Open Thread January 31, 2023

Yesterday, I slept later than I have for months – apparently after all that worry I needed to. Of course the disadvantage of thet is that the longer I sleep, the worse the aches and pains are when I arise. Fortunately the TENS makes short (not instant, but short) work of that. Virgil called – his friend dialed for him – so I was able to accept the call. I stressed that he needs to gethis friend to dial for him when he calls – it’s not a matter of money (an “unaccepted” call is not charged for), but the stress to bothe of us (probably more to me than to him, since I am more aware of what’s going on.) I’m not sure how much he actually absorbed, but his friend will get the point.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

ProPublica – How Congress Finally Cracked Down on a Massive Tax Scam
Quote – After six years of failed efforts by the IRS, Justice Department and lawmakers, new legislation is expected to prevent the worst abuses of a tax-avoidance scheme that has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars. Tucked into the massive, $1.7 trillion government spending bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on Dec. 29, a provision in the law seems poised to accomplish what thousands of audits, threats of hefty penalties and criminal prosecutions could not: shutting down a booming business in “syndicated conservation easements,” which exploit a charitable tax break that Congress established to preserve open land.
Click hrough for details. I had never heard of this, though it doesn’t realy surprise me. Sometimes, thankfully, our elected representatives are more knowledgeable than we are, which is good, since one can’t advocate on something one doesn’t even know is a problem.

PolitiZoom – Pelosi Attacker Calls SF Television News to Apologize… For Failing to Kill Paul Pelosi, ‘Unprepared’
Quote – David DePape called the KTVU newsroom from San Francisco County Jail Friday, the same day a superior court judge ordered video of the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi to be released. The call was unexpected. He told our reporter he had an important message…. In the chilling and bizarre phone call, he apologized for not going further. “I want to apologize to everyone. I messed up. What I did was really bad. I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them. It’s my own fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared,” he says.
Click through for story. C.S. Lewis once penned the phrase “the disinterested hatred of evil for good” (not meaning a lack of intellectual interest, but an absence of an ulterior motive, such as greed or fear) in a way that suggested it didn’t really exist. I think it does – it may be rare, but some actions seem so far out as not to be explainable otherwise. Is this one of them? I don’t know.

Food For Thought