Open Thread for October 31, 2021

 Posted by at 6:39 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 312021
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil, and we had a good visit. I left about a half hour before closing, being concerned about the light. This was probably the last time until March I will be able to stay even close to the full time allowed – within two weeks we will be back on Standard time, and I will be checking the online almanac every visit, aiming to depart between 2 and 2 and a half hours before sunset – whatever it is that day. I can manage driving in what they call “civil twilight,” but what they call “nautical twilight” is too dark for me to feel safe.However, even for a while before the Solstice, sunset starts getting a littl later each day insead of a little earlier, and after the solstice for a while sunrise heeps getting later – giving sunset a boost on being later. So that will help. I can’t really plan departure times ahead – I just need to check every time I visit. I already said in a quick comment that Virgil returns all greeting with thanks, but I don’t think it will hurt to repeat it.

Cartoon – Scary enough for ya?)

Short Takes –

Huff Post – Buckingham Palace: Queen Elizabeth Should ‘Rest For At Least The Next Two Weeks’
Quote – The monarch returned to work ― albeit virtually ― on Tuesday, and took part in her first scheduled engagements since hosting a reception for the Global Investment Summit at Windsor Castle on Oct. 19. But later that day, Buckingham Palace announced that the queen wouldn’t attend a reception for the United Nations climate change conference, called COP26, in Glasgow on Nov. 1. The palace said that she would instead pre-record a video message for attendees.
Click through if you care to. I care because I’m a long-ish married person myself (about half as long as she was, but I started later.) I startted to worry about her when I heard of Philip’s death. Of course, the fact that she has a very imposrtant (and very visible) job complicates things. She is married to the nation also.

Democratic Underground – Biden, other G-20 world leaders formally endorse groundbreaking global corporate minimum tax
Quote – President Biden and the other national leaders gathered for the Group of 20 summit formally endorsed a new global minimum tax on Saturday, capping months of negotiations over the groundbreaking tax accord. The new global minimum tax of 15 percent aims to reverse the decades-long decline in tax rates on corporations across the world, a trend experts say has deprived governments of revenue to fund social spending programs.
Click through – it’s a combination of a Washington Post article and a Reuters article. Nice of BumRushDaShow to post them together for us.

Truthout – Minneapolis Set to Vote on Dissolving Police Department
Quote – Currently, state law requires licensed police officers to perform certain duties, and the charter amendment would not change current labor contracts with police, according to a city memo. Still, Question 2 could allow Minneapolis to replace police with other public safety professionals over time and reinvest resources back into neighborhoods, a process [Sheila] Nezhad [a mayoral candidate] said must involve high levels of community input.
Click through for story. Truthout can be crazy radical, but this appears to be straight reporting, not opinion, just information on a race worth watching.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 30, 2021

 Posted by at 7:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 302021
 

Yesterday, I essentially got ready for today. That didn’t leave much time free. By the time this posts, I’ll be on the road, and by the tie the video thread posts, I’ll be in the middle of my visit. See you all when I get back.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Pattern Of Democratic Clean-up On Aisle Republican Deficit Continues
Quote – Now we have the Biden economy doing what Trump had promised, but without having reversed any of the Trump tax cuts (yet). Just think how much better off our national finances could be if at least certain Democrats (cough, Sens. Manchin and Sinema, cough) would acknowledge that and help the president take the obvious next steps.
Click through for column. It’s short but meaty.

Mother Jones – The Owners of the Democrats’ Big Data Firm Have a Side Gig: Working to Elect Far-Right Republicans
Quote – The involvement of TargetSmart’s owners in electing right-wing Republicans has remained unknown among the political professionals within Democratic and progressive campaign circles. Informed about this, a former technology specialist for the Democrats says, “This is not a good look for TargetSmart.” And a union official notes, “This is pretty damning…In the world [TargetSmart] occupies, it couldn’t be much worse. A lot of Democratic consulting firms do work for corporations that don’t always support Democrats or progressives. But to have a sister company working on behalf of Republicans is not good for its standing.”
Click through for full story. Sadly, the cold fact is that big successful businesses and Republicans go together We all would be better off to stay aware of thet.

The Revelator (Center for Biological Diversity) – A Nose for Science: Conservation Dogs May Help in Search for Endangered Franklin’s Bumblebee
Quote – The quest to save a rare pollinator from extinction has just gained an unlikely ally: a mutt named Filson. A six-year-old Australian cattle dog mix with black and tan fur and oversized ears, Filson will soon join the mission to find the endangered Franklin’s bumblebee (Bombus franklini). The fuzzy pollinator, which no one has observed in 15 years, became a federally protected species this summer.
Click through for more, and not just bees. This really is exciting for anyone who realizes how connected we all are.

Food for Thought –

Bonus – a comment from the Wonkette newsletter:
A Journey Of One Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Baby Step. And we really do have a thousand miles to go when it comes to fixing America’s infrastructure, and this bill that was going to be a giant stride forward is ending up to be just one step. But it is a step, in the right direction for once. And we should embrace that, and own that, and harken back to a time when all the steps were backwards, into authoritarian nativism, which really wasn’t all that long ago.

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Open Thread for October 29, 2021

 Posted by at 7:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 292021
 

Yesterday, I finished a couple more cartoons for November. I admit they all look alike … but mostly there are others separating them which don’t. I looked at the weather and the almanac and learned I can get away with staying the full visitation time, but may have to pull off the road a bit at one point to adjust my visor. (The next visit will be on Standard time, and I will have to watch the almanac very carefully inded to know how early I need to leave. Staying over is becoming too much for me, especially since doing so no longer gives me an extra day to visit.)  I have ordered a visor clip, but I won’t have it for tomorrow, and may not have it for the next visit either.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – TN State Senator Indicted For Hilarious Campaign Finance Hijinks
Quote – Naturally, the “social club” run by Defendant Smith has a PAC, as all your better single-outlet eating establishments do. (LOL, wut?) And according to the indictment, the defendants used this PAC to move $106,000 from Kelsey’s state campaign coffers to support his 2016 run for the US House — an illegal use of so called “soft money” because the state campaign donations are not subject to federal campaign finance limits. So to disguise the transfer, these two geniuses moved the cash from Kelsey’s state campaign to the “social club” PAC, and thence on through one more PAC until it wound up at the American Conservative Union, which immediately dropped $80,000 on radio ads endorsing Kelsey’s federal campaign.
Click through for full description of indictment (plus a link to the real thing.) Enjoy this story. The next two are scary.

Mother Jones – How Do People Join Militias? A Leaked Oath Keepers Roster Has Answers.
Quote – Some of the explanations offered in the database are absurd: “Old man in Jarome, AZ at a little bar rocking some reggae,” reads one. Others are concerning: “An ICE agent,” another says. Some are both: “Funny story, I stopped a speeding truck driver, who had your decal on the side of his truck, I asked about it, he went on and on, I said, Damn I’m all about this. looked up online and here I am. I’m a poor broke cop. But, I’m TRUE BLUE/ AMERICAN,” reads an accounting from an Illinois-based police officer.
Click through for story. How can a nation protect itself against this?

Pro Publica – A Union Scandal Landed Hundreds of NYPD Officers on a Secret Watchlist. That Hasn’t Stopped Some From Jeopardizing Cases.
Quote – The list was created a decade ago amid a sprawling investigation into the city’s biggest police union and its role in helping officers “fix” tickets issued to family and friends for speeding, illegal parking and other traffic offenses. It grew to 664 names and was intended to help prosecutors vet cases that might rest too heavily on officers whose ties to the scandal could raise questions about their conduct and credibility. Ten years after it was first created, the No Fly List itself remains secret by judicial seal.
Click Through for discouraging details The Department has roughly 36,000 officers, and the list has 664. That doesn’t sound like a lot … but it’s still way too many. ONE would be too many.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 28, 2021

 Posted by at 7:27 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 282021
 

Yesterday, I figured I couldn’t wait any longer, and started looking for cartoons to re-use for November. To be pellucidly clear, I started, randomly, in 2013, and have just stayed with that year, and my plan is to move up thrugh time, re-using when possible, and coming up with something new if the one for a particular day is hopelessly dated (for example, there’s one about Harry Reid’s balls.) It looks like I’ll need to come up with 6 new ones in November, and three of them are in the first teo weeks. So I stated looking at history. I found events for all 6 of them. I made the first one and found pictures for the next two before I ran short on time. But that’s a good start.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The New Yorker (Borowitz Report) – Trump Tells January 6th Panel He Has Diplomatic Immunity as Russian Official
Quote – While Trump waits to see if his claim of diplomatic immunity succeeds, he is also prepared to argue that, having once hired Rudolph Giuliani as his attorney, he would be justified in pleading insanity.
Click through. Good luck with that. (BTW, unlike many of Andy’s reports, this one is clearly satire. For it to be straight news, Trump** would have to have told the truth, and that’s imposssible.)

Oh Sh*t, Dallas Teacher Did A Critical Race Theory To The Texas Wingnuts!
Quote – There’s not the slightest hint of CRT in having students read and analyze a text; if the lesson was supposed to “indoctrinate” the students, it didn’t work, since if anything I think the kid goes a little too easy on Cato’s methods, and doesn’t seem especially bothered that the email urges district employees to report on each other — then again, that’s a common enough method of enforcing discipline among students, so perhaps the kid doesn’t know just how creepy the tactic is.
Click through for details. It would be great if this teacher could be cloned and placed in every high school in t America. Teaching critical thinking skills “has not been tried and found wanting, but has been found difficult and left untried” (G. K. Chesterton) for a long time. This shows it can be done. I particularly like SPACECATS.

How commercialization over the centuries transformed the Day of the Dead
Quote – In 2019, I talked to a grandmother building a Day of the Dead ofrenda, an altar with offerings for her family’s dearly departed that included candles, food, flowers, and festive decorations. For years she’d tried to get her grandchildren to help her erect the altar for their ancestors, to no avail. It wasn’t until they watched Disney’s “Coco” and saw sugar skulls at Target that they took interest in the holiday. Now they eagerly help their grandmother build the altar. Commercialization is and has been transforming Day of the Dead. But, from what I’ve seen, it’s also giving a new generation a chance to be proud of their culture.
Click through for story. It’s a good point. Also, a pet peeve pf mine is that people criticizing advertising for a holiday too early don’t cut purveyors of craft materials and supplies any slack. If I am going to make a hiliday gift, a week before is not enough time. If I am making several, so much more so. There are 99 (at least) things to criticize Hobby Lobby about, but advertising Christmas too early is not one of them.

Signature-worthy IMO:
Bill Pascrell and Elizabeth Warren are looking for co-sponsors to nail Trump** et al.
https://action.billpascrell.com/crimes/?source=211026_bp_crimes_b1&link_id=1&can_id=dd94559fa9486ce8a4824766af6a024f&email_referrer=email_1336070&email_subject=will-you-sign-on-as-an-official-citizen-cosponsor-of-my-political-crimes-act-with-sen-warren-to-hold-donald-trump-accountable
I can’t shorten it or it won’t get you there, sorry. After you sign you’ll be asked for a contribution but it isn’t necessary.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 27, 2021

 Posted by at 6:41 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 272021
 

Yesterday, after a couple of overcast days, the sun came out … and so did the wind. There’s a NSFW quip about why it’s so windey here – it’s because Utah blows and Kansas – mphmmm.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – I Played This Climate Change Game—and Lost Everything
Quote – [F]acts about humanitarian crises averted can feel abstract unless you face them, or at the very minimum role-play as someone who must confront them. I did so myself. And I lost my beans. Paying for Predictions is an experiential learning game designed for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre by Boston University visiting fellows Pablo Suárez and Janot Mendler de Suárez. Players can gain an appreciation for the importance of preparedness and early action, the use of weather and climate projections, and disaster resilience and climate risk reduction.
Click through for story. Nameless and I were chatting about computer and phone games recently … but we weren’t thinking of anything like this. This gaming could really help. I only hope there’s enough time for it to help.

Democratic Underground – Remember Sen Grassley’s tweet about filling in for Pence?
Quote – Remember Sen Grassley’s tweet about filling in for Pence? Grassley tweeted Jan 5 that he’d be filling in for Pence during certification of electors since Pence was not expected to be there. His office quickly announced that he meant IF Pence wasn’t able to be there, but I wonder if the first version wasn’t more accurate. Could that be how they planned to get around Pence’s refusal to cooperate? Just have him taken somewhere else for a while? Sounds crazy, but then recall the story that came out about Pence not leaving the Capitol that day because he didn’t trust the driver?
Click through for speculation and comments. Yes, it’s speculative, but sometimes putting small things together can lead to big questions. Now if we only had answers.

HuffPost – 2020 Had The Most Reported Hate Crimes Since 2001: FBI Data
Quote – The FBI’s 2020 data came from 15,138 law enforcement agencies around the country. Roughly half of all hate crime incidents reported were classified as intimidation, 27% were simple assault and nearly 18% were aggravated assault (which the FBI defines as “physical attacks intended to inflict severe or aggravated bodily injury”).
Click through for more stats. It’s not hard to see why. Mr. China-virus-illegal-immigrants-not-sending-their-best no doubt had something to do with it.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 26, 2021

 Posted by at 6:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 262021
 

Yesterday, I moved some clothes around – put some away, took some out to be handy both to visit Virgil and to change into when I get home. Of course the pronblem with that is that it take twice as long to recover as it does to do. But I did manage. And rested a little with knitting. (One yarn company has as its motto “Knit. Relax. Repeat.” Almot too cute.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – The 19th Explains: Key races to watch in November 2 elections
Quote – The year after a presidential contest is not a big one for elections, but two states and several major cities are holding elections this year for governor, state legislators, mayors and more. The debates are shaped by local issues, like housing, and national issues, like the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click through for all eight. It mentions the NYC mayor but not the DA, in which Alvin Bragg is running to succeed Cy Vance. He may, of course, be unopposed.

Crools and Liars – Biden Breaks Stalemate As New Hope Emerges For Transformational Agenda
Quote – The details of the bill are still being worked out, but Jayapal has made clear so far that progressives’ priorities are still in the bill, even though they’ve had to scale back some of the proposals. Manchin and Sinema have continued to be the skunks at the garden party, but Biden seems to have pinned them down on both a price tag and their red lines in the sand.
Click through for the story. Crooks and Liars is an unlikely place to look to for hope, but I’ll take it where I can get it.

PolitiZoom – Gerrymandering On Steroids W. Virginia Governor says He’ll Accept Three Maryland Counties Who Want To Secede
Quote – This is either a Fox News publicity stunt which has gone too far, or maybe state lines will be redrawn in dramatic ways if this is real and it catches on. As you’ve probably heard, three western Maryland counties want to secede from Maryland and become a part of West Virginia. What’s that you say? Who in their right mind would want to leave the 15th largest economy in the nation and move to the 48th? Beats the hell out of me.
Click through for what little else is known. If they can do this without changing the number of House Representatives each state is now assigned, I say go for it.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 25, 2021

 Posted by at 6:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 252021
 

Yesterday, I managed to find the strength to take some trash and recyclables to the polycarts, and move the polycarts closer to the curb. Not all the way to the curb – pickup isn’t till Thursday – but close enough to be esier to get out on Wednesday. While i was doing that, the neighborhood cat stopped by. He doesn’t care much for the gourmet cat treats I got from Chewy. But I guess he figures that he comes by enough times I’ll eventually open something else (and he is right.) I honestly don’t know what he likes. The one flavor he really liked was Iams salmon, but he is over it now. Not that he needs food. I’ve started calling him “Bustopher.”

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Insurrectionists’ Extremism Deepens In ‘Patriot Wing’ Of D.C. Jail
Quote – More than anything, they appear to focus on justifying their martyrdom. “We have been labeled the enemy, yet clearly we see tyranny as the enemy,” Reffitt wrote. “While our lawyers do our bidding and the judges do their duties, we remain resolute, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the National Anthem all in unison, loud and proud most every day. All because we are us, we are you, we are all Americans and in here, we have no labels.”
Click through for reality. This was prefictable. I don’t suppose the DC jail has any way to break them up. The Feds maybe coupd, but it’s probably not legal to tranfer them to federal facilities – yet.

The Daily Beast – ‘Delinquent’ Matt Gaetz Blocked from Practicing Law
Quote – The Daily Beast has learned that the Florida Bar has branded Gaetz as “delinquent” twice in the past two years. The organization temporarily cut him off in 2019 and again in 2020, because Gaetz failed to affirm that he is properly handling and protecting any clients’ money in trust accounts. Lawyers must abide by strict rules to ensure they are not stealing or misusing money that belongs to the people they represent.
Click through for story. And this is just for failing to pay to renew his law license (or, as the author puts it, “not paying his bar tab”). Look at the next short take for what else is going n.

Democratic Underground – Justice Dept. Adds Two Top Prosecutors to Matt Gaetz Case
Quote – The Justice Department has added two top prosecutors from Washington to the child sex trafficking investigation of Representative Matt Gaetz, according to two people briefed on the matter, a sign of the complex and high-stakes nature of the inquiry into Mr. Gaetz, a Florida Republican who is one of former President Donald J. Trump’s closest congressional allies. The prosecutors — one a public corruption investigator with an expertise in child exploitation crimes, and the other a top leader of the public corruption unit — have been working on the Florida-based investigation for at least three months, the people said.
Click through for detils. I like to use original sources, but cannot access the NYT. Do you suppose he deliberately did not pay for his license because he knew it would be a waste? I doubt it. He’s mot that smart.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 23, 2021

 Posted by at 7:12 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 232021
 

Yesterday, I learned my friend James, who has already been through so much, was in the process f having surgery on his ankle (which had prior surgery, but the screws from that were loosening and coming out.) That, according to his surgeon, usually means an infection, but he wanted to get in and look at it before mronouncing. Sure enough, the pathology lab found one, and he now needs to be on IV antibiotics for 6 weeks before the reconstructive surgery can happen (because otherwise he would lose the leg. Where have we heard this before.) Prayers and good thoughts are invited. (And I also got the email that my ballot has been counted. Yay!)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

CNN – These are the 9 House Republicans who voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress
Quote – Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming (January 6 committee member)
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Rep. John Katko of New York
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois (January 6 committee member)
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina
Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan
Click through for some background. Two, of course, are on the Subcommittee. But seven aren’t.

Wonkette – Another Criminal Investigation Into The Trump Organization? Sure Why Not!
Quote – In recent months, the district attorney’s office in suburban Westchester County, N.Y., has subpoenaed records from […] Trump National Golf Club Westchester, and the town of Ossining, which sets property taxes on the course, a sprawling private club that is perched on a hill north of New York City and boasts a 101-foot waterfall. The full scope of the investigation could not be determined, but the district attorney, Mimi E. Rocah, appears to be focused at least in part on whether Mr. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misled local officials about the property’s value to reduce its taxes, one of the people said.
Click through for details. While it’s entertaining to see TFG screwing up in civil suits, criminal investigations are far more welcoe. I really could not care who puts him and/or his spawn behind bars, as long as someone does. (Incidentally, how can s perso hold his or her mouth in that position?)

The New Yorker – Borowitz Report – America’s Children Demand That Joe Manchin’s Salary Be Tied to Work Requirement
Quote – Declaring “no more government handouts,” millions of America’s children are demanding that all future salary payments to Senator Joe Manchin be tied to a work requirement. Tracy Klugian, who is nine years old, said that Manchin’s current arrangement, in which he is paid for no work whatsoever, amounts to “an obscene ripoff of the American taxpayer.”
Click through for satire. I particularly like the implocation that children are smarter than adults. Sadly, that’s more often true than we like to admit.

Food for Thought –

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