It’s Depressing to Be a Democrat

By Karen

After four years of Trump lying, gaslighting, and trying to kill us, survivors who retained a shred of sanity turned out in November — by a 7 MILLION-vote majority — to put a Democrat back in the White House. We expected Biden to deliver a swift return to honesty, decency, respect for the rule of law — and consequences for the crimes Trump and his cronies committed to our faces.

Unfortunately, we failed down-ballot to give Joe Biden large enough Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress to clean up the mess Trump left.

In a perfect world, Democrats would be flushing out the treason by expelling and indicting every member of Congress who enabled Trump’s presidential crime spree, which would include Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Rubio, Cruz and many others.

Instead, riffing on Star Trek lingo, Democrats are letting Republicans put the needs of the few (themselves) above the needs of the many (us).

And if that weren’t enough, Senate Democrats saddled with with the most abjectly stupid member, Joe Manchin, are letting him put the imbecilic needs of the ONE (himself) above the needs of ALL.

For instance, just 35 Senate Republicans were able to squash a January 6 commission, back-stabbing the Democratic majority who foolishly gave them every concession they demanded. By doing nothing in the aftermath, it looks like Democrats may let their treasonous colleagues’ complicity in Trump’s insurrection remain hidden forever.

You know the old saying, “Fool us once, shame on you…”?

Congressional Democrats would finish it: “Fool us EVERY TIME, grind the government to a halt, no problem.”

Manchin insists on keeping the filibuster because he still believes in Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the existence of 10 “good” Republicans. All by his lonesome — thanks to a fucked-up 50/50 Senate — Manchin can destroy all hope of getting the country back on track. Even though he heard, same as we did, that Moscow Mitch and his Murderous Minority will stop at nothing to make Biden fail.

Speaking of Trump, why is he still loose? The moment he left Washington, he should have been arrested and sentenced as “Individual 1” in the Stormy Daniels payoff crime that still has Michael Cohen under house arrest. Trump, confirmed in court as the mastermind, is MORE guilty than Cohen, yet, he’s free to spew demented lies and tear apart sanity itself to keep his MAGA cult sending him money and plotting a coup.

And how about that new attorney general, Merrick Garland? Who knew he’d be Bill Barr’s Mini-Me, covering for and defending Trump at every turn?

As I was writing this post, I read in The Washington Post that the DOJ is also fighting to keep hidden records from the Trump Hotel near the White House. The hotel where Trump raked in bribes from countries who booked rooms and events to curry favor.

I’ve had it. Chuck Schumer should be kicking McConnell and Manchin ass until they cooperate, and Nancy Pelosi should be hosting egg rolls of Republican heads down the Capitol steps to clean out the treason and corruption in the House.

Instead, they just talk, talk, talk and do NOTHING while McConnell responds with that creepy toothless, lipless grin of his.

Trump gave a speech in North Carolina last week, showing up in such a baggy, tatty blue suit that everyone thought he had his pants on backwards. Take a look at the babbling idiot Republicans are staking their futures on…

Depressed, disappointed, despairing, disillusioned, distraught, desperate. That’s how I feel. We voted for Democrats to hold Trump accountable and punish him for his crimes. We were counting on them to preserve the democracy Republicans are bent on destroying. But if Democrats refuse to do it, even though it means their own destruction, we’re doomed.

BONUS: The Boston Globe is publishing a six-part editorial series called “Future-Proofing the Presidency.” It calls outright for Trump to be held criminally accountable for obstructing justice. (The link works even if you don’t subscribe.)

Jan. 6 Rioters Peeling Away from Trump

By Karen

But first, a trailer for the Anthony Bourdain HBO documentary, Roadrunner, debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival June 11, in theaters July 16…

At 1:59, see a nanosecond of Tony in a red sports car with a brunette whose identity I can only suspect. The more her existence gets erased, the more heinously criminal I believe her involvement in his final days. Call me the suspicious type.

Now, to the present…

The FBI has rounded up roughly 500 Capitol rioters. Those with clean records are getting slapped wrists. But the violent ones caught on camera face felonies and promise to be great entertainment at their trials.

FYI, here’s a Justice Department list of everyone arrested and charged. Another list at Insider.com includes personal details on the perps.

The minute TV cameras stopped rolling, Trump forgot these people exist. Without presidential pardons, desperate defense lawyers are floating, “My client is too stupid to live.”

If we didn’t have such a woke culture, they’d be calling their clients the “R” word.

Defense places all blame on Trump, his enablers and Fox “News” for dishing out a diet of lies to ignorant dupes, and claims they bear as much responsibility as the rioters.

Essentially, defense hopes to thread a needle with an elephant. They can’t go all-out and declare their clients mentally incompetent, because that lets Trump and Fox slither off the hook. Instead, the rioters were relentlessly attacked by incendiary rhetoric and finally succumbed on January 6.

Prosecutors are going to love destroying this argument.

As convicted rioters begin marching off to prison, MAGA cultists who stayed home 1/6 but still believe the Big Lie are left no choice but to wonder where their own willingness to continue eating Trump-Fox garbage may lead.

Rioter Anthony Antonio (the guy who screamed nonsensically about it being 1776), has said: “I kind of sound like an idiot now saying it, but my faith was in him [Trump].”

Antonio’s lawyer Joseph Hurley explained, “You can catch this disease.” Misinformation “is not a defense. It’s not. But it will be brought up to say: This is why he was there. Because he was a dumbass and believed what he heard on Fox News.”

I would add, and because he probably flunked history.

Footnote: Antonio has never voted in a presidential election, so he had no skin in the game.

With a pandemic fresh in their minds, MAGA cultists who hear these dipshits called, by their own lawyers, dumbasses who caught “Big Lie Disease” may realize they’re also infected.

Who needs COVID or masks when you can ingest toxic lies from your TV until your brain mush no longer comprehends that a guy who gets the fewest votes is the LOSER?

The lawyer for “QAnon shaman” Jacob Chansley claims repeated exposure to lies overwhelmed Chansley’s ability to discern reality (and fashion, obviously)…

Although I despise them, I don’t think all cultists are 100% evil — they’re ignorant. They’ll get the shock of their lives when the trials reveal exactly how Trump and Fox have twisted their sad little minds.

Defections are happening already. On Memorial Day in Florida, Trump falsely claimed “thousands” of boaters waved Trump flags on parade. WTSP in Tampa Bay reported…

Just north of the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, “Trump 2024” flags waved in the wind as dozens of boats took to the water.

Two days later, Trump pulled the plug on his 29-day-old From the Desk of blog to “put it out of its misery” (his words) because few were reading.

Trump’s ability to spread poison is waning. His mental faculties are more often discussed than his positions on anything, especially since his delusion that he’ll regain power in August. He’s making no major personal appearances with press allowed. The great showman who lives to feed off crowds like an energy vampire will be babbling remotely via Jumbotron at a Wisconsin rally on June 12.

Rioters’ trials condemning the “Foxitis” contagion and Trump’s growing inability to hide his dementia should thin the cult. Treasonous Republicans still courting Trump’s dwindling base may find themselves like Wile E. Coyote come reelection…

BONUS: Searching YouTube, I came upon this golden oldie cat video that still makes me laugh. In the original version, these cats were meowing at each other. Then someone gave them dialogue…

Republicans Continue Their Spiral Down the Drain

By Karen

Today, all but six Senate Republicans voted against (or were too chicken to vote on) formation of an outside commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot. The expression of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski — who voted for the commission — seems to sum up the reaction of all decent people to this new depravity…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference he thinks they’re all afraid of Trump. I don’t agree at all. Trump has no clout anymore. He’s an idiot babbling from the fringe about imaginary crimes against him. He thinks his dwindling cult of ignorant, gullible racists will somehow kick Biden to the curb and restore Trump to the White House. He’s in La-La Land.

Reality is that Trump is about to be balls-deep in legal trouble, now that a grand jury in New York has begun digging into his dirtiest financial secrets. What’s left of his rotting brain will be too occupied with trying to evade prison to care about who’s in or out of Congress.

Power-hungry sycophants who helped Trump stage the insurrection will be swinging in the breeze if they expect to win reelection with Trump’s endorsement.

Without a bipartisan commission, House and Senate Democrats are now free to do their own investigations and here’s what I predict they’ll uncover about their morally bankrupt colleagues:

• Phone records of conversations with “constituents” who subsequently got arrested for their roles in the riot.
• Logs showing they scheduled or personally conducted tours of the Capitol to help the insurrectionists case the joint.
• Meetings with Trump and his circle to plan how to overthrow the election by any means, the riot being just one component.

MOST fearful of this exposure because of their intimate involvement and coordination are Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell. It’s the only explanation for their total obstruction of finding motives and means.

Let’s face it, the Republican Party no longer exists. It has decomposed into a pack of traitors who want to install a dictator, naively thinking they’ll be showered with money and power for their devotion. To achieve that end, they’re willing to cheat, lie, steal and sabotage every democratic system we’ve got.

In a word, Republicans are the party of treason. Here’s the definition, straight from Merriam-Webster…

1: the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family

2: the betrayal of a trust: TREACHERY

They fight the Biden presidency, and every good thing he’s trying to do for Americans, while continuing to toady to a demented, decisively defeated wannabe dictator.

They are A-OK with a gallows erected for the former vice president at the Capitol. Nothing to see there. Move on.

They call rioters “ordinary tourists” despite the WORLD watching them scream, fight and beat police with Trump flags while trying to find congresspeople to attack.

They support election “fraudits” like the travesty in Arizona, but only attempt them where they have willing cheaters in red state legislatures to help.

This sick behavior all boils down to treason. Until they’re brought to justice and punished — or at the very least, driven out of Congress by disgusted voters (who DO outnumber the cult) — democracy as we know it is doomed. They will befoul every future election until we eradicate them. And we must. They’ve given us no choice.

From the Notebook

By Karen

I’ve shifted to a Tuesday-Friday posting schedule due to my day job. Here are the bits I’ve been making note of…

Mask Update from Virginia: Today I went to the Post Office, Target, and Food Lion. The PO still had a door sign requiring masks, and everyone inside wore one. Target had removed its mask sign, but kept the social distancing sign. However, I didn’t see anyone maskless. At Food Lion, I forgot to look for the signs, but everyone was masked. I’m thrilled.

Medina Spirit Triple Screwed: The New York Racing Association suspended trainer Bob Baffert from its tracks, including Belmont, home of the third Triple Crown race June 5. So, Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit can’t compete, even if he wanted to win two out of three.

In any case, Medina will probably forfeit the Derby because Baffert let Medina receive a rash ointment containing the banned substance betamethasone. We await a second drug test to confirm the first failed test, but it’s using more of the same blood sample, so another positive seems certain.

Medina may have shot Baffert a “middle hoof up” in the Preakness. Medina led balls to the wall the whole race, only to fall a distant third to Rombauer and Midnight Bourbon in the final stretch.

So, a promising Triple Crown season will probably fizzle, with Medina Spirit a drug-convicted also-ran. Leave it to humans, right?

What’s No. 3 Worth Outside Horse Racing?: Demonic Dick Cheney’s daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a wisp of conscience that infuriates Republicans. First, she voted to impeach Trump (on 2nd try). Then she admitted he’s lying about the election being stolen, painting also as liars every Republican scumbag still spouting that bullshit. It was the first and only time I’ll probably ever agree with a Cheney.

So, Liz had to be punished. Through a weaselly, passive-aggressive secret vote, they stripped Liz of her No. 3 position in the House.

Did it ever matter? Did she get wear a special ring or something? I have no idea who No. 2 is. That position may not even need to exist because Kevin McCarthy reeks of No. 2 from constantly rolling in Trump’s crap.

Republicans Remember Insurrectionists as “Normal Tourists”: In real time, the world watched our Capitol swarmed by human Plague rats egged on by Trump to overthrow the presidential election. They smashed windows and doors, beat police, brandished weapons, smeared feces, ransacked offices and stole, and erected a gallows out front for the vice president.

We’ve been seeing video and hearing eyewitness accounts ever since about this nightmare that killed five people.

I’m waiting for Democrats to slam the lid on this garbage that it was a “normal tourist visit” NOW. Arrest the instigators who still sit fat and happy in Congress. Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor-Greene et al. need a little “me time” in jail to face the fact that that Trump’s out and so is gaslighting.

Israel – Hamas War: In its latest burst of impotent rage, Hamas started shooting rockets at Israel again, with predictable results: Israel’s Iron Dome is swatting the rockets away like flies, but in retaliation flattening huge swaths of what little they’ve allowed to remain of Palestinian territory.

In the U.S., it seems anything less than 100% unconditional support for everything Israel does is labeled anti-Semitism. But this has nothing to do with race or religion. It’s about oppression and human rights abuse.

Let me put it this way. Say your neighbor has a dog he encourages to poop all over your yard. This makes you angry and you feel he’s violating your land, so you start flinging the feces back over the fence into the dog-owner’s yard. One night, he responds by fire-bombing your house, destroying it and killing your whole family.

You can usually tell who’s “winning” a conflict by counting the casualties (as of this minute):

Palestinians: 212 dead (including 61 children, 35 women), 1,400+ wounded, 2,500 homeless.

Israelis: 12 dead (including 1 child).

Israel absolutely has the right defend itself from attack, but the disproportionate brutality is where I draw the line.

In a perfect world, Netanyahu and Trump would be sharing a prison cell for their lives of financial corruption and depraved indifference to human life, and we’d all be better off.

Medina Spirit on Trump: “He’s Wack”

By Tony

Trump, desperate for a social media fix after getting banned everywhere for lying, created his own website, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.” (No link. Cats Working is dedicated to stamping out ignorance.)

Trump spews gibberish that people may ♥ or repeat on Facebook or Twitter. We hope journalists don’t scamper after Trump down his new rabbit hole, fouling the media with his garbage.

But on Sunday Trump called Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit a “junky.”

That’s because after the Derby, Medina failed a drug test. It showed too much betamethasone, a steroid horses are given for pain or inflammation. It’s forbidden when they race. Medina’s trainer Bob Baffert has been suspended at Churchill Downs, and the world waits for results from a second test on another portion of Medina’s sample to find out if Medina has to forfeit his Derby win and give up his Triple Crown dream.

Max and Roc helped me “borrow” Karen’s phone and call Medina Spirit to get an opinion straight from the horse’s mouth…

I caught him just before he hit the road to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Tony: Hi, Mr. Spirit? Do you have a few minutes to talk to Cats Working?

Medina Spirit: Cats? Working? Are you kidding? The cats prowling our stable hunt purely for sport. But they’re cool, so sure. Make it quick, though. My trailer’s almost ready to go. Call me Medina.

T: Thanks. You were amazing in the Derby. I’m so sorry they might disqualify you for doing drugs.

M: That’s some crazy shit, right? I can’t believe it myself.

T: Did you realize your people doped you before the race?

M: It comes down to this. When they show up with a big horse needle before a major race, you can either kick their balls off and earn a trip to the glue factory, or you can trust that they’re not SO stupid, they’d kill their own meal ticket, so you take the shot.

T: I get it. Why do you think Baffert would let that happen?

M: We call that guy “Baffling” around the stalls. One day he loves his horseys, the next day, we hear he’s shooting them up and getting suspended. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

T: What do you think about Donald Trump calling you a “junky.”

M: To be honest, I’m more pissed that Baffling keeps calling me a “little horse.” What’s that mean? A Shetland? A Falabella? I’ll tell you, I’ve got one thing I’d like to show Baffert any day that makes his own look downright puny, and that’s my —

T: — Horses put cats to shame in that department, too. Speaking of mushrooms, back to Trump.

M: Oh, yeah. What does Trump mean by “junky”? Was my saddle tatty? Was my jockey wearing rags? I don’t get it.

T: I think he meant “junkie,” like drug addict.

M: Oh, right. That clown never could spell. But he knows junkies. He sees one every time he looks in a mirror. And he’s not seeing an orange horse with a fucked-up mane. What a washed-up wack job. It doesn’t take even a lick of horse sense to see that. Why isn’t he in jail yet? People need to muck out his worthless opinions. When it comes to crime, Trump makes Baffert’s horse-rigging seem trifling.

Hey, look, kid, I gotta run. Literally. In the Preakness on Saturday. Against Mandaloun again. He almost beat my ass in the Derby.

T: OK, Medina. I’ve got paws crossed you win again. I hear Baffert’s watching the race from California, so it’s all on you at Pimlico. Best of luck!

From the Notebook

By Karen

First, I must report Tony has had his first culinary mishap. I’d just turned off the stove and was pouring a pot of boiling pasta into a colander in the sink while Tony watched. Here’s an old photo of Tony with the same burner/pot…

In the seconds I was at the sink, the tip of Tony’s tail touched the still-hot burner. When I returned to the stove, I pushed his tail away and smelled burning fur. Tony jumped down in utter confusion.

Later upon inspection, I found 1) No burnt skin, so tragedy averted (as the late Yul’s tail amputations taught me), and 2) more tail got singed than I realized.

Tony eventually noticed it himself and started licking. Today the singed part feels almost smooth again. Whew!

While the cats were picking horses, I’ve been taking notes on the news.

With SCOTUS, Smaller is Better: I stand by my compromise of rightsizing SCOTUS by reducing the number justices. The elegant simplicity is that Biden doesn’t have to nominate anyone who will immediately have Fox trashing their reputation. It also eliminates confirmation hearings, so Senate Republicans can’t spew treason on live TV.

Just cut the court back to seven justices with an impartial LIFO layoff, last in, first out. That rids us of the worst two: Amy “I Hate Women” Barrett and Brett “I Love Beer” Kavanaugh.

Republicans Refuse to Govern, Hate America: Moscow Mitch McConnell just announced, “100% of my focus is on stopping this new administration,” just like he vowed to make Obama a one-term president. McConnell also blabbered, “Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle just can’t resist stretching out the pandemic, using it as a rationale for additional spending far beyond what is best for the country.”

Yeah, it was the Democrats dragging their feet the whole year Trump was dancing in the blood of 500M+ COVID victims and trying to get a crazed mob to murder Congress. Sure, Mitch.

Clearly, Republicans’ mission is to keep Americans destitute or dead and the country’s infrastructure in rubble as long as they’re rich. No matter what Biden does, McConnell says it has no Republican support. So, it’s past time to end the filibuster and make every traitorous, useless Republican roadkill under the steamroller of Democratic progress.

Give Vax Deniers the Right to Die: If Biden won’t mandate vaccinations for feckless morons who are the REAL ones “stretching out the pandemic,” let’s shun them like smokers. If they can’t show proof of vaccination, don’t let them in anywhere without a mask, and throw them out if they refuse to keep their distance. We need to isolate these disease-carrying vermin as a herd so may infect and kill off each other and end the pandemic.

Trump Returns to Social Media — Not: Facebook just banned Trump for another six months, but we all know they’ll eventually let him spread lies and stoke violence again, because Facebook is an intellectual landfill where facts and wisdom go to die.

Law enforcement — anywhere — needs to wrap up “investigating” and arrest Trump on any of his myriad felonies. They’ve got video, audio, paper trail and witnesses in most cases. Imprison Trump as a flight risk until his trials. Cutting Trump off from call-in interviews and social media would bring peace of mind to the world.

So Bill Barr Lied — Now What?: A judge finally admitted it. Former Attorney General Bill Barr’s four-page “summary” of the Mueller report was all lies and he never had the slightest intention of prosecuting Trump for anything — EVER.

As always, criminal behavior of Trump and his cronies was exactly what it seemed when we watched them do it, no investigations or hearings necessary. Bill Barr has been exposed as the Trump-loving, DOJ-sabotaging toady he presented himself as. Will he be disbarred? Charged with perjury? Obstruction of justice? Or allowed to shrug it off, as so many of Trump’s criminal accomplices have done so far?

Bringing Trump and his enablers to justice would force Republicans to face consequences, and force them to Plan B. Whatever Plan B is, it can’t possibly be worse than propping up a demented wannabe dictator with lies so they can make the U.S. an autocracy.

White House Should Listen to Major Biden

By Max

You’ll find no dog-lovers here at Cats Working, but since we all share Major Biden’s backstory as shelter animals who made good, we’re unanimous in our opinion that he’s getting a raw deal over two alleged “biting” incidents.

We were shocked after the second one when that two-faced, closeted Trump-lover Joe Scarborough on MSNBC called Major “Cujo” and a “werewolf,” and had the NERVE to suggest that Major be put to sleep and “meet Dog Jesus”!

(At least Mika and Willie Geist took Major’s side.)

Even César Millán, the famous “Dog Whisperer,” called in to defend Major when Fox “News” was trashing him.

Let the record state that neither time did Major break skin or draw blood. Joe Biden himself confirmed that when Major first “nipped” a Secret Service agent. The second time, Major’s nippee was a National Park Service employee who got medically checked out at the White House and immediately returned to work “without injury.”

So, Mr. Scarborough, if you step on toes twice in a crowded elevator but don’t break any, should we take you out back and shoot you so you can meet “Douchebag Jesus”?

Let’s step back and consider this rationally. Major, who’s 3 years old now, went from anonymous shelter mutt to living with a former vice president — who then became president and promoted Major to Second Dog (his bro Champ, who’s 12, is First Dog) in the White House.

That’s a LOT of change for a doggy brain to process…

After the first nip, Major was sent home to Delaware for training, but he was only back at the White House for about a week when he got nippy again.

Major may be trying to tell Joe Biden something about the White House; he may smell lingering Trump cooties on people. German Shepherds tend to be very protective, and Major looks like he knows his job is keeping Biden safe…

Perhaps the best way to resolve this is to line up all the White House staff and the Secret Service like luggage at the airport and let Major do an inspection. Anyone he doesn’t pee on or nip gets Top Canine Clearance. The ones not so lucky need to be put on leave for more thorough background checks because something’s clearly not right with them. Dogs (and cats) know these things.

Or maybe Major senses Trump’s demented hatred of dogs and the White House needs an exorcism.

PS: Tomorrow is my 10th birthday and I’m celebrating with presents for EVERYONE! Roc and Tony are in for surprises. Stay tuned…

BONUS: Speaking of douchebags, Randy Rainbow has struck again with a classic parody from Oklahoma…

Wokeness Is Starting to Hit My Limits

By Karen

One particular assault accusation against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently got my attention. A woman named Anna says Cuomo kissed her against her will at what appeared to be a large wedding. His lips hit her cheek because she turned her head.

When I saw this picture, I had a flashback to another wedding decades ago…

Photo: CNN

It was probably 1967. I was 13, staying the summer in Massachusetts with my grandparents and forced to tag along to a big Italian wedding. I don’t remember who got married, but I’ll never forget the gorgeous little cream-colored lace dress I wore, which I accessorized with hot-pink fishnets that my grandmother hated. Instead, she made me wear white anklets. With LACE!

We were on the church steps when a great-uncle showed up. I barely knew him. He had the look of a less-handsome Cesar Romero…

Suddenly, this near-stranger grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me right on the lips. And that was my first real kiss with the opposite sex.

Was I “confused and shocked and embarrassed,” like Anna? Did I alert the media to call out Uncle Kissy-Face as a perverted pig?

None of that. I was definitely surprised, but that’s Italians for you. Grabby and affectionate. What’s more cringe-worthy to me was the humiliation of those stupid baby socks.

Cuomo is accused of making gauche passes that sound like assault. If he did, he deserves to be punished. But a kiss at a wedding? Give me a break.

I’m afraid our whole sense of male-female interaction is being twisted beyond recognition. I blew a gasket that Turner Classic Movies feels a need to put Henry Higgins “in context.” WTF?!

TCM plans to hold roundtable discussions before showing certain classic movies to explain why they’re unwoke.

In this new reality, My Fair Lady, the Lerner and Loewe musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, is about a wealthy phonetics expert named Higgins who sets out to subjugate, humiliate and exploit a young women named Eliza Doolittle, whom he considers “a draggle-tailed guttersnipe” — just to win a bet.

TCM thinks Alan Jay Lerner made the story’s ending “less feminist” by giving it the upbeat ending viewers wanted, instead of Shaw’s. Watch it yourself. Higgins and Eliza have just had a final reckoning where he admires her new independence, calls her a “consort battleship,” but she tells him she can do “bloody well” without him. Now, he’s returning home alone…

I’ve watched this movie dozens of times and see Higgins, the “confirmed old bachelor,” finally brought to heel. At last, Eliza has put him in his place. When he tries to save face by inquiring about his slippers, she just smiles because they both know she’ll never fetch again.

I guess young people today think Eliza suffers from Stockholm Syndrome.

What’s surprising is that they haven’t gone berserk yet over another misogynistic musical written by those monsters Rodgers and Hammerstein based on a memoir published in 1870.

In The King & I, a young English widow with a son takes a job in Siam (now Thailand) as a governess. She immediately discovers that her workplace is toxic. Her boss, an Asian male, behaves like a king, walking around half-naked and demanding all subordinates — particularly women — to actually grovel at his feet. He forces Anna to live on-site against her will and be on call 24/7.

The climax of this woeful power imbalance may be the most prolonged and disturbing depiction of workplace harassment, bullying and sexual assault ever captured on film…

Since 1956, movie-goers have mistaken this movie, like My Fair Lady, as a love story without kisses. But now we know that Yul Brynner, his overpowering sexual magnetism notwithstanding, had NO BUSINESS touching Deborah Kerr’s waist without permission, let alone forcing her to do the polka.

Did I forget to mention that in both movies, not only was there great wealth and power disparity, but also age? Back in the day, these were called “May-December” romances, and no one considered themselves a victim.

PS: If Richard Rodgers were still with us, he’d be roasted alive on the spit of #MeToo with an apple in his mouth. He was a family man with two daughters who had a reputation for casual hookups. His music still pops up all the time in TV ads and comprises a sizable chunk of the Great American Songbook but, by today’s rules, we’d be compelled to silence and scrap his every note.

Make McConnell Smell Scorched Earth NOW

By Karen

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is peeing himself over Democrats passing a federal voter protection bill. It could nullify 250+ laws Republicans are trying to ram through their state legislatures so they can stay in power with every form of cheating imaginable.

McConnell knows — probably from experience — that Republicans are toast without cheating. They’ve been the minority at least since 2000, when the Supreme Court handed George W. Bush the presidency.

Biden wanted a collaborative relationship, but McConnell’s having none of that, instead threatening “scorched earth” unless Dems continue to let the leader of the losers steer the country from the backseat…

Gauntlet, consider it thrown down. Democrats, stop playing nice. We voted for you to DO SOMETHING. Call McConnell’s bluff. Show him what scorched earth looks like. Shove the filibuster down his goddamn throat — because you can.

Just like Trump and McConnell lied to, stole from, sickened and killed Americans by the millions — because they could.

McConnell’s a crumbling wreck who can barely move his lips. His party’s loss put him in the corner. Keep him there until he croaks.

Now, stepping down the chain a link…

To racist Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. He’s the guy who has nothing but fond admiration for the Capitol rioters, but fears lawless BLM demonstrators…

Call his bluff, too. Since Republicans are so fond of “the good old days,” let’s give a contemporary twist to sorting out witches back in the 1600s and let Ron prove his patriotism.

U.S. intelligence predicts that Trump’s never-ending gaslighting of white supremacists will likely spark more mass violence this year, so let’s put it to good use. The next time a MAGA mob riots, give them Ron Johnson, Ted Cruz, Josh Hurley, Kevin McCarthy, and every other Congressperson who wanted to ignore the election and make Trump dictator.

They have nothing to fear. They’ll be among the peaceful, law-abiding voters they love.

If the seditious mob hails them as heroes, it’s proves they’re also insurrectionists. Swiftly bring them to trial to receive appropriate punishment for treason.

But if the mob turns on them, suffocating them with bear repellent, beating them with American flags or tearing them limb from limb, the joke’s on them for trusting a brainwashed mob.

It’s a win-win. Congress efficiently rids itself of Trump scum.

As frustrating as these situations are, we have only ourselves to blame. Every idiot who voted for Biden, only to instantly sabotage him by voting down-ticket for corrupt Republicans like Mitch McConnell should get help. There’s something seriously wrong with you. Do you want progress or not?

And don’t forget where your COVID-19 vaccination or your $1,400 stimulus came from. (Hint: Trump had nothing to do with either one. He was too busy playing golf, watching TV and planning insurrections.)

TONY BONUS: Last night, Tony gave us all a scare when he appeared at the third beam, beyond the balcony. This photo was taken from below. His shadow on the ceiling is two stories up. Every cat has ventured onto that beam once, when young and foolish, never to return. Roc, being very long, is the only one who routinely goes out there, because he can pull himself across the span onto the balcony…

“Roc played a mean game of Truth or Dare with me. I lost.”

I’m happy to report that I was able to talk Tony back in from the ledge, and third beam continues to be but a dream.

Twitter and @CatsWorking Part Ways Forever

By Karen

BUT FIRST, BREAKING NEWS: In what can only be described as a miracle, I just returned from receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine! The county sent an email late Saturday night with appointments today at the county fairgrounds, so I pounced. Four days shy of my one-year lockdown anniversary, I can barely wrap my head around knowing that normal life may finally be on the horizon.

Now, Twitter. It took exactly 10 weeks to confirm my status because Twitter euphemistically calls all disciplinary action “suspension,” including permanent banishment. I was indeterminately suspended on Christmas Eve and immediately filed an appeal. Hearing nothing back, a few weeks ago I requested clarification on the duration of my suspension.

By the way, all contacts with Twitter “support” get canned bot responses, so I don’t know if there’s any human intelligence involved, or if they just spit stuff out based on algorithms.

I’d had a Twitter account since 2010, but the three strikes leading to my termination all occurred during Trump. First, I was shut down for 12 hours for insulting Sandra Huckabee Sanders. Then I got seven days for calling Ivanka the C-word. At Twitter’s command, I deleted those tweets but have no regrets about what they said.

On Christmas Eve 2020, the hashtag #ImpotentTrump was trending (meaning thousands of tweets included it), so I joined in. Here’s the tweet that pushed Twitter to the breaking point. It was viewed 138 times…

And here’s their rationale…

Compare their list of protected categories to my tweet and you’ll see that none apply, unless they’re defending Trump’s potency. I was criticizing his POLITICS and utter failure as a president, as well as his family’s corruption. Perhaps instead of “tar & feathers,” I should have wished them coal in their stockings, or bags of dog shit on their doorsteps.

The lesson here is that it’s incredibly easy to have your message misconstrued.

Twitter revoked my ability to delete the tweet or deactivate the account, which still sits there in some weird Twitter cyberpurgatory with 8,000+ tweets.

I respect Twitter’s right as a publisher to reject my work. But, since they have rejected it, I don’t believe they have any right to hold it hostage, and have asked them to delete @CatsWorking altogether.

Twitter began to self-destruct when they refused for four years to rein in Trump for thousands of insulting, cyberbullying, lying tweets FAR worse than anything I ever tweeted. Now they’ve swung the pendulum hard in the opposite direction and seem to be banishing people willy-nilly.

In January, Twitter closed 70,000 accounts of QAnon followers, as well as Trump’s, and faced accusations of stifling conservative voices.

I feel like the baby thrown out with the bathwater, but c’est la vie. Cats Working, the blog, lives on.