Aug 222022
 

Yesterday, I basically tried to keep things slow and calm. It was a pill-organizing weekend, and everything runs out at different times, so there is literally never an occasion when I don’t have to run to another room for a new bottle of something OTC or order a prescription renewal – I generally do that in advance for the following fortnight so I can at least get the bottles filled and capped without interruption (otherwise this klutz would be knocking them over and using choice language.)

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Short Takes –

The 19th – Magnolia Mother’s Trust marks a history-making three cycles of paying Black mothers $1,000 a month
Quote – The Magnolia Mother’s Trust is now the longest-running guaranteed income program in the United States. But the program, which gives Black mothers in Jackson, Mississippi, $1,000 a month for one year, no strings attached, was never meant to last forever. “I don’t think that’s the systems change we need,” said Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard Opportunities, which runs Magnolia Mother’s Trust and provides programs and services to families that live in federally subsidized affordable housing. Instead, the goal of the trust is to model what could be, in a more just and fair society.
CLick through for story. If Republians really wanted a world with more happy and healthy people, this is what they would be doing (which of coursethey don’t.) Likewise, if they really wanted a world of people who would fall easily into categories and be content with that, they should be emulating Brave New World  – the ohly dystopia I’m aware of in which the characters aren’t aware that it’s a dystopia. But Republicans don’t want that either. They aren’t happy unless someone is getting hurt.

Vice – Scientists Achieve the Impossible, Safely Destroy Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
Quote – In a new paper published [this month] in the journal Science, a team of researchers have uncovered a new way to dispose of a class of these chemicals under comparatively mild conditions, including ambient pressure and temperatures as low as 176 degrees Fahrenheit. William Dichtel is a lead author on the paper and a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University. He said in a press conference about the work on Tuesday that one of the exciting benefits of this discovery is that the reaction leaves no damaging products in its wake. “We were pleased to find a relatively low temperature, low energy input method where the one specific portion of these molecules falls off and sets off a cascade of reactions that ultimately breaks these PFAS compounds down to relatively benign products including fluoride ions… that are in many cases found in nature already and do not pose serious health concerns.”
Click through for background and more info. Nobody saw this coming – even the scientists were pleasantly surprised. And good news is always welcome.

Food For Thought

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Jul 112022
 

Yesterday, I set up my meds for the next two weeks, because I hadn’t done it Saturday. Oh, well, that’s why I keep a couple of extras filled – so I can miss a day withut actually missing a day. And nthat was pretty much all I did. the weather is what my Aunt Mary used to call “enervating.” (Yes, love of words runs in my family – both sides.) And I want to save as much energy as I can for the hearings which I understand are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday.

Cartoon – 11 0711Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – SNEAKS: PA GOPers Advance Anti-Abortion Amendment Last [Thursday] Night
Quote – The first step happened last night, but the long-term plan is to get an anti-abortion constitutional amendment on the ballot next year…. In PA, the process is they need to pass through both chambers twice, in consecutive legislative sessions, then they hit the ballot. If Rs time the anti-abortion one correctly, it will hit the ballot in an off year, low turnout election with least amount of voter participation
Click through for story. Yes, this is one state, but it could happen elsewhere.

[Detroit] Metro Times – We interviewed the guy behind the viral ‘woke’ HVAC ad from Lansing
Quote – ”I can’t pretend like everything is ok,” the ad reads. “Gun fetishes are being prioritized, women are no longer in control of their own bodies. The earth is heating up. Black and Brown people are still being killed, brutalized, or otherwise harassed. Honestly, at this point, who gives a SH*T about HVAC. But if you’re hot, give us a call.”
I’ve quoted the ad. Click through for the interview.

Food For Thought

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Jun 012022
 

Yesterday, I got an email from WellRed Comedy. That’s not terribly unusual,since I get emails on their tours But this one was about a new series which I had seen a little of on Trae’s channel but which now has its own channel, which they call “Puttin on Airs.” I had seen a couple on Trae’s channel, but the new channel (which has videos and clips ranging from under a minute to over an hour) puts them together in a way which – shall I say – makes them ore coherent. I may be able to use some in the Video Thread (not that I’m ready to just yet. I do suspect looking at, for instance, Marie Antoinette and Henry VII through Trae’s and Corey’s eyes may well be worth a look see.

Also, I have to admit that that tiny little patch, smaller than a postage stamp, actually stayed in place overnight. Amazing.

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Short Takes –

No More Mister Nice Blog – MAYBE THE COMMENTARIAT SHOULD TRY LEARNING SOME BASIC FACTS
Quote – I’m pleased that he recognizes the uniquely American nature of this sick fetishization. But how can he not “fully understand the message”? This ad shows a little kid fondling an assault weapon under a Bible verse (Proverbs 22:6) because — as is obvious to anyone who’s paid a reasonable amount of attention to U.S. conservatism in recent years — right-wing Americans don’t just believe they have an unlimited right to bear arms, they believe that this right was given to Americans by God.
Click through for full blog. I don’t know what the answer is. I am coming around to the idea that, since “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” we should concentrate on regulating gun owners before trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the guns, and also that a big part of that should be getting ANY guns out of the hands of domestic violence perps and animal abusers who are provably associated with way more than their share of incidents.) This also may not work, but at least it is in line with their own rhetoric, and not just ours.

Daily Kos (Walter Einenkel) – Qronicles of Anon: It’s all about saving the children—until actual children are killed
Quote – This has been a hard week in America. They’re all hard weeks, but this one was particularly difficult. It was a glaring reminder of the violent cost of our country’s obsession with guns and weapons, and how conspiracy theories like QAnon help feed the paranoia that’s necessary to believe everybody should own an assault rifle. The fact that the QAnon world, not unlike its Republican leadership, hides behind children while allowing their actions and inaction to end in dead children as collateral damage is breathtaking and gut-punching all at the same time.
Click through – the article doesn’t so much develop the headline; instead, it rounds up all kinds of QAnon insanity surfacing.

Raw Story – Pope Francis sends ‘powerful message’ by elevating liberal Bishop over Archbishop who banned Pelosi from communion
Quote – “The choice of Bishop McElroy is the biggest surprise of this consistory [the council of cardinals] for the church in the United States,” reports the Jesuit publication America. “A graduate of Harvard, Stanford and the Pontifical Gregorian University, Bishop McElroy has demonstrated that he is one of the strongest supporters of the pope’s vision of church among the American bishops since Francis appointed him to be bishop of San Diego in March 2015. By choosing him to be a cardinal, instead of others, Pope Francis is sending a powerful message to the American bishops and church.”
Click through for details. So many of the humorous things we see are just pure idiocy (like “gazpacho police”); our laughter diesn’t affect them, and the stories lead nowhere. This is a story I can laugh at and treasure – because accountability.

Food For Thought

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Apr 012022
 

Glenn Kirschner – on Zerlina – some good news

The Lincoln Project – Partner

Ojeda Live – Top 5 Republican Sell-Outs

Now This News – Here’s a story about a Florida Man which won’t male you groan. But you may want a hanky.

Robert Reich – Here’s What It’s Like Having $100 Billion vs. $1 Billion

Feisty Foster Kitten Doesn’t Grow Bigger – WIDDLE

Beau – Let’s talk about mapping the unthinkable….

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