Cartoon – Page 63 – Politics Plus

Open Thread June 16, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 162022

Yesterday, I spent as much as I could of the day preparing for today. Making sure I had a bottle of ice frozen (in order to have cold water on the way back, and yes, I keep it in an insulated bag, but it still melts some), printing out the compulsory form (pre-filled, because it is way too small to struggle with every time), lining up clothes including shoes (my feet are not just flat as they were when I was on active duty – they now qualify as “deformed” and there are a lot of shoes I can’t walk in, and I do have to walk to the car and then stand loneg enough to get the wheelchair in and out), and just generally being prepared. If any regular reader notics we are a bit low on comments, yes, we are, but it’s temporary. I’m on the road, Pat’s with a family member, and Nameless has out-of-state visitors. I will get to everything eventually to respond (or at least uprate), but I don’t think everyone does. Which is fine.

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Short Takes –

Robert Reich – What you really need to know about the likelihood of a recession
Quote – Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its May Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which showed inflation worsening. Yet the bigger story — and bigger worry — is not inflation. It’s the distinct possibility of recession. Or perhaps both (what’s termed “stagflation.”) Here are the questions I’m getting asked most often, and my answers.
Click through for questions and answers. Given that the “inflation” is mostly artificially induced by price gouging, those same parties will likely also be responsible for a recession or stagflation. But they’ll get away with it – again.

CPR – Supreme Court: Native Americans prosecuted in tribal courts can be tried by federal government for same offense
Quote – The case before the justices involves a tribal court system that has become increasingly rare over the last century. Courts of Indian Offenses were created in the late 1800s during a period when the federal government’s policy toward Native Americans was to encourage assimilation. Prosecutors are federal officers answerable to federal authorities, not tribal authorities. Federal policy toward Native Americans shifted in the mid-1930s, however, to emphasize a greater respect for tribes’ native ways. As part of that, the government has encouraged tribes to create their own tribal courts, and the number of Courts of Indian Offenses has steadily decreased.
Click through for story. There is a lot going on here – history, culture, definitions of sovereign nations, and more. I can certainly see why the case made it all the way to SCOTUS. Whether the decision is right, I’m not so sure.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 15, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 152022

Yesterday, I learned I will have to see Virgil tomorrow instead of Sunday. Actually, I learned Monday that Sunday was out, but it took some back-and-forth to confirm tomorrow. I shouldn’t be surprised – Sunday is both Father’s Day and Juneteenth At least that fact gives me hope that the whole summer won’t be like this. Anyway, was scrambling yesterday and will be for the next couple of days. The Wednesday hearing will now be Thursday which will help a little.

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Short Takes –

Letters from an American – June 13, 2022
Quote – Once again, as it did last Thursday, the committee relied entirely on senior Republican officials and on members of Trump’s own inner circle to tell the story of how Trump tried to overthrow our government. This undercuts accusations that the committee is engaging in a “partisan witch hunt.” Notably, the committee itself is measured, polite, and serious, demonstrating to viewers what hearings used to be before they became ways to produce sound bites for right-wing media.
Click through for full letter. I’ve said I don’t want to turn into a J6 blog, and I don’t, but I couldn’t resist that quotation.

The 19th – These companies publicly oppose anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Some also fund lawmakers who sponsor them.
Quote – Lawmakers in six states who wrote, signed or sponsored anti-LGBTQ+ legislation received tens of thousands and, in a few cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars, from major U.S. corporations or their employee-led PACs and affiliates, in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, Data for Progress found. Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, Idaho and Texas have been prolific in their efforts to bar trans students from school sports, restrict gender-affirming care for minors and ban LGBTQ+ discussions from classrooms over the past few years.
Click through for details. This is, of course, standard, and not limited to LGBTQIA+. Probably the most egregious are companies who pretend to be green but donate to candidates in the pockets of fossil fuels. But they also work at duping POC and women of any color, as well as the disabled.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 14, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 142022

Yesterday, I watched the second hearing – not live, but the Committee’s offical video on YouTube, here. In case you missed it, it was mostly proof of zero election fraud, but at the end it covered the corrupt fundraising Trump** did on the strength of those election lies and hw many small grass-roots donors were cheated. (Ironically, the answer to the day’s Wordle was “DONOR.”) I have still not been surprised at any revelations, just glad that the chain of evidence is so strong.

Cartoon – 14 Marengo RTL

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Steve Bannon Digs Into Roger Clemens’ Playbook to Try to Beat Congress
Quote – In both cases, they asked for legally “privileged” congressional records that wouldn’t be released. In Rainey’s case in 2015, when no politician or staffer would waive their right to those privileges, the federal judge thought it appropriate to exclude any evidence of “obstruction of Congress” and dropped that charge. With half the criminal case gone, a New Orleans jury acquitted him of the only remaining charge a few days later.
Click through for story. I won’t go into what this smells of. I think the prosecutor and he judge can shut it own – but who knows whether they will.

She’s Baaack! Sarah Palin To Face Off Against Santa Claus For Congress
Quote – Before changing his name from Thomas Patrick O’Connor in 2005, Claus spent time in several US cities. … [H]e often played Santa Claus during holiday events and became an advocate for at-risk children…. On a walk on a snowy road in 2005, he had prayed about how he could use his Santa Claus-like appearance to help children. As he finished, he recalled, a white car drove by, and someone inside shouted: “Santa, I love you!” “So,” he said, “I took it to heart.”
Click through for details. In Alaska, name recognition might just carry Mr. Calus to the runoff. Good luck to him.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 13, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 132022

Yesterday, I was surprised by how many of my regular newsletters were not in my inbox. Even for a Sunday, this was striking. Perhaps the internet in general (at leas the sane part) is in the same headspace I am. I want to cover the hearings certainly, but I don’t want the blog to turn into a January 6 blog. There are too many other things happening which are also important – and not being seen. Both this thread and the Videu Thread will be a little short today I will find a way to watch today’s full hearing, probably after the fact, and will post links tomorrow. I”ll continue to do that for wach hearing. And if the posts continue to be short until the hearings are finished it will be what it is.

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Short Takes –

The Hill – March For Our Lives co-founder: Senate gun reform package should be beginning of Congress’s work
Quote – The senators’ framework includes funding for school safety resources, expanded background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21 and incentives for states to implement “red flag’ laws. The proposed legislation comes in response to the recent string of mass shootings in the U.S, which prompted more debate on gun control in the country.
Click throug for story. The March for Our Lives event was Saturday, and it took place in 450 cities all over the country. I want to help prevent it from being overlooked.

The Conversation – Ice world: Antarctica’s riskiest glacier is under assault from below and losing its grip
Quote – Antarctica is a continent comprising several large islands, one of them the size of Australia, all buried under a 10,000-foot-thick layer of ice. The ice holds enough fresh water to raise sea level by nearly 200 feet. Its glaciers have always been in motion, but beneath the ice, changes are taking place that are having profound effects on the future of the ice sheet – and on the future of coastal communities around the world.
Click through to read just how bad it is, with photos and maps.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 12, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:17 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 122022

Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Rake’s Progress” – probably the only opera ever based (loosely) on a set of paintings (later published as engraved prints) designed to tell a cautionary tale. The music is by Stravinsky composed during his Neo-classical period, so it’s singable, and not much like The Rite Of Spring (not that I don’t like The rite of Spring.) This was the last opera to be broadcast by the Met – but from here on out until the Met picks up again in the fall, WFMT will take over and play an opera every Saturday, chosen from different opera copanies all over the world. I have not yet looked at their playlist, but have heard enough in past years to know it will be well worth listiening to. (It was through this program that I was able to hear “Scalia/Ginsburg” – though I think it was composed when both were still alive. Ironically, it take place in the afterlife, explaining to the recording angel [or someone like that] how on earth such different people could get along so well IRL. But I digress.) The paintings and prints are all public domain and can be seen on Wikipedia.

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Short Takes –

Rolling Stone (in cooperation with POGO) – Inside the Capitol Cops’ Jan. 6 Blame Game
Quote – New documents describe critical errors in the Capitol Police’s handling of intelligence prior to the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, revealing missed warning signs that — despite the undeniable heroism of many of its officers — contributed to the agency’s failed defense of the Capitol. The documents, which were obtained by the Project on Government Oversight, add to a body of reporting by the government and the press surrounding failures by the Capitol Police intelligence division and its key leaders to clearly, consistently, and widely communicate the severity of raw intelligence threats to the Capitol and lawmakers — a failure that on Jan. 6 left Congress under-defended and rank-and-file officers unprepared.
Click through for details. I’m not sure it shuld be called an “intelligence failure” when someone somewhere deliberately suppressed some or all of the intelligence – and the reprisals reported certainy suggest that that happened. It’sa shame tha honest, patriotic officers such as Edwards, Sicknick, Goodman, and others had to suffer for it.

Crooks & Liars – News Coverage Of Hearing Cautious, Twitter Not So Much
Quote (screenshot only):

Click through for more reaction. Many people, including me, have wondered whether the hearings would change the mind of even just one person. The tweet I quote is for us.

Law and Crime – Manhattan Judge Dismisses NRA’s Countersuit Against State AG: Gun Group’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Claim ‘Is Simply Not Supported by the Record’
Quote – A Manhattan judge has dismissed the National Rifle Association’s countersuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), rejecting the gun group’s accusation that it’s the victim of a political “witch hunt.” In February, the attorney general’s office warned that advancing the NRA’s counterattack would give regulatory targets a new tool to “harry prosecutors.” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen considered the competing arguments for months before ruling in the AG’s favor, but the blistering 14-page opinion suggests that it wasn’t a close call.
Click through for parts of the “blistering opinion.” Tthis story was really the only interesting thing I could find which was not about the insurrection or the hearings.

Food For Thought
Eat yout hearts out, Don Caron and Rocky Mountain Mike:

Open Thread June 11, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:39 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 112022

Yesterday, I got my ballot into the mailbox before the mail delivery happened – So I could hear it’s been received as soon as Monday. After that, it’s not longe before I hear that it has been validated and will be counted. And that’s about it. I did a little knitting – I’m working on a shawl. Many people feel that shawls are easier and faster than sweaters because no sleeves, no openings no fitting. And I suppose they don’t actually take any more time than a sweater. But it seems longer, because it’s boring AF. Even with some increases – ans this pattern has some – by the time you get past the first skein, there is so much straight knitting berween them, that if ells like there’s no fitting. I need extra knitting markers not to skip them by just forgetting. But it will get done – and there’s really no hurry.

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Short Takes –

The 19th -Many low-income people are already shut out of IVF. Could abortion bans make it even more expensive?
Quote – Almost 20 years ago, Italy tested what it would look like if embryos were given the same rights as a living person. The country put stringent limits on in vitro fertilization treatments (IVF), banning embryo preservation, limiting the number of embryos created a time to three and mandating that they all be transferred to the uterus. In the years the law was in place, before it was ultimately repealed in full, more IVF treatments failed, more pregnancies resulted in no live births or more multiple births, and IVF became more difficult to access — and more expensive. Italian patients who could afford it traveled to other countries across Europe to receive treatment. Success rates at IVF clinics dropped, high-risk pregnancies increased and doctors had to risk transferring embryos that could lead to medical complications for the pregnant person. Single parents and many LGBTQ+ parents couldn’t access IVF at all because surrogacy and sperm donation were also banned.
Click through. Anti-abortion people talk as if it’s a simple problem – sluts don’t want to be bothered with children. But the woman who desperately wants a child but has an ectopc pregnancy instead and will die without help – and he woman who desperately wants a child and cannot conceive without help – these are not just forgotten, but trashed – proving again, if proof were needed, that it isn’t about abortion at all, just about control.

Pro Publica – In Exclusive Jailhouse Letter, Capitol Riot Defendant Explains Motives, Remains Boastful
Quote – Reffitt went on to describe how the group might be able to disable a social media company’s servers by using a sniper rifle to disable the generators at a nearby Texas facility. According to court records, he said attacking the servers would “make them feel it back” in Washington, D.C. He added: “Then they won’t know we’re coming next time.”
Click through for details. This is what scares me even more than Trump**. This guy is not alone, and he is competent enough to write a coherent letter. This is the guy his son turned in and who threatened to kill his son for doing it.

Thom Hartmann for Common Dreams – These Trump-Led Seditionists Must Be Punished in Court—and at the Ballot Box
Quote – Sedition is a word with which most Americans are not familiar. We haven’t had an American politician or armed group try to commit sedition in the United States since 1861, so it’s not a word that we normally use or see in the media. But sedition is what this is all about. An attempted coup to overthrow our government and replace its duly elected leader, Joe Biden, with Donald Trump.
Click through for full opinion. I looked for non-insurrections stories, but there wasn’t much. That’s probably a good ting as it probably means that an impression was made by the Committee.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 10, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 102022

Yesterday was fairly routine. I did watch the second hour of the hearings – and I have to say I was glad they adjourned – I don’t know how much more I could have withstood. I watched here, so I got no commentary. After looking around afterwards, I started looking for any other sources, especially those which might continue to be available in case anyone else missed anything. The first one I found was PBS (I have set this to start just as the hearing does, so it may be a little choppy.) Meidas Touch also made it avaiabe trough The Tony Michaels podcast. It was still going when I found it, so I didn’t try to look for a starting time. Those commenting there are likely, some of them, to be familiar (Texas Paul is one, but others have also been seen in the Video Thread here.) I did look for MSNBC, but didn’t have a lot of time to look, and only found a clip on it.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Here’s What A Real Expert Has To Say About Active Shooters
Quote – This event isn’t a real team building exercise, however, but a powerful new PSA put out by March For Our Lives, the gun control group that formed in the wake of 2018’s Parkland school shooting. The PSA, titled “Generation Lockdown,” seeks to build support for the passage of a bill in the US Senate that would expand background checks for guns.
Click through for video and article. I put this here rather than in the Video Thread because the article, I believe, adds content. Someone at DU commented that if this doesn’t break your heart, you probably don’t have one. – let that be a hanky alert.

The Daily Beast – Putin’s Favorite Copycat Gears Up in Panicked Wartime Frenzy
Quote – In the past few days Lukashenko and his advisers have made a flurry of announcements about plans to bolster the Belarusian military. First, they announced Belarus was creating a people’s militia to give a boost to the country’s armed forces. Then they announced both a new military unit on the country’s southern border with Ukraine and new military mobilizations exercises.
Click through for details. Frankly, this scares me. Belarus isn’t very big – but then, neither is a straw.

The New Yorker (Daily Shouts) – Racism Outshines Platinum Jubilee
Quote – On Friday, at a service of thanksgiving for Her Majesty at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Racism, attending with its partner, Colonialism, turned things up a notch in haute couture by the House of Anxiety, a dazzling coat composed of thousands of individual boos directed toward Meghan and Harry as they entered the church. When asked about the custom creation, House of Anxiety responded, “White supremacy demands hating the other, and hating the other is the moment.”
Click through for article. “Daily Shouts” is a humor column which often comes very close to realiy because its readers are expected to be alert to satire. But frankly, I think this one is TOO close (Harry and Meghan did not, at least I don’t think so, leave early because of any disrespect to Elizabeth, but because two neo Nazis told Harry to his face that Archie was “an abomination” who ought to be “put down.”)

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 9, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 092022

Yesterday, CPR News gave me all the information I needd to decide which Democrat to vote for the challenge Douglas Lamborn (or as I generally call him, Duggie Lamebrain.) There wasn’t much diffeence actually. I went with the one who had the stronger resume, who as also the one who got onto the ballot through the state assembly, which means if there is any money at all coming from DCCC, he’s the one who will get it. Of course there may noy be any. My district is +20 Red. Lamebrain himself has two primary challengers, both from the right – but that may turn out to be one too many. Election Day is the 28th, so we’ll know by July.

BTW, I put an Al Franken video into today’s video thread. I can’t claim it’s one of his funniest, but it is timely, and it’s under 8 minutes.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Trump Demands Minions Push Back Against Jan. 6th Hearings
Quote – Instead, some operatives are offering their clients talking points to prepare them for the inevitable questions that will arise around the hearing, but with the goal of steering the conversation back to domestic issues.
Click through for not-very-long but very-revealing story. Seriously, do they think the survival of demicracy itself is not a “domestic” issue?

CPR News – Thousands of Democrats are changing their voter registration in Lauren Boebert’s district ahead of the primary
Quote – Thousands of voters have recently left the Democratic Party in Western Colorado — some as part of a grassroots effort to defeat Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in her upcoming primary election. Among them is Steven Hallenborg of Montrose. “Well, I’m a lifelong Democrat, and now I’m unaffiliated,” he said. Because he changed his affiliation, he now can vote against Boebert in the June 28 Republican primary.
Click through for numbers. Unaffiliated voters receive two ballots but may only return one – their choice which one. That osn’t a lot of Democrats, but it could be enough to make a difference.

The Daily Beast – Free Gas Cards Are the GOP’s New Campaign Gimmick—and It’s Legal (BBA)
Quote – Lucky drivers pulling up to a packed Chevron gas station south of Atlanta last Saturday finally saw a little relief at the pump, in the form of a $25 gas voucher straight from the goddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece. The catch: They had to sit through a pitch for her political candidate of choice—college football hero, Olympic bobsledder, Russian roulette aficionado, and now aspiring Republican senator Herschel Walker.
Click through for details. The thing that leaps out at me is – more proof that it’s impossible to predict the political position of anyone based on the known positions of even their closest family and friends.

Food For Thought

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