Pence Says “Trump is Wrong” About his Ability to Overturn Election.
The Lincoln Project – Mark Will Be Fine
Unicorn Riot – Massive Leak Exposes Neo-Nazi Group Patriot Front
CNN – More than 140 Republicans condemn RNC’s censure of Cheney, Kinzinger
Ring of Fire – Ivanka And Jared’s New Florida Neighbors Are Already Sick Of Them
Corey Ryan Forrester – This Week in Southern History February 1
Beau – Let’s talk about Republicans getting sue happy….
Yesterday, I confes I pretty well laid back all day. I did get a few things accomplished – but very litte. I hope I can get moving today.
Cartoon:
Short Takes –
Mississippi Free Press – Black FedEx Driver Says White Men Chased, Shot At Him During Deliveries
Quote – [His attorney, Carlos] Moore compared the incident to the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was jogging when three white men, including a father and son, pursued and killed him in Glynn County, Ga., in 2020. “It’s just sad that it happens. It seems to be a copycat duo copying off the Ahmaud Arbery case. …. They saw this man was a Black man, and they just hauled off and shot at him multiple times, at least the younger son did. The older guy tried to entrap him. They were working concertedly to try to entrap and kill this man. I mean, they shot at him several times. It’s amazing that he survived.”
Click through for details. Not that the details are all that unique. As Lona said, we’re so tired of racism, but the GQP will never be tirned of it.
Crooks and Liars – Clarence Thomas Must Resign: Ron DeSantis Regular Contact Edition
Quote: But now American Oversight has obtained evidence that Justice Thomas is in regular, direct contact with Florida’s MAGA governor, Ron DeSantis. In a pitch to his scheduling office in June, 2021, Ginni Thomas requested DeSantis’ attendance at one of her “coalition” meetings, saying: “Gov. DeSantis will be acquainted with me, as I video-interviewed him for a Leader series with Daily Caller years ago when he served in Congress, saw him at a state dinner in the Trump White House and my husband has been in contact with him too on various things of late.”
Click thrugh. This is what happens when a nation takes it for granted the its Supreme Court Justices will not be out-and-out gangsters, because the mostly haven’t been. But now they are. And our hands are tied. Unless we can get a strong majority in both Houses and the Presidency, the future is looking bleak.
The Nib – Black and Red (The History of Black Socialism)
Quote – Throughout 1919, more than four million workers went on strike. Big business came up with a plan it would use for decades… To divide workers along RACE. That same year, race riots broke out across 25 cities in what would become known as THE RED SUMMER.
Click through for full graphic article. The Nib is a “cartoon” site, but so much of what they do I just can’t call a cartoon.
Food For Thought:
Yesterday, I accidentally went into “Tom@7thStep.org” instead of “TomCat@politicplus.org” Trunsout there were about 1400 emails there too. Including some from subscription which also need to be closed. I had asked Nameless to close TC’s Daily Kos membership for us, and he CC’d me on th beautiful email he sent and CC’ed me on the almost equally beautiful reply, sending ondolences to all of us. I started the process to close TC’s Twitter an d LinkedIn accounts – I gave LinkedIn everything they asked for and I think they will close it – Twitter wants a little more, but I have it. But there are more accounts. Sigh. It’s Ok, it will get done.
Cartoon – 07 Portland Loaded
Short Takes –
Crooks and Liars – Beyond Banned Books: Wingers Are Destroying A Library System From The Inside
Quote – In some instances, the communications between appointed public officials betray an ulterior motive shared by several board members, who characterized their positions, as well as their reason for seeking them, as being more about changing the library’s governing policies than serving as trustees of a community resource. As a result, morale has plummeted within the public library’s leadership ranks…
Click through. This is a mayor, but library boards are being targeted exactly like school boards now, and for exactly the same reasons. (Smewhat off topic – the CEO of Wonkette and her family live in Montana, but have made an offer on a home in Michigan, and things like this are why.)
Twitter Thread Reader – Mueller She Wrote – “Open and Shut” (not)
Quote – All told there were over 790 documents for this ONE GUY ALONE. Did you hear about Costello getting interviewed? Not until now. Did you know about the 2703 orders for phone and email records? Nope. So you see, these cases aren’t as “open-and-shut” as we might think.
Click through for details. You don’t need to belong to Twitter and you don’t need to read endless repetition. (There is a little swipe at skeptics which I consider a bit unfair. Not everyone – well actually, no one – is an expert on investigations and/or court proceedings unless actually involved in the process – and maybe not even then.)
(Black History) The New Yorker – The Rediscovery of Florence Price
Quote – In 2009, Vicki and Darrell Gatwood, of St. Anne, Illinois, were preparing to renovate an abandoned house on the outskirts of town. The structure was in poor condition…. In a part of the house that had remained dry, the Gatwoods made a curious discovery: piles of musical manuscripts, books, personal papers, and other documents. The name that kept appearing in the materials was that of Florence Price…. The couple got in touch with librarians at the University of Arkansas, which already had some of Price’s papers. Archivists realized, with excitement, that the collection contained dozens of Price scores that had been thought lost.
Click through for the full story (if paywalled, let me know – I can send a PDF). This breaks my heart. At least she has success in her lifetime, and at least we have the music now (and it is being widely recorded.) But to think of all those manuscripts just sitting in a house which was falling apart for 56 years….
Food For Thought:
Yesterday, the opera house was dark. Not because anything newsworthy happend, but as part of a scheduled five week winter break The radio broadcast was a program of arias and duets recorded from Mat broadcasts during the period 1931-1941. No, the sound quality wasn’t what it is today, but compared to old 78 records, it was superb. The greatest stars of that decade were all retired (or dead) by the time I came to opera – and the greatest stars when I came to opera are all retired or dead now. Of course the same is true of theater and movies. Think “Little Caesar” (1931), “King Kong” (1933), “Camille” (1936), and 1939 with “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “Thw Wizard of Oz” all in the same year. Remembering history may not be quite as important in the arts as it is in politics, but it doesn’t hurt either.
Also yesterday, I finished cleaning out TomCat’s Inbox … and also the “Sent” folder, the only other one which had anything in it except for the “Archive”, which is where I ave been putting any emails with information on accounts on other sites, or subscriptions, or any friends we may not have been aware of. That will be slower.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Letters from an American – February 4, 2022
Quote: For a long time, the idea that that economy thrives when the government supports ordinary Americans was not controversial. Democrats began to make it the centerpiece of our system in the 1930s when, after a decade in which the government worked only for the wealthy, they offered a “New Deal” for the American people. Over time, lawmakers from both major parties embraced it, believing they had finally figured out a truly American system that would serve everyone…. But in the 1980s, Republicans argued that this system stifled economic development by hampering the ability of producers to put their money where they thought it would do the most good. Instead of supporting workers, they argued, government should cut taxes to enable those at the top of the economic ladder to accumulate capital and invest in the economy. Tax cuts became their go-to solution for any sort of economic crisis. The government should support the “supply side” of the economy. Any attempt to use the government to help the “demand side” was, they said, “socialism.”
Click through for the full article. The problem is that seeing is NOT believing. Messaging is believing, and the false econimic message has been so powerful that even overwhelming evidence has not been able to dislodge it.
HuffPost – Unexpectedly Strong Jobs Report Caps A Better Week For Joe Biden
Quote – This week’s good breaks: the strong jobs report (which came with corrections making the past two jobs reports look far better than they did at the time), bipartisan backing for his strategy to counter Russia, a small step toward passage of a bipartisan economic package designed to counter China and a successful operation to assassinate a terrorist leader.
Click through for further discussion. This is very much tied in to the previous short take. Messaging is still the biggest problem.
Axios – HBCU presidents: Black history lessons are being “stifled”
Quote – What they’re saying: Some educators also want to reduce the focus on the usual high-profile figures. [Howard University president Wayne] Frederick told Axios that Black history lessons should include education about everyday Black heroes throughout the years — not just a handful of iconic Black figures. The lessons should include “men and women who’ve had the African American experience and who’ve done amazing things,” he said, pointing to the late Dr. LaSalle Leffall Jr. — the first Black president of the American Cancer Society.
Click through for a helping of truth. What president Frederick says has also occurred to me – and I may just feature some invisible Black people in fields I happen to know about. Anyone who is aware of invisible black people in fields I don’tknow much about is welcome to send me suggestions.
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – Will Trump’s Written Confession Regarding Pence “Overturning” Election Prod DOJ into Action?
Meidas Touch – BANNING Books and Protecting Traitor Crooks is the GOP Agenda
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party
RepresentUs – How Congress Makes Bank Off War
VoteVets – Generations
Rocky Mountain Mike – Groundhog Day – 2022 – “I Got Kool-Aid”
Beau – Let’s talk about Biden’s executive order and Vanessa Guillen….
Yesterday, I got TC’s old emails down to just over 3,000, which brought me to mid-July. I’m sure I won’t be doing almost 2000 everyday, but I decided I wanted to be more than half done.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
NM Political Report – Luján recovering after stroke, surgery
Quote – The statement from Carlos Sanchez, Luján’s chief of staff, said the 49-year-old senator experienced dizziness and fatigue Thursday morning and checked himself into Christus St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Santa Fe. It was there that medical staff determined he had a stroke in his cerebellum, which affected his balance.
Click through for details. Why is this important? Because we can’t hold a comfirmation vote for SCOTUS without him. Thankfully he is smart, and checked himself in.
Crooks and Liars – Texas Parent Demands School District Ban Michelle Obama’s Book
Quote – “Another parent in Katy, a Houston suburb, asked the district to remove a children’s biography of Michelle Obama, arguing that it promotes “reverse racism” against white people, according to the records obtained by NBC News,” the report said.
Click through. It’s not very long. You can’t make this stuff up. (Kafka, Sartre, Beckett, Ionesco actually tried … and could not reach this level.)
The Nib – The Myth of the Strong Black Woman
Quote – But what about the issue we do not talk about enough: How the reality of being a black woman in America can wear away at even the most resilient and privileged of us? A few months ago, amidst struggling with my own depression and anxiety, I learned of three well-known black women who died by suicide in the past year.
Click through for article, including hard numbers. As “Maus” has shown (in case anyone had missed it), material presented graphically can have an impact as strong as, maybe even stronger than,mor conventional writing.
Food For Thought:
And Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dream. Considering the fact that our three-branck govermnet was inspired by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy governmen (whose equivalemt to our judicial branch comprised the respected elder woman of the tribes), I believe it would be extremely appropriate.
Yesterday, I got rid of another thousand emails from TC’s PP Email. Only about 5000 to go. It got me back to the end of August last year. Also, I note that February is Black History Month, and while I don’t plan on ignoring all other news, I will be trying to include at least one Black History story in the Open Thread every day. Incidentally, the Met Opera put up a video which I expected to be like a trailer – but turned out to be just about an hour, featuring full arias and scenes from complete productions, performed by singers from as well known as Leontyne Price down to as little known as Ryan Speedo Green – and completely unrestricted. Incidentally, if you are ever looking for an impressinve story of overcoming obstacles, google “Ryan Speedo Green”
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Huff Post – Bomb Threats Reported At Historically Black Colleges For Second Day
Quote – For the second day in a row, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were the target of bomb threats across the country, with this latest wave coming on the first day of Black History Month. Campuses were shut down and classes moved to remote learning following the threats impacting more than a dozen schools as of Tuesday morning.
Click through for details. This is what American Naziism looks like. I got back to my inbox and saw this just after streaming the hour of operatic black history I mentioned in the intro. What a letdown. But not nearly so much for me as for students whose education is being threatened.
The 19th – The 19th Explains: Biden prepares to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. What’s next?
Quote – There’s a lot we don’t know: who Biden’s choice will be, the speed at which this whole process will work, or what questions will emerge as senators consider the nomination. But we do know this Supreme Court confirmation will largely work the same as others. Here’s a guide on what to expect and what we’ll be looking at for potential nominees and the months ahead.
Click through. If I had to name a group with no lawyers and no politicians which didn’t need this explanation, the readers ot Politics Plus would be that group. But it could come in handy to share with others who are less attentive. Also, it has bckground on some names being floated.
Law and Crime – Trump Impeachment Witness Sues Giuliani, Trump Jr., and White House Officials for Allegedly Violating His Civil Rights
Quote – “This lawsuit seeks long-overdue accountability for unlawful actions,” the document says in its opening salvo. It accuses the defendants of conspiring to help the ex-president “obstruct a constitutional proceeding by intimidating and retaliating against a key witness.”
Click through for story, including the 73 page court filing if you are so inclined. Long overdue indeed – but I’m not sure why just now. Of course it will further complicate their lives (and the lives of their counsel), and that may be at least part of the reasining. In any case, LTC Vindman deserves to see them held accountable.
Food For Thought:
