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 August 14, 2023

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 142023
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we were able to play cribbage. I think I’ve mentioned that the deck is not new, so it’s sticky, and there are at least a half dozen cards, 0maybe as many as 10, that bend in half, both of which make it hard to shuffle and also hard to deal, which can result in some strange happenings. For example, I had a hand with two 7’s, two 3’s and one 5 (including the starter.) Well, that’s a nice hand, but I don’t recall seeing anything quite like it before. But several hands later, I  got the exact hand again, And several hands after that, I got a hand with two 9’s, 2 aces, and a five – which is essentially the same hand, just different denominations. And a few hands after that, I got that exact same hand again. Very strange. All in good fun, of course. I guess a little weirdness never hurts.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – Can “Cop City” Be Stopped at the Ballot Box?
Quote – I reached out to Mayor Dickens to ask whether he believes that Atlanta voters should be able to decide, after all the conflict and concern expressed in the past two years, whether to build the training center in the South River Forest. A spokesperson, in an e-mail, disputed the notion that a referendum could repeal a city ordinance. This initiative, he wrote, “would violate the constitutional prohibition on the impairment of contracts. That said,” he added, “we welcome public dialogue and engagement around our goal to build the most progressive Public Safety Training Center in the nation.”
Click through for story, of which, if you aren’t aware, it is not Freya’s fault. I would point out that “”progressive” does not mean the same thing in training police that it does in politics. In police training, it appears to mean something like all the latest gadgets to more effectively vcontrol people. Also, IANAL, but the theory that a referendum cannot revoke a city ordinance appears to me to be in violation of the people’s right to petition the government for redress of grievances, a right guaranteed by the First Amendment. It’s an empty right if the government in question claims in advance that there can be no redress.

al dot com – ‘Get them off their fannies:’ Gov. Kay Ivey on how to grow Alabama’s workforce
Quote – According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Alabama has a labor participation rate of 72.1 percent. Only three states rank lower even as the state’s workforce of about 2.3 million represents a new high mark. Still, ranking near the bottom nationally in labor participation somewhat offsets the fact that Alabama is 7th nationally with a 2.2 percent unemployment rate. The unemployment rate, of course, only includes those looking for jobs. “Today, over 2.1 million people are employed in Alabama,” Ivey told the chamber audience. “That’s the most in state history, y’all.
Click thrugh for details. If you have so many job openings that you can’t fill them all, even with people who are not looking for work (and probably NOT “sitting on their fannies”), woudln’t it be a good idea to make your state more friendly to potential workers? Like with reproductuve rights and other health care, and diversity and friendliness? What am I missong? (Heck, they can’t even keep both Senators in the state. Tuberville has moved to Florida – not that he isn’t a good fit there.)

Food For Thought

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Open Thread – 8/30/2020

 Posted by at 11:20 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 302020
 

It’s a muggy day here in the CatBox.  I did get to lie down for 90 minutes to rest my back.  Tomorrow morning I have a routine visit from Diana, my palliative care nurse.  Tomorrow is also a WWWendy day to destink the extra-mangy TomCat, change my pain patch, goop, and help with chores.  However, that won’t effect my blogging, as she won’t be here until late afternoon.  Sometime this week, I need to take at least a partial day off to complete some tasks in preparation for my death.  I need to arrange for the transfer of the ownership of this site to JD, Lynn, and Nameless.  I also need to arrange for low-cost cremation, unless you folks would like to goop me for your pets.  I hope you’re having a lazy Sunday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:39 (average 5:16):  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0830TrumpVirusMap

Click for an excellent interactive map

US Cases: 6,141,057
US Deaths: 186,875
Plus thousands of murdered GOP plague victims Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From Vox: A shooter killed one person in Portland, Oregon on Saturday night, according to a statement by the Portland Police Bureau.

Much is still unknown about the shooting, but the victim — a white man — appears to have had some connection to the far-right Patriot Prayer group; according to Willamette Week reporter Aaron Mesh, the victim was wearing a hat and shirt with the group’s logo.

The shooting comes after supporters of President Donald Trump led a caravan of vehicles through the city Saturday and clashed with anti-police brutality protesters in Portland’s downtown; video from journalist Cory Elia shows trucks flying Trump flags driving through people on a street and unleashing pepper spray as the vehicles forced their way through a crowd of protesters…

…Early Sunday, Trump issued a string of tweets and retweets, including one retweet and a tweet condemning Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s leadership of the city. “The National Guard is Ready, Willing and Able” to deploy, Trump wrote in a quote tweet [Republican Fuhrer delinked] shortly after calling Wheeler [Republican Fuhrer delinked] a “fool.”

It strikes me as very strange that a Republican was the murder victim in this case. Democrats do not carry loaded guns to demonstrations. The Ammosexuals that do are either Republicans or right-wing anarchists, whose only intent is violence. Republicans falsely associate the anarchists with Democrats, but their behavior is too Republican-like for that to be true. If the shooter was not an anarchist, than Republicans must have killed one of their own terrorists by mistake. My beef with Wheeler is that he tends to let the rabid Republican police union intimidate him.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): What the Fact?! Robert Reich Reacts to the RNC

 

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. As for the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich, their convention was a super-spreader event in two ways, but I don’t know what they spread most: Trump* virus or Bullshit.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of protest): Talkin’ Bout a Revolution

 

Amen! Kudos to left-wing protesters!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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As Seen from Afar 06/07/2020

 Posted by at 10:03 pm  Politics
Jun 062020
 

BLACK LIVES MATTER ACROSS THE WORLD

The Largest Demonstrations In Australia Despite The Coronavirus Pandemic

Protesters rallied in Canberra on Friday, ahead of more than 60,000 Australians taking part in rallies in the nation’s three biggest cities, with Brisbane attracting the largest crowd of about 30,000 people on Saturday.

Despite the federal and state governments pleading with people not to attend these demonstrations and avoid new outbreaks of COVID-19, Australia saw the largest protest gatherings in decades.

Crowds gather in Brisbane for a Black Lives Matter protest. (ABC News: Tim Swanston)

“It was a peaceful protest, without any real concerns, and we were happy with how it went,” a Queensland Police spokesperson told the ABC. “Police were even handing out face masks to people.”

The Sydney rally of around 20,000 people came after the New South Wales Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a last-ditch attempt to lawfully authorise a Sydney protest. The last-minute decision meant those marching in Sydney were immune from prosecution for breaching public health orders.

Indigenous Black Lives Matter Too

Current events in the United States had inevitably refocused attention on Australian Indigenous issues. And the call to protest has resonated because of it. These are demonstrations of solidarity highlighted by local injustices and problems.

Events in the United States following the death of George Floyd have inevitably refocused attention on Australian Indigenous issues.(ABC News: Jack Fisher)

[In Australia] deaths of Indigenous people in custody continue — more than 400 over the past three decades — as does excessive use of force on occasion (which happened this week with a policeman’s reaction to the threatening language used by an Aboriginal youth in Sydney).

The high rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians remains unaddressed; appalling conditions exist in many communities. Labor’s spokeswoman for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, herself Indigenous, said this week that “in some parts of Australia, particularly in the north, the incarcerated population — adult and juvenile — are almost all Indigenous”.

 Australian Government’s Reaction to Protests

Senior Federal Government Minister Mathias Cormann has taken aim at Australian Black Lives Matter protesters, dubbing their actions “selfish”, “self-indulgent” and “reckless” amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles said his comments were tone-deaf.

“I don’t feel like I’m in a position to say to Indigenous Australians, who are protesting against that, that this is a selfish and indulgent act,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program. “I felt uncomfortable about the mass gathering but I’m not about to engage in that kind of judgement of those who did it.”

Protests In European Countries

¨Large numbers of people took to the streets in European cities on Saturday to demonstrate in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, some defying restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The protests in capitals such as London, Paris and Berlin were the latest in a global wave of anger and revulsion at racism and police brutality, following the killing of black American George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

UK

People hold placards during a Black Lives Matter rally in Parliament Square in London, Saturday, June 6, 2020.   –   Copyright  AP Photo/Frank Augstein

Thousands of people gathered outside the UK Parliament and the US embassy in London to protest against racism, despite official warnings to stay away for fear of spreading COVID-19 infections. Many wore face masks but the density of the crowd made it impossible to observe social distancing.

Demonstrators take part in a Black Lives Matter rally in Parliament Square in London, Saturday, June 6, 2020.AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali

The rallies were largely peaceful but in the early evening, some protesters clashed with police near Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence. Police brought out riot gear and mounted police charged at demonstrators to clear them from the area.

More demonstrations took place in Manchester and other cities in England, in the wake of similar protests during the week. Rallies are planned in Scotland on Sunday.

France

Another large demonstration took place in Paris, despite a police ban on the protest, the authorities citing the risk of spreading COVID-19 and fears of public unrest. The police decree noted that social distancing regulations ban gatherings of more than 10 people.

Preparing for the eventuality that protesters would ignore the ban, French police sealed off roads around the US Embassy early on Saturday.

A communique from the Prefecture noted that several calls had gone out on social media calling for demonstrations near the Eiffel Tower against “police violence”, despite a ban for public health reasons.

Crowds also turned out to demonstrate in other cities in France, including Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Rennes and Marseille — where some skirmishes were reported. The interior ministry estimated the number of protesters in France at 23,300, of whom 5,500 were in Paris.

Germany

Protesters in Cologne

Germany saw the largest crowds demonstrating in Europe. In Berlin, police estimated that 15,000 people gathered in the city centre for a Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday afternoon. As elsewhere, protesters held up signs with slogans such as “No justice, no peace”. The scenes were calm, though overnight on Friday police said several store windows were smashed and walls were painted with slogans referring to George Floyd’s death. Protesters also gathered in München (20,000),  Hamburg (14,000), Cologn and other cities.

Black Lives Matter demonstrations were also reported from Italy, The Netherlands, South Korea

References:

ABC News: Mathias Cormann criticises Black Lives Matter protesters for gathering amid coronavirus By political correspondent Brett Worthington

ABC News: Coronavirus killed Indigenous referendum, delivers likely mortal blow to religious discrimination legislation. The Conversation / By Michelle Grattan

EuroNews: Black Lives Matter: Large anti-racism protests in Europe despite pandemic restrictions. By Alasdair Sandford with AP, AFP

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