Yesterday, Kamala Harris swore Laphonza Butler in to the Senate. Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, and James Comer announced themselves to be candidates for the Speakership. The Daily Beast published an article purporting to be about the opera “Dead Man Walking” which is really about Sister Helen Prejean, her experiences, her mission, her passion. It’s long necause there is so much in it. Here’s a link in case anyne wants to follow up on the status of the death penalty in America.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Civil Discourse – About Merrick Garland
Quote – Asked about his objective as Attorney General, Garland said it was to “pass our democracy on, in working order, to the next generation.” That would have been mere pleasantry from any of his predecessors. For Garland, it’s serious business, and it’s important to hear him say it out loud. Joe Biden’s Attorney General was always going to be in a tight spot, no matter who he chose for the job. The weightiest of choices, whether to indict a former president, was always going to rest on their shoulders. And that decision was going to be made in the context of a Justice Department that had lost much of its credibility with the public despite the diligence of its employees, due in no small part to the deliberate efforts of Donald Trump to undermine the country’s confidence in the Department. Merrick Garland has been the subject of more criticism and outright disapproval by members of the party that appointed him than any other attorney general, at least since Watergate. And of course, he’s been the subject of criticism and abusive and sometimes dog-whistling antisemitic commentary from the other side.
Click through for article. Joyce Vance is a former DOJ prosecutor who raises silky chickens (and a few other breeds) and knits. How could I not like her? In this case I think that her point = that there is a whole lot that we don’t know, much of which we will likely never know, and the bottom line is we can’t know enough to make character judgments from the little we do know. Of course we can have opinions. But presenting our opinions as fact is as disingenuous as – well, as a Republican.
PolitiZoom – He’s a Hoochie Coochie Man – Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Rocks the State Department
Quote – As the ever enraging Orangeutan addressed fake Union Auto workers in Michigan and the also-rans for the Republican Nomination insulted ea[ch] other, First Lady Jill Biden and President Johnson’s Great Society from the Reagan Library in California, [Secretary of] State Anthony Blinken pulled out his Stratocaster and launched the Global Music Diplomacy with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters in attendance. Blinken will not be opening for The Rolling Stones anytime soon, but it was a laudable amateur effort:
Click through for details. I confess that, not that I had any doubts about Blinken, it makes me feel even safer to know that he has this side.
Food For Thought
