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.

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Nov 202021
 

Yesterday (techncally, although it seems like the day before), I went out a bit after midnight to look at th eclipse I wasn’t expecting much bcause the forecast had been for 86% cloud cover. However, I was able to get a pretty good view, straight overhead. Impressive. I stayed until it looked like the thumbnali (close to that color too – maybe a wee bit more orange) and then went in as the temperature was close to single digits. And then went to bed and to sleep.  And eventually woke up.  And came here and posted.  And I reached out to the campaign for the NYT gift link, but had already writtrn my remarks, and I didn’t re-do everything.  Hope it isn’t too confusing.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (Walter Einenkel) – FBI raids homes of Colorado election clerk and former Boebert campaign manager
Quote – On the morning of Nov. 16, the FBI conducted federally-authorized law enforcement actions into potential criminal activity by employees of the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder’s Office and others associated with those employees. The activity occurred in both Mesa and Garfield Counties at four separate locations. Investigators with the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office (Mesa County, Colo.) and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office assisted in the operations. No arrests were made, and the operations are related to ongoing investigations. Per order of a federal court, all documents related to these operations are sealed.
Click through for what details are not sealed. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.

Mother Jones – Disinformation Isn’t Just a Tech Problem. It’s a Social One, Too.
Quote – The rise of disinformation is the product of long-standing social problems, including income inequality, racism, and corruption, which can be easily exploited to spread false information online. “Saying that the disinformation is the problem—rather than a way in which the underlying problem shows itself—misses the point entirely,” the report quotes Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt, as saying.
Click through for story – I suppose it’s arguable which comes forst, like the chicken and the egg, but wi need to be fighint on every front, and even then, we will not be able to eliminate the monstr. We may be able to make it controllable.

New York Times – San Francisco’s Top Prosecutor Will Face a Recall Election
Quote (from his email, because I was paywalled out of NYT) – San Francisco voters elected me because of the promises I made: I promised to end cash bail. We’ve done it. I promised to reduce youth incarceration. It’s down by 50%. I promised to release innocent people from prison. We launched an independent commission to ensure no innocent person is languishing behind bars. I promised to hold police accountable. We filed homicide charges against the officer who shot and killed Keita O’Neill — the first time in our city’s history that homicide charges were brought against an on-duty police officer.
Click through for the NYT story with a gift link – which means you are not paywalled out even if you are not a subscriber. And spread the word. Turnout is even more critical in recalls than any other election! And don’t cut the link – all that stuff is needed to pass the paywall.

Food for Thought –

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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….

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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.

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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 –

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Nov 182021
 

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

The Lincoln Project – Biden Delivers

politicsrus – From the Darkness (no dialogue – background “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”

Ring of Fire – Marjorie Taylor Greene Brags About Being Fined $60,000 For Being An Idiot

CNN – Jim Acosta with John Dean

Liberal Redneck – Rittenhouse Trial

Beau – Let’s talk about income, public health, and Trump….

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Nov 162021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Why Mark Meadows Must Now be Indicted for Contempt of Congress (just as happened to Steve Bannon)

Meidas Touch – Why the Rittenhouse defense may be MORE WORRIED than the media would have you believe (God, how I hope he’s right!)

Ring of Fire – CNN Host Warns That Republican ‘Nuts Are Being Normalized’

John Fugelsang on Stephanie Miller – “America Is Not Divided, White People Are Divided.”

Armageddon Update – Armageddon Update | One Year Ago Today (“Today” interpreted loosely)

Parody Project – MONEY SUCKS THE CONGRESS DOWN

Beau – Let’s talk about the other 14 characteristics…

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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 –


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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….

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