Open Thread January 4 2025

 Posted by at 12:28 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 042026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Mason Bates. It’s (pretty obviously) based on the book, and there’s also a movie, a play, and a miniseries. So there’s virtually no end of resources to know what it’s about. I’ll just say that it’s aggressively anti-fascist. It was recorded last September when it opened the Met season. It’s not Nates’s first opera – that was based on the life of Steve Jobs and was included in the summer series several years ago. Not to disparage the first one, but this one is even more listenable – and also more tragic – which is to be expected from an oera which touches on the Holocaust. Also, just to clarify, the cartoon today is for Epiphany, which is January 6, which is not a Sunday. Today is the closest.

I’ve previously shared news about Mackenzie Scott’s philanthropy. But at the end of a very tough year, The Root found it appropriate to publish a reminder of how she keeps stepping up, and I agree. And the quotation from her at the end of the article – needs to be a meme.

This from the AP (referred by Daily Dose of Democracy) is absolutely flabbergasting. I have never heard before of an ectopic pregnancy coming to term. My mother almost died from one 8 years before I was born – hers was (like most) in a Fallopian tube, which burst, and she almost bled to death. This would have been around 1937, and blood transfusion was barely out of the dark ages, but her OBG found a way to transfuse the blood she was losing back into her and saved her life (and that too amazes me. Technically, I probably shouldn’t be here.) This snippet of my family history is a big part of the reasons I have so little patience with abortion opponents.

Referred by Daily Dose of Democracy, archived from The Guardian, this story reminds me that you cannot judge anyone by any factor as superficial as the country they are from. Individual people are individual people, and make individual choices, and good people from anywhere need to be valued.

Betty Bowers

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Open Thread January 3 2025

 Posted by at 9:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 032026
 

Yesterday, I learned that on New Year’s Day Zohran Mamdani had been sworn in twice. The first time was recorded in the video I posted yesterday with Tish James, and that was the official one. The second one was with Bernie Sanders, which was purely ceremonial, but which also included his (roughly 25 minutes) inauguration speech. Just in case anyone wants to hear it, I’m sharing the link. There isn’t a lot right now to generate enthusiasm, but this appears to be one – to judge from the audience responses. )Don’t scorn it because it’s Fox – it’s not Fox corporate, it’s a local fox affiliate, and they can be surprisingly rational and even honest.)

So this is what Keith Ellison is doing now. Good for him, though I could wish he didn’t need to. One thing the current regime has done which, if they realize that they have done it, I’ll bet they wish they hadn’t – is to make it very, very obvius how important to a state its Attorney General is. Democratic AGs seeking reelection in 2026 will have a lot to campaign on.

Robert Reich on some things that some of us can do in 2026 to help make things better for all of us.

TC used to enjoy joking about how Andy was no satirizing but instead reporting straight news – and it often seems as though he could be dong just that. But in this column, he’s being serious (though it isn’t news at all.) He is following up on a previous column about surviving 2026 by sharing reader comments and additions. I’m sure not everything here will work for everyone – and possibly not anything will work for everyone. But, even though there is repetition, it’s highly likely that there will be something that may stand out and be worth remembering.

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Open Thread January 2 2025

 Posted by at 12:31 am  Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 022026
 

Yesterday was, of course, New Year’s Day. I hope yours was both happy and as productive as you wanted it to be. And if that was not at all, that’s great. On New Years Eve, I had it on my calendar to repost “featured images” used by other authors at the end of December so they could be found more easily, and I missed the moment of midnight. As I was cussing myself, it occurred to me that if I temporarily changed the blog time zone from Pacific to whatever they call Alaska and Hawaii, I might be able to put them in in fake December, and them turn the time zone back again and they might stay in December. By golly, it worked. I haven’t tried to use the scheduling feature again to see whether it is working again, but I will again tonight since on Saturdays I get up for the opera – at 9:00 Pacific – so if it’s late it won’t be horribly late.

Joyce Vance explains “Inherent Contempt” and why the House is contemplating using it on Pam Bondi.

Good news for workers in a few blue and purple states – including Colorado, Ohio, and Missouri. Not so good for workers in states who still are stuck with the federal minimums. The article mentions a couple of the amounts by which the minimum changes, but none of the full new amounts. I looked up Colorado, and our new minimum is $15.16, and by law, it increases every year as the CPI increases.

Whether or not this affects you (it doesn’t affect me directly on account of a long series of lucky decisions which turned out to be consequential), it will almost certainly affect someone you care about. Effing Republicans.

Cat

h

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Open Thread January 1 2025

 Posted by at 12:11 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 012026
 

Well, Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s a link to the complete transcript of Jack Smith’s 8+ hours of testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. There is also a complete video, if you want it.

Robert Reich uses Paul Ingrassia as Exhibit A to demonstrate that the title of this post is an accurate characterization of the current administration. You know, Africa was doing just fine before “white” people decided to start exploiting it. My Exhibit 1 for this is the preview at this link. (Don’t expect the series to be on in February, however – the February the trailer is referring to was years ago. But you can see the full series – if you missed it then or want to see it again – with Passport. IIRC it was Episode 3 which made Professor Gates cry.) As I’ve said before, I can hardly get through aday without saying (or at least thinking) “effing white people” – or “effing pink people” – despite the fact that I myself am white (pink.)

From Common Dreams. I am very proud of my state for standing up to the Apricot Antichrist, and consider his unhinged “statement” a badge of honor. I might point out Peters is not 73 (though she is 70.) Also, if she is sick in a Colorado prison, she is getting medical care – probably not as good as Congress gets, but better than Jeffrey Sterling got in Federal prison. (also, if Boebert is telling the truth, or even close to the truth, this veto can easily be overridden.) Karma is probably already on to ensuring his wish for our officials turns back on him.

This is a video that I normally would not put up, since it’s 3+ minutes over a half hour. But in that half hour, they cover not only what is going on in the Abrego Garcia case, but also what is going in in the pipe bomber case – which doesn’t seem to be getting any coverage from elsewhere – possibly because there was supposedly a confession – which they now question. There is nothing funny about any of this – with the exception of the fact that this DOJ and state Republican officials are so incompetent and their criming and cheating so obvious that it is laughable. (And, sadly, some of it is actually legal.) So if you have the tme, it’s worth the watch and may be a good omen. If not, there’s also a transcript.

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Open Thread December 31 2025

 Posted by at 12:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 312025
 

Yesterday, I had set my alarm for earlier than I got up on Monday. I plan to set it earlier each day to try to ease into the weekend so that I can at least expect to arise in daylight – which is now moving the right direction for me, if only by a few seconds every day. I did that last week, though I didn’t start as soon, and it seemed to help.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/if-the-market-were-working-well-we
My local radio station has added a Sunday night show to its lineup – it’s been on for a while now, maybe even more than a year – called “Broadway Rhythm.” Some episodes will run through a full musical, others will follow the career of a composer. Some will focus on the careers of divas (or divos.) A theme might be a particular time period, or musicals which made cultural change – limited only by the host’s creativity. Last Sunday the theme was songs from musicals which became standards. Included was “If I Were A Rich Man” from Fiddler On The Roof. One line in particular caught my ear: “And it won’t make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong. When you’re rich they think you really know.” Isn’t that the truth – and how the heck do we (and by we I mean the entire human race) get our collective heads out of that septic tank?!?? The only think you can be positive a rich person “really knows” is how to cheat without consequences.

Heather Cox Richardson on the SCROTUS decision which was favorable to us for a change. I may be seeing things. but it has me wondering whether the fascist justices have an organized system of taking turns being the one who gets the be the one who writes a sane opinion, so that when we get the chance, we won’t know whom to impeach. I hope I’m wrong.

This is from All Rise News, which is run by Adam Klasfeld. I only recently heard of him – this is only the second time I have seen him – but both Harry Litman and also Joyce Vance swear by him. Both Harry and Joyce look at any kind of court case which catches their attention, but Adam concentrates on high profile (or should -be-high-profile) DOJ cases. This one concerns Kilmar Abrego Garcia and how it appears that the gang that couldn’t shoot straight has shot themselves in the foot again.

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Open Thread December 30 2025

 Posted by at 12:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 302025
 

Yesterday, being Monday, naturally I overslept. It was literally dark when I got up. And of course my inbox was horrendous. However, being this close to the end of the month, the end of the quarter, and the end of the year, I was able to delete 3/4 of them without reading, which helped tremendously.

As we approach the end of what has been a godawful year in almost every way (which should at least remind us that there is no such thing as being “apolitical.” What your government does will affect you personally), media large and small are summarizing the year from their own viewpoints. Harry Litman is here to remind us that despite everything, it could still have been worse – a lot worse. While I don’t advocate changing this, I’d like to remind us all that the Courts have no police of their own. The only enforcement mechanism they can use is local, state, and federal police (depending upon the level of the Court.) So if anyone ever had a right to say “I can’t do anything to change this,” it would be judges. But, thank the universe, they don’t. Harry reviews the actions and statements of some of the best.

If this story reminds you of Fred Rogers and his mother’s advice, you are not alone. That was my first thought. Here’s a quote from the transcript of the bottom video in which he tells the story:
“But I want this holiday season to underline something I always say in all my videos all the time. And if you have the ability to step in and help the situation where you can, please do. Find it within yourself to always be in a place whereby if you see something. Don’t just say something that they say over here, but try and do something. No matter how small it is, even if it means picking up the phone and making a call.”

I’m going to share a link to a specific YouTube channel with you, because I think it will be useful. The channel belongs to Max Kuhn, and many (not all) of his videos are conversations with Dr. David Benjamin. The value of these videos is that, when there is a photo of, or an incident with the Orange Ogre which goes viral because “he’s dying,” which does not happen every day but which sometimes seems like it does, Dr. Benjamin analyzes the evidence and explains what it really indicates , and more importantly, what it doesn’t mean. The most recent video with Dr. Benjamin shows a photo which is going viral after being seen on Aaron Rupar’s account and in the Daily Beast. It is photoshopped (and IMO not very well.) If it were real, it would indicate a brain stem stroke, but since it isn’t, it doesn’t. The first video I found there was regarding him not knowing what part of he body he had an MRI on. Dr. Benjamin is pretty sure that the Mango Monster didn’t know where his MRI was because he didn’t have one. He was struggling to say what kind of imaging he had when a reporter asked him whether he had an MRI and he jumped on it. That doesn’t mean he had one. I have had a couple of MRIs, including a full body one, and trust me, you would know if you had had one, and where it was focused. Nameless may not need this kind of information, but most of the rest of us can really benefit from it. So I’m passing on the link to the video channel so that when this kind of thing happens again (and I say “when,” not “if” because it will – it gets clicks galore because we are all so eager for him to die) y’all won’t have to wait for me to find out what is most likely real.

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Open Thread December 29 2025

 Posted by at 1:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 292025
 

Yesterday, I visited Virgil and – you guessed it – we played cribbage. Most of last week snow had been predicted, but Saturday snow dropped off the chart, so I wasn’t expecting any – but in the morning, there it was. I have to say it wasn’t much, though there got to be more of it the closer I got to Pueblo, but it was certainly very dry. And very cold. By the time I needed to leave in order to get home by sunset, the sun had been working on it and it was pretty much gone – still cold, though. But the cribbage was fun – there’s always something weird, and today it was several cribs having double runs of three. Heck, a double run of three is tough enough to set up in one’s hand – having one pop up in the crib when each of us puts two in with totally different motives is quite rare – unless it isn’t. And yesterday, it wasn’t.

Joyce Vance has a great point here. His malicious xeet(s) accusing everyone but himself of being what he in fact is, if taken at face value, do make him look like he knows a lot about Epstein and should testify. And there’s neither law nor DOJ guidance which says Presidents cannot be subpoenaed to testify. I like it.

Robert Reich offers an end-of-the-year pep talk which is not overdone and may help morale. (And he doesn’t end with “You look great!”)

From Current Affairs, referred by Daily Dose of Democracy. I think the titles is probably an exaggeration – if we were to solve this problem, another would arise to take its place – but I do believe that, if Republicans would only allow us to regulate anything – anything at all – everyone’s (except scammers and grifters) lives would improve

Sarah Cooper

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Open Thread December 28 2025

 Posted by at 7:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 282025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was not a single opera, but a compilation of arias, duets, choruses, and overtures from various operas by George Frederick Handel which have been performed at the Met, to honor the 300th anniversary of his opera “Rodelinda.” Compilation episodes like this are always bittersweet – one gets to hear some of the greatest singers of all time – many of whom are retired or even dead – which can lead to grieving their loss all over again. Handel was not Bach, but he was a contemporary of Bach, so there are similarities of style. If you are wondering why a German-born composer transplanted to England wrote so many Italian operas (and oratorios), it’s because at that time in history Italian operas were all the rage in Europe and especially in England – until “The Beggar’s Opera” premiered and made them virtually obsolete overnight. This of course cramped Handel’s style – but eventually he got his revenge with “Messiah.” He didn’t write it to get revenge, and was surprised it became such a success, but it certainly did. Yesterday’s program stuck with opera written as opera, not oratorios, not even oratorios which have subsequently been successfully fully staged. Of course the music was beautiful. I’m not sure Handel could have written anything ugly if he had tried with both hands for a week. Clever, yes, but not ugly. The classic example of his tone painting is from “Messiah” – the chorus “All we like sheep (have gone astray)” – the syllable “stray” seriously goes astray, all over the staff, for several measures. Also, the meme today is a quote shared by Robert Reich last week. Since he appears to have started signing off unrelated columns with “You look great,” I wanted y’all to know why, in case I use one with that signoff. Well, off to see Virgil now.  Will check in upon return.

Referred by The Smile, this story may not fully qualify s good news yet, since it’s still in the “promising” stage as opposed to “confirmed.” But if confirmed, it will be huge good news.

Well, The Root was, at least for me, correct about this story. Maybe at least in part because I’ve been there (except for the broken ribs.) If you’re expecting a Heimlich story – it’s much bigger than that.

From CBS news referred by The Smile. Nice of Bari Weiss to allow it to be published /s. Seriously, I’m not autistic nor am aware of ever having known someone who was (though I did have a co-worker with Tourette’s for a while – didn’t bother me) but I do have enough empathy to be deeply impressed by this story.

Belle

Dog

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