Open Thread May 29 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 292025
 

Yesterday, Various people were still talking about Scott Pelley’s commencement speech at Wake Forest, mostly in glowing terms (although I’m sure MAGAts had other opinions.) Wonkette linked to a transcript of it, so you can judge for yourself. I think it’s worth the time. Also, the Nature Conservancy shared aome footage on the mating rituals of the greater prairie-chicken, including sound. It’s funny, because it’s kind of a little allegory of males of every species – or so it appeared to me and Trinette. You may not agree.

Yes, this from Joyce Vance is from Tuesday. She is concerned that it isn’t (or wasn’t then) getting much if any coverage, and she may still be correct about that.

John Pavlovitz would be the first to tell you that he struggles with major depression (and, yes he has sought and received treatment for it, with all that implies. If you’re not familiar with the concept of the wounded healer, you can look at him and get an idea.) So the current regime is terribly hard on him – as of course it is on us. But, as he points out, joyis not just feeling good – it is also a weapon- a defensive weapon, but still a weapon.

Not really news from the Brennan Center – at least, not to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. But not being news does not mean it isn’t still a problem, especially since we have a modern Roger Taney SCOTUS.

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Open Thread May 28 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 282025
 

Yesterday, Andy Borowitz questioned Jake Tapper’s cognitive ability, since he wrote a book about the cognitive decline of a President-but it was the wrong President.  Also, I streamed the National Memorial Day Concert which I had not caught on Sunday,  It was still up (and may still be – if it is, anyone can watch it.  My “Passport” is up to date, but I didn’t need to sign in to see it.  Also, Joe Mantegna does not have a life-threatening medical condition – is not even bedridden – he just has an inner ear issue  such that his doctor won’t let him fly and he would have had to fly to get to DC timely.)

From The Intercept. Kind of makes me even more glad that I am old. And that I am in a financial position such that, although I meet my financial obligations, I don’t have a lot left over so I’m less attractive as a target.

From the 19th. Not news. Instead, a deep dive into police killings, the men they killed, and their mothers whose lives were changed forever. Lest we forget.

I honestly don’t know what to think about this. He is such a liar – but even if this is a real breakthrough, he is so cognitively impaired that it’s not terribly likely that he’s able to hang on to it. And of course he still is who he is. Wonkette discusses.

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Open Thread May 27 2025

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 272025
 

Yesterday, as I was starting to check email, my radio station played a piece by Chopin, and when it was over and the DJ back announced it, she said “Frederic Chopin,” but what I thought I heard was “President Chopin.” There’s nothing wrong with her pronunciation, nor with my hearing – but apparently my brain is over-fixated. Sigh. Also yesterday – I don’t know whether this will actually work for anyone else, but I kind of got slapped in the face by my white privilege. One of the websites at which I found a birthday card last year was having a sale, and I had so much difficulty then, I thought I’d look now for birthday cards for Trinette’s two sons. We’re talking about young black men, in their twenties, whom I would probably recognize if I saw them on the street but we’re not close the way I am to their mother. So I did a search there for “birthday card black man.” I got a result of 106 pages and managed to get through 17 or 18 of those pages, despite constantly second guessing myself – “that’s gorgeous, but I don’t know whether they care much about history or African heritage – will it look like I’m talking down?” or “that’s funny, but will it look like I’m laughing at them instead of with them?” I finally managed to find 10 cards, although one is for Virgil (it says “Happy Birthday from the best decision you ever made” – he will know I’m laughing with him because he tells me that – a lot) to get a quantity discount on top of the sale prices. But it took a lot of time and a lot of self-examination. Also yesterday – ironically on Memorial Day, Korean War veteran and long time (but now retired) Congressman Charlie Rangel (in his day known as “the lion of Lenox Avenue”) died at age 94. May he rest in power.

Since yesterday was a holiday, I thought The Week Ahead from Joyce Vance would be appropriate for today. And there’s a lot of it to digest.

Robert Reich has pretty much seen it all. If he says something is “truly horrifying,” it must actually be so – at least. Possibly worse.

I guess Roberts hasn’t learned anything yet. I’m still hoping he’s capable – the other Republicans, with the exception of Barrett (surprising though that may be, it seems to be true) are incapable of learning anything.

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Open Thread May 26 2025

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 262025
 

Yesterday, Trinette came by. I didn’t have enough trash to bother with, but she took out my recycling. I also had some stuff for the food bank where she volunteers. We chatted about a lot of stuff, including the holiday – her family has a lot of veterans – just not in the youngest generation. I would take that as a good sign, were it not for the current regime. I knew that I would find misogyny n the military, but I also knew I would find equal pay for equal work, and also equal respect from the top. The military was one of the few employers then where one could be confident of that. Sure, there were racist and misogynist individuals – but where are there not? But today I could not honestly recommend the military to anyone. I hope eventually we can reverse that. I hope your Memorial day is everything you want it to be.

I had to learn this from a VoteVets email – my search engine shows that others have covered it, but no one I get updates from. Although the New York Times is one, so y’all may have seen it. There’s a meme “every time a ‘Christian’ praises Trump**(*), an angel loses its lunch.” I wonder how many angels lost their lunch over this.

Now this from Wonkette actually caused me to say “Jesus Christ and all his disciples, what’s next?” And that was just the headline. I knew – I think we all knew – that Nancy Mace was a POS, but this is above and beyond.

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Open Thread May 25 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 252025
 

Today is Kyiv Day – the (this year the 1543rd) anniversary of the founding of Kyiv. Happy Kyiv Day to all who celebrate. Here’s a link to the picture at left, and a little back story. (Also, UNITED24 is raffling off 24 sweatshirts with a Kyiv monogram – to enter, they ask a contribution of $24 by May 31. I couldn’t find it on their website, but will gladly forward the email on request.)

Yesterday, the radio opera was a new opera by John Adams (“Nixon in China,” “Doctor Atomic”) which for once is not set in modern history: “Antony and Cleopatra” – based on Shakespeare. (One thing hasn’t changed – Gerald Finley is still one of his favorite baritones.) The opera was staged in the 1930-s, more or less, and had some references to fascism. At least one review – the one I found – wasn’t crazy about it, but I found it very listenable Having learned to like Adams’s other compositions has made me comfortable with his style..

This is pretty cool. Anyone who wants to repurpose Alcatraz should read this first.

This good news from Amazon Watch is qualified – but it is good news for now. And we don’t often hear good news from Amazon Watch. (I wonder if the new Pope’s election had any influence.)

The original of this parody is from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” made for TV and originally starring Julie Andrews (later remade with Lesley Ann Warren.) The fairy godmother sings it : “Impossible.”

Cat

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Open Thread May 24 2025

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 242025
 

Yesterday, it was a news-heavy Friday – and with the MAGA habit of breaking crap on Friday afternoons and evenings, it may not even have been over when I posted. Anything I missed will have to wait until next week. I do sometimes need time for dealing with clutter. And I am sorry, but I will not cover the “crypto dinner.” It’s been covered enough.

Trust Robert Reich to take a document this big and make a cogent summary of it in terms that are easy to understand, And also to find and point out the big surprise.  (which we probably don’t need quite as much as low-information voters do, but I for one appreciate.)

I could not pick just one of these articles from The Contrarian – so I’m posting the full list. Hopefully one or more will speak to y’all.

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Open Thread May 23 2025

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 232025
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Faithful America that SCOTUS deadlocked on the OK charter school case so the lower court ruling that giving the charter school government dollars in unconstitutional will stand. For now. (I’m not sure whether this is the same case where there were four recusals so they didn’t have a quorum, or whether that was a different case. Sorry, I’m finding it difficult to keep track.)

Jen Rubin of The Contrarian has been travelling in Europe, and is sharing some historical insight from there, specifically from Spain.

This from Wonkette may be relatively minor, compared to, say, the deaths that will result from gutting Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. However it pisses me off (all racism does), and goes along with the next post.

Press Watch has what might be good news if it only went far enough. I suppose it’s a start.

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Open Thread May 22 2025

 Posted by at 6:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 222025
 

Yesterday, while looking for a cartoon for today (a specific one), I found trove of older cartoons and memes, many of which are not old at all. For instance, does anyone remember (I didn’t) that the Cantaloupe Caligula expressed interest in buying Greenland as early as 2019? I didn’t. But he did. Incidentally, the third asterisk in parentheses when I use the name Trump**(*) is because articles of impeachment have actually been filed. Not that they will go anywhere, but they have. I admit I jumped the gun a little and added it when they had only been drafted and not yet filed – but they did get filed, so I have no regrets. Also yesterday, the Brennan Center reported that Rikers Island ‘s penal complex has been put into receivership by a Federal judge. And one more thing: Rep Gerry Connolly (D-VA) died from esophageal cancer. I looked up Virginia law, and there will be a special election called by the Governor. The law does not specify a time frame.

I’m back to working a little ahead, which means my selections will be a little behind. I hope that isn’t too annoying. At least this from Talking Points Memo covers multiple topics (all important) so there’s a chance you may not have seen one or two.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/stop-asking-about-a-biden-cover-up
This by Robert Reich is not really addressed to us, but to the media, and particularly to wingnut media. As such, it’s probably already doomed. It may give us some ammunition, if any of us has a platform from which to use it. Persnally, I will put on record, and would happily do so anywhere, any time, my evidence-backed opinion that a demented Joe Biden would be a better President than Trump**(*) in perfect mental health and 20 years younger.

I would not be a bit surprised if this news got buried, and in fact considering the circumstances – all the circumstances – it’s probably not all that big a story. But you gotta love Wonkette‘s headline. (I am not blind to the possibility of dangerous consequences from it, but it’s still funny.)

This is a bonus video from Talking Feds. Harry analyzes in detail the events regarding the arrest of Mayor Baraka and the charge against Congresswoman McIver in New Jersey – and what a mess* it really is. The vid is about 26 minutes because it doesn’t leave any issues out.
*When I was in the USMC, we had a racist expression for this which I won’t repeat. “SNAFU,” even “FUBB,” don’t really do it justice, though. Maybe “circle jerk”?

Belle empty ports

Dog

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