He looks a lot like Chip, he even has a torn ear. But Chip's left ear is torn and Chip's tiger striping goes down onto his front legs.
Cat Doesn't Understand
9 hours ago
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Caturday
A shelter cat contemplates jumping up onto some cat furniture:
He looks a lot like Chip, he even has a torn ear. But Chip's left ear is torn and Chip's tiger striping goes down onto his front legs.
He looks a lot like Chip, he even has a torn ear. But Chip's left ear is torn and Chip's tiger striping goes down onto his front legs.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Word! (Plus Bannon)
Steve Bannon, a forceful but divisive presence in President* Donald Trump's White House, is leaving."Voluntary".... right. Kind of like those Russian soldiers voluntarily going into battle with NKVD "encouragement troops" behind them. Trump probably should have been reminded about what LBJ had to say about Jedgar Hoover.
Trump accepted Bannon's resignation on Friday, ending a turbulent seven months for his chief strategist, the latest to depart from the president's administration in turmoil.
Do Women Owe Their Rights to Racism?And, of Course, Our White-Supremacist-in-Chief
That's an arguable point. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended on the floor of the House at the last minute to include outlawing discrimination based on sex. It's been a long-standing premises that the amendment was a legislative poison pill that was added to increase the chances of killing the bill.
On the other hand, there's also an argument that the congressman who introduced it, who was a southerner, was a strong supporter of rights for women. So he might have seen it as a "win-win" situation: If the bill died as a result, hiscontributors constituents would be happy and if it didn't, one of his legislative goals would be achieved.
Now, back to Trump:
You might want to check your local congresscritters' social media sites: Their web site, Twitter feed, FB page and see what they are saying about the Nazis of Charlottesville. Mine has been radio-silent. If yours has been, call them out as the cowards that they are.
I put no stock in this. Though I do agree that Trump does not, nor has he ever known the difference between right and wrong. He knows the difference between what he can get away with and what he cannot, but that's as far as it goes.
And yes, it's wrong to call for Trump to be assassinated. Jesus, is that even a debatable proposition?
On the other hand, there's also an argument that the congressman who introduced it, who was a southerner, was a strong supporter of rights for women. So he might have seen it as a "win-win" situation: If the bill died as a result, his
Now, back to Trump:
Another advisory group is walking away from President* Donald Trump after his equivocation on neo-Nazis and white supremacists, with the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigning en masse Friday morning.Mitt Romney released a long statement on his FB page. This is the first paragraph:
“We cannot sit idly by, the way that your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions,” members write in a joint letter to Trump obtained by POLITICO, which ends by calling on the president to resign if he does not see a problem with what’s happened this week.
...
The PCAH is an official agency. That makes this the first White House department to resign.
I will dispense for now from discussion of the moral character of the president's Charlottesville statements. Whether he intended to or not, what he communicated caused racists to rejoice, minorities to weep, and the vast heart of America to mourn. His apologists strain to explain that he didn't mean what we heard. But what we heard is now the reality, and unless it is addressed by the president as such, with unprecedented candor and strength, there may commence an unraveling of our national fabric.Romney was crystal-clear that there is absolutely no moral equivalence between Nazis and those who oppose Nazis. And unless you want to be saddened by the number of Nazi-sympathizers who are screaming at him in fury, then don't read the comments.
You might want to check your local congresscritters' social media sites: Their web site, Twitter feed, FB page and see what they are saying about the Nazis of Charlottesville. Mine has been radio-silent. If yours has been, call them out as the cowards that they are.
I put no stock in this. Though I do agree that Trump does not, nor has he ever known the difference between right and wrong. He knows the difference between what he can get away with and what he cannot, but that's as far as it goes.
And yes, it's wrong to call for Trump to be assassinated. Jesus, is that even a debatable proposition?
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Tear Down Those Confederate Statues. Every Motherfucking One of Them.
Statues are not put up to remember people. Statues of people are erected to honor them.
So I ask you: Why are we honoring men who turned their coats and took up arms against this country? Why do we have statues of traitors in our public places and in the halls of government buildings? Why do we continue to honor the memory of men who fought for the right of rich men to own slaves?
Funny how it's overlooked that over 100,000 white Southerners were in the Union Army. Apparently, every Southern state, other than South Carolina,[1] had at least one organized battalion (or larger) of white soldiers.
The only statue that I know of which depicts Benedict Arnold[2] is of his foot. We don't have statues of the Loyalists who fought for the British. We didn't erect a statue of Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, Lord Hee Haw or Americans who fought on the other side in any other war.
There are a lot of people that whose names are taught in schools without having a worshipful statue to gaze at: General Cornwallis. General Howe. General Gage. Col. Tarleton. Kaiser Wilhelm. General Ludendorff. General Goering. Adolf Hitler. Vladimir Lenin. Josef Stalin. Mao Zedong. Ho Chi Minh. William Tweed.
We can remember the generals who fought for the Confederacy and slavery. But we sure as shit don't have to honor them.
Tear them all down.
______________________________________
[1] State Motto: "The Birthplace of Treason."
[2] And there is, as far as I know, no statue of Abigail Dolbeare Hinman, who tried to shoot Arnold in New London during his raid there in 1781. Her musket misfired.
So I ask you: Why are we honoring men who turned their coats and took up arms against this country? Why do we have statues of traitors in our public places and in the halls of government buildings? Why do we continue to honor the memory of men who fought for the right of rich men to own slaves?
Funny how it's overlooked that over 100,000 white Southerners were in the Union Army. Apparently, every Southern state, other than South Carolina,[1] had at least one organized battalion (or larger) of white soldiers.
The only statue that I know of which depicts Benedict Arnold[2] is of his foot. We don't have statues of the Loyalists who fought for the British. We didn't erect a statue of Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, Lord Hee Haw or Americans who fought on the other side in any other war.
There are a lot of people that whose names are taught in schools without having a worshipful statue to gaze at: General Cornwallis. General Howe. General Gage. Col. Tarleton. Kaiser Wilhelm. General Ludendorff. General Goering. Adolf Hitler. Vladimir Lenin. Josef Stalin. Mao Zedong. Ho Chi Minh. William Tweed.
We can remember the generals who fought for the Confederacy and slavery. But we sure as shit don't have to honor them.
Tear them all down.
______________________________________
[1] State Motto: "The Birthplace of Treason."
[2] And there is, as far as I know, no statue of Abigail Dolbeare Hinman, who tried to shoot Arnold in New London during his raid there in 1781. Her musket misfired.
Bet You Trump Doesn't Wait Two Days for "All of the Facts to Come In."
At least 13 people have died and 50 were injured after a van ploughed into crowds in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas tourist area, police and local officials say.Damn. I've had quite a few drinks there. It was a nice place to hang out and people-watch.
The Plans of President Bannon
But first, a few appetizers:
Now, to the main course:
Bannon gave an interview this week that is a little bit surprising.
Some things he said were things that have not emanated from Trump's mouth or twitter feed. For instance:
As to the white nationalists, the alt-right:
I'm not sure he's wrong about that. But Trump is clearly one of the more self-sabotaging politicians out there, one whom has been in the process of self-administering the political equivalent of "death by a thousand cuts," so it's not clear to me that Trump can survive politically long enough to carry out Bannon's master plan.
Our cover this week pic.twitter.com/lYD3HLXvSC— The Economist (@TheEconomist) August 17, 2017
One side...from The Economist @ianbremmer @iamjohnoliver @jheil @jonathanalter @dlippman #charlottesvilleterroristattack #Trump #DonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/NIAeG7pbEO
— Kevin Kal Kallaugher (@kaltoons) August 17, 2017
Where the hell have we landed where a President's staff has to script him tightly not to sympathize with neo-Nazi White Supremacists?
— Anne Frank Center (@AnneFrankCenter) August 16, 2017
Now, to the main course:
Bannon gave an interview this week that is a little bit surprising.
Some things he said were things that have not emanated from Trump's mouth or twitter feed. For instance:
“There’s no military solution [to North Korea’s nuclear threats], forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”He's also focused on getting a trade war going with China. That seems to be his only concern.
As to the white nationalists, the alt-right:
“Ethno-nationalism—it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more. These guys are a collection of clowns.”It would seem that Bannon believes that if Trump can get past Trump's reflexive support of racists and focus on economic nationalism, that Trump can gather steam.
I'm not sure he's wrong about that. But Trump is clearly one of the more self-sabotaging politicians out there, one whom has been in the process of self-administering the political equivalent of "death by a thousand cuts," so it's not clear to me that Trump can survive politically long enough to carry out Bannon's master plan.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
More Crap for the Nazis
Trump was talking yesterday about the "alt-left".
There is no such thing.
If you are opposing the Nazis, then you are on the side of righteousness. Angels ride on your shoulders.
Anyway, to change gears a little, Trump's presser yesterday was so full of bullshit, I'm surprised that they didn't bring in a steam-cleaning rig afterwards. He claimed that he waited two days to denounce the Nazis because he wanted to wait for all of the facts to come in? Since when has Trump waited for facts on anything else? Some half-baked allegation crawls across the bottom of his TV set and he is up on Twitter in less than a heartbeat. Trump is the best friend that the racists have had since maybe Wilson. His whining that the Nazis are being treated unfairly by the media was unseemly. His defense of the "good people" on the side of the Nazis was, frankly, insane. If the Nazis are marching with you, then you are a Nazi. If you don't want to be thought of as a Nazi when the Nazis appear on your side, then go the fuck home.
If you continue to stand behind Trump, who has been unalloyed in his support of white supremacists (other than when he is reading a statement that was clearly written by someone else), then don't be surprised if that stench rubs off. If you work in the Trump White House and you stay on the job after all of this, you will be known, for the rest of your career, by the company that you are now keeping. Savvy corporate executives have broken that code. So should you.
This clip seems to be "slash-dotted" at the moment, but it's worth seeing:
Not much has changed in fifty years:
By the way: Where were all of these Nazis who are screaming about taking down statues honoring traitors when statues of Lenin and Stalin were being pulled down all over eastern Europe? Where were they when the U.S. Army pulled down statues of Saddam Hussein? Wasn't that also destroying history?
And, if you think, as Donald Trump does, that there is no difference between General Washington and General Lee (other than maybe competence), then I sincerely implore you to go commit an unnatural act upon thyself.
There is no such thing.
Researchers who study extremist groups in the United States say there is no such thing as the “alt-left.” Mark Pitcavage, an analyst at the Anti-Defamation League, said the word had been made up to create a false equivalence between the far right and “anything vaguely left-seeming that they didn’t like.”Trump has begun using that term to imply that those who oppose Nazism are no different from the Nazis themselves. Because, to the alt-right, opposing their agenda of racism and antisemitism makes those people just as evil as the Nazis that they oppose.
If you are opposing the Nazis, then you are on the side of righteousness. Angels ride on your shoulders.
Anyway, to change gears a little, Trump's presser yesterday was so full of bullshit, I'm surprised that they didn't bring in a steam-cleaning rig afterwards. He claimed that he waited two days to denounce the Nazis because he wanted to wait for all of the facts to come in? Since when has Trump waited for facts on anything else? Some half-baked allegation crawls across the bottom of his TV set and he is up on Twitter in less than a heartbeat. Trump is the best friend that the racists have had since maybe Wilson. His whining that the Nazis are being treated unfairly by the media was unseemly. His defense of the "good people" on the side of the Nazis was, frankly, insane. If the Nazis are marching with you, then you are a Nazi. If you don't want to be thought of as a Nazi when the Nazis appear on your side, then go the fuck home.
If you continue to stand behind Trump, who has been unalloyed in his support of white supremacists (other than when he is reading a statement that was clearly written by someone else), then don't be surprised if that stench rubs off. If you work in the Trump White House and you stay on the job after all of this, you will be known, for the rest of your career, by the company that you are now keeping. Savvy corporate executives have broken that code. So should you.
This clip seems to be "slash-dotted" at the moment, but it's worth seeing:
Fox News host @KatTimpf absolutely goes off on Trump’s “disgusting” presser: “I’m wondering if it’s actually real life what I just watched.” pic.twitter.com/BS0xFwxk3o
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) August 15, 2017
Not much has changed in fifty years:
As true today as it was in 1968. Pax et Justitia - Stan pic.twitter.com/VbBtiZzUch
— stan lee (@TheRealStanLee) August 15, 2017
By the way: Where were all of these Nazis who are screaming about taking down statues honoring traitors when statues of Lenin and Stalin were being pulled down all over eastern Europe? Where were they when the U.S. Army pulled down statues of Saddam Hussein? Wasn't that also destroying history?
And, if you think, as Donald Trump does, that there is no difference between General Washington and General Lee (other than maybe competence), then I sincerely implore you to go commit an unnatural act upon thyself.
A Jewish Wedding Without Jews
That happened recently in Poland.
Maybe next, they'll set up a Jewish version of Colonial Williamsburg.
I wrote about this sort of thing nearly ten years ago. My opinion has not changed.
Maybe next, they'll set up a Jewish version of Colonial Williamsburg.
I wrote about this sort of thing nearly ten years ago. My opinion has not changed.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Keep Bringing Those Nazi Flags to Your Protests, Boys
Keep doing it.
For what you are going to do is tie your "Southern heros"[1] to the the Nazis and their crimes against humanity. You are helping to make the case that slavery was a form of genocide.
Every time you stand in front of a statue and wave the Swastika, you help make the connection. Every time you do that, you make it easier and easier for the decision to be made to confine those statues to a scrapyard.
The day will come when a battery of howitzers will line up, open fire on the carvings on Stone Mountain and pound them into rubble. When that day comes, those who have marched in Nazi regalia, marched under the Nazi flag, given the Nazi salute and yelled "seig heil" will have made destroying the symbols of the Confederacy politically possible. They might as well have pulled the firing lanyards, themselves.
If you think this is far-fetched, remember this: For over fifty years, the Confederate descendants fought the removal of the Confederate battle flag[2] from the Capitol Building in South Carolina. But then one young white supremacist went into a black church and murdered nine parishioners. Almost immediately, that flag came down.
So keep marching, Nazis.
_________________________________
[1] Or "Traitors".
[2] Or the Flag of Traitors.
For what you are going to do is tie your "Southern heros"[1] to the the Nazis and their crimes against humanity. You are helping to make the case that slavery was a form of genocide.
Every time you stand in front of a statue and wave the Swastika, you help make the connection. Every time you do that, you make it easier and easier for the decision to be made to confine those statues to a scrapyard.
The day will come when a battery of howitzers will line up, open fire on the carvings on Stone Mountain and pound them into rubble. When that day comes, those who have marched in Nazi regalia, marched under the Nazi flag, given the Nazi salute and yelled "seig heil" will have made destroying the symbols of the Confederacy politically possible. They might as well have pulled the firing lanyards, themselves.
If you think this is far-fetched, remember this: For over fifty years, the Confederate descendants fought the removal of the Confederate battle flag[2] from the Capitol Building in South Carolina. But then one young white supremacist went into a black church and murdered nine parishioners. Almost immediately, that flag came down.
So keep marching, Nazis.
_________________________________
[1] Or "Traitors".
[2] Or the Flag of Traitors.
Nazi-Punching
My view is that waving a Nazi flag is not only hate speech, but fighting words.
The Nazis industrially slaughtered over ten million people. When shooting and burying so many people turned out to be burdensome, they developed what could be described as factories of death-- industrial processes to murder all of the people who did not die of starvation or disease in their ghettos. Before the Nazis murdered a lot of them, Nazi "doctors" conducted "experiments" on them. Millions more died in the war of conquest that was unleashed by the Nazis.
All of that is factual. It is not open for discussion. (See, Rule 2.H)
If you wave a Nazi flag or wear a Nazi armband, then you are adopting that ideology. You are saying that you approve of all of the crimes committed by the Nazis. You are saying that, given the chance, you'd do the same.
And so, I maintain that waving a Nazi flag and wearing the swastika is not merely provocative speech or even hate speech. It is uttering fighting words.
Anyone who punches a Nazi or otherwise lays hands on them should be allowed to plead that the violence was justified because the Nazi(s) had it coming under the Toyota Rule:
They asked for it, they got it.
Toyota.
The Nazis industrially slaughtered over ten million people. When shooting and burying so many people turned out to be burdensome, they developed what could be described as factories of death-- industrial processes to murder all of the people who did not die of starvation or disease in their ghettos. Before the Nazis murdered a lot of them, Nazi "doctors" conducted "experiments" on them. Millions more died in the war of conquest that was unleashed by the Nazis.
All of that is factual. It is not open for discussion. (See, Rule 2.H)
If you wave a Nazi flag or wear a Nazi armband, then you are adopting that ideology. You are saying that you approve of all of the crimes committed by the Nazis. You are saying that, given the chance, you'd do the same.
And so, I maintain that waving a Nazi flag and wearing the swastika is not merely provocative speech or even hate speech. It is uttering fighting words.
Anyone who punches a Nazi or otherwise lays hands on them should be allowed to plead that the violence was justified because the Nazi(s) had it coming under the Toyota Rule:
They asked for it, they got it.
Toyota.
Hmmm. I Wonder If Trump Now Would Prefer That Everyone Was Talking About Russia.
Apparently the Russian government was very interested in Trump and early on.
And Robert Mueller may already have the tax returns of every person that he is interested in.
Even the Washington Times is falling out with Trump over the Russian investigation.
Meanwhile, back atDer Führerbunker Trump White House, business executives are fleeing his manufacturing council, because being associated with Donald "But Them Nazis Are My Peeps" Trump is not good for their corporate image. Trump is lambasting them far, far faster than he did his Nazi buds.
At this point, I don't know if even IG Farben would join forces with Trump. But still, the Party of the Confederacy is taking the stance one would expect.
By the way: Running over demonstrators is a wingnut thing.
And Robert Mueller may already have the tax returns of every person that he is interested in.
Even the Washington Times is falling out with Trump over the Russian investigation.
Meanwhile, back at
At this point, I don't know if even IG Farben would join forces with Trump. But still, the Party of the Confederacy is taking the stance one would expect.
By the way: Running over demonstrators is a wingnut thing.
Word! (But With Disagreement)
He's right that the "pencils down" moment for Trump to have said something effective was last Saturday night. It should have been easy to condemn the Klan and the Nazis. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't until, under political duress, he read a prepared statement two days later. Yet you can bet your ass if the Asswipe of Charlottesville was named "Achmed-Something", he would have been screaming about "Islamic terrorism" within 25 picoseconds.
I disagree with Mr. Meyers on one point: I think Trump has made his choice. He's in bed with the racists. As has been pointed out elsewhere, Trump has not been shy at lambasting everyone else.
We know where Trump's heart is in this. If you want to continue to support him, then don't be surprised if his stench attaches itself to you.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
Andy Borowitz on Trump's woodenlike statement yesterday.
The Mooch was on The Late Show last night. That took quite a bit of stones, given how tough Colbert has been on Scaramucci for the last few weeks. He stated that while he didn't know of Steve Bannon is a white supremacist, one thing he didn't like about the Trump White House was their toleration of white supremacy.
At the end of his appearance, Mooch gave Colbert a front-stabbing knife.
And then there's this:
The Mooch was on The Late Show last night. That took quite a bit of stones, given how tough Colbert has been on Scaramucci for the last few weeks. He stated that while he didn't know of Steve Bannon is a white supremacist, one thing he didn't like about the Trump White House was their toleration of white supremacy.
At the end of his appearance, Mooch gave Colbert a front-stabbing knife.
And then there's this:
I'm announcing my retirement from Twitter. I'll never top this RT. pic.twitter.com/HuGHkiPoyR— Mike Holden (@MikeHolden42) August 15, 2017
Monday, August 14, 2017
Trump's Slow Denunciation of the Nazis.
Condemning the Nazis should have been a no-brainer, given that "Nazis are bad" has been official policy since the 1930s, but not for Trump. Which was not surprising, given his history of racially-tinged attacks, alleged discrimination, and his trio of Nazi advisors.
And so, nearly three days after the Tiki-Torch Nazis did their first march and two days after a Nazi drove his car into a crowd of people, killing Heather Heyer, Trump read a prepared statement condemning the Nazis (presumably while his Chief of Staff stood offstage, with a loaded revolver in his hand). Trump never denounces the Nazis on his own; it always takes an uproar and then, a few days later, he reads remarks that someone prepared and that someone convinced him that he has to read. It's never by Trump's own impulse to be a good person, an impulse that arguably would be as foreign to Trump as speaking in Mongolian.
Remember, this is the guy who, after the Central Park Five were exonerated, still believes they were guilty. He has approved of slaughtering demonstrators. He's cut funding for combating Nazi groups in the U.S.
For it should be pretty clear that Trump, in hi heart-of-hearts, stands with the Nazis.
Statuary Question
If we're going to have statues around the country to honor people who took up arms against the United States, then where are the statues for Benedict Arnold and other Loyalists, like Oliver De Lancey, Joseph Galloway, and Edward Jessup (to name only three)?
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Trump's Message Received by the Nazis
It's pretty horrible when Trump's threatening a nuclear war wasn't the worst thing that he said last week.
The Nazis got the message that Trump is with them when Trump refused to denounce them.
And right after the yelling of the Tiki-Torch Nazis, wasn't there supposed to be some massive face-melting?
I wanted to see face-melting.
The Nazis got the message that Trump is with them when Trump refused to denounce them.
The founder of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist website that considers itself a part of the alt-right, celebrated the fact that Trump "outright refused to disavow" the white nationalist rally and movement.Didn't we settle this shit in 1945?
"People saying he cucked are shills and kikes," wrote the founder, Andrew Anglin. "He did the opposite of cuck. He refused to even mention anything to do with us. When reporters were screaming at him about White Nationalism he just walked out of the room."
And right after the yelling of the Tiki-Torch Nazis, wasn't there supposed to be some massive face-melting?
I wanted to see face-melting.
What the Hell, It Worked in the `40s.
If you think I'm overreacting, this was one of the posters for the Citronella Nazis:
These vermin must be sent packing.
And those of you on the Right: They claim to be acting in your name. Denounce these fuckers and not only here, but in your own spaces.
Step up or be complicit.
Your Sunday Morning Big Prop Noise
How to fly a P-38, Part 1:
Click on the "Watch on YouTube" button and it'll automatically go to parts 2 and 3.
I'd really want to get some training on twin-engined emergency procedures, but my initial reaction was "yeah, I could fly that thing."
Too bad that P-38s are so rare. Back when they were available for about ten grand in today's money, too bad someone didn't buy up a bunch of them and store them (with spares) in someplace remote.
(H/T)
Click on the "Watch on YouTube" button and it'll automatically go to parts 2 and 3.
I'd really want to get some training on twin-engined emergency procedures, but my initial reaction was "yeah, I could fly that thing."
Too bad that P-38s are so rare. Back when they were available for about ten grand in today's money, too bad someone didn't buy up a bunch of them and store them (with spares) in someplace remote.
(H/T)
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