Happy Indictment Day

 Here's a link to the whole indictment for your reading pleasure:  

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-indicted-in-connection-with-jan.-6

Monday Morning Smile

 Something cool for these hot summer days

Monday Morning Smile

 

In the Air

 I've always loved Phil Collins voice and  joie de vi·vre.

Unfortunately, he has suffered some huge setbacks in recent years and is not able to perform any longer.

The Genesis legend's health has been declining for the last 15 years. He suffered injured vertebrae in his upper neck, which led to crippling nerve damage, and is also battling acute pancreatitis.

Here's a look back at him performing one of his most popular songs.  Enjoy.

Tom on Indictments and Elections

 Donald Trump received a target letter from the special prosecutor in the matter of the events surrounding the insurrection of 6 January 2021 a couple of days ago. 

 A target letter almost always precedes an indictment, which would make 3 so far with at least one more case pending.

In the Senate, Tommy Tuberville is continuing to block nominations for newly promoted flag officers, and his colleague, Rand Paul (R-KY),is similarly blocking appointments of upper level State Department appointees, including a number of Ambassadors. But the most consequential development of recent days comes to us from  Michigan 

 Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 individuals with electoral fraud in a scheme to replace Michigan's electors, who were Democrats chosen by the voters of the Wolverine State.

 Remember: When we vote for President, we're actually voting for a slate of electors who will, in turn, elect the president when the Electoral College meets. General Nesson has shown great wisdom by resisting the impulse to charge 'national' Republicans, such as Trump, Giuliani, et al because, in the final analysis, these are state cases which have no businesses in federal courts. We can only hope that Attorneys General in states such as Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona, where like  charges are under consideration, show similar restraint 

 This is the point in the election cycle where third party initiatives begin to appear. It doesn't happen in every cycle, but when it does, it has the potential of being game-changing, especially in these days when national elections are often decided by a relatively small number of votes.

 In 1980, Illinois congressman John Anderson may have siphoned off enough votes from Jimmy Carter to tip the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan.

 In 1992 the quirky and entertaining H Ross Perot insurgency denied George HW Bush a second term in office,  and in 2000 Ralph Nader's vanity campaign gave us George W Bush and Dick Cheney.

 In 2016 Dr Jill Stein sucked just enough votes away from Hillary Clinton to give us Donald Trump.

 As you can see, third party candidacies tend to work against Democrats. The reason is that for Progressive Democrats the perfect is the enemy of the good. They are more concerned with ideological purity than with electability. While Democrats squabble among themselves, Republicans stick together and win elections.  

 Which brings us to the 'No Labels initiative. It's a group founded by former Sen Joe Lieberman, who has made a fetish out of bipartisanship. The group proposes to run a third party candidate for president in 2024, and that human 'turd in the punchbowl', Sen Joe Manchin, (D-WV), is thinking about a run.  The reason that Manchin is even considering what he must surely realize is a quixotic run, is because he's up for re-election next year in a state that has become so red that most observers give him little chance of holding on to his seat .Manchin, like a number of 2024 Republican candidates, is actually auditioning for a cabinet post in what they hope will be a Trump Restoration. In Manchin's case, he's a candidate for Secretary of Coal.

Tom on Florida Education and White Supremecists

 The State of Florida announced it's new standards for the teaching of Black History yesterday, and to say that these new standards are controversial would be an understatement.

 The standards were developed by 13 members of a group handpicked by Florida's Board of Education, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the DeSantis for President Campaign, whose purpose is to ensure that no White child ever heard a discouraging word about the beneficence of the White Race.

 Lest you think that I exaggerate, consider this bit of guidance from the new standard, which states that the standard should show: "...how slaves developed skills which in some instances could be applied to their personal benefit...". To their way of thinking slavery was good for our "Niggrah" charges, for they are simple folks who benefit from the guidance of the White Man.

 The new standards aim to restrict kids in the lower grades from learning anything about our Black forbearers, save for anodyne lists of inventors, athletes, and tap dancers.

 High School students will learn that while Black people were sometimes sinned against by Whites, Blacks sometimes sinned against Whites. The entire purpose of this exercise is to sanitize the history of the Black Experience in America, because the common belief that slavery was a bad thing was a fabrication of the ' 'Woke" left. 

 The late Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, was once quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying that what a Negro most wanted from life : "I'll tell you what the coloreds want: It's three things: first a tight pussy; second,loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit. That's all!!!". This, my friend, is an admittedly crude look into the mind of your typical White Supremacist. The author of the article was former White House Counsel John Dean, and also present was the singer Pat Boone. After that enlightening anecdote was published, Sec Butz was forced to resign. 

 Tribal hatreds and historical ignorance have combined forces to make America into a land where fear of "The Other" has become the defining characteristic of Modern American Life. Sometimes, it seems as if White men who claim to have built America; that: "...shining city on a hill..." ,out of sheer force of will, fear everything and everyone who are not exactly like them. They fear immigrants and folks with dark skin. They fear the "Elitists" who they imagine look down on them with contempt. while never realizing that their political champions are almost universally products of the very elite institutions that they so loathe. Many of their wives and girlfriends are better educated and make more money than they do and, deep down in the dark recesses of their souls, they understand that they are inadequate to the demands of modern life.

 Most men who find themselves in this state recognize the reality of the situation, and happily take on a subsidiary role in their families, but others rage and lash out at everyone who they see as 'keeping them down'. Many of these men fetishize guns, follow false prophets who promise a new world where White Christians dominate and women know their place, and where liberals are thought of as pedophliac vermin. 

 I'll end this screed by saying that while some folks are ignorant and hate-filled deplorables, most Americans are fundamentally decent people who want to live their lives in peace, whatever their party affiliation. The culture warriors of both the left and the right will soon find themselves on the ash-heap of history. One can only hope... 

Blast from the past

 I love this photo of Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, and David Niven all getting a laugh at a rehearsal for the 1958 Oscar show.

Monday Morning Smile

 

Climate Change History

 #Maddow

I posted this the other day but it's a good reminder. Climate change from 1880 to 2021. Courtesy of NASA and NOAA weather.

Mondy Morning Smile

 

Liberal Redneck - White House Cocaine