Aug 282024
 

Yesterday, I read Joyce Vance’s take on Jack Smith’s brief, filed Tuesday in the documents case. She says it’s very clear that Cannon is wrong and that, if it would stop at the 11th Circuit, she would be reversed and that would be the end of it. But if it goes to the Supremes, anything might happen. She doesn’t mention that now Republicans are claiming that Harris in ineligible to be President because of the Dred Scott decision (which of course the Fourteenth and Fiftennth amendments make mincemeat of.) But yeah, with Republicans, anything can happen – especially anything unconstitutional. Also – probably because of the time difference – she’s vacationing in Scotland – last night’s post went up in the daytime, so I can link to it also. It’s about the superseding indictment in the DC (insurrection0 case.

Arbuckle, CA is in Colusa County, about 50 miles northwest of Sacramento. The whole county is rural, mostly agricultural, with rice v=beine the main crop, but almonds and wallnuts are also brown enough to get mentions. The article calls Arbuckle a “one-stoplight town.” The Census Bureau calls it a “designated place.” I expect that in the Middle Ages it would have been called a “hamlet.” None of that is any excuse for the behavior cited in the lawsuit not otherwise mentioned in the article. You know, if I wanted to, I could chare an article like this every day and never run out of material. And this is a huge part of or problems as a nation – this and the fact that for every lawsuit there are heaven knows how many more incidents which we never hear about, and never will.

Share
Aug 222024
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Vote Vets regarding Republican members of Congress who, while accusing Tim Walz of stolen valor, are themselves stealing valor as they speak “A full 29 of the 50 signatures come from Republicans who falsely claimed they are retired. Calling yourself Retired means something. It speaks to a length of time in service that many of the people on that list of Republicans never fulfilled.” They singled out Ronny Jackson and Troy NEhs – but that’s just two out of 29. In case anyone here has a veteran in your life who is Republican, Vote Vets is the place to go for the facts = any and all facts regarding MAGA lies about active duty military and/or veterans. Also, this popped up in Colorado – has any other state done this? Or could this be a model? And all this while Andy Borowitz got some giggles about Melania.

Joyce Vance has a subhead under the title of this post: “I’m not about to let up on this, and you shouldn’t either!” And, you know, she’s right. So I’m adding an extra link here, to her home page. By clicking on “No thanks” you will have access to a sort of “front page” of recent posts.And there are already a few newer than this one. It was a hot week for articles and columns (and the Convention hadn’t even started yet.) But this one is a good introduction. Also, here is something that is getting lost in all the other outrages

I have no doubt that the Obama presidency was used as a recruiting tool for the KKK )and other groups), nor that it was successful (I mean, all you have to do is to look at MAGA to see that), nor that the same is true for protests against wypipo murdering black citizens with no accountability. But that is on them, not on the decent and caring people who voted for Obama or those who object to people getting away with murder. In fact, Pro Publica recently completed an investigation on the phenomenon of radical racists getting more radicalized by Obama, and what can come of that.

There is so much crap in Project 2025 (and in Don-OLD Trump* for that matter) that it’s prectically impossible to keep up with it all. Of course, thet’s what sources like Talking Point Memo, and others, are for.

Share
Aug 202024
 

Yesterday, the Atlanta Black Star had a story which horrified me – not that that is unusual – but this one is a bit out of the ordinary. Stories of abusive cops assaulting people of color are, sadly, still a dime a dozen. But when the abusive cop is running for Congress – that puts it into a different category. The ABS doesn’t mention the District number, but it is the one currently served by Democrat Pat Ryan, so it’s the 18th, in the Hudson Valley. This is his official site. If you can spare anything for an election other than the Presidential one, this would be one to consider.

I have alluded to this before – and I don’t want anyone to forget it. As Joyce Vance says, “History is full of failed coups that were preludes to successful ones.” So we must take it seriously and use every means at our disposal.

Posted without comment. I’m sorry. But I just can’t.

Seems like absolutely no one except Mary Trump wants to talk about this. I saw somewhere that the statute of limitations had expired, since the incident occurred in 2015.I don’t know what the Federal statute of limitations is on taking a bribe. But I’m pretty sure that there’s no statute of limitations in a Federal RICO case.

Share
Aug 062024
 

Yesterday, I saw the creepiest squib in Talking Points Memo’s morning email about RFK Jr. There was no link. There was a video, but it was on Xitter, and I can’t even see those, let alone embed them. So I looked around and found this on Democratic Underground. It has more detail, so it;s even creepier. And also weird (though I’m not really comfortable with that, because there s such a thing as good weird – which I like ti believe I have.) I also received a grocery order. And today the exterminator comes (grin).  And then – after putting everything away – I checked my email and learned that an elder had been shot and killed at an Oglala powwow.  It wasn’t a mass shooting, it wasn’t actually intended to hurt anyone, the trigger was pulled with one of those good intentions which pave that road.

If you are interested in the “Trump** took a bribe from Egypt in front of God and everybody” story,I doubt you’ll find anyone telling it better than Heather Cox Richardson. Personally, I’m far more interested in why it took so long for it to be revealed.

Back in the day, at least my day, there used to be an expression “how the other half lives.” Of course, nothing is ever exactly half and half, but it’s not only possible but probable that there are groups who, whether through privilege or through necessity, live in ways about which you or I don’t have a clue. If you would like to get a glimpse into some things that black people cope with the knowledge of every day, I recommend subscribing to the Atlanta Black Star. Youdon’t even have to read the articles to get the point. The headlines are more than enough. I’ve picked one story to share here, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. If you don’t want more in your inbox, consider saving this link and looking up the headlines from time to time. It is eyeopening and sobering.

Share
Apr 022024
 

Yesterday, it literally took me more than four hors to payy just one medical bill with a credit card. A big part of that was that the bill showed a single figure which I had to go through 11 MSNs (formerly EOBs) where i found more than 10 line items for this particular service, not all of which were from this provider, and the only way I could find out which were was by trial and error adding p combinations until I foundthe combination that matched the bill. That took about three hours. Then I spent 15-20 minutes making a PDF of just the claims which applied to this provider,because it would have taken even longer to do it later, and w=even paying by credit card on line I willl eventually have to provide documentation to my HRA. The outher hpur was spent fighting with the provider’s billing agency’s website. I wasn’t expecting that, and after spending all that time just putting the information tpgether, I was not in a good mood to begin with. And then I had to get back to my email inbox, which was pretty well stuffed.

This is a “Missouri leads the way” story, which I can now put up because Nameless’s computers (yes, that’s plural – everything was down) are fixed. It’s not the Missouri government, of course – it’s individual Democrats working together to unsure there is a Democrat in every race.

This is a very moving story about an extraordinary person, who has a warning for all of us.

Share
Mar 222024
 

Yesterday, I was still running late, but not quite as late. Hopefully I”ll catch up eventually.

I am of two minds about sharing stories like this one, because I don’t want to give anyone the impression that it’s only in the South (and Mississippi does get a lot of flak). Things like this can happen literally anywhere in the U.S. And you don’t even have to be a minority for it to happen to you – as you will see if you can get past enough of the violence to see the third photo. Trigger warning.

I’m actually fine with the Right Wing Media keeping these rulings and what they mean under the radar for now. Not that MAGAts would understand the implications (do any of them know what an “implication” is?) but it wouldn;t be hard to scare them into armed protest.

Share
Mar 212024
 

Yesterday, after a couple of nights with little sleep, I slept so late that this is kind of short.

A Women’s History month post – More power to them, for all our sakes.

This is just appalling – not that the Panthers showed up, but that they felt (with sound reason) that they needed to. Crazy white people are a threat to everyone. I’m not sure who they think thay are, but I’m damen sure that, whoever it is, they’re not.

Share
Feb 242024
 

Yesterday, I received another grocery order. Only a week since the last ne, but there’s a terrific sale on some things I do use, and wich keep well frozen. The luck of the draw assigned me another really good driver. I adjusted her tip, and in my comments included that she needs to be teaching other drivers clsses in how to tie the handles of a plastic bag into a knot that un-knots easily in one movement so the bag can be used again. Pat may know what the knot is called (she said she’d be back probably today) but I don’t. But it’s marvelous.

This is a story about making change, and particularly, about one person making change happen. I’m impressed, not least because the western part of the state is generally pretty red.

There are still good people in the world (hanky alert.)

If you think Republicans believe their base is dumb, just wait till you see how dumb they think black people are. (The full URL includes “substack” so be prepared to look for a “keep reading” button.

 

Share