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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Comments to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Plus, Politics
Oct 082025
 

Here is the full text of the email I received from the Native Voters Alliance. I think I can expect to get more, but this one is one of the most comprehensive instruction emails I’ve seen – ever.

We’re here to tell you about a concrete action you can take, in just a couple of minutes, to help protect voting rights.

Right now, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is taking public comments on a proposal that would force Americans to show Documentary Proof of Citizenship (DPOC), or specific, costly, hard-to-access documents like passports, before registering to vote. An estimated 21 million Americans could be shut out from the ballot box, particularly communities of color, rural folks, students, and women.

The EAC needs to hear from people like you, now, while they gather input to decide whether or not to adopt this anti-voter proposal. They need to hear from our movement about how damaging this policy would be before they make their decision. It only takes a couple of minutes to make your voice heard!

Public comments can be as short as 1-2 sentences. You can submit a public comment to the Federal Register here by October 20. Not sure what to say? Here are some ideas:

  • This “show-your-papers” requirement was a bad idea when Congress tried to do it with the SAVE Act, and it’s a bad idea here too. Do not go through with this!
  • This could block millions of Americans from voting! Don’t do it!
  • I’m an American citizen and I’ve been voting for years. Like half of all Americans, I don’t have a passport – I’ve never needed one. If you agree to this, you’ll be making it harder for me to vote and blocking millions of other Americans from voting. Please don’t go through with this.
    • ALT: I’m an American citizen and I’ve been voting for years. My passport is expired. If you agree to this, you’ll be making it harder for me to vote and blocking millions of other Americans from voting. Please do not go through with this.
    • ALT: I’m an American citizen and I’ve been voting for years. My passport doesn’t have my married name on it. If you agree to this, you’ll be making it harder for me to vote and blocking millions of other Americans from voting. Please do not go through with this.
    • ALT: I’m an American citizen and I’ve been voting for years. I have a passport, but I know lots of family and friends who don’t! If you agree to this, you’ll be making it harder for them to vote and blocking millions of other Americans from voting. Please don’t go through with this.
  • If you agree to this, it looks like I couldn’t even register to vote using my birth certificate?!? I’m an American citizen who’s voted for years. This doesn’t solve anything – it’s only going to block Americans from voting.
  • I changed my last name when I got married, and now my passport doesn’t match my current name. Are you going to handle the $165 cost and months of waiting and jumping through bureaucratic hoops it’ll take to update that, just so I can continue exercising my right as a citizen to vote? Or is that going to fall to me? Please vote no!
  • There’s a reason Congress didn’t pass the SAVE Act. This is bad news! Don’t do this behind all of our backs when we already told Congress no.

Tell the EAC not to require Americans to show costly documents before registering to vote – you can help protect democracy by making your voice heard right now.

In the trenches with you.
Native Voters Alliance Nevada

********************************************************************

Me again – The video I was able to watch live yesterday is now available as a recording.  You can watch it here:

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-case-that-could

It’s under 40 minutes and seems much shorter.

 

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Open Thread October 8 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Politics
Oct 082025
 

Yesterday, I was checking my yahoo email account and started with spam. I saw an email whose sender name started with “Department of G” – that was as much as I could see and I needed the magnifier to read it – which is why I went to tutamail in the first place. That turned out to be “Department of Government Efficiency” – but a hover showed it was actually from a gmail address. As if we didn’t have enough government reality to be suspicious of – now we need to watch for scams masquerading as official scams. In other news, you may remember that, of all people, MTG is on our side on releasing the Epstein files. Well, now she is also on our side about the shutdown. I don’t know if my brain can handle it. Also, there was a lot of news about MAGA freaking out about Bad Bunny being booked for the Super Bowl halftime show (Bad Bunny is an American citizen by birthright).

Several topics here, at The F*News: the first is on Judge Immergut (you gotta love her name – “Always good” in German), but then it goes into Social Security cuts (mine for this month is in my account as “pending.” On Wednesday, the “pending” will disappear and my balance will reflect it) and two more. Along the way, Jonathan does a little bragging, which I certainly would too for the achievements he cites.

This week the Supreme Court’s term begins, and they will start hearing arguments again. Joyce Vance has posted the full calendar, through June, of which days are argument days, and the first two weeks of which cases when. And there’s more. Also, from a different site which included Joyce Vance in a video, the Supreme Court heard arguments on but did not decide one case last term – Louisiana v. Callais – and will be hearing arguments again on Wednesday, October 15. Meanwhile, the Election Assistance Commission has a comment period open on this case. Why is this important? Because all we have left of the Voting Rights Act is Section 2 (the Court previously overturned Section 5). This case could overturn Section 2. The link for comments is here. I have put up a separate post with suggestions for comments, because I have no link to it. The to-and-fro directions below the comments section should direct you to it. Although arguments are October 15, you have till October 20 to comment.

Dan Froomkin has put a lot of thought into his premise here. I don’t think he is seeing ghosts. Robert Reich has similar, though not identical, thoughts as this map he drew suggests.

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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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Open Thread October 6 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 062025
 

Yesterday, I went to see Virgil. As usual we played cribbage. Most of our hands were mediocre to dire, but what the heck. We play to pass the time in each other’s company, not to win. Before I left to go see him, I received an update from Carrie on Barry. It’s not as good as I had hoped, but it’s also not as bad as my worst fears. It’s short, so I’ll quote it in full: …

I wanted to let you know Barry will be transferred to a long term acute care facility sometime next week. He had a tracheotomy last week so they could get the tube out of his mouth. Since he is still on a ventilator, the tube goes through the tracheostomy. They have turned the ventilator off from time to time, but he is only able to breathe on his own for about 30 minutes. At least he is no longer under heavy sedation. At present he is completely paralyzed. I will be seeing him tomorrow for the first time since he had the tracheotomy. He cannot speak, but is still answering simple yes or no questions by blinking. Please keep praying for him.*

*Or as always, however you communicate with the universe.

Late breaking news

It’s easy to criticize the media, and the MSM in general is indeed doing a terrible job of getting out the truth about this regime. But maybe at least some of the problem is that, being unaccustomed to government lies and fraud on this scale, they really don’t know how to report it. And I have to agree that the method proposed here is simple, but by no means obvious.

From Robert Reich‘s keyboard to God’s monitor or iPhone, whatever he’s using these days.

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