Yesterday, I was working on that final cotton knitting project, and was within spitting distance of finishing it, when the circular needle I was using on it “broke.” I put that in quotes because they don’t actually break – what happens is that the (nylon or plastic) cord which connects the two working ends has a glue failure, and slips out. Dropped stitches do ensue and often so does colorful language. But this time the dropped stitches were few and easily seen and picked up onto a stitch holder. I reglued it right away. But the jewelers’ super glue which I used is not like regular super glue – it has wiggle room and therefore must cure for 24 hours before being subjected to any stress. So I am still waiting. But it’s not like I have nothing else to do.
Cartoon – (This is from 2013. How TC knew that David would die first so that this would still be valid … I can’t explain.)
Short Takes –
The New Yorker – The Battle of January 6th Has Just Begun
Quote – Trump is, per Pew and other recent polls, both the overwhelming favorite among Republicans for 2024 and their continuing spiritual leader. (Two-thirds of the Republicans and Republican-leaning independents that Pew surveyed wanted Trump to continue to be a major national figure, a total that’s gone up by ten points since January. Yes, that’s not a typo—it’s gone up.) Just as important, he has succeeded in selling his party on his Big Lie about the 2020 election, on January 6th revisionism, and on taking a series of specific actions—from changing how states certify elections to purging state Republican officials who did not go along with his 2020 coup attempt—that will affect American democracy for years to come, whether or not Trump runs again.
Click through for opinion. I see a lot of different takes on just how popular Trump** is or isn’t. I fear this one is closest to fact.
Crooks and Liars – Minn. Cops Went Hunting For Civilians During Protests
Quote – A sergeant leading the unit says, “Let ’em have it, boys, let ’em have it … Right there, get ’em, get ’em, get ’em, hit ’em, hit ’em!” At one point, an officer firing less-lethal rounds on a distant group of protesters says “Gotcha!” as he hits someone. There’s laughter, and the officer is congratulated on his shot with a fist bump and “Good hit, buddy.” “You guys are out hunting people now and it’s just a nice change of tempo,” one officer says. “F*** these people.”
Click through for details. I didn’t put this in the video thread because the video is not the point. The video is merely evidence for the point which needs to be taken fron this story.
ProPublica – Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge
Quote – A few weeks before, a video had appeared on YouTube. It showed two small boys, 5 and 6 years old, throwing feeble punches at a larger boy as he walked away, while other kids tagged along, some yelling. The scuffle took place off school grounds, after a game of pickup basketball. One kid insulted another kid’s mother, is what started it all. The police were at Hobgood because of that video. But they hadn’t come for the boys who threw punches. They were here for the children who looked on.
Click Through. You don’t need to read every word, but the title and one quote are not enough either. As Mark asks in today’s Doonesbury … “What country is this?”
Food for Thought –
And … for Squatch …
12 Responses to “Open Thread for October 11, 2021”
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Bummer about your needle…sounds like you have it under control though.
Cartoon: Yep, still true today than back then.
NYer: ugh! TOT and his rallies make me ill. srsly. I can’t/won’t/don’t watch his BS. He worries me, about the future of our Country.
C&L: Holy Moly! Frightening behavior from the law enforcement.
PP: Unreal. Yeah. What country is THIS??
Cartoon: so so SAD.
Happy Thanksgiving to our Northern Friends & Neighbors!
THIS JUST IN: “Adam Schiff confirms the January 6th Committee will refer anyone who defies subpoenas for criminal prosecution. ~ Chip Franklin ~
2. “Happy Columbus Day!! ~MTG~ “Happy Guy who has literally nothing to do with the United States Day.”
~ James Schlarmann ~
3. “Roughly 67 MILLION Americans remain unvaccinated vs. Covid. ~Zeke Miller ~
4. “Jim Acosta called Trump rally ‘twisted and evil’ and Steve Bannon ‘batsh-t and crazy’. Give that man a Pulitzer Prize!” ~ Duty to Warn ~
5. “What you see is a Republican Party that simply cannot divorce itself from the alternate reality that the Former President is living in.” ~ Yamiche Alcindor ~
TJI #1 – Good. I hope it’s fast.
TJI #2 – Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!
TJI #3 – As the New Yorker says (pataphrased) – looks like another CoViD winter is coming.
TJI #4 – Give him an honorary DD degree (doctor of divinity) too. He nails where the real good is and where the real evil is.
TJI #5 – That puts the whole party into the category of criminally insane – people who, through no fault of their own, cannot, for the good of society, be allowed to be unrestrained. Unfortunately, we have no mechanism to do that other than prisons, and prisons are the wrong means.
Hi again, all:
I forgot to put this article out here today…it’s the The Bird Photographer of the Year, and they’ve announced the winners of the competition.
Though it’s from 9/01/21, I ran across this yesterday, and thought y’all would enjoy the pictures.
#1 – Roadrunner Blocked by U.S. Border Wall Wins Best Bird Photo of 2021. It speaks volumes, imho.
https://petapixel.com/2021/09/01/roadrunner-blocked-by-u-s-border-wall-wins-best-bird-photo-of-2021/
I cen certainly see why it won. It is profound.
A picture speaks a thousand words; this one speaks with a double tongue and hits home.
From John Pavlovitz: RECOVERY UPDATE
9 hours ago
Hello everyone! John here. Most of today’s posts have been prescheduled, as I planned in advance not to be online much while my body begins recovery from brain surgery.I wanted to check in with a real-time update on my progress:Follow-up visits today with both neurosurgeon and ENT who performed my procedure to assess my progress.Hoping to get clarity on the wildly fluctuating hormone and BP levels, and the water/sodium balances which have been the most challenging so far to get a handle on.Actual surgery site pain-free and invisible from the outside (as they broke through my sinus cavity and removed the tumor in sections through my nasal passages… amazing). No issues aside from steady but manageable sinus pressure, lack of sense of smell, and profound congestion.I’m not allowed to blow my nose, sneeze, breathe heavily through the nose, bend over forward, or lift anything over 5 pounds, or risk busting open the wounds (which happened once during the hospital stay and was a horror movie scene So, the doctor’s priorities right now are getting my pituitary to function normally after the trauma of surgery and to help it recalibrate without the tumor inhibiting it. They need to raise my sodium to avoid stroke threat, and to decrease BP.My priorities are to listen to them, to rest, and to be patient and help my body heal. These are all challenges for someone used to being active, but I know recovery needs to be long and slow in order to be complete.My family and I so appreciate you all for your kindness and support. It is a huge encouragement to be shown this much love and we’re grateful.People continue to ask what they can do for us. We’re fortunate to have a wonderful local community here making or donating meals for us for the next three weeks, and we have help with the daily routine of life, which will be very different for the rest of the year.
Pain can raise blood pressure. I realize he says he’s pain-free, but he also mentions sinus pressure and congestion (with nose blowing verboten) as well as the challenges of not being active when he is used to it. All of those are at the least discomfort, and disomfirt is just pain minimized. I hope things go well and fast for him to reduce that.
Thanks, Pat for the update.
Comment from Mitch –
‘Toon: TC may not have known that, but Charles has usually been the “face” of their BS!New Yorker: Dumpy is still a serious threat to the country, and the fools who buy into his manipulation are his tools. More from Mary Trump’s book:
“The psychologist, Robert Jay Lifton, coined the phrase “malignant normality,” to describe” the phenomenon of people who can say that they love trump, would die for him, see him as a hero. Within this concept are the people who ”…begin to see their lives and culture through the lens of the person in power. In other words, their experience and understanding of the world become unmoored from reality and cohere around the narrative proffered by somebody like Donald, a narrative that is both self-serving to him and destructive to them.” pg.136
C&L: Police, in the U.S., I have read, were originally set up to hunt escaped slaves, and it appears that disdain, or worse, for civilians, continues to haunt their DNA.
ProPublica: this should be unbelievable, but…“If you are white in America and feel you’ve been left behind and shut out of the prosperity afforded to others, it’s not because of Black people and immigrants. It’s because the politicians you continue to vote for stoke your bigotry and sense of grievance while exploiting your ignorance in order to keep you exactly where you are—disempowered, angry, and fearful.” p.169 Mary Trump
FFT: Sadly, as above, hate is rampant in the America that elected Trump.
Mitch
Cold Mountain the opera (and I therefore assume also Cold Mountain the book and Cold Mountain the movie) make hunting patrols (in that case hunting deserters) very vivid. I realize that for early humans hunting for food was a necessity (as it still is for carnivore and omnivore non- humans). But I can’t help finding the desire to go out and shoot something terrifying.
Hi,
Running late this evening. Had appointment and had to go to a couple of stores.
Will try to catch up later.
Always glad to see you, comment or no comment. Pat an Mitch kind of did enough for all of us today