Oct 312021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Bannon Indictment Watch Day 8: DOJ Has Yet to Indict Bannon for his Crime of Contempt of Congress

Meidas Touch – Let’s WIN Virginia! | 50K Doors in 50 Days

The Lincoln Project – Critical Race Theory

Robert Reich – What Happened to the Party of Limited Government?

MSNBC – The Purge Of GOP Truth Tellers Claims Its Biggest Trophy Yet (This is actually scarier than I was looking for…)

Hallowe’en – Vincent Price Performs The Thriller Rap Live 1987 Enhanced HD

Beau – Let’s talk about a leading cause, #SaferStorage, and T4CIP…. The date on this is 10/27, in case anyone wants to make a note of it. I have said for over 40 years that gun owners – responsible gun owners – should draft model legislation for public safety, or at least encourage it being drafted – because if they won’t, the resy of us most (and they will not like it.) Beau is the girst gun owner I have ever heard actually speak in this way.

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Oct 292021
 

Just so everyone knows … I have some fluff that needs to be up by Hallowe’en. If I miss, or have to postpone, something else good, I apologize in advance.

Glenn Kirschner – DA Not Taking Criminal Charges Off the Table in Alec Baldwin Shooting Incident; A Review of NM Law

Meidas Touch – Steve Schmidt Warns of ‘Total Chaos,’ Biden Impeachment if GOP Wins

Now This News – Why the 2021 Election is Still Important

Really American – Cruz Defends Nazi Salutes on Tree Of Life Anniversary

VoteVets – Sedition Caucus

Parody Project/Freedom Toast – My Ninja

Beau – Let’s talk about Alec Baldwin and never letting a crisis go to waste….

Bonus – A scary flick from the ACLU

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Oct 292021
 

Yesterday, I finished a couple more cartoons for November. I admit they all look alike … but mostly there are others separating them which don’t. I looked at the weather and the almanac and learned I can get away with staying the full visitation time, but may have to pull off the road a bit at one point to adjust my visor. (The next visit will be on Standard time, and I will have to watch the almanac very carefully inded to know how early I need to leave. Staying over is becoming too much for me, especially since doing so no longer gives me an extra day to visit.)  I have ordered a visor clip, but I won’t have it for tomorrow, and may not have it for the next visit either.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – TN State Senator Indicted For Hilarious Campaign Finance Hijinks
Quote – Naturally, the “social club” run by Defendant Smith has a PAC, as all your better single-outlet eating establishments do. (LOL, wut?) And according to the indictment, the defendants used this PAC to move $106,000 from Kelsey’s state campaign coffers to support his 2016 run for the US House — an illegal use of so called “soft money” because the state campaign donations are not subject to federal campaign finance limits. So to disguise the transfer, these two geniuses moved the cash from Kelsey’s state campaign to the “social club” PAC, and thence on through one more PAC until it wound up at the American Conservative Union, which immediately dropped $80,000 on radio ads endorsing Kelsey’s federal campaign.
Click through for full description of indictment (plus a link to the real thing.) Enjoy this story. The next two are scary.

Mother Jones – How Do People Join Militias? A Leaked Oath Keepers Roster Has Answers.
Quote – Some of the explanations offered in the database are absurd: “Old man in Jarome, AZ at a little bar rocking some reggae,” reads one. Others are concerning: “An ICE agent,” another says. Some are both: “Funny story, I stopped a speeding truck driver, who had your decal on the side of his truck, I asked about it, he went on and on, I said, Damn I’m all about this. looked up online and here I am. I’m a poor broke cop. But, I’m TRUE BLUE/ AMERICAN,” reads an accounting from an Illinois-based police officer.
Click through for story. How can a nation protect itself against this?

Pro Publica – A Union Scandal Landed Hundreds of NYPD Officers on a Secret Watchlist. That Hasn’t Stopped Some From Jeopardizing Cases.
Quote – The list was created a decade ago amid a sprawling investigation into the city’s biggest police union and its role in helping officers “fix” tickets issued to family and friends for speeding, illegal parking and other traffic offenses. It grew to 664 names and was intended to help prosecutors vet cases that might rest too heavily on officers whose ties to the scandal could raise questions about their conduct and credibility. Ten years after it was first created, the No Fly List itself remains secret by judicial seal.
Click Through for discouraging details The Department has roughly 36,000 officers, and the list has 664. That doesn’t sound like a lot … but it’s still way too many. ONE would be too many.

Food for Thought –

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Oct 272021
 

Yesterday, after a couple of overcast days, the sun came out … and so did the wind. There’s a NSFW quip about why it’s so windey here – it’s because Utah blows and Kansas – mphmmm.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – I Played This Climate Change Game—and Lost Everything
Quote – [F]acts about humanitarian crises averted can feel abstract unless you face them, or at the very minimum role-play as someone who must confront them. I did so myself. And I lost my beans. Paying for Predictions is an experiential learning game designed for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre by Boston University visiting fellows Pablo Suárez and Janot Mendler de Suárez. Players can gain an appreciation for the importance of preparedness and early action, the use of weather and climate projections, and disaster resilience and climate risk reduction.
Click through for story. Nameless and I were chatting about computer and phone games recently … but we weren’t thinking of anything like this. This gaming could really help. I only hope there’s enough time for it to help.

Democratic Underground – Remember Sen Grassley’s tweet about filling in for Pence?
Quote – Remember Sen Grassley’s tweet about filling in for Pence? Grassley tweeted Jan 5 that he’d be filling in for Pence during certification of electors since Pence was not expected to be there. His office quickly announced that he meant IF Pence wasn’t able to be there, but I wonder if the first version wasn’t more accurate. Could that be how they planned to get around Pence’s refusal to cooperate? Just have him taken somewhere else for a while? Sounds crazy, but then recall the story that came out about Pence not leaving the Capitol that day because he didn’t trust the driver?
Click through for speculation and comments. Yes, it’s speculative, but sometimes putting small things together can lead to big questions. Now if we only had answers.

HuffPost – 2020 Had The Most Reported Hate Crimes Since 2001: FBI Data
Quote – The FBI’s 2020 data came from 15,138 law enforcement agencies around the country. Roughly half of all hate crime incidents reported were classified as intimidation, 27% were simple assault and nearly 18% were aggravated assault (which the FBI defines as “physical attacks intended to inflict severe or aggravated bodily injury”).
Click through for more stats. It’s not hard to see why. Mr. China-virus-illegal-immigrants-not-sending-their-best no doubt had something to do with it.

Food for Thought –

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Oct 222021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Bannon is Poised to be the “Target” of a Grand Jury Investigation; Trump Poised to be a “Subject”

Meidas Touch – Matthew Dowd: Democrats are the ONLY party that supports democracy

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

MSNBC – Charlie Sykes: Understand The GOP Is Setting Itself Up For Restoration To Power. This is late, but it’s a good review and a good discussion

Really American – Trump Again Claims He Doesn’t Like To Be Peed On

City News – Heroic effort by international students saves lives of two hikers in B.C. A Sikh’s turban is both a religious symbol and a part of his identity. This is sort of as if you or I had taken all our clothes off to make that rope. I am so impressed – awed, really.

Beau – Let’s talk about Mayor Pete messing up the supply chain….

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Oct 212021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Why Trump’s Frivolous Executive Privilege Lawsuit Will Fail AND Why It Won’t Help Steve Bannon

MSNBC – Adam Schiff On Jan. 6 Vote To Hold Bannon In Contempt

Thom Hartmann – Was This SCOTUS Judge Working With Jan 6th Coup Plotter?

Ring of Fire – Republicans Are Terrified That Trump Will Destroy The Party Next Year

politicsrus – Native America

Liberal Redneck – To All the Americans Leaving Their Jobs

Beau – Let’s talk about an update on Biden’s wind-power push…

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Oct 202021
 

Glenn Kirschner – The Late Colin Powell: From WMD’s to Secretary of State to Announcing “Trump is a Liar”. (Glenn and I believe much the same about him; I’m just a trifle more outspoken because I’m not a public figure.)

MSNBC – Trump Goes Under Oath For First Time Since His Presidency

Thom Hartmann – He Refused Vaccine Only For COVID Complications To Ruin His Life

Ring of Fire – Big Trouble For Matt Gaetz As Judge Postpones His ‘Wingman’s’ Sentencing

Armageddon Update – Layer upon Layer –

Really American – Lauren Boebert: Dangerously Dumb

Beau – Let’s talk about a crashed tractor and unskilled labor…..

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Oct 182021
 

Yesterday, I was pretty well exhausted. I had hoped to sleep in, but woke up about an hour and a half before my guideline alarm (which I would cheerfully have slept through) with just enough tickle in my throat to keep me awake. Nothing serious, just a small allergic reaction, most likely to a piece of red or yellow pepper. It vanished quickly once I was vertical. But I may well be sleeping in today.  Expect me when you see me.

Cartoon – (from 2013 – nothing’s changed)

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Fox Commenters’ Response To Bill Clinton News Is What You’d Expect
Quote – CNN reports that the former president, who is 75, has a urinary tract infection that spread to his bloodstream, a fairly common medical condition in the elderly. It’s a relatively minor medical problem, so why is the story so prominent at Fox? Because it’s an excellent opportunity for Fox fans to demonstrate the kind of high-minded civic engagement they’re known for. From the comments:
Click through if you can stand to. The comments are pretty disgusting. Big Dog also experienced sepsis, which I would not call minor, but IANAD, and thankfully they were right on that, and he is out of the hospotal now according to various sources.

Vox – The case against means testing
Quote – Means testing have also long been associated with a moral argument that some segments of the population are deserving of government benefits, while others are not. This idea undercuts the belief that a social safety net is intended to help support those broadly in need, and shifts the burden onto individuals to prove that they’re worthy of getting basic help.
Click through for evidence. Means testing sounds so reasonable – until you realize that $100 for groceries if you live alone doesn’t exactly go as far as $100 for groceries if you hve three kids. Furthermore. $100 fpr groceries if your body is perfectly normal doesn’t quite go as far as $100 for groceries if you have food allergies, or any other specialized dietary needs. And actually, the same is true for shopping in just about every category of consumables.

The Hill – Arbery murder trial set to begin this week
Quote – When Arbery, who was unarmed, was cornered by the two trucks he ran at Travis McMichael in an attempt to seize his shotgun, but was then fatally shot. In April, both the McMichaels and Bryan were charged with federal hate crimes in connection to Arbery’s death. The indictment accuses the men of using force and threatening to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to utilize a public street, and alleges that Bryan joined the chase and used his truck during the incident.
Click through for story.  I’m surely glad it has come to a trial. I wish I could have higher hopes for its results. They are certainly taking their time over jury selection – I hope that’s a good sign.

Food for Thought –

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