Cartoon – Page 72 – Politics Plus

Open Thread April 5, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:24 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 052022

Yesterday was thankfully quiet. I took my time getting these posts ready for today, and di some knitting along the way. My space heater in the computer room died, but I had recently gotten another one, planning to use it in the living room, but hadn’t placed it yet. Now I’ll be bringing that one to the computer room So that worj=ked out. Just after finishint today’s video thread, I found a new Randy Rainbow which will be in tomorrow’s video thread. Oh, and I heard from Mitch – many if not all of you probably did too. I told him to rest and just let me know when he was ready for more PP emails.

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Short Takes –

Letters from an American – April 1, 2022 (not a joke)
Quote – But Republicans since the 1980s have rejected that “Authentic American Center” and argued instead that the way to build the economy is by putting the weight of the government on the “supply side.” That is, the government should free up the capital of the wealthy by cutting taxes. Flush with cash, those at the top of society would invest in new industries that would, in turn, hire workers, and all Americans would rise together. Shortly after he took office, President Ronald Reagan launched government support for “supply side economics” with the first of many Republican tax cuts.
Click through for history, along with the current economic picture. Could it possibly hurt to start talking about “demand-side” economics, using that term?

AP News – Black Democrats try to revive party in Trump territory
Quote – In years past, Democrats in the region usually tried to win over independent and moderate voters by running white establishment candidates. That approach produced little. Now they’re hoping to mobilize voters who haven’t been involved in the process, especially Black, Latino and younger people.
Click through for details. This is a long shot, but it is not insanity. Insanity would be doing again what has failed for us so many times over and expecting a differesnt result.

Law & Crime – Federal Judge Refuses to Grant Ghislaine Maxwell a New Trial Following Sex Trafficking Conviction, Finds Juror ‘Testified Credibly and Truthfully’
Quote – “For the reasons stated above, the Court concludes that Juror 50 testified credibly and truthfully at the post-trial hearing. His failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate,” U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan wrote on Friday. “The Court further concludes that Juror 50 harbored no bias toward the Defendant and could serve as a fair and impartial juror.”
Click through for story. You may or may not have known ths was happening (I didn’t.)

Food For Thought:

Open Thread April 4, 2022

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

Apr 042022

Yesterday, I actually managed to place a grocery order in themorning and schedule it for this evening. And it actually came a little after six (I asked fror a window from 6-8) and by 8 I hadeverything that neded to be put away, put awat. And no substitutes. A couple of things missing or shorted, and the dishwashing liquid leaked over a bunch of things, but didn’t actually destroy anything, just made them icky to put away.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Fortenberry, Convicted Liar And Thin-skinned Bully, Resigns
Quote – Nebraska Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry is a convicted liar who has now resigned. Good. But he has never been held accountable for abusing the power of his office to hunt down and threaten the jobs of people who criticized him with a joke. You might remember his Chief of Staff made national news for threatening a state university professor for LIKING a Facebook post of a sign calling him Fartenberry.
Click through for more. While he heeds to be held accountable (and probably won’t) for his bullying, this is still good news. One down, 193 (or thereabouts) to go.

Letters from an American – March 31, 2022
Quote – Today, Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, struck down much of the new elections law passed by the Florida legislature after the 2020 election. This is the first time a federal court has sought to overrule the recent attempts of Republican-dominated state legislatures to rig the vote, and Walker made thorough work of it…. “This case is about our sacred right to vote,” Walker wrote, “won at great cost in blood and treasure. Courts have long recognized that, because “the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.”
Click through for story and sources. While we can’t depend on this not being appeales, not on keeping the ground gained if it’s appealed, it is still hopeful. Heather, BTW, has been on a roll. I’ll be sharing more of her in the next few days.

CPR – CU Boulder to host UN human rights summit on climate change
Quote – The University of Colorado Boulder will host a global climate summit in partnership with UN Human Rights. Thought leaders attending the gathering will examine climate change as a human rights crisis. CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano talked about the “Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit” in front of alumni and students in Washington, D.C. earlier this week. The idea for the summit came out of the UN climate change conference that took place in Glasgow last year.
Click through for story. This kind of thing is why Colorado MAGAts refer to the city of Boulder as “the People’s Republic of Boulder,” which certainly says at least as much about them as it does about Bloulder.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread April 3, 2022

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

Apr 032022

Yesterday, the radio opera was Eugene Onegin, a title charcter who would certainly be a poster child for FAFO except tht these days our MAGAts are doing so much more. It’s from a work by Pushkin which kind of foreshadoed Pushkin’s own death, containing as it does the death of a poet in a duel. But the music (Tchaikovsky) is gorgeous. And it certainly demonstrates some of the harms of unchecked privilege.And it’s not such an unusual story, especially then. There’s a duet at the beginning there’s a duet between the heroine’s mother and her housekeeper on the theme of “God sends us habit instead of happiness,” which I find terribly poignant.

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Short Takes –

HuffPost – Amazon Workers On Staten Island Vote To Form Union In Historic Upset
Quote – The labor victory in Staten Island is all the more remarkable because of the union’s unlikely roots. Amazon Labor Union was formed just last year by a group of workers in New York. It is led by Chris Smalls, a former Amazon worker whom the company controversially fired early in the pandemic after he spoke out about safety concerns, and Derrick Palmer, who works at JFK8.
Click through for this story. There was also a vote in Alabama, of which the results are not in as I type. It’s a long shot – but not impossible – but IF this Chris (short for Christian) Smalls is a direct descendant of Robert Smalls, Jeff Bezos does not have a clue what and who he is up against.

Artists paint Ukrainian sunflowers and dozens of other murals as art returns to the levee in Pueblo
Quote – Pueblo’s levee once held the Guinness World Record for the largest outdoor mural. For decades, hundreds of artists like Ramu painted on the nearly three-mile-long structure, creating one big mural. But eight years ago repairs to the levee destroyed that artwork. Now construction is done and artists have been back at work…. Their first goal is to be the largest outdoor mural in the United States. But they won’t stop there. The plan is to regain the world record, which is currently held by a site in South Korea. There’s a lot more levee to paint before that happens though.
Click through for story and some pictures. It’s always fun to hear about something practically in my own back yard I did not know about, especially when it’s somethng I can take pride in.

Ukraine Awards Medal To Border Guard Who Told ‘Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself’
Quote – The Ukrainian border guard who said “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” during the defense of Snake Island has been released from captivity, Ukraine’s military announced on Tuesday…. Thirteen Ukrainian border guards stationed on the tiny Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea, known in English as Snake Island, defiantly told a Russian ship to “go fuck yourself” when they were asked to surrender in February. The border guards were originally thought to have then been killed by Russian forces.
Click through. There’s a short video (in Ukranian.) “Glory to the hero” indeed.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread April 2, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 022022

Yesterday I got my trash and recycling carts movedaway from the curb back to where they “live.”And that was plenty. It’s been a busy week for me, so I was glad to have some respite. I did a little knitting and a ittle gaming, and tried to get to bed earlier than I had been most of the week. I’ll try not to get spoiled.

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Short Takes –

Report: DOJ Grand Jury Has Been Secretly Targeting Trump World For Months
Quote – The Department of Justice, as some of us said all along, is doing their job. They have been doing their job. This didn’t just happen in the past week because Congress members publicly complained. Even the reporters who wrote this piece get it wrong by saying the probe has “expanded.” These grand jury subpoenas didn’t just fall out of the sky, and it’s not in response to public pressure. Leaking the news? Yeah, that’s for the benefit of the public. But this is a hugely complex investigation, and they’re being careful not to screw it up.
Click through for details and some interesting reactions.

Navy ship to be named for late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Quote – Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced on Thursday, the final day of Women’s History Month, that the Navy would name a replenishment oiler ship after Ginsburg. The ship is part of the John Lewis-class of replenishment oilers which are named in honor of individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of civil rights. Other ships in the class are named after John Lewis, Robert F. Kennedy, and Sojourner Truth.
Click through for background. The entire class appears to be relatively new.

“CODA” Actor Troy Kotsur Becomes First Deaf Man to Win an Oscar: “This Is Our Moment”
Quote – “CODA” star Troy Kotsur just made history at the 2022 Oscars. The 53-year-old actor is the first deaf man to be nominated and win an award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Kotsur took home the award for best actor in a supporting role on Sunday for “CODA,” beating out Ciarán Hinds, Jesse Plemons, J.K. Simmons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Click through for story. Yeah, know, I don’t follow the Oscars either – the last time I watched was when Halle Berry won in 2001. But any diversity milestone in films is worth celebrating.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread April 1, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 012022

Yesterday was Transgender Day of Visibility, often abbreviated as TDOV. My Women’s History short date was not picked to celebrate it, because i didn’t know or remember it, but it did just cross ay mind that she might have been trans. But she also might have been gender neutral, or neither of those. It was just a[n interesting] coincidence. Today, to make up for it, I am featuring a real-life transgendered person from history. Some of you may remember seeing or hearing about her during her lifetime. I do. At that tme transsexuality (as it was then called) did not have the entire religious right line up against it She was more or less accepted on her own merits – not that she was universally acclaimed, but she did enjoy notable successes. I’m proud to say that I was not brought up to think of trangender in any negative way – just as something that sometimes happens. BTW, I will have no April Fool’s pranks in either post today. Reality is prankish enough.

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Short Takes –

The 19th – What Transgender Day of Visibility means for trans Texans this year
Quote – Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), celebrated annually on March 31, is a moment to celebrate the lives of trans people and to raise awareness of injustices they face. This year, it carries a special significance for some transgender Texans: Trans people still living in the state, as well as those who have moved away for school or work, told The 19th that they are thinking about how to use their own voices to uplift trans youth — and about what being visible ultimately means to them.
Click through for much more. Most straight people would benefit from a lot more analysis and contemplation of our own sexuality. Those who instead focus on others are wasting a lot of time and energy which could more profitably be ised to improve their lives. (Just my opinion.)

Colorado Public Radio – New Colorado law bans people from openly carrying firearms near voting locations
Quote – Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law on Wednesday that bans anyone in Colorado from openly carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a voting location, unless their property falls within that buffer…. It passed with no Republican backers, who argued it infringed on 2nd Amendment rights.
Click through for story. If “No electioneering within a hundred feet of the polls” doesn’t violate the First Amendment, then this doesn’t violate the Second. Ideally, all states should have this law on the books (not that there shouldn’t also bemoe voter protecton.)

Wikipedia – Christine Jorgensen
Quote – Jorgensen was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. After her military service, she attended several schools and worked; it is during this time she learned about sex reassignment surgery and traveled to Europe, where in Copenhagen, Denmark, obtained special permission to undergo a series of operations beginning in 1952. She returned to the United States in the early 1950s and her transition was the subject of a New York Daily News front-page story. She became an instant celebrity, known for her directness and polished wit, and used the platform to advocate for transgender people. Jorgensen often lectured on the experience of being transgender and published an autobiography in 1967.
Click thrugh for details. There was much more to her life. People – most if not all – sometimes feel trapped. I don’t know how one could feel any more trapped, inside their own body, than a transgendered person, and particulrle in our current culture.

Food For Thought:

Open Thread March 31, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:22 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 312022

Yesterday, I made and got confirmed my reservation to see Virgil on April 10 – the first available Sunday, Sunday being the safest day of the week for driving. I also managed to get the recyclable and trash bins out to the curb for pickup tomorrow, which surprised me a little bet, because the previous day I had pushed my mobility limits. While I was doing that, the “neighborhood cat” came around and accepted a few salmon treats. He can be picky, so that was nice. He is definitely not starving, but I still try to figure out his likes and dislikes. Sadly, looking at my iris bed, it doesn’t look like my TomCat iris is coming back this year. In fact, it looks like I’ll only have one stem of Baboon ~~Butt~~ Blood (sorry – when that varietal came out it was named “Baboon Bottom” and I got into a bad habit with it). I may be able to recover the others, or soe of them, by separating and fertilizing, but it’s by no means certain, even if I can muster up the energy to do it, which is also doubtful.

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Short Takes –

Mother Jones – We All Know Teachers Are Underpaid. But Who Imagined It Was This Bad?
Quote – Perhaps most jarring of all was the teacher in California who said that, in order to support her family financially, she has become a surrogate mother. Twice. “I’m literally renting out my uterus to make ends meet,” she wrote.
Click through for stats and stories. This may be the most devastating thing Republicams have done to the United States. It may not grab headlines like an insurrection, but its effects are far more widespread and far more long lasting.

The Hill – Biden signs bill making lynching a federal hate crime
Quote – “Hundreds of similar bills have failed to pass. Over the years, several federal hate crime laws were enacted. … But no federal law — no federal law expressly prohibited lynching. None. Until today,” Biden said to applause.Biden noted that civil rights leaders and lawmakers have been working for more than 100 years to pass a bill making lynching a hate crime. The president called lynching a “uniquely American weapon of racial terror.
Click through for story. It’s about time.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Milunka Savić
Quote – In 1912, her brother received call-up papers for mobilization for the First Balkan War. She chose to go in his place—cutting her hair and donning men’s clothes and joining the Serbian army. She quickly saw combat and received her first medal and was promoted to corporal in the Battle of Bregalnica. Engaged in battle, she sustained wounds and it was only then, when recovering from her injuries in hospital, that her true sex was revealed, much to the surprise of the attending physicians.
Click through. Please. I can’t possibly do justice to this feisty lady in one quote (if I had to try, it ought to be “I will wait.”

Food For Thought:

Open Thread March 30, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:52 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 302022

Yesterday, I went to my doctor’s office to get the form filled out that the DMV gave me Mondey (of course after calling to see whether they could fit me in. Frankly I think they went out of their way for me. I do try not to be a Karen.) I took the form to the DMV and it worked like a charm. In fact, they offered, because my driver’s license was supposed to renew within 6 months anyway, to renew it for another five years. Of course I was thrilled. (I do try not to be a Karen.) Now all I have to do is make an appontment to visit Virgil – the earliest Sunday he is available is April 10th (and, frankly, I feel safest driving on Sunday) I know that because the visitation staff has gone out of their way to let me know what days he (his “pod”) is scheduled for. (I do try not to be a Karen.) So back to what passes for normal starting today. Yay!

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Short Takes –

Politico – CAWTHORN’S ORGY CLAIM FALLOUT
Quote – The first-term conservative said he received invitations along the lines of: “‘Well, hey, we’re going to have kind of a sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come’.” The 26-year-old described his response on the podcast “Warrior Poet Society”: “I’m like, ‘What did you just ask me to come to?’ And then you realize they are asking you to come to an orgy.” Cawthorn also claimed to have seen other people who are “leading” efforts to eradicate drug addiction using cocaine in front of him.
Click through for story. I wouldn’t doubt the orgies, but I definitely doubt that anyone would invite Maddy. Unless they wanted to make him the goat (no, not the GOAT, just the goat, as in scape.)

PolitiZoom – REVEALED: Trump’s Last Official Call Jan 6 Was To Pence, Then A 7 Hour, 37 Minute Blackout On WH Logs. What’s Being Covered Up?
Quote – That immediately begs the question, what happened between the hours of 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. on January 6 and how was Trump communicating with people? He has already stated through a spokesman Monday night, “I have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never even heard the term.” Right. What’s being covered up? Seven hours is one whole lot of a longer time than the infamous 18-minutes of Watergate.
Click through for details. I thought “Shades of Nixon” – but at 7:37 Trump makes Nixon’s 0:18 and a half look like Amateur Hour.

The National WWII Museum – Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
Quote – Within the United States, Sophie Magdalena Scholl is not the best-known resistance fighter, but her story is a powerful one. She was a key member of the Weiße Rose (White Rose)—a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich who distributed leaflets and used graffiti to decry Nazi crimes and the political system, while calling for resistance to the Nazi state and the war. On February 22, 1943, she was beheaded for treason at just 21 years old.
Click through for full details. If you hear someone allude to the “White Rose” (or the “White Rose Society”), this is what they are talking about. Beau does occasionally (he also has a Tshirt with a white rose, so he can allude to it without saying it.)

Food For Thought:
The video this quote is from will be on the Video Thread tomorrow. But this is so succinct I just wanted to meme it.

Open Thread March 29, 2022

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

Mar 292022

Yesterday, I made it to the DMV on time and didn’t have to wait more than a couple of minutes for my appointment. However, they were not satisfied with my documents and gave me an additional one. I don’t, thank God, have o wait another four weeks to come back – I can return today. So, another day I will need patience from you on my comment replies. Sigh.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Wheels Of Justice Turning In Two Prominent Portland Proud Boy Cases
Quote – On Wednesday, notorious Proud Boys brawler Tusitala “Tiny” Toese was arraigned on multiple felonies related to the violence he led at a Portland rally on Aug. 22, 2021, and order detained without bail. Then on Thursday, the man who opened fire on a group of protesters in a park on Feb. 19 near his residence, killing one person and wounding four others before he was himself shot, was also arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on multiple counts after he was released from his subsequent hospitalization.
Click through for a lttle good news. It contains two of the most beautiful words in the English language – “without bail.” (and if that unusual first name sounds familiar, it was the name given to Robert Louis Stevenson by the Samoan people after he moved there. It means “teller of tales.”) TC would have been glad for this development.

Denverite – DPD verdict: Protesters awarded $14 million in lawsuit over police response to George Floyd rallies
Quote – “This was, as far as I know, the first case of George Floyd protestors injured by police to go to trial around the country,” said Tim Macdonald, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “So hopefully what police departments will take from this is that a jury of regular citizens took these rights very seriously. And they’re prepared to tell the police what they did to peaceful protestors is not acceptable.” … The verdict is likely to carry weight in future civil rights cases stemming from the protests, including others in Denver, said Jason Williamson, executive director of NYU’s Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, which tracks cases like the one in Denver.
Click through for full story. More good news. Our Declaration of independence states that governmentsmust draw their authority from “the consent of the governed.” Does this not also imply that police should get their authority from “the consent of the policed”?

Wonen’s History – Wikipedia – Mary Anning
Quote – Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist who became known around the world for the discoveries she made in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset in Southwest England. Anning’s findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth…. Her discoveries included the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton when she was twelve years old.
Click through for bio. Another unsing scientist among women. There’s really nothing that we can’t do.

Food For Thought:

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