GOP Hate – Page 14 – Politics Plus

Video Thread 1/25/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:47 am Open Thread, Politics

Jan 252022

Glenn Kirschner – NY Subpoenas, GA Special Grand Jury Subpoenas, Congressional Subpoenas: All Subpoenas Are Not Equal

The Guardian – Tonga: new footage shows aftermath of volcano eruption and tsunami

Meidas Touch – A Coup in Plain Sight

The Lincoln Project – What Are They For?

The Ring of Fire – January 6th Committee Targets Social Media Companies With Subpoenas

MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross explains Mitch McConnell –

In this week’s essay, @TiffanyDCross discusses Mitch McConnell’s message to voters of color who were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to vote during this year’s midterm elections #CrossConnection pic.twitter.com/HKV9Sjtuhy

— The Cross Connection with Tiffany Cross (@CrossConnection) January 22, 2022

Beau – Let’s talk about executive orders, doubt, and machinery….

Open Thread for January 11, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:11 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 112022

Yesterday, I was more or less back into routine. Although I was still waiting, after 6:00 pm, for an email that the phone outage had been resolved.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – GOPers Hit New Low, Protesting Harry Reid’s Funeral In Las Vegas
Quote – [Candidate for Congress Noah] Melgeri [who took part in the “protest”] is pure MAGA. He says COVID was “an intentional act” and that General Milley should be executed, on live television no less. His wife appears at the local school board meetings and spews anti-vaxx drivel. Pure performance art out of the Greene/Gaetz/Gosar school of political theater.
Click through. People take part in protests because they want change. What change did these people want? Did they want the Senator’s body to rot above ground? Or did they just want him cremated? They didn’t say. This was not a protest, but merely a public nuisance.

Democratic Underground (bigtree) – Yes, the boat hit the iceberg, but putting children in lifeboats is destructive to their psyche
Quote – Look, I too want to survive this sinking, but I look at how people insist on wearing constrictive life-vests and taking to life boats and I sympathize with those who wants to spend their time drilling holes in the hull. Better to show this ocean we don’t fear it than to cower.
Click through for fuller analogy – This is an unspooled (translation: readable) Twitter thread with an extended analogy comparing CoViD to the Titanic. I fear it won’t reach those for whom it is intended, but it’s very creative,

Medium – What Do We Do Now?
Quote – Building the kind of movement needed to win won’t be comfortable. It means working with imperfect allies and getting outside our comfort zones. It means being open to tactics we wouldn’t have been previously. It means, for many of us, putting our personal safety at risk against an opposition that’s more than willing to engage in violence against their opponents. But we can’t win without a common purpose and a willingness to let go of what’s no longer working in favor of something new. And we can’t win without thinking, and doing bigger things — outside of the systems and institutions currently failing us.
Click through for complete opinion. Medium has a paywall, but you get 3 free articles per month. This one is scary, but I believe accurate. Of course one can only do what one can do. But one can do that, whatever it is.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 1/4/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:35 am Open Thread, Politics

Jan 042022

Glenn Kirschner – DOJ Press Release Promises to Hold Accountable All Those “Responsible” for Capitol Attack

Crooks and Liars – Harry Dunn Moves Capehart To Tears With Answer On Protecting Congress

Ring of Fire – Conservatives Accidentally Drive Book Sales Soaring After Trying To Ban Books

Robert Reich – The Big Picture: How We Got Into This Mess, And How We Get Out of It (No CC because no talking!)

CBS – States across the country mark the start of 2022 with new laws going into effect (More new laws)

CNN – Cheney reveals what Trump was doing during January 6 insurrection (not like any of this is news, but testimony is always nice to have.)

Beau – Let’s talk about a New Year update….

Video Thread 1/2/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:35 am Open Thread, Politics

Jan 022022

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Attempt to Enlist Assistance of Supreme Court to Hide Evidence from House Select Committee

Meidas Touch – Michael Cohen: Trump WILL be indicted

politicsrus – Jesus would not be a Republican

No Dem Lift Behind – Richard Ojeda: NDLB’s New Year’s Resolutions for 2022

Now This News – Amanda Gorman Shares New Poem to Kick Off 2022

Really American – Trump Dangerously Close With Epstein And Maxwell

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump losing his base by doing the right thing…. (I saw the humor – and I also saw and still see the danger.)

Open Thread for December 12, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:21 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 122021

Yesterday, I visited Virgil.The sun wasn’t that bad in the morning, although I think I will start looking at the almanac hor how the time of sunrise moves. From four weeks ago to two weeks ago, the sunrise got ten minutes earlier. From two weeks ago to this visi, sunset got a total of two minutes earlier, and all of that was in the first few days – it’s been the same for nine days in a row. So I’m sort of expecting it to start getting later instead of earlier in a day or two. The days will still get shorter until the soltice, but all of that will come from the sunrise getting later, and none from the sunset getting earlier. The visit was good, and Virgil returns all greeting with thanks.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

From an email from Democracy for America:
[On Thursday,] at the direction of Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema moved forward with a one-time exemption to the filibuster to raise the debt ceiling.
That’s right, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have both previously stated that they would not support any filibuster exceptions under any circumstances, even to protect voting rights, just made an exception to the filibuster.
If Manchin and Sinema are going to make an exception to the filibuster when McConnell wants to, they should be bending over backwards to make that same exception to protect voting rights.
Join DFA as we tell Manchin, Sinema, and all Senate Democrats: If you’re willing to make an exception to the filibuster in order to raise the debt ceiling, you must make that same exception to protect voting rights.

Law & Crime – Our First Look at Josh Duggar Immediately After Child Porn Conviction and Months Ahead of Sentencing
Quote – Other court records indicate that the jury began deliberations at 12:17 p.m. on Wednesday. They asked for a recording of an interview with Duggar himself to be re-played — and it was, in its entirety — before jurors retired to deliberate once again. Court recessed for the day around 5:00 p.m. The jurors returned for about an hour and a hate Thursday before returning a verdict at 10:07 a.m.
Click through for more. This story just begs for snark, and both Wonkette and Crooka and Liars did not disappoint – but it’s also serious, so I decided to cover it from this source.

HuffPost – Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 ‘Agent Provocateur’ Is A Big Tucker Fan And An Amateur Cardinals Mascot
Quote – But the man is no fed. He is mainly known to St. Louis Cardinals fans as “Rally Runner,” HuffPost has learned, and he sprints around the outside of Busch Stadium during home games. Based on the man’s Facebook posts, he appears to have a fairly difficult life and has a tenuous relationship with reality. And he’s a huge Tucker Carlson fan.
Click through for more facts, and, sadly, more insanity (disturbing but valuable to grasp what we are up against.)

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for December 11, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:45 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 112021

Yesterday,I did the lst odds and ends of preparing for the drive.I sllao colected little advance material. Then I got to bed early. I will definitely pass greetings to Virgil today, I will drive carefully, and I will let you know I got home safe – it may not be the instant I get in the door as I’ll be eager to change clothes, but as soon as I get to the computer.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

Wonkette – When Will We Finally Accept That Trumpism Was Never About Economic Anxiety?
Quote – The Tea Party was a white, middle-class movement, and while not overtly violent, it was the product of racist backlash to Obama’s election. Republicans exploited the backlash, tip-toeing around the racism, for their immediate political gain. They cocked the weapon and handed it over to Trump, but we give him too much credit when we assume that if he hadn’t won in 2016, the problem would have gone away. (We can only imagine the violent backlash against Hillary Clinton.) A reported six out of every seven January 6 insurrectionists charged with crimes had no previous affiliations with extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, or the Three Percenters militia. This wasn’t a surprise to University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, who told Gellman: “January 6 wasn’t designed as a mass-casualty attack, but rather as a recruitment action.”
Click through for more. I’ve often thought that, had Hillary won, her Presidency would have been much like Obama’s, only with more backlash, because misgyny is deeper and stronger than racism. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish she had won – I do wish that, with all my heart. But it would not have derailed Trump**.

Crooks and Liars – Kelloggs To Permanently Replace 1400 Striking Workers
Quote – The decision follows months of bitter disagreement between the company and the union. The rejected offer would have provided cost of living adjustments in the later years of the deal and preserved the workers’ current healthcare benefits. But workers say they deserve significant raises because they routinely work more than 80 hours a week, and they kept the plants running throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Click through. I don’t knowingly cross a picket line. Thankfully, one of the comments included a link to an article of everything they own.

Mother Jones – Baristas in Buffalo Just Formed the First Starbucks Union in the United States
Quote – In a watershed moment for the recent wave of pandemic-inspired labor organizing, workers at a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, voted [December 9] to form the coffee chain’s first union in the United States. Despite months of opposition from party leadership, 19 workers at the Elmwood location in Buffalo voted in favor of unionizing in the election, conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. Only eight opposed.
Click through for story – If I had had to guess way in advance where this wou;d happen … Buffalo would not have been my first guess. But whatever. More power to them!

Food for Thought –