Democracy, SCOTUS, Constitution,
Education, Racism, Education, Jan 6

For no particular reason, except that I like this:

@ashleykeiko

Up by @iamcardib 🎶 A classical pianist and a jazz saxophonist walk into a Cardi B concert 😂 ##up ##cardib ##saxbae ##splitscreen ##nottwins ##ashleykeiko

♬ original sound – ashleykeiko

• Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire News Group speak about SCOTUS news as the Supreme Court ends its term, and possibly democracy. Your choice of a podcast or a transcript.
   
• Nan’s Notebook ponders the degree to which, in our Constitutional Republic, we actually follow the Constitution.
   
• NOJO presents to us the holy words of the US Constitution from the halls of the William Shatner School of Dramatic Overacting.
   
• CalicoJack in The Psy of Life says the war on history is war on democracy.
   
• A noted journalist works hard, joins a prestigious university as an untenured professor, finds her tenure held up because of research she did on the history of racism in America, but finally gets that tenure and the academic recognition she deserves. Congratulations all around!
   
  Hackwhackers applauds as Nikole Hannah-Jones goes all Johnny Paycheck and tells the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to take that tenure and shove it!.
   
• At The Onion, Congressional Democrats put on an elaborate 4th Of July pageant to teach Republicans the importance of democracy.
   
• Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit notes the secret weapon that the FBI is using to bring Jan 6 insurrectionists to justice: the inability of so many to think things through.
   
• Well, it’s lawsuit time yet again in TrumpLand as our once president files against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for censoring him. Seems they banned election and COVID falsehoods. Andy Borowitz reports on the latest as Mr. Trump sues eighty-one million voters for banning him from the White House.
   
• In Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson listens as President Joe Biden honors Independence Day and uses the administration’s response to COVID to defend democracy.
   
  Two signs, I suppose, that we live in strange times:
   
  – Vaccination against a deadly virus is seen as controversial.
  – Democracy is now something that, in America,
      needs explaining and defending.
   
• Want to get more people vaccinated? Save some lives? The Biden administration plans to use tried and true personal outreach.
   
  Works for the Census.
  Works for political campaigns.
  Works for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
   
  News Corpse reads up on conservatives outraged at the conspiracy. Because it’s actually a secret plot to confiscate bibles and guns.
   
• Dave Dubya reads comments published by Congressional Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Republican from Georgia. Taylor-Greene reminds us
  that No one cares about the Delta Variant or any other variant,
  that No one likes Kamala, and
  that racism is gone from American because We don’t care about color, we care about character. MLK’s dream came true, thank God!
   
  As we might expect, Dave Dubya has a few words for the Honorable Member of Congress.
   
• At Unabashedly American, my long time friend Darrell Michaels goes all Ted Cruz on us, arguing that Russia’s military is stronger than ours because, I guess, theirs is made up of manly men, and ours is composed of girly girls. Damn woke liberals!
   
  Oh Darrell, Darrell, Darrell. Where did your mother and I go wrong?

• Critics point to the danger. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan will mean a takeover of the country by the Taliban. Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger agrees. And suggests that’s okay.
   
• Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged explores the history of the US war in Afghanistan and the wisdom of pulling our troops out.
   
• Black Hawk, Chinook, Apache, Lakota, Kiowa, Chinook.
  At The Moderate Voice, Dorean de Wind discovers a little known military rule for naming Army helicopters.
   
• M. Bouffant at Web of Evil has an important message to all us kids from 70 years ago. Captain Video speaks a word or two to junior anti-Immigrant bigots.
   
• So President Biden revoked Trump Executive Orders meant to pretty much abolish some foreign owned social media apps. Think TikTok.
   
  Well… Sort of revoked. The administration is looking for a more systematic approach, which, to ordinary mortals, means …well… pretty much anything you want it to mean.
   
  CATO Institute’s own Julian Sanchez explores the highly entertaining effort to balance the free flow of information as opposed to individual privacy.
   
  Okay, maybe not so highly entertaining in the hands of a lesser writer. But Julian does make dry topics sing for us. His analysis is, as always, informative and entertaining enough to keep our attention focused.
   
• Tommy Christopher reports that, in yet another White House press conference, Fox Network personality Peter Doocy keeps coming back to get squashed by Press Secretary Jen Psaki on how Republicans have been trying to defund police.
   
  Give him credit. Battered and bloody on the issue, Mr. Doocy returns for more punishment.
   
• Does laissez-faire capitalism want to abolish social programs? Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara says absolutely not! Just sort of. We’ll only abolish those sponsored by government.
   
  William F. Buckley once confined the purpose of government to care for widows and orphans and ABMs. Libertarians object to the widows and orphans part.
   
• Infidel753 declares independence from – not exactly politics – political blogging and explains why. As always, Infidel presents a cogent case.
   
• The Senior Senator from Florida loves America. Well good!
   
  AND he would like anyone who criticizes America to go live somewhere else! Uh-h-h-h.
   
  The Palmer Report speculates on what pressure is driving Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio into acting like he’s just arrived from Bizarro World.
   
• Vagabond Scholar mourns the death of former Virginia Senator John Warner, one of the last country-before-party Republicans, a now endangered species.
   
• I often think about her. I spoke at her funeral. I miss my old friend.
   
  As I transported her to worship services, I listened to her complaints about the cold in the winter and the pollen in the summer. I wondered at times if there might be some ideal date in Spring or Fall where the temperature would get to an exact sweet spot, and allow my friend to happily complain about both at once.
   
  driftglass remembers the efforts of a once widely noted conservative who tried hard to suck up to Trump enough to be embraced by right wing media, but distance himself enough to be acceptable more generally.
   
  He finally succeeded in being ignored by everyone.
   
• Frances Langum finds herself amazed as she watches new spelling bee champ Zaila Avant-garde, then discovers the champ has other astonishing skills, like basketball-unicycle ballet, and multiple entries in Guinness.
   
  The original Renaissance Woman.
   
• Disturbed by all those deaths of Indigenous children whose remains have been found in missionary schools in Canada? Don’t be. PZ Myers reads up on conservative arguments that what happened was actually a good thing. As in They were given Christian burials. Seriously.
   
• tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors celebrates the angst of some of my brothers and sisters in Christ as white evangelicals discover they no longer own American culture and morality.
   
• Michael John Scott, in MadMikesAmerica, is suspicious of a prospective home repair professional. He decides he’s dealing with a scam artist when he discovers the fellow is a self-proclaimed Christian.
   
• Scotties Toy Box reminds me of one of my dad’s offerings of wisdom. I do miss him. If you’re going to sell your soul, demand at least a million dollars.
   
  Scottie has the sales contract ready.
   
• In The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, one of my Christian brethren demands to know why Bruce hates God.
   
• Sarah Cooper finds and objects to a LinkedIn profile posted by Jennifer Lopez.
   
• It’s been 50 years. Max’s Dad still mourns the death of Jim Morrison.
   
• SilverAppleQueen brings back a poem by a now elderly one, celebrating the oratorical and sexual skills of the lark. Yup, it’s an ode to a bird.
   
• Reductress brings us 6 sexy British men who will age like E.T. on his deathbed.
   
  It is oddly comforting to know these fellows will eventually look like …okay… me.
   
• @momwino98 seems delighted to discover this:
  

  @momwino98

  ##stitch with @brian..hunt Someone partied too hard…..##tiktokmom ##fypage ##littlemermaid

  ♬ original sound – @Momwino98

• Athena Scalzi at Whatever relates The Matrix to the nature of reality, which sort of relates to nighttime fears of monsters in the closet.
   
  I’ll admit my idea – reassure kids the monsters in the closet won’t hurt them because they’re too scared of the demons under the bed – probably won’t work to perfection.
   
• Speaking of monsters – North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz notes that Bill Cosby is now free, but the 60 women he assaulted are not.
   
• Ever wonder how life would change if we could point our ears toward interesting sounds? Okay, neither have I. But The Journal of Improbable Research discovers that it must have weighed heavily on the minds of researchers in Singapore and Japan.

– Podcasts –