Open Thread September 12 2025

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 122025
 

Yesterday, I received an email about an upcoming demonstration, not sprcifically on electoral politic, but on climate, called Sun Day. It’s scheduled for September 21. They havealready scheduled over 350 events in 46 states – fewer that, for instabnce, No Kings, but very large for a climate demonstration. And they’d be happy to add more if there’s not one near you. For anyone interested, here’s the link.

As if the murder of Charlie Kirk wasn’t enough, we had another school shooting in Colorado on Wednesday. Colorado Public Radio reports.

It’s been a week with lots of news – and too much of it important for me to be able to begin to share it. But this by Robert Reich, which came out Tuesday has to be shared. We can’t afford not to. Reich is a specialist in labor, and from that place also an economist. He knows it will hurt. He also knows that any other course of action will hurt worse in the long run.

This is long for a Borowitz Report (at least it is for a free one) and it’s not terribly funny (although it is cute in its way). But it may come in very useful.

Share

Open Thread September 4 2025

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

Yesterday, Trinette came by after her work day ended. She works at home, for the state of Colorado, on a program which was new last year to assist mothers and children. If it were for the Federal Government, she would be out of work now, you betcha. I am SO grateful she is working where she is! Also yesterday, I got the first fundraising email from the first candidate for one of California’s new provisional Congressional districts. She is a federal labor attorney and will run against Darrell Issa. She previously flipped a city council seat within the new district. You go, girl! Also, the press conference with Epstein survivors was recorded on video (by PBS News) and is available here. it’s almost an hour and a half but I really don’t know how it could have been much shorter. (you can always skip the introductions – although heaven knows it’s remarkable to hear MTG make sense. And all of them together only come up to about 18 minutes. Questions begin at about 52 minutes)

You may have read about this incident – I did – but I didn’t have the analysis then. Talking Points Memo is generally pretty good at that.

I drink coffee again, after I don’t know how many years not doing so. And I have to say I’m glad the EU is doing this, because we certainly won’t. Yes, it will affect prices. But too many people have somehow convinced themselves and others that there is no price to pay for keeping our planet livable. Or, for that matter, for doing right by others on a daily basis. And that just isn’t so.

It’s no secret that I’m big on analysis. Sometimes without good analysis (and occasionally even with it) it’s tough to tell whether news or potential news is good or bad. Take, for example, the possibility of the Mango Monster dying. Many people are all for it. I, o the other hand (and along with John Pavlovitz, among a few others) am terrified by the possibility. But I digress. The Brennan Center, which is also keen an analysis, is addressing “the shape of the big showdown on presidential power” in an article titled “Appeals Courts Rule Against Trump on Tariffs and Deportations.” Brennan doesn’t always link to specific articles, but I think I found a direct link to this one.

Share

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

Share

Open Thread July 11 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 112025
 

Yesterday, the ACLU announced in an email that it had quickly refiled to block the executive order against birthright citizenship as a class action, allowing a federal judge to block it nation wide. Also, I got my blood test results and none of my meds is changing this time – a welcome first. Also, the 19th advised me that the first Barbie doll to have Type 1 diabetes is here. This is what she looks like. If it seems weird to you to se something so comparatively “normal” in the news, you are not alone.

This from the F* News is brilliantly framed and might possibly even suck MAGA into reading it, though they might not get the point.

Press Watch with Dan Froomkin – who does know what journalism is, and also what it isn’t. If you claim to be a journalist, and have “a strong belief and passion” in anything other than truth and accuracy – you are nor a journalist. Period. (And the New York Times is just as bad and getting worse by the day.)

It’s hardly news that Republicans lie. Some of us who have been saying they lie like Democrats breath are now starting to re-evaluate that, because they lie so much more than Democrats breathe. It should be no surprise that Heather Cox Richardson has their number.

Share

Open Thread July 9 2025

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

Yesterday, I read in Wonkette about a new Superman movie coming out this summer. If you can go to theaters (my allergies preclude my doing so) you may want to go see it. MAGA will be boycotting it, so there’s that. Monday evening’s radio program on movie scores talked about Christopher Reeve, and how he got cast even though no one thought he looked muscular enough, but they expected him yo wear a “muscle suit,” and instead he worked out and bulked up from 185# to 225# of pure muscle. It appears no one considered that aspect this time – but that’s not what has MAGA’s panties in knots. It’s that he’s being shown as kind. And a refugee. Both of which he always has been but which was not always a deal breaker for anyone. Also in Wonkette, they covered the breaking of the story about ICE and the National Guard invading MacArthur Park under the headline “Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain.”

I generally go to Harry Litman for interpretation of the law and of court actions. Yes, this is a court action in a sense – it’s the settlement of a lawsuit – but his analysis goes beyond that aspect and into politics.

You may already be aware of the “Seven Mountains Mandate” – it has been around a while among authoritarian “Christians” (quotes because no one actually following what Jesus actually taught can possibly be an authoritarian) but it was always a fringe aberrancy. Now it’s a political force and getting stronger.

($70 Mil of this belongs to Colorado)

Share

Open Thread June 30 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 302025
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. The drive down was clear and sunny, with the sun high enough not to be a glare issue. But when I left, it was pouring in the parking lot, and by the time I got to the car I was drenched. And I stopped for gas because I has planned to, and really, really didn’t want to run out of it in the rain. Of course that was under cover of canopies. Thankfully, it didn’t last all the way home, but gradually tapered off. By the time I got to the county line I was wishing for my sunglasses, and put them back on at the next red light. Also yesterday, I saw this – has anyone else seen this information anywhere? It seems important.

Emil Bove’s hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee was last week. John Thune intended to “start” voting on the Big Brutal Bill Friday. That may or may not have occupied the Senate all weekend – but while they might work overtime for that, I doubt they’d work overtime for a confirmation hearing. So I figure today to be the first possible day for Bove to face the full Senate. If it hasn’t happened yet, so much the better. Here is advice from Joyce Vance on how to present your objections to him to your Senator(s.

This from The F* News regarding not just Mamdani but specifically how politicians are reacting to him after his primary win is IMO relevant to what David Hogg is trying to accomplish (Mamdani was endorsed by Hogg and may even have been recruited by him). I think it’s pretty clear that party leaders who will congratulate but not endorse him are not taking that position on account of his youth. I don’t think they are even pretending to. Not that they should. Honesty is the best policy, as usual. But it does show we are not as united as we may appear to be because in opposition to Trump**(*) and MAGA, we are united.

This link goes to a donation page at Act Blue which appears to be the only way to see a 16-minute documentary video based on an investigation by More Perfect Union into why a Kentucky county which had voted Democratic for 144 years instead voted GOP in 2024. The report won an emmy, so it’s not just me who thinks it’s worth watching. A donation is not required to do so.

Share

Open Thread May 28 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 282025
 

Yesterday, Andy Borowitz questioned Jake Tapper’s cognitive ability, since he wrote a book about the cognitive decline of a President-but it was the wrong President.  Also, I streamed the National Memorial Day Concert which I had not caught on Sunday,  It was still up (and may still be – if it is, anyone can watch it.  My “Passport” is up to date, but I didn’t need to sign in to see it.  Also, Joe Mantegna does not have a life-threatening medical condition – is not even bedridden – he just has an inner ear issue  such that his doctor won’t let him fly and he would have had to fly to get to DC timely.)

From The Intercept. Kind of makes me even more glad that I am old. And that I am in a financial position such that, although I meet my financial obligations, I don’t have a lot left over so I’m less attractive as a target.

From the 19th. Not news. Instead, a deep dive into police killings, the men they killed, and their mothers whose lives were changed forever. Lest we forget.

I honestly don’t know what to think about this. He is such a liar – but even if this is a real breakthrough, he is so cognitively impaired that it’s not terribly likely that he’s able to hang on to it. And of course he still is who he is. Wonkette discusses.

Share

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.

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries