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.
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.
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?
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.”
It’s all very well to discuss how to deal with a tyrant or an autocrat when you actually have one – whether in your own country, or from the outside looking in at another country. But, you know, things change. It seems pretty clear that Texas, for instance, is a virtual autocracy right now. But it hasn’t always been so. Ann Richards was governor once – up until 1996. Between then and 2015, something happened. But what exactly? During those years, one assumes Texas was sliding into autocracy. How exactly?
NATO was formed to be an alliance of western democracies. Turkey is a member. Turkey is being described as “sliding into autocracy.” How far down that slippery slope is it really? Is it far enough to be expelled from NATO? Is there even any provision for a country to be expelled from NATO if it ceases to be a democracy? At one point does a nation cease to be a democracy?
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Why Turkey isn’t on board with Finland, Sweden joining NATO – and why that matters
After decades of neutrality, the two Nordic states that have to date remained out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by declaring an intention to join the American-led alliance. But there is a major obstacle in their way: Turkey.
Erdogan is alone among NATO leaders in publicly stating that he is against the two countries’ joining the alliance.
Harboring terrorists or grudges?
The Turkish president’s opposition is based on his view that Finland and Sweden support “terrorists.” What Erdogan means is that both countries have given protection and residence to members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK – the major armed group mounting resistance to Turkey’s harsh treatment of its millions of Kurdish citizens. The plight of the country’s Kurds, part of a large but stateless ethnic group in the region, has long been a bone of contention between Turkey and parts of the international community.
Despite the PKK’s being listed by the U.S.and EU as a terrorist group, Finland and Sweden have been reluctant to extradite members of the group to Turkey over human rights concerns. Erdogan has responded by calling Sweden a “hatchery” for terrorism and claiming neither country has “a clear, open attitude” toward terrorist organizations, adding: “How can we trust them?”
Erdoğan’s ire with Finland and Sweden has also been exacerbated by the country hosting followers of Turkish scholar and cleric Fethullah Gulen. These followers are part of an educational and political movement with which Erdogan had been allied, but with which he broke as it grew more powerful. The Turkish president accuses the Gulenists of staging a failed coup against his government in 2016.
Foreign policy is almost always intimately tied to domestic concerns. In the case of Turkey’s government, a major fear is the threat to its grip on power posed by the Kurds – and international pressure over Turkey’s record of repressing the group.
Finland and Sweden are neutral countries not beholden to the strategic compromises that the United States and NATO are forced to make to hold the alliance together. Both countries have to date been free to take a moral position on Turkey’s position on Kurdish rights and have officially protested the repressions of dissidents, academics, journalists and minority groups.
Meanwhile, NATO countries have equivocated before their fellow member, agreeing to label the PKK a terrorist organization.
So where does this all leave Finland and Sweden’s application for NATO membership?
As such, Turkey can effectively veto the entry of Finland and Sweden.
The standoff highlights an underlying problem the alliance is facing. NATO is supposed to be an alliance of democratic countries. Yet several of its members – notably Turkey and Hungary – have moved steadily away from liberal democracy toward ethnonational populist authoritarianism.
Finland and Sweden, on the other hand, fulfill the parameters of NATO membership more clearly than several of the alliance’s current members. As the United States proclaims that the war in Ukraine is a struggle between democracy and autocracy, Turkey’s opposition to the Nordics who have protested its drift to illiberalism are testing the unity and the ideological coherence of NATO.
Yesterday, I got up and checked the weather, and discovered we had had some snow, earlier that expected. I had to go out and brush it off before it froze – otherwise I’d never have been able to get it off this morning; But that had to wait until after the radio opera, which was Lucia di Lammermoor. Directors are always looking for new ways to stage this opera, likely because it is heard so often, and is so well written that, like La Boheme, there are some of us who know every note, and they want there to be some surprise. This production (though of course one can’t see it on the radio, but I saw some stills and watched a couple of shot excerpts) is supposed to be set in today’s American “rust belt,” but you wouldn’t go far wrog if you visualized “West Side Story.” But really, any environment with heavy-handed male domination works to conver how a young girl, emotionally (and mentally) fragile and with no allies, could reach the point murdering someone and then going into hallucinatory denial. Hence the “Mad Scene.” 19th century composers loved mad scenes because they were an excuse for highly decorated melidoes which could have nothing to do with anything actually happening (and of course sopranos love them too), and the one in “Lucia” is the best known for good reasons. But they were so prevalent, there is even a short one in the Ring Cycle (though it was only recently I realized that – it’s not presented as one.) Finally, I sent copies to Mitch of all your responses to the update in Thursday’s Open Thread and he wants to thank everyomne.
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George Takei’s Comic Sands – GOP Group That Helped Take Down Cawthorn Now Has Their Sights Set On Boebert—And Critics Can’t Wait
Quote – So the American Muckrakers PAC said they are going after Boebert next with damaging info. Apparently they had a hand in Cawthorn’s demise. This should be fun…. They are starting with her finances. In the fall, it was reported Boebert wrongly used campaign funds to pay for her rent and utility bill. This came about when $6,650 was exchanged via Venmo with the payment labeled “personal expenses. Click through. This may be the best news I’ve had all week.
HuffPost – Tucker Carlson Asked Hunter Biden For Help With His Son’s Georgetown Application
Quote – “Tucker and I have the greatest respect and admiration for you. Always!” Susie Carlson wrote back. “I can’t thank you enough for writing that letter to Georgetown on Buckley’s behalf,” Tucker Carlson wrote to Biden a day later. “So nice of you. I know it’ll help. Hope you’re great and we can all get dinner soon.” The emails were part of records retrieved from a laptop Biden reportedly left at a Delaware repair shop in 2019, first reported by The New York Post. Click through for story. To me the biggest story is that tucker ever had enough testosterobe to father a son. DNA testing anyone? And the second biggest surprise is that Tucker once had a decent human being as a friend.
Crooks and Liars – In Case Alex Jones Isn’t Detestable Enough, There’s This
Quote – [Marcel Fontaine] notified Jones that he was not the shooter. They ignored him. When he began to get threats, he notified them again that they were broadcasting a picture of the wrong person. The picture identifying him as the shooter remained on Jones’ website for a full day, visited by hundreds of thousands of people. Click through for disgusting details. Jones should be held fully accountable for this. But who thinks Ken Pazton is going to prosecute?
As we all know, Gov. DeSantis of Florida has decided to ban math books that might put him and the GQP in an unflattering light.
But conscientious, patriotic citizens have stepped up to help out by creating useful arithmetic problems and teaching aids. For example, try solving these problems in the new Florida math book:
[1] An orange man gets 74 million votes, but his opponent gets 81 million.
Show how 74 million is greater than 81 million.
[2] Orange man receives 11,780 votes less than his opponent. How many more votes need to be “found” after the election in order for the orange man to claim victory?
[NOTE: This is actually a trick question. The correct answer is ZERO. The orange man will claim he won anyway.]
Folks decided that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL U-Really-18) could actually serve a useful teaching tool moment:
And Stephen Colbert (who authored the question) came up with the correct answer: “School Supplies”.
So what’s the real reason DeSantis is having Florida ban math books? He HATES seeing the “EQUAL” sign.
Sticking with DeSantis and Gaetz, the pedophile representative from Florida has changed his plans for one of the final rites-of-passage of High School students:
With Gaetz boycotting Disney, there’s now at least ONE safe place in Florida where teenage girls can go.
Before whiteboards, many of us can recall chalkboards or blackboards. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) certainly is of that age – but apparently she must have suffered a terrible chalk incident in her childhood. Because when someone wrote a chalk message in front of her Bangor house, she actually called the cops on them!
But later, Collins decided to make lemonade out of lemons even though she was still recovering from her frightening Chalk foray. So during her recent photo-op visit to Ukraine she extended a thoughtful invitation to Pres. Zelensky:
“I’ve invited President Zelensky to visit the war-torn, chalked sidewalks of Maine, so he realizes it’s not just Ukraine.” – Susan Collins
(No doubt she also took the time to tell Zelensky that she is “sure” that Putin “has learned his lesson”.)
But Collins is not entirely done waging her battle against the vicious chalking her sidewalk received. She’s talking about removing those easily available terrorist kits from the store shelves that we so often see right before the start of the school year …
Truth be told, Susan’s real goal is to ban all those high-capacity chalk magazines that us oldster remember from music class in grade school:
She’s discussed this issue with her staff and noted that whenever and wherever they appear, there’s always discord and treble ahead. She wants everyone to keep a sharp eye out for them.
Why, she even has thought about throwing them in jail because she really feels they should be under a rest.
I hope this wasn’t too upsetting, because I want to leave everyone in harmony. Don’t worry – I’ll be Bach.
