Yesterday, We did get some snow – not a lot, but some. And we’re due to get more today. After the opera, I’ll need to go out and look at it, and maybe try to brush or scrape some off before overnight. Not that the predicted temperatures are in my favor, but anything I can manage to do to alleviate it has got to help.
Common Dreams addresses ICE’s use of children as “bait” to trap their parents, and then keeping the children detained anyway.
Robert Reich posts the photo of one child (Liam, aged 5) alluded to above. He then discusses the responses to some questions he asked readers about what the most effective strategy would be to resist.
Joyce Vance discusses the Fourth Amendment and the blatant violations of it which ICE is committing. Sorry I don’t include any of my own opinions with these articles – but they wouldn’t be printable.
Yesterday, I slept quite late, but also took in a grocery order – a huge one – which I might not have had the strength to cope with otherwise. As it is, I didn’t get it all put away – just the perishables – and was rxhausted.
This is from Sunday’s Politizoom newsletter. but I don’t think it has lost any of its humor over those three days.
Currently, 96¢ of every dollar the government receives in tariffs is being paid either by us, or by businesses which are able (for now) to suck it up to avoid loss of custom (same source, different article). I suppose the only reason no one ever thought of this before is that no one figured out how to do it. After all, billionaires also have to eat, use the bathroom, and wear clothes just like the rest of us. But Zucman appears to have a plan which might work.
I’ve never expected anything good – or anything true – to come out of Davos. All those billionaires together – who but another billionaire would expect anything good? But – apparently – Canada is the adult in the room of the western hemisphere. I never mind if people skip things – but I hope no one will skip this.
Yesterday, La Befana (I’m a day late with her because I always thought she came on Epiphany, but no, it’s Epiphany Eve.) But seriously – here’s a link to a roughly 22 minute video with Joyce Vance and Senator Mark Warner, who says as much (unclassified) quiet part out loud as he can. And it is chilling. Also yesterday, it appears that Minnesota has been Joe-Bidening Tim Walz, who has just dropped his reelection campaign.
Saturday, I saw Nameless’s Friday image representing the court at the Hague, and insignificant as this sounds, I started a search to find out whether orange jumpsuits are ever used outside the US (the answer is seldom, and in some nations, never.) But that rabbit hole also took me to The Hague – and I learned there are, not one court, but two international courts there (Lona probably already knows this.) The one which bears the nickname of “The World Court” is the International Court of Justice, which was established in 1920 by the League of Nations and adopted by the United Nations. Every member of the United Nations (there are 193) is automatically a party to this court. But it does not try criminals. It considers cases where there is a disagreement between member nations. So in that way it is more like a civil court. The other court, also at The Hague, is the International Criminal Court, authorized under a treaty called the Rome State in 1998, entering into force in 2002. 125 nations are parties to this court as of a year ago. The United States is not one of them. Venezuela is one of them – in fact every country south of out border is except maybe Costa Rica (the map ia a bit tough to read, even compared with a more labelled map.) The Court tries four crimes: (I) Genocide, (II) Crimes against humanity, (III) War crimes, and the (IV) Crime of aggression. The only immunity the ICC recognizes is that of being a juvenile at the time the crime was committed (i.e. younger than 18.) I quote from Wikipedia” “The issue of immunities from the jurisdiction of the ICC has become recently relevant, when the Court issued arrest warrants for Russian and Israeli national leaders, since their immunities are granted from states which are not parties to the Rome Statute. States which have ratified the statute have waived the immunities of their officials with respect to the jurisdiction of the court by accepting the provisions of Article 2.” The U.S, did sign the Statute once, but never ratified it, and has subsequently withdrawn its signature. This is the Court in which most of us would like to see multiple U.S. officials prosecuted.
From Common Dreams. There are only 337 (rounded) million people in the US. There is no way we could handle the loss of 30% (rounded) of our population and survive as a nation.
I mentioned Adam Klasfeld last week in connection with Joyce Vance. Now here he is with Glenn Kirschner. At this point, I don’t know whether he is himself a lawyer, or a law student, or what, besides a journalist – it’s clear he is strong on legal vocabulary (unlike the CC). And that he is the guy that sits in the courtroom and takes notes so that the actual former prosecutors don’t have to because he can share it with them. The video with this (and yes, there is a transcript – I haven’t looked at it, but if it’s from the CC, and they usually are, there will be some far-fetched spelling errors.) The video is only 15 minutes.
Yesterday, I got an email from Colorado Public Radio sharing that my Attorney General (who is also running for Governor) is all in on Colorado joining the redistricting war for the midterms. God, I love this guy. Also yesterday, I tripped over a post from a DUer who has been suffering extreme pain, and just found out that for all that time he has been suffering from shingles with no rash (only dxed because a very small rash just turned up) He is up to date on his shingles vaccinations, too, but his PCP says it’s possible to get it anyway. I think this should be more wisely known. Shingles pain can make non-suicidal people consider (and for all I know, commit) suicide.
Per Heather Cox Richandson, “NBC News reported [last Thursday] that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s rush to get new recruits onto the street has meant they have pushed into their training program more than 200 people who have disqualifying criminal backgrounds, fail drug testing, or don’t meet the academic or physical requirements.” I’m less worried about the physical requirements, and even the drug testing (which is not perfect – and the federal Government is a little nutty about drug use) and academic requirements (I suspect we all know someone who is a highly educated idiot), but the past criminal record issue bothers me, particularly for a group which is openly looking for male white supremacists, the most under-prosecuted group in the US. And don’t stop with this quote. There’s more.
Metamucillini is wrong (no surprise there) and Canada is correct (no surprise there either). Ronald Reagan did indeed speak negatively of tariffs, and Wonkette has the reveipts in the form of a video. If you already know if this, and our dictator’s reaction, you may want to go to the link anyway to see the “tantrum gif” which may give you a smile or even a chuckle.
No, I don’t actually need any more reasons than we already have to despise the Washington Post (or Amazon, for that matter.) I am guessing that the 1800 block of E Street SE in DC is experiencing earth tremors as Sousa spins in his grave, wishing he had named that march “The Washington Monument” instead of for the Post.
Guest video from Robert Reich
Yes, I shop at King Soopers, which is Kroger. But my only alternatives are Safeway which is Albertson’s, and Walmart – which is Walmart. I’ve boycotted Walmart since it was created. After the Albertson’s=Kroger merger was denied by the courts, Albertson’s had the gall to sue Kroger for breach of contract – but that was only my last straw. I also cannot trust Safeway to follow my delivery instructions which are necessary to keep me safe (it was while taking in [I should say trying to take in] a delivery order from Safeway that I experienced the fall – two years ago tomorrow – which put me in the hospital. Incidentally, at least here, King Soopers runs its sales from Wednesday through Tuesday regularly. So I don’t shop on Tuesday for Wednesday delivery ,although one can re-check the prices on line.) Sometimes they’ll have a special, shorter, sale, such as over a weekend, but their advertising always makes that clear. And the sale tags on the shelves – the last I looked – it’s been years since I went to a store in person – always had (I grant in fine print) an end date for the sale on them. So many people today have smartphones – it really is worth it for people who have a smartphone and shop in store to open a web account and tie it to the actual store they shop at so they can compare the price on the shelf to the price on the website.
Yesterday, Indivisible announced its next “No Kings” Day will be October 18. They expect to have maps up with events starting next week, but there is already a link to just “RSVP” (i.e. just say you’ll be there -somewhere.)
This is mostly a video with a reading from Robert Reich’s new book. It’s NSFW because Robert’s father did not mince words. It’s about 36 minutes, but doesn’t seem that long – but that may be partly because, being a book reading, it doesn’t need to be watched, and someone like me can knit while listening.
Margaret Atwood reports that The Handmaid’s Tale” is being banned in Edmonton, Alberta, and all the world and its canary wants her to comment – but she hasn’t been able to reach anyone in Edmonton who will tell her the basis on which it is being banned there. She still has a lot of general comments on book banning, though. And some other issues.
This Davis Mortuary thing has been a continuing scandal in the state for some time, but this is the first I have heard of a co-owner having a side gig as the Pueblo County Coroner. So now it’s political – and personal. The County Coroner in most places I know about is one of the least visible public officials, and, in many places, there is no legal requirement for him or her to meet any particuar qualificatons, other then getting elected. I do not know this, and could not prove it if I did, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a real life example of American exceptionalism – I doubt that other, smarter countries handle deaths quite as crudely as we do.
Yesterday, I ran my car for a while, since I hadn’t driven it Sunday. I also out the updated insurance and registration papers in the glove box and the registration sticker on the license plate. (After three wet days, it stopped raining long enough for me to do that.) A couple of weeks ago I was scraping around the base of one of my irises so the rhizome could get sunlight so it can bloom. I was thinking it was kind of early – we’ve been having temperature ups and downs but chilly (at least to me) on balance – but I noticed a bud today – so there may be more coming. No guarantee, but irises tend to surprise me always.
Politics Plus has known and remarked on this phenomenon for some time. There are memes about it which have had widespread and repeated exposure. I don’t know why it’s taking so long for so many decent people to get it. I suppose the fact that decent people, because they are decent, don’t think like that – and deep down we all believe everyone thinks the way we do – is a huge factor. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. Different people think different thoughts, and many of those thoughts are anything but decent. Check out comments on the fundraiser for Shiloh Hendrix (in the 4th paragraph – barf bag alert.)
Y’all know I’m not a huge fan of Meidas Touch journalism. It’s not because of inaccuracy – despite the occasional exaggeration in a title, they are on target. Nor is it because I dislike them personally – because I don’t. I’m delighted to see them exceed Fox News in viewership. And I do respect their “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, and them yell them what you told them style . It useful for many, maybe for most listeners. It just bores me to tears. But this is a text article, not a video – and written not by staff but by a Ukrainian journalist. It’s not very long, and it’s profound. It does have a short introduction by Ron Filipkowski.
Yesterday, a Federal judge reinstated AP to the White House Press Corps. Of course the Regime will appeal. You can find the full opinion at Axios (and probably elsewhere.)
This is Harry Litman‘s detailed discussion of the Supremes vacating Judge Boasberg’s order to get Mr. Garcia back from El Salvador yesterday (actually I believe it was two days ago now, but I’m referencing he expression “I want this done yesterday.”) It was a 5-4 verdict, and it caught my eye that it was a men against women split. And there were some caustic remarks in the dissenting opinions, as there should be when a literal group of dicks does something this despicable.
Pro Publica is also up in arms about civil right and DHS abuses thereof – as it should be. I mean, yes, I’m worried from month to month whether I will receive my Social Security funds, but I’m far more worried about people losing their civil rights – which could happen to anyone, any time, and while there may be recourse, recourse is always time consuming. People can and do die waiting.
Steve Schmidt referred his subscribers to this open letter from a Canadian to Americans (of good will – because that’s the only kind who can read it without their heads exploding [which actually reminds me of an old Burma Shave sign verse – yes, I’m that old.) It’s hardly flaming news, but it is something I don’t think most readers here would see without being pointed to it. And I found it inspiring. Elbows up!
Yesterday, I realized I hadn’t received a response to my email to reserve my visit to Virgil, so I looked up the phone number and called. They had not received the email, but made the reservation from my call. So I need to find what the bug is there and correct it. I guess I just didn’t have enough to do [sarcasm]. I also paid some bills and verified that I had already paid some others. And I set up a few days posts in advance – so if anything exciting happens over the weekend you’ll have to wait a bit to hear my take on it.
A no-paywall link from The Guardian on a story you may have heard about – the actress disappeared for two weeks by ICE – but here it’s told by her personally. Along with at least parts of stories from other women she encountered during her ordeal.
This is from Robert Reich from Thursday – but it’s still in plenty of time for anyone who wants to to get involved. So if anyone is looking for some good trouble, here’s one possibility.
