Yesterday, a news alert from Axios alleged that Alex Navalny has died. Their source is the Russian Prison System, which I would not trust to be truuthful, but it’s also hard to believe it didn’t happen earlier. R.I.P. Alexei. Avaaz is collecting signatures for a tribute to him. Also we had a “mass shooting” here of our own – a little different in that it appears to have happened inside a dorm, during the might, and so far not much evidence – except two dead people with gunshot wounds.
Mary watched Fani Willis’s entire testimony (I only had time for a few clips) and this summary-through-categorized-excerpts is brilliant.
Yesterday, the exterminator came by. He said progress is being made, and if 2 weeks from now there is more, we need to dicuss longer intervals between visits. So that’s good.
Well, I was wrong. I apologize to anyone who may have thought I was right and watched the show. Mary Trump does a far better job of breaking down why than I could.
They have arrested a dude (and believe he was not alone) for “stealing” (no mention of vandalism) the Jackie Robinson statue. Sometimes it’s hardest to see things that are right under yor nose for the last 2 weeks he’s been locked up for something else. Try not to hit yourself in the head over what cops will believe or claim to believe in order to announce “No evidence of a hate crime.”
Yesterday, my ballot for the Presidential primary arrived. The election is March 5th. I’ve been avoiding going out the front door since my hospital stay, and even more so, avoiding the porch steps (the last time I ventured on them wasthe day I came home, and that was one way only.) But with that much time, and Trinette coming Sunday, I’m sure I can wait tll then. I know for whom I am voting, and it’s only one block to fill in, and if she takes it out the same day it comes in, it should get there in time easily.
This is a crash course in foreign affairs. If that makes it sound difficult – it isn’t. And it explains a lot about how we got to this point. And it’s available for free to anyne, so you can share (you might want to mention scrolling a little for “continue reading.”)
Yesterday, Trinette came over again, to run the car, bring in mail, and take out recyclables (I didn’t have enough trash to make that worth while.) She says “Hi back, especially to Nameless.
This is late news, but as Susie Madrak points out, you wouldn’t know it, from the coverage it didn’t get. And it’s game-changing – if only it can gain traction.
Yesterday, what I mostly did was finish two knitting projects – one fair-sized one on which I’ve been working for some time, and one so small I started and finished it after finishing the large one. Not exciting, but there it is
Crooks and Liars has posted a video by Cliff Schecter which really points up the difference between the time when the Republican Party had Joe MacCarthy, and now, when all Republicans are Joe McCarthy. And you may learn something about the Illinois loyalty pledge too. It’s under 7 minutes, and if you watch it at C&L you won’t have to pay YouTube to avoid ads.
Margaret Atwood has been using her Substack to share a multi-part history of what the French Revolution (which she calls “The French Revvie”) was really like. This link it to Part IV – subtitled “The Vengeance.” I used to warn that if we didn’t make some corrections – and quickly – we’d have another French Revolution. And, yet, when I saw it, I didn’t recognize it. Margaret did. No surprise that she is smarter than I am.
Yesterday, I didn’t have to prepare for today’s opera – it’s “Carmen” by George Bizet. I’ve heard it a lot of times and seen it several times as well. For one production, I played second violin in the pit orchestra. All the string parts are extremely difficult, mostly because Bizet liked to run very fast scales starting in the basses and running all the way up to the first violins umpteenth position, and then back down again just as fast. I did my best (which wasn’t very good). But even then, I can’t say it was a bad production. There may not be such a thing as a really bad production of Carmen. And today’s radio cast is outstanding. Now, next week will be another story.
This certainly doesn’t surprise me. We have simply got to stop believing everything a Republican presents as fact. They just make things up.
I know there are many Democrats who think that, like Manchin, Jon Tester (D-MT) is useless other than for keeping our Senate majority (which is oretty thin.) I would invite all of those Dems to read at least parts of this article about two Republicans, one of whom will be in the Senate if Tester loses his reelection bid. Sheehy is the crazier of the two, but Rosendale is close behind.
By now everyone will have heard this, because it is, to quote the article’s headline, “a big non-fracking deal.” And it certainly took climate experts by surprise. Bill McKibben said, “[I]f it’s true, and I think it is, this is the biggest thing a U.S. president has ever done to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.”
Yesterday, it became fairly obvious that, if Trump** should be re-elected, The US can kiss Alaska goodbye – and the EU can kiss Ukraine goodbye. If you agree with me that this must not happen, raise your hand.
If you are concerned about the latest data breach (which seems to be mostly, if not all, recycled data from previous breaches), i’d recommend this article at DU. It quotes from Forbes, and provides a link to a site where you can check to see whether any of your data is included. This is sourced from Forbes, and I would trust Forbes – if you’re concerned, I’d look for it on Forbes (it shouldn’t be hard to find) directly.
I’m going to put a trigger warning on this in case anyone is phobic about needles or asphyxiation. And if you do read it, it will make you angry. One thing struck me about this story was a legal point. Ex post facto legislation is outlawed because historically it has been used to take rights w=away from people. But sometimes legislation gives rights to people. I worked over 10 yearss in insurance, and one thing people who haven’t probably don’t know is the principle of liberalization. It works like this: if you have an auto or homeowers policy which I issued, and at some point during your policy term I decide (or laws change and require me) to rewrite some coverage in it, it onlt goes into effect for you immediately if the change benefits you. If it costs you, either by loss of coverage or increased premium, it will not go into effect until your polisy renews. Now, that is not out of the goodness of our hearts. It’s because it cuts down on lawsuits, and the ones which do go to litigation are easier not to lose on account of it. But IMO it’s a principle which should be applied in law as well. On account of the newer legislation thatjudges can no longer do what his judge did, he ought to have his sentence commuted automatically. Clearly Republicans aren’t worried about lawsuits.
I’m trying to limit the videos. This one is by Robert Reich. I doubt it will tell anyone here anything they don’t already know, but it might be useful for sharing,
