Yesterday, I saw yet another reference to Mike Johnson as a Christian with no quotation marks or query mark or qualification (for example, MAGA.) In my lifetime I’ve read a lot of literature from a lot of periods, and, at least in the first half of the 20th century, people had no problem using the word “soi-disant” when someone’s claims were questionable. Yes, it’s French, and the basic meaning is “They say they are [whatever], but it’s not provable from their conduct.” The closest English term is “self-styled.” But I haven’t heard or seen either term for decades. And yet, there are just as many imposters, if not more, even percentage-wise, as there were in the early 1900s. When did being tolerant and accepting turn into being mealy-mouthed? Justice, including social justice, still needs truth in order to function properly. [End of rant.]
I have never been a fan of Rahm Emanuel. But I do believe humans are capable of learning (that they choose not to doesn’t mean they couldn’t if they chose to), and if Steve Schmidt says Emanuel has learned a lot, I’m willing to listen (actually, to read, but the principle is the same.) And I have to admit it’s interesting.
From Heather Cox Richardson, another reminder that there used to be Republicans who were not moronic or insane. Who actually cared about public health. Who actually did something about it. It hasn’t always been like this.
Yesterday, I got my internet back, but only on one computer, not the one I usually use for this. It had ben down since Friday, and so were my phones. SO I didn’t hear the opera Saturday, since for the summer season (which is for one more week now) I need the internet – no internet, no opera. Fortunately it’s one I know well, and some time ago I even downloaded an old recording of it. And on December 7 the Met season starts, and my local radio station carries that. Anyway, I’ve been struggling all weekend with trying to reach my provider, and this is my first chance to post. I hope things are better with all of you than they have been this weekend. But it’s just the electronics, not me, which are ill. I’m fine physically, I have all my meds now and am taking them
With the one exception that this uses the term “Christianity” and “Christian” where it should use “Christian Nationalism” and “Christian Nationalist,” this article is as good a portrait of the Republican concept of education as you are ever likely to see. Yes, there’s a lot of profanity in it. That’s just how The F* News rolls.
Mary Trump‘s observation that cruelty is the point is not new, but it’s at least as accurate as it ever was. And there is no simple answer (in fact, there’s more than one complex answer – probably as many of those as there are people on earth) to the question, “Once a person gets into that mindset, how can they get out of it?”
Claudia is saying, “You know what, we will pay for that wall after all!”
Yesterday – wait, I need to give you some background. A week ago Monday I got my phone and internet provider changed – not my idea, but the old provider is changing and essentially transferred me (and the rest of the county, maybe even the entire front range, eventally). I have five working computers, and no two of them are networked, unless you consider the two which have internet access to be networked through the ‘net, but if I want to move information from any one to any other I use a thumb drive. For a week it worked fine, but this Monday I started getting 404s. I rebooted the modem (the old modem but it’s still part of the connection) which resolved the problem until evening when I had to reboot it a second time. Yesterday morning, rebooting that modem did not work. I tried three times, and it took three hours, before I decided to go look at the newest desktop and see whether there was something going on which I could only see on that one, which is connected directly to the newly installed equipment. And it was. I changed the settings on it, and now the other one is getting on line also. Actually, now it all makes sense (except that that’s three hours I’ll never get back,) and is even reassuring. I’ve never used WiFi at home, only when traveling, and then it wasn’t my own but the hotel’s, and now that Virgil is so close, I won’t be doing that any more, probably at all. So I stressed that, despite the new provider’s pride in their WiFi, I only wanted ethernet. This experience tells me that , even though it may still be available, it won’t decide to take over on its own. To those who are smarter than I about the way computers actually work (my specialty is how to make them do what I want – I used to be the Queen of Workarounds and very popular at work on account of it – that probably sound silly, and it probably is. But that’s OK. Also yesterday, I received a letter from my attroney general full of information about what’s going on in the courtroom with the Alberson-Kroger merger. I searched some to see if I could find the text online, but no luck. I’m aware this is a topic of importance to the entire nation, and would be happy to forward the email to anyone who wants it. If uou get my new-post letters, you should have my email address, but for anyone who doesn’t, the contact button doesn’t work for everyone, but I have put my address into the “About Me” page so it can be cut and pasted.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219622078
This DU link will take you to an embedded video of Bernie Sandersa answering the question, “I disagree with Kamala on Gaza. How can I vote for her?” If you are someone, or know someone, who has that question, this is the answer. I would have been asking it myself, were it not so obvious to be that neither Joe nor Kamala wants to support Netanyahu for a second the nation of Israel, yes, Netanyahu no), but consider us to be treaty bound, either actually or morally, and fear losing other allies if we appear to desert this one. (An Act of Congress might change that, but it will not come from this Congress.) An ally by treaty is not like a Facebook friend. A nation cannot just ghost them and survive. Anyway, I’m citing the embed because if you aren’t a paying member of YouTube the ads are getting obnoxious.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/estranged-family-of-oath-keepers
Of course the political is always personal. But it’s not always quite this personal. I’m grateful to Wonkette for sharing this (apparently Tasha has been in touch with Wonkette for a while – and found compassion there – which, despite their generally snarky style doesn’t surprise me in the least.)
Yesterday, the defendant in the case of the shooting at the King Soopers in Boulder, CO, was found guilty on 55 felony counts, incluing 10 counts of first-degree murder. It didn’t even take them a full day to come to that conclusion. I had not been following this story closely enough to have previously seen the names of the victims, but I read it this time, and saw two surnames, both relatively uncommon, which were the same as those of people I had known in Colorado – when I lived in the San Luis Valley. But when I looked then up, there appeared to be no connection in either case. Still, all the victims were known to and kin to and important to someone, and looking that up made the shooting very real to me.
Talking Points Memo’s Morning Memo was hot yesterday. Every time I finished a section and was going to file the email, I’d see the next title and realized I wasn’t ready. I got all the way to the end, in fact. Fortunatel, I can give you a link to the whole thing so you can decide what to skip.
Over the weekend, Heather Cox Richardson reviewed the history of the Electoral College. It’s a history which is little kown, even among people who consider themselves history buffs. And it’s a grand demonstration of how much and in how many ways an institution such as the Electoral College is vulnerable to manipulation – and in how many ways (the Electoral College is the reason we have two Dakotas, for one thing.) I wish that everyone in Amereica, voting age or not, could be forced to read or to listen to it. In whatever language they understand.
Yesterday, Tina Peters was convicted on 7 (out of 10) charges, 4 of which were felonies. Ten out of ten would have been perfect – but this is pretty good. Since I didn’t follow the exact charges, it may be very good. Certainly it makes her a felon, and convicted felons can’t vote, until (and unless) they have completely satisfies all obligations imposed (such as parole successfully completed and no unpaid fines.) She will likely appeal, and want to vote while it’s pemding, and i don’t know what the rule is on that. Also, she can’t legally leave the country (most other countries would not have her anyway) until all obligations are satisfied. And she probably knows all that, but may still get a few surprises.
Nice for me to have someone whose job is to evaluate the media saying what I’ve been saying for years: “fair” and “balance” are not only not synonyms, they’re virtual antonyms when one “side” lies constantly and the other is a struthful as it possibly can be. That does a real disservice to viewers who just want to know what is happening.
Kevin Roberts’s (the architect of Project 2025) book has been postponed, and will now not be published in September but in November, after the election. But I hope and believe it’s too late for that. The full project, over 900 pages, has been made public on the internet, and just about everywhere you turn, you’ll see someone else (with credentials) offering to explain the worst parts of it. And now, even their secret training videos have been exposed by Pro Publica.
Yesterday, I went to the mailbox and picked up the note from Paul Whelan. The note I sent was dated December 15, 2022. He received it, or at least wrote a response May 8, 2023. The envelope has Russian stamps and postmarks with a postmark date of June 19, 2024. it was a lovely note. I had mentioned Virgil was incarcerated and he included “please do pass along my regards to your husband.” And just about then Virgil called, so I passed along his regards right away.
Pretty sure this means the entire State Department is also on the same page. I realize many feel this is way too late. But a nation cannot just desert an ally without warning – and particularly if there is a treaty, which under the Constitution is the law of the land. He has hated this from Day One. But he goes by the book because the country comes first.
This was written Saturday, but I didn’t see it until Sunday. So Friday, August 2, was the date Chutkan received the case back. No, she isn’t wasting any time.
Yesterday, Trump** announced the selection of J.D. Vance for his Vice President. I’m not sure why people are losing their minds about it. Anyone Trump** selected would have been equally awful, and this selection at least may open a Senate seat in Ohio and give Tim Ryan a second chance {although I admit it does make me want to change my initials). There wasn’t much in my inbox about the Trump** shooting. One petiton asking Republicans who have condemned it to now condemc all political violence. I signed it – but good luck with that. The second half of Heather Cox Richardson’s talk with Secretary of State Blinken has been posted. As I type I haven’t watched it, but by the time you see it, I will have done so. And, apparently, RFKJ is getting Secret Service protection – that, to me, is the worst news – or at least tied with the news that Loose Cannon dismissed the documents case. At least, the factor which pushed the SS to decide this was not a jump in the polls – it was the shooting at Trump**’s rally.
I did get an email from “Oil Change International,” a climate change fighting organization. Their website is here. And here is a source to check how your state is dealing with the issue of “certified gas.” Looking at the map of Colorado, I note that all the emissions events they map occurred in the vicinity of Denver. It’s not clear to me whether Denver (along with its environs) is particularly bad at this, or if it’s just that the population is so much denser there, and so is the usage, that the emissions events in that area are more obvious, more measurable.
This may not the biggest story – but it does, as Ursula says, make a big difference. So I’m posting it in case you missed it. See what you think.
Yesterday, I was able to see Virgil. The drive was uneventful both ways. Bless his heart, he brags about how wonderful I am all the tine to anyone who will listen, and today he introduced me to two staff who wanted to meet me. The first was LeeAnn (don’t know about the spelling), whose two children are both Marines, and we had duty stations in common, so we chatted about that for a while. The second was Robinson,who helps him when he can’t handle the technology to phone me (which I’m afraid is getting more and more frequent.) We did get to play crobbage, and he’s also having more and more difficulty counting the hands. But he’s still Virgil, and seems to be in good health otherwise. And he has no trouble remembering me. I don’t know whether I have said this before, but I am very glad he is in the facility it is in – it’s the one which is solely for inmates with mental issues, whch means they know how to take care of him Far better than I could, actually. And I did get the memo about the shooting Saturday. But I don’t know enough yet to comment.
Heather Cox Richardson has quite literally ben thinking about this for years before requesting an interview with Secretary of State Blinken. Yes, it was under Reagan that the Cold War more or less ended (Putin is still fighting it – and so is Trump**) And since then, with a few exceptions, our Presidents have been mostly Republican. Beau likes to liken the Republican party to a dog chasing a car who catchs it and has no idea what to do with it. I would say foreign policy is one of those cars. In any case, the interview was videotaped, and half of that is in this column. She will follow up with the rest of it – and so will I. And do read the text also.
I would like to point out that “ultra wealthy Christian” is an oxymoron. When the rich young man came to Jesus, Jesus told him to “Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor.” Suffice it to say, he didn’t. It’s in every Gospel but John, but Mark 10:17-31 is one of the citations.
