Glenn Kirschner – Where is Sidney Powell? Gaetz skates? Judge Dearie tells Trump’s attorneys to put up or shut up
Meidas Touch – Michael Cohen REACTS to NY AG Filing on Trump Based On His Testimony
The Lincoln Project – A New Dark Age
This Week at Justice – September 23, 2022
Ojeda Live – Trump claims he can declassify documents “even by thinking about it.”
Beau – Let’s talk about the DISCLOSE Act….
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s new $3 million criminal defense attorney paid for by his Save America PAC/his supporters.
Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Appeals Court RESPONDS to DOJ Mar-A-Lago Search Motion and SETS DEADLINE for Trump (Whew – that was fast)
The Lincoln Project – S.O.S. (I sent this to my Secretary of State, who is running for re-election. Maybe TLP will let her use it on TV.)
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse – The Scheme 18: Leonard Leo’s $1.6 Billion Payday (You can find ## 1-17 here [scroll down a bit], all neatly lined up) https://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorWhitehouse
Hey Fletch – GOP HAS GOT TO GO (The Midterm Song)
Beau – Let’s talk about who gets to pick Georgia’s next gov….
Yesterday, I managed to getnine 30-gallon plastic bags out to the porch, all labeled with the initials of the charity they are getting picked up by. After that, I moved the car out of the driveway and took the recyclables to the edge of the driveway by the street – two actions which between tehm pretty much cleared the drive way. I did this because the charity is “Vietnam Veterans of America,” nd although I don’t remember seeing much, one occupation which puts people int higher jeopardy of becoming an amputee is “combat vet.” And the instruction included the request that everything be capable of bing lifted with one hand (not all at once, of course; that would be silly.) So I just wanted to make it as easy as possible and I figured shortening the distance couldn’t hurt. After all that, my shoulders, back, and knee were still in comparatively good shape.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Letters from an American – August 22, 2022
Quote – Today’s big news is an eye-popping $1.6 billion donation to a right-wing nonprofit organized in May 2020. This is the largest known single donation made to a political influence organization. The money came from Barre Seid, a 90-year-old electronics company executive, and the new organization, Marble Freedom Trust, is controlled by Leonard A. Leo, the co-chair of the Federalist Society, who has been behind the right-wing takeover of the Supreme Court. Leo has also been prominent in challenges to abortion rights, voting rights, climate change action, and so on. He announced in early 2020 that he was stepping back from the Federalist Society to remake politics at every level, but information about the massive grant and the new organization was broken today by Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times.
Click through for details. Everyone has this story – but I saw it first here – and Heather always has receipts (and insights.)
Daily Beast – Cops Love Immunity—Until They’re the Ones Abused by Police
Quote – Six months after the incident, Burk filed a civil rights lawsuit against the acting officers from the Columbus Division of Police. Predictably, Burk now finds himself on the wrong end of a judge-made doctrine called “qualified immunity.” The doctrine, which the U.S. Supreme Court invented in 1982, shields government employees from accountability for unreasonable actions—unless victims can point to a prior case in the same jurisdiction that clearly establishes the behavior as unconstitutional. The irony of this case is that law enforcement officers like Burk normally love qualified immunity.
Click through for this opinion piece with backup facts. I would hate to think that the only, or even just the fastest, way to get rid of “qualified immunity” is for cops to beat up enough cops.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – In interview, AG Garland reaffirms DOJ will charge EVERYONE for their crimes, regardless of status
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Marjorie Taylor Greene Blaming Jan 6 on Nancy Pelosi
The Lincoln Project – The Many Sounds of Junior
Thom Hartmann – The Billionaires Buying The Midterm Elections
Farron Balanced – Trump Allies Have Terrifying Plan To Reshape America If He Becomes President Again
Beau – Let’s talk about the Constitution, marriage, and a talking point….
Glenn Kirschner – Trump Says Only Mobsters Plead the 5th as Trump DOJ Official Jeff Clark Prepares to…Plead the 5th
Meidas Touch – Politicsgirl on Brian Williams (I am going to miss him!)
The Lincoln Project – Work – Oh, boy, does this ever need to be seen by every American eligible to vote!
RepresentUs – How Billionaires Secretly Influence Society
Really American – Webster Reveals Two Biggest Words of 2021
Guy Finds A Stray Kitten, Bikes Around The World With Her For Two Years
Beau – Let’s talk about coats and hats….
Yesterday it was pretty hot again. My lab results came, and look pretty good. They actually arrived Friday, but I was expecting 3 packages yesterday (which turned out to be four), so I waited in order not to go out more than necessary. Between the heat, the smoke, and the idiots, I really don’t feel terribly safe outside, even though vaccinated.
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The Intercept – SECRET DONORS TO NONPROFIT PUSHING TRUMP’S “BIG LIE” ELECTION CONSPIRACY REVEALED
Quote – The tax document obtained by The Intercept, a publicly filed IRS form that included a list of donors, shows a handful of large corporate and individual donors to the Bradley Impact Fund. The contributions listed in the fiscal year 2018 filing range from roughly $782,000 to $1.5 million. The Bradley Impact Fund operates as a donor-advised fund, a vehicle frequently used to allow anonymous contributions by letting donors give to a fund and then directing their contributions to particular recipients…. “It might seem improbable that a low-profile family foundation in Wisconsin has assumed a central role in current struggles over American democracy,” [investigative reporter Jane] Mayer wrote. “But the modern conservative movement has depended on leveraging the fortunes of wealthy reactionaries.”
Click through for a whole lotta detail. You will recognize some names, others maybe not so much. But if you’re going to follow the money, you can expect that.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/homeland-security-warns-fresh-covid-19-restrictions-could-spark-violent-attacks-2021-08-13/
Reuters – U.S. Homeland Security warns fresh COVID-19 restrictions could spark violent attacks
Quote – In an interview with CNN, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department considered domestic violent extremists to constitute “the greatest terrorist-related threat to our homeland.” He said the Department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.”
Click through for story. If they’d do this because of CoViD restrictions, what do you suppose they would do if their God-Emperor were arrested and held without bail? Asking for a friend.
Common Dreams – Child Hospitalization for Covid-19 Hits All-Time High in US: Report
Quote – The Delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the U.S. population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation’s COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.
Click through for more. I really can’t even.
Food for Thought –
Yesterday stayed oool enough that I got within spitting distnce of finishing that winter sweater. One or maybe two cool days and it will be done. And I have a large cotton project and several small, lightweight projects ready for more heat.
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Short Takes
The Guardian – Republicans will defend their Caesar but new revelations show Trump’s true threat
Quote – Those who claim that the events of 6 January were something other than a failed coup attempt would do well to come up with a better line. Or a different alternate reality. Ashli Babbitt is no martyr. Trump will not be restored to the presidency, no matter what the MyPillow guy says. Trump’s machinations and protestations convey the desperation that comes with hovering over the abyss. He knows what he has said and done.
Click through for well-written opinion. Yes, it’s an opinion piece, but there are also many facts here, and I certainly hope his opinions about future events are correct.
Reuters – Kosovo honours late son of U.S. President Biden
Quote – Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with Western backing, but Serbia still refuses to recognise it and considers it part of its territory. “What the United States and the American people have done for our country, for our freedom, for our right to exist, goes beyond any partnership currently witnessed in the world. Mr. President, Kosovo is your home too,” said Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani while presenting the award.
Click through for more, including background
The New Yorker – The Big Money Behind the Big Lie
Quote – Chad Campbell, a Democrat who was the minority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives until 2014, when he left to become a consultant in Phoenix, has been shocked by the state’s anti-democratic turn. For several years, he sat next to Karen Fann when she was a member of the House, and in his view she’s gone from being a traditional Republican lawmaker to being a member of “Trump’s cult of personality.” He said, “I don’t know if she believes it or not, or which would be worse.” Arizona, he added, is in the midst of a “nonviolent overthrow in some ways—it’s subtle, and not in people’s face because it’s not happening with weapons. But it’s still a complete overthrow of democracy. They’re trying to disenfranchise everyone who is not older white guys.”
Click through for full story. Not, I suppose, that anyone can claim to have the complete full story, but thos is about as full as it gets. And, yes, it’s long.
Food for Thought (from a T-shirt)
Meidas Touch – Border “crisis” fake
Armageddon Update – Nothing we all don’t know, but his style is – what it is.
Ring of Fire – I don’t think this was a recent decision on the part of Sen. Whitehouse. I think what’s recent is a DOJ he feels he can trust.
A group of California doctors calling themselves Vax’n8:
Mrs Betty Bowers – I missed this when it posted, but it’s not getting stale any time soon.
Beau – Denial is not a river in Egypt.