Video Thread 5/26/2023

 Posted by at 12:03 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 262023
 

Talking Feds (while Glenn is on vacation) – Former Federal Prosecutor BREAKS DOWN an Underreported MASSIVE Takeaway from Trump’s Town Hall.  (His comments on venue start at approximately 2:40)

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – May 23, 2023

MSNBC – BREAKING: Trump lawyers demand meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland

Florida Representative discusses priorities – h/t Lona

Cat Falls In Love…Or Not

Beau – Let’s talk about Senator Thune’s unexpected endorsement….

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Open Thread May 26, 2023

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 262023
 

Yesterday, good news (which you probably already know) – Elmer (Stewart Rhodes) was sentenced to 18 years prison. The sentences are getting longer as DOJ works its way up the chain.
I’ve been watching, bit by bit, a history series about native Americans (North, South, and Meso) and their lives before Columbus. Turns out the land isn’t the only thing we stole from them. This episode covered medicine (from aspirin through clotting agents to brain surgery – approximately 70% of their trepanning patients, for instance, survived, which we know because removed and replaced skull bone knit and healed.) But I was really blown away by the information that the concept of the number zero, which I was taught was invented by Arab mathematicians in the 8th century CE was actually known to the Maya, possibly even to the Olmec before them, in the 3rd century BCE – over a thousand years earlier. We had one hell of a nerve calling them savages.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

https://crooksandliars.com/2023/05/prigozhin-laments-fck-knows-how-we-ve
Crooks & Liars – Prigozhin Laments: ‘F*ck Knows How, But We’ve Militarized Ukraine!’
Quote – The leader of Russia’s Wagner private mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says Moscow’s plan to “demilitarize” Ukraine failed and that the invasion of its neighbor “turned Ukraine’s army into one of the most powerful in the world.” In an interview with pro-Kremlin political observer Konstantin Dolgov, the full version of which was published on May 24, Prigozhin said Russia’s aggression made Ukrainians “a nation known to the entire world.”
Click through for more of interview. Let’s not get overconfident. Putin is just as good at rejecting reality as any MAGAt, and who knows what destruction he could cause just for the sake of destruction, But much of what Prigozhin says is objectively true.

Washington Post (no paywall – hanky alert) – A burger chain fed a homeless teen. Years later, she got married there.
Quote – West said she grew up in Arizona and was put into the state’s foster-care system when she was 4 because her parents struggled and could not care for her. “Over eight years, I was in and out of 94 foster homes — some of them were really abusive and neglectful,” she said. “When I was 12-and-a-half, I finally climbed out a bathroom window to run away, and I got good at hiding.”
Click through for full story. This was made possible by thegoodness of many people … and also by Jamie’s gratitude.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/25/2023

 Posted by at 12:07 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 252023
 

For this Glenn video, I pushed a Talking Feds forward a day, so the one on venues will be Friday.

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump’s lawyers send ABSURD letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland

MSNBC – How Biden gave McCarthy a ‘victory’ on the debt limit — while giving away absolutely nothing

Parody Project – Still Jail-Free After All These Years

Marjorie Taylor Greene demands “decorum” — and hilarity ensues

Dalmatian Rescues An Abandoned Puppy In The Middle Of Nowhere

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden warming to the 14th Amendment….

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Open Thread May 25, 2023

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 252023
 

Yesterday, I had to laugh out loud at Andy’s headline: “DeSantis Hopes to Seem Like Normal Person by Appearing Next to Elon Musk.” I have to say, if that wouldn’t do it, nothing would. Ordinarily I would not mock someone on the spectrum – but when he has as much money and power as Musk does, it’s kind of in self-defense.  Another email was from Robert Reich – it’s quite short – and is about retiring – and I certainly identified with every word, and I’ll bet many of y’all will too.  (And – RIP Tina Turner)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Driver Did Nazi White House Barrier, Rammed Repeatedly, Wingnuts Say It Was Staged


PolitiZoom – Driver Did Nazi White House Barrier, Rammed Repeatedly, Wingnuts Say It Was Staged
Quote – Stalwart defenders of Nazi bad-drivers on Twitter contend that the Nazi banner was simply a prop in a staged false flag operation meant to discredit and smear all peace loving swastika fans, because the flag had been folded, and should not have been placed on the ground while the cop finished his search of the truck… or something.
Right.
Click through for details. It wasn’t staged. It was definitely an assassination attempt – carried out with all the precision and skill that MAGA can come up with (which is thankfully very little of either. Butlet’s not get over confident.)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-moscow-officials-reveal-why-they-are-laughing-at-vladimir-putins-kremlin
Daily Beast – Former Moscow Officials Reveal Why They’re Laughing at Putin Now
Quote – Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that beer in Prague, where a summit between Kremlin critics recently took place, contains “female sex hormones” and called the opposition officials who met there “half-wits.” On the same day, his best friend Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian Security Council and former KGB hardliner, warned of a deadly “radioactive cloud that is now moving towards Western Europe” from Ukraine. The bizarre propaganda lines—apparently meant to evoke fear among Russian exiles of cognitive decline by way of drinking beer, or death via the enriched uranium supplied to Ukraine by the West—fell flat. Putin’s remarks were widely mocked on social media, while experts at Russia’s own State Atomic Agency said that “the story with the approaching cloud is somehow exaggerated.”
Click through for article. I can certainly understand laughing at stupidity, and I’ve done a lot of it in my day. But the people getting killed by Russia – that tends to wipe the grin off my face.

Food For Thought
flags

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Video Thread 5/24/2023

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Politics
May 242023
 

Talking Feds (while Glenn is on vacation) – Fani Willis Reveals DETAILS of Plan for Sweeping MAGA Indictments

Farron Balanced – National Archives Has Evidence That Could Guarantee A Trump Conviction

Waldorf Nation – School BANS Parents For Not Being Hateful To LGBTQIA+ People

Puppet Regime – Surprise party for Putin

Cat Falls In Love With Stray Cat Who Shows Up Outside

Beau – Let’s talk about expanding confidence in SCOTUS….

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Open Thread May 24, 2023

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 242023
 

Yesterday, I got an alert from CPR that the Christian Glass case has been settled, and that the settlement is the largest known single payout for police violence in the state’s history – $19 million. He was the 22-year-old who had car issues in the middle of nowhere (Clear Creek actually) in the dead of night and called police. As a retired insurance person, the main thing that struck me about that case was that it was 100% preventable. Had he had, and called, a roadside assistance progeam instead of the cops, he would be alive today. Besides the ones available from groups like AAA and Car Talk (theirs is greener than most), which follow the person who holds them and can be used for any car, even if you are neither the owner nor the driver, a lot of insurance companies offer them – that’s the kind I have, and it follows the car, so that if someone else needed to use my car and needed assistance, it would be there. That costs me just over $15.00 a year. There is no reason anyone should need to cal the cops for car problems. That is not to blame him or his parents of course. I’m just ranting because his loss felt like such a tragic waste to me (as, of course, it was.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

ProPublica – He Became Convinced the School Board Was Pushing “Transgender Bullshit.” He Ended Up Arrested — and Emboldened.
Quote – ProPublica identified 59 people arrested or charged over an 18-month period as a result of turmoil at school board meetings across the country. In the coming weeks, ProPublica will continue to publish stories about how that unrest has played out in various communities and upended once-staid school board meetings. In the dozens of incidents ProPublica examined, some of which involved threats and violence, only one person who disrupted a meeting was given a jail sentence: a college student protesting in support of transgender rights.
Click through for details. We can’t all be crazy – I know a lot of us are sane – but you wouldn’t know that from this article. I sometimes call myself the “queen of workarounds” – but that’s only on computers. What’s needed is a workaround (maybe multiple workarounds0 for normal people to co-exist with wingnots. Because there will always be wingnuts. We have to face that fact.

Crooks & Liars – Biden Goes Full Dark Brandon At G7 Over Question About Russia
Quote – At the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Biden took a question about Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, saying that Western countries will be running “colossal risks” if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. Dark Brandon calmly responded: “It is for them.”… Biden didn’t cave to Russia’s warning. Trump would have.
Click through for story. In a word, GOOD.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/23/2023

 Posted by at 12:06 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 232023
 

Talking Feds (while Glenn is on vacation – he has some fillers but not to cover every day) – Novel Legal Theory TESTED in New Lawsuit to Counter Extremism

Farron Balanced – Giuliani Hit With Lawsuit From Man He Falsely Claimed Assaulted Him

Robert Reich – Haven’t We Learned?

Parody Project Strangers on the Right

Guy Is The Best Friend A Squirrel Could Have

Beau – Let’s talk about Democratic messaging issues….

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Open Thread May 23, 2023

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 232023
 

Yesterday,I did manage to get out and cut a couple of the irises to bring indoors. They won’t last very long … but they’ll be fun while they do. I also put ogether a grocery order for today, so if there are excssive typos tomorrow, that will likely be the explanation.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Civil Discourse – The Week Ahead
Quote – Protective orders like this are used when a defendant’s conduct threatens the safety and well-being of witnesses, victims, or anyone else related to the case. Prosecutors argued Trump’s history of making “harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements” about other people in his various other legal disputes merited this action. Judge Merchan scheduled the hearing that requires Trump’s virtual attendance the day after Trump appeared on CNN’s town hall and lied, offered fake excuses, and insulted people. He called the prosecutors’ indictment in the Manhattan case a “fake charge.”
Click through for various potential happenings. I appreciate Joyce giving us some stuff to watch out for.

Colorado Public Radio – France gave Colorado a thank-you train car after WWII. Then Colorado lost it
Quote – In 1947, Europe was rebuilding from the destruction of World War II. Big-hearted Americans wanted to help. So a train crossed this country gathering aid. The Friendship Train collected tens of millions of dollars in food and supplies. The Europeans were grateful. In 1949, the French sent a thank you note. Well, much more than a thank you note. France bestowed upon the United States 49 Merci train cars — one for each state at the time. (“Merci” is French for thank you.) Hawaii and The District of Columbia shared the 49th because of their notable contributions. Alaska didn’t get one. And these train cars were full.
Click through for history. OK, this is not exactly breaking news. But it did happen within my lifetime, and t happened in every state except Alaska (which was then still a territory), and I was 4 years old in California, and I had no clue. None. This may not be one of the most inportant events in the history of the earth, or even i the history of the war, but dammit, it does have implications for foreign policy. I can understand people spuuressing, or trying to suppress it after 9/11, but this vanished from public knowledge long before that.

Food For Thought

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