Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
- In: 2020 Election | Politics | Polls | Quick Posts | Uncategorized
- 56 Comments
Good Day Widdershins!
As fun as Anne Lister was to read about and discuss, I thought I would move us along just a bit and perhaps someone else can take the weekend post.
As we all know, because we are smart, well-read, and politics is in our blood, the first pair of Democratic Primary debates are set for two nights later this month on the 26th and 27th at 9 pm Eastern, 8 pm Central. I’m not sure if they will be tape-delayed for the West Coast for shown at 6 pm Pacific Time.
There is some information on the debates that you can find here.
Also, Vox has a good article on the debates that you can find here.
So that brings us to the poll.
Open thread of course.
“I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.” Joe Biden, 1974
Compare and contrast, as they used to say on essay exams, with this:
Jennifer Wright.
You can’t take organs from a corpse without the deceased’s written permission, even if it will save lives. When you outlaw abortion, you’re allowing women less bodily autonomy than the dead.
Betty Bowers.
In Alabama is it is now more illegal to be a woman who aborts a child of rape than to be the man who raped her.
Chambliss, responding to the IVF argument from Smitherman, cites a part of the bill that says it applies to a pregnant woman. “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman. She’s not pregnant.” (But, but, but, now it’s not about the sacred egg+sperm? All that sacredness is only when there’s a woman to control?)
And then, this good idea:
Daniel Silvermint
We should pass a Woman’s Heartbeat law: if a woman has a heartbeat, you can’t tell her what to do with her goddamn body, ever.
B.e.c.a.u.s.e. t.h.a.t. i.s. t.h.e. p.o.i.n.t.
If your heartbeat counts (or counted!), nobody can take parts of you, even to save someone else. No real human being can be forced to donate life support. If the fetus’s heartbeat counts for more than the woman’s providing life support, then she has to be a non-person.
- In: 2020 Election | Congress | Democrats | Donald Trump | Politics | Resistance
- 78 Comments
Good day Widdershins!
Is it a good day? Well, certainly better than some we’ve had lately.
mb is having sinus issues so I’m taking a crack at doing the activist post.
I wasn’t going to get involved in the madness today on the streets of nola; been there done that. I watched a bunch of the stuff on tv so that’s good enough for me. I had done the French Quarter thing one time. A few of us gathered our pennies together and rented a room in the Quarter for Mardi Gras. However, the crowds were so large they sorta pushed you in the direction they were going. I was trying to get off of Bourbon Street to get to the hotel where we had the room. When it got to that point I had had enough.
So moving on to the news…
Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee just gave Donald tRump a big Mardi Gras surprise and it wasn’t a king cake.
The congressman sent document requests to around 81 individuals and entities. The list was varied and interesting; he requested docs from the FBI!
Among the giftees of Nadler’s requests:
- Donald Trump Jr.
- Eric Trump (alas no Ivanka)
- (they went to) Jared
- Trump Campaign
- Trump Organization
- Trump Transition
- Paul Manafort
- Roger Stone
- Yadda yadda
As the chairman said:
Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the requests issued to 81 individuals and entities would help the committee probe three main topics: obstruction of justice, including the potential interference by the president into criminal investigations; public corruption, including violations of the emoluments clause; and abuses of power, including attacks on the free press, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.
And isn’t it interesting that those items/categories could lay the ground for impeachment charges against tRump. Quell Surprise!
Nadler was also wicked smart in that the documents requested had already been submitted to the Special Counsel or other organizations so there’s no claiming executive privilege by tRump or the White House.
Aides to the committee said that they had intentionally limited their initial requests to material already provided to other congressional committees or federal investigators to ensure substantial compliance.
Said the chairman:
Mr. Nadler was explicit on Monday in saying that the House was no longer content to await the findings of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and would delve into many of the same issues, but with a different standard of evidence not wedded to a criminal indictment.
“We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people,” Mr. Nadler said in a statement. “This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do.”
So what are your thoughts Widdershins? I say Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Open thread of course.
It’s Time for the STFU
Posted on: February 5, 2019
- In: 2018 Election | Democratic Values | Donald Trump | Leadership | Open Thread | Politics | Television | Trump
- 131 Comments
Oy vey! Today it’s the SOTU – or as I call it, the “STFU.” As usual, I have no interest in watching the Mango Moron spew his ignorance and lies for the 8,000th time. Literally! As of January 21, 2019, the man has told over 8,158 lies since his inauguration, an average of 11.35 per day.
Ah, but what may be worth watching is the Democratic response, given by the fabulous Stacey Abrams…yet another strong, intelligent woman who was cheated out of victory in a transparent case of (say it with me now) Republican. Election. Fraud. Abrams was an unusual choice, given that the respondents both usually hold elected office, and are not African-American women.
That’s what makes it so brilliant.
“I know there were some headlines that characterized her as the future of the Democratic Party. In my estimate, she is the present and the future. She’s shaping the future,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who in 2018 became the first African-American woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress, said in an interview with ABC News.
And while Abrams’ defining characteristics set her apart, they also match her up for the current, unpredictable era — one in which the State of the Union is pushed back after a historic government shutdown, and the president giving the address had never held elected office himself before taking office.
“I think it’s untraditional in all the right ways — and ways voters are showing themselves to have an appetite for,” said Jamila Michener, a professor at Cornell University who researches racial inequality and the electoral system. Particularly African-American women, Michener said, who are “the electoral bedrock of the Democratic Party.”
“It’s almost a kind of ‘duh’ moment for the Democrats, and one it’s good they finally had,” she said.
After the triumphant Blue Tsunami of 2018, which women of color played an enormous part in making possible, it seems like the entire Democratic Party is finally overcoming their gender and color blindness to honor their true base.
This awakening does not, of course, include that self-centered screamer who won’t release his tax returns. You know who I’m talking about…the one who’s only a Democrat when he wants to run for office to help elect Comrade Drumpf. Yup, he’s just certain that all his fauxgressive cultists cannot live another day without hearing the same bullsh*t from his yelling pie hole.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will deliver his own response to President Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday for the third year running.
The senator’s office confirmed to The Hill that his response will follow Trump’s State of the Union address as well as the Democratic rebuttal and be streamed on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
So, not on TeeVee then? Mwahahaha.
All righty then, here’s my plan. Who’s with me?
- Don’t watch Drumpf.
- Tune in to Stacey. (And, Xavier Becerra is giving the response in Spanish, so you can also tune in to him.)
- Ignore #theBernout.
This is an open thread.
- In: 2020 Election | Open Thread | Politics | Quick Posts
- 76 Comments
Good day to you Widdershins!
You may have noticed that mb has not been around the past few days. It appears that the real world and her job have taken her away from us. However, she assured us she will be back. LOL
The other day we were discussing the announced 2020 Democratic candidates for President. Some of us were wondering who Kamala Harris had previously supported for Prez. Shadowfax said that she, Harris, had supported Barrack Obama. I’m guessing that was the 2008 election. For me, that was a particularly odious election. It was pretty cut-throat between Obama and Clinton and after the Rules and Bylaws committee meeting (or was it the Credentials committee?) of the DNC I decided I would vote for McCain in the general election. It’s not that I supported him or his veep choice Palin. It’s that I was that angry at the way I thought the DNC screwed over Hillary.
We know that by the time of the convention Hillary and Obama had “made up” and she endorsed him. But there were lots of us who were not happy about it. That’s when the PUMA movement came about. There were lots of hard feelings back then.
But now we are heading into the 2020 Presidential election cycle. 2008 was two cycles ago. Do we or should we care that much right now about who supported whom in that election? Or should we consider more who has the best chance of defeating tRump if he’s still around and runs for reelection?
Personally I’m not going to worry that much about who supported/endorsed a candidate back then.
Right now Harris is the latest bright, shiny object in front of Democrats. I watched a large part of the Iowa town hall she held. She was articulate, answered people’s questions well and came off pretty good. However it’s a long time between now and the primaries and the general. Should we still be concerned about who supported Obama in 2008 and keep it up like a feud between the Hatfields and McCoys? Or should we be more concerned about who has the best chance of appealing to the voters and defeating tRump or Pence or whomever the Repubs run in 2020?
Discuss.
Open thread naturally.
Lazy Weekend~Cartoons Edition
Posted on: December 16, 2018
Winter’s coming
Good Weekend Widdershins!
For a change of pace I thought we could take a look at what’s going on in the world of political cartoons. No thinking needed for this and all that’s required is the ability to have a small chuckle or huge guffaw depending on what you think about the cartoon.
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
And last but certainly not least
Okay Widdershins, that’s it! Hope y’all got a chuckle or two out of these.
Open thread of course.
- In: "the Holidays" | Holidays | Open Thread | Politicians | Politics | Snark
- 89 Comments
This Maccabee is really Santa! THE HORROR. Courtesy of The Forward.
Happy Tuesday, Widdershins. If you hear the rap version of “The Little Drummer Boy” playing faintly in the background, it’s because I am writing from the center of the War on Chanukkah, otherwise known as San Francisco, the “City by the Bay” “City Sans Oy Vey.”
As I promenade through the streets of downtown, I hear only Christmas music. I see only Christmas trees, presents and lights. Wherefore the miraculous menorah? Wherefore the light that burned for eight nights instead of just one, to protect the besieged Maccabees in their temple? It’s enough to make you meshuggeneh!
After so many years in Noo Yawk, where there are roughly as many Jews on the Upper West Side as there are in Israel, this blatant discrimination is a shock to my system. It shall not stand! I will plant my Chanukkah bush on this Widdershin ground, and share some fun holiday music with you. Maybe then all the goyim will realize we’re here, we’re eating schmears, and we’re not giving up till you sing the Dreidel song with us!
Oh by the way, I’m in such a good mood because…it’s #MuellerTime.
Enjoy the day! This is an open thread.
Comments