Open Thread March 5 2025

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 052025
 

Yesterday, The computer I keep the most up to date things on still wasn’t booting. I did some looking up on the other computer, did a little playing around in the system settings, and surprisingly (at least to me) got it to boot. Checking what I did against what I had planned, I hadn’t done too badly. I’m including a few items today which were lost from yesterday, and the rest tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with me. One thing I did fail to mention is that Trinette has been unwell for a bit over a week now – she is getting better, but it’s slow. I’m sure she would appreciate prayers, healing vibes, or however you communicate with the universe (and I would also appreciate on her behalf.)

Heather Cox Richardson from (late) Saturday and including a previously aired interview even older. But some things take time to reveal themselves, and I think this may be one.

Wonkette got the title wrong – it’s clear from the article the correct figure is $2,400 a year. Which makes it even more disgusting that it was blocked. Wealthy people already get a free ride. But they still want even more.

Wonkette is singing my song. Someone should respond to some of these gripes with something like “Tell me you are both ignorant and insecure without telling me you are both ignorant and insecure.” Also, I have noticed (and I never use the phone for anything which can be done by email) that companies are NOT using “Press 1 for English” or anything similar in their menus – haven’t for years. They do have “Press 5 [or whatever] for Spanish,” but it’s clear English is assumed to be the default. If these snowflakes didn’t know that, they can’t be using  phones for personal business much, if at all. Also, with regard to the poster from World War II, I might point out that, in a war, if no one on our side can “speak the enemy’s language,” it is impossible to get any kind of intelligence, which almost certainly will cost lives. That is why the Diné code talkers were such game changers. (It’s pretty easy to tell when something pushes my buttons, isn’t it.

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Open Thread February 26 2025

 Posted by at 5:51 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 262025
 

Yesterday – well, let me back up a little. Last week, the guy who had been posting a column of political cartoons daily announced he would not be able to do that any more, for health reasons. He offered, if someone would strp up, to share all his sources, including international sources, and also tips for getting around some issues. I do not get all my cartoons from there – I take them where I find them – but a lot do come through DU. Well, yesterday, his replacement posted (and clearly took all the tips they could get.) So that will make life a bit easier for me. (All the Dr. Seuss cartoons I have used came to me through DU, for one thing.) Also, the backlash against MSNBC was growing, and rightly so.

Talking Points Memo points out a problem which would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. At least it explains in part why some say Elon Musk can’t be fired since no one hired him. Much kudos and many promotions to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, not only for asking and pressing the right questions, but for not going into a screaming fit while doing so – she certainly must feel like it.

Joyce Vance departs from her usual tone to share a number of things which are being done in response to this administration by people who may have read the CIAs’s “Simple Sabotage” – or maybe are just very creative. Barf bag warning for the AI video.

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Open Thread February 25 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 252025
 

Yesterday, I had not even finished with Sunday’s emails, and then I slept in even more than I planned to, because, after being drowsy all day, I still had some difficulty getting to sleep Sunday night. So a lot of them from both days went into my files without being read first. Also, just for my own satisfaction, I looked up “musk” (little “m”) at Wikipedia. I’m old enough to remember when natural musk was still in use and notable mainly for its unpleasant odor. But the etymology was new to me, and amusing.

I’ve been seeing a fair amount of articles headlined that the Mango Monster was recruited as a Russian agent in the 1980s, which in itself is pretty old news. When I did a search (I use DuckDuckGo) I found that many of the articles dated from 2017 or 2021 – I did say this was old news. In order to fins a new (within 3-4 days or so) take, I had to use the search term “Krasnov.” Before sharing one of these, I checked the reputation of the outlet on Media Bias/FactCheck. Yahoo news is listed as having a Left-Center Bias (based on the subject matter of articles) and high credibility (meaning MBFC could not catch them in any false “facts”.) I take the Bias score with a grain of salt, based on my belief in and understanding of the saying “reality has a liberal bias.” But the point is the fact checking and the credibility. I also looked at Snopes on the story – they can’t actually prove – or disprove – any of it so there’s that. I probably don’t need to say that all of this took some time. But I wanted to get it right. I also decided to use the meme from “Know Your Meme” as today’s cartoon. I cannot argue with it.

It’s Tuesday, a bit late for Joyce Vance’s The Week Ahead – but then, with all the chaos, looking at the week ahead is no longer a matter of looking at schedules, but more of a guessing game of “What fresh hell will this be?” (apologies Dorothy Parker.) So I thought it worthwhile.

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Open Thread February 19 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 192025
 

Yesterday, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported that a cybersecurity firm with substantial government contracts has hired a lobbyist (TSF affiliated) for “assistance in navigating DOGE.” So much for “honor among thieves” not that most people ever believed that anyway. And speaking of DOGE, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it needs a little more history and a little rant. The word “doge,” pronounced “doje” or occasionally “dozhe.” refers to an official of the late Medieval and early Renaissance (Renascence) times. In Italy, at that time, long before it was (finally re-)united in the 19th century, government was by city-states, and most city states had a Doge, or absolute ruler. The name derives from the Latin word “dux,” which means “leader,” and it also means “leader.” As does “Il Duce” (Mussolini) and “Der Führer” (Hitler). In Russia, Stalin held several titles, one of which was “Great Leader.” Are you seeing a pattern here? Dork Vader may be an idiot, but he is an educated idiot and I’m sure he knows every bit of this, and chose it to taunt us – telling us exactly who he is in a way he thinks we won’t understand. People who think that the acronym DOGE has anything to do with canines are simply not taking is seriously enough. Also yesterday I finally finished freezing my credit with all three bureaus. Experian was the hardest for me because, although they claim they will “text or call” for verification, they will not accept a landline number, so I had to phone them. But that’s done now. Finally, I imagine everyone knows the GOP majority in the House is only 3 votes, and that there are 3 special elections coming up to replace three R’s who accepted executive appointments. Dems are working their derrieres off trying to win all three, and what with buyer’s remorse, we might be able to do so. I am always forgetting the districts, which are FL-01, FL-06, and NY-21. The first one happens in April. Funds are being raised for all three of them here.

In this situation we can hope that the Reich on the left is wrong. He hopes so himself. Unfortunately, it is what it is.

This is the kind of civics that, even if you learn it somewhere between K and 12, unless you go to law school, or become a long-term Federal civil servant, you probably forget it. It’s another link in the chain of checks and balances, all of which affect us all in the long run, directly or indirectly, buy for most of us this one is pretty indirect. Even so, it matters. But it’s not sexy, so I doubt you’ll see much, if anything, in the mainstream media. Joyce Vance explains.

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