Open Thread July 6, 2022

 Posted by at 7:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 062022
 

Yesterday, I had not slept terribly well, but I got by with a few yawns. Virgil called, and, as promised, I told him about those of y’all who commented you are praying for him, and he was deeply appreciative, as predicted.  Quite touched, in fact.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Democratic Underground [maxrandb] – Hey MSM! Maybe the “story” isn’t 2 Dem Senators that won’t kill the filibuster
Quote – Just like they publish thousands of stories of “Dems need to reach out to rural America bullshit” and ZERO “Retrumplicans need to reach out to urban America” stories. They report thousands of time that 2 Dems Senators don’t want to kill the filibuster. When is the last time you saw a story concentrating on the 50 Retrumplican Senators that couldn’t give one fuck if women die, or if teens need to carry their Uncles baby to term?
Click through for full rant. I am SO over RWNJs babbling about the “liberal media.” Sometimes I just need to express it..

The 19th – 10 anti-LGBTQ+ bills impacting students go into effect across six states
Quote – It is already hard enough for transgender and LGBTQ+ youth to see themselves reflected in the culture or in the academic materials they’re learning from, Topping said — and harder still for LGBTQ+ youth to simply go to school if they are getting bullied. Taking away the ability for students to talk with teachers about their identity or learn about queer communities in school may hamper their ability to dream of a future with people like them in it.
Click Through for states and details. As usual, the cruelty is the point – at least the immediate point. The long-term point is genocide.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 6/30/22

 Posted by at 12:46 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 302022
 

Glenn Kirschner – J6 hearing reveals Trump knew mob was armed, wanted to lead them to the Capitol to stop Biden’s win

Meidas Touch – Michael Cohen REACTS to Trump Officials Being Indicted and Subpoenaed

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – June 28, 2022

Robert Reich – This is Why We Need to Get Money Out of Politics

Liberal Redneck – Not So Supreme Court

Beau – Let’s talk about what they’re going after next….

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Video Thread 6/27/22

 Posted by at 12:14 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 272022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Supreme Court revokes women’s constitutional rights. Congress MUST open impeachment hearings – NOW (the sound is odd, but there is CC)

Meidas Touch – Adam Kinzinger Stuns with Speech of the Year during Jan 6 Hearings

The Lincoln Project – Lady Ruby

MSNBC – Lawrence: Samuel Alito’s Lies Did Not Stop In His Confirmation Hearing

VoteVets – Pride

Beau – Let’s talk about what happens if Trump is acquitted….

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Open Thread June 15, 2022

 Posted by at 6:38 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 152022
 

Yesterday, I learned I will have to see Virgil tomorrow instead of Sunday. Actually, I learned Monday that Sunday was out, but it took some back-and-forth to confirm tomorrow. I shouldn’t be surprised – Sunday is both Father’s Day and Juneteenth At least that fact gives me hope that the whole summer won’t be like this. Anyway, was scrambling yesterday and will be for the next couple of days. The Wednesday hearing will now be Thursday which will help a little.

Cartoon – 15 0615Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – June 13, 2022
Quote – Once again, as it did last Thursday, the committee relied entirely on senior Republican officials and on members of Trump’s own inner circle to tell the story of how Trump tried to overthrow our government. This undercuts accusations that the committee is engaging in a “partisan witch hunt.” Notably, the committee itself is measured, polite, and serious, demonstrating to viewers what hearings used to be before they became ways to produce sound bites for right-wing media.
Click through for full letter. I’ve said I don’t want to turn into a J6 blog, and I don’t, but I couldn’t resist that quotation.

The 19th – These companies publicly oppose anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Some also fund lawmakers who sponsor them.
Quote – Lawmakers in six states who wrote, signed or sponsored anti-LGBTQ+ legislation received tens of thousands and, in a few cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars, from major U.S. corporations or their employee-led PACs and affiliates, in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, Data for Progress found. Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, Idaho and Texas have been prolific in their efforts to bar trans students from school sports, restrict gender-affirming care for minors and ban LGBTQ+ discussions from classrooms over the past few years.
Click through for details. This is, of course, standard, and not limited to LGBTQIA+. Probably the most egregious are companies who pretend to be green but donate to candidates in the pockets of fossil fuels. But they also work at duping POC and women of any color, as well as the disabled.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 6/11/22

 Posted by at 11:37 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 112022
 

Glenn Kirschner – With J6 committee public hearings set to begin, we ask: why has DOJ apparently chosen to go second?

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Republicans Canceling Pizza Hut for Celebrating Pride Month (different tone from usual)

The Lincoln Project – Retire

The Republican Accountability Project – Time for the truth about January 6

MSNBC – The Republican Plot To Overturn The Next Election

Ojeda Live – I’m Back! (He was in Europe)

Beau – Let’s talk about what it means to be a conservative….

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Video Thread 5/31/22

 Posted by at 11:46 am  Open Thread, Politics
May 312022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Georgia DA Willis issues 50 grand jury subpoenas; is “weighing racketeering charges” against Trump

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Jim Acosta EVISCERATES NRA Board Member and leaves him SPEECHLESS!

Rebel HQ – Trevor Reed’s Father SHREDS Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Actions

Truth Matters – Slaughter of the Innocent (featuring Senator Chris Murphy DCT) hanky alert

Robert Reich – Why Your Barbecue Is More Expensive This Year

Puppet Regime – Zuckerberg Practices Free Speech On Elon Musk

Beau – Let’s talk about metaphors, hair, and Florida….

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Open Thread May 31, 2022

 Posted by at 7:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 312022
 

Yesterday, I did more work on a physical conditin I haven’t yet mentioned – a wart.  I’m sure part of my problem is that it must have taken me the=ree yers to igure out it was a wart.  Hey, it’s right a at the end of my elbow.  Have you ever tried to look at the end of your elbow?  Even without shoulder issues, I doubt I could have seen it without a mirror, preferably a magnifying miirror.  All that time I thought it was a callus.Anyway, it is somewhere in diameter between a penny and a dime.  the normal wart remover applications which come with pre-medicated strips that look like bandaiuds have a medicated area the diameter of an aspirin.  I’m using those – trying to move them around to cover different parts – but I’ alternating that with other things.  Today I received my order of gel and am using that.  It has been impossible to keep the other strips in place for 48 hours (the recommended time frame – I doubt the tiny patches which come with the gel will last any longer, if so long.  They’s be foe for an aspirin sized wart.  I think they might cover mine if I could ut them on with a mocrometer.  Maybe duct tape might help – allthough it didn’t much with the original strips.  I suppose I should get some cheese to go with this whine.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – Far right trains its eliminationist sights on LGBTQ community with deluge of threatening rhetoric
Quote – The mood at far-right chat rooms has grown more openly violent as well, particularly as white nationalists have embraced the Buffalo shooter and his eliminationist “replacement theory” motives—and the threatening rhetoric around Pride events such as the one planned in northern Idaho in June has sharpened. As this recent study warned, the previous year’s relative calm in terms of far-right violence is manifestly over.
Click through – though it’s hard to stomach, if we ignore it, it will only get louder.

Crooks and Liars – Audience Mocks Boebert Relentlessly At Primary Debate
Quote – Coram is challenging Boebert for her Congressional seat, positioning himself as a rational Republican (I know, I know, but his site and the media he shares really does suggest he’d be more of a friend to Democrats than Joe Manchin is,) and Bobo actually shows up to debate him. Speaking a mile-a-minute (from notes, which was prohibited by the debate rules,) she sounds like an unprepared 6th-grader making up lies about a girl she’s trying to beat out for a date with the dodgeball king
Click through for one-liners (and video.) There used to be some rational Republicans in Colorado, so maybe there still is one. I don’t know how heavily the new district is rated Republican, but I certainly would hope Coram wins the primary, and maybe some of those atendees are Democrats feeling the same way. And if so, I would certainly forgive them for ratf***ing the primary.

The Mountain Ear – Carousel of Happiness: A history of making smiles
Quote – After rescuing the empty frame of the Looff carousel, [Scott] Harrison immediately began hand-carving wooden animals to help bring the carousel back to life. Harrison still carves to this day, and has created more than 50 unique animals for his vision, each with a story and a deeper meaning to their creator. Once the Carousel of Happiness (COH) was completely restored Harrison created a non-profit organization and, with help from the Nederland community, raised the $700,000 needed to build the carousel its permanent home on 20 Lakeview Drive.
Click through for a little joy in a sorrowful time. Harrison is a Vietnam veteran, so this story is not completely off topic. (Closeups of the animals can be found here.)

Food For Thought

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Open Thread May 13, 2022

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 132022
 

Yesterday, I paid a couple of bills. I didn’t venture outside, though I suppose I might have, because besides the evacuations the day before, we also has spring winds (to blow them away) – but that’s a straight stick which points two ways, – the winds could aldo have brought the fires (and their smoke) closer. Not difficult to justify doing what I wanted to do anyway (grin.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

truthout – DeSantis’s Congressional Maps Deemed “Unconstitutional” by Judge He Appointed
Quote – Smith will likely replace DeSantis’s gerrymandered maps with one of two that the Republican-controlled legislature had previously passed, which the governor had vetoed earlier this year. Though still advantageous to the GOP, those maps are seen as somewhat better (though by no means perfect), in terms of respecting Black voters’ voices, than the ones DeSantis demanded be passed after his veto.
Click through for article. Here’s my take on DeSantis.

Media Matters – Fox News melts down following revelation Karine Jean-Pierre called the network racist. She’s right.
Quote – It’s not just people on the left pointing out Fox’s racism. In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, The Daily Beast reported that it “spoke to more than a dozen Fox News insiders, who all suggested that behind the scenes there is a growing despair among employees about the network’s role in demonizing and spreading fear about Black Americans in particular.” One Fox staffer quoted in the piece described some of the network’s personalities as “a white supremacist cell,” adding, “This is rank racism excused by Murdoch.” Another described Fox programming as “white supremacist crap.”
Click through if you can stand to. Shall we expect Fox staff to treat Karine with even more disrespect than they did Jen? (OK, I grant I was shocked when Doocy said on camera that he would miss her because she’d always been a “good sport.”)

Robert Reich – Personal history: The Supreme Court I argued before fifty years ago
Quote – Douglas, Marshall, and Blackmun were the intellectual leaders of that Supreme Court. Their opinions gave the Court its moral heft. They drew not only from the Constitution as written but also from the nation as it had evolved. They understood the moral leadership America needed to protect the rights of the voiceless and the powerless. Today’s Supreme Court majority doesn’t have a clue about the Court’s moral authority, and couldn’t care less.
Click through for history, nostalgia, and moral clarity. Today’s FFT is a meme drawn from this article.  Feel free to share it.

Food For Thought

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 16: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich testifies before the Joint Economic Committee January 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. Reich joined a panel testifying on the topic of “Income Inequality in the United States.Ó (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

 

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