I’ll be quick tonight because we have been without power since 5:00 this morning, and I am very eager indeed to escape the echoing grind of the generator for the night.
This wasn’t that quick and very informative. As an FBI veteran, I’m pleased to see a Director stand up to these idiotic conspiracies and what if’s from the Republicans.
They appeared very worried, and looking for ways to suppress evidence revealed. As with the Biden-Harris administration good works, the snowball of the investigation will steadily grow. I have faith it will pick up such trash as it finds it. It is time stop giving Jtrash H press, and to deflate the Crxz balloon.
My imagination of potential activities for those two go in the direction of Criminal Minds FBI profilers on really special criminals who have been so privileged and look at the depths they have sunk to— they ought to be studied so we can learn about th3ir brain functions and then can recognize th3m in other strange criminals.
Frog March? Better, a couple of sleds (or wagons) with belt fasteners so, you know, the passengers cannot fall off before their vehicles slide into the deeper water.
Someone posted this previously. I'm sorry I can't remember who it was.
“It takes a special kind of stupid to think the left would dress up like the right and raid the Capitol to change the outcome of an election they just won.“
You know, Jan, we have a small problem here. Your statement contains the implicit assumption that brainpower and intelligence are being applied, qualities Republicans are not known for. That quote would be stretching most of them way beyond their abilities.
You have to think like a sheep, like a fly in a swarm of flies, like a person with limited emotional capacity, to get into their minds.
"Hey, we are losing our white privilege here. Our world is disappearing. Our country will never come back if we lose this election. [That last one is a Cheeto quote]. It's all the fault of those POC, those uppity nasty women, Pelosi and AOC and BLM, they are taking away our white power and white privilege. We don't wanna lose our white privilege. We don't wanna lose out to POC and liberals and gays. We wanna keep our white males-first straights-first society. We don't wanna grow up. We don't wanna wear masks. WAAAAAAAAA. . . "
They don't want to lose their white power and white privilege society to liberals and gays and POC and women. That's all there is to it.
"It's all their fault, the liberals and gays and Pelosi and AOC and yoga and women in power. Yoga, yech, what is that? It's not something we learned in Sunday school, so it must be a Muslim clothing thing like what the women wear. We can't deal with it! We can't change to a different society, a new society! We are babies! We are infants, toddlers, wimps, wussies, cowards crying into our beer, because we lost our White Society and our Great White Leader."
Frank Arthur has 128 likes with the post "This wasn’t that quick and very informative. As an FBI veteran, I’m pleased to see a Director stand up to these idiotic conspiracies and what if’s from the Republicans."
Frank, what does that tell you about how appreciated you are here?
Director Ray's testimony indicated that the Bureau is doing its job properly. Cruz and Hawley were playing to their audience of ignorant and gullible supporters. They know the truth and prefer to peddle lies rather than admit it. Actually, many of those who swallow the Trumpublican lies know they are lies but it gives them a cover for their real beliefs, racism, bigotry and a desire for the easy answers a dictatorship brings.
When Director Wray was chosen I told friends that Trump just doesn’t realize that every Republican isn’t a mindless sycophant and could have integrity. I’m just glad Trump didn’t fire him and Biden let him stay to restore some calm and continuity. With Merrick Garland as AG, the Rule of Law is back.
I found Hawley's questions regarding tracking electronic communications interesting. Can't help but wonder whether there could be some personal angst in that.
Regarding the Christopher Wray questioning by the Judiciary Committee, Grassley, Hawley and Cruz continued to regurgitate an obviously crash-tested rhetorical mantra that draws a false equivalence between the rioters at the Capitol on January 6th and those who joined the protesters in Portland and Washington D.C. and elsewhere, at protests connected with the police killing of George Floyd. This ruse needs calling out and shouted down. As Merrick Garland said during his earlier confirmation interview at the Senate when pushed toward the false-equivalence, the violence in the wake of the Floyd killing that precipitated property damage to Federal buildings (the Portland court-house and the Washington D.C. church) was not motivated and coordinated for the purpose of interfering with Federal governmental functions the way the January 6 Capitol attack was admitted by its organizers to be an effort to interrupt the Electoral Vote count and interfere with the Constitutionally mandated transfer of presidential power. As is too often the case with protests galvanized by a triggering event like the death of George Floyd, persons often separate from the political purpose of the protest are attracted to the ambient anger and rage to trash property and even struggle with the forces of the law. Another false equivalence is then added to the theme "violence is universally bad and must be suppressed no matter what the motivating cause". Once Portland and the Capitol are made equivalents, the next move is to use destruction of property and attacks on the police, for whatever reason, to "prove" the folly of police reform or taking money from police budgets to hire persons trained in talking down persons in the throes of a psychological crisis, which stupidly got called "defunding the police." Ron "doe eye" Johnson too has gone even further to pin the Capitol insurrection on anarchists, faceless Stalin plants in the crowd as provocateurs of the left aimed at pinning the Capitol attack on fire-spitting AOC, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. For those who were paying attention at the Garland hearing, Garland aimed directly at the pro-Trump anarchist ploy when he said damaging Federal property is bad and needs to be treated as such, but it's not equivalent to attacking the Capitol and the members of Congress with the intention of interfering with the workings of our democracy. The not-so-clever Cruz-Hawley-Grassley response to Garland's distinction was to say Garland had no quarrel with attacking Federal property at night when Federal offices were closed and employees not in the building. Shame on you Grassley, Cruz, Hawley, and Cotton too. I hesitate to add Ron Johnson because I feel like I would be beating up on an old floppy-eared dog. A brief word on "liberator" Texas governor Abbott's decision to drop most public restrictions aimed at reducing virus spread in the name of "self-reliance". Abbott doesn't seem to get it that mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing are above all measures aimed at saving others from us, not saving ourselves, i.e., being super-spread agents. Since endangering others is totally lacking in testosterone laced freedom, why not liberate Texans to drive on whichever side of the highway that turns them on in the moment so as not to throttle the "call of the wild."
Sadpanic, this is a most insightful and sensitive analysis of violence, and especially vandalism, at racial-justice events. The dynamics are complex, but it rarely has to do with political protest, and carries little more weight than mayhem after a concert or sports triumph. The main exceptions come from false-flag violence or infiltration by rightwing provocateurs. THERE is the truly dangerous threat for honest law enforcement to address.
"False flag violence or infiltration of .... provacateurs".
Yes and that is one more equivalence that the negationists....and there is a word of shame in Europe that some will recognize here....are trying to make stick on Portland-Jan 6th comparisons. Normal strategy of the Perverse Narcissist as they are accusing their accusers of their own sins.
I live in Oregon, and am retired from law enforcement. The false equivalency arguments of comparing Portland's summer riots to the insurrection at the Capitol coming from my LE friends is something to behold. They acknowledge NO difference between disrupting the peaceful transfer of power, and the anarchist fringe that attached themselves to the BLM protests.
Sadpanic, you are so much more articulate than I have been. I may use some of your thoughts on the next Quixotic mission that I engage in.
Excellent analyses, Sadpanic. If anyone can show me pictures/videos of George Floyd protesters armed with militery equipment, I may be convinced of their equivalence to Jan 6.
You have to remember, Texas has a "tradition" to uphold, having been founded by cashiered army officers, failed politicians, slave catchers, back-alley assassins, bushwhackers, rustlers, bank robbers, con artists, and others on the lam from civilization for various infractions major and minor. The tradition is, they can only elevate people to public office who come from those backgrounds or similar. Anyone not from those backgrounds who gets into office is a fluke, and they do their best to remedy the mistake as quickly as possible.
Just look at the totally wild foundation myths that they managed to create by fantasizing reality at the Alamo and with Davy Crockett against Santa Anna. Hopefully there remains a few nuggets of the previous Native American and then Spanish-Mexican civilisation hidden away ready to widen their view of the world as in Santa Fe, NM.....but they seem to need a great deal of help in finding it these days!
Aw, come on Stuart, you seem to be bashing ALL Texans. I’m not a native Texan, but I married a 9th generation one whose forebears settled here while Texas was still part of Mexico. They were salt-of-the-earth, no-nonsense, hard-working people. My late mother-in-law was fond of exclaiming, “The world is full of people who can’t reason from A to B. And they don’t know that C and D are even out there!” That quote comes to mind more and more often these days.
your family obviously follows the Native American premise of thinking 7 generations ahead. In some parts of Texas the relations between newcombers and existing local inhabitants were friendly and cooperative.
I keep trying to figure out how Beto O'Rourke and Texas found each other. In any case, I think we can agree that whatever time Tedikins Cruz did on the Cross, it didn't last, nor sink in. As Texans burned the family furniture to stay warm in the recent power outage, Tedilonious Ticky saw how Texas was "turning blue" (from the cold) and moved his gang south of the border to watch the horror on Zoom and to ponder how snakes can change their political spots—with a presidential Sharpie no doubt.
Well, there is Beto! But truly Ann Richards was one of a kind. I didnt realize until a little while ago that her daughter was the former head of Planned Parenthood. She's another sharp cookie! There have to be others like that - just not speaking I guess.
Unfortunately Beto, like most of the best TX Dems, has never won a statewide race. Can he or another candidate break the pattern in 2022? Millions of lives may depend on the outcome, and not just in one state.
A “fluke” was the term used? And a “mistake” that was remedied ASAP. (I had to look up her term and indeed, it was limited to one) And the GOP attacks were vile.
GOP attacks? Always vile! But when you dont have authenticity & truth on your side what else is there, right? Wouldnt you think (or hope) that someone would actually listen & "cogitate" (good word) on the crap that they are spewing? Maybe, oh I dont know, think about it?
Your assessment of the opportunistic attachment of the anarchist movement to the BLM protests is accurate. The PNW has always had an anarchist component (really came to life during the WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, and I had a fair number of incidents with them during some environmental protests in Oregon in the early 2000's. They seize on a legitimate protest (environmental awareness or racial inequity) and just plain create hate and discontent.
I concur with your description, Ally, with "opportunistic" anarchists against government in general. But in Portland they had their own shared interest in fighting federal officers sent by Trump, to set up a "police state" in the city of Portland.
My 17 year old son was working in Portland and paticipated in the protest between 8:30 pm and 11:00pm. As he was walking back to his car with people carring umbrells and a few leaf blowers to protect themselves in case of tear gas, the helmeted anarchists were arriving to confront the police with fireworks, frozen water bottles, and lacross sticks to toss the gas canister back over the police fence. The damage to the court house was primarily graffiti, not broken windows. The BLM protest walked through downtown Portland. The "rumble" between the anarchists and Boarder Patrol law enforcement et.al., didnt start until after 11:00pm. That confrontation was a few blocks east from downtown and confined to the block with the court house and the park across the street from the court house.
If the law enforcers wore identification uniforms instead of camouflage army fatigues, the people from Portland would not have felt the need to expose the federal law enforcement troops and their illegal detainment and interrorgation (sic) of protesters. They were not invited by the city nor the Portland police.
It is dangerous for the President to have access to his own "army" through his own appointed Homeland Security white suptremist.
Sleep, rest, and I hope the power is back on in the morning! It has been an interesting day. The situation in Texas is really scary but the legislature is also seeking ways to secede from the US so one has to wonder what Abbot is playing at. The fallout from the CPAC debacle is keeping the Cheeto in the news and even if all of the news is derisory he doesn’t care. What I wish is that news outlets would simply ignore him. He’s no longer president so they have no obligation to continue following him around. The Dems need to keep on announcing what they are getting done and keeping up the pressure on the purveyors of the Big Lie. Fingers crossed.
The only news I want to see about Donald Trump is that he’s been criminally charged with inciting insurrection against the Inited States. I would then be glad to watch the trial in action.
I don't know, I'd settle for criminal charges for fraud, rape, or one of the other crimes he's being investigated for. Tax evasion? Incitement is a tough charge to prove in court (even though it looks so obvious). Whatever gets him in a jumpsuit or living in exile works for me.
Many choices here, Jennifer. How about all of them so we can truly get at the heart of his corrupt, destructive and self-serving behaviors? This is the only way our country can heal.
Totally agree. Biden keeping his focus on what this country needs and not focusing on Trump is working. Unbelievable approval rating. Keeps going up. Gives me hope. We have been traumatized living through the last 4 years. Takes time and lots of work to rebuild our Democracy. Stacy persevered getting voters registered against all odds. We can do this and stop the steal of allowing our citizens to vote.
I'm somewhat interested in genuine historic runes and monuments, because they are primary evidence of Viking-era migration, settlement, land claims, etc. But if I meet someone with an excessive interest, I figure they just might be a Nazi and steer clear. Or else drop a dime.
To each movement their founding myths however far fetched and as usual, like jungian dream analysis, they are, at least symbolically, extremely revealing of their inner psychic problems over and above their apparent material representations. Their ignorance of the real history of the viking era and people obviously knows no bounds, so they have to rely on the TV/Film representations. Do you think Ted Cruz takes himself to be Kirk Douglas....probably and over above, by association, he'll be mixing his metaphores too with his Spartacus role.
What remains is the image of violent conquest of subordinate peoples by an autocratic, warrior led bad of thieves. They obviously are unaware of their importance in institution building, international trade and exchange and world exploration.
It is personally insulting too given my probable far back origins at least through my Scots mother (Christie coming from Christianson).
Oh well! There are lots of interesting viking settlement sites from Newfoundland from Eric the Red on and down the East Coast as far as you care to look.
I have to say that the WORST (and the funniest, although unintentionally) "medieval" movie I have ever seen (and I deliberately used it in a class once just for kicks and giggles) is The Vikings, starring Ernest Borgnine, Kirk Douglas, and Tony Curtis. The insertion of Brooklyn accents into the 9th centuries, well, indescribably hilarious.
🤣 Weirdly, there is a theory that Icelanders working their way down the North American coast settled for a time in what became Vineland, New Jersey--that the name was a long memory of Vinland, which is what they called Nova Scotia or New Brunswick (can't remember which one). So they would sound like Chris Christie, not Tony Curtis. Which is way worse.
The first Vineland was Newfoundland. Icelanders working The coasts yes. But the viking populations there and on Greenland were not then the most stable of . Hunters, farmers and fishermen without ocean going certainty in their boats. Its not certain that permanent settlement was envisaged but rather trading posts like the French and fish drying/salting/net repair stations like the Portuguese. Vineland, NJ is interesting because it did later come back to life as a Danish/Swedish colony...17thC vikings!
Totally agree. I saw it not long ago on a channel running old Paramount stuff. Laughed myself silly as did they no doubt ...all the way to the bank. They got paid for that farce! I was though a little troubled by the geography as the wicked lord to whom the "female interest" was forcibly betrothed was Welsh and it didn't seem more than a few hours sail from the vikings home base in Norway...difficult to reconcile with the need to go all the way round Scotland first! Perhaps they were vikings from their Irish settlements...a little problematic finding fjords on the emerald isle though.
I agree TPJ. It was no accident. The appropriation of runic symbols by white supremacists, like their use of the Black Eagle of St Maurice, has been something that the medievalist community has been trying to combat, but we can't get any traction in the larger media outlets because nobody seems to care. The runes (like the swastika--which was NOT a nazi symbol before being appropriated by them) are merely an alphabet that was developed in Scandinavia and the British Isles because it--like Roman capitals--was easy to carve into stone. There are ritual and religious meanings to the runes when used for religious purposes (like tarot cards or the I Ching) but they do not have any inherently fascistic meaning. It is really difficult to manage this expropriation as it is growing.
So here is my question. Who did the stage set design? What firm? Interior design peep within the firm? It would be interesting to follow their commissions.
Thanks Linda; I figured a Viking ref might catch your eye. Their Norman successors were involved in the medieval events that fascinate me most. Robert the Devil, William the Bastard, Robert the Weasel, et al -- such charming nicknames!
It's surprising that RW extremists (mis)appropriate St Maurice, but their obsessions are often esoteric. StM was famous for being not just saintly, but African too. (Definitely Egyptian, perhaps Black; it's unclear.) Not sure the KKK would like that. Maybe it'll provoke an internecine brawl between Nazis and KKK and they will neutralize each other. How's that for real "cancel culture?!"
And yes: I think I talked about St Maurice and the Black Eagle many months ago in another series of posts. It is one of the more amusing moments of stupid among the white supremacist crowd. If you want to read some very interesting stuff, check out the Medievalists of Color website: https://medievalistsofcolor.com
William, nicknamed the Conquerer, another Norman Viking, most famous for a propaganda tapestry drawn to honour him in Bayeux and an inventory of his new "taxable" possessions that were his spoils of war in Britain...the Doomsday Book. It was with him the "english" side of me arrived on the island. The Dutch mercenary clan, the Atte Velle that fought for the invading army were accorded in the Doomsday volume land in the are of Doncaster! Now one of the few places where you'll still find numbers of people bearing my name...particularly in the graveyards!
I thought I detected an Anglo-Norman dimension in your surname. Le Duc d'Attewell.
Though it hardly tells the whole history of the Conquest, I absolutely revere the Bayeux Tapestry. (It's actually embroidery, not a tapestry.) It is surprisingly respectful toward The Bastard's arch-rival Harold. The story of its survival is as remarkable as the BT itself.
There was a barroom contest to name the most people called "the:" Catherine the Great, Charles the Simple, Ivan the Terrible, Sulieman the Magnificent, etc. I won in a landslide by submitting dozens of mostly medieval monarchs and nobles. (Alas, they wouldn't accept Hold the Mayo or Down the Hatch.) Bragging rights were the best part, because first prize was a cheesy Budweiser wall clock. I had to pay for batteries.
It's always a question of current context representations which give a meaning to the symbols in each epoch. The swastika I believe was found on Sumerian Tablets originally....amongs the first pictural/written records that we have.
I wish we could stop referring to it as "the swastika", a name now almost inseparable from Nazi symbolism. Sadly, that term is not even German: the name derived long ago from Sanskrit svastika, which meant something like “conducive to well-being." Ironic, no?
Common in east Indian religions and later in the Mediterranean. Among many Indigenous people of the Americas (and possibly other places) a symbol representing the wind and, among some peoples, the path of the sun as it passes east to west. In Europe during medieval times, a Christian cross symbol called gammadion cross, (four Greek gammas stuck together) and probably before that, also a wind symbol. As you can imagine, it has numerous names.
I can't remember what my family called it, but they were clear that it was not in any way related to the German use, (which only emerged in the early 20th century and given its academic name).
My first ribbon shirt had the directions of the wind, and to tell the truth, to this day I am unclear which direction the German symbol actually goes, after seeing so many versions of it over the years as it popularized among right-wing extremists.
An aside: they also think the British Flag is the same thing as the Confederate battle flag. My Brit friends think this is both amusing and somewhat dismaying, and certainly an indication of American ignorance. They have a point.
Thanks for helpful details, Annie. There is a connection between the Union Jack and Confed battle flag: both incorporate the Cross of St Andrew. The UJ features crosses of St George, David and Andrew, representing the United Kingdoms of England, Wales, Scotland. Many antebellum Southerners had Scottish or Scotch-Irish ancestry, so the connection was logical. NB, Scots or Scottish is for people; Scotch is just for tape, eggs or whiskey.
History of origin of confed battle flag noted. My understanding is that it originated in Texas. Fuzzy on that. Regardless of origin, the Con battle flag has only a vague resemblance to the British flag. Simply because it has a cross doesn't explain the confounding of two flags with only that in common. Why my Brit friends were so baffled at seeing their flag atop our State House.
What if we look at that stage, so obviously on Odal rune and note that it is cast in blue – the color of the Democratic Party – and not in red, the color of the GOP. Consciously employing projection as a political weapon would call for the stage to be blue so that they can basically say Look behind me, look all around me, see that the opposition is promoting a Nazi platform. We won’t stand for that. Stick with us. We are the ones who are against a Nazi platform. And by the way, (wink, wink), we will continue to use this symbol as our rallying call.
It’s been going on for a while. Here’s an example:
Donald Trump Jr.stated on August 1, 2018 in an interview with One America News Network:
"You see the Nazi platform from the early 1930s ... look at it compared to the (Democratic Party) platform of today, you're saying, 'Man, those things are awfully similar.'"
"What if we look at that stage, so obviously on Odal rune and note that it is cast in blue – the color of the Democratic Party – and not in red, the color of the GOP."
GO LENA!!! Now you're talking my language. Use the symbols for good.
To respond to your quest for more sources on some aspects of European History, and in particular France, I thought i'd take this moment to give an initial response. The great difficulty with French historians is firstly they tend to get totally buried by what the French would call "Philosophers" and other more political/topical commentators. Secondly, the number of them that actually get translated into English is seemingly quite rare....Italian, no problem and even German or Spanish....but English...who reads it? The French view of the world can be a little short-sighted!
However, in the later category of political/historical/philosophical commentators 4 people stand out
Alain Finkelkraut......has moved from centre left to centre right
Eric Zemmour....much more to the right
Michel Onfray....much more to the left
Jacques Attali....eminence grise à la Talleyrand
Only the last 2 would have an odd volume or 2 translated into English. It is a great pity as all 4 write extremely well, have a clear view of where France is now and is heading and are extremely intelligent.
Otherwise historians are only heard of when they attempt unsuccessfully to "correct" interpretations of the above 4. In case this could help i have included a link to a site giving the "Top 100 French Histories of France"....that are available in English.
I might add a personal friend and brilliant historian whose work I was proud to publish (when I was the editor of an international history journal) in translated versions for the very first time: Yves Pourcher. He is not a traditional historian and has more of a reputation as a novelist, but his work on the period in France between WWI and WWII is superb.
Specific sources? I can find the article from Historical Reflections through ILL, but any translated books? My husband reads 20C history, but only in English.
However, I have seen that same rune used as a central focus in a young adult movie involving witches, vampires & werewolves (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones). Now makes me wonder about that. But, even the infamous swastika was used in Native Anerican art and is a Sanskrit symbol used by Hindus, Buddhists & Jains.
Yes, but even though in our lifetime, that counts as history right now! Because the religious use of the swastika persists. I would argue that current events must have changed the interpretation of Q, because I do NOT want the current Q to be omnipotent.
News organizations should run the Dolly clip twice for every once they dip down into the Tx#mp trough to report non news about someone no longer relevant except when they (continue to) make him so.
Cheetos don't go well with reading -- you'll have orange fingerprints on books. Come to think of it, Cheeto the Former doesn't go well with reading either.
Hi Dot. Please keep in mind that not everyone living in Texas is a supporter of That Other Guy and are firmly against him, his administration, and his bootlicking cronies.
While were angry about the decisions the state government has made, we still don't want to be part of Mexico, nor do many of us want to secede.
That's exactly what is needed; not just here, but across the entire country.
When I first moved to Texas, 10 years ago, I was so proud to say that I lived in Austin, TX. The history, the Alamo, the independent and resilient attitude! Oh, my, it was heady stuff.
And then, a few years ago, I dropped out of the evangelical/charismatic church and started asking myself some hard questions and I no longer like what I see around me. The ugly hatred, racism, and sheer blockheadedness is overwhelming and I no longer want to live in the state and be associated with it.
I will say this, though: during the energy & water emergency we just went through, the local neighborhood stepped up and we took care of each other. People who had hot water invited total strangers to come and shower. Those who had food cooked large quantities and freely offered it to anyone in need. Those who were elderly were picked up and transported to warming facilities.
It was heartwarming to see.
My point, I suppose, is that not all of us who live here are brainwashed and many of us want nothing to do with that other guy's cronies, so please, everyone, stop lumping us in with them.
Agreed. I think that Texas is one among several states whose Pols are playing loose and fancy with absurd conspiratorial beliefs. Work as hard as you can, Laureen, to get these characters out of office. Remember that they are feathering their own nests via their policies.
Haven't you watched the YouTube roasting of Trump by the former President of Mexico?? They would invite him to a chili bar-b-que and roast him to his face!! Very funny videos for the past 4 years. Check them out.
Never let us forget that any and all of the "Former Guy's" posturing is about, and only about, fund raising for himself. He'll keep fanning the flames and agitating the ignorant who'll gladly fill his coffers.
As a resident of the greater Houston area, I'm appalled by Governor Abbot's order. And. so. disappointed that we cannot trust him to act in the public health best interest. My husband and I are fortunate to have received both vaccination shots. But are we protected against all the variants circulating in Houston? I don't want to find out the hard way.
When Bill Gates suggests we will all need. Third booster shot, a believe him. All this disrespect for health and pursuit of happiness, these emergency fundings, vaccine research...all thrown away now in Texas. It puts all the public health investments and People at higher risk. The only thing Gov Abbot has done is to continue the pandemic. He has just sabataged Our nations health.
Locals can deal with this more rapidly by simply boycotting all businesses that don't require masks or social distancing. The message has already been circulating on social media. Failing businesses will get his attention.
I like this idea. It reminds me also of Congressman Bennie Thompson suing trump, giuliani et al. personally under an anti-KKK law for disrupting government processes.
Courts take to long. Thats the whole reason why we have Public Health with Emergency laws giving powers to the executive branch to take immediate and decisive action.
HCR, wasn’t It the Galveston,TX hurricane in 1900 that gave rise to emergency declarations, funding, rebuilding by the federal Gov? We can rebuild buildings and roads. But in Public Health, we can’t get lives back.
Well, Abbot has already had to ask for assistance to get him out of the mess he & other Rs put themselves in! Seems hes "cruising" for another one. Or not a mess for HIM, but for a lot of Texans. And it sure doesnt sound like everything is back to normal from the storm at this point. So now Abbot just wants to forget about the virus. I feel sorry for the states close by.
I need amend this now. Texas reopening most likely means will will need a booster shot for the known variants, AND most likely another booster for the possible 4th wave of variants that will come out of a 4th wave. Its just basic viral genetics and Epidemiology 101. Basic knowledge and awareness, if you didn't know Gov Abbot, its your fault, you have had a year to learn the fundamentals of viral disease. Republicans are great at one thing. Creating crisis, even when their isn't one, they create a new one. Its so sad. Nationally, by opening too soon and against the CDC recommendations, Gov Abbott validates the anti maskers around the country to behave the same. His actions have national consequences. A new American Variant is coming from Texas. It will be spread around US and then the world, prolonging the Pandemic.
This also concerns me. If we do not receive a vaccine and get COVID, we present our body as a labratory for the virus to mutate a stronger variant. With a vaccine, the virus is weaken so we do not die and the virus can not mutate into a stronger mutation.
This is simply irresponsible and I am sorry that you have to live in a state where your governor is willing to put your life at risk for political reasons. However bad this is for Texas, eventually the increase in variants, infections and deaths will spread to the rest of the country. The ignorance and arrogance of "leaders" like Abbot, Noem and DeSantis affects us all. They need to be roundly condemned and I'm glad Twitter is doing this. I hope that responsible media will also continue to highlight the danger of such a cavalier attitude.
I can tell you that neighboring states are concerned as well. New Mexico has done hard work and a good job of lowering rates of infection and deaths. But west Texas and El Paso surround the state of NM on two sides, and there is lots of crossing state lines for work. I hope I'm just paranoid (and careful) but there is a ripple effect when one state flouts public health recommendations. NM is opening counties in tiers depending on their stats each two weeks. I fear that our border counties will find themselves downgraded in the next month due to this "cross-fertilization".
Sorry, i was a Marine Helicopter pilot while the other Hale Irwin was beginning his golf career. Started getting asked if I was he when I was at Dartmouth and he all-American football player at Colorado.
Judy, stay safe! I heard on NPR this morning that Houston has ALL the variants now and that it is the epicenter of bad health stuff happening. So sorry about this.
Thank you Linda! Gov. Abbot's order took effect today, and as I was out running errands, I noticed nothing different. All the stores I shopped in today are still requiring masks. Now to try to avoid the anti-maskers!
"Today's announcement doesn’t abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it’s a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety & the safety of others."
"With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny."
I wouldn't say Texans have mastered safe practices. Many have been very conscientious. But this will be all the excuse many people will need to abandon all precautions. Like people who wear their masks under their noses. I don't want other Texans who don't take this seriously determining MY destiny. BIG SIGH.
"These 'safe practices' are going be followed just as well as those 'recommendations' for weatherizing the power grid did in 2011."
"Infecting OTHERS with a virus is a strange way of describing 'their OWN personal safety'."
"This will end well... it’s fine it’s fine."
"Safe practices?? This would include you, correct? Your decision to completely abandon masks and not follow CDC Guidelines totally flies in the face of common sense at this perilous time... especially since only 13% of your population is vaccinated?? #VoteHimOut"
"Says a guy not wearing a mask, in a closed room full of other people not wearing masks. That's some next level "mastery" right there."
I live in NC as well. Madison Cawthorn thinks being in Congress is a reality show he can use to become famous. He does not have the resume to be even a precinct captain.
I have been reading about numerous (and I mean numerous) charges of sexual harassment, assault, and menacing laid against him by women throughout his college years--and after. Interesting guy.
This is SO just plain stupid. Are Texans allowed the freedom to pollute bodies of water their neighbors share? No. Can they dam the rivers and divert the water for their own personal ranch? No. Can they dump toxic waste on their own land in the name of "freedom"? No. Can they pollute the air with deadly invisible virus particles? Evidently, yes.
He took a play after listening to South Dakota gov Covid Kristi (we call her here). It's almost verbatim as to what she has said through the whole pandemic.
Impossible to determine "their own destiny" from a virus you cant see, that is airborne transmissible from someone's breath, that remain floating in the air indoors, and that is 60% asymptomatic so those who have it and spread it don't even know they are doing so. Dolly Parton is right, file Gov Abbot and the lt gov as chicken squat cowards, but hey, I am sure they already got their shots.
Your idiot governor and my florida idiot governor Ron DeSantis are peas in a pod. DeSantis only cares about tourism dollars. Keep practicing your Fauci precautions and ignore what everyone else is doing, that is what my family is doing in Florida. We have heard news of younger friends of our children, previously very healthy, in their late 30s with terrible results from covid. One a mother of a 1 year old, she has been on a ventilator now for 2 months, trached and now having multiple system failure. The other is a super healthy runner, went to the gym daily, no body fat, ran miles ever day. Now he's short of breath. Stay smart, diligent and well. Soon DeSantis will follow a maskless policy, unfortunately. Florida does not count tourist in our covid death rates bc its not their permanent addresses.
I'm so sorry about this and absolutely outraged. Yet another example of those of us who work hard to follow rules and do right must put up with the ill effects, and in this case can kill us, of those who choose not to. I've had both vaccines and am 2 weeks out now from my last shot. I've been so careful. And for the first time in 10 months I hugged my grown young adult children this week. And now I must go back to worrying about a damn booster. My pharma also told me that he predicts we'll need a booster because of the variants. God god.
Judy, may I incorporate some of your comments in a potential article? Or, would you like to think about how you’ve been affected, particularly in light of “Democracy” and “Capitalism?” Have both systems worked for you? Were you affectively negatively by either (of course, you mention your experience of the guy’s attitude)
I feel like lifting the mask mandate by Abbott in Texas, is a trump playbook move. Distract the public about the crisis from the energy outage/water shortage by making an outrageous move elsewhere.
I’m sure my school district will cave to the parents who have been fighting masks all school year. Special school board session will be Thursday night to make the decision. Another upsetting turn in a school year that has been too much already. To get the vaccine is a full time job I don’t have the time or energy for. That’s how ridiculous the roll out has been! I’d be okay to have it by May before now. But now they’ve upped the ante once again, putting teachers in peril. I’m completely upset! Pray for the teachers in Texas. Or better yet, send us the vaccine!
Sent to me by a very good friend:
If Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry were stranded on a deserted island, who would survive?
Answer: Texas!
Thanks, Heather! Needed your clear headed logic more than ever!
I’m sorry Denise. What all of you in Texas have to put up with really stinks. We have our own problems in California, but at least we don’t have leaders who do everything possible to keep us stuck in the past even when it’s dangerous and deadly (masks) and for the sake of keeping white supremacy and sexism alive (voter suppression) and to sustain a macho myth (ERCOT).
'Tis just a rerun of the old dodge, "The American Civil War wasn't about slavery, but about defending State's Rights!" Reframe, rebrand, distract, repeat.
Trouble is that they "pied piper" of Houston leading the merry dance is the local king rat, wants his pound of flesh and is threatening the future of the children to get it. Goethe, Grimm and Browning warned us a long time ago.
Denise, part of Biden's speech yesterday was, short of demanding, that states provide vaccines to ALL teachers who want it by the end of March. He's using vaccines sent directly to pharmacies to get teachers vaccinated so schools can safely reopen. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-biden/biden-calls-on-states-to-prioritize-vaccinations-for-teachers-idUSKCN2AU2ND Hopefully you and others can get the shots. I'm in MA and teachers have been screaming for the vaccine, and now our governor will be required to make sure they get it.
Pam, as a parent of high schoolers in MA who are starting in-person next week, I am very glad for your report. Gov.Baker has been unforgiveably sloppy and uncaring about the vaccine roll-out in this state. Citizens and legislators screaming has not moved him. I hope the federal call will help.
Baker has prospered by crafting an image of a nice, boring, competent technocrat. His bungling the MA vaccine negates competence, and he's getting testy in interviews; soon boring will be all that's left. Hopefully a progressive Dem obliterates him in 2022.
Joan, I just heard that Baker is adding teachers starting 3/11. This includes teachers aides etc. yes, Baker has unapologetically made the rollout here confusing and a mess. I was finally able to score an appt for my first shot, and the next day I got4 conflicting emails saying my appointment had been changed. Now have no idea when to go. Argh!
Such a mess. It was driving me nuts until a friend's daughter helped me out. https://macovidvaxhelp.com/resources has a lot of suggestions. The best one, from my point of view, was http://www.covidvaccinetexts.com. That one helped me to get an appointment at my local cvs for this afternoon. Nice enough for me, once I got the necessary help. It's really unfair to all the people who can't take time from work for all this vaccine hunting, or don't have access to other resources to do it - and that means many of the people hardest hit by covid already. Vaccine needs to go into the hardest hit places, like Chelsea in MA, through community centers that residents can access easily.
Abbott lifting the mask mandate is making me nuts (admittedly a short trip, but still...). As a proven liar, with his windmills=bad performance during the freeze, does anybody actually listen to him? To abandon all leadership responsibility for public health during a pandemic is utter dereliction. Leaving health safety decisions to individuals during an emergency is a worthless policy decision, done for purely partisan reasons. The man (I use the term lightly, cretin is more appropriate) is a public menace and would be removed if people had sense.
The problem is that we don't have enough desert islands to contain them all so they are kept in solitude and forced to reflect on their own stupidity and irrelevance.
I loved the joke. But in reality, these men should be forced to watch videos of people whose lives have been ruptured or lost becaue of their failure to enact meaningful life-protecting policies and programs. What in the world is wrong with them? So many good people in Texas, and they get stuck with THESE?
If you would like to get a text message when a cvs near you is opening up vaccine appointments, there's a bot that will do that for you. http://www.covidvaccinetexts.com/ (I found this site with help from a young friend. It helped me.) Have your insurance info handy, and click the cvs link in the text as soon as you can once it comes.
My heart breaks for Texas and Mississippi. Such a senseless loss of life and foolish arrogance by their elected leaders on the cusp of real progress with vaccines.
Watch, in a month Texas will close hard. Abbot will try to shift blame to Biden or something. Florida is gonna get crushed by spring break too. Then the northern states whose students will bring back more Covid to their home states. What a cluster f%#* this pandumic is. These Republicans are morons.
Quite right and despite the announcements of Abbot etc about opening up 100%, people only have to continue to be sensible on their own behalf and to protect others even if their politicians are not. Wear a mask indoors and out where their is a crowd and not a hurricane blowing, wash your hands frequently and avoid too close physical contact with others. European experience is showing that very few infections actually occur outside, most are inside at work, in the hospital, in homes or indirectly through the children when they come home from school.
Yes. The entitlement has really gotten to me. Lack of concern for others because masks are uncomfortable, etc. It has completely exhausted me. And now Texas. And as Stuart says, Spring Break in Florida. And all the districts all over our nation opening up this month. When will we get it? My god when will we get it?
As an older person in Texas I am most unhappy with the Governor. One theory I have is that the Republicans are using this to make the Social Security system solvent by having fewer people to pay out to. Not a pretty theory but with the craziness of the Republican Party and the remarks of the Lt. Governor of Texas saying
“No one reached out to me and said, ‘as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick said. “And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”
Linda Mitchell, Yes, you have posed what matters: Racism, the national 400 year old virus for which Lincoln did not find a vaccine. Trump, Hawley, Cruz, Florida’s DeSantis, Mississippi and Abbott’s GOP in Texas among other Black fearing racists in America want those that sleep 4 to 10 to a room to die.
Ironic, really. Thomas Jefferson loved Sally Hemings.. and the Hemingses of Monticello formed the core of his family... and our most brilliant founder was unable to form the words that might have avoided the Civil War.
We are still fighting what Lincoln addresses in the emancipation proclamation and reconstruction.
The National Virus of Racism is world wide... in India they call it the Caste System, and it is outlawed... and racism still rules.
Human nature requires an essay topic in all high schools: What are the significant differences among people?
They don’t care about humans. The cities and counties rely on sales tax, property taxes, liquor licenses. Cities are going bankrupt without relief. To borrow would mean to admit the Dems have had the right plan for government all along. To borrow, thus destroys the Republican philosophy of low to no Governent in everything save for national defense.
Not the "Dems" because 40 years ago the scum you are talking about were "Democrats." Nowadays they're "Republicans". What they are and always have been are far right wing outlaws: cashiered army officers, back alley assassins, rustlers, bank robbers - they're the traditional criminal class of Texas.
My guess is they were at the QPAC circus this past weekend and took a page from the South Dakota governor’s bragging about her poor choices not to have a mask mandate or reduce business activity.
There is mounting pressure for Governor Cuomo to resign. I really object to him being tried in a court of public opinion. Let the NY AG office handle it and make a ruling. As a corporate manager I received training on what sexual harassment is and isn't and how to handle it. At that time it was one egregious act or a repeated pattern of behavior that constituted sexual harassment. If we are a country with rule of law we should let the process take its course. When Senator Franken was being accused, I was quoted in the WSJ in their daily Readers' response question: “In our haste to accuse and judge, we have lost the principle of fairness. Would rather Sen. Franken had gone through the Ethics Committee process so we could put some of our outrage where it belongs: on the coverups, mistreatment of women who speak up and use of taxpayer money to keep them silent. Members of Congress can’t be exempt from its own laws!” We would have learned a great deal more about how Congress was protecting members of Congress and actually using taxpayer money to pay the accusers off!!!
Oddly enough, I see his unfortunate resignation as a twisted result of the trump effect, in that I think the Dems were sure they could take trump down over his sexual misconduct, but needed purity within their ranks for it to be credible. That worked out great.
I recall that he was getting a huge amount of pressure from fellow Democrats to resign. So he did. This was the height of Me,Too movement and I do feel he was being judged very harshly. It was a zero tolerance headset and it didn't matter his transgression had happened twenty years before and he actions was being taken out of the context of its time.
I have a lot of respect for Claire McCaskell but Gillibrand, no. They all jumped on that bandwagon. I am not saying that women were not touched by Franken. I am also not saying that he wasn't guilty but he asked to be investigated and was not given that right to defend himself. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
This is just a guess, but I think it’s the quantity of suppression, the quantity of accumulated silence, combined with it’s long overdue. I too was unhappy about Al Franken. On the other hand, there is Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, and on and on. I think a lot of these expletives deleted had it coming to them.
Also, remember, U.S. popular culture was being entertained by sexism. Anyone remember "Boston Legal", 2005 with Candace Burgman, James Spader as Alan Shore and William Shatner as Denny Crane?? Sexual harrassment and assault at work was an everyday occurrence! Horrifying by today's standards.
The USO tour where he did an "air pretend" photo over the military flak jacket of a female co-performer while she slepted on a military plane, took place in 2006. He never touched her.
She said his other act was rehersing a kiss for a U performance. She admitted she did not speak up at the time.
Compare that to almost any episode of Boston Legal, every week on National Televison! He was judged in 2018 for that stunt, long before he was a Senator. He was an ally for all legislation supporting woman's equality.
I have thought the Establishment Democrats wanted him to resign because of the "confessions" he joked about in his book, "Al Franken, Giant of the Senate" , published 2017.
Thank you for this. I completely agree. Gillibrand has been notably silent on Cuomo so far, but that doesn’t count as an apology for what she did to Al Franken.
I don't know about Cuomo guilt. I'm wondering if they are trying to end his political career because of his resistance to trump Republicans. and speaking out against the way covid was handled. Stealing a kiss can end your career but Trump grabbing pussies didn't stop him. Strange world we live in.
It's called "doing an Eliot Spitzer" on opponents, and is standard in the GOP playbook. It's really too bad; EW was on track for a White House bid. Repugs see Cuomo as a similar threat.
As someone from NY who lived through the Koch years in NYC and the first Gov Cuomo, as well as hearing a lot about the younger Cuomo's antics (and his infidelities in his marriage), I have to say: the guy is a total creep. He was effective in the Covid response but he was also vindictive against de Blasio (who has been a terrible mayor but did not deserve the treatment he got from Cuomo), which harmed NYC. He took a lot of the nastiest stuff from his father's playbook in order to push people around to do his bidding. There were plenty of stories about his aggressively "playful" (hah) manner toward women, but those were not confirmed because women were afraid to come forward. While I agree that the timing of this is super interesting, I believe the women.
I agree. Investigate properly, which AG James is totally capable of doing. FInd out the truth, then act from there. We seem to have developed a system where Republican politicians are innocent even when caught on video in the act, and Dems are guilty immediately after accusation. Let's go to the rule of law for both.
I was really put off by Franken’s resignation without an official process. I am not a part of the Democrat Party and this is one reason. They Eat Their Own. And, they think they can play nice against a corrupt, cheating competition.
“A new survey by Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll says that 61% of voters approve of Biden’s performance so far”.
Jimminy Cricket, the percentage approval of Biden should be 100% but since that is never the case, it should be at least 75%! 😆 (That’s not a reality either) In less than 2 months, he has taken major productive steps to steady this country, the press conferences are educational and transparent, vitriolic tweets appear to be a thing of the past, respect and dignity has been restored at the WH, and there are cabinet positions being filled by good people who know what they are doing! Oh, and we may all be vaccinated by May which means much better things for peoples’ health and the economy. Leadership counts .... what’s not to like?!
Jen Psaki rocks. The whole cabinet is capable and inspiring. Dedicated to the public good. They demonstrate President Biden’s best quality of judgement and that good judgement is perhaps the most important trait of leadership.
What's even more curious it that the stats quoted imply that a sizable proportion of Republican voters, too, approve of Biden's performance. Nonetheless, they still vote Republican. Strange...
Abortion. It's always abortion. That is why they just pull the trigger and then complain when things go wrong and they never put the two together. Ok, some put it together, but abortion over rides everything else.
I personally think one issue voters are worse than non voters.
Lots of them are nontheless embarassed by Trump and his "viking" band...as they rightly should be as it makes a mockery of what they probably believe in.
The Biden Administration has met and even exceeded my highest expectations. Wow. Ok, a few weak spots, but the list is so short I won't even mention them here. I don't see the need to detract from the whole, which has been amazing. The pendulum swing from the former administration to this one could not be more dramatic. I am reminded of the night of the Georgia Senate seat elections. I was fully expecting the Senate would remain in Mitch the Snitch's control. (I was thinking of using another word besides "Snitch" but didn't want to offend anyone.)
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and company are hitting home runs all the time, often several a day. I just discovered today that Biden initiated the review into 4 major Putin-Russia foreign policy issues the day he took office. Wow. Precisely what I would have done, because I consider Putin and the CCP to be top-level issues.
I would be blown away if I weren't still in shock from January.
I started doing my at home workouts while watching the press conferences (no headphones necessary) with Jen Psaki and I don't feel the need to throw one of the 10lb weights at the screen!! While on an elliptical machine at the gym during trump's reign of terror (even while listening to my music) I was a captive audience of the TV screens in front and could not always avoid the coverage of trump. I definitely lost it a few times - making out-loud commentary with some choice words. I'd get "the look" sometimes which worked for me . . . at least it identified the "trumpsters" in the room!! Sometimes, I didn't even realize I was talking out loud. Thank God sanity has returned and my psyche is starting to recover . . . then came the madness of trying to get a vaccine appointment in MA . . . As one of my favorites Gilda Radner would say . . . "it is always something" :)
Heather, I hope that you have escaped the generator. Sleep well.
There is a lot to think about. Politics and health collide; the recent past won't let go; voter suppression bills are on steroids.
I'll follow your lead Heather and make it quick.
Yesterday was Texas Independence Day. In celebration, governor Abbott announced that the state would reopen everything next week and rescinded the order to wear facemasks.
Beto O'Rourke quickly responded, calling it 'Death Warrant for Texans' He tweeted. "Add them to the 44,000+ killed as he failed to confront the pandemic & botched the vaccine rollout. ... And those who froze to death because he cares more about energy companies' profits than keeping Texans alive.'
These guys just refuse to deny the big lie and just continue with the gaslighting. I wish “news” shows would stop providing them with a platform, or at the very least, hold them accountable...don’t move on until the question IS answered.
May be off-topic for this newsletter, yet I think this “Litigation Tracker of All Criminal & Civil Cases Facing DJT” will be of interest to some of you.
What is going on with Texas and Mississippi that at this moment they dump their pandemic precautions? Is this a strategy arising from their little Golden Idol conference the other day?
Texas forecasts: 2-3 weeks cases start climbing. 3-6 weeks hospitalizations rise. 5-7 weeks deaths rise exponentially. 4th wave brought to by Gov Abbot and Ted Cruz. But this time it will rise 35-40% faster and be 60% more lethal due to the variants, also creating more opportunities for new variants. Wait n watch for “Co infection recombination mutation” to come into the news late March/April. It has the potential to get so bad, even Ted Cruz won’t be able to leave Texas.
Hey! What has Calgary got to do with it? Albertans may have "crude" but, despite being quite conservative, they are not known for supporting "Cruz...ing"...a bit far from the beach.
Mind you, every time i flew to Edmonton in years gone by i would find myself in a cab from the airport and listening to an eastern European immigrant ranting about "nuking" the Russians. So anything is possible. I bet they are glad that Cruz didn't stay...one less crazy!
It certainly appears that much of the GOP certainly are that evil. That’s what shocks. And so many lacking that evil can’t fathom it. With the blatant mob boss in power they have outed themselves with their eagerness to join in the evil deeds.
What can Manaus Brazil teach us about viral mutations? how newer mutated virus variants can re--infect those who have recovered, dispelling the myth of immunity. But we all know this from the flu! This is the danger of unmitigated community spread of a novel airborne viral pneumonia. 8 months after their first wave, this variant re-infected everyone in the town, even those who had recovered in the first wave, but it was much much worse. Many had a more severe illness the 2nd round, many more died. Texas is now a human experiment.
Microbiology major, Colorado State. Epidemiology was an easy A for an average student like me way back when, basic math and show up for class. Lifting the mask mandate early, really pisses me off. It is as if everything I learned to get that degree doesn't matter, is worthless. The damage these assholes are doing to our Public Health professionals and institutions is abhorrent. I agree with President Biden, that is "Neanderthal" ish to be anti mask and its worse to go against the CDC guidelines.
It is the same as saying, "I don't care where your fresh water pipes and supply are, I'm going to put my septic field wherever I damn well please, its my "constitutional right". I posted somewhere else, that even Ronald Regan understood this. "My Liberty and freedom to waive my arms wildly ends where your nose begins".
Some may think I am making a prediction. But I am not. A 4th wave is now going to happen. The probability is certain. Distance. Stay away from indoors and any crowd. Wear two masks. Get Vaccinated when its your turn. Spread and amplify to your family, friends, & colleagues.
It's simply Ugly, self centered, egotistical, selfish, greedy, hateful (and whatever other nasty adjectives you can think of) behavior of antimaskers. I wonder if they even know who ronald reagan was.
The 30-50 deaths in Texas due to no heat, electricity, or water for a week, apparently weren't enough to satiate the Golden Idol. Either that or Abbott is trying to deflect attention from the failures of the "free market electric grid."
aaahh, it's the usual crap. Right-wing losers who want to live in the past, who didn't graduate from elementary school, object to having to grow up, be adults, and face reality. "No, No, not that! Not wearing masks! But we didn't have to wear masks ever before! We are special! We are privileged! We are Republicans, we are Americans, we are racists, we are sexists, we are whites, we don't have to do anything we don't want to do! It's those terrible POC, those terrible liberals, those terrible women in power like Pelosi and AOC and Warren, they're making us do it. They're making us share power with gays and liberals and POC and women. We don't wanna! We don't wanna wear masks! We don't wanna lose our white privilege! We don't wanna grow up! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."
Abbott is clearly trying to get out from under the energy debacle. Most likely he's trading one disaster for the return of another given the news in Houston.
I agree, R. We often describe people or policies as insane when we don't see their rationale. The justifications may seem senseless, but they usually mask an insidious agenda.
BTW, I enjoy the kind of comparison you offer. "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer." "Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier." "Not the swiftest runner on the track." Etc.
Other examples welcome from LFAAers. We all could use the laughs.
I keep wondering if those American flag shorts are supposed to be board shorts swim trunks or boxers. Somehow I can’t picture Trump wearing board shorts. 🤔🙄
There are some that wanted people to believe that "Rain followed the Plough" in the West in order to sell them dry land unfit for Eastern agricultural techniques and others that then got into the act to sell the desperate some often poisonous "universal remedies" using coloured, debased alcohol....snake oil salesmen was the name given to them when they were tarred and feathered before being run out of town. Some such old methods might appropriately be revived to fit the needs of our time ....before the Abbots of this world get back to voter suppression in the KKK way!
Then the Native Americans that were "displaced" could have told them, the drought was their long before their arrival...quite normal! If you plough land and with no rain it dries out in the constant wind...man's greed has created an environmental disaster that their predecessors had the good sense to avoid.
To extend the political analogy: It turned out that most of the 1880s were a periodic wet cycle in the upper Plains, so that for a brief while everything seemed to be working according to the advertising slogans. More people bought in. The eventual and inevitable disastrous consequences thus affected an even larger population. Let's see... supply-side economics, deregulation, private enterprise always beats government activity, unencumbered markets always lead to the greatest growth and efficiency.... I could go on, but so could almost anyone reading here.
Thanks for the references. Even more "traditional" historians of the West pointed out the willful ignorance widely consumed--Eliot West, Richard White, even Billington, pointed out that there were readily available voices to listen to--whites as well as Native Americans--about the prospects of dry land farming, the effects of clear-cutting the northern forests, annihilating the bison, etc.
Maybe presidential politics is part of it. Gov. Noem of S Dakota trying for an inside track among Trump Republicans on the basis of having claimed at the Orlando CPAC conference to have “successfully” privileged the economy of her state over Covid suppression (sidestepping the fact that S Dak is the 8th worst state for covid fatality rate), made Abbott think he would look weaker if he continued the state mandates on masking and covid regulations. Keeping open a presidency path will always seem a worthwhile gamble, and Abbott is clearly positioning himself for that.
Republican leadership has no courage, therefore no leadership. Chaos is their platform. Power their only goal by any means necessary. They can’t lead their followers to nor for good. They couldn’t and wouldn’t keep them from rioting, injuring and killing at the Capitol. They don’t want them to be responsible citizens. They want their followers out sewing FEAR! With guns, intimidation, and of a disease, that they themselves do not understand could sicken and kill them. How is this the party of pro life? Even Ronald Regan said that “my freedom to waive my arms wildly ends where you’re nose begins”. Today’s Republicans remain morally bankrupt.
Promotion of chaos, and getting ones name in the media. A of TX did that, Friday hanging out with Presidential visit, pause for QPAC, now anti mask. Any attention is good attention.
I think anti-Abbott sentiment and criticism runs deep now, since the icestorm. It's a hopeful sign that Texas has been lacerating Cruz and Abbott with criticism.
When commenters here on HCR, and political pundits, have been talking about Texas going purple or even blue, my immediate reaction has been "NO WAY JOSÉ."
Hawley, too, was wasted by Danforth and both St. Louis newspapers. You don't see national headline articles about the Lexington KY newspaper criticizing Mitch the Glitch. I think he's safe. But I don't think Abbott is nearly as safe, based on what Texas residents here on HCR have been saying during the weather crisis.
Christy I’m confused. I was agreeing with Marlene, and countering Cathy’s argument that maybe Abbott gets off easy like Mitch did being re-elected in KY. I think everything Abbott is doing is heinous. You appear to agree with me, and yet you’re accusing me of going easy on him. Christy you and I appear to be on exactly the same page.
She is beyond a nightmare waiting to happen. She has reached full fledged status. Those of us that live in SD wish things were different. 90% of our legislature is rethuglicans. Crazy ones I might add! We can't get democrats to run since there is little chance they'll be elected. Covid Kristi Noem is a lunatic.
Linda Skinner... when we ask the right question, we have some chance of getting the answer. You have asked, What is going on in Texas and Mississippi, and you are not asking for Letters from an American... to print out the repetitive. You are not interested in reading the dictionary of the rote minded historian that repeats facts known. YOU CAME TO LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN to ask why? What’s going on? And your question comes with a reference to the Golden Idol conference at CPAC the other day... that racist gathering of GOP Idol Worshippers so loved by the Born Again Crowd of the Religious Right - or the Religious Wrong... Heather Cox Richardson is baby sitting White America... no doubt hoping her $1,000,000 a year income will last till the power returns... and COVID-19 retires... so she can retire. We know Maine. We owned four houses in Rockport... on the harbor. And I litigated with the whites of Rockport to force them to take their sewage from the harbor. Guess what they did... they pumped it over the hill to darken the harbor of Camden ... and gave a press conference. Maine is our White State... and Heather Cox Richardson is our White Historian... she cannot spell Joe Know Us... she does not read those words for their meaning. Heather was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, where three of ours attended... this is a school that managed to ignore sexual perverts in the faculty for years... till the place blew up. Like Milton Academy, where I served and blew out the Head and many members of the faculty for much the same... like Deerfield Academy, where one of ours was molested by Bryce Lambert, reported this to the Head, and was ignored..
Mr. Lewis, I’d rather that you would start your own substack letter or whatever vehicle suits you for your rants. I’d rather not that you grotesquely attack that which does tremendous good in the world, with your obvious jealousy for her success. If you can do it better, what’s stopping you?
Christy X, my phone is open and my last name is known. Yours? Why not pass on when you see my name. Your preferences are wonderful. I’m certain. Follow your nose. Ignore me. Salim Bonnor Lewis, aka Sandy. Bored.
You’re bored? of course! Your genius outshines most everyone. Why do you need my last name? Unlike you, my name is not recognizable nor important. I like being able to choose when I might run into a rant. Some rants have been very enlightening. I’m curious about people and behaviors. I’m definitely not bored. You seem to have ability to do so much good yet you insist on being destructive. I keep hoping I might figure that out. But you neglected to answer my one question.
The deep racial insanity of man, all man, is our greatest handicap. Tribal stuff kills creativity in all concerned. The US is sick. Sadly, people of color are afflicted, too. Deeply. Our congress and FBI are troubled. See sblewis.net. I was pardoned by a sick president. I upset him to the point of rage. Was told he’d not act. He did. His last morning. The FBI came to probed. Two. We spoke... for an hour. Standing. Finally, I turned the tables to ask if they would like to know what I felt about them. So, I rolled: one of you is a perfect saint, one of you is a perfect shit. I added, this would be my profile of the Bureau. They went nuts on me. 8 months later they filed with the pardon attorney. He called. Roger C. Adams Esq., called. He grandstanded. Said I would not be pardoned, adding, if you do not get pardoned, no one should be. I told the jerk to do his job. Returning to Mara Gay, I do not know her. I hear her. She’s the best. NYTimes has nothing close. NYT is unstable on racial prejudice. And sexuality stuff. This is historical. The best speak openly. The Editor in Chief, a Cajun, is very weak. Brilliant Donald G. McNeill Jr., was sacked. Unfair. That’s weak on racial stuff. I am certain he was rude and gruff. I am certain he erred. To err is human. To forgive is divine. Pity. Donald’s loss creates a place many will leave. The pendulum swings. It will take years to heal The Times. Sam Dolnick is emotionally healthy. And weak. Joe Kahn is powerful and destructive. Newspapers are so important. And so troubled. Readers do not read.
Sandy, I've read your post several times, but I'm not sure of your intent. I recognize your name here, but your post suggests that you do not like Dr Richardson based on the derogatory remarks you made about her. An old expression comes to mind, you don't shit where you eat.
Skipped with the heavy thumb editing... continued.... Linda Skinner, the white racist nation of which you and I are a part is doing it again, and our favorite sleepless historian is not doing it... for she is white, too... and the whites of America do not want to hear what MARA GAY has to say... these day. MARA GAY is that incredible force flexing on the Editorial Page of The New York Times... and she got slammed by COVID-19.... and hopes to recover. MARA is one drop Black.. and quite amazing. She is beautiful and brilliant, a daunting combination for the typical male of America... most men want beautiful, but I am not sure how many want brilliant... anyway, the question you ask is what’s going in racist Mississippi and racist Texas... and it’s simple. The power structure want to wipe out people of color... for people of color are rising... and unless we keep them down, they will end up running the show... More power to them, Linda... and more power to women that ask the questions that matter... more power to you...
Thank you, and especially for the bit of good news at the end of your letter. Sometimes I find it hard to keep my chin up when so many support the radical extremism that has rattled our country . You and Marc E. Elias give me hope . Sleep well. P.S. I just heard Dolly Parton sing about getting vaccinated!
“I’m not going to get mine until some more people get theirs,” she told The Associated Press. “I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money. I’m very funny about that.” Says all you need to know re Dolly.
Morning Lynell!! Thanks for the resources. And thanks also to RD.
Greene's opponent had better be very tough. The GOP is increasingly turning to extralegal violence as a campaign strategy, because it can work. Her last opponent was harassed mercilessly and dropped out.
I looked more deeply into EFAD, in particular the material on the 14th Amendment. It is impressive - comprehensive with loads of supporting material. The Federalist Society is a sponsor and that is a bit troubling, but the project strives to be balanced.
I read three essays on the 14th - one from each political perspective and one joint effort, and had mixed feelings. The approach EFAD uses is to have two writers on opposite sides of a matter. Each writes an essay and they co-write an essay that includes points of agreement.
An interesting approach that requires the teacher to remain active in the process because the partisans are just that - partisan. Thanks for the link.
Thank you again, Dr. Richardson. I especially appreciated yesterday's post about the Republican's suppressive voting rights bills. I hope we can find ways to fight back against these bills, and I hope your power is back on soon.
This wasn’t that quick and very informative. As an FBI veteran, I’m pleased to see a Director stand up to these idiotic conspiracies and what if’s from the Republicans.
Cruz and Hawley are afraid they're in the metadata. I'd love to see the Bureau frog march those two through an early morning perp walk.
They appeared very worried, and looking for ways to suppress evidence revealed. As with the Biden-Harris administration good works, the snowball of the investigation will steadily grow. I have faith it will pick up such trash as it finds it. It is time stop giving Jtrash H press, and to deflate the Crxz balloon.
Nothing would give me more pleasure!!
Their day is coming. It won't be a perp walk - more like getting kicked out of the treehouse club.
My imagination of potential activities for those two go in the direction of Criminal Minds FBI profilers on really special criminals who have been so privileged and look at the depths they have sunk to— they ought to be studied so we can learn about th3ir brain functions and then can recognize th3m in other strange criminals.
You and me both!
Frog March? Better, a couple of sleds (or wagons) with belt fasteners so, you know, the passengers cannot fall off before their vehicles slide into the deeper water.
Sorry. I posted my comment before seeing yours.
Someone posted this previously. I'm sorry I can't remember who it was.
“It takes a special kind of stupid to think the left would dress up like the right and raid the Capitol to change the outcome of an election they just won.“
You know, Jan, we have a small problem here. Your statement contains the implicit assumption that brainpower and intelligence are being applied, qualities Republicans are not known for. That quote would be stretching most of them way beyond their abilities.
You have to think like a sheep, like a fly in a swarm of flies, like a person with limited emotional capacity, to get into their minds.
"Hey, we are losing our white privilege here. Our world is disappearing. Our country will never come back if we lose this election. [That last one is a Cheeto quote]. It's all the fault of those POC, those uppity nasty women, Pelosi and AOC and BLM, they are taking away our white power and white privilege. We don't wanna lose our white privilege. We don't wanna lose out to POC and liberals and gays. We wanna keep our white males-first straights-first society. We don't wanna grow up. We don't wanna wear masks. WAAAAAAAAA. . . "
They don't want to lose their white power and white privilege society to liberals and gays and POC and women. That's all there is to it.
"It's all their fault, the liberals and gays and Pelosi and AOC and yoga and women in power. Yoga, yech, what is that? It's not something we learned in Sunday school, so it must be a Muslim clothing thing like what the women wear. We can't deal with it! We can't change to a different society, a new society! We are babies! We are infants, toddlers, wimps, wussies, cowards crying into our beer, because we lost our White Society and our Great White Leader."
Hi Frank. Not everybody gets 42 likes so quickly. I’ll speak for myself: I really appreciate having an FBI veteran here. What an outstanding resource.
update: now it's 5:30 p.m. Pacific time.
Frank Arthur has 128 likes with the post "This wasn’t that quick and very informative. As an FBI veteran, I’m pleased to see a Director stand up to these idiotic conspiracies and what if’s from the Republicans."
Frank, what does that tell you about how appreciated you are here?
Director Ray's testimony indicated that the Bureau is doing its job properly. Cruz and Hawley were playing to their audience of ignorant and gullible supporters. They know the truth and prefer to peddle lies rather than admit it. Actually, many of those who swallow the Trumpublican lies know they are lies but it gives them a cover for their real beliefs, racism, bigotry and a desire for the easy answers a dictatorship brings.
When Director Wray was chosen I told friends that Trump just doesn’t realize that every Republican isn’t a mindless sycophant and could have integrity. I’m just glad Trump didn’t fire him and Biden let him stay to restore some calm and continuity. With Merrick Garland as AG, the Rule of Law is back.
I found Hawley's questions regarding tracking electronic communications interesting. Can't help but wonder whether there could be some personal angst in that.
😁 They should be afraid, very afraid. There’s a new Sheriff in town.
If only - it would be such sweet payback for the last four years of gangsterism.
I left the Bureau a long time ago but their resources, when used properly, are overwhelming.
I'm definitely in favor of their current resources.
I’m still perplexed as to why they didn’t see this violence coming.
I thought the same. He seemed a bit desperate to me.
I thought I detected perspiration.
Perfectly stated Jacob. That cover is their bully shield. It needs to be ripped right off!
Glad to see you here. 30 year retired local law enforcement myself. I so appreciate what you do.
Thank you for your service.
The fact that he's a Trump-appointed Republican makes it all the more sweet.
Regarding the Christopher Wray questioning by the Judiciary Committee, Grassley, Hawley and Cruz continued to regurgitate an obviously crash-tested rhetorical mantra that draws a false equivalence between the rioters at the Capitol on January 6th and those who joined the protesters in Portland and Washington D.C. and elsewhere, at protests connected with the police killing of George Floyd. This ruse needs calling out and shouted down. As Merrick Garland said during his earlier confirmation interview at the Senate when pushed toward the false-equivalence, the violence in the wake of the Floyd killing that precipitated property damage to Federal buildings (the Portland court-house and the Washington D.C. church) was not motivated and coordinated for the purpose of interfering with Federal governmental functions the way the January 6 Capitol attack was admitted by its organizers to be an effort to interrupt the Electoral Vote count and interfere with the Constitutionally mandated transfer of presidential power. As is too often the case with protests galvanized by a triggering event like the death of George Floyd, persons often separate from the political purpose of the protest are attracted to the ambient anger and rage to trash property and even struggle with the forces of the law. Another false equivalence is then added to the theme "violence is universally bad and must be suppressed no matter what the motivating cause". Once Portland and the Capitol are made equivalents, the next move is to use destruction of property and attacks on the police, for whatever reason, to "prove" the folly of police reform or taking money from police budgets to hire persons trained in talking down persons in the throes of a psychological crisis, which stupidly got called "defunding the police." Ron "doe eye" Johnson too has gone even further to pin the Capitol insurrection on anarchists, faceless Stalin plants in the crowd as provocateurs of the left aimed at pinning the Capitol attack on fire-spitting AOC, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. For those who were paying attention at the Garland hearing, Garland aimed directly at the pro-Trump anarchist ploy when he said damaging Federal property is bad and needs to be treated as such, but it's not equivalent to attacking the Capitol and the members of Congress with the intention of interfering with the workings of our democracy. The not-so-clever Cruz-Hawley-Grassley response to Garland's distinction was to say Garland had no quarrel with attacking Federal property at night when Federal offices were closed and employees not in the building. Shame on you Grassley, Cruz, Hawley, and Cotton too. I hesitate to add Ron Johnson because I feel like I would be beating up on an old floppy-eared dog. A brief word on "liberator" Texas governor Abbott's decision to drop most public restrictions aimed at reducing virus spread in the name of "self-reliance". Abbott doesn't seem to get it that mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing are above all measures aimed at saving others from us, not saving ourselves, i.e., being super-spread agents. Since endangering others is totally lacking in testosterone laced freedom, why not liberate Texans to drive on whichever side of the highway that turns them on in the moment so as not to throttle the "call of the wild."
Sadpanic, this is a most insightful and sensitive analysis of violence, and especially vandalism, at racial-justice events. The dynamics are complex, but it rarely has to do with political protest, and carries little more weight than mayhem after a concert or sports triumph. The main exceptions come from false-flag violence or infiltration by rightwing provocateurs. THERE is the truly dangerous threat for honest law enforcement to address.
"False flag violence or infiltration of .... provacateurs".
Yes and that is one more equivalence that the negationists....and there is a word of shame in Europe that some will recognize here....are trying to make stick on Portland-Jan 6th comparisons. Normal strategy of the Perverse Narcissist as they are accusing their accusers of their own sins.
I live in Oregon, and am retired from law enforcement. The false equivalency arguments of comparing Portland's summer riots to the insurrection at the Capitol coming from my LE friends is something to behold. They acknowledge NO difference between disrupting the peaceful transfer of power, and the anarchist fringe that attached themselves to the BLM protests.
Sadpanic, you are so much more articulate than I have been. I may use some of your thoughts on the next Quixotic mission that I engage in.
Make my words yours for whatever good purpose you can put them to.
Nicolle Wallace nailed Johnson - RonAnon
That's gonna stick like tar.
Excellent analyses, Sadpanic. If anyone can show me pictures/videos of George Floyd protesters armed with militery equipment, I may be convinced of their equivalence to Jan 6.
military
You have to remember, Texas has a "tradition" to uphold, having been founded by cashiered army officers, failed politicians, slave catchers, back-alley assassins, bushwhackers, rustlers, bank robbers, con artists, and others on the lam from civilization for various infractions major and minor. The tradition is, they can only elevate people to public office who come from those backgrounds or similar. Anyone not from those backgrounds who gets into office is a fluke, and they do their best to remedy the mistake as quickly as possible.
Just look at the totally wild foundation myths that they managed to create by fantasizing reality at the Alamo and with Davy Crockett against Santa Anna. Hopefully there remains a few nuggets of the previous Native American and then Spanish-Mexican civilisation hidden away ready to widen their view of the world as in Santa Fe, NM.....but they seem to need a great deal of help in finding it these days!
Aw, come on Stuart, you seem to be bashing ALL Texans. I’m not a native Texan, but I married a 9th generation one whose forebears settled here while Texas was still part of Mexico. They were salt-of-the-earth, no-nonsense, hard-working people. My late mother-in-law was fond of exclaiming, “The world is full of people who can’t reason from A to B. And they don’t know that C and D are even out there!” That quote comes to mind more and more often these days.
your family obviously follows the Native American premise of thinking 7 generations ahead. In some parts of Texas the relations between newcombers and existing local inhabitants were friendly and cooperative.
There is some discussion of Texas history in the excellent book "The Comanche Empire" by Pekka Hamalainen.
"TCE" is recommended, with reservations.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RJJXCIKYLH4UO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001HZZ05C
Thanksjoan it's gone on my list.
I keep trying to figure out how Beto O'Rourke and Texas found each other. In any case, I think we can agree that whatever time Tedikins Cruz did on the Cross, it didn't last, nor sink in. As Texans burned the family furniture to stay warm in the recent power outage, Tedilonious Ticky saw how Texas was "turning blue" (from the cold) and moved his gang south of the border to watch the horror on Zoom and to ponder how snakes can change their political spots—with a presidential Sharpie no doubt.
Where does Ann Richards fit in?
She must have been an "outlier"??
A definite outlier - looks what came before and after. Too bad they can't have more outliers like her.
Well, there is Beto! But truly Ann Richards was one of a kind. I didnt realize until a little while ago that her daughter was the former head of Planned Parenthood. She's another sharp cookie! There have to be others like that - just not speaking I guess.
Unfortunately Beto, like most of the best TX Dems, has never won a statewide race. Can he or another candidate break the pattern in 2022? Millions of lives may depend on the outcome, and not just in one state.
A “fluke” was the term used? And a “mistake” that was remedied ASAP. (I had to look up her term and indeed, it was limited to one) And the GOP attacks were vile.
GOP attacks? Always vile! But when you dont have authenticity & truth on your side what else is there, right? Wouldnt you think (or hope) that someone would actually listen & "cogitate" (good word) on the crap that they are spewing? Maybe, oh I dont know, think about it?
Your assessment of the opportunistic attachment of the anarchist movement to the BLM protests is accurate. The PNW has always had an anarchist component (really came to life during the WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, and I had a fair number of incidents with them during some environmental protests in Oregon in the early 2000's. They seize on a legitimate protest (environmental awareness or racial inequity) and just plain create hate and discontent.
I concur with your description, Ally, with "opportunistic" anarchists against government in general. But in Portland they had their own shared interest in fighting federal officers sent by Trump, to set up a "police state" in the city of Portland.
My 17 year old son was working in Portland and paticipated in the protest between 8:30 pm and 11:00pm. As he was walking back to his car with people carring umbrells and a few leaf blowers to protect themselves in case of tear gas, the helmeted anarchists were arriving to confront the police with fireworks, frozen water bottles, and lacross sticks to toss the gas canister back over the police fence. The damage to the court house was primarily graffiti, not broken windows. The BLM protest walked through downtown Portland. The "rumble" between the anarchists and Boarder Patrol law enforcement et.al., didnt start until after 11:00pm. That confrontation was a few blocks east from downtown and confined to the block with the court house and the park across the street from the court house.
If the law enforcers wore identification uniforms instead of camouflage army fatigues, the people from Portland would not have felt the need to expose the federal law enforcement troops and their illegal detainment and interrorgation (sic) of protesters. They were not invited by the city nor the Portland police.
It is dangerous for the President to have access to his own "army" through his own appointed Homeland Security white suptremist.
Brilliant analysis Sadpanic. Thank you.
or just covering your mouth when you sneeze.
I knew there was one anti-Covid measure I forgot to mention, mea culpa.
Sleep, rest, and I hope the power is back on in the morning! It has been an interesting day. The situation in Texas is really scary but the legislature is also seeking ways to secede from the US so one has to wonder what Abbot is playing at. The fallout from the CPAC debacle is keeping the Cheeto in the news and even if all of the news is derisory he doesn’t care. What I wish is that news outlets would simply ignore him. He’s no longer president so they have no obligation to continue following him around. The Dems need to keep on announcing what they are getting done and keeping up the pressure on the purveyors of the Big Lie. Fingers crossed.
The only news I want to see about Donald Trump is that he’s been criminally charged with inciting insurrection against the Inited States. I would then be glad to watch the trial in action.
I don't know, I'd settle for criminal charges for fraud, rape, or one of the other crimes he's being investigated for. Tax evasion? Incitement is a tough charge to prove in court (even though it looks so obvious). Whatever gets him in a jumpsuit or living in exile works for me.
Actually, RICO and tax evasion is probably the easiest way to get him out of the picture--like Al Capone.
My cousin who's a political lawyer in PA (worked on all the election cases) says NY has the strongest chance.
How quickly can it happen? Yesterday would be good. . . .
Many choices here, Jennifer. How about all of them so we can truly get at the heart of his corrupt, destructive and self-serving behaviors? This is the only way our country can heal.
"Whatever gets him in a jumpsuit or living in exile works for me."
Anything other than living out the rest of his life in a cold, dank, dark dungeon with other rats would not be just.
What about rape?
United
Totally agree. Biden keeping his focus on what this country needs and not focusing on Trump is working. Unbelievable approval rating. Keeps going up. Gives me hope. We have been traumatized living through the last 4 years. Takes time and lots of work to rebuild our Democracy. Stacy persevered getting voters registered against all odds. We can do this and stop the steal of allowing our citizens to vote.
There is NO WAY that Cpac "accidentally" used a Nazi rune design for their stage. Daily Kos had a bunch of stories earlier today.
https://www.dailykos.com/search?text=cpac+rune&time_begin=02%2F23%2F2021&time_end=now&text_type=any&text_expand=contains&search_type=search_stories&time_type=time_published&submit=search
I'm somewhat interested in genuine historic runes and monuments, because they are primary evidence of Viking-era migration, settlement, land claims, etc. But if I meet someone with an excessive interest, I figure they just might be a Nazi and steer clear. Or else drop a dime.
To each movement their founding myths however far fetched and as usual, like jungian dream analysis, they are, at least symbolically, extremely revealing of their inner psychic problems over and above their apparent material representations. Their ignorance of the real history of the viking era and people obviously knows no bounds, so they have to rely on the TV/Film representations. Do you think Ted Cruz takes himself to be Kirk Douglas....probably and over above, by association, he'll be mixing his metaphores too with his Spartacus role.
What remains is the image of violent conquest of subordinate peoples by an autocratic, warrior led bad of thieves. They obviously are unaware of their importance in institution building, international trade and exchange and world exploration.
It is personally insulting too given my probable far back origins at least through my Scots mother (Christie coming from Christianson).
Oh well! There are lots of interesting viking settlement sites from Newfoundland from Eric the Red on and down the East Coast as far as you care to look.
Columbus discovered America? Hah!
I have to say that the WORST (and the funniest, although unintentionally) "medieval" movie I have ever seen (and I deliberately used it in a class once just for kicks and giggles) is The Vikings, starring Ernest Borgnine, Kirk Douglas, and Tony Curtis. The insertion of Brooklyn accents into the 9th centuries, well, indescribably hilarious.
Didn't the Vikings reach Brooklyn?
If that's wrong, I need to turn over a new Leif.
🤣 Weirdly, there is a theory that Icelanders working their way down the North American coast settled for a time in what became Vineland, New Jersey--that the name was a long memory of Vinland, which is what they called Nova Scotia or New Brunswick (can't remember which one). So they would sound like Chris Christie, not Tony Curtis. Which is way worse.
The first Vineland was Newfoundland. Icelanders working The coasts yes. But the viking populations there and on Greenland were not then the most stable of . Hunters, farmers and fishermen without ocean going certainty in their boats. Its not certain that permanent settlement was envisaged but rather trading posts like the French and fish drying/salting/net repair stations like the Portuguese. Vineland, NJ is interesting because it did later come back to life as a Danish/Swedish colony...17thC vikings!
Ouch😂
Capital pun-ishment.
I can imagine already the long boats circling Long Island!
Totally agree. I saw it not long ago on a channel running old Paramount stuff. Laughed myself silly as did they no doubt ...all the way to the bank. They got paid for that farce! I was though a little troubled by the geography as the wicked lord to whom the "female interest" was forcibly betrothed was Welsh and it didn't seem more than a few hours sail from the vikings home base in Norway...difficult to reconcile with the need to go all the way round Scotland first! Perhaps they were vikings from their Irish settlements...a little problematic finding fjords on the emerald isle though.
Don’t forget Tony Curtis as Antoninus, singa of sawngs in Spartacus. Side splitting.
A memorable twosome between him and Kirk Douglas again.
And Marc Anthony. Oy.
"Spartacus" is far superior to "Vikings" as film and as history.
I agree TPJ. It was no accident. The appropriation of runic symbols by white supremacists, like their use of the Black Eagle of St Maurice, has been something that the medievalist community has been trying to combat, but we can't get any traction in the larger media outlets because nobody seems to care. The runes (like the swastika--which was NOT a nazi symbol before being appropriated by them) are merely an alphabet that was developed in Scandinavia and the British Isles because it--like Roman capitals--was easy to carve into stone. There are ritual and religious meanings to the runes when used for religious purposes (like tarot cards or the I Ching) but they do not have any inherently fascistic meaning. It is really difficult to manage this expropriation as it is growing.
So here is my question. Who did the stage set design? What firm? Interior design peep within the firm? It would be interesting to follow their commissions.
I think the stage set is a bit of proof o the money behind these terrorist groups.
Thanks Linda; I figured a Viking ref might catch your eye. Their Norman successors were involved in the medieval events that fascinate me most. Robert the Devil, William the Bastard, Robert the Weasel, et al -- such charming nicknames!
It's surprising that RW extremists (mis)appropriate St Maurice, but their obsessions are often esoteric. StM was famous for being not just saintly, but African too. (Definitely Egyptian, perhaps Black; it's unclear.) Not sure the KKK would like that. Maybe it'll provoke an internecine brawl between Nazis and KKK and they will neutralize each other. How's that for real "cancel culture?!"
And yes: I think I talked about St Maurice and the Black Eagle many months ago in another series of posts. It is one of the more amusing moments of stupid among the white supremacist crowd. If you want to read some very interesting stuff, check out the Medievalists of Color website: https://medievalistsofcolor.com
My absolute favorite nickname for these guys is a moniker coined for one of the early counts of Anjou: Foulque the Surly.
William, nicknamed the Conquerer, another Norman Viking, most famous for a propaganda tapestry drawn to honour him in Bayeux and an inventory of his new "taxable" possessions that were his spoils of war in Britain...the Doomsday Book. It was with him the "english" side of me arrived on the island. The Dutch mercenary clan, the Atte Velle that fought for the invading army were accorded in the Doomsday volume land in the are of Doncaster! Now one of the few places where you'll still find numbers of people bearing my name...particularly in the graveyards!
I thought I detected an Anglo-Norman dimension in your surname. Le Duc d'Attewell.
Though it hardly tells the whole history of the Conquest, I absolutely revere the Bayeux Tapestry. (It's actually embroidery, not a tapestry.) It is surprisingly respectful toward The Bastard's arch-rival Harold. The story of its survival is as remarkable as the BT itself.
Maybe that explains the decision to settle in new jersey
There was a barroom contest to name the most people called "the:" Catherine the Great, Charles the Simple, Ivan the Terrible, Sulieman the Magnificent, etc. I won in a landslide by submitting dozens of mostly medieval monarchs and nobles. (Alas, they wouldn't accept Hold the Mayo or Down the Hatch.) Bragging rights were the best part, because first prize was a cheesy Budweiser wall clock. I had to pay for batteries.
It's always a question of current context representations which give a meaning to the symbols in each epoch. The swastika I believe was found on Sumerian Tablets originally....amongs the first pictural/written records that we have.
I wish we could stop referring to it as "the swastika", a name now almost inseparable from Nazi symbolism. Sadly, that term is not even German: the name derived long ago from Sanskrit svastika, which meant something like “conducive to well-being." Ironic, no?
Common in east Indian religions and later in the Mediterranean. Among many Indigenous people of the Americas (and possibly other places) a symbol representing the wind and, among some peoples, the path of the sun as it passes east to west. In Europe during medieval times, a Christian cross symbol called gammadion cross, (four Greek gammas stuck together) and probably before that, also a wind symbol. As you can imagine, it has numerous names.
I can't remember what my family called it, but they were clear that it was not in any way related to the German use, (which only emerged in the early 20th century and given its academic name).
My first ribbon shirt had the directions of the wind, and to tell the truth, to this day I am unclear which direction the German symbol actually goes, after seeing so many versions of it over the years as it popularized among right-wing extremists.
An aside: they also think the British Flag is the same thing as the Confederate battle flag. My Brit friends think this is both amusing and somewhat dismaying, and certainly an indication of American ignorance. They have a point.
Thanks for helpful details, Annie. There is a connection between the Union Jack and Confed battle flag: both incorporate the Cross of St Andrew. The UJ features crosses of St George, David and Andrew, representing the United Kingdoms of England, Wales, Scotland. Many antebellum Southerners had Scottish or Scotch-Irish ancestry, so the connection was logical. NB, Scots or Scottish is for people; Scotch is just for tape, eggs or whiskey.
https://confederatewave.org/wave/confederate-flag-history.phtml
D Fischer, Albion's Seed
J Leyburn, The Scotch-Irish
G McWhiney & F McDonald. Cracker Culture
History of origin of confed battle flag noted. My understanding is that it originated in Texas. Fuzzy on that. Regardless of origin, the Con battle flag has only a vague resemblance to the British flag. Simply because it has a cross doesn't explain the confounding of two flags with only that in common. Why my Brit friends were so baffled at seeing their flag atop our State House.
What if we look at that stage, so obviously on Odal rune and note that it is cast in blue – the color of the Democratic Party – and not in red, the color of the GOP. Consciously employing projection as a political weapon would call for the stage to be blue so that they can basically say Look behind me, look all around me, see that the opposition is promoting a Nazi platform. We won’t stand for that. Stick with us. We are the ones who are against a Nazi platform. And by the way, (wink, wink), we will continue to use this symbol as our rallying call.
It’s been going on for a while. Here’s an example:
Donald Trump Jr.stated on August 1, 2018 in an interview with One America News Network:
"You see the Nazi platform from the early 1930s ... look at it compared to the (Democratic Party) platform of today, you're saying, 'Man, those things are awfully similar.'"
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/aug/03/donald-trump-jr/did-nazi-platform-echo-democratic-platform-donald-/
"What if we look at that stage, so obviously on Odal rune and note that it is cast in blue – the color of the Democratic Party – and not in red, the color of the GOP."
GO LENA!!! Now you're talking my language. Use the symbols for good.
While we're at it, let's take over the red color as well, and pretend that the entire image is healthy and life-affirming and democratic in red.
For the GOP, make the stage a dingy color of gray. That's what the GOP is: dead and dying.
To respond to your quest for more sources on some aspects of European History, and in particular France, I thought i'd take this moment to give an initial response. The great difficulty with French historians is firstly they tend to get totally buried by what the French would call "Philosophers" and other more political/topical commentators. Secondly, the number of them that actually get translated into English is seemingly quite rare....Italian, no problem and even German or Spanish....but English...who reads it? The French view of the world can be a little short-sighted!
However, in the later category of political/historical/philosophical commentators 4 people stand out
Alain Finkelkraut......has moved from centre left to centre right
Eric Zemmour....much more to the right
Michel Onfray....much more to the left
Jacques Attali....eminence grise à la Talleyrand
Only the last 2 would have an odd volume or 2 translated into English. It is a great pity as all 4 write extremely well, have a clear view of where France is now and is heading and are extremely intelligent.
Otherwise historians are only heard of when they attempt unsuccessfully to "correct" interpretations of the above 4. In case this could help i have included a link to a site giving the "Top 100 French Histories of France"....that are available in English.
http://www.listmuse.com/best-french-history-books-revolution.php
Hope this starts you of on a new trail.
I might add a personal friend and brilliant historian whose work I was proud to publish (when I was the editor of an international history journal) in translated versions for the very first time: Yves Pourcher. He is not a traditional historian and has more of a reputation as a novelist, but his work on the period in France between WWI and WWII is superb.
Specific sources? I can find the article from Historical Reflections through ILL, but any translated books? My husband reads 20C history, but only in English.
Hi Jan, It's the HR/RH articles. Alas, Yves has not founds an English publisher for his novels or complete books.
Thanks, Linda - so ILL for me. I don't think my 50+ year old school girl French is up to the translation!
Thank you 🇫🇷❤️🤍💙
Wonderfully helpful, thanks Stuart. Please don't feel any need to do more; the link has just what's wanted.
However, I have seen that same rune used as a central focus in a young adult movie involving witches, vampires & werewolves (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones). Now makes me wonder about that. But, even the infamous swastika was used in Native Anerican art and is a Sanskrit symbol used by Hindus, Buddhists & Jains.
This is true - an old symbol reinterpreted by a group for their own use, and as a symbol of purity. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/history-of-the-swastika
Unfortunately even a letter of the alphabet can become "reinterpreted".
"Q" was an omnipotent character on Star Trek. :)
Yes, but even though in our lifetime, that counts as history right now! Because the religious use of the swastika persists. I would argue that current events must have changed the interpretation of Q, because I do NOT want the current Q to be omnipotent.
Drop a dime? I don;t know that term.
to drop a dime on someone = to inform on someone
Back when phone booth calls were 10c. Ancient history.
Gosh, these exchanges make me feel very old.
In New Orleans in the '60s it was drop a nickel on ya. Somehow everything was cheaper in the Big Easy. (bus tokens 15 cents)
Thanks for this link, TPJ. The pictures of the stage I saw yesterday did not show the "branches" that distinguish it as Nazi.
DKos showed photos taken vertically above the stage, with another of the rune on an SS uniform from WW2. Coincidence, my apse.
I saw that vertical/aerial image from your link, for sure, TPJ. It wasn't clear from the photos I had seen previously. Sorry if I wasn't clear!
And just saw Dolly Parton's "Vaccine, Vaccine" musical plea to the public as she gets a "dose of her own medicine"! Too cool.
News organizations should run the Dolly clip twice for every once they dip down into the Tx#mp trough to report non news about someone no longer relevant except when they (continue to) make him so.
Agree, Cathy. Most all of us have moved on from the previous administration. Past time for the media to catch up to us.
Dolly Parton is an American Treasure. Her vaccination video was wonderful! A candle in the darkness.❤️🤍💙
Here it is, Go Dolly! https://twitter.com/ipanemapoop/status/1366871259787755524?s=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tivs_o63x04&feature=emb_logo
Chanjo means Vaccine in Swahili. Fun singing and dancing.
So uplifting, Sally. "Ninakushukuru" - I thank you (I think!)
Administered by Nurse Jolene, no doubt. Where do I sign up?
Oh wait, this is MA ... unofficial motto is "Shots for me, not for thee."
Cheeto is a great way to refer to former guy. MSNBC does a better job than many outlets in their news presentations.
However, I rather like Cheetos. They're bad for us, too, but nice in small doses. There's nothing good about the Menace.
I like them too —they’re a little addicting and in that way an orange menace
Cheetos don't go well with reading -- you'll have orange fingerprints on books. Come to think of it, Cheeto the Former doesn't go well with reading either.
Cheeto the former doesn’t go well with anything I care about—I think he’d have a good shot in Siberia getting there on a very cold and slow train.
I'm all for giving Texas back to Mexico, tRump can be their king, 😁
Hi Dot. Please keep in mind that not everyone living in Texas is a supporter of That Other Guy and are firmly against him, his administration, and his bootlicking cronies.
While were angry about the decisions the state government has made, we still don't want to be part of Mexico, nor do many of us want to secede.
Thanks.
Sorry, that was meant tongue in cheek. I have family and friends in TX too.
Thanks. That was born of my frustration from the last few weeks and Abbotts recent decision to kill as many of us as possible.
How about ensuring that *all* adult Texans can vote?
That's exactly what is needed; not just here, but across the entire country.
When I first moved to Texas, 10 years ago, I was so proud to say that I lived in Austin, TX. The history, the Alamo, the independent and resilient attitude! Oh, my, it was heady stuff.
And then, a few years ago, I dropped out of the evangelical/charismatic church and started asking myself some hard questions and I no longer like what I see around me. The ugly hatred, racism, and sheer blockheadedness is overwhelming and I no longer want to live in the state and be associated with it.
I will say this, though: during the energy & water emergency we just went through, the local neighborhood stepped up and we took care of each other. People who had hot water invited total strangers to come and shower. Those who had food cooked large quantities and freely offered it to anyone in need. Those who were elderly were picked up and transported to warming facilities.
It was heartwarming to see.
My point, I suppose, is that not all of us who live here are brainwashed and many of us want nothing to do with that other guy's cronies, so please, everyone, stop lumping us in with them.
Agreed. I think that Texas is one among several states whose Pols are playing loose and fancy with absurd conspiratorial beliefs. Work as hard as you can, Laureen, to get these characters out of office. Remember that they are feathering their own nests via their policies.
They certainly are feathering their snakish nests. It's a disgrace, and disgusting to see former friends cheering them on.
Thanks for sharing your story. Hang in there, and best of luck to you!
They need a Stacy Abrams clone
Thank you, Laureen.
Haven't you watched the YouTube roasting of Trump by the former President of Mexico?? They would invite him to a chili bar-b-que and roast him to his face!! Very funny videos for the past 4 years. Check them out.
M
40 minue interview with Mexico Vicente Fox YouTube.com/watch?v=hegVNnl-0fs
And interview with Bill Mar http://youtube.com/warch?v=ChX-2vALWVs
Never let us forget that any and all of the "Former Guy's" posturing is about, and only about, fund raising for himself. He'll keep fanning the flames and agitating the ignorant who'll gladly fill his coffers.
There are some really, really, really, really stupid people in this country . . .
"Fools and their money are soon parted."
-- Thomas Tusser by way of John Bridges
The Texas Legislature is not seriously trying to secede. Where did that information come from?
As a resident of the greater Houston area, I'm appalled by Governor Abbot's order. And. so. disappointed that we cannot trust him to act in the public health best interest. My husband and I are fortunate to have received both vaccination shots. But are we protected against all the variants circulating in Houston? I don't want to find out the hard way.
When Bill Gates suggests we will all need. Third booster shot, a believe him. All this disrespect for health and pursuit of happiness, these emergency fundings, vaccine research...all thrown away now in Texas. It puts all the public health investments and People at higher risk. The only thing Gov Abbot has done is to continue the pandemic. He has just sabataged Our nations health.
Agreed Ted. Here's a long shot ... a class action suit by say, 10 states, forcing
Abbott to rescind his "order." He is very definitely attacking ALL Americans.
Locals can deal with this more rapidly by simply boycotting all businesses that don't require masks or social distancing. The message has already been circulating on social media. Failing businesses will get his attention.
That might work in a few cities but I’m a Texan and I don’t see that happening. Hope I’m wrong.
I like this idea. It reminds me also of Congressman Bennie Thompson suing trump, giuliani et al. personally under an anti-KKK law for disrupting government processes.
GO BENNIE !!!!!
Courts take to long. Thats the whole reason why we have Public Health with Emergency laws giving powers to the executive branch to take immediate and decisive action.
HCR, wasn’t It the Galveston,TX hurricane in 1900 that gave rise to emergency declarations, funding, rebuilding by the federal Gov? We can rebuild buildings and roads. But in Public Health, we can’t get lives back.
Well, Abbot has already had to ask for assistance to get him out of the mess he & other Rs put themselves in! Seems hes "cruising" for another one. Or not a mess for HIM, but for a lot of Texans. And it sure doesnt sound like everything is back to normal from the storm at this point. So now Abbot just wants to forget about the virus. I feel sorry for the states close by.
I need amend this now. Texas reopening most likely means will will need a booster shot for the known variants, AND most likely another booster for the possible 4th wave of variants that will come out of a 4th wave. Its just basic viral genetics and Epidemiology 101. Basic knowledge and awareness, if you didn't know Gov Abbot, its your fault, you have had a year to learn the fundamentals of viral disease. Republicans are great at one thing. Creating crisis, even when their isn't one, they create a new one. Its so sad. Nationally, by opening too soon and against the CDC recommendations, Gov Abbott validates the anti maskers around the country to behave the same. His actions have national consequences. A new American Variant is coming from Texas. It will be spread around US and then the world, prolonging the Pandemic.
Old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
GOP motto: "If it ain't broke, we'll fix it until it is."
This also concerns me. If we do not receive a vaccine and get COVID, we present our body as a labratory for the virus to mutate a stronger variant. With a vaccine, the virus is weaken so we do not die and the virus can not mutate into a stronger mutation.
For the sake of Texans, I hope Gov. Abbot is not re-elected. What he is advocating just makes no sense and is dangerously short sighted.
There are a whole bunch of people who shouldn't be re-elected in TX. Just saying.
I couldn't agree more, Janet!
This is simply irresponsible and I am sorry that you have to live in a state where your governor is willing to put your life at risk for political reasons. However bad this is for Texas, eventually the increase in variants, infections and deaths will spread to the rest of the country. The ignorance and arrogance of "leaders" like Abbot, Noem and DeSantis affects us all. They need to be roundly condemned and I'm glad Twitter is doing this. I hope that responsible media will also continue to highlight the danger of such a cavalier attitude.
♥️
I can tell you that neighboring states are concerned as well. New Mexico has done hard work and a good job of lowering rates of infection and deaths. But west Texas and El Paso surround the state of NM on two sides, and there is lots of crossing state lines for work. I hope I'm just paranoid (and careful) but there is a ripple effect when one state flouts public health recommendations. NM is opening counties in tiers depending on their stats each two weeks. I fear that our border counties will find themselves downgraded in the next month due to this "cross-fertilization".
No surprise: Abbot is a Republican = useless
I saw you play on TV in the 1990s. Then as now, you are tough; glad we seem to be on the same side. Write on, Hale.
Sorry, i was a Marine Helicopter pilot while the other Hale Irwin was beginning his golf career. Started getting asked if I was he when I was at Dartmouth and he all-American football player at Colorado.
Semper -Fi
Hale.
Whoops! Who knew of two? Still, glad to be on the same side.
Judy, stay safe! I heard on NPR this morning that Houston has ALL the variants now and that it is the epicenter of bad health stuff happening. So sorry about this.
Thank you Linda! Gov. Abbot's order took effect today, and as I was out running errands, I noticed nothing different. All the stores I shopped in today are still requiring masks. Now to try to avoid the anti-maskers!
Governor Abbot tweeted:
"Today's announcement doesn’t abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it’s a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety & the safety of others."
"With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny."
I wouldn't say Texans have mastered safe practices. Many have been very conscientious. But this will be all the excuse many people will need to abandon all precautions. Like people who wear their masks under their noses. I don't want other Texans who don't take this seriously determining MY destiny. BIG SIGH.
At least Gov. Abbot is getting a lot of flack on Twitter. https://twitter.com/GovAbbott/status/1366843443314651139
Here are some of my favorites:
"It's like you've never met an average Texan."
"These 'safe practices' are going be followed just as well as those 'recommendations' for weatherizing the power grid did in 2011."
"Infecting OTHERS with a virus is a strange way of describing 'their OWN personal safety'."
"This will end well... it’s fine it’s fine."
"Safe practices?? This would include you, correct? Your decision to completely abandon masks and not follow CDC Guidelines totally flies in the face of common sense at this perilous time... especially since only 13% of your population is vaccinated?? #VoteHimOut"
"Says a guy not wearing a mask, in a closed room full of other people not wearing masks. That's some next level "mastery" right there."
Annie Gabston-Howell @AnnieGabstonH:
"If your governor is telling you it's time to remove your mask, maybe it's time to remove your governor instead."
Perfect!!!
100%
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is up for re-election in 2022. He has a typically arch-conservative Republican track record:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott
Thanks for the Abbott attack anthology, Judy.
I’m so sorry. Total fail. ( I was born in San Antonio)
It’s okay, Ted. I was born and raised in NC. You know, the state that produced Mark Meadows. Ugh
And Madison Cawthorn. What a biography HE has at such a young age.
I live in NC as well. Madison Cawthorn thinks being in Congress is a reality show he can use to become famous. He does not have the resume to be even a precinct captain.
I have been reading about numerous (and I mean numerous) charges of sexual harassment, assault, and menacing laid against him by women throughout his college years--and after. Interesting guy.
He is being challenged by a lesbian minister who is a Democrat in 2022. Gotta support her.
Insightful commentary from CNN’s Chris Cillizza: Greg Abbott's head-scratching, anti-science decision to end the Texas mask mandate
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/politics/greg-abbott-mask-mandate/index.html
This is SO just plain stupid. Are Texans allowed the freedom to pollute bodies of water their neighbors share? No. Can they dam the rivers and divert the water for their own personal ranch? No. Can they dump toxic waste on their own land in the name of "freedom"? No. Can they pollute the air with deadly invisible virus particles? Evidently, yes.
Thank you!
“Their own destiny” what BS.
If it didn't have a negative effect on the destiny of others, it might remove these nay-sayers from the food chain.
He took a play after listening to South Dakota gov Covid Kristi (we call her here). It's almost verbatim as to what she has said through the whole pandemic.
Yes, watched part (cant stand her) of her interview on Face the Nation - typical of the current bunch of anti-anything good Rs.
Impossible to determine "their own destiny" from a virus you cant see, that is airborne transmissible from someone's breath, that remain floating in the air indoors, and that is 60% asymptomatic so those who have it and spread it don't even know they are doing so. Dolly Parton is right, file Gov Abbot and the lt gov as chicken squat cowards, but hey, I am sure they already got their shots.
Freedom from O as well.
Your idiot governor and my florida idiot governor Ron DeSantis are peas in a pod. DeSantis only cares about tourism dollars. Keep practicing your Fauci precautions and ignore what everyone else is doing, that is what my family is doing in Florida. We have heard news of younger friends of our children, previously very healthy, in their late 30s with terrible results from covid. One a mother of a 1 year old, she has been on a ventilator now for 2 months, trached and now having multiple system failure. The other is a super healthy runner, went to the gym daily, no body fat, ran miles ever day. Now he's short of breath. Stay smart, diligent and well. Soon DeSantis will follow a maskless policy, unfortunately. Florida does not count tourist in our covid death rates bc its not their permanent addresses.
I'm so sorry about this and absolutely outraged. Yet another example of those of us who work hard to follow rules and do right must put up with the ill effects, and in this case can kill us, of those who choose not to. I've had both vaccines and am 2 weeks out now from my last shot. I've been so careful. And for the first time in 10 months I hugged my grown young adult children this week. And now I must go back to worrying about a damn booster. My pharma also told me that he predicts we'll need a booster because of the variants. God god.
Judy, may I incorporate some of your comments in a potential article? Or, would you like to think about how you’ve been affected, particularly in light of “Democracy” and “Capitalism?” Have both systems worked for you? Were you affectively negatively by either (of course, you mention your experience of the guy’s attitude)
Frederick, it’s not clear to me what you’re asking beyond the first sentence in your post.
I feel like lifting the mask mandate by Abbott in Texas, is a trump playbook move. Distract the public about the crisis from the energy outage/water shortage by making an outrageous move elsewhere.
I’m sure my school district will cave to the parents who have been fighting masks all school year. Special school board session will be Thursday night to make the decision. Another upsetting turn in a school year that has been too much already. To get the vaccine is a full time job I don’t have the time or energy for. That’s how ridiculous the roll out has been! I’d be okay to have it by May before now. But now they’ve upped the ante once again, putting teachers in peril. I’m completely upset! Pray for the teachers in Texas. Or better yet, send us the vaccine!
Sent to me by a very good friend:
If Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry were stranded on a deserted island, who would survive?
Answer: Texas!
Thanks, Heather! Needed your clear headed logic more than ever!
I’m sorry Denise. What all of you in Texas have to put up with really stinks. We have our own problems in California, but at least we don’t have leaders who do everything possible to keep us stuck in the past even when it’s dangerous and deadly (masks) and for the sake of keeping white supremacy and sexism alive (voter suppression) and to sustain a macho myth (ERCOT).
Thanks for the black humor, Denise. These days we laugh to keep from crying.
The macho myth has always been a thin veil over white supremacist lies.
100%
Distract the public about the crisis from the energy outage/water shortage by making an outrageous move elsewhere.
"Oooooh! I love to dance a little side-step and lead the people on!" - Charles Durning
'Tis just a rerun of the old dodge, "The American Civil War wasn't about slavery, but about defending State's Rights!" Reframe, rebrand, distract, repeat.
Trouble is that they "pied piper" of Houston leading the merry dance is the local king rat, wants his pound of flesh and is threatening the future of the children to get it. Goethe, Grimm and Browning warned us a long time ago.
The best little whorehouse in Texas is the GOP!!!
I think perhaps the worst - I mean, can you even conceive of being "serviced" by one of them?
Maybe just another version of the Texas Two-Step?
Denise, part of Biden's speech yesterday was, short of demanding, that states provide vaccines to ALL teachers who want it by the end of March. He's using vaccines sent directly to pharmacies to get teachers vaccinated so schools can safely reopen. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-biden/biden-calls-on-states-to-prioritize-vaccinations-for-teachers-idUSKCN2AU2ND Hopefully you and others can get the shots. I'm in MA and teachers have been screaming for the vaccine, and now our governor will be required to make sure they get it.
Pam, as a parent of high schoolers in MA who are starting in-person next week, I am very glad for your report. Gov.Baker has been unforgiveably sloppy and uncaring about the vaccine roll-out in this state. Citizens and legislators screaming has not moved him. I hope the federal call will help.
Baker has prospered by crafting an image of a nice, boring, competent technocrat. His bungling the MA vaccine negates competence, and he's getting testy in interviews; soon boring will be all that's left. Hopefully a progressive Dem obliterates him in 2022.
Joan, I just heard that Baker is adding teachers starting 3/11. This includes teachers aides etc. yes, Baker has unapologetically made the rollout here confusing and a mess. I was finally able to score an appt for my first shot, and the next day I got4 conflicting emails saying my appointment had been changed. Now have no idea when to go. Argh!
Such a mess. It was driving me nuts until a friend's daughter helped me out. https://macovidvaxhelp.com/resources has a lot of suggestions. The best one, from my point of view, was http://www.covidvaccinetexts.com. That one helped me to get an appointment at my local cvs for this afternoon. Nice enough for me, once I got the necessary help. It's really unfair to all the people who can't take time from work for all this vaccine hunting, or don't have access to other resources to do it - and that means many of the people hardest hit by covid already. Vaccine needs to go into the hardest hit places, like Chelsea in MA, through community centers that residents can access easily.
Glad yu could get an appt. I just had a call about the chaos around mine, and it has noww been confirmed for the 15th....from the 8th. We'll see.
Good luck!
Abbott lifting the mask mandate is making me nuts (admittedly a short trip, but still...). As a proven liar, with his windmills=bad performance during the freeze, does anybody actually listen to him? To abandon all leadership responsibility for public health during a pandemic is utter dereliction. Leaving health safety decisions to individuals during an emergency is a worthless policy decision, done for purely partisan reasons. The man (I use the term lightly, cretin is more appropriate) is a public menace and would be removed if people had sense.
GOP Don Quixotes tilting at windmills. Bah.
The problem is that we don't have enough desert islands to contain them all so they are kept in solitude and forced to reflect on their own stupidity and irrelevance.
I loved the joke. But in reality, these men should be forced to watch videos of people whose lives have been ruptured or lost becaue of their failure to enact meaningful life-protecting policies and programs. What in the world is wrong with them? So many good people in Texas, and they get stuck with THESE?
And who voted for them? Perhaps also no sensible person would want to get close to such a nest of vipers!
If you would like to get a text message when a cvs near you is opening up vaccine appointments, there's a bot that will do that for you. http://www.covidvaccinetexts.com/ (I found this site with help from a young friend. It helped me.) Have your insurance info handy, and click the cvs link in the text as soon as you can once it comes.
My heart breaks for Texas and Mississippi. Such a senseless loss of life and foolish arrogance by their elected leaders on the cusp of real progress with vaccines.
Watch, in a month Texas will close hard. Abbot will try to shift blame to Biden or something. Florida is gonna get crushed by spring break too. Then the northern states whose students will bring back more Covid to their home states. What a cluster f%#* this pandumic is. These Republicans are morons.
Sadly, Ted, I fear your prediction will prove all too true.
Covid deniers = Pandumic 👍🏼
Syd 100%
Quite right and despite the announcements of Abbot etc about opening up 100%, people only have to continue to be sensible on their own behalf and to protect others even if their politicians are not. Wear a mask indoors and out where their is a crowd and not a hurricane blowing, wash your hands frequently and avoid too close physical contact with others. European experience is showing that very few infections actually occur outside, most are inside at work, in the hospital, in homes or indirectly through the children when they come home from school.
Yes. The entitlement has really gotten to me. Lack of concern for others because masks are uncomfortable, etc. It has completely exhausted me. And now Texas. And as Stuart says, Spring Break in Florida. And all the districts all over our nation opening up this month. When will we get it? My god when will we get it?
Maybe they want people to die. After all, the people doing most of the dying in those states are Black and brown.
As an older person in Texas I am most unhappy with the Governor. One theory I have is that the Republicans are using this to make the Social Security system solvent by having fewer people to pay out to. Not a pretty theory but with the craziness of the Republican Party and the remarks of the Lt. Governor of Texas saying
“No one reached out to me and said, ‘as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick said. “And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/24/covid-19-texas-official-suggests-elderly-willing-die-economy/2905990001/
These are the same folks who claimed that the ACA would result in "Death Panels." Which they have more or less implemented themselves.
Yikes.
Linda Mitchell, Yes, you have posed what matters: Racism, the national 400 year old virus for which Lincoln did not find a vaccine. Trump, Hawley, Cruz, Florida’s DeSantis, Mississippi and Abbott’s GOP in Texas among other Black fearing racists in America want those that sleep 4 to 10 to a room to die.
Ironic, really. Thomas Jefferson loved Sally Hemings.. and the Hemingses of Monticello formed the core of his family... and our most brilliant founder was unable to form the words that might have avoided the Civil War.
We are still fighting what Lincoln addresses in the emancipation proclamation and reconstruction.
The National Virus of Racism is world wide... in India they call it the Caste System, and it is outlawed... and racism still rules.
Human nature requires an essay topic in all high schools: What are the significant differences among people?
YESSS!!! All high schools!!!
They don’t care about humans. The cities and counties rely on sales tax, property taxes, liquor licenses. Cities are going bankrupt without relief. To borrow would mean to admit the Dems have had the right plan for government all along. To borrow, thus destroys the Republican philosophy of low to no Governent in everything save for national defense.
Not the "Dems" because 40 years ago the scum you are talking about were "Democrats." Nowadays they're "Republicans". What they are and always have been are far right wing outlaws: cashiered army officers, back alley assassins, rustlers, bank robbers - they're the traditional criminal class of Texas.
Sad but true
My guess is they were at the QPAC circus this past weekend and took a page from the South Dakota governor’s bragging about her poor choices not to have a mask mandate or reduce business activity.
Diane, a technical question: is it the QPAC circus or the CPAQ circus of clowns? 🤡 🤡
There is mounting pressure for Governor Cuomo to resign. I really object to him being tried in a court of public opinion. Let the NY AG office handle it and make a ruling. As a corporate manager I received training on what sexual harassment is and isn't and how to handle it. At that time it was one egregious act or a repeated pattern of behavior that constituted sexual harassment. If we are a country with rule of law we should let the process take its course. When Senator Franken was being accused, I was quoted in the WSJ in their daily Readers' response question: “In our haste to accuse and judge, we have lost the principle of fairness. Would rather Sen. Franken had gone through the Ethics Committee process so we could put some of our outrage where it belongs: on the coverups, mistreatment of women who speak up and use of taxpayer money to keep them silent. Members of Congress can’t be exempt from its own laws!” We would have learned a great deal more about how Congress was protecting members of Congress and actually using taxpayer money to pay the accusers off!!!
Franken’s resignation was a mistake. What he did was silly and juvenile not aggressive or manipulative. An apology should have been sufficient.
Oddly enough, I see his unfortunate resignation as a twisted result of the trump effect, in that I think the Dems were sure they could take trump down over his sexual misconduct, but needed purity within their ranks for it to be credible. That worked out great.
I was infuriated that Franken didn’t have the Ethics Committee investigate. He did, in fact, ask them to.
I recall that he was getting a huge amount of pressure from fellow Democrats to resign. So he did. This was the height of Me,Too movement and I do feel he was being judged very harshly. It was a zero tolerance headset and it didn't matter his transgression had happened twenty years before and he actions was being taken out of the context of its time.
I have a lot of respect for Claire McCaskell but Gillibrand, no. They all jumped on that bandwagon. I am not saying that women were not touched by Franken. I am also not saying that he wasn't guilty but he asked to be investigated and was not given that right to defend himself. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
This is just a guess, but I think it’s the quantity of suppression, the quantity of accumulated silence, combined with it’s long overdue. I too was unhappy about Al Franken. On the other hand, there is Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, and on and on. I think a lot of these expletives deleted had it coming to them.
Ailes and O’Reilly are definitely different birds!
It was a USO tour, not known for politically correct demeanor.
Also, remember, U.S. popular culture was being entertained by sexism. Anyone remember "Boston Legal", 2005 with Candace Burgman, James Spader as Alan Shore and William Shatner as Denny Crane?? Sexual harrassment and assault at work was an everyday occurrence! Horrifying by today's standards.
The USO tour where he did an "air pretend" photo over the military flak jacket of a female co-performer while she slepted on a military plane, took place in 2006. He never touched her.
She said his other act was rehersing a kiss for a U performance. She admitted she did not speak up at the time.
Compare that to almost any episode of Boston Legal, every week on National Televison! He was judged in 2018 for that stunt, long before he was a Senator. He was an ally for all legislation supporting woman's equality.
I have thought the Establishment Democrats wanted him to resign because of the "confessions" he joked about in his book, "Al Franken, Giant of the Senate" , published 2017.
Thank you for this. I completely agree. Gillibrand has been notably silent on Cuomo so far, but that doesn’t count as an apology for what she did to Al Franken.
I don't know about Cuomo guilt. I'm wondering if they are trying to end his political career because of his resistance to trump Republicans. and speaking out against the way covid was handled. Stealing a kiss can end your career but Trump grabbing pussies didn't stop him. Strange world we live in.
It's called "doing an Eliot Spitzer" on opponents, and is standard in the GOP playbook. It's really too bad; EW was on track for a White House bid. Repugs see Cuomo as a similar threat.
ES? I forgot about that one. That was a shame also. He had a lot of potential for doing the right thing.
Don't forget Tip O'neal. Polical assassinations gained traction during Nixon and Reagan.
Some things just never go out of style.
Presumably you mean character assassination? Tip was my rep, and he lived long and died of natural causes.
As someone from NY who lived through the Koch years in NYC and the first Gov Cuomo, as well as hearing a lot about the younger Cuomo's antics (and his infidelities in his marriage), I have to say: the guy is a total creep. He was effective in the Covid response but he was also vindictive against de Blasio (who has been a terrible mayor but did not deserve the treatment he got from Cuomo), which harmed NYC. He took a lot of the nastiest stuff from his father's playbook in order to push people around to do his bidding. There were plenty of stories about his aggressively "playful" (hah) manner toward women, but those were not confirmed because women were afraid to come forward. While I agree that the timing of this is super interesting, I believe the women.
1000% agree with you Linda. And how about the Moreland Commission? And his bolstering of the IDC?
I agree. Investigate properly, which AG James is totally capable of doing. FInd out the truth, then act from there. We seem to have developed a system where Republican politicians are innocent even when caught on video in the act, and Dems are guilty immediately after accusation. Let's go to the rule of law for both.
I was really put off by Franken’s resignation without an official process. I am not a part of the Democrat Party and this is one reason. They Eat Their Own. And, they think they can play nice against a corrupt, cheating competition.
“A new survey by Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll says that 61% of voters approve of Biden’s performance so far”.
Jimminy Cricket, the percentage approval of Biden should be 100% but since that is never the case, it should be at least 75%! 😆 (That’s not a reality either) In less than 2 months, he has taken major productive steps to steady this country, the press conferences are educational and transparent, vitriolic tweets appear to be a thing of the past, respect and dignity has been restored at the WH, and there are cabinet positions being filled by good people who know what they are doing! Oh, and we may all be vaccinated by May which means much better things for peoples’ health and the economy. Leadership counts .... what’s not to like?!
Jen Psaki rocks. The whole cabinet is capable and inspiring. Dedicated to the public good. They demonstrate President Biden’s best quality of judgement and that good judgement is perhaps the most important trait of leadership.
The first time in four years I've looked forward to a White House news briefing. Jen Psaki? She deserves an Oscar and a pay raise.
C.J. would be proud of her!
Yes, indeed. I set reminders so I won’t miss Jen. Diplomacy is this administration’s chain mail. It is good for my heart, and our democracy.
If 61% approve, that means 39% disapprove, which is the general percentage of morons in any large population sample.
What's even more curious it that the stats quoted imply that a sizable proportion of Republican voters, too, approve of Biden's performance. Nonetheless, they still vote Republican. Strange...
Abortion. It's always abortion. That is why they just pull the trigger and then complain when things go wrong and they never put the two together. Ok, some put it together, but abortion over rides everything else.
I personally think one issue voters are worse than non voters.
Lots of them are nontheless embarassed by Trump and his "viking" band...as they rightly should be as it makes a mockery of what they probably believe in.
and a good measure of residual base-support for the "Trump Folies"
LOVE BIDEN!!!
"Leadership counts .... what’s not to like?!"
The Biden Administration has met and even exceeded my highest expectations. Wow. Ok, a few weak spots, but the list is so short I won't even mention them here. I don't see the need to detract from the whole, which has been amazing. The pendulum swing from the former administration to this one could not be more dramatic. I am reminded of the night of the Georgia Senate seat elections. I was fully expecting the Senate would remain in Mitch the Snitch's control. (I was thinking of using another word besides "Snitch" but didn't want to offend anyone.)
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and company are hitting home runs all the time, often several a day. I just discovered today that Biden initiated the review into 4 major Putin-Russia foreign policy issues the day he took office. Wow. Precisely what I would have done, because I consider Putin and the CCP to be top-level issues.
I would be blown away if I weren't still in shock from January.
No major complaints about Biden from me either.
I started doing my at home workouts while watching the press conferences (no headphones necessary) with Jen Psaki and I don't feel the need to throw one of the 10lb weights at the screen!! While on an elliptical machine at the gym during trump's reign of terror (even while listening to my music) I was a captive audience of the TV screens in front and could not always avoid the coverage of trump. I definitely lost it a few times - making out-loud commentary with some choice words. I'd get "the look" sometimes which worked for me . . . at least it identified the "trumpsters" in the room!! Sometimes, I didn't even realize I was talking out loud. Thank God sanity has returned and my psyche is starting to recover . . . then came the madness of trying to get a vaccine appointment in MA . . . As one of my favorites Gilda Radner would say . . . "it is always something" :)
FERN MCBRIDE
Heather, I hope that you have escaped the generator. Sleep well.
There is a lot to think about. Politics and health collide; the recent past won't let go; voter suppression bills are on steroids.
I'll follow your lead Heather and make it quick.
Yesterday was Texas Independence Day. In celebration, governor Abbott announced that the state would reopen everything next week and rescinded the order to wear facemasks.
Beto O'Rourke quickly responded, calling it 'Death Warrant for Texans' He tweeted. "Add them to the 44,000+ killed as he failed to confront the pandemic & botched the vaccine rollout. ... And those who froze to death because he cares more about energy companies' profits than keeping Texans alive.'
"Abbott is killing the people of Texas."
Good for Beto for calling it out and calling it what it is!
Can Beto win against Abbott? Texas is overdue for responsible leadership, but it's a hard state to vote in, and he'd need every last Dem vote.
#Beto4Governor!
Beto didn’t mince words. Hope Texans are awake to hear him. So far, they have been treated like 💩!
These guys just refuse to deny the big lie and just continue with the gaslighting. I wish “news” shows would stop providing them with a platform, or at the very least, hold them accountable...don’t move on until the question IS answered.
I notice you're not using the name of the previous guy when you refer to the previous administration. Good. Thank you.
We saw what you did, Rebecca. You manage it just as well.
May be off-topic for this newsletter, yet I think this “Litigation Tracker of All Criminal & Civil Cases Facing DJT” will be of interest to some of you.
https://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/
Thanks, Catherine!
He needs more lawyers just to sort out all the lawyers.
Bookmarked. Thank you!
No wonder he's up at night, or was up at night tweeting. Who could sleep with all those suits.
What is going on with Texas and Mississippi that at this moment they dump their pandemic precautions? Is this a strategy arising from their little Golden Idol conference the other day?
Texas forecasts: 2-3 weeks cases start climbing. 3-6 weeks hospitalizations rise. 5-7 weeks deaths rise exponentially. 4th wave brought to by Gov Abbot and Ted Cruz. But this time it will rise 35-40% faster and be 60% more lethal due to the variants, also creating more opportunities for new variants. Wait n watch for “Co infection recombination mutation” to come into the news late March/April. It has the potential to get so bad, even Ted Cruz won’t be able to leave Texas.
Cruz is from Texas? I thought he's from Cancun.
Call him mayor Cruz to his face. “Excuse me, but I’m a Senator”...oh, I though u was mayor of Cancun.
😂
You're suggesting that's his second home, perhaps a vacation home, in Houston? ;-)
Calgary
Hey! What has Calgary got to do with it? Albertans may have "crude" but, despite being quite conservative, they are not known for supporting "Cruz...ing"...a bit far from the beach.
I don’t blame them, but it’s where Cruz was born.
Mind you, every time i flew to Edmonton in years gone by i would find myself in a cab from the airport and listening to an eastern European immigrant ranting about "nuking" the Russians. So anything is possible. I bet they are glad that Cruz didn't stay...one less crazy!
Can we build a giant wall around texas?
I understand that Mexico has changed their stance and now would be willing to fund a border wall.
It could be a lil’ wall, cuz they’ll be so sick, not strong enough to climb over it.
Alligator-filled moat
Oh, Texas gets a bad rap. How about putting that 30 foot high black wall around Cruz's house in Houston? No openings in the wall, of course.
As long as the right people keep getting sick, it seems the plan is working.
It certainly appears that much of the GOP certainly are that evil. That’s what shocks. And so many lacking that evil can’t fathom it. With the blatant mob boss in power they have outed themselves with their eagerness to join in the evil deeds.
From the Textbook: Medical Microbiology: Viral Mutations: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8439/
What can Manaus Brazil teach us about viral mutations? how newer mutated virus variants can re--infect those who have recovered, dispelling the myth of immunity. But we all know this from the flu! This is the danger of unmitigated community spread of a novel airborne viral pneumonia. 8 months after their first wave, this variant re-infected everyone in the town, even those who had recovered in the first wave, but it was much much worse. Many had a more severe illness the 2nd round, many more died. Texas is now a human experiment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/health/covid-19-coronavirus-brazil-variant.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR2oGB0oM9IRR7oDID0oBx_eWh16bLqjFwjqsl-BB4qcbCtpEYUDGbmvj8o
Sound layman's epidemiology and quite helpful, thanks Ted.
Microbiology major, Colorado State. Epidemiology was an easy A for an average student like me way back when, basic math and show up for class. Lifting the mask mandate early, really pisses me off. It is as if everything I learned to get that degree doesn't matter, is worthless. The damage these assholes are doing to our Public Health professionals and institutions is abhorrent. I agree with President Biden, that is "Neanderthal" ish to be anti mask and its worse to go against the CDC guidelines.
It is the same as saying, "I don't care where your fresh water pipes and supply are, I'm going to put my septic field wherever I damn well please, its my "constitutional right". I posted somewhere else, that even Ronald Regan understood this. "My Liberty and freedom to waive my arms wildly ends where your nose begins".
Some may think I am making a prediction. But I am not. A 4th wave is now going to happen. The probability is certain. Distance. Stay away from indoors and any crowd. Wear two masks. Get Vaccinated when its your turn. Spread and amplify to your family, friends, & colleagues.
It's simply Ugly, self centered, egotistical, selfish, greedy, hateful (and whatever other nasty adjectives you can think of) behavior of antimaskers. I wonder if they even know who ronald reagan was.
Microbiology major? Is that like a macrobiology minor??
More seriously, you're among the many on LFAA who is generous with expertise. Humor too: you're in good form today.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/how-public-health-messaging-backfired/618147/?fbclid=IwAR2RBsy_PM4L6JBBl1iILKib_tpW7Uh1iWcxe86M-IrR-dnrlM17JlYt7rM
Well this good news is everywhere. And never forget the reason we were so unprepared this time is the Bannon/Trump “deconstruction of the administrative state”. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/02/26/covid-cases-nursing-homes-plummet-89-residents-vaccinate/6814027002/
The 30-50 deaths in Texas due to no heat, electricity, or water for a week, apparently weren't enough to satiate the Golden Idol. Either that or Abbott is trying to deflect attention from the failures of the "free market electric grid."
Well this ought to deflect attention alright.
aaahh, it's the usual crap. Right-wing losers who want to live in the past, who didn't graduate from elementary school, object to having to grow up, be adults, and face reality. "No, No, not that! Not wearing masks! But we didn't have to wear masks ever before! We are special! We are privileged! We are Republicans, we are Americans, we are racists, we are sexists, we are whites, we don't have to do anything we don't want to do! It's those terrible POC, those terrible liberals, those terrible women in power like Pelosi and AOC and Warren, they're making us do it. They're making us share power with gays and liberals and POC and women. We don't wanna! We don't wanna wear masks! We don't wanna lose our white privilege! We don't wanna grow up! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."
LOL. Yes.
Wow.
Abbott is clearly trying to get out from under the energy debacle. Most likely he's trading one disaster for the return of another given the news in Houston.
Just insanity
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't."
-- Polonius in "Macbeth"
I don't know Abbott well, but he doesn't appear to be the brightest bulb on the circuit. You sure he deserves that Macbeth quote? ;-)
I agree, R. We often describe people or policies as insane when we don't see their rationale. The justifications may seem senseless, but they usually mask an insidious agenda.
BTW, I enjoy the kind of comparison you offer. "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer." "Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier." "Not the swiftest runner on the track." Etc.
Other examples welcome from LFAAers. We all could use the laughs.
GREGORY WAYNE ABBOTT, Esq. and Gov.
Not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Not the brightest bulb on the circuit.
Do we have any more contributions?
Haha! Golden Idol Conference! Perfect!
Golden idol goes great with golden showers. Gross, I just grossed my self out. Yuuuuuck
I keep wondering if those American flag shorts are supposed to be board shorts swim trunks or boxers. Somehow I can’t picture Trump wearing board shorts. 🤔🙄
Donnie don’t surf.
He surfs on waves of golden showers.
Or flip flops with socks for that matter.
And golden thrones.
Luv it. Saturday night live is probably watching us here for skit ideas.
Cults is as cults do I Quess.
Read Isakopf and Corn.
There are some that wanted people to believe that "Rain followed the Plough" in the West in order to sell them dry land unfit for Eastern agricultural techniques and others that then got into the act to sell the desperate some often poisonous "universal remedies" using coloured, debased alcohol....snake oil salesmen was the name given to them when they were tarred and feathered before being run out of town. Some such old methods might appropriately be revived to fit the needs of our time ....before the Abbots of this world get back to voter suppression in the KKK way!
Turns out that drought followed the plough, not rain. The images of dust engulfing towns are unforgettable.
https://www.google.com/search?q=dust+bowl+photos&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMhcv9_ZTvAhVLnOAKHQV-CWAQ_AUoAXoECA8QAw&biw=1116&bih=534
M Glantz ed, Drought Follows the Plow
Then the Native Americans that were "displaced" could have told them, the drought was their long before their arrival...quite normal! If you plough land and with no rain it dries out in the constant wind...man's greed has created an environmental disaster that their predecessors had the good sense to avoid.
To extend the political analogy: It turned out that most of the 1880s were a periodic wet cycle in the upper Plains, so that for a brief while everything seemed to be working according to the advertising slogans. More people bought in. The eventual and inevitable disastrous consequences thus affected an even larger population. Let's see... supply-side economics, deregulation, private enterprise always beats government activity, unencumbered markets always lead to the greatest growth and efficiency.... I could go on, but so could almost anyone reading here.
Thanks Tom. D Worster, Dust Bowl, elaborates on your insights. Climate history is essential to understanding history.
LFAA readers may be interested in two recent books. I'm reviewing both for the ALA.
J Browning & T Silver, Environmental History of the Civil War
K Noe, The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate & the Civil War
Thanks for the references. Even more "traditional" historians of the West pointed out the willful ignorance widely consumed--Eliot West, Richard White, even Billington, pointed out that there were readily available voices to listen to--whites as well as Native Americans--about the prospects of dry land farming, the effects of clear-cutting the northern forests, annihilating the bison, etc.
Maybe presidential politics is part of it. Gov. Noem of S Dakota trying for an inside track among Trump Republicans on the basis of having claimed at the Orlando CPAC conference to have “successfully” privileged the economy of her state over Covid suppression (sidestepping the fact that S Dak is the 8th worst state for covid fatality rate), made Abbott think he would look weaker if he continued the state mandates on masking and covid regulations. Keeping open a presidency path will always seem a worthwhile gamble, and Abbott is clearly positioning himself for that.
Republican leadership has no courage, therefore no leadership. Chaos is their platform. Power their only goal by any means necessary. They can’t lead their followers to nor for good. They couldn’t and wouldn’t keep them from rioting, injuring and killing at the Capitol. They don’t want them to be responsible citizens. They want their followers out sewing FEAR! With guns, intimidation, and of a disease, that they themselves do not understand could sicken and kill them. How is this the party of pro life? Even Ronald Regan said that “my freedom to waive my arms wildly ends where you’re nose begins”. Today’s Republicans remain morally bankrupt.
Promotion of chaos, and getting ones name in the media. A of TX did that, Friday hanging out with Presidential visit, pause for QPAC, now anti mask. Any attention is good attention.
Noem is a nightmare waiting to happen. SD is in bad shape. Hopefully Texans will oust Abbott.
Like KY ousted Mitch?
I think anti-Abbott sentiment and criticism runs deep now, since the icestorm. It's a hopeful sign that Texas has been lacerating Cruz and Abbott with criticism.
When commenters here on HCR, and political pundits, have been talking about Texas going purple or even blue, my immediate reaction has been "NO WAY JOSÉ."
Hawley, too, was wasted by Danforth and both St. Louis newspapers. You don't see national headline articles about the Lexington KY newspaper criticizing Mitch the Glitch. I think he's safe. But I don't think Abbott is nearly as safe, based on what Texas residents here on HCR have been saying during the weather crisis.
Right, but as sick as it is, Abbot just let loose a pandemic that likely will diminish votes for democrats in the future. Sorry but Zi fully believe it was intentional. We have to stop wearing our rose colored glasses and see the evil in front of us. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html
Christy I’m confused. I was agreeing with Marlene, and countering Cathy’s argument that maybe Abbott gets off easy like Mitch did being re-elected in KY. I think everything Abbott is doing is heinous. You appear to agree with me, and yet you’re accusing me of going easy on him. Christy you and I appear to be on exactly the same page.
She is beyond a nightmare waiting to happen. She has reached full fledged status. Those of us that live in SD wish things were different. 90% of our legislature is rethuglicans. Crazy ones I might add! We can't get democrats to run since there is little chance they'll be elected. Covid Kristi Noem is a lunatic.
Noems is bootlicking to get sec of interior or something. A Sarah Palin vp is her dream job.
Palin = VP candidate LOSER
i think she deserves that Sarah Palin VP position, don't you?
Wholeheartedly agree! Loser!
They need to move out, but first we have to pay their debts and give them a car.
Or their testosterone driven tough-guy governors.
Linda Skinner... when we ask the right question, we have some chance of getting the answer. You have asked, What is going on in Texas and Mississippi, and you are not asking for Letters from an American... to print out the repetitive. You are not interested in reading the dictionary of the rote minded historian that repeats facts known. YOU CAME TO LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN to ask why? What’s going on? And your question comes with a reference to the Golden Idol conference at CPAC the other day... that racist gathering of GOP Idol Worshippers so loved by the Born Again Crowd of the Religious Right - or the Religious Wrong... Heather Cox Richardson is baby sitting White America... no doubt hoping her $1,000,000 a year income will last till the power returns... and COVID-19 retires... so she can retire. We know Maine. We owned four houses in Rockport... on the harbor. And I litigated with the whites of Rockport to force them to take their sewage from the harbor. Guess what they did... they pumped it over the hill to darken the harbor of Camden ... and gave a press conference. Maine is our White State... and Heather Cox Richardson is our White Historian... she cannot spell Joe Know Us... she does not read those words for their meaning. Heather was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, where three of ours attended... this is a school that managed to ignore sexual perverts in the faculty for years... till the place blew up. Like Milton Academy, where I served and blew out the Head and many members of the faculty for much the same... like Deerfield Academy, where one of ours was molested by Bryce Lambert, reported this to the Head, and was ignored..
This is something of a rant Mr. Lewis. It is unclear what you are trying to say.
A rant a day keeps ....
Mr. Lewis, I’d rather that you would start your own substack letter or whatever vehicle suits you for your rants. I’d rather not that you grotesquely attack that which does tremendous good in the world, with your obvious jealousy for her success. If you can do it better, what’s stopping you?
Christy X, my phone is open and my last name is known. Yours? Why not pass on when you see my name. Your preferences are wonderful. I’m certain. Follow your nose. Ignore me. Salim Bonnor Lewis, aka Sandy. Bored.
You’re bored? of course! Your genius outshines most everyone. Why do you need my last name? Unlike you, my name is not recognizable nor important. I like being able to choose when I might run into a rant. Some rants have been very enlightening. I’m curious about people and behaviors. I’m definitely not bored. You seem to have ability to do so much good yet you insist on being destructive. I keep hoping I might figure that out. But you neglected to answer my one question.
The deep racial insanity of man, all man, is our greatest handicap. Tribal stuff kills creativity in all concerned. The US is sick. Sadly, people of color are afflicted, too. Deeply. Our congress and FBI are troubled. See sblewis.net. I was pardoned by a sick president. I upset him to the point of rage. Was told he’d not act. He did. His last morning. The FBI came to probed. Two. We spoke... for an hour. Standing. Finally, I turned the tables to ask if they would like to know what I felt about them. So, I rolled: one of you is a perfect saint, one of you is a perfect shit. I added, this would be my profile of the Bureau. They went nuts on me. 8 months later they filed with the pardon attorney. He called. Roger C. Adams Esq., called. He grandstanded. Said I would not be pardoned, adding, if you do not get pardoned, no one should be. I told the jerk to do his job. Returning to Mara Gay, I do not know her. I hear her. She’s the best. NYTimes has nothing close. NYT is unstable on racial prejudice. And sexuality stuff. This is historical. The best speak openly. The Editor in Chief, a Cajun, is very weak. Brilliant Donald G. McNeill Jr., was sacked. Unfair. That’s weak on racial stuff. I am certain he was rude and gruff. I am certain he erred. To err is human. To forgive is divine. Pity. Donald’s loss creates a place many will leave. The pendulum swings. It will take years to heal The Times. Sam Dolnick is emotionally healthy. And weak. Joe Kahn is powerful and destructive. Newspapers are so important. And so troubled. Readers do not read.
Well, you've got a helluva story Mr. Lewis and have earned your "right to rant."
Sandy, I've read your post several times, but I'm not sure of your intent. I recognize your name here, but your post suggests that you do not like Dr Richardson based on the derogatory remarks you made about her. An old expression comes to mind, you don't shit where you eat.
Have I misread your intent ?
Skipped with the heavy thumb editing... continued.... Linda Skinner, the white racist nation of which you and I are a part is doing it again, and our favorite sleepless historian is not doing it... for she is white, too... and the whites of America do not want to hear what MARA GAY has to say... these day. MARA GAY is that incredible force flexing on the Editorial Page of The New York Times... and she got slammed by COVID-19.... and hopes to recover. MARA is one drop Black.. and quite amazing. She is beautiful and brilliant, a daunting combination for the typical male of America... most men want beautiful, but I am not sure how many want brilliant... anyway, the question you ask is what’s going in racist Mississippi and racist Texas... and it’s simple. The power structure want to wipe out people of color... for people of color are rising... and unless we keep them down, they will end up running the show... More power to them, Linda... and more power to women that ask the questions that matter... more power to you...
Ever hear of reverse racism? Cause your rant smacks of it. It is ALL not about the color of your skin you know. Or maybe you don't.
But it kinda is. Especially when Abbott doesn’t want Texas to turn blue. https://berkeleybeacon.com/solved-the-myth-of-reverse-racism/
I believe everyone looks for beauty and brains/personality, what's your point here?
Cannot help you.
Thank you, and especially for the bit of good news at the end of your letter. Sometimes I find it hard to keep my chin up when so many support the radical extremism that has rattled our country . You and Marc E. Elias give me hope . Sleep well. P.S. I just heard Dolly Parton sing about getting vaccinated!
“I’m not going to get mine until some more people get theirs,” she told The Associated Press. “I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money. I’m very funny about that.” Says all you need to know re Dolly.
I heard Dolly too. Wasn’t she great?
She is a local treasure. She has been extraordinarily generous to E Tennessee, especially during the Gatlinburg wildfires.
National treasure, if we may. Anyone who has not listened to the 9 part podcast Dolly Parton’s America has a treat coming.
That podcast is excellent.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Hope you get power back on soon, if you haven't gotten it already. Thank you for the positive news today.
Georgia has a new entrant running for Congress against MT Greene. Check out his video: https://news.yahoo.com/marcus-flowers-run-congress-against-220800426.html
For the educators among us: https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org/
And last but not least, Common Dreams reports on the fate of some of the Capitol rioters: https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/01/lock-em
Thanks for the info Lynell - and also thanks for the cheerful greeting you give each morning.
And thank you, R Dooley, for your insightful posts.
Morning Lynell!! Thanks for the resources. And thanks also to RD.
Greene's opponent had better be very tough. The GOP is increasingly turning to extralegal violence as a campaign strategy, because it can work. Her last opponent was harassed mercilessly and dropped out.
I know nothing about him but he looks tough on his video. 2022 is a ways away, though, for sure.
Actually, Lynell, it really isn’t!
19 months. "Ways away" is in the "eye" of the beholder, I guess!
I, too, love the cheerful morning greeting and the links you include. Plus your comments and insights.
Thank you, Ally. And the feeling is mutual as to your comments/insights.
Thanks Lynell for these excellent sources (I reposted all 3!) and your positivity, so needed right now!
Thank you, MaryPat. I always look forward to your balanced comments.
Positive reinforcement is a great feature of LFAA. You all are top-notch.
Now, can I borrow 20 bucks til payday??
Flowers looks promising v Greene and the update on arrests related to January 6 - also promising. Still reading the EFAD document. Thanks again.
I had to bookmark it for later...
I looked more deeply into EFAD, in particular the material on the 14th Amendment. It is impressive - comprehensive with loads of supporting material. The Federalist Society is a sponsor and that is a bit troubling, but the project strives to be balanced.
I read three essays on the 14th - one from each political perspective and one joint effort, and had mixed feelings. The approach EFAD uses is to have two writers on opposite sides of a matter. Each writes an essay and they co-write an essay that includes points of agreement.
An interesting approach that requires the teacher to remain active in the process because the partisans are just that - partisan. Thanks for the link.
I confess I didn't read the entire thing, but I like their idea of competing opinions with civil discourse. Thanks for reading!
Thank you again, Dr. Richardson. I especially appreciated yesterday's post about the Republican's suppressive voting rights bills. I hope we can find ways to fight back against these bills, and I hope your power is back on soon.