This seemed like a good article for today. Of course thise would not apply to all ghost stories – but some, very much so.
At one time, I believe it did make sense to appeal to moderate Republicans – because moderate Republicans existed. But, in hindsight, I don’t believe that has been true since 1980. What we need now (and have since 1984) is a modern FDR.
Miles Taylor, with his team at Defiance dot org, has made a documentary called “Corruptionland” which can be seen at corruption dot org. They want your email address, so Defiance dot org can send you information as they update it. If you’re uncomfortable with that, the other button on that page will take you to it on YouTube. The bottom line is that all the corruption they wee able to quantify totals 337 BILLION dollars, and they know there are also some bigger ticket items which they were not able to quantify accurately (his estimates are always substantially too low.)
On Monday, I was thinking about what would be better if the Orange Julius dropped dead, or if he were impeached, or Article 25ed. Y’all know by now I’m worried about this – fearing we would be jumping out ofthe frying pan into the fire. After listening to Malcolm (and co-hosts) today, I’m thinking we would be better off if Putin were to be taken out – somehow. Andyes, I know he would be replaced. But whoever replaced him would not have a years-long relationship with Donald, or be immediately worshiped by him. Building a harness like that takes at least some time, during which he would be figuratively in free fall, and we might be able to accomplish something. Also on Monday, DHS raided the home of Ilhan Omar. And- besides that, Ukraine has taken out some (I think the number is 2 out of 6 total.) IF and when they finish that job, the direction of news coverage is going to change world wide.
(28 minutes well spent, filled with details the American press won’t tell you.)
I’ll bet y’all will easily guess how this story makes me feel. But I promise not to take it out on any of you. (1500 years older than Stonehenge, and 4,000 years older than the Nazca Lines. Grrrrr.)
I don’t know – I doubt anyone knows, least of all the Apricot Antichrist himself, whether he made this up out of thein air, saw it in a dream (Virgil is 3 years older, and from time to time dreams something and then believes it really happened), or whether it’s a post-hypnotic suggestion from Putin. It’s definitely not fact based. But if Zelenskyy caan get something out of it that’s worth getting, he likely will. On the other hand, hose Russian data centers are the hardware Russia has been using to interfere with elections (not just ours) for years – maybe decades – and I’d love to see them eliminated.
[alternate link] This almost – but not quite – makes up for the bad news. One point which kind of frosts the cake is that Fresno is the partof California which Devin Nunes represented when he was in Congress. Trespassing, at least two counts of assault and one of battery – I’m guessing they can hold him for a while.
It isn’t a holiday where I am, and it’s probably not where you are. But in California, starting today and in perpetuity (or until some Republican ruins it),, September 25 is and will be Dolly Parton Day. (And why didn’t Tennessee think of that?)
So true – so simple – and so sad that some people need to be told it.
This may ask you to subscribe, but you shouldn’t need to just inorder to read it. I found it encouraging.
No, I wasn’t particularly looking for encouraging news today – I just happened to tripover some in my inbox. This takes me back to the sixties – not that I remember actual candidates for Congress taking this risk then. Outrage and resistance are not dead.
Yesterday, I mostly caught up on sleep. Which I needed.
In 1381, Richard II was 14. Woody Norman is 17 – but I guess that’s about as close as Hollywood is doing to get. I really don’t think it’s possible to grasp Richard II without keeping in mind how incredibly young he was. Yes, I realize children in the Middle Ages were considered short adults (7 or 8 was considered the age of reason by the church), but the brain not becoming fully mature until about 25 was just as accurate science then as it is now, though they didn’t know it then. But the article isn’t really about Richard or even monarchy – it’s about revolution. And, in that connection, I expect y’all will appeciate the way Professor Rolle-Koster uses Monty Python in teaching Medieval history.
This will strike you as an odd request – it certainly did me – but Kris wants help in getting Smedley Butler’s “War Is A Racket” banned. Specifically, in a new edition for which he wrote the foreword. But there is method to this madness, and it only takes him 3 minutes and 28 seconds to explain it.
And this is an update on what is going on with the new ruling class in the US (just ask them – they’ll tell you that’s wxactly who they are.)
Ben and Jerry’s – well, at least Ben – are asking for our help. Let me clarify they don’t want us to boycott B&J – just everything else that Magnum owns,
Lina Khan was the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission under a stronger and smarter administration. She is smart, and IMO – easy to listen to – not that she speaks here, butI’ve heard her elsewhere.
Yesterday, I received the paper Colorado Springs street map I ordered because, besides the fact that I’ve forgotten a lot of streets which used to be familiar, many of the onws I do remember have changed beyond recognition – and online maps no longer show street names. I can already see it’s going to be a huge help.
From Common Dreams. Considering the source, you’d think people would listen to this warning. But they probably won’t. Here’s an addendum.
Wajeeh Lion has a favorite saying which is not too different from one of the Ben Franklin quotes Michael Waldman uses – “You may not “F” with politics, but politics is going to “F” with you.” I think the title of this from the Brennan Center is accurate – but by itself it doesn’t address the measures above and beyond normal that some voters will need to take to get it done. But voters who have listened in previous election years to the perennial advice: “Have a plan in advance how you are going to vote, and stick to it. And take someone with you.” will likely get it done.
We haven’t – or at least I haven’t heard from Tammy Duckworth for a while. As usual, she is correct. (Reinstating them would be better – but she’s no fool, and knows that’s not currently in the realm of possibility.)
Yesterday, Trinette came by solved a bunch of stuff for mw. And Virgil has finally gotten help to find thekind of emails I can send on his tablet. I know that because I got one from him. He phoned, amd I told him how proud of him I amm that he was able to do that. (I realizehe’s going to forget steps from time to time – but now he knows he can do it.
At the time of the history recounted here, the UK had become a constitutional monarchy. Parliament was in the driverb’s seat – and had political will. If we are ever going to summon the political will for thie, Democrats and independents must do it. Republicans have pretty much become puppets. But even among Democrats and independents, there are too many puppets for Congress to do what needs to be done.
Robert Reich makes Dolly Parton an example of the best of us (up to which we have not always lived) and the jerk in the White House of the worst of us (which I probably don’t have to say is in the process of taking over.) The only thing I can come up with to succesfully fight on this level iis to remember, prove, and push the fact that it is virtually alqays lwss expensive to do the right thing. And that is going to be a hard sell – especially to MAGAts, even with mountains of evidence.
Satire! This is SATIRE! “The Duffel Blog” is the US military “The Onion. I stress this because, under the current regime it is believable (and let’s hope no one shows it to him.) So it’s OK to laugh.
Yesterday, Dolly Parton died, aged 80. Many people will mourn her because of her singing, and the songs she wrote. And that is understandable. She was at the top of her genre, and it’s one which tugs at heartstrings. This the New Yorker speaks toall who will miss her. I will grieve because, while she lived, no majority black high school band in Tennessee ever had to fundraise to get band uniforms.
Today I have two medical appointments -one at 9:00 am (with 8:30 checkin) and the secoand the second at 4:30pm (with 4:15 checkin.) I decided my best chance of getting to both on time and awake was to stay up all night Monday, sleep all day Tuesday, and stay up all Tuesday night. We’ll hope it works.
From Talking Points Memo. This is quite an analogy – The Orange Ogre’s drug of choice is not adderall after all, , but his fantasies about reality,which he cannot accept. At this late date, after all these years, I doubt that an intervention is going to change anything.
Archived from the Old Gray Lady because paywall. Referred by Allison Gill. This does appear to be yesterday’s biggest news. This is why so many people are discovering that not all Democrats are alike – and that we don’t want coporate ones (also known as “third way” Democrats.)
I couldn’t agree with Robert Reich more. This should be painfully obvious. (It probably won’t be, given MAGA’s Trump Derangement Syndrome – but it should be.)
Yesterday, I got up early for me, which was not all that early, but early enough to call an institution on a 9 to 5 schedule and reach a human being. Turned out not to be necessary. It appears that if Virgil calls and I don’t answer, for whatever reason, the company that provides the phone service thinks I don’t have an account with them, and sends a recorded message to that effect. But the caller ID, instead of showing the phone company, as calls from Virgil do, but instead shows the name of the facility. I jumped to the conclusion that his case manage was trying to reach me for some reason, and that I needed to call it back during working hours. I was pleasantly surprised that that wasn’t the case.
From the Brennan Center, an analysis piece about the effects of AI on elections. There is a smorgasboard of sentence fragments and hypotheticls before you get to the actual article, so don’t give up.
Colorado Public Radio. The “Listen” does duplicate some of the written word, but with different empgasis, and has a little information not in the written part.
This is from Thursday. Malcolm is pissed. I am too. I don’t have a family history like his – although my father was in the Army during WWII as a telegrapher – and his grandfather did fight in the Civil War for the Union – that’s defnitely not unbroken. I didn’t learn about Dory Miller until long after I was out of the service – but it’s a truth I have treasured since I did learn it. Upgrading the decoration to the MOH while renaming the ship is like throwing a piece of candy after killing his or her parent. It’s not proportionate. It’s a little bit of sweet compared to an avalanche of grief. CNN has a recorded livestream here from its Laura Coates Show, in which Malcolm speaks, (about ten minutes total.) The first seven minutes are mostly with Dory’s grand-nephew, and about the last three minutes with Malcolm, who somehow manages to communicate the importance of decisions like these with no expletives – a minor miracle, according to him. I might just add he also exhibits his own dignity and with it the dignity of everyone who has ever served – and Malcolm is not a man who normally stands on dignity. But it was needed here.
