Open Thread June 18, 2023

 Posted by at 6:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 182023
 

Last week’s opera was the last one from the Metropolitan Opera until December. But WFMT will carry on through the summer with recordings of live performances from all over the world. Yesterday, the opera was “Fidelio,” the only opera ever composed by Beethoven, from the Vienna State Opera. The announcer today said it was based on a true story from the French Revolution; that was the first I’d heard of it, so I won’t swear to it. But it’s about the wife of a man who was politically fighting a fascistic governor, who has kidnapped him and thrown him into the (unfinished) basement of his private prison. It’s been two years, and everyone thinks him dead except his wife, who dresses as a man to get a job at the prison. She doesn’t find him until the evil governor’s boss send him a message that he’s coming to inspect the prison. The governor panics and orders the jailer to dig a grave in the basement, the wife offers to help, and there he is. The line that’s often quoted occurs when the governor is about to kill him and the wife comes between them and says “First kill his wife.” (She is armed and the governor falls apart and leaves, as does the jailer, from kinder motives.) But the line that gets me every time is when they are left alone and he, still in shock, says “Leonora! What have you done for me!” to which she replies, “Nothing, my Florestan. It was nothing.” Then they go up and out, and the governor’s boss and the chorus sing in praise of marriage. And with all that in my head, I’m off to see Virgil. As always, I’ll post a comment when I get back

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – The Five Elements of Fascism
Quote – How do we describe what Trump wants for America? “Authoritarianism” isn’t adequate. It is “fascism.” Fascism stands for a coherent set of ideas different from — and more dangerous than — authoritarianism. To fight those ideas, it’s necessary to be aware of what they are and how they fit together. Borrowing from cultural theorist Umberto Eco, historians Emilio Gentile and Ian Kershaw, political scientist Roger Griffin, and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, I offer five elements that distinguish fascism from authoritarianism.
Click through for all five. Many lists have more than five – but all of the lists nail Trump** and his MAGAts as pure fascists.

HuffPost – Biden Is Having A Very Productive Presidency, And This Win On Drug Prices Shows Why
Quote – If you want to understand why the Biden administration gets so little credit for its accomplishments ― and why, perhaps, it deserves to get a little more ― pay attention to a little-noticed policy announcement from last Friday. The announcement was a list of 43 prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare and whose prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation. The list included relatively well-known drugs like Humira, which treats a variety of inflammatory conditions, plus some more obscure medications like Leukine, which helps cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy stave off infection.
Click through for details. And pass it on

Food For Thought

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Open Thread June 13, 2023

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 132023
 

Yesterday, we had thunder, lightning, and hail, and also a power outage which lasted about an hour. And, of course, it was cold – low fifties with a “feels like” in the high forties. The outage must have stressed me, thoug, because I tripped and fell – no damage to speak of – two small cuts is all – just annoying. Incidentally, if anyone is wonderng abot whether the indictment really has 37 or 38 counts, the aner is 38, but the 38th one only applies to the pool boy, so 37 relating to Trump** is correct.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

NPR – What is HAPE? How people in the mountains can still fall ill to mountain sickness
Quote – High altitude pulmonary edema — commonly referred to as HAPE — is a more serious case of altitude sickness that, if not treated quickly or properly, can lead to death…. “There are deaths usually every couple of years in adults who come to ski or have a vacation with their friends,” [Summit County’s Dr. Christine] Ebert-Santos said. “There are so many times when people are sick with a virus and you don’t really give it a second thought. Without having somebody’s eyes on you or having a pulse oximeter to see what is happening with your oxygen, you can’t really know if this is something going on in your lungs or it’s just a cold.”
Click through for details. I know, I’m the only one who lives in the mountains. But people do come up ere for reasons – and this was certainly news to me. I do own a pulse oximeter and I know how to use it, so here’s that.

USA Today – I don’t want to live in a country where Trump could be held accountable
Quote – It’s like Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote in a tweet Friday: “These charges are unprecedented and it’s a sad day for our country, especially in light of what clearly appears to be a two-tiered justice system where some are selectively prosecuted, and others are not.”… TWO TIERS! One tier in which President Trump keeps getting indicted via both state and federal justice systems and another in which the people I don’t like keep getting not indicted via all the things Fox News tells me they did wrong.
Click through for full satire – if it isn’t too close to reality for you to stand. It realy doesn’t get any more “bothsiderist” than this.

The Nib (Rosemary Mosco) – The Future Is on Thin Ice
Quote – Growing up in Canada, I used to skate home from school. I know this sounds like a stereotype…. I grew up in … Ottawa. A canal runs through the city…. [I]t holds the Guiness World Record for the largest naturally frozen ice rink. In the winter, the canal freezes over…. Only this year it didn’t.
Click through for graphic essay. Back in the ineties, when the general public started to hear about climate change (which fossil fuel pushers had known about for decades), the changes resulted in some extremely heavy swnowfalls for us (because so much polar ice had thawed, there was more water in the air elsewhere.) So many ignorant people thought that was a reason to deny that glabal warming existed. What will that say to this, I wonder? Will they even see it?

Food For Thought

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Open Thread May 11, 2023

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 112023
 

Yesterday, there was a “tornadic thunderstorm” in our general area. It was reported as 30-some miles north of Colorado Springs and moving north/northwest (I am just south of Colorado Springs’ southern city limit.) No threat to me, but I had not heard the term “tornadic thunderstorm” before. It’s quite evocative. Our summer thunderstorms often bring hail, and they mentioned quarter-sized hail (which is not going to break any windshields.) The Weather Service announcement didn’t say so, but, looking at Weather Underground, there may be more tomorrow. I tend to stay indoors anyway, and yesterdat was not (and today will not) be exceptions.  Also, if you haven’t read aboout the Biden-McCarthy-Schumer-McConnel meeting and want to, Heather Cox Richardson has it covered.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Stuff That Needs to Be Said – Teachers Are Superheroes
Quote (from the email) – Five years ago I wrote a blog post called Teachers are Superheroes. I spoke from a place of deep gratitude and awe for the teachers I see in action every day—in my community, and in the lives of my own children. I wrote about the challenges they face and the burdens they bear. Little did I know that five years later those burdens would be so much heavier and the threats to them so much more coordinated and serious.
Click through for original column from 2018. This is Teacher Appreciation Week. His explanatory email also provided ideas for concrete ways to support teachers IRL:
* Volunteer your time at local schools to take some of the burdens from overworked teachers.
* Donate supplies so teachers don’t have to use their personal resources in order to serve their students.
* Attend school board meetings and help offer dissenting voices to the increasingly incendiary Conservative presence there to intimidate.
* Vote in school board elections. Do your research and help elect candidates who are champions of public education and advocates for teachers.
* Publicly advocate for funding for teachers and their schools.
* Join or support local teacher organizations.
* Show gratitude to local teachers with cards, gift cards, movie tickets, and spa certificates.
* Spread awareness on social media to help people understand the threats and the adversity that teachers are experiencing.
* Form a parent advocacy group whose job it is to serve as a watchdog for school policies and practices that undermine teachers.

 

CPR News – We’re publishing a series about tobacco in Colorado. Here’s why
Quote – Tobacco is the number one cause of preventable and premature death in Colorado.
Read that again. Tobacco kills the most Coloradans. Not opioids, not guns, not car crashes — not even COVID-19. Every year, more than 5,000 people die because of their own habits. And yet, no one is talking about it. It’s rarely in the headlines.
Click through for the story. It’s not like we don’t have our share of guns – and it’s arguable that Columbine started it – and yet, tobacco is deadlier still. There’s a link to the first episode, which is already out. I’ve been remarkably lucky for a former smoker (of course I’ve been free for 47 years this month) but I’m well aware of the possible consequences.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread April 21, 2023

 Posted by at 7:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 212023
 

Yesterday, there was an update on the little girl taken from her parents because midwife. She’s going home! Details, including from the family’s attorney, here. In weather news, it’s supposed to snow tomorrow, although very early – it’s to stop by 9:00 am and then warm up. If it does, I”ll be fine with it. I’m to see Virgil Sunday. I hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely 4/20.

Cartoon – 21 0421Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Daily Beast – Inside Jim Jordan’s ‘Charade’ of a Hearing on Violent Crime in NYC
Quote – Back when Jim Jordan was a collegiate wrestling champion, the strategy would have been called a double misdirection duck under…. In truth, the violent crime rate is declining in Manhattan, with murders down 14 percent, shootings down 17 percent, and robberies down 8 percent. Jordan was just seeking to undermine Bragg and therefore the 34-count indictment he had secured against Trump 13 days before…. To mask the actual crime numbers, Jordan applied a second misdirection, inviting the families of two murder victims, the father of a hate crime, and a Manhattan bodega clerk who was charged with homicide after killing a robber but later deemed to have acted in self-defense.
Click through for full opinion. Yes, it’s an opinion piece. When lies are being peddled as facts, sometimes an opinion piece is the best (or even the only) way to get to the truth. At least Jerry Nadler is there. I know he hates it, but he knows and does his duty.

Denverite – Aloft, Denver’s COVID-era shelter, closes as residents find housing and fear the streets
Quote – (The Salvation Army, the State of Colorado, the City of Denver and activists have found housing for all but two residents) On the second Tuesday in April, older homeless men at high risk of dying from respiratory infections joined members of the housing advocacy group the Housekeys Action Network Denver, or HAND, in a hot downtown parking lot, outside a soon-to-close shelter at the Aloft Hotel…. [D]odging cars, residents tried to figure out where they could go now that the City of Denver and the Salvation Army were shutting down a home that felt permanent, though they knew it never was.
Click through for story (and stories.) The subtitle (in parens) is the good news, and I’m proud of all who have worked on this, but it’s not good enough. A big reason why we can’t have nice things is TABOR.

Bonus: Crooks & Liars – Marge Gets Shut Down At Committee Hearing After She Breaks House Rules
Quote – Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) asked for Greene’s words to be “taken down” because they violated the House rules of decorum…. Still, when asked by Republican Rep. Mark Green if she would withdraw her statement, she declined…. [Rep. Daniel] Goldman noted that the rules prohibit her from continuing. “Point of personal inquiry,” Rep. Sporkfoot said. “There’s no such thing,” Goldman shot back.
Click through – there’s also video. I didn’t put this in the video thread because I figured we could all use a laugh – or at least a smile.

Food For Thought
(Hey, I can dream.)

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Video Thread 3/26/2023

 Posted by at 12:18 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 262023
 

Talking Feds with Harry Litman – Former Prosecutor Decodes the Manhattan DA’s TRUMP INDICTMENT Plans (long, but very nuts and bolts – and Glenn skipped a day.)

MSNBC – Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg receives threatening letter with white powder

Farron Balanced – Fox Host Whines About Democrats Making Conservatives Look Like Idiots

Afroman – Will You Help Me Repair My Door? (This is funny [and the CC is not bad], but the incident was not at all funny.} https://www.wonkette.com/humiliated-cops-sue-afroman

Bulldog Obsessed With His Skateboard Hates When His Parents Try To Take It Away From Him

Beau – Let’s talk about the permafrost zombie virus….

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Open Thread March 25, 2023

 Posted by at 6:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 252023
 

Yesterday, well, actually a few days ago, so you may have seen it, Disney fired a shot at DeSantis by announcing that Disney World will be hosting a “major summit on gay rights” in September. And Steve Schmidt made a rare exception and released his entire column to unpaid subscribers, I presume because the ignorance of the Constitutional law displayed by Republicans, including members of Congress, impelled him. I’d bookmark this one, or print it out, for when I encounter talking points which make out the Constitution to be whatever Republicans want it to be.

Cartoon – 25 0325Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – What connects Trump’s likely arrest with the bank bailouts?
Quote – Thiel and other wealthy self-described “libertarians” want Trump to be re-elected president in 2024…. Charges of hypocrisy have been leveled at Thiel and other wealthy depositors who claim to be libertarians but were rescued by the government. There was nothing hypocritical about it. Thiel and others like him aren’t really opposed to government, per se. They’re opposed to democracy. They prefer an oligarchy — a government controlled by super-wealthy people like themselves.
Click through for story. I might suggest that it is indeed htpocritical to call yourself a libertarian when you are in fact an oligarchist. But there’s certainly a precendent in Ayn Rand.

Civil Discourse – A nightmare for women in Idaho could be coming to all of us soon
Quote – Bonner General Health wrote that it was forced to take the step because of physician shortages and a downturn in births. Then it explained the context in which it was being forced to shut down its labor and delivery unit: “Idaho’s legal and political climate – Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult. In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines.”
Click through for details. Translation: When government tells doctors how to practice medicine, that is a threat to ALL doctors practicing ANY kind of medicine, and they will go elsewhere. If this spreads, the ENTIRE United states could lose ALL its doctors and medical facilities.

Food For Thought

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Open Thread March 17, 2023

 Posted by at 6:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 172023
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Move On, who have an insidious plot. They did not post the contents of the letter so I can’t provide a link, and will summarize. They want to put up three billboards with quotes on the route which Trump** must use to get to the airport, since his Mar-a-Lago heliport is gone. They want each one to highlight a different Tucker Carson text from the trove in which he admittied he does not care for Trump** This, they believe, will cause Trump** to post – let’s say shade – at Carlson every time he takes that road. This will cause Tucker’s viewers to leave him. That’s far more than they say even at the donation site. I think they don’t want the right to get even a hint of it unless and until it’s a done deal. That’s a pity, because it’s quite amusing, but it’s a good strategy. If and when they get the billboards up, we can share the details. Also, I got The New Yorker’s Name Drop answer from the first clue – and actually, any of the clues alone would have given me the correct answer. In this case it was just someone I know so much about that it would have been difficult to wrtie a clue whivh wouldn’t have given me the answer immediately.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

CPR News – As gun deaths rise, Colorado is trying something new — a public health approach to gun violence prevention
Quote – In a first-of-its-kind partnership, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is teaming up with researchers from the Injury and Violence Prevention Center in the Colorado School of Public Health. They’ll create and maintain a resource bank of regularly updated and accurate materials regarding gun violence in Colorado. In addition to the resource bank, officials at the new office also developed a grant program to fund evidence-and-community-based gun violence prevention initiatives.
Click through for details. I really thought it was more widely known than apparently it is that guns are a public health problem. It’s too early to say what this iniriative will accomplish, but we can hope

The Conversation – The retention problem: Women are going into tech but are also being driven out
Quote – So, questions arise: Why does the technology industry have a retention problem? Why are women who are employed by the technology industry quitting in such high volumes? What factors contribute to this low retention of women in the technology industry, and what kind of support do women need to stay and succeed in it?… Mainstream media often reports on open-source software’s toxic “tech bro” culture. In recent years, high-profile leaders in open-source software have been exposed for their abusive behavior.
Click through for full article. Back in the day, women who went into male dominated professions knew we had to be tough and we prepared for it. Is it a drawback of greater societal acceptance in general that we don’t sufficiently prepare kids to cross invisible lines?

Food For Thought
Now, this is what I call trolling!

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Open Thread March 15, 2023

 Posted by at 7:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 152023
 

Yesterday, between spending Monday sleeping late even for me, and having my BFF ome over to help me with some – for me – heavy lifting (and when we get together, it never stops with the object of the meeting. We always have lots to talk about. For one thing, she just completed training and qualified as a notary), I had to start from scratch. That’s rare – I almost always have a little something left over. But I also did some catching up (or getting ahead.) One of today’s short takes is from Substack, and if you aren’t a sybscriber, it will probably present you with a popup with the choices “Subscribe” and “Let me read it first.” Just click on the latter.

Cartoon – 15 J Caesar RTL

Short Takes –

In the Writing Burrow (Margaret Atwood) – What Is This Health Care, Earthlings? #2
Quote – Tommy was keen on publicly funded health care because as a boy he almost lost a leg to osteomyelitis. His parents couldn’t afford to pay for advanced treatment, but an expert orthopedic surgeon treated him without charge and saved the leg. As he said later, “I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside.” We do tend to take things for granted once we have them. But what was it like before public healthcare? Well, my children, I can tell you. I was there.
Click through fpr article. Ms. Atwood’s style is lively (as if we didn’t know that from “The Handmaid’s Tale”) but her areticle on Canadian Medicare – and what Canada was like before Canadian Medicare – is revealing. (To read Pat #1, click on the top line – “In the Writing Burrow” You may have to scroll once.

The New Yorker – What We Still Don’t Understand About Postpartum Psychosis
Quote – Postpartum psychosis tends to come on suddenly, often within four to six weeks of childbirth, around the time of weaning, or following a period of extreme sleep deprivation; it is sometimes presaged by anxiety and insomnia. A woman experiencing postpartum psychosis may show signs of mania, depression, or both; she may have aural hallucinations, paranoia, or delusions; she may stay awake day and night. She may, for stretches of time, appear to be perfectly normal.
Click through for details. I had heard of postpartum depression, but not of postpartum psychosis. But I also haven’t rread about postpartum depression for a long time. This appears to be yet another way in which the patriarchy short-changes women (and ignores the welfare of children.) Yes, there are women working in medical research today, as there are in virtually any field. But can you name one profession/occupatiuion in which the ethics have altered as a result of the influx of women? I can’t/.

Food For Thought

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