Oct 172021
 

Yesterday, Virgil and I had a good visit, and I got home (and changed and the mail in) but about 6:30 He returns all greetings. It was a better than avergae visit (tey’re all good).I don’t want to break his confidentiality,but he has been having very vivid nightmares lately – so vivid he calls me he tells me what happened in the dream as something that really happened, when it’s impossible. Yesterday was the first time we ever talked about one during a visit, and was able to associate the scariness of the dreams to an actual time period in his life (before we met) which was both sad and scary for real. I hope this knowledge opens up his ability to deal with it better.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Vice News – Capitol Police Officer Arrested for Aiding January 6 Rioter
Quote – Officer Michael A. Riley, an officer with more than two decades on the force, was charged with obstruction of justice for Facebook messaging an alleged rioter and warning them to delete posts that said they’d been in the Capitol. Riley is the first Capitol officer who’s been arrested for charges stemming from the January 6 riots, according to the U.S. Capitol Police. According to the indictment, Riley friended a man on Facebook who’d posted selfies and other evidence that he was in the Capitol during the riots and warned him to take the posts down so as to avoid possible charges. He identified himself as a Capitol officer “who agrees with your political stance,” and told him to “take down the part about being in the building.”
Click through fpr details. I have no words. Well, maybe one – “Goodbye.”

Politico – Law enforcement’s use of force against Jan. 6 conspiracy suspects draws heat — and credit
Quote – FBI agents had just found a cache of firearms during a search at the Nashville home of Eric Munchel — the body-armor-clad Capitol rioter famously photographed carrying zip ties in the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 — when the bureau issued a consequential warning. The FBI warned that police departments seeking to detain Jan. 6 suspects should “exercise caution and consider use of SWAT when affecting the arrest of individuals who displayed body armor or other armament during criminal activity conducted at the US Capitol.”
Click through for story. I was to see a swat team arrest Mo Brooks.

The Hill via MSN et al. – Sen. Whitehouse blasts Alito speech: ‘You have fouled your nest, not us’
Quote – During his speech, Alito took particular exception to what he characterized as media distortions that feed into a false portrayal of the court as a “dangerous cabal.” But Whitehouse said the court’s deteriorating standing among the public has been largely self-inflicted. He ticked off a number of court rulings that he said demonstrates a pattern in which the court’s decisionmaking fits neatly with the interests of well-heeled Republican donors.
Click through for more back-and-forth, and also more sources. I would have one tiny grammatical quibble … but if Sen. Whitehouse wants to say “us” when “we” is correct, he has my permission. With him, it’s the substance which counts. And no one could possibly misunderstand his meaning in context.

Food for Thought –

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Oct 162021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Steve Bannon Headed for Prosecution for Criminal Contempt. Here’s What Congress Should Tackle Next.

Meidas Touch – Ivermectin-pushing doctor cited by far right EXPOSED as a fraud

The Lincoln Project – Dragon of Budapest

MSNBC – Rep. Raskin: ‘Steve Bannon Committed A Crime Today’

Ring of Fire – Lauren Boebert Ripped To Shreds Over Misspelled ‘Imeach Biden’ Effort

Police Scotland – “Don’t be That Guy”

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump’s message to the GOP….

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Aug 062021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump Tells DOJ Officials to Lie About Election, DOG Official Jeffrey Clark Does as Trump Directed

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Now This News – Cori Bush Reacts to Mark McCloskey’s Pardon

Liberal Redneck – Arkansas Governor Mad at Self

Rocky Mountain Mike – “I’ve Seen Unvaxed People”

Beau – Let’s talk about believing things without evidence…. So true!

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Aug 052021
 

Yesterday I saw my doctor … he loves seeing me because I am organized when I go there, have updated and printed my list of meds and anything else I’m doing to my body (like the TENS, of which he approves “no side effects”) Sadly (though I’m glad he mentioned it) I learned from him of the death of the husband of a former nurse of his, whom I consider a good friend. I was not as close to her husband, but he did take care of one of my cats for the last year or so of his (the cat’s) life (he [the husband] was a DVM). When I got home I immediately tried to reach Terri but had to leave a voicemail.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – Conservative Dems Block Extending Moratorium On Evictions
Quote – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes told Jake Tapper, “There were many, frankly a handful, of conservative Democrats in the House that threatened to get on planes rather than hold this vote.” Instead of passing the buck and all the blame to the Jim Jones party, AOC also held her party accountable. “We cannot, in good faith, blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority.”
Click through for deets. Even though the next take supersedes this one, there’s still some info worth knowing in it.

The 19th – ‘Our movement moved mountains’: How Cori Bush’s protest led to a new eviction moratorium
Quote – For days, Rep. Cori Bush demanded that President Joe Biden and lawmakers in Congress move to reinstate a federal eviction moratorium that had expired on Saturday, putting millions of people at risk of being removed from their homes. She protested outside the U.S. Capitol building and slept in a chair on the Capitol steps for three nights.
Click through for story. Cori Bush is a hero. The 19th is a relatively new (OK, quite new) outlet, but I like its emphases. Rep Bush isn’t a Senator, but she must make up a little for Hawley.

HuffPost – Madison Cawthorn Tweet Sparks Suspicions He’s Part Of Trump’s Shadow ‘Cabinet’
Quote – [Maggie] Haberman criticized Meadows on CNN Monday for “playing into” the outlandish conspiracy theory that the former president will somehow be “reinstated.” “The reality is that former presidents don’t have Cabinets and they don’t have Cabinet meetings,” she said. “This just creates this expectation for some of Trump’s supporters who are looking for permission … to keep believing that there’s some alternate universe.”
Click through if you can stand to. What a maroon. There are some good snide tweets though.

Food for Thought

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Aug 022021
 

Yesterday was finally cooler – a little birthday present from the weather to me. I actually managed to spend a little time knitting on a cold-weather sweater which I can hardly bear to touch when it’s really hot.

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Short Takes –

The Hill – Why we need to stop talking about HIPAA
Quote – “What HIPAA actually does is protect against impermissible disclosures of your protected health information. HIPAA has 115 pages of information and contains hundreds of ways its rules can be violated. But a private business asking you whether you’ve been vaccinated isn’t one of them.”
Click through for specific reasons why HIPAA has nothing to do with vacciation “passports.”

Crooks and Liars – Capitol Rioter Who Called It ‘The Best Day Of My Life’ Now Under Arrest
Quote – Donald Smith, a New Jersey UPS employee, was arrested in connection with Capitol attack. A coworker told the FBI that Smith showed up to work showing off pictures and claimed he was in Nancy Pelosi’s office and “that it was the best day of his life.”
Click through for not much more, but a couple of pictures and a link to the Newsweek story they got it from. I love these “bragging backfire” stories.

Mark Meadows Says He’s Meeting With Trump And Shadow ‘Cabinet Members’ On ‘Real Plans’
Quote – He didn’t identify any of the “Cabinet members.” It was unclear if he was referring to Trump’s former Cabinet members or if some new group has been formed and is being referred to as a Cabinet. As for the plans under discussion, Meadows told Newsmax: “I’m not authorized to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this: We wouldn’t be meeting tonight if we weren’t making plans to move forward in a real way, with President Trump at the head of that ticket.”
Click through for full story (and video). This was a TJI – but it requires more attention. This is very dangerous stuff.

Food for Thought


ICYMI – If you haven’t, scroll down to below the last comment (including the blank one) and click to the left for an Update From WWWendy.

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Jul 142021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump Breathes New Life Into Need for an Investigation into Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Meidas Touch – EPIC RANT: The GQP Stands for NOTHING! (no shouting)

Armageddon Update: Bothsiderism – . Best of Mitch McConnell. The first of the two episode(s?) is one to bookmark, IMO

Bruno For Congress | Rise – He is running against Kevin McCarthy in California’s 23rd District. I checked a map but can’t be sure whether Bakersfield is in it, party in it, or just outside it. Theere are a couple of National Forests in it certainly. Too bad the trees can’t vote. https://crooksandliars.com/2021/07/endorsement-california-bruno-amato-v-kevin

Vote Vets – VoteVets – Traitor Oath

Keith Olbermann – Stephen A Smith righteous rant

Beau – Let’s talk about Democrats walking out in Texas….

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Jun 022021
 

Glenn Kirschner – “No, he won’t.”

Meidas Touch – Taking Back the Word “Patriot”

NBC – Destroying education is not enough for Texas. They need to destroy voting rights too.

Ring of Fire – You can turn it off when you get to the ad atthe end.

Keith OLbermann vs. Michael Flynn – Keith has Flynn’s number, as does Alexander Vindman’s brother. But Keith is wrong about one thing. The President should never tell the Justice Department what to investigate – it is supposed to be an independent agency. But Merrick Garland IMO should be on this (and may be – they don’t discuss ongoing investigations, and they shouldn’t.)

Beau – Let’s talk about a question of privilege and Cher….

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Jun 022021
 

Wednesday already – and so much going on. Well, let’s dig in.

 

 

 

Cartoon

Short Takes

The Hill – The Memo – For years I was predicting a French-Revolution-style uprising based on the way government was ignoring, not just the will of the people, but also the needs of the people, including needs the people didn’t themselves recognize (such as climatee change). Then the Trump** presidency seemed so much more like the rise of Hitler that I shifted my concerns. But now it seems I was wrong. We are re-living, in some ways, the French Revolution – and we are now approaching the Reign of Terror stage, and mob rule. A mob with no leaders with any power to restrain it. Empty Greene seems like an unlikely Mme. Defarge (and I’d be astonished if she can knit), but there it is. (And, believe it or not, I wrote this first – and then found TC’s cartoon. My timing could not have been better.)

QConference – The “Conference” at which Michael Flynn made the remarks on camera which he now denies having made was observed by the author of this Twitter thread. I’m sorry, it’s not in a neat thread reader, but I found it worth going through. The chief “takeaways” – This a near-religious movement, and they are preparing to enact violence if they don’t get their way in future elections. The talk of war is now preparation for it.

Robert Reich – H/T Mitch – Of course the Reich on the left is right. What may be more of personal annoyance to me than a major danger to democracy – but it seems that, having lived through four years of a Trump** presidency (not to mention the campaign before and the insurrections after), we seem to have all forgotten who has the authority to doo whatm and who does not have authority to do certain things. This sentence from the article: “So there will be no investigation.” – I won’t say it’s just wrong, but it’s not an established fact. A House Select Committee has not beed ruled out. A DOJ investigation (has not been ruled out (and if they are already investigating and have not told us, they are not going to tell us before it’s over.) But it kind of gives a wrong impression. Keith makes a similar error as to who can do what, and I’ll address that in the video thread. I’m sure a big part of it is that those of us who recognize the enormity of what we are facing are somewhat in a panic. But a better handle on who can and should do what would, for one thing, help us target the right people in petitions. And it should also help us to think more rationally, and God knows we’ll need that.

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