Glenn Kirschner – Women rise up in Iran, fighting governmental oppression. Their struggle is our struggle.
Meidas Touch – Putin STOOGE Tucker Carlson spreads RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA, blames US for attack on Russian TV
The Lincoln Project – Ginni Smile
MSNBC – ‘This Is The Big One’: Oath Keepers Trial To Set The Tone For Jan. 6 Cases
Shirley Serban – TOP SECRET Trump Parody Song
Beau – Let’s talk about the Cherokee and the Treaty of New Echota….
Yesterday, at roughly 1:41 a.m. her time, Heather Cox Richardson sent out her daily email for Monday, and when I got up I read it. She touched on a wide variety of topics, of which possibily the most unnerving was Moore v. Harper and the “independent state legislature” doctrine. If this case is wrongly decided, we can kiss democracy goodbye- that’s assuming we can ever get close enough to it to kiss it. I know I’m sarting to sound like the proverbial broken record, but I admit I am afraid.
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Short Takes –
Crooks & Liars – Offshore Tax Havens Move On Shore
Quote – Research published Wednesday details how a handful of U.S. states that are “subservient to the trust industry” are helping oligarchs and money launderers from around the globe evade taxes and hide their wealth within the nation’s borders…. “The concept of the ‘offshore’ tax haven has very much washed ashore,” says the report, which exposes how 13 U.S. states “shield the fortunes of the world’s richest people.”
Click through for details, including which states. I knew that a fw states’ laws were more favorable to credit card companies, which is why ao many are incorporated in South Dakota and Delaware, but I didn’t know about this. I’m surprised, actually – not at the states’ greed, but at the blind faith of the billionaires. Should a Republican win the Presidency in 2024, it will all be confiscated.
The Warning – Media corruption at the “paper of record”
Quote – His name is Donald John Trump from Queens. He has a “psychiatrist.” Her name is Maggie Haberman. She is the lead Trump reporter for The New York Times, and has become, like him, a singular totem of corruption. The corruption of the American media has fueled the extremist movement that threatens the republic as the journalistic ethic forged by Ed Murrow, Fred Friendly, Dorothy Thompson, Walter Cronkite and a generation of truth seekers gave way to a generation of information profiteers. The money that flows from anger, division, confusion and insanity can be counted in the tens of billions of dollars. That is the business of much of the American media. It is certainly Maggie Haberman’s business.
Click through for story. There will be a pop-up to subscribe – just click on “Let me read it first.” He certainly nails Maggie.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – This would have been the monthly recap, so I have substituted this from MSNBC
Meidas Touch – Navy Vet RESPONDS to Ben Shapiro’s PATHETIC ATTACK on the US Military
The Lincoln Project – DJ Trump (Wilmington Remix)
Vote Vets – Rep. Elissa Slotkin Rebukes Republicans Who Want To Ban Abortions For Veterans Who Are Rape Victims
Hyperobject Industries – Chevron Ad (Yeah, I want more too, but this is their first video – no idea when or if they’ll make another.)
Beau – Let’s talk about Ian and being overtaken by events….
Yesterday, Joyce Vance posted “The Week Ahead” in her Substack column, “Civil Discourse,” and it is packed. Joyce is to lawyers what Heather Cox Richardson is to historians – you may have seen her as a consultant on mainstream media. She doesn’t post every day, and when she does, she sometimes digresses into silky chickens (which she raises) and knitting; I love both, so that’s fine with me, but I wouldn’t wish it on y’all. This column, however, is jampacked with five sections, each on something current and earthshaking. It’s too much for a short take, but if you have a little time (not necessarily all at once, since it is sectioned) I highly recommeend it.
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Short Takes –
The New Yorker – The Supreme Court’s Big New Term
Quote – If Roberts is still confused, he could, for guidance, look to comments that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and, especially, Elena Kagan have made since the Dobbs ruling. In late September, at Salve Regina University, in Rhode Island, Kagan noted that people are right to worry about “the whole legal system being kind of up for grabs” after a change to the composition of the Court, with decisions that seem driven by ideology and divorced from legal principles. “It just doesn’t look like law when, you know, the new judges appointed by a new President come in and just start tossing out the old stuff,” she said.
Click through for, among other things, examples of cases which are coming up this term and which, even the ones that seem simple, could be incredibly destructive.
CNN – This 100% solar community endured Hurricane Ian with no loss of power and minimal damage
Quote – Babcock Ranch calls itself “America’s first solar-powered town.”… The streets in this meticulously planned neighborhood were designed to flood so houses don’t. Native landscaping along roads helps control storm water. Power and internet lines are buried to avoid wind damage. This is all in addition to being built to Florida’s robust building codes. Some residents, like Grande, installed more solar panels on their roofs and added battery systems as an extra layer of protection from power outages. Many drive electric vehicles, taking full advantage of solar energy in the Sunshine State.
Click through for story – One would think this would be convincing evidenve. Except that Republicans don’t believe in spending money to save money. They only believe in spending money to make the rich righer.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Ginni Thomas lies to the Jan.6 committee, claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen
Meidas Touch – BREAKING: DOJ Files DEVASTATING Motion Against Former Top Trump Aide For PRIVATE SERVER emails
The Lincoln Project – Blake Masters
Christo Aivalis – Merrick Garland Jսst Foսnd ΝЕW BATCH of Trumр STOLЕN FІLЕS
Liberal Redneck – Biden’s Gaffes
Beau – Let’s talk about students in Virginia….
Yesterday, it was kind of quiet. I finished getting my meds together for the next two weeks (I had had to use one of my spares the previous night – but I replaced it in the filling process, and anyway, that’s why I keep spares.) I got an email from Virgil’s facility asking for a new application to visit, and the tone was almost apologetic. I did vaguely know that the public facilities kept their own, but all those years he was in private facilities, they were kept at the DOC headquarters, and therefore transferred, and I got spoiled. I emailed it to her by return, along with my request to visit the 9th.. She won’t see it until today, but that’s fine.
Also, I heard from Mitch. He used my name in the greeting, so I don’t know whether he sent it to others, and therefore will quote it in full:
We were in Pa. since the 23rd of Sept., did not decide to extend our time in Pa., but the airline and Tampa airport did, wisely closing on Thursday. We could not get a flight back from Trenton, at all so flew out of Philly, this morning, after 2 nice days staying with friends, and have been home since something like 3:00 PM, here. All is well, here, but we do not know what is going on with a cousinof Susan’s, who lives in Venice Beach.Our area didn’t get much impact, though, interestingly, the water in Hillsboro Bay got suckedout for a while, the other day.
Cartoon – 03 Rob Roy
Short Takes –
It’s Not Just Ginni Thomas But Roberts’ And Coney Barrett’s Spouses, Too
Quote – Jane Roberts’ clients include lawyers or law firms sometimes with active Supreme Court practices, at least some of which were more likely to work with her because of her status as the chief justice’s spouse…. Justice Amy Coney Barrett redacted the clients and even the name of her husband’s law firm in her disclosure, even though he is featured prominently on the firm’s website.
Click through for story. Figuring that C&L would have at least glanced at other spouse, I didn’t, but I did look up Neil Gorsuch’s mother, being old enough to remember when she was decimating the EPA under Reagan. She’s dead now, but I noted that she was Catholic, so I looked up his religion. He is Protestant now, but was raised Catholic. His doctoral supervisor when he was at Oxford was a priest.
Oregon Capital Chronicle – Under federal $1 billion agreement, Oregon will expand Medicaid coverage
Quote – Under a new agreement, the federal government will give Oregon $1.1 billion to guarantee continued free health care coverage to tens of thousands of young children in households with low incomes and offer wider coverage to low-income young adults, especially those with special needs. The agreement, announced Wednesday in a conference call with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, also includes expanding Medicaid coverage to include housing and food support.
Click through for more details. This actually brought me to tears – because TomCat would have been so proud! Oregon leads the way!
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Judge Cannon continues catering to Trump, shoots down Judge Dearie’s request for info from Trump
Don Winslow Films – #GinniThomasIsAboveTheLaw (I think Don is too cynical about Liz Cheney. If we don’t see any of her testimony, I suspect it will be because she is lying in all of it. I see no point in the nation seeing her claim the election was rigged and/or stolen.)
The Lincoln Project – Tucker Calls Putin
Ring of Fire – MyPillow CEO Texted Trump’s Chief Of Staff To ‘Get The Voting Machines’
Vote Vets – Freedom – AZ Sen
Beau – Let’s talk about a Cuban referendum and party and policy….
Yesterday, the radio opera – operetta, actually – was “The Merry Widow” sung in German (Die Lustige Witwe”), but with some dialogue in Chinese (a good decision, I think. Neither language is easy for someone not born to them to speak, and with a part-European and part-Chinese cast, at least neither wil be burchered. I also caught one line in French – a quote from “Carmen.” Offenbach’s CanCan was also interpolated appropriately). Back in the day there was hardly anyone who was not at least vaguely familiar with “The Merry Widow Waltz” and “Vilia,” but that may bave been a holdover from the movie with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Also, in my day, there was a type of lingerie known as a “Merry Widow” – it comprised a bra with an attached mini-corset (it went maybe halfway down the hip) and inded in elastic with clasp garters. And then along came pantyhose, and that was the end of that. But I digress. Viennese operetta has fairly convoluted plots and so much additional hijinks that it’s really not possible tp try tu summarize them, and this one was the granddaddy of them all. It also has the distinction (?) of a serial killer having been so obsessed with it, and particularly the make lead, that he used that character’s name as an alias, which is how he was eventually caught. But I digress again.
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truthout – Trump Believed He Could Sue Congress to Stop Congressional Impeachments
Quote – Trump’s commentary on his first impeachment trial — which was centered around his attempt in 2019 to coerce Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to find political dirt on now-President Joe Biden in exchange for military assistance from the U.S. — demonstrates his lack of knowledge on the process. “I’ll just sue Congress. They can’t do this to me,” Trump said at the time, according to Haberman’s book.
Click through for article, whicj pretty much explains the situation – but doesn’t answer such questions as, if you were President, or another federal official, and you wanted to sue Congress, whould you do it as the President – which would be one branch of government suing another branch – who would be your attorney? But if you filed as an individual – a citizen – how would that do anything to stop an impeachment? It makes my head spin. Of course he wssn’t knowledgeable enough to even ask such questions
The Hechinger Report – How Moms for Liberty wants to reshape education this school year and beyond
Quote – Instead, speakers talked about conspiracy theories surrounding social emotional learning, a framework that includes teaching students how to empathize with others and use mental health coping skills. They talked about gender and sexuality, and they denounced the decisions some schools have made to refer to students by their preferred pronouns. The conference also focused on restorative justice, a concept that attempts to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline through alternative discipline methods. Ryan Petty, whose daughter was murdered in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, led a session that blamed the gunman’s ability to carry out the killing, in part, on the restorative justice practices in his daughter’s school district.
Click through for details. Public schools – actually open to and intend for all of the public – being a function of government, are intended to educate students into citizens. As such, they should teach no opinions, no beliefs, just facts and skills, including how government works, and how it doesn’t work. If you want your child taught opinions and belief, teach him or her at home, or enroll him or her in a private school. That’s not the public school’s job.
Food For Thought
