Open Thread September 28 2024

 Posted by at 5:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 282024
 

Yesterday, Wonkette referred to this article in America’s Voice. It’s about something which actually happens a lot, yet is always worth celebrating. I mean, of course, the ceremony conferring American citizenship on those who have jumped through all the hoops. It goes right to my heart every time. Did you know a new citizen can change their name legally when naturalized, without having to go to court? I learned that when I was working at USAA and pulled up a piece of mail which turned out to be an N-400. I forget now what exactly he changed it to, but it was clear he was doing so to honor Dr. King. It made my day. Also, Robert Reich posted episode 4 of his current series.I didn’t use number 3 last Saturday – it wasn’t labeled as part of the series – but I did include it in the Open Thread for September 23. I’m still not 100% sure it’s part of the series, but in case it is, you’ll be able to find it.)

The 19th has no intent to disparage the men not of color who have been outspoken on this topic forever. But that’s different from what is happening here. this is a movemet to raise the voices of men of color who have been right all along but have been silent, for whatever reasons.

Well, this is nice. And it’s about damn time. If those children had lived, they’d be entering college and old enough to vote. Since they can’t, the rest of us have to vore for them -not, certainly, by voting multiple times, but by voting for people and initiatives which would have benefitted them, and against people and initiatives which disrespect them.

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Open Thread September 23 2024

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 232024
 

Yesterday, I went to see Virgil. Going down there were a few scattered showers – not enough to keep the wipers going – and it also stayed overcast enough I didn’t need to wear sunglasses. Again, we played cribbage in our way – had quite a variety of good hands, middlind hands, and awful hands,more or less evenly divided between us. I can’t be sure, since we do’t keep running totals, but it felt prettty equal no me. Coming back, the sun was out, and I needed to shield the driver’s side window, and that worked. I nuked a leftoer meat from a crockpot made a while ago and the leftovers frozen. I’m calling it Chicken Marengo – although there is in fact no standard recipe forChicken Marengo, and its legen id fake, asthechefwho is supposed to have rsustled it up was not present at the battle. (The fact that there’s so much fake history floating around really makes me appreciate people like Heather Cox Richardson who set things straight.)

And speaking of fake history – though I nonlonger subscribe to Mother Jones, one of my other sources recommended this article, and when I read it, I kind of said “Wow!” Getting to the truth is much harder when people who are actively pushing a myth are fighting you every step of the way – and having found truth, getting it out so everyone knows is even harder.

The line TPM cites in its headline is not the only line they are intentionally blurring. They are also blurring the one between citizenship and the lack of citizenship. Y’know, Paul (in the Bible) was a Roman citizen. He mentions this in one of the Epistles, and basically says anyone who has enough money can buy (Roman) citizenship (“At a great price I obtained this freedom.”) Is this what we are coming to if Trump** and MAGAts win, not just the Presidency, but majorities in Congress?

We all know, or I hope we do, that the stock market and the economy are two different things – two very different things. But you wouldn’t know that by talking with investors – or with Republicans. But the person who can explain it best may well be Robert Reich. And that may well be because he looks at the economy as it pertains to reality, including real people, specifically real workers, as opposed to looking at the economy as pieces of paper with numbers on them

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Open Thread September 8 2024

 Posted by at 6:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 082024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades” based on Pushkin’s novelle of the same name. (There is also a comic opera by the same name by Franz von Suppé supposedly based on the same story, but it’s very different. The Tchaikovsky opera is as serious as a heart attack – in fact, there’s a heart attack in it. Leave it to Tchaikovsky to kill off all three principals in the same opera.) None of the characters is particularly admirable, but they are interesting. There’s a paranormal twist at the end. It’s one of only two opeeras I know of where the old lady is a soprano and the young one is a mezzo (the other being “The Consul” by Menotti.)  Lots of drama and also nice music.

Also – I’m not going to try to describe this email from Sean Astin – I’ll have to quote from it:
This Sunday, I’m inviting you to the Heroes 4 Harris Kamala-Con national livestream event with heroes from Star Wars, The Avengers, Hellboy, Batman, Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, Hercules, The Neverending Story, and so many other sagas.
You can see me, Sam Gamgee, and others talk with real-life democracy heroes like Adam Schiff, Alexander Vindman, and the Tennessee Three about how we can defeat real-life foes in 2024.

https://www.cpr.org/2024/09/05/msu-denver-simulation-skills-hub-lab-health-care-training/
I was afraid I wouldn’t find another good news story worth sharing, but it appears I had too little faith. This one – well, it’s summed up by this quote: “Having a simulation gives me the opportunity to learn from my mistakes,” Mercado said. “Whereas in the real world, I would learn from my mistakes, but it could be at the cost of somebody’s life.”

This link will take you, if you wish, to a long comment by a user whi has been an economist for 18 years, and who debunks the idea the the only obligation of a corporation is to the shareholders. He suggests that corporations should also be responsible to other stakeholeders – such as workers, consumers, and the environment. When I was in grad school for my MBA, we were actually taught that (except the environment was not mentioned – it was just over 50 years ago and although the destruction was already well under way, few then realized it.) I have no idea what happened to this philosophy. Of course even then it was more honored in the breach than the observance. But today, corporations don’t even bother to talk the talk.

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Open Thread September 6 2024

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

Yesterday, I read in HuffPost that, now that Jpe Biden has dropped out, his job approval numbers started to go up and have steadily continued to rise. That is certainly a good thing, but it still made me cry, to think of all the artisis, musicians, ans so many others who were nort appreciated until after their deaths. Yes, Joe is still alive to see some of this. But the full measure of his contributions to America will not be appreciated until later – and may be much later. He deserves better. However, there is some bad news with good news. I guess it’s really not news that the Russians are at it again, but it is news that the DOJ just made some important arrests in connection with it. And here’s the official video version.

My response to this was “More of this. Please.” Not just to the story but to the activism iy chronicles. For those of us for whom voting is second nature and not difficult, it’s challenging to grasp how difficult it is made (especially by Republicans) for some (especially for people of color – any color but “white”) and how widespread that suppression is. There really is a need for more – much more – of this kind of activism – and for recognition and praise for what already exists of it.

We could use more of this also. After yesterday, I decided some respite was needed, amd my sources have been co-operating so far.

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Open Thread September 4 2024

 Posted by at 6:08 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 042024
 

Yesterday, Joyce Vance decided that her (paywalled) post from last Friday was “so timely and so important that I’ve taken it out from behind the paywall” and republished it here. I do realize not everyone knows someone in high school, or a parent with a child in high school, or a grandparent. But lots of people do, and even if one doesn’t – I don’t – it’s still good information to have, and good to know that people are working on it. When more people vote, we win.

Well, this was certainly not on my bingo card. But I like it. A lot. I really hope there is a Democrat somewhere who is just goofy enough to run with it who has, or can get, the funding for it. It might not even need to be a very large run. Just one, with the right publicity, would do teh trick.

Robert Reich takes on mergers – and specifically the proposed Kroger-Albertson’s merger. I expect you all already knew this was a terrible idea. But possibly not all the details of just how terrible an idea it is.

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Open Thread August 21 2024

 Posted by at 6:08 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 212024
 

Yesterday, I read an email from Colorado’s Attorney General which had me in tears – good tears for the accomplishment, mixed with sorrow for the lost time. I lived in the San Luis Valley from the time I got out of the Marine Corps (1976) until 1991 when the jpb situation thre pushed me and Virgil to move to Colorado Springs. That was the time of my life when I was a real cat lady. I don’t recall opiates being a problem there then. Alcohol, yes. But the big medical thing was diabetes and the fact that it hit Hispanics so much harder than non-Hispanics. Unfortunately I can’t link to the email, but I can link to the article in the Valley Courier – still in print thankfully – which tells the story also. He’s a Democrat, so I have always voted for him any time he was on my ballot. I hope he stays in office for a long, long time.

Steve Schmidt – a couple of days old – but unless his prediction has alread come to pass, not too old. And we should be ready for it, and then, even if it turns out to be wrong, we’ll be fine.

Personally I would

but I’m glad someone is saying it out loud. because there are people who do not realize how bad it actually is. And you cannot fight something if you don’t know it even exists. I think we can do this, but we cannot forget for a moment what we are up against.

This is the good news. The bad news. of course, it that it’s today’s courts it will have to go through, not, for example the Warren Court (I’m pretty sure no relation to Elizabeth.) Kroger and Albertson’s being the only two big conglomerates is already a monopoly (technically it’s a duopoly, but these two are like-minded like Charlie and David.)

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Open Thread August 8 2024

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 082024
 

Yesterday, +I noticed that election season is now in full swing – from the number of my emails. Aand that’s OK. In november I’ll have to do some unsubscribingfor my sanity. But tlections are important, and this one especially. Also, if you know even a tiny bit of French, you will appreciate that “Ms Beau” is now “Belle.” I hope y’all will give her a chance, as you did me when we lost TomCat. She’s been working with Beau a long time and the analysis is there. Also the hat, the shed, and the Tshirts (on a hanger to the right.) And when I say that he analusis is there, I’m basing tht on more than you see – the channel (Belle) is still posting 4 every day. I watch most of them, Occasionally I will skip if a title appears irrelevant to our blog, but, I try noy to do that because the titles are still enigmatic. Also, if you are too young for the reference in the cartoon below, here’s a link. Yes, it’s offensive, but somehow Trump** manages to be more offensive – even just in a cartoon.

There’s a lot in here that y’all already know, and some tha you may have known and forgotten, but also some things which are not new but are newly getting publicity. So there’s way too much to remember – but also some terrific points to make.

I’ve been trying not to bitch about it, but yes, grocery prices are too high. (And a merger of Kroger and Albertson’s would absolutely not help.) Glad to see the FTC will be looking at it.

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Open Thread June 30 2024

 Posted by at 5:46 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 302024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Fairy Queen” by Purcell, which is an adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” recorded by an early music group in Utrecht, Netherlands. I streamed it – my local radio staion is now broadcasting the summer schedule, but they started a week late, so, if I don’t sream, I’ll miss the last one, and I don’t want to do that. However, The Fairy Queen is just over half the length of last week’s, so when The Fairy Queen ended, I switched over to the radio, just in time for the third and fourth acts. An also just in time for the static it was making earlier to have quieted down. So, the best of both worlds. And today, I’m off to see Virgil. As always, I’ll post a quick comment when I get back.

If you need a lift, and need to see Joe being Joe and apreciated for it, here’s a link to the North Carolina rally from Friday.

This is short, and simple.. Though about a complex issue, it makes it not to difficult to understand. And it’s good news, as far as it goes.

Remember the mayor elected in Alabama with an overwhelming majority, who couldn’t take office because the previous, unelected white mayor (who had not even bothered to run against him) would not turn over the keys? Well. Here’s the latest in that saga – and, hopefully,the last we’ll ever need to hear about it. Though I’m not holding my breath.

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