Bluff and bluster are among the primary tools used by folks hopelessly stuck on the wrong side of arguments. It should be no surprise that they are also among the main attributes of voicing republican talking points. Being loud and obnoxious like Gym Jordan, Empty Greene, RoJo the Clown, Lyin’ Lauren, Madman Cawthorn, Cancun Cruz, Gosar the Terrible and their myriad Stepford clones is a feature of the ‘new’ republican party.
Modeled after the ignorance, boorishness, dishonesty, treachery and criminality of their deity and chief*, tfg, today’s republican party has made it a rite of passage to betray their oath of office, ignore the needs of their constituency, and work tirelessly to prevent the survival of humanity.
I think part of their strategy is to be so individually awful that we lack the resources to focus on any single one of their depredations. It’s a giant national game of whack-a-mole. For those in the media that insist on playing the bothsiderism card — for every Anthony Weiner polluting the Democratic Party, the republicans have hundreds of Matt Gaetz’s. We expel our bad actors; they encourage theirs.
And therein lies the difference. Both sides are most definitely not the same. Republicans have collectively sacrificed honor, dignity, comity, honesty, compassion, and decency in their lust for power. Their brave new world is a harsh and uninviting place; led by the worst the country has to offer. Democrats are focused on ensuring that we have a future and directly addressing how to make this a more perfect union, albeit with some notable exceptions (looking at you Sinechin).
Republicans split their time between promoting a Russian style autocracy with the unbridled accumulation of wealth as its main feature, and promoting a theocracy based on a perverted interpretation of Christianity. For them, the vast majority of our population is just a workforce of peons to be exploited, oppressed, and abused.
Our job as citizens of this democracy is to stand in the path of those who wish to impose their blighted view of a dystopian autocracy on our population. We’ve been watching a brutal despot attempt to overrun and crush a fledgling democracy in Ukraine. He’s being resisted by everyone from adolescents to grandmothers. Can we afford to do any less? Do you think republicans will understand if we offer them all sunflower seeds to carry around in their pockets?
*Greene’s Commander and chief” tweet elicited this response from Mike Murphy, a GOP strategist, "Why do I suspect that if you come within ten feet of this flaming imbecile for longer than 5 seconds you automatically lose 40 IQ points.
Please do everything you can to support our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
Slava Ukraini!
Keep your heads up and keep working together. We’ve got this.
Up the Resistance
(to continuing republican depredations)
The late night monologues all started off with Will Smith punching Chris Rock. So, let’s check in with the Parody Project. GNR loyalty points to the first person who identifies the original.
We’ve also got news!
A Message from Ukraine
Wars don’t have winners. This is why Putin will never defeat Ukraine.
More Music from Ukraine
Ukrainian band Dakhabrakha was featured in my last two GNRs. This week I’d like to introduce the musical cabaret troup, Dakh Daughters. They share a cello player, Nina Garenetska, and were both born in the Dakh Contemporary Arts Center in Kyiv.
The Dakh Daughters performed live on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Ukraine’s Independence Square) in Kyiv during the Euromaidan protests in December 2013. Those protests culminated in the fall of Putin’s puppet, Viktor Yanukovych, and the beginnings of little Vlad’s attempts to subjugate Ukraine.
This piece is build around a mashup of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 35 and Putin’s attempt to annex the Donbass region in 2014.
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done: — Donbass!
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud: — Donbass!
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun: — Donbass!
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud: — Fantastic Donbass!
Russia’s American Front
When Putin was yammering about a fifth column last week, it was all projection on his part. He’s been up to his crooked eyeballs in creating a fifth column of his puppets here in the United States.
Mother Jones: David Corn: How Trump and His Crew Boost Putin’s Disinformation
When war strikes, so does disinformation. It’s a vital component of a conflict, especially in these days of social media and hyper-interconnectedness. In the past four weeks, we’ve seen how quickly disinformation can shape the discourse of war. As the Kremlin attempted to legitimize Vladimir Putin’s illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine, it generated the unsubstantiated allegation that the United States was involved with biolabs in Ukraine that were producing weapons that could threaten Russia. Fox host Tucker Carlson eagerly amplified the accusation, as did such conservative luminaries as Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn. This was more than just own-the-libs trolling, for this propaganda boosts the Russian justification for its war on Ukraine and could even become a rationale for strikes on US targets. Remember when the US government argued that WMDs justified preemptive military action? It didn’t matter whether those WMDs actually existed.
What is with the right when it comes to promoting Russian talking points? Former Trump campaign mouthpiece A.J. Delgado inexplicably claimed that reports of Russian bombs hitting maternity wards and other civilian targets were “probably bullshit.” That was what Moscow propagandists said. Another Trump fangirl, Candace Owens, declared that Ukraine wasn’t a real country and called President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “very bad character” who was involved in some plot with “globalists” against “the interests of his own people.” This, too, echoed the Kremlin line. Rep. Madison Cawthorn called Zelenskyy a “thug,” and his remarks were all over Russian state television. This noise from the right makes it tougher for the United States to have an honest debate about the vexing issue of the war in Ukraine. Which is what Putin wants. It also provides free content for Putin’s Big Lie machine in Russia.
Russian disinformation has dramatically affected US politics in the Trump and post-Trump eras. The most serious instance was Moscow’s attack on the 2016 campaign, which was mounted to help Trump win the White House. Though cyber experts and the US government fingered Moscow as responsible for the hack-and-leak operation that hampered Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, Putin and the Kremlin said Nyet, it wasn’t us. This fake news was embraced by Donald Trump and his minions who asserted there was no Russian intervention. As president, Trump even said he accepted Putin’s denial. Score that as a big win for Putin.
Another Day, Another Shoe
This time it’s an army boot. Hardly a day goes by that doesn’t include bad news for tfg and his henchweasels. We need to develop a scale for reporting this, so we can put this tranche of bad news in the context of all the rest of it. I think we should use a shoe drop scale — bedroom slipper to army boot works for most of the day to day stuff. The impeachments were walking casts and his indictment will be a bronzed ski boot.
Slate: Dennis Aftergut: A Federal Judge Just Added Rocket Fuel to the Case for Prosecuting Trump
On Monday, a federal court in California ordered attorney John Eastman to turn over 101 emails that he claims were covered by attorney-client privilege to the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.
The court ruled that Eastman, the lawyer who authored two memos which were the legal blueprint for Trump’s bloodless coup, likely violated the law, meaning his emails would be discoverable under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. Notably, the court also found that Eastman’s client, Trump, also likely committed federal crimes in his effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Judge David O. Carter’s 44-page opinion concludes that Trump and Eastman, “more likely than not … corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021” and with deceitful intent, conspired to defraud the United States.
Those are the two crimes, 18 USC §§1512(c)(2) and 371, most commonly mentioned as a basis for indicting Trump over his soft coup attempt.
Raw Story: Sarah K. Burris: Judge's damning ruling on Trump will 'reverberate throughout the office' at the DOJ: Ex-FBI official
Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi explained to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace how the Department of Justice likely reacted when a federal judge issued a ruling stating that former President Donald Trump likely committed a felony.
Specifically, Figliuzzi described everything stopping at the Justice Department and the FBI when a well-respected, long-time federal judge says something akin to what U.S. District Judge David Carter did on Monday.
"It reverberates through the office," he said.
"The Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021," Carter said in a decision Monday. "The illegality of the plan was obvious."
The Committee Marches on
On the recently introduced shoe scale, this is a loafer level event. Except for the two clowns directly involved. For them it’s cataclysmic. What always surprises me is the way they continue to act like there should be no consequences for their treasonous behavior. That’s some astronomical level privilege and denial at work.
Daily Beast: Jose Pagliery: Jan. 6 Panel Holds Two More Trump Lieutenants in ‘Contempt’
In yet another strike at the code of silence in Trumpworld, the Jan. 6 Committee voted Monday night to hold two former White House officials “in contempt of Congress” for refusing to show up and testify about their roles in the violent riot at the Capitol building.
Peter Navarro, who ran the Trump administration’s Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and Dan Scavino Jr., Trump’s longtime social media guru who later served as his deputy chief of staff, were both held in contempt and could face criminal charges if the full House of Representatives votes on the contempt resolution and the Department of Justice pursues charges.
Both men could have key information about the former president’s role in planning and knowledge of the Jan. 6 protests that quickly became an assault on the Capitol. Navarro developed a secret plan dubbed the “Green Bay Sweep” to convince senators and representatives to legislatively overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. And Scavino became a pointman to recruit pissed-off MAGA Americans to show up on that fateful day.
Dear Clarence, Please Just Go
Imagine, if you will, that the wife of a Supreme Court Justice was immersed up to her eyeballs in an attempt to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States. Oh wait — you don’t have to imagine it.
Huffington Post: Nick Visser: Jan. 6 Panel Reportedly Hopes To Interview Ginni Thomas Over Text Messages
“We want to hear from everybody who has something to say,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the nine-person bipartisan committee, told CNN. He added that Thomas “obviously interacted frequently with the president’s chief of staff and was actively involved with the effort to overturn the election. So, speaking as one member, I think it’s important that we hear from her.”
The Atlantic: David Frum: The Real Ginni Thomas Problem Is Trump
“Nothing about the text messages presents any legal issues.” That was the terse comment from Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’s attorney about her recently revealed text messages. The conservative activist had sent the messages to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the weeks after the 2020 election, urging him to try to overturn the results.
Thomas’s lawyer may well be right. As far as we yet know, Thomas herself broke no law of the United States. She broke laws of reason, logic, common sense, and decency, perhaps, but not laws of the United States. Thomas’s husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, arguably transgressed the judicial code of conduct by not recusing himself from ruling on any January 6 litigation that could have exposed his wife’s embarrassing texts to view. But the judicial code’s impartiality standard is a guideline, not a law, and for Supreme Court justices, the code is self-enforced.✂️
The surprise here is not about Clarence and Ginni Thomas, known quantities both. The surprise here is the same outrage that was evident in real time in late 2020 and early 2021: An American president, beaten at the polls, led an effort to overturn the results of the election. Even Meadows couldn’t have been surprised by Thomas’s text messages; after all, he was hearing the same things from his boss, President Trump.
Speaking of the Supremes
After they slavered over their trifecta of bad Supreme Court candidates, the republicans couldn’t help themselves. They just has to behave like subhuman trolls, during Ketanji Brown Jackson’s hearing. You’ve already seen a lot of news about that. Here’s a little bit more to ice that cake of hypocrisy they’re selling.
Politics USA: Jason Easley: Cruz, Hawley, Graham, And Cotton Don’t Show Up For ABA Debunking Their Smears Of Judge Jackson
Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham, and Tom Cotton smeared Judge Jackson and didn’t even bother to show up to the ABA testimony debunking their lies.
According to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell:
The ABA Executive Board testified that they were surprised to find that there were no complaints from liberals, conservatives, prosecutors, or defense lawyers from Judge Jackson:
Salon: Meaghan Ellis: Republican senator slams GOP lawmakers’ antics during SCOTUS hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is calling out Republican lawmakers for their politically driven antics during the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings for justice nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
On Wednesday, March 23, the Republican lawmaker expressed frustration over lawmakers seeking viral videos, including Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas), reports Mediaite. The Texas lawmaker had been caught scrolling on Twitter just minutes after his own line of questioning. ✂️
"We should recognize that the jackassery we often see around here is partly because of people mugging for short-term camera opportunities," Sasse said, while Senator Cruz sat nearby. "And it is definitely a second and third, and fourth-order of fact that the court should think through before it has advocates in there who are not only trying to persuade the nine justices but also trying to get on cable that night or create a viral video."
Debunking Gasoline Pricing Lies
What’s the difference between an oil company executive and a Russian oligarch? — The oil company executives still have their yachts.
A Lying Liar Just Can’t Stop Repeating His Lies (This Time in Court)
Most serious pundits (i.e. the ones who do not appear on Faux) are predicting this suit will be laughed out of court. So, its only purpose is to distract tfg’s remaining supporters from the shoes raining down on the mangy dead rodent concealing his scrofulous pate. Well, that and give Hannity, et al something else to froth about. Ill-fitting isn’t just for tfg’s clothing any more. If there’s a worse legal fit, versus the facts in the case, we’ll have to wait for the St. Petersburg troll factory and their wholly owned subsidiary, QAnon, to come fully back on line to discover it.
The claims made by Putin’s Puppet, denying his and his campaigns connections to Russia are wildly hallucinatory on their face. I would love to see this go to discovery, but having looked at some of the filing (I don’t have the stamina to read all 108 pages of idiocy), it strikes me as a desperate PR stunt and not a serious legal action. You would think tfg’s lawyers would be worried about being sanctioned for filing frivolous suits (in addition to actually getting paid by Mr. Donald John Welcher).
I would be happier if these articles lead with the assertion that this is an egregious case of more BS from tfg’s lie factory, but they mostly don’t get down to debunking until several paragraphs into the stories.
Business Insider: Charles R Davis, Sonam Sheth: Trump files grievance-filled lawsuit accusing Hillary Clinton and Democrats of carrying out an 'unthinkable plot' to tie his campaign to Russia
The former president's lawsuit comes as he and his allies falsely allege that a recent court filing from the special counsel John Durham — who is tasked with investigating the origins of the Mueller probe — proves that the Clinton campaign illegally spied on Trump during the 2016 campaign and early on in his presidency.
It mischaracterizes several details from the Durham filing, saying that the defendants "resorted to truly subversive measures — hacking servers at Trump Tower, Trump's private apartment, and, most alarmingly, the White House."
But as Insider has reported, the filing in question says nothing of the sort, and Durham himself said in a subsequent filing that "members of the media" may have "misinterpreted" the previous filing.
NPR: Trump files lawsuit against Clinton, Democrats for Russia claims
The lawsuit, which contains debunked claims, seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages. It says Trump, as a result of defendants' actions, has sustained losses of at least $24 million "and continuing to accrue, as well as the loss of existing and future business opportunities."
Politico: Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney: Donald Trump sues Hillary Clinton and allies over Russia claims
Another defendant in the suit, former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, said through his attorney that the suit was likely wildly inaccurate.
“We haven’t had a chance to read the complaint, but knowing the former president, there’s probably very little in there that’s true,” said the lawyer, Aitan Goelman.
BBC News: Anthony Zurcher: A Decided Longshot
The lawsuit - against members of the Clinton campaign and senior FBI officials - is a decided longshot, in part because there is ample evidence of connections between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives as documented by Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation and a report by the bipartisan Senate intelligence committee.
The evidence includes the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between senior campaign staff and Russian nationals and contacts Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had with a suspected Russian intelligence operative. While that did not lead to charges of criminal collaboration between Mr Trump's team and Russia, it could undermine Mr Trump's allegations that the Clinton team invented the Trump campaign's Russia connections out of whole cloth.✂️
[Mueller] In his report he stated that "the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts".
A State of Disgrace
When Madeleine Albright died last week, it got me thinking about the abysmal Secretary of State choices tfg foisted off on us during his squatidency — Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo. Tillerson is an oil plutocrat who brought no pertinent diplomatic experience to the State Department. He, at least, saw tfg as the “fucking moron” he’s always been. Pompeo, on the other hand, is the kind of Christian that makes other Christians swear off religion. He gifted us with narrow-minded bigotry, hatred, and questionable evangelical purity. He said politics is “a never-ending struggle ... until the rapture.” He’s pretty much a festering boil on a tainted taint on a tainted taint (that’s a taint4).
Anyhow, Marie Yovanovitch, our former ambassador to Ukraine, has a new memoir out, Lessons from the Edge. She doesn’t hold back on calling out Pompeo.
Business Insider: Sonam Sheth, Nicole Guadiano: Marie Yovanovitch says it will take a 'concentrated effort over a number of years' to undo the 'damage' that Mike Pompeo did to the State Department
Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, told Insider in a wide-ranging interview that it would take "years" to reverse the damage that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did to the State Department.
Pompeo "presided over the hollowing out of a great institution," Yovanovitch told Insider. She added that Donald Trump's first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, "started it and Pompeo continued it, so there's is lasting damage."
When he took the helm at the department, President Joe Biden's secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made a commitment to following the rule of law, protecting diplomats and foreign service officers, and promoting US policy abroad.✂️
The former ambassador didn't mince words about her view of Pompeo in her new memoir, "Lessons from the Edge." She was blunt when she said Pompeo's "hypocrisy was galling" and wondered whether the State Department would "survive the betrayals of the Pompeo years."
Andy Borowitz
The New Yorker: Satire from the Borowitz Report: Ginni Thomas Accuses Critics of Ignoring Her Thirty Years of Service as Supreme Court Justice
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Assailed for her texts to the former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Ginni Thomas accused her critics of ignoring her three decades of exemplary service as a Supreme Court Justice.
“For the past thirty years, I have listened to oral arguments, studied legal precedents, and written opinions,” Thomas said. “All in all, I am confident that I have earned a place in history as one of our nation’s greatest Supreme Court Justices.”
Thomas said that, after reading some of the criticism that she has received for her texts, she was “shocked, and quite frankly hurt, that my stellar Supreme Court record could be so casually swept aside.”
The New Yorker: Satire from the Borowitz Report: Failure to Rattle Jackson Sends Cruz Fleeing to Cancun
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Senator Ted Cruz’s abject failure to rattle the Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at her confirmation hearing sent him fleeing to Cancun on Tuesday night.
Cruz, spotted by reporters while rolling his suitcase through Reagan National Airport, said that he was “thoroughly drained” after strenuously trying to find a crack in Jackson’s equanimous demeanor.
“When I asked her if she thought babies were racist, I was sure that would do the trick,” he said. “That was the best I had.”
Musical Interlude
WineRev’s History Lesson
Our resident history professor’s always interesting history lesson will appear here as soon as I notice he’s posted it in the comment section. Until then look for it in the comment section.
Take it away, WineRev!
>>>>>>>Nugget from overnight. That traitor-in-waiting John Eastman went to court to stop the J^ committee from seeing his e-mails and texts from the weeks leading up to January 6’s coup attempt. He claimed “attorney-client” privilege. This is fairly broad, but there are exceptions, one of which is the “crime-fraud” exception. This means if you go to a lawyer to plot a crime with him/her, and the lawyer does NOT report this to the police, then privilege does not apply and the lawyer is IN ON THE CONSPIRACY.
A federal judge has RULED the exception applies here and the J6 Committee can get the records. Why? The judge officially stated that it is “more than likely” Eastman conspired with Trump to break the law on this plot. Ahhhhhh….sweet words…..a judge “Turmp”---”breaking the law.”
Even better, the judge noted ANOTHER conspirator and ordered Eastman to turn over anything containing the word/name “Cruz”-----as in the Canadian immigrant (can we call him an “ice back”?) Rafael, hiding behind a Spanish name, crouching in a Senate seat from Texas. THAT Cruz!
Looks like there will be an appeal, but it also looks like the courts are putting this on a fast track.
March 29ths that have reveled in their Prime Number-ness to lay down Good and Goofy events and markers, serious, light-hearted, bemusing and ponderable, all for your Tuesday!
1638 Fort Christina (now Wilmington), Delaware The Spanish have been settling colonies on this side of the Atlantic for decades. Lately, so have the French, the Dutch and the British. On this day another European power sets up shop: Sweden establishes New Sweden along the Delaware River. The Dutch have claims here and are not welcoming, so after a few years the Swedes either go home or change sides. BUT they leave their mark. Sweden is heavily forested and these Swedes know how to use an axe here In heavily forested America. They cut trees of the same diameter, strip off the branches, then notch the ends of the resulting logs and interlace them to build the iconic log cabin. Famously American, yet Swedish origin.
1747 Erfurt, Germany Birth of Johann Wilhelm Hässler, organist, composer. Trained on the organ by his father in Erfurt, he began playing professionally at age 15. At age 22 his father died and Hassler inherited the family fur business, but he kept playing and composing on the side. Had a few European tours (including a piano duet with Mozart) and at the end of the 1790s moved to St. Petersburg where he lived out his life. Wrote several dozen works, sonatas, concertos and fantasias, often for organ or piano (Grand Gigue in D minor). One very odd piece: a cycle of 360 preludes in all the musical keys (playing time 95 minutes; first recorded only in 2017.)
1791 Along Foggy Bottom Swamp, Maryland President George Washington and French architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant examine this piece of ground along the Potomac River. Last year Congress gave Washington the sole power to select the site of a national capital, built from scratch. Under that power, Washington picks this10 mile by 10 mile box, the bulk of the land being ceded by Maryland and the rest by Virginia. A handsome capital city would rise here….and Washington could ride over from nearby Mount Vernon any time to see how things were progressing.
1806 Washington DC By direction of Congress, this day President Thomas Jefferson signs the commission to begin building the National Road, the first federally financed interstate road. It took decades to finish, but it helped open the land west of the Appalachians to settlers and commerce and connect the East Coast to the Midwest. It was later lengthened, paved and renamed U.S. Route 40. US 40 was later supplanted by Interstate 70 that paralleled it and occasionally overlapped it.
1852 Columbus, Ohio. This state takes a certain action today that can be read as an anti-slavery shot, as well as a step toward reining in the worst abuses of capitalism. An act singed into law this day made it illegal for children under 18 and women to work more than 10 hours a day.
1860 San Francisco It has only been 6 years since Commodore Perry’s famous visit to “open” Japan and he succeeded. Today sees another step in Trans-Pacific history. The USS Powhatan, a steam frigate (both sails on masts and paddlewheels on the sides, driven by steam engines; top speed 11 knots by engine plus wind speed; crew of 290) arrives from Japan in San Francisco. She brings Honorable Niimi Buzennokami, the first Japanese ambassador to the US, and several other diplomats with him. They will travel to Washington and establish an embassy. (The Confederacy decides to start not liking Asians right away and does not invite them to also visit or establish relations with “their country.”)
1867 London, England In the final, formal step of a Parliamentary bill, the British North America Act (the Canadian constitution) is given Royal Assent On July 1 Canada’s National Day, Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick become a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire. (Other Provinces join later.)
1886 Atlanta Newspaper readers this day could spot a new, local advertisement from local pharmacist John Pemberton. He invited the public to partake of his concoction of a dark, sugary syrup mixed with carbonated water, on sale in the city’s soda fountains. Pemberton claimed his “Coca-Cola” (made with enough at-the-time-legal cocaine to give you a buzz, combined with a kola nut extract that was high in caffeine) could cure anything from hysteria to the common cold. Sales at the soda fountain of Jacob‘s Pharmacy averaged 9 drinks a day in the first year.
1903 New York AND London Back in the days of the American Revolution, news between these two cities usually took about 6 weeks to arrive. In the 1850s steam-driven vessels cut this down to about 6 or seven days. Soon after a telegraph cable was successfully laid for nearly instant communication. This day, the world shrinks again. Regular news service begins between New York and London via Marconi's wireless form of telegraph dots and dashes.
1932 New York City (Big name introducing new name-to-be #1) There is all sorts of programming these days on radio including some national network items that are becoming regular programs. Here, in listening reach of the five boroughs, the local CBS radio station has an evening talk/interview program, where the host chats with the famous, the fading, the newsmakers, the rising stars. On this night program host Ed Sullivan has a light-hearted guest getting his break. Jack Benny’s first ever broadcast words are, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Benny talking. There will be a slight pause while you say, 'Who cares?"'
1962 Across American television (Big name introducing new name-to-be #2) Jack Paar has hosted NBC's "Tonight" late night show for several years, and tonight is his swan song. He turns over the duties and the fun to Nebraska-born congenial host and fresh face Johnny Carson who stayed host for the next 30 years to 1992.
1974 Xi’an, China Some Chinese farmers were digging for water in a field. There has been a drought so any new water will help a lot. They hit some hard, red stones and see pieces of broken clay, and then arrowheads that look like bronze. They run to the police, who are smart enough to figure this is not a Communist Party matter but an archeological one. Archeologist Zhao Kangmin is sent to check it out and soon sets the phone wires burning. The farmers have discovered the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Even more amazing, there are life-sized, clay statutes of soldiers guarding the tomb. There are 8000 Terracotta members of the Army, nearly all in astoundingly good condition, with individual faces and colored clothing. One of the most astounding finds in world history. (I saw an exhibit of some of the Terracotta soldiers, and if you get the chance, GO and see them! Simply stunning.)
1989 Paris It has been almost 200 years since the Louvre Museum opened to the public (noted yesterday in the History Corner—1794). The Museum has expanded over the centuries, adding galleries and ending up with a good-sized plaza out front. Now art comes to the front porch. With a ribbon-cutting by the President of France, architect I.M.Pei’s glass pyramids open to the public.
May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring.
Shalom.
On the Lighter Side
Threadreader Unwrapped Version.
Andrej, March 25th, 2022
I am the very model of a Russian Major General
My standing in the battlefield is growing quite untenable
My forces, though equipped and given orders unequivocal
Did not expect the fight to be remotely this reciprocal
I used to have a tank brigade but now I have lost several
My fresh assaults are faltering with battleplans extemporal
I can't recover vehicles but farmers in a tractor can
It's all becoming rather reminiscent of Afghanistan
My ordnance is the best but only half my missiles make it there
I would have thought by now that we would be controllers of the air
But at the rate the snipers work my time here is ephemeral
I am the very model of a Russian Major General
Sod it, proud enough of this to unlock in case anyone wants to retweet it 😛
Quote(s) of the Day
No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him. — Thomas Jefferson
There comes a time in the affairs of men when they must prepare to defend not their homes alone but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments and their very foundations are set. The defense of religion, of democracy and of good faith among nations is all the same fight. To save one, we must now make up our minds to save all. — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease. — Jimmy Carter
For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power — Joseph R Biden, Jr
I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. — Donald John tRump
Pressley’s Picks
There’s been an ongoing tussle for human favor between cats and dogs for the last several millennia. Some of you might think I’m a bit biased about this conflict. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Some of my best friends have been cats. Having said that, the evidence speaks for itself — dogs are companions; cats are acquaintances who happen to share a living space. You say you need more than just my word. Well, a dog living in the wild is called a stray; a cat in the same circumstance is referred to as feral. Stray meaning “separated from the group,” and feral meaning “in a wild state.”
Still more? This first video sums up why living with dogs is the proper choice for people looking for household harmony. I think some of these felines are probably close relatives of some of my previous roommates. Of course, mine were even more demanding.
Cats also suffer from multiple personality disorders. (h/t Nanny Ogg)
Lest you think I’m just ragging on cats, let me show you some evidence of why dogs are a better choice. I never met a cat that could do any of this.
Of course, I can’t do most of that either. But, I’m super cute and cuddly, so I don’t have to.
[Editorial Note from NNNE — I personally like both cats and dogs, but I will not try to interfere with Pressley’s right to share her opinion]
Closing Notes
Thanks for slogging on through to the end of another Roundup. Remember to stay active and involved, while also looking out for your health. Your country needs you!
hpg keeps on keeping on. Last night’s Evening Shade: PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN---DAY432---SECOND YEAR DAY69---Evening-Shade-Monday
We’ll end today’s offering with this performance from New Year’s Eve, 1987. It includes a line that describes most every instigator of violence — ‘By and by, again, the morning sun will rise, but the darkness never goes from some men’s eyes’. Throwing Stones is one of a very few Dead songs that contains an overt political message. It’s just as pertinent today as it was 35 years ago.
Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice
Anyway they fall, guess who gets to pay the price?
Money green, or proletarian gray
Selling guns instead of food today
So the kids they dance and shake their bones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down
Disclaimer: Until Kevin McCarthy entered politics, it was considered impossible for a wet fart to be elected to Congress.
Today’s Decadent Libation