Cartoon – Page 98 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for September 8, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 082021

Yesterday, the holiday being over, I was happy to find some real stories and cutting edge videos. I mean fluff is nice, but activists cannot live by flull alone. And I don’t mean to imply that today’s posts are completely fluff-free, by any means. I also made the last few cartoons missing to get us to the end of September. What I didn’t get done that I wanted to was to change the toner cartridge in my printer. I’ve had it for 2 years and was still working on the original cartridge that came with it – which was not even a full size. So I’d say it’s time. Hopefully today.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Bias, Theocracy, And Lies At The National Prayer Breakfast
Quote – The prayer breakfast is, we’ve been told, an ecumenical, nonpartisan event for leaders of every stripe, run by prayer groups in the House and Senate. None of that is true. The National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) is not run by Congress. The Family controls it, uses the breakfast for its own ends, and can do so thanks to the bipartisan fiction maintained by its remaining Democratic allies…. [T]he breakfast itself is overwhelmingly a production of The Family. The event’s only significant financial backer is a well-known, right-wing theocrat.
Click through for more (not the full story as that is not yet completely known.) It simply boggles my mind that actual people of faith (as opposed to those who use religion as a source of power, successfully or unsuccessfully)do not “get it” that mixing religion and governmen only cheapens both. And probably tarnishes religion even more than it does government.

AP News – It’s a girl, and a boy: Buttigieg celebrates 2 babies
Quote –

Chasten and I are beyond thankful for all the kind wishes since first sharing the news that we’re becoming parents. We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family. pic.twitter.com/kS89gb11Ax

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) September 4, 2021

Click through if you like. The tweet really says it all.

The 19th – How abortion restrictions like Texas’ push pregnant people into poverty
Quote – About half of people who get an abortion live below the federal poverty level, and the majority of the women who took part in the research, known as the Turnaway Study, were low wage at the start. (No nonbinary people or trans men took part in the study, and there is very limited data on outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community.) The consequences of being denied an abortion plunged those women deeper into poverty, said Foster, the lead author of the study and a professor at the University of California San Francisco.
Click through for more about the study. IMO, the bottom line is that a pregnant person who wants a child, wants to love and nurture it, has the mans to love and nirture it, and has no health issues with her own body no with that of the zygote/empryo/fetus will deliver that baby. But without all of those conditions, forcing the baby to be born is doing no favors to the baby. Nor to the community.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for September 7, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:18 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 072021

Yesterday, I piddled around with a bunch of small household tasks. Can’t say as I really accomplished much, but sometimes getting a bunch of little stuff out of the way does feel like accomplishment.

Cartoon – Incidentally, I own a framed copy of the print made from this rendition by Bryan Moon of that occasion. I love his work.

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Pathetic Arizona Manbabies Cosplay Gomer Pyle At Elementary School
Quote – Now, I could write a normal article, citing The Washington Post and Daily Beast, outlining the absurd and outrageous details of this dangerous nonsense. Frankly, these three don’t deserve the national attention or my resultant rise in blood pressure. Instead, I shall vent my spleen, and open a good, old-fashioned can of Brooklyn whoop-ass on them, as god and my DNA intended.
In case you missed this, click through. The principal is physically fine, as is the other staff member, but both were naturally terrified. Since, she has received so much support from the community, she can’t talk about it without tearing up with gratitude

CNN (H/T Carrie B) – Like Washington and Jefferson, he championed liberty. Unlike the founders, he freed his slaves
Quote – It was 230 years ago Sunday that Robert Carter III, the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, quietly walked into a Northumberland County courthouse and delivered an airtight legal document announcing his intention to free, or manumit, more than 500 slaves. He titled it the “deed of gift.” It was, by far, experts say, the largest liberation of Black people before President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act and Emancipation Proclamation more than seven decades later.
Click through for the full (and virtually unknown) story. It deserves to be known far and wide. (Without going into detail, it appears possible that Carter Burwell, composer of the music for many films, especially Coen Brothers films, is a descendant.)

Common Dreams – House Dems Introduce Bill to Lower Medicare Age to 60
Quote – Researchers have found that there is a massive increase in the diagnosis of cancer among Americans who reach the age of 65 that could have been detected much earlier if they had access to Medicare.
Click through for some whats, whos, and whys. If we have to do it five years at a time, then that’s the way we will have to do it.

Food for Thought (Good news for mw) –

Video Thread 9/6/2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:02 pm Open Thread, Politics

Sep 062021

Glenn Kirschner – WAPO Cites Kevin McCarthy’s “Downward Spiral” Culminating in Obstructing Congressional Investigation

Now This News – Remembering the Founder of the Black Panthers

Thom Hartmann – Abortion: Is the Texas GOP the Dog that Caught the Car? (We can hope he’s right – but I personally doubt it.)

Rob Rogers – Exit Strategy

Cat Keeps Stealing Things From The Neighbors

Beau – Let’s talk about a message to Australia from Florida Man….

Open Thread for September 6, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 062021

Yesterday, I dealt with the package from saturday which contained crafting supplies.. No, I didn’t make all the crafts, but I did get stuff put awaw. The other package was a small electronic with which I am still dealing. And rested.

Cartoon –

And, of course, I wish all a

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Democrats Should Be Fighting The Next War, Not The Last One
Quote – Here’s my unpopular opinion: Getting angry at Susan Collins now is a waste of time. Okay, sure, get angry. But don’t fight the last war. We had a chance to defeat Collins in 2020, and we blew it, badly. She won by 9 points. She’s not up for reelection for another five years.
Click through for what do do instead. At least some of it. There’s probebly something in your own state which is also more constructive.

Washington Post – One tactic to stop abortion bounty hunters from demolishing women’s constitutional rights
Quote – When thinking about Texas’s nefarious scheme to deprive women of their constitutional right to seek an abortion, I am reminded of the tactics White segregationists used in the years following the Brown v. Board of Education decision…. In the case of Texas’s antiabortion law, state lawmakers know that Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, establishing a woman’s right under the 14th Amendment to control her own reproduction. So they came up with the idea to enlist private citizens to rat out women exercising their constitutional rights. They offered these people a bounty of $10,000. Think of them as hiring every Texas resident (and residents outside the state!) on a contract basis to make abortion services virtually impossible to obtain.
Click through to the Washington Post for the full editorial, or click through to Democratic Underground for a larger excerpt. I was paywalled out of the Post myself, so I’m supplying both links.

Law & Crime – Biden Will Declassify FBI Documents on Saudi Arabia’s Role in 9/11 Terrorist Attacks — Here’s What the Order Says
Quote – “When I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America,” a press release announcing the executive order notes. “As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment.”
Click through for details and context. Another step in the direction of transparency – and something to look forward to.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for September 5, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 052021

Yesterday, I tried to rest as much as possible. I brought the trash and recyclables carts up to where they “live” and collected a couple of packages from the mailbox — which required shoes but I think was worth it.

Cartoon –

I simply must add that 300 years later, to the day, was the very first Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon. I’m sure there’s no connection.

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – If God Wills It
Quote – There is no question that Hurricane Ida was a horrible storm which caused a lot of damage. The suffering will continue for weeks as people are without power and it is sweltering hot. But as a friend of mine always says, you gotta look for the happiness in the crappiness. A clear example is that the offices of James O’Keefe and Project Veritas got wiped out:
Click through for comments. The quote is pretty much the whole story, but you know people who read “Crooks and Liars” are going to be smart-alecky, at least some of them.

The Hill – The Memo: Attacks on democracy seep down to school boards, election offices
Quote – In many places there is fear — fear for the safety of the low- and mid-level officials who do the unglamorous work that keeps democracy knitted together and fear for what happens if they decide it’s just not worth it.
Click through for story. This is important. You’ve heard of people who can’t see the forest for the trees – but in my experience, Democrats, politically are more likely to be unable to see the trees for the forest. School Boards (usually unpaid and elective) and election worker (most volunteer, seasonal, and paid a little, but some employed year round by county offices) are critical to our ability to keep our democracy … which is why Republicans, who see every leaf on every tree, and most of the bugs on the leaves, are systematically undermining them.

“my stateline” – Emails released in FOIA show hundreds of parents thanked Pritzker for issuing school mask mandate
Quote – A House Republican who sought “data, studies, scientific or medical articles, and correspondence” from people advocating in support of school mask mandates got her answer in dramatic fashion on Tuesday. Governor Pritzker’s office responded to an August 10th Freedom of Information Act Request filed by Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) by sending a staffer to her legislative office in Springfield to hand-deliver 870 pages of studies and letters from parents that supported the mask mandate.
Click through for details. This is priceless. I realize that even multiplied by 10 or 20 (the numbers usually cited to compare those with opinions to those actually writing) 870 is a drop in the bucket in a state the size f Illinois, but it certainly is impressive. Dumb Republicans. (Yeah, I know, I misspelled “Damn.”)

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for September 4, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:59 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 042021

Yesterday, I got to see Virgil and we had as good a visit as you can have under the conditions. A couple of non-visitation staff members passed through the lobby while I was checking in said hi to me, and one actually came to the visitation room to say hi to me. Well, I must be doing something right. (So must Virgil.) I appreciate them too. I depend on them to keep Virgil safe and healthy and even in some semblance of good spirits. Of course I was exhausted when I got home. So this may be a bit skimpy.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Dem Underground – Elie Mystal, a legal expert, says . . .
Quote – Biden would be entirely within his rights to deputize doctors in Texas and make them federal employees with immunity. That’s a great idea. Make all clinic employees federal officers and untouchable.
Click through. The quote is all there is, and no link is provided, but the discussion is most interesting (Don’t believe everything. Not everyone is a lawyer.)

Her Husband Was in Jail When Ida Hit. She Hasn’t Heard From Him Since.

Click through. The quote is all there is, and no link is provided, but the discussion is most interesting (Don’t believe everything. Not everyone is a lawyer.)

Mother Jones – Her Husband Was in Jail When Ida Hit. She Hasn’t Heard From Him Since.
Quote – Yet despite a mandatory evacuation order for parish residents, Sheriff Greg Champagne did not evacuate people in the jail ahead of the storm. By Monday, the 911 system in the parish wasn’t working, according to Nola.com; on Thursday, repeated calls to the sheriff’s office and jail still failed to connect. For Davis, who has not received any word of her husband’s safety since the storm, the silence is frightening. She is planning to travel to the jail herself, along with her husband’s mother, to get answers.
Click through for story. I believe you “catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” in any case. But this is another reason to be nice to the good staff.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for September 3, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:27 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 032021

Yesterday, I was a little drowsy, having not slept well. As long as i could manage to do what I needed to do, I welcomed that – hoping it would help me get to sleep early last night, which I needed to do in order to get up so early today. By the time you see this (which should be fairly early), I will already be on the road. I’ll respond to comments when I return.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Federal judge approves bankruptcy settlement for Purdue Pharma
Quote – Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in an attempt to settle about 3,000 lawsuits from states, tribes and other local entities related to the company’s aggressive opioid marketing that they argue contributed to the opioid crisis that has killed nearly 500,000 people over the past 20 years. The settlement plan would shield members of the Sackler family and hundreds of their associates from future opioid lawsuits.
Click through for details. “Controversial” apparently in this case (as too often) being a euphemism for “outrageous.” I will say it sounds like the judge was holding his nose when he signed it.

Crooks and Liars – Even Karl Rove Is Bashing Madison Cawthorn
Quote – Rove wants the Congressman to focus more on Western North Carolina and less on traveling around the country. If it’s his own money then that would be fine, but he’s using his donors’ money to fund his trips around the country to focus on grievance politics. He’s already burnt through much of his coffers at this point.
Click through for a little more detail. His primary opponent is hitting this hard against him. But … look at all the people who voted for Mr. “Not paying taxes makes me smart.” Sigh.

New York Times – Go-to Lawyer for Capitol Riot Defendants Disappears (Following up)
Quote – While the government has not yet weighed in on the merits on [Pierce’s] claims, prosecutors did express concern in their letters filed on Monday about the young associate, Ryan Joseph Marshall, who has been standing in for Mr. Pierce at the hearings he has missed. For one thing, Mr. Marshall is not a licensed lawyer, prosecutors said, and has taken actions on behalf of clients “that he is not permitted” to take. Moreover, they went on, it remains unclear if and when Mr. Marshall will be able to get his law license given that he is under indictment in two criminal cases accusing him of corruption, theft and fraud in Pennsylvania. Mr. Pierce’s situation is not his first encounter with personal and professional setbacks. Last year, his law firm nearly collapsed in a swirl of debts and resignations. Then his most prominent client, Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man charged with murder at a racial justice protest in Wisconsin last year, fired him in a highly public spat that included allegations that a charity arranged for the defense had engaged in financial improprieties.
Click through for a lot of information. I really hope y’all can get past the paywall. This is so much more bizarre than any secondary source has yet published.

Food for Thought –