Jun 042022
 

Yesterday,I slept in again, due to shoulder issues again, although, because I resomved them a couple of hours earlier than the night before, I also got more sleep than the night before.  Hopefyllu I have figures out the frmula and can resolve them earlier still while they last.  I al assuing they are arthritis, and arthritis (and sciatica) hae a habit of coming in flare-ups and gong away again after 2-6 weeks, depending.  That doesn’t mean they won’t ever come back, but – touching wood – after my knee flareup in February 2020 (which was agonizing), that knee has been fine ever since – unlike some other body parts I could mention.  So there can be good long periosof no to minimal pain also.

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Short Takes –

Project on Government Oversight – How to Protect Yourself from Surveillance While Seeking Reproductive Health Care
Quote – Living under an abortion ban in 2022 will not be similar to 1972, before Roe v. Wade. Due to the massive surveillance powers the government now possesses, the consequences of the ban could be much more draconian. Law enforcement not only has powerful tools to monitor individuals, but can capture a stream of sensitive data we produce in our daily lives, often without us realizing it’s happening. And investigating individuals for prohibited abortions will likely direct the government’s immense surveillance powers at the most intimate medical, familial, and sexual details of people’s lives.
Click through for other aspects. I know a lot of readers here will never be pregnant – I won’t myself. But, in addition to at least some of us having people in our lives we care about whoo could, I found reading this made me think about other things I tend to take for granted. You may also.

PolitiZoom – Trump Tops Pumpkin Pie, Kardashians as “worst thing to come from US” In British Poll.
Quote – In a poll of 2,000 Brits conducted by Lottoland.co.uk who are pushing their own lousy U.S. exports, Powerball and Megamillions on an unsuspecting British Public, TFG walked away with the title of “worst thing to come out out of America” handily topping gun culture, the Kardashians and American Football.
Click through for details. Yes, this is fluff Bu it’s cool fluff.

Science alert – The Human Heart Can Repair Itself, And We Now Know Which Cells Are Crucial For It
Quote – Key to the study was the discovery of the role played by macrophages, specialist cells that can destroy bacteria or initiate helpful inflammation responses. As the first responders on a scene after a heart attack, these macrophages produce a particular type of protein called VEGFC, the researchers report. “We found that macrophages, or immune cells that rush to the heart after a heart attack to ‘eat’ damaged or dead tissue, also induce vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC) that triggers the formation of new lymphatic vessels and promotes healing,” says pathologist Edward Thorp from Northwestern University in Illinois.
Click through for full info. There’s nothing here that makes any recommendations for current patients – but it’s hopeful that such recommendations may come as we understand more.

Food For Thought

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Jun 032022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Durham case fails; Judge Walton takes on the Supremes; Norm Eisen on AG Garland “coming for Trump”

Meidas Touch – WOW: NRA Boss Contradicts Himself with UNHINGED Statement in Speech

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – May 31, 2022

Ring of Fire – Former Trump Advisor Sues January 6th Committee And DOJ After Multiple Subpoenas

MSNBC – Caught On Tape: GOP Plan To Steal The Next Election Revealed

Randy Rainbow – Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You?

Beau – Let’s talk about a comprehensive gun control strategy….

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Jun 032022
 

Yesterday, I hadn’t slept well, due to a dull ache in one of my shoulders which wouldn’t go away and was just enough to keep me awake. Buy trial and error (lots of error) I was finally able to quell it with an [artificial] ice pack. But there was a lot of error which took a lot of time. So I ended up sleeping in.eventually I’ll catch up, of course.

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Short Takes –

Wonkette – Oh Look, Democrats Are Doing A Gun Bill!
Quote – House Democrats are introducing some tough legislation on guns that can serve as a reminder that one party actually has plans to address gun violence, while the other blathers on about a catalogue of bullshit distractions meant to avoid doing anything about the goddamned guns. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) has introduced a bill called the “Protecting Our Kids Act” that combines several smaller gun control bills; Nadler scheduled the bill for a markup session beginning tomorrow, even though the House is in recess, so the bill could potentially be ready for a vote next week.
Click through for story. I’m sure we could find it less snarkily told – but Wonkette does respect facts, so I’m confident of theinformaition.

Mother Jones – How John Durham’s Probe Has Exposed Trump’s Russia Con
Quote – Despite declaring over two years ago that he had reason to question the FBI’s opening of the Russia investigation, Durham has failed to make good on his assertion. His investigation has yielded zilch in this regard. His prosecutions are all sideshows. But Durham has done Trump and his cultists a great favor by providing material they can exploit for one of their favorite pastimes: deflection.
Click through for why this matters. Personal confession: That stern (by courtesy) facial expression of Durham’s is probably supposed to inspire fear. To me it just makes him look stupid.)

PolitiZoom – Gary Kasparov Chastises Those Who Would Sell Out Ukraine to Putin
Quote – Stop thinking about concessions Ukraine can make. They are paying a terrible price in blood, with decades of rebuilding to come. They are paying for years of weakness and corruption of the European nations that eagerly did business & diplomacy with their invader. 11/13
Click through for details. It’s from Twitter, but via the thread reader, soreading it is not difficult. I do believe players of chess (especially Grand Masters) are worth listening to about strategy.

Food For Thought

 

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Jun 022022
 

Glenn Kirschner – GJ subpoenas Navarro, confirming criminal investigation of Trump; Trump feels the squeeze in GA too

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Trump Prosecutor Humiliated as Jury Acquits Clinton Lawyer in Sham Case

The Lincoln Project – Stupid

MSNBC – Feds Escalate Probe: Trump Ally Navarro Hit With Subpoena After MAGA Plot Admission

Twitter – Eleven Films – #AwakenDawn (trigger warnings)

Shirley Serban – Gun Control Issue in Cat Stevens style

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, a cynical good sign, and power lines….

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Jun 022022
 

Yesterday, I finished that last new cartoon for June, which is for the 28th. It kind of got me thinking. Some of us have probably heard about the “Habsburg jaw,” which this Habsburg certainly had, and the beard didn’t do much to hide it. These days I see a lot of jokes about moronic and generally poor MAGAts who perhaps result from inbreeding – but historicall, all the way back to ancient Egypt, it was not the poor butthe wealthy who famously inbred (presumably under theimpression that no one but others in their class were good enough for them.) Tutankhamen for instance – his mummy has been examined and by modern specialists, who indicate he had so many deformities he may never have had a pain free day in his short life. In Eurpoe, not only the Habsburg jaw but the Russian royal family’s hemophilia came from inbreeding. Of course it sometimes occurred among the poor as well, particularly if there were some reason which required them to live in isolation, such as the Sawney Bean case in Scotland – that family was anything but rich (although modern Scots with the surname Bean are thoughy to be descendants of MacBeth, so go figure.) I also have established my list to make a record for July of which cartoons from 2014 I can reuse and which I can’t. I haven’t started that actual reviewing yet, and I won’t start this week fur sure, but when I am ready, I’m prepared.

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The Daily Beast – This QAnon Leader Could Control Key Elections in 2024
Quote – While the 65-year-old Willott remains all but unknown outside of QAnon, he’s a figure with growing influence in both the conspiracy-theory universe and the broader conservative movement. Along the way, many of Willott’s supporters have come to believe he’s John F. Kennedy Jr. in disguise. He’s also befriended Q-friendly celebrities, including comedian Roseanne Barr and The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel…. Despite his growing influence, almost nothing has been reported about Willott’s background. The Daily Beast has amassed the most extensive reporting on Willott yet, from his background as a second-rate investigator looking into Bill Clinton in the 1990s to his reinvention as the cosmopolitan secret agent Juan O. Savin, to his new role as a power broker on the far right.
Click through for more than you will find anywhere else… stuff we probably ought to be aware of.

Politico – ‘It’s going to be an army’: Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections
Quote – The plan, as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan, includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establishing a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.
Click through for story. I’m aware Politico is considered to be right leaning. But they seem to publish a lot of stuff one would think the right would not want us to know

Democratic Underground – The Party of the Brave
Quote – Republicans are more afraid of a teenaged boy wearing mascara than a teenaged boy buying an AK-15….
They are more afraid of losing their ‘white privilege’ than they are of losing their country….
They are more afraid of being called-out by Sean Hannity than they are of being called-up by the January 6 Committee.
Click through for full post. Nance Greggs is a community member at DU, but is highly respected aby other members, and this post may suggest why.

Food For Thought

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Jun 012022
 

Glenn Kirschner – President Biden visits Uvalde, TX: Time to use executive orders to limit access to weapons of war

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Hate Mail calling him Satan with EPIC RESPONSE!  (Sorry it’s so long – skip it if you must.)

MSNBC – What Is Kevin McCarthy Hiding?: Rep. Lofgren

Rebel HQ – American Right Is Moving Right Towards Fascism

Armageddon Update – It IS Political (hanky alert)

Mrs. Betty Bowers – The Killing in Killing

Beau – Let’s talk about investigating Trump’s campaign in Georgia….

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Jun 012022
 

Yesterday, I got an email from WellRed Comedy. That’s not terribly unusual,since I get emails on their tours But this one was about a new series which I had seen a little of on Trae’s channel but which now has its own channel, which they call “Puttin on Airs.” I had seen a couple on Trae’s channel, but the new channel (which has videos and clips ranging from under a minute to over an hour) puts them together in a way which – shall I say – makes them ore coherent. I may be able to use some in the Video Thread (not that I’m ready to just yet. I do suspect looking at, for instance, Marie Antoinette and Henry VII through Trae’s and Corey’s eyes may well be worth a look see.

Also, I have to admit that that tiny little patch, smaller than a postage stamp, actually stayed in place overnight. Amazing.

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No More Mister Nice Blog – MAYBE THE COMMENTARIAT SHOULD TRY LEARNING SOME BASIC FACTS
Quote – I’m pleased that he recognizes the uniquely American nature of this sick fetishization. But how can he not “fully understand the message”? This ad shows a little kid fondling an assault weapon under a Bible verse (Proverbs 22:6) because — as is obvious to anyone who’s paid a reasonable amount of attention to U.S. conservatism in recent years — right-wing Americans don’t just believe they have an unlimited right to bear arms, they believe that this right was given to Americans by God.
Click through for full blog. I don’t know what the answer is. I am coming around to the idea that, since “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” we should concentrate on regulating gun owners before trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the guns, and also that a big part of that should be getting ANY guns out of the hands of domestic violence perps and animal abusers who are provably associated with way more than their share of incidents.) This also may not work, but at least it is in line with their own rhetoric, and not just ours.

Daily Kos (Walter Einenkel) – Qronicles of Anon: It’s all about saving the children—until actual children are killed
Quote – This has been a hard week in America. They’re all hard weeks, but this one was particularly difficult. It was a glaring reminder of the violent cost of our country’s obsession with guns and weapons, and how conspiracy theories like QAnon help feed the paranoia that’s necessary to believe everybody should own an assault rifle. The fact that the QAnon world, not unlike its Republican leadership, hides behind children while allowing their actions and inaction to end in dead children as collateral damage is breathtaking and gut-punching all at the same time.
Click through – the article doesn’t so much develop the headline; instead, it rounds up all kinds of QAnon insanity surfacing.

Raw Story – Pope Francis sends ‘powerful message’ by elevating liberal Bishop over Archbishop who banned Pelosi from communion
Quote – “The choice of Bishop McElroy is the biggest surprise of this consistory [the council of cardinals] for the church in the United States,” reports the Jesuit publication America. “A graduate of Harvard, Stanford and the Pontifical Gregorian University, Bishop McElroy has demonstrated that he is one of the strongest supporters of the pope’s vision of church among the American bishops since Francis appointed him to be bishop of San Diego in March 2015. By choosing him to be a cardinal, instead of others, Pope Francis is sending a powerful message to the American bishops and church.”
Click through for details. So many of the humorous things we see are just pure idiocy (like “gazpacho police”); our laughter diesn’t affect them, and the stories lead nowhere. This is a story I can laugh at and treasure – because accountability.

Food For Thought

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May 312022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Georgia DA Willis issues 50 grand jury subpoenas; is “weighing racketeering charges” against Trump

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Jim Acosta EVISCERATES NRA Board Member and leaves him SPEECHLESS!

Rebel HQ – Trevor Reed’s Father SHREDS Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Actions

Truth Matters – Slaughter of the Innocent (featuring Senator Chris Murphy DCT) hanky alert

Robert Reich – Why Your Barbecue Is More Expensive This Year

Puppet Regime – Zuckerberg Practices Free Speech On Elon Musk

Beau – Let’s talk about metaphors, hair, and Florida….

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