Open Thread February 22 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 222025
 

Yesterday, The Conversation newsletter included an article titled “Making sex deadly for insects could control pests that carry disease and harm crops.” I suppose it’s worth a try. But it certainly hasn’t worked on humans. Also, I cut my hair. It’s not a professional job, but it will keep it out of my eyes for a while. After period of a couple of months last spring when it was shedding so fast it was starting to thin, then that stopped, and now its as thick as ever. Maybe even in a couple of places a little thicker. And definitely growing as fast as ever.

You may have seen this story elsewhere. Of my sources, Wonkette had the most thorough coverage. But I can’t read everything, I may have missed a better one.

Yes, I know, two from the same source the same day. This Wonkette article is not so much news as it is an op-ed – an op-ed which is really singing my song. If it is singing yours too, I don’t think Robin would mind if you printed a copy and mailed it to your federal legislators – who are actually the “Democrats” of the title. She doesn’t mean us.

As if we didn’t have enough injustice – The Conversation suggests it may get far, far worse.

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Open Thread March 25, 2024

 Posted by at 6:18 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 252024
 

Yesterday, I didn’t do much. I received an order of groceries and for once got everything I ordered and nothing I didn’t. The news was light also, so I’m going with one deep and one women’s history today. When I say deep, I mean both serious and scary. Definitely worth some thought.

Heather Cox Richardson takes Talking Points Memo’s exposure of the SACR (Society for American Civic Renewal) and uses her knowledge of history to compare it to various happenings in our own history, leading up to the Civil War.

I’m afraid I didn’t know who she was. I’m glad to have learned.

This is a nice feel-good video to watch when you’re feeling down (and we all do sometimes.)

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Open Thread February 3, 2024

 Posted by at 6:12 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 032024
 

Yesterday,it was pretty quiet again, though there was a grocery delivery. I may be getting the hang of how to ask for help getting them in the house, or I may just have been lucky in who was assigned, but either way, it went smoothly.

VoteVets is up in arms, almost literally (quite literally if you can count words and images as weapons of war.) Yes, the link I’m providing is to a donation page, but at least at this page you can watch it without YouTube ads popping up. If you’re not aware of the kerfuffle from MAGA after they released their previous ad, this one may make you furious.

I don’t know how well I’ll be able to keep up with black history this month, but I don’t think I could have passed this up in any month. It’s good, very good, to see the “backbone of the party” receiving some the recognition which it so richly deserves.

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Video Thread 3/17/2023

 Posted by at 11:43 am  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 172023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Georgia grand jurors say what’s coming Trump’s way, “Is gonna be MASSIVE!”

PoliticsGirl – To My Fellow Democrats… (And may I just say AMEN!?)

Ring of Fire – Capitol Rioter In Trouble After Lying To Prosecutors To Attend CPAC (You can stop @ 4:00)

Randy Rainbow – Life’s a F***ing Fantasy for Santos

Cat Does The Funniest Thing When His Parents Get Him A New Brother

Beau – Let’s talk about DOJ looking at specialized police teams….

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Open Thread November 26, 2022

 Posted by at 6:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 262022
 

Yesterday was Black Friday – or, as the North SHore Animal League put it, Bark Friday. I used to be pretty good at using sales and coupons, butnow that I’m retired and my time is my own, that is more important to me. And the pandemic just made thatmindset even stronger. Not that I would shop on Black Friday on principle. But I hope that those who do shop (many of whom are working to hard for too little pay) find bargains that stretch their budgets farther than they dreamed. Also yesterday, I “printed” (to pdf) DCCC’s guide to what facts to have handy when dealing with Republican relatives. It was intended for Thanksgiving, but by the time I received the email, Thanksgiving was over. However, there’s always Christmas. It loads huge and prints weird (I ended up zooming out, snapshotting it a page at a time – it’s only 4 pages – putting the snapshots into a Word document, and “printing” that. But there are probably ways to manipulate the online pdf to print better.) If you have any Republican relatives, or know someone who does and could use it, here’s the link.

Cartoon – 26 1126Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Dems Already Going On Offense Against Coming House Investigations
Quote – The New York Times reports that a network of Democrat-aligned groups is planning “a multimillion-dollar counteroffensive,” including a “SWAT team,” to combat the coming deluge of GOP investigations into President Biden, his family and his administration. Although the White House is planning its own defense, the outside groups plan to push back “in a more adversarial manner,” the Times says…. The Democratic counteroffensive is designed to avoid another Benghazi which, fake scandal that it was, nonetheless dragged down Hillary Clinton. Some of those involved in the efforts include Facts First USA, whose president is David Brock, the former right-wing hit man turned left-wing advocate; the Center for American Progress; and the Congressional Integrity Project.
Click through for more informaion, and links to both the Times and Politico. The money is not taxpayer money but activist money (from some pretty flush activists.)

Mother Jones – After Decades of Public Service, Dr. Fauci Gives His Final White House Briefing
Quote – His departing message to the public: get vaccinated before the holidays. “My final message, maybe the final message I give you from this podium, is, please, for your own safety and the safety of your own family, please get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible,” Fauci told reporters.
Click through for article. I have nothing to add to the Food for Thought.

Lakota People’s Law – Help the Cherokee Nation Seat a Congressional Delegate
I had a video up on this yesterday (which was made before the hearing). Then O got this emai from Chase Iron Eyes, including:
“[A]fter nearly two centuries of delay, Congress held its first ever hearing on the subject — and it went very well! To be clear, it isn’t a done deal. However, as NPR accurately reports, last week’s House Rules Committee hearing represents by far the biggest step the federal government has ever taken toward fulfilling a promise it made to the Cherokee way back in 1835’s Treaty of New Echota. And while we can’t celebrate prematurely, the U.S. government making progress toward doing what it said it would for any Native nation is historic and a reason for optimism.”
Now Chase is asking us to write to our Representatives and encourage them to accept the selected delegate, Kimberly Teehee. The link above is to the page to help you do that – thre is also a video, which is a bit over a half hour, and doesn’t have CC there, but it does on YouTube at this link

Food For Thought

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Open Thread for September 28 2021

 Posted by at 7:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 282021
 

Yesterday, I did finish organizing my evening meds. I also placed a grocery order to be delivered today. I even worked a little bit on that front panel I mentioned last week. It rained a little, which is now supposed to continue for a few days.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Biden administration moves to preserve DACA after court ruling
Quote – A federal district judge in Texas ruled in July that the 2012 DACA program violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The decision left intact the program’s benefits for some 600,000 people otherwise unable to obtain legal status after being brought to the U.S. as children. But it blocked any future applications, leaving thousands of young immigrants in limbo.
Click through for story. The delay from July to now is because it was appealed. But this is good news.

The Daily Beast – Arizona Dems Threaten Sen. Kyrsten Sinema With No-Confidence Vote
Quote – “The Arizonans who did the work to elect Sinema have had enough of her betraying the voters who put her in office. It’s time for her to show the bare minimum of accountability and stop obstructing the agenda that Democrats, including her, campaigned on and were elected to deliver. Sinema is setting her political future on fire. If she doesn’t change course drastically and soon, it will be too late,” Kai Newkirk, a Democratic organizer in Arizona, told The Daily Beast.
Click through if you like – It doesn’t go into the consequences of such a vote.

The Guardian – John Hinckley, who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan, to be freed from restrictions
Quote – The US district court judge, Paul L Friedman, said in Washington during a 90-minute court hearing that he would issue his full ruling this week. “If he hadn’t tried to kill the president, he would have been unconditionally released a long, long, long time ago,” Friedman said. “But everybody is comfortable now after all of the studies, all of the analysis and all of the interviews and all of the experience with Mr Hinckley.”
Click through for details. Actually, he probably was never quite as insane as present-day MAGAts are. But I would still be nervous if I lived nearby.

Food for Thought –

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Open Thread – 2/22/2021

 Posted by at 11:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 222021
 

I’m not sure what happened this morning.  One possibility is that lightning struck the Bonneville Dam, a major source of hydro-power on the Columbia River, upstream of Portland, causing a massive flood at all points downriver.  However, the volume was insufficient and did not stink.  Therefore, I have to attribute it to the other possibility.  I finally Republicated.  I’m still exhausted, but I’m feeling much better.  The week will still be a little crazy as I’m going to the hospital on Thursday for a CAT Scan to see dust how much worse my tumors are.  OGIM!  Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 5:27).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: …How do we keep this sense of Democratic unity in the all-important mission of getting important things done for regular people going?

Here are my guide posts:

1. Understand that Democrats hang together or we hang separately. That old line of Ben Franklin’s at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed was not meant as a joke or clever word play: it was quite literally true and deadly serious. Unfortunately, this moment in history finds us in a similar moment, as that gallows the insurrectionists were building at the Capitol are a deadly sign that the threat is real. We Democrats need to deliver real things for real people over the next two years, or we are going to lose control of the government to a political party which just overwhelmingly rejected the idea that a president who encouraged a coup should not be punished for it.

We need to work together to get anything done, and we need to get substantial things done in order to win in 2022. With the margins we have now, there is literally no choice in the matter. We all know that opportunities for compromise with the Republicans will be few and far between, but compromise between Democrats is mandatory if we want to get anything done. So for my progressive comrades, we need to get everything we can on every bill we can, and then compromise and move on to the next chance. If we can convince the last few swing votes on at least reforming the filibuster, that should work out reasonably well for us, and even if not, there should be a lot we can get into the second reconciliation bill as well as more executive action.

…Conclusion

Passing legislation with the narrow margins in the House and Senate is going to be an intense challenge, requiring Democrats to stay together and requiring everyone to compromise and work things out in good faith. Biden has started off in much stronger political shape than the last two Democratic presidents, and we are on the verge of passing the biggest and boldest recovery package in the history of the republic. We need to methodically get that done, and then build on the success with another reconciliation bill where we can do bigger long-term things.

I’ve included the first of four guide posts and part of the conclusion. I fully agree and strongly recommend that you click through for the rest. We need to overcome the urge to in-fight.  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): U.S. Reaches Grim Milestone of 500,000 Covid Deaths

 

What a sad day. Of course Trump** virus would have killed thousands, even if Republicans were not doing everything they to give welfare for billionaires precedence while fighting to evade spending to save American lives!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Mr. Bojangles – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – [With Lyrics]

 

Ah… the memories!!  RESIST the Republican Reich!!

Don’t Let Republicans Steal YOUR Future!!

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