Dot Dot Dot Dash Dash Dash Dot Dot Dot [DOT 2/5/24]

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty

2/5/24 Clever Name Here dba "Black Rod" 32

Good morning, guten tag, buenos dias, so on and so forth!

Less cheerful start to the day: We’re still trying to get the full reports on how badly the nationwide protests have been cracked down on. As of now, nobody has died yet — thankfully — but the general tenor of coverage suggests we’re still trending in that direction.

It’s odd that nothing the protesters say can prevent claims of anti-Semitism being hurled against them but the Cop Mayor Eric Adams can flat-out lie about outside agitators, and the NYPD can claim there’s danger in the heavy-duty bike chains they found (that, whoops, the college at which they found them sell to students) and anti-Palestinian protesters can do all the violence they’d like as the cops look on and of course these protesters are causing untold amounts of damage to various trash cans while Texas is still mad that journalists covered their mass beating of protesters.

Well. Anyway. I’m sure the federal government has a good idea up its sleeve to fix this …

Holy shit you have got to be fucking kidding me: Do I think the House GOP has a good idea of what anti-Semitism is? I actually do, because most of them are. But! Is that what’s actually in the “Antisemitism Awareness Act” passed yesterday? Friends, it is not. It’s a pathetic attempt to once again conflate criticism of Israel — a state currently violating basically every international law you can think of — with anti-Semitism. Which is itself … kinda anti-Semitic, especially given that many American Jews have plenty of criticism for Israel’s actions. (Guess I’m a Semitic anti-Semite now! Maybe I should be sending out an SAS instead of an SOS?)

Both Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Matt Gaetz refused to vote for the bill because it would make their claim that the Jews killed Jesus be considered anti-Semitism under the law.

(but seriously, if cops are suddenly that into cracking skulls over anti-Semitism, I’m just saying, they’re available and probably easily findable, and like they’re both REAL hardcore Jew-haters, anyway, just spitballing here)

(also, seriously, if you’re a Democrat who thinks voting in line with Republicans on ANY civil rights issue is a strong foot to put forward in the year of our Lord 2024 holy shit what the fuck is wrong with you)

When we said we wanted to do bad things we didn’t mean THAT bad: Arizona Legislature repeals its 1864 law on abortions and the Democratic governor is expected to sign the bill soon. This is … good news, I guess, in the current time and place, but it’s hard to fully hip-hip-hooray when women are still second-class citizens in the state (and country.)

Smoke ’em if ya got ’em: Biden Administration makes change in federal marijuana law to make drug rules less stringent and help states who have already legalized it. Will it help come November? It just might! And if I may: More of this please!

Fuck this guy: Dan Schneider sues for defamation after being shown to be a giant creep in the recent “Quiet On Set” documentary. I hope he loses and maybe accidentally falls into a volcano on his way out of the courtroom. (Note: Also hoping Harvey Weinstein has a date in that same volcano-adjacent courtroom … that’s probably anti-Semitic according to the GOP.)

Well at least I’m happy about it: I’m promising to move onto happier news from here on out! And I’ll start with my semi-beloved Boston Celtics wiping the floor with the odious Miami Heat 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs. The Celts should have done this; they were among the best regular-season teams in NBA history by various measures this season. And yet, they also have suffered some calamitous upset losses in the playoffs in recent years — including last season to the very same Heat. This year, no problem.

THEY LIVE: Toronto can tie up their series tonight! I’m sure at least one reader here is very excited about it!

This is hilarious. And gross. Grolarious? Hilarioss? How a summer sausage fueled a winning streak for the Minnesota Twins (but woe to whomever gets caught in the splash zone if that package ever rips!)

Grandpa’s nap time continues today: You won’t be surprised to hear about all the weirdos who show up for Trump’s trial. But shhhh, let grandpa sleep! He’s old!

Beavis and Butt-Head ride again! They’re baaaaaaaaaaack!

And finally, some actual good news: The CDC says Covid hospitalizations are now at their lowest point since the pandemic officially began in 2020. At the peak, during the Omicron variant in 2022, there were 150,000 people in the hospital with Covid. Last week? Fewer than 6,000. Zero would be better, but I will take it!

And now iz zee time on DOT vhen ve dance:

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About Clever Name Here dba "Black Rod" 152 Articles
Vell, Clever Name Here just zis guy, you know? Sometimes funny. Often annoyed. Once I saw a blimp.

32 Comments

  1. Yeah I just heard about the House bill on my way to the train this morning. What the fucking fuck. The real problem here is that Democrats are chickenshits who always accept any Republican premise. So I fully expect the Senate to pass it and for Biden to sign it.

  3. I’m sure you have all heard that we are in for a repeat of 1968 and our rollercoaster has just begun its initial descent. I kind of disagree. These campus protests seem a little performative. Like all those comfortable cosplaying upper-middle-class Episcopalian or Unitarian girls from Darien donning the kaffiyeh and quaint N-95 masks to disguise their identities from their tuition-paying parents should they show up in media.

    No, worthwhile as standing up to genocide is, this reminds me far more of the anti-apartheid/Free Nelson Mandela protests that swept the nation in the 1980s. No one was going to jump on the first flight to Johannesburg (to this day it’s one of the most crime-ridden cities on earth), in the same way that Willow and her nose ring from Concord, MA, will not be trying to sneak across a Gaza crossing anytime soon.

    But as we all know international opprobrium kept building and building, Mandela was freed, the South African government fell, and apartheid was abolished. I have a feeling things are going to play out this way.

    In an uncanny parallel the Democratic Convention is set to take place in Chicago, just like in 1968! The difference is, back then it was a contested convention, TONS of anti-Vietnam War protesters, and there was Mayor Daley, and the CPD, and only three major broadcast channels, so it was a ratings bonanza. Nowadays, despite whatever pro-Palestinian protesters show up, I think I’m much more likely to watch old reruns of “Are You Being Served.”

    • I disagree with this in the sense that these people — because it’s not just young adults — know full well that the cops will be coming in with tear gas, billy clubs and pepper spray. It’s a type of bravery the other side of the equation can’t fathom. (Your mayor doesn’t even have the stones to just admit he’s pro-genocide, he has to pull out the hoariest trope of “COMMIE AGITATORS!!!!” from the drawer the FBI left it in after MLK was shot.) I also don’t think protesters are going to show up and ruin the convention mostly because I don’t think — sigh — there’s going to be a pro-end the genocide candidate available anyway.

      But you also kinda give away the game here by saying that actually they did get their way eventually. It doesn’t matter if Jaxlynn seems performative to you, comfortable and safe and well-off; the point is that you have to apply the most pressure you can if you want to change the situation. It doesn’t really matter how it’s done because people are going to hate every protest every time until it turns out that oh, wait, actually, the protesters were right. I wouldn’t call the AIDS quilt “performative” but I guarantee lots of shitty straight people did back in the day, y’know?

      • The AIDS Quilt was not performative. It was a primal scream and deeply felt, one quilt at a time, memorial dedicated to people and things we had experienced. You didn’t have to be a gay man to make it resonate. Maybe you had a cousin (I worked on one for mine with his very straight family members.) I worked on one for my college boyfriend with his family. I saw the Quilt when it was very carefully splayed out on the National Mall. It went on for acres. It was like a temporary Arlington National Cemetery for gay men. I made it about 1/5th of the way through and had to leave.

        I’d love to meet a Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, or UCLA Hamas member who’s not on the faculty.

        Anyway, enough death, enough talk about genocide or worse yet, planning for genocide. Life is too short. Believe me.

        • But you lived through the AIDS crisis. Gay kids today think AIDS today is as serious as a cold, either because they live in a shithole place that doesn’t educate about it or because they have access to PrEP. They have no frame of reference for 75% of their social group dying, and them not being allowed to the funeral (if there even is one).

    • If I remember correctly—and I may not—but the anti apartheid protests began in the 60s or 70s. But they were competing with much sexier issues of the day. So they didn’t get any momentum until the 80s. So that’s to say it may be 40 years before anyone sees a real shift in policy toward Israel.

      • Some of the uptick in protests is definitely because of the attention paid to them but there’s also a lot of urgency because the clock is ticking for Palestinians. They don’t have years to change minds; they pretty much have weeks or months and so you have to get after it if you hope to make a difference.

  4. We’re already seeing a weird dance by the press where Trump’s instigation of violence is seen as nothing more than a political angle and a sign of his authority, not bloodlust.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/05/01/trump-says-nypd-clearing-columbia-encampment-was-a-beautiful-thing-to-watch/

    He wants a recreation of the BLM attacks by right wingers on peaceful protesters where police stood by and did nothing, until they finally move in to finish the job. And also to have the press bend over backwards to treat it as vaguely described “chaos” and at most a bothsides problem.

    • Yeah it sure is weird that police/National Guard are never “outside agitators” and whatever violence they do is always just hand-waved away even if it’s 10-20-100-1,000 times more than the supposedly dangerous and violent protesters. But I guess it’s OK because they’re there for student safety … no, not those students. Not those other students, either.

      • It’s an even uglier dynamic than police attacks on protestors because at UCLA it was a case where right wingers were recruited to attack a peaceful protest, police let it happen, and then finally used the situation as a reason to go in with riot gear.

        It’s a paramiltary collaboration, and that’s even worse than pure police action.

        This is how the AP, supposedly the bastion of honest news, headlined the UCLA attack:

        UCLA cancels classes after dueling protesters clash on campus over the war in Gaza

        https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/2024/05/ucla-cancels-classes-after-violence-erupts-on-campus-over-war-in-gaza/

        Only in a roundabout way do they eventually suggest at the basic point, which is that the “counterprotestors” were deliberate attackers.

        Today Erdogan uses the Osmanli Ocaklari in this way, Khamenei uses the Basij. Going back in time Pinochet had Colonia Dignidad, Southern police collaborated with the Klan, and most notoriously the Nazis had the Brown Shirts.

        One of the basic tactical reasons authoritarians operate this way is to create a fake deniability and to use “chaos” as a way to legitimize their official police actions. And we’re now at serious risk of the US press going along in ita own way, ignorant of basic history.

  6. On a more neutral topic, I have another physical therapy appointment at lunchtime. My PT and I will be going to my roof to practice walking. The forecast is 84° and sunny. Is it May 2nd? August 2nd? Do I live in “Saudi” or one of the kleptocratic Gulf states? “I hope not, for both of us,” said my PT. “I’ll see you at lunchtime.” Bless him.

      • It’ll be fine, and I want to see how the flora is doing and test the potted soil and turn the hose on the plants if things seem dry. There’s a structure up there that’s a/c’d and I’ll be bringing tons of water so we should survive. Well, I will, because I won’t be able to stop gabbing about the plants and the evolution of the roof furniture and the parties, so many parties. As he (no doubt) will make for a balustrade and try to leap over I will remind him that he has a wife and a small child,

  8. Musk has axed Tesla’s charger division.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/business/tesla-ev-charging-layoffs/index.html

    They quote one analyst as saying “Tesla’s North Star is now (autonomous driving), and thats where the resources are going.”

    Which is nuts, of course, from a basic business perspective. Building out the charging network is not only a stable source of revenue, it helps expand the overall market for EVs.

    It’s probably an effort to goose the short term stock value. It’s a way to shed headcount and supposedly focus on explosive growth opportunities that are TBA. And of course will never be delivered.

    He recently got a bump in his stock price by claiming a $25K model was coming next year, but he’s been saying that for years. Dumping the charger division is another sign he’s surrendering the market for cheaper models.

  11. I survived my walkabout on the roof! We took a lovely, narrated (by me) tour and ran into all sorts of characters. Well, three. The PT accompanied me back to the apt and informed BH that my PT course was going to be accelerated so I will be roaming the neighborhood during our next rendezvous.

    Watch out, New York!

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