Open Thread June 8, 2022

 Posted by at 6:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 082022
 

Yesterday, my shoulder was fine in the morning (not unusual) without having had to do anything for it the night before (unusual lately.) I’m not suggesting that will be the new normal -but if it isn’t, I think I now know exactly where to place the TENS pads to help make it so.  Also, in the afternoon, my primary ballot came.  There’s not much choice on it – the only contested primary is for someone to run against Doug Lamborn, and that’s a lost cause, i fear.  However, I will do the due diligence and pick which one I think is the stronger  In this district, there’s no point in going for the more progesssive one.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Blake Masters Blames Gun Violence on ‘Black People, Frankly’
Quote – Masters boiled the issue down in an April 11 interview on the Jeff Oravits Show podcast, telling the host that “we do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it’s gang violence…. It’s people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly,” Masters clarified. “And the Democrats don’t want to do anything about that.”
Click through for article. I swear, I thought he was going to say that black people are JUST SO SCARY that white people JUST HAVE TO shoot them out of panic. Irony is not dead – but apparently you can’t see it unless you’re woke.

Crooks and Liars – Man Just Sitting Around Randomly Shoots And Kills 8-Year-Old
Quote – The sheriff says the shooter was “probably just methed up and has a history.” Maybe people with a “history” of being methed up shouldn’t have guns.
Click through for details if you can stand them, but the quote basicaly tells the story.

Robert Reich – The Week Ahead: Why everything depends on Liz Cheney
Quote – Cheney’s responsibility this week will be similar to Baker’s 49 years ago — to be the steady voice of non-partisan common sense, helping the nation view the hearings as a search for truth rather than a “witch hunt,” as Trump has characterized them. In many ways, though, Cheney’s role will be far more challenging than Baker’s.
Click through; don’t be put off by the headline. He makes a solid point.I honestly hope she reads this and (whether or not she reads this particular iteration – Carl Bernstein is saying much the same) chooses to live up to it.

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Open Thread June 7, 2022

 Posted by at 7:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 072022
 

Yesterday, I had said I planned to rest, and I guess I did. I slept almost 4 hours passed my (only a suggestion) alarm time. When I did get up, my back was really complaining (which the TENS fixed up pretty quickly), but my shouldr felt fine. I think (hope) I have found the sweet spot to assuage that particular pain point. In any case, I have material – two stories about Colorado, one a good example and the other a horror story – and also a story on a crime prevention tactic hat actually works (so of course it has no chance against Republicans.)  Today’s cartoon memorializes the first known summit conference in WEurope (I for one would not be surprised t learn that native Americans were doind it long before that.)

Also, please, everyone, cick back (under the comments, on the left) to the post published just before this Thread for Nameless’s wonderful post. (And here I thought I was the queen of workarounds. This is brilliant!)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – Colorado is the first state to abolish anonymous sperm and egg donors. Activist Erin Jackson on why that matters.
Quote – In 2021, Jackson, who had no prior advocacy experience, joined a handful of other activists in starting the U.S. Donor Conceived Council, a political advocacy group. Sen. Stephen Fenberg, the president of Colorado’s state senate, reached out to Jackson to ask what donor-conceived people want to see happen in terms of regulation of the fertility industry. Jackson was armed with data she had collected outlining the types of policy positions her community wanted to see. Fenberg ran with it: Jackson and the U.S. Donor Conceived Council were instrumental in shaping first-of-its-kind legislation in Colorado.
Click through for details. Ethics is complicated. The original concept of anonymity was based on the assumption tha donors had a right to protection, but this ignored the fact that those who resulted had a right to information too. What you don’t know CAN hurt you.

CPR News – Victim IDs released in coal slide at Pueblo power plant
Quote – The men worked for Utah-based Savage, a contractor for Xcel Energy that operates the plant’s coal yard. Witnesses reported that the accident happened on a feeder pile for the station’s coal-fired power plant, which is Colorado’s largest…. Rescuers found the bodies of the two men buried beneath about 60 feet of coal after a day-long search. The men had been standing about 30 feet up a slope of the pile when the slide occurred, according to the Pueblo Fire Department.
Click through for background (including a lin to the original story). This is an extremely good argumant for terminating the use of coal world-wide. (Not that Republicans care about people dying as long as they are making money.)

Vox – A study gave cash and therapy to men at risk of criminal behavior. 10 years later, the results are in.
Quote – That’s such an incredibly good deal that it sounds too good to be true. But it’s been borne out by the research of Chris Blattman, Margaret Sheridan, Julian Jamison, and Sebastian Chaskel. Their new study provides experimental evidence that offering at-risk men a few weeks of behavioral therapy plus a bit of cash reduces the future risk of crime and violence, even 10 years after the intervention.
Click through for full story. It’s far more complex than a single quote can communicate.

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Open Thread June 6, 2022

 Posted by at 7:13 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 062022
 

Yesterday, for reasons I won’t go into, I was late for my visit with Virgil. That is more annoying at this faco;ity than at prior facilities I’ve visited, because of the shuttle bus system. I ca arrive at the facility any time, but I can only get on the bus when it is scheduled. o I was late, arriving at the visiting room about 12:30, and he was also late, having gone to lunch. So the visit was shorter than usual, but still a good one. I’m just as tired as if I had been thre all day – maybe more so – so I’ll probably rest today as much as I can.

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Short Takes –

The New Torker (Andy) – Biden and Zelensky Reach Agreement to Send Americans’ Four Hundred Million Guns to Ukraine
Quote – In a move that could tip the scales in the war against Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have reached an agreement to ship Americans’ four hundred million firearms to Ukraine. “The Second Amendment calls for a well-regulated militia necessary to secure a free state,” Biden said. “I can’t think of a better description of what’s going on in Ukraine right now.”
Click through for full humor. This is Andy’s best idea since sending Abbott to Russia to take down Russia’s power grid. In fact, it may be even better!

Comic Sands (George Takei) – Boebert’s Inane ‘Reading Rainbow’ Dig At Randy Rainbow Has Fans Clamoring For A LeVar Burton Collab
Quote –

Click thrugh for lots more opinions – or just wait for it to happen, as you wish.

Dempcratic Underground (Applegrove) – Tweet of the Evening
Quote –


Click through if you like – I’d say the tweet stands alone (Also, all tweets I have quoted today are linked to Twitter, both at my source, and here. Click on the blue bird.)

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Open Thread June 5, 2022

 Posted by at 7:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 052022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Hemlet.” But I should be more precise, since this is a 21st century opera, and not the first based on Shakespeare’s play. The composer is Brett Dean, an Australian composer whose work is new to me, and who appears to have been influenced by Thomas Ades.Among the personae, I’m only familiar with those songing Ophelia, Polonius, and the ghost (who doubles as the Gravedigger), but those three are singers I know and like. The libretto is almost all Hamlet, although the lines may not be assigned to the characters Shakespeare gave them to, and it’s been hinted a few lines are from other plays.Two of the singers are counter-tenors (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern), and I’m glad to see contemporary composers writing for counter-tenors – provided they also write juicy roles for mezzo-sopranos (and this opera does – Hamlet’s mother Gertrude.) I’d very much like to see it – for me, it works well to hear an opera I’m familiar with, but until I have seen one that’s new, I miss things. I should get a chance though – it’s being shown in theaters, which means it’s being recorded, and should be available eventually for streaming from the Met’s website.

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Short Takes –

Democratic Underground – “Democrats officially have more seats on the congressional map than Republicans”
Quote – Y’all, with our win in court in New Hampshire this week, the 50th state is officially done with map drawing, the congressional redistricting landscape is clear – and Democrats and #FairMaps supporters have a lot to celebrate!… Democrats officially have more seats on the congressional map than Republicans – there are now 226 Biden seats to just 209 Trump seats. (This is +1 in Biden seats compared to 2020 and a vast improvement over 2012.)
Click through for details. This is a good news story which however does NOT mean we can relax. Democratic majorities for the midterms are not useful if Democrats don’t get out and vote – and we are notorious for that.

The Daily Beast – Utah County Gripped by Bizarre Accusations of Murder and Cannibalization of Kids
Quote – Utah County Attorney David Leavitt, who is running for re-election, is calling for the immediate removal of the county sheriff, Mike Smith, over a bizarre report implicating Leavitt in a “ritualistic” sex ring known for “cannibalizing young children.” The 151-page report, which was released by the sheriff Wednesday among law enforcement but has not been made public, is said to name Leavitt and his wife as integral figures in the trumped up conspiracy. The report claims the abuse took place between 1990 and 2010 and was carried out in three Utah counties.
Click through for story. Because this is why this stuff upsets me so. Anyone and everyone is vulnerable. the next pseron to get accused could be me. It could be you.

Letters from an America – June 2, 2022
Quote – U.S. District Court Judge David Carter reviewed a number of documents. In March, he concluded that one particular memo must be released under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, a rule that shields communications between lawyers and their clients. That memo was perhaps “the first time members of President Trump’s team transformed a legal interpretation of the Electoral Count Act into a day-by-day plan of action,” Carter wrote. He said that the memo “knowingly violated the Electoral Count Act,” the 1887 law that establishes clear procedures for states to certify their electoral votes and assigns to the Vice President the role of opening the certified electoral votes. Carter continued that the memo “likely furthered the crimes of obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.” Last week, the January 6 committee made the memo public in its ongoing legal fight with Eastman.
Click through – there’s lots more about the memo – and more about the implications of their plans.

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Open Thread June 4, 2022

 Posted by at 7:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 042022
 

Yesterday,I slept in again, due to shoulder issues again, although, because I resomved them a couple of hours earlier than the night before, I also got more sleep than the night before.  Hopefyllu I have figures out the frmula and can resolve them earlier still while they last.  I al assuing they are arthritis, and arthritis (and sciatica) hae a habit of coming in flare-ups and gong away again after 2-6 weeks, depending.  That doesn’t mean they won’t ever come back, but – touching wood – after my knee flareup in February 2020 (which was agonizing), that knee has been fine ever since – unlike some other body parts I could mention.  So there can be good long periosof no to minimal pain also.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Project on Government Oversight – How to Protect Yourself from Surveillance While Seeking Reproductive Health Care
Quote – Living under an abortion ban in 2022 will not be similar to 1972, before Roe v. Wade. Due to the massive surveillance powers the government now possesses, the consequences of the ban could be much more draconian. Law enforcement not only has powerful tools to monitor individuals, but can capture a stream of sensitive data we produce in our daily lives, often without us realizing it’s happening. And investigating individuals for prohibited abortions will likely direct the government’s immense surveillance powers at the most intimate medical, familial, and sexual details of people’s lives.
Click through for other aspects. I know a lot of readers here will never be pregnant – I won’t myself. But, in addition to at least some of us having people in our lives we care about whoo could, I found reading this made me think about other things I tend to take for granted. You may also.

PolitiZoom – Trump Tops Pumpkin Pie, Kardashians as “worst thing to come from US” In British Poll.
Quote – In a poll of 2,000 Brits conducted by Lottoland.co.uk who are pushing their own lousy U.S. exports, Powerball and Megamillions on an unsuspecting British Public, TFG walked away with the title of “worst thing to come out out of America” handily topping gun culture, the Kardashians and American Football.
Click through for details. Yes, this is fluff Bu it’s cool fluff.

Science alert – The Human Heart Can Repair Itself, And We Now Know Which Cells Are Crucial For It
Quote – Key to the study was the discovery of the role played by macrophages, specialist cells that can destroy bacteria or initiate helpful inflammation responses. As the first responders on a scene after a heart attack, these macrophages produce a particular type of protein called VEGFC, the researchers report. “We found that macrophages, or immune cells that rush to the heart after a heart attack to ‘eat’ damaged or dead tissue, also induce vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC) that triggers the formation of new lymphatic vessels and promotes healing,” says pathologist Edward Thorp from Northwestern University in Illinois.
Click through for full info. There’s nothing here that makes any recommendations for current patients – but it’s hopeful that such recommendations may come as we understand more.

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Open Thread June 3, 2022

 Posted by at 6:48 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 032022
 

Yesterday, I hadn’t slept well, due to a dull ache in one of my shoulders which wouldn’t go away and was just enough to keep me awake. Buy trial and error (lots of error) I was finally able to quell it with an [artificial] ice pack. But there was a lot of error which took a lot of time. So I ended up sleeping in.eventually I’ll catch up, of course.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Oh Look, Democrats Are Doing A Gun Bill!
Quote – House Democrats are introducing some tough legislation on guns that can serve as a reminder that one party actually has plans to address gun violence, while the other blathers on about a catalogue of bullshit distractions meant to avoid doing anything about the goddamned guns. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) has introduced a bill called the “Protecting Our Kids Act” that combines several smaller gun control bills; Nadler scheduled the bill for a markup session beginning tomorrow, even though the House is in recess, so the bill could potentially be ready for a vote next week.
Click through for story. I’m sure we could find it less snarkily told – but Wonkette does respect facts, so I’m confident of theinformaition.

Mother Jones – How John Durham’s Probe Has Exposed Trump’s Russia Con
Quote – Despite declaring over two years ago that he had reason to question the FBI’s opening of the Russia investigation, Durham has failed to make good on his assertion. His investigation has yielded zilch in this regard. His prosecutions are all sideshows. But Durham has done Trump and his cultists a great favor by providing material they can exploit for one of their favorite pastimes: deflection.
Click through for why this matters. Personal confession: That stern (by courtesy) facial expression of Durham’s is probably supposed to inspire fear. To me it just makes him look stupid.)

PolitiZoom – Gary Kasparov Chastises Those Who Would Sell Out Ukraine to Putin
Quote – Stop thinking about concessions Ukraine can make. They are paying a terrible price in blood, with decades of rebuilding to come. They are paying for years of weakness and corruption of the European nations that eagerly did business & diplomacy with their invader. 11/13
Click through for details. It’s from Twitter, but via the thread reader, soreading it is not difficult. I do believe players of chess (especially Grand Masters) are worth listening to about strategy.

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Open Thread June 2, 2022

 Posted by at 6:46 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 022022
 

Yesterday, I finished that last new cartoon for June, which is for the 28th. It kind of got me thinking. Some of us have probably heard about the “Habsburg jaw,” which this Habsburg certainly had, and the beard didn’t do much to hide it. These days I see a lot of jokes about moronic and generally poor MAGAts who perhaps result from inbreeding – but historicall, all the way back to ancient Egypt, it was not the poor butthe wealthy who famously inbred (presumably under theimpression that no one but others in their class were good enough for them.) Tutankhamen for instance – his mummy has been examined and by modern specialists, who indicate he had so many deformities he may never have had a pain free day in his short life. In Eurpoe, not only the Habsburg jaw but the Russian royal family’s hemophilia came from inbreeding. Of course it sometimes occurred among the poor as well, particularly if there were some reason which required them to live in isolation, such as the Sawney Bean case in Scotland – that family was anything but rich (although modern Scots with the surname Bean are thoughy to be descendants of MacBeth, so go figure.) I also have established my list to make a record for July of which cartoons from 2014 I can reuse and which I can’t. I haven’t started that actual reviewing yet, and I won’t start this week fur sure, but when I am ready, I’m prepared.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – This QAnon Leader Could Control Key Elections in 2024
Quote – While the 65-year-old Willott remains all but unknown outside of QAnon, he’s a figure with growing influence in both the conspiracy-theory universe and the broader conservative movement. Along the way, many of Willott’s supporters have come to believe he’s John F. Kennedy Jr. in disguise. He’s also befriended Q-friendly celebrities, including comedian Roseanne Barr and The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel…. Despite his growing influence, almost nothing has been reported about Willott’s background. The Daily Beast has amassed the most extensive reporting on Willott yet, from his background as a second-rate investigator looking into Bill Clinton in the 1990s to his reinvention as the cosmopolitan secret agent Juan O. Savin, to his new role as a power broker on the far right.
Click through for more than you will find anywhere else… stuff we probably ought to be aware of.

Politico – ‘It’s going to be an army’: Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections
Quote – The plan, as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan, includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establishing a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.
Click through for story. I’m aware Politico is considered to be right leaning. But they seem to publish a lot of stuff one would think the right would not want us to know

Democratic Underground – The Party of the Brave
Quote – Republicans are more afraid of a teenaged boy wearing mascara than a teenaged boy buying an AK-15….
They are more afraid of losing their ‘white privilege’ than they are of losing their country….
They are more afraid of being called-out by Sean Hannity than they are of being called-up by the January 6 Committee.
Click through for full post. Nance Greggs is a community member at DU, but is highly respected aby other members, and this post may suggest why.

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Open Thread June 1, 2022

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 012022
 

Yesterday, I got an email from WellRed Comedy. That’s not terribly unusual,since I get emails on their tours But this one was about a new series which I had seen a little of on Trae’s channel but which now has its own channel, which they call “Puttin on Airs.” I had seen a couple on Trae’s channel, but the new channel (which has videos and clips ranging from under a minute to over an hour) puts them together in a way which – shall I say – makes them ore coherent. I may be able to use some in the Video Thread (not that I’m ready to just yet. I do suspect looking at, for instance, Marie Antoinette and Henry VII through Trae’s and Corey’s eyes may well be worth a look see.

Also, I have to admit that that tiny little patch, smaller than a postage stamp, actually stayed in place overnight. Amazing.

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Short Takes –

No More Mister Nice Blog – MAYBE THE COMMENTARIAT SHOULD TRY LEARNING SOME BASIC FACTS
Quote – I’m pleased that he recognizes the uniquely American nature of this sick fetishization. But how can he not “fully understand the message”? This ad shows a little kid fondling an assault weapon under a Bible verse (Proverbs 22:6) because — as is obvious to anyone who’s paid a reasonable amount of attention to U.S. conservatism in recent years — right-wing Americans don’t just believe they have an unlimited right to bear arms, they believe that this right was given to Americans by God.
Click through for full blog. I don’t know what the answer is. I am coming around to the idea that, since “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” we should concentrate on regulating gun owners before trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the guns, and also that a big part of that should be getting ANY guns out of the hands of domestic violence perps and animal abusers who are provably associated with way more than their share of incidents.) This also may not work, but at least it is in line with their own rhetoric, and not just ours.

Daily Kos (Walter Einenkel) – Qronicles of Anon: It’s all about saving the children—until actual children are killed
Quote – This has been a hard week in America. They’re all hard weeks, but this one was particularly difficult. It was a glaring reminder of the violent cost of our country’s obsession with guns and weapons, and how conspiracy theories like QAnon help feed the paranoia that’s necessary to believe everybody should own an assault rifle. The fact that the QAnon world, not unlike its Republican leadership, hides behind children while allowing their actions and inaction to end in dead children as collateral damage is breathtaking and gut-punching all at the same time.
Click through – the article doesn’t so much develop the headline; instead, it rounds up all kinds of QAnon insanity surfacing.

Raw Story – Pope Francis sends ‘powerful message’ by elevating liberal Bishop over Archbishop who banned Pelosi from communion
Quote – “The choice of Bishop McElroy is the biggest surprise of this consistory [the council of cardinals] for the church in the United States,” reports the Jesuit publication America. “A graduate of Harvard, Stanford and the Pontifical Gregorian University, Bishop McElroy has demonstrated that he is one of the strongest supporters of the pope’s vision of church among the American bishops since Francis appointed him to be bishop of San Diego in March 2015. By choosing him to be a cardinal, instead of others, Pope Francis is sending a powerful message to the American bishops and church.”
Click through for details. So many of the humorous things we see are just pure idiocy (like “gazpacho police”); our laughter diesn’t affect them, and the stories lead nowhere. This is a story I can laugh at and treasure – because accountability.

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