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 March 26 2025

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 262025
 

Yesterday, ProPublica released the results of an investigation they did into “Terrorgram.” They worked in cooperation with PBS’s “Frontline,” and if you watch it regularly, you saw this last night. if not, you can read about it here, and or pick up links to YouTube, the PBS a[[, and Frontline’s website, and watch it at one of those. Only by knowing how these – people – operate can we hope to detect them and report them. Also yesterday, Louis DeJoy resigned – at the worst possible time. Just at the right moment for the Valencia Vlad-the-Impaler to appoint a lunatic who will buy and privatize the Postal Service. Is Philadelphia having earthquakes? Benjamin Franklin is probably finding that turning over is not enough, and taking up break dancing instead.

Yeah, “The Week Ahead” is late. But she has put together a number of related ideas that are being mentioned, but mostly not together, and personalizing it from her own experience.

Also late, and also from Joyce Vance, a discussion of something Judge Boasberg might do (or, of course, might not, but he seems like someone who might.) Incidentally, if you see anyone refer to him as “Jeb” Boasberg, J.E.B. are his initials. There is precedent for the nickname.

This is old from Wonkette also. But it is so surreal that I couldn’t resist.

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Open Thread March 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Politics
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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Open Thread March 18 2025

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

Yesterday, the day was as close to the time from sunrise to sunset (and vice versa) both being exactly 12 hours as we are going to get here.  Worldwide, that doesn’t happen until the 20th (this year).  I kept working on preparing to move to a different PC. It’s still slow, but I’m still making progress. Thanks for bearing with me.

This Talking Points Memo is from yesterday, and, at the time of posting, I’m not sure why I am not hearing a whole lot more and louder screaming about it. I haven’t read all my mail yet – maybe it’s there and I haven’t seen it – I haven’t read all the legal newsletters. But it feels like “In [the United States] today such things happen every minute.” (Later – I still haven’t read everything, but it’s clear that sane lawyers are pretty much in a state of shock. Well, I am too.)

I’m unhappy with Schumer too, and so is the F* News. And the graph in the post speaks for itself so plainly that I don’t know how anyone could miss the message. But I also recognize that he (like any caucus leader) is between a rock and a hard place. I don’t blame anyone who’s angry with him – I truly get that – but I would say be careful what you wish for. (If you want to know who I do blame, frankly, it’s all those Democrats who talked Joe into dropping out of the race in 2024. That was what ultimately put misogyny into play. And at or near the top of the list of people hurt by it is Kamala.)

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Open Thread May 10 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 102024
 

Yesterday, I got two petitions which I did not sign (along with a bunch of others that I did sign.) Both were from Left Action (I don’t know whether it is a wing of Care2/The Petition Site, that is who hosts its petitions.) The first one I saw (the second I received becaue I read my emails from the top down) was addressed to Judge Merchan and was headed “Don’t let Trump’s lawyers get a mistrial.” The problem is that it is addressed to the judge. Prople not involved in the trial pushing the judge to rule a certain way could be construed as obstruction of justice. The other one was regarding remmoving Aileen Cannon from the Mar-a Lago case. It didn’t specifically say it was addressed to the Citcuit Court (I forget which District that is), but I had to assume that it is, since that’s the only body which can do what is petitioned. I’m not saying no one can petition the courts, but this is not the way. Such a petition would have to come from someone with standing, like a group which had filed an amicus brief. We have all gotten so accustomed to “Don’t like something? Sign/start a petition that we have lost sight of the need to address those petitions to the entity which can actually act on them, and that entity had better not be someone in the justice system for whome the petiton could be construed as obstruction. Judge Merechan has been doing everything he possibly can from the day the case was assigned to him to insure there will be no mistrial. This petition could even conceivably increase the chances of a mistrial, not reduce them, if it is actually delivered and Trump**’s defense team find out about it. Both petitions were from n email address which can apparently be responded to, since i did and haven’t received a non-delivery notice. I hope y’all will consider this concerning these and any other petition involving any court. You can probably petition the prosecutor, maybe even the defense, but please, not the judge.

At least this is good news – if, as Ben said, we can keep it. I can guarantee that, should Trump** win, we cannot. And even if he doesn’t, if enough of his followers get into/stay in Congress, I certainly wouldn’t guarantee being able to keep it.

More proof that it’s not about life, it’s about control. With my age and experience, I probably shouldn’t be – but I was shocked by the sheer volume.

I don’t see how any sane person can fail to be in awe of Volodomyr Zelensky. Eleven assassination attempts and still trucking. Fly high, Ukrainian Guy!

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