Cartoon – Page 84 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for December 30, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 302021

Yesterday, I got in touch with BlueHost (It requires both BlueHost and WordPress to run PoliticsPlus) The passwortd TC had given me had been reset, so I got directions on what to send to whom at BlueHost to get credentials of my own, amd sent it all off off. I may not need help from BLueHost to update the comment system, but eventuually I will need them, and I value their advice. So progress is being made (even if it looks a little like sausage is being made,) Thanks to everyone for your feedback. We will get where we are going – and we’re not suffering all that much in the interim, which is a great comfort. Oh, and I also took out trash and recyclables. What with the holiday I don’t even know for sure whether there will be pickup tomorrow, but I have no problem leaving the polycarts/ wheeliebins/whatever they are called out until the contents are collected.

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Short Takes

Law & Crime – Federal Jury Convicts Ghislaine Maxwell of Sex Trafficking and Enticing Minors for Jeffrey Epstein’s Abuse
Quote – After a whirlwind trial slated for six weeks wrapped up in half of that time, a federal jury on Wednesday found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking and conspiring to entice minors for years of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. Maxwell stood trial for six federal offenses for conduct spanning from 1994 to 2004, roughly breaking down into alleged violations of the Mann Act and a distinct federal anti-sex trafficking statute. She was convicted of five of them, adding up to the possibility of several decades imprisonment for Maxwell, who turned 60 years old on Christmas Day.
Click through for details. Is it just ne, or is it easier to get an convicion on a woman than it is on a man? (Not tht she isn’t guilty, but that there are so many men who are guilty and still at liberty.)

Reuters – Russia shuts Memorial Human Rights Centre in ‘one-two punch’
Quote – Russia’s Memorial Human Rights Centre was ordered to shut by a Moscow court on Wednesday, a day after its sister organisation – Russia’s oldest human rights group – was forced to close. The Human Rights Centre [kept] a running list of individuals it classifies as political prisoners, including Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The list includes Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims convicted of terrorism that Memorial says were victims of “unproven charges based on fabricated evidence because of their religious affiliation”.
Click through for the story. Autocrats are not even pretending any more.

AP News – Judge refuses to dismiss alleged Proud Boys leaders’ charges
Quote – “Defendants are not, as they argue, charged with anything like burning flags, wearing black armbands, or participating in mere sit-ins or protests,” Kelly wrote in his 43-page ruling. “Moreover, even if the charged conduct had some expressive aspect, it lost whatever First Amendment protection it may have had.”
Click through for more. I don’t know anything about Judge Kelly (like, for instance, who appointed him), but he appears to understand the First Amendment very well.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 29, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:24 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 292021

Yesterday, I got some replies on the commenting system. Most said whatever works will be fine. Administrators said they absolutely want to be able to put pictures in comments (I didn’t hear from Lynn yet, but she used to put a lot of pictures in comments when her health allowed her to be more regular, so I’ll take that as a yes on puctures.) So we have a preferred choice, which at this point is Disqus. I will be doing it in the middle of the night so there won’t be any gaps during the times people normally comment, and it will probably be Friday night, because I have something else administrative to do that needs to bedone Friday night. So I may be late in responding to comments Saturday. I will be praying hard for no glitches … and anyone is welcome to join me in that!

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Short Takes

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Alleged ‘dead’ Georgia voters found alive and well after 2020 election
Quote – Earlier in the year, the State Election Board found evidence that Sherry Cook of Trion had submitted an absentee ballot for her husband, Donald Cook, who died several months before the election. Cook told investigators that she and her daughter had returned the ballot after Donald Cook signed it before he died, but investigators said that was impossible because the ballot wasn’t issued until after his death.
Click through for details. All of the dead voters had dies before ths ballots were issued, but it is sort f implied that the ballot of someone who dies before Election day but after voting the ballot would count, as IMO it should.

truthout – LAPD Releases Footage From Police Killing of Valentina Orellana-Peralta
Quote – Orellana-Peralta was with her mother trying on clothes in a Burlington dressing room on Thursday when she was shot and killed by an officer whose name has yet to be released by the LAPD. Police said Monday that a bullet bounced off the floor and went through the wall of the dressing room.
Click through. You’ve probably seen news of this incident – I certainly have, but this is the first I’ve seen that mentions that the occasion for which she was shopping was her Quinceañera. That’s almost like shopping for a wedding dress. Both certainly conjure up images of the potential lost by the life being taken.

emptywheel – JUDGE TIM KELLY RELEASES OPINION ON OBSTRUCTION AFFECTING AS MANY AS TWO DOZEN PROUD BOYS
Quote – Perhaps the most notable language in the opinion rejects a comparison Nordean tried to make with the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court protests. ‘Arguing that the statute invites discriminatory enforcement, Defendants repeatedly point to charging decisions and plea deals related to other January 6 defendants… and the uncharged protestors on the Capitol steps during Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings…. But neither provides evidence of vagueness. Both merely show “the Executive’s exercise of discretion over charging determinations.” … And “Supreme Court precedent teaches that the presence of enforcement discretion alone does not render a statutory scheme unconstitutionally vague.” … [And] … “As always, enforcement requires the exercise of some degree of police judgment, but, as confined, that degree of judgment here is permissible.” ‘
Click through for full story. This may seem like – and it may be – a small point. But it’s one which it is very good to have cleared up now, before the big guns come out.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 28, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 282021

Yesterday, I took deep dives into all the comments plugins WordPress has to offer, and made a short list of five. I sent out an email on them, hoping someone will know more about one or more of them than I could find. If you didn’t get one, that means I don’t have your email address. that can be fixed. Also, I don’t usually post three short takes from the same source, but I couldn’t find any of them quickly elsewhere, and they are all noteworthy. Many news sources seem to be taking a day off, and I was tied up looking at plugins.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – Alex Jones Is Done With ‘Completely Ignorant’ Donald Trump
Quote – Candace Owens is doing damage control after “so many donors and supporters” are upset over Trump’s vaccine comments. She says he is old, isn’t tech savvy, doesn’t keep up with or read obscure internet conspiracies, and only follows the main stream media so doesn’t have the facts.
Click through if you will. The headline makes this sound like good news. But it isn’t. It’s the worst possible news. They are now embedded so deep, they will take the BS over Trump** now. Any resonably competent leader who tells tham what they wany to hear can make them do whatever he (and, yes, it will be a “he”) wants. We are in more danger than ever.

Crooks and Liars – Did Madison Cawthorn Marry A Russian Honeypot?
Quote – Grant Stern on Twitter said, “Madison Cawthorn’s divorce just went from boring information to national security concern in about 77 seconds of interview time with the Daily Caller. “This does not sound a normal meet-cute story whatsoever. Very few of these stories involving Russia are.”
Click through for evidence. This would explain the divorce, too. I know it’s serious, but – lots of Congressfolk are russian assets. Only one married his handler. How dumb is that!

Crooks and Liars – Reporter Smacks Chuck Todd For Racist Framing Of CRT
Quote – “Well, I think you should think just a little bit about your framing,” Hannah-Jones replied. “You said ‘parents’ and then you said ‘parents of color.'” “White parents and parents of color,” Todd interrupted. “No. Fair point. As a matter of fact, white parents are representing fewer than half of all public school parents,” Hannah-Jones noted. “And yet, they have an outsized voice in this debate.”
Click through for a little context – not that it;s necessarily needed. And it did not come a millisecond too soon.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 27, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:33 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 272021

Yesterday, I discovered that our blog’s commenting system it being discontinued by WordPress. At the moment, it still works, except that every comments has to be approved by an administrator or editor. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. because something has also happened to the spam preventer, and some atrocious things are getting into the moderation queue,, and they need to be DISapproved by an editor or administrator. I spent hours searching through 51 pages of plugins (although I searched for “commonet systems,” most weren’t, which made it more tedious) without finding much. I want to find one that has all the features we are accustomed to and love, including nor requiring a login to comment, and that is being hard to find. I don’t want to jump in on anything we’ll hate, so I hope you’ll all bear with me.

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Short Takes

Mother Jones – Hero: Fernanda the Tortoise, Whose Species Everyone Thought Was Extinct
Quote: And, at about 100 years old—middle-aged in tortoise years—Fernanda could, in theory, produce offspring. All she needed was a mate. Suddenly, Fernanda went from assumed-to-be-dead to the world’s most eligible tortoise.
Click through fpr story. We can but hope.

NPR – Desmond Tutu’s laugh was contagious. His fight for freedom was deadly serious
Quote – Yet time and again, Tutu, dressed in his flowing clerical robe, would appear at a potentially explosive scene and invoke his gift of gab to defuse a crisis, often sending the crowd home with a smile on their faces. His impish grin, laughter and amusing stories were always employed in the service of nudging South Africans to retreat from the precipice of a racial confrontation.
Click through. What a devastating loss!

Democratic Underground – The Mousetrap
Quote – A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” The mouse wondered – he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
Click through for story – nothing to do with the Agatha Christie play but a parable about karma, and a caution.

Food For Thought (from a tweet sent by David Corn):

Video Thread 12/26/2021

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

Dec 262021

Glenn Kirschner – Time for the Military Leadership to Return Mike Flynn to Active Duty and Court-Martial Him (I might just add that retirees and active duty military are paid out of the same budget. I’m not saying that that [Dod] budget is not inflated – just that retireepay is a huge chunk of it, and why DoD doesn’t use that fact as a public selling point is beyond me. But it does bolster the military’s ability to recall retirees to active duty at will.))

Don Winslow – #JoeManchinsBrotherSuedHim

Robert Reich – The Oligarchy’s Ultimate Political Weapon

VoteVets – Maj.Gen.(Ret.) Paul Eaton Discusses WaPo Op-Ed & 2024 Insurrection Threat With Wolf Blitzer on CNN

The Lincoln Project – The Trump Vaccine

Really American – COVID-19 vaccine

Beau – Let’s talk about Sherman and Atlanta….

Open Thread for December 26, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 262021

Yesterday, I visited Virgil. It was special to be able to see him on Christmas, and he returns all greetings including special holiday greetings. The Sergeant who heads up the visitation team got the day off (and I really can’t think of anyone who deserves it more. For part of the time, the warden personally filled in for him. Don’t get me wrong – prison is still prison and no one wants to be there.. But there are some employees who have hearts and consciences. Although the time of sunset hadn’t changed (or rather it changed and then changed back) I left a little later and it didn’t work badly. There are still some (and one in particular) dangwr spots, but with proper equipment most of the drive is much better. The mast ten minutes of my drive were in “civil twilight,” which is when the sun is over the horizon, but there is still enough light to see by – you don’t need your lights on to see better, but you do to be seen better.) I can handle that. It only lasts a half hour, though (both morning and evening). Then there’s another half hour of “nauticak twilight” where there is still some reflected light but you need headlights. There might be more light reflected off of a water surface, but on land it’s not the best time to driver. Sunrise is still getting later, abd some of the drive out is becoming a bit more hazardous, but it should start getting earlier soon, which will also help.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – HERO: All In A Day’s Work For Sixth-Grader Davyon Johnson
Quote – His principal, Latricia Dawkins, told the local paper, “He is just a kind soul and well-liked by his peers and staff alike.” His mom, LaToya Johnson, is proud but not surprised. She said her son wants to be an EMT, just like his uncle Wendell Johnson.
Click through for story. One more good news story can’t hurt.

Democratic Underground – The President and First Lady stop their motorcade to look at a Biden themed Christmas tree...
There are a few words, but mostly pictures Great pictures. Click through for them.

Mother Jones – The Mother of All Vaccines May Be Closer Than You Think
Quote – Now, after three coronavirus-sparked health crises in the last 20 years—SARS, MERS, and COVID-19—researchers are working to develop so-called universal coronavirus vaccines for the next outbreak. While COVID-19 vaccines are an incredible feat of science—they were created faster than any vaccine in history—researchers say it wasn’t fast enough. Kevin Saunders, the director of research at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, points out that hundreds of thousands of Americans died from COVID-19 infections while vaccines were being developed and approved. If we have a universal coronavirus vaccine ready to go in the future, even if it isn’t perfect, he says, it could cut down on hospitalizations and deaths, and buy researchers time to hone a virus-specific vaccine.
Click through for much more. The Walter Reed team has gone the farthest to date, but they are not alone, and others are also getting close. Now THAT’s good news.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 25, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 252021

Yesterday, I mostly worked at getting my Christmas geese in a row so there’d be no interruptions. A package came whoch they had told me to expect on Monday, and I almost wish it hadn’t (but not quite) By the time you reat this, I’ll be on the road. It’s expected to be sunny with a high of 56°F, but that doesn’t mean I won’t need gloves on the way there . I’ll comment when I get back – not the instant I walk in the door but as soon as I get to the computer.

Cartoon – I never thought TC was naughty in any way, myself.

Short Takes

The Hill – Flynn suit against Jan. 6 committee dismissed over procedural errors
Quote – A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s lawsuit against the House Jan. 6 select committee for failing to follow procedural rules in filing his case, but said he would have an opportunity to make corrections and re-submit it to the court. U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven said in an order issued just one day after the lawsuit was filed that, among other things, Flynn’s lawyers failed to show that there was an imminent need for the court to intervene against a set of subpoenas from the select committee aimed at the retired general and his phone provider.
Click through. I figured from the headline he’d be allowed to resubmit, but that may be OK. It just needs to be dismissed again on more solid ground – like lack of atanding.

The Revelator – What’s Working: The Revelator’s 12 Favorite Solutions Stories of 2021
Quote – Writing about the environment these days can be tough. There’s more bad news than good. Climate-fueled disasters, new extinctions, science denial — we’ve covered some topics this year that will make your heart sink. But there’s a lot of encouraging news, too. As we look back at 2021, we want to revisit the stories that gave us hope, introduced new solutions, and highlighted the people hard at work on some of the most challenging issues of our day.
Click through for all twelve headlines with links.

Second Nexus – GOP Rep. Who Opposed Certifying Biden’s Election On Jan. 6 Now Regrets Vote, Calls Trump A ‘Coward’
Quote – But even after their very lives were threatened, more than a hundred members of the House, along with seven Republican Senators, voted to toss out the electoral votes of at least one state. Among them was Republican Tom Rice of South Carolina, but in a recent interview, Rice expressed regret for his vote…. It’s worth noting that, when the House voted a week later to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection, Rice was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted in favor.
Click through. Second Nexus is one of George Takei’s sites (ha has several,) Eric Swalwell speaks for Rice, which carries weight with me (but it’s still pretty much too little – and too late.)

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 24, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 242021

Yesterday, my second cousin Ann, whom I haven’t seen for just over 21 years, phoned to say Merry Christmas. She doesn’t use email, so we have been out of touch for that long, except for Christmas cards, and we havn’t been very chatty in those. I had just finished typing today’s first short take, and I told her about it, and she said that was a wonderful Christmas gift from me. I hope everyone feels that way. I certainly thought it was a BFD. I tried for all good news today, so I have probably left something out … but I hope I can do it again tomorrow.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – WOW: Walter Reed Scientists Develop A Universal Covid Vaccine
Quote – The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.
Click through for more. Of course thos would take longer than the strain-targeted vaccines to develop. I’m surprised it’s even possible. WO# indeed.

Law & Crime – Ex-Cop Kim Potter Convicted of All Charges for Shooting and Killing Daunte Wright
Quote – To convince the jury of the highest count, first-degree manslaughter, the state was required to prove that Potter caused Wright’s death during the commission of a lesser offense. Here, the lesser alleged offense was the reckless handling or use of a firearm. That lesser offense had to be proven in full and beyond a reasonable doubt as follows, according to the jury instructions the judge read before deliberations. Notably, the state was required to prove that Potter’s actions were a “conscious and intentional” act:
Click through for story. It is a step in the direction of accountability for police. Although it does sound like this one knew from the get-go that she was responsible, which is unusual.

AP News – Tribes Lacking Water see glimmer of hope with massive bill
Quote – Now, there’s a glimmer of hope in the form of a massive infrastructure bill signed last month that White House officials say represents the largest single infusion of money into Indian Country. It includes $3.5 billion for the federal Indian Health Service, which provides health care to more than 2 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives, plus pots of money through other federal agencies for water projects.
Click through fpr details and scope. It is a crying shame that native Americans, who as a groupdid more over more centuries to preseve clean and ample water supply are among the groups being cheated out of it. The bill referred to here is the infrastructure bill which already passed and has been signed into law. May it be a lifeline.

Food For Thought:
I’m not going to put the actual image here (you’ll see why) but trust me, it is very, very funny.

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