Open Thread October 9 2025

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 092025
 

Yesterday, an email from Justin Pearson – one of the “Tennessee three” along with Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson – remember “No Justins, no peace”? – announced his run for Congress. More power to him. Also, The F* News newsletter included this sentence, which shocked me and may shock you: “[T]he GOP leadership’s followers aren’t even following their leaders. TFN told you on Tuesday about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) demanding subsidy extensions. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is also cracking the GOP wall.” Finally, I re-watched “Judgment at Nuremberg.” It is on YouTube in full. If you are a member, you won’t need this link, but it not, here is a link which will shove no advertising on you. (if you just want the explanation of how ordinary people allowed it to happen – which I am by no means 100% behind – it starts somewhere around 2 hours 15 miutes.)

Many people dismiss the ideas of comedians and cartoonists as being “unserious.” I don’t. There is a long history of the “jester” or the “fool” being the only one in a kingdom who could speak truth to power and live. This goes back to the dawn of history, but if you want some 500 year old evidence, I challenge you to find me a comedy (or even a tragedy) by Shakespeare in which the fool, if there is one, is not the wisest character. Iiza Donnelly is a cartoonist for The New Yorker. Ann Telnaes was a cartoonist for the Washington Post until she quit because Bezos was censoring her truth. The two of then were recently the headliners at an international cartoonists convention in France. Here are some of Liza’s thoughts while returning home.

There’s been a great deal of news about MAGA freakouts over Bad Bunny being scheduled for the Super Bowl halftime show. Just so you know, Bad Bunny is a birthright citizen of America, as are his parents.

This from Wonkette appears to be under-reported, possibly because the perp is under 18. Two families devastated by one little creep. I hope New Jersey has some provision for victims’ rights. Our Mitch would probably know, unless the law has changed since he moved to Florida.

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Open Thread October 6 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 062025
 

Yesterday, I went to see Virgil. As usual we played cribbage. Most of our hands were mediocre to dire, but what the heck. We play to pass the time in each other’s company, not to win. Before I left to go see him, I received an update from Carrie on Barry. It’s not as good as I had hoped, but it’s also not as bad as my worst fears. It’s short, so I’ll quote it in full: …

I wanted to let you know Barry will be transferred to a long term acute care facility sometime next week. He had a tracheotomy last week so they could get the tube out of his mouth. Since he is still on a ventilator, the tube goes through the tracheostomy. They have turned the ventilator off from time to time, but he is only able to breathe on his own for about 30 minutes. At least he is no longer under heavy sedation. At present he is completely paralyzed. I will be seeing him tomorrow for the first time since he had the tracheotomy. He cannot speak, but is still answering simple yes or no questions by blinking. Please keep praying for him.*

*Or as always, however you communicate with the universe.

Late breaking news

It’s easy to criticize the media, and the MSM in general is indeed doing a terrible job of getting out the truth about this regime. But maybe at least some of the problem is that, being unaccustomed to government lies and fraud on this scale, they really don’t know how to report it. And I have to agree that the method proposed here is simple, but by no means obvious.

From Robert Reich‘s keyboard to God’s monitor or iPhone, whatever he’s using these days.

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Open Thread October 3 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 032025
 

Yesterday, the details of an ICE raid on an apartment building in Chicago were published, including by Wonkette. It appears they simply broke down every door in the building, detained everyone, then after some hours released those they had been able to confirm were citizens. If you don’t want to read about it, I don’t blame you but here’s the link anyway.

This from The Conversation goes along with the article earlier this week about learning to be defiant. If a serious, dedicated scholar can be as far off about what the Third Reich looked like from inside, the rest of us need to take notice now.

Wow. Just Wow. Wonkette – well, it isn’t actually Wonkette which nails it – it’s District Judge Young, but Wonkette serves it up. And it inspired me to use a cartoon I have been holding, because it makes it so clear that it isn’t words, and certainly not words alone, which make terrorists.

This HuffPost article sheds some light on the Federal shutdown. And also on the messaging. Our messaging is pretty clear, and self explanatory, if anyone who needs to hear it will ever hear it (and believe it – they are so accustomed to believing six impossible things before breakfast that getting their belief is not exactly guaranteed.)

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Open Thread October 1 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 012025
 

Yesterday, I did sleep late, although not as late as I dreamed I did (I dreamed I slept until today.) I saw several emails in my inbox leading to reviews of the Hogsbreath debacle, but Wonkette gave it the respect it deserved. Today is apparently the first day of a government shutdown. Expect pain – but what form it will take, I don’t know.

This does not by any means redeem the New York Times. (For one thing, I find it difficult to believe that the people who need to read or hear this the most actually read well enough to be bothered to read the Magazine section.)

Anyone who reads The Guardian is already aware of this. If you don’t read The Guardian, Wonkette will bring you up to speed. Not that it should be any surprise to anyone, of course. There’s a saying that people under 40 have the face they were born with, while people over 40 have the face they deserve. Miller just turned 40 this year, but I think he’s had the face he deserves for a very long time.

I’m not familiar with Futurism, so I looked it up at Media Bias/Fact Check, which says it is pro-science and mostly factual in reporting (not that I don’t also take that with a grain of salt.) I’m aware most people, including journalists, think this is Stephen Miller’s job, and I’m sure that it is, to an extent. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be others. And they may be working together, or in competition, or just separately.

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Open Thread September 26 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 262025
 

Yesterday, the electrician came and fixed my kitchen light in about 20 minutes. the problem was in the switch. He said that outlets and switches generally last abut 20 years (and I am at 23 – I had everything rewired before moving in in 2002.) And added that my switch box panel is in good shape (they last 30-40 years.) He only charged for a service call (I would have been happy with up to 3x the amount, or at least would have if parts had been needed.) It’s good to have light!

Last might Carrie B (NannyCarrie from Care2) emailed that her husband Barry is in the hospital with what they think is a brain stem stroke.  He can’t breathe without a ventilator.  She is terrified and asks for prayers, vibes, or as TC would say, however you communicate with the universe.  If anyone wants her email please let me know in a comment.

Well, we don’t have to go back to the Third Reich to understand the politicization of the military – the seventies and eighties are well within the lifetimes of most of us.

This link is to a petition, but scrolling down brings you to the article explaining why the petition. Please read that first. Then, if you want, feel free to sign. My goal is for you to be aware this is happening.

Since RFK Jr is so hung up on prenatal acetominaphen being the cause of autism (though autism has been around a whole lot longer than acetominaphen has), when I read this (and all of the comments -they contain many more stories as well as gratitude), I thought it might be good for us to have something more accurate – and more sane – to read on the subject

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Open Thread September 24 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 242025
 

Yesterday, another quiet day – which is wonderful, Heck, any one day under the current regime is more excitement than I need for the rest of my life.

Apparently Jimmy Kimmel was back on TV last night (as Wonkette and others expected). But that doesn’t matter in connection with what Robert Reich has to say about the whole kerfuffle, both here and in his video for Inequality Media (below).

Dan Froomkin from Press Watch thinks the Old Gray Lady may be reverting to actual journalism. I think the key words are “may be,” but he does have some examples to share. I note that this does NOT apply to the Washington Post.

This from the Talking Feds Substack is, of course, an opinion, but I have seen a fair amount about this, and thought about it. I would never support shutting down a government which is working well. But this one isn’t. It is in fact actively harmful. And I think Talking Feds is on to something. To shut down the Government and make it count, we need to make it about fascism. I think we can, and I think we should.

A guest video today from Robert Reich – not just OK but encouraged to share.

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Open Thread September 22 2025

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

Yesterday, I saw Virgil and as usual we played cribbage. I may have said before that we count each hand, but we don’t keep a running total. We did when he was at other facilities, and i was careful to make sure he won at least half of the games we played. This can be done with making less-than-ideal discards to the crib. And anyone’s who’s ever played knows that near the end of the game, who wins it can depend simply on who counts first. The way we do it now is a bit easier since I don’t have to constantly watch the board (or the notepad – it can be done on a notepad if one tallies in groups of 5 and is consistent how many groups fit in a row, one can see at a glance who’s ahead). But as I say, just counting each hand without keeping a total, that’s not an issue. Also, if my “tags” look really gossipy today, yes, I took a break from thinking up impersonal issues to call them.

As with Lisa Cook, so with Tish James. Neither attempted t claim that two homes were both primary residences, and both have the receipts. Will that stop MAGA Ed Martin? Of course not.

I didn’t squeeze this into Sunday because it was already full, and also because, though this is a lovely gesture, the circumstances inspiring it are so grim.

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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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