Open Thread May 27, 2022

 Posted by at 6:36 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 272022
 

Yesterday, I received my grocery order and put it away. No substitutions – a few things missing, but I wasn’t charged for them. While waiting, I started working on cartoons for June. It’s a month with a lot missing and also a few dated, so it’s a ;large project. I got four put together (but not framed) which took me up through the ninth. I’d kind of like to get the tenth done this week yet, and then get farther next week, but we’ll see how it goes.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – The Supreme Court Just Said That Evidence of Innocence Is Not Enough
Quote – After losing in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Arizona’s attorney general appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. During those oral arguments, state prosecutors repeatedly argued that “innocence isn’t enough” of a reason to throw out Jones’ conviction. On Monday morning, by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court concurred: Barry Jones’ innocence is not enough to keep him off of death row. The state of Arizona can still kill Jones, even if there exists a preponderance of evidence that he committed no crime.
Click through for verdist ana analysis. I don’t have any idea how to react to this – it is that warped.

CPR News – Hate crimes are on the rise. Here’s what you can do to help prevent them
Quote – If someone says something that I have never heard them say before, like something racist, as uncomfortable as that would be, I would want to say, “I’ve never heard you talk like that. Why are these things appealing to you? What’s changed with you?” Actually express concern about them, that something is off and they’re becoming angry and blaming people, which is really a warning sign. If, instead, you come with the opposite opinion, or try to use facts to dispute someone’s beliefs, sometimes it ends up having the effect of making you impossible to talk to. They think you’re the “other,” or shaming them, and they will pull away, and then maybe they won’t express these things to you, but they can continue to get more strident.
Click through for full conversation – and, since after all this is radio, you can also listen to it if thet works for you.

Letters From An American – May 25, 2022
Quote – It seems that during the Cold War, American leaders came to treat democracy and capitalism as if they were interchangeable. So long as the United States embraced capitalism, by which they meant an economic system in which individuals, rather than the state, owned the means of production, liberal democracy would automatically follow. That theory seemed justified by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The crumbling of that communist system convinced democratic nations that they had won, they had defeated communism, their system of government would dominate the future…. In fact, the apparent success of capitalism actually undercut democracy in the U.S.
Click through as she bolsters the argument. It’s depressing, but iit’s also important. And it’s why it’s also so important to distinguish between Left v. Right economically and Autocracy v. Democracy as governance. See (and shre) The Political Compass.

Food For Thought

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Potpourri on Education Topics and Issues

 Posted by at 3:20 pm  Politics
May 212022
 

As we all know, Gov. DeSantis of Florida has decided to ban math books that might put him and the GQP in an unflattering light.

But conscientious, patriotic citizens have stepped up to help out by creating useful arithmetic problems and teaching aids.  For example, try solving these problems in the new Florida math book:

[1] An orange man gets 74 million votes, but his opponent gets 81 million.

Show how 74 million is greater than 81 million.

[2] Orange man receives 11,780 votes less than his opponent.  How many more votes need to be “found” after the election in order for the orange man to claim victory?

[NOTE: This is actually a trick question.  The correct answer is ZERO.  The orange man will claim he won anyway.]

Folks decided that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL U-Really-18) could actually serve a useful teaching tool moment:

And Stephen Colbert (who authored the question) came up with the correct answer: “School Supplies”.

So what’s the real reason DeSantis is having Florida ban math books?  He HATES seeing the “EQUAL” sign.

Sticking with DeSantis and Gaetz, the pedophile representative from Florida has changed his plans for one of the final rites-of-passage of High School students:

With Gaetz boycotting Disney, there’s now at least ONE safe place in Florida where teenage girls can go.

Before whiteboards, many of us can recall chalkboards or blackboards.  Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) certainly is of that age – but apparently she must have suffered a terrible chalk incident in her childhood.  Because when someone wrote a chalk message in front of her Bangor house, she actually called the cops on them!

But later, Collins decided to make lemonade out of lemons even though she was still recovering from her frightening Chalk foray.  So during her recent photo-op visit to Ukraine she extended a thoughtful invitation to Pres. Zelensky:

(No doubt she also took the time to tell Zelensky that she is “sure” that Putin “has learned his lesson”.)

But Collins is not entirely done waging her battle against the vicious chalking her sidewalk received.  She’s talking about removing those easily available terrorist kits from the store shelves that we so often see right before the start of the school year …

Truth be told, Susan’s real goal is to ban all those high-capacity chalk magazines that us oldster remember from music class in grade school:

She’s discussed this issue with her staff and noted that whenever and wherever they appear, there’s always discord and treble ahead.  She wants everyone to keep a sharp eye out for them.

Why, she even has thought about throwing them in jail because she really feels they should be under a rest.

I hope this wasn’t too upsetting, because I want to leave everyone in harmony.  Don’t worry – I’ll be Bach.

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Open Thread May 10, 2022

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 102022
 

Yesterday, I did a little constructive oversleeping. Even when everything goes slowly, any time I drive anywhere farther away than 5 or 10 miles, I stress and get very tired. (When I was in my twenties, I could actually lose weight drving long distances, even when eating as much as (or even a little more than) usual. I’m pretty sure that’s not true any more, but it’s still tiring. Hence the need for a little extra sleep. And it helps – though it probably would have helped more if I had awakened to a happier news day.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Nib – Restaurant for Vultures
Quote –


Click through for graphic article. I like vultures. I had very few plushies when I was a kid, but one day on my mid-teens I saw a lushie vulture and had to have it, and “Nigel” became a beloeved companion. So this story – which is less about vultures than about the many ways we contribute to loss of biodiversity, even when doing things which seem very positive, caught my eye.

Los Angeles Times – Column: Cops, not books? This town’s library may become a police station
Quote – [Frank] Cervantes [Library Associate] didn’t want to give too many opinions, partly because he had a bunch of kids to look after. But he did emphasize the importance of having a library in a small town like McFarland. He himself grew up in the even smaller agricultural community of Mettler, an hour away. His hometown had no library, but his mom was able to take him to libraries in bigger cities. “It was the difference,” he quietly said, “between a bright future and the futures that some of my peers had.”
Click through. I can guarantee tht if they do this, crime (or at least “crime”) will increase. If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

No More Mister Nice Blog – The CDC Really Needs to Look into This Cluster of Right Wing Amnesia
Quote – I think I understand what’s happening here. The right needs to make the reaction to this decision the real story, in order to distract from the decision’s unpopularity and radical nature. Part One of this attempt to manufacture consent was the phony outrage at the leak, which the right blames on liberals, despite lacking any evidence to do so.
Click through for full blog. Right wing amnesia is nothing new But it’s getting worse … and their attacks on public education suggest that it’s currently far from bad enough to suit them.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 4/23/22

 Posted by at 12:16 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Apr 232022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Rep Jamie Raskin: Public Hearings Will Show, “Trump Launched a Coup Against VP Pence and Congress.”

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Meidas Touch – Texan HUMILIATES Ted Cruz for Disney Furry Porn Fetish

Really American – Fox Host CALLS OUT Desantis’ CRT Math Claims On Air

Crooks and Liars – McCarthy Denies He Said He’d Ask Trump To Resign. Maddow Has The Tape. (McCarth is a liar. In other news, the sun came up this morning.)

Armageddon Update – The Arrogance of the Left (I don’t think “arrogance” is the right word – but it might as well bem because everything else in the rant is correct.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Mallory McMorrow and identifying with the bad guy….

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Video Thread 4/5/22

 Posted by at 11:42 am  Open Thread, Politics
Apr 052022
 

Glenn Kirschner – NYT: President Biden says Trump is “a Danger to Democracy” and “Should be Prosecuted”

The Lincoln Project – Genocide

Meidas Touch – Trump’s Fake News Rally FACT-CHECKED in real time!

American Bridge – Ron DeSanits: At War with the LGBTQ Community

Ojeda Live – Republicans and Their Aversion to Education

SNL Cold Open 4/2/22

Beau – Let’s talk about some good climate news….

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Open Thread March 31, 2022

 Posted by at 7:22 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 312022
 

Yesterday, I made and got confirmed my reservation to see Virgil on April 10 – the first available Sunday, Sunday being the safest day of the week for driving. I also managed to get the recyclable and trash bins out to the curb for pickup tomorrow, which surprised me a little bet, because the previous day I had pushed my mobility limits. While I was doing that, the “neighborhood cat” came around and accepted a few salmon treats. He can be picky, so that was nice. He is definitely not starving, but I still try to figure out his likes and dislikes. Sadly, looking at my iris bed, it doesn’t look like my TomCat iris is coming back this year. In fact, it looks like I’ll only have one stem of Baboon Butt Blood (sorry – when that varietal came out it was named “Baboon Bottom” and I got into a bad habit with it). I may be able to recover the others, or soe of them, by separating and fertilizing, but it’s by no means certain, even if I can muster up the energy to do it, which is also doubtful.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – We All Know Teachers Are Underpaid. But Who Imagined It Was This Bad?
Quote – Perhaps most jarring of all was the teacher in California who said that, in order to support her family financially, she has become a surrogate mother. Twice. “I’m literally renting out my uterus to make ends meet,” she wrote.
Click through for stats and stories. This may be the most devastating thing Republicams have done to the United States. It may not grab headlines like an insurrection, but its effects are far more widespread and far more long lasting.

The Hill – Biden signs bill making lynching a federal hate crime
Quote – “Hundreds of similar bills have failed to pass. Over the years, several federal hate crime laws were enacted. … But no federal law — no federal law expressly prohibited lynching. None. Until today,” Biden said to applause.Biden noted that civil rights leaders and lawmakers have been working for more than 100 years to pass a bill making lynching a hate crime. The president called lynching a “uniquely American weapon of racial terror.
Click through for story. It’s about time.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Milunka Savić
Quote – In 1912, her brother received call-up papers for mobilization for the First Balkan War. She chose to go in his place—cutting her hair and donning men’s clothes and joining the Serbian army. She quickly saw combat and received her first medal and was promoted to corporal in the Battle of Bregalnica. Engaged in battle, she sustained wounds and it was only then, when recovering from her injuries in hospital, that her true sex was revealed, much to the surprise of the attending physicians.
Click through. Please. I can’t possibly do justice to this feisty lady in one quote (if I had to try, it ought to be “I will wait.”

Food For Thought:

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Video Thread 3/21/22

 Posted by at 12:10 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 212022
 

Glenn Kirschner – A Tale of 2 Americas: First Black Woman Headed to the Supreme Court vs. Trump’s Racism & Misogyny

Meidas Touch – The GOP BLOCKED US on Twitter!! (Congratulations, Broothers!)

No Dem Left Behind – Marjorie “Traitor” Greene wants us to turn our backs on Ukraine and let Putin win!

VoteVets – War Powers

Radio Free Europe – Taking Calls On Ukraine’s Help Line For Russian Military Moms (and dads and sibs) – hanky alert

Brent Terhune – Elon and Grimes’ secret baby

Beau – Let’s talk about HB 800 in Tennessee….

Finally, I want to give a hat tip to a video Lona posted – a stirring prody of “London Calling called “Kyiv Calling. You can click on the link, or scroll back a few posts to see it (with her comments.)
https://youtu.be/9guzUoTNxeE

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Open Thread March 19, 2022

 Posted by at 6:49 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 192022
 

Yesterday, I had not slept terribly well, and kept nodding off. I did accomplish a little knitting, but not much, and not much else either.

Cartoon 

Short Takes –

Rolling Stone – Manchin’s Coal Corruption Is So Much Worse Than You Knew
Quote – At this point in human evolution, burning coal for power is one of the stupidest things humans do. Coal plants are engines of destruction, not progress. Thanks to the rapid evolution of clean energy, there are many better, cheaper, cleaner ways to power our lives. The only reason anyone still burns coal today is because of the enormous political power and inertia that the industry has acquired since the 19th century. In America, that power and inertia is embodied in the cruel and cartoonish character of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who, paradoxically, may have more control over the trajectory of the climate crisis than any other person on the planet right now
Click through for details – lots of details and links to more. But right now we really don’t have a choice. This is why it is SO important to gain a REAL majority in the Senate as soon as possible.

The New Yorker (Jill Lepore) – Why the School Wars Still Rage
Quote – A century later, the battle over public education that afflicted the nineteen-twenties has started up again, this time over the teaching of American history. Since 2020, with the murder of George Floyd and the advance of the Black Lives Matter movement, seventeen states have made efforts to expand the teaching of one sort of history, sometimes called anti-racist history, while thirty-six states have made efforts to restrict that very same kind of instruction…. While all this has been happening, I’ve been working on a U.S.-history textbook, so it’s been weird to watch lawmakers try their hands at writing American history, and horrible to see what the ferment is doing to public-school teachers.
Click through for story. Besides the “new” stuff, evolution is still a bone of contention. Teachers in the line of fire are very visible – but my biggest worry is what will happen to America whenit becomes a nation whose citizens know noththing of real history.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Christine de Pizan
Quote – Venetian by birth, Christine served as a court writer in medieval France after the death of her husband. Christine’s patrons included dukes Louis I of Orleans, Philip the Bold of Burgundy, and his son John the Fearless. Considered to be some of the earliest feminist writings, her work includes novels, poetry, and biography, and she also penned literary, historical, philosophical, political, and religious reviews and analysis. Her best known works include The Book of the City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City of Ladies, both written when she worked for John the Fearless of Burgundy.
Click through for bio. Not only did she write and get published in her own name … but she made a living doing it. That was a first for a woman, as far as we know.

Food For Thought:

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