May 182022
 

Yesterday,I finished a trifle early ans spent some time looking on the net for icons.  I have a few on my desktop I think could be better, and looking is not all that time-consuming unless one falls into a rabbit hole.  There are three things I am looking for in a desktop icon, which I call the three C’s – I want them colorful, cute, and clear.  Colorful so they stand out, and clear so it’s obvious to me what they are.  Cute just because I like cute.  And I did find some that made me smile.  They are very small files and I don’t keep than on my main hard drive anyway but on my portable hard drive, so they don’t clog things up.  I know, not everyone’s idea of fun, but I enjoy it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – We need a hope machine. Anyone know how to build one?
Quote – But let me say something else as clearly as I can. I’ve been at this fight a very long time, and right now I find lots of reasons for hope. Ten, to be exact. (Here’s where the hammers, nails, and solar panels for Paula’s hope machine come in.)… 7. The myth of the decline of the West and the rise of the East — propounded by China and Russia — is proving itself bankrupt. Putin’s war on Ukraine is showing the world that totalitarian systems can’t even execute a war efficiently. Because dissent is stifled, accurate information doesn’t get back to headquarters. Because oligarchs have ravaged government funds, weapons systems don’t work. Because hierarchies are rigid and education in short supply, armies lack the training they need. Putin’s war is also revealing how fragile the Russian economy is, as is any economy whose strength turns on raw materials.
Clck through for the other nine. We do, sadly, need to avoid too much hope (or the wrong kind of hope) which can engender a sense of false security. But the reasons he cites tend to produce motivating hope, I think.

CPR News – Whistleblowers say they falsified patient records at Western Slope mental health center
Quote – The state overlooked what former workers describe as a long practice by the Grand Junction-based Mind Springs Health of intentionally writing patient evaluations that may not be based in reality. The three departments that regulate Colorado’s mental health safety net system failed to notice the problem reports during a recent multi-agency audit of the center, and over years of lax oversight. “You’ve got to wonder how closely these so-called regulatory agencies are really looking,” said Sunny Sullivan, one of 29 current and former Mind Springs workers who have come forward to tell the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) about what they see as legal and ethical breaches.
Click through for details. Colorado currently has a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both state houses. But Colorado also has a TABOR problem, because it wasn’t always this way. When you have a Constitutional amendment requirig you to give back any excess funds to taxpayers, you can never build for the future by using state funds wisely. So you will always be under-funded – and worse, unmotivated. (And, in the public mind, failures like this are always the fault of the government, no matter how tightly the government’s hands are tied.)

The Conversation – Online data could be used against people seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade falls
Quote – In overturning Roe, the anticipated decision would not merely deprive women of reproductive control and physical agency as a matter of constitutional law, but it would also change their relationship with the online world. Anyone in a state where abortion becomes illegal who relies on the internet for information, products and services related to reproductive health would be subject to online policing. As a researcher who studies online privacy, I’ve known for some time how Google, social media and internet data generally can be used for surveillance by law enforcement to cast digital dragnets. Women would be at risk not just from what they reveal about their reproductive status on social media, but also by data from their health applications, which could incriminate them if it were subpoenaed.
Click through for explanation. I am happily post-menopausal – but every woman, pre, during,  or post – needs to be aware this. We are accustomed to “having nothing to hide.” Well, now we have something to hide.

Food For Thought
I tried embedding this for the Video Thread, but the English subtitles disappeared. To me the most interesting thing isn’t exactly that he is telling straight truth (although that is very intresting indeed), but the way that Russian Fox News Barbie keeps trying to tell this hardened, clear-sighted professional soldier what war is really about.

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Apr 062022
 

Yesterday, our spring winds started. So did the spring fund drive of my reguar radio station (I’m sure there’s no connection), so I switched over to the one in Denver. Colorado Springs is not seeing any precipitation, nor is Denver (which, though it’s not warm, is having a red flag fire danger day, while up in the mountains there is a winter storm warning, and about 50 miles north a ski area is closed. At least out governor is well aware that climate change is a thing, but there is a limit to what he can do, and so much damage has already been done. Sure, at this altitude we don’t have o worry about sea level rise, but that is far from the only consequence.

Cartoon 06 0406Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Why Biden’s plan to tax the super rich is moving from unlikely to likely, and why it’s really really important
Quote – Last week Joe Biden unveiled two tax proposals that would revive Teddy Roosevelt’s original vision, and could possibly slow or even reverse America’s march toward oligarchy: (1) a minimum income tax that Biden calls a billionaire tax but would in reality apply to households with a net worth of $100 million or more, and (2) a separate tax at death on gains from appreciated assets, even if the assets are not sold. The odds are growing that at least one of these proposals will get through the Senate in April or May via “reconciliation” requiring only a bare majority (i.e., all fifty Democratic senators plus the vice president). I’m told Joe Manchin is mostly on board (which means the other Democratic holdout, Kyrsten Sinema, will sign on as well).
Click through for the full essay, including some cartoons. I do hope his analysis is correct (not his analysis of the economy, we know that’s correct, but his analysis of the bills’ chances.)

Crooks and Liars – Fox Viewers Paid To Watch CNN Changed Their Minds After 30 Days
Quote – The results: Not only did CNN and Fox cover different things during the September 2020 survey period, but the audience of committed Fox viewers, which started the month with conservative predispositions, changed their minds on many issues.
Click through for methodology and result numbers, as well as a link to the Washington Post story. This may be the absolute best news of the year.  Now if we can only figure out how to use it.

Mother Jones – What Can Indigenous Worldviews Bring to Space Exploration? As It Turns Out, a Lot.
Quote – Language and thought have influenced SETI and science writ large, said Rebecca Charbonneau, a historian at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. During Europe’s Scientific Revolution, the philosopher Francis Bacon described nature as something to be subjugated, she said: “a thing for mankind, in his words, to control. And that’s kind of formed the basis for the way we think about science.”
Click through for thoughtful analysis. If there is carbon-based life (and/or non-carbon-based life – possibly even more important) anywhere we are likely to reach. this kind of thinking is an absolute necessity As good as we are at self-sabotage, however, I’m not convinced we can get there.

Food For Thought:

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Apr 042022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Legal Recap, March 2022: From Resignation of NY Prosecutors to DOJ Expanding Criminal Probe of Trump

The Lincoln Project – Trump and Russia: Partners in Crime

Thom Hartmann – Didn’t Putin Call for Regime Change in America?

The Ring of Fire – Biden Pushes For Wealth Tax On Obscenely Rich Americans

Rebel HQ – Mitch McConnell PROVES He’s A Partisan Hack

Cracked – If Insurance Companies Were Honest

Beau – Let’s talk about mom and social constructs…

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Mar 302022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Congress to Hold Navarro & Scavino in Contempt, Refer them to DOJ for Prosecution. Will DOJ Indict?

American Bridge – Fox News confronts Republican about GOP tax hike plan

Political Voices Network – John Fugelsang (on the Stephanie Miller Show with a guest host.)

Farron Balanced – Mo Brooks Says Trump STILL Asks Him To Overturn 2020 Election

Ojeda Live – Lindsay Graham’s SCOTUS Hearing Antics Through the Years

Service Dog Wasn’t Playful — Until He Met His Kitten Sister

Beau – Let’s talk about a question about gender….

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Mar 112022
 

Yesterday, It snowed again – which was not predicted – and stayed sub-freezing all day – which was predicted. And it felt cold, colder than usual, inside as well. The other day i made a reference to the ki-ki-bird, and I shall now explain it. It was a joke, when I was in service, that at bases like Adak, AK, one migh, when it was sub-zer, hear the call of the ki-ki-bird: “Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-RIST, it’s cold!” It’s not that cold inside today .. but I’ll bet it is outsode!.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

ProPublica – When Billionaires Don’t Pay Taxes, People “Lose Faith in Democracy”
Quote – [Senator Ron] Wyden’s bill seeks to counteract a technique that the ultrawealthy can use to avoid income taxes: They hold on to their assets and simply avoid the income — and tax — that comes when they sell them. The rich can live lavishly by employing a technique known as “Buy, Borrow, Die,” in which they buy or build assets, borrow against them and then avoid estate and gift taxes when they die.
Click through for details. It seems self-evident to me, but I’m sure some wont believe it without “receipts” (and some won’t believe it regardless of evidence.)

The Hill – FBI agent: Suspects in Whitmer kidnapping plot arrested over ‘real concern’ they might obtain explosives
Quote – This comes as prosecutors allege that the four men, [Adam] Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, plotted the kidnapping of Whitmer due to their frustration of statewide COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. They planned to snatch her from her vacation home and blow up a nearby bridge to slow authorities’ response to the incident.
Click through for story. May the conviction be swift and the sentence appropriate.

Women’s History – Huff Post – Republicans Keep Attacking Biden’s Judicial Nominees For Being Good Lawyers
Quote – It’s been a pretty over-the-top and performative few months for the Judiciary Committee. But cutting through the drama, what’s not amusing is what Republicans have actually been arguing: that poor people charged with crimes don’t deserve any legal representation at all, and lawyers representing them should be ashamed for doing it.
Click through if you can stand to. Cruz and Hawley in particular – it would be a real public service if they could be investiga6ted back to birth. You just know that crimes would be found. And I say that knowing that both hold security clearances.

Food For Thought:

Sorry but I just had to add this:

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Jan 222022
 

Glenn Kirschner – NY AG Leticia James Subpoenas Donald, Don Jr. & Ivanka Trump, While Eric Pleads the 5th 500 Times!

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party

Rebel HQ – Richard Ojeda Rips Sean Spicer Into Pieces

politicsrus – Tax Grab – The legacy of the Trump tax cuts

Liberal Redneck – Liberal Redneck – Trashin’ Mitch McConnell

Littlest Kitten Ever Grows Up To Be A Mini Cat

Beau – Let’s talk about what Flint can teach us about the 6th….

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Dec 082021
 

Glenn Kirschner – House Postpones Flynn & Luna Testimony; Flynn Should be Returned to Active Duty and Court-Martialed (I’ll bet Miles Taylor could tell us what a “body man”s duties were – and I’ll bet it had something to do with adult diapers.)

The Lincoln Project – Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day

CNN – Meadows SPOOKED, Subpoena Coming Next? (If he thought he could “make a deal,” he has no idea who the committe members are.)

RepresentUs – This Is What Corporate Welfare Looks Like

politicsrus – Democracy Is Hard Earned

Six13 a capella – West Side Chanukah Story (I really do think Lenny must be smiling down. BTW you can close it when they start talking – pitching – at the end.)

Beau – Let’s talk about a letter from Texas…..

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Oct 062021
 

Glenn Kirschner – House Select Committee Promises to Enforce its Subpoenas w/Criminal Contempt. Here’s How That’s Done

The Lincoln Project – Last Week In The Republican Party…

VoteVets – Retired Air Force Internal Medicine Physician Urges Everyone To Get Vaccinated

Robert Reich – The Democrats’ One Chance to Cut Child Poverty in Half

Really American – 50% of Trump Supporters Would Back Civil War

Mother Cat Secretly Looked After Kittens Whom She Hid In The House

Beau – Let’s talk about the difference between the parties and Trump’s legacy….

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