Open Thread May 29, 2022

 Posted by at 7:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 292022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Akhnaten” the third opera in Philip Glass’s “portrait trilogy” (the first two being “Einstein on the Beach” and “Satyagraha.” The three touch on science, politics, and religion respectively, Glass explains.) Akhnaten was (as far as we know) the first monotheist in history. He decreed that Aten (the sun) be the only god worshiped in Egypt (Akhnaten was not the name he was given at birth, but the name he chose to honor Aten.) Needless to say the priests, especially the priests of Amon-Ra, who had been considered the king of the gods, were not happy. And it will come as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to history, or to contemporary politics, that the people were also not happy. Theocracy can only hang on to power when thee are enough people in sympathy with its exact teachings to cush those who aren’t. Still, he might have been more successful had he paid more attention to governance – and defense. Without his failure to send reinforcements to his armies fighting on the borders, there might not have been quite such an opening for him to be overthrown. (And the Egyptians were not as dilatory as we are about removing monuments to discredited figures, so there is much about the historical Akhnaten we don’t know.)

Cartoon – 29 0529Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

CPR News – Wildfire smoke and poor air quality are coming. Here’s how scientists protect their homes.
Quote – [Alex] Huffman[, an associate professor studying air contaminants at the University of Denver,] recommends households explore … methods to monitor outdoor and indoor air quality. To help manage his asthma, he keeps a careful eye on the EPA’s fire and smoke map, which tracks nationwide smoke plumes and air quality readings. To monitor indoor air quality, he purchased an egg-shaped monitor from PurpleAir, which now sits on a table inside the front door of his home in Centennial. It glows green, yellow or red depending on the severity of suspended particulates.
Click through for methods and details.   This is applicable, not only to Colorado and California, not only to the entire southwestern US, but really to everywhere. Sadly.

Mother Jones – He Did Not Act Alone
Quote – [W]hatever we learn about the Uvalde shooter, or any future ones—because there will be more—don’t say they “acted alone,” which is largely media code for “this doesn’t appear to be Islamic terrorism.” No matter the particulars, these “lone” gunmen all have scores of accomplices. Here is a wholly incomplete list of those who bear direct responsibility in this slaughter of 19 children and two teachers, and the brutality visited on those still in the hospital, all the families, and the community and country at large:
Click through for [in]complete list.  Did you find your Representative or Senator in there? Or maybe even yourself?

The Daily Beast – The Texan Working Overtime to Customize 19 Little Caskets (hanky alert)
Quote – The funeral directors in Uvalde decided that it should all go through a single casket distributor and customizer, Trey Ganem of SoulShine Industries in Edna, Texas…. “The funeral directors know who I am, and they said, ‘If anybody can do it, you can. Would you help out in Uvalde?’” Ganem told The Daily Beast. “I said, ‘100 percent.’” Ganem added that he would cover the cost of the coffins, around $3,400 each. And he would not charge for any customizing.
Click through for full story.  There is a reason why the motto of The Daily Beast is “Truth is a beast.”

Food For Thought (  Nameless)

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Open Thread May 28, 2022

 Posted by at 7:23 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 282022
 

Yesterday, I started work on cartoons for the second 10 days of June (I did finish framing and watermarking the ones for the first ten days Thursday.) I also discovered Randy Rainbow has a couple of new videos up. Neither is a parody, though – they are from the first album he has released. So I will get them into Video Threads, but on slow days. There are things that need to come first (like Mrs. Betty Bowers).

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – The Massive Screwup That Could Let COVID Bypass Our Vaccines
Quote – The leading Western vaccine manufacturers are focusing on developing boosters specifically for the recent Omicron variant. But by the time these boosters are ready in the fall, Omicron is likely to have been replaced by a new and more dangerous variant. Two years ago the world worked together to develop highly effective messenger-RNA vaccines, and fast. Today there’s less money and less urgency, meaning vaccine development is slowing at precisely the moment the virus is speeding up.
Click through for discussion. Like so many things, it appears to come down to Republicans.

CPR News – Elijah McClain’s mother attends signing of executive order on police reform, but says Biden’s plan wouldn’t have helped her son
Quote – The order, which affects federal law enforcement only, will create a national database of police misconduct, bans chokeholds and tracks data on use of force incidents for all federal law enforcement. It also orders new guidance on the use of substances, like ketamine, outside of a hospital setting…. “It would not have kept my son alive. If this executive order would have been in place on the day he died, he still would have died,” she said, in a phone interview from a bench on the White House lawn. “There needs to be so much more done on the state level.”
Click through for more. If I may correct the headline, it’s not the plan which is insufficient – it’s that an executive order can only apply to federal law enforcement, and the cops who killed ELijah were state and/or municipal. (I still take Elijah’s death personally, having been a violinist myself in a previous lifetime.)  She does say the President did the best he could.

US News and World Report – California Senate Advances Newsom-Sponsored Gun Bill Modeled After Texas’ Abortion Law
Quote – Among the bills is one proposed by Newsom that takes a cue from Texas’ abortion law, replicating its unusual mechanism, which deputizes private citizens as its enforcers. Gun manufacturers have largely been shielded from lawsuits associated with their product under federal law. The California rule would allow private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes or sells so-called “assault weapons” or ghost guns or parts in the state. And, just as importantly, it would provide incentive to do so, with an end goal of removing such weapons from circulation.
CLick through for story. This comes the same week that Speaker Pelosi publicly stated that she would refuse to accept communion from Archbishop Cordileone as long as he was in contempt of the Pope’s directive to refuse communion to no one. If more California Democrats are going to start trolling Republicans in real time, I can’t wait to hear from Ted Lieu.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/27/22

 Posted by at 11:42 am  Open Thread, Politics
May 272022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump offered Kellyanne Conway an unsolicited blanket pardon. Let’s talk Rudy/Don Jr./Ivanka/Jared

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Marjorie Taylor Greene defending White Supremacists

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – May 24, 2022

MSNBC – Rev. Al Sharpton: I Think The President Is Legitimately Angry On Guns

VoteVets – Semper [Illinois]

Miserable blind cat crying for help rescue cat before & after 7 monthsThis one is kind of a roller coaster – but ends on an up)

Beau – Let’s talk about what Dems can learn from the Scopes trial….

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Open Thread May 27, 2022

 Posted by at 6:36 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 272022
 

Yesterday, I received my grocery order and put it away. No substitutions – a few things missing, but I wasn’t charged for them. While waiting, I started working on cartoons for June. It’s a month with a lot missing and also a few dated, so it’s a ;large project. I got four put together (but not framed) which took me up through the ninth. I’d kind of like to get the tenth done this week yet, and then get farther next week, but we’ll see how it goes.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – The Supreme Court Just Said That Evidence of Innocence Is Not Enough
Quote – After losing in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Arizona’s attorney general appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. During those oral arguments, state prosecutors repeatedly argued that “innocence isn’t enough” of a reason to throw out Jones’ conviction. On Monday morning, by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court concurred: Barry Jones’ innocence is not enough to keep him off of death row. The state of Arizona can still kill Jones, even if there exists a preponderance of evidence that he committed no crime.
Click through for verdist ana analysis. I don’t have any idea how to react to this – it is that warped.

CPR News – Hate crimes are on the rise. Here’s what you can do to help prevent them
Quote – If someone says something that I have never heard them say before, like something racist, as uncomfortable as that would be, I would want to say, “I’ve never heard you talk like that. Why are these things appealing to you? What’s changed with you?” Actually express concern about them, that something is off and they’re becoming angry and blaming people, which is really a warning sign. If, instead, you come with the opposite opinion, or try to use facts to dispute someone’s beliefs, sometimes it ends up having the effect of making you impossible to talk to. They think you’re the “other,” or shaming them, and they will pull away, and then maybe they won’t express these things to you, but they can continue to get more strident.
Click through for full conversation – and, since after all this is radio, you can also listen to it if thet works for you.

Letters From An American – May 25, 2022
Quote – It seems that during the Cold War, American leaders came to treat democracy and capitalism as if they were interchangeable. So long as the United States embraced capitalism, by which they meant an economic system in which individuals, rather than the state, owned the means of production, liberal democracy would automatically follow. That theory seemed justified by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The crumbling of that communist system convinced democratic nations that they had won, they had defeated communism, their system of government would dominate the future…. In fact, the apparent success of capitalism actually undercut democracy in the U.S.
Click through as she bolsters the argument. It’s depressing, but iit’s also important. And it’s why it’s also so important to distinguish between Left v. Right economically and Autocracy v. Democracy as governance. See (and shre) The Political Compass.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/26/22

 Posted by at 12:06 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 262022
 

Glenn Kirschner – As Insurrection Hearings Set to Open on June 9, Reasons for Optimism that Trump will be Indicted

Meidas Touch – presents the Tony Michaels podcast – Donald Trump SLAMMED after sharing call for CIVIL WAR

Ring of Fire – Biden Gets Banned

Truth Matters – Love of the Unborn

MSNBC – Parkland Father Reacts To Texas School Shooting: ‘How Many More Times?’

Momta – Why Are Republicans So Grumpy?

Beau – Let’s talk about what aliens can teach us about tech companies….

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Open Thread May 26, 2022

 Posted by at 7:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 262022
 

Yesterday, of course, I read up on the latest shooting (at least it was the latest yesterday – by today, who knows.) I won’t be posting Biden’s speech because I am bettimg everupone has either already seen it or decided they can’t bear to. I won’t be posting Beto’s speech for about the same reasons (it is in two parts – before and after he got thrown out of abbott’s press conference.) I am posting some little-known Second Amendment history which needs to be known more sidely, along with what I think is a very powerful meme (both here) and a video with Fred Guttenberg in the Video Thread. And there’s this.  (another detail about the incident is in the comments.) Also, I did manage to get my delivery order placed, though it took two browsers and about an hour of ding other things before I could get from finalizing the products to actually checking out. sometimes that happens. As long as I have something else to do, and don’t have to sit there screaming at the computer, I’m fine with that.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Justice Department Tells Agents They Must Step in to Stop ‘Excessive Force’
Quote – In the first update to its use-of-force policy after a string of killings by police in recent years, the Justice Department has ordered federal agents to step in to “prevent or stop” excessive force by other members of law enforcement, The Washington Post reports. The policy change, the first update to its use-of-force policy since 2004, was spelled out in a memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland that was sent to federal law-enforcement agents.
Click through for quotes frpm the memo. My guess for why this took so long is that agents thought such corrective action might be (or be seen as) “hostile” – but IMO “parental” – is a better description.

Robert Reich – Why unions are coming to the new economy
Quote – A fifth reason is a new appreciation of the importance of power in driving wages, and the fraudulence of the economic idea that “you’re paid what you’re worth.” The old economic mainstay that people are paid what they are “worth” is finally revealing itself to be an ideology grounded in nothing but power. According to this old mythology, minimum wage workers aren’t “worth” more than the $7.25 an hour federal minimum many now receive. If they were worth more, they’d earn more. Any attempt to force employers to pay them more will only kill jobs. According to this same ideology, CEOs of big companies are “worth” their giant compensation packages, now averaging 350 times pay of the typical American worker. They must be worth it or they wouldn’t be paid so much. Any attempt to limit their pay is fruitless because their pay will only take some other form.
Click through for the other four, and for a more complete explanation of this one. IMO there are practical reasons why no one will ever be paid exactly what he or she is “worth,” but we can definitey do better than we are now doing.

Letters from an American – May 24, 2022
Quote – There’s not a lot to go on about what the Framers meant, although in their day, to “bear arms” meant to be part of an organized militia. As the Tennessee Supreme Court wrote in 1840, “A man in the pursuit of deer, elk, and buffaloes might carry his rifle every day for forty years, and yet it would never be said of him that he had borne arms; much less could it be said that a private citizen bears arms because he has a dirk or pistol concealed under his clothes, or a spear in a cane.”
Click through for more history. I haven’t subscribed to this blog for very long, so this history is new to me. It is a history that everyone should learn. All of it. (BTW today’s video thread includes a short conversation with Fred Guttenberg and Nicole Wallace.)

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 5/25/22

 Posted by at 12:14 pm  Open Thread, Politics
May 252022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Attorney John Eastman tries to hide 2 Trump handwritten insurrection notes from the J6 committee.

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to New Bombshell Ginni Thomas Scandal

The Lincoln Project – Mean Girl

The Ring of Fire – Kellyanne Conway Admits She’s To Blame For Donald Trump

Armageddon Update – Why GOP On Yourself?

Family Rescues Baby Fox In Their Backyard And Reunites Him With Mom

Beau – Let’s talk about Madison Cawthron’s Dark comment….

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Open Thread May 25, 2022

 Posted by at 7:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 252022
 

Yesterday, I tried to catch up on things I need to order, starting with two prescriptions. I succeeded in ordering one; the other one, after counting, I put off for a week since I have almost 4 weeks supply on hand. Then there were a few jewelry supplies I’d ben pl;anning ro order but was waiting for a sale (and it’s almost Memorial Day.) So I put that order together and placed it. Then I started looking for a small “boom box” (yes, they are still using that term – that surprised me too), but didn’t get far, because the combination of features I want is appaently unusual. I also started a list for a grocery order, but did not place it, because it was Tuesday, and Wednesday is the day that prices change (if they are going to), and I like to know what I am getting into, so I’ll place it today for tomorrow.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Wisconsin GOP Gubernatorial Candidate: None Of The Above
Quote – Wisconsin Republicans refused to endorse any of the four candidates for governor at their annual state convention for the first time — a symbolic rejection of the political apparatus that has been blamed by its own members for failing to deliver statewide victories in recent years.
Click through for answers to questions you undoubtedly have. There will eventually be a candidate, because there is a primary (sadly).

Robert Reich – Bombardment by the billionaires
Quote – This is the same crew, not incidentally, that’s been fighting unions and flooding Congress and statehouses with cash to support Trump election deniers, prevent tax hikes on themselves, and kill off Biden’s and the Democrats’ agenda…. This billionaire bombardment gives Biden and the Democrats an opportunity to tell America whose side they’re on and whose side they’re not on — in effect, to declare class war on the class warriors. Will they take it?
Click through for his reasoning and recpmmendations. The Reich on the left has a history of being right, and he has the education and experience to be. So I hope he is listened to. I franklly have no idea what, if anything, will work.

Just Security – Prosecuting Trump for the Insurrection: The Well-Founded Case for Optimism
Quote – For example, in one New York Times piece weighing the prospects for a Trump prosecution, the authors noted that Trump “would have a powerful argument about his mental state” against a claim that he pressured former Vice President Pence to violate his legal duties under the Electoral Count Act – i.e., that Trump “sincerely thought he was asking Mr. Pence to do something lawful” because of the “advice” he received from lawyer John Eastman, who concocted a baseless rationale for Pence to ignore the law. Likewise, in a second piece, the Times quoted a law professor for the proposition that “[t]he problem with Trump is defining his state of mind when it is so changeable. He believes whatever he wants to think and it doesn’t necessarily have to be grounded in reality. That’s a tough argument to a jury, to say he knew a particular thing.”
Click through for full article. This article was recommended by Glenn Kirschner, and it is very thorough – so thorough that I didn’t even try for a quote which summarized all the points.  So I recommend you either read the whole article or skip it. Or you could, of course, save it for when you have more time.

Food For Thought

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