;)
February 2, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Oh Dear. Zucker Rhymes with.... Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: "Jeff Zucker resigned on Wednesday as the president of CNN and the chairman of WarnerMedia's news and sports division, writing in a memo that he had failed to disclose to the company a romantic relationship with another senior executive at CNN. Mr. Zucker, 56, is among the most powerful leaders in the American media and television industries. The abrupt end of his nine-year tenure immediately throws into flux the direction of CNN and its parent company, WarnerMedia, which is expected to be acquired later this year by Discovery Inc. in one of the nation's largest media mergers. In a memo to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Zucker wrote that his relationship came up during a network investigation into the conduct of Chris Cuomo.... [Mr. Zucker had a relationship with] Allison Gollust..., one of the highest-ranking leaders of the network.... Ms. Gollust said in a statement on Wednesday that she was remaining in her role at CNN." ~~~
~~ CNN's report, by Brian Stelter & Oliver Darcy, is here. MB: I don't think Zucker really had to resign. Gollust would have been required to reveal the relationship, too. She didn't, and she's staying. Neither was married & they had worked together for years prior to beginning their relationship, so the so there's no fake "scandal." It all seems perfectly natural to me. Seems to me Zucker is using his failure to report the affair when it began as an excuse to "explore other opportunities."
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served on the National Security Council and emerged as a star witness against ... Donald Trump during the 2019 Ukraine impeachment, is suing Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and former Trump White House staffers, alleging they conspired against him. Vindman, in a new lawsuit filed in DC District Court, said Trump's family, his lawyers, right-wing media and others in the White House tried to intimidate and retaliate against him because he was willing to testify against the President, calling out Trump's entreaties of Ukraine for his personal political gain. He bluntly called the efforts to intimidate him obstruction. And the lawsuit, articulating over 73 pages Vindman's saga in Trump's first impeachment, aims to capture the plight whistleblowers face after standing up to a powerful political machine."
Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Republican senators are unmoved by Tucker Carlson's relentless warpath against support for Ukraine -- even as it widens an existing rift in their party. The Fox News prime time host and others on the far-right have excused and even rationalized Russia's aggression toward Ukraine and downplayed its relevance to U.S. national security. And while GOP senators are shrugging off his name-and-shame campaign, Carlson's views are permeating the GOP base in a way that could undermine Republicans' efforts to emphasize cross-party unity as they seek to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine."
Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is dispatching additional U.S. military personnel to Eastern Europe at the recommendation of the Pentagon, and about 3,000 service members are expected to deploy in the coming days, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The deployments of U.S. troops from Germany and Fort Bragg, N.C., are temporary moves intended to reassure NATO allies, according to two U.S. officials in Washington who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of a formal Pentagon announcement. The moves reflect concerns that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, and other service members could also be ordered to go and remain on a heightened alert status, the officials said." An AP report is here.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden will unveil a plan on Wednesday to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years -- an ambitious new goal, senior administration officials say, for the cancer 'moonshot' program he initiated and presided over five years ago as vice president. Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will also announce a campaign to urge Americans to undergo screenings that were missed during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the officials...."
Groundhog Day News. As previously reported in today's Comments, Amanda Watts of CNN also reports, "Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Wednesday, meaning that if you believe in a groundhog's ability to predict the weather -- we're in for six more weeks of winter."
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Isabelle Khurshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Vladimir Putin hit back publicly against the West on Tuesday, accusing the United States and NATO of using Ukraine to hem in Russia and ignoring Moscow's security concerns.The Russian leader, speaking in Moscow during in a news conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said the Kremlin was studying U.S. and NATO replies to recent Kremlin proposals seeking to check NATO military activity in the region...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Yesterday, the New York Times was liveblogging developments. The front-page headline on the liveblog was kinda perfect: "Putin accuses U.S. of stoking war in Ukraine as Russia masses troops." It's so Trumpian. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The Biden administration has pledged to no longer invoke statements made by a prisoner [-- Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi man ... accused of plotting Al Qaeda's suicide bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole --] during his years in C.I.A. custody in his death-penalty proceedings, repudiating an earlier effort to use evidence obtained from torture in a case at Guantánamo Bay.... A 37-page filing submitted Monday night at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the law governing military commission trials at Guantánamo Bay 'prohibits the admission of statements obtained through torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment at all phases of a military commission.' The filing, however, did not entirely foreclose the possibility that a future U.S. government might choose to ... use evidence obtained through torture. Instead, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to step aside and let military judges at Guantánamo Bay decide the question as it comes up."
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Doug Jones, a former Democratic senator from Alabama, will serve as a guide for President Biden's Supreme Court nominee during the Senate confirmation process, two senior administration officials said on Tuesday. Mr. Jones, who left the Senate in 2021 and was on a short list to serve as Mr. Biden's attorney general, will be a so-called Senate sherpa for Mr. Biden's nominee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "A series of new remarks by Donald J. Trump about the aftermath of the 2020 election and new disclosures about his actions in trying to forestall its result -- including discussing the use of the national security apparatus to seize voting machines -- have stripped away any pretense that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were anything but the culmination of the former president's single-minded pursuit of retaining power.... Historians say the episodes have newly underscored the fragility of the nation's democratic systems.... In the year since [Mr. Trump] left office, he has systematically tried to remove those who were obstacles to him in 2020 and its aftermath: seeking to drive out of office the Republicans who voted to impeach him..., recruiting challengers to Republican officials who certified the 2020 vote, and backing new candidates to serve as election administrators and legislators in key states."
Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House Jan. 6 committee is scrutinizing ... Donald J. Trump's involvement in proposals to seize voting machines after the 2020 election, including efforts to create a legal basis for directing national security agencies to take such an extreme action, according to three people with knowledge of the committee's activities.... The panel for weeks has been studying the actions of Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser to Mr. Trump who investigators say was involved in discussions about seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency and invoking certain national security emergency powers, including during a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 18. Mr. Flynn also gave an interview to the right-wing media site Newsmax a day earlier in which he talked about the purported precedent for deploying military troops and declaring martial law to 'rerun' the election." The report goes into some detail about related hairbrained schemes presented by individuals who got into the White House by more-or-less putting a foot between the front door & the jamb. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It's unclear from this report & a Times report linked yesterday just what the Trumpies planned to do with the purloined voting machines. According to one scenario, Trump would oversee an "audit" of the machines & vote totals, "justified" by the baseless conspiracy theory "that Chinese officials, international shell companies and the financier George Soros had conspired to hack into Dominion's machines in ... a 'globalist/socialist' plot to steal the election."
Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: In a new "statement Tuesday, [Donald] Trump took renewed aim at the House select committee examining the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying it was filled with 'political hacks, liars, and traitors.' Trump said a better focus for the committee would be 'why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval, in that it has now been shown that he clearly had the right to do so!'" The Post reporters call this "a more nuanced take" on Trump's recent statement in which he said pence should have overturned the election. MB: I call it attempt to wriggle out of a written confession. (Also linked yesterday.)
Quint Forgey of Politico: "Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the House Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, on Wednesday said ... Donald Trump 'absolutely' was tampering with the panel's witnesses by discussing potential pardons for defendants charged in relation to the attack. 'I think the question is more for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Where are they? Do they support this? When is enough enough?' Aguilar (D-Calif.) said in an interview on CNN.... Trump has repeatedly suggested in recent days that he may pardon the Capitol rioters or other people associated with the insurrection if he wins a second term as president."
Ellis Kim & Rebecca Kaplan of CBS News: "Greg Jacob, who served as then-Vice President Pence's chief counsel, is the latest member of the former vice president's team to speak with the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.... Jacob spoke to the committee behind closed doors for about eight and a half hours, including lunch and other breaks.... According to The Washington Post, Jacob was with Short and Pence in the Capitol on January 6 as pro-Trump rioters overtook the building and they were forced to evacuate to a safe location within the Capitol complex.... Jacob reportedly clashed with Trump attorney John Eastman over the legal authority of the vice president to overturn the election during Congress' counting of the electoral votes."
Jonathan Karl, et al., of ABC News: "Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany turned over text messages to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a source familiar with the investigation.... McEnany, who was at work in the White House and around ... Donald Trump before and during the Capitol attack, was subpoenaed by the panel for records and testimony in November, and turned over text messages to committee investigators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Everything Will Be Okay; Susan Collins Is Concerned. Lisa Mascaro & Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "Donald Trump's relentless, false claims about the 2020 presidential election have sparked fresh urgency in Congress -- and in both parties -- for changing the Electoral Count Act to ensure no one can undo a future presidential election. Lawmakers are working furiously to update the 135-year-old law that was put in place in the aftermath of the Civil War and came perilously close to unraveling on Jan. 6, 2021.... Trump continues to insist the vice president 'could have overturned the election' -- a deeply troubling development as the former president considers another White House run. 'President Trump's comments underscored the need for us to revise the Electoral Count Act, because they demonstrated the confusion in the law and the fact that it is ambiguous,' Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters at the Capitol.... A bipartisan group led by Collins, the rare and frequent Republican Trump critic, has been meeting behind closed doors and hopes to present a draft as soon as this week.... Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he's open to the effort, as he also rejected the idea Trump floated at a weekend rally of pardoning people who have been criminally charged in the deadly riot at the Capitol."
Chris Cameron & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Senator Ben Ray Luján, Democrat of New Mexico, suffered a stroke last week and is expected to make a full recovery, his chief of staff said on Tuesday.... Mr. Luján's office did not say how long he might be out, but with Senate Democrats' fragile 50-50 majority, a prolonged absence from a member who caucuses with Democrats is likely to imperil, or at least delay, Democratic legislation or presidential appointments that come to the Senate floor without Republican support. Several Democrats said on Tuesday that they were relieved that Mr. Luján would recover, but declined to comment on the political implications of Mr. Luján's stroke...." Politico's story is here.
Sinema's "Gusher of Fossil Fuel Donations." Peter Stone of the Guardian: "With a crucial vote pending over filibuster rules that would have made strong voting rights legislation feasible, Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema flew into Houston, Texas, for a fundraiser that drew dozens of fossil fuel chieftains.... Sinema ... informed a mostly Republican crowd that they could 'rest assured' she would not back any changes with filibuster rules.... The Arizona senator also addressed some energy industry issues according to the executive, who added that overall he was 'tremendously impressed'.... The Houston gusher of fossil fuel donations for Sinema from many stalwart Republican donors underscores how pivotal she has become...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "America's gross national debt topped $30 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, an ominous fiscal milestone that underscores the fragile nature of the country's long-term economic health as it grapples with soaring prices and the prospect of higher interest rates. The breach of that threshold, which was revealed in new Treasury Department figures, arrived years earlier than previously projected as a result of trillions in federal spending that the United States has deployed to combat the pandemic. That $5 trillion, which funded expanded jobless benefits, financial support for small businesses and stimulus payments, was financed with borrowed money."
Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "The surveillance company NSO Group offered to give representatives of an American mobile-security firm [Mobileum] 'bags of cash' in exchange for access to global cellular networks, according to a whistleblower who has described the encounter in confidential disclosures to the Justice Department that have been reviewed by The Washington Post.... In a statement, NSO said that it had 'never done any business with' Mobileum, and that it 'does not do business using cash as a form of payment' and is not 'aware of any DOJ investigation.'... [According to whistleblower & former Mobileum VP Gary Miller, in a 2017 conference call, NSO] officials made clear ... that they wanted access to SS7 so NSO's clients could conduct surveillance of cellphone users to investigate crimes.... When one of Mobileum's representatives pointed out that security companies do not ordinarily offer services to surveillance companies and asked how such an arrangement would work, NSO co-founder Omri Lavie allegedly said, 'We drop bags of cash at your office.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: NSO's denial is a non-denial. If representatives of two companies meet & don't strike a deal, then it's fair to say they have "not done business with each other." There's no reason to think the remark about "dropping bags of cash" was intended to be taken literally; rather, it was likely a metaphor for some other means of illicit payoff, so stating the company doesn't "use cash as a form of payment" is meaningless. As for being "unaware of a DOJ investigation," the DOJ doesn't usually give a heads-up to a target early on.
This Doesn't Look Good. Cate Cadell of the Washington Post: "Chinese drone maker DJI, a leading supplier of drones to U.S. law enforcement, obscured its Chinese government funding while claiming that Beijing had not invested in the firm, according to a Washington Post review of company reports and articles posted on the sites of state-owned and -controlled investors, as well as analysis by IPVM, a video surveillance research group.... Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, which authorizes DJI's equipment for use on U.S. communications networks, labeled reports of the links as 'deeply concerning' in an interview. The FCC proposed changes last year that could severely limit access to U.S. markets for companies deemed a national security risk. Scrutiny of DJI comes as the company is already facing action by U.S. regulators over its ties to Beijing's security apparatus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tom Krisher of the AP: "Tesla is recalling nearly 54,000 cars and SUVs because their 'Full Self-Driving' software lets them roll through stop signs without coming to a complete halt. Recall documents posted Tuesday by U.S. safety regulators say that Tesla will disable the feature with an over-the-internet software update. The 'rolling stop' feature allows vehicles to go through intersections with all-way stop signs at up to 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) per hour. The recall shows that Tesla programmed its vehicles to violate the law in most states, where police will ticket drivers for disregarding stop signs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perfectly understandable. Teslas are manufactured in California. Making a rolling stop is so common in California, it's called a "California stop." Seriously, breaking safety laws is apparently what Tesla engineers do for fun. From the AP report: "Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the governors safety association, said he's not surprised that Tesla programmed vehicles to violate state laws. 'They keep pushing the bounds of safety to see what they can get away with, and they've really been pushing a lot,' he said."
Alisha Ebrahimji, et al., of CNN: "A growing number of historically Black colleges and universities have had to lock down or postpone classes due to bomb threats on the first day of Black History Month. At least 14 HBCUs reported bomb threats Tuesday. At least one of them, Howard University, also received a bomb threat Monday."
Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: "Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from ABC's talk show 'The View' for two weeks after claiming on the show that the Holocaust was 'not about race' but rather 'about man's inhumanity to man' -- comments that sparked widespread outrage from viewers and members of the Jewish community.... 'Racism was central to Nazi ideology,' the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum tweeted Monday. 'Jews were not defined by religion, but by race. Nazi racist beliefs fueled genocide and mass murder.'... Late Monday, Goldberg apologized.... There is some debate over how to best define Judaism and Jewishness today. The Anne Frank House has previously written: 'Jews are not a race, and categorizing people according to race is wrong and dangerous. Even so, some people still believe in the concept. If it is the basis for their hatred of Jews, it is undoubtedly racist.'" A Hollywood Reporter story is here.
Ken Belson of the New York Times: "Nearly two years after dropping its longtime name and logo under pressure, the Washington Football Team announced it would rebrand as the Commanders, in a nod to the region's links to the armed forces. The name [was] announced on NBC's 'Today' show on Wednesday.... The team for years faced calls from fans, sponsors and Native American groups to drop the previous franchise name, which had long been considered a racial slur of Native Americans.... But in July 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by the police, and a national debate that followed over the treatment of nonwhite people, [team owner Daniel] Snyder relented and discarded the name 'Redskins,' which had stood for 87 years." The Washington Post is liveblogging this earth-shaking news.
The Pandemic, Ctd., Brought to You by Republicans
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.
Benjamin Mueller & Eleanor Lutz of the New York Times: "Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations.... Deaths have now surpassed the worst days of the autumn surge of the Delta variant, and are more than two-thirds as high as the record tolls of last winter, when vaccines were largely unavailable.... Despite having one of the world's most powerful arsenals of vaccines, the country has failed to vaccinate as many people as other large, wealthy nations. Crucially, vaccination rates in older people also lag behind certain European nations. The United States has fallen even further behind in administering booster shots, leaving large numbers of vulnerable people with fading protection as Omicron sweeps across the country." ~~~
~~~ Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "A new study of pandemic preparedness across 177 countries and territories appears to have found a key element ... [to] success: trust.... Better outcomes appear to have gone hand in hand with high levels of trust in government and other citizens. Perception of government corruption was correlated with worse outcomes.... Multiple polls have shown that the United States has relatively low levels of trust in government compared with other high-income countries and high levels of political polarization."
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, has written a letter to seven Republican governors, rejecting their requests for exemptions from coronavirus vaccination mandates for their states' National Guard troops. The rejection -- sent to the governors of Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska and Wyoming, who have all sought to allow their guard troops to refuse the vaccine without consequences -- sets the stage for a potential legal battle.... Federal officials have long said that governors have no legal standing to allow Guard members to refuse to comply with the military's vaccine mandate. State officials and some legal experts, however, believe that unless National Guard members are federally deployed, they are under the jurisdiction of the governor of their state and therefore not subject to federal mandates." (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Michigan. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Republican candidates for governor and the state Senate in Michigan are drawing scrutiny for suggesting that poll workers unplug voting machines if they suspect fraud and that people should 'show up armed' to protect GOP election observers' access to ballot counting. The comments by Ryan D. Kelley, a gubernatorial candidate, and Mike Detmer, a state Senate candidate, were made at an event over the weekend in Livingston County, Mich., and captured on video that has since circulated widely on social media.... Detmer ... was asked what could be done to 'protect' Republican election observers at the venue in Detroit where absentee ballots were counted after the 2020 presidential election. 'The ideal thing is to do this peacefully,' Detmer said. '... But the American people, at some point in time, if we can't change the tide, which I believe we can, we need to be prepared to lock and load... You asked what can we do. Show up armed.'... [In a text exchange with the Detroit News Monday, Detmer wrote,] 'That's what the 2nd Amendment is for.... Worst case ... lock and load.'... Their comments also came swiftly to the attention of Michigan's top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats. Benson on Monday referred both men's comments to Nessel's office." The Detroit News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: What these mainstream Republicans are saying is that Black people (i.e., Detroit residents & officials) cheat and/or their votes are inherently invalid, so good (white) Republicans may have to resort to deadly violence & election tampering to get a fair(-complexioned) election outcome. Oh, did I mention, Donald Trump endorsed Detmer.
Ohio. Reid Wilson of the Hill: "Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) has referred just 27 potential instances of illegal votes cast in the 2020 presidential election to state and local prosecutors for investigation, an indication of what he called a secure election two years ago.... More than 5.9 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2020 elections in Ohio, setting the rate of potential fraud -- assuming all of the 27 cases are in fact fraud -- at just 0.0005 percent. 'Our state is proof positive you don't have to choose between secure or convenient elections -- we have both,' LaRose said. 'In Ohio, easy to vote and hard to cheat aren't mutually exclusive....'... LaRose has been among the Republicans who defended the integrity of the 2020 elections even in the face of former President Trump's repeated efforts to distract from his own loss with a series of disproven conspiracy theories and outright lies."
Texas. Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News: "... books ... have been vanishing from the shelves of Katy Independent School District [Houston area] libraries the past few months ... -- all coming-of-age stories that prominently feature LGBTQ characters and passages about sex. Some titles were removed after parents formally complained, but others were quietly banned by the district without official reviews.... Hundreds of titles have been pulled from libraries across the state for review, sometimes over the objections of school librarians, several of whom told NBC News they face increasingly hostile work environments and mounting pressure to pre-emptively pull books that might draw complaints." Among the books parents have asked to be removed are biographies of Michelle Obama & Olympian Wilma Rudolph because they referred to racism. One parent suggested books about racism be replaced by copies of the Christian Bible. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Most public libraries carry newspapers & news magazines & provide access to archived editions. Soon enough, it will dawn on "concerned citizens" that MSM outlets like the New Yawk Times are chock-full of stories that cause "discomfort." I predict demands to ban MSM newspapers & magazines will be next.
Virginia. Yacob Reyes of Axios: "A Virginia state Senate panel voted 9-6 along party lines Tuesday to block former Trump EPA head Andrew Wheeler from joining Gov. Glenn Youngkin's Cabinet as secretary of natural resources.... The majority-Democratic Privileges and Elections Committee voted to remove Wheeler's name from a resolution to approve Youngkin's cabinet picks. But Republicans could still approve Wheeler's nomination with the support of at least one Democrat in the full Senate.... At least one Democrat, state Sen. Joe Morrissey, told Courthouse News he would be open to voting in favor of Wheeler."
Virginia, et al. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post cites excerpts from a textbook "Virginia: History, Government, Geography" by Francis Butler Simkins which Milbank sees as a good candidate for "Glenn Youngkin's No-Guilt History of Virginia for Fragile White People." The views presented in the book are something to behold: "A feeling of strong affection existed between masters and slaves in a majority of Virginia homes.... Most [Negroes] were treated with kindness.... The tasks of each [house slave] were light.... Those Negroes who went to Liberia .. were homesick. Many longed to get back to the plantations.... Life among the Negroes of Virginia in slavery times was generally happy." If you have a WashPo subscription, read the whole column. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Having grown up in the South, I vaguely remember hearing or reading similar accounts of lucky-ducky slaves. Since this is not what I would have heard at home, I must have heard or read it in school.
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Reader Comments (8)
Since today is Groundhog Day, I'm wondering if Mar-a-Lago
Donnie will see his shadow today. If the sun is out there, how could
he miss it with that body? And if he does see it, does that mean
we'll have 3 more years of his BS (and I don't mean Bachelor of
Science).
The Washington Post says that 4.3 million workers left jobs in
December. I went out of business in November so I'm not in that
group, but my family doctor is. She called to let me know that
she turned me over to an associate since she has had it and is retiring.
She isn't that old either. At my dentist appointment yesterday I was
told that next visit I would have a new dentist. She has taken on two
youngsters who will be her replacement soon.
Can't wait to see who abandons me next.
"Happy" Groundhog Day, everyone. So glad we will have six more weeks of hibernation/winter. That actually sounds pretty good to me. The closer we get to primaries, the more rude and noisy, not to mention dangerous, half the country is. So glad that narrowing down the places to live in this country is easier than ever...So glad that peaceable voters in MI now have to be afraid of election workers, and in GA, the previous workers get fired for no reason other than the opportunity to replace everyone not-Dumpy with crews completely Dumpy. When will there be significant arrests? Insanity reigns.
BITS AND PIECES:
First the good news: Comic book stores offer to send free copies of "Maus" to Tennessee students.
Now we move along to Tuckums who, we just learned, donated $259 to MTG's Pac–-and why not, after all he's been in bed with her––so to speak–- from the get go. But the lollapalooza is the following:
“Whatever you do, don’t go to Baltimore,” the widely watched prime-time personality urged his viewers.
“Baltimore is a major American city. It’s only about 40 miles from where (White House press secretary) Jen Psaki lives,” he continued. “It’s one of the worst places in the Western Hemisphere, it’s a little bit of Haiti in the mid-Atlantic. Baltimore is exactly what happens when you apply Jen Psaki’s ideas to governing.” The caption beneath Carlson read: “Hellscape just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.”
Well! David Simon of the "Wire" didn't like that , one bit, and came back hard but it was Omar, who was most offended, and vowed to pluck the hairs off Tucker's chiny-chin-chin one by one until he cries "Uncle"–––and then continue downward.
And last has to do with Donny, Junior ass-hole of the family Trump. Rachel Maddow is taking time off to work with Ben Stiller whose new film is based on Rachel's book "Bag Man" about the Spiro Agnew political scandal during the Nixon years. So Don tweets :
"Seems the Truth finally broke her."
and we pause and wonder if it was the booze or the blow. However, Rachel being Rachel knew exactly how to respond:
"LOL–- do you think he knows it's a film about a criminal in the White House? And––––prosecuting him for crimes????"
Chiodo sella testa! Although in this case that nail seems to be embedded in HIS head.
Update: It was sunny in Palm Beach so he cast a huge shadow
over the Republican party and they can't seem to see the light.
Like rats on a sinking ship, or blind people in the corn maze.
You'd think this would be good news for Democrats, but somehow
it seems they're still dribbling instead of trying to make a basket.
Tis summer, the darkies are gay…
Textbooks for confederate snowflakes who can’t stand actual history. This is what we can expect a lot more of.
“Negroes treated with kindness”…only 20 lashes instead of the usual 30. Or maybe leg irons without the attached cannon ball.
But don’t you just love the image of “happy slaves”? “Hooray! Chained up forever, hard labor, 16 hour days, no pay, no freedom, wife and kids sold off never to be seen again, beatings, brandings, hobblings, rape…man, this is the life.”
But this has been a constant on the right for decades. Former governor of Mississippi and later RNC chair, Haley Barbour, in an interview in 2010 put on the rose colored white man see-no-evil glasses to recall the halcyon days of his youth when the darkies were happy and gay, a-settin’ on the front porch, a-pickin’ n’ a -grinnin’, blacks and whites all living in peace and harmony.
In Mississippi. In 1970.
Yeah.
His historical revisionist gene also invented a memory of the town’s White Citizen Council that wouldn’t stand for racial injustice, no sirree bob. These councils in the south were the KKK without the funny hats. In many ways, they were much worse. They inflicted economic and social terrorism on black residents.
But, natchally, those blacks were happy as Larry to be instructed that they weren’t wanted, didn’t matter, and would they please either shut up about civil rights or walk into a local bar, grab their crotches and shout “Where’s de white womens at?”
This sort of revisionist history is a mainstay of the right. Today, we discover that insurrectionist thugs on a murderous rampage through the nation’s Capitol building were kindly, law abiding patriots on a patriotic tour of official patriotic Washington.
History might be written by the winners, but it’s rewritten many times over by the losers, the racists, the murderous, and the traitors.
I guess we should all be settin’ on our porches a-pickin’ n’ a-grinnin’ while the lies roll by like swarms of locusts onto the truth fields.
Follow the money with the Whoopi Goldberg story. And the politics. An example is one commentor works with The Spectator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator. This particular person sticks with Whoopi long enough to use Whoop to win an Emmy, then comments how much she doesn't understand. Sort of like Sheldon Adelson's embrace of right wing fascists until they talk their anti-semitic drivel all the while overlooking the Palestinians. Additionally look at the fellow from American Jewish Committee, "Please rethink and apologize". https://twitter.com/DavidHarrisAJC/status/1488285360622751750.
These whelps who want to shut down a black, woman who has earned success, who couldn't in a moment articulate a complex point, need to ease off the accelerator of their bought and paid for self-righteousness. The end-game is we look at Whoopi and not at the suffering of Palastinians with the increasingly apartheid system used to govern Israel. Where does all this play into the consideration of a black woman for the American Supreme Court?
Anyone who wants to embrace the Pennsylvania ground hogs prediction are welcome to it, I'd rather the Georgia versions call for an early spring. The current two week prediction looks pretty good.
What is spring anymore? My brother who lives NE of Richmond VA said a few weeks ago that the forsythia are blooming there already. Here in Maryland, 120 miles north, the terminal buds in a mature maple in our yard are emerging. It seems that the "Spring Line" comes earlier now, and for any date is further north than in prior years.
How does the Groundchuck keep up?