Open Thread August 8, 2022

 Posted by at 7:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 082022
 

Yesterday, it was a pretty unexciting day until the word came out that the Inflatin Reduction Act had been passed by the Senate. I picked up a very short, graphic short take about it, figuring there will be plenty of time to discuss it at length.

Cartoon – .(which  forgot to insert before posting, but went back and added later)

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – August 6, 2022
Quote – “Gentlemen,” [Garfield] said, “ideas outlive men; ideas outlive all earthly things. You who fought in the war for the Union fought for immortal ideas, and by their might you crowned the war with victory. But victory was worth nothing except for the truths that were under it, in it, and above it. We meet tonight as comrades to stand guard around the sacred truths for which we fought…. [W]e will remember our allies who fought with us,” he told them. “Soon after the great struggle began, we looked beyond the army of white rebels, and saw 4,000,000 of [B]lack people condemned to toil as slaves for our enemies; and we found that the hearts of these 4,000,000 were God-inspired with the spirit of liberty, and that they were all our friends.” As the audience cheered, he continued: “We have seen white men betray the flag and fight to kill the Union; but in all that long, dreary war we never saw a traitor in a black skin.”
Click through for the background and what happened next. White supremacy = corruption. President Garfield was ambidextrous, multilingual, and so good at multitasking that he could write in Latin with one hand and Greek with the other at the same time. That means nothing – but this speech meant something. So, of course, they killed him.

Twitter – This happened yesterday at approximately 5 pm Eastern. By now I’m sure there is a real article of analysis up somewhere, but I didn’t want to wait:

I believe it goes to the House Friday. No need for tiebreaking there.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 8/7/22

 Posted by at 11:58 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 072022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s advisors tell him to “cut all contact” with Mark Meadows. Has Meadows flipped on Trump?

Meidas Touch – Beto O’Rourke convinces TRUMP SUPPORTER to flip and vote for him in EPIC video

The Lincoln Project – Kansas

Thom Hartmann – Will Churches Finally Be Taxed? (Boy, is he right about the IRS being “emasculated”!)

Armageddon Update – The Troops

Beau – Let’s talk about Jones, phones, and the committee….

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Everyday Erinyes #330

 Posted by at 10:49 am  Politics
Aug 072022
 

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Walter Shaub is the ethics maven ad the Project for Gobernment oversight (POGO). He writes a (roughly) weekly column on the subject, titled “The Bridge,” which comes out in a dedicated newsletter. Normally, when a column comes out in a newsletter, under the auspices of a group which operrates a website, there is somewhere on line one can find that column and link to it. This is not the case with The Bridge. I have tried in the past and failed, but I tried again anyway and actually got closer than I ever had – there is a place at POGO’s site which refers to The Bridge and claims to link to “the latest” (IIRC, “the latest” this week were from April and May.) The current one is not there. I am sharing it in full here, because, while ethics is always important, I found this one, with its history lesson, particularly compelling.
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IT’S ALL JUST A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING ♫

Fans of authoritarianism are trotting out an old scam with renewed fervor. News reports indicate allies of former President Donald Trump have revived a plan to smash the federal civil service and take the nation back to the mid-19th century, when corruption flourished. Back then, hiring was based on political loyalty rather than loyalty to the Constitution and the laws of this land.

This practice of political patronage hiring was known as the “spoils system” because the spoils of political victory — in this case, federal jobs — went to the victor. In 1883, the government began a long, slow process of dismantling this primitive system and constructing a professional civil service. Now, 139 years later, only about 4,000 positions in the federal government are filled with political appointees, and the remaining 2.1 million are filled on the basis of merit, not political allegiance.

President Chester Arthur signed into law the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act on Jan. 16, 1883 | National Archives

A Modern-Day Spoils System

A neo-spoils system would reverse this progress and make tens of thousands of federal employees (maybe eventually hundreds of thousands) subject to firing at will by the president. That would give us a federal workforce staffed by political actors loyal only to the president and not to the rule of law. It would transform the federal government into a powerful weapon for an authoritarian president seeking to shatter democracy. A whistleblower complaint concerning Trump appointees who helped conceal his extortion of Ukraine showed us what that looks like. This would be more of the same, but on an enormous scale.

Gone would be the due process protections for federal officials who refuse to carry out unlawful orders. Currently, most non-probationary civilian employees can appeal a firing or severe disciplinary action to an independent board or an arbitrator. These protections exist more for our benefit than for individual federal employees. They protect the public by making it harder for political appointees to fire whistleblowers or other employees who reject corrupt schemes.

Trump tried stripping due process rights for certain federal employees back in October 2020, but he couldn’t get his new system implemented before his term ended. Exploiting a statutory loophole, he issued an executive order creating a new category of federal employment, called “Schedule F,” which would have converted some career federal employees to at-will employees so he could fire anyone who resisted the sort of corruption that led to the January 6 insurrection.

A right-wing think tank, America First Policy Institute, issued a report last year laying out a strategy for executing the plan next time an authoritarian president is in the White House. And support for it is growing among politicians who appear to prefer the 19th century to the 21st.

Title of America First Policy Institute “report”

The Last Line of Defense

It’s worth remembering that it was career federal employees who refused to take Trump to the Capitol to lead the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on Congress, exposed his extortion of Ukraine, refused to join him in encouraging the public to try a dangerous drug that wasn’t approved for COVID symptoms, and investigated his obstruction of justice. These patriots are obstacles to authoritarianism, which is probably why America First Policy Institute’s report says it aims to prevent a repeat of “bureaucratic resistance during the Trump Administration.”

Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) introduced an amendment to the House of Representatives’ version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to put limits on a president’s power to gut the civil service. The NDAA is the must-pass defense bill that makes it through Congress each year. But the Senate and the House have to work out any differences in the bills they pass, and it’s not guaranteed this language will make it into the final version of the NDAA that goes to the president for signature.

Along with Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Connolly previously introduced a standalone House bill that, like his NDAA amendment, would place new limits on a president’s ability to strip due process rights for federal employees. On Tuesday, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and several cosponsors introduced an identical version of the Connolly bill in the Senate.

It is vital that Connolly’s amendment and, eventually, more comprehensive reforms are passed to shore up gaps in civil service protections because — make no mistake — the plan to crush the civil service is an effort in service of authoritarianism. As I’ve written before, federal workers are the last line of defense against a president who wants to weaponize the government against the American people in defiance of the rule of law. If you gut the protections for these public servants, you tear down a wall between us and tyranny. Congress must fight this battle now before it’s too late.

WHAT TO READ (AND LISTEN TO)

Want to dig deeper? Here’s my suggested reading list:

The Bridge is a new kind of policy newsletter, delivering issues at the heart of government integrity out from DC to the rest of the world. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here.

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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, I can hardly even imagine how many pearls would be clutched and how many fainting couches be in use if Republicans were to read this. How many shouts of “Fake News!” (when it’s neither new nor fake.) How many laws would be wrotten to prevent the teaching of this history in public schools (I’m pretty sure no public school is teaching this – I certainly don’t recall learning it in school.) If they ever get into power – God help us.

The Furies and I will be back.

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Open Thread August 7, 2022

 Posted by at 6:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 072022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was actually four short operas, two each by two different composers, all from the time that Louis XIV was living in Versailles. They were not presented by an opera company, but by the Boston Early Music Festival – both their Chamber Ensemble and their Vocal Ensemble. However, the program was performed and recorded in the Broadcasting Hall in Bremen, Germany. I can tell you it sounded a whole lot better then the Bremen Town Musicians in the folk tale of the same same (not that that would be difficult.) I’m familiar with Charpentier’s music and I’ve heard of Lalande, but not with these operas and I know virtually zero French, so I just sat back and enjoyed them as early Baroque music – or late Renaissance music (The novel “The Man in the Iron Mask” by Alexandre Dumas is set in Louis Xiv’s Versailles, but it is also the final novel in the Three Musketeers series, or as we might say today, franchise. Athos isn’t in it, nor is his son, who more or less takes his place after the second book, “Twenty Years After” – but D’Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos are all critical to the plot. But I digress.) The production was lightly staged, fairly heavily costumed (it looks like the same costumes for all four operas, which would certainly be true to period) – in one photo parts of the orchestra can be seen, including three lute players.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

ProPublica – A Right-Wing Think Tank Claimed to Be a Church. Now, Members of Congress Want to Investigate.
Quote – Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., raised transparency concerns in a letter to the heads of both agencies following a ProPublica story about the Family Research Council, a right-wing Christian think tank based in Washington, D.C., getting reclassified as a church. Thirty-eight other lawmakers, including Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., signed onto the letter.
Click through for details. Thom Hartmann, in today’s Video Thread, talks a bit about how this happened – and he points ou that it wouldn’t have happened if we had had Democratic Presidents for the last 30 years or so. The ones we did have clawed back Republican irresponsibility some, but not enough … and then came Trump**

HuffPost – Republicans Say Economy Is In Recession After It Added Half A Million Jobs In July
Quote – HuffPost asked the five Republican senators at the presser how July’s job growth could happen in a recession. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) pointed out that in the first and second quarters of the year, the U.S. saw negative growth in gross domestic product, an important economic metric. “The definition of recession is negative GDP growth in two successive quarters,” Cassidy said…. But economists don’t use a simple rule of thumb to figure out when the economy is in recession ― they follow the determinations of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private nonprofit organization that’s served as custodian of the business cycle’s ups and downs since the 1960s.
Click through for full talking points. I assur you that if we were in a recession Maria Bartiromo would not have melted like Frosty the Snowman while trying to put a negative spin on the jobs report on Fox.

Food For Thought

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“The Dog Ate My Homework”

 Posted by at 1:20 pm  Politics
Aug 062022
 

There’s a reason I have not been as active here as I usually am – and that I would like to be.  Unfortunately, it’s medical in origin.

My Atrial Fibrillation (AF) had been acting up recently, so after seeing my regular cardiologist I got to repeat my 6-week long Cardiac Monitor ordeal.

Subsequently he wanted to change a main cardiac med I take because he thought it was the culprit.  But since the new med requires hospitalization for at least three days to be sure I don’t have a fatal cardiac arrest, he referred me to an electrophysiology cardiologist for input.

The electrophysiology cardiologist said I don’t meet the criteria for the new med, so we’re back to square one and living w/ careful monitoring.

Additionally, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned I’ve been battling a “hole” in my left big toe for almost a half-year.  The Wound Clinic doctor (finally) agreed to do an MRI of it.  And sure enough – I have an osteomyelitis in both the distal and proximal phalanges (the only two bones in our big toe).

This usually requires amputation because osteomyelitis is so difficult to treat in any bone, but particularly so in the toes.  That’s because while bones make red blood cells, they themselves have a terrible circulation, making it difficult for antibiotics to reach the infection.

I was referred to an Infectious Disease specialist.  He said because: [1] I am not a diabetic; [2] he assessed & felt I have good circulation;  [3] there are no other ulcers or sores on either foot; [4] my CBC was unremarkable; [5] my C-Reactive Protein (CRP) was normal; & [6] my Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) was only 19 (usually close to 100 in most osteomyelitis) that there is a 75% chance of curing it with long-term IV treatment.

[CRP & EST are both acute phase reactants that give a measure to the amount of inflammation going on.]

So, this past week I had a PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line placed.  (It’s inserted in a vein in your right arm and then is threaded into the superior vena cava.)   And now I have to go in every day (weekends included) for my infusion therapy.

It takes about half-hour to get to the Infusion Center, and the infusion itself takes about 45 minutes IF they have the medicine mixed up – which they usually don’t.  And it takes almost an hour to mix it up.

I can’t really blame them too much: Because it’s a very expensive medicine they typically don’t mix it up until they “see the whites of your eyes”.

We now have a setup that I call them an hour before my treatment to tell them I’m coming, so they can start the process.  Hopefully that will cut down on some of the time involved.

Bottom line: It all takes up about a good half-day of time – every day for the next six weeks.

So, I’ll probably be fairly scarce as far as actually posting new things.  I’ll try to keep up participation-wise, but it’s a good-sized chunk of time that I “lose” every day.

I’m hopeful this will save my toe, because the big toe is the most important toe.  It’s the one you push off with when you walk.

Between the cardiac & infectious disease issues, bear with me.

 

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Video Thread 8/6/22

 Posted by at 11:46 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 062022
 

Glenn Kirschner – First, Secret Service deleted 1/6 texts, then the Dept. of Homeland Security, now Defense? Really? (Too bad for the nation that they don’t all have Alex Jones’s lawyers)

Meidas Touch – Jon Stewart HUMILIATES Ted Cruz live on FOX NEWS (yes, it has now been passed, and this is one reason why.)

The Lincoln Project – Wrong Side

The Ring of Fire – Joe Manchin Brutally Takes Down Fox News Host This will surprise you – uness you’ve already seen it.)

BRAND NEW Randy Rainbow! Thoughts and Prayers (I don’t think you need to know the original to appreciate this, but it did give m a little extra chuckle.

Beau – Let’s talk about who will pay for climate research….

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SOUND OFF! 8/6/22 – It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Don’t Feel Fine

 Posted by at 8:18 am  Politics
Aug 062022
 

One of the stereotypical inhabitants of cartoons is the man, usually sporting a long beard and wearing a robe, holding a sign that says “THE END IS NEAR.” People have been preaching that the end of the world is approaching, that we are in the “end times,” for centuries. One prophet after another has announced that he (in a few cases she) has correctly calculated when Doomsday will come – and been proven wrong.

These days, though, the end of the world, or at least of civilization and society as we know it, could in fact be on the horizon – and it is entirely human-made. As climate change worsens due to human action – and inaction – and the threat of nuclear war haunts us once again, suddenly apocalypse again darkens our future. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has put the hands of the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been. That’s 1 minute 40 seconds. The closest they ever put the clock’s hands during the Cold War was two minutes. The primary reason for placing the hands so close is our apparent inability to come to terms with climate change. Hoi polloi holler for our governments to do something, but the jingle-jingle of donations from PACs that serve corporate fat cats ring louder in the ears of U.S. congress people than the voices of those they presume to represent.

A disturbing article suggests that it may be too late to avoid the worst effects of climate change.  Even if tomorrow we replaced every gas-burning vehicle with one that ran on electricity generated by 100% renewable sources, even if we shut down every coal and natural gas plant and got all our energy needs from solar panels and wind turbines and unicorn farts, even if we completely cut beef out of our diets, that rocket has launched. All we can do is delay the inevitable and prepare for the butt-kicking Nature is going to give us.

I still hold out a modest hope that we will avoid the worst effects of climate change; however, we must accept that bad times are ahead. Even if the worst-case scenario does not come to pass, we still face rising sea levels, droughts, crop failures, mass migrations, more wildfires and storms, possibly more pandemics as exhausted and hungry refugees become unwitting Typhoid Marys for emerging diseases. Nations and peoples may go to war over increasingly scarce resources, and these wars will be exceptionally bloody because people will be battling over the essentials of life. Fighting for a leader or ideology is one thing, but fighting so your family can eat is another entirely.

We must prepare for the worst, just as we lock our houses, don seatbelts, and put important documents in safe deposit boxes. The Internet abounds with advice about how to survive the collapse of civilization, not all of it good. Preppers are not necessarily as paranoid as you may think. We all need to do some serious thinking about what we will do when the feces hits the fan. Whom can you trust, where can you go? Will you try to hold out in your city or town, or “head for the hills”? What skills do you have that will be useful after everything crashes?

One thing you can do is build a Knowledge Ark, which I discussed in a previous essay. I have been trying to drum up interest in Knowledge Arks for years, but so far my seed has failed to find the good soil that will yield up tenfold and more; it all seems to land among the thorns. Maybe as people wake up to the fact that our society is in a truly precarious position, and that the collapses of civilization could all too easily go from science fiction to cold hard fact, they will develop more interest in saving what we can.

Climate change coupled with our feeble responses to it, the threat of global war, emerging diseases – our current world faces a number of existential threats. So, what can we do? Hope for the best while leaning on our governments to get off their duffs and take the necessary measures, which, as time goes by, become by necessity increasingly drastic. Prepare for the worst so, if civilization does come crashing down, we can survive and rebuild. Humans are as a whole tough critters, and tough times never last but tough people do.

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Open Thread August 6, 2022

 Posted by at 7:18 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 062022
 

Yesterday, my mechanic confirmed that the car won’t be ready till next week (which was certainly no surprise, but it’s nice to be clear.) I did a little dealing with things on my front porch so I can get more out there for the charity pickup scheduled for the 24th. There’s still a lot to move out there … but I got a start which will help considerably.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Keith Olbermann’s Countdown Is Back — As A Podcast
Quote – The premiere episode of Countdown With Keith Olbermann steals from a) all his other programs b) Beethoven and Bach and c) Peter Finch as Howard Beale in the film “Network” – only with Olber-Beale screaming “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take Trump any more!”
Click through for more information.  I didn’t put this in the video thread because it’s an hour program (including some commercials, and sound only, and no CC that I could find), but I did listen, so you don’t have to, unless you want to. I know a number of people here do like Keith. He vents the same frustrations we all share.

Wonkette – Nancy Pelosi Goes To Taiwan, Uh Oh, That’s A Warrin’!
Quote – Wednesday, Pelosi, the first woman speaker, met with President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first woman president (America continues to hang its head in shame). She noted that a group of (male) Congress members had visited Taiwan in April and cast some fierce shade on China’s current bluster. “They made a big fuss because I’m the speaker, I guess. I don’t know if that was a reason or an excuse,” she said. “Because they didn’t say anything when the men came.” ’Nuff said.
Click through for story. I used Wonkette’s take becuse I am ambivalent. I respect both Pelosi and Biden and don’t know enough about this aspect of foreign policy to try to secod-guess either of them. (I do know she did invite Republicans and was turned down.)

Food For Thought

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