Open Thread – Page 37 – Politics Plus

Open Thread August 3 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 032025

Yesterday, the radio opera was a double bill of Leonard Bernstein – “Trouble in Tahiti,” which I have heard of and heard excerpts from but was not clear on the plot, and “A Quiet Place,” the sequel, which I didn’t know existed. Both are about stages in the life a dysfunctional marriage/family. (And this is the kind of dysfunctional relationships – marriage and family as practiced in the 1950’s – that Republicans want to take us back to.) Also yesterday, I got an email from Adam Kinzinger. He is raising funds for the reelection of Zoe Lofgren. As far as I know he is still registered Republican, but I could be wrong (there have been so many registration changes I cannot keep up). Anyway, after serving with her a=on the Jan 6 committee, he says this about her: “Zoe Lofgren will always put the American people first.” And Lonnie Griffith Bunch III received Robert Reich’s Joseph Welch award (the Senator who stood up to McCarthy) for restoring the full impeachment exhibit to the Smithsonian (he isn’t finished yet … but says it will be done this week.)

My experience is that animals definitely respond to music – and also that they have distinct preferences. My little Princess Fukutsu (a Japanese word that means several things depending on how it’s pronounced – and one of those things is “indomitable courage”) was addicted to the Mills Brothers. Gray Mouser, the cat who took to Virgil and tried to kill me preferred Glazunov and Shostakovich. And Sugar Bear – he wasn’t picky on the type, but he had perfect pitch – and if my violin student’s intonation was off, even too little for me to hear, he’d demand to be allowed out.

So far just signs … although enough of them for two columns is impressive … but it has to start somehow. This is one of them – it doesn’t stop anything but it does slow things down some.

Rocky Mountain Mike

Open Thread August 2 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 022025

Yesterday, I spent some time getting organized for Trinette to come over Sunday. I have trash and I have recyclables, and they need to be in bags so they’re easy to carry out. Also, since Trinette has now nagged me enough, we are going to he VA Monday to see what they can do for me. I haven’t been there since 1976, and I hear they will now assist with MedicAlerts – if the Persimmon Palpatine hasn’t destroyed that already. And I want to have all my paperwork together. Otherwise, it was just a day. I gat a card in the mail from an old Marine Corps friend,, and one of my second cousins in California called to wish me a happy day. i also got emails from Trinette and Carrie B (“NannyCarrie” from Care2).

Thursday, Andy Borowitz, who generally keeps his videos for paid subscribers only, posted a (roughly 31 minute) video with W.Kamau Bell open to everyone. Like every other Substack video I have watched, it needs to be unmuted, but otherwise it was very smooth. But if you just want to skip close to the end and learn what charity Bell donated his Jeopardy winnings to, I think you may be surprised.

This from ProPublica I fear needs a trigger warning – or at least a tissue alert. But one of the men in it says that getting home and realizing that he hadn’t been forgotten was the best gift he could have received. Let’s not forget them.

A couple of other outlets had this story, so I may be sorry I chose it, but it’s definitely personal to me. I live on Social Security. My life depends on it.

Open Thread August 1 2025

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

Aug 012025

Yesterday, I got an email that Jeopardy is now on Substack When I said (and it must be over a year ago) that eventually “everyone” would be on Substack, I certainly didn’t imagine that. But here we are. Today marks the end of a difficult month-and-a-half for me, which is uncomfortable every year. Today I am not longer the same age as the Apricot Antichrist. And in three days it will be Barack Obama’s birthday. If you didn’t get an invitation to sign a digital birthday card for him, this link should take care of that.

There are federal agencies, some of which are intended to be “independent” in the sense that they are supposed to decide policy on the basis of expert knowledge, not on any political opinions. And then there are Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), which like every other good thing, are now in danger. There is much more in this memo, but it’s this first section for which I am posting it.

Joyce Vance looks at history (since she is a lawyer, it is legal history and a judge.) This was in my lifetime, so I have memories of it, but I was also more than half a continent away from it and very young, so I didn’t have all these details. I also do not remember newspapers publishing court judgments the way not just Joyce but many communicators do now on the internet. It might have been better if they had done so.

And this is why I subscribe to The Root. Some stories are mainly of interest to people of color – but now and then one of those stories will – or should – be of interest to everyone who is human. It’s a pity Missouri can’t just out all its Republicans in government at every level.

Open Thread July 31 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:07 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 312025

Tuesday, I forgot to schedule the post I had prepared, and it ended up getting used yesterday. Sorry. Yesterday, I got an email from Lona that she was concerned about the notice that PHP is out of date, and unless I misunderstood her, she was able to see that on the blog itself, not just on the dashboard. I went to BlueHost, where I found conflicting sets of instructions on how to update it. After a lot of searching, I was able to find how to execute one set, which I did. I went back to PP and got only a critical error message, both on the dashboard and on the blog. I had to call in, which took several tries, but finally got in and got a live person who checked my work and checked the blog and determined that the updated version is not compatible with our blog, So she reversed the update and now it is working again. In case anyone attempted to see it while the error message was up – that was the problem. However, all this means that we are stuck with the old PHP. If you ever see anything about it, please be aware that our beloved TC was not always satisfied with software offered through BlueHost and sometimes found a different plugin to do the same job better. For instance, I observed that at BlueHost it says the site does not have backups enabled. But what BlueHost doesn’t know is that TC arranged for backups through another provider – Updraft Plus – and we are getting backed up every day without fail – I get a daily email notification of it. So if the new PHP is not compatible, and BlueHost is not worried about it, I am not either. TC will have arranged another plugin for the same function. And all our plugins are set to automatically update. When I can, I’ll put up either a new page or a new block on the Home Page to explain this, so in case anyone else is seeing a PHP warning on the blog itself, the information will be there.

Steve Schmidt is not himself a trained psychologist. But sometimes an untrained person can stumble upon a realization which is profound. I think Steve is on to something here.

Leaving MAGA is a group founded by Rich Logis, and it is also a book (at the home site you can get an ebook for free if you wish.) It is also a petition from the action network to major media requesting that they cover the stories of people who have left MAGA. That would not reach all of them – but it could reach a significant segment. At the very least they might be able to hear something outside their bubbles.

Robert Reich republishes (with permission and translated) an article from Haaretz.

Open Thread July 30 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 302025

Yesterday, this showed up on Democratic Underground. I usually prefer to go to the original source, but this is such a coherent summary, the USL provided is already cut so doesn’t need cleaning up, that I thought I’d just use it. Also yesterday, Roy Cooper announced for the US Senate👍. And, sadly, Tom Lehrer has died. He was 97. Finally, here’s a link to a Meidas post – no video, no article, just photos of Scottish protest signs which met our Führer when he disembarked there.

OK, this from Robert Reich is from last week. But it’s still accurate, and it doesn’t look like it will get any better any time soon. Really, the readers here are so informed that there’s not much point to me covering the top stories unless I have a spin on them that’s not getting attention. Instead, covering the stories that will otherwise be missed is our mission. That’s not to say I will always guess correctly what is big – or get hooked into a big story for some reason – after all, I’m only human. But that’s my goal.

Heather Cox Richardson only comments on this story by setting it next to a story from 1955 (a story which y’all are probably aware of). And that is all that is needed. As a nation – we haven’t come very far.

From Wonkette. No way to tell at this point whether this had any effect at all on those who are addicted to lies, but it is still refreshing.

This is not a cartoon, nor is it new – it was painted by John Gast in 1872. It is named “American Progress,” and the blonde giantess represents “Columbia” (still a synonym for “The United States” almost a hundred years after the Revolution.) If yo see it credited to Thomas Kinkade, that is false, although DHS, which posted this at their website, also posted a picture by Kinkade, without permission from his heirs, who have protested. The Kinkade is fairly innocuous, but this image, propaganda for the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, is chilling when you think about how many totally innocent people were killed for it.

Open Thread July 28 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 282025

Yesterday, I certainly didn’t mean to scare anyone, and I hope I didn’t. I pulled into my driveway at 4:30, but it was after 5:30 by the time I got the “home safe” post up. And a huge part of that was temperamental computers – three of them. I think it was about the fifth time trying to start it that was the charm for the desktop, and that didn’t happen until I was getting my dinner out of the crockpot. In the meantime I tried the laptop, and I got in in about five minutes, but could not open my Opera browser. I got it open with a workaround, but then it wouldn’t go to any of my speed dial sites. Finally I went to the 8.1 desktop, and managed to get it posted. I grant that some of the delay was for my personal comfort – It was 95°F outside, and I was wearing a heavy sweater (not heavy enough to keep me warm for the visit, though – it seemed unusually cold in the visitation room where it’s always colds, and Virgil thought so too.) But if my main desktop had started right up, I would have been able to post first and cool off afterwards. I suspect it was a random outage. (I certainly hope so.) Anyway the cribbage was good, and we got an update on the dog (he’s wonderful.) Late in the day, another inmate came in to use a tablet (they may use tablets for video phone calls to family/friends if the contact has a camera and mike – I don’t, and I don’t think Virgil could possibly learn to use the tablet, so I’m not planning on getting either) and Virgil said “He’s in my area. I think he’s a [jerk.] He does a lot of pissing and moaning.” and I said, “And you don’t?” and he laughed with a big smile on his face. A lovely, sunny smile. Of course that’s a big reason I fell for him in the first place, and also that we have been together so long – he can genuinely laugh at himself and enjoy it.

Heather Cox Richardson also saw the (full) South Park opener, but she discusses a lot more than that here.

Meidas Touch videos are too long for me – but here’s an article of theirs with just pictures – of Scottish protest signs.

In honor of World Tiger day, World Wildlife Fund is making four wallpaper-sized photos available for desktop or phone free. They had a contest, and the baby won it of course, but they have decided to release all four finalists. In case any cat people missed this, I wanted to share it.

How many times have you heard “Follow the money”? Joyce Vance explains exactly how real investigators accomplish that. Most of us don’t have the appropriate access to do it effectively. Senator Wyden (D-OR) does. Oregon leading again.

Open Thread July 27 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 272025

Yesterday, the radio opera was the third of the three based on “Manon Lescaut” – loosely. This one is by Puccini. I’d translate parts of a couple of the arias, but if i did I’d be flippant, so I’ll pass. There’s enough unintentional humor in the fourth act. When Manon Lescaut the novel was written, the Louisiana Purchase was not even a twinkle in Jefferson’s eye, and it included a great deal of land not in Louisiana today. For instance, it reached as far west as both panhandles (Texas and Oklahoma) and even a corner of New Mexico. So she actually could have been deported to “the deserts of Louisiana,” and die there. But you’d be hard put to find even a square inch of desert in Louisiana today, so it sounds pretty funny. Off yo see Virgil – will check in on return.

This was released Wednesday, and the full article covers more of this Senate race than just Roy Cooper. So if Roy does announce this week, that will be even more good news.

I had to squeeze this in. The cat goddesses are united and in good form, as always.

I’ve never had cable, so I’ve never watched South Park, but I couldn’t have avoided knowing a little about it even if I had wanted to. And I enjoyed every second of this video (which is not the actual episode, but a commentary on it with multiple clips)., even the rehashes of stuff we know from straight political news. I think you will also. (It is so good that, just in case it got taken down before you could see it, I downloaded software so I could download it and upload it to our library if I needed to. It is so good that there’s a petition to thank South Park for it.)

Open Thread July 26 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 262025

Yesterday, I had a good night’s sleep – and a little more energy than I’ve been having (though not as much as I would like to have.) Incidentally, does anyone remember that before I was in the hospital, and I was putting up two posts daily, including one just for videos, one of the creators I used was retired Major Richard Ojeda? Well, he is now running for Congress in North Carolina. He may not be young, but he is a fighter, has zero tolerance for BS, and tells it like it is “without fear or favor.” I hope he wins.

I don’t see anything surprising in this from the Intercept, unless it’s the focus on Personal Protective Equipment – when there are so many other behaviors they could criminalize. Like giving people food and/or water, as was done in some states at the last election.

I apologize for posting legal – stuff – on a Saturday, but at least you will be amused by some of the colorful similes. With any other court, this is so extreme that I’d just laugh and delete it. But with this court, who knows?

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