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Kitchen Table Kibitzing 3/26/2024: Bunny Time Already

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Rachel Ruysch: Roses, Tulips and Other Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Marble Ledge (1709)
Rachel Ruysch: Roses, Tulips and Other Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Marble Ledge (1709)

Good evening, Kibitzers!

Easter is early this year, although March 31 is not the absolute earliest it can be — that would be March 22, if the official full moon date happened to fall on the official equinox date of March 21. (Note that the Church has “official” dates for these celestial events that may or may not coincide with their actual astronomical dates. See more info here. And also, about Passover, which is later than usual this year.)

Anyway! Easter for me is a cultural holiday rather than a religious one, a good excuse to roast a nice leg of lamb and eat some chocolate. It’s pleasant if flowers are out when we do that, but I’m a lot sadder when there’s no snow at my other cultural holiday, Christmas, than when trees and plants don’t bloom in March. (Plus, then there’s pollen, as all of you in warmer places are well aware!) And this whole week is supposed to be chilly and rainy here, so the odds of any flowers progressing so far as to pop out by Sunday appear low.

I started out hunting for egg songs, but there were only so many I liked, so I branched out. Your Easter-adjacent favorites are of course welcome in the thread.


Nonfiction Views: This week's notable new nonfiction

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Good evening, everyone. I have a house guest this week, so just posting the notable new nonfiction of the week, and I may not be around for comments until later.

THIS WEEK’S NOTABLE NEW NONFICTION

  • Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, by Stephen Breyer. Recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer skillfully deconstructs the textualist philosophy that dominates the current Supreme Court’s supermajority. This relatively new judicial philosophy claims that the right way to interpret the Constitution and statutes is to read the text carefully and examine the language as it was understood at the time the documents were written. This, however, is not Justice Breyer’s philosophy nor has it been the traditional way to interpret the Constitution since the time of Chief Justice John Marshall, who wrote that the Constitution must be a workable set of principles to be interpreted by subsequent generations.
    Most important in interpreting law, says Breyer, is to understand the purposes of statutes as well as the consequences of deciding a case one way or another. He illustrates these principles by examining some of the most important cases in the nation’s history, among them the Dobbs and Bruen decisions from 2022 that he argues were wrongly decided and have led to harmful results. "Justice Breyer shows how the current Supreme Court's alleged textualism and originalism are unsound. His book is a judicial arms-control agreement advocating moderation and a path to what he calls ‘workable democracy.’ You will not read a more important legal work this election year.” — Bob Woodward
  • On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America, by Abrahm Lustgarten. Humanity is on the precipice of a great climate migration, and Americans will not be spared. Tens of millions of people are likely to be driven from the places they call home. Poorer communities will be left behind, while growth will surge in the cities and regions most attractive to climate refugees. America will be changed utterly. Abrahm Lustgarten’s On the Move is the definitive account of what this massive population shift might look like. As he shows, the United States will be rendered unrecognizable by four unstoppable forces: wildfires in the West; frequent flooding in coastal regions; extreme heat and humidity in the South; and droughts that will make farming all but impossible across much of the nation. Around one third of global migration is already driven by climate change. How much more will it be in the future? A lot more, as Abrahm Lustgarten carefully forecasts in this important book. Can we both relocate and future-proof ourselves at the same time? That is the great challenge humanity faces in an over-heating world.” —Parag Khanna
  • Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, by Fareed Zakaria.

    Populist rage, ideological fracture, economic and technological shocks, war, and an international system studded with catastrophic risk—the early decades of the twenty-first century may be the most revolutionary period in modern history. But it is not the first. Humans have lived, and thrived, through more than one great realignment. What are these revolutions, and how can they help us to understand our fraught world? In this major work, Fareed Zakaria masterfully investigates the eras and movements that have shaken norms while shaping the modern world. Three such periods hold profound lessons for today. First, in the seventeenth-century Netherlands, a fascinating series of transformations made that tiny land the richest in the world—and created politics as we know it today. Next, the French Revolution, an explosive era that devoured its ideological children and left a bloody legacy that haunts us today. Finally, the mother of all revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, which catapulted Great Britain and the US to global dominance and created the modern world. “This is the indispensable book for understanding the world today. Fareed Zakaria tackles the central question of our age: What are the causes of the seismic social disruptions we are going through and the political backlashes that have ensued? Connecting five centuries of history to a deep understanding of our current anxieties, he shows how transformations in technology, economics, and politics interact.— Walter Isaacson

  • An Emancipation of the Mind: Radical Philosophy, the War over Slavery, and the Refounding of America, by Matthew Stewart. This is a story about a dangerous idea—one which ignited revolutions in America, France, and Haiti; burst across Europe in the revolutions of 1848; and returned to inflame a new generation of intellectuals to lead the abolition movement—the idea that all men are created equal. In their struggle against the slaveholding oligarchy of their time, America’s antislavery leaders found their way back to the rationalist, secularist, and essentially atheist inspiration for the first American Revolution. Frederick Douglass’s unusual interest in radical German philosophers and Abraham Lincoln’s buried allusions to the same thinkers are but a few of the clues that underlie this propulsive philosophical detective story. With fresh takes on forgotten thinkers like Theodore Parker, the excommunicated Unitarian minister who is the original source of some of Lincoln’s most famous lines, and a feisty band of German refugees, philosopher and historian Matthew Stewart tells a vivid and piercing story of the battle between America’s philosophical radicals and the conservative counterrevolution that swept the American republic in the first decades of its existence and persists in new forms up to the present day. “A beautifully written, myth-busting, and eye-opening uncovering of the radical, humanistic roots of America’s best impulses toward justice and equality. A must-read for anyone who wants to fully understand not only the abolitionist movement and the nation’s struggle over slavery, but also America’s ongoing conflicts related to religion, nationalism, theology, and democracy.”— Phil Zuckerman

  • The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, by Manisha Sinha. Acclaimed historian Manisha Sinha expands our view beyond the accepted temporal and spatial bounds of Reconstruction, which is customarily said to have begun in 1865 with the end of the war, and to have come to a close when the "corrupt bargain" of 1877 put Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House in exchange for the fall of the last southern Reconstruction state governments. Sinha’s startlingly original account opens in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln that triggered the secession of the Deep South states, and take us all the way to 1920 and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote—and which Sinha calls the "last Reconstruction amendment." Within this grand frame, Sinha narrates the rise and fall of what she calls the "Second American Republic." The Reconstruction of the South, a process driven by the alliance between the formerly enslaved at the grassroots and Radical Republicans in Congress, is central to her story, but only part of it. As she demonstrates, the US Army’s conquest of Indigenous nations in the West, labor conflict in the North, Chinese exclusion, women’s suffrage, and the establishment of an overseas American empire were all part of the same struggle between the forces of democracy and those of reaction.A landmark. Manisha Sinha’s searing and revelatory account of Reconstruction redraws its borders, redefines its meaning, and restores its place as the hinge upon which American history turns.— Jill Lepore

  • Get Off My Neck: Black Lives, White Justice, and a Former Prosecutor's Quest for Reform, by Debbie Hines. In Get Off My Neck, Debbie Hines draws on her unique perspective as a trial lawyer, former Baltimore prosecutor, and assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland to argue that US prosecutors, as the most powerful players in the criminal justice system, systematically target and criminalize Black people. Hines describes her disillusionment as a young Black woman who initially entered the profession with the goal of helping victims of crimes, only to discover herself aiding and abetting a system that prizes plea bargaining, speedy conviction, and excessive punishment above all else. In this book, she offers concrete, specific, and hopeful solutions for just how we can come together in a common purpose for criminal justice and racial justice reform. In this must-read book, Hines tells a courageous account of America's prosecutorial offices in a captivating and exquisitely detailed manner. This book provides revolutionary insight and should be required reading for every law school student across this nation or for anyone proclaiming an interest in disrupting the injustices in the legal system." --Susan Burton

  • Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen. Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have.Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. 

  • Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power, by Timothy W. Ryback. In the summer of 1932, the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse. One in three Germans was unemployed. Violence was rampant. Hitler’s National Socialists surged at the polls. Paul von Hindenburg, an aging war hero and avowed monarchist, was a reluctant president bound by oath to uphold the constitution. The November elections offered Hitler the prospect of a Reichstag majority and the path to political power. But instead, the Nazis lost two million votes. As membership hemorrhaged and financial backers withdrew, the Nazi Party threatened to fracture. Hitler talked of suicide. The New York Times declared he was finished. Yet somehow, in a few brief weeks, he was chancellor of Germany. In fascinating detail and with previously un-accessed archival materials, Timothy W. Ryback tells the remarkable story of Hitler’s dismantling of democracy through democratic process. He provides fresh perspective and insights into Hitler’s personal and professional lives in these months, in all their complexity and uncertainty—backroom deals, unlikely alliances, stunning betrayals, an ill-timed tax audit, and a fateful weekend that changed our world forever. "An expert account of the dizzying months when Hitler solidified his power in Germany... A masterfully narrated story of how a democracy committed suicide, with lessons for today." Kirkus Reviews

  • Bombing Hitler's Hometown: The Untold Story of the Last Mass Bomber Raid of World War II in Europe, by Mike Croissant. In April 1945, Linz was one of Nazi Germany’s most vital assets. It was a crucial transportation hub and communications center, with railyards brimming with war materiel destined for the front lines. Linz was also the town Hitler claimed as home and had long intended to remake as the cultural capital of Europe, filling its planned Führermuseum with world-famous art stolen from his conquered territories. Inevitably, Linz was also one of the most heavily defended targets remaining in Europe. The airmen of the Fifteenth Air Force were a mix of seasoned veterans and newcomers. As their mission was unveiled in the predawn hours of April 25, audible groans and muffled expletives passed many lips. The reality of that mission would prove more brutal than any imagined. Drawing on interviews with dozens of America’s last surviving World War II veterans, as well as previously unpublished sources, Mike Croissant compellingly relates one of the war’s last truly untold stories. “Combining dogged archival research with survivor interviews, Croissant offers a kaleidoscope of perspectives, not to mention hair-raising scenes of aerial combat, exploding bombers, and sheer terror at the edge of the earth’s atmosphere." —James M. Scott

  • God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible, by Candida Moss. For the past two thousand years, Christian tradition, scholarship, and pop culture have credited the authorship of the New Testament to a select group of men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. But hidden behind these named and sainted individuals are a cluster of unnamed, enslaved coauthors and collaborators. These essential workers were responsible for producing the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament: making the parchment on which the texts were written, taking dictation, and refining the words of the apostles. And as the Christian message grew in influence, it was enslaved missionaries who undertook the arduous journey across the Mediterranean and along dusty roads to move Christianity to Rome, Spain, and North Africa—and into the pages of history. "Dr. Moss provides a fuller sense of the social and economic milieu out of which the New Testament arose, and in so doing, helps every reader, whatever their religious background, to get a clearer sense of what it might have felt like to be part of the Christian movement at its very early beginnings.”—Brian D. McLaren
  • Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind, by Frank Tallis. In Mortal Secrets, Frank Tallis brilliantly illuminates Sigmund Freud and his times, taking readers into the mind of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, chronicling the evolution of psychoanalysis and opening up Freud’s life to embrace the Vienna he lived in and the lives of the people he mingled with from Gustav Klimt to Arnold Schönberg, Egon Schiele to Gustav Mahler. Mortal Secrets is a thrilling book about a heady time in one of the world’s most beautiful cities and its long shadow that extends through the twentieth century up until the present day. Trivial anecdotes (Freud was scrupulous about his appearance and “visited the barber every day”) sit alongside more substantial character analyses, as when Tallis reveals Freud to be “capable of manipulation and deceit” on the one hand and intellectual cooperation on the other. Throughout, Tallis notes that psychology was one of many fields—including math, science, medicine, art, and philosophy—undergoing enormous changes in Vienna at the time….Stunning in its breadth and depth, this is a magisterial treatment of a towering thinker.”--Publishers Weekly
  • Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words, by Anne Curzan. Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living, breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), this book explains where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and reveals the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable. Linguist and veteran English professor Anne Curzan equips readers with the tools they need to adeptly manage (a split infinitive?! You betcha!) formal and informal writing and speaking. "I was bowled over, page after page, by the author’s fine ear for our language and her openhearted erudition. I learned a lot, and I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more.”—Benjamin Dreyer
     
  • Space Oddities: The Mysterious Anomalies Challenging Our Understanding of the Universe, by Harry Cliff. Something strange is going on in the cosmos. Scientists are uncovering a catalogue of weird phenomena that simply can’t be explained by our long-established theories of the universe. Particles with unbelievable energies are bursting from beneath the Antarctic ice.  Unknown forces seem to be tugging on the basic building blocks of matter. Stars are flying away from us far faster than anyone can explain.  After decades of fruitless searching, could we finally be catching glimpses of a profound new view of our physical world? Or are we being fooled by cruel tricks of the data? In Space Oddities, Harry Cliff, a physicist who does cutting-edge work on the Large Hadron Collider, provides a riveting look at the universe’s most confounding puzzles, and at the men and women hunting for answers—who have staked their careers and reputations on the uncertain promise of new physics. "Many of us laugh at the implausible cosmologies believed by our medieval and ancient forebears. Dr. Cliff lays out the gaps and anomalies at the edge of modern science, which may make the best theories of today look as quaint as those of long ago." —Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them, but If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be truly appreciated. I would love to be considered ‘The Official Bookstore of Daily Kos.’ Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 20% each week). I’m busily adding new content every day, and will have lots more dedicated subject pages and curated booklists as it grows. I want it to be full of book-lined rabbit holes to lose yourself in (and maybe throw some of those books into a shopping cart as well.)

We also partner Libro.fm for audiobooks. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month. Note that the DAILYKOS coupon code is only for the bookstore, not for the audiobook affiliate.

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Blind to her role in the mess, MT Greene blames fleeing Republicans for the GOP's House nightmare

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“She had just about enough intelligence to open her mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more”  P.G. Wodehouse

Marjorie Taylor Greene has become the snarling face of House Republicans. Not a day goes by when this Karen is not demanding to see the manager. Not that she views it that way. When this succubus looks in the mirror, she sees a righteous warrior for the American way — a vestal truth teller tossed on the turbulent seas of outrageous fortune. Or some such nonsense.

Today, on Real America’s Voice, she explained who was responsible for the House Republican’s decline into madness. (Spoiler alert: It was not her). Host David Brody set the stage by asking Greene (after a piece of formulaic ego-stroking):

“Congresswoman, you are making a strong, principled argument. And so I hear you on that. Let me ask you about the politics of this, because the criticism here is that if a motion of vacate ever came, that you could have Democrats all voting for Hakeem Jeffries, and you’ve got some RINOs, lots of them, maybe at least a handful if they side with Democrats. You have Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House. That’s the danger?”

Greene set sail by establishing she is the victim of “twist” and “spin,” or what the rest of us call “the truth”:

“But, you know, you want to know something that is the twist and the spin that everyone is trying to throw out at me on this.”

Her victimhood is expansive. It is not just Democrats or Republicans throwing shit at her — it is “everyone.” Unexpectedly, Brody did not give her a free pass.

“It’s not true?”

Greene was not about to admit guilt. She embraced an empirical argument and blamed “a math”.

“But let me tell you, it’s a math. This is simple math. The more Republicans like Mike Gallagher Mike that resign and leave early, guess what that means? We have less Republicans in the House. So every time a Mike Gallagher or a Ken Buck leaves early, that brings our numbers down and brings us dangerously closer to being in the minority.”

For once, I cannot find fault with Greene’s analysis. If you have a certain number of things and you lose a few, you have less of them. (Note: I would say “fewer.” But I am losing that battle.) However, when Greene gets to finger-pointing, she and I part ways.

“It’s not Marjorie Taylor Greene that is saying the inconvenient truth and forcing everyone to wake up and realize Republican voters are done with us doing this kind of crap that we did last week, and they are fed up with speakers of the House and Republicans that go out and campaign and make all these promises and then turn around and stab their voters in the back, because that’s what Mike Johnson did on Friday.”

The only person I hear talking is Greene. I do not know what she thinks the “inconvenient truth” is, or who is saying it. Despite her protest that she is not saying anything, I think she means it is she who is ”forcing everyone to wake up.”

She also seems to be saying that Republican voters are done with keeping the government open (“this kind of crap”) And that they are stabbing Republican voters in the back for doing their job — despite (according to Greene) promising during their campaigns they would not do their job.

Like a dyspeptic Chihuahua angry at a chew toy, she keeps on yipping.

“And that’s what he led our conference to do on Friday. I am not going to be responsible for Hakeem Jeffries being Speaker of the House. I am not going to be responsible for a Democrat majority taking over our Republican majority.”  

Unfortunately for Greene, you can say you will not be responsible. But that does not change that you are responsible. In this case, the miasmic Greene is responsible for the GOP’s rush to the exits. If you stink up the joint, people will leave.

She is not done. (At this point, I suspect Brody and his guests are hoping the energetic bungler will run out of gas.)

“That lies squarely, squarely on the shoulders of these Republicans that are leaving early because they don’t have the intestinal fortitude to handle the real fight and the responsibility that comes with leadership at the end of our republic, when our country is nearly destroyed and when our Constitution is being ran through a paper shredder.”  

Classic projection. I cannot remember Biden threatening to be a dictator or promising bloodbaths. It is too bad Brody did not ask her by what measure “our country is nearly destroyed”— although he probably stifled any further inquiry, as another question would be like a lit match in a gas can. And Greene’s version of the Constitution is in the ‘safe’ hands of six of nine SCOTUS Justices.

Greene then goes to her happy place — lying.

“So no one is going to blame that on me. David, I’m going to tell you exactly what I’m going to do. I will be so careful and responsible with this.”

Nice try, Marge. Everyone is going to blame this on you — they already have. And I would bet on the existence of a vegan hyena before wagering that Greene would be careful and responsible about anything. She goes on:

“You want to know why I care about our majority? I am one of the few Republican members in the House that has actually paid all of my dues to the NRCC, and I did that because I want the majority and I want the majority next Congress, and I will fight for it.

Good for her. Millions of Americans pay their bills — now she says she is one of them. However, if Greene wants a GOP majority in the next Congress, her best strategy would be to shut up. (Do not hold your breath.)

To everyone’s relief, she then heads for the finish line.

“But I am not going to be silly, you know, nilly willy [sic] or be irresponsible with this motion to vacate. I will bring it to a floor vote at a time that I think is needed or responsible, or a good time to do it. But this is a pink slip. Johnson is on notice, and our conference needs a new Speaker of the House.

Translation: “It has occurred to me that I have royally screwed the pooch. Everyone thinks I am an asshole. And therefore I will not be bringing a motion to vacate to the floor. But that does not mean I will stop throwing around empty threats.”

Depressingly — and in a blow to adult government — with the way elections work in the US, Greene will inflict herself on a country that deserves better for the foreseeable future. Unlike her sister-in-arms, Lauren Boebert, she is in a safe MAGA seat (Cook PVI R +22).

I'm Calling It Now: It will be 8-1 overturning the 5th Circuit (Updated)

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UPDATE: Some people have expressed confusion in the comments as to what this diary is about. My apologies, I wrote it off the cuff while I was waiting on some work-related emails. So, here’s some context, though it’s going to be long, as this is a highly complicated case. Keep in mind, I’m writing this off memory — it’s 4AM here — and my IANAL understanding of the case, even though I’m a serious SCOTUS wonk.

Today (03/26), the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case decided by Kaczmarek out of the 5th Circuit in Texas. I don’t recall the name of the original suit. Most people just refer to it as the “Mifepristone ruling”. Some groups of doctors — plus some individual doctors — brought suit objecting to the FDA’s reclassification of Mifepristone as safe. This had to be brought in a specific part of Texas so as to fall within the special sub-district that only contains Kaczmarek, who is a religious zealot and conservative judicial activist.

Kaczmarek found four things (yes, I like lists):

  1. The FDA had inappropriately classified Mifepristone as safe. There was a bunch of cherry-picking in the studies and examples used to justify this.
  2. When the FDA reclassified Mifepristone, they did not give opponents enough time or sufficient opportunities to object, nor did they give sufficient weight to the arguments against reclassification.
  3. That the FDA did not have the authority to reclassify Mifepristone, basically under the idea that Congress cannot delegate this sort of rule-making to independent federal agencies. This is the rejection of the Chevron Deference principle.
  4. IIRC, Kaczmarek also ruled that Mifepristone can’t be sent through the mail, based on an old, largely ignored law that says you can’t send objectionable material through the mail.

There were a number of problems with the ruling, the foremost being the issue of standing, which is the principle that a claimant must show some harm in order to bring suit. Kaczmarek allowed standing based on:

  • Appellants’ claim that women who had taken Mifepristone prescribed to them via telemedicine and were experiencing complications would “overwhelm hospital resources”. Appellants were never able to point to a circumstance where this had occurred.
  • Appellants’ claim that doctors would be forced to perform abortions when there were complications arising from a tele-prescribed medical abortion and a D&C was needed to save the mother. This came up in oral argument and the justices expressed skepticism over the idea that there aren’t already sufficient protections in place for doctors who object to performing abortions.
  • Appellants’ claim that doctors would effectively have a sad because they became doctors to care for children and increased abortions would deprive them of that. Given that appellants are all male, I found this the most egregious of the standings claims.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Mifepristone was still safe, but that the two reclassifications were inappropriate, meaning the time frame of use, delivery through mail and the telehealth prescription were invalid. SCOTUS took up the case on expedited appeal and issued a stay.

The questions from the justices today were not favorable to appellants. While the issue of FDA authority to reclassify did come up, it was almost entirely in the context of “gotchas”, which I took to mean the justices were none too happy with this portion of the decision — with the exception of Alito, of course. I don’t think there were any “Is Mifepristone genuinely unsafe?” queries, which bodes very well. There were also a lot of “Have you really considered the practical ramifications of ruling in favor of appellants?” questions, which I also feel to be a good sign.


    Based on what I heard today and what I read on SCOTUSBlog, I believe the ruling will be 8-1:

    • Only Alito showed any real interest in upholding the 5th’s decision.
    • Thomas actually participated a fair bit — and his questions were not friendly to the challengers. 
    • Robert’s recent work with regard to “judge shopping” are in direct response to this ruling.
    • A certain amount of realpolitik is almost certainly at play here: the justices are aware of the national response to Dobbs. A second ruling severely restricting reproductive rights could easily result in Republicans not gaining the White House for a generation or more, especially if pro-choice enthusiasm tilts the House and Senate — as it is already expected to do. Roberts is more than aware of how angry Biden is with the lack of ethics standards on the high court. Should Democrats gain the trifecta and the rightmost Democratic Senators choose to end the filibuster, Roberts’ legacy is toast. 
    • I know that people around here are not fond of the Colorado Ballot ruling, but I think it was correctly decided. One of the main reasons behind that ruling was that it was an invitation to chaos. While they might split the baby and decide the FDA broke the law when reclassifying Mifepristone — the Chevron Deference is almost certainly already dead — they can’t allow this version of “standing” to become the norm. They just can’t.
    • I’m not even sure SCOTUS would have taken this case had Kaczmarek not twisted things up so badly. Almost all of the questions were about standing, injury or relief.
    • The decision will probably be written by Jackson, or maybe Kagan. It’s less likely to my mind, but Roberts could be angry enough — or see it as a meaningful moment in his legacy —  to deliver the decision.  

    The Donald 'misinformates'"I'm very highly educated. I know words, I know the best words."

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    "Trump’s ‘violent language’ is ‘meant to scare people into submission’”

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    Ronna Romney McDaniel is out at NBC/MSNBC, thanks to the principled stance of journalists, and...

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    ...people like you and me who stopped our day and wrote to NBC, by the millions. 

    Yesterday I watched something I have never seen in our modern media. Almost every highly rated host at MSNBC, one after the other, looked the camera in the eye and told their bosses that Ronna would not be welcome on their shows, and who told the people who pay them to reverse course. They all did it in their own way, but they didn’t mince words. Don’t recall that happening at say, FOX, when Tucker was fired, or at least not in a way that got him re-hired or earned any coverage.  

    And while MSNBC takes a lot of the fanfare here it should be noted that journalists at the mothership of NBC were also in open revolt, as was the network’s union. Unlike in the case of Megyn Kelly, who was given months to die at NBC, McDaniel didn’t last a week. This is progress. 

    And it is and should be a reminder of the power we all have. We live in a corporate world, and it is easy to feel helpless and victimized by that. It is important to remember that corporations sell stuff, and we buy it. Without us, they have nothing. The brass at NBC did not fire McDaniel out of the goodness of their hearts, or they wouldn’t have hired her to begin with. They did so because they got backed into a corner that threatened their profits and their reputation. The caveat is “we” have to see our power and take it.

    Between last Friday when McDaniel’s hire was announced and today, Tuesday, we gave huge voice. And the hosts at MSNBC stared their bosses down. And I think they were successful in doing so because they didn’t make it about liberals vs. conservatives. They did so by making it about the essence of journalism. You don’t hire the person who was in every way, resistant to the facts, or to be more blunt, a liar, every bit as much as Trump is. Who was for burning it all down to further her needs. And oh yes, as the head of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel did exactly that. (In fact, sucking up to Trump might be the only thing she did, as Dog knows, she was a shitty fundraiser.) And she wasn’t just an election denier, she is every bit as guilty of insurrection as were those who are now in jail for it. 

    So, the enormous corporation that is NBC news said “uncle.” The balance of power is always tricky, and sometimes it is more of a teeter totter than an anvil---at least for as long as we resist cynical retreat, and unite despite our differences, to embrace the fight against Donald Trump with heart and soul, AND same goes for all those who are complicit in the lies he tells and the extreme danger he represents.  

    PWB Peeps Open Thread: Script or Scribble?

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    I’m sure some of our furry friends could tell awesome stories if they could write.

    cat-this-cat-looks-like-s-about-tell-best-ghost-story-ever-heard-ebestof-horror.jfif

    cat-poet.jpg

    or maybe some artwork

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    catpainttiger.PNG

    or plans

    cat sitting between book and notebook, pondering

    but sometimes things just don’t work that way.

    thiscatpaints.JPG

    A gentle reminder of how we do things:  🐱🐶🐦

    StFrancisandthebird.jpg

    • Do not troll the diary. If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
    • Please do share pics of your fur kids!  If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
    • Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs.  Birds... are birds! Peeps are people.
    • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog.  If you’re having “issues” with another Kossack, keep it “out there.” This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
    • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals. These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.  If we alert you to it, please remember that we do have phobic peeps who react strongly to them.  If you keep posting banned pics...well then...the Tigress will have to take matters in hand.  Or, paw.

    Top Comments: Voter Registration Weirdness

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    I have mentioned a few times how many registered Democrats are essentially closet Republicans there are on Long Island. Until this past special election when Mazi Pilip ran, I don't think this was understood much. Both my current and previous count legislators are/were registered Democrats who ran as Republicans.

    Additionally, I have heard numerous people, usually older voters, make it a point to tell us poll workers they are shocked to realize they are registered Democrats when they come in to vote. Most of these people state they haven't been or voted for a Democrat for 30+ years. Long Island isn’t Kentucky or West Virginia where people come from a long history of family members being registered Democrats as to have some ancestral tie to the party they like maintaining.

    Considering the choke-hold the Republican machine has on Long Island including turning what should be civil service jobs into patronage jobs, you would think the opposite would be true: closet Democrats registered and running campaigns as Republicans.

    Here is one example from a recent Newsday article on early voting in next week’s presidential primary:

    Daniel Vanvelsor, 58, of Garden City Park, said he is a registered Democrat but "almost always vote Republican." He said he voted for Dean Phillips, who dropped out of the race in early March, "because I don’t like Biden."

    It just seems really weird to me.

    Diarist reserves all rights to his original writing only. Community material is not covered by this ©

    Now a word from out sponsor and onto the Tops!

    From your very busy diarist:

    A simple reply from me giving the correct spelling of Lawrence O’Donnell’s name elicited this funny reply from Dave the Wave to a reply to my comment. I do wonder what the full lyrics to rhyme are.

    Top Comments:

    Highlighted by nookular:

    In the diary by Merlin196360 about the (subsequently rescinded) job offer to Ronna McDaniel— this is my idea of a Top Comment (made by Stevemb)

    Top Photos (for March 25th)

    Top Mojo

    6)  [image] by exlrrp +120
    22) [embed] by IndieGuy +76
    29) [image] by exlrrp +69


    "The Savior": Seek Your Salvation for $59.95 — The Week in Editorial Cartoons, Part 2 (Update #2)

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    What You Reap is What You Sow

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    I expect to post another 10-15 editorial cartoons in the comments section. If new cartoons go online tonight, I’ll post them as manual updates to the diary.

    I appreciate your support for this diary series.


    If you missed my previous diary, here is the diary link — The 2024-25 Trump Retribution Tour and His Targets — The Week in Editorial Cartoons


    They All Do It; I’m Just Better At It

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    Updates Posted Here

    • Update #2 — 11:42 9m ET

    Hopefully, He Will Be Defeated and Silenced After the 2024 Election

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    What Lying Will Get You

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    Surprise, Surprise!

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    • Update #1— 11:31 pm ET

    President Biden on Trump

    David Fitzsimmons is the former editorial cartoonist for the Arizona Star

    A “Leader” Trump Tries to Emulate

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    The Savior

    Is nothing sacred?  Grifters will do what they do best: grift!

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    Trump Embraces Religion the More Trouble He’s In

    You would be forgiven for assuming that Donald Trump celebrating Easter by selling a Bible was some kind of joke.

    After all, Trump was never overtly religious before entering politics.  He notably stumbled while referencing a book of the Bible during his 2016 campaign even though now he claims it’s his “favorite book.”  

    Donald Trump is celebrating Easter by selling copies of his latest product, the God Bless the USA Bible.  Says Trump in his pitch: “And this is very important and very important to me.  I want to have a lot of people have it.  You have to have it for your heart, for your soul.”

    He adds: “We’ve lost religion in our country.  All Americans need a Bible in their home and I have many, it’s my favorite book, it’s a lot of people’s favorite book.  This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America and to make America great again is our religion.  Religion is so important, it’s so missing.” link


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    Attribution for the above cartoon: Dave Whamond @DaveWhamond

    Columnist Philip Bump puts it all in perspective in the Washington Post.  Making money while saving souls?  It’s a winner in MAGA World.

    Donald Trump finds votes and profits at the intersection of politics and religion

    More to the point, why is he plugging this Bible now?  The answers are obvious: now because he needs money and this Bible because he benefits financially to some extent.  Perhaps you think I am also being cynical.  After all, Trump offers that he’s pitching the book now because Easter is Sunday.  Perhaps he simply wants Americans to have a Bible in-hand on the most sacred of Christian holidays.

    We turn again to that FAQ.

    “The God Bless The USA Bible is printed in limited-edition quantities,” it reads.  “Most orders ship within 4-6 weeks of the time ordered.  Your order will ship as it becomes available, and we will make reasonable efforts to ship your order as quickly as possible.”

    You pay the cost of the Bible, shipping and taxes up front, of course.  First things first.

    With God’s Help, He’ll Succeed

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    The Chosen One

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    The Patriot

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    MAGA’s Choice: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t!

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    Calling His Bluff

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    The Most Persecuted Man in the United States

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    Just Say No

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    The Con Man Cometh

    Poor, Poor Me

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    Best BOGO Sale in Manhattan

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    But, Of Course!

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    What Must Be Done

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    March Madness is Everywhere

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    Yeah, But You’re Encouraging Violence, Just as On January 6, 2021

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    Crushing Our Rights

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    Women’s Rights Must Be Protected at All Costs

    Do You Have Mifepristone With You?

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    Not Acceptable

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    If You Keep This Up, Wait Until November 2024

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    The Shape of Things to Come in 2025?

    Yeah, We Know That

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    SCOTUS Live

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    Share This! GOP Project 2025 Plans for Reproductive Rights

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    Today I heard WBUR’s Meghna Chakrabarti’s discussion about the Republican’s Project 2025 and what it has to say about reproductive rights.  I’ve been reading up on this, so there weren’t many surprises for me, but I was struck by how unambiguous these “conservatives” are about their feelings toward reproductive freedom.  (Hint — they hate it.)  They really are saying the quiet part out loud, and in this conversational format it’s very easy to understand. 

     I encourage everyone to share this segment with every uterus-having person and the people who care about them.  It paints a stark picture that shouldn’t be ignored, both in the 2024 elections and going forward. 

    Find it here:

    www.wbur.org/...

    Greece F-16s are for Sale. Ukraine gets first mention as possible buyer.

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    Lead story today in TWZ(The Warzone) is that Greece which is scheduled to receive the F-35 wants to streamline its air assets and would like to sell its F-16s among other aircraft. In light of recent events it is not hard to guess which country may get first dibs.  The first country mentioned is Ukraine.  And I think it is a capital idea. And a great fit.

    www.twz.com/...

    Greece has suddenly become very involved in arming Ukraine as recently reported by David Axe of Forbes.  JRB(our awesome President) is quietly using Greece as a conduit for arms to Ukraine.  It makes for very interesting reading, especially since the Republican congress don’t have a say or can’t do much about the process being used … 

    Joe Biden Is Arming Greece So Greece Can Arm Ukraine—And Pro-Russia Republicans Can’t Stop Him

    ‘Excess defense articles’ is a powerful authority

    “The United States is gifting older surplus weapons to Greece with the understanding that Greece donates to Ukraine some of its own surplus weapons.”

    www.forbes.com/…

    And the Greeks, working with the Czech Republic are sending more stuff and intend to keep doing so. JRB has been playing this right .. quietly but effectively nudging Europa to take the lead in her own defence against Russia without it becoming a Russia v. US or even NATO.

    “Greece will continue supplying Ukraine with guns and ammunition this year without depleting its stocks.

    The equipment will be bought from the Czech Republic and transferred directly to Ukraine. Czech and Greek officials are negotiating the prices of these systems; signing a bilateral agreement will follow.

    Greek officials say that it is ammunition that Ukraine needs the most and that its offer will contribute toward meeting the Ukrainians’ needs.

    Athens has notified the European Union officials in charge of coordinating assistance to Kyiv that it can supply Ukraine with ammunition this year through the Czech Republic, namely 2,000 5-inch Zuni rockets; 180 2.75-inch rockets, used in Ukraine’s successful anti-tank warfare and close to the top of the list of Ukrainian requests; 90,000 90mm projectiles, also used in anti-tank warfare, as well as anti-aircraft weapons; 4 million bullets; and 70 M114A1 US-made 155mm howitzers.

    Apparently this process has been going on since January this year. As I said in an earlier diary, no way JRB lets Ukraine go empty-handed, congressional aid package or no.  I have no doubt that when it is all said and done the US congress will pass an aid package but in the mean time things are quietly going on behind the scene to keep Ukraine in the fight, even as Ukraine herself and the rest of Europe ramp up their war making capacity.  

    www.ekathimerini.com/...

    Hopeful Signs at Supreme Court Regarding Abortion Drug Mifepristone Hearing?

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    Raw Story has a couple of promising pieces out regarding the Supreme Court hearing today about Texas-based Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s attempt to impose a nationwide ban on the “morning after” abortion pill Mifepristone.  From the first, we hear about Neil Gorsuch’s extreme skepticism about both the “merits” of the case and the increasing tendency of single judges like Kacsmaryk to try and impose their own narrow views on the rest of us with unjustified nationwide injunctions:

    The court heard oral arguments Tuesday on the Food and Drug Administration’s rules for dispensing the mifepristone, which were challenged by the anti-abortion Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, and Gorsuch appeared skeptical that Texas-based federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk had the authority to issue a nationwide ban.

    "There are zero universal injunctions issued during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 12 years in office, pretty consequential ones, and over the last four years or so the number is something like 60, and maybe more than that," Gorsuch told Erin Hawley, an attorney for the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. "They're a relatively new thing, and you're asking us to extend and pursue this relatively new remedial course which this court never adopted itself. Lower courts have kind of run with this."

    "Neil Gorsuch expresses undisguised contempt for Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's nationwide ban on mifepristone, condemning it as part of a 'rash' of unlawfully overbroad remedies awarded by unrestrained district courts," said Slate legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern. "Obviously a bad sign for the anti-abortion advocates here."
    "Apparently, we've triggered 'anti-universal injunction'-Gorsuch," said Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation. "Never know which power this dude is going to be fixated on destroying but TODAY THE BROKEN CLOCK STOPPED ON THE RIGHT NUMBER."

    Meanwhile, in the second Raw Story piece Ketanji Brown Jackson did a brilliant takedown of fellow Justice Samuel Alito’s snide questioning of pharma lawyer Jessica Ellsworth as to whether she thought the FDA was “infallible” in its judgements regarding drug safety:

    "So you were asked if the agency is infallible, and I guess I'm wondering about the flip side, which is do you think that courts have specialized scientific knowledge with respect to pharmaceuticals, and as a company that has pharmaceuticals, do you have concerns about judges parsing medical and scientific studies?" Jackson said.

    "I think we have significant concerns about that, and there are two amicus briefs from the pharmaceutical industry that expand on why exactly that's so concerning for pharmaceutical companies who do depend on FDA's gold standard review process to approve their drugs and then to be able to sell their products in line with that considered judgment," Ellsworth replied.

    All-in-all, a surprisingly good day at the Supreme Court, where the justices seemed inclined to dismiss the case against Mifepristone out of hand for lack of standing on the part of the plaintiffs (a fringe group of “Christian” doctors, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine) to demonstrate how they were harmed in any real way by the continued availability of the drug.  We probably won’t get their decision in the case until June though.

    Not 1958 ...

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    I was thinking the Extreme Right was trying to take us back to the good old days of 1958 when June Cleaver wore pearls while making dinner from her Betty Crocker cookbook.  

    The Extreme Right would overturn

    •          Obergefell (gay marriage)
    •          Roe (abortion)
    •          Griswold (contraception)
    •          Loving (homosexuality)
    •          Voting Rights (1965)
    •          Civil Rights (1964 ending Jim Crow)

    But, I was wrong.  The new case against Mifepristone (RU486) rested on the Comstock Act of 1873 which criminalized the distribution of pornography (including lewd letters), contraceptives, and abortifacients.  There is now talk of a campaign against “recreational sex” commonly known as “sex”.  In this fantasy trip in the way-back machine, will the Extreme Right pass by the women’s right to vote (1920)?  Should women be allowed to own property and open bank accounts?  How about the 14th amendment that made inter-racial marriage legal?  The ER wants to reverse the 20th century.  Do they want to reverse the 19th century too?  This attack on social progress must be soundly defeated.

    Overnight News Digest March 26, 2024

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    Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and  JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.

    OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.  

    Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.

    Insomniacs' Late Night Vent Hole

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    Please read and follow instructions before opening. Or consult your physician. This is a no flame zone. This vent-hole (hereinafter known as IVH), if lost or stolen will not be replaced or purchase price refunded. Violation of IVH rules will result in expulsion without refund. A copy of IVH rules can be obtained from one or more members wearing tie-dyed oxford shirts after written requests. Admission to certain functions within the IVH may require additional innuendo, enter at your own risk. Frivolity and silliness are highly recommended for all riders. Flame wars are expressly forbidden. Please consult your counselor, magistrate or religious functionary before usage. Comment below if you agree with said terms.

    In the news today, the fallout of NBC hiring a traitor because reasons? It seems the faces of the news have stood up and taken a side. Here is Rachel:

    In other news, a tragedy in Maryland, at least it wasn’t a mass shooting! 

    I am so thankful for a President that gets right on television as tells it like it is.

    Yesterday, they let tRump off the hook and today it was Paxton.

    Speaking of mass shootings, there was this one with over 100 people dead. Surprise! It wasn’t in America, it was in Putin’s Russia. I’m not gloating, but maybe Russia is more like America than we think. The problems are in the governments, not the citizens.

    Who is talking to who.

    SPOILER WARNING: A late night gathering for non-serious palaver that does not speak of that night's show. Posting a spoiler will get your brolly whacked. You don't want that to happen to you.

    Tuesday, March 26

    Jimmy Kimmel: Christina Applegate, Huey Lewis, a performance from "The Heart of Rock and Roll" (R 3/18/24)
    Jimmy Fallon: Maya Rudolph, Pete Townshend, a performance from "The Who's Tommy"
    Stephen Colbert: Carol Burnett, Waxahatchee featuring MJ Lenderman
    After Midnight: Shane Torres, Kyle Kinane, Amy Miller
    Seth Meyers: Cecily Strong, Nicholas Galitzine, Greg Davies, Alex Horne, Kaz Rodriguez

    I am definitely watching Colbert tonight!


    IAN: More Rain This Week

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    As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!

    IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!

    We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern

    Monday: Youffraita

    Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac

    Wednesday: Pam from Calif

    Thursday: art ah zen

    Friday: FloridaSNMOM

    Saturday: FloridaSNDad

    Sunday: loggersbrat

    The San Francisco Bay Area is expecting another rain storm. This will help us, as we usually have hot dry summers. We’re all going to get webbed feet soon. Maci as usual can’t be bothered by weather patterns. Hope all is well and safe. 

    IMG_3167.jpeg
    Maci

    Countdown With Keith Olbermann, S2E147: Trump Is So Sick He’s Now Making Up Words; Ronna, Gone-A

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    Episode 147 has been uploaded.

    Preview:

    YouTube, later.

    A-Block

    ****, his cracker has slipped off his cracker.

    • It is impossible to say that he cannot possibly last like this,  what with the forces of aphasia and dementia and narcissism and head injury and whatever else there is, pulling him apart … but of course he’s lasted in approximately this same space for months now — and in spaces not really that much BETTER than this one for years and decades and if the early anecdotes are correct, a lifetime. Still: inventing your own words is a sign of a dozen different PHYSICAL problems, to say nothing of psychological ones like bipolarity and environmental ones like huffing D-Con Roach Room Fogger.
    • HELP ME RONNA, HELP HELP ME RONNA: And now she belongs to the ages. Five days, one show. Not the shortest tenure in television history nor the fastest-cancelled program (still held by an ABC comedy show from 1969, cancelled just before the first commercial). But NBC’s decision to ax Ronna McDaniel — no matter how tortured, self-serving, and late the protests from its stars might have been, does offer some small hope.
    • The point of all this — and perhaps the value of this internal rebellion — is that perhaps the somnambulant American political media, especially the American TELEVISION political media — has awakened from its naïve stupor. I have been saying here for eighteen months that EVERY news organization in this country has had the same meeting: what do we do if Trump regains power. Not “what do we do journalistically” but what do we do to protect our profits — and what do we do so when Trump starts jailing reporters and TV executives, he’ll leave us alone. Or, more realistically, he’ll let us become one of his propaganda channels.
    • Remember, in the minds of its executives, television news isn’t a kind of NEWS, it’s a kind of TELEVISION. It is designed to fill the places between the commercials. If it serves some kind of public purpose, hey, great, as long as that doesn’t mean we have to go TOO many hours cancelling all those advertisements just because some POPE died or something.
    • Putting Trump on and taking Mehdi Hasan off and hiring Ronna McDaniel was INOCULATION, nothing more, nothing less. It was proving to Trump and the MAGAs that while no, we aren’t shuttering MSNBC and we’re not in favor of this whole “end the peaceful transfer of power” and “fascism is the new democracy” stuff — hey, go on … we’re listening.
    • American TV news isn’t going to save us from creeping fascism. But maybe — MAYBE = the scattered, largely selfish, righteous-ehhh-kinda righteous indignation at NBC means American TV news will stop HELPING fascism creep faster. Guard rail? No. Scattering spike strips across democracy’s highways? Uhh, ok, maybe we’ll stop.
    • Also, I sing. I mean: “Help Me Ronna”? I was supposed to RESTRAIN myself from THAT?

    Yes. For the love of all of the gods, yes, PLEASE no singing!!!

    B-Block

    • (30:57) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Congressman Tim Burchett sued by Denton Loudermill Jr., the Kansas City man he claimed was (a) a Super Bowl parade shooter and (b) an “illegal alien.” He was neither. Ari Fleischer actually slams Biden for supporting George W. Bush’s war in Iraq that Ari helped sell to a gullible America.

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    (Sadly, I was able to add a few that weren’t on Keith’s list. And it was ANTHONY Sabatini, not David.)

    David Simon asked a question that we’ve all been wondering.

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    C-Block

    • THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mentioned those tortured anti-Ronna comments from MSNBC. Lawrence O’Donnell was astonishingly wrong in his recap of how TV news in the old days didn’t reward, say, Nixon’s Watergate conspirators with gigs (other than Pat Buchanan, John Ehrlichmann, Robert Bork, Gordon Liddy, plus Ollie North from Iran-Contra and a series of ice cream commercials for Ehrlichmann).

    • Since I’ve brought [Lawrence O’Donnell] up, I might as well tell you what a schmuck he is, like when he guest hosted Countdown and while I was out a few weeks, he tried to get me fired so he could take over the show and when that didn’t work, he just stole a couple of the producers and got his own show. Oh, by the way, I WAS away for a couple weeks because my Dad was dying.

    Ukraine Invasion Day 763: RU proposes actionable but likely impractical retribution

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    The United States has the power to deny Russia its only strategy for success, nevertheless.

    The United States has the power to deny Russia its only strategy for success, nevertheless. The United States has allowed Russia to play an outsized role in shaping American decision-making, but the United States has also made many sound choices regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine.[5] The key successes achieved by Ukraine and its partners in this war have resulted from strategic clarity.[6] Lost opportunities on the battlefield, on the other hand, have resulted from the West’s failure to connect ground truths to our interests quickly enough to act.[7] Fortunately, the United States faces an easier task in overcoming the Kremlin's manipulations than Russia does in closing the massive gap between Russia's war aims and its capabilities. The United States must surge its support to Ukraine, and it must do so in time. Delays come at the cost of Ukrainian lives, increased risk of failure in Ukraine, and the erosion of the US advantage over Russia, granting the Kremlin time to rebuild and develop capabilities that it intends to use against the West — likely on a shorter timeline than the West assesses.[8]

    The United States must defeat Russia’s efforts to alter American will and decision-making for reasons that transcend Ukraine. For the United States to deter, win, or help win any future war, US decisions must be timely, connected to our interests, values, and ground truth, but above all – these decisions must be ours. The US national security community theorizes a lot about the importance of US decision advantage over our adversaries, including timeliness. Russia presents an urgent and real-world requirement for America to do so in practice.

    www.understandingwar.org/...

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    Separate investigations conducted by Western media outlets have found that Russian forces may be using Starlink terminals in Ukraine. CNN reported on March 26 that frontline Ukrainian troops have increasingly observed Russian forces using Starlink devices despite US sanctions prohibiting Russia’s use of Starlink.[39] CNN noted that Ukrainian troops’ increased sightings of Russian forces using Starlink coincide with claims from Russian crowdfunders that they successfully purchased Starlink technology in third-party countries. Ukrainian soldiers also told CNN that Starlink’s connection speeds decreased, while connection issues increased in the past several months. ISW previously observed claims in February that Russian forces were using Starlink in occupied Ukraine.[40] Bloomberg reported on March 26 that its own investigation determined that there are “wide-spanning” examples of unspecified actors trading and selling Starlink kits illegally on the black market.[41] An anonymous trader told Bloomberg that recent government crackdowns in Kazakhstan against illegal Starlink terminals “barely” reduced illegal Starlink usage.Bloomberg noted that Starlink‘s operator SpaceX should be able to prevent Russia from using Starlink in occupied Ukraine because SpaceX should be able to identify every Starlink transmitter. ISW cannot independently verify any of these reports.

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    Key Takeaways:

    • Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the Crocus City Hall attackers originally fled toward Belarus not Ukraine, directly undermining the Kremlin narrative on Ukraine’s involvement, possibly to head off questions about why the attackers headed toward Belarus in the first place.
    • Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior Kremlin officials appear to be struggling to maintain a consistent rhetorical line about the Crocus City Hall attack, indicating that the Kremlin has not fully figured out how to reconcile its information operations with the reality of its intelligence and law enforcement failure.
    • Russian officials are proposing actionable but likely impractical solutions to the emotional outcries for retribution in response to the Crocus City Hall attack.
    • The Moldovan Constitutional Court reversed a ruling banning the Kremlin-affiliated Shor Party on March 26, which will likely allow pro-Russian Moldovan actors to reconsolidate around the Shor Party and reverse the impacts of the previous Moldovan ban on the party.
    • Ukrainian officials stated on March 26 that Ukrainian forces successfully conducted a strike on the night of March 23 to 24 against a Ukrainian ship that Russian forces had captured in 2014.
    • Separate investigations conducted by Western media outlets have found that Russian forces may be using Starlink terminals in Ukraine.
    • Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Kreminna and Bakhmut on March 26.
    • The Russian military has reportedly started recruiting personnel for elements of the newly reformed Leningrad Military District (LMD).

    Recruiting adverts have been posted for the new 44th Army Corps in Luga, in the newly-established Leningrad Military District. Russia is making efforts to expand its forces in the north-west of the country, as most of its forces remain dedicated to operations in Ukraine.Russia will almost certainly have to decide whether new units such as the 44th Army Corps remain in their garrison locations once established, or if they are transferred to operations in Ukraine to maintain combat power there. Newly established units have previously been immediately committed to Ukraine, and it is almost certain that the need to sustain operations is hampering Russia’s wider force expansion ambitions.

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    Bakhmut direction as of 26th March 2024

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    Ukrainian officials stated on March 26 that Ukrainian forces successfully conducted a strike on the night of March 23 to 24 against a Ukrainian ship that Russian forces had captured in 2014. Ukrainian Navy Spokesperson Captain Third Rank Dmytro Pletenchuk stated that Ukrainian forces conducted a Neptune missile strike on the Ukrainian Kostyantyn Olshanskyi Ropucha-class landing ship that Russian forces captured during Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.[34] Pletenchuk stated that Russian forces had been disassembling the Kostyantyn Olshanskyi at the port in Sevastopol to use it for spare parts but decided to start restoring it in 2024 after concluding that the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) was running out of large landing ships. Ukrainian military officials previously stated that Ukrainian forces successfully struck the Yamal and Azov Ropucha-class landing ships, Ivan Khurs Yury Ivanov–class reconnaissance ship, a BSF communications center, and several unspecified BSF infrastructure facilities in Sevastopol on the night of March 23 to 24.[35] Satellite imagery from March 23 and 24 shows damage to the rear part of the Ivan Khurs docked in occupied Sevastopol, Crimea.[36] ISW continues to assess that Ukrainian strikes against BSF ships and infrastructure will likely continue to deter Russian forces from redeploying ships to Sevastopol and the western Black Sea and complicate the BSF’s ability to maximize its combat capabilities.[37]

    www.understandingwar.org/...

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    White House Picture of the Day for March 27th 2024

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    Welcome to White House Picture of the Day

    Showcasing a photo from the White House Photography staff, led by Adam Schultz.

    Feel free to join us anytime and share with us what is happening in your life today.

    Bob

    School Board Candidate With Ties to Convicted Felon and Charter School Owner Runs on Dubious Record

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    In Shorewood, Wisconsin, some residents are raising questions about school board candidate Andrew Frey’s background, intentions, and association with convicted felon, Roger Conners.

    Like many would-be local politicians, Shorewood school board candidate Andrew Frey has a lot to say about accountability, transparency, and fiscal responsibility, and how he’s the guy to fix it. After all, he claims, has the credentials. During both his first run for school board in 2022, and throughout his current run, Frey has repeatedly highlighted his experience as an educator, citing his work as a classroom teacher and administrator, noting specifically that he ended his education career “as an Assistant Principal for three years in an underrepresented community in Cincinnati, Ohio,” and claiming to have a “deep understanding of how schools are run.”

    It turns out, however, that Frey hasn’t exactly been telling the truth. When pressed on social media, Frey answered that he had worked as an educator at Riverside Academy, Theodore Roosevelt Community Public School, and College Hill Leadership Academy, all private-public charter schools in Cincinnati, two of which were only open a handful of years. In progressive Shorewood, his association with resource-sucking charter schools might raise red flags, but the issues with Frey’s background go much deeper. Frey, it turns out, worked at even more charter schools in Cincinnati than he initially stated, including seven years at one Cincinnati charter school while living in Shorewood.

    Frey_Resume.png

    What’s more? The superintendent/principal at every one of those schools was Roger Conners, a now-convicted felon who repeatedly stole public funds intended for education. Conners, in fact, founded three of those schools, buying up property with his mom and churning out charter schools. In 2010, he enlisted the right-wing advocacy group, 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, to fight the school district’s deed restriction, which initially prevented him from opening the Theodore Roosevelt Community Public School on property he’d purchased from the district. Then, Conners and 1851 took their attack on public education a step further, working to change state law. Now, in Ohio, school districts cannot apply deed restrictions to building sales, and instead, they must give charter schools the first opportunity to purchase any property they put up for sale.

    A Relationship Spanning Decades?

    From Riverside to Theodore Roosevelt/College Hill

    Frey followed Conners from school to school starting as far back as 2004: Frey and Conners were both state they were employed at Northwest Local Schools, and then Frey was employed at Riverside Academy as a paraprofessional and/or teacher’s aide from 2005-2010, under Conners. Frey also states he served as an interim assistant principal for one year, although public salary information doesn’t support this. 

    After Conners was formally admonished by the Ohio Board of Education in 2009 for falsifying and attendance data at Riverside Academy, Conners opened the new Theodore Roosevelt Community Public School, where Frey became a key employee as assistant principal

    There are some strange facts about Frey’s move with Conners from Riverside to Theodore Roosevelt/College Hill Leadership Academy: 

    Ohio Board of Education license information for Andrew T. Frey.
    • Frey is listed as the assistant principal on the school’s form 990 for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. It is likely he also served as the assistant principal from 2009-2010, as he claims to have worked as a principal for three years on a “special license.”

    • However, he was denied a temporary alternative administrator license from the Ohio Board of Education in 2008, and in fact was only ever granted a substitute teaching license in his entire career in education.

    • Frey’s earnings from this school do not appear in any public salary databases. His earnings at two other charters he worked at under Conners do, but this one does not.  

    From Theodore Roosevelt/College Hill to Cincinnati Technology Institute.

    In 2012, Roger Conners was fired from Theodore Roosevelt and College Hill Leadership Academy, where Frey served as assistant principal, after a routine audit turned up more than $32,000 in “questionable receipts.” (See image below.)

    fired_from_roosevelt.png

    We can see a pattern by now, of course: after his termination, Conners opened up yet another charter school, the Cincinnati Technology Academy. Andrew Frey, now living in Shorewood, officially joined 2015 Conners’ latest venture as a “curriculum specialist,” according to public salary information. Frey never mentioned this job in education throughout his 2022 campaign, despite being actively employed there, and he did not mention it during the current campaign until a Shorewood resident brought it up on social media. As mentioned above, Frey had explicitly stated, more than once, that his career in education ended with his role as an assistant principal. Now that his time at Cincinnati Technology Academy has been exposed, Frey claims that his job was “remote electronic curriculum support.” Frey also states that his completed education includes a bachelor’s degree in Sports and Recreation Organization from Miami University — an unlikely educational background for this role. But why did he withhold this information?

    Frey’s career movement from paraprofessional to assistant principal to electronic curriculum support, without any relevant education or licensing, is remarkable, and deeply concerning for a school board candidate who claims to have a “deep understanding” of how schools work.

    In 2018, Roger Conners was placed on temporary leave after it was discovered he’d been employing a known sex offender in the school (and possibly at previous schools), and paying the offender under the table. 

    According to widely available public employee data, Andrew Frey’s employment at Cincinnati Technology Institute continued into 2022, until Roger Conners was fired from that school.

    In 2023, Conners was convicted of a felony charge of having an unlawful interest in a public contract, and later the Ohio state auditor ordered him to repay $543,478. 

    Record Number of Women Veterans Collecting Disability Benefits

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    The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is delivering disability compensation benefits to a record 702,557* women Veterans, an increase of 180,959 over the past five years. This is largely due to the PACT Act, which expanded health care and benefits to millions of Veterans exposed to toxins and other hazards while serving in the US military (e.g. Agent Orange, burn pits, or contaminated water on USMC bases).

    Women Veterans on average receive $26,809 in earned disability compensation benefits per year from the VA. 89% of women Veterans who apply for disability benefits receive them for at least one condition.

    President Biden made supporting Veterans a key pillar in his Unity Agenda for the country.  All Veterans are encouraged to visit the VA website at VA.gov or call 1-800-MYVA411 to apply for earned benefits.

    *The VA today is assisting more women Veterans (702,557) than the total number of armed forces personnel of Mexico (341,000) and Canada(72,000) combined.

    Sources: VA sets all-time record for benefits delivered to women Veterans

    www.workingnurse.com/…  World Bank Open Data | Data

    Morning Open Thread: Some Humor to Brighten Your Day

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    So, I had a different diary in mind, but the gods of YouTube kept tossing me irresistible videos that I can’t quite turn into a coherent whole. So, just enjoy!

    First up is one of the great Broadway stories, from her one-woman show Elaine Stritch At Liberty.

    Elaine’s Shubert New Haven Adventure

    [11:54]

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    Morning Open Thread is a daily, copyrighted post from a host of editors and guest writers. We support our community, invite and share ideas, and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue in an open forum.

    Join us, please.

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    Editor’s Note: Morning Open Thread is looking for community members willing to take on hosting duties—whether it’s a day here and there or a regular weekly post: Saturdays and Tuesdays are open. If you’re interested, just reach out to P or Officebss. And thank you.


    Something Amazing Happened Last Night in Alabama. Can We Replicate It Nationally?

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    There was a special election last night, and you could have very easily missed the news. Something amazing happened in the state of Alabama, in a state house district narrowly carried by Donald Trump in 2020. Our candidate was running in traditionally red suburban Huntsville in the northern part of the state. She ran on a message of protecting abortion rights and especially protecting IVF after a heinous State Supreme Court decision. Marilyn Lands, our candidate, not only won, but did so in a landslide!

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    This was a stunning reversal of fortune from 2022, where Lands lost this seat by 7%. She won almost every precinct in the district, including the one where her opponent is from. 

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    With results like these, it is time to talk about going on offense. Fury over the Dobbs decision isn’t abating. If anything, the fury over the implications of the case is intensifying as time rolls by. Abortion rights, contraception, birth control, and IVF are potent issues for our team to run on.

    Now, they are by no means the only issues that matter. Obviously, with Trump sucking the oxygen out of the room as usual, he is the main issue in the 2024 election once again. But look at the result here. We win a Trump district by 25% and obviously something is going right. Candidates that don’t run on women’s rights aren’t going to get very far this year.

    Speaking of going on the offensive, there are two funds meant to do that in the House of Representatives.

    • The 24 in 24 Fund targets the 16 remaining Republicans that reside in districts Biden won in 2020.
    • The MAGA Dozen Fund targets districts that Trump narrowly won in 2020 — much like the district that Marilyn Lands won last night.

    I’m hoping for generous donations to both funds today. That takes us one step closer to making the blue wave necessary to codify Roe into reality!

    Blue Ocean Wave

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    Want to donate, but hate getting the harassing messages afterwards? Read THIS DIARY to stop them!

    I’m planning on writing 70 election themed diaries this year. Please follow the #SaveTheMajority hashtag and the group Save the Majority so that you don’t miss information on the key down ballot races of 2024!

    I am fundraising for a MASSIVE number of candidates! I’m also helping boost the Good News Roundup crew, who have two fundraisers of their own. That way, our combined powers reach the most candidates possible!

    If you see “[district] nominee”, that means there is a contested primary for the seat, and I typically don’t meddle in primary elections.

    Without further ado, below the fold are all of the pertinent fundraisers. If you want to add to the list, feel free to chime in with your candidate!

    GNR for Wednesday, March 27, 2024: Potluck

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    Hi guys — our usual writer couldn’t manage today, so this is just a gathering spot for the day, where we bring our own news.

    And: Ronna is out!

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    If you have not seen it, you should enjoy the Maddow smackdown of the hiring of Ronna at NBC.

    Wonkette also has a great article about this. Evan Hurst:

    She continued that she understands that the brass at MSNBC was fine with it when NBC News decided to issue McDaniel a vest and a nametag, but that when just about every MSNBC employee in the building screamed FUCK NO YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES, they changed their tune and told them specifically that McDaniel would not appear on their air at MSNBC. She noted that there are people trying to muddy that message in the press, trying to make it like that’s not exactly what happened at MSNBC. She said that’s exactly what happened at MSNBC.

    Note: all here who protested by sending complaints to those at NBC / MSNBC helped. It gave the on-air talent the support they needed.

    Anyway, please bring your own good news! Remember, TRUTH MATTERS! LOVE MATTERS!

    President Biden Made Juneteenth a Holiday: Boosting Biden Day 63

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    Dating back to 1865, Juneteenth commemorates the day when 250,000 slaves in the state of Texas, the last bastion for slavery during the final days of the Civil War, were declared free by the U.S. Army.

    Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the year after the war ended, and they “often involved helping newly freed Black folks learn about their voting rights,” according to NPR. “Rodeos and horseback riding were also common.” More recently, cookouts, parades, church services, concerts and other events were added.

    But official recognition of the day was slow to come. It wasn’t until June 2021 that Juneteenth became a national holiday.

    Juneteenth Is Now a Federal Holiday

    President Biden on Thursday signed a bill to recognize Juneteenth — the celebration to commemorate the end of chattel slavery in the United States — as a federal holiday.

    Federal employees will observe the holiday for the first time on Friday.

    "Throughout history, Juneteenth has been known by many names: Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day, Emancipation Day, and today, a national holiday," said Vice President Harris, who is the first woman, first Asian-American and the first Black person to serve as vice president.

    "We are gathered here in a house built by enslaved people. We are footsteps away from where President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation," she said at the White House signing ceremony. "We have come far, and we have far to go. But today is a day of celebration. It is not only a day of pride. It's also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action."

    Why is Juneteenth important?
    In the words of Angela Tate of the National Museum of African American History and Culture:

    Juneteenth doesn't feel fixed like July 4th. July 4th feels fixed in 1776, whereas Juneteenth always feels fluid and always willing to be adaptable to the incoming and upcoming generations. It always feels relevant to this continuous quest and fight for freedom and equality.

    Juneteenth has a multiplicity of meanings to people of African descent in the United States. They also see it as relevant to Africa, the Caribbean, and any other place where there's an African diasporic community. It's a continuous struggle, a continuous fight, a continuous place of remembrance.

    Juneteenth is also a site for political knowledge. It’s a time to recognize that you need to be registered to vote. You need to know what's going on in your own city. You need to take control of your civic duty.

    Juneteenth requires you to be present, in the moment, and very specific about why you are showing up to celebrate it.

    A year after declaring Juneteenth a holiday, President Biden spoke eloquently about what the day means to him:

    One year ago, I had the great honor of signing legislation to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday—the first new federal holiday since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day nearly four decades ago. Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation and a promise of a brighter morning to come.

    It is a day of profound weight and power that reminds us of our extraordinary capacity to heal, hope, and emerge from our most painful moments into a better version of ourselves. Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments. They confront them to grow stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do.

    I highlight that last part because I love it so much. YES! That is just what we do.

    Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden has done so much more than many people guessed could be done. He deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.

    What can you do to help?

    Donate to re-elect Joe Biden!

    Your donation will come bundled with others from our Good News community and will show Biden that there are many of us who support him and combine hard work with optimism in our battles for a better America!

    Want to do something else?

    Rec and comment on these posts to keep them alive at DKos and share them with others who might not realize how great a president Joe Biden has been.

    Looking for something else?  Here are some other ideas:

    This is an entry in my ongoing series Boosting Biden.  

    Check the comments for more information on how to find other entries and subscribe.

    IDidThat.jpg

    These posts are written by Goodnewsroundup (Goodie),
    edited by Matilda Briggs,
    supported by 2thanks and WolverineForTJatAW,
    and reinforced by several notable Kossacks!
    As with all good things, it takes a village.

    The Liars Are Liars, and Other Thoughts

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    I appreciate Chuck Todd’s ire over hiring a lying sycophant for “news analysis,” and I appreciate very much all the pissed off blowback directed at the numbskulls at NBC.

    But I ask myself: these people (like Chuck) have known that the Republican talking heads are liars. We have known it for years.

    Why did it take so long for media types to say “no more liars?” And will this mean that guests will be told off when they start lying again? Mics will be cut off when lying begins? I guess we will find out.

    Now, I normally don’t have  much to write about politics.  I’ve been cynical for a very long time about the candidates and the “news” shows.

    In Other One-Liners

    Heard Hoda Kotbe or her partner call the Baltimore container ship a “barge.” Not. Who writes this stuff?

    The media’s “writers” keep calling this a “collision.” When a ship hits something stationary it’s an “allision.” How many of these pixel-stained wretches went to Harvard, Stanford or Yale?

    Saw whatsisface on the network news sign off to  the tune of the Star Spangled Banner. Who’s the genius who thought that up?

    The Wrong Kind of Regulation. Again

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    Florida has just put into law a bill that says any social media accounts for children under the age of sixteen must be approved by their parents. It is largely moving in a good direction, but as usual, fear of touching the real money behind social media companies makes the bill less useful and more problematic than it should be.

    First, a note.  If your reaction to the bills like this is that parent should parent harder — go away.  If you seriously believe that parents, all by their little lonesomes, are equipped to overcome an entire capitalistic society bent on harvesting their children for fun and profit then you are not a serious person and need to be kept away from any task more important than playing with string.  And the string should probably be a very short piece, lest you hurt yourself.  You know what?  Screw that — give me back that string.  You can’t even be trusted with that.

    I am conflicted by this bill. On the one hand, the bill does the age verification as well as it can be done — allowing sites to use services that delete the verification and provide it anonymously, minimizing, though not entirely eliminating, privacy concerns.  On the other hand, there are teens, especially LGQTQ+ teens, who do derive some benefit from finding community online and some of those teens will find it harder to find those communities if their parents do not approve.  On the other other hand (this is a hand shaming free newsletter.  We celebrate any number of hand sin all their glory.), LGBTQ+ kids seem to suffer disproportionate harm from social media, and we know that all social media is bad for kids in general. The bill, then, on its own terms, may actually do more good than harm, something that rarely happens in Florida.  The problem are its terms.

    We keep, as a society, trying to solve the problems of the obvious harms that these companies do without dealing seriously with how they do these harms.  We are hurt, as a society and as people, by these companies because of their business model — they track an enormous amount of personal information about us and then use that information to sell us things and push our emotional buttons to keep us coming back to their sites for more.  The problem is not that kids have access to these sites, though that is an obvious concern.  The problem is that anyone is subjected to that kind of treatment.  If we stopped that, everyone, including our kids, would be materially better off.

    I know I sound repetitive on this point, but that’s because we keep making the same mistake.  We keep nibbling around the edges of the problem without attacking it head on.  That is likely because attacking it head on is hard.  It means that these companies would make less money than they do today.  To some people on the right, a company making less money is akin to the end of times.  To the companies themselves, it is an existential threat to their conception of themselves.  And their executives’ abilities to buy really big boats.  Pushing for these kinds of changes, outlawing that business model, then, is hard.  But it is the only way to really protect people.  It removes the incentives to bad behavior, increases our privacy, and makes the internet less toxic for everyone.  It is the rare relatively simple solution to a serious problem.

    Enacting that solution, of course, won’t be simple.  To our money overlords, it is slaughtering the golden goose. To the rest of us, it is an unalloyed good.  We get a better internet, Zuckerberg and his compatriots have less money to waste on things like a world without legs, and maybe investments could go to things like saving the planet or curing cancer instead of conning people into spending ten more minutes on Twitter.  (I am not calling it X and you cannot make me.)

    We just have to stop pretending that quarter-measures, that nibbling around the edges like Florida is doing, is the right approach, and go after the systematic issue at the heart of the problem.  Do that, and we might have a chance to do some real good.  Keep doing the same little tweaks over and over again, and, well, I guess you’ll just have to put up with me writing another one of these rants.

    Maybe I’ll have a fourth hand by then.

    Want more oddities like this?  You can follow my RSS Feed or free newsletter

    Kagro in the Morning is LIVE at 9 AM ET!

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    It’s officially “We’ll See Wednesday” here at KITM!

    As in, “It’s Wednesday, but I’m not sure how Greg Dworkin’s voice is holding up, so we’ll see whether he’s able to join us, and for how long.”

    It’s a very, very specific holiday. And if we’re lucky, we won’t “celebrate” it that often.

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    FANA Appoints Formal Counsel General to represent the Federation with the Kinakwii Nation in Canada.

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    I would like to share with the readers that the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas has appointed Mr. Damon Stone as the Formal Consul General for FANA and will be the Federation’s representative to the Kinakwii in Ontario, Canada.

    Mr. Stone will be reporting to Mr. Douglas Scott, FANA’s ambassador to the Commonwealth. Ambassador Scott reports to FANA’s Minister of International Affairs, UN Ambassador Principal Chief Dr. Ronald Yonaguska Holloway of the SandHill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Indians (NY, NJ, PA).

    He has over fifteen (15) years of experience in the Investment Banking Industry as a Market Maker and Proprietary Trader.  He was the Head of Pan-European Trading in Telecom, Media, and Technology for major financial institutions in London.

    Mr. Stone is currently Head of Trading and a high-level Net Worth specialist asset manager for a Wealth Management company located in Egland. His clients consist of some of the world’s largest tier-one institutional trading platforms. He has access to “highly confidential private placement programs within Tier One Investment Banks.”

    Mr. Stone’s responsibilities as the Formal Consul General will be to grow and support new indigenous projects in Canada and to facilitate communication between FANA, The Kinakwii Nation, and other indigenous Nations/Tribes.


    Bozos blame Biden for buckling bridge

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    Whenever a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans blame the President for everything that goes wrong, including things that the President has no control over. This is not new. I remember when Newt Gingrich blamed then-President Bill Clinton for a woman drowning her children in a car.

    Many American voters don’t understand how the federal government works and think that the President single-handedly does everything. Republicans are aware of this and never hesitate to exploit the American public’s ignorance. If the public was better informed, Republicans would have to find a new strategy.

    Daily Kos Elections Live Digest: 3/27

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    Welcome to the Daily Kos Elections Live Digest, your liveblog of all of today's campaign news. You can find our collection of public data atdailykosdata.com.

    Please note: The Live Digest is a Democratic presidential primary-free space. It’s also a place to discuss elections, not policy.

    Subscribe to our podcast, The Downballot! New episodes every Thursday morning.

    Songs as Mental Health Break: Don't Stand So Close to Me, The Police (1980)

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    If you are like me, you will need mental health breaks to maintain your sanity this year. For my part, I am starting my day with a great song, working alphabetically by song title (note: this does not mean a single song per letter). In comments, predict the next song, let me know a deserving song I have passed by, or tell me why this was an awful choice. Enjoy!

    Yes, another song about a creep that is absolute ear candy. . .

     


    Yesterday: Don’t Look Back in Anger, Oasis

    Trump demands Todd to be fired in retaliation for the firing of Ronna McDaniels: Meet the Fake Press

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    www.rawstory.com/…

    Donald Trump gave a preview of how his second presidency might look by demanding the firing of NBC News host Chuck Todd as retribution for the dismissal of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.

    ...

    "What boss or executive would allow a man or woman, in this case Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd, who was fired for dismal performance coupled with horrendous television ratings, to publicly SCOLD them as to their weakness & stupidity in hiring Ronna McDaniel," Trump posted on Truth Social at 12:31 a.m.. "Actually, they should be scolded for hiring 'Sleepy' for Meet the Fake Press, and keeping him on so long despite his poor performing skills, bad ratings, and bias."

    A modern mountebank, the ex con artist-in-chief selling Bibles to cure what ails his soul...

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    Spreading the Word

    Two Corinthians walked into a bar.  The first one asked, ”Have you heard? Trump is in town for a rally.

    The second Corinthian reached into his pocket to hold onto his wallet.

    — 2 Corinthians, Trump’s favorite Bible verse

    We have come a long way from roadside Burma Shave billboards.  If you are too young to remember, Burma Shave would set a series of little ads along rural roads with pithy storylines like this, which made them in those bygone days when Dad took ya’ll for a spin in the country anti-boredom treats— not to mention beginning reader lessons for the younger set.

    Advertising has come a long way since then as billboards festoon major highways and even infiltrate the inner city as messaging is plastered on bridge abutments and vacant buildings.  But Burma Shave is still the most memorable because of its rhyming, sequentially spaced, signs— usually six— the last one with the product’s name. 

    That brings up the modern use of outdoor signage to sell everything from pizzas to political grifters.  Some are cute, others more informational.  But the one that caught my eye was the new pitch by candidate Donald Trump, whose combination of snark and outlandishness has a certain appeal even to those of us who find him loathsome.  His picture, larger than life, looks down on us like a three-car wreck that forces you to slow down and rubberneck. You can’t help but look, and pray no one dies:

    IMG_2397.jpg

    Going for snark, he achieves bathos, that special combination of the sublime and the ridiculous.  The small wheeled carry-on he pulls tells a story. Is he moving in or simply going away?  Is the rollaway filled with clothing or his latest scam-for-sale? The sign popped up in a week when the NY AG threatened to confiscate his properties after a devastating court decision ordering him and his sons to pony up over a half-million dollars in fines and a three-year ban from doing business in New York state. If NYC is home. he isn’t very welcome.  Others may resnark that the satchel he is dragging is likely stuffed with top-secret documents he still holds in defiance of Federal law—  or Trump playing cards, or, now, Bibles. Yes, Trump has added The Good Book to his nefarious inventory of merch. Passing him along the road, the sense that as he looks down on all of us someone else may be watching.  Desperate and with nothing worthwhile left to lose, Donald Trump may just have tweaked the wrong Marine.  

    A Biblical Sale of the Century

    There is a certain wistfulness in the red-lettered “I’M COMING HOME!”— all caps and exclamationed, as is his style— a little like Ricky Riccardo opening the door to his NY apartment clueless to the dangers that lurk inside. Letitia James has shown herself as relentless and unwelcoming as Ricky’s Lucy with a new money-making scheme. Today he is selling Bibles to cover his bills.  His campaign coffers drained to pay his ever-growing legal penalties, he turns to scam his evangelical disciples whom he has convinced that he is the second— and if they need it— third coming:

    Trump remains deeply popular with white evangelical Christians, who are among his most ardent supporters, even though the thrice-married former reality TV star has a long history of behavior that often seemed at odds with teachings espoused by Christ in the Gospels…

    When asked to share his favorite Bible verse in an interview with Bloomberg Politics in 2015, he demurred.

    “I wouldn’t want to get into it. Because to me, that’s very personal,” he said. “The Bible means a lot to me, but I don’t want to get into specifics.”

    There are no specifics, and his “faithlessness” is truly personal;.  Here is a man in search of a savior.  Selling Bibles is his latest grift and for those who ask, “What’s next?” they are left scratching their heads.  Nothing is beneath him but us.

    The truth is the billboard encapsulates the Trump conundrum, deep down he knows he’s damned. Just as he campaigns for president in a race against time and justice, he literally tests the limits of fate with desecrations and blasphemies—  like a spoiled little boy doomed by bad parenting. What’s next? As Trump heaps sacrilege upon his other sins, his lifetime has become a series of near escapes from consequences that in the end will surely engulf him.  All the foreclosures, the bankruptcies, the philandering, and the political sins of commission cannot compete with the moral bankruptcy of selling the word of God to pay off your creditors while never having cracked the text or subscribed to its teachings.   

    So the message he sends in this billboard that blinks his disrespect and sarcasm for 12 seconds of every minute, sharing a digital sign with nacho ads and dental tips is a mirror into a darkened soul. “Look at me” he shouts from board alongside the road. Like Burma Shave before him, he is selling foam and bubbles, waving his sign, hoping we will notice. 

    The truth is it is impossible to look away.

    What's 0.1 of a Scaramucci?

    Last time I looked, you are not the President.

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    I’m having trouble copying the image from my email.  It is a picture of an envelope and the sender’s name is printed as President Donald Trump.  You frigging idiot, you are not the president.  This speaks volumes about your tentative grasp on reality in all its forms.

    This is the second such mailing that I received from you, Jerk!  You are asking me for $25 this month, and another $25 next month.  I’m recovering from Open Heart Surgery, and at my age and my limited income from social security, the last thing I would do it contribute one lousy penny to your ass.  I can’t wait until you are gone from the universe.


    The GOP could lose the House before Election Day. Here's how Democrats get ready

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    The bitter disarray consuming House Republicans could soon culminate in a dramatic climax never before seen in American history: control of the chamber changing hands before an election. And if it happens, Democrats need to be ready, because they could seize a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pass popular, vital legislation that Speaker Mike Johnson has blocked.

    This tantalizing possibility has inched from fantasy toward reality thanks to the chaos fomented by the House Freedom Caucus, which has driven multiple Republicans to resign from Congress early, leaving vacant seats in their wake. And more could soon follow.

    When Colorado's Ken Buck—one of those fed-up Republicans—announced his resignation earlier this month, he offered a warning to his colleagues.

    "I think it's the next three people that leave,"he told Axios, "that they're going to be worried about." Less than two weeks later, Buck's comments began to look prophetic when Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher said he, too, would quit before his term was up.

    And now Fox News' Chad Pergram reports that"other Republicans are angling to get out as soon as they can." Some, he says, "are just exasperated." Others are tired of being asked about Donald Trump's never-ending outbursts. And still others may simply be eager for a "big payday in the private sector."

    When a DNR comes home to roost

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    I lost my mother this week. She died gasping for breath in a hospice facility she had entered less than hour before. The fact that she even made it from the hospital to the facility was a miracle. The nurses in the ER where she had been for 5 days warned me she may not survive the 10 minute ride, so deteriorated were her lungs. But made it she did. 
     

    But let’s back up. I got a call from the assisted living facility where she resided last Friday afternoon informing me she had been taken to the ER as she was having trouble breathing. I was flat on my back with an acute muscle spasm in my lower back. I tried calling her, no answer. I texted her, no reply. I gave it 24 hours and tried again. She responded with “I’ll be fine. It’s just pneumonia. I’m just pissed I can’t get a room”. Her being “pissed” was a good sign. It means she was herself; angry, bitter, combative.

    But She was 82 and pneumonia is nothing to squawk at. Sunday I called the hospital and got through to the attending nurse. She said she had double pneumonia and they were giving her heavy anti biotics and oxygen. I waited.

    monday morning she text bombed me scared. Help! I called and she answered but was gasping for breathe and I heard a nurse grab the phone and inform me to call back in 5 when they got her 02 levels back up. I did and the nurse answered. He told me she was very very sick and that she was in respiratory failure and that the bipap machine was the only thing keeping her alive.

    what the actual fuck

    He then told me I should come. I told him it was a 12 hour drive and I would bail within the hour. He said we are respecting her DNR and would try to keep her alive til I got there. Even though she was combative and trying to rip the bipap off at every opportunity. 
     

    so I loaded up the truck gobbled massive amounts of ibuprofen and my wife and flew like the wind. We got there at 10 pm. 
     

    I want to comment here on the state of medical care in the US. The ER was like a scene from the church in Soylent green. At least 200 people in various states of disrepair in chairs, on the floor, slumping, coughing, bleeding and moaning. It was chaos. There were two beefy armed guards with a sign that said Start Here. We gave them our id and they went in back, came out, and escorted through the locked doors into the treatment area. The walls were lined with gurneys, more chairs filled with sick humans. Alarms and scurrying medical staff running around. They left us at bay 11 and there she was. Grey with huge contraption strapped to her head forcing oxygen into her lungs. The alarm was pinging on her monitor. Her 02 was 85. 
     

    someone finally saw us and came in and said they were her nurse for this shift. I asked for a quick run down. She told us the same. The double pneumonia was severe, her lungs were failing, the bipap was the only way to get enough oxygen into her. The Dr wanted to intubate but her DNR was explicit. 
     

    she adjusted the mask and her 02 went back up to 95. She awoke and saw us. We clasped hands and I tried to understand her through the mask. She was soooo miserable. The more she tried to talk, the more her 02 dropped. The oxygen had severely dried out her sinuses and lips and she was pleading for ice. I forced a nurse to get us some ice and a spoon and I fed her a few chips at a time. Each time sliding the mask off and watching her 02 drop. This was not good. She slipped in and out of consciousness and we called it a night. 
     

    The next morning was no different. Remove the bipap and her  02 dropped into the 30’s in less than a minute. I asked if they had a palliative care nurse. This angel arrived shortly there after and we talked. She recommended a local hospice close by. 
     

    She talked and explained to my mom what was happening. She was very very kind. My mom understood that the choice was to pass as peacefully as possible or stay hooked to machines. The machine option was unacceptable. 
     

    She managed to tell us that she wanted to come back as a butterfly. We told her that was pretty cool. The picture in my post is the entrance to the hospice facility. She didn’t see it. But we did. Rest in peace mom. 

    Wallace Mining Museum: Minerals (museum exhibit)

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    The Wallace Historic Mining Museum in Wallace, Idaho includes an exhibit of minerals.

    $335,000 raised for Democrats up & down the ballot. $3.7 million to go. Let's do this.

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    Over the past 2 election cycles, I’ve raised over $7.5 MILLION for HUNDREDS of Democratic candidates at the federal, statewide and state legislative levels.

    For statewide races, I list every GOP state, no matter how deep red, because I trust people to understand that yes, Wyoming & Oklahoma are extreme long shots for a Democrat; if they choose to donate to a Dem there, I assume they have their reasons. HOWEVER, I make sure to clearly label those races as being long shots.

    For legislative races, however, with some exceptions, I only list districts which are either rated as tossup/lean by Cook Political Report (Congress), or which have a PVI rating under 10 according to Dave’s Redistricting (state legislatures).

    I’ve raised $335K so far this cycle and have set a soft target for myself of $4 million by November, but we’ll see how it goes.

    I’ve therefore created a one-stop shop where you can easily find all of them at once.

    I call it Blue24.org.

    The candidates listed will be filled in and/or may change over time as various filing deadlines and primaries pass, as well as changing circumstances like nominees having to be replaced, etc.

    This isn't another PAC. It's just a one-stop link to make it easy for people to donate directly to hundreds of Democratic candidates running for federal, statewide and especially local (state legislative) offices.

    Blue24.org has links to multiple ActBlue fundraising pages where you can donate to Democrats, including:

    State Legislatures:

    That's it. Seriously. All donations go directly to the campaign funds & organizations listed. I DON’T RECEIVE A DIME.

    Pick a page and donate today at Blue24.org!

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    Bluegrass State Dems are abuzz over single mom who's taking on 'Gomer Comer'

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    By BERRY CRAIG

    A Democratic challenger hasn’t come even close to beating a Republican congressman in Kentucky's First Congressional District for at least two dozen years.

    But Democratic activists in the district's westernmost counties--the Bluegrass State's former “Democratic Gibraltar”— are abuzz over Erin Marshall. She’s the 29-year-old Frankfort single mom who is taking on incumbent James Comer, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee chair whom Northern Kentucky Tribune columnist Bill Straub calls "Comer Pyle" and ID’s as “R-WhereverHeHangsHisHatIsHisHome.” More on why in a minute.

    Marshall has fired up the faithful with a cannon shot across Comer’s bow that echoed from Frankfort, the state capital, to Fulton County, as far west as Kentucky goes: a professionally produced campaign rollout video that resurrected old charges — which Comer vehemently denies — that he abused his college sweetheart and took her to have an abortion.

    The video is all over social media in the district, and presumably beyond.

    Louisvillian Bruce Maples, who publishes the Democratic-leaning Forward Kentucky online, was planning just to post Marshall’s news release about the video. But after watching it, he wrote his own story, which turned out to be the week’s most-read post. The video “is one of the best I’ve seen, and I encourage you to both view it and share it,” he urged his readers. (Click here to see it.)

    “I am very excited that she’s running,” said Kiesha Curry of Paducah, the McCracken County Democratic Executive Committee chair. “She’s a strong candidate, and it’s been a long time since we’ve had a strong candidate. I’ve reached out to her and I’m hoping to work in her campaign.”

    Marshall is the first viable Democrat to run since Brian Roy in 2000. Roy, from Benton, was a Marshall County sheriff and U.S. marshal.

    “The good thing is that she’s going to highlight an important issue, which is abortion,” said Graves County Democratic activist Leslie McColgin of Lowes. “She can tap into those that are particularly unhappy with these draconian abortion laws that are killing women.”

    “We should do whatever we can do to support this candidate,” said Greg Weatherford of Arlington, who is on the Carlisle County committee. “Comer is just a tool. And not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

    “The local media has completely ignored Comer’s buffoonery on the House Oversight Committee,” said Desiree Owen of the Ballard County committee. “I would educate the voters on this since no one else is, plus I agree with the pro-choice plank for her candidacy. That appears to be a winning issue with women voters everywhere.” In 2022, Kentucky voters turned thumbs-down on a ballot proposal that would have amended the state constitution to say, "nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion."

    The state GOP strongly supported the proposal. So did Comer.

    “She is going to take the fight to Jamie Comer who has been an embarrassment to the First Congressional district and the country,” predicted Murray State University historian Brian Clardy, a longtime Democratic activist who lives in Murray:

    Jennifer Smith, a veteran Paducah Democratic activist, is also “impressed that she is aggressively going after him.” She, too, is glad Marshall “brought up the abortion charges. The women I’ve talked to are fired up.”

    Historically, the First District included westernmost Kentucky, once the state's Democratic stronghold. Now the district stretches more than 300 miles eastward from the Mississippi River. It slides under the Second District and veers northward into central Kentucky to Franklin County, which encompasses the state capital.

    The U.S. House clerk’s website says Comer’s “hometown” is Tompkinsville. But he also has a house in Frankfort. Hence, Maples finds it “so deliciously ironic that when the Republicans gerrymandered the First Congressional District all the way to Frankfort as a favor to Comer, since he has a house there, they actually made it possible for this exciting candidate to run against him – because she also lives in Frankfort.”

    First District Democrats are gleefully echoing Maples' jab.

    For more than 160 years, Democrats ruled the political roost in western Kentucky. But the region, like most of the state, has turned a deep shade of Republican Red. “Deepest Trumpistan,” one die-hard senior citizen Democrat calls his native region.

    Here’s more irony: Straub, a Kentucky Journalism Hall of Famer, thinks Marshall probably will have more success at the ballot box in her hometown and the district’s central Kentucky counties than in the former Gibraltar. “The expansion of the First District may help her some, because the eastern part of the district would be more likely to side with a Democrat.”

    Straub also suggested that Comer might be vulnerable, though he was reelected two years ago with nearly 75 percent of the vote, albeit over a largely unknown Democrat with little money.

    “There are ways to get at him,” Straub said. “Basically he took on this Biden impeachment thing and has made a fool out of himself, but I don’t know what impact that might have on voters.”

    In his weekly column, Straub has been birddogging the congressman for months. In his latest musing, headlined “Jamie Comer, alias Comer Pyle, has proved to be an abject failure; no facts on his side,” Straub wrote that “Comer, who, for all the world, comes across as an extra in a regional theater production of Li’l Abner, has spent a substantial amount of time, energy and ignorance over the past year and two months making the case that President Biden, the seemingly mild-mannered grandpa-like figure puttering around the White House lawn, is really the leader, the copo di tutti copi, of the biggest crime syndicate to threaten the American Way of Life™ since Whitey Bulger ran Boston.”

    He concluded, “It is hard to imagine an inquiry of this stature being conducted in a more abysmal fashion. Comer undertook this operation simply to enhance Republican chances at the polls and his effort has resulted in an avalanche of innuendo and lies. As one Democratic committee member put it, the probe has uncovered more evidence against Trump than it has against Biden.”

    Marshall may look like just another in a long line of Democratic also-rans. "But it's not the size of the dog in the fight that counts," said Clardy, quoting an old western Kentucky expression. "It's the size of the fight in the dog."

    "She is a fighter," said Calloway countian Vonnie Hays-Adams, who chairs her county Democratic committee. "I am very excited to see women entering into political competition, not only at the state level but any level," she added. "Women's voices need to be heard and we need a seat at the table. We are half the country and half the state. She is young and has a lot of energy and brings that to the table as well."

    Marshall has never run for public office, though she’s not a newcomer to politics. Her website says she "graduated from Wake Forest University in 2016 and started working for Hillary Clinton's campaign, where I learned a whole lot about perseverance and resilience."

    It will take hefty helpings of both to beat Comer in a district that's largely rural and Bible-belt conservative. Comer, who never misses a chance to burnish his hard-right MAGA creds, has a big edge in name recognition and campaign cash on hand – for now anyway.

    Marshall doesn’t pull punches on her campaign website either. “In the months and years since the overturning of Roe, I’ve stayed angry,” she says. “I stewed in it, livid at Trump, livid at Brett Kavanaugh and the entire Supreme Court, livid at James Comer. And then one day I remembered something that I used to know very well in my past life as a campaign organizer: WE have the power to change this.”

    She says the incumbent “has spent his entire career spewing anti-choice, anti-woman nonsense, opposing reproductive freedom publicly while privately urging a past girlfriend to get an abortion (according to her, he even drove her to the appointment!). It’s time for him to be held accountable.”

    Marshall is getting her share of earned media, including in the Louisville Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader, the state’s largest newspapers. Both have reported on the abuse and abortion charges.

    The Democrat “is putting abortion,” and Comer’s alleged role in helping terminate his girlfriend’s pregnancy, “at the forefront of November’s race,”wrote the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Tessa Duvall and Alex Aquisto. They pointed out that the charge appeared during Comer’s unsuccessful bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2015. “Marilyn Thomas, Comer’s girlfriend from the early 1990s when the pair attended Western Kentucky University together, claimed he was physically and emotionally abusive toward her during their relationship,” they also wrote. “Thomas also said Comer drove her to Louisville for an abortion in 1991. The story was widely reported by media outlets across the commonwealth nine years ago.”

    “In his four previous races for his first district congressional seat, Jamie Comer hasn’t faced the tough questions that derailed his bid for the governor’s office in 2015,”wrote Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Joe Gerth. “In that race, he told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he had never hit a former college girlfriend who he was rumored to have abused. After he did that, the former girlfriend came forward and told the Courier Journal that not only did he hit her, he took her to obtain an abortion in Louisville after she became pregnant.”

    Matt Bevin, who went on to win the governorship, edged Comer by a mere 83 votes in the primary. “But the issue of abuse and an abortion hasn’t come up much since,” Gerth added.

    Marshall, the C-J columnist concluded, “can make Comer work and − like no Democrat ever has − she’ll be able to tell the story of that day about 30 years ago when he allegedly drove his college girlfriend to Louisville so she could get an abortion.”

    Though he lives in the Third District, Maples is rooting for Marshall, too. “I hear that people in the First District are ‘cranked’ about Erin Marshall’s campaign,” he said, tacking on a warning: “Well, if they are, they’d better show that excitement with their credit cards and checkbooks – because she is going to need lots of cold, hard cash to face Jamie Comer. At the end of 2023, he had over $2 million in his campaign fund. So, every voter in the First who wants to get rid of the embarrassment that is James Comer needs to dig deep and give, then dig deeper and give again. I’ve already donated, and I plan on continuing to donate all the way to Election Day.”

    So, Maples added, if you’re excited about Erin Marshall taking on Comer, click here to contribute to Marshall’s campaign.

    Raised in Mohave County, better known as, Paul Gosar's Hell Hole and Who Can Stop Its Spread.

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    It’s been over two decades since my family and I moved from a once embattled swing state where candidates and voters had to consistently live up to its Show Me attitude. My family moved to a small town in Northern Arizona, where most of the charm if you grew up low-income came from the blistering summer heat and how it turned the beautiful Colorado River into a perfect place to swim, temperature and all. We moved here when I was young, but I do vividly recall the election and how people treated one another at that time. It was during the lead up to the 2004 Presidential Primaries, a time not that long before the seemingly rapid metamorphosis of the GOP in the party of That Guy.

    For whatever reason at a young age I noticed politics, I noticed it all around, day in and day out. I suppose that isn’t why I was never truly shocked by the demise and hijacking of the party of Lincoln by a want-to-be dictator and self-centered narcissistic cheat. That’s due to the unfortunate lived experience I endured watching decent people quickly fall into the pit full of Palin Kool-Aid in 2008. Witnessing public school teachers be targeted for simply thinking that President Obama was in fact born in the United States, intelligent and loving parents and friends go down the tin-hatted doomsday prepping rabbit holes that were all too popular in Obama’s first term, and the utter disregard of human life and respect when SB1070 passed by so called Christians.

    I remember just chalking it up to the consistent 120+ degree days during the summer, or the prevailing alcohol, drug, and gambling problems that the area has persistently had. I used to think that I was just naturally immune to the heat of those raging summers melting my political and social moral compass. In reality, I think I could just sniff through the bull crap the city and county was covered in. However, I suppose that must be why Gosar, the once most extreme GOP member of the Arizona delegation to congress carpetbagged to the area in 2012.

    Democrats for most my life were never in a position to put Arizona on the map, at least not until recently and thanks to the countless hours of countless staff, volunteer, and diehard activists lives. Hell, I bet most people under 30 in Mohave County may not know that Arizona has a statewide Democratic party. Much like I hadn’t until life took me to cooler and bluer pastures in Coconino County. The two counties couldn’t be more different, one has prevented the complete erosion in trust and preservation of an engaging civil society, while the other has gotten lost in the self-fueled and perpetuated culture wars fueled by far-right echo chambers.

    While I have met many well-intended people that have tried to write some of these wrongs and meet people in Mohave County where they are at to help change the narratives and work to restore a foundation of civil society, the resources have never been accessible in the way or level that they are needed to combat the fear based division that is so hard to overcome. I truly do hope that Quacy Smith is able to pull off a stunning underdog win in November against the embodiment of what is inept leadership and representation, Paul Gosar. If you can chip in a bit to help his campaign make an impact in an area that is politically motivated by fear and in need of a little stability and sanity, consider sending him a donation here.

    However, what I am both most afraid of what might happen, but yet optimistic and hopeful will not occur, is the fall of civil society in the rest of Northern Arizona, primarily in it’s Second Congressional District, now represented by extremist and do nothing freshman congressman Eli Crane. The freshmen Bannonite moron has only been doing a good job if his sole intention for his job is to make do nothing Gosar look like a functioning member of Congress and society. In his short tenure he has managed to do little to no governing, often taking the lead from former-want-to-be-furor in chief. From denying to even consider applying pressure on his own party to approve a likely once in a decade border security deal, or quite frankly much of anything at all, to not even performing the most basic duties of a congressional representative, like keeping the government funded and working for the taxpayers and not acting like a child and throwing a fit in ousting former speaker McCarthy for doing the bare minimum of his respective job.

    We do have hope though. Hope that this November we will be able to send Eli Crane and his carpetbagging self back to the couch where he can yell at Bannon’s propaganda shows. Hope that history will be made, and barriers broken for thousands of Arizona’s children across the state. Hope provided to working families and our seniors in that our next delegation will go to DC to work for them, and not against them.

    That is the hope I see and hear from people when they talk about Jonathan Nez and his run against this out of touch extremist. A candidate and former elected leader that has personally overcame a struggle with an alcohol addiction, who has worked with both sides of the aisle, and will provide both a historic breaking of a barrier for Arizona and a refreshing return to functional representation in contrast to destructive governing we have all witnessed with this current congress.

    This is the chance we all have to do the part that we can to insure that Arizona’s Second Congressional District never begins to feel indistinguishable from how the hell hole I grew up in feels today.

    Please join me in choosing sanity, democracy, hope, and leadership in donating to his race.

    431354955_940806367414388_9187109341174647679_n.jpg

    Jonathan Nez Website Herewww.jonathannezforaz.com

    Jonathan Nez for Congress Donation Link Here: www.actblue.com

    New Day Cafe: Whimsy For Wednesday

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    Good morning, Newdists!  Grab a cuppa and come join us for some whimsy and chat and whatnot.  We have a special on Whatnot today!

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    These are a few expressions that I thought everyone knew!!!  My mum used to tell me that I was “not going out looking like a ragamuffin.”

    In the South, a "ragamuffin" is someone who is looking sloppy or ragged. In the late 1800s, children dressed up on Thanksgiving Day and beg for fruit or candy in what became known as Ragamuffin Day, and some towns held parades for children in costume.

    The phrase "ballpark figure" stems from commentators who guessed the size of country crowds by estimating the number of spectators. It's believed to have started with sizing up baseball fans.

    "To agitate the gravel" is to leave in a hurry. It dates to a time when driveways and parking lots were most likely covered with gravel.

    The term "acid test" dates to the gold rush in the mid-1800s, when acid was used to check the purity of gold. The test involved using nitric acid, which has the ability to dissolve every metal but gold. The term became a pun in the 1960s when it was used to refer to LSD parties hosted by author Ken Kesey.

    "Get go," meaning from the beginning, originated in Black English. It was used in print by Toni Cade Bambara, a 1960s civil rights activist, who wrote fiction set in the rural South and in Harlem.

    The phrase is believed to have originally been "happy as a clam at high tide," popular in the early 1800s in the Northeast. It refers to the fact that clams are dug up in low tide but unreachable and safe from human harvest at high tide.

    "Kangaroo court" goes back to the 19th-century U.S. frontier days, when roaming judges tried legal cases. They were paid by the trial, and a kangaroo court refers to the image of them hopping from case to case to try as many as possible.

    The phrase "upper hand" comes from determining which team bats first in playground baseball games. Opposing team captains would grasp a bat, starting at the bottom, and alternate their hands until reaching the top. The player holding the bat at the top had the upper hand.

    A "dead ringer" originated in 19th-century American horse racing, when a horse racing under a fake name was called a ringer, and dead meant exact. Today a dead ringer is an exact copy or resemblance.

    Looking "rode hard and put up wet" means looking worn out, bedraggled, or tired. At a ranch or stable, a horse that has run a lot works up a sweat and needs to be walked and cooled down to dry off.

    Oh, it is so very true!!! LOLOLOLOL

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    Well, if you say so….

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    And finally…..

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    New Day Cafe Is An Open Thread

    What’s on your mind this morning?


    DJT's Worth is Bulls*?t

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    It was just now my privilege  to read: “Donald Trump is richer than he's ever been after social media merger: Forbes” by Travis Gettys (March 27, 2024 10:12AM ET).

    I’m gonna’ make this short and sweet.  The merger between Media & Technology Group Corp. and  Digital World Acquisition Corp. should never have been allowed by the SEC.  This is blatant corruption.

    Forbes calculated the former president's net worth at $6.4 billion, up from his recent $2.3 billion, on the first day of his social media company trading on the Nasdaq following a merger Monday between Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp.

    Bottom line:  This is a pump-and-dump scheme.  Every little guy investing in this will get screwed.  The only beneficiary will be the Orange Shitgibbon.  This is corruption in the U.S.A. at its finest.  Full stop.

    West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy Daily Special, Smothered Benedict Wednesdays 8am PT/11am ET

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    West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy is Now Open! 8am-9am PT/ 11am-Noon ET for our especially special Daily Specials, Smothered Benedict Wednesdays!

    Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, Trump’s latest shameless grift is backfiring with all Americans, including real Conservatives.

    Then, on the rest of the menu,  a federal court tossed Republican Pennsylvania lawmakers’ challenge of state and federal voter access actions; Ahmaud Arbery’s killers asked a US appeals court to overturn their hate crime convictions; and, a large suburban Philadelphia county has joined dozens of other local governments around the country in suing the oil industry over climate change.

    After the break, we move to the Chef’s Table where the British Museum is suing a former curator it says stole 1,800 items and tried to sell them; and, Puerto Rico’s health secretary declared an epidemic following a spike in dengue cases.

    All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.

    Bon Appétit!

    “Will no one rid us of these meddlesome priests?”

    - Chef Justice Putnam WCC&S “Smothered Benedict Wednesdays”

    When modern day Domestic Stochastic Terrorists became MAGA Media Darlings

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    [This is a shortened version of this article which was originally posted on My Substack.  If you wish to read the full story you can Subscribe now for Free]

    Chaya Raichik is a Domestic Stochastic Terrorist. That’s not a question, as far as I’m concerned that’s a fact.  She has developed a platform on Xitter called “Libs of TikTok” that smears and defames LGBTQ persons, accusing them of sex crimes, “grooming”, “indoctrination” and “mutilation” in an effort to gin up hate, resentment and fear of that community and foster attacks, death threats and bomb threats against them.

    I’ve previously written that Raichik was completely unable to defend or explain herself when interviewed by Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post, but this isn’t about what she says personally, it’s about what she’s done on her social media channel.

    The problem is that under current free speech rules - what Ms. Raichik is doing is largely legal because there is a giant hole in the law.

    Dark Skies on the Horizon is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    We Need to Think Differently about the Realm of Human Experience (12-Minute VIDEO)

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    An essay developing these ideas systematically and in greater depth is here: “Realities That Emerge Through The Evolution Of The Experiential Realm.”

    The larger “integrated vision” of the Human Story — which I introduced here some months ago under the bold title, Introduction to a "Big Picture" View that Might Help Human Civilization (and Our Democracy) Survive — is articulated in several different ways on my website, ABetterHumanStory.org.

    A library of my videos is here. 

    Donald Trump Is Not the Victim of ‘Lawfare.’ He’s a Crook. Republicans used to be very aware of this

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    Author: Jonathan Chait

    I guess I don’t need to talk about MAGA and how they are all in a cult that worships trump. We know why-because he hates the same people they do.  A little simplistic but it cuts to the core. What’s puzzling to some is why the conservative circles-millionaires & billionaires have fed into the narrative that trump is a victim since they have openly discussed his criminality for decades? In the article the author states this:

    ”Chait finds that concerns about Trump's criminality have been shared in conservative circles for years and they only stopped talking about them once it became clear that he would be their only chance to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency.”

    "Before he won the Republican nomination the first time, Republicans were perfectly aware that his decades of bilking customers and counterparties, lying to everybody, and surrounding himself with known criminals posed a series legal risk," he said. "Now that that risk has gone from theoretical to actual, and it is being shared by the Republican Party, they seem to believe it’s not fair to hold him legally accountable."

    IMHO the country was turned upside down because a bunch of old rich white men, bigoted christians and white supremacist of all breeds didn’t want a woman for President so they latched onto a man who was know to hang out with criminals, cheated people (a children charity was a victim) and at the time of his campaign had been sued 3,5000 times. In comparison to Clinton what could go wrong if they supported trump?  trump and his racism and ignorance took this country back decades in every aspect but it benefited the super rich. Now the super rich who know trump is a criminal are whining he’s a victim. They want trump to have the Protection for the Complexion.  

       

    -Donald Trump Is Not the Victim of ‘Lawfare.’ He’s a Crook.  Republicans used to be very aware of this.

    By Jonathan Chait, who’s been a New York political columnist since 2011. 

     nymag.com/…

    -Against Trump: www.nationalreview.com/…

    -Trump and the Goodfellas:  The presidential candidate says he didn’t know he was doing business with the mob. archive.ph/…

    -Wall Street Journal Killed Editorial on Trump’s Mob Ties: archive.ph/...

    Cartoon: Too-early spring

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    magnolianew.jpg
    www.hilarybrowngreetings.com

    Where I live in the Northeast, things are two weeks ahead of normal. But what is normal any more…?

    Republicans Want the Cold, Dead Hand of Anthony Comstock to Fall on America’s Women

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    Yesterday’s Supreme Court session was a loud and persistent warning: America needs to pay attention.

    During oral arguments, the Comstock Act was invoked repeatedly by Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Erin Hawley, the wife of Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who was arguing before the Court that the abortion drug, Mifepristone, should be banned nationwide.

    Now that it’s fairly clear the “sad doctors” argument before the Court yesterday was so pathetically weak they can’t use it to ban Mifepristone, anti-abortion activists are talking about finding a case they can push up to the Court next year that will allow it to ban all abortions in the nation, and most birth control pills and devices as a bonus.

    How do they plan to do it? With the Comstock Act. You could see and hear the set-up of this future Court case in Yesterday’s arguments.

    Justice Sam Alito said:

    “This [Comstock Act] is a prominent provision. It’s not some obscure subsection of a complicated, obscure law. Everybody in this field knew about it.”

    Erin Hawley was emphatic:

    “We don’t think that there’s any case of this court that empowers FDA to ignore other federal law. The Comstock Act says that drugs should not be mailed … either through the mail or through common carriers.”

    And Clarence Thomas laid out the possibility of future litigation when he essentially threatened the lawyer for Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of Mifepristone:

    “How do you respond to an argument that mailing your product and advertising it would violate the Comstock Act?” He went onto note that the law “is fairly broad, and it specifically covers drugs such as yours.”

    In other words, they want the Act enforced today.

    Bloomberg news laid it out yesterday:

    “‘Do we think the Supreme Court majority is going to rule on the Comstock Act in this case? The answer to that is no,’ said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California at Davis who specializes in reproductive rights. ‘Do we think that the Comstock Act is going to come up again at some point in the future? The answer to that is definitely.’”

    So, what the heck is the Comstock Act and why are Republicans trying to revive it before the Supreme Court and in threatening letters to pharmacy chains?

    You’ve probably never heard of Anthony Comstock, a Civil War Union soldier and New York Postmaster, who died in 1915. You need to learn about him and his legacy, however, as his long fingers are about to reach up out of the grave and wrap themselves around the necks of every American woman of childbearing years.  

    Anthony Comstock was a mama’s boy who hated sex. His mother died when he was 10 years old and the shock apparently never left him; women who didn’t live up to her ideal were his open and declared enemies, as were pornography, masturbation, and abortion. He was so ignorant of sex and reproduction that he believed a visible human-like fetus developed “within seconds” of sexual intercourse.

    Comstock spent decades scouring the country collecting pornography, which he enthusiastically shared with men in Congress, and harassing “loose women.” For example, when he visited a belly-dancing show (then a new craze) in Chicago at the Cairo Theatre during the World’s Fair of 1893, he demanded the show be shut down.

    As Amy Sohn, who wrote a brilliant Comstock biography titled The Man Who Hated Women, noted:

    “Despite national controversy and Comstock’s intervention, ultimately the only alteration made to the fair’s belly dancing was costuming: the dancers swapped their gauze blouses for thin woolen undershirts. The vice hunter had lost in Chicago. But he would not forget the dancers, and would have four of them arrested and fined when they came to New York that winter. New York, after all, was Comstockland.”

    Comstock lobbied for and shepherded through Congress a law passed on March 3, 1873 titled “An Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, obscene Literature and Articles of immoral Use.” Today we refer to it as the Comstock Act.

    It’s language with regard to abortion is not at all ambiguous:

    “Every obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile article, matter, thing, device, or substance …designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use; and

    “Every article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral purpose; and

    “Every written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, or how, or from whom, or by what means any of such mentioned matters, articles, or things may be obtained or made, or where or by whom any act or operation of any kind for the procuring or producing of abortion will be done or performed, or how or by what means abortion may be produced, whether sealed or unsealed; and

    “Every paper, writing, advertisement, or representation that any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thingmay, or can, be used or applied for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral purpose; and

    “Every description calculated to induce or incite a person to so use or apply any such article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing—

    “Is declared to be nonmailable matter and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any post office or by any letter carrier.” (emphasis mine)

    The penalty is also not ambiguous. Persons mailing information about abortion, or drugs or devices to produce an abortion:

    “[S]hall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, for the first such offense, and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, for each such offense thereafter.” (emphasis mine)

    The Biden administration argues that the Comstock Act of 1873 was set aside almost a century ago.

    And, indeed, in 1930, the Appeals Court for the Second Circuit ruled in Youngs Rubber Corp. v. C.I. Lee & Co that the law couldn’t apply to things sent through the mail that are legal, even if they were illegal at the time of the passage of the Comstock Act. (The case involved condoms manufactured by Youngs Rubber.)

    “Such a construction,” the court wrote, “would prevent mailing to or by a physician of any drug or mechanical device ‘adapted’ for contraceptive or abortifacient uses, although the physician desired to use or to prescribe it for proper medical purposes.”

    The law has been amended by Congress four times (in 1955, 1958, 1971, and 1994), but the language above was never struck because legislators figured the 1930 appeals court’s ruling rendered it nugatory.

    But don’t tell that to Trump’s appointee, Texas District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo, who ruled last year that Mifipristone was to be banned nationwide: he based a large part of his decision on the plain language of the Comstock Act.

    And don’t tell it to the three rightwing judges who heard the appeal of Kacsmaryk’s decision before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on its way to SCOTUS.

    When the Biden administration’s attorney argued before the Fifth Circuit that Kacsmaryk’s decision, based largely on the Comstock Act, was “unprecedented,” Circuit Judge James Ho — also a Trump appointee, who personally swore his good friend Kacsmaryk into his office, and whose wife is a paid anti-abortion activist — interrupted her with a curt snap, saying:

    “I guess I’m just wondering why not just focus on the facts of this case rather than have this sort of ‘FDA can do no wrong’ theme.”

    That appeals court, made up of a George W. Bush appointee and two Trump appointees, earlier had ruled in their preliminary finding to hear the case that they disagreed with the Biden administration’s assertion that, to quote the three judges, “the [Comstock] law does not mean what it says it means.”

    When the Biden interpretation of the Comstock Act was brought up in oral arguments, the Bush appointee, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, said there is “some disagreement” about whether previous court rulings actually invalidated the law. After all, it’s never been adjudicated before the Supreme Court and is still on the books.

    Republican members of Congress agree, and want the Comstock Act enforced nationwide now. They think they don’t even need a ruling from the Supreme Court: they just need a Republican president.

    In a letter sent to CVS (among other pharmacy chains), Mississippi Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and eight other Republican senators (Lankford, Daines, Braun, Rubio, Marshall, Risch, Crapo and Blackburn) wrote that the Biden interpretation (and that of Congress in 1955, 1958, 1971, and 1994) is wrong.

    They explicitly asserted that the Comstock Act is still in effect and they want it enforced:

    “We write to express our support and agreement with 21 [Republican] State Attorneys General,” they wrote “who have reminded you that Federal law in 18 U.S.C. 1461-1462 [the Comstock Act] criminalizes nationwide using the mail, or interstate shipment by any express company or common carrier, to send or receive any drug that is ‘designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.’”

    The 1930 court ruling that lawmakers and judges had, for over 90 years, believed only applied the Comstock Act to items that were illegal (like child porn), Senator Hide-Smith wrote:

    “[D]oes not protect CVS or any other individual or entity from being prosecuted within the five-year statute of limitations for the illegal mailing or interstate shipment of abortion drugs … even for conduct that occurs today.”

    Keep in mind, under the plain language of the Comstock Act this could also apply to birth control pills, IUDs, and other things used to prevent pregnancy. And, of course, pornography.

    The lawyer for Republicans defending Kacsmaryk’s ruling, Erin Hawley, went so far as to assert before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that even physicians and pharmacies shouldn’t be able to receive Mifipristone or other drugs that could produce an abortion via the mail, FedEx, or UPS:

    “What the Comstock law says is that it is improper to mail things that induce or cause abortions, which is precisely the action the FDA took in 2021 when it permitted the mailing of abortion drugs.”

    If Hawley’s interpretation is ultimately adopted by the Supreme Court in another case more specifically tailored to it next year — which the anti-abortion movement is working on as you’re reading these words — all abortions in the United States would be ended when drugs and suction and surgical devices designed specifically for the procedure can no longer be shipped to hospitals, clinics, or physicians’ offices.

    This is no idle threat.

    As Washington Post reporter Dan Diamond wrote for his Substack newsletter, anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson, who’s helped several cities around the country put into law local versions of the Comstock Act, told him:

    “If a future president were to enforce these federal statutes, then they could shut down every abortion facility in America.”

    This is the specific goal of these mostly Catholic religious fanatics: to completely outlaw all abortion and radically restrict access to birth control. And they are not going to give up just because it looks like the Supreme Court isn’t going to ban Mifepristone this year.

    Such a case would, based on what they said yesterday, have Republicans in the Senate, Clarence Thomas, and Sam Alito gleefully rubbing their hands in anticipation.

    This battle promises to be long and hard-fought, and the only solution will be for Congress to take this gun out of Republicans’ hands by overturning the Comstock Act itself.

    And that’s unlikely to happen unless or until Democrats take back the House, hold the White House, and gain a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (or kill the filibuster).

    The stakes this fall couldn’t be higher.






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