Open Thread for July 24, 2021

 Posted by at 6:49 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 242021
 

Thursday, I got a reply to my request for information on visitation. There’s no exemption for the pandemic to the rule that if you don’t visit for a year you have to start over with a new application. But I was provided with an email address, and I was prepared for that answer, so I emailed the application off as – actually, as three attachments – and got my email returned by the mail system. The error message included the phrase “too many hops,” and just in case that had anything to do with attachments, I started over with the app and credentials, got them into a single pdf, and re-sent – and got it back again. To make a long story shorter, yesterday I asked around, and part of the problem ended up being that DOC email addresses can’t read caps. Anyway, the application is at DOC now, and, since this is not my first rodeo, I’m confident it includes enough (possibly more than enough) information to sail through. And the DOC will notify me by email when it has.

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Short Takes –

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-qanon-shaman-plea-negotiations-after-mental-health-diagnosis-lawyer-2021-07-23/
Reuters – Exclusive: ‘QAnon Shaman’ in plea negotiations after mental health diagnosis
Quote – In an interview, defense lawyer Albert Watkins said that officials at the federal Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, have diagnosed his client Jacob Chansley with transient schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. The BOP’s findings, which have not yet been made public, suggest Chansley’s mental condition deteriorated due to the stress of being held in solitary confinement at a jail in Alexandria, Virginia, Watkins said. “As he spent more time in solitary confinement … the decline in his acuity was noticeable, even to an untrained eye,” Watkins said in an interview on Thursday. He said Chansley’s 2006 mental health records from his time in the U.S. Navy show a similar diagnosis to the BOP’s.
Click through for details. This is a situation of a type which explains why I don’t score a 9 or higher on being anti-authoritarian. The point of appealing to mental illness as mitigation is – though it’s seldom stated – the feeling we all share that a person should not be punished for something which is not, or not entirely, his fault. I feel that too. I feel it as a moral principle, not just as an emotional response. But the corollary is, if it is caused by a condition which is inseparable from the person, that person still meeds to be restrained somehow for the safety of the public. No, it shouldn’t be a prison. But – as, thanks to Ronald Reagan and other Republicans is currently the case in the US – prison is the only option, then prison it needs to be. Yes, we need to find better ways. But until and unless we do, that remains the hard truth.

Politico – Alabama governor says ‘it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks’ as pandemic worsens
Quote – [T]he remarks from the governor grew more pointed when she was pressed on what it would take for greater numbers of Alabamans to get their shots. “I don’t know. You tell me,” Ivey said. “Folks [are] supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”
Click through for more. Here’s proof there are still Repuiblicans who have not completely lost it. Just not enough of them. And they are still Republicans.

Daily Beast – Liz Cheney Is Saving Pelosi, the GOP, and Maybe America From Themselves {OPINION}
Quote – In applying this analogy to Jan. 6, Cheney represents one legitimate political worldview and Democrats represent the other. If Pelosi should name Rep. Adam Kinzinger—a Republican, Air Force veteran and member of the Air Force National Guard—to the select committee, as she is reportedly considering doing, she would be reinforcing this function and adding an additional check on Democrats who might be tempted to exploit the situation for their own political agenda. (And if you think Dick Cheney’s daughter is some sort of RINO now, that probably says a lot more about you than it does about her.)
Click through for his full argument. No, she’s not a hero. But I can respect a person who holds their beliefs with integrity, even if they are wrong. m And in this case – in this case – she is not wrong.

Food for Thought:

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Open Thread for July 23, 2021

 Posted by at 6:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 232021
 

This is the 71st week that the Metropilitan has been streaming full operas free of charge nightly, and it is the last week of this program. I am sad to see it go, but hopeful that they will be able to hold the complete season they are planning startin gin September. What with the Delta and Lambda variants, that appears to me to be far from certain. In any event, I watched “Tales of Hoffmann” last noght, and plan to watch “A Masked Bsll” Sunday night, which will be the very last one to appear.

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Short Takes –

Republicans Protest Lack of Rioters on January 6th Commission
Quote – “Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked Democratic panel members all have one thing in common: none of them took part in the riot,” McCarthy said. “Without an equal number of rioters on the panel, we’ll never get to hear both sides of this thing.”
Click through for the rest. Sure, that’s why we included Al Qaeda members on the 9/11 commission – oh, wait.
Related story – Kevin McCarthy Proposes Removing January 6th from Month of January

Law and Crime – FBI Report Shows Explosive Components Allegedly Found in Home of Ex-Cop Charged in U.S. Capitol Breach
Quote – Despite the box’s markings labeling the contents a “prop,” the FBI said that the components could have formed a deadly weapon. “The resulting explosion from an IED of this type could cause property damage, personal injury and/or death,” Christopher Rigopoulos, of Quantico’s explosives unit, wrote. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi called that conclusion “highly relevant” to the judge’s pending ruling on whether to revoke Robertson’s conditions of release.
Click through for story. This dude had better get sentenced to longer than months.

The Guardian – FBI failed to fully investigate Kavanaugh allegations, say Democrats
Quote – Whitehouse said they asked “why the FBI failed to contact witnesses whose names were provided to the FBI as possessing ‘highly relevant’ information; how involved the Trump White House was in narrowing the scope of the investigation; whether the FBI had used a tip line in previous background investigations to manage incoming allegations and information regarding a nominee; and more.”
Click through for details. This is s “No s**t, Sherlock” story … but Senator Whitehouse does have a way with facts.

Food for Thought:

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Open Thread for July 22, 2021

 Posted by at 7:34 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 222021
 

Tuesday night after I finished posting I attempted to play an older game on my desktop.PC. Many of the older games, being designed for a lower resolution, make my desktop look as though icons are missing, but when one exits the game they are actually all there Not this one – When I exited the game many of the icons in the bottom half of my desktop were still MIA. I recovered a few key ones then, and when I got up yesterday installed the offending game (and its sequel) on my Win7 laptop prior to uninstalling them on the Win8, so that won’t happen again. I tend to over-accumulate text documents and shortcuts which I really don’t need to keep, so this will be a good excuse to clean house … but it won’t happen all at once. And, for architectural reasons, the room the laptop is in stays cooler than the one the desktop is in … .

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Short Takes –

CNN – Indonesian Covid-positive man disguises himself as wife on Citilink flight in order to fly
Quote – After that, “the airport immediately contacted the Ternate City Covid-19 Handling Task Force team to evacuate the man while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), and then taking him in an ambulance to his house (in Ternate City) to self-isolate, where he will be supervised by Task Force officers,” Ternate Covid-19 Task Force Operational Head Muhammad Arif Gani told reporters Once his self-isolation period is complete, local police have stated they intend to prosecute “DW.”
Click through for background. I used to thnk that “American Exceptionalism” applied only to insanity. Well, I was wrong. It doesn’t even apply to that.

Raw Story – Nancy Pelosi Rejects 2 GOP Picks For The Jan. 6 Committee
Quote – “With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”
Click through fpr names and sequence of events (of which I predicted what Pelosi would do. I failed to predict McCarthy’s response, though I probably should have been able to.)

Common Dreams – ‘Tremendous News for Workers and Consumers’: Biden Picks Kanter as DOJ Antitrust Chief
Quote – Progressive groups including MoveOn had urged Biden to tap Kanter to be assistant attorney general for the antitrust division at the DOJ, Politico reported Tuesday, “because of his work over the past decade representing companies, including Microsoft, that lodged antitrust complaints about Google.”
Click through for more. Now we just need to get him through the Senate.

Food for Thought:

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Video Thread for 7/21/21

 Posted by at 12:08 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 212021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump Associate Tom Barrack Indicted for 7 Felony Crimes, Unlawfully Acted as Foreign Agent (Sure glad Glenn read those 46 pages so I didn’t have to.)

Meidas Touch – Rep. Eric Swalwell SLAMS Republicans for WWE Approach to Politics (Love Eric – not sure about the beard – but it’s not my face.)

politicsrus #3: – GOP Murdering Americans

Now This News – a few moments from the Voting Rights hearing.

Liberal Redneck – Texas Klan Plan

Rob Rogers – Climate Crawl

Keith – OLBERMANN VS…THE NYC WILDFIRE SMOKE AND ACRID SMELL. IT’S FROM THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON FIRES.

Beau – Let’s talk about the Biden administration’s information campaign….

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Open Thread for July 21, 2021

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

Those of us who remember polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and all that went with them, may sometimes have trouble getting through to (and in the process become frustrated by) nnti-vaxxers, who don’t remember that. Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other masterpieces) lost a daughter to measles – to measles encephalitis, to be precise. He wrpte about the experience years after, and someone at Democratic Underground found the piece and shared the story. Of course it’s a huge hanky alert. But if you can think of anyone who might be helped by hearing or reading it … you’ll find it at the link. Dahl was ot a perfect human being (for one thing, he was known to be anti-Semitic.) But no one deserves that.

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Short Takes –

Acosta Warns Of A Five Alarm Fire – Coups, Hitler, Voter Suppression
Quote – What will you do if a second insurrection happens? What if they are successful in taking over the government? We are standing there, rule book in hand, screaming at the other side to FOLLOW THE RULES, while they shoot us with mace and bear spray, fire assault rifles at us, cover their faces with war paint, and scream “MAGA MAGA MAGA!”
Click through for story and video. Of course he’s right. I hope people who need to listen do listen. And that they don’t disregard him because he doesn’t yell or scream.

APNews – New chief selected for Capitol Police after 1/6 insurrection
Quote – The decision comes as the Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies are struggling to determine the best way to secure the Capitol and what direction to take the 2,300-person force that guards the building and the lawmakers inside it and functions as mashup of a national security agency and local police department…. The Capitol Police Board, which includes the House and Senate sergeant at arms and the Architect of the Capitol, is charged with oversight of the police force and led the search.
Click through. The 1/7 interim appointment was not intended to be permanent.

The Hill – Trump ally and ex-campaign adviser Thomas Barrack charged with secretly lobbying for UAE
Quote – “The conduct alleged in the indictment is nothing short of a betrayal of those officials in the United States, including the former President,” Lesko said. “Through this indictment, we are putting everyone — regardless of their wealth or perceived political power — on notice that the Department of Justice will enforce the prohibition of this sort of undisclosed foreign influence.”
Click through for more.  Also, Glenn Kirschner discusses this in today’s video thread. Incidentally, there’s been a story floating that the Biden DOJ declined to prosecute Wilbur Ross for lying to Congress. That’s false. It was the Trump** DOJ which did that.

Food for Thought:

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Open Thread for July 20, 2021

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 202021
 

Here’s a personal opinion, with which anyone is welcome to disagree. I believe that the DOJ should research court records to determine the longest sentence that anyone has ever received for a conviction of a single count of possession if narijuana for persona l use Then, the sentence for Capitol rioters should all be at least one day longer then that. I’m pretty sure eight months doesn’t meet that criterion.  It is, however, definitely better than nothing.

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Short Takes –

AP News – In step to shut Guantanamo, Biden transfers Moroccan home
Quote – Almost 800 detainees have passed through Guantanamo. Of the 39 remaining, 10 are eligible to be transferred out, 17 are eligible to go through the review process for possible transfer, another 10 are involved in the military commission process used to prosecute detainees and two have been convicted, a senior administration official said. The 10 eligible for transfer are from Yemen, Pakistan, Tunisia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.
About goddam time. Click though for story.

Reuters – France honours Rev. Jesse Jackson with the Legion d’Honneur
Quote – A political activist, minister, and former shadow U.S. senator for the District of Columbia representing the Democratic party, Jackson has been involved in civil rights activism since the 1960s, when he worked alongside Martin Luther King…. “From your earliest years, you were hungry for knowledge and justice, and you are a special friend of France, a brother for us,” Macron said in a solemn address at the Elysee palace.
Click through for a little more, including photo.

The 19th – Senate Democrats take fight to protect voting rights to Georgia
Quote – Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic head of the Senate Rules Committee, which oversees federal elections along with the chamber’s day-to-day procedures, said the panel decided to convene its first field hearing in more than 20 years in Georgia because its legislature passed an “egregious” restrictive voting law earlier this year. “We cannot keep our heads in the ground, you’ve got to go out there and see exactly what’s happening,” Klobuchar told The 19th ahead of the hearing.
Click through for details. It’s not guaranteed to work, but it is something. It can’t hurt.

Food for Thought:

There is a new book out about plants. The title is “This Is Your Mind on Plants.” The last name of the author is “Pollan.” Yes, you probably could make this up, but who would believe it?

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Open Thread for July 19, 2021

 Posted by at 7:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 192021
 

Yesterday I managed to get off of the back of my lap long enough to fill my car’s gas tank, so that if I have to idle it for 20 or 30 minutes from time to time to make sure the battery stays charged, I won’t need to worry about running out. I was gobsmacked by the changes in the landscape since I last drove by the gas station I used – there used to be about a two-block-long strip mall and now there’s just tall grass. This is not the south, where if you park your car in the wrong place on Friday you can’t find it for the kudzu on Sunday – instead we are high desert – so it must have been gone for at least a few months.

Cartoon – 7/19 “pinkframe”

Short Takes – I don’t generally double up (and certainly not triple up) on sources on any given day … but this combination of stories was just too – colorful – to resist. Think of it as a break from serious news.

Law & Crime – Man Allegedly Opened Fire at Police, City Code Compliance, and Crew Hired to Mow His Lawn
Quote – On Friday, July 16, 2021 at approximately 0830 a.m., the Fort Worth Police Department along with Fort Worth Code Compliance arrived at the 4800 block of Cedar Springs Drive in reference to an ongoing Code Compliance issue. The call originated for an execution warrant for a high grass violation.
Click through for more. Twelve inches is unusually generous for grass and weeds, IMO.

Law & Crime – Oklahoma Woman Arrested After Commenting on Police Facebook Post That Named Her An Accessory to Murder
Quote – The department included a screenshot of Graves’s comment in its Friday Facebook post about her arrest. A Facebook user whose name was redacted responded to Graves, writing, “giiiiirl you better stay off social media they can track you!!” A second user wrote, “Lorraine Graves aint [sic] gonna be as funny when you get processed.”
Click through for sequence of events. Facebook. What can I say.

Law & Crime – Police Sergeant Accused of Making Child Porn, ‘Lustful Touching’ After the FBI Put His Picture on Wanted Poster
Quote – [The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children] employs a “team of analysts who work tirelessly to help identify clues in images and videos” that might help locate abused children, the Center said in a blog post. That team discovered an image of John Doe 44, which the FBI in turn chose to make public. “Within hours of the FBI releasing his photo to the public, he was identified and arrested,” the NCMEC said of the defendant.
Click through for more, including good information about the NCMEC. Sigh. And then some people wonder why other people don’t trust the police.

Food for Thought: Could the people in these stories have benefitted from more parental guidance?

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Open Thread for July 18, 2021

 Posted by at 7:43 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 182021
 

Yesterday I drafted and sent an emeil to the visiation staff to ask what I need to do to plan a visit. Yes, there are instructions on line, but they don’t answer everything. I don’t expect a reply until sometime Monday. I do know they can see a jpg file because in the past I’ve attached jpgs to express thanks and they’ve told me they can see them.

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Short Takes –

Reuters – Death toll rises to 170 in Germany and Belgium floods
Quote – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Erftstadt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the disaster killed at least 45 people. “We mourn with those that have lost friends, acquaintances, family members,” he said. “Their fate is ripping our hearts apart.” Steinmeier said it would take weeks before the full damage, expected to require several billions of euros in reconstruction funds, could be assessed.
Click through for details, including video. well, there you have it. The US is not exceptonal. Every part of the world is sufferiung consequences.

APNews – Biden pledges appeal of ‘deeply disappointing’ DACA ruling
Quote – In his statement, Biden urged Congress to move forward with legislation to permanently protect those covered by the program. “Only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for Dreamers that will provide the certainty and stability that these young people need and deserve,” the president said. “I have repeatedly called on Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, and I now renew that call with the greatest urgency,” he said. “It is my fervent hope that through reconciliation or other means, Congress will finally provide security to all Dreamers, who have lived too long in fear.”
Click through for story. This is heartbreaking, and it shows – again – why it is so important to have qualified and humane judges in our courts.

Common Dreams – Florida-Based Doctor Arrested on Suspicion of Plotting Assassination of Haiti’s President
Quote – Haitian authorities said that 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel Sanon worked with a Miami-based private security firm to recruit the mercenaries who carried out the assassination last Wednesday. According to video footage of the scene, a group of heavily armed assailants posed as officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as they moved in on Moïse’s private residence on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
Click through for information and speculation. I’ve always maintained that some conspiracies are real. I must say this one boggles the mind.

Food for Thought:

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