Open Thread for August 3, 2021

 Posted by at 7:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 032021
 

Yesterday stayed oool enough that I got within spitting distnce of finishing that winter sweater. One or maybe two cool days and it will be done. And I have a large cotton project and several small, lightweight projects ready for more heat.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The Guardian – Republicans will defend their Caesar but new revelations show Trump’s true threat
Quote – Those who claim that the events of 6 January were something other than a failed coup attempt would do well to come up with a better line. Or a different alternate reality. Ashli Babbitt is no martyr. Trump will not be restored to the presidency, no matter what the MyPillow guy says. Trump’s machinations and protestations convey the desperation that comes with hovering over the abyss. He knows what he has said and done.
Click through for well-written opinion. Yes, it’s an opinion piece, but there are also many facts here, and I certainly hope his opinions about future events are correct.

Reuters – Kosovo honours late son of U.S. President Biden
Quote – Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with Western backing, but Serbia still refuses to recognise it and considers it part of its territory. “What the United States and the American people have done for our country, for our freedom, for our right to exist, goes beyond any partnership currently witnessed in the world. Mr. President, Kosovo is your home too,” said Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani while presenting the award.
Click through for more, including background

The New Yorker – The Big Money Behind the Big Lie
Quote – Chad Campbell, a Democrat who was the minority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives until 2014, when he left to become a consultant in Phoenix, has been shocked by the state’s anti-democratic turn. For several years, he sat next to Karen Fann when she was a member of the House, and in his view she’s gone from being a traditional Republican lawmaker to being a member of “Trump’s cult of personality.” He said, “I don’t know if she believes it or not, or which would be worse.” Arizona, he added, is in the midst of a “nonviolent overthrow in some ways—it’s subtle, and not in people’s face because it’s not happening with weapons. But it’s still a complete overthrow of democracy. They’re trying to disenfranchise everyone who is not older white guys.”
Click through for full story. Not, I suppose, that anyone can claim to have the complete full story, but thos is about as full as it gets. And, yes, it’s long.

Food for Thought (from a T-shirt)

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Open Thread for July 28, 2021

 Posted by at 7:48 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 282021
 

Yesterday was hot, but not as hot as was expected – which is a good thing – and particularly because I didn’t sleep all that well Monday night. I did make it through the day, though.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Officers offer harrowing accounts at first Jan. 6 committee hearing
Quote – “The indifference being shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!” said Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone as he slammed his fist on the table. “My law enforcement career prepared me to cope with some of the aspects of this experience,” Fanone said. “Nothing has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day, and in doing so, betray their oath of office.”
Click through for more, including some video. I’ll cover the hearing every day there is news of it – it may not always be from the same source.

Wonkette – Democrats Need To Pass Some Voting Rights Bills While We Still Have Voting Rights
Quote – How exactly will Democrats “out-organize” legislation that was specifically crafted to fuck them? That remains unclear in the electoral Magic Eight Ball. Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians, a Michigan-based ballot initiative, said Republicans are actively “trying to peel away Democratic-leaning voters wherever they can. … It’s sort of death by 1,000 cuts.” A relevant example in Michigan is a Republican push to require additional steps for voters who cast ballots without a photo ID. (The GOP likely isn’t interested in making photo IDs easier to obtain, of course.)
Click through for article. I cannot agree more. I don’t know what will work, short of a miracle. (And if you can stand any more discouragement, check this out. Unbelievable, but – true. )

The Guardian – Trump officials can testify to Congress about his role in Capitol attack, DoJ says
Quote – “The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress,” Bradley Weinsheimer, a senior career official in the office of the deputy attorney general, said in the letter. The justice department told Rosen and Trump administration officials that they could appear before Congress as long as their testimony was confined to the scope set forth by the committees and did not reveal grand jury or classified information, or pending criminal cases.
Click through for details. This is noteworthy exactly because the DOJ has been (in my opinion, the opinion of Glenn Kieschner, and probably the opinios of everyone here) has so far been way too generous in extending executive privilege to TFG & Co. It would not surprise me if this is the theme of Glenn’s chat today.  (Update – it isn’t ytoday, but he’ll get to it, I’m sure.)

Food for Thought:

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Video Thread for 7/21/21

 Posted by at 12:08 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 212021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump Associate Tom Barrack Indicted for 7 Felony Crimes, Unlawfully Acted as Foreign Agent (Sure glad Glenn read those 46 pages so I didn’t have to.)

Meidas Touch – Rep. Eric Swalwell SLAMS Republicans for WWE Approach to Politics (Love Eric – not sure about the beard – but it’s not my face.)

politicsrus #3: – GOP Murdering Americans

Now This News – a few moments from the Voting Rights hearing.

Liberal Redneck – Texas Klan Plan

Rob Rogers – Climate Crawl

Keith – OLBERMANN VS…THE NYC WILDFIRE SMOKE AND ACRID SMELL. IT’S FROM THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON FIRES.

Beau – Let’s talk about the Biden administration’s information campaign….

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Video Thread for 7/20/21

 Posted by at 12:32 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 202021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Defendant Hodgkins Receives Lenient Sentence. How Will It Impact Other Insurrection Prosecutions?

Thom Hartmann – GOP Killing Kids & Grandma to Own the Libs?

politicsrus hasn’t posted for a while, but now has three up. First: Smart campaigning is here

politicsrus #2: Make John Happy – looks old, but we can’t take these Senators for granted. And we need to keep then

Now This News – Police Use Bag of Chips to Save Stabbing Victim’s Life

Puppet Regime – Putin Has a Solution for US Democracy

Beau – Let’s talk about Legos, being your own worst enemy, and the Block 19…. From what Beau says, it apears Lego just made the Legos, and the kits were the brainchildren of (and assembled by) someone else.

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Open Thread for July 20, 2021

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 202021
 

Here’s a personal opinion, with which anyone is welcome to disagree. I believe that the DOJ should research court records to determine the longest sentence that anyone has ever received for a conviction of a single count of possession if narijuana for persona l use Then, the sentence for Capitol rioters should all be at least one day longer then that. I’m pretty sure eight months doesn’t meet that criterion.  It is, however, definitely better than nothing.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

AP News – In step to shut Guantanamo, Biden transfers Moroccan home
Quote – Almost 800 detainees have passed through Guantanamo. Of the 39 remaining, 10 are eligible to be transferred out, 17 are eligible to go through the review process for possible transfer, another 10 are involved in the military commission process used to prosecute detainees and two have been convicted, a senior administration official said. The 10 eligible for transfer are from Yemen, Pakistan, Tunisia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.
About goddam time. Click though for story.

Reuters – France honours Rev. Jesse Jackson with the Legion d’Honneur
Quote – A political activist, minister, and former shadow U.S. senator for the District of Columbia representing the Democratic party, Jackson has been involved in civil rights activism since the 1960s, when he worked alongside Martin Luther King…. “From your earliest years, you were hungry for knowledge and justice, and you are a special friend of France, a brother for us,” Macron said in a solemn address at the Elysee palace.
Click through for a little more, including photo.

The 19th – Senate Democrats take fight to protect voting rights to Georgia
Quote – Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic head of the Senate Rules Committee, which oversees federal elections along with the chamber’s day-to-day procedures, said the panel decided to convene its first field hearing in more than 20 years in Georgia because its legislature passed an “egregious” restrictive voting law earlier this year. “We cannot keep our heads in the ground, you’ve got to go out there and see exactly what’s happening,” Klobuchar told The 19th ahead of the hearing.
Click through for details. It’s not guaranteed to work, but it is something. It can’t hurt.

Food for Thought:

There is a new book out about plants. The title is “This Is Your Mind on Plants.” The last name of the author is “Pollan.” Yes, you probably could make this up, but who would believe it?

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Open Thread for July 14, 2021

 Posted by at 11:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 142021
 

Yesterday was kind of uneventful. I discovered an unopened bottle of salad dressing I had thought I was out of – a quite new bottle, not an old expired one. I need to place a grocery order but I don’t like to do so on Tuesday for Wednesday because that’s when theprices change. I kind of like to know what I am spending. Maybe today.  It’s not urgent to within a day or two.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Biden rips Trump’s ‘big lie’ in voting rights address
Quote – Republicans vehemently oppose the For the People Act, calling it a blatant power grab by Democrats. The wide-reaching bill would mandate a federal threshold for certain voting rights, such as universal by-mail voting, early voting and same-day voter registration. It also addresses gerrymandering and campaign finance reform.
Click through for full story. Maybe we should be saying yes, it is a means to grab power away from those who hold it illegally and immorally and return it to the people to whom it rightly belongs. Maybe it’s just me – but I think we need to get better at turning their own words back on them. And we need to do it fast.

Politico – Opinion | The Democrats Need a Reality Check
Quote – But the FDR and LBJ examples show conclusively why visions of a transformational Biden agenda are so hard to turn into reality. In 1933, FDR had won a huge popular and electoral landslide, after which he had a three-to-one Democratic majority in the House and a 59-vote majority in the Senate. Similarly, LBJ in 1964 had won a massive popular and electoral vote landslide, along with a Senate with 69 Democrats and a House with 295. Last November, on the other hand, only 42,000 votes in three key states kept Trump from winning re-election. Democrats’ losses in the House whittled their margin down to mid-single digits. The Senate is 50-50.
Click through for his rather depressing reasoning. I wish I had an idea how to make it happen.

Slate – What the Rogue Texas Democrats Did on Their First Day in D.C.
Quote – They’d come to D.C. to take the last (and most dramatic) action available to them to stop their home state of Texas from passing sweeping restrictions on voting rights. The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature is ready to pass the bill, so more than 50 Democrats in the Texas House fled to D.C. to withhold the quorum required to pass a bill. They must stay out of the state for the rest of the 30-day special legislative session called by Gov. Greg Abbott. Their plan for their first day included a short press conference, then lobbying senators and members of Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation that would supersede what the Republicans in the Texas Legislature are trying to pass.
Click through for more story, opinion, and analysis. It is simply heartbreaking that they need to do this. They are all heroes in my book. But they shouldn’t have to be, and wouldn’t if too many Republicans weren’t weasels (no insult intended to four-legged, furry weasels.) I wanted to be sure to post this story today and not behind Pat’s back – she’s on vacation for four days starting tomorrow (so don’t worry about her.)

Food for Thought: Three Borowitz Headlines
Democrats Agree to Return to Texas if Greg Abbott Leaves

Texans Nostalgic for Wisdom of Rick Perry

Greg Abbott Tries to Lure Back Democratic Lawmakers by Offering NPR Tote Bags

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Video Thread for 7/13/21

 Posted by at 12:28 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 132021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s CPAC Speech and the Reaction of his Adoring Fans. Hate Sells as our Nation Suffers

Meidas touch – Arrest Trump Now

MSNBC – Texas Charges Man Who Waited Six Hours To Vote With Illegal Voting

Now This News – Dr. Fauci Slams CPAC Attendees Applauding Low Vaccination Rates

Rebel HQ – Trump ADMITS To Peddling Election Lies

Rocky Mountain Mike – Big Lie. This may be his best ever.

Beau – Let’s talk about that statue coming down and defending history….

Beau – Let’s talk about politicians writing unconstitutional laws….

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Open Thread for July 3, 2021

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 032021
 

Last night’s opera was “Nixon in China.” It’s the first in John Adams’s American history trilogy; “Doctor Atomic” was the second. “Nixon in China” is fairly straightforwardly historical, until the second act, when a plot point of Mme. Mao making up a clownish exaggeration of a villain as Kissinger in a performance for the guests requires the storyteller singing Kissinger to double. The more you detest Kisinger, of course, the funnier it is. As with “Doctor Atomic,” actual journals and quotes from contemporary interviews were used in the libretto. The only character who is spared some mockery is Chou En-Lai, who at the time of Nixon’s visit was dying of cancer but also ersonally invested in the meeting going well – good reasons to treat him kindly. There is a piece which was contemplated being in the opera but withdrawn which is known as “The Chairman Dances” or, alternatively, “Foxtrot for Orchestra.” (I guess the idea of a mobility challenged Mao dancing for 12 minutes, energetically at that, was simply too much.) I’ve never seen the third opera in the trilogy, because it involves terrorism and ends up getting boycotted. Since I haven’t seen it, I can’t say whether the boycotting is justified, but I suspect it isn’t. Perhaps some day I’ll find out.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

The Hill – Five takeaways from the Supreme Court’s term
Here are the five: The court is shifting to the right
Still some room for consensus
Religious rights groups extend winning streak
Losing streak continues for voting rights
A ‘warm-up act’?
Click through for details on each.

Yahoo!news – Tropical Storm Elsa is the latest evidence climate change is happening now
I’m not a big fan of yahoo news, but this was the only source I could find quickl which made the link to climate change explicit
Quote – While Elsa, whose maximum sustained winds are 45 miles per hour, is unlikely to inflict the same amount of damage as a stronger hurricane if and when it makes landfall, its formation on July 1 — following Ana, Bill, Claudette and Danny — fits into a pattern in which the changing climate makes conditions for life-threatening storms more favorable.
Click through for the rationale.

Axios – Poll: Americans more worried about restrictive voting laws than election fraud
Yes, I know, this is one of those “file under No Shit, Sherlock” stories. But there’s so much denial of it.
Quote – Why it matters: 67% of Americans — including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents — said they believed American democracy is currently under threat, though the survey did not ask what they believed is threatening it.
Click through for details.

Food for Thought

Just a little extra – Smithsonian Trivia for July 4. Their quizzes are generally tough but I managed 4 out of 5 on this one.

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