Open Thread August 12, 2023

 Posted by at 5:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 122023
 

Yesterday, Merrick Garland appointed a Special Counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Since the Trump**-appointed prosecutor apparently doesn’t know how to handle a plea bargain, this may be a good move.

Has anyone read, and if so, do you remember, the story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”? Originally a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it was made into a movie in 2008 with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (so there’s that.) The premise is that Benjamin Button doesn’t get older like the rest of us – he gets younger and younger. Well, I was reading some comments a Democratic Underground about how immature TFG is and how he is getting worse, and someone referenced “The Curious Case of Benjamin Butthurt” and added a picture of a TFG-faced infant screaming in a playpen. Fortunately there wasn’t anything in my mouth – I would have lost it.

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ALERT: If you have Ophidophobia (fear of snakes) just quit right here.

Short Takes –

CNN – First a snake fell from the sky. Then a Texas grandma found herself inside the chaos of a hawk after its prey
Quote – Many times in her life, Peggy had watched this exact same scenario play out in nature: Hawk sets its sights on its prey, swoops in to attack, drops it on a barbed-wire fence, then goes back to claim its prize. But she never imagined she’d play the role of fence. Four times, the hawk dove and bobbed at its prize – and at Peggy – before it finally scooped up the reptile and flew off, she said.
Click through for story. Thi is just wild, in multiple senses.

Colorado Springs Gazette – Cyclist hospitalized after rattlesnake bite in popular Colorado Springs park
Quote – One person was hospitalized Tuesday after being bitten by a rattlesnake while riding a bike in a popular park in Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs Fire Department reported Wednesday. Just before 4:40 p.m., fire crews were dispatched to Ute Valley Park in the Rockrimmon area for the reported bite. Crews with American Medical Response took the patient to Penrose Hospital by 5 p.m., CSFD said. Officials said the bite victim was “successfully” treated due to personnel’s “rapid response” times. “This is an important reminder that rattlesnakes are very present in Colorado Springs,” the department said.
Click through for more (mostly about precautions). I’ve never seen a rattlesnake in our neighborhood – nor heard one -but I’m about as far from the park this happened in as one can be and still both be in Colorado Springs. It just fascinated me, all the snake news all at once. And I’m still trying to visualize a snake striking a moving bicycle going by.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 11, 2023

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 112023
 

Yesterday, (OK, actually the day before but I didn’t get the email from Joyce Vance until after midnight) Trump** advised the court that he wanted his very own SCIF built at Mar-a-Lago. He claimed it would be cheaper than his (and his SS) travel expenses to and fro (it wouldn’t.) But the main reason, IMO, is that if there were a SCIF on his property, he would think that gave him the right to keep any and all classified documents tht he touched. (Building it would also delay the proceedings indefinitely.) For a guy who has no balls when it comes to courage, he has balls the size of church bells when it comes to arrogance. Also yesterday (really) I took in a grocery order which contained everythingI had ordered – but cost $25 less than predicted the previous night when I placed it. I’m still a little confused, but I’ll take it. The thing that made me the happiest was – let me backtrack a little – this spring they came out with a new flavor of unsweetened seltzer in their house brand which I really, really like. Apparently so did everyone else, since for about three months I haven’t been able to order it – it’s been labeled “pickup only.” Finally this week it was available for delivery, but with a noet, “low inventory.” I ordered 2 12-packs, hoping to get one anyway, and received both. It’s called “blackberry citrus,” and it really does taste like that, only not sweet. Yum.

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Short Takes –

Here’s an “Oregon leads the way” story.
AP News – Post-GOP walkout, Oregon elections chief says lawmakers with 10 or more absences can’t run next term
Quote – Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade made the announcement in a news release to clear up confusion over how reelection rules would affect those senators. Under Measure 113, which was approved by voters in 2022, lawmakers with more than 10 unexcused absences were supposed to be disqualified from being reelected for the following term. But some Republicans raised questions over the measure’s vague wording, sparking confusion over what the consequences of the walkout would be for boycotting senators. “My decision honors the voters’ intent by enforcing the measure the way it was commonly understood when Oregonians added it to our state constitution,” Griffin-Valade said.
Click through for story. Now that’s the kind of Secretary of State I want (and at this point have, though that hasn’t always been so.) There are some very spunky SoSes out there, mostly women.

Colorado Public Radio – ‘Hank the Tank,’ the California bear behind 21 home invasions, has been moved to Colorado
Quote – Tweet from Governor Jared Polis: “Today, wildlife biologists for the @CaliforniaDFW captured a large female black bear, who will be transferred to @animalsanctuary upon a one-time permission from @COParksWildlife and @coagriculture1. We welcome “Hank the Tank” (turned out to be Henrietta the Tank) to Colorado!”
Click through for more details. While in the service, I worked with a Master Sergeant named Henrietta, and she preferred to be called Hank, so I’m very comfortable with “Hank the Tank” being female. (P.S. I also love my governor.)

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 10, 2023

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 102023
 

Yesterday, Ohio’s victory was all over the news (as it should be!) Steve Schmidt in his Substack quoted the same Garfield speech which Heather Cox Richardson quoted Sunday (and which I quoted from her quote on Tuesday.) Steve quoted slightly different parts of it, and between them, they made me want to look up the whole speech. And I found it quickly in the Library of Congress. Garfield, besides being an anti-racist, was an interesting fellow. He was not just ambidestrous, but “could write a sentence in Latin with one hand while simultaneously writing the same sentence in Greek with the other.” (The History Channel thinks that may be a slight exaggeration, but whatever he did, it definitely impressed people.) When one looks at all the Americans who have been assassinated, and I don’t mean Presidents only, but other leaders, I have to wonder how many of these killings were done for money, and how much of that money came from greedy plutocratss. I’m not a historian, and I’m not a trained researcher, but I can look into history as far as a couple thousand years and see at least some assasinations which were quite convenient for the wealthy of the time. I wish someone who is a historian would take this on.

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Short Takes –

HuffPost – Alabama Boaters Charged After Attack On Black Co-Captain Spurred Riverfront Brawl
Quote – [A] massive brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, … began when white boaters attacked the Black co-captain of a riverboat…. The incident began at around 7 p.m. on Saturday after the riverboat, The Harriott II, attempted to dock in its usual spot but was blocked by a pontoon boat. The riverboat, which was carrying more than 200 passengers, waited nearly 40 minutes for the smaller boat to move, Albert said…. Multiple videos show the moment [Damien] Pickett[, the co-captain of The Harriott II] is attacked, which led to an all-out brawl as others, including workers with The Harriott II, came to Pickett’s defense. That included a 16-year-old identified as Aaren, who was seen on video jumping into the water and swimming to Pickett to defend him.
Click through for details – such as they are. I have to say it’s nice to here that the white attackers were arrested and charged (although – misdemeanor?) in Alabama, particularly after other recent news from there. Illegal parking on land is problematic enough – illegla parking on water – well, let me put it this way. Boaters who aren’t aware that harbors and docks have assigned parking for good reason may not be competent to be on a boat at all.  I might just add that earlier reports, including the video showing Aaren, identified Pickett as a “deckhand.”  I mean, either way, he was doing his job – but thats a heck of a thing to call a captain.

The Daily Beast – ‘Green Jim Crow’ Is a Ridiculous Insult to Black Communities
Quote – Black and Brown communities face the brunt of failed climate action and lackluster environmental policy. But there are those who believe it’s actually government efforts to ease the effects of calamitous effects of climate change that are to blame for the hard times of lower income communities. They’re calling it “Green Jim Crow.”… Though there are some compelling arguments in [self-described left-leaning environmental and civil rights lawyer Jennifer] Hernandez’s study—such as the proposed new housing map designed to increase the use of public transit only serves to reinforce segregative housing policies of the past—the premise of the idea is simply wrong.
Click through for article. I hadn’t heard the term, but, since everything with Republicans and racists is projection, I can’t claim to be surprised. This verbiage was bound to be picked up by them, since it solves nothing.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 9, 2023

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 092023
 

Yesterday, Katie Porter sent a fundraising email as unique as her whiteboard. She talks about her kids liking Mom’s cooking, and her jugglimg of cooking, and then offers to send her recipes to anyone who gives any amount through the email (If you didn’t get it, I’ll be happy to forward it,)  AND – by the end of the day, voters in Ohio destroyed the GOP trap proposition bigly.  Congratulations, Ohio!

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Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Watch Out for Renewed GOP Assaults on No-Fault Divorce
Quote – Conservative commentators are joining the calls to end no-fault divorce. Steven Crowder bemoaned the fact that Texas law permitted his wife to divorce him just because “she didn’t want to be married anymore.”… The earliest divorce laws in this country required the party seeking divorce to prove that the other party had committed one of the enumerated types of marital “fault” that the legislature had deemed sufficient to justify allowing the marriage to be dissolved. Every divorce law included adultery as a ground, and some states also had grounds like abandonment, neglect, imprisonment, or extreme cruelty. These grounds represented the legislature’s determination about what types of marital breakdown were dealbreakers. But the fault-based system had other features, as well. The party filing for divorce had to be “innocent” of marital fault themselves—if each party proved the other had committed marital fault, the law said that the parties had to stay married under the doctrine of recrimination. In other words, the worse the marriage, the longer it should last.
Click through for article. Republicans – authoritarians – want so badly to prevent women from hving any freedom that they don’t appear to realize that this would trap men too. I’m old enought to remember the so-called joke, “My wife is married, but I’m not.” That won’t fly any more.

ProPublica – Bullied by Her Own Party, a Wisconsin Election Official’s GOP Roots Mean Nothing in Volatile New Climate
Quote – Margaret Rose Bostelmann’s ideals are clear from one glance at her well-kept ranch-style house in central Wisconsin…. But her fellow Republicans have exiled her and disparaged her, sought to upend her career and, on this day in July, brought the 70-year-old to tears as she discussed what she’s been through over the last several years because she refuses to support false claims that Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election…. Now a suit filed in June by a Wisconsin man who promotes conspiracy theories about election fraud seeks her removal from the commission. Citing her estrangement from the county party, the suit claims she’s not qualified to fill a position intended for a Republican.
Click through for details. So, Liz Cheney is not a one-off. But – there are certainly not enough of them to be or become a national party.

Food For Thought
They won their special elections by 78% and 92% – and now they have national name recognition.

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Open Thread August 8, 2023

 Posted by at 6:15 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 082023
 

Yesterday, I got a note from James – our lurker who has had so many problems in the last few years, most recently multiple surgeries (and asked for vibes for those.) After six years, he has finally received SSDI. IIRC he had to re-apply once or twice, but even if that only went back to the most recent re-application, that’s still a couple of years back pay. He can finally be confident of a roof over his head, not starving, and being together with his beloved Cinnamon, the last surviving dog in what was once a family of house dogs (for a while he had to board Cinnamon with a friend, not only because of his absence due to the surgeries, but for financial reasons.) So he has freedom at last. Also yesterday – I know Colorado has a well deserved reputation for crazy weather – but can you even imagine a day when the temperature follows the pattern of the red line in the graph at the right? Yes, that was yesterday. Really. Finally, today is the big vote in Ohio nn a proposed highly unconcstitutional amendment to the state constitution. Be sure to keep them in your prayers (or however you communicate with the universe.)

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Short Takes –

Wonkette – Black DA Elected In Augusta Georgia So White County Creates Own Separate, Unequal Judicial Circuit
Quote – Reporter Justin Glawe details in The Guardian how the day after the election, before the results were even certified, Republican state legislator Barry Fleming sent a text to Doug Duncan, the county commission chair for Columbia, one of the three counties in the circuit and by far the whitest. The text asked, “Does the board of commissioners want to be there [sic] own judicial circuit.” (No one has time for spelling when they’re busy screwing democracy!) Duncan thought this was swell, so by December, he’d officially asked the area’s lawmakers to introduce legislation separating Columbia county from the judicial circuit that also included Richmond and Burke counties.
Click through for story. After learning what’s been going on forever in Newbern, AL, this hit me with the realization that stuff like this has been going on, all over, since 1964 and we simply haven’t seen it, despite its being done in broad daylight. Apperently even woke Democrats aren’t woke enough.

Letters from an American – August 6, 2023
Quote – On August 6, 1880, Republican presidential candidate James A. Garfield gave one of his most famous speeches…. Garfield promised that “we will remember our allies who fought with us.” He explained: “Soon after the great struggle began, we looked behind the army of white rebels, and saw 4,000,000 of black people condemned to toil as slaves for our enemies; and we found that the hearts of these 4,000,000 were God-inspired with the spirit of liberty, and that they were all our friends.” As the crowd applauded, he continued: “We have seen white men betray the flag and fight to kill the Union; but in all that long, dreary war we never saw a traitor in a black skin.”
Click through for the untold story. Sounds to me like Garfield signed his own death warrant that night. I know tht’s not what the history books say., but…. Also, we need to add another Republican to the list of good presidents.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 7, 2023

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 072023
 

Yesterday, Steve Schmidt wrote about a forthcoming debate between Gavin Newsom (CA) and Ron DeSantis (FL) which is to be hosted on Fox by Sean Hamity. He fully expects Newsom to triumph, and is looking forward to seeing it. Having steeped myself in the Alt-Right Playbook, I will not be watching.There will be far too many people unable to understand what the are seeing and unable to accept any victory but that of a bully. I have screamed about that too may times and am quite hoarse already. Though I’d love to be wrong. Steve says Gavin gave him the best parenting advice he has ever received, and to this day asks whenever they meet how his son is doing. MAGAts’ idea of parenting advice is “Raise your son to be a monster.” Yes, some of them actually say that. Along with make sure your kids have guns. I just can’t. Anyway, the date has not been set, but Steve promises updates as soon as available. Backing up a little, earlier this week (most of you probably got this) our Mitch sent a photo of a Monarch on the milkweed he had planted to attract them, and remarked that he hoped for caterpillars. Yesterday, he sent a couple of photos of caterpillars. Of course I congratulated the butterfly foster daddy!

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Short Takes –

HuffPost – The Network Behind Trump’s Election Lies Hasn’t Backed Down — Despite His Indictment
Quote – But Trump’s attempts to overturn the election were enabled by a fertile environment to bolster his groundless claims. Several co-conspirators allegedly helped manufacture and push the lies that fueled his attempt to steal a second term, per the indictment, in addition to a network of supporters who have invested their time and energy over the past three years in supporting the big lie. While none of these allies were charged in the indictment ― Trump is the sole named defendant ― it’s hard to deny the culture of election denial they helped create.
Click through for essay. If it were just Trump**… we could deal with it. It’s this that’s the problem going forward.

CNN – Black mayor of tiny Alabama town says he was ousted by his White predecessor
Quote – LaQuenna Lewis said she was introduced to Braxton as the mayor by a mutual friend when she was looking to find a base for her non-profit food distribution work. She told CNN he helped with that request and then she decided she had to help him over his disputed mayorship. “I was just in disbelief because I had never seen or heard of anything like that,” said Lewis, who added that her family had lived around Newbern “forever.” It took time to find the right attorneys and get the lawsuit going, she said, but it was still relevant even more than three years after Braxton was told he was mayor. “I was noticing that people felt like this is a small town, it didn’t merit the attention,” she said. “But this is definitely major. This is something that if it’s happening here, you never know where else it’s happening.”
Click through – yes, I covered this when it came out locally, but it’s now national news (a good thing) and there are some updates.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 6, 2023

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 062023
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Benjamin Britten’s “Turn of the Screw” (libretto by Myfanwy Piper – she was a Welsh poet and librettist), based on the novella by Henry James. I saw this opera performed when I was in college, and I had read the book, and I’ve read critical works about both, and I have no idea what happens in it. But that’s because no oe does. (Well, maybe Henry James, but he’s dead. And Britten and Piper knew what they intended, but they’re dead too.) It’s one of two things. Either a governess comes to s country home to care for a young brother and sister, where the ghostsof the previous (deceased) governess and a (recently deceased) butler have demonically possessed them. Or else, a governess comes to a country home to take care of a young brother and sister, but becomes delusional and evuntually psychotic. And part of the point is that none of the creators – not James, not Britten, not Piper – wanted anyone to know for sure which was “reality.” It’s creepier this way. Britten’s other operas include “Peter Grimes” (considered his masterpiece). “Billy Budd,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “Albert Herring,” of which only Peter Grimes is at all ambiguous. And it’s not ambiguous in the same way. There’s no question about what happened – only the degree to which Grimes could have prevented the worst of it if he had done things differently. I’m not sure of that either, but there is enough information that I can understand taking a position and being comfortable with that position, either way. Turn of the Screw, not so much. Melodically, probably the most memorable part is the little song the children sing, “Malo, malo, malo, malo” which due to the peculiarities of Latin really does translate to “I would rather be in an apple tree than a naughty boy in adversity.” Of course the repetition of it doesn’t hurt in making it memorable, nor does the growing implication that i’s darker than the actual meaning would suggest. This production was recorded in Budapest in September 2022, and conducted by Ivan Fischer.  It’s scored for only 13 musicians.  Britten really demonstrates that, if you know wht you re doing, you can get a wole lot of color out of an ensemle that small.  There are six characters, and five of them are sopranos.  The other is a tenor.  Most composers will make their villains baritones, and especially if the villain is supernatural.  I find it much scarier if that character is a tenor.

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Short Takes –

Today’s Edition Newsletter – Our role in ensuring accountability.
Quote – We find ourselves in an unfair situation: To hold Trump to account for his crimes, we must defeat him politically. Embedded in that unfair proposition are two disturbing corollaries:
If Trump (or a surrogate) is elected, a Republican Attorney General will dismiss the charges against Trump; and
Republicans in Congress will accept that perversion of justice by Trump and his Attorney General as “business as usual” in the post-truth, post-democracy second Trump administration.
Click through (and click “Continue Reading”). He’s right. It isn’t fair at all. But – if you thought you could sit back and let the Special Counsel’s office work – you can’t. Actually, I’m sure no one here was intending to sit back and relax for anything longer than a short victory lap. But – if you know anyone who is – best pass this on.

NPR – Petting other people’s dogs, even briefly, can boost your health.
Quote – I started pondering the power of dogs during one of my daily strolls around my neighborhood. Almost invariably, I’ll run into at least one person walking their dog. If I get the OK to pet the pooch, it’s a joyous moment of cooing and sloppy kisses. I always walk away from these canine exchanges feeling just a bit more relaxed, and happy. And that got me wondering, could these short interactions with other people’s dogs actually be good for me?
Click through for story. Though not mentioned, I’m sure this is also true for cats – for some people, even more so. “Dog people” and “cat people” do exist (granted with a good deal of overlap.)

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 5, 2023

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 052023
 

Yesterday, It was fairly quiet. Actually, it was really quiet around here – and there wasn’t that much in the news. Of course Thursday was the big news day. After that, most other news is going to be anticlimactic. I did manage to find a couple of things to say, though. WRT the FFT, ordinarily I’d put it in the video thread. But the success story, which I covered here, but not from this angle, is a victory most of us, maybe all of us were part of, as he points out.

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Short Takes –

The 19th – Young Americans who identify with gun culture are more likely to believe in male supremacy, research shows
Quote – Pasha Dashtgard, the director of research at PERIL and an expert on male supremacy and online radicalization, said one factor propelling this sentiment is a shifting economic landscape in America. “In places of economic instability, men are shifting from this attitude of man as provider to man as protector,” he said. “You may not be able to, as a man, be the primary breadwinner, but you can — through acquiring guns and the willingness to use guns for violence — reclaim your masculinity as a protector.” Even in young people, this sentiment was notable and behind many of the things that participants expressed to the researchers during interviews. Dashtgard said this speaks to a larger cultural dynamic at play currently, where many White men are feeling unsure of how to articulate themselves as men in current society. As a result, many young men are turning to guns as an “unimpeachable access to masculinity.”
Click through for details. “What a surprise!” said no one ever.Apparently we need to provide education to teach people who don’t realize it that a gun and a penis are not the same.

Colorado Public Radio – ‘I Am the Bridge’: How a poem being presented at an African cultural event in Arvada was created by 50 people from different ethnicities and cultures
Quote – Words of resilience, marginalization, trepidation and community were spoken when about 50 people showed up on July 1 at a spiritual center in Arvada to brainstorm lines for what eventually became “I Am the Bridge: A Poem By All Of Us.” It’s a four-page poem with contributions from local Native Americans, Asians, Hispanic people, Jewish people, European people, Black Americans and African immigrants. It will be performed by seven people, one representing each of these groups, at the Arvada Center on Saturday evening.
Click through for a few quotes and more information. It isn’t Amanda Gorman, but it is powerful nevertheless.

Food For Thought

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