Glenn Kirschner – Supreme Court revokes women’s constitutional rights. Congress MUST open impeachment hearings – NOW (the sound is odd, but there is CC)
Meidas Touch – Adam Kinzinger Stuns with Speech of the Year during Jan 6 Hearings
The Lincoln Project – Lady Ruby
MSNBC – Lawrence: Samuel Alito’s Lies Did Not Stop In His Confirmation Hearing
VoteVets – Pride
Beau – Let’s talk about what happens if Trump is acquitted….
Yesterday, I learned I will have to see Virgil tomorrow instead of Sunday. Actually, I learned Monday that Sunday was out, but it took some back-and-forth to confirm tomorrow. I shouldn’t be surprised – Sunday is both Father’s Day and Juneteenth At least that fact gives me hope that the whole summer won’t be like this. Anyway, was scrambling yesterday and will be for the next couple of days. The Wednesday hearing will now be Thursday which will help a little.
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Letters from an American – June 13, 2022
Quote – Once again, as it did last Thursday, the committee relied entirely on senior Republican officials and on members of Trump’s own inner circle to tell the story of how Trump tried to overthrow our government. This undercuts accusations that the committee is engaging in a “partisan witch hunt.” Notably, the committee itself is measured, polite, and serious, demonstrating to viewers what hearings used to be before they became ways to produce sound bites for right-wing media.
Click through for full letter. I’ve said I don’t want to turn into a J6 blog, and I don’t, but I couldn’t resist that quotation.
The 19th – These companies publicly oppose anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Some also fund lawmakers who sponsor them.
Quote – Lawmakers in six states who wrote, signed or sponsored anti-LGBTQ+ legislation received tens of thousands and, in a few cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars, from major U.S. corporations or their employee-led PACs and affiliates, in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, Data for Progress found. Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, Idaho and Texas have been prolific in their efforts to bar trans students from school sports, restrict gender-affirming care for minors and ban LGBTQ+ discussions from classrooms over the past few years.
Click through for details. This is, of course, standard, and not limited to LGBTQIA+. Probably the most egregious are companies who pretend to be green but donate to candidates in the pockets of fossil fuels. But they also work at duping POC and women of any color, as well as the disabled.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – With J6 committee public hearings set to begin, we ask: why has DOJ apparently chosen to go second?
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Republicans Canceling Pizza Hut for Celebrating Pride Month (different tone from usual)
The Lincoln Project – Retire
The Republican Accountability Project – Time for the truth about January 6
MSNBC – The Republican Plot To Overturn The Next Election
Ojeda Live – I’m Back! (He was in Europe)
Beau – Let’s talk about what it means to be a conservative….
Glenn Kirschner – Georgia DA Willis issues 50 grand jury subpoenas; is “weighing racketeering charges” against Trump
Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Jim Acosta EVISCERATES NRA Board Member and leaves him SPEECHLESS!
Rebel HQ – Trevor Reed’s Father SHREDS Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Actions
Truth Matters – Slaughter of the Innocent (featuring Senator Chris Murphy DCT) hanky alert
Robert Reich – Why Your Barbecue Is More Expensive This Year
Puppet Regime – Zuckerberg Practices Free Speech On Elon Musk
Beau – Let’s talk about metaphors, hair, and Florida….
Yesterday, I did more work on a physical conditin I haven’t yet mentioned – a wart. I’m sure part of my problem is that it must have taken me the=ree yers to igure out it was a wart. Hey, it’s right a at the end of my elbow. Have you ever tried to look at the end of your elbow? Even without shoulder issues, I doubt I could have seen it without a mirror, preferably a magnifying miirror. All that time I thought it was a callus.Anyway, it is somewhere in diameter between a penny and a dime. the normal wart remover applications which come with pre-medicated strips that look like bandaiuds have a medicated area the diameter of an aspirin. I’m using those – trying to move them around to cover different parts – but I’ alternating that with other things. Today I received my order of gel and am using that. It has been impossible to keep the other strips in place for 48 hours (the recommended time frame – I doubt the tiny patches which come with the gel will last any longer, if so long. They’s be foe for an aspirin sized wart. I think they might cover mine if I could ut them on with a mocrometer. Maybe duct tape might help – allthough it didn’t much with the original strips. I suppose I should get some cheese to go with this whine.
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Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – Far right trains its eliminationist sights on LGBTQ community with deluge of threatening rhetoric
Quote – The mood at far-right chat rooms has grown more openly violent as well, particularly as white nationalists have embraced the Buffalo shooter and his eliminationist “replacement theory” motives—and the threatening rhetoric around Pride events such as the one planned in northern Idaho in June has sharpened. As this recent study warned, the previous year’s relative calm in terms of far-right violence is manifestly over.
Click through – though it’s hard to stomach, if we ignore it, it will only get louder.
Crooks and Liars – Audience Mocks Boebert Relentlessly At Primary Debate
Quote – Coram is challenging Boebert for her Congressional seat, positioning himself as a rational Republican (I know, I know, but his site and the media he shares really does suggest he’d be more of a friend to Democrats than Joe Manchin is,) and Bobo actually shows up to debate him. Speaking a mile-a-minute (from notes, which was prohibited by the debate rules,) she sounds like an unprepared 6th-grader making up lies about a girl she’s trying to beat out for a date with the dodgeball king
Click through for one-liners (and video.) There used to be some rational Republicans in Colorado, so maybe there still is one. I don’t know how heavily the new district is rated Republican, but I certainly would hope Coram wins the primary, and maybe some of those atendees are Democrats feeling the same way. And if so, I would certainly forgive them for ratf***ing the primary.
The Mountain Ear – Carousel of Happiness: A history of making smiles
Quote – After rescuing the empty frame of the Looff carousel, [Scott] Harrison immediately began hand-carving wooden animals to help bring the carousel back to life. Harrison still carves to this day, and has created more than 50 unique animals for his vision, each with a story and a deeper meaning to their creator. Once the Carousel of Happiness (COH) was completely restored Harrison created a non-profit organization and, with help from the Nederland community, raised the $700,000 needed to build the carousel its permanent home on 20 Lakeview Drive.
Click through for a little joy in a sorrowful time. Harrison is a Vietnam veteran, so this story is not completely off topic. (Closeups of the animals can be found here.)
Food For Thought
Yesterday, I paid a couple of bills. I didn’t venture outside, though I suppose I might have, because besides the evacuations the day before, we also has spring winds (to blow them away) – but that’s a straight stick which points two ways, – the winds could aldo have brought the fires (and their smoke) closer. Not difficult to justify doing what I wanted to do anyway (grin.)
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truthout – DeSantis’s Congressional Maps Deemed “Unconstitutional” by Judge He Appointed
Quote – Smith will likely replace DeSantis’s gerrymandered maps with one of two that the Republican-controlled legislature had previously passed, which the governor had vetoed earlier this year. Though still advantageous to the GOP, those maps are seen as somewhat better (though by no means perfect), in terms of respecting Black voters’ voices, than the ones DeSantis demanded be passed after his veto.
Click through for article. Here’s my take on DeSantis.
Media Matters – Fox News melts down following revelation Karine Jean-Pierre called the network racist. She’s right.
Quote – It’s not just people on the left pointing out Fox’s racism. In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, The Daily Beast reported that it “spoke to more than a dozen Fox News insiders, who all suggested that behind the scenes there is a growing despair among employees about the network’s role in demonizing and spreading fear about Black Americans in particular.” One Fox staffer quoted in the piece described some of the network’s personalities as “a white supremacist cell,” adding, “This is rank racism excused by Murdoch.” Another described Fox programming as “white supremacist crap.”
Click through if you can stand to. Shall we expect Fox staff to treat Karine with even more disrespect than they did Jen? (OK, I grant I was shocked when Doocy said on camera that he would miss her because she’d always been a “good sport.”)
Robert Reich – Personal history: The Supreme Court I argued before fifty years ago
Quote – Douglas, Marshall, and Blackmun were the intellectual leaders of that Supreme Court. Their opinions gave the Court its moral heft. They drew not only from the Constitution as written but also from the nation as it had evolved. They understood the moral leadership America needed to protect the rights of the voiceless and the powerless. Today’s Supreme Court majority doesn’t have a clue about the Court’s moral authority, and couldn’t care less.
Click through for history, nostalgia, and moral clarity. Today’s FFT is a meme drawn from this article. Feel free to share it.
Food For Thought
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 16: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich testifies before the Joint Economic Committee January 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. Reich joined a panel testifying on the topic of “Income Inequality in the United States.Ó (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Yesterday, I received a grocery order which had NO SUBSTITUTION! Yay! My delivery window was 4-6 pm and by 4:30 I actually had it all put away. Amazing.
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HuffPost – Parents of Trans Kids Don’t Know Where Their Children Can Be Safe
Quote – Many families, including the Morrisons, would be forced to move away if Arizona were to pass a stricter trans youth medical care ban in the future. What makes that reality particularly devastating for their household is that they already had to relocate once to keep Skyler safe: They left Texas in 2017 after lawmakers attempted to force through a bill banning trans youth from using the school restroom that matches their lived gender. The Morrisons hoped Arizona would be a chance to start over.
Click through for the full story. Cuss if you feel like it – I did. (I personally don’t think I would have gone to arizona from Texas for this reason – New Mexico would have been a better bet. But that’s just me.)
Crooks and Liars – Blinken Torches Rand Paul’s Russian Talking Points
Quote – Sen Paul tried to blame the US and other NATO nations for agitating Vladimir Putin to attack Ukraine. Blinken said, “If you look at the countries Russia has attacked over the last years — these are countries not part of NATO. They do not attack NATO countries for probably good reason.” Paul replied, “You could also argue the countries they attacked were part of Russia. Were part of the Soviet Union.” This is Putin’s propaganda, which Sen. Paul gave credibility to.
Click through for full exchange (including video). I get very frustrated that so many people – people in general but also an astonishing number of people who ought to know better – keeptalking as if there is still such a thing as “the Societ Union.” There isn’t. There’s also a misconception that Rissua = Communism, It doesn’t. It is a capitalist oligarchy. It is also extremely authoritarion, as it was under communism (and under Communism in name only), but that’s a different matter. I also see peole using the term “Comrade” in Russian references, which bolsters the falsehoon. If we don’t know what we are up against, we can’t very well oppose it effectively.
Mother Jones – A Wave of Lawsuits Aims to Halt Louis DeJoy’s Gas-Guzzling Postal Fleet
Quote – Sixteen states and two environmental activist groups—Earthjustice and the National Resources Defense Council—are suing USPS to halt its purchase of a fleet of of gas-guzzling mail trucks. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has come under fire in recent months for his decision to move forward with a contract for 165,000 new postal trucks—90 percent of which would run on gas and earn 8.6 miles per gallon.
Click through fir list and details.. I have aleady ranted once today, so I stand mute on this one.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, the opera was “Ariadne auf Naxos,” which, in the announcements this week, was referred to as a combination of “high drama and hijinks.” It’s about two groups of actors who have been hired to provide after-dinner entertainment for a count’s (or duke’s, I forget which) party (so you can add high privilege to the mix.) In the first act (which Strauss called the “prologue”) we meet all the actors as they squabble about which group is to go first (and other things). Finally, they get orders that both are to perform simultaneously. Of course, there’s more squabbling; no one likes that, since one is an opera comoany with a grand opera, and the other is Commedia dell’Arte, including slapstick. It appears impossible. In the second act (which Strauss called the opera), they do the impossible. I wouldn’t describe how they manage it (even if I could) because that’s kind of the point. But for this performance, the Met made it even more complex by starting with the chorus singing the Ukrainian National Anthem.
As incongruous as it sounds, there was a time (around WWI) when our nantional anthem did open every opera performance, just as sports events still do. But that was long ago, and even those who survive to remember it have I suspect mostly forgotten it. So this gesture — well, I applaud it, but I admit it carries a lot of baggage. For as long as I can remember, the Met has worked hard to stay detached from world events. And there has been pressure on it to recognize some world events, but it hasn’t budged. Until now. I suppose, given that it has disinvited Anna Netrebko from next season, I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was.
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Mother Jones – I’m a Cop With a Trans Daughter. Lawmakers Want Me to Arrest the Doctors Who Saved Her Life.
Quote – I mean, if I think back to before the doctors, I’ve got pictures of her from the year before she came out, and you can see the look on her face. Like she’s not there. As her health care kicked in and she got more confident about who she was, she became more outgoing, making friends. She never used to talk to people hardly at all, unless she really, really knew them. Now you get her started and you can’t get it to stop. She started her own online group on Discord for kids like her, so they’d have some place to talk. She’s trying to write a book. Before she never wanted to be in crowds, and last night we went to a Billie Eilish concert together.
Click through for article. I’ve been saying that misogyny is more powerful even than racism. I don’t exactly think anti-LGBTQIA is part of misogyny (I don’t want to disregard or diminish the effect of any form of bigotry), but I do say they are related as part of opposition to anything other than straight male. And I believe that opposition does transcend racism even.
Democratic Underground (majdrfrtim) – I heard from one of my UKR paratrooper buddies Tuesday.
Quote – Anyway, for most of the rest of my times being deployed I sent him money every month to help him and his growing family so they could buy an apartment. Just after the invasion two weeks ago he sent me a photo of his military kit (rucksack, sleeping bag, bedroll, etc.) with the caption, “All your presents are at work again.” That took my breath away. Since then, I’ve been checking that platform several times daily looking for word from him, his wife, or any of the other guys I know. As the situation over there has worsened, I have engaged every resilience option at my disposal to just get through each day.
Click through for this very personal account. It’s easy to get caught up on the big picture of big events and thereby to miss how such events affect every person individually.
Women’s History – HuffPost – Congress Finally Renews The Violence Against Women Act
Quote – It’s been an embarrassingly bumpy road for VAWA reauthorization in Congress. The law’s authorization lapsed three years ago. Once upon a time, this was legislation that passed unanimously in both chambers, and it was uncontroversial to support programs credited with stopping violence against women and saving people’s lives.
Click through for details. We once again lost out to the NRA, and the renewal is only for five years. But it’s something. We still have a lot of work to do if we are going to be able to keep it – and the rest of our democracy.
Food For Thought:
