Personal – Page 177 – Politics Plus

Open Thread May 13, 2022

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

May 132022

Yesterday, I paid a couple of bills. I didn’t venture outside, though I suppose I might have, because besides the evacuations the day before, we also has spring winds (to blow them away) – but that’s a straight stick which points two ways, – the winds could aldo have brought the fires (and their smoke) closer. Not difficult to justify doing what I wanted to do anyway (grin.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

truthout – DeSantis’s Congressional Maps Deemed “Unconstitutional” by Judge He Appointed
Quote – Smith will likely replace DeSantis’s gerrymandered maps with one of two that the Republican-controlled legislature had previously passed, which the governor had vetoed earlier this year. Though still advantageous to the GOP, those maps are seen as somewhat better (though by no means perfect), in terms of respecting Black voters’ voices, than the ones DeSantis demanded be passed after his veto.
Click through for article. Here’s my take on DeSantis.

Media Matters – Fox News melts down following revelation Karine Jean-Pierre called the network racist. She’s right.
Quote – It’s not just people on the left pointing out Fox’s racism. In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, The Daily Beast reported that it “spoke to more than a dozen Fox News insiders, who all suggested that behind the scenes there is a growing despair among employees about the network’s role in demonizing and spreading fear about Black Americans in particular.” One Fox staffer quoted in the piece described some of the network’s personalities as “a white supremacist cell,” adding, “This is rank racism excused by Murdoch.” Another described Fox programming as “white supremacist crap.”
Click through if you can stand to. Shall we expect Fox staff to treat Karine with even more disrespect than they did Jen? (OK, I grant I was shocked when Doocy said on camera that he would miss her because she’d always been a “good sport.”)

Robert Reich – Personal history: The Supreme Court I argued before fifty years ago
Quote – Douglas, Marshall, and Blackmun were the intellectual leaders of that Supreme Court. Their opinions gave the Court its moral heft. They drew not only from the Constitution as written but also from the nation as it had evolved. They understood the moral leadership America needed to protect the rights of the voiceless and the powerless. Today’s Supreme Court majority doesn’t have a clue about the Court’s moral authority, and couldn’t care less.
Click through for history, nostalgia, and moral clarity. Today’s FFT is a meme drawn from this article. Feel free to share it.

Food For Thought

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 16: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich testifies before the Joint Economic Committee January 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. Reich joined a panel testifying on the topic of “Income Inequality in the United States.Ó (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Open Thread May 12, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 122022

Yesterday, I woke up from a nightmare.I was talking with Mitch McConnell and he said something which almost made sense. It was horrible. I never used to dream about public figures Sigh.
Today is May 12. I’m using a cartoon made by TC, but every year on May 12 I remember that when I was a freshman in college and still visiting my high school bridge club because I didn’t feel ready for tournament bridge (this would have been 1963), every time there was a trick with four face cards, it was obligatory for someone to say, “Summit Conference.” And on a trick with three face cards it was obligatory for someone to sat, “May 12th.” (because on May 12, 1960, Khrushchev walked out on the summit conference.) Just one of those trivial to the point of being idiotic things that one can’t seem to forget. (And it really wouldn’t make a good cartoon, anyway. Too much explanation needed.)

Cartoon – 12 0512Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast- A Second MAGA Clerk in Colorado Also Breached Voting Machines
Quote – Schroeder, who did not return a request for comment, is the second Colorado clerk accused of breaching voting machines under his supervision. The other clerk, Tina Peters of Mesa County, is currently facing a barrage of criminal charges for allegedly stealing a local tech worker’s identity, illegally copying her county’s election data, and leaking it to election fraud conspiracy theorists last spring. She later appeared at Lindell’s “cyber symposium” on supposed voter fraud where she implied, incorrectly, that the stolen data suggested election malfeasance against Donald Trump.
Click through for details. Colorado is a blue state if Democrats vote. But ever since Focus on the Family decided to settle in Colorado Springs, RWNJs all over the state have become more amd more loud and obnoxious. And lawless. Here’s a related article.

Crooks and Liars – ‘Songbird Of Mariupol’ Wants The World To Know That She’s Still Alive
Quote – For she is singing in a bomb shelter amid the shattered hell of Mariupol, accompanied by a low murmur from a chorus line of men sitting beside her. Her name is Kateryna. She joined the army last year after completing her music studies and, at the age of 21, she finds herself fighting for her life as a member of the heroic band of Ukrainian fighters making a desperate last stand in a besieged factory.
Click through for story and video. The video has CC (I don’t speak Ukrainan, but it looks good), and you can just tell she has a lovely voice, maybe perfect pitch, but the “accompaniment” doesn’t help.

AP News – Ambassador nominee for Ukraine seeks quick embassy reopening
Quote – Bridget Brink, who has spent the majority of her 25-year diplomatic career in former Soviet republics, spoke to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ahead of what’s expected to be her easy Senate confirmation…. Committee Republicans and Democrats alike Tuesday emphasized getting Brink confirmed and in place in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as soon as possible, as Ukraine’s forces are in their fourth month of battling invading Russian troops, with the help of an extraordinary campaign of military and financial support by the United States and European allies.
Click through (it’s short). Let’s not forget the last Ambassador, Marie (Masha) Yovanovitch. Like (and along with) LtCol Vindman, she demonsrated truth and honor in the face of a world-class bully. Big shoes to fill. I wish Bridget Brink all the best.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 11, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:42 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 112022

Yesterday, I had a rather klutzy computer day. For instance, I sent an email attachment but forgot to attach it, and in my pictorial program accidentally hid all the toolbars and it took m a half hour or more to figure out what I had done so I could get them back. Everything is resolved now but I’m running late as a result.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Washington Post – GOP donor described botched vote fraud probe in recording, prosecutors say
Quote – The filing Friday illuminates one of the most extreme tactics that far-right groups have employed in an effort to substantiate former president Donald Trump’s unproven allegations of widespread voting fraud in the election he lost. Groups have tried to gain access to sensitive election equipment, pushed for audits of the 2020 election by handpicked outside groups and recruited volunteers to scrutinize local election officials, sometimes leading to threats of violence.
Click through for the news, which is not new, but just coming out, plua I had to wait a couple of days to get a gift link so we can all get past the paywall. Fortunately, it is NOt being ignored.

Democratic Underground – 45 Convicted Republican Pedophiles:
Quote – 42. Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young.
Click through for complete list. Be aware these are not just people who happen to be registered Republican. They are elected or appointed officials and/or vocal activists. (I’m sure one could easily find 45 convicted pedophiles who are just registered Democrats but in no way involved in politics/activism – because we won’t stand for it.)

Amazon Watch – Peruvian Government Commits to Expel Narcotrafficking Settlers and Return Lands to Indigenous Communities
Quote – While Peru is in an ongoing political crisis, the Indigenous movement clamors for justice. The demands are clear: prevent the killings of threatened Earth defenders, pursue legal actions against the murderers, and guarantee Indigenous territorial integrity. According to the latest Global Witness report, Peru is among the ten most dangerous countries for Earth defenders. Since 2011, more than 45 environmental rights defenders have been killed there. Most recently, Indigenous leader Ulises Rumiche, was shot dead on April 20, 2022.
Click through for details. It’s not as if we don’t know that indegenous peoles everywhere on earth are having their very survival (not to mention their customs, thir quality of life, even their basic dignity) threatened on a 24/7 basis. But it isn’t often we are given a window into those conditions that shows as much as this one does.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 10, 2022

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

May 102022

Yesterday, I did a little constructive oversleeping. Even when everything goes slowly, any time I drive anywhere farther away than 5 or 10 miles, I stress and get very tired. (When I was in my twenties, I could actually lose weight drving long distances, even when eating as much as (or even a little more than) usual. I’m pretty sure that’s not true any more, but it’s still tiring. Hence the need for a little extra sleep. And it helps – though it probably would have helped more if I had awakened to a happier news day.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Nib – Restaurant for Vultures
Quote –

Click through for graphic article. I like vultures. I had very few plushies when I was a kid, but one day on my mid-teens I saw a lushie vulture and had to have it, and “Nigel” became a beloeved companion. So this story – which is less about vultures than about the many ways we contribute to loss of biodiversity, even when doing things which seem very positive, caught my eye.

Los Angeles Times – Column: Cops, not books? This town’s library may become a police station
Quote – [Frank] Cervantes [Library Associate] didn’t want to give too many opinions, partly because he had a bunch of kids to look after. But he did emphasize the importance of having a library in a small town like McFarland. He himself grew up in the even smaller agricultural community of Mettler, an hour away. His hometown had no library, but his mom was able to take him to libraries in bigger cities. “It was the difference,” he quietly said, “between a bright future and the futures that some of my peers had.”
Click through. I can guarantee tht if they do this, crime (or at least “crime”) will increase. If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

No More Mister Nice Blog – The CDC Really Needs to Look into This Cluster of Right Wing Amnesia
Quote – I think I understand what’s happening here. The right needs to make the reaction to this decision the real story, in order to distract from the decision’s unpopularity and radical nature. Part One of this attempt to manufacture consent was the phony outrage at the leak, which the right blames on liberals, despite lacking any evidence to do so.
Click through for full blog. Right wing amnesia is nothing new But it’s getting worse … and their attacks on public education suggest that it’s currently far from bad enough to suit them.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 9, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:26 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 092022

Yesterday, of course, I visited Virgil. I was glad I left early, and glad I stopped for gas. I didn’t remember the road as well as I thought I did (and construction here and there didn’t help.) When I arrived and turned where the road sign said the complex was, I drove right past the visitation center to the complex gate – who told me eexactly where is was. Although all the prisins follow the same manual there are always details in which they are individual There’s a form that every facility requires, but his last facility wanted it filled out in pendil (in other words, by have every time) but they were willing t let it last longer than one visit unless something has changed. This faciity doesn’t care about pencil (which means I can fill one out in good dark ink, scan it, ans print it off) but they do want it every visit. There’s another form about CoViD sympotoms that the last place wanted to go through the questions with visitors verbally and fill it out for us. The same form, this facility wants us to fill out for them (not in pencil.) It’s short and sweet so I won’t be scanning it,. The gave me a (surgical) mask without question, and one of the shuttle busses has a wheelchair life. I also saw some dress code differences, though probably none I’s want to emulate (like flip flops – not for me.) Because of the bussing, one can’t just leave whenever one feels like it, as one could at the last facility – but that’s not going to be a problem, as the route is not almost due south and almost due east to get ther (and the opposite returning) as the last facility was, which made both sunrise and sunset problematic duting winter, but rather roughly south sotjeast (about 30 from due south) and roughlt due west going, and yje opposite returning, and that alone takes care of most of the sunlight issues. All this is probably more than anyone wanted to know; hope I didn’t bore you too much.

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Short Takes –

Wonkette – Nation’s Long Nightmare Over As Chuck Todd’s Daily Wankfest Banished To Streaming
Quote – Poor Chuck. When in under a year and a half your network moves you to a new time slot so the world can have another hour of Nicolle Wallace, and then out of that time slot to an online streamer, it feels like they are sending a message, and the message is not, “Great work, Mr. Cronkite.” Anyway, what can yr Wonkette say about Todd that isn’t being said very scornfully on Twitter? The man has been a scourge of the sort of view-from-nowhere bothsidesism and horserace politics that has fueled both our rage and our alcohol problems for many a year.
Click through for details. I doubt whether anyone here actually watched Chuck Todd… but it’s interesting that this comes so soon after the WHCD.

Crooks and Liars – Trump’s DHS Altered Russia Report To Help Trump
Quote – Trump’s acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf and others in his department altered parts of a report and delayed its release. The original reports stated clearly that Russia helped Trump in 2020 (never mind 2016?) for political reasons. On Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox News finally covered a negative Trump story.
Click through for story. You might wonder, what DHS other than Trump’s would do this? But if the GQP is capable of suggestiong that AntiFa did the insurrection to overthrow an election which their side won, then the GQP is capable of suggesting just about anything.

Salon – Did a justice’s wife leak Supreme Court drama?
Quote – We already know her husband, Clarence Thomas, is an extraordinarily angry and bitter person, thanks to his memoir, “I Am Still an Incredibly Angry and Bitter Person on Account of That Time Anita Hill Told the Complete Truth About Me.” (And Clarence Thomas is apparently buddies with CBS’s Jan Crawford.) And Ginni made a living, for years, touring the nation telling everyone how awful and unconstitutional healthcare reform was, which means she was probably pretty upset when her husband told her John Roberts voted to kill liberty forever. She’s also known for having really poor impulse control[.]
Click through for discussion. I don’t think it’s necessarily true that once a leaker, always a leaker, because some – many – people are capable of mental and emotional growth. But then, this is Ginni Thomas we are talking about here.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 8, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 082022

Yesterday, The opera was Puccini’s “Turandot” – it may be the only opera which requires more suspension of disbelief that Verdi’s “Ls Forza del Destino” (and I’m not knocking them – both are wonderful – just not believable.) Turandot is where the aria “Nessun dorma” which became Pavarotti’s signature tune comes from. During intermission, the Met’s general manager Peter Gelb spoke about what the Met is doing to boost Ukraine, including sponsoring and helping to assemble an orchestra of Ukrainian refugees (“The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra”) which is or will be touring to raise both awareness and funds. I’ve never seen the Met do so much for a cause, and it turns out Mrs. Gelb has some Ukrainian ancestry. Not surprising he is emotionally involved (not that we all aren’t). More power to the Met.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Republican, In Jail For Murdering His Wife, Wins Primary
Quote – Because nothing says traditional family values like killing your wife and still winning a spot for an election while in jail awaiting trial. And in case you were wondering, he’ll be on the November ballot unless convicted beforehand for his heinous act. He has confessed.
Click through for story (BBA). He intends to plead guilty, so technially I suppose it’s not his trial but his plea hearing which he is in jail awaiting. And he’ll go back to jail to await sentencing. and then who knoes. Looks to me like a perfect GQP candidate.

Colorado Public Radio – If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Colorado will become an island of abortion access
Quote – [Neta] Meltzer [with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains] said that if the Supreme Court decision comes down as it was drafted in the leaked ruling, it will have a ripple effect across the country. And Colorado will be an island of access, surrounded by states, save for New Mexico, that have partial or total bans on abortion. In the meantime, abortion rights advocates are gearing up. “We have been preparing for some time. We have been working with the clinics that provide care. We are working with abortion funding, and we are going to continue to try to coordinate to make sure we don’t turn anyone away,” said Karen Middleton, president of Cobalt, formerly NARAL CO.
Click through for details, although, because no one here is clairvoyant, they are tentative. But I’m proud of my state for this.

KUT 90.5 Austin TX – So the $35 sculpture you got at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII. Now what?
Quote – Young wanted to figure out what the sculpture was, so she did some Googling and she started to piece things together. She contacted an auction house in London that confirmed it was really old — like FIRST CENTURY old. Another auction house managed to find the head in a catalog of items from a German museum in the 1920s and 1930s. It was listed as a portrait bust of a man named Drusus Germanicus. And so began Young’s four-year ordeal trying to get rid of a 2,000-year-old sculpture.

Click through for another improbable story. I say improbable, but there could be thousands of stories like it, if we only knew. At least this one has a happy ending.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 7, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 072022

Yesterday,I concentrated on preparing the blog. I collected a whole bunch of videos (some of my sources were kind of on fire, which helped snd also some URLs of articles, though I didn’t finalize those. I did finalize the draft of Everyday Erinyes, though. It’s on a subject which is not gong away any time soon. I should also mention … for anyone not on Mitch’s mailing list … he had not sent anything for a while and Lona and I were both getting worried, but we heard from him (and I expect everyone on lis list did) and he was hospitalized but is out and doing pretty well. That doesn’t mean we’ll be getting comments from him riight away as he still has physical therapy and recuperation. But he’s doing as well as can be expected.

Cartoon – (Even TC was – seldom – inaccurate. FIFH.)

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Abortion Is the ‘Five-Alarm Fire’ That Could Save Some Democrats
Quote – David Pepper, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said that overturning Roe is an unpopular position in Ohio, and argued that the justices doing so sparks a “five-alarm fire” in the lives of voters. “If Tim and others can show that electing them can lead to laws that save us from this nightmare,” Pepper said, “yeah, it could motivate, it could persuade.” That logic could apply to virtually every Democrat running in a competitive race this fall, who now find their campaigns reshaped by this week’s seismic news from the Supreme Court.
Click through for discussion, starting in Ohio, but broadening out to other states. We need to make some effing good lemonade here.

Brennan Center for Justice – The Insurrection Act Explained
Quote – Although it is often referred to as the “Insurrection Act of 1807,” the law is actually an amalgamation of different statutes enacted by Congress between 1792 and 1871. Today, these provisions occupy Sections 251 through 255 in Title 10 of the United States Code. Under normal circumstances, the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the U.S. military — including federal armed forces and National Guard troops who have been called into federal service — from taking part in civilian law enforcement. This prohibition reflects an American tradition that views military interference in civilian government as being inherently dangerous to liberty…. In theory, the Insurrection Act should be used only in a crisis that is truly beyond the capacity of civilian authorities to manage. However, the Insurrection Act fails to adequately define or limit when it may be used and instead gives the president significant power to decide when and where to deploy U.S. military forces domestically.
Click through for full explanation. Far too much of our law is predicated on the concept of “That’s unthinkable = no one would ever do that.” It ain’t so. There are people who would literally do anything. If we can’t prevent them from getting into power – and it looks like we can’t – we must find ways to legally prevent that from “doing that.”

Wonkette – GOP Rep. Pals Around With Actual Child Predator While Accusing Teachers Of ‘Grooming’
Quote – Illinois Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller’s good buddy Bradley Graven is also very concerned about “the children,” albeit in a somewhat different way. In 2003, Graven was arrested for indecent solicitation of a child in a sting operation, after making plans to meet what he thought was a 12-year-old boy in a drugstore parking lot to engage in sexual activities. He then lost his contract job in the office of then-Illinois Republican Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka. He later pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced to 40 days in prison and two years of probation in 2005.
Click through for the whole sordid story. I’m not a medical professional, and we could argue about whether pedophilia (like most lay people, I included hebephilia and ephebophilia under that umbrella) is a disease (although I believe it’s in the DSM-V), but whatever it is, it can’t be eliminated (cured) – it an only be controlled. Like an addiction. There is some evidence which suggests it may also like addiction, be progressive, but that is not proven. Adults who ignore this are inviting the abuse of children. But Republican hypocrisy is nothing new.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 6, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:20 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 062022

Yesterday, as I expected, it was sunny, so I got out to run the car. I also checked google maps to make sure i remembered the route, and check the time. they say 46 minutes. If I add 10 minutes toget gas and amother 10 to get lost (because this is not one facility but 5 , and I don’t know how hard ir will be to find the visitation center that serves all of them, I need to leave before 7:00. But I am likely not to post Erintes until I get back, even if I have it ready the night before (which I certainly plan to), or send out the email either. That will give anyone else who may want to put up a post more time to do so and still be included in the email. (also, sorry about getting the posts backwards yesterday. I put up the video one first because I had the material together first, and forgot that when I was schedulimg. Almost did it again today. Scatterbrain.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – The One Mistake Putin Is Dying for Us to Make
Quote – After [World War II], some top [German] generals claimed that in 1938, when Hitler began threatening Czechoslovakia, they were planning to oust him if it looked like he was about to plunge Germany into a war with the West that it was not prepared for at that point. Whatever the accuracy of their accounts, any resolve they may have had evaporated when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Daladier acquiesced to the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia by signing the infamous Munich agreement that September.
Click through for op-ed. Like any opinion piece, it may be wrong. Even when grounded in history – as it points out, there is a lot of history, and which part of history one looks at influences one’s opinions. But it makes a strong point.

Denverite – Some local Chicano murals are being recognized nationally as endangered — which could help preserve them. Quote: [Huitzilopochtli]

Click through for story. “Huitzilopochtli” means “Hummingbird Warrior.” (What, you expected a verbal quote for an art story?)

Opinion: The Republican blueprint to steal the 2024 election
Quote – The Republicans’ mystifying claim to this day that Trump did, or would have, received more votes than Joe Biden in 2020 were it not for actual voting fraud, is but the shiny object that Republicans have tauntingly and disingenuously dangled before the American public for almost a year and a half now to distract attention from their far more ambitious objective. That objective is not somehow to rescind the 2020 election, as they would have us believe. That’s constitutionally impossible. Trump’s and the Republicans’ far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest.
Click through for op-ed. Yes, two op-eds in one day. The author of this one is by no means a liberal or progressive, and maybe that makes it easier for him to see what the Republican Party is up to – we liberals and progressive believe in basic human goodness, after all. But we need to learn when not to – and what to do about it. There’s some commentary in New York Magazine here.

Food For Thought

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