Politics Plus

Yesterday, I checked and double checked everything I need to go to the DMV today. I am not looking forward to that (I am looking forward to it being over, though.) I may actually not have to be there forever. I had to make an appointment – the earliest I could get was for today… but I made the appointment back in February. So that line may supersede the traditional line of people in person. Yes, I will definitely mask. If I am slow commenting, please be patient. Thanks!

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – Michigan militiamen hoped their kidnapping plot would spark nationwide ‘Boogaloo’ civil war
Quote – The defendants, … all members of the so-called “Wolverine Watchmen” militia, are leaning heavily on claims that the government entrapped them into the plot to abduct Whitmer from her summer home and put her on “trial,” for which they now face federal kidnapping-conspiracy charges. The trial’s outcome could have broad ramifications for how federal authorities tackle the rising tide of right-wing domestic terrorism, as well as ongoing prosecution of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrectionists.
Click through for story. Their lawyers are (maybe I should say “were”) going for an entrapment defnse, but these dudes are making that well-nigh impossible. I am not getting the impression that any of them have the tiniest particle of remorse, either. “FOFA,” as the saying goes.

Daily Beast – Madison Cawthorn Committed the One Unforgivable Sin of Politics
Quote – But Cawthorn did something far worse, at least for his own political prospects, and it may cost him his seat: He left his constituents—and then was forced to return to them, hat in hand, after the courts predictably struck down the state’s new map, and eliminated the district he left to run in, on Feb. 23…. The numerous candidates challenging Cawthorn in the GOP primary, slated for May, do not intend to let voters in North Carolina’s 11th District forget it. One of them is Michele Woodhouse.
Click through for the twists and turns. Irony may be dead to humans – but Karma remembers. Really, this could not have happened to a nicer guy.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Fatima al Fihri
Quote – Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriyya (Arabic: فاطمة بنت محمد الفهرية القرشية) was an Arab woman who is credited with founding the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. She is also known as “Umm al-Banayn”. Al-Fihri died around 880 AD. The Al-Qarawiyyin mosque subsequently developed a teaching institution, which became the University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.
Click through for bio, including some historians’ doubts. Personally, I consider it far more credible for white male historians to doubt the existence of a successful woman than for male Muslims to invent (or accept if invented) an oral tradition about a powerful, successful woman. (Many people doubt the accuracy of oral tradition in any culture … but those who have studied it, while admitting there can be details which change, have found the substance to be pretty darned reliable.)

Food For Thought: