Open Thread for June 24, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 242021
 

Yesterday was quiet again. And a slow news day, which sound good, but also sends me scrambling. Colleen, sending every good wish to you for smooth surgery tomorrow, and a speedy and smooth recovery.

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Short Takes

The Hill – Socialist India Walton scores upset victory in Buffalo mayoral primary
Quote – “We set out about a year ago to do exactly what we did. We knew that this race was going to require help from outside of our local geographic area; we knew that we needed to garner national attention to challenge a 16-year, heavily entrenched incumbent, and the people spoke,” she said on CNN.
Click through for more, though not a lot more. Being elected mayor is exactly how young, Democratic Socialist Bernard Sanders got his start in politics.

The Guardian – Michigan Republicans find no voter fraud and say Trump claims ‘ludicrous’
Quote – The Michigan Republican report released on Wednesday followed 28 hours of legislative hearings starring local and national pro-Trump conspiracy theorists such as former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. The report labeled many of their claims “ludicrous” and called on the state Democratic attorney general to open investigations into those who may have profited from making false claims.
Click through for more.

The New Yorker – Mitch McConnell Warns That Voting Bill Would Bring U.S. to Brink of Democracy
Quote – Noting that the word “democracy” originated in ancient Greece, he vowed, “I will not sit idly by and watch a foreign form of government sneak across our border.”
Click through for straight news story.

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 23, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 232021
 

Yesterday was pretty quiet. And that is a good thing. Maybe I’ll have time to share a little about my character doll progress (yeah, I know – 75 and still plays with dolls. But it’s never been about the dolls, but about the styles and getting tham as close as possible to right. Remember I’m also a former theatrical costumer.)

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Short Takes

The Hill – House to take big step on eliminating Trump-era rules
Quote – Sending the measures to President Biden’s desk would deal a blow to former President Trump’s legacy and mark the first time Congress has repealed his administration’s policies through the CRA, which allows lawmakers and a new president to get rid of rules established under a previous president if they were completed shortly before the change in administration.
Click through for more, including information on tis little-known law.

Mother Jones – Ammon Bundy Announces Run for Idaho Governor
Quote – It’s not clear how all his pending criminal cases will affect his ability to campaign.
Click through for more details – including that he may not be the most extreme candidate in the race.

Reuters – With Trump probe looming, Democrats vie for Manhattan district attorney
Quote – The candidates have largely refrained from offering specific thoughts on the Trump investigation. But Bragg has often reminded voters on the campaign trail that he helped sue the Trump administration “more than a hundred times” as a deputy in the New York state attorney general’s office. In an interview with Reuters earlier this year, Weinstein said, “Nobody is above the law, no matter who you are or what office you went on to occupy. “Whoever prevails is likely to become a target for Trump, who has dismissed the probe as a “witch hunt” and attacked Vance personally.
Click thrugh for more, including a link to why this promary is not ranked choice. My hopes are for Bragg.

Food for Thought

Joe Manchin voted in favor of advancing the voting rights act yesterday. We have all been so hard on him for refusing to, it might be nice to thank him now. Thanking people is a motivator to continue good behavior as a rule – and maybe even to improve upon it.

Well, I think I can take a few minutes to speak about my collector dolls –  mostly 11.5″ fashion dolls, which is the size of a Barbie – but certainly I don’t stick to just Barbies, especially if I can find something better.  I have so far made a 1904 visiting outfit doll complete with feathered hat, parasol, boots, and Gibson girl hairdo, an 1896 traveling outfit doll with the same accessories, some of which are embroidered (I did those two straight from published patterns) and have also some several flappers, a generic Jame Austen character (with a poke bonnet – a way to salvage a doll with trrperably damaged hair), a Queen of Sheba and one of her handmaidens, and an 1876 Centennial ball gown doll with period hairdo (easier than the Gibson, but not as pretty.)  I am also working on, from patterns, an 1840 wedding dress including knockers, petticoat, and shoes, as well as a non-period pillow doll.  I most recently finished the one in this photo – do you recognize her?  The hair might have cooperated better, but then humans somethinines have that problem too.  I have almost collected all the materials I need to start on Michelle Obama’s First Inaugural gown – I just hope I live long ehough to finish it.

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Open Thread for June 22, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 222021
 

Yesterday a friend’s young adult son came by to mow the weeds in my front yard. I guess I should say “use a weedwhacker) rather than “mow” because they are were just that tall. At any rate, that should keep the county off my back for a while. I also received news of the death of someone who was a close friend in high school. There were four of us … now there are only three. I need to realize that this will continue to happen from time to time. I am hanging in.

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Short Takes

The Hill – Supreme Court rules against NCAA in dispute over student-athlete compensation
Quote – Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with the judgment but wrote a separate concurring opinion that contained a blistering critique of the NCAA’s business model, which generates considerable revenue, particularly from Division I football and basketball. “Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate,” Kavanaugh wrote. “And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law.”
Click through for story. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. On the principle of “never trust a Republican,” there;s probably some ulterior motive, possibly a setup to do future harm to colleges and universities(?). But it’s still amazing.

So, Al Franken is going on tour. It’s called “The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently on Tour Tour”.
Quote from email: Tickets for The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently on Tour Tour go on presale Wednesday at 10am in every time zone with the code word SENATOR. Just click HERE to find out when I’ll be in a city near you. I hope to see you there. My promise is that you’ll laugh, you’ll think, and you’ll leave hopeful about our future. Unless I’m in a bad mood that night.
Click through for full dates and venues, and don’t forget to use the code word if interested.

The NM Political Report – The Great disconnect
Quote – On May 18, a judge overseeing the historic Yazzie-Martinez case ordered the New Mexico Public Education Department to take stock of the massive digital divide in the state and finally identify the roughly 76,000 students who lacked Internet connections they desperately needed for school. One of PED’s responses was to create a Google survey for students and staff to fill out online, an action that left advocates and school leaders mystified.
Click through for the details. I really thought people in New Mexico were smarter than that … after they fired Susanna Martinez and elected Deb Haaland …

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 21, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 212021
 

Well, I really overslept – woke up only a few minutes before my grocery delivery arrived. But I did get it in without incident and put away. A few items missing, but at least no substitutions.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – Rep Ted Lieu Dares Catholic Bishops To Deny Him Communion
“Quote”


Click through for a little more background

The Guardian – The martyr who may rise again: Christian right’s faith in Trump not shaken. This is not fun reading,but it is the reality, and we cannot afford to ignore it.
Quote: [Jonathan] Riches – a rightwing activist with a reputation for litigiousness and spreading falsehoods – booed Mike Pence during his speech on Friday because of the former vice president’s refusal to overturn the election result; others in the room shouted “Traitor!” and were escorted out. “We feel like he abandoned Trump,” Riches explained. “We needed him to challenge the election. He doesn’t represent our party. He’s now trying to redeem himself but we don’t want him.”
Click through to skim as much as you can stand.

NBC News – Derek Chauvin sentencing thrusts Minnesota Judge Peter Cahill back into spotlight. Yes, that is this week.August is when the other three get tried.
Quote – In interviews, people who know Cahill and cases he has overseen say he is likely to land somewhere in the middle. They said he is a fair judge, though there is no guarantee he will mete out a punishment that will make either side entirely happy. “He’s been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney,” said Craig Cascarano, 72, a Minneapolis lawyer in private practice who met Cahill at the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office when Cahill was a law clerk. “So he understands what it’s like to do both jobs. And he tries very hard to do the right thing.”
Click through for full story (and a short video, kind of a montage.)

Food for Thought

A bonus “dad joke” from Eric Swalwell, belated from Fathers Day: “Why do seagulls fly over the ocean? Because if they flew over the bay, we’d call them bagels!”

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Open Thread for June 20, 2021

 Posted by at 7:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 202021
 

It is now possible to hear an opera broadcast on every Saturday all year round, and not just during the Metropolitan Opera’s season. Yesterday’s opera is “Tosca,” by Puccini, which premiered in 1900, based on an 1887 play. In it the political is the personal, and I would ccll it prescient except that, sadly, the struggle between authoritarians and the rest of us has been going on forever. But it does, at least to me, make it more poignant to consider that what happened to Tosca and Mario (and Angelotti) could conceivably happen to any of us at any time if we fail to preserve our democracy.

Cartoon TomCat has run this cartoon every Father’s Day since at least 2010 (probably before that, but I don’t think the prior blog, which was on Blogspot, remains accessible). He always protested strongly that the litter was not his progeny.

Short Takes

INDEOENDENT (UK) – The Republican Party has turned fascist – it is now the most dangerous threat in the world. (And apparently everyone can see it except us.)
Quote: Two strategies, though never entirely absent from Republican behaviour in the past, have become far more central to their approach. One is a greater willingness to use or tolerate violence against their opponents, something that became notorious during the invasion of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters on 6 January. The other change among Republicans is much less commented on, but is more sinister and significant. This is the systematic Republican takeover of the electoral machinery that oversees elections and makes sure that they are fair. Minor officials in charge of them have suddenly become vital to the future of American democracy. Remember that it was only the refusal of these functionaries to cave in to Trump’s threats and blandishments that stopped him stealing the presidential election last November.
Click through for the full article. Share it if you can.

Crooks and Liars – What’s The ‘Critical Race Theory’ Uproar Really About? Making Enemies For 2022
Quote : The whole campaign against CRT, in fact, appears to be primarily the work of a handful of astroturfing “dark money” right-wing organizations. And its central figure is named Christopher Rufo, a longtime right-wing think tank activist with a history of promoting various kinds of spurious enemy concoctions.
Click through for details. But remember, just because only one person is behind it doesn’t mean it hasn’t already infected multitudes. Donald Trump** ia onlt one person too.

Sad news – Champ has passed. (BTW this looks like a Twitter account worth following if one were on Twitter.)

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 19, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 192021
 

I thik I have today covered … always extra posts on weekends. If you don’t get my emails (or if you do but don’t want to wait for it) be sure to see WWWendy’s “Hello Again” post. There is now something we can do. Happy Juneteenth (actual.) I shall be making do with Fruit Punch Gatorade (not my choice, it was an unauthorized substitution in a delivery) and strawberry soda (at least that was my choice.)

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Short Takes

The Bitter Southerner – Juneteenth Jubilee. One tradition for celebrating Juneteenth is eating red food and drinking red beverages. This mixologist has a special recipe (doesn’t have to be “adult”).
Quote: According to culinary historian Adrian Miller, red drinks — which rule the bar at Juneteenth parties — have their roots in West African and Caribbean beverages that came to the United States through the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved people stewed hibiscus flowers to make a reddish-purple tea called bissap, Miller points out, and they mixed powdered kola nut (one of the ingredients in Coca-Cola) with water to make a refreshing, naturally stimulating drink. This practice of adding reddish substances to make sweet, palatable drinks was common and naturally made its way to the Juneteenth celebration table. Soon, red-colored drinks — like the Texas-made soda Big Red, introduced in 1937 — had become part of the Juneteenth culinary tradition.
Click through for the actual recipe (at the very end) but also for more facts about the holiday.

Crooks and Liars – Florida Republican Threatens To Send Russian-Ukrainian ‘Hit Squad’ After Rival. Yes, you read that right.
Quote – “I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said at one point in the conversation last week, according to the recording exclusively obtained by POLITICO. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f—ing speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”
Click through for more details – not that you will be surprised – he is a Republica.

Wonkette – Yay! House Votes To Repeal Bad Iraq War Authorization. In case this got lost in other news, I wanted to highlight it in Wonkette’s distinctive style.
Quote – [McConell] is correct. To borrow a turn of phrase, it should not be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force. But we should thank Mitch for his opposition to this. The only people who have been held to account for their bad Iraq War votes have been Democrats. As soon as things turned bad, the Right went from worshiping Dubya to “We don’t know her” and pretending that Hillary Clinton was personally responsible for the whole thing happening in the first place. This way, Republicans voting against this can be held to account for their votes against a thing that absolutely no one wants anymore. More of this, please.
Click throughfor the rest of the well-earned disrespect of (some) Congresscritters.(The Wnkette Newsletter is talikg a two-week vacation so I may not see their stories for that length of time.)

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 18, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 182021
 

My settled routine is more or less back, which is a blessing. It enables me to stop and knit a little, or bead a little, or eve play a computer game a little. And those little breaks keep me going. There’s pretty much good news today. It’s all in the nature of clawing one more step forward from having been pushed two steps back … but it’s all good nonetheless. Happy Juneteenth (observed) to all.

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Short Takes

The Hill – Supreme Court upholds ObamaCare in 7-2 ruling
Quote: “We do not reach these questions of the Act’s validity, however, for Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority.
Click through to see which Trump**-appointed Justice(s) voted the right way. You know at least one did, just by the numbers.

Sojourners – JUNETEENTH: ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS’
Juneteenth is, of course, tomorrow. But it has been announced that the Federal Government will celebrate it today. So here is a very personal yet also historical article about the first one.
Quote: The next day, Friday, June 19, when Granger arrived, the more than 1,000 enslaved people working in Galveston’s ports, houses, hotels, cotton fields, and barber and smithing shops would have witnessed thousands of Black men in blue uniforms as far as the eye could see as their liberators…. It was the beautiful presence of authoritative Black bodies that made these words real.
Click through for the full story.

Crooks and Liars – Teachers Push Back On GOP ‘Critical Race Theory’ Nonsense
Quote: Teachers across the country have spoken out against bills like [Texas] S.B. 2202, with thousands gathering in more than 20 cities last weekend for a National Day of Action organized by the Zinn Education Project, which publishes educational materials based on Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and other writings. Several thousand educators have also signed a pledge stating, “We, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events—regardless of the law.”
Click through for more detail. Howard Zinn rocks, so if you haven’t read his “people’s histry” you may want to look it up.

Food for Thought

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Open Thread for June 17, 2021

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 172021
 

Yesterday was another boring day. Not even any internet outage – and my ISP (CenturyLink) is getting terrible press for outages, including days-long outages, all over the place, including as close as Denver. I hope it stays boring!

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Short Takes

The New Yorker – The Political, Legal, and Moral Minefield That Donald Trump Left for Merrick Garland
Quote: The array of politically sensitive Trump-related cases currently before the Garland Justice Department is startling. The Attorney General is overseeing the prosecution of the more than four hundred Trump supporters who were arrested in connection with the January 6th Capitol riot; the department’s response to a Republican-led recount of 2020 election returns in Arizona; its response to Republican-led efforts to restrict voting, based on Trump’s false claims of election fraud; the reinstatement of consent decrees designed to prevent police abuses; the criminal investigation of Trump’s personal lawyer and confidant Rudy Giuliani, for illegal lobbying; and a criminal investigation of Hunter Biden, the current President’s son, which was launched under Barr. Hanging over all these cases are demands from Democrats that Garland investigate whether Trump committed federal crimes while in office.
Click through fo the full article.

The Hill – Five takeaways from the Biden-Putin summit
I’m just going to list all five and let you follow up on the ones you want to.
– A return to pragmatism
– Capitol riot rears its head
– Biden praised as ‘not Trump’
– Putin relishes occasion
– Questions linger about details
Click through for details.

I can’t possibly cut this feelgood story. Everything in it is necessary for the effect so-
* Here’s my feelgood story of the day LOL Back in 2012, I went to game 4 of the world series in Detroit. The Giants clinched that night and while I was rooting for the Tigers, what a great thing to actually be there in the park and see the final out of a world series.
* I recently found a pin they gave out at the game. A State Farm sponsored world series 2012 pin. I looked on ebay and they were only selling for a few bucks, but I figured, I have no use for it. So I listed it for 99 cents + $8.55 for priority mail shipping.
* Well it sold for only 99 cents. No big deal, someone will enjoy it! I figure it is some Tigers fan, though I didn’t think they would want to be reminded of that World Series lol
* Buyer sent me the money including the shipping. ebay sent me his address and it turns out he lives only about 4 miles from where I work, and more or less on my way home. So I say, hey, if you want, I’ll just drop it off on your porch and refund your shipping cost. He says, sure that’s fine, but you don’t need to give me a refund.
* I pulled up at his house and there is a guy pulling weeds in a flowerbed. I get his attention and hand it to him, and he smiles and says “Hey, I work for Ford too!” We chat for a second, I tell him I’m a Red Sox fan and hope he’ll enjoy the pin because it was just collecting dust in a drawer.
* He reiterates again not to refund the shipping cost, that I can keep it.
* THEN he tells me his son is severely autistic. He didn’t buy the pin for the Tigers. He bought it because his son autistic love is ANYTHING State Farm related, and to make him happy he lets his son buy some small State Farm item every day on ebay.
* So needless to say I’m absolutely thrilled now to know it is really going to bring some joy for his autistic son.
* I left and went home, and despite what he said, immediately refunded his shipping and told him to use that $8.55 for the next State Farm prize for his son.

Food for Thought

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