Open Thread December 27, 2022

 Posted by at 6:55 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 272022
 

Yesterday, I got a “best-of-the-year” email from The Conversation (there are going to be a lot of those from every publication – articles as well as emails) and skimmed it. They asked all the editors what their favority article under their purview was. The answers were not that surprising, but what did catch my eye was that, among their politics editors, they now have a Democracy Editor, new this year. Now that scared me. If democracy is in such peril that they need a specialist just to watch it – cleary, we are not out of the woods. There is a new article on new legislation, which I’ll make a short take for tomorrow.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Happy Holidays! Welcome To Our 2022 Crookie Awards!
Quote – It’s been a long and sometimes frustrating year, but still one of the better ones we’ve had. Thanks to vaccines, we were able to get out and do things even if we had to wear a mask, the January 6 hearings came off monumentally well, and heroes and villains were everywhere. We’ve put together our own list of naughty and nice people this year, along with some overall failures and successes worthy of recognition. All of our staff has been busy at work in the Crooks and Liars workshop writing posts to honor and dishonor this year’s awardees.
Click through – The point of the “Crookies” is to call out crooks and liars (says Captain Obvious), but there are some good person and hero awards too.

CPR News – Club Q [couldn’t] have its annual Christmas dinner tradition this year, so a Colorado Springs church [stepped] up to host it
Quote – Every year, for Thanksgiving and Christmas, Club Q was the home of a special tradition. A community tradition that brought together a lot of different kinds of folks to a place that meant so much to them. They sat and laughed — and they shared a meal…. The [Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church] congregation stepped in with an initial plan to host a potluck dinner on Christmas Day — as a stand-in for the Club Q traditional dinner.
Click through for story … which actually gets bigger and better.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread December 8, 2022

 Posted by at 6:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 082022
 

Yesterday, after Senator Warnock’s victory, I was at least able to breathe again. Sadly, that was a real nail biter. But it ended well. So I decided it was time to move on to the Supreme Court. Both of today’s short takes are – not eacttly hopeful. But we need to know about them. If you need some comic relief, you can check out this BuzzFeed article on misconceptions (no pun intended) that men have about women’s anatomy and bodily functions. They reach never-before-published levels of absurdity.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – Con Law: How a Fake Document Could Help the Supreme Court Diminish Our Democracy
Quote – So this August, historians of the Constitution were alarmed to see Pinckney’s fraud credulously cited in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper, a high-stakes case that will be heard on Wednesday and whose outcome could usher in new state-level voter suppression and gerrymandering schemes. If the decision rests on Pickney’s alleged plan or similar shaky foundations, it may also prove to be the most dramatic example of a troubling new trend at the court: the flaunting [sic] of inconvenient facts and the adoption of alternative ones in their place.
Click through for article. Of course the author means “flouting” – flaunting is something quite different – almost the opposite actually. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a horrible danger. It is impossible to trust Thmas, Alito, and the MAGA three not to fall for it. I would love to be proved wrong.

Colorado Public Radio News – Supreme Court seems poised to side with Colorado web designer in 303 Creative case
Quote – The case, 303 Creative v. Elenis, pits a Colorado website designer named Lorie Smith against state officials trying to enforce Colorado’s Anti Discrimination Act. Smith wants to start creating custom wedding websites. Specifically, she wants to post a message on her company’s site that she would not create websites for same-sex marriage “or any other marriage that is not between one man and one woman,” according to a brief in the case. But state officials would consider that discriminatory behavior based on the state’s laws, so Smith sued the state.
Click through for details. If I tried to express my deepest opinion on this, I would become incoherent, so I’ll fall back on my favorite bumper sticker: “Jesus called. He wants his church back.”

Food For Thought

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Open Thread December 7, 2022

 Posted by at 7:17 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 072022
 

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Yesterday, of course, was the runoff election in Georgia. I followed the New Yorker’s live election results for a while … but every time I looked, Warnock’s lead, though still commanding, was a little smaller. In fact, at 88% counted, it was donw to less than a point. But DeKalb County, apparently the last to come in, went blue enough to confirm Warnock’s win. I wish the margin had been wider … but I’ll take it.
In other news, a report from Colorado Public Radio says the Q-Club shootr was arraigned and charhed with 305 counts, which included muder and hate crimes. That’s a lot of counts. And, in New York, the Trump** Organization was found guilty on all charges. Oral arguments in Moore v. Harper begin today.  And – do we have any Neil DIamnd fans here?

Cartoon (You were expecting maybe Pearl Harbor?)

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Why SCOTUS Could Be About to Unleash Frankenstein’s Monster
Quote – Proponents of the “ISLT”–Independent State Legislature Theory–believe that the U.S. Constitution bestows unreviewable power upon state legislatures to determine how congressional elections–and by extension Presidential elections–are conducted. The case is so controversial that more than 70 amicus briefs–“friends of the court”–have been submitted, including everyone from former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the ACLU, with 48 of them being opposed to the legitimacy of the ISLT.
Click through for pretty much all we know right now. This is no ordinary case. And this is no ordinary court. And the decision is going to be a long time coming – although probably not quite as long as it’s going to seem.

Colorado Public Radio – Colorado Springs LGBTQ chorus Out Loud unifies community with song
Quote – That mixture of pride and rage, laughter and tears, is what Out Loud aims for in their upcoming holiday concerts…. The small audience sensed that magic at rehearsal as the chorus progressed through “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” a carol based on a Civil War-era poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about his wounded son. Their despair lifted as the music pulled toward resolution: “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail … the right prevail with peace on earth.”
Click through for full article, which covers far more than jist one concert. This is a wonderful group. I used to go to their concerts and unjoy them immensely – though of course I haven’t been out to any concerts since the pandemic started, and won’t be going now. I was introduced to the group by a co-worker who was a member

Food For Thought

Added late by request:

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Video Thread 9/19/22

 Posted by at 11:44 am  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 192022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Cannon, classified document denier; Governors Abbott & DeSantis & kidnapping by inveiglement

Meidas Touch – MAGA Republicans’ Trafficking Stunt BACKFIRES when Residents Welcome Migrants with Open Arms

The Lincoln Project – Big Problems (This one ends rather oddly – long black screen with music. Not sure what the point is. It’s plenty scary without that.)

MSNBC – Massachusetts AG Candidate Blasts Gov. DeSantis’s ‘Political Stunt’

Liberal Redneck – Immigrant Shipments

Beau – Let’s talk about the GOP needing more time for marriage equality….

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Video Thread 8/27/22

 Posted by at 12:02 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 272022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump files nonsensical brief attacking DOJ/Mar-a-Lago search warrant; Judge tells him to try again

Meidas Touch – WTF: Texas Paul REACTS to Republican Candidate who supports STONING LGBTQ people

Lincoln Project – Poser

Ring of Fire – Trump Has Epic Meltdown As Scandals Get Worse

Armageddon Update – The Troops

Beau – Let’s talk about talking points that are destroying families….

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Video Thread 7/29/22

 Posted by at 11:39 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 292022
 

Glenn Kirschner – In interview, AG Garland reaffirms DOJ will charge EVERYONE for their crimes, regardless of status

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Marjorie Taylor Greene Blaming Jan 6 on Nancy Pelosi

The Lincoln Project – The Many Sounds of Junior

Thom Hartmann – The Billionaires Buying The Midterm Elections

Farron Balanced – Trump Allies Have Terrifying Plan To Reshape America If He Becomes President Again

Beau – Let’s talk about the Constitution, marriage, and a talking point….

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Video Thread 7/23/22

 Posted by at 11:58 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 232022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Steve Bannon loves to run his mouth; tomorrow [Thursday] is his big day as he gets to testify. Will he?

Meidas Touch – What Maddow got WRONG about the ‘Bombshell’ DOJ memo

The Lincoln Project – Tucker Carlson’s Unofficial Presidential Speech (Barf Bag Alert)

Farron Balanced – Legal Scholar Says Dems Should Sue To Prevent Trump From Holding Office Ever Again

MSNBC – Senators Reach Agreement On Bills To Stop Candidates From Stealing Elections

Beau – Let’s talk about Ted Cruz and marriage…

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Open Thread July 13, 2022

 Posted by at 6:48 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 132022
 

Yesterday, I of course watched the hearing. It doesn’t appear there will be another this week, but rather probably next week. The last two witnesses today were, I thought, impressive, although who knows what it takes to impress MAGAts. It’s not exactly the Committee’s mission to address political violence in general (as opposed to political violence in the service of Trump**) in the hearings, but I certainly hope it will be addressed as they draft legislation. Political violence at low levels (i.e., without a dominant leader common to the groups involved) can lead to fascismut as surely as a narcissistic ambitious dictator can. Besides the eharing, I didn’t do much else. I did a load of laundry comprising a few sweaters which are machine wash/dry flat and that’s about it.

Cartoon –  This reminds me of an anecdote about a sweet elderly lady who had had massive surgeries bu never lost hersense of humor. She called one of her scars “Market Street.”

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – July 10, 2022
Quote – Democratic president Joe Biden appears to be centering his presidency around the idea of rebuilding the middle class through government investment in ordinary Americans. This is a major shift—a sea change—from the past 40 years of Republican policy saying that the economy would prosper if only the government slashed taxes and regulation, leaving more money and power in the hands of business leaders, those “makers” who would invest in new industries and provide more jobs. Watching the effect of his policies is a window into what works and what doesn’t.
Click through for more, and why ir matters politically.

The 19th – What will happen if Obergefell is overturned? Queer legal experts are scrambling
Quote – A concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that ultimately overturned Roe indicates he wants to reexamine whether other rights based on substantive due process have been interpreted correctly. “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” Thomas wrote. Other opinions written by conservative justices show division over how the court should handle similar civil rights issues in the future.
Click through for more legal thinking. Don’t forget Pastor Niemoller’s famous poem – no one is safe.

Food For Thought

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