Open Thread May 2, 2024

 Posted by at 5:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 022024
 

Yesterday, going through my email, I came across this headline at Wonkette: “Does It Count As A ‘Post-Birth Abortion’ When DeSantis Takes Away A Sick Child’s Healthcare?” Good question. It certanly seems like it should, doesn’t it?

Heather Cox Richardson writes about the interview with Trump** in Time magazine. I don’t subscribe to Time, so this is a convenience to me – horrifying as it is. Feel free to share it widely.

Joe Biden is certainly trying to extend humanitarian aid as widely as possible. This is such a difficult situation for anyone wanting to bring peace to the middle east – because the hostilities go back literally thousands of years – and both sides are wrong – and both sides are right. (Well, not Netanyahu – but he is not the whole side. And that’s a big part of the problem.)

Having bought and sold one house in North Carolina, handling my mother’s estate, buying the home i am currently living in anf refinancing it twice or three times, and also having at least signed petitions concerning the difficulty of black voters, especially in the American South, for getting voter ID – so many with no birth certificates – that these situations would have occurred to me as a problem. It didn’t, because privilege. But having now been told about it, I can certainly see the potential for massive Jim Crow abuse.

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Open Thread April 25, 2024

 Posted by at 6:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 252024
 

Yesterday, the Arizona State House voted to overturn the 1864 abortion law, the one whose author has been so discredited. If it gets through the Senate, the Democratic Governor will, I am sure, sign it. Arizona appears to be on a roll – they also indicted some election conspirators, including Giuliani and Meadows. Also, my radio station was playing Passover music (it’s not till Tuesday night, but this DJ normally only works this station on Wednesdays, so next week would be late. (The rest of the time he works at the sister station whoch features jazz.) That made me think that 613’s Passover piece might be up, and it is. They are a group which makes videos for Jewish holidays, picking an artist to parody and then signing information about the holiday in a nedley of that artist’s works. This year’s is titled “Matza Mia”, parodying Abba (of course).

If you are looking for some really juicy news about what a fiasco Trump’s trial is being (especially on Trump’s side), Mary Trump is your go-to source. This column is dated Wednesday, but looks back to Tuesday

Joyce Vance has links to trial transcripts and documents. This might be a good one to save as a fact-checker reference.

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Open Thread April 14, 2024

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 142024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss Jr (“The Waltz King”). This and “The Merry Widow” bY Lehar are the only two operettas I can think of which are sometimes done by regular opera companies. Both can be described as “zany.” Of course so can Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas – and, really, most operettas of the period. People have always enjoyed far-fetched humor. “Fledermaus” means “Bat,” and the premise is that, a year before the operetta, the lead tenor and the baritone went to a an event together, something between a party, a costume ball, and an orgy, and both got drunk. The baritone, who dressed as a bat, passed out, and the tenor (dressed as a butterfly) left him in a public park to sober up, and he woke to crowds pointing and laughing. This year, he wants revenge – and he gets it. And everyone except the tenor gets amusement and laughs at the tenors expense. When I was working as a volunteer costumer for my local college’s music department (before I got hired and paid by the theatre department), this was one of the shows I dressed. That was even longer ago than when the recording was made which they used yesterday to celebrate the operetta’s 150th anniversary (it premiered in April, 1876.) Also, I heard from Pat, who said her doctor’s apointment went well, and she is greatly relieved.

This is neither political, medical, financial, or helpful in any other way. It’s just interesting in that it reveals issues in the way we think about time (and probably other things as well.)

Many sources are discussing the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court that an abortion law from 1864 can stand. Much of the coverage includes lurid detail about the life and actions of the author of the law, which may be interesting, but really isn’t germane to the merits (and demerits, which outnumber the merits) of the law itself. This (gift-linked) article from the Washington Post doesn’t go there, instead concentrating on the effect of the ruling on the 2024 general election, both statewide and nationwide, and the reactions of Arizonans both in and out of politics.

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Open Thread April 1, 2024

 Posted by at 6:21 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 012024
 

Yesterday, Trinette was by – she says hello to all – we chatted for a long time, though. After she left, I renewed my PBS membership and changed my password on a website I have often bought jewelry supplies from, and which has just upgraded their site and have asked every customer to change their password. They said March 29, but I thought I’d wait and maybe avoid the rush. It went smoothly, which might have meen me waiting or it might just jhave been the upgrade working well. Anyway, it’s done. I hope everyone’s Easter went well.

Nicely done. And about time someone did.

TPM looks a litle different from other Substack users – I found two places I had to click to keep reading (both in the upper right of the page or the box) and a third when I refreshed the page to copy the URL. But I think you’ll find the information worth while.

Someone who wants to emulate Trump** had better take steps first to ensure that people believe he – or she – or they – have lots of money. The technique doesn’t work so well without that.

 

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Open Thread January 26, 2024

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 262024
 

Yesterday, I got up somewhat earlier than I had been doing… which means I also got sleep earlier than I had been doing. But I did accomplish this. And we shall see whether this attempt to change the shape of my day works or not (i expect it will through opera day, and not much if any after.)

OK, this isn’t really news – it’s a recap and overview of the House Dems campaign to make the House Oversight Committee look like a multiple of The Three stooges. Not that that’s difficult, but I don’t know that we have ever seen such a coordinated effort from elected Dems before – and guess who is masterminding it. Three cheers!

Now this really is news, and about GD time too. My link is to Democratic Underground, but this DUer got it from Reuters, so in case you want more detail, that’s where to go.

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Open Thread for September 28 2021

 Posted by at 7:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 282021
 

Yesterday, I did finish organizing my evening meds. I also placed a grocery order to be delivered today. I even worked a little bit on that front panel I mentioned last week. It rained a little, which is now supposed to continue for a few days.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Biden administration moves to preserve DACA after court ruling
Quote – A federal district judge in Texas ruled in July that the 2012 DACA program violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The decision left intact the program’s benefits for some 600,000 people otherwise unable to obtain legal status after being brought to the U.S. as children. But it blocked any future applications, leaving thousands of young immigrants in limbo.
Click through for story. The delay from July to now is because it was appealed. But this is good news.

The Daily Beast – Arizona Dems Threaten Sen. Kyrsten Sinema With No-Confidence Vote
Quote – “The Arizonans who did the work to elect Sinema have had enough of her betraying the voters who put her in office. It’s time for her to show the bare minimum of accountability and stop obstructing the agenda that Democrats, including her, campaigned on and were elected to deliver. Sinema is setting her political future on fire. If she doesn’t change course drastically and soon, it will be too late,” Kai Newkirk, a Democratic organizer in Arizona, told The Daily Beast.
Click through if you like – It doesn’t go into the consequences of such a vote.

The Guardian – John Hinckley, who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan, to be freed from restrictions
Quote – The US district court judge, Paul L Friedman, said in Washington during a 90-minute court hearing that he would issue his full ruling this week. “If he hadn’t tried to kill the president, he would have been unconditionally released a long, long, long time ago,” Friedman said. “But everybody is comfortable now after all of the studies, all of the analysis and all of the interviews and all of the experience with Mr Hinckley.”
Click through for details. Actually, he probably was never quite as insane as present-day MAGAts are. But I would still be nervous if I lived nearby.

Food for Thought –

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