Yesterday, I really felt like I needed a day off. And my inbox didn’t help – it was crammed, but mostly with Black Friday crap. I didn’t give in to that impulse completely, but this is short compared to usual. Tomorrow I will go see Virgil, andof course check in when I get home.
This is a Black Friday deal, but it’s from Andy Borowitz. And it will give you a smile whether you are in the market or not.
This is today’s news video. Substack videos are mostly long (too long for PP), but this one is just 4½ minutes. Malcolm Nance has thoughts on the shooting of the National Guards.
This is an unusual animal to befriend in distress, but some people have a big enough heart and don’t have a phobia.I couldn’t do it – but I can applaud it.
Trinette got this from a friend and forwarded it to me – something to post on your front door in self-defense.
Yesterday, I hope everyone had a pleasant and a peaceful day. I know I did
Ordinarily I don’t post petitions but this one is on a proposal which is new and shocking – “Doug Burgum, Trump’s hand-picked Interior Secretary, … wants to treat our public lands like a ‘balance sheet’ — turning America’s natural treasures into collateral for national debt.” This could be worse than selling them outright. If a sale were to be proposed, we would at least have an opportunity to protest. As collateral, they could just disappear. Of course Democratic Conservation will request a donation, but that is not mandatory.
Wednesday evening, Joyce Vance did a “catch-up” letter on legal news, much of which I had missed, so I’m linking today in case you missed it also.
Heather Cox Richardson wrote about the origins of Thanksgiving specifically as a national holiday (communal giving of thanks at the time of harvest date back as far as history can tell us, and probably much farther), which has its roots in the Civil War. You can read it, or you can scroll down and watch/listen to (most of) it.
Yesterday, I had about as many emails as usual, but far more than usual of them were selling things, so I ended up with less than usual to read. It was a nice break. And there was this one – Hoo Boy, is this a powerful endorsement! (It came in an email but I’m linking straight to the ad itself.) Also, this news broke. I apologize for putting a damper on your holiday.
Robert Reich: “How to Get Rid of Citizens United.” Starting at the state level.:
From Mediaite, referred by “Daily Dose of Democracy.” I suspect all it really means is that the Kumquat King now has enough of his own installed that he no longer needs outside help to fire people.
Ordinarily I don’t repost John Pavloviyz. But this is not his usual – it a piece of NSFW satire that I think everyone can relate to. I personally particularly enjoyed “No one cares how many followers you have. (Trust me, followers are overrated anyway.)”
n Sunday, Richard Ojeda (remember him from when I was posting a separate video roundup daily? He’s now running for Congress, and I hope he wins. He’s a fighter) publicly defended the six veterans unlawful order video, and of course pissed off MAGA. His response appeared yesterday. Also yesterday, The Smile reported that AOC has donated 1600 turkeys to hungry people in her district. Tell me again how both sides are the same. Also, my “Daily Dose of Democracy” newsletter said that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation is just the first of what will be a bunch. You would think a MAGA President would be aware how whiny MAGA members are, but apparently not. An unnamed GOP rep said “”This entire White House team has treated ALL members like garbage. ALL…” and threatened the loss of the majority by the GOP before the midterms. Hey, from his mouth to God’s ear!
From Democratic Underground. Not exactly news – but I love it. I love what it says – and even more what it doesn’t say.
From Common Dreams. Only 70%? Sorry, but that’s not even close to where it should be (heck, more people disapprove of Citizens United than of a shooting, killing war for no reason.) Venezuela is not Iraq – there was some excuse for falling for that one. This time – not so much.
Yes, Wednesday is a bit late for “The Week Ahead.” But it wouldn’t surprise me if it is still unfolding. This week is another big one.
Yesterday, Judge Cameron Currie dismissed both of the James cases – Comey and Letitia. Comey should be off the hook (although it was dismissed without prejudice) because the statue of limitations is up. There is, per Harry Litman, a possible argument that a Latin term in the opinion sets the calendar back a little, which could affect the statute of limitations. James’s was also dismissed without prejudice, so she could be indicted again (and likely will be, unless it turns out that the statute of limitations has run out for her also, which even Joyce Vance isn’t certain of – since it’s the Orange Oligarch.)
The F* News on the meeting between Zohran Mamdani and the Apricot Antichrist, which went surprisingly well. Even jaw-droppingly well. I’m so allergic to Trump**[*] I really can’t bear, not just his face and voice, but even his words, even when he appears to be making sense, so I really didn’t take much away from this, but it’s such a black swan event it’s hard to ignore.
I did not have this on my Bingo card. But now that Democratic Underground has reported it, I cannot say I am surprised. The only paperwork they actually pay attention to is the skin colors paint sample
This from Common Dreams is regarding Senator Mark Kelly, one of the six who made the video about not obeying illegal orders. Yes, they can do this. Any service member, officer or enlisted, who stays active long enough to receive retirement pay is subject to recall to active duty. That is why those retirement checks are funded in the DoD budget, and that’s a huge figure in it. Not all the DoD budget goes to $200 hammers and planes that don’t fly. I get why, if they are subject to recall, they must be paid from DoD funds, but very few people, including active duty service member and probably even some retirees are aware of that, and it makes the DoD budget look far worse than it is. Retiree pay is definitely fraud or waste, but if some creative Democrats could come up with a way around this, It could be an incredible public relations victory. Failing that, efforts to make the facts about retiree pay more widely known could also help. I was in the USMC for 10 years, most of which was spent directly working with military pay, and I did not find this out for at least 8 of those 10 years. Back to the court-martial suggestion – if this were going to be a civilian court, even now, I would, and I suspect Kelly would, say “have at it.” But I don’t have as much faith in a Court Martial. (Neither does Steve Schmidt, and he says so quite bluntly.)
Off Topic – sort of – The one-woman play “Ann” about Ann Richards is streaming on demand now and will be through next year. Of course it is political – but not current politics – which is why I say Off Topic. But it is a fun escape if you have a couple of hours to spare.
Yesterday, Trinette was by and we had conversations about family, shopping, and other things.
From the 19th. This kind of thing has been happening for a very long time, although not always quite so deadly. But constant harassment is not exactly a walk in the park. Law and Crime says he has a court date today.
Amanda Marcotte at Salon writes about why we can’t have nice things a woman President, and why this will be true for a very long time. Spoiler – it’s because there are enough men working very, very hard to keep it that way.
This from The Conversation is supposed to be encouraging, and in a way it is, but this issue is not an election, it’s an imperative, and when one starts getting down to the percentage points of changed answers when additional information is provided, I get very nervous indeed.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Iolanta” by Tchaikovsky. It’s in one act with four scenes, and is set in the 1400s, which if not exact, is probably close enough to the era in history when Islam had all the good scientists and all the good physicians (although probably not good enough to give vision to someone born blind – but hey, it’s an opera.) Like the opera “Ruslan and Ludmilla”, it’s popular in Russia and little known elsewhere, but the Met did do it for a Saturday matinee some years ago and later televised it, so I have seen it once. It’s very pretty and has a happy ending. The Muslim doctor, I think, has the best line and certainly the most relevant today: “Without inner desire, change cannot take place.” Wikipedia has a great article on it, including (not that I think anyone but me cares) the fact that the name in the Danish play from which the libretto was derived was “Iolanthe” – like the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta – and that both names are forms of “Yolanda” – which makes perfect sense but was news to me. It’s also very short for an opera – well under 2 hours – so I was able to have a little additional treat. My local station, which could not afford the second half od the summer season, decided that instead they would play a recording of a complete opera starting at the same time, so I was able to hear a substantial part of Handel’s “Rinaldo” after “Iolanta” finished. I’ve seen it once – almost certainly during the pandemic, when the Met allowed people to stream a different opera every day/night for free. When I turned it on, it was during a recitative scene, but very soon it went to an aria, and lucky for me, it was the aria which has been frequently performed in concert and recorded away from the opera (including by Celtic Woman), so I recognized it and was able to identify the opera quickly.
“Friday” in this from Democratic Underground was probably the 14th. I didn’t receive it in time for the 16th.
From The Guardian. I am putting this into Sunday’s post as good news because the judge did the right thing. However, I personally have mixed feelings. I was hoping this would backfire – that reducing the number of Republicans in some of the darkest red districts would actually make them competitive and increase our representation, not theirs. Now that will not happen – at least not in Texas.
This was from a local ABC affiliate in New Jersey, but I found it through The Smile. (off topic, but the part of the URL I cut off ended with “bfd.” Yeah, I would say so.)
I’m being Roman with the date today to mock the MAGAts who are losing it because someone said somewhere on the ‘net that Zohran Mamdami would probably force all the NYC public school students to use Arabic numerals – and there are people losing it. (If you missed the story, see Belle below.) It would be even funnier if it weren’t so sad.
Yesterday, in a surprising turn of events, Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she is resigning from Congress effective January.
Talking Points Memo (this one from yesterday) always covers multiple incidents, but also does a pretty good job of providing the program without which you can’t tell the players (one scumbag is so much like all the others.) The AEA appears to me the most important here, but that’s debatable.
Born in 1945, I lived through the second “Red Scare.” And despite Joseph Welch’s memorable “have you no decency” in 1954, I can tell you from personal experience that there were still people terrified of others’ free speech and of using their own into the 60’s. This article from The Conversation demonstrates its premise that “bold and courageous acts of dissent are critical for protecting First Amendment rights for everyone.” But it doesn’t really do justice to the miasma of fear which lives on long after the judicial principle of freedom of speech is restored.
I had to archive this article from Axios because I only get the “scoops” newsletter, which is free. Jason is not my representative, more’s the pity, but he is from my state. I’m proud of all the veterans who made the video, but particularly of him.
