Republican Party Turns to Cruel and Unusual Punishment

July 27, 2021July 26, 20211 Comment

Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

Furious at Representative Liz Cheney and Representative Adam Kinzinger for participating in the January 6th commission, the G.O.P. leadership in the House is punishing the two rogue Republicans by forcing them to spend an hour with Ted Cruz.

Speaking to reporters, the House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, said that the decision to subject the two dissidents to an hour with Cruz “should leave no doubt about how seriously we take their offense.”

“Make no mistake,” he said, “an hour with Ted Cruz is the ultimate punishment.”

Andy Borowitz and TheNewYorker nail it!

Richest Americans Can’t Give Money Away Fast Enough

June 25, 2021June 25, 2021Leave a comment

MacKenzie Scott — Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

America’s wealthiest have been getting a lot of unsolicited advice lately about their philanthropy, especially since the pandemic inflated the fortunes of the top 0.1% while devastating the broader economy.

Their critics’ loudest complaint: You should be giving your money away much faster.

Since splitting from the world’s richest man in 2019, MacKenzie Scott has shown how it might be done. The ex-wife of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has donated $8.5 billion in about 12 months, distributing the cash among hundreds of small organizations typically overlooked by big donors.

“It’s really kind of stunning what’s she’s done and how different an approach she’s taken,” said John Arnold, a billionaire hedge fund manager who retired in 2012 to devote himself full-time to philanthropy. “I’m hopeful that more people will follow that model.”

Swarm Electricity

June 13, 2021June 12, 2021Leave a comment

Listen to the schoolteacher who made Bernie’s mittens

January 22, 2021January 21, 20211 Comment

It seems more than one new star may have been born on Inauguration Day. There was poet Amanda Gorman, who wowed crowds with her recitation of “The Hill We Climb.” And then there were Bernie Sanders’ wool mittens.

Over the last day, images of Sanders have dominated social media feeds as the Vermont senator has received the meme treatment for his appearance at President Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. Sanders was seen sitting in the bleachers, clad in a parka from Burton Snowboards, a Vermont-based outerwear brand, and his hands nestled inside a pair of brown and cream mittens made from repurposed wool.

The mittens were gifted to him by Jen Ellis, a second-grade teacher in Vermont. Ellis made them back in 2016, when she was making presents for her daughter’s teachers. Sanders’ daughter-in-law owned the preschool, which was Ellis’ connection to delivering a pair to the senator himself…

In an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, Ellis said the attention around the mittens actually started last winter when Sanders was on the campaign trail seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. She said she never expected them to garner such a big reaction, but she’s glad they’ve held up quite nicely.

Click through to the article which is headed by an audio recording of the interview with Jen Ellis. Below the article are a few excerpts. Enjoy!

Love me not!

January 6, 2021January 6, 20212 Comments

I doubt anyone will ever accuse Trumpo of loving our Constitution.

Thanks, gocomics.org

None of these are real people

November 21, 2020November 21, 20202 Comments

Here’s a link to the NY Times article where this sequence was originally published.

Facebook actually removed bigoted posts about our Vice President Elect

November 17, 2020April 25, 20211 Comment

Getty

Will wonders never cease?

Facebook has taken down a string of racist and misogynistic posts, memes and comments about US Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris.

The social network removed the content after BBC News alerted it to three groups that regularly hosted hateful material on their pages.

Facebook says it takes down 90% of hate speech before it is flagged.

Uh-Huh. And the moon is made of green cheese,

Something evil this way comes…

November 13, 2020November 12, 20203 Comments

To summarize: Six pre-election and seven post-election lawsuits by the Trump camp have all been tossed out. They are, as President-elect Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said, “noise.” Campaign counsel Bob Bauer cautioned that what is going on is “theatrics, not lawsuits.” Judges have described claims that the mail-in ballot system is rife with fraud as “fiction” or entirely based on speculation. None of the allegations about excluded poll watchers have been supported by facts. None of the social media memes about changed ballots or other shenanigans have stood up in court.

Clearly, the plot to “steal” an election exists only in Trump’s twisted mind. There is no “there” there. But what is going on is something equally sinister: Trump is receiving support from a range of Republican figures, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who says congratulations to Biden are premature; a flock of members of Congress from Georgia, who baselessly attack their state’s Republican secretary of state and inexplicably claim their own election victories valid while Biden’s is fraudulent; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who declares the transition will be to a “second Trump administration”; and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who perpetuates the fiction that the outcome is in dispute. The aim is not to steal an election, but to sow doubt about the legitimacy of our democracy — just as the Russians intend. These Republicans aim to keep their base in a constant state of anger and crazed denial. Right-wing media fan the flames; right-wing social media groups pour gasoline on the fire.

And the shiny new fascist jackboots march on and on…

Goodbye, Oberführer Trump

November 9, 2020April 25, 202114 Comments

Under many names – including Paul Leka’s GLENWOODS – this song was written by Leka, Gary DeCarlo [sang the lead] and Dale Frashuer in the early 60’s. This 1969 version lipsyncs an earlier recording…fronted by Leka’s 1969-70 road band STEAM.

I probably went to elementary school in the East End of Bridgeport with some of the originals. 🙂