Open Thread – Page 262 – Politics Plus

Open Thread March 8, 2022

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

Mar 082022

Yesterday, most of Sunday’s snow was gone. However, although we are expecting sun today, it won’t warm up to above freezing before Friday. Good thing I like staying inside.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Conversation – How do Russia’s reasons for war stack up? An expert on ‘just war’ explains
Quote – That’s not to say that [philosophers, theologians, politicians and military leaders] always agree on how to apply just war principles to an actual conflict. Given the Kremlin’s attempts to justify its invasion of Ukraine, including its groundless accusations of genocide, it’s worth analyzing Russia’s position through the lens of the just war tradition – the focus of my work as a political scientist who studies the ethics of conflict.
Click through for a crash course in what makes waging war morally acceptable. As she shoud, the author works hard to be fair. This question is not black and white, but multiple shades pf gray.

Great Power – There is no way back. [Part 1] [If we want the war to stay in Ukraine, we have to win it in Ukraine.]
Quote – Since the first boom, Ukrainian strategic decision-making was actually about looking for victory — which technically is what strategy is for; strategy is a theory of success in war — and about creating opportunity for something other than just dying quietly in the mud and the rubble. This has given them an incalculable advantage over Russia. And honestly, over us. We haven’t caught up yet.
Click through for the full article. I am not, of course, on Twitter, but someone at DU who is found this article recommended in a tweet by LTC Vindman.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Grace Hopper
Quote – Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first linkers. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages.
Click through for bio. How could I possibly do a Women’s History month (and on a blog where Pat B is a prime contributor) without including “Amazing Grace”?

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 3/7/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:53 am Open Thread, Politics

Mar 072022

Glenn Kirschner – Trial of Insurrectionist Guy Reffitt Went from Bad to Worse: Bad for Reffitt but Good for Justice

Lincoln Project – Biden’s Responce to Tyranny

MSNBC – How To Shield Against Russia’s Cyberattacks

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse – Sen. Whitehouse Delivers Floor Speech on Ending Kleptocracy’s March

Ukrainian Armed Forces “Each of Us” (hanky alert)

Republican Accountability Project – Trump thinks Putin is “smart”. What does that make Trump?

The Late Show – This is only 2 minutes, and ends with an impression of Gollum as Putin which really nails it.

Beau -Let’s talk about the most expensive energy auction in US history….

Open Thread March 7, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 072022

Yesterday, I took some time to look up interesting women for this month. My collection is rather personal – mostly women I had never hear of myself, but also a few whom I had heard of but who have been forgotten since. Perhaps we can all learn something.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – GOP Senators Ripped For Reckless Tweets During Zelenskyy Zoom Call
Quotes – “The Ukrainian Ambassador very intentionally asked each of us on the zoom to NOT share anything on social media during the meeting to protect the security of President Zelenskyy. Appalling and reckless ignorance by two US Senators.”
“Why the hell would you risk that man’s life by tweeting this in real time when you were specifically asked not to?!”
“Still on the payroll, I see. Couldn’t follow directions on the Zoom call, huh? Is Pootie paying you in crypto now that the ruble has tanked?”
Click through for more. You probably heard that this happened (although Grassley was not included when I first heard it.) And the volcano of fury it stirred up among all decent prople will do nothing to help keep him alive. But ti’s good to know decent prople are out there. (Is there any difference between this and Bo ebert tweeting out Speaker Pelosi’s location on January 6?)

Letters from an American – March 5, 2022
Quote – Aaron Blake of the Washington Post reported on Thursday that after Trump won the 2016 election and we learned that Russia had interfered to help him, Republicans’ approval of Putin jumped from about 14% to 37%. In the Des Moines Register today, columnist Rekha Basu explained how the American right then swung behind Putin because they saw him as a moral crusader, defending religion and “traditional values,” from modern secularism and “decadence,” using a strong hand to silence those who would, for example, defend LGBTQ rights. [emphasis mine]
Click through, and you’ll learn a lot about tha conflict in Ukraine. But it’s the conflict in the United States I wanted to highight. Wingnuts were not brainwashed by Trump**. They were brainwashed in advance to accept Trump**. At least that goes to explain why so many who are now turning on him over vaccines are not letting go of the tiniest fraction of the insanity.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Hypatia of Alexandria
Quote – Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor. She wrote a commentary on Diophantus’s thirteen-volume Arithmetica, which may survive in part, having been interpolated into Diophantus’s original text, and another commentary on Apollonius of Perga’s treatise on conic sections, which has not survived. Many modern scholars also believe that Hypatia may have edited the surviving text of Ptolemy’s Almagest, based on the title of her father Theon’s commentary on Book III of the Almagest.
Click hrough for bio. Her name survived into my lifetime as a decriptive term applied to a woman who was a teacher of, and or inspirational to, some dude (e.g., “His wife iwas his Hypatia.”) But that seems to have dropped out of common use, at least in the U.S.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 3/6/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:06 pm Open Thread, Politics

Mar 062022

Glenn Kirschner on Stephanie Miller This was going to be the February recap but I bumped that for this.

Lincoln Project – Don Jr CPAC speech

MSNBC – ‘Criminal Conspiracy’: Raskin Lays Out Trump’s Potential Jan. 6 Crimes

Farron Balanced – Republican State Of The Union Response Was Dumber Than Expected

The Daily Show – Tyranol: The Drug For Conservatives Who Want to Forget They Praised Putin

Shirley Serban – A Song for Ukraine 2022 (hanky alert) We have seen Shirley’s work before – she is the person who created “Bohemian Catsody.” Now I know she has a whole channel, and I have bookmarked it.

Beau – Let’s talk about a Russian article from the future….

Open Thread March 6, 2022

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

Mar 062022

Yesterday, the opera was a historic broadcast (next week they will get back to live broadcasts for the rest of the season.) They had a list of around 10 and asked listeners to vote (I didn’t because I didn’t have aa favorite.) The voting went to “Tha Daughter of the Regiment” from 1973, with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. What’s primarily historic about it is that it was Pavarotti’s broadcast debut, and includes the aria which gave him the nickname “Monarch of the high C’s.” I’m not a dedicated Pavarotti fan, but there’s no question he deserved that title. Those C’s were beautiful to hear, as well as inspiring to so many tenors who have come after him. (It’s also the opera in which RBG famously played the [speaking] role of the Duchess of Krakenthorpe – but that was not in this production, it was in Washington DC in 2016 – and again in 2021.) in esearching those dates. I also discovered she loved new opereas as much as lder ones, as do I. But this one – and the one written about her and Scalia, must have held special places in her heart.

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Short Takes –

Vox – The fate of American elections is in Amy Coney Barrett’s hands
Quote – Four members of the Court have already endorsed [the independent state legislature] doctrine, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected it over the course of more than a century. Along with Gorsuch, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh all embraced it in lawsuits seeking to alter which rules would govern the 2020 election. Meanwhile, the three liberal justices plus Chief Justice John Roberts have all signaled that they will not overrule the more than 100 years’ worth of Supreme Court decisions rejecting [this] doctrine. So, unless Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, or Kavanaugh has an unexpected change of heart, the fate of American democracy is now in Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s hands.
Click through for details. I sense a possible subtext here, though I may be wrong – if it isn’t just random, if someone decides which justice gets to consider each case, it could be that someone is willing to throw Barrett under the bus if (when) the backlash is overwhelming.

Aeon – The many deaths of liberalism
Quote – Not coincidentally, all of these critics are living, writing and publishing in liberal countries. And they are demonstrating one of liberalism’s most successful features simply by participating in the quintessentially liberal enterprise of dialogue and disagreement under constitutional protections (with liberal limitations). These are, in fact, the only states in which actual competition for power and dissent is not just allowed but fostered. No one living in a totalitarian society has had the luxury of declaring liberalism, let alone totalitarianism, dead.
Click through for essay. There’s very little new information here, but it’s a strong reminder that the fight to make our nation more liberal – closer to the actual ideals of liberalism – will never ne over, by its very nature. So we always need to keep going. And as Samuel Johnson said, human beings do not need to be instructed so much as they need to be reminded

Women’s History – Smithsonian: Women’s Futures Month
Quote – Calling all citizen scientists, do-gooders, plant lovers, activists, advocates, dreamers, and creators! Join us in March 2022, when the Smithsonian shakes up Women’s History Month with a new Women’s Futures Month: a forward-looking celebration of the power of women and girls in STEM to shape a better world.
Click through for background and programs. The Smithsonian wants to focus on the future rather than the past, and that is certainly also useful – not just for women.

Food For Thought:

Video Thread 3/5/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:11 pm Open Thread, Politics

Mar 052022

Glenn Kirschner – NY Prosecutors Investigating Trump Resign, DA Alvin Bragg Refuses to Release Resignation Letters I am posting this because I am not hiding anything. But I would point out that a straight stick points two ways. And I have not forgotten that when Tish James jumped in in Trump** her office announced that they and the Manhattan DA’s office would be coordinating their efforts. I would expect that a major element of that coordination would be coordinating the order in which steps would be taken. Again, a straight stick points two ways. We don’t have evidence for either direction at this point.

Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – February 28, 2022

Ring of Fire – Mitch McConnell Brutally Smacks Down Donald Trump And Rick Scott

MSNBC – Trump Crime? MAGA Riot Panel Reveals Evidence Of ‘Criminal Conspiracy’

Truth Matters – State of Democracy

Armageddon Update | What Is It Good For? (“Scream Sanity” indeed!)

Beau – Let’s talk about Psaki, Hawley, energy, and national security….

Open Thread March 5, 2022

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

Mar 052022

Yesterday, it snowed a little in the morning. Most of it was gone by midafternoon, although some always lingers on the north sides of objects like houses, cars, mailboxes, trees, and the like. I didn’t realize we were expecting any yesterday – I know we are for tomorrow, and a sub-freezing high temperature as well.

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Short Takes –

The NM Political Report – AG, SOS issue warning over Otero County ‘vigilante audit’
Quote – The effort, which echoes efforts made by conservatives and some far-right politicians throughout the country regarding the 2020 elections, was authorized by the Otero County Commission and outsourced to the New Mexico Audit Force. That group is sending volunteers door-to-door to speak to voters and gather personal information. Attorney General Hector Balderas and Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver issued a release to remind voters of their rights and what information is publicly available in the form of voter records.
Click through for details. Otero County is south of Albuquerque. Its southern border is shared with Texas. A kind of terrain which seems to attract bullies. I’m glad the SoS is dresing this. Otero cetainly needs new County Commissioners as well (I’d say the current commissioners should be required to repay the county out of their own pockets for the taxpayer money they have spent on this.)

Wonkette – Won’t Have To Have An Insurrection If You Let The Trumpists Count All The Votes
Quote – Once in place, those new precinct officers have started going mad with whatever power they have, using it to “remove or censure Republican leaders who contradicted Trump’s election lies,” and also to recruit all their MAGA buddies and Big Lie aficionados to sign up as poll watchers or poll workers. So if the next time you go to vote, the nice old lady volunteers at the polling place have been replaced by guys wearing body armor or Hawaiian shirts, you’ll know. Or they may dress like students or dress like housewives, blending in with the crowd.
Click through for more. I’m sure you are already aware of this plot (I certainly was.) But i have to love the way Wonkette presented it in the newsletter. After identifyinf the “Four Horsepeople Of The Republican Apocalypse” (Pestilence – DeSantis, War = Ted Cruz, Famine = Rick Scott, Death = Danny Bentley), the newsletter then presented this article with the header “And It Was Given To Them To Give Breath To The Beast.” So true.

Women’s History – The 19th – 41 years before Ketanji Brown Jackson, Amalya Lyle Kearse was considered for the Supreme Court
Quote – As the country prepares to watch the confirmation process for the first Black woman nominated to the nation’s highest court, The 19th revisits Kearse, who was the first Black woman judge on an appellate court and who still sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. She was considered for a Supreme Court nomination by three different presidents, the first Black woman on record to receive such recognition. Kearse was a key figure in paving the way for Black women judges, who even with the high-profile nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court are underrepresented on the U.S. judiciary.
Click through for story. The three Presidents who short-listed her were Reagan, Bush Sr., and CLinton. She is 84 and still working(as a senior judge, which means a reduced caseload, but still.) There is much more packed into this relatively short article also.

Food For Thought:

I hope I will soon be able to go through posts of cartoons without getting my heart broken, smetimes more than once.