December 21, 2019

Who is the shrewdest politician in Washington?

Madam Speaker is.

December 6, 2019

I just called Rep. Katherine Clark's office

To pass along my thanks for her leadership in the impeachment of Donnie Dotard. I encourage all DUers to do the same, regardless of your Rep.'s position on the matter. Your most powerful weapon in this fight is your voice. Use it.

December 6, 2019

The Madness of Don the Con

Earlier this week, Lawrence O'Donnell had as a guest one of the psychiatrists who coauthored the book which suggested that the Conman in Chief exhibited symptoms of severe mental illness. The good doctor said that the symptoms appear to be getting progressively worse. I have a theory about that.
We know that he considers himself to be something of a ladies' man. We know, from the Access Hollywood tape that he is attracted to beautiful women and that he feels entitled to assault them because he is a star. We know that he has had multiple affairs with many women. We know that he had an affair with at least one former nude model. We know that he had an affair with at least one adult film actress. We know from the Steele Dossier, that, on at least one occasion, he consorted with Russian prostitutes. We know from multiple reports that he refuses to use protection in his affairs.
I am not a physician. I am only speculating here, but is it possible that he is suffering from late stage syphilis? That would explain a lot, I think.

June 19, 2019

Who remembers the "Millineum Bug"?

People the world over were panicking because the folks at Microsoft hadn't thought far enough ahead, hadn't planned for what would happen to computers when 1999 became 2000. It would be catastrophic, experts told us. Airplanes would crash. Highways would become gridlocked. Patients hooked up to life saving machines, including premature infants in incubators, would die.

Of course, none of these dire predictions came true. Why not? Because governments and industry spent many person hours and millions of dollars to avert those catastrophes. It was considered to be too urgent to ignore.

How I wish we saw the same urgency in dealing with global climate change. The consequences will be far more dire than anything the "Millineum Bug" alarmists could imagine. And yet, our government does nothing.

June 8, 2019

I have not yet chosen a candidate, but

Richard North Patterson makes a compelling case.

"Warren stands virtually alone in the field by offering comprehensive, and specific, proposals for reanimating American democracy by reforming capitalism to reconcile its long-term interests with the needs of Americans writ large. She is, in substantive terms, by far the most important Democrat seeking the presidency.

Whether one tends right or left, Warren’s importance to the political dialogue transcends the eventual fate of her campaign. That’s because she is asking an essential question: Can we repair our deepening economic and social fissures by making large corporations more responsive participants in a revitalized democracy which expands economic opportunity, reinvigorates competition, and redefines corporate citizenship. Her candidacy is an attempt to rescue contemporary capitalism from its potentially fatal excesses.
To attempt this, Warren takes two broad pathways. The first reimagines the traditional Democrats’ curative of aggressive federal spending to equalize opportunity by lowering the barriers to advancement facing average Americans. The second would recast Warren as Teddy Roosevelt reincarnate: a rigorous regulator who would make the marketplace more accessible, and democracy more inclusive, by curbing the accretion of corporate power.

In contrast to the array of candidates who propose to banish Donald Trump by channeling outrage or inspiring hope—or, in the case of Bernie Sanders, conjuring a fantastical “political revolution”—Warren offers specific proposals to define our future. Says David Brooks: “I might agree or disagree with some of Elizabeth Warren’s zillions of policy proposals, but at least they’re proposals. At least they are attempts to ground our politics in real situations with actual plans, not just overwrought bellowing about the monster in the closet.”

More at the link

https://thebulwark.com/why-elizabeth-warren-matters/?fbclid=IwAR3pFLPhUVo_PV_OdfyTVNU3gzKPmvg2oiL5qIAxHY9zAUKQ6DgjrKz99tY

June 3, 2019

For those of us who love slide guitar

Check out the long solo at the end of this song:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mark+knopfler+just+a+boy+away+from+home&docid=608039158928248008&mid=A171A9CBBCC93F03FC8EA171A9CBBCC93F03FC8E&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

April 20, 2019

We may have a Repuke Senator who would vote to convict

Romney wrote. “Even so, I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President. I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia — including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement; and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in Ukraine.”

April 9, 2019

Kyle Korver on white privilege

I still remember my reaction when I first heard what happened to Thabo. It was 2015, late in the season. Thabo and I were teammates on the Hawks, and we’d flown into New York late after a game in Atlanta. When I woke up the next morning, our team group text was going nuts. Details were still hazy, but guys were saying, Thabo hurt his leg? During an arrest? Wait — he spent the night in jail?! Everyone was pretty upset and confused.
Well, almost everyone. My response was….. different. I’m embarrassed to admit it.

snip

Anyway — on the morning I found out that Thabo had been arrested, want to know what my first thought was? About my friend and teammate? My first thought was: What was Thabo doing out at a club on a back-to-back??
Yeah. Not, How’s he doing? Not, What happened during the arrest?? Not, Something seems off with this story. Nothing like that. Before I knew the full story, and before I’d even had the chance to talk to Thabo….. I sort of blamed Thabo.
I thought, Well, if I’d been in Thabo’s shoes, out at a club late at night, the police wouldn’t have arrested me. Not unless I was doing something wrong.
Cringe.

Read the whole article at the link.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/kyle-korver-utah-jazz-nba

March 29, 2019

Prayer without words by Mary Gauthier

Prayer Without Words
Mary Gauthier
Packing vagabond visions and a dream drenched hunger for a home
Swaddled in road dirt, blood stained blankets and poems
On a stormy suitcase Sunday I awakened to the scream of the birds
They held their high notes and offered prayer without words

Sinking in asphalt, speechlessness and what could of been
Surrounded by strangers, scarred stars, stoned broken men
Riding the narcotic night, 'til she swerved and smashed into the curb
Morning spilled from the wreckage and offered prayer without words

Chains on the mast pull the past, nothing lasts but nothing ever ends
I leave town, break new ground, break down, leave town again
Trapped in the circle, anchored to the weight of the world
Under shooting stars that sink the skies and offer prayer without words

Justice rides with jaundiced eyes, jaded judges bleed the broken bench
Liberty's a homicide, she been flogged to death with money's monkey wrench
Desperado apostates set fire to every holy word we've heard
Silence billows from the burning book and offers prayer without words

Surrender, that sweet cleaning girl, folds white flags in Hallelujah Square
She can't remember where she's been, one day I'm gonna join her there
Unpack my battered traveling case, hang out a sign that says "Do Not Disturb"
Dissolve into a dreamless sleep that offers prayer without words

March 27, 2019

Monica Lewinsky's red-hot response to comparisons of the Mueller report to the Starr report

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/27/1845647/-Monica-Lewinsky-s-red-hot-response-to-comparisons-of-the-Mueller-Report-to-the-Starr-Report?detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0


Monica Lewinsky
✔
@MonicaLewinsky


if. fucking. only.
Orin Kerr
✔
@OrinKerr

Imagine if the Starr Report had been provided only to President Clinton's Attorney General, Janet Reno, who then read it privately and published a 4-page letter based on her private reading stating her conclusion that President Clinton committed no crimes.

106K
1:02 AM - Mar 27, 2019
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