Jul 222026
 

Yesterday, I pretty much relaxed – and knitted. Which was nice.

OK, I need to rant a little today. We all know that the Apricot ntichrist probably does not even know what a treaty is, let alone that the Constitution is clear that a treaty is the law of the land, that only Congress can ratify a treaty (so only Congress can get us out of one.) There is nothing in the Constitution about what to do if an ally we have a treaty with goes rogue – starts committing war crimes. So will someone please tell me WTF is a Constitutional President who is sworn to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” supposed to do when that happens?? What pushed my button was a New Yorker headline “How Biden Emboldened Israel,” also a subject line in its daily email. Oh, sure, NOW “over a hundred Democrats are voting to withhold arms from Israel- wnich is not enough to break or rescind a treaty. How is any of this Joe Biden’s fault? If we had had Congressional blessing to pull out of our treaties (yes, plural) with Israel the instant the war crimes started (which we did not have the votes to do), then MAYBE Kamala would have been elected (but I would not bet a dime on that), but if not, we would be exactly where we are now. War crimes are a hell of a drug.

I promised an update on the Colorado ICE shooting, and here it is.

Colorado also has closed primaries, but has been good about publicizing deadlines for switching or declaring parties, even under Republican Secretaries of State. I would not expect Floridians to be able to say the same. I switched parties once, back when there were still sane Republicans, and one was running in the primary against a Tea Party (remember it?) one for a state office. And I was far from alone. We got her into the general, where she won, and we had sanity even in those days (Colorado is blue now, but hasn’t always been so. And desperate situations require desperate measures.

It bursts my bubble every time – and it is pretty much always – that so many people feel compelled to denigrate every person of color who has anything to say and speaks it publicly. Why do they feel this need? Because they have nothing to say so they make something up? Are they secretly terrified that if there is a person of color smarter and/or wiser than they, that somehow makes them lesser? Or if there is a person of color who is more compassonae then they, or has higher ethical standards, that demeans them? There are difinitely contradictions in the stories of the witnwssws to what happened over the semiquincentennial weekend – contradictions which can’t be reconciled.

.I lost track of the times Frank said “under any other administration” or the equivalent. He does a deep dive into the background of the ICE agent who shot the young father in Biddeford, ME. I’m tearing my hair out about this one because there’s no transcript. I went to his main Substack page – still no trnscript. There was a YouTube link for the same video – but CC was not afailable, so no transcript there either. Frank is affiliated with Lincoln Square, so I checked there also – the show was there, but no transcript. Feel free to skip it. He covers more topics, but what I thought was most important was the background check he did was the background check, and unfortunately, that’s in the middle.

Here’s a bonus in case you want to skip Frank. But this is good new – yes, it’d dsigned to help people of color, but not just people of color – – it’d for everyone not an oligarch. And it doesn’t leave Black people out.

Yeah, I already put up this in “250 to 250”, but this is only a bit over 4 minutes, and it has almost everything the 1 minute version leaves out.

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Jan 102026
 

Yesterday, I put this into a comment on yesterday’s OT. But there were already two comments so I’m not sure it will be seen. Since there’s a second day of it tomorrow, I’ll repeat the information here:
People For the American Way is partnering with our allies to mobilize communities nationwide for the “ICE Out For Good” Weekend of Action on Saturday, January 10, and Sunday, January 11. These actions are a direct response to violence and abuse of power, and a demand that federal immigration enforcement be held accountable for the harm it causes.
These events are community led, nonviolent, and lawful, and they are a direct demand for accountability in the face of ongoing federal violence. They make visible the real human cost of unchecked enforcement and apply public pressure where oversight has failed. Showing up together is a way to insist that lives cannot be treated as collateral damage.

On Thursday, you probably know that the Senate passed a War Powers bill to stop the God-Emperor from destroying Venezuela any more than he already has, and five Republicans joined Democrats to pass it. Which five may surprise you. From Heather Cox Richardson, here are the names: Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Todd Young of Indiana.

It would seem to me that, since Congress (or at least the Senate) has to ratify treaties fir them to be in force, that Congress, or at least the Senate, would have to authorize pulling out of them. Common Dreams implies that but doesn’t say it outright.

The Root is calling this an opinion piece – but, sadly, it’s a fact. I realize on the surface it appears incompatible with misogyny, but it really is part of misogyny – like the old saying that men put women on a pedestal – so they can’t move without hurting themselves. It isn’t women as human beings which are so “precious” – it’s women as objects.

Archived from The Hill, referred by The Smile. I’m not putting it on Sunday because Yosemite Sam Barbie* has “testified before Congress before, and she doesn’t answer questions, she just babbles. IIRC, the last time she was there she sneaked out. A Congressman from IIRC Indiana has announced he is working on articles to impeach her – but it’s a long way from announcing to introducing, and introducing doesn’t guarantee impeaching, and impeachment doesn’t guarantee convicting and removing.
*(stolen from Malcolm Nance)

There’s always a lot in The Morning Memo, but I’m focusing on the “cover up.” I put that in quotes because there is so much photographic evidence before the the public already, video and still, that they won’t be able to cover up what happened. Spin it, yes. Change the narrative, that they can do. Protect the killer – almost certainly. Cover it up – not so much. We even know the ICEhole’s name.

SpyKat posted yesterday that ICE also shot 2 people in Portland. I hadn’t seen it – but found it in the New York Times, whose paywall is fierce, so I went to archive – it had already been archived, so that was fast.

In lieu of a political video today, I want to share this letter to the Minneapolis area newspaper from Renee Good’s widow Becca, Because it is really to all of us who care.

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Feb 142024
 

Yesterday, my ballot for the Presidential primary arrived. The election is March 5th. I’ve been avoiding going out the front door since my hospital stay, and even more so, avoiding the porch steps (the last time I ventured on them wasthe day I came home, and that was one way only.) But with that much time, and Trinette coming Sunday, I’m sure I can wait tll then. I know for whom I am voting, and it’s only one block to fill in, and if she takes it out the same day it comes in, it should get there in time easily.

I’m sharing this as a Black Histoy story because IMO there’s no doubt that it is one. You can make up your own mind,of course.

This is a crash course in foreign affairs. If that makes it sound difficult – it isn’t. And it explains a lot about how we got to this point. And it’s available for free to anyne, so you can share (you might want to mention scrolling a little for “continue reading.”)

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Jun 292023
 

Yesterday, It was pretty quiet. Hot, but quiet. I did manage to get my carts out to the curb for pickup tpday, but then,I was highly motivated – they pick up trash every week, but recyclables only every other week, and I always have more recycleables than trsh, and if I didn’t get them out yesterday, I’d have had to wait two more weeks, not one.  And the contents were starting to push the lid up already.

Cartoon – 28 0628Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – Does It Matter That Neil Gorsuch Is Committed to Native American Rights?
Quote – In most areas of law, notably those to do with guns and abortion, Gorsuch has been the Justice that conservatives wanted him to be. Not so with tribal law. Adam Liptak, of the Times, recently called him “the fiercest proponent of Native American rights” on the Court. There are various theories about the source of Gorsuch’s commitment, including his childhood in the West, his textualism-based judicial philosophy (if one reads the text of the treaties that the U.S. signed with the tribes, one will find a lot of unkept promises), and his experience dealing with tribal-law cases while a judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Colorado. But there are Westerners and textualists who have little time for the tribes, and Gorsuch stood out on the Tenth Circuit, too. (A number of Native American organizations and tribes supported his confirmation.)
Click through for full article. If you are paywalled out, I’ll be happy to email you a copy. I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone here that this matters to me – a lot. I”m exceedingly glad to see this article.

US Senate Committee on Homeland Securiy and Governmental Affairs – Planned in Plain Sight
Quote – [Finding of Fact] 6. FBI and I&A failed to follow agency guidelines on the use of open-source intelligence. The Special Agent in Charge of the Intelligence Division at the FBI Washington Field Office on January 6th conflated the Bureau’s standards for what type of information is actionable for further investigation (a higher standard) versus what is merely reportable to partner agencies (a lower standard), and as a result, FBI did not share certain tips and intelligence about January 6th. FBI also did not develop certain tips about January 6th because they were deemed not credible, contrary to FBI policy that requires every tip received to be logged as long as it meets an “authorized purpose” for investigation, regardless of credibility
Click through for full report. It’s a bit over 100 pages, so I don’t expect anyone to read it in full. But both the Executive Statement at the beginning and the Conclusions at the end are packed with facts we suspected. And the Findings of Fact and Recommendations (just after the Executive Summary) are stark and chilling.

Food For Thought

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Oct 052022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Women rise up in Iran, fighting governmental oppression. Their struggle is our struggle.

Meidas Touch – Putin STOOGE Tucker Carlson spreads RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA, blames US for attack on Russian TV

The Lincoln Project – Ginni Smile

MSNBC – ‘This Is The Big One’: Oath Keepers Trial To Set The Tone For Jan. 6 Cases

Shirley Serban – TOP SECRET Trump Parody Song

Beau – Let’s talk about the Cherokee and the Treaty of New Echota….

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