Book Burning – Politics Plus

Open Thread February 19, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:15 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 192023

Yesterday, The radio opera was “Don Carlo” by Verdi, based on a play by Schiller (another playwright whose work inspired multiple operas, the best known besides this one being “Maria Stuarda” by Donizetti and “William Tell” by Rossini.) All three of those are based on actual historical characters, but hoo boy, is the history – and in this one characterization – off. And probably wrongest with Don Carlo himself.He is depicted as maybe a little hot-headed, but enlightened and idealistic. In reality, the best decription of this Spanish prince would be the line from “Greater Tuna” – “Vera, that boy ain’t right.” The one character in Don Carlo whom Schiller invented is Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa. He is the nicest and best human being in the opera. Well, we can’t have that in aplay/opera including the Spanish Inquisition, so he gets killed near the end. He does get the most beautuiful aria to die to in the opera, in fact one of thee best I’ve ever heard. So there are plenty of audience tears to water his imaginary grave. King Philip gets a nice aria too, and basses love to sing it, but given the context it strikes me as a bit ridiculous. His wife was engaged to his son first, and they had a chance to meet, and being two young healthy and attractive people (at least in theory) they naturally fell in love. Their marriage is supposed to be part of a peace treaty between Spain and France. When twice-widowed Philip decides to marry her himself, and for the sake of her country’s peace she agrees, I mean, what did he expect? Now, after all these years he’s whining “She never loved me.” Dude, you should be grateful that, not loving you, she was faithful to ypu in spite of all temptations. Such a Republican fantasy world. Possibly the most interesting character (at least the real-life one) is the Princess Eboli. She doesn’t come across as terribly nice in the opera, but she does come across as strong, and she was that, along with being beautiful She lost an eye in her early teens playing with a bow and arrows – not something one would exoect a girl to do – and wore an eye patch the rest of her life, and was considered the most beautiful woman in Europe anyway. In Spain even today, she’s kind of a feminist icon. She gets two arias, one just to entertain the court, flashy and tells a story, but not personal, and the big one in the last act, after she has betrayed the queen and confessed to doing so, which is right from the depths of honesty and contains, not one, but two mood swings. Ah, well. In actual news, one of out lost submarines (which the Navy refers to as being “on Eternal Patrol”) has been found, off the coast ofJapan’s largest island, just about where it disappeared in 1944. There’s more information here.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Trump Thanks GA For ‘Total Exoneration’ Which Didn’t Take Place.
Quote – Once again we gather together, friends, to ask the eternal question: Is Donald Trump really that stupid or does he think that we are? Or, could it be both?… [A]pparently Trump didn’t get [the] memo. He’s off on a mad tangent now, that the redacted report which was released today is a “total exoneration” of him, because it doesn’t mention him by name. Whut?
Click through for details. I think he knows very well what the situation is and is just hoping to convince others. Why, since convincing others won’t stop prosecution? No – but it very well could get his dupes to take up arms.

The 19th – We asked lovers of Black literature to curate a Black resistance reading list. Here’s what they chose.
Quote – Each year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, a group [Carter G.] Woodson founded, provides a theme for Black History Month. This year’s theme is Black resistance, which the group hopes will highlight the myriad ways Black people have used “to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction.” One way that Black people have always resisted oppression was through the use of the written word. During enslavement, reading, writing or teaching enslaved people to read and write was a crime punishable by torture, imprisonment or death.
Click through for full list. I wish I had had a list like this when I was in high school. i lived in a very white neighborhood until the age of five, and then moved into another one where I grea up. And went to very white schools. So white that I cannot remember anyone even mentioning black people until I read Huckleberry Finn and a couple of Rex Stout’s “Nero Wolfe” novels. At least all three of those were positive about black people – and “Huckleberry Finn” was also dismissive of whites who thought themselves superior, so I guess it could have been worse. And at least I did support the civil rights movement from the day I knew there was suxh a thing.

Food For Thought

Brilliantly created by our very own SoINeedAName:

Video Thread 2/8/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:54 am Open Thread, Politics

Feb 082023

Glenn Kirschner – Chinese spy balloons, Jim Jordan, and the debasement of the House & Senate Judiciary Committees

The Lincoln Project – Built Back Better

Farron Balanced – Trump Threatens To Help Democrats If Republican Voters Reject Him

Armageddon Update – Book Banning

Bearded Dragon Comes Running When His Mom Calls Him

Beau – Let’s talk about a laptop and a change of strategy….

Open Thread January 14, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 142023

Yesterday, I got confirmation to visit Virgil tomorrow. This is the second visit in a row I’ve had to follow up on my request, but it pays off not to get upset, and I think they are rotating assignments or something because the name in the “signature” was new to me. So I think I’ll just start adding “Thanks in advance for your confirmation” or the like to my emails. It’s easy to do, it’s not insulting, and it could save a whole lot of grief on both ends. I also heard from a friend in California, one town up from where I grew up (but we had to join the Marines and be stationed in North Carolina to meet) letting me know that the rains had been heavy, but that she is fine. That area is separated from the ocean by what they call “the foothills,” although they aren’t at the foot of any mountains, they are just there. They are tall enough that a couple of inches, or even a couple of feet in sea level rise is not going to affect the area, but of course rain is another story. I’ll have to start paying more attention to the weather, beyond my own weather and the big headline storms.

Cartoon – (So many of TomCat’s cartoons were clairvoyant. This one is from January 2015.)

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Oh Sh*t, Ohio Student Noticed Top Secret Anti-Racist Message Of ‘The Sneetches’
Quote – This is where we are: You can’t read The Sneetches because a kid might notice discrimination is wrong. And that’s exactly what red state governors and legislators have been accomplishing. She added that the school district is “really not about suppressing any viewpoints or dialogues,” which it did, actually. In addition, so everyone will have something to groan about, she also insisted “We do not ban any books,” which is true, because all she did was ban a teacher from reading one. Congratulations, rightwing hoax-panic over “critical race theory.”
Click through for story. Children, like adults, differ, and not all of them have brains that fit the “tabula rasa” theory. Some are quite intelligent. So, while I of course would not call any kind of censorship healthy, no matter how hard they try, some facts are going to get through.

Robert Reich – What to do about America’s “labor shortage?” Easy. Pay people more.
Quote – The reason people aren’t working is that work doesn’t pay them enough, given declining wages and the increasing costs of childcare, eldercare, and transportation. Both the Fed’s solution (slow the economy so employers can find the workers they need without raising wages) and the Republican corporate solution (slash safety nets so people are so desperate they have to take any job available) are cruel. They would impose huge burdens on many of the most vulnerable people in our society. If we want more people to take jobs and we wish to live in a decent society, the answer is to pay people more.
Click through for details. I don’t get it. Is it because Reich’s background is technically in the field of labor, not economics, that “serious economists” don’t take him seriously? He is right on this, he is virtually always right, and he has cold, hard facts to back him up.

Food For Thought (Our system can handle gifs, but not, for some reason, this one. But uyou can see it in moton here.)

Open Thread December 26, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:50 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 262022

Yesterday, of course, was Christmas Day. I got to the mailbox to pick up the cards which had come since the recent snowfall. As I was doing that, the “neighborhood cat” came byand I found him some treats. Sadly, he doesn’t like to be touched. But he did like the treats. I did a little knotting – though at the point I was in the project, I did more counting and calculating than actual knitting. Just a nice, peaceful day. Hope all of your days were equally peaceful!

Cartoon – 26 george RTL (and Kwanzaa-RTL)

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Trump-Paid Lawyer Takes Sudden ‘Leave Of Absence’
Quote – Stefan Passantino, the original advisor to key Jan. 6 witness former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, has taken a leave of absence from law firm effective immediately, as documented evidence and related scrutiny grows about his initial guidance for Hutchinson to mislead the Jan. 6 committee during her testimony.
Click through for a few details. It’s the arrogance that gets me. When she fired him, and hired someone unconnected with Trumpworld, why would he think she would not testify, and testify truly, about the “advice” he gave her? He should have quit long before now, and left the country. But I’m glad he didn’t.

Common Dreams – Biden Admin Opens First-of-Its-Kind Civil Rights Probe Into Book Banning in Texas Schools
Quote – The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has opened an investigation into Granbury Independent School District in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as NBC News, ProPublica, and The Texas Tribune first reported Tuesday. The district was the subject of a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) earlier this year regarding school superintendent Jeremy Glenn’s order that school librarians remove 130 titles from library shelves–“one of the largest mass book removals in the state,” according to NBC News. Nearly 75% of the books that were flagged for removal had LGBTQ+ characters or plot themes, said the ACLU of Texas.
Click through for story. The “Independent State Legislature Theory” is a pipe dream – but I’m sure there are limits to what the Feds can enforce in a state. And I’, just as confident that Biden and his staff know those limits precisely as I am that Abbott will lie about them.

Food For Thought

Open Thread October 27, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 272022

Yesterday, the weather report said (my paraphrase of a graph) “There might be snow tomorrow [today now], but don’t hold us to that; it might just be a little rain.” Snow for Hallowe’en in Colorado used to be like rain at 5:00 pm on a Florida summer day – you could practically set your watch (time or calendar) by it. But that hasn’t been true for a while now. So we’ll see. Otherwise, a quiet day.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters From An American – October 23, 2022
Quote – In 1876, “Redeemers” set out to put an end to the southern governments that were elected in systems that allowed Black men to vote. “Rifle clubs” held contests outside Republican political rallies, “Red Shirts” marched with their guns in parades. Their intimidation worked. Democrats took over the South and created a one-party system that lasted virtually unbroken until 1965. Without the oversight that a healthy multiparty system provides, southern governments became the corrupt tools of a few wealthy men, and the rest of the population fell into a poverty from which it could not escape until the federal government began to invest in the region in the 1930s.
Click through for full letter. I learned about “Reconstruction” in school, but I never heard the word “Redemption” in that context. That they should use that word for what they actually did seems to me blasphemous. “Redemption” means “buying back.” Buying involves paying a price. They paid no price – they extorted a price from the powerless.

The Daily Beast – Florida Puts Raging MAGA Moms on Book-Banning Council
Quote – In the name of “curriculum transparency,” Florida’s Republican-controlled state government has appointed several anti-gay and anti-mask conspiracy theorists to take charge of a new effort at public schools: banning books. This hastily assembled censorship council—tasked with retraining public school librarians to abide by new restrictions—is the latest ploy in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crusade to upend the state’s education system. But the council was also staffed under suspicious circumstances, with the state Education Department ignoring its own call for official candidates from local school districts and instead filling most of the slots with right-wing activists who have a history of proposing book bans. One was even nominated by a religious activist with close ties to the DeSantis administration a week before the department publicly called for candidates, according to government emails, hinting at secret coordination between them.
Click through for details. You can read or listen, your choice. Should Florida just change the name of its high schools to “Hitlerjugend” and be done with it?

Food For Thought

Open Thread September 21, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 212022

Yesterday, I decided that if I wanted to recognize Banned Books Week, I had better do so before the week was over (hence the FFT). I also received a grocery order. It came kind of late, and a few things were missing, but no substitutions, thank heaven. Both store that deliver are getting better at this (I probably should knock on wood as I type that.) Both now allow you to go down the entire list and mark each item “no substitutions” (or not) – so they don’r need to do any second guessing. One of them allows you to select a preferred substitute from a list of similar items – or specify no substitutions if none of them works This can be time consuming, but it’s way preferable to fighting after the fact about a bad substitution.

Also – Tish James has a mystery press conference scheduled for this morning at 10:30 Eastern.

Cartoon – 21

Short Takes –

Political Wire – Liz Cheney Introduces Bill to Avoid Repeat of January 6
Quote – [T]he legislation would direct challenges to state elections to courts and limit the vice president’s role in electoral vote-counting as “ministerial.” It also would raise the bar to challenge a state’s electors to one-third of both the House and Senate. Currently, if one member of Congress from each chamber objects to a presidential election during the arcane certification process, the chambers have to debate and hold a vote on the objection, as was done in 2021
Click through for article. It will definitely help (if they can get it through both houses, of course. The co-sponsor is Zoe Lofgren. Both are (says Captain Obvious) on the J6 committee. The more the committee learns, the tighter they could probably make it – but this is insurance against losing one or both houses. No point letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

CPR News – New COVID Boosters: What to know about the bivalent vaccines that offer better protection against omicron
Quote – Q How is this new bivalent booster different from the original booster? A The original vaccines and booster were monovalent, which means they only contained genetic information for the original coronavirus strain. The new bivalent booster contains information for both the original strain we’ve seen since 2020 and the most commonly seen one now — omicron and its subvariant BA.5, which we’re seeing causing the most infections in Colorado.
Click through for details. Colorado may be aabout a week late to the party, so you may already know this. But just in case.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 2/10/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:38 am Blog News, Editorial

Feb 102022

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Document Destruction; Pence Says “Trump is Wrong” & Republican Party Continues to Implode

CNN – NC elections board says it can disqualify Rep. Cawthorn from running over January 6 .[It appears to me that it is exactly the State Secretaries of State/State Elections Boards who have the sole authority to determine who does and doesn’t go on the ballot. I have wrotten to my Secretary of Stateabout my representative.]