Open Thread October 29 2025

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 292025
 

Yesterday, Steve Schmidt’s Save America PAC announced three new one-minute ads to be run on Fox News. Of course they are requesting donations, but there no obligation to donate just to watch them. One is about “Trump’s Tariffs”, the second about Canada, and the third about immigration. All three are narrated by Ronald Reagan (probably how they got Fox to accept them, IMO). I needed to unmute the sound or enable CC or both. Also, Colorado Public Radio wrote “The Department of Energy said it was saving taxpayers $7.56 billion. The actual amount is much less,” Of course that’s correct, especially under this regime. But let’s suppose the government’s statement was accurate. That would come out to $22.oo per person. Not exactly life changing. I’d call that disingenuous.

I don’t want to be – I don’t want anyone to be – blinded by rose-colored glasses. But Robert Reich is looking at the same numbers and historical events that I am, and he says it a lot better then I could.

Wonkette‘s subhead: “There are contingency plans and the GOP is opting not to use them.” Y’all have probably heard the truth about SNAP so often that you know most of this. What I didn’t know was that Congress-approved contingency plans are not only existent, but are required by law to be used. Not, of course, that the law means anything to this regime other than a nuisance.

From The Root. In other news, water is wet. I wish I didn’t have to feel that way, but sadly, I still do. I also kind of wish I could live long enough to see it change – except that I really don’t want to live to be 500 or maybe more..

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Open Thread October 28 2025

 Posted by at 5:55 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 282025
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Colorado Public Radio sharing that my Attorney General (who is also running for Governor) is all in on Colorado joining the redistricting war for the midterms. God, I love this guy. Also yesterday, I tripped over a post from a DUer who has been suffering extreme pain, and just found out that for all that time he has been suffering from shingles with no rash (only dxed because a very small rash just turned up) He is up to date on his shingles vaccinations, too, but his PCP says it’s possible to get it anyway. I think this should be more wisely known. Shingles pain can make non-suicidal people consider (and for all I know, commit) suicide.

Per Heather Cox Richandson, “NBC News reported [last Thursday] that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s rush to get new recruits onto the street has meant they have pushed into their training program more than 200 people who have disqualifying criminal backgrounds, fail drug testing, or don’t meet the academic or physical requirements.” I’m less worried about the physical requirements, and even the drug testing (which is not perfect – and the federal Government is a little nutty about drug use) and academic requirements (I suspect we all know someone who is a highly educated idiot), but the past criminal record issue bothers me, particularly for a group which is openly looking for male white supremacists, the most under-prosecuted group in the US. And don’t stop with this quote. There’s more.

Metamucillini is wrong (no surprise there) and Canada is correct (no surprise there either). Ronald Reagan did indeed speak negatively of tariffs, and Wonkette has the reveipts in the form of a video. If you already know if this, and our dictator’s reaction, you may want to go to the link anyway to see the “tantrum gif” which may give you a smile or even a chuckle.

No, I don’t actually need any more reasons than we already have to despise the Washington Post (or Amazon, for that matter.) I am guessing that the 1800 block of E Street SE in DC is experiencing earth tremors as Sousa spins in his grave, wishing he had named that march “The Washington Monument” instead of for the Post.

Guest video from Robert Reich

Yes, I shop at King Soopers, which is Kroger. But my only alternatives are Safeway which is Albertson’s, and Walmart – which is Walmart. I’ve boycotted Walmart since it was created. After the Albertson’s=Kroger merger was denied by the courts, Albertson’s had the gall to sue Kroger for breach of contract – but that was only my last straw. I also cannot trust Safeway to follow my delivery instructions which are necessary to keep me safe (it was while taking in [I should say trying to take in] a delivery order from Safeway that I experienced the fall – two years ago tomorrow – which put me in the hospital. Incidentally, at least here, King Soopers runs its sales from Wednesday through Tuesday regularly. So I don’t shop on Tuesday for Wednesday delivery ,although one can re-check the prices on line.) Sometimes they’ll have a special, shorter, sale, such as over a weekend, but their advertising always makes that clear. And the sale tags on the shelves – the last I looked – it’s been years since I went to a store in person – always had (I grant in fine print) an end date for the sale on them. So many people today have smartphones – it really is worth it for people who have a smartphone and shop in store to open a web account and tie it to the actual store they shop at so they can compare the price on the shelf to the price on the website.

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Open Thread October 27 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 272025
 

Yesterday, I hardly knew what to do with myself – it was the first Sunday in a very long time when I didn’t have Trimette over andalso didn’t go see Virgil. I did aome knitting (I am on track to wear the sweater next Sunday to see Virgil, and I intend to stay on track – ahead of track if I can.) Otherwise it was pretty normal – at least as much as anything can be normal in our current national chaos.

Almost anyone could have thought of this, but it appears to be only Ursula at Politizoom who actually did, as far as I can tell (feel free to correct me if I am wrong). And I’ll bet she is absolutely right.

 

Steve Schmidt can speak for himself. He doesn’t always speak for me – but this time he does. See what you think.

This article from The Nation is both hopeful and helpful, although it’s not for the physically unfit or the faint of heart. It’s also not new – it was archived 8 months ago. But successful resistance doesn’t really change much over time (probably because the actions of tyrants don’t change much over time. The last thing a tyrant is would be is an original thinker.)

Guest video from Really American. It’s about 10 minutes, which is long for here, but not really that long.

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Open Thread October 26 2025

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 262025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Pearl Fishers” by Bizet (who is more famous for “Carmen”). Carmen overshadows it, but it is performed occasionally. It contains an absolutely gorgeous duet for the tenor and the baritone which is frequently recorded and sung in concert, though. When the Met presented it on a Saturday with Matthew Polenzani (a tenor who is very popular and therefore had sung the duet a fair amount prior to playing the role) and the host asked him about the duet, he pointed out that until doing the full opera he had no idea that everything he was singing in it was a lie (and he is correct in that. But it’s still gorgeous.) The plot relies heavily on coincidence (not unusual in opera) and ends with massive destruction of property but no loss of life (both unusual in opera.) Not much of it rises to the standard of the duet, but it is still all very listenable. It’s also pretty short – barely two hours. I think I mentioned that my local station, which is public radio but not affiliated with NPR, couldn’t afford the second half of the summer broadcasts – especially after the federal funding loss – but what they decided to do was to play a recorded complete opera every week until the Met starts again. The announcer who owns a huge collection of recordings is not as old as I am, but is old enough that they may, like mine, all be on vinyl. Because The Pearl Fishers is short, when it was over and I went back to local, the opera he picked for today was still going – and I didn’t recognize it. Heck, I didn’t even recognize the language at first. My first guess was Russian, but I couldn’t exclude Czech – enough popular operas were written by Czech composers that it’s not all that unlikely. But as I heard more, I realized it was German and almost certainly Wagner; I thought I recognized the sword motif from the Ring Cycle. But when did a tenor have such a long monologue, followed by input from a bass and maybe a mezzo soprano? Maybe Lohengrin? And then I heard the tenor address the soprano as “Elsa.” Yup. It was Lohengrin. Sorry/not sorry about the “stream of consciousness” there. It seemed like a good opportunity to demonstrate that not only do I not know everything, I don’t even know as much as I think I know. The WFMT will be broadcasting Lohengrin from Bayreuth in three weeks, so I’ll get my chance to hear the whole thing (not for the first time either.)

I saved this from Democratic Underground for Sunday, so it’s not brand new. But it’s definitely good. I hope it catches on elsewhere.

This from The 19th is about a good response to a very bad situation. I’m sorry about the situation – but glad that at least something is being done.

This is from Wonkette Thursday, which I thought close enough to Sunday to hold. Even my Mom bought into the theory that if you tax rich people “too much” they’ll just move away. I guess this tax isn’t “too much” – whatever that means. (My feeling about that theory was always “Good riddance” anyway.)

Yes, four links. But can we ever have too much good news? This is from Wolves and Sheep and was written by Chris Bowers. It is neither complete not graven in stone, but as far as it goes, it looks good.

Marsh Family – “The Randy Duke of York”

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Open Thread October 25 2025

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

Yesterday, I was very tired out, and yesterday’s thread wasn’t posted. It is now. Also, Trinette came by after her work day ended. She is going home over the weekend, so isn’t available for Sunday. I told her to watch out for ICE agents. Also, it took a bit longer than usual, but my ballot has been received and counted- I got the emails confirming that. And the Social Security COLA will be 2.8% for 2026 (assuming we still have Social Security then.) If you receive Social Security, you probably already know that.

I don’t know about everything every First Lady has done, even just in my lifetime, but I know enough to know that First Ladies are generally not idle trophy wives. I didn’t know how much of their history happened in the East Wing. I doubt whether anyone, least of all Melanoma Melania, cares whether she has an office space. But I do care whether other First Ladies, even some Republican ones, have office space, and about their accomplishments. Someone needs to tell the Mango Menace that he doesn’t need a ballroom – he has more ball room than he could ever possibly need, in his pants.

There are always multiple stories in the Morning Memo, san this is no exception. The headliner concerns what the Nectarine Napoleon is up to in Latin America, and that is not getting a lot of coverage yet, although it appears to be escalating. But there is more, including snippets about Jamie Raskin and Jeff Merkley, so you may want to read on.

Apparently the ICEstapo isn’t gestapo-y enough for the Cantaloupe Caligula. He wants to build one with for more jurisdiction and scope.

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Open Thread October 23 2025

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 232025
 

Yesterday, Robert Reich announced the issue of a coffee mug with one of his drawings on it. It’s pricier than I would want (but with Robert Reich, you know whatever he makes from it will be spent on saving democracy), and I’m pretty sure it only comes in one size, but it is Robert Reich, and I wanted to give everyone here a chance to know about it. Last Sunday might, Heather Cox Richardson‘s daily letter summed up No Kings Day from both sides (and there’s no comparison), and I wanted to share that. Sorry I’m late with it, but I think it’s timeless. Also yesterday, the “border czar” (and if we don’t want kings, we really don’t want czars!) announced that he plans to deport 600,000 more people this year. That’s in addition to the 2 million already deported so far. It’s difficult to find a way to express that meaningfully, and I know my math isn’t 100% accurate, but I think it does at least provide an order of magnitude. He’s talking about 0ne out of every thousand people who are still here. So if you know 50 people, you have a 5% chance of someone you know being deported between now and January. Also yesterday – you can call this a typo or you can call it a Freudian slip – The Root made a reference to “Fox News hose Jesse Watters.” (I’m for the Freudian slip.)

There is a lot in this that we need to know. But if you take nothing else away from it, I hope you will take note of why Malcolm Nance gives the people he does the platform he gives. I think he’s on to something – specifically, a window into the mind of the Apricot Antichrist that those who are still close to him may see but would never say publicly any of what they see there. There is a history of thousands of years of converts being the most devout believers, and that is and has been true way beyond just religiously. Remember Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer.”

The Intercept has no paywall, but its popups are so big I tend to just archive them so as not to scare anyone away. (Their content is more than scary enough – by design, since they want to fully inform readers.) The protest that started this chain was in July, but the court case, which is the scariest part, is ongoing.

Huff Post‘s popups are if possible even more obtrusive than The Intercept’s, so I archived this too. The video is not live, but I couldn’t get it to load, and anyway it’s very short (1:33), so I doubt we’re missing much.

Footnote – Jeff Merkley has been filibustering. TomCat would have been so proud. Here’s a link to a letter thanking him.

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Open Thread October 22 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 222025
 

Yesterday, as if we didn’t have enough bad news from politics, I heard this from Carrie:

Barry is not going to recover. He is paralyzed from the neck down and now has pneumonia. We were unable to get him in Warm Springs because of insurance difficulties. He is in Columbus Specialty Hospital. Not what we wanted, but at least he is close by and we can monitor his care on a daily basis. I can’t really say anything else except please continue praying…. I want him to die peacefully in his sleep, and not suffer any pain or distress. Take care and thank you for your friendship. I could use a few prayers myself.

Regarding the SAM project I wrote about yesterday, I now have one picture of a projection onto a building in DC, and one video of an ad (30 seconds) they are running on Fox:


And the estimated participation in No Kings now include a maximum of up to 8.2 million (but there are also lower ones.)

I’m not sure where this is going – but I’m pretty sure it’s going somewhere. And I’m also pretty sure it happened only because killing human beings to their face, so to speak, is a little bit more obviously a war crime that blowing up their ship, especially with drones, and drowning it. It’s much harder to watch someone die.

Anyone who watches Rachel Maddow regularly has likely already seen this. I only have time to watch her sporadically. I’m not sure how to describe this. Outrageous or even atrocious don’t seem strong enough.

You’d probably have to be completely out of things to be unaware of the vandalism at the White House – but here’s an article anyway.

Guest video from Robert Reich. I expect we all hope he is 100% correct.

Cats

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Open Thread October 21 2025

 Posted by at 10:23 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 202025
 

Yesterday, I was exhausted so slept in. But here’s what I know about the projection project:

This link goes to an Act Blue page with a couple of pix of physical posters. I haven’t yet found pix of any projections..

And here’s what I know about No Kings Day: the initial total participation nationwide was estimated at over 7 million. On the spot estimates are kind of rough, so that may change. I did the math, and to meet the three and a half percent rulr, we would need just under 12 million nationwide. Some events did over perform. Theres a little town in Colorado with 500 population which brought out 150 people. That’s 30%, and impressive.

As for the No Kings Day signs – they were many unique, all creative, and some surprising. Meidas Touch complied a Top 40 List, which needs four links because Substack can only post up to 10 images in one article. I found a couple at Steve Schmidt’s The Warning that made me smile – one said “There will be hell toupée” and the other “They’re eating the Checks, They’re eating the balances.

Here’s Meidas Touch, in reverse order because it was presented as a countdown.
Meidas 31-40
Meidas 21-30
Meidas 11-20
Meidas 1-10\

And here’s Steve Schmidt’s

If you think you have to be brave to go out and protest when you are white – think for a minute about how brave you have to be to go out and protest when you are Black. Or LatinX. The Root shared a list of Black celebrities who took part (not all were physically present, and I get that – but f the regime decides it wants to find them, it will.) I expect Jasmine Crockett will surprise no one.

I enjoy Jeff Tiedrich quotes when I run into them, but generally don’t go to his site. This time I did for his massive, mostly pictorial report on No Kings – and I don’t think I’ll need to tell you which publication referred me.

This is not a “No Kings” report. Harry Litman thinks it might be possible for the State of New York to overturn the commutation of George Santos’s sentence, and I see his point. Unfrotunately, that does not nexesssarily mean it would be easy.

There is less than usual in this about The Week Ahead, and more about last week. But the section on Abrego Garcia caught my eye – and hopefully it will illuminate not just this week but also future court cases – depending on how it is decided, which of course reflects and depends on judicial ethics.

One piece of last-minute good news which shouldn’t have to wait for Sunday.

I clicked the arong button and posted this last night, but am leaving it – it’s long and took more time than usual to put together.

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