Cartoon – Page 27 – Politics Plus

Open Thread April 3, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 032023

Yesterday, looking at the coverage, I decided thatright now we know as much about Trump**’s legal issues as we are going to know until he is arraigned, when the indictment will be unsealed. So instead of speculating, I’m going to feature other news today, and probably tomorrow, since I work ahead. So hopefully I won’t mention him again until Wednesday (with the possible exception of in the Video Thread.) So take a deep breath and go into a holding pattern for a while, and I’ll do the same. There is plenty of other news. If you must speculate, or just really want to, I recommend Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead” on her Substack. She is knowledgeable and cool-headed, and covers a number of “if”s which are likely to upset some people no matter how they are decided

Cartoon – 03 Cell RTL

(It weighed 2.5# – just over a kilo – and was nicknamed “the brick.” But it worked.)

Short Takes –

SPLC – TRASHING THEIR RIGHTS: ALABAMA TOWN USES ‘DEBTORS’ PRISON’ FOR PEOPLE WHO FALL BEHIND ON GARBAGE BILLS
Quote – Even though the concept of “debtors’ prison” has been declared unconstitutional, the town of Valley was dragged into the spotlight for its practice of arresting people who could not pay their bills. In November, 82-year-old Martha Menefield was arrested for owing $77 for trash pickup. Her story went viral online, and national media outlets carried it through several news cycles because of how preposterous the situation sounded. But Menefield’s case was not unusual. The city of Valley has been arresting its citizens for years over past-due trash bills, adding hundreds if not thousands of dollars to the owed amount in fines and court costs by the poorest of its residents.
Click through for story. Sorry about the shouting headline, though I can’t very well maintain shouting is not appropriate.

DU (LiberalArkie) – Google Co-Founder, Other Billionaires Are Issued Subpoenas in Lawsuit Over JPMorgan’s Ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Quote – The U.S. Virgin Islands issued subpoenas this week to Sergey Brin, Thomas Pritzker, Mortimer Zuckerman and Michael Ovitz to gather information for its civil lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. over the bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, according to people familiar with the matter.
Click through for a bit more. The source of the story is the WSJ, but it is paywalled. My respect for the USVI continues to increase. Stacey Plaskett is the House delegate from there. She’s not entitled to a vote on the floor, but she’s so competent she was an impeachment manager over Trump**, and she’s a ranking member on at least one Committee. Statehood for PR, DC, and USVI!

Food For Thought

Open Thread April 2, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 022023

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Falstaff,” based on Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor. Back in the day when the filmed matinees were replayed on PBS, I remember there were a couple of very odd (to put it nicely) schedulings – like for instance “Medea” being replayed on Mothers’ Day (and there were others.) And then, of course, , hthey were being played after the fact, so that those scheduling them could have looked at the calendar and noted that “Medea,” for instance, was not the best choice for Mothers’ Day. That’s the one I remember, but I also remember that similar contretemps occurred several times. They seem to do better when the related real life occurrences are spontaneous – such as “Falstaff” being on radio (and also HD broadcast into theaters) in a week when a real life misogynistic conman has just been indicted after way too long a hiatus (of course, they were thinking of April Fools’ Day). There are differences – Falstaff gets his comeuppance from the very ladies he planned to seduce and swindle, and (ar least apparently) learns from the experience. I don’t anticipate any learning from experience to be happening in a Manhattan courtroom any time soon. The prodution is apparently the second one within about ten years – the previous one was very 1950’s, including a midcentury modern kitchen (through the window of which Falstaff got dumped into the Thames in a laundry basket.) This production doesn’t look consistently like any particular time and place, but it does appear to have a lot of color – reds, blues, and for one of Falstaff’s costimes an almost flueorescent orange. Also a lot of standing on tables. But then with such an absurd play it’s not out of line for the production to be a bit absurdist. (The play was supposed to have been inspired by Queen ELizabeth I telling Shakespeare she wanted to see “Sir John in love.” If so, evidently the best he could do was Sir John in heat, and certainly not forgetting about money. Falstaff may have been a knight, but he was not a noble character.) But it’s all in good fun, and the singers always seem to have at least as much fun as the audience – maybe more.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – DeSantis Gets Caught In The Disney Mousetrap
Quote – The previous board, Disney controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District, approved the last minute agreement on Feb. 8, the very day before the Florida House voted to put the governor in charge. They knew what was coming and had a plan. The Board had a public meeting, but didn’t get into great detail about the document before unanimously voting to approve it…. One of the funniest parts of the declaration is the following rule: The declaration is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.”
Click through for details. DeSantis thought he was so smart appointing his own board to control Disnet territory. Dunning-Kruger prevented him from realizing that Disney has real lawyers – and real mockery.

The First Amendment Encyclopedia – Actual Malice
Quote – Actual malice is the legal standard established by the Supreme Court for libel cases to determine when public officials or public figures may recover damages in lawsuits against the news media…. Beginning with the unanimous decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), the Supreme Court has held that public officials cannot recover damages for libel without proving that a statement was made with actual malice — defined as “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”
Click through for article. When we non lawyers hear the word “malice,” we think of feelings – a hatred of someone or something, and a desire to harm that target. But that’s not what it means in law. Dominion has received summary judgment against Fox for everything except Actual Malice (and therefore damages.) Given the texts and emails, I believe that too could be proven without a trial. The judge is probably thinking that those texts, emails, and other evidence need to bemore widely publicized.

Bonus: In the Public Interest – The Privatization of Everything: Now in Paperback
Just to announce that this book, subtitled “How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back,” has been reissued, now in paperback, which makes it both easier to handle and less expensive. So many people have fallen for the myth that “Government should be run like a business” -which may be applicable to authoritarian governments, but certainly not to a democracy – and if you are seeking talking points to push back, this would be a great source.

Food For Thought

Open Thread April 1, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 012023

Yesterday, reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American for Thursday, I stumbled on a piece of information which I suspect has mostly gotten lost in the brou-ha-ha over The Indictment. And that is that Turkey has dropped it’s objections to Finland joining NATO – and that this was all that was needed for Finland to become a NATO member. That is great news for Finland, but also for all democracies, since it also strengthens NATO, both in reality and symbolically.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (Dartagnan) – Oh no! CNN says we’re in ‘uncharted waters!’
Quote – We had a president who embraced white supremacy and intentionally inspired terrorist attacks against Americans. Those are “uncharted waters.” We had a president who was defeated soundly in 2020, then proceeded to lie about the results, corroding our democracy, probably irreparably. Those are “uncharted waters.”… So please, don’t even talk to me about “uncharted waters.” That ship sailed a long, long time ago.
Click through for aall the points. This should go viral.

Civil Discourse – Indicted
Quote – Expect a circus in the courthouse on Tuesday when Trump arrives for arraignment. He is a different kind of defendant, so there will be some differences in how he’s treated—for one thing, he’ll be accompanied by at least one Secret Service agent as he goes through the booking process and there will be a focus on safety so don’t expect a traditional “perp walk”. But essentially, Trump will find himself in the same position as any other defendant, submitting to the booking process, being fingerprinted, photographed and arraigned in open court. He will also face a judge. There has been some suggestion it will be Judge Juan Manuel Merchan, who was in charge of the Manhattan DA’s prosecution of the Trump Organization, and who ran a tight ship.
Click through for details. There is a lot of speculation on what the arraignment will look like, and I wanted to capture the speculation of a former federal prosecutor in her own words. It’s still speculation, but it experience-based.

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 31, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:59 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 312023

Yesterday, I made a couple of cartoons. I don’t need all that many, but I did need two for the first week. I won’t need another before the 20th, so that gives me some slack. And did y’all see the breaking news comment in yesterday’s OT? Or did you get the news elsewhere? Are the able bodied among you dancing in the streets?

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Conversation – This course uses science fiction to understand politics
Quote – What does the course explore? We explore issues of racism, gender, anarchy and the end of civilization. I chose books that encourage students to focus on the political aspects of each work. At the beginning of the course, I ask students how closely they connect science fiction and politics. At the end of the course, students have the opportunity to revisit and revise their response to that question. By that point, students have participated in discussions, written papers and completed short assignments that ask them to explore and articulate political themes in each book.
Click through for details. If Beau sees this, he’ll be tickled. He’s a big fan of using science fiction to understand, not just politics, but much of the human codition.

The Atlantic (no paywall) – My 6-Year-Old Son Died. Then the Anti-vaxxers Found Out.
Quote – My grief is profound, ragged, desperate. I cannot imagine how anything could feel worse But vaccine opponents on the internet, who somehow assumed that a COVID shot was responsible for my son’s death, thought my family’s pain was funny. “Lol. Yay for the jab. Right? Right?” wrote one person on Twitter. “Your decision to vaccinate your son resulted in his death,” wrote another. “This is all on YOU.” “Murder in the first.”
Click through for full story. This is no way to run a civilization. This kind of harassment needs to be made a felony in all states and all territories (and, as I think I may have said before, there will be plenty of room in prisons if we just release all those convicted of personal use drug possession and breathing while black.)

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 30, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 302023

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet. Getting my taxes done was probably the high point of the day. Which is really how I like it. But it does leave me with little to say.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Warning – Must read: The Washington Post’s “The Blast Effect”
Quote – In response to my video commentary, which I shared last night, on the devastating tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville, a The Warning community member suggested that the media do the “horrendous but necessary” job of showing what a semi-automatic weapon does to a child’s body. This morning, The Washington Post did just that. I would encourage you to read this, and to share it with your family and friends…. Entire categories of weapons have been illegal in America since 1934, including the Thompson submachine gun (the “Gangster gun”) and sawed-off shotguns.
CLick through for the article if you like but the real story is in the Post. It did not paywall me, and I think that may have been deliberate (in case the connection to Schmidt was why, I did not cut the link.) Trigger warning – it’s hard to get through. It’s interctive, so if any animation stops scroll down just a tad to restart the movement. That’s deliberate, to give you time to read the accompannying text. And share it if possible. If I find a gify long or an archive link after this posts, I’ll put it in a comment or in the next day’s post.

Crooks & Liars – Al Franken Reveals How To Get Around ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
Quote – But Franken revealed a workaround: “Luckily, though, it doesn’t say you can’t sing about being gay,” he said, before breaking into a pertinent ditty. Franken continued by wishing Florida teens good luck. “I think you’ll really enjoy reading classics like, “Moby Large Whale With No Subtext Whatsoever,” he added.
This is not the only humor, and there is a video also. The first short take being so serious, I though some relief was needed. (Incidentally, I believe I know why Beethoven became so profoundly deaf, and it wasn’t hereditary.)

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 29, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:13 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 292023

Yesterday, Looking at the 10-day weather forcast, I said to myself, “I guess spring is really here.” But for those who haven’t lived in the Rockies, I think I had better qualify that. The predominant spring weather in Colorado is wind. And six of those ten days, including both the 30th and the 31st, showed wind as the predominant weather. So, after coming in like a grumpy lamb, March may go out like a blustery lion after all. (But we can also expect some warmer, possibly up to 70°F.) Also, I found I had overcut the extra yesterday – here’s the correct link (plus it’s now on YouTube.)

Cartoon – 29 Niagara rtl

Short Takes –

The 19th – Nashville shooting suspect’s gender sets attack apart from most mass shootings
Quote – Law enforcement officials in Nashville released the identity of the shooter, whose last name was Hale. Chief John Drake of the Nashville Police said the authorities currently believe that the shooter is transgender. However, local authorities and news media reports have varied on how they refer to Hale’s gender identity, as well as what pronouns they have used. The 19th is waiting on further information related to Hale’s identity before publishing a first name.
Click through for more. Yes, everyone has heard about the shots and the victims. I’m using the 19th because it is not afraid to look at this from a different perspective (and is being very careful not to over-report.)

PolitiZoom – Will Ivana Sabotage Donald From the Grave? SECRET FBI Files Released Under FOIA Reveal Investigation
Quote – What if I was to tell you that I was writing a fiction story about a supposed KGB asset, groomed since the 80’s, and his fashionista wife, whom the FBI has also been watching since the 80’s, and then we fast forward to the 21st century, where the alleged asset has been elected president of the United States, with the help of Vladimir Putin, and then a few years later the fashionista wife tumbles down the stairs of her condo one night when she’s alone and breaks her neck?
Click through for juicy details. This seems pretty far-fetched to me. But then everthing involving Trump** is far-fetched. And Ursula doesn’t even mention the suspicious weight of the coffin considering she was cremated.

Bonus News of the Weird:

Law & Crime – Jurors subject ‘dominatrix’ to potential 25-year prison term for trying to murder lookalike eyelash stylist with cheesecake tainted by powerful Russian benzo
Quote – Nasyrova allegedly fled Russia in 2014 before she could be charged with the drugging and murder of a different friend, this one a man. During a 2018 interview with 48 Hours while she was detained at Rikers Island, the so-called dominatrix Nasyrova was also asked whether it was true that she had also drugged and robbed men she met through dating sites. Nasyrova denied the allegations and said (according to a translation), “I would be happy to comment on that, but I can’t talk about it.”
CLick through for story. The concept of identity theft is not new. It appears in countless fairy tals, certainly from all over Europe – I can specifically pint to one in Czechoslovakia,one in Scandinavia, and at least a dozen in Germany collected by the Grimm brothers. And the victimgenerally either survives or is magically resurrected – fairy tales are big on justice for victims. But the detail of the perp being an alleged “dominatrix” is new.

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 28, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 282023

Yesterday, I once more got the New Yorker’s Name Drop puzzle on the first clue – and I’m willing to bet that most of y’all will or would too. The image of that red coat and sunglasses will take shape in your brain as it did in mine, and the face behind the sunglasses will be very familiar. (In fact, you may get it from just what I have said.) Aside from that, it was pretty quiet. I think I got pretty well caught up on my sleep, but also found a new quote from Robert Reich to console me in case I didn’t. “The sleep fairies do not favor the elderly.”

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Trump’s Calls For Violence More ‘Blatant’ and ‘Overt’ Than Before
Quote – Lofgren brought up Trump’s horrific Truth Social post (that he fortunately deleted) –the one that shows Trump holding a baseball bat right next to a photo of Bragg. She also mentioned Trump’s continual parade of insults and name-calling and his threats of “death and destruction,” coupled with his comments during the rally Saturday. “This is cause for concern,” she said. “We know that certainly not all of his followers are inclined to take up arms, but there’s enough of them who are willing to do battle in his behalf that someone could get killed. And people were killed, obviously, on January 6.”
Click through for details. If you have already noticed this yourself, let me assure you that you are NOT imaginng it. It is real.

The New Yorker – The Myth of the Alpha Wolf
Click through for details. I’m not quoting, because I have a lot to say on this, and if you are paywalled out, let me know – I will send it. It’s been known for some time that the initial “research” which came up with the terminaology in the title werenot carried out on wolves in their wild habitat, but exclusively on wolves in zoos. This is like doing research entirely in prisons and then claim that it applies to civilization as a whole. It’s really no wonder, is it, that almost all of the people who seriously buy the “alphamale” image are actual or potential criminals.
But what is new in the latest research (and which surprised the researchers so much that it sent them looking to other species – and fining similar reaults) is the fact that, when two packs battle, the pack that stands the best chance of winning, by a significant margin, is the pack which contains one or more older wolves. Ant that is the most impostant single factor. Apparently, respect for our elders has actual, solid survival value. I believe we should seriously think about this.
We don’t know whether wolves (or elephants or other species) are vulnerable to dementia, and that does make a difference. No one wants Dianne Feinstein to run again for the Senate. But that’s a matter of health, not simply aging. When we have elders like Joe Biden – Nancy Pelosi – Elizabeth Warren – Bernie Sanders – GRACE LINN – who literally have knowledge of what works and what doesn’t,because they have seen, time and time again, what works and what doesn’t – I think we need to stop talking about age as if it were a disqualifier.

And speaking of wolves (and canines in general) and prisons, here is an extra, which I would have used in the video thread if if had beeen possible to embed it. (The srticle ccontains an embed code, but it doesn’t do anything through my computer, not did it work for Lona, who passed it on to me.) I hope y’all will enjoy it. The Colorado prison system does have a “Prison Trained K9 Companion Program” – in fact they just picked up a bunch a couple of weeks ago who were rescued from a hoarding situation – but no lifers that I know of. So I have also sent information on the article to the DOC (not the live link – they have to be suspicious of links – but the defanged link and the information to find it through a search engine.) Do click through for a sweet story.

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 27, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:10 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 272023

Yesterday, I visited Virgil (who returns all greetings). I hadn’t slept all that well, having been awakened over an hour early by pain in my left shoulder – I had been being careful with it, but I guess not careful enough. But I was fit to drive – I assume, since I navigated both ways without incident. The Scrabble set was in use when I arrived, but that visitor left early, so we got to use it right up to closing time. We didn’t keep score, just went for making things that worked. We played one complete game using every tile, and then a second with which we were in the end game when visitation ended. When I play with Virgil I don’t play any game competetively, since it’s not fun for either of us. Not keeping score helps that. I was mostly trying to spread out the board so there would be lots of openings, in which I only partially succeeded. But it was fun for both of us. Before I leave you with the news, I want to share this little tidbit., about what happens when cendorship gets so hot and heavy that a class in Renaissance Art gets censored – such as this one in Florida – and MSNBC picks it up and shares the censorship with a rude pun which they may or may not have known was a rude pun (in my experience, the usage is pretty much restricted to certain regions.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/why-waco?
Civil Discourse – Why Waco?
Quote – Waco is a dark tale. It’s important for us to understand what it means for Trump to go there today. It’s not the sort of thing that should be brushed off as Trump being Trump. His presence will hold meaning for people who can be moved to action by it, just like the Proud Boys heard Trump’s call during the 2020 presidential debates to “stand back and stand by” as a call to future action. There is risk in tomorrow’s rally. That risk will continue as long as Trump remains on the public stage. It’s more important than ever that he be held accountable, both by the criminal justice system and by the voting public.
Click through for history. This is really not flying over the heads, or under the radar, of those who pay attention to current affairs. However, way too many do not.

Daily Beast – How an Old Affidavit Could Undercut Trump’s Future Defense in the Stormy Daniels Case
Quote – back in 2000, Trump submitted a sworn affidavit to the Federal Election Commission demonstrating a complex understanding of some of the same campaign finance laws that now appear central to Bragg’s case. “I neither reimbursed, nor caused any other person to reimburse, any employee of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, Inc. or its subsidiaries for his or her contribution to Gormley for Senate,” Trump wrote at the time…. That case was fairly complex for a layperson, and it forced Trump to develop and express a sophisticated understanding of specific federal campaign finance laws.
Click through for details. It would not surprise me if Trump** does plan to claim ignorance as a defense. Certainly his allies appear to be claiming it for him. It is to be hoped that that will not go well for him.

Food For Thought

There is a lot more information here.

Older Entries Newer Entries