Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump urges Republican to shut down government to STOP the prosecutions against him.
Thom Hartmann – Will You Vote For Puppy Killers? Why The GOP Is Betting On It
MSNBC – A general reporting to an unstable president’: Report exposes challenges for Milley under Trump
Farron Balanced – Terrified Trump Is Asking His Lawyers How Bad Prison Will Be For Him
Rescue Cat Lives In Liquor Store
Beau – Schumer, Tuberville, and turnarounds….
I looked for Glenn, Andrew Weissmann, Neal Katyal, and Harry Litman. Everyone seems to be taking a breather. So here’s this, to piss off all the LGBTQIA haters.
Look to the Rainbow (Petula Clark) from the 1968 movie with Fred Astaire (4 years after the Civil Right Act – pretty good time to release it, don’t you think?
1. On the day I was born,/Said my father, said he./I’ve an an elegant legacy/Waitin’ for ye,/’Tis a rhyme for your lips/And a song for your heart,/To sing it whenever/he world falls apart.
Look, look/(Chorus):Look to the rainbow./Follow it over the hill/And the stream./Look, look/Look to the rainbow./Follow the fellow/Who follows a dream./Follow the fellow,/Follow the fellow,/Follow the fellow/Who follows a dream.
2. So I bundled my heart/And I roamed the world free;/To the East with the lark/To the West with the sea./And I searched all the earth/And I scanned all the skies,/And I found it at last,/In my own true love’s eyes. (Chorus)
The Lincoln Project – Strong
MSNBC – Lawrence: Tuberville is the most disgraceful senator of the year
Armageddon Update – 2 Tiered Justice System
Woman Rescues 10 Tiny Puppies From A Rock Cave
Beau – Let’s talk about McCarthy’s missed moment coming back around….
Glenn Kirschner – Rudy Giuliani gets sued (again), this time for $1.3 million by his own former lawyers! [MAGA – Make Attornies Get Attornies]
The Lincoln Project – Fact Checking
PoliticsGirl – September 13, 2023
Liberal Redneck – Conservatives Trash the Military for Being “Woke” (commercial in the middle)
Disabled cat was about to be euthanized. This woman took her home.
Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, the UAW, and unions….
Yesterday, I felt much better than I did Monday. Even my back – I only needed about half of the TENS time I customarily use.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
PolitiZoom – MTG Likens Republicans in The House to The Mafia’s “Five Families”
Quote – As Kevin McCarthy’s Kindergarten caucus veers toward default and the wrecking of a now thriving American Economy (which is probably their ultimate goal ahead of next year’s election) MTG posted a tweet comparing the GOP to the Mafia’s Five Families…. Marge’s idiotic comparison is so far off the mark because… number one… organized crime was, you know… organized. The Republicans in the House are much more like The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight, and if they are allowed to have their way it just might be our American experiment with democracy that ends up dead in the barber’s chair.
Click through for details. This may be the closest that Empty Green has ever been in her life to speaking/writing the truth.
Letters from an American – September 18, 2023
Quote – Headlines this morning said that “Congress” is in crisis. But that construction obscures the true story: the Republicans are in crisis, and they are taking the country down with them…. Over the weekend, six Republicans from five different party factions offered a plan for a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. Designed to appeal to the extremists, the plan goes back on the deal McCarthy struck with Biden…. It includes the border measures the extremists want, and provides no money either for Ukraine or for disaster assistance. It’s not clear that Republican House members will vote for the bill, and if they do, the bill is unlikely, encumbered as it is, to make it through the Senate.
Click through (Substack) for the full letter. She is right – and particularly about the inaccuracy of the reporting. You know, even getting big money out of politics will not help us to keep our Constitution from being trashed if we cannot also get big money out of journalism.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Wagner’s “Tannhäuser,” from Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA). The events of the opera have a definite historical date – during the lives of the real people Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide, but it’s far from historical. As it starts, Tannhäuser has been living in the Venusberg (which means “the mount of Venus,” and yes, the double meaning in English also exists in German) where the goddess Venus has been keeping him satisfied for at least months if not years. The “Venusberg music” is supposed to be a bacchanale (orgy), but I certainly don’t think “orgy” when I hear it and I doubt anyone here would. Now, Saint-Saëns bacchamale from “Sanson et Dalila” is hot. Richard Strauss’s “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Salome is wicked hot. The Venusberg music is inspiring and even noble, but not hot. But Wagner’s (IMO very odd) attitudes toward sexuality don’t really come out until later. Anyway, Tannhäuser decodes he wants to go home where there are other minstrels and a girl, Elisabeth, who loves him, and he arrives just on the eve of a big singing contest, in which he is expected to participate. His entry is too erotic for everyone else, and when it comes out he has been in the Venusberg, all heck breaks loose, and Elisabeth’s uncle (the local feudal lord) in particular, but everyone really, demands he travel to Rome and get absolution from the Pope. He goes to Rome, and the Pope tells him that his staff (a piece of pretty old, very dead wood) is as likely to bear green leaves as he is to be forgiven (terrible theology, BTW). He comes back, travelling with a bunch of ordinary Pilgrims, whose chorus is very familiar outside the opera house, as is Wolfram’s song to the Evening Star, which he sings not long before Tannhäuser gets back. Tannhäuser tellsWolfram what the Pope said, Elisabeth dies (the salvation of men through the deaths of women is a very common 19th century romantic trope, it’s not just Wagner, but Wagner kind of did beat it to death), and green leaves burst out of his staff (very glad I never had to build that prop). It really is beautiful musically, which certainly saves the ridiculous (even offensive) story line. Wagner is not known for realism – his one comedy, Die Meistersinger, does actually show people with real feelings and quirks, and if you can get past the magic love potion, so does Tristan und Isolde, but mostly his characters – humans, gods, giants, dwarves, witches, dragons, birds – seem a little off. But one can get carried away by the music in spite of that.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Zip Recruiter – Professional Troll
Quote – As of Aug 25, 2023, the average hourly pay for a Professional Troll in the United States is $67.39 an hour. While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $141.59 and as low as $5.29, the majority of Professional Troll wages currently range between $16.35 (25th percentile) to $129.57 (75th percentile) across the United States. The average pay range for a Professional Troll varies greatly (by as much as $113.22), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.
Click through. It likely wil come up with information on your area. Someone at Democratice Underground found this … and found it scary. I concur.
MSN/Axios – AG Merrick Garland denounces election worker threats as DOJ charges over a dozen people
Quote – The DOJ announced Thursday that two men in two separate cases in Arizona and Georgia had pleaded guilty to threatening election officials in Arizona and Georgia in separate cases, brought by the the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force — which has now brought charges in 14 cases…. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute those who target election officials and election workers as part of our broader efforts to safeguard the right to vote and to defend our democracy.”
Click through for a bit more. I’m glad they are taking this seriously, and hope there are not people failng to report for fear nothing – or worse – will be done.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Two of Trump’s RICO co-defendants, Chesebro & Powell, want speedy trial. This is bad news for Trump.
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – August 22, 2023
Farron Balanced – Steve Bannon Attacks Fani Willis And Suggests We’re Close To ‘Revolution’
Rocky Mountain Mike – Headloose
Guy Risks Life To Rescue Cats From Trees
Beau – Let’s talk about how McCarthy can fix the House….
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Manon” by Jules Massenet (Puccini also wrote “Manon Lescaut” based on the same book, and so did a number of other composers whose works are not in the repertory.) It’s based on a 1731 novel written by a French priest, which IMO is Exhibit A for why priests should not do marriage counseling. Manon is described as “capturing the heart of everyone she encounters,” but in no version that I have seen is she even likeable. She’s a gold digger who can’t even be consistent in digging gold, and she doesn’t just manage to get into trouble herself, but destroys the one man who truly loves her (which doesn’t say much for him either.) But of course the music is wonderful (in both this one and the Puccini) so I listened to it all the way to the end when she and her lover are “lost in the deserts of Louisiana,” even though I can’t help snickering at the thought of any part of Louisiana being desert (you can blame the book for that.) This performance is from Barcelona, and the production looks like someone’s fantasy of modern Las Vegas (well, there is a fair amount of gambling in the opera.)
Also, a PSA – about 11:00 a.m. today Hurricane Hillary is expected to reach the Mexico-California border and by 11:00 p.m. to have passed Los Angeles. If you know anyone in the vicinity (Colleen already has it), here’s a link on preparations. And the LA Times has a map following and estimating its path. California has not experiened a hurricane in living memory – of those alive at the time of the Spanish Conquest. And who knows for how long before that. I know I’m late with this, but if you know anyone it would help, here it is.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The Warning – The peaceful transfer of power
Quote – American greatness has been fueled and sustained by qualities of character that are timeless and sorely needed during these days of national crisis. There should be no mistake about this being a moment of crisis or blindness about its cause, or who specifically is responsible…. (discussion of three Presidents’ characters) …Truman, a decorated combat veteran of the First World War, recalled his emotions this way, telling reporters the following day: “I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.” Why did he feel that way? What burden was thrust upon him? It was the burden imposed by the most solemn oath that exists in American public life. Thirty-five words long, it is specifically proscribed in the US Constitution, and was taken for the first time on March 4, 1789, by George Washington. When Truman raised his hand, he was the 32nd person in American history to swear it. When he did, he became president of the United States of America. His styling was simple and unadorned. “Mr. President” is what we call the person who swears that oath. Here it is: “I do solemnly swear to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Click through for article. As always on substack, what looks like a paywall isn’t – the message may have an option to “let me try it first” or to “keep reading”or even “no thanks.” There may even be more than one. Whatever it is, click it and you’ll be in. This article is a little pep talk for us who already realize the gravity of our situation.
Upworthy – Daughter comes out as trans, gives dad courage to come out as well: ‘We’re stronger as a family’
Quote – Eric remembers his daughter being bullied as a kid. One of the first incidents of bullying was when Corey was pushed down a hill covered in frozen ice. She suffered injuries to her face and was forced to move to another school, as a result, said Eric, reported ABC News. Eric said the new school’s staff and students were more accepting of his daughter and treat her just like any of the other girls. “She’s allowed to use the girls’ bathroom and locker room, and play on the girls’ sports team and cheer team if she wants to,” said Eric. “We are just like any other kids. We only want people to accept and love us for who we are,” said Corey.
Click through for details. It’s a pretty good bet that anything you see on Upworthy is – worthy to be uprated and upraised. Crooks and Liars recently re-posted the video mentioned (the one with the captions.)
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Regarding the indictments of Trump and company, Georgia DA Fani Willis says, “We’re ready to go.”
The Lincoln Project – The GOP is Racist
MSNBC – Trump braces for Jan. 6 indictment as Capitol officer blasts him as ‘a hitman’ – Inside w/Jen Psaki
Puppet Regime – MBS: A Barbie girl living in a Saudi world
Squirrel Visits His Rescuer Every Day For Years
Beau – Let’s talk about AMOC amok, currents, dates, and water….