Open Thread – Page 274 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for January 19, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 192022

Yesterday, I spent some time figuring out what to wear today. In this case, it’s not a matter of appearance. I’m getting my booster today, and I need to come up with clothing which will keep me warm enough in below freezing temperatiures (a high of 30 is predicted) yet still nake it easy to accesss my deltoid without indecency, while at the same time, protecting me as much as possible from airborne droplets. That is not something which is immediately obvious – or at least not to me. So thought is required.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American (Heather Cox Richardson) – Januaty 17, 2022
Quote – In this moment of struggle over voting rights in America, it is important to distinguish between voter fraud, which is vanishingly rare and has not affected the outcome of elections, and election fraud, which is coming to characterize a number of our important elections.
Voter fraud is about an individual breaking the law and is almost always caught. It is not a threat to democracy.
Election fraud means that people in power have rigged the system so that the will of the voters is overturned. When it happens, it threatens to destroy our nation.
Click through for full letter. She puts some things together. (I would point out that by no means of them are proven to the point of being ready to go to court.) But she is no dummy. Her newletter is free to subscribe.

The 19th – Black women in Martin Luther King Jr.’s neighborhood will soon receive monthly cash payments
Quote – That work that In Her Hands will do in the coming two years will build on that established by other programs like Magnolia Mother’s Trust, the first privately-run guaranteed income program in the country. Launched in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2018, it gave 20 Black mothers $1,000 a month for a year, growing to cover 110 in its 2020-2021 year and another 100 in the most recent cohort, which will wrap up this March. All were living 200 percent below the federal poverty line and in subsidized housing. Most are working.
Click through for details and information on the successes of previous programs. Republicans are committed to the idea that people won’t work unless they are reduced to bare subsistence level, and that then they will work for pennies. That may seem intuitive, but these programs demonstrate it isn’t reality.

Crooks and Liars – Crockett And Lake Are Poster Children For GOP Harassment And Extremism
Quote – (in a tweet from Patriot Takes) Kari Lake supporter Ethan Schmidt: “I just love harassing people, especially cancer patients because they’re weak and vulnerable and easy targets.” Kari Lake is running for Arizona Governor and appeared in one of Ethan’s videos. Lake refuses to denounce Ethan Schmidt.
Click through for story. C&L republished this from “No More Mr. Nice Blog,” which I have provisionally added to the Blogroll. He does have other things to say. And he certainly has a point in this column.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 1/18/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:46 am Open Thread, Politics

Jan 182022

Glenn Kirschner – Short: Trump’s Foot Soldiers are Indicted. Now It’s Time to Indict the Command Structure.

The Lincoln Project – Tribute

politicsrus – Betrayal

Rebel HQ – US Army Offers $50K Bonus To New Recruits

MSNBC – ‘Part Of A Much Larger Conspiracy’: Investigation Into 16 Michigan Republicans

Liberal Redneck – President Sinema?? (Naw)

Beau – Let’s talk about political and military wings again….

Open Thread for January 18, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:35 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 182022

Yesterday was pretty quiet, as can be expected of a holiday, I suppose.We look to be expecting snow on Wednesday and a little more Friday – I”ll expect it when I see it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (Kerry Eleveld) – Democrats’ Case Against GOP Extremism Gains Momentum
Quote – But the White House has made an overt shift from the behind the scenes inside game it worked for a solid year to a very public campaign against the saboteurs of our democracy. “I’ve been having these quiet conversations with the members of Congress for the last two months,” Biden said. “I’m tired of being quiet!” he added, pounding the lectern.
Click through for story. I have said since before the election that Biden would come to this point. Yes, he’s a consensus builder. But he’s not stupid. He may have resisted, but he can see that sometimes you have to fight for the right, and this is one of those times.

Raw Story – ‘Smoking guns all around’: Conservative connects dots showing Trump ‘election fraud on a massive scale’
Quote – In his weekend wrap-up, conservative Bulwark founder Charlie Sykes makes the case that there is more than enough proof that Donald Trump and his inner circle made a provable attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election through fraud. Jumping right into it, Sykes pointed to a CNN report that stated, “…then-President Donald Trump’s allies sent fake certificates to the National Archives declaring that Trump won seven states that he actually lost,” which have also been labeled forgeries.
Click through for more from the thread, which became a conversation. No new information here – the news is in who is saying it. But don’t expect the Qrazies to pay attention.

Common Dreams – Progressives Counter Cherry-Picked Quotes With MLK’s True Legacy
Quote – As the FBI, right-wing political figures, and others came under fire Monday for engaging in the annual trend of dishonoring Martin Luther King Jr. by sanitizing his beliefs, progressives in Congress worked to honor his legacy of fighting for a more just society…. {Per Ayanna Pres;ey. “T]he truth is Dr. King was a radical dreamer with a bold vision for revolutionary change. A disruptive movement builder seeking to upend an unjust status quo.”
Click through. Anyone seeking real change must be radical about it – I don’t mean extremist – radical means “pretsining to the root.” Change which does not begin in and grow from the root may spring up quickly, but then will wither away, like the plants in the parable.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 1/17/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:15 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jan 172022

Glenn Kirschner – Oath Keepers Members Indicted for Seditious Conspiracy: Facts Show How Trump Inspired 1/6 Conduct

politicsrus – Let Truth Light the Way Part I

Rebel HQ – Richard Ojeda Reacts To Jen Psaki’s Viral Moment

Ring of Fire – Florida Republicans Introduce Bill To Spy On Public School Teachers

Armageddon Update – The Days Of Omicron

Orphaned Baby Otter Follows Kids Up From River

Beau – Let’s talk about my last day teaching in Virginia…. (despite the upside down cap, you might end up wanting a hanky.)

Open Thread for January 17, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 172022

Yesterday, I worked on getting my meds together, which I should have done Saturday. But that’s why I keep extras around. So yesterday worked. I also did a little knottong. Broke a needle (which is one reason I like to own multiples of essentially the exact same needle.) In this case, I didn’t have a duplicate.so, after picking up dropped stitches as best I could, I decided my best bet was to finish with one size smaller, since I was in a decreasinf pattern, so I did – finished that project – ordered two new ones to replace the broken one. I have a second similar project, but I think I’ll wait until the broken one is replaced to finish it, since there’s no ruch. I checked the DOC website, which now says in-person visitation is now suspended until Fenruary 1. So I set a pop-up reminder to check again the end of the month. And, I found an animal rescue near me (specializing in cats) that I believe is the right place for me to do the #BettyWhiteChallenge today.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

AP News – US names intelligence official to counter election threats
Quote – The appointment comes amid stalled efforts to create a new intelligence center preventing foreign interference in American democracy. While experts and intelligence officials say the proposed Foreign Malign Influence Center is needed, a proposal to create the center is stalled amid disagreements over the center’s size and budget.
Click through for story. I woud not want that job, but I’m uncommonly glad that someone is doing it.

The Hill – Who has the guts to resist authoritarian rule?
Quote – I asked the group a key question — why did they stay rather than trying to flee their country for the West? Their response was inspiring. They said that they always believed that the communist system would eventually fail and their country would be free though it took many years to happen. But stay they did. Most of us in the West thought these countries were gone to authoritarian communism forever.
Click through. The Hill classifies this as an opinion piece, but I’d call it a history piece – written by some one who helped make that history.

Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – While FBI offers up flimsy reasons for being unprepared on Jan. 6, its record tells the real story
Quote – Jason Paladino at Grid recently examined all of the FBI’s rationales for its failure to adequately prepare for the siege against Congress, and concluded correctly that all of them fail the sniff test. The only reasonable conclusion—particularly as the evidence is assembled for public viewing—is that federal law enforcement’s cozy relationship with these right-wing extremists blinded them to the reality of the nature of the beast they thought they could use as an ally.
Click through for details. I hope and pray this becomes so widely known that Kevin McCarthy cones to rue the day he said, “The real question is why were they so unprepared.”

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 1/16/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:01 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jan 162022

Glenn Kirschner – Kevin McCarthy Says He Won’t Provide House Committee Evidence/Information about Trump’s 1/6 Conduct

American Bridge – We can’t let January 6th happen again

Meidas Touch – Today’s number of the day is… 11! (Wait for it!)

No Dem Left Behind – Winning Over Rural America!

Armageddon Update – January 6th 6th 6th

Really American – America Can Only Survive United

Beau – Let’s talk about Ahmaud and Houston County cops….

Open Thread for January 16, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 162022

Yesterday, The Opera was “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart. It’s based on the second of three plays by Pierre Beaumarchais, kown as the Figaro plays. All three have been made into operas – The first play, The Barber of Seville, by Rossini in 1816. The second, The Marriage of Figaro, by Mozart in 1786. The third, The Guilty Mother, by many composers, including John Corigliano, completed in 1991, and very different in that the source play is treated as a play within a play, and there is not a living person in the whole thing. These days it’s not obvious why all three were so controversial when new, particularly the plays, but they were. Beaumarchais was an American sympathizer who raised money for the Revolution before France sent actual military aid with LaFayette, and there are hints of that in the plays (fewer in the operas). But things have changed enough so that is not obvious to us today. Human nature, however, has not changed much if at all, and there’s plenty of that in all of them.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Huff Post – Major Student Loan Processor Cancels $1.7 Billion In Debt
Quote – Most of the loans being canceled are “subprime loans” that were given to students attending for-profit colleges, which often had graduation rates below 50%. That made it unlikely students would ever be able to pay the loans back.
Click through for background. This does not apply to all student loans, but it does apply to the most vulnerable. And there is another suit still going forward.

Reuters – DirecTV to drop far-right channel OAN from its service
Quote – OAN, which rose to prominence amid the triumph and tumult of the administration of then-President Donald Trump, has been criticized for spreading conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election. “We informed Herring Networks that, following a routine internal review, we do not plan to enter into a new contract when our current agreement expires,” a DirecTV spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Click through for more. In a related article, Reuters estimates OAN’s revenue from DirecTV to be in the neighborhood of 90% of its total revenue.

The Guardian – Police and FBI respond to synagogue hostage situation in Texas
Quote – The incident took place during an online livestream of the Shabbat service at the synagogue in Colleyville, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. The livestream cut off at about 2pm local time…. “Colleyville Police Sgt Dara Nelson said negotiators have made contact with somebody inside the synagogue who they believe is a suspect,” the Dallas Morning News said.
Click through – They had better respond! This is clear domestic terrorism. UPDATE: All hostages safe, hostage taker dead.

Food For Thought: