GOP Crimes – Page 15 – Politics Plus

Video Thread 3/12/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:48 am Open Thread, Politics

Mar 122023

Glenn Kirschner – Trump demands immediate release of insurrectionists. Is he giving aid & comfort to the insurrection?

Senator Warren Calls out Chair Powell for Fed’s Plan to Throw At Least 2 Million People Out of Work

Farron Balanced – Trump’s Lawyers Whine That Prosecutors Have TOO MUCH Evidence Against Him

Robert Reich – The Great Grocery Store Heist

Tiny Puppy Leads Rescuer To Her Siblings

Beau – Let’s talk about things to remember from 2016…. (This is how all of us, anyone, can message.)

Open Thread March 12, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 122023

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Traviata,” an opera which I have never gotten tired of yet. Based on “La Dame aux Camélias” by Alexandre Dumas fils, first as a novel, then as a play (the play in English speaking countries is usually referred to as “Camille” – ironic because in French speaking countries “Camille” is a man’s name). The Greta Garbo movie was called “Camille.” Neither the play nor the opera was performed as being contemporary when they were new (the mid-nineteenth century), being considered too scandalous. They were often set in the 18th century. An Art Nouveau (gilded age) poster survives which shows Sarah Bernhardt as Marguerite (Violetta in the opera) in gilded age dress. In the 2000’s a German director, Willy Decker, staging it for an Austrian music festival, created a production in which the stage was very minimalistic, Violetta wore a sleeveless, full skirted (just about to the knee) red dress and red spiked heels, and literally everyone else wore modern male clothing, including the women, except one dude in the third scene who showed up in drag in a mockery of her dress, emotionally kicking her when she’s down. Her doctor, who only sings in the final scene, has mute business at different points throughout, including during the prelude, often conected with the huge clock face which dominates all the scenes except the one where she enjoys her brief happiness – because in addition to being her doctor he also represents the death which is inevitable for her, always hanging over her. People either love it or hate it, and I kind of did both. I hated the isolated scenes I saw of it first, but when I was able to see the whole thing – now I don’t think I want to see it any other way. (But I can still listen to it.) Here’s a review of the Decker production when it first came to the Met, if anyone cares. It is no longer being used at the Met, which has gone all the way back to the 18th century for now. Also in the broadcast was an interview with the general manager about the plans for next year, and there will be 4 Late 20th or 21st century operas never before presented at the Met, plus two more repeated from the last two seasons. Opening night will be “Dead Man Walking.” We won’t hear it then, because the radio season doesn’t start till over a month after the house opens, but I hope and trust we will hear it sometime – and hopefully all the others too.

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Short Takes –

Daily Beast – She Used a DNA Test to Identify Her Dad—and Her Mom’s Rapist
Quote – Cruz eventually sought help from [her attorney, Susan] Crumiller, a well-known legal advocate for sexual abuse survivors. They worked together to devise a legal strategy that would reopen the statute of limitations and allow them to seek justice. Then, in May of last year, New York passed the Adult Survivor’s Act, which opened a one-year “lookback window” for complaints of sexual abuse that were past the statute of limitations—complaints just like Cruz’s…. “My mother has had a hard life, and I hope this lawsuit will help her get the care that she deserves after OPWDD failed to protect her from her attacker 37 years ago,” she said in a statement.
Click through for story. The motto of the Daily Beast is “Truth is a beast” – and this story certainly demonstrates that.

Raw Story – Election denier Tina Peters found guilty — and could be going to jail
Quote – Peters, a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist, is best known for being indicted last year on completely separate charges of election tampering and misconduct, after she allegedly breached voting equipment to try to prove the 2020 presidential election was stolen. While her case was underway, she ran for Secretary of State of Colorado, and lost the GOP primary. She then had another arrest warrant issued against her after allegedly violating the terms of a protective order by contacting her former Mesa County office to demand a recount of that election.
Click through for details. As far as I know she’s no DNA relation to Lauren Boebert, but they are certainly two of a kind – the law doesn’t apply to them – just ask them.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 3/10/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:01 pm Open Thread, Politics

Mar 102023

Glenn Kirschner – Is Ivanka Trump throwing daddy, Don Jr. & Eric under the bus in NY AG Tish James’s civil fraud case?

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – March 7, 2023

MSNBC – Another Norfolk Southern train derails in Alabama as CEO testifies before Congress

Brent Terhune – They’re Grooming Kids

Chocolate Lab Growls At Her Foster Until…

Beau – Let’s talk about an upcoming consumer protection SCOTUS case…. (probably a year away, but really important)

Open Thread March 9, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 092023

Yesterday, I slept late but woke up refreshed. In my emails, I found one from Lakota Law about a Two-Spirit Powwow held lastmonth in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing to link to, but I put up a remoinder for myself for (I hope) early enough next year that I will be able to find it and share links to live streaming. I also worked on some cartoons coming up

Added today at about 10:45 am Pacific – Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized following a fall at a DC hotel. Per a McConnell spokesman: “This evening [now last evening – JD], Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment.”

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Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Greed needs guardrails!
Quote – The Labor Department is still woefully understaffed, and penalties are still too low. Every time the department’s budget is up for review, members of Congress — mostly (but not entirely) Republicans — refuse to appropriate enough funds for inspectors or to increase penalties. So of course migrant children coming into the United States, fleeing violence and poverty, have ended up in dangerous jobs. In Delaware, Mississippi, and North Carolina, young children are working in slaughterhouses. In Michigan, young children are making auto parts used by Ford and General Motors. In Virginia, girls as young as 13 are washing hotel sheets. In Florida and Tennessee, 12-year-olds are doing roofing jobs. In South Dakota, children are sawing planks of wood on overnight shifts.
Click through for full argument – not that we don’t already kniw this, and know why, but he does say things so well.

Mother Jones – Inside the Secret Working Group That Helped Push Anti-Trans Laws Across the Country
Quote – The emails demonstrate close collaboration between groups working behind the scenes to push bills banning transgender health care, including [Alliance Defending Freedom]—which has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people in Europe—and the ACPeds—which has opposed adoption by gay couples and supported conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. In recent years, ADF has drafted legislation banning trans children from using school restrooms or playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. (Both groups are also staunchly anti-abortion; ADF, which drafted the Mississippi abortion ban at the heart of the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, is currently representing ACPeds in a closely-watched lawsuit to ban an abortion pill, mifepristone, nationally.)
Click through for story. Back in the late seventies, when I was in my early 30’s and Bishop of Pueblo Charles Buswell was in his late 60’s, I met him as an informal gathering at my local church. Bishop Buswell was a truly good man (something which cannot be said about all bishops) and also a truly humble man (also rare – it’s easy to get caught up in all the ritual observabces and start believing one’s own PR.) I was chatting with him and the subject of transgender came up (at that time Trinidad, CO was about the only place in the country that a transgender could get gender-affirming treatment at all, and that was not as advanced as it is today.) He mentioned that a priest he had ordained, I don’t know how long prior, was transgender and the Bishop had released her and she had been treated in Trinidad. He then said, “I believe that in such cases the soul of a woman has been born into the body of a man,” and I replied, “That is my understanding too.” He grinned and said, “Well then, our diocese deserves the credit for having ordained the first woman priest.” He seemed qquite proud of that (as he had a right to be.) He died in 2008 (he would have been 95.) We need more like him – but I’m kind of glad he didn’t live to see all of this hatred.

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 4, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 042023

I have been so disorganized lately that I have not gotten around to sharing this website, not a new one, but one which has finally clicked for me: More Perfect Union. The name, of course, evokes the Constitution. But the “Union” they have in mnd in their name is a reference to labor unions. Their offerings include a YouTube channel called “The Class Room” with presentations which are sort of like TED talks garnished with documentary clips, only a little bit shorter. Notice that it’s not spelled “Classroom” but “Class Room.” tha “class” to which they are referring is not an academic class, but social class, as in Class Wars.

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Trump Ordered Meadows To Leak Classified Docs To Discredit Adversaries
Quote – Brad Moss, an attorney specializing in national security law, explained to me: “Anything Trump had in his possession that was still classified and that he gave to a reporter or anyone else unauthorized to receive it, after 12:01 pm on January 21, 2021, was unlawful as a legal matter.” I’m sure this isn’t the only instance of Trump committing a felonious act with classified documents.
Click through for article. You can also click through to his source, Murray Waas, for a lot more detail (you may have to click “keep reading” on a popup). This behavior has never been litigated, because so far no one has ever been such an evil excuse for a human being as to do it, or so incompetent as to be caught doing it. As Pat would say, Holy cannoli!

The 19th – 99% of women-owned businesses say the federal government hasn’t done enough to support them, survey finds
Quote – That figure, from a new survey by Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Voices program, illustrates a frustration that is universally shared among women-owned businesses. The findings, first exclusively shared with The 19th, represent responses collected over the past week from nearly 900 women small-business owners across 47 states and Puerto Rico. As many as 89 percent of women small-business owners said they feel they are not on a level playing field with men who own businesses, and 72 percent said that if they had to grade the federal government on the effectiveness of its programs, services and resources, they would give it a “C” or below.
Click through for details. Ninety-nine percent is a substantial percentage. Anyone besides me remember “99 44/100% pure”?

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 1, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 012023

Yesterday, I did get my grocery order, along with some problems. One was nobody’s faukt – I woke up feeling as usual, but sometime between then and the order arrival. several body part involved in lifting and moving stuff decided to become really, really painful. But the other problem was unauthorized substitutions. In theory, they emailed me early enough that i was supposed to be able to get into the site and change them (delete them really), but I couldn’t. I tried more than once on more than one computer and nothing. So, besides the frustration, what with the pain getting everything in, it took me hours to put away perishables, and to just get non-perishables into the rooms where they will be put away (And it was a comparatively small order.) I took some extra OTC pain meds before bed, in the hope that sleep would help resolve the pains. (Those of you who pray, I’;; remn=ind youthat it is perfectly theologically sound to pray for an outcome which, at the time you are praying, has already either happened or won’t, provided that you don’t know which.)

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Short Takes –

Civil Discourse – Judge Luttig Weighs In
Quote – It has become popular in some quarters for pundits to dispense legal opinions that are results-oriented—they figure out what political corner they want to land in and then shoehorn their views of the facts and the law to get there. Judge Luttig doesn’t indulge in that sort of gamesmanship here. As a former Scalia law clerk who has been dismissed by progressive groups as an ultraconservative who leaned too far right to be considered for a Supreme Court seat, you might expect him to. But lawyers and judges are trained in law school to evaluate the facts and the law from 360 degrees and come up with the right answer, not the expedient one. That’s what the best ones do.
Click through for details. You may remember Judge Luttig as the J6 committee witness who spoke so slowly many people assumed he was recovering from a stroke (He wasn’t – that was his wa of being passionate.) When a conservative says/does the right thing it’s newsworthy IMO.

Slate – If the “Abortion Pill” Gets Banned, There’s Still One Good Move
Quote – It’s an alarming possibility that underscores the recklessness of giving politicians and appointees full authority over the nation’s reproductive health: An unelected official could singlehandedly revoke the FDA’s approval of a safe, widely used medication—and the Supreme Court may be inclined to let him…. But there’s an alternative: Mifepristone is only one of two drugs consumed in a standard medication abortion. In higher doses, the second drug, misoprostol, can also terminate a pregnancy on its own.
Click through for article. Counting on right-wing ignorance (even as prevalent as it is) is proably not the best long-term strategy. But in the short term, this is good knowledge to have.

Food For Thought