertie

Well, this only took six (cumulative) years. The networks have suspended pool coverage of the White House after Benedict Donald banned CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday. It's either a case of "About blankety-blank time" or "Too little, too late." (Probably a little of both.)

"This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” current TV pool chair Bryan Boughton wrote. "This follows the White House's position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place."

Bad timing for Trump, if he was banking on getting images of his Monday trip to the United Nations on the airwaves. CNN was scheduled to serve as the television pool today, BWAAHAHAAHAA — providing video to the participating networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, yes, Fox). Don't these Trumpsters think any of these things through? Imagine how much more damage they'd do if they were competent.

This is a developing story, so we'll keep our paws on it. But meanwhile, we're willing to salute the networks for finally locating their spines (or other parts of their anatomy). Yes, it's a delicate balance between covering legitimately important stories — like the UN — and First Amendment rights, but the press has needed to push back on this authoritarian, antidemocratic crap for a long time. We cats PURR.

Not What A Leader Does When Things Are Going Well, Just Saying

By Baxter

Benedict Donald has banned media from the White House Press Corps before, and nobody really noticed or cared. The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal... it was all Inside Baseball. Until today.

Now, Trump has banned CNN, MSNBC, and POLITICO. Really? These are news outlets whose banishments people will notice. "I don't get fair press," Donald said. "There may be others to join them."

So, we cats have one question, and it's an important one.

"THEN NONE OF THE PRESS CORPS SHOWS UP AT ALL, RIGHT?"

Right? We cats HISS.

Going Viral

  

By Miss Kubelik

Trump didn't seem to be in a very good mood after his two-day emotional support rally in Dallas. Here he is yelling at (yep) another female reporter, Rachel Scott of ABC News, who dared to ask him about why he was pledging (illegal) $5,000 payouts to voters when the national debt is already at $40 trillion. Or, the photo of him emerging from a meeting with Ireland's president, Catherine Connolly, which didn't appear to go too well.

Trump always seems to be the focus of viral photos that one would think would damn him to universal condemnation and/or electoral defeat. But they never seem to do it. He falls asleep at 9/11 ceremonies, stands immobile in the Oval while someone suffers a medical emergency, or returns from a Tulsa rally looking like he's been through the wringer — and none of it appears to make any difference.

We'd give him credit for surviving all these slings and arrows, except for the fact that we know the corporate media is responsible. As Michelle Wolf told the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2018, "You love him." Because all the clicks and likes and outrage pay their bills.

Observers have theorized that Trumpism will outlast Trump. We're hoping that it doesn't, for the mere fact that we can't imagine the press giving JD Vance or Ron DeSantis or even Donald Jr. the pass Donald gets — they just won't generate the traffic that Trump Senior will.

Well, to be honest, we don't know. The so-called legacy media have bent the knee so much that we have to search for a silver lining to this particular cloud. We can only hope that the media landscape will have changed enough by the next one or two Presidential elections that it won't matter. Which would make us cats PURR.

Who's Missing?

We all know who. The person who must not be named was at the Pentagon, dozing off, with his face drooping and Moose & Squirrel looking morose beside him. (Guess he paid her extra to be there.) We'll never understand why the press gives a free ride to a clan that refuses to behave like a First Family of the United States. We cats HISS.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: More GOP Travails Edition

By Sniffles

Big primary day yesterday, among other events. Here are some news items that have gotten our attention today.

Darline Graham Nordone may have made a fatal mistake in last night's South Carolina Senate debate ("I'm not that informed on national security"). Now everyone's knickers are in a twist about it. But the reason for the uproar is unclear. If Nordone's just going to be a Trump cipher in the Senate, why does she need to know anything about policy? She's supposed to just show up and vote any way Trump wants. Still, with this gaffe she's suddenly looking more like the placeholder that fate initially meant her to be.

People are agog at Angie Nixon's primary win in Florida — or, should we say, Alex Vindman's surprise but apparently deserved loss — but what really got our attention was Alaska, where there's a much more competitive Senate race. Democrat Mary Peltola was the leading vote-getter in that ranked-choice primary, beating incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by six percent. (The top four candidates will advance — root for the other Dan Sullivan to make the cut!) The Republicans also are shut out of the governor's race — incredible. With 80 percent of the vote in, we'll keep tabs on this one.

Donald's endorsements are getting less and less valuable on the Republican side. Three of his candidates lost yesterday: Megan Degenfelder in Wyoming, and Catalina Lauf and Cory Mills in Florida. Did Natalie have the heart to break it to him? LOL

Finally, US debt has officially hit $40 trillion. If any Reagan Republicans are still around, this news will have them hacking up endless hairballs. And as for all those GOP think tanks that screamed about the horrors of budget deficits and debt for two generations — and who now bend the knee to Trump? Shame on them, and on the mainstream media for platforming them for all these years. We cats HISS.

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Jon Ossoff's "Travel With Natalie" Speech

 

By Miss Kubelik

All the speculation about Senator Jon Ossoff running for President in 2028 is fun, but we cats prefer not to indulge at this point. First, we need to get him re-elected to the Senate in November. Second, Democrats have a deep bench, with lots of folks interested in making a run. But we will confess that Ossoff is currently our favorite.

The excitement around him is palpable. And he was mentored by the late, great John Lewis. That's enough for us.

Some in the corporate media appear to be heading for the fainting couch over a few of Ossoff's comments. Ridiculous and maddening. People are sick of Trump and hungry for a fighter. Besides, what has Donald been doing for the last 10 years? Belittling and insulting people and giving them stupid names. Are any journalists noting that while Trump can dish it out, he sure can't take it? Probably not, but Trump's thin-skinned response is still pretty amusing. We cats PURR.

Constantino's Behind, Elsie's AWOL

By Baxter

The Congressional campaign of Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino — not to mention the candidate himself — is very unhappy with a recent poll from Survey USA and WNYT Channel 13 that shows Democrat Blake Gendebien four points ahead of Constantino in NY-21.

Wait! Red alert! NY-21 is Elise "Elsie" Stefanik's near-solid-Republican district. The Democrat is ahead? Wow! No wonder the DCCC recently added the district to its strategic "Red to Blue" list for 2026.

Meanwhile, Team Constantino is busy attacking the poll.

"This should be illegal and WNYT13 should be swiftly reprimanded by the FCC to the fullest extent possible,” Constantino tweeted. “This 'story' is a clear violation of journalistic ethics and (an) example of rampant political corruption." Former Stefanik campaign aide Alex deGrasse, now working for Constantino, huffed that the poll was "completely fraudulent" and a "scam." A scam!

Oh, sigh. They're so desperate and dumb. Survey USA is a leans-Republican polling firm — no friend to Democrats. But since Channel 13 is one of the local stations not owned by a right-wing broadcast group, that seems to explain Constantino's bleating about finking them out to the FCC. Even though it's extraordinarily silly.

So, where's Elsie? Why isn't she out campaigning for her party's nominee? Was she a secret Robert Smullen supporter in the primary? Has she lost interest? Will any intrepid reporter even bother to ask her about all this? Yeah, right. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Republican Troubles Edition

By Baxter

We've had our usual firehose of news these last few days. Here are a few items to help us all sort through the chaos.

How many pundits smugly said not too long ago that the 2026 Senate map was way too big a climb for the Democrats? All of them, right? Well, now we're seeing language like this: "Senate Republicans say they see Trump as a growing political liability as they try to hang on to control of the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections" (emphasis ours). The list of seats the GOP is worried about is a fun read — it includes Alaska, Ohio, Maine, and even Nebraska. Wow! What a difference 18 months of Donald Disasters make.

Former Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) has finally crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She's the House member who didn't show up for votes for ages and whose staff ultimately admitted was in an ALF memory care unit — presciently similar to Tom Kean Jr.'s and Mitch McConnell's recent disappearing acts. We know this is a broken record, but can you imagine if a Democrat tried to pull that off?

Looks like Congressman Max Miller isn't the only abusive personality on the Republican side of the aisle. The House Ethics Committee lowered the boom today on Chuck Edwards of North Carolina for creating a hostile and harassing work environment. "A member of Congress should not single out a staffer and isolate them from other staff, make frequent comments regarding that person’s appearance and weight, send messages in the middle of the night, text staff deeply personal and seemingly romantic thoughts, intrude on personal occasions without invitation, pay for personal vacations, and spend thousands of dollars on gifts," the committee said. Ew. (The good news is that Sabato's Crystal Ball has moved Edwards's race from "Leans Republican" to "Toss-Up.")

Finally, it's not clear why Jeanine Pirro left a White House meeting dragging a white box this afternoon. Joke of the day: That's a pretty big box of wine (but maybe not for her). We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Counting The Wins Edition

By Baxter

It might be time to tally up a few recent victories. So put your feet up, pop a cool one and read on.

Lawyer and independent journalist Katie Phang is making life difficult for the Trump DOJ and for Todd Blanche in particular. Phang filed a lawsuit claiming that Blanche's non-cooperation with the Epstein Transparency Act impeded her professional ability to report the news. She's trying to get the courts to force Blanche to comply with the law, and the judge on the case, Emmet Sullivan, seems sympathetic to her cause. He agreed she had standing, and he ordered Blanche to produce the redacted files or explain why he cannot, no later than 3 PM Eastern time on Thursday, July 30. Great job, Katie!

The Warner Bros.-Paramount Skydance merger may not happen. Wouldn't that be loverly?

Republicans in Florida have been desperately trying to push extreme right-wing nutcase James Fishback off the ballot for the gubernatorial primary on August 18. Welp, too bad for them: A circuit court judge has ruled that candidate Jay Collins's claims that Fishback doesn't meet residency requirements were unproven. Fishback stays on. Gee, Trumpsters can't succeed anywhere in court, can they?

Lots of reassuring stories are surfacing about people rescuing cats, dogs, horses, and even hedgehogs from the fires in France and Spain. And aid workers are, believe it or not, finding pets who survived the Venezuelan earthquake, a whole month later. Those amazing animals!

Finally, Benedict Donald tried to rally what's left of the campaign faithful in Michigan today. From the coverage, it looks like his performance was weak, his speech rambling, and the crowd tepid. As if that weren't special enough, some fabulous dude shouted "Pedophile protector!" at him. We cats love it, and we PURR.

All Fouled Up

By Sniffles

When we look back on the nightmare that was Trump 2.0, we'll be grateful for their incompetence.

There are too many examples of Trump ineptitude to cite, so let's just focus on the one from this past Thursday, when federal prosecutors were embarrassed into withdrawing the subpoenas they inflicted on three New York Times reporters for writing about Trump's Air Force One clusterfuck. Here's hoping that the attorneys involved get referred for disciplinary action and/or disbarment.

The Trumpsters also are still hell-bent on bringing ridiculous charges like the ones against David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. It's idiotic — the Sandwich Guy case all over again. Are we really doing this? Yes, apparently we are.

We can also be thankful that the White House staff was stupid enough to advise Benedict Donald to speak at last night's White House Correspondents Dinner, which its organizers really need to rethink, by the way. The event has long outlived its usefulness — but in the meantime, how cringey was it that Trump tried to joke his way through a mean-spirited and pointless hour-long speech to dead silence? The attendees should have stood up and walked out, but making Donald endure endless minutes of flop-sweat does have its appeal.

Nevertheless, the hell with all of them: Trump, the worst person to have ever walked the face of the earth, and the inside-the-Beltway journalists who enable him. They are equally despicable. We cats HISS.

The Show That Should Not Go On

By Miss Kubelik

Remember those subpoenas that Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice sent to New York Times reporters and their families? As Gilda Radner would say, never mind. They've been withdrawn.

That's because US District Judge Arun Subramanian raked prosecutors over the coals today, telling them that if they didn't take the subpoenas back, he would quash them. Team Blanche bleated and moaned for an hour or so, but finally cried uncle and withdrew.

The Times's sin? Reporting on a matter of national security. That is, that Trump had been flying around on a Qatari "Air Force One" that was seriously lacking in defensive capabilities. Don't get us wrong — we couldn't care less about Benedict Donald's safety and well-being. We just believe that the President of the United States should be protected when he flies. It's the patriotic way to be. 

And clearly, the Trumpsters agreed, because they quickly flew the old, non-Qatari Air Force One overseas to fetch Trump back from his foreign travels, making up a lame story about how "the troops" wanted to see the new jet, and you know, he just couldn't deny them. What a crock. And now, Trump says the Qatari jet is going to be "maxed out." What, like a credit card? We don't get it.

Anyway. It's still ironic that the DOJ took such umbrage, subpoenaing not only the Times journalists but their spouses. Richard Nixon and John Mitchell must be spinning in hell in jealousy. And please note that the person who signed the subpoenas was Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton — you know, that DNI nominee whom Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff destroyed in a hearing last week?

Sickeningly, it appears that the "replacement" White House Correspondents Dinner, which was arranged after the original one erupted in gunfire or something, is still set for tomorrow night, with Benedict Donald as the "honored guest." God help us. One WHCD a year is bad enough, but two — and for someone like Trump? Ugh.

A group of 500 journalists has sent a letter to the Correspondents Association, urging everyone to get into Donald's face and defend press freedom, and not just spend the dinner twiddling their forks and pretending that Trump is normal. Yeah, like that will happen. The dinner is being run by Weijia Jang, White House correspondent for — wait for it — CBS News, so it's unlikely that she'll want to annoy her boss, the notoriously Donald-friendly Bari Weiss.

The rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner, like the DOJ New York Times subpoenas, is a deception and a Trump-era sham. We cats won't be watching, and we HISS.

(IMAGE: The scene at the WHCD in April. Looks like fun, doesn't it?)

MAGAts In A Muddle

By Zamboni

Republicans are quickly appropriating the tired old saw, "Democrats in disarray." But do folks in the media realize it? Or are they just unwilling to tell the truth about the GOP because it isn't alliterative?

If Democrats are in disarray, please explain why they were able to resolve a huge mess in Maine in less than two weeks. (Troy Jackson sewed up Graham Platner's former Senate nomination over the weekend, as potential challengers Nirav Shah, Shenna Bellows, Jordan Wood, and Dan Kleban dropped out.)

And if Republicans are not in disarray, how do you excuse what's going on in South Carolina? 

Lindsey Graham suddenly dies on July 11, and Benedict Donald commands the Governor to appoint Graham's sister, an inexperienced, toothless puppet. Less than a week later, Trump instructs her to not just serve as caretaker in the seat but run for a full term. But two already-announced Trump loyalists are refusing to drop their bids. In fact, they may be joined tomorrow (it's filing day) by local luminaries like Mark "Appalachian Trail" Sanford and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette. 

Right, everything is going to plan here (not).

But it's our party that's the mess? We cats HISS.

Oh, Lordy, As They Say

By Hubie and Bertie

How many individual scandals can you roll into one big, fat, ugly, stinky, scary scandal? By our count, it's three.

The "Somebody In The White House Gave Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan Recordings from the Situation Room" Scandal — It was bad enough that Regime Change authors Haberman and Swan had a blow-by-blow of the Sit Room Epstein confab in the first place. But tapes? OMG. "Such a taped leak would be a shocking breach of one of the most secure settings on Earth," Axios reports. "Independent recording devices in the Situation Room are forbidden."

The "Republicans Will Excuse Serious Breaches in National Security As Long As They're the Ones Doing It" Scandal — That scrambling sound you hear is Lindsey Graham frantically trying to concoct a defense of the indefensible that he can then parrot on TV and social media.

The "My Book Is More Important Than Your Right to Know" Scandal — Reporters like Haberman and Swan sitting on alarmingly massive scoops just so they can write and sell books months later is everything (well, nearly everything) that's wrong with journalism today.

Finally, not a scandal, but a haunting refrain: Can you imagine the reaction if something like this happened under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden? Every one if them would be impeached, tarred and feathered, drawn and quartered, and then shot. But Donald and the Trumpsters? Don't hold your breath. We cats HISS.