Open Thread January 13 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 132026

Yesterday, after putting everything together, I thought I’d better designate the day as “Outrage Tuesday.” I’ll try to lighten up a little tomorrow, but in the present state of the union, I can’t promise that. Also yesterday, the sun did more work melting snow than it has in days. Not everything is clear and some of the spots on the northern sides of buildings will not likely fully melt until June. But the heaviest parts appear to all be below seven inches now. The warmest day this week is expected to be Thursday, and I’m crossing my fingers we’ll be able to see ground again.

As Virgil’s wife, I get that I need to schedule my visits to him. Even though very few people visit on Sundays (most prefer Friday and Saturday), that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t get overflow on Friday and Saturday (and it’s much kinder to tell people before they get there after what may be a long drive that there’s no room). The visiting room only has 16 visitor tables after all. But I am not there to do oversight. Requiring advance scheduling to do oversight removes all its teeth. Which, of course, is what they want. They have everything to hide. The exception to scheduled oversight taking away the teeth of oversight would be to have a full-time ombudsman – maybe more than one – in every concentration camp. (Colorado does that in its few privately owned prisons, so they have full time on-site oversight.) Maybe we should put that in Yosemite Sam Barbie’s pipe and make her smoke it. Also, there is a lot of information in Adam’s newsletter. He is trusted by the attorneys whom I trust (Glenn Kirschner, Joyce Vance, Harry Litman, and Muchael Popok, to name just four) so I also trust his reporting.

This is from Malcolm Nance, and I’m sorry, I just have no words – not that I need more than he provides. (the included video is very short and no second of it is wasted.)

Steve, like all of us I suppose, is outraged by the the callous disregard for everything good, no matter how big or how small. I can’t argue with that.

Chapter 2 of a series on the Ardennes Counter-Offensive (Chapter 1 was the Battle of the Bulge, shared last week)

Open Thread November 1, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:52 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 012022

Yesterday, I got an update from Axios that there are now Federal charges against David DePape (he had already been charged at the state level). This does not constitute double jeopardy because federal and state are separate “sovereigns.” This is a good sign. Also Faithful America (you mem remember they recently put up a web page against false peophets) now has a new page – 20 Resources to Resist Christian Nationalism. And, I’m sorry to say, even if we win the midterms in landslides, we are going to need every oone of those 20. Well, at least I gor=t confirmed to see Virgil this Sunday. I really like having the confirmation early.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Civil Discourse – In Praise of the Federal Judiciary
Quote – Judge Berman Jackson unflinchingly defined who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. That’s a line that has become blurred in public discourse as the former president and his supporters make claims about the people who overran the Capitol and engaged in violence that range from calling them tourists to insisting they were patriots exercising their rights. But today Mr. Head heard the truth from the bench about Officer Fanone, and it’s important for all of us to hear it too: “[Fanone] was protecting the very essence of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power after a democratic election. He was protecting America. That’s who Officer Fanone was. That’s what Officer Fanone was doing. You made choices over and over again to go after him and not disengage.”
Click through for essay. Judge Berman Jackson is, sadly, not the entire Federal Judiciary (if only they were all at least as good as she), but she is certainly a fine representative of it. Her name has come up repeatedly this year, and always for something praiseworthy.

Project on Government Oversight – Study Shows POGO’s Oversight Trainings Increase Congressional Capacity
Quote – Designed for veterans and beginners alike, our monthly seminars feature lessons from some of the most accomplished current and former congressional oversight experts and practitioners, and provide opportunities for congressional staff to ask questions in an off-the-record environment. Although seminars are generally targeted toward committee staff, much of the information shared during these seminars is also helpful to staff in personal offices in their investigations. These nonpartisan training sessions are open to Hill staff regardless of party, chamber, or position, and we also welcome staffers from the Government Accountability Office and Congressional Research Service. These seminars feature current and former members of Congress or congressional staffers from both parties, and we do our best to get panelists from both the House and Senate.
Click through for article. POGO is justifiably proud of their training program(s). It’s too bad that, if the GOP takes over, it will probably have to be scrapped.

Food For Thought

Open Thread–3/28/2020

Posted by TomCat at 12:47 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 282020

This is my only article today, because I’m running so late. Three software items needed to update. My research took much longer than usual. There was a SNAFU converting my meds to liquid, and I spent two hours on the phone cleaning up the mess, and then, my computer ate this entire article, so you’re reading a rewrite from scratch. Please expect no more than Open Threads or Personal Updates tomorrow and Monday. Tomorrow, WWWendy plans to lower my ears, before de-stinking the rancid TomCat. We also have a lot of gooping to do, so it will be a very busy day. Monday I have a consultation with Evelyn and pick up a big bottle of pain meds. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:18). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

It’s that GOP glow!

Trump* Virus Update:

0328TrumpVirus

Cases: 104,429
Deaths: 1,708
Recovered: 2,530

I hove no doubt that US cases/capita are artificially very low, because criminal Fuhrer Trump* has made getting a test virtually impossible.

Short Takes:

From Vox: President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will not adhere to a portion of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill that would authorize an inspector general to oversee how $500 billion in business loans will be spent.

In a statement released early Friday evening, Trump announced that he had signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act, a relief package aimed at mitigating some of the economic fallout caused by efforts to allay the spread of Covid-19.

That bill also establishes a Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) within the Treasury Department to audit and investigate half a trillion dollars in loans for large businesses. In his signing statement, Trump said that this provision raises “constitutional concerns,” adding that his administration would not comply with such an official’s request for documents.

Congress also has oversight, and if criminal Fuhrer Trump* stonewalls again, it’s time for Congress to make him criminal Fuhrer Trump**. Nobody else will have ever been impeached twice. RESIST!!

From TPM: President Donald Trump reportedly wants his own personal touch on the assistance checks from the $2.2 trillion relief package.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump is pushing for his signature on the $1,200 checks that many individual Americans will soon receive now that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act has been signed into law.

Don Hammond, a former official at the Treasury Department, told the Wall Street Journal that a disbursing officer’s signature would ordinarily be on the checks.

Under the new law, single American adults making $75,000 or less will receive $1,200, while married couples will receive $2,400 if they earn a combined total of $150,000 or less. The amount gradually decreases for those making over those two income figures.

There is no way that criminal Fuhrer Trump* should be allowed to take credit for the aid to common people, that he fought tooth and nail against, as an election SCAM. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Blues Magoos- ‘We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet’

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.