Video Thread 6/20/21

 Posted by at 1:00 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 202021
 

Glenn Kirschner – DOJ Brief Says “Proud Boy” Defendant Committed Act of “Terrorism.” This is What Trump Incited

The Lincoln Project – Juneteenth

Now This News – Teen Receives Racist Attacks After Anti-Racist Graduation Speech

Ring of Fire – Former Nixon Lawyer Says Trump’s Behavior Was WAY Worse Than Nixon’s

Thom Hartmann – Choose: Voting Rights or The US Chamber? (w/ Karl Frisch)

What Happens When You Leave a Barrel Hanging in a forest

Beau – Juneteenth and reactions to it

(*On You Tube, I can cut miscellaneous stuff at the beginning .. but not at the end. So I like to let you know when you can stop one early without losing content.)

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Open Thread for June 20, 2021

 Posted by at 7:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 202021
 

It is now possible to hear an opera broadcast on every Saturday all year round, and not just during the Metropolitan Opera’s season. Yesterday’s opera is “Tosca,” by Puccini, which premiered in 1900, based on an 1887 play. In it the political is the personal, and I would ccll it prescient except that, sadly, the struggle between authoritarians and the rest of us has been going on forever. But it does, at least to me, make it more poignant to consider that what happened to Tosca and Mario (and Angelotti) could conceivably happen to any of us at any time if we fail to preserve our democracy.

Cartoon TomCat has run this cartoon every Father’s Day since at least 2010 (probably before that, but I don’t think the prior blog, which was on Blogspot, remains accessible). He always protested strongly that the litter was not his progeny.

Short Takes

INDEOENDENT (UK) – The Republican Party has turned fascist – it is now the most dangerous threat in the world. (And apparently everyone can see it except us.)
Quote: Two strategies, though never entirely absent from Republican behaviour in the past, have become far more central to their approach. One is a greater willingness to use or tolerate violence against their opponents, something that became notorious during the invasion of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters on 6 January. The other change among Republicans is much less commented on, but is more sinister and significant. This is the systematic Republican takeover of the electoral machinery that oversees elections and makes sure that they are fair. Minor officials in charge of them have suddenly become vital to the future of American democracy. Remember that it was only the refusal of these functionaries to cave in to Trump’s threats and blandishments that stopped him stealing the presidential election last November.
Click through for the full article. Share it if you can.

Crooks and Liars – What’s The ‘Critical Race Theory’ Uproar Really About? Making Enemies For 2022
Quote : The whole campaign against CRT, in fact, appears to be primarily the work of a handful of astroturfing “dark money” right-wing organizations. And its central figure is named Christopher Rufo, a longtime right-wing think tank activist with a history of promoting various kinds of spurious enemy concoctions.
Click through for details. But remember, just because only one person is behind it doesn’t mean it hasn’t already infected multitudes. Donald Trump** ia onlt one person too.

Sad news – Champ has passed. (BTW this looks like a Twitter account worth following if one were on Twitter.)

Food for Thought

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Video Thread 6/19/21

 Posted by at 1:00 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 192021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Breaking News: FBI/DOJ Investigating Possible Complicity of Members of Congress in the Insurrection

Don Winslow – This is 3 days old, and there has been some mitigating news since then. But it’s still a good point.

Armageddon Update – Snark lives!

Now This News – Scare off scammers (ad at end)

Ring of Fire – Mostly opinion here – and I don’t always agree with Farron – but today I applaud him unconditionally. (Ad at end)

Decoding cat emotions

Beau – Let’s talk about the weather and record breaking heat…

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Open Thread for June 19, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 192021
 

I thik I have today covered … always extra posts on weekends. If you don’t get my emails (or if you do but don’t want to wait for it) be sure to see WWWendy’s “Hello Again” post. There is now something we can do. Happy Juneteenth (actual.) I shall be making do with Fruit Punch Gatorade (not my choice, it was an unauthorized substitution in a delivery) and strawberry soda (at least that was my choice.)

Cartoon

Short Takes

The Bitter Southerner – Juneteenth Jubilee. One tradition for celebrating Juneteenth is eating red food and drinking red beverages. This mixologist has a special recipe (doesn’t have to be “adult”).
Quote: According to culinary historian Adrian Miller, red drinks — which rule the bar at Juneteenth parties — have their roots in West African and Caribbean beverages that came to the United States through the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved people stewed hibiscus flowers to make a reddish-purple tea called bissap, Miller points out, and they mixed powdered kola nut (one of the ingredients in Coca-Cola) with water to make a refreshing, naturally stimulating drink. This practice of adding reddish substances to make sweet, palatable drinks was common and naturally made its way to the Juneteenth celebration table. Soon, red-colored drinks — like the Texas-made soda Big Red, introduced in 1937 — had become part of the Juneteenth culinary tradition.
Click through for the actual recipe (at the very end) but also for more facts about the holiday.

Crooks and Liars – Florida Republican Threatens To Send Russian-Ukrainian ‘Hit Squad’ After Rival. Yes, you read that right.
Quote – “I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said at one point in the conversation last week, according to the recording exclusively obtained by POLITICO. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f—ing speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”
Click through for more details – not that you will be surprised – he is a Republica.

Wonkette – Yay! House Votes To Repeal Bad Iraq War Authorization. In case this got lost in other news, I wanted to highlight it in Wonkette’s distinctive style.
Quote – [McConell] is correct. To borrow a turn of phrase, it should not be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force. But we should thank Mitch for his opposition to this. The only people who have been held to account for their bad Iraq War votes have been Democrats. As soon as things turned bad, the Right went from worshiping Dubya to “We don’t know her” and pretending that Hillary Clinton was personally responsible for the whole thing happening in the first place. This way, Republicans voting against this can be held to account for their votes against a thing that absolutely no one wants anymore. More of this, please.
Click throughfor the rest of the well-earned disrespect of (some) Congresscritters.(The Wnkette Newsletter is talikg a two-week vacation so I may not see their stories for that length of time.)

Food for Thought

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Video Thread 6/18/21

 Posted by at 1:00 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 182021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Positive Legal Stories: Obamacare; Flynn; Sanctioning Attorneys; DOJ Hits Discriminatory State Laws

Dave Muhlbauer for Iowa – He is running against Chuck Grassley. Direct link to campaign website (H/T Nameless) https://www.muhlbauerforiowa.com

Now This News – Biden Admin Plans to Invest in Jobs of the Future

Titus – Parody Infomercial

Liberal Rednack – Local News Reporter Drops “Bombshell” Live on Air – Reaction. The podcast cited was Yuesday, but it’ll be up on Trae’s channel for replay. They run about an hour so I don’t use them here.

Rocky Mountain Mike – Louie Gohmert’s Dark Side Of The Moon

Beau – Let’s talk about how Trump’s talking points are made….

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Open Thread for June 18, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 182021
 

My settled routine is more or less back, which is a blessing. It enables me to stop and knit a little, or bead a little, or eve play a computer game a little. And those little breaks keep me going. There’s pretty much good news today. It’s all in the nature of clawing one more step forward from having been pushed two steps back … but it’s all good nonetheless. Happy Juneteenth (observed) to all.

Cartoon

Short Takes

The Hill – Supreme Court upholds ObamaCare in 7-2 ruling
Quote: “We do not reach these questions of the Act’s validity, however, for Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority.
Click through to see which Trump**-appointed Justice(s) voted the right way. You know at least one did, just by the numbers.

Sojourners – JUNETEENTH: ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS’
Juneteenth is, of course, tomorrow. But it has been announced that the Federal Government will celebrate it today. So here is a very personal yet also historical article about the first one.
Quote: The next day, Friday, June 19, when Granger arrived, the more than 1,000 enslaved people working in Galveston’s ports, houses, hotels, cotton fields, and barber and smithing shops would have witnessed thousands of Black men in blue uniforms as far as the eye could see as their liberators…. It was the beautiful presence of authoritative Black bodies that made these words real.
Click through for the full story.

Crooks and Liars – Teachers Push Back On GOP ‘Critical Race Theory’ Nonsense
Quote: Teachers across the country have spoken out against bills like [Texas] S.B. 2202, with thousands gathering in more than 20 cities last weekend for a National Day of Action organized by the Zinn Education Project, which publishes educational materials based on Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and other writings. Several thousand educators have also signed a pledge stating, “We, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events—regardless of the law.”
Click through for more detail. Howard Zinn rocks, so if you haven’t read his “people’s histry” you may want to look it up.

Food for Thought

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Video Thread 6/17/21

 Posted by at 1:00 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 172021
 

Glenn Kirschner – NYT Reports that NY DA Vance Has Weisselberg’s Personal Tax Returns. The Flip on Trump is Near

Meidas Touch – more Lev Parnas

The Lincoln Project – How To Get Back To The White House: A Guide For Donald Trump

Thom Hartmann – Secret Plans of Boogaloo & White Supremacists Revealed

What Biden said about his meeting with Putin, in 3.5 minutes

Cory Ryan Forrester turns an ambulance chaser parody into something much better.

Beau – Let’s talk about 750 million refugees coming to the United States….

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Open Thread for June 17, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 172021
 

Yesterday was another boring day. Not even any internet outage – and my ISP (CenturyLink) is getting terrible press for outages, including days-long outages, all over the place, including as close as Denver. I hope it stays boring!

Cartoon

Short Takes

The New Yorker – The Political, Legal, and Moral Minefield That Donald Trump Left for Merrick Garland
Quote: The array of politically sensitive Trump-related cases currently before the Garland Justice Department is startling. The Attorney General is overseeing the prosecution of the more than four hundred Trump supporters who were arrested in connection with the January 6th Capitol riot; the department’s response to a Republican-led recount of 2020 election returns in Arizona; its response to Republican-led efforts to restrict voting, based on Trump’s false claims of election fraud; the reinstatement of consent decrees designed to prevent police abuses; the criminal investigation of Trump’s personal lawyer and confidant Rudy Giuliani, for illegal lobbying; and a criminal investigation of Hunter Biden, the current President’s son, which was launched under Barr. Hanging over all these cases are demands from Democrats that Garland investigate whether Trump committed federal crimes while in office.
Click through fo the full article.

The Hill – Five takeaways from the Biden-Putin summit
I’m just going to list all five and let you follow up on the ones you want to.
– A return to pragmatism
– Capitol riot rears its head
– Biden praised as ‘not Trump’
– Putin relishes occasion
– Questions linger about details
Click through for details.

I can’t possibly cut this feelgood story. Everything in it is necessary for the effect so-
* Here’s my feelgood story of the day LOL Back in 2012, I went to game 4 of the world series in Detroit. The Giants clinched that night and while I was rooting for the Tigers, what a great thing to actually be there in the park and see the final out of a world series.
* I recently found a pin they gave out at the game. A State Farm sponsored world series 2012 pin. I looked on ebay and they were only selling for a few bucks, but I figured, I have no use for it. So I listed it for 99 cents + $8.55 for priority mail shipping.
* Well it sold for only 99 cents. No big deal, someone will enjoy it! I figure it is some Tigers fan, though I didn’t think they would want to be reminded of that World Series lol
* Buyer sent me the money including the shipping. ebay sent me his address and it turns out he lives only about 4 miles from where I work, and more or less on my way home. So I say, hey, if you want, I’ll just drop it off on your porch and refund your shipping cost. He says, sure that’s fine, but you don’t need to give me a refund.
* I pulled up at his house and there is a guy pulling weeds in a flowerbed. I get his attention and hand it to him, and he smiles and says “Hey, I work for Ford too!” We chat for a second, I tell him I’m a Red Sox fan and hope he’ll enjoy the pin because it was just collecting dust in a drawer.
* He reiterates again not to refund the shipping cost, that I can keep it.
* THEN he tells me his son is severely autistic. He didn’t buy the pin for the Tigers. He bought it because his son autistic love is ANYTHING State Farm related, and to make him happy he lets his son buy some small State Farm item every day on ebay.
* So needless to say I’m absolutely thrilled now to know it is really going to bring some joy for his autistic son.
* I left and went home, and despite what he said, immediately refunded his shipping and told him to use that $8.55 for the next State Farm prize for his son.

Food for Thought

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