Personal – Page 140 – Politics Plus

Open Thread March 3, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 032023

Yesterday, as you are no doubt aware, I was very late posting. Eventually, I did get both daily posts up, but not until after many hours had passed. I’ll try not to do that again. If you panicked, I;m terribly sorry. My best advice is not to panic unles it goes into a second day with nothing – and I’m not even sure you should panic then. I did eventually reach my doctor’s office, resolved my prescription, reported the pain in my side, found out my difficulty faxing was likely on account of their equipment, not anythng I was doing, and got an email address (yay!) which I can use for non-emergency communication.

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Short Takes –

ProPublica – Barricaded Siblings Turn to TikTok While Defying Court Order to Return to Father They Say Abused Them
Quote – Two siblings in Utah have barricaded themselves in a bedroom at their mother’s home in defiance of a judge’s order to return to the custody of their father, despite state child welfare investigators determining that he had sexually abused the children…. The showdown is the fallout from the latest family court battle over “parental alienation” — a disputed psychological theory in which one parent is accused of brainwashing a child to turn them against the other parent.
Click through for story. I trust I don’t have to explain the misogyny underlying this abomination. The fact that these children are 15 and 12, not toddlers, also suggests that only straight, white, adult males are to be believed – which is almost beyond irony.

Colorado Public Radio – ‘They’re not gonna help you’: Why domestic violence survivors say they’re being failed by police and the ‘red flag’ law
Quote – The former couple are among the first people to go through Colorado’s new “red flag” process, which allows courts to remove firearms from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. The experience gave her a measure of power over a terrifying situation, she said, but it also left her disillusioned. Her story and others show just how difficult it can be for a private citizen to pursue an “extreme risk” petition — especially when local police aren’t helpful. It’s a situation playing out all across Colorado. In some cases, police simply aren’t familiar with the new law, or may be hesitant to use it. In others, the authorities are intentionally avoiding it.
Click through fpr details and implications. And this is in Colorado. Imagine if this couple were living in Texas or Florida.

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 2, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:24 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 022023

Yesterday, I got caught up in trying unsuccessfully to fax to my doctor’s office, and ended up failing to schedule these posts. I do apologize. I finally have reached them by phone – i left amessage and it was promptly returned. I am actually feeling much better today but I did describe the side pain, so maybe I’ll learn something. I will have everything up in time for tomorrow.

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Short Takes –

Democratic Underground (kpete) – An open letter to Jimmy Carter from Michael Moore.
Quote – The news last weekend that you’ve decided to enter hospice — an “end of life” hospice as the news reports called it — was devastating. I broke down and cried. People will say that at 98 years old you’ve been blessed to live such a long life. And of course, that is true. But I’m not crying over you. I’m crying for us. We need 10,000 more of you, not one less as you leave us. Pundits will continue to “explain” and misunderstand your presidency. The Right despises you because you’re the Christian they fake-claim to be themselves. You’ve lived like a true Christian — humble, kind, forgiving, and always making sure your actions matched your words. You could have had a lucrative post-presidency, raking in the big bucks by sitting on corporate boards and investing in growth capitalism (greed).
Click through for full letter. He really speaks for all of us, IMO.

Keith Giles – The 6 Genders According To The Talmud and Biological Science
Quote – Both scientists and ancient Jewish texts agree that there are 6 different human gender types. Let’s start with the Ancient Jewish sources since, for most Conservative Evangelical Christians, the Jewish religious sources are likely to be more credible. Let’s start with the Jewish Mishnah…. The Mishnah identifies 6 different categories that include the binary “Male” and “Female” but also 4 other types that fall in between that spectrum.
Click through. I’m stretching a bit here, including Gender History under Women’s History. But I believe that’s appropriate. Certainly irrational prejudices based on gender go way beyong pure misogyny. Some sources read eight genders, some read six, and C.S. Lewis referred to seven genders, so maybe he was familiar with both and took an average. Most people of faith, even the crazies, usually concede that “what God does is well done.” What they don’t get, and need to, is that multiple variations on gender are “a thing that God does.”

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 1, 2023

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

Mar 012023

Yesterday, I did get my grocery order, along with some problems. One was nobody’s faukt – I woke up feeling as usual, but sometime between then and the order arrival. several body part involved in lifting and moving stuff decided to become really, really painful. But the other problem was unauthorized substitutions. In theory, they emailed me early enough that i was supposed to be able to get into the site and change them (delete them really), but I couldn’t. I tried more than once on more than one computer and nothing. So, besides the frustration, what with the pain getting everything in, it took me hours to put away perishables, and to just get non-perishables into the rooms where they will be put away (And it was a comparatively small order.) I took some extra OTC pain meds before bed, in the hope that sleep would help resolve the pains. (Those of you who pray, I’;; remn=ind youthat it is perfectly theologically sound to pray for an outcome which, at the time you are praying, has already either happened or won’t, provided that you don’t know which.)

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Short Takes –

Civil Discourse – Judge Luttig Weighs In
Quote – It has become popular in some quarters for pundits to dispense legal opinions that are results-oriented—they figure out what political corner they want to land in and then shoehorn their views of the facts and the law to get there. Judge Luttig doesn’t indulge in that sort of gamesmanship here. As a former Scalia law clerk who has been dismissed by progressive groups as an ultraconservative who leaned too far right to be considered for a Supreme Court seat, you might expect him to. But lawyers and judges are trained in law school to evaluate the facts and the law from 360 degrees and come up with the right answer, not the expedient one. That’s what the best ones do.
Click through for details. You may remember Judge Luttig as the J6 committee witness who spoke so slowly many people assumed he was recovering from a stroke (He wasn’t – that was his wa of being passionate.) When a conservative says/does the right thing it’s newsworthy IMO.

Slate – If the “Abortion Pill” Gets Banned, There’s Still One Good Move
Quote – It’s an alarming possibility that underscores the recklessness of giving politicians and appointees full authority over the nation’s reproductive health: An unelected official could singlehandedly revoke the FDA’s approval of a safe, widely used medication—and the Supreme Court may be inclined to let him…. But there’s an alternative: Mifepristone is only one of two drugs consumed in a standard medication abortion. In higher doses, the second drug, misoprostol, can also terminate a pregnancy on its own.
Click through for article. Counting on right-wing ignorance (even as prevalent as it is) is proably not the best long-term strategy. But in the short term, this is good knowledge to have.

Food For Thought

Open Thread February 28, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:04 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 282023

Yesterday, I mostly recuperated from the weekend. Yeah, my life is – what should I say – inside out? – now. Fridays are the days i dread and Mondays the ones I look forward to. I did get an order in to the store I couldn’t order from last time – they have updated their website again, and this update actually works. Si I’ll have an order come in today. Other than that, if you have heard that the US has placed new sanctions on Russia, this time prohibiting US coffeemakers (among other things) from being sent there, and are wondering WTF, wonder no more. Modern coffeemakers contain computer chips whichcanbe extracted and used to repair broken weapons. And apparently they still have some people there smart enough to do that. Laugh if you will. May as well. (That may even be part of the point.)

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Short Takes –

Colorado Public Radio – From baseball phenom to Colorado community leader: The life and legacy of William ‘Bay Bay’ Richardson
Quote – For decades William Richardson touched the lives of hundreds of young people in his close-knit Colorado community, but many of them had no idea that before then their longtime coach and mentor had already made his mark on Black history, American history and sports history. For a time even his own children were unaware of all that he’d accomplished and the sacrifices he’d made in his young adult years to play the game he loved — baseball. In honor of Black History Month, this never-before-told story chronicles Richardon’s journey from a pitcher in the Negro Baseball Leagues, sports leagues born out of America’s racial segregation era, to a Colorado community leader.
Click through for full story. I don’t like to use thwo short takes the same day from the same source, but this one just popped up, and it may help to alleviate the bad taste the other article will leave you with.

Colorado Public Radio – What we know about the stalking case involving Black ranchers in El Paso County
Quote – It is unclear at the moment why the sheriff’s office didn’t assign someone else to investigate the claims, because the Mallerys have also complained about Gerhart, claiming he was complicit in intimidating them and trying to force them off of their land. Gerhart stated in the affidavit that he was the subject of four of the Mallerys’ complaints against El Paso County Sheriff deputies in the last two years — all of which were dismissed. In total, Gerhart said the Mallerys filed more than 15 internal affairs complaints against deputies.
Click through for full story. As you read, think about the Black History article I shared yesterday concerning white comfort. (I did not simply assume the Clarks are white – I searched and confirmed it.) I know whom I believe.

Food For Thought

Open Thread February 27, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 272023

Yesterday, I got to see Virgil. I passed on greetings, and He said to tell y’all they are appreciated. Today he seemed to have grasped that he willnot be getting out of prison alive, but he asked me – and I know it wasn’t s much as every five minutes, but it was often – how long we had been married (39 years this May) and also, though much less frequently, how old he is (79 – will be 80 in July.) He didn’t appear at all frustrated by not knowing, at least. I left at exactly the right time – five minutes later and the glare would have been too much.Neither visitors nor inmates are allowed watches, but there are a few windows in the room, and they face roughly west, so that if there is sun the light hitting the floor (snd eventually the wall) acts like a makeshift sundial. Six stripes on the south wall means time to go. Once we get back to DST it shouldn’t be a problem – visitation ends early enough that I’ll be fine staying until it’s over – and that will happen for my next visit on March 12. Now, in November, it appears there may be what we called in the military a fire drill, but using an ethnic slur which I won’t repeat. My state has passed legislation to keep DST, as has Ohio. Missouri and Texas have not. California voters have passed a referendum, but the legislature has yet to act. Needless to say, Australia will not be affected by us. For anyone in the US, I highly recommend a bit of research on your state between now and November.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Beltway Media Still Doesn’t Understand Where Right Wingers Get Their Ideas
Quote – In 2016, Stephen Gossett of Chicagoist recounted the history that these Times reporters don’t seem to know: “There is a very simple two-part explanation as to why this happened: President Obama’s adopted hometown is Chicago; and Chicago struggles with gun violence. So its not surprising to find an example that stretches all the way back to Obama’s first presidential campaign.”
Click through for article. Yes, Obama is still the bogey-an for way too many people, and probabloy some arenot even MAGAs.

Medium – 5 Reasons Why White People Are Afraid of Disposing of Their White Comfort
Quote – White comfort shows up everywhere, for instance, in the workplace when keeping Black people a way from senior positions, discriminatory hiring practices. Also, in schools that refuse to teach Critical Race Theory, states that ban books, and the way white people avoid discussing race relations and racism. All of these instances, are sensitive to white people because it pricks them into their skin like a needle; they feel like they are being attacked because they are being asked to be held accountable, and face the reality of the changing world that is being inclusive of everyone but them for once.
Click through for article. White privilege, white fragility, white comfort – they are very similar, though there are subtle differences. All are so subtle yet all-pervasive that many white people don’t know they exist, and often actively fight the idea that they exist. People of color know that if they say or do anything which distirbs white comfort, even someting as innocuous as being in a particular place, their risks extend all the way up to death.

Food For Thought

Open Thread February 26, 2023

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

Feb 262023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by Dmitri Shostakovich. It was based on a novella of roughly the same name, as unfair as that name is to the protagonist, who is essentially reacting to being abused, not only by her husbamd, but by her father-in-law, and then by an employee of the family business with whom she has an affair which essentially begins with a rape. No, murder is never justified, but it really is not hard to have empathy for her. There is a revised version from 1962, which the composer felt was different enough to rename it “Katerina Izmailova,” but it’s the original version (and the original title) which is usually heard today. The opera is one of many of his works which got him into deep doodoo with Stalin (he used to keep a fully packed suitcase by his front door so that if the secret police came in the middle of the might he’d have some possessions to take with him.) As always, I’ll comment when I get back from seeing Virgil.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Why Hasn’t Russia Destroyed Even One US HIMARS System In Ukraine?
Quote – The HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) has been credited with changing the trajectory of the war. Though Ukraine only has about 20 of these systems sent from the United States, Russia seems to have no counter. And many have wondered why Russia has not managed to destroy a single one of them
Click through for article and video. I don’t know much about Czech history or culture. I would not have expected this. But, upon reflection, it fits very well with the little I do know. (And it’s most amusing.)

A Jim Crow–Era Murder. A Family Secret. Decades Later, What Does Justice Look Like?
Quote – It’s like “legal archaeology,” Burnham says. The students read old newspapers, travel to Southern towns to obtain court transcripts, and speak with surviving families. “It’s really not enough to say, ‘Those were horrible days,’ and let them pass,” Burnham told the Northeastern Law magazine in 2010. “The details matter. These stories are important, and to the extent these people are still around, their stories deserve to be told.”
Click through for story. I don’t really have words. I’m thankful for this project – but then I look at the complete erasure of reality DeSatan is perpetrating in Florida. I hope these stories do not disappear like the family photographs mentioned.

Food For Thought

Open Thread February 25, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:11 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 252023

Yesterday, It warmed up above freezing and the snow is mostly gone from where it needs to be gone. Today (and tomorrow) should be warmer. I did listen to the concert “For Ukraine: A Concert of Rememberance and Hope.” It began with a video message from Olena Zelenska (Debra Lou Harder read out the English subtitles.) I was choked up before the first note (which was the first note of the Unkrainian National Anthem, BTW.) If you saw “Amadeus,” you’ll remember several chunks from the Mozart Requiem, and of course everyone recognizes Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. They are actually less familiar to the performers than to the audience – opera orchestras don’t generally play sumphonies, and opera choruses seldom sing Requiems, though top rank vocal soloists do, at least on occasion. The “Prayer for Ukraine” was part of the first Met concert for Ukraine. Yes, this is alot of music analysis. But as someone cited from Heine, (it may have been the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, or one of the two Ukrainian soloists), “When words leave off, music begins.” They posted the program on line (part of it – they cut out the advertising.) And – speaking of Ukraine and music …

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The Daily Beast – Broadway Star Ben Platt Condemns ‘Evil’ Neo-Nazis After ‘Parade’ Protest
Quote – The show, a Broadway transfer from the Encores! concert series, is based on the true story of a Jewish factory superintendent, Leo Frank, who was falsely convicted of killing 13-year-old employee Mary Phagan in 1913, and who was kidnapped from prison and lynched two years later…. [A] masked activist from the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi hate group, tried to leaflet theater-goers outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre so they could “find out the truth” about the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), as well as Parade. “You’re paying 300 bucks to go fucking worship a pedophile, you might as well know what you’re talking about,” the masked person said.
Click through for article. This is bad enough – but the same people who staged this outrage have also designated today as a “National Day of Hate.” At least in many large cities, it’s being reported that law enforcement is providing extra protectio to synagogues.

Letters From An American – February 19, 2023
Quote – Today is the anniversary of the day in 1942, during World War II, that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 enabling military authorities to designate military areas from which “any or all persons may be excluded.” That order also permitted the secretary of war to provide transportation, food, and shelter “to accomplish the purpose of this order.” … On March 2, 1942, General John DeWitt put Executive Order 9066 into effect. He signed Public Proclamation No. 1, dividing the country into military zones and, “as a matter of military necessity,” excluding from certain of those zones “[a]ny Japanese, German, or Italian alien, or any person of Japanese Ancestry.”
Click through for Letter. There is Nick Anderson the basketball player, and there is Nick Anderson the cartoonist, but the Nick Anderson to whom Heather refers is neither of them. He is a young reporter for the Washington Post. I can’t provide a gift link – my cousin is all out of them for this month. Here’s the paywalled link. But hHeather does a gret job and you may not need or want it.

Food For Thought

Open Thread February 24, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:04 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 242023

Yesterday, the temperature did go up before it went down, although it never for as high as freezing. Today it should, and the next several days should be warmer still. There’s no snow in the forecast for a little over a week.

This article in one of my newsletters caught my eye… and then I saw that it had also caught Mitch’s eye. I know many of y’all are also on his mailing list – and also that the contents are no surprise – but it’s good to see that someone is in a position to prove it.

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Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – 10 Surprising Lessons of the Ukraine War So Far
Quote – While Ukraine has pleaded for fighter jets for a year, unmanned aircraft have stolen the show … “No Time for Sergeants” was once a TV hit in America. It has been a flop for the Russian army ,,, Speaking of time, it’s time for traditional navies to realize their time will soon be up … Poland is the new Germany. (And Estonia is the new France.) … Vladimir Putin may be a madman, but at least he has the common sense not to want to be obliterated in a nuclear war with NATO … Speaking of Putin, stick a fork in him. He may not be quite done yet, but he will be soon… and besides if anyone deserves to have a fork stuck in him, it’s Putin … TikTok is more than just an annoying teenage time-waster and Chinese espionage plot … Ukraine is already in the EU and NATO whether you (or Russia or Turkey[sic]) like it or not … With friends like Turkey[sic], Israel, the global South and Elon Musk, who needs enemies? … And the most important lesson of all is, as it will be for the remainder of this century, everything is always about China.
Click through for the explanation of each point. I am doing my best to respect the newly preferred spelling of Türkiye. If the UN can do it, I should be able to.

The Nib – The Great Debate: Martin Luther King, Jr. vs Robert F. Williams
Quote – While the debate between King and Williams was waged in dueling magazine columns in pages of the Liberator over the course of 1959, I like to imagine what it would have been like inperson. Maybe I’d be sitting with WEB Dubois, who followed the discussion closely.
Click through for full graphic. The hearts and minds of bigots cannot be won with violence. The hearts and minds of bigots also cannot be won with non-violence. They also cannot be won with legislation, but I believe legislation has the best chance of controlling their behavior, and of at least achieving justice when that doesn’t succeed. But for that to happen we need to elect majorities of sane legislators everywhere and at every level – and we need exclusively sane people in law enforcement and the courts. None of this is easy.

Food For Thought

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