Only three tonight … but one is Neil deGrasse Tyson, so there’s that.
Monologue
Neil deGrasse Tyson: Cosmic Queries |
new Rule
Jun 112021
Jun 112021
Early Thursday morning a few fortunate folks from Canada to Siberia were treated to the full “Ring of Fire” annular [NOTE: NOT annual] solar eclipse. But the show was also at least partially visible for a larger number of folks in the Upper Midwest and New England.
Maybe this path is a little easier to understand:
[For the curious, the Negative Path of Annularity is when the sun will be positioned in the annular eclipse before sunrise – making it very difficult to view.]
We should also note that there are different types of solar eclipses:
And for those astronomy-loving folks who actually remember what creates a umbra or penumbra (let alone an antumbra) here’s a diagrammatic representation of the alignments:
Time to get on with the show. First, let’s meet and greet some of the photographers around the world who captured all that astronomical science in action, and the folks around the world who got to enjoy it in real-time:
So let’s start with views from a couple of world capitals, beginning with Washington, DC.
Then London featuring the eclipse framed by two spires – the one with the flag is the spire atop the House of Parliament, and the other is the spire atop the Elizabeth Tower (formerly called the Clock Tower – but renamed in 2012 in honor of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II), which houses Big Ben.
Toronto, the largest city in Canada (but not its capital), featured the 1,800-foot (553-meter) CN Tower as a popular focal point.
America’s largest city also offered a couple interesting views. A reflection of the eclipse in a skyscraper window in Midtown Manhattan, view over the Hudson River and one from Brooklyn of its namesake bridge over the East River. (Which isn’t really a river at all – but a salt water tidal estuary.)
But I really got a kick from all the other locales that were also able to enjoy the annular eclipse.
Oh, and the next total solar eclipse in the United States will be on April 8, 2024 – visible (weather permitting) from Texas to Maine.
Jun 112021
Glenn Kirschner – “DOJ’s Position in the E. Jean Carroll Case Explained” – but not justified. I’ll look for Ted Lieu’s letter for tomorrow’s Open Thread. And he’ll talk a little more about it too.
Meidas Tough – Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Republicans Want to Turn America Into An Electoral Autocracy
Crooks and Liars – It keeps becoming more and mmore evident why history nd the teaching of it is suppressed.
Robert Reich – CoViD-19 vaccine
Now This News – This is …bizarre.
Liberal Redneck on Louie Gohmert – Personally, I was surprised. I didn’t know he knew the earth isn’t flat.
Beau – Let’s talk about which party is most gullible and confirmation bias….
Jun 112021
Turns out I wouldn’t have needed to be home today – but I will tomorrow. I wish i could (honestly) say I got a lot done. But I didn’t. I didn’t even succeed in gtting used to the heat we are finally starting to have. However, I do welcome it, after what seemed like a forever winter. I did get some bills paid on line, which is always satisfying, so there’s that.
Cartoon
Short Takes
The Conversation – Supreme Court affirms tribal police authority over non-Indians. If I have addressed this beforeI apologize for the duplication – but isn’t it nice to see something positive come out of thei Supreme Court – and with a 9-0 ruling, yet!
Quote: Federal Indian law attorneys feared that a Supreme Court decision limiting tribal policing authority would further undermine the safety of Indians and non-Indians living in Indian country. They worried such a ruling could hamstring the ability of tribal police to detain and search potential criminals.
Click through for more background. We know that Breyer (who wrote the opinion), Kagan, Sotomayor, and, surprisingly even to me, Gorsuch are dependable supporters of Native Americans’ rights. But this case did not hang on finding a fifth justice to vote the right way. It was decided unanimously. Amazing.
Wonkette – Hey, Look, Some Of Barack Obama’s Judicial Nominees Finally Got Confirmed! They’ve been waiting a long time. And so have we, for them.
Quote: I wish Democrats had hammered Republicans on their obstruction from the personal level. We should’ve known the names of every nominee McConnell blocked. It should’ve become a political liability for every Republican senator from the nominee’s state.
Click through for more story. Hey, Joe, there are lots more where those came from.
Daily Beast (opinion) Fire the IRS Chief Who Doesn’t Care if the Rich Don’t Pay
Quote: Within hours of ProPublica’s blockbuster report showing just how little America’s 25 wealthiest people pay in taxes, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig announced an investigation, which, of course, is what great journalism into a scandal is supposed to generate: a renewed commitment by senior government officials to fix an obvious scandal. But Rettig wasn’t looking into how broken the tax system is in favor of the wealthy, but rather about who leaked the documents proving that to the press, stating that he intended to prosecute the whistleblower if the investigation found the records were distributed illegally.
Click through fpr more thoughts.
Food for Thought:
Jun 102021
Glenn Kirschner – DOJ Announces it will Defend Donald Trump in Defamation Lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll this week is turning into a workshop on how decent people express anger. Glenn makes his voice into silk dripping with sarcasm.
Meidas Touch – with Stuart Stevens
The Lincoln Project – The Line
BARF BAG ALERT! Campaign “ad” from Lauren Boebert. Yecccch!
I went to the southern border to see what’s up, but I didn’t go alone… pic.twitter.com/m66fet7mUT
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) June 8, 2021
Liberal Redneck on Manchin
Now This News – Magawa the Landmine-Sniffing Rat is Retiring a Hero (Just a little break. There are actually maany of these rats and the lives they have saved, and are saving, are priceless.)
Beau – What National Security REALLY needs
Jun 102021
Well, I have a new battery. He was right on time, and it only took about a quarter hour. Without going into too much detail. I need to be home the next two days, so I’ll make a vax appointment for Saturday, Sunday, or Mondey. And I will let y’all know how it goes.
Cartoon
Short Takes
Common Dreams – ‘Biggest Tax Story of the Year, If Not the Decade’: Analysis Shows Just How Little Richest .001% Pay in Taxes
I was running out of video space for today, so instead of including Thom Hartmann, I am including here this article he cited.
Quote: ProPublica makes clear that, far from being the beneficiaries of a sprawling, illegal tax dodging scheme, “it turns out billionaires don’t have to evade taxes exotically and illicitly—they can avoid them routinely and legally,” a point that spotlights the systemic inequities of the U.S. tax system. [emphasis mine]
There is a legal distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion. But to my mind, there’s not much of a moral distinction. Click through for the full article, and if you are really interested, through again from there to the full report.
Politico – Yesterday was a very busy day, so frankly, I have only skimmed this myself. But so much I have been featuring, here and in videos, skirts around this topic, I thought it would be well to bring it to the fore.
Quote: During a Senate budget hearing, Garland said he was aware of the controversy triggered by the Justice Department’s actions defending Trump in a civil suit and seeking to maintain secrecy around memos sent to former Attorney General William Barr as he responded to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Click through for more.
Wonkette – Ohio Kooks Think COVID-19 Vaccine Will Give You Freaky Magnetic Powers Like That’s A Bad Thing . As a person who often drops small metal parts, like beads and findings, I would love for this to be true. Sadly, no.
Quote (in Wonkette’s unique style): Ooh, boy, so the usual gang of idiots are promoting a conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccine contains microchips or other metals that the government uses to track Americans. It’s like a 25-year-old plot from the “X-Files,” and Agent Scully was clued into the government’s diabolical scheme after the metal detector at the FBI picked up the chip in her neck. Yes, because the shadowy government conspiracy never imagined that a person might someday walk through a goddamn metal detector.
Click through for some details and more giggles.
Food for Thought:
Jun 092021
Keep Votinh Rights intact Parts I and II
Sam with Steve Buscemi
We Need To Talk About The Intersex Experience
Jun 092021
Glenn Kirschner – DOJ Holds Press Conference on Colonial Pipeline Case – Remains Silent on Insurrection Investigation (Glenn’s frustration is showing – not least in that he [I assume accidentally] allowed his ending to also start this video.)
Meidas touch – We saw this ad when it posted to their YouTube channel – I of course included it in this thread at the time. Now push has come to shove.
The Lincoln Project – Trump’s North Carolina Speech In 70 Seconds
Lakota Peoples Law – latset DAPL decision (not good)
Jim Acosta – Mar-a-Lagoville. He does have a way with words.
Rob Rogers – Race Massacres
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump running for the House and the speaker’s bargain….