Jan 192024
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Carrie B. She mentioned that Barry is having medical issues and could use all the prayeers (or however you communicate with the universe) you can spare. Her own mobility issues are such that she cannot go anywhere without someone driving her, and Barry won’t be driving for a while.

Earlier this week, or maybe last week, I selected a Beau video about the difference between the ICJ, which is currently hearing a genocide case against Israel) and the ICC, which isn’t. Well, The Conversation is interested in this too. Their article doesn’t exactly compare the two, instead going into more detail about the powers of the ICJ.

Sacramento is, of course, the capital city of California. Growing up, I had a great-aunt and a great-uncle living there and from time to time we would visit, which was not really enough to educate me about the city. But when I saw this article fro California Public Radio, I thought, well, apparently, if a group means business, apparently they can do something about homelessness. Of course it took a long time and a chunk of change, but the story might well still have something to say to people working on homelessness in other places. So, if you know of a group near you (or are part of one), this is for you to share.

Share
Jul 122023
 

Yesterday, two legal things happened with Trump**, and both Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance addressed both. The first was Trump**’s motion to postpone the documents case trial indefinitely. This is both very Trump** and very ridiculaous (not that there’s much difference), and Glenn (and other legiti,ate attorneys) will tear it to shreds, though it won’t be in today’s Thread. Secondly – for background, the DOJ defended Trump** in E Jean Carroll’s original defamation case – it did so because he was President when he made the original defamatory remarks, and there might have been just the remotest chance that he was acting as President when he made them. But the new defamatory remarks he made last year – he wasn’t, thank God, President then, so no defense from DOJ. He’ll have to get his own lawyers, Honestly, I don’t know whether having DOJ defense the first time around even helped. I think if I had been on the jury, every time I looked at the defense table, those DOJ lawyers would have reminded me that our nation hadd been so misfortunate as to have this lunatic as President – which would not have inclined me to show him an atom of mercy.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Why The Democrats Are Already More Strongly Positioned Than The GOP For 2024
Quote – In 2018, 2020, and 2022, non professional Democratic House candidates out fundraised deeply entrenched GOP incumbents by 4-5 to 1. Mostly by talking in living rooms and kitchens, grocery stores and Starbucks, and holding town halls where they actually listened to constituent concerns, and answered not in political bullsh*t, but in real life solutions. Little wonder they rocked like Bob Seger with Hollywood Nights. And the Democrats, not only the upstart contenders, but even the DNC seem to have gotten the memo.
Click through for opinion. Let me remind you that Murfster has vision issues (I can’t remember now whether it’s glaucoma, cataracts, both, or something else) and really is not able to prrofread to his own satisfaction, let alone anyone else’s. He’s still intelligent, though, and I hope he’s correct here.

The Daily Beast – GOP Board Whipped Up Homeless Hate. Then a Man Was Murdered
Quote – In January, the Board of Commissioners in Flathead County, Montana, proclaimed that the homeless had become a big problem in the little town of Kalispell due to charitable efforts to shelter and feed them. “Providing homeless infrastructure has the predictable consequence of attracting more homeless individuals,” read a preposterous letter signed by the three members, all Republicans. “When a low-barrier shelter opened in our community, we saw a dramatic increase.” The letter progressed from icy hearted to paranoid.
Click through for story. But that’s not how they’d tell it. After all, we are the violent ones coming to get them. Yeah. Right.

Food For Thought

Share
Apr 212023
 

Yesterday, there was an update on the little girl taken from her parents because midwife. She’s going home! Details, including from the family’s attorney, here. In weather news, it’s supposed to snow tomorrow, although very early – it’s to stop by 9:00 am and then warm up. If it does, I”ll be fine with it. I’m to see Virgil Sunday. I hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely 4/20.

Cartoon – 21 0421Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – Inside Jim Jordan’s ‘Charade’ of a Hearing on Violent Crime in NYC
Quote – Back when Jim Jordan was a collegiate wrestling champion, the strategy would have been called a double misdirection duck under…. In truth, the violent crime rate is declining in Manhattan, with murders down 14 percent, shootings down 17 percent, and robberies down 8 percent. Jordan was just seeking to undermine Bragg and therefore the 34-count indictment he had secured against Trump 13 days before…. To mask the actual crime numbers, Jordan applied a second misdirection, inviting the families of two murder victims, the father of a hate crime, and a Manhattan bodega clerk who was charged with homicide after killing a robber but later deemed to have acted in self-defense.
Click through for full opinion. Yes, it’s an opinion piece. When lies are being peddled as facts, sometimes an opinion piece is the best (or even the only) way to get to the truth. At least Jerry Nadler is there. I know he hates it, but he knows and does his duty.

Denverite – Aloft, Denver’s COVID-era shelter, closes as residents find housing and fear the streets
Quote – (The Salvation Army, the State of Colorado, the City of Denver and activists have found housing for all but two residents) On the second Tuesday in April, older homeless men at high risk of dying from respiratory infections joined members of the housing advocacy group the Housekeys Action Network Denver, or HAND, in a hot downtown parking lot, outside a soon-to-close shelter at the Aloft Hotel…. [D]odging cars, residents tried to figure out where they could go now that the City of Denver and the Salvation Army were shutting down a home that felt permanent, though they knew it never was.
Click through for story (and stories.) The subtitle (in parens) is the good news, and I’m proud of all who have worked on this, but it’s not good enough. A big reason why we can’t have nice things is TABOR.

Bonus: Crooks & Liars – Marge Gets Shut Down At Committee Hearing After She Breaks House Rules
Quote – Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) asked for Greene’s words to be “taken down” because they violated the House rules of decorum…. Still, when asked by Republican Rep. Mark Green if she would withdraw her statement, she declined…. [Rep. Daniel] Goldman noted that the rules prohibit her from continuing. “Point of personal inquiry,” Rep. Sporkfoot said. “There’s no such thing,” Goldman shot back.
Click through – there’s also video. I didn’t put this in the video thread because I figured we could all use a laugh – or at least a smile.

Food For Thought
(Hey, I can dream.)

Share
Mar 112023
 

Have you ever heard of Susie King Taylor? Neither had I. Yesterday, I got an email from Theater of War which introduced me. She was the first Black nurse to serve in the Union Army during our Civil War. She wrote a memoir later, describing her experiences then and in the later Jim Crow era, and ToW is doing a presentation of selections from that memoir featuring Samira Wiley. That sounds like it could very well blow the roof off of the venue – except that the venue is Zoom. I also found it interesting that Margaret Atwood, who has played Tiresias a couple of times (“a crabby old prophet who is alwayr right – type casting”), has a Substack newsletter herself. I don’t necessarily want a personal newsletter just because I like the person, but I definitely signed up for hers.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Denverite – Why homelessness solutions aren’t working and what the unhoused need, according to 828 people experiencing homelessness
Quote – In recent political debates, some candidates have speculated that many unhoused people simply don’t want housing. The results of the survey suggest that isn’t true in the vast majority of cases. “Between 93% and 99% of houseless people want some form of housing,” the report states. But four walls and a roof aren’t necessarily enough. People want safety where they’re staying, their freedom and community, according to the report. Housing needs to offer residents the basics: the ability to control the temperature, restrooms with showers and accessible locations.
Click through for story. If you work with the homeless, or know anyone who does, you can follow a link to the group (HAND) which produced this, then to their “2023 report” page, and download the whole thing. It’s 130 pages, but that isn’t all that many bytes – less than 32 MB, in fact, and I doubt whther you can even find a thumb drive any more smaller than 32 MB.

The Nib – The Long Road to Women’s Suffrage
Quote – On January 10, 1878, Republican Senator from California named Aaron A. Sargent introduced the “Anthony Amendment” – 29 words to amend the 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and grant American women the right to vote…. It was named after the prominent suffragette, Susan B. Anthony, co-founder of the National Women’s Suffrage Association, an organization of which Senator Sargent’s wife, Ellen Clark Sargent, was treasurer.
Click through for full graphic. It was a long and hard battle – and there’s not really a happy ending. None of the three who worked so hard on this could see past whiteness – and none of them lived to see the 19th Amendment ratified. We all need to continue to grow in what reactionaries would call “wokeness.”

Food For Thought

Share
Jan 232023
 

Glenn Kirschner – DOJ will resist Jim Jordan’s subpoenas prying into criminal investigation of the insurrection

Robert Reich – The Republican Party’s Worst Nightmare

Farron Balanced – Trump Blames Evangelical ‘Disloyalty’ For All Of His Problems

Armageddon Update – Biden Did It Too! (I can’t wait to tell Virgil that Joe owns a pristine ’67 Corvette.)

Husky Becomes Obsessed With Man Living On The Street In Paris- (different rescue story)

Beau – Let’s talk about “just asking questions”….

Share
Sep 222021
 

Yesterday, I observed that, although a high on 90°F had been forecast, it never actually made it above 66°F. Forecasts for the rest of the week have also been lowered around 10°F. So maybe it will cool off before the end of the month. Not that I’m really mentally ready for that, but it’s not my decision. My next visit is scheduled for October 1, and I’d be happy with cool weather for that day.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Five Oregonians Hospitalized After Taking Ivermectin For COVID
Quote – The Oregon Poison Center has managed 25 cases involving Oregonians intentionally misusing ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14. Five of those cases involved hospitalization, and two people were so severely ill that they had to be admitted to an intensive care unit. Although the Oregon Poison Center also serves Alaska and Guam, the vast majority of ivermectin cases it has managed this year have come from Oregon.
Click through for stats. Sadly no state – and no county – and no town – and even no nation is idiot-free

The Hill – Five things to watch as Biden heads to the UN
The five are: 1. Do France tensions carry over
2. How does COVID-19 loom over the event
3. Do leaders announce any new climate initiatives
4. What is the Afghanistan fallout?
5. Biden looks for reset on foreign policy priorities
Click through for reasons. The missing question marks on #1 through #3 are The Hill’s omission, not mine.

Tampa Officials Shocked To Learn Evicting Black People For Basically No Reason Miiiiight Be Considered Racist
Quote – So it turns out the Tampa, Florida, police department has been encouraging landlords to evict their [usually Black] tenants, in the name of “crime prevention.” Because, as we all know, making people homeless is a great way to reduce crime.
Click through for complete story, in Wonkette’s inimitable style. You might consider cushioning your head first, since you may feel like hitting it against the wall.

Food for Thought –

Share
Aug 172021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Rules Dominion Defamation Suit Will Proceed Against Giuliani, Powell and Lindell

Now This News – Jon Ossoff on Being an Effective Ally

Rebel HQ – Homeless Man’s Emotional Response To Small Miracle

Ring of Fire – Ted Cruz Calls Capitol Rioters ‘Peaceful Supporters’ In Gross Defense Of Insurrection

Bruce Nelson – The Ultimate Tucker Carlson Folk Song

Liberal Redneck – Liberal Redneck – Biden, Trump, and the Taliban. Pretty good for somepne who admits he’s not knowledgeable. Beau, however, is knowledgeable.

Beau – Let’s talk about some questions about leaving over there…. (Yup.) The back-to-back is because they are related.

Beau – Let’s talk about who’s to blame for all this…. I can’t help but agree with his assessments of blame. But I also wish, as he does, that we could stop trying to assign blame right now. “Not very conducive to stopping it” is throwing roses at it.

Share
Jan 302020
 

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox.  First, I awakened just after midnight, itchy and sticky.  I finally fell asleep again after 3:30 AM and overslept by a full two hours.  Then, I overloaded my computer  doing research this morning, crashed it. I had several web pages and several applications open at once, and had not rebooted in a couple days.  I lost forty five minutes work.  Finally, it’s a grocery delivery day, and I do not know when Store to Door is coming.  Some days…  You have a good one!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:32 (average 8:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoons:

Short Takes:

From Willamette Week: Portland-area voters could open their ballots in three months to find a surprise: a request for $250 million to $300 million a year in taxpayer funding for services to get homeless people off the streets.

WW reported Jan. 27 that the regional government Metro may place such a measure on the May 19 ballot. That marks a stark change since last month, when the Metro Council insisted to advocates it would take as long as two years to grind a measure through the bureaucracy.

Instead, local officials now want to construct a measure and present it to voters in 13 weeks.

This is still overdue, even though Oregon leads the way!  RESIST!!

From USA Today: Attorney Alan Dershowitz, a member of President Donald Trump’s defense team, alarmed Democrats and many legal scholars with his argument in the first day of questions and answers in the Senate impeachment trial that presidents cannot be removed from office for an action they believe could help get them re-elected. 

In response to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about whether it mattered if Trump engaged in a “quid pro quo,” Dershowitz said that motive was what mattered and that if an act was in the public interest it was not impeachable. And he said it was reasonable for a public official to equate what is in their own political interest with the public good.

“Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest,” he said. “And if a president does something, which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”

Dershowitz said a quid pro quo that involved an illegal act, or was done for personal financial gain, would be impeachable, however. [emphasis added]

Dershowitz is so full of shit his eyes are brown. Hitler honestly believed that murdering six million Jews was in the national interest. According to the Republican Reich, that’s fine. Who would Fuhrer Trump want to murder…Jews? …Blacks? …Latinos? …Muslims? …Gays? …Seniors? …Poor People? …Libruls? In any case, Dershowitz missed a key point. Since the re-theft (Trump* was NEVER elected) of the White House would result in more personal profit for Trump* from having his entourage stay at Trump* resorts at considerable taxpayer expense, his campaign is for personal gain,  so his campaign related acts are impeachable, even by the twisted, devious  standards of the Republican Reich!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from Lona’s past):  Shocking Blue – Venus

Ah… Lona’s memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Share