Jul 152022
 

Yesterday, I woke up with the wasp sting virtually gone. I can still see a tiny mark, but the swelling and the pain are gone. I really dodged a bullet there. I also emailed a request to visit Virgil Sunday. I don’t usually leave it this late … but now thathe is in an informary – that is not normally supposed to be a permanent assignment – he could be moved again at any time and I wouldn’t be told.So I need to track him on line and wait longer than I like to to minimize the chances of his being oved between the time I reserve a visit and the time of the visit itself. It’s no wonder I use a pop-up reminder system with sound to keep track of when I need to do what. )I try to use sounds related to what the reminder is for, but that’s not always possible.) Bottom line, I hope to visit Virgil Sunday, but won’t know for sure until sometime today.

Cartoon – 15 0715Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

CPR News – Mesa County DA says he will seek to revoke Clerk Tina Peters’ bond
Quote – Mesa County’s District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said he will seek to revoke the bond of Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters after she traveled out of state in violation of her bond. Rubinstein said Peters violated the conditions of her bond when she left for Nevada without permission this week. Peters was speaking at an event with the Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association.
Click through for what is getting to be a bigger story every day. Apparently there really is no limit to how low Republicans will sink (except those few Republicans, like the DA, who stll have ethics.) And now there’s ben a third arrest.  You might think I’d be a bit embarrassed that this happened in Colorado, but actually, I’m proud it was caught.  Just because it wasn’t caught elsewhere doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

The 19th – The cost of giving birth with insurance: $2,854, a new study says
Quote – The out-of-pocket costs represent insurance-related bills related to pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. The researchers analyzed a dataset of health insurance claims data from 2018 to 2020, comparing women between the ages of 15 and 49 who gave birth to those who didn’t. The data does not account for transgender and nonbinary people who may have given birth. In total, pregnancy and childbirth for someone with private insurance costs about $18,865. Most of that is paid by the insurance plan but can result in higher insurance premiums down the line. So though the $2,853 figure is just one fraction of the overall cost, it represents the bills new parents have to pay on their own for a single birth.
Click through for details. Yes, pre-natal and at least some post-partum care were included. But it’s still ridiculous – the $2,854 figure is just the co-pays. The real figure is betwen $18 and $19 THOUSAND. I’ve never seen ay data on suicides in pregnant people … but I guarantee if I were in that position, it would certainly occur to me.

Food For Thought


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Jun 282022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Two topics: how to combat the Supreme Court revoking women’s rights; how to hold Trump accountable

Meidas Touch – AOC brings the HOUSE DOWN with Scathing Speech After Roe v Wade Decision

The Lincoln Project – Wandrea “Shaye” Moss

Farron Balanced – Fox News Host Hilariously Smacks Down Dr Oz For Lying About Poll Numbers

OwlKitty in Lord of the Rings

Beau – Let’s talk about unpacking the Supreme Court decision…. (I am in favor of a two-pronged strategy – expand AND impeach. But then I’ve always been a belt-and-suspenders type)

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Jun 272022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Supreme Court revokes women’s constitutional rights. Congress MUST open impeachment hearings – NOW (the sound is odd, but there is CC)

Meidas Touch – Adam Kinzinger Stuns with Speech of the Year during Jan 6 Hearings

The Lincoln Project – Lady Ruby

MSNBC – Lawrence: Samuel Alito’s Lies Did Not Stop In His Confirmation Hearing

VoteVets – Pride

Beau – Let’s talk about what happens if Trump is acquitted….

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Jun 112022
 

Glenn Kirschner – With J6 committee public hearings set to begin, we ask: why has DOJ apparently chosen to go second?

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Republicans Canceling Pizza Hut for Celebrating Pride Month (different tone from usual)

The Lincoln Project – Retire

The Republican Accountability Project – Time for the truth about January 6

MSNBC – The Republican Plot To Overturn The Next Election

Ojeda Live – I’m Back! (He was in Europe)

Beau – Let’s talk about what it means to be a conservative….

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Jun 102022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump recruits & deploys the Proud Boys on 1/6, making him part of the PB’s seditious conspiracy

Meidas Touch – Harry Litman REVEALS identity of Secret Star Witness for Jan 6 Hearings

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – June 7, 2022

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Dives Into Scapegoating of D.A. Boudin (Of course the recall is over – and, sadly, our side lost – but the opportunty to learn is always present. Incidentally, I could actually agree with Tom Cotton to this degree – there are WAY too many Republicans running around loose.)

CNN – Ex-gun industry insider speaks out about Republicans and NRA

Mini Horse Tries So Hard To Make His Very First Friend

Beau – Let’s talk about an analogy to help people understand the climate….

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Jun 042022
 

Glenn Kirschner – With J6 hearings to begin 6/9, we finally learn that DOJ is criminally investigating Trump. Why now?

Meidas Touch – Tucker Carlson admits he LIES to viewers in SHOCKING new interview

The Lincoln Project – The Republican Army

MSNBC – Jail: Facing Criminal Subpoena, Trump Aide Threatens Biden, Pelosi, Fauci (including very nice eyeroll)

CNN – He helped decode Mark Meadows’ texts. What he found scared him (Long but meaty. Partial transcript here.) https://crooksandliars.com/2022/06/intelligence-expert-says-jan-6-data

The Daily Show – The Story of Covfefe: Based on a True Typo

Beau – Let’s talk about Georgia showing Wyoming the way….

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Jun 022022
 

Yesterday, I finished that last new cartoon for June, which is for the 28th. It kind of got me thinking. Some of us have probably heard about the “Habsburg jaw,” which this Habsburg certainly had, and the beard didn’t do much to hide it. These days I see a lot of jokes about moronic and generally poor MAGAts who perhaps result from inbreeding – but historicall, all the way back to ancient Egypt, it was not the poor butthe wealthy who famously inbred (presumably under theimpression that no one but others in their class were good enough for them.) Tutankhamen for instance – his mummy has been examined and by modern specialists, who indicate he had so many deformities he may never have had a pain free day in his short life. In Eurpoe, not only the Habsburg jaw but the Russian royal family’s hemophilia came from inbreeding. Of course it sometimes occurred among the poor as well, particularly if there were some reason which required them to live in isolation, such as the Sawney Bean case in Scotland – that family was anything but rich (although modern Scots with the surname Bean are thoughy to be descendants of MacBeth, so go figure.) I also have established my list to make a record for July of which cartoons from 2014 I can reuse and which I can’t. I haven’t started that actual reviewing yet, and I won’t start this week fur sure, but when I am ready, I’m prepared.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – This QAnon Leader Could Control Key Elections in 2024
Quote – While the 65-year-old Willott remains all but unknown outside of QAnon, he’s a figure with growing influence in both the conspiracy-theory universe and the broader conservative movement. Along the way, many of Willott’s supporters have come to believe he’s John F. Kennedy Jr. in disguise. He’s also befriended Q-friendly celebrities, including comedian Roseanne Barr and The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel…. Despite his growing influence, almost nothing has been reported about Willott’s background. The Daily Beast has amassed the most extensive reporting on Willott yet, from his background as a second-rate investigator looking into Bill Clinton in the 1990s to his reinvention as the cosmopolitan secret agent Juan O. Savin, to his new role as a power broker on the far right.
Click through for more than you will find anywhere else… stuff we probably ought to be aware of.

Politico – ‘It’s going to be an army’: Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections
Quote – The plan, as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan, includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establishing a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.
Click through for story. I’m aware Politico is considered to be right leaning. But they seem to publish a lot of stuff one would think the right would not want us to know

Democratic Underground – The Party of the Brave
Quote – Republicans are more afraid of a teenaged boy wearing mascara than a teenaged boy buying an AK-15….
They are more afraid of losing their ‘white privilege’ than they are of losing their country….
They are more afraid of being called-out by Sean Hannity than they are of being called-up by the January 6 Committee.
Click through for full post. Nance Greggs is a community member at DU, but is highly respected aby other members, and this post may suggest why.

Food For Thought

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May 242022
 

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio News published thefirst photo of the first bud (at leasst in eighty years) on the Camp Amache rose. It is pink. I cropped the photo so it would fit here. I was deeply touched.   I’m looking forward to seeing it after it opens.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

CPR News – Why two CPR News journalists are in Europe with Colorado’s National Guard
Quote – Colorado’s Army and Air National Guard units are just some of the 1,200 Guard members from six states — Maryland, which has a state partnership with Estonia, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — taking part in this exercise. In total, more than 3,400 U.S. military and 5,100 allied service members are spending this month participating in Defender and various other exercises, with names like Swift Response, Iron Wolf, Flaming Thunder and Summer Shield, across Eastern Europe…. Now, the U.S. military will be the first to tell you that Defender is unrelated to what’s happening in Ukraine (and the former Foreign Service officer in me would agree with that). American troops rotate, train and exercise regularly across the region as part of the nation’s relationship with Europe…. Yet, this annual exercise has taken on added significance — to reporters like me, and readers like you, and possibly the people of Estonia too — because of what’s happening in Ukraine.
Click through for story. It’s a good day to be a Coloradan Despite Lauren Boebert (and Doug Lamborn), we have reasons to take pride in our state. (And it has some gorgeous phptps pf Tallinn.)

The Conversation – He’s Australia’s 31st prime minister. So who is Anthony Albanese?
Quote – To continue the slow burn theme, if Albanese is to be believed, his ambition for leadership formed late. Those who reach leadership positions are typically consumed with an aspiration for the top job from early in their parliamentary careers — if not before. They are fuelled by a sense of their own prime-ministerial destiny. Albanese is different. On his telling, it was only in 2013, on the defeat of Rudd’s second government, that he first entertained thoughts of becoming leader. Until then he had contented himself with the role of “counsellor and kingmaker”.
CLick through for background. I won’t promise that this will be my last article on the Australian election – I hadn’t planned having another one, but I think this has merit. I am convinced that the so-called “fire in the belly” which so many pundits say leaders need is actually a bad thing if one wants the best possible leadership.

NM Political Report – In light of drought, NM congresswomen introduce bills focused on water and science
Quote – “We know that our farmers and our communities are struggling to meet their water needs,” U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat representing the state’s 1st Congressional District, said during a press conference on Thursday. “And the pieces of legislation that we introduced this week will be game changers to help address those needs, put resources into the hands of our communities, and to address the long term water security of our communities.”
Click through for details of the proposals.  Of course we all knew that getting the right women into the right offices would be beneficial to everyone.

Food For Thought

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