Open Thread – Page 184 – Politics Plus

Open Thread January 11, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 112023

Yesterday, after having set my alarm and arisen for it three days in a row, I slept in. But I still managed to find some cool stuff, one of the coolest of which was a Mother Jones article about coolness at government agencies. In sure we’ve all seen the occasional example of a government agency putting out some kind of warnin with verbiage and phrasng which draws attention because of its humor, but I didn’t realize it was becoming a trend. If you’re looking for an extra chuckle today, this is the place.

I also got an email from my cousin that the Army Corps of Engineers has a downloadable cat calendar for this year. My first thought was, “Why would th Army Corps of Engineers put out a calendar with cats?” But as soon as I looked at the cover it was immediately obvious …. and then it just got better. Also, this is not from the entire Corps, but specifically from the Portland (OR) District. TomCAt would have absolutely loved it.

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Short Takes –

Huff Post – Republicans Who Voted To Overturn The 2020 Election Get Top Committee Posts
Quote – House Republican leaders on Tuesday announced their picks for powerful committee chairs in the new Congress, and most of them have an inherent character flaw: They voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results after fueling the lie that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. “Our committee chairs represent the very best of our conference,” House Majority Leader Scalise (R-La.) said when announcing the GOP’s choices for chairmanships.
Click through fpr details. Of course this is bad news. But probably not more so than we expected.

The 19th – Two stories
Quote 1 – The Presidential Citizen Medal is one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, given to those who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.” Today marks the first time Biden has awarded this medal. Of the 12 recipients, four are women.
Quote 2 – [R]eproductive rights advocates and physicians say, the rights of infants born by any method, including after an attempted abortion, are already protected by a bipartisan 2002 law that established that infants have the rights of a full human. Live births after an attempted abortion are exceedingly rare, and the proposed measure would take away power over medical interventions from families and physicians.
Click through to one or both. As I’ve said, the 19th tends to focus on women, and these are no exception, One is good news, the other bad news.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 1/10/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:13 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jan 102023

Glenn Kirschner – Scott “Pardon Me” Perry wants on the congressional committee to oversee DOJ’s criminal probe of HIM!

The Lincoln Project – Violence

Ring of Fire – Republicans Plan To Gut IRS And Ethics Office To Protect Themselves And Their Donors (I’m not sure why he pictured Mitch, when it’s the House that’s pushing this. It will never get through the Senate.)

Armageddon Update – New Year, New World! (First new one for some time)

Woman Rescues Feral Kittens From An Abandoned Mansion

Beau – Let’s talk about what national interests are….

Open Thread January 10, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 102023

Yesterday, the Smithsonian newsletter included a link to their Andean Bear cub cam (at a month and a half, their eyes have not yet opoened, nor can they hear), and that page also includes a link to the Giant Panda cam. I didn’t try the pandas. I watched the cubs for a minute or teo, saw no motion, but heard a tiny “squeep.” It might have been a baby snore – not, I think, a baby sneeze. Also, I received a grocery delivery.It looks like i got everything except the lip balm, and there’s no huge hurry on that. In actual news, The PCCC (Bold Progressives wants to know whether or not we think it would be a good idea for Katie Porter to run for the Senate next time. Initially I shuddered, thnking of Tim Ryan (and so many others),. and then I thought, wait a minute – her district was already red, and redistricting just made it redder – she probably actually has better prospects state wide. So I answered yes. Of course they also want funds but they’ve labeled it “optional,” so no pressure. Here’s the link.

I cannot say it was a slow news day. In fact, it was so much the opposite that it’s going to take me a while to digest it.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Russian Wife Wants Her Husband To Go Die In Ukraine For A New Car
Quote – A Russian woman named her goal in the war against Ukraine…. [O]ne Russian woman confirmed that she wanted to send her husband to die to get a car for him…. And she did it right in his presence…. The Russian confirms that he supports the dictator Vladimir Putin and will go to the front when he is summoned.
Click through – If this is real, and not some twisted joke, it’s easy to see why GQP voters are so in sync with Russia.

CPR News – Colorado sees more avalanche deaths than any other state. A training course at this mountain park hopes to change that
Quote – While carrying avalanche safety equipment has become the norm for many backcountry skiers and other recreators, remembering how to use it in an emergency properly is another skill entirely. So where can one practice for the unthinkable? At a park just outside of Minturn, now open for its third season, there are eight transmitters that people can practice finding with their beacons.
Click through for story. Good thing we have technology, because avalanches are a phenomenon which climate change is not going to make less common. Now people just need to learn how to use it.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 1/9/2023

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

Jan 092023

Glenn Kirschner – Republican clown show: Jim Jordan tries to seize power to have DOJ reveal criminal investigations

The Lincoln Project – Last Year in the Republican Party

Farron Balanced – MAGA Lunatics Accuse GOP Congresswoman Of Practicing Witchcraft

Cleff Schecter – The Truth Behind MAGA: Is a Secret Shame Driving Republican Faceplants?

Woman Spots An Injured Pittie In A Blueberry Field, And Then…

Beau – Let’s talk about preaching to the choir….

Open Thread January 9, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 092023

Yesterday, Joyce Vance wrote a prequel column to her normal “The Week Ahead” column which comes out today. It’s called, “How does the First Day of a New Congress Work?,” and she wrote it in order to get the normal stuff out of the way so she can pay more attention to the abnormal stuff she, and everyone else, is expecting. Even professional analysts are overwhelmed by the happenings of last week. Actually, it’s quite possible that te more one knows, the more overwhelmed one is. Heather Cox Richardson quoted some from Jeffries’s speech, including the entire A-to-Z section, which I re-quote here because it is so comprehensive:

“American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life issues over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, ‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can’t do it,’ and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation. We will always do the right thing by the American people.”

Also there was a Trump**-style coup attempt in Brazil. And Brazil may not be the last country to play copycat (thoughwhy it’s called copycat, I can’t imagine – cats are not known for being followers, of anyone or anything.)This is a deeloping story and you shouldn’t have any trouble finding developments.

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Short Takes –

Southern Poverty Law Center – Rosewood Remembered
Quote – For almost 60 years the massacre, which left at least six murdered while the rest, including dozens of children, escaped in the middle of the night, running through swamps, hiding in the woods and leaping onto train cars, was all but erased from historical memory. No law enforcement agency investigated, and no one was ever charged with crimes. The erasure mirrored that of racial violence across the U.S., where lynchings and mob attacks in Chicago, Tulsa, Omaha, and in small towns and large cities across the country were, and in many cases continue to be, left unremarked and unremembered save by communities of survivors.
Click through for article. It does frost me that white Floridians (and Georgias, and Oklahomans, and Illinoisians, and Nebraskans, and white people alll over our country were are are so hell-bent on covering up our real history. The cover-up really is worse than the crome. Obviously they don’t get that.

The Daily Beast – New Congresswoman Fights Rival Over Witchcraft Accusation
Quote – Rep. Anna Paulina Luna came to Congress on her first day in office ready to do battle—not just with Democrats, but also with her own party, as she became one of the 20 Republicans to vote against electing Kevin McCarthy speaker. But back home in her conservative Florida district, Luna is waging a very different kind of war: a legal fight with political enemies who say she is a literal witch. A letter obtained by The Daily Beast reveals that the Florida Republican retained the high-powered law firm Holland & Knight to go after a would-be rival who leveled a series of outlandish allegations against Luna on the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show in the fall.
Click through for details. The legal action itself proves she is not a witch. Casting a spell would be easier and cheaper than going to court – if sh could do so . So, she can’t. (And I have to say the title “Bubba the Love SPonge” doubtless tells you everything you need to know about the intellectual level of the program.)

Food For Thought

Video Thread 1/8/2023

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

Jan 082023

Glenn Kirschner – Special Counsel Jack Smith puts together aggressive & experienced Trump prosecution team

The Lincoln Project – MAGA vs. MAGA (The Project is rapidly making up for the long holiday break.)

Thom Hartmann – Shocking Reason These Republicans Hate McCarthy

Ring of Fire – Kari Lake Is TERRIFIED About Becoming Irrelevant

Watch This Scruffy Feral Cat Turn Into A Blue-Eyed Beauty

Beau – Let’s talk about what McCarthy knows that you should too….

Open Thread January 8, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 082023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Medea,” by Luigi Cherubini. Cherubini ws a contemporary of Beethoven, and was considered by him to be (as one musicologist put it) “the greatest living composer not named ‘Beethoven.'” Maria Callas was a big fan of this opera, and while I was still in the military I found a (vinyl) recording of her performance of it, and snapped it up. From the first measure of the overture (which still sends chills down my spine) I was hooked. While stationed in Washington (DC), I was privileged to see a performance live at Wolf Trap (where we had thunder and a little lightning during the overture – which would not enhance every opera, but did this one.) All of those people (on the record and at Wolf Trap) are gone now. But this cast did not disappoint. The intermission features included the annual review of those singers we lost in 2022. This year there was only one singer whose name I recognized – Maria Ewing – she didn’t sing a whole lot of roles, but during the pandemic one of the videos available was “Dialogues of the Carmelites” in which she sang the leading role of Blanche. Sigh. (Her daughter, Rebecca Hall, was on “Finding Your Roots,” I forget which season.)

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Short Takes –

Mother Jones – American Myths Are Made of White Grievance—and the Jan. 6 Big Lie Is Just the Latest
Quote – [I]t is insufficient to claim that the Big Lie is merely that the 2020 presidential election was stolen or that Trump’s election-fraud conspiracy was the root cause of the riots. As we confront the insurrection on its two-year anniversary, it’s important to remind ourselves of what motivated the rioters that day: the idea that the United States is for white people, whose power must be protected at all costs.
Click through for full article. I might add that the phrase “Christian Nationalism” really means “white nationalism” – as if people of colorwere not as good Christians (they’re usually better, in my experience) as wypipo. “Patriarchal Nationalism” would be closer to the truth.

Denverite – Colorado’s plan to relieve pressure on Denver: busing migrants and state workers volunteering at shelters
Quote – The state said it was partnering with two nonprofits to help migrants move to their intended destinations, where some may have friends or family waiting for them. So far, Polis said, many who have arrived and overwhelmed Denver’s existing and emergency shelters actually planned to be in Miami, New York and Chicago. Migrants do not have to prove that they have friends or family in other cities, but Polis said the local emergency managers are coordinating the arrival of larger groups of migrants with other cities.
Click through for details. Since MY governor is not a Nazi, I want to stress that THIS busing is 100% voluntary, and will be to places they were intending to go to before getting sidetracked. Also that the state employees who volunteer will be doing so on (paid) administrative leave.

Food For Thought