Open Thread for August 9, 2021

 Posted by at 6:46 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 092021
 

Yesterday it was supposed to be warmer – the dude on the radio was hoping people had air conditioning – but it wasn’t here. It actually felt the cooloest day for a while. Hey, I’ll take that … as long as it doesn’t get too cold too fast. It was also a pill weekend, I filled the morning ones on Saturday and the evening ones yesterday. Set for two weeks now. Also placed a grocery order to be lelivered today.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Law & Crime – A Former MMA Fighter from N.J. and a Metal Baton-Swinging Seattle Resident Are the First to Plead Guilty to Assaulting Police on Jan. 6th
Quote – Both men technically face up to 20 years imprisonment at their upcoming sentencing on Sept. 17…. Both also face the possibility of $250,000 fines. Their sentencing hearings will be closely watched, as potential markers for how heavily federal judges will punish those charged with assaulting law enforcement on Jan. 6th.
Click through for deets and some speculation. Law & Crime can get very sensational in their headlines and in their selection of stories, but their style is pretty matter-of-fact.

AP News – Late nights, early mornings await Senate on infrastructure
Quote – As many as 20 Republicans are expected to join Democrats in what would be a big a vote on final passage. Overcoming a 60-vote hurdle Saturday with backing from 18 Republicans was a sign that the bipartisan tenuous alliance could hold on the public works package. Another procedural vote was expected late Sunday, as senators push toward Tuesday’s final passage. If approved, the bill would go to the House.
Click through for story. Don’t faint if some Republicans vote for this. They know we are going to get it done, and they don’t want us to be able to say, “Not one single Republican voted for it.”

Rolling Stone – Die Hard Trump Supporters Increasingly Demand Violence If He Isn’t Reinstated, Homeland Security Warns
Quote – “Over the last few days what has occurred is there’s been much more public visibility, meaning the discussions and these theories have migrated away from being contained within the conspiracy and extremist online communities, to where they’re being the topic of discussion on web forums, or more public web forums, and even within the sort of media ecosystem,” a senior DHS official told ABC News. The drunk-on-Trump crowd has been triggered so much that Homeland Security says they are concerned about the calls for violence increasing further.
Click through for more. This is a situation in which police in key locations do need riot gear, and I hope they have it.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread for 8/5/21

 Posted by at 11:53 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 052021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s New Lawyer, Doug Collins, Sends a Remarkable Letter to Jeff Rosen on Executive Privilege

Meidas Touch – Bitecofer: DeSantis THREATENS America

The Lincoln Project – “Made”

Thom Hartmann – DOJ Warns Mysterious “Sudden Windfall” of Money to Proud Boys

politicsrus – Just Do It

Stray, Three-Legged Cat Who Spent 9 Winters Outside Has His Own Fireplace Now

Beau – Let’s talk about masks being back in style….

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Video Thread for 8/3/21

 Posted by at 12:22 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 032021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s $100 Million Democracy-Damaging Grift – Time for AG Garland/DOJ to Bring the Accountability

Incidentally, this is what Glenn was doing the day I thought he took off.

Don Winslow – #UniteAgainstCovid

CBS Sunday Morning – Alexander Vindman on truth and its consequences. And I’ll bet he has no regrets. Yu may want a hanky

Now This News – Oceanographers Spot Real-Life SpongeBob & Patrick (sound is music only0

Keith – OLBERMANN VS…McCARTHY’S EXCUSE FOR TALKING OF HITTING PELOSI. IS HE STONED? NO, SERIOUSLY – IS HE? (Keith didn’t mention this, but Covid can decrease male potency – the vaccine does not. I think spreading that truth might help.)

Beau – Let’s talk about criticism of the Capitol cops….

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Open Thread for July 30, 2021

 Posted by at 6:41 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 302021
 

Yesterday was still hot, as it’s supposed to be today also, cooling some on Saturday. It’s hard to work up much enthusiasm.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/565378-the-17-republicans-who-voted-to-advance-the-senate-infrastructure-bill
Quote – The vote — the first of several steps expected before the Senate decides whether or not to ultimately pass the bill—comes one week after all Republicans blocked a similar move, arguing that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was rushing the process as senators tried to finalize their agreement.
Click through for list. Some of these not only surprised me but made me think there’s something fishy (nothing new with the GQP)

Mother Jones (Kevin Drum) – The Real Source of America’s Rising Rage
Quote – [T]he past couple of decades have seen a steady increase in the belief among white people—particularly Republicans—that anti-white bias is a serious problem. Fox News has stoked this fear almost since the beginning, culminating this year in Tucker’s full-throated embrace of the white supremacist “replacement theory” and the seemingly 24/7 campaign against critical race theory and its alleged impact on white schoolkids. This is certainly not all that Fox News does, but it’s a big part of its pitch, and it fits hand in glove with Trump’s appeal to white racism.
Click through for his reasoning. Kevin is another who’s pretty sharp. And Fox is certainly huge. But even media could not create racism, white nationalism, the Great Replacement paranoia, etc. out of thin air. It can only weaponize them by bring ing them out of hiding.

BuzzFeed News – A Judge Questioned If Capitol Rioters Are Getting Off Too Easy For “Terrorizing Members Of Congress”
Quote – Howell in the end accepted Griffith’s guilty plea, but, like Walton, put the government and defense through several paces before she did. She asked whether the government was concerned that an agreement involving a low-level misdemeanor was enough not only to deter Griffith from participating in a similar event in the future but also the broader universe of the hundreds of people who descended on the Capitol that day. The circumstance that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection, a presidential election, happens every four years, the judge noted.
Click through for story. Of course it’s Beryl Howell – not that she’s the only one with a head on her shoulders, or the only one who is outspoken, but she’s certainly one of a few.

Food for Thought (I know it’s long .. but it’s all needed):

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Video Thread for 7/26/21

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 262021
 

Glenn Kirschner – With Tom Barrack Indictment (& Weisselberg Indictment & Giuliani Search Warrant) Justice Is Trending (Kind of a recap, which is OK)

Meidas Touch – Tucker Carlson WRECKED by Montana Man: “The worst human being known to mankind!” [With Captions]

The Damage Report – Company Sells Shooting Targets Of AOC & Greta Thunberg

CNN – Jim Acosta: Fox News viewers may have a case of whiplash

The Happiest, Cuddliest Duck Ever Is Obsessed With A Giant Dog

Beau – Let’s talk about Huckabee Sanders and giving up on…

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Open Thread for July 26, 2021

 Posted by at 6:47 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 262021
 

Yesterday was Sunday … which usually means a slow newsday – and this was no exception. So I don’t have a lot. But there’s always something.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Medium – Ken Starr, Brett Kavanaugh, Jeffrey Epstein and Me
Quote – It was a an interview I watched in 2020 with one of Baylor’s aggrieved accusers that helped me understand how I could have been blind for so long to the pattern of misogyny coursing through Starr’s career. Describing a meeting with Starr about her ordeal, she said that he shed a tear along with her, made her feel heard, but did nothing to help get justice for her or the many other female students who came forward with allegations. Unless you count what he said in one interview, “We grieve for what happened. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t say it’s a new day. That’s the biblical perspective that we try to live up to here at Baylor University.” Shamelessly and effectively, he shoved rape allegations under the carpet in the name of Christianity.
Click through for complete story (you get 2 articles free per month, so maybe “print” if you want to be able to reference it.) I always used to think a person’s sex life did not affct his abiity to govern – and I still think so provided misogyny is not a part of it.

The Guardian – Tennessee man died from heart attack after ‘Swatting’ over Twitter handle
Quote – “Emergency responders were dispatched, and when they arrived at Herring’s home, guns drawn, they called for Herring to walk toward them, keeping his hands visible. As he did so, Herring, 60, appeared to lose his balance and fell to the ground, unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital; cause of death was determined to be a heart attack.”
Click through for details. We’re familiar with “Sex sells,” and “If it bleeds it leads.” Maybe weneed a new saying regarding the amount of media attention triggered by pur craziness.

Democratic Underground – “And there, people, is the story of why I hate people. And why I love people….”
Quote – “I guess I look nice. Approachable. Like I wouldn’t rip your head off. I am nice, most of the time. But not always. And I lost my temper.”
Click through. It’s not terribly long. And I figured we needed a feel-good story after those horror stories above.

Food for Thought:

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Open Thread for July 21, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 212021
 

Those of us who remember polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and all that went with them, may sometimes have trouble getting through to (and in the process become frustrated by) nnti-vaxxers, who don’t remember that. Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other masterpieces) lost a daughter to measles – to measles encephalitis, to be precise. He wrpte about the experience years after, and someone at Democratic Underground found the piece and shared the story. Of course it’s a huge hanky alert. But if you can think of anyone who might be helped by hearing or reading it … you’ll find it at the link. Dahl was ot a perfect human being (for one thing, he was known to be anti-Semitic.) But no one deserves that.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Acosta Warns Of A Five Alarm Fire – Coups, Hitler, Voter Suppression
Quote – What will you do if a second insurrection happens? What if they are successful in taking over the government? We are standing there, rule book in hand, screaming at the other side to FOLLOW THE RULES, while they shoot us with mace and bear spray, fire assault rifles at us, cover their faces with war paint, and scream “MAGA MAGA MAGA!”
Click through for story and video. Of course he’s right. I hope people who need to listen do listen. And that they don’t disregard him because he doesn’t yell or scream.

APNews – New chief selected for Capitol Police after 1/6 insurrection
Quote – The decision comes as the Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies are struggling to determine the best way to secure the Capitol and what direction to take the 2,300-person force that guards the building and the lawmakers inside it and functions as mashup of a national security agency and local police department…. The Capitol Police Board, which includes the House and Senate sergeant at arms and the Architect of the Capitol, is charged with oversight of the police force and led the search.
Click through. The 1/7 interim appointment was not intended to be permanent.

The Hill – Trump ally and ex-campaign adviser Thomas Barrack charged with secretly lobbying for UAE
Quote – “The conduct alleged in the indictment is nothing short of a betrayal of those officials in the United States, including the former President,” Lesko said. “Through this indictment, we are putting everyone — regardless of their wealth or perceived political power — on notice that the Department of Justice will enforce the prohibition of this sort of undisclosed foreign influence.”
Click through for more.  Also, Glenn Kirschner discusses this in today’s video thread. Incidentally, there’s been a story floating that the Biden DOJ declined to prosecute Wilbur Ross for lying to Congress. That’s false. It was the Trump** DOJ which did that.

Food for Thought:

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Video Thread for 7/12/21

 Posted by at 11:59 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 122021
 

Glenn Kirschner – AG Garland Said This Country Protected HIS Family. It’s now Time For Him To Protect OUR Families

Meidas Touch – Former SDNY Asst. US Attorney: The Trumps Will Turn on Weisselberg—and EACH OTHER

The Lincoln Project

Don Winslow – Don Winslow Films – #LaurenBoebertIsAMonster

CNN – [John Dean] says he’d pay to handle Trump’s deposition. I have a very sift spot forpeople who have made mistakes, including extremely stupid ones, and LEARNED from than and turned around. John is one. Another is Monica Lewinsky.

Liberal Redneck – I’m from TN and LAWD I CAN’T STAND MARSHA BLACKBURN. (Taylor Swift is acually a liberal.)

Beau – Boebert is no Einstein, but I have administered GED testing and read the tests and getting it is NOT easy. And, yes, apparently it took her several tries to get it. However, it still is not that easy (and it certainly is not the same questions every time one tries) and Istill assert that GEDs are respectable and arw to be respected by Democrats, among others. And certaily by the military. I don’t know whether the military is accepting GED students now, but at the time I was working with it they weren’t. I have advised GED grads nterested in the military to go to the nearest and cheapest community college and take and pass one course – any course. Then, their educational level becomes “some college” and bypasses the GED question altogether. And I still consider that good advice. (But I hope Boebert doesn’t take it.)

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