Quote of the Day
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea,
Gene Autry - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The latest CDC weekly stats:
Latest COVID news items include:
The blog readership is back to the recent normal pageviews. I expect to publish a couple of essays off the coming week and should easily surpass the 500 post goal this year. for a number of weeks on X I straggled to get a viral tweet/post (of 1k impressions) I got my second big one, this time for over 10K. Odd. you never can tell what will capture the attention of other X users. In this case, I debunked a claim that Rob Reiner would set himself on fire if Trump won the election. I 've gained a little surge of followers after being stuck under 50 for a while.
Well, after the Texas Longhorn's overtime loss in their first season SEC championship game (in overtime), Texas played Clemson in the home "wildcard" game in this new format of the college football playoff. Texas has one of the strongest, if not the strongest, defenses in college football. but it didn't look like it when Clemson chewed up half the clock on the opening touchdown drive. But Texas answered with a streak of scoring drives, largely on a great running game which went AWOL against Georgia. But after a pick-6 and resurgent Clemson offense in the second half and a sputtering Texas offense, Clemson seemed poised for a comeback in the fourth quarter when Texas stopped Clemson near the goal line and had a breakaway touchdown run.
There are certain tech workarounds I've discovered on my own. for instance I like to use Joplin to webclip things I'll clip posts for sources I use in my blogposts or transaction receipts.) But occasionally the extension fails in Chrome (the button to save does not appear). So, I used an old tech trick in this context: I'll toggle the extension on and off. A similar concept involves a "remove duplicate messages" add-on on freeware Thunderbird. (sometimes Thunderbird will hiccup and download messages again).. Every once in a while the add-on option disappears from the interface. i find that flicking the add-on odd and on plus restart Thunderbird will resolve the issue.
I'm getting increasingly annoyed at paywalls. For example i ran into 2 or 3 in compiling my COVID bullet lists above. I refuse to pay for the promotion of their content. A similar thing on X/Twitter, For instance, the WSJ was trending on a story that staff has been covering up Biden's aging/cognitive issues but when you click on the link you get a teaser lead-in and a hard sell to subscribe. ironically, i was one of the first paying customers (I think it cost about $49/year (not one of those gimmick teaser rates: they just kept raising the rate to a point too high)). WAPO did a similar thing. I always thought they should implement something like a nickel or dime per pageview but the idea I'm going to pay over $100 to see a single story is unrealistic.
Amazon has mostly resolved my Prime membership refunds for memberships they canceled, the first when I didn't recognize the charge. I think they still owe me the sales tax on the first cancellation but that may be in process.
Quote of the Day
Everyone thinks of changing the world,
NewSong - The Christmas Shoes
This song always gets me. I'll never forget the first time ii heard it. I was filling up a rental on a business trip in LA. i had to stop whay i was doing to finish listening to the song.
Quote of the Day
The manner in which it is given
Judy Garland, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
Quote of the Day
Pentatonix - Where Are You, Christmas?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene | Former Rep Matt Gaetz |
To readers it may seem I'm rerunning two of the past winners of my mock annual award of Republicans behaving badly for 2021.In fact. I was sorely tempted to add Lauren Boebert last year over the theater incident where she and her companion were thrown out for groping in a public place. I also came close to nominating Gaetz for last year's motion to strip McCarthy of the Speaker position basically freezing work in the House for nearly 3 weeks until Johnson's election.. There are multiple time mock award recipients such as Andrew Cuomo of my companion "Jackass of the Year'. And, of course, Trump has won multiple times (e.g., 2020, 2022), although I could have listed him for 9 consecutive years.
There were alternate candidates in consideration including Anthony D'Esposito (NY-4), recently defeated for reelection.. He also has had ethics charges against him, involving Clinton-like sexual harassment (whether or not voluntary), corruption and nepotism.
MTG in this case is being chosen for her role , taking advantage of a razor-thin majority (4 seats) in the House and liberalized rules for a motion to vacate the office, to motion for removing Johnson out as Speaker. Greene was irate over Johnson allowing a vote on Ukraine aid, which she opposed in this case..She recruited more than enough votes (if it came to the motion--about 19. I think the Dems, hardly pro-Johnson. didn't want another weeks-long impasse of Republicans trying to steer a candidate through a fragmented caucus, joined the majority in tabling the motion. Oddly enough, Greene had been a McCarthy backer last year. The fact that MTG knew she was risking an indefinite freeze in all House activity over a narrow GOP majority is unforgivable.
My rationale for naming Trumpkin ally Matt Gaetz isn't related to the Speaker mess. Gaetz. Joel Greenberg, then a friend of Gaetz, was convicted by the feds of child sex trafficking and other offenses. Gaetz became the related focus of 2 cases, the Justice Department and the Houe Ethics Committee. A principal charge involved Gaetz allegedly having (compensated) sex with a 17-y3ar-old female minor (they supposedly crossed state lines making it a federal crime).
In addition to the Justice Department probe, the House Ethics Committee has investigated similar allegations and subpoenaed testimony from the woman, who was a teen at the time, at the center of the investigation. The committee reportedly interviewed at least six different women who described attending parties where Gaetz was also present. At least one was under the age of 18 at the time and told House investigators that the then-congressman had sex with her, according to ABC News.
Allegations surrounding Gaetz and sexual encounters with minors also came to light in a civil case brought by Florida lobbyist Chris Dorwoth, who had previously sued Greenberg and others in an effort to distance himself from the controversies involving Gaetz. Dorworth has since dropped the lawsuit, but in court filings made public earlier this year, three eyewitnesses testified that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old woman minor at a July 2017 party hosted at Dorworth’s house that included “alcohol; cocaine; middle-aged men; and young attractive females,” one witness stated.
It should be noted noted the Justice Department dropped charges. Matt. of course, regards it as an exoneration, but according to other lawyers involved in the investigation:
[T]he investigation into Gaetz had stalled, according to attorneys who have represented witnesses and people who have been subpoenaed or have spoken to investigators. The attorneys briefed about aspects of the case said the probe stalled over concerns about the credibility of two key witnesses or a lack of direct evidence implicating Gaetz
The Justice Department likely felt there was insufficient evidence to win conviction, maybe a reasonable doubt that Gaetz knew the age of the minor, there may be certain inconsistencies in witness testimonies, maybe Gaetz himself didn't hire the girl, etc. This doesn't mean Gaetz wasn't at the booze/cocaine/sex party or didn't have sex with a minor; they still had the burden of proof to convict beyond a reasonable doubt in a jury of Gaetz' peers.
The fact is Trump initially chose Gaetz to be his choice to be Attorney General, no doubt as a pit bull loyalist he wanted carry out his retribution in response to Russiagate, the criminal trials against him internal personnel running their own agenda, etc. Gaetz, of course, ardently defended Trump in the first/Ukraine impeachment Gaetz was an appallingly bad choice. First, both he and Trump were personally vested in their encounters with the Justice Department. it is difficult to believe they would act with regard to the rule of law, independent of their experiences but Gaetz was manifestly unqualified. He has never been as much as a local prosecutor, never mind lead prosecutor on the state or federal level. Gaetz had a moral obligation to turn down the nomiation for multiple grounds
Gaetz withdrew, basically at least 4 GOP Senators were unlikely to confirm (Alaska, Maine, Kentucky, Utah) and he could only lose 3. He had resigned his House seat in the hopes of stopping a House ethics report. the Senate had asked for it but got pushback. oddly, as i write this, they've flipped and decided to release it; i've provided more detail in a recent essay.)
Quote of the Day
Those who say religion has nothing to do with politicsNo kidding; I was on X/Twitter at the time the killer was apprehended and it was surreal with thousands of tweets saying stuff like 'Let the hot guy go!'
Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel - Baby, It's Cold Outside