Open Thread – Page 320 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for July 19, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:10 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 192021

Yesterday I managed to get off of the back of my lap long enough to fill my car’s gas tank, so that if I have to idle it for 20 or 30 minutes from time to time to make sure the battery stays charged, I won’t need to worry about running out. I was gobsmacked by the changes in the landscape since I last drove by the gas station I used – there used to be about a two-block-long strip mall and now there’s just tall grass. This is not the south, where if you park your car in the wrong place on Friday you can’t find it for the kudzu on Sunday – instead we are high desert – so it must have been gone for at least a few months.

Cartoon – 7/19 “pinkframe”

Short Takes – I don’t generally double up (and certainly not triple up) on sources on any given day … but this combination of stories was just too – colorful – to resist. Think of it as a break from serious news.

Law & Crime – Man Allegedly Opened Fire at Police, City Code Compliance, and Crew Hired to Mow His Lawn
Quote – On Friday, July 16, 2021 at approximately 0830 a.m., the Fort Worth Police Department along with Fort Worth Code Compliance arrived at the 4800 block of Cedar Springs Drive in reference to an ongoing Code Compliance issue. The call originated for an execution warrant for a high grass violation.
Click through for more. Twelve inches is unusually generous for grass and weeds, IMO.

Law & Crime – Oklahoma Woman Arrested After Commenting on Police Facebook Post That Named Her An Accessory to Murder
Quote – The department included a screenshot of Graves’s comment in its Friday Facebook post about her arrest. A Facebook user whose name was redacted responded to Graves, writing, “giiiiirl you better stay off social media they can track you!!” A second user wrote, “Lorraine Graves aint [sic] gonna be as funny when you get processed.”
Click through for sequence of events. Facebook. What can I say.

Law & Crime – Police Sergeant Accused of Making Child Porn, ‘Lustful Touching’ After the FBI Put His Picture on Wanted Poster
Quote – [The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children] employs a “team of analysts who work tirelessly to help identify clues in images and videos” that might help locate abused children, the Center said in a blog post. That team discovered an image of John Doe 44, which the FBI in turn chose to make public. “Within hours of the FBI releasing his photo to the public, he was identified and arrested,” the NCMEC said of the defendant.
Click through for more, including good information about the NCMEC. Sigh. And then some people wonder why other people don’t trust the police.

Food for Thought: Could the people in these stories have benefitted from more parental guidance?

Video Thread for 7/18/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:52 am Open Thread, Politics

Jul 182021

Glenn Kirschner – With Donald Trump It’s Always About the Grift: His Latest Plea for Cash from the Red Hat Crowd

Meidas Touch – Jenna Ellis HUMILIATES Herself | Weirdo of the Week

Thom Hartmann – Is This America’s Last Chance At Multiracial Democracy?

RepresentUs – What the F@#k Is the Filibuster? Everyone here knows this, but passing it on could help someone – maybe.

Puppet Regime – Jeff Bezos Has a Solution for Work-Life Balance

Republican Accountability Project on Twitter

Introducing the superheroes for COVID: #CovidFriends pic.twitter.com/YNhzQIkxl0

— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) July 16, 2021

Liberal Redneck – PREGNANT MAN EMOJIS AND FREEDOM PHONES YALL I haven’t seen the emoji, but the phone … well, here.

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump’s coup denial….

Open Thread for July 18, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 182021

Yesterday I drafted and sent an emeil to the visiation staff to ask what I need to do to plan a visit. Yes, there are instructions on line, but they don’t answer everything. I don’t expect a reply until sometime Monday. I do know they can see a jpg file because in the past I’ve attached jpgs to express thanks and they’ve told me they can see them.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Reuters – Death toll rises to 170 in Germany and Belgium floods
Quote – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Erftstadt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the disaster killed at least 45 people. “We mourn with those that have lost friends, acquaintances, family members,” he said. “Their fate is ripping our hearts apart.” Steinmeier said it would take weeks before the full damage, expected to require several billions of euros in reconstruction funds, could be assessed.
Click through for details, including video. well, there you have it. The US is not exceptonal. Every part of the world is sufferiung consequences.

APNews – Biden pledges appeal of ‘deeply disappointing’ DACA ruling
Quote – In his statement, Biden urged Congress to move forward with legislation to permanently protect those covered by the program. “Only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for Dreamers that will provide the certainty and stability that these young people need and deserve,” the president said. “I have repeatedly called on Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, and I now renew that call with the greatest urgency,” he said. “It is my fervent hope that through reconciliation or other means, Congress will finally provide security to all Dreamers, who have lived too long in fear.”
Click through for story. This is heartbreaking, and it shows – again – why it is so important to have qualified and humane judges in our courts.

Common Dreams – Florida-Based Doctor Arrested on Suspicion of Plotting Assassination of Haiti’s President
Quote – Haitian authorities said that 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel Sanon worked with a Miami-based private security firm to recruit the mercenaries who carried out the assassination last Wednesday. According to video footage of the scene, a group of heavily armed assailants posed as officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as they moved in on Moïse’s private residence on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
Click through for information and speculation. I’ve always maintained that some conspiracies are real. I must say this one boggles the mind.

Food for Thought:

Video Thread for 7/17/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:48 am Open Thread, Politics

Jul 172021

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump Issues a Statement Saying “if I was going to do a coup” it Wouldn’t be with Gen. Milley

Meidas Touch – Breaking: Unindicted Trump Organization Co-Conspirator #1 REVEALED

The Lincoln Project – Which Side

The Damage Report – Trump Almost Died BOMBSHELL Revelations REVEALED (I trust this is no surprise, just a heartbreaking tragedy.)

Armageddon Update – Hot as Fahrenheit

Keith – OLBERMANN VS…UNVACCINATED ATHLETES WHO THREATEN THE GAMES AND ENABLE ANTI-VAX COWARDS – GET. OUT.

Beau – Let’s talk about the separation of church and state….

Open Thread for July 17, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:39 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 172021

Yesterday I scanned my vaccination card and saved the jpg in my health records file so I can easily find it if I need to. I also lookup up whether any visitation is being allowed, and yes, there is some – limited, but some. I will qualify after my 14 days since the second shot are up, so i’ll be working on an email to ask about paperwork, How handy that I have my vaccination card already scanned.

Cartoon – just kidding – just kidding!

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – Trump Obtained Podiatrist’s Note to Avoid Serving in Own Military Coup
Quote – An excerpt from the note reads, “Donald J. Trump is suffering from extremely painful bone spurs that would make any active-duty participation in a military coup out of the question. In the event of such a coup, I strongly recommend that he be limited to an administrative role.”
Click thrugh for more
Related story

The Hill – Pro-impeachment Republicans outpace GOP rivals in second-quarter fundraising
Quote – Now the 10 House Republicans who broke party lines in the chamber’s January impeachment vote are heading into the second half of 2021 flush with cash, financial reports filed on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show.
Click through for numbers and some names. This is encouraging, as far as it goes. It doesn’t mean we can rest, though.

Mother Jones – How a Three-Word Phrase Sabotaged Black Voting Rights, and How They Can Be Reconstructed
Quote – Or other crime. Three small words that continue to shape America today. It is a great irony of our history that the 14th Amendment, which enshrined in the Constitution the promise of equal protection under the law, is today the principal source of Black disenfranchisement. But there’s no reason to accept this fate. At a time when the public is increasingly aware of modern attempts at suppression, the tools for resurrecting the fundamental right to vote are waiting to be put to use. Our future could depend on how seriously we decide to take the rest of the words in Section 2.
Click through and consider bookmarking. Without the votes of people of color, democracy is already dead. It shouldn’t be, and doesn’t have to be, this way.

Food for Thought:

Video Thread for 7/16/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:53 am Open Thread, Politics

Jul 162021

Glenn Kirschner – General Mark Milley Was Prepared to Stop Trump’s Attempted Coup/Unlawful Efforts to Retain Power

An appearance by Glenn Kirschner on another show … even more passionate than on his own.

Ring of Fire – Tucker Carlson Gets Schooled By His First Grade Teacher After Lying About Her

Robert Reich – Don’t Buy Into the Inflation Scare

Decency United – “Oh No He Didn’t!” – Will Donald Trump Leave the Republican Party?

Cat Learns To Open Door To Meet New Foster Kittens – POKEY

Beau – Let’s talk about me being “giddy like a schoolgirl” over corporate tokens….

Open Thread for July 16, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 162021

Yesterday I got a grocery order delivered and put away (which I did just manage to get in on the previous night.) And I made an appointment for my annual checkup which would normally have happened last November but was delayed by the pandemic. And that is just about all I accomplished. Incidentally, I probably will be phasing out Samantha Bee and Bill Maher (if somebody else wants to do them I’ll gladly help), but that’s not why there are none this week. There are no new vids on her channel, and he is still on vacation for another week or two.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Above the Fray: Changing the Stakes of Supreme Court Selection and Enhancing Legitimacy
This is a readable but also a searchable report from the Project on Government Oversight which is a real keeper. I seldom agree with POGO on every single point and I’m sure this is no exception. But I can’t fault their research
Click through for the full report. IMO it’s a keeper.

Reuters – AG revives immigration judges’ power to postpone deportation cases
Quote – Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a ruling on Thursday restoring the ability of immigration judges to postpone deportation cases while awaiting rulings in related proceedings, which had been eliminated by Trump-era AG Jeff Sessions.
Click through for details (somewhat technical.) Bottom line: People are rightly complaining that immigrants are still being ill-treated. Still having Trumpian regulations on the books is one big reason why. Getting rid of those regulations is a good thing.

AP News – Biden’s Census nominee promises independence, transparency
Quote – President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Census Bureau told a Senate committee on Thursday that he would bring transparency and independence to the nation’s largest statistical agency, which was challenged by the pandemic, natural disasters and attempts at political interference while carrying out the 2020 census.
Click through for story. I hope it’s not too late.

Food for Thought: