Joanne Dixon

Open Thread July 3, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:27 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 032022

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Tha Damnation of Faust” by Hector Berlioz. Berlioz was a great composer, but in one way he wasn’t terribly good at opera, because whatever the characteristic is that leads people to relate to highly visual drama, he didn’t have it. There’s plenty of drama in his operas, but it’s mostly internal (which makes it actually excellent for a radio presentation.) Some of them he didn’t even call operas in the end, so he realized that they weren’t very visual. “Romeo and Juliet” he called a “Dramatic Symphony,” and he called “Damnation of Faust” a “Dramatic Legend.” This performance is from the Salzburg Festival, with three big international stars in the three main roles. The opera also contains several instrumental pieces which are often played separately from it, chiefly the Rákóczi March (which in this performance got the kind of applause usually reserved for a star after a big aria), the Dance of the Sylphs, and the Dance of the Wisps. The penultimate ride to hell has also been played separately.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Christian Nationalist Plans To Make Handmaid’s Tale A Reality
Quote – “Christian nationalism is on the rise, and people are thirsty for it,” he said. “We are the Christian Taliban, and we will not stop until The Handmaid’s Tale is a reality, and even worse than that to be honest.” The little feller went on to say that they are trying to roll back rights for women for 100 years. “It’s only going to get worse for you,” he added.
Click through (there’s also a video.) When someone tells you who they are – believe them!

Wonkette – Trump Pitches Tantrum After Cassidy Hutchinson Fires Lawyer He Assigned Her
Quote – President Crime Boss’s tighty-whities are in a bunch after Mark Meadows’s former top aide testified about all the insane shit he did trying to hold onto power after losing the election. But his rants about Hutchinson’s choice of lawyer are particularly reminiscent of the mafia don he fancies himself.Because Hutchinson’s former counsel, Stefan Passantino, has represented Trump for a long time and in multiple capacities.
Click through for story. If someo else is paying your attorney, you can be pretty confident they are not working for you, but for the person paying them.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/2/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:06 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 022022

Glenn Kirschner – Cheney reveals witness tampering by Team Trump. Arrest warrants should issue PROMPTLY. Here’s why.

Meidas Touch – Top Former Prosecutor SAYS Trump is GOING DOWN in epic recap

The Lincoln Project – Weapons

MSNBC – How Trump’s Coup Plot Followed A ‘Pre-Existing Script In American History’ (And this is why we need to teach history – particularly reconstruction, which is extremely under-taught.)

As you can see, the RWNJ snowflakes have already come down on this. But we can get around that.

Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in to Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts (and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer)

Beau – Let’s talk about how SCOTUS helped the Democratic Party….

Open Thread July 2, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 022022

Yesterday, I started working ahead so I won’t lose sleep or sanity over juggling visiting Virgil and maintaining the blog. Speaking of Virgil, Colleen asked whether the half-day limit was related to the holiday and I said I didn’t thinks so but wasn’t sure. I didn’t say that the only facility he had previously been to with a half-day limit was an infirmary. So when he called today, I asked him, and he said, yes, he’s in an informary, but hadn’t told me because he didn’t want to worry me (ri-i-ight.) He said one of his legs collapsed. I said “Even with the walker?” and he replied “I couldn’t get to the walker fast enough.” So we’ll see what shape he is in. I pointed out that knowing that, yes, something happened, but he is getting medical care actually relieves my mind.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – The beginning of the end of regulation
Quote – West Virginia v. EPA is the latest battle pitting America’s big businesses (in this case Big Oil) against the needs of average Americans. In this Supreme Court — containing three Trump appointees, two George W. Bush appointees, and one George H.W. Bush appointee – big business is winning big time. The financial backers of the Republican Party are getting exactly what they paid for.
Click through for article. The 2020s are looking more and more like the 1920s every day. I hope we get to the 1932 election while I’m still alive (and I hope it doesn’t take until 2032 to do it.)

The Daily Beast – The Sleeper ‘Wire Fraud’ Scheme That Could Nail Trumpworld
Quote – While the Jan. 6 hearings have delivered explosive testimony and evidence suggesting that a number of former administration officials may face criminal liability related to the attack on the Capitol—possibly all the way up to Trump—there’s another potential criminal liability that has largely been lost in the news. That would be the sprawling wire fraud conspiracy which the Jan. 6 special select committee alleged in its second hearing, on June 13, a scheme which legal experts say contains the ingredients for possible federal charges against officials with the campaign and the Republican National Committee—as well as Trump himself.
Click through for details. I know, y’all don’t care what brings hem down as long as it is something, and the sooner the better.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/1/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:47 am Open Thread, Politics

Jul 012022

Glenn Kirschner – Even Mick Mulvaney concludes Trump incited an armed riot. So why has there been no accountability?

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to OAN Anchor’s TOTAL MELTDOWN over Pride Flag

The Lincoln Project – Now We Know the Truth

Twitter – Saw this on DU and had to share. Hanky Alert.

This little Ukrainian was wounded during today’s shelling of Mykolayiv. While she is being helped, she is singing the anthem of Ukraine
📹by NikNews media outlet https://t.co/FkGn9inU5U pic.twitter.com/7zoBnEd7uT

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 29, 2022

Parody Project – Anthem for the Insurrection

Beau – Let’s talk about pragmatism, unpacking the court, and dealbreakers….

Open Thread July 1, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 012022

Yesterday, I started the day with computer issues. I got in to two web pages, but couldn’t open any more with out 403 errors (“not authotized.) I rebooted the modem – nothing. I used CCleaner’s “Health Check” – nothing. I rebooted the computer and that finally solved the issue. but it took between one and two hours. Obviously I got in and got things done (grumbling all the way.)I figured I needed a little pampering after that, so spent some time goofing off.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Trumpism and the myth of the “free market”
Quote – Today, I look at what’s happened to wealth and power, and how the dramatic consolidation of both at the top of America continues to fuel Trumpism. Wealth and power are inseparable. Democracy depends on the support of a large and growing middle class that shares a nation’s growing wealth — and through that wealth, its power.
Click through for Part 2 of “The Roots of Trumpism.” I don’t know how many parts there will be (he may not know yet himself.)

Wonkette – Supreme Court Kills Tribal Sovereignty Too In Case You Thought It Was Just ‘Women’ And ‘Classrooms Of Kids’
Quote – As with other SCOTUS decisions this term, Wednesday’s decision in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta hinged on Donald Trump’s addition of one more rightwing jerk to the court. In 2020, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was still around to join the majority in McGirt, but this week, Amy Coney Barrett joined four other rightwing justices to roll back McGirt in a serious way. This time around, Gorsuch wrote a very angry dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer. At issue in this case was a matter that had long been treated as settled law: What power do states have in criminal cases involving non-Indians? (We’re going to use that dubious antiquated word more than we usually do, following the usage of the Court and some prominent Native American legal writers. Usage is always evolving, unless you’re talking federal courts, right?)
Click through for article. Amazing, I know, but apparently Gorsuch’s pro-Native-American stance is real. This is the second highly publicized decision where he has been on the right side. But he wasn’t enough.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 6/30/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:46 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jun 302022

Glenn Kirschner – J6 hearing reveals Trump knew mob was armed, wanted to lead them to the Capitol to stop Biden’s win

Meidas Touch – Michael Cohen REACTS to Trump Officials Being Indicted and Subpoenaed

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – June 28, 2022

Robert Reich – This is Why We Need to Get Money Out of Politics

Liberal Redneck – Not So Supreme Court

Beau – Let’s talk about what they’re going after next….

Open Thread June 30, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 302022

Yesterday, the news was filled with testimony from Tuesday’s hearing. And rightly so – I guess a lot of people did not realize, and still don’t, who Trump** so obviously is. Of course he throws dishes against the wall. Of course he tries to do bodily harm to anyone who pisses him off. Of course he’s the last person in the world who shold have the nuclear codes. How did so may people miss that? And I don’t even mean his cultists. I mean how did so may sane people still manage not to see that? It’s not as if Hillary didn’t warn us. At least more people are realizing it now. The other thing that was in the news (at least my news feed) was our primaries. I already reported that Tina Peters, the County Clerk who stole the voting equipment, lost her primary to run for Secretary of State (the bad news is that the winner is almost as bad.) Other bad news is that Boebert won her primary. I had no part in that, but I still apologize on behalf of my state to the entire nation. We can only hope that Democrats and Unaffiliateds combine to oust her. Sadly, that’s merely a hope.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – The “Gap” in the Constitution That Led to January 6th
Quote – Yes, it’s absolutely true that our Presidential-election system in particular has significant vulnerabilities. Some of those vulnerabilities are in the Constitution itself. As long as we retain the constitutional provision for the Electoral College, we won’t be completely out of the woods. State legislatures have the authority to replace a popular vote, to directly appoint the electors for their state. But they can’t do it retroactively. And that gets to what Giuliani and Trump were trying to do.
Click through for full discussion. All communication requires those communicating to share at least some assumptions (there’s a group exercise invilving peanut butter and jelly which brings this point home vividly), and one of those assumptions that we make without realizing it is that we expect our elected officials to act in good faith. For much of my life, though that wasn’t 100% true, there were enough who were that it was safe to assume it. Then came Reagan, Gingrich, and a host of others, and now it is no longer safe to make that assumption.

Robert Reich – The rogue court and the fight ahead
Quote – I keep telling the young people I work with and in the classes I teach that I grew up in an America that expanded constitutional rights, battled racism and protected voting rights, and enlarged the middle class. I tell them that if we did it then, we can do so again. They hear me but I’m not sure they believe me. Their young lives have been marked mostly by public failure. Many were motivated to vote for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2016, and against Trump in 2020, but their patience is wearing thin.
Clivk through for full argument (there’s also a video). I know, voting is not enough, but it has to start with voting. We have to give good leaders some authority – something to work with. If we don’t, their leaders get authority.

Food For Thought – I think this is the first time I have seen a New Yorker cartoon depict a real person, though it’s probably happened.