Dec 292021
 

Yesterday, I got some replies on the commenting system. Most said whatever works will be fine. Administrators said they absolutely want to be able to put pictures in comments (I didn’t hear from Lynn yet, but she used to put a lot of pictures in comments when her health allowed her to be more regular, so I’ll take that as a yes on puctures.) So we have a preferred choice, which at this point is Disqus. I will be doing it in the middle of the night so there won’t be any gaps during the times people normally comment, and it will probably be Friday night, because I have something else administrative to do that needs to bedone Friday night. So I may be late in responding to comments Saturday. I will be praying hard for no glitches … and anyone is welcome to join me in that!

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Alleged ‘dead’ Georgia voters found alive and well after 2020 election
Quote – Earlier in the year, the State Election Board found evidence that Sherry Cook of Trion had submitted an absentee ballot for her husband, Donald Cook, who died several months before the election. Cook told investigators that she and her daughter had returned the ballot after Donald Cook signed it before he died, but investigators said that was impossible because the ballot wasn’t issued until after his death.
Click through for details. All of the dead voters had dies before ths ballots were issued, but it is sort f implied that the ballot of someone who dies before Election day but after voting the ballot would count, as IMO it should.

truthout – LAPD Releases Footage From Police Killing of Valentina Orellana-Peralta
Quote – Orellana-Peralta was with her mother trying on clothes in a Burlington dressing room on Thursday when she was shot and killed by an officer whose name has yet to be released by the LAPD. Police said Monday that a bullet bounced off the floor and went through the wall of the dressing room.
Click through. You’ve probably seen news of this incident – I certainly have, but this is the first I’ve seen that mentions that the occasion for which she was shopping was her Quinceañera. That’s almost like shopping for a wedding dress. Both certainly conjure up images of the potential lost by the life being taken.

emptywheel – JUDGE TIM KELLY RELEASES OPINION ON OBSTRUCTION AFFECTING AS MANY AS TWO DOZEN PROUD BOYS
Quote – Perhaps the most notable language in the opinion rejects a comparison Nordean tried to make with the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court protests. ‘Arguing that the statute invites discriminatory enforcement, Defendants repeatedly point to charging decisions and plea deals related to other January 6 defendants… and the uncharged protestors on the Capitol steps during Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings…. But neither provides evidence of vagueness. Both merely show “the Executive’s exercise of discretion over charging determinations.” … And “Supreme Court precedent teaches that the presence of enforcement discretion alone does not render a statutory scheme unconstitutionally vague.” … [And] … “As always, enforcement requires the exercise of some degree of police judgment, but, as confined, that degree of judgment here is permissible.” ‘
Click through for full story. This may seem like – and it may be – a small point. But it’s one which it is very good to have cleared up now, before the big guns come out.

Food For Thought:

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Dec 142021
 

Glenn Kirschner – With Trump’s COS Meadows’ Democracy-Ending PowerPoint, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . RICO

MSNBC – TRMS – Details Of Intimidation Of Georgia Election Workers Puts New Scrutiny On Trump Campaign (Barf Bag Alert)

Thom Hartmann – The Reckoning Is Coming For The Media

The Lincoln Project – Hotline

Really American – GOP Initiates Trump 2022 ‘Slow Moving Coup’

SumofUs – The Tiger & The Buffalo spoof ad

Beau – Let’s talk about voting traditions in the US….

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Dec 122021
 

Glenn Kirschner – NY AG Tish James Subpoenas Trump; Will he Testify or Plead the 5th?

Thom Hartmann – Generals LIED To Congress About Trump’s Jan 6th Coup! (Politico is pretty right leaning, so this message has particular credibility)

Rebel HQ – AOC Bluntly Drops Truth On Coward Republicans

Ring of Fire – Trump Supporters Harassing People Door To Door Looking For Voter Fraud

John Fugelsang – Caffeinated – 10 Facts About ‘Illegals:’ A Guide for Racist Idiots

Puppet Regime – Xi’s Xmas Surprise

Beau – Let’s talk about the thing we missed in Crenshaw’s speech….

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Dec 072021
 

Yesterday also quiet. Not that I got a whole lot done. I was trying to rest, and more or less did.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – Right-wing so-called ‘journalists’ exploit Waukesha tragedy, drawing neo-Nazis there to protest
Quote – Ngo also disingenuously proffered as evidence a post by Brooks he described as “about how to get away with running people over on the street”—even though the post in question was actually written by an ex-Minneapolis police officer who encouraged drivers to run down BLM protesters, and Brooks had posted it as evidence of violent police attitudes. Of course, there is still zero evidence that Brooks ever participated in any BLM march or engaged in any protest organizing.
Click through for details. I am honestly more sick of fake journalists than I am of fake news itself. And don’t think there aren’t any on the left. We have to be responsible for moderating our confirmation bias … because RWNJs certainly will not moderate theirs.

The Nib – Why Are Everyone’s Catalytic Converters Being Stolen?
Quote – But catalytic converters have been round for nearly 50 years. So why is this happening now? The economic downturn caused by the pandemic might be one factor. Another is the soaring price of the precious metals that put the catalyst in catalytic.
Click through. Yes, this is what you might call a “graphic article.” But try to find a non-graphic one which lays out this information so clearly.

The 19th Explains: Women may soon qualify for the draft. Here’s what you need to know.
Quote – Kara Dixon Vuic, who studies gender and the U.S. military at Texas Christian University, said the passage of this amendment would be “huge, though largely symbolic” when it comes to the fight for women’s rights and gender equity in the military. “Right now, the only legal difference between what men and women do as civilians is men sign up for selective service,” said Vuic, who is currently writing a book on the history of military draft eligibility in the country. “It’s not that women don’t have to; it’s that they can’t.”
Click through for the scoop. I have always felt that if one really wants to be treated equally, then one must accept being treated equally. As obvious as that soounds, it seems to be a difficult concept when it comes to feminism. Perhaps that at least partially explains why misogyny is more powerful than racism (as the 2016 election proved.)

Food for Thought –

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Nov 302021
 

Yesterday, my vision was back to normal when I got up, thankfully. Oh, and happy Hanukkah to all who observe it. It’s very early this year – I have already missed two days, for which I apologize.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

Daily Kos (Kerry Eleveld) – Republicans are desperate to believe 2020 was ‘stolen’ from Trump. Nothing will dissuade them
Quote – But when it came to Republicans, 62% misstated the results of the sham audit[in Arizona], with 32% saying the so-called audit found evidence of fraud and 30% saying it probably found fraud, when in fact the report located no 2020 fraud. So even when a sham process initiated by GOP lawmakers, promoted by Donald Trump, and conducted by pro-Trump sympathizers finds no fraud, a substantial majority of Republicans reject and distort the findings.
Click thrugh for more numbers – if you need them.

AP News – Jan. 6 panel sets contempt vote for former DOJ official
Quote – The committee on Monday scheduled a vote to pursue contempt charges against Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department lawyer who aligned with President Donald Trump as he tried to overturn his election defeat. If approved by the panel, the recommendation of criminal contempt charges would then go to the full House for a vote and then to the Justice Department.
Click through for more. This vote is for Clark, as you see. Meadows’s turn in the barrel will come.

The American media misses the true nature of the GOP threat — but an international outlet nailed it
Quote – While I don’t care about [Candace] Owens, and neither should you, we should care about the use of the right’s rhetoric of slander, of which the word “communist” has long played a part in American history. Liberals and progressives first looked to the government as a force of social reform in the early 20th century. Around that time, the Russian Revolution occurred (1917). Since then, the American right has smeared liberals by associating their policies and objectives with godless communism.
Click through for details. As we know, left and right have nothing to do with authoritarianism, or its opposite Sadly, most people don’t know that. I’m sure that’s part of what stood in the way of seeing this.

Food for Thought –

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Nov 292021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Bannon’s Grift, Mark Meadows’ Contempt of Congress & Trump’s Friends & Family Burner Phone Plan

Meidas Touch – Lauren Boebert CAUGHT ON TAPE comparing Ilhan Omar to suicide bomber in Islamophobic rant https://youtu.be/UIOi-XLQcp0

Ring of Fire – Biden Demands Investigation Into Oil Companies For Possible Price Gouging

Armageddon Update | Open Season

If People Who Sell Stuff Were Honest About Black FridayOld video. Still valid. Sigh.)

Wild Boar Who Couldn’t Move For A Week Demands Belly Rubs Now

Beau – Let’s talk about being hungry to vote….

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Nov 232021
 

Glenn Kirschner – NY Prosecutors Investigating Yet More Trump Financial Crimes; When Will the Indictments Come?

Courtesy of Politizoom, who refers to her as a “Karen in Training.” I don’t think she needs any training.

Now This News – It only took him TWO DAYS to collect all those bottles! That should scare people.

politicsrus – Beto 1 (I hope that means there will be more.)

Really American – Republicans Want National Holiday For RittenHouse

Smartest Stray Cat Follows Woman Home

Beau – Let’s talk about Birmingham, Biden, and deception….

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Nov 212021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Defendant Jacob “QAnon Shaman” Chansley Sentencing to 41 Months in Prison for Capitol Attack

Meidas Touch – Kyle Rittenhouse NOT GUILTY verdict will inspire more vigilante killers

MSNBC – Media Dilemma: How To Cover Indecent Politicians Without Amplifying Them? (Sadly, Rachel is one of very,very few who even ask this question. But it’s nice for me to know that another of the very, very few is in Denver.)

politicsrus – Kevin Is a Creep

Caffeinated with John Fugelsang – Ep #3 Bribe Back Better

Puppet Regime – Obstreperous Turkey

Beau – Let’s talk about bad news for DeJoy and good news for the postal service….

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