Dec 242025
 

Yesterday, for a change, SCROTUS ruled against the Mango Monster 6-3 for a change in Trump v. Illinois – a case Harry Litman has been saying since it was filed would be its moment of truth. Because had it gone the other way, the Monster would have had free rein to act on any lies he could dream up. Harry Litman invited Leah Litman (mp relation) to discuss it with him on Substack Live. Both were so excited they were interrupting each other. I’ll provide the link anyway, difficult as it is to listen to (actually the video seems to be one and done, but the transcript is there), but a key factor was that one amicus brief was incredibly important. One amicus brief which was saying something no one else was saying, but which was right. So if you ever discounted the effect of amicus briefs – it’s time to rethink that.

CPR News referred me to this. Between this and a related story about Colorado losing FEMA funds which are now tied to immigration policy, I decided this one would affect a whole lot more people in a whole lot more places.

I’ve written previously about Lone Star ticks, and IIRC at that time there were already a few other ticks who carried this trait, but apparently, according to The Conversation, it’s getting worse. I don’t, thank the universe, have this particular food allergy, but I do have a couple which are almost equally crippling, such as wheat and soy, and frankly, you don’t want to have any food allergy ever, and especially when grocery prices are out of control.

I’m sure everyone is aware about how the short (for a documentary) documentary about CECOT had been scheduled to air on 60 minutes but was yanked by Bari Weiss. But she either forgot or didn’t know that 60 minutes also plays on Global TV in Canada. By the time she realized it, Canada had already seen about 13.5 minutes of it. That 13.5 (13.35 to be precise) was all over the internet. By yesterday, it had been taken down from most of those places. But it it viewable here. If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to watch it, if only because so many people worked so hard to prevent you from seeing it.

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Dec 222025
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Jasmine Crockett about a new poll – she is leading the Republican by 9 points, 51% to 43%, and this was just days after she entered the race. Fingers crossed! Also Trinette was by. Always so great to see her. We didn’t talk as much as usual – she is learning to crochet and  I’m doing my best to help make it easier.

ICE Has Domestic Abuser Agent Locked Up In Their Own Facility


When I first saw this story, I hoped o find it in “Law & Order” – but no luck I’d love to see what their take would be. It seems to me wrong on so many levels.

https://archive.is/ICy7q
This (archived) from The Nation is not brand new, but I just received it yesterday from Dose of Democracy. All things considered, it probably should not be surprising, but I hadn’t thought about it. So I was surprised.

https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/jfk-vs-donald-trump
This is not new either – except to me, probably. I was alive and I believe sentient during the Kennedy Presidential campaign, though not old enough to vote. I graduated from high school that year and started my freshman year of college. And I knew Kennedy had served in the US Navy during World War II. I had heard about PT-109. But I never realized that he and 12 others had been been presumed dead and actually had a funeral service. Steve Schmidt brings it up now to emphasize the contrast between JFK and the Orange Oligarch.

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Dec 202025
 

Yesterday, I received three packages – none of the via USPS. I was expecting one, since the shipper told me the day before that it w1qould come yesterday, but for the other two, their arrival was a surprise. Also, I watched a couple of Substack videos which weren’t too terribly long. The first was a conversation between Joyce Vance and Mary Trump about Judge Dugan’s trial, conviction and acquittal, and what comes next. I went to it because it seemed like an unlikely combination, but it turned out to be a good fit. If anyone is interested in a deeper dive into the case, the link is here. The second, also with Joyce Vance , was in her “5 questions” series, which is usually closed to free subscribers. Bu this one wasn’t closed, and I think may still be open. She was speaking with a documentary film maker whose latest film, which debuted this year at Sundance, is called “The Librarians” and is about the movements to ban books from libraries, and the hero and shero librarians who are resisting it.

I’m not about to claim that Colorado grows the best fruit in the country, but they are good enough to bring in a fair amount of revenue to the State, and we would definitely be hurting without them. But of course Republicans think that the earth is perfectly capable of running itself, so doing nothing will work out just fine. If that “working out” includes the human race vanishing, they might be right.

Archived from Forbes, referred by Bowers News Media. Like Chris and probably most of y’all, I had no idea what the Kumquat Kleptocrat was talking about Venezuela stealing from us, but guessed he probably made it up. Unlike Chris, I didn’t research it. Apparently there actually is something (probably exaggerated, but something.)

Huff Post didn’t know it would happen so fast. I did – didn’t you? I suppose it might not have been quite this fast if the Supreme Court had not be so complicit – but we knew they would. At least Huff Post is admitting it now.

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Dec 182025
 

Yesterday, The hearing with Jack Smith referenced in the second article below was held or at least started. There is of course no transcript, but Joyce Vance got hold of some quote – from which it appears that he didn’t give them hell, he just told them the truth and they thought it was hell (Thanks, Harry Truman.)

The Common Dreams newsletter was really hot on Monday, but I promise this is my last post from it (not that there aren’t others worthy). What was your first thought when you heard or saw the news of the shooting in Sydney? My first thought was “Where is there a Sydney in the US?”) and my second, after looking the news up and confirming the shooting was in Australia, was of the shooting in New Zealand, which hit two mosques (and resulted in massive changes in their gun laws.) This one was at Australia’s best known beach, Bondi Beach (pronounced bond-eye according to the BBC and their Aussie correspondent, and I trust no relation to Pam), at a Hannukah party. What’s next – a mass shooting at a Baha’i temple in Canada? I realize that any and every faith is demonsized in modern society, but the truly sick people are not te ones beig shot but the ones doing the shooting, and, with the possible exception of religious nationalism, the shooters will be disowned by their nominal co-religionists. It isn’t religion but the abuse of religion itself which is a problem, but the abuse of religion to justify evil.

I received this from Joyce Vance early Wednesday morning (not long after midnight.) My immediate reaction was “I hope he takes some security with him. Both physical and legal.” I also would wish he could, directly or through his security, make a recording of the entire proceedings. Today’s Congressional Republicans cannot be trusted. Period.

I must have gone to Huff Post too many times and they cut me off. I had to archive this just to read it (and the archived version may not be complete – it has a lot of blank spaces.) but I thought it was interesting, to say the least.

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Dec 172025
 

Yesterday, Malcolm Nance, who was a close friend of the Reiners, published a video eulogy of them on Substack which included advice to both those of us who are grieving them, and those of us who have issues with all or parts of our families. It’s under six minutes. I’d embed it if I could, but I can’t. I can only link to it. And provide a tissue alert.

Also yesterday, I selected the meme just after watching a video about the trial of Judge Duggan, in Milwaukee. for “helping someone evade arrest.” if you want to watch it, here’s the link. It’s under 25 minutes.

This from Common Dreams is an opinion piece, pointing out worship of the rich (for which there should be a word, although I’ve never heard of one –  “plutolatry” is a word, but it means the worship of money, not of the people who have it. May I suggest “plusioilatry”? Whatever it’s called, t is as old as misogyny, and every bit as difficult to overcome. In a book written almost a century ago, Dorothy L. Sayers pointed out that no clergyman ever pointed out from the pulpit that a bank president was “an open and notorious evil liver,” implying that such designations were reserved for the poor (especially poor women). And the illusion was far from new then. There’s history in this article. But I have no idea how to break a lie that has been so ingrained for so long it’s practically in our DNA.

If you are upset, and you probably are, with the Poopy-Pants Palpitine’s destruction of the White House East Wing, You will likely also be less than happy about his proposal to bulldoze the Cohen Building and three more buildings in DC, all with historical significance far beyond his ability to comprehend. I saw an article last week from Backbencher about the murals in the Cohen Building, but I didn’t know enough then to post about it. Now that Heather Cox Richardson has written about the four buildings slated for destruction, and the preservationist Mydelle Wright, who is attempting to take the matter to court, I have an excuse to refer y’all to the Cohen Building’s remarkable art – and its social significance. Granted this is not the biggest story of the moment, what with people being tortured and killed by the same government which is supposed to keep them safe -but it is a story about potentially irreparable damage to structures important for artistic and historic reasons.

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Dec 152025
 

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. There were a couple of double double runs of three (or “two double runs of three” as some call it), and a greater than usual amount of two pairs, where the cards of one pair made 15 with the cards of the second pair, even one “full house (if I may borrow a term from poker) where the cards of the triplet made 15 with the cards of the pair. But also a lot of dud hands. Not that any of that matters – we  don’t keep a running score, just count each hand separately. In the afternoon, we discovered that the outer soles of my shoes were coming off. Neither of my feet touched the ground, because the inner sole is strong, and it’s nothing I can’t fix with Shoe Goo, but it was a bit annoying. I got home a little before 4:00 pm, and it took me about 20-25 minutes to get to PP and discover that despite the fact that I had done all the work on the Sunday post, I had failed to schedule it, so I then posted it immediately. If you missed it because I was late, check it out. There’s a new Randy Rainbow.

Yes, I’m a sucker for stories about veterans. Yes, I know many of us are MAGA, Christian Nationalist, or both. But they are not the best of us.

This from Heather Cox Richardson is from last week – Tuesday, to be precise. But it’s not news. It’s more like an investigation, or a research project, and that makes the timing less relevant. What is important about this is what is tells us about cable news outlets.

From Huff Post. Discussion of the Senate filibuster of extending ACA tax subsidies.

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Dec 132025
 

Yesterday, the FDA announced a testosterone crisis (I would agree – Republican men have way too much). House Democrats released some photos from the Epstein estate.

The Slaughter case was heard on Monday, but at least as of yesterday, no verdict had been released, so Harry Litman‘s analysis is still timely – and we can still hope.

I know, “Why are you posting about dolls when there are people being physically harmed – killed, starved, kidnapped?” Well, there are a couple of reasons. One is that dolls have been used for so long to belittle women (think MAGA Barbie), but this shows that they can also be used to empower girls and women – to strengthen pride in their heritage. But also, this resonates with me because in my way I am doing the same things – character dolls representing powerful women. It’s slow, because I have real people to knit for, including myself. But I do have some finished. The most recent one was Nancy Pelosi (specifically on the day she left the White House having read the Apricot Antichrist the riot act. And I finally have a decent photo of that. Look, this country has s problem with misogyny which is holding us back from progress. Anything we can do, even if the action seems trivial, to combat that is worth doing.

Common Dreams reports on a new executive order which “instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems “onerous and excessive.” I suppose it’s a little related that Bluehost is pushing me to attend a webinar or something about using AI for this blog. Ain’t gonna do it. If Nameless wants to look into it when I’m gone, that’s fine.

Dog

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Dec 102025
 

Yesterday, in a followup to my second article(s), we learned that Judge Boasberg has reached the subpoena stage. I don’t think he set out to be a hero I think he is just royally pissed – but if this continues, his name will end up in the history books.

This will disappoint you. It certainly disappointed me.

I get TPM’s newsletter daily, and it’s always good, and usually fairly comprehensive, but there are days when it’s up to the overwhelming level. Monday was such a day.

Harry Litman wants to reassure you that you are not crazy – it’s the regime which is crazy. And he brings receipts.

This video is 11 minutes, and yes, that is long for here. I have watched/listened three times, and in a way it’s information you can find elsewhere, but what it does that others mostly don’t is “connect the dots.”

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