Video Thread 9/19/22

 Posted by at 11:44 am  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 192022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Cannon, classified document denier; Governors Abbott & DeSantis & kidnapping by inveiglement

Meidas Touch – MAGA Republicans’ Trafficking Stunt BACKFIRES when Residents Welcome Migrants with Open Arms

The Lincoln Project – Big Problems (This one ends rather oddly – long black screen with music. Not sure what the point is. It’s plenty scary without that.)

MSNBC – Massachusetts AG Candidate Blasts Gov. DeSantis’s ‘Political Stunt’

Liberal Redneck – Immigrant Shipments

Beau – Let’s talk about the GOP needing more time for marriage equality….

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Open Thread September 19, 2022

 Posted by at 7:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 192022
 

Yesterday, I received an email from the Holocaust Museum – not unusual. Sometimes I can handle reading some of the stories, sometimes not so much. But this one was only one story – about a survivor, David Bayer, who is also a museum volunteer, and is about to celebrate his 100th birthday. I signed an electronic birthday card for him, and you can too if you wish to. I really wonder – so many flat-earthers, and Holocaust deniers, and now election deniers – David has reached many people – but what will we do when he is gone? (Quote from the letter: “I’ve had many Museum visitors tell me it is firsthand experiences with survivors such as David that create a personal connection to Holocaust history.”

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – September 16, 2022
Quote – As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo says, none of it adds up. None of it, that is, except the politics. DeSantis apparently dispatched the migrants with a videographer to take images of them arriving, entirely unexpectedly, on the upscale island, presumably in an attempt to present the image that Democratic areas can’t handle immigrants (in fact, more than 12% of the island’s 17,000 full-time residents were born in foreign countries, and 22% of the residents are non-white). But the residents of the island greeted the migrants; found beds, food, and medical care; and worked with authorities to move them back to the mainland where there are support services and housing. In the meantime, there are questions about the legality of DeSantis chartering planes to move migrants from state to state.
Click through for full letter. She fills in the DeSantis travesty with background on Martha’s Vineyard and the truth about immigration and immigration policy.

Crooks & Liars – Lindell’s Subpoena Reveals ‘Subjects’ Of [election tampering] Investigation
Quote – The subpoena covers “all records and information” on Lindell’s phone that constitutes as evidence against seven named individuals or any other unnamed co-conspirators. It details several areas of interest for investigators related to Dominion voting systems and any efforts to damage or access them. Two of the individuals, Belinda Knisley and Sandra Brown, were Peters’ deputies in the Mesa County elections office and were charged in the Colorado state case earlier this year.
Click through for more. I added “election tampering” to the title because there are so many investigation it’s hard to keep them straight.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 9/18/22

 Posted by at 12:22 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Sep 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Georgia DA Willis says prison likely for election criminals; Meadows is subpoenaed by DOJ/grand jury

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Trump files BIZARRE OBJECTION to DOJ’s Special Master Selections

The Lincoln Project – Raskin Fights Back

Ojeda Live – MAGA-hacks DeSantis and Abbott traffic immigrants like livestock

MSNBC – Joyce Vance: Mar-a-Lago Investigation ‘Just Keeps Getting Worse’ For Trump

Beau – Let’s talk about the Little Mermaid and relatability….

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Open Thread September 18, 2022

 Posted by at 7:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 182022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Pearl Fishers” by Georges Bizet (who is far better known for “Carmen.”) It is a typical triangle story with an exotic setting (maybe Sri Lanke, or maybe not.) It’s an early work and in some ways uneven, but what makes it stand out is the tenor-baritone duet “Au fond du temple saint,” which as an expression of male friendship in opera is perhaps only rivalled by the one in Verdi’s “Don Carlo” – musically, that is. I saw this streamed from the Met and the host during intermission asked the tenor and the baritone whether performing this famous duet in cotext has informed their interpretations. The tenor replied that he had not known until learning the whole opera that in this duet his every word was a lie (in the “Don Carlo” duet both the tenor and the baritone are in deadly earnest.) I think that’s a bit harsh, but certainly the tenor is not being strictly truthful throughout. It’s still gorgeous. This is the first of four programs which were recorded in China, and it’s sung in French, and the four principals appear to be European, by their names, as is the conductor. Besides the production photos, some photos of the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing were included in the supplemental materials. It is extremely different from, for instance, the Sydney Opera House, but it appears both architects had the same desire to make people say “Wow!” – inside and out.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Patagonia Founder Hands Entire Company To The Lorax, For The Trees
Quote – Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe…. The company will continue to run as a profit-making bidness under the new arrangement, without direct ownership by the Chouinard family; the family will oversee the “Patagonia Purpose Trust” to make sure the company’s values and commitments are maintained, what with all the social and environmental responsibilities and sustainable manufacturing. Patagonia will also continue its existing practice of donating one percent of its sales to grassroots environmental activists.
Click through for story and free NYT link. Good news is always welcome, and this is jawdropping. This is orders of magnitude bigger than a charitable foundation. The closest think I can think of in history to it is Siddhartha Gautama – but he didn’t set up a trust, he simply walked away from the wealth.

HuffPost – GOP Governors Are Escalating Their Use Of Migrants As Political Pawns
Quote – “States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support for the Biden administration’s open border policies,” the communications director for DeSantis said on Thursday. “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border,” Abbott tweeted.
Click through for details. This is so outrageous you have almost certainly read about it by now. But because it’s so outrageous, I didn’t feel I coulf ignore it either.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread May 23, 2022

 Posted by at 7:13 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 232022
 

Yesterday, I woke up before the alarm went off, and just stayed up, since I knew the weather could be problematic. It actually turned out not to be. there was no snow or ice or even frost on the windows – a couple of drops of rain was all. I took my time driving, the roads were almost all dry, and the short spots where they were not (bridges ot dips) were only wet, not icy. Virgil was a litttle short of sleep … and so was I. But we enjoyed each other’s comapny. And I got home as easily as I went down. (However, I wouldn’t be surprised if, when you see this, I am actually still asleep, even if you get to it later than usual.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

truthout – Judge Blocks Biden from Ending Title 42 in “Arbitrary, Racist” Ruling
Quote – Human rights advocates say Title 42 forces people legally seeking asylum in the United States into perilous situations in Mexican border cities, where Human Rights First has identified nearly 10,000 violent attacks on migrants. “Beyond the devastating humanitarian impact of Title 42, the court’s ruling also fails to recognize well-established domestic and international law,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. “Seeking asylum is a legal right, and yet this bedrock of the American legal system is quickly eroding at a time of unprecedented need.”
Click through for an explanation at least in part why the immigration authorities at the southern border are still doing such a – (cough) – such a rotten job. It isn’t all on Biden by a long shot (granted that some of it is).

Reuters – Analysis: Australian women unleash new political force on climate, integrity
Quote – Women who left successful careers in business, medicine and media to enter politics as independents were on track to win five seats from Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal party in its affluent urban heartland in Saturday’s general election, as moderate voters abandoned the government…. Personifying the disruptive change were centrists, mostly women, dubbed “teal” candidates because of teal-coloured marketing material used as they targeted seats held by Morrison’s conservative party.
Click through for full analysis. Lona did such a good job of summarizeing the election results in her comment (scroll down) that I thought I’d use this article, since it’s more about something new than general politics.

Crooks and Liars – Cassidy: Our Maternal Death Rates Only Bad If You Include Black Women
Quote – “About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear,” Cassidy said in an interview with POLITICO. “Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality.”
Click through for story. Can you believe this? Not his thinking it, tha’s nrmal for Republicans, but presumably not realizing what kind of blowback he would get from it?

Food For Thought

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Open Thread April 19, 2022

 Posted by at 6:56 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 192022
 

Yesterday, after a nice quiet Easter, my inbox kept filling up again after I’d empty it. It wasn’t as bad as it gets at the ends of months (and, even worse, quarters), but it was a smmall annoyance. Obviously, I sirvived (grin). I am still knitting crutch covers. It took me until the fifth one to finally optimize the casting on process … but I learned a lot from that, so it was well worth it.

Cartoon – 19 0419Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

The New Yorker [Jane Mayer] – The Slime Machine Targeting Dozens of Biden Nominees
Quote – [S]ince at least 1987, when President Ronald Reagan unsuccessfully nominated Robert Bork to be a Justice, the fights over Supreme Court nominees have been especially nasty. Yet the A.A.F.’s approach represents a new escalation in partisan warfare, and underscores the growing role that secret spending has played in deepening the polarization in Washington.
Click through for details. Things just seem to get worse and worse sometimes.

POGO – Misconduct at CBP Runs Deep, and Congress Must Address this Systemic Problem
Quote – For years, officers and agents from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the largest law enforcement agency in the country, have faced few consequences for mistreating migrants, even when their assaults were captured on film — even when they killed people. A new investigation from the Project On Government Oversight now shows that this lack of accountability has shielded some CBP agents from being held accountable for other unconscionable behavior as well.
Click through for specifics. In the United States today, any group that does any policing should, sadly, be automatically suspect. That runs deep, and far too few peole are willing to even look at it, let alone do something about it.

Democratic Underground (demmiblue) – A Bowl for Ukraine
Quote – Not only that, he had over 20,000 orders for bowls and chopping boards, which, he calculated, would take him 32yrs to fulfil. And now the press were knocking at the door. It was a lot to take in for a wee lad of 12yrs…. But Gabriel was certain of one thing – he wanted to share the kindness. So instead of carving 20,000 bowls, he would carve just one special one – his #BowlForUkraine
Click through for story. If you needed some hope after those first two … well, I did too.

Food For Thought (crude, yes – but clever)

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Video Thread 3/27/22

 Posted by at 12:01 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 272022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Ginni & Clarence Thomas, Mark Meadows & Trump: Corruption at the White House & the Supreme Court

Ojeda Live – The Oath Keepers or the “OOPS” Keepers!?!

Truth Matters – We Are Dems For Action

Farron Balanced – Clarence Thomas Disappears As His Wife’s Scandal Deepens

Armageddon Update | Judge Not Lest Ye…

Tiny Lost Seal Grows Up To Be Blubbery And Hilarious

Beau – Let’s talk about Abbott’s Operation Lone Star….

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Open Thread March 26, 2022

 Posted by at 6:35 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 262022
 

Yesterday, I didn’t get my groceries. However, I did get my refund approved. The amount of the refund was $144, out of an order which (before delivery charges, which I didn’t expect to get refunded) was $177. Fortunately, there was nothing I neded urgently -I basically wanted to stock back up. But I can definitely wait. It was just frustrating. And I will say they were prompt. The interval between the email that said they were looking at it and the one that said it was approved was 14 minutes. I applid and was approved on Wednesday, and by yesterday the credit was already showong on my card. So that was good. Unfortunately, the car didn’t start. So I put in an online request for “roadside assistance,” which is covered by my insurance policy.And he came so fast (I was expecting a call with ETA, but the call that came was “I’m here”) I hadn’t gotten out to the living room. I won’t say it started right up – but when he got everything adjusted just right, it started right up. I ran it for an hour (sitting in the car with a small knitting project and listening to a CD), so it should be fine Monday.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

NM Political Report – Advocates call for end to Trump-era policy that prevents asylum seekers from crossing border
Quote – Nonprofit groups have called for an end to the Trump era policy, called Title 42, which prohibits asylum seekers from crossing the border. Trump initially said he was implementing the policy in order to protect the U.S. from the spread of the respiratory disease just a few days into the pandemic. Rodriguez said that, by now, the U.S. has the means to prevent disease spread among individuals who cross the border and with the numbers of cases in a downward trend and mask mandates lifting, the policy is even less defensible now than it was two years ago.
Click through for details. This is not just a bad policy. It is a violation of international law. I don’t say it might not have been justified as a temporary measure in a pandemic But two things – there needed to be quarantine accomodations so people would not have to live in misery, and also, temporary means temporary.With proper testing facilities we could have dealt with a lot of this two years ago, before it even started to become the humanitarian crisis it now is.

Mother Jones – Why Josh Hawley Is Smearing Ketanji Brown Jackson as Soft on Pedophilia
Quote – In trying to paint Jackson as a pedophile sympathizer, Hawley is tapping into the same thing as Posobiec: the recurring impulse of reactionaries who are on their back heels to try to reset an imperiled position in the culture wars. It’s a mini-version of the pedophile conspiracies QAnon, Pizzagate—which, uncoincidentally, Posobiec was a key early proponent of—and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, when numerous false child sex ring accusations were leveled at daycare centers.
Click through for more examples and reasoning. I had this penciled in for today before I saw Nameless’s article yesterday, but kept it because it doesn’t detract from his, but does offer additional information about motivations (and evidence that we are not the only ones looking at how dumb he is.).

Women’s history – Wikipedia – Rebecca Latimer Felton
Quote – Rebecca Ann Latimer Felton (June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was an American writer, lecturer, feminist, suffragist, reformer, white supremacist, slave owner, and politician who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, although she served for only one day. Felton was the most prominent woman in Georgia in the Progressive Era, and was honored by appointment to the Senate. She was sworn in on November 21, 1922, and served just 24 hours. At 87 years, nine months, and 22 days old, she was the oldest freshman senator to enter the Senate.
Click through for bio. This is not the “first woman U.S. Senator” we would have liked to see. But she is the one we got. And I think her story has some educational points. But I promise to get positive again for the rest of the month (what’s left of it.)

Food For Thought:

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