Open Thread February 28 2026

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 282026
 

Yesterday, I set my alarm because I needed to take in a grocery order. At least I got everything in and put away. But that did throw me a little off schedule – to the extent that I even have a schedule. But – today being the last day of Black History month, I think I simply must share something I learned today – from Wikipedia: “Errollyn Wallen CBE (born 10 April 1958)[1] is a Belize-born British composer and musician, who moved as a child with her family to London, England. Wallen was appointed Master of the King’s Music in 2024 by King Charles III, in his first appointment to the post. She is the first black woman to serve in the position, having in 1998 been the first black woman to have a work featured in the Proms.” Oh, and Andy Borowitz has Hillary’s complete opening statement – no joke – though he does joke some in the lead-in.

This from the Brennan Center is an abridged version of their report. The one thing I wanted to see which was not in the summary was which states do what. I found that information by clicking on the “Download Insight” button (Colorado was not the first to correct this, but was one of the first . No one took any action until just before the 2020 census.) The summary is probably comprehensive enough for most people.

A report from Pro Publica on the conditions at the Dilley concentration camp in Texas. The art of children is likely not as monetarily valued as the art seized from German Jews by the Nazis – but it is in its way no less important. How can one put a price on the tears of a child?

I won’t apologize for JoJo’s language in her title. She’s not addressing the epithet to us.

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Open Thread February 11 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 112026
 

Yesterday, I watched the Jim Acosta Show on Substack. That’s right, the fascists weren’t able to end Jim Acosta as effectively as they thought they had. Joyce Vance, Glenn Kirschner, and Michael Fanone were on it too. But I’m sharing because at the end of the show he played a clip from RTÉ (Ireland’s equivalent of out NPR) interviewing an Irishman who had been detained at one of the Saffron Sauron’s concentration camps ( think it was Dilley, TX, actually.) Yes, an Irishman. The Irish are pretty uniformly white, so it must have been the brogue – or possibly an opinion. Of course there’s a lot in it besides that. The concentration camp section starts at 41.06, and the actual interview with Seamus Culleton (spelling from CC) starts at 42:49 (and has CC) and lasts less than 3 minutes (and then Jim editorializes a little.)

There’s nothing new here from Steve Schmidt – except in the sense that “everything old is new again.” But then, “everything old is new again” is exactly why history is important. Steve will be very happy if y’all share this with anyone who might learn something from it.

The Children of Dilley


Kudos to Pro Publica for managing to get this story out of a concentration camp when such camps arenot even allowing Congresscritters in to conduct oversight as required by law. (If Mina Rosenberg finds a target on her back, I will not be surprised.)

I suppose we can chalk this up to another reason that Rethuglicans detest science and scientists. But it’s very revealing.

If you watch Colbert regularly, you can skip this. Ian Mckellen plays Thomas More on immigration, by Shakespeare, but unperformed during his lifetime. Talk about something old that’s new – not “new again” – just new.

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Open Thread September 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 202025
 

Yesterday, it occurred to me that I might be able to hear the radio opera from my laptop. But it also might not. This will post hours before the broadcast starts, so I’ll have to update you in tomorrow’s OT Also, yesterday was “Talk Like a Pirate” Day, and I completely forgot.  I apologize.

Yesterday, I mentioned being speechless more and more often. And this from Wonkette is a good example. If I spelled out what I think about it, that would only make it more of a gut punch than it already is (and would also be NSFW.) I don’t need or want to do that. But I don’t want to downplay it either.

The regime has removed from wherever it was in the network of federal websites the study showing that “right wing” violence is vastly more common, and more severe, than “left-wing” violence. So, unless you saved it before they did that, it’s no longer available. However, this from The Conversation is available, and is also well-researched. I put left and right wing into quotes because in my opinion left and right has nothing to do with it – the divide in violence is between authoritarian and egalitarian. Left and right refer to economic theories. I grant that with the apparent polarization in our nation, right has become pretty well correlated with authoritarian and left with egalitarian – but that wasn’t always the case, and we may hope it may not always be. Although, without soind civics education, it probably will. And then there’s this. (popup is not a paywall. Just close it.

This from Vanity Fair analyzes the murder of Charlie Kirk from the aspect of how it is affecting MAGA and the rest of the fascist party. That could be important. You can read it at the original source if you’re a subscriber, or in the archive if you are not.

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Open Thread July 22 2025

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

Yesterday, as is usual for me on Mondays when possible, I relaxed a lot. I did order a grocery delivery for the evening, and received most of it, and put away most of what I received.

It’s been a long time since I heard from Margaret Atwood. She has written a new post called “The Woman Thing, Part 1”. Her starting point is pretty much where she left off earlier – the French Revolution (or Revvie.) That’s because she has been invited to create a video audiobook, has agreed, and has chosen “A Tale of Two Cities.” But I expect her to move on from there and provide insights few people could.

Joyce Vance takes on misogyny. We tried our best to warn people about all of this too. Someone in the comments, probably close to my age, says it is exhausting to think about having to do it all over again. Yes, it certainly is.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/obama-posts-video-of-trump-actually
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-barack-obama-ai-video_n_687dff31e4b0502d85e56715

This by Steve Schmidt is the big truth bomb of the day. Not that anyone should be surprised. Allow me if you will to compare humans to pit bulls. Pit bulls are basically big sweet goofballs. But pit bulls can be trained for dog fighting to be vicious killers. The people in charge of ICE detention are like pit bulls trained for dogfighting – all their grievances, both real and imaginary, have been catered to and they have been assured that nothing in their lives they don’t like is their fault, and that they have been terribly wronged. I dont suppose they have been taught much if anything in the way of specific torture techniques, but they are filled with anger and it’s not difficult to translate that into cruelty – in fact, it’s harder not to. Encouraging them to focus on wanting revenge (rather than actual improvements in their lives) has turned them into dogfighting pit bulls. Or, to use a different analogy, if anyone remembers, like those entities in Star Trek episodes who fed upon human misery and needed it to survive. I don’t know how to untrain them, or if it is even possible, but decent people need to know about evil things being done in our name.

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Open Thread July 5 2025

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 052025
 

Yesterday, Virgil called and as always, asked how I was doing. I told him I really didn’t want to talk about it, so we didn’t. I’ll see him a week from tomorrow and if I’m up to it I’ll talk with him about it then. There were some explosions in the neighborhood , and it was, after all, the fourth, but it was nothing like previous years. And it may even stop after today, which is also nothing like previous years.

Well, here we are. Steve Schmidt discusses “Alligator Alcatraz” and compares it, not with Alcatraz, but with Auschwitz. H wonders out loud about the process of getting building permits. I would dudprvt there was no such process in Florida. Not that Florida law doesn’t cover it – it almost certainly does, though we have learned through multiple hurricanes that the specs are pretty lenient. But as the brainchild of the governor, I would expect it to have been bypassed.

Y’all know, because of Glenn Kirschner’s video, that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys requested he be kept in federal custody so that ICE could not kidnap him again. That’s one court case involving him. Another is a suit his wife has filed against ICE, and her attorneys have released a filing detailing what he endured while in CECOT. Yes, it’s ugly. And that’s why you should read it and spread it to others who have a milligram of empathy. No need to share it with anyone who will be aroused by it.

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Open Thread April 18 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 182025
 

Today I am expecting snow in the afternoon and overnight. This is not the latest in the spring we have had snow. I remember one year in the late 90’s when we had snow during the third week of May. It wasn’t that much, but it was enough to ice the roads as I drove home from work. When I got home, I called the announcer of my local radio station and requested “Come un bel di di Maggio” (Like a lovely day in May) and she played that and also “Die Wunderschöne Monat Mai” (The amazingly beautiful month of May.) And we are not the only ones expecting un-spring-like weather. Hail is predicted over an area of the plains from roughly Iowa to Oklahoma city. They are not predicting but cannot rule out tornadoes there also. Sorry about the missed post – I did put it up when I realized it thanks to Nameless because there was so much in it, including a Borowitz. If you’ve been reading what I have put up, you’ll know I am being gut-punched by the news😢. It must not be stopping me from signing petitions, though. Yesterday I got 5 responses from my Congressman within the space of a minute, and I’m sure they are all responses to petitions and/or group sponsored letters.

This is about as straight talk as it gets. I’m going to be flippant for a moment and say, “Gee, there sure must have been a lot of people in Nazi Germany bitching about the price of eggs.” But it’s really no time for flippancy. I just get that way when I feel helpless. It’s good to know we still have some judges who are not corrupt – and I’m confident there are many more we are not hearing about because they haven’t been assigned a case like these – yet.

Personally, I don’t have anything against lawyers in general. I’ve been fortunate enough to know some really good ones – good people besides being good lawyers – and on principle I tend to assume a person is a decent human being until proved otherwise. But Joyce’s point that many Americans would have no sympathy for lawyers is probably sound (and for that matter, not just for Americans, but for just about every group since before Shakespeare’s time.) Most layers do not deserve to be treated like this. Sadly, some with firms that capitulate now are likely soon to do something that does deserve negative consequences.

More pretty much straight news from Andy (I don’t believe in the poll, but I do believe if there were one, this would be the result.)

Rachel Maddow interviews Senator Van Hollen

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