Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. Most of the hands were mediocre – but Virgil got a perfect 29 hand again, and this time it was for real – I didn’t stack it – no one did. First time I’ve ever seen a real one. Also yesterday, if anyone is interested, COURIER has compiled the 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate, released by the US House Oversight Committee on November 12, 2025, into an easily searchable repository. It appears one must sign in to google to access it. Here’s the link:
Robert Reich on what the verdict of history should be on the Apricot AntiChrist. I emphasize “should” because I know of too many individuals on whom the verdict of history is wrong. And that goes both ways. I do like Robert Reich’s idea for a monument, but strongly doubt that it will ever come to pass.
Y’all can skip this if you have had enough, but I thought it would be useful to have pretty much all the Epstein stuff that is being emphasized – all of it would be a book the size of the OED or bigger – in one place, and The F* News appears to be it for now (Along with the above database.)
Common Dreams with another reason to be skeptical of AI – which is also another reason for those who are working on it to keep doing so. As long as they don’t force me to work with it, fine.
Yesterday, I learned that Steve Schmidt has added an “ugly Christmas sweater” to his merch. I don’t think most “ugly Christmas sweaters” are all that ugly – but this one is – on purpose (and it’s not actually a sweater but a sweatshirt.) In its own way, though, it is humorous. You can see it here. Also, the radio opera was Wagner’s “Lohengrin”, also beautiful, also long, also from Bayreuth. Of the three from there, this was the only one whose starts were big names in the U.S. (I’m pretty sure that some of the stars in the other two were big names in Europe, but not well known here.) The tenor is from Poland and the soprano from South Africa (which I can forgive her as long as she doesn’t spout racist stuff, and she hasn’t so far.) I’m off to see Virgil now and will check in on return.
From The 19th. Like every human institution, the Catholic Church throughout history has often been wrong – and sometimes very wrong. So it’s good to see any representative of the church making amends for that – even small ones (I would call two acres small. On the other hand, it is all they had.)
The Smile referred me to this story, which is nothing if not touching. I’m afraid it’s video only (and I needed to unmute the sound, though that may be just me).
From Colorado Public Radio. I missed this on Tuesday and I don’t think it happened Wednesday. And I’m not sure it’s good news (what does it say about climate change? No one is addressing that.) But it certainly is pretty to look at.
This is certainly good news for those who love animals – especially those who would like to know what they are thinking. It’s from a site called “reasons to be cheerful.”
Yesterday, TPM reported that Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Abency has made a criminal referral to the DOJ of Eric Swalwell for “mortgage fraud” (the same thing James Comey, Tish James, and Adam Schiff have been charged with). Swalwell has been expecting this and ia probably prepared for it. But it’s syill an annoyance, and a huge waste of timw and money, both for Swalwell and for the Government (and that’s our money.)
Somehow, I feel like the Democrats who are retiring should stay while some of the ones who are not – should. OK, Nancy is over 80 and deserves a rest, and I grant Jerry Nadler is 78, but he surely seems younger. It kind of depends on his replacement. Which is why this profile matters. If you’re going to replace someone like Nadler, let’s replace him with someone who has equal potential.-
Perhaps I should have saved this for Sunday – it is good – and it’s easy to grasp the point – but getting there took a whole lot of digging, so much so that just reading it is almost tiring. Besides, good news is welcome any time.
Sheesh. I saw this in The Root’s newsletter, and The Root linked to Law and Crime, which had more medical detail. This happened in Gainesville, Florida (not surprisingly). It appears there aren’t a whole lot of people who can be trusted in Florida, including medical professionals.
Yesterday, watching Harry Litman‘s video on “Is It Legal To Pardon Insurrectionists), or at least the 15 minutes an unpaid subscriber can watch, I found myself thinking some things I’m not proud of, such as, “If it was possible to kill Jane Stanford and no one knew it for a hundred years, in large part because she was already suffering from old age to the point that her death surprised no one…” and “s combination of morphine and belladonna – death from morphine poisoning is easily recognized because pinpoint pupils, but belladonna enlarges the pupils, making the death appear natural.” Yeah, too many Agatha Christie/John Dickson Carr/Ngaio Marsh/Ellery Queen (and so many others) novels. Sigh. FDR had Smedley Butler. But he also had – or I should say the nation had – an honorable Congress that would investigate and stop that plot. We don’t have that.
I’m essentially sharing this from The Root for the last paragraph, which is a warning. I don’t have a clue what to do about it in advance to mitigate it – but I do take it seriously.
This from the Conversation looks like something which would be really good to know – and maybe even to save.
Sharing Robert Hubbell today because his premise may well be the most important thing we need to do, both as individuals and as a party. And it won’t be easy.
Yesterday, I got to my main email just about the time Grijalva was sworn in. Yes, that was kind of late in the day, but before I check my main email, I check the old one, and look up the times of sunrise and sunset and record them, and I take my morning meds and make coffee, and even getting dressed is not zero time, plus it’s two hours earlier here. And it’s nice to get up to a little good news, since it is mostly anything but. Also, none of the DOJ’s Epstein Files were released, but three emails obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee directly from the Epstein estate were.
In view of the fact that many people are losing their minds over this or that in it, I thought it would be good for us all to turn to Heather Cox Richardson and get a view of everything that is in it. After that, losing one’s mind will still be on the table (including for me.)
National Public Radio has coverage of an ICE arrest from June but given that Veterans’ Day was just a couple of days ago seems appropriate to revisit now.
This from Axios reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode – “Eye of the Beholder“, to be precise. I was a big fan of TZ, and was 15 when this episode first aired. I think it shocked me more than any other episode of TZ- and I certainly never expected it to play out in my lifetime. But here we are.
Robert Reich’s series to share widely as he requests
Yesterday, I observed Veterans Day in the traditional Marine Corps manner by sleeping in. Here’s how Barack Obama observed it, God bless him (cat goddesses, bless him too.)
Common Dreams recounts just one story of an ICE arrest – this one in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (but they are just about all alike.)
I’ve been waiting for a comprehensive article on NPSM-7 – so many people are raising the alarm and so few are at all addressing what is in it. I decided it was time to find something more substantial. Just scroll down m past the “Donate” section – I’m confident anyone who can afford to is already donating to them. Below that is the whole story.
https://www.theroot.com/former-white-racists-expose-secret-lingo-and-gestures-y-2000072520
I was aware of more then half of these listed, but I did learn a couple which were new to me – and I certainly didn’t know there was a “hate symbols database.” Not that it is surprising.
This Lawrence video is a bit over 18 minutes. So don’t watch all of it, unless you decide you really want to after watching the first three minutes. There is stuff in those first minutes that everyone really should know and you won’t find elsewhere.
Yesterday, I see that the Senate appears to have caved on the shutdown. (Jeffries says he has not and will not, but we’ll see.) The calls to kick Chuck Schumer out range from statements to screams – although he was NOT one of the eight who caved. (And two out of those 47 are actually Independents, and at least one of those two was among the eight.) You can find the list and photos here (Belle also lists them.) It seems a bit unfair to me to blame all Democrats for what only 17% of them did. But on the bright side, SCROTUS has declined to hear a challenge to Obergefell. (And I’m pretty confident that if they won’t hear that, they won’t hear Loving either.) So, hopefully, one less thing to worry about. But we still have to worry about trans people, especially trans kids. Someone at Democratic Underground remarked that the Orange Oligarch will for sure end in prison, because dementia ia a form of prison – prison in one’s own body. Well, if that’s true, and in a way it is, what about being trans? Isn’t it prison to be a girl in a boy’s body, or vice versa? And to be fully aware of the discrepancy? I was born in 1945, and in the 1950s Christine Jorgensen was in the news a lot, and my mother told me that sometimes the soul of a girl is born into the body of a boy. Whether you think in terms of a soul, or a personality, or essence, or whatever it is that makes us who we are non-tangibly, can you think of a worse prison to be locked up in? For a person who has done nothing to deserve prison, yet it’s a prison from which the only escape is major medical intervention. Otherwise, there is no release, no probation, no parole, no escape but death. And the older one gets, the more invasive the surgery becomes. And Republicans would sentence these innocent prisoners to stay in prison from birth to adulthood (and longer, with the cost of health care going through the roof, only the wealthy can afford it.) At the very least transgender kids should be allowed puberty blockers. It’s no bloody wonder that the suicide rate among transgendered people is so high.
The F* News is experimenting with a weekly newsletter in addition to their dailies, wanting to go into a little more depth than they can trying to keep up with the daily chaos. This one includes more than one topic, and all are interesting, but the first one, regarding Elon Musk’s personal body count, may be the most shocking.
Some judges appointed by the Orange Oligarch are actually making judgments based on the law and the Constitution, without fear or favor, such as Karin Immergut. Others not so much. People for the American Way addresses 14 rulings from this fall so far which are, to say the least, troubling. Or I should say that it lists them and links to fuller analysis, so you can choose which one or ones to dive into.
Speaking of judges, Steve Schmidt starts this article with a powerful quote from one (a Reagan appointee, no less).
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Parsifal” by Wagner – a good four hours. “Parsifal” is the way Germans spell “Percival,” and the allusion to the Round Table is intentional, although no other character’s name follows through. The opera traces how Parsifal became the king of the knights who are charged with protecting the Holy Grail. I won’t go into detail. Wagner quotes the Dresden Amen in it more than once, but especially at the (happy) ending. Wagner’s ideas about Christianity were somewhat warped, but if they were as warped as MAGA, that does not come through in his operas. His ideas about sexuality were also somewhat warped, also (as far as we can tell) not as warped as MAGA. I won’t push that any farther either. The man could and did write beautiful music. To anyone – and I have heard it a lot – who thinks that music, especially classical music, is “ennobling,” I say “It certainly didn’t work for Wagner.” Not that his record can compete with the Mango Monster – but pretty much everything the Monster has done hundreds and thousands of times, Wagner did at least once.
I found this through The Smile on a day when most of their news was both political and pathetic. This is neither, and I applaud the educators who are facilitating this.
I knew some of this, because last month The Root had an article on several philanthropists, of whom she was one. The article doesn’t really answer the question the headline asks, but the answer is really “because she has a soul.” If she is not already on your list of secular saints, this might be the time to add her to it.
If you can’t see the video, I couldn’t either, until I turned my browser’s media player on. I’m sorry that I won’t be around to vote for this young man for President.
Crazy Soup Mr. Tangerine Man – not the world’s best singer, no CC, and it’s from last year’s election season, but hey. It’s amusing.
