May 25, 2022

Voting results so far 8:55 pm

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2022/5/24/2099973/-Live-coverage-May-24-primaries-in-Alabama-Arkansas-and-Georgia-plus-Texas-runoffs

April 25, 2022

Arrogant, incompetent and corrupt: war is shattering our delusions of the German elite

It is too early to say who will win the war in Ukraine, but one nation has already suffered a catastrophic loss of prestige: Germany. The political and business leaders of Europe’s biggest economy have not only failed to give Ukrainians the help they so desperately need, but in their dealings with Russia they have been exposed as at best naive - and at worst complicit.

This week the German leadership crisis deepened when Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor, claimed to be delivering on his promise to send arms to Ukraine — but was revealed by the tabloid Bild to have secretly refused every item of heavy equipment requested by Kyiv. After Scholz had crossed tanks and artillery off the list, an aid package said to be worth €1 billion (£836 million) had been reduced by more than two thirds.

Meanwhile Berlin has been stonewalling on sanctions, claiming that its industry and consumers cannot bear the pain of cutting off energy supplies from Russia. A decade ago, the Germans lectured Greeks and other southern Europeans about austerity, telling them that “an end with horror is better than a horror without end”. Now, as President Zelensky told German MPs a month ago, they care only about protecting their economy.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/24/arrogant-incompetent-corrupt-war-shattering-delusions-german/

https://web.archive.org/web/20220425002429/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/24/arrogant-incompetent-corrupt-war-shattering-delusions-german/

February 5, 2022

The making of a modern Republican

https://www.axios.com/modern-republican-party-primary-trump-gop-d445dd51-adfc-469e-b1dd-5d6b25118bc7.html

Who had the power:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The NRA
The Koch network
Heritage Action
The Drudge Report
National Review
Conservative movement groups such as Tea Party Express, FreedomWorks, and the Senate Conservatives Fund.

Who has power now:

Donald Trump
Tucker Carlson
Family and former aides to Trump
Fox News
Club for Growth
Daily Wire
Breitbart News
Online influencers including Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino, Joe Rogan, Jack Posobiec, Charlie Kirk and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Steve Bannon
Susan B. Anthony List

January 18, 2022

Voting Rights Isn't Just a Black Issue

But America’s memory of Jim Crow has been distorted by a political culture that pays lip service to Dr. King while forgetting his vision of a democracy that works for all Americans. From the Montgomery bus boycott to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Dr. King was a spokesperson for the Black-led freedom movement that was determined to end Jim Crow segregation in America. But Dr. King was also clear that Black Americans did not simply want to be integrated into a burning house. They organized with a broad and diverse coalition of Americans to challenge the basic contradictions that threatened the promise of democracy for all people. The Beloved Community that Dr. King preached and organized toward wasn’t just an America where Black, white and brown could sit down in a restaurant together. It was the hope of a political system where the Black, white and brown masses could vote together for leaders who serve the common good.

Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposes both voting rights laws and living wages. They back Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin and their Republican colleagues in an effort to normalize the subversion of democracy and make voting rights the special interest of minority groups. But they don’t separate their money, so we surely shouldn’t separate and bifurcate our movement demands for a democracy that works for everyday people. Voting rights are about power to write policy that impacts our daily lives and power to control the purse strings of the U.S. budget and over $21 trillion in gross domestic product.

(Snip)

Whatever the fate of the current legislation in the Senate, we must build a broad, multiethnic coalition to fight together for democracy in America. This is why the Poor People’s Campaign has announced plans for a Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 18. However much we are able to push back against the present assault on voting rights, we need people from every race, creed and culture to unite in support of the common good and mount an historic get-out-the-vote effort this fall. No one would put this much energy into suppressing our votes if a multiethnic coalition did not have the potential to change this nation. This MLK weekend, we must resolve to do what Dr. King noted our foreparents did during Reconstruction: unite and build a great society.

https://time.com/6139456/martin-luther-king-jr-voting-rights/

This is our time. The BLM movement and the restrictions on voting rights, as well as the importance of the 2022 election, all come together this year. We must rise to the occasion. If you revere MLK let his memory be a push to get you to do something to register and get people out to vote. It’s not hard it’s empowering.

January 16, 2022

Chimes of Freedom. A prophecy.

Never forget.

Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

In the city’s melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin’ rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An’ the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an’ blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an’ cheated by pursuit
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Even though a cloud’s white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An’ the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An’ for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Starry-eyed an’ laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an’ we watched with one last look
Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse
An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Copyright © 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1992 by Special Rider Music

January 16, 2022

Bob Dylan is not outdated. I humbly offer this inspiration.

Never forget.

Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

In the city’s melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin’ rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An’ the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an’ blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an’ cheated by pursuit
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Even though a cloud’s white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An’ the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An’ for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Starry-eyed an’ laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an’ we watched with one last look
Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse
An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Copyright © 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1992 by Special Rider Music

November 17, 2021

From an old hippie

Don’t lose your empathy for the right wing. They might indeed be (mostly) impossible to convince. The main point is to not let them change you into a mirror image of them. We are the party of empathy, of caring about the neediest of us. And it would be good if you could extend that to them. Love, for lack of a better word, is powerful and can change minds. This is our super power.

This is the first op I have done for years.

Edit: what I’m thinking about is any one on one interaction. I think it’s better to treat that person with respect and listen to them without trying to zing them. As a group, it’s better to try to see their perspective rather than cutting them down with stereotypes about southern hillbillies and such. It’s just off putting and not productive. I like country music and kind of admire people who get their living from growing things. Education is good and I trust my intellect more than my gut feelings or common sense, but the large majority of people don’t and that’s not bad really.

Remember that the powers that be are trying to divide us but we all have a common enemy: the rich and powerful.

October 9, 2021

I was interested in which states comprise the 19 so:

[I just added any state for each category that didn’t previously appear.]

omnibus laws that each contain several new restrictive provisions, + criminal penalties for helping voters:
*Florida *Georgia Iowa #Texas

Criminal penalties for helping voters:
+ Kansas

Multiple restrictions:
+ Arkansas Montana *Arizona

mail in voting restrictions:
+ Alabama Kentucky ^New York Oklahoma

Restrictions on drop boxes:
+ Indiana

Tightened signature requirements:
+ Idaho

Increased Voter ID requirements:
+ *New Hampshire Wyoming

Easier Voter purges:
+ Louisiana Utah

Increase number of voters per precinct:
+ *Nevada

* = purple; of these,
GA [16], AZ [11], NH [4], NV [6]were blue in 2020
# = trending purple [TX]
^ = blue [NY]

Info from:
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-october-2021


Edit to add: please let me know if you see any mistakes. I did not double check. Blue/purple/red designations are from memory.

September 4, 2021

Need a little inspiration?

You have to read the first replies to get the whole story.
Sorry to those who don't have Twitter.

https://twitter.com/SnarkyLibruhl/status/1433530862918791178?s=20