April 30, 2022

Dedication to PUTEEN: Dance of the Cygnets - may it be soon

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-swan-lake-became-a-symbol-of-protest-in-russia/ar-AAWKYoJ?ocid=uxbndlbing

The famous Russian ballet may seem like an unlikely choice to foreigners, but it is a powerful historical reference for Russians that is being used as one of several coded forms of protest during the war, according to Russian State University anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova. ....

One of those ways is through the image of ballerinas from "Swan Lake." Graffiti depicting the line of four ballerinas in the "Dance of the Cygnets" has been popping up on walls in Russian cities. Earlier last month, when independent Russian news outlet TV Rain signed off indefinitely due to pressure over its coverage of the conflict, it did so with a clip from "Swan Lake."

The moment was a nod to when Soviet state TV interrupted programming by airing the ballet on a loop after the death of Premier Leonid Brezhnev in 1982 while Soviet leaders selected a successor. The same thing happened again after the deaths of Yuri Andropov in 1984 and Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, as well as during a failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 -- becoming a sign of political instability and upheaval."

In the late Soviet times, this ballet was a symbol of all of the deaths of the Soviet leaders," Arkhipova said. "And so that's why it became a sign that we are waiting for Putin to die." ....

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April 24, 2022

A (of many) defining vignette of Orrin "Shirley TEMPLE pout" HATCH: "Mee-gwell" Estrada

Despite his 42 years of wingnut service, he was too "moderate", Deep State, or even "Left" for today's wingnuts, Drumpf Deplorables, and troglodytes. Among the many flip-flops that marked him, hah! notice how he was the only senior Repuke to miss Drumpf's inauguration - *not* from principle - but under the PENCE-like cover of being Drumpf's choice as "designated survivor" - the way PENCE only did some "heroic" resistance when he knew he had a rock solid cover (the Constitution).

So there's no mention of Orrin's being the face shepherding Miguel ESTRADA's nomination to a Court of Appeals. This was from Poppy BUSH's playbook with Clarence THOMAS - nominating a Minority member, from a supposedly Dem constituent group, the trap being making it that bit harder for Dems to use attacks as a tool, attack on a Minority member. There are turncoats in any group. There are Right Wings in any country of whatever ethnicity. So the answer to the Poppy BUSH Gambit of nominating Minority members is for Dems not to be distracted by the ethnic/racial heritage of the nominee and JUST FOCUS on that jerk's self-proclaimed WINGNUTTINESS.

So back then the Dems were still flummoxed off balance by being faced by another nominee who was a Minority member. And there was Orrin facing the press, making Dem opposition as all about ethnicity, a bit of lauding ESTRADA's overcoming hardships to get where he was, but mostly attacking Dems with aspersions of racism, all with the pretense of being INNOCENT and pseudo-appalled at the mystery of how Dems could claim to be champions of Minorities and then oppose a (any) Minority member.

He would pout like a sweet three year old, asking, (paraphrase) "How can Democrats claim to be champions of Minorities and oppose -- Mee-Gwell Estrada?!!"

It's pronounced: mee-ghel not mee-gwell.

So my little memory of HATCH is how he would put on that Shirley TEMPLE Pout and just trade off of his pretend innocence.

Below is a sampling of his *many* disingenuous flip-flops with the veneer of high-mindedness, while all the time serving nefarious wingnut purposes.

*** ON EDIT: Can anybody explain to me why "disingenuous" is used as a pejorative, a very PALE derogative? It means "dissembling" or pretending to be other than what it really is for the purpose acting innocent while being nefarious. And its so *MILD* as a pejorative. OOoo wee, what a ZINGER!1


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrin_Hatch

…. In the 2016 presidential election, Hatch originally supported former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and later endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio once Bush ended his campaign. On May 12, 2016, after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Hatch endorsed him.[24] On May 27, 2016, after Trump suggested that a federal judge Gonzalo P. Curiel was biased against Trump because of his Mexican heritage, Hatch said: "From what I know about Trump, he's not a racist but he does make a lot of outrageous statements...I think you can criticize a judge but it ought to be done in a formal way" and said that Trump's statements were not so inappropriate that he would rescind his support.[25][better source needed] On October 7, 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Hatch described Trump's comments as "offensive and disgusting" and said that "[there] is no excuse for such degrading behavior. All women deserve to be treated with respect."[26] Hatch maintained his endorsement of Trump's candidacy.[27] ….

In 2017, Hatch was one of 22 senators to sign a letter[129] to President Donald Trump urging the President to have the United States withdraw from the Paris Agreement. According to OpenSecrets, Hatch has received over $470,000 from oil, gas and coal interests since 2012.[130]

In 2018, over the Judge Kavanaugh Supreme Court controversy, Hatch said that it did not matter even if Kavanaugh did what his accusers alleged was true. Hatch said, "If that was true, I think it would be hard for senators to not consider who the judge is today. That's the issue. Is this judge a really good man? And he is. And by any measure he is.”[131]

Hatch voted for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1999, saying "committing crimes of moral turpitude such as perjury and obstruction of justice go to the heart of qualification for public office... ….


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada

(born September 25, 1961) is a Honduran-American attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Senate Democrats, unable to block his nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee after the Republican Party took control of the U.S. Senate in 2002, used a filibuster for the first time to prevent his nomination from being given a final confirmation vote by the full Senate. They said Estrada was a conservative ideologue with no experience as a judge.[1]

Following law school, Estrada served as a law clerk, first for Judge Amalya Lyle Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court during Kennedy's first year on the Court in 1988. … ….

In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Estrada said he had never thought about Roe v. Wade, even while serving as a Supreme Court clerk at a time when the first Bush Administration had asked the Court to reconsider it.[3] Also, while as Justice Kennedy's clerk, an article written by Jack Newfield appearing in The Nation magazine alleged that Estrada had disqualified candidates for clerkship who were too liberal while interviewing them. When questioned about this by Senator Charles Schumer during his confirmation hearing, Estrada did not recall the incident.[4] … ….

Leaked internal memos to Democratic Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin mention liberal interest groups' desire to keep Estrada off the court because of his potential to be a future Supreme Court nominee, and because his Latino roots might make his nomination difficult to oppose.[6] A spokesman for Durbin said that "no one intended racist remarks against Estrada" and that the memo only meant to highlight that Estrada was "politically dangerous" because Democrats knew he would be an "attractive candidate" that would be difficult to contest since he didn't have any record.[6] Democrats argued that Estrada had extreme right-wing views, although others pointed to Estrada's difference with some conservatives on Commerce Clause issues.[7] ….

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https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216658176