Glenn Kirschner – Jim Jordan’s Text to Mark Meadows & the Crime of Obstructing a Congressional Proceeding
The Lincoln Project – The Fight
MSNBC – New Details Paint ‘Insane’ Picture Of How Right Wing Media Obtained Biden Daughter’s Diary
Robert Reich – How the Grinch Stole the Post Office
Armageddon Update – Taking The World By Storm
Puppet Regime – A Kremlin Christmas
Beau – Let’s talk about the post-Christian church…. (Oh wow.)
Yesterday, the opera was Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” in English, in an abridged version so kids are able to sit through it. The costumes and puppets (yes, puppets) were designed by Julie Taymor, who is probably most famous for having designed the live stage version of “The Lion King.” If you see pictures of the production, you don’t even have to know what’s going on to realize how appealing it would be to kids of all ages just visually. Sort of like Maurice Sendak on acid. The singer/actor playing the birdcatcher really got into the spirit, producing in addition to his lines a dizzying array of bird calls – including Woody Woodpecker’s laugh (I think we’re all old enough to remember that, though some kids might have wondered what was so funny to their parents… or grandparents.)
Cartoon – 19 1219Cartoon.jpg
Short Takes
Axios – Capitol rioter who threw fire extinguisher at police gets more than 5 years in prison
Quote – “It has to be made clear … trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers is going to be met with certain punishment,” said [U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan]. “There are going to be consequences. I’m not making an example of you. I’m sentencing you for the conduct you did.”
Click through for a little more. I have seen a claim (in at least one place that should know better) that it was a “hydrant” he threw. It wasn’t There is a difference.
Crooks and Liars – Chauvin Pleads Guilty To Federal Civil Rights Charge
Quote – [R]eporter Julia Jenaé… tweeted: “#DerekChauvin agrees to the plea details just read in open court. Max sentence of 300 months = 25 yrs. He’s already serving 22.5 year sentence for 2nd degree murder. These would run simultaneous, fed case adds 2.5 years. He faced life in prison but for the plea agreement”
Click through for details. That puts him behind bars until he is seventy. There may be some life left in hom, but no police department is going to hire a 70-year-old.
The New Yorker – A Person of the Year: Jamie Raskin [hanky alert]
Quote – This bloody assault, which threatened constitutional democracy and the nation’s democratically elected leaders, came just one day after the burial of Thomas Bloom Raskin, the congressman’s beloved twenty-five-year-old son. At the Capitol, Raskin told me, he could still hear the sounds of the day before: the prayers of mourning, the clods of dirt shovelled onto the casket. Meanwhile, maniacs shouting deranged slogans and threats were storming down the hallways of Congress in search of enemies.
Click through for story. If paywalled out, let me know and I will send a PDF. Rep. Raskin has been going through what I canonly describe as trial by fire … and he is passing the test. Not without pain.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Congress Refers Meadows to DOJ for Prosecution: Here’s Why Indicting Meadows is a Legal Layup
The Lincoln Project – Tucking Crazy
Thom Hartmann – Covid’s “Worst” Symptom May Get Anti-Vaxxers Out Of Bed Into The Pharmacy
politicsrus – Manchin HD
RepresentUs – Rep. Cummings urges to protect voter rights (No, he didn’t come back to life … but wherever he is, this is still who he is..)
Parody Project – Omicron is Coming to Towm.
Beau – Let’s talk about those text messages about the 6th….
Last time I wrote about how we all benefit from socialism. Now, in the wake of the devastating and tragic tornado outbreak, I must write again on the subject of how we need some form of government to look after us.
Rand Paul, the junior Senator representing Kentucky and professed Libertarian, claims to be an enemy of “big government.” Yet when his state needs Federal assistance, he begs like a dog for help. Paul went awfully quickly from condemning the “evils” of socialism to whimpering for federal assistance from the very Big Government he despises.
Paul voted against providing Federal aid to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy. He voted against aid for Texas after Hurricane Harvey. He voted against aid for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. But when his home state takes it on the chin, he sings a different tune.
Already right-wing bugnuts, such as former Senate candidate and Qanon supporter Lauren Witzke, are blaming the tornado outbreak on the things that right-wingers hate, such as abortion and gay marriage. Never mind that Kentucky, the state that was hit hardest, has two very right-wing Senators – the aforementioned Paul, and the hated Mitch McConnell. Funny, I haven’t heard anybody blame McConnell’s re-election in 2020 for the twisters. Maybe it’s because people on the Left are less prone to regard disasters as visitations of divine wrath for real or imagined sins.
President Biden has vowed long-term aid for Kentucky to recover from the devastating storms. At least he’s doing a lot more than toss packs of paper towels at the tornado survivors. A government run by Libertarians would say, “Suck it up, buttercup – ask the Red Cross for help.” Anybody who thinks that private charity can entirely replace government assistance is a fool.
Many years ago I saw a two-panel editorial cartoon that demonstrates why we need a strong central government. In the first panel a man in a horse-drawn wagon is giving a spiel against big government talking about how it has too much power, blah, blah, blah. In the second panel, a young man has driven up in a large truck with some huge sacks labeled various things that a centralized government provides. I forget exactly what the labels on the bags are – it’s been years since I saw the cartoon, and I can’t find it on the Internet. He is saying to the man in the wagon “Like to take on some of the load?” The first man and the horse are both wigging out.
We don’t know the value of water till the well runs dry. We don’t know the value of “big government” till we need it.
Yesterday, I got my electronic Christmas cards selected, the rough drafts edited, all the addresses in a row like my ducks, and scheduled to be sent. Whew. Is that ever a relief!
Cartoon –
Short Takes
Wonkette – Manhattan DA Meeting All Donald Trump’s Favorite Accountants And Bankers!
Quote – And then there’s Rosemary Vrablic. Remember her? She was the banker who handled allllllll Trump’s shit at Deutsche Bank, which has reportedly been cooperating with the investigation since last year, when it was basically the only large bank in the entire world that was strangely willing to touch Trump with a ten-foot pole. (She’s since left the company.) The Post says Vrablic didn’t talk to the grand jury, but rather to prosecutors. They add that folks like these who weren’t employees — you know, like the indicted Allen Weisselberg — but rather who were, like, the point person for Trump in companies he dealt with, were people who “knew more about his company’s inner workings than many employees did.”
Click through to an article filled with suggestive tidbits. I don’t want to get hopes too high too fast … but this is good.
Robert Reich – Why I don’t trust the mainstream media
Quote – I’m often asked how I keep up with the news. Obviously, I avoid the unhinged rightwing outlets pushing misinformation, disinformation, and poisonous lies. But I’ve also grown a bit wary of the mainstream media –- the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and other dominant outlets — not because they peddle “fake news” (their reporting is usually first-rate) but because of three more subtle biases.
Click through to see how a pro does it. It’s not as hard as you might think.
AP News – Forbes editor says he testified before Trump grand jury
Quote – Lane said he was questioned for about 20 minutes by Mark Pomerantz, a former mafia prosecutor assisting in the probe, and was asked to confirm various things, including the methodology of the magazine’s list of richest Americans and Trump’s statements in the article that “I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion” and that a higher net worth “was good for financing.”
Click through for more. This article didn’t mention it, but, as Wonkette pointed out, those who testify before Grand Juries in New York are granted immunity.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – House Committee Votes Meadows in Contempt; Says Insurrection “Runs Right Through Mark Meadows”
Meidas Touch – Fox vs. Fox: Private Messages | #FoxRuse
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party
MSNBC – Warnock To Senate Democrats: Bipartisanship At Whose Expense? (May I say Warnock rocks?)
Don Winslow Films – #NameTheTraitors (Yeah But. Even traitors deserve due process. And these particular ones are so placed as to avoid acountability if they don’t get it.)
Really American – Fox Hosts and Don Jr. EXPOSED re Jan. 6th Lies (I sure could use that emoji.)
Beau – Let’s talk about coup by PowerPoint…..
Yesterday, I found the missing item from yesterday’s package, and contacted the supplier to ask about paying for the extra one. They said just keep it with their compliments. Virgil called (as he generally does several times a week – I usually don’t mention it) and asked whether I’m coming this weekend, and I told him no, I’m coming on Christmas, and he was all twitterpated. Bless his heart, his short term memory is virtually zero. And the TBI was 57 years aho.
Cartoon – (Theme song by Danny Elfman)
Short Takes
Mother Jones – Congress Agreed on Drastic Military Sexual Assault Reform. Then “Four Men Behind Closed Doors” Got Their Hands On It
Quote – With the exception of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic women lawmakers and survivor advocacy groups have widely praised the final bill, which will pass as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, as a significant step toward making the military court system fairer. In a statement, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), called the reforms “the most significant since the creation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1950.” The reforms amount to a “sea change” in how the military approaches sexual assault cases…. “This is huge,” says retired Col. Don Christensen, the former chief prosecutor for the U.S. Air Force and the president of Protect Our Defenders, a nonprofit advocating for military justice system reform. “But,” he adds, “it’s also a missed opportunity.”
Click through for story. I know, I’m upset with Senator Gillibrand too over Al Franken. But she – and, more to the point, all the women in the military – didn’t deserve this.
ProPublica – What’s Polluting the Air? Not Even the EPA Can Say.
Quote – The only reason I’d heard about the issue at the Portland plant was because my colleagues Lylla Younes and Al Shaw, who have been reporting on toxic air since 2019, spent the past year calculating the cancer risks posed by industrial air polluters across the entire country. Their first-of-its-kind analysis of the EPA’s modeled data initially found that Portland — despite its reputation as an eco-friendly, farm-to-table mecca — was home to one of the worst hot spots of cancer-causing air in the country, all because of a single plant’s emissions.
Click through for details. Pro Publica is on fire this last month or so. Please also check this map (enter your Zip Code) – unless, of course you don’t want to know whether you are endangered by your air.
The 19th – Soledad O’Brien and Natalie Wilson show how quickly missing Black women are discounted
Quote – A simple classification really changes the narrative. I mean, think about if you see a missing person’s flyer: If you see “missing” or if you see “runaway,” which one would act on or pay attention to? Definitely not the one that says “runaway,” because you’re under the impression that the person left voluntarily. So, we really need to look at policies and procedures and training of law enforcement officials regarding sensitivity and cultural [understanding].
Click through for more. There’s a fair amount of repeating the same points in different words here, which I think is an effort to do whatever it takes to beat the reality into peopl’s brains. So sad that this is needed … but it is.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Rep. Swalwell Announces New Federal Bill: Help for Families Who Lost a Loved One to Homicide
MSNBC – Mary Trump: Donald Trump Had The Power To Stop Jan. 6 Riot
Thom Hartmann – Trump Overruling Michigan Governor (w/ Judd Legum)
Rebel HQ – Mark Meadows Is SCREWED As Text Messages Surface (Ordinarily I don’t use material that jumps to conclusions – such as Mark Meadows being screwed – but there is good factual stuff in here.)
Robert Reich – Can Congress Really Use Insider Information to Trade Stocks?
Liberal Redneck – War on Christmas
Beau – Let’s talk about semantics, Shepherd’s Pie, liberals, and leftists….