#Dave Granlund

[tomorrowusa]

Yep, these 500 year storms seem to be happening every few years. And if Trump gets elected and his Project 2025 has its way, NOAA won't be around even to warn us of approaching disasters.

Why was Hurricane Helene so bad? Fossil fuel pollution.

Helene also rapidly intensified twice before it reached Florida, because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is off-the-charts warm — much like the rest of the Atlantic. More than 90% of warming around the globe over the past 50 years has taken place in the oceans, and it’s making storms more likely to undergo these rapid intensification cycles. Sea levels in Florida are as much as 8 inches higher than they were in 1950. The speed of that rise is increasing too. This translates to higher storm surge. Across the board, Helene was a hurricane supercharged by climate change. “For decades now, scientists have been warning us that extreme weather events will be exacerbated by this blanket of carbon pollution we’ve been wrapping around our planet,” said Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “But as a human, it is shocking to see the devastation occurring in front of our eyes, affecting the people and places we know and love.”

Four ways climate change likely made Hurricane Helene worse

DONALD TRUMP"S RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE...

[gamer-of-the-day]

Today's Gamer of the Day is: People who thankfully do not hunt animals for sport

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Dave Granlund

* * * *

The long-promised but ever-receding indictment of Trump for election interference in Georgia’s 2020 election will (supposedly) be issued this week. Or not. The grand jury is still taking testimony from witnesses—which seems inconsistent with an immediate release. On the other hand, Trump is increasing his attacks on Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis by falsely claiming that she had an affair with a gang leader whom she prosecuted. That slanderous, reprehensibly sexist attack on a female prosecutor is a reliable sign that an indictment is imminent.

          If the indictment is issued, it appears that D.A. Fani Willis is looking to charge the conspirators in a sprawling scheme to overturn the Georgia election. Previous reports indicate that Willis is pursuing the fake electors’ scheme. Testimony this week will touch on efforts to seize and manipulate voting machines in Coffee County Georgia. See CNN, Exclusive: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump's team is behind voting system breach.

          The focus on Coffee County voting machines is significant because the efforts involved Trump legal advisors—and Trump himself. Per the CNN report above,

[T]he text messages and other court documents show how Trump lawyers and a group of hired operatives sought to access Coffee County’s voting systems in the days before January 6, 2021, as the former president’s allies continued a desperate hunt for any evidence of widespread fraud they could use to delay certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.  Last year, a former Trump official testified under oath to the House January 6 select committee that plans to access voting systems in Georgia were discussed in meetings at the White House, including during an Oval Office meeting on December 18, 2020,  that included Trump. 

          In short, when—and if—a Georgia grand jury issues an indictment, it may involve many defendants in a pervasive conspiracy. It will be ugly and provoke a media frenzy that will rival or exceed the J6 indictument.

          Whatever happens, the coming week will be filled with tension as the nation inches towards an unprecedented fourth indictment of a twice-impeached former president. (To be fair, the first indictment was unprecedented, so the fourth indictment sets a record never to be rivaled in our nation’s history.) As usual, the Republican Party’s response to Trump's corruption and criminality is to go into attack mode against the fictional “Biden crime family.” As we chafe under the unjustified attacks on the Biden family, we must remind ourselves that the viciousness and depravity of the attacks vary in direct proportion to Trump's legal jeopardy.

          Incontestable proof that the controversies over the Biden family are fabricated emerged from the appointment of David Weiss as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Thirty Republican Senators sent a letter to Merrick Garland demanding the appointment of US Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in his ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden (on the theory that the absence of the special counsel designation hampered his investigation). On Friday, Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel after the plea deal Weiss negotiated with Hunter Biden fell apart.

          So, Republicans should be happy that they got exactly what they demanded—special counsel status for David Weiss, right? Nope! Republicans are now furious that David Weiss has been appointed special counsel because, according to Ted Cruz (who signed the letter), appointing David Weiss is part of a “cover-up.” See The Independent, Ted Cruz rails against Hunter Biden special counsel appointment that he requested.

          Per The Independent,

[Ted Cruz said,] “This appointment is camouflage and it’s cover-up. I think it’s disgraceful.” Mr Cruz is now accusing Mr Weiss of either being an “active participant” in covering up “criminality” and obstructing justice by “protecting” the president, or “he was just complicit.” “He was so weak that he couldn’t stop the partisans in main justice from turning it into a political effort to protect Joe Biden,” Mr Cruz said. Mr Cruz now accuses Mr Weiss of spending “the last five years covering it up”.

          Republicans know that there is nothing of substance in the investigations of Hunter Biden, so have turned to other measures. One GOP House member introduced an impeachment resolution against President Biden on Friday. See The Hill, Florida Republican rep. files articles of impeachment against Biden.

          The articles of impeachment are HERE. They are a garbage can containing every wild conspiracy theory, random email, and unsupported inference that has been circulating on right-wing social media for years. In short, the articles of impeachment say that Joe Biden's family members attempted to leverage their famous last name to generate business relationships. If trading on a family’s famous name constitutes a “high crime or misdemeanors,” tens of millions of Americans would have criminal records. Of course, the articles of impeachment will be futile, even if they make their way out of the House, which is doubtful.

          The ludicrousness of the charges against Biden pales in comparison to “business as usual” for the Trump family. Recall that Jared Kushner oversaw the Trump administration’s policy in the Middle East. Two months after leaving office, Kushner opened a brand-spanking new investment advisory firm and received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Foreign Investment Fund—an investment that was so transparently corrupt that the advisors for the Saudi fund objected to the investment. In a coincidence too coincidental to be a coincidence, Prince Mohammed bin Salman overruled the objections of the Fund’s advisors and ordered that the investment be made nonetheless. Last week, the GOP Chair of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, admitted that the investment by Saudi Arabia “crossed an ethics line.” See The Hill, Comer says Kushner ‘crossed the line of ethics’ with Saudi deal.

          There is, of course, a double standard that applies to Democrats—both in the media and in the justice system. The “nothing burger” story about Hunter Biden is being treated with faux seriousness and pretension by the media. See AP News, Biden's reelection bid faces vulnerabilities in wake of special counsel appointment. Meanwhile, Trump is facing his fourth indictment and the presumption is that he will merely pardon himself if elected—with barely a whimper from the media over that anticipated republic-shattering corruption.

          The double standard was addressed by Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo in an extended Tweet. I won’t reproduce the entire thread here, but Marshall begins as follows:

Let’s admit that every reporter in DC knows but most won’t say for fear of falling out of favor with the “both sides” rules of official DC: there is a two-tiered Justice System. One for Democrats, in which the most exacting focus on conflicts of interest are followed, often going well beyond not only what the law or established norms require but sometimes even basic logic. Meanwhile for Republicans most of these rules simply don’t apply. Ever. Does anyone think that a newly installed President Trump in 2025 would leave in place US Attorneys investigating matters tied to Trump or the Trump family for years into his administration? The very idea is absurd. In fact the Trump campaign is openly running on plans to thoroughly politicize federal law enforcement and target his enemies. Openly.

          Got that? Trump is openly discussing plans to use the DOJ to target his enemies, but the AP is wringing its hands over Hunter Biden’s efforts to convince people (wrongly) that his father would be swayed by input from his son on political matters.

 Concluding Thoughts.

          It is maddening, I know. But Trump's mantra of “the rules don’t apply to me” has convinced not only the Republican Party but the media. Our task is to remain focused on the only thing that matters: Defeating Trump (or his surrogate) so that we can ensure that the rules do apply to Trump.

          The psychological warfare that will be targeted against Democrats this week is a sign of desperation by a party with a leading candidate who has been (will be) indicted for a fourth time. Whatever difficulties Democrats face, it does not approach the seriousness of a single indictment, much less four. Let’s keep that fact in perspective as we prepare for another momentous week.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[azspot]

Dave Granlund

[antidrumpfs]

Cartoon by Chris Britt

Cartoon by Dave Granlund

[truck-fump]

Cartoonist's take: <b>Trump</b> lawyer bills - Daily Freeman

New Post has been published on https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.dailyfreeman.com/2023/11/25/cartoonists-take-trump-lawyer-bills/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGjUzM2UwMTY5ZmFhZTIwMGQ6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw1mS_9KyjB_attnn1OWkbRJ

Cartoonist's take: Trump lawyer bills - Daily Freeman

| UPDATED: November 25, 2023 at 10:04 a.m.. “Trump lawyer bills” by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.com via Cagle Cartoons …

[tomorrowusa]

If you like the bulk of terrible Supreme Court decisions (including repeal of Roe v. Wade) over the past 15 years, be sure to thank people who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 or for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson in 2016.

Indirectly helping Republican presidents and Republican senators get elected will result in awful Republican SCOTUS justices sitting on the court for decades.

The consequences of your vote far outlast the intention of your vote.

[cavenewstimes]

The Comics Section: Mosquitos and Monsters

Read More Feedzy The latest from Cagle Cartoons.     Big Mosquito problem by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.com   Pollution Takeover by Manny Francisco, Manila, The Phillippines   The post The Comics Section: Mosquitos and Monsters appeared first on TheHumanist.com.  

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Dave Granlund

* * * * 

Keep calm and carry on.  :::  March 20, 2023

Robert B. Hubbell

         I acknowledge that the motto used by the British government to sustain public morale before the German blitz in 1940 has been overused. But the sentiment is appropriate for this moment in American history. In the next several months, a former president will likely face three indictments in three jurisdictions for three separate sets of crimes—all of which relate to his effort to gain or retain the presidency. That's a lot! To say the indictments will dominate American politics for years to come would be an understatement.

        A "once-in-the-life-of-a-nation" event will be made more trying because Trump has signaled his defense strategy—threatening violence to intimidate the participants in the judicial process, to disrupt the proceedings, and to undermine the legitimacy of the verdicts. Although we do not have confirmation that Trump will be indicted, he and his legal team have begun leaking information to the press and mounting attacks from Trump's vanity social media platform. Based on those statements, Trump expects to be indicted, to surrender, and to enter a plea this week.

         In language eerily reminiscent of Trump's incitement on January 6th, Trump posted a statement calling on his supporters to "PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!" That was the only encouragement Trump's followers needed to set social media aflame with calls to violence to protect Trump. Basement-dwelling trolls and miscreants called for MAGA extremists to create a "patriot moat" around Mar-a-Lago and to commence a "civil war." See Rolling Stone, MAGA Forum Suggests 'Patriot Moat' at Mar-a-Lago to Stop Trump Arrest.

         Marjorie Taylor Greene echoed those calls with a tweet urging Republicans to adopt a "scorched earth" strategy and claimed that "feds" would turn the MAGA protests into "violence." (FYI: a common conspiracy theory about January 6th asserts that "feds" provoked the protestors to violence.)

         The most disgraceful reaction came from Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who should have condemned Trump's oblique call for violence. Instead, McCarthy legitimized Trump's call to "take back our nation" by tweeting that he is

directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.

         Huh? Someone needs to do a wellness check on McCarthy to see if he is okay. His statement was so monumentally stupid that he might be feigning illness to distract from the fact he did not immediately rebuke Trump's implied call for violence. His failure to condemn Trump makes McCarthy an accessory to any violence that follows. He has disgraced the Speaker's office in a way seldom seen in our nation's history.

         [Update: Late Sunday evening, McCarthy tried to walk back the implications of Trump's post and McCarthy's tweet. McCarthy called for "calmness," saying,

"I think the thing that you may misinterpret when President Trump talks and someone says that they can protest, he's probably referring to my tweet: educate people about what's going on. He's not talking in a harmful way, and nobody should."

         As I said above: "Huh?"]

         After January 6th, it would be irresponsible to dismiss the potential for violence. Indeed, it seems inevitable that there will be isolated incidents during proceedings that will span years. Trump will use his campaign rallies to inflame passions and foment unrest.

         But . . . we should keep calm and carry on. Whatever happens, our system of justice is bigger and more durable than Trump. He is using the threat of violence to instill fear and raise anxiety in those who seek justice. We cannot surrender to the second-rate tactics of a third-rate demagogue.

         Remaining calm will require discipline and perspective, especially because any violence will be amplified and distorted by the media beyond all recognition. The media expects violence and is prepared to deliver round-the-clock replays of every incident without respite or perspective.

         If violence occurs, we need only reflect on the vastness of America, on its size and heft, on its immensity and scale to place the incidents in perspective. If several dozen protestors disrupt traffic in four blocks of Manhattan, that leaves 332 million Americans peacefully going about their lives in nearly four million square miles of a land that remains effectively boundless more than two centuries after its founding.

         Perspective will not diminish the significance or depravity of any violence, but it will help us remain focused and committed to ensuring that justice prevails—come what may. In this, we cannot fail. We must not. If we retreat or relent because of threats of violence, the rule of law is no more.

         While we should not underestimate the danger posed by Trump, America's strength is rooted in justice and fortified by righteousness. That strength will allow America to hold Trump accountable for his crimes and endure for generations to come. Future generations will know Trump as a faithless servant and traitor—and as a convicted felon.

         Keep calm and carry on. We have elections to win in 2024 and cannot be distracted by the slow wheels of justice.

This explains a lot.

         The current wave of retrograde extremism and mean-spirited divisiveness is sometimes difficult to comprehend. One partial explanation is that an entire generation of white Christian evangelicals see their ranks and power slipping away, and they are angry and fearful about the future. That is the thesis of Jennifer Rubin's op-ed in the Washington Post, Why white Christian nationalists are in such a panic.  

         Rubin writes about the newly released PRRI 2022 Census of American Religion— based on over 40,000 interviews conducted last year. In short, the census confirms a decades-long decline in the absolute and relative portion of Americans who identify as white Christians. The percentage decline of white Christians has been dramatic: 2008 (54%), 2014 (47%), and 2022 (42%).

         Per the report, the MAGA subset of white Christians has been particularly hard hit by the decline:

The group that has declined the most is at the core of the MAGA movement, the group most devoted to Christian nationalism. "White evangelical Protestants have experienced the steepest decline. As recently as 2006, white evangelical Protestants comprised nearly one-quarter of Americans (23%). By the time of Trump's rise to power, their numbers had dipped to 16.8%," Jones explains. "Today, white evangelical Protestants comprise only 13.6% of Americans."

         In a closely divided electorate, a dedicated group representing 13.6% of the population can nonetheless have an outsized impact on elections decided by a few hundred or a few thousand votes. That, in turn, explains the unholy dedication of white Christians to the suppression of votes.

         The shrinking number of Americans who identify as Christians should be a cause for reflection and introspection. It is not—at least not for MAGA Christians. Per Rubin:

With those kind of numbers, the responsible thing to do would be to think about "fixing" what's wrong by adapting to a changing market. Instead, many in this cohort have doubled down, becoming the foot soldiers in the red-hatted MAGA movement. The decline isn't going to be reversed by angry, gray-haired folks demanding abortion bans and "don't say gay" bills.

         While we can never count on Republicans to defeat themselves, neither should we overestimate the strength of our opponent. The current wave of anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ legislation across the nation is being driven by a shrinking minority of religious extremists who appear to be driving people away from their church with their politics. That fact should help us maintain perspective about our prospects for success in reversing the wave of hate-based legislation sweeping the nation.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[mubashirnews]

World’s cartoonists on this week’s events

First published on Politicalcartoons.com, U.S., January 13, 2023 | By Dave Granlund First published on Caglecartoons.com, U.S., January 17, 2023 | By Rivers First published in De Volkskrant, The Netherlands, January 13, 2023 | By Schot First published on Caglecartoons.com, U.S. January 16, 2023 | By Rick McKee First published on Patreon.com, U.S., January 17, 2023 | By Jeff Koterba First…

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[aunti-christ-ine]

Thanks, Oprah. 

[azspot]

Dave Granlund

[antidrumpfs]

Cartoon by Dave Granlund

[unfug-bilder]

Meanwhile at Twitter

[tomorrowusa]

Memorial Day is next Monday. Trump is already making plans. No president have ever shown such disrespect for veterans.

‘God help us’: Former chief of staff says Trump insulted wounded veterans, called dead soldiers 'suckers'

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly confirmed for the first time the accuracy of reports that his old boss, former President Donald Trump, repeatedly insulted wounded veterans, dead American soldiers who fought in World War I and U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kelly’s statement backed up years of reporting in outlets like The Atlantic and books by New Yorker and New York Times journalists. One story, reported by The Atlantic in 2020, described an incident in 2018 when Trump, while visiting France, said he didn’t want to visit the graves of American soldiers buried outside Paris because they were ‘losers.’ Kelly’s statement confirmed the reporting on Monday. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump reportedly said according to The Atlantic, later calling the 1,800 Marines killed during the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood “suckers” for dying in action. Before serving in the Trump administration, Kelly was a general in the Marine Corps. The Battle of Belleau Wood is considered to be a foundational chapter in Marine mythology.

The real suckers are those veterans who foolishly support Trump.

I hope Biden asks Trump at the debates whether his bone spur has been acting up lately.