Open Thread September 5, 2022

 Posted by at 6:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 052022
 

Yesterday, I came across a video related to “Saint Javelin.” I already have some material on “Saint Javelin,” the image (which came from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia) and some of the story. The image is based on an icon of the Virgin Mary, which has shocked some people – I assume mostly people who don’t realize what a badass Mary actually was. Should I do a piece on this? Thoughts?

Cartoon – 05 Labor Day RTL

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – What must we expect of journalism in this crisis?
Quote – Two Sundays ago, CNN’s Brian Stelter said: “It’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces.” That was Brian Stelter’s last show on CNN. Today, CNN White House reporter John Harwood said: “The core point [President Biden] made in that political speech about a threat to democracy is true. Now, that’s something that’s not easy for us, as journalists, to say. We’re brought up to believe there’s two different political parties with different points of view and we don’t take sides in honest disagreements between them. But that’s not what we’re talking about. These are not honest disagreements. The Republican Party right now is led by a dishonest demagogue.”… Shortly afterward, Harwood announced he was no longer with CNN. (A source told Dan Froomkin of Press Watch that CNN had told Harwood last month that he was being let go despite his long-term contract with the network, and that Harwood used his last broadcast to “send a message.”
Click through for story. We talk about getting the Fairness Doctrine back. But that really isn’t what we need. We need a TRUTH doctrine.

Aeon – The African Enlightenment
Quote – The ideals of the Enlightenment are the basis of our democracies and universities in the 21st century: belief in reason, science, skepticism, secularism, and equality…. But what if this story is wrong? What if the Enlightenment can be found in places and thinkers that we often overlook? Such questions have haunted me since I stumbled upon the work of the 17th-century Ethiopian philosopher Zera Yacob (1599-1692), also spelled Zära Yaqob.
Click through for details. This is an article which I can guarantee will be banned in Texas and Florida schools – and that just for starters. But, whether you call us “Democrats and Republicns,” or “Liberals and Conservatives,” or “Progressives and Reactionaries,” both groups have existed everythere and in every time.

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Open Thread September 4, 2022

 Posted by at 6:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 042022
 

Yesterday, the Radio Opera was “La Gioconda” by Amilcare Ponchielli. No, it’s not about the Mona Lisa – she is a different “smiling woman.” It has, not a love triangle nor square, but a love pentagram. It also has the Inqusition, a spy, an assumed identity, betrayal, extortion, murder, attempted murder, and suicide. And, of course, the Dance of the Hours. I was wondering why a good Italian mother would name her baby boy after Hamilcar, the brother of Hannibal, the two  from Carthage who went so far as to bring elephants over the Alps to attack Rome, and caused Cato the censor to end every speech with “Carthage must be destroyed.” But I had forgotten that when he was born (he was a slightly younger contemporary of Verdi) Italy was not a united nation. In fact he was born in the north, in a territory including Lombardy and Venice, and who cared about Rome there? It was an intentional reference – he certainly must have thought so, since he named his own son after Hannibal. But I digress. “La Gioconda” was based loosely on a play by Victor Hugo (without whom Italian opera of the 19th century, and even musical theater today, would have been a lot less fun.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – The second-biggest Republican lie
Quote – Wynn isn’t the first to dream up the bogus story about the IRS going after average working people. Senator Ted Cruz warns of a “shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents,” threatening Americans, and Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona governor, ties the increase in IRS agents to the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and concludes that, “Not a single one of us is safe.” Many other GOP candidates are telling the same lie.
Click through for article. Messaging should not be about “fairness,” but about truth. But dang, it’s unfair that Republicans can nessage any lie they want to and get away with it, while we are limited tothe truth. I don’t thik we are the ones who should have to change.

Sacramento Bee – California lawmakers pass bill to create fast food labor council, give it power over wages
Quote – California would become the first state to establish a fast food council charged with setting pay and workplace standards for the entire industry under a bill the Legislature is poised to send to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Assembly Bill 257, also known as the FAST Act, passed the Senate on Wednesday in a 21-12 vote. Hours later the Assembly sent it to Newsom on a final 41-16 vote…. Under the legislation, a 10-member council composed of workers, employers and government appointees would negotiate to set industry standards and pay. It would apply to any fast food chain with at least 100 locations nationwide and cap any minimum wage increase at $22 an hour next year. The council would be a first in America’s fast-food industry.
Click through for story. It CAN be done. Although it is easier in a blue state than in a red one. But what’s done in California may eventually help the nation.

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Open Thread September 2, 2022

 Posted by at 7:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 022022
 

Yesterday marked the 83rd anniversary of the start of World War II – Hitler’s invasion of Poland. But of course, that wasn’t the real start. The real start was runs through the building of the Nazi party, the selling of white supremacy, Krystallnacht, the Reichstag fire, street violence so common that magistrates couldn’t be bothers to address it, and a host of hatred, fear, and greed. And appeasement by England and France (which, among other things, led to renewed attention to Kipling’s 1911 poem “Dane-Geld.” Steve Schmidt’s newsletter on substack brings up the invasion of Poland. As an unpaying subscriber, I don’t yet know how deeply he goes into “Appeasement,” but I’ll bet it’s more than cursory. Because that’s where we are right now – contemplating appeasement – and we must not.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – The Psychiatrist Who Warned Us That Donald Trump Would Unleash Violence Was Absolutely Right
Quote – About 15 years ago, Lee and [James] Gilligan began examining deaths by violence in America since 1900. As Lee sliced and diced their massive data set, she was shocked to find significantly higher national rates of violent death under Republican presidents than under Democratic ones. What’s more, murder and suicide rates were higher in states that had voted for Republican presidential candidates than in those that had voted for Democratic candidates. Their key findings were published as a 2011 monograph, Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others.
Click through for lots more than Trump**. Republican violence is not only a fact, it’s a fact that was true for over 50 years befor Dixiecrats became Republicans. Yes, it’s long  But worth it.

Common Dreams – Teachers Union in Ohio Went on Strike for Students—and Won
Quote – The new pact is the result of CEA’s first strike since 1975. A whopping 94% of members voted to authorize a work stoppage last Sunday after monthslong negotiations with Columbus City Schools, which the union accused of “walk[ing] away from the bargaining table,” collapsed just ahead of the start of the fall semester.
Click through for details. Good news is always welcome.

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Open Thread August 27, 2022

 Posted by at 7:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 272022
 

Yesterday, the redacted affidavit from the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was released. So much was NOT redacted that I suspect all that was redacted was any information which might tend to identify the witnesses, or otherwise compromise DOJ sources (and also, just maybe, other Federal laws they are investigating him for). Yes, there are some all-black pages – but by my count they make up just under half of the complete document. Like all legal documents, the phrasing and vocabulary are as unsensational as possible, but the facts are there and are made clear. Of course MAGAts would not be convinced FPOTUS did anything wrong even if Jesus came back to earth and denounced him. But anyone with an open mind who can manage to get through the legalese should get it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance – Tomorrow Before Noon
Quote – Here’s the bottom line. Kemp delayed testifying, despite the DA’s persistent efforts—first voluntary and then by subpoena, to bring him in. Now, months into the process, he says she shouldn’t be able to make him testify before his election in November, even though he’s responsible for the delay. But Kemp is a fact witness. If he’d observed a car wreck and was called to testify, would he argue he shouldn’t have to before the election? Of course not. It’s a bad argument, tantamount to asking for special treatment because he’s on the ballot and doesn’t want to have to testify against the former president before the voting starts. And I’m sure that if the court permits him to delay past November, Kemp will find fresh reasons to claim he can’t testify after the election. Kemp also argues that he has sovereign immunity as the state’s governor, which should prevent his grand jury testimony. But again, Kemp isn’t a target of the investigation, he’s just a fact witness, so that doctrine shouldn’t apply.
Click through for details. Like Richardson, Vance sends her newsletter late at night, so “Tomorrow” in her title is now “Yesterday.”

Robert Reich – My father and Senator Joe McCarthy
Quote – During the Army-McCarthy hearings, McCarthy’s chief counsel was Roy Cohn. Cohn had gained prominence as the Department of Justice attorney who successfully prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage, leading to their execution in 1953. The Rosenberg trial had brought the 24-year-old Cohn to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover, who convinced McCarthy to hire Cohn as chief counsel for McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where Cohn became known for his aggressive questioning of suspected communists. My father thought Roy Cohn almost as despicable as Joe McCarthy. After McCarthy’s downfall, Cohn proved useful to a young New York real estate developer named Donald Trump who was then undertaking several large construction projects in Manhattan and needed a fixer and mentor. Cohn filled both roles.
Click through for story. Although I’m almost a year older than Robert, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as television until the nid-fifties, and we didn’t have one for a lot of years after that. I’m glad he did, and was old enough to remember that occasion. But … we are still (not again, still) fighting the same ogre today.

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Open Thread August 18, 2022

 Posted by at 6:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 182022
 

Yesterday, it was quiet enough that I was abke to get everything moved on the porch – not necessarily to where it is going to be, but enough that I could completely finish sweeping off the dust and dead leaves.That is a definite achievement (although it may not quite rise to the level of BFD.) After that, I decided to call it a day.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – The Origins of Trumpism (Part 4): Gingrich
Quote – January 7, 1995 – The press is declaring Newt Gingrich [who has just taken over as House majority leader] the new king of Washington and according him the celebrity normally reserved for new presidents at inaugurations. I couldn’t help thinking how different it would be had Bob Michel remained. Bob Dole has taken over the Senate and is trumpeting his victory as well. Gingrich and Dole seem to have taken command of the United States government. In our system, power is found where the public seems to have conferred it, and the two of them are credibly claiming to have most of it.
Click through for the full column, which comprises two quotes from his diary. One thing Gingrich did when he became Speaker was to remove the requirement for members to maintain a residence in DC. Because it’s easier to diss and defame someone who isn’t your neighbor. That requirement was one of the last checks on the loss of decency.

The 19th – Experts debunk monkeypox myths as misinformation spreads
Quote – Daniel Uslan, co-chief infection prevention officer at UCLA Health and clinical chief of infectious diseases… said… that he is not aware of recorded cases where handshaking is the suspected route of transmission. But skin-to-skin contact with someone who has an open lesion can still occur if those lesions are on the hands, [Stephen Abbott, medical director at Whitman-Walker’s Max Robinson Center] noted — and some lesions are so small that patients don’t notice them
Click through for other misinformation, much of which is based on fear of non-binary people.

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Open Thread August 17, 2022

 Posted by at 7:19 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 172022
 

Yesterday was pretty quiet. And restful. My biggest physical achievement was taking a bag ou to the trash (from the porch) and a bag out to the recyclables (from the house.) I don’t expect to be putting either bin out this week – possibly recyclables next week if I get very ambitious, but I have a lot else going on, so maybe not. Also it was cooler, on account of rain. Lots of floods – mostly fladh floods – all over Colorado. My house has 99 problems, but flash flooding isn’t one of them. I’m on top of enough of a hill thatit’s beyond unlikely a flash flood would flood here. I tried to rest wnough to have more energy today – but we’ll see. Did everyone catch Al Franken as guest host of Jimmy Kimmel Live last night? If not, there should at least be some cuts up here. Katie Porter was a guest. How can you top that?
https://www.youtube.com/jkl/videos

Cartoon – 17 Hendrix loaded

Short Takes –

Mother Jones (MoJo Wire) – We Didn’t Deserve Freya the Walrus
Quote – But as Freya’s legend grew, more and more folks wanted to see her up close. As the New York Times points out, the Oslo Fjord is full of water-going recreationists in the summer, and people started swimming with Freya, taking her picture, and even throwing things at her—so much that she had begun chasing off paddle boarders and kayakers. The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries warned the public to stay away from Freya, for their safety and hers. Last week, officials said they were weighing several options, including relocating Freya, but warned she might have to be killed if people wouldn’t listen.
Click through for sad story. Some of us, I think, did deserve her – but those who did not were, and are, out of control.

AP News – Some Capitol rioters try to profit from their Jan. 6 crimes
Quote – Facing prison time and dire personal consequences for storming the U.S. Capitol, some Jan. 6 defendants are trying to profit from their participation in the deadly riot, using it as a platform to drum up cash, promote business endeavors and boost social media profiles…. The Justice Department, in some instances, is trying to claw back money that rioters have made off the insurrection…. Many rioters have paid a steep personal price for their actions on Jan. 6. At sentencing, rioters often ask for leniency on the grounds that they already have experienced severe consequences for their crimes.
Click through for many examples – but they all sound like the apocryphal dude who murdered both his parents, then begged the court for mercy because he was an orphan.

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Open Thread August 12, 2022

 Posted by at 6:47 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 122022
 

Yesterday, I was, I’m sure, as stunned as everyone else ny Merrick Garland’s press conference. It is in today’s video Thread, which will go up about noon Pacific Time. don’t be put off by the 34 minute time – I set it to start when he comes in, which is about 30:30, so it’s actually very short. I also managed to grab Beau’s response to him, which I think is a trifle longer, but still short.  Then I went out and got new tires, which took almost 3 hours door to door, but it had to be done, and now it is.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

NPR – A grand jury declined to indict a woman whose accusations set off Emmett Till killing
Quote – The decision comes despite recent revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and the 87-year-old Donham’s unpublished memoir. The Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., Emmett Till’s cousin and the last living witness to Till’s Aug. 28, 1955, abduction, said Tuesday’s announcement is “unfortunate, but predictable.”
Click through for details. “Insufficient evidence.” At least they didn’t try to assert a non-existent Statue of Limitatons.

The Conversation – Why searching an ex-president’s estate is not easily done – 4 important things to know about the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago
Quote – 1. There are legal hurdles to getting a search warrant. The U.S. Constitution requires that all search warrants “particularly describe the place to be searched and the … things to be seized.”… This requirement can be traced in part to a famous British case from the 1760s when agents of King George III searched the house of John Wilkes, an opposition member of Parliament, for incriminating papers. The warrant they used was condemned by the courts as a “general warrant” because it did not specifically name Wilkes, his house or the seized papers.
Click through for the other three. Garland did in fact personally sign off on this warrant. He has said so.

Bonus – It’s gotten so bad that even the wildlife is trying to move to Canada.

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Open Thread 7/29/2022

 Posted by at 6:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 292022
 

Yesterday, one of my newsletter included a link to an article whose title included both “Roe v Wade” and “Brown v Board,” and it occurred to me that we may have missed an opportunity back in 1954. At that time one big scream that was comong from all the racist maniacs was “miscegenation !!!” (which incidentally demonstrates that sexualizing children for poitical purposes is not new.) I wondered what would have happened had we responded “All right, then, we will integrate all school, bit all schools will eiher be all-girl or all-boy.” Obviously, had this been accepted, we would have created a set of entirely different but at least equally damaging problems, but one thing it might have accomplished was to create some deep and enduring friendships which crossed the color line. At that time we as a nation did not know everything about gender that the sane among us now know – it would not be possible to try or even suggest it today (and it would fuel even deeper misogyny if we could.) We do need better public education, and the education that we need is being actively opposed, and in too many areas successfully opposed. All I could come up with was “We need to pro-ctively form diverse and representative coalitions,” and we probably already knew that. It was just a thought.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

AP News – 102-year-old WWII veteran from segregated mail unit honored
Quote – Presented with the medal citation and a wartime uniform to replace hers, which was stolen out of a car soon after she returned stateside, [Romay] Davis received a standing ovation; some in the crowd applauded with tears in their eyes…. Davis, in an interview at her home Monday, said the unit was due the recognition, and she’s glad to participate on behalf of other members who’ve already passed away. “I think it’s an exciting event, and it’s something for families to remember,” Davis said. “It isn’t mine, just mine. No. It’s everybody’s.”
Click through for story. About (expletive) time.

The Daily Beast – There’s One Thing Standing Between Us and the COVID Vaccination of Our Dreams
Quote – The new COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax is safe and effective. Better yet, it’s easy to ship and store, making it ideal for poorer countries that are still under-vaxxed. The company’s shot, called Nuvaxovid, could reshape the vaccine landscape as the pandemic grinds into its 32nd month. More protection for more people against ever-more-contagious new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Assuming Novavax can produce enough doses on time, that is. Manufacturing problems could doom the new jab’s wider rollout.
Click through for details. After a lot of thought, and because I never fgo anywhere (except to the prison system, and they are CoViD hawks), I’ve decided to wwait for the new vaxx in the fall rather than getting a summer booster (getting both doesn’t seem to be getting recommended.) I don’t expect it to be final, but I’m hoping for it to be at least a bit longer lasting (and address newer variants.)

Just one additional note – Denali National Park – understandably – has a modest breeding program for sled dogs (one litter a year and includes outbreeding to strengthen the genetic base.) This year’s litter can now be observed on their PuppyCam. I’m a cat person rather than a dog person myself – but puppies are cute (as are most baby mammals).

Food For Thought –

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