Open Thread June 3 2026

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 032026
 

On Monday, Malcolm a photo of Rubio and Hefseth that someone had shopped to look like Milli Vanilli. I took a screen shot, enlarged it, skewed it, and stretched it a little horizontally since it had gotten suqished- and it’s still comewhat blurry, but I think recognizable. So I’m sharing it as rge fearyes image today for your amusement. And after that, he found a post saying “If I wanted to see Trump’s ballroom, I’d just look in Lindsey Graham’s mouth.”

Yesterday, I steeamed the opera “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, ” which was the radio opera on January 2. My goodness, what a tear jerker. But not without hope. The synopsis in Wikipedia definitely does not do it justice – although I’m not sure any syn0psis could – it’s that complex.  I really needed to see it – and not just for this quote from near the end: “The world will always be broken. Repair it anyway.”

Harry Litman (Talking Feds) writes about legal happenings of last week, and how, on balance, they supported or at least aided democracy.

Elizabeth Warren and Greg Casar are working on this same problem from a taxation perspective, and the article quotes them. I’m not sure who has the better chance. I think Bernie’s idea might benefot more propl – but both plans look good to me.

It really is terrifying what some people will do to convince themselves they are not weak. Statistics din’t really communicate that. But this is a personal story.

RReich Tariff refunds

Dog

Share

Open Thread May 31 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 312026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was a new one – not a premiere, but new enough to not be in Wikipedia yet. It was the El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego by Pulitzer Prize winning Gabriela Lena Frank. The premise is that on the Day of the Dead, Diego Rivera is about to die. He reaches out to his late wife Frida Kahlo (who, though 20 years younger, predeceased him) to return from the land of the dead and help him transition. (You may have noticed that this premise is kind of a mirror image of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth.) Their marriage was one of those stormy ones where the couple fights a lot, at least in part because making up feels so good. It’s not my idea of a relationship, but it works for dome couples – and it makes for great opera. Other characters include Catrina, the goddess of the underworld, who is a trickster goddess; Leonardo, the souls of a Grets Garbo impersonator (a counter-tenor); and various spirits. I wouldn’t call it a comedy. but there is a lot of humor in it,both in the libretto and in the orchestration. Frank has an unusual heritage – her father was Ashkenazi Jewish and her mother was half Peruvian and half Chinese, and all of those musical traditions were in her childhood home. The opera is not terribly long – an hour and 55 minutes of music in two acts is pretty short – and it seemed to fly by – which means it’s very easy to listen to. “Viva la vida!” Off to see Virgil now- will chwck in upon return

If you thought that all the firsts for women (except, of course, US President) had been accomplished by now – Mikala would like you to hold her beer.

This is not you average pet rescue story. (It’s also not a video

Try to avoid looking around the web page on this one – stick to the story.

Carrie B found a second Raging Granny group – this one is in California, near Yosemite. The song in this video is a rough Diamond for sure,

Share

Open Thread May 29 2026

 Posted by at 6:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 292026
 

Yesterday, Malcolm Nance reported that Israel wants to take away from Jordan of the Dome of the Rock and the the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and hold custody jointly with the United States. If this happens, there will be “holy war” across the entire middle east, with terrorism which will make Isis look like kid stuff. (his co-host Wajeeh Lion shared some of the stories/history which underlie Muslim theology.)

This from Robert Reich is admittedly a distraction. Bbut it’s kind of a sweet one.

From Talking Points Memo. One of the things that happened in the Abrego Garcia case was that the well-publicisied actions of the regime from the very beginning caused the judge to make a presumption of vindictive prosecution, which in turn put the burden of proof on the regime to prove that the prosecution was not vindictive nor selective (which of course they could not do, because it was as vindictive as hell.) I don’t know that the regime’s vindictiveness has been quite that egregious against Smartmatic or the SPLC (although anyne with two eyes and a brain jnows it exists), but I hope the respective judges will see it. James Comey has a better chance, I suspect, because the Evil Emperor has been shooting his mouth off about Comey for years – all the way back to 2017. But, as the article points out, the more defendants are successful with this approach, the more likely the courts are to seriously consider it. So I wish them all success.

From Talking Feds. Nothing about how the Saffron Sauron’s mind works is really news, nor will he ever learn his lesson.He just won’t. But its good to hear he is at least getting one.

250 to 250. There are a number of these videos already posted here, narrated by many different people for this project of Heather Cox Richardson’s. I am obviously not going to get to them all, but I’ll be leaning heavily on them. If you want more, they can be found at her YouTube channel here.

Share

Open Thread May 27 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 272026
 

Last weekend, it happened again. In case you missed it, starting around Easter, the announced on Saturday that peace talks were going well and peace was imminent. The oil futures market responded – the price per barrel dropped. On Monday (or Tuesday if Monday was a day the market was closed) the same went all hawkish and threatened to bomb Iran to Kingdom Come. The price of oil futures went up. American oligarchs who had bought low (who can affords to buy futures th the hundreds of millions of barrels) then sold high. This has happened every weekend for eight weekends. Every weekend for those eight weekends, ‘s personal friends who could afford to buy oil futures in the millions of barrels made millions of dollars. And don’t think it’s over. It will go on as long as they can get away with it. Malcolm dtill called his show the “confuion-cast” yesterday, but said he may soon go to “dementia-cast.”

You don’t have to go to X to watch the graphic. It plays fine right in the article. I personally think the final still at the end is every bit as jawdropping as the video.

Robert Reich is talking about the political compass here – and so on point that I expect he is aware of it. This is not the first time I have heard someone advise that a third axis is needed, and I beieve that person suggested good and evil – which is fine with me. It would have to be in and out, since that’s the only dimension left in our three-dimensional world, and it would be a challenge to draw in two dimensions, but I think probably worth the effort.

There’s a lot in Mornng Memo, and it’s all valuabe. But the first section is what first caught my eye.

Better a couple of days late then never (IMO)

Share

Open Thread May 25 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 252026
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. It was a brand new deck – no tears, no peeling, no sticking. Hands with a wide range of values (zero to 21.) It’s always cold in the visiting room – but it was extra cold today – and quite warm outside – too warm for comfort, actually – but at this time of year the sun is not in my eyes, for which I was grateful.

And on Saturday, I received a Memorial Day email from Major General Eaton (retired) of Vote Vets. He wrote about the wars in Iraq And Afghanistan, and included a statistic which was new to me. In those two wares combined we lost almost 7,000 military in combat – and more than 22,000 to suicide after they came home. More than three times as many to suicide as to combat.

Snarl at me if you like. Because I’m not postinng this from JoJo from Jerz for news value. I’m posting it because of the sheer beauty of the righteous rant. The pure vitriol of the analogies, metaphors, and needle-sharp points made. I’m in awe. I can come up with the occasional zinger, but I could never come up with a string of them like this.

We’re all familiar with the term “kleptocracy” – Maybe too familiar. The term “corruptonomics,” coined by Robert Reich, may help us look more closely at it. As he also says – “Please send to any candidates you care about.”

From Press Watch. The saying goes that a competent prosecutor could get a true bill from a grand jury on a ham sandwich. That’s an exaggeration for a competent prosecutor – but for a crooked prosecutor – maybe not so much.

Share

Open Thread May 24 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 242026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot.” It was his last opera – and it’s not a pretty story. It has a happy ebding, in that the tenor and the lead soprano end up in love against all odds. But the road to that ending is covered with blood, and I have trouble with that. The big aria, which all tenors love, and which is often associated with Pavarotti (although every tenor who has ever recorded anything has recorded it – even Sarah Brightman recorded it, replacing “la principessa” with “il principe”) is “Nessun dorma” – None shall sleep – which makes sense in context, though out of context, not so much. Also – I can answer Randy’s quesiion. Congress is completely dominated by Republicans who are so terrified of the Saffron Sauron that they wouldn’t vote their conscience (those who have one) even if the sky fell. Let’s put a Democratic majority into the House and Senate and see what happens. We have a lot of people running who are real fighters, not DINOs, but many still need to win their primaries.

This from ABC news (ours) is on loop, but you will likely  need to unmute it. It’s still a work in progress, but, even so far, it’s pretty amazing.

From the Associated Press – This is good news for two states. Now we need the same for 48 more, two territories, and one district.

I assume Lona is well aware of this (from Good News Network), but thought the rest of us might also like to hear about it.

Also from our ABC News, Malcolm Nance often says “Coincidence takes a lot of planning.” (He calls that “Nance’s Law.”) And so do surprises.

Share

Open Thread May 22 2026

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 222026
 

Yesterday, for the third day in a row, I had to go to the clinic – this time because something I should have dropped off yesterday. No one to blame but myself for that. Still, it’s frustrating.

This is a video post, but there is a transcript. Scroll down below the screen, and about the middle between left and right, directly above the orange block labeled “Get the app,” click on “Transcript.” Besides the three topics mentioned in the title, including the Arc de Trompe, the San Diego Mosque shooting and its back story, and a prosecution of a prosecutor who has displeased the regime’s DOJ. And I may even be forgetting one or two.

Colorado Public Radio IMO has done an excellent job of reporting on this. Some of the quotes will give you a good sense of why I didn’t know Colorado’s elected Democrats had it in them (but I’m sure glad they did.)

It’s no surpeise, I’m sure, that trolling can be used for good as well as for evil ourposes. Here is a sample from Allison Gill (who identifies herself thoroughly so I don’t have to.

Share

Open Thread May 18 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 182026
 

Yesterday, I wore for the first time my third experiment in knitting pants. Myfirst try was a disastr – but not such a disaster that I can’t rip out one leg, knit it back to match the other. and wear it. On my second try I adjusted the pattern to correct everything that went wrong on the first try, and it was a pretty good fit, just a bit loose and long. For the third try, I decided not to change anything about the stitch or row counts, but instead to use smaller needles. and it’s anout as close to perfect as an imperfect human can do. I could wear them to go see Virgil. And comfortable – as comfortable as the yarn, which for this pair is all cotton, except the cuffs, which are bamboo. In including contrast cuffs, I was thinking of sweat pants, but with more fitted legs.

Robert Reich has some suggestions for non-constitutional words to describe unconstitutional things about our current elected officials. I’m ahead of him on “regime” – I’ve not used any other word for it since day one – but all of his suggestions are appropriate

From ProPublica. Yes. this happens all the time. But if we don’t get reminded of it from time to time, we may forget.

From Common Dreams. One of Axios’s reporters is named “Barak Ravid.” Malcolm Nance calls him “The Mouth of Trump**.” I get “Alerts” from Axios, and yes, his often begin with “Trump** says” or the like. But it made me think – y’all know I often refer to our regime leader as “the Saffron Sauron,” and there is a character in The Lord of the Rings” who introduces himself as “The Mouth of Sauron.” They’re not at all the same – Ravid does not present what our regime leader says as truth – he just quotes him and identifies it as a quote, so readers can disbelieve it. But it appears to be a coincidence.

Share
 Older Entries