Wednesday Open Thread

36
  by: Colorado Pols May 24, 2023 at 12:33 AM MDT

“Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.”

–Thomas Carlyle

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36 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. Washopingmylastpostwouldbemylast says:
    May 24, 2023 at 8:35 AM MDT

    This is now America:

    Florida school limits access to Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem and other books after parent’s complaint

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-school-limits-access-amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem-books-paren-rcna85935

    From the Rolling Stone article covering this:

    According to documents released by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and first reported by the Herald, the poem was removed from circulation after a parent claimed in March that it “is not educational and have indirectly [sic] hate messages.” The same parent brought challenges to four other books: “The ABCs of Black History,” “Cuban Kids,” “Countries in the News Cuba” and “Love to Langston.”

    The complaint also incorrectly attributed Gorman’s poem to Oprah Winfrey.

    . . . “not educational and have indirectly hate messages” from Oprah Winfrey??? . . .

    Let freedom ignorance ring!

    • The realist says:
      May 24, 2023 at 10:04 AM MDT

      We've always been surrounded by ignorance but have never been so willing to be RULED by ignorance.

      • Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
        May 24, 2023 at 11:25 AM MDT

        That's the big problem. We have always had ignorance but ignorant people were encouraged to keep their mouths shut at least until they had a grasp on what was going on. As Lincoln reportedly said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

        Not anymore. Now everyone is entitled to not only his/her/their own opinion but to his/her/their own facts to go along with the opinion.

        Hillary Clinton underestimated the size of, and understated the problem posed by, the infamous Basket of Deplorables back in 2016.

    • notaskinnycook says:
      May 24, 2023 at 10:56 AM MDT

      And it's a handful of people making all of these complaints: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/23/lgbtq-book-ban-challengers/

    • 2Jung2Die says:
      May 24, 2023 at 12:49 PM MDT

      Arkansas school librarians will be subject to up to 6 years in prison for providing certain books in their libraries. The bill goes into effect August 1, and Arkansas is just 1 of 7 states that now have passed bills to punish those dastardly school librarians, perhaps the most notorious criminals known to American history. You don't want to mess with them.

      I could probably write this pull-out quote myself, but this guy said it well enough in the linked Washington Post story:

      “We are, as a country, at a very broken place right now,” he said. “We have a fundamental break in trust between some groups of society and the educational system.”

      • ParkHill says:
        May 24, 2023 at 1:12 PM MDT

        This doesn't quite describe the problem: "fundamental break in trust".

        The Right Wing actually WANTS elections to fail, wants public schools to fall apart, and wants the government to default. It's a strategy. They didn't succeed on Jan 6, 2021, but they are continuing to attack democracy.

        In fact there is a concerted and well-funded campaign to break trust in the Government. Follow the right-wing money – Billionaires, Libertarians and Neo-Fascists.

      • notaskinnycook says:
        May 24, 2023 at 1:20 PM MDT

        The ACLU is going to be on these laws like a falcon on a pigeon. How thick can these people be? This will be entertaining to watch.

        • Washopingmylastpostwouldbemylast says:
          May 24, 2023 at 2:43 PM MDT

          How thick can these people be?

          “Indirectly hate messages” from Oprah thick?

          (I’d probably put that about somewhere in the neighborhood between well-beyond-willfully-ignorant thick to approaching-towards-Moderatus thick to maybe even Lauren-Boebert-was-my-GED-class-valedictorian thick??)

      • Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
        May 24, 2023 at 2:23 PM MDT

        Why even criminalize books in Arkansas? It's not like there's anyone there who even knows how to read.

      • JohnInDenver says:
        May 24, 2023 at 9:45 PM MDT

        Going to be some interesting theories of free speech, professional judgment, elected officials authority, and legal jeopardy for pushing books.  Coming to a courthouse (or six) very, very soon.

        Hard to believe the Scopes Trial was a hundred years ago. 

        I guess we now have a much better idea of when those folks think America was Great and they want to make it Great Again. 

        I'm also looking forward to the response from the library professionals.  Given a choice between Republicans on the school boards and the friendly librarians who help kids get books, I suspect there may be a backlash coming.

    • James2nd says:
      May 24, 2023 at 3:42 PM MDT

      The execrable parent who filed these complaints is a far-right, Proud Boys-supporter named Daily Salinas. According to this website, there is a person with this name, living in the town where the school is located (Miami Lakes), who is a credentialed "Behavior Technician" (whatever that may be).  https://npino.com/behavior-technician/1629630371-daily–salinas. And according to that site's handy map, she actually lives near, wait for it, "Lake Karen."

  2. MichaelBowman says:
    May 24, 2023 at 9:32 AM MDT

    Do I hear an Amen?! It’s about to be dog-eat-dog and no one brought napkins. Debbie was an early champion of renewable energy in Georgia and a dedicated Tea Party founder in the South. These days she’s a self-described UltraMAGA. 
     

    • Conserv. Head Banger says:
      May 24, 2023 at 10:34 AM MDT

      One way I've used to befuddle "anti-globalists" like Debbie is to call into question possible personal habits. As in…..

      Do You Eat Bananas? If so, you're a globalist. Bananas I've been buying at the store come from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador.

      Do You Drink Coffee or Tea? If so, you're a globalist as those crops aren't grown in the US in commercial quantities.

      Do You Eat Chocolate?   And the list goes on.

      • ParkHill says:
        May 24, 2023 at 10:53 AM MDT

        Yes. Similarly, I think of the shipping container revolution.

        It costs less than $1,000 to ship 4,000 boxes of running shoes to the US. That's 25 cents per shoe. That is less than it costs for the sales clerk to go find your size.

        If you put a factory or workshop or processing facility next to a rail-head in Bangladesh, you have front-row seats to the global economy.

      • Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
        May 24, 2023 at 12:20 PM MDT

        Those people have never let logic or rational thinking get in the way of how they feel.

        I am amazed by the number of big ass pickup trucks in the Walmart parking lot decorated with "BUY AMERICAN" bumper stickers while their owners are inside the story buying cheap imported products from Sri Lanka, Vietnam or the Philippines. 

         

    • Dano says:
      May 24, 2023 at 10:37 AM MDT

      If only we could hold them to this!!!

    • Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
      May 24, 2023 at 11:27 AM MDT

      Good for Debbie!

      By the way, my husband and I were recently in a redneck town in Connecticut and came across a couple houses which sported Trump flags and ultra-MAGA signs on their front lawns.

      What is the difference between MAGA and ultra-MAGA?

      • MichaelBowman says:
        May 24, 2023 at 11:49 AM MDT

        ”Ultra” (sometimes I see them describe themselves as “Uber MAGA”) will die on the hill for FDFQ.  Run-of-the-mill MAGA- posers  may be persuaded to jump the Trump Train Titanic for someone else in the clown car. 

      • ParkHill says:
        May 24, 2023 at 12:33 PM MDT

        It’s like the difference between Democrats and the Squad:

        Socialist which is about Public schools, Social Security, Obamacare, Teachers, Defense Department, Medicaid etc,

        ULTRA Socialist which wants more affordable Universities & Trade schools, Increased Social Security, Universal Payer Healthcare (just like Medicare & VA), Higher taxes on the wealthy, Trickle-up programs like income support.

        Basically, the entire Democratic Party is in favor of the government providing “free stuff”, and half of the Party wants a little more “free stuff”.

        No wonder CHB stays Republican.

        • Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
          May 24, 2023 at 2:16 PM MDT

          Basically, the entire Democratic Party is in favor of the government providing “free stuff”, and half of the Party wants a little more “free stuff”.

          So does the Republican Party. They just want the free stuff to go to corporations (who, after all, are people too) in corporate welfare, and to members of the Trump family (as grift).

        • spaceman2021 says:
          May 24, 2023 at 4:10 PM MDT

          Many nations provide the "ultra socialist" stuff as part of ordinary government services.  But of course, those nations are sane enough to not have daily mass shootings, so . . . . 

  3. davebarnes says:
    May 24, 2023 at 10:24 AM MDT

    https://www.denverpost.com/2023/05/23/douglas-county-school-board-elizabeth-hanson-resigns/

    Douglas County school board member Elizabeth Hanson resigns during public meeting

    The announcement came before a scheduled vote on the district’s equity policy

  4. Genghis says:
    May 24, 2023 at 10:32 AM MDT

    Looks as though Meatball Ron is kicking off his POTUS campaign on Twitter with Apartheid Karen. I suspect he may be trying to emulate PAB, who trolled a bunch of idiot hippie anti-vaxxers into voting for him with dumbass tweets about vaccines and autism, but with Meatball Ron going after the smooth-brained lolbertarian edgelord cryptobro crowd instead.

  5. ParkHill says:
    May 24, 2023 at 10:50 AM MDT

    Trickle-down does not work, but trickle-up does: Republicans add to the debt; Democrats decrease the debt. Heather Cox-Richardson reminds us.

    the Trump tax cuts and Trump's increased spending even before the pandemic ultimately added $7.8 trillion to the national debt, about $23,500 for every person in the country. The increase in the annual deficit under Trump was the third-biggest increase of any administration, relative to the size of the economy. He was beaten out only by George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln. Bush, of course, led the U.S. into two foreign conflicts that were financed almost entirely through debt (in the past, the U.S. paid for war through taxes and war bonds), after Congress cut taxes by about 8% for the wealthiest Americans. Lincoln fought the Civil War. 

  6. 2Jung2Die says:
    May 24, 2023 at 1:00 PM MDT

    Not political, but Tina Turner just passed. Plenty of amazing music and video to choose from, but might I suggest a nice "Acid Queen" from the movie Tommy?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBN7nG8RDlw

    • Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
      May 24, 2023 at 2:12 PM MDT

      crying     I saw her in concert in the late '90's at Fiddler's Green. Amazing artist!

    • Genghis says:
      May 24, 2023 at 2:29 PM MDT

      Tina Turner was a god. Excellent choice of vids.

    • kwtree says:
      May 24, 2023 at 9:20 PM MDT

      Yes, Tina was an amazing artist, and a big influence on modern rock/ pop music. And she accomplished much of that while Ike was still beating the snot out of her every night backstage.

      But for me, and for many other survivors of domestic violence, Tina Turner was also a role model – someone who came out of the depths of abuse and shame , and rose to reclaim her own power and presence. Oprah did a great interview with Tina in 2005.

      Rest in power, Tina T.

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