My cat Tink and I are spending our last weekend together.

I read these to her while she was hanging out in my lap this weekend. We both appreciated the overwhelming love we received here.

She went peacefully this morning.


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I'm sorry to share sad news. I know we all are dealing with so much right now. I feel selfish even mentioning this now.

Tink's around 21-22 years old (yes, she's extremely old for a cat), and she's been with me for more than 20 years now. When I found her she'd been badly mangled in a dog attack and the vet said I should seriously consider euthanasia. Her huge golden-green eyes had already told me that wasn't an option, and I told him no way are we putting her down. It wasn't her time yet. It almost broke me financially back then, but I never regreted my decision. She went on to become my dearest companion, neck masseuse, therapist and general confidant. She's a Main Coon, big beautiful and one tough cookie. Most important, she's a dearly beloved part of my family.

She'd been losing some weight over the past year and the vet changed her food to a prescription. No big deal, she's an older cat and such is normal. Then I noticed blood in her urine on November 12th of 2016. A week and two vet trips later and I find out it was kidney cancer. There's no cure according to my vet, and we've been on supportive care ever since. Which reaching an end now. She went in today for an evaluation, it wasn't good. Even I see the fading with my jaundiced eyes. She had a treatment of medications today and I was told to consider euthanasia in the next week. Much as it breaks my heart, I don't want her to suffer so I scheduled to bring her in early Monday. I wanted one last weekend with my little buddy.

I purchased her a fresh tuna steak today, her favorite, and seared it for her tonight. The leftovers are hers for the next two days. Not that she has much of an appetite compared to her old self, but she still seems to appreciate fresh tuna.

I know she's had a very long life, but my heart is still breaking knowing our time is almost over. Please, just keep her in your thoughts if you have room, and wish her a gentle passing

Jon Snow U.K. Channel 4 News interviews Carter Page on Russian investigations.

White House Denies Trump Will Call Up National Guard for Immigrant Roundup

Source: Bloomberg

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied a report by the Associated Press that President Donald Trump was considering using the National Guard to round up undocumented immigrants.

"That is 100 percent not true. It is false," Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One, calling the APs report that Trump may call up as many as 100,000 troops "irresponsible."

Spicer said he had no information about the origin of the report.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-02-17/spicer-denies-trump-will-call-up-guard-for-immigrant-roundup?utm_content=politics&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics

Anti-Semitism searches surge after Trump press conference

The White House has found ways to end protection for 'Dreamers' while shielding Trump from blowback

One of the only black people in Trumps team has been fired for criticizing Trump

A senior adviser to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson was suddenly fired Wednesday, apparently because the White House discovered he had criticized President Donald Trump.

Shermichael Singleton, 26, had worked on Carson’s own presidential bid in 2016 before joining the administration. In the closing weeks of the election, Singleton wrote an op-ed critical of Trump in which he blasted the then-nominee’s rhetoric toward black voters as “a coded message from an era in our history that should stay in the past.”

Singleton had already “answered a number of questions regarding the article and expressed remorse for the piece and support for Mr. Trump” prior to assuming his HUD position in January, the New York Times reports. But administration staff hadn’t finished his background check and “this week, Mr. Trump’s advisers turned up” the op-ed and some related tweets, according to the Times.

Singleton, who the Huffington Post notes is “one of the few black Republicans in the Trump administration,” told the Times he could not discuss the circumstances of his abrupt firing.

https://thinkprogress.org/one-of-the-only-black-people-in-trumps-team-has-been-fired-for-criticizing-trump-5748f2d6f247#.tbcdri2tt

Harward called the NSC offer a "shit sandwich."

Flynn in FBI interview denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador

Source: Washington Post

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.

The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy, as lying to FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department. Some officials said bringing a case could prove difficult in part because Flynn may attempt to parse the definition of sanctions.

A spokesman for Flynn said he had no response. The FBI declined to comment.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/national-security/flynn-in-fbi-interview-denied-discussing-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador/2017/02/16/e3e1e16a-f3d5-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html

#BREAKING Trump withdraws appeal of travel ban suspension

US ambassador contradicts Donald Trump on two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Source: The Independent

America’s ambassador to the United Nations has said the US “absolutely” supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, directly contradicting comments made by Donald Trump just a day ago.

The US President told reporters after a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu that his administration was no longer wedded to the creation of a Palestinian state.

The remarks signalled a departure from America's decades-old approach to Middle East foreign policy.

But Nikki Haley, Mr Trump's appointment for ambassador to the UN, said the US remained committed to a two-state solution.

She said anyone who believed the US was abandoning the policy did so in “error”.

The UN envoy said: "We are thinking out of the box as well, which is: What does it take to bring these two sides to the table? What do we need to have them agree on?

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-ambassador-donald-trump-two-state-solution-contradicts-israel-palestine-conflict-latest-a7584386.html