Open Thread April 3, 2024

 Posted by at 5:38 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 032024
 

Yesterday, I looked up on the HRA website to make sure that a payment of $10.84 was sent to one of the providers involved in my hospital and rehab time. Because they keep billing me and billing me – and I paid it. I did find the proof, with all the details- including the date the check was cashed – which was March 27. So I made no attempt to contact them right away. But I did take a screenshot and circled a few details, and saved it, so if it doesn’t (finally) stop now, I’ll be prepared. After the one I was looking for information on yesterday, I think there are now few enough who haven’t billed me to make a separate list of them in one place so I won’t have to go through 9 MSEs for every bill.

The playbook is straight out of the 1930s. Robert Reich spells it out.

Joyce Vance’s weekly “The Week Ahead” is generally useful,and this week’s appears to be no exception, even a couple of days late.

Now this was just revealed yesterday. You should have heard about it – it’s a story large numbers of people will care about (and get angry. I did see it in The Daily Beast – they interviewed Chef Jose Andrés and got an earful.) DU has the story, but they got it from a xeet from World Central Kitchen. A commenter there found it on Yahoo! news.

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Open Thread March 27, 2024

 Posted by at 6:25 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 272024
 

Yesterday, one of the stories reminded me of my mother’s Uncle Fred, who died before I was born, so I never met him, but was told a story about him. Fred was a civil engineer, and some people made fun of him because he predicted the Golden Gate Bridge could never be built. Well, he was wrong. But he was also right, because what he meant was that it could not be built as planned without unacceptable loss of life (and to him one life lost was unacceptable. Eleven were lost during construction, and it could have been worse. A safety net saved 19 from certain death.) I think I would have liked Uncle Fred.

Everyone calls this the “hush money” case. But it’s really basically criminal only because it is really an “election interference” case. I did see someone refer to it as the “hush money/election interference” case – probably a good idea.

A new ad from VoteVets. Short, not sweet, but extremely accurate. (I had to turn the sound on, it was muted – you may also. But the CC is perfect so you may not care.

Building bridges is a dangerous business. So is fixing them when they need maintenance. But I doubt whether anyone would have predicted this.

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Open Thread March 8, 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 082024
 

Yesterday, I learned that Ruby Johnson, a Denver granmother of color, just my age, was awarded $3.76 million, by a jury, in damages after a SWAT team invaded her home in error while she was in the shower. Now if only we can get some compensation for the woman of color in Houston who was evicted from the home she has owned and lived in for fifty years. But I’ll take whatever good news I can get.  Also yesterday, at the SOTU, Joe took a page from Harry Truman’s book – He didn’t give ’em hell. He just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

I know we are all frustrated with the mainstream media. And particularly with the New York Times, which has been around for so long, and has declined so badly in such a comparatively short time, that it’s depressing. And it’s scary. Even if we are not ourselves deceived by the slants, others are and many of those who are have guns and short tempers. The Times was on the mind of two writers this week – Lucian Truscott at Salon, and Robert Hubbell on Substack.

Joyce Vance may also be a chicken farmer and a knitter in her spare time, but above all, she is a fine and experienced trial lawyer and a legal analyst. Here are her thoughts on motions and such which are happening prior to the criminal trial in Manhattan.

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Open Thread February 29, 2024

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 292024
 

Yesterday, apparently, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and even Mitch McConnell read Mike Johnson the riot act, at the White House. When you are the Republican Speaker of the House and even Mitch gangs up against you, you are not just doing something wrong, you are doing everything wrong, and you are probably also a worm (no offense meant to earthworms, which are vital to plants.)  On the personal side, I made a casserole in my crockpot which I had not made for literally decades, and found it as tasty as ever.  It was something I threw together after receiving all the food allergy diagnoses of both me and Virsgil.  It was a tremendous success thenm and still is.

I rooted for Alvin Bragg to win the election for DA in New York City, probably like everyone here. And also like everyone here, I was disappointed when he did not jump on Trump** immediately. And probably like everyone else, I suspected a lack of courage. Well, if it was, he appears to have grown a spine (or whatever body part you associate with courage. He has, as any same person would do in his position filed for protective and gag orders. With one exception. Joyce Vance writes:
“The threats made against Bragg personally were highly specific and graphic. They include threats to kill him, down to the type of weapon and scenario that would be used. Bragg nonetheless exempts himself from the order, and would permit Trump to continue to attack him, likely leading to more of this abuse and risk. That’s a feature that shows how reasonable Bragg’s approach is.”

Robert Reich writes on Bezos and Musk. Musk is clearly a Nazi. Bezos, I think , is just greedy, but I would not expect him to oppose Naziism if he thought he could make it pay.

I don’t claim that Heather Cox Richardson breaks down all the foreign policy considerations which are important just now – but she does discuss some you probaly didn’t know about. Not trying to be condescending – virtually no one (except professionals and maybe Beau) is ever interested in foreign policy unless something goes sour. And that’s not really the best time to start taking an interest.

(Bonus – this may give you a chuckle. Not that it’s out of character.)

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Open Thread February 17, 2024

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 172024
 

Yesterday, a news alert from Axios alleged that Alex Navalny has died. Their source is the Russian Prison System, which I would not trust to be truuthful, but it’s also hard to believe it didn’t happen earlier. R.I.P. Alexei. Avaaz is collecting signatures for a tribute to him.  Also we had a “mass shooting” here of our own – a little different in that it appears to have happened inside a dorm, during the might, and so far not much evidence – except two dead people with gunshot wounds.

Mary watched Fani Willis’s entire testimony (I only had time for a few clips) and this summary-through-categorized-excerpts is brilliant.

This is not nearly as much fun … but it’s likely to have a more direct effect on all of us. Sigh.

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Open Thread January 28, 2024

 Posted by at 6:29 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 282024
 

Yesterday, as I said, the radio opera was “Carmen” by Georges Bizet. Though Bizet was French (some of the most Spanish of Spanish music written in the 19th century was written by Frenchmen) evryone thinks “Spain” about Carmen, and it is set in Spain – but Carmen is a Roma. So are her two closest friends. So are pretty much all the smugglers Romani. That kind of hit me in the face when i realized that yesterday was Holocaust Remembreance Day – and theRomani were as much a target of the Nazis as the Jews. Trying to read up in the Roma quickly is a little like trying to collect syrup in your hand – a little sticks, but more slips out. They are the largest ethnic minority in Europe, but they also live all over the world. They have been called “gypsies,” but they are not from Egypt. They have been called “Bohemians,” but they are not from what is now Czechoslovakia. Neither are they from Romania, but originally from northwest India. They have endured slavery along with other forms of abuse. I’m linking to both Steve Schmidt’s Substack – it’s not new material, but a collection of links to his earlier writings on antisemitism – and to The Conversation, to an article which addresses some of the ways in which the Jews and the Roms were linked by the Nazis (I needed a hanky. But it’s all very well to mourn the lost – it doesn’t do too much to prevent it ever happening again.)

Heather Cox Richardson’s Friday night letter did quite a decent job of summarizing highlight from the week, including a couple I hadn’t heard. If you have time, I recommend it.

Over the weekend, someone on DU shared the information that under New York law, you can appeal a civil suit, but if you do, you must first deposit the full judgment plus a small percentage with the court. I don’t know whether the legislators were thinking of interest, or court costs, or justice delayed – possibly all three. But if Trump** is going to appeal the most recent judgment, he will have to deposit $99 million with the court.

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Open Thread August 23, 2023

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 232023
 

Yesterday, I received an email from HuffPost with the subject line, “Drag is free speech.” I’ve never seen it put that way – but, as a former costumer, amateur and professiona – dam right it is! A fashion sttement is as much a statement as anything in words (and more so than some of the word salads we hear.) Back in the 19th century, when costume began to be thought of in terms of authenticity of period and place (prior to that it was mostly contemporary garb, but with some class distinctions and of course some drag) there was an actor/playwright named Dion Boucicault who would not start practiving his part until he had settled his costume – he actually used it as a means of getting into character. I’m not aware of any thespian today who is that exreme – but they don’t really have to be. The field of costuming today already requires costumer to be a little bit historians and a little bit psychologists. Also, at The New Yorker, David Remnick had an article about how much like a mobster Trump** is – and how bad at it he is. And elsewhere, a quote from Mike Pence revealed that he actually does know what his wife’s name is (unfortunately  – if appropriately – it is Karen.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – August 21, 2023
Quote – Today [August 21] the president and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visited Maui, where after seeing the devastation, President Biden said that “the country grieves with you, stands with you, and we’ll do everything possible to help you recover, rebuild, and respect culture and traditions when the rebuilding takes place.” He promised that we will “rebuild the way the people of Maui want to build.”Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) said, “We in Hawaii have been through hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions—but we have never seen such a robust federal response. Thank you.”
Click through for full letter. It details everything done by the White House to support Hawaii. This includes a whole lot of stuff which did not make it into the mainstream media, and all of which goes to support Senator Schatz’s remark.

ProPublica – New York Workers Are Waiting on $79 Million in Back Wages
Quote – But the Department of Labor, which is responsible for both investigating wage theft claims and recovering back wages, has not been able to collect even a penny on behalf of [Saprina] James. [Mugisha F.] Sahini [and his company, Riverside Line,] flatly refused to pay for more than a year, James said, and then appealed the case, claiming that he wasn’t aware that the workers were earning less than minimum wage. The appeal has since been rejected, but James has yet to receive any payment. About to turn 60, James said she’s now unemployed and running through her savings to pay her bills. “I’m so upset,” she said. “This is ridiculous. I don’t understand why it takes so long.” Sahini did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Click through for article. And, of course, this is exactly why the rich want government underfunded and cash-strapped – because it help them get away with theft and greed. How they manage to get so many people who are being hurt by their theories to believe them has always been a mystery … but then division and hate are also a mystery to emotionally healthy people.

Food For Thought

This is a screenshot, so the video is not live. Sorry.

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Open Thread August 16, 2023

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 162023
 

Yesterday, Talking Points Memo’s Morning Memo, naturally, was all about Monday’s late night Georgia indictment. It was handed down at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and released to the reporters “a few minutes before 11:00.” The Axios alert reached me at 9:17 p.m. Mountain, which was about 20 minutes after its public release. Not bad – but bare bones. But the Talking Points Memo morning memo is filled with information, pictures, quotes, tweets, plans, and names. It’s also very compact – it reads fast. Well worth clicking “Continue reading” for.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Trump’s Bid to Sink the Manhattan DA’s Case Has Already Made It Stronger
Quote – For months, critics of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.’s case have called it weak because the case criminally charges Trump with faking business records—a lowly misdemeanor only bumped up to a felony on a technicality. Except that Trump’s ploy to move the case to federal court gave a judge there the opportunity to take the first swing. And he used that opportunity to make it clear that the case against Trump is far more serious than it otherwise seems—and that the burden for proving that Trump’s alleged falsification of business records are felonies is low.
Click through for story. It appears Karma is on the case.

NBC News – Parents can’t challenge Maryland school’s gender identity policy, court rules
Quote – The policy, which the Montgomery County Board of Education adopted for the 2020-2021 school year, permitted schools to develop gender support plans for students to ensure they “feel comfortable expressing their gender identity.” The policy directs school personnel to help transgender and gender-nonconforming students create a plan that addresses their preferred pronouns, names and bathrooms, and bars staff from informing parents of those plans without a student’s consent. Lawsuits are pending challenging similar policies in other states. The Maryland case was the first to be argued before a federal appeals court.
Click through for details… This is a good thing because the school’s policy is the right one and the parents in the case are Christofascist. I can see how the headline could be read the other way, though. And I could wish it had been decided on privacy rights rather than on standing to sue.

Food For Thought

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