Sep 272021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Bannon’s Attempt to Justify His Seditious “Crib” Statement Produces Deeply Incriminating Admission

Chris Hayes: Tucker Carlson ‘A Lot More Overt’ With His Bigotry Than David Duke

Thom Hartmann – Trump Inspired Bullies Mobilize Authoritarian Psychopaths

Armageddon Update | Dogs, Bruh!

Liberal Redneck – Review of Louie Gohmert Excerpt)

Couple Finds A Tiny Calico Kitten Outside of Starbucks

Beau – Let’s talk about Rudy being banned from Fox….

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Sep 272021
 

Yesterday was fairly quiet. I organized my morning meds for the next two weeks (which I should have done Saturday … but that’s why I keep an extra) and I’ll organize the evening meds today (which I should have done Saturday, but that’s why I keep two extras.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PoliticusUSA – Sidney Powell Implicates Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Justice Alito In Plot To Overturn The Election
Quote – Sidney Powell is not a reliable narrator, but her point, if true, is that the purpose of the 1/6 attack on the Capitol was to buy time so that Justice Alito could intervene and block the certification of the election.
Click through for actual wording. Isn’t this … interesting.  And then there’s this.

Crooks and Liars – Biden White House Won’t Assert Executive Privilege To Help Donald Trump
Quote – This was the greatest threat to our democracy since the Civil War and we need answers. Let’s see where this goes….with the subpoenas flying fast, I suspect we will get our answers about Executive Privilege pretty quickly, especially when they start wanting to talk to Donald Trump and his kids directly.
Click through for what details exist. IANAL, but those who are point out that (a) he can claim executive privilege regarding what happened during his administration, and (b) though he can claim it, it is not automatic, as some things are not subject to it, and that is not his decision to make.

AP News – In redistricting, big say for big cities in DC power balance
Quote – Robust growth in the liberal strongholds of New York and metropolitan Chicago are poised to give Democrats an edge as their political maps are redrawn to adjust for changes in population over the past decade. While both New York and Illinois are losing congressional seats, their urban booms mean the newly drawn districts are likely to favor Democrats, adding to the party’s national total and making up for probable losses elsewhere.
Click through for more information. I certainly hope this analysis is on point. (I have hopes for my state as well, but those are unrelted to this.)

Food for Thought –

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Sep 262021
 

Glenn Kirschner – House Investigation of 1/6 Insurrection Issues 4 Subpoenas. Here’s an Overview of the Legal Issues

Really American – Richest Americans Pay Under 9% Taxes

Robert Reich – Democrats Have to Make This Choice

Puppet Regime – Angela Merkel’s Farewell Song

Parody Project/Freedom Toast – NO BUSINESS

Beau – Let’s talk about Missouri, a petition, and critical thought….

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Sep 262021
 

Yesterday, the opera was Pelleas et Melisande by Debussy. The libretto is symbolists, so Debussy was a good choice to complse it. I decided to make one last stab for this year at a cotton knitting project, and started on it. I may end up postponing finishing it until next year, but I hope I can finish the fron panel at least, which is based on the idea of a “Log Cabin” quilt block. The back, collar, cuffs, and hem are plain.

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Short Takes –

The Hill – Executive privilege fight poses hurdles for Trump
Quote – “For example a former president’s privilege claim is deemed much stronger if the current president supports it,” she added. “We’ve never been in a situation where there was a prior claim that was not supported by the incumbent, because presidents, when it comes to their turn to be the former president, they want to be able to do that same thing.”
Click through. To be pellucidly clear, he can claim executive privilege for any douments prio to noon on Jan. 20 But it isn’t a matter of claim and have. Some things are not subject to executive privilege. Like crimes. Someone other than he must look at the documents and determine whether they are subject to executive privilege or not (and most, if not all, won’t be.) And, of course, for anything after noon January 20, executive privilege cannot even be claimed. And President Biden has publicly stated he will not claim or support executive privilege for Trump**. Snicker.

Reuters – Germans vote in close election to decide Merkel successor
Quote – After a domestic-focused election campaign, Berlin’s allies in Europe and beyond may have to wait for months before they can see whether the new German government is ready to engage on foreign issues to the extent they would like. The splintered political landscape means a three-way coalition is likely. Final opinion polls gave the Social Democrats a narrow lead, but the conservatives have reduced the gap in recent days and many voters were still undecided.
Click through for details. We knew she was retiring – and now it’s here. She helped us survive Trump** as much as anyone outside could. I wish her the best in her retirement, as well as a worthy successor.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-india-mumbai-narendra-modi-da976c8f8aa7ca02c2193b56c3408a08
AP News – Mystery solved: Biden gets proof of family ties to India
Quote – “And although we never admitted it … I’ve found out that there was a Capt. George Biden who was a captain in the East India Tea Company in India,” Biden said. He appeared to be referring to the British East India Company, a commercial power for centuries that controlled trade in colonized India and parts of southeast Asia. Biden, who frequently talks of his Irish ancestry, quipped that the British connection was “hard for an Irishman to admit.” Biden, who has told versions of the anecdote to Indian audiences before, said Capt. Biden “apparently stayed and married an Indian woman” but he’d never been able to nail down further details.
Click through for story (though not complete genealogy.) Nikke Haley and Bobby Jindal, eat your hearts out.

Food for Thought –

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Sep 252021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Evidence Against Bannon for Seditious Conspiracy Mounts, Superseding Indictments Coming Per Wray

Meidas Touch – John Heilemann DESTROYS Republicans who sold their soul for Trump

Really American – Republicans Try And Block Voting Rights

politicsrus – Debt Ceiling HD

Rocky Mountain Mike – Hidden Valley DNA

Cat Welcomes Home Soldier (awesome)

Beau – Let’s talk about our man in Haiti, Daniel Foote…. EXACTLY!

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Sep 252021
 

Yesterday was another day with the portable heater on. I guess that’s the new normal, so I’ll have to find something else to talk about. Hopefully something less whiney.

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Short Takes –

The Hill – CDC panel authorizes COVID-19 vaccine boosters for high-risk people, those over 65
Quote – The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 15-0 to recommend a booster dose for Americans age 65 and older and people in long term care facilities. ACIP also fully recommended giving a single booster dose to people between the ages of 50 and 64 with certain high-risk conditions, by a vote of 13-2. The panel did not define what the qualifying underlying conditions are, but the CDC is expected to make that determination.
Click through – but some questions are not even being addressed. For instance, if your initial course was Moderna, should you be getting a Pfizer booster? Also, How long should you wait? An article in The Atlantic included a wide range of estimate – just about in the middle was eight months from the first shot. For me, that’s next year. But for those of you who got the first jab in February, that’s coming right up. I’d like to hear something official.

Mother Jones – Inside the Private Facebook Groups Where Anti-Vaxxers Plot to Get Religious Exemptions
Quote – Medical exemptions can be hard to come by—they require a documented diagnosis of one of the very few conditions that prevents someone from getting vaccinated. Religious exemptions are easier: They rarely require proof that an employee belongs to an organized religious group that opposes vaccines. (Few faiths do.) Rather, the onus of explaining the religious beliefs is left to the individual—and the employer must then decide whether the belief they describe is sincere, explained Poonam Lakhani, an employment attorney with the Prinz Law Firm in Chicago. “That’s a really difficult line for the employer to walk.”
Click through for story. If they would mask up (with N95 or stronger) and take dailt rapid CoViD tests (which are actually more uncomfortable than the vaccine), or else stay in quarantine, they could go unvaccinted for all I care. But they won’t. Free-dumb.

Washington National Cathedral – Reimagining the Confederate Windows
Quote – Washington National Cathedral today announced that it will replace its former stained-glass windows featuring Confederate iconography, removed in 2017, with racial-justice themed windows created by world-renowned artist Kerry James Marshall, described by The New Yorker as “a virtuoso of landscape, portraiture, still-life, history painting, and other genres of the Western canon.” The Cathedral’s commission represents Marshall’s first time working with stained-glass as a medium, and the windows are expected to be his first permanent public exhibition anywhere in the country.
Click through for more. I googled his work and I think his style is a natural for stained glass. It appears to be based more on shape than on line. There has also been a poem commissioned for this project.

Food for Thought –

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Sep 242021
 

Glenn Kirschner – When Donald Sued Mary: Why Donald Trump’s Lawsuit Against his Niece and the NYT is Dead on Arrival

Thom Hartmann – Senator Whitehouse Exposes Plot To Seize Supreme Court

Now This News – Ad for Fake Funeral Home Trolls the Unvaccinated. (No words needed.)

Robert Reich – The Secret to Actually Taxing the Rich

The Daily Show – The Messed Up Hist-HER-y of Childbirth

Beau – Let’s talk about salad dressing and Flynn….

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Sep 242021
 

Yesterday, it was (IMO) cold again. I turned on my portable heater. Eventually it warmed up some. If the forecast holds, it’ll be perfect for my drive on October 1, but the forecasts haven’t been holding that long as a rule. I can only hope.

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Short Takes –

HuffPost – The Senate May Actually Produce A Bipartisan Violence Against Women Act Bill
Quote – Senate and White House aides involved in months of negotiations on a VAWA reauthorization bill tell HuffPost that despite the relative silence on the subject, they’re feeling optimistic about unveiling bipartisan legislation ― and soon. “We are encouraged by the progress in the Senate and are looking forward to a bipartisan bill being introduced this fall,” said a White House official familiar with talks on a VAWA bill.
Click through for the story. I’m not holding my breath, but I am somewhat hopeful.

The Hill – Debt ceiling fight pits corporate America against Republicans
Quote – The debt ceiling battle on Capitol Hill is pitting corporate America against congressional Republicans in a test for business groups that have historically aligned with GOP lawmakers on economic issues. Senate Republican leaders are digging in on their opposition to raising or suspending the debt limit, prompting sharp warnings from lobbying groups that represent some of the biggest U.S. corporations.
Click through for details. Republicans may kowtow to bug business … but apparently there’s not one in a hundred who actualy understands how business works. But I guess that shouldn’t be surprising.

Crooks and Liars – ‘Epik Hack’ Is Right Wing’s Worst Nightmare
Quote – “It’s massive. It may be the biggest domain-style leak I’ve seen and, as an extremism researcher, it’s certainly the most interesting,” said Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University who studies right-wing extremism. “It’s an embarrassment of riches — stress on the embarrassment.”
Click through for the story to this point. I assume no one here wants (I certainly don’t) to track any of this down personally and get any of these sites into their browser history, but if you do, Twitter is the place to start looking.

Food for Thought –

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