Politics – Page 324 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for December 16, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:35 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 162021

Yesterday, nothing was predictable or went as expected. Butterfingers here dropped some things … and then picked up some other things, some probably dropped months ago (like 4mm beads, and earring backs.) Mislaid some things, found one that I’d been looking for. Got a package and found one item was missing but one was included I hadn’t ordered (and it wasn’t on the packing slip – and this is unheard of with this supplier.) Loaded some pictures for FFT to the library, and two just disappeared (they were still on my computer, but I had to find them in the trash to re-load them.) All just little things, but a bit disorienting. Nothing I can’t survive LOL!

Cartoon – 16 Voyager loaded

Short Takes

Mother Jones – What if Media Covered the War on Democracy Like an Actual War?
Quote – As we wind down a year that began with a televised insurrection and ends with detailed reporting on what a 2024 coup could look like, it’s more important than ever to stay grounded in that story. Call it the Big Story, in contrast to the Big Lie…. The Big Story did not begin on November 3, 2020, but it did enter a new chapter that day. Remember those surreal weeks, just barely a year ago? Protesters banging on doors at ballot-counting centers, Rudy Giuliani holding forth outside a landscaping shop, election officials reporting vile threats to their families?
Click through for more reality. Yes, Monika wants to raise funds, but who can blame her. It’s not like this isn’t important.

Crooks and Liars – Seems Like People Are Missing The Real Mark Meadows Story
Quote – The plan all along was to create a clash between “patriots” and antifa/BLM that would allow Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and stay in office. Leftists threw a major monkey wrench into the plot by not showing up. (Thank you, leftists. Major props!)
Click through. It’s not long, and not a word is wasted. And she’s right. And I missed it too.

HuffPost – Final Child Tax Credit Payments Go Out Amid Doubt Over Program’s Future
Quote – As a main Democratic holdout in the Senate, Manchin has faced relentless questioning from reporters about his position on various elements of Build Back Better, and he lost his temper on Wednesday when HuffPost followed up with a question about whether he supported continuing the child tax credit in its current form. “This is bullshit,” he said. “You’re bullshit.”
Click through for backstory, and consequences. I find this situation painful, and I don’t even have kids.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 12/15/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:04 pm Open Thread, Politics

Dec 152021

Glenn Kirschner – Mark Meadows’ Treason-Dream PowerPoint and His Upcoming Contempt of Congress Charge

Meidas Touch – Treason Texts

Thom Hartmann – What Should Liberals Do About Rural America?

Taylor Mali – What Teachers Make (a classic)
Transcript: He says, “The problem with teachers is what’s a kid gonna learn from someone who decided his best option in life is to become a teacher?” [Laughs] He reminds the other dinner guests that “It’s true what they say about teachers – that those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.” [Laughs] I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the urge to remind the other dinner guests that it’s also true what they say about lawyers, because we’re eating after all, and this is polite conversation. “I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor. Be honest – what do you make?” and I wish he hadn’t done that – asked me to nebe honest – because, you see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking, which is if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make an C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor, and I can make an A- feel like a slap in the face – “How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.”
You want to know what I make? I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. “No, you cannot work in groups…. Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom? Because you’re bored and you don’t really have to go.”
You want to know what I make? I make parents tremble in fear when I call home at around dinnertime. “I just want to talk to you about something that your son did. He said, ‘Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes. Don’t you?’ and it was the noblest act of courage that I have ever seen.” I make parents see their children for who they are, and who they can be. can be
You want to know what I make? I make kids question. I make them criticize and make them apologize. I make them read, I make them write write write, I make them spell “definitely beautiful” over and over and over until they can never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math, and then hide it on their final drafts in English. I make them realize that if you’ve got this [points to head] then you follow this [points to heart] and if somebody tries to judge you based on what you think you give them this [shows middle finger].
Let me break it down for you so you know what I say is true: I make a goddamn difference now what about you

Really American – Misinformation leads to GOP Deaths

Parody Project – RUDOLPH THE FORMER MAYOR

Beau – Let’s talk about nosy neighbors….

Open Thread for December 15, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 152021

Yesterday, I got email confirmation of my next visit to Virgil, which will be on Christmas Day. We have never had that happen before. I hope the weather will be kind. I also got a paper check from a class action suit into the mail to my credit union. I hate paper checks. But I do have envelopes and postage and deposit slips, and now I have the address on my hard drive where I won’t lose it, so, oh, well. Usually I send paper checks to my USAA account – they provide postage-paid envelopes – but in this suit, USAA was the defendant, and I thought that would be tacky. So the Credit Union it had to be.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The 19th – ‘Dash for Cash’ showcases lack of pay and resources for South Dakota teachers
Quote – Teachers spent an average of $750 out of their own pocket on school supplies during the 2020-2021 school year, according to a survey of 5,400 teachers administered by AdoptAClassroom, a nonprofit that raises funds for school supplies
Click through. This just makes me want to cry. There is no rational reason why we don’t fund out public schools properly and pay teachers appropriately for what they do. It’s just pure meanness. BTW I promised I’d look up the slam poem on what teachers make – you’ll find it and the transcript in today’s video thread.

Crooks and Liars – What Wingers Are Really Saying When They Say ‘Missing Children’
Quote – That’s what right-wingers mean when they talk about missing children: It’s QAnon Lite, the belief that all their enemies are pedophiles and all their heroes are anti-pedophile warriors. Much of the discussion and activity of these beliefs now takes place with no overt reference to QAnon.
Click thought for full story. I knew exactly what the headline was referring to before reading the full story. Did you? Of course, there exist a number we can’t ever know of people whose brains are wired to want sex with children We can’t know it because most will never act on it, and most of those who do will never be exposed. But, since this kind of sex has a built-in imbalance of power, I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that most of them are Republicans (using the term for people who think like Republicans, regardless of party registration, if any.)

Daily Beast – The Green Lantern Theory Destroyed Jimmy Carter’s Presidency. Now It’s Hitting Joe Biden.
Quote – The problem with being a president who promises to clean things up after a villainous predecessor is that the press corps treats you like a superhero—which sounds like a good thing until you realize that just means you get blamed for things you can’t control. That’s what happened to Jimmy Carter, and it’s what’s happening to Joe Biden now thanks to what Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan has called “the Green Lantern Theory” in which voters believe a president can do anything through sheer willpower, like the DC superhero.
Click through for details. Ms. Clift used to be in the McLaughlin Group, so she’s some kind of conservative, but she was never a nutcase, and this is pretty reasonable – if I can use that term for a solid explanatin of unreason.

Food For Thought:
I can’t put the whole presentation here because it’s six panels, each a different “Truth-in-Advertising” re-named Kelloggs product. It starts with “Kelloggs Corp Flacks” and only gets better. I think you’ll want to share it too.

Video Thread 12/14/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:58 am Open Thread, Politics

Dec 142021

Glenn Kirschner – With Trump’s COS Meadows’ Democracy-Ending PowerPoint, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . RICO

MSNBC – TRMS – Details Of Intimidation Of Georgia Election Workers Puts New Scrutiny On Trump Campaign (Barf Bag Alert)

Thom Hartmann – The Reckoning Is Coming For The Media

The Lincoln Project – Hotline

Really American – GOP Initiates Trump 2022 ‘Slow Moving Coup’

SumofUs – The Tiger & The Buffalo spoof ad

Beau – Let’s talk about voting traditions in the US….

Open Thread for December 14, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 142021

Yesterday was quiet enough. I frittered away some of it by looking at sales offered by a couple of my favorite supplers. The one at the knitting supplier awas particularly impressive – knitting needles originally offered at %25-$30 going for $2.99 ( and that’s not an inflated price range – I have paid that much before for needles made from rosewood.) Anyway, I did manage to get things posted – as if you couldn’t tell.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The New Yorker (Borowitz) – Chris Wallace Ecstatic About Never Riding Elevator with Tucker Carlson Again
Quote – Stressing that his decision to leave Fox “wasn’t about money,” Wallace said, “At CNN+, I’ll never have to ride an elevator with Tucker Carlson, and you can’t put a price tag on that.”
Click through for the happiest photo of him that I for one have ever seen. I’m just as sure this is true as I am that he didn’t really say it out loud. But Andy seems to channel people very well.

ITPI – Yes, this Florida school actually raised test scores by installing street lights
Quote – What I [Jeremy Mohler] love about the community school approach is that it looks at public education as what it truly is: a public good. Meaning, it benefits the common good if all of us have access to it.
Click through for story. This is the kind of activism that “Beau of the Fifth Column” (who shows up in the Video thread daily) advocates more than any other. It certainly points up the difference between a real community and a community merely called so on account of proximity.

Heather Cox Richardson – Letters from an American – December 12, 2021
Quote – Tonight the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released a report urging Congress to hold Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after he has refused to honor a congressional subpoena…. Anyone out there who is concerned that they have not heard much from the January 6 Committee will take heart from this comprehensive document, concerning, as it does, only one witness. The committee must have an astonishing amount of material and a number of talented personnel to produce such a report.
Click trough for a whole lot more. Anyonne can subscribe to her for free, or buy a paid subscription and get more. Not every letter is a powerhouse – but when they are, they really, really are.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 12/13/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:56 am Open Thread, Politics

Dec 132021

Glenn Kirschner – Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Trump; Announces “Direct Linkage” Between Trump & Capitol Attack

MSNBC – Brian Wiliams’s Farewell (It ends around 3:40 but I can’t cut off the end. Watch the rest if you want to.)

Thom Hartmann – Democracy’s Only Hope Is With BRAVE Progressives! [Thom says we are among the brave – we are paying attention. Not that those of us who see it don’t need to do more.]

politicsrus – Kentucky HD

Crooks and Liars – Jen Psaki (This is even more blunt than usual, and I applaud.)

If Smart TV Commercials Were Honest | Honest Ads

Beau – Let’s talk about the FDA, an FOIA, and 75 years….

Open Thread for December 13, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 132021

Yesterday, sunset turned around. It was later than it was the day before. Good news for me. I’ll be watching sunrise also now. Additionally, I got the very few Christas cards I won’t be sending electronically ready, stamped, and into my mailbox for pickup. I hope the USPS dpesn’t get too upset with me – there re only 7, but they are all hand cancel I did look up proper postage on the USPS website to make sure I had enough.

Cartoon – (from 2013 – It was then true, up unil 2016)

Short Takes

New Mexico Political Report – State House passes redistricting map supported by Indigenous communities
Quote – Supporters say Native American communities are traditionally undercounted in the U.S. Census and therefore underrepresented in the House of Representatives. They further pointed to the history of disenfranchisement for Native Americans, who only gained the right to vote in New Mexico elections in the late 1940s or, in the case of the Navajo people, the 1960s.
Click through for map. This might be even better news if it were a more populous state – but good news is good news. State houses and senates are the places our bench is built. Incidentally, the new Congressional district map being sent to the governor for signature was co-sponsored by Democrats and no Republicans voted for it … so it’s almost certainly fair.

AP News – Recall effort against Seattle socialist appears to fail
Quote – If Sawant survives the recall, it would be a boost to Seattle’s far left, which experienced setbacks in last month’s general election when business-friendly candidates won the mayor’s office and a council seat. Sawant was benefiting from votes in the mail-in election trending her way in later counts. After the initial count Tuesday night 53% were in favor of ousting Sawant.
Click through for numbers. Of course it isn’t over till it’s over. but this looks good for now. I certainly hope she survives.

The Hill – California governor to use Texas abortion law tactics to target assault rifles
Quote – California has had a ban in place on the manufacture and sale of specific assault-style weapons, The Associated Press noted, adding that a federal judge overturned the ban in June, ruling that the law was unconstitutional. The state is appealing the judge’s ruling, in which he likened an AR-15 rifle to a Swiss Army knife, claiming the former is “good for both home and battle,” according to the AP.
Click through for details. You may have seen this, but The Hill appears to have all the background in place, which helps immensely to gauge his chances of success.

Food For Thought: