Glenn Kirschner – Another leaked Supreme Court opinion. Per New York Times, Justice Alito may have leaked it himself
MSNBC – How Speaker Pelosi Supported Other Democrats As Leader
Political Voices Network – Neal Katyal: NONSENSE! Trump’s Immunity Claim
Armageddon Update – MIDTERMS! [not totally accurate – recorded too early, but some good points]
Two Rescue Labs Who Were Completely Frozen
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, DeSantis, and the future….
Yesterday, I tried to rest as much as possible.I did manage to get a prison email off the Virgil with some pictures of Joyce Vance’s chickens – and a couple of other pictures – that should lift his spirits when he gets it, although he will still be envious of anyone who can get close to silky chickens. No matter how well it goes, am always wiped out after any of my visits Of course, when I was in my teens and even my twenties, driving used to energize me. That has not been so for many years, and that’s probably a big part of it.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – Republicans Lost the Races Where They Spent the Most
Quote – The Daily Beast reviewed the most expensive House and Senate races in the country, and found that, with a few exceptions, Republican candidates were on the losing end. Republicans lost three of the five most expensive Senate races, per CRP data, with Democrats clinching the top three—Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. (The Georgia contest, where Sen. Raphael Warnock received the most votes, is headed to a runoff.) While Republicans [won] a slim majority in the House—far below their expectations—Democrats took all five of the most expensive races, according to CRP data.
I’ve never believed that money won elections. Granted that it doesn’t hurt, elections are decided by human beings, and, unless you are paing them directly for their votes, you can’t buy their support with campaign money. Good candidates, creatively promoted, and short, catchy, accurate slogans (“In January, I’ll be better. He will still be a con man”) work better. Some money is needed in order to maximize communication – but after a certain point, the law of diminishing returns hits.
Crooka and Liars – City Of Brotherly Love Welcomes Immigrants That Texas Governor Dumped
Quote – [On the] morning [of November 16], despite earlier denials that this was indeed his plan, Greg Abbott, the wizened little nominal governor of Texas, dropped a busload of immigrants in my city…. “The bus was sent by Gov. Greg Abbott in what he said was an effort to bring the challenges of the border to northern cities. Immigration advocates in Philadelphia called the bus ride a cruel trick played on innocent people who are legally in the United States.”
Click through for story. Susie Madrak has some words for Abbott and other Republicans. Does anyone thnk that Abbott and DeSanctimonious will ever get a clue, no matter how often and how dramatically their cruel stunts backfire?
Colorado Encyclopedia – Amendment 2
Quote – Amendment 2 was a ballot initiative passed by Colorado voters in 1992 that prohibited the state from enacting antidiscrimination protections for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals…. Passage of the controversial amendment set the stage for a national debate over the rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, while the ensuing legal struggle was the first legal case affecting homosexuals to reach the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court eventually declared the amendment unconstitutional, setting a precedent for the current struggle for LGBT rights in the United States.
Click through for complete history. The Q-Club massagre immediately beought me back to 1992 (although I had to look up the year.) This horrendous vote showcases the worst of our state – and a past the Supreme Court would live to bring us back to. I believe we are better than that, and offer as evidence the fact that we just RE-elected an openly gay governor. But here, and alas world wide, the struggle is far from over.
Food For Thought
(Sidebar: For a variety of reasons, it’s been a while since I posted a dedicated article. But I’m going to try to get back in the swing of things.)
We can always count on MTG “Miss Malaprop” Greene to supply us with some comic relief. She has a long list of Tweets and comments showcasing her ignorance masquerading as malaprops, that have Americans “quacking” up. Let’s backup a bit to enjoy some of her previous zany offerings.
Who can forget when she accused Speaker Pelosi of “wonton” killings by deploying her own secret “gazpacho police force” in a chilling and ruthless “soup d’é·tat”.
Just to clear things up, @RepMTG
Gazpacho: a vegetable-based Spanish cold soup
Gestapo: Nazi Germany's secret police pic.twitter.com/T9q76r706G— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) February 9, 2022
Then there’s the time MTG actually said:
“… Bill Gates wants you to eat this fake meat that grows in a peach tree dish. So you’ll probably get a little zap inside your body that’ll say ‘No, don’t eat a real cheeseburger, you need to eat the fake burger.’”
Bill had a pithy reply to MTG:
One of her lesser-known comments was when she declared an imminent “title wave of truth”
Marjorie Taylor Greene says there is a “title wave” of truth about to start coming out. Where? Inside the “peach tree dish” curated by the “Gazpacho Police?” Just blows my mind that anyone this stupid can hold any kind of elected office. pic.twitter.com/0eDsz9J2eF
— 😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) October 29, 2022
There are few things that have gotten MTG as incensed as how she thinks Pres. Biden’s Dept. of Justice has “mistreated” the seditious traitors who stormed our Capitol on 1/6/21. She shared her thoughts (such as they are) in a speech on the House floor when she had the Chamber called to “odor” so she could add her two “scents” worth:
“The over 800 people who have been arrested and charged for the events on January 6” because “their due process rights are being so fragrantly and horrifically violated….”
hate it when my rights are fragrantly violated pic.twitter.com/GbCxlXWx7i
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 9, 2022
If it weren’t such a fragrant flagrant violation of our nation’s laws, it’d be funny when MTG sent a text to Mark Meadows just three days before Biden’s inauguration telling him that Trump declare should “Marshall” law:
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law,” Greene texted [Mark] Meadows….”
https://abovethelaw.com/2022/04/alls-fair-in-love-and-attempts-to-overthrow-the-rule-of-law/
In her most recent malaprop, MTG makes a “fowl” claim about tabulating the votes in our last election:
I’m sure our enemies are quacking in their boots while we are still over here trying to count ballots.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 10, 2022
This begs the questions:
[1] Why do you think fellow Americans are your “enemy”?
And …
[2] Why the HELL are ducks wearing boots in the first place?
If you wanted to cut her some slack and blame it on AutoCorrect changing “quaking” to “quacking” – someone checked … it doesn’t:
And, out of curiosity, I just checked to see if autocorrect turned “quaking” into “quacking”. It doesn’t. That’s how she thinks it’s spelled. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
— The Southern Lib (@HilbillyLiberal) November 10, 2022
Of course, the Twitterverse felt the need to respond about our feathered friends “quacking in their boots” …
— Polyglot millennial (@CDC6485) November 10, 2022
Quacking in boots pic.twitter.com/B0XGXc79pR
— RollWithIt ☮️ (@jbrdtrd) November 10, 2022
Ah yes… quacking boots. Don't delete Marjorie, let everyone see that you can't read. pic.twitter.com/yzff3BJT77
— The Desecrated (@TDesecrated) November 10, 2022
I think this Tweet has a suggestion for MTG that we could all get behind:
"quacking in their boots"
🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆This crazy lady can go Duck herself
🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆 https://t.co/xc3pGu8CRQ
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) November 10, 2022
And this has a nice summary of a few of her malaprops:
Yes, Marge, they are quacking in their boots. It’s a side-effect of eating meat grown in peach tree dishes. I’m surprised the gazpacho police haven’t quacked down on this. pic.twitter.com/1XSDl8xonI
— Wayne Parry’s Lobster (@LobsterWayne) November 10, 2022
Glenn Kirschner – The upside of AG Garland appointing Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate Trump’s crimes
The Lincoln Project – This Werewolf Votes (I actually am dumber for having watched this.)
Al Franken – Midterms: America Told GOP: “Stop it!” (It’s longer than I like to post, but it’s Al)
Farron Balanced – Republicans Are Now Praying That Trump Gets Indicted
Rocky Mountain Mike – Kari Lake (Parody of “Fire Lake” by Bob Seger) (Transcript at YouTube)
Guy Is Determined To Save Cat Living Out In The Snow
Beau – Let’s talk about people being unhappy with the direction of the country…. I will not only never answer this question, but I will never answer any question on a poll that contains this question. It just isn’t black and white, and as Beau points out, nobody knows what anyone even means by it.
The day before yesterday, seven score and nineteen years prior, a Natinal Cemetery was dedicated at a tiny town called Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania. Heather Cox Richardson commemorates the occasion in her Letter from an American for November 19. Being a historian, she gets in some detailswhich are little-known along with the story we all know, and her primary point – not new, but often in danger of being forgotten in times like those and these, was Lincoln’s reminder that we have two founding documents, and the Constitution is not the only one which is important.
Yesterday, though, I went to visit Virgil. It waa a quiet day there. We got to sit on the same level one comes in on, and we got to use the deck of cards. I was a bit concerned that the clock can’t be seen from where we sit unless we go down a short flight of stairs – not that easy since I use my wheelchair, and he uses a walker. But the windows (yesm there are windows) cast light and shade on the florr, and later in the afternoon the walls, that it’s almost like having a sundial. And we really do not get many sunless days in Colorado. So I am much lless worried. We played cribbage and I told hi about Joyce Vance’s latest newsletter, which I knew he would enjoy because he thinks silky chickens are just about the cutest things in the world, and she raises them. By the time I exhausted my short term memory, he was green with envy. (She also knits, BTW. I don’t know how she finds time. Of course I’m a lot older.) On the way in I was scoped out by a flock of Canada Geese, and then saw a baby bunny scurry across the pavement in front of me (not close enough to have to sop for, and I was going pretty darn slowly at the timw anyway.) Where I grew up, on the San Franciso peninsula, the only wildlife i saw outside of state or national parks was birds and butterflies – and not all that many of either. After 46 years in Colorado, I haven’t lost my sense of wonder at wildlife, and I hope I bever do.
Grim though it is, I have to mention the mass shooting here in the LGBTQ+ club. Five dead and 18 injured. Just horrible. The suspect is in custody, but even that is small consolation.
Cartoon – 21 Piltdown RTL
Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – The White House Admits It: We Might Need to Block the Sun to Stop Climate Change
Quote – The report will be dedicated specifically to a form of geoengineering known as solar radiation management. This is a technique that essentially involves spraying fine aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. The idea is that, once it’s reflected, there’ll be less heat and temperatures will go down. The research plan will be modeling how SRM might impact the atmosphere and assess its viability as a potential technique used to “manage near-term climate risk.” Put it another way: We want to know whether or not we should include this in our “break glass in case of climate disaster” box.
Click through for details. This is a no=brainer, if it can be done safely. It absolutely would work – maybe too well – history shows that The article mentions an 1816 volcanic eruption, but I immediately thought of an eruption in 536 AD, which has been heavily researched. It blocked sunlight so much, and literally around the world, that there was more or less perpetual winter for a couple of years. Some sunlight and warmth is necessary in order to grow food crops, otherwise people starve. IIRC that eruption also facilitated disease transmission until all the particles were gone – or at lease gone from the sky.
Daily Kos – Jan. 6 Panel Creates Subcommittee for Criminal Referrals
Quote – Among those who have ignored subpoenas to appear before the Jan. 6 Committee are GOP Reps. McCarthy, Perry, Jordan, Biggs, Brooks, and of course, TFG himself. Clearly, none of them are out of the barrel just yet. The subcommittee will make recommendations to the full Jan. 6 Panel, which, if approved by a vote, will then pass them along to the Justice Department. This process is hastened by the reality that the GOPosaurs will take control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. That’s only 46 days!
Click through for story. It was actually created about a month ago and has been working, but is just now being made public. Four lawyers, headed by Jamie Raskin (Has anyone besides me noticed that he seems to be aging more rapidly?)
Mother Jones – A Preschool on Wheels Drives Opportunity to Immigrant Families in Colorado
Quote – Parked in the lots of schools, churches, and community centers, the buses are inconspicuous. Most passersby would overlook them, distracted by the natural beauty of their backdrop. But inside, day after day, small wonders are unfolding. Gutted and retrofitted to look like traditional preschool classrooms, these mobile spaces host 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in the valley who, otherwise, likely wouldn’t see a formal learning environment until kindergarten, by which time many of their peers are already steps ahead.
CLck through for more. I had this penciled in before the shooting – and I’m glad I did. I certainly need something positive to offset that tremendous negative, and I hope it will help others too.
Food For Thought
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
I hope y’all will bear with me here. We are all aware that Nancy Pelosi has decided to step down from Congressional leadership, essentially planning, it appears, to serve this term in Congress as just another Representative, while also being a resource for the new Minority Leader and Whip for coaching and advice. Somehow, this feels very final – and not just to me. Tributes and rememberances are pouring in, many from the last people you would expect, and, although almost everyone will have seen some of them – and some may have seen all of them – I want to share several in one place here.
The 19th Magazine was named after the 19th Amendment, so it comes as no surprise that it concentrates on women, and especially minoroty women, as well as persona of fluid gender, and their effect on our politics. Of course they would write about Speaker Pelosi. Here’s some of what they said –
Pelosi was considered one of the most effective legislators and political negotiators in Washington, ushering President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, through the often fractious House of Representatives amid stiff Republican opposition. Pelosi also supervised the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, the repeal of a 1993 law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” that directed the Defense Department not to ask about military applicants’ sexual orientation, and two major components of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. In a statement, Biden praised Pelosi as “the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history.”
It’s easy now to forget just what an achievement it was to get the ACA through the House. Congress was so splintered that even President Obama wanted to pull the legislation – and n=Nancy had to argue him into proceeding. Which she did. And it got passed. It was an extraordinary accomplishment, and it spurred an extraordinary effort from readers and member s of Daily Kos: 2,616 red roses were delivered to her DC office, timed to arrive on her 70th birthday.
“She sent half of the roses to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and is distributing the other half to hill staff to thank them for all their hard work on the health reform legislation.” And there’s more to the story – Walter Reed reported some patient responses.
I mentioned these flowers over at Democratic Underground a couple of days ago. I have no idea whether I started something – I didn’t follow up, and so many great mindsthink alike – but yesterday at DU I found this:
I thanked Madam Speaker for service as the best Speaker in US history and wished Paul a speedy recovery. I explained that we raised $4200 for Senator Warnock in her honor and that many of our members had volunteered for GOTV and curing House ballots. I noted that she inspired us every day and that our hearts would be with them this Thanksgiving. The flowers will be delivered on Wednesday so that the Pelosi’s can enjoy them for Thanksgiving. Thanks so much to everyone who participated!
Heather Cox Richardson, being a historian, naturally provided a little history –
Pelosi was elected to Congress in a special election in 1987, becoming one of 12 Democratic women (now there are more than 90). She was first elected speaker in 2007, the first woman ever to hold that role. She was speaker until the Democrats lost the House in 2011, then was reelected to the position in 2019, and has held it since. Jackie Calmes of the Los Angeles Times tweeted: “As an ex–Congress reporter, I can speak to the records of 8 of the 55 House speakers, 4 Dem[ocrat]s & 4 R[epublican]s back to Tip O’Neill. I’m not alone in counting Pelosi as the best of the bunch. 2 Dem[ocratic] presidents owe their leg[islati]v[e] successes to her; 2 GOP presidents were repeatedly foiled by her.”
Robert Reich commented:
I had the privilege of working with her, and although I didn’t agree with her on everything she did or refused to do (I was disappointed at her initial resistance to a bill that would bar House members from actively trading in stocks, for example), she will go down as one of the most effective and forward-looking Speakers in American history. At a time when America came as close as we’ve ever come to losing our democracy, Pelosi effectively beat back Trump, refusing to bow to his demands. (One of her most memorable public moments was ripping up Trump’s vacuous and hateful 2020 State of the Union Address in front of millions of American viewers.) She led two successful efforts to impeach him (although the Senate shamefully failed to convict). She organized the January 6 committee, making sure it was bipartisan yet without it containing any Republican election-denier.
But I think I am most powerfully impacted by things said by people who were in direct opposition to her politically. People who disagreed with her the most. Such as John Boehner.
And Steve Schmidt:
She passed a test that was laid out by President-Elect John Kennedy in front of the Massachusetts Legislature on the eve of his ascension to the Office of President of the United States.+
First, were we truly men of coursge – with the courage to stand up to one’s enemies – and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one’s associates-the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed?
Secondly, were we truly men of judgment-with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past-if our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others-with enough wisdom to know what we did not know, and enough candor to admit it?
Third, were we truly men of integrity-men who never ran out on either the principles in which they believed or the people who believed in them-men who believed in us-men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?
Finally, were we truly men of dedication-with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aum, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest.
It is a tragedy of our era that so few men and women have kept faith with that test laid out by John Kennedy. That is why Nancy Pelosi should be celebrated and honored.
Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, we certainly could use more like her. I suspect AOC is such a one, and Katie Porter, and I hope they get their chances to demonstrate it, and that they are seen for it. But I also know there are others out there. Help us help them build a climate in which they can be heard and seem and appreciated. In Nancy’s place, that is what I would want my legacy to be.
The Furies and I will be back.
=================================
Glenn Kirschner – AG Merrick Garland appoints a special counsel to investigate Trump’s crimes. Will justice EVER come?
The Lincoln Project – War Drums
MSNBC – The Stark Contrast Between Pelosi’s Accomplishments And The House GOP Agenda (another long one … but it covers 20 yearsa
Real Subtitles? – Bad day for the general.
Baby elephant tickles Kenyan journalist’s nose with trunk during news report VERY short -and very cute.
Beau – Let’s talk about Native artifacts being returned….
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Don Pasquale” by Gaetano Donizetti, a comic opera (with elements of farce), written especially for four particular singers (so the four leads’ part are ver showy.) It’s very critical of old age,although the libretto makes it pretty chear ir isn’t Pasquale’s age that’s his problem – it’s his gigantic ego (thinks he’s “he who must be obeyed.” Sound familiar?) Unrealistic though it may be (if only it were that easy to cure a narcissist!), it has moments of great humor and moments of great beauty, and also quite possibly the best “patter” song (a duet for baritone and bass) outside of Gilbert and Sullivan. That’s not just my opinion – it gets encored in many productions – not today, though it was warmly applauded. Like all comedies, this one is best when the principals do their utmost to play it dead straight. The humor of a comic character is in who the character is, and normally he or she should not be aware that he or she is funny Which may be one reason (though I believe there are many) why good comedians have so much more strength that they are usually given credit for. In other news, the snow was almost gone (by today it will have disappeared) under the brightly shining sun. In still other news, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) newsletter for the week was all about the Fourteenth Amendment. I can’t link to their newsletters, but I can link to their report and to their press release on the report.
Cartoon – 20 1120Cartoon.jpg
Short Takes –
The New Yorker – Larry Krasner and the Limits of “Law and Order”
Quote – Republicans blame Krasner for the spike in violent crimes in [Philadelphia] since 2020, and claim that his refusal to prosecute to the fullest extent allowed by law is the reason why. After the recall of Chesa Boudin, then the district attorney of San Francisco, following a campaign that was bankrolled by a few wealthy activist donors—the more typical affront to democracy—Pennsylvania Republican Party officials seek to abuse their power and simply remove Krasner from office themselves. On Wednesday, remarkably, lawmakers began that process, voting for his impeachment.
Click through for details. Of course any “spike in violent crimes … since 2020” is going to be directly traceable to the pandemic, and the failure of Republicans to deal with it or protect the citizenry. But they don’t even believe their own BS. This was a stunt to rally their base to the midterms. If the facts in this article don’t make you angry, check your pulse and oxygen.
truthout – Dem Lawmaker Circulates Letter in Congress Calling for Trump’s Disqualification
Quote – “Give[n] the proof — demonstrated through the January 6th Committee Hearings, the 2021 impeachment trial, and other reporting — that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection on January 6th with the intention of overturning the lawful 2020 election results, I have drafted legislation that would prevent Donald Trump from holding public office again under the Fourteenth Amendment,” Cicilline wrote…. Cicilline’s bill “details testimony and evidence demonstrating how Donald Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States” based on revelations made during the January 6 committee’s hearings, his letter says.
Click through for full article. One would think the Fourteenth Amendment would be enough. It was enough to disqualify Couy Griffin in New Mexico, and that verdict has stood up in the New Mexico Supreme Court. But there is not yet a comtemporary Federal precedent (to set a precedent a verdict must come from an apellate court or higher) and solid legal backing is needed sooner than that is likely to happen.
The Real News Network – In Key Swing States, Union Members Are Democrats’ Last Line Of Defense
Quote – And that’s what we’re here to talk about today, because we’ve got a really exciting panel here with folks with the amazing UNITE HERE union canvassing in states around the country including key battleground states like Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. And we’re going to introduce y’all to those folks in just a second, and we’re going to talk a bit about the canvassing work that they’re doing, what it means for them as union members to be fighting this fight, what they are hearing from people on the ground that they are talking to by knocking on countless doors in these states. They’re really, really doing the essential work that needs to be done to reach people, to understand what people are going through and what they want from these elections.
Click through for full transcript of panel. It’s a long transcript, and I realize I am preaching to the choir here, but it has some good information.
Food For Thought
