Sep 222022
 

Yesterday, although I’m not really ready to go back to three short takes, there were three stories so different but so connected I could not decide which one to leave out. Also, Tish James’s fraud investigation is now to the point where she can formally file (a civil) suit against Trump** personally, three of his children, and several officers. (The investigation has been done under a filing against the Trump** Organization, not anyone personally, so this is a bigger step than it may sound.)  Also, though it wasn’t all that easy, I did manage to take out trash and recyclables for pickup tomorrow. Which pretty well wore me out for the rest of the evening. I need to post Shirley Serban’s parody of “Let’s do the time warp again,” which she calls “I’m feeling time-worn again,” in the video thread, because it expresses exactly how I so often feel. It won’t be today – I need to address my “Parody Project” backlog first – but maybe tomorrow.

Cartoon – 22 0922Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Talking Points Memo – The Search for Perla
Quote – [E]ven the barest look at the details we know [about the story of the Venezuelan immigrants shipped off to Martha’s Vineyard] make it very unlikely this was an official or on-the-books government operation. And yet it’s one Gov. Desantis has publicly taken credit for and said was paid for with taxpayer funds from Florida. [Representatives of LULAC, the Latino civil rights organization] went to Martha’s Vineyard on Friday to talk to the asylum-seekers and get more details about what happened. They were able to flesh out the story about “Perla” and her team in San Antonio.
Click through for quite a story. As far as I know, “Perla” has not yet been definitively identified. These people – these MAGAts – just will not stop criming long enough for investigations to make any progress.

Mother Jones – DeSantis Flying Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard Is Part of a 60-Year-Old Segregationist Playbook
Quote – Bell and Williams were among almost 100 people to be shipped under false pretenses to the resort town over the spring and summer of 1962 as part of a white supremacist campaign to send Black people from the South to northern cities. Overall, some 200 people were bused to Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, and other cities in Indiana, Idaho, and New Hampshire. The political ploy was a retaliation for the Freedom Rides from the previous year, when a group of 13 Black and white civil rights activists with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) embarked on southbound buses from Washington, DC, to protest continued segregation in interstate transportation despite the Supreme Court having ruled that it was unconstitutional.
Click through for history. Not only will they not stop criming, they can’t even be bothered to think of anything new.

Daily Kos (Vetwife) – So many executive orders moving DA’s and Judges around in Florida. What is this about?
Quote – I took a look at DeSantis Executive orders and all I see for the most part is soooo much moving District Attorneys (called state attorneys in Florida) and Judges around. Were these people not elected? There are also some Executive orders marked “ Confidential” and you cannot see them. Not clickable anywhere so much for Sunshine State. We need to be looking under every rock this guy is hiding with his pen. God only [knows] what he is doing in secret.
Click through for more. Vetwife is community, not staf, but she is no dummy and has a nose for corruption. She implies that in FLorida both prosecutors and judges are elected. If that is the case, ALL of these executive orders MUST violate SOMETHING – if not the Sate law or Constitution, surely Federal law or the Constitution? IANAL, of course.

Food For Thought

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Jul 302022
 

Yesterday, the Hawley Run for your life video inspired someone on DU to resurrect Randy Rainbow’s song about him … and it certainly stll sounds very current. How about we do an informal poll on bringing some of his older productions back into the Video Thread (starting with that one)? Also, I received a grocery order which included nothing frozen and very little refrigerated . Much easier to put away than usual.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/fl-republican-may-have-disqualified
Quote – Introduced by state Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and signed into law last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the new statute requires a candidate vying for a party’s nomination to be a registered party member for 365 days before qualifying for the post begins. Elections supervisor records show that Stark did not re-register as a Republican voter until January 2022.
Click through for story. Not the most important story in the world – but good for a smile anyway. I hope they enforce it. Snit fits should have consequences.

The New Yorker – Will Wisconsin’s Republicans Make Voting Meaningless, or Just Difficult?
Quote – In the time since she’d moved to the [nursing] home, more than a year earlier, no staff member had mentioned voting to her. Three weeks before the April primaries, [Jessica] Nell asked a senior staff member how to change her address in order to vote. The staff member refused to help, according to Nell. “I’m not going to go room to room and tell everybody about voting, because ninety per cent of the people here shouldn’t be able to vote,” she recalled him saying.
Click through for the climate and the stakes. Before is was Fitzwalkerstan, Wisconsin used to be reasonab’e. Them it bacame fascist before fascism was cool. And neighboring Minnesota seems almost equally infected.

Food For Thought –

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May 022022
 

Yesterday, I didn’t need the TENS unit for my back. So I jumped in and used it on my shoulders, which have been complaining lately. A couple of hours when I got up, and then I left the pads in place and did another hour in the evening, I don’t often have the luxury to skip the back, so I wanted to get as much as I could (and it’s very awkward to place the pads for where inside the shoulder the pain is, so it makes sense to leave them in place.) I did feel much better. I also got my forms filled out and scanned for requesting to visit Virgil next Sunday. I can’t sent the email till today … but I may just have sent it a little after midnight. I also inventoried and ordered over the counter meds. And I even finished knitting a vest.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Biden Knows Just How To Handle McConnell. And McConnell Hates It
Quote – You can’t work together in a small body like the U,S. Senate as Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell have, and not get to know each other pretty well. As Biden weaves his way through a deadlocked Senate, requiring VP Kamala Harris to cast tie breaking votes, it becomes crystal clear that Biden paid a whole lot closer attention to McConnell than McConnell did to Biden.
Click through for mini-civics-lesson. Murfster is pretty shrewd. Let’s hope he’s right on this one.

Crooks and Liars – DeSantis Ruthlessly Mocked For Idiotic Claim About Old Cartoons
Quote – “Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Pepe LePew cartoons featured bestiality, people (or ducks) getting shot in the face with a shotgun, and stalking/sexual assault.”….“When we were younger, we watched cartoons about a French skunk who raped female cats which was totally fine because he was heterosexual.”
Click through for more examples. All the salacious examples people came up with are from Warner Brothers. But I could argue that Disney’s rigis gender roles did as much damage, if not more. (And neither Snow White not Sleeping Beauty consented to those kises.)

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paigeskinner/gun-violence-medical-labor-photos
BuzzFeed News – One Bullet Can Kill, But It Takes More Than 100 People To Save A Gunshot Victim’s Life
Quote – More often than not in Philadelphia, it’s a police officer who transports a gunshot victim to the hospital in what’s called a “scoop and run,” which eliminates the time waiting for a paramedic. Gun violence is so prevalent that Sgt. Gregorrio Santiago said he takes part in a scoop and run nearly every day. After “scooping” the gunshot victim into the backseat of a cruiser, police will alert hospital workers to be ready at the entrance to immediately put the victim on a stretcher. Philadelphia’s scoop-and-run program means more gunshot victims make it to the hospital alive, Santiago said.
Click through for – there’s a member at DU who invariabley comments on the daily political cartoons, “Thank you fot this depressingly excellent collection” – a depressingly excellent article.

Food For Thought

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May 012022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Atlantic article: Why it’s a smart political calculation for Republicans to say, “Trump’s a Loser”

Lincoln Project – Laughing

Meidas Touch (ICYMI) – Trump REVEALS Fear of Being Killed by Fruit During Sworn Deposition | Tony REACTS!

MSNBC – Lawrence: Ron DeSantis Is $1 Billion Stupider Than We Thought

VoteVets – John McCain Called Out Rand Paul As A Russian Asset Long Ago

Brent Terhune – Praying on Planes (Once again his satire is so brilliant you may be tempted to think he’s for real.)

Beau – Let’s talk about getting banned books for free….

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Apr 262022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Meadows had advance reports of possible violence on Jan 6 yet he & Trump did zip to protect Capitol

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Shameless Kevin McCarthy Border Stunt!

The Lincoln Project – Former President Obama on Challenges to Democracy

MSNBC – Democrats May Have A New Weapon In The Fight Against The GOP’s Culture War

Cake and war: Ukrainians mark sombre Orthodox Easter (I’ve been to Orthodox Easter services – just Russian and Greek. They are absolutely gorgeous, and a feast for the senses Orthodox Easter is almost never on the same day as it is in the west. This year it was a week after ours.)

Cute Cat Stands Up Like A Person When She Wants Treats

Beau – Let’s talk about Disney and Desantis…. Beau’s take is sound. The branding he describes goes way, way back tobefore Disney World. It was part of Disneyland from its inception. But then Beau’s takes are usually sound.

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Apr 252022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Lordy there are Cheney-McCarthy tapes! And they prove Kevin McCarthy is a coward AND a liar.

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to leaked Kevin McCarthy Tapes!

The Lincoln Project – Ron DeSantis: Bad for business

Ring of Fire – Judge Hits Capitol Rioter With Longer Sentence Due To Pathetic Defense

Really American – Dr. Oz Shady History With Foreign Dictators EXPOSED

Robert Reich – The Solutions to the Climate Crisis No One is Talking About

Beau – Let’s talk about new tools in Ukraine….

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Apr 242022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Don Jr. to meet w/J6 committee; Alex Jones wants to talk to DOJ prosecutors BUT demands immunity

Meidas Touch – Judge STORMS OFF after Rudy Guiliani unveiled as The Masked Singer

The Lincoln Project – Kevin McCarthy is a Liar

Farron Balanced – Florida CRT Math Book Panic Based On Fake Image From Twitter (Of course that isn’t really why. The real reason is a sweetheart deal between DeSantis and the approved books’ publisher But this is quite believable if you ddn’t know about the money.)

Really American – Marjorie Taylor Greene PANICS about ‘Nasty’ Press Allowed to Cover Her in Court

Robert Reich – How We Stand Up to Putin and Stop Climate Catastrophe

Beau – Let’s talk about a new law Tennessee about homelessness….

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Apr 232022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Rep Jamie Raskin: Public Hearings Will Show, “Trump Launched a Coup Against VP Pence and Congress.”

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Meidas Touch – Texan HUMILIATES Ted Cruz for Disney Furry Porn Fetish

Really American – Fox Host CALLS OUT Desantis’ CRT Math Claims On Air

Crooks and Liars – McCarthy Denies He Said He’d Ask Trump To Resign. Maddow Has The Tape. (McCarth is a liar. In other news, the sun came up this morning.)

Armageddon Update – The Arrogance of the Left (I don’t think “arrogance” is the right word – but it might as well bem because everything else in the rant is correct.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Mallory McMorrow and identifying with the bad guy….

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