Glenn Kirschner – Mike Pence CALLS OUT Donald Trump at Gridiron Dinner? Will Pence now testify about Trump’s crimes?
Thom Hartmann – Is This Healthcare or a Crime?
Ring of Fire – Biden Baits Republicans Into A Trap On Medicare Funding
Armageddon Update – DeSantis DeStruction
Stray Cat Waits For This Guy At Work Every Morning For 2 Years
Beau – Let’s talk about Fox, a Zoom call, and the New York Times….
Yesterday, I slept late but woke up refreshed. In my emails, I found one from Lakota Law about a Two-Spirit Powwow held lastmonth in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing to link to, but I put up a remoinder for myself for (I hope) early enough next year that I will be able to find it and share links to live streaming. I also worked on some cartoons coming up
Added today at about 10:45 am Pacific – Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized following a fall at a DC hotel. Per a McConnell spokesman: “This evening [now last evening – JD], Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment.”
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Robert Reich – Greed needs guardrails!
Quote – The Labor Department is still woefully understaffed, and penalties are still too low. Every time the department’s budget is up for review, members of Congress — mostly (but not entirely) Republicans — refuse to appropriate enough funds for inspectors or to increase penalties. So of course migrant children coming into the United States, fleeing violence and poverty, have ended up in dangerous jobs. In Delaware, Mississippi, and North Carolina, young children are working in slaughterhouses. In Michigan, young children are making auto parts used by Ford and General Motors. In Virginia, girls as young as 13 are washing hotel sheets. In Florida and Tennessee, 12-year-olds are doing roofing jobs. In South Dakota, children are sawing planks of wood on overnight shifts.
Click through for full argument – not that we don’t already kniw this, and know why, but he does say things so well.
Mother Jones – Inside the Secret Working Group That Helped Push Anti-Trans Laws Across the Country
Quote – The emails demonstrate close collaboration between groups working behind the scenes to push bills banning transgender health care, including [Alliance Defending Freedom]—which has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people in Europe—and the ACPeds—which has opposed adoption by gay couples and supported conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. In recent years, ADF has drafted legislation banning trans children from using school restrooms or playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. (Both groups are also staunchly anti-abortion; ADF, which drafted the Mississippi abortion ban at the heart of the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, is currently representing ACPeds in a closely-watched lawsuit to ban an abortion pill, mifepristone, nationally.)
Click through for story. Back in the late seventies, when I was in my early 30’s and Bishop of Pueblo Charles Buswell was in his late 60’s, I met him as an informal gathering at my local church. Bishop Buswell was a truly good man (something which cannot be said about all bishops) and also a truly humble man (also rare – it’s easy to get caught up in all the ritual observabces and start believing one’s own PR.) I was chatting with him and the subject of transgender came up (at that time Trinidad, CO was about the only place in the country that a transgender could get gender-affirming treatment at all, and that was not as advanced as it is today.) He mentioned that a priest he had ordained, I don’t know how long prior, was transgender and the Bishop had released her and she had been treated in Trinidad. He then said, “I believe that in such cases the soul of a woman has been born into the body of a man,” and I replied, “That is my understanding too.” He grinned and said, “Well then, our diocese deserves the credit for having ordained the first woman priest.” He seemed qquite proud of that (as he had a right to be.) He died in 2008 (he would have been 95.) We need more like him – but I’m kind of glad he didn’t live to see all of this hatred.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, I was looking through videos for the video thread. Beau has been really hot lately, but I can’t share all of his because he’s doing 3-4 a day now and I wouldn’t have room for anything else. So I’m going to briefly sharethe information from one here. Last month, the 18th-19th, there was a “revival” in Kentucky (he didn’t specify, but “revival” sounds like Talibangelicals) and apparently someone who was there had an active case of measles. The possibility exists of new cases popping up just about everywhere in the US. I’m sure no one who reads here was there, and y’all already stay away from Talibangelicals, but it might be harder to avoid people who don’t systematically avoid Talibangelicals. The incubation period is 21 days, which would be March 11 or 12 (but of course anyone who caught it during that time frame would then have their own 21-day period.) If you ever go anywhere, or live with anyone who does, or have guests, check your immunizations and please be careful.
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Letters From An American – March 3, 2023
Quote – Today (March 3) the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee demonstrated that they will actively fight back against Republicans’ false narratives…. Rather than permit them to establish a false narrative, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and the top Democrat on the weaponization subcommittee, Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), today released a deeply researched and footnoted 316-page report that shreds the Republicans’ story…. In a section of the report titled “An Analysis of Witness Testimony Shows That Committee Republicans Are Working to Advance a Politically Motivated Messaging Campaign Unsupported by the Evidence,” Nadler and Plaskett show how the witness testimony directly rebutted the Republicans’ talking points. Under examination, the witnesses disproved that the Department of Justice was trying to pad its case numbers regarding domestic violent extremism, that it had diverted resources from child abuse cases to pursue January 6 offenders, and that the FBI had overreacted to threats of violence against school administrators and local political officials, all Republican talking points.
Click through for more good refuting of bad and ugly. I am for statehood for Puerto Rico and DC, but danf, maybe the Virgin Islands first. Stacey Plaskett needs and deserves a VOTE in the House. And we need her.
Crooks and Liars – 58 Years Later, Black Vietnam War Hero Gets His Medal Of Honor
Quote: [Biden] continued, “And although the men who were with him on that June day immediately nominated Captain Davis to receive the Medal of Honor, somehow the paper — the paperwork was never processed, not just once, but twice. But, you know what Captain Davis said after learning that he would finally receive the Medal of Honor? Quote, ‘America was behind me.'”
Click through for more detail. I have read that he was named after Paris in the Iliad. I feel that Davis was a FAR better soldier than Paris – but it’s complicated, and Paris did, in a way, get the “last laugh.”
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – DOJ declares Donald Trump DOES NOT have immunity for Jan. 6 speech inciting violence at the Capitol
PoliticsGirl – Fox News Viewer?
Thom Hartmann – Putin Reveals Latest Cause Of Ukrainian War
Mrs Betty Bowers – Gossiping with God
Mama Dog And Her Puppies Found Under A Bus — See Them All A Year Later!
Beau – Let’s talk about Medicaid and what to do if you’re now ineligible….
Glenn Kirschner – Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenas Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner to testify about DJT’s crimes
The Lincoln Project – Wiser Instincts
Farron Balanced – Trump Says He’ll Use The Federal Government To Punish Your Children
Rep. Jamie Raskin’s message to PCCC members (hanky alert)
Wobbly Baby Goat Finally Runs With Her Best Friend
Beau – Let’s talk about water in Cincinnati and Kentucky….
Glenn Kirschner – Georgia grand jury report re: Trump’s election crimes concludes witnesses lied, recommends charges.
Farron Balanced – Trump Lawyer Offers Dumbest Explanation Ever For Stolen Classified Document Folder
Really American – Chip Franklin SKEWERS Donald Trump for his obsession with public execution.
Brent Terhune – Satanic Ritual at the Grammys
Abandoned Lamb Runs To Human Mom
Beau – Let’s talk about Ohio, trains, coverage, and a lack of answers….
Yesterday, I heard from James on how he is doing after his amputation. He is working aain, and is taking his beloved dog, Cinnamon, for walkies every day. Last Monday, while the weather was pretty good, they took a walk of four and a half miles. Wow. I have long believed that how well one recovers after surgery, any surgery, is pretty much determined by the amount of work one puts in on recovering (bearing in mind, of course, that varous factors may affect one’s ability to do so.) James has worked hard both in prescribed and self-motivated physical therapy and I would say it shows.
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HuffPo – She Was The Most Powerful Woman In Ohio. But There Was One Big Problem She Couldn’t Fix.
Quote – Out of office, [Maureen] O’Connor hasn’t lost sight of the fight for fair districts. She says she’ll work to build support for a constitutional amendment in the state to create an independent redistricting process and “get the politicians, the elected officials, off the redistricting commission.” But for now, the product of the GOP-drawn maps is clear: It’s a stacked deck.
Click through for details. Unless we want to continue to live under permanent minority rule (and such a deluded minority at that), we need a new voting rights act. Among other things, in needs to require an independent commission to draw new district maps for every state (not necessarily the same commission, just that every state must have one.) Every state. The last I looked, Ohio was not in Alabama.
Wonkette – Could Anything Have Prevented Diabetic Child From Dying In Arizona Foster System? Guess We’ll Never Know!
Quote – Type 1 diabetics are insulin-dependent and require regular blood glucose monitoring. If they are deprived of insulin, they will go into ketoacidosis, which if untreated will result in brain swelling (cerebral edema) causing a coma and eventually brain death. It just wouldn’t happen if the kid had been getting his insulin. Does that really count as a natural death? Richard Blodgett says he believes the Arizona Department of Child Safety failed to take care of his son, which they obviously did. He would very much like to know if his insulin pump was removed, if his blood glucose was monitored, if his regular doctor was consulted. So far, the Department of Child Services has not given him any answers.
Click through for story. This is worse than a tragedy (in a tragedy, the hero brings his fate upon himself through a tragic flaw. Type 1 diabetes does not constituta a tragic flaw.) I would call it a travesty (in the metaphorical sense of destruction through absurdity, not in the original sense of cross-dressing.) I wonder whether there will ever be any accountability here. The author thinks not, and I fear she is right.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, I kind of fell down the gas stove rabbit hole. I grew up with a gas stove, which my mom loved because of the instant temperature changes it makes possible (otherwise, heat is heat – that’s really the big difference.) The same autumn during which President Kennedy was murdered, we sprung a minor leak somewhere. It was so minor neither of us could smell it. Mom worked full time (and always overtime the closer it got to year end) whereas I was a sophomore in college and had a car, and a schedule with a lot of gaps, so I was home more. And when I started feeling a lack of energy, I spent even more time at home, and lost even more energy. My aunt smelled it when she and my uncle came for Christmas, and we got it fixed. I never felt the same about gas stoves, and after moving out (well, a lot of moves, since I went into the service) I learned how to use a gas stove, and that there are ways of gaining the control over temperature changes that so many people think you lose, such as using two burners, one set on simmer while you are bring the dish up to high hear, then moving it to the low temp one and turning off the hot one. As in making rice, and doing stir-fry or wok coooking. Since the Biden White House recently issued an alert on the danger of fumes from gas stoves, gas stove lovers on all parts of the political continuum are freaking out, and I’m afraid I fell into the rabbit hole in the comments at a couple of my sources. Amazingly, so far, no one has savaged me. I actually received one uprate on a tip (a gadget to warm tortillas ina microvave) and one reply thanking me for the two-burner tip. Amazing. Of course, both sources are left-leaning, and it shouldn’t surprise me that Democratic gas stove lovers, even though Democrats can get snarky, would be more polite than Republican ones.
I’m not going to talk about President Joe’s documents at this point. I have read a couple of very different artivcles I’d recommend, here and here, if anyone wants to go deeper into it at this point.
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Wonkette – Proud Boys Lose Lawyer, Fight For All White Jury, Manhood In Jan 6 Suit
Quote – Well, to be more precise, it’s a Batson challenge, although not perhaps as the Supreme Court envisioned it in 1986 when it held that it violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection clause for prosecutors to use their peremptory strikes to exclude jurors simply because of their race and lowered the threshold for proving that a strike was racially motivated. In plain English, in a criminal case, each side can strike unlimited numbers of jurors “for cause,” and a limited number just because they feel like it, i.e. peremptorily. Before Batson, it was standard practice in some jurisdictions for prosecutors to strike all Black jurors when the defendant was Black.
Click through for story. I believe the jury is set and oral arguments began yesterday, but I wanted to post a reminder of the “Batson challenge” and the bad old days. I also wanted to share Wonkette’s source which said the jury “is not bereft of white people.” That gave me a chuckle.
truthout – Privatization Scam Threatens to Replace Traditional Medicare Altogether by 2030
Quote – The incessantly repeated television ad for Medicare Advantage, which has often been narrated by 1960s quarterback Joe Namath, is full of disinformation — and it’s a profitable scam for health insurers. The disingenuously named privatized program has all kinds of disadvantages compared to the traditional Medicare program that dates back to 1965.
Click through for details. I’ve never felt a supplemental program, other than Part D, was right for my unusual circumstances. But i’m 100% good with some kind of supplement to Medicare (mine just happens to be a former-employer-funded HSA). A lot of us here have Medicare, some probably have a supplement, and you should have access to the knowledge of exactly what you are paying for.
Food For Thought
