Open Thread for February 21, 2022

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 212022
 
Yesterday, I worked on cutting my hair – not for appearance particularly, but to prevent it from landing in my eyes, or (in soe ways worse) in my mouth. I made progress … but it’s still a work in progress.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

engadget – QAnon founder may have been identified thanks to machine learning
Quote – With help from machine learning software, computer scientists may have unmasked the identity of Q, the founder of the QAnon movement. In a sprawling report published on Saturday, The New York Times shared the findings of two independent teams of forensic linguists who claim they’ve identified Paul Furber, a South African software developer who was one of the first to draw attention to the conspiracy theory, as the original writer behind Q. They say Arizona congressional candidate Ron Watkins also wrote under the pseudonym.
Click through for more. This story made the New York Times, but I didn’t have a gift link to read it there. This was the best I could find.

The Conversation – Physics abd psychology of cats – an (improbable) conversation
Quote – We’ve had cats as pets for, like, 14,000 years. And in 14,000 years, the cats have told us that they want to live with us, and that they would like a comfortable bed, and they want food, and they want us to snuggle with them. In other words, the cats have really communicated all of their interests and needs such that we’re running around doing whatever they have in mind. So they’re doing a very good job.
Click through. You may remember I mentioned that a webinar was scheduled with the IgNobel Prize paople on this subject. It was held, and it was taped in full. And a snippet of it has been transcribed here, with a link to the full video (with CC).

Black History – Wikipedia – Bessie Coleman
Quote – She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license. She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921, and was the first Black person to earn an international pilot’s license…. She then became a high-profile pilot in notoriously dangerous air shows in the United States. She was popularly known as Queen Bess and Brave Bessie, and hoped to start a school for African-American fliers. Coleman died in a plane crash in 1926. Her pioneering role was an inspiration to early pilots and to the African-American and Native American communities.
Click thrugh for article. These days, Earhart gets all the attention as a pioneering aviatrix, yet Coleman actually preceded her. (And Earhart did not have to travel to France – twice – to get her flight instruction.) In their own day, during the overlap of their careers, they were about equally prominent.

Food For Thought:

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Video Thread 2/14/22

 Posted by at 11:41 am  Open Thread, Politics
Feb 142022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Two Standards of Justice: Fed Worker Jailed for Mishandling Classified Docs, While Trump Golfs (Apparently, that was the only crime in the completed case. It does take limger to write a term paper than it does to write a 500-word essay. Just a thought.)

Meidas Touch – Exposing Alabama’s RACIST Gerrymandered Maps

Lincoln project – Trump** v Toilets

Thom Hartmann – GOP’S Shocking Database Of Pregnant People

Look What These Pitties Did For Their Veteran Dad

Mrs Betty Bowers – Dealing With Annoying People

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump’s Truth Trouble….

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Open Thread for February 14, 2022

 Posted by at 6:39 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 142022
 

Yesterday, as much time as I spent trying to get organized, all I really accomplished was putting together my pills for the next tao weeks – and was happy to do that.

Cartoon –


Short Takes –

Lwtters from an American – February 12, 2022
Quote – Lincoln figured out the logic of a world that permitted the law to sort people into different places…. “It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own. You do not mean color exactly?—You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.”
Click through for the complete essay. The way Lincoln put this huge moral and ethical leap inot words strikes me as very similar to Freya’s method of demolishing the individualism myth.

The Hill – A retired Russian general’s criticism may signal a larger problem for Putin
Quote – Retired Russian Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, the head of the All-Russian Officers Assembly, has gone public with a statement that calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to resign over the confrontation involving Ukraine. To remove any doubt as to his message, Ivashov, 78, followed the public statement with an interview on a liberal Russian media outlet, Echo Moskvy, insisting that he was speaking in the name of the assembly of retired and reservist Russian officers which he heads.
Click through for story. I know what you’re thinking, because it stunned me too – “What? There’s a liberal media outlet in Russia?” But seriously, Putin may just have triggered his country’s equivalent of our Smedley D. Butler. And with that at his back, he may very well reconsider marching forward into Ukraine.  We can certainly hope so.

Black History – Wikipedia – Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
Quote (from Brooks, not from Wiki. Probably her best known.) –
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Click through for full bio. She is better known than most of the people I am featuring, but I’m including her today because I once had the privilege of meeting her. And that is a sweet memory.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread for February 2, 2022

 Posted by at 6:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 022022
 

Today is Twos-day (although we have an even bigger one coming on the 22nd.) Yesterday, I got the emails in TC’s PP email inbox down below 6000, which took me back into mid-November. I can only delete 23 at a time max, and skipping isn’t possible, so it’s not as fast as it could be … but I do think I can do up to a thousand a day most days. Fortunately, out of that over-a-thousand I kept less than 20, and 6 of those are backups. So it isn’t requiring too much thought.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – School Boards Have Long Been a Tool of White Supremacy
Quote – This is the “local control” that Gov. Parson favors, where a “select” group is given legal authority to rebuke the evils they are convinced critical race theory will impart on white society. Throughout history, the “unpardonable sin” of educators moving toward racial progress without white consent has been atoned for in the same way: disgruntled white people band together on a school board or committee to erase unwanted Black people, texts, and consciousness.
Click through for history and background. Mother Jones also has an article on the Tennessee meeting at which “Maus” was banned.    And a recent Antiaues Roadshow featured a collector whp is cllecting the books which belonged to Prudence Crandall, just to keep her memory alive.  The segment starts at 35:22 and it’s only a few minutes.

NM Political Report – Bill would prosecute parents for allowing kids access to guns
Quote – The Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act, named after the student killed in the shooting at his downtown Albuquerque school, would make it illegal for a gun owner to allow a minor unauthorized access to their weapon. The proposed law doesn’t specify how a gun should be stored but says gun owners could be fined $1,000 for storing a weapon in such a way that would allow a minor to gain unauthorized access. If the child used the weapon to commit a crime, the owner could also be found guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
Click through for story. It sounds more than reasonable to me. I hope it passes.

About Dr. Yadira Caraveo
Quote from Katie Porter – “I know that Dr. Yadira Caraveo is the best candidate to represent Colorado’s new 8th Congressional District. As a pediatrician, a former union representative, and a two-term state legislator, Dr. Caraveo is a trusted leader and a true reformer. In Congress, Dr. Caraveo will be a strong fighter for families and a critical voice to protect the future of our democracy.”
Click through to Caraveo’s personal info page. Unfortunately I do not live in the 8th District, which is in/around Adams County. But I wish her the best. Anyone supported by Katie Porter has my support too.

Food For Thought:
OMG just wait until they find out about Naked Mole-Rats!

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Video Thread 1/31/22

 Posted by at 12:08 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jan 312022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Orders Stewart Rhodes, Leader of Oath Keepers, Jailed Pending his Seditious Conspiracy Trial
Crooks and Liars – ‘I Think I’m In Love’: Acosta Fawns Over GA Woman Unloading On Greene. At the site, there is a partial transcript – cherry-picked for the best part.

politicsrus – In God We Trust

Rebel HQ – Mike Lindell Has Hit Rock Bottom

Rocky Mountain Mike – Joe Rogan and the Damage Done

Here’s what happened when a non-cat guy adopted disabled kitten

Beau – Let’s talk about how George Floyd may transform the country again….

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Open Thread for January 18, 2022

 Posted by at 6:35 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 182022
 

Yesterday was pretty quiet, as can be expected of a holiday, I suppose.We look to be expecting snow on Wednesday and a little more Friday – I”ll expect it when I see it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (Kerry Eleveld) – Democrats’ Case Against GOP Extremism Gains Momentum
Quote – But the White House has made an overt shift from the behind the scenes inside game it worked for a solid year to a very public campaign against the saboteurs of our democracy. “I’ve been having these quiet conversations with the members of Congress for the last two months,” Biden said. “I’m tired of being quiet!” he added, pounding the lectern.
Click through for story. I have said since before the election that Biden would come to this point. Yes, he’s a consensus builder. But he’s not stupid. He may have resisted, but he can see that sometimes you have to fight for the right, and this is one of those times.

Raw Story – ‘Smoking guns all around’: Conservative connects dots showing Trump ‘election fraud on a massive scale’
Quote – In his weekend wrap-up, conservative Bulwark founder Charlie Sykes makes the case that there is more than enough proof that Donald Trump and his inner circle made a provable attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election through fraud. Jumping right into it, Sykes pointed to a CNN report that stated, “…then-President Donald Trump’s allies sent fake certificates to the National Archives declaring that Trump won seven states that he actually lost,” which have also been labeled forgeries.
Click through for more from the thread, which became a conversation. No new information here – the news is in who is saying it. But don’t expect the Qrazies to pay attention.

Common Dreams – Progressives Counter Cherry-Picked Quotes With MLK’s True Legacy
Quote – As the FBI, right-wing political figures, and others came under fire Monday for engaging in the annual trend of dishonoring Martin Luther King Jr. by sanitizing his beliefs, progressives in Congress worked to honor his legacy of fighting for a more just society…. {Per Ayanna Pres;ey. “T]he truth is Dr. King was a radical dreamer with a bold vision for revolutionary change. A disruptive movement builder seeking to upend an unjust status quo.”
Click through. Anyone seeking real change must be radical about it – I don’t mean extremist – radical means “pretsining to the root.” Change which does not begin in and grow from the root may spring up quickly, but then will wither away, like the plants in the parable.

Food For Thought:

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Video Thread 12/28/2021

 Posted by at 11:50 am  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 282021
 

Glenn Kirschner – As Trump Plans Speech for Jan. 6, Insurrection Defendants Claim they Acted at Trump’s Direction

Meidas Touch – Anthony Scaramucci mocks DeSantis for being scared of anti-vaxxers

Gabby Giffords at 2020 Democratic Naitional Convention

Twitter – Little girl with deaf parents signs for them during Christmas concert.

Corey Ryan Forrester Campaign Ad

Rocky Nountain Mike Best of 2021

Beau (from 12/24) – Let’s talk about fun supply chain chaos on Christmas….

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Open Thread for December 26, 2021

 Posted by at 6:40 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 262021
 

Yesterday, I visited Virgil. It was special to be able to see him on Christmas, and he returns all greetings including special holiday greetings. The Sergeant who heads up the visitation team got the day off (and I really can’t think of anyone who deserves it more. For part of the time, the warden personally filled in for him. Don’t get me wrong – prison is still prison and no one wants to be there.. But there are some employees who have hearts and consciences. Although the time of sunset hadn’t changed (or rather it changed and then changed back) I left a little later and it didn’t work badly. There are still some (and one in particular) dangwr spots, but with proper equipment most of the drive is much better. The mast ten minutes of my drive were in “civil twilight,” which is when the sun is over the horizon, but there is still enough light to see by – you don’t need your lights on to see better, but you do to be seen better.) I can handle that. It only lasts a half hour, though (both morning and evening). Then there’s another half hour of “nauticak twilight” where there is still some reflected light but you need headlights. There might be more light reflected off of a water surface, but on land it’s not the best time to driver. Sunrise is still getting later, abd some of the drive out is becoming a bit more hazardous, but it should start getting earlier soon, which will also help.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

Crooks and Liars – HERO: All In A Day’s Work For Sixth-Grader Davyon Johnson
Quote – His principal, Latricia Dawkins, told the local paper, “He is just a kind soul and well-liked by his peers and staff alike.” His mom, LaToya Johnson, is proud but not surprised. She said her son wants to be an EMT, just like his uncle Wendell Johnson.
Click through for story. One more good news story can’t hurt.

Democratic Underground – The President and First Lady stop their motorcade to look at a Biden themed Christmas tree...
There are a few words, but mostly pictures Great pictures. Click through for them.

Mother Jones – The Mother of All Vaccines May Be Closer Than You Think
Quote – Now, after three coronavirus-sparked health crises in the last 20 years—SARS, MERS, and COVID-19—researchers are working to develop so-called universal coronavirus vaccines for the next outbreak. While COVID-19 vaccines are an incredible feat of science—they were created faster than any vaccine in history—researchers say it wasn’t fast enough. Kevin Saunders, the director of research at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, points out that hundreds of thousands of Americans died from COVID-19 infections while vaccines were being developed and approved. If we have a universal coronavirus vaccine ready to go in the future, even if it isn’t perfect, he says, it could cut down on hospitalizations and deaths, and buy researchers time to hone a virus-specific vaccine.
Click through for much more. The Walter Reed team has gone the farthest to date, but they are not alone, and others are also getting close. Now THAT’s good news.

Food For Thought:

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