GOP Violence – Page 8 – Politics Plus

Open Thread May 7, 2023

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

May 072023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Boheme” by Puccini. That should be no surprise, since I mentioned it Friday. This opera was the first one I ever owned a recording of. I found it in the PX my first year in the service and grabbed it. That was 56 years ago. I bought a second recording of it when Richard Tucker passed away – that would have been maybe 48 years ago. I have seen it on television, and live, and I have streamed it, over the years – different casts and settings of course – I have memorized arias from it and sung them (just for myself – like whe driving between radio stations) – I have sung in the chorus of a concert version of it – I have made costume sketches of it in case I ever got the chance to help stage it – I don’t actually know the entire libretto by heart, but I wouldn’t be araid to bet that if you read me a line from the libretto (in English or in italian) I could tall you who sings it in which act and why. I know I have heard or seen it every year of my life since 1967, in fact more than once each year. Three times a year is probably low for an average, but that would still be 168 times. And i still cry with Rodolfo. In fact, I choke up/tear up just thinking about it. i gather that younger people (and some my age) who have seen/heard “Rent,” which was based on it, feel much the same about that incarnation of it. I can also tell you that it was based on “Scènes de la vie de Bohème” by Henri Murger (my translation: “Episodes from Hippie Life”), and that another composer (I think Leoncavallo, but won’t swear to that) wanted to write it, but Puccini got in first. I can tell you that the characer Musetta in the book got that nickname because her voice was as raspy as a bagpipe (of yourse that’s not how she sounds in the opera.) I can do all that, but I cannot explain why it never fails. It just never fails.

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The Good in Us – The Sickness unto Death, Part I
Quote – When the news of the Sandy Hook shooting broke, my daughter was at school. I spent the hours before I had to pick her up agonizing over what to tell her. I didn’t want to say anything. I wanted to pretend nothing had happened. I wanted to protect her from knowing because what use could that terrible knowledge be to a child?… The very fact of Sandy Hook broke something in me. And, if you’re an empathetic human being, it broke something in you, too.
Click through (and click “continue reading.”) Apparently there are some issues with it, especially with the links -if you have any problem, this may help.

Thw 19th – For Native women in power in Minnesota, confronting the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people is personal
Quote – Less than two years since it began operating, the [Office for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives], led by a Native woman, Juliet Rudie, is a key liaison for families navigating the complicated law enforcement system, and pushing for clear data to make sure victims aren’t invisible It is also working to reshape the landscape that has allowed cases to fall through the cracks, including forging new training standards for Minnesota police officers. Every agency in the state has a tribal liaison.
Click through for story. There are a lot more people who know this is a problem than there are people actually working on it. Kudos to Minnesota.

Food For Thought

Open Thread April 18, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 182023

Yesterday, I received a “Damn-Giver Dispatch” email from John Pavlovitz. Some of y’all probably did also. But, in case you didn’t, or in case you did but missed this column, I want to link to it: “Yes, I’m A ‘Hateful’ Human Being.” I really like the way he turns things around. It’s the closest we can come to holding a mirror up to the deluded. Some, of course, will never see anything but what they want to see. But – sometimes – we have to try.

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Daily Beast – Black Teen Shot in the Head After Ringing the Wrong Doorbell: Family
Quote – The alleged gunman, who has not been identified [to the media], was taken into custody and brought to a police station to give a statement. Placed on a 24-hour hold, he was released pending further investigation, something the chief of the Kansas City Police Department spent much of a short Sunday press conference justifying. “The vast majority of cases to include violent crime involve the suspect being released pending further investigation,” Chief Stacey Graves said. “In this case, the prosecutor requires more information from investigators that would take more than 24 hours to compile throughout the weekend.”
Click through for story. You may have seen it. The killer opened the main door, and there was a glass door which he shot through. There is video of him calmly sweeping up the broken glass. The “right” house was one block over, on a street with the same name except “Terrace” instead of “Street.” The victim is still alive, miraculously. Virgil was 21 when he survived major head injuries (from a car crash). No one ever fully gets back everything lost from injuries like that.

The 19th – A Black Texas couple chose their midwife’s care over a hospital. Now their newborn is in foster care.
Quote – A custody case currently unfolding in Texas has separated a newborn from her parents and highlighted two systemic realities in the United States: the policing of Black families by child welfare systems and the disregard of midwifery expertise by many doctors. It has been 20 days since infant Mila Jackson was taken from her parents by Child Protective Services in Texas after they sought guidance from their licensed midwife to treat a common infant condition rather than following a directive from their pediatrician. Now a court will decide if she’ll be returned to their custody.
Click through for details. With good prenatal care and no complications, a trained midwife is at least as competent as a doctor. Women were having babies assisted by midwives for centuries while doctors thought it was a waste of time to wash their hands between patients and were killing people thereby. Some of these child welfare people need to be tied down and forced to watch all the seasons of PBS’s “Call the Midwife.”

Food For Thought

Open Thread April 14, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:51 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 142023

Yesterday, a new transaction came out in the Clarence Thomas scandal. Harlan Crow purchsed some property from Thomas. Per ProPublica – “The sale netted the GOP megadonor two vacant lots and the house where Thomas’ mother was living.” You’ve heard the expression “He’d sell his own mother…” Well, here’s someone who actually did. That sale made her a tenant of Harlan Crow. Apparently Crow remodeled and repaired the place – butshe is still his tenant (assuming she’s still alive) and therefore owes him rent shold he decide to demand any.

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Daily Beast – How Ron DeSantis Is Taking a Page Out of Nixon’s Playbook
Quote – [Steven] Jarvis, who has tracked disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories as an off-duty hobby since the 2016 election, said he’s developed a thick skin. But seeing pro-DeSantis accounts, and other apparent bot networks, accusing him of being a pedophile—and posting details of his marriage that could only have been gleaned from direct messages on Facebook, Jarvis said—shattered the barrier between his compartmentalized worlds. It wasn’t an isolated incident. For some who criticize the Florida governor and likely 2024 presidential candidate, a pattern appears to be emerging: attack DeSantis publicly, and risk your personal information posted online by pro-DeSantis accounts.
Click through for specifics. Just what I would expect from a man who laughs at his murder victims as they are dying.

The Bulwark – Jim Jordan Takes His Clown Show on the Road
Quote – Now Jordan has announced that he’s packing up the tent and hitting the road: Next week, the committee will be taking a taxpayer-funded field trip to New York. Why New York? To go after Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, whom Donald Trump, in his patented racist style, has called an “animal” and about whom Trump has screeched that “THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TOTALLY WEAPONIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT IN OUR COUNTRY . . . TO INTERFERE WITH OUR ALREADY UNDER SIEGE ELECTIONS!”
Click through for details. Maybe he’ll do somethiing illegal and get arrested We can hope.

Food For Thought

The Law, paking ticket, Trump indictment, arraignment, history, NYPD, political cartoon

Video Thread 4/7/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:00 pm Open Thread, Politics

Apr 072023

Glenn Kirschner – Defendant Trump arraigned on 34 FELONY CHARGES! And it looks like he has co-conspirators.

MSNBC – Lawrence: Presumption of Trump’s innocence ‘only applies in the courtroom’

Farron Balanced – Trump Ignores Judges Order And Starts Attacking His Entire Family

Brent Terhune – DONT LOCK HIM UP

Puppy Won’t Let Senior Rescue Dog Sleep Alone

Beau – Let’s talk about SECDEF vs Republicans….

Open Thread March 30, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 302023

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet. Getting my taxes done was probably the high point of the day. Which is really how I like it. But it does leave me with little to say.

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The Warning – Must read: The Washington Post’s “The Blast Effect”
Quote – In response to my video commentary, which I shared last night, on the devastating tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville, a The Warning community member suggested that the media do the “horrendous but necessary” job of showing what a semi-automatic weapon does to a child’s body. This morning, The Washington Post did just that. I would encourage you to read this, and to share it with your family and friends…. Entire categories of weapons have been illegal in America since 1934, including the Thompson submachine gun (the “Gangster gun”) and sawed-off shotguns.
CLick through for the article if you like but the real story is in the Post. It did not paywall me, and I think that may have been deliberate (in case the connection to Schmidt was why, I did not cut the link.) Trigger warning – it’s hard to get through. It’s interctive, so if any animation stops scroll down just a tad to restart the movement. That’s deliberate, to give you time to read the accompannying text. And share it if possible. If I find a gify long or an archive link after this posts, I’ll put it in a comment or in the next day’s post.

Crooks & Liars – Al Franken Reveals How To Get Around ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
Quote – But Franken revealed a workaround: “Luckily, though, it doesn’t say you can’t sing about being gay,” he said, before breaking into a pertinent ditty. Franken continued by wishing Florida teens good luck. “I think you’ll really enjoy reading classics like, “Moby Large Whale With No Subtext Whatsoever,” he added.
This is not the only humor, and there is a video also. The first short take being so serious, I though some relief was needed. (Incidentally, I believe I know why Beethoven became so profoundly deaf, and it wasn’t hereditary.)

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 28, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 282023

Yesterday, I once more got the New Yorker’s Name Drop puzzle on the first clue – and I’m willing to bet that most of y’all will or would too. The image of that red coat and sunglasses will take shape in your brain as it did in mine, and the face behind the sunglasses will be very familiar. (In fact, you may get it from just what I have said.) Aside from that, it was pretty quiet. I think I got pretty well caught up on my sleep, but also found a new quote from Robert Reich to console me in case I didn’t. “The sleep fairies do not favor the elderly.”

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PolitiZoom – Trump’s Calls For Violence More ‘Blatant’ and ‘Overt’ Than Before
Quote – Lofgren brought up Trump’s horrific Truth Social post (that he fortunately deleted) –the one that shows Trump holding a baseball bat right next to a photo of Bragg. She also mentioned Trump’s continual parade of insults and name-calling and his threats of “death and destruction,” coupled with his comments during the rally Saturday. “This is cause for concern,” she said. “We know that certainly not all of his followers are inclined to take up arms, but there’s enough of them who are willing to do battle in his behalf that someone could get killed. And people were killed, obviously, on January 6.”
Click through for details. If you have already noticed this yourself, let me assure you that you are NOT imaginng it. It is real.

The New Yorker – The Myth of the Alpha Wolf
Click through for details. I’m not quoting, because I have a lot to say on this, and if you are paywalled out, let me know – I will send it. It’s been known for some time that the initial “research” which came up with the terminaology in the title werenot carried out on wolves in their wild habitat, but exclusively on wolves in zoos. This is like doing research entirely in prisons and then claim that it applies to civilization as a whole. It’s really no wonder, is it, that almost all of the people who seriously buy the “alphamale” image are actual or potential criminals.
But what is new in the latest research (and which surprised the researchers so much that it sent them looking to other species – and fining similar reaults) is the fact that, when two packs battle, the pack that stands the best chance of winning, by a significant margin, is the pack which contains one or more older wolves. Ant that is the most impostant single factor. Apparently, respect for our elders has actual, solid survival value. I believe we should seriously think about this.
We don’t know whether wolves (or elephants or other species) are vulnerable to dementia, and that does make a difference. No one wants Dianne Feinstein to run again for the Senate. But that’s a matter of health, not simply aging. When we have elders like Joe Biden – Nancy Pelosi – Elizabeth Warren – Bernie Sanders – GRACE LINN – who literally have knowledge of what works and what doesn’t,because they have seen, time and time again, what works and what doesn’t – I think we need to stop talking about age as if it were a disqualifier.

And speaking of wolves (and canines in general) and prisons, here is an extra, which I would have used in the video thread if if had beeen possible to embed it. (The srticle ccontains an embed code, but it doesn’t do anything through my computer, not did it work for Lona, who passed it on to me.) I hope y’all will enjoy it. The Colorado prison system does have a “Prison Trained K9 Companion Program” – in fact they just picked up a bunch a couple of weeks ago who were rescued from a hoarding situation – but no lifers that I know of. So I have also sent information on the article to the DOC (not the live link – they have to be suspicious of links – but the defanged link and the information to find it through a search engine.) Do click through for a sweet story.

Food For Thought

Open Thread March 12, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 122023

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Traviata,” an opera which I have never gotten tired of yet. Based on “La Dame aux Camélias” by Alexandre Dumas fils, first as a novel, then as a play (the play in English speaking countries is usually referred to as “Camille” – ironic because in French speaking countries “Camille” is a man’s name). The Greta Garbo movie was called “Camille.” Neither the play nor the opera was performed as being contemporary when they were new (the mid-nineteenth century), being considered too scandalous. They were often set in the 18th century. An Art Nouveau (gilded age) poster survives which shows Sarah Bernhardt as Marguerite (Violetta in the opera) in gilded age dress. In the 2000’s a German director, Willy Decker, staging it for an Austrian music festival, created a production in which the stage was very minimalistic, Violetta wore a sleeveless, full skirted (just about to the knee) red dress and red spiked heels, and literally everyone else wore modern male clothing, including the women, except one dude in the third scene who showed up in drag in a mockery of her dress, emotionally kicking her when she’s down. Her doctor, who only sings in the final scene, has mute business at different points throughout, including during the prelude, often conected with the huge clock face which dominates all the scenes except the one where she enjoys her brief happiness – because in addition to being her doctor he also represents the death which is inevitable for her, always hanging over her. People either love it or hate it, and I kind of did both. I hated the isolated scenes I saw of it first, but when I was able to see the whole thing – now I don’t think I want to see it any other way. (But I can still listen to it.) Here’s a review of the Decker production when it first came to the Met, if anyone cares. It is no longer being used at the Met, which has gone all the way back to the 18th century for now. Also in the broadcast was an interview with the general manager about the plans for next year, and there will be 4 Late 20th or 21st century operas never before presented at the Met, plus two more repeated from the last two seasons. Opening night will be “Dead Man Walking.” We won’t hear it then, because the radio season doesn’t start till over a month after the house opens, but I hope and trust we will hear it sometime – and hopefully all the others too.

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Daily Beast – She Used a DNA Test to Identify Her Dad—and Her Mom’s Rapist
Quote – Cruz eventually sought help from [her attorney, Susan] Crumiller, a well-known legal advocate for sexual abuse survivors. They worked together to devise a legal strategy that would reopen the statute of limitations and allow them to seek justice. Then, in May of last year, New York passed the Adult Survivor’s Act, which opened a one-year “lookback window” for complaints of sexual abuse that were past the statute of limitations—complaints just like Cruz’s…. “My mother has had a hard life, and I hope this lawsuit will help her get the care that she deserves after OPWDD failed to protect her from her attacker 37 years ago,” she said in a statement.
Click through for story. The motto of the Daily Beast is “Truth is a beast” – and this story certainly demonstrates that.

Raw Story – Election denier Tina Peters found guilty — and could be going to jail
Quote – Peters, a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist, is best known for being indicted last year on completely separate charges of election tampering and misconduct, after she allegedly breached voting equipment to try to prove the 2020 presidential election was stolen. While her case was underway, she ran for Secretary of State of Colorado, and lost the GOP primary. She then had another arrest warrant issued against her after allegedly violating the terms of a protective order by contacting her former Mesa County office to demand a recount of that election.
Click through for details. As far as I know she’s no DNA relation to Lauren Boebert, but they are certainly two of a kind – the law doesn’t apply to them – just ask them.

Food For Thought