Glenn Kirschner – Prosecutor at Giuliani’s ethics hearing: Rudy “weaponized his law license to undermine Constitution”
MSNBC – A Largely Symbolic Move’: Jan. 6 Committee Plans Criminal Referrals
Ojeda Live – Trump’s Organization is Found Guilty on More Counts Than Donald Trump Can Count
Ring of Fire – Rudy Giuliani Gets Torched During Disciplinary Hearing
‘Bubble Puppy’ Decides She’s Ready To Live In The World
Beau – Let’s talk about the secret in Trump’s statement….
Back in the day, when I was in my teens, there used to be a daily syndicated cartoon called “Dondi.” Dondi was a pre-teen refugee from IIRC eastern Europe. He was in America with a foster family. Except that he found that a difficult word, so he referred to his “frosted” family. My Mom and I picked up the term to describe those folks – you know everone has at least one – who are not actually related by blood or marriage but whom you come to consider family. Yesterday, Virgil called all twitterpated to tell me he had rewceived a Christmas card from my frosted sister (of about 64 years standing now.) I think she may be the only person who even knows his address maiing address besides me. She has sent him cards in the past, and (especially with his memory issues) he is as thrilled each time as if it were the first time. I can hardly tell you how grateful I am for her. Aside from that, it was a pretty normal day – spent some time wondering whhether I had the energy to tackle this ir that, and mostly deciding I didn’t.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Crooks & Liars – Trump Losing To Liz Cheney In Red State Utah Poll
Quote – Apparently, Utah Republicans are tired of Trump, and truth be told, probably never liked having a fornicator-in-chief anyway…. In the poll, Rep Cheney, who has built her brand of politics over the last few years around taking swipes at the twice impeached president for his conduct inside and outside the Oval Office, placed second[.]
Click through for story. Don’t get too excited – both are trailing DeSanctimonious bigly – but that does put Trump** into third place.
PolitiZoom – The Perfect Gift For the MAGA In Your Life...
Quote – There is a new MAGA puzzle out and it’s a trick puzzle. It’s got Trump’s face on the box but when you put it together, you get Joe Biden. And MAGA is not amused. No, Sir, they are not.
Click through for a good laugh. I would really have to be angry at someone before I would spend money to demonstrate it – but if anyone is that pissed, this would be great.
Mother Jones – Dem Dysfunction, Tabloid Hellscapes, Crime: How New York Almost Went Red
Quote – [Lee] Zeldin [who lost the Governorship to Kathy Hochul], a 42-year-old Long Island congressman first elected in 2014, and Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid were aligned on the idea that only one issue really mattered this year: crime. At rallies, Zeldin told crowds that he’d use his first minutes in office to declare a “crime state of emergency”…. If the legislature didn’t cooperate, Zeldin promised to unilaterally repeal New York’s 2019 bail reform law, along with other criminal justice measures passed by Democrats. He spent seven figures on a television ad mostly featuring Black men committing violent crimes.
Click throuh for story. The irony here, if one can call it that, is that when a good prosecutor is voted in, one who actually does address crime and public safety, they recall (Chesa Boudin) or impeach (Larry Krasner) him or her. Which makes everything far more dangerous.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – MORE stolen classified documents found at Trump’s Florida property
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – December 6, 2022
MSNBC – German Police Arrest Dozens Who Allegedly Plotted To Overthrow Government
Farron Balanced – Legal Troubles Increase For DeSantis Administration Over Migrant Flights
This Rescued Cat Has The Most Unusual Toy Ever!
Beau – Let’s talk about what the Senate can learn from Roman roads….
Yesterday, I was glad to see that we finally found someone acceptable to swap for Britney Griner, who is now on her way home. About time, too. Of course Republicans are screaming bloody murder. But there are a few other good news items which got me through the day. and I got to see my BFF, who ca me by to bring me a prescription so I don’t have to go into a store and get exposed to heaven knows what. The three items which I think really command attention concern Lizzo, Biden, and Kamala Harris.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Wonkette – Germany Arrests 25 In QAnon-Fueled Coup Plot, Proving America Does Too Still Export Stuff
Quote – The plot included a plan to attack Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, to kill members or take them hostage. By golly, we have seen that movie…. In addition to the plan to storm the Bundestag, the group allegedly planned to attack Germany’s electric grid and use the resulting chaos to foment a civil war. All told, while only 25 people were arrested, a total of 50 have been accused of involvement in the terrorist organization.
Click through for story. This appears to be a bit of a scoop – there was a short clip on MSNBC and that was all I found (it’s in the video thread.)
Crooks & Liars – ‘Religious Freedom’ Bites Forced-Birthers Where The ‘Son’ Don’t Shine
Quote – Jewish people, for instance, don’t believe the fetus has a soul until it draws its first independent breath. We prioritize the life of the pregnant person above the life of the fetus for the entirety of the pregnancy, including in situations that put the pregnant person’s emotional health at risk. With the imposition of the GOP’s fetus-fetish laws all over the nation, however, Jews and others whose religions don’t subscribe to the ideology of these nutters are fighting fire with fire.
Click through for details. I applaud this work. I’m so tired of people claiming to be Christians saying abortion is murder when the Bible does not say so, but implies it is not. What clearly IS murder is failing to treat pregnancy issues and thereby causing death. If you’re going to outlaw abortion, you might as well also outlaw the Heimlich maneuver.
Food For Thought – OMG, this is beautiful!
Glenn Kirschner – Trump Org GUILTY! Will Donald Trump be next? Plus, J6 committee to make criminal referrals to DOJ
The Lincoln Project – Trump Against The Constitution
MSNBC – Harry Dunn: ‘I’m Not Letting Anyone Steal The Joy I Feel’
Liberal Redneck – Liberal Redneck – Kanye, Nazis, Etc
Bird Loves To Annoy His Dog Brother
Beau – Let’s talk about Sweden, Finland, and cold weather gear….
MTG Greene seems to be in a never-ending battle with Lauren Boebert and Louie Gohmert for the Congressional Olympic Gold Medal of Abject Stupidity.
But her latest pungent foray into the Stupidity Olympics battle really stinks. No, really … it STINKS!
So many people still wearing masks.
I just want to ask you.
If a pair of underwear, really thick ones, high quality cotton, can’t protect you from a fart, then how will a mask protect you from covid??
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 29, 2022
COVID has been plaguing the world for a couple of years now and this is NOT the first time this question has been raised and answered. You would think that before posting a question like this that anyone would do a minimum bit of research – especially someone who serves the people as a Representative in Congress.
But noooo – not MTG!
I’ll try doing my best Bill Nye the Science Guy imitation to help her out.
Let’s start with a brief overview of the chemistry of farts (a topic you’ve probably wondered about a time or two, but never felt it worth your while to delve into.)
There are three different types of gaseous sulfur compounds that cause the stinky odor of our farts:
To understand why masks truly DO WORK to protect against COVID (but not preventing MTG from smelling her own farts) it turns out size actually DOES matter. (Given MTG’s lurid history of multiple extramarital affairs that led to her recent divorce, you’d think she’d have at least a passing familiarity with this concept.)
Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:
The main sulphur-containing flatus component was hydrogen sulphide (1.06 (0.2) μmol/l), followed by methanethiol (0.21 (0.04) μmol/l) and dimethyl sulphide (0.08 (0.01) μmol/l) (means (SEM)).
https://gut.bmj.com/content/43/1/100
I agree – that’s way too much chemistry. Here’s something a little bit easier to understand:
Dear God,
Your underwear isn't designed to filter the air.
A fart is a bunch of gas molecules. They're tiny, e.g. methane is 3.8 x 10⁻¹⁰ m. The coronavirus (1.25 x 10⁻⁷ m) is 3+ orders of magnitude larger!
If a molecule is a corn of sand, COVID has aircraft-carrier size. https://t.co/kaBwjoeH0D
— Walpurga Müller-Schm (@WalpurgaMueller) November 29, 2022
NOTE: Remembering that “orders of magnitude” is a logarithmic term based on power of 10 – so from the Tweet:
3.8 x 10⁻¹⁰ m = 0.00000000038 m.
1.25 x 10⁻⁷ m = 0.000000125 m.
Realizing that MTG is severely “intellectually challenged” – let’s go for something more graphic to help her grasp why masks work against COVID but not farts:
And even more akin to her Saturday morning cartoon-watching (I’m sure MTG enjoys animated graphics) something even simpler
But that doesn’t mean MTG wouldn’t be ruthlessly mocked for this level of stupidity, so let’s enjoy a few.
(To save space, rather than posting each individual Tweet in full, I’ll just post the response to MTG’S question with a link to its author.)
And don’t forget her stinky question:
“If a pair of underwear, really thick ones, high quality cotton, can’t protect you from a fart, then how will a mask protect you from covid??”
No surprise that beloved George Takei would come up with the perfect analogy to help her understand the concept using tools that she’s more familiar with:
If you wear a white hood, really thick, with eye slits, it still can’t protect you from being identified as a white supremacist.
She’s comparing COVID to a fart smell. Because that’s what idiots do.
Mainly because I don’t wear my underwear on my head. Next question.
The same way socks aren’t designed to be used as condoms.
Behold. A sitting Congresswoman thinks farts are highly contagious.
How the hell did we go from leaders like John Lewis to MTG in just one generation.
How very sad.
Why is it any of your business if people choose to mask up to protect themselves and their loved ones from the flu or covid19 or smelling your stinky farts?
MYOB, stop being a bully and leave folks to decide for themselves what’s best for them.
It’s called free choice, Marj!
FREE CHOICE!
Cartoonist Steve Bensen thought that maybe if MTG were provided a bespoke mask, she might actually be enticed to wear it. He’s got a point:
Others had a more … hmmm … aromatic approach to mask customization:
When it comes to MTG regularly displaying her ignorance via Twitter, I think we’d all agree with Sunday Claus on this:
Liked you better this way. pic.twitter.com/sUQ17TrwMX
— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖_ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕦𝕤 (@SundaeDivine) November 29, 2022
Of course, the actual reason MTG is not having any success with blocking out the smell of farts is easily explained with this one graphic:
So if MTG does not want to be known as the absolute DUMBEST person in Congress, she had better hope that Boebert and Gohmert don’t die!
Yesterday, after Senator Warnock’s victory, I was at least able to breathe again. Sadly, that was a real nail biter. But it ended well. So I decided it was time to move on to the Supreme Court. Both of today’s short takes are – not eacttly hopeful. But we need to know about them. If you need some comic relief, you can check out this BuzzFeed article on misconceptions (no pun intended) that men have about women’s anatomy and bodily functions. They reach never-before-published levels of absurdity.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Mother Jones – Con Law: How a Fake Document Could Help the Supreme Court Diminish Our Democracy
Quote – So this August, historians of the Constitution were alarmed to see Pinckney’s fraud credulously cited in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper, a high-stakes case that will be heard on Wednesday and whose outcome could usher in new state-level voter suppression and gerrymandering schemes. If the decision rests on Pickney’s alleged plan or similar shaky foundations, it may also prove to be the most dramatic example of a troubling new trend at the court: the flaunting [sic] of inconvenient facts and the adoption of alternative ones in their place.
Click through for article. Of course the author means “flouting” – flaunting is something quite different – almost the opposite actually. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a horrible danger. It is impossible to trust Thmas, Alito, and the MAGA three not to fall for it. I would love to be proved wrong.
Colorado Public Radio News – Supreme Court seems poised to side with Colorado web designer in 303 Creative case
Quote – The case, 303 Creative v. Elenis, pits a Colorado website designer named Lorie Smith against state officials trying to enforce Colorado’s Anti Discrimination Act. Smith wants to start creating custom wedding websites. Specifically, she wants to post a message on her company’s site that she would not create websites for same-sex marriage “or any other marriage that is not between one man and one woman,” according to a brief in the case. But state officials would consider that discriminatory behavior based on the state’s laws, so Smith sued the state.
Click through for details. If I tried to express my deepest opinion on this, I would become incoherent, so I’ll fall back on my favorite bumper sticker: “Jesus called. He wants his church back.”
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – In Trump Org criminal trial, NY prosecutors argue to jury that Donald Trump HIMSELF committed crimes
Ojeda LIVE – Top 5: MAGA Symbols
Armageddon Update – Elmer Is Stuck
Real Subtitles? – The truth about aggressive politicians.
This Stray Cat Ask To Be Let Inside To Keep Her Kittens Safe
Beau – Let’s talk about San Francisco and robots….