Open Thread August 20 2024

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 202024
 

Yesterday, the Atlanta Black Star had a story which horrified me – not that that is unusual – but this one is a bit out of the ordinary. Stories of abusive cops assaulting people of color are, sadly, still a dime a dozen. But when the abusive cop is running for Congress – that puts it into a different category. The ABS doesn’t mention the District number, but it is the one currently served by Democrat Pat Ryan, so it’s the 18th, in the Hudson Valley. This is his official site. If you can spare anything for an election other than the Presidential one, this would be one to consider.

I have alluded to this before – and I don’t want anyone to forget it. As Joyce Vance says, “History is full of failed coups that were preludes to successful ones.” So we must take it seriously and use every means at our disposal.

Posted without comment. I’m sorry. But I just can’t.

Seems like absolutely no one except Mary Trump wants to talk about this. I saw somewhere that the statute of limitations had expired, since the incident occurred in 2015.I don’t know what the Federal statute of limitations is on taking a bribe. But I’m pretty sure that there’s no statute of limitations in a Federal RICO case.

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Open Thread August 6 2024

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 062024
 

Yesterday, I saw the creepiest squib in Talking Points Memo’s morning email about RFK Jr. There was no link. There was a video, but it was on Xitter, and I can’t even see those, let alone embed them. So I looked around and found this on Democratic Underground. It has more detail, so it;s even creepier. And also weird (though I’m not really comfortable with that, because there s such a thing as good weird – which I like ti believe I have.) I also received a grocery order. And today the exterminator comes (grin).  And then – after putting everything away – I checked my email and learned that an elder had been shot and killed at an Oglala powwow.  It wasn’t a mass shooting, it wasn’t actually intended to hurt anyone, the trigger was pulled with one of those good intentions which pave that road.

If you are interested in the “Trump** took a bribe from Egypt in front of God and everybody” story,I doubt you’ll find anyone telling it better than Heather Cox Richardson. Personally, I’m far more interested in why it took so long for it to be revealed.

Back in the day, at least my day, there used to be an expression “how the other half lives.” Of course, nothing is ever exactly half and half, but it’s not only possible but probable that there are groups who, whether through privilege or through necessity, live in ways about which you or I don’t have a clue. If you would like to get a glimpse into some things that black people cope with the knowledge of every day, I recommend subscribing to the Atlanta Black Star. Youdon’t even have to read the articles to get the point. The headlines are more than enough. I’ve picked one story to share here, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. If you don’t want more in your inbox, consider saving this link and looking up the headlines from time to time. It is eyeopening and sobering.

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Open Thread April 2, 2024

 Posted by at 5:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 022024
 

Yesterday, it literally took me more than four hors to payy just one medical bill with a credit card. A big part of that was that the bill showed a single figure which I had to go through 11 MSNs (formerly EOBs) where i found more than 10 line items for this particular service, not all of which were from this provider, and the only way I could find out which were was by trial and error adding p combinations until I foundthe combination that matched the bill. That took about three hours. Then I spent 15-20 minutes making a PDF of just the claims which applied to this provider,because it would have taken even longer to do it later, and w=even paying by credit card on line I willl eventually have to provide documentation to my HRA. The outher hpur was spent fighting with the provider’s billing agency’s website. I wasn’t expecting that, and after spending all that time just putting the information tpgether, I was not in a good mood to begin with. And then I had to get back to my email inbox, which was pretty well stuffed.

This is a “Missouri leads the way” story, which I can now put up because Nameless’s computers (yes, that’s plural – everything was down) are fixed. It’s not the Missouri government, of course – it’s individual Democrats working together to unsure there is a Democrat in every race.

This is a very moving story about an extraordinary person, who has a warning for all of us.

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Open Thread March 22, 2024

 Posted by at 6:23 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 222024
 

Yesterday, I was still running late, but not quite as late. Hopefully I”ll catch up eventually.

I am of two minds about sharing stories like this one, because I don’t want to give anyone the impression that it’s only in the South (and Mississippi does get a lot of flak). Things like this can happen literally anywhere in the U.S. And you don’t even have to be a minority for it to happen to you – as you will see if you can get past enough of the violence to see the third photo. Trigger warning.

I’m actually fine with the Right Wing Media keeping these rulings and what they mean under the radar for now. Not that MAGAts would understand the implications (do any of them know what an “implication” is?) but it wouldn;t be hard to scare them into armed protest.

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Open Thread March 21, 2024

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 212024
 

Yesterday, after a couple of nights with little sleep, I slept so late that this is kind of short.

A Women’s History month post – More power to them, for all our sakes.

This is just appalling – not that the Panthers showed up, but that they felt (with sound reason) that they needed to. Crazy white people are a threat to everyone. I’m not sure who they think thay are, but I’m damen sure that, whoever it is, they’re not.

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Open Thread February 24, 2024

 Posted by at 6:17 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 242024
 

Yesterday, I received another grocery order. Only a week since the last ne, but there’s a terrific sale on some things I do use, and wich keep well frozen. The luck of the draw assigned me another really good driver. I adjusted her tip, and in my comments included that she needs to be teaching other drivers clsses in how to tie the handles of a plastic bag into a knot that un-knots easily in one movement so the bag can be used again. Pat may know what the knot is called (she said she’d be back probably today) but I don’t. But it’s marvelous.

This is a story about making change, and particularly, about one person making change happen. I’m impressed, not least because the western part of the state is generally pretty red.

There are still good people in the world (hanky alert.)

If you think Republicans believe their base is dumb, just wait till you see how dumb they think black people are. (The full URL includes “substack” so be prepared to look for a “keep reading” button.

 

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Open Thread February 21, 2024

 Posted by at 6:32 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 212024
 

Yesterday, we learned that an arrest was made Monday in the case of the UCCS shooting, a 25-year-old man, also a UCCS student – Nicholas Jordan of Detroit, MI. “Investigative efforts continue to indicate this was an isolated incident between individuals who were known to one another and not a random attack against the school or other students at the university,” the police department said in the press release, which seemed fairly evident to me right up front. Certainly by the numbers this qualifies as a mass shooting, but I was smelling domestic violence from the get-go. Also yesterday, I received an email that my ballot has been received. Considering it only left the house Sunday, and Monday was a Federal Holiday so no mail, that’s like zero days to get there. (Think what they could accomplish if we could only get rid of De Joy.)  Finally, I realized I had put the wrong date on yesterday’s Open Thread, so it didn’t post in the morning, and by the time I discovered it, ir was already a couple of hours after sunset.  It’s there now.   Apologies!

This is pretty unbelievable. The ads are saying only 1000 pair are available, and the price is $399. That means the most he can raise from this would be $3,990. At that rate, he would have to sell 91,479 batches of shoes just to pay the New York Civil Fraud fines – and that does not include back interest, nor does it include what he owes E. Jean Carroll. (and as Beau pointe out, someone working at $15.00 per hour, 24/7/365-366, would have to have started in the year 678 – BCE. For a “businessman,” he certainly doesn’t understand money.

Here’s the link to a petition urging Clarence to accept John Oliver’s offer. (And if you also sign the second one, which addresses Xitter, you’ll get to see a list of their current actions, and it’s worth while just to read it

The Daily Beast has some dirt on one of Sherrod Brown’s potential opponents (unless Ohio has two vacant Senate seats, which is unlikely.)

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Open Thread February 20, 2024

 Posted by at 6:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 202024
 

Yesterday, one of the first things I did was check on my credit crard, and saw that the erroneous charges have been removed. I slept in, but I checked caller ID and I have not missed any phone calls today. I also have not receeived an email on the subject. It’s possible they just voided the transactions and didn’t tell anyone, but it’s also possible the Card company deleted them, with or without notification. They are watching the account also, so at this point I don’t need to call them again. I knew I would not be on the hook for the charges.

Many of us have issues with family, or longtime friends, who are Republicans. We all handle these issues in our own ways, because that is who we are. If any of us is dissatisfied with what we are currently doing, Mary Trump’s thoughts on this may help, one way or another.

This explains a lot. And notice, it can be acomplished without any politicians getting involved in the process.

Remember Justin Jones? he has a message for us. (Don’t click on the Xitter link – give it time to load – and if it still doesn’t, the transcript is complete, only missing his photo.)

(We did help through Greece – and that was “obsolete” ammunition, and I guess all we had – now, Congress’s approval is required to give anything. We could sell, but….)

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