May 062022
 

Yesterday, as I expected, it was sunny, so I got out to run the car. I also checked google maps to make sure i remembered the route, and check the time. they say 46 minutes. If I add 10 minutes toget gas and amother 10 to get lost (because this is not one facility but 5 , and I don’t know how hard ir will be to find the visitation center that serves all of them, I need to leave before 7:00. But I am likely not to post Erintes until I get back, even if I have it ready the night before (which I certainly plan to), or send out the email either. That will give anyone else who may want to put up a post more time to do so and still be included in the email. (also, sorry about getting the posts backwards yesterday.  I put up the video one first because I had the material together first, and forgot that when I was schedulimg.  Almost did it again today.  Scatterbrain.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – The One Mistake Putin Is Dying for Us to Make
Quote – After [World War II], some top [German] generals claimed that in 1938, when Hitler began threatening Czechoslovakia, they were planning to oust him if it looked like he was about to plunge Germany into a war with the West that it was not prepared for at that point. Whatever the accuracy of their accounts, any resolve they may have had evaporated when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Daladier acquiesced to the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia by signing the infamous Munich agreement that September.
Click through for op-ed. Like any opinion piece, it may be wrong. Even when grounded in history – as it points out, there is a lot of history, and which part of history one looks at influences one’s opinions. But it makes a strong point.

Denverite – Some local Chicano murals are being recognized nationally as endangered — which could help preserve them. Quote: [Huitzilopochtli]

Click through for story. “Huitzilopochtli” means “Hummingbird Warrior.”  (What, you expected a verbal quote for an art story?)

Opinion: The Republican blueprint to steal the 2024 election
Quote – The Republicans’ mystifying claim to this day that Trump did, or would have, received more votes than Joe Biden in 2020 were it not for actual voting fraud, is but the shiny object that Republicans have tauntingly and disingenuously dangled before the American public for almost a year and a half now to distract attention from their far more ambitious objective. That objective is not somehow to rescind the 2020 election, as they would have us believe. That’s constitutionally impossible. Trump’s and the Republicans’ far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest.
Click through for op-ed. Yes, two op-eds in one day. The author of this one is by no means a liberal or progressive, and maybe that makes it easier for him to see what the Republican Party is up to – we liberals and progressive believe in basic human goodness, after all. But we need to learn when not to – and what to do about it. There’s some commentary in New York Magazine here.

Food For Thought

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May 042022
 

Glenn Kirschner – From a corrupt Supreme Court justice to upcoming J6 public hearings: Legal Recap for April 2022

The Lincoln Project – Truth Matters

Meidas Touch – Michael Cohen REACTS to Georgia Trump Grand Jury

WHCD – Trevor Noah on Fox (but his best line was addressed to Chuck Todd – “I’d ask you a follow-up, but I know you don’t know what that is.”

Liberal Redneck – SCOTUS Overturning Roe v Wade

Puppet Regime – Zelensky Visits the Big Apple

Beau – Let’s talk about how Russia could do things differently…. (I love this… I didn’t see it coming – but now I’ve said that, you likely will.)

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May 042022
 

Yesterday, I received confirmation for my visit to Virgil this Sunday. I would have receuved it Monday if I hadn’t made a proofreading error which I had to clarify. I’m both relieved and a little sad that I got the approval in spite of the delay, because May 8 is Mothers’ Day. But maybe the mothers of inmates who are not only children are visiting other days on the weekend. I hope so. Anyway, I’ll be there.

Cartoon – 04 0504Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Twitter – Statement of President Biden on reported Spureme Court draft    Quote:

Click through – the link is to Twitter – it should allow you to click on the full statement and see a larger image. Of course there are a gazillion actions already set up, and it won’t do any haem to join one or more. (Update: Chief Justice Roberts confirmed the draft yesterday)

Daily Kos (Community) – Ukraine Invasion Day 69: irony might yet win the war
Quote – Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to undergo cancer surgery and temporarily hand over power to a hardline former federal police chief, according to a new report. Putin will transfer control of Russia’s government to Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian federal police’s Security Council, while he is incapacitated….
Click through for a little more on this and a lot more on the war in general.

No More Mister Nice Blog – Who Are Right-Wingers When They’re At Home?
Quote – [T]he teams working on Fox’s evening lineup began to make wider use of expensive ratings data known as “minute-by-minutes.” Unlike the “quarter-hour” ratings more commonly used in cable newsrooms, which show how each 15-minute “block” performed, the minute-by-minutes allow producers to scrutinize an audience’s real-time ebb and flow. Mr. Carlson … was among the network’s most avid consumers of minute-by-minutes, according to three former Fox employees….
Click through for article. This blog is in our blog roll, and does great work – but I usually find it when Crooks and liars lifts fro it.

Food For Thought

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May 032022
 

Glenn Kirschner – J6 hearings to start 6/9; how many Republican pols will refuse to testify, joining The Cover Up Club

Lincoln Project – Russian Rand Paul

Really American – Republicans MELTDOWN Over Student Loan Forgiveness

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to megaviral #WeirdGOP Video

Ojeda Live – Disgusting and UnAmerican… Yep That’s the GQP!

Twitter – QAnon Anonymous

Beau – Let’s talk about Gerasimov, the most sought after man in the world…

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Apr 302022
 

Glenn Kirschner – More audiotapes show Republicans McCarthy, Gaetz, Scalise and Mo Brooks feeding on one another

Meidas Touch – Catholic Politician REACTS to Marjorie Taylor Greene Calling Catholics ‘Satanic’

Lincoln Project – Last Week In The Republican Party – April 27, 2022

Democracy Now – Juan Gonzlez: In Surprise Move, Gorsuch Challenges U.S. Colonialism in SCOTUS Ruling on Puerto Rico (this really is jaw-dropping!)

No on H -Stop the Republican Con – Judges and Police agree [This ad being pushed by the DA they are trying to recall]

Rocky Mountain Mike – You Sank My Battleship

Beau – Let’s talk about Transnistria, the unknown, and new develops for Ukraine….

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Apr 282022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge holds Trump in contempt of court. Will Trump grift his MAGA base to pay his 10K-a-day fine?

American Bridge is reaching out to voters

Thom Hartmann – Should Ukraine Be rolled Into NATO Now – To Stop the War? (ends with a cliff hanger – I will post the next one though)

Rebel HQ [Texas Paul] – TikToker Roasts ‘Spineless’ Republican Party

Voice of America – US Cabinet Officials Pledge More Military, Diplomatic Assistance to Ukraine

Liberal Redneck – On Elon, Twitter, and our Billionaire Overlords

Beau – Let’s talk about Japanese-Russian relations….

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Apr 272022
 

Yesterday, I finished putting together today’s posts at a little after 4:30. That was an hour earlier than they guarantee the information, but I looked it up anyway, and a lot of information was already there. There wass a group of 211 jurors ordered to report by 8:00 a.m. today, and another group of 286 standby jurors ordered to check in around 11:30 and be prepared to come in within the hour. Of that 268, I would be the 248th person to be called. On Tuesday they released 380 standby jurors, and on Monday they released 404. So I was figuring I can pretty well expect to be off the hook. But of course I don’t take that for granted.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Common Dreams – EU Enacts Landmark Social Media Law to End Self-Regulation by Big Tech
Quote – “The law aims to end an era of self-regulation in which tech companies set their own policies about what content could stay up or be taken down,” the newspaper noted. “It stands out from other regulatory attempts by addressing online speech, an area that is largely off-limits in the United States because of First Amendment protections.” Calling the legislation a “major milestone for E.U. citizens,” Thierry Breton, the bloc’s internal market commissioner, said that “the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ is coming to an end.”
Click through for details. Yes, free speech. And yes, this is going to be a pain in the butt for them to administer, even without the FirstAmendment. But the way social media currently act will nevitably destroy democracy.

Crooks and Liars – Climate Activist Dies After Setting Himself On Fire At SCOTUS
Quote – And so Wynn Bruce had set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and we didn’t pay any attention to that, either. I thought I’d remind you, so he didn’t die in vain.
Click through for story. CPR reported the incident but not the reason. You may have seen the report somewhere (but probably not the reason.) I’m afraod he did indeed die in vain.

The Daily Beast – U.S. Vietnam War Insiders: Russia Is Making the Same Damn Fool Mistakes in Ukraine That We Did
Quote – “The Americans got run out of Vietnam, and the Russians are going to get run out of Ukraine,” William Taylor, ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and again, for seven months, from June 2019 to January 2020, told The Daily Beast. “The U.S. didn’t understand Vietnam, and the Russians didn’t understand Ukraine.” … Although comparisons are inexact, he finds an eerie parallel between the American failure in Vietnam and Russia’s violent campaign in Ukraine. “We didn’t understand there’s a nationalism about the Vietnamese,” he said. “The Vietnamese pushed us out,” and “the Ukrainians will push out the Russians.”
Click through for the reasoning. I was certainly not an insider then, but those who were have good reason to know mistakes were made. I hope their conclusion is accurate.

Food For Thought

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Apr 262022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Meadows had advance reports of possible violence on Jan 6 yet he & Trump did zip to protect Capitol

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Shameless Kevin McCarthy Border Stunt!

The Lincoln Project – Former President Obama on Challenges to Democracy

MSNBC – Democrats May Have A New Weapon In The Fight Against The GOP’s Culture War

Cake and war: Ukrainians mark sombre Orthodox Easter (I’ve been to Orthodox Easter services – just Russian and Greek. They are absolutely gorgeous, and a feast for the senses Orthodox Easter is almost never on the same day as it is in the west. This year it was a week after ours.)

Cute Cat Stands Up Like A Person When She Wants Treats

Beau – Let’s talk about Disney and Desantis…. Beau’s take is sound. The branding he describes goes way, way back tobefore Disney World. It was part of Disneyland from its inception. But then Beau’s takes are usually sound.

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