Cats In The Bag

 

Almost 10 days ago, this Ukrainian woman, her two cats and her dog crossed the border into Medyka, Poland. We hope they're settled in comfortably somewhere — with friends, relatives, or maybe with some of the generous Poles who are kindly taking in Ukrainian strangers. Those faces! We cats PURR.

Stars In Our Eyes

Love the fact that Stacey Abrams appears in Star Trek: Discovery as the President of United Earth. We like the idea of a United Earth. And we like even better that Stacey would be in charge. But we'll settle right now for Governor of Georgia. Live long, and PURR.

Whistle-Blowers: Don't Keep Kwiat

By Sniffles

Ever hear the saying that all news is local? It really is.

Apparently there's a deranged individual in Amsterdam, New York, who is an ophthalmologist with a serious case of the Trumpies. David Kwiat has now been sued by the New York Department of Labor for allegedly firing a whistle-blower employee who reported his office for COVID violations. The guy really, really doesn't like it when people wear masks.

In fact, he believes that COVID is pretty much a hoax, with a very low death rate, and he also threatened to fire any employee who even dared to get a PCR test. Betcha Dr. Kwiat's office isn't going to land on any "best places to work" lists anytime soon!

But what really blew us away was that this isn't the bad Dr. Kwiat's first blowup about masking. In December, he walked into our local butcher shop — yes, our shop, we kid you not — without a mask, and demanded to be sold a steak. The manager said he needed to mask up to be waited on. (The Empire State's mandate was in effect at the time.) Dr. Kwiat got, shall we say, noisy, and stormed out. And then he sued the shop for $250,000. (He dropped the suit a couple of weeks ago.)

David Kwiat sounds like the wackiest eye doctor this side of Rand Paul. Meanwhile, we'd like to report that that corned-beef-and-cabbage dinner we bought from that very butcher the other day was yummy. We cats hope that New York State takes a big bite out of Kwiat's bank account, and we PURR.

May The Road Rise To Meet You

By Hubie and Bertie

Thank you for all the warm birthday wishes! Yes, we were born around this time in 2018. Our humans don't know precisely when, so they assigned St. Patrick's Day as our birth date. And a swell date it is.

Corned beef and cabbage was on the menu in our house tonight, and there's a rumor that a new toy is in the offing. Meanwhile, we were pleased to see our quite-Irish President, Joe Biden, visiting with members of the Riverdance company on Capitol Hill.

If we're going to get sentimental about St. Paddy's, though, we probably want to reflect on Jack Kennedy's trip to Ireland in 1963. He was greeted with universal adulation, just five months before his assassination — which of course breaks everyone's heart. So lest we fall in a weepy puddle, let's recall instead what Yogi Berra is alleged to have said when Kennedy met with the first elected Jewish mayor of Dublin: "Only in America!" We cats PURR.

"I Love The Russian People. That's Why I Have To Tell You The Truth"

We don't know how many Russian soldiers or citizens read our blog, but this video from former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is too good not to share. Spread it far and wide — someone will get the message, and it will make a difference. We cats PURR.

War Crimes

By Miss Kubelik

We cats had hoped to avoid getting into the "But if Trump were President, Putin wouldn't be doing this" argument — because it was so patently obvious that it was nonsense. But since Vladimir Putin has decided to purposely bomb a children's shelter in Mariupul, Ukraine, today, let's explore that notion a bit.

Putin would not have had to take such drastic — and, apparently, catastrophic — steps if Benedict Donald had won re-election outright, or if Benedict Donald had been able to overturn the results of the 2020 election afterward. Because Benedict Donald had basically pledged to withdraw the US from NATO.

But 81 million of us Americans turned Trump out of office.

At which point, it not only became clear that the election results couldn't be reversed, but that Congress and the DOJ would investigate the sedition, and hold people accountable. So Putin's "in" in the United States was off — despite the fact that Trumpsters, QAnoners, plus Republican nutcases like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn and Janice McGeachin, would continue to serve as useful idiots to Russian dreams of domination.

Now, it's possible that even Trump himself has read the writing on the wall. He's given an interview to some right-wing rag, saying that he's surprised at what Vlad has done, and that Putin has "changed."

Here's the real measure of how Putin has miscalculated, and how all the Trumpy talk is bullshit. China came out today, praising Ukrainians' resistance, and declaring economic and political support for Kyiv. This, after Putin had asked for China for military support. WHOOPS.

No wonder President Biden felt comfortable this afternoon to characterize Putin as a war criminal. With all of Biden's experience in foreign affairs, and his personal knowledge of leaders across the globe, he has laid the groundwork for a bulwark against Putin that Vlad will surely not be able to breach. You know what? It kinda seems like an old guy who has been around for a billion years, and who knows everybody in the world, has turned out to be the right kind of President for these times. We cats salute him, and we PURR.

Slava Ukraini

By Zamboni

Oooooh! Vlad the Invader is so upset at Canada, he's banned all sitting members of the House of Commons from entering Russia. Maybe we should write "our" MP, Marc Miller from Montreal, and ask him if he's had to cancel his summer travel plans. What a joke.

Vlad is mad because President Zelenskyy of Ukraine addressed the Canadian Parliament yesterday, and they gave him a three-minute standing ovation. Today, he spoke to Congress. Let's face it, Vlad is mostly miffed because Zelenskyy is the biggest world celebrity since Barack Obama, and we all know what Putin thought of Obama.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is taking pains to applaud Zelenskyy, express support, and wear the colors of the Ukrainian flag. (Even Marjorie Taylor Greene was in yellow today.) But it's a farce: Every GOP Senator but Willard Mitt Romney voted to acquit Benedict Donald for withholding Congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine unless Zelenskyy agreed to dig up (nonexistent) dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden. See, Republicans? People remember.

We cats were watching MTG closely today, and so were the interwebs. When Zelenskyy was introduced, she stood, but appeared too busy grabbing her cellphone to participate in the ovation. When he finished his speech, she applauded very tepidly — hands at her waist, and then clasping each other so she could look occupied. But at least she clapped. In the Canadian Parliament, interim Conservative Party leader Candice Bergen didn't even bother.

How many children do the Russians have to kill? How many bread lines do the Russians need to mow down, or hospital staff to terrorize, before these so-called "right-to-life" Republicans quit their adoration of Vlad? They are stained by Putin for all eternity, and we cats HISS.

Good Stuff Is Still Happening

By Baxter

We cats are optimists, and so even with horrible reports crossing our screens, we always look for the good news. Today, we found some.

First, the Senate has confirmed Shalanda Young, President Biden's nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget. Young is the first African-American woman to serve as OMB Director, and we are totally there for it. The Republicans had a hissy fit over Neera Tanden, only to see Biden replace her with another highly qualified woman of color. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Russia has also given us a lot of laughs today, by issuing some ridiculous sanctions against Americans. Boy, whoever is in charge over there is really screwing up. First, like so many of these autocrats and Trumpsters, they don't bother to proofread: Someone left the suffix "Junior" off the President's name when they created the list. (White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had a lot of fun with that.) Then they included private citizens like Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden. (We don't know what Hunter's reaction was, but Hillary's was classic.) And of course they omitted anyone named Trump — or any Republicans, for that matter. Voters, take note.

Biden also signed into law the recently passed bipartisan funding bill — which includes money for Ukraine, and, by the way, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Once again, HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Finally, oil prices have fallen. We noticed today that our local gas station's price per gallon had already dropped by about 16 cents. We not only expect but demand that it go lower. In the meantime, if you have some extra cash and are looking for a way to help the people (and animals) of Ukraine, click here and here. Chef José Andrés is a treasure — and kudos to all the European countries who are relaxing their border-crossing regulations to allow Ukrainian refugees to reach safety with their pets. We cats PURR.

Little Shop Of Congressional Horrors

Another COVID strain might be on the way, World War III is fixin' to start, and gas prices are still high even though the price of a barrel of oil has plunged. But any day a new Randy Rainbow video comes out is a good one. We cats PURR.

Good Work, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

So it's not "the" Ukraine, but at least he refers to it as a sovereign nation afterward. These tributes are happening all around the world, which makes us cats PURR.