Open Thread October 19, 2022

 Posted by at 7:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 192022
 

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio News had a couple of unusual animal news stories. Nine Ukranian refugees have received amnesty at Keenesburg, CO’s Wild Animal Sanctuary. And our native Bighorn sheep and introduced (70+ uears ago) mountain goats are having a turf war over nutritional supplements newly accessible due to climate change. I’ll just provide the links in case anyone wants details. Also, Virgil called – to tell me he’s in prison – apparently he had one of the vivid dreams he has been having and thinks are real, but this time, instead of thinking someone from his past had phoned him, he thought he had been home – and called to tell me where he was. What with all the other dreams, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised – but this is a new level and it kind of shook me. At least he still remembers who I am and that we love each other. On the bright side, my ballot arrived. 24 hours from mailing to arrival is pretty darned good, IMO.

Cartoon – 19 Cornwallis RTL

Short Takes –

truthout – Ron DeSantis’s Ousting of Elected Official Sets a Dangerous Precedent
Quote – In an early August press conference, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered a shocking announcement: He was abruptly suspending Andrew Warren, the elected chief prosecutor for Hillsborough County (Tampa) and an outspoken critic of the governor…. All three of Warren’s opinions cited by DeSantis… stand in direct opposition to the governor’s political goals. The two public officials have clashed over these and other issues repeatedly over the past several years…. Warren … argues that his removal violates the will of Tampa voters who elected him in 2016 and 2020. These voters were further disenfranchised when his replacement was handpicked by DeSantis, who lost Hillsborough County by a nine-point margin in the last gubernatorial election.
Click through for details. This is not even the first time DeSantis has done this. I thought the first time that this couldn’t possibly be legal or constitutional. Yet he seems to be getting away with it.

The Daily Beast – New Book Reveals Jim Jordan’s Dirty Tricks With Impeachment
Quote – The book presents a less than flattering portrait of Jordan, who would likely be the Judiciary Chairman if the GOP takes back the House. He is instead consistently shown to be far more interested in defending Trump than getting down to the truth. The book includes scenes like Jordan heading to the White House to read a transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before it was released to the public, only to receive a partial account that excluded more concrete evidence of a quid pro quo. Trump’s team, Bade and Demirjian say, wanted House Republicans to go on the record defending Trump before they knew all the facts.
Click through for more, including specific examples. It should be no surprise that Jordan is not actually the loose cannon he appears to be – that is a deliberate choice to muddy whatever waters are likely to impede fascism.

Food For Thought

Share

Open Thread 7/24/2022

 Posted by at 6:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 242022
 

Yesterday, The opera was Macbeth (Verdi). Everyone knows that story, of course. I was not familiar wih the soprano singing Lady MacBeth, but she was excellent. MacBeth and Banquo were sung by two stars who are also known for being drop-dead gorgeous. The baritone (Simon Keenlyside) is not as young as he was, but still very handsome, and the bass, Günther Grossböck, is younger (and generally taller than anyone else on stage.) I have seen both the play and the opera more than once – back to back once, at the Kennedy Center, when I was in the service and they were doing a mini-Shakespeare festival, and I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, but I have always felt that the play never quite worked. There are parts of it which just can’t be played naturally – they are always either underplayed or overplayed. It isn’t really the fault of any of the actors – it’s just written that way. But the opera – all you need for that to it themark is singers who can stand up and hit the notes. With that, it’s a winner every time.  All the passion is i the score.

I also managed to finish reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from Thursday night. She quoted an NPR host as saying: “the Democratic chair of the committee just gracefully, and with full confidence, turned over the running of tonight’s hearing to the vice-chair, who happens to be of another party, and they spoke with mutual trust and respect. That’s how it’s supposed to go.” Well, yeah. that struck meat the time also. You might say it isn’t evidence, and it indeed is not evidence regarding the insurrection. But it is evidence that, even now, people who disagree with each other, even violently, can still work together if they have decency, integrity, and courtesy. It’s no wonder Rethuglicans so hate courtesy, and find insulting terms like “political correctness” to describe it. And here we all are. Sigh.

Cartoon –

Short Takes – I’m just going to go with News of the Weird today and be serious again tomorrow.

The Daily Beast – A Judge Pulled a Gun in the Courtroom—and Then It Got Weird
“The whole trial was insane,” said one lawyer, who later reported the weapon-wielding jurist to the FBI.

PolitiZoom – AR Toting Lunatic Spotted in Local Park Threatening to Shoot His Foot Off
Yes, this was Ronny Jackson. Sigh.

Democratic Underground (Nevilledog) – Cops stood by while a woman was terrorized by a stalker in her home for 12 hours and then killed
Seriously? In San Diego?

ProPublica – Pharma Companies Sue for the Right to Buy Blood From Mexicans Along Border
A year after the U.S. barred Mexicans from crossing the border to sell their blood, pharmaceutical companies have acknowledged that those donations provided as much as 10% of the plasma collected nationwide as they seek to have the ban overturned.

Crooks and Liars – Remember That Other Secret Service Scandal?
We all remember that story about the two fake agents who were sucking up to the First Lady’s Secret Service detail. Well, one of them has filed a notification that he will now change his plea to guilty.

Food For Thought

Share

Open Thread July 18, 2022

 Posted by at 7:21 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 182022
 

Yesterday, I got to see Virgil. I got to the facitity a coupe of minutes after the – I don’t think this is what they call it – but I’ll say screening time started (11:30). We fill out forms (if we haven’t done so at home), get searched, turn over our driver’s licenses and car keys and receive a numbered brass disc for a receipt, then go through two electronically locked gates, go into the main building, ago and go theough two electronically locked doors to the visitng room – where I arrived at just about 12:00, which is when visitation itself starts. Virgil was asleep at the time, and between waking him up and getting him to the visitation room with his walker, it was about 12:30. (If I had a nickel for every time he has been asleep when I got there for a visit – well, I wouldn’t be rich, but I’d have maybe $10.00.) I passed on all wished, including the ones I didn’t see till I got home but knew they were coming, and he was appreciative. The next time I see him he will have turned 79. He never expected to live that long. Only one of his six uncles on his mother’s side did, and that was the one who was married to a diabetic (he may even have hit 90 – but at least lived well into his 80’s. But i digress. Coming home I forgot that to go south and west from the facility, I first need to get on the interstate eastbound. So I got a little tour of some odd parts of Denver. Though irritated with myself, I had no trouble staying calm, knowin I was in a triangle of interstates and that it didn’t really matter which I found first – they’d all get me home eventually. It didn’t consume all that much time either – less than a half hour. And I wasn’t going for speed.

Cartoon – If ha had been playing an instrment, that is the one it would have been.  However, he was not in Rome when the fire broke out, and by the time he got there his own home was destroyed – so he certainly didn’t play and sing from his balcony, because it was gone.  He seems to have acted like a conscientious ruler for a white – raising money to help rebuild – but what pissed people off was that he earmarnked far too much of it for his own home instead of theirs.

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Fulton County DA Fani Willis Just Took Off The Kid Gloves.Exploding GOP Heads To Follow
Quote – One former federal prosecutor appearing on MSNBC today referred to the target letter by its internal nickname, the heart attack letter. Think about it. A prosecutor has just told you that you are at serious risk of indictment on criminal charges. The letter always reminds the target of his or her 5th Amendment rights, advises them to seek and obtain legal counsel, and carries an oblique reminder that if the target is having a Come to Jesus moment, it’s always the first rat to jump on the government gravy train that gets the most cheese.
Click through for story. This broke Friday evening, and whatever else it is, it is delightful.

Crooks and Liars – Ex-US Attorney Lays Out How To Charge Donald Trump For Manslaughter
Quote – “The other thing that is coming clear to me is there is a potential charge here against Donald Trump for manslaughter,” McQuade said, referring to the seven deaths connected to the Jan. 6 attack. “The other thing that is coming clear to me is there is a potential charge here against Donald Trump for manslaughter,” McQuade said, referring to the seven deaths connected to the Jan. 6 attack. She added: “Knowing that this crowd is armed, he has a duty as the president of the United States, as the commander-in-chief to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to call off that mob and do everything he can to stop it. Instead, he sits idly by during those 187 minutes.”
Click through for reasoning. I realize at this point prety much no one (incliding me) caress “for what” as much as “how soon” and “how long.”Plus, the more potential charges, the better the likelihood that some will stick.

Food For Thought

Share

Open Thread May 20, 2022

 Posted by at 7:15 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 202022
 

Yesterday, among other things, I heard from Mitch (our Mitch, I mean, of course – not BBM!) I had passed on a little info from comments about how we all are doing, and he was grateful to know and sends encouragement. He also gave me permission to pass on that he had his first cario rehab (yesterday); and it went well. It was a combination of assessment and workout, and he did more execcise than he had done since the day before the attack, and ended up not feeling not that bad. This coming Monday he will be doing it 3x weekly. He’s not up to commenting yet. He’s grateful for everyone’s concern. Of course I told him to take all the time he needed (where have I heard that before?)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

CPR News – After almost 80 years, roses from Colorado’s Amache internment camp may bloom again
Quote – It was during an archaeological dig that the rosebush was discovered. Bonnie Clark, an archaeologist with the University of Denver, and her team were on-site at Camp Amache when they found the bramble crawling across the remnants of a barracks doorway in 2012. It had survived a dark time in American history and the unforgiving extremes of Colorado’s southeastern plains…. Clark, who leads the DU Amache Research Project and Field School, believes people who were imprisoned at the camp planted the roses. “It’s hard to know which family planted them,” she said. “But most of the people who lived in the block where we found them at Amache were from Los Angeles.”
Click through to learn what all it took to accomplish this. Not only is this good news, but it comes at a time when the White House Rose Garden has just been partially restored and is colorful again.

Robert Reich – What you need to know about the anti-democracy movement
Quote – Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech financier who is among those leading the charge, writes “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Thiel is using his fortune to squelch democracy. He donated $15 million to the successful Republican Ohio senatorial primary campaign of J.D. Vance, who alleges that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s immigration policy has meant “more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” And Thiel has donated at least $10 million to the Arizona Republican primary race of Blake Masters, who also claims Trump won the 2020 election and admires Lee Kuan Yew, the authoritarian founder of modern Singapore.
Click through for more – I suppose, since no one is perfet, there are times when the Reich on the left is not right, but I haven’t seen it yet. This may be the most important thing about our drift to autocracy which has yet been said – that it isn’t a drift, it’s a conscious push.

Crooks and Liars – Katie Porter: Dems Are Actually Doing Something About Inflation
Quote – “We have monopolies today in virtually everything. There is a bread monopoly, there’s a cereal monopoly, beef monopoly. So we need to create this competition. It’s going to help not only consumers, but small businesses wanting to enter these marketplaces. More competition is better for our economy, period. The only people who benefit from monopolies are the monopolists themselves.”
Click through for some details and how to message. This is difficult because it is complex yet the solution is pretty clear – and proven to work (Remember the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?) there’s also a video, if you can stand Joe and Mika for a few minites.

Food For Thought

Share

Video Thread 5/18/22

 Posted by at 11:55 am  Open Thread, Politics
May 182022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Unrestricted guns + unrestricted hate speech = today’s American. Our government CAN tackle this

Meidas Touch – Francis EXPOSES Tucker Carlson’s influence on Buffalo Hate Crime

MSNBC – Garland Signals Criminal Case That May Involve Donald Trump Is Not Out Of Bounds (just in case you missed those magical, musical words “Grand Jury”)

No Dem Left Behind – No Dem Left Behind Endorses John Fetterman for U.S. Senate (PA)

San Francisco DA Recall – Dr. Angela Davis Opposes Prop H (I know everyone remebers her.)

CNN – ‘Millions of people absorb this garbage’: Acosta calls out Carlson for dangerous rhetoric (Acosta can usually be counted on to speak out … but one Acosta is not enough. We also have Lawrence, Ari, Mehdi, Chris, and Rachel – whom too few people watch.)

Beau- Let’s talk about why I look left and expectations….

Share

Video Thread 4/14/22

 Posted by at 11:46 am  Open Thread, Politics
Apr 142022
 

Glenn Kirschner – J6 Committee AND Federal Judges Conclude Trump Committed Crimes. How about DOJ Makes it Unanimous?

The Lincoln Project – Brian Schatz is Right

MSNBC – ‘They’ve Been After Me For 12 Years,’ Says Putin Critic Of Russia (same story as in Open Thread, but here it’s direct from the target’s mouth.)

Ring of Fire – Court Revives Challenge To Madison Cawthorn Being On The Ballot

Truth Matters – What’s in a Word?

Rocky Mountain Mike – Crime After Crime

Beau – Let’s talk about hope and acceleration….

Share

Open Thread April 11, 2022

 Posted by at 7:31 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 112022
 

Yesterday, I sent the weekly email, went and saw Virgil, got home, and then sent a second one because columns went up while I was gone. Virgil, BTW, returns all greetings. Yes, he was ecstatic. They didn’t have masks and we got to sit as close to each other as we did before the pandemic – but we were socially distanced from other tables. The warden, whi is not brand new, but new within the last six months or so, has for now expanded visitation to 7 days a week. That doesn’tmean I can visit any time, because they have divided the population into 2 groups (which they are referring to as “pods”) and they are assigned alternate days. So, if that holds, I can expect to visit every other Sunday until the next variant hits. Yes, the traffic was probably the best I’ve ever seen it – there was some, but I never felt that I had too little space in case someone did something crazy. And what more can I ask?

I had a bunch of articles collected for Short Takes, and you will see three below picked almost randomly (News of the Weird?) But I am going to skip the Video Thread today. I’ll have more time later in the day to go searching for videos, so I’ll be back on schedule tomorrow.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Have Patience. The DOJ Is Doing Its Job
Quote – Please, people. For the last 4 long years, you have become used to a DOJ that blatantly released salaciou details of investigations into people they had no chance of arresting and convicting. But Biden has restored a presidential hands off policy for the DOJ, And Attorney General Merrick Garland has it functioning just the way it always did. Patience, Grasshopper. Or to quote A Bugs Bunny movie line, Patience is a virtue, patience brings good luck. It is seldom found in humans, and never in a duck!
Click through for his reasoning. You can also read the knock-down-drag-out battle in the comments. I would certainly recommend that those who are the most frustrated (and, yes, that includes me) support Garland’s request for funding for over 100 additional prosecutors. (Although additional judges – of whom there are many nominated and not confirmed – would also help.) But all those prosecutors could at least get indictments, if not trial dates and convictions, before the midterms.

Anti-Abortion Terrorists Explain Those Five Fetuses In The Freezer
Quote – Remember our old pal, Lauren Handy, who was arrested by the FBI for terrorizing abortion clinics and patients, and who kept five fetuses in their home that had to be removed by the DC Police? Well, your C&L gal here has a little update. I want you all to rest assured that they did not keep five fetuses at her home. I promise. Completely untrue. They kept 115 fetuses at their home. One-hundred-fifteen. Fetuses.
Click through for details. Feel free to express yourself with expletives.

Democratic Underground (babsbunny) – Ran across this today
Quote – Someone shared a quote on Twitter: Yuri Bezmenov says that only 15% of KGB (now the FSB) work is in espionage. The other 85% attempts to undermine the U.S.A. via “ideological subversion,” which sets about to change our citizens’ perception of a reality where no sensible conclusions can be made.
Click through for the links they found to back this short quote up. It figures

Food For Thought:

Share

Personal Update for November 28, 2021

 Posted by at 6:33 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 282021
 

Hi all.  Yes, it was a good visit.  And Virgil returns all greetings.    He was, as I predicted, delighted to hear about the “Muttcracker” (as well as flabbergasted that Fort Collins has a ballet company!)

Driving out there in the morning was quite peaceful – almost no one in sight at any point.  Coming back, however was something else.  I had to leave visitation at around 2 in order to get to the restroom on the way out  (I am not starting a 2 hour drive without first stoping there, and that is not negotiable. ) After that, picking up my car key and driver’s license at the desk, getting through the locked gates, opening th tailgate, putting away my wheelchair including putting a bungee around it to keep it in one place, grabbing my crutch, putting it in the back, getting into the frone, putting the car key back on the ring, using lip balm (it’s not allowed in there and mine get chapped), getting my ice water and gluten free cookie bar out of the insulated lunchbox, putting a CD in – it was 2:30 by the time I got out of the parking lot.

And going back was not like coming out.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much traffic along that entire route.  I do realice 2″30-4:40 pm is prime shopping tme, but it wasn’t like that two weeks ago.  Of course, it also wasn’t Black Friday weekend two weeks ago.  So there’s that.

I got home safely, but kind of znked.

So my advice to you is to read today’s Erinyes and the other tings in the email, if you haven’t already.  And I will get full posts ready for tomorrow

I did already have a TC cartooon picked out for today:

But not an FFT.

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries