Open Thread December 5, 2022

 Posted by at 6:47 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 052022
 

Yesterday, I visited Virgil – I passed all greetings on to him, and he returns them all. The deck of cards was in use when I got there, but tat visitor left after a while and I acarfed them up. I got home safely ithout incident … but without a whole lot of energy. So I’m being brief.

Cartoon 05 Charlemagne loaded

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – The one thing you need to know about the railroads
Quote – Let me be clear. A strike and shutdown of the nation’s railroads would be terrible for the economy. It would worsen inflation. But legislation effectively prohibiting a strike would impose unfair working conditions on employees in one of the most profitable industries in America — further tilting the nation’s economic imbalance toward large corporations and Wall Street, and against working people. Here, a concentrated industry has gained record profits by understaffing — squeezing its workers to the breaking point. Prodded by Wall Street, the big rail companies have intentionally gutted their own spare capacity.
Click through for full opinion. Well, it’s done now. I do hope it comes back to bite railroad owners and executives. It would be nice if it were to happen in some way that doesnt hurt all the American people. But I don’t know whether that’s possible.

HuffPost – Three Ways The New Primary Calendar Could Change The Nominating Process
Quote – The proposed changes come from President Joe Biden, although they have the support of a large chorus of party leaders, activists and officials — all of whom have grown frustrated with the outsized influence of Iowa and New Hampshire, which have traditionally gone first and second. Under the plan, South Carolina would go first, replacing Iowa. New Hampshire would still have its primary one week later, but it would share its day with Nevada. Two larger states, Georgia and then Michigan, would be next.
Click through for more specifics. If you read down on why this is desired, you will see one word – diversity. I hope it goes through in all the states.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epz7ej/is-cocaine-bear-really-based-on-a-true-story
Vice – Is ‘Cocaine Bear’ Really Based on a True Story?
Quote – The upcoming Cocaine Bear movie does what it says on the tin: it’s all about a bear getting high on cocaine. [NSFW]
Click through for more. Apparently the short answer is yes. Poor thing.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread December 4, 2022

 Posted by at 6:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 042022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was yet one more comedy – “L’Elisir d’Amore” by Donizetti. I’m not sure when or where they have set it, but, from the look of the steam engine, it might be 19th century America, in country which wold not then have been flyover country, but would have been country where the train didn’t stop unless someone rang the bell for it to do so. I’ve seen it once befrore done in that period, and it’s a good fit – the country lad tenor becomes a cowboy, the Italian recruiting Sergeant becomes a Civil War recruiting sergrand, and – the shake oil salesman stays a snake oil salesman. And the heroine, the hard-to-get farm owner, becomes a hard-to-get ranch owner. The names given to the three male principals are clues to their personalities – I’ll only mention Nemorino, which means “kittle nobody.” His big aria is “Una furtiva lagrima” (a tear she tries to hide) is done a lot in concerts and recitals, and in times when encores are allowed, it gets encored a lot (the first tie Caruso did it at he Met it was encored 3 times in one performance.  It was encored in this performanc, but only once.) Despite missteps and misunderstandings, it all ends happily – including for the snake oil salesman, who sells a lot mor of his “elixir” on the strength of Nemorino’s success. This is the last opera from China (this year) – next week the Met broadcast season starts. I’m assuming my local station will carry it, but in case it doesn’t, WFMT will. Tomorrow, I see Virgil.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

truthout – Evangelical Lobbying Threatens Supreme Court’s Independence
Quote – It is likely not a coincidence that both decisions served the conservative evangelical agenda and both were leaked by people with advance knowledge of the results. Although the right-wing members of the court had probably already made up their minds in these two cases, the leaks were apparently designed to strengthen their resolve. The operation was called the “Ministry of Emboldenment,” Jodi Kantor and Jo Becker reported in their explosive November 19 New York Times article, quoting whistleblower Rev. Rob Schenck who used to run Faith and Action. Its goal was to “embolden the justices” to write “unapologetically conservative dissents.”
Click through for details. It is a no-brainer that any kind of lobbying involving gifts and/or favors is wrong. (Although it’s certainly difficult to draw a solid line. When you or I sign a petition to someone in government, we are lobbying. How far up the ladder is it legitimate to go?) But lobbying the Courts – by anyone – wherever the line is, that is definitely past it.

PolitiZoom – It’s Official, Trump’s Got A Babysitter. ‘Official Will Be Present With Him At All Times’ After Fuentes Fiasco
Quote – [W]e have since learned that Fuentes and Milo Yiannopoulos were there to embarrass Trump. He did it to himself. Trump can’t afford any more screw ups like this. There is no other candidate for any high office, let alone president, who doesn’t know who s/he’s sitting down to dinner with publicly and what the ramifications of a wrong move could be. This isn’t the old days, with Trump as the iconoclast. He’s the icon now, supposedly. The MAGA icon at least…. Trump needs to tread the straight and narrow now, and that’s not his style. He has no discipline. This is going to be torture for him, having to do things by the book. Frankly, I’m wondering if he’ll stay in the race.
Click through – Of course the point of this story is that Trump** is and always will be a behavioral toddler. But I was also interested to learn the identity of “The Third Man” (apologies to Graham Greene and Harry Lime.) I was beginning to think it must have been Milo after I saw a photo of him, Ye, and Nick on a private jet together, but now I’m sure. Oh, and, in an update, Trump** is denyng this.

Democratic Underground (CousinIT) – Tribe: Why Raskin’s role in leading Jan.6 efforts to wrap up recommendations is a BFD
Quote – The best news in a long time is that Jamie Raskin was recently named chair of a Jan. 6 subcommittee in charge of “wrapping up outstanding issues and recommending possible criminal and civil charges, while the full panel finalizes the report. I say that because, ever since Rep. Raskin was my student back in the day in constitutional law, and in all my work with him in the years since, he has demonstrated a uniquely deep and historically rich understanding of the democratic and egalitarian aspirations underlying the best features of our complex and compromised constitutional structure and has exhibited an uncanny ability to translate those features into practical realities that people can appreciate and get behind.
Click through for more and sources. This is quoted from Lawrence Tribe. Generally, teachers are very aware of, and very accurate on, the capaiities of their students.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread December 3, 2022

 Posted by at 6:47 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 032022
 

Yesterday, I learned a new word – new to me, at least. A forb is an herbaceous flowering plant other than in the grass family. I get a “Bird of the Week” email from the American Bird Conservancy, and this week’s bird, the Chestnut-collared Longspur, they tell me, seeks shelter among grasses and forbs. Who’da thunk. I also continued listening to a Rachel Maddow podcast, “Ultra,” about a plot from 1940. There are 8 episodes altogether, and each episode has a complete ranscript whic has been edited and proofread, and indicates at all times who is speaking. It doesn’t get any better than that. Also, the episode I listened to on Wednesday included a few commercials, and the transcripts do not. The full 8-episode podcast corcens events which happened in 1940 of which you have probably never heard (I hadn’t) but which are spookily similar to today. (The one person whose name I had heard was Father Coughlin, and I was aware he was terrible, but exactly how terrible, no.) The fact is, eternal vigilance really is the price of liberty. And yet, it’s also true that Democracy requires a lot of mutual trust in order to finction well. Those two truths constantly work against each other, yet neither one is safe alone.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

truthout – Fracking Firm Agrees to Pay a Small Town’s Water Bills for 75 Years
Quote – After years of legal wrangling, the company formerly known as Cabot Oil & Gas agreed to plead no contest to 15 criminal violations of state environmental laws and pay nearly $16.3 million for the construction of a new public water supply for Dimock. Activists say some Dimock residents went years without access to clean tap water, and Coterra Energy, the company that bought Cabot, will pay their water bills for 75 years under a plea deal with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It remains unclear whether Coterra would be permitted to frack the area in the future, but production was halted years ago as the scandal unfolded.
Click through for story – This is something we don’t see every day (but probably should.) I was thinking that if one ever wanted a prosecuting attorney, the prosecutor in this case would be the one you’d want… but he’s not available. He just got elected Governor.

Crooks & Liars – Russian Propagandist Admits: If Russia Loses, We’re All Going To The Hague
Quote – “I want to say that if we manage to lose, the Hague, conditional or concrete, is even waiting for the janitor who sweeps the paving stones behind the Kremlin wall. What do we need from the fact that another district of Kyiv will be left without electricity or not? The scale of the catastrophe for our country, if we manage to do it [lose] is unimaginable. To be afraid of The Hague – do not go into the forest, ”said Simonyan. However, propaganda host Vladimir Solovyov summed up at the end that if Russia loses, there will be no The Hague. According to him, if this happens, then “the whole world will go to dust.”
Click through for a little more. Yes, this fear has substance. The Iternational Court has formed (or is forming) a court specifically to investigate Russian war crimes.

The 19th – Bipartisan bill would require human trafficking hotline to be posted in every U.S. port of entry
Quote – Senators introduced on Thursday the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation which was shared first with The 19th. The bill would direct the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security to ensure the hotline is also visible in every individual plane, bus and train restroom. The companion bill, introduced by Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, and Darrell Issa, a Republican, passed in the House in July. Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said transportation hubs are a “common-sense place to intercede” by letting victims and bystanders know who to call for help.
Click through for details – I’m going to try not to be snotty, and just say this is a good idea, and it’s good that it’s (at least to some extent) bipartisan.

Food For Thought (updated by me.)

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Open Thread December 2, 2022

 Posted by at 7:17 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 022022
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Adam Frisch concerning the mandatory recount. In it, he cast some serious shade at the Republican PArty which would (if they had any shame) leave a mark (but they don’t.) Just one paragraph:

While I am fully supportive of the recount process, based on the history of Colorado recounts, I could not, in good faith, perpetuate false hope that there is a good chance of the recount changing the outcome of this election. That is why on November 18th, I publicly conceded this race to my opponent. When I launched this campaign, I promised to run this race with integrity because that is who I am. I could not look people in the eye and raise money when the votes were already cast, ballots cured, and the final election results were in the hands of Colorado’s competent Secretary of State – and no amount of money could change them.

I also received a grocery order. The weather was windy, and will be today, so I was glad I hadn’t put the carts out – it doesn’t take much to knock them over or sling them around, and I didn’t have enough in them to stabiize them.

Finally, Joyce Vance put out a quick newsletter to discuss the combination alsp in the face and kick in the gron which was the 11th Circuit’s response to Trimp** and Ailees Cannon.  One short quote: “Trump’s “task was to show why he needed the documents, not why the government did not.'”  Well, gee – surely they didn’t expect that he would tell the truth, that he wanted them to seel to the highsest bidders?

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Colorado Public Radio – The mother of the Club Q shooting suspect was arrested and charged the morning of the shooting
Quote – Laura Lea Voepel, 45, was charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest and a petty charge of disorderly conduct by Colorado Springs Police between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Nov. 20, according to court documents. Records show she was arrested on North Union Boulevard for making “unreasonable noise” near a private residence just hours after the shooting at Club Q…. Police records say Voepel used physical force and violence against officers during her arrest. Further details are unavailable at this time.
Click through if you like. There’s not much more detail, though there is a link to an earlier incident. File this under “Tha apple doesn’t fall far…” (Unless you prefer the NSFW version.)

HuffPost – House Votes To Impose Union Contract With Paid Sick Leave To Avoid Rail Strike
Quote – The measure now heads to the Senate where a vote is expected in the coming days…. The House also approved a resolution that would give rail workers seven paid sick days per year, but that separate measure seems unlikely to make it through the Senate and to President Joe Biden’s desk.
Click through for more.   IThe House is somewhat between a rock and a hard place here. If we could run this by the current House and next year’s Senate,we might get it through (with the extra seat in the Senate we might be able to dodge the filibuster.) But there isn’t the time for thaat, even if it were legally possible. The best we can do is make it clear that cutting the sick leave is not the work of the Democrats. And, if the cartoons I’m seeing are any indication, that fact may be met with disbelief anyway.  (Update – Looks like the Senate did vote testerday and killed the sick leave.)

Food For Thought

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Open Thread December 1, 2022

 Posted by at 6:50 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 012022
 

Yesterday, the newsletter from The Conversation had three different articles onn genetics, two of which related directly to conflict during pregnancy between the mother’s and father’s genes, The third focused on how assumptions can disguise the meaning of the evidence as to whether certain traits are genetic or not. Coming so soon after the short take we had on genetic anomalies, I was interested, but a short take will not do justice to the subject. Instead, I’ll provide links to all of them, here, here, and here. I will warn you that the authors use anthromorphism to make some points – genes don’t (as far as we can tell have consciousness, and therefore they don’t “want” to do things, nor do they experience feelings of hostility. But the effects are as if they did.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Report: Feds Are Still Not Concentrating On Domestic Terror
Quote – Although the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have identified domestic terrorism, specifically white supremacist violence, as “the most persistent and lethal terrorist threat,” the federal government has continued to allocate resources to focus on international terrorist threats instead, according to the report.
Click through for article (and a link to C&L’s source.) I can think of reasons – mostly having to do with relative difficulty. But, doggonit, if one thing is more dangerous than another, we need to focus on the thing which is more dangerous, no matter how difficult it is to do so.

Axios – Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes found guilty of seditious conspiracy
Quote – Why it matters: Rhodes, a prominent figure within far-right American politics, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison from the conviction, [and] the jury also found him guilty on other charges…. The big picture: The verdicts may serve as a preview for the upcoming trial against Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and other members who were also charged with seditious conspiracy for their actions around and on the day of the riot.
Click through for details. While technically this does not set a “legal precedent” (but it will, I’m betting – Rhodes lawyer says he will appeal, and I trust it will fail), it will help give confedence to any other prosecutors wh, becaue the last time before not the charges was pressed (in 2010),the jury failed to convict.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread November 30, 2022

 Posted by at 7:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 302022
 

Yesterday, we did indeed have snow as predicted, but the sun was out a couple of hours before is was supposed to slow down to a trickle. (the prediction also suggested it would continue to trickle throug the night, which it may – or may not.)  It was also Giving Tuesday, so my inbox was about twice its usual size. And one more notable thng – the Senate passed the law upholding same-sex marriage 61-36  At this link you can see the 12 Republicans who voted yes, and I guarantee some will surprise you.  Now, this doesn’t mean some (*)hole state will not challenge the law, but it does make it harder.

Cartoon – 3

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – How Did a State Known for Its War on Immigrants Approve In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students?
Quote – Proposition 300, [passed in 2006, was] a successful ballot measure that made university students in Arizona who were not US citizens or permanent residents and those lacking legal status ineligible for in-state tuition and federal and state financial aid…. Sixteen years later, that could change. The majority of voters in Arizona during the recent midterm elections were in favor of Proposition 308, a ballot measure that repealed provisions from Proposition 300 and opened the way for any high school graduate, regardless of immigration status, living in Arizona for at least two years, to access in-state tuition rates at state universities and community colleges.
Click through for analysis. It makes sense to me. If you don’t like a groups of people, at least in part because they are uneducated, then educate them. but then, I’m a flaming liberal.

Crooks & Liars – Russian Mothers ‘Rewarded’ With A Set Of Towels For Fallen Sons
Quote – On the occasion of Mother’s Day, one of the leaders of the Kursk region in Russia made a grotesque gesture, presenting a set of towels to mothers who lost their sons on the Ukrainian front. Outrageous news came to light in the Russian media: one of the district leaders of the Kursk region, Sergey Korostyev, gave a set of towels to mothers who lost their sons on the Ukrainian front, reports the Russian newspaper Vesma.
Click through for story and sources. Mothers Day in Russia is celebrated on the last Sunday in November. I don’t know about the “Dollar store” part. I expect the government is hurting for funding.

Food For Thought

 

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Open Thread November 29, 2022

 Posted by at 7:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 292022
 

Yesterday, the weather prediction was for snow today – and very cold – with a high below 32°F. Since I start shivering and my teeth chatter at 72°F, I’ll be staying in (not that I don’t anyway.) I also received confirmation to visit Virgil Sunday (and snow is NOT predicted for Sunday.) Also too, I learned that last Saturday was the 100th birthday og Charles M. Schulz. Here’s a link to a page of cartoons, which starts with political ones, but also includes more birthday tributes to the creator of “Peanuts” than you would probably think possible (and one or two are conspicuous, to me at least, by their absence.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Axios – World’s largest active volcano starts to erupt in Hawaii
Quote – Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano — located on the Big Island — began erupting late Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said…. “Based on past events, the early stages of a Mauna Loa eruption can be very dynamic and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly,” USGS said…. Webcams for the volcano can be found at https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa/webcams
Click through for developing story. It appers when that say “largest,” they are talking about its perceived height, not the amount of damage it can do world wide. The latter would probably be Krakatoa. And the danger isn’t lava, but volcanic ash particles released into the air, whoch can block sunlight for years, sort of like a “nuclear winter.” Look up the year 536 CE (or “Worst year to be alive.”) Also, I don’t remember the year, but it wasn’t that long ago, when an eruption caused enough particles in the air over Europe that planes couldn’t fly for weeks. You may remember that too.

Wonkette – Buffalo Gunman Pleads Guilty To Hate Crimes, Will Spend Rest Of Life In Prison
Quote – This theory, whether it’s been called that or not, has been around for decades. Most people will date it back to the work of French crackpot Renaud Camus’s 2011 essay “Le Grand Remplacement,” in which he claimed that white citizens of European countries were being replaced by Black and Middle Eastern immigrants, or back to the “White Genocide” nonsense of 1990s white supremacists, but it’s always been there. A major feature of early 1900s antisemitism and racism in the United States was that Jewish people were supporting Black civil rights struggles because they wanted to replace WASPs with Black people and then take over the world.
Click through for more information. Today’s FFT summarizes my thoughts on this pretty well (it ain’t just Mexicans).

Food For Thought

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Open Thread November 28, 2022

 Posted by at 6:48 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 282022
 

Yesterday, I finished knitting a sweater, finished knitting a collar extention onto a sweatshirt, started a new sweater – and took a fairly deep dive into Joyce Vance’s newsletter, which was in the category of “The Week Ahead” – she doesn’t do one of those every weekend, but she often does. For this coming eeek, she is anticipating the circus (not her term, my interpretatin only) than can be expected in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals pursuant to Jack Smith’s demolition of Judge Cannon. It’s long and nerdy (she says so herself), and I’ll not try to boil it down further here, but I do provide a link. I do hope she is 100% correct – and I feel there is a good chance of it.  ALso, I did a few December cartoons – just enough to take me several days past my next visit to Virgil (this Sunday).

Cartoon – 28 Blackbeard loaded

Short Takes –

Democratic Underground (multigraincracker) – Her mother was also her uncle, DNA test.
Quote – The mother had XY chromosomes in her blood and saliva, but her hair and cheek cells had XX chromosomes. Parts of the daughter’s genome matched each kind of her mother’s mismatched DNA. The daughter had inherited some DNA from her mother which originally belonged to her mother’s fraternal twin brother, who was never born. That makes the mother a chimera, the result of an embryo that had absorbed and incorporated cells from a twin who had vanished before anyone knew he had existed.
Click through for article, and don’t neglest the comments, which include more links to other anomalies. We are constantly learning so much more about genetics – and all of it makes the arrogance of people who insist there are two sexes, period, more outrageous.

Mother Jones – Hundreds of New York Women Are About to Sue Alleged Rapists (and Enablers) Under a Revolutionary New Law
Quote – Now, Carroll and thousands of other sexual assault survivors in New York state are getting a new chance to seek legal accountability against people who harmed them years or decades ago. Under the Adult Survivors Act, New Yorkers who were sexually assaulted as adults but who have run out of time to seek accountability in court will have a one-year “lookback window” to sue their abusers, as well as institutions that were negligent in responding to the assault.
Click through for details. To me, in a kind of rarefied way, this is analogous to the Federal statute of limitations’ exception for availability. But here, its society’s contempt for and distrust of women which conctitutes the unavailability.

DNYUX (also the NY Times, which is paywalled) – At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking
Quote – Across the country, openly carrying a gun in public is no longer just an exercise in self-defense — increasingly it is a soapbox for elevating one’s voice and, just as often, quieting someone else’s…. Whether at the local library, in a park or on Main Street, most of these incidents happen where Republicans have fought to expand the ability to bear arms in public, a movement bolstered by a recent Supreme Court ruling on the right to carry firearms outside the home. The loosening of limits has occurred as violent political rhetoric rises and the police in some places fear bloodshed among an armed populace on a hair trigger.
Click through for more – examples and analysis. This is what happens when people (I’m looking at you, SCOTUS) are allowed to conflate speech with something which isn’t speech at all.

Food For Thought

(Just till after the runoff)

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