Yesterday, TPM reported that Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Abency has made a criminal referral to the DOJ of Eric Swalwell for “mortgage fraud” (the same thing James Comey, Tish James, and Adam Schiff have been charged with). Swalwell has been expecting this and ia probably prepared for it. But it’s syill an annoyance, and a huge waste of timw and money, both for Swalwell and for the Government (and that’s our money.)
Somehow, I feel like the Democrats who are retiring should stay while some of the ones who are not – should. OK, Nancy is over 80 and deserves a rest, and I grant Jerry Nadler is 78, but he surely seems younger. It kind of depends on his replacement. Which is why this profile matters. If you’re going to replace someone like Nadler, let’s replace him with someone who has equal potential.-
Perhaps I should have saved this for Sunday – it is good – and it’s easy to grasp the point – but getting there took a whole lot of digging, so much so that just reading it is almost tiring. Besides, good news is welcome any time.
Sheesh. I saw this in The Root’s newsletter, and The Root linked to Law and Crime, which had more medical detail. This happened in Gainesville, Florida (not surprisingly). It appears there aren’t a whole lot of people who can be trusted in Florida, including medical professionals.
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, Andy Borowitz had Adam Kinzinger on his show (not for the first time. The full show is only for paid subscribers, but Andy did reveal that Adam has been working on a documentary (with Meidas Touch) called “The Last Republican”, and it’s available now to stream on Apple TV, Amazon, Googleplay and YouTube, and others. I foresee more knitting in my future. Also yesterday, my inbox was very full, and so many of the emaiis were on the giddy side, that I had a bit of difficulty finding takes that were distinct. But that’s OK. We need and deserve a little giddy time.
This is about a half hour video with Joyce Vance and Steve Vladek concerning the murders being carried out by our military in the Caribbean and the Pacific (so far.) Both feel that this is a situation we should be hearing more about, and specifically more pushback from Congress on, even just for legal reasons without analyzing the moral issues. And yes, I realize that when people in their district are starving, that should be Congressfolks first priority. On the other hand, when the only Congressional voice pushing back belongs to Rand Paul, maybe not other Congressfolks’ only priority.
If you can’t spare a half an hour for Joyce Vance, you can read this instead. It’s an analysis of the case of the fellow who threw a sandwich at a Border Control agent (who are separate from ICE.) This is so unimportant that the fact of it going to trial at all is disproportionately important, which sounds like an oxymoron, but isn’t.
Huff Post discusses a concept which explains a lot about how Republicans can live with their cruelty. And I truly do think it can ensnare anyone. I have never told anyone before about this, and I won’t provide details, but I caught myself doing this once when I was about 11 or 12 – and it shamed me so tha I vowed never to do it again. But of course narcissists and Republicans have no shame – and no introspective ability -so it’s not surprising they can and do keep using it. It’s called “violent innocence.” I don’t know how or even if knowing about it can help to combat it in others, although it’s probably useful to combat the tendency in oneself, although at our ages we have probably already done that.
Yesterday, an email from “Daily Dose of Democracy” had an important message. Virginia is blue enough to want to redistrict in order to neutralize Texas and other red states which are redistricting to redder. But their Attorney General is red and will block it. The Attorney General position is on the ballot for Tuesday. The race is (thanks to Republicans) the most expensive AG race in VA history. I’m generally not inclined to donate to a race outside my own state, but this race has national implications. So I made an exception and gave a small donation through Act Blue. Here’s the link – I shortened it so it shouldn’t prefill with my information, nut if it does, it should offer you a way to replace it.
Harry Litman’s Talking Feds Substack is an outgrowth of his YouTube channel, so I thought I might be able to find this there, but no such luck. It is a bit of a complicated read, involving the fate of the Immerfut ruling on Portland, review of it by two circuits, the SCROTUS shadow socket, and leading up to a request (read demand) from the SCROTUS to the President for more information on a shadow docket case which has already elicited no ruling in over two weeks. But it also contains a glimmer of hope – which heaven knows we all need right about now. It’s not bright enough to save for Sunday, but it’s something.
I did not have to archive this – Daily Dose of Democracy’s newsletter included the already archived link. I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone here that liars lie – but the claim investigated here is such a blatant lie that it sinks to the level of farce. In particular, I got a chuckle out of “high ranking dumb” – and then realized how much grief a father would actually feel who felt the need to sat this about his son (presumably in order to defend him.) And the farther I read, the less amusing it got. The Gamboge Garnage’s DES makes the Keystone Cops look like Scotland Yard (and Dogberry and Verges look like Holmes and Watson.).
Robert Reich is asking everyone on his mailing list to share all of these videos, and it’s a reasonable ask, so I will be doing it. It hasn’t been every day, and I don’t expect it to be, but it will be often enough that I won’t be putting “Guest Video” if it’s a normal video – I’ll just post them – it will be pretty obvious from the preview. This one, however, is a “short” and cannot be embedded, so here’s the link.
Yesterday, I was very tired out, and yesterday’s thread wasn’t posted. It is now. Also, Trinette came by after her work day ended. She is going home over the weekend, so isn’t available for Sunday. I told her to watch out for ICE agents. Also, it took a bit longer than usual, but my ballot has been received and counted- I got the emails confirming that. And the Social Security COLA will be 2.8% for 2026 (assuming we still have Social Security then.) If you receive Social Security, you probably already know that.
I don’t know about everything every First Lady has done, even just in my lifetime, but I know enough to know that First Ladies are generally not idle trophy wives. I didn’t know how much of their history happened in the East Wing. I doubt whether anyone, least of all Melanoma Melania, cares whether she has an office space. But I do care whether other First Ladies, even some Republican ones, have office space, and about their accomplishments. Someone needs to tell the Mango Menace that he doesn’t need a ballroom – he has more ball room than he could ever possibly need, in his pants.
There are always multiple stories in the Morning Memo, san this is no exception. The headliner concerns what the Nectarine Napoleon is up to in Latin America, and that is not getting a lot of coverage yet, although it appears to be escalating. But there is more, including snippets about Jamie Raskin and Jeff Merkley, so you may want to read on.
Apparently the ICEstapo isn’t gestapo-y enough for the Cantaloupe Caligula. He wants to build one with for more jurisdiction and scope.
Yesterday (I am going to be silly here) Huff Post responded to the Pentagon’s new press rules by saying that they had left their response with Helen Waite. So, if Hegseth wants their response, he’ll have to go to Helen Waite. (Told you it would be silly. Sometimes silly is necessary)
I expect everyone here who plans to participate in No Kings this Saturday has signs. But just in case, here’s an article followed by a lot of possible suggestions. I probably should add that Liza Donnelly will authorize you to put one of her cartoons on your sign, provided you follow her simple and reasonable rules – don’t change anything, include her signature, and use for protest sign only.
“In It To Win It” at Democratic Underground found this at Raw Story probably got it elsewhere (they usually do). It would be good news if anyone on the Court would pay attention to it (anyone other than the three who already know it, of course I mean.)
This Wonkette article is not a piece of analysis, but a collection of short factual anecdotes. Read as much or as little as you wish, but the one I am posting it for is the last one, “You Say You’re a Citizen?” I am constantly – multiple times daily – being reminded of the anecdote I’ve quoted here more than once told by Igor Stravinsky of his time in Germany, where he witnessed an atrocity, and when he tried to report it, was told by a magistrate judge, “In Germany today, such things happen every minute.” Well, dammit, in America today such things happen every minute. If we blow them off for that reason, because it isn’t us they are happening to, then we are the Nazis, and not just in the eyes of the world, but for real.
This is a guest video from More Perfect Union. It’s probably of most interest to people who have kids and grandkids. Although I don’t, and still found it very informative.
Yesterday, I was checking my yahoo email account and started with spam. I saw an email whose sender name started with “Department of G” – that was as much as I could see and I needed the magnifier to read it – which is why I went to tutamail in the first place. That turned out to be “Department of Government Efficiency” – but a hover showed it was actually from a gmail address. As if we didn’t have enough government reality to be suspicious of – now we need to watch for scams masquerading as official scams. In other news, you may remember that, of all people, MTG is on our side on releasing the Epstein files. Well, now she is also on our side about the shutdown. I don’t know if my brain can handle it. Also, there was a lot of news about MAGA freaking out about Bad Bunny being booked for the Super Bowl halftime show (Bad Bunny is an American citizen by birthright).
Several topics here, at The F*News: the first is on Judge Immergut (you gotta love her name – “Always good” in German), but then it goes into Social Security cuts (mine for this month is in my account as “pending.” On Wednesday, the “pending” will disappear and my balance will reflect it) and two more. Along the way, Jonathan does a little bragging, which I certainly would too for the achievements he cites.
This week the Supreme Court’s term begins, and they will start hearing arguments again. Joyce Vance has posted the full calendar, through June, of which days are argument days, and the first two weeks of which cases when. And there’s more. Also, from a different site which included Joyce Vance in a video, the Supreme Court heard arguments on but did not decide one case last term – Louisiana v. Callais – and will be hearing arguments again on Wednesday, October 15. Meanwhile, the Election Assistance Commission has a comment period open on this case. Why is this important? Because all we have left of the Voting Rights Act is Section 2 (the Court previously overturned Section 5). This case could overturn Section 2. The link for comments is here. I have put up a separate post with suggestions for comments, because I have no link to it. The to-and-fro directions below the comments section should direct you to it. Although arguments are October 15, you have till October 20 to comment.
Dan Froomkin has put a lot of thought into his premise here. I don’t think he is seeing ghosts. Robert Reich has similar, though not identical, thoughts as this map he drew suggests.
Yesterday, I heard from Carrie after her visit to Barry. I’m quoting much of it because we are all so used to brain strokes and how to tell if you or a loved one may be having or have had one, and none of that will work for a brain stem stroke. “I was able to speak to him and he was aware I was there. That is the saddest thing about this type of stroke. His brain functions well, but everything the brain stem controls is gone. Because brain stem strokes are so rare, they are easily missed. That’s why he was not correctly diagnosed when he first arrived in the ER. His doctors had only had one other such stroke victim in the past four years. Barry will be transferred to Warm Springs, Georgia to a hospital / rehab facility. After 2 to 4 weeks, they should be able to give us a prognosis.” In other news, our Supreme Court is corrupt – but not corrupt enough to consider Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal (Axios). Also, I can at least say that I have one Senator who has a clue how to message.
I agree with Robert Reich that this needs to be discussed – or at least thought about – by everyone. I personally am absolutely unqualified to talk about it with people who voted for it, but no doubt there are people who are. Will those voters be willng to listen to or even talk to such qualified people? Anyway, for us – therapy animals can help. for those lucky enough to own one or be near a professional one.
Harry Litman with a this-is-how-it’s-done article on a judicial opinion. As he points out, All judges have occasions on which they need to defer, but they should never to lies. Other courts should take this message to heart – immediately. (Incidentally, this judge was appointed by the Mango Moron. How she got past the Heritage Foundation, I can’t even guess.)
This may brighten your day and maybe even look into the book. There is a Little Professor bookstore in Athens, Ohio, and another in Owatonna, Minnesota, but Joyce lives in Alabama, so this has to be in Birmingham or its suburb Homewood. Although cities are more liberal than rural areas, that’s still a lot of books for Alabama (I wonder how much her signature changed from the first one to the last one.)
