Glenn Kirschner – Fox FIRES Tucker Carlson; DA Willis to announce charges in July/August: truth AND justice trending
Farron Balanced – Jim Jordan Scores A Legal Victory That Could Ruin His Life
Thom Hartmann – Far Right’s Scary Plan For Gen-Z
Liberal Redneck – Liberal Redneck – Tucker’s Out, Biden’s In
Stray Cat Is Best ‘Mom’ To Her Sister
Beau – Let’s talk about today’s SCOTUS ruling and the future….
Yesterday, The good news (IMO) is that Biden has annonced he will seek reelection. I also received a grocery delivery today – a couple of things missing, but nothing that can’t wait until I cam get an order together for the sother store (at least for now it’s the other store – I really, really hope they don’t merge, but I fear they will.)
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Out There Colorado – Colorado city becomes first certified pollinator district in the world
Quote – Manitou Springs, located at the foot of Pikes Peak, has recently been named the world’s first certified pollinator district, according to an announcement from the conservation organization, Manitou Pollinators. The organization partnered with the Butterfly Pavilion in 2019, to make certification possible. “We were looking for a Pollinator Conservation Organization that could help our community navigate the loss of our honey bees, butterflies, beetles, hummingbirds and all of the other invertebrates as keystone species that provide for our quality of life, beauty and pleasure,” officials said.
Click throuigh for more. Manitou SPrings is right in Colorado Springs’s back yard. This is a pleasure to share.
Crooks & Liara – Bye Bye Tucker! Carlson OUT At Fox News!
Quote – More coming as we update this story. In the meantime, pop a cork for the United States of America, the real winner here.
Click through for story. Of course by now everyone knows Tucker is out. But it’s such good news, it’s worth dwelling on a little.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Prosecutor Mark Pomerantz to testify to Jordan’s committee. Jim Jordan might want to BUCKLE-UP!
Politics Girl – Debt Ceiling Crisis
MSNBC – Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon out at Fox News, CNN (From what I’ve seen of Don Lemon, his loss is a shame. Tucker, not so much. And I could be wrong about Don.)
Ring of Fire – Kevin McCarthy Promises Wall Street He’ll Make Poor People Suffer
Twitter – Elephant returns child’s shoe that fell into zoo enclosure
Elephant returns child’s shoe that fell into zoo enclosure. ❤️
Cc: yuMyuMKrooavani pic.twitter.com/pwHNFs01lM— DAPPER DON DHARSHI • K A M I L • (@SoloFlow786) April 14, 2023
Beau – Let’s talk about Fox on military installations….
Yesterday, There was a fair amount of news which was not all that encouraging. One exception was Tucker Carlson’s departure (and I put up a news alert on that as soon as I saw it). But another exception was in an EarthRights International email. There is a Big Oil accountability case going on in Colorado, and Exxon abd Suncor had petitioned SCOTUS to hear it. SCOTUS just told them to pound sand. That doesn’t mean the case is over, but it does mean that it will be proceeding in Colorado’s State Court system. And that is good news. i’m sorry I don’t have a short take which is as good, but it is what it is.
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Letters from an American – April 23, 2023
Quote – About 100 U.S. troops used three helicopters to evacuate about 70 U.S. personnel from the [U.S. Embassy in Khartoum], getting them out of Sudan to Ethiopia without major incident. Such a military evacuation is unusual, but the fight between two rival Sudanese leaders has closed the main international airport and given armed fighters control of the roads leading out of the country, making it impossible for U.S. personnel to leave by civilian routes. Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Saudi Arabia helped to get the Americans to safety. There were no major incidents associated with the evacuation. Other nations have also evacuated their embassies, and the United Nations staffers left by road on a 19-hour trip.
Click through for details and more. Been there, done that, and yes, this is a major undertaking, not just for the evacuators and those being evacuated, but for support personnel in more stable areas who contribute in various ways to readying the team. I had no idea it was this bad.
NBC News – Capitol rioter shot at local deputies after FBI informed him of Jan. 6 charges
Quote – Nathan Donald Pelham, of Greenville [TX], who initially faced four misdemeanor charges tied to the insurrection, faces an additional felony charge of being a felon in possession of firearm after the incident April 12, a criminal complaint filed this week shows. An FBI special agent wrote in a filing that he had called Pelham on April 12 and asked him to surrender in a few days. That evening, according to the agent, local authorities went to Pelham’s home after his father requested a welfare check. When the deputies arrived, Pelham fired several shots toward them, prosecutors said.
Click through for story. Pro tip: Shooting at law enforcement when you are already under indictment will never make things better for you.
Slate – Chief Justice John Roberts’ Mockery of Stalking Victims Points to a Deeper Problem
Quote – The reasonableness of that fear was vividly illustrated by the Supreme Court oral arguments in Counterman v. Colorado on Wednesday morning, as members of the highest court of the land joked about messages sent by a stalker to his victim, bemoaned the increasing “hypersensitivity” of society, and brushed aside consideration of the actual harm of stalking to focus on the potential harm of stalking laws.
Click through, but have antacid at hand. This was an egregious stalking case whch happened in Colorado. It had gotten to the point where a message of “Hi. Have a nice day” would be perceived as a threat by any rational person.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Idomeneo,” an early piece by Mozart, based on the trans-cultural legend of the person away from home, in peril of their life, who vows to sacrifice the first living thing they see when they get home if they can only get there alive. Of course, the first living thing they see is their son (or, if they’re Hebrew, their daughter – cf. Jephthah.) Idomeneus was the king of Crete who went to fight at the Trojan War. That war took ten years from start to finish, and both sides pretty much stayed at Troy the full time, though there were things that happened elsewhere (e.g. Philoctetes), and there were some refugees. One of the characters is Elettra, a jealous (and somewhat nationalistic) princess who is a refugee from Argos and who falls in love with Idomeneus’s son Idamante, who is already in love with Ilia, a Trojan princess who is a POW. So Idomeneus has quite a kettle of serpents to untangle. At the end, Neptune relents – Idomeneus must give up the throne to Idamante with Ilia as his queen, but may live. Only Elettra is left out in the cold, but she has been driving people nuts with her jealousy, so no one much cares. The opera was a great favorite of Pavarotti (if the opera you wrote isn’t getting as many performances as you would like, if you can sell it to a diva or a divo who has the clout to talk an opera company into staging it, you will at the very least get a second chance. This is actually not a bad thing.) Today I’m off to see Virgil. Yes, I’ll pass on all your greetings and I’ll post a comment when I get back safely
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Letters from an American – April 20, 2023
Quote – There were a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated stories in the news that all seem to point to an important theme…. It hit me as I read through all this news that a key theme seems to be a new shift toward transparency and accountability. It jumps out at me that people are talking to lawyers and to the press about illegalities, irregularities, and, in the Sandy Hook case, horrors that in the past they have kept quiet. Whether it comes from disgust at the excesses of those who are attacking our democracy or from fear of the law, that transparency reminds me of the pivotal importance of McClure’s Magazine in the early twentieth century.
Click through for full letter. From Heather’s keyboard to God’s smartphone! I haven’t seen anyone else make this connection, but I hope she is correct.
Colorado Public Radio – As Colorado considers upzoning, here’s a look at how it’s gone in other states and cities
Quote – Democrats’ controversial land use bill aims to rewrite what kind of housing gets built in many of Colorado’s fastest-growing communities. But while it’s a new idea for this state, Colorado wouldn’t be the first place in the country to embrace this approach. States like Oregon and cities like Minneapolis have adopted similar laws over the last five years, often in the name of enabling construction and driving down housing costs — the same goals shared by Colorado’s bill. In New York, officials upzoned more than a third of the city nearly 20 years ago, a change that sparked a big building boom.
Click through for what is actually several (short) related articles and links to more. I get it. People don’t want to lose the kinds of housing which have “always” existed. But single-family dwellings on fair-sized lots are not only pricey for those who live in them, but also wasteful of resources which will be more and more critical as climate change continues to evlove. Cutting down on land use for housing will not solve all problems, but if it helps cut fossil fuel use, and also makes more land available for farming and wilderness, it can’t hurt.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Dominion takes Fox to the cleaners, then Smartmatic, then Fox’s own shareholders. Will Fox survive?
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – April 18, 2023
Thom Hartmann – He Lied His Way To Power To Take Your Healthcare
Ring of Fire – Republican Governor Says Her 2-Year-Old Granddaughter Already Owns 2 Guns
Guy Gives Squirrel CPR
Beau – Let’s talk about the RNC, Milwaukee, trouble, and loyalty….
Glenn Kirschner – Dominion v. Fox defamation trial begins: could this lawsuit signal the end of Fox “News”?
Thom Hartmann – You Won’t BELIEVE What the NRA Is Up To Now…!
Ring of Fire – Ted Cruz Runs For Reelection On Platform That He Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Hold Office (I don’t agree with Farron. Term limits in practice hurt Democrats – if not every single time, still more than 2/3 – enough to dislike them.
Scared Kitten Learns How To Be A Happy Cat
PUPPET REGIME – Putin’s pep talk for Trump
Beau – Let’s talk about Jordan falling into a trap….
Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Tosca,” an opera which strikes very close to home in multiple circumstances … including the circumstances the United States is currently in politically (and legally.) The title character is a beautiful, celebrated, passionate, insecure, and rather naive singer who is in love with the tenor, a political activist. The chief of police, the de facto dictator (at least of the city), who is such a jerk that Napoleon looks good to the activists, has the hots for her. He also knows her lover, Mario, is an activist, and therefore wants him dead for both reasons. There is torture, there is extortion, there is desperation, and by the end of the opera all three are dead. It’s quite a trip. It wasn’t the first opera I saw live, but I was quite young when I saw it first – about 18. It was on a Saturday. The previous evening, I had been to a get-together with the professors and other students in the Classics Department (my major.) One graduate student was kind of pushing me to accept an alcoholic drink (but I had driven to the occasion, and would have to drive home), and at one point he said, “Don’t you want to be happy?” I replied, “I am happy already,” “What?” he replied. “How dare you be happy without artificial means?” It was funny, and we both laughed, but it wasn’t so funny the next day when he had been found a suicide. I learned about it maybe an hour before I was to leave for the opera with the friend who had invited me. It really hit home. To this day I cannot see or hear or think about “Tosca” without remembering. I also can’t help loving “Tosca.”
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Crooks and Liars – ‘You Bet!’: Peter Doocy Taken To The Woodshed By John Kirby
Quote – “Proud of the fact that we got more than 124,000 people safely out of Afghanistan? You bet,” Kirby shot back. “Proud of the fact that American troops were able to seize control of a defunct airport and get it operational in 24 hours? You bet. Proud of the fact that we now have about 100,000 Afghans, our former allies and partners, living in this country and working toward citizenship? You bet!”
Click through. there’s a video if tou can stand Doocy’s voice – I can’t. I’m sharing this for John Kirby’s remarks. For an operation which was deliberately set up – by Trump** – to fail, there is indeed a lot to be proud of.
Democratic Underground (littlemisssmartypants) – A “brilliant story about…JustinPearson” from Tennessee.
Quote – When I was a young organizer, we would often sit in [Memphis City Schools] board meetings…. This particular night I noticed a young man who was sitting and waiting to speak…. Once he got to the podium the room completely shifted…. He challenged the Board to answer for why they had such low expectations for his school and his community…. That kid is an adult now and that adult just got expelled from our house floor making national news….
Click through for the full story. I’m not crying, you’re crying. If they hold special elections, his district – both districts – should vote them back in and keep doing so as long as necessary. And then elect both to Congress (Along with Gloria Johnson.)
Food For Thought
