Open Thread August 29 2025

 Posted by at 7:32 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 292025
 

Yesterday, I received an email from Dr. Barber and others containing a copy of a letter they prepared in response to the Apricot Antichrist being quoted as saying he wanted to get into heaven. It is totally honest, while at the same time being kind and filled with love. God help the person who has to read it to him (he’d never be able to read it himself. It’s too honest, has too many words and ideas he wouldn’t grasp – you get the picture, I’m sure.) But if anyone who has never met or even seen a real Christian is interested in knowing how one thinks and at least aspires to act, this would be a good place to look. I don’t have a link but am saving it as a reminder of who I am supposed to be. Also yesterday – remember Trey Gowdy? One of the candidates for dumbest Congressman and IIRC also showing up in Separated at Birth memes, though I forget with whom (possibly the Malfoy brat?) He’s on Fox now, and under fire for suggesting that it might, just possibly might, be a good time to discuss gun control. And, speaking of guns, one more thing – yesterday NPR reported that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has acquired the gun with which Emmett Till was shot

Two hundred fifty years after the birth of our nations, and after many amendments to the Constitution (and I’m proud to say that all of them have been to expand the voting population), there are still people who say “My vote doesn’t count.”

Joyce Vance is correct – it isn’t just our history of slavery which condemns us – our history of internment is not much better, if at all. I might suggest that fear is a somewhat less venal and more understandable motivation than financial gain, But neither is exactly moral high ground stuff.

I had to squeeze in this from Wonkette. I don’t really have words for it. My state is another state which is prone to wildfires.

P,S. – Obviously this did not get scheduled and is therefore being posted about 15 hours late.  I would like to say it won’t happen again, but I am afraid it will.  Since getting started with my new PCP, my thyroid dosage has been lowered three times, I have been instructed to give up anti-inflammatories (I can have acetaminophen), I have been instructed to give up omeprazole (I can have Pepcid), and I must now take alendronate sodium weekly. Every one of those changes has normalized my blood work – and every one of those changes has negatively affected either my energy level of my pain.  I wasn’t surprised – acetaminophen has never worked for me any better than a sugar pill, I tried all kinds of acid relievers before I found omeprazole, and Pepcid was the best I found prior, but there was really no comparison.  And of course thyroid is directly related to energy. I am far from the first person in the world who has been instructed to give up or cut down on something that makes me life better (it’s just that one doesn’t expect those orders when it’s not something obvious like alcohol or nicotine or heroin or cocaine or meth – I’m sure y’all can think of others.) So I’m sure I can expect ore days when I conscientiously prepare the post, put it into the blog, activate the links, and possibly even fill in the time to schedule if for but then fail to hit the “schedule” button.  Please try not to worry, and feel free to send me an email, or, if yu are an author or an administrator, to just go into the dashboard and post it.

 

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Open Thread February 11 2025

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 112025
 

Yesterday, I started the day with only 80 emails (of course more same in, but gradually.) A lot were responses from petition recipients – including 5 from just one Senator (I expect my other one will catch up eventually.) There was also one good laugh in there – Andy Borowitz’s news that Yambo has declared himself the Principal Ballerina of the Kennedy Center, purging most existing ones and blaming DEI for so many being women. I got the total down to 36 pretty quickly, and that included a few from Sunday.

Straight from The Root, a story from Black History which oddly is about a white woman.  Weird, I know. But true.

Joyce Vance goes over a lot of what is happening and bring us closer to Autocracy (or Leucandrocracy). She encourages us all to stay strong, and ends with a little quote I had not heard before, but which I like so much I have put into today’s cartoon. Kudos if you knew it. Double Kudos (or Kudoi, which is the plural) if you also knew who first said it. In a separate email, she reported that The Democracy Index has been launched. I figured it would take some time from the planning stage.

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Open Thread January 30 2025

 Posted by at 5:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 302025
 

Yesterday, I learned from Talking Points Memo’s “Morning Memo” that, apparently, there was a midair plane/helicopter crash over the Potomac River the night before. First responders were not expecting there to be any survivors. I’m not up to it, but someone really should start a list of all the deaths traceable to actions of the Orange Oligarch’s second administration. I’m sure there were more resulting from the first term than we ever heard of, since the only ones that were catalogued were the ones from CoViD. I’ve linked to that Memo, not because it has the last word on the crash, but because there is a whole lot more in it. In any case, today is the first day of Black History Month. I am going to be using as much Black History as I can – and including prsent day articles throwing light on the Black experience. Bit if you are interested in diving deeper, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has you covered. If The Emperor doesn’t abolish it.

As fast as things change under an administration which has no idea what it is doing other than robbing the poor to give to the rich, this from Wonkette may already be out of date. I personally read the Colombian Tariffs news only a couple of hours before reading this.

This by Robert Reich is an analysis, not a news piece. So it isn’t now dated and isn’t likely to become dated any time soon. The problem now is how to get this analysis to people who need to be aware of it … and how to get those people to grasp its truth. Good luck with that.

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Open Thread November 28 2024

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 282024
 

Yesterday, for a change, I caught up on my email. That doesn’t mean I didn’t find anything in my inbox this morning, of course.  I hope the featured image doesn’t squish today.  I tripped over the quote, from a survivor of the Holocaust, but finding the right background and getting the quote into the right place took time.  Just in case:  “I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving the worst conditions conceivable

“I wasn’t going to post anything about Matt Gaetz following his dropout, but Amanda Marcotte used him as our poster boy to help us decide exactly what to oppose and exactly how to oppose it. Of course at this point I don’t suppose anyone ia 100% correct on that (though there probably are some who are 100% wrong), but Amanda Marcotte writes well and makes a good case. There isn’t a pay wall, but there is an ad blocker wall. You can keep the trackers blocked.

You may have already heard this from The F* News, but maybe not said so well, and maybe not in quite as much detail. This would not be the only thing where what’s floating around is not 100% accurate. In fact, I used one yesterday.

I wanted to get this up for the holiday because is is something I have been concerned about for a while now off and on, and maybe you have also – conservatives pushing an Article V convention. In fact, I’m going to quote a couple of sentences: “Two bodies can propose constitutional amendments: Congress or a “convention of the states” called under Article V of the Constitution. But regardless of which body proposes a constitutional amendment, an amendment does not become effective until it is ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures (38). Accordingly, any 13 state legislatures can block ratification of a constitutional amendment.

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Open Thread November 17 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Politics
Nov 172024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman.” It’s short, especially for a Wagner opera- less than 2 1/2 hours, and, though one doesn’t usually hear them in concert, it has more extractable parts than most of his do, such as “The Ballad of the Flying Dutchman” and “The Spinning Song.” I’ve mentioned before how the salvation of men through the suffering (sometimes death) of women was a theme running though the 19th century, and Wagner is the most obvious proponent of that. “The Flying Dutchman”, along with “Tannhäuser”, are the two most straightforward statements of that theme (and if it sounds to you like something only white men would dream up, I won’t say you’re wrong.) But it is very listenable. If I could relive the time in my life when I was buying vinyl records, I would have skipped “Tristan und Isolde” and bought this one instead. Also yesterday, here where I live, sunrise was at 6:44 and sunset was at 4:46. I realizethose times differ wildly even within a single time zone – but I’ve been collecting these times for about three years now and this is the first time I have ever seen sunrise and sunset together make a palindrome. And one thing more – a couple more House races in California have been called for the Democrat. It may even be three of them. Well, off yo see Virgil now, and will check in in the comments when I get back.

Joyce Vance cut through the ingenuous doubletalk, euphemisms, and everything else that so many are using to try to make life appear “normal.” It isn’t normal. She brings it right down to the Constitution quite clearly.

Heather Cox Richardson attempts to answer the question which Joyce Vance’s title, above, asks. I am not holding my breath.

 

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Open Thread August 31 2024

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 312024
 

Yesterday, Mary Trump wrote about the Arlington incident (or, as Robert Reich now calls it, “Cemeterygate”) and her take on it is actually simiar to mine. Of course, as an Amercan, I am angry about the disrespect of both federal law and a place that is practically holy to most Americans (certainly to all patriotic Americans), but the part that made me the angriest is that the assaulted civil servant fears retaliation and is afraid to press charges. Mary Trump addresses this powerfully, not just MAGA’s part in it, but also our national failure to protect our citizens from bullies. Heather Cox Richardson also got in on the issue. The only good to come out of this is that it should make things worse got DonOLD. Also yesterday, my water district (I get gas and electric from the city, but water and sewage from a special district – and fire and ambulance from another special district. It’s not confusing once you’re used to it) came by (by appointment) to install a new water meter to go with their new system. It comes with an online tool (sorry, I just hate the word “app”) through which I can track my water usage on a daily basis. Interesting. I don’t know whether I’m required to sign up, but I will.

I have seen very little about this incident, but knowing how Republicans will go on and on, I decided to cover it. Of the only two places who covered it at any length (in other words, with solid facts), this was the one I chose. The other site was PolitiZoom, in case anyone wants more. Apparently there’s a whole movement of people who believe that the 13th, 14th, 15th amendments are unconstitutional because they were passed without representation from the southern states (because we were at war with them – which is why we made them explicitly swear allegiance to the Constitution when they returned – funny how they forget that part.)

I have to wonder how many CMOH citations Steve Schmidt had to read before he found the one he quotes in full in this article. And after all that Carter lived long enough to be promoted and almost almost another twenty years. I am in awe (and in tears.)

RGB version

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Open Thread June 14 2024

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 142024
 

Yesterday, Wonkette provided a gift link to an article on the Alitos. There has been plenty of coverage of what was said, but not so much of why it was so terrible. This article dives deep into the why. It also provides answers to some of the same questions asked of Chief Justice Roberts. There is a notable difference.  Also FLorida (south Florida) was a bit damp.  Our Mitch tipped me off to this in two emals (the second was arighteous but short rant LOL)  And one more thing – I got the email that my primary ballot has been counted.

It had occurred to me that this might be the case. I’m happy to see I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Of course Congress has the authority to pass a Code of Ethics for the Supreme Court. The authors of the Constitution specified they wanted a government with checks and balances. The claim that Congress cannoy legislate the Spureme Court is therefore unconstitutional on the face of it. Not that any minds will be changed by me.

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Open Thread June 5 2024

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 052024
 

Yesterday, there was a lot of speculation regarding what will happen now that Trump** has been convicted. One topic which is everywhere: “Is Trump** going to incite violence if he is sentenced to any prison time?” To me the answer is “Yes, of course he is. He will incite violence if he is just sentenced to House Arrest. He will incite violence if he is just sentenced to probation, once he finds out how restrictive that is. Why should any of this determine how we administer justice? Besides, if he is given no sentence at all, he will incite more violence, since he can get away with it. Just prepare for violence and sentence him the way he should be sentenced.” Both my short takes agree with me, I think, though they’re coming from different places. I’m not sure how they would prepare. My suggestions would be along the lines of whatever you do, do not buy a gun. You wouldn’t have time to get proficient. If you already have one (as a surprising number of liberals and lefties do, for different reasons) and are proficient, start learning how to be proficient at knowing when you use it. That’s much harder and takes longer, but there’s time for some baby steps (and if it’s “been a minute” since you used the weapon, some practice with it wouldn’t hurt.) For those of us who wouldn’t dream of using a gun, I’d suggest thinking hurricane or pandemic. Stock up on necessities so that you won’t have to leave your home. Of course all of this depends on where you live also. I live just outside the city limits of a red city in a blue state, and everyone knows how red it is. If I lived in Denver I’d be more concerned. If I lived in Washington DC I’d be very concerned. Also yesterday, Informed DElivery advised me my ballot was delivered. Not bad.

Robert Hubbell throws a bucket of common sense cold water over whoever needs it the most. But I don’t think it will hurt any of us.

Steve Schmidt refers us to a Reuters column (an investigation really) regarding the Proud Boys.  That link and Steve’s comment are both valuable

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