Bring on the Republican Clowns

 

From Lindsey Graham to Ted Cruz, the circus has come to town and the clown car is emptying at the Ketanji Brown Jackson SCOTUS nomination hearings. RawStory says...

"During the hearings, Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) have congratulated themselves for declining to treat Judge Jackson the way Democrats handled the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh. In fact, by the most relevant measures, Mr. Graham and a handful of other Judiciary Committee Republicans have handled themselves worse."

Ted Cruz was a student of former Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, prompting this from Dershowitz...

[he] "slammed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his line of questioning of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, demanding that she define the word "woman" in an apparent attempt to weed out whether she would be too supportive of transgender rights for his liking."

Dershowitz continues...

"So, would you discriminate against someone who changed genders, if they wanted to serve as a federal judge? No, no! That's bigotry," said Dershowitz. "People have the right to choose how to live their lives. Cruz asked a series of absurd questions — I hope he didn't learn them from me, he was my student — where he said, well, if a man has the right to choose to be a woman, I as a Latino person have a right to be Asian. No! No, you don't. You can't change into somebody who's Asian. You can parody someone who's Asian and live an Asian life and be part of Asian culture, but no, you can't do that. You can convert, you can be born a Jew and become a Catholic, you can be born a Catholic and become a Jew."

Watch two idiot Senators, Graham and Cruz make a fool of themselves in front of SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson... 

 Dana Milbank says, "Republicans promised ‘no circus’ at Jackson’s hearing. Then the clown car rolled in"...

"Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), the insurrectionist lawmaker who voted to overturn the 2020 election results and pumped a fist in solidarity with those rallying outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, last week launched a scurrilous attack against Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson."

Here's what happened...

"The accusations were discredited as out of context and misleading. Denunciations rained on Hawley, including on Sunday in National Review from conservative legal writer Andrew C. McCarthy, who opposes Jackson but said Hawley’s 'allegation appears meritless to the point of demagoguery.'”

 Someone compared the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearings with Republicans in something of a "performance" mode, as if they were making a comedy Broadway production out of everything they are doing. And, that would be exactly right in light of the fact that the GOP has absolutely no agenda, and their only mission is to sabotage anything the Democrats come up with. What they don't realize is that once they put the clown makeup on, sometimes it is hard to remove.

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BILL S. BALLINGER...Tribute to a Dear Friend and Great Writer who died 43 years ago today

 

I met Bill Ballinger in 1960, at the Highlander Motel, just a couple blocks from the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood. We were both living there at the time; Bill, because of the close proximity to the TV/movie studios, and I had just been transferred to Los Angeles by my company. 

It was a chance meeting orchestrated by the motel go-to guy for anything the residents needed, Clarence, who had a feeling Bill and I would hit it off. We did and it was a relationship that lasted to his death in 1980. I was there with the family and spent several days with him right to the end. 

Bill was a steady smoker and, unfortunately, lung cancer took his life.. On one of the last days, when I arrived at the hospital, his wife Lucile stopped me before entering his room and asked if I could go in and calm Bill down. It seems he wanted a cigarette and the hospital had taken them away for fear of an explosion from the oxygen he was receiving.

And not the least of which, he was dying from the very thing he craved. We argued,

something Bill and I had never done before over all the years we had known each other. At one point he told me, don't worry about the oxygen, when I noticed he had the nose piece hidden under his pillow. And, 'what the hell' he said, 'I'll never leave this hospital alive.' I almost cried, but, instead, I went down to the hospital gift shop and bought him a package of cigarettes.

But for the years leading up to that day, it was a friendship I treasured because of, just Bill and Lucy, and the memories we shared together. Like the time Lucile decided she could grow hair on two balding heads. She had us both lying on their bed on our stomachs where she spread vodka mixed with cayenne pepper on our bald pates. And, Bill's and Lucy's parties populated with the Hollywood bunch, but the more down to earth crowd; Lucile's curry for dinner was out of this world.

Bill was not just a super-interesting person, he was one of the most talented and versatile writers of his day, working in radio where he wrote 81 scripts and produced The Dinah Shore Show, The Breakfast Club, and Lowell Thomas broadcasts. He was a novelist, crime/suspense, with a library unequaled in the field. The Tooth and the Nail was considered one of his finest, and it was also made into a movie. He also wrote another 150 TV and motion picture scripts. 

In 1961 Bill won the coveted Edgar Award for an Alfred Hitchcock teleplay. At one of the parties, I met the Associate Producer for the Hitchcock TV series and he told me he could always count on Bill for a great script, and an almost overnight delivery. 

Lucy called me after Bill's passing, saying she was going through his things and found several personal copies of his novels; felt he would have wanted me to have them. Brett Halliday, pen name of Dave Dresser, and the author of Michael Shane

books, was a close friend of the Ballingers and along with his wife, Mary, once threw a party for a new litter of cats. It was a blast. Dave wore a patch over one eye and set a bottle of brandy on his writing table each day before starting to write.

There is so much more to tell, enough to fill a book, about all the interesting people I met through Bill, and Dave. As an example, I was introduced to one of the leading glassblowers in the U.S. who lived in Montecito (close to Santa Barbara) in Dave and Mary's neighborhood. 

Bill Sanborn Ballinger, borne in Oskaloosa, Iowa, died in Tarzana, California on this day 43 years ago. Lucile died not too long after that. The Corsican, about the Unione Corse (corpse), published in 1974, has the most touching autograph to my wife, Barbara and me, of any of his books...

To my dear friends - Jack and Barbara - Much happiness in your new home, but don't forget your way back - Love, Bill S. Ballinger - dated 9/6/74   

We did return but it wasn't the same without Bill and Lucy Ballinger. 

The Age of Reason...A MUST READ PRIORITY

 

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine is a book for people unsure of their religion as well as those who are loyal, but grossly misled, according to the author. Although it isn't an intriguing mystery, I couldn't put it down. For those of you who have questioned the credibility of the Bible, The Age of Reason is your support vehicle. And Paine clearly shirks Christianity, yet he does believe in a single deity and life after death. Sounds like a form of Agnosticism, but not defined as such.

Only 99 cents on Amazon. 

Measuring Gun Violence a New Way...Same Innocent Deaths

 

A report by the scientific group, Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, reveals that "Firearms have cost 12.6 million years of life in just a decade," as reported by Erin Blakemore of the Washington Post. As a new and unique way of addressing this issue, it reflects on the problem of too many guns on the street; 390 million in a country of 329 million people. Since the number of weapons coincides with laws governing their use, here are the states with the least strict gun laws...

New Hampshire, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Texas, Montana, West Virginia, Alabama, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alaska, Kansas, South Dakota, Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, Idaho, Wyoming, and Mississippi.

There is also another site from the state of Arizona, where, by the way, it only takes a warm body to buy a gun, which documents the most "gun friendly state" for gun owners. AZDefenders lists Alaska (122.9) as number one and New York (10.7) as least friendly. 

If you are at all interested in gun violence, compare the above site with those states with the most gun violence based on gun deaths per capita...

• Alaska - 24.4
• Mississippi - 24.2
• Wyoming - 22.3
• New Mexico 22.3
• Alabama - 22.2
• Louisiana - 22.1
• Missouri - 20.6
• South Carolina - 19.9
• Arkansas - 19.3
• Montana - 19.3

It's also a regional thing...

"The researchers found stark regional differences in the trends, and point out that the South — the region with the highest number of registered firearms — has a higher level of gun-related suicide and homicide than the rest of the nation."

The gun nuts will tell you that the more armed Americans are, the less gun deaths there will be. Over the years this has been proved wrong and the Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open group reports...

“the data reveal that the resulting access to firearms has equated to magnitudes of death due to firearm suicides in the same individuals demanding access to firearms.”

EXCELLENT:  Gun violence: An American epidemic?...

My blog has posted regularly over the years on gun violence with posts you can see here. Here are some excerpts...

'I am 89 and not once has there been the case where I have needed to carry a gun. Agreed, there are limited cases where this might be required; single females living alone as an example.'

'And there is one organization that is always in the forefront to prop up 

gun violence, at least until recently, the National Rifle Assn. and its head gun nut Wayne LaPierre. pushing constantly for more guns on the streets to please its gun manufacturing supporters. Well, someone has pulled the shade down and the NRA is going down the drain...where it should be. A recent report shows their legal troubles alone have cost the group $100 million. And it's getting worse.'

'Albert Bender is a journalist and Cherokee activist taking the position that you can blame guns for most problems that face Americans today. From slavery to Native Americans, it is a gun culture in the U.S. fostered by white Americans that has created the dilemma that we are in. Bender, as many others are beginning to do, is bringing the crisis with gun violence closer and closer to the health care system, particularly mental health. Mr. Bender takes aim at what he calls a “monolithic” weapons industry that is “opting for profit over humanity.”'

There's much more in this collection of the destruction done by guns in this country over the years with the conclusion that more guns cause more deaths and until the American gun culture understands this more innocent people will die. 

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The Agony of Unbelievable News

 

Here's a shocker...

Jon Stewart believes a certain subset of the right has long viewed Putin as “an ideological brother,” noting that “for years, it’s been pretty clear that they would much rather do a deal” with Vladimir Putin than Nancy Pelosi."

He's talking about Donald Trump and Fox News' Tucker Carlson, the name a couple. Stewart calls Carlson a “dishonest propagandist,” which really is an understatement considering the subject.   READ MORE...

Jimmy Kimmel called out two “congressdemons” for their boorish behavior during President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union speech earlier this week. 0They were, of course, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene who interrupted Biden's address. Kimmel added...

“As irritating as their behavior was, we do have freedom of speech in this country,” Kimmel conceded. “Which means I can remind you that Lauren Boebert is married to a guy who went to jail for showing his penis to a teenager in a bowling alley.”   READ MORE...

White Supremacist propaganda is not only growing, it is becoming

increasingly coordinated, NPR reports...

"The distribution of white supremacist propaganda around the country remained high last year, with nearly 5,000 incidents reported, or an average of 13 per day," the Anti-Defamation League says.

The ADL's Oren Segal, vice president says...

"It's disturbing that white supremacists and anti-Semites can mobilize supporters quickly to target neighborhoods in multiple states."

It is beyond "disturbing" how the United States has just decided to live with its racism dilemma since its supposed settlement with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and again in 1991. I did a post in my blog recently, "Recollections of U.S Racism" with both a national glimpse of the issue with added commentary from my years living in the South. Believe me, it ain't pretty.   READ MORE,,,

Climate Change is now working its disaster faster that scientists can act. It might already be too late a UN report speculates...

"The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced, according to a major new scientific report released on Monday."

Here are the ten main greenhouse gases...

• Water vapor (H. 2O)
• Carbon dioxide (CO. ...
• Methane (CH. ...
• Nitrous oxide (N. 2O)
• Ozone (O. ...
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs)
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Perfluorocarbons (CF. 4, C. 2F. 6, etc.), SF. 6, and NF.

The New York Times says, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body

of experts convened by the United Nations, so we are assured of credibility. The report...

"concludes that nations aren’t doing nearly enough to protect cities, farms and coastlines from the hazards that climate change has unleashed so far, such as record droughts and rising seas, let alone from the even greater disasters in store as the planet continues to warm."

I am 89 but am still trying to save the planet for the young people. Maybe it is time for sanctions for those countries who refuse to address climate change. It's working for Biden against Ukraine. Unfortunately, the U.S. will be the first country sanctioned.   READ MORE...

I have done a series of articles on climate change you can see here.

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Where's the CIA When You Need an Assassination?

 

Lindsay Graham suggested it, "that Russians should assassinate President Vladimir Putin." Don't think I have ever agreed with Graham, well, maybe when he turned on Trump, but I am behind him all the way on this. Both sides of the aisle have chastised him, many, I suspect, because it wasn't their idea. The U. S. has been doing assassinations from the early 1940s; in 1943 Isoroku Yamamoto was assassinated  because he was mastermind of the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Here's some history...

"The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), formally created in 1947, is the principal foreign intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S. government. The CIA is headed by a director and deputy director, only one of whom may be a military officer. The director of central intelligence (DCI) serves as the chief intelligence adviser to the president of the United States."

They took a shot at Fidel Castro, which failed, with creative moves from snipers to exploding cigars to a poison-lined scuba diving suit. However, the success since 1945 has been something for the history books with a long list of assassinations since 1945 documented in Wikipedia. The CIA became official through the National Security Act of 1947 under Harry Truman. The first Dir. of Central Intelligence was Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, USNR.

But you get the idea; in those days the CIA could be a killing machine. Why not today when a foreign power is threatening to decimate one of our allies? I am talking about Russia and Ukraine, of course, where Putin has killed 2,870 Ukrainian soldiers and "nationalists" and wounded 3,700. Estimates are that more than 2,000 civilians have died. If this isn't enough to put a target on Vladimir Putin's back I don't know what is.

Back to Lindsay Graham, he backtracked later on his call for assassination by stating that Putin should be put in jail. Yeah, that'll do a lot of good, just like the U. S. prosecuting and putting Donald Trump in jail. Boris Johnson wants the Russian leader to be put on trial for war crimes and also in the UK "Tory backbenchers suggested regime change is the only way out of the standoff." More from Graham...

"Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?"

‘Is There a Brutus in Russia?’, US Senator Graham Calls for Putin’s Assassination Over Ukraine War

Sounds like he may be suggesting a coup but what would Russia's Politburo think about that? A coup would require strong military support with a leader that is either fed up with Vladimir Putin's antics or is concerned over how the Russian leader's actions will harm his country. U.S. and allies' sanctions have so far brought Russia to the breaking point and the Biden administration is now thinking of closing down oil and natural gas imports that could wreak havoc.

Apparently, as the Guardian reports, "the CIA has not abandoned its old ways." There was an alleged recent assassination attempt on No. Korea's leader, Kim Jong un, using "biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance." Although the CIA refused to comment on the allegations, sources reported...

"The person directly responsible was allegedly a North Korean working for the foreign intelligence agencies."

The methods sound familiar and as usual from the past, the CIA keeps everything under their hat, sometimes even from Congress. The latter is OK since there are probably Republican lawmakers that sympathize with Kim, just like those who love Putin. Unfortunately, the CIA's actions were all stymied in the 1970s when the agency was forced to cut back on such killings after a US Senate investigation exposed the scale of its operations.

Well, it's time to do a reversal on that if we don't want to get involved in all-out war with Russia and whomever might decide to support them. And, there is help from inside...

"A Russian entrepreneur who offered a $1 million bounty for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin says he posted the reward because he wants to solidify Putin’s public image as a war criminal."

Not sure how he gets away with that but all I can say is GOOD LUCK!

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THE AGONY OF STUPIDITY: Almost Impossible to Keep up with Stupid Arizona Politicians

 

Since Arizona Sen. President Karen Fann is retiring, I have decided to pass the mantle of 'premiere idiot' along to State Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, for a number of things starting with the resurrection of Immigration Bill SB 1070. It was the brainchild of long gone and far right State Sen. Russell Pearce, which was struck down in 2012, because it is preempted by federal status. Legislation from Rogers was approved Thursday by a Senate panel which...

"could result in the federal government once again suing Arizona over its laws dealing with illegal immigration.

"Without comment, the Judiciary Committee voted to make it a felony to transport or harbor someone not in this country legally. Senate Bill 1379 also would impose the same penalty on those who “encourage or induce” someone from another country to come here in violation of law."

It builds on SB 1070 with the blockhead, Rogers, commenting...

"At a hearing Thursday, Rogers said she was simply trying to provide a new tool for border sheriffs like Mark Dannels of Cochise County to use against smugglers."

Translated, that means doing everything possible to keep immigrants out of Arizona, a ludicrous move since, as an example, the state has more than 70,000 immigrant entrepreneurs contributing $1.7 billion in business income. How stupid can you be? And this doesn't include illegals in the state who are gainfully employed and pay taxes. And this dufus didn't even mention the fact the state signed a deal in 2014 with the U.S. Department of Justice agreeing not to enforce SB 1070. Duh.

It was State Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale, who voted against SB 1379, because...

"after Thursday’s hearing that the state is risking being dragged back into federal court over an issue that was settled years ago."

But this all pales in comparison to her comments at a white nationalists conference recently attacking the president of Ukraine. 

She called for public hangings and...

"encouraging violence against and punishment of American citizens and making threatening statements declaring 'political destruction' of those who disagree with her views."

Obviously, this loose cannon lunatic is crazy, but, believe me, she is one of Arizona's own. They love her. But, thank God there are some sane Republicans in the Arizona legislature who acted...

"Thirteen Democrats and 11 Republicans voted for the censure language read on the Senate floor. It was the first time in three decades senators publicly censured one of their own members, and the move was applauded by Gov. Doug Ducey — who just days ago was criticized for his support of Rogers."

And here's their assessment...

"Rogers engaged in “conduct unbecoming of a senator, including publicly issuing and promoting social media and video messages encouraging violence against and punishment of American citizens and making threatening statements declaring 'political destruction' of those who disagree with her views. The senator from District 6 has damaged the reputation of the Arizona state Senate by her actions," Sen. Rick Gray said, reading the censure motion."

But...she won't apologize. That's Arizona and they are proud of it.