Open Thread October 14, 2022

 Posted by at 6:50 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 142022
 

Yesterday – Well, that was interesting. My best advice is to get earplugs or noise-reducing headsets out th protect aganst the deafening howls and sceams coming from Mar-a-Lago. (If you need to make some, don’t use loose cotton strands – they get stuck too easily. Rolled up fabric or pieces cut from sponges are safer.) In other news, a new poll shows Adam Frisch tied with Lauren Boebert (however, see short take #2.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Democratic Underground (UCmeNdc) – FBI Source in Mar-a-Lago Investigation Shot and Left for Dead at Canadian Resort
Quote – So yeah, that’s not good. Man helps the FBI, and then the man ends up getting shot by three men who escape in a black SUV. And those files don’t necessarily pertain just to his “partner,” they could be files she scooped up in Mar-a-Lago itself. Speculating, this woman fits the perfect profile of a spy. She speaks Russian. She is a Ukrainian but some Ukrainians were more loyal to Russia than Ukraine. There are a lot of moving parts here and the Tarasenko’s injuries are grievous enough that he wasn’t shot as a message to him.
Click through for story. The source is provided if anyone wants to dig deeper. A lot of speculation here, but fewer facts.

Robert Reich – Warning: The dirty little secret of polls
Quote – But wait. There’s reason to doubt these optimistic numbers. The debacle of 2016 election polls showing Hillary Clinton with a healthy lead, and the 2020 election polls overstating Biden’s lead over Trump, reveal a dirty little secret: Election polls overstate Democratic strength and understate Republican.
Click through for the three reasons he gives. The first two are unavoidable – just as the opposite unavoidably happened in 1948, when polls were done by telephone at a time when most non-wealthy peole didn’t have telphones in their homes. The third – I don’t knw – has anyone ever seen a shy Trump** voter? They seem pretty blatant to me – and confident that everyone agrees with them. In any case, GOTV efforts are, as always, vital for Democrats.

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Open Thread October 13, 2022

 Posted by at 7:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 132022
 

Yesterday, President Biden designated Camp Hale as a National Monument. It’s the site, high in the Rockies, where the Army’s 10th Mountain Division trained during World War II. “It was the first and only division of the U.S. military trained to fight in mountain terrain, and many of the soldiers came back to the area to help build the local ski industry.” Of course, Colorado Republican heads exploded. They are painting it as a “land grab,” but the entire area is already protected anyway. This is just a designation of a piece of Federal land as a Monument. It may possibly increase funding (which is needed.) I thought a little good news would be helpful today. I’m breaking my own (unwritten) rule today to use two short takes from the same source. That’s because, though each highlights a different person, both center on a crook from China, and the facts in both articles are from the same investigation. We certainly have some egregious crooks in the US – but we have no monopoly on them. Also, I’ll be watching the hearing today, so I won’t be saying anything about it till tomorrow.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

ProPublica – How a Chinese American Gangster Transformed Money Laundering for Drug Cartels
Quote – As they investigated [Xizhi] Li’s tangled financial dealings, U.S. agents came across evidence indicating that his money laundering schemes involved Chinese government officials and the Communist Party elite. China’s omnipresent security forces tightly control and monitor its state-run economy. Yet Li and others moved tens of millions of dollars among Chinese banks and companies with seeming impunity, according to court documents and national security officials. The criminal rings exploited a landscape in which more than $3.8 trillion of capital has left China since 2006, making the country the world’s top “exporter of hot money,”
Click through for the beginning of the onvestigation (and probably ore than you ever wanted to know about money laundering.)

ProPublica – The Globetrotting Con Man and Suspected Spy Who Met With President Trump
Quote – In July 2018, President Donald Trump met at his New Jersey golf club with a Chinese businessman who should have never gotten anywhere near the most powerful man in the world. Tao Liu had recently rented a luxurious apartment in Trump Tower in New York and boasted of joining the exclusive Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But Liu was also a fugitive from Chinese justice. Media reports published overseas three years before the meeting had described him as the mastermind of a conspiracy that defrauded thousands of investors.
Click through for Part Two of the investigation. This is more information which doesn’t exactly make the Secret Service look good.

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Open Thread October 12, 2022

 Posted by at 6:48 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 122022
 

Yesterday, my radio station started its fall fund drive, so I started audio streaming, beginning with “The Score” – a one-hour program about music in film which I listen to weekly, generally during that one hour every weekday when there’s a program I don’t care for. This week’s theme was “mad scientists.” Timely for me, both because I had used that hour just the day before to watch a short biography of Thomas Midgley, Jr., called “The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History.” I thought of him when the host remarked that “mad scientists” in film seem to share a total disregard for the dangers of their creations. But throughout the program, I was also wondering if the whole mad scientist thing hd become so pervasive that the concept became part of the inspiration for QAnon, and other creations of the Alt-Right, with their disdain for actual science and facts. If so, it took long enough. In literature, it traces back to the 16th Century (Christopher Marlowe) and, considering actual science developed out of alchemy, almost certainly goes back to the dawn of humanity. Has anyone besides me ever wondered how humans, with all our crazy tendencies that are hard wired into us managed to survive this long at all?

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Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Kremlin TV Exposes the Real Goal of Putin’s ‘Revenge-Bombs’
Quote – [State Duma Defense Committee’s head Andrey] Kartapolov urged Russians to unite behind Putin, and his desperate plea spotlighted the true reason behind Moscow’s barrage of missiles: to curb waning public support for Putin’s mindless war…. Konstantin Dolgov, the former Russian commissioner for human rights,… yearned for pained reactions from Ukrainians affected by the strikes, asking: “Are they whining yet? Are they howling yet?”
Click through for the story. My visceral response is, “Republicans, everywhere, by any name, are all the same – the cruelty is the point.” However, Republicans everywhere, by any name, also lie. A lot. So who knows.

CPR News – Republicans hope to take back the House. Here’s what it could mean for Colorado’s representatives
Quote – While he’s not measuring any drapes, GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn said he would seek the chairmanship of the Strategic Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services committee. He was named the ranking member of that committee in January. The delegation’s longest serving Republican, Lamborn… also currently sits on the House Natural Resources committee[.]
Click through for full article – or, even better, check out your own state’s representatives – not just yours, but all of them. Every state almost certainly has one or more reps whose presence, or chairmanship, on this committee or that committee could turn the House into even more of a horrorscape than their mere presence in the House suggests.

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Open Thread October 11, 2022

 Posted by 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.

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Open Thread October 10, 2022

 Posted by at 6:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 102022
 

Yesterday, I went to see Virgil. I set my alarm a bit earlier than I had been on days I was going to see him, and that turned out to be a mistake. We live and learn. So I’ll switch it back (after I set it for Thursday’s hearing, of course.) Virgil appreciates and returns all your greetings. The weather was fine and the drive both ways was uneventful. Also, I thought I had enough sleep Saturday night. However, I still felt pretty tired upon return.  Oh, yes, and Happy Indigenous Peoples Day.

Cartoon – 10 1010Cartoon.jpg


Short Takes –

HuffPost – What The Weird Conservative Fixation On Electric Vehicles Says About Their Politics
Quote – The Biden administration has made support for EVs a top priority. The Inflation Reduction Act, the spending bill that Biden signed over the summer, included new tax credits for people who purchase EVs as well as businesses that open up charging stations. Greene has been critical of this effort from the get-go, and in February posted a 21-part tweetstorm calling the Biden plan ― which, at that point, was still under discussion ― “a one way ticket to hell.” Greene isn’t alone in making these sorts of arguments. On the contrary, the list of Republican officials who have attacked the Biden administration’s EV agenda in similar terms is long and includes everybody from Florida Sen. Rick Scott to Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
Click through for three reasons why anyone with a functioning brain and who doesn’t hate Democrats could be expected to be ebthusiastic about EVs. But, Republicans … What do you want to bet that20 or even 10 years from now they will be all in favors of EVs, and will never admit they weren’t always.

CPR News – As the reparations debate continues nationally, some Denver organizations are stepping up now
Quote – Risë Jones is walking around TeaLee’s, her three-year-old tea shop in Denver’s historically Black Five Points neighborhood. Soft jazz plays in the main seating area with about 10 tables, and in the basement is a bookstore with some hard-to-find titles by Black authors…. Jones is among several Black business owners in Denver who have received grants from groups raising private funds to pay reparations for the centuries of abuse of Blacks forced into slavery…. Jones received an $8,500 reparations grant to open the shop, one of several that have been distributed…. There are several organizations that do precisely that kind of work. One of them is BRIC (Black Resilience in Colorado) a non-profit organization that officially opened on Juneteeth (June 19) of 2020.
Click through and scroll down for the article – it’s below a podcast and the picture. Hey, they’re a radio outfit, of course they like podcasts. But they like articles too. There is so much in it for me as a Coloradan to be proud of (and that TomCat would have loved.)

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Open Thread October 9, 2022

 Posted by at 6:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 092022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “A Village Teacher” in Mandarin. While it is an opers, it is in Chinese, and was written by Chinese people, it is not a “Chinese Opera” – it is a “Chinese contemporary classical opera.” Traditional Chinese opera, which goes back thousands of years, had its golden age in the 13th century under the Song dynasty (It’s pure coincidence that the dynastic name sounds musical to us.) The art form’s name – well, one of its Chinese name – is Xipu.  There are regional variations, including the name of the form.   Tan Dun (who scored the film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” has written several western operas, including one for Placido Domingo, called “The First Emperor,” in which he inlcuded a traditional Chinese opera character and trraditional style – I saw that one on TV so long ago I think I have a VHS of it. But I digress. “A Village teacher,” just as it sounds, is about a teacher and her efforts to teach and help her students be their best selves. It premiered in 2009.

I also learned (I am now listening on the internet – my local station decided not to finish carrying the full season) that Chicago is already calling the holiday of October 10 “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” And I got confirmation to see Virgil tomorrow.

Cartoon – 09 Manhattan Project RTL

Short Takes –

Steve Schmidt – The Warning – Christian nationalism
Quote – Christian nationalism is evil and dangerous. It is antithetical to Christianity. It is profoundly dangerous. It is on the ballot all across America. Christian nationalism is incompatible with American democracy and pluralism. When political extremists take power in the name of God there is always death…. The separation of church and state and religious freedom are profoundly important foundational achievements of the American republic. The extremists who seek power in God’s name are not benign men and women. I hope this will be a warning.
Click through for the article and a video, which will also appear in today’s Video Thread (It has CC but you may need to enable it.) To share it with others, this is the link to use: https://youtu.be/XzKc748F34g

The Daily Beast – Russians Terrified by Putin’s Bunker Mentality as He Turns 70 With His Finger on the Nuclear Button
Quote – Russians are growing increasingly worried about their leader’s state of mind. In his most recent public appearance, Putin’s eyes looked sunk and foggy. He spoke to a group of teachers from a small office over Zoom. The idea was to celebrate Wednesday’s “Teachers’ Day”—but Putin couldn’t resist ranting about the so-called “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine. “That part looked really insane,” 17-year-old student Vitaly Shatrov from St. Petersburg, whose last name has been changed for privacy reasons, told The Daily Beast. “Putin, who many compare to Hitler for the violence against Ukrainian people, speaks with teachers from some bunker about Nazis.”
Click through for story. I’m 7 years older than he is, and my doctor says I look around that much younger than he is (I think I’ve already shared this.)  A different source says he has mobilized about 200,000 – and also that 335,000 have fled to avoid the draft. And he’s well aware what the repercussions would be of even a “small” (“tactical”) strike. I cannot get into the mindset well enough to predict what he might do.  But I might point out that for four years we were all terrified that Trump** would press that button.

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Open Thread October 8, 2022

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 082022
 

Yesterday, I decided not to use a story about The Onion as a short take, but instead to direct y’all to it here. Readers Digest versin, a man posted a parody Facebook page on his own page, mocking his local police department, and got arrested and locked up. The Onion filed an amicus brief on his behalf. Here’s the story, and here’s the actual brief.

Cartoon – 08 1008Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Brennan Center for Justice – Voting Laws Roundup: October 2022
Quote – Voters in some states are facing new barriers as they cast ballots in the midterms. Other new state laws are increasing the risk of election interference this fall and in future elections…. Between January 1, 2022, and September 12, 2022, state lawmakers have enacted the following voting laws: At least seven states enacted 10 laws that make voting more difficult — of these, 5 laws in five states are in place for the midterms…. At least seven states have enacted 12 election interference laws, of which 11 are in place for the midterms…. At least 12 states have enacted 19 laws that expand access to the vote.
Click through for full details – they break it all down, with receipts. No changes in my state – but that’s not true for everyone here.

Grid – The Supreme Court is hearing a lawsuit over Section 230, the law the internet loves to hate
Quote – The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear a case this term examining the scope of tech companies’ immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law, passed in 1996, has for decades protected internet companies from lawsuits related to content users share on their platforms. If the court breaks with the long-running legal interpretation of Section 230, it could fundamentally change how the internet — and particularly social media sites — functions.
Click through for story.  No one is happy now with how the internet – and particularly social media on the internet – work now, and I suspect no one is going to be happy with the way it will work when this case is over – no matter how it’s decided.  Because there just isn’t a simple, easy solution.

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Open Thread October 7, 2022

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 072022
 

Yesterday, I received an email from Adam Schiff which was … unbelievable. Or at least would have been unbelievable eight years ago. Nowadays – I didn’t look for the story in the news, but I wouldn’t be sirprised if it didn’t make the news. Readers Digest version – over last weekend a MAGA cultist ran an event for children featuiing a castle, a catapult [or trebuchet], and watermelons decorated with photos of Adam. The guests were allowed to launch the watermelons toward the castle … just like in the Dark Ages. I have no words. The event was a promotion for Kash Patel’s book for children, about which the less said the better.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Rolling Stone – Michael Fanone Is Not Your Fucking Hero [NSFW]
Quote – “So little of my life has been spent in that building, and — fuck that place,” he tells me later, after we have spent two days together very much not visiting the U.S. Capitol. “And fuck the people inside it too.” Like, fuck, for instance, the 21 House Republicans who voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6. Well, when Fanone got a load of that shit, he called up his friend Harry Dunn — a Capitol Police officer who had testified with Fanone during the congressional hearings in July 2021 — and the two decided to pay a little visit to every one of those House Republicans (“I was like, ‘I’ve got nothing better to do today. I’m going to go annoy some people on Capitol Hill’”).
Click through for story. I admit it’s long. It’s also colorful (much of Rolling Stone is) and kind of tragic. Having survived January 6 is probably better then having been killed there. But maybe not as much better as one would think.

Washington Post [gift link] – VP was in car accident; Secret Service first called it ‘mechanical failure’
Quote – A motorcade taking Vice President Harris to work was in a one-car accident on a closed roadway in D.C. on Monday morning, an incident that concerned both the Secret Service director and the vice president and revived worries about the agency’s history of concealing its mistakes, according to two people familiar with the incident…. By Monday afternoon, Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle received information from other agents that the alert did not accurately convey what happened, one of the people said. In fact, many other Secret Service agents on Harris’s detail and at the White House, as well as Harris, knew her driver had actually hit the side pavement of a tunnel…. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the driver overcorrected when steering, leading to the accident. He said Harris was unharmed and delivered safely to the White House.
Click through for details. Maybe. After some other things which have happened with the Secret Service in recent memory … anything is pollible.

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