First voting Chauvin Juror speaks out

Interesting – and he’s right about jury duty.

For those who insist that the January 6 insurrection wasn’t violent

As the right and the media press us to “move on.”

““Man, I didn’t think I’d get this emotional,” the officer said after a few moments. “I mean, I experienced the most brutal, savage hand-to-hand combat of my entire life, let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades. It was nothing that I had ever thought would be a part of my law enforcement career and nor was I prepared to experience.”

Near the end of the interview, Fanone emphasized again the indesputable violence and brutality at the hands of the Trump supporters.

“January 6th was real. It didn’t happen in a fucking movie studio in California,” he said.”

The second best dim sum place in San Francisco

Finally made it to the city and ordered my first dim sum in over a year! I was worried that the pandemic would kill these places, but I guess like burrito and pizza slice places most hole-in-the-wall dim sum establishments were set up perfectly for it. It was great to see the line outside Good Luck!

Here’s the menu. Everything on it is great, though I do prefer the sticky rice down the street at Xiao Long Bao.

Of course the best place in town is the Good Mong Kok in Chinatown, but even with the reduced traffic I’m rarely up for driving there and trying to find parking.

Further into the outer Richmond, I tried a new upstart in Dimgoduc. Some time back I was sad to see that Jook Time had closed, but somebody opened up in the same space. Great har kao!

Profiles in political courage

Fox News asks McCarthy about his telephone call with Trump during the Insurrection. McCarthy evaded.

On George Stephanopolous’s show Rick Scott was asked to comment on Bush’s remarks about the modern Republican Party. But I can’t find the clip. Later in the same interview he said that he gave Trump the Freedom trophy because Trump worked hard.

A perfect watch and listen for this sober but real morning of hope

A name missing from HSU’s hip PR statement

Ummm. How about Josiah?

Thanks to Julia Minton for noticing the omission. I’m sure others did as well.

Send your postcards

Apparently this is a campaign.

Is Biden’s declaration of the end of the 20-year war for real?

We’ll find out over the next few months, but from what this Politico article says, Blinken and other civilians in the Biden Administration heard the Pentagon concerns and chose to override the military. It’s a very good read.

As Krsytal and Saager mention, there is a freakout in the neocon camp.

Honestly, I’m not absolutely certain it’s the right decision. I’ve said here that I would actually support an international presence to protect women in Afghanistan if it would lead to stability and the actual advancement of women. I am concerned about what will happen to educated girls and women once we’ve left.

But it’s been 20 years, about as long as our involvement in Vietnam. The question isn’t whether women need protection in Afghanistan. The question is whether it is our role to provide it. Ten years ago I supported staying in the country until things were settled. But there are hundreds of years of history to “settle,” and yes the forces of the Taliban and Al Qaeda are reactionary, feudal-fascist, and nuts by the reasonable standards of any time or place. But if the Afghan government can’t keep it together and keep it in check, we’re just forestalling the inevitable, and quite frankly I would rather spend money to help the women who want to leave the country find new homes. We’re talking five months.

We’ve been through four Presidencies of war and occupation of Afghanistan. I hope it doesn’t go all Polpot Year Zero when we leave, and I hope Biden is making the right decision – assuming that it holds. There is going to be massive pushback from the military industrial complex.

And I hope people don’t fall for the “there hasn’t been a terror attack in 20 years because we’re in Afghanistan” crap. The neocons are already pushing that line. I don’t think there’s any link. My concern is simply for girls and women in the country. I hope we are doing right by them.

I don’t always agree with this pair, but they are pretty on point in this video.

OJ all the Way

Adding to my list of missed opportunities in the history of American satire – it’s not like it was untimely. The OJ-running-through-the-airport ads extended into the early 90s. They came to my mind when I was watching that surreal freeway chase live. How did we never see this on SNL or anywhere else?!

Thinking about my fifth grade classroom. On Mr. Wilbanks’ wall was a poster of OJ with the caption, “OJ all the way!”

Hey Kool-Aid!

I’m compiling a list of the biggest missed opportunities for American satire. Now, certainly, this would have been insensitive to air on Saturday Night Live on the weekend following the Jonestown massacre – where most of the cult residents were convinced or forced to drink poison-laden Kool-Aid. For those too young to remember, it’s what inspired the term “He’s drinking the Kool-Aid” to describe someone buying into lies (kind of ironic that the substance actually used was a Kool-Aid knockoff, but they get the stigma anyway).

So imagine the faux commercial opens up with Jim Jones talking to his advisors and one of them tastes the poison and says, “It tastes awful. How are we going to get anybody to swallow this?”

Jim Jones: “This is a job for Kool-Aid. Hey Kool-Aid!!” and the smiling pitcher comes breaking through the trees in the woods to the song in the below commercial – chasing people all over the compound.

I thought of it at the time and figured that if I came up with it SNL’s writers must have thought of it. I watched each weekend in the week’s following the incident, but no.

Okay, I can see how it might have been upsetting to some, but come on! Wasted moment in satire history!
It’s been over four decades. I am officially declaring the statute of limitations run on the insensitivity.