Video Thread 1/19/2022

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jan 192022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Is Garland’s DOJ Investigating Trump and Company? Here Are Some Clues From Garland’s Past Work

Meidas Touch – How PLAYBOY saved Reporter Brian Karem’s Life on Jan 6!! |

politicsrus – Its Your Moment

MSNBC – Rep. Raskin: Jan. 6 Public Phase Will Hopefully Be Like Watergate Hearings (I didn’t realize how deeply good trouble ran in his family. That explains a lot.)

Really Americn – Republicans STEALING Americans Right To Vote

Rocky Mountain Mike – Pee All That You Can Pee

Beau – Let’s talk about Tucker, the lost and found, and the way it is….

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Video Thread 1/18/2022

 Posted by at 11:46 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jan 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Short: Trump’s Foot Soldiers are Indicted. Now It’s Time to Indict the Command Structure.

The Lincoln Project – Tribute

politicsrus – Betrayal

Rebel HQ – US Army Offers $50K Bonus To New Recruits

MSNBC – ‘Part Of A Much Larger Conspiracy’: Investigation Into 16 Michigan Republicans

Liberal Redneck – President Sinema?? (Naw)

Beau – Let’s talk about political and military wings again….

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Video Thread 1/15/2022

 Posted by at 12:27 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jan 152022
 

Glenn Kirschner – The case for Subpoenaing/Investigating Reps Jim Jordan & Scott Perry for Covering-Up Trump’s Crimes

American Bridge – AB21 Co-Chair Steve Bullock discusses NYT Op-Ed on CNN

No Dem Left Behind – NDLB’s Richard Ojeda on why Trump remains a grave threat to the Democratic Party

Crooks and Liars – If you can’t convince them with reason, can it hurt to try absurdity?

KAYAK – Mom’s a KAYAK Denier (oh. my!)

Beau – Let’s talk about why they aren’t talking to the committee….

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Open Thread for January 14, 2022

 Posted by at 6:33 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 142022
 

Yesterday, while still taking things slowly, I worked ahead a little bit. That pretty much gave nme the evening free, and I appreciated it.  Incidentally a good phrase for today might be “superseding indictments.  Some Oath Keepers are going to get those now that their leader has been arrested for Seditious Conspiracy.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Huff Post – Voters Challenge Madison Cawthorn’s Reelection Bid On Constitutional Grounds
Quote – The nonprofit Free Speech For People filed a challenge with the North Carolina State Board of Elections on behalf of 11 North Carolina voters, stating that Cawthorn has violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Section 3 says that no person may hold political office “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The section was initially aimed at lawmakers who had plotted or battled against the U.S. government during the Civil War.
Click through for details. After reading this, I sent an email to Colorado’s Secretary of State, Who is up for reelection in 2022, cited this article, told her I trust her and am proud of her, and remindng her of some things Lamborn has doe – like taking Lauren Boebert for a tour of the Pueblo Chemical Depot and accepting a decoration from Viktor Orban – which, far from trying to keep secret, he has bragged abot in emails. I don’t know whether any of that will help, but hey, nothing ventured …

Crooks and Liars – Blackburn Goes Out Of Her Way To Humiliate Black Judicial Appointee
Quote – Tennessee’s Senator Marsha Blackburn decided to try to make a Black judicial appointee, Andre B. Mathis, look like a criminal when she said he had a “rap sheet.”… What was on this alleged rap sheet? Breaking and entering? Kidnapping? Murder? Grand Larceny? None of these. Mathis had 3 unpaid speeding tickets, one of them for driving five miles over the speeding limit.
Click through for context. I’ve often pointed out, usually in connection with immigration, that anyone who has ever had a speeding ticket (or even earned one and not gotten it) has absolutely no right to whine that undocumented immigrants “broke the law.” I wonder how many tickets Blackburn has earned, and how recently.

Columbia Dispatch – Redistricting: Ohio Supreme Court strikes down state House and Senate maps
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor (R) was the key vote, breaking with her party to rule against the maps. O’Connor, a Republican, joined the court’s three Democratic justices and the three GOP justices dissented. O’Connor, who has served in statewide office for 24 years, suggested an alternative to the commission, which she called out for its partisanship.
Click through for some good news. Ohio elects its judges – I hope Justice O’Connor is prepared to be primaried

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread for January 12, 2022

 Posted by at 6:46 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 122022
 

Yesterday, I did take some time to disengageshort sessions with a couple of games just to relax. And deal with a package. And even to stream a movie (“The Canterville Ghost” with Patrick Stewart.) It’s a wonder I got both posts up.

Cartoon – (I’m pretty sure no one ever too TC up on this offer.)

Short Takes –

Here’s where election-denying candidates are running to control voting
Quote – An NPR analysis of 2022 secretary of state races across the country found at least 15 Republican candidates running who question the legitimacy of President Biden’s 2020 win, even though no evidence of widespread fraud has been uncovered about the race over the last 14 months. In fact, claims of any sort of fraud that swung the election have been explicitly refuted in state after state, including those run by Republicans.
Click through for states and names. These may be the most important elections of 2022. As Beau says, “If you live in one of these dtates, and you have ever desired to get interested in electoral politics, now is your time.” (Pass it on.)

Mother Jones – The Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Begging for Pardons Sound an Awful Lot Like Confederate Soldiers
Quote – Radical Republicans feared Lincoln’s 10 percent plan was too lenient. They were proved right when, after Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson—who not a year earlier gave a speech saying, “I am for a white man’s government, and in favor of free white qualified voters controlling this country, without regard to negroes”—began undermining Reconstruction. He started by pardoning high-ranking Confederates. Among them was Harry T. Hayes, a former Confederate general who led the rebels at Gettysburg.
Click through for full story. I truly hope we can learn from their mistakes.

The Guardian – Why is so little known about the 1930s coup attempt against FDR?
Quote – The putsch called for [retired US Marine Corps Maj Gen Smedley Darlington Butler] to lead a massive army of veterans – funded by $30m from Wall Street titans and with weapons supplied by Remington Arms – to march on Washington, oust Roosevelt and the entire line of succession, and establish a fascist dictatorship backed by a private army of 500,000 former soldiers.
Click through for details. Those who follow the video thread know that Beau of the Fifth Column has spoken about the United States’ long history of choosing to “protect the Office of the Presidency,” and I expect that had a hand in hiding this history, though of course the rich and powerful were also prime movers. In my view, the best way to protect the Office of the Presidency is to ensure that anyone who defules that Office is held accountable.

Food For Thought:

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Video Thread 1/1/2022

 Posted by at 12:03 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jan 012022
 

Glenn – Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty by NY Jury. Prosecutors Should Now Explore Cooperation.

Meidas Touch – SHOCK: Trump’s cronies allegedly threatened Stephanie Winston Wolkoff’s life for speaking out?!

No Dem Lift Behind – NDLB’s Richard Ojeda on “The Treason Caucus”

Farron Balanced – Judge Slaps Down Capitol Rioter Who Tried To Use ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene Defense’

Puppet Regime – Is Democracy a Charade?

Karen The Hissing Emu Learns To Cuddle  (I robably left out something important – but I really wanted to put in this Karen.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Rand Paul and voting…. (We – democrats – thought this fallacy was obvious. Sadly, it needs to be pointed out.)

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Open Thread for December 29, 2021

 Posted by at 7:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 292021
 

Yesterday, I got some replies on the commenting system. Most said whatever works will be fine. Administrators said they absolutely want to be able to put pictures in comments (I didn’t hear from Lynn yet, but she used to put a lot of pictures in comments when her health allowed her to be more regular, so I’ll take that as a yes on puctures.) So we have a preferred choice, which at this point is Disqus. I will be doing it in the middle of the night so there won’t be any gaps during the times people normally comment, and it will probably be Friday night, because I have something else administrative to do that needs to bedone Friday night. So I may be late in responding to comments Saturday. I will be praying hard for no glitches … and anyone is welcome to join me in that!

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Alleged ‘dead’ Georgia voters found alive and well after 2020 election
Quote – Earlier in the year, the State Election Board found evidence that Sherry Cook of Trion had submitted an absentee ballot for her husband, Donald Cook, who died several months before the election. Cook told investigators that she and her daughter had returned the ballot after Donald Cook signed it before he died, but investigators said that was impossible because the ballot wasn’t issued until after his death.
Click through for details. All of the dead voters had dies before ths ballots were issued, but it is sort f implied that the ballot of someone who dies before Election day but after voting the ballot would count, as IMO it should.

truthout – LAPD Releases Footage From Police Killing of Valentina Orellana-Peralta
Quote – Orellana-Peralta was with her mother trying on clothes in a Burlington dressing room on Thursday when she was shot and killed by an officer whose name has yet to be released by the LAPD. Police said Monday that a bullet bounced off the floor and went through the wall of the dressing room.
Click through. You’ve probably seen news of this incident – I certainly have, but this is the first I’ve seen that mentions that the occasion for which she was shopping was her Quinceañera. That’s almost like shopping for a wedding dress. Both certainly conjure up images of the potential lost by the life being taken.

emptywheel – JUDGE TIM KELLY RELEASES OPINION ON OBSTRUCTION AFFECTING AS MANY AS TWO DOZEN PROUD BOYS
Quote – Perhaps the most notable language in the opinion rejects a comparison Nordean tried to make with the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court protests. ‘Arguing that the statute invites discriminatory enforcement, Defendants repeatedly point to charging decisions and plea deals related to other January 6 defendants… and the uncharged protestors on the Capitol steps during Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings…. But neither provides evidence of vagueness. Both merely show “the Executive’s exercise of discretion over charging determinations.” … And “Supreme Court precedent teaches that the presence of enforcement discretion alone does not render a statutory scheme unconstitutionally vague.” … [And] … “As always, enforcement requires the exercise of some degree of police judgment, but, as confined, that degree of judgment here is permissible.” ‘
Click through for full story. This may seem like – and it may be – a small point. But it’s one which it is very good to have cleared up now, before the big guns come out.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread for December 16, 2021

 Posted by at 6:35 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 162021
 

Yesterday, nothing was predictable or went as expected. Butterfingers here dropped some things … and then picked up some other things, some probably dropped months ago (like 4mm beads, and earring backs.) Mislaid some things, found one that I’d been looking for. Got a package and found one item was missing but one was included I hadn’t ordered (and it wasn’t on the packing slip – and this is unheard of with this supplier.) Loaded some pictures for FFT to the library, and two just disappeared (they were still on my computer, but I had to find them in the trash to re-load them.) All just little things, but a bit disorienting. Nothing I can’t survive LOL!

Cartoon – 16 Voyager loaded

Short Takes

Mother Jones – What if Media Covered the War on Democracy Like an Actual War?
Quote – As we wind down a year that began with a televised insurrection and ends with detailed reporting on what a 2024 coup could look like, it’s more important than ever to stay grounded in that story. Call it the Big Story, in contrast to the Big Lie…. The Big Story did not begin on November 3, 2020, but it did enter a new chapter that day. Remember those surreal weeks, just barely a year ago? Protesters banging on doors at ballot-counting centers, Rudy Giuliani holding forth outside a landscaping shop, election officials reporting vile threats to their families?
Click through for more reality. Yes, Monika wants to raise funds, but who can blame her. It’s not like this isn’t important.

Crooks and Liars – Seems Like People Are Missing The Real Mark Meadows Story
Quote – The plan all along was to create a clash between “patriots” and antifa/BLM that would allow Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and stay in office. Leftists threw a major monkey wrench into the plot by not showing up. (Thank you, leftists. Major props!)
Click through. It’s not long, and not a word is wasted. And she’s right. And I missed it too.

HuffPost – Final Child Tax Credit Payments Go Out Amid Doubt Over Program’s Future
Quote – As a main Democratic holdout in the Senate, Manchin has faced relentless questioning from reporters about his position on various elements of Build Back Better, and he lost his temper on Wednesday when HuffPost followed up with a question about whether he supported continuing the child tax credit in its current form. “This is bullshit,” he said. “You’re bullshit.”
Click through for backstory, and consequences. I find this situation painful, and I don’t even have kids.

Food For Thought:

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