;)
October 26, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Amy Wang & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows must testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating Republican efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in the state, a South Carolina judge ruled Wednesday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has said that her inquiry is examining 'the multistate, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.' Because Meadows does not live in Georgia, she could not subpoena him to testify but filed a petition in August for him to do so. South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller ruled Wednesday that Meadows must comply with a subpoena as his testimony is 'material and necessary to the investigation and that the state of Georgia is assuring not to cause undue hardship to him.'... An attorney for Meadows said Wednesday there is a possibility of an appeal or additional legal action." CNN's report is here.
Florida. Minyvonne Burke of NBC News: Ron Smith "spent over a decade fighting Florida laws that required the use of helmets [when riding a motorcycle], and represented a number of clients who violated state motorcycle requirements.... Smith, an experienced rider, was killed on Aug. 20 after he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a utility trailer. His girlfriend, Brenda Volpe, was his passenger and also died.... A medical examiner said Smith and Volpe died from head trauma, the Times reported. The accident report noted that neither was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash...."
Michigan. Joanna Slater of the Washington Post: "A jury on Wednesday convicted three men of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in a case that deepened concerns about the spread of right-wing extremism and potential violence directed at politicians. The three men -- Joseph Morrison, Paul Bellar and Pete Musico -- were found guilty in state court of providing material support for terrorist acts, possessing a firearm while committing a felony and being members of a gang. They face up to 20 years in prison." The AP report is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Guardian: "The US president, Joe Biden, and Britain's new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed during talks on Tuesday to work together to support Ukraine and stand up to China, the White House said. They spoke for the first time a few hours after Sunak became Britain's third prime minister this year, inheriting an economic crisis after the resignation of Liz Truss.... Only in recent days has Biden appeared to publicly criticise Truss's doomed economic strategy, in a rare intervention by the US president.... The White House said Biden and Sunak also agreed to 'address the challenges posed by China', which Washington has identified as its top geopolitical and economic rival on the world stage."
The Deal That Wasn't. Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "As President Biden was planning a politically risky trip to Saudi Arabia this summer, his top aides thought they had struck a secret deal to boost oil production through the end of the year -- an arrangement that could have helped justify breaking a campaign pledge to shun the kingdom and its crown prince. It didn't work out that way.... American officials said that, even days before the OPEC Plus decision, they had received assurances from the crown prince there would be no production cuts -- and when they learned of the Saudi reversal they made a futile last-ditch push to change minds in the royal court.... The outcome has been another low point in America's tumultuous ties with Saudi Arabia."
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Two senior Social Security officials who exposed massive, unprecedented fines imposed on disabled and poor elderly people -- prompting multiple inquiries and halting the practice -- now say they've faced ongoing backlash from their supervisors for speaking out. Joscelyn Funnié and Deborah Shaw, veteran attorneys in the Social Security Administration's inspector general's office, were removed from their jobs and placed on paid leave after expressing concerns about the fines, then eventually reinstated. But since returning to work under Inspector General Gail Ennis, they said they have been excluded from meaningful assignments, given tasks below their experience and abilities, shut out of meetings and collaboration with colleagues, and denied opportunities for advancement. Their claims are echoed in contemporaneous emails with management officials and backed up by two senior officials familiar with their work climate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.... "[The retaliatory measures are] all common tactics and they're all illegal," said Tom Devine, legal director of Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group that represents whistleblowers in Washington."
Alan Feuer & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to force the two top lawyers in Donald J. Trump's White House to provide additional grand jury testimony as prosecutors seek to break through the former president's attempts to shield his efforts to overturn the 2020 election from investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors filed a motion to compel testimony from the two lawyers, Pat A. Cipollone and Patrick F. Philbin, last week. They told Beryl A. Howell, a judge in Federal District Court in Washington who oversees grand jury matters, that their need for the evidence the men could provide should overcome Mr. Trump's claims that the information is protected by attorney-client and executive privilege, the people said." CNN's report is here.
Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Advisors to ... Donald Trump are hoping they talked him out of the idea of complying with a subpoena from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol because they fear his testimony would result in perjury charges.... One of Trump's advisors told Rolling Stone the message aides sent to the former president was, 'absolutely f*cking not.'"
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The seditious conspiracy trial of members of the Oath Keepers charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol resumed Tuesday after Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group, waived his right to be present in federal court after testing positive for the coronavirus in jail. Rhodes, 56, speaking by telephone from jail to the courthouse in D.C., waived his constitutional right to be present for testimony of eight government witnesses who his attorneys said were less critical to his defense because they would speak to events inside the Capitol, which Rhodes is not accused of entering. The move ... could prevent the government from completing its case Friday as prosecutors planned."
~~~ Marie: The article doesn't indicate whether or not Rhodes has been vaccinated. If not (and he's the kind of guy who be a "not"), it seems to me Rhodes could be sidelined for a long time.
Sravasti Dasgupta of the (U.K.) Independent, republished by Yahoo! News: "Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has issued a threat to Anthony Fauci, saying the president's chief medical adviser and his entire family are going to 'suffer' after the midterm elections next month. 'On 8 November, when we destroy the Democratic party as a national political institution and really end the regime, the hunted become the hunters. The whole Fauci family is going to be welcome to the investigations. The entire family,' Mr Bannon said on his War Room podcast on Sunday.... 'Remember, War Room was taken off Twitter because of comments I made about, wait for it, [FBI director] Christopher Wray and Anthony Fauci that their day was coming... they took the War Room account off Twitter. Paybacks across the board on all that, a big move,' Mr Bannon said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Now, let's get that straight. Dr. Fauci's family is going to "suffer paybacks" because Bannon made incendiary remarks about Dr. Fauci. I'm having a little trouble seeing how that makes a lick of sense.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The leak of his draft majority opinion overruling Roe v. Wade put the Supreme Court justices in the majority at risk of assassination, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said during wide-ranging remarks in a public interview on Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative legal group.... Justice Alito took issue with criticism of the court's legitimacy in the wake of the Dobbs decision.... "Someone also crosses an important line when they say that the court is acting in a way that is illegitimate.....'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Alito doesn't understand the difference between (1) making a decision based on his own personal preferences & medieval rationales to rescind human rights & endanger millions and (2) making a decision based on sound legal & moral reasoning & established precedent.
Michael de la Merced, et al., of the New York Times: "Adidas said on Tuesday that it is cutting ties with Kanye West, ending what may have been the most significant corporate fashion partnership of the rapper and designer's career after he made a series of antisemitic remarks and embraced a slogan associated with white supremacists that earned him widespread condemnation." (Also linked yesterday.)
November Elections
President Joe Biden in a CNN opinion column: "Over the past nearly two years, we have made enormous progress. My administration, working with Democrats in Congress, is building an economy that grows from the bottom up and middle out. The unemployment rate is 3.5% -- a 50-year low. We've created 10 million jobs, including almost 700,000 manufacturing jobs. On my watch, 'Made in America' isn't just a slogan, it's a reality.... But all of our progress is at risk. The American people face a choice between two vastly different visions for our country. Republicans in Congress are doubling down on mega, MAGA trickle-down economics that benefit the wealthy and big corporations. They've laid their plan out very clearly. It would raise your costs and make inflation worse." And so forth.
Patrick Marley, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Republican National Committee and its allies say they have staged thousands of training sessions around the country on how to monitor voting and lodge complaints about next month's midterm elections.... Supporters of former president Donald Trump who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen have summoned a swarm of poll watchers and workers in battleground states to spot potential fraud this year. It is a call to action that could subject voting results around the country to an unprecedented level of suspicion and unfounded doubt.... The appeal from GOP figures who deny the results of the last presidential vote has created a dilemma for election officials, who rely on ordinary citizens to do the grunt work of democracy -- checking in voters, for instance, or opening absentee ballots -- but now fear some of those who show up could become agents of disruption."
Alaska Senate. Eugene Scott & Leigh Ann Caldwell of the Washington Post: "The Alaska Republican Party voted Monday to censure Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a gesture with no practical consequence but one that is intended to send a strong signal to conservative voters in the state to vote for Donald Trump-backed candidate Kelly Tshibaka over Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The McConnell-aligned super PAC Senate Leadership Fund has spent more than $5 million in ads attacking Tshibaka in a bid to help Murkowski win reelection."
Florida Senate, etc. Matt Shuham & Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post: "The Florida Republican Party paid thousands of dollars over the summer to a far-right activist who attended the white nationalist 'Unite the Right' rally in 2017 and later charged at a crowd of anti-racist demonstrators with a Confederate flag. Christopher Monzon was paid more than $10,000 by the party between June and September, federal campaign finance records show.... Monzon was in the news Monday after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted that 'one of our canvassers' had been attacked in Hialeah -- a conservative and predominantly Cuban-American city in Miami-Dade County -- 'by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren't allowed in their neighborhood.'... A Hialeah Police Department spokesperson told Local 10 News
~~~ Marie: It seems to me some thugs got into a street fight & the Nazi/KKK guy lost, after which Marco has chosen to make "Republicans" victims. The HuffPost story makes clear that Marco is right to identify a white supremacist thug with the GOP.
New York Governor. Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Michael Gold of the New York Times: "In their only scheduled debate, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York and her challenger, Representative Lee Zeldin, quarreled intensely on Tuesday over divisive issues such as rising crime and abortion access, while accusing each other of corruption and dangerous extremism. Mr. Zeldin, who has spent his campaign trying to appeal to voters’ dissatisfaction with the status quo, went on the attack from the get-go, frequently raising his voice as he channeled a sense of outrage, especially around crime. Ms. Hochul, a Buffalo-area Democrat vying for her first full term, took a more measured approach that fit her insistence that the state needs a steady hand to lead it."
Pennsylvania Senate. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Five months after a stroke nearly took his life, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, clashed with Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday in their one and only debate, disagreeing sharply over abortion, the economy and other partisan issues as Mr. Fetterman tried to assure voters of his fitness to serve.... The debate was held under unusual conditions. Situated above the moderators were two 70-inch monitors to show the text of what was being said in close to real time -- for both questions and answers. Professional typists were on hand to try to transcribe the debate as part of an agreed-upon accommodation for Mr. Fetterman, who has publicly discussed his lingering auditory processing issues after the stroke. Mr. Fetterman's words were frequently halting, and it was apparent when he was delayed in either reading or reaching for a phrase or word. But he was also fluent enough over the course of the hour to present his Democratic vision for a state that could determine control of the Senate." ~~~
~~~ Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: "Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, said Tuesday that discussions about abortion access should be left to women, doctors and 'local political leaders.'... Oz has walked a fine line with his anti-abortion stance throughout the campaign in hopes of appealing to moderate Pennsylvanians. Leaked audio from earlier this year, however, sparked controversy after Oz was recorded saying abortion at any stage of pregnancy was 'still murder.'" MB: That's right, little lady; even a famous teevee doctor says you need your local politicians to help you make your healthcare decisions. Oh, and evidently counsel from your partner & loved ones is unnecessary. Because local political leaders.
Beyond the Beltway
California. Mike Ives of the New York Times: "The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating whether a secretly recorded conversation between [among!] three City Council members and a labor leader that included racist insults and slurs was made illegally, Chief Michel Moore said on Tuesday. The leaked audio, recorded last year and made public this month, prompted calls from across the nation for those involved to resign and highlighted racial tensions in Los Angeles.... Chief Moore said that all four people captured on the leaked audio had approached the department on Friday to request an investigation. They told the department that they had been 'unlawfully and surreptitiously recorded,' he added."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Wednesday are here: "Russia is set to begin annual nuclear exercises Wednesday involving large-scale drills of its strategic forces. While the drills are routine, President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons since the war in Ukraine began. At a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting, Western diplomats denounced Russia's unfounded claim that Ukraine plans to use a 'dirty bomb' on its own soil as misinformation.... Ukrainian citizens residing abroad should not return home for the winter, one of the country's deputy prime ministers said, citing the need to save energy from power facilities recently crippled by Russian strikes.... Ukrainian forces continued their advance against Russia's military in the southern Kherson region, pushed back Russian mercenaries from Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk and gained new momentum in Luhansk.... A Russian anti-war group has claimed responsibility for an explosion on a railway near the Russia-Belarus border this week, Britain's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.... New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky in a phone call Tuesday 'to underline the United Kingdom's steadfast support for Ukraine,' according to a statement from Sunak's office."
Liberal Democrats Make Fools of Themselves. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Progressive House Democrats on Tuesday retracted their call for President Biden to engage in direct diplomatic talks with Russia over a Ukraine cease-fire, an abrupt retreat that exposed Democratic divisions and the first public hints of dissent in Congress over the war. What began this summer as an effort among liberal Democrats to persuade Mr. Biden that he had political support to pursue diplomacy for ending the conflict imploded on Tuesday after an extraordinary 24 hours. First came a letter from the liberal Congressional Progressive Caucus pressing the president to seek a 'rapid end to the conflict,' then href="https://progressives.house.gov/2022/10/congressional-progressive-caucus-chair-reaffirms-support-for-ukraine-clarifies-call-for-diplomacy">a clarifying statement to respond to a hail of criticism from other Democrats, and ultimately a complete retraction as members of the group scrambled to distance themselves from their own missive, grasping for someone else to blame." Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ David Stern & Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Members of Ukraine's political elite rejected demands by some congressional Democrats for negotiations with Russia to end the war, saying this was 'not a viable option,' after a group of liberals called on President Biden to push Kyiv for direct talks with Moscow. The Ukrainians said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had closed off any possibility of negotiations by illegally declaring the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, and that the Russians, who are facing repeated setbacks on the battlefield, would use any cease-fire to rebuild their strength and then resume Putin's plan to steal Ukrainian territory and destroy Ukraine as a nation." (Also linked yesterday.)
Maite Simon of the Washington Post: "A Russian court rejected U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner's appeal against her nine-year prison sentence on drug charges Tuesday. The basketball star has been imprisoned since her Feb. 17 arrest, after she was accused of entering Russia with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which her lawyers said was prescribed as part of treatment for chronic pain and other conditions." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Israel/Palestine. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israeli forces carried out a major raid against a Palestinian militia in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, killing a leader of the group and four other men, according to members of the militia and Palestinian officials.... Many Palestinians have championed the group's fighters as popular heroes.... Israel has blamed the [militia known as the] Lions' Den for a rise in shootings that it says are aimed at its troops and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including one that killed a soldier this month. It said that it had killed the group's leader, Wadie al-Houh, in an exchange of gunfire, adding that he was the main target of the raid and was responsible for producing bombs and obtaining weapons for the group." (Also linked yesterday.)
U.K. Megan Specia of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mapped out his new cabinet on Tuesday with a flurry of announcements showcasing mostly familiar faces who have served in previous Conservative Party governments, reinforcing his desire for stability during one of Britain's most fraught political moments. Mr. Sunak drew on lawmakers who had held prominent positions before to fill the most senior positions, including a number of people who were cabinet members during his predecessor Liz Truss's seven-week tenure. He signaled his strategy with his very first appointment, choosing to keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor of the Exchequer."
~~~ Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday, in a carefully choreographed sequence of events..., [King Charles III] invited the new leader of the Conservative Party, Rishi Sunak, to form a government. It was at that exact moment -- and not before -- that Sunak became prime minister of the United Kingdom.... Britain is a constitutional monarchy and one of the few powers that the monarch has left is the ability to appoint the prime minister. In theory, the king could exert some personal choice; in practice, he automatically appoints the person who can command a majority in the House of Commons. (The last time a monarch exercised any real discretion was in 1931, when King George V convinced a prime minister not to resign.)... The monarch and the prime minister meet weekly, currently on Wednesdays, to discuss matters of state. There is no one else in the room...."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "A Wisconsin jury found Darrell E. Brooks Jr. guilty of first-degree intentional homicide during a Christmas parade attack in November 2021 that killed six people. Brooks slammed an SUV into a crowd at a Christmas parade near Milwaukee. He injured at least 48 others. The 40-year-old was found guilty on all intentional homicide and reckless endangerment charges, as well as six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of bail jumping and one count of misdemeanor battery, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Each homicide count carries a mandatory life sentence, according to the Associated Press. Each of his 61 counts of reckless endangerment carries a maximum sentence of 17 1/2 years in prison." The AP's report is here.
Cringeworthy News. Washington Post: An Indonesian woman was killed & swallowed whole by a 22-foot python Sunday. "A search team killed the reptile and sliced open its stomach, where they discovered Jahrah's remains completely intact." ~~~
~~~ On a somewhat related note, this Washington Post article tells you what to do if you encounter a bear. Bottom line: if you are in an area when you may meet a bear, carry bear spray, AND this rule-of-thumb: "If the bear is black, fight back. If the bear is brown, lie down."
Share Article
Reader Comments (17)
Happy Birthday to the woman who won the popular vote in the
2016 Presidential election.
Wonder how things would be different now if there hadn't been that
electoral college thing. We'll never know.
The Saudi turnaround on oil production makes perfect sense from their point of view. Why help Biden? After four years of Trump licking their balls, why help a guy who doesn’t? The goal, pretty clearly, is to screw Biden and Democrats in the midterms in order to put their lackeys, the Republicans, back in charge, and to press for the return of their pal Trump in 2024.
While on his throne, Fatty bent himself into a bloated pretzel to look out for Saudi interests, even at the expense of American interests. MBS murders an American resident, no biggie, and no word of condemnation from Trump. When Congress passes three, count ‘em, three, bills to halt arms sales to the Saudis, Trump vetoed all of them.
Trump gave them thumbs up on their war against Yemen. When the state department blacklisted countries that used children in combat, Mike Pompeo made damn sure Saudi Arabia’s name was left off that list even though they’re one of the worst offenders.
But Biden can, and should, respond to this great big FU from MBS and the royal family. The Saudis are beholden to American technology for their wars. The Saudi Air Force is reliant on American F-15’s and a few F-16’s. They need American techs to keep these planes in the air. Biden can sharply curtail such assistance. The Saudis would be lucky to get a plane to taxi to the runway.
Also, nix any current and future arms sales. They want to be play games? Great. Go back to chasing their enemies on horses in the desert, waving scimitars around.
Fuckers. But in reality, someone should have seen this coming. I guess Biden figured it was worth a shot with Rs pounding him on gas prices.
More projection…
Sam (the Hit Man) Alito is now whining that Democrats and liberals could have been planning to assassinate him or one of the other traitors on the court just because they killed Roe. Aieeee! They’re trying to KILL ME! Hellllp!
This sort of hysterical hyperbole is right out of the MTG playbook of victimization, from which she is now repeatedly screaming that Democrats are murdering poor right-wingers just for being good little goose stepping Christian nationalists.
Down in Florida, Rubio is shouting about a paid R thug who got beaten up in a street fight which “proves” that poor R’s are victims of liberal aggression.
I suppose they need to go through this sort of kabuki, because in fact, the very real violence permeating American politics is almost all coming from the right. Of course, if an R thug gets jostled in an elevator by someone wearing a Biden pin, it’s cause for all out war and a demand that that assassin be arrested and tried for assault on a real ‘merican.
LOVE LETTERS IN THE SAND:
Watch O'Donnell talk with Bob Woodward re: Little Kim's "love letters"––-Bob has read them all. Once again we hear how Fatty falls flat–--an ignoramus whose foreign policy acumen was seriously flawed.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bob-woodward-trump-kim-letters_n_6358d6b1e4b04cf8f388de29
To think that Wizard of Oz guru is neck to neck with Fetterman makes my blood boil. When chicanery is so on display and yet ignored or those too stupid to acknowledge then––––––
Last night Frontline took up the hundreds of war crimes that Russia has executed; those investigating have pictures and testimonies. Let's see what happens in the courts.
One of the stories that really set me off is a woman coming back to her apartment complex after shopping to find it destroyed; When she enters her home she finds her two year old twin daughters, her 10 yr.old son and her husband dead. How does one recover from that or simply function after that. This is a brutal war and one could say, well, all wars are brutal but this war has a criminality that knows no bounds.
The other day there was a discussion about a liberal education. Emporia State may be a step closer to getting rid of that liberal arts program after what looks like a purge of tenured professors some of whom were not deferential enough to the Koch bankrollers after a Kochhead was installed as the new university president.
"For decades Charles Koch has been interested in transforming higher education in the United States. His vision involves colleges and universities functioning as training centers for corporate America. Under this model, academic inquiry and liberal arts education are cast aside. Professors are judged on their ability to help students secure employment in a large company. "
Democrats have done pretty well on the economy. It would be nice if some people actually knew it.
"From January 2021 to mid-2022, the net wealth of the bottom 20 percent of U.S. households jumped $1.23 trillion, translating into an average of roughly $43,000 per household after inflation. The net assets of the next 40 percent of households similarly increased by more than $2.04 trillion, which translates into an average of nearly $35,900 per household after inflation."
Interesting article that RAS linked but from what I've witnessed, the
increase is due to inflated housing prices, at least where I live.
For example, the house across the street was purchased 5 years ago
for 250 thousand, remodeled, and sold 3 years later for 450 thousand.
It just sold again 2 months ago for 975 thousand (cash).
And that $35,900 per household reflects my investment losses for
the month of September. Who got that $35,900? No one I know
personally.
Inflation? Most of what has affected me personally is not inflation.
It's greed, pure and simple.
Example: Two weeks ago we had a powerful wind storm that took
down a row of trees and utility poles behind my house and the one
next door. All the wiring was yanked off the houses and garages.
Finally got an electrical repair company since it was an emergency,
otherwise, they're all too busy with routine stuff.
They didn't have time to do the garage but would come back later
for $1300. Our son (adopted) did it for $70 in materials.
I could go on and on about other instances of greed, but the point is,
it's greed, pure and simple, not inflation.
Reading (re-reading? Not always possible for me to tell these days?) Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower," her history of the lead up to WWI.
Have the sense that after "The Guns of August," she had a stack of leftover research that begged to be used, so its listing of facts does not reach the quality of her magnum opus, but I'm enjoying it, both for what I did not know or have forgotten (the career of late 1800's remarkable Republican House Leader Reed, for one instance), but for the way it speaks to the present, as all history does.
Just finished the chapter on the Dreyfus Affair, with all its political turmoil and cowardice, its deliberate concoction and promulgation of alternative facts, conspiracy theories, and its racial animus. Seen through the lens of the present, I couldn't help but think of the furor over our own Deep State, though ironically in France at the time, there really was one and the Right was running it.
More echoes. It didn't work out well then either.
Ron Smith, the motorcyclist who fought helmet laws, died of head injuries in a motorcycle accident. It reeks of karma.
When you see a motorcyclist tooling down the boulevard in flip flops, bareheaded, shorts and shortsleeves, realize that most of them had to learn, during training for the license, that failing to wear protective gear is asking for ER time. And yet ...
This is one of those issues where "freeeeedumbbbbb" kills fairly regularly. Donorcycles for Darwin.
An ER friend of mine once told me that in the medical profession, motorcycles are known as “organ donors”.
Infuriating and heartwarming. Grandmother in Arizona was arrested for feeding the homeless, but says she will continue to provide food to the needy.
Thanks RAS. That story bares the bones of how we often sunder law from justice.
The quote of the day?
Tuchman on the Dreyfus Affair:
"It was fought in terms of justice and patriotism, but fundamentally it was the struggle of the Right against Reason."
Sound familiar?
Daughter and I bravely tuned in to the Oz/Fetterman "debate" last night. We lasted about five minutes and tuned out. Tuned in later when we decided to be brave once more. It was painful. On the one hand was the glib, word-spraying teevee performer, and we missed the sound bite about politicians in the room with a woman and her doc, and on the other hand, was "Jawn" (as his dog pronounces it--) who very definitely was struggling with the format. The more he struggled to read, hear and respond, the louder and faster Oz made his points. He has memorized well, Oz, and parrots the talking points we all hear every day from the wingers, and he is not shy about it. One wonders WHY he wants this job. He SAYS it is to help people, which is a laugh, considering his background...thank you, Oprah... As for "Jawn," he is and was last night infuriated by Oz's lies, especially about crime, and he exploded a couple of times. It was a lunatic format with responding limited to 30 seconds...And it was not any format allowing any nuance. Anyhow, over 600,000 of us have already voted, so as my son in Pgh said, no minds were probably changed in PA by this debate. I personally started hating debates when the Fat Fart loomed over Hillary in 2016, so I don't much care anymore if anyone does them. I only hope the people outside the cities have the brains to recognize that life will be infinitely harder for women if we lose the Senate... But I am not holding my breath. GO Fetterman!! We need him in the Senate.
In my misspent youth, I rode a HD Superglide pretty much everywhere (in the front seat, thank you very much), and loved the feeling of "flying" that it gave me. I always wore the appropriate gear and was a conservative, "safe" rider. But I was a small woman on a relatively small bike, so there was always a risk.
Both my husband and I gave up our bikes when we had three friends, all experienced, extremely skillful riders get killed within two years of each other. One was a Virginia State Trooper, killed while riding on his own time to a false report re the Beltway Snipers; they were caught later that night and around here Mark is considered to be the last sniper victim.
But it does crack me up to see the two different kind of riders. You have the sport bike riders, in shorts, flip-flops, a tank top - and a full-face helmet. Then you have the biiikers all decked out in their full HD costumes of chaps, leather vests, gloves - and a little bitty beany helmet. Neither one would have a chance in any kind of serious accident.
RockyGirl,
Don’t forget the Nazi helmets.
In truth, my biker friends from years ago always had, as their motto, “Ride to live and live to ride”. All those guys are still alive, as far as I know (they also all wore helmets). But I’ve been a biker of a different sort (bicyclist) for years, and I can recount numerous situations in which assholes in cars thought it was funny to run me off the rode, and I wasn’t going anywhere near 60 or 70 miles an hour. It’s dangerous out there.
Road…
Jeanne,
Making fun of the disabled has become a fun pastime for confederates since Fatty made it okay to publicly try to humiliate the less fortunate.
This afternoon, NPR has a lengthy piece on how Fetterman, with his stroke, might fare in office. Lots of pearl clutching.
What none of them tackle is the astounding moral and ethical disabilities of almost all R candidates. One of our greatest presidents was physically disabled (FDR) but numerous R presidents have been astonishingly disabled in the moral and ethical realms, and the current crop of candidates are far more than merely disabled. They are completely bereft of those qualities. So hey, let’s send them to congress.