Open Thread May 31 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 312024
 
Yesterday, the plumber did come and quickly determined that the problem was the water heater, Sadly, water heaters have become quite pricey. Coincidentally, though, my credit union, which issued the card I use the most, just made me an offer to get a large purchase charged in installments, with no interest on the balance, only on the installments as they are charged, That sounds like something I could do and leave my emergency stash intact, and also not touch my one remaining 401(k). And then, of course – I expect like all of you, I did my best impression of a Happy Dance. GUILTY ON ALL 34 COUNTS!
This one s new – but he also did one earlier on the same subject to the tune of “Evergreen.”  I’ve copied thw link which should start right after the ad (which is where the song starts,  Before the ad, there’s only talking.)
I actually do try to be mindful of others. It’s not so difficult wen they are struggling with something I have struggled with, even when it was long ago. But it’s terribly easy to be absolutely gobsmacked when they are struggling with something I have never experienced and never expect to. Such as this. And the articles earlier this week on trans men.

 

Jamie Raskin writes about possible disqualification of two justices in a New York Tmes op-ed. No paywall, Kind of surprising they printed it.

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Open Thread May 10 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 102024
 

Yesterday, I got two petitions which I did not sign (along with a bunch of others that I did sign.) Both were from Left Action (I don’t know whether it is a wing of Care2/The Petition Site, that is who hosts its petitions.) The first one I saw (the second I received becaue I read my emails from the top down) was addressed to Judge Merchan and was headed “Don’t let Trump’s lawyers get a mistrial.” The problem is that it is addressed to the judge. Prople not involved in the trial pushing the judge to rule a certain way could be construed as obstruction of justice. The other one was regarding remmoving Aileen Cannon from the Mar-a Lago case. It didn’t specifically say it was addressed to the Citcuit Court (I forget which District that is), but I had to assume that it is, since that’s the only body which can do what is petitioned. I’m not saying no one can petition the courts, but this is not the way. Such a petition would have to come from someone with standing, like a group which had filed an amicus brief. We have all gotten so accustomed to “Don’t like something? Sign/start a petition that we have lost sight of the need to address those petitions to the entity which can actually act on them, and that entity had better not be someone in the justice system for whome the petiton could be construed as obstruction. Judge Merechan has been doing everything he possibly can from the day the case was assigned to him to insure there will be no mistrial. This petition could even conceivably increase the chances of a mistrial, not reduce them, if it is actually delivered and Trump**’s defense team find out about it. Both petitions were from n email address which can apparently be responded to, since i did and haven’t received a non-delivery notice. I hope y’all will consider this concerning these and any other petition involving any court. You can probably petition the prosecutor, maybe even the defense, but please, not the judge.

At least this is good news – if, as Ben said, we can keep it. I can guarantee that, should Trump** win, we cannot. And even if he doesn’t, if enough of his followers get into/stay in Congress, I certainly wouldn’t guarantee being able to keep it.

More proof that it’s not about life, it’s about control. With my age and experience, I probably shouldn’t be – but I was shocked by the sheer volume.

I don’t see how any sane person can fail to be in awe of Volodomyr Zelensky. Eleven assassination attempts and still trucking. Fly high, Ukrainian Guy!

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Open Thread May 7, 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 072024
 

Yesterday, I received an Axios alert emai telling me that Bernie Sanders is running for reelection. Good. I’m not a big fan of Axios editorially, but their alerts are usually the first time a nugget of news hits my inbox. I also received an email from the National Popular Vote Compact that Maine has joined. They are working steadily in other states as well. I wouldnn’t get my hopes up too high, but it’s close enough now that it would not be impossible for us to have enough states by November.

Some details here I haven’t seen elsewhere. Of course that may be just me.

As angry as we all were and are to learn that Clarence Thomas – and other justices – have failed todisclose high-dollar gifts from billionaires, I think we’d rather know about it than not know about it. Certainly the Pulitzer Prize people would.. They have awarded Pro Publica the Gold Medal for Public Service for breaking the story.

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Open Thread May 4, 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 042024
 

Yesterday, I learned from Progress Now Colorado that a fundraiser in Jefferson County for Kristi Noem has been cancelled. A short quote from the email: “We’re proud to have called for the well-behaved and leashed dogs of Colorado and their loving owners to peacefully protest against Gov. Noem’s fundraiser in Colorado. We asked attendees to bring extra doggie bags and ensure that the space we occupied would be left as clean as we found it. The reason this fundraiser was canceled is that Kristi Noem’s values are not Colorado values, and organizers realized they were making a terrible political mistake bringing her here.” Some pregressives (most actually, if not all – there are such things as infiltraators) know how to stage a protest.

CPR published an interview with the state’s Attorney General. There’s an article followed by a transcript (and I expect it’s still possible to hear somewhere on the news portion of the website.) I consider Phil Weiser a good AG and intend to vote for his reelection.

This is an article about a podcast regarding recent student protests. Certainly there’s a little bit of disturbance for just about everyone – and especially those who remember Kent State.

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Open Thread April 30, 2024

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 302024
 

Yesterday, I ran across a video on ice cream from which I learned that Joe is far from the first President to have a thing for ice cream. Washington did, and so did Jefferson, and Dplley Madison hostessed America’s first ice cream social ever, in the White House. I won’t embed it here because it’s over 20 minutes longbut I will provide a link in case anyone wants to check it out. The earliest ice creams, incidentaally, were made with eggs, and should therefore really be called frozen custard rather than ice cream. Among the many books I had as a little girl, there was one which mentioned frozen custard, and I wondered what it was – I was well into adulthood before I learned the distinction. Now I know, and now you know.

This from LAWdork (at Substack) was referred by the Talking Points Memo newsletter. The facts of the case itself are all too common. But the sight of conservative lawlessness being too much for even a proven, dyed-in-the-wool conservative is not quite so common. I wish AG Drommond and Mr. Glossup both complete success here.

There are multiple reason why this story from Antiques Roadshow is astonishing, touching, and mindboggling. And pertinent to America and Americans today. Christian Nationalism has in common with slavery the concept that some people are more equal than others.

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Open Thread April 25, 2024

 Posted by at 6:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 252024
 

Yesterday, the Arizona State House voted to overturn the 1864 abortion law, the one whose author has been so discredited. If it gets through the Senate, the Democratic Governor will, I am sure, sign it. Arizona appears to be on a roll – they also indicted some election conspirators, including Giuliani and Meadows. Also, my radio station was playing Passover music (it’s not till Tuesday night, but this DJ normally only works this station on Wednesdays, so next week would be late. (The rest of the time he works at the sister station whoch features jazz.) That made me think that 613’s Passover piece might be up, and it is. They are a group which makes videos for Jewish holidays, picking an artist to parody and then signing information about the holiday in a nedley of that artist’s works. This year’s is titled “Matza Mia”, parodying Abba (of course).

If you are looking for some really juicy news about what a fiasco Trump’s trial is being (especially on Trump’s side), Mary Trump is your go-to source. This column is dated Wednesday, but looks back to Tuesday

Joyce Vance has links to trial transcripts and documents. This might be a good one to save as a fact-checker reference.

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Open Thread April 24, 2024

 Posted by at 6:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 242024
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Katie Porter (not that that’s unusual.) We all know ahe will no longer be in Congress after 2024 is over. But this kind of makes it real, Since she will no longer be campaigning for herself, but only for her PAC, “Truth to Power,” she is liquidating all of her campaign merchandise. There are Tshirts, sweatshirts, socks, hats, lapel pins, key chains, and other stuff, including an actual whiteboard. I ordered her kitchen kit to remember her by (it’s something I will actually use. I use keychains, but already have so many.)  I expect the store to be open, but with either more general merch, or merch for particular candidates, as opposed to merch tied to Katie.

It’s about time that someone made this so clear that most people should be able to see it. (Of course there are always some who can’t – or won’t.)

Talking Points Memo has done a striking summary of the first day of the trial (do I need to say which trial? I didn’t think so) in several sections. Even if you already know most of it, it’s a good summary (and has good links – the ones which aren’t paywalled.)

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Open Thread April 15, 2024

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 152024
 

Yesterday, I came across a new Parody Project video at Democratic Underground, and I’m providing the link to that site (you can easily get to YouTube from it if you prefer.) The poster,, “DFW,” is “The freedom Toast” just as Don Caron is “The Parody Project.” DFW is an ex-pat living in Europe after a lifetime of foreign service. In the one photo I’ve seen of him, he looks a bit like Santa Claus in a dress suit – and that’s probably more than you wanted to know. I recommend the YouTube CC because the white type washes out on some of the light backgrounds – the CC isn’t perfect, but it’s something.

This has taken a long, long time to accomplish, and it’s really only starting, but I for one am glad it has at last gotten this far.

On the eve of a major trial, Richardson takes a look at the other (neglected by the MSM) story of how the economy works, and when it works best, and why. While attending to the Trump** story, we also need to be telling this one.

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