Yesterday, A hearing in the Senate Finance Committee took (unsworn*) testimony from RFK Jr. It was pretty much a dumpster fire. Wonkette covered it. (* Senator Wyden requested he be sworn in and was overruled by Chairman Mike Crapo [now there’s an appropriate name if there ever was one.]) There’s video if the ful hearing but of course it’s long. Wyden’s opening is only about 6 minutes.
Yes, Professor Richardson sent this several days ago – but at least I managed to post it on the exact anniversary of the original event. (I would love to know how the jewelers’ union managed to be the ones to put together and bring a marching band. Musicians in general are not known for being wealthy enough to buy jewels, though of course a few do reach that plateau.)
I figure if The Root feels black folks need to know this, it wouldn’t hurt everyone else to know it also. I can’t say it did much to alleviate my fears.
Probably no one cares about this except me – and, because I essentially only shop sales, I have enough projects in hand to keep me busy for the rest of the Persimmon Palpitine’s term and beyond (what I don’t finish will just have to be part of my estate.) But creating with yarn and/or thread is so much more than just the end products. It is good for the soul. My heart goes out to anyone unprepared for this.
Yesterday, I received an email from Dr. Barber and others containing a copy of a letter they prepared in response to the Apricot Antichrist being quoted as saying he wanted to get into heaven. It is totally honest, while at the same time being kind and filled with love. God help the person who has to read it to him (he’d never be able to read it himself. It’s too honest, has too many words and ideas he wouldn’t grasp – you get the picture, I’m sure.) But if anyone who has never met or even seen a real Christian is interested in knowing how one thinks and at least aspires to act, this would be a good place to look. I don’t have a link but am saving it as a reminder of who I am supposed to be. Also yesterday – remember Trey Gowdy? One of the candidates for dumbest Congressman and IIRC also showing up in Separated at Birth memes, though I forget with whom (possibly the Malfoy brat?) He’s on Fox now, and under fire for suggesting that it might, just possibly might, be a good time to discuss gun control. And, speaking of guns, one more thing – yesterday NPR reported that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has acquired the gun with which Emmett Till was shot
Two hundred fifty years after the birth of our nations, and after many amendments to the Constitution (and I’m proud to say that all of them have been to expand the voting population), there are still people who say “My vote doesn’t count.”
Joyce Vance is correct – it isn’t just our history of slavery which condemns us – our history of internment is not much better, if at all. I might suggest that fear is a somewhat less venal and more understandable motivation than financial gain, But neither is exactly moral high ground stuff.
I had to squeeze in this from Wonkette. I don’t really have words for it. My state is another state which is prone to wildfires.
P,S. – Obviously this did not get scheduled and is therefore being posted about 15 hours late. I would like to say it won’t happen again, but I am afraid it will. Since getting started with my new PCP, my thyroid dosage has been lowered three times, I have been instructed to give up anti-inflammatories (I can have acetaminophen), I have been instructed to give up omeprazole (I can have Pepcid), and I must now take alendronate sodium weekly. Every one of those changes has normalized my blood work – and every one of those changes has negatively affected either my energy level of my pain. I wasn’t surprised – acetaminophen has never worked for me any better than a sugar pill, I tried all kinds of acid relievers before I found omeprazole, and Pepcid was the best I found prior, but there was really no comparison. And of course thyroid is directly related to energy. I am far from the first person in the world who has been instructed to give up or cut down on something that makes me life better (it’s just that one doesn’t expect those orders when it’s not something obvious like alcohol or nicotine or heroin or cocaine or meth – I’m sure y’all can think of others.) So I’m sure I can expect ore days when I conscientiously prepare the post, put it into the blog, activate the links, and possibly even fill in the time to schedule if for but then fail to hit the “schedule” button. Please try not to worry, and feel free to send me an email, or, if yu are an author or an administrator, to just go into the dashboard and post it.
Yesterday, I noted that Wonkette is stoked that Mallory McMorrow is running to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate – to the point that the owner/editrix is holding a fund raiser for her on September 21st. It will be at her home, but can also be attended via Zoom. Well, I’m stoked too, and not just because I appreciate alliteration. McMorrow’s voice is fierce, and we need fierce voices in the Senate (and in the House.)
This is a Substack post by Dr. Shannon Fleck, who is (since April) the Executive Director of Faithful America. It points out that gerrymandering wasn’t enough for Texas – they had to get their sticky fingers into women’s health care as well, and tie their meddling to faith. I think this pretty well has gone under the radar, so I’m glad they had a link for us (they usually don’t.)
Yes, I know this from Wonkette is from Thursday. But it goes well with the other article. And the analysis may help explain why Evan calls his side project “The Moral High Ground.” I believe that “uncompromising” is incompatible with morality for humans (God or the universe or Karma may be able to stick to it, but the point is that they are supposed to be omniscient, whereas our human brains are not built to contain enough knowledge to never compromise.)
Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot” from Covent Garden. I won’t go into the details, having discussed it before (more than once). I’ll just mention that Sondra Radvanovsky (who is American) has a thought new to me about exactly when in the opera Turandot’s shell cracks, which in her opinion happens to coincide with the exact point in the opera at which Puccini died composing it – the rest of the opera was constructed from his notes by Franco Alfano, with mixed reviews. Personally, if I didn’t already know Puccini hadn’t finished it, I wouldn’t be able to tell any difference. Toscanini, who conducted the premier, did not agree. He felt so strongly that he stopped the premier at that point, turning to the audience and saying (probably in Italian) “At this point, the maestro laid down his pen.” Anyway, I’m off to see Virgil and will check in upon return
Not the most important news – but lovely to see Scotland doing Scotland and giving the Apricot Antichrist a ginormous middle finger.
Liza Donnelly is a good friend of Heather Cox Richardson. She is a professional cartoonist and gets published in The New Yorker. The experience she writes (and draws) about here has me green with envy. But, of course, to move in those circles one has to be in those circles – and I really don’t have the strength any more to do that.
I knew this, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to see it in print in a Colorado newspaper, even a small one. Because he will need name recognition to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary, let alone the general.
We don’t seem to hear as much about Make-A-Wish as we used to. But they are still around. And still doing good.
John D. Cundle is a Canadian (he may or may not be a US expat, but he is definitely a Canadian now) who is willing to help us keep our spirits up in any way he can. Like this.
Yesterday, The Conversation featured this article. I think Aristotle was on to something. Among other things, it would explain why MAGA (and all “conservatives”) are such whiny bags. Also, Care2, AKA the Petition Site, has a petition up to the Mango Moron which includes straight up telling him he sucks. If you haven’t seen it, I thought you might enjoy it.
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In case you missed it – putting Bove onto a Court of Appeals puts him into a category from which be Supreme Court justices are selected, without needing to acquire the experience which is normally expected of a justice. Sure, the Mango Monster has been stacking the lower courts too – but this is something new.
The Brennan Center is a trustworthy watchdog – yet not a paranoid one. So this needs to be taken seriously (but you know that.) The link is to the home page, and in case another article has taken the to place, the title of the article is “The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election.”
Yesterday, Wonkette had a link to a site which tracks lower level elections all over the US – state level, of course, including primaries, but all the way down to city council level as well. I’m posting the link because I think we have learned the hard way that we ignore this information at our peril. Also, the ACLU emailed regarding four cases they are working on which will essentially affect everyone. I don’t have a link, so I’ll just list them. U.S. v. Skrmetti. Louisiana v. Callais. Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton. Mahmoud v. Taylor. All have been heard by the Supremes and decisions will start coming out next week. Finally, ACLU promises they will keep me (and some of you who are member-donors) updated on what the decisions mean for real people. Incidentally, has anyone heard from Freya? I haven’t and neither has Evelyn, who emailed to ask me if I had.
The F* News is on to something here that we should all latch on to. Granted that it’s nowhere near as easy to use for citizens as it is for foreign nations – that still needs work – but it should be something we can find a way to use.
What’s the point of learning history? Well, there are many reasons. One is that the truth is important in itself – another is to be able to accurately credit (and if appropriate discredit) those who preceded us for their accomplishments. But probably the best reason is in order to avoid making the same mistakes over and over. As a race, the human race is not very good at that. There are many ways in which we as a society have failed, and that failure has led to where we are now. Robert Reich here discusses just one of them.
Yesterday, I received three of my four prescriptions, which included two I was flat out of. I took those two immediatele, and also added them to the three bottles remaining for theis two-week period. The fourth comes from a different pharmacy, and I was on the phone with them the day before, and that one is on its way also. I hate having tp phone for these things, but having done so, I’m glad I did. The last full prescription I had from them, after over 20 years, they sent me only half the pills, and duplicated that error with the stopgap prescription, and I had to call then, twice, to get more. I had hoped a new prescription would fix that, but no. But at lest I caught it this time before they were sent. And I am hoping the call straightened it out. Well, if not, I have 45 days to get it straight. Two of my scrips affect mood, one directly and one indirectly, so hopefully I’ll be in a better mood soon than I have been for a while. Also, I received a grocery order, cleaned up and put away some usb drives (flashm thumb, jump, whatever they are called now) and started putting downloaded classical tunes onto another (2G) for use in the car.
I can’t always find a good ending to a story in the Atlanta Black Star – and when I do, it’s often too little, too late, and at best very long in coming. So this should be no surprise really. At least it’s something.
Heather Cox Richardson posted a letter with a number of “short takes,” and that’s a good thing. It can be a mnemonic for all the stuff that’s going on, must of whuch is so crazy there’s not pont i analyzing it in depth, because it has no depth. I grant it’s tough to read.
Yesterday, I learned that we have one at least one of the so far uncalled House races, and it is the one Katie Porter held but had to resign when she ran for Senate. Her re[lscement is named David Min, and she says he will “be a fierce champion for our interests in Congress.” I also learned that Manchin has signalled openness to helping Biden push judges through. Oh, and “On Monday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore honored one of his state’s most beloved military veterans, Harriet Tubman, by promoting Tubman posthumously to the rank of brigadier general in the state National Guard.” And why. Finally, at a bankruptcy auction, “infowars” was purchased by “The Onion.” We have to take what joy we can get.
From the Atlanta Black Star – this didn’t even happen in the US but in England. What is the MATTER with “white” people?
From Wonkette. Yes, this is happening. It’s nothing really new – sciopaths have been doing this forever – the difference is that now it’s mainstream. Oh, and claiming to be Christian. (If they would claim to be Christian Nationalists, and if people dogging on them would call them Christian Nationalists, I wouldn’t have a problem with the. The difference is huge and pretty well understood.) My advice to womwn married to Trump** voters it to get a no fault divorce, quickly, while you still can, because they are going to take that away too. A related article on PolitiZoom reported that the Ambassador from the Phillipines is advising any Filipinos here illegally keave NOW because if one is deported, one can never come back to the United States. That is not in the COnstitution, and I’m pretty sure that once cooler heads prevail, either that Federal Law could be over turned, or Amnesty for families of citizens could be established, but who knows how long it will be before cooler heads prevail?
