Open Thread – Page 115 – Politics Plus

Open Thread October 11, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 112023

Yesterday, I had calmed down some and thought maybe I was cool enough to address the Middle East war – though still not in my own words. I’m going to give you three articles without comment. One of them appears to be on Substack – it doesn’t exactly say so, but the quote function it uses looks like Substack’s. At least the clicking to continue is not too onerous – certainly less so than YouTube has become. While I was putting it together, my keyboard – um -started pining for the fjords -I tried new batteries, but no luck. So I’ll be getting a new one. I may be able to find a corded one I can use as a temp. The on-screen one is not that much slower, but it obscures part of the screen. Update – I found it. It’s laid out a bit funny but it works. And as a postscript – George Santos was hit with 23 new charges, including identity theft.

Cartoon – Number 2 of 4.

Short Takes –

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/09/israel-war-hamas-benjamin-netanyahu-government
The Guardian – We feel fear, anger and helplessness: all of Israel is in a state of war. But revenge is not the answer
Quote – Here in Jerusalem, we are trying to hold on to the hope that Hamas won’t launch missiles towards the city due to its proximity to al-Aqsa mosque, but the general anxiety still lingers. Schools have been closed, as have all businesses, and very few people are on the streets. Those who don’t have to, do not leave their homes. On Saturday night, after hours of anxious staring at the television and social media, my daughter was panicked by the fear that Hamas militants, armed and still inside Israeli territory, might make their way to Jerusalem and attack us in our home. Only after a thorough tour of the public shelters in the neighbourhood did she calm down slightly and manage to fall asleep.

https://www.dogshirtdaily.com/p/how-not-to-respond-to-a-terrorist
Dog Shirt Daily – How Not to Respond to a Terrorist Attack
Quote – The reason I don’t write about Israeli-Palestinian matters much is that the more time I have spent with them, the less I think I have anything useful to say on the subject. The process of spending time with the actual conflict has humbled me to the point that I am these days much more interested in asking questions than I am in making pronouncements. I am much more interested in conveying information than I am in telling people what I think—when I even know what I think, which is increasingly infrequent.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/
Reuters – How Hamas duped Israel as it planned devastating attack
Quote – A careful campaign of deception ensured Israel was caught off guard when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched its devastating attack, enabling a force using bulldozers, hang gliders and motorbikes to take on the Middle East’s most powerful army. Saturday’s assault, the worst breach in Israel’s defences since Arab armies waged war in 1973, followed two years of subterfuge by Hamas that involved keeping its military plans under wraps and convincing Israel it did not want a fight. While Israel was led to believe it was containing a war-weary Hamas by providing economic incentives to Gazan workers, the group’s fighters were being trained and drilled, often in plain sight, a source close to Hamas said.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 10/10/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:50 am Open Thread, Politics

Oct 102023

All of the legal vloggers (the usual suspects?) are off ba;lance just now. This is from last Friday, but it’s all I could find that was short enough to share, and it’s not without interest.
Department of Justice – This Week at Justice – October 6, 2023

The Lincoln Project – In Memory McCarthy

MSNBC – Hayes: ‘I can’t believe this needs to be said,’ but the GOP is to blame for the GOP chaos

John Fugelsang – “The Way of the Sidekick” with Ed McMahon

Guy Sees Puppies Dumped On Busy Highway

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, walls, and laws…. (There is also a follow up to this here – I don’t have space for both, but the full picture really needs both)

Open Thread October 10, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 102023

Yesterday being a holiday, the courts and everything else were closed, and in any case all eyes were on the Middle East. In that connection, I would say only that, just because a person belongs to a group which has actually, historically, been victimized (as opposed to, say, MAGAts, who who do a lot of whining but are no more victims than, oh, say American police union members) does not mean a person cannot be a jerk. Well, also, that pointing out that something a person is doing is morally questionable at best is not the same thing as calling that person an unmitigated moral degenerate. Screaming insults and accusations does not a conversation make. If I knew how to say that so that a substantial majority of humans would actually hear it, I definitely would. But I don’t. I do want to mention that Pat B.’s family has sustained a loss, and I don’t know, nor does she, how long she will be MIA, but it will be a while.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette (Substack) – NYTimes Compares Conservatives Annoyed By Unhoused People To Parents Of Trans Kids Being Denied Healthcare
Quote – It’s lovely that they are happy, that they feel safer, and that they are not annoying the good people of Portland with their bullshit. Couldn’t be happier for them! But they’re also entirely ridiculous. Troy is a rural town with a population of 15,000, while Portland is a bustling metropolis with a population of about 641,000. Obviously there would be more crime there. There would also be less crime in any town in Oregon with a population of 15,000, owing to the fact that there are just fewer people to do any crime. That’s just math. In fact, it would likely be a lot more safe, as Missouri has the ninth highest violent crime rate in the nation, while Oregon ranks 36th. Troy is an exurb of St. Louis, the city with the highest crime rate in the United States. Portland? Portland has the 62nd highest crime rate of any city in the United States, even with all them liberal policies what so frightened the Huckinses. Oh, and St. Louis only has about a third of the population of Portland.
Click through for article. Today’s FFT is from this article, and IMO summarizes it well.

Thomas Zimmer (also Substack – sorry) – Why America’s Elites Love to Decry “Polarization”
Quote – In the final third of the book, Klein himself emphasizes that we are not looking at a radicalization on both sides of the political spectrum. He emphasizes the difference between the Right, entirely focused on the interests and sensibilities of white conservatives, and a Democratic coalition that is much more diverse – ideologically, racially and ethnically, and in terms of cultural sensibilities: “Sorting has made Democrats more diverse and Republicans more homogeneous. As a result, appealing to Democrats requires appealing to a lot of different kinds of people with different interests.” (p. 230) As a matter of fact, Klein sees Democrats as extremely resistant to political extremism due to this heterogeneity of their supporters: “Democrats,” the author argues, “have an immune system of diversity and democracy.” (Why We’re Polarized, p. 229)
Click through for full argument. While I certainly feel polarized, in that I feel that MAGA lunacy is the polar opposite of my beliefs, he’s right. True polarization requires both sides to be “the same” but in opposite directions. And both sides are not the same. Not in any way.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 10/9/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:00 pm Open Thread, Politics

Oct 092023

Glenn Kirschner – -Donald Trump compromises our national security & then . . . ruminates on being Speaker of the House.

The Lincoln Project – Vision

Thom Hartmann – Will Trump’s Mouth Cause MORE Deaths?

Columbus Day … from Full Frontal … with Deb Haaland

Deaf Cat Loves Riding Around London With Her Dad

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump, troops, and truth….

Open Thread October 9, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 092023

Yesterday, I saw Virgil (who returns all greetings, spoken and unspoken.) We played Scrabble, getting very liberal, even multilingual, especially the last game. But it’s all in fun. After I got home and posted my safe note, I was listening to tha radio and heard something I certainly never dreaned it was possible, and I’m not 100% positive how it was done. I heard four snare drum rolls (2 sets of 2) played by a classical guitarist, on the classical guitar. It was in an orchestral piece, transcribed for guitar, which starts with a little fanfare of two drum roll and then repeats it later. It was a piece I’m familiar with, so though they didn’t sound exactly like drum rolls, I recognized immediately what they were meant for. No transcription ever sounds exactly like the orchestral piece anyway, so I thought they were pretty darned good. My best guess is that he knocked or slapped the guitar through the open strings – but that’s quite a feat , since the parts of the strings that are directly over the sound box of the guitar are mostly over the sound hole.

I apologize for not making a graphic for Indigenoua People’s Day. The reason was that – there are so many tribes – all over the Americas – and every single one of them has rich cultural traditions and images – and every single tribe also survived over 2000 years by living sustainably. Even just in my corner of the United States there are multiple tribes with multiple traditions. And I didn’t want to leave anyone out, nor did I want to fall back on stereotypes, many of which are not even respectful. So I’ll just wish you a happy indigenous people’s day and leave it at that.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

TeenVogue – The Supreme Court Must Protect Domestic Violence Survivors By Overturning the Rahimi Decision
Quote – When I was a young girl living in South Carolina, my mother, Patricia Ann, was shot and killed by an abusive dating partner. He murdered her in front of my three younger sisters — who were 10, 11, and 12 at the time — with an sawed-off shotgun. He was a convicted felon who should never have had access to the firearm he used to take our mother away from us forever. My sisters and I are grown now, but we still feel her absence every single day…. The Fifth Circuit’s decision in Rahimi is putting domestic violence survivors living in the Fifth Circuit in danger right now. I know firsthand that this is not an abstract exercise. If the decision is not reversed, domestic violence survivors face the prospect that their abusers can arm themselves immediately. This ruling is a potential death sentence for countless women and families.
Click through for article. If you had the idea that TeenVogue was a shallow, ditsy publication all about clothes, makeup, and maybe a little sex, hold that thought – for when you are around MAGAts. For the sake of democracy, never let them find out how woke it is. It is stepping in where schools and scared parents fear to tread – has actually been doing so for some time.

Colorado Public Radio – Colorado’s Black history — and future — go on display in a new unlikely center of Black culture: Boulder
Quote – [A] new exhibit at the Museum of Boulder, called “Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History,” gives the community and the state another chance to reflect on the past, celebrate the accomplishments of those who have persevered, and create joy for the future. The exhibit opened Sept. 29, and the museum plans to have it on display for two years. It comes shortly after a documentary released in 2022 called “This Is [Not] Who We Are,” which explores “the gap between Boulder’s progressive self-image and the lived experiences of its Black citizens,” and the opening of the university’s new Center for African and African-American Studies, which is meant in part to help build community…. Adrian Miller, the lead curator of the new Museum of Boulder exhibit… is conscious of the specific cultural moment when this exhibit is opening, three years after massive protests for racial justice, and amidst a celebration of Black culture in Boulder centered around the football coach.
Click through for story and some pictures. CPR calls Boulder “unlikely” on the basis that Boulder is like 90% white and only 1% black. But the thing is, the main University of Colorado is there. And one of the things Republicans hate about education, especially higher education, is that academics tend not to shy away from research, from finding out truth, and then from sharing that truth. My only issue with this being in Boulder is hoping that fact doesn’t turn out to limit access.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 10/8/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:01 pm Open Thread, Politics

Oct 082023

Glenn Kirschner – Jim Jordan wants to be House speaker? A better fit for Jordan would be indicted Trump co-defendant.

The Lincoln Project – Broke

MSNBC – ‘This is nuts’: Former Rep reacts to ‘McCarthy’s spectacular fall’

Puppet Regime – Kim Jon Un: Swiftie

Stray Puppy Gets Rescued And Can’t Stop Jumping For Joy

Beau – Let’s talk about some paintings in Russia…. [Note fm JD – this is NOT about art]

Open Thread October 8, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:05 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 082023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Jephtha,” by George Frideric Handel. (If you want to use the German form, that’s Georg Friedrich Händel, and the King quite possibly did, since I don’t believe he learned English, but everyone else used the English form.) Jephtha is an oratorio based on the Bible, and it was presented as one in this live recording from September 2022 by Music of the Baroque. It’s one of those old Dude-in-dire-straits offers to sacrifice the first living thing he encounters if divinity will save him, and that turns out to be his child – in this case, his daughter. Scholars differ in this case as to whether the sacrifice involved death or instead a lifetime commitment to serve the temple. There is some evidence for either. Handel went with the service one, complete with an angel to command Jephtha to resolve it that way, which isn’t in Jodges, but does recall the Genesis story of Abraham and Isaac. It’s late Handel, likely the last thing he wrote, and his compositional skills were just fine, as was his hearing, but his eyesight was going, and he had to stop writing when he could no longer see the page. I don’t know how anyone who didn’t know that could deduce it, though. The music is definitely accomplished, beautiful, and baroque.

If I wait for all the other juicy Beau videos to be posted before posting this one from yesterday, it will be too late. It might not even get seen. So here’s a link to the video on events in the Middle East from the dude some of his viewers are starting to call “Beaustradamus.” Off to see Virgil now – will comment later.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich (Substack) – Capital vs. labor under Biden
Quote – Today, this struggle takes the form of giant corporations that have monopolized their markets and workers who are trying to organize labor unions. This is why you’re hearing so much about the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department going after Amazon and Google, respectively. (They’re also going after Ticketmaster and Live Nation, Kroger and Albertsons, and a wide range of other giant corporations and proposed mergers.) And why you’re also hearing so much about strikes — the UAW, writers and actors, nurses, workers at Kaiser Permanente, Starbucks baristas, and others. And about attempts to organize Amazon and other anti-union companies.
Click through (to Substack) for full article. Yes, you are hearing about Biden supporting labor. But you are getting it piecemeal rather than as an overarching theme, and you are not hearing about the basis of the struggle, nor about the meaning of the struggle. This is a good, solid look at all of that. You might even want to bookmark it.

Democratic Underground (sheshe2) – Joe Biden: According to a new book
Quote – According to a new book by Franklin Foer, Joe Biden isn’t just the president of the United States, he is the West’s father figure, whom foreign leaders call for advice and look to for assurance. Foer writes: “It was his calming presence and his strategic clarity that helped lead the alliance to such an aggressive stance, which stymied authoritarianism on its front lines. He was a man for his age.”
Click through for DU article. Ordinarily I wouldn’t run just a book review, or if I did I would at least cite the original source for the review. But I don’t have and haven’t seen the book, and the original source is Xitter, and I just thought the DU article had good news.

Food For Thought