GOP Greed – Page 4 – Politics Plus

Open Thread January 23, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 232023

Yesterday, I received an “extra” email from Steve Schmidt’s “The Warning” on Substack. This was far from the first in this category, but I funally have to say it publicly – Steve Schmidt is a sucker for woldlife. (Of course I’m cool with that, seeing as he only shoots with cameras.) Just a couple of days ago he shared some photos of ostriches. Actually, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance,and Robert Reich also use pictures, and it’s anyone’s guess what they’ll be of. Even as an unpaid, I get a feeling of getting to know them as human beings, just just as experts.

Cartoon – 23 Blackwell RTL

Short Takes –

Military dot com – 3 Active-Duty Marines Who Work in Intelligence Arrested for Alleged Participation in Jan. 6 Riot
Quote – The three Marines now join the other nine service members — active, reserve and National Guard — who have been arrested for alleged crimes stemming from Jan. 6. Two other men were booted from basic training as their investigations unfolded. According to the George Washington University’s Project on Extremism, out of the 940 defendants charged with crimes stemming from Jan. 6, 118, or 12%, have some form of military background.
Click through for story. Of course the concern here is who, if anyone, besides their superiors, has been getting information from them?

Snopes, via MSN – Was Nearly 25% of the US National Debt Incurred During Trump Administration?
Quote – An estimated $3.7 trillion of added debt during the Trump administration can be attributed to Covid-19 relief measures passed with bipartisan support. A series of tax cuts passed during the Trump administration has also added significantly to the national debt. Because the $7.8 trillion increase in the national debt incurred during the Trump Administration represents nearly 25% of the current $31 trillion national debt, the claim is “True.”
Click through for details. The answer to the question as asked is “yes.” Period. There are a few details sometimes added to the question which are shakier, but don’t get distracted. Republicans simply do not want to pay their own bills.

Food For Thought

Open Thread January 21, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 212023

Yesterday, I heard from James on how he is doing after his amputation. He is working aain, and is taking his beloved dog, Cinnamon, for walkies every day. Last Monday, while the weather was pretty good, they took a walk of four and a half miles. Wow. I have long believed that how well one recovers after surgery, any surgery, is pretty much determined by the amount of work one puts in on recovering (bearing in mind, of course, that varous factors may affect one’s ability to do so.) James has worked hard both in prescribed and self-motivated physical therapy and I would say it shows.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

HuffPo – She Was The Most Powerful Woman In Ohio. But There Was One Big Problem She Couldn’t Fix.
Quote – Out of office, [Maureen] O’Connor hasn’t lost sight of the fight for fair districts. She says she’ll work to build support for a constitutional amendment in the state to create an independent redistricting process and “get the politicians, the elected officials, off the redistricting commission.” But for now, the product of the GOP-drawn maps is clear: It’s a stacked deck.
Click through for details. Unless we want to continue to live under permanent minority rule (and such a deluded minority at that), we need a new voting rights act. Among other things, in needs to require an independent commission to draw new district maps for every state (not necessarily the same commission, just that every state must have one.) Every state. The last I looked, Ohio was not in Alabama.

Wonkette – Could Anything Have Prevented Diabetic Child From Dying In Arizona Foster System? Guess We’ll Never Know!
Quote – Type 1 diabetics are insulin-dependent and require regular blood glucose monitoring. If they are deprived of insulin, they will go into ketoacidosis, which if untreated will result in brain swelling (cerebral edema) causing a coma and eventually brain death. It just wouldn’t happen if the kid had been getting his insulin. Does that really count as a natural death? Richard Blodgett says he believes the Arizona Department of Child Safety failed to take care of his son, which they obviously did. He would very much like to know if his insulin pump was removed, if his blood glucose was monitored, if his regular doctor was consulted. So far, the Department of Child Services has not given him any answers.
Click through for story. This is worse than a tragedy (in a tragedy, the hero brings his fate upon himself through a tragic flaw. Type 1 diabetes does not constituta a tragic flaw.) I would call it a travesty (in the metaphorical sense of destruction through absurdity, not in the original sense of cross-dressing.) I wonder whether there will ever be any accountability here. The author thinks not, and I fear she is right.

Food For Thought

Open Thread January 20, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 202023

Yesterday, Weather Undergound advised me to maybe expect snow this evening, and maybe also a couple of days from now, during the night. I’m skeptical, but I’m also paying attention. Also, CPR reported that the judge to whom the Elijah McCain murder case is assigned has deemed there need to be three separate trials. Since there are five defendants, it will be interesting to see how that shakes out. Finally, the debt ceiling, but no deal, was reached. Axios has an article about emergency measures. (Did you know that the whole point of having a debt ceiling was to prevent this sort of thing happening?)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Back to another horrible, hellish, horrendous, totally absurd battle over the debt ceiling
Quote – Congress could defuse this bomb by simply raising the debt limit, as it has dozens of times under presidents of both parties for decades. But the MAGA radicals now in control of the House of Representatives are refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless President Biden agrees to devastating cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and other key programs. I was involved in a similar fight over the debt ceiling fight twenty-eight years ago, which holds some lessons for what happens now.
Click through for full article. This is not a first rodeo for any of us.

Letters from an American – January 17, 2023
Quote – Today the bill for the elevation of Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to House speaker began to come due. McCarthy promised the far-right members of his conference committee seats and far more power in Congress to persuade them to vote for him. Now they are collecting.
Click through for full letter. She covers multiple abuses, starting with committee assignments, but she does get around to the debt ceiling too.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 1/19/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:15 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jan 192023

Glenn Kirschner – ANOTHER Federal Judge calls out Donald Trump for being responsible for the insurrection!

The Lincolm Project – Republicans + Retirement

MSNBC – Police arrest disgruntled Republican candidate in connection with shootings in New Mexico

Farron Balanced – Former Staffer Says George Santos Is DEFINITELY Going To Jail

Mother Dog Reunited With Her Puppies All Grown Up

Beau – Let’s talk about default and the Constitution….

Open Thread December 14, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 142022

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio reported that the 3rd District recount is finished, and the winner is still Boebert, by 546 votes (instead of 550). I had actually received an email from Adam Frisch quite late the night before so I knew that. We had a teensy bit of snow – not enough to require winter shoes or even a winter coat – so went to the mailbox to get my MRD. I also received confirmation to visit Virgil Sunday.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – This ‘Sneaky’ DeSantis Power Grab Might Be His Cruelest Yet
Quote – As part of DeSantis’ ongoing MAGA crusade against progressives, his administration is simultaneously using different state agencies to cut off what is referred to as “gender-affirming” care that helps trans people realize their identities. When a far-right state legislator failed to pass an anti-trans bill earlier this year, the governor resorted to backroom bureaucracy to get the same result. It’s the latest instance of DeSantis implementing increasingly cruel policies as he builds a national reputation in the run-up to a possible 2024 run for the White House. But it also illustrates what political commentators say distinguishes DeSantis from his presumptive primary foe, former President Donald Trump. DeSantis knows how to operate the machinery of government effectively—as a weapon against the marginalized.
Click through for dtails. The cruelty is the point.

PolitiZoom – Elon Musk Gets Mercilessly Booed AND LOL -New Yorkers Welcome
Quote – I’m not really sure what kind of reception Elon Musk expected from a Dave Chappelle audience in liberal San Francisco, but the famously thin-skinned Twitter agent provocateur probably did not expect a scathing 10 minute long chorus of lusty boos – which is exactly what he got.
Quote – The Young Republicans who met there this weekend, whether to take full advantage of New York’s vibrant dining and entertainment venues or to stick a thumb in America’s possibly most Democratic urban area, would likely have not caused much of a stir if not for the all star line up of sedition and fascism friendly line of guest speakers, whom were most assuredly not selected with the purpose of insuring a peaceful three days:
Click through to San Francisco and/or New York City. You would think, for all their compkaining about “coastal liberals,” this should not surprise them.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 11/23/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:04 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 232022

Glenn Kirschner – NY District Attorney Bragg revives Stormy Daniels hush money criminal investigation of Donald Trump

MSNBC – Chris Hayes on Rev. Warnock’s simple but devastating new ad

Crooks and Liars – Ali Alexander Has Some Thoughts On Claiming An Election Is Rigged

Ring of Fire – Elizabeth Warren Torches Republicans For Fighting Against Student Loan Debt Forgiveness

Cat Goes On Walks With His Dog In The Cutest Way

Beau – Let’s talk about Jack Smith and who he is….

Open Thread November 13, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 132022

Yesterday, the radio opera was Charles Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette,” recorded in China. Juliette’s opening aria, “Je veux vivre,” has been sung by finalists on many, many Miss America telecasts (I don’t know whether that still holds – I haven’t watched any pageants for a long time.) In any medium, this is a difficult story to tell, in large part because the protagonists are so very young – Juliet is not yet 14, and Romeo not much older. Any 13-year-old who can manage to sing that music, and project it throughout an opera house, should not be allowed to do so, because that much that young will harm the growing voice. (Anyone remember Charlotte Church? Hear of her lately? Well, in 2022 she appeards as”Mushroom” on The Masked Singer and took second place.) I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I have always thought the DiCaprio-Danes movie version came closest to nailing it – I thought at the time it was because they looked so young, but looking back, while their appearance helped, what really sealed the deal was their youthlul blocking and body language. Through most of history children were expected to behave like miniature adults; it’s only in the last hundred years or so that some cultures have recognized there are actual stages of development from child to adult, and it isn’t realistic for a child or a teen to behave adultly. If they try, they are going to appear awkward.

Also, late breaking from Axios: “Wins in Arizona and Nevada kept President Biden’s party in charge of the upper chamber while control of the House still hangs in the balance.” To be clear, add Wornock and we will actually have 51-49.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Warning – American politics remains broken
Quote – American politics was broken before the Tuesday election. It remained broken on Wednesday morning. The MAGA extremist threat did not dissipate by failing to achieve its aims. The GOP/MAGA class of 2022 was a dangerous group of unfit extremists that has no parallel in modern American history. Collectively, their presence on US ballots from sea to shining sea amounted to indisputable evidence of national decay irredeemable cynicism, factionalism and cowardice.
Click trough for partial analysis. My feeling is that gross Republican misjudgment saved the election for us, and that the fact that control of both houses is so close should be terrifying. So I’ll be using the scary closer for a while yet.

Washington Post (gift link) – She decoded Nazi messages and helped win World War II. Now she’s 101.
Quote – The goal of the WAVES women was to save American lives by sinking German subs before they could attack Allied shipping. At first, news of a destroyed U-boat was cause for celebration. But it became more painful as the war dragged on and its human cost became more evident. Once, Parsons helped decode a congratulatory note to a German sailor at sea upon the birth of his son back home. A few days later, she learned the father’s submarine had been sunk, with no survivors. “To think that we all had a hand in killing somebody did not sit well with me,” she said. “I felt really bad. That baby would never see his father.”
Click through for full story. I’m still trying to feature some good news daily if possible. I am sure Pat B and I (both sea service veterans) are not the only ones who can appreciate her work. It can’t have been easy.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 11/12/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:10 pm Open Thread, Politics

Nov 122022

Glenn Kirschner – Mike Pence reveals in his book that he refused to report/covered-up Donald Trump’s election crimes (While I agree that was wrong – who was he going to tell? Bill Barr? Jeffrey Clark? Anyone else in Donald Trump**’s Justice Department? Yes, he could have talked to Biden’t DOJ once it existed. Or, yeah, a Federal judge.)