I continue to improve and am still trying to get as much rest as I can, so I don’t regress, as I usually do at this time of year.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:58). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Agony:
They could have and should have won this one. They beat themselves with their own mistakes.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Roy Moore “would not be the horse you would want to bet on first,” opined an anonymous source of Steve Bannon’s. Bannon’s goal as self-appointed GOP kingmaker was to remake the party in his own image, starting with getting Roy Moore elected after a divisive and passionately fought primary against Luther Strange. Bannon saw Moore as being the first of many right wing candidates that he endorsed that would be victorious at the polls. Unfortunately, with Moore in disgrace and Democrat Doug Jones leading in Alabama, it’s all gotten topsy turvy in Bannon World and the campaign is starting to come off the rails. First and foremost, the RNC announced they were pulling funding for Moore’s campaign a few days ago and lo and behold GOP mega donors are jumping ship as well. Washington Post:
Early this month, GOP mega-donor Robert Mercer announced that he was stepping down as co-chief executive of his hedge fund and selling his stake in Breitbart to his daughters.
In doing so, he wrote a letter distancing himself from Bannon in which he expressed concern that he at times had been mischaracterized in the press as “a white supremacist or a member of some other noxious group” and made clear that he would be making his own decisions about candidates to support financially.
A person familiar with Mercer’s thinking said in the past week that he does not plan to be “joined at the hip” with Bannon in his Senate efforts. In some cases, there could be overlap, but in other cases they could part ways, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak about private conversations.
Mercer’s not the only one to entertain second thoughts about this Senatorial make-over of Bannon’s creation. Las Vegas casino tycoon and major GOP contributor Sheldon Adelson went on record last week as saying that he did not support Bannon’s efforts to recast the Senate and was instead, “supporting Mitch McConnell 100%.”
If the Plutocons and Corporacons are abandoning Bannon, the Theocons and the InsaniTEA wing of the party won’t be able to give him long-term control of the Republican Reich. RESIST!!
From Media Matters: "I think media activism is one of the most important parts of this whole resistance," Bill McKibben, influential climate activist and journalist, told Media Matters in a recent interview. His new novel, Radio Free Vermont, puts a spotlight on the importance of independent media.
"Just as we have got to go about the work of building a fundamentally healthy energy system, and a fundamentally healthy agriculture system, we have to go about the long, patient, crucial work of building a healthy information system again on this planet," he said.
McKibben has published more than a dozen nonfiction books, many of them about climate change and environmental issues, but Radio Free Vermont is his first foray into fiction. It features a band of activist pranksters in Vermont who find creative ways to fight against corporate control and the big retail chains that push out locally owned businesses. The novel’s protagonist, Vern Barclay, is spurred to become a rabble-rouser because the local radio station where he works is taken over by a corporation based in Oklahoma.
McKibben says this aspect of the book was partly inspired by a frightening event that happened in Minot, ND, in 2002. In the middle of the night, a train derailment caused a dangerous chemical release into the town’s air, ultimately killing one resident. When police tried to reach someone at the local radio station that was designated as the town’s emergency broadcaster, they couldn’t get ahold of anyone. Clear Channel Communications, a Texas-based conglomerate, owned that station and all five of the other commercial stations in Minot, and piped in prepackaged content from remote locations.
"That really struck me," said McKibben.
Clear Channel, now known as iHeartMedia, is the largest operator of radio stations in the U.S., with more than 850 in its control. Meanwhile, in the TV market, Sinclair Broadcast Group owns more stations than any company in the U.S. and is poised to acquire many more, which would enable it to squelch local voices and spread its right-wing messaging to the biggest media markets in the country.
We have far too much media concentrated in far too few and far too Republican hands. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Mr. Moore, long a controversial and polarizing figure, stands accused of molesting or making unwanted advances toward numerous young women and girls, one as young as 14, when he was in his 30s. That has rendered him radioactive for national Republicans and led The Birmingham News to bellow on Sunday’s front page: “Stand for Decency, Reject Roy Moore.”
And the Democratic candidate, Mr. Jones, is a respected former prosecutor best known for convicting two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, who was raising the possibility of a truly competitive race even before the accusations against Mr. Moore.
But opportunity has knocked on the door of a Democratic operation with the lights out. With a fairly anemic state party, there is little existing infrastructure for routine campaign activities like phone banks or canvassing drives. National Democrats, while helping to pour in money, are taking pains to keep the race at arm’s length, figuring their presence could hurt rather than help Mr. Jones. There are no beloved statewide officeholders or popular party elders to rally the troops.
“The Democratic Party is not behind him pushing him up the hill to victory, because they don’t have a wagon for him to ride in right now,” said Mark Kennedy, a former state Supreme Court justice and erstwhile chairman of the Democratic Party. “He’s got to do it all by himself.”
I agree that a strong national Democratic presence now could be self-defeating, because we have been AWOL for much too long. Grass-roots is the best we can do today, but we need to build a strong party infrastructure in all 50 states in time for 2018. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
We need more here.
14 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/20/2017”
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4:33 I don’t have much time today to smell the flowers.
I hope you’ll forgive me for posting this. I tripped over it by accident, and I though most people would not be looking for another one so soon after Sessions-recollection. If I’m wrong and you were planning to put it up tommorrow, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, and I’ll try to find a way to make it up to you.
Incidentally, I think Nebraska is trolling TransCanada. They just issued approval for KXL – but not for the route they asked for. Instead, they approved a route that TransCanada says is not acceptable.
DKos AND NYT – I find it fascinating that both major parties are distancing themselves from their own Senate candidates, in the same state, but for different reasons. I agree Dems need to keep quiet unless they are Alabamans (Alabamians?) themselves. But that is because we know what we want. I don’t think Republicans do know what they want. Big Republican donors seem to want to pass policies which no honorable person would pass, yet still have themselves and their candidates considered to be honorable people (after all, it has worked for decades with pseudo-Christians). It seems to not be working too well now.
Media Matters – I still contend that story can be the best way to get ideas across. I will be looking up “Radio Free Vermont” (isn’t that a great title?)
Cartoon – We need another one.
Thanks for the SNL clip, Joanne. Enjoyed that. Made me consider genetics again, though. If people inherit 50% of their genetic material from each parent, then how did Eric get even dumber than his father? Not much, I agree, so my guess is he probably got dropped on his head after birth.
There are such things as “recessive genes.” But being dropped on his head would work too.
Here is McKinnon/Sessions doing her audience responsive “I Do Not … Recall”
(Scroll down shortly, because it gets a little old after a bit.)
I almost posted that one on the 19th instead of the one I did.
You picked the one that was most related to what is happening now, rather then a historical one. Makes sense. Thanks.
YVW!
DK: Good news for us, and Karma for them.
MM: There are times such as this, that roil my brain. Both IHeartMedia and Sinclair are tools for the ‘stool’, and I will not be privy to that.
NYT: This is really sad to read. I certainly wish Mr. Jones the best.
Cartoon: Yes!! we do need another one, and quickly!!
Sorry to see your guys lost. Mine won by a healthy score. Enjoy your evening, get your rest, and Thanks, Tom.
*Joanne, LOVE your Resist picture!
Thanks, Pat. Some similar coming.
I totally agree with Pat B: We need some new Nuremberg Trials, and you know who should be the “guests of honor”!
Oh, well, guess this ain’t the Broncos’ year.
DK: I saw that earlier. Now, it seems that the Franken situation is going to work in favor of the Moore bastard!
MM: Clear Channel is owned by Mr. 47%, Mitt Romney, I believe, so, of course its got a right wing agenda.
Nuremberg Tribunal: I’ve got a whole list of people to put on trial, as I’m sure you do!
DK: It seems that Bannon has a proclivity towards picking clones of Drumpf as candidates to govern the country: they’re all instable, megalomaniacal compulsive liars. Of course they need to be for them to fall into Breitbart/Alt-right ranks, but they’re also out of anyone’s control, even Steve Bannon’s and the 1% GOP-donors like Mercer and Adelson may be a lot of things but they aren’t fools. They’ve learned their lesson backing Bannon’s Drumpf, they won’t risk their money on his clones.
MM: Bill McKibben’s “Radio Free Vermont” may be fiction but soon ranking with “1984” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” in the top ten of Prophetic Novels. The fact that Bannon and Drumpf have taken over The Voice of America has been forgotten by the public already, wiped from their memory by the avalanche of other Drumpf “news”. Soon all local radio stations in the country, away from the cities, will be in the hands of the right-wing, making sure that the ill-informed Drumpf supporter stays ill-informed. Or should I say “brainwashed”.
NYT: It is so sad to see that the Democratic party is so ill-prepared to deal with windows of opportunity like these, handed to them by the activism of so many people living in red states. People living there are right in claiming they’ve been forgotten and that clearly holds true for people on the left too. I hope with all my heart that the Democratic voters realize that it down to them, not the party, to put Jones in his seat by any activity they can think off, but above all, by getting every Democrat to vote. This time the Republicans, disgusted with Moore, may be the ones to stay home, so each Democratic vote at the polls could tip the scales.
Cartoon: I hope America will never sink so low that afterwards it needs to have put up a court like this and condemn what is left of a former government of a nation to hang.
Thanks all. Hugs!
Puzzle — 4:27 Snack food?
Daily Kos — Bannon needs to be given a real thrashing out behind the wood shed, and it seems that Mercer, Adleson and the like are just the ones to do it. It may take a while, or maybe not with Roy Moore, the bible thumping hypocrite on the horizon. Totally unbelievable that so many Alabamians will vote for him. What is in the water down there?
Media Matters — If control of the people is the end goal so that an agenda can be rammed through, then start with the media and political opponents. It worked for Hitler, Goebbels and Nazi many. Look at Russia now — state owned media with other media suppressed; assassination of Putin’s political rivals; and other controls over religion and culture. And these are not the only examples. As I recall, David Koch is on the board of NPR and is capable of exerting considerable influence. A free and open media must not be allowed to die.
NY Times — “Grass-roots is the best we can do today, but we need to build a strong party infrastructure in all 50 states in time for 2018.” — I agree. There is a better chance of building a national presence with strong state presence. As far as Alabama goes, and probably many of the red southern states, they need to get their heads out of their pseudo Bibles and be forward looking, not backwards looking.
Cartoon — United States???
Well, I am a day late but at least I am here and catching up. Tomorrow is a busy day for me so I’ll be late, and then Thursday is another busy day. I think I am busier now than when I was working. Who said retirement was the time to sit back and relax?