Yesterday, I came across a just-under-six-minute presentation by Anonymous on Christian nationalism – in the Christian nationalists’ own words. It’s pretty awful. But it should get as wide exposure as possible so that as many people as possible become aware of the real stakes in this election. All those people who are thinking about the economy, or womens’ rights, or anything else, don’t get it. Sure, all those things are important. but Trump**II would destroy all of them and far more.
Well, this is encouraging, and what really makes it so is the fact that the author at the source holds focus groups with swing voters.
They are telling the same lies about Aurora, Colorado – but if Aurora has a four-generation journalist resident, he or she has not yet spoken up in the way that David Dewitt of the Ohio Capital Journal has. It’s highly personal and it is touching in a way thay MAGA Republicans can never hope to be (not that they would want to), and here it is.
Yesterday, Trinette’s son Zach was by to “mow the grass” (a very charitable euphemism for “mow thw weeds. And I did reach the exterminator, who confirmed they are coming in the late afternoon tomorrow. So that’s all good. Also, as I’m sure youall know, Hunter Biden was convicted of a gun felony. And then too, in case anyone cares, I looked up the no paywall link to the Rolling Stone article which captures the Alitos’ real political ideas. It’s here. And one last thing – the Theater of War production scheduled for 6 pm Eastern today was featured on PBS News Hour over the weekend and the segment can be streamed here if anyone is interested. I’m sure they aren’t finished with this project.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls this geoup “The greatest threat to democracy you’ve never heard of.” The HuffPost Fringe shares the information.
I do hope TFG (Can also stand for That Felon Guy) doesn’t actually try this. However, as Virgil’s mother used to say, “Xit in one habd and hope in the other and see which gets filled first.
Yesterday, Wonkette’s newsletter provided a gift link to a New York Times opinion piece, written by Michelle Goldberg (not by some right-wing lackey), whichdoesn’t contain anything we hadn’t figured out, but says it well and clearly. And the gift link makes it easier to share if you’d like to (don’t cut it – the stuff after the question mark is needed to validate that it’s a gift.) Also, Andy Borowitz “interviews” the new President of Mexico, who has thoughts on the U.S.
Well, this is interesting. It’s hard to be sure what it means at this point, other that Republicans are so good at creating “plausible deniability” that they have gotten bad at using it, trying to make it work all the time. Denying everything is admitting everything.
Well, this is really interesting. Like puppetmaster, like puppet, I guess. Now, before anyone says “Money is the root of all evil,” let me point out it is not money, but the love of money, which is the root of all evil (or as Chaucer quoted in the Canterbury Tales, “Radix malorum est cupiditas.”)
Yesterday, I observed that Donald Trump** is now claiming that Biden ordered him assassinated, specifically on the day of the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Magats are, frankly, to evil to eben be able to imagine a person who just wouldn’t do that, so perhaps we should counter with something like “Democrats get things done. If Joe wanted him assassinated, he’d have been assassinated. He wasn’t. End of story.” Also, among the petitions I signed was one for Thomas and Alito to recude from the Trump** immnity case. Actually, I’d rather leave those to on and have the three he nominated recuse.Knocking out those two still leaves it 4-3, and the best hope we have is for Roberts to do the right thing. But if we knock out Gorsuch, Javanaugh and Barrett, it’s now 3-3. Unless Roberts does the right thing, there’s an unbreakable tie.
I’m going to word my hanky alert differently on this by quoting Shakespeare’s Mark Antony: “If youhave tears, prepare to shed them now.” Yes, I’m preaching to the choir. But sharing it couldn’t hurt.
Just as I’m highly in favor of the National Interstate Popular Vote Compact, because I don’t see any possibility to amend the Constitution without the nation being able to see that the popular vote works, I also don’t see equirable tax reform happening unless people can see it works. That’s why I;m posting this,and enci=ourage sharing it as widely as possible.
And here is yet another article which desperately needs to be widely shared. I’ll try to help on this one with the”Food for Thought” cartoon below.
Yesterday, I got an email with a new Substack column from Margaret Atwood – not surprising because Alice Munro just died, and I suspected they had to know each other – which they did. Both Canadian, buth winners of literary prizes (their friendship began when Margaret won the [Canadian] Governor General’s prize, and lasted past Alice’s Nobel prize.) At my age it’s very touching to read about longtime friendships between kindred spirits – but it also wouldn’t be Margaret Atwood if there weren’t some giggles too. Also, I did watch Lawrence’s segment on the trial the previous night, and though maybe less quotable than the previous one, it was equally well thought out and discerning. Also, for those of us who thonk Mary Trump is almost good enough to make up for the rest of the family, she is opening a YouTube channel called “Mary Trump Media” (it’s open now, there’s just nothing in it) which goes live today at 4:30 pm Eastern. In previous videos she’s had a feature called “Nerd Avengers,” wherein she brings together a group of experts to address a particular topic, and that will continue to be a feature.
This is a story about our Democratic women governors, and how they communicate to strengthen all of them, personally and politically. It’s a feel-good story I will warn that the site opens with an aggressive donation request (look for an X to click on to reduce it, though, sadly, not eliminate) it. If you ever use the screen magnifier, I guarantee tou will not need it for this article – but you scrolling finger will get a real workout.
All I can say is, the legislature tried. Because the majority of the people of the sate wanted it. But it seems to be getting sabotaged from within. Quelle surprise (pas!) I’m old enough to remember when there were decent Republicans. That makes me really old.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Madama Butterfly. I assume everyonehas at least heard of it and maybe something from it, even if not the whole thing. Certainly from the song “Poor Butterfly” all the way to “M(onsieur) Butterfly on broadway, creative artists have assumed that everyone knows the story (which is probably as old as humanity, though the odlest i can trace it to is “Madame Chrysantheme” by Pierre Loti, which itself inspired the opera “Lakmé,” set in india with an English cad, whereas of course Butterfly is set in Japan with an American cad. It’s always beautiful to listen to, and always makes everyone cry, which “Lakmé” doesn’t necessarily/ I’m pretty sure that’s because somewhere between Loti and Puccini the detail got added of her having birthed a child in his absence, and that really ups the stakes. It also makes the opera more difficult to produce, but everyone stages it anyway. Totally unrelated, but May 12, today, always reminds me of my (very) long ago youth. In my last year of high school and my first couple of years of college I enjoyed playing bridge, and preferred the high school club even after graduation because the college one was duplicate bridge, and very, very serious. You know kids that age – we all thought we were clever. We had nicknames for certain kinds of tricks, such as one where all the cards were honor cards was called a “Summit Conference.” A trick where three cards were honor cards and one not was called a “May 12th, because, on May 12, 1960, Khrushchev had walked out on a summit conference – and that was such a short time before it was practically still news.
There’s a whole lot of information here, and some, but not all, of the snippets which follow the longer first section have some relevance to that section.
Yesterday, I came across a new Parody Project video at Democratic Underground, and I’m providing the link to that site (you can easily get to YouTube from it if you prefer.) The poster,, “DFW,” is “The freedom Toast” just as Don Caron is “The Parody Project.” DFW is an ex-pat living in Europe after a lifetime of foreign service. In the one photo I’ve seen of him, he looks a bit like Santa Claus in a dress suit – and that’s probably more than you wanted to know. I recommend the YouTube CC because the white type washes out on some of the light backgrounds – the CC isn’t perfect, but it’s something.
This has taken a long, long time to accomplish, and it’s really only starting, but I for one am glad it has at last gotten this far.
On the eve of a major trial, Richardson takes a look at the other (neglected by the MSM) story of how the economy works, and when it works best, and why. While attending to the Trump** story, we also need to be telling this one.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.” If you ever hear someone claim that opera has far-fetched, hard to believe, plots, this may be the one they are thinking of. It starts with the heroine planning to elope, since her father disapproves of her suitor. The suitor is a bit late, and, unfortunately, the father bursts into her room before they have left. He threatens the suitor, who responds by attempting to prove he is not an enemy by disarming. But the gun goes off (in the script he drops or throws it to the floor, which sets it off; this production is less clear about what happens.) And the unintended bullet kills her father, who, as he dies, curses his daughter. I used to say “And from there it just gets more unlikely.” Today I wouldn’t claim it gets less likely – however, it certainly doesn’t get any more likely either. The opera is not performed all that often, not because it isn’t popular (it is), but because the soprano part is at least as difficult as anything in opera, even Wagner’s operas, and Leontyne Prices just don’t turn up every day. There are excerpts from it which are frequently recorded separately – arias for the soprano and the tenor, a male chorus with soprano obligato, a duet with the tenor and the baritone – all of which are in different ways heartbreakingly beautiful.
Just a little exercise in “compare and conatrast” here:
“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today…. History is watching. If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe is at risk. The free world will be at risk, emboldening others to what they wish to do us harm.” [President Joseph Biden, State of the Union Address, March 7, 2024]
“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.” [president Abraham Lincoln – Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]
I did not watch or listen to the Republican response (can you blame me?), and, although some of this article has been “translated,” shall we say, it’s probably all we need to know about it.
Well, this is bad news for anyone with allergies who has ambitions of traveling into space! But I’m sure glad they found it out this way and not in use.
