Glenn Kirschner – Following New York’s Lead, DC Appellate Court Suspends Rudy Giuliani’s Law License.
Meidas Touch – Case Closed #IndictTrump
Decency United – Leadership Across History – Qualities of Great and Terrible Leaders
Global Idigenous Council – “Family”
Liberal Redneck – “Fox Weather”
Parody Project – FILIBUSTER – a Parody of Land Down Under
Beau – Let’s talk about Chip Roy’s 18 months of nothing getting done….
Yesterday was quiet enough – in fact it was significantly more quiet than usual because I now have no phone service at all on my land line … so no robocall rings. But the technician supposedly comes today. Hopefully that will provide resolution.
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Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – Opinion – Former Murdoch Exec: Fox News Is Poison For America
Quote – Fox News has caused many millions of Americans—most of them Republicans (as my wife and I were for 50 years)—to believe things that simply are not true. For example, Yahoo News reports that 73 percent of Republicans blame “left-wing protesters” for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Of course, that is ludicrous. All one has to do is look at the pictures or videos of the attack to see that the violent mob was comprised of Trump supporters. Similarly, a poll by SSRS in late April found that two-thirds of Republicans either believe or suspect that the election was stolen from Trump—60 percent saying there is “hard evidence” that the election was stolen. As noted above, this ridiculous notion has been thoroughly refuted. But millions of Americans believe these falsehoods because they have been drilled into their minds, night after night, by Fox News.
Click through for more. This is a “Consider the source” story. This dude is in a position to know what he is talking about, even though he gives Rupert too much benefit of the doubt (reminds me of the KMart ads aimed at WalMart claiming Sam would have been ashamed. No, he wouldn’t have.)
The Hill – Eric Adams wins New York City mayoral primary
Quote – “Now we must focus on winning in November so that we can deliver on the promise of this great city for those who are struggling, who are underserved, and who are committed to a safe, fair, affordable future for all New Yorkers,” he said…. The race is the first in which the board sought to implement ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to list five candidates in order of preference.
Click through for some details. I disn’t follow this race, but did follow the Manhattan DA Dem primary, which Alvin Bragg won.Hopefully they will work together well.
Reuters – Judge finds U.S. 60% responsible for 2017 Texas church mass shooting
Quote – In a decision released on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said the Air Force did not use reasonable care when it failed to enter Devin Patrick Kelley’s plea to domestic violence charges in a database used for background checks for those buying firearms. Rodriguez said the government bore “significant responsibility” for harm to victims of the Nov. 5, 2017 massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, 31 miles (50 km) east of San Antonio.
Click through for background. Even if you remember it, it’s been a while, and a lot has happened in the meantime.
Food for Thought
Link to story in Common Dreams
Glenn Kirschner – Trump Org/Weisselberg Indictment Suggests 2 Other “Trump Employees” Also Up for Possible Indictment Two remarks – first a quibble – nothing here “begs the question.” Glenn means it “raises” or “poses” or “suggets” the question. “Begging the question” something completely different. Second, after this (and Richard Wagner and James Livine and others) I surely hope I never again have to hear anyone say that “Music is ennobling.”
Meidas Touch – Traitors
Now This News – Biden on Surfside Florida Condo Collapse (Hanky alert, as if you couldn’t figure that out.)
Vote Vets – Rep. Moulton and Rep. Auchincloss Discuss Evacuating Afghan Interpreters
Ring of Fire – Homeland Security Warns Of Future Violence From Angry Trump Supporters. (Beau also addressed this – I’ll get to his in a few days – it needs reminders from time to time)
A Cat’s Guide to Training Your Human
Beau – Let’s talk about the Republican investigation into the NSA….
The opera last night was “Marnie” – based on the same bool as the Hitchcock movie. It premiered in 2019 to good reviews and good audience response too. So it’s very new. (I’m a fan of the mezzo-soprano for whom it was written, Isabel Leonard, and was lucky enough to get to see her in person in another new opera, “Cold Mountain,” when it premiered in Santa Fe.) I’m sure the movie left out things that were in the book, and the opera has left out things from both, but it’s still a plenty twisted story.
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Short Takes –
The New Yorker – Out-of-Practice Trump Forgets to Strand Rally Crowd in Parking Lot
Quote – “People have come to expect that, at the conclusion of one of our rallies, they will be marooned in the middle of nowhere for hours, often in inclement weather,” Harland Dorrinson, a Trump aide, said. “On Saturday night, we didn’t get it done.” Dorrinson said that the entire Trump team would be conducting a postmortem of the rally to find out why attendees were able to leave the event without incident.
Click through for details. Andy, it’s harder to strand a crowd when it’s small to begin with and much of it gets boored and leaves early.
Daily Beast – YouTube Permanently Bans Right Wing Watch, a Media Watchdog Devoted to Exposing Right-Wing Conspiracies
Quote – “What are we going to do?” he asked. Launched in 2007, Right Wing Watch has posted thousands of clips of prominent right-wing figures making controversial comments, perhaps most famously including televangelist Pat Robertson and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. In fact, Right Wing Watch’s exposure of Jones’ false and conspiratorial rhetoric was key to YouTube and other social-media platforms eventually removing his channel InfoWars from their sites. Notably, many of the right-wing outlets and personalities that Right Wing Watch chronicles are not currently suspended or banned from posting content to YouTube, while RWW has been booted for merely exposing their comments and content—something Mantyla noted as being particularly ironic.
Click through for full story. This is NOT good news. They are still on Vimeo, at least.
Independent – GOP senator says roads and bridges are ‘a woman’s problem’ because women ‘do the shopping’
Quote – “My wife says that roads and bridges are a woman’s problem if you will,” said Mr Cassidy. “Because oftentimes it is the woman – aside from commuting to work – who’s also taking children to schools or doing the shopping…. And the more time that she spends on that road, the less time she spends doing things of higher value,” he added.
Click through for absolutely not satire. Yes, Senator, women are human beings, and human beings need roads and bridges. (And your wife sounds brainwashed.)
Food for Thought
Colleen was expecting to get released after her surgery around 3 or 3:30 pm. i’m hoping she did – but I also realize that there are many benign reasons whay that may not have happened. My day here was quiet enough. I hope everyone will be kind to b=me and overlook typos, duplications, and whatnot for a week starting monday, as the Met streams 7 American operas, one each day, for the week. I’ll try not to slack off, but I may be a wee bit short on sleep by Sunday.
Cartoon 
Short Takes
The Hill – Department of Justice sues Georgia over voting law
Quote – The suit was announced alongside another initiative from the Justice Department to battle rising threats made against local election officials. A memo from Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco establishes a task force across the FBI, as well as DOJ’s criminal division, the civil rights division, and the national security division.
Click through for the full article.
The Hill – Chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years prison for murder of George Floyd
Quote – Per state guidelines, the maximum sentence for unintentional murder in the second degree is 40 years, but because Chauvin has no previous criminal record, the presumptive sentence is 12.5 years, with an acceptable deviation range of 10.67 years to 15 years. But because Cahill agreed with the prosecution’s aggravating factors motion, the judge had the discretion to increase the sentence.
Click through for more, and of course it’s also being reported elsewhere.
Politico – Graham: Biden made GOP look like ‘f—ing idiots’
Quote – “If he’s gonna tie them together, he can forget it!” Graham said. “I’m not doing that. That’s extortion! I’m not going to do that. The Dems are being told you can’t get your bipartisan work product passed unless you sign on to what the left wants, and I’m not playing that game.”
Click through if you don’t mind thir format which makes it a bit tough to be sure you’re still in the same article. (Personally, I’m all for any Dem who can make the GOP look like – what he said.)
Food for Thought
Wednesday already – and so much going on. Well, let’s dig in.
Cartoon
Short Takes
The Hill – The Memo – For years I was predicting a French-Revolution-style uprising based on the way government was ignoring, not just the will of the people, but also the needs of the people, including needs the people didn’t themselves recognize (such as climatee change). Then the Trump** presidency seemed so much more like the rise of Hitler that I shifted my concerns. But now it seems I was wrong. We are re-living, in some ways, the French Revolution – and we are now approaching the Reign of Terror stage, and mob rule. A mob with no leaders with any power to restrain it. Empty Greene seems like an unlikely Mme. Defarge (and I’d be astonished if she can knit), but there it is. (And, believe it or not, I wrote this first – and then found TC’s cartoon. My timing could not have been better.)
QConference – The “Conference” at which Michael Flynn made the remarks on camera which he now denies having made was observed by the author of this Twitter thread. I’m sorry, it’s not in a neat thread reader, but I found it worth going through. The chief “takeaways” – This a near-religious movement, and they are preparing to enact violence if they don’t get their way in future elections. The talk of war is now preparation for it.
Robert Reich – H/T Mitch – Of course the Reich on the left is right. What may be more of personal annoyance to me than a major danger to democracy – but it seems that, having lived through four years of a Trump** presidency (not to mention the campaign before and the insurrections after), we seem to have all forgotten who has the authority to doo whatm and who does not have authority to do certain things. This sentence from the article: “So there will be no investigation.” – I won’t say it’s just wrong, but it’s not an established fact. A House Select Committee has not beed ruled out. A DOJ investigation (has not been ruled out (and if they are already investigating and have not told us, they are not going to tell us before it’s over.) But it kind of gives a wrong impression. Keith makes a similar error as to who can do what, and I’ll address that in the video thread. I’m sure a big part of it is that those of us who recognize the enormity of what we are facing are somewhat in a panic. But a better handle on who can and should do what would, for one thing, help us target the right people in petitions. And it should also help us to think more rationally, and God knows we’ll need that.
Glenn Kirschner – Implications of Greenberg’s Guilty Plea. One thing this suggests to me is that he may also be able to give them other witnesses to minimize his need to testify in person.
Meidas Touch – Rick Wilson on personalities
A new project is coming – The Franklin Project – here’s the beginning.
Ring of Fire – Yes, this is funny. But also sad.
The Red Dot (Trailer)
Beau on the 1033 program. We don’t hear the saying much any more “You can’t legislate morality” (and maybe we should.) But maybe we should also add “You can’t legislate intentions.”
cat
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is promoting this video poem on sugar – public health – and slavery
Meidas Touch – McVonnell’s War on America
Now This News. This is what Colorado legislators – and those in many other states – have to deal with. Every. Day.
The Damage Report – Side Effects of Tesr Gas and the like
Armageddon Update – the Big Lie (nothing we don’t know)
Ring of Fire – IMO Farron needs to grasp that real professionals know what their authority is, and that no good comes of trying to exceed it, or to rush things. But aside from that, he makes some good observations.
Now This News – File under “Everything Old Is New Again.” 2000 years ago, they used to be able to flood the arena to stage fake naval battles – ad events where condemned people were set afloat in “romatic” boats, only to be devoured by crocodiles (to loud cheers and much laughter).
Beau on the GOP proving him wrong. Stay with him.
Keith – I love to watch him, yet hate to see a new one because a new one means something awful has happened or is happening.