Yesterday, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was announced. Of course it was NOT the Apricot Antichrist. But I suspect if he wanted to he could claim he had some influence in the choice, since Maria Corina Machado is Venezuelan. I would not be surprised if his murders of Venezuelans drew a little extra attention to Machado’s work. Not that she doesn’t deserve it – I’m confident she does. Also, I learned that Mark Bray and his family have made it safely out of America. I have been worried about that. If you don know, here’s the backstory. And I added one more link which is not huge news but is about Portland.
This from John Pavlovitz may sound odd, but if one honestly asks the question “targeting for what?” the answer is clear – every single American is being targeted for something. Think of “Tomorrow belongs to me” in “Cabaret.” Or, a bit less obviously, think of the scene in “The Sound of Music” when Georg says, “They’ll never make a Nazi out of you.” I think you’ll see what John is talking about.
As simple s this is, I doubt that any brainwashed MAGAts will understand it. And – yeah, 2 from Pavlovitz in one say. I’d be sorrier, but he’s been really hot lately. And both are secular.
From The Intercept, everything you hoped you would never need to know about the Insurrection Act.
Yesterday, I couldn’t get back to sleep and ended up getting up early. It would be nice if I had therefore accomplished more than usual, but I’m afraid I didn’t, except for maybe a little knitting.
Steve Schmidt is correct. Stephen Miller doesn’t generally worry about saying the quiet part out loud, or anything outrageous. He shows his hate freely. If Steve is correct as to what happened, and I don’t know why he wouldn’t be, then what was said before the cutoff should indeed be truly terrifying.
Other outlets have covered this situation, and there’s been a lot said about it (for instance, at Democratic Underground, where the point was made that, in the past, when the Speaker was “not available”, new members have been sworn in by a Supreme Court justice). But this is the deepest dive I have seen.
Wonkette addresses the issue of federal employees ever getting paid after the shutdown. With any sane President, this would never have been ab issue. But then, if we had a sane President, we likely would not be in a shutdown.
Guest video from Robert Reich – because he requested it be shared.
Yesterday, an email from Justin Pearson – one of the “Tennessee three” along with Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson – remember “No Justins, no peace”? – announced his run for Congress. More power to him. Also, The F* News newsletter included this sentence, which shocked me and may shock you: “[T]he GOP leadership’s followers aren’t even following their leaders. TFN told you on Tuesday about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) demanding subsidy extensions. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is also cracking the GOP wall.” Finally, I re-watched “Judgment at Nuremberg.” It is on YouTube in full. If you are a member, you won’t need this link, but it not, here is a link which will shove no advertising on you. (if you just want the explanation of how ordinary people allowed it to happen – which I am by no means 100% behind – it starts somewhere around 2 hours 15 miutes.)
Many people dismiss the ideas of comedians and cartoonists as being “unserious.” I don’t. There is a long history of the “jester” or the “fool” being the only one in a kingdom who could speak truth to power and live. This goes back to the dawn of history, but if you want some 500 year old evidence, I challenge you to find me a comedy (or even a tragedy) by Shakespeare in which the fool, if there is one, is not the wisest character. Iiza Donnelly is a cartoonist for The New Yorker. Ann Telnaes was a cartoonist for the Washington Post until she quit because Bezos was censoring her truth. The two of then were recently the headliners at an international cartoonists convention in France. Here are some of Liza’s thoughts while returning home.
There’s been a great deal of news about MAGA freakouts over Bad Bunny being scheduled for the Super Bowl halftime show. Just so you know, Bad Bunny is a birthright citizen of America, as are his parents.
This from Wonkette appears to be under-reported, possibly because the perp is under 18. Two families devastated by one little creep. I hope New Jersey has some provision for victims’ rights. Our Mitch would probably know, unless the law has changed since he moved to Florida.
Yesterday, I heard from Carrie after her visit to Barry. I’m quoting much of it because we are all so used to brain strokes and how to tell if you or a loved one may be having or have had one, and none of that will work for a brain stem stroke. “I was able to speak to him and he was aware I was there. That is the saddest thing about this type of stroke. His brain functions well, but everything the brain stem controls is gone. Because brain stem strokes are so rare, they are easily missed. That’s why he was not correctly diagnosed when he first arrived in the ER. His doctors had only had one other such stroke victim in the past four years. Barry will be transferred to Warm Springs, Georgia to a hospital / rehab facility. After 2 to 4 weeks, they should be able to give us a prognosis.” In other news, our Supreme Court is corrupt – but not corrupt enough to consider Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal (Axios). Also, I can at least say that I have one Senator who has a clue how to message.
I agree with Robert Reich that this needs to be discussed – or at least thought about – by everyone. I personally am absolutely unqualified to talk about it with people who voted for it, but no doubt there are people who are. Will those voters be willng to listen to or even talk to such qualified people? Anyway, for us – therapy animals can help. for those lucky enough to own one or be near a professional one.
Harry Litman with a this-is-how-it’s-done article on a judicial opinion. As he points out, All judges have occasions on which they need to defer, but they should never to lies. Other courts should take this message to heart – immediately. (Incidentally, this judge was appointed by the Mango Moron. How she got past the Heritage Foundation, I can’t even guess.)
This may brighten your day and maybe even look into the book. There is a Little Professor bookstore in Athens, Ohio, and another in Owatonna, Minnesota, but Joyce lives in Alabama, so this has to be in Birmingham or its suburb Homewood. Although cities are more liberal than rural areas, that’s still a lot of books for Alabama (I wonder how much her signature changed from the first one to the last one.)
Yesterday, I went to see Virgil. As usual we played cribbage. Most of our hands were mediocre to dire, but what the heck. We play to pass the time in each other’s company, not to win. Before I left to go see him, I received an update from Carrie on Barry. It’s not as good as I had hoped, but it’s also not as bad as my worst fears. It’s short, so I’ll quote it in full: …
I wanted to let you know Barry will be transferred to a long term acute care facility sometime next week. He had a tracheotomy last week so they could get the tube out of his mouth. Since he is still on a ventilator, the tube goes through the tracheostomy. They have turned the ventilator off from time to time, but he is only able to breathe on his own for about 30 minutes. At least he is no longer under heavy sedation. At present he is completely paralyzed. I will be seeing him tomorrow for the first time since he had the tracheotomy. He cannot speak, but is still answering simple yes or no questions by blinking. Please keep praying for him.*
*Or as always, however you communicate with the universe.
It’s easy to criticize the media, and the MSM in general is indeed doing a terrible job of getting out the truth about this regime. But maybe at least some of the problem is that, being unaccustomed to government lies and fraud on this scale, they really don’t know how to report it. And I have to agree that the method proposed here is simple, but by no means obvious.
From Robert Reich‘s keyboard to God’s monitor or iPhone, whatever he’s using these days.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte”, which at least for me is a good opera to not watch. Yes, it has some very funny sight gags, and depending on what time frame the director decides to stage it is, it may also have great visual appeal, such as costumes. I dressed a production once, and while I don’t claim it was great – there’s only one of me and I can only execute so much – but it was pretty. And of course it is Mozart. The only sour notes he ever wrote in his life were deliberate jokes, and there are none in this opera. But it is so terribly sexist, the premise is grossly unethical, and the antics are unbearably cruel. More and more directors are learning how difficult it is to handle the ending. And I don’t know what else you’d expect from an opera whose title can be translated several ways, one of which is “Women are all alike”, but all of which are slanderous. And I noticed today there is also a subtler message in it, with which I must also disagree: “Never trust your employee(s); they do not have your best interests at heart.” Although Ana Maria Martinez, as the bribed maid, was clearly having the time of her life disguising her voice to go with her visual disguises. It’s not hard to hear why audiences love her. The new speaker works fine, and while it was a nuisance changing the old one out, it wasn’t as hard as I expected (I haven’t installed the second one yet.) I ordered them from “Wish,” which like “Temu” is based in China, but both have outlets all over the US, so one never knows where one’s order is shipping from. When I looked at the return address, it said it was from Ontario. Well, that’s one way to avoid or alleviate tariffs. I had to smile. Now I’m off to see Virgil. Of course I’ll check in upon return.
I did not see any follow-up on the Fat Bear contest, but Lona did, from an Australian media source. It was won by 32Chunk, and they think (and I agree) some of those votes were probably sympathy votes, because since last year, his jaw was broken, which made eating harder. But he also did get very fat. There are photos.
I’m posting this on Sunday because it is serious good news. News Outlets changing ownership is not generally good news, but this acquisition of The Root has the approval and support of one of the two original founders – Henry Louis Gates Jr. If he considers it good news, I say it’s good news.
It is amazing the things that the human body can do to itself – but also, perhaps even more so, amazing how good people can help individuals cope with and compensate for autoimmune conditions. I have one myself, and mine is annoying, and unsightly (but concealable), but at least not painful, or debilitating, or restrictive.
Yesterday, I awoke with the joint where my right thumb meets my right hand just throbbing. I rubbed some cold formula sore muscle rub on it, which helped, and I put on an arthritis glove, which also helped. But I haven’t had full use of it all day – so of course this was the day that FIVE packages came, and one was very heavy. I managed to get them all into the house but not all opened. One of them was my new speakers about which I’ll say more when I can type better (and have tried them out.) I forwarded an email to a few of you – not all, because I don’t have my mailing list complete, and I didn’t send it to anyone outside the US. It was an email warning that ICE is now actively looking for immigrant children. Here’s the link that Daily Dose of Democracy provided for more information. If you have children, or grandchildren, or great-grandchildren down to age 10, you need to see it. If you know anyone who does, you will probably want to share it. Also, Don Froomkin of Press Watch says the Chicago apartment raid needs more attention. Here’s the link to his analysis, and here’s another to Heather Cox Richardson. I haven’t read both through as I type, but but the time you see this, I may have managed to read through both. But maybe not. Tomorrow I’ll be going to see Virgil.
This from The Root is directed to the Black community. I don’t want anyone to panic, but it appears to me that everyone should be aware of this, not just people of color and in other underserved groups.
Some of that silence was just protocol. Generals don’t applaud (or at least, not when in uniform. See the Hatch Act.) But the further they got into the meeting, and especially with the two jerks soliciting applause, the louder a statement it became.
When the ACA was passed, I had coverage from prior employment as a retiree, and soon after that from Medicare. As y’all probably know, Medicare is complicated enough, and I wasn’t working in insurance (I never actually worked with life or health insurance anyway), so I depend on journalists to give me a sense of who qualifies for what and why. Wonkette is not the obvious journal to go to for that, but I think Robyn has done an impressive job of clarifying this.
