Open Thread – Page 318 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for July 27, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:59 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 272021

Yesterday kind of flirted with being too hot. Today and tomorrow are supposed to go past flirtation, darn it. I received an emaied receipt for my visitation app – only a receipt, no request for more infom so I assume it’s complete. Well, it should be. Besides my own I’ve helped friends fill this app out three or four times and all were approved – and besides that, I can read directions. So, we’ll see how long it takes.

Cartoon – I had planned to re-run an older one of TC’s about the heat, but I came across this anniversary and thought it needed to be featured.

Short Takes –

New Yorker (Borowitz) – G.O.P. to Punish Cheney and Kinzinger by Forcing Them to Spend Hour with Ted Cruz
Quote – McCarthy’s decision to subject the two Republicans to an hour of Cruz drew a strong rebuke from Representative Cheney’s father, the former Vice-President Dick Cheney. “Much as I have been a longtime supporter of torture, this goes too far,” he said.
Click through for a little more. Andy keeps it short.

Crooks and Liars – Fox News Hosts Promote Voting Ban On ‘Childless’ Liberals
Quote – Campos-Duffy said. “But I will say that I agree with the premise of it, that it is absolutely true that people like [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], Pete Buttigieg — you can name the left-wing politicians, people who think that we should legalize marijuana because they don’t have kids and they don’t really have a stake in what that looks like.”
Click through for the discussion. So far discussion is all this is. (And they seem to have left out the part about counting cildren as 3/5 of a person.)

Law and Crime – Former Trump Inaugural Chair Jeered as ‘Traitor’ Before Pleading Not Guilty to Acting as Illegal Agent of UAE
Quote – Before entering federal court in Brooklyn, Barrack was pursued by a man holding a placard with the word “TRAITOR” in black block caps. Hecklers carried the same message for fellow Trump loyalists Paul Manafort and Roger Stone during their trials, CNBC noted. As noted in the Mueller Report, that is not all that trio has in common. Barrack and Stone are the men credited with recommending Manafort to Trump’s campaign team.
Click through for full article. This story is everywhere, but I liked this version.

Food for Thought (statement of Adam Kinzinger):

Video Thread for 7/26/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:57 am Open Thread, Politics

Jul 262021

Glenn Kirschner – With Tom Barrack Indictment (& Weisselberg Indictment & Giuliani Search Warrant) Justice Is Trending (Kind of a recap, which is OK)

Meidas Touch – Tucker Carlson WRECKED by Montana Man: “The worst human being known to mankind!” [With Captions]

The Damage Report – Company Sells Shooting Targets Of AOC & Greta Thunberg

CNN – Jim Acosta: Fox News viewers may have a case of whiplash

The Happiest, Cuddliest Duck Ever Is Obsessed With A Giant Dog

Beau – Let’s talk about Huckabee Sanders and giving up on…

Open Thread for July 26, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 262021

Yesterday was Sunday … which usually means a slow newsday – and this was no exception. So I don’t have a lot. But there’s always something.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Medium – Ken Starr, Brett Kavanaugh, Jeffrey Epstein and Me
Quote – It was a an interview I watched in 2020 with one of Baylor’s aggrieved accusers that helped me understand how I could have been blind for so long to the pattern of misogyny coursing through Starr’s career. Describing a meeting with Starr about her ordeal, she said that he shed a tear along with her, made her feel heard, but did nothing to help get justice for her or the many other female students who came forward with allegations. Unless you count what he said in one interview, “We grieve for what happened. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t say it’s a new day. That’s the biblical perspective that we try to live up to here at Baylor University.” Shamelessly and effectively, he shoved rape allegations under the carpet in the name of Christianity.
Click through for complete story (you get 2 articles free per month, so maybe “print” if you want to be able to reference it.) I always used to think a person’s sex life did not affct his abiity to govern – and I still think so provided misogyny is not a part of it.

The Guardian – Tennessee man died from heart attack after ‘Swatting’ over Twitter handle
Quote – “Emergency responders were dispatched, and when they arrived at Herring’s home, guns drawn, they called for Herring to walk toward them, keeping his hands visible. As he did so, Herring, 60, appeared to lose his balance and fell to the ground, unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital; cause of death was determined to be a heart attack.”
Click through for details. We’re familiar with “Sex sells,” and “If it bleeds it leads.” Maybe weneed a new saying regarding the amount of media attention triggered by pur craziness.

Democratic Underground – “And there, people, is the story of why I hate people. And why I love people….”
Quote – “I guess I look nice. Approachable. Like I wouldn’t rip your head off. I am nice, most of the time. But not always. And I lost my temper.”
Click through. It’s not terribly long. And I figured we needed a feel-good story after those horror stories above.

Food for Thought:

Video Thread for 7/25/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:43 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 252021

Glenn Kirschner – Congress MUST Now Investigate FBI/Kavanaugh Tips to See What The White House May Have Covered Up

The Lincoln Project – Brady (I’ve been wanting to post something on this, but I wasn’t happy with the clips I was seeing. This one – Voila!)

Thom Hartmann – Texas Says “You can’t teach the Ku Klux Klan is Morally Wrong”

Rebel HQ – Gladiator Guy Arrested After Filming Capitol Hill Riot For His Mom

Now This News – 4-Year-Old Girl Clears Plastic Waste From Ocean in Rio

Red Parrot Brings Girlfriend Over To Meet The Woman He Visits Every Day

Beau – Let’s talk about what we can learn from security failures…. I have to call this analogy superb.

Open Thread for July 25, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:33 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 252021

Yesterday was pretty calm – which was a good thing, because I was finding it a challenge to keep my eyes open. At least some of that had to be the weather. My favorite aunt used to call such weather “enervating.” And I certainly felt enervated. I’m sure I am far from alone – it isn’t even all that humid here (though certainly more so than I would like it to be.) Apropos of nothing, it’s pronounced with the primary accent on the initial “e” whch is short (as in “hen”). I come by my fascination with words honestly.

Cartoon – )

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – President Biden’s Perfect Troll
Quote – [“reprter] “I-I-I-I-I-I’m not sure…” (That’s my transcription from the video. I may have miscounted but it’s close.)
Click through if you missed it. It’s short and very sweet.

The Hill – Freedom Caucus presses McCarthy to force vote to oust Pelosi
Quote – In the letter, the Freedom Caucus also cited other reasons why Pelosi should be removed: She has allowed remote, proxy voting by lawmakers due to the coronavirus pandemic, and she had metal detectors installed at the entrances to the House floor after the Jan. 6 attack … But their main gripe was her decision this week to essentially veto two of McCarthy’s five GOP picks for the Jan. 6 select committee: Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Both are die-hard Trump loyalists and Jordan was the founding chairman of the Freedom Caucus. In response, a furious McCarthy said Republicans would boycott participating in the committee, which kicks off its first hearing Tuesday.
Click through for details. We knew they were deusional, and thinking they might conceivably have the votes to do this certainly proves it. If they do think so. More likely, its a purity test for political theater.

AP News – Iowa Democrat Finkenauer seeking GOP Sen. Grassley’s seat
Quote – Finkenauer, despite losing her House seat in 2020 after one term, remains a youthful prospect in the Iowa Democratic Party, which has struggled to produce a new generation for statewide office. Along with 38-year-old Democrat Dave Muhlbauer, a farmer who previously announced his bid for Grassley’s seat, she is hoping Grassley’s slipping poll numbers provide an opening to revive a shrinking segment of the party’s once diverse electorate: rural voters.
Click through for more about her and about the race. I certainly wish her the very best of luck (and I fear she- or any Democrat – will need it.)

Food for Thought:

Video Thread for 7/24/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:04 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 242021

Glenn Kirschner – FBI Give Citizen Tips About Kavanaugh to White House Rather Than Investigate Them. What Now?

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – July 19, 2021

politicsrus – Covid 19 Get Vaccinated – Aimed at MAGAts, certainly – and they also have one which only has the Hannity-Trump** portion if you have one or more of those to persueade.

VoteVets update – Rachel Maddow showed their “Abdulla” ad (in yesterday’s thread) on her show and briefly interviewed Tammy.

Tiny Kittens Help Heartbroken Pittie To Live Again (hanky alert)

Beau – Let’s talk about wolves, Wisconsin, and tough guys….

Open Thread for July 24, 2021

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

Jul 242021

Thursday, I got a reply to my request for information on visitation. There’s no exemption for the pandemic to the rule that if you don’t visit for a year you have to start over with a new application. But I was provided with an email address, and I was prepared for that answer, so I emailed the application off as – actually, as three attachments – and got my email returned by the mail system. The error message included the phrase “too many hops,” and just in case that had anything to do with attachments, I started over with the app and credentials, got them into a single pdf, and re-sent – and got it back again. To make a long story shorter, yesterday I asked around, and part of the problem ended up being that DOC email addresses can’t read caps. Anyway, the application is at DOC now, and, since this is not my first rodeo, I’m confident it includes enough (possibly more than enough) information to sail through. And the DOC will notify me by email when it has.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-qanon-shaman-plea-negotiations-after-mental-health-diagnosis-lawyer-2021-07-23/
Reuters – Exclusive: ‘QAnon Shaman’ in plea negotiations after mental health diagnosis
Quote – In an interview, defense lawyer Albert Watkins said that officials at the federal Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, have diagnosed his client Jacob Chansley with transient schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. The BOP’s findings, which have not yet been made public, suggest Chansley’s mental condition deteriorated due to the stress of being held in solitary confinement at a jail in Alexandria, Virginia, Watkins said. “As he spent more time in solitary confinement … the decline in his acuity was noticeable, even to an untrained eye,” Watkins said in an interview on Thursday. He said Chansley’s 2006 mental health records from his time in the U.S. Navy show a similar diagnosis to the BOP’s.
Click through for details. This is a situation of a type which explains why I don’t score a 9 or higher on being anti-authoritarian. The point of appealing to mental illness as mitigation is – though it’s seldom stated – the feeling we all share that a person should not be punished for something which is not, or not entirely, his fault. I feel that too. I feel it as a moral principle, not just as an emotional response. But the corollary is, if it is caused by a condition which is inseparable from the person, that person still meeds to be restrained somehow for the safety of the public. No, it shouldn’t be a prison. But – as, thanks to Ronald Reagan and other Republicans is currently the case in the US – prison is the only option, then prison it needs to be. Yes, we need to find better ways. But until and unless we do, that remains the hard truth.

Politico – Alabama governor says ‘it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks’ as pandemic worsens
Quote – [T]he remarks from the governor grew more pointed when she was pressed on what it would take for greater numbers of Alabamans to get their shots. “I don’t know. You tell me,” Ivey said. “Folks [are] supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”
Click through for more. Here’s proof there are still Repuiblicans who have not completely lost it. Just not enough of them. And they are still Republicans.

Daily Beast – Liz Cheney Is Saving Pelosi, the GOP, and Maybe America From Themselves {OPINION}
Quote – In applying this analogy to Jan. 6, Cheney represents one legitimate political worldview and Democrats represent the other. If Pelosi should name Rep. Adam Kinzinger—a Republican, Air Force veteran and member of the Air Force National Guard—to the select committee, as she is reportedly considering doing, she would be reinforcing this function and adding an additional check on Democrats who might be tempted to exploit the situation for their own political agenda. (And if you think Dick Cheney’s daughter is some sort of RINO now, that probably says a lot more about you than it does about her.)
Click through for his full argument. No, she’s not a hero. But I can respect a person who holds their beliefs with integrity, even if they are wrong. m And in this case – in this case – she is not wrong.

Food for Thought: