Open Thread – Page 240 – Politics Plus

Open Thread 7/27/2022

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

Jul 272022

Yesterday, I went to sleep with the bedroom ceiling fan on, and, during the night, had to turn it off and grab a light blanket. Ah yes – Colorado. It’s supposed to be cooler through Thursday and start warming up again Friday. We shall see.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – July 24, 2022
Quote – On Friday, Axios began to publish a deeply researched and important series by Jonathan Swan, explaining that if former president Trump retakes power, he and allies like his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), and head of Trump’s social media network Devin Nunes are determined to purge our nonpartisan civil service and replace it with loyalists. In a normal administration, a new president gets to replace around 4000 political appointees, but most government employees are in positions designed to be nonpartisan. Trump’s team wants to gut this system and put in place people loyal to him and his agenda.
Click through for more, including how much damage he did along these lines while he was in office, with Schedule F in place. Now imagine the damage he could do without it.

CPR – 6 fire agencies in El Paso County join together to form an interagency wildland fire team
Quote – Those involved include the Hanover Fire Protection District, Fountain Fire Department, Stratmoor Hills Fire Protection District, Security Fire Protection District, Fort Carson Fire & Emergency Services and the Southwest Highway 115 Fire Protection District. The 18-member Wildland Fire Team is made up of volunteers specifically trained in wildland firefighting. While all of the locations have their own staff, Stratmoor Hills Fire Chief Shawn Bittle said the volunteer component will allow for increased manpower without impacting the agency’s restricted budgets.
Click through for story. Of course the City of Colorado Springs has a Fire Department. It does not serve unincorporated areas of the county. All those fire departments named are funded by Special Districts with the authority to tax residents. Elections regarding these Special Districts are the elections I think I have mentioned which one may vote in without being a registered voter, or even a citizen, provided they own property in the District (because “No Taxation Without Representation”). Obviously, they have limitations. I consider this development really good news – as well as a model for others who own property outside of municipal fire departments’ service areas, wherever in the nation they may be.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/26/22

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

Jul 262022

Glenn Kirschner – With J6 committee revelations, it’s time for DOJ to indict Donald Trump & his co-conspirators

Meidas Touch – BREAKING: Democrats SLAM GOP for voting AGAINST contraception bIll

The Lincoln Project – Josh Hawley Is A B*tch

“Nyet Vladimir” – Ukrainian War Song (The Ukrainian version of the Finnish song “Nyet Molotov.” The Finns wrote the song during the 1939-1940 Winter War they were fighting against the Russians. Sadly, the Ukrainians had to adopt the tune with different lyrics in 2022.)

John Fugelsang – America’s Next President, Ron DeSantis

Beau – Let’s talk about privacy and your cell phone….

Open Thread 7/26/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 262022

Yesterday, I kind of dodged a bullet. I couldn’t get in to my credit card website for a couple of days, and had to call. I’ve had fraudulent charges on my account before and it’s a pain to have to go through the “new number” process. This time, there was no fraud. As everyone here knows, I do not order from amazon until the product is vitally necesary and there’s no other way to get it. So I had seen a product (a particular style of coat hanger) on amazon, but went to the brand name, found it, and ordered directly from the manufacturer. Pretty much no one does that, and the company name – “Songmics” – was unusual, and it got flagged. So I verified that and three other transactions, and I have my access back and get to keep my card number. (Sigh of relief.) Other than that, things were quiet. Afternoon thundershowers but otherwise quiet.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Washington Post (gift link) – A 1792 case reveals that key Founders saw abortion as a private matter
Quote – In the early republic, abortion was largely a private matter. It was not a cause for public concern, nor was abortion considered a criminal act. In fact, contrary to Alito’s assertions in Dobbs, three Founders from Virginia — Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and John Marshall — did not seek charges in a sensational court case from that era in which evidence of an abortion was discovered.
Click through for details (no paywall.) I would point out that the Constitution was ratified and went ito effect in 1789, and therefore this case is subject to it. It isn’t just an interesting example of public opinion at the time – it is an actual precedent.

CNN – An ‘imposter Christianity’ is threatening American democracy
Qute – That’s because they follow a different Jesus than the one depicted in the Gospels, says [Kristin Kobes] Du Mez [author of the New York Times bestseller, “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation”], who is also a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University — a Christian school — in Michigan. They follow the Jesus depicted in the Book of Revelation, the warrior with eyes like “flames of fire” and “a robe dipped in blood” who led the armies of heaven on white horses in a final, triumphant battle against the forces of the antichrist.
Click through for details. “The insurrection marked the first time many Americans realized the US is facing a burgeoning White Christian nationalist movement”? Hello? How blind can people be?TomCat pointied it out for years – decades. Hence all those “Republican Supply-Side Jesus” cartoons This article would make a great documentary – are you listening, CNN?

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/25/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:02 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 252022

Glenn Kirschner – Steve Bannon – Guilty; J6 hearing reveals Trump was the leader of the coup on January 6

Meidas Touch – BREAKING NEWS: Merrick Garland POWERFULLY AFFIRMS Trump CAN be prosecuted

The Lincoln Project – What It Was

MSNBC – How The Secret Service Became Not Just A Protecter Of The President’s Body, But His Secrets

Ojeda Live – Ojeda BLASTS Pathological Lying MyPillow Guy in This Video!

Beau – Let’s talk about what Greek statues can teach us about American history…

Open Thread 7/25/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 252022

Yesterday, Despite not having slept all that well, I got the blog posts up and sent the weekly email, but I didn’t do much else. An unexpected but very welcom Sound Off! did go up before the end of the day – don’t miss it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Psyche (via Aeon) – The power of Langston Hughes’s ‘melancholy citizenship’
Quote – Hughes calls the people ‘humble, hungry, mean … despite the dream’. Whether one is ‘the poor white, fooled and pushed apart’ or ‘the Negro bearing slavery’s scars’, ‘the red man driven from the land’ or ‘the immigrant clutching the hope I seek’, all must live in the space between abstract ideals and the bitter world. To create a world better than the one into which we are born, Hughes urges victims of colonisation and slavery to find ways to discover common ground with beneficiaries of past injustices.
Click through for full idea. Poetry is not scary. It’s mostly the expressions of simple truths in unexpected ways that make people see them as new, even if thet’re actually very old.

Letters From An American – July 23, 2022
Quote – Rising autocrats have declared democracy obsolete. They argue that popular government is too slow to respond to the rapid pace of the modern world, or that liberal democracy’s focus on individual rights undermines the traditional values that hold societies together, values like religion and ethnic or racial similarities. Hungarian president Viktor Orbán, whom the radical right supports so enthusiastically that he is speaking on August 4 in Texas at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), has called for replacing liberal democracy with “illiberal democracy” or “Christian democracy,” which will explicitly not treat everyone equally and will rest power in a single political party.
Click through for full letter. Richardson is not being alarmist. She makes it pellucidly clear what we are up against. This needs to be read or heard by every American, particularly every American who is not already deeply aware of politics.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/24/22

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

Jul 242022

Glenn Kirschner – Bannon Trial, Day 4: Steve Bannon gets his chance to tell his side of the story – and stays quiet
Meidas Touch – Jamie Raskin STUNS Republican with epic 2nd Amendment FACT-CHECK in real time

Meidas Touch – Jamie Raskin STUNS Republican with epic 2nd Amendment FACT-CHECK in real time

The Lincoln Project – Deleted
Senators Reach Agreement On Bills To Stop Candidates From Stealing Elections

Robert Reich – How Amazon, Starbucks, and Other Companies Fight Unions

Parody Project – KETCHUP ON THE WALL – A Parody

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump losing Idaho….

Open Thread 7/24/2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 242022

Yesterday, The opera was Macbeth (Verdi). Everyone knows that story, of course. I was not familiar wih the soprano singing Lady MacBeth, but she was excellent. MacBeth and Banquo were sung by two stars who are also known for being drop-dead gorgeous. The baritone (Simon Keenlyside) is not as young as he was, but still very handsome, and the bass, Günther Grossböck, is younger (and generally taller than anyone else on stage.) I have seen both the play and the opera more than once – back to back once, at the Kennedy Center, when I was in the service and they were doing a mini-Shakespeare festival, and I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, but I have always felt that the play never quite worked. There are parts of it which just can’t be played naturally – they are always either underplayed or overplayed. It isn’t really the fault of any of the actors – it’s just written that way. But the opera – all you need for that to it themark is singers who can stand up and hit the notes. With that, it’s a winner every time. All the passion is i the score.

I also managed to finish reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from Thursday night. She quoted an NPR host as saying: “the Democratic chair of the committee just gracefully, and with full confidence, turned over the running of tonight’s hearing to the vice-chair, who happens to be of another party, and they spoke with mutual trust and respect. That’s how it’s supposed to go.” Well, yeah. that struck meat the time also. You might say it isn’t evidence, and it indeed is not evidence regarding the insurrection. But it is evidence that, even now, people who disagree with each other, even violently, can still work together if they have decency, integrity, and courtesy. It’s no wonder Rethuglicans so hate courtesy, and find insulting terms like “political correctness” to describe it. And here we all are. Sigh.

Cartoon –

Short Takes – I’m just going to go with News of the Weird today and be serious again tomorrow.

The Daily Beast – A Judge Pulled a Gun in the Courtroom—and Then It Got Weird
“The whole trial was insane,” said one lawyer, who later reported the weapon-wielding jurist to the FBI.

PolitiZoom – AR Toting Lunatic Spotted in Local Park Threatening to Shoot His Foot Off
Yes, this was Ronny Jackson. Sigh.

Democratic Underground (Nevilledog) – Cops stood by while a woman was terrorized by a stalker in her home for 12 hours and then killed
Seriously? In San Diego?

ProPublica – Pharma Companies Sue for the Right to Buy Blood From Mexicans Along Border
A year after the U.S. barred Mexicans from crossing the border to sell their blood, pharmaceutical companies have acknowledged that those donations provided as much as 10% of the plasma collected nationwide as they seek to have the ban overturned.

Crooks and Liars – Remember That Other Secret Service Scandal?
We all remember that story about the two fake agents who were sucking up to the First Lady’s Secret Service detail. Well, one of them has filed a notification that he will now change his plea to guilty.

Food For Thought