Open Thread August 29 2025

 Posted by at 7:32 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 292025
 

Yesterday, I received an email from Dr. Barber and others containing a copy of a letter they prepared in response to the Apricot Antichrist being quoted as saying he wanted to get into heaven. It is totally honest, while at the same time being kind and filled with love. God help the person who has to read it to him (he’d never be able to read it himself. It’s too honest, has too many words and ideas he wouldn’t grasp – you get the picture, I’m sure.) But if anyone who has never met or even seen a real Christian is interested in knowing how one thinks and at least aspires to act, this would be a good place to look. I don’t have a link but am saving it as a reminder of who I am supposed to be. Also yesterday – remember Trey Gowdy? One of the candidates for dumbest Congressman and IIRC also showing up in Separated at Birth memes, though I forget with whom (possibly the Malfoy brat?) He’s on Fox now, and under fire for suggesting that it might, just possibly might, be a good time to discuss gun control. And, speaking of guns, one more thing – yesterday NPR reported that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has acquired the gun with which Emmett Till was shot

Two hundred fifty years after the birth of our nations, and after many amendments to the Constitution (and I’m proud to say that all of them have been to expand the voting population), there are still people who say “My vote doesn’t count.”

Joyce Vance is correct – it isn’t just our history of slavery which condemns us – our history of internment is not much better, if at all. I might suggest that fear is a somewhat less venal and more understandable motivation than financial gain, But neither is exactly moral high ground stuff.

I had to squeeze in this from Wonkette. I don’t really have words for it. My state is another state which is prone to wildfires.

P,S. – Obviously this did not get scheduled and is therefore being posted about 15 hours late.  I would like to say it won’t happen again, but I am afraid it will.  Since getting started with my new PCP, my thyroid dosage has been lowered three times, I have been instructed to give up anti-inflammatories (I can have acetaminophen), I have been instructed to give up omeprazole (I can have Pepcid), and I must now take alendronate sodium weekly. Every one of those changes has normalized my blood work – and every one of those changes has negatively affected either my energy level of my pain.  I wasn’t surprised – acetaminophen has never worked for me any better than a sugar pill, I tried all kinds of acid relievers before I found omeprazole, and Pepcid was the best I found prior, but there was really no comparison.  And of course thyroid is directly related to energy. I am far from the first person in the world who has been instructed to give up or cut down on something that makes me life better (it’s just that one doesn’t expect those orders when it’s not something obvious like alcohol or nicotine or heroin or cocaine or meth – I’m sure y’all can think of others.) So I’m sure I can expect ore days when I conscientiously prepare the post, put it into the blog, activate the links, and possibly even fill in the time to schedule if for but then fail to hit the “schedule” button.  Please try not to worry, and feel free to send me an email, or, if yu are an author or an administrator, to just go into the dashboard and post it.

 

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Open Thread August 26 2025

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

Yesterday, I got my usual weekly email from RBG’s son Jim, the record producer, about the week’s featured release. Among other things, it includes a new or newish piece which contains a musical reflection on what “home” means. This reminded me of Robert Frost’s famous quote “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in,” which seems timely in the context of the regime’s lust for deportation. It has always bothered me because it seems so cold. And it is cold. But I don’t think it was what Frost believed. He was using it in a character study of a very cold person (possibly a MAGAt long before his time.) Although today’s MAGAts are even colder – they won’t take you in, home or not. It comes from “The Death of the Hired Man.” I think Frost’s belief was closer to what the character’s wife answers – “I should have called it Something you somehow haven’t to deserve.” Also yesterday, the House Ethics Committee has had it with Republican crap and has instead sued the Epstein Estate (Axios).

You can, and maybe have, found this information elsewhere (Among others, Wonkette cites Mother Jones). But personally I find that their style makes one feel it as real, rather than just another news story. You may disagree.

Allow me to introduce this from the Contrarian, and why I’m posting it. When I had more free time than I do these days, I used to watch history videos from reliable sources from time to time. It’s “been a minute,” so I can’t now remember whether I got this information from two different videos or the same one, but here’s some information I learned about Russia and Ukraine. Back in the day when the Vikings pretty much owned the waterways, one of the places they raided was Russia. You probably have a mental image from British history and maybe other areas of people living in the invaded territory being killed off or at least fighting the invaders for their lives. Whatever territories that may have happened in, Russia apparently was not one of them – or at least not for long. The Russian people decided that the Vikings were highly organized and maybe even smart, so they invited the Vikings to stay and become their government. And enough did that for a goodly time (I can’t say how long since I didn’t follow it up – at the time I didn’t know how relevant it would be) the ruling class in Russia was composed of Vikings. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians were Cossacks (that’s still in their national anthem.) Cossacks were mercenary soldiers who worked for anyone who could and would pay them. But their agreements with these monarchs always included a clause that they were guaranteed self government. And I assume that means they never took an oath of fealty to any of them. And no, I don’t actually think that’s genetic – certainly not 100% or people like RFK Jr and Stephen Miller and Paul Gosar, whose families strongly reject their ideas, would all have to be adopted or illegitimate, and there’s no evidence for that at all. But if there is such a thing as national character, both nations have one which is eerily consistent with their centuries-old history.

This from The F* News is kind of connected to my introductory rant about what home means. You have probably seen the news, and I don’t suppose it takes much of either imagination or decent human feelings to see what is going on here. I believe Senator Van Hollen met in person again with Abrego Garcia over the weekend. The Uganda thing was not announced until Monday morning. Ketanji Brown Jackson brought up Calvinball in connection with the Court recently – but the regime is definitely playing it too.

Cat

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Open Thread August 22 2025

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

Yesterday, I noticed that, although one might think that when I’m moving slowly, time moves slowly, it’s actually just the opposite. I am moving slowly – but the days are flying by with much not accomplished. Sigh.

Another multipurpose article, this one from Amanda Marcotte. But if you want to read just the first section, I’ll be fine with that.

I assume everyone’s heard at least the bare bones of this travesty. But the bare bones cannot give one the feel of what is happening here. This article from the 19th, on the other hand, does.

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Open Thread August 15 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 152025
 

Yesterday, I tripped over this on Democratic Underground and found it fascinating.
Joyce Vance tackles a subject which requires a whole lot more analysis than I could ever hope to give it in this blog. World history is already full of non-factual “facts,” and don’t get me started on the interpretations of both real and fake facts – if I live to be a hundred, I would still not have enough time to do justice there. And explaining why it matters – to be very brief, if every human being has the right to be judged on the basis of actual fact, I believe that applies to the dead as well as to the living. But there’s more to it, including the harm done to living people sucj=ked it to admiring the evil and disdaining the good.

After that highly abstract article and analysis from Joyce Vance, Steve Schmidt gets very concrete and specific. How this government is making even us who did not vote for it complicit in murder.

Yes, a third article, this one from Wonkette, because we needed something on the lighter side, even though it’s not yet Sunday. (The content is serious but the tone is hilarious.)

Belle CA v TX

Lion

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Open Thread August 4 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Aug 042025
 

This weekend, looking for music, after finding the Rocky Mountain Mike one you saw yesterday, I came across a “Horrible History” song from the BBC. It’s very silly, and IMO not useful as a mnemonic either. But it did remind me of Charles I and his billionaires cavaliers and how he vexed the people so much, including levying taxes without the consent of Congress Parliament, that there was a Civil War – which the people won, and locked him up (they didn’t all agree on all that much, but they did agree that he needed to be locked up), then they tried him for “treason against England by using his power to pursue his personal interest rather than the good of the country,” convicted him, and beheaded him. I might note that the verdict included accountability for the deaths, mostly in the Civil War, of 300,000 people, which was a lot then, but nowhere near the numbers that dictators today can kill. Charles’s defense, incidentally, was that the trial and verdict were illegal (sound familiar?) Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

I’m sure it’s no surprise that my email inbox is getting less and less manageable by the day. I don’t subscribe to Jacobin (though I love the name), but I do subscribe to Dose of Democracy who sent me the link, and I thought it was well said.

Heather Cox Richardson got a lot of pushback on this letter – so much that she made a video to explain it.

Belle security

Dog called ugly

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Open Thread August 1 2025

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

Yesterday, I got an email that Jeopardy is now on Substack When I said (and it must be over a year ago) that eventually “everyone” would be on Substack, I certainly didn’t imagine that. But here we are. Today marks the end of a difficult month-and-a-half for me, which is uncomfortable every year. Today I am not longer the same age as the Apricot Antichrist. And in three days it will be Barack Obama’s birthday. If you didn’t get an invitation to sign a digital birthday card for him, this link should take care of that.

There are federal agencies, some of which are intended to be “independent” in the sense that they are supposed to decide policy on the basis of expert knowledge, not on any political opinions. And then there are Non-Government Organizations  (NGOs), which like every other good thing, are now in danger. There is much more in this memo, but it’s this first section for which I am posting it.

Joyce Vance looks at history (since she is a lawyer, it is legal history and a judge.) This was in my lifetime, so I have memories of it, but I was also more than half a continent away from it and very young, so I didn’t have all these details. I also do not remember newspapers publishing court judgments the way not just Joyce but many communicators do now on the internet. It might have been better if they had done so.

And this is why I subscribe to The Root. Some stories are mainly of interest to people of color – but now and then one of those stories will – or should – be of interest to everyone who is human. It’s a pity Missouri can’t just out all its Republicans in government at every level.

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Open Thread July 23 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 232025
 

Yesterday, Virgil did call, and I broke the news to him about Joe’s death. He took it well. As I said, it was not unexpected. Today is his birthday, so I also told him Happy Birthday early. I also have a card on the way to him – it has attitude, but it is perfect for him since he so often tells me I am the best thing that ever happened to him. It says “Happy Birthday from the best decision you ever made.” I’m sure it will give him a smile.

Robert Reich puts the use of non-government individuals to influence power into the context which now exists, and addresses how that is different from the lobbying system we had all become so accustomed to, and how much more it is like the reign of the “Sun King.”

This article is from Malcolm Nance’s Substack “Special Intelligence.” If you aren’t familiar with Malcolm Nance, it’s time you were, so I am also linking to the Wikipedia article on him. The dude knows what he speaks and/or writes about. And even though what he writes about here is next to impossible to take seriously, it’s still important. MAGA and/or QAnon people have taken action in the past about propositions which were too ridiculous to take seriously, and people have been endangered and hurt, even killed, by those actions.

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Open Thread July 15 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 152025
 

Yesterday, Wonkette decided to quote La Marseillaise in its “TABS” email (the first of the day with links to other sources and just a little snark in the description) and threw in the clip from “Casablanca.” That scene is always a gut-punch for me, yet somehow in a good way, sort of like grand opera. (The young actress whose tears in the scene are so memorable was in real life a refugee. Those tears were real, and may not even have been scripted.) Also yesterday, this came out from Colorado Public Radio. Not that it’s news that we have crazy people in Colorado (particularly in the same Congressional District that Tina Peters is in.) Personally I would say he should never have been granted bail. And finally, July 17 – the 5th anniversary of John Lewis’s death, is July 17 (Thursday). National protests will be held. Here’s a link to find and RSVP to one.

This is good advice from Robert Reich – although I don’t think I’m quite capable of following it to the letter. I don’t feel I’m on the front line, but in more of a supporting role (which is nothing new. Most of the time I was in the Marine Corps the only women allowed in combat zones were nurses, and the Corps has no nurses, or for that matter, doctors. Medical personnel serving Marines are in the Navy.) The first Woman Marine assigned to a combat zone had been my platoon leader in basic training, and she had an administrative specialty, which is a command specialty, but not a combat specialty. Still a support role.) Support is important, but is less likely to make those filling it feel gung ho. But it is something i can do.

Joyce Vance writes primarily about measles and measles vaccinations here. But measles is only one part of the picture of disease, and disease itself is only one part of the picture of public health. There are also things like guns, floods, fires, toxic chemical exposure both knowingly and unknowingly (in which I would include recreational drug use), transportation crashes, other hazardous products, and more. I can’t imagine authoritarians caring a rodent’s posterior about any of them.

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