Jul 242022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Bannon Trial, Day 4: Steve Bannon gets his chance to tell his side of the story – and stays quiet
Meidas Touch – Jamie Raskin STUNS Republican with epic 2nd Amendment FACT-CHECK in real time

Meidas Touch – Jamie Raskin STUNS Republican with epic 2nd Amendment FACT-CHECK in real time

The Lincoln Project – Deleted
Senators Reach Agreement On Bills To Stop Candidates From Stealing Elections

Robert Reich – How Amazon, Starbucks, and Other Companies Fight Unions

Parody Project – KETCHUP ON THE WALL – A Parody

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump losing Idaho….

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Jul 192022
 

Glenn Kirschner- Lindsey Graham desperate to avoid testifying about Trump’s Georgia election crimes

Meidas Touch – Angry Tennessee Brando gives EPIC REACTION to Jan 6 Hearings

CBS News – Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Adam Schiff expresses concern over witness safety

White Supremacy (A Rebuttal) | Christopher Titus | Zero Side Effects

John Fugelsang “Caffeinated” – The US Has a Joe Manchin & Krysten Sinema Problem. Here is a Solution for you Biden! (a re-re;ease – but still accurate)

Beau – Let’s talk about benefits and Republicans telling you who they are….

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Jul 182022
 

Yesterday, I got to see Virgil. I got to the facitity a coupe of minutes after the – I don’t think this is what they call it – but I’ll say screening time started (11:30). We fill out forms (if we haven’t done so at home), get searched, turn over our driver’s licenses and car keys and receive a numbered brass disc for a receipt, then go through two electronically locked gates, go into the main building, ago and go theough two electronically locked doors to the visitng room – where I arrived at just about 12:00, which is when visitation itself starts. Virgil was asleep at the time, and between waking him up and getting him to the visitation room with his walker, it was about 12:30. (If I had a nickel for every time he has been asleep when I got there for a visit – well, I wouldn’t be rich, but I’d have maybe $10.00.) I passed on all wished, including the ones I didn’t see till I got home but knew they were coming, and he was appreciative. The next time I see him he will have turned 79. He never expected to live that long. Only one of his six uncles on his mother’s side did, and that was the one who was married to a diabetic (he may even have hit 90 – but at least lived well into his 80’s. But i digress. Coming home I forgot that to go south and west from the facility, I first need to get on the interstate eastbound. So I got a little tour of some odd parts of Denver. Though irritated with myself, I had no trouble staying calm, knowin I was in a triangle of interstates and that it didn’t really matter which I found first – they’d all get me home eventually. It didn’t consume all that much time either – less than a half hour. And I wasn’t going for speed.

Cartoon – If ha had been playing an instrment, that is the one it would have been.  However, he was not in Rome when the fire broke out, and by the time he got there his own home was destroyed – so he certainly didn’t play and sing from his balcony, because it was gone.  He seems to have acted like a conscientious ruler for a white – raising money to help rebuild – but what pissed people off was that he earmarnked far too much of it for his own home instead of theirs.

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Fulton County DA Fani Willis Just Took Off The Kid Gloves.Exploding GOP Heads To Follow
Quote – One former federal prosecutor appearing on MSNBC today referred to the target letter by its internal nickname, the heart attack letter. Think about it. A prosecutor has just told you that you are at serious risk of indictment on criminal charges. The letter always reminds the target of his or her 5th Amendment rights, advises them to seek and obtain legal counsel, and carries an oblique reminder that if the target is having a Come to Jesus moment, it’s always the first rat to jump on the government gravy train that gets the most cheese.
Click through for story. This broke Friday evening, and whatever else it is, it is delightful.

Crooks and Liars – Ex-US Attorney Lays Out How To Charge Donald Trump For Manslaughter
Quote – “The other thing that is coming clear to me is there is a potential charge here against Donald Trump for manslaughter,” McQuade said, referring to the seven deaths connected to the Jan. 6 attack. “The other thing that is coming clear to me is there is a potential charge here against Donald Trump for manslaughter,” McQuade said, referring to the seven deaths connected to the Jan. 6 attack. She added: “Knowing that this crowd is armed, he has a duty as the president of the United States, as the commander-in-chief to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to call off that mob and do everything he can to stop it. Instead, he sits idly by during those 187 minutes.”
Click through for reasoning. I realize at this point prety much no one (incliding me) caress “for what” as much as “how soon” and “how long.”Plus, the more potential charges, the better the likelihood that some will stick.

Food For Thought

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Jul 172022
 

Yesterday, I had a rather crowded late morning/early afternoon. The radio opera was Vivaldi’s “Bajazet” which I had never heard of, let alone heard, before. However, atthe same time, Theater od War was mounting a Zoom production of Aeschylus’s play “The Suppliant” (an unusual word in English these days – but think “The Refugees”), as a vehicle to jump start a discussion on Ukraine, and with an all-Ukrainian chorus (including a very remarkable 12-year-old girl.) My final decision was to watch the play (and subsequent discussion) but with the opera softly in the background. So I’m not able to share much about the opera. In the end I made the right choice, I think. There was a note that the session was being recoorded – it is not yet posted at their site, but if and when it is I’ll share the link. Also included were three professional actors whose names you migh recognize – David Strathairn (Danaus), Oscar Isaac (Pelasgus), and Willem DaFoe (Aegyptus.)The play dates to the mid-fifth century BCE (450 BCE plus or minus 10) but so much has not changed. One line: “Those who speak in foreign tongues are never fully welcome.) As are all of their productions, it was very moving. On top of all that, I received cinfirmation to visit Virgil today – so I’ll be around even less than usual. But I’ll be in as much as I can.

Cartoon –


I didn’t know who Mola was either. He appears to have been Franco’s Jeff Clark (or Roy Cohn) but he died in an air crash in 1937 and his name disappeared.

Short Takes –

CNN Politics – Why Republicans want to redefine one word in the Constitution
Quote – The Constitution refers specifically to the “legislature” in each state determining the time and manner of federal elections. Backers of the “Independent State Legislature Claim” argue that since the Constitution doesn’t name other parts of state government — including courts — they should have no power to check the legislature on the subject of federal elections. Even if a state’s constitution or laws give power to courts or a governor, the theory argues legislatures should be able to ignore them.
Clck through for full analysis. The case in question is Moore v. Harper. I don’t want to forget that myself, nor do I want any of us to forget it. After it’s decided, we’ll know whether it’s OK to forget it … or whether we eill never forget it, whether we want to or not.

Mother Jones – Don’t Fall into the Collusion Trap on Trump and January 6
Quote – This question is an important one, but it is also a trap. Trump and his comrades have been rather deft at developing a tactic to protect him from charges of profound wrongdoing: They raise the bar. If Trump is caught holding a match outside a burning house, Trump and his defenders will say, “Do you have proof he doused the interior with gasoline? That’s fake news. A hoax.”
Click through for full explanation. Neither the Committee nor prosecutors are IMO likely to fall into this trap, but since public opinion can help or hurt a case, it still matters.

Food For Thought

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Jul 162022
 

Glenn – Trump’s criminal “Hub-and-Spoke” conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election: an explainer

Meidas Touch – John Fetterman hilariously TROLLS Dr. Oz with BRILLIANT Plane Banner

The Lincoln Project – A Warning From Jason Van Tatenhove

Thom Hartmann – Mary Trump On What Trump Will Do If Indicted

Farron Balanced – Conservative Outlet Could End Up Wiped Out From Defamation Lawsuits

MSNBC – Revelations About Trump’s Conduct Bring New Questions For DOJ

Liberal Redneck – Uvalde Footage

Beau – Let’s talk about Texas, ERCOT, and the future….

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Jul 142022
 

Glenn – J6 hearing: more evidence of Trump’s crimes AND more evidence of persistent unfairness & injustice

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Trump caught WITNESS TAMPERING by Jan 6 committee, referred to Justice Department

The Lincoln Project – Herschel Walker’s Green New Deal

The Ring of Fire – Majority Of Republicans Side With Mike Pence Over Trump In Election Feud

Ojeda Live – Ojeda BLASTS Republicans for Rooting for Suffering as an Election Strategy

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, Biden, and baby formula….

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Jul 142022
 

Yesterday, after a better night’s sleep, I finally caught up on reading and responding to comments here. Apologies for the delay. I wanted to take out trash and recyclables, but I discovered the hard way yhat some wasps had decided the trash polycart was a perfect place to hang out.. I managed to get the trash I had talek out inot the cart by using my critch (which I always take along outdoors for balance, whether I nned it for any other reason or not) to open the lid, but since they were on the side oppisite the handle, and if I had pushed it down to the curb I’d have been pushing it right through thm, I decided discretion was the better part of valor (and they picj up trash every week – it’s recyclables I have to make sure to get the right week for.) To deal with them I will need bug spray, long sleeves, high neck, a mask, and gloves, and that’s not going to happen n the daytime. The sting feels better now (which is an improvement overe the last wasp sting I got – it hurt for days just as badly as it hurt when it happened), but it has swollen some and may not be finished.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

WaPo (gift link) – Opinion | An expert in political violence urgently warns: The worst is coming
Quote – Greg Sargent: You’ve written that the Republican Party has a “militia problem.” Can you describe it?
Rachel Kleinfeld: For the last few years, we’ve seen an uptick in Republican parties at the local level — though occasionally at the state level — using militias for security at party events, having militias vote on party business, in one case in Michigan having militias introduce legislation. You’re seeing a lot of photo-ops with militia members — things that normalize their interaction with the democratic process. These militias are being used to threaten other Republicans who aren’t part of this antidemocratic faction.
Click through for complete interview (no paywall with the link I have used) I’m worried too. And I don’t have the ghost of a viable suggestion.

The Warning – Steve Schmidt – Arrest Trump
Quote – He must be arrested and charged by the Government of the United States. He must face criminal trial. The era of special treatment for the Queens hustler must come to an end. His appalling dispensations have helped shatter trust and confidence in the American justice system at a moment in which the collapse of faith, trust and belief in American institutions has reached such a dangerous low that extremism has been embraced as an answer…. There are some who say that a trial of Donald Trump may become a catalyst for violence and mayhem. Perhaps. That would be terrible, but in the end, the civil authorities will have to do what is necessary to restore order. The American people must not live at the point of the militia’s gun. We won’t.
Click through for argument. Schmidt knows how to say the quiet part out loud. Let me try my hand at it – every sane American should now be able to comprehend (and empathize with) the feelings of a woman who has been violently raped and whose rapist is still at large.

Food For Thought (a hope rather than a statement –   Ojeda)

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Jul 112022
 

Glenn – Cipollone testifies for hours about & against Trump. Next up Bannon? Elmer “Oath Keeper” Rhodes

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul SLAMS Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Newest MAGA Conspiracy Lunacy

The Lincoln Project – Boris (Sure wish we could emulate the Brits.)

MSNBC – The Common Signs Of Mass Shooters | The Mehdi Hasan Show

Mrs Betty Bowers – Is America Really a Christian Nation?

Beau – Let’s talk about Democratic messaging…. (I have been saying, “Well, Democrats do address our messages to sane people,” which includes reasonable, informed people. And there are just not enough of them. And we look at Republicans who use lies to gin up first fesr and then anger in their base. Well, gining up fear about Republican poliies does NOT require lying – and, sadly but truly, we need to start doing it, and loudly Look – it’s not disingenuous or deceitful when it’s the truth!)

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