Florida – Politics Plus

Open Thread August 22 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:13 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 222026

Yesterday, I got up early for me, which was not all that early, but early enough to call an institution on a 9 to 5 schedule and reach a human being. Turned out not to be necessary. It appears that if Virgil calls and I don’t answer, for whatever reason, the company that provides the phone service thinks I don’t have an account with them, and sends a recorded message to that effect. But the caller ID, instead of showing the phone company, as calls from Virgil do, but instead shows the name of the facility. I jumped to the conclusion that his case manage was trying to reach me for some reason, and that I needed to call it back during working hours. I was pleasantly surprised that that wasn’t the case.

From the Brennan Center, an analysis piece about the effects of AI on elections. There is a smorgasboard of sentence fragments and hypotheticls before you get to the actual article, so don’t give up.

Colorado Public Radio. The “Listen” does duplicate some of the written word, but with different empgasis, and has a little information not in the written part.

This is from Thursday. Malcolm is pissed. I am too. I don’t have a family history like his – although my father was in the Army during WWII as a telegrapher – and his grandfather did fight in the Civil War for the Union – that’s defnitely not unbroken. I didn’t learn about Dory Miller until long after I was out of the service – but it’s a truth I have treasured since I did learn it. Upgrading the decoration to the MOH while renaming the ship is like throwing a piece of candy after killing his or her parent. It’s not proportionate. It’s a little bit of sweet compared to an avalanche of grief. CNN has a recorded livestream here from its Laura Coates Show, in which Malcolm speaks, (about ten minutes total.) The first seven minutes are mostly with Dory’s grand-nephew, and about the last three minutes with Malcolm, who somehow manages to communicate the importance of decisions like these with no expletives – a minor miracle, according to him. I might just add he also exhibits his own dignity and with it the dignity of everyone who has ever served – and Malcolm is not a man who normally stands on dignity. But it was needed here.

Open Thread July 22 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 222026

Yesterday, I pretty much relaxed – and knitted. Which was nice.

OK, I need to rant a little today. We all know that the Apricot ntichrist probably does not even know what a treaty is, let alone that the Constitution is clear that a treaty is the law of the land, that only Congress can ratify a treaty (so only Congress can get us out of one.) There is nothing in the Constitution about what to do if an ally we have a treaty with goes rogue – starts committing war crimes. So will someone please tell me WTF is a Constitutional President who is sworn to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” supposed to do when that happens?? What pushed my button was a New Yorker headline “How Biden Emboldened Israel,” also a subject line in its daily email. Oh, sure, NOW “over a hundred Democrats are voting to withhold arms from Israel- wnich is not enough to break or rescind a treaty. How is any of this Joe Biden’s fault? If we had had Congressional blessing to pull out of our treaties (yes, plural) with Israel the instant the war crimes started (which we did not have the votes to do), then MAYBE Kamala would have been elected (but I would not bet a dime on that), but if not, we would be exactly where we are now. War crimes are a hell of a drug.

I promised an update on the Colorado ICE shooting, and here it is.

Colorado also has closed primaries, but has been good about publicizing deadlines for switching or declaring parties, even under Republican Secretaries of State. I would not expect Floridians to be able to say the same. I switched parties once, back when there were still sane Republicans, and one was running in the primary against a Tea Party (remember it?) one for a state office. And I was far from alone. We got her into the general, where she won, and we had sanity even in those days (Colorado is blue now, but hasn’t always been so. And desperate situations require desperate measures.

It bursts my bubble every time – and it is pretty much always – that so many people feel compelled to denigrate every person of color who has anything to say and speaks it publicly. Why do they feel this need? Because they have nothing to say so they make something up? Are they secretly terrified that if there is a person of color smarter and/or wiser than they, that somehow makes them lesser? Or if there is a person of color who is more compassonae then they, or has higher ethical standards, that demeans them? There are difinitely contradictions in the stories of the witnwssws to what happened over the semiquincentennial weekend – contradictions which can’t be reconciled.

.I lost track of the times Frank said “under any other administration” or the equivalent. He does a deep dive into the background of the ICE agent who shot the young father in Biddeford, ME. I’m tearing my hair out about this one because there’s no transcript. I went to his main Substack page – still no trnscript. There was a YouTube link for the same video – but CC was not afailable, so no transcript there either. Frank is affiliated with Lincoln Square, so I checked there also – the show was there, but no transcript. Feel free to skip it. He covers more topics, but what I thought was most important was the background check he did was the background check, and unfortunately, that’s in the middle.

Here’s a bonus in case you want to skip Frank. But this is good new – yes, it’d dsigned to help people of color, but not just people of color – – it’d for everyone not an oligarch. And it doesn’t leave Black people out.

Yeah, I already put up this in “250 to 250”, but this is only a bit over 4 minutes, and it has almost everything the 1 minute version leaves out.

Open Thread July 9 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 092026

Yesterday, after the resumption of hostilities in the Persian Gulf, Wajeeh described our so-called President as being surrounded by three drama queens (whom he named) – and hilarity ensued. This part of the conversation started at or just after the 30 minute mark, and took just a few minutes, so if anyone wants a good laugh, you can find it and it waon’t take much of your time. Unlike YouTube, I can’t set it to start there, but the timeline is easy to manipulate. Also, I did watch “The Last Class.” After some thought, I think maybe the way to say this is: Robert Reich is the most compact giant who ever existed. He has another movie coming out, and showed a trailer – although I think it’s still in progress – which is appropriate – because the title is “The Work in Progress.” In another also, Graham Platner withdrew his campaign fir the Senate. I have just two words – Al Franken. I’m not trying to say what you probably think I am. I am trying to say that when an aspersion involves money (like cheating on taxes, or embezzlement, or grift) or other types of immorality, we investigate. When an aspersion involves sex we just lose our minds.

Good Grief. Apparently, stupidity, or death wish, or delusion, or all three, or God knows what, is color-blind. “Christian nationalism” is bad enough, but we’re not up against just Christian nationalism, we’re up against White Christian nationalism. Any black (or darker than a brown paper bag) person who buys into that has to be suicidal.

If I were a Black woman in Florida, I would absolutlely fear for my life if a white man started to argue with me. Which is probably why she was carrying in th first place. If we had the statistics of how many people in the US have been killed in arguments over parking spaces, it would probably surprise you. I am confident that Stand Your Ground applies. And equally confident that no court in Florida will accept it from a Black woman. We shall see.

Archived from The Lever. Every time the present regime comes up with a new and innocuous sounding name for a project, it’s a bad sign. This “Task Force” is no exception.

Open Thread May 17 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 172026

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Don Carlo” in an archival recording from 1950. Most of the characters in it were real people, although they weren’t much like the way they they are portrayed in it. It’s true that the real Carlos was opposed to the Pope and the Inquisition, and sympathetic to the Protestants in Flanders which was then under Spanish rule, and that his father, King Philip, felt the opposite. It’s also true that Elizabeth of Valois was engaged to Carlos before the politics changed and she married his father instead, And his father may have wanted to kill him, but instead just locked him up. It is almost certainly not true that he and Elzabeth were in love – that was not a thing in royal marriages – and he was physically and mentally deformed – he was one of the last Habsburgs – the most inbred royals since ancient Egypt. The one character who was made up (not by Verdi, but by the playwright from whom Schiller borrowed for his plat “Don Karlos”) is Rodrigo – who gets the best music.

If you ever get a chance to attend one of these, don’t hesitate. Be there. Even just reding about one is revitalizing. Being there is a whole other level.

Even in Florida, there are still good people. (Even in law enforcement.)

And this is another reason why, though I no longer have any furbabies, I always look at Chewy first when I need something for myself that might be useful for an animal – like a white noise generator, or a broom that basically picks up hair, or a high powered laundry additive. Chewy is not your normal corporation. Chewy actually cares.

Open Thread September 20 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 202025

Yesterday, it occurred to me that I might be able to hear the radio opera from my laptop. But it also might not. This will post hours before the broadcast starts, so I’ll have to update you in tomorrow’s OT Also, yesterday was “Talk Like a Pirate” Day, and I completely forgot. I apologize.

Yesterday, I mentioned being speechless more and more often. And this from Wonkette is a good example. If I spelled out what I think about it, that would only make it more of a gut punch than it already is (and would also be NSFW.) I don’t need or want to do that. But I don’t want to downplay it either.

The regime has removed from wherever it was in the network of federal websites the study showing that “right wing” violence is vastly more common, and more severe, than “left-wing” violence. So, unless you saved it before they did that, it’s no longer available. However, this from The Conversation is available, and is also well-researched. I put left and right wing into quotes because in my opinion left and right has nothing to do with it – the divide in violence is between authoritarian and egalitarian. Left and right refer to economic theories. I grant that with the apparent polarization in our nation, right has become pretty well correlated with authoritarian and left with egalitarian – but that wasn’t always the case, and we may hope it may not always be. Although, without soind civics education, it probably will. And then there’s this. (popup is not a paywall. Just close it.

This from Vanity Fair analyzes the murder of Charlie Kirk from the aspect of how it is affecting MAGA and the rest of the fascist party. That could be important. You can read it at the original source if you’re a subscriber, or in the archive if you are not.

Open Thread April 5, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:26 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 052024

Yesterday must have been an interesting day. I reveived four separate Axios alerts before 1:30 pm. The first was about Democrats putting pressue on Mike Johnson over foreign aid, particularly Ukraine (sure glad to hear that.) The second was that the judge on the Georgia cas rejected Trump’s “First Amendment” challenge to the gag order – also good. The third – and this is huge – No Labels is dropping out of the Presidential race. and the final one was to announce that Aileen (“Loose”) Cannon has again dismissed a Trump** motion to dismiss his case.Four good new breaking alerts in one day is, to put it mildly, rare.

I knew that this was a Civil Rights song. I did not know it was written specifically for the Little Rock Nine. I’m glad to have learned.

I mentioned in a comment that the person who spilled the beans on Kyle Rittenhouse was the defense lawyer at his trial. This story has the details. I think he’s upset that he was taken in and wants to ensure as best he can that no one else is.

Open Thread September 18, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 182023

Yesterday, I caught up on some sleep, but upon arising, my body seemed determined to annoy me. I took care of the hip and the shoulder with the TENS unit, but my pretibial myxedema wasn’t so simple. Myxedema is a skin codition where fluid – I’m pretty sure lymphatic fluid – builds up under, not all the layers of skin, but under about the top two, which over time begin to look and feel like rice papre (but don’t hide what looks like bruising underneath.) It’s not painful and it doesn’t even itch -but if those two top skin layers breach, it starts leaking like crazy, If you don’t cover it with something, it can soak that whole part of a bed one’s legs are in. And a 3″x4″ “bandaid” doesn’t do the job, the fluid just leaks out under it (Although it can reduce the amount that gets all the way out.) Instead it requires something like a cotton leg warmer or a knee-high sock, cotton being best, but polyester works if it’s brushed and fluffy enough. So I had to deal with that – for about the fourth straight day – and I have no idea when the leaking will stop. It could be another week or two. At least no pain – just annoyance. Also, I have been knitting, and also trying to get more stuff ready for pickup. As a result I have not had time (and don’t see time coming) to read this article closely, and therefore I have no opinion on it. I do have an opinion that the deaths of JFK, MLK, and RFK were way to convienient for – I guess at that time it was mostly millionaires, but all too soon it will be trillionaires if we don’t do something. But I have no firm opinion on the details of how that worked out. I’ll just provide the link and let y’all look at it.

Also, in a comment on Nameless’s RoshHashanah post, I mentioned the radio special with Itzhak Perlman. KCME dot org will repeat it at 8 pm Thursday the 21st and 8 am Sunday the 24th. KCME is all over the world, but they also use their own player and it’s a little different. I’m thinking WFMT, WQXR, and WGBH are also likely to air it and quite possibly KVOD (CPR,org) on their own time schedules. The full name of the program is “Music for the High Holidays with Itzhak Perlman”. (There will be inforaition about food. Perlman likes to say that the definition of a Jewish holiday is “They tried to kill us. They did not succeed. Let’s eat.”)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

HuffPost – Here’s The Political Conversation We Overlooked This Week
Quote – We’ve spent a lot of time this week talking about Hunter Biden and impeachment, which is fair enough. I just wish we’d found more time to discuss another story[.]… I’m talking about the annual U.S. Census Bureau report on income and health insurance, which came out Tuesday and which my colleague Jonathan Nicholson summarized for HuffPost. The report found that the country’s poverty rate jumped from 7.8% in 2021 to 12.4% last year ― and that the poverty rate among children, specifically, rose even more dramatically, from 5.2% to 12.4%. To put it another way, last year more than 1 in 8 American kids were living in a household struggling to pay for food, shelter, transportation and other essentials. Just a year before, fewer than half as many kids were in that position.
Click through for reasons, background, who’s on which side, and what can be done.

Orlando (FL) Sentinel – Florida leaders silent after senator confronts staffer at women’s shelter
Quote – Senate leaders have been silent about an angry confrontation between Republican Sen. Tom Wright and a female staffer at a Daytona Beach shelter for battered and abused women and their children over the Labor Day weekend. According to police reports, Wright yelled, lunged at, and placed his hand on the shoulder of a staff member who stopped Wright from getting on a bus full of the shelter’s residents out of concern for protecting their identities. Video footage provided by the Daytona Beach Police Department shows Wright’s tense encounter with a much shorter female staffer, who ran up to him to get him off the bus. Another employee stepped between them, and Wright, 71, turned to walk away, only to confront the worker a couple of more times before leaving. “For a political leader to come there and aggress on an employee in front of a busload of women and children who are making the courageous decision to protect themselves from violence is one of the most disgusting behaviors I have ever seen,” said Angie Pye, the former CEO of the Beacon Center, where the incident occurred.
Click through for details – which are very different and even more sinister than the details of Lauren Boebert’s little spree – but the trashiness is much the same.

Food For Thought