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Open Thread for November 21, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:24 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 212021

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Luisa Miller” by Verdi. If you know a little about opera but have never heard of it, there’s a reason for that – the plot is even more depressing than most opera plots. The only bright spot is that the protagonist (I really can’t call him a “hero”) manages to muster up enough strength just before he dies to kill the villain. It does have many beautiful melodies, and I would definitely rather hear it than see it, so there’s that.

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Meet Acting President Kamala Harris
Quote – Going under anesthesia for a routine checkup and colonoscopy (cancer screenings save lives, folks) Joe Biden handed over the reins of the US Presidency to Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s Acting President Kamala Harris for a few hours today, and she’s the first woman in history to have that honor. An “honor,” by the way, that Mango Mussolini was too chicken sh*t to bestow on Mike Pence.
Click through for some witty tweets. ICYMI, this happened Friday. And Joe came through the physical just fine.

Democratic Underground (gab13by13) Most ransacked office on 1/6.
Quote – The most ransacked office the day of the failed coup was the Parlementarian’s [sic] office where the Electoral college ballots would have been stored.
Click through for possible reasoning. It’s short. Only a footnote. But, as Agatha Christie used to have Poirot say, “It gives one furiously to think.”

Daily Kos (Joan McCarter) – Biden boots Bloom from Postal Service board, DeJoy’s days as Postmaster are numbered
Quote – “The USPS serves hundreds of millions of Americans across the nation every day,” the White House wrote in the statement announcing the nominations. “President Biden is committed to supporting USPS workers so that they can continue delivering for their fellow Americans, particularly those in rural communities, veterans, and older Americans who rely so heavily on the Postal Service. President Biden is also committed to strengthening and modernizing this critical public institution and its services to ensure it continues serving the American people for decades to come.”
Click through for a story we have all been waiting for what seems like forever. Bloom won’t actually be out until December 8 – but it’s now carved in stone that he will be out.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for November 20, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:17 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 202021

Yesterday (techncally, although it seems like the day before), I went out a bit after midnight to look at th eclipse I wasn’t expecting much bcause the forecast had been for 86% cloud cover. However, I was able to get a pretty good view, straight overhead. Impressive. I stayed until it looked like the thumbnali (close to that color too – maybe a wee bit more orange) and then went in as the temperature was close to single digits. And then went to bed and to sleep. And eventually woke up. And came here and posted. And I reached out to the campaign for the NYT gift link, but had already writtrn my remarks, and I didn’t re-do everything. Hope it isn’t too confusing.

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Daily Kos (Walter Einenkel) – FBI raids homes of Colorado election clerk and former Boebert campaign manager
Quote – On the morning of Nov. 16, the FBI conducted federally-authorized law enforcement actions into potential criminal activity by employees of the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder’s Office and others associated with those employees. The activity occurred in both Mesa and Garfield Counties at four separate locations. Investigators with the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office (Mesa County, Colo.) and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office assisted in the operations. No arrests were made, and the operations are related to ongoing investigations. Per order of a federal court, all documents related to these operations are sealed.
Click through for what details are not sealed. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.

Mother Jones – Disinformation Isn’t Just a Tech Problem. It’s a Social One, Too.
Quote – The rise of disinformation is the product of long-standing social problems, including income inequality, racism, and corruption, which can be easily exploited to spread false information online. “Saying that the disinformation is the problem—rather than a way in which the underlying problem shows itself—misses the point entirely,” the report quotes Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt, as saying.
Click through for story – I suppose it’s arguable which comes forst, like the chicken and the egg, but wi need to be fighint on every front, and even then, we will not be able to eliminate the monstr. We may be able to make it controllable.

New York Times – San Francisco’s Top Prosecutor Will Face a Recall Election
Quote (from his email, because I was paywalled out of NYT) – San Francisco voters elected me because of the promises I made: I promised to end cash bail. We’ve done it. I promised to reduce youth incarceration. It’s down by 50%. I promised to release innocent people from prison. We launched an independent commission to ensure no innocent person is languishing behind bars. I promised to hold police accountable. We filed homicide charges against the officer who shot and killed Keita O’Neill — the first time in our city’s history that homicide charges were brought against an on-duty police officer.
Click through for the NYT story with a gift link – which means you are not paywalled out even if you are not a subscriber. And spread the word. Turnout is even more critical in recalls than any other election! And don’t cut the link – all that stuff is needed to pass the paywall.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for November 19, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 192021

Yesterday, I woke up a few minutes early and just stayed up. Heaven knows ehwn I’ll be up today, though – the eclipse was last night. Since eclipses go by real time rather than by clocks, I couldn’t be exact about exactly when it would start, but I was guessing somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes after midnight. I’ll let you know after the fact.

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HuffPost – Paul Gosar Censured For Violent Anime Video Targeting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Quote – The vote passed mostly along party lines, with only two Republicans — Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), who is retiring — seeing it necessary to condemn Gosar for sharing a video that depicted him slicing the throat of one of their Democratic colleagues.
Click through for more. Yes, he was stripped of all his committee assignments, thank God. And forced to stand alone in fromt of the House to hear the censure read aloud. However, he was unapologetic. He has learned nothing.

politicsrus – What Has Joe Biden Done For Us? (four episodes)
I did use Episode #1 on the video thread, but now that there are four episodes, I have decided to post the links here, together, rather than separating them out. The last three in particular are excellent messaging of what is in the Infrastructure bill (now law) I hope they will continue coming out.
Episode 1 – Accomplishments
Episode 2 – Water
Episode 3 – Broadband
Episode 4 – For Children

Daily Kos (Rule of Claw) – The Math Didn’t Add Up: The Reason President Biden Asked The FTC To Investigate Gas Gouging!
Quote – So the formula is price of crude divided by 42, divided by 2 times 3. Going by that gas pricing should be about $2.78 per gallon. Of course this is not a perfect assessment as there are from time to time other market factors to consider. But not apparently, this time. And I for one do not believe the President would make this move capriciously. This is the sort of thing that you do when you already know the answer and just want the suspect to implicate themselves.
Click through for ancillary details. There is no low the GOP will not stoop to. The only surprise here is that they never tried it before.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for November 18, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:18 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 182021

Yesterday, I overslept, having stayed up too late the day before, trying to get too much done. This week, I can handle that. I’m glad it wasn’t last week or next week. The weather was drk and cold, although without precipitation, which probably also contributed.

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Mother Jones – I’m Moving to Portugal, See You Never
Quote – [I]n a lot of ways telecommuting chained workers to their offices even more by making sure that their work was always present, in their computers and in their cellphones. Something needs to get done late? It’s not waiting until you get back into the office. Your boss is going to email/Slack/text you tonight to do it…. Portugal is done with all of that.
Click through for story. It’s short, but loaded. Why can’t we have nice things?

Wonkette – Six Colorado High School Students Take Bullets For Gun Freedom
Quote – Monday afternoon, six teenagers were hanging out at Nome Park in Aurora, Colorado, across the street from their high school. For no reason anyone can yet determine, the teens were shot by gun-toting cowards who drove away after the sneak attack. The students, aged 14 to 18, were hospitalized with what the police describe as non-life-threatening injuries. However, one student required emergency surgery.
Click through for details, video, and summary of gun laws. Sadly, we have our share – matbe more – of crazies hereI can only speculate they are most active in Aurora and Boulder on the mistaken assumption there are no liberals in colorado Springs.

Reason – Cops Thought Sand From Her Stress Ball Was Cocaine. She Spent Nearly 6 Months in Jail.
Quote – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled last week that two Atlanta police officers are not entitled to qualified immunity from a civil lawsuit brought against them by Ju’zema Goldring for malicious prosecution. Goldring says the officers falsely accused her of jaywalking and cocaine trafficking, based on a field test of a powdery substance inside a stress ball she had in her purse.
Click through for mixed information. At least ahe’s alive.

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Open Thread for November 17, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 172021

Yesterday, again quiet. I got a few things done (never as much as I’d like to, of course.) I hope you can stand a day of good news … goodness knows there’s enough bad news out there.

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Democratic Underground – I think I Spotted Antifa
Quote – Wearing a military beret and a Polish wartime resistance armband, 94-year-old Wanda Traczyk-Stawska stunned the crowd at a pro-EU rally when she thundered “Be quiet, stupid boy! You lousy bastard” at a member of a far-right group attempting to disrupt the gathering over a loudspeaker.
Click through for more and a great picture. I couldn’t possibly honor every hero here – if I tried I wouldn’t be able to do anything else – but she is special.

Daily Kos (Gabe Ortiz) – ‘Dad, welcome back’: Advocate for deported veterans wins his own fight to return to the U.S.
Quote – “Thanks to a law passed in recent years that allows immigrants to challenge old convictions if they weren’t warned about potential immigration consequences before accepting plea deals, he was finally able to get the conviction undone,” The Union-Tribune reported.
Click through for full story. I needed a hanky and Pat probably will too. Others might also.

Furtive ferret: one of North America’s rarest mammals turns up in Colorado garage
Quote – “This is extremely rare,” Schmal said. “Black-footed ferrets are nocturnal and extremely shy. For some reason, this one left the colony and was seeking shelter. “We’re just glad it appeared healthy, not starving or sick, and we were able to capture it and return it to the colony.”
Click through for story. Walker Ranch is in Boulder County, so I’m guessing Nettles lives in or near Boulder. I don’t blame him for not wanting the exact afddress out.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for November 16, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 162021

Yesterday was another pretty quiet day. I’ll take all of those that I can get. Incidentally, as it is now a new week, maybe Nameless can get a tech out to look at his computer. I surely hope so. But it’s also the first workday after a holiday week, so it might not be today.

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Crooks and Liars – The New Face Of The GOP?
Quote – So try to imagine what will happen if Rittenhouse is acquitted. Trump will issue a statement somehow taking credit for it. Fox News will fly Rittenhouse to New York for triumphant interviews. Social media will erupt with joy, as millions of conservatives cry “Suck it, libs!” He’ll appear on T-shirts and bumper stickers; maybe he’ll speak at the next Conservative Political Action Conference. And don’t be surprised if Trumpist candidates start seeking Rittenhouse’s endorsement and asking him to appear on the campaign trail with them.
Click through for more, including (paywalled) link to Washington Post. The only light I can see at the end of this tunnel is that George Zimmerman eventually got into enough non-political trouble to get dropped like a hot potato, and it’s probably safe to expect that to happen to Rittenhouse also (and maybe even his mother, God willing).

AP News – Workers at federal prisons are committing some of the crimes
Quote – More than 100 federal prison workers have been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019, including a warden indicted for sexual abuse, an associate warden charged with murder, guards taking cash to smuggle drugs and weapons, and supervisors stealing property such as tires and tractors.
Click through for details. I’d file this under “No shit, Sherlock.” No prison is any better than its warden … and in 2019, the warden was Bill Barr (and before him, Jeff Sessions.) Not that that is an excuse, of course.

The 19th – The word missing from the vast majority of anti-trans legislation? Transgender
Quote – More anti-trans bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2021 than in any previous year on record. The 19th reviewed the text of 102 bills in seven states that were primarily designed to restrict access to sports or gender-affirming care for trans youth, like hormones and puberty blockers, and only seven bills mentioned the word “transgender.” Only eight passed, primarily those focused on sports, although legal battles in several states have barred most from going into effect.
Click through for story. Granted there are (probably) fewer transgendered people than just about any other minority group, there are certainly enough to account for a large (and disproportionate) number of suicide and murder victims. And no one is free until and unless we are all free.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for November 15, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 152021

Yesterday, I managed to sleep in. I hadn’t slept well Thursday night, not even all that well Wednesday, so I was hoping I could … while also knowing from experience that someyimes needing sleep that much makes it harder to get. But I now feel quite rested. Now I just need to get some stuff done.

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Crooks and Liars – New Lawsuit Could Put Murdochs On The Hook For Fox Election Lies
Quote – Dominion is already suing Fox News for defamation to the tune of $1.6 billion. But this week it filed a new lawsuit in the matter against Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, apparently to combat stonewalling about the Murdochs’ role(s) in promoting the lie that Dominion voting machines rigged the election.
Click through for a more setailed explanation, and a link to the full suit. I can’t tell you how glad I am that Dominion has attorneys who could not only see through this but also come up with a way to fight it.

Engadget – FBI email servers were hacked to target a security researcher
Quote – The FBI appears to have been used as a pawn in a fight between hackers and security researchers. According to Bleeping Computer, the FBI has confirmed intruders compromised its email servers early today (November 13th) to send fake messages claiming recipients had fallen prone to data breaches. The emails tried to pin the non-existent attacks on Vinny Troia, the leader of dark web security firms NightLion and Shadowbyte.
Click through for more. I saw this first at Reuters, in an un-embeddable (probably) video, and chased it around a bit. Engadget is the only source which states as fact the reason for the hack was to target a particular person, so it may be wrong, but it’s interesting – and scary – anyway

AP News – White House confident Biden’s bill will pass House this week
Quote – The House has been moving toward approval of the massive Democrat-only-backed bill even as the measure faces bigger challenges in the Senate, where Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have insisted on reducing its size.
Click through for multiple pros and cons. I would certainly hope Dees is right, but I’m not confident.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for November 14, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 142021

Yesterday, On the morning trip, there was enough cloud cover I didn’t have to use the visor much, though it was very helpful when I did. Coming home – well, let me back up a little. First, the visit was good and Virgil returns all greetings.OK. I already said the package with the visor contained some other things. What they were was clear-plastic-lined fabric screens, each about 16″x 20″, stretched with a wire frame flexible enough to fold them into about a 9″ circle if you’re smart enough – I’m not, but they came that way. I opened two and didn’t touch the second two. They came with little suction cups but there’s not an obvious place to put them. I clipped a couple of binder clips to one and took it and a second one to the car. As much as we talk about the sun moving from East to West, we often ignore in our speech the effect of the earth’s axis on that. Here in Colorado, the axis is so skewed at this time of year that the sun sets virtually due South – to the left of the car from Las Animas to Pueblo, and left and behind me when I’m heading north to Springs. As I got to Pueblo and the dangerous-due-to glare turns, I stopped, and clipped one of the scrrens to the driver’s window, far enough back not to interfere with the left rear view mirror. When I started going north, that screen was far enough back to slow down the sun – not strong enough to stop it, which itself coul have been dangerous, just effectively enough for it not to hurt my eyes and drive me nuts. So I guess now I know what they are for. Between them and the visor extender, driving is now a lot easier and feels much safer. Mission accomplished.

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Common Dreams – ‘Arrogant Insensitivity’: Defense Lawyer in Arbery Murder Trial Ripped for Bid to Bar Black Pastors
Quote – Gough, referring to the founder and marketing mascot of the fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, curiously added that “if a bunch of folks came in here dressed like Colonel Sanders with white masks sitting in the back,” before trailing off.
Click through for story, which is all over but this is a good take on it. Personally, I think the prosecution should give Sojourners a call (and possible also ask the black pastors) to look for white pastors to put on the stand who will really shame the defendants with both barrels.

DHS Sounds Alarm On RW Terror Against School, Health Officials And Congress
Quote – DHS issued a bulletin Wednesday warning that the holiday season ushers in a “diverse and challenging threat environment” with threats “posed by individuals and small groups engaged in violence, including domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences.” You can substitute the term “right-wing extremists” for “domestic violent extremists.” Probably not all DVEs are right-wing but it’s clear from the DHS bulletin that the ones it’s most worried about are:
Click through for more. My, it’s nice to have a DHS that actually cares about our secuity,not just bashing people of color and other minorities.

Wonkette – What’s In The Infrastructure Bill? What’s In Build Back Better? Which Is Which? Wonkette Gets Servicey!
Quote – On the off chance you may have missed it, the House passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) late Friday [11/5], with the second, much larger part of Joe Biden’s first term agenda, the Build Back Better reconciliation bill, likely to be passed the week prior to Thanksgiving, as long as Joe Manchin doesn’t decide it needs to include tax credits for diesel pickup trucks that “roll coal” on bicyclists and drivers of Prii. In Monday’s White House presser, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would sign the infrastructure bill into law sometime next week…. Obviously, Biden wants to use the passage of the BIF as leverage to move Build Back Better to completion, which seems like a pretty sound strategy, and if your House or Senate critter is doing town halls this week, let ’em know you want Build Back Better to pass, yes, even if they’re Republicans.
Click through for what we got. There is also a companion article, What’s In The Build Back Better Bill? Your Servicey Wonkette SUPER MEGA-LISTICLE!, which details what we hope to get. Wonkette may have a frivolous attitude, but it also has facts.

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