Jun 152021
 

Well, still a little bit of tenderness and temperature around the injection site – but my actual normal temperature is so low that slight increas is probably right around normal. I’m now feeling confident and won’t mention it again unless something negative happens. So – now one to go. And now to business.

Cartoon

Short Takes

New York Times – Warnings of Democracy in Peril
Quote: [Senator Angus] King [I-ME] said the only reason voters lacked confidence in the voting system was that Republicans — especially Mr. Trump — told them for months that it was rigged, despite all evidence to the contrary, and now continued to insist that there were abuses in the process that must be fixed. “That’s like pleading for mercy as an orphan after you killed both your parents,” he said.
Click through for the full article. There is a paywall but you get one or two free articles a month.

The 19th – Barack Obama: Women have found themselves “in an impossible situation” – from a socially distanced interview
Quote – I’m just incredibly proud of the kind of human beings Sasha and Malia have become. Of course, like all of us, they followed the protests around our country. They got involved. And we had conversations about all of it. My advice to them is the same as it is to all young people, which is that protesting — raising public awareness, putting a spotlight on injustice, making the powers that be uncomfortable — that kind of civil disobedience couldn’t be more important. Throughout our history, that has often been the only way to get the political system to pay attention to marginalized communities. But eventually, I tell them, movements have to be translated into laws and policies — and in a democracy, that only happens when we elect government officials who are responsive to our demands. Basically, my advice is to reject the false choice between participating in protests and politics. Do both!
Click through for the rest of what made it in to the interview.

Rolling Stone – Al Franken – Tax the Rich! Also the Very Affluent! But Mainly the Rich!
Quote: Biden is eager for the infrastructure bill to be a bipartisan effort, however, and has been negotiating with Republicans to find a deal everyone can feel good about. But if the Obama years are any indication, Republicans will only feel good if a Democrat in the White House fails. So we shouldn’t hold our breath. Democrats can pass an infrastructure bill through the fast-track reconciliation process if they need to, which only requires a simple majority of 51 votes to pass, which still may prove difficult but is a lot more doable. Because Mitch McConnell naturally doesn’t like any of Biden’s big plans one bit.
Click througfh for a very clearly explained article.

Food for Thought

Share
Jun 122021
 

Well, alrighty then.  I get my first dose of CoViD vaccine today at 3:30 pm my time, and the second four weeks later, July 10, also at 3:30 pm.    Yesterday was a very busy day, but I managed to get that set up.

Cartoon

Short Takes

The Hill – House Judiciary Democrats call on DOJ to reverse decision on Trump defense. They actually signed this June 7, so it has taken a day or two to get into circulation.
Quote (from the letter, quoted in the article): “Are we to understand that federal employees are free to engage in private tortious conduct for personal gain, so long as they maintain federal employment and can assert some pretextual benefit to the public for their actions?” they asked.
Click through to the article here. And/or click through to the letter here – it’s only a page – the other three pages are signatures and CCs. And the signatures are those of some of the most wonderful people in Congress. It made my heart swell reading just them.

The Pulitzer Committee (or Board or whatever it has) has come a long way since the 1930s when everyone involved with “Of Thee I Sing” received a Pulitzer except George Gershwin, because there was then no category for music. There’s no category for this either – so they made an honorary award – for changing the world.
19th – Darnella Frazier, the teen who filmed George Floyd’s murder, wins honorary Pulitzer
Quote: The act reflected many of the core tenets of journalism: Afflicting the comfortable, shining a light on wrongdoing, bearing witness on behalf of the marginalized, speaking truth to power. It was not her job, but Frazier described it as her duty when she testified at Chauvin’s trial earlier this year.
Click through for the full story. You may want a hanky.

News Corpse at Daily Kos – Trump’s Love Letter to Putin Prior to Meeting with Biden is Utterly Demented – and Treasonous. “News Corpse” is a Community member, who has top “mojo” (in other words, has earned Daily Kos’s trust), has published books to their credit, and their own blog.I haven’t followed their work as much as I have that of some others, but I have not found (or seen called out) any inaccuracies in what I have read. I’d say this article is sound.
Quote: Trump’s new “Save America” (from democracy?) message is like a greatest hits collection of delusional days gone by. He appears to have crammed every psychotic concoction he could think of into one run-on rejection of reality. However, it is also a disturbing admission that he has greater trust for America’s enemies than for its leaders and defenders. What follows is an annotated examination of Trump’s profoundly anti-American screed:
Click through for the full article.

Extra short take: Merrick Garland gave an address on civil and voting rights. Now This News has it on YouTube. It takes over a half hour for it to start, so I have doctored the URL to take you right to where he starts talking. Now This News usually has CC, but this doesn’t. Sorry. I hope some sound news source will pick up a transcript.

Food for Thought:

Share
Jun 102021
 

Glenn Kirschner – DOJ Announces it will Defend Donald Trump in Defamation Lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll this week is turning into a workshop on how decent people express anger. Glenn makes his voice into silk dripping with sarcasm.

Meidas Touch – with Stuart Stevens

The Lincoln Project – The Line

BARF BAG ALERT! Campaign “ad” from Lauren Boebert. Yecccch!

Liberal Redneck on Manchin

Now This News – Magawa the Landmine-Sniffing Rat is Retiring a Hero (Just a little break. There are actually maany of these rats and the lives they have saved, and are saving, are priceless.)

Beau – What National Security REALLY needs

Share
Jun 042021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Plea Offers to Some Insurrectionists Raise Concerns: Here’s What Drives Prosecutorial Decisions

Meidas Touch – with Jason Kender

Now This News – Excuse my language, but this pisses me off. (It pisses Beau off too, but he’s politer.)

VoteVets – Count on Gen. Eaton not to mince words and to lay out the right thing to do … and VoteVets to publish it.

Thom Hartmann on Traitors, Particularly Flynn

Robert Reich – How Fast Can You Read? Pro tip: Watch twice – watch Robert the first time and Sam the second time (oe vice versa.) You can also slow it down, but definitely watch each separately.

Beau – an analogy that this sports ignoramus can wholeheartedly endorse.

Share
Jun 032021
 

I am always So Happy when It’s Thursday. I got my groceries all in on Tuesday – it didn’t do my back any good, but apparently it didn’t do it any harm either. As usual, not all the non-perishable stuff got put away, and still isn’t, partly because I stocked up beyond my storage capacity. But it will be eventually.

Cartoon

Short Takes

The New Yorker (The Borowitz Report) – Donald Trump will be reinstated in August as President of Trump University, according to one of his supporters. The loyalist, Harland Dorrinson, told reporters, “Donald J. Trump will be reinstated as President of Trump U. and will be teaching students how to get filthy rich in real estate by Labor Day.” Dorrinson said that skeptics who claim that Trump cannot be reinstated because Trump University ceased to exist in 2010 “don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Click through to learn what “really” happened to Trump U.

The Hill – Appeals court rejects bid by landlords to resume evictions
The ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest twist in a multifront legal challenge to the eviction freeze that was enacted by federal public health officials as a way to keep financially distressed renters in their homes and out of crowded homeless shelters during the coronavirus pandemic.
Well, this is good news   Click through for more details, including what to do if you are a distressed tenant (or know someone who is.)

Crooks And Liars – The Next GOP Election Steal Won’t Resemble The Last One
I don’t know whether Democrats can block the [Texas voter suppression] bill in the special session. I assume it will pass eventually. Even if it doesn’t, fourteen states have already passed restrictions on voting just since the 2020 election, with more to come.
Not pleasant, but we need to be aware. If HR1 can get through the Senate we can nip this in the bud. If not … prepare to live under real fascism (as opposed to narcissistic fake dictator in clown uniform fascism.) Click though for detaills.

View post on imgur.com

Share
Apr 272021
 

Meidas Touch – Depressing – nothing that we didn’t know (or strongly suspect), but now, confirmation.

Really American

The Republican Accountability Project – and here’s the link to the Report Card – https://accountability.gop/report-card/ (Mine got an “F” – no surprise)

The Damage Report – The lying is no surprise, though the apology is

Now This News – Super (Pink) Moon At least this is not depressing. (It also isn’t pink, and the brightness is not due to air pollution.)

Robert Reich – Voting Rights

Beau on Montana’s new law and a Republican “change of heart”

Share
Apr 232021
 

Yes, i have one for today.  But I thought , after forgetting to post this one yesterday, I’d get it up first.

Glenn Kirschner was on TV all day on 4/20 – he did post this on 4/20, but quite late.

Then yesterday he did this video – so, in case anyone was wondering.

This video is over 12 minutes, but it’s a twelve minutes well spent. Apparently Karma knows better that we do exactly whenand where is the right time and place for a person to be – first Merrick Grland, now Keith Ellison.
(I can already hear Republicans screaming “Sharia Law !!”

Meidas Touch – I wish every Republican voter could see this.

Really American

Republican Accountability Project

Orange Acres Episode 4 Part 3

Beau on “We write the report.” I actually read the reprt, which required a magnifier (and was then blurry.) This will spare you that, I hope.

Share