Open Thread October 11 2024

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

Oct 112024

Yesterday,I was reminded of an expression I used to see all the time in early and middle 20th century detective novels (but it goes farther back than that.) it does, depending on the point being made, “[name] by name and [name] by nature,” or “[name] by name but not by nature.” For instance, the couple who took their interracial marriage to the Supreme Court and got it legalized nationally – you could call them “Loving by name and loving by nature.” what reminded me was reading that Jeff Crank is the Republican running for Congress in my district. Yeah, he’s definitely Crank by name and crank by nature. Oh, well. As long as he’s otnumbered – I realize that’s not certain, but we are working on it. Also yesterday, I got an email fro Scout Walz, sent by the Harris campaign. I expect all or most of you got it too. If not I’ll be happy to forward it. It reads much like a Dodo video. And one more thing, in case you have seen something about it, the Mollie Kathleen gold mine in Teller County, Colorado, which is now a tourist attraction, did not collapse. It did have an equipment malfunction in that the elevator which takes tourists about 1,000 feet down and then uo again, malfunctioned, and would not go back up. One person has died from causes yet unknown, or at least not published, eleven people have been rescued, twelve were still trapped as of yesterday, and at least one of the 24 is a child. Here is a link for more information. Teller County is the county to the immediate west of my county. My county contains a lot of natural beauty, but I think Teller County has more. Normally the most danger around here is from blizzards (which can be prepared for), hail, and occasional wildfires. Lastly, Ethel Kennedy has died. I’m kind of sorry she had to see what her son did to his father’s memory – and then didn’t get to see him put in his place.

Common sense should tell me that a judge, whether a traffic judge or a Supreme Court Justice, cannot know everything that is known by armies of scientists and researchers. And of course that is why trial attornies so often need to call expert witnesses. But this still makes me nervous.

This fear may be new to Joyce Vance, but it isn’t to me. I have not faced violence as an election “judge” but I certainly have seen situations which might have become violent. And that’s inColorado. She lives in Alabama. Violence may not be likely in her precincts, but I’ll bet there are many majority-black precincts which could easily see pre-planned violence and should prepare for it as best they can. Maybe not violence from ISIS – but definitely from vanilla ISIS.

Belle leadership

Cat

Open Thread April 29, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 292024

Yesterday, Trinete was by. She brought in my mail and took out my trash (and recyclables). We (I only helped a little) dismantled a chair which was broken beyond repair (my trash company doesn’t take furniture, but if we dismantle it andsend it out a little at a tim, it gets taken.) She says “Hi!” to all.

Friday night’s letter from Heather Cox Richardson summarized last week. Much of is is familiar, but there are one or two things which, as far as I can tell, flew under the radar.

Steve Schmidt writes about the new movie, “Bad Faith,” about the rise of Christian Nationalism and how dangerous it is. He provides a link to the trailer, as well as the locations where it can be streamed. It’s meant to be frightening, and it is, because Christian Nationalism is – well, I’ll say demonic. You an ake that as a metaphor or however you wish.

Long, but the length is necessary for the topic

Open Thread October 11, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 112022

Yesterday, I overslept. That was certainly no surpise to me, and some of you may even have been able to read between the lines of yesterday’s Open Thread introduction that I expected to. But I didn’t expect how well it would work for me. I hope I can get a lot done even though the day may be a bit short. Also yesterday, I discovered that Faithful America is co-sponsoring a petition with Daily Kos. You mey remember last week I shared a new web page they have on “False {Prophets” and which they are co-sponsoring with a number of other liberal religious groups. Daily Kos is not one – it’s absolutely a secular group. Of course, I knew that Faithful America was willing to work with secular groups for common goals. But it encourages me that Daily Kos is willing to work with a faith group on common goals too. I can assure you that there are a few indvidual members of Daily Kos who aren’t. And – yes, I am aware that Russia bombed Kyiv (with non-nukes, which are plenty bad enough) but I haven’t had time to dig into the details.

Cartoon – (How TC knew in 2014 that David would die first and Charles would stand alone by 2022 is beyond me.)

Short Takes –

Wonkette – In 1886, When The Rent In New York City Was Too Damn High!
Quote – Henry George made one of the most important forays in solving the problem of industrial capitalism. George started his political life as a Lincoln-supporting Republican in the Civil War but soon came to criticize the growing system of industrial capitalism, especially the dominance of railroads over American life, as well as the influence of Chinese labor on white wages. In 1879, George published Progress and Poverty, arguing for the Single Tax as the surest way to bring corporations under control. The single tax was a basic property tax. At its core was the idea that people earned the value of own their own labor, but that land was a common resource for all and should essentially be quasi-socialized with very high taxes on large landowners. George’s ideas quickly spread beyond the US and were especially popular with the English and Scottish working classes, as well as the Irish resisting British domination.
Click through for article – a little lesson in history. We are in a new Gilded Age, and there is still no “one way” to fix it – which should surprise no one. But it’s still true that, to fix it, we have to want to fix it.

[Business] Insider – There’s no such thing as an alpha male
Quote – As the writer Saladin Ahmed pointed out, the concept of “alpha male” wolves that assert dominance over their pack through aggression comes from a debunked model of lupine social groups…. David Mech introduced the idea of the alpha to describe behavior observed in captive animals. Alphas, he wrote in his 1970 book “The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,” win control of their packs in violent fights with other males. But, as he outlined in a 1999 paper, he’s since rejected that idea in light of research into the behavior of wolves in the wild.
Click through for article. This is not new iformation, nor was it new in 2016, when this was first published. But it just won’t go away. You have to feel sorry for David Mach – and for everyone still deluded by this fake idea. Captivity is not the same thing as civilization.

Food For Thought

Open Thread–6/21/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Jun 212020

It’s a better Sunday, here in the CatBox. My Fentanyl patch has helped my pain level and reduced my use of Oxycodone considerably. Tomorrow I have a morning visit from a Providence Home Health doctor, so how much I publish will depend on how long she is here. Kudos to all Dads.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:18 (average 5:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0621TrumpVirusMap

Cases: 2,331,673
Deaths: 122,005
Recovered: 973,061

Short Takes:

From Alternet: On Friday night, Attorney General William Barr issued a statement saying that the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffry Berman, had resigned. That was a lie. Not only had Berman not resigned, he had told Barr repeatedly that he would not resign, and had turned down other roles at the Department of Justice. So, about an hour after Barr’s statement, Berman issued a statement of his own, telling Barr to stuff it. Actually, Berman stated that he had been “appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York” and that he would only step down “when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate.” Berman is in the middle of a number of highly sensitive investigations, including an ongoing investigation of Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and his associates in Trump’s Ukraine scandal. So his removal clearly signals that Barr is, once again, placing Trump’s desires far ahead of such arcane ideas as justice, or the nation.

On Saturday afternoon, Barr produced a new statement. He’s given up the pretense that Berman has resigned. Instead Barr says, “I have asked the president to remove you as of today, and he has done so.” According to Barr, this makes assistant U. S. Attorney Audrey Strauss the new acting U. S. Attorney, but considering Barr’s knowledge and application of the law, odds are he’s simply lying again. Hilariously, Barr claims there’s no danger of there being an issue with ongoing cases because … the inspector general will see to that. As everyone knows, Trump and Barr just respect the hell out of inspectors general.

SDNY’s Geoffrey Berman has resigned. Perhaps he’ll have time to testify to Congress now.

Criminal Fuhrer Trump* claims that Barrf did this on his own. He claims he had nothing to do with it. One, or far more likely, both, are lying. Barrf lacks the authority to fire a US Attorney. RESIST!!

From YouTube (John Pavlovitz Channel): 5 THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER TO SAY TO GRIEVING PEOPLE. How Our Words Can Magnify Other’s Loss

Very well said, by an Authentic Christian (the polar opposite of a Republican pseudo-Christian). I could not agree more! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel):Facts don’t support what Trump, Pence say about coronavirus

Trump* Virus is an ongoing disaster, just like criminal Fuhrer Trump and the Republican Reich, who are making it so much worse. Here in Oregon, the most recent spike comes from a Pentecostal Church in Eastern Oregon. There Republican pseudo-Christians (the opposite of real authentic Christians) are practicing Republican guidelines on Sunday and infecting their neighbors Monday through Saturday. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): “REFLECTIONS OF MY LIFE” THE MARMALADE ~ 1969 – original recording ~ HQ AUDIO

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread – 12/25/2019

Posted by TomCat at 7:33 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 252019

It’s Christmas morning, here in the CatBox. WWWendy celebrates with her family on Christmas Eve, so my present today is to become a de-stunk TomCat. I gave her a set of Mellanni king size sheets. There are none softer. For her birthday last week, I gave her a large basket of gourmet sweets. She loved/hated them. She’ll be here around three and is bringing ham and beans, cooked in my pressure cooker to make it easier for me to digest. Merry Christmas to you all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:35 (average 8:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Three pastors at Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Virginia decided to give the holiday gift of school lunch debt relief to local families. While school lunch debt shouldn’t be a thing families (and specifically students) have to worry about, it very much is. So a group of pastors decided to take $17,000 from the church’s budget to erase much of the lunch debt at two local school systems.

The Rev. Brian Bennett, the Rev. Jerry Williams, and the Rev. Andrew Segre donated about $7,000 to Spotsylvania County Public Schools, which covered balances in the entire district, as well as just over $10,000 to Stafford County Public Schools, which covered balances at a few elementary schools.

“It seemed like a good idea, [but] we didn’t know if there was a need because no one ever seems to talk about this,” the Rev. Williams explained in a Facebook video, which quickly went viral. “So we called the school systems. And gosh, wow, was there a need.”

“This is not a churchy thing,” Williams stressed. “This — helping children and families — this is a thing that anyone can do.” He and the other two pastors say they plan to pay off lunch debt again. As The Washington Post reports, donations to cover this lunch debt came from the church’s 2019 budget. Because the church generally saves 10% of its annual budget for charitable projects, Williams suggests they could make a similar donation next year, based on their 2020 budget.

As Baptists are evangelicals, I probably disagree with these gents on a number of issues, but here, we praise and acknowledge the good done by those with whom we disagree too. They illustrate that, while Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians starve hungry children, authentic Christians feed them. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): 5 Ways to Stop Corporations From Ruining the Future of Work with Robert Reich

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich represents the greediest capitalists at all our expense. However, automation in other nations will drive American workers into the unemployment lines . Therefore, in addition to support for labor, profits must also fund volunteerism, child, health, disability and elder care, education, housing and food for those without means, and public research and development, and more, not just the accumulation of money by the greedy rich! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast for the season): Celtic Woman / Chloe Agnew – ”O Holy Night”

This is one of my favorites. Mary Christmas to all! RESIST!!

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