Open Thread for October 10, 2021

 Posted by at 7:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 102021
 

Yesterday, the opera was “Billy Budd,” based on the novella by Herman Melville, and composed by Benjamin Britten. It goes to some dark places, and I can’t call the ending happy, though it does achieve a measure of peace. Of course the music is lovely. While it was on I organized both morning and evening meds for the next two weeks … so I am ahead of my usual accomplishment with them.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Bears Ears Inter-Tribla Coalition – “We Did It!”
Quote – The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (BEITC), comprised of delegates from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Zuni Tribe, issued a statement today in response to President Biden’s upcoming announcement that the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument will be restored…. This statement represents the joint views of the five Tribes making up the Coalition. Each Tribe, acting as sovereign nations, may also offer independent comments.
Click through for quotes from members. I certainly needed some good news today, and assume y’all do too. You can sign a thank-you note here, courtest of the Grand Canyon Trust, if you like (And you’ll get a nice reply pretty quickly.)

Quote – Unfortunately, in a big black eye for her reputation, Beeman’s own racist comments in a University of Connecticut online forum on “critical race theory” were noticed by Hartford TV station WFSB, which reported on the comments yesterday. The station didn’t specify when the forum took place, but it had a screenshot, and Beeman was quick to insist that heavens no, she didn’t mean anything bad when she’d typed “Helping kids of color to feel they belong has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids.” Of course she didn’t! Here’s the video, cued up to the story so you don’t have to be confused by several minutes of silence at the start, yeesh, guys, you work in teevee.
Click through for clip woth quote. “Tone deaf” doesn’t even begin to describe this. The implication alone that Chrstians can’t possibly be black is nauseating.

Crooks and Liars – Maryland Man Fatally Shot His Pharmacist Brother For ‘Killing People’ With The COVID Vaccine
Quote – Burnham is being held without bond in Allegany County, where he is charged with stabbing Rebecca Reynolds, 83, to death inside her Cumberland home on Sept. 29. Police said he took her car and fled to Ellicott City, where a day later he killed Robinette, 58, and his wife Kelly Sue Robinette, 57. He faces first and second-degree murder charges in the couples’ deaths.
Click through – Apparently we are already in a shooting Civil War. “Brother against btother.” (I didn’t look for Law & Crime’s take on this but I’ll bet it’s epic.)

Food for Thought – Chyron of the Year

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Video Thread 10/9/21

 Posted by at 12:21 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 092021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Senate Report Reveals More Trump Election Crimes; What Congress Should Do About Witness in Contempt

Steve Schmidt on Deadline White House – I looked on YouTube and couldn’t find it.

Politicsrus – Debt Ceiling Part 3 HD

RepresentUs – Sen. Durbin Quotes McConnell to Prove Voting Rights Are Bipartisan

Thom Hartmann – The Two Strategies The GOP Will Use To Steal 2024 Election

Really American – Tucker Spews Raw White Supremacy On Air

Beau – Let’s talk about Idaho and republican divisions….

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Open Thread for October 9, 2021

 Posted by at 6:35 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 092021
 

Yesterday, I realized I am starting to run ahead on news stories. I’ve had times when I was running ahead on videos (and I am that too now, but only a little bit), but haven’t seen this may good stories all at once since I started. And I hate to cut most of them out. So I hope you’ll be tolerant of the stories getting posted a bit late, and if there’s breaking news that you think we shouldn’t have to wait for, please feel free to put it in a comment.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Please Watch Frances Haugen’s ‘60 Minutes’ Interview Before Logging Onto Facebook Again
Quote – Facebook recruited Haugen in 2019 and she agreed to join only if she could work against disinformation because she’d watched a friend get trapped in the alternate reality of online conspiracy theories. She was assigned to Civic Integrity, a showy bit of PR sleight of hand intended to show that Facebook cared about disinformation during the 2020 election. However, the company pulled the plug once the election was over, which is true in only in the most literal sense. Practically speaking, the Big Lie is actively gaining ground, arguably thanks to Facebook.
Click through. I am putting this here and not in the Video Thread, partly because it’s a little long (at 13:36), but partly so that more people will see it. I know Nameless watched it when it aired, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Colleen also did. But I didn’t, and everyone should.

Center for Media and Democracy – ALEC Leaders Boast About Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans Bills
Quote – At the 40th anniversary meeting of the Council for National Policy (CNP) in May, ALEC leaders boasted about their extensive efforts to advance state legislation to severely restrict access to abortion and limit the rights of trans students, as well as voter suppression bills. CNP is a secretive network of far-right Christian political figures and donors that works behind the scenes to influence Washington.
Click through for the status of the investigation. It just never ends!

Mother Jones – This Is the Newest Front in Anti-Vaxxers’ War on Instagram Misinfo Controls
Quote – Janny Organically is a person. Or maybe she’s a few people—it’s hard to tell. At any rate, Janny Organically is an Instagram account, and, with 104,000 followers, a decently popular one at that. Fans enjoy stylishly composed memes in fonts and hues that look like they might belong on a tea towel in a hipster souvenir shop, with lightly anti-authoritarian yet vague messaging. Janny Organically might be urging you to try a new yoga class, or fomenting a revolution, it’s not entirely clear. “Be careful not to confuse cowardice with morality,” reads one post in a script that evokes a 1970s romance novel, in front of some softly blurred flowers. Another one is less subtle: against a sepia-filtered photo of a desert road, are the words, “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.”
Click through for story. This is the nightmare of what happens when people with actual brains and skills get involved in right wing disinformation. It is horrifying.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread 10/8/21

 Posted by at 12:32 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 082021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump & Bannon’s Ongoing Conspiracy: Trump Tells Bannon to Defy Congressional Subpoenas (Have they even served Scavino yet? He’s been hiding from the servers) I have some sympthy for the Justice Department. Indicting them without locking them up would only add fuel to the MAGAt fire. Indicting them and locking them up in a known location would also add fuel to the MAGAt fire. Possibly so would indicting them and locking them up in an unknown location (isn’t that what Guantanamo is for?) If they defy these subpoenas and Congress makes a criminal referral to DOJ, they might be able to lock them up for that without adding too much fuel to the fire, though. And then investigators might have a little slack to gather more evidence for the real charges. Hey, it’s just a thought.

Don Winslow Films – #DeleteZuckerberg

MSNBC – ‘It’s Bad News’: MAGA’s Gaetz Sex Crime Probe Takes New Turn (I post this not because of any interest in Matt Gaetz, but for what it imlies about other investigations.)

The Lincoln Project – Trump or Virginia

Really American – Unvaccinated Destroying Everyone Else’s Life

Liberal Redneck – School Board Terrorists

Beau – Let’s talk about the New York police union and narratives…. (Beau works ahead too, so he had not heard of the guy’s resignation when I saw this. But that still adds no facts to the reasons. By the time you see this, we may all know more.)

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Open Thread for October 8, 2021

 Posted by at 6:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 082021
 

Yesterday, I went through all the ballot issues I wil be voting on and figured out all the Yesses and Noes. In Colorado, General Elections in odd-numbered years are never for people but only for issues, and are limited to issues involving money. So it’s a drag reading through all of them. I have 3 state issues, one county issue, and one special district issue to vote on. The special district issue was easy – our fire and EMT response times are dire, all due to insufficuent funds. The others were more difficult, and I had to go to Colorado Public Radio for actual English explanations to determine where the Republican shenanigans are hidden (and there certainly are some.) But I have it figured out now. Also yesterday, Mitch and I figured out a way that I can email him the Open Thread (not a link, the actual content) which is simple and easy. And of course he can reply with comments. So we can keep in touch to that extent anyway.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

USPS Testing Out Postal Banking. Thank The Postal Union!
Quote – The USPS got out of the banking business in 1966, but for decades, think tanks and policy geeks have said it would be a great thing to bring back, because there are millions of Americans who don’t use banks, yes in 2021. Instead, far too many Americans are unbanked — about five percent of us — and pay too much to cash their paychecks at payday lenders, (some) grocery stores, or Walmart. Starting last month, the USPS began testing out a new system where people can cash business checks up to $500 and receive the money in the form of a gift card that can be used pretty much anywhere. As David Dayen puts it at the American Prospect, this is a big effing deal: He calls it “the most far-reaching executive action that the Biden administration has taken since Inauguration Day.”
Click through for story. Elizabeth Warren is one who will certainly be happy. This is a pet project of hers (one of many.)

Rise in New Mexico earthquakes likely triggered by oil industry
Quote – There were 146 quakes through June so far this year. Those numbers are just in New Mexico — they are even higher over the border in the Texas portion of the basin. The overwhelming majority of the quakes are small and barely perceptible to people right in the area where they occur. But Dr. Mairi Litherland, the manager of the Seismological Observatory at New Mexico Tech, is paying close attention because, “we have seen that when you start to see more of these smaller events, it can lead to larger events.”
Click through for details (including bad kitty litter). Gee- ya think?

GOP Senate Candidate Seeks Gag Order On His Wife
Quote – And now, true to Trump form, he’s got problems with his treatment of women in his personal life, ahem. “Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Sean Parnell has asked a judge to seal records in his ongoing custody case and to ban his wife and her attorney from talking publicly about past protection-from-abuse orders against him — matters that have stirred political attacks and media scrutiny.”
Click through – This is just the primary. Lots could happen.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread 10/7/21

 Posted by at 12:06 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 072021
 

Glenn Kirschner – If DOJ/Garland Fails To Prosecute Trump, Here’s The Dangerous Precedent That Will Be Set

The Lincoln Project – Glenn Trumpkin

RepresentUs – Senator Invested in Facebook Asks Whistleblower About Profits

Armageddon Update – RIP Facebook

MSNBC – TX Officials Give Timeline Of School Shooting, Confirm 4 Injured, Suspect Identified. Sigh.

This is THE AD Beau talks about….

Beau – Let’s talk about fact checking the Battle of Hayes Pond ad…..

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Open Thread for October 7, 2021

 Posted by at 6:31 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 072021
 

Yesterday, I got an email from visitation staff that they are changing visitation dates and can I come on the 16th instead of the 17th. So that has changed. Considering how early I have to start, morning traffic will probably be not too bad. The afternoon may be a different story.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Guardian – Henrietta Lacks’ estate sues drug company that sold her cells
Quote – The lawsuit asks the court in Baltimore to order Thermo Fisher Scientific to “disgorge the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line to the Estate of Henrietta Lacks”. It also seeks an order permanently enjoining Thermo Fisher Scientific from using the HeLa cell line without the estate’s permission.
Click through for story. I hope the estate takes the company to the cleaners. Yes, I have benefitted from this crime – we all have – the polo vaccine is just one way – but most of us in complete ignorance. Thermo Fisher Scientific can’t claim that.

Two related stories:
HuffPost – FBI Raids NYPD Union Office And Home Of Its Right-Wing Leader
Quote – Mullins, a police sergeant detached to full-time union work, is in the middle of department disciplinary proceedings for tweeting NYPD paperwork last year regarding the arrest of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter during protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Mullins’ department trial began last month but was postponed indefinitely after one of his lawyers suffered a medical emergency.
Click through for more on the raid, and see the next story for at least one consequence.

CBS News – New York City police union leader resigns after FBI raids his office and home
Quote – Mullins has previously been accused of violating policy when he posted the police report from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter’s arrest during the George Floyd protests last year. He is currently facing a departmental trial over the accusation. “Ed Mullins dishonored his uniform, his city and his union more times than I can count. It was just a matter of time before his endless hatred would catch up with him. That day has come,” de Blasio tweeted late Tuesday following news of Mullins’ resignation.
Click through for some details. Knowing MAGAts, I’m sure there is far more left unsaid than has yet been said.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread 10/6/21

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 062021
 

Glenn Kirschner – House Select Committee Promises to Enforce its Subpoenas w/Criminal Contempt. Here’s How That’s Done

The Lincoln Project – Last Week In The Republican Party…

VoteVets – Retired Air Force Internal Medicine Physician Urges Everyone To Get Vaccinated

Robert Reich – The Democrats’ One Chance to Cut Child Poverty in Half

Really American – 50% of Trump Supporters Would Back Civil War

Mother Cat Secretly Looked After Kittens Whom She Hid In The House

Beau – Let’s talk about the difference between the parties and Trump’s legacy….

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