Yesterday, I had a bit more paperwork to do for the prison. It took longer than I wished – but it was a bit easier than the first two because instead of having to go the the website ands turn a pdf into a jpg so I could type into it, the prison emailed me a blank word document. Obviously I have saved copies of everything. I’m pretty sure that’s the last one.
I don’t remember subscribing to The Intercept – I presume it happened because I signed something- but I have not seen this lede story anywhere else, and I don’t think it should be ignored, so I’m sharing. Feel free to browse down, and if you go to another page, browse down it also. They have a lot of information.
Harry Litman at Talking Feds on a story that is definitely not getting ignored – so much is being discussed I thought I’d bring an actual Constitutional lawyer to address it.
And if you want to listen to another lawyer, here’s a Michael Popok (Legal AF, Meidas Touch) a variety of legal issues. You can also see it on YouTube, but if, like me, you aren’t paying YouTube, this is a way to skip the ads, even if you aren’t paying Meidas either..
Yesterday, my doctor’s visit went smoothly. We made a couple of minor med changes, and she wants to see me again in a couple of months with new blood work just before it. I can go ahead and get revaccinated for shingles and TPD but that has to be done at a pharmacy for Medicare to cover it. Well, I can do that. Otherwise, we are still feeling our way so I won’t go into detail. (And being brief because it took up time.)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard Joyce Vance being sarcastic before. She’s very good at it. I’d like to see more if it.
This is the second in a series from the Contrarian on how courts can hold the Kumquat Kakistocrat accountable. Because it’s anything but easy. This article discusses Criminal Contempt, how it works, what can go wrong, what to do if it starts to go wrong.
Today I have an appointment with my PCP in the afternoon. Hopefully tht won’t slow me down.
Don’t ask me what it will take for Americans to wake up and wee what is happening. I don’t know. Robert Reich doesn’t know. John Pavlovitz doesn’t know. If any of us knew, we would have started doing it. Marcie Jones at Wonkette doesn’t know either. If only we did.
Nice to know some people have a sense of proportion. About time someone did.
I can’t actually post the “Dose of Democracy” daily news email, but this link has most of the information from Tuesday’s. One wonders how long Shapiro will stay mad at the Apricot Antichrist. At least it’s something.
Yesterday, I found another Substack besides Wonkette which allows comments from no-paying subscribers – The F***ing News. And, even more so than on Wonkette, Hoo boy, do you ever hear back. In your email. Most of is is “like”s, but there are also replies, and the email contains the full reply, so you don’t need to leave your inbox unless you want to reply to (or like) the reply you got. I take that as evidence above and beyond the statistics and ratings that Substack is really reaching people.
I don’t often post John Pavlovitz. But I am today. He is not saying anything, for instance, Robert Reich is also saying. But he is saying is in a voice metaphorically like a volcano. Maybe you know someone who needs to read (or hear – there is a “voiceover” 4:21 minutes long.)
I have posted items I found in Wonkette Tabs before, but this is the first time I am posting a link to the Tabs themselves. Tabs are a collection of newsworthy articles which for some reason no Wonkette individual writer is writing a whole post about. But that doesn’t mean the stories are necessarily trivial. In fact, I’m posting to the link today because I was overwhelmed by the amount of consequential news. I’m not expecting everyone to go to every story it could take you all day – but as a summary, I found it effective on its own.
On Saturday, it was revealed that the regime wants to suspend habeas corpus. I’m not sure what part of “There is no invasion, and you can’t do that there here” they don’t understand. Because that was spelled out in the rulings on the use of the Alien Enemies Act – and Miller in discussing it explicitly used the term “invasion” in discussing the possibility.
I’m sure you get why I had to include this article. The information is valuable and the title is priceless. It’s also frivolous, so I’m posting two others which aren’t.
Joyce Vance discusses the possibility of a subpoena for the White House – or rather, for someone in it. Although neither Joyce nor the judge spells out exactly who, I would bet there is solid precedent established during Nixon’s second term. And IMO we need to follow that precedent and maybe even extend it if possible.
Obviously this is a few days old, since Mothers'(or Mother’s) Day was yesterday. But this should not happen ever on any day. Everyone is always entitled to due process by the Constitution. I refer to the Belle video for the best explanation I have ever heard of why.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot” in an archived broadcast studded with stars from my youth. I always subconsciously expect it to be longer than it is, and I think that may be because the casting for it, especially the principal soprano, require singers capable of singing Wagner, whose operas are notoriously long. Anyway, it received rave reviews at the time, and rightly so.
From Democratic Underground. Video in Italian with English titles. No telling how much, if any, impact it will have. But he’s not wasting time.
This from goodgoodgood – well, you’ll see. As much time and energy as we have all probably sped worrying about 3D “printed” guns, this reallt is a ray of sunshine.
Yesterday, I wondered how badly I need to get over being annoyed by American exceptionalism, at least over some things. But I’m at the point where If I see the phrase “American Pope” one more time, I might – I don’t know – beat my head against the wall or something. Yes, he is American born, which makes him a birthright American citizen. Yes, his brother still lives in the US, and yes, they do Wordle together every morning. But the Pope is also a naturalized Peruvian citizen, which means at the very least he should be called a dual citizen, or an American-Peruvian. (I just learned before getting ready to post that he is in fact a dual citizen.) But frankly, as right wing as the American Roman Catholic church is today, that gives me a lot more hope that if he were in fact just an American. Pope Francis was also from South America. OK, end of rant. Let’s have something good for a change. My email from the ACLU yesterday had this subject line: “Breaking: Rümeysa Öztürk is free!” The case is not over. But for now, she can wait it out in her own community with her own asthma meds.
This link is to a video about 16 and a half minutes. It is about government surveillance and data collection. The CEO, IMO, had balls the size of church bells to name it Palantir, and if I were Chris Tolkien, I’d take him to court over it – if I knew about it. Not that is isn’t appropriate – particularly in how sinister and dangerous the misuse of it can be – it just irks me to see a word invented by JRR Tolkien ripped out of context for commercial use.
Heather Cox Richardson adresses the direction in which we may be heading. OK, this is a quibble – you can have your own opinion on how important it is, but it always bothers me. Yes, “Brave New World” is a dystopian nobel, but it is utterly unlike just about every other dystopian novels in that its inhabitants are not miserable, and that is by design. Everyone in it is conditioned from conception to be in a specific labor pool, and also to be comfortable with the jobs in that labor pool. Hence, everyone is employed practically from birth (however it is defined.) The inhabitants do not want for necessities such as food or shelter or health care. All that is provided by the government. The goverment also provides access on demand to a powerful antidepressant (in fact, I don’t think the word “antidepressant” is strong enough for soma.) Birth control is perfected, and there is no nosigyny, so casual sex can be casual and guilt free. Destructive emotions are dealt with in group sessions. Even a form of religion is government-provided. There is no resistance, not because it’s sternly put down, but because there is nothing to resist – everyone is happy (except that one guy, an no one pays attention to him because they are all happy.) And it works. The seeds of its destruction do not come from within it, but from a place so totally outside it that it has been overlooked. Republicans, authoritarians, do not want a Brave New World. Because for them, cruelty is the point, and there is no cruelty in the Brave New World world. They want a 1984 world, in which people can be tortured for counting to four. And that is what the surveillance is for.
Here is what the 19th has to say about the new pope. He’s not perfect, but he’s far better than I feared when Francis died. I can say with some confidence that he is personable. At least one of his friends is delighted that the rest of the world will get to meet him.
Yesterday, I picked up some Belle videos. She’s still posting four a day, and of course they are all of interest, but to different groups, so they are no means all of equal interest to PP readers. Sometimes the choices are tough. Also, I picked up some music parodies, including a Canadian parodist I was not familiar with. Tomorrow, I’ll post his praise for Australia – for Lona. Also, there is a new Pope (or in Latin, Habemus Papa) on only the second day of the conclave. His papal name is Leo XIV, and I don’t know much else about him, but he appears to be someone Francis himself might have chosen. He was born in Chicago, so (not all) American Catholics are going nuts over the first American Pope. In America we have so many – or maybe they aren’t that many, but they are loud – bishops and archbishops who are Nazis that I was worried. But I’m not sure he should be called an American Pope, except in the broadest sense – he was born in the US but has mostly worked in Peru and is a naturalized Peruvian citizen.
This Letter is about corruption in general, which includes tariffs along with many other grifts. If you want to know exactly how the Apricot Antichrist is grifting you (and the rest of the nation), this is the place to come. But wait – there’s more. The following day’s letter follows up on the first one.
I certainly don’t want to encourage complacency, but if Robert Hubbell is reading the room correctly, this is worth at the very least a sigh of relief.
