Cartoon – Page 86 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for December 15, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 152021

Yesterday, I got email confirmation of my next visit to Virgil, which will be on Christmas Day. We have never had that happen before. I hope the weather will be kind. I also got a paper check from a class action suit into the mail to my credit union. I hate paper checks. But I do have envelopes and postage and deposit slips, and now I have the address on my hard drive where I won’t lose it, so, oh, well. Usually I send paper checks to my USAA account – they provide postage-paid envelopes – but in this suit, USAA was the defendant, and I thought that would be tacky. So the Credit Union it had to be.

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Short Takes

The 19th – ‘Dash for Cash’ showcases lack of pay and resources for South Dakota teachers
Quote – Teachers spent an average of $750 out of their own pocket on school supplies during the 2020-2021 school year, according to a survey of 5,400 teachers administered by AdoptAClassroom, a nonprofit that raises funds for school supplies
Click through. This just makes me want to cry. There is no rational reason why we don’t fund out public schools properly and pay teachers appropriately for what they do. It’s just pure meanness. BTW I promised I’d look up the slam poem on what teachers make – you’ll find it and the transcript in today’s video thread.

Crooks and Liars – What Wingers Are Really Saying When They Say ‘Missing Children’
Quote – That’s what right-wingers mean when they talk about missing children: It’s QAnon Lite, the belief that all their enemies are pedophiles and all their heroes are anti-pedophile warriors. Much of the discussion and activity of these beliefs now takes place with no overt reference to QAnon.
Click thought for full story. I knew exactly what the headline was referring to before reading the full story. Did you? Of course, there exist a number we can’t ever know of people whose brains are wired to want sex with children We can’t know it because most will never act on it, and most of those who do will never be exposed. But, since this kind of sex has a built-in imbalance of power, I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that most of them are Republicans (using the term for people who think like Republicans, regardless of party registration, if any.)

Daily Beast – The Green Lantern Theory Destroyed Jimmy Carter’s Presidency. Now It’s Hitting Joe Biden.
Quote – The problem with being a president who promises to clean things up after a villainous predecessor is that the press corps treats you like a superhero—which sounds like a good thing until you realize that just means you get blamed for things you can’t control. That’s what happened to Jimmy Carter, and it’s what’s happening to Joe Biden now thanks to what Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan has called “the Green Lantern Theory” in which voters believe a president can do anything through sheer willpower, like the DC superhero.
Click through for details. Ms. Clift used to be in the McLaughlin Group, so she’s some kind of conservative, but she was never a nutcase, and this is pretty reasonable – if I can use that term for a solid explanatin of unreason.

Food For Thought:
I can’t put the whole presentation here because it’s six panels, each a different “Truth-in-Advertising” re-named Kelloggs product. It starts with “Kelloggs Corp Flacks” and only gets better. I think you’ll want to share it too.

Open Thread for December 14, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 142021

Yesterday was quiet enough. I frittered away some of it by looking at sales offered by a couple of my favorite supplers. The one at the knitting supplier awas particularly impressive – knitting needles originally offered at %25-$30 going for $2.99 ( and that’s not an inflated price range – I have paid that much before for needles made from rosewood.) Anyway, I did manage to get things posted – as if you couldn’t tell.

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Short Takes

The New Yorker (Borowitz) – Chris Wallace Ecstatic About Never Riding Elevator with Tucker Carlson Again
Quote – Stressing that his decision to leave Fox “wasn’t about money,” Wallace said, “At CNN+, I’ll never have to ride an elevator with Tucker Carlson, and you can’t put a price tag on that.”
Click through for the happiest photo of him that I for one have ever seen. I’m just as sure this is true as I am that he didn’t really say it out loud. But Andy seems to channel people very well.

ITPI – Yes, this Florida school actually raised test scores by installing street lights
Quote – What I [Jeremy Mohler] love about the community school approach is that it looks at public education as what it truly is: a public good. Meaning, it benefits the common good if all of us have access to it.
Click through for story. This is the kind of activism that “Beau of the Fifth Column” (who shows up in the Video thread daily) advocates more than any other. It certainly points up the difference between a real community and a community merely called so on account of proximity.

Heather Cox Richardson – Letters from an American – December 12, 2021
Quote – Tonight the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released a report urging Congress to hold Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after he has refused to honor a congressional subpoena…. Anyone out there who is concerned that they have not heard much from the January 6 Committee will take heart from this comprehensive document, concerning, as it does, only one witness. The committee must have an astonishing amount of material and a number of talented personnel to produce such a report.
Click trough for a whole lot more. Anyonne can subscribe to her for free, or buy a paid subscription and get more. Not every letter is a powerhouse – but when they are, they really, really are.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 13, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 132021

Yesterday, sunset turned around. It was later than it was the day before. Good news for me. I’ll be watching sunrise also now. Additionally, I got the very few Christas cards I won’t be sending electronically ready, stamped, and into my mailbox for pickup. I hope the USPS dpesn’t get too upset with me – there re only 7, but they are all hand cancel I did look up proper postage on the USPS website to make sure I had enough.

Cartoon – (from 2013 – It was then true, up unil 2016)

Short Takes

New Mexico Political Report – State House passes redistricting map supported by Indigenous communities
Quote – Supporters say Native American communities are traditionally undercounted in the U.S. Census and therefore underrepresented in the House of Representatives. They further pointed to the history of disenfranchisement for Native Americans, who only gained the right to vote in New Mexico elections in the late 1940s or, in the case of the Navajo people, the 1960s.
Click through for map. This might be even better news if it were a more populous state – but good news is good news. State houses and senates are the places our bench is built. Incidentally, the new Congressional district map being sent to the governor for signature was co-sponsored by Democrats and no Republicans voted for it … so it’s almost certainly fair.

AP News – Recall effort against Seattle socialist appears to fail
Quote – If Sawant survives the recall, it would be a boost to Seattle’s far left, which experienced setbacks in last month’s general election when business-friendly candidates won the mayor’s office and a council seat. Sawant was benefiting from votes in the mail-in election trending her way in later counts. After the initial count Tuesday night 53% were in favor of ousting Sawant.
Click through for numbers. Of course it isn’t over till it’s over. but this looks good for now. I certainly hope she survives.

The Hill – California governor to use Texas abortion law tactics to target assault rifles
Quote – California has had a ban in place on the manufacture and sale of specific assault-style weapons, The Associated Press noted, adding that a federal judge overturned the ban in June, ruling that the law was unconstitutional. The state is appealing the judge’s ruling, in which he likened an AR-15 rifle to a Swiss Army knife, claiming the former is “good for both home and battle,” according to the AP.
Click through for details. You may have seen this, but The Hill appears to have all the background in place, which helps immensely to gauge his chances of success.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread for December 12, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:21 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 122021

Yesterday, I visited Virgil.The sun wasn’t that bad in the morning, although I think I will start looking at the almanac hor how the time of sunrise moves. From four weeks ago to two weeks ago, the sunrise got ten minutes earlier. From two weeks ago to this visi, sunset got a total of two minutes earlier, and all of that was in the first few days – it’s been the same for nine days in a row. So I’m sort of expecting it to start getting later instead of earlier in a day or two. The days will still get shorter until the soltice, but all of that will come from the sunrise getting later, and none from the sunset getting earlier. The visit was good, and Virgil returns all greeting with thanks.

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Short Takes

From an email from Democracy for America:
[On Thursday,] at the direction of Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema moved forward with a one-time exemption to the filibuster to raise the debt ceiling.
That’s right, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have both previously stated that they would not support any filibuster exceptions under any circumstances, even to protect voting rights, just made an exception to the filibuster.
If Manchin and Sinema are going to make an exception to the filibuster when McConnell wants to, they should be bending over backwards to make that same exception to protect voting rights.
Join DFA as we tell Manchin, Sinema, and all Senate Democrats: If you’re willing to make an exception to the filibuster in order to raise the debt ceiling, you must make that same exception to protect voting rights.

Law & Crime – Our First Look at Josh Duggar Immediately After Child Porn Conviction and Months Ahead of Sentencing
Quote – Other court records indicate that the jury began deliberations at 12:17 p.m. on Wednesday. They asked for a recording of an interview with Duggar himself to be re-played — and it was, in its entirety — before jurors retired to deliberate once again. Court recessed for the day around 5:00 p.m. The jurors returned for about an hour and a hate Thursday before returning a verdict at 10:07 a.m.
Click through for more. This story just begs for snark, and both Wonkette and Crooka and Liars did not disappoint – but it’s also serious, so I decided to cover it from this source.

HuffPost – Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 ‘Agent Provocateur’ Is A Big Tucker Fan And An Amateur Cardinals Mascot
Quote – But the man is no fed. He is mainly known to St. Louis Cardinals fans as “Rally Runner,” HuffPost has learned, and he sprints around the outside of Busch Stadium during home games. Based on the man’s Facebook posts, he appears to have a fairly difficult life and has a tenuous relationship with reality. And he’s a huge Tucker Carlson fan.
Click through for more facts, and, sadly, more insanity (disturbing but valuable to grasp what we are up against.)

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for December 11, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:45 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 112021

Yesterday,I did the lst odds and ends of preparing for the drive.I sllao colected little advance material. Then I got to bed early. I will definitely pass greetings to Virgil today, I will drive carefully, and I will let you know I got home safe – it may not be the instant I get in the door as I’ll be eager to change clothes, but as soon as I get to the computer.

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Short Takes

Wonkette – When Will We Finally Accept That Trumpism Was Never About Economic Anxiety?
Quote – The Tea Party was a white, middle-class movement, and while not overtly violent, it was the product of racist backlash to Obama’s election. Republicans exploited the backlash, tip-toeing around the racism, for their immediate political gain. They cocked the weapon and handed it over to Trump, but we give him too much credit when we assume that if he hadn’t won in 2016, the problem would have gone away. (We can only imagine the violent backlash against Hillary Clinton.) A reported six out of every seven January 6 insurrectionists charged with crimes had no previous affiliations with extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, or the Three Percenters militia. This wasn’t a surprise to University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, who told Gellman: “January 6 wasn’t designed as a mass-casualty attack, but rather as a recruitment action.”
Click through for more. I’ve often thought that, had Hillary won, her Presidency would have been much like Obama’s, only with more backlash, because misgyny is deeper and stronger than racism. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish she had won – I do wish that, with all my heart. But it would not have derailed Trump**.

Crooks and Liars – Kelloggs To Permanently Replace 1400 Striking Workers
Quote – The decision follows months of bitter disagreement between the company and the union. The rejected offer would have provided cost of living adjustments in the later years of the deal and preserved the workers’ current healthcare benefits. But workers say they deserve significant raises because they routinely work more than 80 hours a week, and they kept the plants running throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Click through. I don’t knowingly cross a picket line. Thankfully, one of the comments included a link to an article of everything they own.

Mother Jones – Baristas in Buffalo Just Formed the First Starbucks Union in the United States
Quote – In a watershed moment for the recent wave of pandemic-inspired labor organizing, workers at a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, voted [December 9] to form the coffee chain’s first union in the United States. Despite months of opposition from party leadership, 19 workers at the Elmwood location in Buffalo voted in favor of unionizing in the election, conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. Only eight opposed.
Click through for story – If I had had to guess way in advance where this wou;d happen … Buffalo would not have been my first guess. But whatever. More power to them!

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for December 10, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 102021

Yesterday, I got a package of jewelry supplies, checked it against the invoice, and got it all put away. I got my clothes and shoes put together. I think I’m ready, and I still have today in case I think of something undone. Tomorrow I go to see Virgil. Sunset will be, at most, 3 minutes earlier than it was 2 weeks ago. Soon – before the solstice – it will start to get later each day.

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Short Takes

Wonkette – DC National Guard Commanders Aren’t Going To Let Mike Flynn’s Brother Pin This Sh*t On Them
Quote – Walker and Matthews say they begged to deploy the National Guard troops from 2:30 in the afternoon on. According to Walker, who is now the House Sergeant at Arms, the IG Report incorrectly states that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Mayor Muriel Bowser were on that call, but they were not McCarthy has said he authorized the DCNG to deploy within the hour. But this memo tells a different story, much more like the one Walker told Congress way back in March. It recounts that Mike Flynn’s brother Gen. Charles Flynn, who served as deputy chief of staff for operations on Jan. 6, and Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, the director of Army staff, were against deploying the guard because of “optics,” and counseled Walker to have the guardsmen replace DC cops directing traffic so that only DC police would respond to the riot.
Click through for story. Good for them. I never assume that just because a person is a close family member of a criminal, that they condob=ne the crime, much less participate in it – look at the Gosar family and Mary Trump. But in this case there is evidence. Charles need a Court Martial.

The 19th – The federal government is making a new investment in women-owned small businesses
Quote – The Small Business Administration, the federal agency that supports entrepreneurs, is putting a greater focus on women business owners than ever before in the agency’s history, following two years that have decimated small businesses and brought into stark relief the barriers still facing the fastest-growing group of owners.
Click through for details. Gotta have good news sometimes or we’d all wither up and die.

CBS News – 60 Minutes speaks with ex-NSA contractor Reality Winner about leaking a document to the press
Quote – Reality Winner explained the sequence of events that led to her decision to leak a classified government document to the media, a decision that would go on to cost her four years behind bars. Winner said she was concerned that, “the truth wasn’t true anymore,” and spoke to what she says was an atmosphere of confusion and mistrust that plagued America in early 2017. “The public was being lied to,” Winner explained. She says despite having taken an oath to protect classified material, she had “pledged service to the American people” and wanted to end the perceived “confusion,” about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Click through. All the clips are there, but separately, so if you want to watch the whole thing, you can do so in convenient 15-minute chunks. Spoiler: There really was Russian interference in the 2016 elections, at more levels than you would think.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for December 9, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:26 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 092021

Yesterday, after a week when it was hard to find videos and articles, I found so many that tomorrow’s calumns are practically done already. Well, that’s a good thing for me, since I see Virgil on Saturday, but I hope it won’t result in feeling like old news. If there’s something you don’t see today, it may already be scheduled for tomorrow.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – Dana Milbank Proves Biden Coverage Is As Negative As Trump’s
Quote – Yep. Turns out, Biden’s press coverage for the past four months has been as bad as — and for a time worse than — the coverage Trump received for the same four months of 2020. Let that sink in. Joe Biden is being treated the same as Trump, whose criminal behavior was a daily occurrence in plain view.
Click through. You mau not have even realized that this is measurable. But it is.

HuffPost – Explainer: How Unusual To Charge Parents In School Shooting?
Quote – A 2019 assessment by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found that guns came from the home of a parent or close relative in 76% of school attacks where firearms were used. In about half, the firearms were easily accessible. But laws aimed at restricting gun access are not always enforced and vary in strength, experts say. “Our laws haven’t really adapted to the reality of school shootings, and the closest we have are these child access prevention laws,” said Kris Brown, president of the Brady gun control advocacy group
Click through for multiple examples and rationales.

Wonkette – Fox News Presents Holiday Classic ‘How The Black Lives Matter Stole Christmas’
Quote – Because we know how to look things up for ourselves, we were able to go to the Black Lives Matter website and learn about the Black Christmas campaign, just to see how full of shit Hegseth is. It’s so innocuous, if you’re not a mouthbreathing white racist. It has sections for #BuildBlack and #BuyBlack and #BankBlack, and it indeed encourages people to spend their money with Black-owned businesses and banks, instead of propping up white supremacist systems.
Click through. A news clip about the tree will be in today’s Video Thread.

Food for Thought –

(Nashville has extra room now after rmoving the caricature og Nathan Bedford Forrest.)

Open Thread for December 8, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 082021

Yesterday still pretty calm. I did “bite the bullet” and glued and crimped end caps on 20 strands of very light, very slick, and very thin (about 3/16″) jewelry ribbon for pendants Because they were so slick, I had to glue them in place and let them dry before crimping, or they would have slipped right out. Since I didn’t graduate from Hogwarts, I couldn’t temporarily make me smaller, or them larger, so they’d be easier to handle. But I certainly wished I could. I did get it done, though.

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Short Takes

Politizoom – Thomas Massie Comes Clean About the Republican Party. We Owe Him
Quote – There was an amusing little dust up on MSNBC [a few] night[s ago]. Bulwark editor Charlie Sykes was asked to comment on Thomas Massie’s egregiously tone deaf Christmas card photo of la famille armed for bear, in light of four children being murdered at school last week in Michigan. Sykes called the display a “dick pic” which caused the host to flutter and respond, “Sorry, everybody, I’m not sure we can say that, Charlie!” This was family hour, after all. But Sykes is spot on in his assertion that, “He’s basically trying to show off. He’s trying to trigger to get the reaction.”
Click through if you like. The analogy is exactly on target.

Stuff That Needs To Be Said – Yes World, It’s That Bad Here in America—and Worse
Quote – But here on the ground this malignant sickness has a face, one that is far too familiar – So yes, it’s the staggering cruelty of those holding the power here—but just as much it’s the people we know and live alongside who are so gladly empowering them.
Click through for the full description. See if it doesn’t resonate with you. It certainly does with me. I may just put the link in my email signature in lieu of Rocky Mountain Mike.

The New Yorker – Should We Believe the Stories of Men Mistaken for Gods?
Quote – Who can make a god is as fascinating a question as who can kill one, and Anna Della Subin tries to answer both in her new book, “Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine” (Macmillan). Setting Cook alongside the likes of Haile Selassie, Hernán Cortés, Prince Philip, General Douglas MacArthur, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and even President Donald Trump, she considers why some men are made into gods, by whom, and—the most interesting of the mysteries about Cook and all of his putatively divine kin—to what ends.
Click through for more, including anecdotes. Without reading the book, I’m pretty sure the correct answer is “No.” Or maybe “Hell, no.” (And reading through did not change my mind.)

Food for Thought (OK, I know it’s silly) –

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