Jul 192024
 

Yesterday, I got to thinking about how I would change mu initials if I felt I had to. I am blessed (or saddled) with quite an assornment of potential middle names. Starting with the one on my birth certificate, there’s “May” which was my father’s mother’s name, so there’s M. Her full maiden name was May Hurst, and occasionally I’ll use the H. Then there’s “Laura,” which I sometimes say is my Lutheran confrmation name, but actually I just liked it. L is the middle initial on my DD-214. Then there’s “Teresa” which actually is my Catholic confirmation name (I didn’t pick up one when I first became a Catholic since I claimed St. Joan of Arc as my patron – close enough to Joanne). But there is my own maiden name, “Stangenberger”, so I could go all the way up to JMHLTSD if I wanted to – but that seems unwieldy. Any thoughts?

I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a laugh from Andy. And this is a good one.

Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter for July 17 goes back in history to a July 18, and goes into the real life story celebrated in the movie “Glory.” I have not seen the movie, but its sound track is a favorite with clssical music radio programs, so I do know what it is about -but not how strictly it stays with the facts. Heaven knows the facts are dramatic enough. If you don’t know the story and want to read it here, you may need a hanky alert (I always do when this story comes up.)

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Jul 152024
 

Yesterday, I was able to see Virgil. The drive was uneventful both ways. Bless his heart, he brags about how wonderful I am all the tine to anyone who will listen, and today he introduced me to two staff who wanted to meet me. The first was LeeAnn (don’t know about the spelling), whose two children are both Marines, and we had duty stations in common, so we chatted about that for a while. The second was Robinson,who helps him when he can’t handle the technology to phone me (which I’m afraid is getting more and more frequent.) We did get to play crobbage, and he’s also having more and more difficulty counting the hands. But he’s still Virgil, and seems to be in good health otherwise. And he has no trouble remembering me. I don’t know whether I have said this before, but I am very glad he is in the facility it is in – it’s the one which is solely for inmates with mental issues, whch means they know how to take care of him Far better than I could, actually. And I did get the memo about the shooting Saturday. But I don’t know enough yet to comment.

Heather Cox Richardson has quite literally ben thinking about this for years before requesting an interview with Secretary of State Blinken. Yes, it was under Reagan that the Cold War more or less ended (Putin is still fighting it – and so is Trump**) And since then, with a few exceptions, our Presidents have been mostly Republican. Beau likes to liken the Republican party to a dog chasing a car who catchs it and has no idea what to do with it. I would say foreign policy is one of those cars. In any case, the interview was videotaped, and half of that is in this column. She will follow up with the rest of it – and so will I. And do read the text also.

I would like to point out that “ultra wealthy Christian” is an oxymoron. When the rich young man came to Jesus, Jesus told him to “Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor.” Suffice it to say, he didn’t. It’s in every Gospel but John, but Mark 10:17-31 is one of the citations.

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Jul 072024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” I think everyone knows the “Don Juan” story, and I have seen and heard it many times since I was introduced to it in college. I think this is the first production which attempted to bring a little “Me Too” spirit to it – for one thing, setting parts of it in a butcher shop. Of course being Mozart, the music is wonderful, and the singers were competent. I also received a grocery order – not large in volume but kind of pricey. Light bulbs and fancy coffee will do that, despite other sales.

This is one of his best columns. It’s on the topic od down-ballot roll-off. I remember TomCat used to complain about it. But now at least someone is doing something about it. He has a video with her (but no CC – sigh), but he also talks about her organization “Sister District,” and what it’s doing. At the end of his article, he provides a link to an interview of Heather Cox Richardson by Christiane Amanpour whish does have CC (it has it in the upper left of the screen, and if you accidentally let your mouse slip into the video part of the screen, it gets covered. Also, after you click on the video in the list, you need to scroll to the top of the screen to see it. Not difficult, just different.) She doesn’t mince words.

I didn’t even hear the rumor until yesterday. Of couuse I don’t frequent places which peddle stuff like this, so that’s probably why.

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Jul 032024
 

Yesterday, The Borowitz Report addressed the Supreme Court. Andy apparently can’t count, and only two of his proposed replacements are lawyers, but it’s still delicious to think about – and the devil is in the details.

I expect that everyone remembers [retired conservative] federal judge [J. Michael] Luttig from his testimony to the January 6 Select Committee. His delivery was so slow and deliberate that some people thought he was age-impaired, but that was not the reason. The actual reason he spoke that way was because the matter was (and is) so important and he wanted to make sure that not a syllable was missed. Well, he’s in the news again, and this time with thoughts so powerful that no one else has the spine to say them out loud. I hope Jack Smith has the spine to hear them. I suspect that if anyone does, it is he.

Robert Reich‘s point, expressed in the first few paragraphs is something I have known foe so long that I tend to forget that not everyone knows, which allows so many to be misled. Heck, I learned in business school that the very word “bureaucracy” was coined to describe what Reich must now call the “administrative state” because the other has been so tarnished. Federal agencies and the regulations they impose are designed to protect we the people from the most dangerous monster on earth – corporations.

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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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Jun 062024
 

Yesterday, Wonkette’s newsletter provided a gift link to a New York Times opinion piece, written by Michelle Goldberg (not by some right-wing lackey), whichdoesn’t contain anything we hadn’t figured out, but says it well and clearly. And the gift link makes it easier to share if you’d like to (don’t cut it – the stuff after the question mark is needed to validate that it’s a gift.) Also, Andy Borowitz “interviews” the new President of Mexico, who has thoughts on the U.S.

Well, this is interesting. It’s hard to be sure what it means at this point, other that Republicans are so good at creating “plausible deniability” that they have gotten bad at using it, trying to make it work all the time. Denying everything is admitting everything.

Well, this is really interesting. Like puppetmaster, like puppet, I guess. Now, before anyone says “Money is the root of all evil,” let me point out it is not money, but the love of money, which is the root of all evil (or as Chaucer quoted in the Canterbury Tales, “Radix malorum est cupiditas.”)


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May 302024
 

Yesterday, Wonkette referred me to this clip from The Daily Show. I;ve set it to start where he starts on Alito. It is a hoot. Also, I reached my plumber, who will becoming today (and will likelty have come by the time anyone reads this.)  Sorry to be so late!

This is noteworthy, particularly in Mississippi. I wish the Supreme Court would take notice.

I knew about this – you may also have read about it – but then I don’t pay attention to what Ursula calls the “Legacy media.”

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May 242024
 

Yesterday, I picked up a new Randy Rainbow parody, the first one he has made since “Don’t Arraign on My Parade, which was 9 months ago. (He made an “Interview with Mike Johnson,” but it’s not musical.) This one is called “Forty-Five” and based on “Nine to Five.” Here’s the link.

This is just the introduction of a bill. It doesn’t mean it will pass, with or without amendments. But it is IMO a good, even a great, bill and long overdue. Kudos to Elizabeth Warren.

Well, this is – unfortunately – unusual. A littlr more of it and it would be more than Texas which would see improvement.

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