Open Thread November 26 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 262024
 

Yesterday, I learned a lot of things I would prefer not to have happened (as, I’m sure, did you.) For one thing, the National Women’s Health Network is permanently shutting its doors. On the plus side, it looks as though my phone is working again. And one computer has internet access. But I need it on both. So, though I’m up to blogging again, this isn’t over. (and I had almost 300 emails in my inbox yesterday morning. I got it down to under 30, but I didn’t clear it. So today will also be busy.

I think Heather Cox Richardson is writing for reality skeptics in this post, because it sounds as though she didn’t know for absolute fact that Trump** was lying, and I’m sure she’s smarter than that These people who nightmared up (to coin a phrase) Project 2025 claim to be business people. But I have an MBA from George Washington University, and one absolutely basic principle I learned there was that if you were put in charge of a group you had no been directly promoted from, you should never institute any changes for AT LEAST SIX MONTHS. In this case that would be six months from the day you take office, not from the day you were nominated, nor from the day you were confirmed, nor from the inauguration – you need to be actively, physically in that division seeing what is actually happening for six months before changing a thing. Apparently no one ever taught these supposedly educated business people that. Or else they just think that since they are white men they must know better.

Well, this, from The Root, was definitely not on my Bongo card, and I’ll bet it wasn’t on yours either. But it certainly sounds like jolly good fun.

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Open Thread November 25 2024

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 252024
 

Yesterday,  I got my internet back, but only on one computer, not the one I usually use for this.  It had ben down since Friday, and so were my phones.  SO I didn’t hear the opera Saturday, since for the summer season (which is for one more week now) I need the internet – no internet, no opera.  Fortunately it’s one I know well, and some time ago I even downloaded an old recording of it.  And on December 7 the Met season starts, and my local radio station carries that.  Anyway, I’ve been struggling all weekend with trying to reach my provider, and this is my first chance to post.  I hope things are better with all of you than they have been this weekend.  But it’s just the electronics, not me, which are ill.  I’m fine physically,  I have all my meds now and am taking them

With the one exception that this uses the term “Christianity” and “Christian” where it should use “Christian Nationalism” and “Christian Nationalist,” this article is as good a portrait of the Republican concept of education as you are ever likely to see. Yes, there’s a lot of profanity in it. That’s just how The F* News rolls.

Mary Trump‘s observation that cruelty is the point is not new, but it’s at least as accurate as it ever was. And there is no simple answer (in fact, there’s more than one complex answer – probably as many of those as there are people on earth) to the question, “Once a person gets into that mindset, how can they get out of it?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claudia is saying, “You know what, we will pay for that wall after all!”

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Open Thread November 22 2024

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 222024
 

Yesterday, I touched base with the other two moderators, since what I had thought was causing the squishing problem turned out not to be Of course this had to happen at a time I don’t have all my meds and am both low energy and low enthusiasm, but I promise I will be working on it, though it may be slow. The last of the four prescription I had to get new scrips for with the new PCP is supposed to come today, and I’ll take a dose immediately if and when it does, but it is still going to take time for everything to kick in (I know it will because it did coming home from rehab.) But I’m on the case.  I just chose a remembrance photo for today – at least if/when it squishes you won’t miss out on words.

Wonkette referred me to this by Ned Resnikoff. I am not personally knowledgeable on it, but I too have seen ominous signs relative to it – like Chesa Boudin losing his recall election, and some cities becoming harsh to the homeless. And if it’s this bad and getting worse, it should be obvious that the consequences would be catastrophic.

Here’s Margaret Atwood, in the writing burrow, with post-election predictions for which I’m confident paying subscribers have been begging. Mostly they are not that different from others’ predictions except that her sardonic tone is unique, and I suspect her fairly detailed description of the conditions under which the Pythia worked at the Oracle of Delphi may be her way of disclaiming accuracy. But I always find her fun to read, and hope you will also.

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Open Thread November 21 2024

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Politics
Nov 212024
 

Yesterday, the Riccardis took the song “Who shot the Sheriff” and turned it into “I thought the tariffs” and really covered just about every discouraging point. Well done. I also learned that a 2025 commemorative stamp for Betty White will be released sometime in 2025. She’s one of those people who are/were pretty much universally loved.  I also did a little online shopping – I need to get what I need from China before the inauguration while I can still afford to.

Robert Reich on DOGE. I can’t imagine Trump** has the foggiest notion of the other meaning of the acronym – a term from the Italian Renaissance for an absolute ruler. Most people think first of Venice, but other city states also had them, notably Genoa (Simon Boccanegra was one, though the Verdi opera based on him is not 100% historically accurate.) The word is a now obsolete variant of “Il Duce.” Hiding fascism in plain sight. I’d also point out that destroying “bureaucracy” is not an admirable or a desirable goal. As i learned in MBA school, “bureaucracy” was invented to replace partisan government service which had unfairness baked in with a non-partisan, merit based system which would be unbiased. No human institution is perfect, but I would far prefer and always recommend some form of bureaucracy over any other system for running a large country. You might still get screwed by a bureaucrat, but it wouldn’t be for any personal reason. With Trump** and apparently Elno, everything is personal because everything is transactional. (And that part of Verdi’s opera – the dude saying “you gotta reward me because I made you Doge” – and not getting his way and then poisoning Simon – is quite historically accurate, and appropriate to a Trump** administration.)

Robert Hubbell points out that the “red mirage” has not ended, and that the count is still changing – certainly through this week, and maybe longer. More counts will not change the results, because of the electoral college – but we have already seen Trump** fall below 50% of the popular vote, and we may yet see him slip below Kamala’s popular vote total. So much for the “landslide” that really never was anyway.

I don’t know what to do about this -I tried everything I could think of including re-downloading it from my original source, which by the way is here – https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219725786

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Open Thread November 20 2024

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Politics
Nov 202024
 

Yesterday, I received three of my four prescriptions, which included two I was flat out of. I took those two immediatele, and also added them to the three bottles remaining for theis two-week period. The fourth comes from a different pharmacy, and I was on the phone with them the day before, and that one is on its way also. I hate having tp phone for these things, but having done so, I’m glad I did. The last full prescription I had from them, after over 20 years, they sent me only half the pills, and duplicated that error with the stopgap prescription, and I had to call then, twice, to get more. I had hoped a new prescription would fix that, but no. But at lest I caught it this time before they were sent. And I am hoping the call straightened it out. Well, if not, I have 45 days to get it straight. Two of my scrips affect mood, one directly and one indirectly, so hopefully I’ll be in a better mood soon than I have been for a while. Also, I received a grocery order, cleaned up and put away some usb drives (flashm thumb, jump, whatever they are called now) and started putting downloaded classical tunes onto another (2G) for use in the car.

I can’t always find a good ending to a story in the Atlanta Black Star – and when I do, it’s often too little, too late, and at best very long in coming. So this should be no surprise really. At least it’s something.

Heather Cox Richardson posted a letter with a number of “short takes,” and that’s a good thing. It can be a mnemonic for all the stuff that’s going on, must of whuch is so crazy there’s not pont i analyzing it in depth, because it has no depth. I grant it’s tough to read.

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Open Thread November 19 2024

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Politics
Nov 192024
 

Yesterday, I was stressed out by the feeling that everything I did or wanted to do was fighting with me. So I’ll likely be brief in my comments on the articles I post. Honestly, I just feel exhausted.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-first-buddy-is-in-deep-shit
Robert Reich reports Elno is calling himself’ Trump**’s “first buddy.” Without comment on intellectual intelligence which Elno may or may not possess, it’s been clear for some time that his EQ (Emotional intelligence quotient) is a single digit.

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-democracy-index
Joyce Vance lays out how she plans to chronicle this Trump** administration (differently from the wayshe did so last time) in hope of minimizing distractions. I’m not sure she realizes that it’s not just the media, or MAGA, or Putin, who are actively working to distract us. When I dug out the Windows 10 laptop earlier ths year, and again when I dug out the Windows 10 desktop, I literally spent over a week on each one just uninstalling distractions. And I have not yet finished on either – I just got to a point where I could cope. But now both are getting worse. Please note too that uninstalling some of this is in no way obvious -but the amount of links providing instructions on how to do so (not all of which even work, which is part of the issue) suggests that I am far from alone in not wanting to be distracted by crap I will never use.

Belle 4 Tuesday

Cat

 

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Open Thread November 18 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Politics
Nov 182024
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage.  It was an interesting visit in that it really showed how unpredictable his mental acuity is – it’s all over the place.  There were time I had to remind him how many cards he should deal us.  But there was also a moment when I was telling him I had started going through my costume jewelry, including watches, of which I discovered I had way more than I thought of basically disposable watches which I hadn’t disposed of.  He asked how many, and I said I hadn’t counted but at least two dozen, maybe as much as three or even four dozen, and he responded, “Wow!  You sure had a lot of time on your hands!”  All in all it was a great visit, and the drive was good both ways.

Trump’s Not Hitler He’s Stalin. We’re Back In the USSR


This is from PolitiZoom. I don’t know that I 100% agree, but it surely is interesting speculation. When I think of Stalin, I think of anecdote such as Dmitri Shostakovich keeping a suitcase by his front door every night so that then the secret police came to get him in the middle of the night, he would at least be ready with a few small comforts. Definitely something to think about.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/new-zealand-maori-lawmakers-give
Wonkette picked up this delightful story. If the two articles I picked for Sunday did not complement each other so well, I might have kicked this up to Sunday. But we need enthusiasm on Mondays too. The Maori haka is sacred to the Maori. We could use something like that (I’m not advocating cultural appropriation, nd I don’t mean exactly hakas, but something which might function the same way. Doktor Zoom suggests Jasmine Crockett might provide suggestions.)

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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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