As mentioned in my reply to JD’s post of
Here’s the bothersome (at least to me) slideshow I put together of the NRA’s efforts at “grooming” or indoctrinating children into the gun culture:
Aug 052023
Aug 052023
Yesterday, It was fairly quiet. Actually, it was really quiet around here – and there wasn’t that much in the news. Of course Thursday was the big news day. After that, most other news is going to be anticlimactic. I did manage to find a couple of things to say, though. WRT the FFT, ordinarily I’d put it in the video thread. But the success story, which I covered here, but not from this angle, is a victory most of us, maybe all of us were part of, as he points out.
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Short Takes –
The 19th – Young Americans who identify with gun culture are more likely to believe in male supremacy, research shows
Quote – Pasha Dashtgard, the director of research at PERIL and an expert on male supremacy and online radicalization, said one factor propelling this sentiment is a shifting economic landscape in America. “In places of economic instability, men are shifting from this attitude of man as provider to man as protector,” he said. “You may not be able to, as a man, be the primary breadwinner, but you can — through acquiring guns and the willingness to use guns for violence — reclaim your masculinity as a protector.” Even in young people, this sentiment was notable and behind many of the things that participants expressed to the researchers during interviews. Dashtgard said this speaks to a larger cultural dynamic at play currently, where many White men are feeling unsure of how to articulate themselves as men in current society. As a result, many young men are turning to guns as an “unimpeachable access to masculinity.”
Click through for details. “What a surprise!” said no one ever.Apparently we need to provide education to teach people who don’t realize it that a gun and a penis are not the same.
Colorado Public Radio – ‘I Am the Bridge’: How a poem being presented at an African cultural event in Arvada was created by 50 people from different ethnicities and cultures
Quote – Words of resilience, marginalization, trepidation and community were spoken when about 50 people showed up on July 1 at a spiritual center in Arvada to brainstorm lines for what eventually became “I Am the Bridge: A Poem By All Of Us.” It’s a four-page poem with contributions from local Native Americans, Asians, Hispanic people, Jewish people, European people, Black Americans and African immigrants. It will be performed by seven people, one representing each of these groups, at the Arvada Center on Saturday evening.
Click through for a few quotes and more information. It isn’t Amanda Gorman, but it is powerful nevertheless.
Food For Thought
Aug 042023
Glenn Kirschner – The 3 most incriminating witnesses in new Trump indictment? Meadows, Pence and …. Trump himself!
The Lincoln Project – Unintelligent Life
MSNBC – ‘Fearless’: The judge Trump will face in Jan. 6 criminal coup trial
The Ring of Fire – Biden’s Biggest Election Threat Isn’t Trump It Is Voters Not Showing Up
Great Dane Finds a New Grandma On Hiking Trail
Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, complaints, and jobs….
Aug 042023
Yesterday (actually Wednesday, but Heather Cox Richardson’s letters don’t arrive until after midnight), Richardson came up with an explanation why the military were slow to respond on January 6 which makes sense. Readers’ Digest version, they had gotten wind of Trump**’s considering using the Insurrection Act and were not sure whose side they’d be on – and didn’t want to be on the wrong side. I don’t know whether that’s original to her or whether it’s floating around. But it does make sense. The military were (quite reasonably) concerned about what Trump** might do, and at that point it wasn’t as widely known as it is now who was in on it. Also this week, our national credit rating was downgraded by Fitch Ratings Inc. (I never heard of them either, but I don’t run in those circles.) This is only the second time in history our credit rating has been downgradeed, the first being in 2011 by Standard & Poor. Both downgrades happened shortly after a fight in Congress over the debt ceiling – in other words, both were caused by Republicans in Congress – but both also happened during Democratic Presidencies. In 2012 Obama was reelected anyway. We’ll hope that the IQ of the American public has not degraded so much in the intervening 12 years as to hurt Joe’s reelection. Also yesterday, Colorado Public Radio reported that Colorado’s troll population has doubled. But not to worry. They’re talking about statues. Oh yeah, and Donald J. Trump** was arraigned. But you knew that.
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Short Takes –
HuffPost Politics – The Republicans Still Defending Trump Would Be Totally Fine With This
Quote – Now, none of this is actually possible because Democrats, including Biden, and a small group of Republicans voted in 2022 to reform the Electoral Count Act to prevent the submission of phony elector slates and specify the vice president’s role as solely ceremonial. Most Republicans, however, opposed this reform. And in defending Trump today, they seem to think that it would be legal and fine for Biden to pressure elected officials to change vote totals, organize phony electors and for Harris to unilaterally steal the election for Biden.
Click through for logical conclusion. Not that we haven’t all figured it out already. But it’s well thought out all the way, and well said.
WDRB dot com (tip fro Crooks & Liars) – Kentucky woman convicted of mailing threats, racial slurs to neighbors sentenced by judge
Quote – The woman who mailed violent, racists threats to her neighbors in Lake Forest will spend nine years in prison for it. The case has been ongoing for about three years. According to court documents, Suzanne Craft sent a series of threatening letters to a family in the Lake Forrest neighborhood after being ordered to stay away from them. This happened between November and December 2020, prosecutors said.
Click through for details. Appears she has reached the “Find Out” part. I wonder whether nine years will be enough.
Food For Thought
Aug 032023
Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump INDICTED in federal court in DC for attempt to overthrow American democracy
The Lincoln Project – DJ Woke DeSantis
MSNBC – Rachel Maddow: History’s judgment looms as citizen Trump faces accountability
Farron Balanced – Trump Supporters Admit They Don’t Mind If He’s Conning Them
Neighbor’s Cat Scratches On Couple’s Door Every Day Asking To Come Inside
Beau – Let’s talk about Texas libraries…. (Wow, he’s angry. And rightly so!)
Aug 032023
Yesterday, the newsletters were filled with responses to The Indictment. Substack in particular was packed – of course the people I subscribe to there are mostly experts, not only knowledgeable but competent and experienced communicators, so that is what one would and should expect – but I was a little overwhelmed. As a legal layperson, I thought Joyce Vance’s column was the best – the explanations were thorough, and the personal feelings showing through were in such congruence with mine (and probably with yours) that I was deeply moved. I’m not going to try to do a short take – I’ll just provide the link (remember to look for the popup and click “continue reading”)
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Short Takes –
Talking Points Memo – Newly Revealed Text Messages Show GOP Officials At Ground Zero Of Election Conspiracy Outlined By Trump Indictment
Quote – Text messages obtained by Talking Points Memo — most which have not previously been made public — paint a picture of what was going on behind the scenes in the White House during the crucial period the special prosecutor has zeroed in on. In particular, they reveal that Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and former Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward were among those who played key roles in elements of the alleged conspiracy from the moment Smith said it began.
Click through for details. There have been some occasions when Willard “Mitt” Romney appeared to have a sense of ethics. But he clearly wasn’t able to raise a daughter with ethics, so even those few occasions are now questionable.
USA Today – FBI: Over 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, found in nationwide operation
Quote – “Operation Cross Country” grew out of a 2003 FBI initiative which identified and recovered sexually exploited minors. It’s a coordinated operation involving federal, state and local agencies across the country. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is also a significant partner in the initiative, the FBI said.
Click through for full story. I probably should have posted a barf bag alert – not for their results, but for the fact that they do it every summer – and never come up empty.
Food For Thought
Aug 022023
Somewhere Glenn missed another day … but I see no need to apologize for this presentation.
Talking Feds – Trump INDICTED in BIGGEST CASE IN US HISTORY
The Lincoln Project – Frenzy
Thom Hartmann – Will Climate Change Turn The Day After Tomorrow Into A Documentary?
Robert Reich – 5 Crises Republicans Made up to Distract You
Dog Waits By Door For 2 Weeks To Meet This Cat
Beau – Let’s talk about Mitch McConnell and the future….
Aug 022023
Yesterday, I though perhaps with all the hoo-ha and kerfuffle about the Barbie movie, maybe some of you would appreciate a mini-review fron a user at Democratic Underground. It did give me a chuckle. I won’t see it because it would have to be in a theater and the fumes from the ppcorn wouldgive me an allergic reaction – how big or what symptoms I can’t predict, but edema of aome kind would be involved. Also yesterday, my very best birthday present was Trump**’s third Federal indictment, this one in the election investigation. Woo-hoo! And the New Yorker also gifted me a Name Drop I could solve on the first clue.
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Short Takes –
Wonkette – Broken Elevator Denies Tammy Duckworth Entrance To Barbie Land
Quote – “I have a five-year-old and an eight-year-old. We have three Barbie Dream houses, including one I set up — all 900 pieces. So we were super excited for the movie.”… She uses a wheelchair and had confirmed ahead of time that the theater showing Barbie was fully accessible. This is a familiar practice for anyone with mobility issues…. When Duckworth arrived at the movie theater and bought tickets, she learned the elevator to the theater itself was broken…. She was especially frustrated that there was no signage explaining the problem, as if it was a minor inconvenience rather than an insurmountable barrier for someone like Duckworth.
Click through for Wonkette’s (especially appropriate here) attitude on this story. You know, my mobiity issues are age-related, and it’s conceivable (though not certain) that I could have avoided some of them by lifestyle chages or being more careful. Tammy gor hers fighting for our country. The theater staff should have carried her up the damn stairs (and down again after.)
Robert Reich – X Marks the Hate
Quote – I detest bullies…. Today, I want to do four things: (1) Summarize research showing that Musk’s Twitter/X has been spreading hate and malicious lies big time — research coming not just from the CCDH but also from the Anti-Defamation League, Media Matters, and Stanford University, among many others. (2) Tell you why this hate surge has been happening on Twitter. (3) Show how Musk’s lawsuit is designed to silence those who are revealing this surge. (4) And explain why Musk is so intent on silencing them.
Click through for all four points (but don’t skip the first paragraph). At risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say the Reich on the left is right (as usual.)
Food For Thought
