Challenging opinions are one reason RantWoman loves Roland Martin
RantWoman is dying to know what actually happens.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Times Radio and everyone else chronicle Russian troop losses. Putin's troop losses set to reach one million in 2025
Youtube has a LARGE number of videos about how badly Russia is hurting for fighting forces.
Russian "journalists" stripped of credentials over criticism of #Olympics2024 opening ceremonies, Russia suspected of sabotaging critical infrastructure all over Europe. Navy Day in the Baltic Sea (with INDIAN sailors) rather than the Black Sea. Ukrainian drone strikes Russia bomber 1200 km inside Russia at Arctic base IN MURMANSK.
In short, "It's always bad policy to start a war."
Bad policy or not, even if Russia goes home tomorrow, LOTS of strands of international relations and militarism are going to look different than before the war. There is a point simply to collecting videos to chronicle the situation without trying necessarily to solve anything.
Monday, July 29, 2024
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Watermelon and taking a bullet for democracy
This post dedicated to:
--everyone in the US whose lives are upended by endless gun violence in the US, especially when politicians up to their ears in NRA contributions send only #ThoughtsAndPrayers and not meaningful efforts to cut down the carnage.
--All the Gold Star families whose losses, frequently because of "taking a bullet for democracy," have been dissed by #DonTheCon
--All the disabled veterans who have been mocked by the same former reality TV host in spite of the same reality as people who did not survive.
--An independent journalist in RantWoman's socials who, while covering #GeorgeFloyd protests in MN took a sniper's bullet directly to her left eye and who has a list of 34 other people from around the country with similar stories
--and of course to #DementiaDon the current #GOP candidate for the Presidency.
RantWoman! A shooting video???? WTAF???
GUided: a WY hunting guide on watermelon and who really shot...
Warning: in addition to sterile commentary about the logistics of hitting a target at various distances, there is also demonstration using a watermelon. The basic point relevant to this post: sharpshooters practice. It seems ENTIRELY possible that sharpshooters might practice on the eyes of independent journalists and that details of such practice is, if survivors are lucky, buried in confidential settlements and MAYBE highly classified Congressional briefings.
RantWoman is precisely the sort of nerd who, exactly two weeks out from the assassination attempt at the campaign rally in western PA, hangs out with very smart groupies chewing over events in the life of the country.
Consensus tonight:
--We have no problem using the term "assassination attempt." The shooter failed to kill the candidate but killed one local hero attending the event and injured two other people. Tonight's conversation also featured mention of Secret service agents hit by shrapnel.
--We are VERY glad the candidate survived, because basic human decency requires that sentiment.
--Whatever hit the candidate, whether a bullet or shrapnel hit hard enough to come with high risk of Traumatic Brain Injury, #TBI. A former critical care nurse spoke of a typical protocol of intensive monitoring and encouragement to rest for a period after any kind of similar event.
Also in the picture:
--A candidate with a history of not paying bills to indoor venues, as well as the optics of crowd size at outdoor events compared to places with a fixed number of seats. File here multiple YouTube reports of people getting bored and befuddled at the candidate's rallies and just leaving early.
--A Secret Service protectee who demanded he be allowed to stand and wave his fist before being hustled away is definitely a deviation from practice with previous assassination attempts. Not being willing to get out of the way of possible fire also put the Secret Service agents at risk.
--A Secret Service protectee who is probably harder than average to protect because of a tendency to ignore security recommendations and thus, dare RantWoman say, has SOME responsibility for his situation.
--Multiple communications and procedural screwups among the various layers of law enforcement involved in security for the rally.
The candidate is apparently complaining all over his socials that the assassination attempt is not getting enough attention. Aside from multiple possible strands of conspiracy theory, RantWoman would say "careful what you ask for."
And for another perspective
Meidas Touch with various news clips
From a few days after the shooting
Law&Crime Network: 7 bizarre details of ...shooting
Warning: gunshots and photo of injured candidate
The Behavioral Arts: military body language expert analyzes one woman's movements
Really detailed audio description of a few minutes of reaction from two people in crowd. Analysis based a lot on visual cues. This is a one-hour video of a few seconds of the events before and after the shooting. That alone should generate caution about off the cuff reactions. Interesting comments about social media and validation.
From exactly two weeks ago: The real meaning of Trump's raised fist gesture
RantWoman initially offered to attempt some humor at the NPYM 2024 Community night.
Then RantWoman opened Twitter before dinner.
Then, not only because of reading Twitter, RantWoman decided she did not feel like telling jokes.
The joke RantWoman was going to make was about bipartisanship: whether we are talking about Bill Clinton, Hunter Biden, or the FORMER p**ssy grabbing President Gropesaurus: can we have bipartisan agreement that we all have TMI about male public figures' genitalia. RantWoman would have left it up to parents to explain the word "genitalia" and would not have used all the other language here.
RantWoman decided, based on the info she had and the level of garbage posts, and some minimal standards of decency not to tell that joke on Saturday.
But here is a video that points out even more psychic dimensions.
And here is another vid about a comic performance moment.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Russian Propaganda Loses it over Kamala Harris
RantWoman is a #ChildlessCatLady and just fine with it!
As a wholesome alternative to #GOP VP pick J.D.Vance's comments about women, consider Vlad Vexler.
Vlad does not call the problem toxic masculinity and argues Russian sexism is different from Soviet sexism.
He does not start with something basic like "real men respect women" but does identify sexism as a universal problem.
A meandering look at Russian media reaction to Kamala but look for more detail to come.
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Way to blow out some serious cobwebs: Harris and a GOP strategy meeting....re...RACISM
What? You mean even the #GOP #GOPClownCaucus has figured out that blatant racism is bad for the brand???
Hallelujah!?!?!
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Not to neglect Russia's war on everything sensible.
RantWoman here resumes collecting videos about different aspects of Russia's war and military issues.
An Estonian official
Lots of strategic points about Kaliningrad, the Baltic countries, and Sweden and Finland
Russia pulling back from Crimea.Russian would need to mobilize 1 million people. They don't have them.
Ukrainian drones hit air base in Russian-occupied territory
Power outages in Krasnodar.
Peculiarly Russians do not want to vacation in Crimea.
Ukraine halts oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia
More on stopping Russian oil revenues.
Russia is having to both receive payment and pay bills in Chinese Yuan
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Meeting for Memorials 2024
RantWoman did not have much to say at Meeting for Memorials but again the blog as Quaker journal needs to just hold thoughts from people RantWoman knew at least a little bit.
RantWoman knew Anne only a little bit. She served on Finance Committee for the Friends Committee on WA Public Policy at a time when RantWoman was Recording Clerk.
Too much to say. Some has been said elsewhere.
Nope. No mention of Carol either this year or last year even though she passed away early in 2023. RantWoman went home and looked her up because RantWoman had not seen her either in person or when she logged into the session Zoom just to see what was thre online. The item here is from her son Kirby's blog. RantWoman has more to say but is not clear to say it.
RantWoman here mentions only Friends she knew a little; RantWoman also did not speak at the memorial.
After the memorial, at dinner, RantWoman found herself alone and bursting into tears, partly from the hospice comment the previous night, partly from a sense of wanting to capture the wisdom of some wonderful voices before they too pass on, partly from the things that are just hard about RantWoman's life and all the fraught things that come clattering out of the walls in certainplaces on campus.
RantWoman also made the mistake of opening Twitter before dinner. More separately. Tears were partly rage and fright about, why be hyperbolic, the state of the entire world. More separately; RantWoman is grateful simply that the news of an assassination attempt has settled down into tedious details of screwups with a generous helping of conspiracy theories. Again more separately.
RantWoman thanks the younger Friend who noticed RantWoman's distress, offered help, and persuaded RantWoman to allow him to carry away her dirty dinner dishes.
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Saturday Worship Sharing
Saturday:
316 - Building Bridges
Building bridges between
our divisions,
I reach out to you; Will you reach out to me?
With all of our voices and all of our visions,
Friends, we could make such sweet harmony.
When have you participated
in building bridges across divides of opinions? What lessons did you take from
that?
What has allowed you to
listen deeply and humbly for the truth held by those with whom you
disagree?
What has allowed you to
stand apart in your deeply-held beliefs and resist pressure to conform?
RantWoman's reactions to these queries are all in the labels. Going there probably needs an editor / tour guide. RantWoman is not providing one at this point.
Friday, July 12, 2024
Friday Worship Sharing
Friday:
220 - Love Grows One by
One
Love grows one by
one,
Two by two and four by four
Love grows round like a circle
And comes back a knocking at your front door.
What is your experience of
loneliness?
How do you remove barriers
and make room for others in your Meeting/Worship Group? How do you practice
spiritual hospitality, welcoming other people's experiences of God?
What roles do solitude and
community play in your spiritual life?
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Thursday Worship Sharing
NPYM Annual Session Queries.
The queries are below. The
hymn numbers are from Worship in Song.
Thursday:
242 - I Am an Acorn
I am an acorn, the
package, the seed.
God is within me and God
is the tree.
I am unfolding the way I
should be.
Carved in the palm of
God's hand.
Carved in the palm of
God's hand.
What helps you to feel
connected to the living world around you? How do you nourish and care for those
connections?
When have you experienced
separation or estrangement from the Divine? How did that feel, physically and
emotionally?
RantWoman is tending to these queries at a distance of almost two weeks.
RantWoman DEEPLY blesses the Friend who responded to RantWoman's grumbles about how different ways that dealing with Worship Sharing queries can be vexatious. RantWlay DEEPLY appreciates having the queries in advance electronically. RantWoman read and extracted them for each day.
RantWoman signed up for worship walking but wound up not going to a single session. RantWoman did spend a good bit of worship sharing time walking around the campus of the University of MT, just not in a group.
RantWoman realizes that one POINT of worship sharing is to LISTEN to others. God will have to take care of that another year.
RantWoman is a bit lecturing herself about how the point of going is to LISTEN in person.
That did not happen this morning.
RantWoman spent a little time wondering what genious morning person thought 8:30 am is a good time to start worship sharing. But then it dawned on RantWoman that it's SUMMER and starting early in cooler hours makes a lot of sense...
RantWoman tends not to feel estranged from God and does not want to go into other forms of estrangement here. RantWoman is going to spend a little bit of energy wondering when estrangement from people is also estrangement from God, but wandering too far into that is beyond RantWoman's Light.
RantWoman discovered a couple picky accessibility points future site committees. These days campuses sometimes have rooms specially equipped for someone with physical disabilities and it might be worth asking for more info as things get planned. Also little ledges and no grab bars in Bathrooms ...
Nicest help offered to RantWoman at breakfast: nice young woman from The Other Group helped identify the zucchini bread on the hot line.
RantWoman went on a good walk to the Washington Education Building. On the way, RantWoman found a wonderful mural in the journalism building.
It dawned on RantWoman that they have invented Google Maps for a more detailed look at the campus. However, RantWoman approached two clumps of people with the "Ask a Human" algorithm who both pointed RantWoman in the right direction.
Friday, July 5, 2024
Kamala? Kamala? Kamala! Derangement vs. Impairment (with Tim Miller) | The Focus Group Podcast
Wherein RantWoman makes a case for Kamala Harris that a little bit surprises herself AND will not resonate for lots of Quakers and Quaker Adjacent voters.
Watch the whole video because RantWoman's points react to points from the video that RantWoman has not spelled out well
And no dear readers, this blog is NOT going to turn into endless pro-democrat screeds. For one thing, RantWoman is at least as PO'ed at Democrats as at the #PartyOfFalsifiedBusinessDocuments. Party hacks are not going to save democracy by themselves. The cbest legal minds in the country are going to have, as much as possible, to dig us out of the mess wrought by the Supreme Court, and all of us have a role in cultivating hope, nurtuing the values we hold dear, and confronting violence and hatred as firmly as possible.
Look if Michelle Obama has such a huge draw, I am pretty sure that Kamala can do it. I also think she is in a great position to overcome some ugly divides that #FelonDon makes worse every way he can. It will take a lot of serious pushback about the rhetorical sludge that will come her way, but just overcoming that will also make her look stronger.
I am a huge Michelle Obama fan, and if she wants to be Secretary of HUD or HHS, II think that would be fabulous, but right now Kamala is the strong Black woman who is ready for the big job.
As for the prosecutor point: PERFECT to imagine a lifelong white crook getting what he deserves MIGHT be a a boost for anyone mad about unequal treatment of brown people. Trump skating should INFURIATE everyone. The prosecutor vibe could be really strong especially if there is also a need to clap back from the Supreme Court. In other words, Kamala prosecutor could be the PERFECT counterpart to #FelonDon. She doesn't even have to say "Lock him up." She can just say the trials need to play out and people deserve to know the facts.
Also NO pardons for the #J6 terrorists.
We will of course lots hear LOTS of "fake news" and "witch hunt" and "poor me" moaning about political persecution but I think she can push back and talk about doing law and order, prosecution RIGHT and quest to do better in contrast to "Lock her up" and the Muslim ban.
After Dobbs, it would be REALLY nice to mobilize all the energy from the HUGE women's marches at the begin of the #DonTheCon reign of error. I don't know if low engagement voters would be ready to put all this together, and messaging would still be tricky, but the more I write, the more I think there are things to explore.
Thursday, July 4, 2024
Missoula? with Take Me Home, Country Roads - Southern Raised
RantWoman, it's #IndependenceDay? Don't you have something pithy and opinionated to say about the occasion, the state of the country, all the wars and lawyering you could be watching on YouTube?
No! or rather HELL YES, just not here.
This year, Annual Session is coming up in Missoula and the world gets a timeline cleanse that dates back to a very young RantWoman. RantWoman and the RantParents spent the first year of RantWoman's life in Missoula while RantDad pursued a Masters' degree in music, as well as liberation from his life as music teacher in VERY small MT towns. Imagine a very young RantWoman wearing only a diaper and the plastic pants fashionable at her first Fourth of July. Family lore involves a lot of watermelon and RantMom blithely hosing the kid off after the feast. RantMom telling the story summoned vague memories of visual fog even though at the time RantWoman had no words for the issue.
Anyway. please listen to the songs below and welcome to the RantWoman time machine.
RantWoman, why this theme song for your sojourn to NPYM Annual session? Why? You're going on an airplane. The closest thing to a country road might be the car trip from the airport. The big hill with the M on it near campus is no comparison with the Blue Ridge mountains. Aren't you afraid of cultural appropriation?
Uhhh, sometimes when God or YouTube gives one a song, just don't argue.
Plus FrankZappa deantl floss tycoon, funky, quirky as it is just does not speak to RantWoman's condition.
B-b-but, what does "home" mean here anyway and WTF going there????
This year marks 20 years that RantWoman has been legally blind. The number of times RantWoman has been to Missoula for Annual Session in that time is a blur.
RantWoman is not sure whether Annual Session was in Missoula the year of the enormous post-surgery bruise all over one side of RantWoman's face,
Sample dialogue: "Did your boyfriend do that to you?" "No, my doctor got paid to do that."
RantWoman thinks Annual session might have been in Missoula a couple years later after RantWoman figured out that a white cane might be really appropriate. That was the year a long car-ride earned the gift of a Service Python. RantWoman is planning packing with TSA considerations in mind but has NO intention of explaining about a service python, and not only because Department of Transportation regulations say NOTHING about service pythons.
Slightly funky timeline:
August ?1961: a train ride where RantWoman delighted (?) all the other passengers by squalling for the entire 10-hour ride.
Somewhere 1961-1962: well baby visit. Congratilations. DNA lotto winner. Congenital cataracts.
fall 1962: RantDad lands a college teaching job and RantFamily moves to CO. a picture of RantWoman scampering out of a car while RantDad helps a very pregnant RantMom. Family is staying overnight at home of much admired elders.
October 1962: RantBrother arrives, just in time to distract RantMom from the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1963. RantWoman has surgery for congenital cataracts. RantWoman's first pair of glasses arrive by mail on Halloween
1965: Little sister is born. Rant Brother has his first surgery for Congenital cataracts.
1968? Student Union building opens. 3 RantChildren visit often to soak up AC and help put the first scuffs on new stairs.
1969? RantWoman and RantBrother both have surgeries to address scar tissue from the first surgery. Surgery meant no swimming. New glasses meant RantMom claims RantWoman read aloud every road sign on the way back to CO.
1969. Another Summer in Missoula. The Moon Landing. 4 adults, 5 kids. A tiny apartment with weird wet AC."One Small step for Man. One giant Leap for Mankind."
1974? Fourth place in the Montana State spelling bee. Problem word: raucous.
1978. MT All-State orchestra, featuring a work by a Czech composer commissioned on the occasion of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia after the 1968 Prague Spring. Very dissonant piece even before it was turned over to a high-school orchestra.
So, RantWoman, what are the through lines to today?
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Self-soothing with Oh LOOK, HOPE? FED UP DOJ Gives POWERFUL RESPONSE on Trump TRIAL DATES
How to self-soothe after yesterday's torrents of angst and gnashing of teeth.
RantWoman heard about the #SCOTUS immunity ruling early in the day on the radio. RantWoman had STUFF TO DO and did not even wade into social media until late yesterday and the more today.
RantWoman is both deeply amused and chagrined by the abundance of #OfficialActs that the internet is too happy to authorize from President Biden.
RantWoman is relieved to hear voices pushing back from despair.
Times such as this also require a rant, below the video. Should the reasoning stick???ummmm
I have a complicated reaction to Roberts' line about the President as chief executive being ultimately responsible for the conduct of elections.
On one hand, when is enough enough? Does it take 50, 60 80, 200 court cases, many presided over by Trump appointed Judges where OVER AND OVER the rulings were that there was no outcome determinative fraud? The few cases I have heard about are REPUBLICANS, and the fraud issue does not even get at all te barriers the GOP sets up about voting, purging the voter rolls, locations and hours, forcing people to stand in long lines and in hot sun for primaries. So when is enough enough? When do #DonTheCon and the #PartyOfFalsifiedBusinessRecords just need to be forced to accept reality and quit living in delusionland?
I have not read briefs or ruling but at some point I figured #FelonDon was going to make an argument about the chief executive role. The Supremes seem not to grasp the states' role in the time and manner of elections and limitations because of that on what the President, especially one running for re-election should try. To put things another way, at what point does executive power cross the line to coup? I want to see that briefed IN SPITE of the ruling about immunity. In fact, #DonTheCon has been talking about elections being rigged since long before teh2016 campaign, in effect playing on public disgruntlement on multiple grounds with elections in the US. Again when does behavior cross the line between free speech and fraud?
I actually don't think the fraud issue is clear cut. LOTS of people are dissatisfied with how elections are run, the two- party system, winner take all electoral vote counting, barriers to third party candidates, and of course the torrents of dark money that pour into different races. NO SANE forward-looking diversity valuing person would opt to tackle all these problems by shellacking over these cauldrons of dissent with a virulent and disgusting coat of racism, ethno mationalism, nativism and fascistic jingoism. Well no sane person, but then there is #DonTheCon and his minions, funders...
Again, I have not read the ruling, but I am not sure I even care that the Supremes want to exclude issues of motive. I want the DOJ to keep fighting. I see this like the drunk driver who plows into another car and kills a bunch of people. He can tell the police officer he was just going home and did not mean to hit those people. Doesn't matter. The important thing is the EFFECT. Or maybe a property owner neglects maintenance on a commercial building, something catches fire, and the building burns down.
LOTS of lawyers make money off negligence cases, and there are civil as well as criminal penalties for fraud. Reframe the whole #J6 case as fraud and negligence outside the scope of his official duties.
And what if the 40+ officials from the #FelonDon administration testify that they considered his actions beyond the scope of official duties. Don't the Supremes have to wait for facts to be established before trying to decide what is or is not within the bounds of official acts? Don't the people around a criminal, delusional, demented President ALSO have both rights and duties????
The President, Congress, the military all swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. Considering that both the Cabinet and Congress considered ways to remove someone clearly unfit from office, the President can order all he or she wants, but he cannot order others to violate the Constitution.
Mike Pence said his son, who serves in the military, is the person who finally reminded him of his Constitutional duties. The Justice department officials who threatened to resign if #FelonDon appointed the guy who was manifestly incompetent as Attorney General were upholding their oaths. There was a similar moment in the Nixon case.
In short, weirdly, I can respect a desire for briefing and continued argument
I also think it's a dereliction of duty for a major party to nominate someone who has no intention of upholding his oath of office.
AND voters cannot rely on either the courts or a nomination process to save them. We MUST also elect a better Congress.
There. Now RantWoman will resume meditation on another popular lapse in public awareness of the concepts of freedom of religion and religious pluralism. RantWoman is JUST FINE with sacred texts from many faith traditions, not just the Bible in classrooms in OK--or anywhere else. RantWoman however, finds it deeply amusing to contemplate Biblically based story problems in all #STEM classes.
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