"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Review: Steven Brust: Brokedown Palace

Another Epinions orphan; another review of this book is at Green Man Review:

Brokedown Palace is another one of Steven Brust’s romps – I have to admit, the man astonishes me: from the highly individual noir detective cast of the Vlad Taltos novels to the delightful and affectionate take-off on Dumas in The Phoenix Guard and Five Hundred Years After, he has an amazing range and an astonishing amount of creativity. In this one, he’s done it with the traditional folk tale – not that this story owes much to any any particular tale, but Brust has taken the idea of folklore and the means and methods of folklore to make an engaging and fabulous – in the strict sense – novel

The universe is the same as that of the Vlad Taltos novels, in a different time and with a very different tone. Structurally, the story follows a more-or-less traditional narrative form, broken by interludes that may describe events that are important but of which the characters are unaware, or may simply be folktales (of the “tall tales” variety) within the larger folktale. The story is quite simple: it is the story of László, King of Fenario, who is not particularly sane, and his brothers, Andor, who is shallow and perhaps overly religious – at least sometimes; Vilmos, who is the archetypal giant, large, strong, gentle, and perhaps with a little more on the ball than others realize; and Miklós, the youngest, who is a little – well, more than a little stubborn, and more than a little outspoken. It is tempting to say that the Palace is another major character, but it’s not; it is, however a potent symbol that Brust uses to great effect. László has a tendency to try to beat Miklós to death, or nearly so, and is extremely sensitive about the condition of the Palace, which is tottering on its foundations – in this case, it’s called denial. After one nearly-fatal beating, Miklós exiles himself to the land of Faerie – in the Taltos cycle, Dragaera – where he learns Dragaeran sorcery (pre-Empire, needless to say) before his return to Fenario. We meet the táltos horse Bölk, a magical steed who is much more than he seems and always answers questions with more questions; the Countess Mariska, destined to wed László – or perhaps one should say resigned to the fact – and Brigitta, László’s mistress. There is a hidden villain, and a magical tree, and the Demon Goddess Varra, who has her own agenda.

And the whole thing is permeated by magic – not only the fantasy-world magic of spells and incantations, but the fairy-tale magic that says the unbelievable is real and is walking right next to you. In this novel, Brust displays a remarkable gift in combining irony, wit, and the innocence of childhood, in which the Palace, the River, a horse, a tree, all have their own purposes and their own ways of effecting their goals. As in folklore, the characters are broadly drawn, but this is a novel, and they accumulate the telling details that belong to real people as the story progresses – they are well-developed, but always hover in the realm of the archetype.

A word about the narrator, who encapsulates Brust’s various gifts in a highly entertaining way. The narrator is indeed a storyteller, who digresses (another of Brust’s many talents) to fill in the story, bring us details about the history of Fenario, the people and the land, and who provides a commentary that is sometime wry, sometimes matter-of-fact, but always lively and good-humored. But make no mistake – there are dark and terrible events in this story, as is necessarily the case if we are to be engaged at all, and as is very much the basis of folklore as it is of literature. Whether Brust’s stance makes them more terrible or more distanced is something that each reader, I think, will have to decide.

A final note: those who are more familiar with Eastern European folklore than I may derive an additional layer of enjoyment from this book. The vocabulary and I suspect the general tenor of the narrative seem solidly based in Hungarian language and Hungarian traditions (alright, Fenarian is Hungarian, or damned close), which brings an element of the exotic to the tale that just adds to the fun.

(Orb Books, 2006)


This Week at Green Man Review

Fortunately, this edition went to be before the country erupted, so you ca relax in the safety of your home and enjoy:

A Science-Fiction Legend, Licorice, A Superhero Reborn, Russian Folk Music, and other goodies

So click on over to see those and, especially, the other goodies.

Antidote

And just to demonstrate that most people are decent and generous, this via Digby:


Bill Barr Lies! Water is Wet!

Of course he does -- he's a Trumpie. Via Digby:


The truth is somewhat different:

Far-right extremists are showing up, with guns, to the protests against police brutality that have exploded across the country.

Others are egging on the violence from behind their computers, urging followers to carry out acts of violence against black protesters with the goal of sparking a “race war.”

(Via Joe.My.God.)

Meanwhile, Trump has threatened to send in the army, and is rallying his supporters while the police are out of control in Louisville (targeting the press, no less), New York (police cruisers are great for crowd control), Minneapolis (reporters make good targets), Columbus, OH (target a congresswoman -- that's get you points), and who knows where else that I haven't run across yet?

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Giggle du Jour

Courtesy of commenter Jeff25 at Crooks and Liars:

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That is such a Groucho comeback.



The Liar-In-Chief Gets Fact-Checked

And doesn't like it at all. A couple of stories here. First, Twitter is fact-checking Trump, from WaPo via Joe.My.God. (WaPo's story is behind a paywall.)

Twitter on Tuesday slapped a fact-check label on President Trump’s tweets for the first time, a response to long-standing criticism that the company is too hands-off when it comes to policing misinformation and falsehoods from world leaders.

The move, which escalates tensions between Washington and Silicon Valley in an election year, was made in response to two Trump tweets over the past 24 hours.

The tweets falsely claimed that mail-in ballots are fraudulent. Twitter’s label says, “Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” and redirects users to news articles about Trump’s unsubstantiated claim.

Better late than never -- Twitter should have been doing this a decade ago.

And do I expect this to make any difference to Trump cultists? No, of course not.

Trump, however, is not happy, and his reaction is way over the top. Again, via Joe (Joe's post is quoting from Axios, but the link goes to Business Insider. I did find the Axios story, though.):

President Trump responded via tweets Tuesday evening to Twitter fact-checking him for the first time on his earlier unsubstantiated posts claiming mail-in ballots in November's election would be fraudulent.

What he's saying: "Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post," the president tweeted. "Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!"

Like I said, over the top -- fact-checking a habitual liar is now interfering in the election and "stifling" free speech. Like his followers, Trump has no clue as to what the Constitution actually guarantees in regard to freedom of speech -- which is simply that the government can't censor you. And as "conservatives" are so fond of pointing out, private entities are not bound by that.

And of course, the campaign weighs in:

We always knew that Silicon Valley would pull out all the stops to obstruct and interfere with President Trump getting his message through to voters. Partnering with the biased fake news media ‘fact checkers’ is only a smoke screen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility.

He's panicking.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Critter Chronicles: Goslings!

Hordes of them, both at North and South Ponds. They're all busily eating and growing -- some, presumably the first hatched -- are getting quite large. Apparently, one mother serves as baby-sitter for a group of little ones while the other mothers get out from under for a while. I've been seeing groups of eighteen or more, of various sizes, under the supervision of one adult, although there may be a second adult standing guard -- presumably a male, since that's what they do. I saw a group of about thirty at North Pond -- I say "about" because they move around and they tend to blend together if they're close to each other.

Strangely enough, I haven't seen any ducklings yet, although there are pairs of mallards all over the place, and even a couple pairs of wood ducks.

And the notorious Lincoln Park squirrels are out in full force.

And down by the wolf habitat at Lincoln Park zoo, the black-crowned night herons are clacking and squawking and generally makes nuisances of themselves.

Today's Must-Read: The Triumph of Ignorance

or, "Gullibility Will Always Win". It seems that Fox News viewers and Trump supporters -- which are largely interchangeable -- will believe just about anything:

A new poll from Yahoo News and YouGov show that 44 percent of Trump-supporting Republicans think Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is using the coronavirus epidemic as a way to secretly implant microchips into billions of people so he can track their movements.

Additionally, 50 percent of Americans who primarily watch Fox News believe the conspiracy theory even though neither Fox nor Trump have ever repeated it.

It's not a matter of whether or not Fox or Trump has repeated a lie -- it's that his followers and Fox's viewers have been conditioned to believe what they're told by the authority du jour. (And it's relevant that a lot of these people, maybe most, are evangelical "Christians", who are predisposed toward authoritarianism. It would be interesting to see a breakdown on these polls by religious affiliation.)

Putin must be laughing himself silly.

At any rate, read the whole thing -- it's short, and some of the things these people believe will have you shaking your head.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Today's Musdt-Read: Election? What Election?

Via Digby, NYT takes a look at the worst-case scenarios and what people are planning to do about them:

In October, President Trump declares a state of emergency in major cities in battleground states, like Milwaukee and Detroit, banning polling places from opening.

A week before the election, Attorney General William P. Barr announces a criminal investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

After Mr. Biden wins a narrow Electoral College victory, Mr. Trump refuses to accept the results, won’t leave the White House and declines to allow the Biden transition team customary access to agencies before the Jan. 20 inauguration.

Far-fetched conspiracy theories? Not to a group of worst-case scenario planners — mostly Democrats, but some anti-Trump Republicans as well — who have been gaming out various doomsday options for the 2020 presidential election.

I'm very confident that the Republicans -- and not just Trump -- will do whatever is necessary to pull a victory out of the hat -- voter suppression, voter intimidation (I believe it's the RNC that plans on having 50,000 "poll watchers" in place -- carrying their AR-15s?), closing polling places in the "wrong" precincts (which, you'll remember, they did in the last election) -- you name it, they'll try it.

Read the whole thing.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

What's New at Green Man Review

It's that time of the week again, and we've got good stuff:
All things Zelazny, Kasaugai Roasted Nuts, James Gunn’s Inside Science Fiction, early Doc Watson, new Cotton-Eyed Joe, Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet, and more

With some surprises. (And that's news exactly how?) At any rate, click on over and enjoy.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Giggle du Jour

With thanks to commenter thatoneguy at Joe.My.God.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The Lower Depths: Oh, Yeah, He Loves the Troops

"Contemptible" fits here, I think. From Politico:

More than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states test residents for the coronavirus and trace the spread of infections will face a “hard stop” on their deployments on June 24 — just one day shy of many members becoming eligible for key federal benefits, according to a senior FEMA official.

The official outlined the Trump administration’s plans on an interagency call on May 12, an audio version of which was obtained by POLITICO. The official also acknowledged during the call that the June 24 deadline means that thousands of members who first deployed in late March will find themselves with only 89 days of duty credit, one short of the 90-day threshold for qualifying for early retirement and education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI bill.

One. Day. Short.

The looming loss of crucial frontline workers, along with questions about whether the administration is shortchanging first responders, would require a delicate messaging strategy, the official — representing FEMA’s New England region — told dozens of colleagues on the interagency call.

“We would greatly benefit from unified messaging regarding the conclusion of their services prior to hitting the 90-day mark and the retirement benefit implications associated with it,” the official said.

Because it's all about the messaging, which the Republicans have shown themselves to be very good at. It helps that they don't give a shit about these service members -- who have earned the benefits they're being denied,

Scum.

Read the whole article -- the maneuvering of the Trump regime on this is pretty appalling.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

The Republicans, In Their Own Words



That's it: they have nothing positive to offer -- is Trump going to run on how much better off we are? -- so all they can do is "damage" their opponents.

Via Joe.My.God., whose post is based on this story from Mediate:

But deep in that report was the revelation that Trump’s attempts at tarring Biden — some of which he’s still using — are not effective, according to his allies’ own data:

Last month, a poll commissioned by the Republican National Committee tested roughly 20 lines of attack against Mr. Biden, ranging from the private business activities of his son, Hunter Biden, to whether Mr. Biden has “lost” a step, a reference to mental acuity. None of the lines of attack significantly moved voter sentiment, according to two people briefed on the results. There were some lines of attack that had potential, one of the people briefed on the results said, but they were more traditional Republican broadsides about issues like taxes.

I remember when the GOP was a legitimate political party -- but that was before Putin took over.

This Week at Green Man Review

Rain or shine, winter or spring, here we are, with all sorts of neat stuff -- and it's not always what you expected:

Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, “Bad Moon Rising” by Credence Clearwater Revival live, Max Barry’s Providence, Irvine’s The Life of Riley, Two Hellboy animated films, Trader Joe’s Organic Dark Chocolate PB&J and Other Tasty Matters

and it's all right here.

Today's Must-Read: Our Last Real President

You may have seen this already, but President Obama spoke to the Class of 2020 last night:

Hi, everybody. Aniyah, thank you for that beautiful introduction. I could not be prouder of everything you’ve done in your time with the Obama Foundation.

And of course, I couldn’t be prouder of all of you in the graduating Class of 2020 — as well as the teachers, and the coaches, and most of all, parents and family who guided have you along the way.

Now graduating is a big achievement under any circumstances. Some of you have had to overcome serious obstacles along the way, whether it was an illness, or a parent losing a job, or living in a neighborhood where people too often count you out. Along with the usual challenges of growing up, all of you have had to deal with the added pressures of social media, reports of school shootings, and the specter of climate change. And then, just as you’re about to celebrate having made it through, just as you’ve been looking forward to proms and senior nights, graduation ceremonies — and, let’s face it, a whole bunch of parties — the world is turned upside down by a global pandemic. And as much as I’m sure you love your parents, I’ll bet that being stuck at home with them and playing board games or watching Tiger King on TV is not exactly how you envisioned the last few months of your senior year.

Now I’ll be honest with you — the disappointments of missing a live graduation — those will pass pretty quick. I don’t remember much from my own high school graduation. I know that not having to sit there and listen to a commencement speaker isn’t all that bad — mine usually go on way too long. Also, not that many people look great in those caps, especially if you have big ears like me. And you’ll have plenty of time to catch up with your friends once the immediate public health crisis is over.

But what remains true is that your graduation marks your passage into adulthood — the time when you begin to take charge of your own life. It’s when you get to decide what’s important to you: the kind of career you want to pursue. Who you want to build a family with. The values you want to live by. And given the current state of the world, that may be kind of scary.

If you’d planned on going away for college, getting dropped off at campus in the fall — that’s no longer a given. If you were planning to work while going to school, finding that first job is going to be tougher. Even families that are relatively well-off are dealing with massive uncertainty. Those who were struggling before — they’re hanging on by a thread.

All of which means that you’re going to have to grow up faster than some generations. This pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bare a lot of our country’s deep-seated problems — from massive economic inequality to ongoing racial disparities to a lack of basic health care for people who need it. It’s woken a lot of young people up to the fact that the old ways of doing things just don’t work; that it doesn’t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick; and that our society and our democracy only work when we think not just about ourselves, but about each other.

It’s also pulled the curtain back on another hard truth, something that we all have to eventually accept once our childhood comes to an end. All those adults that you used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing? Turns out that they don’t have all the answers. A lot of them aren’t even asking the right questions. So, if the world’s going to get better, it going to be up to you.

That realization may be kind of intimidating. But I hope it’s also inspiring. With all the challenges this country faces right now, nobody can tell you “no, you’re too young to understand” or “this is how it’s always been done.” Because with so much uncertainty, with everything suddenly up for grabs, this is your generation’s world to shape.

Since I’m one of the old guys, I won’t tell you what to do with this power that rests in your hands. But I’ll leave you with three quick pieces of advice.

First, don’t be afraid. America’s gone through tough times before — slavery, civil war, famine, disease, the Great Depression and 9/11. And each time we came out stronger, usually because a new generation, young people like you, learned from past mistakes and figured out how to make things better.

Second, do what you think is right. Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy — that’s how little kids think. Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way — which is why things are so screwed up.

I hope that instead, you decide to ground yourself in values that last, like honesty, hard work, responsibility, fairness, generosity, respect for others. You won’t get it right every time, you’ll make mistakes like we all do. But if you listen to the truth that’s inside yourself, even when it’s hard, even when its inconvenient, people will notice. They’ll gravitate towards you. And you’ll be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

And finally, build a community. No one does big things by themselves. Right now, when people are scared, it’s easy to be cynical and say let me just look out for myself, or my family, or people who look or think or pray like me. But if we’re going to get through these difficult times; if we’re going to create a world where everybody has the opportunity to find a job, and afford college; if we’re going to save the environment and defeat future pandemics, then we’re going to have to do it together. So be alive to one another’s struggles. Stand up for one another’s rights. Leave behind all the old ways of thinking that divide us — sexism, racial prejudice, status, greed — and set the world on a different path.

When you need help, Michelle and I have made it the mission of our Foundation to give young people like you the skills and support to lead in your own communities, and to connect you with other young leaders around the country and around the globe.

But the truth is that you don’t need us to tell you what to do.

Because in so many ways, you’ve already started to lead.

Congratulations, Class of 2020. Keep making us proud.

Via Bark Bark Woof Woof. Video at the link.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Antidote

Via Digby:

In a groundbreaking scientific breakthrough, two Cheetah cubs have been born through in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer into a surrogate mother at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

The births are the result of careful planning and innovative medical expertise through a partnership between the Columbus Zoo, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Va., and Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas—three leading institutions with a commitment to conservation. These efforts were also part of a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Plan® (SSP) and the Cheetah Sustainability Program (CSP), developed to manage a sustainable population of cheetahs in human care.

While the cubs’ biological mother is Kibibi, the cubs were delivered on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 9:50 p.m. and 10:20 p.m. by Isabelle (Izzy). The cheetahs’ care team observed the births through a remote camera and continue to monitor Izzy and her cubs closely. Izzy, a first-time mom, has been providing great care to her cubs at this time.




Today in Disgusting People

Actually, it's not just a person, it's a whole organization. The "American" "Family" Association is in full pearl-clutching mode over a new PBS series:

PBS is going all out in the month of June to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month by launching a six-episode series of short videos on a dedicated YouTube Channel created by its Digital Studios.

Each Tuesday, beginning May 26, PBS will release a Prideland vignette focusing on an LGBTQ+ person and how that person deals with the ever-changing attitudes of Southern communities toward homosexual lifestyles.

On June 12, PBS will offer its member television stations the opportunity to air a one-hour companion special featuring series host and homosexual activist Dyllón Burnside. PBS’s decision to partner with Burnside to push the homosexual agenda is an unjust attack on Christianity and a mockery of the Bible and God’s design for human sexuality.

Sadly, PBS is proudly promoting a lifestyle that is unhealthy to both the individual who participates in the unnatural sexual behavior and to society as a whole.

In 2020, PBS received $445 million in taxpayer funding. This means you and I are directly paying for PBS to insult our faith and scoff at our God. I hope you will take a moment to let PBS know you oppose its support and promotion of this series.

Once again, we get a full dose of the arrogance and self-importance that seem to be a basic component of certain brands of "Christianity". As an example, here's the key comment:

PBS’s decision to partner with Burnside to push the homosexual agenda is an unjust attack on Christianity and a mockery of the Bible and God’s design for human sexuality.

So, doing a series on a historically persecuted group -- persecuted by the likes of the AFA -- is an "attack on Christianity". In fact, anyone who disagrees with them or dares to express a different viewpoint is attacking their religion. This, of course, is just a repeat of their "poor persecuted Christians" mantra -- from a group that has no claim to be actual followers of Christ and that is part of the evangelical movement that's managing to infiltrate all levels of government.

Oh, that the taxpayers whose dollars are being used to fund this endeavor include LGBT+ individuals and allies. The AFA, by the way, is not one of those taxpayers -- it's incorporated as a 501(c)3 charitable organization, which means it's tax-exempt. And it's a hate group, listed by the SPLC.

In other words, AFA was founded and is run by power-hungry hypocrites who use distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies to push their agenda, which itself is simply to take over control of what you read, watch, and think.

It occurs to me that Hitler had the support of the churches in German, and Mussolini had a treaty with the Vatican. Take that as you will.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Today in Alternate Realities

Seriously:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday defended Democratic efforts to change the chamber’s rules to allow remote voting during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the move is “not in opposition to the traditions of the House.”

The House will vote Friday on the proposed rule changes, which were drafted after bipartisan negotiations. The proposal would allow lawmakers to cast their votes from afar if they cannot be present in the Capitol for “reasons beyond our control” related to the virus. Those lawmakers would designate their proxy to another lawmaker who is present.

Earlier Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sharply criticized the move, arguing that Democrats “have checked out of this crisis and left governing up to the Senate.”

That's Mitch "The Senate's job is to pack the courts" McConnell, who, according to reports, has over 400 bills passed by the House sitting on his desk waiting for action from the Senate.

The contrast between McConnell and Pelosi in this crisis is breathtaking -- she is, in fact, working to keep the House running while not killing off the members, while he is -- well, what is he doing, exactly? Anything?

As of this wriring, the WaPo link in Joe's post goes to the national news headlines, not the story quoted.


Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Culture Break: Bertrand Goldberg: Marina City

Culture is not only about music.

Marina City is one of Chicago's iconic buildings, built in the late 1950s-early 1960s. It is credited with helping to reverse the flight of residents from inner cities and is the prototype of modern mixed-use urban bhildings.


The Wikipedia article is quite informative and worth reading.

Liar du Jour

It's so hard to choose, but today it's Moscow Mitch with a major whopper. First, a swipe at Obama for criticizing President Quid-Pro-Quo:

Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has weighed in. And rather than focusing his comments on defending the current president, he took aim at the former one, stating that "President Obama should've kept his mouth shut."

"You know, generally, former presidents just don't do that," McConnell told President Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, during an interview streamed live by the Trump campaign Monday night. "I remember President George W. Bush and his father went right through eight years of Democratic administrations after they left office and kept their mouths shut because they didn't feel it was appropriate for former presidents to critique even the president of another party."

In W's case, it was because the only thing Obama did that deserved criticism was letting him and the other war criminals in his administration off the hook.

Strangely, the biggie is not in the CBS story. But, Twitter to the rescue (and I never thought I'd say that):



And the riposte:



But then, McConnell has gotten more and more brazen since Trump took office -- he's not even making excuses any more. Apparently he's convinced that one-party rule is firmly established.

Via Joe.My.God.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

And It Was Such a Nice Democracy. . . .

Moscow Mitch,, most likely at the behest of his Kremlin paymaster, is trying to turn the U.S. into an even worse surveillance state than it already is:

Days after the Justice Department controversially dropped charges against Mike Flynn, Senate GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is set to expand a highly politicized Justice Department’s surveillance authority during a vote this week to renew the 2001 PATRIOT Act.

Under cover of redressing what President Donald Trump and his allies call the FBI’s “witch hunt” over collusion with the Kremlin, McConnell, via an amendment to the PATRIOT Act, will expressly permit the FBI to warrantlessly collect records on Americans’ web browsing and search histories. In a different amendment, McConnell also proposes giving the attorney general visibility into the “accuracy and completeness” of FBI surveillance submissions to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court.

McConnell's amendments are directed against all of us -- except, of course, Trump and his henchmen.

Taken together, privacy advocates consider McConnell’s moves an alarming expansion of Attorney General Bill Barr’s powers under FISA, a four-decade-old process that already places the attorney general at the center of national-security surveillance. It also doesn’t escape their notice that McConnell is increasing Barr’s oversight of surveillance on political candidates while expanding surveillance authorities on every other American. One privacy activist called McConnell’s efforts “two of the most cynical attempts to undermine surveillance reform I've ever seen."

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said that Barr, who has been deeply involved in investigations of interest to Trump, could authorize an investigation into a political rival, which could then unlock the internet-spying powers McConnell wants to grant the FBI.

“Under the McConnell amendment, Barr gets to look through the web browsing history of any American—including journalists, politicians, and political rivals—without a warrant, just by saying it is relevant to an investigation,” said Wyden, who has been trying to ban warrantless surveillance on such records.

If you think this is starting to sound like the Soviet Union in Stalin's heyday -- well, you're not far off. And to put Barr at the head of this effort makes it blatantly obvious that it's all a political maneuver to use the government's already too broad surveillance powers to shore up the Republican regime. (I'm not calling it the "Trump regime" because the GOP leadership will dump him as soon as he's no longer useful.) This is something they've been working toward since the days of Saint Ronnie, and Trump's fantasies of a "witch hunt" by the FBI are just the excuse they need.

It's worth reading the whole thing -- it's pretty alarming. The upside is that McConnell has to get this past Nancy Pelosi and the House, so it's not a done deal.

Via Joe.My.God.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

What's New at Green Man Review

Come rain or shine or pandemic, every week we bring you interesting things to check out:

Music by smallpiper Kathryn Tickell, The Faeries’ Oracle, English folk music, A Golem Factory, Vietnamese Chocolate, and Other Neat Things

So hop on over and forget the news for a while.

Thursday, May 07, 2020

The Lower Depths

Actually, it's more like a Jacobean revenge tragedy, with Trump out to get back at Obama for being everything he's not, and to hell with consequences:

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will urge the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare, maintaining its all-out legal assault on the health care law amid a pandemic that will drive millions of more Americans to depend on its coverage.

The administration appears to be doubling down on its legal strategy, even after Attorney General William Barr this week warned top Trump officials about the political ramifications of undermining the health care safety net during the coronavirus emergency.

Barr, being a good "Christian", is worried about the "political ramifications"; the people who are going to lose health coverage if this is successful are simply collateral damage.

One hopes the Democrats will use this as a bludgeon -- at this point, since the chance of a decision before the election is vanishingly small, the important message is that "Trump wants to take away your health insurance during a pandemic".

It would be different if the GOP had an alternative to offer. They don't, no matter what they say. The ACA is on the list of social safety net programs that they want to get rid of, along with Social Security and probably Medicare and Medicaid. The magic word here is "privatize", which translates to "Our owners should be able to make lots of money off these programs."

Read the whole thing -- good background in case you've missed this story in all the sound and fury coming from the White House.

Via Joe.My.God.

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Culture Break: Students of Juillard: Bolero Juillard

From The Daily Beast:

The short film, Bolero Juilliard, may be only just shy of ten minutes, but it’s a mighty and striking work. It features Ravel’s famous piece of music—which premiered in 1928—reinterpreted by current students from the famed performing arts school’s music, dance, and drama divisions, alongside famous alumni.

Filmed via cellphones in lockdown, and then scored, directed and edited seamlessly, it re-crafts the originally purely orchestral Boléro into a piece of contemporary musical theater. A dramatized, collective diary of a day living under the pandemic, it is also a witty, moving celebration of art as a life force.


Via Joe.My.God.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Meanwhile, In the Real World

Aside from the Keystone Kops dog-and-pony show that President Quid-Pro-Quo is offering as a "response" to the CoVID-19 pandemic, real researchers are getting real results:

Scientists have identified an antibody in a lab that they say can prevent the novel coronavirus from infecting cells. The team hopes the antibody could be used to create treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. . . .

The team, whose research was published in the journal Nature Communications, have been exploring whether what are known as monoclonal antibodies could help patients with COVID-19. Currently there is no vaccine or specific treatment for the disease. Monoclonal antibodies are a type of protein created in a lab which can bind to a specific substance in the body. These types of antibodies mimic how the immune system responds to a threat, and are used to treat some forms of cancer.

An antibody named 47D11 was found to bind to the spike protein which the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, uses to enter the body, and block it in a way that neutralizes the pathogen.

This is prelimninary, but it builds on a model that's been successful in the past -- but, as the saying goes, the devil's in the details. If it works inside a human body, it may be the breakthrough we've been hoping for.

Read the whole thing.

Via Joe.My.God.

(Footnote: For those of you who are not science nerds, a virus is, in basic terms, a little packet of either DNA or RNA enclosed in a protein coat; some also have a fatty envelope over that. Those spikes/knobs you see in pictures of the coronavirus are proteins that it uses to penetrate the cell membrane of a host cell. Like any other organism, it wants to reproduce, but since it's lacking most of the metabolic processes that make that possible, it needs a host cell to provide those. Unfortunately, this relationship doesn't do the host cell any good.)

Monday, May 04, 2020

Thought For the Day

Think about who actually creates the wealth:

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With thanks to commenter KnownDonorDad at Joe.My.God.

Sunday, May 03, 2020

You Know It's a Crisis

when your grocery store runs out of tortillas.

What's New at Green Man Review

And the staff at GMR marches on, producing yet more reviews of interesting things:

Swedish group Tummel live, Sherlock’s Little Sister, Picaresque Novels, a Nyckelharpa Orchestra (!) and Other Lively Matters

So head on over and browse to your heart's content..

Review: Bill Willingham et al: Fables: Wolves

Wolves, the eighth collection of Bill Willingham's Fables, hits the title from several different directions, as well as bringing us into a story of black ops, missing persons, family reunions, and general, all-around intrigue.

Prince Charming, who may not be much of a mayor but is revealing himself to be a first-rate strategic thinker, has decided that it's time for the Fables of Fabletown to take the war back to the Adversary -- now that they know who and where he is. Unfortunately, a key player in PC's plan is missing: Bigby Wolf has taken off for parts unknown. Because of the cubs' shape-changing abilities, which they can't control very well, Snow White has taken them to live at the farm; Bigby, because of past history, is barred from setting foot on the place. Since he's no longer the Sheriff of Fabletown, Bigby has opted to get lost. Prince Charming has, however, the ideal Tourist to hunt him down: Mowgli, who himself was raised by wolves. The good Prince also has something to sweeten the deal for all concerned: Mowgli's reward will be the liberation of his old friend Bagheera from confinement, his sentence for his (unwilling) participation in the ill-fated revolution led by Goldilocks; and Bigby gets to be re-united with Snow and his family -- just how is a surprise. Key in all of this are another of the Prince's undercover agents, Cinderella, Jack's magic beans, and "the Israeli option," a matter of unacceptable consequences.

Along the way we learn that, in spite of his general fearsomeness, Bigby is not good with heights.

We've gotten back to a good, solid, complex story line in this one, with some good character building. Snow White, in particular, reveals new facets -- we see, in the way she deals with her somewhat unruly litter, including maintaining the fiction that their father is in touch via letters, the qualities that made her the very effective Deputy Mayor she was, but she's mellowed. Bigby, likewise, adds a couple of new dimensions, mostly involving his feelings for Snow. Mowgli is the prize here -- he's revealed as a dogged, resourceful tracker of lost Fables, and tough as nails when need be. (He's also about as pretty as it gets.)

There is one part of this story arc that stuck out, and at the risk of spoilery, here it is: Bigby and Snow get married, a huge, lavish affair, with all the Fables who can be found in attendance. Given the time of the original publication (2006), it's hard to think that Willingham is not making a political statement on the religious nature of marriage ("created by God"), which is hard to justify historically. And it doesn't really fit -- it's more than a little out of tune with the characters and the context -- neither Bigby nor Snow are really given to grand public gestures, and given the general spikiness of the characters in general, it's a just a little bit too transparently "feel-good."

There is a wonderful side story detailing Cinderella's work in negotiating the alliance between Fabletown and the Sky Kingdoms. Cinderella is just as prickly and impatient as they come, and as she informs Prince Charming in no uncertain terms, no more diplomatic assignments -- she's had it.

The art is up to the usual standard, and stylistically consistent throughout. This collection also contains maps of Fabletown and the Farm, and a script for issue #50.

(Vertigo, 2006) Collects Fables, #48-51.

Saturday, May 02, 2020

Today's Must-Read: A Twofer

First, from Politico:

Views on how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic have become increasingly polarized, yet another political issue that for many culture war combatants is filtered through an ideological lens. The left has been almost uniformly — and loudly — in favor of sacrificing many personal liberties in exchange for containing the virus’ spread. The right has been divided, but the vocal activist wing of conservatism that has enormous influence on social media and Fox News, has been far more willing to attack the various infringements on where people can go and what they have to wear. . . .

For progressives, masks have become a sign that you take the pandemic seriously and are willing to make a personal sacrifice to save lives. Prominent people who don’t wear them are shamed and dragged on Twitter by lefty accounts. On the right, where the mask is often seen as the symbol of a purported overreaction to the coronavirus, mask promotion is a target of ridicule, a sign that in a deeply polarized America almost anything can be politicized and turned into a token of tribal affiliation.

Hide your irony meter:

Laura Ingraham warned that “social control over large populations is achieved through fear and intimidation and suppression of free thought” and “conditioning the public through propaganda is also key, new dogmas replace good old common sense.”

This from Fox's reigning Nazi Barbie, who has certainly done her share to effect just what she attributes to the left. It's called "projection".

Via Digby.

And from Digby herself:

Between McConnell making it clear he wants business to be given a pass on liability for failing to protect their workers if the blue states want to avoid bankruptcy and Trump demanding that the states succumb to his unhumane immigration policies if they want any federal aid, I think we are officially no longer one country.

This is now America, which is living under the US Constitution and Trumplandia, living under Dear Leader. Unfortunately Trumplandia, for the moment has the purse strings. It’s very important that America wins next November.

Ah, yes -- President Quid-Pro-Quo, who, as usual, is living in his own fantasy: It's not only blue states that are going to suffer:
Honestly, I think they’ll happily let people in their own states suffer if it means breaking public employee unions and their pensions. They aren’t even thinking about the rmifications. They just see an opportunity to advance their agenda and they’re going for it.

That's been the Republican party ever since Reagan -- "By any means necessary" might as well be their official motto. In that regard, I recommend this post by Tom Sullivan (OK, so it's a three-fer):

Watching workers go back to their jobs in life-threatening conditions to serve the economy punctuates the degree to which American myths are killing us. If the behavior of the acting president’s base seems cultish, it is because cultish behavior permeates the culture. A “deep sickness,” Digby called it the other day.

I frequently refer to the Midas cult, those of a certain economic class who view every human interaction as a potential for-profit transaction, who behave as though anything that might be turned into gold (profit) should be, especially not-for-profit public services such as education. For the Midas cult, anything less than private percentage off the top is a crime against capitalism.

The GOP has been working toward a return to the Gilded Age since forever -- after all, the billionaires own the party, and they are motivated by greed. I have to wonder what's missing in someone's makeup if they think they need five vacation homes or an elevator for their cars. There's something really wrong with these people.

Critter Chronicles: A Cacophony of Birds

Have you ever noticed how noisy birds are? Usually around sunrise is peak noise time, when all the songbirds are greeting the day and reminding everyone that they're here. It's died down a little bit over the past couple of weeks -- I guess everyone's got their territories staked out and mates safely in the fold, but there's still the dawn chorus.

Of course, sparrows are always chattering and squabbling, but we've got robins, cardinals, the occasional gull screaming (I'm less than a mile from the lake shore), and even every once in a while a skein of geese on their way to somewhere.

Speaking of, yesterday I saw the season's first clutch of goslings out in the park busily grazing with their parents. They can't be more than a few days old -- they're still pretty small. And I"m trying to figure out where the parents found to build a nest -- the reeds are just sprouting, and there's not much in the way of cover anywhere near where they were feeding. I keep thinking it's early yet for goslings and ducklings, but looking at the calendar, I realize it's that time of year -- they do tend to nest early.

(Side note: Also yesterday was my first sighting of a frog for a long time. It was just sitting on a branch poking out of the water, maybe waiting for a bug to fly by. Or not.)

Friday, May 01, 2020

Today in Disgusting People

Needless to say, he's a Republican:

In the April 23 post, Antioch planning commissioner chair Ken Turnage II said that coronavirus is like a forest fire that burns “old trees, fallen brush and scrub-shrub sucklings” that drain resources, adding that society will “strengthen” when the pandemic “is all settled.”

“We would have significant loss of life, we would lose many elderly, that would reduce burdens in our defunct Social Security System, health care cost (once the wave subsided), make jobs available for others and it would also free up housing in which we are in dire need of,” Turnage wrote in the post that has since been deleted. “We would lose a large portion of the people with immune and other health complications. I know it would be loved ones as well. But that would once again reduce our impact on medical, jobs, and housing.”

Economy uber alles!

He's not the first to come out with comments like this, and I'm sure he won't be the last. Do I need to point out that we're not a forest? These are human lives he's talking about. If we stopped breeding like flies (yes, it turns out he's a forced-birther), our infrastructure wouldn't be under such a strain. (The only life forms that outnumber people on this planet are insects and bacteria. Good company we're keeping.)

Of course, his post (since deleted) was taken "out of context".