Glenn Kirschner – As Insurrection Hearings Set to Open on June 9, Reasons for Optimism that Trump will be Indicted
Meidas Touch – presents the Tony Michaels podcast – Donald Trump SLAMMED after sharing call for CIVIL WAR
Ring of Fire – Biden Gets Banned
Truth Matters – Love of the Unborn
MSNBC – Parkland Father Reacts To Texas School Shooting: ‘How Many More Times?’
Momta – Why Are Republicans So Grumpy?
Beau – Let’s talk about what aliens can teach us about tech companies….
Yesterday, of course, I read up on the latest shooting (at least it was the latest yesterday – by today, who knows.) I won’t be posting Biden’s speech because I am bettimg everupone has either already seen it or decided they can’t bear to. I won’t be posting Beto’s speech for about the same reasons (it is in two parts – before and after he got thrown out of abbott’s press conference.) I am posting some little-known Second Amendment history which needs to be known more sidely, along with what I think is a very powerful meme (both here) and a video with Fred Guttenberg in the Video Thread. And there’s this. (another detail about the incident is in the comments.) Also, I did manage to get my delivery order placed, though it took two browsers and about an hour of ding other things before I could get from finalizing the products to actually checking out. sometimes that happens. As long as I have something else to do, and don’t have to sit there screaming at the computer, I’m fine with that.
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The Daily Beast – Justice Department Tells Agents They Must Step in to Stop ‘Excessive Force’
Quote – In the first update to its use-of-force policy after a string of killings by police in recent years, the Justice Department has ordered federal agents to step in to “prevent or stop” excessive force by other members of law enforcement, The Washington Post reports. The policy change, the first update to its use-of-force policy since 2004, was spelled out in a memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland that was sent to federal law-enforcement agents.
Click through for quotes frpm the memo. My guess for why this took so long is that agents thought such corrective action might be (or be seen as) “hostile” – but IMO “parental” – is a better description.
Robert Reich – Why unions are coming to the new economy
Quote – A fifth reason is a new appreciation of the importance of power in driving wages, and the fraudulence of the economic idea that “you’re paid what you’re worth.” The old economic mainstay that people are paid what they are “worth” is finally revealing itself to be an ideology grounded in nothing but power. According to this old mythology, minimum wage workers aren’t “worth” more than the $7.25 an hour federal minimum many now receive. If they were worth more, they’d earn more. Any attempt to force employers to pay them more will only kill jobs. According to this same ideology, CEOs of big companies are “worth” their giant compensation packages, now averaging 350 times pay of the typical American worker. They must be worth it or they wouldn’t be paid so much. Any attempt to limit their pay is fruitless because their pay will only take some other form.
Click through for the other four, and for a more complete explanation of this one. IMO there are practical reasons why no one will ever be paid exactly what he or she is “worth,” but we can definitey do better than we are now doing.
Letters from an American – May 24, 2022
Quote – There’s not a lot to go on about what the Framers meant, although in their day, to “bear arms” meant to be part of an organized militia. As the Tennessee Supreme Court wrote in 1840, “A man in the pursuit of deer, elk, and buffaloes might carry his rifle every day for forty years, and yet it would never be said of him that he had borne arms; much less could it be said that a private citizen bears arms because he has a dirk or pistol concealed under his clothes, or a spear in a cane.”
Click through for more history. I haven’t subscribed to this blog for very long, so this history is new to me. It is a history that everyone should learn. All of it. (BTW today’s video thread includes a short conversation with Fred Guttenberg and Nicole Wallace.)
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Attorney John Eastman tries to hide 2 Trump handwritten insurrection notes from the J6 committee.
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to New Bombshell Ginni Thomas Scandal
The Lincoln Project – Mean Girl
The Ring of Fire – Kellyanne Conway Admits She’s To Blame For Donald Trump
Armageddon Update – Why GOP On Yourself?
Family Rescues Baby Fox In Their Backyard And Reunites Him With Mom
Beau – Let’s talk about Madison Cawthron’s Dark comment….
Yesterday, I tried to catch up on things I need to order, starting with two prescriptions. I succeeded in ordering one; the other one, after counting, I put off for a week since I have almost 4 weeks supply on hand. Then there were a few jewelry supplies I’d ben pl;anning ro order but was waiting for a sale (and it’s almost Memorial Day.) So I put that order together and placed it. Then I started looking for a small “boom box” (yes, they are still using that term – that surprised me too), but didn’t get far, because the combination of features I want is appaently unusual. I also started a list for a grocery order, but did not place it, because it was Tuesday, and Wednesday is the day that prices change (if they are going to), and I like to know what I am getting into, so I’ll place it today for tomorrow.
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Crooks and Liars – Wisconsin GOP Gubernatorial Candidate: None Of The Above
Quote – Wisconsin Republicans refused to endorse any of the four candidates for governor at their annual state convention for the first time — a symbolic rejection of the political apparatus that has been blamed by its own members for failing to deliver statewide victories in recent years.
Click through for answers to questions you undoubtedly have. There will eventually be a candidate, because there is a primary (sadly).
Robert Reich – Bombardment by the billionaires
Quote – This is the same crew, not incidentally, that’s been fighting unions and flooding Congress and statehouses with cash to support Trump election deniers, prevent tax hikes on themselves, and kill off Biden’s and the Democrats’ agenda…. This billionaire bombardment gives Biden and the Democrats an opportunity to tell America whose side they’re on and whose side they’re not on — in effect, to declare class war on the class warriors. Will they take it?
Click through for his reasoning and recpmmendations. The Reich on the left has a history of being right, and he has the education and experience to be. So I hope he is listened to. I franklly have no idea what, if anything, will work.
Just Security – Prosecuting Trump for the Insurrection: The Well-Founded Case for Optimism
Quote – For example, in one New York Times piece weighing the prospects for a Trump prosecution, the authors noted that Trump “would have a powerful argument about his mental state” against a claim that he pressured former Vice President Pence to violate his legal duties under the Electoral Count Act – i.e., that Trump “sincerely thought he was asking Mr. Pence to do something lawful” because of the “advice” he received from lawyer John Eastman, who concocted a baseless rationale for Pence to ignore the law. Likewise, in a second piece, the Times quoted a law professor for the proposition that “[t]he problem with Trump is defining his state of mind when it is so changeable. He believes whatever he wants to think and it doesn’t necessarily have to be grounded in reality. That’s a tough argument to a jury, to say he knew a particular thing.”
Click through for full article. This article was recommended by Glenn Kirschner, and it is very thorough – so thorough that I didn’t even try for a quote which summarized all the points. So I recommend you either read the whole article or skip it. Or you could, of course, save it for when you have more time.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Giuliani testifies; friends of Stone are flipping; Ginni Thomas insurrects & Loudermilk gets quiet
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Bombshell Elon Musk Scandal (This is starting to remind me of an incident in Okinamwa, not too long before I came back stateside – not, I rush to assure you, to me personally, but a story I heard from a reliable source.)
The Lincoln Project – Skin in the Game
MSNBC – Raskin On Giuliani’s Jan. 6 Testimony: ‘Definitely Has A Lot Of Information’
VoteVets – Leader
Guy Visits Dog And Her Friends In The Desert For Over A Year
Beau – Let’s talk about what aliens can teach us about tech companies….
And a little bonus – this is a new kind of video which can’t be embedded, can’t even be stopped, not even at the end, because it is always on autoplay and will take you to the next one (in this case, a rabbit giving birth.) So why am a sharing something so difficult? Because it is a preview of the R Reich – H Jackman cameo on The Simpsons (probably the only way any sense will ever get shown on Fox.)
Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio News published thefirst photo of the first bud (at leasst in eighty years) on the Camp Amache rose. It is pink. I cropped the photo so it would fit here. I was deeply touched. I’m looking forward to seeing it after it opens.
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CPR News – Why two CPR News journalists are in Europe with Colorado’s National Guard
Quote – Colorado’s Army and Air National Guard units are just some of the 1,200 Guard members from six states — Maryland, which has a state partnership with Estonia, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — taking part in this exercise. In total, more than 3,400 U.S. military and 5,100 allied service members are spending this month participating in Defender and various other exercises, with names like Swift Response, Iron Wolf, Flaming Thunder and Summer Shield, across Eastern Europe…. Now, the U.S. military will be the first to tell you that Defender is unrelated to what’s happening in Ukraine (and the former Foreign Service officer in me would agree with that). American troops rotate, train and exercise regularly across the region as part of the nation’s relationship with Europe…. Yet, this annual exercise has taken on added significance — to reporters like me, and readers like you, and possibly the people of Estonia too — because of what’s happening in Ukraine.
Click through for story. It’s a good day to be a Coloradan Despite Lauren Boebert (and Doug Lamborn), we have reasons to take pride in our state. (And it has some gorgeous phptps pf Tallinn.)
The Conversation – He’s Australia’s 31st prime minister. So who is Anthony Albanese?
Quote – To continue the slow burn theme, if Albanese is to be believed, his ambition for leadership formed late. Those who reach leadership positions are typically consumed with an aspiration for the top job from early in their parliamentary careers — if not before. They are fuelled by a sense of their own prime-ministerial destiny. Albanese is different. On his telling, it was only in 2013, on the defeat of Rudd’s second government, that he first entertained thoughts of becoming leader. Until then he had contented himself with the role of “counsellor and kingmaker”.
CLick through for background. I won’t promise that this will be my last article on the Australian election – I hadn’t planned having another one, but I think this has merit. I am convinced that the so-called “fire in the belly” which so many pundits say leaders need is actually a bad thing if one wants the best possible leadership.
NM Political Report – In light of drought, NM congresswomen introduce bills focused on water and science
Quote – “We know that our farmers and our communities are struggling to meet their water needs,” U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat representing the state’s 1st Congressional District, said during a press conference on Thursday. “And the pieces of legislation that we introduced this week will be game changers to help address those needs, put resources into the hands of our communities, and to address the long term water security of our communities.”
Click through for details of the proposals. Of course we all knew that getting the right women into the right offices would be beneficial to everyone.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Bill Barr to testify to J6 committee about Trump’s crimes. Will he be a credible witness?
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to George W. Bush Megaviral Iraq Gaffe
The Damage Report – Leaked Memo Warns Of SURGE In Right-Wing Violence Following SCOTUS Decision
Twitter – Ana Kasparian (I was going to look for this this week, but fortunately tripped over it at DU. Everyone posting about it is right. This is transformative.
This is truth. This is how we need to fight back. pic.twitter.com/l4oaqZUiAh
— Emily Winston (@Emywinst) May 4, 2022
Now This News – This Teen’s Mom Died From Putin’s War — Now, He’s Raising His 4 Siblings (Hanky Alert)
Watch This Guy Help A Baby Penguin Overcome Her Fear Of Water
Beau – Let’s talk about George Bush, Iraq, Ukraine, and mirrors….
Yesterday, I woke up before the alarm went off, and just stayed up, since I knew the weather could be problematic. It actually turned out not to be. there was no snow or ice or even frost on the windows – a couple of drops of rain was all. I took my time driving, the roads were almost all dry, and the short spots where they were not (bridges ot dips) were only wet, not icy. Virgil was a litttle short of sleep … and so was I. But we enjoyed each other’s comapny. And I got home as easily as I went down. (However, I wouldn’t be surprised if, when you see this, I am actually still asleep, even if you get to it later than usual.)
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truthout – Judge Blocks Biden from Ending Title 42 in “Arbitrary, Racist” Ruling
Quote – Human rights advocates say Title 42 forces people legally seeking asylum in the United States into perilous situations in Mexican border cities, where Human Rights First has identified nearly 10,000 violent attacks on migrants. “Beyond the devastating humanitarian impact of Title 42, the court’s ruling also fails to recognize well-established domestic and international law,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. “Seeking asylum is a legal right, and yet this bedrock of the American legal system is quickly eroding at a time of unprecedented need.”
Click through for an explanation at least in part why the immigration authorities at the southern border are still doing such a – (cough) – such a rotten job. It isn’t all on Biden by a long shot (granted that some of it is).
Reuters – Analysis: Australian women unleash new political force on climate, integrity
Quote – Women who left successful careers in business, medicine and media to enter politics as independents were on track to win five seats from Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal party in its affluent urban heartland in Saturday’s general election, as moderate voters abandoned the government…. Personifying the disruptive change were centrists, mostly women, dubbed “teal” candidates because of teal-coloured marketing material used as they targeted seats held by Morrison’s conservative party.
Click through for full analysis. Lona did such a good job of summarizeing the election results in her comment (scroll down) that I thought I’d use this article, since it’s more about something new than general politics.
Crooks and Liars – Cassidy: Our Maternal Death Rates Only Bad If You Include Black Women
Quote – “About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear,” Cassidy said in an interview with POLITICO. “Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality.”
Click through for story. Can you believe this? Not his thinking it, tha’s nrmal for Republicans, but presumably not realizing what kind of blowback he would get from it?
Food For Thought
