I’m feeling rather tired, as I slept poorly last night. I had a persistent itch on my left foot, which I could not scratch, because it no longer exists. That is so frustrating for a scratcher like me. I’ve been known to strip off my T-shirt and scratch my back with a tree.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:47 (average 5:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Tales:
From YouTube: Joan Baez Live @ Woodstock 1969 Joe Hill
Mitch brought up this song in comments yesterday. Here is where I first heard the song.
From NY Times: But the country’s historic incarceration boom has given rise to companies that provide services and products to government prisons. Many of these provide necessary equipment and services, of course, but some do so in rather unsavory ways.
Take, for instance, the prison phone industry, a market that’s dominated by several large, privately held firms that earn an estimated $1.2 billion per year. Short phone calls from prison can cost up to fifteen dollars, largely because the companies operate as monopolies within prison walls. The private companies also offer state and local authorities a percentage of their revenue, which contributes to the surging cost of the calls and creates other perverse incentives. Some jails, for instance, have removed in-person family-visitation rooms to make way for “video visitation” terminals, provided by private firms, which can charge as much as thirty dollars for forty minutes of screen time. One prison phone company, Securus Technologies, says in its marketing materials that it has paid out $1.3 billion in these so-called commissions over the past ten years.
“In some respects, this is worse than the private prison companies,” Peter Wagner, the executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit criminal-justice think tank, said. “I expect the government to waste money. But it’s totally different for the government to collude with a private company to make poor people lose money.”
Prison phone companies are hardly the only private venders that capitalize on a captive market. Corizon Health, one of the sponsors of the Louisiana prison trade show, is the country’s largest prison health-care firm. It treats more than three hundred thousand prisoners nationwide, earning about $1.4 billion in annual revenue. It is also the subject of numerous investigations and lawsuits. The company has been named as a defendant in at least six hundred and sixty malpractice lawsuits over the past five years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
This is my own "boutique issue". Republican states are the worst, but as much as I hate to admit it, abuse of prisoners and their families for profit is bipartisan. There is much more to read. Please click through.
From Crooks and Liars: The penchant for mendacity and injustice among the cabinet of the Bush Administration makes it difficult to pick the absolute worst of Bush/Cheney’s sadistic war criminals. That said, no one would argue that former A.G. Alberto Gonzales was certainly a standout for numerous reasons, including hard evidence of lying under oath about torture.
John Dickerson’s Sunday episode of Face the Nation provided a forum for Gonzales to peddle his apocryphal tale, True Faith and Allegiance, which is hyped as a story of service and sacrifice in war and peace about his life and time serving the George W. Bush administration.
Bush Reich Barf Bag Alert!!
This evil sleaze-bag may be the worst liar in Republican history, prior to Rump Dump Trump. After he fired federal prosecutors, because they refused to file bogus charges against Democratic political candidates on the eve of an election, and replaced they with goose-stepping Republicans, he was called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He lied, saying "I don’t recall" and it’s variants 64 times. CBS owes America an apology.
Cartoon:
20 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/6/2016”
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6:28 It doesn't say what country it's from. But if it houses The Roast Beef Of Olde England, that could be lunch.
YouTube – I went to the same high school that Joan did, although her last year was the year before my first year. I did know Mimi slightly. The school owned and lent out the textbooks, and I once used a copy that she had used. (I almost stole it for her signature, but virtue vercame.) Such a lovely, clear voice. Such a sound ethos.
NYT – It really does depend on the states, although you are corect, both perties need their feet held to the fire. To the best of my knowledge (I haven't visited every prison in the state), where prisons have video visitation facilities, they are in addition to, not in lieu of face-to-face visitation. The county jail in my county has replaced in-the-jail visitation with video – but notice I didn't say "face to face." It never had face to face. In the jail it was always behind heavy glass with a phoneset. The vision is actually clearer with the video, one can visit more often, and the jail can be more forgiving with the start time in case something delays the inmate. Phone calls – FCC was working with states, prisons and companies to reduce the cost of calls to 11 cents per minute, and my experience is that it used to run around 14 cents in Colorado and is now about 12. Not that any of that is great, but it is a whole heck of a lot better than in some places. I am sure that efforts by Colorado-CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) have played a big part in our relative "good luck." The national organization is at curenational dot org.
C&L – Good God, CBS used to be a little respectable. Obviously no more. Probably since Dan Rather was swiftboated.. Barf.
Cartoon – My hand is up.
YT: Love Joan, such a beautiful voice! RIP, Joe Hill ~1879-1915.
NYT: Disgusting to charge anything for phones or health care for anyone who is incarcerated, and make a profit. They need to be investigated. What a hardship for families, and those inside.
Absolutely. Up!!
Sorry to read you had a fretful night. Maybe tonight w/be better for you. Still hot, and humid here, with all the rain we've been getting, and the bugs are horrible when one steps outside. I like to weed, but it's bad, except for early morning. Hope you have a good evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Those prison phone calls were expensive back 28 years ago. And they are more expensive now! To make the visiting rooms in video is a friggen travesty!!! Those visiting rooms are the only way some kids get to know their parents!!! To take away the physical touch from these children is heinous!!! Just makes me sick!!! I sympathize with the people that have to live with this!!!
Bush AND Cheney need to be tried in The Hague!!! They wouldn't make it out of there, AT ALL!!! EVER!!!
I agree with you, Vivian.
Just a quick note:
There will be no "Fridyay Fun" this coming Friday.
I'm heading up to IL because [1] My Mom has a couple of doctor's appointments
[2] I'm going back to celebrate my *sigh* 50th HS Reunion this weekend.
The nice thing about once being over the hill is at at least you pick up speed
Say "Hi!" to your mum from me and my three kids! Have a safe and enjoyable trip my friend.
The best thing about the 50th high school reunion is that none of you can outrun the other, so you are all on equal ground. At least that is the way my 50th was.
Just a kid. My HS 50th was 4 years ago. My college 50th is this year and, no, I am not going. Have a wonderful, safe trip, say hi to your Mom, and be back safely when you can.
Greetings your mom, Nameless, and tell her to givge you one.
Thanks for posting Joan Baez and this song, one of my favorites.
NY Times: This is horrible! I know a little about it, thanks to my nephew's being incarcerated for ninety days. That was 15 years ago and it was bad then. If he called us and talked three minutes, the bill was $15.00, charged to our phone. We could not bring him clean underwear, we had to buy them from the jail. We could not take him food even though he stayed hungry, we had to give him money to buy it from the commisary. He slept on a concrete slab with only a thin blanket. I can only imagine how much worse it is now. I hope never to find out.
Crooks and Liars: Gonzales was one of the sorriest AG's in my lifetime. CBS does owe us an apology, for that and their promoting of Trump.
Cartoon: My hand is raised and it is blue.
Puzzle — 4:09 I don't recommend trying to eat this one, but it would make a great scratching post on which to get your manicure Puddy Tat!
Cartoon — Well I can't say that I will vote in the November election as I am not American. However I can encourage Americans to vote, and
VOTE BLUE ALL DOWN THE TICKET!!!
Sorry, I am having trouble remaining focused today. I feel again (slipped on the carpet) and wrenched my left knee and ankle, so it is very painful and swollen. I have been doing the RICE protocol all day and putting on a lotion analgesic, but it still throbs. Hopefully my physio will be able to check it out tomorrow.
Sorry to hear about your fall, Lynn. I hope the pain and swelling go down soon and that your Physio Terrorist can sort it out tomorrow.
Hope you mend quickly.
AND hope you do NOT have any throwrugs scattered around.
It was the hardest thing for me to get my Mom to get rid of all her little rugs. They're just a snare waiting to trip you up.
I'm sure there's a restaurant in there.
OUCH!! n I hope and praty your leg heals in short order!
I do hope your phantom pain has turned into a phantom itch, TomCat, and that you're not plagued by both! Sounds like it's time to send you a new batch of catnaps; you must be running out of them with all the noise and itch harassment you've been having lately.
Thanks for Joan's Woodstock rendition of "Joe Hill". Both she and the song as strong as ever.
NYT: How revolting to make money out of prisoners who have no way of making any money to pay for these cut-throat rates just to keep in touch with their loved ones. And this is just one example how greedy "free enterprise" has left humanity behind. And you're absolutely right, TomCat, it isn't restricted to Republicans, everyone is in ot it. It's a sign of the times, of a culture of inequality, of those who have exploiting those who have not; and it's only been away for a couple of decades.
C&L: First Drumpf claims torture of terrorist suspects (Muslims of course) is quite above (water)board and sees absolutely no problem with it, now CBS invites former A.G. Alberto Gonzales to promote his book in which he glorifies himself and lets him defend this torture. Don't tell me these two aren't correlated. So much for "mainstream" media. American media have shifted so far to the right they're about to fall off the screen.
Cartoon: You look somewhat surprised at the show of hands, TomCat. I hope they were all blue.
Joe Hill: Tear jerking bastard that you are! ? But, really, I was there, and I'd seen her live previously. AND I THANK YOU!
Sorry for your phantom itch.
NYT: The entire private prison issue, along with the phone part, is bloody nasty! I'm trying to keep my language clean. This is ALL sympomatic of the need to get to a post-Capitalistic economy. I happen to have seen a TED-Talk featuring the Sociologist, and more, Jared Diamond, yesterday. This issue reminds me of it, and you will soon understand why that is: The talk was about why societies fail, and one of the 5 issues he has noted, that brings about societal failure, is how out of touch the elites are with what is going on for the ordinary person, with whom, I might add, they are in a parasitic relalionship. And here we see parasites in action! To see the TED-Talk, google Jared Diamond, and several lines from the top you will see reference to the talk. Warning: whatever the hell he did with his hair can be frightening!
Mitch, these practices are going on in public prisons.
Sorry, I got carried away with the prison crap, and forgot about Cand L: Interestingly, CBS has shown itself, clearly here, to be just another bloody parasite! This bastard, and his Bush admin. buddies, ought to be in federal prisons, not on the god damn frigging tube, getting paid for their BS!
A phantom itch has to be miserable…sending be wells, TC.
Michael Moore touches on the prison system in his new movie…the hows and whys and what privitization has done…also the companies that now use prison labor for cheap labor…even companies like Victoria's Secret.
Just read your post, Mitch, and boy howdy, do I agree!
Thanks all! Video visiting is a real plus, as long as it is available in addition to contact visiting, and does not replace it. Here in Oregon, some prisoners are housed hundreds of miles from their families, who have on other way to see them.