Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Spring Fever
Posted on: April 30, 2022
- In: Breaking News | Government | Insurrection | Politics
- 93 Comments
Happy Weekend Widdershins!
This past week saw some Twitter craziness as the world’s richest man – and one of its biggest social media trolls – Elon Musk announced that he’s buying Twitter. $44 billion was raised – much of it Musk leveraged his holdings in Tesla, which sent its stock plummeting. Whether the deal closes or not remains to be seen, but if it does Musk will turn Twitter into an incel-dominated (even more than it is now!) white supremacist neo-Nazi right-wing MAGA libertarian cesspool. In the past Musk supported Obama and HRC, but MAGA years brought out his libertarianism to the forefront. And all that is expected to happen right before the midterms! Funny that, isn’t it? The latest report is it was Peter Thiel and Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey who convinced Musk to make the bid. Talk about a deep state – billionaire tech-bros ravaging our social media landscape. We will have to wait and see how this all works out.
More Mark Meadows texts were released, including Maria Bartiromo of Faux News, hours before the insurrection, arranging with Meadows what questions she would ask Trump in an upcoming interview and giving Trump advice on how to handle himself. Nobody at Faux thinks this is problematic.
It also seems the January 6th Commission has announced that the first public hearings will be held June 9th. Fasten your seatbelts. Jamie Raskin says it will blow the lid off the House. I like Raskin’s enthusiasm, though I remain skeptical that anybody in the public cares about anything. Everybody knows what happened and none of it changed their minds. Kevin McCarthy has not been removed from his GOP leadership position.
The only Republican being destroyed by his fellow Republicans is Madison Cawthorn. GOP didn’t care that he’s an insurrectionist racist neo-Nazi fascist. But they did get really mad when he said he knows Republican lawmakers having cocaine fueled sex parties. Boy did that unleash a storm of GOP condemnation and leaks of materials embarrassing to Cawthorn. Suggestive (and homoerotic) photos and videos suddenly began leaking. That’s in addition to accusations of potential insider trading and inappropriate use of funds because, it seems, he’s been paying the bills of his staffer (and housemate and, possibly cousin. This is the man in the photos and videos with Cawthorn behaving like Rudy Giuliani with his cousins. In one video Smith is seen briefly grabbing Cawthorn’s crotch). Cawthorn is laughing the images off, but we will see how his election goes. What’s interesting to me about this is that Cawthorn is a new member of the GOP delegation. And GOP had all this stuff on him, ready to go. Imagine what the GOP has on everyone else, that doesn’t leak. How big is their file on Lindsey Graham? Is this how GOP keeps their caucus so on-the-message?
This is an open thread.
WAR: WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
Posted on: February 13, 2022
Hello Widdershins,
According to US intelligence, Vladimir Putin may launch a war against Ukraine this week. Of course none of us have seen this intelligence and who really knows what’s in Donald Trump’s puppeteer’s head. But we do know Putin has been trying to destabilize and take over Ukraine for many years. For one thing, Putin does not want a West-allied democracy next door. It’s bad for his own rule. And Ukraine has, since it first declared independence, been trying to become part of the European Union, not be in Russia’s orbit. Putin doesn’t really believe Ukraine should exist as an independent country at all, never mind as a Western democracy. He – and so many like him – believe Ukraine just an extension of Russia. Putin tried to take over Ukrainian government by interfering in Ukrainian elections and placing is puppets – like Yanukovich – as leaders. The Ukrainian public isn’t having any of that. Through more than one uprising (Revolution) they have kicked Yanukovich out. (Does anyone even know where he is these days?) So with a failed political coup behind him, Putin is once again trying violence. He has invaded Ukraine twice already, an annexed Crimea days after the Sochi Olympics ended. Something about the Olympics that Putin seems to think is a great time to invade countries. Currently Putin has many thousands of Russian troops amassed at the border, plus artillery, machinery (tanks, choppers), and he has sent war ships to the area as well. An invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces would be a catastrophe. We know Putin does not care about human life. What will he do? Only time will tell…but I’m afraid.
Changing the subject, “Live To Tell” is one of Madonna’s greatest songs. Composer Patrick Leonard, who had previously worked with Michael Jackson and was the music director of Madonna’s Like a Virgin Tour, was trying to get a job composing a score for a movie and came up with the music for a theme song. He asked Madonna, as a favor, to write lyrics, which would help him impress the filmmakers and land him the job. Madonna obliged. One of her greatest songs was born. The filmmakers passed on the song and did not hire Patrick Leonard as composer. Madonna ended up giving the song to be used in the film “At Close Range,” which starred her then husband Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Patrick Leonard became one of Madonna’s closest collaborators for many years, co-writing and co-producing with her many of her biggest hits for more than a decade, including “La Isla Bonita” (which he originally wrote for Michael Jackson, who didn’t want it), “Like a Prayer,” “Cherish,” and “Frozen.”
SCOTUS SCHMOTUS
Posted on: January 30, 2022
- In: Biden | Democratic Values | Democrats | Politics | SCOTUS
- 96 Comments
Hello Widdershins!
Well, to everyone’s relief SCOTUS Justice Breyer finally announced he will retire instead of dropping dead when Mitch McConnell can block a nominee or a GOP President can appoint another Christian Taliban member. President Biden previously said that he would appoint an African American woman to be the court’s first Justice. He reaffirmed his position on it this week. Naturally Republicans are losing their minds. They not subtly argue that there are no qualified black women in American judiciary for SCOTUS. And they claim Biden has politicized his pick too much with identity politics. Nevermind that almost all SCOTUS justices have been white men, which is certainly identity politics. And never mind that almost all of them have been Catholics, which is also identity politics. But the idea that there are no black women in judiciary that are as qualified as Kavanaugh or Coney Barrett is really amazing! I have no doubt that Biden’s pick will be eminently more qualified than the last two Republican justices, who are not only two of the dumbest people in the country, but also two of the most partisan and intellectually dishonest. But if GOP so concerned about an unqualified black woman sitting on the Court, let Biden add 3 more seats and fill them with men and women of other colors. Problem solved!
Lazy Weekend: Bombogenesis
Posted on: October 23, 2021
- In: Lazy Weekend | Open Thread | Politics
- 90 Comments
…the rapid intensification of a storm caused by a sudden and significant drop in atmospheric pressure : the development or intensification of a bomb cyclone
Merriam-Webster
What a week, Widdershins! Here in Northern California, we are expecting a huge rainstorm (aka “atmospheric river”) caused by bombogenesis, starting this evening and going into Sunday. In my area, it is supposed to drop 6.5 inches in that short amount of time, including cyclonic winds up to 70 miles per hour. We have flashlights, a generator and extra food and booze, so fingers and toes crossed we’ll be all right. While severe and potentially causing flash flooding, we are all grateful for this storm, as it is starting to make a dent in the deep and perilous drought we have been experiencing. After this weekend, we’ll still be about 15 inches under the expected rainfall for the season.
I feel like Drumpf and his goons have some bombogenesis coming their way as well. This week, the January 6th Commission found Steve Bannon in criminal contempt and referred his prosecution to the DOJ. This move has scared multiple other insurrection conspirators into cooperating with the Committee, including Jeffery Clark, the goon who was trying to force the DOJ into overturning the election by fiat. We will have to see what the DOJ does next – I am not one of those who thinks Garland should resign after 2.5 seconds in the DOJ, but I do think he should quickly decide to prosecute. This should not be a tough decision – the law is the law.
The House’s vote 229-202 vote Thursday to hold Bannon in contempt for defying its January 6 committees’ subpoenas sets in motion a court process that begins with prosecutors considering legal questions and building a case.
The DC US Attorney’s office received the referral via a courier Thursday night. It could decline to charge Bannon, charge him quickly, or use a grand jury to investigate and indict the longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump.
I’ll be watching both of these approaching storms with great interest. How’s the weather in your area, Shinners?
This is an open thread.
Lazy Weekend: Jobs Jobs Jobs
Posted on: August 6, 2021
- In: Biden | Economy | Politics
- 114 Comments
Happy Weekend, Widdershins!
Biden’s economic strategy seems to be a banger. The jobs report says almost a million jobs were added in July. Of course Washington Post had this story as the 9th leading story of the day. Joe Manchin’s boat -where Lindsey Graham got Covid – was a bigger story than the economy adding almost a million jobs in a single month. The media continues to fail us.
Meghan McCain (did you know John McCain was her father????) has finally left The View. Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar must be breathing a sigh of relief. Except I can’t even imagine what conservative moron they will choose to replace her. Doesn’t it seem like each conservative co-host has been worse than the one before? I think they’ll pick Kaleyigh McNinny or whatever the hell her name was. One of Trump’s big blond press secretary liars.
And Jeopardy is heading off a cliff. Their lengthy search for a permanent replacement for Alex Trebek is nearing its end and the recently hired Executive Producer is looking to hire himself. Literally, no joke. Mike Richards, the executive in question, is nearing final negotiations to hire himself. He used to be an Executive Producer of The Price is Right and his tenure was rife with lawsuits of sexual harassment and discrimination against the models. So this is going to go splendidly if the network goes through with this disaster. The Jeopardy brand will be permanently damaged.
How was your week?
This is an open thread!
The Widdershins 
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