Anxiety – Politics Plus

Yesterday, we got the snow we didn’t get on Monday – by 3 pm it was just a white blanket, and toe roads were clear, though a bit icy. We’re expecting more, but not until Saturday, and maybe half of what we got this time. Tomorrow we’re expecting wind – and when we get wind, we get wind. It used to scare me when I had the mini-van and needed to drive on the Interstate – I expected to be blown over at any minute. I feel much safer in the PT Cruiser, but I still don’t like driving in high winds. Fortunately, I won’t need to go anywhere this time.

Sherrilyn Ifill is a cousin of the late [IMO great] Gwen Ifill, PBS news anchor. I looked that up when we lost Gwen. Sherrilyn is a civil rights lawyer, and she can definitely write, as this post demonstrates. Many people are writing about what it’s going to be like on a second Trump** administration, mostly about what we can, or should do, and that’s important – but this post is more about how it feels. And that probably shouldn’t be ignored. After all, we have to deal with that somehow.

Colorado Public Radio’s newsletter today featured an article about Auden Schendler, VP of Sustainability at Aspen One (formerly Aspen Skiing Company, and the heaviest hitter there) who is leaving the company. By the time I got to it in my email, the story had been yanked. So, of course, it’s important. The title of the article was “Why this longtime Aspen ski executive thinks corporate sustainability is a scam,” so the yank is not surprising. Schendler has written a book called “Terrible Beauty,” which is currently available for pre-order only, and he has a personal website at this link, and also a Wikipedia page on him here,. If you scroll down past the book blurbs on his personal page, you’ll find a quote from him which is meant to be inspiring. After reading both, I am less surprised that he is leaving AspenOne than that he was hired in the first place. “Terrible Beauty” is, I suspect, a book everyone should at least know about and preferably read. Since it’s still in pre-order, I can’t be certain, but definitely the CPR article’s getting yanked suggests the importance of the book.

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio preovided an update on the death of Christian Glass, which was in a short take on September 15th’s Open Thread. Who knew that (sadly) commonplace police outrage in rural Colorado would turn out to be an international incident? You see, we give birthright citizenship to anyone born on American soil. The UK and New Zealand probably do too, but they also give it to children of there citizens born anywhere in the world. Christian Glass had one parent from each of those countrues … so he had triple citizenship. So now both countries have some questions for the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office. Oops!

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Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Are record levels of stress inside us — or outside us?
Quote – Studies show that women have nearly double the risk of depression as men. Black people also have higher stress levels — from 2014 to 2019, the suicide rate among Black Americans increased by 30 percent. Are women and Black people suffering from a “disorder,” or are they responding to reality? Or both? White men without college degrees are particularly vulnerable to “deaths of despair” from suicide, overdoses, and alcoholic liver diseases, with contributions from the cardiovascular effects of rising obesity, according to the American Council on Science and Health.
Click through for article. As a person who has experienced clinical depression, controlled with medication, I suggest that both are real. And that stress anxiety/depression and clinical anxiety/depression do not respond to the same coping mechanisms. But also that external stress from an unhealthy society should certainly be minimized, and everyone would feel better if that could happen.

Mother Jones – Don’t Try Serving Ken Paxton With a Subpoena, Unless You Want to Get Shot
Quote – Paxton responded angrily to the Texas Tribune’s write-up of the incident on Tuesday morning, framing the encounter as a precautionary maneuver at a time when elected officials are being subjected to violent threats…. But if it was concern for the safety and well-being of his family that compelled Paxton to flee from a suspicious man with a manila envelope, it’s not really clear why his wife dealt with him. If anyone is familiar with what it’s like to be subpoenaed, it’s the scandal-plagued attorney general of Texas.
Click through for story. Beau of the Fifth Column made a video on this incident also. Paxton must hate the Texas Tribune – it has a deserved reputation for honesty and reliability.

Food For Thought

Politics Plus

Open Thread January 8 2025

Open Thread September 29, 2022