Yesterday, I received another grocery order. Only a week since the last ne, but there’s a terrific sale on some things I do use, and wich keep well frozen. The luck of the draw assigned me another really good driver. I adjusted her tip, and in my comments included that she needs to be teaching other drivers clsses in how to tie the handles of a plastic bag into a knot that un-knots easily in one movement so the bag can be used again. Pat may know what the knot is called (she said she’d be back probably today) but I don’t. But it’s marvelous.
This is a story about making change, and particularly, about one person making change happen. I’m impressed, not least because the western part of the state is generally pretty red.
If you think Republicans believe their base is dumb, just wait till you see how dumb they think black people are. (The full URL includes “substack” so be prepared to look for a “keep reading” button.
Yesterday, we learned that an arrest was made Monday in the case of the UCCS shooting, a 25-year-old man, also a UCCS student – Nicholas Jordan of Detroit, MI. “Investigative efforts continue to indicate this was an isolated incident between individuals who were known to one another and not a random attack against the school or other students at the university,” the police department said in the press release, which seemed fairly evident to me right up front. Certainly by the numbers this qualifies as a mass shooting, but I was smelling domestic violence from the get-go. Also yesterday, I received an email that my ballot has been received. Considering it only left the house Sunday, and Monday was a Federal Holiday so no mail, that’s like zero days to get there. (Think what they could accomplish if we could only get rid of De Joy.) Finally, I realized I had put the wrong date on yesterday’s Open Thread, so it didn’t post in the morning, and by the time I discovered it, ir was already a couple of hours after sunset. It’s there now. Apologies!
This is pretty unbelievable. The ads are saying only 1000 pair are available, and the price is $399. That means the most he can raise from this would be $3,990. At that rate, he would have to sell 91,479 batches of shoes just to pay the New York Civil Fraud fines – and that does not include back interest, nor does it include what he owes E. Jean Carroll. (and as Beau pointe out, someone working at $15.00 per hour, 24/7/365-366, would have to have started in the year 678 – BCE. For a “businessman,” he certainly doesn’t understand money.
Here’s the link to a petition urging Clarence to accept John Oliver’s offer. (And if you also sign the second one, which addresses Xitter, you’ll get to see a list of their current actions, and it’s worth while just to read it
The Daily Beast has some dirt on one of Sherrod Brown’s potential opponents (unless Ohio has two vacant Senate seats, which is unlikely.)
Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” It’s loosely based on an actual assassination which happened in Sweden in 1792. As with “Rigoletto,” an opera about the assassination of a monarch put Verdi at odds with the censors. So early performances of it were set in America (Boston IIRC), prior to the Revolution, which is not as far fetched as I used to think – Sweden (under Gustav III) was the first country not directly involved in the fighting to diplomatically recognize the US. But I digress. The assassination really happened, but I will not vouch for all the hoo-hah surrounding it in the opera – the fortuneteller predicting that the first man who shakes the king’s hand will kill him, the king being in love with his prime minister’s (who is also his best friend) wife, she silently returning his love but wanting nothing more than to be freed of her obsession, the meeting in the graveyard at midnight, The Prime Minister showing up not knowing that the woman with the king is his own wife, the king’s orders to escort her without learning her name, the couple stopped by the potential assassins, the wife revealing her identity only so they won’t kill her husband, the husband refusing to believe she is faithful and switching sides to help the assassins – all that is just too fortuitous. And that’s not even mentioning the page boy (a “trouser role”) who would be adorable if the plot as a whole was not so weighed down with inevitability – and the final irony of the king’s last act being to write out orders of transfer for the Prime Minister so that the king and the wife will be at least physically removed from temptation.
Nameless, was it you who commented on a Biden ad about NATO that they should have included Reagan? Whether or not, I’m happy to report that VoteVets took care of that.
This from Talking Points Memo is a deep dive into Chesebro and his involvement. If it bores you, I’m sorry – it can be helpful sometimes to get details – easier to speculate how the jury (or the judge in a bench trial) will decide.
Yesterday, a news alert from Axios alleged that Alex Navalny has died. Their source is the Russian Prison System, which I would not trust to be truuthful, but it’s also hard to believe it didn’t happen earlier. R.I.P. Alexei. Avaaz is collecting signatures for a tribute to him. Also we had a “mass shooting” here of our own – a little different in that it appears to have happened inside a dorm, during the might, and so far not much evidence – except two dead people with gunshot wounds.
Mary watched Fani Willis’s entire testimony (I only had time for a few clips) and this summary-through-categorized-excerpts is brilliant.
Yesterday, the exterminator came by. He said progress is being made, and if 2 weeks from now there is more, we need to dicuss longer intervals between visits. So that’s good.
Well, I was wrong. I apologize to anyone who may have thought I was right and watched the show. Mary Trump does a far better job of breaking down why than I could.
They have arrested a dude (and believe he was not alone) for “stealing” (no mention of vandalism) the Jackie Robinson statue. Sometimes it’s hardest to see things that are right under yor nose for the last 2 weeks he’s been locked up for something else. Try not to hit yourself in the head over what cops will believe or claim to believe in order to announce “No evidence of a hate crime.”
Yesterday, my ballot for the Presidential primary arrived. The election is March 5th. I’ve been avoiding going out the front door since my hospital stay, and even more so, avoiding the porch steps (the last time I ventured on them wasthe day I came home, and that was one way only.) But with that much time, and Trinette coming Sunday, I’m sure I can wait tll then. I know for whom I am voting, and it’s only one block to fill in, and if she takes it out the same day it comes in, it should get there in time easily.
This is a crash course in foreign affairs. If that makes it sound difficult – it isn’t. And it explains a lot about how we got to this point. And it’s available for free to anyne, so you can share (you might want to mention scrolling a little for “continue reading.”)
Yesterday, Trinette came over again, to run the car, bring in mail, and take out recyclables (I didn’t have enough trash to make that worth while.) She says “Hi back, especially to Nameless.
This is late news, but as Susie Madrak points out, you wouldn’t know it, from the coverage it didn’t get. And it’s game-changing – if only it can gain traction.
