Jan 302023
 

Yesterday, I did get to see Virgil. It was snowing and cold – but I really had to see him because omething had gone wrong in the phone system; he had tried 3 times to call me Friday but I wasn’t able to accept ythe call and I wanted to tell him it was not I who was haning up on him. Fortunately, he didn’t think that, and I got to talk with the inmate who helps him place calls and tell him what happened. I had called the provider, and I did get an answer – frankly it didn’t make sense to me, but I shared it anyway because it’s not something I can fix, and if they are going to they need all available information – at least. I wasn’t able to finish scraping the windshield before starting out in the morning; I got the driver’s side and part of the passenger side clear, but part of it was just rock solid, despite my having turned the defrost on for over a half hour and of course kept it on while driving. I was worried about having to deal with that before leaving for home, and I was also worried, as by this time the snow had reached Pueblo and was coming down, about getting on to the interstate. But by the time I left, the rock hard ice had melted so thoroughly that a couple swipes of the windshield wipers took care of it, and when I got to the interstate there was a huge gap to get into, and just about everyone was driving slowly anyway, plus it was practically dry, both directions (I don’t know how Colorado snowstorms know to fall most heavily on residential areas and frequesntted commercial areas, and less on highways, but they do a good job of it.) So there are three more proofs of one of my favorite sayings (see right). As usual, Virgil returns all greetings. He does appreciate all of you – he knows, among other things, you are company for me, which he can’t be under the circumstances.

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Short Takes –

Washington Post (no paywall) – Justice Department asks FEC to stand down as prosecutors probe Santos
Quote – The Justice Department has asked the Federal Election Commission to hold off on any enforcement action against George Santos, the Republican congressman from New York who lied about key aspects of his biography, as prosecutors conduct a parallel criminal probe, according to two people familiar with the request…. “Basically they don’t want two sets of investigators tripping over each other,” said David M. Mason, a former FEC commissioner. “And they don’t want anything that the FEC, which is a civil agency, does to potentially complicate their criminal case.”
Click through for story – From WaPo’s keyboards to God’s iPhone.

Timothy Snyder – Thinking about… – The Specter of 2016
Quote – The reporting on this so far seems to miss the larger implications. One of them is that Trump’s historical position looks far cloudier. In 2016, Trump’s campaign manager (Manafort) was a former employee of a Russian oligarch (Deripaska), and owed money to that same Russian oligarch. And the FBI special agent (McGonigal) who was charged with investigating the Trump campaign’s Russian connections then went to work (according to the indictment) for that very same Russian oligarch (Deripaska). This is obviously very bad for Trump personally. But it is also very bad for FBI New York, for the FBI generally, and for the United States of America.
Click through for analysis. Snyder is a historian and this falls right into his special area, namely Europe. What strikes me here is that we all seem to be laboring under themistaken impression that if a responsible adult is aware that there is a problem under his or her purview, he or she will take some action. That does not appear to be the case Look at the 6-year-old school shooter – other students reported to multiple adults that he had a gun, starting early in the day. One of, I guess, the last to hear, just said, “Don’t worry, the school day’s almost over.” And then there was the entire police department in Uvalde. I understand the impulse, I really do, to mind one’s own business, but we citizens deserve better. Just because fascists want to supervise inappropriately doesn’t mean that we must fail to exercise supervision at all.

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Jan 282023
 

Yesterday, there was an unusual article picked up from Jezebel by CPR about a bear who has used a wildlife research camera to take more than 400 selfies, all very professional looking. If we humans want to stay at the top of the food chain we had better start improving our game. Also, the weather forecast indicated a possibility of snow tonight – only about one chance in four, but if it does snow, they think it will be a fair amount. I’ not holding my breath, but it is something to keep in mind. I’ll slip in a comment before I leave, and of course will comment when I get back.

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Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Inside the Democratic ‘SWAT Team’ Combating the GOP’s Biden Probes
Quote – Now, a more conspiratorial and hard-edged crop of House Republicans is sharpening their investigative knives for President Joe Biden, eyeing everything from his handling of the Department of Justice to his son’s business dealings. Determined to prevent a rerun of the Obama years, top Democrats are standing up a pair of outside groups—the Congressional Integrity Project and Facts First USA—and building them for the sole purpose of running aggressive interference for Biden on the barrage of GOP probes from Capitol Hill.
Click through for more information. I don’t know whether this is the best way to function because it hasn’t been tried before. But at least we can stop saying the Democratic party is not even trying to message.

The Daily Beast – ould a Secret Contract Halt This Tell-All Book on the Trump Probe?
Quote – The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is warning that a tell-all book about its stalled investigation into former President Donald Trump could derail the office’s probe and leave the author of the book, a former top prosecutor there, in legal jeopardy for violating a secretive nondisclosure agreement. The NDA, obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast, warns that “any work performed for the office” is “privileged and confidential.” That clause appears to directly conflict with a memoir that promises juicy details in what has so far been a failed effort to indict Trump. People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account, written by former special assistant DA Mark Pomerantz, is due to hit bookshelves on Feb. 7—and it’s being billed as a “fascinating inside account of the attempt to prosecute former president Donald Trump.”
Click through for details. Not unexpectedly, I have mixed feelings here. My desire to have all the facts of TFG’s sordid Presidency become public knowledge is tempered by my desire to see him convicted, and have those convictions (plural, ues) stick and keep him locked up permanently.

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Jan 262023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Georgia DA Willis states that charging decisions are “imminent” for “defendants” for election crimes

The Lincoln Project – Elise Knew

Thom Hartmann – The Real Reason the Rich Flock to Davos…

Liberal Redneck – The State of Conspiracy Theories

Kitten Who Could Only Scoot Learns To Walk  https://youtu.be/rhShLzq46zI

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump paying Clinton….

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Jan 202023
 

Glenn Kirschner – New interview with Michael Cohen suggests NY DA Bragg may be back in the Trump prosecution mix

Farron Balanced – Oops! Republicans Accidentally Admit They’ve Been Lying About Tax Cuts For Decades

The Lincolm Project – The Way I Handle Things

Politics Girl – Debt Ceiling Crisis

Stray Cat Stuck In A Wall For Over A Week

http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/arts/lit/PDFs/OutofSilentPlanet_CSL.pdf
Beau – Let’s talk about explaining Earth to aliens…. (C.S. Lewis did something like this in the first volumne of his “Space Trilogy” – and he [deliberately] wrote himself into a corner where his hero had to fail to translate a concept because it flat made no sense. There’s a pdf here of the whole book – the conversation begins at the bottom of page 119 of the pdf [numbered 115 in the text] and the untranslateable concept appears at the bottom of the following page. The conversation ends near the top of pdf page 122 [118] – not terribly long, but a bit long to quote. Though you aay have to suspend disbelief a bit, it’s very reavealing as to some things we think we know but really haven’t a clue.)

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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?)

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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.

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Jan 172023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump’s desperate, unhinged social media posts make clear – he KNOWS indictments are coming!

Meidas Touch – Former Trump Aide Bannon pulls SNEAKY STUNT in criminal trial [not exactly pithy]

Farron Balanced – House Republicans Tear Each Other Apart Over Document That Doesn’t Exist

Really American – Chip Franklin EXPOSES Conservatives as being government-loving LIARS

World’s Most Adorable Badger

Beau – Let’s talk about Santos, McCarthy, and the new chapter….

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Jan 152023
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Fedora” by Umberto Giordano. It’s his second-best-known opera, the best-known one being “Andrea Chenier,” set during the French Revolution. “Fedora, based on a play by Sardou (right up there with Victor Hugo and David Belasco as an operatic inspiration) set in Russia in the 1880s, a time and place when the local political bogeyman was “Nihilism.” Fedora is a Russian noblewoman whose feance is killed on the eve of their wedding. After the arrival of the police and on-stage questioning of the servants, she comes to the conclusion that Count Ipanov did it – he was a nihilist sympathizer and her fiance a trarist. Learning Ipanov has gone to Paris, she decides to go there and attempt to seduce him to get a confession. Well, she gets a particl confesion, and invites him to come to her room and tell her the whole story. While awaiting him, she writes and posts a “come-and-get-him” letter to the police in Russia. When he arrives, he tells her that her fiance and his wife were having an affair, and that he caught them in flagrante and killed him (and he shot first). Between this news and the fact that Ipanov is basically a decent guy, she falls in love with him. But it’s too late – the letter is already gone. Eventually she has to confess that the “Russian woman” whose information sicced the cops on him is she – whereupon she takes poison and dis. It’s a “diva vehicle” which has been championed by Maria Callas and Mirella Freni, among others. An influential singer certainly can use her or his influence to get an opera performed which has been overlooked, but ultimately it’s the operagoers who decide whether any opera, new or revived, will make it into standard repertory. After those two strong attempts in the 20th century I’m not expecting this one in the 21st century to succeed, but I could be wrong – it’s a very strong cast. The Met audience is changing, if the choices each season are any indication. It’s becoming moch more interested in new operas, and much more open to the work of black composers, and to women conductors. There are still many who are older and fond of the old standard rep, which definitely shows up when there is voting on what old recording should be played on the “Listeners Choice” weekend. But that audience is dying off, and in any case, I suspect there are more than one would expect who, like me, are very open to the new stuff. Maybe if I live long enough a star tenor will come along who believes in “The Great Gatsby” by John Harbison, and I can hear it once more. Or a star baritone who believes in “An American Tragedy” by Tobias Picker, and I can hear it for the first tiem – since the mamager of the local radio station when it was a matinee was too cowardly to air it when it was broadcast.

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PolitiZoom – Closest Trump Allies Assert Biden was Set Up in Docs Case – Why?
Quote – Little did I know as I wrote yesterday that two of Trump’s closest allies in the public sphere, blowhard Sean Hannityjob and failed Surgeon General aspirant Adm. Ronny Jackson would take to the airwaves and do precisely what I decided to do not – circulate conspiracy theories about the placement and uncovering of the classified documents in question…. Now why, when the simple facts, as known, in the case are already so damaging to the President, would two of his biggest and most ardent supporters take to the airways to suggest in any way that Biden was not responsible for the security breech?
Click through for story. I admit it occurred to me, and, based on Lona’s comment on Thursday’s video thread, it appears to have occurred to her. Of course the idea that the setup could have been done by Democrats is pure projection. You might, if you looked really hard, find a Democrat or two who might contemplate it, but it would not be anyone in leadership, and the leadership would not permit it even if someone had the temerity to suggest it. Do they know that it was done, done by them, and are they pre-emptively trying to look innocent?

HuffPost – Here’s The Real Agenda Behind The Republican Debt Ceiling Threats
Quote – As McCarthy explained it, “one of the greatest threats we have to this nation is our debt,” noting that the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product ― a widely used metric for measuring the federal government’s debt levels ― had not been this high since World War II…. It’s absolutely true that the debt-to-GDP ratio hasn’t been this high since World War II (or at any other time in U.S. history). But it was so high back then because the U.S. faced a once-in-a-lifetime crisis that required a massive, sudden, one-time burst of spending. That’s precisely what just happened because of COVID-19, and why deficits (which lead to debt) suddenly spiked.
Click through for details. McCarthy is being extremely disingenuous (which is the polite way to say “attempting deliberate fraud.”)

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Jan 142023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Another special counsel appointed: Biden and Trump’s documents issues are different as night and day

Meidas Touch – Pete Buttigieg TURNS THE TABLES on Fox Host after Attempted ‘Gotcha’ Moment

Thom Hartmann – Will GOP Bring America To Its Knees?

Ring of Fire – Unhinged Republican Congressman Calls For Investigation Into ‘Compromised’ Jill Biden

Half-Pound Kitten Now Pounces On His Siblings Every Chance He Gets

Beau – Let’s talk about Brazil and lessons….

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