Glenn Kirschner – J6 hearing: Trump’s criminal intent proved; members of congress who sought pardons identified
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to New DOJ Subpoenas Targeting Trump Fake Electors Scheme
The Lincoln Project – They Knew
MSNBC – Rep. Dean: Rights Of Women Were Overturned By ‘A Corruptly Seated Majority’ On SCOTUS
Ring of Fire – Even Fox News Is Shocked By What The January 6th Committee Has Revealed
Beau – Let’s talk about Day 4 of the hearings and security….
Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart. It’s been up before, so I won’t go into details. The performance was at the Paris Opera, and the cast included three pretty well-known bass baritones (one American, one Englishman, and one Italian [married to the daughter of another American one]) and pretty much no one else I had ever heard of. But no major company is ever going to put on a bad performance of this opera. It’s kind of ironic that it’s on today – something which was planned long ago – because it high;ights the position of women in a male-dominated society (that was probably unconscious) and also how class status affects everyone, but women especially (and that was definitely conscious and led to censorship.)
Of course I could not ignore SCOTUS. Both here and with the Furies I have chosen to explore “Now What?” One of today’s short takes is hopeful, but hope needs effort to come to fruition. And in one piece of good news, NATO has granted candidate status to Ukraine. President Zelenskyy thanked each nation’s leader by name and the name of the country, and also the President of the EU, on the Zoom call which notified him. 
Mitch (I had missed it.)
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Short Takes –
We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse
Quote – If a fetus is a person, then a legal framework can be invented to require someone who has one living inside her to do everything in her power to protect it, including—as happened to Savita Halappanavar, in Ireland, which operated under a fetal-personhood doctrine until 2018, and to Izabela Sajbor, in Poland, where all abortion is effectively illegal—to die. No other such obligation exists anywhere in our society, which grants cops the freedom to stand by as children are murdered behind an unlocked door.
Click through for full article, including optional audio. The New Yorker is right. There has never been a time in history when women have been quite as discounted as this decision ad its eventuality imposes. And the article does not even go into other rights wich are likely to disappear – and h=not just women’s rights – as subsequent decisions come to reflect the logical consequences of this one.
POGO – Accountability: The Path to Improve Government Effectiveness and the Antidote to Authoritarianism
Quote – There are six primary mechanisms that, if working properly, serve as pillars of accountability in federal government. They are: whistleblowers, who expose wrongdoing; inspectors general, who serve as independent watchdogs at each government agency; congressional oversight, which provides a check on executive power; transparency and civil society participation, which ensure that the government answers to the people; independent journalism, which investigates and exposes wrongdoing; and the equal application of the rule of law to the highest levels of government.
Click through for full analysis. Progressives’ work is never done. Of course, that is true of all whose work is or includes cleaning up the messes made by others.
Food For Thought
So the Supreme Court has reversed Roe v Wade. They have turned the United States back into a crazy quilt of widely differing abortion and other reproductive laws. Anti-choice bums can dance and jump and guzzle champagne all they like. Guess who else was cheering: Organized crime bosses, rubbing their paws as they contemplate the back-alley “clinics” they will open or coerce into supporting the Mob.
Fortunately, there is plenty of good news. Many local and state governments began taking steps to safeguard reproductive freedom as soon as the Roe leak became national news. California lawmakers have passed legislation that protects abortion providers and patients from civil actions coming from states hostile to reproductive rights. Colorado, which has long protected abortion rights, is preparing for a tsunami of patients from other states. Numerous companies have pledged to help their employees travel to where they can get abortions. Cities have passed resolutions protecting reproductive rights, and many state DAs have declared that they will not enforce trigger laws or pre-Roe laws.
This will lead to tension with states such as Oklahoma and Texas that want to prevent people from getting abortions – by any means possible. Citizen bounty hunters hoping to collect their thirty pieces of silver will be lurking on highways and byways, and examining social media for clues to who is seeking an abortion. Defenders of reproductive rights will need to take many precautions against spying, as an innocent message that has nothing to do with abortion could easily be misinterpreted. And since we are such a heavily armed country, there almost certainly will be bloodshed. Anti-choice crusaders have proven time and again that they will use violence to further their evil ends.
If anti-choice advocates are hoping for an abortion-free America, dream on. All you have done is halt legal abortions, and only in certain states. Illegal back-alley abortions will still occur. Desperate women will resort to knitting needles and “accidental” falls. Also, what about the pills for medical abortions, easily available by mail – and almost certainly easy to smuggle? Human ingenuity found plenty of loopholes in Prohibition, and ingenuity – along with determination and desperation – will help people wiggle through or past any anti-choice laws.
This is not the end of the battle over U.S. wombs – this is only Pearl Harbor. The reversal of Roe v Wade has spurred abortion rights advocates to take to the streets and raise hell, to pester their elected officials, to support organizations like Planned Parenthood, to pledge action in defense of reproductive rights. We need to demand laws that protect reproductive freedom, and vote in candidates who will heed the voice of the people rather than a small and narrow-minded minority.
At the end of the movie Tora Tora Tora, Admiral Yamamoto says “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” There is no hard evidence he actually said this, but the quote is germane to the defenders of reproductive choice. A comfortable majority of US residents wanted Roe v Wade to stay, and that majority is now mad as hell. And that majority votes! We can make sure that “right-to-life’s” victory is Pyrrhic in the extreme.
Time once again to cause Good Trouble.
Glenn Kirschner – J6 hearings & pardons: Kushner drafting them; Perry and Eastman requesting them; Rudy/Don Jr/Ivanka?
Glenn (two in one day because this one is an extra) – Justice Matters Special Edition: Proof beyond a reasonable doubt of Donald Trump’s criminal intent
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Despicable Texas GOP Platform
The Lincoln Project – Lady Ruby
MSNBC – Schiff: Trump Used His Big Lie As A Bludgeon To Bend Officials To His Will
Beau – Let’s talk about that ad in Missouri and a conflation of terms….
Yesterday, I woke up to over 100 emails – mostly about Roe. And they kept coming in all day (and will probably continue indefinitely.) I have been fighting tears. I never personally needed an abortion, and I certainly won’t now, but I find myself grieving over the women who will die (and who already have died) as a result of this abomination. And then the other decision this week – if life-threatening pregnancies and coat hanger abortions don’t kill us, they will do it with guns. My next thought may sound unrelated, but it isn’t really – I’m beginning to think every man, woman, and child in the US needs to be required to go through a course in anger management (and after that’s done, every child as part of middle or high school – or before earning a GED.) And then again as part of every sentence for a crime involving violence, as a prerequisite for release. Because all this hate comes from anger, and anger is a natural and normal part of the human condition, and we need it – but we don’t like it because it gets ugly, and we think the answer is to eliminate ie. It isn’t. the answer is to learn how to (a) express it in a disciplined and non-hurtful way, and (b) to use the adrenalin to fight politically for policies which are worth fighting for. In other words, anger needs to be well regulated. And people don’t learn how to do that throug osmosis. We need to be taught. And we need role models as part of the learning process. And I wish I had the faintest idea how that could happen. End of rant. I’m sticking woith unrelated short takes – I know you won’t have any difficulty reading about this decision.
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Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – Intel Reveals Putin Plan to Weasel His Way Into American Hearts
Quote – [R]ather than counting on exiting the political scene in dramatic fashion, Putin might be betting that he can somehow outlast his detractors as well as the Biden Administration, whose security assistance for Ukraine has been pivotal in keeping a Russian win at bay. And part of Putin’s plot to outlive the Biden administration is likely to include influence operations aimed at securing an American political environment that’s more favorable to his goals, former CIA and Department of Homeland Security officials told The Daily Beast.
Click through for details. I gather the Transylvanians just loved Vlad Dracula too – considered him a Defender of the Faith. (At least if you have friends like that, you have no need of enemies.)
NM Political Report – NM Game and Fish urges people to be ‘bear aware’ during drought
Quote – [Nick] Forman [the carnivore and small mammal program manager for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish] compared [bears] to giant racoons because they are inquisitive and know how to manipulate their environment. [He also] acknowledged that it can be exciting to see a bear, especially for young children. He said parents can encourage their children to “leave wildlife wild” and “give them their space.” He said parents can take the opportunity to observe the bears with their children from afar, especially if there is a safe viewing area.
Click through for more. Neither the drought nor the bears are confined to New Mexico. We have friends on the west side of town who have had bears amble down their street, and I know California has bears. They used to be all over what is now the United States, so there’s no telling where one might pop up. It’s great to have them, but not so great to be mauled by one. I thought it was worth a little cautionary note.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s pressure campaign on state election officials & his conspiracy w/DOJ official Jeffrey Clark
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Shocking Republican ‘RINO Hunting’ Ad
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party 6/21
MSNBC – Former Watergate Prosecutor: Trump Could Be Indicted In GA Over Coup Plot
Farron Balanced – Marjorie Taylor Greene Melts Down As Aide Who Defaced Her Signs Isn’t Prosecuted
Beau – Let’s talk about how Republicans create demand for strict gun laws….
Yesterday, I watched the fifth hearing from the Jan6 Committee. Again, we saw powerful Republicans give testimony about a plot they would not go along with. I know a lot of Democrats are – for lack of a better word – discounting their character because they are still Republicans who voted for him wna would do so again. And that is certainly true – and I would not vote for them certainly. But, especially in the current state of the Republican Party, to me their adherence to their oaths serves to enhance rather than to detract from the courage of their behavior. Sure, there ideas are nuts and I would not want them in the legislature – but in an office such as Acting Attorney General, would you rather have a Jeff Rosen (Republican) or a Rod Blagojevich (Democrat)? Not wanting them to legislate their crazy ideas doesn’t mean I can’t recognize their principles. No one is 100% good or 100% evil (well, except maybe a very few – Trump** and Putin come to mind) and we need to at least look at people as being fully human if we have to deal with them at all – let alone communicate with them.
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PolitiZoom (“Murfster35”) – The J6 Committee. The Gift That Keeps On Giving. Even AFTER The Midterms?
Quote – But here’s the McGuffin. The DOJ has a rock hard rule that used to be observed up until the reign of that moron James Comey that the DOJ doesn’t announce either investigations or indictments in a general election season, in order to avoid appearing to put their fingers on the scale. Under Merrick Garland, one can only hope and pray that that rule still holds true. Which could end up being disastrous news for the state GOP caucuses. Because while Trump and his criminal cabal in DC were willing to blab to almost everybody about their schemes, when it came to the states themselves, they were more selective, if not secretive.
Click through for his reasoning. It’s probably true that in most cases, in and out of government, that silence indicates inaction. But that isn’t universal. Murfster could well be correct.
The 19th – Senators are pushing TSA to clarify its rules around breast milk and formula at airport security
Quote – The issue is one of health and safety: Nursing parents typically need to express milk every two to four hours. Failing to pump could have health consequences for the parent, leading to extreme discomfort, pain, plugged milk ducts or a bacterial infection called mastitis. The milk also needs to be refrigerated within four hours to avoid adverse health effects for the baby which could include vomiting, fever and diarrhea. All of that is even more critical now as a nationwide formula shortage continues. It will likely be months before formula stock returns to normal levels in the United States after a major plant closure in February set off massive shortages that have cut into as much as 90 percent of stock in some states.
Click through for story. I have a solution to propose – put the TSA under the Department of Transportation. We have a Transportation Secretary who knows a thing or two about feeding infants. In fact, “Department of Homeland Security” sounds fascost and does unnecessary things, why don’t we get rid of it and relocate its useful functions.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Who is on John Eastman’s pardon list & why did Sen. Grassley say he, not Pence, would preside on 1/6
Meidas Touch – Rep. Katie Porter EXPOSES Big PHARMA scam in epic SMACK DOWN you can’t miss
The Lincoln Project – 40 Feet
MSNBC – Lawrence: Trump Can’t Understand Why GOP Officials Wouldn’t Steal 2020 For Him
Rebel HQ – Veteran ROASTS Right-Wing Gun Nuts
Beau – Let’s talk about New Mexico, foreshadowing, and the committee….