GOP Violence – Politics Plus

Open Thread January 16 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 162026

Yesterday, the snow in my back yard didn’t all disappear, though it did disappear on the northern half. The southern half showed patches of the growth underneath the snow, but they amounted to less than half of the area, Joyce Vance did a Substack video with Mark Elias, and she highly recommended his Substack “Democracy Docket,” so I’m giving it a try. He is involved in a lot of anti-regime litigation and therefore someone we should know exists, which does not necessarily mean we should read everything he writes. I’ll follow this up. Also, I learned that Malcolm Nance is going to Greenland to work with NATO training exercises with military from NATO countries. And Robert Reich informed me that the Saffron Sauron threatens to invoke the insurrection act in Minneapolis. And the frosting on the cake is that Maria Machado gave her Nobel Prize to the Apricot Antichrist (I assume just the medal, not the money.) And then there’s this. Theater of War productions are known for using well known actors to perform – at least they are well known if you watch cable – which I don’t. But I know these people – who are not professional actors, but are lot more interesting than actors IMO. Take a look. It doesn’t say whether it will be Zoomed or otherwise digitally broadcast. Generally their events are Zoomed live (which would be at 5:00 here, 6:00 Central) and one also needs to register in advance ,with Zoom. I’ll follow up and share what I find, if anything.

I’m not sure I’d call what Common Dreams calls “mockery,” mockery. I’m more inclined to call it pure evil.

The saddest thing about this is that Robert Reich believes (rightly) that there are people who need to be told it because they can’t figure it out themselves. Perhaps our species needs renaming – “sapiens” just doesn’t seem to fit any more (if indeed it ever did). Having checked Google translate, may I suggest “homo stolidus”?

Once again, I am reminded by this article from The Root of Igor Stravinsky in Germany witnessing the brutal beating of a Jew by Gestapo going to a court to report it, only to be told by the Judge “In Germany today, such things happen every minute.”

Granted, I’m late with this video. But at least it’s still January – and we may need reminding now more than we did on the first or second.

Photos from the ICE Out No Kings Protests

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:03 pm Personal, Politics

Jan 152026

These are some of the photos from the protests which took place on January 10 and 11. Robert Hubbell invited his readers to submit photos, and they came in from all over the country. These are only a selection. Some of the senders wanted to stress how many people there were. I selected photos which contained signs (which included T-shirts when applicable.) Not all the signs seen were original, but most of them were made on very short notice. The date was not announced until January 9. My personal favorite is the one which starts “ICE OUT FOR GOOD,” I’m always up for a clever double entendre. Some of the photos are pretty small, but they are clear enough to blow up nicely, or to be reaf with a screen magnifier without blurring. small, but

Open Thread January 23 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 232025

Yesterday, following a day of undeserved pardons (and commutations), a day which itself followed a few days of richly deserved pardons (and commutations), many not even reflecting any crime, but issued for protective purposes – The Huff Post Fringe had words. Also, this happened. The link is from The Root, but I’m sure others are not getting left out of the purge. Meanwhile, The Root compiled a list of what it describes as the Canteloupe Caligula’s “most worrisome” executive orders.

This is only the second article from the Contrarian, and it has already come a long way. It is a roughly 18 minute video, and it has CC, and it has a transcript for which you have several options, including saving as a PDF (which I did), saving as something else, printing (which should mean either to paper or to your hard drive or a thunb drive), and reloading. I did save it as a PDF, haven’t looked at it yet, but assume it’s more accurate than YouTube – not that that’s hard.) Mechanics aside, the episode is a “how did we get here” story which should frighten (but not, I hope, paralyze) you.

When I read this article from Steve Schmidt in situ, I also looked at one of the comments – the first one (I don’t know whether they change position as time passes, so I’ll add it was by Martin Dillon.) It ended with “Are there no Republicans that want to save this country?” My mental response to that was “Yes, there are, but few, if any, are in office, elected or appointed.” And that makes them difficult to find. Many have re-registerd as Independent or Unaffiliated. Don’t try to look for them in Congress or State legislatures. Look for them in your community. There are at least 3 Special Elections coming up, to replace Congressmen who have been appointed to some other position, and there are non profits who want to save democracy helping to fund Democratic candidates. That’a the place to start. And sooner than later.

Open Thread November 14 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:10 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 142024

Yesterday, I made it in time to my appointment with my new PCP which I feel went well. I will be gettin prescriptions renewed ASAP which is good, since I’m out of 3 of the 4 now. After my last previous post, I found that I could “check in” on line in advance, and boy, was I glad of that. It was a detaiiled medical history they wanted and took much longeer than the 20 minutes they had told me to arrive early. I even got a chuckle at one point when they listed surgeries I might have had and had me check which nes I had had, and there was no way yo write it “removal of endometrioma,” so I checked “C-section” and had a comments section to explain in. Dr. Woody is very nice and so is her – I’m not sure what the qualification level is, so I’ll say her sidekick. The whole thing is a great load off my mind. Coming home and looking at my emails, I see that the Apricot Antichrist is appointing abunch of – I won’t say clowns, because clowns are better than that – laughingstocks to his administration. I won’t go into that, I’m sure you have seen them too. I literaly did laugh out loud over a couple – a “laugh so you won’t cry” kind of laugh.

This is Joyce Vance‘s “The Week Ahead” column from last Sunday. But it might just as easily be called “The Month Ahead” or “The Year Ahead.” So I won’t apologize for not posting it earlier. There is some inspiration in it along woth advice.

Atlanta Black Star. And they mock us for having feelings. But they are the ones whose feelings – all negative – are constantly getting out of control.

Talking Points Memo. Yeah, most of these prosecutions were at the Federal level. But any that may have been at state – or district – level should stand.

Open Thread November 12 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 122024

Yesterday, unsurprisingly, I received an email from VoteVets. But somehow I was not expecting an email from VoteVets to ne quite thisblunt. For instance, “Being a Veteran has often meant that the promises your country made to you were not always upheld. It meant being lied into wars. It meant that you had to watch as politicians refused to care for your friends as they got sick when they came home from those wars. It meant that the ideals and values you swore to uphold were often cast aside by the people in charge.” I know a lot of people think most veterans are Republican. While I don’t know the actual numbers, I doubt it. I know the people at VoteVets are not Republican. No Republican would ever be that honest. It’s no wonder that one of the most attended play presented by the Theater of War is “Philoctetes” – the title character who has been severely betrayed by “the generals,” and now they want to betray him again. In different ways, Theater of War and Vote Vets have a common goal – to help people heal. Theater of War works with public and private grants. Vote Vets needs contributions, and it is a worthy organization. I apolgize to everyone here and all Vets for crying on Veterans Day. But I’m afraid it seemed like the right thing to do.

This is Robert Reich’s take on the election, and on why geting the right take onthe election is so important going forward. I am with him up to a point. Here’s where I differ: when he says misogyny and racism does not explain it all. Yes, it does. Now, he goes on thedicuss the levels of education of the voter pool, much of which is woefully inadequate. But he fails to make the connection that the right kind of edication will also reduce racism and misogyny – and that nothing else will. It is not misogyny to recognize that misogyny exists. It is not misogyny to believe and say that by putting our best and brightest women into elections which no woman can win with the electorate as it it, we are killing them politically just as surely as outlawing abortion id killing women physically. We are not doingwomen any favors by sacrificing them on the altar of progress. (And I am willing to believe racism is also a factor since Hillary won the popular vote also and Harris did not. But education is also tha only way to put a dent in that.)

If you were expecting a civil war but not a shooting war, you may want to rethink that. I’m providing the link to NBC, since the Democratic Underground article just summarizes.

This is a very personal take on a World War II battle, and I doubt you’ll see it anywhere else other than here. I hope it helps.

Open Thread October 30 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 302024

Yesterday – wait, I need to give you some background. A week ago Monday I got my phone and internet provider changed – not my idea, but the old provider is changing and essentially transferred me (and the rest of the county, maybe even the entire front range, eventally). I have five working computers, and no two of them are networked, unless you consider the two which have internet access to be networked through the ‘net, but if I want to move information from any one to any other I use a thumb drive. For a week it worked fine, but this Monday I started getting 404s. I rebooted the modem (the old modem but it’s still part of the connection) which resolved the problem until evening when I had to reboot it a second time. Yesterday morning, rebooting that modem did not work. I tried three times, and it took three hours, before I decided to go look at the newest desktop and see whether there was something going on which I could only see on that one, which is connected directly to the newly installed equipment. And it was. I changed the settings on it, and now the other one is getting on line also. Actually, now it all makes sense (except that that’s three hours I’ll never get back,) and is even reassuring. I’ve never used WiFi at home, only when traveling, and then it wasn’t my own but the hotel’s, and now that Virgil is so close, I won’t be doing that any more, probably at all. So I stressed that, despite the new provider’s pride in their WiFi, I only wanted ethernet. This experience tells me that , even though it may still be available, it won’t decide to take over on its own. To those who are smarter than I about the way computers actually work (my specialty is how to make them do what I want – I used to be the Queen of Workarounds and very popular at work on account of it – that probably sound silly, and it probably is. But that’s OK. Also yesterday, I received a letter from my attroney general full of information about what’s going on in the courtroom with the Alberson-Kroger merger. I searched some to see if I could find the text online, but no luck. I’m aware this is a topic of importance to the entire nation, and would be happy to forward the email to anyone who wants it. If uou get my new-post letters, you should have my email address, but for anyone who doesn’t, the contact button doesn’t work for everyone, but I have put my address into the “About Me” page so it can be cut and pasted.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219622078
This DU link will take you to an embedded video of Bernie Sandersa answering the question, “I disagree with Kamala on Gaza. How can I vote for her?” If you are someone, or know someone, who has that question, this is the answer. I would have been asking it myself, were it not so obvious to be that neither Joe nor Kamala wants to support Netanyahu for a second the nation of Israel, yes, Netanyahu no), but consider us to be treaty bound, either actually or morally, and fear losing other allies if we appear to desert this one. (An Act of Congress might change that, but it will not come from this Congress.) An ally by treaty is not like a Facebook friend. A nation cannot just ghost them and survive. Anyway, I’m citing the embed because if you aren’t a paying member of YouTube the ads are getting obnoxious.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/estranged-family-of-oath-keepers
Of course the political is always personal. But it’s not always quite this personal. I’m grateful to Wonkette for sharing this (apparently Tasha has been in touch with Wonkette for a while – and found compassion there – which, despite their generally snarky style doesn’t surprise me in the least.)

Belle Ukraine

Cat

Open Thread October 18 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 182024

Yesterday, I learned (and I may be late to the party, but I think not, since this is so damning) that Sheldon White house (God bless him) has released a report that during the Kavanaugh confirmation, the FBI didn’t even see the content the thousands of tips called in, because all calls were redirected to the White House. Meanwhile, Axios reports that Democrats have initiateed a llawsuit against the FEC for allowing the GOP to put out ads which are not just morally but also legally questionable. Also, for a while now Steve Schmidt has been sounding increasingly nervous because Kamala Harris has not been as forceful as he would like to see. But her interview with Bret Baier on Fox appears to have satisfied him. Finally, I think this is the first time I have seen Belle pissed off. Personally I found it both amusing and inspiring. See what you think.

I have been aware for some time that Rolling Stone, though not the first name most people thing of when the phrase “news outlet” comes up, does do journalism, much of it on subjects other news media won’t touch,some of it outstanding. I just never went there till now. Maybe I thought I’d be paywalled, and maybe if I go to the well too often I will be. But i was able to see this story. You know, back in ancient Greece and Rome, and even up into the Middle Ages, European rulers literally did kill the messenger who brought bad news. I thought humanity had grown beyond that by now – I suppose the pandenic should have given me a clue.

This is perhaps an extreme example, but it is an example of what Republican policies of starving the government so they can drown it in a bathtub will always lead to. But you knew that. Although you may not have expected to see quite so blatantly it in real time.

OK, I realize this post is getting crowded, but trust me, you do not want to miss the letter which former Governor of Georgia (who is now a lawyer representing Fani Willis personally and professionally) wrote to Jim Jordan. Joyce Vance publishes a photo and describes it as “civil discourse with a little twist of bless your heart attached.” (I magnified it to 500% just to see what it looked like and it’s still very legible, just a bit blurred.)

Open Thread October 11 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 112024

Yesterday,I was reminded of an expression I used to see all the time in early and middle 20th century detective novels (but it goes farther back than that.) it does, depending on the point being made, “[name] by name and [name] by nature,” or “[name] by name but not by nature.” For instance, the couple who took their interracial marriage to the Supreme Court and got it legalized nationally – you could call them “Loving by name and loving by nature.” what reminded me was reading that Jeff Crank is the Republican running for Congress in my district. Yeah, he’s definitely Crank by name and crank by nature. Oh, well. As long as he’s otnumbered – I realize that’s not certain, but we are working on it. Also yesterday, I got an email fro Scout Walz, sent by the Harris campaign. I expect all or most of you got it too. If not I’ll be happy to forward it. It reads much like a Dodo video. And one more thing, in case you have seen something about it, the Mollie Kathleen gold mine in Teller County, Colorado, which is now a tourist attraction, did not collapse. It did have an equipment malfunction in that the elevator which takes tourists about 1,000 feet down and then uo again, malfunctioned, and would not go back up. One person has died from causes yet unknown, or at least not published, eleven people have been rescued, twelve were still trapped as of yesterday, and at least one of the 24 is a child. Here is a link for more information. Teller County is the county to the immediate west of my county. My county contains a lot of natural beauty, but I think Teller County has more. Normally the most danger around here is from blizzards (which can be prepared for), hail, and occasional wildfires. Lastly, Ethel Kennedy has died. I’m kind of sorry she had to see what her son did to his father’s memory – and then didn’t get to see him put in his place.

Common sense should tell me that a judge, whether a traffic judge or a Supreme Court Justice, cannot know everything that is known by armies of scientists and researchers. And of course that is why trial attornies so often need to call expert witnesses. But this still makes me nervous.

This fear may be new to Joyce Vance, but it isn’t to me. I have not faced violence as an election “judge” but I certainly have seen situations which might have become violent. And that’s inColorado. She lives in Alabama. Violence may not be likely in her precincts, but I’ll bet there are many majority-black precincts which could easily see pre-planned violence and should prepare for it as best they can. Maybe not violence from ISIS – but definitely from vanilla ISIS.

Belle leadership

Cat

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