Yesterday, I filled out my ballot, which had arrived last week, but which I had not yet opened because the booklet on the Amendments and propositions was the size of a small town telephone book. It turned out to be easier for just othan I expected -many of them had clearly been written by MAGAts. For just one example, there were two anti-trans propositions.
Robert Reich spells it out. Y’all probably don’t need it spelled out – but you probably know someone who does.
Michael Sellers calls his Substack “A Deeper Look,” and from this post alone – you can see why. He doesn’t mention that some or all of this decision is likely related to the attempt to destroy empathy (which so many in that camp consider to be our worst weakness) – but I do think that needs mentioning. I have seen films of staged (fake) executions by firing sqauds – it is how the tenor character in “Tosca” dies. The camera never focuses on it, but usually on Tosca watching (believing it fake.) I would never watch a real one of my own volition. BTW, the Orange Ogre told Axios last week that this execution would not be atreamed.
Not what anyone wanted to hear. I note the shooter, now dead, was only 16. Clearly one doesn’t have to have reached any particular age to become infected by toxic masculinity. Not that this should surprise anyone.
Yesterday, we learned that Elon Musk has turned off Starlink to Ukraine – which essentially paralyzes their ability to fully defend themselves. No civilian entity should have the capability to do that. Constitution of the United States, Article 3, Section 3. Not that there will be any prosecution or other consequences under this administration.
This article is too (sardonically) laughable to miss. And I don’t believe for an instant the PAC’s claim that it was a vendor’s error for which they were reimbursed.
Hopefully this link will take you to the article without mention subscribing; but if it doesn’t there shuld be an option to “read without subscribing.” That’s how I got in. It’s [rpbably more than you wanted to know – but it may not be more than you needed to know.
This person claims to have earned a JD from Pepperdine (a school which has never, that I know of, had a reputation among academics which was other than “shady”). We all thought Leavitt was dumb – but I literally have Barbie dolls who are smarter than Zacharia.
This scared the whatnot out of me when I first saw it – but it appears they caught it early – and hopefully got it all. 🤞
Yesterday, since I know zilch about Flock (except that I gather it involves cameras), I did a search and found a description at Mashable. Of course that’s the company’s position – I looked in the first place because of a negative article sent to me in an email.
This came out yesterday morning from Robert Reich. Yes, public executions were medieval. But they didn’t stop because of more or less general improvement in the morality of large populations. Now if they stop because people with a professional interest in preventing crime learned that public executions do not defer anyone still living from committing the same crime(s) – although that is certainly true. No, they stopped because the they stopped because the only dramatic entertainment in the Middle Ages was the Mystery (religious) plays – and there were only so many of those – and they were pious. It was only as the Renaissance was coming in that there began to be secular staged plays coming in – and they had plots, and they quickly developed production values – all of which made them far more interesting to watch than a real execution (and the theaters had sections which charged very low prices for admission.) Why would anyone today want to watch an execution by firing squad when he (or she) could be watching a Freddie Kruger movie? Yes, some will watch. But I’m pretty sure they will be disappointed.
This from Adam Klasfeld includes (but is not limited to) a 20-minute video which covers this development, what OCME is, as well as its included agency, ODIHR (pronounced “Oh dear”), how they work, what they have encountered in past elections, and so on. Since it is (comparatively) short, and the issue is so critical, and has been so far under the national radar that I’m leaving out the normal political video out today to make room for this.
Yesterday, I set my alarm early enough to get up early enough to call to mahe a medical appointment at a facility that closes on he early side – and I still almost missed it. The soonest available was for December 11th – and I took it.
The point in this ruling by a Federal Judge in Florida, of all places, is not that non-citizens can legally vote – because they (mostly) can’t. The point is that the issue is none of the Federal Government’s business – because the Constitution explicitly gives that job to the states.
Robert Reich: “The most basic function of government is to protect people from harm” – something that our current regime is both unwilling and unablle to understand- let alone work toward. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible – but it does mean we need regime change in order to put it baxk in place. And that means, in the first place, voting – and, in the second place, nagging the elected relentlessly to do the right thing.
Today, I need to address yersinia pestis, which (as you likely know – it’s all over the news) is best known as the bacterium which causes Bubonic plague, which is spread by infected fleas (mostly from rodents which may still be alive.) The bacteria enter through the skin, get into the lymphatic system. When they reach a node, they cause swelling – forming the “bubo” (Latin for owl – which makes sense if you look at the body contours of an owl at rest) after which the plague is named. But the same bacterium also causes two other kinds of plague – named by how they enter the body and/or where they settle and produce symptoms: Septicemic plague, which also enters through a flea bite, but goes into the blood stream instead of the lymphatic system, and is often spead by handling dead small mammals – and Pneumonic plague, in which the bacterium enters into the respiratory system and settles in the lungs. This third one, Pneumonic, is the only form which is airborne. It is also the one which a lab tech in Russia recently died from. We don’t know for sure how far it has spread – or how far it could spread. Plague vaccine is a thing – but given the hostility of the current regime to vaccines, I would not expect it to be easy to obtain. If you have any masks left over from CoVid, I resommend keeping them and getting them out to be handy. There are many sources on the Russian incident, easily found through searches. I also went to Wikipedia to clarify the differences between the forms and look for vaccine information (a page which was just updated Monday – and there was still a note on it that it needed updating – so events are moving fast.) At least, since this is bacterial, there are antibiotics which stand a solid chace of defeating it if prescribed and adninistered in time.
https://www.military.com/bill-would-block-navy-from-replacing-doris-
Well, this is encouraging. It was one of the stars in the Vote Vets Daily Four Star. Not that such a bill has a chance against the Canteloupe Caligula – but it’s good to know how many people care.
More on AI here. Frank interviews Mark Fallon, an investigative journalist for Mother Jones, on the connection(s) between AI and mass shootings.
This from Robert Reich is the real question, isn’t it. I very much fear the answer is no. I fear that the permission to revel in their hate, and in the expression of it, is too addictive a drug to be able to reverse in the next 40 years – or in the next 400 years. Sadly, Lyndon Johnson was right. (How he managed to accomplish the transformation himself is inxplicable.) I do not want to suggest that anyone(anywhere) should get addicted to anything – yet I do think that anyone who has never been addicted to anything can really grasp what we are up against. It’s not something a person can simply decide not to do again and then never do it again. It’s a battle every day – a battle for which one must stay motivated even when one doesn’t feel motivated. Richard Rogers, bless him, was wrong. One doesn’t need to be carefully taught to be a racist (or sexist, or whatever.) The ads I’m seeing on YouTube ahead of the midterms, claiming that public schools now have curriculum requirements that include explicit sex would curl your hair.) One needs to be carefully taught from birth not to be a racist. That’s why the desegregation of schools was the first and largest signpost of inclusion – and why it was fought so hard by white supremacists – and essentially incapacitated by them, starting through workarounds. OK, end of rant -but, sadly, not the end of the hate.
Yesterday, I got up early because I was afraid I was going to have to call a plumber. Instead, I managed to clear the clog myself. So, since today is an opera day, I also went to bed early. But I did watch a conversation between Harry Litman (of Talking Feds) and Timothy Snyder (author of On Tyranny and other books addressing how we got here and how we can get out.) Professor Snyder had some things to say which we are not accustomed to hearing, such as we not only need to win elections but we have to be joyful winners. I realize not everyone has 36 minutes to watch, but I do recommend at least pulling up the transcript and skimming it. Some things he considrs vital for Democratic victors if we are going to get our country back are things that many Democrats are not going to do unless we demand them.
A brief explication of how modern robber barons work.
For some reason, I sometimes get a security warning loading Lever News – but it goes away and lets me in with “refresh.” Lever News does good journalism, so the obstacle is unfortunate. Alternatively- you can just use the archive link.
Link to Video – it’s under 10 minutes – and well spent.
The cartoon today is courtesy of Andy Borowitz. Since Substack journalism is all independent, Andy also provides a link to support the cartoonist. I’m not pushing – just want to give credit where credit is due.
Yesterday, I slept until later than I have been lately, but at least was awake when up, and no dizzy spells.
Not good – but better to know about it than not to.
More about AI, his time from Robert Reich, and extending as far as China.
Yes, this is 40 pages. And, at least as long as Medicare stands, it doesn’t affect me as a veteran (although it does, of course, as a taxpayer. Privatization of anything is a bad idea for taxpayers.) Naturally, the idea traces back to the Kochs – to when more of them were still alive – but there are plenty to carry on.
One thing Steve Schmidt is good at is history. Maybe not as good as a professional historian, but able to make it easy for a reader to get a feeling of the time in question, and in this case, a feeling for what we have lost and are losing more of.
Yesterday, since I’m off tomorrow, I put in an extra article for today. That isn’t why I did it – I just found more of importance than I usually share – but it’s my excuse. Feel free to take two days to read (or watch) them.
Bunch is certainly old enough to retire – he’s 72 (will be 73 in November) – but he will be sorely missed by those of us who do not give a flying continental about the color of anyone’s skin, but instead value people (or don’t) on the basis of their capabilities and accomplishments.
Well, this is extremely disappointing. I’ve been mostly silent about so many people insisting Schumer should step down on account of his age. Aging affects different people differently, and every person of any age should IMO be evaluated on their actual abilities and merits. But this – this is IMO a real reason why he should step down. Any conflict of interest is a serious disqualifier.
Yes, Judge Luttig (retired) is a Conservative. But he is a Conservative who has morals and ethics, who believes the nation should be run with morls and ethics, and doesn’t care who knows it. And when he puts forth a warning, we need to pay attention.
This is a podcast – and it’s not an isolated episode, it’s the beginning of its “second season.” My short description of the first season would be that, starting with Reagan, while we were all fixated on trickle=down economics (and yes, that genuinely happened and harmed the nation), we completely missed the concurrent efforts and progress in installing the “unitary executive” theory – which has harmed us far more. Yes, that goes all the way back to Nixon and Reagan. As I type, I’m also behind and trying to catch up. Both seasons are at the link (with advertising). There is a whole lot – there’s a lot in each episode, let alone each season.
