Open Thread April 9, 2022

 Posted by at 6:35 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 092022
 

Yesterday, I received the first “gift link” I have ever seen from the Washington Post. (I’ve seen several from the New York Times, and I knew the Post had them too, but had not seen one until now.) It was sent by my cousin in California, who must really have my number. I’ll include it in tomorrow’s short takes, because I agree the story is worthy. And, even better, my new driver’s license arrived. I had verified that the  temporary one would be acceptable if it didn’t, but I’m still thrilled to get it in time for tomorrow.(Of course I immediately scanned it and put the scans in my “Credentials” folder. And a copy on my laptop.)

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Democratic Underground (Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin) – Ammon Bundy headed to jail after Idaho judge says he ‘consistently’ defied orders
Quote – The gubernatorial candidate was found guilty of being in contempt of court Thursday after he refused to complete 40 hours of community service related to a July 2021 conviction. Bundy had argued that the stops made during his gubernatorial campaign satisfy his court-mandated community service. Ada County Magistrate Judge Annie McDevitt sentenced Bundy to 10 days in jail along with a $3,000 fine. He was immediately handcuffed and taken to the Ada County Jail on Thursday.
Click through for a little more (including the judge’s chewing out.) This is cited as being from the Idaho Statesman, but only provided a link to Yahoo! News Yeah, ten days is not enough, but it is something.

‘Leaving victims with the bill’: Sexual assault survivors are often charged hundreds of dollars for rape kits
Quote – The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) — reauthorized last month as part of Congress’ omnibus spending bill — requires states to bear full out-of-pocket costs of forensic medical exams to receive federal funds for law enforcement agencies, courts and victim services. Even if victims are fully reimbursed later, states that allow hospitals to charge patients are still violating the requirements laid out for them by the Justice Department to access those funds.
Click through for story. This is not a case of “There oughta be a law.” There IS a law (lapsed for a time, but back again) and it’s being regularly flouted.

The Daily Beast – Two COVID Variants Just Combined Into a ‘Frankenstein’ Virus
Quote – The first subvariant of Omicron, the latest major variant of the novel coronavirus, was bad. BA.1 drove record cases and hospitalizations in many countries starting last fall. The second subvariant, BA.2, was worse in some countries—setting new records for daily cases across China and parts of Europe. Now BA.1 and BA.2 have combined to create a third subvariant. XE, as it’s known, is a “recombinant”—the product of two viruses interacting “Frankenstein”-style in a single host.
Click through for details. I am not a scientist, but do you have to be one to suspect this could have been avoided had the world been taking the pandemic seriously?

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread April 7, 2022

 Posted by at 7:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 072022
 

Yesterday, I heard from Carrie B that her granddaughter-in-law is facing a double mastectomy and is equesting prayers (or however you communicate with the universe) for good results. Also that it is PatB’s wedding anniversary (48 years – Wow!) so we won’t see her comments for a day or two. I’m reminded of a fellow whom Virgil and I met in AA – he used to say, “Life is so daily,” and how right he was. Also, I got an email from Medicare that the second CoViD booster can be taken four months after the first one … which is the information I was waiting for to put it on my calendar.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Vice (Motherboard) – Police Records Show Women Are Being Stalked With Apple AirTags Across the Country
Quote – Multiple women who filed these reports said they feared physical violence. One woman called the police because a man she had a protective order against was harassing her with phone calls. She’d gotten notifications that an AirTag was tracking her, and could hear it chiming in her car, but couldn’t find it. When the cops arrived, she answered one of his calls in front of the officer, and the man described how he would physically harm her.
Click through for details. Did anyone NOT see this coming?

Smithsonian – Libraries
Quote – Books Online – Most books available here are in the Public Domain unless otherwise noted, and are therefore free to download, use, re-use, and re-mix without regard to copyright. Due to the nature of library collections however, it can be difficult to determine copyright status.
Click through and consider bookmarking. If you have this site and Project Gutenberg you can access just about anything that is in the pubic domain. And if you want to quote from them, you can copy/paste and not worry about typos. I have a bookshelf wall and, between them, these can replace most of it. Sigh.

PolitiZoom – Don’t Knock The US/EU/NATO Sanctions. Here’s Why
Quote – Don’t get me wrong. I get the drift here. The biggest bitch about sanctions since day one is that they are not a quick fix, they take months, if not years to ripen enough to have any real effect on the russian people, which is what you’re after, popular pressure on the regime. But things are different this time, for a couple of reasons.
Click through for full analysis.

Food For Thought (see also today’s Beau video):

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Video Thread 3/25/22

 Posted by at 11:43 am  Open Thread, Politics
Mar 252022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump Flips (Politically) on Mo Brooks. Could it be that Mo Brooks has Flipped on Trump?

Meidas Touch – Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson takes Senator Cotton to School!

Lincoln Project – Josh Mandel: Ohioans or Trump?

Robert Reich – Why Abortion Bans Aren’t Pro-Life

Armageddon Update – Havin’ Fun Yet?

Shirley Serban – Song for Ukraine and the World – Give Us Peace / Dona Nobis Pacem

Beau – Let’s talk about Rule 303 Belorussian style….

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Open Thread for February 24, 2022

 Posted by at 6:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 242022
 

Greetings from the Deep Freeze! Yesterday, our overnight low was -4°F with a windchill of -7°F. Tuesday night it was -10°F with a wind chill of -24°F. It is expected to warm up today to a high of +22°F. There is very little snow on the ground – it’s just cold. By this time next week we should have a couple of days of highs in the 60’s before it goes down again. Never a dull moment. I did finish up my haircut … such as it is LOL.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Cal Matters – Meth, a mother, and a stillbirth: Imprisoned mom wants her ‘manslaughter’ case reopened
Quote – Since her guilty plea, Perez’s story has drawn national attention for her rare plea to manslaughter of a fetus – a charge that doesn’t exist in California law. Abortion rights advocates believe her case has broad implications for abortion access in California, potentially opening the door to criminal prosecutions of people seeking to terminate pregnancies. (Emphasis mine.)
Click through for details. This would not surprise me in many states. It does surprise me in California. And, with everything else going on, it scares me.

HuffPost – Rick Scott Releases Far-Right Plan For GOP Senate Majority
Quote – Scott’s plan starts off with requiring children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school and disallowing teachers from portraying American history in a negative light, following state GOP legislatures in their efforts to ban the teaching of critical race theory. “Public schools will teach our children to love America because, while not perfect, it is exceptional, it is good, and it is a beacon of freedom in an often-dark world,” it says.
Click through for more. Mother Jones also covered this, calling it a “fever dream.” The only good thing I see about it is that it should be very helpful in getting Democrats to turn out. (If they can use imaginary fears, surely we can use real ones.)

Black History – Wikipedia – Charles R. Drew
Quote – He spent time doing research at Columbia’s Presbyterian Hospital and wrote a doctoral thesis, “Banked Blood: A Study on Blood Preservation,” based on an exhaustive study of blood preservation techniques. It was through this blood preservation research where Drew realized blood plasma was able to be preserved, two months, longer through de-liquification, or the separation of liquid blood from the cells. When ready for use the plasma would then be able to return to its original state via reconstitution.
Click through for bio. If you have ever had a transfusion, or had a loved one who has, you are in debt to Drew for his work. And so, of course, are thousands if not millions of others.

Food For Thought:

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Video Thread 1/23/2022

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Politics
Jan 232022
 

Glenn Kirschner – More Congressional Subpoenas, But Still No Use of Congress’s Lawful Tool of Inherent Contempt

The Lincoln Project – Gutless

politicsrus – We Are Americans

Remove Ron – Magic Words

American Bridge – 49th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Puppet Regime – Angela Merkel Off the Grid

Beau – Let’s talk about Republicans learning about Streisand….

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Open Thread for January 22, 2022

 Posted by at 11:31 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 222022
 

Yesterday, Friday, I was still dragging some. But I managed to put in a grocery order to be delivered today. I hope there’s not too much missing.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Oath Keeper Returned to Capitol Morning After Riot to ‘Probe Defense Line,’ Prosecutors Say
Quote – In a court filing late Tuesday calling for Vallejo to be detained ahead of trial, prosecutors say he continued to plot against the federal government even after the violence of Jan. 6 ended. The next morning, he allegedly messaged other members of the group in a Signal chat: “We are going to probe their defense line right now 6 am they should let us in. We’ll see.” He and other members of a “quick reaction force” he led were apparently also prepared to wage battle in the city for weeks.
Click through for details. This is another of those recently charged with “seditious conspiracy.” The “quick reaction forces” or QRFs – and, yes, that’s plural – there were somewhere between “several” and “many” – we will probably hear more about as time psses.

Democratic Underground (LENNY0229) – Dems Won Four Special Elections Last Week
Quote – We won special election in Maine for Maine House (suburban district that could have gone red), Massachusetts for Massachusetts House (a FLIP from Red to Blue – No Dem had held this seat since the mid 1800’s), Virginia for Virginia House, and Florida for U.S. House. Again, one of these was a FLIP and one (the one in my home state of Maine) could very welll have gone red. There were no guarantees. In ALL cases, the Dems won by BIG margins.
Click through. Good news is always welcome, and he goes on to provide some analysis ans suggestions.

Politico – Read the never-issued Trump order that would have seized voting machines
Quote – It’s not clear who wrote either document. But the draft executive order is dated Dec. 16, 2020, and is consistent with proposals that lawyer Sidney Powell made to the then-president. On Dec. 18, 2020, Powell, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump administration lawyer Emily Newman, and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne met with Trump in the Oval Office. In that meeting, Powell urged Trump to seize voting machines and to appointher as a special counsel to investigate the election, according to Axios.
Click through to read the complete order, or just for more detail. This document (along with the draft of an unmade speech) is one of those from the National Archives being held until the Supreme Court ruled.

Food For Thought:

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Video Thread 12/10/21

 Posted by at 12:03 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 102021
 

Glenn Kirschner – Former Minneapolis Office[r] Kim Potter on Trial for Fatal Shooting of Daunte Wright: A Trial Preview

Don Winslow – #StopTheMisinformation (It isn’t really fair to blame this on the media. They were lied o by people who should have known if anyone did. I think it was Meadows himself who was responsible for this.)

Thom Hartmann – Is The Time Limit on Democracy Running Out (“MY” Congressman recently btagged about accepting some himd of honor from Viktor Orbán. Just sayin’.)

Ring of Fire – Tom Cotton Held Up Biden Nominations Because His Feelings Were Hurt

politicsrus – Keep Your Thoughts and Prayers

Mrs Betty Bowers – Life Is Precious Unless It’s Not

Beau – Let’s talk about Texas voting rights….

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Video Thread 12/7/21

 Posted by at 11:50 am  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 072021
 

Glenn Kirschner – All the President’s Lackeys: Bannon, Clark, Eastman & the Others. Watergate vs. the Insurrection

MSNBC – Biden Breaks Down How Build Back Better Act Will Lower Cost For Families Dealing With Diabetes

Meidas Touch – SCOTUS Poised to Strike Down Legal Precedent from Roe v. Wade

Rebel HQ – Ethan Crumbly’s Parents Face Justifiable Consequences. I’m not sure how long I have been saying “Responsible gun ownners should take the lead in drafting legislation to regulate gun ownership and use – because, if they don’t, the rest of us will, and they won’t like it,” but it’s been since before I was married, an our next anniversaty will be our 38th. It was so long ago that the NRA was still considered a responsible organization.

Really American – Madison Cawthorn Claims Women Are “Earthen Vessels” (but Chip has a good idea)

politicsrus Christmas Greeting (Yes, it’s early, but you’ll need time to get your figgy pudding on)

Beau – Let’s talk about not talking about race…. Most of the time I agree with Beau, and he’s right on the institutional level. But he’s wrong on the individual level. On the individual level, it’s more like, yeah, if you don’t have pancreatic cancer for example, you don’t need to talk about it in order not to be hurt by it. But if you are being eatne away by pancreatic cancer, not talking about it won’t make it go away.

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