Open Thread October 14 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 142025
 

Yesterday, I slept late and tried to take it easy. Just a note on the cartoon/meme: Many, maybe most, people think that businesses open to the public are public property. They are not. They are private property and anyone other than an employee who enters one is either an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser. Invitees are there to do business (often but not always with an appointment, as for a doctor or a dentist or a hairdresser.) Licensees are there to look around – or they are accompanying a licensee. Anything else is a trespasser. Trespassing is not a crime everywhere (that depends on local laws) but it is a tort everywhere, which means that if you trespass, you can be sued. The sample sign below makes any agent of ICE a trespasser. Whether or not any particular ICE agent is educated enough to know that, or for that matter, even able to read it, is of course iffy. But posting it or a similar sign in the best protection any private business can really put into practice.

Common Dreams. I have heard of adding insult to injury. But that does not remotely begin to describe this travesty. It’s more like adding atrocity to injury. I can’t even. And this story was not even at the top of the newsletter.

Straight from The Root. Lessons progressives and just anyone who still believes in the Constitution can learn from the Black community.

I don’t suppose there is anything in this that anyone with eyes and ears doesn’t know about. But still. The answer to Joyce Vance‘s question, sadly, is “yes.” At least in the eyes of the world.

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Open Thread October 13 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 132025
 

Yesterday, Trinette was by. It’s always good to see her. Otherwise, a quiet day. It’s definitely starting to feel like autumn – which is OK.

Robert Reich on the vulnerability of the media. And, yes, we have the tool – the anti-trust act, but it needs to be used. Not just on the media. On just about anything.

This from Talking Points Memo has several stories, but the first one is the one I’m posting it for.

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Open Thread October 12 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 122025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Handel’s “Giulio Cesare in Egitto” – which requires three countertenors, which the Salzburg Festival was able to find. I won’t go into what other productions, prior to the resurgence of countertenors (which, IIRC, started in the 1940 with Alfred Deller, but did not really start to take hold in opera until the 1970s) used to do. I will address the question of why is a German writing an Italian opera for an audience which was mostly English-speaking with a few native German speakers – it was because Italian operas (and oratorios) were all the rage. It wasn’t until John Gay and John Rich presented “The Beggar’s Opera” which was an absolute smash hit that musical entertainment in England began to thrive. (“The Beggar’s Opera” survives to this day as “The ThreePenny Opera,” thanks to Brecht and Weill. At the time – when “gay” still meant happy, it was sait that it had made Gay rich and Rich gay. But I digress.) In relation to historical accuracy, the opera is mixed. But the music is pure Handel (I assume everyone has heard “Messiah”) – not that everyone liked him – many preferred his rival Giovanni Bononcini. This led to a wit of the day coming up with the verse “Some say compared to Bononcini/ that Mynheer Handel’s but a ninny./Others aver that he to Handel/is scarcely fit to hold a candle./Strange all this difference should be/Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.” And, yes, that’s where Lewis Carroll got the names. Pretty much all art is related, often in unpredictable ways.

Although I have never been a member of a labor union (paper pushers tend to have salaried jobs, which are much harder to unionize for multiple reasons), I have always supported unions. After all, what was the American Revolution if it wasn’t a form of union organizing? And the whole “independent contractor” concept was designed to make it between difficult and impossible to organize. This is a real step forward, even if it’s only one state. For now.

This choked me up a little. (Cats can also be extremely calming and lower blood pressure. But their affection is never instant – it needs to be earned – they can be excellent therapy for one person, or even one family, but usually not for just anyone.) This literally is saving lives.

If I haven’t lost count, this is one of 34 elections this year in which a Democrat flipped a seat. This one was a mayoral seat. Most of the seats have been in state legislatures. But don’t underestimate those victories. Victories like these are how people get to Congress. And it looks like there are 17 more such elections to come (which of course have not been won yet, but which could be won.)

The cartoon today is a gif called Magic Potion Kitten. I probably should save it until closer to Hallowe’en, but it charmed me too much (pun intended.)

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Open Thread October 11 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 112025
 

Yesterday, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was announced. Of course it was NOT the Apricot Antichrist. But I suspect if he wanted to he could claim he had some influence in the choice, since Maria Corina Machado is Venezuelan. I would not be surprised if his murders of Venezuelans drew a little extra attention to Machado’s work. Not that she doesn’t deserve it – I’m confident she does. Also, I learned that Mark Bray and his family have made it safely out of America. I have been worried about that. If you don know, here’s the backstory. And I added one more link which is not huge news but is about Portland.

This from John Pavlovitz may sound odd, but if one honestly asks the question “targeting for what?” the answer is clear – every single American is being targeted for something. Think of “Tomorrow belongs to me” in “Cabaret.” Or, a bit less obviously, think of the scene in “The Sound of Music” when Georg says, “They’ll never make a Nazi out of you.” I think you’ll see what John is talking about.

As simple s this is, I doubt that any brainwashed MAGAts will understand it. And – yeah, 2 from Pavlovitz in one say. I’d be sorrier, but he’s been really hot lately. And both are secular.

From The Intercept, everything you hoped you would never need to know about the Insurrection Act.

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Open Thread October 10 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 102025
 

Yesterday, I couldn’t get back to sleep and ended up getting up early.  It would be nice if I had therefore accomplished more than usual, but I’m afraid I didn’t, except for maybe a little knitting.

Steve Schmidt is correct. Stephen Miller doesn’t generally worry about saying the quiet part out loud, or anything outrageous. He shows his hate freely. If Steve is correct as to what happened, and I don’t know why he wouldn’t be, then what was said before the cutoff should indeed be truly terrifying.

Other outlets have covered this situation, and there’s been a lot said about it (for instance, at Democratic Underground, where the point was made that, in the past, when the Speaker was “not available”, new members have been sworn in by a Supreme Court justice). But this is the deepest dive I have seen.

Wonkette addresses the issue of federal employees ever getting paid after the shutdown. With any sane President, this would never have been ab issue. But then, if we had a sane President, we likely would not be in a shutdown.

Guest video from Robert Reich – because he requested it be shared.

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Open Thread October 9 2025

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 092025
 

Yesterday, an email from Justin Pearson – one of the “Tennessee three” along with Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson – remember “No Justins, no peace”? – announced his run for Congress. More power to him. Also, The F* News newsletter included this sentence, which shocked me and may shock you: “[T]he GOP leadership’s followers aren’t even following their leaders. TFN told you on Tuesday about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) demanding subsidy extensions. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is also cracking the GOP wall.” Finally, I re-watched “Judgment at Nuremberg.” It is on YouTube in full. If you are a member, you won’t need this link, but it not, here is a link which will shove no advertising on you. (if you just want the explanation of how ordinary people allowed it to happen – which I am by no means 100% behind – it starts somewhere around 2 hours 15 miutes.)

Many people dismiss the ideas of comedians and cartoonists as being “unserious.” I don’t. There is a long history of the “jester” or the “fool” being the only one in a kingdom who could speak truth to power and live. This goes back to the dawn of history, but if you want some 500 year old evidence, I challenge you to find me a comedy (or even a tragedy) by Shakespeare in which the fool, if there is one, is not the wisest character. Iiza Donnelly is a cartoonist for The New Yorker. Ann Telnaes was a cartoonist for the Washington Post until she quit because Bezos was censoring her truth. The two of then were recently the headliners at an international cartoonists convention in France. Here are some of Liza’s thoughts while returning home.

There’s been a great deal of news about MAGA freakouts over Bad Bunny being scheduled for the Super Bowl halftime show. Just so you know, Bad Bunny is a birthright citizen of America, as are his parents.

This from Wonkette appears to be under-reported, possibly because the perp is under 18. Two families devastated by one little creep. I hope New Jersey has some provision for victims’ rights. Our Mitch would probably know, unless the law has changed since he moved to Florida.

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Open Thread October 7 2025

 Posted by at 7:04 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 072025
 

Yesterday, I heard from Carrie after her visit to Barry. I’m quoting much of it because we are all so used to brain strokes and how to tell if you or a loved one may be having or have had one, and none of that will work for a brain stem stroke. “I was able to speak to him and he was aware I was there. That is the saddest thing about this type of stroke. His brain functions well, but everything the brain stem controls is gone. Because brain stem strokes are so rare, they are easily missed. That’s why he was not correctly diagnosed when he first arrived in the ER. His doctors had only had one other such stroke victim in the past four years. Barry will be transferred to Warm Springs, Georgia to a hospital / rehab facility. After 2 to 4 weeks, they should be able to give us a prognosis.” In other news, our Supreme Court is corrupt – but not corrupt enough to consider Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal (Axios). Also, I can at least say that I have one Senator who has a clue how to message.

I agree with Robert Reich that this needs to be discussed – or at least thought about – by everyone. I personally am absolutely unqualified to talk about it with people who voted for it, but no doubt there are people who are. Will those voters be willng to listen to or even talk to such qualified people? Anyway, for us – therapy animals can help. for those lucky enough to own one or be near a professional one.

Harry Litman with a this-is-how-it’s-done article on a judicial opinion. As he points out, All judges have occasions on which they need to defer, but they should never to lies. Other courts should take this message to heart – immediately. (Incidentally, this judge was appointed by the Mango Moron. How she got past the Heritage Foundation, I can’t even guess.)

This may brighten your day and maybe even look into the book. There is a Little Professor bookstore in Athens, Ohio, and another in Owatonna, Minnesota, but Joyce lives in Alabama, so this has to be in Birmingham or its suburb Homewood. Although cities are more liberal than rural areas, that’s still a lot of books for Alabama (I wonder how much her signature changed from the first one to the last one.)

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