Open Thread for December 23, 2021

 Posted by at 7:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 232021
 

Yesterday just sort of melted away – gone before I knew it.  I did get some amall things accomplished, but nothing to write home about.  Of course going to see Virgil is far up front in my mond!  Oh, and Pat has company, so she’ll be a little scarce for a couple of days.

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Short Takes

Mother Jones – Mike Lindell Is Donating MyPillows to Kentucky Tornado Victims
Quote – But not to worry citizens of Kentucky. Mike Lindell is on the case! The founder of the MyPillow empire—and a MAGA world luminary—says he’s donating 10,000 pillows to Kentucky tornado victims. Those lucky souls may not have a house or a job, but they will now have pillows that Costco won’t sell anymore.
C,ick through for a little more insnity. This sounds like a business tax deduction to me. He will write them off as a donation at full retail value (which he could never possibly get for that many) and likely end up paying no taxes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had calculated the number to give with that in mind – just enough to zero out his taxes and not one pillow more.

Crooks and Liars – Surprise! Wingnuts Find A Vaccine They Like — Guess Why!
Quote – But apparently the J&J shot is good now because we’re saying that it isn’t — mainstream scientists have determined that it’s less effective than the mRNA vaccines against the Delta and Omicron variants, and it’s sometimes responsible for dangerous blood clots…. We don’t like the J&J shot anymore — so of course Wolf does.
Click through for more.  What is more dangerous than an educated idiot? No, that’s not the beginning of a joke – it’s a serious question.

Wonkette – Jan. 6 Committee Invites Coup- Curious Rep. Scott Perry In For A Little Chat
Quote – It’s nice of Thompson to let witnesses know up front that he’s already got ’em by the short and curlies, in case Perry wasn’t already on notice that the committee had a whole bunch of his comms after Vice Chair Liz Cheney read that text saying, “Please check your signal” during the vote to hold Mark Meadows in contempt. The Washington Post confirms that Perry sent that text to Meadows, who turned it over to the committee as a non-privileged document before he stomped off and quit cooperating. So Perry knows that Thompson and Cheney already have at least some of his comms.
Click through for more. Not that they don’t all sound alike.

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Open Thread for December 22, 2021

 Posted by at 6:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 222021
 

Yesterday, I slept in. However, I had done enough extra the day before I that I didn’t fall behind.

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Short Takes

Newsweek – Millions of Angry, Armed Americans Stand Ready to Seize Power If Trump Loses in 2024
Quote – One indication of how far Republicans may be willing to go in violently opposing the government is their sanguine reaction to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Republicans by and large see no problem with a mob of hundreds swarming and forcing their way into the seat of American government. Half of Republicans said that the mob was “defending freedom,” according to a CBS/YouGov poll taken just after the insurrection. Today two-thirds of Republicans have come to deny that it was an attack at all, according to an October survey by Quinnipiac University. “There’s been little accountability for that insurrection,” says UCLA’s Winkler. “The right-wing rhetoric has only grown worse since then.”
Click through for the full story.  The consensus at DU is that these “warriors” are all hat, no cattle. And don’t exist in the numbers claimed. (And even it they did, “millions” in a nation of 330 million people is in the neighborhood of 3% looked at generously, which would give us the advantage.)

Wonkette – Steve Bannon Isn’t Nearly As Smart As He Thinks He Is. And Neither Are His Lawyers.
Quote – Bannon’s legal team includes Trump impeachment lawyer David Schoen and Bannon’s old lawyer Robert Costello, the guy who told Bannon it was a great idea to give the House January 6 Select Committee two middle fingers and shout EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, MOTHERFUCKERS. And if his name sounds familiar, it’s because Costello is the one who tried to dangle a presidential pardon to Michael Cohen via a mangled Garth Brooks lyric.
Click through for more. Wonkette sourced this from The Daily Beast, but I think the sardonic style adds something.

AP News -Pentagon issues rules aimed at stopping rise of extremism
Quote – Officials said the new policy doesn’t largely change what is prohibited but is more of an effort to make sure troops are clear on what they can and can’t do, while still protecting their First Amendment right to free speech. And for the first time, it is far more specific about social media.
Click thrpugh for more specific info. This is a very good thing. The U.S. military may not even attempt to reach hearts and minds (probably futile anyway) but is very cpmpetent at defining activities and prohibiting harmful ones. And holding individuals accountble.

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Open Thread for December 21, 2021

 Posted by at 7:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 212021
 

Yesterday, although I had slept reasonably well, I couldnt seem to get in gear. I don’t know why that sometimes happens, but it certainly does. But I did get everything done eventually.

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Short Takes

npr: A tantalizing clue to why omicron is spreading so quickly
Quote – “Strikingly, Omicron was 4-fold more infectious than wild type [the original version of the virus] and 2-fold more infectious than Delta,” Garcia-Beltran and colleagues wrote in their study. The data suggests omicron may be able to infect people at a lower dose than delta or the original variant, Garcia-Beltran says. “That’s a very far-out interpretation,” he cautions. “But we think it will probably pan out that way, given that we’re looking at a variant with more efficient entry into human cells.”
Click through for details. Please ne careful out there.It might be well to go to N95 masks, if you haven’t already. Please stay safe. We need you. (And, no, I don’t know why they call the section “Goats and Soda.”)

The 19th – It’s OK to cut back on the holiday gifts this year. Here’s why.
Quote – At the end of the day, [Dr. Michelle Martel, director of clinical training at the University of Kentucky’s psychology department] said she always reminds people struggling during the holidays that they’re not alone — because a lot of people are struggling right now, whether it’s due to loss or financial stress or being overwhelmed by plans to meet loved ones in groups, and it’s only been made worse by the pandemic. And when so many people are carrying emotional and financial burdens, many of them made worse by a pandemic that they didn’t expect to be enduring for another year, it makes sense to find one less thing to worry about.
Click through for full analysis. There’s a fine line between responsibility and guilt, and it’s not always easy to stay on the right side of it.

Bloomberg – Biden’s Economic Performance Has Proved Unbeatable
Quote – All of which makes Biden’s first year in the White House the standout among the seven previous presidents, based on 10 market and economic indicators given equal weight. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, no one comes close to matching Biden’s combination of No. 1 and No. 2 rankings for each of the measures:
Click through for the measures and the stats. You get one or two free articles a month. If anyone needs a copy, I’ve printed a pdf. No one here needs me to tell tham about Manchin. But you might need some help on responding to it.

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Open Thread for December 20, 2021

 Posted by at 6:36 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 202021
 

Yesterday, I looked at “Law and Crime” for possible short takes, and it’s another day when it isn’t just filled with crime stories, but instead with weird crime stories. Like, not just murder, but “God told him to sacrifice.” Not just murder, but cannibalism to “cure his brain.” Not just hit and run, but fatal hit and run while fleeing another hit and run. A dude who committed a string of crimes who, when arrested, had a checklist in his pocket (not for the crimes, but for supplies to commit them, e.g. a lighter and lighter fluid to commit arson.) So I checked the almanac. And we were just coming off a full moon – waning gibbous 99% visible. Go figure.

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Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – Rick Perry Sent Meadows Text Outlining ‘Aggressive’ Strategy To Invalidate Election
Quote – Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol believe that former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry was the author of a text message sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows the day after the 2020 election pushing an “AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY” for three state legislatures to ignore the will of their voters and deliver their states’ electors to Donald Trump, three sources familiar with the House Committee investigation tell CNN.
Click through for details (and a bit of background). At this point, what they actually know is that it was sent from his phone. He claims ignorance. I Know what I believe, but I also know a little bit about slander and libel.

Reuters – U.S. Senators Warren, Booker test positive for COVID-19
Quote – Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, 72, said on Twitter she is vaccinated and boosted and regularly tested for COVID-19, and “while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case.” Booker, 52, a New Jersey Democrat, said on Twitter he had learned Sunday of his positive test “after first feeling symptoms on Saturday.” He added he had “relatively mild” symptoms and recently had received a vaccine booster. “I’m certain that without them I would be doing much worse,” he said.
Click through for more, and don’t panic, they are both doing well, with only mild symptoms. Both have taken 3 shots.

The Guardian – Capitol attack panel will determine if Trump committed crime – Republican
Quote – Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the deadly 6 January Capitol attack incited by Donald Trump, said on Sunday he was not “yet” ready to declare the former president guilty of a crime – but that the panel was investigating the likelihood that he is. “Nobody is above the law,” the Illinois congressman told CNN’s State of the Union. “And if the president knowingly allowed what happened on 6 January to happen, and, in fact, was giddy about it, and that violates a criminal statute, he needs to be held accountable for that.”
Click through. The headline promises a little more than the quotes deliver, but not much. Cheney and Kinzinger are two extremely unusual Republoicans.

Food For Thought (actually, no wine needed):

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Open Thread for December 19, 2021

 Posted by at 6:39 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 192021
 

Yesterday, the opera was Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” in English, in an abridged version so kids are able to sit through it. The costumes and puppets (yes, puppets) were designed by Julie Taymor, who is probably most famous for having designed the live stage version of “The Lion King.” If you see pictures of the production, you don’t even have to know what’s going on to realize how appealing it would be to kids of all ages just visually. Sort of like Maurice Sendak on acid. The singer/actor playing the birdcatcher really got into the spirit, producing in addition to his lines a dizzying array of bird calls – including Woody Woodpecker’s laugh (I think we’re all old enough to remember that, though some kids might have wondered what was so funny to their parents… or grandparents.)

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Short Takes

Axios – Capitol rioter who threw fire extinguisher at police gets more than 5 years in prison
Quote – “It has to be made clear … trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers is going to be met with certain punishment,” said [U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan]. “There are going to be consequences. I’m not making an example of you. I’m sentencing you for the conduct you did.”
Click through for a little more. I have seen a claim (in at least one place that should know better) that it was a “hydrant” he threw. It wasn’t There is a difference.

Crooks and Liars – Chauvin Pleads Guilty To Federal Civil Rights Charge
Quote – [R]eporter Julia Jenaé… tweeted: “#DerekChauvin agrees to the plea details just read in open court. Max sentence of 300 months = 25 yrs. He’s already serving 22.5 year sentence for 2nd degree murder. These would run simultaneous, fed case adds 2.5 years. He faced life in prison but for the plea agreement”
Click through for details. That puts him behind bars until he is seventy. There may be some life left in hom, but no police department is going to hire a 70-year-old.

The New Yorker – A Person of the Year: Jamie Raskin [hanky alert]
Quote – This bloody assault, which threatened constitutional democracy and the nation’s democratically elected leaders, came just one day after the burial of Thomas Bloom Raskin, the congressman’s beloved twenty-five-year-old son. At the Capitol, Raskin told me, he could still hear the sounds of the day before: the prayers of mourning, the clods of dirt shovelled onto the casket. Meanwhile, maniacs shouting deranged slogans and threats were storming down the hallways of Congress in search of enemies.
Click through for story. If paywalled out, let me know and I will send a PDF. Rep. Raskin has been going through what I canonly describe as trial by fire … and he is passing the test. Not without pain.

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Open Thread for December 18, 2021

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 182021
 

Yesterday, I got my electronic Christmas cards selected, the rough drafts edited, all the addresses in a row like my ducks, and scheduled to be sent. Whew. Is that ever a relief!

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Short Takes

Wonkette – Manhattan DA Meeting All Donald Trump’s Favorite Accountants And Bankers!
Quote – And then there’s Rosemary Vrablic. Remember her? She was the banker who handled allllllll Trump’s shit at Deutsche Bank, which has reportedly been cooperating with the investigation since last year, when it was basically the only large bank in the entire world that was strangely willing to touch Trump with a ten-foot pole. (She’s since left the company.) The Post says Vrablic didn’t talk to the grand jury, but rather to prosecutors. They add that folks like these who weren’t employees — you know, like the indicted Allen Weisselberg — but rather who were, like, the point person for Trump in companies he dealt with, were people who “knew more about his company’s inner workings than many employees did.”
Click through to an article filled with suggestive tidbits. I don’t want to get hopes too high too fast … but this is good.

Robert Reich – Why I don’t trust the mainstream media
Quote – I’m often asked how I keep up with the news. Obviously, I avoid the unhinged rightwing outlets pushing misinformation, disinformation, and poisonous lies. But I’ve also grown a bit wary of the mainstream media –- the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and other dominant outlets — not because they peddle “fake news” (their reporting is usually first-rate) but because of three more subtle biases.
Click through to see how a pro does it. It’s not as hard as you might think.

AP News – Forbes editor says he testified before Trump grand jury
Quote – Lane said he was questioned for about 20 minutes by Mark Pomerantz, a former mafia prosecutor assisting in the probe, and was asked to confirm various things, including the methodology of the magazine’s list of richest Americans and Trump’s statements in the article that “I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion” and that a higher net worth “was good for financing.”
Click through for more. This article didn’t mention it, but, as Wonkette pointed out, those who testify before Grand Juries in New York are granted immunity.

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Open Thread for December 17, 2021

 Posted by at 6:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 172021
 

Yesterday, I found the missing item from yesterday’s package, and contacted the supplier to ask about paying for the extra one. They said just keep it with their compliments. Virgil called (as he generally does several times a week – I usually don’t mention it) and asked whether I’m coming this weekend, and I told him no, I’m coming on Christmas, and he was all twitterpated. Bless his heart, his short term memory is virtually zero. And the TBI was 57 years aho.

Cartoon – (Theme song by Danny Elfman)

Short Takes

Mother Jones – Congress Agreed on Drastic Military Sexual Assault Reform. Then “Four Men Behind Closed Doors” Got Their Hands On It
Quote – With the exception of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic women lawmakers and survivor advocacy groups have widely praised the final bill, which will pass as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, as a significant step toward making the military court system fairer. In a statement, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), called the reforms “the most significant since the creation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1950.” The reforms amount to a “sea change” in how the military approaches sexual assault cases…. “This is huge,” says retired Col. Don Christensen, the former chief prosecutor for the U.S. Air Force and the president of Protect Our Defenders, a nonprofit advocating for military justice system reform. “But,” he adds, “it’s also a missed opportunity.”
Click through for story. I know, I’m upset with Senator Gillibrand too over Al Franken. But she – and, more to the point, all the women in the military – didn’t deserve this.

ProPublica – What’s Polluting the Air? Not Even the EPA Can Say.
Quote – The only reason I’d heard about the issue at the Portland plant was because my colleagues Lylla Younes and Al Shaw, who have been reporting on toxic air since 2019, spent the past year calculating the cancer risks posed by industrial air polluters across the entire country. Their first-of-its-kind analysis of the EPA’s modeled data initially found that Portland — despite its reputation as an eco-friendly, farm-to-table mecca — was home to one of the worst hot spots of cancer-causing air in the country, all because of a single plant’s emissions.
Click through for details. Pro Publica is on fire this last month or so. Please also check this map (enter your Zip Code) – unless, of course you don’t want to know whether you are endangered by your air.

The 19th – Soledad O’Brien and Natalie Wilson show how quickly missing Black women are discounted
Quote – A simple classification really changes the narrative. I mean, think about if you see a missing person’s flyer: If you see “missing” or if you see “runaway,” which one would act on or pay attention to? Definitely not the one that says “runaway,” because you’re under the impression that the person left voluntarily. So, we really need to look at policies and procedures and training of law enforcement officials regarding sensitivity and cultural [understanding].
Click through for more. There’s a fair amount of repeating the same points in different words here, which I think is an effort to do whatever it takes to beat the reality into peopl’s brains. So sad that this is needed … but it is.

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Open Thread for December 16, 2021

 Posted by at 6:35 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 162021
 

Yesterday, nothing was predictable or went as expected. Butterfingers here dropped some things … and then picked up some other things, some probably dropped months ago (like 4mm beads, and earring backs.) Mislaid some things, found one that I’d been looking for. Got a package and found one item was missing but one was included I hadn’t ordered (and it wasn’t on the packing slip – and this is unheard of with this supplier.) Loaded some pictures for FFT to the library, and two just disappeared (they were still on my computer, but I had to find them in the trash to re-load them.) All just little things, but a bit disorienting. Nothing I can’t survive LOL!

Cartoon – 16 Voyager loaded

Short Takes

Mother Jones – What if Media Covered the War on Democracy Like an Actual War?
Quote – As we wind down a year that began with a televised insurrection and ends with detailed reporting on what a 2024 coup could look like, it’s more important than ever to stay grounded in that story. Call it the Big Story, in contrast to the Big Lie…. The Big Story did not begin on November 3, 2020, but it did enter a new chapter that day. Remember those surreal weeks, just barely a year ago? Protesters banging on doors at ballot-counting centers, Rudy Giuliani holding forth outside a landscaping shop, election officials reporting vile threats to their families?
Click through for more reality. Yes, Monika wants to raise funds, but who can blame her. It’s not like this isn’t important.

Crooks and Liars – Seems Like People Are Missing The Real Mark Meadows Story
Quote – The plan all along was to create a clash between “patriots” and antifa/BLM that would allow Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and stay in office. Leftists threw a major monkey wrench into the plot by not showing up. (Thank you, leftists. Major props!)
Click through. It’s not long, and not a word is wasted. And she’s right. And I missed it too.

HuffPost – Final Child Tax Credit Payments Go Out Amid Doubt Over Program’s Future
Quote – As a main Democratic holdout in the Senate, Manchin has faced relentless questioning from reporters about his position on various elements of Build Back Better, and he lost his temper on Wednesday when HuffPost followed up with a question about whether he supported continuing the child tax credit in its current form. “This is bullshit,” he said. “You’re bullshit.”
Click through for backstory, and consequences. I find this situation painful, and I don’t even have kids.

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