GOP Violence – Page 23 – Politics Plus

Open Thread for September 5, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 052021

Yesterday, I tried to rest as much as possible. I brought the trash and recyclables carts up to where they “live” and collected a couple of packages from the mailbox — which required shoes but I think was worth it.

Cartoon –

I simply must add that 300 years later, to the day, was the very first Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon. I’m sure there’s no connection.

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – If God Wills It
Quote – There is no question that Hurricane Ida was a horrible storm which caused a lot of damage. The suffering will continue for weeks as people are without power and it is sweltering hot. But as a friend of mine always says, you gotta look for the happiness in the crappiness. A clear example is that the offices of James O’Keefe and Project Veritas got wiped out:
Click through for comments. The quote is pretty much the whole story, but you know people who read “Crooks and Liars” are going to be smart-alecky, at least some of them.

The Hill – The Memo: Attacks on democracy seep down to school boards, election offices
Quote – In many places there is fear — fear for the safety of the low- and mid-level officials who do the unglamorous work that keeps democracy knitted together and fear for what happens if they decide it’s just not worth it.
Click through for story. This is important. You’ve heard of people who can’t see the forest for the trees – but in my experience, Democrats, politically are more likely to be unable to see the trees for the forest. School Boards (usually unpaid and elective) and election worker (most volunteer, seasonal, and paid a little, but some employed year round by county offices) are critical to our ability to keep our democracy … which is why Republicans, who see every leaf on every tree, and most of the bugs on the leaves, are systematically undermining them.

“my stateline” – Emails released in FOIA show hundreds of parents thanked Pritzker for issuing school mask mandate
Quote – A House Republican who sought “data, studies, scientific or medical articles, and correspondence” from people advocating in support of school mask mandates got her answer in dramatic fashion on Tuesday. Governor Pritzker’s office responded to an August 10th Freedom of Information Act Request filed by Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) by sending a staffer to her legislative office in Springfield to hand-deliver 870 pages of studies and letters from parents that supported the mask mandate.
Click through for details. This is priceless. I realize that even multiplied by 10 or 20 (the numbers usually cited to compare those with opinions to those actually writing) 870 is a drop in the bucket in a state the size f Illinois, but it certainly is impressive. Dumb Republicans. (Yeah, I know, I misspelled “Damn.”)

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for August 15, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:28 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 152021

Yesterday it was pretty hot again. My lab results came, and look pretty good. They actually arrived Friday, but I was expecting 3 packages yesterday (which turned out to be four), so I waited in order not to go out more than necessary. Between the heat, the smoke, and the idiots, I really don’t feel terribly safe outside, even though vaccinated.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Intercept – SECRET DONORS TO NONPROFIT PUSHING TRUMP’S “BIG LIE” ELECTION CONSPIRACY REVEALED
Quote – The tax document obtained by The Intercept, a publicly filed IRS form that included a list of donors, shows a handful of large corporate and individual donors to the Bradley Impact Fund. The contributions listed in the fiscal year 2018 filing range from roughly $782,000 to $1.5 million. The Bradley Impact Fund operates as a donor-advised fund, a vehicle frequently used to allow anonymous contributions by letting donors give to a fund and then directing their contributions to particular recipients…. “It might seem improbable that a low-profile family foundation in Wisconsin has assumed a central role in current struggles over American democracy,” [investigative reporter Jane] Mayer wrote. “But the modern conservative movement has depended on leveraging the fortunes of wealthy reactionaries.”
Click through for a whole lotta detail. You will recognize some names, others maybe not so much. But if you’re going to follow the money, you can expect that.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/homeland-security-warns-fresh-covid-19-restrictions-could-spark-violent-attacks-2021-08-13/
Reuters – U.S. Homeland Security warns fresh COVID-19 restrictions could spark violent attacks
Quote – In an interview with CNN, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department considered domestic violent extremists to constitute “the greatest terrorist-related threat to our homeland.” He said the Department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.”
Click through for story. If they’d do this because of CoViD restrictions, what do you suppose they would do if their God-Emperor were arrested and held without bail? Asking for a friend.

Common Dreams – Child Hospitalization for Covid-19 Hits All-Time High in US: Report
Quote – The Delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the U.S. population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation’s COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.
Click through for more. I really can’t even.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for August 14, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:36 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 142021

So yesterday I attempted to get my new noise generator up and running … and coudn’t get a peep outof it. So I fired off an email to customer service. In the eantime, the travel size works just fine. As far as weather – we’ve been hotter – but our air quality is the pits. We are a large, smoke-filled room. I’m staying in, thanks.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Census shows US growth driven by minorities; white pop falls under 60 percent
Quote – A part of that decrease comes as a result of a new effort by the Census Bureau to measure the number of people who identify as multiracial, a population that skyrocketed over the last decade. But much of the drop in the white population, experts and demographers said, stems from an aging demographic that is producing fewer children later in life. “Whites, no matter how you count them, declined since 2010,” said William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution.
Click through for exact numbers and ramifications. I consider this to be excellent news, but you know you can hear RWNJ heads exploding all over.

HuffPost – 3 Former Cops Charged In Wrongful Conviction That Sent A Man To Prison For 25 Years
Quote – It is exceedingly rare for law enforcement officials to face criminal prosecution in relation to their roles in wrongful convictions. But reviewing wrongful convictions has been a key agenda item for Krasner, one of the leaders of the progressive prosecutor movement. In 2018, his office created the Conviction Integrity Unit, which has helped secure exonerations for 22 people. At least 18 of the exonerated were Black men. The detectives charged on Friday worked on at least four of the cases that the Conviction Integrity Unit has helped overturn.
Click through for details, including (trigger warning) description of initial interrogation and also the Grand Jury findings document. This is why I actually sent money to Krasner’s campaign. Not much, but some. Oh, and there’s a little video too.

Reuters – U.S. Homeland Security warns fresh COVID-19 restrictions could spark violent attacks
Quote – In an interview with CNN, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department considered domestic violent extremists to constitute “the greatest terrorist-related threat to our homeland.” He said the Department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.” U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, welcomed the DHS warning but said it was “troubling that the terrorism threat increasingly is based on grievance-based violence and conspiracy theories, especially related to the election and former President Trump.”
Click through. Dam right they “could” (read “will.” They won’t be happy unless they can kill all of us – but they’ll settle for any of us (and even some of themselves.) Here’s just one example.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for August 9, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 092021

Yesterday it was supposed to be warmer – the dude on the radio was hoping people had air conditioning – but it wasn’t here. It actually felt the cooloest day for a while. Hey, I’ll take that … as long as it doesn’t get too cold too fast. It was also a pill weekend, I filled the morning ones on Saturday and the evening ones yesterday. Set for two weeks now. Also placed a grocery order to be lelivered today.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Law & Crime – A Former MMA Fighter from N.J. and a Metal Baton-Swinging Seattle Resident Are the First to Plead Guilty to Assaulting Police on Jan. 6th
Quote – Both men technically face up to 20 years imprisonment at their upcoming sentencing on Sept. 17…. Both also face the possibility of $250,000 fines. Their sentencing hearings will be closely watched, as potential markers for how heavily federal judges will punish those charged with assaulting law enforcement on Jan. 6th.
Click through for deets and some speculation. Law & Crime can get very sensational in their headlines and in their selection of stories, but their style is pretty matter-of-fact.

AP News – Late nights, early mornings await Senate on infrastructure
Quote – As many as 20 Republicans are expected to join Democrats in what would be a big a vote on final passage. Overcoming a 60-vote hurdle Saturday with backing from 18 Republicans was a sign that the bipartisan tenuous alliance could hold on the public works package. Another procedural vote was expected late Sunday, as senators push toward Tuesday’s final passage. If approved, the bill would go to the House.
Click through for story. Don’t faint if some Republicans vote for this. They know we are going to get it done, and they don’t want us to be able to say, “Not one single Republican voted for it.”

Rolling Stone – Die Hard Trump Supporters Increasingly Demand Violence If He Isn’t Reinstated, Homeland Security Warns
Quote – “Over the last few days what has occurred is there’s been much more public visibility, meaning the discussions and these theories have migrated away from being contained within the conspiracy and extremist online communities, to where they’re being the topic of discussion on web forums, or more public web forums, and even within the sort of media ecosystem,” a senior DHS official told ABC News. The drunk-on-Trump crowd has been triggered so much that Homeland Security says they are concerned about the calls for violence increasing further.
Click through for more. This is a situation in which police in key locations do need riot gear, and I hope they have it.

Food for Thought –

Video Thread for 8/5/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:53 am Open Thread, Politics

Aug 052021

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s New Lawyer, Doug Collins, Sends a Remarkable Letter to Jeff Rosen on Executive Privilege

Meidas Touch – Bitecofer: DeSantis THREATENS America

The Lincoln Project – “Made”

Thom Hartmann – DOJ Warns Mysterious “Sudden Windfall” of Money to Proud Boys

politicsrus – Just Do It

Stray, Three-Legged Cat Who Spent 9 Winters Outside Has His Own Fireplace Now

Beau – Let’s talk about masks being back in style….

Video Thread for 8/3/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:22 pm Open Thread, Politics

Aug 032021

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s $100 Million Democracy-Damaging Grift – Time for AG Garland/DOJ to Bring the Accountability

Incidentally, this is what Glenn was doing the day I thought he took off.

Don Winslow – #UniteAgainstCovid

CBS Sunday Morning – Alexander Vindman on truth and its consequences. And I’ll bet he has no regrets. Yu may want a hanky

Now This News – Oceanographers Spot Real-Life SpongeBob & Patrick (sound is music only0

Keith – OLBERMANN VS…McCARTHY’S EXCUSE FOR TALKING OF HITTING PELOSI. IS HE STONED? NO, SERIOUSLY – IS HE? (Keith didn’t mention this, but Covid can decrease male potency – the vaccine does not. I think spreading that truth might help.)

Beau – Let’s talk about criticism of the Capitol cops….

Open Thread for July 30, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:41 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 302021

Yesterday was still hot, as it’s supposed to be today also, cooling some on Saturday. It’s hard to work up much enthusiasm.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/565378-the-17-republicans-who-voted-to-advance-the-senate-infrastructure-bill
Quote – The vote — the first of several steps expected before the Senate decides whether or not to ultimately pass the bill—comes one week after all Republicans blocked a similar move, arguing that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was rushing the process as senators tried to finalize their agreement.
Click through for list. Some of these not only surprised me but made me think there’s something fishy (nothing new with the GQP)

Mother Jones (Kevin Drum) – The Real Source of America’s Rising Rage
Quote – [T]he past couple of decades have seen a steady increase in the belief among white people—particularly Republicans—that anti-white bias is a serious problem. Fox News has stoked this fear almost since the beginning, culminating this year in Tucker’s full-throated embrace of the white supremacist “replacement theory” and the seemingly 24/7 campaign against critical race theory and its alleged impact on white schoolkids. This is certainly not all that Fox News does, but it’s a big part of its pitch, and it fits hand in glove with Trump’s appeal to white racism.
Click through for his reasoning. Kevin is another who’s pretty sharp. And Fox is certainly huge. But even media could not create racism, white nationalism, the Great Replacement paranoia, etc. out of thin air. It can only weaponize them by bring ing them out of hiding.

BuzzFeed News – A Judge Questioned If Capitol Rioters Are Getting Off Too Easy For “Terrorizing Members Of Congress”
Quote – Howell in the end accepted Griffith’s guilty plea, but, like Walton, put the government and defense through several paces before she did. She asked whether the government was concerned that an agreement involving a low-level misdemeanor was enough not only to deter Griffith from participating in a similar event in the future but also the broader universe of the hundreds of people who descended on the Capitol that day. The circumstance that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection, a presidential election, happens every four years, the judge noted.
Click through for story. Of course it’s Beryl Howell – not that she’s the only one with a head on her shoulders, or the only one who is outspoken, but she’s certainly one of a few.

Food for Thought (I know it’s long .. but it’s all needed):