Open Thread for October 15, 2021

 Posted by at 6:41 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 152021
 

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet. I worked some on a new project which will be largely acrylic and long sleeved but still kind of light weight. I started with the yoke, wondering what it would look like if I made a boat neck with a technique which is usually reserved for buttonholes. It actually looks very good. And O now realize I can use the trick that makes it work to make other kinds of neckline look better too. So, a win-win.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Vanity Fair – KATIE PORTER HAS THE FLOOR
Quote – Over burgers, [Ann] O’Leary [formerly the head of Berkeley Law School’s Center on Health, Economic & Family Security] and Porter observed that part of being a congressperson is the committee structure, where members can use the bully pulpit. When you get your time in a hearing, that time is yours. O’Leary says she saw “a switch [go] off” in Porter. “There are always instructions from leadership,” Porter says. “ ‘This is how you vote, this is what our priority is, this is how you should message, this is how much money you need to raise’—and the questions in hearings, you can show up and do what you want. It’s like looking around and saying, where is it that nobody is trying to control me?”
Click through for story. Is there anyone here who doesn’t love Katie Porter? What looked like a blank paywall popped up for me, but I was easily able to read the full article by scrolling. And I also “printed” it, just in case.

The Daily Beast – Capitol Rioter Decides to Represent Himself in Court, Accidentally Admits to Two New Felonies
Quote – Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst reportedly got Fellows to admit that he gained access to the Capitol through a broken window, and that he tried to get a previous judge removed from the case using the judge’s wife’s contact information. At the end of the hearing, McFadden ordered Fellows back into custody and told him: “You’ve admitted to incredible lapses of judgment here on the stand, not least of which was seeking to disqualify a New York state judge.”
Click through for brief story, and through again from there for more details. Keep it up, seditoinists.

The News Tribune via MSN – Arson investigation underway at Islamic Center of Tacoma after fire damages building
Quote – The fire started at the Islamic Center of Tacoma just before an evening prayer was scheduled to begin. Two people were inside but they were able to evacuate, and no one was injured. An arson investigation was started by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Jeffrey Papen said witnesses reported seeing someone who may have started the fire fleeing the scene.
Click through for what is known.  This makes me both sad and furious.

Food for Thought – Share widely.  People who want these things don’t always know that they are in the bill.

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Open Thread for October 14, 2021

 Posted by at 6:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion
Oct 142021
 

Yesterday, I watched my Governor’s live press conference on COViD in Colorado. He was accompanied by two doctors, a family practitioner and a pediatricition who is something of an authority in Pediatric epidemiology. The latter said something I really want to share: that, given the transmissibility of the Delta varient, if one is not vaccinated, it is not a question of whether he or she will contract the disease, but when. That may not sway as many people as it should, but it may reach a few.

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Short Takes –

The Conversation – What is the Synod of Bishops? A Catholic priest and theologian explains
Quote – The topic? How the church can learn to rely more fully on this kind of consultation-and-discussion process – how it can become more “synodal” in its governance. Throughout the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has held many gatherings called “synods” – but seldom one this sweeping in its potential consequences…. In part, it is designed to make church governance more open and inclusive of all its members.
Click through if you like. Pope Francis, like me, is old enough to rememner Pope John XXIII and Vatican II – and that much of the progress Vatican II made has been rescinded. This looks like he is trying to accomplish something which cnnot be rescinded so easily.

Wonkette – Why Were Capitol Police So Unprepared For The January 6 MAGA CHUD Invasion?
Quote – A former senior official in the US Capitol Police just released a scathing letter to Congress that places blaming squarely on the heads of Assistant Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman and acting Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher. The anonymous official accuses Pittman and Gallagher of ignoring an intelligence report they received on December 21 that specifically warned about a potential riot at the Capitol. It was reportedly similar to intel the FBI provided the department on January 5, which according to the Gregorian calendar is prior to January 6.
Click through for story and video footage. The reason is pretty much what you’d think, and pretty much the same as with 9/11 – failure to pass on intelligence. This article is not in Wonkette’s signature style, but is pretty well straight.

Law and Crime – Murder Defendant in 2014 Killing Asks Trial Judge to Officiate Wedding
Quote – To be fair, both marriage and criminal trials are transformative life events. But one Pennsylvania murder defendant has gone so far as to ask his trial judge to officiate his wedding, according to The Associated Press…. “We’ll take care of it next week,” the judge said in court. He did not say no…. Prosecutors offered no objections.
Click through for details. If you like “you just can’t make this stuff up” stories, Law and Crime was on fire yesterday, and most of them should still be on the front page today.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread 10/13/2021

 Posted by at 11:40 am  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 132021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Reason for Optimism: Biden Rejects Trump’s Executive Privilege Claim, Trump “Subverted” Constitution

The Lincoln Project – Not for Sale –

Ring of Fire – MyPillow CEO Says He’s Found People 850 Years Old Who Voted In 2020 Election

Robert Reich has emailed a free link to his documentary “Inequality for All.” It’s over an hour and a half, but apparently it’s normally PPV (and actually have times when I want to turn off hte rdio for an hour or more and want something else to listen to or watch.) Here it is if anyone wants to save it.
https://tubitv.com/movies/587315/inequality-for-all

MSNBC – Republican Threat To Wisconsin Elections No Laughing Matter

Puppet Regime – COVID Family Reputation on the Brink

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden’s monumental move….

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Open Thread for October 13, 2021

 Posted by at 7:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 132021
 

Yesterday, my ballot arrived in the mail! In addition to the fiscal measures I already mentioned (and have already researched), it does contain candidayes for my school board. I will have to google them So I won’t be returning it immediately. But I will as soon as possible.  Also, as promised, I did listen to the entire Garland interview, and I have two takeaways to suggest: first, that she asked very good questions. Almost everything we really want to know. (And, of course, the ones we really, really want answers to do involve ongoing investigations – so, only indefinite answers.) But the second thing was that, I never really thought about it, but he is still working on last year’s budget. And that means there are things he can’t do before getting his own budget, because the funds are just not there. No, neither of them said that – but I gathered it from what they did say.

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Short Takes –

Wonkette – John Birch Society Is BACK BABY, And They’re … Trying To Block Entrances To Your Kid’s School!
Quote – The JBS YouTube account, which has a shocking 85.1 thousand followers, is filled with videos with titles like “Bidens New World Order Agenda!” and “Installing the New World Order” and “COVID’S Lies Push People To Action,” because apparently the virus is a sentient being now. There is a whole series on the Illuminati and what those rascals been up to for the past several hundred years.
Click through for details. This is certainly something I never wanted to read or hear. But … we should have expected it. We should have known that if humanity as a whole were actually capable of evolving beyond this evil, we would not have seen any of it in our lifetimes.

The New Yorker – Attorney General Merrick Garland, Interviewed by Jane Mayer
Quote (from text intro) – At the 2021 New Yorker Festival, the investigative journalist Jane Mayer sat down for a conversation with Merrick Garland, the longtime federal judge now serving as President Biden’s Attorney General. Mayer asked about the central role that the Department of Justice plays in some of the most critical issues of our time: racial justice, domestic terrorism, threats to voting rights and abortion access, and the looming power of Big Tech companies.
Click through for podcast. As I type I have not listened yet (but will have done so by the time this posts.) An investigative reporter for The New Yorker has to be more than competent just to keep that job.

HuffPost – Progressives Resist Nancy Pelosi’s Plan For ‘Fewer Things’ In Budget Bill
Quote – At a press conference on Tuesday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) reiterated that message. “If we need to cut some of them back to fewer number of years, we’d be willing to do that,” she told reporters. “Why is that? Because we are not going to pit child care against climate change. We’re not going to pit housing against paid leave. We’re not going to pit seniors against young people.”
Click through for story. Of course shorter terms are a gamble. But that gamble is based on making a good show of what we can actually do when we get the chance. I think it’s a gamble well worth taking.

Food for Thought –

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Video Thread 10/12/2021

 Posted by at 12:25 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Oct 122021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Iowa Rally, DOJ’s Inaction & the Implications for the 2022 Midterm Elections

The Lincoln Project – Package Deal

Thom Hartmann – The National Debt Lie Debunked

Ring of Fire – Cyber Ninjas CEO Says No More Audits After Getting Death Threats From Trump Supporters

Really American – Bannon And Others Defy Subpoenas: LOCK THEM UP

If cryptocurrency was [sic] honest

Beau – Let’s talk about the jobs report, early unemployment, and wages…. exactly the same as Robert Reich, in slightly different words.

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Open Thread for October 12, 2021

 Posted by at 6:41 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 122021
 

Yesterday, My glue had cured and I was able to get back to that last project. And I finished it.  This petition came in yesterday also, so it’s a day late for the day, but still important.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – The Moral Bankruptcy of Facebook
Quote – In any kind of church—not to mention a multilevel-marketing scheme, or a doomsday cult—there are true believers. If you start to get the creeping feeling that your church’s core ideology is indefensible, you have two options. You can do whatever it takes to defend the indefensible, or you can leave. For most true believers, though, the latter option—choosing apostasy, which is a kind of self-exile—is not really an option at all. If this is the dilemma that binds a follower, how much more strongly does it bind the church’s founding pastor, or its prophet?
Click through for full opinion with reasoning. (With which I heartily concur … and there are other people to whom the same reasoning applies.)

Mother Jones – My Neighbor the Tear Gas Factory
Quote – In 1995, CSI built the company’s new headquarters in Jamestown, and the Lauries’ nightmare began. The pond where John and Tom Laurie fished as kids was replaced by CSI’s manufacturing plant and a firing range. The peace and quiet the Lauries had prized was now interrupted by loud and repeated explosions, by ominous smoke floating in their direction.
Click through for details. No one should be surprised to hear that corporations lie. But this is ridiculous. Dude has receipts.

Business Insider – Capitol rioter suspected of stealing laptop from Nancy Pelosi’s office is charged. Her plot to sell it to Russian spies is still being investigated, says report.
Quote – Williams’ involvement in the Capitol riot came to light partly through a tip-off from an ex-boyfriend, according to a January affidavit…. The boyfriend claimed she had told people she intended to send the stolen laptop to a friend in Russia, who would then sell it on to its foreign intelligence service…. The laptop has still not been recovered.
Click through for more. I imagine we can expect a superseding indictment in this case. At least I hope so.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread for October 11, 2021

 Posted by at 7:17 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 112021
 

Yesterday, I was working on that final cotton knitting project, and was within spitting distance of finishing it, when the circular needle I was using on it “broke.” I put that in quotes because they don’t actually break – what happens is that the (nylon or plastic) cord which connects the two working ends has a glue failure, and slips out. Dropped stitches do ensue and often so does colorful language. But this time the dropped stitches were few and easily seen and picked up onto a stitch holder. I reglued it right away. But the jewelers’ super glue which I used is not like regular super glue – it has wiggle room and therefore must cure for 24 hours before being subjected to any stress. So I am still waiting. But it’s not like I have nothing else to do.

Cartoon – (This is from 2013.  How TC knew that David would die first so that this would still be valid … I can’t explain.)

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – The Battle of January 6th Has Just Begun
Quote – Trump is, per Pew and other recent polls, both the overwhelming favorite among Republicans for 2024 and their continuing spiritual leader. (Two-thirds of the Republicans and Republican-leaning independents that Pew surveyed wanted Trump to continue to be a major national figure, a total that’s gone up by ten points since January. Yes, that’s not a typo—it’s gone up.) Just as important, he has succeeded in selling his party on his Big Lie about the 2020 election, on January 6th revisionism, and on taking a series of specific actions—from changing how states certify elections to purging state Republican officials who did not go along with his 2020 coup attempt—that will affect American democracy for years to come, whether or not Trump runs again.
Click through for opinion. I see a lot of different takes on just how popular Trump** is or isn’t. I fear this one is closest to fact.

Crooks and Liars – Minn. Cops Went Hunting For Civilians During Protests
Quote – A sergeant leading the unit says, “Let ’em have it, boys, let ’em have it … Right there, get ’em, get ’em, get ’em, hit ’em, hit ’em!” At one point, an officer firing less-lethal rounds on a distant group of protesters says “Gotcha!” as he hits someone. There’s laughter, and the officer is congratulated on his shot with a fist bump and “Good hit, buddy.” “You guys are out hunting people now and it’s just a nice change of tempo,” one officer says. “F*** these people.”
Click through for details. I didn’t put this in the video thread because the video is not the point. The video is merely evidence for the point which needs to be taken fron this story.

ProPublica – Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge
Quote – A few weeks before, a video had appeared on YouTube. It showed two small boys, 5 and 6 years old, throwing feeble punches at a larger boy as he walked away, while other kids tagged along, some yelling. The scuffle took place off school grounds, after a game of pickup basketball. One kid insulted another kid’s mother, is what started it all. The police were at Hobgood because of that video. But they hadn’t come for the boys who threw punches. They were here for the children who looked on.
Click Through. You don’t need to read every word, but the title and one quote are not enough either. As Mark asks in today’s Doonesbury … “What country is this?”

Food for Thought –

And … for Squatch …

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Open Thread for October 10, 2021

 Posted by at 7:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 102021
 

Yesterday, the opera was “Billy Budd,” based on the novella by Herman Melville, and composed by Benjamin Britten. It goes to some dark places, and I can’t call the ending happy, though it does achieve a measure of peace. Of course the music is lovely. While it was on I organized both morning and evening meds for the next two weeks … so I am ahead of my usual accomplishment with them.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Bears Ears Inter-Tribla Coalition – “We Did It!”
Quote – The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (BEITC), comprised of delegates from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Zuni Tribe, issued a statement today in response to President Biden’s upcoming announcement that the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument will be restored…. This statement represents the joint views of the five Tribes making up the Coalition. Each Tribe, acting as sovereign nations, may also offer independent comments.
Click through for quotes from members. I certainly needed some good news today, and assume y’all do too. You can sign a thank-you note here, courtest of the Grand Canyon Trust, if you like (And you’ll get a nice reply pretty quickly.)

Quote – Unfortunately, in a big black eye for her reputation, Beeman’s own racist comments in a University of Connecticut online forum on “critical race theory” were noticed by Hartford TV station WFSB, which reported on the comments yesterday. The station didn’t specify when the forum took place, but it had a screenshot, and Beeman was quick to insist that heavens no, she didn’t mean anything bad when she’d typed “Helping kids of color to feel they belong has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids.” Of course she didn’t! Here’s the video, cued up to the story so you don’t have to be confused by several minutes of silence at the start, yeesh, guys, you work in teevee.
Click through for clip woth quote. “Tone deaf” doesn’t even begin to describe this. The implication alone that Chrstians can’t possibly be black is nauseating.

Crooks and Liars – Maryland Man Fatally Shot His Pharmacist Brother For ‘Killing People’ With The COVID Vaccine
Quote – Burnham is being held without bond in Allegany County, where he is charged with stabbing Rebecca Reynolds, 83, to death inside her Cumberland home on Sept. 29. Police said he took her car and fled to Ellicott City, where a day later he killed Robinette, 58, and his wife Kelly Sue Robinette, 57. He faces first and second-degree murder charges in the couples’ deaths.
Click through – Apparently we are already in a shooting Civil War. “Brother against btother.” (I didn’t look for Law & Crime’s take on this but I’ll bet it’s epic.)

Food for Thought – Chyron of the Year

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