GOP Lies – Page 15 – Politics Plus

Open Thread September 4, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:42 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 042022

Yesterday, the Radio Opera was “La Gioconda” by Amilcare Ponchielli. No, it’s not about the Mona Lisa – she is a different “smiling woman.” It has, not a love triangle nor square, but a love pentagram. It also has the Inqusition, a spy, an assumed identity, betrayal, extortion, murder, attempted murder, and suicide. And, of course, the Dance of the Hours. I was wondering why a good Italian mother would name her baby boy after Hamilcar, the brother of Hannibal, the two from Carthage who went so far as to bring elephants over the Alps to attack Rome, and caused Cato the censor to end every speech with “Carthage must be destroyed.” But I had forgotten that when he was born (he was a slightly younger contemporary of Verdi) Italy was not a united nation. In fact he was born in the north, in a territory including Lombardy and Venice, and who cared about Rome there? It was an intentional reference – he certainly must have thought so, since he named his own son after Hannibal. But I digress. “La Gioconda” was based loosely on a play by Victor Hugo (without whom Italian opera of the 19th century, and even musical theater today, would have been a lot less fun.)

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Robert Reich – The second-biggest Republican lie
Quote – Wynn isn’t the first to dream up the bogus story about the IRS going after average working people. Senator Ted Cruz warns of a “shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents,” threatening Americans, and Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona governor, ties the increase in IRS agents to the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and concludes that, “Not a single one of us is safe.” Many other GOP candidates are telling the same lie.
Click through for article. Messaging should not be about “fairness,” but about truth. But dang, it’s unfair that Republicans can nessage any lie they want to and get away with it, while we are limited tothe truth. I don’t thik we are the ones who should have to change.

Sacramento Bee – California lawmakers pass bill to create fast food labor council, give it power over wages
Quote – California would become the first state to establish a fast food council charged with setting pay and workplace standards for the entire industry under a bill the Legislature is poised to send to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Assembly Bill 257, also known as the FAST Act, passed the Senate on Wednesday in a 21-12 vote. Hours later the Assembly sent it to Newsom on a final 41-16 vote…. Under the legislation, a 10-member council composed of workers, employers and government appointees would negotiate to set industry standards and pay. It would apply to any fast food chain with at least 100 locations nationwide and cap any minimum wage increase at $22 an hour next year. The council would be a first in America’s fast-food industry.
Click through for story. It CAN be done. Although it is easier in a blue state than in a red one. But what’s done in California may eventually help the nation.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 9/2/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:11 pm Open Thread, Politics

Sep 022022

Glenn Kirschner – Lindsey Graham says there will be riots if DOJ charges Donald Trump for his crimes

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Google BANS Trump’s Truth Social because NO MODERATION of HATE

The Lincoln Project – Tough on Crime

MSNBC – Familiar Trump Stall Strategy Plays Out In ‘Special Master’ Gambit

Ring of Fire – Kids-For-Cash Criminal Judges Ordered To Pay Victims Over $200 Million

Beau – Let’s talk about access to higher education….

Video Thread 8/27/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:02 pm Open Thread, Politics

Aug 272022

Glenn Kirschner – Trump files nonsensical brief attacking DOJ/Mar-a-Lago search warrant; Judge tells him to try again

Meidas Touch – WTF: Texas Paul REACTS to Republican Candidate who supports STONING LGBTQ people

Lincoln Project – Poser

Ring of Fire – Trump Has Epic Meltdown As Scandals Get Worse

Armageddon Update – The Troops

Beau – Let’s talk about talking points that are destroying families….

Open Thread August 27, 2022

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

Aug 272022

Yesterday, the redacted affidavit from the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was released. So much was NOT redacted that I suspect all that was redacted was any information which might tend to identify the witnesses, or otherwise compromise DOJ sources (and also, just maybe, other Federal laws they are investigating him for). Yes, there are some all-black pages – but by my count they make up just under half of the complete document. Like all legal documents, the phrasing and vocabulary are as unsensational as possible, but the facts are there and are made clear. Of course MAGAts would not be convinced FPOTUS did anything wrong even if Jesus came back to earth and denounced him. But anyone with an open mind who can manage to get through the legalese should get it.

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Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance – Tomorrow Before Noon
Quote – Here’s the bottom line. Kemp delayed testifying, despite the DA’s persistent efforts—first voluntary and then by subpoena, to bring him in. Now, months into the process, he says she shouldn’t be able to make him testify before his election in November, even though he’s responsible for the delay. But Kemp is a fact witness. If he’d observed a car wreck and was called to testify, would he argue he shouldn’t have to before the election? Of course not. It’s a bad argument, tantamount to asking for special treatment because he’s on the ballot and doesn’t want to have to testify against the former president before the voting starts. And I’m sure that if the court permits him to delay past November, Kemp will find fresh reasons to claim he can’t testify after the election. Kemp also argues that he has sovereign immunity as the state’s governor, which should prevent his grand jury testimony. But again, Kemp isn’t a target of the investigation, he’s just a fact witness, so that doctrine shouldn’t apply.
Click through for details. Like Richardson, Vance sends her newsletter late at night, so “Tomorrow” in her title is now “Yesterday.”

Robert Reich – My father and Senator Joe McCarthy
Quote – During the Army-McCarthy hearings, McCarthy’s chief counsel was Roy Cohn. Cohn had gained prominence as the Department of Justice attorney who successfully prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage, leading to their execution in 1953. The Rosenberg trial had brought the 24-year-old Cohn to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover, who convinced McCarthy to hire Cohn as chief counsel for McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where Cohn became known for his aggressive questioning of suspected communists. My father thought Roy Cohn almost as despicable as Joe McCarthy. After McCarthy’s downfall, Cohn proved useful to a young New York real estate developer named Donald Trump who was then undertaking several large construction projects in Manhattan and needed a fixer and mentor. Cohn filled both roles.
Click through for story. Although I’m almost a year older than Robert, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as television until the nid-fifties, and we didn’t have one for a lot of years after that. I’m glad he did, and was old enough to remember that occasion. But … we are still (not again, still) fighting the same ogre today.

Food For Thought

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

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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

Video Thread 8/25/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:40 am Open Thread, Politics

Aug 252022

Glenn Kirschner – Lindsey Graham is running out of rope & likely will soon find himself in the GA grand jury hot seat (BTW, I guessed right.)

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Fox host who SHOCKED colleagues by calling out their LIES

Lincoln Project – Fire the Feds

Really American – GOP Secretary of State Candidate: “I Don’t Know” Who I Voted For

The Riccardis – The Ballad of Marjorie Taylor Greene-O

Beau – Let’s talk about Dems, Trump, and the boy who cried wolf….

Open Thread August 25, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 252022

Yesterday, I managed to getnine 30-gallon plastic bags out to the porch, all labeled with the initials of the charity they are getting picked up by. After that, I moved the car out of the driveway and took the recyclables to the edge of the driveway by the street – two actions which between tehm pretty much cleared the drive way. I did this because the charity is “Vietnam Veterans of America,” nd although I don’t remember seeing much, one occupation which puts people int higher jeopardy of becoming an amputee is “combat vet.” And the instruction included the request that everything be capable of bing lifted with one hand (not all at once, of course; that would be silly.) So I just wanted to make it as easy as possible and I figured shortening the distance couldn’t hurt. After all that, my shoulders, back, and knee were still in comparatively good shape.

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Letters from an American – August 22, 2022
Quote – Today’s big news is an eye-popping $1.6 billion donation to a right-wing nonprofit organized in May 2020. This is the largest known single donation made to a political influence organization. The money came from Barre Seid, a 90-year-old electronics company executive, and the new organization, Marble Freedom Trust, is controlled by Leonard A. Leo, the co-chair of the Federalist Society, who has been behind the right-wing takeover of the Supreme Court. Leo has also been prominent in challenges to abortion rights, voting rights, climate change action, and so on. He announced in early 2020 that he was stepping back from the Federalist Society to remake politics at every level, but information about the massive grant and the new organization was broken today by Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times.
Click through for details. Everyone has this story – but I saw it first here – and Heather always has receipts (and insights.)

Daily Beast – Cops Love Immunity—Until They’re the Ones Abused by Police
Quote – Six months after the incident, Burk filed a civil rights lawsuit against the acting officers from the Columbus Division of Police. Predictably, Burk now finds himself on the wrong end of a judge-made doctrine called “qualified immunity.” The doctrine, which the U.S. Supreme Court invented in 1982, shields government employees from accountability for unreasonable actions—unless victims can point to a prior case in the same jurisdiction that clearly establishes the behavior as unconstitutional. The irony of this case is that law enforcement officers like Burk normally love qualified immunity.
Click through for this opinion piece with backup facts. I would hate to think that the only, or even just the fastest, way to get rid of “qualified immunity” is for cops to beat up enough cops.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 8/24/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:00 am Open Thread, Politics

Aug 242022

Glenn Kirschner – Glenn’s regular video in sequence is a report n a Team Justice get-together. Glenn’s first grandchild was there (cute as a button), but Glenn didn’t make the keynote speech, and it;s long. So I’m substituting this, which includes information not yet covered on “Justice Matters.”
Political Voices Network – No Sweetheart Deals! There Are a Whole Host of Crimes that Apply to Rudy & Trump.