Here is a shiny new thread that is for discussing anything other than the Virginia clusterfuck.
Now For Something Completely Different- Today’s Worthy Long Reads
I like to read a good bit of non political stuff every day, so I think I might start sharing links of what I have read that I found interesting. Here they are (although some are political):
“Down The Rabbit Hole I Go”: How A Young Woman Followed Two Hackers’ Lies To Her Death
How Hackers and Scammers Break into iCloud-Locked iPhones
Inside Wisconsin’s Disastrous $4.5 Billion Deal With Foxconn
I’m an Abortion Provider and It’s Time To Tell the Truth About Abortion in Later Pregnancy
Behind the Legal Efforts to Keep LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers Safe
How the Grand Canyon Transformed From a ‘Valueless’ Place to a National Park
Oh, for some reason or another I went down one of my google rabbit holes trying to learn the difference between St. Elmo’s Fire and lightning and that got me going into other weird weather phenomenons like moonbows and frost flowers.
Now For Something Completely Different- Today’s Worthy Long ReadsPost + Comments (32)
Russiagate Open Thread: Rubber Meets Road…
BREAKING: The House Intelligence Committee just voted to release all witness transcripts from our Russia investigation to the Department of Justice and Special Counsel Mueller.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 6, 2019
… For today’s “Executive Time”, buses will be prepped for throwing (former) cronies & family members under…
NEW: Per @NBCNews, the House Intelligence Committee will send 7,000+ pages of transcripts from hearings & interviews to Mueller. Partial list of transcripts includes:
-Jared Kushner
– Brad Parscale
– Jeff Sessions
– Alexander Nix
– Steve Bannon
– Hope Hicks
– Corey Lewandowski— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) February 6, 2019
Intel Chairman @AdamSchiff, after vote to send Mueller transcripts from Russia interviews, says cmte will also soon announce parameters for renewed probe that he says goes beyond Russia. Says it’ll be done “in concert with other committees.”
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) February 6, 2019
Schiff: The House Intel Committee's Russia investigation "will focus principally on five interconnected lines of inquiry, beginning with these incomplete or unexamined investigative threads:" pic.twitter.com/cuBFP81xuC
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 6, 2019
Mueller needed official copies of these transcripts to indict perjurers.
Junior, Erik Prince, et al, are now officially under Indictment Watch.
When not if. https://t.co/u6MKZbqzC5
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) February 6, 2019
This means the House Intel Committee will investigate how one of its own members, former Chair @DevinNunes, obstructed its investigation. https://t.co/dNSMyhqobc
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) February 6, 2019
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) February 5, 2019
Russiagate Open Thread: Rubber Meets Road…Post + Comments (84)
Raise your hand if…
…you were a white college student in the 1980s who didn’t wear “black face.” For fuck’s sake:
RICHMOND — Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) said Wednesday he dressed in blackface during college, elevating the Capitol’s scandals to a new level that engulfed the entire executive branch of government.
“In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song,” Herring said in a statement. “It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes – and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others – we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup.”
Herring acknowledgment comes as Gov. Ralph Northam (D) faces calls for his resignation after a photo emerged on his 1984 medical school yearbook page featuring someone in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan robes.
I owe commenter Sasha an apology. The other day, during a discussion about Northam, I said there was no fucking way a white college student in 1984 could have not known that putting on “black face” was an aggressively racist thing to do. She said she knew white people who wouldn’t have thought it was a big deal. She was right.
State of the Rebellion (Open Thread)
Hubby and I opted to skip the SOTU in favor of continuing our Game of Thrones marathon. This morning, I watched WaPo’s three-minute highlight reel and read the transcript. Looks like our prediction yesterday — that the speech would be a discordant amalgam of white nationalist scaremongering and pseudo-loftiness — was on target.
As anticipated, it reflects its authorship, a committee comprising xenophobic incel goon Stephen Miller and Fox News-trained turd-polishers under the tutelage of network hack Bill Shine. But as many societies have discovered at great cost, when you give bigots a seat at the table, they consume the entire feast and then burn down the house with everyone in it.
I watched Stacey Abrams’ response in its entirety and am relieved that she escaped the SOTU rebuttal curse. She received scattered criticism for the staging, but the dim lighting, sharp focus on Abrams and soft focus on the crowd behind her appealed to me. It evoked a Star Wars rebel alliance leader’s speech on the eve of an attack on a Death Star. FWIW, I’d fly my X-wing up Trump’s bunghole on Abrams’ orders.
Still, for my money, Speaker Pelosi’s devastating exasperated participation-trophy clap was the highlight of the evening:
Wingnuts on Twitter are still sputtering with rage about her paper shuffling, impassive expressions during GOP applause lines, eye-widening as Trump unspooled particularly egregious whoppers, etc., so I gather she managed to strike exactly the right balance between decorum and disdain. Well done, Madam Speaker!
During our Game of Thrones marathon, I had an epiphany about which major character I find most relatable: Daenerys Targaryen. Like her, I recently returned to my ancestral homeland, where I am a stranger. I assembled a fleet (of canoes and a jon boat). And I am the mother of (snap)dragons.
Open thread!
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Same As It Ever Was
The State of the Union is the night when a powerful, inspiring leader speaks to the nation.
She’s doing great.#StaceyAbrams
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) February 6, 2019
Today recap: Trump heaps insults upon prominent Democrats; Trump makes annual call for unity using his once-a-year words; Trump asks Democrats to give in to him on immigration; Trump warns Democrats not to investigate him: https://t.co/IZXAanLGGE
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 6, 2019
You could feel which sections of the speech were authentically Trump and which ones were aides' attempts to get someone on TV to declare that today was the day Trump became president: https://t.co/IZXAanLGGE
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 6, 2019
In our poll with Morning Consult, 56 percent of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing, including 44 percent who “strongly disapprove,” roughly twice the 23 percent who “strongly approve" https://t.co/CJv96jLqBY
— POLITICO (@politico) February 5, 2019
Definitely *not* the kind of news Addison Mitchell McConnell was hoping for…
?? hello darkness my old friend ?? pic.twitter.com/6fDU6LnyIa
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2019
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Same As It Ever WasPost + Comments (134)
On the Road and In Your Backyard
spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!
Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com
Folks, I’m working my way through backlogged submissions for the next couple of weeks, and we’re hitting the ground running today! Feel free to submit new stuff, and I may run some of it, but for at least a week or so, I’ve got some stuff to publish.
Today, we’re off to San Diego! For a number of years in the early oughts, I had to attend an internal company conference in san Diego and it was right about this time. Did I complain that I would fly out Saturday morning at 7 am?
Heck no – I arrived in San Diego by 11:30 local time, fully rested after a cross-continental snooze, and ready to board my friends’ rental sailboat for an afternoon of good times, good company, and good cheer. Then Sunday, it was 7:30 AM conference beginning, attendance mandatory. I still dream of those gorgeous sunsets whenever I shiver in these dark days of winter. And I’m so much happier at home instead of on the road; my family and cats are what life is about!
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!