Mar 252025
 

Sunday, I couldn’t find any decks of playing cards in the game locker, and I had managed to time my arrival so that Virgil was already there when I got to the visiting room, so I grabbed the Scrabble board instead. We payed three games which brought us right to the end of the visiting time. We accepted a lot of things I’m pretty sure are not acceptable, but we did have fun. It must be close to a year since we played Scrabble, and I can see some deterioration in Virgil, but as long as he remembers me, and that he loves me and I love him, and is more or less happy most of the time, I don’t worry. He is getting good care, much better than I could possibly care for him; he has many people he considers friends among both other inmates and staff, there is even a resident dog (almost certainly not a purebred black Lab, but he looks and acts like one.) Pretty much the only time he gets upset is if he has a vivid dream that he believes actually happened, and when that happens he calls me and I calm him down. And they are getting noticeably less frequent. (An example of one of those dreams would be that he thought his first wife phoned him demanding back child support. For one thing, no one can phone him – the phones they are allowed to use cannot receive calls. Secondly, I’m pretty confident she has no idea where he is. Thirdly, even if she did, she is not on his visitor list, so would not be allowed to contact him. Fourthly, the child in question is now 56. And he can grasp all of that – but he can also forget it.)

Yesterday, I see there was apparently a huge security breach wherein the top editor at The Atlantic was “accidentally” included in a Signal chat regarding airstrikes in Yemen. I don’t for a moment believe this was an accident. I think we will see more and more  f this type of event until the media stops covering them. Let’s face it – we have no national security.

So far what I’ve had to say for today has been fairly bleak. But if you read this, it should put you in a mood to thank the universe that we still have people like Boasberg. I can’t confirm this, but I think I read somewhere that his ancestry is at least pertly Ukrainian. I remember thinking that would not surprise me. Back when the Russians were telling tha Vikings, “Hay, you guys are pretty good managers, why don’t you stay her and form our government,” the Ukrainians – Cossacks – were mercenary soldiers who never, ever, swore any oath or had personal loyalty to any of the monarchs who paid them. Yes, a deal was a deal, but they remained independent.

I need to explain that this is not a cartoon. It is an actual mail piece I received last week. I did not open it, I just scanned it front and back – I plan to forward it to the Governor unopened. There is, however, enough information on the outside for anyone to know whom to boycott.

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Mar 222025
 

Yesterday, I realized I hadn’t received a response to my email to reserve my visit to Virgil, so I looked up the phone number and called. They had not received the email, but made the reservation from my call. So I need to find what the bug is there and correct it. I guess I just didn’t have enough to do [sarcasm]. I also paid some bills and verified that I had already paid some others. And I set up a few days posts in advance – so if anything exciting happens over the weekend you’ll have to wait a bit to hear my take on it.

A no-paywall link from The Guardian on a story you may have heard about – the actress disappeared for two weeks by ICE – but here it’s told by her personally. Along with at least parts of stories from other women she encountered during her ordeal.

This is from Robert Reich from Thursday – but it’s still in plenty of time for anyone who wants to to get involved. So if anyone is looking for some good trouble, here’s one possibility.

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Mar 202025
 

Yesterday, The new (to me) PC is here now and I was able to get it connected to everything and running much faster then I’ll be able to get everything organized on it. But it’s looking a lot more feasible. And I did find out my games are going to work now, except for the ones which depended on Adobe Flash (Sadly, there’s no workaround for that – I asked about that some time ago, and instead of a workaround they gave me a free game coupon to get something else.) Oh, and happy Spring Equinox to those who celebrate.

Jim Stewartson has a background in entertainment, including videogames. When he realized that technology he had helped develop was being used in far-right propaganda and psyops, he founded the organization Antifascist USUA to help deprogram victims. So, though not academically trained in psyops, he has been on the frontlines for a while. I am taking this seriously. This link is to his own website, but he is also on Substack now.

Robert Hubbell has retired from lawyering, but he doesn’t appear to have forgotten much. The post is from this week, but before John Roberts released his social media post about impeachment, with which Hubbell clearly disagrees, at least in part. (Off topic, but as I was typing I typoed “media: as “mefia.” And it occurred to me that all that needs is an “a” in the second position to be all too accurate.)

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Mar 172025
 

Yesterday, I hadn’t heard from Trinette, so I called her, and she’s fine – and out of state at a family gathering of some kind. And she sounds good. She has the same kind of post-nasal drip cough from allergies that I chronically have, which is annoying, but not dangerous (and by the ime of day I called, it would be gone for the day, and it was, for both of us). She was going to call or email, but with traveling (she drove) and all, time just got away from her. I’m just relieved to know she’s alive and well.

As Wonkette says, “[Y]ou can’t negotiate with bullies.” You also cannot appease them. If you try, they will simply take you for a sucker, and easy mark, and demand more and more. Columbia apparently is entering the FO stage of FAFO – and make no mistake, appeasement and attempted appeasement count as FA. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.

I would hope that this, as reported by Joyce Vance, would lead to any not-already-purged prosecutors resigning in protest. If there are any such. On the other hand, their loss would be incalculable. I don’t really know what to hope for. Other than impeachment – and that’s a whole nother can of worms. Really other than “Didn’t anyone besides me and holocaust survivors see this coming?” I don’t know what to say.

Belle setups

Cat & chicks+

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Mar 152025
 

Yesterday, I worked more on my email accounts – cleaning out the old, forwarding to the new to remind me to make the changes – and also took in a grocery order – and not a minute too soon. (But soon enough.) I am making progress, not that it feel like I am.

There’s a lot in this Talking Points Memo, and it doesn’t mince words.

It’s no surprise to anyone, and certainly not to Harry Litman, that Judge Beryl Howell will not stand for malarkey* in her court. (*malarkey – a word I’m using in honor of St. Patrick’s Day which is coming right up.) (Incidentally, did you ever expect to be familiar with the names of so many Federal Judges not on the Supreme Court as you are right now?)

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Mar 132025
 

Yesterday, the first thing I did was check to see whether my Social Security had arrived. It had. So it’s replacement computer time. I’m still working on getting everything I will need either onto a portable hard drive or changed on the Net, Bu I can slow down a little. Incidentally, if you have ever wanted to say SOB (in full) in a different language, I have a few for you:
German Hündinsohn
French Fils de chienne
Italian Cagnafiglio
Greek skýla gios
Ukrainian сучий син (transliterated suchyy syn)
I know enough French, German, and Italian to be pretty sure those work. But my Greek is classical. That’s a transliteration. And my Ukrainian is non-existent, so that’s pure Google Translate. But I thought it would be really handy. (BTW in Italian “gn” and “gl” are pronounced “ny” and “ly” respectively. So, “canyafeelyio.”)

PolitiZoom‘s article speaks for itself. My personal feeling is that anyone who has a personal relationship with the Clementine Caligula should be barred from having any weapons of any kind for life. But that’s probably just me.

Yes, I know Ash Wednesday was yesterday. But I am very proud of my co-religionists for coming up with this, and it’s not too late. It’s never too late to do the right thing.

Several sources of mine have referred to this article from the Atlantic (which I just got around to) in regard to Elon Musk (AKA Dork Vader). I only knew of it as the drug with which Elijah McClain was overdosed with by paramedics – and which killed him. It was the sub-head of the article which grabbed me: “can make anyone feel like they rule the world.” For anyone who doesn’t know, Virgil is a recovering alcoholic (now about 38 years sober) and when we were engaged and first married, I went to a lot of AlAnon meetings, but also to a lot of open AA meetings with him. The latter included a lot of sharing of personal stories. I think everyone who has ever had a drink or two believes they know exactly what it feels like to be “high” on alcohol, and outside of an AA meeting, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone else actually describe their feelings in that condition. But if we think we know something, we may not listen as carefully when it is discussed. I speak from experience. It took me a couple of years to actually hear and process those stories. And they had this in common: every recovering alcoholic said that when they were drinking they felt “in control.” It’s not a big jump from feeling “in control” to feeling “like they rule the world.” Do I even need to say I have never felt anything remotely like that with alcohol? Because I certainly haven’t. If I had ever found anything which did give me that feeling, it would be extremely difficult for me to stop using it. Not that I have ever been looking!

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Mar 112025
 

Yesterday, as I hinted Sunday would happen, I slept very late. But I did have time to discover that at least some merchants will allow a customer to change their email address, even if it is also the user name, without changing anything else in the account. Of course they want a second form of verification, but it doesn’t have to be by text, it can be by email or landline. I didn’t het many changed, but I am quite relieved. And I managed to put this together. I also found a couple of Belle eposide worth sharing, and as I almost always do, looked t=at the end for other videos wich might be ineresting. I was drawn to a speech by David Brooks. I’ve not been a fan of Brooks, but he started with acceptinf responsibility for what he and others of his ilk did to America, and demonstrated that he can laugh at imself, so I stayed. Toward the end, he parapgrased T. S. Eliot in a quote which spoke to me so loudly, I had to look it up, and will eventually put it into a meme. But not today.

https://harrylitman.substack.com
Harry Litman is a contributor – I think a founding contributor – to The Contrarian, but hw he has also kept his own Substack, “Talking Feds.” The attorney who joined Meidas Touch with his “Legal AF” is Michael Popok. And then there’s Joyce Vance (“Civil Discourse.”) All three are former DOJ prosecutors, and very familiar with how it is supposed to work. (I’m not intending to diss Glenn Kirschmer “Justice Matters” nor Andrew Weissman “Andrew Weissman” in the same categories.) In this article he has written a thought experiment rather than news. I won’t say you can find news anywhere, because you can’t, but you do have a lot of resources where you can find actual news. A thought experiment is harder to come by (although it may bee no less depressing.)

And then there’s John Pavlovitz, who wants us to hang on to hope without falling into complacency, challenging as that may be, and is always worthy of attention.

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Mar 092025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “La Boheme” – a very short and very tragic opera which was the first vinyl recorded opera I ever bought – and then within ten years bought again with a different cast afer the lead tenor in the second recording died – because he – Richard Tucker – was such a legend I was afraid if I didn’t buy it right away it would sell out. It’s short – without intermissions it’s under two hours – but it packs a punch. Also, as is only to be expected at my age, during the broadcast I learned of the death of someone else I cared about – bass Paul Plishka, who I mentioned in passing a while ago while talking about the Kennedy Center. At least he didn’t die young -he had a 51 year career, and left a legacy which includes a reputation for kindness to all but particularly to young (nervous) singers. Rest in peace, Paul. Next week I’ll gave more to say about the opera, which will have the theme of courageous opposition to political corruption (and political revenge.) Also yesterday I was (and still am) coping with changing my email address – and preparing to visit Virgil today. But I’ll manage to check in in a comment as always. Also, I put in a substitute for Belle today – Rocky Mountain Mike – to keep it upbeat. I hope he gives you a chuckle.

This from Colorado Public Radio is a bit on the old side, but since it’s still in the early stages I don’t think that matters. I kind of hope to be around to see the finished project. One thing, no one on this project would censor a military history photo of the “Enola Gay,” which the current administration is doing, for heaven’s sake.

This comes from Democratic Underground, and it’s not exactly news – in fact it’s from prehistory – but it is hard evidence (literally hard) that love transcends time. The farther I read into it, the more deeply I was touched. And you can see from the comments that that was a common response.

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