Jun 032023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Audio recording shows Trump may have violated US espionage laws. Federal indictments MUST now issue

The Lincoln Project – Trump Debt Ceiling

Ring of Fire – Lunatic Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims FBI Set Up ‘Honeypots’ To Trick Capitol Rioters

Brent Terhune – Mike Pence’s Biker Gang

Cat Meets New Boyfriend On A Walk But Is Skeptical About Him At First, Until…

Beau – Let’s talk about juries in the US….

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Jun 032023
 

Yesterday, we resolved the car registration issue. Of course i don’t actually have the sticker yet. So when I go to see Virgil tomorrow, I will have in the car a copy of the entire email correspondence to explain the delay and prove i am actually in good standing in case I should be stopped. Of course I hope that won’t ne neessary – but but why take chances when one doesn’t have to? Also – not actually yesterday, but while I was preoccupied – I learned that what used to be “Elderhostel” is now named “Road Scholar.” If you weren’t familiiar with it, it’s a no-profit that books travel for older people. I would not call it exactly cheap (and some of it is downright pricey), but they do make it more affordable than if you were to try to book it yourself. So if anyone you know is considering leaving, not just a red state, but the whole country, it would be a resource to help check potential destinatins out. I did not register – I assume if one does, one would be able to see more than I was able to.  Also yesterday, though, I received a package I wasn’t expecting yet – the window for delivery they gave me when I ordered was June 3 – July 3.  It was 4 pairs of glasses for Barbie dolls (including one pair of sunglasses.)  Hopefully not having to try to make glasses out of jewelry wie will inspire me to get busy on the justice robe for my RBG doll, and then  will only need to make the collar.  (The doll doesn’t look a whole lot like RBG, though she looks very much like the actress who played her in the biopic which IIRC was called “On Account of Sex.”  And the sunglasses – well, I have pulled a bunch of red yarn out of my stash in anticipation of using them. 😉

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – May 31, 2023
Quote – But, as Josh Marshall pointed out in Talking Points Memo today, the Republican base no longer seems to care much about fiscal issues. Instead, they are pushing the cultural issues at the heart of illiberal democracy: anti-LGBTQ laws, antiabortion laws, anti-immigration laws. Former president Trump is making those themes central to his reelection campaign. Yesterday he released a video promising that on “Day One” of a new presidential term, he would issue an executive order that would end birthright citizenship. Our current policy that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, he claims, is “based on a historical myth, and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders advocates.” He promises to make “clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship.”
Click through for full column. Donald Trump** promised/threatened to do away with birthtight citizenship on his first day (if he wins.) Here’s why that is, at the very least, unconstitutional.

emptywheel – LORDY, THERE ARE TAPES [OF TRUMP ACKNOWLEDGING HE HAD STOLEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS]!
Quote – First, it’s certainly possible this is one of the documents pertaining to Iran that WaPo has reported were among the ones obtained in the search in August 2022. If it is, then it would be a document that Trump transported back and forth from Florida — something that would make it easier for DOJ to charge this in DC instead of SDFL.
Click through – I’m sure you know the basic part of this story. This may fill in some details.

Food For Thought

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Jun 022023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump caught on tape, PROVING he lied about declassifying national security documents

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – May 30, 2023

Thom Hartmann – America’s Rich Don’t Want You To Know This Simple Way To Stop Oligarchy

Parody Project – Say It Again – MONEY SUCKS THE CONGRESS DOWN (a tad too much bothsiderism for my taste)

Rescue Dog Stayed in Her Crate For Five Days Until She Realized She Was Home

Beau – Let’s talk about Russia’s nuke promise….

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Jun 022023
 

Yesterday, I had sent my disability certification without the witness signature to the DMV with an explanation, and I received a response that I could sent a photo of ny driver’s license to her and she could sign as witness. What a relief! I had gotten up earlt with not enough sleep and dreading having to go out again. Instead, I got to go back to bed. After getting up the second time, I made time to write a little essay to reply to John Pavlovitz’s email – some thoughts about the Bible I’ve been trying to spread for years in comments on petitions and article but which no one seems to be picking up on. The graphic he sent was so disturbing to me I just felt this was the time. It shows numbers and kinds of anti-transgender legislation in the states, Here it is –

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Short Takes –

KDVR Denver – Polis makes wager: If Nuggets win finals, Disney World moves to Colorado
Quote – Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called for a friendly wager with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney on Tuesday: If the Denver Nuggets win the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, Disney World moves to Colorado…. The Walt Disney World Resort currently resides in the Sunshine State and has since it first opened in the early 1970s. However, recently there have been rising tensions between the amusement park’s parent company and DeSantis.
Click through. KDVR is a Fox affiliate, but as I’ve often said, they are often good at local news. And the quote sounds just like Polis to me.

Vox – A big El Niño is looming. Here’s what it means for our weather.
Quote – El Niño is the warm phase of the Pacific Ocean’s temperature cycle, and this year’s El Niño is poised to be a big one, sending shock waves into weather patterns around the world. It’s likely to set new heat records, energize rainfall in South America, fuel drought in Africa, and disrupt the global economy. It may already have helped fuel early-season heat waves in Asia this year. “A warming El Niño is expected to develop in the coming months and this will combine with human-induced climate change to push global temperatures into uncharted territory,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, in a statement earlier this month. “This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment. We need to be prepared.”
Click through foor details. Republicans talk about Democrats being big spenders … but with the money they waste on fighting culture wars instead of climate change, we could really save a lot – of money, and of people.

Food For Thought

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Jun 012023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump lawyer says he was BLOCKED from searching Trump office at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents

Thom Hartmann – The First Fascist State In America Revealed?

Farron Balanced – Fox News Raided Tucker Carlson’s House And Took His Filming Equipment

From TikTok via Twitter – possible hanky alert

Cat stops would-be burglar | ‘Binky went after him’

Beau – Let’s talk about the GOP coming for no fault divorce…

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Jun 012023
 

Yesterday, I ended up having to go in to my doctor’s office after all to get his signature, and that of one of his staff to certify that she had seen my driver’s license and that I am really me. Unfortunately, she forgot to sign it. I tried one more email with just that page, but I didn’t get home and see it until after the office closed, so I won’t know until today whether I’ll need to go back.

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Short Takes –

Letters from an American – May 29, 2023
Quote – Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II. Titled Army Talks, the series was designed “to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.” On March 24, 1945, the topic for the week was “FASCISM!”…. “The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.” “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,” the pamphlet said.
Click through for more quotes, many highly prescient, and not a lot of take from Heather because the material speaks for itself.

Slate – The Urgent Warning That Got Cut From a Supreme Court Opinion 20 Years Ago
Quote – More than 20 years ago, then–Supreme Court Justice David Souter tried to warn that big money in politics risked turning United States officials into tools of an emerging “plutocracy.” We now know from recently released case files that Souter had to strike the language in his draft Supreme Court opinion in a 2000 campaign finance case, Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, as the price to secure Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s vote. It’s too bad, because Souter’s warning is one that American political leaders, including justices on the Supreme Court itself, needed to hear. That warning was never made and thus never heeded. Today, American plutocracy—from Congress to inside the walls of the court itself—is alive and well.
Click through for sad story. And here we are.

Food For Thought

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May 312023
 

Talking Feds – New Trump Lawyer Story REVEALS Shape of DOJ’s Obstruction Argument (Glenn may have posted after I put this up, but see the Open Thread – I had something else to think about.)

PoliticsGirl – Don’t Be Fooled

The Lincoln Project – Cut the Crap

MSNBC – Mississippi police shoot 11-year-old boy after his call to 911

Baby Chipmunk Burrows Into Giant 115-Pound Dog’s Fur (hanky alert)

Beau – Let’s talk about Texas teachers and me missing something….

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May 312023
 

Yesterday, I spent a fair amount of time struggling with the internet and email – trying to get paperwork to my doctor’s office to get my car registration renewed. His email account is set to reject any email from someone he hasn’t approved. He did approve me,but my email was not going through. Thinking maybe it was the number of attachments, I sent seven separate ones today – one for each attachment. But it was late in the business day, so I’ll have to check again today. They were all jpgs – before retiring I converted them all into pdfs in case I have to resend again. If I can’t get it done in time, I’m going to go see Virgil Sunday anyway (I did get confirmation yesterday; I looked for it Monday but of course that was a holiday.) In less personal news (but still kind of personal, since we all love the Carters), Rosalynn has been diagnosed with dementtia. She is still at home with Jimmy and is able to see loved ones and enjoy the spring weather.

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Short Takes –

NMAI (National Museum of the American Indian) – Why We Serve
The National Museum of the American Indian is one of many institutions which come under the purview of the Smithsonian. There isn’t a lot of information about Native Americans that you won’t find somewhere under its umbrella. “Why We Serve” is a website dedicated to Native Americans in the military – active duty, veterans, and war dead. It’s an online exhibition that you can wader through, just as you would wander through a physocal exhibition on site. I was pleased to learn about NAWW – Native American Women Warrriors – group specifically for women veterans who are native Americans. The Museum’s “Object of the Month” for May is a blue jingle dress worn by Mitchelene BigMan (Apsáalooke [Crow]/Hidatsa) during the 2013 presidential Inaugural Parade. You’ll find it (along with three others) under the topic “War and Peace.”

The Warning (Steve Schmidt) – The distortion and delusion of the MAGA/GOP view
Quote – The greatest crime in human history began with the rise of a far-right political party of losers, crackpots, opportunists and alienation that sowed division, hate, intolerance and grievance against its enemies, status and condition. The Jews were the target of its scapegoating, hate, conspiracies and terror. Ultimately, an extremist political party became the State and then the nation. Hitler’s rise was abetted by countless small acts of moral appeasement and accommodation by people who were appalled by him. Ambition and cynicism fueled a merger of industry with extremism and hate with national identity. All of it was sustained by propaganda, lies, and conspiracy theories. Before it was over human civilization nearly fell.
Click through for column. You’ll probably have to click on “Let me read it first.” It isn’t the full column, since I’m not a paid subscriber, but it’s enough to sound an alarm.

Food For Thought

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