Florida, Crime, Biden, GOP, Dominion Dominates, Fox Outfoxed, Ukraine

  • Nan’s Notebook guides us to ballot initiatives sponsored by the Fairness Project concerning health fairness.
     
    Key definition:
    The project is the brainchild of a California-based health care workers union and was created with the idea of using ballot measures to address quality-of-life issues.
     
    Key request:
    If any such petition comes your way, please don’t hesitate to sign it.
     
  • CalicoJack in The Psy of Life writes about the frequency of sexual assault and theories of why it occurs.
     
  • Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara defends the right to own guns based on the Ninth Amendment.
     
    Key correct analysis:
    I imagine the question is inspired by Justice Sam Alito’s horrifically wrong justification for overturning Roe—that the word “abortion” does not appear, nor is it implied, in the Constitution and is therefore not a right protected by the Constitution. That is completely wrongheaded.
     
    Implied incorrect assumption: That any national official wants to abolish gun ownership.
     
  • At The Onion, Chicago is finally crime free and safe as every resident is hired as police.
     
  • President Biden makes what most observers see as a play for a tough-on-crime image. Cato’s Julian Sanchez reacts:
     

  • Vagabond Scholar uses as a starting point the Biden SOTU, during which the President masterfully trapped Republicans on Social Security. Conservative opposition to retirement programs is the tip of the spear.
     
    Key conclusion:
    But the unequal, unfair, oppressive power structure they’re fighting for is even more dangerous than their policies themselves.
     
  • In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson covers the recent rollback by the Eli Lilly Corp. of Insulin to 35/month in reaction to the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act opposed by Republicans.
     
    She notices, in that opposition, an historic pattern with “ordinary” issues that goes back for generations.
     
    Key passage:
    Lilly’s announcement in the face of Republican support for big pharmaceutical companies is a bellwether for the country’s politics. Biden has pressured companies to bring down the price of insulin…
     
  • Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger briefly channels economist Paul Krugman on one Republican proposal to cut back Social Security.
     
  • Frances Langum has the story. Republican congressman Jim Jordan’s committee was going to expose the politicization of the Justice Department with testimony from FBI whistleblowers. The plan blows up in poor Jim’s face.
     
    Key reason:
    …this committee is high on their own supply
     
  • In Scotties Playtime, Marjorie Taylor Greene has a horrible experience of having her lunch interrupted by an angry constituent. She says conservatives need their own safe space. Scottie has advice based on personal experience.
     
    As usual, I do not lack for an opinion:
  • Max’s Dad has a thought or two about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy selling his soul to Marjorie and others, releasing classified January 6 insurrection tapes exclusively to Tucker Carlson, presumably for selective editing.
     
    Father of Max explores the courage abyss exhibited by the Speaker.
     
  • Dominion seems to have the upper hand in their mega-million suit against Fox. Tommy Christopher watches as Trump critic George Conway reacts to the latest Fox legal strategy.
     
    Key characterization:
    We pay them millions of dollars. They sit on — they are on our air, they work for us, but they don’t speak for us.
     
  • In Hackwhackers, cartoonists have some fun making serious truth about Fox agonistes.
     
  • In the Borowitz Report, Rupert Murdoch says that telling the truth under oath was the worst experience of his life.
     
    Key satire:
    “I don’t know how they manage it,” the media mogul said, of inveterate truthtellers. “I’ve told the truth once, and I don’t intend to do it again.”
     
  • The Palmer Report reports on the reports, those seeing indications that Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Network may be about to fire three television anchors for knowingly lying on the programs they host.
     
    Key supposed strategy:
    These would be Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo. According to reports, all three are perhaps on the chopping block. This is because Rupert Murdock may need “sacrificial lambs” to stem the tide of bad publicity. And he is not above using his anchors for that nasty little problem.
     
  • Dave Columbo has a modest suggestion for Fox.
    Note:
    No idea why TikTok goes to autoplay and defaults to zero volume in some browsers. Try clicking volume, then reload (such a bother).
     

    @davecolumbo I’m quite proud of that pun #politics #political #politicalhumor #politicaltiktok #democrats #democratsoftiktok #newsoclock ♬ original sound – Dave Columbo

  • News Corpse hosts Jimmy Kimmel taking MTG and Tucker to task for their enthusiastic Putin support.
     
  • Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson seems skeptical of Fox skeptics of support for freedom fighters:

  • Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit has a message from Russia for anyone who thinks Putin wants to stop with Ukraine.
     
  • Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged begins with this re-tweet by Senator Mike Lee(R-Utah)


    She exposes it as bit of Russian disinformation and suggests it is an example of a growing trend.
     
    Key revelation:
    The expanded version is Zelenskyy’s opinion that if Russia is not stopped at Ukraine, then they will encroach NATO space and once NATO Article 5 is in effect, the conflict we’ve been dreading will come to pass.
     
    Key pattern:
    The lack of context is significant, and that these two individuals went with the outrage instead of exploring the context first, tells me a lot about what I dread from social media-oriented foreign policy.
     
    Note: Senator Lee’s reTweet has since been
    retracted, deducted, unReTweeted, removed, erased.
    Hopefully in red-faced embarrassment.
     

  • The Strategic Studies Book Club reviews an examination of the German high command after World War I.
     
    Key quote:
    A newly-promoted general is always confident that the situation is better than it appeared to his predecessor, and that he can succeed where the latter failed.
     
  • Palestine gunmen kill two Jewish brothers. A group of far right Israeli settlers take violent revenge on pretty much any innocent resident they can find in a neighboring Palestinian village. One resident is killed, several injured, property damage is extensive.
     
    M. Bouffant at Web of Evil links to multiple reports about the violence and a far-right Israeli politician’s call for the entire village to be wiped out.
     
    Key observation is in the headline itself:
    Today In Since When Do Two Wrongs Make A Right?
     
    Condemnation by the US parallels denunciation within Israel against the intolerance.
    Even when things turn deadly, hate can be hated.
     
  • The Propaganda Professor explores the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, the illusion of frequency. Don’t believe everything you repeatedly see without considering whether you are simply noticing it more often.
     
    Key explanation:
    The frequency illusion is just one example of how our own brains can deceive us if we don’t use them properly. We’ve all had the experience of entertaining a clear, detailed memory of some event, only to learn later that our own account differs sharply from someone else’s and/or from recorded evidence.
     
    Key personal example from the Professor:
    My recollection of Charlie Chaplin receiving a special Oscar always entailed a vivid image of a frail old man hobbling onstage with the aid of a cane. But when I finally watched the scene again decades later, I saw that the cane, a prop from his signature tramp character, was actually handed to him by a presenter at the podium. He never used it, didn’t have it when entering, and walked just fine. Nor did he look or sound nearly as ancient and frail as I’d recalled.
     
  • In Happiness Between Tails da-AL introduces us to blogger/author Pat Wahler who, in turn, takes us into the inner realm of how she writes historical fiction.
     
    The fascinating case study is her research into a cartoon activist of a hundred years ago: Rose O’Neill, inventor of the Kewpie doll, and how that research evolved into biographical fiction.
     
  • My valued longtime conservative friend Darrell Michaels departs for a moment from his ideological addictions to provide us with awesome photos of his recent trip to Jordan.
     
    As a political advocate, my friend makes a wonderful photographer.
     
  • @whiskeywhistle98 has fun listening to hilarious narration of a food creation from hell consisting of ground meat, noodles, peanut butter, and skittles.
    Gaaaa – Once more: No idea why TikTok goes to autoplay and defaults to zero volume. Try clicking volume, then reload (such a bother).
     

    @whiskeywhistle98 #duet with @caribouisawkward #Duet What in tbe holy hell is that? #fyp #foryourpage #tiktokmom #gross #skittles #meat #dead #lmao #funny #wow #whatisthat ♬ original sound – Yummy Cooking

  • YellowDog Granny has a great title for a memoir.
     
  • Clickbait satirist Reductress explains how to tell if too many people saw you yesterday for you to wear the same outfit today.
     
  • At MadMikesAmerica, Dr. Jennifer Coates says there are important medical reasons to pick up your dog’s poop.
     
  • SilverAppleQueen is recovering from the flu, but has Radar the cat for a bedside companion.
     

– Podcasts –
 

2 thoughts on “Florida, Crime, Biden, GOP, Dominion Dominates, Fox Outfoxed, Ukraine”

  1. tx for another enlightening post — & for the reprieve of the darling doggie!!! am a sucker for black & white dogs that look anything like my dear pit mix

    1. Thank you.

      I especially enjoyed the background.
      Humans frantically trying to catch our pup.

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