Open Thread February 26 2025

 Posted by at 5:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 262025
 

Yesterday – well, let me back up a little. Last week, the guy who had been posting a column of political cartoons daily announced he would not be able to do that any more, for health reasons. He offered, if someone would strp up, to share all his sources, including international sources, and also tips for getting around some issues. I do not get all my cartoons from there – I take them where I find them – but a lot do come through DU. Well, yesterday, his replacement posted (and clearly took all the tips they could get.) So that will make life a bit easier for me. (All the Dr. Seuss cartoons I have used came to me through DU, for one thing.) Also, the backlash against MSNBC was growing, and rightly so.

Talking Points Memo points out a problem which would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. At least it explains in part why some say Elon Musk can’t be fired since no one hired him. Much kudos and many promotions to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, not only for asking and pressing the right questions, but for not going into a screaming fit while doing so – she certainly must feel like it.

Joyce Vance departs from her usual tone to share a number of things which are being done in response to this administration by people who may have read the CIAs’s “Simple Sabotage” – or maybe are just very creative. Barf bag warning for the AI video.

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Open Thread February 18 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 182025
 

Yesterday, I scrambled around the internet looking for a replacement for a charging cord I had managed to break (don’t ask). I wouldn’t call that a complete waste of time, but it did certainly take a lot. Shopping on the internet, unless you know in advance exactly who you want to deal with, is very time consuming.  In any search engine, if you just type in what ou are looking for, you are hit with Amazon, Amazon, Walmart, Amazon, Walmart, Amazon. At least I was caught up on my email, and it being a holiday, I managed to stay caught up. I don’t expect that to be true every day.

Harry Litman is not one to get excited over nothing, nor to jump to conclusions about how certain events will lead to other events when they well may not. So when Harry does a rant like this I think it’s worth sharing. It’s fairly long despite his efforts to keep it as short as possible, but every word is carefully chosen. And it’s covering material he wrote about when it was brand new (and he includes the link to that) and is now revisiting because he has had time to collect his thoughts.

This story at The F* News is scary AF. But we certainly need to know. For one thing we all need to get with and behind all the Democrats who are seriously working on (as oppose to mouthing off) Citizens United. And we need to do it yesterday. George Soros isn’t going to live forever – and in any case, he’s just one against all the rest.

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Open Thread August 22 2024

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 222024
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Vote Vets regarding Republican members of Congress who, while accusing Tim Walz of stolen valor, are themselves stealing valor as they speak “A full 29 of the 50 signatures come from Republicans who falsely claimed they are retired. Calling yourself Retired means something. It speaks to a length of time in service that many of the people on that list of Republicans never fulfilled.” They singled out Ronny Jackson and Troy NEhs – but that’s just two out of 29. In case anyone here has a veteran in your life who is Republican, Vote Vets is the place to go for the facts = any and all facts regarding MAGA lies about active duty military and/or veterans. Also, this popped up in Colorado – has any other state done this? Or could this be a model? And all this while Andy Borowitz got some giggles about Melania.

Joyce Vance has a subhead under the title of this post: “I’m not about to let up on this, and you shouldn’t either!” And, you know, she’s right. So I’m adding an extra link here, to her home page. By clicking on “No thanks” you will have access to a sort of “front page” of recent posts.And there are already a few newer than this one. It was a hot week for articles and columns (and the Convention hadn’t even started yet.) But this one is a good introduction. Also, here is something that is getting lost in all the other outrages

I have no doubt that the Obama presidency was used as a recruiting tool for the KKK )and other groups), nor that it was successful (I mean, all you have to do is to look at MAGA to see that), nor that the same is true for protests against wypipo murdering black citizens with no accountability. But that is on them, not on the decent and caring people who voted for Obama or those who object to people getting away with murder. In fact, Pro Publica recently completed an investigation on the phenomenon of radical racists getting more radicalized by Obama, and what can come of that.

There is so much crap in Project 2025 (and in Don-OLD Trump* for that matter) that it’s prectically impossible to keep up with it all. Of course, thet’s what sources like Talking Point Memo, and others, are for.

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Video Thread 9/15/2023

 Posted by at 12:03 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 152023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Even Trump’s own appointee, Judge Cannon, is now ruling against him. Can it get much worse for Trump

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – September 12, 2023

PoliticsGirl – Georgia Indictment

Thom Hartmann – Can This Really Stop The Billionaires? w/ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

Little Old Man Dog Was Shaking Like A Leaf Until…

Beau – Let’s talk about a tale of 3 impeachments….

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Open Thread October 5, 2022

 Posted by at 6:47 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 052022
 

Yesterday, at roughly 1:41 a.m. her time, Heather Cox Richardson sent out her daily email for Monday, and when I got up I read it. She touched on a wide variety of topics, of which possibily the most unnerving was Moore v. Harper and the “independent state legislature” doctrine. If this case is wrongly decided, we can kiss democracy goodbye- that’s assuming we can ever get close enough to it to kiss it. I know I’m sarting to sound like the proverbial broken record, but I admit I am afraid.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Offshore Tax Havens Move On Shore
Quote – Research published Wednesday details how a handful of U.S. states that are “subservient to the trust industry” are helping oligarchs and money launderers from around the globe evade taxes and hide their wealth within the nation’s borders…. “The concept of the ‘offshore’ tax haven has very much washed ashore,” says the report, which exposes how 13 U.S. states “shield the fortunes of the world’s richest people.”
Click through for details, including which states. I knew that a fw states’ laws were more favorable to credit card companies, which is why ao many are incorporated in South Dakota and Delaware, but I didn’t know about this. I’m surprised, actually – not at the states’ greed, but at the blind faith of the billionaires. Should a Republican win the Presidency in 2024, it will all be confiscated.

The Warning – Media corruption at the “paper of record”
Quote – His name is Donald John Trump from Queens. He has a “psychiatrist.” Her name is Maggie Haberman. She is the lead Trump reporter for The New York Times, and has become, like him, a singular totem of corruption. The corruption of the American media has fueled the extremist movement that threatens the republic as the journalistic ethic forged by Ed Murrow, Fred Friendly, Dorothy Thompson, Walter Cronkite and a generation of truth seekers gave way to a generation of information profiteers. The money that flows from anger, division, confusion and insanity can be counted in the tens of billions of dollars. That is the business of much of the American media. It is certainly Maggie Haberman’s business.
Click through for story. There will be a pop-up to subscribe – just click on “Let me read it first.” He certainly nails Maggie.

Food For Thought

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