Open Thread October 7 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 072024
 

Yesterday, I went to visit Virgil. I managed to stack the deck correctly before he came in to give him the perfect hand (I had tried twice before, once when he was still at Bent, and had not succeeded, but I finally did.) this time. His face didn’t give it away, but he was impressed – I can tell because he kept mentioning it when he got a hand that was not so good. I couldn’t have asked for a better result. I also learned something from Heather Cox Richardson which surprised me – and that is that the Washington Post has an investigative journalist on their staff. His name is Glenn Kessler, and it’s a pity that more people don’t know it, or anything about his work. Here’s a link to Rchardson’s post, parts of which will likely make you angry, but hopefully Kessler’s findings will help some.

This is not a time sensitive article, but an essay on the death penalty by Mary Trump. She is very articulate on the subject, which should not be a surprise since she is a professional psychologist. Even if she doesn’t say anything new, I expect her to have new ways to say what she does.

Well, at least this (from Wonkette)  is more plausible than most of their guanopsychotic panics over what children read. It is possible to choose to be a Democrat, or a Republican, for that matter, whereas it’s not possible to choose to be straight, gay, trans, or whatever – you are as you were born, although that may not show up until puberty (except for trans people – that shows up early enough for affirmative care to be helpful, if it can just be allowed.) I could wish the book had gone into the entire Political Compas instead of pretty much just left and right issues, but everyone here knows I strongly believe that. Last week, over at Democratic Underground, where a few were trashing Jeff Flake (who has endorsed Kamala), I left a comment to the effect that this election is not about left and right, it’s about autocracy and egalitarianism, and at least he’s on the right (excuse me, the correct side) of that, and another DUer was kind enough to respond with this: “If all Americans understood this as well as you do we wouldn’t be in this mess.” That made my day.

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Open Thread July 21 2024

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 212024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Elektra” by Richard Strauss. Itis based on te Greek myth, but I have only ever seen it in modern dress. (The first time may not have been intentional – bot when Chrysothemis had her back to the camera – it was televised – viewers could easily see the zipper in the back of her costume.) It’s one of his early operas, like “Salome,” and, like Salome, it’s all in one act and the heroine dances at the end and then dies. Aside from thet, they’re very different. It was under 2 hours, so when it ended and I turned the stream off and the radio back on, I got to re-listen to the last third of “Rheingold” again.

I like cats (and most other animals.) I don’t like climate change. We used to have permafrost in the Rockies. Back in the late seventies, when I was still living in Alamosa, a former Marine Corps colleague visited with his wife and two kids (who must now be in their late fifties) who had never seen snow. I was able to call the local paper and get directions to a glacial permafrost area within easy driving distance. It wasn’t really snow, but the kids were thrilled. There are concerns about thawing permafrost releasing CO2 – but it’s also known there are viruses in there. I don’t see why this one would not spread to humans, though it hasn’t yet, thankfully.

This by Robert Reich could be very depressing. But it also could be very motivating – it puts additional faces on “We must avoid this at all costs.” If you find that depressing, and don’t need any more motivation, you may want to skip it.

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Personal Update November 20, 2023

 Posted by at 10:22 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 202023
 

11/20 Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is also World Children’s Day. I find that appropriate, and also ironic. I cannot begin to imagine what transgender children have to go through (heck, I can’t even imagine what some left-handed children still have to go through, and I can simulate that.)

I have a contractor coming today, so this will be all today.

 

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Open Thread September 16, 2023

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 162023
 

Thursday, Robert Reich (accurately) predicted that, by Friday, the UAW would be on strike against GM, Ford, ad Chrysler. The way the giants have been acting, I really didn’t doubt it. Would you want to buy a car assembled by a senior manager on a CFO or whatever? I certainlt wouldn’t. (And that isn’t even one of his five reasons.) Yesterday was also the 60th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed four girls. Both Joyce Vance and Marian Wright Edelman commemorated this tragedy. Marian, an educator, emphasized how, in the civil rights movement of the soxties and seventies, children were forced to lead. Joyce, an Alabama lawyer, made a point of how it was Doug Jones who finally brought some closure by prosecuting the last two living perpetrators of the outrage. Both takes are valid, and both are necessary. Contrary to the anti-woke mob, one can’t be ully human withou looking at the worst (and also the best) that humans can be. Also yesterday, jury selection began for the trial of two of the officers accused in connection with the death of Elijah McClain. Yes, I realize how ironic that is, and how discouraging.  But also yesterday, Denver’s neighbor Mount Evans had its name changed to Mount Blue Sky – in order to stop honoring the instigator of the Sand Creek Massacre.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – So Guess Who’s Suing Fox News Now — And Why
Quote – New York City’s pension funds and the state of Oregon are suing Fox Corporation, alleging in a lawsuit that the Fox News parent company failed shareholders…. “The lawsuit, which was filed under seal in the Delaware Court of Chancery and named Fox Corporation board members and its executives as defendants, accused the media company of having chosen to “invite robust defamation claims, with potentially huge financial liability and potentially larger business repercussions, rather than disappoint viewers of Fox News.”
Click through for details. I did not see this coming. More power to the plaintiffs!

Wonkette (on Substack) – Domestic Abuser Shot At Woman In Parking Garage, Wants Supreme Court To Give Him Back His Guns
Quote – On Nov. 12, 2020, a 25-year-old woman told police that she agreed to meet Rahimi in a parking lot after receiving a Snapchat message from him saying that he “had something for her.” When she arrived, she told police she saw him kneeling by the driver’s side of a vehicle, wearing all black clothes, including a black ski mask covering his face. Rahimi had his hands around his waistband, she said, where he appeared to hold a pistol with a magazine larger than the gun itself. As the woman got back into her car and drove off, she heard five or six gunshots, some of which appeared to strike her car. “Vehicle was shot multiple times with the driver inside,” the police report reads. Again, Rahimi went on to open fire in public five more times after that.
Click through for full story. I’m kind of out of words.

Food For Thought

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Slideshow of NRA Grooming of Children

 Posted by at 7:38 am  Politics
Aug 052023
 

As mentioned in my reply to JD’s post of

Young Americans Who Identify With Gun Culture Are More Likely To Believe In Male Supremacy, Research Shows

Here’s the bothersome (at least to me) slideshow I put together of the NRA’s efforts at “grooming” or indoctrinating children into the gun culture:

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Open Thread August 3, 2023

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 032023
 

Yesterday, the newsletters were filled with responses to The Indictment. Substack in particular was packed – of course the people I subscribe to there are mostly experts, not only knowledgeable but competent and experienced communicators, so that is what one would and should expect – but I was a little overwhelmed. As a legal layperson, I thought Joyce Vance’s column was the best – the explanations were thorough, and the personal feelings showing through were in such congruence with mine (and probably with yours) that I was deeply moved. I’m not going to try to do a short take – I’ll just provide the link (remember to look for the popup and click “continue reading”)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Talking Points Memo – Newly Revealed Text Messages Show GOP Officials At Ground Zero Of Election Conspiracy Outlined By Trump Indictment
Quote – Text messages obtained by Talking Points Memo — most which have not previously been made public — paint a picture of what was going on behind the scenes in the White House during the crucial period the special prosecutor has zeroed in on. In particular, they reveal that Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and former Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward were among those who played key roles in elements of the alleged conspiracy from the moment Smith said it began.
Click through for details. There have been some occasions when Willard “Mitt” Romney appeared to have a sense of ethics. But he clearly wasn’t able to raise a daughter with ethics, so even those few occasions are now questionable.

USA Today – FBI: Over 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, found in nationwide operation
Quote – “Operation Cross Country” grew out of a 2003 FBI initiative which identified and recovered sexually exploited minors. It’s a coordinated operation involving federal, state and local agencies across the country. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is also a significant partner in the initiative, the FBI said.
Click through for full story. I probably should have posted a barf bag alert – not for their results, but for the fact that they do it every summer – and never come up empty.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 6/1/2023

 Posted by at 12:03 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jun 012023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump lawyer says he was BLOCKED from searching Trump office at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents

Thom Hartmann – The First Fascist State In America Revealed?

Farron Balanced – Fox News Raided Tucker Carlson’s House And Took His Filming Equipment

From TikTok via Twitter – possible hanky alert

Cat stops would-be burglar | ‘Binky went after him’

Beau – Let’s talk about the GOP coming for no fault divorce…

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Open Thread April 30, 2023

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 302023
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Peter Grimes” by Benjamin Britten. It’s based on a poem by George Crabbe (1754-1832) called “The Borough.” It is also one of two operas I would never take Virgil to or even let him liisten to, despite the fact that he learned to love opera almost as much as I do – and not just the ones considered easy to like, but also some baroque and 20th/21st century stuff (“Tea: A Mirror of Soul” composed in 2002 by Tan Dun is probably his all time favorite). Rather, it’s because they contain or allude to conduct which could be abusive directed at a young boy. The other is “Amahl and the Night Visitors” – such a sweet opera, if you can only get around that one thing. Certainly, if there is a villain in either one, it is intended to be society (that’s more explicit in “Peter Grimes” but also I think true of “Amahl.”) Peter is a fisherman, and is an outsider, and “an ordinary, weak person who, being at odds with the society in which he finds himself, tries to overcome it and, in doing so, offends against the conventional code,” as described by the tenor who originated the role. He’s intended to be sympthetic. But – there are those dead apprentices. People who don’t know opera may still be a little familiar with this one through Brtitten’s “Four Sea Interludes,” orchestral peces which describe some of the many moods if the ocean. The title tenor role is sufficiently demanding, both vocally and dramatically, that many who play it are known as Wagnerian “heldentonors.” The tenor today is British, and a Britten specialist, and is certainly built lke a heldentenor (of course there are exceptions.) He’s little known outside of the UK (which I predict will change) but has won numerous awards there.

Cartoon – 30 0430Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – Pro-War Russians Duped Into Torching Kremlin Military Offices
Quote – Throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine, baffling reports of Russian pensioners trying to set military enlistment offices on fire have emerged with amusing frequency. But they’re not what you may think. Seen at first glance by some as brave protests against the war, the string of bizarre arsons have actually been part of a now widespread scheme in which scammers convince the confused pensioners they’re on a secret mission to help the war effort.
Click through for story. Our MAGAt problem is so obvious, and so severe, that it’s easy to forget that these people are not confined to the United States. They are all over the world.

The Project on Government Oversight, in the person of its President, Danielle Brian, testified before the Senate Armed SErvices Committee last week. Being on their mailinglst I received an email afterwards, including links to the testimony itself.
Quote (from email) – The testimony was especially topical as it was reported just this week that the former director of the National Security Agency took on a $700,000 contract as a cybersecurity adviser for Saudi Arabia, a nation notorious for its human-rights violations. With close to 700 former high-ranking government officials now working for major defense contractors and over 500 former servicemembers working for foreign interests, closing the lucrative revolving door and pipeline is a matter of utmost urgency.
You can click through to the video of the event (the hearing begins between 17:30 and 17:40 with ELizabeth Warren. At 27:32 Rick Scott starts speaking. At 32:17 Wilkerson’s testimony begins. At 37:23 Brian begins. I’m afraid I didn’t follow past that, so there may be some back and forth). Alternatively, you can access the written testimony as presented to the comittee, or the transcript on the POGO site (they have the same content but the POGO page has larger type and more visual spacing.) The problems addressed are of long standing, It’s good that they are being discussed at this level.

Food For Thought

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