Open Thread August 19 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 192025
 

Yesterday, I learned that Mallory McMorrow (D-MI), the state senator who got national attention for being fierce, is running to represent Michigan in the US Senate. She joins Roy Cooper (D-NC) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), all candidates who accept no BS and are proven winners. This is exactly what we need (and could use a little more of.) Also yesterday, I woke up in more pain than usual (and the “usual” has been gradually worse for a while now.) I’m accustomed to my left knee flaring up and know how to deal with it. But when the right knee flares up too at the same time, that’s something I’m not used to dealing with. I iced the right knee and at the same time used the TENS on the right back and the left knee, and took an 80 mg aspirin (the largest I’m now allowed). The TENS helped. The ice, not so much, which didn’t totally surprise me, since the pain in the right knee feels different from he pain I get in the left one. I’m not even going to try to explain how. But anyway, I then put the TENS on the sides of the right knee. That didn’t help so I tried putting the pads n the front and back of the right knee. That helped some, but not enough to dispense with the walker. I think I’ll take one more aspirin.

I could wish that Ursula was wrong about this, but sadly, I think she has nailed it. Heck, I can even add an example – there was never even the slightest hint from the media during his presidency that JFK had Addison’s Disease.

John is actually 56 in calendar years. This makes me wonder just how tired I look at 80. No wonder I’m sleeping late so much. Please, everyone, get as much rest as you need.

I managed to squeeze a very brief note about this into yesterday’s OT, but of course I didn’t have the full story, which had not yet happened. Wonkette also covered it, but I think The F* News contains a bit more.

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Open Thread August 17 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 172025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Wagner’s “Die Walküre”. Since the German article “Die” can be either feminine singular or all-gender plural, it may be confusing whether he meant just one or all nine, but I have it on good authority he meant just one, and that one is Brünnhilde. She is the kind of fighter we want all our elected Democrats to be – which just occurred to me. Wotan is only concerned with getting back the Ring, and even his own children (which she, Siegmund, and Sieglinde all are) are just pawns to him in getting that done. Brünnhilde, ordered to make sure Siegmund loses his duel with Hunding, is instead so impressed by his devotion to Sieglinde that she changes her mind and instead attempts to make sure he wins. She fails at that, but then determines to save Sieglinde and with her Siegmund’s just-conceived child, and at that she succeeds. Of course she is punished by Wotan, who turns her from a goddess into a mortal woman, but she has no regrets for doing what she believed to be the right thing. The morality, or lack of it, all through the Ring cycle is, to say the least, weird. But at least in Wagner’s mythical world, NO ONE – not even the gods – is above the LAW. In his pursuit of the Ring Wotan tries to take a step that is outside the law, Fricka reads him the riot act, and he MUST back down. I searched for synopses just to check my memory, and found that some are highly inaccurate – not so much in the action but in the motivations and back story (The one at The Met website is accurate). It certainly is thought provoking. Also yesterday, The Conversation’s newsletter included the quip “AI is CliffsNotes on crack.” I couldn’t agree more.

I would not normally call this good news, but I do think it’s a good (maybe great) response to ignorant racists and it did make me smile and even chuckle.

This is good news. There’s not a paywall if you allow ads. As an alumna, I was wondering when Stanford would get in on this. It does sound like “The Stanford Daily”‘s long reputation for sass is still deserved.

I have mixed feelings about this – as much pleasure as I have gotten from Zoos in my life, I also really think wild animals should be allowed to be wild. On the other hand, I don’t want any species to go extinct, and zoos, if they are well run, can help to prevent extinction. And then there’s the additional fact that babies are adorable.

In case anyone doesn’t recognize, or doesn’t remember “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” …

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Open Thread August 15 2025

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

Yesterday, I tripped over this on Democratic Underground and found it fascinating.
Joyce Vance tackles a subject which requires a whole lot more analysis than I could ever hope to give it in this blog. World history is already full of non-factual “facts,” and don’t get me started on the interpretations of both real and fake facts – if I live to be a hundred, I would still not have enough time to do justice there. And explaining why it matters – to be very brief, if every human being has the right to be judged on the basis of actual fact, I believe that applies to the dead as well as to the living. But there’s more to it, including the harm done to living people sucj=ked it to admiring the evil and disdaining the good.

After that highly abstract article and analysis from Joyce Vance, Steve Schmidt gets very concrete and specific. How this government is making even us who did not vote for it complicit in murder.

Yes, a third article, this one from Wonkette, because we needed something on the lighter side, even though it’s not yet Sunday. (The content is serious but the tone is hilarious.)

Belle CA v TX

Lion

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Open Thread August 14 2025

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

Yesterday, my email lightened up a little (though i still deleted more than I didn’t.) One that I didn’t (actually I received more than one – this link is to the info from the first one I read) was regarding another National Day of Action for this Saturday. I’m not going to cite a group, because all of these efforts are being sponsored and organized by too many groups to list. True grassroots. I look forward to seeing photos of the signs.

This from The Root – I am not even going to quibble that a whole lot of sane white folks have been sounding the same warning. If white MAGA idiots are willing to give the Black Community credit for anything, I’m all for it.

Colorado Public Radio reports a drastic gubernatorial executive order by Jared Polis. It’s very bad that it is necessary – but apparently is it, and if so, it’s very good to see it happen.

This Robert Reich video is probably nothing new to those of us who have read the Constitution. But it’s also short (3 1/3 minutes) and very clear. It’s made for sharing with vulnerable people so they can be prepared for the infringements (a word which is throwing roses at it. You may prefer “abuses.”)

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Open Thread August 12 2025

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Politics
Aug 122025
 

Yesterday, I wanted to start working on some things like persona paperwork I have been putting off,  But a lot of it I couldn’t fund.  When I finally did find one important document, I discovered that when my printer malfunctioned, it took the scanner with it (probably the fax also, but I never use that any more.)  Very frustrating.  And as if thet weren’t enough, my refrigerator is acting up.  I’m sure everyone notices i was very, VERY late posting.  Sorry about that.

This is good news, and I don’t want to wait until Sunday to share it. Perhaps the best two word in it are “automatically suspended.” He is currently the Acting Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget. I don’t know whether that person needs to be a [not disbarred] lawyer, but it sounds possible, perhaps even probable. We shall see.

I thought Joyce Vance had done a “The Week Ahead” e ither Friday or Saturday night. Either i was wrong, or she did another one Monday evening, which is about as current as it gets.

Fortunately i did not have any liquid in my mouth when I read this – I would surely have spit it out.

Also, Kudos to Ohio on this:

Belle CA Gov

Cat

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Open Thread August 10 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 102025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot” from Covent Garden. I won’t go into the details, having discussed it before (more than once). I’ll just mention that Sondra Radvanovsky (who is American) has a thought new to me about exactly when in the opera Turandot’s shell cracks, which in her opinion happens to coincide with the exact point in the opera at which Puccini died composing it – the rest of the opera was constructed from his notes by Franco Alfano, with mixed reviews. Personally, if I didn’t already know Puccini hadn’t finished it, I wouldn’t be able to tell any difference.  Toscanini, who conducted the premier, did not agree. He felt so strongly that he stopped the premier at that point, turning to the audience and saying (probably in Italian) “At this point, the maestro laid down his pen.” Anyway, I’m off to see Virgil and will check in upon return

Not the most important news – but lovely to see Scotland doing Scotland and giving the Apricot Antichrist a ginormous middle finger.

Liza Donnelly is a good friend of Heather Cox Richardson. She is a professional cartoonist and gets published in The New Yorker. The experience she writes (and draws) about here has me green with envy. But, of course, to move in those circles one has to be in those circles – and I really don’t have the strength any more to do that.

I knew this, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to see it in print in a Colorado newspaper, even a small one. Because he will need name recognition to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary, let alone the general.

We don’t seem to hear as much about Make-A-Wish as we used to. But they are still around. And still doing good.

John D. Cundle is a Canadian (he may or may not be a US expat, but he is definitely a Canadian now) who is willing to help us keep our spirits up in any way he can. Like this.

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Open Thread August 7 2025

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 072025
 

Yesterday, my exterminator came by. There’s slow progress – but it is progress.

I don’t suppose anyone here doesn’t know this is happening. (‘m glad Howard from Aurora was there – a reminder people can live in war zones and still be decent people.

Action Network is declaring the week of August 21-27 ” People vs Billionaires Week of Action”, and has plans, and is making more plans. And also looking for more ideas. At least I can provide more notice time for this one.

Talking Feds Harry Litman is well aware about how dangerous and serious all the crap from this administration is. But this seems to me more of a sounding the alarm than his usual style. You won’t be able to see the whole thing, but there’s plenty in what we can see

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Open Thread August 5 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 052025
 

Yesterday, Trinette and I went to the VA and got me registered as eligible for whatever services they can provide to those of us who didn’t stay long enough to retire and have no service-connected disability. Yeah, I have some, but all mine are age related or something else related which has nothing to do with my service. The booklet I will need to read to find out what is available is not as long as Reich’s book, but is also probably a lot more boring. It’ll be about ten days before I get my ID card, so I don’t need to know until then, and if I can finish it in ten days I’ll be pleased with myself. Anyway, afterwards, Trinette ans I went to a Mexican restaurant we used to love but had not been to since before the pandemic. The prices were up, but the food was as good as ever. They had even expanded the menu quite a bit. All in all, we accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.

Robert Reich reads from his new book, whose official publication date is today. I am just about 11 months older than he, so I lived through the same period. And I knew about some of what he writes about – but not all, not when it was happening. But then, he lived in New York, so much of what he recounts which turns out to have been relevant nationally all along, was merely local news at the time. He’s going to be on Colbert this week to talk about it.

Common Dreams has the story. It’s very sad that it has come to this. But kudos to those who recognize that it has, and have the guts to act on it.

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