Open Thread September 6, 2022

 Posted by at 7:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 062022
 

Yesterday was, of course, a holiday – so I was going to fall back on “News of the Weird” in the short takes for a little comic relief. Then I saw the article on Ken Burns’s newest docuentary, whch is about the Holocaust, centering on American behavior during that period, and staring soe truths in the face that most of us would rather not see.I encourage everyone to look it up on your local PBS station, especially if your local station has more than one channel (mine does, and they’ll be screening it on the main one 9/18-9/22 and on the fourth one from 9/25-10/10), but essentially there are just three episodes (which may or may not be 2 hours each), named after lines in the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statur of Liberty: “The Golden Door,” “Yearning to Breathe Free,” and “”The Homesless, the Tempest Tossed.”

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Short Takes –

The Conversation – Dog owners take more risks, cat owners are more cautious – new research examines how people conform to their pets’ stereotypical traits
Quote – In another study, we wanted to get individual-level data, so we used an online survey tool to recruit 145 owners of either a cat or a dog – not both. We gave participants an imaginary US$2,000 and asked them to invest any portion of it in either a risky stock fund or a more conservative mutual fund. Dog owners, who made up 53% of participants, were significantly more likely to invest in stocks and also put more money at risk than cat owners.
Click through for details. I see only correlation here – do cat peole avoid ridk because their pets do, ot do risk avoiders seek out cats as kindred spirits? I know I am a cat person and a risk avoider, but since I have been around cats literally since I was born, I have no way of knowing which came first. I do know that. when I vote (which I would do in any case), what’s uppermost in my mind is generally avoiding the havoc that Republicans would wreak.

The Daily Beast – Why Ken Burns Is Exposing America’s Evils During the Holocaust
Quote – An in-depth study of fascism, intolerance, and the push-pull between ideals and complex political/social realities, The U.S. and the Holocaust, buoyed by testimonials from scholars and survivors of the Holocaust, is informative and heartbreaking in equal measure. For Novick, it’s also an inquiry that’s apt to shock many. “I think this will be, for the general public, somewhat surprising and a little hard to ingest,” she says. “That we could be both the liberators of freeing the world from tyranny and fascism, and unwilling—as Daniel Greene says in the film—to do much to rescue the victims of fascism.”
Click through for article and interview.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 5, 2022

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 052022
 

Yesterday, I got the estimate of what is wrong with my car, including a bunch of smaller things which weren’t the problem but needed doing. Those estimates always include noticifations on things that may not be urgent but could coe up on the future, one of which I authorized to take care of now. the bil will eat a third of my cushion – but that still gives me 2/3 of it left. And it’s probable that my minimum required distribution for my 401(k) will replenish it, or most of it. So I’m cool/. But it will likely not be ready until next week. In honesty, that’s OK too. On a “Now for something completely different” note, I got en email from the Metropolitan Opera that they are releasing a DVD of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the first opera by a black compoer ever to be presented at the Met. I don’t expect to be gettig it – but I’m well aware that the fact they are releasing it means the response to it muct have been overwhelming – overwhelmingly positive. And that makes ne smile.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Cowboys And Women: Tex Never Had A Chance
Quote – A menstrual pain relief manufacturer set up a booth outside of the Calgary Stampede, where the cowboys are real macho and tough. But each and everyone of the guys crumpled under the pain produced by a menstrual cramp simulator. What really brings it home is the woman they showed hooked up to the simulator who never even blinked an eye in the face of the pain.
Click through for story. Remember the only men wo will subject themselves to this are those who think women are all lying or at best exaggerating. Men who know better, know better. Those who don’t – really need to learn.

CPR – Donations for Tina Peters’ recount poured in after she appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast
Quote – Nearly 70 people donated more than a thousand dollars to the Peters campaign during the period in which Peters was raising money for the recount. An individual can donate a maximum of $1,250 during the election cycle in the Secretary of State’s race. Candidates can accept contributions throughout the entire election cycle even if they have lost. So that means Peters is legally allowed to accept donations until Dec. 8, 2022. Peters has made election fraud the centerpiece of her campaign for Secretary of State and on election night told her supporters, “we didn’t lose. We just found out more fraud.”
Click through for details. She has broken bail conditions twice, been arrested for ti twice, yet for some reason they won’t keep her locked up. At least the fact that the money is from out of state means those who gave it will not be voting.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 8/4/22

 Posted by at 12:12 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 042022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s lawyers preparing for him to be indicted; looking to blame Trump’s crimes on “fall guys”

Meidas Touch – Tucker Carlson LOSES IT after President Biden Takes out 9/11 Plotter

The Lincoln Project – Weekend

Robert Reich – The Current Plot to Rig U.S. Elections

If Social Media Were Honest | Honest Ads (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok)

Beau – Let’s talk about the Supreme Court altering football….

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Open Thread 7/30/2022

 Posted by at 7:20 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 302022
 

Yesterday, the Hawley Run for your life video inspired someone on DU to resurrect Randy Rainbow’s song about him … and it certainly stll sounds very current. How about we do an informal poll on bringing some of his older productions back into the Video Thread (starting with that one)? Also, I received a grocery order which included nothing frozen and very little refrigerated . Much easier to put away than usual.

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/fl-republican-may-have-disqualified
Quote – Introduced by state Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and signed into law last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the new statute requires a candidate vying for a party’s nomination to be a registered party member for 365 days before qualifying for the post begins. Elections supervisor records show that Stark did not re-register as a Republican voter until January 2022.
Click through for story. Not the most important story in the world – but good for a smile anyway. I hope they enforce it. Snit fits should have consequences.

The New Yorker – Will Wisconsin’s Republicans Make Voting Meaningless, or Just Difficult?
Quote – In the time since she’d moved to the [nursing] home, more than a year earlier, no staff member had mentioned voting to her. Three weeks before the April primaries, [Jessica] Nell asked a senior staff member how to change her address in order to vote. The staff member refused to help, according to Nell. “I’m not going to go room to room and tell everybody about voting, because ninety per cent of the people here shouldn’t be able to vote,” she recalled him saying.
Click through for the climate and the stakes. Before is was Fitzwalkerstan, Wisconsin used to be reasonab’e. Them it bacame fascist before fascism was cool. And neighboring Minnesota seems almost equally infected.

Food For Thought –

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Open Thread 7/22/2022

 Posted by at 7:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 222022
 

Yesterday, reading Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letter” from the 20th, my eyebrows went up when Iread that 100 million Americans were under heat warnings – my thought was, “Dear God, that’s a third of the country!” I think we actually have 330 million people, so that was a slight exaggeration – but still – that’s, shall we say, impressive.  of course I also watched the hearing, but that was late enough that I won’t discuss it here.  I will eventually of course.

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Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Is it time for Democrats to kick Joe Manchin out of the party?
Quote – In fact, the way things are right now, Biden and the Democrats have the worst of both worlds. They look like they control the Senate, as well as the House and the presidency. But they can’t get a damn thing done because Manchin (and his intermittent sidekick Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema) won’t let them. So after almost two years of appearing to run the entire government, Democrats have accomplished almost nothing of what they came to Washington to do…. By kicking Manchin out of the party, Democrats could at least go into the midterms with a more realistic pitch: “It looked like we had control of the Senate, but we didn’t. Now that you know who the real Democrats are, give us the power and we will get it done.”
Click through for argument. I won’t say he sold me, but he did get me to seriously consider it.
Update: I don’t bug Mitch too much (on top of other issues he’s having surprise cataract surgery next week) but he sent out a Daily Kos article on Manchin, so I sent him this one.  His response: “Biden needs to get out on the hustings and PUSH for more Dem. senators…PUSH LOUDLY! If Manchin, and Sinema can be made virtually irrelevant, we might then be able to rejoin the rest of the western democracies.”

The Daily Beast – Liberal Panic Could Help Trump Steal the Next Election
Quote – As both a critic of the theory being advanced in Moore and an advocate of urgently needed reforms to avoid another presidential election crisis, I feel it is important to set the record straight. In defending democracy against the very real threat of Trump-style subversion, we must get the details right. Crucially, we need to be able to distinguish serious conservative legal scholarship and arguments, even when they are wrong, from worst-case scenarios based on fringe crank theories and total lawlessness. The current majority on the Supreme Court might endorse the former, but we should not concede the latter by falsely conflating the two.
Click through for full analysis. Personally, I think the author vastly underestimates the determination and the ingenuity of the criminal GOP. I think this case is more like the head, shoulders, and hump of the camel in the tent. And I don’t see how liberal panic would help Trump** – the more panicked we are, the more likely we are to vote. But I thought (and think) readers here are perfectly capable of drawing their own conclusions, and I though this should be seen.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 7/18/22

 Posted by at 11:38 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner- Secret Service deletes Jan. 6 text messages. A move to protect Trump? Also, Mike Pence MUST testify

Meidas Toush – Michael Cohen REACTS to bombshell revelations from recent Jan 6 hearing

The Lincoln Project – Our President

Thom Hartmann – Insidious Voter Purge Method Exposed! Don’t Lose Your Right To VOTE!

MSNBC – Judge Once Again Declines To Delay Steve Bannon’s Contempt Of Congress Trial

Beau – Let’s talk about the institution of the Presidency and policy decisions….

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Video Thread 7/17/22

 Posted by at 11:33 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 172022
 

Glenn Kirschner on Fire! DOJ Needs a Backbone Now! Thoughts on Bannon & Trump w/ Stephanie Miller.

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Sarah Palin’s INSANE Speech at Trump Rally

The Lincoln Project – Part of the Plan

Twitter – Trigger warning –

MSNBC – Senators Close To Releasing Bill Preventing Candidates From Stealing Elections

Liberal Redneck – Uvalde Footage

Beau – Let’s talk about Jefferson, Monticello, and Fox….

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Open Thread July 15, 2022

 Posted by at 6:45 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 152022
 

Yesterday, I woke up with the wasp sting virtually gone. I can still see a tiny mark, but the swelling and the pain are gone. I really dodged a bullet there. I also emailed a request to visit Virgil Sunday. I don’t usually leave it this late … but now thathe is in an informary – that is not normally supposed to be a permanent assignment – he could be moved again at any time and I wouldn’t be told.So I need to track him on line and wait longer than I like to to minimize the chances of his being oved between the time I reserve a visit and the time of the visit itself. It’s no wonder I use a pop-up reminder system with sound to keep track of when I need to do what. )I try to use sounds related to what the reminder is for, but that’s not always possible.) Bottom line, I hope to visit Virgil Sunday, but won’t know for sure until sometime today.

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Short Takes –

CPR News – Mesa County DA says he will seek to revoke Clerk Tina Peters’ bond
Quote – Mesa County’s District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said he will seek to revoke the bond of Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters after she traveled out of state in violation of her bond. Rubinstein said Peters violated the conditions of her bond when she left for Nevada without permission this week. Peters was speaking at an event with the Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association.
Click through for what is getting to be a bigger story every day. Apparently there really is no limit to how low Republicans will sink (except those few Republicans, like the DA, who stll have ethics.) And now there’s ben a third arrest.  You might think I’d be a bit embarrassed that this happened in Colorado, but actually, I’m proud it was caught.  Just because it wasn’t caught elsewhere doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

The 19th – The cost of giving birth with insurance: $2,854, a new study says
Quote – The out-of-pocket costs represent insurance-related bills related to pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. The researchers analyzed a dataset of health insurance claims data from 2018 to 2020, comparing women between the ages of 15 and 49 who gave birth to those who didn’t. The data does not account for transgender and nonbinary people who may have given birth. In total, pregnancy and childbirth for someone with private insurance costs about $18,865. Most of that is paid by the insurance plan but can result in higher insurance premiums down the line. So though the $2,853 figure is just one fraction of the overall cost, it represents the bills new parents have to pay on their own for a single birth.
Click through for details. Yes, pre-natal and at least some post-partum care were included. But it’s still ridiculous – the $2,854 figure is just the co-pays. The real figure is betwen $18 and $19 THOUSAND. I’ve never seen ay data on suicides in pregnant people … but I guarantee if I were in that position, it would certainly occur to me.

Food For Thought


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