Yesterday, I came across a short post sharing that MSNBC had shown an image of JD Vance over the chron “Look what the cat dragged in.” That gave me a smile. I also attempted making cookies, oatmeal raisin, with a non-wheat flour. I knew I would need more liquid than I normally use on account of the oatmeal (I used instant) but I overdid it a little. So they look odd. But they taste alright.
It may have been done before – but I have not seen this quote about fascism applied to democracy (don’t worry, it’s not negative) in this way – particularly combined with the concept that it happens a lot, in and outside of government in both small and large ways.
(non-paywall link) I don’t know how Rolling Stone does it – but so many scoops that are truly significant seem to start there. The New Yorker used to do that, with reporters like David Remnick and Ronan Farrow, but I’ve lost confidence in them. This story, of course, we’ve known what seems like forever – at least in the general outlines – but the details are now included.
Yesterday, since it was Friday, Robert Reich posted the latest episode in his “DEBUNK” series. Heather Cox Richardson posted a blistering bio of Paul Manafort.
Russian soldiers are, due to the lack of purpose-built vehicles, being compelled to use whatevet that can lay their hands on – such as golf carts – to attempt to attack. I am not pro-violence, and least of all am I pro-enjoying violence – but I have to say that Ukreainians have an excuse. Slava Ukraini!
Robert Hubbell has had it with corporate Democrats, and I don”t blame him. I have too. I am extremely upset with Adam Schiff and several others. I think Hubbell’s advice is excellent for anyone who can follow it. Since I’m obligated to post here, I cannot follow the “Keep your head down” part, but I’ll do my best to keep my blood pressure down at least. This is a two-parter and I’m sharing both parts today. And putting a quote from the second part into a second cartoon.
Yesterday, the biggest news appeared to be that Joe Biden is adding Spureme Court reform to his platform. I expect you can watch, or read about, this development just about anywhere. How very welcome this is can probably be measured by how vitriolic Trump**s remarks about it in his social medium (I made that singular because he only has the one.) Of course, the formation of an agency by NATO is also pretty big. But I’ll let Beau talk about that.
Apparently, we have zebra mussels in our waters. They are native to Russia, as are Siberian elms, another invasive species we have. Grump.
Joyce Vance has some things to say – about the apparent attack on Trump** and reactions to it – on both sides. Normally, IMO, if something is balanced, it is by definition not fair, because both sides are not the same. But she shows it can be done.
Yesterday, There was a thunderstorm warning , not exactly for my area, but for an area I’m on the fringes of. I heard one crash of thunder, but I didn’t see the Lightning, so I have no clue how far away it was. I lost no power, but my modem started refusing to stay connected to the ‘Net. I rebooted it once but that didn’t help – but I then rebooted a second time, this time leaving it disconnected for over an hour, and it’s working now. Fingers crossed it keeps working. Another 9 days of storms like this are predicted, and tha’s as far in advance as they rpredict, so there could be more. So now, though the modem is working, somehow the zoom size of my inbox in my opera browser got trashed. Everything else on that browser works, but can’t read my emails (my main source.) So I’m having to read them on edge. It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough I can make it work with the screen magnifier. So I learned that, according to Axios, there is now evidence tat Netanyahu is working behind the scenes for Trump**. I hope this news reaches some coters who are wanting to not vote for Biden because, basically, he honored a treaty he was legally bound to honor. At least he’s doing his best to hold Bibi back. Trump** will say, “Do whatever the hell you want.” If anything else new comes it, it will have to wait. I need to get this posted while I still can (at least I hope so.)
Steve Schmidt’s response to the shooting at the Trump** rally byposting a video of Bobby Kennedy’s speech in response to the death of MLK. It was a powerful speech then, and it’s powerful now, but what really hit me was one of the comments (which I normally never look at – this must have been the first time in over a decade that I have done so.) A viewer usernamed “@tedb3966” simply wrote, “The greatedt President we never had.” But Steve himself has some powerful things to say too.
I know y’all are alert and atay informed, so you probably know that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has set his sights on Clarence Thomas. But I also thought youmight be as interested as I was to read about it from a black news outlet.
Yesterday, when I had the time and energy to finish reading my emails from Sunday, I came across Joe Biden’s Father’s Day Proclamation (courtesy of Steve Smith), read it, and am sharing the link. That’s the world that I want to live in. It’s not a perfect world – there is no perfect world – but it’s a world in which at least the Federal goverment is run with ethics, honesty, kindness, and consideration, in order to make life easier for the maximum number of people. I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but I’m going to anyway: we willl never get there by electing people at any levels who just want power – and who get elected by promising their voters power through them. Also, Robert Reich’s caption contest, which asked readers to submit suggestions for whar “MAGA” really stands for, ad too many good answers to list here. I can’t enter, being a free subscriber, but had I been ale and done so, I would have suggested “Malice And Greed Always.”
Moving to actual news (or at least actual analysis of actual news – there’s some of both), Robert Hubbell goes into detail about how and why the Washington Post is so worng in their election coverage, even though they still do well in other areas (some of this ofcourse also apples to the New York Times, and other formerly competent mainstream outlets.) If he is accurate on their strategy (and I suspect he is), it’s easy to see why he wonders whether the Post can survive. It’s a no-brainer.
In Sunday’s Open Thread, Beau spoke about Ukraine, including commenting that Ukraine might be operating in the skies a little more – which, with the loan he also spoke about – they have been doing. Now, the Daily Beast confirms that Ukraine is hitting hard, and it is working. We can but hope Putin is runninng out of things up his sleeve.
Yesterday, Wonkette’s newsletter provided a gift link to a New York Times opinion piece, written by Michelle Goldberg (not by some right-wing lackey), whichdoesn’t contain anything we hadn’t figured out, but says it well and clearly. And the gift link makes it easier to share if you’d like to (don’t cut it – the stuff after the question mark is needed to validate that it’s a gift.) Also, Andy Borowitz “interviews” the new President of Mexico, who has thoughts on the U.S.
Well, this is interesting. It’s hard to be sure what it means at this point, other that Republicans are so good at creating “plausible deniability” that they have gotten bad at using it, trying to make it work all the time. Denying everything is admitting everything.
Well, this is really interesting. Like puppetmaster, like puppet, I guess. Now, before anyone says “Money is the root of all evil,” let me point out it is not money, but the love of money, which is the root of all evil (or as Chaucer quoted in the Canterbury Tales, “Radix malorum est cupiditas.”)
Yesterday, Robert Reich announced he is starting a series he is calling “Debunk” in which he will debunk the ten biggest political-economic myths. It’ll run for ten weeks. Any episode i don’t share i will at least link to so you can follow it.
The headline here says it all, really. And the artice connects the dota, with each new dot adding something more appalling.
Yesterday, I observed that Donald Trump** is now claiming that Biden ordered him assassinated, specifically on the day of the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Magats are, frankly, to evil to eben be able to imagine a person who just wouldn’t do that, so perhaps we should counter with something like “Democrats get things done. If Joe wanted him assassinated, he’d have been assassinated. He wasn’t. End of story.” Also, among the petitions I signed was one for Thomas and Alito to recude from the Trump** immnity case. Actually, I’d rather leave those to on and have the three he nominated recuse.Knocking out those two still leaves it 4-3, and the best hope we have is for Roberts to do the right thing. But if we knock out Gorsuch, Javanaugh and Barrett, it’s now 3-3. Unless Roberts does the right thing, there’s an unbreakable tie.
I’m going to word my hanky alert differently on this by quoting Shakespeare’s Mark Antony: “If youhave tears, prepare to shed them now.” Yes, I’m preaching to the choir. But sharing it couldn’t hurt.
Just as I’m highly in favor of the National Interstate Popular Vote Compact, because I don’t see any possibility to amend the Constitution without the nation being able to see that the popular vote works, I also don’t see equirable tax reform happening unless people can see it works. That’s why I;m posting this,and enci=ourage sharing it as widely as possible.
And here is yet another article which desperately needs to be widely shared. I’ll try to help on this one with the”Food for Thought” cartoon below.
