Open Thread for June 16, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 162021
 

Boring here yesterday – and that’s a good thing. I like boring.

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Short Takes

The Hill – White House unveils strategy to battle domestic extremism
Quote: “That means tackling racism in America. It means protecting Americans from gun violence and mass murders. It means ensuring that we provide early intervention and appropriate care for those who pose a danger to themselves or others,” the White House wrote. “It means ensuring that Americans receive the type of civics education that promotes tolerance and respect for all and investing in policies and programs that foster civic engagement and inspire a shared commitment to American Democracy.”
Click through for the full story. This is still in the contemplation stage, so we’ll have to wait to see what comes of it.

Mother Jones – Conservatives Are Hellbent On Attacking Critical Race Theory. They’re Whitewashing Structural Racism.
Quote – When asked about the most troubling thing politicians get wrong about critical race theory, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Anti-Racist, told MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson it is the notion that critical race theory attacks white people, rather than interrogates structures of racism.
Click through for full article. It would appear that it is actually the Colonel Jessups of the world who “can’t handle the truth ” (If you say “2 +2 = 5” and I say “No, it’s 4”, that is not a personal attack. But that is how they are taking this.)

Huffington Post – Key House Dem Demands Answers About Prominent White Nationalist In The Air Force
Quote – The inquiry from Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who chairs the military personnel subcommittee, concerns Airman 1st Class Shawn McCaffrey, a well-known white nationalist. McCaffrey graduated from boot camp in March, as HuffPost reported earlier this year, even as the military received a historic stand-down order so it could address the problem of extremism in its ranks. “I will be contacting Air Force leadership to find out why this individual ― who has his own author page on a website for far right extremists, describes himself as an ‘activist,’ and co-hosted a weekly podcast in which he attacked Jews, women, LGBTQ+ people, the U.S. armed forces, and many others using unacceptable slurs ― remains on active duty and under review given the very public and abundant evidence of his extremist ties,” Speier said in an emailed statement.
Click through for details. So many good people in Congress and we only hea about thr dorks.

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 15, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 152021
 

Well, still a little bit of tenderness and temperature around the injection site – but my actual normal temperature is so low that slight increas is probably right around normal. I’m now feeling confident and won’t mention it again unless something negative happens. So – now one to go. And now to business.

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Short Takes

New York Times – Warnings of Democracy in Peril
Quote: [Senator Angus] King [I-ME] said the only reason voters lacked confidence in the voting system was that Republicans — especially Mr. Trump — told them for months that it was rigged, despite all evidence to the contrary, and now continued to insist that there were abuses in the process that must be fixed. “That’s like pleading for mercy as an orphan after you killed both your parents,” he said.
Click through for the full article. There is a paywall but you get one or two free articles a month.

The 19th – Barack Obama: Women have found themselves “in an impossible situation” – from a socially distanced interview
Quote – I’m just incredibly proud of the kind of human beings Sasha and Malia have become. Of course, like all of us, they followed the protests around our country. They got involved. And we had conversations about all of it. My advice to them is the same as it is to all young people, which is that protesting — raising public awareness, putting a spotlight on injustice, making the powers that be uncomfortable — that kind of civil disobedience couldn’t be more important. Throughout our history, that has often been the only way to get the political system to pay attention to marginalized communities. But eventually, I tell them, movements have to be translated into laws and policies — and in a democracy, that only happens when we elect government officials who are responsive to our demands. Basically, my advice is to reject the false choice between participating in protests and politics. Do both!
Click through for the rest of what made it in to the interview.

Rolling Stone – Al Franken – Tax the Rich! Also the Very Affluent! But Mainly the Rich!
Quote: Biden is eager for the infrastructure bill to be a bipartisan effort, however, and has been negotiating with Republicans to find a deal everyone can feel good about. But if the Obama years are any indication, Republicans will only feel good if a Democrat in the White House fails. So we shouldn’t hold our breath. Democrats can pass an infrastructure bill through the fast-track reconciliation process if they need to, which only requires a simple majority of 51 votes to pass, which still may prove difficult but is a lot more doable. Because Mitch McConnell naturally doesn’t like any of Biden’s big plans one bit.
Click througfh for a very clearly explained article.

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 14, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 142021
 

I didn’t mention possible reaction yesterday because I am such a delayed reactor. And, in fact, it wasn’t until after 8 pm yesterday that I noticed a tiny bit of soreness around the injection site – so little I’m not sure I would have noticed it if I weren’t looking for it, but definitely thee.  And I still can’t even find the injection site visually with a mirror and a flashlight.. If I do react to a shot, it’s almost always to a preservative.. I guess the fact Moderna (and Pfizer) have to be kept so cold means that they are very low on preservatives. Tough on the front line handlers , but beneficial to me.

Cartoon for Flag Day

Short Takes

This is especially for Colleen because it’s in San Diego (at least the University is) … but I think we can all enjoy it.

Democratic Underground user “elleng” quotes in full an email from Steve Schmidt. He, along with other Lincoln Project members, have been in the Republican Party a long time – and they know what that party is capable of. So when they speak about that, I listen.
Quote: What we all have to realize is that we are falling into a trap. The media, Democratic leadership, former Republican leaders – we are mistakenly believing this is still a two party system, and we’re missing the point. Everyone is still making an assumption that there are these two parties…but that’s not the fight we’re in. There is only the Democratic Party, and on the other side is an authoritarian movement fueled by Donald Trump. That movement has grown to hold so much power in what used to be the Republican party that it has purged former leaders and left them fearful for the future.
Click through for the full text.

Daily Kos user (“kossack”) Magnifico – I don’t really know Magnifico, but they, like NewsCorpse, hold top mojo, and this article is largely based on two books each by an author I do know and trust – Hannah Arendt and Madeleine Albright.
Quote: The Republican Party’s assault on our democracy is accelerating. The Trump-era has seen the Big Lie be weaponized against truth and facts. At least 14 states, all Republican controlled, have enacted laws this year to restrict voting and elections. Republicans are now escalating the culture war in order to shape and control what people think and believe making a totalitarian state increasingly likely. Democrats, especially those who lead our nation’s institutions, are not reacting with enough speed or force to counter the momentum building against our republic and their slim majority in the Senate is so fractured and paralyzed by money and age to be able to unify to shore up democracy for even the next federal election cycle.
Click through for the full article.

Food for Thought – Republican coin

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Open Thread for June 13, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 132021
 

One down, one to go (Moderna)! I didn’t even bleed, so refused a BandAid (having heard an anecdote about someone who thought she was reacting to the shot only to rememner she had not removes the BandAid, and it was the problem.) I also didn’t even feel it. But enough of that now. If you notice a theme today, you are correct.

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Short Takes

The Hill – Garland sparks anger with willingness to side with Trump
Quote: The progressive watchdog group Revolving Door Project is tracking court cases that the Biden DOJ inherited from Barr and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Among those cases, which are largely lawsuits filed by advocacy groups and congressional committees, the new administration has sided with the previous one in about a dozen.
Click through for more … but not, alas, for the number of suits that “about a dizen is out of. I’d like to know that, as well as the res of all of them.

Mark Karlin for Daily Kos – This is his letter – it’s an open letter – so I can only presume he sent a hard copy.
Quote: You of all people know that you are in an increasingly hot seat because many Democrats are fearful that once again a Republican president may be getting away with lawlessness due to a Democratic tepidness that doesn’t want to look back, and to your role as head of the Department of Justice that wants to defend institutional precedents — even if they were grossly and repeatedly violated by Trump, Sessions and Barr.
Click through for the whole letter.

Bad News, The DOJ Is Just The Start


PolitiZoom – Bad News, The DOJ Is Just The Start. This is yet another takeon what is happening in the DOJ. Again, I have a pdf if anyone needs one.
Quote: Actually, I feel kind of sorry for Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco. They thought that they were being brought in to clean up a train wreck, only to arrive on the scene to learn that after the wreck, two 777’s collided overhead at 30,000 feet. And the scary part is that they’ve only turned over the first shovel full of wreckage.
Click through or let me know and I’ll email a pdf.

Food for Thought:

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Open Thread for June 11, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 112021
 

Turns out I wouldn’t have needed to be home today – but I will tomorrow. I wish i could (honestly) say I got a lot done. But I didn’t. I didn’t even succeed in gtting used to the heat we are finally starting to have. However, I do welcome it, after what seemed like a forever winter. I did get some bills paid on line, which is always satisfying, so there’s that.

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Short Takes

The Conversation – Supreme Court affirms tribal police authority over non-Indians. If I have addressed this beforeI apologize for the duplication – but isn’t it nice to see something positive come out of thei Supreme Court – and with a 9-0 ruling, yet!
Quote: Federal Indian law attorneys feared that a Supreme Court decision limiting tribal policing authority would further undermine the safety of Indians and non-Indians living in Indian country. They worried such a ruling could hamstring the ability of tribal police to detain and search potential criminals.
Click through for more background.  We know that Breyer (who wrote the opinion), Kagan, Sotomayor, and, surprisingly even to me, Gorsuch are dependable supporters of Native Americans’ rights. But this case did not hang on finding a fifth justice to vote the right way. It was decided unanimously. Amazing.

Wonkette – Hey, Look, Some Of Barack Obama’s Judicial Nominees Finally Got Confirmed! They’ve been waiting a long time. And so have we, for them.
Quote: I wish Democrats had hammered Republicans on their obstruction from the personal level. We should’ve known the names of every nominee McConnell blocked. It should’ve become a political liability for every Republican senator from the nominee’s state.
Click through for more story. Hey, Joe, there are lots more where those came from.

Daily Beast (opinion) Fire the IRS Chief Who Doesn’t Care if the Rich Don’t Pay
Quote: Within hours of ProPublica’s blockbuster report showing just how little America’s 25 wealthiest people pay in taxes, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig announced an investigation, which, of course, is what great journalism into a scandal is supposed to generate: a renewed commitment by senior government officials to fix an obvious scandal. But Rettig wasn’t looking into how broken the tax system is in favor of the wealthy, but rather about who leaked the documents proving that to the press, stating that he intended to prosecute the whistleblower if the investigation found the records were distributed illegally.
Click through fpr more thoughts.

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Open Thread for June 10, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 102021
 

Well, I have a new battery. He was right on time, and it only took about a quarter hour.  Without going into too much detail. I need to be home the next two days, so I’ll make a vax appointment for Saturday, Sunday, or Mondey. And I will let y’all know how it goes.

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Short Takes

Common Dreams – ‘Biggest Tax Story of the Year, If Not the Decade’: Analysis Shows Just How Little Richest .001% Pay in Taxes
I was running out of video space for today, so instead of including Thom Hartmann, I am including here this article he cited.
Quote: ProPublica makes clear that, far from being the beneficiaries of a sprawling, illegal tax dodging scheme, “it turns out billionaires don’t have to evade taxes exotically and illicitly—they can avoid them routinely and legally,” a point that spotlights the systemic inequities of the U.S. tax system. [emphasis mine]
There is a legal distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion. But to my mind, there’s not much of a moral distinction. Click through for the full article, and if you are really interested, through again from there to the full report.

Politico – Yesterday was a very busy day, so frankly, I have only skimmed this myself. But so much I have been featuring, here and in videos, skirts around this topic, I thought it would be well to bring it to the fore.
Quote: During a Senate budget hearing, Garland said he was aware of the controversy triggered by the Justice Department’s actions defending Trump in a civil suit and seeking to maintain secrecy around memos sent to former Attorney General William Barr as he responded to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Click through for more.

Wonkette – Ohio Kooks Think COVID-19 Vaccine Will Give You Freaky Magnetic Powers Like That’s A Bad Thing .  As a person who often drops small metal parts, like beads and findings, I would love for this to be true. Sadly, no.
Quote (in Wonkette’s unique style): Ooh, boy, so the usual gang of idiots are promoting a conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccine contains microchips or other metals that the government uses to track Americans. It’s like a 25-year-old plot from the “X-Files,” and Agent Scully was clued into the government’s diabolical scheme after the metal detector at the FBI picked up the chip in her neck. Yes, because the shadowy government conspiracy never imagined that a person might someday walk through a goddamn metal detector.
Click through for some details and more giggles.

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Open Thread for June 9, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 092021
 

I checked around and the most promising one which is also the one that clearly shows on the map it serves my area) has a contact me form. I tried on both browsers (some sites don’t like one or the other, and when I still had no answer i called and reached someone. So, 2:00 pm today he will be here and change it. Then I will look into vaccine appointments – not that I haven’t already, and they seem to be available and plentiful. I will keep you posted, of course.

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The Hill – New report highlights severe intelligence failures on Jan. 6 Personally, I’m not sure you can call it a “failure” of intelligence when deliberate ignoring is involved, but whatever
Quote: “The failures are obvious. I think to me it was all summed up by one of the things in our report where one of the officers was heard on the radio that day asking the tragically simple question: ‘Does anybody have a plan?’ Sadly, no one did,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Senate Rules Committee.
Click through for the rest

Mother Jones – How the 2022 Midterms Could Be Shaped by a Few Easy-to-Ignore Elections This Year I don’t think it’s any too early to be thinking about midtersm.
Quote: Chaz Nuttycombe, the director of Virginia-based election forecaster CNalysis, explains, “Democrats wouldn’t be in the majority in the Virginia House if Trump had lost in 2016.”
Click through for full analysis

BBC News – ANOM: Hundreds arrested in massive global crime sting using messaging app This is makinging all kinds of news – the BBC article is explained the most simply.
Quote: More than 800 suspected criminals have been arrested worldwide after being tricked into using an FBI-run encrypted messaging app, officials say. The operation, jointly conceived by Australia and the FBI, saw devices with the ANOM app secretly distributed among criminals, allowing police to monitor their chats about drug smuggling, money laundering and even murder plots.
Click through for more details

Food for Thought: Are you in need of a new welcome mat for your front door (outside or inside)? John Paclovitz is offering two peaachy-keen ones. My favorite:

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Open Thread for June 8, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 082021
 

My mechanic and I (I say “my mechanic,” but it’s actually a team) are in consensus that a new battery was needed, so I am calling and emailing around to find one that can be delivered. I’m ot committed as yet, but it’s still a relief to feel that I know what I need to do and have started doing it.

 

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The Borowitz Report – Putin Says He Has No Intention of Reinstating Trump
MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Calling recent speculation “absurd,” Vladimir Putin said that he has “no intention whatsoever” of reinstating Donald J. Trump as President of the United States.
Speaking to reporters, the Russian President bristled at the suggestion that he would reinstall Trump in the White House “this August or any other month, for that matter.”
Click through for details. I certainly hope this is straight news!

MSNBC – The GOP’s base is preparing for a holy war — and Democrats need to pay attention
Yes, another opinion piece – one which it’s hard to disagree with if one is paying attention and is honest. Quote:
The sentiments that these Republicans share differ at times in the particulars — not all believe, for example, that the Democratic Party is a front for blood-drinking, Satanic pedophilia, but many do…. If one believes a priori that one’s opponents are thieves, would-be totalitarians, drinkers of children’s blood, wresting back power becomes in and of itself a moral imperative, regardless of the means.
Click through for the full piece.

The New Yorker – How Nasty Was Nero, Really?
Fake news is not news. It’s been around forever. I’ve been defending Nero for a while now – along with Marie Antoinette, Richard III, and Hillary Clinton. Not one of them was guilty of the arson, murder, incest, or miscellaneous crimes he or she was accused of. Can we hope that Hillary’s reputation will fare any better than that of the other three? Here’s a quote:
Opper told me, “They had a term for it—vituperatio, or ‘vituperation,’ which meant that you could say anything about your opponent. You can really invent all manner of things just to malign that character. And that is exactly the kind of language and stereotypes we find in the source accounts.”
Click through for details. Why is it relevant now? Well, look what Qpublicans are saying about us.

Food for Thought:

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