Joanne Dixon

Open Thread February 28 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:01 am Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 282025

Today is the day we are all supposed to avoid buying anything, in person or on line. Robert Reich is one of those calling for this action. The more who participate the better, as there will always be some who didn’t get the words, and some who will over-buy just to spite us. Today is also the beginning of Ramadan. It can come at any time of the year, being based on a specific lunar calendar unique to Islam, but when it comes at this time of the year, it can be tempting to think “Oh, that’a the Islamic version of Lent.” It isn’t. Both involve fasting, sure, but with a different approach. With Lent the approach is penitential, and it’s nos supposed to be fun. In Islam, the fasting is approached with joy. And while both come to an end of triumph of some kind, that too is different from the Christian calendar. There’s a big gap between being gifted with the Holy Book and rising from the dead. I am not in any way about to say the one is better – rather I hope to call a little attention to the fact that loving our neighbors becomes easier if we are open to looking at our similarities and differences though others’ eyes and not just through our own.

Mary Trump is, quite reasonably, not happy that main stream media outlets are not taking the danger we are in seriously. And she is right. There are a few people on MSN we can still trust – but we have to wonder for how long. And being able to trust a few individuals does not mean being able to trust the station. I was aware of each point Mary made before reading this, and I expect all the readers here were also. But that’s because we care. So many people don’t – so many claim to “not do politics” and apparently have no idea that politics does them. Sigh.

Robert Reich sums it up. Not everyone on Substack allows unpaid subscribers to read comments – but Reich does. And his readers mange to have actual conversations (which you can see by clicking on the number of replies listed under each post shown.)

ProPublica exposes the collaboration of HUD. Although with all the Mango Monster’s nominees getting confirmed, I don’t expect them to be alone. What’s happening at Defense may be the most obviously scary, but there is plenty of other damage which is being done.

Open Thread February 27 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 272025

Yesterday, I discovered that the reason my Win10 desktop will not run or even load any games is that, though it has a 64bit processor, it only has a 32bit OS. Yes, it took me long enough to figure that out. And upgrading the OS is going to be a time consuming and tedious process spanning multiple (not necessarily consecutive) days. At least my 8.1 will still run them, so I can take my time. Rushing something like this is a great way to lose data. (At least, if I scream a lot, y’all won’t have to hear me. 🙂 Also, here’s a link to a petition which, in my not so humble opinion, should have way more signers than it has, or even than the sponsor is asking for. See what you think.

It’s all too easy, with so much chaos here, to forget that there’s a world out there – and that we are being watched and judged by it. But it’s the case. Heather Cox Richardson looks at it – and at the contrast in the way we were seen in the previous administration, as opposed to how we are seen now. Embarrassing as it is, I think this change is a good thing. If the rest of the world, particularly Europe, were to sound approving of us right now, I’d be far more worried than I am.

Well, it’s here. The 19th reports the first death of a child caused by measles from an outbreak in like 30 years (There was an isolated on in 2018 which may have involved international travel in some way, but there was not an outbreak. Now there is – about 129 kids in west Texas are measles patients.) I think the details are such that your reaction, like mine, will be “Well, we tried to warn you.” I still have all my extra masks from CoViD and intend to use them if necessary.

Yes, a third article, this one from Wonkette. I feel like a broken record saying “We tried to warn you.” But here we are.

Open Thread February 26 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:51 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 262025

Yesterday – well, let me back up a little. Last week, the guy who had been posting a column of political cartoons daily announced he would not be able to do that any more, for health reasons. He offered, if someone would strp up, to share all his sources, including international sources, and also tips for getting around some issues. I do not get all my cartoons from there – I take them where I find them – but a lot do come through DU. Well, yesterday, his replacement posted (and clearly took all the tips they could get.) So that will make life a bit easier for me. (All the Dr. Seuss cartoons I have used came to me through DU, for one thing.) Also, the backlash against MSNBC was growing, and rightly so.

Talking Points Memo points out a problem which would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. At least it explains in part why some say Elon Musk can’t be fired since no one hired him. Much kudos and many promotions to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, not only for asking and pressing the right questions, but for not going into a screaming fit while doing so – she certainly must feel like it.

Joyce Vance departs from her usual tone to share a number of things which are being done in response to this administration by people who may have read the CIAs’s “Simple Sabotage” – or maybe are just very creative. Barf bag warning for the AI video.

Open Thread February 25 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 252025

Yesterday, I had not even finished with Sunday’s emails, and then I slept in even more than I planned to, because, after being drowsy all day, I still had some difficulty getting to sleep Sunday night. So a lot of them from both days went into my files without being read first. Also, just for my own satisfaction, I looked up “musk” (little “m”) at Wikipedia. I’m old enough to remember when natural musk was still in use and notable mainly for its unpleasant odor. But the etymology was new to me, and amusing.

I’ve been seeing a fair amount of articles headlined that the Mango Monster was recruited as a Russian agent in the 1980s, which in itself is pretty old news. When I did a search (I use DuckDuckGo) I found that many of the articles dated from 2017 or 2021 – I did say this was old news. In order to fins a new (within 3-4 days or so) take, I had to use the search term “Krasnov.” Before sharing one of these, I checked the reputation of the outlet on Media Bias/FactCheck. Yahoo news is listed as having a Left-Center Bias (based on the subject matter of articles) and high credibility (meaning MBFC could not catch them in any false “facts”.) I take the Bias score with a grain of salt, based on my belief in and understanding of the saying “reality has a liberal bias.” But the point is the fact checking and the credibility. I also looked at Snopes on the story – they can’t actually prove – or disprove – any of it so there’s that. I probably don’t need to say that all of this took some time. But I wanted to get it right. I also decided to use the meme from “Know Your Meme” as today’s cartoon. I cannot argue with it.

It’s Tuesday, a bit late for Joyce Vance’s The Week Ahead – but then, with all the chaos, looking at the week ahead is no longer a matter of looking at schedules, but more of a guessing game of “What fresh hell will this be?” (apologies Dorothy Parker.) So I thought it worthwhile.

Open Thread February 24 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 242025

Yesterday, Virgil and I played cribbage – and did some reminiscing about Fred, which was bittersweet. His legacy – the station announced his passing on Thursday and started then playing comments from other announcers, former announcers, the manager, former managers, and listeners about their memories. They continued all day Friday – except for a two-hour special featuring more comments and his favorite music. Than they continued interspersing comments all day Saturday (except for the opera – it runs live so there’s no way for an individual station to carve out any time, and besides, Fred would have hated that – he loved opera at least as much as I do – probably more.) Then yesterday it continued. It may continue today. I’m certainly not tired of it.

There is a lot of good-to-know information in this The F* News article. The Governor of Maine is just the hors d’oeuvres, if you will. What convinced me to post it was its explanation, complete with links to evidence, of why having a Medicare Advantage plan is literally paying for the privilege of having your claims denied.

I don’t watch network TV, or any TV really – if you do, you’ve likely heard that Joy Reid (Th Reid Out) has been fired from MSN. I expect some of you have already given up on MSN – numerous people at site I read which allow comments certainly have. I still feel that Lawrence and Nicolle are valuable, and also Rachel is back daily, I believe for the first hundred days of the present administration only, but it’s something. I also note – at the link – that Meidas Touch offered her a position before the ink was dry on the pink slip (metaphor – I know no one uses ink on paper any more.) I personally find Meidas Touch difficult to listen to, but I know that’s just me, and I am extremely grateful for the work they are doing.

Open Thread February 23 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 232025

Yesterday, The radio opera was Verdi’s last opera, “Falstaff,” written when he was about my age. (His second-to-last opera had been “Otello.” He really loved Shakespeare, and in his late 70s he was rich and famous enough to indulge that love.) Falstaff is based on “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” which is said to have been written because Queen Elizabeth I wanted to see “Sir John in Love,” an impossibility given his character – even “Sir John in heat” would be almost impossible so she had to settle for “Sir John attempting to seduce faithful wives in order to extort them foe money to pay his bills.” The opera follows the play as closely as possible, given that singing takes longer than speaking. The plot, the duplicate love letter which give away hos game, the laundry basket thrown into the Thames, the young couple disapproved of by the girl’s father, the suspicious husband hiring Falstaff to seduce his wife to find out how virtuous she is, the fairies in the forest – it’s all there. This presentation was selected by the Met’s principal conductor because it was conducted by Leonard Bernstein (so you know it’s older than a minute – in fact it was presented and recorded in 1964 and was Bernstein’s Met debut.) The music and the cast were stellar – many names I remember loving in the sixties and some beyond. The male half of the young couple was sung by Mariano Caruso – absolutely zero relation to Enrico – I looked that up, as I’ve been burned too many times thinking unrelated people were related (in my defense, so have announcers.) My email wasn’t bad, so I got through it all and even managed to post a letter the same day I received it. Now I’m off to see Virgil. I will of course check in.

https://apnews.com/article/president-jimmy-carter-2025-grammy-awards-0b8a1c1fa8c8887b945a2b893b7e59e5
This is not all that new, but given that all of our eyes have been on our Democracy, I though some might have missed it. Jimmy Carter – WOW. Everything he did, he did with excellence.

https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/education/metaphorse-montrose-horse-therapy
I’ve posted about horse therapy before – but this is a new twist, and one that I for one would never have expected. And one which is at least as important as any other method of self-defense.

Patrick Fitzgerald filling in for Belle – at least he’s amusing.

VoteVets Gets Real

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:19 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 222025

Here is another letter I felt I needed to share. I think we – and that even includes veterans – are so accustomed to being confident that our military is – maybe not perfect – but a stable and reliable defense with which we can sleep better – that we only think about it when it’s budget time. Just as we tend to think about our democracy. It’s time to wake up about both.

Many of their letters are signed by retired General Paul Eaton – this one is only signed by “The Team at VoteVets,” and it is asking for donations (I cut that part).

A Friday night massacre.

Last night, while most of us were logging off and winding down — eating dinner, watching a movie with the kids, or enjoying an evening out with friends — Trump and Hegseth started purging senior Military officers that they deem insufficiently loyal. We’ve been talking about this for months, and last night it finally began.

They started with the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, General CQ Brown. They followed with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General James Slife.

But they didn’t stop there.

Trump and Hegseth also purged the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. JAG officers interpret and determine lawful and constitutional orders. Replacing career JAG officers with loyalists is essential to Trump’s overall goal of a Military dedicated not to the Constitution, but to him alone.

To put it bluntly, our adversaries are popping champagne right now. There is no better outcome for them than the promotion of Trump loyalists over the best and brightest. They know that this move makes our Military weaker.

The real concern is what comes next. Trump has made his intentions clear. He has openly signaled his intent to ignore the Constitution, he has attacked democratic processes and elections for the better part of a decade, and the actions he and Elon Musk have taken over the last four weeks openly defy longstanding Constitutional order.

This is a dangerous moment, and we have to be ready for whatever happens. VoteVets will be standing by.

Open Thread February 22 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 222025

Yesterday, The Conversation newsletter included an article titled “Making sex deadly for insects could control pests that carry disease and harm crops.” I suppose it’s worth a try. But it certainly hasn’t worked on humans. Also, I cut my hair. It’s not a professional job, but it will keep it out of my eyes for a while. After period of a couple of months last spring when it was shedding so fast it was starting to thin, then that stopped, and now its as thick as ever. Maybe even in a couple of places a little thicker. And definitely growing as fast as ever.

You may have seen this story elsewhere. Of my sources, Wonkette had the most thorough coverage. But I can’t read everything, I may have missed a better one.

Yes, I know, two from the same source the same day. This Wonkette article is not so much news as it is an op-ed – an op-ed which is really singing my song. If it is singing yours too, I don’t think Robin would mind if you printed a copy and mailed it to your federal legislators – who are actually the “Democrats” of the title. She doesn’t mean us.

As if we didn’t have enough injustice – The Conversation suggests it may get far, far worse.

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