Donald Trump Archives - Page 3 of 44

June rambling: quoting Hitler?

100 years of the Albany Public Library

Moms for Liberty’s Hamilton County (IN) chapter apologizes for quoting Hitler in newsletter

Southern Baptists say no to women pastors

Terrible news about the submersible. Still, but Behan Communications noted “the disparity in how the news covered that search vs. the attention given to the sinking of a packed migrant boat that one European official said may be ‘the worst tragedy ever’ in the Mediterranean.”

Sam Alito: yet another corrupt conservative justice

Global network of sadistic monkey torture exposed by BBC

The Story We’ve Been Told About Juneteenth Is Wrong. The real history is much messier—and more inspiring

SCOTUS Rejects Theory That Would Have Transformed American Elections. The 6-3 majority dismissed the “independent state legislature” theory, which would have given state lawmakers nearly unchecked power over federal elections.

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, dies at 92

Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who wrote ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ dies at 99

Glenda Jackson: Oscar-winning actress and former Member of Parliament dies aged 87

The Federal Trade Commission filed a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit challenging a district court ruling that invalidated a key anti-discrimination rule in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).

A montage of clips from The Dick Van Dyke Show

Kelly does a quiz and closes tabs

Now I Know: A Tree* Grows* in Brooklyn* and The Invisible Eyelash Bugs That Can Trace Family Histories and The Language Designed to Protect the Nuts and The Norwegian With The Magical Beer Tap? and The Digital Version of Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater?

Albany Public Library

Join the Friends and Foundation of APL in celebrating 100 years of the Albany Public Library at the Centennial Celebration, which will take place on Saturday, October 21, 2023.” Honorary Committee Tickets can be purchased here. Regular Tickets can be purchased here.

Tuesday book talks at noon at the Washington Avenue branch:

July 11 | Book Review | Black, Blind, & In Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity by David Paterson. Reviewer: Hon. Corey L. Ellis, president, Albany Common Council.

July 18 | Book Review | Engaging Students With Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen. Reviewer: Carol Green, MS-TESOL, retired teacher of English as a new language, and program director, The Wizard’s Wardrobe.

July 25 | Book Review | Hickstown from the Heart: A Family Memoir edited by Antoinette Joyner. Reviewer: Reverend Antonio Booth, MATS, co-pastor, Riverview Baptist Church, Coeymans and member, UHLS board.

Getting geeky

The U.S. Census Bureau: Data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a survey that measures business conditions on an ongoing basis. Also, the United States’ median age increased by 0.2 years to 38.9 years between 2021 and 2022, according to Vintage 2022 Population Estimates. Median age is the age at which half of the population is older and half of the population is younger.

NYS population is declining, down by 2% from 2020 to 2022. The percent of the population age 65 or over increased from 16.9% in 2020 to 18.1% in 2022, and the median age increased from 39.2 in 2020 to 39.9 in 2022.

Math and reading test scores among US 13-year-olds declined significantly since 2019, according to figures released from the National Assessment of Education Progress, also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Observers claim pandemic school closures likely accelerated what was already a decade-long downward trend in basic academic benchmarks.

The Global Liveability Index 2023. The Top 10 metros: Vienna, Austria; Copenhagen, Denmark; Melbourne and Sydney, Australia; Vancouver, BC, Canada; Zurich, Switzerland; Calgary, AB, Canada; Geneva, Switzerland; Toronto, ON, Canada; Osaka, Japan; Auckland, New Zealand

Citizen Archivist Missions. Click on a topic that interests you, and it will bring you right to those historical records in our Catalog.

djt

When I read the guy is screwed, I am wary. Sure, as indictments pile up, Senate GOP skeptics multiply as the man blows a gasket, even complaing that FOX News is “prejudiced” against him. Check out the YouTube channel MeidasTouch.

But he still could win the Republican nomination and even the election. Half as Many Republicans Call Jan. 6 an ‘Insurrection’ Compared to 2021. Garland’s Inaction on January 6 Gave Him Breathing Room. The RNC is stipulating that any one candidate who wants to be on the debate stage this summer must vow to support the eventual 2024 nominee—which could mean backing a convicted felon.

Moreover, 12 million Americans believe violence is justified to restore him to power (The Guardian), with folks such as as Kari Lake leading the charge. Stefanik and MTG want to expunge his impeachments as though they never happened.

Andrew Coyne of the Toronto Globe and Mail, indicating that djt can’t win the federal case against him, worries that it makes him more dangerous. djt’s “response is not to cop a plea… It is to bring the whole U.S. justice system down around him… It is the reaction not of a criminal but of a revolutionary nihilist, someone who is not interested merely in breaking the law but dismantling it.”

seriously?

Some folks running for President believe that djt deserves a pardon in order to “heal the country”. Since I expect that he will never acknowledge even a modicum of responsibility for his crimes, that’s a non-starter with me.

Matt Gaetz accused John Durham of being “part of the cover-up” when Durham’s 300-page final report that he submitted to the House Judiciary Committee acknowledged that Russian election interference in 2016 was real. Durham failed to validate the conspiracy theories exonerating djt or to “prove” the absurd fantasies of a Deep State conspiracy against 45. The facts just don’t matter.

Ultimately, what hit me is a video that Plastic Mancunian posted. It was James O’Brien’s evisceration of Boris Johnson; you don’t need to know the particulars of British government. Compare it with how djt not only survives but thrives, with the mainstream media’s inability to respond effectively to the lies of either bdj or djt.

Music

Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? by composer John Adams

Randy Rainbow for President; Donald In The John with Boxes – Randy Rainbow

Do You Love Me? from Fiddler on the Roof

Coverville 1446: The Todd Rundgren Cover Story II

Hey Bulldog – Fanny

Green Tambourine– the Lemon Pipers

Ladies of the Canyon – Annie Lennox

Faninitza by Franz von Suppe

Wheels of a Dream – Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell from Ragtime

Fly – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

Note: the photo is one I took in Paris in May 2023 on my cellphone, sticking my arm between an iron gate, and fearful that the device would slip from my hand.

April rambling: No irony

Clarence Thomas

The Party of “Family Values” Sees No Irony in Axing Child Labor Protections

In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans expelled two Democratic lawmakers, Reps. Pearson and Jones, from the state Legislature for “breaching decorum” in their role in a protest that called for more gun control after a school shooting in Nashville. This move has occurred twice in the state since the aftermath of the Civil War. Rep. Johnson maintained her seat. Outrageous, even though they were both reinstated,

Related: Education Week’s 2023 School Shooting Tracker. One Nation, under gun violence: America tops 100 mass shootings in 2023. Also, radicalizing against guns

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has reportedly spent decades accepting exorbitant gifts, luxury vacations, and yacht rides from a major GOP power player—none disclosed to the American public. It may be legal, though unethical, bribery. Ought he be impeached?

The djt indictment, annotated

Candace Owens—Friend of Kanye, Power Troll, Parler “Trad Wife” – Owens was the source of a bizarre family debate.

Debunking the myths and dangers of qualified immunity

From 1440: The Maryland attorney general has accused officials of covering up and failing to act in the sexual abuse of at least 600 children in the Archdiocese of Baltimore since the 1940s. The 463-page report named 156 former clergy, deacons, teachers, and other employees and revealed some children were subject to abuse by multiple abusers. Church officials were also accused of silencing victims and dismissing or ignoring abuse claims.

‘Poverty, By America’ shows how the rest of us benefit by keeping others poor

High Unemployment Continues for Young Minority Men

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Solitary Confinement and TANF and Timeshares

A Government Witch Hunt — Masood Haque’s Film Witness. This was a terrible miscarriage of justice in Albany, NY.

‘Hopeless’: Parole denial for 71-year-old Alabama woman with terminal illness highlights ‘tremendous injustice’

MUSIC

Grumpy Trumpy Felon from Jamaica in Queens!- Randy Rainbow

Gordon Lustig‘s Randy Rainbow (You’re Annoying to Me) A PARODY PARODY! and Help Me, Randy (Rainbow)

Prelude in C-sharp minor and The Crag by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) – The Choir & The Chorus

The Place Where Dreams Come True/End Titles from Field of Dreams by James Horner

A World Without Love – Peter Asher ft. Lyle Lovett, 3-14-23 City Winery, NYC

Put on a Happy Face – Dick Van Dyke, from the then-running Broadway show, Bye Bye Birdie

Bits from You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Guys and Dolls and Jersey Boys and Grease, and Little Shop Of Horrors, all in Japanese

Find Your People – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

Overture to The Mandarin’s Son by Cesar Cui

Coverville 1436: Cover Stories for Poison and Sugar Ray and 1437: The 60th Anniversary of Please Please Me, and 1438: Cover Stories for Pharrell Williams, The Eels, and Vangelis

Tell Me Why -MonaLisa Twins

Oh, Noah– The Jubalaires

Hi Lilli, Hi Lo – Jimmy Durante

News stories I’m not commenting on (much)

Disenfranchisement in Virginia

There are lots of news stories I’m following. But some I’m not commenting on (much) because I don’t know what to say that others haven’t said. Or that I haven’t said before.

ITEM: The shooting of three children and three adults at a Presbyterian church school in Nashville, TN. What can I say that I didn’t write about Sandy Hook or Parkland – undoubtedly more than once?

Friend Chuck noted regarding his weekly musical playlist, “This is an edited – and sadly, updated – broadcast from May 2022.” Because, as I saw in a Boston Globe headline, these repeated, repeated, repeated headlines – only the names and places change -risk making us numb to the madness.

I will note that “solving the mental health crisis” is an objectively good thing but a damn difficult thing to achieve. When a Denver, CO, high school student was searched for weapons, he shot two administrators. He fled the scene and was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Interesting fact: “From 1980 to 2021, the US automobile fatality rate declined by 64%. From 2000 to 2021, American gun deaths increased by 56%.” We CAN do something. Bring back the 1994-2004 assault weapons ban. It’s not THE answer, but it is AN answer.

I won’t even get into the obviously bogus transphobia that spinners of the Nashville story have tried to insert.

Orange crush

ITEM: djt was indicted. I’m not jumping up and down for joy. For one thing, it’s merely an indictment. For another, I’m more interested in other possible indictments, which on the surface, appear to be more substantial cases about more significant wrongdoing, such as the attempt to manipulate the 2020 Presidential election in Georgia or fomenting insurrection on January 6.

SO many people pointed out that the government got mobster Al Capone for tax fraud.

Maybe I’ll do a happy dance if djt is CONVICTED of something. Still, I don’t mind if the New York Post calls him Bat Hit Crazy.

ITEM: Virginia now has the harshest felony disenfranchisement voting regime in America. Thanks to Gov. Glenn Younkin, a Republican as though you couldn’t guess, Jim Crow is back! Depressing but unsurprising.

ITEM: “They banned Dolly Parton: Republicans want the dumbest parent at the school to control the curriculum.” The conventional wisdom is that people my age should become more conservative. But as the stories – some of which are linked in the story, such as banning a banning a movie about Ruby Bridges – get more inane…

ITEM: I LOVE how the Disney folks outmaneuvered the board that Governor Ron DeSatan, oops, I mean Desantis (R-FL) imposed on the company’s special district. “The agreement restricting the new board’s rights is ‘in effect until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England living as of the date of this Declaration.'” And it is such an arcane maneuver that I laughed out loud when I read about it.

ITEM: Baseball season is here. As someone who still dislikes the designated hitter (instituted in 1973) and DESPISES the rule putting a runner on second base in extra-inning games(instituted in 2020), I find that I LIKE the pitcher/batter clock that was instituted in MLB spring training.

Ron DeSantis is a snowflake

Dreams from Our Founding Fathers:

Having spent too much time thinking about the Republican governor of Florida over his book bans and other nonsense, I had privately concluded that Ron DeSantis is a snowflake. As I looked up the term’s meaning, you might think, “Well, maybe.”

Wikipedia defines it as “a derogatory slang term for a person, implying that they have an inflated sense of uniqueness, an unwarranted sense of entitlement, or are overly-emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions.”

On Last Week Tonight this month, John Oliver pointed to “a recent advertisement created by DeSantis and his team based on ‘Top Gun,’ which DeSantis’ camp called ‘Top Gov.’ In it, DeSantis is shown teaching new ‘recruits’ how to deal with the media, showing clips of how DeSantis himself has ‘never ever [backed] down from a fight.’

“In one clip, DeSantis seemingly stops a reporter from giving a ‘speech’ during a press conference. DeSantis is constantly complaining about the media taking him out of context. But in that particular clip, ‘he’s removing some pretty important context from the media,'” not letting her do her job.

Oliver notes, “He doesn’t hate all media – ‘even by Republican standards, the mutual affection between him and Fox is pretty extreme.’ During one four-month stretch, the network asked him to appear on air 113 times, nearly once a day, which is ‘just pathetic.'” Even a softball interview he did was pretty weird.

Entitled, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing views? Check.

Diminishing freedom

DeSantis, and the Florida legislature, are leading forces in what Weekly Sift rightly describes as Imaginary problems, real laws, real victims. The Stop WOKE Act and the Parental Rights in Education Act (a.k.a. Don’t Say Gay) have led to a functional book ban that DeSantis denied; he lies. He has taken over the trustee board of the New College of Florida. (Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, is offering admission to all NCF students to match their current cost of tuition. )

Not that Desantis is alone in his overreach. “To my knowledge, there has been no drag-queen crime wave. So why do legislators in 15 states find it necessary to pass anti-drag laws their states never needed before? The answer has more to do with changes in Republican politics than changes in American society.” Mark Evanier noted that “the current move to restrict drag shows and people dressed unlike the norm for their gender — whatever that is these days — is ridiculous.”

The author

From Business Insider: DeSantis’ first book was his 2011 tome, Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama. The book’s title aimed to criticize Obama by playing with the name of the president’s first memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. “DeSantis even used a similar cover to the one Obama had…

“DeSantis was also critical of Obama personally, calling him ‘first in his own mind’ and saying, ‘he actually believed that he was a historically special figure.’ In one section of the book, DeSantis wrote that Obama lacked the humility of George Washington, the first US president.

“He wrote that Obama had a ‘palpable cockiness’ and ‘made outlandish claims about his own significance as an individual.’ “He accused the Obama campaign of having a ‘messianic posture.'” All of that is his right, even as he seemed as obsessed with BHO as DJT was/is.

“Eleven years later, the DeSantis campaign ran an ad during his 2022 gubernatorial reelection campaign that intimated DeSantis was uniquely chosen by God as a ‘fighter.'” DeSantis seems to despise Obama and yet emulates the traits he said he hated in the 44th President.

White House

I don’t know whether he’s actually running for President, let alone how he’ll do. Interestingly, some Republican members of Congress dissed him over calling the Ukraine war a “territorial dispute.” They must assume he is seeking higher office.

Chaos as Civics Lessons

Emoluments

I’ve been trying to reframe the last few years. Maybe we should embrace the chaos as civics lessons.

ITEM: There were discussions about whether the previous guy in the White House was profiting off the office. “Generally, these anti-corruption provisions, the so-called Emoluments Clauses, prohibit the president from receiving any profit, gain, or advantage from any foreign or domestic government. Impeachment, as outlined by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65, is a political remedy (though not the only remedy) for a president’s egregious violations of these prohibitions.”

Alas, in January 2021, the justices of the Supreme Court “dismissed two cases about then-President Trump’s alleged violations of the Emoluments Clauses… In doing so, the Court forfeited a golden opportunity to clarify just what these mandates mean for future presidents. And its refusal to rule one way or another may inadvertently encourage another president to brazenly leverage his or her power for profit.”

I dare say most readers had never heard of the word “emoluments” before 2017. So the citizenry is better informed, right?

Counting the electoral votes

ITEM: Did you know that Congress meets on the 6th of January after the Presidential election to count the electoral votes? Well, since 2021, NOW you do. It’s right there in 3 U.S. Code § 15.

As an old poli sci major, I was aware of it, but I never paid any attention until 2001, when there was some noise about challenging the Bush victory, but it was all bluster. I did follow it in 2009 because I couldn’t believe, in a good way, that Barack Obama was going to become President. But I all but forgot in 2005 and 2013, after W and Obama were reelected.

I noted it in 2017 because I couldn’t believe, in a not-so-good way, that djt was going to become President. Then I heard him, in his idolatry, say that Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 election results.

Still, the 2021 event was supposed to be largely ceremonial, with Pence, Nancy Pelosi, and others bringing their families to watch the beginning of the peaceful transfer of power. That didn’t work out as well as it might have.

And the US has exported political chaos to Brazil as Bolsonaro backers stormed government buildings in a January 6-style attempted coup. The country’s President, Congress, and its top court have jointly said the actions were terrorist acts. Last I checked, Bolsonaro had taken refuge in Florida.

Picking the Speaker

ITEM: Electing a Speaker of the House is usually a pretty straightforward process, though some horsetrading takes place. For instance, when Nancy Pelosi was up for the job in early 2019, she agreed to limit her tenure to two two-year terms. (I remembered that, but I also read it in a right-wing publication trying disingenuously to show that Kevin McCarthy’s difficulties weren’t all that uncommon.)

Well, a 15th ballot is rather unusual.

I knew one did not need to be a member of the House of Representatives to be the Speaker, though I believe it’s always been a Congressperson. So when Matt Gaetz nominated djt, there was no specific prohibition against that.

What ARE the legal requirements?

“Constitutionally, a current member of the Executive branch is prohibited from simultaneously holding office in the Legislative Branch. The Ineligibility Clause (Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 states:

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

But I could find nothing SPECIFICALLY that indicates whether the Speaker must be a certain age; members of the House have to be 25. I suppose someone too young to vote could be selected.

Incidentally, during the first week in January, C-SPAN Was America’s Hottest TV Drama.

Tag: Donald Trump