Video Thread for 8/17/21

 Posted by at 12:30 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 172021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Rules Dominion Defamation Suit Will Proceed Against Giuliani, Powell and Lindell

Now This News – Jon Ossoff on Being an Effective Ally

Rebel HQ – Homeless Man’s Emotional Response To Small Miracle

Ring of Fire – Ted Cruz Calls Capitol Rioters ‘Peaceful Supporters’ In Gross Defense Of Insurrection

Bruce Nelson – The Ultimate Tucker Carlson Folk Song

Liberal Redneck – Liberal Redneck – Biden, Trump, and the Taliban. Pretty good for somepne who admits he’s not knowledgeable. Beau, however, is knowledgeable.

Beau – Let’s talk about some questions about leaving over there…. (Yup.) The back-to-back is because they are related.

Beau – Let’s talk about who’s to blame for all this…. I can’t help but agree with his assessments of blame. But I also wish, as he does, that we could stop trying to assign blame right now. “Not very conducive to stopping it” is throwing roses at it.

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Open Thread for August 17, 2021

 Posted by at 7:13 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 172021
 

Yesterday I received my approval to visit Virgil and emailed the prison for a reservation. Because of the circumstances, I specified a weekend and gave a day preference, but left the exact date open, so I won’t be certain what day until I hear back. In the meantime, I’ll need to make a point of driving somewhere to keep the battery up. Once I can start visiting regularly, that will be all the driving I eed to do. I also received three packages – one was expected yesterday, one was expected today, and the other one had not been close enough to set a date prior to yesterday so that was definitrely a surprise. The USPS can work very well indeed if it is allowed to.  Oh, and I also heard from WWWendy (about some paperwork I had asked her about.)  She greets everyone and apologizes for not being here more.  Such a sweetie. Finally, I read that British Columbia is on fire – again.  Prayers and thoughts for Lynn, please.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Former Nat. Sec. Adviser Whacks Trump’s Botched Negotiation With Taliban
Quote – You don’t negotiate your own exit with the adversary of the government that you are supporting. And that’s what the Trump administration did. They cut a deal with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government, effectively again demoralizing them and making them feel like we were simply leaving them holding the bag entirely.
Click through for the story. There is also a video.

Law & Crime – Capitol Siege Defendant Accused of Chanting ‘Fight for Trump!’ Tells Judge He’s a ‘Registered Democrat’ and ‘Not a Trump Supporter’ While Seeking Lighter Sentence
Quote – As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” … Nevertheless, the Defendant continues to maintain that he simply had no idea he wasn’t allowed to enter the Capitol. It is unclear what additional sign the Defendant needed to indicate he was not welcome other than the barricades, tear gas, pepper balls, alarms, and law enforcement officers.
Click through for both sides’ arguments. One thing is certain – the defense arguments have royally pissed off the prosecution, and rightly so. Lying is one thing. Insulting prosecutors’ intelligence with blatant fantasies is another.

AP News – USDA to permanently boost food stamp benefits by 25 percent
Quote – The increase is part of a multi-pronged Biden administration effort to strengthen the country’s social safety net. Poverty and food security activists maintain that longstanding inadequacies in that safety net were laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting an opportunity to make generational improvements that reach beyond the current public health crisis.
Click through for names and numbers. May as well appreciate good news if we can.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread for 8/16/21

 Posted by at 12:07 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 162021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Unabated Crime Wave Continues: Threatens Officer Who Protected the US Capitol on Jan. 6

Now This News – London’s Stuck Tower Bridge Inspires Social Media Jokes

The Republican Accountability Project – The New McCarthyism

Ring of Fire – Anti Vax Nurse Investigated For Injecting Patients With Saline Instead Of COVID Vaccine (No words – and the only picture which comes to mind is not just NSFW, it’s NSFPP)

Liberal Redneck – Tennessee’s Turn to Dumb

Rocky Mountain Mike – Hooked On Their Stealing (another favorite of mine – earworm, here we come!

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden’s message to OPEC, foreign policy, and oil…. (I could not keep a straight face through the whole thing – in fact I laughed out loud twice.)

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Open Thread for August 16, 2021

 Posted by at 7:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 162021
 

Yesterday I was pretty well behind with everything. I did learn that Mitch got back from his trip safely, but he now cannot get in to PP. So it may be a while before we hear from him. But he’s fine. Does anyone else here know anything about Apple/Mac systems and Safari? If so, would you consider allowing me to send your email to Mitch? If you aren’t getting my emails weekly, the “Contact me” link under “Other Links” on the bottom right, second to last section, above “WordPress.org links, now comes to me. If your email client is not set to pop up, right-click on it, select “copy email address,” and then paste it into your address line. I don’t swear that will work in every browser, but hopefully it will. If it doesn’t, you could leae a comment and let me know it’s OK – you don’t have to put your address in the comment, as WordPress will record your email in a place that only Administrators can see.

Cartoon –

There’s a typo in it – it was 11 seconds, not 0.11.

Short Takes –

Democratic Underground – Mary Trump: the most cogent description ever of our current peril as a democracy
Quote – McConnell is the greatest traitor to this country since Robert E. Lee (with the difference that McConnell has been trying to take our country down from within). He has always been expert at using existing rules and procedures in ways they weren’t intended to be used, and yet—whether it was denying Merrick Garland a hearing, pushing through Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, or ending the filibuster as it applied to Supreme Court nominees but employing it to block legislation that would expand voting rights—his anti-democratic maneuvers have been performed within the bounds of the system.
Click through for the rest, and then, if you like, click through again to the meta-source.

PolitiZoom – WATCH: COVID ‘Shedding’ Theory Is More Deranged Than You Can Possibly Imagine
Quote – It is astonishing to me that as a species we have done remarkable things like send mankind into outer space. We’ve built technological marvels. We’ve extended life expectancy and the quality of life with surgical procedures and medicinal interventions of one kind or another. We’ve invented communication devices and transportation that were beyond imagining a century ago. Yet despite all that, there are people who listen to this level of ignorant witchcraft fear mongering and believe it to be true. “Don’t go near the vaccinated. They’ll contaminate you. They’ll shed on you.” Shed how? Hair, skin, cooties? Frankly, I’d rather listen to tales of witchcraft and sorcery than this non-intellectual make believe hooey.
Click through for story. I could go on quite a rant here, but I’ll restrain myself.

Washington Examiner – Rachel Maddow reports sign of life in Georgia criminal investigation of Trump 2020 election efforts
Quote – Prosecutors began the investigation in February, following Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he asked the official to “find” the 11,780 votes sufficient to reverse his loss. Maddow told her audience on Friday that she had an “exclusive” with new information regarding a top official at the Justice Department that will help the process move forward.
Click through for story, and then through again to Maddow Blog if you like.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread for 8/15/21

 Posted by at 11:59 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 152021
 

Glenn Kirschner – AG Rosen Tells Senators Trump was “Persistent” in Pressuring DOJ Officials to Overturn Election

Armageddon Update – 8 Years of Perfect – Aaaaaaaw.

politicsrus – Reinstatement Day HD

Now This News – Joe Biden Addresses Anti-Maskers Threatening Health Care Workers

Robert Reich – The Media Bias Nobody is Talking About

Founders Sing – YOU’RE ALL A BUNCHA SUCKERS

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, Crystal Lake, and coming back…. Obviously this is from Friday … but it’s not getting old any time soon.

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Open Thread for August 15, 2021

 Posted by at 6:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 152021
 

Yesterday it was pretty hot again. My lab results came, and look pretty good. They actually arrived Friday, but I was expecting 3 packages yesterday (which turned out to be four), so I waited in order not to go out more than necessary. Between the heat, the smoke, and the idiots, I really don’t feel terribly safe outside, even though vaccinated.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Intercept – SECRET DONORS TO NONPROFIT PUSHING TRUMP’S “BIG LIE” ELECTION CONSPIRACY REVEALED
Quote – The tax document obtained by The Intercept, a publicly filed IRS form that included a list of donors, shows a handful of large corporate and individual donors to the Bradley Impact Fund. The contributions listed in the fiscal year 2018 filing range from roughly $782,000 to $1.5 million. The Bradley Impact Fund operates as a donor-advised fund, a vehicle frequently used to allow anonymous contributions by letting donors give to a fund and then directing their contributions to particular recipients…. “It might seem improbable that a low-profile family foundation in Wisconsin has assumed a central role in current struggles over American democracy,” [investigative reporter Jane] Mayer wrote. “But the modern conservative movement has depended on leveraging the fortunes of wealthy reactionaries.”
Click through for a whole lotta detail. You will recognize some names, others maybe not so much. But if you’re going to follow the money, you can expect that.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/homeland-security-warns-fresh-covid-19-restrictions-could-spark-violent-attacks-2021-08-13/
Reuters – U.S. Homeland Security warns fresh COVID-19 restrictions could spark violent attacks
Quote – In an interview with CNN, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department considered domestic violent extremists to constitute “the greatest terrorist-related threat to our homeland.” He said the Department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.”
Click through for story. If they’d do this because of CoViD restrictions, what do you suppose they would do if their God-Emperor were arrested and held without bail? Asking for a friend.

Common Dreams – Child Hospitalization for Covid-19 Hits All-Time High in US: Report
Quote – The Delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the U.S. population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation’s COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.
Click through for more. I really can’t even.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread for 8/14/21

 Posted by at 11:46 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 142021
 

I’ll spare you the Pillow Guy clips and the one about exploding green birds.

Glenn Kirschner – MSNBC Daily Piece – DOJ Officials Thwarted Trump’s Coup. Next Step: A Criminal Investigation

Meidas Touch – WTF: LAX Police Chief CONFIRMS Existence of POLICE GANGS! (And this is why we need more Larry Keasners.)

No Dem Left Behind and Richard Ojeda – Winning Over Rural Americ

This is a presentation of Egberto Willies – I edited out the spoiler at the beginning but not the discussion at the end after the punch line. Egberto’s no fool, but sometimes I tthink he over-explains.

PBS – Dr. Fauci explains booster shots and the delta variant’s threat to children – I’m thinking this would be me (no, not the “children” part) but it’s borderline.

Cracked – If Megachurches Were Honest (“Cracked” is a competitor of “MAD” magazine – or maybe a supplement to it)

Let’s talk about personal responsibility in today’s world…. (LOL of course we know this and mck “the party of personal responsibility.” But Beau has his own ways of communicating.)

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Open Thread for August 14, 2021

 Posted by at 6:36 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 142021
 

So yesterday I attempted to get my new noise generator up and running … and coudn’t get a peep outof it. So I fired off an email to customer service. In the eantime, the travel size works just fine. As far as weather – we’ve been hotter – but our air quality is the pits. We are a large, smoke-filled room. I’m staying in, thanks.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Census shows US growth driven by minorities; white pop falls under 60 percent
Quote – A part of that decrease comes as a result of a new effort by the Census Bureau to measure the number of people who identify as multiracial, a population that skyrocketed over the last decade. But much of the drop in the white population, experts and demographers said, stems from an aging demographic that is producing fewer children later in life. “Whites, no matter how you count them, declined since 2010,” said William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution.
Click through for exact numbers and ramifications. I consider this to be excellent news, but you know you can hear RWNJ heads exploding all over.

HuffPost – 3 Former Cops Charged In Wrongful Conviction That Sent A Man To Prison For 25 Years
Quote – It is exceedingly rare for law enforcement officials to face criminal prosecution in relation to their roles in wrongful convictions. But reviewing wrongful convictions has been a key agenda item for Krasner, one of the leaders of the progressive prosecutor movement. In 2018, his office created the Conviction Integrity Unit, which has helped secure exonerations for 22 people. At least 18 of the exonerated were Black men. The detectives charged on Friday worked on at least four of the cases that the Conviction Integrity Unit has helped overturn.
Click through for details, including (trigger warning) description of initial interrogation and also the Grand Jury findings document. This is why I actually sent money to Krasner’s campaign. Not much, but some. Oh, and there’s a little video too.

Reuters – U.S. Homeland Security warns fresh COVID-19 restrictions could spark violent attacks
Quote – In an interview with CNN, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department considered domestic violent extremists to constitute “the greatest terrorist-related threat to our homeland.” He said the Department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.” U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, welcomed the DHS warning but said it was “troubling that the terrorism threat increasingly is based on grievance-based violence and conspiracy theories, especially related to the election and former President Trump.”
Click through. Dam right they “could” (read “will.” They won’t be happy unless they can kill all of us – but they’ll settle for any of us (and even some of themselves.) Here’s just one example. 

Food for Thought –

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