Glenn Kirschner – The Law’s Perception Problem; When Will Justice Come for Meadows, Giuliani, Clark, Trump & Others
Meidas Touch – Did Donald Trump LEAK Melania’s nude photos??!
Crooks and Liars – “The former Senator was not mincing words.”
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party
Really American – GOP Embraces “Fresh” Faces Of Hatred
Brent Terhune – Storming the Burger King Remember he’s a satirist)
Beau – Let’s talk about questions and the Potter case….
Yesterday, I got in touch with BlueHost (It requires both BlueHost and WordPress to run PoliticsPlus) The passwortd TC had given me had been reset, so I got directions on what to send to whom at BlueHost to get credentials of my own, amd sent it all off off. I may not need help from BLueHost to update the comment system, but eventuually I will need them, and I value their advice. So progress is being made (even if it looks a little like sausage is being made,) Thanks to everyone for your feedback. We will get where we are going – and we’re not suffering all that much in the interim, which is a great comfort. Oh, and I also took out trash and recyclables. What with the holiday I don’t even know for sure whether there will be pickup tomorrow, but I have no problem leaving the polycarts/ wheeliebins/whatever they are called out until the contents are collected.
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Short Takes
Law & Crime – Federal Jury Convicts Ghislaine Maxwell of Sex Trafficking and Enticing Minors for Jeffrey Epstein’s Abuse
Quote – After a whirlwind trial slated for six weeks wrapped up in half of that time, a federal jury on Wednesday found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking and conspiring to entice minors for years of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. Maxwell stood trial for six federal offenses for conduct spanning from 1994 to 2004, roughly breaking down into alleged violations of the Mann Act and a distinct federal anti-sex trafficking statute. She was convicted of five of them, adding up to the possibility of several decades imprisonment for Maxwell, who turned 60 years old on Christmas Day.
Click through for details. Is it just ne, or is it easier to get an convicion on a woman than it is on a man? (Not tht she isn’t guilty, but that there are so many men who are guilty and still at liberty.)
Reuters – Russia shuts Memorial Human Rights Centre in ‘one-two punch’
Quote – Russia’s Memorial Human Rights Centre was ordered to shut by a Moscow court on Wednesday, a day after its sister organisation – Russia’s oldest human rights group – was forced to close. The Human Rights Centre [kept] a running list of individuals it classifies as political prisoners, including Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The list includes Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims convicted of terrorism that Memorial says were victims of “unproven charges based on fabricated evidence because of their religious affiliation”.
Click through for the story. Autocrats are not even pretending any more.
AP News – Judge refuses to dismiss alleged Proud Boys leaders’ charges
Quote – “Defendants are not, as they argue, charged with anything like burning flags, wearing black armbands, or participating in mere sit-ins or protests,” Kelly wrote in his 43-page ruling. “Moreover, even if the charged conduct had some expressive aspect, it lost whatever First Amendment protection it may have had.”
Click through for more. I don’t know anything about Judge Kelly (like, for instance, who appointed him), but he appears to understand the First Amendment very well.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – House Select Committee Investigates 3-Hour Delay In Trump Calling Off the Attack on the US Capitol
Don Winslow – Don Winslow Films – #WhyTrumpAlwaysWalksFree
Meidas Touch – Scaramucci: I’m embarrassed for Kevin McCarthy and his family
MSNBC – We’re Prepared’: Biden Speaks With Governors About Covid Response Efforts
Really American – COVID Reveals Republicans Science Denialism
Tiny Abandoned Kitten Asks Woman For Help
Beau – Let’s talk about origin stories and you….
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!
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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:
Glenn Kirschner – As Trump Plans Speech for Jan. 6, Insurrection Defendants Claim they Acted at Trump’s Direction
Meidas Touch – Anthony Scaramucci mocks DeSantis for being scared of anti-vaxxers
Gabby Giffords at 2020 Democratic Naitional Convention
Twitter – Little girl with deaf parents signs for them during Christmas concert.
This might be exactly what I needed to see today. pic.twitter.com/ONXioxMCHe
— Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) December 25, 2021
Corey Ryan Forrester Campaign Ad
Rocky Nountain Mike Best of 2021
Beau (from 12/24) – Let’s talk about fun supply chain chaos on Christmas….
Yesterday, I took deep dives into all the comments plugins WordPress has to offer, and made a short list of five. I sent out an email on them, hoping someone will know more about one or more of them than I could find. If you didn’t get one, that means I don’t have your email address. that can be fixed. Also, I don’t usually post three short takes from the same source, but I couldn’t find any of them quickly elsewhere, and they are all noteworthy. Many news sources seem to be taking a day off, and I was tied up looking at plugins.
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Short Takes
Crooks and Liars – Alex Jones Is Done With ‘Completely Ignorant’ Donald Trump
Quote – Candace Owens is doing damage control after “so many donors and supporters” are upset over Trump’s vaccine comments. She says he is old, isn’t tech savvy, doesn’t keep up with or read obscure internet conspiracies, and only follows the main stream media so doesn’t have the facts.
Click through if you will. The headline makes this sound like good news. But it isn’t. It’s the worst possible news. They are now embedded so deep, they will take the BS over Trump** now. Any resonably competent leader who tells tham what they wany to hear can make them do whatever he (and, yes, it will be a “he”) wants. We are in more danger than ever.
Crooks and Liars – Did Madison Cawthorn Marry A Russian Honeypot?
Quote – Grant Stern on Twitter said, “Madison Cawthorn’s divorce just went from boring information to national security concern in about 77 seconds of interview time with the Daily Caller. “This does not sound a normal meet-cute story whatsoever. Very few of these stories involving Russia are.”
Click through for evidence. This would explain the divorce, too. I know it’s serious, but – lots of Congressfolk are russian assets. Only one married his handler. How dumb is that!
Crooks and Liars – Reporter Smacks Chuck Todd For Racist Framing Of CRT
Quote – “Well, I think you should think just a little bit about your framing,” Hannah-Jones replied. “You said ‘parents’ and then you said ‘parents of color.'” “White parents and parents of color,” Todd interrupted. “No. Fair point. As a matter of fact, white parents are representing fewer than half of all public school parents,” Hannah-Jones noted. “And yet, they have an outsized voice in this debate.”
Click through for a little context – not that it;s necessarily needed. And it did not come a millisecond too soon.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Holiday Justice Recap: Bannon, Meadows, Clark, Perry, Jordan & the Rest of Trump’s Corrupt Elves
Meidas Touch – Anthony Scaramucci TORCHES Steve Bannon & explains why he believes in God
The Lincoln Project – Legacy
VoteVets – Maj.Gen.(Ret)Paul Eaton & Brig.Gen.(Ret) Steven Anderson Discuss WaPo Op-Ed With Jim Sciutto On CNN
The Secret of Christmas (Written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen in about 1961, this recording from 2013)
It’s not the glow you feel, when snow appears
It’s not the Christmas card, you’ve sent for years
Not the joyful sound, when sleigh bells ring
Or the merry songs, children sing
The little gift you send, on Christmas day
Will not bring back the friend, you turned away
So may I suggest, the secret of Christmas
It’s not the things you do, at Christmas time
But the Christmas things you do all year through
Mrs. Betty Bowers – Just Because Jesus Forgot About A-B-0-R-T-I-0-N Doesn’t Give You the Right
Beau – Let’s talk about when you aren’t the target….
Yesterday, I discovered that our blog’s commenting system it being discontinued by WordPress. At the moment, it still works, except that every comments has to be approved by an administrator or editor. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. because something has also happened to the spam preventer, and some atrocious things are getting into the moderation queue,, and they need to be DISapproved by an editor or administrator. I spent hours searching through 51 pages of plugins (although I searched for “commonet systems,” most weren’t, which made it more tedious) without finding much. I want to find one that has all the features we are accustomed to and love, including nor requiring a login to comment, and that is being hard to find. I don’t want to jump in on anything we’ll hate, so I hope you’ll all bear with me.
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Short Takes
Mother Jones – Hero: Fernanda the Tortoise, Whose Species Everyone Thought Was Extinct
Quote: And, at about 100 years old—middle-aged in tortoise years—Fernanda could, in theory, produce offspring. All she needed was a mate. Suddenly, Fernanda went from assumed-to-be-dead to the world’s most eligible tortoise.
Click through fpr story. We can but hope.
NPR – Desmond Tutu’s laugh was contagious. His fight for freedom was deadly serious
Quote – Yet time and again, Tutu, dressed in his flowing clerical robe, would appear at a potentially explosive scene and invoke his gift of gab to defuse a crisis, often sending the crowd home with a smile on their faces. His impish grin, laughter and amusing stories were always employed in the service of nudging South Africans to retreat from the precipice of a racial confrontation.
Click through. What a devastating loss!
Democratic Underground – The Mousetrap
Quote – A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” The mouse wondered – he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
Click through for story – nothing to do with the Agatha Christie play but a parable about karma, and a caution.
Food For Thought (from a tweet sent by David Corn):
