Yesterday, Trinette was by and we had conversations about family, shopping, and other things.
From the 19th. This kind of thing has been happening for a very long time, although not always quite so deadly. But constant harassment is not exactly a walk in the park. Law and Crime says he has a court date today.
Amanda Marcotte at Salon writes about why we can’t have nice things a woman President, and why this will be true for a very long time. Spoiler – it’s because there are enough men working very, very hard to keep it that way.
This from The Conversation is supposed to be encouraging, and in a way it is, but this issue is not an election, it’s an imperative, and when one starts getting down to the percentage points of changed answers when additional information is provided, I get very nervous indeed.
I’m being Roman with the date today to mock the MAGAts who are losing it because someone said somewhere on the ‘net that Zohran Mamdami would probably force all the NYC public school students to use Arabic numerals – and there are people losing it. (If you missed the story, see Belle below.) It would be even funnier if it weren’t so sad.
Yesterday, in a surprising turn of events, Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she is resigning from Congress effective January.
Talking Points Memo (this one from yesterday) always covers multiple incidents, but also does a pretty good job of providing the program without which you can’t tell the players (one scumbag is so much like all the others.) The AEA appears to me the most important here, but that’s debatable.
Born in 1945, I lived through the second “Red Scare.” And despite Joseph Welch’s memorable “have you no decency” in 1954, I can tell you from personal experience that there were still people terrified of others’ free speech and of using their own into the 60’s. This article from The Conversation demonstrates its premise that “bold and courageous acts of dissent are critical for protecting First Amendment rights for everyone.” But it doesn’t really do justice to the miasma of fear which lives on long after the judicial principle of freedom of speech is restored.
I had to archive this article from Axios because I only get the “scoops” newsletter, which is free. Jason is not my representative, more’s the pity, but he is from my state. I’m proud of all the veterans who made the video, but particularly of him.
Yesterday, Harry Litman was just stunned (along with an entire courtroom) to learn that the indictment against James Comey had in fact never been seen by the grand jury. And I can see why. He posted a quick video and than reposted it with a transcript as soon as he could. I’m not linking because I think he’s correct, that you are going to be seeing this in multiple outlets, all over. At one point he had to move, saying, “Let me get away from this protestor.” Did you know there were protesters at the courthouse? I certainly didn’t. I presume (and hope) they are protesting on Comey’s behalf. I don’t like the guy either, but he doesn’t deserve this prosecution. Yesterday was also the anniversary of the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Heather Cox Richardson wrote a detailed letter on it, and also made a less detailed 4-minute video.
Archived from The New York Times – not political, but an opinion piece regarding AI. When the Old Gray Lady is not talking politics, she appears to me to retain a good deal of the style and rationality which made her the Paper Of Record.
TC used to joke that Andy was reporting real news when his satire was particularly on target. But the truth is that Andy is now sometimes deliberately reporting real news – and it can be devastating. The linked video was a paid-only one, so I did not see it when it came out, but he has now yielded it to pressure to make it public. It is an interview with Kate Manne, who has extensively researched the story of “Katie Johnson,” who has testified and, though she withdrew her lawsuit out of fear, stands behind her statement that Trump raped her when she was 13. It runs about 25½ minutes, and I understand if that is too long, or if the subject matter is too disturbing to listen to for anyone here. But I thought I would be remiss not to make it available.
From the 19th. This is the woman who is currently standing trial for “forcibly impeding federal officers…at an immigration facility” where she was simply (attempting to) perform the oversight which is part of her job as a Representative. I wish we had more like her.
Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. Most of the hands were mediocre – but Virgil got a perfect 29 hand again, and this time it was for real – I didn’t stack it – no one did. First time I’ve ever seen a real one. Also yesterday, if anyone is interested, COURIER has compiled the 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate, released by the US House Oversight Committee on November 12, 2025, into an easily searchable repository. It appears one must sign in to google to access it. Here’s the link:
Robert Reich on what the verdict of history should be on the Apricot AntiChrist. I emphasize “should” because I know of too many individuals on whom the verdict of history is wrong. And that goes both ways. I do like Robert Reich’s idea for a monument, but strongly doubt that it will ever come to pass.
Y’all can skip this if you have had enough, but I thought it would be useful to have pretty much all the Epstein stuff that is being emphasized – all of it would be a book the size of the OED or bigger – in one place, and The F* News appears to be it for now (Along with the above database.)
Common Dreams with another reason to be skeptical of AI – which is also another reason for those who are working on it to keep doing so. As long as they don’t force me to work with it, fine.
Yesterday, TPM reported that Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Abency has made a criminal referral to the DOJ of Eric Swalwell for “mortgage fraud” (the same thing James Comey, Tish James, and Adam Schiff have been charged with). Swalwell has been expecting this and ia probably prepared for it. But it’s syill an annoyance, and a huge waste of timw and money, both for Swalwell and for the Government (and that’s our money.)
Somehow, I feel like the Democrats who are retiring should stay while some of the ones who are not – should. OK, Nancy is over 80 and deserves a rest, and I grant Jerry Nadler is 78, but he surely seems younger. It kind of depends on his replacement. Which is why this profile matters. If you’re going to replace someone like Nadler, let’s replace him with someone who has equal potential.-
Perhaps I should have saved this for Sunday – it is good – and it’s easy to grasp the point – but getting there took a whole lot of digging, so much so that just reading it is almost tiring. Besides, good news is welcome any time.
Sheesh. I saw this in The Root’s newsletter, and The Root linked to Law and Crime, which had more medical detail. This happened in Gainesville, Florida (not surprisingly). It appears there aren’t a whole lot of people who can be trusted in Florida, including medical professionals.
Yesterday, I got to my main email just about the time Grijalva was sworn in. Yes, that was kind of late in the day, but before I check my main email, I check the old one, and look up the times of sunrise and sunset and record them, and I take my morning meds and make coffee, and even getting dressed is not zero time, plus it’s two hours earlier here. And it’s nice to get up to a little good news, since it is mostly anything but. Also, none of the DOJ’s Epstein Files were released, but three emails obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee directly from the Epstein estate were.
In view of the fact that many people are losing their minds over this or that in it, I thought it would be good for us all to turn to Heather Cox Richardson and get a view of everything that is in it. After that, losing one’s mind will still be on the table (including for me.)
National Public Radio has coverage of an ICE arrest from June but given that Veterans’ Day was just a couple of days ago seems appropriate to revisit now.
This from Axios reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode – “Eye of the Beholder“, to be precise. I was a big fan of TZ, and was 15 when this episode first aired. I think it shocked me more than any other episode of TZ- and I certainly never expected it to play out in my lifetime. But here we are.
Robert Reich’s series to share widely as he requests
Yesterday, I see that the Senate appears to have caved on the shutdown. (Jeffries says he has not and will not, but we’ll see.) The calls to kick Chuck Schumer out range from statements to screams – although he was NOT one of the eight who caved. (And two out of those 47 are actually Independents, and at least one of those two was among the eight.) You can find the list and photos here (Belle also lists them.) It seems a bit unfair to me to blame all Democrats for what only 17% of them did. But on the bright side, SCROTUS has declined to hear a challenge to Obergefell. (And I’m pretty confident that if they won’t hear that, they won’t hear Loving either.) So, hopefully, one less thing to worry about. But we still have to worry about trans people, especially trans kids. Someone at Democratic Underground remarked that the Orange Oligarch will for sure end in prison, because dementia ia a form of prison – prison in one’s own body. Well, if that’s true, and in a way it is, what about being trans? Isn’t it prison to be a girl in a boy’s body, or vice versa? And to be fully aware of the discrepancy? I was born in 1945, and in the 1950s Christine Jorgensen was in the news a lot, and my mother told me that sometimes the soul of a girl is born into the body of a boy. Whether you think in terms of a soul, or a personality, or essence, or whatever it is that makes us who we are non-tangibly, can you think of a worse prison to be locked up in? For a person who has done nothing to deserve prison, yet it’s a prison from which the only escape is major medical intervention. Otherwise, there is no release, no probation, no parole, no escape but death. And the older one gets, the more invasive the surgery becomes. And Republicans would sentence these innocent prisoners to stay in prison from birth to adulthood (and longer, with the cost of health care going through the roof, only the wealthy can afford it.) At the very least transgender kids should be allowed puberty blockers. It’s no bloody wonder that the suicide rate among transgendered people is so high.
The F* News is experimenting with a weekly newsletter in addition to their dailies, wanting to go into a little more depth than they can trying to keep up with the daily chaos. This one includes more than one topic, and all are interesting, but the first one, regarding Elon Musk’s personal body count, may be the most shocking.
Some judges appointed by the Orange Oligarch are actually making judgments based on the law and the Constitution, without fear or favor, such as Karin Immergut. Others not so much. People for the American Way addresses 14 rulings from this fall so far which are, to say the least, troubling. Or I should say that it lists them and links to fuller analysis, so you can choose which one or ones to dive into.
Speaking of judges, Steve Schmidt starts this article with a powerful quote from one (a Reagan appointee, no less).
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Parsifal” by Wagner – a good four hours. “Parsifal” is the way Germans spell “Percival,” and the allusion to the Round Table is intentional, although no other character’s name follows through. The opera traces how Parsifal became the king of the knights who are charged with protecting the Holy Grail. I won’t go into detail. Wagner quotes the Dresden Amen in it more than once, but especially at the (happy) ending. Wagner’s ideas about Christianity were somewhat warped, but if they were as warped as MAGA, that does not come through in his operas. His ideas about sexuality were also somewhat warped, also (as far as we can tell) not as warped as MAGA. I won’t push that any farther either. The man could and did write beautiful music. To anyone – and I have heard it a lot – who thinks that music, especially classical music, is “ennobling,” I say “It certainly didn’t work for Wagner.” Not that his record can compete with the Mango Monster – but pretty much everything the Monster has done hundreds and thousands of times, Wagner did at least once.
I found this through The Smile on a day when most of their news was both political and pathetic. This is neither, and I applaud the educators who are facilitating this.
I knew some of this, because last month The Root had an article on several philanthropists, of whom she was one. The article doesn’t really answer the question the headline asks, but the answer is really “because she has a soul.” If she is not already on your list of secular saints, this might be the time to add her to it.
If you can’t see the video, I couldn’t either, until I turned my browser’s media player on. I’m sorry that I won’t be around to vote for this young man for President.
Crazy Soup Mr. Tangerine Man – not the world’s best singer, no CC, and it’s from last year’s election season, but hey. It’s amusing.
