Open Thread October 29, 2022

 Posted by at 7:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 292022
 

Yesterday, Paul Pelosi, Nancy’s husband, was assaulted and injured in their San Francisco home. And Joyce Vance was right on it, with an article about the crime of assaulting a Federal official’s family member – before they even had time to question the attacker and report details. By now, of course you’ve likely seen some details. Some of hese Substck subscriptions, even non-paid ones, can certainly make a reader of them look knowledgeable (even when the author is clearly pissed.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters From An American – October 26, 2022
Quote – Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned banks that surprise overdraft fees and depositor fees for customers who deposit a check that bounces are “likely unfair and unlawful under existing law.” The CFPB is also looking into credit card fees. The Federal Trade Commission has started a rule-making process that addresses surprise fees for event ticketing, hotels, funeral homes, and so on; earlier this year, it brought actions against junk fees in the auto industry that are awaiting finalization.
Click through for column. Its primary focus is the economy, but there are a couple of other topics (the last is amusing.)

ProPublica – That Cardboard Box in Your Home Is Fueling Election Denial
Quote – Dick and Liz Uihlein of Illinois are the largest contributors to Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who attended the Jan. 6 rally and was linked to a prominent antisemite, and have given to Jim Marchant, the Nevada Secretary of State nominee who says he opposed the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020. They are major funders to groups spreading election falsehoods, including Restoration of America, which, according to an internal document obtained by ProPublica, aims to “get on God’s side of the issues and stay there” and “punish leftists.”
Click through for article. I had never heard of ULine until a couple of years ago, when they were one of a very few companies which had an unusual item (disposable pipettes.) Not too long after that I heard about the family being RWNJ, and flagged the name in my records.

Food For Thought

Share

Video Thread 10/26/22

 Posted by at 11:51 am  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 262022
 

Glenn Kirschner – The Trump Organization “show trial” kicks off today. But Donald Trump will not be held accountable

The Lincoln Project – Tyranny

Meidas Touch – Roevember Is Coming!

Katie Porter brings inflation receipts.

MSNBC – Yamiche Alcindor: Felons Who Are ‘Legal To Vote’ May Be ‘Intimidated’ By FL Election Police Arrests

Beau – Let’s talk about the economy and a democratic problem…. (and Beau brings the receipts alsoi.)

ght=”336″ />

Share

Video Thread 10/24/22

 Posted by at 11:49 am  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 242022
 

Glenn Kirschner – January 6 committee subpoenas Trump. Will he successfully use the courts to run out the clock?

The Lincoln Project – We’ve Been Warning You

MSNBC – House Member Criticizes McCarthy Over Threats To Cut Ukraine Funding

Farron Balanced – Conservatives Started An Anti Woke Bank And Immediately Went Bankrupt

Armageddon Update – Vote or Die!

Beau – Let’s talk about which party you want during a recession….

Share

Open Thread October 21, 2022

 Posted by at 6:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 212022
 

Yesterday, I did get my ballot into the mail in time for the daily delivery/pickup. So I’ll be watching my email carefully for the “received” and “counted” emails (as if I didn’t always watch my email carefully.) In it (my email) today was a “The Warning” from Steve Schmidt – abbreviated because I’m a free subscriber – with perhaps the most blistering takedown of Kevin McCarthy you’ll ever see without profanity. And one from Jpoyce Vance had an analysis of the court decision on the Trump**-Eastman emails. I also received confirmation to visit Virgil Sunday. He called again also, and was much less confused, which was a relief.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Shadow Government in Putin’s Own Backyard Plots Against Him
Quote – Belarus’ opposition, led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, is plotting to form an alliance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to try to hamper any hopes that Russia may have of territorial expansion beyond Ukraine and further into Europe. The concern is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is eyeing Belarus much like how he’s eyeing Ukraine—and hoping to envelope Belarus into Russia itself, Valery Kavaleuski, a foreign affairs representative for the Belarusian opposition leader, told The Daily Beast. “Russians are looking at us in the same light as they look at Ukraine,” Kavaleuski said. “‘This is a state that is temporarily dependent. This is the nation that does not deserve to be next to Russia,
Click through for article. I don’t know how much of this is wishful thinking, and – maybe because – I don’t know how much real power Tsikhanouskaya has. I haven’t seen it elsewhere, but it claims to be an exclusive, so that alone does not discredit it.

Crooks and Liars – Paul Krugman: Here’s What Dems Should Do If GOP Gains House Majority
Quote – So what should be done to avert this threat? If Republicans do gain control of one or both houses in November, Democrats should use the lame-duck session to enact a very large rise in the debt limit, enough to put the issue on ice for years. Republicans and pundits who don’t understand the stakes would furiously attack this move, but it would be far better than enabling extortion — and would probably be forgotten by the time of the 2024 election.
Click through for the why, and the backup plan. I haven’t heard much from Krugman lately, presumably because I don’t subscribe to the NY Times. But he has always known what he is talking about, and he is right again. I hope he gets attention from those who need to hear this.

Food For Thought

Share

Video Thread 10/20/22

 Posted by at 11:49 am  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 202022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Prosecutors ask judge to sentence Steve Bannon to 6 months in prison & a $200,000 fine for contempt not long now!)

The Lincoln Project – Social Security

Eric Swalwell’s new ad

Ring of Fire – Conservative Group Loses Bid To Stop Biden’s Student Loan Debt Forgiveness

Liberal Redneck – OPEC, Foreign Oil, Gas Prices, etc

Beau – Let’s talk about a positive note for the weekend…. (…last weekend – I warned you I’d get behind.)

Share

Open Thread October 10, 2022

 Posted by at 6:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 102022
 

Yesterday, I went to see Virgil. I set my alarm a bit earlier than I had been on days I was going to see him, and that turned out to be a mistake. We live and learn. So I’ll switch it back (after I set it for Thursday’s hearing, of course.) Virgil appreciates and returns all your greetings. The weather was fine and the drive both ways was uneventful. Also, I thought I had enough sleep Saturday night. However, I still felt pretty tired upon return.  Oh, yes, and Happy Indigenous Peoples Day.

Cartoon – 10 1010Cartoon.jpg


Short Takes –

HuffPost – What The Weird Conservative Fixation On Electric Vehicles Says About Their Politics
Quote – The Biden administration has made support for EVs a top priority. The Inflation Reduction Act, the spending bill that Biden signed over the summer, included new tax credits for people who purchase EVs as well as businesses that open up charging stations. Greene has been critical of this effort from the get-go, and in February posted a 21-part tweetstorm calling the Biden plan ― which, at that point, was still under discussion ― “a one way ticket to hell.” Greene isn’t alone in making these sorts of arguments. On the contrary, the list of Republican officials who have attacked the Biden administration’s EV agenda in similar terms is long and includes everybody from Florida Sen. Rick Scott to Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
Click through for three reasons why anyone with a functioning brain and who doesn’t hate Democrats could be expected to be ebthusiastic about EVs. But, Republicans … What do you want to bet that20 or even 10 years from now they will be all in favors of EVs, and will never admit they weren’t always.

CPR News – As the reparations debate continues nationally, some Denver organizations are stepping up now
Quote – Risë Jones is walking around TeaLee’s, her three-year-old tea shop in Denver’s historically Black Five Points neighborhood. Soft jazz plays in the main seating area with about 10 tables, and in the basement is a bookstore with some hard-to-find titles by Black authors…. Jones is among several Black business owners in Denver who have received grants from groups raising private funds to pay reparations for the centuries of abuse of Blacks forced into slavery…. Jones received an $8,500 reparations grant to open the shop, one of several that have been distributed…. There are several organizations that do precisely that kind of work. One of them is BRIC (Black Resilience in Colorado) a non-profit organization that officially opened on Juneteeth (June 19) of 2020.
Click through and scroll down for the article – it’s below a podcast and the picture. Hey, they’re a radio outfit, of course they like podcasts. But they like articles too. There is so much in it for me as a Coloradan to be proud of (and that TomCat would have loved.)

Food For Thought

Share

Open Thread September 14, 2022

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 142022
 

Yesterday, Lindsey Graham introduced a bill in the Senate to ban abortion at the federal level. This irritates me… but it doesn’t alarm me, because if they really wanted to pass it, they would wait until they have a majority in both houses, and some of them think that is going to be soon. This is political theater. And it is more likely to backfire than not. Also I need to give you all an update on James. the amputation has happened (he didn’t say anything about the process, so I’m going with “No news is good news.”) He is already confident that he made the right choice. Now the recovery begins.  Incidentally, I have an appointment myself today – just for an annual checkup.  Oh, and one other thing – the candidate running against Boebert is Adam Frisch.  I’m not hopefull of beating Buck or Lamborn, bothe of whom are well established, but I think Boebert might be beatable.  If you check Adam out, let us know what you think.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Who will bear the pain?
Quote – Get ready. The war on inflation is about to get ugly…. Who will bear this pain? Not corporate executives. Not Wall Street. Not big investors. Not the upper-middle class. The draftees into the war on inflation will be — already are — lower-wage workers. As the economy cools due to interest rate hikes, they will be first to be fired as the economy plunges and the last to be hired. The Fed is obsessing about a “wage-price” spiral — wage gains pushing up prices — when it should be worried about a profit-price spiral.
Click through for full article. All of this could be avoided if we used a different benchmark for the economy than the stock market. Usng the stock market is a little bit like doctors using the health of peole’s genitals as an indicator of their overall health. Not really representative.

AP News – Ken Starr, whose probe led to Clinton impeachment, dies
Quote – Ken Starr, a former federal appellate judge and a prominent attorney whose criminal investigation of Bill Clinton led to the president’s impeachment and put Starr at the center of one of the country’s most polarizing debates of the 1990s, has died at age 76, his family said Tuesday. Starr died at a hospital Tuesday of complications from surgery, according to his former colleague, attorney Mark Lanier. He said Starr had been hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Houston for about four months.
Click through for full obit. Please don’t dance in the streets. It’s tacky. And if you have any Republican neighbors you could be putting yourself in harm’s way.

Food For Thought

Share

Open Thread August 26, 2022

 Posted by at 7:18 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 262022
 

Yesterday, the pickup got picked u – Yay! My body was still complaining, however, so I had to do some self czre. The right shoulder was probably not the worst, but it was definitely the most annoying. But – have traffic lanes again – and more room to start on the next one. Assoon as I feel up to it. Meanwhile, I’ll be seeing Virgil again Sunday

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – Conservatives Milk Story of Amish Farm Tied to Fatal Listeria Outbreak
Quote – Viewers of Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show were greeted Monday with dire news. The Biden administration, Carlson said, had launched a war on small farmers, starting with a U.S. Marshals “raid” on an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania named Amos Miller…. “Maybe if he promises to put more chemicals in the milk to turn kids trans, they’ll lay off,” Carlson said.
Click through for story. I’m actually in favor of natural foods in general – but that’s different from zero hygiene. Here’s more information on listeria if anyone’s interested.

Letters from an American – August 24, 2022
Quote – Republicans have warned that the massive investment the Democrats have made in the country during Biden’s term would rack up enormous deficits. But, in fact, today the Office of Management and Budget forecast that this year’s budget deficit will decline by $1.7 trillion, the single largest drop in the deficit in U.S. history. (The record deficit was $3.13 trillion in 2020, during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.) This number is simply a benchmark, and the deficit remains at $1.03 trillion, but it suggests that numbers are currently moving downward.
Click through for the full letter. The midterms, the deficit, and student loan forgiveness are tied together here.

Food For Thought

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries