Yesterday, I learned that Mary Trump now has some merch. Only one T-shirt at this point, but a good one. If you’re not interested in that (or even if you are), you might want to read this from her – it’s encouraging. Also, I baked another batch of muffins.
Every week, Joyce Vance puts out a column called “The Week Ahead.” It generally comes in so late on Sunday that I can’t put it up Monday, and this week was no exception. But I think it’s important to post anyway. After a holiday weekend, y’all may not be expecting an eventful week, but it may be. There are things going on with unpredictable outcomes to watch for. And besides that, it’s one heck of a pep talk.
It appears to me that this is an excellent idea. Provided no one gets hurt trying it. Those (expletive deleted) are violent, and many are armed. (Of course, turning the tables on them may be so shocking that they could be immobilized.)
Yesterday, I didn’t do a whole lot. I’ve been trying to do stuff around the house – mostly too piddling to mentiom – and today I had even less time than usual since I slept in. What little I did do would take longer to explain than it did to accomplish. But there is s-l-o-w progress going on. Trnette was visiting family today -actually for the holiday weekend. I’m not totally sure which family – she has some on both coasts – but my guess would be southern California as that’s where her Mom lives. But I’m managing.
This is a very positive article. I don’t know why so many people, including even some black people, seem to think that black people as a group are not very bright. I would bet there are some white spoiled brats running around who are dumber than some black youths who grew up with leaded water.
This is serious good news to me. The Catholic Church in the United States is about as polarized theologically as the country is politically. Possibly this will send a dignal to the other bishops in the MAGA camp (such as Cordiloene in San Francisco – and isn’t that a mob name?), and failing that, maybe they will follow Vigano into excommunication. It’s way past time.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” I think everyone knows the “Don Juan” story, and I have seen and heard it many times since I was introduced to it in college. I think this is the first production which attempted to bring a little “Me Too” spirit to it – for one thing, setting parts of it in a butcher shop. Of course being Mozart, the music is wonderful, and the singers were competent. I also received a grocery order – not large in volume but kind of pricey. Light bulbs and fancy coffee will do that, despite other sales.
This is one of his best columns. It’s on the topic od down-ballot roll-off. I remember TomCat used to complain about it. But now at least someone is doing something about it. He has a video with her (but no CC – sigh), but he also talks about her organization “Sister District,” and what it’s doing. At the end of his article, he provides a link to an interview of Heather Cox Richardson by Christiane Amanpour whish does have CC (it has it in the upper left of the screen, and if you accidentally let your mouse slip into the video part of the screen, it gets covered. Also, after you click on the video in the list, you need to scroll to the top of the screen to see it. Not difficult, just different.) She doesn’t mince words.
I didn’t even hear the rumor until yesterday. Of couuse I don’t frequent places which peddle stuff like this, so that’s probably why.
Yesterday, because I forgot about the time difference, I livestreamed the final third of a Capitol Fourth. It was fine. I was glad to see a lot of performers of color, including the host. And the cannon in the 1812 overturewould have done Tchaikovsky proud. I personally wold not have programmed “God Bless America,” simply because it annoys me that Christians seem to think it’s a Christian song so they have a monopoly on iy, when in fact it’s a Jewish song, written by Irving Berlin. But they certainly could have done worse.
I’m not sure why this never occurred to me before … but in view of the fact that so many uptight Republicans live in rural areas, it seems odd that they appear tp think they can “protect” children from learning about sex by regulating porn. Kids living on farms and especilly ranches probably see more sex (granted betweem animals) than even the most enterprising city and suburban kids can manage to access on the internet. Do you suppose this isn’t about morals at all, but rather about rural people reproducing more, and the rest of us reproducing less?
I figure we’ll all be talking about this for a while. This article not only discusses the topic, but provides additional reference to knowledgeable people’s responses which could sstart a lot of conversation. I don’t, owever, think we should lose sight of the facts that our number one priority needs to be re-electing Biden, and our number two (a very close two) is giving him the Congress he needs to work with.
The above is a snapshot. I would not deliberately send y’all to Xitter. The full text is here.
Yesterday, Rocky Mountain PBS advised me (and the rest of their mailing list) that the NOAA is nowchanging the altitude of everything in the US to accomodate rising sea levels. None of our 14,000+ foot mountains will be under 14,000 feet – YET. I think this is a good thing, although it needs more publicity. Applying sea level rise to every place where peole live may help bring the reality home. Also yesterday (I’m calling it yesterday – it arrived in my inbox before midnight, but she dated it July 3, and she’s 2 hours ahead pf me, so it probably was yesterday for her) Joyce Vance published a column answering some of the questions her readers had about the immunity opinion. It may well answer some of your questions too. It starts by answering a question I wouldn’t have been knowledgeable enough to ask, so there’s that. Finally, Rudy Giuliani has officially been disbarred in New York.
here’s a video for you to enjoy. (Xitter embeds on DU work for me, and I hope for you too. But if they don’t, here’s Youtube.)
The New York Times has become so useless that I understand if you are surprised that I am sharing this article (no paywall) – such a long one too. But there are also leaders of Black and Hispanic working class groups saying some similar things. As Democrats, our goal is to make life better and safer for everyone, isn’t it? We will fail and keep failing if we don’t start listening.
Of course they already think they don’t have to play by any rules. And they certainly won’t think they have to play by any new rules. Maybe, if we can be sharp enough, we could lock some of them up. That would be nice.
Yesterday, The Borowitz Report addressed the Supreme Court. Andy apparently can’t count, and only two of his proposed replacements are lawyers, but it’s still delicious to think about – and the devil is in the details.
I expect that everyone remembers [retired conservative] federal judge [J. Michael] Luttig from his testimony to the January 6 Select Committee. His delivery was so slow and deliberate that some people thought he was age-impaired, but that was not the reason. The actual reason he spoke that way was because the matter was (and is) so important and he wanted to make sure that not a syllable was missed. Well, he’s in the news again, and this time with thoughts so powerful that no one else has the spine to say them out loud. I hope Jack Smith has the spine to hear them. I suspect that if anyone does, it is he.
Robert Reich‘s point, expressed in the first few paragraphs is something I have known foe so long that I tend to forget that not everyone knows, which allows so many to be misled. Heck, I learned in business school that the very word “bureaucracy” was coined to describe what Reich must now call the “administrative state” because the other has been so tarnished. Federal agencies and the regulations they impose are designed to protect we the people from the most dangerous monster on earth – corporations.
Yesterday, SCROTUS released more decisions, and JOyce Vance is going to have a lot to say. So are others – most everyone I subcribe to on Substack and also many others. And I’m sure all of you will also have opinions. It may take me a while, but I’ll share a few evemntually which I consider the best thought out and worded.
It’s always possible that our altitude might exacerbate this effect (the lowest point in Colorado is between 3000 and 4000 feet. It’s in some riverbed.) But I doubt that accounts for all of these effects. I’d recommend not living near an oil well in any state.
A DU member who received a somewhat detailed summary of the Biden/Harris team’s response to the debate reactions posted it in full. It should be somewhat reassuring. Here it is.
Yesterday was quite a day.When I got into the car to go see Virgil, of course it started right up, but when I backed up and started to turn, the power steering was clearly dead. I decided not to call USAA, even though that’s already paid for through my insurance, because they are kind of a one-trick pony – if it doesn’t fit into the most common categories, they’ll only tow it. And if it turned out to be just brake fluid, I wanted to be able to see Virgil. Instead I called the guy who (you may or may not remember) I called on our anniversary who successfully jumped it, noticed there was a spill under my front end ad topped up the radiator, and noticed my tires were low and inflated them all. Well, it wasn’t the fluid, and it wasn’t any of the fuses,so he went under the car, and it turned out it was simple after all. I learned that under the car there are spindles around which the belts get rotated which send electric power to whatever needs it. there are more than one (I think he said three) and there are at least two belts on any one of them. It turns out the steering is on the same one as the air conditioner. The steering belt was in place, but the air conditioner one had gotten knocked off (which can happen if one hits a pothole or a bump) and without both belts, the spindle wasn’t turning right. He put the A/C belt back in place and that fixed the steering belt and therefore the steering. Trying to explain it to Virgil, I just said “Dude’s a wizard,” but actually he’s just a mechanic who is trained all around and therefore has a lot more know-how than the guys who just jump or change tires or bring gas or tow cars. And, yes, he charges, but he also gives veterans a discount. So I got there, almost 2 hours later than I had planned, but I was and am so happy to have gotten there. We weren’t able to play as much cribbage as usual but we did play some. The hands ranhed from dire through mediocre up to halfway decent. But we enjoyed it. Also – las night – my local radio station devoted is pretty new Broadway show to “1776” For me that’s a hanky alert in a good way
On Friday, Marian Wright Edelmann posted a piece on the Sandy Hook survivors now graduating from high school. It’s a hanky alert. and I held it over the weekend to try to stay upbeat. But it deserves a read.
It’s anybody’s guess what SCROTUS is going to do with this when it gets there – and, in some form, it will. Personlly, I think if they ere truly the originalists they claim to be, they would decide, Sure, anyone can have a gun, aslong as it was made prior to 1800, or a replica of a gun made prior to 1800 with no updates. (‘m inclined to doubt whther any of the RW gun nuts can even load a musket.
