35 thoughts on “Intervention Step Up Just in Time”

  1. and in other news

    Even the friends at Fox & Friends admit that House Republicans don’t have any evidence with which to impeach President Biden, and America loves conservative coffee.

  2. 2nd steps for each problem

    earth’s fossil fuel addiction according to COP28 Climate Summit Deal Called ‘Historic.’ Now Countries Must Follow Through | Scientific American: 

    The final result reflected other progress in the fight to end global warming. Clean energy technologies such as wind are becoming cheaper than dirty alternatives in many cases. Countries were more prepared than ever to commit to submitting new voluntary plans that delve deep into their economies and cover every greenhouse gas emitting sector with more detail than before.
    The final deal also included a pact to triple global renewable energy capacity and double the rate of energy savings through efficiency measures by 2030. And for the first time, it included a clear benchmark for reducing greenhouse gas emissions during this decade, which supporters view as a crucial guidepost for staying on track for hitting global climate goals.

    GOPer addiction to power and chaos:

    Which states could get new congressional maps in 2024? – ABC News (go.com)
    After the 2020 census, each state redrew its congressional district lines (if it had more than one seat) and its state legislative districts. 538 closely tracked how redistricting played out across the country ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. So everything is done and dusted, right?
    Not so fast, my friend. More than a half-dozen states face the prospect of having to go through the redistricting process again, mostly due to federal and/or state litigation over racial or partisan gerrymandering concerns. Both Democrats and Republicans have the opportunity to flip seats in districts drawn more favorably than they were last cycle. For example, Democrats appear poised to pick up at least one seat in Alabama and could theoretically get more favorable maps in Louisiana and Georgia. Republicans, meanwhile, could benefit from more favorable 2024 maps in North Carolina and New Mexico.
    [continues]

  3. Supreme Court will hear a case that could undo Capitol riot charge against hundreds, including Trump — AP

    Soon as I saw this yesterday I got paranoid remembering what Ann Richards told me early in the Bush-Gore vote fight when most thought Gore was in good shape. She said Supreme Court would ultimately give it to Bush because “I don’t trust those guys”

    AP — The Supreme Court says it’ll hear appeals that could upend hundreds of charges stemming from the Capitol riot, including against ex-President Donald Trump. The justices agreed Wednesday to review an appellate ruling that revived a charge against three defendants from Texas, Pennsylvania and New York accused of obstruction of an official proceeding.

  6. The second step is came to believe a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 

     

    Joe doesn’t worry what the polls say; he believes in a higher power.  

  7. Did anyone else see Gavin Newsome on Seth Meyers last night?   He was really supportive of POTUS Joe and said it’s time for Dems to do the same, and be aggressive, B-E aggressive. 

  8. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/14/opinions/donald-trump-black-voters-2024-polls-cane/index.html

    “From his infamous “what the hell do you have to lose?” remark to his shallow “Platinum Plan” economic agenda for Black Americans, former President Donald Trump’s outreach to the Black community over the years has been little more than political theater, devoid of real substance. But the performance-artist-in-chief might just have outdone himself.”

    “In a Truth Social post last month in which he wrote that he had “done more for Black people than any other President,” Trump wrote that he was proud to have the backing of an individual who purported to be a leading member of a Black Lives Matter chapter in Rhode Island. Trump wrote that he had spoken to the man, Mark Fisher, and that he was “very honored to have his and BLM’s support.”

    “The former President might have won Fisher’s endorsement, but Black Lives Matter wants nothing to do with either of them: Fisher is said by leaders of the group to have no current affiliation with the chapter in Rhode Island, which has denounced him as “an imposter.”

    Birds of a feather…

    “…polls don’t tell the whole story. They’re the crystal balls pundits turn to when the news cycle slows. Bad headlines may sell newspapers and garner clicks, but some polling methods are famously flawed and there’s a long history of surveys underestimating Black support for the Democratic candidate.”

    “The Republican Party barely has a cohesive political platform, let alone a substantial stance that addresses the concerns of Black communities on gun legislation, health care, fair wages, support for Black businesses, or addressing systemic racism.”

    “Enough with all the polling. It’s not predictive of what’s going to happen in the presidential (election)… We use polling to see what the problem is with a campaign and how you fix the problem,” Belcher said.

    “I’m more worried about third-party voting than I am worried about Trump,” he added. He remarked that in his recent surveys, when Black voters were asked to name what they see as the greatest threat to the African American community, a plurality cited “not inflation, not crime” — but the “re-election of Donald Trump.”

  11. The chump ain’t got a chance…he’s a member of The Walking Doomed.  

    Unions
    Democrats
    Disaffected gop
    Blacks
    Latinos
    LGBTQ
    More?

    His base can’t save him. The Russian can’t save him. The gop House can’t save him. He’s a big fat Napoleon gearing up for little vacation on the island, plotting his revenge

  12. sturge, yep and the Unions will do the heavy lifting for Joe this time.

    one group you might add is women of all ages (except for the maga stepford wives cultists) 

  14. about the above video according to Jimmy Kimmel gives Christmas songs the Trump treatment (yahoo.com)

    Jimmy Kimmel gave some of our favourite Christmas songs the Donald Trump treatment on Wednesday night as he promoted a spoof holiday album by the former president.
    In a fake record titled “MAGA-nificent sounds of Christmas,” Mr Kimmel and his team set the weird sounds that Mr Trump sometimes emits ― like “bing, bong, bing, bong” ― at rallies and interviews to holiday classics including “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night”.
    The songs were played during a fake commercial before viewers were told they were “available exclusively by the cash register at T.J. Max”.
    Mr Kimmel also threw in a bonus record by Melania Trump titled “Who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff?” – a reference to an infamous leaked 2018 audio in which the former first lady was secretly recorded taking aim at the White House Christmas decorations.
    Viewers were told they could get Melania’s Christmas album with the promo code “PRENUP”.
    “Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has provided us with many memorable moments over the years,” Mr Kimmel rounded off the segment saying.
    Mr Kimmel’s team shared the fake album after Mr Trump released a new series of digital trading cards, titled “The Mugshot Edition” this week, featuring various patriotic pop art depictions of Mr Trump at $99 a pop.
    [continues]

  15. Lawmakers stuffed a provision into the Pentagon funding bill that makes it all but impossible for Trump to leave NATO (msn.com)

    A brief provision in the massive $886 billion bill funding the Pentagon will likely kill former President Donald Trump or any potential future president’s ambitions to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

    Sens. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, teamed up to muscle their bill — which would require an act of Congress or Senate approval to leave NATO — into what is often deemed a must-pass bill that funds servicemembers and outlines national security priorities. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law. The Senate passed the overall legislation 87 to 13. The House passed it on Friday on a 310-118 vote.

    “The Senate’s vote today to pass my bipartisan bill to prevent any U.S. President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO reaffirms U.S. support for this crucial alliance that is foundational for our national security,” Kaine said in a statement after the Pentagon funding bill passed the Senate. “It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united.”

    Kaine and Rubio failed to pass their bill when Trump was in the White House.

    Trump is not mentioned directly in the provision. He has also not explicitly promised to withdraw from what was originally a Cold War-era alliance. Nonetheless, there are persistent fears that if Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he will withdraw the US from NATO. As The New York Times pointed out recently, Trump’s campaign website does include this vague sentence, “We have to finish the process we began under my administration of fundamentally re-evaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.”

    […]

    Under the provision, a president would be required to notify key committees in both the House and Senate no later than 180 days before deliberating whether to “suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw” from NATO. If a president pressed forward, a withdrawal would require an act of Congress or 2/3rds of the senators present to approve of such an action.

    Unless there is a dramatic change in US politics, it’s hard to see any leader ever crossing that bar.

  16. Sturg – You left off women (and allies)  who don’t think the government should be controlling women’s bodies.   I guess that might rope in some Libertarians, too. 

  17.  
    Here’s the Gavin Newsome interview.  It starts out with the DuhSantis debate, but he gets to supporting Biden and how Dems need to be more aggressive about two minutes in.

  18. I do wish he hadn’t gone to the Tony Robbins school of hand signals, though.  It’s cringey on TV, but probably works great on a debate stage. But, yay, for speaking up for POTUS Joe.

  19. https://www.masslive.com/business/2023/12/we-pray-for-an-end-nuns-as-shareholders-sue-smith-wesson-over-assault-rifles.html

    “Using their status as shareholders, four congregations of Catholic nuns sued Smith & Wesson…saying management is putting the company at risk by popularizing AR-15-style assault weapons used in mass shootings.”

    “They bought stock in the company specifically to give them the legal ability to bring forth shareholder resolutions and lawsuits like this one.”

    “The congregations of Catholic sisters forced Smith & Wesson to write a report on its gun safety efforts in 2019. In 2021, shareholders rejected the nuns’ “extortion” to develop a human rights policy.”

    “They also tried to get Smith & Wesson to submit to a third-party audit of its gun safety efforts. While the board recommended voting against the proposal at the September 2023 shareholder meeting, 27% of shareholders supported it.”

    “Much like the pharmaceutical companies being hammered by civil judgments and fines after enjoying years of profits from the sale of dangerous opioids, Smith & Wesson’s board willfully ignores the potentially ruinous exposure the company faces from its marketing and sale of weapons designed specifically for mass killing,” said the nun’s lawyer…”

    “We call on Smith & Wesson to return to the practices of its first 153 years of existence when it held itself as a successful beacon of responsible gun ownership and did not manufacture, market, or sell military-grade, mass-killing assault weapons,” the statement said. “We pray for an end to the AR-15 mass shootings that have stolen the lives of so many innocent people and devastated communities across the nation.”

    “The suit was filed in the Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County, Nevada.”

  20. Blue IN yep that’s one of the main groups arrayed against the pumpkin 
    Women who are awesomely angry over Roe v Wade disappearing.   
    Unions
    Democrats
    Disaffected gop
    Blacks
    Latinos
    LGBTQ
    Jews

    Has the pumpkin gained any “new” groups of voters?

  22. Don’t need to look far to see why peeps think we’re in economic distress. Doctor visit costs, health insurance premiums, prescription costs, even veterinary and pet meds are through the roof. You can hardly afford to have a fur baby these days. 

  23. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/12/why-is-tesla-recalling-almost-all-its-cars-in-the-u-s.html

    “Why Is Tesla Recalling Almost All Its Cars in the U.S.?”

    “On Wednesday, Tesla announced that it would recall more than 2 million cars — almost all of its vehicles on the road in the U.S. — over issues with its “Autopilot” system, one of the electric carmaker’s central features.”

    “The recall is just an automatic over-the-air software update pushed out to the vehicles, which Tesla began rolling out this week and will come at no cost to Tesla owners.”

    “Simply put, the software update will add additional driver monitoring to Tesla’s Autopilot system, which means new driver-engagement checks and alerts aimed at preventing Tesla drivers from taking their attention off of driving when using Autopilot.”

    “Does the software update address all of Autopilot’s safety issues?
    No, according to critics, though safety experts say it’s a start, at least. As the Verge’s Andrew J. Hawkins notes, the software update will make it harder to misuse Autopilot, but not impossible…”

  24. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/fed-likely-hold-rates-steady-signal-couple-cuts-2024-2023-12-13/

    “The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell said the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over as inflation falls faster than expected and with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming “into view.”

    “People are not writing down rate hikes” in their latest economic projections, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference following the end of the central bank’s final policy meeting of the year.

    “U.S. stocks jumped after the release of the Fed’s latest statement and policymakers’ updated quarterly economic projections, continued climbing during Powell’s press conference and closed sharply higher, with the S&P 500 index (.SPX) gaining about 1.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record closing high. The U.S. dollar (.DXY) dropped against a basket of currencies and U.S. Treasury yields fell.”

    Ivy – Tell them this why the market reacted positively, and that Joe has not been impeached.

  25. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-trading-cards-lose-value-nft-1852020

    “Donald Trump’s Trading Cards Are Plummeting in Value”

    “Each of the cards is available for $99, and there is now a special offer for supporters of the 45th president to buy at least 47 trading cards in one transaction to win a piece of the suit Trump wore while taking the mug shot.”

    “It is an authentic piece of the suit I wore when I took that now-famous mug shot, and it was a great suit, believe me, a really good suit. It’s all cut up, and you’re gonna get a piece of it. I’ll be autographing some of them.”

    “An advertisement on the Collect Trump Cards website says the deal “is a moment in history” because “it’s the first ever mug shot of a United States President.”

    Jeez! So, for about $4,700.00 you get a tiny piece of tRUMPsky’s suit. The basest of his base probably can’t afford that, and if this doesn’t scream CULT, I don’t know what does.

  27. https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/women-high-risk-pregnancies-face-new-reality-after-105616376

    “Women with high-risk pregnancies face new reality after Roe v. Wade overturned”

    “ABC News’ Diane Sawyer and Rachel Scott report on pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies in the 21 states that have enforced their own laws since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.”

    Nikki Hayley says it’s “rare,” but it’s not. Sepsis, organ failure, death. As they said, it’s a human rights issue, and the life of the woman is of secondary importance. “Does she have to be at 75% at chance of death, and who gets to decide?” And, the husbands are there, too, because a man’s voice is louder than a woman’s voice.

  28. BID, Texan women are strong women, in my experience. I’m baffled why they’re putting up with having their health care gutted. 

  29. Ivy – We got Roe because of a Texas woman, maybe we’ll get it back because of one, too.  However, Cox is not the first. 
     
    https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/health/abortion-texas-sepsis/index.html
     
    “The nearest ‘sanctuary’ state is at least an eight-hour drive,” Amanda wrote in an online essay on The Meteor.

    “But then, 18 weeks — just four months — into her pregnancy, Amanda’s water broke.
    The amniotic fluid that her baby depended upon was leaking out. She says her doctor told her the baby would not survive.”

    ‘Heartbreaking’ stories go untold, doctors say, as employers ‘muzzle’ them in wake of abortion ruling…
    “My doctor said, ‘Well, right now we just have to wait, because we can’t induce labor, even though you’re 100% for sure going to lose your baby,’ ” Amanda said. “[The doctors] were unable to do their own jobs because of the way that the laws are written in Texas.”

    “Developing sepsis — which can kill quickly — in a car in the middle of the West Texas desert, or 30,000 feet above the ground, is a death sentence.” 
    “So they waited it out in Texas.”
    “On August 26, three days after her water broke, Amanda found herself shivering in the Texas heat.   “We were having a heat wave, I think it was 105 degrees that day, and I was freezing cold, and I was shaking, my teeth were chattering. I was trying to tell Josh that I didn’t feel good, and my teeth were chattering so hard that I could not even get the sentence out,” she said.
     
    Finally, Amanda was sick enough that the doctors felt legally safe to terminate the pregnancy, she said.
     
    “But Amanda was so sick that antibiotics wouldn’t stop the bacterial infection raging through her body. A blood transfusion didn’t cure her, either.”
    “About 12 hours after her pregnancy was terminated, doctors and nurses flooded her room…they said, ‘we’re moving you to the ICU,’ and I said, ‘why?’ and they said, ‘you’re developing symptoms of sepsis,’ ” she said. 
    “Amanda’s blood pressure plummeted. Her platelets dropped.”
    “Doctors inserted an intravenous line near her heart to deliver antibiotics and medication to stabilize her blood pressure.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

  30. You know, a boycott of entertainers and events to states who don’t support women’s rights as human rights might be in order.  

  32. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pregnancy-loss-miscarriage/symptoms-causes/syc-20354298

    “Miscarriage is the sudden loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week. About 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage.”

    So, while Nikki Hayley attempts to get support with her woman card, she is wrong when she says complications from pregnancy are rare.

    A prison guard says she was forced to stay at her post during labor pains. Texas is fighting compensation for her stillbirth.

    And, as I posted the other night, the state of TX is actively fighting a lawsuit from a prison guard whose baby was stillborn because she wasn’t allowed to leave her post, and it was hours before she was relieved of her post and could get to a hospital. Ken Paxton’s office wants to have it both ways.

    “But the prison agency and the Texas attorney general’s office, which has staked its reputation on “defending the unborn” all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, are arguing the agency shouldn’t be held responsible for the stillbirth because staff didn’t break the law. Plus, they said, it’s not clear that Issa’s fetus had rights as a person. “Just because several statutes define an individual to include an unborn child does not mean that the Fourteenth Amendment does the same,” the Texas attorney general’s office wrote in a March footnote, referring to the constitutional right to life.

  33. Are the children all in bed? Some advise for this Christmas season from across the pond, not for the easily offended.

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