Sunday, September 26, 2021

Tweets Of The Day

 

Keep talking, very stable genius! --

 


Debt ceiling 'splainer --

 

 

"Press the Meat"  fail (with an assist from panelist Meghan McWalnuts) --

 

 


Covidiots who listen to other covidiots --

 

 


The horror of socialized medicine, UK edition --

 

 

 

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Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Daily Star)

(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)

(Pat Byrnes, caglecartoons.com)


(Andy Marlette, Pensacola News-Journal, FL)

(Michael de Adder, Counterpoint)

(J.D. Crowe, Alabama Media Group)

(John Buss, @repeat1968)

(Nick Anderson, Counterpoint)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Patrick Chappatte, New York Times)


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Trump Torpedoing Georgia Republicans....Again




In the Georgia runoff elections, the malignant, demagogic former guy sank his party's Senate candidates in Georgia by suggesting to his cult that the vote was rigged in favor of Dem candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. The result was Dems turned out and his cult stayed home, delivering the Senate to the Dems.

It seems he can't stop himself when it comes to torpedoing his party's chances in Georgia, as he did last night in a rally in Georgia:

"Trump disparaged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and called Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan 'terrible.' But he reserved his harshest attack for Gov. Brian Kemp, repeatedly saying that he would have rather seen Democrat Stacey Abrams win in 2018.

'Stacey, would you like to take his place?' the former president said. 'It’s OK with me.'  [snip]

Though Trump didn’t promote any rival to Kemp, he made clear he was still searching for an alternative, at one point asking former U.S. Sen. David Perdue if he would run. Trump also made clear that he would continue to campaign against the incumbent Republican — even if it meant an Abrams victory.

'Of course, having her, I think, might be better than having your existing governor, if you want to know the truth,' Trump said of Abrams. 'Might very well be better.'”  (our emphasis)

Well, we certainly agree with him on Stacy Abrams in spite of his sarcasm.

The mango-colored buffoon is livid at Kemp for not illegally overturning Georgia's vote for President Biden, something he continues to push despite the fact that he's under investigation by the Fulton Co. district attorney for election tampering ("I just want you to find 11,780 votes"). He's intent on defining his party as his cult, and no "disloyalty", especially in following the law, will be tolerated even if it means defeat at the polls. And to that we say, "knock yourself out"....literally.

(photo: The Very Stable Genius strikes again)

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Arkansas Felon Joins Texas Bounty Hunt

 

It's been a while since we've read a lede like this instant classic from the WaPo:

"Arkansas officials who tangled for years with Oscar Stilley were surprised to see his name resurface in a Texas showdown over abortion this week, in part because they thought he was still serving time in federal prison."

Those who have followed news accounts of Texas' monstrous bounty hunter law that rewards private citizens for suing women seeking an abortion may recognize Stilley's name. For those who don't, the tax evading nutjob, well known in Arkansas for his endless, failed crusades against any and all taxes, has turned his attention to suing women and those assisting them under the Texas anti-choice law, being among the first to do so. He suit came by way of a column in the WaPo by Dr. Alan Braid, a San Antonio physician who acknowledged he violated the Texas law:

"Stilley sued after he read news reports about San Antonio physician Alan Braid, who came forward in a column in The Washington Post to say he had violated the ban, essentially inviting a lawsuit. Two other lawsuits also have been filed against Braid, including one from another disbarred lawyer in Illinois who says he favors abortion rights.

A state court ruling in any of the cases could eventually be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court and make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up a direct legal test of the law’s constitutionality."

 Interestingly, he hasn't endeared himself to the Texas Taliban in the way he went about his lawsuit: 

"Stilley, 58, used his complaint in the Texas abortion lawsuit this week in part to detail his grievances with the criminal justice system and link to his website, which advertises legal support services and his book 'Busting the Feds.'

With renewed media attention, Stilley also circulated a photo he staged on his porch at home in Cedarville, where he is serving the remainder of his 15-year prison term because of the pandemic."  (our emphasis)

Quite the felonious hustler. But then, Texas' malicious bounty hunter law will draw them out of the woodwork until the law is struck down.

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Sunday Reflection: Making Music




"Making music is actually little else than a matter of invention aided and abetted by emotion. In composing we combine what we know of music with what we feel." -- Composer George Gershwin, in a letter to Issac Goldberg, in "The Memory of All That" by Joan Peyser. 

Gershwin's classic orchestral pieces "Rhapsody In Blue" and "An American In Paris", his popular musicals "Strike Up The Band," "Porgy and Bess" and his songs "Fascinating Rhythm", "I Got Rhythm", and "Swanee" form an important part of the "American Songbook." Born on this day in 1898, he died of a brain tumor in 1937, leaving behind a giant musical legacy.

(photo: Getty Images)

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Tweets Of The Day

 

Covidiot research and prevention --

 

 

 

Time for a staff upgrade --

 


The Supreme Court's "A Bunch of Partisan Hacks" road tour continues --

 

 

This 👇 --


 

Warnings --

 

 

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Watching Pakistan, And Waiting




The rapid collapse of Afghanistan's army and corrupt government in the aftermath of the Trump-negotiated pull out with the Taliban not only handed the country to the Taliban. It added to the influence of its neighbor Pakistan, a rogue "ally" of the U.S. which seldom acts as one. As early backers of the Taliban before they were rooted out by U.S. forces two decades ago, Pakistan further diminished its stock with the West after Osama bin Laden was discovered hiding there in 2011. For it's part, they've seen the U.S. draw increasingly closer to their main adversary India over the past 20 years, most recently in the establishment of the "Quad" security arrangement with the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia.

The U.S. is engaging with Pakistan now to use whatever influence it has on the regime of Pakistan's leader Imran Khan to have a moderating influence on the Taliban, whose leaders are reportedly close to Pakistan's intelligence service. It's not a good sign that Khan, in his remarks to the UN General Assembly yesterday, blamed the U.S. for being "ungrateful" for Pakistan's support in the war on terror. Pakistan wants U.S. economic and military aid, and a lessening of its relations with India, while the U.S. wants Pakistan to use its influence on the Taliban and to allow military operations, including drone flights, over Pakistan. 

For 20 years and more, U.S. officials describe Pakistan as playing a "double game" with us and our adversaries in that part of the world. Now that Pakistan has a virtual "client state" in Afghanistan, it remains to be seen if the game will change.

(photo: Secretary of State Blinken meets with Pakistani officials Sept. 23 at UNGA. State Department)

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Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)

(Ed Hall, Artizans.com)

(Michael de Adder, Washington Post)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune)

(Drew Sheneman, The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ)

(Tim Campbell, gocomics.com)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.com)

(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)


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The Trump "Fraudit" Scam Isn't Going Away




The increasingly desperate and mentally unstable demagogue issuing press releases from his Merde-o'-Lardo exile may have lost a round in Arizona, with his Cyber Ninjas team forced to admit that President Biden won the state by a larger margin that previously reported (D'OH!). Undeterred by reality, his delusional and pathetic minions are following his orders in states that flipped in 2020, specifically Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

As we noted recently, the Republican hacks in the Pennsylvania legislature are subpoenaing the personal information of millions of voters, including Social Security numbers and drivers license information, creating a hackers dream for identity theft. Pennsylvania's excellent Attorney General Josh Shapiro has filed a suit to deny the Republican hacks' access to the personal information of Pennsylvania voters. Biden won Pennsylvania by nearly 81,000 votes.

Not to be outdone in malicious delusion by other states, Wisconsin's Republican leadership has no less than three audits underway of the 2020 election. Biden won the state by roughly 21,000 votes. The efforts by Trumpist dead-enders in Wisconsin is so farcical that Rohn Bishop, the chair of the Fond du Lac County Republican Party, has called for an end to "the nonsense", saying in tweets:

"I was told by a WI legislator that the AZ audit was going to be a bombshell, and that I was in the minority by not having the Republican Party of Fond du Lac County sign up for the Full Physical and Forensic Cyber Audit.

Hopefully, my fellow Repubs stop with this nonsense, and begin to focus on 2022 elections. Right now GOP effort is hacking off Republican Clerks, and alienating soft GOP voters who think we're nuts and wasting their tax dollars."  (our emphasis) 

Just days ago, the authoritarian former guy cut out the "fraudit" middle man with Georgia officials, demanding directly that they simply decertify the election results on his say so, even as he's under investigation for election tampering there.

While Trumpist "fraudits" will continue to boomerang and demonstrate that the elections in their states were secure and well-run, the whole point is not to prove fraud -- because there was none -- but to undermine their voters' faith in the pillar of self-government: that the people elect their representatives, and that the results be accepted. If they continue to believe that the only legitimate elections are those won by Republican Trumpists, we're in dangerous and volatile waters that won't be mitigated by "bipartisanship."

 

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QOTD -- The Disappearing Coup Memo

 

"The Paper of Record, which sent six reporters to write four stories about Alan Dershowitz’s dinner invitations and did two news and three opinion pieces about whether a Harvard Law professor would be able to keep his side gig as a dorm RA, still has no news stories about the Eastman memo. [snip]

"Look, I’m not saying a detailed election theft plan the vice president seriously considered executing is as important as, say, the clouds raised and questions shadowed by the Secretary of State turning down a request for diplomatic passports, but it still seems important.

"Despite this, network news has also completely ignored the story. If only Eastman had forwarded the plan to John Podesta…" -- LGM's Scott Lemieux on the media blackout on the memo written by Trump putsch planner John Eastman, outlining what steps should be taken to overturn the 2020 election and install Trump for another term.  While Lemieux singles out the broadcast networks and the New York Effing Times, the Washington Post's excellent Greg Sargent, reporter Philip Bump, and attorney Teri Kanefield wrote about the coup memo, but Sargent's and Kanefield's pieces were in the "opinion" section, and only Bump's found its way into the "news analysis" section of the paper.  So, yay, golf clap.


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Friday, September 24, 2021

Tweets Of The Day -- Mostly Fraudit Edition

 

Nominated for the "didn't age well" Hall of Fame --

 

 

The point of Republican fraudits --

 


 

 

 

Is that the Giant Toddler's ride? --

 

 


 

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Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)

(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)

(Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune)

(Michael de Adder, Washington Post)

(Kevin Necessary, gocomics.com)

(Lee Judge, comicskingdom.com)

(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)


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Rudy "Toot Toot"'s Latest Fail




Scotch-soaked seditionist loon Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani and his equally despicable son Andrew have been barred from appearing on the right-wing Fox News channel. The disgraced mouthpiece for the malignant narcissist apparently expected to be included in Fox's coverage of the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, but was told he was banned "from the top" of the network. Fox is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.6 billion for spreading the Big Lie that their voting machines were rigged to produce a victory for President Biden. Fox is clearly worried that the unhinged, hair dye-leaking Giuliani will spout Big Lie nonsense and further undermine them in the lawsuit. 

Giuliani was temporarily disbarred in the State of New York from practicing law due to his seditious conduct in spreading falsehoods, promoting sedition at the January 6 Capitol riot, and using courts to frivolously advance his demagogic client's lies about the election. He now faces disciplinary proceedings which could result in permanent disbarment. Giuliani was also punked by filmmaker Sasha Baron Cohen in his latest Borat film, in which Giuliani, his hands down his pants, thinks a young actress posing as a journalist was going to have sex with him. Now that's comedy.


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Weekend Boys And Girls Music Threefer

 

It's well known that the Beatles were great admirers (and copiers) of American R&B, Motown and other Black American music forms, often songs originally performed by female artists.  The themes were often girl meets boy and ensuing entanglements from there. Showing their excellent ear for music, here are three such songs (out of many) that the Beatles covered in the early 60's: the Shirelles' "Baby It's You" (1961), the Cookies' "Chains" (1962), and Little Eva's "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" (1962).  The first song was written by Burt Bacharach/Mack David/Luther Dixon ("Barney Williams"), and the last two by Carole King/Gerry Goffin.  Hope you enjoy.

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The Stain Of The Stained Glass




It's customary for many national figures receive the closest thing America has to a "state funeral" in Washington, DC's National Cathedral, a gothic edifice that serves as the home of the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop. Four Presidents -- Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush -- had their state funerals there. It's also the final resting place of a diverse group, including President Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller and Matthew Shepard.

But for decades, there was a jarring, offensive feature to the cathedral's structure. In 1953, after intense lobbying by the racist United Daughters of the Confederacy, the cathedral installed two stained glass windows commemorating the lives of treasonous Generals Robert E. Lee, and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, replete with two Confederate battle flags. In September, 2017 the bishop of Washington announced the decision to remove the stained glass windows dedicated to the two champions of slavery. The cathedral has now commissioned artist Kerry James Marshall to replace them with works having a racial justice theme:

"The goal for the new windows is lofty: the church is asking Marshall to create a design that will 'capture both darkness and light, both the pain of yesterday and the promise of tomorrow, as well as the quiet and exemplary dignity of the African American struggle for justice and equality and the indelible and progressive impact it has had on American society.'”

The cathedral's dean Gary Hall stated in 2015, two years before the decision to remove the windows:

"There is no place for the Confederate battle flag in the iconography of the nation’s most visible faith community. We cannot in good conscience justify the presence of the Confederate flag in this house of prayer for all people, nor can we honor the systematic oppression of African-Americans for which these two men fought.”

It's shocking, but perhaps not so surprising, that the church's leadership didn't see a problem with celebrating two combatant traitors fighting to preserve slavery as an issue much earlier. That it will now celebrate racial justice is better late than never.

(image: Stained glass panel of Lee and Jackson, since removed. Washington National Cathedral)

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