Open Thread - Thurs 16 Jan 2025 - Placone Says It Perfectly
Placone Says It Perfectly
Ron Placone recently posted a farewell letter to Joe Biden. He says most everything I've been thinking perfectly, so I thought I'd post it here and let others have a read. He first writes about the good things Biden (or ByeDone 
) did: appointing Lina Khan, for instance, and finally delivering a net neutrality FCC after a 3 year wait. And that's about it... Ohh yea, there's the drilling ban he just instituted, which Trump'll overturn immediately. So that's another good thing! Right? And yet it's really just another fake positive act in our country's political theater; an act which means nothing in reality, no matter which 'side' does it.
Cartoon by Patrick Chappatte, 5 Dec 2024, from www.chappatte.com, for the Boston Globe.
Here's some points Placone makes which I think are spot on and which I am going to add a bit to:
Biden is coddled, and he has 'been on the wrong side of nearly everything his entire career'. Yep, he is, and yes, he has. I remember disliking him back when I lived in Philly, because he was so 'bought', even then. And that was 40 years ago!
Biden's true legacy is going to be genocide. It's going to be the decaying country and climate. It's going to be 'a long list of broken promises.' It's going to be wars, and giving us Trump a second time. Ohh and the Crime Bill. Yea, can't forget that. And giving us Kamala! Sheez. Now, maybe Biden wasn't in charge through the last 4 years, ok, we KNOW he wasn't in charge. He's senile and dementia ridden. But all that his administration has done has been in his name. He's still to blame, and the results are not any different that what would have happened if he'd been there mentally, and true to his previous actions and career.
Placone finishes his letter to Biden with this:
Many speculate (about) your health. I have no idea what’s wrong with you, but I think it’s safe to say something’s up. You’re not well. I have the same message for you that you had for my generation and the one after mine: “I have no empathy”.
Bye. Done.
Yep.
Ron Placone wrote another piece after the recent elections reflecting on where we are heading, and beyond. Once again, despite how depressing it is, I basically have to agree with him on almost all his points about the worsening of already bad domestic and foreign policies, and so on, although I'm not sure it's the American people who made it worse. Does voting even matter? Do we have any power, really, us Americans? It's all one party, isn't it? What do you think?
Thanks for reading this depressing stuff! Here's the open thread - remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Thursday!
Hope all is going well.
I am looking forward to the changes coming on the website, as JtC spoke about last week. https://caucus99percent.com/content/open-thread-01-10-25-times-they-are-... Hopefully it will inspire me to update my own websites! Friends tell me they look good, but kinda old. Like me maybe?
None of my websites except one are complicated, unlike this website, so the work shouldn't be hard, right?
What's up with you? How're things?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hey, good morning
.
.
Politics is the entertainment division of the MIC.
or
Money votes, people suffer.
Biden will not be missed.
Thanks for the OT Sima!
question everything
Personally, I'm glad Biden is almost gone...
...but I still worry about the last few days. He is spreading as much chaos as possible before he leaves. Let's hope it's not an Iranian bombing episode. I even wonder about the inauguration. Remember Trump's last inauguration when agent provocateurs broke windows and spread chaos? I wouldn't be surprised to see that again.
It's not that I think Trump is great, but that Biden is vengeful. After all Jan 6th was an FBI/ deep state set up.
What can I say...we live in a sad state. Luckily all is well in the holler other than all our cold weather...but that will change. Patience is a virtue after all. Before I know it it will be hot as hell.
Round we go from regime to regime and season to season...it's enough to make you dizzy.
Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The good old light
begins to dawn.
My soon-to-be ex-neurologist ordered a whole bunch of ridiculously expensive blood tests on me, without telling me what they were for, of course. Finally, after a month, the results have come in, and I was able to view them for myself on LabCorp's site- and lo and behold, I actually learned some interesting things.
He was apparently fishing for reasons that I would be pitching blood clots, as an otherwise healthy person- including the one that resulted in my recent ocular stroke. And apparently many others; these may well be the reason that my brain MRI looks as if I absorbed a load of birdshot at some point in the past. So he had me tested for *lupus*, of all things.
And it turns out the SOB might be right, as much as it pains me to say it. Apparently, I have all the genetic markers for it.
Now, my Mom claimed to have it before she passed, some 25 years ago. But by the point that it was diagnosed in her, I was disinclined to believe her: that was well after she had begun her one-way trip into dementia. And it was never confirmed by any of her later doctors, so I simply swept it into the dustbin, along with all the other gaslighting/guilt-tripping Mom stories of questionable truthiness.
More fool, me. I have a lot more tests to do, now, but it appears to be possible that my early-onset Alzheimers actually isn't that at all- it may be an entirely different form of brain-rot. That certainly can also explain why I've had such a hellish time with arthritis in my back, feet, and knees- as well as a host of other seemingly-unrelated-but-annoying issues. The dots may well be connecting themselves.
The literature on this is all recent: the connection between lupus and an increased rate of stroke and TIA is all from the last 10 years or so. The good news is that is somewhat manageable. The bad news is that it would have been nice to have gotten this figured out 10 years ago, when my brain wasn't quite so Swiss-cheesy already. Bottom line: I shouldn't have simply disregarded her statement. You were right, Mom...
But so it goes. It's never too late to put new knowledge into action, is it?
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Sorry to hear that, Lupus really sucks. Once knew
a lupus sufferer. Some of the standard treatments are problematic (NSAIDS), but perhaps some of those fancy new biologics might help. (They are making significant progress toward moderating the symptoms and impacts of a variety of auto-immune diseases) Beware of YouTube.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
If only….
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Confirmation hearings, the clips I have seen,
resemble a combination circus and revival meeting. This from the party which has been castigating the rest of us for decades about our lack of respect for The Flag, how Clinton disgraced the Office of The Presidency--he did, and not only in his personal life, but I digress--, The Institutions of Our Country, meaning we were insufficiently plugged into mass consumerism.
Mary Bennett
The first one is snark
as is the second one.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
And very funny snark they are.
I was referring to the real, I use the term advisedly, hearings, as excerpted on You Tube.
Just out of curiosity, did anyone ask Hegseth the obvious question, Can you assure us that you are not vulnerable to blackmail?
Mary Bennett
I would be interested to know
if anyone here will be attending or watching the inauguration Monday? I will not, my choice just as your votes and allegiances are your choice.
It will be mildly amusing to see what incidents the clueless of either side find to make a loud brou haha about. Like lefties going on about Obama being polite to Trump at Carter's funeral and thereby accomplishing nothing except to make themselves look petty and ridiculous.
Mary Bennett
My sock drawer
requires attention again: it has become quite disheveled since the election. That is becoming quite pressing, and I think that Monday will be the perfect time to address it.
So, regrettably, my attention will necessarily be focused elsewhere. Although it would be fun to watch Biden board the VC-25 (it won't be Air Force One once he's not POTUS any more), for the now-traditional last trip for the ex-President: to fly him on the long trip home, from Andrews AFB- to Andrews AFB....
Please- nobody tell him.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Now that is the funniest thing I
have read for quite some time. For me, it is sewing and quilting time, and also winter sowing of alliums, brassicas and perennial flowers. All far more important than the festivities.
Mary Bennett
Hello there. How have you been? I won't be watching,
but I may be subjected to bits of it through wandering into or through locales where it is being watched. It's shocking the number of establishments that have faux news blaring out into their waiting rooms or service areas. I also intend and hope to be able to avoid all the replays, commentary, so-called analyses and the like over the first few following days.
be weell and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I have been as well
as can be expected for an aging weirdo. 1/2 a foot of snow on the ground here and below freezing temps, so I will be staying home. Best to you and the rest of the CC comentariate.
Mary Bennett
Hola, Sima, et.al. Thanks for the OT Sima.
It is National Nothing Day!! so, Nothing to honor, remember, reflect on or celebrate. What more can one ask. And, of course, it's free, right. We all know nothing is free, and or
"Nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free".
Onward and upward. The Shah fled Iran on January 16 and in 1938 Benny Goodman brought Jazz to Carnegie Hall:
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
You're missing something HUGE:
THE USAPATRIOT ACT.
It's such an incredibly deep strike against the credibility of everyone I trusted in 2008 that NOT ONE OF THEM mentioned that Barack Obama had picked its author as his running-mate; I'd almost certainly have voted for Nader if I'd known that (I penciled in Mike Gravel in the primary!).
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
To paraphrase Maria Zakharova
Some leave their mark on history. Biden left a stain.