Open Thread March 20, 2022

 Posted by at 7:29 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 202022
 

Yesterday, the opera was “Rodelinda” (by Handel) which dates from before 1750.  It is an opera seria, a form which was still used in Mozart’s time (and he wrote a few, including one when he was 14), but he largely moved away from the form.  Opera was characterized by featuring noble characters being noble (and others, of course, in opposition to them) and really didn’t have any dialog, but was a series of arias through which the story was told.  There was no chorus, but all the soloists were singers I am familiar with and like., including Sasha Cooke, whom I hadn’t heard since she played Kitty Oppenheimer in “Dr. Atomic.”  That was in 2008, and she doesn’t appear to have aged a day.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Democracy: a Journal of Ideas – “Middle-Out” Biden’s New Deal?
Quote – When Biden speaks of middle-out versus trickle-down he is doing more than drawing a political contrast. He is making a highly consequential argument about economic cause and effect, how prosperity is created, and the role of government. And we’ll give you a hint about what he means: The answer is not tax cuts for the rich.
Click through for analysis by a couple of dudes who have been working on these principles for years.

Law and Crime – Project Veritas Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN for Depicting Twitter Ban as Part of ‘Misinformation’ Crackdown
Quote – “Furthermore, while there is some difference between violating a policy by providing incorrect or misleading information and violating a policy by truthfully providing someone’s private information (and potentially exposing a person to harm), the distinction is not enough to make the statement at issue actionable as both violations are similarly damaging to the journalist’s reputation,” the ruling continues. “Project Veritas’s allegations and arguments do not plausibly suggest that the truth (as pled in the Complaint) would have a different effect on the mind of the average reader in terms of the reputational harm.”
Click through for more, including full ruling if you are so inclined. My translation would be “Just because the reporter made a mistake on which loe-life thing you did this time doesn’t make it defamation.” So nice to see “Project Varitas” lose.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Ada Lovelace
Quote – [Ada Lovelace] was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Click through. A spiritual ancestor of Grace Hopper – and an interesting human being in her own right.

Food For Thought:

Share

Video Thread 3/19/22

 Posted by at 11:35 am  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 192022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Steve Bannon is Back in Court: Here’s why his case in very unlikely to go to trial in July

Meidas Touch – Ukrainian diplomat exposes “Bunker Dwarf” Putin’s anal swab paranoia

Lincoln Project – Leader of Peace

Tweet – Arnold Schwarzenegger has a heartfelt message for Russians

Idaho News 6 – Squirrel attacks burglar

Shirley Serban – This Little Light of Mine (gas prices)

Beau – Let’s talk about new subscribers and my philosophy….

Share

Open Thread March 19, 2022

 Posted by at 6:49 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 192022
 

Yesterday, I had not slept terribly well, and kept nodding off. I did accomplish a little knitting, but not much, and not much else either.

Cartoon 

Short Takes –

Rolling Stone – Manchin’s Coal Corruption Is So Much Worse Than You Knew
Quote – At this point in human evolution, burning coal for power is one of the stupidest things humans do. Coal plants are engines of destruction, not progress. Thanks to the rapid evolution of clean energy, there are many better, cheaper, cleaner ways to power our lives. The only reason anyone still burns coal today is because of the enormous political power and inertia that the industry has acquired since the 19th century. In America, that power and inertia is embodied in the cruel and cartoonish character of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who, paradoxically, may have more control over the trajectory of the climate crisis than any other person on the planet right now
Click through for details – lots of details and links to more. But right now we really don’t have a choice. This is why it is SO important to gain a REAL majority in the Senate as soon as possible.

The New Yorker (Jill Lepore) – Why the School Wars Still Rage
Quote – A century later, the battle over public education that afflicted the nineteen-twenties has started up again, this time over the teaching of American history. Since 2020, with the murder of George Floyd and the advance of the Black Lives Matter movement, seventeen states have made efforts to expand the teaching of one sort of history, sometimes called anti-racist history, while thirty-six states have made efforts to restrict that very same kind of instruction…. While all this has been happening, I’ve been working on a U.S.-history textbook, so it’s been weird to watch lawmakers try their hands at writing American history, and horrible to see what the ferment is doing to public-school teachers.
Click through for story. Besides the “new” stuff, evolution is still a bone of contention. Teachers in the line of fire are very visible – but my biggest worry is what will happen to America whenit becomes a nation whose citizens know noththing of real history.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Christine de Pizan
Quote – Venetian by birth, Christine served as a court writer in medieval France after the death of her husband. Christine’s patrons included dukes Louis I of Orleans, Philip the Bold of Burgundy, and his son John the Fearless. Considered to be some of the earliest feminist writings, her work includes novels, poetry, and biography, and she also penned literary, historical, philosophical, political, and religious reviews and analysis. Her best known works include The Book of the City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City of Ladies, both written when she worked for John the Fearless of Burgundy.
Click through for bio. Not only did she write and get published in her own name … but she made a living doing it. That was a first for a woman, as far as we know.

Food For Thought:

Share

Video Thread 3/18/22

 Posted by at 12:18 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Putin’s Acts Against Ukraine & Trump’s Acts Against the US: Political Acts or Acts of Evil? (“Why not both?” – JD)

Robert Reich – The Real Reason Congress Gets Nothing Done

Rebel HQ – Veteran RIPS Lauren Boebert For Disrespecting Military (As I’ve said elsewhere, I expect she got a letter from the [Fascist] mother of a Marine Lance Corloral [E3] which is abbreviated LCpl. Granted to be what she said it should have been “LtCpl,” but no other service uses the word “Lance” in a rank, so she just assumed. I wonder what she would have done with GySgt.)

Zelensky visits hospitalized girl who shielded her younger brother from Russian gunfire

The Lincoln Project – Putin’s Puppet

Puppet Regime – CoViD-19

Beau – Let’s talk about the country in the mirror….

Share

Open Thread March 18, 2022

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 182022
 

Yesterday, I watched the Theater of War “The Nurse Antigone,” in which Margaret Atwood played Tiresias. Tiresias was blind, and she chose to present blindness with a hoodie covering a lot of her face, including her eyes – but oh, what a voice! All the actors were powerful certainly. And the discussion at the end raised issues which I didn’t realize that I didn’t realize, and not just pertinent to nurses. It was taped, which I hope means it will be available to re-watch – I will be looking for it. But a moral here is, don’t dismiss presentations for military because you’re not military (or have never been in compat), don’t dismiss presentations for medical professionals because you’re not one, and so on .. you could learn something, or hear something that really speaks to you, from any group in this web of projects.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – How Putin’s Oligarchs Bought London
Quote – Invoking Dean Acheson’s famous observation, in 1962, that Britain had “lost an empire but not yet found a role,” [Oliver] Bullough[, a former Russia correspondent,] suggests that it did find a role, as a no-questions-asked service provider to the crooked élite, offering access to capital markets, prime real estate, shopping at Harrods, and illustrious private schools, along with accountants for tax tricks, attorneys for legal squabbles, and “reputation managers” for inconvenient backstories. It starts with visas; any foreigner with adequate funds can buy one, by investing two million pounds in the U.K. (Ten million can buy you permanent residency.)
Click through.  It certainly gives me no pleasure to share this information. However … it is what it is.

The Daily Beast – ‘Many’ Spy Agency Staffers Think Capitol Riot Was ‘Justified,’ Ex-NSA Veteran Says
Quote – An internal U.S. intelligence messaging system became a “dumpster fire” of hate speech during the Trump administration…. Dan Gilmore, who was in charge of overseeing internal chat rooms for the Intelink system for over a decade starting in 2011, says that by late 2020 the system was afire with incendiary hate-filled commentary, especially on “eChirp,” the intelligence community’s clone of Twitter…. “Hate speech was running rampant on our applications… I’m not being hyperbolic. Racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic [sic], and misogynistic speech was being posted in many of our applications.”
Click through for detail.  I’m not naive enough to think the it would ever be possible to eliminate all of them (and I realize I am inviting the question “How many traitors would be about right?”), but before I would believe that so many of our intel agents knowingly and delberately lied under oath about their intentions, I would believe that so many of them simply do not know what the Constitution is and says. And that would be a failure of education.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Enheduanna (23rd century BCE)
Enheduanna … was the EN priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sīn) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in the reign of her father, Sargon of Akkad. She was likely appointed by her father as the leader of the religious cult at Ur to cement ties between the Akkadian religion of her father and the native Sumerian religion. Enheduanna has been celebrated as the earliest known named author in world history, as a number of works in Sumerian literature, such as the Exaltation of Inanna feature her as the first person narrator, and other works, such as the Sumerian Temple Hymns may identify her as their author.
Click through for more. Sure, we can’t prove she did write everything attributed to her – but they also can’t prove she didn’t. But ar least she got recognition for the work. We do know for sure that she did not have to write under a male pen name to be piblished, like Amantine Dupin and Mary Ann Evans, to name just two. That is an accomplishment in itself.

Food For Thought:

Share

Video Thread 3/17/22

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 172022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Prosecutor’s Brief in Enrique Tarrio/Proud Boys Case Provides More Evidence of Trump’s Conspiracy

The Lincoln Project – Brent Renaud

Meidas Touch – Corporate America: Pull Out Of Russia

MSNBC – It’s Happening Again’: Lessons From Russian Targeting Of Syrian Civilians

Rebel HQ –  Southerner Racist Logic Will Make You Lose All Hope  (It ain’t just the South – JD)

Brent Terhune – Do your job, Brandon!

Beau – Let’s talk about an injunction in Texas….

Share

Open Thread March 17, 2022

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 172022
 

Yesterday, aas you will see below, i had a story fall into my lap (so to speak) at exactly the right moment. That doesn’t happen very often. I also spent more time looking for parody and satire for the video thread, since the parodisis and satirists are often in sync with each other. (If you missed Randy Rainbow and Betty Bowers in yesterdas video thread, click back to it.)  I found a few, which will show up in due course … but I didn’t find a new Rocky Mountain Mike, which I was hoping for.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – 300K Hackers Come Together Online To Fight Russia
Quote – Kali – and many others who contributed to this article – declined to share his real name because some of the action he is taking is illegal and because he fears Russian retaliation. He is one of about 300,000 people who have signed up to a group on the chat app Telegram called “IT Army of Ukraine”, through which participants are assigned tasks designed to take the fight to Vladimir Putin. In so doing, they are trying to level the playing field between one of the world’s superpowers and Ukraine as it faces bombardment and invasion.
Click through for C&L story, and through again to the Guardian if you want more. I find this very sweet … but sweetness doesn’t always also have teeth. This does.

Mother Jones – Invoking Pearl Harbor and 9/11, Zelenskyy Issues Extraordinary Plea for Help
Quote – During his speech, Zelenskyy urged Americans to recall the panic sparked by the attack on Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attacks. “Our country experienced the same every day,” he said. “Right now. At this moment, every night for three weeks now.” To conclude, Zelenskyy switched from Ukrainian to English, calling directly on President Joe Biden to become the “leader of the world.”
Click through for more excerpts, analysis, and a link to the full speech. I really couldn’t ignore this. It’s also noteworthy that on Tuesday the Senate voted unanimously to censure Putin as a war criminal. Sure, talk is cheap – but not as cheap as we used to think before TFG.

Colorado Public Radio – Without Ouray, Colorado, there’d be no ‘Danny Boy’
Quote – It was [in Ouray] in 1913 that Weatherly, the wife of a patrician miner from England, linked an old Irish tune to a poem that had been written by her brother-in-law, Frederic Weatherly, an English barrister and lyricist. The poem was written in 1910 as Frederic mourned the deaths of his father and his son. He intended for it to be a song, but no one had succeeded in coming up with the right melody to suit the sad words. That is, until Margaret Weatherly thought of a tune she had heard her father, who immigrated from Ireland, and other Irish railroad workers play when she was a child in California.
Click through for story. Who knew that a story combining Women’s history and irish culture would fall into my lap. I knew Ourau was historically significant (it’s named after a chief of the Tabeguache band of the Utes), but I certainly did not know this. (Ouray is also absolutely gorgeous, and photographs do not do it justice.)

Food For Thought:

Share

Video Thread 3/16/22

 Posted by at 12:19 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 162022
 

Enjot Betty and Randy – I decided not to hold either one.  There’s enough grimness already today.

Glenn Kirschner – Trump Endangers America’s Teachers: When Will DOJ Decide We’ve Reached the Arrest Tipping Point?

Crooks and Liars – Ali Velshi Struggles Through Tears Discussing Slain Ukrainian Family

Rebel HQ – Richard Ojeda Reacts To Trump’s Latest Con Job: Trump Force One

Republican Accountability Project – Republicans are suffering from Partisan Derangement Syndrome

Mrs Betty Bowers – My Intervention with the Gremlin in the Kremlin

Randy Rainbow – GURL, YOU’RE A KAREN

Beau – Let’s talk about Putin banning words and what we can learn….

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries