Open Thread February 18 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 182026
 

Yesterday, Jesse Jackson died. It grieves me how many civil rights heroes we have lost and are losing – and we need them so badly. We do have new young heroes coming up, but they are still building their platforms. How can we help? We need every one of them. Robert Reich quoted Jackson’s speech to the 1988 Dem Convention in full. At least I found out what I am going to do to escape the SOTU next week. See the not-a-cartoon below. Check ut qqq.defiance.org if you’re interested.

Well, we haven’t invaded Greenland – yet – but a power failure there made everyone there think we were, and scared the crap out of them. I gather there were no casualties, but people with heart conditions have died from less.

This definitely scares me. Secretaries of State are the ones who make the decisions and policies about how elections are run statewide. County Clerks are often the ones who supervise the “judges” who do the actual work (in heavily populated counties there will likely be a dedicated employee of the County Clerk who does this.) And those judges – there must be as close to an equal number of blue ones and red ones as possible. Because if any of them so much as has to go to the bathroom, she or he must be accompanied by a judge from the other party. In June, I will have lived in Colorado for 50 years, and it has not been blue for all of them. I have worked with clerks and clerks from both parties, and the one thing they had in common was following the rules to the letter. Going forward, I don’t know what to expect.

More on Epstein from dekleptocracy. It includes quotes from The Guardian, so I assume Lona is already aware. (Barf bag alert)

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Open Thread February 17 2026

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 172026
 

Yesterday, I checked in on line for my lab appointment I had to postpone from last week. This is not the best weather for dressing so that one’s veins can easily be reached, so I’ll need a jacket or a coat – or maybe a poncho is the best idea. But it could be worse. I tried to get a solid head start on tomorrow’s post, so if it’s a trifle dated, that would be why. (Also, did you ever expect to see a political cartoon whose entire caption is a classic poem by an American who would later be the Poet Laureate of the US? It also happens to be one of my all-time favorites by anyone.)

When you read this headline, you may think it is satirical. It isn’t. It may or may not be true, but it isn’t satire. He seriously claims it.

This is handy. Do you suppose any Republicans might learn from it that some rules actually do reply to them? (I doubt it.)

This is a heartfelt piece of writing. Don’t think that the video at the top is a long one – it’s only 29 seconds and is just an illustration.  It is the second video which is a minute, and there’s a photo. The video at the end, however, is a real song (JoJo uses popular music the way I use animal rescues.) You may have heard it before. And there is one more picture still below it.

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Open Thread February 16 2026

 Posted by at 5:50 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 162026
 

May I say something about the partial government shutdown which i don’t think is getting enough attention? Congress voted to provide zero funding for DHS in this fiscal year. But it did not vote to rescind any funds already allocated in the big brutal bill, and that bill includes a huge slush fund for ICE (and I think but am not certain also for CBP) – enough to fund them through September 2029, I have heard. So they are not shut down – but the rest of DHS is. The rest of DHS includes FEMA, the Coast Guard, and more – good stuff. I’m not trying to say the shutdown didn’t need to be done – it did, and it may need to continue – it’s a serious bargaining chip. But it isn’t an instant solution to anything. Y’all are smart and may well know all of this. But I guarantee there are a lot of people out there who need to know it and don’t.,

No one needs me to tell them that this is outrageous. It is and/or will be clear to every one who hears about it. Unfortunately, these days, if there’s an outrage, it must be a day that ends in “y”.

This is a story which was featured at the Philadelphia Independence National Historic Park near Independence Hall. Naturally, it was dismantled by our fascist regime. It doesn’t mean that Washington was a jerk who deserves no honor – that would be false. It does mean that Washington was a human being and therefore not perfect, and that he was a child of the era into which he was born. But, to fascists, that’s blasphemy, I guess.

Dog

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Open Thread February 15 2026

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

Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Idomeneo” from 1986, chosen by Joyce Di Donato because of Frederica von Stade. I have a von Stade story from many years ago which appeared in Cat Fancy magazine, submitted by a vocal coach about the first time von Stade (“Flicka”) came to learn from her. At one point the coach’s cat threw up o Flicka’s foot. The coach thought she’d lost a student forever. But Flicka just deadpanned, “I hope it wasn’t my singing,” and stayed with the coach. She is a class act in every way.  It’s interesting to me (if no one else) that every time an “Artist’s Choice” is picked by someone I really like, that their choice is based on someone in a previous generation I also really, really like.

I would call this “mixed” rather than “good.” But for decades we have been thinking “doomed,” and “mixed” is definitely an improvement over that.

Now this is sportsmanship. This is how sports are supposed to work (and sadly often don’t.)

It’s always good news when someone gets to live his or her dream. And it’s always especially good when it’s a child, and particularly a child who’s experienced an illness that no one, and especially no child, should have to cope with.

Cat

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Open Thread February 14 2026

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

Happy Valentine’s Day, All.

Yesterday, I woke up early (for me) and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was hoping that would at least help me to get up this morning – it may have, or it may not.

From The Talking Points Memo – The Apricot Antichrist takes on the entire judicial branch. This could be funny if it weren’t so – venal.

This from The Intercept just gobsmacks me. And also makes me glad I froze my information at all three credit bureaus. I hope y’all have done the same.

Yes, this from Law & Crime is a political story. The young woman died on January 10, 2025, just 10 days before that inauguration. The justice system in Texas has done nothing, so the police in Cheshire, England are now getting involved. The story is also in The Root – each has details the other doesn’t.

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Open Thread February 13 2026

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

Yesterday, I got my car back. It starts instantly and runs nicely – I will have to readjust the seat of course – It was the end of the work day and I didn’t want any more dark. I did make it home in civil twilight. Congress passed the SAVE Act. Andy Borowitz’s headline was “Mark Kelly Records Video Telling Bartenders They Are Allowed to Refuse Hegseth’s Orders” And I found out why the FAA put on a ten day stop on flights and then rescinded it the same night. See the cartoon

Robert Reich points out that DHS is not even close to arresting “the worst of the worst.” I would point out that this isn’t the real point – which is that NO ONE deserves the treatment they are getting, Not even anyone convicted of a violent crime. People convicted of violent crimes are still human beings – and not even an animal – not even an Australian box jellyfish – deserves this treatment either. Republicans must not be allowed to get a pass by claiming they are animals.

Not the most transformative news of the day from All Rise – but encouraging that the judge feels so strongly.

Common Dreams is hot again. I probably could have used any of the stories in their newsletter

Malcolm Nance. 5:36 minute video (need to unmute – or there’s a transcript. Please share widely.

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Open Thread February 12 2026

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

Yesterday, I learned that the special election to replace MTG will be on March first (I’m sure this information has been available, but I missed it.) I don’t know how crowded the ballot will be – but one Democrat running in it is Shawn Harris. Also, six House Republicans joined Democrats to kill the Apricot Antichrist’s tariffs on Canada. And I see that Ohio has passed a law making ballots unacceptable if they are received after Election Day, regardless of postmark. I am so sorry. Living in Colorado, we have had this for a long time – but because of it have also sent ballots out (almost ridiculously) early, and filled election materials with warnings about the rule, including what to do if it is Election Day and you forgot (drop boxes mostly.)As a result, it has not been an issue here. But in a state which has always accepted ballots by postmark and is now making this change when we are already in an election year, it’s sure to cause damage. My heart goes out to you.

Core Civic is the private prison company formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America. Colorado hires them for two prison, one in Crowley County and one in Bent County. Virgil has spent time in both, but mostly in Bent County. I don’t remember much about Crowley, but I can tell you that the one in Bent County is well run – because the Department of Corrections takes supervision seriously. Of course, no prison is fun, and the rules are rigid, and some appear ridiculous unless one remembers that every one of those regulations was put in place because someone F’ed Around, causing everyone to Find Out. There were no worms, mold, or maggots in the food, which came from Aramark, another company which has a poor reputation mostly based on prisons in the South and other red states. They also catered USAA when I worked there, and I have no complaints about the cafeteria then and there. But Dilley is not supervised by any state – it is supervised by DHS – and I’d bet the staff there are about as good as ICE and CPB agents – or, in other words, terrible.

IMO, this one is a keeper. Those of us who are not misogynistic have a strong tendency to believe that misogyny is so absurd that there can’t possibly be a majority of Americans who are misogynists. Wrong. This is a wakeup reminder. And we are NOT HELPING when we nominate exceptionally qualified women for the most powerful posts in the government at the national level. We are merely losing power.

Commercial aviation is not something I know very much about. I’m one of the most infrequent flyers alive. But even I know this is important and disturbing, even though I can’t say why. Axios does a lot of alerts like this and then develops the story. It had already been archived, but I did it again in case there were developments, but that was yesterday late afternoon, so it may not be the latest. If anyone wants to archive it again and see whether there is newer information, here’s the link to Axios, and here’s the link to Archive. (The order has already been rescinded. Heaven knows what they were thinking.)

Robert Reich

Cat

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Open Thread February 11 2026

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

Yesterday, I watched the Jim Acosta Show on Substack. That’s right, the fascists weren’t able to end Jim Acosta as effectively as they thought they had. Joyce Vance, Glenn Kirschner, and Michael Fanone were on it too. But I’m sharing because at the end of the show he played a clip from RTÉ (Ireland’s equivalent of out NPR) interviewing an Irishman who had been detained at one of the Saffron Sauron’s concentration camps ( think it was Dilley, TX, actually.) Yes, an Irishman. The Irish are pretty uniformly white, so it must have been the brogue – or possibly an opinion. Of course there’s a lot in it besides that. The concentration camp section starts at 41.06, and the actual interview with Seamus Culleton (spelling from CC) starts at 42:49 (and has CC) and lasts less than 3 minutes (and then Jim editorializes a little.)

There’s nothing new here from Steve Schmidt – except in the sense that “everything old is new again.” But then, “everything old is new again” is exactly why history is important. Steve will be very happy if y’all share this with anyone who might learn something from it.

The Children of Dilley


Kudos to Pro Publica for managing to get this story out of a concentration camp when such camps arenot even allowing Congresscritters in to conduct oversight as required by law. (If Mina Rosenberg finds a target on her back, I will not be surprised.)

I suppose we can chalk this up to another reason that Rethuglicans detest science and scientists. But it’s very revealing.

If you watch Colbert regularly, you can skip this. Ian Mckellen plays Thomas More on immigration, by Shakespeare, but unperformed during his lifetime. Talk about something old that’s new – not “new again” – just new.

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