Nov 222022
 

Yesterday, I tried to rest as much as possible.I did manage to get a prison email off the Virgil with some pictures of Joyce Vance’s chickens – and a couple of other pictures – that should lift his spirits when he gets it, although he will still be envious of anyone who can get close to silky chickens. No matter how well it goes, am always wiped out after any of my visits Of course, when I was in my teens and even my twenties, driving used to energize me. That has not been so for many years, and that’s probably a big part of it.

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The Daily Beast – Republicans Lost the Races Where They Spent the Most
Quote – The Daily Beast reviewed the most expensive House and Senate races in the country, and found that, with a few exceptions, Republican candidates were on the losing end. Republicans lost three of the five most expensive Senate races, per CRP data, with Democrats clinching the top three—Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. (The Georgia contest, where Sen. Raphael Warnock received the most votes, is headed to a runoff.) While Republicans [won] a slim majority in the House—far below their expectations—Democrats took all five of the most expensive races, according to CRP data.
I’ve never believed that money won elections. Granted that it doesn’t hurt, elections are decided by human beings, and, unless you are paing them directly for their votes, you can’t buy their support with campaign money. Good candidates, creatively promoted, and short, catchy, accurate slogans (“In January, I’ll be better. He will still be a con man”) work better. Some money is needed in order to maximize communication – but after a certain point, the law of diminishing returns hits.

Crooka and Liars – City Of Brotherly Love Welcomes Immigrants That Texas Governor Dumped
Quote – [On the] morning [of November 16], despite earlier denials that this was indeed his plan, Greg Abbott, the wizened little nominal governor of Texas, dropped a busload of immigrants in my city…. “The bus was sent by Gov. Greg Abbott in what he said was an effort to bring the challenges of the border to northern cities. Immigration advocates in Philadelphia called the bus ride a cruel trick played on innocent people who are legally in the United States.”
Click through for story. Susie Madrak has some words for Abbott and other Republicans. Does anyone thnk that Abbott and DeSanctimonious will ever get a clue, no matter how often and how dramatically their cruel stunts backfire?

Colorado Encyclopedia – Amendment 2
Quote – Amendment 2 was a ballot initiative passed by Colorado voters in 1992 that prohibited the state from enacting antidiscrimination protections for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals…. Passage of the controversial amendment set the stage for a national debate over the rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, while the ensuing legal struggle was the first legal case affecting homosexuals to reach the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court eventually declared the amendment unconstitutional, setting a precedent for the current struggle for LGBT rights in the United States.
Click through for complete history. The Q-Club massagre immediately beought me back to 1992 (although I had to look up the year.) This horrendous vote showcases the worst of our state – and a past the Supreme Court would live to bring us back to. I believe we are better than that, and offer as evidence the fact that we just RE-elected an openly gay governor. But here, and alas world wide, the struggle is far from over.

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Nov 212022
 

Glenn Kirschner – The upside of AG Garland appointing Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate Trump’s crimes

The Lincoln Project – This Werewolf Votes (I actually am dumber for having watched this.)

Al Franken – Midterms: America Told GOP: “Stop it!” (It’s longer than I like to post, but it’s Al)

Farron Balanced – Republicans Are Now Praying That Trump Gets Indicted

Rocky Mountain Mike – Kari Lake (Parody of “Fire Lake” by Bob Seger) (Transcript at YouTube)

Guy Is Determined To Save Cat Living Out In The Snow

Beau – Let’s talk about people being unhappy with the direction of the country….  I will not only never answer this question, but I will never answer any question on a poll that contains this question.  It just isn’t black and white, and as Beau points out, nobody knows what anyone even means by it.

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Nov 192022
 

Yesterday – yup. it snowed. a few inches on the non-paved ground, and a few stray flakes and clumps on the concrete. So it won’t interfere with driving by Sunday. In bad news, Adam Frisch conceded to Lauren Boebert. Sigh. Sorry, guys. At least we have the Senate. And at least Colorado is sending a delegation of 5 Dems and 3 Qpubs, rather than a delegation of 4 and 3.  Also, I don’t nknow how long I will be able to keep up three short takes, but I have a bit of a backlog.  And – Merrick Garland has appointed a Special Counsel in the Trump cases.  His name is Jack Smith.  I’m betting he did this, not so much to avoid the appearance of partisanship, but to put this investigation  out of bounds for the GOP’s plans to “investigate” (read harass) everyone in the Biden administration.  Of course he’s not saying that.  Why give them ideas?

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Letters from an American – November 16, 2022
Quote – The election of a House speaker can be a way for different factions to test out their power at the beginning of a session. If McCarthy can’t muster the necessary votes, the speakership could open to a far more moderate Republican who could get Democratic votes. That shift might, in fact, look good to a number of Republicans who see how thoroughly voters in some areas rejected extremism in the midterms. Or the need for more moderate votes could swing McCarthy away from the MAGA crowd. It’s not clear yet, but it might tell us a lot. In 1856, at a time when party alignments were shifting markedly, it took the House two months and 133 ballots finally to choose Representative Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts, and by then, everyone knew exactly who backed whom.
Click through for full letter. She covers several topics, but what caught my attention was her historian’s take on the Speakership.

Mother Jones – Why Lauren Boebert Might Lose
Quote – Most analysts assumed that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) would cruise to victory in her solidly red district, which became even more Republican after redistricting. In 2020, Boebert defeated her Democratic opponent by six percentage points. This year, FiveThirtyEight gave Boebert a 97 in 100 shot of winning. In June, when Boebert won her primary, I declared, “It looks like two more years of Lauren Boebert in Congress.”
Click through for article. Of course, she didn’t lose –  but dayum, it was close.  Maybe next time.  Right now I’m hoping she does run again , because that would be our only chance for a Democratic pickup, but that may change.

Wonkette – Hey, Lame-Duck Congress! How About Ending The Stupid Debt Limit While You Still Can?
Quote – Under the weird rules governing the reconciliation process, budget related bills can be passed with a simple majority in the Senate, without Senate Republicans being able to filibuster. Taking the debt ceiling off the table would thwart already-announced GOP plans to use the debt ceiling as a lever to force big budget cuts, possibly including dangerous changes to Medicare and Social Security, like raising the retirement age, cutting benefits, or partially privatizing one or both programs. They’ve already said that’s what they’ll do if they take over the House. Out loud, with their mouths and everything.
Click through for more. I’m afraid they are saying they will not even consider it. That is really a pity, because it is, frankly, stupid.

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Nov 182022
 

Yesterday, I slept in. When I did get up, the sun was nowhere in sight, which is reasonable, because, if there was going to be snow this week, last night would be the night. But it wasn’t the low light that kept me sleeping. It was the fact that I had accomplished a bunch of things Wednesday which I had apparently been stressing about more than I reasized, and therefor had not slept well Tuesday night, and I was unstressed and catching up. The snow, if it comes, will be mostly overnight, so by the time I know, this will have posted. I’ll try to catch y’all up.  Also, yesterday at 4:00 a.m. local, Boebert was down to less than a 600 vote lead, with more ballots than that stlll not counted.   CPR reported that some of those uncounted ballots had been in timely but deliberately held back to preserve anonymity for the late voters – which makes a lot os sense if one has ever worked Colorado elections – Colorado is an anonymity (privacy) hawk.  The only election  I ever worked whre I had the faintest clue how people voted was a small single-issue one where we hand-counted absentee ballots – and we took every precaution not to know – but the darned vote was unanimous, which defeated our precautions.

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Crooks & Liars – The Threat Of Right-Wing Extremism Is Far From Over
Quote – [Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism and a professor at NYU, said] we can never forget that no matter who Fox News, the Murdochs and the GOP elites get behind, that the goal is more authoritarianism, Ben-Ghiat continued. “The goal is to make it easier to have an autocratic system prevail and to convince Americans that we did have a lot of election deniers who won, that elections are too compromised and too corrupt to be a valid way of choosing leaders. And that opens the door to coup attempts and other kinds of authoritarian machinations.”
Click through for opinion and short video. People who hold authoritarian beliefs tend to be “true believer” types. They aren’t going tobe weaned away from those beliefs by one loss – or one anything. This battle is far from over.

Huff Post – ‘We Have The Votes’: The Senate Will Act This Week To Codify Same-Sex Marriage
Quote – Same-sex marriage has been legal nationwide since 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples are guaranteed the fundamental right to marry under the Constitution. But after the now-conservative court struck down Roe v. Wade in June ― tossing out nearly 50 years of precedent on reproductive rights ― Democrats and some Republicans are anxious about the court’s plans for weakening other civil rights.
Click through for details. They said they had the votes – and they did. They took the vote yesterday. It now goes to the House, which is still Democratic, and it will pass.

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Nov 172022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Cassidy Hutchinson & Mike Flynn to testify to Georgia grand jury about Trump’s election crimes

Meidas Touch – Zelensky Raises Ukrainian Flag in Kherson After LIBERATION (It’s too long, but the Kherson footage is worth hanging on for.)

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party, November 15, 2022

Ring of Fire – Lauren Boebert’s Seat In Danger As More Ballots Are ‘Fixed’ (by thie time this posts it may be over. But it’s a good description of the “curing” process, which 24 states allow.)

Cat Abandoned When Owners Moved Jumps Into His Rescuer’s Arms

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump in heels and Kari Lake….

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Nov 162022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump fails to appear on J6 subpoena; Pence details Trump’s crimes; Trump-classified docs are “mine”

MSNBC – Sen. Murphy: It Makes A Difference To Have A 51 Vs. 50 Seat Democratic Majority

Ojeda Live – BREAKING NEWS: Russian Missiles Strike Poland [I bumped another video to get this one up fast]

Really American – Context

Tiny Kitten Tackles Giant Husky When He’s Fully Grown | The Dodo

Beau – Let’s talk about how the republicans plan to raise the voting age….

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Nov 162022
 

Yesterday, I concentrated on getting my trash and recyclables out to their respective polycarts. Hopefully, by the time today is over, I will have gotten those carts to the curb for pickup tomorrow. Also, I received confirmation to see Virgil this Sunday.  I am still treading water with my short takes.  I feel that I know what the balance of poer will be int the Senate – but I don’t know about the House.  I believe some news is due today … but not all of it.  Late breaking – I’m not going into it here, but I bumped a planned video to insert one on Russia bombing Poland.  Also late breaking, Katie Porter is up again,thank heaven.  Bu there are a lot of votes still not counted.

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Crooks & Liars – Ann Coulter Tells Trump To ‘Shut The F—k Up, Forever!’
Quote – Right Wing pundit Ann Coulter is of course no stranger to being dissatisfied with Donald Trump. But after the GOP’s humiliating showing in the midterm elections, and ahead a possible announcement he will run for president in 2024, Coulter had a simple message for Trump: “Shut the f— up, forever.”
Click through for details. This is what happens when someone is stupid enough to believe in everything Trump** ever said, but yet smart enough to grasp that he never accomplished any of it.

NM Political Reprt – Couy Griffin confronts DuBois over appointment, derails meeting
Quote – Former Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin caused a fuss at the Otero County Commission meeting last week when his time at the public comment table became so heated, one of the sitting county commissioners plans to file a restraining order against Griffin. Griffin was unhappy that Stephanie DuBois, a Democrat, was appointed to his old seat after Griffin was removed from office based on the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Disqualification Clause after his conviction related to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington, D.C.
Click through for story. Remember “Cowboys for Trump**”? GRiffin is still giving cowbays a bad name (and, for that matter, griffins – if you know your magical beasts.)

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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.)

MSNBC – Huma Abedin: Everything Has Now Changed For Biden

Thom Hartmann – You Won’t Believe What Far Right Did To Stop Midterm Votes For Democrats (sorry it’s so long.)

Ring of Fire – Trump Staffers Admit To Treating Him Like A Toddler To Appease Him

Liberal Redneck – 2022 Midterm Results

Beau – Let’s talk about the economic power of the parties…

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