Glenn Kirschner – In his recent post, Donald Trump admits to not one but two crimes. Can indictments be far off?
Ring of Fire – Crazed Capitol Rioters Head To Prison
Robert Reich – Does Elon Musk Have a Right to Destroy Twitter?
Real Subtitles? What can you do when your country is out of hamburgers?
Puppy Born Without Front Legs Brings Life To Senior Dogs
Beau – Let’s talk about Arizona, water, and a new market….
Yesterday, the weather prediction was for snow today – and very cold – with a high below 32°F. Since I start shivering and my teeth chatter at 72°F, I’ll be staying in (not that I don’t anyway.) I also received confirmation to visit Virgil Sunday (and snow is NOT predicted for Sunday.) Also too, I learned that last Saturday was the 100th birthday og Charles M. Schulz. Here’s a link to a page of cartoons, which starts with political ones, but also includes more birthday tributes to the creator of “Peanuts” than you would probably think possible (and one or two are conspicuous, to me at least, by their absence.)
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Axios – World’s largest active volcano starts to erupt in Hawaii
Quote – Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano — located on the Big Island — began erupting late Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said…. “Based on past events, the early stages of a Mauna Loa eruption can be very dynamic and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly,” USGS said…. Webcams for the volcano can be found at https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa/webcams
Click through for developing story. It appers when that say “largest,” they are talking about its perceived height, not the amount of damage it can do world wide. The latter would probably be Krakatoa. And the danger isn’t lava, but volcanic ash particles released into the air, whoch can block sunlight for years, sort of like a “nuclear winter.” Look up the year 536 CE (or “Worst year to be alive.”) Also, I don’t remember the year, but it wasn’t that long ago, when an eruption caused enough particles in the air over Europe that planes couldn’t fly for weeks. You may remember that too.
Wonkette – Buffalo Gunman Pleads Guilty To Hate Crimes, Will Spend Rest Of Life In Prison
Quote – This theory, whether it’s been called that or not, has been around for decades. Most people will date it back to the work of French crackpot Renaud Camus’s 2011 essay “Le Grand Remplacement,” in which he claimed that white citizens of European countries were being replaced by Black and Middle Eastern immigrants, or back to the “White Genocide” nonsense of 1990s white supremacists, but it’s always been there. A major feature of early 1900s antisemitism and racism in the United States was that Jewish people were supporting Black civil rights struggles because they wanted to replace WASPs with Black people and then take over the world.
Click through for more information. Today’s FFT summarizes my thoughts on this pretty well (it ain’t just Mexicans).
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Kevin McCarthy’s latest legislative thuggery: tells DHS Secretary Mayorkas, “resign or be impeached”
Meidas Touch – Herschel Walker’s former coach shakes up Georgia Senate race with HUGE announcement
Farron Balanced – Republicans Fear Trump Has Taken Their Party Hostage
Armageddon Update – I Give You The Bird!
Cat Who Spent 18 Years As His Dad’s Only Child Gets A Human Brother
Beau – Let’s talk about the Klamath River running free….
The day before yesterday, seven score and nineteen years prior, a Natinal Cemetery was dedicated at a tiny town called Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania. Heather Cox Richardson commemorates the occasion in her Letter from an American for November 19. Being a historian, she gets in some detailswhich are little-known along with the story we all know, and her primary point – not new, but often in danger of being forgotten in times like those and these, was Lincoln’s reminder that we have two founding documents, and the Constitution is not the only one which is important.
Yesterday, though, I went to visit Virgil. It waa a quiet day there. We got to sit on the same level one comes in on, and we got to use the deck of cards. I was a bit concerned that the clock can’t be seen from where we sit unless we go down a short flight of stairs – not that easy since I use my wheelchair, and he uses a walker. But the windows (yesm there are windows) cast light and shade on the florr, and later in the afternoon the walls, that it’s almost like having a sundial. And we really do not get many sunless days in Colorado. So I am much lless worried. We played cribbage and I told hi about Joyce Vance’s latest newsletter, which I knew he would enjoy because he thinks silky chickens are just about the cutest things in the world, and she raises them. By the time I exhausted my short term memory, he was green with envy. (She also knits, BTW. I don’t know how she finds time. Of course I’m a lot older.) On the way in I was scoped out by a flock of Canada Geese, and then saw a baby bunny scurry across the pavement in front of me (not close enough to have to sop for, and I was going pretty darn slowly at the timw anyway.) Where I grew up, on the San Franciso peninsula, the only wildlife i saw outside of state or national parks was birds and butterflies – and not all that many of either. After 46 years in Colorado, I haven’t lost my sense of wonder at wildlife, and I hope I bever do.
Grim though it is, I have to mention the mass shooting here in the LGBTQ+ club. Five dead and 18 injured. Just horrible. The suspect is in custody, but even that is small consolation.
Cartoon – 21 Piltdown RTL
Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – The White House Admits It: We Might Need to Block the Sun to Stop Climate Change
Quote – The report will be dedicated specifically to a form of geoengineering known as solar radiation management. This is a technique that essentially involves spraying fine aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. The idea is that, once it’s reflected, there’ll be less heat and temperatures will go down. The research plan will be modeling how SRM might impact the atmosphere and assess its viability as a potential technique used to “manage near-term climate risk.” Put it another way: We want to know whether or not we should include this in our “break glass in case of climate disaster” box.
Click through for details. This is a no=brainer, if it can be done safely. It absolutely would work – maybe too well – history shows that The article mentions an 1816 volcanic eruption, but I immediately thought of an eruption in 536 AD, which has been heavily researched. It blocked sunlight so much, and literally around the world, that there was more or less perpetual winter for a couple of years. Some sunlight and warmth is necessary in order to grow food crops, otherwise people starve. IIRC that eruption also facilitated disease transmission until all the particles were gone – or at lease gone from the sky.
Daily Kos – Jan. 6 Panel Creates Subcommittee for Criminal Referrals
Quote – Among those who have ignored subpoenas to appear before the Jan. 6 Committee are GOP Reps. McCarthy, Perry, Jordan, Biggs, Brooks, and of course, TFG himself. Clearly, none of them are out of the barrel just yet. The subcommittee will make recommendations to the full Jan. 6 Panel, which, if approved by a vote, will then pass them along to the Justice Department. This process is hastened by the reality that the GOPosaurs will take control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. That’s only 46 days!
Click through for story. It was actually created about a month ago and has been working, but is just now being made public. Four lawyers, headed by Jamie Raskin (Has anyone besides me noticed that he seems to be aging more rapidly?)
Mother Jones – A Preschool on Wheels Drives Opportunity to Immigrant Families in Colorado
Quote – Parked in the lots of schools, churches, and community centers, the buses are inconspicuous. Most passersby would overlook them, distracted by the natural beauty of their backdrop. But inside, day after day, small wonders are unfolding. Gutted and retrofitted to look like traditional preschool classrooms, these mobile spaces host 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in the valley who, otherwise, likely wouldn’t see a formal learning environment until kindergarten, by which time many of their peers are already steps ahead.
CLck through for more. I had this penciled in before the shooting – and I’m glad I did. I certainly need something positive to offset that tremendous negative, and I hope it will help others too.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Trump sues J6 committee to keep from testifying. His lawsuit is bogus but his goal is delay. [Donald Trump** is a living, breathing, walking, talking “unwarranted intrusion upon the office of the Presidency.”]
MSNBC – Michael Cohen: “Donald Has A Fragile Ego So There’s Not A Diaper Big Enough For Him”
Robert Reich – What the Democrats Must Do If Republicans Take the House
John Fugelsang – Both Sides Do It! (/s)
Watch What Happens When A 14-Year-Old Dog Finally Leaves The Shelter
Beau – Let’s talk about CEOs “destroying the planet”….
Glenn Kirschner – Trump asserts he used DOJ/FBI to stop vote count in 2018 to help DeSantis become Florida governor
MSNBC – Rep. Adam Kinzinger: We Need To Make An Uncomfortable Alliance For Democracy. (It looks clear to me he is talking about “up and down” – authoritarianism vs. small-d democracy – not “left and right. That’s exactly why the alliance will be “uncomfortable.” But it wasn’t clear to people commenting where I saw the clip first. So I decided to mention it.)
Farron Balanced – Judge Won’t Let Struggling Conservative Outlet OAN Escape Defamation Lawsuit
Mrs. Betty Bowers – LIVE from Kari Lake’s Campaign Headquarters
People Rescue 700-Pound Moose From Railroad Tracks (I heard you. And with so many of my sources taking a breather, this appears to be a good time to add more rescue stories.)
Beau – Let’s talk about elephant, zebras, and drought….
Glenn Kirschner – This would have been the October recap – I’m using an interview with Lawrence instead.
The Lincoln Project – Denial
Meidas Touch – DOJ gives top Trump aide Kash Patel USE IMMUNITY and COMPELS his testimony on Trump CRIMES (Too long, but very explanatory of a rare situation)
Tim Ryan on Twitter
Pretty impressive to watch @TimRyan take a clearly stacked Fox audience from boo’s after he brought up January 6th—to loud applause after not backing down at all.
Not an easy thing to do. (via @atrupar)pic.twitter.com/pQPUyXSQPs
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) November 1, 2022
Mrs. Betty Bowers – The Hypocrisy of Republican Talking Points Revealed!
Beau – Let’s talk about Ukrainian grain and the Russian Navy….
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s taxes; fed charges for Paul Pelosi attacker; Officer Dunn testifies at Oath Keepers trial
The Lincoln Project – Pelosi Attack
Meidas Touch – Sarah Palin makes HUMILIATING ADMISSION about Campaign as it SWIRLS THE DRAIN
MSNBC – Litany Of Trump Legal Entanglements Grows Ever Longer As Trump Org Criminal Trial Begins
Liberal Redneck – Voting Republican to Save the Economy
Beau – Let’s talk about a poll on climate inaction…. [It’s not every day you hear Beau distinguish so sharply between the parties]