Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s lawyers file brief w/Judge Cannon that includes declassification “sleight of hand”
Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Trump SPOTTED holding SECRETIVE MEETING on Golf Course [on 9/12] After Landing in DC
The Lincoln Project – Right Stuff
Ring of Fire – Trump Doesn’t Want To Pay For Special Master He Demanded
MSNBC – Chief Justice Confused By Questioning SCOTUS’s Legitimacy After Roe Decision
Beau – Let’s talk about security, Trump, and a talking point….
Glenn Kirschner – DOJ appeals Judge Cannon’s ruling in Trump’s theft of classified documents case (Sound is better – still a bit soft, but no echo)
Meidas Touch – Beto RALLY brings FORMER REPUBLICAN to tears in POWERFUL video
The Lincoln Project – DJ Trump
DOJ – This Week at Justice – September 9, 2022
Armageddon Update | The Bourne Stupidly
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump’s nuclear documents….
Added after posting because it is brand new and potentially very important:
Yesterday’s radio opera was “I Puritani” by Vincenzo Bellini. Bellini was a composer of “bel canto” opera (Italian for beautiful singing), a style from the early 19th century which was pretty much out of fashion until brough back into prominence by Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland in the 1950’s and ’60’s, and has been part of the standard repertory since. Of course all opera is supposed to have beautiful singing, but bel canto specifically refers to a style which has lots of vocal ornaments and very little key changes or complexity. So in one way it’s virtuosic, but in another it’s simple. Opera singers say that singing it is good for the voice, compared to even mid-19th-cebtury like Verdi, but certainly compared to early 20th century like Puccini (“verismo”) and especially early-to-mid 20th century like Berg amd Schoenberg. It is filled with lovely melodies that leave listeners humming – in their minds, because unless you are trained you likely can’t produce all the twists and turns, especially at the tempos some of them are. Next week’s opera – in fact the next four weeks’ operas – were recorded in China – but only the last one will be in Chinese. The first three will be in French, Czech, and German respectively.
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Short Takes –
Letters frm an American – September 8, 2022
Quote – On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford gave former president Richard M. Nixon “a full, free, and absolute pardon…for all offenses against the United States which he…has committed or may have committed or taken part in” during his time in the presidency. In the pardon proclamation, Ford said he issued the pardon to help the nation heal from the trauma of the Watergate scandal. A trial would “cause prolonged and divisive debate over the propriety of exposing to further punishment and degradation a man who has already paid the unprecedented penalty of relinquishing the highest elective office of the United States.”
Ford’s pardon of Nixon removed from our democratic system the principle that all of us are accountable to the same laws.
Click through for full letter. There was an episode of Antiques Roadshow to which someone brought a letter from Gerald Ford, written before he was Presient or Vice Preident, but not too long before that. It was written to his former first grade teacher, who he had just learned used to call him “Naughty little Gerry Ford.” Maybe she was right all along.
Civil Discourse – DOJ’s Motion For A Stay Explained
Quote – DOJ’s tone is respectful throughout, but the government does not mince words when it comes to arguing that the judge’s order is wrong, as in, missed the boat completely kind of wrong. And in delicate, polite tones it clarifies the precise nature of the damage she, a lone federal judge in Florida, is poised to do to our national security. This is exactly the tone experienced appellate litigators take when they are about to pillory a lower court’s ruling, which is what DOJ does in its motion.
Click through. Legal documents are usually written at a JD reading level. Vance interprets this at about a foourth grade reading level, so it should be pellucidly clear (or as much so as possible allowing for missing facts.) Because I get her newsletter, I have not tried navigating the site, but if it’s easy, she has two, possibly three columns after this (just ignore the stuff about knitting.)
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Bannon indicted again; DOJ appeals “special master” ruling; former US Attorney exposes Trump & Barr (the sound is so poor on this that everyone will need the CC. Not only is thevolume about half or less of usual, bu ther’s a slight echo. I realize they are tweaking the studio … andhave invited comments on that … so if anyone is a YouTube member, you might just comment on the sound.
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul RESPONDS to legend Dan Rather’s question about the GOP with the PERFECT answer
The Lincoln Project – Sucker
Robert Reich | How We Can Make Manchin and Sinema Irrelevant
If Mattress Commercials Were Honest | Honest Ads
Beau – Let’s talk about the other Las Vegas…. {It’s a sweet little town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but not that far from Santa Fe by western standards.}
Yesterday, I got to thinking about Eyam village in Dorsetshire England, a village known in England and among tourists to England as “The Plague Village.” Of course it wan’t alone in having experienced the Black Death when is steamrolled through Europe, but it was unique in that it voluntarily decided to self-quarantine the entire village for a full year, at the end of which many of course had died, but there were also a substantial number of survivors, and also a group of residents who had never (apparently) become infected – at least they had never had symptoms. Of course everyone would have loved to know why. In 2002, an American geneticist had a theory and came to Eyam to investigate it. Because it was a small village, where most folk remained through the generations, and it wasn’t that difficult to trace throuh Church of England records those who had moved away, he was able to identify descendants of the survivors, and to obtain DNA samples. He found a gene (a mutation) and was also able to identify the mechanism through which the bodies of people who had this mutation were able to prevent the bacteria from getting to the places in the body where they could produce symptoms. Because of this mechanism, he and colleagues began to wonder whether the same mutation might also provide protection against AIDS. He believes he found some evidence that it could and did. Yes, I know a bacterium is not a virus. But the mechanism appears to work similarly on both, unlike anti-bacterial and anti-viral drugs. Since watching the documentary, I have been wondering what our medical professionals and science geeks here would say about this – so I’ll share both the link to the documentary and also a link to a PHD thesis on the village. The documentary CC is quite good excwept for British names, especially the name of the village itself, which sounds like “Eem.” The documentary is over 45 minutes and the dissertation is over 200 pages so I’m not expecting to hear from any of y’all very quickly. But i am curious what y’all make of it.
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Short Takes –
HuffPost – In Jackson, Mississippi, It’s Easy To Go Missing When No One Is Looking For You
Quote – But Jackson’s water crisis is what happens when a largely Black city, which also happens to be largely Democratic, needs funding from a Republican-controlled legislature. Jackson is what happens when people ignore those who need their help. Jackson’s failure to fix what has been a problem for years falls squarely on the shoulders of people who don’t care. That’s not hyperbolic.
Click through for article. Technically, this is an opinion piece. But it’s definitely full of facts.
Raw Story – Expert: Dems need to expand Supreme Court to counter the conservative assault on democracy
Quote – Most of the political scientists who study the degradation of democracy will tell you that the Republican Party has become a radical quasi-fascist authoritarian party over the last 20 years, and the problem is not Trump. I mean Trump may exacerbate it, but he’s a symptom, at least as much as he’s a cause. The problem is the voters, however many percent of people who are Christian white nationalists who think the country is losing its Christian identity and its white majority. They see their world as being existentially threatened. Trump has come along and said, “follow me,” but those people had to be ripe for it. There’s no way. Donald Trump could have been successful 15 or 20 years ago. The Republican Party has been engaging in extreme voter suppression measures and attacking labor unions for the past 20 past years and it’s a recognition that by 2024, white Christians will not be a majority of the electorate.
Click through for interview. Raw Story and AlterNet (I forget which one owns the other) have a lot of stories which are derivative, so I don’t often post from either. This one seems to be original. I must point out that it’s another reason we need a landslide in the midterms – or, at the very least, to gain seats in both houses. Because we don’t have the moxie to do this now. But if we don’t get it done before 2024, there will never be another free and fair election.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, I received a fund raising email from Adam Schiff. That’s not unusual, but I usually don’t read them. This one drew me in with the subject line, and it turned out to be mostly about his daughter, Alexa, with a photo from when she was four. She’s now 24 and getting established in a career in fashion (Adam stresses that her fashion sense is and always was far superior to his.) Of course it gets more serious, but it’s very well written, and put a smile on my face. I also puttered arond a bit trying to organize more. And started on a new bag for the next pickup … which I have not scheduled, wanting to be under less pressure this time. Finally, yesterday, the first public servant since Reconstruction was disqualified under the 14th Amendment. He was a County Commissioner in New Mexico who took part in Jan. 6. But even though he wasn’y a Senator or a House rep, it’s still a BFD. Cheers for New Mexico!
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Short Takes –
Robert Reich – For Labor Day: My “we-they” test for good places to work
Quote – In honor of Labor Day, I want to give you a simple way to test for a good workplace. I came up with it years ago when as secretary of labor I visited workplaces all over America. I call it the “we-they” test. Ask a front-line worker a general question like “how is it work here?” or “how’s your job?” or “how would you describe this workplace?” Then listen for the pronoun. If workers describe the company as “they” or “them,” it’s a tipoff that workers regard the company and its executives as being on a different planet.
Click through for examples. I sure wish I’d known this when I was twenty.
NPR – Fox producer’s warning against Jeanine Pirro surfaces in Dominion defamation suit
Quote – The November 2020 email from an anguished Fox News news producer to colleagues sent up a flare amid a fusillade of false claims. The producer warned: Fox cannot let host Jeanine Pirro back on the air. She is pulling conspiracy theories from dark corners of the Web to justify then-President Donald Trump’s lies that the election had been stolen from him. The existence of the email, confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of it, is first publicly disclosed by NPR in this story. Fox News declined comment.
Click through for story (read or listen, or both.) This is definitely going to undermine any chance of theit claiming not to know any better.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Lindsey Graham loses in court (again) in desperate attempt to avoid testifying about Trump’s crimes
Meidas Touch – BREAKING: White House SLAMS MAGA Republicans Following Epic Biden Primetime Speech
Ojeda Live – This Trump Temper Tantrum is About to End in a Timeout Known As a Life Sentence in Federal Prison
Liberal Redneck – Biden, Trump, and Democracy
Christo Alvalis – Trսmp has ALREADY SOLD his STOLEN FILES?! (Ivana’s coffin?)
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, the DOJ response, and photos….
Glenn Kirschner – Lindsey Graham says there will be riots if DOJ charges Donald Trump for his crimes
Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Google BANS Trump’s Truth Social because NO MODERATION of HATE
The Lincoln Project – Tough on Crime
MSNBC – Familiar Trump Stall Strategy Plays Out In ‘Special Master’ Gambit
Ring of Fire – Kids-For-Cash Criminal Judges Ordered To Pay Victims Over $200 Million
Beau – Let’s talk about access to higher education….