Video Thread 3/31/2023

 Posted by at 12:08 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 312023
 

(The Liberal Redneck is from Tennessee, and I keep expecting avideo from him about the Nashville mass shooting. There hasn’t been one yet – and it really wouldn’t surprise me if he finds it just too hard to talk about – but i’ll keep looking.)

Glenn Kirschner – NY DA Alvin Bragg pauses grand jury investigation of Donald Trump’s NY crimes. What might this mean?

Meidas Touch – Tennessee Republican makes STUNNING admission during live interview

MSNBC – Fox News aired Dominion conspiracy theories despite fact-checking unit’s disproval

Robert Reich – The Hidden Costs of Denying Paid Sick Leave

Pittie Lets Foster Kittens Nurse On Her

Beau – Let’s talk about 2 big Trump developments, privilege, and jurors….

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Open Thread March 31, 2023

 Posted by at 6:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 312023
 

Yesterday, I made a couple of cartoons. I don’t need all that many, but I did need two for the first week. I won’t need another before the 20th, so that gives me some slack. And did y’all see the breaking news comment in yesterday’s OT? Or did you get the news elsewhere? Are the able bodied among you dancing in the streets?

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Conversation – This course uses science fiction to understand politics
Quote – What does the course explore? We explore issues of racism, gender, anarchy and the end of civilization. I chose books that encourage students to focus on the political aspects of each work. At the beginning of the course, I ask students how closely they connect science fiction and politics. At the end of the course, students have the opportunity to revisit and revise their response to that question. By that point, students have participated in discussions, written papers and completed short assignments that ask them to explore and articulate political themes in each book.
Click through for details. If Beau sees this, he’ll be tickled. He’s a big fan of using science fiction to understand, not just politics, but much of the human codition.

The Atlantic (no paywall) – My 6-Year-Old Son Died. Then the Anti-vaxxers Found Out.
Quote – My grief is profound, ragged, desperate. I cannot imagine how anything could feel worse But vaccine opponents on the internet, who somehow assumed that a COVID shot was responsible for my son’s death, thought my family’s pain was funny. “Lol. Yay for the jab. Right? Right?” wrote one person on Twitter. “Your decision to vaccinate your son resulted in his death,” wrote another. “This is all on YOU.” “Murder in the first.”
Click through for full story. This is no way to run a civilization. This kind of harassment needs to be made a felony in all states and all territories (and, as I think I may have said before, there will be plenty of room in prisons if we just release all those convicted of personal use drug possession and breathing while black.)

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 3/30/2023

 Posted by at 12:04 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 302023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge ORDERS Mike Pence to testify to the grand jury about the crimes of Donald Trump

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – March 28, 2023

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers speech in Ghana during tour of Africa (8 minutes, but full speech would have been too long)

Farron Balanced – Confused Lauren Boebert Derails House Hearing With Insane Request (Could we use this to discuss putting schoolchildren and teachers on the endangered species list due to mass shootings?)

Groundhog Brings His Son To Visit His Human Best Friend

Beau – Let’s talk about Colorado, the GOP, and trends…. (Heaven knows want a more progressive Demoratic Party. But I don’t think that’s necessarily going on state wide. I would look first at the caucus system becoming less important, and the flexibility that being unaffiliated in Colorado gives voters to vote in whchever primary they would prefer to vote in. I also think, though I may be wrong, that there is actually aparty on Colorado called the Independent Party which people who don’t realize it exists may get attached to unless they specifically say “unaffiliated. In any case, we do have a small Green PArty and a small LibertarienPartyand,though small, their numbers should be included in a discussion like this.)

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Open Thread March 30, 2023

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 302023
 

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet. Getting my taxes done was probably the high point of the day. Which is really how I like it. But it does leave me with little to say.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Warning – Must read: The Washington Post’s “The Blast Effect”
Quote – In response to my video commentary, which I shared last night, on the devastating tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville, a The Warning community member suggested that the media do the “horrendous but necessary” job of showing what a semi-automatic weapon does to a child’s body. This morning, The Washington Post did just that. I would encourage you to read this, and to share it with your family and friends…. Entire categories of weapons have been illegal in America since 1934, including the Thompson submachine gun (the “Gangster gun”) and sawed-off shotguns.
CLick through for the article if you like but the real story is in the Post. It did not paywall me, and I think that may have been deliberate (in case the connection to Schmidt was why, I did not cut the link.) Trigger warning – it’s hard to get through. It’s interctive, so if any animation stops scroll down just a tad to restart the movement. That’s deliberate, to give you time to read the accompannying text. And share it if possible. If I find a gify long or an archive link after this posts, I’ll put it in a comment or in the next day’s post.

Crooks & Liars – Al Franken Reveals How To Get Around ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
Quote – But Franken revealed a workaround: “Luckily, though, it doesn’t say you can’t sing about being gay,” he said, before breaking into a pertinent ditty. Franken continued by wishing Florida teens good luck. “I think you’ll really enjoy reading classics like, “Moby Large Whale With No Subtext Whatsoever,” he added.
This is not the only humor, and there is a video also. The first short take being so serious, I though some relief was needed. (Incidentally, I believe I know why Beethoven became so profoundly deaf, and it wasn’t hereditary.)

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 3/29/2023

 Posted by at 11:54 am  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 292023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump’s threats to NY DA Alvin Bragg VIOLATE BOTH NEW YORK AND FEDERAL criminal statutes.

PoliticsGirl – TikTok Ban

Ring of Fire – Jim Jordan’s Staffers Whine That Manhattan DA’s Office Keeps Hanging Up On Them (I’d be inclined to send everything to VMX, with an OGM which apologizes to legitimate callers and explains why. Put one person – maybe hire someone for it – to traanscribe it all overnight.)

Mrs. Betty Bowers – The Game of Anti-Woke DISTRACTIONS

Hissing Feral Cat Falls In Love With The Guy Who Rescued Him

Beau – Let’s talk about a win at the Supreme Court for Americans with disabilities….

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Open Thread March 29, 2023

 Posted by at 7:13 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 292023
 

Yesterday, Looking at the 10-day weather forcast, I said to myself, “I guess spring is really here.” But for those who haven’t lived in the Rockies, I think I had better qualify that. The predominant spring weather in Colorado is wind. And six of those ten days, including both the 30th and the 31st, showed wind as the predominant weather. So, after coming in like a grumpy lamb, March may go out like a blustery lion after all. (But we can also expect some warmer, possibly up to 70°F.) Also, I found I had overcut the extra yesterday – here’s the correct link (plus it’s now on YouTube.)

Cartoon – 29 Niagara rtl

Short Takes –

The 19th – Nashville shooting suspect’s gender sets attack apart from most mass shootings
Quote – Law enforcement officials in Nashville released the identity of the shooter, whose last name was Hale. Chief John Drake of the Nashville Police said the authorities currently believe that the shooter is transgender. However, local authorities and news media reports have varied on how they refer to Hale’s gender identity, as well as what pronouns they have used. The 19th is waiting on further information related to Hale’s identity before publishing a first name.
Click through for more. Yes, everyone has heard about the shots and the victims. I’m using the 19th because it is not afraid to look at this from a different perspective (and is being very careful not to over-report.)

PolitiZoom – Will Ivana Sabotage Donald From the Grave? SECRET FBI Files Released Under FOIA Reveal Investigation
Quote – What if I was to tell you that I was writing a fiction story about a supposed KGB asset, groomed since the 80’s, and his fashionista wife, whom the FBI has also been watching since the 80’s, and then we fast forward to the 21st century, where the alleged asset has been elected president of the United States, with the help of Vladimir Putin, and then a few years later the fashionista wife tumbles down the stairs of her condo one night when she’s alone and breaks her neck?
Click through for juicy details. This seems pretty far-fetched to me. But then everthing involving Trump** is far-fetched. And Ursula doesn’t even mention the suspicious weight of the coffin considering she was cremated.

Bonus News of the Weird:

Law & Crime – Jurors subject ‘dominatrix’ to potential 25-year prison term for trying to murder lookalike eyelash stylist with cheesecake tainted by powerful Russian benzo
Quote – Nasyrova allegedly fled Russia in 2014 before she could be charged with the drugging and murder of a different friend, this one a man. During a 2018 interview with 48 Hours while she was detained at Rikers Island, the so-called dominatrix Nasyrova was also asked whether it was true that she had also drugged and robbed men she met through dating sites. Nasyrova denied the allegations and said (according to a translation), “I would be happy to comment on that, but I can’t talk about it.”
CLick through for story. The concept of identity theft is not new. It appears in countless fairy tals, certainly from all over Europe – I can specifically pint to one in Czechoslovakia,one in Scandinavia, and at least a dozen in Germany collected by the Grimm brothers. And the victimgenerally either survives or is magically resurrected – fairy tales are big on justice for victims. But the detail of the perp being an alleged “dominatrix” is new.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 3/28/2023

 Posted by at 12:09 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 282023
 

Glenn Kirschner – NY DA Bragg dismisses IN A TWEET Jim Jordan’s latest attempt to interfere in NY prosecution of Trump

Politics Girl – Trump is just like us

MSNBC – GOP reps treated jailed Jan. 6 defendants ‘like celebrities’ says Rep. Garcia

Robert Reich – We Need to Make Banking Boring Again

Gander thinks woman is his wife

Beau – Let’s talk about the Navy renaming ships….

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Open Thread March 28, 2023

 Posted by at 6:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 282023
 

Yesterday, I once more got the New Yorker’s Name Drop puzzle on the first clue – and I’m willing to bet that most of y’all will or would too. The image of that red coat and sunglasses will take shape in your brain as it did in mine, and the face behind the sunglasses will be very familiar. (In fact, you may get it from just what I have said.) Aside from that, it was pretty quiet. I think I got pretty well caught up on my sleep, but also found a new quote from Robert Reich to console me in case I didn’t. “The sleep fairies do not favor the elderly.”

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Trump’s Calls For Violence More ‘Blatant’ and ‘Overt’ Than Before
Quote – Lofgren brought up Trump’s horrific Truth Social post (that he fortunately deleted) –the one that shows Trump holding a baseball bat right next to a photo of Bragg. She also mentioned Trump’s continual parade of insults and name-calling and his threats of “death and destruction,” coupled with his comments during the rally Saturday. “This is cause for concern,” she said. “We know that certainly not all of his followers are inclined to take up arms, but there’s enough of them who are willing to do battle in his behalf that someone could get killed. And people were killed, obviously, on January 6.”
Click through for details. If you have already noticed this yourself, let me assure you that you are NOT imaginng it. It is real.

The New Yorker – The Myth of the Alpha Wolf
Click through for details. I’m not quoting, because I have a lot to say on this, and if you are paywalled out, let me know – I will send it. It’s been known for some time that the initial “research” which came up with the terminaology in the title werenot carried out on wolves in their wild habitat, but exclusively on wolves in zoos. This is like doing research entirely in prisons and then claim that it applies to civilization as a whole. It’s really no wonder, is it, that almost all of the people who seriously buy the “alphamale” image are actual or potential criminals.
But what is new in the latest research (and which surprised the researchers so much that it sent them looking to other species – and fining similar reaults) is the fact that, when two packs battle, the pack that stands the best chance of winning, by a significant margin, is the pack which contains one or more older wolves. Ant that is the most impostant single factor. Apparently, respect for our elders has actual, solid survival value. I believe we should seriously think about this.
We don’t know whether wolves (or elephants or other species) are vulnerable to dementia, and that does make a difference. No one wants Dianne Feinstein to run again for the Senate. But that’s a matter of health, not simply aging. When we have elders like Joe Biden – Nancy Pelosi – Elizabeth Warren – Bernie Sanders – GRACE LINN – who literally have knowledge of what works and what doesn’t,because they have seen, time and time again, what works and what doesn’t – I think we need to stop talking about age as if it were a disqualifier.

And speaking of wolves (and canines in general) and prisons, here is an extra, which I would have used in the video thread if if had beeen possible to embed it. (The srticle ccontains an embed code, but it doesn’t do anything through my computer, not did it work for Lona, who passed it on to me.) I hope y’all will enjoy it. The Colorado prison system does have a “Prison Trained K9 Companion Program” – in fact they just picked up a bunch a couple of weeks ago who were rescued from a hoarding situation – but no lifers that I know of. So I have also sent information on the article to the DOC (not the live link – they have to be suspicious of links – but the defanged link and the information to find it through a search engine.)  Do click through for a sweet story.

Food For Thought

 

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