Open Thread February 11, 2023

 Posted by at 6:50 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 112023
 

Yesterday, after reading about this development in Jackson County, MS, I decided it was time to resurrect and update a joke I first heard in somewhere around 1967. (If anyone has any fine tuning ideas before I start making it into a meme, I’m listening.) Anyway, it seems a brand new college graduate was trying to figure out how to get ahead the fastest, when he came upon an internet ad for BrainZinc, a company selling brains. So he sent off an email to ask what kind of brains were available, and what price range.
From: BrainZinc To: NewGrad Just about any kind of brains. For instance, teachers’ brains are $45.00 a pound.
From: NewGrad To: BrainZinc That sounds reasonable. Do you have small business owners’ brains?
From: BrainZinc To: NewGrad Of course. Those run $90.00 a pound.
From: NewGrad To: BrainZinc Golly. Maybe I can afford something even a little better. Do you carry billionaires’ brains?
From: BrainZinc To: NewGrad Yes. Those run $10,000.00 an ounce.
From: NewGrad To: BrainZinc Ouch. Are they really that much better?
From: BrainZinc To: NewGrad No, it’s just that we have to put so many billionaires together before we come up with an ounce of brains.

A Black History event – the Theater of War presented on Zoom, and recorded, “The Frederick Douglass Project” and it’s now available on YouTube. The presentation portion comprises Keith David performing a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass at the National Convention of Colored Men in Louisville, Kentucky on September 24, 1883. After that there is community discussion, which can also be very revealing, but I’d call it optional. So don’t get scared off by the length. There is CC.

For anyone who plays cards with real cards, Banana Republic Cards has a satirical deck with TFG as the Joker and featuring 52 useful idiots. there’s a discount code, bananas!elPresidente45theflusherking, good for $5 off per pack up to 3 packs, through Thursday 2/16.

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Mother Jones – The Website That Wants You to Kill Yourself—and Won’t Die
Quote – Most websites aren’t known for having a “kill count.” Kiwi Farms is. Its victims reportedly include Julie Terryberry, who in 2016 took her life after being targeted by users of the site. Two years later, after years of harassment from Kiwi Farms trolls, Chloe Sagal lit herself on fire in a public park. In June 2021, an American video game developer based in Japan, named David Ginder, took their life amid a campaign of Kiwi Farms abuse.
Click through for story. The site has been removed from Cloudflare, but it isn’t over.

Civil Discourse – They wanted to take down the power grid. Now they’re facing federal charges.
Quote – There is a long history of domestic terror in this country, much of it centered around white supremacist groups like the KKK that committed acts of violence to preserve what they saw as their way of life. That history includes people like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who wanted to topple the government and set off the Oklahoma City bomb that killed 168 people, including 19 children, injuring several hundred more. It includes Richard Poplawski, a white supremacist with anti-government leanings, who gunned down three police officers in Pittsburgh. It includes Eric Robert Rudolph, responsible for three bombings in Atlanta, including one at Olympic Park and others at LGBTQ clubs, as well as one at a Birmingham, Alabama, abortion clinic that killed an off-duty policy officer. The shooting deaths of nine people at Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina. The deadly protest in Charlottesville. And it includes hundreds of others, both familiar names and acts, and lesser-known ones. But the point is, domestic terror is a pervasive problem in modern-day America, and instead of treating each crime as a one-off incident, it’s time to address it systemically, in the same way law enforcement  attacked foreign terror after 9/11.

Click through for details.This may be the end of this incident, but it’s very likely the start of a trend. Beau of the Fifth Column (whose videos appears on our Video Thread – not all of them as he makes three to four a day) is recommending that everyone in the US – literally everyone – prepare for an nearby attack as one would prepare for a natural disaster – evacuation plans, a bag packed in advance, deciding in advance where to evacuate to, etc.

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Open Thread February 10, 2023

 Posted by at 7:08 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 102023
 

Yesterday, I placed and received a grocery order. I had tried to place it the night before, but I couldn’t get the site to take my substitution instructions, and this morning was no better. So I switched stores, and got the order placed (not identical because there are things each carries that the other doesn’t – but close enough.) It had snowed, and it was pretty cold – there was wind, which would blow flakes around, but wasn’t going to help if the snow had gotten heavy by freezing up. Oh well, today and he next few days should be much warmer, and it will be mostly gone for Sunday when I go to see Virgil. Also, if you want to learn more about “the balloon,” other balloons, and what we were able to learn from this one, Heather Cox Richardson has more information that I expect the main stream media to present … since some brain cells are required to digest it all, and the MSM doesn’t generally cater to folks who have those.

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Crooks and Liars – Not Just Ginni: John Roberts’ Wife Prompts SCOTUS Ethics Questions
Quote – According to the letter, [Kendal] Price [a co-worker of Mrs. Roberts] was fired in 2013 and sued the firm, as well as Mrs. Roberts and another executive, over his dismissal. He lost the case, but the litigation produced documents that he sent to Congress and the Justice Department, including spreadsheets showing commissions attributed to Mrs. Roberts early in her headhunting career, from 2007 to 2014. Mrs. Roberts, according to a 2015 deposition in the case, said that a significant portion of her practice was devoted to helping senior government lawyers land jobs at law firms and that the candidates’ names were almost never disclosed.
Click through for details, which are not as dramatic as those surrounding the Thomases, but are every bit as unethical.

The Nib – Black and Red
Quote – [W]hen the Bolsheviks took power… America’s northern cities saw themselves transformed by the arrival of the black proletariat…. At least 500,000 black southerners migrated north between 1914 ans 1920.
Click through for graphic article. The title refers to black people and red politics (before the right commandeered the color red.)

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Open Thread February 8, 2023

 Posted by at 6:55 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 082023
 

Yesterday, President Biden delivered the 2023 State of the Union address. For the first time, the mother of a black person shot and killed by police was present. Today the 19th has the story. Until I can get the link up, here’s the link to the back story. In case it takes me too long, here’s the link to The 19th front page, where it will surely be included.  I did watch the speech live.  I was a little surprised at how wek=ll the Republicans behaved – not 100% courteous, but at least they didn’t riot or do anything physical.  There were certainly some very touching stories.  Joe of course was 100% polite.  I thought he did well at hitting his accomplishments.  I hope it sinks in.  I didn’t hang around the the Republican response.  I was abit wrung out by the speech, plus I had a pretty good idea what she was going to say.

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Crooks & Liars – Hunter Biden Goes On Offense, Demands Rudy Get ‘Laptop’ Probe
Quote – Among the letters, which were obtained by NBC News, was one sent … asking the Justice Department’s National Security Division for an investigation into “individuals for whom there is considerable reason to believe violated various federal laws in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data,” including Rudy Giuliani, who was Trump’s lawyer at the time.
Click through for story. C&L basically says “It’s about time.” I would suggest that the action coming now was prompted by the fact that the House is now in a position to take action, as opposed to just spreading disinformation, so now it’s necessary. And I might add, just think how strong a person has to be to ignore all that crap for so long.

The New Yorker – Sending Help Instead of the Police in Albuquerque
Quote – In the southeastern corner of Albuquerque, near a wide mountain pass that opens onto an expanse of arid high plains, Sean Martin and Isaiah Curtis drove toward a Blake’s Lotaburger, a regional fast-food chain. Behavioral-health workers with Albuquerque Community Safety, a new city department, they respond to calls, mostly from 911, about nonviolent crises involving mental health, homelessness, or substance use. A.C.S. responders are trained to connect people from some of the city’s most vulnerable populations with professional help. In doing so, they also reduce those residents’ interactions with local law-enforcement agencies, which in recent years have had the second-highest fatal-shooting rate among major American cities.
Click through for details. THIS is the kind of police reform – defunding if you will, but actually reallocation of funding – that we have been agitating for. It’s been a pleasure watching New Mexico turn bluer after having Susanna Martinez for Governor (sort of like having Jeanine Pirro for Governor.) There are steps back of course, but the trend is positive.

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Open Thread February 6, 2023

 Posted by at 7:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 062023
 

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet – until late last night, when there was (literally) earthshaking news – from Turkey ans Syria.  To quote Heather Cox Richardson, ”

A deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey late tonight has caused damage in Syria, and was felt in Lebanon, and Israel, as well. It has collapsed buildings, sparked fires in ruptured gas lines, and prompted Italian authorities to warn of potential tsunami waves. Aftershocks, including one of 6.7 magnitude and another of 5.6, have continued to hit in the wake of the first quake. Millions of refugees from Syria’s civil war and internally displaced persons live in the region of the epicenter, in tents and other temporary housing.  It is winter there.”  Winter in the Mediterranean is not the same as winter in the Colorado Rockies, but it is still no picnic.  At least our President is on top of it.

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Crooks & Liars – With A One-Word Answer, Maxine Waters Startles GOP ‘Colleague’
Quote – “You can’t condemn socialism?” Reschenthaler said. “In your opening remarks, you were talking about Putin, Kim Jong Un and Xi. You know what they all have in common, right?” “Trump,” Waters said.
Click through. Auntie Maxine – making Black History since 1938

The 19th – Two years in, Biden has prioritized nominating women of color as judges
Quote – While Jackson’s historic confirmation was the most visible sign of systemic change in the judiciary, the president has prioritized diversity throughout the federal court system. Biden’s judicial appointees are the most diverse of any U.S. president to date in terms of race, gender and professional background. Of the judges appointed by Biden in the past two years, 75 percent are women, 47 percent are women of color and 67 percent are people of color.
Click through for details. Few white people are in a position to make Blck History – and of those few, most don’t (or do it wrong.) I’m pretty sure Joe doesn”t expect (or care about) being named in Black HIstory. He’s just doing the right thing.

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Open Thread February 5, 2023

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 052023
 

The Met Opera is taking (most of) the month of February off as regards live performances. But tht does not affect the radio broadcasts, which are featuring archival material. Yesterday, we heard an opera recorded exactly fifty years and one day prior – a matinee of Verdi’s “MacBeth.” One thing that made this broadcast special is that both MacBeth and Lady MacBeth are still alive – he is 99 and she is 85 – and new interviews with both were included as intermission features (Banquo is also alive – at 80, the baby of the cast – but that’s a smaller part, and he does not live in America.) The opera follows Skakespeare closely, unless you want to quibble about 3 witches becoming a whole stage-full, including the ballet corps (Paris would not perform any opera without a ballet.) Not to belittle the stars, who are in fact legends and have proven their quality many times over, but Verdi’s music is so powerful that no one needs to be an actor to pull it off. The music does the acting and rivets the audience. Performing in the original play is much more tricky.

Also yesterday, I received a petition from Lakota Law to increase indigenous representation particularly when indigenous experience is part of the story. Seems like a no brainer to me – but we are still fighting for it. This link should work to get you there.

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Independent (UK) – Man missing both legs dies after cops shot him at least eight times
Quote – In a confrontation captured on video by a bystander and posted to social media, Mr Lowe, who uses a wheelchair, is seen holding a knife and scrambling away from multiple police officers who appear to be pointing weapons at him. Shortly thereafter, police shot Mr Lowe multiple times and killed him.
Click through. I can hear all the white Republicans “But ha had a knife! And he stabbed someone!” None of that entitles police to replace judge, jury, and executioner. For God’s sake. were these supposed tough guys seriously afraid of a double amputee, trying to move on mere stumps? But to white Republicans, people of color are not actually human.

The Nib (Whit Taylor) – Black Mothers Face Far Worse Health Outcomes. How Do We Fix It?
Quote – The day after delivering her baby by emergency C-section, [Serena] Williams became short of breath and suspected she may have a blood clot, given her history of them. Walking out of her room, she notified the nurse of her condition but was told that the pain medication may have been making her confused…. The CT scan revealed that Williams was right; she had life threatening blood clots in her lungs. And coughing from the pulmonary embolism led to abdominal hemorrhaging at the site of her c-section incision….
Click through for full comic. I have often said that the the role of the comedian, since time immemorial, is and has been to speak truth to power (and I’ll keep saying it as long as I have breath.) Case in point here. This Black History Month (as always) cartoonists are saying in cartoons what no one else, apparently, has the spine to put into words. I’ll be using cartoons through the month when that happens.

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Open Thread February 4, 2023

 Posted by at 7:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 042023
 

Yesterday, I managed to take some trash to the polycart before sunset. If I can break down enough boxes to recycle, and get them out in tume. then maybe next Wednesday I can get them to the curb, which would be nice.  If not, oh well.

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The Conversation – A Black history primer on African Americans’ fight for equality – 5 essential reads
Quote – 3. An image of a lynching found in a family photo album
Click through for more on this, and for the other four, all with links to more detail.

Mother Jones – Why Starbucks Is Inviting Social Workers Into Its Stores
Quote – On a chilly recent morning, customers inside a Starbucks in New York City’s midtown were doing what you’d expect: buying coffee, warming up, chatting. But one person was moving through the store with a different purpose: she first approached a woman standing near the door, and then another man seated with a cup of coffee, saying hello, asking how they were and offering them gloves, hats and handwarmers.
CLick through for story. Starbucks is not exactly the first corporation I would think of when it comes to empathy, or to positive innovation. But sometimes corporations, like people, will surprise me.

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Open Thread February 3, 2023

 Posted by at 7:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 032023
 

Yesterday, only a day or two after I pointed out that McCarthy had seated Ilhan Omar on the Foreign Affairs Committee, she was kicked off of it. The snake didn’t have the guts to do it himself. He took a vote of the full House. Grrrrr. Also, I want to highlight an article by Robert Reich on the debt ceilling – factual and easy to understand, like everything he writes.

Also, this video was in Wednesday’s video thread, and Lona recommended reporting it here because, essentially, it should be seen by everyone in the country.  She also recommended Freya including it in her action emails, which is up to Freya of course, but I’d concur.

PoliticsGirl – Why Less Tax is Actually More Tax

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Letters from an American – February 1, 2023
Quote – On February 1, 1862, in the early days of the Civil War, the Atlantic Monthly published Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” summing up the cause of freedom for which the United States troops would soon be fighting…. [T]he hopes of that moment had crumbled within a decade. Almost a century later, on February 1, 1960, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair Jr., and Joseph McNeil set out to bring them back to life when they sat down on stools at the F.W. Woolworth Company department store lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina…. Exactly 63 years later, on February 1, 2023, Tyre Nichols’s family said laid their 29-year-old son to rest in Memphis, Tennessee.
Click through for more detailed history. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have accepted President Biden’s invitation to attend his State of the Union address. But – will we ever learn?

Washington Post (no paywall) – A Black professor defies DeSantis law restricting lessons on race
Quote – The painful chapter in Florida’s history known as the Newberry Six lynchings is one the university professor has taken pains to help document over decades of research. It’s also one that he fears will be removed from Florida history lessons under a new education law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as part of a broader push to root out ideas he deems “woke.”
Click through for story. In DeSantis’s Florida – Desantistan – it’ is not unthinkable that Professor Dun may need to be concerned that he may be lynched. That despite the fact that so many of us, even before 1861 and up to the present – have fought so hard to prevent that.

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Open Thread February 2, 2023

 Posted by at 6:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 022023
 

Yesterday, the weather site I use was predicting highs in the 40’s and 50’s for the next ten days, and no snow. That will certainly make life more comfortable for me. While I am of course concerned about the snowpack, snow here does not translate into snow in the snowpack. Menot getting any doesn’t mean the snowpack is a lost cause (of course it also doesn’t mean it isn’t.)  Denver (measured at DIA) did get the heaviest snowfall this year (so far) than they have seen in over ten years.

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The Good in Us by Mary L. Trump – A Failing of Basic Humanity
Quote – The great Sherrilyn Ifill [responded] “I suggest that what Friedersdorf sees as failure, is instead his own inability to recognize the power and resilience of white supremacy, and its hold on the institution of American law enforcement. Those of us in this work have long explained the systematic and cultural hard-wiring of racism in policing, while so many leaders in the white community have insisted that it is only “bad apples.” We explained that so deeply-imbedded is the culture of white supremacy in policing that even Black police officers can participate in brutality against Black victims, because they too are responding to the messages of white supremacy in their profession that promotes and rewards officers who know whose lives matter and whose don’t.”
Click through for full opinion. It’s long – but Mary gets it (as does Sherilynn – IIRC a niece of the late Gwen.)

Daily Beast – Racist RSVP Cannot Ruin 9-Year-Old’s Birthday
Quote – Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara[, MD, FAAP, FAIM] sent [her daughter] to school with party invitations [for the girl’s 9th birthday] in bright yellow-and-white envelopes for her close friends. But the daughter still had one of the invitations when she returned home. Her explanation pained Opara as both a Black mother and a physician researcher who studies systemic racism in health care. “She said this person will not be able to come because their grandfather does not like Black people,” Opara told The Daily Beast….
[B]efore Opara spoke, her daughter responded exactly how the mother would have hoped. “She said ‘I know it’s racist, and I told [the classmate] so,’” Opara recalled.
Click through for bittersweet story. So many responded wanting to send her a card that D. Opara is opening a PO Box just for tehm. But it should not have been necessary.

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