Open Thread December 3, 2022

Yesterday, I learned a new word – new to me, at least. A forb is an herbaceous flowering plant other than in the grass family. I get a “Bird of the Week” email from the American Bird Conservancy, and this week’s bird, the Chestnut-collared Longspur, they tell me, seeks shelter among grasses and forbs. Who’da thunk. I also continued listening to a Rachel Maddow podcast, “Ultra,” about a plot from 1940. There are 8 episodes altogether, and each episode has a complete ranscript whic has been edited and proofread, and indicates at all times who is speaking. It doesn’t get any better than that. Also, the episode I listened to on Wednesday included a few commercials, and the transcripts do not. The full 8-episode podcast corcens events which happened in 1940 of which you have probably never heard (I hadn’t) but which are spookily similar to today. (The one person whose name I had heard was Father Coughlin, and I was aware he was terrible, but exactly how terrible, no.) The fact is, eternal vigilance really is the price of liberty. And yet, it’s also true that Democracy requires a lot of mutual trust in order to finction well. Those two truths constantly work against each other, yet neither one is safe alone.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

truthout – Fracking Firm Agrees to Pay a Small Town’s Water Bills for 75 Years
Quote – After years of legal wrangling, the company formerly known as Cabot Oil & Gas agreed to plead no contest to 15 criminal violations of state environmental laws and pay nearly $16.3 million for the construction of a new public water supply for Dimock. Activists say some Dimock residents went years without access to clean tap water, and Coterra Energy, the company that bought Cabot, will pay their water bills for 75 years under a plea deal with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It remains unclear whether Coterra would be permitted to frack the area in the future, but production was halted years ago as the scandal unfolded.
Click through for story – This is something we don’t see every day (but probably should.) I was thinking that if one ever wanted a prosecuting attorney, the prosecutor in this case would be the one you’d want… but he’s not available. He just got elected Governor.

Crooks & Liars – Russian Propagandist Admits: If Russia Loses, We’re All Going To The Hague
Quote – “I want to say that if we manage to lose, the Hague, conditional or concrete, is even waiting for the janitor who sweeps the paving stones behind the Kremlin wall. What do we need from the fact that another district of Kyiv will be left without electricity or not? The scale of the catastrophe for our country, if we manage to do it [lose] is unimaginable. To be afraid of The Hague – do not go into the forest, ”said Simonyan. However, propaganda host Vladimir Solovyov summed up at the end that if Russia loses, there will be no The Hague. According to him, if this happens, then “the whole world will go to dust.”
Click through for a little more. Yes, this fear has substance. The Iternational Court has formed (or is forming) a court specifically to investigate Russian war crimes.

The 19th – Bipartisan bill would require human trafficking hotline to be posted in every U.S. port of entry
Quote – Senators introduced on Thursday the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation which was shared first with The 19th. The bill would direct the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security to ensure the hotline is also visible in every individual plane, bus and train restroom. The companion bill, introduced by Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, and Darrell Issa, a Republican, passed in the House in July. Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said transportation hubs are a “common-sense place to intercede” by letting victims and bystanders know who to call for help.
Click through for details – I’m going to try not to be snotty, and just say this is a good idea, and it’s good that it’s (at least to some extent) bipartisan.

Food For Thought (updated by me.)