Open Thread May 9 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 092025
 

Yesterday, I picked up some Belle videos. She’s still posting four a day, and of course they are all of interest, but to different groups, so they are no means all of equal interest to PP readers. Sometimes the choices are tough. Also, I picked up some music parodies, including a Canadian parodist I was not familiar with. Tomorrow, I’ll post his praise for Australia – for Lona. Also, there is a new Pope (or in Latin, Habemus Papa) on only the second day of the conclave. His papal name is Leo XIV, and I don’t know much else about him, but he appears to be someone Francis himself might have chosen. He was born in Chicago, so (not all) American Catholics are going nuts over the first American Pope. In America we have so many – or maybe they aren’t that many, but they are loud – bishops and archbishops who are Nazis that I was worried. But I’m not sure he should be called an American Pope, except in the broadest sense – he was born in the US but has mostly worked in Peru and is a naturalized Peruvian citizen.

This Letter is about corruption in general, which includes tariffs along with many other grifts. If you want to know exactly how the Apricot Antichrist is grifting you (and the rest of the nation), this is the place to come. But wait – there’s more. The following day’s letter follows up on the first one.

I certainly don’t want to encourage complacency, but if Robert Hubbell is reading the room correctly, this is worth at the very least a sigh of relief.

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Open Thread May 8 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 082025
 

Yesterday, I ran my car for a while, since I hadn’t driven it Sunday. I also out the updated insurance and registration papers in the glove box and the registration sticker on the license plate. (After three wet days, it stopped raining long enough for me to do that.) A couple of weeks ago I was scraping around the base of one of my irises so the rhizome could get sunlight so it can bloom. I was thinking it was kind of early – we’ve been having temperature ups and downs but chilly (at least to me) on balance – but I noticed a bud today – so there may be more coming. No guarantee, but irises tend to surprise me always.

Politics Plus has known and remarked on this phenomenon for some time. There are memes about it which have had widespread and repeated exposure. I don’t know why it’s taking so long for so many decent people to get it. I suppose the fact that decent people, because they are decent, don’t think like that – and deep down we all believe everyone thinks the way we do – is a huge factor. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. Different people think different thoughts, and many of those thoughts are anything but decent. Check out comments on the fundraiser for Shiloh Hendrix (in the 4th paragraph – barf bag alert.)

Y’all know I’m not a huge fan of Meidas Touch journalism. It’s not because of inaccuracy – despite the occasional exaggeration in a title, they are on target. Nor is it because I dislike them personally – because I don’t. I’m delighted to see them exceed Fox News in viewership. And I do respect their “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, and them yell them what you told them style . It useful for many, maybe for most listeners. It just bores me to tears. But this is a text article, not a video – and written not by staff but by a Ukrainian journalist. It’s not very long, and it’s profound. It does have a short introduction by Ron Filipkowski.

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Open Thread May 7 2025

 Posted by at 11:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 072025
 

Yesterday, I see I forgot to post at the regular time again.  I hope I didn’t scare anyone, or at least not too much.  I also got an email with a petition from the PAC “Patriotic Millionaires.” The petition is certainly an interesting idea, and I would suggest a good one. But you can make up your own mind on that. Also yesterday, Axios announced that there is a new PAC called “Ban the Trade” dedicated to passing legislation barring Congresscritters from trading on the stock market. And it appears they are going to hoist the traders with their own petard (bomb). Finally, Ann Telnaes has won the Pulitzer for cartooning. Take that, Jeff Bezos!

I no longer get the Daily Beast directly, but The Lever sent me this today, and I feel compelled to share it. Imagine holding a grudge since 1988. For that matter, imagine holding a grudge against a work of art, not just against the artist, but against all its viewers, including those who weren’t even born yet.

June 14 is, among other things, Flag Day. It’s also being called as No Kings Day and mass demonstrations are being organized. Here’s the link to find an event near you.

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Open Thread May 6 2025

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 062025
 

Yesterday, I slept even later than usual – which I really needed – sometimes the stress created by not being able to do something one had planned is even more debilitating than the work of actually doing it. That was me yesterday. I don’t think I mentioned earlier that my primary credit card company over the weekend for some reason changed every blessed cardholder’s card number (and expiration date and CVV) on the same day. I had done most of on Sunday, but I had forgotten one. After I finished changing that one, which was a struggle because the site isn’t exactly intuitive, I decided to go to Democratic Underground for a while before tackling other email. The first article I looked at had me almost in tears. So did the second one I read, although not in quite the same way. And then there was this one – I’d almost forgotten about Anonymous in all the commotion.

This from Chris Bowers at “Wolves and Sheep” Substack discusses strategies which are necessary (though not, I think sufficient) to get us through this mess. Certainly it’s a place to start.

Naomi Klein recently wrote an essay for The Guardian which Rolling Stone then interviewed her about, and then MSN passed on the interview. It starts with her credentials – which you probably know – and then goes through the whole thing. It isn’t pretty. But we need to know as much as we can. And, yes, it’s long. But not a word wasted.

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Open Thread May 4 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 042025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” Yes, the “Anvil Chorus,” as you may have heard on TV cartoons as a kid. The opera takes less than two and a half hours excluding intermissions, but the story – that’s a revenge tragedy which was decades in the making. And so hard to believe that many people still want it explained to them. I think someone finally told this guy, but there sued to be a cafê in Italy whose owner offered a free bottle of wine to whoever could explain it to him. Frankly, it didn’t totally click for me until the last decade. Sometimes I’m slow. But at least in this case I have good company. Now I need to go back to Friday, when I got an email from Virgil’s prison that my paperwork was expiring and they needed new paperwork by 2:30 pm that day or I would not be able to see Virgil today. Well, I didn’t even see it until after 2:30. I was able to put it all together and email it, but not until about 10:00 pm (still Friday though.). So you don’t have to worry about me being on the road today, and I won’t post a comment.  Almost forgot – May the Fourth be with you.

This from Reasons To Be Cheerful pretty much speaks for itself. I could wish we could have this here, of course. But it’s probably happening where it most needs to.

From Democratic Underground – You have probably read or heard this. I’ve seen references to it but not the actual story yet.

This is from Good News Network, and it’s regarding something I’ve been worried about for quite some time now. Maybe you have too. I’m not suggesting we can be complacent – but it is a step in the right direction.

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Open Thread May 3 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 032025
 

Yesterday, I learned that 15 Democratic Senators had voted to confirm David Persue as the Mango Menace’s ambassador to China. I immediately searched to see whether either of mine was one of them, and they were not. I don’t know whether I scares them with my letter the last time they voted to confirm someone, or whether they received so much flak from so many constituents that it scared them, but I know one of them is scared – Benet thinks he can run for governor instead. I believe if he thinks he can beat Phil Weiser in the primary he has another think coming – heaven knows I hope that’s the case. I also learned that I need to get a new application on file – and I was supposed to so so by 2:30 today in order to visit on Sunday. I didn’t even find the email until after 2:30, so I clearly didn’t make the deadline. I sent Virgil an electronic note to call me ASAP. We have decisions to make.

I agree with Talking Points Memo that the most important part of this story is likely the order of magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, but I am sharing a non-paywall link to the NYT article as well. We were all introduced to the role of magistrate judges during the special counsel investigations of the Persimmon Palpitine, but a refresher: magistrate judges cannot preside over felony trials, but they can and do assist federal judges in such cases, including issuing orders to parties. The order issued by Judge Netburn in this case is 100% valid, even though it is also apparently 100% unprecedented. I’d say Judge Netburn has been paying attention. (BTW, there’s lots more in the TPM Memo than just this one story.)

Harry Litman takes a dive into the partnership between Trump** and Bukele, assisted by the New York Times. It’s very seldom I am the first to archive a story – in fact I believe this is the first time it has happened – which suggests to me that these details would be news to a whole lot of people. But I still have more faith in Litman that I do in the Times, so I read this first.

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Open Thread May 2 2025

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 022025
 

Yesterday, I got the first email I’ve ever received from a political action committee called The Six PAC. It was formed in 2019 in California to support six progressive Democrats running there for the House. Now it feels the need to put effort into supporting birthright citizenship. I think just its name deserves recognition.  Also yesterday, a federal judge in Texas – who was appointed by Trump** – issued an opinion that using the Alien Enemies Act as the basis for deportations is illegal.  I’m sure you caught that -it was all over the place.

Dan Froomkin at Press Watch does a deep dive into the implications of The Mango Menace’s interview with Terry Moran of ABC. He’s not the only one looking at it – it is so revealing that it’s getting a lot of attention. It would be great if it would wake some people up.

POGO analyzes the relationship between surveillance and deportation. I mentioned Palantir a couple of days ago – this is a sort of a follow-up on that.

Heather Cox Richardson compares the first 100 days of FDR with the same time period of the current regime. Who loses bigly? You get three guesses and the first two don’t count.

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Open Thread May 1 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 012025
 

Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio news was unusually consequential. Stories about a father who protested Saturday because his son has Bloom Syndrome and who doesn’t want the regime defunding medical research, another about Venezuelan immigrants in Colorado and our court case to keep them, another about a teen girl abducted from Missouri getting found in Fort Collins and more. I’m saving the one about the book banning lawsuit for Sunday because our side had a victory (which will be appealed.) The whole newsletter was kind of overwhelming. Especially on a day when my entire inbox was much like that – to the point where I feel the need to post three articles – and it easily could have been six.

I doubt whether there is any one reading here – or anyone who has ever read her – who needs to be told the premise of this HuffPost article. Nor is it news to us. We’ve been saying it ourselves for years. But it should be somewhat satisfying – it is to me – to see it being said out loud, in print, by a major messenger. Anything anyone can do to spread it cannot possibly hurt and might help.

This from Talking Points Memo was also discussed (including a couple of clips) by Mary Trump in her nightly video. The host – I think she said Terry Moran – kept his cool marvelously. I don’t know that I could have- this type of exchange takes me back to my childhood when my grandmother used to use this defense – deny, deny, deny – over things as simple as doing th family ironing. It made me cfazy then and it still does.

If you are looking for an elected Democrat who is a real fighter, Heather Cox Richardson has the one for you (and me.) You may have heard that J. B, Pritzer (Gov IL) gave a rousing speech, but you may not have seen this many direct quotes from it, and they are needed to give you the real flavor of it.

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