Politics Plus

Yesterday, I didn’t get up at 5:30 because I didn’t have to. That may or may not be true of Wednesday. When you have jury duty here, at 5:00 pm the day before they analyze what trials are still scheduled, figure out how many people they will really need, and set up a phone line and a web page where you can go and put in your juror number and they will tell you whether you need to come or not. So I can still hope I won’t have to. The lasttime I had to go in , it was February, and I had to fight snow and ice to get from the parking lot to the courtroom in my wheelchair. I escaped frostbite but the mud got all over my coat and I lost a stone out of a ring. At least that won’t happen this week.

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Short Takes –

Mother Jones – A New List of Crazy Shit Trump Did, According to Fiona Hill
Quote – Last weekend, we were graced with a whole new batch of foibles of the Trump administration, this time from the perspective of onetime adviser Fiona Hill and couched in a New York Times Magazine article titled “This Was Trump Pulling a Putin.” … A good chunk of Draper’s story is about how Hill believes January 6 was presaged by Trump’s policies toward Putin.
Click through for more. Ms Hill testified at the same time that Vindman did, along with two other brave souls. Marie Yovanovich and David Hale. And, of course, many others.

Daily Kos (Community) – This Should Not Keep Happening To Puerto Rico. This Should Not Keep Happening Anywhere.
Quote – Loosely described as an unincorporated Caribbean island and U.S. territory, it has been the subject of much debate, and for its citizens that matriculate into the states themselves, its status as a U.S. interest has rarely resulted in any kind of warmth. In popular culture citizens of Puerto Rican descent have often been the subject of misunderstood and sometimes misanthropic stereotypes and those stereotypes assigned to them have often been a punch line.
Click through for full article. There is a lot in here, and most of is is deeply heartfelt. If you con’t make it therough the whole article, do at least skip to the closing lines.

PolitiZoom – Screwtape Writes Again From Hell Of the Passing Of the GOP Baton From Trump To DeSantis the New John Birch
Quote – DeSantis is a piece of work. It is rare indeed that a man becomes a Real Devil during his brief earthy sojourn in the flesh. Usually, the finishing touches are left when he graduates to a spot down here, and if he doesn’t end up consumed in a feast by us, if we deem that his soul is of such Unspeakable Rot (I can’t describe the fragrance that has, you simply have to experience it for yourself) then he goes on to several centuries of torment in our Perfected Demon course of study and then he becomes a Real Devil. For a mortal man to achieve this while in the flesh is truly extraordinary and as rare as popsicle stands Down Here.
Click through -save it for later if necessary. If you are not familiar with Screwtape, I highly recommend the original book and the epilogue “Screwtape proposes a toast.” Lewis said that they were not exactly difficult – the material flowed freely – but it was stifling to force onself to write of good as evil and evil as good. Ursula Faw, who wrote this parody, has done a bang-up job of capturing the tone … and of course the material flows freely.

Food For Thought