Glenn Kirschner – New Reporting Reinforces Trump’s Criminal Liability for Avoidable COVID Deaths: An Analysis
CNN – Jim Acosta and Carl Bernstein It was a couple of days ago – but it is substantial.
Ring of Fire – Investigation Says 13 Trump Officials Broke The Law During 2020 Campaign
Crooks and Liars – Lauren Boebert
Mrs. Betty Bowers – One Nation Under the Wrong Impression
The Five Laws Of Stupidity
Beau – Let’s talk about Bannon being indicted and the impacts….
Yesterday, again quiet. I got a few things done (never as much as I’d like to, of course.) I hope you can stand a day of good news … goodness knows there’s enough bad news out there.
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Short Takes –
Democratic Underground – I think I Spotted Antifa
Quote – Wearing a military beret and a Polish wartime resistance armband, 94-year-old Wanda Traczyk-Stawska stunned the crowd at a pro-EU rally when she thundered “Be quiet, stupid boy! You lousy bastard” at a member of a far-right group attempting to disrupt the gathering over a loudspeaker.
Click through for more and a great picture. I couldn’t possibly honor every hero here – if I tried I wouldn’t be able to do anything else – but she is special.
Daily Kos (Gabe Ortiz) – ‘Dad, welcome back’: Advocate for deported veterans wins his own fight to return to the U.S.
Quote – “Thanks to a law passed in recent years that allows immigrants to challenge old convictions if they weren’t warned about potential immigration consequences before accepting plea deals, he was finally able to get the conviction undone,” The Union-Tribune reported.
Click through for full story. I needed a hanky and Pat probably will too. Others might also.
Furtive ferret: one of North America’s rarest mammals turns up in Colorado garage
Quote – “This is extremely rare,” Schmal said. “Black-footed ferrets are nocturnal and extremely shy. For some reason, this one left the colony and was seeking shelter. “We’re just glad it appeared healthy, not starving or sick, and we were able to capture it and return it to the colony.”
Click through for story. Walker Ranch is in Boulder County, so I’m guessing Nettles lives in or near Boulder. I don’t blame him for not wanting the exact afddress out.
Food for Thought –
The Pythonesque farce known as the Kyle Rittenhouse trial makes me nervous – not so much the goings-on at the hearing itself, but the possible aftermath. No matter what the verdict, no matter what charges stick, no matter what the sentence if the lad is convicted, I fear that the doo-doo is going to hit the fan.
If Rittenhouse walks, that will outrage Blacks, as well as many progressives and liberals. Remember the riots that erupted after those LAPD cops were acquitted for beating Rodney King? Of course, there was no excuse for that violence; but there was no excuse for the verdict, either. Judge Bruce Schroeder has made matters worse by forbidding the use of the term “victims” for the two men whom Rittenhouse shot and insisting that they be labeled “rioters” and “looters.” All this does is fan the flames of racism and encourage violence. Words can become very potent and dangerous weapons in the right context.
If Rittenhouse is found guilty on even one charge, that will hack off Q-anon, Proud Bois, and other assorted right-wing bugnuts. After the 6 January putsch, I have zero faith in their ability to control themselves. They’ll label Rittenhouse a martyr and regard his case as a bloody shirt for them to wave, just as BLM protesters wave the bloody shirts of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, etc.
No matter which way you slice it, the Rittenhouse trial is likely to be a pivotal moment in our country’s history and the saga of race relations. Right-wingers harp on the claim he was attacked, and assert that he was acting in self-defense. OK, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what really happened; and had I been in his shoes, how would I have acted? On the other hand, what was a 17-year-old doing with an AR-15, a weapon that no civilian should wield, let alone a teenager? Even if he was trying to protect an auto dealership, as one source claims, you don’t send a child to do an adult’s job. Teens are notorious for having little common sense, if any at all.
Batten down the hatches, y’all – I see a bad moon rising.
Glenn Kirschner – Why Mark Meadows Must Now be Indicted for Contempt of Congress (just as happened to Steve Bannon)
Meidas Touch – Why the Rittenhouse defense may be MORE WORRIED than the media would have you believe (God, how I hope he’s right!)
Ring of Fire – CNN Host Warns That Republican ‘Nuts Are Being Normalized’
John Fugelsang on Stephanie Miller – “America Is Not Divided, White People Are Divided.”
Armageddon Update – Armageddon Update | One Year Ago Today (“Today” interpreted loosely)
Parody Project – MONEY SUCKS THE CONGRESS DOWN
Beau – Let’s talk about the other 14 characteristics…
Yesterday was another pretty quiet day. I’ll take all of those that I can get. Incidentally, as it is now a new week, maybe Nameless can get a tech out to look at his computer. I surely hope so. But it’s also the first workday after a holiday week, so it might not be today.
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Short Takes –
Crooks and Liars – The New Face Of The GOP?
Quote – So try to imagine what will happen if Rittenhouse is acquitted. Trump will issue a statement somehow taking credit for it. Fox News will fly Rittenhouse to New York for triumphant interviews. Social media will erupt with joy, as millions of conservatives cry “Suck it, libs!” He’ll appear on T-shirts and bumper stickers; maybe he’ll speak at the next Conservative Political Action Conference. And don’t be surprised if Trumpist candidates start seeking Rittenhouse’s endorsement and asking him to appear on the campaign trail with them.
Click through for more, including (paywalled) link to Washington Post. The only light I can see at the end of this tunnel is that George Zimmerman eventually got into enough non-political trouble to get dropped like a hot potato, and it’s probably safe to expect that to happen to Rittenhouse also (and maybe even his mother, God willing).
AP News – Workers at federal prisons are committing some of the crimes
Quote – More than 100 federal prison workers have been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019, including a warden indicted for sexual abuse, an associate warden charged with murder, guards taking cash to smuggle drugs and weapons, and supervisors stealing property such as tires and tractors.
Click through for details. I’d file this under “No shit, Sherlock.” No prison is any better than its warden … and in 2019, the warden was Bill Barr (and before him, Jeff Sessions.) Not that that is an excuse, of course.
The 19th – The word missing from the vast majority of anti-trans legislation? Transgender
Quote – More anti-trans bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2021 than in any previous year on record. The 19th reviewed the text of 102 bills in seven states that were primarily designed to restrict access to sports or gender-affirming care for trans youth, like hormones and puberty blockers, and only seven bills mentioned the word “transgender.” Only eight passed, primarily those focused on sports, although legal battles in several states have barred most from going into effect.
Click through for story. Granted there are (probably) fewer transgendered people than just about any other minority group, there are certainly enough to account for a large (and disproportionate) number of suicide and murder victims. And no one is free until and unless we are all free.
Food for Thought –
Glenn Kirschner – Judge Rules Against Trump BUT Appellate Court Temporarily Blocks Release of Documents. What’s Next?
Meidas Touch – How Ron DeSantis manipulated ‘useful idiot’ Trump
Thom Hartmann – Trump’s Authoritarian Storm Is Upon Us Now
politicsrus – This Is Episode 1 HD
Now This News – Endangered Komodo Dragons Hatch at San Antonio Zoo – Some good news. They are gonna get BI-I-I-IG.
Rocky Mountain Mike – Bannon
Beau – Let’s talk about hot books in Virginia….
Yesterday, I managed to sleep in. I hadn’t slept well Thursday night, not even all that well Wednesday, so I was hoping I could … while also knowing from experience that someyimes needing sleep that much makes it harder to get. But I now feel quite rested. Now I just need to get some stuff done.
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Short Takes –
Crooks and Liars – New Lawsuit Could Put Murdochs On The Hook For Fox Election Lies
Quote – Dominion is already suing Fox News for defamation to the tune of $1.6 billion. But this week it filed a new lawsuit in the matter against Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, apparently to combat stonewalling about the Murdochs’ role(s) in promoting the lie that Dominion voting machines rigged the election.
Click through for a more setailed explanation, and a link to the full suit. I can’t tell you how glad I am that Dominion has attorneys who could not only see through this but also come up with a way to fight it.
Engadget – FBI email servers were hacked to target a security researcher
Quote – The FBI appears to have been used as a pawn in a fight between hackers and security researchers. According to Bleeping Computer, the FBI has confirmed intruders compromised its email servers early today (November 13th) to send fake messages claiming recipients had fallen prone to data breaches. The emails tried to pin the non-existent attacks on Vinny Troia, the leader of dark web security firms NightLion and Shadowbyte.
Click through for more. I saw this first at Reuters, in an un-embeddable (probably) video, and chased it around a bit. Engadget is the only source which states as fact the reason for the hack was to target a particular person, so it may be wrong, but it’s interesting – and scary – anyway
AP News – White House confident Biden’s bill will pass House this week
Quote – The House has been moving toward approval of the massive Democrat-only-backed bill even as the measure faces bigger challenges in the Senate, where Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have insisted on reducing its size.
Click through for multiple pros and cons. I would certainly hope Dees is right, but I’m not confident.
Food for Thought –
Glenn Kirschner – Steve Bannon Indicted. What’s next: from Monday’s Court Appearance to Plea Negotiations to Trial & More
MSNBC – The Quickest Way To Suppress Votes? ‘Cracking’ And ‘Packing’
Ring of Fire – Trump-Loving Congresswoman Left ‘Visibly Shaken’ After Trump Attacks Her At Dinner
Armageddon Update – It’s Just a Joke
Really American – Desantis Kills Florida
Represent Us – Rachel on the ED ad (which I poseted, but this adds so much)
Beau – Let’s talk about Little Rock, history, and making the case….