Glenn Kirschner – Trump supporter arrested for threatening judge presiding over Trump’s DC trial for elections crimes
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – August 15, 2023
The Ring of Fire – Trump’s Rivals Refuse To Call Out His Biggest Weakness
Trae Crowder for ATTN – The South is So Gay
Kitten Shows Up On Couple’s Boat And Stays Forever
Beau – Let’s talk about Hawaii and theories….
Yesterday, Talking Points Memo’s Morning Memo, naturally, was all about Monday’s late night Georgia indictment. It was handed down at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and released to the reporters “a few minutes before 11:00.” The Axios alert reached me at 9:17 p.m. Mountain, which was about 20 minutes after its public release. Not bad – but bare bones. But the Talking Points Memo morning memo is filled with information, pictures, quotes, tweets, plans, and names. It’s also very compact – it reads fast. Well worth clicking “Continue reading” for.
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The Daily Beast – Trump’s Bid to Sink the Manhattan DA’s Case Has Already Made It Stronger
Quote – For months, critics of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.’s case have called it weak because the case criminally charges Trump with faking business records—a lowly misdemeanor only bumped up to a felony on a technicality. Except that Trump’s ploy to move the case to federal court gave a judge there the opportunity to take the first swing. And he used that opportunity to make it clear that the case against Trump is far more serious than it otherwise seems—and that the burden for proving that Trump’s alleged falsification of business records are felonies is low.
Click through for story. It appears Karma is on the case.
NBC News – Parents can’t challenge Maryland school’s gender identity policy, court rules
Quote – The policy, which the Montgomery County Board of Education adopted for the 2020-2021 school year, permitted schools to develop gender support plans for students to ensure they “feel comfortable expressing their gender identity.” The policy directs school personnel to help transgender and gender-nonconforming students create a plan that addresses their preferred pronouns, names and bathrooms, and bars staff from informing parents of those plans without a student’s consent. Lawsuits are pending challenging similar policies in other states. The Maryland case was the first to be argued before a federal appeals court.
Click through for details… This is a good thing because the school’s policy is the right one and the parents in the case are Christofascist. I can see how the headline could be read the other way, though. And I could wish it had been decided on privacy rights rather than on standing to sue.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Trump indicted again; CNN defamation suit dismissed; Georgia preparing to indict. SO MUCH LOSING!
The Lincoln Project – DeSantis Trade School
This ad, made by Eric Swalwell, is only on TwitterX by itself. I have cut evrything before it starts, but I don’t have edit privileges to cut after it stops.
MSNBC – Swalwell – “We’re going to call you a creep.”
Farron Balanced – Biblical Plagues Descend Upon Republican Controlled Florida
When Everyone Else Gave Up On This Pittie, This Guy Didn’t (“This Guy” – Luke – may be the real Wizard of Oz.)
Beau – Let’s talk about Alabama and SCOTUS….
Yesterday, I won’t say I overslept, becuse that implies I was planning to get up at a certain time, and I wasn’t. But I did sleep for a long time. I’m sure I needed it. But I did wake up in time to get ready for, and take in, a grocery order (which was rather a disappointment. But I did get everything I was actually out of, so at least I have time on my side.) Incidentally, I was also very late getting the Video Thread up – I had scheduled it for a day late and had to correct that, and I was late in discovering it. Sorry about that.
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The Daily Beast – Inside the DeSantis Doc That Showtime Didn’t Want You to See
Quote – The Daily Beast has obtained a transcript of that unaired documentary, “The Guantanamo Candidate,” which was anchored by Seb Walker, a longtime correspondent for the Emmy-winning newsmagazine. Among a number of insights into DeSantis’ past, the transcript features interviews with former prisoners and a former Naval staff sergeant-turned-Gitmo whistleblower who overlapped with DeSantis. All three allege inhumane treatment at the hands of the U.S. government, with the detainees directly implicating DeSantis—at the time, a junior-level military legal adviser—in approving and overseeing brutal measures…. Showtime’s decision to muzzle a report critical of a high-profile conservative politician also epitomizes the complaints that conservative politicians—including DeSantis—have habitually brayed in their crusade against so-called liberal “cancel culture.”
Click through for story. I can’t say I’m surprised that DeSaster didn’t want this to come out. Showtime – well, their defense woulf likely be the truth of the shade, but I can just see wanting to avoid an expensive lawsuit (especially since Republican candidates at all levels seem to be mostly deadbeats.) Of course VICE is not happy … but VICE is also apparently bankrupt.
Democratic Underground (quoted in full from Facebook, with permission) – Dear Jason Aldean – Father Nathan Monk
Quote – When I moved back to Tennessee a couple of years ago, I decided to stop by the corner store near my house to introduce myself to the neighbors. The lady working there was very friendly, and a guy was sitting in a rocking chair, going back and forth. It was country as hell, and I loved it. She starts to whisper in the way that Southern folks do when they are about to spill the sweet tea. She looks back and forth and then says, “Now, there is someone who lives on your street I wanna talk to you about. Now, sometimes, they dress as a man, but other times they dress as a woman…” I start to get nervous about what she will say next, but I bite my tongue and wait. “…well, you just better be okay with that. Because they are a nice fella and a sweet lady.”
Click through for full article, which is heartwarming. I’m not sure it’s even necessary to know what Nathan is responding to, but Jason Aldean (I don’t know for sure, but that’s probably him in the green T-shirt in the FFT) released a country song “Don’t Try That in a Small Town” (his “small town” is purely a majority white small town in the 1930’s or so) and it’s getting a lot of blowback. This is just one – but I think an outstanding one.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Wozzeck,” by Alban Berg. Its plot is so bleak that it makes the operas in the verismo school look like RomComs. Wozzeck is in the army, and a Captain and an army doctor are conducting psychological experiments on him without informed consent (for small sums of money), and laughing at him behind his back. He gets no respect from any other men either, and his partner, Marie (with whom he has a son almost old enough to start talking), is flirting (and eventually cheating) with a drum major who offers Marie earrings that Wozzeck could never afford. By the end of the opera the Captain and doctor have him so messed up that he brutally kills Marie, and then himself, and the opera ends with their son rocking back and forth on a rocking horse while the other children taunt him for being an orphan. No, it isn’t pretty – but if art were restricted to pretty, no one would ever learn anything from it. (In fact, it’s quite a stroke of Karma that this is being aired now, at a time when multiple strikes are going on. It definitely calls attention to the strikers’ plights.) The music is also not pretty – Berg, with Schönberg and Webern, comprised the second Viennese school, which developed and worked in the twelve-tone method of composition (in which there’s no such thing as a key – no major, no minor, no nothing – just notes and chords made up artificially. There is a system to it, nd it’s actually not hard to learn how to compose in it,but for the listener, it’s not that easy to make sense of it.). But it certainly makes a statement, and though the Captain and he doctor aren’t entrepreneurs, I’d still say that statement could well be about capitalism as well as the obvious class structure. The performance was recorded live at the Royal Opera House in London by the Royal Opera Company. I didn’t recognize any of the performers’ names, but I’ve gone through periods before when there were a lot of names around I didn’t recognize and few that I did. I think it means there’s a generation of singers heading for retirement and another just coming up and not yet widely known. Between that and the openness to new operas and the Met audience getting younger (average age ten years ago was in the sixties but is now in the fifties), I think the future of opera will turn out to be exciting. Also, today is Virgil’s birthday. He is 80. I’ll celebrate wih him next week which is between his birthday and mine.
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Wonkette – Feds ‘Assess’ Alleged Texas Orders To Push Children, Nursing Babies Back Into Rio Grande. Assess Faster, Guys.
Quote – Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said in a press call with other Texas Democrats that Gov. Greg Abbott “placed death traps in the Rio Grande and has now issued barbaric orders to state troopers that endanger people’s lives.” The Dallas Morning News notes that podcaster and occasional Republican Senator Ted Cruz has not returned calls for comment, while fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn explained last week, before the allegations surfaced, that Abbott had no choice but to treat the border like a war zone because Joe Biden Open Borders Irresponsible. The story broke after a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper who was working as a medic reported his concerns to supervisors about a number of things he witnessed, including a June 25 incident in which he and other troopers came across a group of 120 migrants, including children and women with nursing babies.
Click through for story (and it looks like the popup with “Continue reading” is in place.) Speaking of bleak – I don’t know which scares me most – that a governor would issue these orders, that the state troopers have leadership that would enforce them, or that the state troopers have minions who would follow and obey them. Naziism much?
The 19th – In some states, gender dysphoria is a protected disability — and momentum could be growing
Quote – The Supreme Court’s denial to take up Williams’ case could mean that it agrees with the 4th Circuit, or simply that it is not interested in taking up the issue of whether trans people are covered under disability law right now, according to legal experts. Notably, there has not been a split in opinion on this issue among two or more circuit courts, which is a typical incentive for the Supreme Court to get involved. In the last few years, the high court has declined to take up challenges to several cases that reinforced protections for transgender people facing discrimination. This trend followed the 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the Supreme Court found gender identity to be a protected class of sex. This is possibly because they are abiding by Bostock’s findings that trans people are protected by existing federal laws, said Ezra Ishmael Young, a civil rights lawyer and scholar.
Click through for details. There is always a gap between legislated law and case law, though it’s not always this obvious – nor does it always affect people so deeply as it does here. And this is why the Supreme Court’s makeup is so critical to a free society.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, for about a second, I considered referring to Saturday morning cartoons in connecion with having selected two short takes involving children. But there is nothing cartoonish about either of these children, nor about the situations in which they have found themselves. And I really hold MAGA – which means, ultimately Trump** – responsible for both. Not that the NRA and poisonous homophobes didn’t help … but both have become attached to and more or less claimed MAGA as their own. I’m not trying to be depressing. It just kind of turned out that way. Also, yesterday, the House passed a defense bill with restrictions on medical care, and PCCC emailed a video of Katie Porter using her whiteboard as a JeoparDOD board (I bumped another satire to get it into today’s video thread, so any Darth Vader “fan”s will have to wait a day.)
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Crooks & Liars – Armed 8-Year-Old Arrested After Carjacking And Police Chase
Quote – Maj. Saba Coleman said officers responded to a robbery call in the 000 block of West Fairview Avenue shortly after 11 a.m. Officers soon learned a child had carjacked someone at gunpoint. She said officers tried to pull the stolen vehicle over shortly after in the area of East South Boulevard and Norman Bridge Road, but the driver refused to stop and a pursuit ensued. Coleman said the fleeing vehicle crashed into another vehicle in the area of West Fairview Avenue and South Court Street. No injuries were reported.
Click through for story. Frankly – it’s a miracle he’s alive.
The Daily Beast – A Mom Who Is Actually for Liberty Shames Tennessee School Board
Quote – Those are some of the things that Tennessee mom Lindsey Patrick-Wright says were shouted at her sixth grader, Pippy, at West Wilson Middle School in Mount Juliet this year. Patrick-Wright recited the list during the public comment session at the Wilson County School Board meeting over the weekend. She later told the Daily Beast she left out one comment. “My mom says it’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!” Patrick-Wright says Pippy replied, “Well, I’m a lesbian, so I don’t want Adam or Steve.”
Click through for details. In all honesty. the headline isn’t quite accurate because these people have no shame. But she certainly would have shamed them if they had any. I left out the actual list because of its ugliness. But it’s there at the site.
Food For Thought
Glenn didn’t post Thursday (probably did Friday but I had already put in this non-Trump**-related scary vid.)
Talking Feds – MAGA Judge Issues SHOCKING Political Injunction
MSNBC – Trump nightmare deepens as Jack Smith hits AZ 2020 plot with subpoenas
Robert Reich – Does the Constitution Ban Trump from Running Again?
Parody Project – Republicans with No Plan (tune from “The Mikado”)
Stray Cat Paws At The Window Every Day Until Lady Adopts Him
Beau – Let’s talk about 4th of July trivia….
Yesterday, I came across a post about “Moms for Liberty,” specifically about what they should really be called, since they are anything but “for Liberty.” Nameless found the name “Klanned Kaernhood,” which is one of the terms in this post – but there are several more. Many more – this post only lists the “Top Ten.” (I kind of like “Crackpots with Crockpots” myself, but they are all clever.) Also, the shoulder continued to feel better
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The 19th Explains: Why child marriage is still legal in 80% of U.S. states
Quote – “For some reason, most Americans do not realize that these abuses are happening,” [Fraidy] Reiss [the founder of Unchained at Last] said. “Most Americans agree that forced marriage and child marriage are terrible and heartbreaking. They imagine this happening on the other side of the world, and I wish there was something we could do to show them it’s happening here, too, largely because we have outdated, archaic and dangerous laws that need to be updated.” Nearly 300,000 minors — the vast majority of them girls — were legally married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, according to a 2021 study. Child marriage is defined as any marriage where at least one of the parties is under the age of 18. It was legal in all 50 states until 2018. Ten states have since passed bans to end the practice.
Click through for details. She’s right – most people don’t know. 300,000 may be a huge number, but compared to 300 milliom, it’s a tenth of a percent, and what’s more, spread out over 18 years, the chances of any given person being aware of one incident are not high. But that doesn’t make it unimportant. It shouldn’t happen to anyone.
Democratic Underground – Today in Gay History: Thank a gay man for your freedom!
Quote – Washington knew of a great general, the Baron von Steuben. Europe knew about this guy too: he’d been run out of every decent country on the Continent for being very gay, and he was about to be executed for it. The colonists cut a deal with them: let him go, give him to us and you’ll never see him again. They were okay with that. Von Steuben came to the United States and freaked out about how bad Washington’s army was. They were even doing stupid shit like putting latrines next to the mess hall. Von Steuben wrote “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States,” which became known as the Blue Book and was used until 1812. He organized a company of 100 men to serve as trainers for the rest of the Army. And he fixed the latrine situation right away. Under his guidance the Army turned itself around.
Click through for the history. Obviously this essay is 7 years old plus a few days late, but
I feel it should be better known.
Food For Thought
