Pardon the long post, but I thought it worthwhile. Let the tumbrels roll! ——Alan
Politico.eu:
PARIS — It’s been a frenetic 24 hours for the French right.
The leaders of Les Républicains — the historical party of French conservatism — voted on Wednesday to expel their own president, Éric Ciotti, who had attempted to seal an agreement with the far-right National Rally for the upcoming legislative elections.
“By leading secret negotiations, without consulting our political party and its members, Éric Ciotti is totally breaking with our statutes and the stance taken by Les Républicains,” the party’s political committee wrote in a statement, adding it would field candidates “with clarity and independence” in the legislative elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7.
On Tuesday, Ciotti said his party would unite with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s camp in a joint effort to beat Macron. But the proposal shocked key voices within Les Républicains, including its 2022 presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse and Senate President Gérard Larcher, and immediately led to calls for Ciotti’s resignation.
In the face of his expulsion from the party, a defiant Ciotti wrote on X: “I am and remain president of our political party, elected by its members! None of the decisions which were taken during this meeting have legal consequences.”
Les Républicains’ Secretary-General Annie Genevard had called an extraordinary political committee meeting Wednesday to decide Ciotti’s fate — a decision which Ciotti called “illegal” as he closed down the party’s headquarters, citing security concerns.
Despite Ciotti’s objections, the party’s political committee gathered in a separate venue and voted to expel him.
Genevard will take over the party’s interim leadership alongside François-Xavier Bellamy, who led the party’s list in the European election.
Macron took the French political class aback when he announced his decision to call early elections after his party’s debacle in the European election, leaving parties on both ends of the political spectrum in a hurry to build alliances. While left-wing forces are making good progress on running together, an alliance of right-wing parties now seems out of the picture.
That's a relief. I was quite taken aback to hear Les Républicains anyone really) were cozying up to the National Rally. Still, sounds like Ciotti is going to be trouble.
I'm not into prophecy, but for some reason this one made me shiver.
(AP)The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals. --nordy
The Atlantic: A proposal to save the largest glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland. [Click] Pump warm water out from under them, causing them to freeze in place and beginning a positive feedback cooling system. (A rather long article, and it took some judicious rooting around with an unusual browser to get past the paywall, but I did it.) Yes, it is geoengineering, but not comparable to deflecting sunlight from the Earth, and something similar has happened naturally in recent times. Difficult, but affordable. If you can’t open the Atlantic article, Here [Click]are links to papers by one of the prominent glaciologists mentioned. —Alan
This is not a non-sequitur; the prominent glaciologist is a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz. It occurs to me that glaciers typically move at a snail's pace. -----Alan
Small world; I was there from Spring 1969 to June 1975. Part way through they decided that graduate students should be associated with colleges; I refused to make a choice, so I was on paper assigned to Crown College. I sometimes ate at Collge Five because that was near the Science Building; it still seems odd that College Five was supposed to have an art emphasis,, but that cafeteria looked like a huge concrete bunker--- sort of like a hangout for Vogons. ----Alan
Well, it has always struck me as immoral to artificially create multiple embryos only one of which is given the opportunity to fulfill its potential to become a human being. The rest are left frozen for, how long? Years? Decades? What happens to them when the "parents" die, or even if they divorce? Embryos are not precisely alive - they are certainly not people - and yet they are a life form, a potential. And I personally think screwing around with them is wrong.
Then there's the question of storing the embryos. They have to be kept in criogenic tanks at, one presumes, great expense with regard to electricity - electricity that could be used in the care, shelter, feeding etc. of the living and breathing.
If you want children but can't have them, adopt. There are countless children from zero to twenty in this country alone who need loving homes.
Indeed, since there are so many embryos about, they could be adopted. If a particular embryo has been left in storage for a given time, say five years to be generous, ownership or guardianship or whatever reverts to the institution where it is housed which, in turn, gains the right to put it up for adoption. That would help a little with the superfluity problem. And I suppose, repulsive as the idea is, the rest could be experimented on. I mean you can't have thousands and millions of embryos in cold storage in perpetuity! That's just wrong. They should have some purpose.
And if that makes me a crazy born-again Catholic, so be it.
There is a "middle way", Cat. Daughter required a sperm donor and used IVF. However, she had just one egg done each time, and they checked to see if it were viable. It took her many (expensive) tries. But she has two children who are 100% biological siblings, having had the same sperm donor. You'd have to understand her as a person who wanted to experience pregnancy and bear her own children, from the time she was about 3 years old. Her marriage didn't last, and no one else came along. So she chose to be a single parent, since she has a job that pays extremely well and she found a wonderful nanny. Plus, she shares her house with her brother and his family, so it's been a real extended family endeavour. Adoption wasn't an easy option for her.
I am hard pressed to think of any thing more fundamentally personal. Politicians have no business trying to force people to force one particular philosophical or religious behavior on those who do not consider it acceptable. That is why the US Constitution says that Congress is to make no law establishing a religion. When called upon so many hundreds of times before testimony to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God, I said "yes" rather than disrupt the proceeding; but I always thought as I did so that I have no hope whatsoever of any god's help--- which is in no way despairing. Similarly, I remember reading that in Jersey, plaintiffs must kneel and beseech the justice of William The Conqueror. One American yacht owner refused to kneel as a matter of principle, but finally agreed to go down on a single knee. -----Alan
Wow. We learned late tonight that Daughter was driving Youngest*Grand (4) home from school today when someone ran a red light (that had been red a long time) and smashed into them. They are both okay...! This was the ONE DAY all year that Youngest*Grandson (8) had gone home with a friend, so wasn't sitting on the side of the car that was hit...! Also, behind Daughter was a police cruiser, so two detectives witnessed the whole thing and were immediately on the scene. She thinks her SUV (which I think is two years old) was totaled. I can't express how much I wish I could hug them, and how deeply relieved I am that they're okay...!!
{listener}
ReplyDeleteOpinion: The rescue of Israeli hostages is unquestioned good. The loss of Palestinian life should be unquestioned tragedy
{listener}
Delete^^^ Best commentary I’ve seen.
It's hard for me to imagine any decent person arguing otherwise.
Delete-----Alan
Elephants call each other by name, study finds [Click]
ReplyDelete—Alan
Considering how we've been treating them, I wonder what name they have for us. --nordy
DeletePardon the long post, but I thought it worthwhile. Let the tumbrels roll!
ReplyDelete——Alan
Politico.eu:
PARIS — It’s been a frenetic 24 hours for the French right.
The leaders of Les Républicains — the historical party of French conservatism — voted on Wednesday to expel their own president, Éric Ciotti, who had attempted to seal an agreement with the far-right National Rally for the upcoming legislative elections.
“By leading secret negotiations, without consulting our political party and its members, Éric Ciotti is totally breaking with our statutes and the stance taken by Les Républicains,” the party’s political committee wrote in a statement, adding it would field candidates “with clarity and independence” in the legislative elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7.
On Tuesday, Ciotti said his party would unite with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s camp in a joint effort to beat Macron. But the proposal shocked key voices within Les Républicains, including its 2022 presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse and Senate President Gérard Larcher, and immediately led to calls for Ciotti’s resignation.
In the face of his expulsion from the party, a defiant Ciotti wrote on X: “I am and remain president of our political party, elected by its members! None of the decisions which were taken during this meeting have legal consequences.”
Les Républicains’ Secretary-General Annie Genevard had called an extraordinary political committee meeting Wednesday to decide Ciotti’s fate — a decision which Ciotti called “illegal” as he closed down the party’s headquarters, citing security concerns.
Despite Ciotti’s objections, the party’s political committee gathered in a separate venue and voted to expel him.
Genevard will take over the party’s interim leadership alongside François-Xavier Bellamy, who led the party’s list in the European election.
Macron took the French political class aback when he announced his decision to call early elections after his party’s debacle in the European election, leaving parties on both ends of the political spectrum in a hurry to build alliances. While left-wing forces are making good progress on running together, an alliance of right-wing parties now seems out of the picture.
That's a relief. I was quite taken aback to hear Les Républicains anyone really) were cozying up to the National Rally. Still, sounds like Ciotti is going to be trouble.
DeleteI'm not into prophecy, but for some reason this one made me shiver.
ReplyDelete(AP)The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals. --nordy
I think it's beautiful. Let's do that.
DeleteThe Atlantic: A proposal to save the largest glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland. [Click] Pump warm water out from under them, causing them to freeze in place and beginning a positive feedback cooling system. (A rather long article, and it took some judicious rooting around with an unusual browser to get past the paywall, but I did it.) Yes, it is geoengineering, but not comparable to deflecting sunlight from the Earth, and something similar has happened naturally in recent times. Difficult, but affordable. If you can’t open the Atlantic article,
ReplyDeleteHere [Click]are links to papers by one of the prominent glaciologists mentioned.
—Alan
And here is some background on UCSC’s banana slug mascot [Click] who joined UCSC about ten years after I completed my indeterminate sentence in graduate school there.
Delete—Alan
This is not a non-sequitur; the prominent glaciologist is a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz. It occurs to me that glaciers typically move at a snail's pace.
Delete-----Alan
Hi Alan, I am a UCSC alum also, Cowell College class of '72. --nordy
DeleteFYI, I have a subscription to the Atlantic if you ever need someone who doesn't get the paywall. --nordy
DeleteSmall world; I was there from Spring 1969 to June 1975. Part way through they decided that graduate students should be associated with colleges; I refused to make a choice, so I was on paper assigned to Crown College. I sometimes ate at Collge Five because that was near the Science Building; it still seems odd that College Five was supposed to have an art emphasis,, but that cafeteria looked like a huge concrete bunker--- sort of like a hangout for Vogons.
Delete----Alan
Southern Baptist Convention condemns IVF [Click] Reports Catholic Church already does.
ReplyDelete—Alan
Well, it has always struck me as immoral to artificially create multiple embryos only one of which is given the opportunity to fulfill its potential to become a human being. The rest are left frozen for, how long? Years? Decades? What happens to them when the "parents" die, or even if they divorce? Embryos are not precisely alive - they are certainly not people - and yet they are a life form, a potential. And I personally think screwing around with them is wrong.
DeleteThen there's the question of storing the embryos. They have to be kept in criogenic tanks at, one presumes, great expense with regard to electricity - electricity that could be used in the care, shelter, feeding etc. of the living and breathing.
If you want children but can't have them, adopt. There are countless children from zero to twenty in this country alone who need loving homes.
Indeed, since there are so many embryos about, they could be adopted. If a particular embryo has been left in storage for a given time, say five years to be generous, ownership or guardianship or whatever reverts to the institution where it is housed which, in turn, gains the right to put it up for adoption. That would help a little with the superfluity problem. And I suppose, repulsive as the idea is, the rest could be experimented on. I mean you can't have thousands and millions of embryos in cold storage in perpetuity! That's just wrong. They should have some purpose.
And if that makes me a crazy born-again Catholic, so be it.
There is a "middle way", Cat. Daughter required a sperm donor and used IVF. However, she had just one egg done each time, and they checked to see if it were viable. It took her many (expensive) tries. But she has two children who are 100% biological siblings, having had the same sperm donor. You'd have to understand her as a person who wanted to experience pregnancy and bear her own children, from the time she was about 3 years old. Her marriage didn't last, and no one else came along. So she chose to be a single parent, since she has a job that pays extremely well and she found a wonderful nanny. Plus, she shares her house with her brother and his family, so it's been a real extended family endeavour. Adoption wasn't an easy option for her.
DeleteI am hard pressed to think of any thing more fundamentally personal. Politicians have no business trying to force people to force one particular philosophical or religious behavior on those who do not consider it acceptable. That is why the US Constitution says that Congress is to make no law establishing a religion. When called upon so many hundreds of times before testimony to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God, I said "yes" rather than disrupt the proceeding; but I always thought as I did so that I have no hope whatsoever of any god's help--- which is in no way despairing. Similarly, I remember reading that in Jersey, plaintiffs must kneel and beseech the justice of William The Conqueror. One American yacht owner refused to kneel as a matter of principle, but finally agreed to go down on a single knee.
Delete-----Alan
Emma Brockes: Trump was hoping for a slam dunk. But Hunter Biden’s trial has only highlighted his father Joe’s dignity [Click]
ReplyDeleteOklahoma supreme court dismisses lawsuit of Tulsa massacre survivors [Click] Filed as a “public nuisance” case.
ReplyDelete----Alan
Louisiana supreme court hands major victory to child sexual-abuse victims [Click] A tortuous case.
ReplyDelete——Alan
Utterly shameful of the La supreme court.
DeleteHow so? Letting the extended statute of limitations for child sexual abuse take effect?
Delete----Alan
{listener}
DeleteAh. I mixed up which court I was displeased with. I meant Oklahoma!
( blame stomach bug.)
Democratic Lawmakers Propose [same] Cap on Gifts for Justices [as for members of Congress] [Click]
ReplyDelete——Alan
Wow. We learned late tonight that Daughter was driving Youngest*Grand (4) home from school today when someone ran a red light (that had been red a long time) and smashed into them. They are both okay...! This was the ONE DAY all year that Youngest*Grandson (8) had gone home with a friend, so wasn't sitting on the side of the car that was hit...! Also, behind Daughter was a police cruiser, so two detectives witnessed the whole thing and were immediately on the scene. She thinks her SUV (which I think is two years old) was totaled. I can't express how much I wish I could hug them, and how deeply relieved I am that they're okay...!!
ReplyDeleteWow--- side impact air bags?
Delete----Alan
Lawrence O’Donnell video: No Republican businessmen are ever going to thank Biden for enriching them. [Click] Well, not many, anyhow.
ReplyDelete—Alan