To take everything away from the people they hate

I watched a couple short animation videos this afternoon. By short I mean 2 and 4 minutes. They were suggested by an article in Between the Lines, Michigan’s LGBTQ newspaper, as alternatives to Disney, who doesn’t seem to be good at LGBTQ characters and wasn’t so swift in their condemnation of Floridan’s new Don’t Say Gay law. The two minute video is Star-Fallen by Alex Tagali. Two men meet under the stars and fall in love. We then see bits of their life together. The four minute video is In a Heartbeat by Esteban Bravo and Beth David. A schoolboy sees the object of his crush and his heart bursts out of his chest to pull the two together. Since the person he has a crush on is another boy he is terrified by what his heart is doing. This article on The Guardian about the video, its makers, and how it went instantly viral includes the actual video. Kos of Daily Kos wrote that the Russian troops may have a solution to the war crimes in Bucha. That is to send their own soldiers who were witnesses to the front lines in Donbas in hopes they would be killed there. As for the rest of the troops in the Kyiv attack, they need time to recover (my guess is to recover – a bit – from PTSD). They are combat ineffective. But they probably will be sent straight into the Donbas fight where the ineffectiveness will have an effect on how well Russia does. It is April and with it comes the famous Ukrainian mud. Temps in Izyum (just east of Donbas) are ranging from the low 40s (F) overnight to mid 70s (F) during the day. With spring rains coming. Yes, mud will affect both sides, slowing down the battles. Kamil Galeev tweeted a thread about the second of three possible scenarios of Russia’s future. I wrote about the first one a while back. That’s the possibility that Russia becomes so isolated it becomes like North Korea. In this scenario Imperial Russia gets a reboot. While discussing that Galeev rambles a lot. In this scenario, like what Russia did in Donbas, those in charge act without any constraints. There is no law. The government is fully militarized. There is almost no private sector. One works for the government or one sheds blood for the military. Russia pretty much runs on oil exports and is running out of the cheap stuff. It also wants to stay highly militarized. That means it must reduce living standards and personal freedom. The destruction of the private sector because of sanctions can lead to Putin increasing his power. He has cash. Normal people won’t. While the West is distracted by Ukraine for the next 15-20 years the link between Russia and China could grow. A lot of Russians believe that since so many boys have already died we have to honor them by continuing to victory. They will refuse to believe their sons died for a criminal war. They won’t believe they were defeated by a former colony. So Putin, to stay in power, must keep attacking. In a war Russia has a lot more casualties than its opponent. Russian is tolerant of high numbers of dead. More accurately, older Russians are willing to sacrifice the youngsters. Those youngsters have a different opinion. There may be some liberal opposition to Putin, able to capitalize on Putin’s fall from public approval. But that “liberal” person may be just as imperialist as Putin. An imperial reboot. A new leadership with a cleansed reputation, but the same structure underneath that does not go through any reform. And that structure now puts a great deal of power in the hands on one person. Kentanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed by the Senate (53-47) to take a seat at the Supreme Court this summer when Stephen Breyer retires. Laura Clawson of Kos discussed a little bit at Jackson’s confirmation hearing when Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) tried a gotcha question: “Can you define the word ‘woman’?” Jackson nearly sidestepped the question by saying, “No, I can’t. I’m not a biologist.” HuffPost then asked some Republicans that same gotcha question, starting with Blackburn. The senator said a woman is “Two X chromosomes.” Except it isn’t that simple – there are conditions in which a person with XY chromosomes is born with female equipment. A few other senators tried the double X answer. Others said “an adult female human.” Sen. Thom Tillis said his wife is a woman – which leaves us wondering which of her attributes make her a woman – does being a woman mean she gave birth to his children? Sen. Josh Hawley said it is someone with a uterus, but stumbled when asked what she is if she’s lost her reproductive organs to cancer. Clawson wrote:

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was adept enough to sidestep a Republican trap. But her response wasn’t just a dodge. It acknowledged the importance of science and expertise in accurately answering what might on the surface sound like a simple, straightforward question. That’s an admirable trait in a judge, or a Supreme Court justice.

Joan McCarter of Kos reported on a speech by Justice Amy Coney Barrett in which she said she and her conservative colleagues are not aiming to impose a “policy result.” Before judging what the conservatives on the court do Americans should read the opinions. Two days later the Supremes took a big action through the shadow docket. Which means there are no opinions to read. This particular shadowy action gutted a state’s ability to protect its own waters and it puts the Clean Water Act in jeopardy. Justice Kagan wrote the dissent, saying the shadow docket is for emergencies and there is no emergency here. This is such a misuse of power that Chief Justice John Roberts joined Kagan’s dissent. With that, wrote McCarter, the court’s legitimacy is lost. McCarter also discussed a report by Judd Legum that demonstrates how deep the Koch organization is in Russia. They are one of few Western countries still doing business there and the report calls for the US to deliver a partial “victory” to Russia. McCarter reported that about the time the Koch network stated its opposition to sanctions on Russia Congressional Republicans began to obstruct them. That’s probably not a coincidence. You too can be on the grand jury that proves Dr. Anthony Fauci should be prosecuted for genocide! It only costs $25! For $100 you can watch the prosecutors on Zoom and get an “American’s Grand Jury” hat. For $250 you also get the t-shirt! And for just $10K you can get the VIP treatment in Nashville where this trial will be held! Yeah, it is a way way to fleece the gullible. And it certainly is that. However, as David Neiwert of Kos reported, it is also a scary development in the anti-vaxx crowd. There is an American’s Grand Jury website and it does propose to put Fauci through a mock trial (not that he’ll be there) to show real grand juries there is enough evidence to really prosecute Fauci “and his bandits” (nope, there isn’t). The slated prosecutors in this mock trial are some of the top originators of anti-vaxx disinformation. Neiwert wrote:

But this operation is not about science. It’s about politics—the eliminationist politics of the far right. We know this because Fauci is only the first target. The organization’s website reveals that after they’re done putting Fauci “on trial” (scheduled for April 11-15), there will be upcoming trials: One for Hunter Biden this summer, and a third for Hillary Clinton in the fall. We’ve known for a while now that for the anti-vaxxer/anti-mandate/anti-mask crowd, the issue really isn’t about the pandemic or the disease—it’s about their hatred of liberal democratic governance and their intention of tearing it down at every turn and through every opening, even those they create themselves. It’s a far-right movement whose purpose is not to enhance “liberty,” as they claim, but rather to take everything away from the people they hate.

Neiwert concluded with a quote from Kavita Patel of MSNBC:

The playbook is clear: stoke fear, prey on vulnerable Americans, launch social media to promote lies and attack credible officials and repeat. In the process, these charlatans stand to profit or gain power as the subjects of their con suffer the consequences. The similarities between the campaign to discredit the 2020 election and the proliferation of ivermectin are clear—both resulted in needless death and the normalization of fear and misinformation.

That playbook is disturbingly effective. Max Boot introduced an opinion piece in the Washington Post with a tweet:

In today’s Republican Party, the primary economic role of the state is not to get out of the way. It is, instead, to reward friends and crush political enemies.

Leah McElrath tweeted about her older half-sister coming to see their mother, who is near death. McElrath and her daughter are LGBTQ. A nephew is trans. A bit of what she tweeted:

I knew I’d lost my sister due to Fox News, conspiracy theories, and born again Christianity—but I didn’t know how bad it was. ... I went to hug her, and she put her hands in front of her and growled, “Don’t touch me.” That was new. We’d never not at least hugged. ... My sister spent the entire visit talking about how everyone in the house was Satanic—but especially me—and how SHE is a Christian. ... She’ll likely never see our mother alive again. ... I wrote this because my sister is smart/educated. Yet, she cannot get enough of grievance and conspiracy fodder—and now literally thinks I’m Satan. Social structures will fail.

More of the same, but with a better outcome. Peter Doocy is the Fox News correspondent at the White House, known for his attempts to ask a gotcha question to get soundbite on his network’s programs. Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary is quite good at subverting his attempts. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported on Monday’s attempt. Doocy was referring to Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law when he asked, “At what age does the White House think that students should be taught about sexual orientation and gender?” Psaki described the bill as politicians in Florida propagating misinformed, hateful policies and that Biden was looking at whether the bill infringes on federal civil rights laws. Doocy tried again. Einenkel wrote:

At this point, Psaki is fed up with this dance of ignorance, and she cuts right to the chase: “Do you have examples of schools in Florida that are teaching kindergartners about sex education?” she asks. In response, Doocy sort of mumbles, “I’m just asking for the President’s opin—“ Psaki was having none of that. “Because I think that's a relevant question. Because I think this is a politically charged, harsh law that is putting parents and LGBTQ+ kids in a difficult, heartbreaking circumstance. I actually think that's a relevant question,” she fired back.

On to the next – someone else’s – question.