Open Thread July 16 2024

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 162024
 

Yesterday, Trump** announced the selection of J.D. Vance for his Vice President. I’m not sure why people are losing their minds about it. Anyone Trump** selected would have been equally awful, and this selection at least may open a Senate seat in Ohio and give Tim Ryan a second chance {although I admit it does make me want to change my initials). There wasn’t much in my inbox about the Trump** shooting. One petiton asking Republicans who have condemned it to now condemc all political violence. I signed it – but good luck with that. The second half of Heather Cox Richardson’s talk with Secretary of State Blinken has been posted. As I type I haven’t watched it, but by the time you see it, I will have done so. And, apparently, RFKJ is getting Secret Service protection – that, to me, is the worst news – or at least tied with the news that Loose Cannon dismissed the documents case. At least, the factor which pushed the SS to decide this was not a jump in the polls – it was the shooting at Trump**’s rally.

I did get an email from “Oil Change International,” a climate change fighting organization. Their website is here. And here is a source to check how your state is dealing with the issue of “certified gas.” Looking at the map of Colorado, I note that all the emissions events they map occurred in the vicinity of Denver. It’s not clear to me whether Denver (along with its environs) is particularly bad at this, or if it’s just that the population is so much denser there, and so is the usage, that the emissions events in that area are more obvious, more measurable.

This may not the biggest story – but it does, as Ursula says, make a big difference. So I’m posting it in case you missed it. See what you think.

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Open Thread July 12 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 122024
 

A few days ago, the Lincoln Project released a new video – a Doomsday video. It’s a bit over four minutes, which is long for them, but the details demanded it. As bad as it is, and as long as it is, it’s still only a fraction But please watch it – and share it where it will do the most good. Now, yesterday, I got a call from one of my California cousins.  She’s the same age that I am but less mobile – and doesn’t have any equipment but a plain cane – not even a quad cane. I gave her some information on walkers and said I’d send a note confirming it, so I had to stop and do that (it took longer than I thought, because the place where I got mine doesnn’t have a paper catalog, and she is computer illiterate  So I had to  . But though I may end up posting this later than usual, y’all won’t notice the difference, since I schedule ahead. 🙂

Joyce Vance is, or should be the go-to on Project 2025. And she should also be the go-to in the Republican Parrty’s “official platform” – their first in 8 years – which more or less follows Project 2025 but omits any mention of abortion or marriage (because they know their stands are even more unpopular than the rest of the project.) Sso don’t be fooled by the “official platform.” They are just as determined to eliminate all abortion (and way too many pregnant women with it) and gay and interracial marriage as they have ever been.

I don’t suppose this is news to anyone – they have been doing it creepingly for literally decades. But it won’t be creepingly any more if they get into office. It will be more like a nuclear bomb.

Now here is an idea whose time has come. There are so many reasons why this makes perfect sense. As aperson living in Colorado, I have seen a lot of abandoned mines, and have worried a great deal about someone – especially cildren – getting trapped there. And that isn’t even the best reason – only the most obviously compassionate one.

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Open Thread July 2 2024

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 022024
 

Yesterday, SCROTUS released more decisions, and JOyce Vance is going to have a lot to say. So are others – most everyone I subcribe to on Substack and also many others. And I’m sure all of you will also have opinions. It may take me a while, but I’ll share a few evemntually which I consider the best thought out and worded.

It’s always possible that our altitude might exacerbate this effect (the lowest point in Colorado is between 3000 and 4000 feet. It’s in some riverbed.) But I doubt that accounts for all of these effects. I’d recommend not living near an oil well in any state.

A DU member who received a somewhat detailed summary of the Biden/Harris team’s response to the debate reactions posted it in full. It should be somewhat reassuring. Here it is.

sc

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Open Thread June 22 2024

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 222024
 

Yesterday, Robert Reich posted the fourth installment in his DEBUNK series. He posted another article too – he has referred in the past to the one person who protected him from school bullies without being asked, and who was murdered – but yesterday was the 60th anniversary of that murder, so he put up a piece on just that. SCOTUS decided Rahimi, and released the decision first, and Joyce Vance posted about that particular decision.

Talkng Points Memo does not link seperately to seperate artices in its Moring Memo. I chose to share this one because of the lead article, “Quick.. Guide to SCOTUS Malarkey….” including “Decoding the Cloaked Language….” but there are other segments. When you see “Rudy Rudy Rudy,” that’s where my rec stops. But you can certainly continue if you wish. (Yes, it was posted before any opinions dropped.)

I think Saturday is a good day for sharing this article from The Bulwark detaling why you need some kind of a break … and also how to do it without giving up. It’s in three numbered sections, and all are helpful. Section three does a longish digression (as an analogy); it’s clearly marked as a quote, so you can easily skip it. I read it so you won’t have to.

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Open Thread June 15 2024

 Posted by at 5:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 152024
 

Yesterday, the Daily Beast had an article titled “Who Will Live Longer—Trump or Biden?” My immedaite response was “your answer to that depends on whether you believe in science, or in the folk belief that evil lives longer.” And then I thought, no, it won’t really. Because the same people who believe folktales are true are the ones who think TFG is good.” So, either eay, the answer is Biden. And Robert Reich’s DEBUNK Episode 3 was published.

Tina Peters is not what I would like to see from Colorado in national news. Not that this story is directly about her, but it’s about what Mesa County is doing to attempt to move on from her, and her name is the one that leaps out.

For Pride Month, here’s an article about the life (and death at 86) of a transgender woman to whom we all owe gratitude if we ever use anything involving microchips. I don’t ecpect her legacy to impress any gender bigots, of course, but I also don’t expecct any of them to be reading this.

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Open Thread June 8 2024

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 082024
 

Yesterday, Robert Reich’s second “DEBUNK” article posted here. As last week, there’s both a video and a transcript. Good thing, since nothing much happened here. I took in a grocery order is all.

This is a good news story about a rescue in Florida. I am 100% behind the Mom who is pushing for lifesaving rings to be readily available, but also feel I need to point out that in this case a ring would not have worked, though in many, maybe most, cases a ring would have been the best choice.

I have hardly mentioned Hunter Biden at all, because the GOP efforts to turn him into a monster have been so cringworthy. But this is a very interesting speculation. I hope The Beast is reading the room correctly.

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Open Thread May 30 2024

 Posted by at 3:13 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 302024
 

Yesterday, Wonkette referred me to this clip from The Daily Show. I;ve set it to start where he starts on Alito. It is a hoot. Also, I reached my plumber, who will becoming today (and will likelty have come by the time anyone reads this.)  Sorry to be so late!

This is noteworthy, particularly in Mississippi. I wish the Supreme Court would take notice.

I knew about this – you may also have read about it – but then I don’t pay attention to what Ursula calls the “Legacy media.”

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Open Thread May 20 2024

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

Yesterday, I saw Virgil. They have stocked up on playing cards while I was unable to visit, and now have at least two bridge (regular) decks, now totally new but in good condition. We both got some very hgood hands and also some disaster hands. I didn’t even try to put the wheelchair back in the car “forwards,” but I had no difficulty getting it in “backwards.” I did lose a little time coming home getting lost – but I’m pretty sure i know where I made the first wrong turn, so I should loseless time in future. Getting on the Interstate at the same exit I get off it when i go see him is IMO riaky, as the access lane getting on becomes the exit lane for the next off ramp too quickly. I was using it anyway before the hiatus, but i am enough less confident now to want to go 4 exits up and have a nice long access lane that no one has any reason to try to get off in. In other news, my “TomCat iris has bloomed this year, after i took the trouble to scrape enough obstruction away from the soil so that the sun could actually hit the rhizome. Only one stem, but three blossoms fully open and another once coming. I always though its coloration was that of a chocolate point Siamese, but this year and at very close quarters, it looks more like abluepoint when im the shade and a flamepoint when in direct sunlight. Who knew?

Not a news piece but  an opinion piece, on something we have probably all thought about.

And this, as should be expected from Heather Cox Richardson, is not news, but history. And it’s history that many of us lived through. History one lives through, however, is often mingled in our minds with other events, both public and personal. This connects the dots.

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