Please pardon my brevity I have been a slave to Republicosis for most of the day and have had very little sleep. The goal is to publish, dry up, and sleep as soon and as much as I can.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 6:47 (average 8:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MoveOn Channel): Trickle-Down Justice
While I agree with Van and reject trickle down justice, our support for civil rights cannot be to exclude all else. Absolute refusal to compromise breeds only extremists, like the Bernie or Bust Bot killer that wouldn’t even listen to Bernie. RESIST!!
From The Rachel Maddow Show: Special counsel investigating Trump for obstruction: WaPo
Adam Entous, national security reporter for the Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about breaking news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Donald Trump for possible obstruction of justice in the firing of James Comey.
Obstruction of Justice is clearly a great way to proceed against Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten. I don’t see how Mueller could reach any other conclusion. RESIST!!
From NY Times: …The latest charges reached farther than before into Michigan’s state government, affecting two cabinet-level officials in the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder and leaving open the possibility that the investigation would go higher still.
Nick Lyon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office, felonies that could lead to as much as 20 years in prison. Dr. Eden V. Wells, the chief medical executive for the department, was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer, and could face up to seven years if convicted. They are among 15 current and former state and local officials facing criminal charges as a 17-month investigation into Flint’s tainted water supply continues.
The charges need to be more severe and need to include Snyder. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Today’s Republicans would arrest Ben for committing science.
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 6/15/2017”
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5:32 A great way to make me crazy early in the morning, so that's done for the day.
YT – I don't hear Van talking about refusal to compromise, but about recognizing that people of color are at the heart of pretty well everything the Democratic Party wants to do, and needs to do to survive. Voting rights is certainly a case in point. But so is mass incarceration and – let me try to be tactful – law enforcement overreach. I could go on, but …
Rachel – There is nothing in this announcement we didn't already know, except this: NOW, Trump CANNOT say he is not personally under investigation, that he was told he was not, that no one ever told him he was. The same is true of money laundering by Trump associates. We have all known it was happening, and assumed it was being investigated. But now – now it is not possible for the administration to deny it is being investigated. They may still call it a witch hunt, but they cannot deny an investigation.
NYT – While I agree with you 100%, I was as heartened to see this much in the way of indictments as I was to see that a judge has stopped the DAPL due to insufficient environmental review, and oredered more review.
Cartoon – It's not necessarily a brushoff to tell someone to go fly a kite – especially a Renaissance Man like Franklin.
I didn't hear him talking that way either, but I have seen comments from left wing regressives that interpret him that way.
Oh, yes. The "All Rights Matter" people. Every once in a while one of them sees the light. Mostly they don't. Is the best answer to them the one Andrew Gillum gave? https://www.7thstep.org/blog/2017/05/30/pithy-progressive-3/
YT: Good point, he speaks volumes. Yes, we all need each other. I hope people listen to him.
RM: Anything/everything dt does, requires an investigation. Now, he can't say he's been 'vindicated'.
NYT: Glad to see the ball rolling on this, I'm glad that the investigators are filing their charges from their findings. Such a tragedy that didn't have to happen.
Cartoon: A favorite pastime of mine.
Hope that you recover, get some rest. Take good care, andThanks, Tom.
But not with a key – I hope!
U-Tube/Move-On: Read "The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," by Michelle Alexander, which I have rcommended before. This is why I have previously stated that the war on drugs, while it MAY have begun as such, did not stay that way. It has been a war on Blacks!
Maddow: By now, old news, in this world, but, boy I hope they can put together a very convincing case. Sessions stonewalling is to b expected- THERE ARE NO BIGGER STAKES AROUND, AND HE IS NOT GOING TO ROLL OVER, even after his boss throws him under the bus, I believe.
Cartoon: Does a breeze flow through the compound at Leavenworth? Can we send the donald there, with his very own kite?
NYT: The bunch of them need to be tried, convicted, and sent to live on Mars to see whether, or not humans can survive there…or is it inhumans?
Puzzle — 4:49 This proves that all that glitters is not gold.
YouTube — I very much agree with the ideas Van Jones has expressed here. To me, he is calling for equality for all and the recognition of equality by all. Is not that part of second line of the Declaration of Independence, a foundational document of the Constitution?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
By supporting equality for all, everyone is united in the most fundamental way. Citizens are both independent and interdependent.
TRMS — This from Daily Kos:
Drumpf's reaction of course was to tweet: "You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people!", a clear reference to Robert Mueller and the FBI.
IMO, the "very bad and conflicted people" are Drumpf and his very sick admiistration. I wonder if this will put Drumpf over the edge (even further over the edge) towards firing Mueller. Drumpf is the author of his own misfortune.
NY Times — I whole heartedly agree. Perhaps the people that are indicted should be made to bathe and drink Flint water.
Cartoon — It was probably Mrs Franklin that told him to go fly a kite. As a result, we should be thanking Mrs Franklin for the discoveries. Women in science — a powerful force!
Resist and Persist!!!
I hope you are able to get some sleep tonight and that the Republicosis has abated. It has been pouring rain all day here and it is cooler than normal. I even put an extra blanket on the bed last night which is extremely unusual for me. Of course, with that rain comes the arthritis, especially in the hands.
YouTube: Van Jones expresses a point that Democrats really should listen to and deal with. The fact is that Americans of color are at the core of every Democratic issue, simply because almost all vote Democrat – if they can – and so form a major part of the Democratic party's core. But politics are never black or white (no pun intended) and not all voters will agree on every issue in the party's platform; voting is all about voting for the platform you like best of all. So the Democratic party has a hard job on listening much better to those issues pertinent to their voters of color without alienating the many other groups within their voting base.
Rachel Maddow: It is interesting to note that Rachel stressed the point that Mueller didn't start the investigation when he took the job, but that "the file had already been opened" a few days after Drumpf fired Comey for his refusal to let the Flynn case go. As the White House already has begone a campaign to blacken Mueller's reputation by making a U-turn on his previous "impeccability and integrity" and now calling him biased, a close friend of Comey and what could be best described as a "Democrat". Underlining the fact that Mueller hasn't started the investigation of Drumpf but has simply taken it on as his inheritance is putting the WH in the spotlight for another attempt to hinder justice. Firing Mueller at this point would hang Drumpf.
NYT: A good start if these officials are indeed convicted of the charges now brought against them, but if they are indeed punished, the prosecutors will only have done a good job if these "little men" will not be the fall-guy for Schneider and go after him too.
Thanks all. Hugs!