Politics Plus

Yesterday, as you could probably tell from the email, I was trying to find out how to solve a problem with Disqus. I went through multiple FAQ pages and found out that, if Disqus won’t load at all for womeone, it is probably a browser issue, but resolving it depends on which browser (and may also depend on whether or not one is using Windows, and if so which version.)  If anyone has had any experience with this. I’d appreciate any anecdotes at all.  Also yesterday, it being Sunday, my radio station aired a “Classics for Kids” program on the theme of Military music.  Snippets of the 1812 Overture, Háry János, and some marches were played, as well ass Beethoven’s “Wellington’s Victory.”  I could not help thinking that if they really wanted to tell musically what war is, Schönberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw” might come the closest.  But that would probably draw complaints from parents of little snowflakes.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – The Fight to Keep Their “Poor People’s Paradise” out of Private Equity’s Hands
Quote – [A] private equity–backed firm had bought the park, and residents soon found blue bags hanging on their doorknobs, containing packages outlining a fresh set of rules. Tenants were not to “wander on the streets of the community” after 9 p.m. Children were not to play in the roads. “Unsightly” or overgrown lawns were prohibited…. [L]andscapers hired by the park’s new owners had started cutting down residents’ rosebushes, lilac ­trees, and wildflower gardens. Before, Sans Souci was a “poor people’s paradise,” one resident said, where neighbors greeted each other as they passed by. But now everything that gave the community character, from people’s yard statues to the multicolored paint on their homes, had to go.
Click through for story. Remember Bain Capital (which by the way is still in business)? IMO, what private equitygroups to is simply lega;ized piracy.

Slate – Former Judge Resigns From the Supreme Court Bar
Quote – On Wednesday, Dannenberg tendered a letter of resignation from the Supreme Court Bar to Chief Justice John Roberts. He has been a member of that bar since 1972. In his letter, reprinted in full below, Dannenberg compares the current Supreme Court, with its boundless solicitude for the rights of the wealthy, the privileged, and the comfortable, to the court that ushered in the Lochner era in the early 20th century, a period of profound judicial activism that put a heavy thumb on the scale for big business, banking, and insurance interests, and ruled consistently against child labor, fair wages, and labor regulations.
Click through for letter (and also explanation of what the “Surpeme Court Bar” is.) Fifty years of membership down the tubes – because of Roberts.

The Daily Beast – PA Senate Candidate John Fetterman Hospitalized With Stroke Days Before Democratic Primary
Quote – Pennsylvania Senate Candidate John Fetterman revealed on Twitter that he checked into the hospital on Friday after he felt under the weather. According to a statement he posted Sunday afternoon, he suffered “a stroke that was caused by a clot from my heart being in an A-fib rhythm for too long.” Fetterman credited his wife, Gisele, for quickly spotting the signs and prodding him to seek medical treatment. Doctors were able to remove the clot and reverse the stroke, the candidate said
Click through for what is known. This is too bad – but at least it’s the primary, not the general. John is a Progressive, a force of nature who actually tells it like it is. His Democratic opponent, Conor Lamn, is more of a moderate.  I’d rather see Fetterman in the Senate … but at least Lamb is no Joe Manchin.

Food For Thought