GOP Insanity – Page 39 – Politics Plus

Open Thread August 28, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 282022

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Manon Lescaut” by Puccini. (Massenet also wrote one on this story; his is called just “Manon.”) Puccini’s libretto specifies that Manon is transported to and dies in “The deserts of Louisiana,” a phrase which always makes me smile, and sometimes giggle. But today, it occurred to me that some day that conceivably might be accurate. Not in the New Orleans are, of course; that area is far more vulnerable to sea evel rise. But just possibly some of the northern/eastern parts. Of course, if that does happen, there likely won’t ba anyone left to sing the opera, let alone provide an audience for it. Any remaining humans will have other things on their minds. But I digress. Puccini’s version makes much more of Manon’s brother’s pimp-like actions, while Massenet’s stresses Manon’s re-seducing he former lover after he is ordained a priest (Puccini did not go there.) Both have some lovely highlights. Both (I think not consciously – it’s just the way things were) objectify Manon. Puccini’s last line (reanslated) is “This is the end of Manon Lescaut,” and I’ll also stop and move on.

Today’s FFT is one I put together, but the idea is not original to me – it’s based on a comment made on a Crooks & Liars article. I would like to have shown a litter of kittens, but this was the best I could come up with on short notice.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The White House – Breakthroughs for All: Delivering Equitable Access to America’s Research
Quote – To tackle this injustice, and building on the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to advance policy that benefits all of America, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released new policy guidance [Thursday, 8/25] to ensure more equitable access to federally funded research. All members of the American public should be able to take part in every part of the scientific enterprise—leading, participating in, accessing, and benefitting from taxpayer-funded scientific research. That is, all communities should be able to take part in America’s scientific possibilities.
Click through for official memo. I found this out through Democratic Underground, and have not seen it elsewhere,. Just – Wow.

Crooks & Liars – Guess Who’s Behind Trump’s Resistance To Handing Over Documents
Quote – Fitton, the longtime head of the legal activist group Judicial Watch, had a simple message for Trump — it was a mistake to give the records to the Archives, and his team should never have let the Archives “strong-arm” him into returning them, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Those records belonged to Trump, Fitton argued, citing a 2012 court case involving his organization that he said gave the former President authority to do what he wanted with records from his own term in office.
Click through for story. This also appears to be a scoop. If you wondered how he got the cockamamie idea that those documents belonged to him, here’s your answer.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 8/26/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:48 am Open Thread, Politics

Aug 262022

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump’s personal handling of stolen classified documents increases odds he will be prosecuted

Meidas Touch – Former Navy Pilot HUMILIATES Ron DeSantis for Cringey ‘Top Gun’ Ad

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party, August 23, 2022

MSNBC – Lawrence O-Donnell – Trump Love Letters (continues with Uvalde school Board, but mostly about documents)

“Mrs F” – everyone has big feelings sometimes (Nameless – the entire soundtrack is a toddler having a meltdown I’m sure you have heard enough of those to imagine it.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump begging McConnell for help….

Open Thread August 26, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:18 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 262022

Yesterday, the pickup got picked u – Yay! My body was still complaining, however, so I had to do some self czre. The right shoulder was probably not the worst, but it was definitely the most annoying. But – have traffic lanes again – and more room to start on the next one. Assoon as I feel up to it. Meanwhile, I’ll be seeing Virgil again Sunday

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – Conservatives Milk Story of Amish Farm Tied to Fatal Listeria Outbreak
Quote – Viewers of Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show were greeted Monday with dire news. The Biden administration, Carlson said, had launched a war on small farmers, starting with a U.S. Marshals “raid” on an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania named Amos Miller…. “Maybe if he promises to put more chemicals in the milk to turn kids trans, they’ll lay off,” Carlson said.
Click through for story. I’m actually in favor of natural foods in general – but that’s different from zero hygiene. Here’s more information on listeria if anyone’s interested.

Letters from an American – August 24, 2022
Quote – Republicans have warned that the massive investment the Democrats have made in the country during Biden’s term would rack up enormous deficits. But, in fact, today the Office of Management and Budget forecast that this year’s budget deficit will decline by $1.7 trillion, the single largest drop in the deficit in U.S. history. (The record deficit was $3.13 trillion in 2020, during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.) This number is simply a benchmark, and the deficit remains at $1.03 trillion, but it suggests that numbers are currently moving downward.
Click through for the full letter. The midterms, the deficit, and student loan forgiveness are tied together here.

Food For Thought

Open Thread August 23, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:20 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 232022

Yesterday, I slept in about an hour – again. I’ve been having a glitch or two getting to sleep, so that when the alarm goes, I’m not ready to get up. I do realize this is a self-sustaining thing … but it has happened before and usually resolve within a week. I refuse to fret about it – I only mention it in case anyone has noticed I’m running a little late on comment replies. It’s not to worry.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Just Security – Trump Associate’s Stated Plan to Publicly Release “Declassified” Documents
Quote – As this article was going to press, ABC News published a report that weeks before the Mar-a-Lago search, former President Donald Trump’s associate Kash Patel “vowed to retrieve classified documents from the National Archives and publish them on his website.” If that scheme involved Trump himself and the Mar-a-Lago documents, it could have significant legal implications for the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation. Any plan to release the documents could potentially trigger specific elements of the Espionage Act and other criminal statutes designed with the core purpose of preventing unlawful dissemination of classified and other sensitive government documents. As I discuss below, credible evidence of such a plan also would likely factor into the Justice Department’s decision on whether to bring criminal charges.
Click through for details. “Just Security” you might say is a specialty news website. I’m linking to their mission statement. (I also bookmarked then, since they don’t call attention to themselves – they just quietly analyze.

Letters from an American – August 20,2022
Quote – When former president Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he left the participants to continue without the U.S., which they did as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). He also left open the way for a free trade deal in the region dominated by China, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or RCEP, which went into effect on January 1, 2022. This left the Biden administration with two politically poor choices: try to reestablish U.S. participation in the region through the CPTPP, which would have been hotly contested at home and thus unlikely to get through Congress, or let China dominate the region, with damaging long-term effects. So the administration found a third way.
Click through for background. This is kind of a compliation of who has visited Taiwan from the United States recently, and when, and under what circumstances (not what you probably think from the press coverage.) Also, other recent history, including Trump**’s destructive actions (in my quote).

Food For Thought

Open Thread August 22, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 222022

Yesterday, I basically tried to keep things slow and calm. It was a pill-organizing weekend, and everything runs out at different times, so there is literally never an occasion when I don’t have to run to another room for a new bottle of something OTC or order a prescription renewal – I generally do that in advance for the following fortnight so I can at least get the bottles filled and capped without interruption (otherwise this klutz would be knocking them over and using choice language.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – Magnolia Mother’s Trust marks a history-making three cycles of paying Black mothers $1,000 a month
Quote – The Magnolia Mother’s Trust is now the longest-running guaranteed income program in the United States. But the program, which gives Black mothers in Jackson, Mississippi, $1,000 a month for one year, no strings attached, was never meant to last forever. “I don’t think that’s the systems change we need,” said Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard Opportunities, which runs Magnolia Mother’s Trust and provides programs and services to families that live in federally subsidized affordable housing. Instead, the goal of the trust is to model what could be, in a more just and fair society.
CLick through for story. If Republians really wanted a world with more happy and healthy people, this is what they would be doing (which of coursethey don’t.) Likewise, if they really wanted a world of people who would fall easily into categories and be content with that, they should be emulating Brave New World – the ohly dystopia I’m aware of in which the characters aren’t aware that it’s a dystopia. But Republicans don’t want that either. They aren’t happy unless someone is getting hurt.

Vice – Scientists Achieve the Impossible, Safely Destroy Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
Quote – In a new paper published [this month] in the journal Science, a team of researchers have uncovered a new way to dispose of a class of these chemicals under comparatively mild conditions, including ambient pressure and temperatures as low as 176 degrees Fahrenheit. William Dichtel is a lead author on the paper and a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University. He said in a press conference about the work on Tuesday that one of the exciting benefits of this discovery is that the reaction leaves no damaging products in its wake. “We were pleased to find a relatively low temperature, low energy input method where the one specific portion of these molecules falls off and sets off a cascade of reactions that ultimately breaks these PFAS compounds down to relatively benign products including fluoride ions… that are in many cases found in nature already and do not pose serious health concerns.”
Click through for background and more info. Nobody saw this coming – even the scientists were pleasantly surprised. And good news is always welcome.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 8/19/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:19 pm Open Thread, Politics

Aug 192022

Glenn Kirschner – The mystery of the seizure and subsequent return of Donald Trump’s passports . . . solved? (This could explain why the diplomatic passport was returned along with the other two, even though he’s no longer entitled to have it.) [Actually he is, as Nameless will, I’m sure, be happy to explain. In fact, he already has, in previous posts’ comments]

Meidas Touch – Legendary Watergate Reporter compares Trump to Gangster AL CAPONE, calls Republicans ‘cowards’

The Lincoln Project – Outsider

Ojeda Live – What it Means to Hold Top Security Clearance

Liberal Redneck – Liz Cheney and the New GOP

Beau – Let’s talk about tfg’s claim about his passports….

Video Thread 8/18/22

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

Aug 182022

Glenn Kirschner – Lindsey loses in court; Rudy’s now a target in GA criminal probe; Trump says FBI took his passports?

Please note: after this video was recorded, the Department of Justice reportedly indicated that Trump’s passports were not seized. So Donald Trump may have . . . lied about that? Shocking, said absolutely no body. – Glenn Kirschner – 08/15/2022.

Meidas Touch – Military Veterans Facing Toxic Exposure REACT to President Biden Signing PACT Act

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in The Republican Party – August 16, 2022

Ring of Fire – Rest Of The World Is Freaking Out That Trump May Have Leaked Nuclear Secrets

Mrs Betty Bowers – “Religious Freedom is Neither”

Beau – Let’s talk about thr ultimate American test…. (Spoiler” There are a hundred questions avaiable, but the examiner chooses ten for any given applicant or group of applicants. Six is passing. I got 7 [and two more half right, which would not count, but would not need to.])