History – Page 26 – Politics Plus

Open Thread May 27, 2022

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

May 272022

Yesterday, I received my grocery order and put it away. No substitutions – a few things missing, but I wasn’t charged for them. While waiting, I started working on cartoons for June. It’s a month with a lot missing and also a few dated, so it’s a ;large project. I got four put together (but not framed) which took me up through the ninth. I’d kind of like to get the tenth done this week yet, and then get farther next week, but we’ll see how it goes.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – The Supreme Court Just Said That Evidence of Innocence Is Not Enough
Quote – After losing in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Arizona’s attorney general appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. During those oral arguments, state prosecutors repeatedly argued that “innocence isn’t enough” of a reason to throw out Jones’ conviction. On Monday morning, by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court concurred: Barry Jones’ innocence is not enough to keep him off of death row. The state of Arizona can still kill Jones, even if there exists a preponderance of evidence that he committed no crime.
Click through for verdist ana analysis. I don’t have any idea how to react to this – it is that warped.

CPR News – Hate crimes are on the rise. Here’s what you can do to help prevent them
Quote – If someone says something that I have never heard them say before, like something racist, as uncomfortable as that would be, I would want to say, “I’ve never heard you talk like that. Why are these things appealing to you? What’s changed with you?” Actually express concern about them, that something is off and they’re becoming angry and blaming people, which is really a warning sign. If, instead, you come with the opposite opinion, or try to use facts to dispute someone’s beliefs, sometimes it ends up having the effect of making you impossible to talk to. They think you’re the “other,” or shaming them, and they will pull away, and then maybe they won’t express these things to you, but they can continue to get more strident.
Click through for full conversation – and, since after all this is radio, you can also listen to it if thet works for you.

Letters From An American – May 25, 2022
Quote – It seems that during the Cold War, American leaders came to treat democracy and capitalism as if they were interchangeable. So long as the United States embraced capitalism, by which they meant an economic system in which individuals, rather than the state, owned the means of production, liberal democracy would automatically follow. That theory seemed justified by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The crumbling of that communist system convinced democratic nations that they had won, they had defeated communism, their system of government would dominate the future…. In fact, the apparent success of capitalism actually undercut democracy in the U.S.
Click through as she bolsters the argument. It’s depressing, but iit’s also important. And it’s why it’s also so important to distinguish between Left v. Right economically and Autocracy v. Democracy as governance. See (and shre) The Political Compass.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 5/14/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:15 pm Open Thread, Politics

May 142022

Glenn Kirschner – Trump election lawyer John Eastman caught telling PA legislators to just “retabulate” vote for Trump

Meidas Touch – Top Democrat BLASTS these two crazed Republicans in scathing speech [while wearing a tie in the colors of the Ukrainian flag]

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – May 10, 2022

MSNBC – Lawrence Explains Just How ‘Monumentally Historic’ The McCarthy Subpoena Really Is [and how fundamentally – and rapidly – things have changed]

Sky News – Finnish President tells Russia ‘You caused this’ as he signs security pact with UK

Really American – Dr. Oz EXPOSED voting in Turkey’s election, denying Armenian genocide

Beau – Let’s talk about Natives, history, and volume being released….

Open Thread May 12, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 122022

Yesterday, I woke up from a nightmare.I was talking with Mitch McConnell and he said something which almost made sense. It was horrible. I never used to dream about public figures Sigh.
Today is May 12. I’m using a cartoon made by TC, but every year on May 12 I remember that when I was a freshman in college and still visiting my high school bridge club because I didn’t feel ready for tournament bridge (this would have been 1963), every time there was a trick with four face cards, it was obligatory for someone to say, “Summit Conference.” And on a trick with three face cards it was obligatory for someone to sat, “May 12th.” (because on May 12, 1960, Khrushchev walked out on the summit conference.) Just one of those trivial to the point of being idiotic things that one can’t seem to forget. (And it really wouldn’t make a good cartoon, anyway. Too much explanation needed.)

Cartoon – 12 0512Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast- A Second MAGA Clerk in Colorado Also Breached Voting Machines
Quote – Schroeder, who did not return a request for comment, is the second Colorado clerk accused of breaching voting machines under his supervision. The other clerk, Tina Peters of Mesa County, is currently facing a barrage of criminal charges for allegedly stealing a local tech worker’s identity, illegally copying her county’s election data, and leaking it to election fraud conspiracy theorists last spring. She later appeared at Lindell’s “cyber symposium” on supposed voter fraud where she implied, incorrectly, that the stolen data suggested election malfeasance against Donald Trump.
Click through for details. Colorado is a blue state if Democrats vote. But ever since Focus on the Family decided to settle in Colorado Springs, RWNJs all over the state have become more amd more loud and obnoxious. And lawless. Here’s a related article.

Crooks and Liars – ‘Songbird Of Mariupol’ Wants The World To Know That She’s Still Alive
Quote – For she is singing in a bomb shelter amid the shattered hell of Mariupol, accompanied by a low murmur from a chorus line of men sitting beside her. Her name is Kateryna. She joined the army last year after completing her music studies and, at the age of 21, she finds herself fighting for her life as a member of the heroic band of Ukrainian fighters making a desperate last stand in a besieged factory.
Click through for story and video. The video has CC (I don’t speak Ukrainan, but it looks good), and you can just tell she has a lovely voice, maybe perfect pitch, but the “accompaniment” doesn’t help.

AP News – Ambassador nominee for Ukraine seeks quick embassy reopening
Quote – Bridget Brink, who has spent the majority of her 25-year diplomatic career in former Soviet republics, spoke to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ahead of what’s expected to be her easy Senate confirmation…. Committee Republicans and Democrats alike Tuesday emphasized getting Brink confirmed and in place in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as soon as possible, as Ukraine’s forces are in their fourth month of battling invading Russian troops, with the help of an extraordinary campaign of military and financial support by the United States and European allies.
Click through (it’s short). Let’s not forget the last Ambassador, Marie (Masha) Yovanovitch. Like (and along with) LtCol Vindman, she demonsrated truth and honor in the face of a world-class bully. Big shoes to fill. I wish Bridget Brink all the best.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 6, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:20 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 062022

Yesterday, as I expected, it was sunny, so I got out to run the car. I also checked google maps to make sure i remembered the route, and check the time. they say 46 minutes. If I add 10 minutes toget gas and amother 10 to get lost (because this is not one facility but 5 , and I don’t know how hard ir will be to find the visitation center that serves all of them, I need to leave before 7:00. But I am likely not to post Erintes until I get back, even if I have it ready the night before (which I certainly plan to), or send out the email either. That will give anyone else who may want to put up a post more time to do so and still be included in the email. (also, sorry about getting the posts backwards yesterday. I put up the video one first because I had the material together first, and forgot that when I was schedulimg. Almost did it again today. Scatterbrain.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – The One Mistake Putin Is Dying for Us to Make
Quote – After [World War II], some top [German] generals claimed that in 1938, when Hitler began threatening Czechoslovakia, they were planning to oust him if it looked like he was about to plunge Germany into a war with the West that it was not prepared for at that point. Whatever the accuracy of their accounts, any resolve they may have had evaporated when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Daladier acquiesced to the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia by signing the infamous Munich agreement that September.
Click through for op-ed. Like any opinion piece, it may be wrong. Even when grounded in history – as it points out, there is a lot of history, and which part of history one looks at influences one’s opinions. But it makes a strong point.

Denverite – Some local Chicano murals are being recognized nationally as endangered — which could help preserve them. Quote: [Huitzilopochtli]

Click through for story. “Huitzilopochtli” means “Hummingbird Warrior.” (What, you expected a verbal quote for an art story?)

Opinion: The Republican blueprint to steal the 2024 election
Quote – The Republicans’ mystifying claim to this day that Trump did, or would have, received more votes than Joe Biden in 2020 were it not for actual voting fraud, is but the shiny object that Republicans have tauntingly and disingenuously dangled before the American public for almost a year and a half now to distract attention from their far more ambitious objective. That objective is not somehow to rescind the 2020 election, as they would have us believe. That’s constitutionally impossible. Trump’s and the Republicans’ far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest.
Click through for op-ed. Yes, two op-eds in one day. The author of this one is by no means a liberal or progressive, and maybe that makes it easier for him to see what the Republican Party is up to – we liberals and progressive believe in basic human goodness, after all. But we need to learn when not to – and what to do about it. There’s some commentary in New York Magazine here.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 3, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 032022

Yesterday, I pretty much rested, or tried to. I kind of wore myself out Sunday and was having trouble staying awake. Some days are like that.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American April 30, 2022
Quote – This letter is for the musician I met this week whose work takes her all over the country. She said that in her travels lately she feels something powerful building under the radar, and asked me if such a thing had ever happened before.
Click through for details.What we have here is history, and hope.

The 19th – She’s a White suburban mom. Can this lawmaker — and her viral speech — rally people like her for Democrats?
Quote – McMorrow said she is mindful of what it means to get media attention because she is a White woman. She highlighted Erika Geiss, a Black state senator, and Jeremy Moss, a gay state senator, who both gave impassioned speeches recently about inequities that have received far less attention. McMorrow said it shouldn’t be on marginalized people to do all the work. “If those of us who are not the ones negatively impacted by these attacks are comfortable and stand by and just let it happen, then it’s going to keep happening,” she said. “So now I’m looking at how I can make sure we’re elevating those voices.”
Click through – I posted the clip when it came out I”ve palyed a response or two. Now I want to feature her advice to Democrats.

Daily Beast – These States Are About to Put New Voting Laws to the Test
Quote – A number of states that have passed new voting restrictions in the past year—including Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana—have primaries this month. Their outcomes will serve as the first big test of the impact of new voting restrictions enacted following the 2020 election and former President Trump’s election hysteria. Pulaski County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth, who serves as the county’s elections administrator in Arkansas, says executing the changes in her state has been “somewhat of a nightmare.” She’s worried about a new rule requiring voters’ signatures on their absentee ballots to match what the state has on file—fearing that signatures might have naturally changed over the years. “We’re not handwriting experts,” she told The Daily Beast.
Click throiugh for more analysis. These are some of the worst voting restrictions we have seen since Jim Crow. If you want to follow election law, this might be a good time to subscribe to the Daily Beast newsletter.

Food For Thought

Open Thread April 21, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 212022

Yesterday, it occurred to me that one of these days, am going to set up and schedule an Open Thread where the top of the post just says “Yesterday,” and nothing else. Fortunately, today is not that day. But I’m sure it will come. When it does (maybe more than once), don’t worry about me. If I managed to get everything else up, I’ll be fine. I just meant to fill that in early, got scatterbrained, and forgot to go back and finish it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Democratic Underground (Smackdown 2019) – Hawley needs to reconsider!
Quote – Cease and desist order was given to Senator Hawley last month and he has yet to comply over copyright infringement laws. What might be the issue? A national media photographer took that famous picture of the Senator with his raises fist before he was to vote against President Biden win over Trump. That photo is being sold by Hawley.
Click through, and do scroll down the comments. There is a variant on that photo in one comment which needs to be seen. Accidental violations of copyright can be atoned for … but copyright and other forms of intellectual property shold not be messed with.

The 19th – ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills aren’t new. They’ve just been revived.
Quote – [Logan Casey, senior policy researcher and adviser for the MAP] said the bills are relics of the AIDS crisis, when panic about homosexuality dictated school curriculum. It also dates back to the infamous “Save Our Children” campaign led by activist Anita Bryant in the 1970s to overturn anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in Miami, Florida. “Once the HIV epidemic came into the picture, then a bunch of states started considering and enacting laws that banned instruction on sexuality and homosexuality in public education, channeling this ‘Save Our Children’ campaign energy and the fear and prejudice during the HIV epidemic,” Casey said.
Click through for more history. “Republican lawmakers say the new spate of curriculum bills allow parents to decide what their children learn about sexuality at a young age,” which is incredibly naive. It will aactually insure that children lean fictions from their peers rather than facts from responsible adults. (It will also make them more vulnerable to sexual abuse.)

Trump[**]’s Nightmare Song Should Be “Georgia On My Mind”
Quote – You’ll notice that there is a dead month from May 30 to June 1st, when the panel will begin hearing testimony. But it isn’t really a dead month. Willis will be able to use it to present evidence before the grand jury to obtain search warrants and subpoenas. This will empower her investigation to move farther, faster. But Willis dangled a little bit more.
Click through for both the background and the new teasers. This is good news. Glenn will be talking about it also – I’m not sure when that will pop up on the Video thread, since I try to keep his videos consecutive.

Food For Thought

Open Thread April 18, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:39 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 182022

Yesterday,, being Easter, I more or less relaxed.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Teri Kanefield – It’s Not About “Faith”
Quote – One point I keep making is that rule of law is difficult. It’s frustrating. It strives for fairness but isn’t always fair. Perfect fairness is not possible on Earth, where human beings are flawed, and there is constant pushback from those who prefer autocracy. This causes people to grow cynical and reject democracy. But the only real alternative is autocracy. “Confidence in democratic institutions” doesn’t mean “faith that we always get what we want” or “faith that courts will reach the right results.”
Click through for full argument. I found this through “Crooks and Liars” blog roundup.

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Devin Nunes Defamation Claim Over 2019 CNN Report
Quote – Nunes had originally sued in federal court in Virginia, but a federal judge, citing concerns about “form shopping” and noting that there was “no logical connection between the events in this case and this district,” transferred the case to New York. Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed Nunes’ claim in February 2021. Swain found that California law should apply to Nunes’ case, since that is where he lived and would have presumably suffered the greatest damage to his reputation. In applying California law, Swain further found that Nunes had failed to meet the statutory requirement that a plaintiff alleging defamation must make a written demand for a retraction within a short period of time after publication. Nunes had not done so, and Swain determined that he could not maintain his claim.
Click through for details. I’m sure Dairy Devin doesn’t think so , but I find this funny AF. “Musical states,” anyone?

Florida rejects 54 math textbooks over ‘prohibited topics’ including critical race theory
Quote – Florida’s education department has rejected 54 mathematics textbooks from next year’s school curriculum, citing alleged references to critical race theory among a range of reasoning for some of the rejections, officials announced. The department said in a news release Friday that some of the books had been rejected for failure to comply with the state’s content standards, Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking [Best], but that 21% of the books were disallowed “because they incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT”.
Click through for what little detail the state was willing to provde. Heaven knows what they think CRT is – but, whatever they think, it isn’t that.

Food For Thought: