Open Thread August 23 2024

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 232024
 

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio reported on a study from Colorado University (Boulder) which suggests that low blood levels of cortisol are related to long CoViD, and that, although if you google (or DuckduckGo) cortisol, you’ll find much more on how to get your levels down than how to get them up, nevertheless cortisol “is key for humans to generate energy, for everyday activities and also to exercise.” Let me emphasize that this study appears to be the first of its kind and therefore extremely preliminary. Don’t start chugging coffee or binging on sugar if you have long CoViD until and unless your doctor tells you to. But it’s interesting, and particularly so to anylne interested in the roles the body plays in learning and memory.

Although the FBI is trying to at least gain some headway against those who organize into groups (and I believe that falls under RICO laws so prosecution is at least possible.) In case you can’t access it, I printed it to a PDF which I can email if you are interested.

Wonkette is woman-owned, and this post was written by her husbamd (who goes by “Shypixel”). And there is some family history in the post, including how Shy discovered he was a Democrat. But if you aren’t interested in that, scroll down to the last 5 paragraphs (3 of which are only a short sentence each) beginning with “The infectious feelings of hope and love.” I found it an encouraging reminder of the best in us.

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Open Thread August 21 2024

 Posted by at 6:08 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 212024
 

Yesterday, I read an email from Colorado’s Attorney General which had me in tears – good tears for the accomplishment, mixed with sorrow for the lost time. I lived in the San Luis Valley from the time I got out of the Marine Corps (1976) until 1991 when the jpb situation thre pushed me and Virgil to move to Colorado Springs. That was the time of my life when I was a real cat lady. I don’t recall opiates being a problem there then. Alcohol, yes. But the big medical thing was diabetes and the fact that it hit Hispanics so much harder than non-Hispanics. Unfortunately I can’t link to the email, but I can link to the article in the Valley Courier – still in print thankfully – which tells the story also. He’s a Democrat, so I have always voted for him any time he was on my ballot. I hope he stays in office for a long, long time.

Steve Schmidt – a couple of days old – but unless his prediction has alread come to pass, not too old. And we should be ready for it, and then, even if it turns out to be wrong, we’ll be fine.

Personally I would

but I’m glad someone is saying it out loud. because there are people who do not realize how bad it actually is. And you cannot fight something if you don’t know it even exists. I think we can do this, but we cannot forget for a moment what we are up against.

This is the good news. The bad news. of course, it that it’s today’s courts it will have to go through, not, for example the Warren Court (I’m pretty sure no relation to Elizabeth.) Kroger and Albertson’s being the only two big conglomerates is already a monopoly (technically it’s a duopoly, but these two are like-minded like Charlie and David.)

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Open Thread August 20 2024

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 202024
 

Yesterday, the Atlanta Black Star had a story which horrified me – not that that is unusual – but this one is a bit out of the ordinary. Stories of abusive cops assaulting people of color are, sadly, still a dime a dozen. But when the abusive cop is running for Congress – that puts it into a different category. The ABS doesn’t mention the District number, but it is the one currently served by Democrat Pat Ryan, so it’s the 18th, in the Hudson Valley. This is his official site. If you can spare anything for an election other than the Presidential one, this would be one to consider.

I have alluded to this before – and I don’t want anyone to forget it. As Joyce Vance says, “History is full of failed coups that were preludes to successful ones.” So we must take it seriously and use every means at our disposal.

Posted without comment. I’m sorry. But I just can’t.

Seems like absolutely no one except Mary Trump wants to talk about this. I saw somewhere that the statute of limitations had expired, since the incident occurred in 2015.I don’t know what the Federal statute of limitations is on taking a bribe. But I’m pretty sure that there’s no statute of limitations in a Federal RICO case.

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Open Thread August 18 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 182024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Rusalka” by Dvorak, which is the Czech version of the little mermaid. Like the Andersen original, it does not end well (Czech folk tales in general tend to be noticeably grimmer than Grimm). After the prince spurns the rusalka for the foreign princess, the former princess spurns him, devastatingly, telling him to follow his witch to hell. Which he pretty much does. Wonderful music. The “Song to the Moon” may be the best known, but the Polonaise also gets a lot of play. And short enough for me to go back to local radio and hear again almost the last almost-an- hour of “Don Carlo.”

As you watch the Democratic National Convention on TV (or whatever) from the comfort of your home, be glad you are not a Smithsonian curator. Seriously, it’s difficult to keep track of everything the Smithsonian does to preseerve American culture and history. Every once in a while I like to take a look at it, and also remind others.

I realize everyone and his dog (or her cat) is coming out with information on Project 2025. If the aggregate of these guides does not yet surpass the number of pages in the Poject itself, it likely will soon. This is Lakota Law’s version, based on comparing it to “settler violence,” otherwise known as “US policy throughout the 19th century.” The comparison is, IMO, apt, and I think examining it can benefit far more people than just Native Americans and people of color.

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Open Thread August 16 2024

 Posted by at 5:49 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 162024
 

Yesterday, I wondered whether anyone who comes here lives in Chicago. Because Wonkette is having a sort of party there on Sunday. I believe there will be snacks, and I’m certain there will be drinks. (If they were bringing their own bartender, there would be drinks you did not know existed. I’ve read some of his recipes and he is a perfectionist. But they’re not. So it will be mostly beer.) It will be between 5 and 7:30 PM in the bar of the Kaiser Tiger. Details here. Also, Tim Walz’s dog Scout is on the cover of Vogue’s September issue, Also, too my stuff got picked p – so my porch is cleared and ready for more.

Robert Reich on what Harris could do as President to make the economy better. Yes, it gets a bit technical. But it’s Robert Reich, so it’s clearly explained.

CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has done an investigation of the Republican plan to infiltrate state election systems with themselves in order to refuse to certify elections they don’t like the results of. I’ve seen stories on this, and I’m sure you have too, but nothing beats an investigation report from a responsible citizens’ group. You do have to use the “download” button in order to read it. It downloads as a PDF and does so very rapidly, and it requires less than 7MB of disc space.

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Open Thread August 13 2024

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 132024
 

Yesterday, Tina Peters was convicted on 7 (out of 10) charges, 4 of which were felonies. Ten out of ten would have been perfect – but this is pretty good. Since I didn’t follow the exact charges, it may be very good. Certainly it makes her a felon, and convicted felons can’t vote, until (and unless) they have completely satisfies all obligations imposed (such as parole successfully completed and no unpaid fines.) She will likely appeal, and want to vote while it’s pemding, and i don’t know what the rule is on that. Also, she can’t legally leave the country (most other countries would not have her anyway) until all obligations are satisfied. And she probably knows all that, but may still get a few surprises.

Nice for me to have someone whose job is to evaluate the media saying what I’ve been saying for years: “fair” and “balance” are not only not synonyms, they’re virtual antonyms when one “side” lies constantly and the other is a struthful as it possibly can be. That does a real disservice to viewers who just want to know what is happening.

Kevin Roberts’s (the architect of Project 2025) book has been postponed, and will now not be published in September but in November, after the election. But I hope and believe it’s too late for that. The full project, over 900 pages, has been made public on the internet, and just about everywhere you turn, you’ll see someone else (with credentials) offering to explain the worst parts of it. And now, even their secret training videos have been exposed by Pro Publica.

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Open Thread August 11 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 112024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” which takes place in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, and features mostly actual historical figures of very interesting people, not entirely accurately. This one came with lots of pictures, and it must have been beautiful to see. However I would have found it distracting that the tenor singing the title role resembles RFK Jr. (Thatmay be more historically accurate than the libretto, since the real Don Carlo was a real jerk.) But this opera is one of my favorites, and it’s not heard that often, so I was grateful. Also, Steve Schmidt has a new “The Schmidt Storm” up. And now I’m off to see Virgil.
t

We all know this in general terms. But the numbers are getting horrifying. I wonder whether we could convince any by arguing that is public schools stopped requiring students to be vaccinated, they would lose their excuse to send the kids to private and charter schools or to home school and would have to send them to public schools. Nah, probably not.

This is also a couple of days old. But it has some information about Project 2025 which will be good to know. (And he shares another astronomical photo. He is no relation to the Hubble telescope – it’s spelled differently. He’s just good at using what he does have.)

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Open Thread August 9 2024

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 092024
 

Yesterday, VoteVets advised me that the Trump** campaign is swiftboating Tim Walz already. And they are already pushing back. (For the record, if anyone had asked me while I was on active duty what a “Command Sergeant Major” is, I would most likey have said, “That’s a Sergeant Major who can walk on water.”) I have no link to Vote Vets, but here’s one to Wonkette.
And yes, I realize the whole couch story may be just fake news (if a little more believeable than most), but the gif (from Wonkette) was just too good not to share.

This is a couple of days old, but this kind of thing will never get old. I’ve found that on DU one can watch an embed from Xitter full size, without having to go there. Hopefully that will also work for y’all.

They are now trying to break Project 2025 down into “This is what we’re really going to do” and “Just kidding.” Aside from the fact I don’t (and you shouldn’t) believe the “just kidding,” there is literally nothing inthe more than 900 pages of Project 2025, not one thing, which is acceptable or tolerable.

 

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