Glenn Kirschner – One Govt Official, LT GOV Benjamin, Indicted for Bribery While Another, Trump, Remains Unindicted
The Lincoln Project – Enabler In Chief
The Damage Report – Virginia GOP Caught For Vile Racist Tirade
Ojeda LIVE – The WORST in Congress? MTG & MC square off in the battle for the most vile imbeciles of the House
Armageddon Update – What Happened to Us?
Phone-Sized Kitten Turns Guy Into A Cat Person
Beau – Let’s talk about why the West is slow-walking the sanctions….
Glenn Kirschner – J6 Committee AND Federal Judges Conclude Trump Committed Crimes. How about DOJ Makes it Unanimous?
The Lincoln Project – Brian Schatz is Right
MSNBC – ‘They’ve Been After Me For 12 Years,’ Says Putin Critic Of Russia (same story as in Open Thread, but here it’s direct from the target’s mouth.)
Ring of Fire – Court Revives Challenge To Madison Cawthorn Being On The Ballot
Truth Matters – What’s in a Word?
Rocky Mountain Mike – Crime After Crime
Beau – Let’s talk about hope and acceleration….
Glenn Kirschner – Don Jr.’s Deeply Treasonous Texts Make him a Charter Member of his Father’s Election Conspiracy
Meidas Touch – Trump lies at NC rally FACT-CHECKED in real time
The Lincoln Project – Truth Social vs Twitter
Ring of Fire – Capitol Rioter Lawyer DISBARRED For His Behavior
MSNBC – McFaul: The Battle Of Kyiv Will Go Down In History As One Of Great Defeats Of Russian Army
New John Deere commercial
Beau – Let’s talk about CPAC leaving the US and Republicans leaving democracy….
Yesterday, I pretty much caught up. At least I have two full posts today, and I have thrown a little PSA at the bottom of this one. A couple of people remarked about my “mask extender” project, and since knitting them is like eating potato chips – you can’t stop at one (or two. or six. or more) – I thought I’d make some available.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Mother Jones – Exclusive: Leaked Messages Reveal the Origins of the Most Vile Hunter Biden Smear
Quote – Late in the 2020 presidential campaign, trailing in the polls, Donald Trump and his allies worked to make a campaign issue out of a trove of files on a laptop that his opponent’s son, Hunter Biden, had apparently abandoned at a Delaware repair shop. The effort to publicize compromising emails, images, and videos from the device involved prominent Trump confidants including Rudy Giuliani and Steven Bannon. But it also featured an unexpected player: Guo Wengui, a fugitive Chinese tycoon who was working with Bannon to build a small empire of Chinese-language media outlets, nonprofits, and other ventures.
Click through. It never ceases to grab my attention how Republicans are so ready to give America away to anyone in exchange for criminal actions – while they won’t give a dime to American people who are starving, or homeless, or drowning in debt.
Crooks and Liars – Germans Intercept Russian Radio Traffic Discussing Murdering Civilians In Bucha
Quote – The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service, has acquired gruesome new insights into the atrocities committed by Russian military forces in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. DER SPIEGEL has learned that the BND intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which the murder of civilians in Bucha was discussed. Some of the intercepted radio traffic can apparently be directly linked to dead bodies that have been photographed in Bucha.
Click through for details. This may be all I have to say about atrocities. I’m not crazy about gory details. do like solid evidence.
PolitiZoom – Trump Flips Out On Manhattan D.A. After It’s Revealed They Made A New Demand On Trump Org
Quote – Maybe Donald Trump knows something that we don’t, because the New York Times article quoting Alvin Bragg on the current state of the Trump investigation in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office was bland at best. All Bragg said, in essence, was that he had shelved nothing and that he was looking into every aspect of the Trump case. It was also mentioned that a new demand had been sent to the Trump Organization, but that it was a follow up of previous requests. You know how Trump doesn’t respond to discovery requests. That’s why he’s got the state attorney general asking a judge to sanction the hell out of him for every day he delays with respect to that case. So that is what is publicly known as of the past 24 hours. Is that, and that alone, sufficient to trigger this harebrained, maudlin ramble?
Click through for Trump**’s rant. This is getting overripe for speculation – and very interesting.
Food For Thought:
PSA: Here is information on the mask extenders (some call them “ear savers”). They look like this:
The link is here. Download is free, though they will want an email and a password (possibly a name I know they jave my name – and address – becouase I occasionally order.) But no money and no commitment.
There is also a crochet pattern, but it isn’t free. However, it’s so simple I could write you a pattern from the picture. If you’d like that, or if you just want the knit pattern and don’t want to register, email me and let me know which you want and I’ll email it. Or if you want one but don’t want to make one, I can send one of those Heaven knows I’ve made enough – and if you want to put on your own buttons I can send one without buttons even easier. I will need a mailing addreess (PO boxes are fine.)
Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Nozze de Figaro,” which is usually translated “The Marriage of Figaro,” but I prefer “Figaro’s Wedding.” Like a wedding, it takes place in one day, wheras marriage (hopefully) lasts a lot longer (in fact, from the third play, we know they were still married 20 years later, and still happy and healthy and looking forward to more.) Of course, as wedding days go, it may not have been the worst wedding day ever (the ending is happy), but it qualifies, I think, as the most frantic. I think my favorite part of it is the section which starts with Marzellina’s lawsuit and ends with plans for a double wedding – because the misunderstanding is totally unforced. The other misunderstandings (and there are several) are set up deliberately, by different people, for one reason or another. But the opera is full of great music and amusiong (and emotional) moments. Afterwards, my day was a scramble to get ready for today.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
NBC News – Two D.C. men charged with impersonating feds, several Secret Service agents placed on leave
Quote – The Secret Service is conducting an internal review of the interactions between four Secret Service agents and the two men accused of posing as federal agents, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. “We are looking into our people in terms of how their social circles collided,” one of the sources said. “We are only 72 hours into this review,” the source said, adding that “right now there’s no sign of nefarious activity.”
Click through for story. Shades of “The Great Pretender.” They are lucky that this is found out suring a scary war and some criminal investigations of real government officials. In a less hyper time, no one wuld be talking about anything else. In a
related story …
Biden at war: Inside a deliberate yet impulsive Ukraine strategy
Quote – The Biden administration has stood up a second “Tiger Team” to internally game out different attacks and responses, but has been especially cautious about sharing any possible repercussions publicly. “We’ve had the opportunity to coordinate with our allies. We’ve had the opportunity to get organized internally. We’ve been clear publicly that Russia would pay a severe price,” Sullivan told reporters, flying from Brussels to Poland on Air Force One. “And beyond that, I’m not going to speak further to the issue.”
Click through for full analysis. As a Vatican II Catholic, and also a person who is 100% anti-war right up until the moment it becones necessary to save the world, I think I can identify with where Joe is comeing from. Certainly, like him, I’m emotionally invested. That’s not to say that anything about it is easy.
The 19th – Older women voters may play a big role in the 2022 midterms, and they are not happy
Quote – “One thing that’s so remarkable about this current moment is the way that cost of living is just cutting across every demographic line,” Anderson said. “Cost of living is a challenge whether you are 19 years old, just starting off in the workforce, and are trying to figure out how to pay your rent, or if you are retired, on a fixed income and you’re trying to pay your rent.” Matthews emphasized that older women are tired of out-of-touch politicians, abstract campaign promises and hostility permeating the political climate.
Click through for details. I find this terribly depressing. Ar e that many American women over 50 really so ignorant as to constantly blame the wrong people for what government does? If so, we are doomed.
Food For Thought:
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
I had some other ideas for this column but then i came upon this and it just dropped my jaw. The sponsor of this (“N. M.”) says, “I just received 16 brief essays by 15-17-year-old lyceum students from Kyiv and its suburbs on what they plan to do after the war ends. They’re written in English, and the teacher says she only made a few minor corrections.” I’ll let them speak for themselves. (just in case you haven’t already guessed – hanky alery.)
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Alexander Motyl, Rutgers University – Newark
A colleague from Kyiv, Ukraine, whom I’ll call N.M., sent me brief essays her students wrote on what they would do when the war ends. As both a scholar and a novelist, I knew that these voices, which expressed a beautifully straightforward and pure yearning for the simplest things that are lost in war, needed to be heard by the world.
The essays were written in English, and N.M., who has a master’s degree in English language and literature, told me she made only “2-3 corrections.” The students attend the 10th and 11th grades at a Kyiv school, are 15 to 17 years old, and hail from the capital city and its suburbs. The essays were written between March 14 and March 18, 2022.
Several themes run through most of the essays. The teens yearn for peace and want to do ordinary things, such as meet family and friends, take walks, enjoy the city. Daily routines have become extraordinary after several weeks of war. All intend to stay in Ukraine. Despair is absent. The students expect the war to end with a Ukrainian victory, and they’re decidedly proud to be Ukrainian.
Their optimism is all the more remarkable in light of the essays’ having been written in mid-March, when anything like victory seemed remote. Many of the students have also learned an important existential lesson: Life can be cut short at any time, and it’s imperative to live it to the hilt.
Diana captures the overall mood well:
“Literally 2 weeks ago, everyone lived their quiet daily lives, but one night these lives changed forever. Russia attacked our cities and forced some people to leave their homes forever or stay in a dangerous place and live in a fear. But the horror cannot be eternal, the end will come, and it will be significant for our country. After our victory I will definitely meet all my friends and family members, I will say how much I love them. Also I will appreciate every moment spent with family and people of my heart. Also I will definitely help my country to recover what it lost, I will volunteer and after graduating from school, I will enter that faculty which will be useful for Ukraine. Now we can just hope and pray for the best.”
Like Diana, Masha yearns for the ordinary:
“Today the situation in our country is very difficult, and we understand that we did not appreciate our everyday life, our meetings with friends, and even a simple walk. … After all these circumstances, your views on life have changed, you begin to appreciate what was common and boring for you. After the war, we will all be completely different people!”
Dasha’s expectations are equally quotidian:
“When I come back home the first thing that I would do is play the piano. I will play as long as I can. After this, I will water my plants.”
Nastya, meanwhile, says,
“I’ll do everything I didn’t have time to do before the war. For example, I’ll go to the dentist, because it was that Thursday that I had an appointment with him for the evening. But most of all I want to come home to my peaceful and strong Ukraine.”
Anya’s discovered the depth of her patriotism:
“Every morning I get up and thank you God I’m alive. … When I heard explosions, I thought it can be my last minute. I will spend more time with my family and friends. And I will LOVE MY UKRAINE MORE THAN EVER.”
So has Sofia:
“We are strong, I am proud to be Ukrainian.”
Vlad is also feeling patriotic:
“When this war is over I will be thanking our Heroes, absolutely fearless defenders, who have been protecting our country this time. I’m totally proud of them. Their behavior inspires all the world and this is wonderful. … Anyway, we’re winning this bloodshed and building new country with freedom for our descendants. … I hope, our culture will be the best in the world and people will start respect it.”
Hlib’s optimism is both religious and political:
“I think that the war will be over when God says, because everything depends on him. Also when the President of Russia is removed or when all the supplies run out and all the soldiers retreat. When the Russian economy will be completely destroyed and the revolution will begin. When everyone will stop being afraid of the President of Russia and will oppose him. But the war will surely be over soon. Because good always wins.”
Anzhelika’s expectations concern politics – and food:
“I pray very much for Kyiv, because this is an incredible city that I dream of returning to! And after the war, of course, everyone will get drunk, so maybe I’ll drink a couple of drops for victory. And I dream of eating sushi, this is my favorite dish, so I’ll eat them all week. And of course I still want to go to university in Ukraine and live in Ukraine with my friends and relatives. And I believe that after the victory, not Ukraine will ask to join NATO, but NATO to [join] Ukraine, because our people have incredible strength! Glory to Ukraine!”
Alina picks up on the theme of Ukraine’s strength:
“These three weeks of a continuous horror changed all of us. Some people were left homeless, some people were left without relatives and a huge amount of Ukrainians lost their lives for peace. But there is at least one principal thing, which is common for all of us: Our nation became stronger. We became stronger. … Everything will be tranquil again. Everything will be Ukraine.”
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A second Alina looks at the war’s cost – and how Ukraine will move forward in its aftermath:
“Sooner or later the war will stop. These events will leave an imprint in every Ukrainian. … Maybe we will bury many thousands of people, but they all did not fall in vain. We will remember everyone. Then we will renovate our houses, malls, museums. … Ukrainian will build their future in a progressive country. We will all develop and other countries will respect us. No one will ask anymore ‘Ukraine? Where is it? Is it in Russia?’ Our country will join NATO and European Union. In the end no one will attack us again.”
Alexander Motyl, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University – Newark
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, if you can come up with a way for the people who most need to see and hear this to get exposed to it, you might save the world. Of course that is a continuing problem – and, in the U.S., getting worse instead of better. To what degree does freedom of speech include the freedom to be silent?
The Furies and I will be back.
Glenn Kirschner – Is DOJ Investigating Boxes of Classified Documents Trump Unlawfully Took to Mar-a-Lago? Glenn is wrong – the 1/6 committee is not accusing the Justice Department of anything. It is the House Oversight committee which is complaining about the Justice Department. It is not Bennie Thomas but Carolyn Maloney who is demanding these documents at this moment. Clearly he is frustrated – likely more so than he says directly. I barely looked at the comments, so I don’t know whether anyone else caught that.
Meidas Touch – Psaki HUMILIATES Republican with perfect response to classless stunt during confirmation vote
Thom Hartmann – Will the Billionaires Be Able to Quell the Growing Union Movement?
RepresentUs – The Problem With Wisconsin’s Election Investigation
MSNBC – Trump Criminal Case ‘Ongoing’: NY Prosecutor Makes Unusual Statement (Ve-ry In-ter=est-ing.0
Guy Offers Hand to a Giant Octopus — You Won’t Believe How He Reacts
Beau – Let’s talk about Russian state media telling us what’s coming….
Glenn Kirschner – Ivanka Trump testifies to Jan. 6 committee. If truthful, her testimony would incriminate her father
Meidas Touch – Republican SHAMED for most racist campaign ad to date!!
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party
MSNBC – GOP Smears Political Opponents As ‘Pro-Pedophile’: The QAnon Part Out Loud
Robert Reich – Full Testimony Regarding Corporate Profits and Inflation to Senate Budget Committee (Yes, this is long for this thread. But it is under 20 minutes, and the circumsytances are special.)
Stray Labrador Won’t Let Rescuers Near Her Puppies
Beau – Let’s talk about crime and peacekeepers in Ukraine….
