Open Thread September 6, 2023

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 062023
 

Yesterday, quiet again, and a little cooler. My big project was getting trash and recyclables out to my carts so that today I can put them out for pickup tomorrow. That’s not what I consider a rewarding job. No new object to admire. No new space to walk in or put things in (the trash/recyc containers are just as big emoty as ther are full). Changing a light bulb at least provides more light. But taking out discard has to be done, or they will take over everything. I did get it done before sunset, though. The recyc cart is going to be heavy today – I may pull instead of push, but it’s still heavy. The trash cart will be no problem.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Ignoring Bad Faith Right-Wingers Doesn’t Work Anymore. Debate or Debunk Them.
Quote – I had seen this type of attitude so many times before. My earlier career was as a conservative political media consultant. I spent years trying to get Republicans to think seriously about public policy and be respectful of people who weren’t straight white Christians. Finally, I realized it was a doomed effort because the current GOP is more interested in identity politics than in serving the public. I decided to critique Republicans from the outside rather than the inside. I took a major financial hit as a result, but I enjoy having a clean conscience.
Click through for article. This may work on those who are less practiced, and it’s probably worth trying. But those seasoned operative who just keep moving the goalposts so smoothly that it’s almost indetectable are not so easily debunked before an audience of cultists.

ProPublica – Why the Destruction of a Black Neighborhood Matters to Me — and Should Matter to Everyone
Quote – As a high school sprinter in Virginia’s Tidewater region, I often participated in meets at Christopher Newport University’s Freeman Center, which had one of the few indoor tracks in the area. I won 500-meter races against top runners, and my high school was team champion. Track and field was a huge part of my identity. I looked forward to crossing the Monitor-Merrimac bridge over the James River to Newport News, and I saw the opportunity to display my skill at Christopher Newport as a way to impress colleges and earn an athletic scholarship. It wouldn’t be until 20 years later that I understood the underlying irony. The construction of Christopher Newport, where Black athletes like me competed alongside our white counterparts, had displaced Black homeowners whose hopes and aspirations were dashed by racism.
Click through for investigation. Republicans have no inerest in protecting black, brown, LGBTQIA children from anything whatsoever. Their only interest is in protecting straight white children – males from anythng which might undermine their privilege, and females from anything which might interfere with their subservience to patriarchy.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 10, 2023

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 102023
 

Yesterday, Ohio’s victory was all over the news (as it should be!) Steve Schmidt in his Substack quoted the same Garfield speech which Heather Cox Richardson quoted Sunday (and which I quoted from her quote on Tuesday.) Steve quoted slightly different parts of it, and between them, they made me want to look up the whole speech. And I found it quickly in the Library of Congress. Garfield, besides being an anti-racist, was an interesting fellow. He was not just ambidestrous, but “could write a sentence in Latin with one hand while simultaneously writing the same sentence in Greek with the other.” (The History Channel thinks that may be a slight exaggeration, but whatever he did, it definitely impressed people.) When one looks at all the Americans who have been assassinated, and I don’t mean Presidents only, but other leaders, I have to wonder how many of these killings were done for money, and how much of that money came from greedy plutocratss. I’m not a historian, and I’m not a trained researcher, but I can look into history as far as a couple thousand years and see at least some assasinations which were quite convenient for the wealthy of the time. I wish someone who is a historian would take this on.

Cartoon – 10 0810Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

HuffPost – Alabama Boaters Charged After Attack On Black Co-Captain Spurred Riverfront Brawl
Quote – [A] massive brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, … began when white boaters attacked the Black co-captain of a riverboat…. The incident began at around 7 p.m. on Saturday after the riverboat, The Harriott II, attempted to dock in its usual spot but was blocked by a pontoon boat. The riverboat, which was carrying more than 200 passengers, waited nearly 40 minutes for the smaller boat to move, Albert said…. Multiple videos show the moment [Damien] Pickett[, the co-captain of The Harriott II] is attacked, which led to an all-out brawl as others, including workers with The Harriott II, came to Pickett’s defense. That included a 16-year-old identified as Aaren, who was seen on video jumping into the water and swimming to Pickett to defend him.
Click through for details – such as they are. I have to say it’s nice to here that the white attackers were arrested and charged (although – misdemeanor?) in Alabama, particularly after other recent news from there. Illegal parking on land is problematic enough – illegla parking on water – well, let me put it this way. Boaters who aren’t aware that harbors and docks have assigned parking for good reason may not be competent to be on a boat at all.  I might just add that earlier reports, including the video showing Aaren, identified Pickett as a “deckhand.”  I mean, either way, he was doing his job – but thats a heck of a thing to call a captain.

The Daily Beast – ‘Green Jim Crow’ Is a Ridiculous Insult to Black Communities
Quote – Black and Brown communities face the brunt of failed climate action and lackluster environmental policy. But there are those who believe it’s actually government efforts to ease the effects of calamitous effects of climate change that are to blame for the hard times of lower income communities. They’re calling it “Green Jim Crow.”… Though there are some compelling arguments in [self-described left-leaning environmental and civil rights lawyer Jennifer] Hernandez’s study—such as the proposed new housing map designed to increase the use of public transit only serves to reinforce segregative housing policies of the past—the premise of the idea is simply wrong.
Click through for article. I hadn’t heard the term, but, since everything with Republicans and racists is projection, I can’t claim to be surprised. This verbiage was bound to be picked up by them, since it solves nothing.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread August 9, 2023

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 092023
 

Yesterday, Katie Porter sent a fundraising email as unique as her whiteboard. She talks about her kids liking Mom’s cooking, and her jugglimg of cooking, and then offers to send her recipes to anyone who gives any amount through the email (If you didn’t get it, I’ll be happy to forward it,)  AND – by the end of the day, voters in Ohio destroyed the GOP trap proposition bigly.  Congratulations, Ohio!

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Watch Out for Renewed GOP Assaults on No-Fault Divorce
Quote – Conservative commentators are joining the calls to end no-fault divorce. Steven Crowder bemoaned the fact that Texas law permitted his wife to divorce him just because “she didn’t want to be married anymore.”… The earliest divorce laws in this country required the party seeking divorce to prove that the other party had committed one of the enumerated types of marital “fault” that the legislature had deemed sufficient to justify allowing the marriage to be dissolved. Every divorce law included adultery as a ground, and some states also had grounds like abandonment, neglect, imprisonment, or extreme cruelty. These grounds represented the legislature’s determination about what types of marital breakdown were dealbreakers. But the fault-based system had other features, as well. The party filing for divorce had to be “innocent” of marital fault themselves—if each party proved the other had committed marital fault, the law said that the parties had to stay married under the doctrine of recrimination. In other words, the worse the marriage, the longer it should last.
Click through for article. Republicans – authoritarians – want so badly to prevent women from hving any freedom that they don’t appear to realize that this would trap men too. I’m old enought to remember the so-called joke, “My wife is married, but I’m not.” That won’t fly any more.

ProPublica – Bullied by Her Own Party, a Wisconsin Election Official’s GOP Roots Mean Nothing in Volatile New Climate
Quote – Margaret Rose Bostelmann’s ideals are clear from one glance at her well-kept ranch-style house in central Wisconsin…. But her fellow Republicans have exiled her and disparaged her, sought to upend her career and, on this day in July, brought the 70-year-old to tears as she discussed what she’s been through over the last several years because she refuses to support false claims that Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election…. Now a suit filed in June by a Wisconsin man who promotes conspiracy theories about election fraud seeks her removal from the commission. Citing her estrangement from the county party, the suit claims she’s not qualified to fill a position intended for a Republican.
Click through for details. So, Liz Cheney is not a one-off. But – there are certainly not enough of them to be or become a national party.

Food For Thought
They won their special elections by 78% and 92% – and now they have national name recognition.

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Video Thread 8/6/2023

 Posted by at 11:51 am  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 062023
 

[Trump** must want to be locked up.  Why?  To instigate another insurretion?  What are we missing here?]
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s arraignment: a speedy trial is coming; Trump’s threatening post; and possible consequences

The Lincoln Project – Clown Convention

MSNBC (Crooks & Liars) – [it’s probably findable on YouTube, but this is such a nice, tight clip I just went with it.]

Farron Balanced – Trump Supporters Hurl Racist Threats At Prosecutor Before She Indicts Trump

Dog Waits For Months For Mom To Come Home From The Hospital

Beau – Let’s talk about how the GOP indicted Trump….

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Open Thread August 1, 2023

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 012023
 

Yesterday, as I had predicted, I slept in hard. And woke up feeling pretty good, both physically and attitude-wise. Today is a new month, and I already have all the cartoons checked – Of the 31 TC had for this month in 2015, 29 are usable, and I have already made the other two.  On to September!

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – DA Fani Willis Said The Fun Will Begin In August. Guess What Month Starts Tomorrow, Donald Trump?
Quote – Just as last week’s indictments were coming down, news was coming out of Atlanta that they were starting to put up barricades around the courthouse. Why? Because it’s Fuck Around And Find Out Summer! Plus, Willis had already said the fun was going to start in August. Now, there are a couple more fun new developments on that front…. And speaking of Fani Willis, she talked to reporters this weekend, and here is what she said:
Click through for article. It is Substack, so click on “continue reading” when it pops up, scrolling down first if necessary. I figure if we must have news involving TFG, we may as well have a little fun with it. Also, Substack videos can be weird, so I made a rough transcript of the one near the end: “First, [I made] a commitment to the American people but most importantly the citizens of Fulton County that we are going to be making some big decisions over the election investigation and that I would do that before September First 2023. [With what we’ve] accomplished over the last two and a half years, we’re ready to go.”

Common Dreams – What Florida Students Could Learn From PragerU Kids
Quote – A cartoon Booker T. Washington distorting the history of the Civil War. A narrator explaining that embracing climate denialism is akin to participating in the Warsaw Uprising. An instructional video telling girls that conforming to gender stereotypes is a great way to embrace their femininity. A dramatization of the supposedly civilizing, benevolent era of British colonial rule in India. These are just some of the episodes of PragerU Kids—an offshoot of right-wing propaganda organization PragerU—that Florida has just approved for use in its public school classrooms, reflecting and potentially accelerating the state’s hard conservative turn.
Click through for details. The title does not mean what I first thought it meant, which would have been something like, “PragerU kids may be baby MAGAts, but there is still something positivie to be learned from them.” Instead, it means something more like “Horrible things that Florida could be learning from PragerU propaganda if someone doesn’t put a stop to it.” You mey remember during the Vietnam war we mocked the remark “We had to destroy the village to save it.” But – if one thinks, not of the people of Florida en masse but of Floridas educational structure – this may be a time when that is actually true.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 7/28/2023

 Posted by at 11:44 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 282023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Rudy Giuliani admits in court filing that HE LIED about GA election workers Shaye Moss & Ruby Freeman

The Lincoln project is so hot just now that some of them will have to take their time to get posted)
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – July 25, 2023

VoteVets – Travel Ban

Farron Balanced – Ted Cruz Picked A Fight With Barbie And Lost

Tiny Kitten Becomes An Adventure Cat Like His Brother

Beau – Let’s talk about the Senate and NATO….

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Video Thread 7/25/2023

 Posted by at 12:01 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 252023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Has Mark Meadows flipped on Donald Trump? Here’s an important new data point

The Lincoln Project – They Would Be Ashamed of Him

Thom Hartmann – Russia Behind FAKE Hunter Biden Laptop Story? Shocking Revelations Revealed! [File under No s***, Sherlock]

Dog Obsessed With Water Goes to Waterpark (He’s a “yellow labmarine.”)

The Never Again Trump Song [parody of “Harrigan” by George M. Coham]

Beau – Let’s talk about Tupac….

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Open Thread July 13, 2023

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 132023
 

Yesterday, The Conversation’s newsletter included an article about what doesn’t work to prtect people from mosquitos – and what does – and if so, how long. If you live where there are mosquitos (and, thanks to climate change, every year there are more places which do) you might want to give it a look.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – GOP Lawmaker Banned From Wikipedia After Self-Editing Spree-
Quote – According to open source Wikipedia records, the edits were all made in 2021, while Lawler was serving as a New York assemblyman. Beyond authoring his self-made jump to his alma mater’s notable alumni, he made several more straightforward changes to his Wikipedia page. Lawler added electoral statistics from his victory in 2020 over a Democratic assembly incumbent, buffed up his resume to note that he “serves as the Ranker of the Government Operations Committee and as a member of the Aging, Banks, Education, and Housing Committees,” and changed his name on the page in one instance from “Mike Lawler” to “Michael V. Lawler.” The “V,” of course, is for Vincent.
Click through for details. I try to donate to Wikipedia yearly, since I use it so much. I think I’ll send them a little extra. Policing isn’t free.

The New Yorker – Reinventing the E.R. for America’s Mental-Health Crisis
Quote – It’s hard to imagine a less therapeutic environment for a person in crisis than an emergency department: crowded and windowless rooms; harsh fluorescent lights; the ceaseless ping of alarms; this patient retching, that one screaming. And yet, for every eight patients who present at an emergency department, one is there for a behavioral crisis such as psychosis, suicidality, mania, aggression, or substance use. Often these conditions have a years-long history and can’t be treated quickly or straightforwardly, in the way that a broken bone or a knife wound might be. In some cases, showing up at an E.R. can make things worse; patients who pose a danger to themselves or others may be sedated or kept in isolation, even tethered to bedside rails so that they cannot move…. The mental-health unit where Mitlyng works is one of only a few dozen Empath units, short for Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment, and Healing. Such units, which were invented about a decade ago, vary in size, staffing, and design, but the core concept is that, instead of leaving patients to languish in an emergency room, caregivers offer them a calm communal environment where they can receive a comprehensive evaluation, start therapy, and, if needed, receive medication.
Click through for article. It’s jaw-dropping how simple the concept is… and also how badly it is needed everywhere. The author has hospital ER experience themself, incidentally.

Food For Thought

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