Sep 282022
 

Glenn Kirschner – NY judge tells Rudy Giuliani to pay up or get locked up; Ginni Thomas to testify to J6 committee

Meidas Touch – MAGA Republicans MOCK Marco Rubio in new MEGAVIRAL Supercut by MeidasTouch

The Lincoln Project – Kevin’s Plan

MSNBC – The Rachel Maddow Show 9/26/22 Part 1 and Part 2of the fascism segments

Liberal Redneck – Stacey Abrams, Heartbeats, and Georgia

Beau – Let’s talk about the Electoral Count Act of 1887 being clarified….

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Sep 232022
 

Yesterday was the day which was expected to be the coldest in months, and I must say it did not disappoint.  I put the quilt back on the bed the night before, and was not a bit too warm (the blanket had alreadt been on the bed for a couple of weeks).)  The quilt stayed lest night – it may come off tonight – but the blanket is probably there to stay until next June.  I grabbed a sweater early and kept it on all day.On the bright side, I did receive confirmation to visit Virgil Sunday.

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Daily Beast – AOC Rival’s Family Caught in Drug and Gun Bust
Quote – But what Forte has failed to mention is that her family’s beverage distribution warehouse was at the center of a federal drug and gun bust in 2019—which culminated in guilty pleas by her husband and son, both of whom are serial offenders. In a 2020 Facebook post, Forte placed her business at an address on the Bronx’s Stillwell Avenue, and in her financial disclosures to the House Clerk’s office she stated her husband’s income derived from a company incorporated in this same building. It was this exact location that a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent identified as the site of the crimes of Joseph “Joey Snapple” Galdieri—to whom Forte is married, according to records in suburban Rockland County, where the pair own a home well outside the congressional district’s borders—and their son Joseph Galdieri Jr.
Click through for story. Life would be better if Republicans named Tina would just stay out of politics (JK – at this point life would be better if ALL Republicans would just stay out of politics.)

Robert Reich – The truth I’m telling Congress today about inflation
Quote – Well, now I get a chance to tell Congress why this is insane…. My aim is to state as clearly as possible that the underlying problem is not wage-price inflation. It’s profit-price inflation. And the Fed’s continuing rate hikes will hurt average workers by slowing the economy — making it harder for workers to get wage increases and causing many to lose their jobs…. I’m going to add my testimony to this post right after I testify this morning — and fill you in on what happened.
Click through for article and summary of the hearing. The article is also available as a podcast, and the hearing is probably on YouTube by now. Of course the Reich on the left is right, as usual.

Food For Thought

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Sep 172022
 

Yesterday, it was pretty uneventful here. Which was a good thing, since I hadn’t slept well. So I kind of plodded along, trying to get enough done that if I need to crash I can. There may be typos.

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Robert Reich – The rail strike averted?
Quote – What can we learn from this near economic disaster? Unlike most management-labor impasses, this one wasn’t solely around wages. It was also around sick time and penalties for missing work. Like so many workers deemed “essential” during the pandemic, the engineers and conductors who drive the nation’s freight trains have been fed up. Their work schedules are unpredictable and inflexible. They’ve been penalized for taking days off when they’re sick or tending to a family emergency. Like most of us, they want a better quality of life — and they feel, with justification, that they deserve it.
CLick through – he wrote this before the announcement of the aversion and updated it a little.

Wonkette – January 6 Committee Announces New Fall Season
Quote – This week Chair Bennie Thompson announced that the committee intends to hold its next public hearing on September 28. They’re clearly going to run this thing through the tape, acknowledging the very real possibility that Rep. Kevin McCarthy is going to take back the speaker’s gavel and devote all congressional hearings going forward to investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop. The committee plans to issue a final report, likely in December, summarizing its work.
Click through for article. I’m not expecting to forget, but I put a 2-day-advance pop-up reminder in my calendar.

Food For Thought

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Jan 272022
 

Yesterday, It was pretty quiet. I ws able to assemble some earrings I had already put together the components of but not gotten any farther. One small thing off the desk. I also managed to do a little knitting.

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Aeon – Those born later
Quote – Some local historians wrote about nefarious hometown Nazis – as was the case in Passau, where the teenager Anna Rosmus (aka the ‘Nasty Girl’) accessed municipal archives for a school essay competition in 1980, and exposed a web of complicity and cover-up. Other historians worked out the fate that befell local Jews, ‘members of our community’ (Mitbürger), as many Germans began to call them.
Click through for article. I don’t know how we can call ourselves “the home of the brave” with straight faces when we have no one speaking like this – and so many people so cowardly as to resist learning the tiniest truths about our own history.

Wonkette – Office Of Congressional Ethics Finds None In Rep. Doug Lamborn’s Congressional Office
Quote – Yesterday the Office of Congressional Ethics put out a wild report on the eight-term Colorado Republican, and it is not great. As first flagged by the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger, the OCE found what appear to be multiple ethics violations by the congressman, his wife, and his chief of staff. The investigation was prompted by a lawsuit filed a by a former staffer who says he was fired for objecting to the congressman’s refusal to adhere to any COVID protocols because “I don’t care about you guys getting it.” The complaint alleged that staff were routinely forced to help the congressman and his family with personal tasks, and also made bizarre claims about members of the Lamborn clan bunking down in the Capitol building.
Click through. It’s no news he’s a scumbag. But it’s nice to see him get national attention for being one. I am aware of the Law of Unintended Consequences, but I’m still hoping to get him disqualified from the 2022 ballot (I have written our SoS).

https://crooksandliars.com/2022/01/rick-wilson-paints-picture-what-happens
Crooks and Liars – Rick Wilson Paints Picture Of What Happens Next If GOP Wins
Quote – McCarthy and McConnell are still playing the old game of Washington and their corporate donors are flooding them with cash. Little do those corporations understand that in the New Order, they’ll either toe the line politically or they’ll be punished for it. Bannon came right out and said, “We’re going to nationalize the social media companies.”
Click through for details. I’s basically an unscrolled Twitter thread. “When the autocrat tells you who he is, believe him.” And you’d also better believe it when his former closest associates tell you who he is.

Food For Thought:

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Dec 162021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Rep. Swalwell Announces New Federal Bill: Help for Families Who Lost a Loved One to Homicide

MSNBC – Mary Trump: Donald Trump Had The Power To Stop Jan. 6 Riot

Thom Hartmann – Trump Overruling Michigan Governor (w/ Judd Legum)

Rebel HQ – Mark Meadows Is SCREWED As Text Messages Surface (Ordinarily I don’t use material that jumps to conclusions – such as Mark Meadows being screwed – but there is good factual stuff in here.)

Robert Reich – Can Congress Really Use Insider Information to Trade Stocks?

Liberal Redneck – War on Christmas

Beau – Let’s talk about semantics, Shepherd’s Pie, liberals, and leftists….

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Dec 162021
 

Yesterday, nothing was predictable or went as expected. Butterfingers here dropped some things … and then picked up some other things, some probably dropped months ago (like 4mm beads, and earring backs.) Mislaid some things, found one that I’d been looking for. Got a package and found one item was missing but one was included I hadn’t ordered (and it wasn’t on the packing slip – and this is unheard of with this supplier.) Loaded some pictures for FFT to the library, and two just disappeared (they were still on my computer, but I had to find them in the trash to re-load them.) All just little things, but a bit disorienting. Nothing I can’t survive LOL!

Cartoon – 16 Voyager loaded

Short Takes

Mother Jones – What if Media Covered the War on Democracy Like an Actual War?
Quote – As we wind down a year that began with a televised insurrection and ends with detailed reporting on what a 2024 coup could look like, it’s more important than ever to stay grounded in that story. Call it the Big Story, in contrast to the Big Lie…. The Big Story did not begin on November 3, 2020, but it did enter a new chapter that day. Remember those surreal weeks, just barely a year ago? Protesters banging on doors at ballot-counting centers, Rudy Giuliani holding forth outside a landscaping shop, election officials reporting vile threats to their families?
Click through for more reality. Yes, Monika wants to raise funds, but who can blame her. It’s not like this isn’t important.

Crooks and Liars – Seems Like People Are Missing The Real Mark Meadows Story
Quote – The plan all along was to create a clash between “patriots” and antifa/BLM that would allow Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and stay in office. Leftists threw a major monkey wrench into the plot by not showing up. (Thank you, leftists. Major props!)
Click through. It’s not long, and not a word is wasted. And she’s right. And I missed it too.

HuffPost – Final Child Tax Credit Payments Go Out Amid Doubt Over Program’s Future
Quote – As a main Democratic holdout in the Senate, Manchin has faced relentless questioning from reporters about his position on various elements of Build Back Better, and he lost his temper on Wednesday when HuffPost followed up with a question about whether he supported continuing the child tax credit in its current form. “This is bullshit,” he said. “You’re bullshit.”
Click through for backstory, and consequences. I find this situation painful, and I don’t even have kids.

Food For Thought:

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Sep 172021
 

Yesterday was another quiet day – and also cooler, which was nice. I pulled together what I’ll be wearing Sunday

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HuffPost – Militia Leader Gets 53 Years In Minnesota Mosque Bombing
Quote – Hari made a brief statement before she was sentenced, saying, “For how blessed my first 47 years of life were, I can’t complain about what the last three have looked like … considering my blessed and fortunate and happy life, I can’t ask the judge for anything further.” She also said the victims who testified during Monday’s hearing have been through a “traumatic ordeal” and she wished them “God’s richest blessings in Christ Jesus.” Frank said he was prepared to recommend Hari, who is transgender, go to a women’s prison, but said the Bureau of Prisons would decide.
Click through for story. Long in coming … but it looks like justice. 47 + 53 = 100, which is a healthy expectancy even for someone who is not trans.

ProPublica – THE SECRET IRS FILES
Quote – Taken together, [the collection of documents] demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. The IRS records show that the wealthiest can — perfectly legally — pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.
Click through for lots more. The link I’ve provided takes you to the cover page with a list of – and links to – all the articles that are related. The quote is from the lead story.

The Hill – How lawmakers aided the Afghan evacuation
Quote – The Hill spoke to nearly 20 lawmakers and staffers in both parties about what their offices went through over the fraught two weeks between when Kabul first fell, on Aug. 15, and the last U.S. military flight, just before midnight Aug. 30. The mission was personal for many of them: Some are veterans, or relatives of veterans, of the 20-year war, and some had even worked with local interpreters whom they considered key to their survival.
Click through for more. Traditionally, a part of every Congressperson’s job is to step in like an ombudsman for oppressed constituents. This is what that can look like. And, yes, it can be heart-wrenching. But it could also have been so much worse.

Food for Thought –

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Jun 232021
 

Yesterday was pretty quiet. And that is a good thing. Maybe I’ll have time to share a little about my character doll progress (yeah, I know – 75 and still plays with dolls. But it’s never been about the dolls, but about the styles and getting tham as close as possible to right. Remember I’m also a former theatrical costumer.)

Cartoon

Short Takes

The Hill – House to take big step on eliminating Trump-era rules
Quote – Sending the measures to President Biden’s desk would deal a blow to former President Trump’s legacy and mark the first time Congress has repealed his administration’s policies through the CRA, which allows lawmakers and a new president to get rid of rules established under a previous president if they were completed shortly before the change in administration.
Click through for more, including information on tis little-known law.

Mother Jones – Ammon Bundy Announces Run for Idaho Governor
Quote – It’s not clear how all his pending criminal cases will affect his ability to campaign.
Click through for more details – including that he may not be the most extreme candidate in the race.

Reuters – With Trump probe looming, Democrats vie for Manhattan district attorney
Quote – The candidates have largely refrained from offering specific thoughts on the Trump investigation. But Bragg has often reminded voters on the campaign trail that he helped sue the Trump administration “more than a hundred times” as a deputy in the New York state attorney general’s office. In an interview with Reuters earlier this year, Weinstein said, “Nobody is above the law, no matter who you are or what office you went on to occupy. “Whoever prevails is likely to become a target for Trump, who has dismissed the probe as a “witch hunt” and attacked Vance personally.
Click thrugh for more, including a link to why this promary is not ranked choice. My hopes are for Bragg.

Food for Thought

Joe Manchin voted in favor of advancing the voting rights act yesterday. We have all been so hard on him for refusing to, it might be nice to thank him now. Thanking people is a motivator to continue good behavior as a rule – and maybe even to improve upon it.

Well, I think I can take a few minutes to speak about my collector dolls –  mostly 11.5″ fashion dolls, which is the size of a Barbie – but certainly I don’t stick to just Barbies, especially if I can find something better.  I have so far made a 1904 visiting outfit doll complete with feathered hat, parasol, boots, and Gibson girl hairdo, an 1896 traveling outfit doll with the same accessories, some of which are embroidered (I did those two straight from published patterns) and have also some several flappers, a generic Jame Austen character (with a poke bonnet – a way to salvage a doll with trrperably damaged hair), a Queen of Sheba and one of her handmaidens, and an 1876 Centennial ball gown doll with period hairdo (easier than the Gibson, but not as pretty.)  I am also working on, from patterns, an 1840 wedding dress including knockers, petticoat, and shoes, as well as a non-period pillow doll.  I most recently finished the one in this photo – do you recognize her?  The hair might have cooperated better, but then humans somethinines have that problem too.  I have almost collected all the materials I need to start on Michelle Obama’s First Inaugural gown – I just hope I live long ehough to finish it.

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