May 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Unrestricted guns + unrestricted hate speech = today’s American. Our government CAN tackle this

Meidas Touch – Francis EXPOSES Tucker Carlson’s influence on Buffalo Hate Crime

MSNBC – Garland Signals Criminal Case That May Involve Donald Trump Is Not Out Of Bounds (just in case you missed those magical, musical words “Grand Jury”)

No Dem Left Behind – No Dem Left Behind Endorses John Fetterman for U.S. Senate (PA)

San Francisco DA Recall – Dr. Angela Davis Opposes Prop H (I know everyone remebers her.)

CNN – ‘Millions of people absorb this garbage’: Acosta calls out Carlson for dangerous rhetoric (Acosta can usually be counted on to speak out … but one Acosta is not enough. We also have Lawrence, Ari, Mehdi, Chris, and Rachel – whom too few people watch.)

Beau- Let’s talk about why I look left and expectations….

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May 162022
 

Yesterday, as you could probably tell from the email, I was trying to find out how to solve a problem with Disqus. I went through multiple FAQ pages and found out that, if Disqus won’t load at all for womeone, it is probably a browser issue, but resolving it depends on which browser (and may also depend on whether or not one is using Windows, and if so which version.)  If anyone has had any experience with this. I’d appreciate any anecdotes at all.  Also yesterday, it being Sunday, my radio station aired a “Classics for Kids” program on the theme of Military music.  Snippets of the 1812 Overture, Háry János, and some marches were played, as well ass Beethoven’s “Wellington’s Victory.”  I could not help thinking that if they really wanted to tell musically what war is, Schönberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw” might come the closest.  But that would probably draw complaints from parents of little snowflakes.

Cartoon –

 

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – The Fight to Keep Their “Poor People’s Paradise” out of Private Equity’s Hands
Quote – [A] private equity–backed firm had bought the park, and residents soon found blue bags hanging on their doorknobs, containing packages outlining a fresh set of rules. Tenants were not to “wander on the streets of the community” after 9 p.m. Children were not to play in the roads. “Unsightly” or overgrown lawns were prohibited…. [L]andscapers hired by the park’s new owners had started cutting down residents’ rosebushes, lilac ­trees, and wildflower gardens. Before, Sans Souci was a “poor people’s paradise,” one resident said, where neighbors greeted each other as they passed by. But now everything that gave the community character, from people’s yard statues to the multicolored paint on their homes, had to go.
Click through for story. Remember Bain Capital (which by the way is still in business)? IMO, what private equitygroups to is simply lega;ized piracy.

Slate – Former Judge Resigns From the Supreme Court Bar
Quote – On Wednesday, Dannenberg tendered a letter of resignation from the Supreme Court Bar to Chief Justice John Roberts. He has been a member of that bar since 1972. In his letter, reprinted in full below, Dannenberg compares the current Supreme Court, with its boundless solicitude for the rights of the wealthy, the privileged, and the comfortable, to the court that ushered in the Lochner era in the early 20th century, a period of profound judicial activism that put a heavy thumb on the scale for big business, banking, and insurance interests, and ruled consistently against child labor, fair wages, and labor regulations.
Click through for letter (and also explanation of what the “Surpeme Court Bar” is.) Fifty years of membership down the tubes – because of Roberts.

The Daily Beast – PA Senate Candidate John Fetterman Hospitalized With Stroke Days Before Democratic Primary
Quote – Pennsylvania Senate Candidate John Fetterman revealed on Twitter that he checked into the hospital on Friday after he felt under the weather. According to a statement he posted Sunday afternoon, he suffered “a stroke that was caused by a clot from my heart being in an A-fib rhythm for too long.” Fetterman credited his wife, Gisele, for quickly spotting the signs and prodding him to seek medical treatment. Doctors were able to remove the clot and reverse the stroke, the candidate said
Click through for what is known. This is too bad – but at least it’s the primary, not the general. John is a Progressive, a force of nature who actually tells it like it is. His Democratic opponent, Conor Lamn, is more of a moderate.  I’d rather see Fetterman in the Senate … but at least Lamb is no Joe Manchin.

Food For Thought

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May 142022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump election lawyer John Eastman caught telling PA legislators to just “retabulate” vote for Trump

Meidas Touch – Top Democrat BLASTS these two crazed Republicans in scathing speech [while wearing a tie in the colors of the Ukrainian flag]

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – May 10, 2022

MSNBC – Lawrence Explains Just How ‘Monumentally Historic’ The McCarthy Subpoena Really Is [and how fundamentally – and rapidly – things have changed]

Sky News – Finnish President tells Russia ‘You caused this’ as he signs security pact with UK

Really American – Dr. Oz EXPOSED voting in Turkey’s election, denying Armenian genocide

Beau – Let’s talk about Natives, history, and volume being released….

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Apr 232022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Rep Jamie Raskin: Public Hearings Will Show, “Trump Launched a Coup Against VP Pence and Congress.”

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Meidas Touch – Texan HUMILIATES Ted Cruz for Disney Furry Porn Fetish

Really American – Fox Host CALLS OUT Desantis’ CRT Math Claims On Air

Crooks and Liars – McCarthy Denies He Said He’d Ask Trump To Resign. Maddow Has The Tape. (McCarth is a liar. In other news, the sun came up this morning.)

Armageddon Update – The Arrogance of the Left (I don’t think “arrogance” is the right word – but it might as well bem because everything else in the rant is correct.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Mallory McMorrow and identifying with the bad guy….

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Apr 222022
 

Glenn Kirschner – As Georgia Grand Jury Investigation into Trump Proceeds, Trump Co-conspirator Eastman Keeps Criming

Meidas Touch – Texan who went viral exposing Abbott’s border scam SLAMS Republicans for trying to raise his taxes

The Lincoln Project – It’s in the Plan

American Bridge Ad Launch featured on MSNBC

Really American – ‘Dark MAGA’ Trump Supporters Plot Revenge On Political Opponents (So nice to see Chip back – a little slower and a little softer language, but still Chip)

Golden Retriever Preps Little Boy For His New Role As Big Brother

Beau – Let’s talk about the US already learning from Ukraine and what we should…

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Apr 162022
 

Yesterday. after putting as much as possible for the blog together, I looked at another free knitting pattern I had found – this one for a crutch cover. I have a coulple of pairs of critches. I never use more than one at a time (I probably should touch wood when I say that) and when I use one, it isn’t always for pain – sometimes – most times –  it’s for balance. Years ago I got a couple of sets (underarm pad and hand pad) in leopard skin patterns, one natural colors and one shocking pink; but they do need laundering, and I thought it would be nice to have some spares. The pattern calls for a cast-on technique I can always use more practice on, and it also calls for brioche stitch (like stocknette but the odd and the even columns are different colors.) I’m not experimenting with brioche stitch yet – instead, I’m using novelty yarn scraps instead of plan yarn for texture. The designer is known on the internet by the name “The Wooly Kraken,” which gave me a smile.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – RNC Flounces Out of Presidential Debates Commission With Unanimous Vote
Quote – In a Thursday statement that announced the unanimous vote, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said, “We are going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make the case for the American people.”
Click through for details.  Reality may have a liberal bias – and, if so, it’s about the only thinkg that does. Certainly the media and the CPD don’t.

NBC News THINK – Why Good Friday is a warning against far-right Christian nationalism
Quote – Yet while Trump’s authoritarian MAGA movement has become all but synonymous with white evangelical Christianity, it does not speak for most Christians in the U.S., who are sick of seeing our faith hijacked for hateful political agendas.
Click through if a Scriptural condemnation of “white evangelical Christianity” woould be useful to you. Lord Acton’s famous quote doesn’t go far enough. One does not need to have power to be corrupted by it. Wanting power is more than enough to corrupt.

Crooks and Liars – James Carville Has Had It With Democratic Whiners
Quote – If you’re a Democrat, I don’t care what you are with gender, race, if you don’t see that and you are not outraged, and it doesn’t make you want to vote, I can’t do anything for you! You’re just a whiny, complaining person…. If we can’t stand in there for Joe Biden and talk about the great things he’s done, then we don’t deserve to win this election in 2022.
Click through for full opinion.  Not that anyone here is guilty, necessarily. But this is the same thing we saw in 2016. It didn’t turn out well.

Food For Thought:

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Apr 102022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Nozze de Figaro,” which is usually translated “The Marriage of Figaro,” but I prefer “Figaro’s Wedding.” Like a wedding, it takes place in one day, wheras marriage (hopefully) lasts a lot longer (in fact, from the third play, we know they were still married 20 years later, and still happy and healthy and looking forward to more.) Of course, as wedding days go, it may not have been the worst wedding day ever (the ending is happy), but it qualifies, I think, as the most frantic. I think my favorite part of it is the section which starts with Marzellina’s lawsuit and ends with plans for a double wedding – because the misunderstanding is totally unforced. The other misunderstandings (and there are several) are set up deliberately, by different people, for one reason or another. But the opera is full of great music and amusiong (and emotional) moments. Afterwards, my day was a scramble to get ready for today.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

NBC News – Two D.C. men charged with impersonating feds, several Secret Service agents placed on leave
Quote – The Secret Service is conducting an internal review of the interactions between four Secret Service agents and the two men accused of posing as federal agents, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. “We are looking into our people in terms of how their social circles collided,” one of the sources said. “We are only 72 hours into this review,” the source said, adding that “right now there’s no sign of nefarious activity.”
Click through for story. Shades of “The Great Pretender.” They are lucky that this is found out suring a scary war and some criminal investigations of real government officials. In a less hyper time, no one wuld be talking about anything else.  In a
related story …

Biden at war: Inside a deliberate yet impulsive Ukraine strategy
Quote – The Biden administration has stood up a second “Tiger Team” to internally game out different attacks and responses, but has been especially cautious about sharing any possible repercussions publicly. “We’ve had the opportunity to coordinate with our allies. We’ve had the opportunity to get organized internally. We’ve been clear publicly that Russia would pay a severe price,” Sullivan told reporters, flying from Brussels to Poland on Air Force One. “And beyond that, I’m not going to speak further to the issue.”
Click through for full analysis. As a Vatican II Catholic, and also a person who is 100% anti-war right up until the moment it becones necessary to save the world, I think I can identify with where Joe is comeing from. Certainly, like him, I’m emotionally invested. That’s not to say that anything about it is easy.

The 19th – Older women voters may play a big role in the 2022 midterms, and they are not happy
Quote – “One thing that’s so remarkable about this current moment is the way that cost of living is just cutting across every demographic line,” Anderson said. “Cost of living is a challenge whether you are 19 years old, just starting off in the workforce, and are trying to figure out how to pay your rent, or if you are retired, on a fixed income and you’re trying to pay your rent.” Matthews emphasized that older women are tired of out-of-touch politicians, abstract campaign promises and hostility permeating the political climate.
Click through for details. I find this terribly depressing. Ar e that many American women over 50 really so ignorant as to constantly blame the wrong people for what government does? If so, we are doomed.

Food For Thought:

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Mar 042022
 

Glenn Kirschner – 1st Jan. 6 Insurrection Trial: US v. Guy Reffitt. What to Expect from the Prosecution, the Defense

Don Winslow Films – #RunningOutTheClock

Meidas Touch – Tucker Carlson PANICS, tries to rewrite history of pro-Putin statements… But we have receipts!!!

Lincoln Project – CPAC: Days 3 and 4 in 135 Seconds

Marcus Flowers for Congress [ in Marjorie’s District] –

VoteVets – Party of Putin

Beau – Let’s talk about the Carrington Event….

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