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.
Yesterday, Joyce Vance and Stacey Abrams had a conversation about what individuals can do in this constitutional crisis. I know that all of us are already doing something – but I also know that I sometimes get a nagging feeling that it’s not enough, and I’m betting I am not alone in that. The video of the convo is only 31 minutes, which is definitely short for such a subject, and both women are highly respected and easy to listen to. So I’m sharing the link. Stacey mentions a website with more guidance, and I tripped over several obstacles looking for it, so here is the correct spelling: 10stepscampaign.org.
I’m not putting this from The F* News in Sunday because it’s too mixed. The video produced by members of Congress is good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t list (as the article does) any of the resources service members can rely on for support against the chain of command giving the illegal order. However, it is not nothing. (Also, the Gamboge Garbage is calling for them to be executed. Se the next article, from Common Dreams)
This from Common Dreams is so outrageous you have probably already seen it or heard about it. In fact, if you haven’t, your news sources are failing. Bur exactly because it’s so outrageous, I want a record of it here. I can’t even.
This from NBC News is good news as far as it goes. If it passes with a veto-proof majority, that will be good enough for a Sunday post. But we’re not there yet.
Yesterday, Harry Litman was just stunned (along with an entire courtroom) to learn that the indictment against James Comey had in fact never been seen by the grand jury. And I can see why. He posted a quick video and than reposted it with a transcript as soon as he could. I’m not linking because I think he’s correct, that you are going to be seeing this in multiple outlets, all over. At one point he had to move, saying, “Let me get away from this protestor.” Did you know there were protesters at the courthouse? I certainly didn’t. I presume (and hope) they are protesting on Comey’s behalf. I don’t like the guy either, but he doesn’t deserve this prosecution. Yesterday was also the anniversary of the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Heather Cox Richardson wrote a detailed letter on it, and also made a less detailed 4-minute video.
Archived from The New York Times – not political, but an opinion piece regarding AI. When the Old Gray Lady is not talking politics, she appears to me to retain a good deal of the style and rationality which made her the Paper Of Record.
TC used to joke that Andy was reporting real news when his satire was particularly on target. But the truth is that Andy is now sometimes deliberately reporting real news – and it can be devastating. The linked video was a paid-only one, so I did not see it when it came out, but he has now yielded it to pressure to make it public. It is an interview with Kate Manne, who has extensively researched the story of “Katie Johnson,” who has testified and, though she withdrew her lawsuit out of fear, stands behind her statement that Trump raped her when she was 13. It runs about 25½ minutes, and I understand if that is too long, or if the subject matter is too disturbing to listen to for anyone here. But I thought I would be remiss not to make it available.
From the 19th. This is the woman who is currently standing trial for “forcibly impeding federal officers…at an immigration facility” where she was simply (attempting to) perform the oversight which is part of her job as a Representative. I wish we had more like her.
