Yesterday, The opera on the radio was “Orlando” by Handel. Baroque and Bel Canto oeras (1730-1830 approx) are famous for mad scenes, but they are usually for women. This one has a male mad scene, sung by a counter tenor. Most interesting. I also put meds together for the next two weeks. Annoying, but necessary.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Crooks and Liars – Washington State Rep Locked Out Because Of Failure To Get Vaccinated
Quote – You might remember this doofus from earlier this year, wearing the Yellow Star of David to equate the Holocaust with vaccine mandates.
Click through. Gotta love it.
Democratic Underground – What was really being planned at the Willard Hotel before the January 6th insurrection?
Quote – We may soon be finding out. Also I hope we find out about all those White House meetings in November, December, and January . . .
Click through – I realize it is a bunch of tweets, but they are presented very readably and are well attributed. This is not meant to be definitive, but rather, suggestive of what may come out.
Mother Jones – Substack Is Profiting Off Anti-Mask and Anti-Vaccine Newsletters
Quote – There’s one less frequently discussed way in which Substack actually might be endangering democracy: It’s become a conduit for public disinformation during a historic pandemic. Indeed, my search of Substack returned dozens of newsletters that suggested that vaccines and masks were ineffective and dangerous, and that “the media” had exaggerated the harms of COVID-19. Many of the newsletters that I found insisted that the government was suppressing evidence in favor of treatments that scientists have shown to be ineffective, like hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. Other Substack newsletters made similar claims about unproven supplements and other fringe remedies.
Click through for story. Social media is the modern nin-headed Lernean Hydra. Where is our Hercules?
Food for Thought –
16 Responses to “Open Thread for October 24, 2021”
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Makes a fine day for you. Glad that you are enjoying the opera(s).
Cartoon: 40-hour workweek was extended to all employees, which was and is good news.
C&L: Oh, geesh! Glad that his key card was disabled.
DU: I was reading about this, this morning. Holy Moly! A treasure trove of information, lots of data, pictures! and people in the room. Justice will prevail.
FFT: Yep…all scary!!
This just in: – “Our democracy faces a crisis that requires action. Now is the moment to reach beyond region, beyond party, beyond self, to save and reinvigorate the sputtering flame of the American idea. That is why wemust pass the #FreedomToVoteAct.” ~ Angus King ~
2. “Ahmaud Arbery’s time on Earth was needlessly cut short, but his memory lives on. Thank you to the Brunswick community for pursuing accountability. We need a justice system that ensures full investigations, appropriate charges and unbiased prosecutions.” ~ Stacey Abrams ~
3. “Under my Administration, we’ve gone from the brink of financial collapse to historic job growth. We have a lot of work to do still – but this is progress.” ~ President Biden ~
4. “@FLOTUS on GMA on what she wants her legacy to be as first lady: “I would hope that people would say ‘she saw us, she heard us and she helped us heal as a nation.'” ~ @RobinRoberts ~
5. Let’s do facts instead. Under @POTUS, job growth is up 10x over the end of the Trump-McCarthy economy, UI claims are down 60%+, and 5m more people are back to work. If @GOPLeader wanted to help our economy, he would support our bill to invest in ports, roads, bridges, and jobs. ~ ~ Jen Psaki@PressSec ~
TJI #3 – We need to let the MSM in on this story. They seem to have TOTALLY missed it.
TJI #5 – None other than Fox news’ very own Chris Wallace called Jen Psaki:
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/578176-chris-wallace-labels-psaki-one-of-the-best-press-secretaries-ever
He also insulted Baby Dooce – and called it “a grudging compliment.” Want to bet Baby doesn’t even know he’s been burned? LMAO!
TJI #1 – I prefer the John Lewis Act, but I’d take this one in a heartbeat if we can’t get thet one. If we don’t, we may never get any voting rights law – or one that says only white men can vote.
TJI #2 – Right on. When someone commits a crime, and their identity is known, and here’s such blatant evidence, it should not require even a tiny bit of pressure for them to be prosecuted.
TJI #3 – Yup. Now let’s get people to believe the truth.
TJI #4 –
TJI #5 – She really does her homework – and her ability to think on her feet is priceless.
Washington State Rep Locked Out Because Of Failure To Get Vaccinated
Well, Jim – that’s actually your Blockbuster card you’re waving around. Why don’t you try your Piggly Wiggly one to see if that will work?
What was really being planned at the Willard Hotel before the January 6th insurrection?
[Frantically waving my hand]: “I know! I know! A coup!”
How much evidence of treason does the DOJ need before we start enjoying a downpour of indictments?
Substack Is Profiting Off Anti-Mask and Anti-Vaccine Newsletters
Sometimes I definitely think it’s true that ignorance is bliss. I’ve never even heard of “Substack” before.
Food for Thought
Good cartoon – but I think there’s actually a LOT of competition in the GQP for “Scariest”
What could be more Republican than breaking a rule, experiencing the consequences, and having no idea why the consequences?
The full quot is conditinsl. I had a prof whose middle name was “Bliss” (ut he wasn’t ignorant. He got excommunicated, or whatever they call it, from the LDS for being Christian. And no, I don’t mean an evangelical idiot. He had good priorities.)
Marj is expert at drawing attention to herself. So let her be a symbol representative of the rest of them. God knows she doesn’t represent anyone else – certainly not her constituents.
Comment from Mitch –
C&L: The man obviously does not care about whom he might infect, so why should they let him in? From Sheila Kennedy:“The libertarian premise, the Enlightenment construct that says citizens are entitled to pursue their own telos, their own life goals–in today’s jargon, entitled to “do their own thing” and make their own “personal choices”–so long as they do not thereby harm the person or property of a non-consenting other, and so long as they are willing to accord an equal liberty to others. The legitimacy of government action rests on those caveats.” This is like the cartoon of the guy with the “My Body, My Choice!” poster. Jackasses!
DU: Can not open, but I’m sure that what was going on in the Willard was treasonous!
MJ: That is both horrific, but not a surprise. Any platform that is vulnerable to being, or willing to be, in effect, pirated by the agenda driven crazies will be found by them.
FFT – MTG is liable to cause much more damage than her “buddies.”
>Mitch
More from Mitch –
More DU response: As per Heather Cox Richardson–
Tonight’s third story is that former president Trump’s loyalists set up a “command center” in mid-December at Washington, D.C.’s famous Willard Hotel to try to overturn the election. Those meeting to come up with a scheme to overturn the will of the voters included John Eastman, who wrote the memo outlining how Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to count the electors for certain states and thus throw the election to Trump; Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani; adviser Stephen K. Bannon; former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, a convicted felon pardoned by Trump; One America News reporter Christina Bobb; and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.
It is significant that as this story has hit the news, Eastman, the author of the infamous memo, is running from it. He went to the respected conservative magazine National Review to argue, quite preposterously, that his memo was simply a thought exercise that he did not endorse.
The very choice of the Willard, rather than Trump’s own hotel, suggests an attempt to create distance from the president, but Kerik, who rented the rooms, billed the Trump campaign for the $55,000 hotel bill. (Those participating are likely to discover that campaign activity is not part of official duties and so cannot be covered by executive privilege.)
Mitch
And the current POTUS does not seem to think this kind of activity is covered by executive privilege just as Nixon’s tape was ruled not covered.
Cartoon: Great day for workers. Never realize there was an actual date for creating 40 hour workweeks.
C&L: Wish it would happen to all of the anti-vaxxers.
DU: Wow, the information they continue finding about the January 6 insurrection. Feel it’s going to get to be a real thriller, when all of the juicy facts come out.
MJ: Sounds crazy to me. Glad I’m not into these Social Media sites.
Food for Thought: Yikes wouldn’t want to meet one of them. Agree with Nameless’ comment.
Nice that you were able to enjoy your opera yesterday. It sounds to me that you’re staying ahead doing your meds for two weeks. Smart move.
Take care. Thanks Joanne
Am wondering what headline will come of SF+ Greene after the event:https://www.sfgate.com/bay-area-politics/article/Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-San-Francisco-GOP-vaccine-16552009.php
Trying to remember what all I put in my comment before computer challenges going to find the above link…may be having historic rain where I’ve been having to clear out debris from my neighbor’s tree making dams interfering with water runoff, etc. Dixie had a debris flow that closed Hwy 70 already and Donner Pass Road is closed from one…the trauma continues
I noted that the Congressman who were believed to be a part of the plot were not mentioned…this article gives a little more of the details the tweets sketch out:https://www.huffpost.com/entry/willard-command-center-overturn-election-washington-post_n_6174c967e4b066de4f636fd0
Wish I could remember the rest…sigh
If I were the NY Times or the WA Post (I jnw, Gos forbid) I would not be printingany names of Congress members in connection with the insurrection until and unless those names turned up in interviews with the individuals, or in testimony, or possibly in pictures if I were printing the pictures – and those pictures would be printed with the bare minimum of caption.
Cartoon: Imagine, we’ve only known the weekend for 80+ years.
C&L: This idiot should be locked out of a lot more things, I reckon. But how about locking him in? In an asylum of sorts, for instance?
DU: I’m sorry, but I can’t make chocolate from this and leave it up to the experts to see what these pictures prove.
MJ: Substack? You run out of time to follow PP closely for a couple of days and you’re completely out of the loop…
FFT: I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that people are skipping Halloween this year because reality is getting too scary.
Cartoon: Yes, I’ve told some peeps to thank D’s for weekends/overtime pay(I know, that’s being eroded by calling folks “managers”, etc. now) when they’ve called me a D like that’s a bad thing! SMH FFT: Sometimes looking somewhat “normal” is the SCARIEST. I won’t be handing out candy this year since I’ve been called a socialist and communist lately! The latter just this AM as I was putting up my “Biden-Harris” and “remember Jan.6” signs. A woman yelled from passing vehicle, “tRUMP won, u know!You’re a communist.” So my week begins, LOL! Stay safe.
Hi, Spy! I’m so sorry you are being harassed!