Video Thread for 8/9/21

 Posted by at 11:55 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 092021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Justice Matters Recap of the Legal Stories of July 2021: Trump’s Election Conspiracy Unravels

Meidas Touch – Malcolm Kenyatta SLAMS the Unhinged Radical Right: “Stupid is as Stupid Does”

MSNBC – ‘A Complete Betrayal’: January 6 Responders Not Willing To ‘Just Move On’

Now This News – Farmers in Senegal Plant Drought-Resistant, Circular Gardens (May The Force Be With Them)

Puppet Regime – The Real Star of the Tokyo Olympics

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, kingmaker of the Republican party…. (It’s over now … but there were several primaries and I’m not sure which one Beau was thinking about. If it was the 15th, Trump’s pick did win.)

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Open Thread for August 9, 2021

 Posted by at 6:46 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 092021
 

Yesterday it was supposed to be warmer – the dude on the radio was hoping people had air conditioning – but it wasn’t here. It actually felt the cooloest day for a while. Hey, I’ll take that … as long as it doesn’t get too cold too fast. It was also a pill weekend, I filled the morning ones on Saturday and the evening ones yesterday. Set for two weeks now. Also placed a grocery order to be lelivered today.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Law & Crime – A Former MMA Fighter from N.J. and a Metal Baton-Swinging Seattle Resident Are the First to Plead Guilty to Assaulting Police on Jan. 6th
Quote – Both men technically face up to 20 years imprisonment at their upcoming sentencing on Sept. 17…. Both also face the possibility of $250,000 fines. Their sentencing hearings will be closely watched, as potential markers for how heavily federal judges will punish those charged with assaulting law enforcement on Jan. 6th.
Click through for deets and some speculation. Law & Crime can get very sensational in their headlines and in their selection of stories, but their style is pretty matter-of-fact.

AP News – Late nights, early mornings await Senate on infrastructure
Quote – As many as 20 Republicans are expected to join Democrats in what would be a big a vote on final passage. Overcoming a 60-vote hurdle Saturday with backing from 18 Republicans was a sign that the bipartisan tenuous alliance could hold on the public works package. Another procedural vote was expected late Sunday, as senators push toward Tuesday’s final passage. If approved, the bill would go to the House.
Click through for story. Don’t faint if some Republicans vote for this. They know we are going to get it done, and they don’t want us to be able to say, “Not one single Republican voted for it.”

Rolling Stone – Die Hard Trump Supporters Increasingly Demand Violence If He Isn’t Reinstated, Homeland Security Warns
Quote – “Over the last few days what has occurred is there’s been much more public visibility, meaning the discussions and these theories have migrated away from being contained within the conspiracy and extremist online communities, to where they’re being the topic of discussion on web forums, or more public web forums, and even within the sort of media ecosystem,” a senior DHS official told ABC News. The drunk-on-Trump crowd has been triggered so much that Homeland Security says they are concerned about the calls for violence increasing further.
Click through for more. This is a situation in which police in key locations do need riot gear, and I hope they have it.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread for 8/8/21

 Posted by at 11:54 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 082021
 

Glenn Kirschner – AG Garland/DOJ Civil Rights Division Announces Pattern or Practice Investigation of Phoenix Police

Meidas Touch – Senate Candidate UNLOADS on “Bats**t Crazy” Republicans

Really American – Gosar Hanging With Neo-Nazis

MSNBC – The Truth Behind Tucker Carlson’s Disturbing Trip To Hungary

Now This News – Mondaire Jones Fights to Expand the Supreme Court

If Cats Burped Instead of Meowed

Beau – Let’s talk about the hearing and dueling definitions….

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Open Thread for August 8, 2021

 Posted by at 6:47 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 082021
 

Yesterday Iit was a little warmer, but not too bad. I just kind of took things slow and easy as much as I could.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The Hill – Supreme Court decision could set off gerrymandering ‘arms race’
Quote – To be sure, the courts will continue to have a role to play in the looming redistricting fight. At the federal level, for instance, it remains illegal to carry out gerrymanders based on race. According to Parsons, however, state lawmakers will be particularly careful to frame their map drawing as motivated by party interest, as a way to side-step federal litigation. “In the wake of Rucho I expect many states will pack districts quite aggressively and explicitly argue that they are doing so based on partisan affiliation and not race,” he said.
Click through for deets and implications. This is not good. And saying, “Hopefully, Congress accepts that invitation before it’s too late” is not helpful. The House has written and passed the For The People Act which would address this. The Senate will not allow it to move forward – barring a miracle. So let’s not blame “Congress.” More than half of the states have some legislative or costitutional protection which could challenge attempts to gerrymander (or preclude them before they start) – but it only needs a few heavily gerrymandered states to poison the entire House and/or Senate. Ballotpedia and the National Council of State Legislatures have state-by-state information if anyone wants to check their own state.

The Week – The USPS awarded a $120 million contract to a company with financial ties to the postmaster general
Quote – “There’s no question he’s continuing to profit from a Postal Service contractor,” said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Even if DeJoy complies with legal requirements, Canter added “it does create an appearance issue about whether it’s in his financial interest to continue to make policy that would benefit contractors like XPO.”
Click through for story.

CBS News – Florida breaks record for new daily Covid cases for third time this week
Quote – “This is real. And it didn’t have to be this bad,” Nikki Fried, Florida’s commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, tweeted Saturday. “We need everyone to do their part — #GetVaccinatedNow & #MaskUp. If not for yourself, for your friends, family, and neighbors. For our kids. For our doctors & nurses. For Florida.”
Click through for more info. You will be happy to know (even though it means he’ll be missig here) that our Mitch is outta there for a bit under a week (and having fun.)

Food for Thought –

 

 

 

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Video Thread for 8/7/21

 Posted by at 12:13 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 072021
 

Glenn Kirschner – House Oversight Committee Hands Off DOJ Witnesses Trump Tried to Corrupt to Select Committee.

Really American

MSNBC – Boston Candidate For Mayor, Andrea Campbell, Shares Family History With Lawrence. The first 5.5 minutes are a hanky alert. After that it goes to politics, Boston politics, and it’s good, but if you’re not local, maybe not necessary.

Thom Hartmann – How Will the Ongoing Trump Coup End?

NowThis News – Voting Rights PSA

Robert Reich – How the System is Failing Young People

Mrs. Betty Bowers – Hello & Goodbye to World History

Beau – Let’s talk about the national anthem….

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Open Thread for August 7, 2021

 Posted by at 7:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 072021
 

Yesterday it unbelievably sstayed fairly cool. Also, I may be in that golden period where, after it gets so hot, the same temps which led up to that and felt hot at the time don’t feel as hot now as they did them. Whatever it is, it’s pleasant.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

DATA GEMS: How to Download the Complete Set of 2020 Census Redistricting Files for Your State
Quote: In this Data Gem, you will learn about where to find and download the complete P.L.94-171 Redistricting Data Files from the 2020 Census for your state using the Census Bureau’s File Transfer Protocol site. This is a great resource for users looking to download large data files to use with software such as Microsoft Access, SAS, SQL, Sqlite, Oracle, Tableau, ArcGIS, and more. You will also learn about some of the critical resources that will enable you to successfully work with these data.
Click through if interested. Colorado is s state which requires an independent commission to draw the districs, and it has a history of being as fair as it can be – based on the data it is given. So I won’t be looking. But it anyone does need or want to know amore about this, well – the horse’s mouth.

The Independent – ‘Occupy’ leader claims police ‘dragged’ him out of Kevin McCarthy presser for asking about Capitol riot commission
Quote – “I tried to ask @GOPLeader McCarthy a question after he decried Cuban police pickup up (sic) people in the streets,” Mr Stern tweeted. “Why does he oppose the bipartisan #January6thCommission? A Congressional staffer had four cops pick me up and drag me from the room. I still asked the question.”
Click through for deets. Despite the quotes around “dragged,” this did happen. There’s more on PolitiZoom, but not everyone can see that site.

CNN – House select committee begins taking over January 6 investigation from other committee
Quote – The newly formed House select committee is taking the lead on investigating January 6 going forward, consolidating the investigation, as other committees looking into the matter begin handing over their work, according to a multiple sources familiar with the matter. That includes interviews with key figures related to that day that were already scheduled to meet with other committees but were postponed.
Click through for story. This is a normal thing to happen – Benghazi is just one example – but the kerfuffle about the committee selection, which resulted in the Republicans on the Select Committee being the only two who are committed to finding the truth, makes it different. Republicans on Oversight might have obstructed. Now they can’t. And the same is true for any other regular committee which has any knowledge or evidence.  GlennKirschner will go even farther in his video in today’s Video Thread.

Food for Thought – I’ve used this before in the gif version), but it fits today with the census date information.

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Video Thread for 8/6/21

 Posted by at 12:16 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 062021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump Tells DOJ Officials to Lie About Election, DOG Official Jeffrey Clark Does as Trump Directed

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Now This News – Cori Bush Reacts to Mark McCloskey’s Pardon

Liberal Redneck – Arkansas Governor Mad at Self

Rocky Mountain Mike – “I’ve Seen Unvaxed People”

Beau – Let’s talk about believing things without evidence…. So true!

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Open Thread for August 6, 2021

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 062021
 

Yesterday it was still pretty cool but I know it won’t last. It’s been nice while it did, though.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The Hill – Five big questions as Jan. 6 panel preps subpoenas
The Questions – 1. Will the panel hit roadblocks for subpoenaed documents?
2. Should lawmakers like McCarthy and Jordan be called to testify?
3. Could any Democratic witnesses offer testimony?
4. Will they go after former Trump officials?
5. Will there be an August hearing?
Click through for expanded speculation. Of course the first rule of lawyering is “never ask a question if you don’t know the answer,” and though this is not exactly a trial, it is a kind of court.

The New Yorker – New York State Weighs Ban on Male Governors
Quote – “If, at the end of fifty years, we have reason to believe that a male governor could behave in an appropriate manner, then the law would expire,” State Senator Carol Foyler, one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “If, however, it’s determined that New York could not tolerate a male governor at that time, there is a provision to extend the law for an additional fifty years.”
Click through – it’s short.

HuffPost – I’m An ICU Doctor And I Cannot Believe The Things Unvaccinated Patients Are Telling Me
Quote – I am angry that the tragic scenes of prior surges are being played out yet again, but now with ICUs primarily filled with patients who have chosen not to be vaccinated. I am angry that it takes me over an hour to explain to an anti-vaxxer full of misinformation that intubation isn’t what “kills patients” and that their wish for chest compressions without intubation in the event of a respiratory arrest makes no sense. I am angry at those who refuse to wear “muzzles” when grocery shopping for half an hour a week, as I have been so-called “muzzled” for much of the past 18 months.
Click through for full article.

Food for Thought (of course this doesn’t apply to anyone here!)

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