Open Thread for November 15, 2021

 Posted by at 6:56 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 152021
 

Yesterday, I managed to sleep in. I hadn’t slept well Thursday night, not even all that well Wednesday, so I was hoping I could … while also knowing from experience that someyimes needing sleep that much makes it harder to get. But I now feel quite rested. Now I just need to get some stuff done.

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – New Lawsuit Could Put Murdochs On The Hook For Fox Election Lies
Quote – Dominion is already suing Fox News for defamation to the tune of $1.6 billion. But this week it filed a new lawsuit in the matter against Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, apparently to combat stonewalling about the Murdochs’ role(s) in promoting the lie that Dominion voting machines rigged the election.
Click through for a more setailed explanation, and a link to the full suit. I can’t tell you how glad I am that Dominion has attorneys who could not only see through this but also come up with a way to fight it.

Engadget – FBI email servers were hacked to target a security researcher
Quote – The FBI appears to have been used as a pawn in a fight between hackers and security researchers. According to Bleeping Computer, the FBI has confirmed intruders compromised its email servers early today (November 13th) to send fake messages claiming recipients had fallen prone to data breaches. The emails tried to pin the non-existent attacks on Vinny Troia, the leader of dark web security firms NightLion and Shadowbyte.
Click through for more. I saw this first at Reuters, in an un-embeddable (probably) video, and chased it around a bit. Engadget is the only source which states as fact the reason for the hack was to target a particular person, so it may be wrong, but it’s interesting – and scary – anyway

AP News – White House confident Biden’s bill will pass House this week
Quote – The House has been moving toward approval of the massive Democrat-only-backed bill even as the measure faces bigger challenges in the Senate, where Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have insisted on reducing its size.
Click through for multiple pros and cons. I would certainly hope Dees is right, but I’m not confident.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for November 14, 2021

 Posted by at 7:23 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 142021
 

Yesterday, On the morning trip, there was enough cloud cover I didn’t have to use the visor much, though it was very helpful when I did. Coming home – well, let me back up a little. First, the visit was good and Virgil returns all greetings.OK. I already said the package with the visor contained some other things. What they were was clear-plastic-lined fabric screens, each about 16″x 20″, stretched with a wire frame flexible enough to fold them into about a 9″ circle if you’re smart enough – I’m not, but they came that way. I opened two and didn’t touch the second two. They came with little suction cups but there’s not an obvious place to put them. I clipped a couple of binder clips to one and took it and a second one to the car. As much as we talk about the sun moving from East to West, we often ignore in our speech the effect of the earth’s axis on that. Here in Colorado, the axis is so skewed at this time of year that the sun sets virtually due South – to the left of the car from Las Animas to Pueblo, and left and behind me when I’m heading north to Springs. As I got to Pueblo and the dangerous-due-to glare turns, I stopped, and clipped one of the scrrens to the driver’s window, far enough back not to interfere with the left rear view mirror. When I started going north, that screen was far enough back to slow down the sun – not strong enough to stop it, which itself coul have been dangerous, just effectively enough for it not to hurt my eyes and drive me nuts. So I guess now I know what they are for. Between them and the visor extender, driving is now a lot easier and feels much safer. Mission accomplished.

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Short Takes –

Common Dreams – ‘Arrogant Insensitivity’: Defense Lawyer in Arbery Murder Trial Ripped for Bid to Bar Black Pastors
Quote – Gough, referring to the founder and marketing mascot of the fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, curiously added that “if a bunch of folks came in here dressed like Colonel Sanders with white masks sitting in the back,” before trailing off.
Click through for story, which is all over but this is a good take on it. Personally, I think the prosecution should give Sojourners a call (and possible also ask the black pastors) to look for white pastors to put on the stand who will really shame the defendants with both barrels.

DHS Sounds Alarm On RW Terror Against School, Health Officials And Congress
Quote – DHS issued a bulletin Wednesday warning that the holiday season ushers in a “diverse and challenging threat environment” with threats “posed by individuals and small groups engaged in violence, including domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences.” You can substitute the term “right-wing extremists” for “domestic violent extremists.” Probably not all DVEs are right-wing but it’s clear from the DHS bulletin that the ones it’s most worried about are:
Click through for more. My, it’s nice to have a DHS that actually cares about our secuity,not just bashing people of color and other minorities.

Wonkette – What’s In The Infrastructure Bill? What’s In Build Back Better? Which Is Which? Wonkette Gets Servicey!
Quote – On the off chance you may have missed it, the House passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) late Friday [11/5], with the second, much larger part of Joe Biden’s first term agenda, the Build Back Better reconciliation bill, likely to be passed the week prior to Thanksgiving, as long as Joe Manchin doesn’t decide it needs to include tax credits for diesel pickup trucks that “roll coal” on bicyclists and drivers of Prii. In Monday’s White House presser, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would sign the infrastructure bill into law sometime next week…. Obviously, Biden wants to use the passage of the BIF as leverage to move Build Back Better to completion, which seems like a pretty sound strategy, and if your House or Senate critter is doing town halls this week, let ’em know you want Build Back Better to pass, yes, even if they’re Republicans.
Click through for what we got. There is also a companion article, What’s In The Build Back Better Bill? Your Servicey Wonkette SUPER MEGA-LISTICLE!, which details what we hope to get. Wonkette may have a frivolous attitude, but it also has facts.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for November 6, 2021

 Posted by at 6:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 062021
 

Yesterday, another quiet day, thankfully.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – A Duchess and a senator go to dinner
Quote – In a furious dash to ensure a universal paid leave policy — however small — makes it into the final version of a care package weaving its way through Congress, the Democratic legislators who have advocated for the policy for years are trying everything — including working with the Duchess of Sussex.
Click through for how this happened. I have nor forgiven Gillibramd, but if this helps get it done, that may help. (Incidentally, SOME people are capable of rising above “I’ve got mine” and work to help others.)

Wonkette – Special Counsel John Durham Arrests Russian Pee Tape Man For TERRIBLE LIES!
Quote – We’re sorry, but does any of that rise to the level of “lied to FBI about secret negotiations with Russian government”? We are just asking, because we are unclear on what the standards are here in Wonderland.
Click through for story. I don’t know what else you’d expect from a “Special Prosecutor” appointed by Bill Barr. Couldn’t (and shouldn’t) he be replaced with a real person?

The Hill – Democrats ramp up filibuster talks after voting rights setback
Quote – After months of trying to give space for bipartisan discussions on election legislation, Democrats are planning internal talks about what, if any, rules changes they’ll be able to get through on their own. Those ideas include smaller shifts on nominations or amendments. But altering the filibuster — particularly when it comes to elections bills — is getting the most attention.
Click through for more – I should bloody well hope the filibuster’s abolishment is getting discussed!

Food for Thought –

Democracy for America and Robert Reich want you to sign (and share) this petition (and I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to.)

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Video Thread 11/5/21

 Posted by at 11:36 am  Open Thread, Politics
Nov 052021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump Lawyers Falsely Claim in Court Filing that FBI & Senate Committee Cleared Trump Re: Jan 6

Meidas Touch – QAnon cult humiliated after JFK Jr. fails to ‘reappear’ in Dallas, declare Trump king

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party…

CNN – QAnon believers gathered to see something physically impossible

Liberal Redneck – January 6th Was Not a False Flag

Puppet Regime – Biden’s Paid Leave Problem |

Beau – Let’s talk about Manchin and political games….

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Video Thread 11/4/21

 Posted by at 12:24 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Nov 042021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Recap of Legal Stories for October 2021: From Trump Crimes to Congress; From Garland to Bannon

The Lincoln Project – Anti-American

Dem Congressman Expertly Breaks Down How Progressive Policies Are Key to Competing With China in Fiery Speech

Liberal Redneck – Virginia Governor Fallout

Rocky Mountain Mike shares Richard Henzel reading “The Craven.”

Leroy Anderson – The Classical Jukebox (complete with skips and “broken record” repeats – remember?)

Beau – Let’s talk about 30% of Republicans, Trump, and the midterms…

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Video Thread 10/27/2021

 Posted by at 12:09 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 272021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Rolling Stone Article: Members of Congress Assisted Insurrection Organizers; Gosar Dangles Pardons

Meidas Touch – Terry McAuliffe calls Glenn Youngkin ‘Trump in Khakis’

The Lincoln Project – What’s on the Ballot?

Armageddon Update – Vaccine Mandate

PBS – GOP lawmakers were ‘intimately involved’ in Jan. 6 protest planning, new report shows. So nice to see PBS getting into this.

MSNBC – Congressman Reacts To Latest Draft Of Biden’s Social Spending Plan

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, Cowboys, Rolling Stone, and a bumpy ride….

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Open Thread for October 26, 2021

 Posted by at 6:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 262021
 

Yesterday, I moved some clothes around – put some away, took some out to be handy both to visit Virgil and to change into when I get home. Of course the pronblem with that is that it take twice as long to recover as it does to do. But I did manage. And rested a little with knitting. (One yarn company has as its motto “Knit. Relax. Repeat.” Almot too cute.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – The 19th Explains: Key races to watch in November 2 elections
Quote – The year after a presidential contest is not a big one for elections, but two states and several major cities are holding elections this year for governor, state legislators, mayors and more. The debates are shaped by local issues, like housing, and national issues, like the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click through for all eight. It mentions the NYC mayor but not the DA, in which Alvin Bragg is running to succeed Cy Vance. He may, of course, be unopposed.

Crools and Liars – Biden Breaks Stalemate As New Hope Emerges For Transformational Agenda
Quote – The details of the bill are still being worked out, but Jayapal has made clear so far that progressives’ priorities are still in the bill, even though they’ve had to scale back some of the proposals. Manchin and Sinema have continued to be the skunks at the garden party, but Biden seems to have pinned them down on both a price tag and their red lines in the sand.
Click through for the story. Crooks and Liars is an unlikely place to look to for hope, but I’ll take it where I can get it.

PolitiZoom – Gerrymandering On Steroids W. Virginia Governor says He’ll Accept Three Maryland Counties Who Want To Secede
Quote – This is either a Fox News publicity stunt which has gone too far, or maybe state lines will be redrawn in dramatic ways if this is real and it catches on. As you’ve probably heard, three western Maryland counties want to secede from Maryland and become a part of West Virginia. What’s that you say? Who in their right mind would want to leave the 15th largest economy in the nation and move to the 48th? Beats the hell out of me.
Click through for what little else is known. If they can do this without changing the number of House Representatives each state is now assigned, I say go for it.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 13, 2021

 Posted by at 7:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 132021
 

Yesterday, my ballot arrived in the mail! In addition to the fiscal measures I already mentioned (and have already researched), it does contain candidayes for my school board. I will have to google them So I won’t be returning it immediately. But I will as soon as possible.  Also, as promised, I did listen to the entire Garland interview, and I have two takeaways to suggest: first, that she asked very good questions. Almost everything we really want to know. (And, of course, the ones we really, really want answers to do involve ongoing investigations – so, only indefinite answers.) But the second thing was that, I never really thought about it, but he is still working on last year’s budget. And that means there are things he can’t do before getting his own budget, because the funds are just not there. No, neither of them said that – but I gathered it from what they did say.

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Short Takes –

Wonkette – John Birch Society Is BACK BABY, And They’re … Trying To Block Entrances To Your Kid’s School!
Quote – The JBS YouTube account, which has a shocking 85.1 thousand followers, is filled with videos with titles like “Bidens New World Order Agenda!” and “Installing the New World Order” and “COVID’S Lies Push People To Action,” because apparently the virus is a sentient being now. There is a whole series on the Illuminati and what those rascals been up to for the past several hundred years.
Click through for details. This is certainly something I never wanted to read or hear. But … we should have expected it. We should have known that if humanity as a whole were actually capable of evolving beyond this evil, we would not have seen any of it in our lifetimes.

The New Yorker – Attorney General Merrick Garland, Interviewed by Jane Mayer
Quote (from text intro) – At the 2021 New Yorker Festival, the investigative journalist Jane Mayer sat down for a conversation with Merrick Garland, the longtime federal judge now serving as President Biden’s Attorney General. Mayer asked about the central role that the Department of Justice plays in some of the most critical issues of our time: racial justice, domestic terrorism, threats to voting rights and abortion access, and the looming power of Big Tech companies.
Click through for podcast. As I type I have not listened yet (but will have done so by the time this posts.) An investigative reporter for The New Yorker has to be more than competent just to keep that job.

HuffPost – Progressives Resist Nancy Pelosi’s Plan For ‘Fewer Things’ In Budget Bill
Quote – At a press conference on Tuesday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) reiterated that message. “If we need to cut some of them back to fewer number of years, we’d be willing to do that,” she told reporters. “Why is that? Because we are not going to pit child care against climate change. We’re not going to pit housing against paid leave. We’re not going to pit seniors against young people.”
Click through for story. Of course shorter terms are a gamble. But that gamble is based on making a good show of what we can actually do when we get the chance. I think it’s a gamble well worth taking.

Food for Thought –

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