Open Thread September 3 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 032025
 

Yesterday, Indivisible announced its next “No Kings” Day will be October 18. They expect to have maps up with events starting next week, but there is already a link to just “RSVP” (i.e. just say you’ll be there -somewhere.)

This is mostly a video with a reading from Robert Reich’s new book. It’s NSFW because Robert’s father did not mince words. It’s about 36 minutes, but doesn’t seem that long – but that may be partly because, being a book reading, it doesn’t need to be watched, and someone like me can knit while listening.

Margaret Atwood reports that The Handmaid’s Tale” is being banned in Edmonton, Alberta, and all the world and its canary wants her to comment – but she hasn’t been able to reach anyone in Edmonton who will tell her the basis on which it is being banned there. She still has a lot of general comments on book banning, though. And some other issues.

This Davis Mortuary thing has been a continuing scandal in the state for some time, but this is the first I have heard of a co-owner having a side gig as the Pueblo County Coroner. So now it’s political – and personal. The County Coroner in most places I know about is one of the least visible public officials, and, in many places, there is no legal requirement for him or her to meet any particuar qualificatons, other then getting elected. I do not know this, and could not prove it if I did, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a real life example of American exceptionalism – I doubt that other, smarter countries handle deaths quite as crudely as we do.

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Open Thread July 22 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 222025
 

Yesterday, as is usual for me on Mondays when possible, I relaxed a lot. I did order a grocery delivery for the evening, and received most of it, and put away most of what I received.

It’s been a long time since I heard from Margaret Atwood. She has written a new post called “The Woman Thing, Part 1”. Her starting point is pretty much where she left off earlier – the French Revolution (or Revvie.) That’s because she has been invited to create a video audiobook, has agreed, and has chosen “A Tale of Two Cities.” But I expect her to move on from there and provide insights few people could.

Joyce Vance takes on misogyny. We tried our best to warn people about all of this too. Someone in the comments, probably close to my age, says it is exhausting to think about having to do it all over again. Yes, it certainly is.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/obama-posts-video-of-trump-actually
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-barack-obama-ai-video_n_687dff31e4b0502d85e56715

This by Steve Schmidt is the big truth bomb of the day. Not that anyone should be surprised. Allow me if you will to compare humans to pit bulls. Pit bulls are basically big sweet goofballs. But pit bulls can be trained for dog fighting to be vicious killers. The people in charge of ICE detention are like pit bulls trained for dogfighting – all their grievances, both real and imaginary, have been catered to and they have been assured that nothing in their lives they don’t like is their fault, and that they have been terribly wronged. I dont suppose they have been taught much if anything in the way of specific torture techniques, but they are filled with anger and it’s not difficult to translate that into cruelty – in fact, it’s harder not to. Encouraging them to focus on wanting revenge (rather than actual improvements in their lives) has turned them into dogfighting pit bulls. Or, to use a different analogy, if anyone remembers, like those entities in Star Trek episodes who fed upon human misery and needed it to survive. I don’t know how to untrain them, or if it is even possible, but decent people need to know about evil things being done in our name.

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Open Thread November 22 2024

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 222024
 

Yesterday, I touched base with the other two moderators, since what I had thought was causing the squishing problem turned out not to be Of course this had to happen at a time I don’t have all my meds and am both low energy and low enthusiasm, but I promise I will be working on it, though it may be slow. The last of the four prescription I had to get new scrips for with the new PCP is supposed to come today, and I’ll take a dose immediately if and when it does, but it is still going to take time for everything to kick in (I know it will because it did coming home from rehab.) But I’m on the case.  I just chose a remembrance photo for today – at least if/when it squishes you won’t miss out on words.

Wonkette referred me to this by Ned Resnikoff. I am not personally knowledgeable on it, but I too have seen ominous signs relative to it – like Chesa Boudin losing his recall election, and some cities becoming harsh to the homeless. And if it’s this bad and getting worse, it should be obvious that the consequences would be catastrophic.

Here’s Margaret Atwood, in the writing burrow, with post-election predictions for which I’m confident paying subscribers have been begging. Mostly they are not that different from others’ predictions except that her sardonic tone is unique, and I suspect her fairly detailed description of the conditions under which the Pythia worked at the Oracle of Delphi may be her way of disclaiming accuracy. But I always find her fun to read, and hope you will also.

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Open Thread October 25, 2023

 Posted by at 6:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 252023
 

Yesterday, Talking Points Memo shared a link to an opinion piece on what has happened to Ken Buck – a topic which has had my brain running around in circles for a few months. The explanation is not completely satisfying, but it’s the most convincing I have seen. If anyone else cares (and I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you don’t), here’s the link. It is on Substack so there will be a popup to click. Since this was from Substack, and I had noted two other Substack articles – all from very different -authors – I decided to just go ahead and use all of them on the same day. So do remember the popups, and that when the screen darkens slightly, you may have to scroll down.
And today Margaret Atwood is getting a pacemaker. I realize what I’m about to share may have limited interest (although many of us were interested, to put it mildly, in The Handmaid’s Tale) but if even one person is interested, I think I should share it, because my sharing is the only way you are going to find it. On September 30, Ms. Atwood joined the Theater of War at the Toronto International Festival of Authors for a program “Patient and Impatient Griselda” which included both a dramatic reading – with professional actors –  of Boccacio’s story Patient Griselda, and then Ms. Atwood reading her own story Impatient Griselda, narrated to a group of humans in quarantine by an alien which looks like an octopus. A complete video is now available here. Ms. Atwood starts at 34:01 (and I’ve set the YouTube link to start there), and when she finishes there is a lengthy group discussion, you dont need to continue.  In case you haven’t guessed, all this is in aid of a domestic violence project.
Finally, Tom Emmer dropped out of the race for Speaker barelly four hours after he won the nomination. He is the majority whip so at least has a tiny bit of experience – which is more than the rest of them do. Sigh.  But by 8:30 mountain hehad been replaced by Mike Johnson.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Dollar General’s Creepy Pre-Employment Medical Exams Cost Them $1 Million
Quote – According to the lawsuit, the medical examination included the “taking of vital signs, the completion of a drug test, a vision test, a medical and health history questionnaire, a review of current medications, and a physical examination, including, in some instances, genital examination of job applicants.” It is hard to imagine what job, other than “porn star,” a genital examination might be necessary for, but God help us all if it’s “working at a Dollar General warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.”
Click through for details. Creepy is certainly the mot juste. I can’t help wondering who they think they are. (The Dollar General stores are creepy to me, too

Robert Reich – Thirty years later
Quote – I was in the White House Rose Garden in September 1993, when Bill Clinton hosted the now iconic handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat after they signed the Israeli-PLO peace accord. We were so optimistic, 30 years ago. Coincidentally, last night I had a reunion with about 60 members of my top team at the Department of Labor to mark 30 years since we came together. They’d been assistant secretaries, deputy assistant secretaries, other political appointees, and senior career professionals.
Click through for article. They must have been quite a team. And yet – “we couldn’t stop the storm.” I know – I feel it too – it makes one want to wash one’s hands of the entire human race sometimes.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread October 24, 2023

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 242023
 

Yesterday, I was exhausted, and slept quite late. So I got busy putting this post together, and at a little before 8 p.m., I received an email informing me Margaret Atwood is having pacemaker surgery tomorrow, Wednesday. The link is to Substack, but if you are interested and don’t mind clicking the popup, you can find out more. She is due to turn 84 next month, and was only 12 whem she experienced her first extrasystole, and also she has a family history of Afib. I did see the episode of Impatient Griselda she alludes to, and no, I had no idea she was having an episode. But I take this seriously, however lightly she speaks of it. Although it’s unavoidable, I hate losing national treasures (even when it’s another nation – in this case, Canada.) And of course the pacemaker may well lenghthen her life significantly, so there’s that. I certainly hope it does.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Axios – Scoop: Marine Corps 3-star general advising Israeli military on Gaza ground operation
Quote – White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a briefing on Monday that there “are a few U.S. military officers with relevant experience to the operation the Israelis are conducting that are over there to share their perspective and to ask hard questions — the same hard questions we have been asking our Israeli counterparts since the beginning.”
Click through for more. Here’s what I think is going on: Republicans (by whatever name) have much in common with children (particularly toddlers), and one of those commonalities is that, in order to persuade them to do something, you have to be able to get them to think it was their own idea. I could be wrong – but all that brain power looks like it to me.

The 19th – Tammy Baldwin has won big in closely divided Wisconsin. Can she do it again?
Quote – Baldwin is one of the country’s most progressive senators, and she’s running for a third term in what could be the country’s most closely divided state. She played a prominent role mobilizing Democratic voters ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election this year that became a referendum on abortion rights. A lower court ruled this fall that abortions could resume in the state. Democrats believe that 2024 voters will remember the year in which their reproductive rights were in question; Republicans hope the ruling will diminish the issue’s salience next year. Either way, Baldwin also has a formidable track record of appealing to Wisconsin’s more rural, conservative pockets with her economic agenda — and she’s already busy talking to voters and raising money as she waits for a high-profile Republican challenger to enter the race.
Click through for article. I’m old enough to remember when Wisconsin was pretty progressive overall, and I find it actually painful that that has been lost – and so acrimoniously at that. This is Scott Walker’s “legacy.” It needs to go – and I wish Baldwin every success.

Food For Thought

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