Ukraine – Page 12 – Politics Plus

Open Thread October 26, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 262022

Yesterday, this email notification was in my inbox:

So that is done. Although, as John Pavlovitz points out, on November 9, when we wake up, the world is still going to be there. And many things will still be the same. (And hope will still be there too.) Also, yesterday was World Opera Day, which I had not known existed. There’s always something to learn. As trivial as this is, I also learned (by looking them up) that the Met’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is 5’5″ tall, one inch taller than James Madison, and six inches taller than Robert Reich. What’s that saying, good things come in small packages? (No offense intended to tall people.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Talent Agency Drops Kanye West For Anti-Semitism, But the Real Story Is Misogyny-to-Fascism Pipeline
Quote – But that’s not the real story. Before all of this blew up, Amanda Maricotte at Salon wrote a piece that got to the roots of what is troubling West and why he’s even worth taking a look at. He’s not just an isolated rich dummy, an over the hill artiste who hasn’t gone on tour since 2016. He’s part of something a lot bigger and a lot scarier, in addition to his particular brand of mental illness.
Click through for article – which looks to an article by Amanda Marcotte for Salon here, which in turn looks back to two earlier articles here and here, and just like that, the light dawns. It isn’t coincidence that these things go together, or, at least, it isn’t any more. It’s the conscious, deliberate use of misogyny to turn people, particularly men, into extreme fascists. And I can’t get into words how dangerous this is.

The Daily Beast – Pelosi Has a New Plan That’s Going to Make Putin Really Pissed
Quote – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is slated to attend the Crimea Platform parliamentary summit in Croatia this week as part of a forum to discuss kicking Russia out of Crimea and returning the peninsula to Ukraine. Her visit is meant to show the United States’ “ironclad solidarity” with Ukraine, the Democrat said in a statement. But while it may seem like just the latest expression of support from the West, the trip could reverberate all the way to the Kremlin.
Click through for details. I don’t think pissing Putin off is necessarily a bad thing. This is not actually an escalation in any way, but a reiteration of what our position has been since at least two years before Trump** moved in.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 10/24/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:49 am Open Thread, Politics

Oct 242022

Glenn Kirschner – January 6 committee subpoenas Trump. Will he successfully use the courts to run out the clock?

The Lincoln Project – We’ve Been Warning You

MSNBC – House Member Criticizes McCarthy Over Threats To Cut Ukraine Funding

Farron Balanced – Conservatives Started An Anti Woke Bank And Immediately Went Bankrupt

Armageddon Update – Vote or Die!

Beau – Let’s talk about which party you want during a recession….

Open Thread October 21, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:58 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 212022

Yesterday, I did get my ballot into the mail in time for the daily delivery/pickup. So I’ll be watching my email carefully for the “received” and “counted” emails (as if I didn’t always watch my email carefully.) In it (my email) today was a “The Warning” from Steve Schmidt – abbreviated because I’m a free subscriber – with perhaps the most blistering takedown of Kevin McCarthy you’ll ever see without profanity. And one from Jpoyce Vance had an analysis of the court decision on the Trump**-Eastman emails. I also received confirmation to visit Virgil Sunday. He called again also, and was much less confused, which was a relief.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Shadow Government in Putin’s Own Backyard Plots Against Him
Quote – Belarus’ opposition, led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, is plotting to form an alliance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to try to hamper any hopes that Russia may have of territorial expansion beyond Ukraine and further into Europe. The concern is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is eyeing Belarus much like how he’s eyeing Ukraine—and hoping to envelope Belarus into Russia itself, Valery Kavaleuski, a foreign affairs representative for the Belarusian opposition leader, told The Daily Beast. “Russians are looking at us in the same light as they look at Ukraine,” Kavaleuski said. “‘This is a state that is temporarily dependent. This is the nation that does not deserve to be next to Russia,
Click through for article. I don’t know how much of this is wishful thinking, and – maybe because – I don’t know how much real power Tsikhanouskaya has. I haven’t seen it elsewhere, but it claims to be an exclusive, so that alone does not discredit it.

Crooks and Liars – Paul Krugman: Here’s What Dems Should Do If GOP Gains House Majority
Quote – So what should be done to avert this threat? If Republicans do gain control of one or both houses in November, Democrats should use the lame-duck session to enact a very large rise in the debt limit, enough to put the issue on ice for years. Republicans and pundits who don’t understand the stakes would furiously attack this move, but it would be far better than enabling extortion — and would probably be forgotten by the time of the 2024 election.
Click through for the why, and the backup plan. I haven’t heard much from Krugman lately, presumably because I don’t subscribe to the NY Times. But he has always known what he is talking about, and he is right again. I hope he gets attention from those who need to hear this.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 10/19/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:19 pm Open Thread, Politics

Oct 192022

Glenn Kirschner – What will J6 committee do if Trump defies subpoena? Rep Adam Kinzinger answers that question

Meidas Touch – Ron Johnson gets UTTERLY HUMILIATED with the MOST SAVAGE Response During Debate (Not sure you can humiliate someone who has no shame – but it’s short at least)

The Lincoln Project – Protecting The Capitol

Robert Reich – Election Deniers Could Pick the Next President Without You

Crooks and Liars – A Ukrainian Boy Laments Attack On His Playground (hanky alert)

Beau – Let’s talk about hybrid Abrams…. [nothing to do with Stacey]

Open Thread October 12, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 122022

Yesterday, my radio station started its fall fund drive, so I started audio streaming, beginning with “The Score” – a one-hour program about music in film which I listen to weekly, generally during that one hour every weekday when there’s a program I don’t care for. This week’s theme was “mad scientists.” Timely for me, both because I had used that hour just the day before to watch a short biography of Thomas Midgley, Jr., called “The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History.” I thought of him when the host remarked that “mad scientists” in film seem to share a total disregard for the dangers of their creations. But throughout the program, I was also wondering if the whole mad scientist thing hd become so pervasive that the concept became part of the inspiration for QAnon, and other creations of the Alt-Right, with their disdain for actual science and facts. If so, it took long enough. In literature, it traces back to the 16th Century (Christopher Marlowe) and, considering actual science developed out of alchemy, almost certainly goes back to the dawn of humanity. Has anyone besides me ever wondered how humans, with all our crazy tendencies that are hard wired into us managed to survive this long at all?

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Kremlin TV Exposes the Real Goal of Putin’s ‘Revenge-Bombs’
Quote – [State Duma Defense Committee’s head Andrey] Kartapolov urged Russians to unite behind Putin, and his desperate plea spotlighted the true reason behind Moscow’s barrage of missiles: to curb waning public support for Putin’s mindless war…. Konstantin Dolgov, the former Russian commissioner for human rights,… yearned for pained reactions from Ukrainians affected by the strikes, asking: “Are they whining yet? Are they howling yet?”
Click through for the story. My visceral response is, “Republicans, everywhere, by any name, are all the same – the cruelty is the point.” However, Republicans everywhere, by any name, also lie. A lot. So who knows.

CPR News – Republicans hope to take back the House. Here’s what it could mean for Colorado’s representatives
Quote – While he’s not measuring any drapes, GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn said he would seek the chairmanship of the Strategic Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services committee. He was named the ranking member of that committee in January. The delegation’s longest serving Republican, Lamborn… also currently sits on the House Natural Resources committee[.]
Click through for full article – or, even better, check out your own state’s representatives – not just yours, but all of them. Every state almost certainly has one or more reps whose presence, or chairmanship, on this committee or that committee could turn the House into even more of a horrorscape than their mere presence in the House suggests.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 10/11/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:55 am Open Thread, Politics

Oct 112022

Glenn Kirschner – Trumps tries to swap stolen documents for info he wants; FBI investigates Trump Tower and Bedminster

The Lincoln Project – Ukraine

MSNBC – DeSantis Auditions For Role Of Green M&M In White Boots

Robert Reich – Organizing a Key Battleground State with @New Georgia Project Action Fund

Brent Terhune – black little mermaid

Beau – Let’s talk about Georgia and the Herschel Walker situation….

Open Thread October 9, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:44 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 092022

Yesterday, the radio opera was “A Village Teacher” in Mandarin. While it is an opers, it is in Chinese, and was written by Chinese people, it is not a “Chinese Opera” – it is a “Chinese contemporary classical opera.” Traditional Chinese opera, which goes back thousands of years, had its golden age in the 13th century under the Song dynasty (It’s pure coincidence that the dynastic name sounds musical to us.) The art form’s name – well, one of its Chinese name – is Xipu. There are regional variations, including the name of the form. Tan Dun (who scored the film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” has written several western operas, including one for Placido Domingo, called “The First Emperor,” in which he inlcuded a traditional Chinese opera character and trraditional style – I saw that one on TV so long ago I think I have a VHS of it. But I digress. “A Village teacher,” just as it sounds, is about a teacher and her efforts to teach and help her students be their best selves. It premiered in 2009.

I also learned (I am now listening on the internet – my local station decided not to finish carrying the full season) that Chicago is already calling the holiday of October 10 “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” And I got confirmation to see Virgil tomorrow.

Cartoon – 09 Manhattan Project RTL

Short Takes –

Steve Schmidt – The Warning – Christian nationalism
Quote – Christian nationalism is evil and dangerous. It is antithetical to Christianity. It is profoundly dangerous. It is on the ballot all across America. Christian nationalism is incompatible with American democracy and pluralism. When political extremists take power in the name of God there is always death…. The separation of church and state and religious freedom are profoundly important foundational achievements of the American republic. The extremists who seek power in God’s name are not benign men and women. I hope this will be a warning.
Click through for the article and a video, which will also appear in today’s Video Thread (It has CC but you may need to enable it.) To share it with others, this is the link to use: https://youtu.be/XzKc748F34g

The Daily Beast – Russians Terrified by Putin’s Bunker Mentality as He Turns 70 With His Finger on the Nuclear Button
Quote – Russians are growing increasingly worried about their leader’s state of mind. In his most recent public appearance, Putin’s eyes looked sunk and foggy. He spoke to a group of teachers from a small office over Zoom. The idea was to celebrate Wednesday’s “Teachers’ Day”—but Putin couldn’t resist ranting about the so-called “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine. “That part looked really insane,” 17-year-old student Vitaly Shatrov from St. Petersburg, whose last name has been changed for privacy reasons, told The Daily Beast. “Putin, who many compare to Hitler for the violence against Ukrainian people, speaks with teachers from some bunker about Nazis.”
Click through for story. I’m 7 years older than he is, and my doctor says I look around that much younger than he is (I think I’ve already shared this.) A different source says he has mobilized about 200,000 – and also that 335,000 have fled to avoid the draft. And he’s well aware what the repercussions would be of even a “small” (“tactical”) strike. I cannot get into the mindset well enough to predict what he might do. But I might point out that for four years we were all terrified that Trump** would press that button.

Food For Thought