Jul 242023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump is a danger to the community. When indicted for Jan. 6, he should be detained pending trial

PoliticsGirl – For Those Who Think Their Vote

Farron Balanced – Trump Admits That Any Lawyer That Represents Him Is A Fool

Parody Projrct – Take It Easy

Adventure Cats Who Were Once Strays Have The Best Moms Now + Other Cat Rescues

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden’s new Dark Brandon ad…. [i had the MTG cli[ up here with “I approve this message” tacked on, but the one with the Biden/Harris visuals seems to be only on Twitter.  Sorry.]

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Jul 182023
 

Yesterday, it became public that the Georgia Supreme Court has declined Trump**’s request to quash Fani Willis’s work and case. I’m not totally surprised at the decision, but I am at its speed – that was fast. Impressive.  ALso yesterday, Judge Cannon advised the Trump** team that at today’s CIPA hearing, they need to be prepared to discuss trial datees seriously.  It wasn’t exactly worded terribly forcibly, but it might be promising.

Cartoon – 18 0718Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Can We Please Make Presidential Elections Shorter and Less Stupid?
Quote – All Congress needs to do is add three dates to our campaign law: one for the earliest launch of campaign exploratory committees, one for the launch of campaigns proper, and one for a universal primary vote and caucus day. The crucial question, of course, is what those dates should be. I’d suggest a pretty aggressive schedule of a month for exploration, a month for primaries, and a month to pick the winner. Working back from the election in early November, we wouldn’t be in election mode until—at the earliest—Aug. 1, 2024. I’m practically salivating at the thought.
Click through for full opinion. The length actually bothers me less than the stupidity. Keeping Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates under heavy scrutiny for two years prior to allowing them to take office would give the electorate time to find out what kind of people they really are – provided there was not so much stupidity. But I do realize that as things are now, revealing people’s identity is not likely to happen, let alone to break through voters’ rigid ideologies if it did happen.

Robert Reich – I knew Robert F. Kennedy, and you’re no Robert F. Kennedy
Quote – According to a poll last week by The Economist and YouGov, Kennedy Junior now has higher favorability numbers than either Biden or Trump…. Let me paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen’s remark to Dan Quayle during the vice-presidential debate in 1988: I knew Robert F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is no Robert F. Kennedy. I worked in Robert F. Kennedy’s Senate office in 1967. It was not a glamorous job…. But I did have a chance to get to see Bobby Kennedy close up.
Click through for full article (as always click popup to keep going). Its a combination of fact, argument, and memoir which makes me feel how Bobby and Ethel would weep. (Jr.’s sister, who runs the RFK Foundation, has some choice words for him also.)

Food For Thought

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Jul 172023
 

Yesterday was the first really hot day we have had this year. It reached 95°F in my area, and it’s often – usually, TBH – wormer in Pueblo than here, but that’s not predictable. However, I would not be surprised if it broke 100°F there. But the AC was working just fine, so I wasn’t uncomfortable.. Sometime in the last couple of weeks the facility had found some cards somewhere, so we played cribbage. The deck was not new, but it was complete, and it worked. Virgil returns all greetings. At home, I have finished the Nancy Pelosi Barbie but have no pictures yet. Doing an image search it appears I also have never posted any pics of the Kamala Harris Barbie. That at least I can do. RBG will take a lot longer because of the robe being satin, and the rayon thread being so fine it will take at least as many stitches as a sweater for a tall human, and I’ll have to be on constant guard against them sliding off and needing to be picked up – shiny rayon is slippery. And Michelle Obama will take longer yet because of the need for working in beads (I decided on the first inaugural.) Here’s hoping I live long enough!

 

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

New York Times (no paywall) – A Federal Judge Asks: Does the Supreme Court Realize How Bad It Smells?
Quote – Reasonable people may disagree on this. The more important, uncontroversial point is that if there will not be formal ethical constraints on our Supreme Court — or even if there will be — its justices must have functioning noses. They must keep themselves far from any conduct with a dubious aroma, even if it may not breach a formal rule. The fact is, when you become a judge, stuff happens. Many years ago, as a fairly new federal magistrate judge, I was chatting about our kids with a local attorney I knew only slightly. As our conversation unfolded, he mentioned that he’d been planning to take his 10-year-old to a Red Sox game that weekend but their plan had fallen through. Would I like to use his tickets?
Click through for full opinion. This article was gifted to me (and therefore to us) by one of the Substack authors I subscribe to. It’s not long, and it’s very well written. I hope it helps – but you can’t shame people who have no shame.

Crooks & Liars – Progress Action Fund: Ohio Republicans In Your Bedroom
Quote – As Ohio prepares to vote on August 8 on Ohio Issue 1 a Democratic super PAC put out this titillating ad. How it registers with voters remains to be seen. Generally speaking, voters giving away their rights for nothing isn’t that popular but Ohio Republicans have made a concerted effort to convince voters otherwise.
Click through for story and ad. Yes, I know I’ve posted about this election in Ohio before, in both threads. But this ad – well.

Food For Thought

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Jun 262023
 

Yesterday, I promised that if I found out anything more about what the heck is going on in Russia I would share. There is no consensus, but I’m going to refer you to two links – Heather Cox Richardson, who spends a few paragraphs on it from an historian’s viewpoint before changing the subject, and the other a video from Beau. Be aware you do NOT have to watch the video to get the content. If you click on the three dots to the right of the Share and Save buttons, you will be offered the opportunity to view a transcript. It won’t be perfect, but it will give you a solid idea. Bottom line is this isn’t over, and no one knows what is next. But we can’t rule out an opportunity to see “Swan Lake” (which is traditionally performed for a regime change.)

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Short Takes –

SPLC – Advocates Register Voters after Supreme Court Victory over Gerrymandering
Quote – “I’m gonna go out on a ledge and say over 90% of our students were not registered to vote,” [Monica] Clarke said. “It was this huge wakeup call for me and others who were working with me. We were kind of shocked, kind of scared, kind of surprised – all of the above – and not just that they weren’t registered, but they didn’t even want to register. They had such a negative view of voter registration, of voting, of the government and police.” That was when she became an activist for voting rights, growing the university’s voter registration service into a mission unto itself. And, as the nation notes the 10th anniversary of the Shelby decision this weekend, Clarke sees the same forces that created the need for the Voting Rights Act still threatening people of color.
Click through for article. My BFF, who is black, has worked for the election department (and believe me, she votes) but has troble getting her young adult sons to regiter, so I get it. I don’t like it, but i get it. Maybe the FFT would help?

The Warning – Steve Schmidt – What is No Labels doing?
Quote – No labels lacks basic transparency around its donors, motives and strategy. They are purposely opaque. For example, they decry the imminence of a Biden-Trump rematch as unacceptable without ever being clear whether they measure Biden as similarly unacceptable as Trump. Why the mystery? Would they abandon their plans if Gretchen Whitmer or Gavin Newsom were the Democratic nominee? What exactly is the basis of the emergency? Is it Trump running again? Is it Trump winning again? Is the effort built around the belief that Biden can’t beat Trump? Perhaps the premise is that Biden is fueling demand for Trump? Does No Labels view Biden and Trump as equivalent figures, men, leaders and threats? Shouldn’t they say, or perhaps more importantly, shouldn’t someone ask?
Click through for article. I have said it before, and I will keep saying it whenever I needto, for as long as I need to: NEVER TRUST ANYONE WHO WILL NOT TELL YOU WHERE THEY STAND. I get it that many people are tired of labels (mostly because crooks and liars have achieved that end by design.) I get it that left and right do not fully describe posotions (although if you add up and down to that mix, the result comes much, much closer.) But the very name “No Labels” screams “I will not tell you who I am.”

Washington Post (no paywall) – He wanted to pet dogs for his 100th birthday. Hundreds lined up.
Quote – “We live in a nice little community, and I thought I could get some of my neighbors and friends to come,” said Alison Moore, adding that she planned for her father to sit outside her home with a banner and assemble a small line of dogs for him to admire and cuddle. Human treats and dog treats would be served…. “I was shocked,” said Alison Moore, explaining that some people drove more than 10 miles to attend the celebration.
Click through. I had planned to stop at two, but my cousin sent me this link – and I felt I had to share

Food For Thought

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May 242023
 

Talking Feds (while Glenn is on vacation) – Fani Willis Reveals DETAILS of Plan for Sweeping MAGA Indictments

Farron Balanced – National Archives Has Evidence That Could Guarantee A Trump Conviction

Waldorf Nation – School BANS Parents For Not Being Hateful To LGBTQIA+ People

Puppet Regime – Surprise party for Putin

Cat Falls In Love With Stray Cat Who Shows Up Outside

Beau – Let’s talk about expanding confidence in SCOTUS….

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May 222023
 

Glenn Kirschner – One lawyer quits team Trump, while another says evidence “will lead to a conviction & prison time”

Thom Hartmann – The Election That Destroyed Democracy

MSNBC – GOP tries to prop up Durham report dud with attack on Adam Schiff

Armageddon Update – DEMOCRATS vs REPUBLICANS! Let’s Compare & Contrast

Tiny Rescue Chicken Follows Mom Everywhere

Beau – Let’s talk about polling on why people are leaving….

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May 212023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Interview w/comedian Buddy Winston (part 2): writing for Jay Leno & appearing on … Bill O’Reilly?

The Lincoln Project – Brand Unsafe

Robert Reich – The First Step to Fixing the Electoral College

Parody Project – The Normalization Song

Mama Dog Who Lost Her Puppies Was Heartbroken Until She Got Kittens

Beau – Let’s talk about the Durham report….

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May 062023
 

Yesterday, I got 8 out of 8 correct in the Conversation’s weekly quiz for the second week in a row. I can’t possibly keep this up. This week, most of the credit goes to the quiz author. The wrong answers were mostly so off the wall that it wasn’t really difficult. The only one I actually had to guess was the one about Karl Lagerfeld, and that was a true-false, so the odds were better than when there are four answers.  and, yes, Virgil called to say Happy Anniversary.  You knew he would (I certainly did.)

Cartoon – My Everyday Erinyes (#369) is up here:

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – May 4, 2023
Quote – Weirdly, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) at a Senate Budget Committee hearing today blamed Democrats for not raising the debt ceiling themselves last year without help from the Republicans. Kate Riga of Talking Points Memo broke down this argument. If the Democrats had raised the debt ceiling through reconciliation, without Republican votes, Republicans would have insisted that it was the Democrats, not them, who had burdened the country with debt when, in fact, the Republicans added almost $8 trillion to the debt under Trump. Romney’s complaint amounts to berating the responsible Democrats for not protecting the country against the Republicans, who are willing to burn down the country. As Riga put it: “Darn you Democrats for not taking care of the debt ceiling then, because you knew we’d refuse to raise the limit unless you conceded to our demands, and look what a sticky spot we’re in now.”
Click though for much more (Click “continue reading”). They used to say “Seinfeld” was a show about nothing. This, on the other hand, is a letter about everything.

Crooks & Liars – Texas Bill Would Allow State To Overturn Harris County Elections
Quote – The measures call for the “abolition” of election administrators in counties with populations larger than 1,000,000—a metric that only applies to Harris County, which Republican state lawmakers have taken a keen interest in in the aftermath of the 2022 midterm elections…. Since then, the Harris County Elections Office report concluded that they couldn’t determine if potential voters were pushed away because of the issues at polling centers.
CLick through for story. This is so blatant that even now I can hardly imagine it succeeding though the courts. Even the courts we have now. But there is always a possibility. Clearly they think they are on to something.

Food For Thought

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