Yesterday, Pro Publica published the names of the two agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti. And, Trinette was by, taking out my trash and recyclables, and to chat and make my day.
Chris Bowers makes a strong case here. I hope he is right. Maybe I should phrase that “I hope there are enough people in this regime with enough brains to figure this out, because the Apricot Antichrist is definitely not one.”
For a partial post (paid subscribers get the full one), this is extremely informative. It’s clear why lawyers line up to work with Adam, who is not a lawyer, but a journalist.
This is a wrap-up, but it contains things I missed (which shouldn’t surprise me – I’m just one person, after all), such as a reference to the list of judicial orders defied by DHS (96 just in January).
Yesterday, it didn’t snow (it hasn’t since Monday) and the snow we did have is virtually gone. The radio opera was Arabella by Richard Strauss, which the last summer season also included, so it’s way to soon to say anything else about it. Mostly, I just cleaned out my inbox and committed knitting. I have three projects going, which is rare for me – usually I just work on one till it’s finished.
This doesn’t sound like good news rom the headline. You need to read the story. Then it’s good news.
Veterans. And kids. If you get newsletters from “Read the Smile” and saw this, you might have guessed I would share it.
I am not in the least worried about the birth rate – well, maybe that it’s too high – but this is just sweet.
Yesterday, I observed that ICE (and/or CBP) is heading to Ohio (Springfield) on or about February 3. Also, Don Lemon has been arrested – I would assume (unconstitutional) charges have been filed, but who knows`. A number of smart people have been warning us it will get worse before it gets better. And, at least some businesses and schools in Denver (though probably not here) closed for the General Strike today. And, The Nation has nominated the City of Minneapolis for a Nobel Peace Prize, whilw Senate Democrats succeeded in splitting off DHS funding from other funding, thus avoiding a shutdown of the rest of the regime.
We have heard this from The Conversation before, and don’t think it would be out of line to say that we know it, and are aware of it – we who come here. But there are still lots of people out there who don’t. So please feel free to share.
Harry Litman takes a break from the law to address history and music, specifically Philip Glass’s Symphony #15, “Lincoln.” He quotes several points from Lincoln’s “Lyceum” speech, which is featured in the symphony, and is eerily prophetic. I’ll say up front that Glass is a personal friend of Harry’s, since he doesn’t reveal that until close to the end, and I think it colors his understanding.
I have another extended quote from an email to share today – no link, it only exists in the email. It’s from retired Major General Paul Eaton, who is kind of the voice of VoteVets.
After months of unjustified and outrageous escalations from Trump’s paramilitary forces, I’ve got a story for you. It’s a small town outside of Fallujah, at the height of the Iraq War. A rifle battalion commander and his men are outfitted in battle dress. A crowd of Iraqis approaches these men, very upset, with a whole lot of riot potential. An exceptionally dangerous situation. That battalion commander did not square up for a fight. He directed his men to take a knee, put the barrels of their rifles in the dirt, and smile. His men thought he was crazy, but they followed orders. And in one fell swoop, everything de-escalated. The Iraqis didn’t riot, no one was shot, and everybody went home. A rifle battalion commander, surrounded by young men, in a combat zone, acted with restraint. What we’ve seen these last several weeks on American streets has been anything but restrained. I don’t tell you this to advocate pitting American Troops against American citizens, but to further illustrate the vast divide between our Military and the ICE and CBP agents deployed by Trump to stir up trouble. They’re out looking for a fight, and it’s important to understand why. He had Pam Bondi demand access to the Minnesota voter rolls in exchange for a drawdown. The FBI just raided an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia. Trump knows the country hates what he’s doing. He knows he’s going to get taken to the woodshed this November. And he’s trying to figure out any way he can to hold on to power — even if he loses. We’ve already seen it on January 6th, 2021. We see it every day in the lies, provocations, and threats Trump makes. This is an incredibly serious situation, and we can’t wait to act against it.
Medical professionals are well aware of this. When I was checking in to rehab in ’23 and was asked whether I had “Advantage,” I said something like “I wouldn’t have Advantage if they paid me to take it,” And the response was “Oh, you’re smart.”
ICE and CBP are just the tip of the iceberg in Minnesota. MAGA has always been full of vigilantes. Does anyone besides me wonder why, if they actually believe and trust the Saffron Sauron’s Keystone Cops, they think they have to handle it themselves?
I wholeheartedly agree with the business owner who says the “law and order” is not what is happening. But I disagree that it isn’t politics, because all politics is moral (or immoral.)
Yesterday, the FBI raided the Fulton County, GA election office and warehouse looking for election materials from 2020. Before the story came up in my news feed (if I can call it that – the collection of email newsletters which contain just news) I received an email from DASS (the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State – although the medical acronym probabky descibes ppretty well how they are feeling right now.) It does occur to me that, if he could raid enough states to “legitimize” his claim that he won that one, he would at the same time delegitimize his current term since the two terms that a President may serve would be over. Not that I know how that could be enforced, but it’s a thought. I also learned that the next No Kings day has been announced for March 28. That is 8 days before Easter and one day before Palm Sunday. For Eastern Orthodox, it is 15 days before Easter. It is also 4 days before the beginning of Passover, and Ramadan will have been over for 8 days. The closest Buddhist festival will have been over for 17 days, and the closest Sikh festival will be 17 days afterwards. March 28 falls comfortably between Wiccan festivals on March 20 and April 2. If I have left anyone out, I apologize – but it looks to me like the planners did a difficult job very well in picking a date at a crowded time of the year.
Well, we now have solid evidence that the Apricot Antichrist staged the assassination attempts on him. You may have read elsewhere about the incident in which Ilhan Omar was sprayed with an unidentified (it turns out to have been apple cider vinegar) yellow substance. Here’s what he said when ABC News asked for a reaction from him: “I don’t think about her. I think she’s a fraud.” Trump continued accusing Omar of staging the whole thing. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.” Every accusation a confession.
Harry Litman thinks that Minnesota is in for one hell of a fight over the Murder of Alex Pretti – but he also thinks they are up to the task and that they have a – pardon me – fighting chance. He wrote a similar article about Renee Good, which I must have seen but failed to read, and the principles are pretty much the same. He also points out that absolute immunity – there’s no such thing. Harry also has a video up with Steve Vladeck specifically on federal supremacy immunity. The part which can be seen by a non-paid subscriber or a non-subscriber is 15 minutes, and there’s no resolution by then, but the criteria that should be used become quite clear.
Joyce Vance addresses the lack of professionalism (to throw some roses at it) displayed by ICE and CBP, the demotion of Bovino the cosplaying Nazi, the vulnerability of Krieti Noem, and related issues, including the ICE mooner.
Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day, which I missed putting up a visual for. I tried to feel bad about missing it, but the truth is, that under our current regime, to me every day is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Also, several emails informed me that Alexander Vindman is running for a Senate seat in Florida. (His twin Eugene represents Virginia’s 7th District already). This may not be the suicide mission it looks like at first glance, but it’s not a walk in the park either. I may have to sign up as a monthly donor.
This may be the sickest thing I’ve heard about from this regime which didn’t involve direct physical violence – yet. Eagle County is not as close to me as it looks on this map, since it is up in the mountains of which I am on the eastern edge, and while there are roads up there, there are no direct routes to just about anything. But it still feels too close.
From Common Dreams – When the Saffron Sauron started bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean, claiming that they were Venezuelan drug mules, I would have bet good money that at least some of them were not even Venezuelan, let alone drug mules. And I would have won. Two families in Trinidad are now suing us for wrongful death of their relatives in one of those bombings. And hoo boy, do they ever have lawyers. Human lives may be no more important that insects to this regime, but these insects had families which will sting him. I just wish the money that will change hands would come from MAGA billionaires and not from us taxpayers.
From Axios, this is an article about an essay written by an AI CEO who seems almost as worried as I am about the potential for misuse, whether due to human naivete or human corruption. The article links to the full essay, but I felt both needed to be archived for readability.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”* Yesterday, I slept until after sunset. However, I had been up until almost sunrise, and Saturday night I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep. I’m not kidding when I say that I’m not a morning person. That quote is from Act II of “The Tempest” where it is also a quote – Ariel is telling Prospero what the first guy said who jumped from the king’s ship when he (Ariel) made it sink in the storm. No one died in that storm, because it sank so close to shore the drew and passengers could practically walk to the shore – but it was still scary to them. We, on the other hand, have seen people die, and have seen the devils who pulled the triggers.
I can’t improve on Robert Reich. He has the facts and he explains them more clearly (and with more evidence) than I could.
I think Malcolm Nance makes a valid point here. Not that I’m certain where exactly we need to be going with it.
I have a quote here from the 19th which I cannot link to because it was just in the newsletter, and there’s no link to it, or any indication that it’s in an article at the 19th or elsewhere, but it struck me as significant:
A local doctor remembered him on social media as someone who “used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians … he made a point to teach medical residents without judgement [sic], but with a smile on his face and a joke.”
BTW, Renee Good was from Colorado. Alex Pretti’s parents live in Colorado. I am beginning to take this debacle personally.
From Rocky Mountain PBS. This is a great idea, although I am far from certain that federal Courts will uphold it, particularly in the cases of Federal Agents – who are the only kind of law enforcement likely to attempt it (unless there is another pandemic, which heaven, karma, and the cat goddesses forbid.)
Yesterday, I put most of my day into a comment on yesterday’s thread, hoping to be able to post what I had already tentatively picked out without much editing. And here it is
This from Chris Bowers is exactly why we can just forget about the 25th Amendment. It was not written for the situation which we have. Impeachment comes closer to the situation we have, but – as we should have learned from his first term – it’s not in fact close enough. If we really want him out, we need an amendment which authorizes a recall election. The kind of recall election where we vote, not just for recxall, but for one of a handful or so of candidates to replace him. (Or her. Sometime in the 23rd or 24th century, we MAY just possibly be able to elect a woman. Or not.) Also, it can’t be Congress which authorizes such an election. It would have to be initiated by the people somehow. And it would have to be a general election so that everyone could vote. And if you think that’s going to happen – I’m confident that it won’t in my lifetime. Even if I live to be 100, which I don’t expect. The 25th was not designed or intended for a situation like Fascism. It was designed for situationd more like Woodrow Wilson (though it was far too late for that one – or at the present, for something more like the Canteloupe Caligula’s “annual physicals” which appear to happen every month or so. Either the 25th needs to be amended, or it needs to be replaced, or we just need a new and separate Amendment. (Or a recall election.)
I didn’t even know that Gavin Newsom spoke at DAVOS – there was so much focus on Mark Carney and on the Saffrom Sauron. That’s too bad. Newsom’s speech is a lot more fun than any of the other speeches.
This from the 19th refers to ICE, but it might be one or more Border Patrol agents. They are often mixed in to ICE occupations.
