Cats

So we have an oil executive taking over a State Department that has been stripped of its senior career leadership at a time when the President picks fights with, of all people, the prime minister of fucking Australia. A President who strands green card holders at foreign airports on the pretense that he's making us safe, safe from the most vetted people who ever come into America. So, to play off a popular meme, here are some pictures of cats.

In this case, my cats. The black one here is Gonzo, he likes dogs. People, eh, if you've got a dog near you he might be cool. He purrs really loudly, louder than any cat I've ever had but he has about a four stroke limit most of the time when it comes to attention from people. Loves the dogs. Loves them. Makes kitty-biscuits on their tummies and pets himself on their legs.

Then there's Zippy, the big orange. Corinna says he's a Republican cat because he's a fat cat who only cares about his own pleasure. I think that selfish aspect is pretty universal to felines, and I'm pretty sure Zippy is smarter than to vote for Donald Trump if for no other reason than that Trump would obviously wage a war on catnip and offer to send federal troops to otherwise friendly countries where catnip is grown.

Then there's Bulldog. He's a non-voter if ever there was one. All he cares about is sitting on Mama and making sure the food bowl is never less than half full. He's into protest, too. If that food level gets to low, he will absolutely walk slowly in front of you and sing We Will Overcome until the Iamb's is forthcoming.

I'm sure this post will draw the ire of Republican types who don't like being called fat cats and who think Trump is doing good things. Though the things he's doing are mostly athwart of what the Republican Party has stood for since World War II. A Mexican border wall beyond FDR's wildest dreams that not only is impotent to prevent the migrants it's meant to keep out (because over half of them arrive by airplane)? That border wall, just to build it we'd have to build access roads to ship material and workers into what are now impassably rugged mountains. A smuggler (of people, narcotics, arms, terrorists, take your pick) will have little difficulty scaling or tunneling past the wall, and now you've given them turnkey infrastructure on the other side. Thanks for the handy road, there's a mate!

But I'm trying hard to restrain the amount of political ranting I do here. I know I won't convince anyone they're wrong, even when they're appallingly and if they gave it a moment's thought, obviously wrong. I won't even say Trump can't get anything right, he apparently delegated picking a Supreme Court nominee for the stolen seat (and whether you like Obama or not, appointing Scalia's replacement was his to do and Mitch McConnell can smoke a turd in hell for not even giving Garland a hearing). And as far as the balance of the court, Gorsuch is probably as good a replacement for Scalia as we're going to get, especially with a Republican President filling a stolen seat.

I was very, very skeptical of Obama when he took office. And despite my libertarian tendencies, he largely won me over. He used executive authority way too much, as did W., and if your guy is making the moves maybe it seems okay. Then comes the time you have to turn the keys to the Cheeto Benito. But overall, Obama was articulate, even tempered, didn't start any new wars (though he was unable to finish the old ones off really or to close Gitmo, or to quit the drone attacks). So maybe Trump can win me over in the end but don't wait under water.