Yesterday, the Supreme Court gave us a decision dump. It’s a dump in all senses. And there’s a good deal of coverage all over the net, so I’ll just add that my heart goes out to Justuce Sotomayor, who must be in licking-her-wounds mode big time. Also, I learned that a No-Secret-Police Act has been introduced in Congress. Civic Shout has a petition to applaud it.
Many, maybe most, of Meidas Touch Substacks posts are videos. I literally cannot watch them. If I try, my brain starts wandering and my stomach tightens. This does not mean Meidas is bad – in fact, it’s more likely to mean it’s very good indeed – since that happens to me with some of the best speakers. But it does happen, and I won’t post anything I cannot evaluate. Fortunately, this post is not a video (it is from a video, and it contains a short video of Mrs. Abrego Garcia), and it addresses something that no one else is, as far as I can tell. If they are, they are leaving out the human side. And without empathy, our work is – not worthless, but worth less.
Others are spreading this news, but I thought I’d post it straight from the source which did the investigating – Project on Government Oversight (POGO)
One more thing from Pete Buttigieg. He does manage to find things that others miss.
Yesterday, Bill Moyers died. He was 91. Even though he was not speaking/writing publicly, he will be missed.
Yeah, this happened in Colorado. Yeah, it’s terrible. Yeah, steps are being taken to avoid it happening again, but systems, like chains, are only as good as their weakest links. At least no one appears to be shrugging it off as inevitable, and that’s something.
This is also from Colorado (Colorado Public Radio). It would be better if the sentence were longer, but it’s good as far as it goes.
I don’t suppose there’s anything, speaking in terms of motivation, in the article that anyone with more than two brain cells to put together couldn’t have figured out. We shut up in situations when speaking out has real or potential negative consequences. But shutting up also has some real and potential negative consequences which might not be so easy to intuit. Hence this post
Yesterday, Wonkette unintentionally informed me that I guess I’m going to have to thank my junior Senator for something. I don’t think it’s quite good enough for me to apologize, but a “thank you” won’t kill me. Also yesterday, Rep Al Green introduced new articles of impeachment and forced a vote on them using Article IX. And 128 Democrats voted with Republicans to table them. I knew my Rep wasn’t one because my rep is a Rethug. But I did look up the record, so if you want to know how yours voted here it is. In Colorado, only Diane DeGette had the balls to vote not to table it.
Robert Reich forwards, if you will, a letter from Liz Cheney. I cannot disagree with either of them on this.
When Pete Buttigieg speaks, I’m inclined to listen. Particularly when he speaks about something he has just spent two weeks doing a deep dive into. The article is not all that long, but every word is important.
Yesterday, it became obvious that I would need to address the illegally declared war today. Yes, I’m a veteran, but i also know my limitations, and one is that that I’m not qualified to discuss the strategic aspects of this other than to opine that it’s damned dumb along with being unconstitutional. So I’ll just provide some links instead from some better qualified people and let you choose which if any to read.
Jonathan Larson of The F* News. Title: Trump Bombs Iran, Constitution, International Law, and Last Surviving MAGA Principle
Norm Eisen of The Contrarian. Title: Trump’s National Insecurity and What We Can Do About It
Steve Schmidt of The Warning. Title: America is at war in the Middle East. Again.
Robert Reich at his Substack. Title: The Dogs of War (the cartoon is not his. It’s maybe a century old.)
Yesterday was the Summer Solstice. I hope all who celebrated had a great day. Also yesterday, an email from Justice Democrats informed me that eight Senators, led by Bernie Sanders, made a statement that voters are looking for for bold leaders, not feckless moderates. And polling backs them up – 70% of Democrats in a recent poll say the same. Of course I had to know who those seven others are, so I did a search and found they are Warren, Murphy, Merkley, Welch, Tina Smith, Markey, and Van Hollen. Neither of my Senators, of course. The only surprise in there is Peter Welch, and that’s only because I haven’t heard of him until now. He is Bernie’s junior Senator from Vermont. Tina Smith and Chris Van Hollen have not been loud until recently, but recently, they have. I could wish for the addition of a few names which are missing, like Sheldon Whitehouse, Alex Padilla (who also hasn’t been loud, but I would think has motivation now), Sheldon Whitehouse, Adam Schiff (who needs to put up or shut up at this point – I’m certain Katie Porter would have been on that list in a New York minute), and you can probably think of others who should have been there. Finally, I will not go deeply into the surreal disorientation I felt while reading about the possibilities of war in Iran while simultaneously listening to Albert Ketelbey’s “In a Persian Market” on the radio. I wonder who programmed that.
This does need to be read and/or heard. One thing that jumped out at me was the sentence “Their stories remind us that in the eyes of MAGA, just being Latino is enough to be treated as a criminal.” Sadly, actual criminals, are generally – are at least supposed to be – treated better.
This link is to a petition which you can sign if you like (it’ll take your signature even if you’ve signed on the same issue multiple times already.) But that isn’t why I’m posting it. I just want to be crystal clear on my source for this quotation:
Because Donald Trump is an egomaniac who will do anything to hurt anyone while helping himself, the bill is structured so that all of the new spending provisions associated with deportations and building up the military, as well as with Trump’s gimmicky campaign promises, expire in 2028. Further, almost all of the cuts to the social safety net, and even some of the cuts to green energy investments, do not go into effect until 2029. Basically, all of the perks happen during Trump’s time in office, while all of the pain will be felt by his successor, thus making Trump look good at the expense of literally everyone else. (Click here to read an article from Politico last month that goes into detail on this aspect of the bill.)
This means that if Democrats can retake Congress and the White House in the 2026 and 2028 elections, they will be able to quickly pass a bill that would block the social safety net cuts and not renew any of the spending related to Donald Trump’s deportations, military build up, and campaign promises. To top it off, they can also end Trump’s tax cuts for wealthiest Americans, thus rendering the bill deficit neutral.
So, even if Republicans do manage to pass this bill into law, the fight to stop it from taking effect will continue on into 2026 and 2028. The is very bad news for Republicans who, unlike Donald Trump, will run for re-election again. As I already mentioned, this bill is very unpopular, and Democrats will be able to legitimately argue in 2026 and 2028 that if you elect them, they can stop the Republican cuts to the social safety net before they ever take effect. Now that is a winning message.
Yesterday, the DLCC chair sent an email about honoring Melissa Hortman. In case you didn’t receive it – or received it but deleted it thinking it was a donation request (which I almost did), here is the list of suggested actions we can take to honor her memory (hanky alert):
Plant a tree.
Visit a local park and make use of their amenities, especially a bike trail.
Pet a dog. A golden retriever is ideal, but any will do.
Tell your loved ones a cheesy dad joke and laugh about it.
Bake something — bread for Mark or a cake for Melissa, and share it with someone.
Try a new hobby and enjoy learning something.
Stand up for what you believe in, especially if that thing is justice and peace.
And this is why I keep subscribing to John Pavlovitz – and saving his emails. Of course he has a lot to say, but in case anyone else is struggling with morale, this might help.
I don’t often post from the 19th. But this – this is something I had no idea existed, and I expect I’m not alone in that. And we should know about it. And the only other coverage is, at all places, The Borowitz Report.
Clearly this is not a happy news day. And this from the F* News is no exception. And I haven’t even brought up Iran. But I really can’t ignore this.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” and I actually got to hear it on the radio, which I hadn’t expected, since it is pricey for a station to carry the series, and especially now, with the Mango Monster trying to remove all Federal funding. But my local station has decided to air at least the first half. It was a performance from La Scala in Milan, an opera house even more storied than the Met. With quite a cast. It was lovely – sad of course, but lovely. Also, Just as Carlo was executing his sister, I received a certified letter from Virgil’s facility asking me whether I’d be willing to hold his Medical Durable Power of Attorney. Well, I hadn’t thought about it, but if I had, I would have realized that was only a matter of time before that would happen. I think I’m competent, and I also think it’s part of my job. I emailed and said so and added that I’ll be down today if anyone is there and would like to talk with me. And now I’m off to visit him.
I almost hope this gets such wide coverage that I’ll need to look for something else by the time this posts. I doubt it’s news to anyone here that animals have more smarts than humans, but it’s a lovely story.
It isn’t enough … but it’s something. If it would catch on, that would be a much bigger (and better) story.
Now this story – this is personal (I don’t mean to me – I mean it involves and affects real individual people.) In a way it reminds me of an animal rescue story, except that this object is inanimate.
Today is Father’s Day. From the ACLU, here is a letter from Mahmoud Khalil to his newborn son. You will have to scroll down some, since the donation section is at the top. (I’m not really good at remembering Father’s Day, since mine died a few days after I was born. But I can recognize love when I see it.)
Yesterday, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a DHS press conference held by Kristi Noem defending the indefensible. You can’t have missed it. It was in Daily Kos, Axios alerts, and enough others that you must have seen it. Also, The Conversation has an article up from an Orwell expert. And, Daily Dose of Democracy reported on how the Mango Moron was met at the Kennedy Center the previous night.
Up until now, I have felt Lever Reports pretty much overpromised and underdelivered. But this article appears to be right up there with ProPublica, POGO, and ITPI
From Huff Post. Leave it to Republicans to get all pissed off over anything that takes away the smallest iota of attention from them, them, them. I wish I thought this article would stand a chance of reaching its intended audience. Sadly, I don’t.
I didn’t want to hold this until Saturday, partly because there is certain to be more news by then which will deserve an audience. So, three articles.
