May 072026
 

Yesterday, my exterminator came and said all my rooms have much less activity – and so does the yard. It actually snowed a little Tuesday, which is exactly when they would try to get inside out of the cold, so that’s all good. Then Trinette came by – and it took us a while to find where the plug had come out of the computer, but we did, and it works. So I can run the disc now, and hopefully I’ll be back in business.

Thirty seven minutes of discussion about Louisiana v. Callais – and the procedural mandate SCROTUS released late this Monday (a little less if you skip the part at the beginning when knitting and animals are discussed. The first few minutes of Substack videos are always off topic because viewers don’t all join at once, and most presenters wait until at least 1000 have joined to address the topic.) Once I started watching instead of reading, I have continued when possible because watching, you can’t skip, so I don’t miss things by trying to read too fast. And also, because depth of the the presenters’ feelings on the topic come through more clearly. But if you really prefer to read it, scroll down a bit – I’ve se the link so the transcript will already be up.

Under a regime which does not care whether people live or die, nor how they suffer –this could not have happened at a worse time. Not that there is a good time, but there have been times when the federal government would at least have tried to minimize tragedies.

Robert Reich points out a billionaire who is making a case for a wealth tax. But he’s not doing it intentionally. I’ve often wondered whether, if millionaires and billionaires woul just pay their political contributions into the IRS as conscience gifts instead of giving them to politicians, we could fund Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and other similar programs just fine.

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May 062026
 

Yesterday, Malcolm Nance’s (along with Jacob Kaarsbo and Wajeeh Lion) made it pretty clear that Europe is working seriously to make lemonade from the lemons we are throwing at them. And that includes the UK at one end – Brexit be damned – and Ukraine at the other. And more power to them! In fact, Mark Carney of Canada made a speech for their negotiations which included the opinion tat the international rule of law is not dead, but will be led by Europe in the the future. Also, I spent over three hours setting up the printer/scanner I got to replace my all-in-one which died. I got to the point when I was supposed to insert the disc, and discovered I had somehow unplugged the computer. To get to the outlet, one must crawl under the desk. So Trinette is coming by to help me with that this evening.

For this article I only have one word – hope. Not that we don’t still have to be vigilant about getting free and fair elections in November – but this is still promising IMO.

This from The Conversation could explain a lot. Although I remind all that correlation is not the same as causation.

from Vicky Ward Investigates. Well, this explains why Melania did that speech out of nowhere to distance herself from Epstein. And a few other things.At the time, I didn’t really care why she did it – but now tht I know, I do care – if only a little..

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May 042026
 

Yesterday, I was fairly stressed, and my body responded by sleeping for 12 hours. Apparently, I needed to. After midnight, I emailed Virgil’s facility to schedule a visit for next Sunday (and emailed Trinette to let her know, since ordinarily she would come here that day.)

Apparently, there are 42 Democrats in the House who think the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a good idea. I don’t, and this article nails why I don’t.

Robert Reich writes about different incarnations of capitalism, which one we need to have, and why. I’m pretty sure, of all of them, it’s the one farthest to the left – and this is a discussion in which speaking of left vs. right is appropriate.

Andy Borowitz isn’t always funny. That’s often true on Sundays, when he does interviews, which can only be accessed by paid subscribers. But last Sunday, he decided his topic (essentially the First Amendment) was too important to limit his audience. This is unusual enough for me to want to share it. the video portion is just over a half hour, and there is a transcript. As usual on Substack, you will need to unmute it if you choose to watch. It’s about a documentary – but it isn’t itself the documentary. (A short digression – if we did have over a thousand members of the House of Representatives – maybe they could meet in the ballroom and remodel the House floor for state occasions.)

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May 032026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” I can’t do a better summary than Wikipedia does: “a dandy rejects a young country girl, she successfully grows into a worldly woman, he tries to seduce her but it is too late.” Set during the reign of Catherine the Great (1762–1796 – and she appears briefly in a silent role in some productions – though not in this one), based on a verse novel by Pushkin, it displays (intentionally or not?) issues of the status of women. The opening duet, between Tatiana’s mother and her maid, includes one of the saddest lines ever written: “Heaven sends us habit in place of happiness.” Although Tatiana gets the upper hand by the time the opera ends. I had planned to see Virgil today, but I missed a deadline I didn’t know existed (it’s fairly new, and it was in a form letter I don’t normally read because I know what is says – or thought I did.) Fortunately he phoned last night so I could tell him before he panicked. He took it well. So I’ll be rearranging my schedule.

Archived from The Guardian. This issue – who should hold historical and pre-historical treasures – has been a hot button topic longer than I have been alive – and it still is. I am on Mamdami’s side myself. It isn’t just the Kohinoor diamond that the UK is still sitting on – It also still holds the Elgin Marbles. I do realize that Athens is subject to earthquakes, but I also feel that those  statues must mean more to people who are actually Greek than they ever could to me, regardless of my education.

This video is very short, but it’s on loop, so you won’t miss any of it.

From PBS, referred by Dose of Democracy. Considering how many reactionary bishops we have, this is just a step – but a step in the right direction.

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May 022026
 

Yesterday, I learned in passing that – at least for now – TACO (T* Always Chickens Out) has been replaced by NACHO (Not A Chance Hormuz Opens).

I’m posting this from Colorado Public Radio, not so much as Colorado news, as that I’m pretty confident this happening all over the country. Because why wouldn’t it.

I swear I am not making this up.

You can read the letter – or you can listen to Heather read it (under 14 minutes) – they have identical content. I’ve checked enough times to be confident, but I checked this one anyway.

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May 012026
 

Today, in addition to being May Day, is also Law Day in the US.

Yesterday, Joyce Vance made a Substack video with Norm Eisen and April Ryan from The Contrarian, and the subject of James Comey’s new indictment came up. I know almost everyone is still upset with him on account of the 2016 election and “her emails.” But the more time goes by, the less I believe that that remark had anything to do with Hillary’s loss. I think pure misogyny was more than enough to sink her. But I digress. April, who had worked at the FBI when Comey was its Director, said something about him that I didn’t know and you probably don’t either. She said he would take every new hire to the MLK Memorial, and show them the FBI files on Dr. King, and say “This is what overreach looks like.”

From The Conversation. The Panamanian company Congress just authorized to mine the Boundary Waters for copper sulfite may be the most egregious example of this. It doesn’y just pollute the water. It also poisons the air.

As Liza Donnelly points out, Heather Cox Richardson nailed the difference between the two speeches. And Liza goes a bit farther by linking to videos. (This from Borowitz is just a footnote.)

There’s been noise about Rep Chuck Edwards (R-NC) being under ethics investigation, but nothing about why. Unless this is it. Not that this sounds like something Republican would care about. I guess we’ll wait and see.

 

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Apr 302026
 

Yesterday, SCROTUS eviscerated the Voting Rights Act. I’m not providing a link because the news is everywhere. I am not saying this in its defense, because there is no defense. But I presume they are looking at Clarence to justify their illusion that people of color are less intelligent. (If they would look at Ketanji, they would not be able to hold on to that lie.) Also yesterday, I received an email which included a poll. I almost never respond to those polls which are sent out, for the simple reason that they include no way to express one’s specific feelings about a person or an issue, and my feelings are generally far more nuanced that the possible responses provided. But this poll had a response which actually nailed my feelings, and even allowed me to add s few words explaining why, so I did respond. If that piques your curiosity, here’s the link. You need to scroll down below the petition to get to the poll part, but not far.

This article comes with a roughly 45 minute video which covers in detail corruption which is a matter of public record but which has been under the radar for at least 30 years. You don’t need to watch it – I’m just telling you so you can make a more informed decision.

This feels like a good day to post an article titled “Six Solutions to Fix the Supreme Court” = particularly when it’s from The Brennan Center.

https://archive.is/h1zxW
Archived from The Lever, the brainchild of David Sirota, a former campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, and a Substack personality in his own right. It’s in the category of “investigative journalism.” The case in the title is a civil suit in Maine. There’s a link to the actual complaint, but the complainants are three named groups and the defendants are six individuals, in their capacities as elected or appointed officials of the state of Maine. Heaven only knows what the short name will end up being.

Dog/Squirrel

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Apr 292026
 

Yesterday, Malcolm Nance changed the name of his daily Substack Video (also on YouTube after it ends) from the “US-Iran Warcast” to the “Global Crisiscast.” For good and sufficient reasons. If you have a tolerance for facing worst case scenarios – and the consequences of stupidity and also a tolerance for Malcolm’s style (which includes dark humor), I seriously recommend it. This link will not take you directly to it, because the specific address changes daily, but it will take you ro Malcolm’s Substack home page and the crisiscast should be at or very near the top.

This is from Americans of Conscience. All of my experience with running elections was prior to 2016, but when I was doing that work, even under Republican Secretaries of State, the Colorado state government had a strong attitude of inclusion. (Not all the others I worked with did (in precinct  work, workers must comprise equal numbers of Ds and R)s, but the state did, and the County Clerks did.) I did realize that was not the case everywhere. But the extent of the differences may not be as widely known. Plus, these are just two examples – there are at least 49 more.

From The Intercept. I realize there are a lot of things in this world which can hurt other people – or which can hurt oneself if one tries to work with them without good sound understanding of how they work, or to push their limits. Stoves. Cars and trucks. Construction Equipment. Large animals. Large bodies of water. Knives. Stupid people. None of these things are evil in themselves, but people get hurt by them every day. Of them, AI most resembles large animals and stupid people. If the incidents of AI talking people into suicide have not sufficiently convinced you to use it with great caution, if at all, consider this article.

This from Rights and Insights is not new information, but it’s from a different perspective than most. It points out something no one else is saying – that the practices this regime wants to eliminate from elections in order to “make them safer” are exactly the safeguards which allow elections to be free and fair.

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