Open Thread for September 16, 2021

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 162021
 

Yesterday, I discovered that Bob Woodward’s new book, “Peril” (co-written with Robert Costa), is so packed with bombshells that I’m not going to be able to cover it properly. And it’s not even out until next week. I’m sure to be making allusions to it from time to time, though. Especially in the video thread.  But the high point of the day was seeing a dear friend who picks up for me the one prescription I can’t get delivered.  Thanks to the pandemic, including now Delta, that’s the only way I get to see her.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

HuffPost – QAnon Followers Threaten Hospital After Outspoken COVID Denier Dies Of COVID
Quote – Lin Wood — a far-right attorney Twitter permanently banned earlier this year after he predicted the execution of then-Vice President Mike Pence by firing squad — seized upon [Veronica] Wolski’s hospitalization to boost his own publicity. He used social media to urge his followers to contact staff at the hospital and demand Wolski be treated with ivermectin. Hundreds of people have since called and emailed the hospital, according to NBC Chicago. Some have threatened violence. In a post on Telegram after Wolski’s death, Wood told his followers they had a “responsibility” to stop “medical murders” and to “go to war.” Hospital staff reportedly called the police in response to bomb threats.
Click through for details. Sigh. “The party of personal responsibility” strikes again.

Crooks and Liars – Alabama Man Dies After 43 Hospitals With Full ICUs Turned Him Away
Quote – A reminder, if one were even needed at this point, that with all these COVID patients in ICU beds across the country resources are stretched to their limit. In Alabama things are especially dire, as they no longer have any ICU beds. When Ray DeMonia suffered his cardiac event they searched in vain for an ICU bed for him, finally finding one in Mississippi. But it was too late.
Click through for story. It’s a little cooloer as I type this, but it’s not cold enough for me to be cool with my blood boiling.

The Hill – Trump’s 2020 gains in rural America offset by Biden’s urban dominance
Quote – “We’re becoming more diverse, we’re becoming more urban, and most of that is happening outside of places Trump won,” said William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution. “Even though Trump did better than he did in 2016 in some of those bigger places, the groups he was getting are shrinking parts of those populations.”
Click through for more. I would point out, first, that this data is based on the last election, and secondly, that if we don’t have voting laws in place nationwide that provide for actual majority rule, it doesn’t much matter.

Food for Thought –

Also, for those observing Yo Kippur, may the fast be easy and the day blessed.

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Video Thread 9/15/2021

 Posted by at 11:35 am  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 152021
 

Glenn Kirschner – California Recall Election Results Being Attacked by Larry Elder BEFORE the Election is Even Held

Meidas Touch – MAGA is getting CRAZIER because they are LOSING… And they KNOW IT! (I hope he’s right – I think.)

politicsrus – Abortion Part 2mp4

When will these attacks on American democracy end?

Ring of Fire – AOC Brutally Mocks Sarah Palin

Robert Reich – The $3.5T Bill Corporate America Is Terrified Of

Beau – Let’s talk about trying to debunk a claim about Delta….

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Video Thread 9/14/2021

 Posted by at 11:37 am  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 142021
 

Glenn Kirschner – As Feds Prepare for the Pro-Trump DC Rally on 9/18, We’re Learning More About the “Failures” of 1/6

The Lincoln Project – 24 years (Of course the vast majority of rapists are not on the streets but in their victims’ homes.)

The Franklin Project – School Board Bullying IMO this fallout of January 6 is scarier than Sep 18.

politicsrus – Newsom HD – I had to push a couple to tomorrow since the recall is today.

Really American – Recall The GOP

Eyepop Productions – Boatlift This was made in 2011, and I saw it then on PBS – so it’s actually no longer untold – but many people aren’t aware of it.

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, mandates, reactions, and Orwell….

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Open Thread for September 14, 2021

 Posted by at 7:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 142021
 

Yesterday, I received a grocery delivery. It was all there – and no substitutions – and I was smart enough for once to put out an insulated backpack on the porch for frozen stuff that melts rather than just thawing. So I got it all in with I’m pretty sure no loss. So I have a sense of accomplishment.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Dodd, Frank urge Biden to reappoint Powell
Quote – In a Monday op-ed for The Hill, former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) argued that Powell’s reappointment would give Biden “strong support” to pass a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure and social services plan — what they called the “most important issue facing us today…. We believe the national interest will be best served by President Biden reappointing Jerome Powell to chair the Federal Reserve System,” Dodd and Frank wrote.
Click through for more. Yes, it’s THAT Dodd and THAT Frank. They have earned enough respect for me to listen and pay attention when they speak, whether or not I end up agreeing.

HuffPost – Texas Embalmer Shares Nightmare COVID Experiences: ‘Unlike Anything I’ve Seen Before’ TRIGGER ALERT
Quote – These folks were so swollen they were completely unrecognizable. We were also getting sent a lot of people who had died from COVID in nursing homes back at that time, and many of them had not been dead very long at all…. The blood tends to settle out because it’s no longer flowing and it’ll gravitate to the dependent part of the body. The longer a body sits, the more blood clots that they develop. I was having people that had only been dead for a few hours and there were major clotting issues. The clots were the size of pancakes ― you never, never see those with someone who didn’t die of COVID.
Click through if you can take it (it gets worse). I won’t say we have been lied to, but we have definitely not been fully briefed on what CoViD does to the human body. I can see why not … but I still thik it was a mistake.

Mother Jones – 59 Percent of Republicans Say It’s Important to Believe Trump Won the Election
Quote – Donald Trump definitely did not win the 2020 presidential election, but nearly six in 10 GOP voters polled by CNN say it’s at least somewhat important for Republicans to continue believing that he did.
Click through for the story. Fortunately it’s short.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread 9/13/2021

 Posted by at 12:18 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 132021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Insurrection Updates: More Guilty Pleas & FBI/DOJ Upping the Ante to Seditious Conspiracy

Thom Hartmann – Incels, Turtle Love & More Bizarre Tales Of the Right-Wing

Ring of Fire – Teachers Desperately Try To ‘Deprogram’ Children With Q Supporting Parents

Armageddon Update | I’m Suing A Zygote’s Mom

Vote Vets – Texas Veteran, Former United States Marine Sergeant, Katherine Wyatt, Discusses Texas Abortion Ban

Rocky Mountain Mike – Delta Quarantine

Beau – Let’s talk about triage at a gas station….

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Video Thread 9/8/2021

 Posted by at 11:38 am  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 082021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Here’s Why Courts Should Strike Down Texas Abortion Law Violating Women’s Constitutional Rights. I do think Glenn is wrong on one thing – not a point of law – I wouldnever argue with him on that. But he says “taking away people’s Constitutional rights is not a winning strategy.” On the contrary, it was a winning strategy for Democrats until Lyndon Johnson renounced it, and it has been a winning strategy for Republicans ever since.

Meidas Touch – Mary Trump Says THIS is One of the Most Diabolic Things Her Uncle Donald Did

The Lincoln Project – Ivermectin

Really American – Larry Elder: Slave Owners Deserve Reparations

Liberal Redneck – “Un-American” Vaccine Mandates

Beau – Let’s talk about what the world’s EMT means for DOD….

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Open Thread for September 7, 2021

 Posted by at 7:18 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 072021
 

Yesterday, I piddled around with a bunch of small household tasks. Can’t say as I really accomplished much, but sometimes getting a bunch of little stuff out of the way does feel like accomplishment.

Cartoon – Incidentally, I own a framed copy of the print made from this rendition by Bryan Moon of that occasion.  I love his work.

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Pathetic Arizona Manbabies Cosplay Gomer Pyle At Elementary School
Quote – Now, I could write a normal article, citing The Washington Post and Daily Beast, outlining the absurd and outrageous details of this dangerous nonsense. Frankly, these three don’t deserve the national attention or my resultant rise in blood pressure. Instead, I shall vent my spleen, and open a good, old-fashioned can of Brooklyn whoop-ass on them, as god and my DNA intended.
In case you missed this, click through. The principal is physically fine, as is the other staff member, but both were naturally terrified. Since, she has received so much support from the community, she can’t talk about it without tearing up with gratitude

CNN (H/T Carrie B) – Like Washington and Jefferson, he championed liberty. Unlike the founders, he freed his slaves
Quote – It was 230 years ago Sunday that Robert Carter III, the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, quietly walked into a Northumberland County courthouse and delivered an airtight legal document announcing his intention to free, or manumit, more than 500 slaves. He titled it the “deed of gift.” It was, by far, experts say, the largest liberation of Black people before President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act and Emancipation Proclamation more than seven decades later.
Click through for the full (and virtually unknown) story. It deserves to be known far and wide. (Without going into detail, it appears possible that Carter Burwell, composer of the music for many films, especially Coen Brothers films, is a descendant.)

Common Dreams – House Dems Introduce Bill to Lower Medicare Age to 60
Quote – Researchers have found that there is a massive increase in the diagnosis of cancer among Americans who reach the age of 65 that could have been detected much earlier if they had access to Medicare.
Click through for some whats, whos, and whys. If we have to do it five years at a time, then that’s the way we will have to do it.

Food for Thought (Good news for mw) –

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Open Thread for September 6, 2021

 Posted by at 6:55 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 062021
 

Yesterday, I dealt with the package from saturday which contained crafting supplies.. No, I didn’t make all the crafts, but I did get stuff put awaw. The other package was a small electronic with which I am still dealing. And rested.

Cartoon –

And, of course, I wish all a

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Democrats Should Be Fighting The Next War, Not The Last One
Quote – Here’s my unpopular opinion: Getting angry at Susan Collins now is a waste of time. Okay, sure, get angry. But don’t fight the last war. We had a chance to defeat Collins in 2020, and we blew it, badly. She won by 9 points. She’s not up for reelection for another five years.
Click through for what do do instead. At least some of it. There’s probebly something in your own state which is also more constructive.

Washington Post – One tactic to stop abortion bounty hunters from demolishing women’s constitutional rights
Quote – When thinking about Texas’s nefarious scheme to deprive women of their constitutional right to seek an abortion, I am reminded of the tactics White segregationists used in the years following the Brown v. Board of Education decision…. In the case of Texas’s antiabortion law, state lawmakers know that Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, establishing a woman’s right under the 14th Amendment to control her own reproduction. So they came up with the idea to enlist private citizens to rat out women exercising their constitutional rights. They offered these people a bounty of $10,000. Think of them as hiring every Texas resident (and residents outside the state!) on a contract basis to make abortion services virtually impossible to obtain.
Click through to the Washington Post for the full editorial, or click through to Democratic Underground for a larger excerpt. I was paywalled out of the Post myself, so I’m supplying both links.

Law & Crime – Biden Will Declassify FBI Documents on Saudi Arabia’s Role in 9/11 Terrorist Attacks — Here’s What the Order Says
Quote – “When I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America,” a press release announcing the executive order notes. “As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment.”
Click through for details and context. Another step in the direction of transparency – and something to look forward to.

Food for Thought –

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