Yesterday, my vision was back to normal when I got up, thankfully. Oh, and happy Hanukkah to all who observe it. It’s very early this year – I have already missed two days, for which I apologize.
Cartoon –
Short Takes
Daily Kos (Kerry Eleveld) – Republicans are desperate to believe 2020 was ‘stolen’ from Trump. Nothing will dissuade them
Quote – But when it came to Republicans, 62% misstated the results of the sham audit[in Arizona], with 32% saying the so-called audit found evidence of fraud and 30% saying it probably found fraud, when in fact the report located no 2020 fraud. So even when a sham process initiated by GOP lawmakers, promoted by Donald Trump, and conducted by pro-Trump sympathizers finds no fraud, a substantial majority of Republicans reject and distort the findings.
Click thrugh for more numbers – if you need them.
AP News – Jan. 6 panel sets contempt vote for former DOJ official
Quote – The committee on Monday scheduled a vote to pursue contempt charges against Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department lawyer who aligned with President Donald Trump as he tried to overturn his election defeat. If approved by the panel, the recommendation of criminal contempt charges would then go to the full House for a vote and then to the Justice Department.
Click through for more. This vote is for Clark, as you see. Meadows’s turn in the barrel will come.
The American media misses the true nature of the GOP threat — but an international outlet nailed it
Quote – While I don’t care about [Candace] Owens, and neither should you, we should care about the use of the right’s rhetoric of slander, of which the word “communist” has long played a part in American history. Liberals and progressives first looked to the government as a force of social reform in the early 20th century. Around that time, the Russian Revolution occurred (1917). Since then, the American right has smeared liberals by associating their policies and objectives with godless communism.
Click through for details. As we know, left and right have nothing to do with authoritarianism, or its opposite Sadly, most people don’t know that. I’m sure that’s part of what stood in the way of seeing this.
Food for Thought –
6 Responses to “Open Thread for November 30, 2021”
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There’s an old saying, “Every once in a while socialism has to step in to save capitalism.” I would say socialism has to step in and save the people from capitalism. Social Security has not hurt our capitalistic system, but it has saved millions of people from being destitute. Many government programs that help millions of people have not hurt our capitalistic system. In fact, corporations should pay higher taxes to support social services and they will still have a healthy profit margin. We have proven this in the past when our taxes were almost three times higher, but at the same time our economic growth was the greatest in history. Capitalism has a responsibility to the community they do business in and make their profits from. Supplying the products and needs of the people, supplying good paying jobs, and paying taxes for the progression of the community. Rant over.
Mark Twain had a saying, “Support your country all of the time. Support your government when it deserves it.”
I wouldn’t call it a rant. I’d call it a well reasoned concise statement about reality.
And yes, Twain was correct (its a much better motto than “My country, right or wrong,” even in the full version.)
Thank you JD.
I need to correct my Twain quote.
He said, “Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
That’s what happens when I rely on memory, sorry.
I want to add another quote, from JFK:
” If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
YVW – just truth. I make errors in remembering quotes all the time – if I am sure I’m not changeing the meaning I generally say up front “this s from memory. Amen to JFK also.i
Comment from Mitch –
Glad your vision is back to normal!’Toon: We need more people like him.
DK: The fool who spent money on that idiotic jacket is probably going to g to his grave, whenever, “knowing” that the election was stolen. People,
in general, tend to stick to their first impressions, regardless of evidence to the contrary. Some are able to actually parse evidence, and recognize
their mistake(s). But, when one is wedded to a first impression, due to a conscious, or unconscious bias, agenda,etc., it will rarely happen.
Speaking of Dumpness, check out this excerpt from HCR’s blog of yesterday:
“Recently, Salon columnist Chauncey DeVega conducted an interview with Miles Taylor, the chief of staff to Trump’s Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen who published a New York Times op-ed in 2018 as “Anonymous” claiming that he was part of a resistance movement in the Trump White House. Taylor told DeVega that Republican congresspeople are worried they will be attacked if they cross Trump. “I’m talking about former Cabinet secretaries, sitting members of Congress and others who personally confessed to me, ‘I don’t think I can join you in rising up against this guy because I’ve got to worry about my family’s safety.’” Taylor said. “I didn’t anticipate how much I was going to hear that as a response. They would say to me, “Look, I’ve got kids and this is too crazy right now.” HCR- 11/29/21 It’s like we have already got a foot in the world of Stalin!
AP: Meadows has, reportedly, already agreed to come before the committee, with details being worked out. Clark might, or might not, have the brains to
see the writing on his wall.
RS: Yeah, bunch of dirty Commies!!!!! I;m sorry, but I’m sure that the vast majority of Americans have no real idea of what Marx’ version of Communism is. The world has never yet seen such a communist system, to my knowledge, and probably never will. Totalitarianism, on the other hand, is the horse of a different color.
“Useful idiots,” is what Stalin used to call those Americans who believed in the ideal Marxist view, and were useful for their propaganda value. Fascist does not have the emotional resonance of communist, certainly not in the U.S. And, the Totalitarian loving Right plays on that, even to the extent of not disavowing the life threatening crazies.
FFT: Even more reason to consider the danger in the HCR piece.
Mitch