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.

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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

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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]

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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.

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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.

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Oct 072023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump files frivolous motions to dismiss his criminal cases; divulges nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago

The Lincoln Project – Biden Warns about MAGA

PoliticsGirl – One of these things is not like the other…

Founders Sing – We Are Cowardly (CC in lower left)

Rescued Kitten Becomes One Of The Girls

Beau – Let’s talk about Newsom’s pick for Senate….

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Oct 072023
 

Yesterday, now that we’re a week into October, Wonkette posted a link to the 20 Most Haunted Places in the World (not a Substack site.) Many of them, maybe most, are quite beautiful – if I were a ghost there, I’d likely stay too. Also, here’s a link about an incident from World War II which demonstrates just how dangerous classified informmation can be in the wrong hands (and mouths.) Finally, I received an email from Eric Swalwell advertising a closeout price on a Kevin McCarthy Catnip Toy: “While Kevin’s on his way to the litter box to try and salvage the mess he’s made of the GOP, our team’s throwing Kevin the celebration he deserves: A clearance sale. Our Kevin McCatnip toys are now marked down to just $15, so you can watch your cat bat Kevin around the living room the way you’d like to!”  Tomorrow, I’ll be seeing Virgil, and will post when I get home as always.

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Short Takes –

Grist – How does climate change threaten your neighborhood? A new map has the details.
Quote – If you’ve been wondering what climate change means for your neighborhood, you’re in luck. The most detailed interactive map yet of the United States’ vulnerability to dangers such as fire, flooding, and pollution was released on Monday by the Environmental Defense Fund and Texas A&M University. The fine-grained analysis spans more than 70,000 census tracts, which roughly resemble neighborhoods, mapping out environmental risks alongside factors that make it harder for people to deal with hazards. Clicking on a report for a census tract yields details on heat, wildfire smoke, and drought, in addition to what drives vulnerability to extreme weather, such as income levels and access to health care and transportation.
Click through for article and map. I see the South is expecting below-freezing temperatures this weekend, except for Florida’s peninsula, whereas I’m expecting some warming. Go figure. I actually seem to have made a pretty good choice of where to live in view of climate change – not that anywhere is perfect, of course. Literally the entire world is endangered.

Wonkette – Jimmy Carter’s Solar Panels And The Mellow Allman Brothers Climate Paradise That Could’ve Been (OK, some of that headline may not be scrupulously fact-checked.)
Quote – Reagan reversed the clean energy initiatives Carter had put in place, a far more concrete rejection of renewable energy than the symbolic removal of the panels. Solar panels would return to the White House eventually. In 2002, the National Park Service installed solar electricity and water heating systems elsewhere on the White House grounds, although the George W. Bush administration chose not to publicize that. In 2014, Barack Obama installed a photovoltaic system on the White House roof. And in 2017, Jimmy Carter installed a solar farm on 10 acres of his peanut farm; it provides about half the electricity for Plains. Carter, who’s now in hospice care at home, celebrated his birthday quietly at home with Rosalyn, his wife of 77 years, and with his children and grandchildren. I’ll assume the party was lit by solar, too.
Click through for full article. In 1976 none of us who weren’t scientists were all that accurate on what the answers were – and what they weren’t – and the scientists weren’t telling – or at least, not the truth. Jimmy was trying. Ronny rejected it all. I’ll go to my grave beliebing that the 1980 Presidential election was a catastrophe and a creator of more catastrophes – and I think I”ll be correct. I’ll for sure be in good company.

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Oct 062023
 

Glenn Kirschner – More plea offers extended by DA Willis in Trump’s Georgia RICO case; let the dominos fall

The Lincoln Project – About That Impeachment Hearing

MSNBC – Biden discusses efforts to ‘ease the burden of student debt’

Liberal Redneck – McCarthy Ousted

Child Raised By 5 German Shepherds

Beau – Let’s talk about Texas, Montana, and 2 cases about rights….

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Oct 062023
 

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio reported that it’s mating season for tarantulas in southeastern Colorado – way southeastern – a good hundred miles from where I live. In and around La Junta, which is holding a Tarantula Festival. Before they started moving Virgil around last year, I used to drive through La Junta to see him, but I never saw a tarantula. Don’t click the link if you don’t like spiders, but if you can tolerate them, it’s kind of cute. I wonder whether they feature tarantella bands. Nah, probably not. Also, I received a grocery order.

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Short Takes –

Lauren Wilson – The Immigration Situation – It’s Nuts!
Quote – Before September 21st, an asylum seeker could not get a work visa for 6 months. In my mind, that has to be the dumbest law imaginable. These people want to work. They want to find homes, become a part of society, take care of their families. They are not happy to live in tents and shelters in NYC when it is about to get cold. Although this is the law and only Congress can change it, Biden has circumvented the law to allow the Venezuelan asylum seekers to immediately apply for work visas. It is hoped that this will address the problem in New York City. But it does nothing for the Cubans, Nicaraguans, or Haitians. To say that immigration is going to be a major platform issue in the 2024 presidential election is an understatement. Republicans are already pressuring Biden to \”Close the Border\” and there are Democrats who agree. But those of us who are humanitarians want to find other solutions. Immigrants are people, not problems. If the policies are problems, let’s figure out how to fix them.
Click through for article. Lauren is a DU’er who is looking to expand her personal blog’s readership. With articles like this, she should be able to, if people just know where to look. It’s clear she is a competent researcher of both history and current events.

National Public Radio – The growing racial gap in U.S. census results is raising an expert panel’s concerns
Quote – “There’s always going to be error in a census,” says Teresa Sullivan, a sociology professor and former president of the University of Virginia, who chaired the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine panel that was commissioned by the Census Bureau. Still, the panel’s report, released Tuesday, urged the bureau to take steps to learn from the shortfalls of the 2020 census and improve on the next constitutionally required count. Those statistics are set to be used to determine each state’s share of congressional seats and Electoral College votes, as well as redraw voting districts for every level of government and guide more than $2.8 trillion a year in federal money for public services across the country.
Click through for details. Yes, there is always going to be honest error in the census. But, though it may be possible to avoid some dishonest error, some of thet is also going to creep in. I do beieve we can cut down on it, but not without having some kind of ethics qualification for Census workers – specifically the ones who only work as temps for one Census. Don’t get me started on my own experience as one.

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Oct 052023
 

Glenn Kirschner – FINALLY a judge – NY Judge Arthur Engoron – has GAGGED Trump to STOP his dangerous speech and posts

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party October 3, 2023

Joe Biden – The Difference | Biden-Harris 2024

Parody Project – Capitol Hill

Cat Carries Around Baby Potatoes In His Mouth

Beau – Let’s talk about the shutdown deal, McCarthy, math, and milk….

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