Open Thread March 13, 2024

 Posted by at 5:31 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 132024
 

Yesterday, I got a new email from the Theater of War and immediately thought of SpyCat, because they will be doing two readings of “An Enemy of the People” live in Ohio in April, in Mount Vernon and Gambier on the 6th and 7th respectively (and of course also on Zoom.) These productions are not just theater – there’s no stage, no sets, no costumes or makeup, just readings, and voice acting. And the whole play is never presented – selections are read pertinent to the public health topic addressed. And after the reading, audience members react, both on site and now, since the pandemic, through Zoom, and share through their experience what has touched them and what applies to today. Their website is theaterofwar.com, and it’s headed up with a four minute video describing what they do and why, with three examples (obviously very short.) But there’s also a lot of information there with more detail. “An Enemy of the People,” written in 1882, could almost be the story of CoViD and Dr. Fauci.

Robert Reich makes the case for what he calls “Nauseous Optimism,” by which he means being optimistic even when one’s stomach is churning. but he explains it better than I can.

One of the Mar-a-Lago documents case who has been known as “Employee Number 5” is speaking out on the case and his part in it. I think he’s hoping it will make a bigger difference than I think it will – but any difference in the right direction is a good thing.

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Video Thread 8/25/2023

 Posted by at 12:05 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Aug 252023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Mar-a-Lago IT director gets out from under a MAGA lawyer, gets a new lawyer & flips on Trump

The Lincoln Project – JV

Farron Balanced – Mental Health Expert Warns That Trump’s Mental State Poses Grave Threat To Country

Rocky Mountain Mike – Midday Jail In Georgia – featuring Mary in Ann Arbor

Kitten Brothers Knock Over Every Water Glass In Their House

Beau – Let’s talk about Trump’s internet problems…..

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Open Thread July 29, 2023

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 292023
 

Yesterday, President Joe signed an executive order establishing military Offices of Special Trial Counsel, which will be responsible for all prosecutions of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other violent crime – taking those prosecutions out of the chain of command (under which so many cases have died.) About damn time. And good forJoe! Of course MAGA s furious. Also, a superseding indictment came out in the Trump** documetns case, over which people who are interedted in law and crime are salivating. And my area had a little power failure. Annoying – but didn’t last long, and it came with lightning which came with rain and cooled things down a bit. I had had to break out a couple of the knitted bands I keep (wet) in thr refrigerator and put one around my neck and one around my forehead while all the fans were stopped.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Associated Press News – Biden chooses former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to lead the Social Security Administration
Quote – President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to lead the Social Security Administration…. “Governor O’Malley is a lifelong public servant who has spent his career making government more accessible and transparent, while keeping the American people at the heart of his work,” Biden said in a statement. “As Governor, he made government work more effectively across his administration and enhanced the way millions of people accessed critical services.”
Click through for details. I haven’t heard his name for a long time, but Iseem to recall my impression was positive.

The 19th – Newly disabled people aren’t given a ‘how-to’ guide. Disability doulas are closing those gaps.
Quote – Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu began doing disability doula work long before they ever heard the term. From the time they were in middle school, they remember “being responsible for big, intense crisis situations” with their friends. Throughout high school, a close friend self-injured. Kaufman-Mthimkhulu would drive to her house and listen. They would also take care of their friend’s wounds, spend time watching bad TV shows and eat ice cream. What they didn’t do is blame or shame their friend. Now, years later, disability doula work is a core part of both Kaufman-Mthimkhulu’s personal practice and their job as director of peer support organization Project LETS, which works to organize community-based mental health support for people with disabilities.
Click through for story. I applaud their work. I hope they are allowed to continue and to grow.

Food For Thought

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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.

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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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Open Thread May 17, 2023

 Posted by at 5:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 172023
 

Yesterday, Crooks & Liars (probably along with every other news outlet, paper or on line, TV and all kinds of video) published some details of Noelle Dunphy’s lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani. It definitely needs a barf bag warning. She does have receipts too. If only there were a way to know exactly what is missing from these Republicans (and somehow put it into them) that they think they can do anything imaginable (or unimaginable to normal people) with absolutely no consequences whatsoever. Sigh. In the short takes, I am sharing two articles about Jordan Neely, because they are so different in their outlook and details. This was not a case of a bad cop, but I’m not inclined to expect much if any accountability – certainly not without a lot of protesting demanding it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

New York Magazine “The Cut” – The Cost of White Discomfort
Quote – In the wake of Jordan’s murder, Kenneth Jones’s and Tema Okun’s definition of the “right to comfort” haunts me: “The belief that those with power have a right to emotional and psychological comfort … I have a right to be comfortable, and if I am not, then someone else is to blame.” When Daniel Penny was not comfortable on the F train, he single-handedly decided that Jordan was to blame.
Click through for article. This rage is justified. Is any other white person as humiliated as I am that people with our skin tone are so fragile as to kill out of discomfort – and so privileged to get away with it? White Americans who whine about the excessive privilege of the British royal family need to look in a mirror and see their own. (But they won’t. That would be uncomfortable.)

The New Yorker – The System That Failed Jordan Neely
Quote – There are more than two hundred thousand residents of New York City living with severe mental illness; roughly five per cent of them are homeless. That’s thirteen thousand people with schizophrenia, major depressive and bipolar disorders, or other significant mental- or behavioral-health diagnoses, all of whom regularly spend the night at a shelter, in the subway, on the street. They’re the ones you recognize—the people whom, for the past fifty years, every mayor has either tried to help, harass, or hide from view. Rudy Giuliani’s cops were known to chase people out of midtown, forcing them into the Bronx and Queens. Michael Bloomberg largely avoided public initiatives that addressed mental illness. Bill de Blasio allocated almost a billion dollars for a mental-health plan, but it was criticized for failing to track outcomes or prioritize treatment for those who needed help the most.
Click through for details. What we had before Ronald Reagan became Governor of California (and then President) was far from perfect, but it was better than this. Constantly reading about people, many in disadvantaged groups besides being mentally ill, killed publicly with no consequences – particularly since the disadvantage is often the cause of the illness (e.g. lead in drinking water) and is itself the result of apathy or malice on the part of the demographic doing most of the killing. It’s like beating someone up, and then killing them because their bruises make us uncomfortable.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread April 17, 2023

 Posted by at 6:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 172023
 

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet (she said thankfully.) I”ve been working on some doll clothes latelt, which has the advantages that the pieces are small (therefore light), they go fast (compared to human-sized sweaters), and they can be done with small amounts of yarn (with the caveat that, if I overestimate the amount of yarn I have, I may have to do some emergency re-designing.) Another disadvantage is that the stitches are so small they can be hard to see. That is less of a problem when the yarn is smooth and more of problem when it is fuzzy, of course, but the fuzzy yarns can be so effective in those little projects that I can’t resist using them sometimes.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

NM Political Report – Homeless shelters aren’t equipped to deal with New Mexico’s most troubled foster kids. Police see it for themselves.
Quote – More than 1,100 times from January 2019 through June 2022, someone at a shelter housing foster kids in New Mexico called emergency dispatchers for help with runaways, violent outbursts, disorderly conduct or mental health crises. Many of the kids placed in these shelters by CYFD have severe mental health or behavioral problems, including PTSD and depression, but shelters don’t provide psychiatric services. Kids break down, get into fights, destroy property, threaten staff or run away. Sometimes they say they want to kill themselves or try to. In these moments of crisis, it’s police and paramedics, not mental health professionals, who intervene.
Click through for full report, which is a joint product of ProPublican and a BGO called “Searchlight New Mexico.” If this is happening in New Moxico, you can bet it is also happening elsewhere. One word: priorities.

npr – Swimming pools and lavish gardens of the rich are driving water shortages, study says
Quote – More than 80 metropolitan areas around the world have faced severe shortages in the last two decades, a figure that’s only projected to rise, impacting more than one billion people in the next few decades. And the threat doesn’t discriminate between hemispheres or climates. Moscow, Miami and Melbourne, Australia, were among the most impacted in the last decade. For the purposes of the study, researchers zeroed in on just one location, Cape Town, South Africa.
Click through for full study. They used Cape Town because it was easy (for less than admirable reasons.) Humanity has known since before there was English to say it in that the love of money is the root of all evil (Radix malorum est cupditas, if anyone cares.) Beau of the Fifth Column (who appears regularly in the Video Thread) prefers to call it “power coupons.” Maybe we all should.

Food For Thought

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Video Thread 7/22/22

 Posted by at 12:08 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Jul 222022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Day 2 of Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress trial: a review of the opening statements

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Lauren Boebert’s Threat to Imprison Dr. Fauci

The Lincoln Project – Threats

Twitter – Too-good-to-miss anti-z ad

This Guy Stopped Traffic To Save A Kitten In The Road

Beau – Let’s talk about a phone number you need in the US….

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Open Thread May 18, 2022

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 182022
 

Yesterday,I finished a trifle early ans spent some time looking on the net for icons.  I have a few on my desktop I think could be better, and looking is not all that time-consuming unless one falls into a rabbit hole.  There are three things I am looking for in a desktop icon, which I call the three C’s – I want them colorful, cute, and clear.  Colorful so they stand out, and clear so it’s obvious to me what they are.  Cute just because I like cute.  And I did find some that made me smile.  They are very small files and I don’t keep than on my main hard drive anyway but on my portable hard drive, so they don’t clog things up.  I know, not everyone’s idea of fun, but I enjoy it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – We need a hope machine. Anyone know how to build one?
Quote – But let me say something else as clearly as I can. I’ve been at this fight a very long time, and right now I find lots of reasons for hope. Ten, to be exact. (Here’s where the hammers, nails, and solar panels for Paula’s hope machine come in.)… 7. The myth of the decline of the West and the rise of the East — propounded by China and Russia — is proving itself bankrupt. Putin’s war on Ukraine is showing the world that totalitarian systems can’t even execute a war efficiently. Because dissent is stifled, accurate information doesn’t get back to headquarters. Because oligarchs have ravaged government funds, weapons systems don’t work. Because hierarchies are rigid and education in short supply, armies lack the training they need. Putin’s war is also revealing how fragile the Russian economy is, as is any economy whose strength turns on raw materials.
Clck through for the other nine. We do, sadly, need to avoid too much hope (or the wrong kind of hope) which can engender a sense of false security. But the reasons he cites tend to produce motivating hope, I think.

CPR News – Whistleblowers say they falsified patient records at Western Slope mental health center
Quote – The state overlooked what former workers describe as a long practice by the Grand Junction-based Mind Springs Health of intentionally writing patient evaluations that may not be based in reality. The three departments that regulate Colorado’s mental health safety net system failed to notice the problem reports during a recent multi-agency audit of the center, and over years of lax oversight. “You’ve got to wonder how closely these so-called regulatory agencies are really looking,” said Sunny Sullivan, one of 29 current and former Mind Springs workers who have come forward to tell the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) about what they see as legal and ethical breaches.
Click through for details. Colorado currently has a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both state houses. But Colorado also has a TABOR problem, because it wasn’t always this way. When you have a Constitutional amendment requirig you to give back any excess funds to taxpayers, you can never build for the future by using state funds wisely. So you will always be under-funded – and worse, unmotivated. (And, in the public mind, failures like this are always the fault of the government, no matter how tightly the government’s hands are tied.)

The Conversation – Online data could be used against people seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade falls
Quote – In overturning Roe, the anticipated decision would not merely deprive women of reproductive control and physical agency as a matter of constitutional law, but it would also change their relationship with the online world. Anyone in a state where abortion becomes illegal who relies on the internet for information, products and services related to reproductive health would be subject to online policing. As a researcher who studies online privacy, I’ve known for some time how Google, social media and internet data generally can be used for surveillance by law enforcement to cast digital dragnets. Women would be at risk not just from what they reveal about their reproductive status on social media, but also by data from their health applications, which could incriminate them if it were subpoenaed.
Click through for explanation. I am happily post-menopausal – but every woman, pre, during,  or post – needs to be aware this. We are accustomed to “having nothing to hide.” Well, now we have something to hide.

Food For Thought
I tried embedding this for the Video Thread, but the English subtitles disappeared. To me the most interesting thing isn’t exactly that he is telling straight truth (although that is very intresting indeed), but the way that Russian Fox News Barbie keeps trying to tell this hardened, clear-sighted professional soldier what war is really about.

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