Apr 262024
 

Yesterday, catching up on my email, I came across the comment (about Trump**) that “None of his family has showed up to support him.” Not that this is the first time I have seen it, sometimes with the variant “or friends” (he has no friends), but it was the first time it occurred to me that he probably would not consider their showing up to be support at all. He would see it as scene-stealing, and he’d be furious.

This short (2 minutes) video from the Center for Media and Democracy is about the movement on the right to have a new Constitutional Convention. I don’t like scaring people, but fear exists because it has survival value (in this case the survival of democracy.) We don’t need to panic – it’s not helpful – but we do need to be aware of it. The text under the video (I needed to click “more”) provides two links to more information.

After that, I need – and probably you do too – something upbeat. Colorado Public Radio doesn’t always deliver that – but today they came through.

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Apr 252024
 

Yesterday, the Arizona State House voted to overturn the 1864 abortion law, the one whose author has been so discredited. If it gets through the Senate, the Democratic Governor will, I am sure, sign it. Arizona appears to be on a roll – they also indicted some election conspirators, including Giuliani and Meadows. Also, my radio station was playing Passover music (it’s not till Tuesday night, but this DJ normally only works this station on Wednesdays, so next week would be late. (The rest of the time he works at the sister station whoch features jazz.) That made me think that 613’s Passover piece might be up, and it is. They are a group which makes videos for Jewish holidays, picking an artist to parody and then signing information about the holiday in a nedley of that artist’s works. This year’s is titled “Matza Mia”, parodying Abba (of course).

If you are looking for some really juicy news about what a fiasco Trump’s trial is being (especially on Trump’s side), Mary Trump is your go-to source. This column is dated Wednesday, but looks back to Tuesday

Joyce Vance has links to trial transcripts and documents. This might be a good one to save as a fact-checker reference.

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Apr 242024
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Katie Porter (not that that’s unusual.) We all know ahe will no longer be in Congress after 2024 is over. But this kind of makes it real, Since she will no longer be campaigning for herself, but only for her PAC, “Truth to Power,” she is liquidating all of her campaign merchandise. There are Tshirts, sweatshirts, socks, hats, lapel pins, key chains, and other stuff, including an actual whiteboard. I ordered her kitchen kit to remember her by (it’s something I will actually use. I use keychains, but already have so many.)  I expect the store to be open, but with either more general merch, or merch for particular candidates, as opposed to merch tied to Katie.

It’s about time that someone made this so clear that most people should be able to see it. (Of course there are always some who can’t – or won’t.)

Talking Points Memo has done a striking summary of the first day of the trial (do I need to say which trial? I didn’t think so) in several sections. Even if you already know most of it, it’s a good summary (and has good links – the ones which aren’t paywalled.)

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Apr 232024
 

Yesterday, going through my inbox, I was seeing message subjects like “I underestimated House Speaker Mike Johnson” (Steve Schmidt) and “Mike Johnson Grows Spine And Passes Ukrainian Aid Package” (Wonkette) and “Mike Johnson Measured UP” (also Steve Schmidt) and “Ukrainian Army Celebrates Major Victory Over M – oh, wait, that was Borowitz. Y’all may be seeing some similar ones, since we don’t all get the same emails. Hey, I like the result, but I don’t like the tendency to make Mike Johnson a hero. Yes, Johnson put some foreign aid through and got it passed – four bills – and he did it by making a deal with Hakeem Jeffries. There are multiple theories on the details of the deal – because they are not confirmed I won’t cite any – but I have only seen one comment to the effect that “This was very clever. It looks like something Mitch McConnell might do.” I agree. Yes, he got it done, but don’t go tinking he did it out of the goodness of his heart. We – by which I mean not only us here, but Democrats in Congress – need to watch him very carefully, and to look very carefully at the details of any future proposed deals, and negotiate firmly.

Robert Hubbell looks at the Ukraine vote with particular attention to the margin by which it passed, and extrapolates that in a way which, while not as positive as it might be, yet is more positive than many of us have been thinking. I hope he’s right – or that, if he’s wrong, the reality is even better.

Heather Cox Richardson memoralizes the history of Earth Day, among other things pointing out that environmentalism used to be bipartisan – or, better, to transcend partisan politics.

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Apr 202024
 

Yesterday, a man set himself on fire in the “designated protest area” outside the courthouse where Trump** is being tried. He has allegedly been identified as Maxwell Azzarello of St. Augustine, FL. Since we already know MAGAts are clinically insane, what struck me about the atory is the fact that a “protest area” has been designated. That seriously makes me worry that we will never see sanity in government again – at least not nationally. I do have confidence in some states. Also yesterday, Robert Reich posted a new video on RFKj, and is inviting everyone to share it with everyone. Sure, he can’t win. And logically, his platform should take away voters from Trump**, not from Biden. But politics is not all that logical. Too many people don’t really pay attention.

I am hoping this small victory – the kind of victory which so often Democrats don’t get involved with because it’s local – not thinking it through that it’s those victories from which our bench for the “bigger” contests needs to grow -I hope iit helps inspire others to run also.

Now this is what I have been waiting for ever since Joe appointed Deb Haaland to the Department of the interior. Based just on all the Republican whining it may well have been worth waiting for. Here’s a second link to a different article, same subject.

P.S. Yes, I realize today is 4/20.  But since THC doesn’t really do anything for me, so that I just stick with CBD, I’m afraid I don’t really know how to celebrate

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Apr 192024
 

Yesterday, I had had a pretty good night’s sleep. Of course I had done some stuff the day before – packed and tied four boxes for pickup, unpacked my new (to me and already obsolete) computer and broke up the box it came in, fighting staples and glue, and a couple of other little things. But I felt good enough to take in a small grocery order, and assemble ingredients for a recipe which I can now make. (Don’t get too excited about the computer. I am not going to plug it in until I can also plug in a USB multi-hub, since the place I am putting it makes it very difficult to reach the back.  And I don’t want to move my present 8-port one from where it is.  So I ordered a new one – probably nect week sometime it should arrive.)

Someone has made what I can only call a “mockyoumentary” out of Trump’s** anecdote of the Battle of Gettysburg. Yes, it’s awful, but it’s also short – and very funny in a schadenfreude kind of way.

Mary Trump, as you know, is following Trump**’s cases from a personal perspective. She put together a group of topics from Tuesday’s jury selection, including a list of characteristics on selected jurors which are allowed to be made public.

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Apr 172024
 

Well, I did do a post for yesterday, but the computer ate it.  And I didn’t discover that early enough to try to reconstruct it.  Sorry.

Yesterday, the court in Manhattan managed to select and swear in 6 jurors, includinng the foreperson (which surprises me – I thought the foreperson was chosen from [and by] the full jury. But whatever.)

None of us is completely immune to the belief that “Everyone thinks exactly the way I do.” In people who value the truth and facts, it sometimes presents as “Everyone knows exactly what I know.” None of this is accurate. This article may give you an idea just how inaccurate it is. It really cannot be repeated too often.

This may be just me … but this article starts with the statistic “Internet scammers targeted more than 10,000 Coloradans last year, stealing a total of $187,621,731.” I immediately thought, that averages out to almost $19,000 per victim. Who are these people (who can come up with that kind of money to lose)? I do realize a lot of victims are businesses – but still.

Pat B is having fun with family and company probably the rest of the week. I don’t expect to have a TJI every day, but I thought I should share this one – “The media has wrongly adopted a narrative that views the trial as a proxy for the election. It is not. If we let go of that false narrative, we can observe the trial for what it is—a clunky, imperfect way to arrive at a procedural determination about whether the state has met its burden of proof.” – Robert Hubbell

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Apr 152024
 

Yesterday, I came across a new Parody Project video at Democratic Underground, and I’m providing the link to that site (you can easily get to YouTube from it if you prefer.) The poster,, “DFW,” is “The freedom Toast” just as Don Caron is “The Parody Project.” DFW is an ex-pat living in Europe after a lifetime of foreign service. In the one photo I’ve seen of him, he looks a bit like Santa Claus in a dress suit – and that’s probably more than you wanted to know. I recommend the YouTube CC because the white type washes out on some of the light backgrounds – the CC isn’t perfect, but it’s something.

This has taken a long, long time to accomplish, and it’s really only starting, but I for one am glad it has at last gotten this far.

On the eve of a major trial, Richardson takes a look at the other (neglected by the MSM) story of how the economy works, and when it works best, and why. While attending to the Trump** story, we also need to be telling this one.

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