Open Thread January 25, 2023

Yesterday, though it was pretty cold, I took out some recyclables – not to the curb, just so the polycart. I hadn’t done so for a while, and I needed the space. The speed and the degree with which my hands bounced back to warm after coming back in is actually more revealing to me of just how cold it was than looking up the actual temperature. Fortunately, that’s something I don’t need to do all that often. Also, I received confirmation to see Virgil Sunday, so I guess my change in phraseology worked.

I imagine everyone has noticed that some classified documents have now been found at the home of Mike Pence. Even before that, Democratic Underground had some thoughts… (I say Democratinc Underground rather than the original poster because comments.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – Can $25 Million Preserve an Alaskan Town Sinking Into the Tundra?
Quote – From a distance, not much seems amiss, but a stroll through the community, almost 500 miles west of Anchorage, reveals a myriad of health and safety problems. Climate warming has severely degraded the permafrost, so buildings are sinking into the tundra. The Ninglick River, which flows past the village, is rapidly devouring large swaths of land, taking with it buildings and homes during periods of high water.
Click through for details. The short answer is “not even close.” And you know the town did not get to thispoint from the actions of residents alone. It took a lot of bad actions from around the world to melt the tundra to this degree.

Southern Poverty Law Center – ‘Willing to Fight’: Residents rise up against development that could erase historic Florida town’s rich Black heritage
Quote – At stake is the fate of the Robert Hungerford Preparatory School property, where the leaders of Eatonville established a school in 1897 on about 300 acres. The school was modeled on Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now Tuskegee University, in Alabama. Attracting Black students from up and down the Eastern Seaboard, it was for generations the beating heart of a community where, in an era of Jim Crow and lynching, Black citizens managed to build, govern and maintain their own Black-majority town.
Click through for story. Some livability issues are climeate-related. Some are white-supremancy-related. Still others are related to greed. Somehow they all seem to be related to Republican policies, though.

Food For Thought