Yesterday, watching Harry Litman‘s video on “Is It Legal To Pardon Insurrectionists), or at least the 15 minutes an unpaid subscriber can watch, I found myself thinking some things I’m not proud of, such as, “If it was possible to kill Jane Stanford and no one knew it for a hundred years, in large part because she was already suffering from old age to the point that her death surprised no one…” and “s combination of morphine and belladonna – death from morphine poisoning is easily recognized because pinpoint pupils, but belladonna enlarges the pupils, making the death appear natural.” Yeah, too many Agatha Christie/John Dickson Carr/Ngaio Marsh/Ellery Queen (and so many others) novels. Sigh. FDR had Smedley Butler. But he also had – or I should say the nation had – an honorable Congress that would investigate and stop that plot. We don’t have that.
I’m essentially sharing this from The Root for the last paragraph, which is a warning. I don’t have a clue what to do about it in advance to mitigate it – but I do take it seriously.
This from the Conversation looks like something which would be really good to know – and maybe even to save.
Sharing Robert Hubbell today because his premise may well be the most important thing we need to do, both as individuals and as a party. And it won’t be easy.
Yesterday, I observed Veterans Day in the traditional Marine Corps manner by sleeping in. Here’s how Barack Obama observed it, God bless him (cat goddesses, bless him too.)
Common Dreams recounts just one story of an ICE arrest – this one in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (but they are just about all alike.)
I’ve been waiting for a comprehensive article on NPSM-7 – so many people are raising the alarm and so few are at all addressing what is in it. I decided it was time to find something more substantial. Just scroll down m past the “Donate” section – I’m confident anyone who can afford to is already donating to them. Below that is the whole story.
https://www.theroot.com/former-white-racists-expose-secret-lingo-and-gestures-y-2000072520
I was aware of more then half of these listed, but I did learn a couple which were new to me – and I certainly didn’t know there was a “hate symbols database.” Not that it is surprising.
This Lawrence video is a bit over 18 minutes. So don’t watch all of it, unless you decide you really want to after watching the first three minutes. There is stuff in those first minutes that everyone really should know and you won’t find elsewhere.
Yesterday, I see that the Senate appears to have caved on the shutdown. (Jeffries says he has not and will not, but we’ll see.) The calls to kick Chuck Schumer out range from statements to screams – although he was NOT one of the eight who caved. (And two out of those 47 are actually Independents, and at least one of those two was among the eight.) You can find the list and photos here (Belle also lists them.) It seems a bit unfair to me to blame all Democrats for what only 17% of them did. But on the bright side, SCROTUS has declined to hear a challenge to Obergefell. (And I’m pretty confident that if they won’t hear that, they won’t hear Loving either.) So, hopefully, one less thing to worry about. But we still have to worry about trans people, especially trans kids. Someone at Democratic Underground remarked that the Orange Oligarch will for sure end in prison, because dementia ia a form of prison – prison in one’s own body. Well, if that’s true, and in a way it is, what about being trans? Isn’t it prison to be a girl in a boy’s body, or vice versa? And to be fully aware of the discrepancy? I was born in 1945, and in the 1950s Christine Jorgensen was in the news a lot, and my mother told me that sometimes the soul of a girl is born into the body of a boy. Whether you think in terms of a soul, or a personality, or essence, or whatever it is that makes us who we are non-tangibly, can you think of a worse prison to be locked up in? For a person who has done nothing to deserve prison, yet it’s a prison from which the only escape is major medical intervention. Otherwise, there is no release, no probation, no parole, no escape but death. And the older one gets, the more invasive the surgery becomes. And Republicans would sentence these innocent prisoners to stay in prison from birth to adulthood (and longer, with the cost of health care going through the roof, only the wealthy can afford it.) At the very least transgender kids should be allowed puberty blockers. It’s no bloody wonder that the suicide rate among transgendered people is so high.
The F* News is experimenting with a weekly newsletter in addition to their dailies, wanting to go into a little more depth than they can trying to keep up with the daily chaos. This one includes more than one topic, and all are interesting, but the first one, regarding Elon Musk’s personal body count, may be the most shocking.
Some judges appointed by the Orange Oligarch are actually making judgments based on the law and the Constitution, without fear or favor, such as Karin Immergut. Others not so much. People for the American Way addresses 14 rulings from this fall so far which are, to say the least, troubling. Or I should say that it lists them and links to fuller analysis, so you can choose which one or ones to dive into.
Speaking of judges, Steve Schmidt starts this article with a powerful quote from one (a Reagan appointee, no less).
Yesterday, I opened my email, and it looks like I’m going to be doing more knitting this week and next. PBS Great Performances will be streaming “The Barber of Seville”. Cedille Records (RBG’s son) will be releasing a new CD and streaming from another, both with only composers killed or exiled during the Holocaust (good thing I just ordered and received 4 boxes of tissues).
This Intercept article didn’t pop up a subscription pitch for me – possibly because it’s the first of the month? Anyway, I have held this for a bit in the chaos, but it does need to be known.
Heather Cox Richardson from last Friday is worth reading if only for the Gatsby quotation, in which Nick specified that he was speaking of “Tom and Daisy [Buchanan]’, but which Richardson rightly extends to the whole MAGA party. It’s sad but true. (Totally off topic, but I just realized that she and I have the same surname – mine just uses the nickname instead of the full first name, and has condensed the spelling.)
I posted last week a preview of the Supreme Court season, but this “The Week Ahead” specifically looks at a Nectarine Napoleon’s tariff case (one of them) and analyzes what exactly he is trying to accomplish,
HCR videos generally run at least 20 minutes and usually considerably more. So I thought I’d better grab this six minute one while it was still current.
Yesterday, in case anyone missed my comment, I got the email from Carrie that Barry has died. Of course she could still use suppoet, such as thoughts, prayers, or however you communicate with the universe. Also, I course, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. The cards were not terribly cooperative; we sis have some good hands, but also a lot of bummers. For instance, at different times, both Virfil and I were dealt a habd with three pairs. That’s an automatic “WTF do I discard?” dilemma. And you know whatever you do is going to be wrong. But we still had fun. The sergeant in charge of Cisitation came to the visiting room to meet me (and ask how I put up with him – that’s kind of a women’s in-joke.)
Chris Bowers has a point. Things could indeed be worse. There are still good people in the US (you’re here, aren’t you? And if you’re not, you are in contact with people who are.) And many of us are doing what we can to help constrain him, and some of it is helping. We need to hang on to hope – without that, it will be worse.
You know, I really can’t comment on this – despite the fact I spent ten years in the Marine Corps myself and fired a gun or two in my day, I have never learned to read minds. I have learned that every living soul is different from every other one, even fraternal siblings, and that many are very complex and inconsistent. “Full of surprises” comes to mind. Just now, I know there are people worried about Graham Platner, and I cannot tell anyone what to think – I don’t know myself what to think. Although I associate this trait with “Conservatives,” many Liberals also have a habit of jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in.
This from People For The American Way is a huge challenge and I know not everyone can absorb it. But it is also something you will not find anywhere else sy this point. Going through the term, you will find articles and briefings on individual cases, but almost certainly not an overview. So I feel I need to share that it exists.
On Wednesday, after posting, I found this link to Newsweek with all kinds of background information on those who were in the Young Republicans group chat. Also Wednesday, Cleveland’s “Burning River Brigade” posted this. (Its manifesto is at the YouTube site, and is also worth reading.)
Dan Froomkin of Press Watch is definitely singing my song – although he left out one of the verses (the one on misogyny). But not knowing whether it’s more effective in the long run to get where we are going piecemeal or all at once – and suspecting that piecemeal may be more effective in the long run – I’m not really complaining, but just pointing that out.
Vanity Fair has an excerpt from Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir. It details her initial meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, and some of what happened next.
If you didn’t want to watch the video with Jack Smith I linked to yesterday, but are still curious about what Jack had to say, Harry Litman has written his reaction to it here at the Talking Feds Substack. He doesn’t shy away from admitting how painful it is to be reminded of how it used to be compared to how it is now.
Yesterday, Trinette was by. It’s always good to see her. Otherwise, a quiet day. It’s definitely starting to feel like autumn – which is OK.
Robert Reich on the vulnerability of the media. And, yes, we have the tool – the anti-trust act, but it needs to be used. Not just on the media. On just about anything.
This from Talking Points Memo has several stories, but the first one is the one I’m posting it for.
Yesterday, I couldn’t get back to sleep and ended up getting up early. It would be nice if I had therefore accomplished more than usual, but I’m afraid I didn’t, except for maybe a little knitting.
Steve Schmidt is correct. Stephen Miller doesn’t generally worry about saying the quiet part out loud, or anything outrageous. He shows his hate freely. If Steve is correct as to what happened, and I don’t know why he wouldn’t be, then what was said before the cutoff should indeed be truly terrifying.
Other outlets have covered this situation, and there’s been a lot said about it (for instance, at Democratic Underground, where the point was made that, in the past, when the Speaker was “not available”, new members have been sworn in by a Supreme Court justice). But this is the deepest dive I have seen.
Wonkette addresses the issue of federal employees ever getting paid after the shutdown. With any sane President, this would never have been ab issue. But then, if we had a sane President, we likely would not be in a shutdown.
Guest video from Robert Reich – because he requested it be shared.
