Glenn Kirschner – Jeffrey Clark Pleads the 5th: What are the Options Now for the Jan. 6 Committee and for the DOJ
Meidas Touch – Is ARRESTING Trump enough?
The Lincoln Project – Trump Army
MSNBC – Velshi: Banning Books Stifles Curiosity, and Ultimately Imperils Society
Ring of Fire – Florida Offers Americans A Look At How Republicans Want To Destroy America
Brent Terhune – M&Ms
Beau – Let’s talk about improv and talking to liberals and centrists….
Yesterday, I accidentally went into “Tom@7thStep.org” instead of “TomCat@politicplus.org” Trunsout there were about 1400 emails there too. Including some from subscription which also need to be closed. I had asked Nameless to close TC’s Daily Kos membership for us, and he CC’d me on th beautiful email he sent and CC’ed me on the almost equally beautiful reply, sending ondolences to all of us. I started the process to close TC’s Twitter an d LinkedIn accounts – I gave LinkedIn everything they asked for and I think they will close it – Twitter wants a little more, but I have it. But there are more accounts. Sigh. It’s Ok, it will get done.
Cartoon – 07 Portland Loaded
Short Takes –
Crooks and Liars – Beyond Banned Books: Wingers Are Destroying A Library System From The Inside
Quote – In some instances, the communications between appointed public officials betray an ulterior motive shared by several board members, who characterized their positions, as well as their reason for seeking them, as being more about changing the library’s governing policies than serving as trustees of a community resource. As a result, morale has plummeted within the public library’s leadership ranks…
Click through. This is a mayor, but library boards are being targeted exactly like school boards now, and for exactly the same reasons. (Smewhat off topic – the CEO of Wonkette and her family live in Montana, but have made an offer on a home in Michigan, and things like this are why.)
Twitter Thread Reader – Mueller She Wrote – “Open and Shut” (not)
Quote – All told there were over 790 documents for this ONE GUY ALONE. Did you hear about Costello getting interviewed? Not until now. Did you know about the 2703 orders for phone and email records? Nope. So you see, these cases aren’t as “open-and-shut” as we might think.
Click through for details. You don’t need to belong to Twitter and you don’t need to read endless repetition. (There is a little swipe at skeptics which I consider a bit unfair. Not everyone – well actually, no one – is an expert on investigations and/or court proceedings unless actually involved in the process – and maybe not even then.)
(Black History) The New Yorker – The Rediscovery of Florence Price
Quote – In 2009, Vicki and Darrell Gatwood, of St. Anne, Illinois, were preparing to renovate an abandoned house on the outskirts of town. The structure was in poor condition…. In a part of the house that had remained dry, the Gatwoods made a curious discovery: piles of musical manuscripts, books, personal papers, and other documents. The name that kept appearing in the materials was that of Florence Price…. The couple got in touch with librarians at the University of Arkansas, which already had some of Price’s papers. Archivists realized, with excitement, that the collection contained dozens of Price scores that had been thought lost.
Click through for the full story (if paywalled, let me know – I can send a PDF). This breaks my heart. At least she has success in her lifetime, and at least we have the music now (and it is being widely recorded.) But to think of all those manuscripts just sitting in a house which was falling apart for 56 years….
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Pence Chief Counsel Greg Jacob Testifies, Called a “Patriot.” Jeff Clark Finally Forced to Testify
American Bridge 21st Century – Pres. Joe Biden: “America is back to work”
The Lincoln Project – Respect
Thom Hartmann – Florida’s Nefarious Plan Guts Ballot Initiative Process
Armageddon Update – The Supremes
Puppet Regime – Slim Jong Un: New Look, Same Explosive Appeal
Beau – Let’s talk about Massie’s absurd Voltaire quote….
Yesterday, the opera house was dark. Not because anything newsworthy happend, but as part of a scheduled five week winter break The radio broadcast was a program of arias and duets recorded from Mat broadcasts during the period 1931-1941. No, the sound quality wasn’t what it is today, but compared to old 78 records, it was superb. The greatest stars of that decade were all retired (or dead) by the time I came to opera – and the greatest stars when I came to opera are all retired or dead now. Of course the same is true of theater and movies. Think “Little Caesar” (1931), “King Kong” (1933), “Camille” (1936), and 1939 with “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “Thw Wizard of Oz” all in the same year. Remembering history may not be quite as important in the arts as it is in politics, but it doesn’t hurt either.
Also yesterday, I finished cleaning out TomCat’s Inbox … and also the “Sent” folder, the only other one which had anything in it except for the “Archive”, which is where I ave been putting any emails with information on accounts on other sites, or subscriptions, or any friends we may not have been aware of. That will be slower.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Letters from an American – February 4, 2022
Quote: For a long time, the idea that that economy thrives when the government supports ordinary Americans was not controversial. Democrats began to make it the centerpiece of our system in the 1930s when, after a decade in which the government worked only for the wealthy, they offered a “New Deal” for the American people. Over time, lawmakers from both major parties embraced it, believing they had finally figured out a truly American system that would serve everyone…. But in the 1980s, Republicans argued that this system stifled economic development by hampering the ability of producers to put their money where they thought it would do the most good. Instead of supporting workers, they argued, government should cut taxes to enable those at the top of the economic ladder to accumulate capital and invest in the economy. Tax cuts became their go-to solution for any sort of economic crisis. The government should support the “supply side” of the economy. Any attempt to use the government to help the “demand side” was, they said, “socialism.”
Click through for the full article. The problem is that seeing is NOT believing. Messaging is believing, and the false econimic message has been so powerful that even overwhelming evidence has not been able to dislodge it.
HuffPost – Unexpectedly Strong Jobs Report Caps A Better Week For Joe Biden
Quote – This week’s good breaks: the strong jobs report (which came with corrections making the past two jobs reports look far better than they did at the time), bipartisan backing for his strategy to counter Russia, a small step toward passage of a bipartisan economic package designed to counter China and a successful operation to assassinate a terrorist leader.
Click through for further discussion. This is very much tied in to the previous short take. Messaging is still the biggest problem.
Axios – HBCU presidents: Black history lessons are being “stifled”
Quote – What they’re saying: Some educators also want to reduce the focus on the usual high-profile figures. [Howard University president Wayne] Frederick told Axios that Black history lessons should include education about everyday Black heroes throughout the years — not just a handful of iconic Black figures. The lessons should include “men and women who’ve had the African American experience and who’ve done amazing things,” he said, pointing to the late Dr. LaSalle Leffall Jr. — the first Black president of the American Cancer Society.
Click through for a helping of truth. What president Frederick says has also occurred to me – and I may just feature some invisible Black people in fields I happen to know about. Anyone who is aware of invisible black people in fields I don’tknow much about is welcome to send me suggestions.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Incriminating Outburst: “Pence Should be Investigated for NOT Overturning the Election”
The Lincoln Project – Winter Is Coming
Meidas Touch – Mike Pence: Trump is WRONG, his comments are ‘un-American’
Political Voices Network – An Unreal Story of Trump in Office
Robert Reich – “Legitimate Political Discourse”
Liberal Redneck – Recent Holocaust Rhetoric in America
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump going all in [last] weekend….
Yesterday, I got the emails down to under 1700. I also found a way to increase how many I can delete at a time, so one more day may possibly do it. After that, I need to deal with some notofications and updates, but not all that many. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
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Short Takes –
CNN – Arizona Republican House speaker effectively dooms GOP bill to allow state legislature to reject election results
Quote – The speaker assigns all new bills to a committee for consideration before they can have full House votes, a choice that often has a great effect on a measure’s chance of success. But on Tuesday, Bowers took the unprecedented step of ordering all 12 House committees to consider the elections bill, virtually ensuring it will never reach the floor.
Click through for more. I have to say this is creative – and Democrats should pay attention. This is a technique which could be useful.
Two stories – one subject.
NBC News – A black man in Michigan tried to deposit checks at his bank. The manager called police.
MSN/WaPo – A Black doctor says she was refused service at a bank because of her race: ‘I felt like a criminal’
Click thrugh for individual details. Different states, different genders, different dollar amounts, but the same story. Either or both would be a great argument for restoring Postal Banking … if we had a sane Postmaster General. (My understading is Republicans in the Senate are dragging their feet on confirming nominees to the Board of Governors.) Meanwhile, I’d recommend Credit Unions. That’s not a guarantee, however.
The Conversation – Biden sending more troops to Eastern Europe – 3 key issues behind the decision
The Issues – 1. Does Biden have the authority to do this?
2. Have other U.S. presidents done something similar?
3. Why is Biden sending more troops to Europe?
Click through for all three discussions. I’m not a foreign policy expert, so fairly open-ended discussions like this are helpful to me.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Will Trump’s Written Confession Regarding Pence “Overturning” Election Prod DOJ into Action?
Meidas Touch – BANNING Books and Protecting Traitor Crooks is the GOP Agenda
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party
RepresentUs – How Congress Makes Bank Off War
VoteVets – Generations
Rocky Mountain Mike – Groundhog Day – 2022 – “I Got Kool-Aid”
Beau – Let’s talk about Biden’s executive order and Vanessa Guillen….
Yesterday, I got TC’s old emails down to just over 3,000, which brought me to mid-July. I’m sure I won’t be doing almost 2000 everyday, but I decided I wanted to be more than half done.
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Short Takes –
NM Political Report – Luján recovering after stroke, surgery
Quote – The statement from Carlos Sanchez, Luján’s chief of staff, said the 49-year-old senator experienced dizziness and fatigue Thursday morning and checked himself into Christus St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Santa Fe. It was there that medical staff determined he had a stroke in his cerebellum, which affected his balance.
Click through for details. Why is this important? Because we can’t hold a comfirmation vote for SCOTUS without him. Thankfully he is smart, and checked himself in.
Crooks and Liars – Texas Parent Demands School District Ban Michelle Obama’s Book
Quote – “Another parent in Katy, a Houston suburb, asked the district to remove a children’s biography of Michelle Obama, arguing that it promotes “reverse racism” against white people, according to the records obtained by NBC News,” the report said.
Click through. It’s not very long. You can’t make this stuff up. (Kafka, Sartre, Beckett, Ionesco actually tried … and could not reach this level.)
The Nib – The Myth of the Strong Black Woman
Quote – But what about the issue we do not talk about enough: How the reality of being a black woman in America can wear away at even the most resilient and privileged of us? A few months ago, amidst struggling with my own depression and anxiety, I learned of three well-known black women who died by suicide in the past year.
Click through for article, including hard numbers. As “Maus” has shown (in case anyone had missed it), material presented graphically can have an impact as strong as, maybe even stronger than,mor conventional writing.
Food For Thought:
And Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dream. Considering the fact that our three-branck govermnet was inspired by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy governmen (whose equivalemt to our judicial branch comprised the respected elder woman of the tribes), I believe it would be extremely appropriate.