Open Thread May 20, 2022

 Posted by at 7:15 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 202022
 

Yesterday, among other things, I heard from Mitch (our Mitch, I mean, of course – not BBM!) I had passed on a little info from comments about how we all are doing, and he was grateful to know and sends encouragement. He also gave me permission to pass on that he had his first cario rehab (yesterday); and it went well. It was a combination of assessment and workout, and he did more execcise than he had done since the day before the attack, and ended up not feeling not that bad. This coming Monday he will be doing it 3x weekly. He’s not up to commenting yet. He’s grateful for everyone’s concern. Of course I told him to take all the time he needed (where have I heard that before?)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

CPR News – After almost 80 years, roses from Colorado’s Amache internment camp may bloom again
Quote – It was during an archaeological dig that the rosebush was discovered. Bonnie Clark, an archaeologist with the University of Denver, and her team were on-site at Camp Amache when they found the bramble crawling across the remnants of a barracks doorway in 2012. It had survived a dark time in American history and the unforgiving extremes of Colorado’s southeastern plains…. Clark, who leads the DU Amache Research Project and Field School, believes people who were imprisoned at the camp planted the roses. “It’s hard to know which family planted them,” she said. “But most of the people who lived in the block where we found them at Amache were from Los Angeles.”
Click through to learn what all it took to accomplish this. Not only is this good news, but it comes at a time when the White House Rose Garden has just been partially restored and is colorful again.

Robert Reich – What you need to know about the anti-democracy movement
Quote – Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech financier who is among those leading the charge, writes “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Thiel is using his fortune to squelch democracy. He donated $15 million to the successful Republican Ohio senatorial primary campaign of J.D. Vance, who alleges that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s immigration policy has meant “more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” And Thiel has donated at least $10 million to the Arizona Republican primary race of Blake Masters, who also claims Trump won the 2020 election and admires Lee Kuan Yew, the authoritarian founder of modern Singapore.
Click through for more – I suppose, since no one is perfet, there are times when the Reich on the left is not right, but I haven’t seen it yet. This may be the most important thing about our drift to autocracy which has yet been said – that it isn’t a drift, it’s a conscious push.

Crooks and Liars – Katie Porter: Dems Are Actually Doing Something About Inflation
Quote – “We have monopolies today in virtually everything. There is a bread monopoly, there’s a cereal monopoly, beef monopoly. So we need to create this competition. It’s going to help not only consumers, but small businesses wanting to enter these marketplaces. More competition is better for our economy, period. The only people who benefit from monopolies are the monopolists themselves.”
Click through for some details and how to message. This is difficult because it is complex yet the solution is pretty clear – and proven to work (Remember the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?) there’s also a video, if you can stand Joe and Mika for a few minites.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/19/22

 Posted by at 12:12 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 192022
 

Glenn Kirschner – J6 subpoena puts McCarthy in a trick bag: testify & incriminate Trump or refuse & commit crimes

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Republicans Spreading Racist White Replacement Theory

MSNBC – Lawrence: ‘Fox News Has Blood On Its Hands’

Also MSNBC – DOJ Requesting Transcripts From 1/6 Committee According To NYT

The Lincoln Project – Remember Buffalo

Pittie Has The Cutest Way Of Grooming Her Foster Kittens

Beau – Let’s talk about midterm math for Democrats….

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Open Thread May 19, 2022

 Posted by at 7:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 192022
 

Yesterday, I watched a Sixty Minutes segment (during that hour I avoid the radio -its only about 27 minutes, so I also watched something else – a documentary about the WWII British equivalent of Tucker Carlson – mildly interesting.) If you watch 60 mnutes you have probably seen the segment. If not, you may want to bookmark this for when you have a spare half hour. It’s the story of a black family who purchase a large home which turns out to have been, not just a plantation, but the plantation on which their ancestors were enslaved. Simply amazing. Here’s the link. I also managed to get trash ans recyclables out to the curb (It only took me about a half hour and a few extra CBD gummies to recover from that.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

CPR News – ‘I’m not giving up’: Sen. Michael Bennet’s drive to make the expanded Child Tax Credit permanent
Quote – The pandemic-relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan, expanded the Child Tax Credit for one year, made it fully refundable, so the poorest families could benefit, and for the last half of 2021, sent it in the form of monthly checks to families, turning it into a reliable income supplement…. Bennet’s frustration that the expanded benefit was not made permanent, or even just extended, is palpable…. “I’m not giving up. And I don’t think we should give up. And I, frankly, I’m not giving up until we have an economy that when it grows, it grows for everybody, not just the people at the very top. And I think we can do that too,”
Click through for story. Colorado would have to be crazy not to re-elect Senator Bennet. (And it’s because part of Colorado IS crazy that I became a – small- monthly donor to the campaign.)

HuffPost – Living With The Far-Right Insurgency In Idaho
Quote – [White nationalist Vincent James Foxx] is one of many far-right activists who have flocked to Idaho in recent years, where a large and growing radical MAGA faction in the state’s Republican Party has openly allied itself with extremists to a shocking extent, even for the Trump era. This faction is accruing more and more power in Boise, the state capital: Imagine a statehouse full of Marjorie Taylor Greenes and Steve Kings. At the local level, they have seized seats on school boards and county commissions at a fast clip.
Click through for details. Idaho is pretty much every bit as LDS as Utah – just not as publicly. I don’t know what the position, or the participation of the LDS Church is in this – but I’ll bet there is some. The church just possibly could surprise us.

The Hill – House passes domestic terrorism bill in mostly party-line vote
Quote – The bill calls for establishing a Domestic Terrorism Unit in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the DHS, which would be tasked with observing and examining domestic terrorism activity, in addition to a Domestic Terrorism Office in the Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division of the DOJ, which would look into and prosecute domestic terrorism incidents and communicate with the Civil Right Division about occurrences that may be considered hate crimes.
Click through for discussion and details. This could work, if only the government (federal and atate) would stop assuming that it’s only terrorism if a non-white person does it – when the reverse is closer to the truth.

Food For Thought

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Video Thread 5/18/22

 Posted by at 11:55 am  Open Thread, Politics
May 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Unrestricted guns + unrestricted hate speech = today’s American. Our government CAN tackle this

Meidas Touch – Francis EXPOSES Tucker Carlson’s influence on Buffalo Hate Crime

MSNBC – Garland Signals Criminal Case That May Involve Donald Trump Is Not Out Of Bounds (just in case you missed those magical, musical words “Grand Jury”)

No Dem Left Behind – No Dem Left Behind Endorses John Fetterman for U.S. Senate (PA)

San Francisco DA Recall – Dr. Angela Davis Opposes Prop H (I know everyone remebers her.)

CNN – ‘Millions of people absorb this garbage’: Acosta calls out Carlson for dangerous rhetoric (Acosta can usually be counted on to speak out … but one Acosta is not enough. We also have Lawrence, Ari, Mehdi, Chris, and Rachel – whom too few people watch.)

Beau- Let’s talk about why I look left and expectations….

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Open Thread May 18, 2022

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 182022
 

Yesterday,I finished a trifle early ans spent some time looking on the net for icons.  I have a few on my desktop I think could be better, and looking is not all that time-consuming unless one falls into a rabbit hole.  There are three things I am looking for in a desktop icon, which I call the three C’s – I want them colorful, cute, and clear.  Colorful so they stand out, and clear so it’s obvious to me what they are.  Cute just because I like cute.  And I did find some that made me smile.  They are very small files and I don’t keep than on my main hard drive anyway but on my portable hard drive, so they don’t clog things up.  I know, not everyone’s idea of fun, but I enjoy it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – We need a hope machine. Anyone know how to build one?
Quote – But let me say something else as clearly as I can. I’ve been at this fight a very long time, and right now I find lots of reasons for hope. Ten, to be exact. (Here’s where the hammers, nails, and solar panels for Paula’s hope machine come in.)… 7. The myth of the decline of the West and the rise of the East — propounded by China and Russia — is proving itself bankrupt. Putin’s war on Ukraine is showing the world that totalitarian systems can’t even execute a war efficiently. Because dissent is stifled, accurate information doesn’t get back to headquarters. Because oligarchs have ravaged government funds, weapons systems don’t work. Because hierarchies are rigid and education in short supply, armies lack the training they need. Putin’s war is also revealing how fragile the Russian economy is, as is any economy whose strength turns on raw materials.
Clck through for the other nine. We do, sadly, need to avoid too much hope (or the wrong kind of hope) which can engender a sense of false security. But the reasons he cites tend to produce motivating hope, I think.

CPR News – Whistleblowers say they falsified patient records at Western Slope mental health center
Quote – The state overlooked what former workers describe as a long practice by the Grand Junction-based Mind Springs Health of intentionally writing patient evaluations that may not be based in reality. The three departments that regulate Colorado’s mental health safety net system failed to notice the problem reports during a recent multi-agency audit of the center, and over years of lax oversight. “You’ve got to wonder how closely these so-called regulatory agencies are really looking,” said Sunny Sullivan, one of 29 current and former Mind Springs workers who have come forward to tell the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) about what they see as legal and ethical breaches.
Click through for details. Colorado currently has a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both state houses. But Colorado also has a TABOR problem, because it wasn’t always this way. When you have a Constitutional amendment requirig you to give back any excess funds to taxpayers, you can never build for the future by using state funds wisely. So you will always be under-funded – and worse, unmotivated. (And, in the public mind, failures like this are always the fault of the government, no matter how tightly the government’s hands are tied.)

The Conversation – Online data could be used against people seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade falls
Quote – In overturning Roe, the anticipated decision would not merely deprive women of reproductive control and physical agency as a matter of constitutional law, but it would also change their relationship with the online world. Anyone in a state where abortion becomes illegal who relies on the internet for information, products and services related to reproductive health would be subject to online policing. As a researcher who studies online privacy, I’ve known for some time how Google, social media and internet data generally can be used for surveillance by law enforcement to cast digital dragnets. Women would be at risk not just from what they reveal about their reproductive status on social media, but also by data from their health applications, which could incriminate them if it were subpoenaed.
Click through for explanation. I am happily post-menopausal – but every woman, pre, during,  or post – needs to be aware this. We are accustomed to “having nothing to hide.” Well, now we have something to hide.

Food For Thought
I tried embedding this for the Video Thread, but the English subtitles disappeared. To me the most interesting thing isn’t exactly that he is telling straight truth (although that is very intresting indeed), but the way that Russian Fox News Barbie keeps trying to tell this hardened, clear-sighted professional soldier what war is really about.

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Video Thread 5/17/22

 Posted by at 11:47 am  Open Thread, Politics
May 172022
 

Glenn Kirschner – If Kevin McCarthy defies subpoena, concealingTrump’s crimes, he is guilty of misprision of a felony

Meidas Touch – School Board member BLASTS parents for using religion to target LGBTQ kids (Academy District 20 is in northern Colorado Springs. Yay!)

The Lincoln Project – What was that, Elise?

MSNBC – Chris Hayes On Taking Paxlovid And What He Learned From His Covid Experience

San Francisco DA Recall – Lawrence Krasner Opposes the Recall (Remember him? Progressive Philadelphia DA? I’ve written about him, and he was in a Sam Bee segment. (IMO if we are ever going to get police reform, it will be through progressive prosecutors.)

I try not to put two Beaus in the same post, but these two make one story, so I made an exception.
Beau – Let’s talk about inflation and Biden….

and
Beau – Let’s talk about baby formula, Biden, and solutions….

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Open Thread May 17, 2022

 Posted by at 6:34 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 172022
 

Yesterday, my radio station played (an orchestral arrangement of ) the Welsh song usually translated as “Men of Harlech.” I first learned it when I was a little girl – but today it made me think of Ukraine. It’s known to date back to the Wars of the Roses, but may be even older, from 1408, when Prince Hal (the future Henry V) invaded it to annex it. Here’s a short quote from the oldest published English translation (1873):

Know that freedom’s cause is strongest,
Freedom’s courage lasts the longest,
Ending but with death!
Freedom countless hosts can scatter,
Freedom stoutest mail can shatter,
Freedom thickest walls can batter,
Fate is in her breath.

Sadly, the Welsh lost that battle and became part of the UK … but not part of England, even now. They have held on to their language and culture, and their status as a nation, to this day.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Media Matters – Fox’s modest proposal for baby formula crisis: Starve migrant babies
Quote – Meanwhile, there is currently a major shortage of baby formula in the United States. There are many reasons for this shortage, including the consolidation of formula suppliers, supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, bacterial contamination that forced a recall of some formula stocks and the shuttering of a major manufacturing plant, U.S. trade policy, and the general disregard U.S. policy has for children. The shortage is a crisis for many parents, who are unable to find the food they need for their babies.
Click through for more. ICYMI, the term “Modest Proposal” is a reference to a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift regarding famine and babies (written IIRC during the Irish potato famine.)

Letters from an American – May 15, 2022
Quote – They also drew from America’s own version of a theory of replacement. That theory comes out of the 1870s and was explicitly connected to voting…. The violence of the 1876 election, along with fears of what their lives would look like in its wake, led Black Americans to leave the South in a movement known as the Exodus…. When Black Americans began to come to their state, Indiana Democrats immediately howled that the Republicans were importing Black migrants to shift the state back toward the Republicans in the 1880 election…. [T]he conspiracy theory took root. White Hoosier Democrats met Black migrants with showers of rocks and vowed to “clean out all the g–d d– –n***ers in the county before the [1880] election.”
Cick through for history and discussion. The only replacement of voters which is happening is in the course of nature, Yes, a few people do leave the US, and a few come here (though it takes a while to become a citizen, but the biggest influence is that older peole die and children reach voting age.That process happens to people of every color, and incidentally every gender – and has done so since the beginning of time. (Although Texas Paul has a slightly different take on it.) Wouldn’t you think Talibangelicals would think that trying to stop or change it was against God’s will? Alas, no consistency there.

The Daily Beast – Hero California Church Members Hog-Tied Gunman Who Killed 1, Hurt 5
Quote – After the initial gunfire, Hallock said, “a group of church-goers detained him and hog-tied his legs with an extension cord and confiscated at least two weapons.” The man had two handguns, police said…. Peggy Huang, a Yorba Linda city councilwoman who[se] parents are members of the congregation but were not present, told the Los Angeles Times that witnesses told her that after the shooting started, the pastor hit the gunman with a chair and other members accosted him.
Click through for details. Most of the parishoners appear to be in their seventies and up. There was no “good guy with a gun” here – the only weapon used was a chair. Older people are often underestimated.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/16/22

 Posted by at 12:02 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 162022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Federal prosecutors open grand jury probe into Trump’s removal of top secret docs to Mar-a-Lago

The Lincoln Project – Thank you, Jen.

MSNBC – America ‘Needs To Prepare For’ Insider Threats To Elections

Twitter – CNN – White supremacist terrorism

Politics Girl – Quick Civics

Food-Obsessed Cat Has Taught Himself To Open Containers With His Teeth

Beau – Let’s talk about a cliff analogy….

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