Open Thread June 18 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 182025
 

Yesterday, the DLCC chair sent an email about honoring Melissa Hortman. In case you didn’t receive it – or received it but deleted it thinking it was a donation request (which I almost did), here is the list of suggested actions we can take to honor her memory (hanky alert):
Plant a tree.
Visit a local park and make use of their amenities, especially a bike trail.
Pet a dog. A golden retriever is ideal, but any will do.
Tell your loved ones a cheesy dad joke and laugh about it.
Bake something — bread for Mark or a cake for Melissa, and share it with someone.
Try a new hobby and enjoy learning something.
Stand up for what you believe in, especially if that thing is justice and peace.

And this is why I keep subscribing to John Pavlovitz – and saving his emails. Of course he has a lot to say, but in case anyone else is struggling with morale, this might help.

I don’t often post from the 19th. But this – this is something I had no idea existed, and I expect I’m not alone in that. And we should know about it. And the only other coverage is, at all places, The Borowitz Report.

Clearly this is not a happy news day. And this from the F* News is no exception. And I haven’t even brought up Iran. But I really can’t ignore this.

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Open Thread June 17 2025

 Posted by at 5:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 172025
 

Yesterday, A federal jury found that Mike Lindell defamed Dominion Voting Machines (in the person of its former CEO Eric Cooper.) The headline said he was found guilty, but defamation is a tort, as opposed to a crime, so I don’t think guilty is the correct legal term. The award was $2.3 million. I doubt Lindell has that much any more than he has the $62.7 the case was filed for. Lindell has, of course, been shown up for the liar that he is, but I’m not holding my breath for MAGA to be convinced of that.

After referring to Evan Hurst’s “The Moral High Ground” Substack, I came a cross to a specific article there which sounded good, so I checked it out, and here it is.

I’m sharing “The Week Ahead” on Tuesday, not because I don’t think everyone’s heard about Senator Padilla – the could only have been missed by political illiterates – but because she explains why Judge Breyer scheduled a hearing over the California National Guard case, and I’ve seen a lot of people who are literate politically but legal procedurally not so much asking why and noting that it seems like a concession to the regime. Since there is sound reason, and also since there are still people who are incensed at the Biden DOJ because the Clementine Caesar is not behind bars right this minute, I thought I should share that. Being furious with people who are on our side doesn’t help either our mood or our motivation. And prosecutorial and judicial decisions can look wimpy if one doesn’t know the reasons – and I’m as guilty as anyone. Yes, I’m discovering that I have a little authoritarian in me too – it’s not dominant, but it’s there. Anyway, the short answer in this case is that he is looking to the long run. But Joyce has the details as to why. (It does require a scroll down to get to it. I don’t know why she would expect a response from either Tuberville or Britt.)

The F* News has the skinny om the Boelter arrest (and more.) I already have come to the conclusion – for some time now – that religion is not the problem that people without it think it is. There is a problem, yes, but it’s not so much the religion as it is the misuse and abuse of religion. This is not an original thought of mine. For just one example, G. K. Chesterton said it, not in my exact words but still pretty clearly (and eloquently), in the Father Brown story “The Sign of the Broken Sword.” It’s actually been said a lot, but you may not see or hear it unless you are looking for it.

Belle GOP regrets

Dog/Cats

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Open Thread June 16 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 162025
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. Though it was Father’s Day, there was only one inmate in the visiting room whose visitation included a child. That doesn’t mean necessarily that he was  the only father who was visited – visiting is also allowed on Friday and Saturday – I just prefer Sunday because the traffic is calmer. There was a little bit of rain on my way back (maybe even a little hail – but if so, very small – maybe pinhead size.) And neither the rain nor the hail lasted long at all.

Evan Hurst is a staff writer for Wonkette, but he also has his own Substack called “The Moral High Ground.” (And there’s always a link to it at the end of his pieces, including this one.) I think everyone who is progressive has moral reasons for that stand, but we don’t always appeal to them when discussing politics – and I’m not saying we should, but maybe we should think about it. As you can tell even just from the title, “moral” doesn’t necessarily imply “respectable word choices.” And that, I think, is a good thing.

Yes, I learned about these shootings on Saturday, but I wasn’t about to put this in Sunday’s post. I will only add to Joyce that Melissa Hartman was not just a representative, but also a former Speaker of the Minnesota House. So much for “Minnesota nice.” (Or maybe that only applies to the DFL party.)

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Open Thread June 15 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 152025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” and I actually got to hear it on the radio, which I hadn’t expected, since it is pricey for a station to carry the series, and especially now, with the Mango Monster trying to remove all Federal funding. But my local station has decided to air at least the first half. It was a performance from La Scala in Milan, an opera house even more storied than the Met. With quite a cast. It was lovely – sad of course, but lovely. Also, Just as Carlo was executing his sister, I received a certified letter from Virgil’s facility asking me whether I’d be willing to hold his Medical Durable Power of Attorney. Well, I hadn’t thought about it, but if I had, I would have realized that was only a matter of time before that would happen. I think I’m competent, and I also think it’s part of my job. I emailed and said so and added that I’ll be down today if anyone is there and would like to talk with me. And now I’m off to visit him.

I almost hope this gets such wide coverage that I’ll need to look for something else by the time this posts. I doubt it’s news to anyone here that animals have more smarts than humans, but it’s a lovely story.

It isn’t enough … but it’s something. If it would catch on, that would be a much bigger (and better) story.

Now this story – this is personal (I don’t mean to me – I mean it involves and affects real individual people.) In a way it reminds me of an animal rescue story, except that this object is inanimate.

Today is Father’s Day. From the ACLU, here is a letter from Mahmoud Khalil to his newborn son. You will have to scroll down some, since the donation section is at the top. (I’m not really good at remembering Father’s Day, since mine died a few days after I was born. But I can recognize love when I see it.)

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Open Thread June 14 2025

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

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Pete Buttigieg now has a Substack. A couple of days later, Heather Cox Richardson invited him to a video conversation which was broadcast as recorded. The recording is now available, probably on both Substacks, but I watched it on Pete’s. If you have a spare three quarters of an hour or so, and you’d like to spend it in the company of two people who are intelligent, knowledgeable, sane, and just good people, this may be for you.

As Wonkette does not say (but I do), families are not a certain predictor of a person’s principles. Some apples fall a county, or a state, or a country away from the tree. These people coming up with these conspiracy theories, particularly the ones including trafficking children- I mean, for that to even occur to them doesn’t say much for their own morals.

This opinion piece (I say opinion, but it’s the truth) by Rebecca Solnit got her banned from Facebook. But Wonkette’s “TABs” linked to it. If you are here before going out to a “No Kings Day” event, this is probably the one to read now and the rest later.

I threw in this from Wonkette because I didn’t want it to wait. I also didn’t want it to get buried. Foreign policy is not an area which gets much attention (unless there’s a war – and that goes double for the current isolationist atmosphere) and I thought this important.

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Open Thread June 13 2025

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 132025
 

Yesterday, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a DHS press conference held by Kristi Noem defending the indefensible. You can’t have missed it. It was in Daily Kos, Axios alerts, and enough others that you must have seen it. Also, The Conversation has an article up from an Orwell expert. And, Daily Dose of Democracy reported on how the Mango Moron was met at the Kennedy Center the previous night.

Up until now, I have felt Lever Reports pretty much overpromised and underdelivered. But this article appears to be right up there with ProPublica, POGO, and ITPI

From Huff Post. Leave it to Republicans to get all pissed off over anything that takes away the smallest iota of attention from them, them, them. I wish I thought this article would stand a chance of reaching its intended audience. Sadly, I don’t.

I didn’t want to hold this until Saturday, partly because there is certain to be more news by then which will deserve an audience. So, three articles.

Cat/Dog (rerun?)

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Open Thread June 12 2025

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

Yesterday, It was quite a news day – I filled up two days, which is a good thing, because… I also had two packages arrive at two different times – fortunately, both were left on the porch so I got them in without having to endanger myself. Then I had online issues with one of my banks (I guess I should say “with my bank” since the other is a credit union.) The website appears no longer to have an easy way to put a message into a queue for them, so I ended up typing a letter, “printing” it into a pdf, and uploading that.

This from Wonkette pretty well sums up what we have all been expecting since last November. At that, it could be worse. If you remember my Stravinsky story – with the magistrate saying “In Germany today, such things happen all the time” and sending them away – at least we are protesting. And how. Right now I feel like I just want to live long enough to see Stephen Miller get to the FO stage of FAFO. But I’m sure when I cool down a little I’ll think of other names for that list.

Well, this is spooky. It was only two days ago that I made my comment about government in exile. I made it here, and also on Substack. And already yesterday it appears that someone with money read it. No, I don’t really believe that – it’s probably just a matter of great minds falling in the same ditch, as TC would have said – but the synchronicity is remarkable.

This from the F* News is not a huge story – but it does have implications which may or may not be hopeful. When the attitudes chronicled here start to show up in the voting, that will be a story – if it happens.

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Open Thread June 11 2025

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 112025
 

Yesterday, I had a phrase running through my head most of the day – that phrase is “government in exile.” Not exactly a government in exile as happened during the second World War, but just for some functions. For instance – RFK Jr has fired the entire CDC vaccine advisory committee. Of course they are individuals … but they are also a team. What if we could find a way to keep them together and fund them so they could continue their life-saving work. They might not even need to be outside the country, though they probably should be very secret. The same goes for government funded medical research and the National Weather Service – and other life saving groups being torn up and cast aside because the current regime is a death cult. Solid journalism outside the U.S. already exists, such as The Guardian – I don’t know how helpful it would be to fund historians to archive it, but it’s a thought. Basically, just functions which could enable us eventually to hit the ground running when the time comes to restore civilization. I’m not a millionaire – far from it – I depend on social Security – but there is a PAC called “Patriotic Millionaires.” I don’t know whether they might have some interest. It might turn out to be more effective in the long run than duplicating the obvious protests everyone else is doing. Also, my governor has been accused of collaboration. I hope it isn’t true.

This from the F*News on the callup of the National Guard and deployment of Marines from 29 Palms. Lots of sources are pointing out that the National Guard command has not been taken from a governor by a President since the 1960’s. Fewer are pointing out why it was done in the 1960s – basically for the exact opposite of why it is being done now. At that time it was the governor who was breaking the law and the President who was enforcing it and protecting Americans.

This is more of a rant from Dan Froomkin than it is news. But righteous rants are needed when the main news utlets are owned by billionaires and staffed by cowards.

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