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As we know, the bond between a man and a cat can be incredibly strong, and that includes  world leaders. When a beloved tomcat went missing, one leader’s wife inspired a novel idea to try and find him. Bringing this kitty home was of great national interest! The bond between this cat and his Cat Dad was so strong that when they were together, the usually stern man was known to crack a smile. This feline companion so completely won over his heart. But this cat won over the hearts of Army and Navy leaders, as well as a Capital guard all on his own. A Tabby Went Missing in a Snowstorm at the White House This tiger-striped tabby, named Tige, lived no ordinary life. He and his sibling Blackie, lived at the White House in 1923. They were the companions of the Coolidges, who both loved all kinds of animals. However, it was President Calvin Coolidge who preferred cats .  President Coolidge loved Tige, and the kitten would run to the White House to greet him at the end of every workday. Coolidge would then carry the tabby on his shoulder to the Executive Mansion. But sadly, on March 21, 1924, the adventurous Tige went missing during a heavy snowstorm. He was only seven months old at the time. In the snow, search parties tried but failed to find the tiny kitten. Fortunately, the First Lady was aware of a new possibility. Secret Service Tries a New Idea Inspired by the First Lady First Lady Grace Coolidge, a radio enthusiast, knew how powerful the radio was in reaching people instantly. She enjoyed listening to music and baseball on the radio. We don’t know how the conversation went, but her Secret Service agent, James Haley, gave the radio idea a try. After a brief broadcast, much of the eastern part of the country got a plea for help in finding the missing cat. At the time, use of the radio was limited to east of the Mississippi, so it was still very new. “We regret to announce that the President of the United States has lost his cat,” said Haley. “It was a seven months old Thomas cat, marked like a tiger, and answered to the name of Tige. Tige has a very affectionate disposition , and Mr. Coolidge was very fond of him. He has not been seen since Friday evening during the snowstorm. The President would appreciate it very much if anyone who has seen Tige would return him to his master. Thank you.” Afterward, there were hundreds of offers to replace the missing kitten. However, the President and First Lady only wanted their striped ‘Thomas cat’ back. Tige Charms His Way into the Military Meanwhile, Tige was doing very nicely half a mile from the White House. After straying, the tabby charmed many new friends in the military. Army Captain E. F. Koenig saw the kitten near the Lincoln Memorial and carried him to Navy guard Captain Edward Sullivan. He fed the kitten and kept him safe in a closet. But at the time, neither man knew that Tige was the President’s cat! The  reported that the “royal looking” Tige “immediately took possession” of the new Navy building. New York Times After seeing the cat on the morning of the 26th, Captain Edward Bryant, who was aware of the radio broadcast, sent a guard, Benjamin C. Fink, to return the kitty home. And Fink appeared in the news, smiling widely with the handsome tabby. Although the news gave Fink the credit for the rescue, the cat had actually charmed many helpers. A Rare Warm Smile President Coolidge was delighted to hear that Tige was back at home. According to the Coolidge Foundation, he smiled warmly hearing it. Such a smile was unusual for the generally stern man. “Tige’s return brought about a celebration. When told the good news, a warm smile of relief and happiness crossed the President’s face. Mrs. Coolidge, too, was happy. She must have been equally pleased that their radio appeal had worked so well and so quickly.”   According to one story, the the cat smiled, too! According to one story, the the cat smiled, too!
“The cat returned promptly to the White House and at lunch time wandered into the dining room and smiled knowingly at the President. He had had his experience and appeared glad to be back in his home,” reported the Times. The story of the reunion made for welcome and happy news. In a Cabinet meeting, Coolidge credited the radio and newspapers for helping find Tige. The new idea inspired by the First Lady’s interests had worked. Afterward, the public took a different view of Coolidge, a powerful man who was known for being silent, yet melted for cats and other animals.

Pat McAfee is now working as an ESPN employee, and while Barstool doesn’t give two craps if you curse live on air, Disney might. McAfee’s show on the worldwide leader in sports debuted this week, and the way McAfee’s show operates, it was bound to happen – and we got a glimpse at a hilarious […]

In September 2016, Waterloo became London’s first all-electric bus garage. But did you know it also offers hungry Londoners the chance to refuel, in its own hidden cafe? Waterloo train station — until very recently the UK’s busiest terminus — has no lack of fairly-priced grub joints in its orbit: from the Thai lunch deals at Marie’s Cafe, to battered sausage and chips at Fishcotheque. But the Bus Cafe is on a whole other plain of thriftiness: we’re talking homemade soup and garlic bread for £4; substantial plates of jerk chicken, rice and salad for £6.50; and gut-busting fry-ups for a trifling £5.50. Someone forgot to tell them the 1990s are over, and we’re not complaining. First things first: you are allowed to be here. Yes, the Bus Cafe is secreted behind a wall of silently re-juicing buses, and yes the joint is frequented by hi-vis wearing Go Ahead employees who like to shoot pool in the corner, or catch up on the news headlines over soup and a sarnie. The vibe is that of an employees’ lounge, but it’s not. As the inconspicuous sign outside suggests, this caff is open to all, at least it is from Monday to Friday, 8am-4pm (this is not, we would stress, somewhere to take your paramour for a candlelit dinner after the Noel Coward play at the Old Vic). You’ll find the entrance on Cornwall Road, just to the east of Emma Cons Gardens. If you can see dozens of parked-up buses, you’ve found it. 10 seconds down the pedestrian pathway, painted blue, you’ve arrived in Thrifty Lunchville — formica tables, handwritten blackboards and all. Order at the counter: staples (including sandwiches, salads, melts and burgers) are on the overhead menu, and specials are on the boards off to the left. Caribbean classics are a speciality: mutton curry, oxtail, jerk chicken, that kind of thing — although trad caff grub is also abundant. Once you’ve ordered, sit down and wait to be called to go up and fetch it (if you’ve ever been to the Regency Cafe, you’ll be familiar with the system). Table sharing, by the way, is a prerequisite (that’s right, you’re going to have to talk to a bus driver for once), and if you’re in the mood for making friends, you can even challenge someone to a game of pool. Those in the market for a transport-themed cafe afternoon, should make the short walk to Scooter Cafe on Lower Marsh, where you’ll find post-lunch va-va-voom in the form of a flat white or a negroni, surrounded by transporty trinkets, including a couple of strategically placed Vespas. The Bus Cafe, Cornwall Road, Waterloo, Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm

Not a Joke: NPR Station Says Biden’s ‘Drama-Free White House’ Is a ‘Christmas Gift’ to America It’s not exactly a merry Christmas at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are the lowest they’ve ever been, and heading into an election year, he trails Republican front-runner Donald Trump in the polls. Inflation isn’t at the eye-popping levels it was, but it still remains above the Federal Reserve’s target rate, with price increases already baked into a faltering economy. Americans are unhappy, and rightly so. Abroad, the administration’s weakness has invited Russia to invade Ukraine and Hamas to invade Israel, leading to prolonged conflicts on both fronts. Neither seems likely to abate anytime soon. At home, the president’s son faces tax and gun charges, and the president himself faces an impeachment inquiry over whether money from Hunter’s suspicious foreign dealings found its way into his father’s account. However, the folks at NPR affiliate WBUR-FM in Boston don’t seem to have access to the news — or, if they do, they choose to ignore most of it. That’s the only conclusion one can draw from the fact that our state-funded radio broadcaster published this commentary piece on its website: “Joe Biden’s drama-free White House is America’s most under-appreciated Christmas gift.” Read those words to yourself again. They’re not from The Onion, nor the Babylon Bee, but NPR. Your tax dollars at work, America! Steve Almond is a writer whose animus toward Republicans is pretty obvious; of his five commentary pieces for WBUR before the uproarious one about “Joe Biden’s drama-free White House,” three were about Donald Trump (titled “Trump is a clear and present danger,” Donald Trump and the trap door” and “What to do about Donald Trump,” respectively), one had to do with Fox News (“When truth is an ‘unsellable product’”) and only one of which had to do with something other than propping up the Democrats while excoriating Republicans (a piece about the allegations that former “Daily Show” contributor Hasan Minhaj has fabricated much of the backstory that’s made up his onstage comic act). But here he is, just before we unwrap presents under our respective Christmas trees (which are more expensive than ever, thanks to rampant inflation), filled with jolly ho-ho-hokum about how we ought to be thanking our senescent puppet-in-chief for all he’s bequeathed upon us this holiday season. “With Hanukkah just over, and Christmas fast approaching, Americans are thinking a lot about gifts these days. According to Gallup in fact, we’re on pace to spend more this holiday season than we have in a quarter century,” Almond began. “Much of the reason for this can be attributed to President Joe Biden’s administration, which has helped engineer an economic recovery few thought possible when he came into office. Under his watch, inflation has plummeted with no sign of a recession. GDP growth was at 5% last quarter, with historically low unemployment, and robust wage growth.” This is basically a two-paragraph synopsis of everything wrong with those who rush to the defense of “Bidenomics.” First, the “historically low unemployment, and robust wage growth” has largely been fueled by the slow-but-steady recovery from pandemic lockdowns that decimated the American economy. All Joe Biden had to do to achieve that was nothing — and he did less than that , pursuing policies that ushered in rampant inflation, encouraged workers to stay out of the workforce and which did nothing to alleviate gas and housing crises. The second problem, of course, is this sentence: “According to Gallup in fact, we’re on pace to spend more this holiday season than we have in a quarter century.” Yes, we are — and a cursory look at the data reveals it’s in real, not adjusted, U.S. dollars, meaning inflation might also play a part in that. The pollster also noted “the increase could consumer interest in retailer promotions that kicked off ahead of Black Friday,” adding that the “estimate[s] run contrary to the implications of Americans’ continued pessimism about the economy and relatively sluggish overall spending in October.” Well, what about the White House being “drama-free?” Here’s a spoiler alert: There are no mentions of “Hunter” anywhere in the article, and the only mention of “scandal” is this riotous sentence from Mr. Almond’s keyboard: “Biden may be 80 and a little bit boring, but his administration has been chaos and scandal free.” He even managed to get Biden’s age wrong. (The president turned 81 in November; the article was published Thursday.) Instead, here are the talking points Almond points to as to why we should be grateful for whoever is pulling the strings on the 81-year-old celluloid marionette in the Oval Office: “A holiday meal sans masks.” (We could have had this in 2020.) “More buying power.” (This is because wage growth is now higher than inflation — a relatively recent phenomenon.) “Cheaper prescription drugs.” (Because Joe Biden “took the fight to Big Pharma and capped the cost of insulin at $35 per month” and now allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly — meaning the invisible costs inherent in America’s broken health-care system will be invariably pushed elsewhere.) “Jobs, jobs and more jobs.” (Translation: Democrats killed jobs with lockdowns, and are now taking credit for the fact they’ve come back. Woohoo!) “Student debt relief.” (Although nowhere near as much as the president wanted — which is probably for the best, considering how popular paying off student debt is among those who paid theirs off beforehand or never took loans in the first place.) You get the idea. I’ll cut this out before you and I get migraines, but not before noting Mr. Almond’s almost-pathetic naïvety regarding why Americans might not regard the president as Saint Nick with hair plugs. “The central mystery of this holiday season, for Biden, is why the American people seem to regard this booming economy as a lump of coal,” Almond wrote. “Whatever the reasons, I can’t help but think of Biden and his economic team, toiling away without much fanfare, like Santa and his elves. Whether or not you support him, it’s worth acknowledging a few of the gifts Santa Joe has tucked under our tree this year.” I’ll pause to allow you a hearty outburst of schadenfreude-induced laughter over that nugget. But fine, whatever: Thanks, Joe Biden, for making my job as a conservative content creator so much easier. Then again, NPR affiliates and bobblehead media Democrat boosters like Steve Almond also do — and they don’t spend trillions of my money on infrastructure bills that have little to do with infrastructure, or inflation bills that have nothing to do with inflation. They just fritter away a tiny bit of it on a puff-piece commentary about how the “drama-free White House” currently in the midst of an impeachment inquiry and with roughly the same approval rating as malaria “is America’s most under-appreciated Christmas gift.” At least this waste of my tax money made me laugh, I suppose. New headline: “NPR station’s clue-free commentary is random writer’s most under-appreciated Christmas gift.” Thank you, Mr. Almond. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a lying dog-faced pony soldier. Corn Pop was a bad dude. Huh? Where’s Jackie? 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