It ceases to become patriotism. As a child, I remember reading about post-revolution farmers laying down their plowshares to serve a year or two in government. It was understood that serving one’s government was a patriotic, albeit temporary, duty, not a career. Growing beans, potatoes, and corn made you a...
The panic over 9/11 that led to the Patriot Act is almost understandable. We had seen thousands of our fellow Americans incinerated, and our military and financial invincibility symbols were toppled. So, limiting a few freedoms for revenge seemed reasonable amid anger and fear (at the time). I am baffled...
This past week reminded me of how soothing and vital literature, art, and music are to the world. All of us have spent more than two years exhausted from Covid-19. We are ironically distracted by war, which has overshadowed the banning of books in school. When I was twelve years...
Watermelon Man is a movie released in 1970, written by Summer of ’42 author Herman Raucher and directed by the late Melvin Van Peebles; for those younger than me, the elder Peebles is the father of Mario. About a year later, he released a low-budget cult classic entitled Sweet Sweetback’s...
“Slammer Time” may be on the horizon. It won’t be about the DoJ looking backward or forward, but looking inward to do something historical to maintain democracy. Because a malign GOP is going to try it again. The blueprint was there for a while before it was committed to paper...
This is the sixth set of notes for a reading group on Marx’s Capital, and includes a Volume I refresher for further reading of Volume II. There are links to earlier posts and texts that may be useful. Marx is probably too taken with a kind of scientism by proposing...
Most of us saw or heard the campaign ads for the gubernatorial race for Florida. Ron DeSantis, dressing his infant daughter in MAGA motif pajamas, helping her with border wall building blocks, and reading her a faux bedtime story about the fanciful mind of Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the internal xenophobic...
One incident occurred just hours ago as a flight gets diverted to OKC because a passenger wanted to step outside. Yet another #hijack attempt aboard a plane? The plane was diverted to OKC. Unknown which airline but checking. pic.twitter.com/4kPeYkmmxC — Stanley Roberts (@StanleyRoberts) June 12, 2021 An earlier flight wound...
Florida bans its schools from teaching critical race theory On Thursday, Florida’s State Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of an amendment banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools throughout the state. The theory, according to PolitiFact, is a collection of ideas about systemic bias and privilege...
A couple of days ago, alleged congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene sent a letter to Joe Biden. I read it; you don’t have to. Unless you read at a third-grade level or worse, it might be hard for you to follow. It essentially boils down to “Wuhan lab … Chinese-made virus...
A 12-year-old boy with an AK-47 and a 14-year-old girl were arrested after allegedly shooting at cops while boasting “it’s like Grand Theft Auto.” Florida authorities said two armed children engaged in a violent shootout with law enforcement in the town of Enterprise on Wednesday. Travis O’Brien and Nicole Jackson...
Repost: Fordham Political Review. No one issue in politics today causes greater polarization than the issue of abortion. I remember sitting down with my mother in high school, nerves fluttering in my stomach as I asked her, “What do you think about abortion?” I was thinking about the fact that...
Some historical terms should not be used lightly. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the term Apartheid to describe the Israel/Palestine reality, this shocked some people. I hate the word Apartheid as it brings back to too many precise historical racial connotations with respect to South Africa. The term segregation holds similar memories...
It does seem clear that in the name of “bipartisanship, there may be pro-Trumpists chosen who will attempt to sabotage such a commission, because some will accept the same false premises manufactured in both Trump impeachments. Perhaps the most important thing is that it focuses the scope of the commission on “the...
It depresses me to acknowledge this, but the Republicans’ commitment to blatant and serial lying, and Orwellian “make believe” governing, pose a real threat by overwhelming the public debate and individual’s efforts to stay grounded. While a bit well-worn (and of uncertain provenance), this quote is fundamentally true: “A lie can travel halfway around...
Because Hawley’s whines about Big Tech while promoting sales of his book on Amazon, the epitome of …. Big Tech. “Democrats are eyeing a comeback in Missouri, believing the Capitol riot hurt Republicans in the state, not least because of Josh Hawley’s prominent role.” “Don’t try to censor, cancel, and silence...
“A GIANT PULSATING MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE” Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden,...
Not surprised by this: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a rising star in the Republican Party. But many of his former staffers told Politico they felt used and abused by the MAGA politician. A group of former DeSantis staffers have formed a “support group” to regularly discuss their adverse experiences...
We’re seeing more and more stories that Liz Cheney is about to be tossed under the bus, that the Republican “leadership” is so in thrall to Trump and his base, so dedicated to the service of Trump’s ego and his lies, that they are preparing to cast Cheney into the...
If you take a moment and listen to the so-called moderate wing of the Republican party, they are as extreme as the rest. This weekend Utah Senator Mitt Romney was roundly booed by members of his party at the Utah GOP convention. The crime that elicited the verbal censure from...
Previous guy always expects the loyalty of mob silence Omertà, even when he throws everyone under the bus, it’s part of his personality disorder. The real goal for his relative silence might be the return to social media when Facebook reconsiders their suspension. He has a Parler account but doesn’t use...
I was raised Lutheran i.e. by the doctrine of Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Sola Scriptura. The only part of which spoke to me was that my neighbour needed more of my “good” deeds than god, being omnipotent that made sense, the rest not so much. I was aware of...
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that...
This proposed “debate” between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should generate plenty of charitable pay-per-view revenues. Enough to build a space laser. The outcome should also resemble Bambi meets Godzilla. There’s yet to be a response from AOC, and MTG is busy trying to expel Maxine Waters. Last week, Georgia GOP...
While they were reading the verdict of Derek Chauvin, 16 year old Ma’Khia Bryant was being shot 4 times by Columbus, Ohio police. She died at the scene. The police had been called because an adult woman tried to fight Bryant. (Updated) Warning: graphic videos: The Columbus Dispatch reported that police officers were sent...
Actually, had Spielberg reduced the running time, the film 1941 might have been a classic. The classic film history teaching exercise would be to edit it down to 2 hours. Craig Lindsey’s article argues for the Pogo conclusion that the enemy is us when we allow fear to take over. 2020 did that...
If I were a betting man, I’d wager that Matt Gaetz’s head is filled with equal parts brain matter, nougat, Nickelodeon slime, and unidentified ooze. I’d bet my 2004 Pontiac Vibe on it. And my entire McLaughlin Group Pog collection. So you might want to put on your 2017 solar eclipse...
The stuck ship does tell us something about the fragility of global trade and the flow of capital. Fungible Space Logistics, that concept popularized by United Parcel Service is also about the spatial problems of concrete versus abstract global networks. x Everyone is talking about the big ship getting stuck...
Rye Development is proposing a massive pumped storage power plant uphill from the site of the closed Goldendale smelter, next to the Columbia River. This facility will take over a closed pumped storage plant. Native American tribes, including tribes from Asia, originally migrated to this vicinity as a group with common languages and...
Is it sinking in for Republicans yet just how much they’ve fucked up? In the eyes of millions of Americans, they’re now the party of COVID-19, election theft, voter suppression, sedition, and smaller checks for fewer people. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is outsmarting them at every turn, having recently brushed back the GOP’s insincere overtures...
About 15 years ago, my son and I dug out two back yard fish ponds with a back hoe, to my wife’s surprise. A backhoe. (not in my backyard.) This pond was about 12 X eight feet. We stocked it with dime-a-dance aquarium goldfish. The goldfish grew rapidly. I operate...
Have some weekend reading for you. The Atlantic has a great piece out about U.S. Senate candidate, Lt. Governor John Fetterman (D. PA), that’s worth a ready. Here’s a taste: Fetterman has already raised lots of money—$500,000 in just the first 72 hours he was in the race—in part as...
Some big news this week out of Missouri: A Missouri Democrat who works at an organization that fights corporate monopolies on Tuesday became the latest candidate to announce a bid for U.S. Senate. Lucas Kunce, 38, is the national security policy director at the American Economic Liberties Project, an organization...
In case you missed this: Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) erupted Tuesday on the House floor, imploring his Republican colleagues to stop their obsession with stoking culture wars and shift focus to helping Democrats pass legislation to aid Americans struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. “Stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start...
Plenty of dimwittedness to share as Trump demands via a cease and desist order that the GOP not use his likeness or name unless they pay for it. Also, Trump threatens to negative campaign against Lisa Murkowski in yet another empty threat. And finally Trump returns to NYC, the reasons for...
Hi, Hoomans! The last couple of months have been a whirl! All I remember is waking up really horny and cold in the middle of January. “Hey,” I thought to my self, I remember these ponds from before.” At dusk, I heard a dozen male chorus frogs making their crude and...
Well, actually, he’s a Badger, not a duck. I was born in Wisconsin and currently live in Oregon. Believe me, I know the difference. And I can assure you, this guy is one enormous Johnson. I’m really not sure what Republicans’ strategy is vis-à-vis the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that’s...
The past two days of Senate committee hearings about the Capitol riot have revealed that the GOP is openly excusing racists. From the unctuous Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) adopting the smug role of victim, Republicans are all but standing on their desk and yelling, but what...
I watched Republican Senator Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) yesterday on CNN’s State of the Union, and he made a case against Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid Relief package. Pressed to explain his differences, Sen. Cassidy said it entailed “too much money” and as support said only that the bill provides: “$112 million...
Insurrection part Deux may be coming, but it’s a distraction from an emerging Raw Story report about Russian mobsters and Trump that includes money laundering in Kazakhstan. This doesn’t even touch the tax fraud prosecution. Thank jeebus CPAC is over and that concentrated hate and stupidity is over for another year. Even...
I’ve always admired Naomi Klein since reading her terrific and insightful book “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.” She has a NYT editorial column up yesterday, expounding on her prior theme in relation to Texas’s recent disaster, titled “Why The Republicans Fear The Green New Deal,” in which she...
This is awesome: As Gov. Ron DeSantis sets his sights on a gubernatorial reelection bid in 2022, an attorney who’s been critical of the governor has launched a “Remove Ron” political committee to raise funds and unseat DeSantis. Daniel Uhlfelder, known as the ‘grim reaper’ lawyer because of his attempts...
Here’s the first big campaign of 2021: A white candidate to be Wisconsin's top education official deleted her Twitter account and apologized after posting a message that she had been called a racial slur for Black people when she was 16 because “my lips were bigger than most and that...
Texas is the coalmine canary of failures in the GQP’s industrial policy. The “clusterfuzzle” appears to be only in Texas: perhaps they skimmed on costs and failed in winterizing their plants. The structural failure comes from the anti-federal, deregulatory policy of the Texas grid which reveals itself in the disinformation...
Trump’s defence liars lawyers talked about unity at the beginning of the trial. Well as we all have seen that is bullshit. They all ended up channelling Trump. They ranted. Not only that, but they were frivolous with respect to the law. Attacked by means of out of context quotes,...
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that...
The impeachment managers drew a straight line from Trump to the insurrection and harm’s way for Mike Pence. The march to the Capitol seemed spontaneous but had incitement and planning in a variety of forms. Surveillance recordings showed how close the potential assassinations were. Senator Mike Lee said “Everyone makes mistakes; everyone is...
Okay, I’ve been sporadically watching the impeachment trial today. Sporadically, because watching the trial isn’t literally my job. I had other pressing matters to attend to as well. But this is Josh Hawley’s job, at least for the moment—and, well, he doesn’t seem too interested in doing it. You remember Josh,...
The Washington Post did a version of the NY Times profiles of Trumpists, albeit those who were involved in the 6 January insurrection, and there does seem to be a class struggle, not quite like one would expect. The participation of people with middle- and upper-middle-class positions fits with research...
Well, I will send one to old Rubio as well. Senator Scott, You are an embarrassment to the people of Florida and have been for a long time. I must congratulate you however, for being in the presence of likeminded company such as yourself in the Senate with bootlicking...
