Open Thread August 25, 2022

Yesterday, I managed to getnine 30-gallon plastic bags out to the porch, all labeled with the initials of the charity they are getting picked up by.  After that, I moved the car out of the driveway and took the recyclables to the edge of the driveway by the street – two actions which between tehm pretty much cleared the drive way.  I did this because the charity is “Vietnam Veterans of America,” nd although I don’t remember seeing much, one occupation which puts people int higher jeopardy of becoming an amputee is “combat vet.”  And the instruction included the request that everything be capable of bing lifted with one hand (not all at once, of course; that would be silly.)  So I just wanted to make it as easy as possible and I figured shortening the distance couldn’t hurt.  After all that, my shoulders, back, and knee were still in comparatively good shape.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – August 22, 2022
Quote – Today’s big news is an eye-popping $1.6 billion donation to a right-wing nonprofit organized in May 2020. This is the largest known single donation made to a political influence organization. The money came from Barre Seid, a 90-year-old electronics company executive, and the new organization, Marble Freedom Trust, is controlled by Leonard A. Leo, the co-chair of the Federalist Society, who has been behind the right-wing takeover of the Supreme Court. Leo has also been prominent in challenges to abortion rights, voting rights, climate change action, and so on. He announced in early 2020 that he was stepping back from the Federalist Society to remake politics at every level, but information about the massive grant and the new organization was broken today by Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times.
Click through for details. Everyone has this story – but I saw it first here – and Heather always has receipts (and insights.)

Daily Beast – Cops Love Immunity—Until They’re the Ones Abused by Police
Quote – Six months after the incident, Burk filed a civil rights lawsuit against the acting officers from the Columbus Division of Police. Predictably, Burk now finds himself on the wrong end of a judge-made doctrine called “qualified immunity.” The doctrine, which the U.S. Supreme Court invented in 1982, shields government employees from accountability for unreasonable actions—unless victims can point to a prior case in the same jurisdiction that clearly establishes the behavior as unconstitutional. The irony of this case is that law enforcement officers like Burk normally love qualified immunity.
Click through for this opinion piece with backup facts. I would hate to think that the only, or even just the fastest, way to get rid of “qualified immunity” is for cops to beat up enough cops.

Food For Thought