So the flooding has subsided slightly, all the roads are a disaster zone with the edges washed away and half the guard rails just hanging off cliffs, so OF COURSE the temperatures have dropped to 30 and it is snowing.
Democrats Should Be Championing This
This is awesome:
On the same day a Philly.com op-ed was published in which Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (and Mayor Kenney) admitted the failure that was the “War on Drugs,” in the 1980s and ’90s, the DA’s office announced that it is suing 10 pharmaceutical companies in connection with the opioid epidemic and is dropping all outstanding marijuana possession charges.
In just a little over a month since taking office, Krasner has already built on the progress that began under former mayor Michael Nutter’s administration by further reforming the city’s drug policy to the point where getting busted with pot now no longer means a court date is in your future. Krasner says citations are issued approximately 90 percent of the time someone is caught with marijuana.
“What we’re talking about is the 10 percent or so that are being charged as they used to be, as misdemeanors in court,” Krasner said during a press conference Thursday. From now on, the DA will advise his staff not to pursue criminal charges against anyone arrested for marijuana possession in the city. Citations currently range from $25 for possession to $100 for those caught toking up in public.
“I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do,” Krasner said when asked of his motivation. “We could use those resources to solve homicides.”
Additionally, the DA’s office said that it had filed a lawsuit on February 2nd against Big Pharma under Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Laws for their alleged role in creating the city’s opioid epidemic. The defendants are Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Allergan Finance, LLC; Cephalon, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Johnson & Johnson.
Meanwhile, in West Virginia:
West Virginia lawmakers rejected a proposal Thursday that would have required drug companies to report the number of prescription opioids manufactured and shipped to the state during the past decade.
By a 20-11 vote, state senators shot down a proposed amendment to legislation that aims to curb the proliferation of prescription painkillers across West Virginia.
Sen. Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, who offered the amendment, said the state has failed to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic. He called the manufacturers and distributors “one of the primary perpetrators” of the public health crisis that claims 880 lives a year and costs the state an estimated $8 billion.
“These are companies that profited tremendously when they sold us these opioids, and now they continue to profit by selling us medication-assisted-treatment drugs to get us off the opioids we’re addicted to,” Baldwin said. “They profited from our misery.”
Senate Republicans who voted against the amendment said the measure would likely impede federal lawsuits filed by cities and towns across the state against drug distributors and manufacturers. Those cases have been consolidated with lawsuits in other states and are being heard by a federal judge in Cleveland.
Protecting businesses from their actions is our state’s #1 priority.
Russiagate Open Thread: Into the Wayback Machine…
Had forgotten that Trump last year proposed teaming up with Russia to prevent cyberhacking. Good thing we didn't do that! https://t.co/s25tcKIiSF pic.twitter.com/N2hJow25MA
— Allegra Kirkland (@allegrakirkland) February 16, 2018
Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
The burglars who broke into our house and I discussed forming an impenetrable Home Security unit so that window breaking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..https://t.co/O6Pb8OgLve
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 17, 2018
Refinement: The burglars who broke into our house and connived with me so I could commit insurance fraud discussed with me forming an impenetrable home security unit https://t.co/hdzgbpuqqc
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) February 17, 2018
"[Putin] said he didn't meddle. He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times… And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it." — Donald Trump, 11/14/17 https://t.co/3MSxRzwvWJ
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 16, 2018
I did this only because the burglars looked me in the eye and swore that they did not break into my house, and I believe them. https://t.co/hpb8Ft2EEe
— Jesse Wegman (@jessewegman) February 17, 2018
***********
1968 — LBJ sits on Nixon treason so as not to affect election.
2016: Obama sits on proof of Russian ratfcking so as not to appear partisan.
Democrats. Boy, I dunno.— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) February 16, 2018
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Yeah, but at least the Democrats aren’t actively abetting our foreign enemies…
We need to revisit why @SenateMajLdr refused to join @BarackObama in warning America the Russians had attacked us.
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 17, 2018
Russiagate Open Thread: Into the Wayback Machine…Post + Comments (75)
Two Things That Give Me Hope
Yesterday, Betty wrote about signs of hope that this shooting might cause some change. I’m not a natural optimist about the human condition, but I’m feeling just a wee bit hopeful, for two reasons.
First, this mom explains the stark, ugly, brutal reality of “active shooter training” better than I ever could:
This is heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/AWRYEEjcsz
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 16, 2018
According to the ALICE training company, over 1 million kids have been exposed to the notion that they should scurry around like noisy frightened rabbits if someone with a gun starts shooting up their school.
Second, we naturally focus on the children and adults who are killed or maimed in these shootings, but the damage goes far beyond that:
On that day, Townville’s [S.C.] kids joined a group that now includes more than 150,000 students, attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools, who have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, according to a Post analysis of online archives, state and federal enrollment figures and news stories. That doesn’t count dozens of suicides, accidents and after-school assaults that have also exposed children to gunfire.
That number surprised the hell out of me, even though I should have imagined it. 150,000 kids felt, to some extent, the sheer terror of possible violent death. Many of them have lasting psychic scars, like the 7 year-old girl profiled in the piece where that stat is quoted.
These are just two examples of how we are inflicting damage upon our children just to mollify a bunch of gun humpers with big mouths and deep pockets. At some time – and I’m not going to delude myself into thinking that time is now – we’re going to say enough.
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Adventure Tourism in Glorious Wakanda!
EXCLUSIVE: Meet the three women who just launched #WakandaTheVote, a new voter registration drive at #BlackPanther screenings across the country ??. https://t.co/CEXWRvNuvc
— Blavity (@Blavity) February 16, 2018
The Spousal Unit and I intend to make one of our rare forays to see this in an actual movie theatre. Just not this weekend, cuz we’re old and not good with crowds. (And there will *be* crowds — quite possibly our local chains are already sold out.) Herewith some links to stuff about the movie that y’all might find interesting.
NO SPOILERS, okay?
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Happy #BlackPanther Day, everyone.
Give my @TIME cover story a look.
(It’s safe to read this before you see it.)https://t.co/CldGBeVaM7— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) February 15, 2018
The first movie I remember seeing in a theater had a black hero. Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, didn’t have any superpowers, but he ran his own city. That movie, the 1980 Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, introduced Calrissian as a complicated human being who still did the right thing. That’s one reason I grew up knowing I could be the same.
If you are reading this and you are white, seeing people who look like you in mass media probably isn’t something you think about often. Every day, the culture reflects not only you but nearly infinite versions of you—executives, poets, garbage collectors, soldiers, nurses and so on. The world shows you that your possibilities are boundless. Now, after a brief respite, you again have a President.
Those of us who are not white have considerably more trouble not only finding representation of ourselves in mass media and other arenas of public life, but also finding representation that indicates that our humanity is multifaceted. Relating to characters onscreen is necessary not merely for us to feel seen and understood, but also for others who need to see and understand us. When it doesn’t happen, we are all the poorer for it…
Derek Robertson, at Politico, “How the Quietly Radical ‘Black Panther’ Took Over Hollywood”:
… [I]f you’ve been on the internet at any point over the past 12 months, you’ve likely noticed the intensifying hype around that hero’s upcoming film, the 18th in Marvel Studios’ endless procession of world-beating blockbusters. With a nostalgist in the White House who seems to relish sticking his finger in the country’s open wound of racial grievance, it’s easy to understand why a big-budget, black-directed superhero film featuring an almost entirely black cast would be cause for celebration. But its appeal doesn’t lie solely in backlash. Black Panther may have never sold as many copies as Spider-Man or The Incredible Hulk, but the series’ history and politics are as rich and unique as either, if not more so—and they explain how this moment helped poise a formerly second-string hero to shatter box-office records…
The cultural critic Mark Dery coined the term “Afrofuturism” in a 1993 essay, referring to the loosely defined common characteristics of black science fiction in art spanning from Sun Ra’s experimental jazz to the novels of Octavia Butler. Author and UCLA professor Tananarive Due recently described its unique function in the African diaspora as a “reimagining of race, racial constructs, history … and liberation themes, through what we call a speculative lens.” Black Panther, both the comic series and the film, falls squarely on this continuum, as has been noted in several features leading up to the movie’s release. Due, on a recent podcast appearance, discussed Afro-futurism’s galvanizing effect in providing representations of black “power, technological prowess, courage, family [and] community.”
The upcoming film is the most prominent example of the phenomenon thus far, directed and co-written by Fruitvale Station and Creed auteur Ryan Coogler with the full production and marketing strength of the Disney-industrial complex behind him. It pits the Panther, portrayed by Chadwick Boseman, against Erik Killmonger (portrayed by frequent Coogler collaborator Michael B. Jordan), an American rival and mercenary who aims to usurp his throne and foment a global revolution…
Zack Linly, in the Washington Post:
… The enthusiasm around “Black Panther” isn’t just about finally getting to see a mostly black action blockbuster, a milestone we should have been celebrating decades ago. It’s about being able to go to the movies without feeling like the future of black film is at stake.
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Adventure Tourism in Glorious Wakanda!Post + Comments (191)
Puppies!!!!!!
Commenter WaterGirl is, as many of you are aware from her comments, puppysitting. Apparently some of you who are aware have been asking for pictures. Well here they are. I have no ideas what the puppies’ names are, that wasn’t included (apparently I don’t need to know), so pester WaterGirl in the comments for the specifics. Her dogs, Tucker and Henry are marked below their individuals pictures.
(Tucker)
(Henry)
Open thread!
Cruel to be Kine
This post was overtaken by fast moving Mueller events earlier today so I’m reposting it now.
Don’t ever let some snooty keyboard player tell you that they invented the Theme and Variations. It was us, the fretboard players! I have a theory why we did so; the particular technical demands of the instrument require lots of practice to get a piece of music under one’s fingers. Guitarists can be trained to sight-read fluently, but in general we don’t. We hole up in our bedrooms or studios or dining room tables and hammer away at something for weeks or months or even years. So, the stuff we learn carves a deep groove. Plus we want to get value for our effort, so we come up with ways to spin stuff out another sixteen bars or times through the verse. Variation comes naturally to us. Even intermediate players feel the call to improvise and compose. Learning guitar music is quite a solitary pursuit, too. There’s no conductor beating time and telling us we’re done with our part, no other musicians to yield to. We can just go on and on if the fancy takes us. That’s my theory, anyway.
As I mentioned earlier this week, I am working up a set of stuff suitable for background music for happy hours and the like. I’ve decided that it will take the shape of a walk through music history. Partially for aesthetic purposes and also for practical ones. My repertoire is spread pretty evenly from the Renaissance up to the 20th century. I tell you this to illustrate how a a swell idea blossoms into an arduous task, an untenable ordeal, and finally a high-minded failure. But it keeps me off the pavement.
The vihuelaist (the vihuela is a cousin of the guitar) Luis de Narvaez set of “differencias” or variations was the first ever published. This is his Guardame las Vacas which is in a slightly different in character. It is a set of variations based not on a theme but a ground. That is, a set of chords that repeats over and over. If you listen closely you can hear the harmony I play repeats while what goes over the top becomes increasingly more elaborate. Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe” is a bit like that, for reference. If you listen to his guitar part you will find rather than strumming some set pattern he varies it with almost every iteration. Did he know he was partaking of a centuries old guitar tradition? Very likely, I think!
Still a little rough (I just started it in earnest a few weeks ago), but coming around nicely. I’m like the only classical player I know who doesn’t know this one already. Shameful. Just one of those odd lacunas in one’s education.
I think both Luis de Narvaez and Jimi Hendrix would recognize a tip jar when they see it. And this is mine. It is the fund that’s split between all eventual
Democratic nominees in House districts currently held by Republicans.