Open Thread for November 27, 2021

 Posted by at 7:39 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 272021
 

Yesterday was Black Friday, and there wasn’t much else going on. I’m sure people got hurt shopping – someone always does – but I had to get this up early, since I am seeing Virgil today. I was looking at the sources I go to when it’s slow, and started with “Law & Crime.” I found there an amazing collection of headlines the like of which you definitely do not see every day … along with the usual sordid ones you do see every day, of course. So I thought I’d do something different and just list the most egregious ones, along with links in case you want details. Don’t laugh too hard and cramp up.

Cartoon –

Short Takes (Headlines) –

Father Charged with Murder After He Allegedly Blamed Family Cat for Baby Girl’s Broken Legs, Ribs, and Bleeding to the Brain
I know cats knock things off of flat surfaces, but this is ridiculous.

79-Year-Old Man Gets Life Sentence for Stabbing Bus Driver Wife to Death After Argument About Shoulder Surgery
Just as well it’s for life as it would appear she was the breadwinner.

Another Man Named Kyle Rittenhouse Arrested on Child Porn Charges in Florida, Admitted to ‘Sending Images of His Penis’ to Young Girls: Police
You cannot make this stuff up.

Judge Calls Hearing to Confirm Precisely Who’s Representing Jacob Chansley in Post-Sentencing Capitol Siege Case
I wonder whether they are fighting to represent him … or fighting not to.

Former Louisiana Cop and K-9 Officer Sentenced to 20 Years for Sexually Abusing His Dog and Possession of Child Porn
SMFH. Well, he can still serve society as the poster child for needing police reform.

N.J. Cop Charged with Killing Pedestrian, Stuffing Body in Car, and Taking the Dead Man Home. Prosecutors Say His Cop Father Turned Him In.
It’s noce that one of them knows who he is supposed to protect and serve.

Food for Thought –

Share

Video Thread 11/20/21

 Posted by at 12:18 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Nov 202021
 

Glenn Kirschner – While We Must Accept the Rittenhouse Jury’s Not Guilty Verdict, We have Much to Learn & Miles to Go – Here’s the link to his OpEd.

Meidas Touch – McCarthy’s Harangue

Thom Hartmann – Inside The GOP’s New “Leave It To Beaver” Southern Strategy  Mitch

Armageddon Update – Screaming From The Sane Center

Brent Terhune – We’re Hiring!

Beau – Let’s talk about the other case and verdict…. He’s right, we need to look at the good along with the bad. You can read more here, but Beau pretty well covers it.

Share

Video Thread 11/19/21

 Posted by at 12:10 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Nov 192021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Steve Bannon’s Ridiculous Court Performance Exposed

Meidas Touch – “Let’s Go, Brandon!” (They’re going to be sorry they came up with that chant.)

Now This News – Julius Jones sentence commuted. If you have been following this at all you will be glad to see this.

Political Voices Network – What is Gosar Even Thinking?! [Richard French]

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Stray Cat Shows Up At Fire Station And Moves Right In With Firefighters

Beau – Let’s talk about making the case and ruining Thanksgiving….

Share

Open Thread for November 19, 2021

 Posted by at 7:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 192021
 

Yesterday, I woke up a few minutes early and just stayed up. Heaven knows ehwn I’ll be up today, though – the eclipse was last night. Since eclipses go by real time rather than by clocks, I couldn’t be exact about exactly when it would start, but I was guessing somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes after midnight. I’ll let you know after the fact.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

HuffPost – Paul Gosar Censured For Violent Anime Video Targeting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Quote – The vote passed mostly along party lines, with only two Republicans — Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), who is retiring — seeing it necessary to condemn Gosar for sharing a video that depicted him slicing the throat of one of their Democratic colleagues.
Click through for more. Yes, he was stripped of all his committee assignments, thank God. And forced to stand alone in fromt of the House to hear the censure read aloud. However, he was unapologetic. He has learned nothing.

politicsrus – What Has Joe Biden Done For Us? (four episodes)
I did use Episode #1 on the video thread, but now that there are four episodes, I have decided to post the links here, together, rather than separating them out. The last three in particular are excellent messaging of what is in the Infrastructure bill (now law) I hope they will continue coming out.
Episode 1 – Accomplishments
Episode 2 – Water
Episode 3 – Broadband
Episode 4 – For Children

Daily Kos (Rule of Claw) – The Math Didn’t Add Up: The Reason President Biden Asked The FTC To Investigate Gas Gouging!
Quote – So the formula is price of crude divided by 42, divided by 2 times 3. Going by that gas pricing should be about $2.78 per gallon. Of course this is not a perfect assessment as there are from time to time other market factors to consider. But not apparently, this time. And I for one do not believe the President would make this move capriciously. This is the sort of thing that you do when you already know the answer and just want the suspect to implicate themselves.
Click through for ancillary details. There is no low the GOP will not stoop to. The only surprise here is that they never tried it before.

Food for Thought –

Share

Video Thread 11/17/21

 Posted by at 11:50 am  Open Thread, Politics
Nov 172021
 

Glenn Kirschner – New Reporting Reinforces Trump’s Criminal Liability for Avoidable COVID Deaths: An Analysis

CNN – Jim Acosta and Carl Bernstein It was a couple of days ago – but it is substantial.

Ring of Fire – Investigation Says 13 Trump Officials Broke The Law During 2020 Campaign

Crooks and Liars – Lauren Boebert

Mrs. Betty Bowers – One Nation Under the Wrong Impression

The Five Laws Of Stupidity

Beau – Let’s talk about Bannon being indicted and the impacts….

Share

Open Thread for November 16, 2021

 Posted by at 6:40 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 162021
 

Yesterday was another pretty quiet day. I’ll take all of those that I can get. Incidentally, as it is now a new week, maybe Nameless can get a tech out to look at his computer. I surely hope so. But it’s also the first workday after a holiday week, so it might not be today.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – The New Face Of The GOP?
Quote – So try to imagine what will happen if Rittenhouse is acquitted. Trump will issue a statement somehow taking credit for it. Fox News will fly Rittenhouse to New York for triumphant interviews. Social media will erupt with joy, as millions of conservatives cry “Suck it, libs!” He’ll appear on T-shirts and bumper stickers; maybe he’ll speak at the next Conservative Political Action Conference. And don’t be surprised if Trumpist candidates start seeking Rittenhouse’s endorsement and asking him to appear on the campaign trail with them.
Click through for more, including (paywalled) link to Washington Post. The only light I can see at the end of this tunnel is that George Zimmerman eventually got into enough non-political trouble to get dropped like a hot potato, and it’s probably safe to expect that to happen to Rittenhouse also (and maybe even his mother, God willing).

AP News – Workers at federal prisons are committing some of the crimes
Quote – More than 100 federal prison workers have been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019, including a warden indicted for sexual abuse, an associate warden charged with murder, guards taking cash to smuggle drugs and weapons, and supervisors stealing property such as tires and tractors.
Click through for details. I’d file this under “No shit, Sherlock.” No prison is any better than its warden … and in 2019, the warden was Bill Barr (and before him, Jeff Sessions.) Not that that is an excuse, of course.

The 19th – The word missing from the vast majority of anti-trans legislation? Transgender
Quote – More anti-trans bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2021 than in any previous year on record. The 19th reviewed the text of 102 bills in seven states that were primarily designed to restrict access to sports or gender-affirming care for trans youth, like hormones and puberty blockers, and only seven bills mentioned the word “transgender.” Only eight passed, primarily those focused on sports, although legal battles in several states have barred most from going into effect.
Click through for story. Granted there are (probably) fewer transgendered people than just about any other minority group, there are certainly enough to account for a large (and disproportionate) number of suicide and murder victims. And no one is free until and unless we are all free.

Food for Thought –


Share

Video Thread 11/15/21

 Posted by at 12:10 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Nov 152021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Rules Against Trump BUT Appellate Court Temporarily Blocks Release of Documents. What’s Next?

Meidas Touch – How Ron DeSantis manipulated ‘useful idiot’ Trump

Thom Hartmann – Trump’s Authoritarian Storm Is Upon Us Now

politicsrus – This Is Episode 1 HD

Now This News – Endangered Komodo Dragons Hatch at San Antonio Zoo – Some good news. They are gonna get BI-I-I-IG.

Rocky Mountain Mike – Bannon

Beau – Let’s talk about hot books in Virginia….

Share

Open Thread for November 12, 2021

 Posted by at 6:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 122021
 

Yesterday, I took advantage of some halfway nice weather to go out and install the visor extender. It fits perfectly. I also started a file to keep track of the time of sunset – I really only need to know in the day I go, but to have an idea in advance of roughly how late it is, and even which direction it is going, is helpful.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – FAIL: ‘QAnon Shaman’ Tries Forrest Gump Defense
Quote – Chansley “[riled] up other members of the mob with his screaming obscenities about our nation’s lawmakers and flouting the ‘opportunity’ to rid our government of those he has long considered to be traitors,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and assistant U.S. attorney Kimberly Paschall wrote in the 28-page sentencing memo.
Click through for more. I used the quote even with its error in diction. I doubt anyone but me noticed.

Daily Kos (Eleveld) – Turns out McConnell gifting the party to Trump is killing Senate GOP recruitment
Quote – Notably, Trump is playing key role in nearly every one of those Senate contests. In almost every state, Trump has done at least one of several things: repelled a top-tier candidate, made an endorsement, radicalized the GOP field, or become a complicating factor by incessantly pushing his election fraud lies and demanding absolute fealty.
Click through for specifics. Sounds like good news, but it is contingent on there being enough sane Republicans left in the country. That was not somethng we had to worry about in 2010. There were crazies, yes, but they weren’t the majority, or in control, or the face of the party.

Sojourners – AN OPEN LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR OF OKLAHOMA
Quote – “I was a juror on the case… and this thing has weighed on me for a long time. What happened was, several of us from the jury were getting on an elevator. This was well before deliberations. And one of the jurors said, ‘Well, they should just take that n—– out back, shoot him and bury him under the jail. It didn’t matter what happened, this was a Black man that was on trial for murder. He did it.’”
Click through for the full letter. Our national shame of still exercising capital punishment and our national shame of racism are both on display here.

Food for Thought –

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries