Obsidian Wings

Another hearing

by JanieM

Pulling hsh's question to the front page, if for no other reason than that we're going to have to be able to walk and chew gum (and a few other things) at the same time if we're not going down in flames:

Anyone want to guess what sort of newly discovered evidence prompted the select committee to schedule a surprise hearing tomorrow?

Posted by: hairshirthedonist | June 27, 2022 at 04:21 PM

Too Late, Alas

by wj

Overturning Roe v Wade has gotten lots of play here this week. But it wasn't the only decision with an impact on our lives.

Today, the US Senate managed, for the first time in 30 years, to pass a gun control bill. A bipartisan gun control bill. The bill itself is a far cry from what is needed. But still, it’s far better than the nothing that has been the rule for decades. Having cleared the hurdle that is the Senate, it seems certain that it will pass the House and get signed. So, progress.

However, I see the Supreme Court’s decision in NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC., ET AL. v. BRUEN, SUPERINTENDENT OF NEW YORK STATE POLICE, ET AL.. A decision which, pretty clearly, means that this Court will never allow any restrictions on guns. So why would anyone think that this bill will stand up to the first challenge to it? Being a Federal law, rather a state law, doesn't seem likely to persuade the Court.

It will be wonderful if this bill convinces even a few Republicans that gun control isn’t a total loser for them. More gun control might get thru Congress in the future. But will it actually matter at this date? Not the way the smart money bets.

Weekend Open Thread

All ur Uteri Are Belong To Us

by Ugh

Well here it is.  Roberts concurs in judgement.

Thomas is explicitly coming for Obergefell, Lawrence, and Griswold.

I blame the butterfly ballot.

What a sh1t country.

The Devil, You Know

by JanieM

Michael Cain posed a question about a Geico ad in the previous thread, and that set me to thinking about that simplest of topics: money.

One of the notes I jotted down was “Sponsored,” referring to Amazon’s Sponsored product ads, which are:

1. annoying as hell; and

2. a brilliant, diabolical way to pit sellers against each other in the competition to give Jeff Bezos money.

My relationship with Amazon is best described as vexed. I might say more about that in the comments, but suffice to say for present purposes that I never click on a search result item marked Sponsored. I may end up buying an item that has a Sponsored ad, but I only get to it by clicking on a listing that is not marked Sponsored (which can be found somewhere below the obstructing jungle of Sponsored listings).

Clicks on items marked Sponsored take money from sellers and give it to you know who. He doesn’t actually need it, right?

But an entire cottage industry has grown up around advising people how to make the most of the ad system. (Ask Google.)

Because as a seller, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Open thread.

ETA a couple of days later: corrected the post title. So much for late-night blogging. Where's my copy editor?

The Hearings

by JanieM

Seems like people might want to discuss the Congressional hearings and related topics. As a starting point and with GftNC's permission, I'm copying her comment from downstairs as a starting point.

So, the hearings. I watched the whole thing (unlike the first one, which was in the middle of the night UK time). I don't get Fox (who as you probably know were showing the hearing live), but a friend who was also watching (and we spoke during the recess) is able to, so I asked her to check what they were saying over there. Apparently, there was a lot of how one-sided it was, and how it lacked the necessary people or the ability to challenge or cross examine the witnesses. Wow, it's almost like they don't understand the process.... (I thought it was incredibly damaging for Trump. But as for how it would affect Republicans, at least reachable ones unlike MAGAts, I could not say. After all, if they don't know about this stuff already, how reachable are they?) It will be very interesting to see the polls, which presumably will be plentiful and frequent. At least I hope so.

Posted by: Girl from the North Country | June 13, 2022 at 04:32 PM

*****

Also, open thread.

Hobbies, practice, mastery

by JanieM

The original trigger for this post was the fact that I’ve taken up photography in a serious way in old age. (I’m 72. That my mother lived to be 96 skews how I calibrate “old” – but that’s a topic for another time. Let’s just say life is uncertain, and ever more clearly so, as I get older.)

I had jotted down some notes for a post and taken a break to work on pictures when Lightroom crashed, requiring some careful reconstruction that’s going to take a good chunk out of my evening. Which may be just as well, because a post on “Hobbies, Practice, Mastery” was promising to become as long as Ulysses.

So I’ll scale back and just try to give us a starting point for conversation.

I’ve spent most of my life as a dilettante, doing what has come easily: algebra, computer programming, writing, playing music. But I always stopped trying when I got to a plateau where I would have had to work through difficulty or, heaven forfend, face possible failure to keep getting better.

And for the most part I’ve enjoyed activities where there are clear answers. You can solve an equation, and a computer program has to work (the inevitability of bugs notwithstanding). With music and writing I’ve remained a reasonably competent amateur, never working hard enough to test myself in contexts where I might be shown up as the dabbler that I am.

Now I’m deeply immersed in loving and trying to get better at “art” -- a kind of activity with no clear answers. The path forward can be very murky to someone who likes solving equations and passing quizzes. To get better at taking pictures, I have to let go of a lot of my old habits (both photographic and psychological) and learn a bunch of new stuff that doesn’t necessarily come easily, even the parts that involve numbers!

What are sports for?

by JanieM

Borrowing wj's comment from Ugh's thread:

Good to know that the Ohio GOP is on the case when it comes to protecting girls involved in athletics.

https://digbysblog.net/2022/06/05/a-new-low-3/

Pfui!

Posted by: wj | June 05, 2022 at 03:46 PM

The Ohio bill is appalling (they're also working on arming teachers and school staff, by the way). The whole existence of trans people is being used in deeply malevolent ways by the usual suspects. But....

1. The bill hasn't passed yet, and it's not clear that DeWine will sign it if it does. See here.

2. The dad quoted in the Digby post rightfully posits a lot of less than noble motivations among the people involved in children's sports. Then he turns around and acts as innocent as a babe in the Garden of Eden when he writes this:

Is winning the most important part of high school sports? Because setting aside the incredible trauma and expense caused by this bill, at the end of the day, the message is that winning is what matters the most. That’s not the lesson I want my daughter to learn from sports.

If that's not the lesson he wants his daughter to learn from participating, he should probably keep her away from kids' sports. The time period I most regret in my life, in terms of how I handled it, is the ten years or so when my kids were involved in sports. There were some good aspects to their participation, for sure, but I think both they and I would make a bunch of different decisions if we had it to do over again.

ETA: What *are* sports for, anyhow?

ETA #2: Seriously do I need to say "open thread" out loud around here? I just thought I'd throw sports out as a starting point.

The Politics of Personal Projection

by Ugh

It continues to amaze me the lengths to which GOPers - whether politicians or their right wing media sycophants (or is it the other way around?) - engage in projection.  Like, anything they accuse Democrats of they have either (i) already done; (ii) are doing; and/or (iii) will do (anticipatory projection?).  

Particularly anything having to do with politics and elections.  It's maddening and, of course, likely a bit of trolling.

Anyway, they are suboptimal people, as at least one person in comments has noted (you know who you are!!!).

I'm off to Wrigley with the teenager this weekend.  Any particular food I need to try or is it all junk?

Open thread.