Open Thread June 29 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 292024
 

Yesterday, Robert Reich posted episode 5 in his DEBUNK series. Joyce Vance summarized what happened in SCOTUS Thursday, and what didn’t happen (more important actually). And it’s worth reading her post to the end for a little good news. And, SCOTUS told Steve Bannon to go pound sand (they declined yo hear his emergency appeal.) And then there was this: “Supreme Court guts agency power in seismic Chevron ruling.” And finally, Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell were the only two in my feed who saw the same debate I saw. I’ll let Heather tell it.

If you are looking for actual information about performance-enhancing drugs (which Joe Biden is not taking), I can recommend Evan Hurst’s article at Wonkette, from which I want to share this quote: “Every Republican accusation — literally every one — is a confession. If they’re talking about things, they’re talking about the things they do, and that’s why they know about them.” This weekend I am trying to keep the reference to either good news or funny/amusing. I for one need that break. We’ll see how it works.

This is short and succinct, and absolutely right on target. It hits literally close to home. It might even influence somebody. (and with all that, it’s also amusing.)

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Open Thread June 27 2024

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 272024
 

On Tuesday, Ukraine began official accession negotiations with the European Union. It’s nice to have some good news to offset what came out of the Supreme Court yesterday, and the ridiculous number of decisions not yet decided by the same. Also, I learned that Steve Schmidt has a wicked sense of humor, as is shown by his remarks about the Alan Shepard prayer.

I would think that Pete Buttigieg would be among the very last of white people to think that black lives – quality as well as quantity – don’t matter. I’d advise them to go directly to him. But I do realize that’s not as easy as it sounds.

Of course this is a concern, because bullies willalways look stronger to stupid people than they in fact are, and leaders with genuine inner strength will not look strong to stupid people. But if Joe just does what he did in the latest SOTU (and we know he can, bcause we watched him pull it off), people who are not brainwashed will get the point.

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Open Thread June 25 2024

 Posted by at 5:56 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 252024
 

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision. Two effing years. Here’s a link to what Mary Trump and two of her friends, both of whom have worked on the Lincoln Project but have now founded what’s called The Seneca Project, have to say about it. There’s both a 37 minute video and a full transcript.

Heather Cox Richardson on the rconomy compared and consrasted baased on who wins the election. I am not convince that all those “business leaders” are as smart as Heather appears to think they are (I know for a fact that Elon isn’t). but even a few of them that smart would hlp.

Joyce Vance, because the Supremes aren’t finished for the year. In fact, tere are 12 undecided cases to go/ The earliest we can expect another opinion to drop is Wednesday. (As Joyce points out, and as I have often noticed, anything that happens during a President’s term of office, 17% at least will think is his fault. Or to his credit – it works both ways.)

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Open Thread June 23 2024

 Posted by at 6:12 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 232024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” by Richard Strauss. That translates to “The Woman without a Shadow,” but the shadow is purely symbolic. The woman of the title is not a woman but a fairy, who has married the Emperor and become his Empress. But in order to stay with him after a certain amount of time has passed, she must become fully human, and that is what the shadow symbolizes. To emphasize the fairy tale environment, only one of the characters is given a name, and that is the dyer, whose wife is tempted to sell her shadow to the empress. It always tickles me that the name of the dyer is Barak (in German, the accent is on the first syllable,) since this opera premiered in 1919. I won’t go into the plot – it’s too complicated. Musically, it’s somewhere between Salome and Rosenkavalier. It has the color of Rosenkavalier but not the catchy waltzes, and it has the fierceness of Salome (and Elektra, which is like Salome without the sex) but without the jarring dissonances which made them so shocking in their day. Also, after looking all over for a video clip of John Oliver discussing Project 2025 which has CC, I did finally find one here.

For Pride Month – what people of faith are doing to oppose the hatred of LGBTQIA people, particularly at Pride events, where the hatred too often becomes physical.

When you read this, you will likely wonder whether Joe really is a wizard after all. It certainly seems like it would require a wizard to accomplish all of this at once.

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Open Thread June 20 2024

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

Yesterday, I learned that Willie Mays had died the day before. He was 93. His death now is overshadowed by the conflict between democracy and fascism, so I learned this from The Conversation. Even Democratic Underground didn’t have it (they do now because I posted it) and they have a dedicated Sports forum. (Talking Points Memo did cover it.) Y’all know I’m not much into sports, but, as a native of San Francisco, I do feel this. After all he had to put up with, though, as a black baseball star during the Cold War and Civil Rights era, at least he’s free at last now.

Murfster makes a historical error or two (using movie history instead of real history) – it’s close enough to make his point, though, and the comments straighten him out. The work that people are doing now, preparing for the worst, is real, and thank heaven for it. Noy that we couldn’t also use some preparation directed at meeting direct violence, of course.

I’m not going to spoil the punchline by telling you too much – or anything, really – about this by Andy Borowitz, other than that I think it one of his best ever.

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Open Thread June 17 2024

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 172024
 

Yesterday, I managed to remember it was Father’s Day in time to wish Virgil a happy one. The prison dog’s handler brought him out to say happy Father’s Day to all the visitors. And of course we played cribbage. Two weeks ago the cards were seriusly hot – we were seeing scores up as high as 24. Yesterday not so much. The highest score all afternoon was 16, and there were only 3 hands all afternoon which achieved that score. But who cares – we were having fun.

Before we get too giddy over the Supremes approving mifeprestone (for now), we need to look deeper. Robert Hubell does. There are several topics here, but each has its own large type headline, so it’s not hard to find. And some of the other topics are pretty interesting also.

Yes, it took me a while to get this up. But I try to minimize bad news over a weekend. At least there are influential people who see right through this and are doing their best to spread reality. Unfortunately, the media is not among them.

–

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Open Thread June 14 2024

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 142024
 

Yesterday, Wonkette provided a gift link to an article on the Alitos. There has been plenty of coverage of what was said, but not so much of why it was so terrible. This article dives deep into the why. It also provides answers to some of the same questions asked of Chief Justice Roberts. There is a notable difference.  Also FLorida (south Florida) was a bit damp.  Our Mitch tipped me off to this in two emals (the second was arighteous but short rant LOL)  And one more thing – I got the email that my primary ballot has been counted.

It had occurred to me that this might be the case. I’m happy to see I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Of course Congress has the authority to pass a Code of Ethics for the Supreme Court. The authors of the Constitution specified they wanted a government with checks and balances. The claim that Congress cannoy legislate the Spureme Court is therefore unconstitutional on the face of it. Not that any minds will be changed by me.

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Open Thread June 12 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 122024
 

Yesterday, Trinette’s son Zach was by to “mow the grass” (a very charitable euphemism for “mow thw weeds. And I did reach the exterminator, who confirmed they are coming in the late afternoon tomorrow. So that’s all good. Also, as I’m sure youall know, Hunter Biden was convicted of a gun felony. And then too, in case anyone cares, I looked up the no paywall link to the Rolling Stone article which captures the Alitos’ real political ideas. It’s here. And one last thing – the Theater of War production scheduled for 6 pm Eastern today was featured on PBS News Hour over the weekend and the segment can be streamed here if anyone is interested. I’m sure they aren’t finished with this project.

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls this geoup “The greatest threat to democracy you’ve never heard of.” The HuffPost Fringe shares the information.

I do hope TFG (Can also stand for That Felon Guy) doesn’t actually try this. However, as Virgil’s mother used to say, “Xit in one habd and hope in the other and see which gets filled first.

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