Yesterday, I pretty well caught up on sleep. We’ll see how long that lasts. I am going to see Virgil again this weeken, buth to make up to him (and to me) for the pne I missed, and to get back on schedule.
And last week, Action Network introduced a new FAFO campaign – not what you’re thinking. This time, it stands for Fight Amazon, Fight Oligarchs.
I could have posted just tRobery Reich‘s video – especially since the message is something we all know. But his suggested responses are well worth reading – particularly the last one.
This is from Vote Vetes. The highest rank of General is four star (short of being the General of the Army) and that is what the title of the series alludes to punningly. I realize a lot of veterans are Republicans. But those who are not – like the Vindmans, Jason Crow, Mark Kelly, Tammy Duckworth, Mikie Sherrill,and others, really do make good legislators and governors – because they take their oath seriously.
Yesterday, the news was of course filled with Iran. The mass shoooting in Austin almost got lost. All I have is the initial breaking release and it’s not all that helpful. I emailed Pat B to ask whether she and hers are all right, but it’s pretty late here and an hour later there so I’m not expecting a reply before Tuesday. Trinette was by – have you ever noticed there are people who can make you feel better just by walking into the room? Virgil called and I reminded him who his case manager is. Hopefully he will remember long enough to ask he the balance in his commissary account.
My first thought when I realized that the Saffron Sauron had bombed Iran was, “He got a taste of the blood of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, and now he wants more.” Even if he is too stupid to realize that being at war means your own people getting killed, and even if Kegsbreath is that stupid, there must be someone who is not. Now, after the first casualties including military of ours have been reported, he has his wish. I won’t be crude, but you’ll likely know exactly what I’m thinking when I say he must be thrilled. If you want to follow this war closely, I mean really closely, your best bet is probably Malcolm Nance’s Substack, called “Black Man Spy.” It’s video, because writing takes time, and it is as up to the minute as possible. He does it along with a Danish spy, Jacob Kaarsbo, who has also worked in the area, so both have insider knowledge about the region. Together, they have far more knowledge than I could ever hope to supply. They do it pretty early in the morning, but it’s set (not all live videos are) to re-post a recording after it’s ended. That usually takes roughly an hour (but don’t give up). Or if you are a subscriber, free or paid, Substack will send an email when the recording is up.
This video is from Saturday morning, right after the bombing of Iran. It’s 22 minutes long
This is what we have done – what the monster we elected has done in our name. I don’t think “I’m sorry” or “we’re sorry” will cut it.
I could go on – and probably will as it goes on. But this is my final statement for today.
Yesterday, I did my best to get this post finished and up and a dolid head start on tomorrow’s and still get to bed early. I wish I could say it was easy, but I don’t knowingly lie to y’all. But somehow I managed.
I still just have a landline myself. So it shouldn’t be surprising that I find this interesting.
I realize it’s hard to live without Amazon. But it can be done. If you can’t find a specialty online store which sells direct, you can check out etsy and ebay. You might still end up enriching a MAGAt without knowing it – but it will be one individual MAGAt, not a billionaire. I can live with that.
Archived from Huff Post. You could probably see it without, but it would be tedious. It should be no surprise that red states are facilitating, not merely accepting, right wing cruelty. Not surprising – just disgusting.
This is JoJo from Jerz, in case anyone has missed her. The “Siren Podcast” comprises her, Brooklyn Dad Defiant (BDD) and the occasional guest. NSFW.
Yesterday, I visited with Virgil, and we played cribbage. He fot the hand of the day – two double runs of three (16 points) over cards containing numbers adding to 15 (8 more points.) It was early in the day, but IIRC, it was in the crib, which is miraculous. The drive down wasn’t bad, considering the snow. It wasn’t snowing yesterday, not the day before, but on Friday we got what Weather Underground claimed was 7 inches of it. I would sear the on the front hood of my car alone there was still 12 inches, and I didn’t get it all off – just enough to see. When I came out from seeing Virgil. however, all of it was gone. I can’t prove this – I did park at an ange so the afternoon sun could do as much as possible – but I strongly suspect that one of the staff, going rounds in the parking lot as they do, knocked it all off. The staff there comprises the kind of people who would do that. In any case, the drive home was even easier than the drive down – the only rough part was getting into the driveway, and tha worst of that was walking of the remaining snow, now partly thawed and re-frozen twice, to get to my front door. But (obviously) I made it without injury or even slipping. If anyone was able to participate in a “No Kings” sponsored demonstration either Saturday or yesterday, I hope it went well. I received some photos in emails, but am too tired to work anything up tonight. I’ll get a post up this week.
This and the HCR video are connected. Both are related to the second World War. This is more about what we didn’t do this time but should have. The video is more about something we did right, but boy, was it ever touch and go. )And the video is quite short.)
“JoJo from Jerz” now has a Substack, If you have ever seen any of her memes posted on line, you know the is truthful and witty, and doesn’t mince words. I watched a video of her talking with Andy Kim, who is now one of her Senators – you may remember him as the Congressman (he was in the House then) who stayed behind after the Jan 5 insurrection to work on cleaning the Rotunda. I’m not linking to that video, since it’s longish, but to an essay she published on fascism and Orwell.
Archived from HuffPost. I don’t like it, but it’s factual, and I believe itls better for us all to be aware of the obstacles sooner than later, so we won’t hurt ourselves and ethical prosecutors complaining after the fact that it took too long or it isn’t good enough.
HCR Bulge
Bonus video – in between the political one and the animal one because it’s a political animal. It’s repetitive (after all, feline vocabulary is limited), but it’s also short, do watch it to the end. Oh, and it’s definitely NSFW.
Yesterday, I received two Axios alerts about the courts – one that SCROTUS will hear Metanucillini’s birthright citizenship case, and the other that a Federal judge has ordered Epstein’s grand jury transcripts unsealed. Also, The Root had an update on Baby Chance – you’ll remember the case. And the New York Times (are you sitting down?) actually did something in favor of freedom of the press.
Colorado Public Radio addresses my Secretary of State’s refusal to turn sensitive voter information over to the DOJ. I knew that was the case but it’s good to also have her legal reasons. I might also point out the request is unconstitutional – the conversation gives the states sole authority to run elections. There have been times I wished that wasn’t the case – but now is not one of those times.
This is essentially one story from Senator Hickenlooper – and it’s a story comparable to Abrego Garcia’s. Hick and his staff are doing everything they can think of and are getting stonewalled at every step.
Yes, I realize this is almost an hour long, and yes, there are some ums and aws in it. That’s why I put it in Saturday when it’s from Thursday. There is a transcript if that’s better for you (I didn’t vet it so it may have some creative spelling in it.) The first 16¼ minutes are an overview of history starting in the 1920s and then explaining how we got here from the 1980s. I lived through a lot of it, and I expect you did too. After that she goes into how we got here from 1980, including the “Some people are better than others” fallacy (of course some people are smarter and/or more competent than others, but the idea that skin color or gender has anything to do with that is such an obvious fallacy that one really has to have a mind which is out of shape to fall for it.) She explains how the unitary executive theory was proposed and is being used to make some people worth less in law. She touches on a principle that if you take a random 10 people, 2 will have actual opinions on government and 8 just want things to go smoothly and predictably so they don’t have to think about it – and just want to get along with people, and how to use that knowledge to get through to many people on whom reason and logic don’t work. She mentioned that she put so much effort into this video that she might not do a Thursday night letter (turns out she did, but it didn’t post until after 3 am her time). If you choose not to watch it or read the transcript, that’s fine. It’s your decision.
Yesterday, The news was that Dick Cheney has died. Obviously I’m no fan, and I doubt anyone here is. But he did tell Liz to “Save the Republic,” and she did work on the Jan 6 committee, and she is fundraising for Democratic candidates such as Zoe Lofgren now, and I wouldn’t mind telling her she has my sympathy. If anyone sees any such petition, please let me know. Also, it appears we won a trifecta in Virginia – a state where the Gov and Lt Gov run separately rather than on a ticket – bu we won both. And their legislative House. I’m also seeing reports that Mikie Sherrill won the Governor’s race in New Jersey, but that is not official as I type. I hope it’s correct. And Zohran Mamdami won the New York City Mayoralty.
Heather Cox Richardson starts with Nick Fuentes (and Groypers) and proceeds into other Republican officials, advisers, and influencers, all disgusting. Unfortunately, however, it’s true – you can’t tell the players without a program. This is (among other things) the program.
Robert Reich , because the current Federal government would never consider a wealth tax, is working on one to propose in California. They hope to get it onto the ballot in 2026. He says there are other states looking at it, but doesn’t mention which states.
Okay, okay, this is not news – it is Borowitz. I read the headline and mentally responded, “Don’t tease me, bro.” But actually – now is not the time for it to be good news. Don’t think they could not find someone worse!
Yesterday, another quiet day – which is wonderful, Heck, any one day under the current regime is more excitement than I need for the rest of my life.
Apparently Jimmy Kimmel was back on TV last night (as Wonkette and others expected). But that doesn’t matter in connection with what Robert Reich has to say about the whole kerfuffle, both here and in his video for Inequality Media (below).
Dan Froomkin from Press Watch thinks the Old Gray Lady may be reverting to actual journalism. I think the key words are “may be,” but he does have some examples to share. I note that this does NOT apply to the Washington Post.
This from the Talking Feds Substack is, of course, an opinion, but I have seen a fair amount about this, and thought about it. I would never support shutting down a government which is working well. But this one isn’t. It is in fact actively harmful. And I think Talking Feds is on to something. To shut down the Government and make it count, we need to make it about fascism. I think we can, and I think we should.
A guest video today from Robert Reich – not just OK but encouraged to share.
Yesterday, I really overslept. I’m not complaining – I do need that on Mondays as a rule to make up for sleep lost on the weekend. But it does mean I need to be savage with my inbox. Also yesterday – at one time there was a way to link an image to a website here – but that seems to have disappeared. I am concerned that, between its size and the elongation to images we are experiencing, the cartoon may not be legible – there’s so much in jt. So here’s a link where it can be read larger and in proportion.
Chris Bowers has established an Act Blue page addressed to the points he makes. I’m not intending to push that. What I take from this is, frankly, confirmation that, although we can now successfully elect women to the Senate and to be state Governors, even to be Vice President, we cannot yet elect a woman to be President. And, at least for a while, we should quit trying. Because we have only accomplished three things trying – we have ended one woman’s career and allowed her legacyto be tarnished, and we have damaged another woman’s career path (both outstanding women), and we have handed the country over to fascists. I am not saying there will never be a woman President (although I will not live to see one). I am saying we have done enough damage for a while and we need to rebuild the country first – and to work for changes which are not political but cultural in nature.
I confess I did not watch the video that Steve Schmidt included as evidence in this post. But I have no doubt Steve Schmidt has pretty much nailed it (except that I would say Miller is a full-sized Eichmann, not a little one any more.)
From Harry Litman of Talking Feds. Not so much about law as about history. It certainly clarifies the moment – although the moment is unquestionably a dark one.
