More Toons at Juanita's

Bonus Toon:

Our new State Rep is elected with 30.8% of the vote.

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IN PROGRESS
98% of precincts reporting

Jason Martin
Democratic
101,221
39.38 %

JB Smiley
Democratic
99,753
38.81 %

Carnita Atwater
Democratic
56,061
21.81 %
Last Updated 3h ago

Today, voters in Kansas overwhelmingly rejected an amendment to their state constitution that would have stripped it of protections for abortion rights. With 86% of the vote in, 62% of voters supported abortion protections; 37% wanted them gone. That spread is astonishing. Kansas voters had backed Trump in 2020; Republicans had arranged for the referendum to fall on the day of a primary, which traditionally attracts higher percentages of hard-line Republicans; and they had written the question so that a “yes” vote would remove abortion protections and a “no” would leave them in place. Then, today, a political action committee sent out texts that lied about which vote was which.

Still, voters turned out to protect abortion rights in such unexpectedly high numbers it suggests a sea change.

Heather Cox Richardson

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It's estimated that more than 107,000 people in the United States died due to opioid overdoses in 2021. Washington Post journalist Scott Higham notes it's "the equivalent of a 737 Boeing crashing and burning and killing everybody on board every single day."

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From Dr. Richardson:

Republicans have voted against protecting the right to abortion, the right to use birth control, the right to cross state lines to obtain reproductive health care, and gay marriage, all of which are very popular.

Today, the House of Representatives passed a measure to ban assault weapons. The vote was 217 to 213, mostly along party lines: two Republicans voted yes, and five Democrats voted no. Since the horrific massacre of 19 schoolchildren and 2 of their teachers, along with the wounding of 17 others, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May, support for a ban on assault-style weapons has climbed to 67%.

Also, Russians are in charge of the Republican Party:

Read the full article

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At Thursday’s hearing of the House select committee investigating January 6, the last of eight hearings the panel held this summer, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney highlighted the leaked audio uncovered by Mother Jones as fresh evidence of Trump’s plan to overthrow the election. The audio shows that “Donald’s Trump plan to falsely claim victory in 2020, no matter what the facts actually were, was premeditated,” Cheney said. “Perhaps worse, Donald Trump believed he could convince his voters to buy it, whether he had any actual evidence of fraud or not.”

The full article at Mother Jones

High

In Roane County, Tennessee, community level is High.

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Just in case you forgot, Bannon has already admitted guilt in defrauding Trump supporters out of $25 million in a Trump fundraising scheme but got a full pardon from Trump. We don't know if he got to keep the money.

Bannon now faces up to 2 years in jail.

Sweet!

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The hard fighting continued until 4:17, when Trump finally released the video telling the mob, “Go home, we love you, you’re very special.” The committee established that he released the video only after law enforcement was deployed and was gaining control of the Capitol, making it clear the violent insurrection would not succeed.

Heather Cox Richardson

The key to tonight’s hearing is found in criminal law — especially in three elements of the most serious criminal violations: knowledge, intent, and malice.

The committee has already confirmed that Trump knew he lost the election. They have also confirmed that he intended to stop the transition of power to Biden.

Tonight, the committee provided evidence of Trump’s malice — his deliberate intent to stop or delay the electoral count with a violent attack on the Capitol that endangered the lives of many people, in order to remain in power.

Robert Reich

But I repeat myself...

Two Quotes:

"For decades, Hillsdale College has been the standard bearer in quality curriculum and the responsibility of preserving American liberty," Lee said at the time.

"I believe their efforts are a good fit for Tennessee, and we are formalizing a partnership with Hillsdale to expand their approach to civics education and K-12 education."

I think that when Bill Lee says, "Preserving American Liberty" he means "White Supremacy"! But then he cowards out:

After several counties rejected Hillsdale applications for charters, in part because they don't intend to hire teachers with certifications or degrees, Lee was asked if that was a repudiation of his intentions?

"It shouldn't be seen that way because it's not my vision," Lee claimed...

Here's the whole News 5 article.

There's just too much material to work with.

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Understanding how to work with, not against, water will help humankind weather this age of drought and deluge that’s being exacerbated by climate change. Controlling water, Gies convincingly argues, is an illusion. Instead, we must learn to live within our water means because water will undoubtedly win.

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We are hearing now, 18 months after the fact, that our president tried to overturn our democracy, forcing his own will onto unwilling voters. And, at the time, no one in the White House said anything to the public or to our law enforcement officials to stop this deadly attack.

Worse, it appears that a number of our lawmakers were complicit in the attempt to overturn our democracy. The committee has named at least ten representatives who conspired with the president, and another, Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), who gave a tour through the Capitol complex on January 5, but there have been hints that others knew something was up as well, and that some might have been helping with the scheme.

Heather Cox Richardson

In case you missed the hearing with the most damning testimony against a United States President, Donald Trump, here is one of the money quotes:
“Why don’t we just kill them? Every last democrat, down to the last man, woman, and child?” and, making the link between Trump’s determination to stay in office and white supremacy: “It’s time for the DAY OF THE ROPE! WHITE REVOLUTION IS THE ONLY SOLUTION!”
Trump is so desperate to stay out of jail that he was/is willing to see widespread bloodshed in a race war. Trump is willing to destroy democracy in America. The scary part of this is that around half of Republicans are willing to help him. That is a minority of Americans but very vocal and plainly crazy. It's time to bring Trump to trial.

Heather Cox Richardson

This is from Heather Richardson:

"...on Friday, a Justice Department court filing revealed that the Oath Keepers had extensive plans for violence in the days surrounding January 6. Prosecutors say that at least three chapters of the gang held military training camps focusing on “military-style basic” training, “unconventional warfare,” and “hasty ambushes.” At least one of the Oath Keepers brought explosives, including grenades, to the quick reaction force (QRF) site outside Washington, D.C. One of the gang, Thomas Caldwell, had a “DEATH LIST” that included the name of a Georgia election official and that person’s family member, both of whom had been falsely targeted as part of alleged voter fraud."

You can read the full article at her website, Letters From and American. You may have to subscribe but there is a free level for tightwads like me.

Unfortunately there are more people who I will NOT vote for on this ballot. I have never been as ill informed as to the candidates since I moved here. It's very difficult to have a rational discussion about their merits and demerits in today's political climate. Do your best.

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Heather Richardson:

There is a coming showdown between the Democrats’ approach to the economy and the old Republican approach. Biden and the Democrats are trying to pass a $52 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) that would invest in U.S. science and technology to boost American industry, support research, and fund the manufacture of semiconductor chips to free the U.S. from relying on Chinese products. But Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has vowed to kill the measure unless the Democrats back off on a budget package that would fund Medicare by placing a 3.8% tax on income “pass throughs” taken by individuals making more than $400,000 a year and would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, significantly lowering costs to consumers.

Read the whole letter

American Neilson Powless from Sacramento is currently in second place in the Tour De France.

Also, California is going to make its own insulin.

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More really good toons

Dan Tyminski and his band were the Soggy Bottom Boys in "O Father Where art Thou". He is the leader in Union Station with Allison Kraus.

Summer Session Info

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CNN reports on testimony fallout from today's hearing.

Reuters reports Trump said he never tried to grab steering wheel or attack Secret Service officer (That should be easy to check with a subpoena to the valet and SS officer)

And in other BIG news, Turkey withdraws objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

Just a few thoughts on today’s rather stunning testimony. The crazy drama in the presidential limousine is certainly the wildest and most explosive part. Legally, the most important is what seems to me like very specific evidence that the former President is guilty of seditious conspiracy, among numerous other crimes. That detail about the magnetometers (Trump ordered the metal detectors turned off!) is key. According to this witness, the President knew the crowd was heavily armed and prepared for violence. He continued to exhort them to march on the Capitol. He specifically said that he didn’t want federal authorities to try to disarm the rioters because they weren’t there to hurt him.

You know they’re violent. You know they’re armed. But you want to allow them keep their weapons because they’re on your side. You send them on to the Capitol, knowing they’re armed and violent, to confront your enemies.

Big picture, we know what the President is guilty of. But the criminal law almost always turns on the small pictures, the specific concrete actions. And this testimony had lots of those small pictures.

The majority of women cyclists at the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships in Knoxville took a knee during the national anthem on Friday and Sunday in protest of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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