Voting Rights – Page 6 – Politics Plus

Open Thread April 4, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 042022

Yesterday, I actually managed to place a grocery order in themorning and schedule it for this evening. And it actually came a little after six (I asked fror a window from 6-8) and by 8 I hadeverything that neded to be put away, put awat. And no substitutes. A couple of things missing or shorted, and the dishwashing liquid leaked over a bunch of things, but didn’t actually destroy anything, just made them icky to put away.

Cartoon 04 MLK loaded

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Fortenberry, Convicted Liar And Thin-skinned Bully, Resigns
Quote – Nebraska Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry is a convicted liar who has now resigned. Good. But he has never been held accountable for abusing the power of his office to hunt down and threaten the jobs of people who criticized him with a joke. You might remember his Chief of Staff made national news for threatening a state university professor for LIKING a Facebook post of a sign calling him Fartenberry.
Click through for more. While he heeds to be held accountable (and probably won’t) for his bullying, this is still good news. One down, 193 (or thereabouts) to go.

Letters from an American – March 31, 2022
Quote – Today, Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, struck down much of the new elections law passed by the Florida legislature after the 2020 election. This is the first time a federal court has sought to overrule the recent attempts of Republican-dominated state legislatures to rig the vote, and Walker made thorough work of it…. “This case is about our sacred right to vote,” Walker wrote, “won at great cost in blood and treasure. Courts have long recognized that, because “the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.”
Click through for story and sources. While we can’t depend on this not being appeales, not on keeping the ground gained if it’s appealed, it is still hopeful. Heather, BTW, has been on a roll. I’ll be sharing more of her in the next few days.

CPR – CU Boulder to host UN human rights summit on climate change
Quote – The University of Colorado Boulder will host a global climate summit in partnership with UN Human Rights. Thought leaders attending the gathering will examine climate change as a human rights crisis. CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano talked about the “Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit” in front of alumni and students in Washington, D.C. earlier this week. The idea for the summit came out of the UN climate change conference that took place in Glasgow last year.
Click through for story. This kind of thing is why Colorado MAGAts refer to the city of Boulder as “the People’s Republic of Boulder,” which certainly says at least as much about them as it does about Bloulder.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 4/3/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:47 am Open Thread, Politics

Apr 032022

Glenn Kirschner – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Conflicts of Interest & the Need for an Impeachment Inquiry

Meidas Touch – Rep. Raskin TROLLS GOP with ‘cocaine-fueled orgies’ slam

The Lincoln Project – Compromised

RepresentUs – Wisconsin Election Officials Face Death Threats

The Ring of Fire – Missouri Republicans Demand Citizens Repay Unemployment Benefits (Legally, the government s correct – but it’s also true that, yes, they COULD legally forgive it – and, morally , should.)

Brent Terhune – A Madison Cawthorn Party

Beau – Let’s talk about why the public’s opinion doesn’t count….

Open Thread April 1, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 012022

Yesterday was Transgender Day of Visibility, often abbreviated as TDOV. My Women’s History short date was not picked to celebrate it, because i didn’t know or remember it, but it did just cross ay mind that she might have been trans. But she also might have been gender neutral, or neither of those. It was just a[n interesting] coincidence. Today, to make up for it, I am featuring a real-life transgendered person from history. Some of you may remember seeing or hearing about her during her lifetime. I do. At that tme transsexuality (as it was then called) did not have the entire religious right line up against it She was more or less accepted on her own merits – not that she was universally acclaimed, but she did enjoy notable successes. I’m proud to say that I was not brought up to think of trangender in any negative way – just as something that sometimes happens. BTW, I will have no April Fool’s pranks in either post today. Reality is prankish enough.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

The 19th – What Transgender Day of Visibility means for trans Texans this year
Quote – Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), celebrated annually on March 31, is a moment to celebrate the lives of trans people and to raise awareness of injustices they face. This year, it carries a special significance for some transgender Texans: Trans people still living in the state, as well as those who have moved away for school or work, told The 19th that they are thinking about how to use their own voices to uplift trans youth — and about what being visible ultimately means to them.
Click through for much more. Most straight people would benefit from a lot more analysis and contemplation of our own sexuality. Those who instead focus on others are wasting a lot of time and energy which could more profitably be ised to improve their lives. (Just my opinion.)

Colorado Public Radio – New Colorado law bans people from openly carrying firearms near voting locations
Quote – Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law on Wednesday that bans anyone in Colorado from openly carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a voting location, unless their property falls within that buffer…. It passed with no Republican backers, who argued it infringed on 2nd Amendment rights.
Click through for story. If “No electioneering within a hundred feet of the polls” doesn’t violate the First Amendment, then this doesn’t violate the Second. Ideally, all states should have this law on the books (not that there shouldn’t also bemoe voter protecton.)

Wikipedia – Christine Jorgensen
Quote – Jorgensen was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. After her military service, she attended several schools and worked; it is during this time she learned about sex reassignment surgery and traveled to Europe, where in Copenhagen, Denmark, obtained special permission to undergo a series of operations beginning in 1952. She returned to the United States in the early 1950s and her transition was the subject of a New York Daily News front-page story. She became an instant celebrity, known for her directness and polished wit, and used the platform to advocate for transgender people. Jorgensen often lectured on the experience of being transgender and published an autobiography in 1967.
Click thrugh for details. There was much more to her life. People – most if not all – sometimes feel trapped. I don’t know how one could feel any more trapped, inside their own body, than a transgendered person, and particulrle in our current culture.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 3/13/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:12 pm Open Thread, Politics

Mar 132022

Glenn Kirschner – AG Garland: “DOJ Will Hold All Accountable”, Starting w/”Cases in Front of Us & Build From There”

Meidas Touch – Ban Putin Propaganda

American Bridge – America is on the move

No Dem Left Behind – Don’t Say Gay Bill, the GOP’s Long Strategy of Weaponizing Fear & Hate

Liberal Redneck – Gas Prices and Joe Biden

Sky World- By Bear Fox performed by Teio Swathe – [In English and a Native language, I do not know which] Words: “Let us put our minds together and remember those who have passed on, their lives’ duties accomplished, they are living peacefully in the Sky World.”

Beau – Let’s talk about North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and the Supreme Court….

Open Thread March 6, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 062022

Yesterday, the opera was a historic broadcast (next week they will get back to live broadcasts for the rest of the season.) They had a list of around 10 and asked listeners to vote (I didn’t because I didn’t have aa favorite.) The voting went to “Tha Daughter of the Regiment” from 1973, with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. What’s primarily historic about it is that it was Pavarotti’s broadcast debut, and includes the aria which gave him the nickname “Monarch of the high C’s.” I’m not a dedicated Pavarotti fan, but there’s no question he deserved that title. Those C’s were beautiful to hear, as well as inspiring to so many tenors who have come after him. (It’s also the opera in which RBG famously played the [speaking] role of the Duchess of Krakenthorpe – but that was not in this production, it was in Washington DC in 2016 – and again in 2021.) in esearching those dates. I also discovered she loved new opereas as much as lder ones, as do I. But this one – and the one written about her and Scalia, must have held special places in her heart.

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Short Takes –

Vox – The fate of American elections is in Amy Coney Barrett’s hands
Quote – Four members of the Court have already endorsed [the independent state legislature] doctrine, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected it over the course of more than a century. Along with Gorsuch, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh all embraced it in lawsuits seeking to alter which rules would govern the 2020 election. Meanwhile, the three liberal justices plus Chief Justice John Roberts have all signaled that they will not overrule the more than 100 years’ worth of Supreme Court decisions rejecting [this] doctrine. So, unless Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, or Kavanaugh has an unexpected change of heart, the fate of American democracy is now in Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s hands.
Click through for details. I sense a possible subtext here, though I may be wrong – if it isn’t just random, if someone decides which justice gets to consider each case, it could be that someone is willing to throw Barrett under the bus if (when) the backlash is overwhelming.

Aeon – The many deaths of liberalism
Quote – Not coincidentally, all of these critics are living, writing and publishing in liberal countries. And they are demonstrating one of liberalism’s most successful features simply by participating in the quintessentially liberal enterprise of dialogue and disagreement under constitutional protections (with liberal limitations). These are, in fact, the only states in which actual competition for power and dissent is not just allowed but fostered. No one living in a totalitarian society has had the luxury of declaring liberalism, let alone totalitarianism, dead.
Click through for essay. There’s very little new information here, but it’s a strong reminder that the fight to make our nation more liberal – closer to the actual ideals of liberalism – will never ne over, by its very nature. So we always need to keep going. And as Samuel Johnson said, human beings do not need to be instructed so much as they need to be reminded

Women’s History – Smithsonian: Women’s Futures Month
Quote – Calling all citizen scientists, do-gooders, plant lovers, activists, advocates, dreamers, and creators! Join us in March 2022, when the Smithsonian shakes up Women’s History Month with a new Women’s Futures Month: a forward-looking celebration of the power of women and girls in STEM to shape a better world.
Click through for background and programs. The Smithsonian wants to focus on the future rather than the past, and that is certainly also useful – not just for women.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread March 5, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 052022

Yesterday, it snowed a little in the morning. Most of it was gone by midafternoon, although some always lingers on the north sides of objects like houses, cars, mailboxes, trees, and the like. I didn’t realize we were expecting any yesterday – I know we are for tomorrow, and a sub-freezing high temperature as well.

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Short Takes –

The NM Political Report – AG, SOS issue warning over Otero County ‘vigilante audit’
Quote – The effort, which echoes efforts made by conservatives and some far-right politicians throughout the country regarding the 2020 elections, was authorized by the Otero County Commission and outsourced to the New Mexico Audit Force. That group is sending volunteers door-to-door to speak to voters and gather personal information. Attorney General Hector Balderas and Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver issued a release to remind voters of their rights and what information is publicly available in the form of voter records.
Click through for details. Otero County is south of Albuquerque. Its southern border is shared with Texas. A kind of terrain which seems to attract bullies. I’m glad the SoS is dresing this. Otero cetainly needs new County Commissioners as well (I’d say the current commissioners should be required to repay the county out of their own pockets for the taxpayer money they have spent on this.)

Wonkette – Won’t Have To Have An Insurrection If You Let The Trumpists Count All The Votes
Quote – Once in place, those new precinct officers have started going mad with whatever power they have, using it to “remove or censure Republican leaders who contradicted Trump’s election lies,” and also to recruit all their MAGA buddies and Big Lie aficionados to sign up as poll watchers or poll workers. So if the next time you go to vote, the nice old lady volunteers at the polling place have been replaced by guys wearing body armor or Hawaiian shirts, you’ll know. Or they may dress like students or dress like housewives, blending in with the crowd.
Click through for more. I’m sure you are already aware of this plot (I certainly was.) But i have to love the way Wonkette presented it in the newsletter. After identifyinf the “Four Horsepeople Of The Republican Apocalypse” (Pestilence – DeSantis, War = Ted Cruz, Famine = Rick Scott, Death = Danny Bentley), the newsletter then presented this article with the header “And It Was Given To Them To Give Breath To The Beast.” So true.

Women’s History – The 19th – 41 years before Ketanji Brown Jackson, Amalya Lyle Kearse was considered for the Supreme Court
Quote – As the country prepares to watch the confirmation process for the first Black woman nominated to the nation’s highest court, The 19th revisits Kearse, who was the first Black woman judge on an appellate court and who still sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. She was considered for a Supreme Court nomination by three different presidents, the first Black woman on record to receive such recognition. Kearse was a key figure in paving the way for Black women judges, who even with the high-profile nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court are underrepresented on the U.S. judiciary.
Click through for story. The three Presidents who short-listed her were Reagan, Bush Sr., and CLinton. She is 84 and still working(as a senior judge, which means a reduced caseload, but still.) There is much more packed into this relatively short article also.

Food For Thought:

I hope I will soon be able to go through posts of cartoons without getting my heart broken, smetimes more than once.

Video Thread 3/3/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:48 am Open Thread, Politics

Mar 032022

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump’s Election Crimes & the Legal Rights of We The People as Crime Victims

Lincoln Project – CPAC: Day 2

Truth Matters – A Prayer for Ukraine. I did not put hanky alerts on any of these Ukraine-related videos, but I think I should say that, when Zelensky spoke to the UN, the translator got audibly choked up.

Guardian News – Ukrainian president speaks after Kharkiv missile attack: ‘Everything has changed’

Yevgeny Yevtuchenko’s poem “Babi Yar” read in Russian by Yevtuchenko himself, and translated and read in English by the owner of this YouTube channel. The English begins at 3:32.