Yesterday, I wore for the first time my third experiment in knitting pants. Myfirst try was a disastr – but not such a disaster that I can’t rip out one leg, knit it back to match the other. and wear it. On my second try I adjusted the pattern to correct everything that went wrong on the first try, and it was a pretty good fit, just a bit loose and long. For the third try, I decided not to change anything about the stitch or row counts, but instead to use smaller needles. and it’s anout as close to perfect as an imperfect human can do. I could wear them to go see Virgil. And comfortable – as comfortable as the yarn, which for this pair is all cotton, except the cuffs, which are bamboo. In including contrast cuffs, I was thinking of sweat pants, but with more fitted legs.
Robert Reich has some suggestions for non-constitutional words to describe unconstitutional things about our current elected officials. I’m ahead of him on “regime” – I’ve not used any other word for it since day one – but all of his suggestions are appropriate
From ProPublica. Yes. this happens all the time. But if we don’t get reminded of it from time to time, we may forget.
From Common Dreams. One of Axios’s reporters is named “Barak Ravid.” Malcolm Nance calls him “The Mouth of Trump**.” I get “Alerts” from Axios, and yes, his often begin with “Trump** says” or the like. But it made me think – y’all know I often refer to our regime leader as “the Saffron Sauron,” and there is a character in The Lord of the Rings” who introduces himself as “The Mouth of Sauron.” They’re not at all the same – Ravid does not present what our regime leader says as truth – he just quotes him and identifies it as a quote, so readers can disbelieve it. But it appears to be a coincidence.
Yesterday, No Kings 3.0 brought out over 8 million participants within the US. This is closer to 3.5% than you might think. I looked up the adult population of the US this time along with the total population – because that historical 3.5% is supposed to be applied to the adult population – and that number is 8,925,000. This time around, there were expats – many of whom are still citizens and still vote – and vacationers holding rallies outside the US. Robert Hubbell has photos from Madrid (Spain), Geneva and Zürich (Switzerland), the British Virgin Islands, Rome (Italy), Uzes (France – today’s cartoon is a poster from that one – the featured image is from Brattleboro VT), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Milan and Camogli (Italy), Paris (France), and Barcelona (Spain). May 1 has been announced for No Kings 4.0 On the other hand, Malcolm Nance posted this – I thought it was important enough to put it in a comment yesterday – but there were already comments, so I’m repeating it here.
This is an extra because I know not everyone will want to follow this link – But my message is here. Last week, John Pavlovitz posted a series of videos, some numbered, some not, under the umbrella title of Love Loathe Your Neighbor, addressing how and why Christian denominations (particularly evangelical ones) have slid into the mix of patriotism, misogyny and general fascism the are now mostly mired in. One of his guests (Diana Butler Ross) brought up the history of The Great Awakenings. She has her doctorate in American Religious History, and looks at the Awakenings through the lens, not of organized anything, but through the lens of real moral progress. And she noted that each Great Awakening has been followed by pushback which is at least morally, and often also physically, violent. You won’t find her descriptions in the history books or encyclopedias – but she made much more sense to me: 1. Abolitionism (pushback – Civil War) 2. Reconstruction (pushback – Jum Crow and lynching) 3. Civil Rights movement starting with Brown v. Board (pushback – School vouchers push, gated communities) 4. The Obama Presidency (pushback – MAGA, “Christian Nationalism”). The last two occurred in my lifetime – and both times I thought we had made real progress. And I was not alone. Decent people in general did not see the pushback coming. I’m fairly certain I won’t be around for the next one – but those who are – please, at least try to anticipate the pushback and prepare for it.
Many years ago – centuries really – there was a phrase: “noblesse oblige.” In English – if you are born into a titled family, you have a moral obligation to behave in an honorable way at all times. I am not going to claim it was always observed in real life, because it actually never even came close as a general rule – though dome did respect it. We don’t have titles in the US any more than we have kings. But here richesse has been substituted for noblesse, and “richesse oblige” might be something that should be introduced into American English, forcefully if necessary.
Obviously, no one ever told the Mango Moron about the grains of wheat on the chessboard. (If you put one grain of wheat on the first square, 2 on the second, four on the next, and so on, you will not only run out of room on the squares pretty fast, but you won’t be able to finish, because the total will have come to the point where there are not that many grains of wheat in the world. The courtier [IIRC it was a vizier] who allegedly asked the king for that chessboard as a reward for some striking deed thought he was being cute but ended up losing his head.)
Yeah, I know, two by Reich. But all my other deep thinkers were either too tired to post anything, or just too tired to do it in writing, so did videos instead. And this is a really good purpose statement – and the other is or will be pivotal in establishing a government that works – for us.
Yesterday, Malcolm Nance predicted that the US will either put boots on the ground on multiple islands (including Kharg Island)in the Persian Gulf/Strait of Hormuz on Saturday – or else Donald Trump** will chicken out. And his two hosts – the Danish Intelligence officer and the Saudi Arabian political analyst – agreed. (Internet trolls didn’t – but I would no more listen to them than to the Apricot Antichrist himself.) None of them mentioned “No Kings.” (But I am. Not – absolutely not – to discourage anyone from taking part – but to suggest that signs denouncing him putting our troops into harms way and creating casualties might become more pertinent than they appear now.)
The Speaker of the Iranian house is far from the only one making this accusation. Malcolm Nance and his now two co-hosts are saying the same, and I am sure there are many others I don’t have time or energy to know about. Malcom even found a meme someone made with AI taking off on Sun Tzu – see below.
Quote from this Ukrinform article: “After World War II, defeated Nazi Germany managed to carry out reforms, reinvent itself, and become one of the most successful economies in the world. In contrast, the USSR, despite its status as a ‘victor,’ remained a poor and inefficient system that eventually collapsed. Modern Russia has inherited the same model: authoritarianism, [*,] corruption, and dependence on raw materials.” [* they left out “oligarchs.” I didn’t fix it – I’m just pointing it out.]
Joyce Vance on the Mueller investigation – what was in iy – and what is instead trolling.
HCR, barely 8 minutes and war-related (and grift-related)
Today being Pi Day, and the rest of the news being so grim, a mathematical puzzle might be in order.
Yesterday, I discovered something – I knew Jim Acosta was on Substack, and I knew that S teve Schmidt was sometimes a guest of his, but I had no idea that Steve was going to be a regular guest every Friday, nor that they were calling this “Oh, Schmidt, It’s Friday.” (Gotta laugh so you don’t cry, right?) Apparently the US death toll is up to 11 now. Or was yesterday.
From The Root. I figure that what Black people need to know, we all need to know.
It appears the shooting I mentioned yesterday, and another shooting, and a hacking, were not home-grown but Iranian retaliation. Robert Hubbell expands on this with multiple citations. He then goes into other ramifications of the war, also with citations.
From the Contrarian – a history and definition of Concentration Camps – so that if anyone tries to tell you they aren’t, you can prove that they are.
Yesterday, another mass shooting, this one at a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. The only casualties were the shooter (killed) and a guard (wounded, not too seriously.) And we have a president who apparently would rather confess to a war crime than be credibly accused of a crime of pedophilia. Think bout that. i desperately hope that, wherever he is, TomCat is having a better birthday than our day. Happy Birthday, TC. We still miss you.
ProPublica discusses the school bombing (which I trust no one here attributes to anyone other than us) in the context of a program initiated during the Biden administration which, if it hadn’t been cut into smithereens, might have prevented it. (On the other hand, Kegsbreath might have ignored it.)
Common Dreams addresses a different atrocity. This one involving a ship, is clearly an atrocity (the school bombing might have been an error – not that I believe that for an instant.) But a ship cannot possibly have been mistaken for a military base.
From Ukrinform. Someone joked this week that the Saffron Sauron “has started World War Two and a Quarter.” I don’t think it’s that funny really – but it does make a point.
Yesterday, I watched Malcolm Nance’s Day 3. I intend to watch it every day it continues, which means as long as the war lasts (assuming I live that long), but not to report on it here. These reports contain too much detail, including a lot of detail which may be important but may not appear so. Yesterday I provided a link from which anyone can reach the day’s report s it is posted, or subscribe for free to have links sent to their email. I won’t say that something said there might not color my comments on something else, because it might, but I also won’t promise it. I will give you a link to one more longish – about a half hour – video which I expect to be a one-off by Adam Klasfeld (because his primary area of journalism is within courts in the US). It’s about the Rules of Engagement and related topics and features a legal expert in that area.
Archived from The Lever News. You can’t hear it in the archive, but I think most prefer to read anyway. The Lever has just about all the dark money sources nailed here. There are some I haven’t heard of.
There are other things going on besides an unjust, unprovoked, illegal, unconstitutional war. Here are some of them.
While listening to the audio version of this The F* News article, I was thinking – so what should the people of the US do? Well, what if you were an abused wife who learned that your abusive husband had hired a hit man to kill you? You’d probably attempt to get into a shelter, along with any children (and pets – but good luck with that). Obviously that’s not feasible for a nation, but it still might be a mindset to consider.
Yesterday, the news was of course filled with Iran. The mass shoooting in Austin almost got lost. All I have is the initial breaking release and it’s not all that helpful. I emailed Pat B to ask whether she and hers are all right, but it’s pretty late here and an hour later there so I’m not expecting a reply before Tuesday. Trinette was by – have you ever noticed there are people who can make you feel better just by walking into the room? Virgil called and I reminded him who his case manager is. Hopefully he will remember long enough to ask he the balance in his commissary account.
My first thought when I realized that the Saffron Sauron had bombed Iran was, “He got a taste of the blood of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, and now he wants more.” Even if he is too stupid to realize that being at war means your own people getting killed, and even if Kegsbreath is that stupid, there must be someone who is not. Now, after the first casualties including military of ours have been reported, he has his wish. I won’t be crude, but you’ll likely know exactly what I’m thinking when I say he must be thrilled. If you want to follow this war closely, I mean really closely, your best bet is probably Malcolm Nance’s Substack, called “Black Man Spy.” It’s video, because writing takes time, and it is as up to the minute as possible. He does it along with a Danish spy, Jacob Kaarsbo, who has also worked in the area, so both have insider knowledge about the region. Together, they have far more knowledge than I could ever hope to supply. They do it pretty early in the morning, but it’s set (not all live videos are) to re-post a recording after it’s ended. That usually takes roughly an hour (but don’t give up). Or if you are a subscriber, free or paid, Substack will send an email when the recording is up.
This video is from Saturday morning, right after the bombing of Iran. It’s 22 minutes long
This is what we have done – what the monster we elected has done in our name. I don’t think “I’m sorry” or “we’re sorry” will cut it.
I could go on – and probably will as it goes on. But this is my final statement for today.
Yesterday, The Root had a trivia piece on MLK Jr which went deeper than I’ve ever seen before. You might enjoy it. TomCat was a close enough friend of his the he might have known all or most of it – even I knew some of it, but a lot of it was news to me. With four articles today, I’m skipping the political video – but not the animal video. Also, Trinette was by to help me take out trash (and recyclables.)
Joyce Vance discusses the Insurrection Act, including how to recognize bait when we see it, and why we should not take it.
Robert Hubbell addresses specific misconceptions about the Insurrection Act (and there are many floating around.)
Wikipedia lists every time the Insurrection Act has been invoked, both legally and illegally. It appears to me – and feel free to disagree – that every time it has been invoked, the civil rights of vulnerable people were being attacked – and the sometimes the invocation intervened on the right side, and sometimes on the wrong side. If the Saffron Sauron invokes it, it is certain to be on the wrong side.
Robert Reich addresses what can be done about it, who can actually do that. and what we can do to help, mostly by adding pressure.
