May 132022
 

Yesterday, I paid a couple of bills. I didn’t venture outside, though I suppose I might have, because besides the evacuations the day before, we also has spring winds (to blow them away) – but that’s a straight stick which points two ways, – the winds could aldo have brought the fires (and their smoke) closer. Not difficult to justify doing what I wanted to do anyway (grin.)

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Short Takes –

truthout – DeSantis’s Congressional Maps Deemed “Unconstitutional” by Judge He Appointed
Quote – Smith will likely replace DeSantis’s gerrymandered maps with one of two that the Republican-controlled legislature had previously passed, which the governor had vetoed earlier this year. Though still advantageous to the GOP, those maps are seen as somewhat better (though by no means perfect), in terms of respecting Black voters’ voices, than the ones DeSantis demanded be passed after his veto.
Click through for article. Here’s my take on DeSantis.

Media Matters – Fox News melts down following revelation Karine Jean-Pierre called the network racist. She’s right.
Quote – It’s not just people on the left pointing out Fox’s racism. In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, The Daily Beast reported that it “spoke to more than a dozen Fox News insiders, who all suggested that behind the scenes there is a growing despair among employees about the network’s role in demonizing and spreading fear about Black Americans in particular.” One Fox staffer quoted in the piece described some of the network’s personalities as “a white supremacist cell,” adding, “This is rank racism excused by Murdoch.” Another described Fox programming as “white supremacist crap.”
Click through if you can stand to. Shall we expect Fox staff to treat Karine with even more disrespect than they did Jen? (OK, I grant I was shocked when Doocy said on camera that he would miss her because she’d always been a “good sport.”)

Robert Reich – Personal history: The Supreme Court I argued before fifty years ago
Quote – Douglas, Marshall, and Blackmun were the intellectual leaders of that Supreme Court. Their opinions gave the Court its moral heft. They drew not only from the Constitution as written but also from the nation as it had evolved. They understood the moral leadership America needed to protect the rights of the voiceless and the powerless. Today’s Supreme Court majority doesn’t have a clue about the Court’s moral authority, and couldn’t care less.
Click through for history, nostalgia, and moral clarity. Today’s FFT is a meme drawn from this article.  Feel free to share it.

Food For Thought

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 16: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich testifies before the Joint Economic Committee January 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. Reich joined a panel testifying on the topic of “Income Inequality in the United States.Ó (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

 

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Apr 292022
 

Yesterday, I received a grocery order which had NO SUBSTITUTION! Yay! My delivery window was 4-6 pm and by 4:30 I actually had it all put away. Amazing.

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Short Takes –

HuffPost – Parents of Trans Kids Don’t Know Where Their Children Can Be Safe
Quote – Many families, including the Morrisons, would be forced to move away if Arizona were to pass a stricter trans youth medical care ban in the future. What makes that reality particularly devastating for their household is that they already had to relocate once to keep Skyler safe: They left Texas in 2017 after lawmakers attempted to force through a bill banning trans youth from using the school restroom that matches their lived gender. The Morrisons hoped Arizona would be a chance to start over.
Click through for the full story. Cuss if you feel like it – I did. (I personally don’t think I would have gone to arizona from Texas for this reason – New Mexico would have been a better bet. But that’s just me.)

Crooks and Liars – Blinken Torches Rand Paul’s Russian Talking Points
Quote – Sen Paul tried to blame the US and other NATO nations for agitating Vladimir Putin to attack Ukraine. Blinken said, “If you look at the countries Russia has attacked over the last years — these are countries not part of NATO. They do not attack NATO countries for probably good reason.” Paul replied, “You could also argue the countries they attacked were part of Russia. Were part of the Soviet Union.” This is Putin’s propaganda, which Sen. Paul gave credibility to.
Click through for full exchange (including video). I get very frustrated that so many people – people in general but also an astonishing number of people who ought to know better – keeptalking as if there is still such a thing as “the Societ Union.” There isn’t. There’s also a misconception that Rissua = Communism, It doesn’t. It is a capitalist oligarchy. It is also extremely authoritarion, as it was under communism (and under Communism in name only), but that’s a different matter. I also see peole using the term “Comrade” in Russian references, which bolsters the falsehoon. If we don’t know what we are up against, we can’t very well oppose it effectively.

Mother Jones – A Wave of Lawsuits Aims to Halt Louis DeJoy’s Gas-Guzzling Postal Fleet
Quote – Sixteen states and two environmental activist groups—Earthjustice and the National Resources Defense Council—are suing USPS to halt its purchase of a fleet of of gas-guzzling mail trucks. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has come under fire in recent months for his decision to move forward with a contract for 165,000 new postal trucks—90 percent of which would run on gas and earn 8.6 miles per gallon.
Click through fir list and details.. I have aleady ranted once today, so I stand mute on this one.

Food For Thought

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Mar 132022
 

Yesterday, the opera was “Ariadne auf Naxos,” which, in the announcements this week, was referred to as a combination of “high drama and hijinks.” It’s about two groups of actors who have been hired to provide after-dinner entertainment for a count’s (or duke’s, I forget which) party (so you can add high privilege to the mix.)  In the first act (which Strauss called the “prologue”) we meet all the actors as they squabble about which group is to go first (and other things). Finally, they get orders that both are to perform simultaneously. Of course, there’s more squabbling; no one likes that, since one is an opera comoany with a grand opera, and the other is Commedia dell’Arte, including slapstick. It appears impossible. In the second act (which Strauss called the opera), they do the impossible. I wouldn’t describe how they manage it (even if I could) because that’s kind of the point. But for this performance, the Met made it even more complex by starting with the chorus singing the Ukrainian National Anthem.

As incongruous as it sounds, there was a time (around WWI) when our nantional anthem did open every opera performance,  just as sports events still do. But that was long ago, and even those who survive to remember it have I suspect mostly forgotten it. So this gesture — well, I applaud it, but I admit it carries a lot of baggage. For as long as I can remember, the Met has worked hard to stay detached from world events. And there has been pressure on it to recognize some world events, but it hasn’t budged. Until now. I suppose, given that it has disinvited Anna Netrebko from next season, I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was.

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Short Takes –

Mother Jones – I’m a Cop With a Trans Daughter. Lawmakers Want Me to Arrest the Doctors Who Saved Her Life.
Quote – I mean, if I think back to before the doctors, I’ve got pictures of her from the year before she came out, and you can see the look on her face. Like she’s not there. As her health care kicked in and she got more confident about who she was, she became more outgoing, making friends. She never used to talk to people hardly at all, unless she really, really knew them. Now you get her started and you can’t get it to stop. She started her own online group on Discord for kids like her, so they’d have some place to talk. She’s trying to write a book. Before she never wanted to be in crowds, and last night we went to a Billie Eilish concert together.
Click through for article. I’ve been saying that misogyny is more powerful even than racism. I don’t exactly think anti-LGBTQIA is part of misogyny (I don’t want to disregard or diminish the effect of any form of bigotry), but I do say they are related as part of opposition to anything other than straight male. And I believe that opposition does transcend racism even.

Democratic Underground (majdrfrtim) – I heard from one of my UKR paratrooper buddies Tuesday.
Quote – Anyway, for most of the rest of my times being deployed I sent him money every month to help him and his growing family so they could buy an apartment. Just after the invasion two weeks ago he sent me a photo of his military kit (rucksack, sleeping bag, bedroll, etc.) with the caption, “All your presents are at work again.” That took my breath away. Since then, I’ve been checking that platform several times daily looking for word from him, his wife, or any of the other guys I know. As the situation over there has worsened, I have engaged every resilience option at my disposal to just get through each day.
Click through for this very personal account. It’s easy to get caught up on the big picture of big events and thereby to miss how such events affect every person individually.

Women’s History – HuffPost – Congress Finally Renews The Violence Against Women Act
Quote – It’s been an embarrassingly bumpy road for VAWA reauthorization in Congress. The law’s authorization lapsed three years ago. Once upon a time, this was legislation that passed unanimously in both chambers, and it was uncontroversial to support programs credited with stopping violence against women and saving people’s lives.
Click through for details. We once again lost out to the NRA, and the renewal is only for five years. But it’s something. We still have a lot of work to do if we are going to be able to keep it – and the rest of our democracy.

Food For Thought:

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Feb 282022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Justice Ups and Downs: Two Judges Rule Against Trump While Two Prosecutors Resign from Trump Case

Lincoln Project – CPAC Day 1 in 105 Seconds

Farron Balanced – Florida Republicans To Force Teachers To ‘Out’ Children To Their Families

CBS News – NATO Deploys Response Force For First Time

MSNBC – Ukrainian President Zelenskyy: ‘We Won’t Put Down Our Weapon’

Robert Reich – Why Gerrymandering Could Get Way Worse

Beau – Let’s talk about Arbery, symbolic victories, and ripple effects….

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Feb 272022
 

Glenn Kirschner – NY Prosecutors Resign, Reportedly in Protest Over DA Bragg’s Concerns About Indicting Donald Trump

Lincoln Project – Today’s Republican Party (BARF BAG ALERT)

MSNBC – SCOTUS Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson On Love Of Country And Constitution (Not everyone is going to like this … but it’s going to be tough for Rethugs to attack.)

Farron Balanced – Madison Cawthorn Wants To Kill Social Security To Force Seniors Back To Work

Brent Terhune is a comedian who imitates MAGAts so well people tend to think he is one. This is not that kind of video. This is real.

College Student Decides To Foster A Pregnant Dog Right Before Midterms

Beau – Let’s talk about what students can learn from Spartacus….

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Feb 262022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Loss in Civil Court Case Provides Roadmap for DOJ to Follow in Criminal Prosecution of Trump

Meidas Touch – Anti-War Protests In Russia!!

Lincoln Project – Trump’s Loyalties (Theu posted a “Last Week” but are doing so much else so fast I had to omit it. I am also omitting the one in Russian with Russian CC.)

Farron Balanced – Florida Republicans To Force Teachers To ‘Out’ Children To Their Families

VoteVets – Lt. Col. (Ret.) Alexander Vindman Articulates What Must Happen Now That Russia Invaded Ukraine

WellRED Comedy – What California Does to Rednecks

Beau – Let’s talk about Republicans in Michigan and the Constitution….

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Dec 142021
 

Glenn Kirschner – With Trump’s COS Meadows’ Democracy-Ending PowerPoint, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . RICO

MSNBC – TRMS – Details Of Intimidation Of Georgia Election Workers Puts New Scrutiny On Trump Campaign (Barf Bag Alert)

Thom Hartmann – The Reckoning Is Coming For The Media

The Lincoln Project – Hotline

Really American – GOP Initiates Trump 2022 ‘Slow Moving Coup’

SumofUs – The Tiger & The Buffalo spoof ad

Beau – Let’s talk about voting traditions in the US….

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Nov 302021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Prosecutors Push Back on Bannon’s Circus; Roger Stone & Alex Jones Prepare to Plead the 5th

The Lincoln Project – Road Map

Ring of Fire – The Republicans’ Next Attempt To Steal An Election Will Be Far More Successful

Every year some corporation or organization comes out with a commercialdesigned to celebrate something progressive, something progressive people care about. This year, it is Post Office Normay. (Tissue alert)

Beau – Let’s talk about the perception of race in the US from outside….

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