Open Thread March 15 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 152026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Madame Butterfly by Puccini – the first opera I ever saw – I was 8 years old. It’s one of three operas for which Puccini selected the subject after seeing a play in a language he didn’t speak but was still able yo understand everything happening (the other two were Tosca and La Fanciulla del West.) He figured correctly that an operatic subject selected on that basis would make the opera more accessible. I don’t know that I would recommend it as a first opera today, though – Butterfly’s line in the first act “Oh, I am very old – I am fifteen” has taken on too much additional weight in the shadow of the Epstein files.

The work that Ray Brown is doing has never been more important than it is now. He makes me proud to be a Coloradan

I was not surprised to read that mariachi runs in the family – rather, I would have been surprised if it didn’t. Mariachi just does. And not only mariachi. Look at the Romero family of guitarists – now in its third generation.

Technically, I suppose this is not a “good news story.” But it made me smile. (And I still wouldn’t go to a Chick-Fil-A myself.)

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Open Thread March 14 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 142026
 

Today being Pi Day, and the rest of the news being so grim, a mathematical puzzle might be in order.

Yesterday, I discovered something – I knew Jim Acosta was on Substack, and I knew that S teve Schmidt was sometimes a guest of his, but I had no idea that Steve was going to be a regular guest every Friday, nor that they were calling this “Oh, Schmidt, It’s Friday.”  (Gotta laugh so you don’t cry, right?) Apparently the US death toll is up to 11 now. Or was yesterday.

From The Root. I figure that what Black people need to know, we all need to know.

It appears the shooting I mentioned yesterday, and another shooting, and a hacking, were not home-grown but Iranian retaliation. Robert Hubbell expands on this with multiple citations. He then goes into other ramifications of the war, also with citations.

From the Contrarian – a history and definition of Concentration Camps – so that if anyone tries to tell you they aren’t, you can prove that they are.

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Open Thread March 13 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 132026
 

Yesterday, another mass shooting, this one at a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. The only casualties were the shooter (killed) and a guard (wounded, not too seriously.) And we have a president who apparently would rather confess to a war crime than be credibly accused of a crime of pedophilia. Think bout that. i desperately hope that, wherever he is, TomCat is having a better birthday than our day. Happy Birthday, TC. We still miss you.

ProPublica discusses the school bombing (which I trust no one here attributes to anyone other than us) in the context of a program initiated during the Biden administration which, if it hadn’t been cut into smithereens, might have prevented it. (On the other hand, Kegsbreath might have ignored it.)

Common Dreams addresses a different atrocity. This one involving a ship, is clearly an atrocity (the school bombing might have been an error – not that I believe that for an instant.) But a ship cannot possibly have been mistaken for a military base.

From Ukrinform. Someone joked this week that the Saffron Sauron “has started World War Two and a Quarter.” I don’t think it’s that funny really – but it does make a point.

Belle War

Dog

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Open Thread March 12 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 122026
 

Yesterday, I watched/listened to Malcolm Nance’s Day 12 of the war (the only one I have missed was the one I told you was for paid subscribers only) and it was very much about sea mines – and how dumb our regime is being about them. And a few other things our regime is being dumb about. A quote: “Hegseth thinks this is a video game.” I would suggest our entire actual military command structure is stuck in a frozen facepalm – but I feel confident they are doing all they can to avoid useless loss of lives. But their hands are kind of tied.

This may well be more about what to expect in Iran than you wanted to know. But I doubt you’d find it anywhere else expressed in this way.

It’s not as if we don’t know this. It would be nice if someone could tell us how to change it. The people who are responsible for it have zero motivation to change – and appear impervious to our efforts to reach out – which further undermines our motivation to change it. Facts could help – if only the right had not been indoctrinated not to believe facts. That appears to me to be an impasse. We may have no recourse other than waiting for the delusional ones to kill theselves off with CoViD, ivermectin, bleach, measles, suet, and all the other fake nutrition advocated by our current HHS.

This is a letter sent by four Senators (including one Republican) to the GAO demanding an independent audit of the Epstein files by the GAO. They – and victimes of the money laundering by Halkbank, are pissed.

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Open Thread March 11 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 112026
 

Yesterday, there was a hearing on disciplinary charges brought against Ed Martin by the DC Bar, and the charges were upheld. He is entitled to appeal – I’m not sure to whom but after the process plays out, he could well be disbarred. Also, Alabama governor Kay Ivey of all people commuted the sentence of Sonny Burton. It’s about damn time – but at least it is in time. Finally, Colorado Public Radio reported that one of the Americans killed in this war was one of ours – stationed at Fort Carson here in the Springs.

I have no desire to use AI – I [prefer to keep my HI as fit as possible by using it. But if I did, at this time, it would be Anthropic. But this link is really for the second story – the kerfuffle in the District of New Jersey. By the time you read this, the hearing will be over, but you can still use this link to get there if you wish. Click on the All Rise logo in the upper left and you’ll get the home page. If the hearing isn’t the first story, scroll down a bit.

Well this was certainly not on my bingo card. But it certainly does make sense.

Archived from Huff Post, this article reminded me of a Kipling quote shared by Malcolm Nance, who us a huge Kipling fan – a quote which could easily become our motto for this war: “with an epitaph drear,/a fool lies here/who tried to hustle the east.” Kipling was not free from racial prejudice, but he was bright enough to see that brains of all kind (intwllectual, practical, strategic, etc.) and a passion for self government were not limited to white westerners.

Pete Buttigieg’s speech last weekend in Selma, AL Only 6 1/2 minutes)

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Open Thread March 10 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 102026
 

Yesterday, unsurprisingly, I slept late – but nowhere near the latest I have ever slept. I watched a Substack video about the Halkbank case – a scandal likely to go under the radar, since it pales in comparison to Epstein, but which is, as Adam puts it, “not irrelevant to” the Iran war. There will be more news on Wednesday. And today is the special election to replace MTG. And I received my first Ukrinform newsletter. I’d love to share more than the following tidbit, but (I suspect on account of the time difference) I’m not finding the ones in the newsletter that I’d love to share on line. But this is a bombshell for us Americans who can’t or don’t follow European politics much: on April 12, there is an election in Hungary – and Germany expects Orban to lose big time.

I hardly even know what to say about this. Regardless whether this is out of malice or just boneheaded stupidity (my money’s on malice, but some stupidity seems almost inevitable) there should be massive numbers of Courts Martial on account of it. It’s My Lai on steroids.

So many deaths, so much wrongful detention, it’s easy to forget that there are other ways that fascist governments can abuse their people, whether citizens or not. Joyce Vance writes about some judges who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore about federal “law enforcement” failing to return personal belongings of wrongly detained people. At least one points out that when those belongings include form of identification, they are made vulnerable to more wrongful detention. How long have I been saying that sure, carry papers, but don’t carry originals, carry copies – certified and/or notarized copies, but copies. I’m Joanne Dixon, not Jeane Dixon, but you don’t need supernatural powers to have seen this coming.

Not every one of the protest photos here shows a sign so good it could be a meme – but some do, and a few have more than one. Since March 28 is coming up, I thought I’d share.

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Open Thread March 9 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 092026
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. There’s been a change in visiting hours, part of which is having visitation every day of the week, so I’m not surprised (nor aggrieved) that it includes shortening the Sunday hours, which has been 8:00-3:30 and is now 8:30 to 3:00. I had, during DST in previous years, been  getting there at 11:00 and staying to 3:30 – I got there at 11:00 today and stayed till 3:00 when it closed. I didn’t have to sorry at all about sunset, but driving down, the morning sun was kind of punishing. So I’ll have to think about that. Anyway, we had a good time with a wide range of hands. The drive home was easier then the morning drive – but I still got home pretty tired. I didn’t watch Malcolm Nance’s Iran update Saturday, because it was only available to paid subscribers, but I did yesterday. Speaking of cruelty – I think I would rather die fast being hit by a bomb than by being deprived of potable water (and this virtually everything one can drink) for up to sixty days. The amount of Iran which uses between 40% and 80% desalinized water is jaw-dropping. Also, between Mercator projections and general lack of attention, I don’t think may Americans realize that Iran is is close to the size of the United States’ entire midwest region.

At 80, I am old enough to remember when having a baby out of wedlock would brand a girl (or a grown-ass woman) for life. So I do get it that, then, parents were willing to allow their daughters to marry the men responsible, even though divorce was also tougher then. But that was then – this is now. Haven’t we outgrown this yet?

This is what happens when enough voters decide that “come people” don’t deserve rights and refuse to spend tax money on protecting those rights. Not all of these states are red. Oregon is blue, essentially because the coastal part has cities, culture, and higher education, but its rural eastern half is garnet red.

These “Five ways” are pretty much more in practice than just in theory. None of them, for example, involves litigation which he would ignore. But I’m not convinced that any of them is a certainty. Let me know your thoughts on this.

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