Open Thread May 1 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 012026
 

Today, in addition to being May Day, is also Law Day in the US.

Yesterday, Joyce Vance made a Substack video with Norm Eisen and April Ryan from The Contrarian, and the subject of James Comey’s new indictment came up. I know almost everyone is still upset with him on account of the 2016 election and “her emails.” But the more time goes by, the less I believe that that remark had anything to do with Hillary’s loss. I think pure misogyny was more than enough to sink her. But I digress. April, who had worked at the FBI when Comey was its Director, said something about him that I didn’t know and you probably don’t either. She said he would take every new hire to the MLK Memorial, and show them the FBI files on Dr. King, and say “This is what overreach looks like.”

From The Conversation. The Panamanian company Congress just authorized to mine the Boundary Waters for copper sulfite may be the most egregious example of this. It doesn’y just pollute the water. It also poisons the air.

As Liza Donnelly points out, Heather Cox Richardson nailed the difference between the two speeches. And Liza goes a bit farther by linking to videos. (This from Borowitz is just a footnote.)

There’s been noise about Rep Chuck Edwards (R-NC) being under ethics investigation, but nothing about why. Unless this is it. Not that this sounds like something Republican would care about. I guess we’ll wait and see.

 

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Open Thread April 30 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 302026
 

Yesterday, SCROTUS eviscerated the Voting Rights Act. I’m not providing a link because the news is everywhere. I am not saying this in its defense, because there is no defense. But I presume they are looking at Clarence to justify their illusion that people of color are less intelligent. (If they would look at Ketanji, they would not be able to hold on to that lie.) Also yesterday, I received an email which included a poll. I almost never respond to those polls which are sent out, for the simple reason that they include no way to express one’s specific feelings about a person or an issue, and my feelings are generally far more nuanced that the possible responses provided. But this poll had a response which actually nailed my feelings, and even allowed me to add s few words explaining why, so I did respond. If that piques your curiosity, here’s the link. You need to scroll down below the petition to get to the poll part, but not far.

This article comes with a roughly 45 minute video which covers in detail corruption which is a matter of public record but which has been under the radar for at least 30 years. You don’t need to watch it – I’m just telling you so you can make a more informed decision.

This feels like a good day to post an article titled “Six Solutions to Fix the Supreme Court” = particularly when it’s from The Brennan Center.

https://archive.is/h1zxW
Archived from The Lever, the brainchild of David Sirota, a former campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, and a Substack personality in his own right. It’s in the category of “investigative journalism.” The case in the title is a civil suit in Maine. There’s a link to the actual complaint, but the complainants are three named groups and the defendants are six individuals, in their capacities as elected or appointed officials of the state of Maine. Heaven only knows what the short name will end up being.

Dog/Squirrel

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Open Thread April 5 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 052026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was La Gioconda. You have heard part of it, since this is the opera from which the Dance of the Hours comes, and if “Fantasia” didn’t do it for you, Allan Sherman or Spike Jones did. The performance is from 1968, but airing it yesterday was to celebrate its 1ts 150th anniversary. It’s (accurately) described as a melodrama, so I won’t go into detail. Today’s featured image is a pysanky (or pysanka) or Ukrainian Easter egg. Happy Easter to all who celebrate, and Happy Passover to all who celebrate. Off to see Virgil now – will check in.[

From The Root regarding Artemis 2. There is also a woman in the crew. I don’t know how they got it past the emperor.

From ABC News referred by The Smile. This is sweet. Joe Biden got to ring the bell when his cancer was gone, but he didn’t do this. And I certainly couldn’t – not ever – not at any age.

From CBS News, also referred by The Smile. This is so much better than the “Alpha Male Camp” earlier this week.

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Open Thread February 22 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 222026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Manon Lescaut” by Puccini – his first big hit, actually. I always struggle not to laugh when she ends up dying in “the deserts of Louisiana”, but – since it’s set in the 18th century, when French-owned Louisiana stretched much farther west even than the Louisiana Purchase – it’s not nearly as silly as it sounds today. This performance was chosen by soprano Asmik Grigorian, a big fan of Mirella Freni (who was born in the same tiny little town where Luciano Pavarotti was born – there must have been something in the water.) Off to see Virgil now – will check in upon return..

This is kind of sweet. (You will likely need to unmute it)

It always warms my heart to see Joe Biden get any credit at all. He deserves so much better.

I do realize some people have difficulty with bats – and that most people are not aware how much bats do for the environment. But how can anyone not find flying foxes adorable?

Rocky Mountain Mike

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Open Thread February 15 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 152026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Idomeneo” from 1986, chosen by Joyce Di Donato because of Frederica von Stade. I have a von Stade story from many years ago which appeared in Cat Fancy magazine, submitted by a vocal coach about the first time von Stade (“Flicka”) came to learn from her. At one point the coach’s cat threw up o Flicka’s foot. The coach thought she’d lost a student forever. But Flicka just deadpanned, “I hope it wasn’t my singing,” and stayed with the coach. She is a class act in every way.  It’s interesting to me (if no one else) that every time an “Artist’s Choice” is picked by someone I really like, that their choice is based on someone in a previous generation I also really, really like.

I would call this “mixed” rather than “good.” But for decades we have been thinking “doomed,” and “mixed” is definitely an improvement over that.

Now this is sportsmanship. This is how sports are supposed to work (and sadly often don’t.)

It’s always good news when someone gets to live his or her dream. And it’s always especially good when it’s a child, and particularly a child who’s experienced an illness that no one, and especially no child, should have to cope with.

Cat

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Open Thread February 1 2026

 Posted by at 11:41 am  Politics
Feb 012026
 

Yesterday, it didn’t snow (it hasn’t since Monday) and the snow we did have is virtually gone. The radio opera was Arabella by Richard Strauss, which the last summer season also included, so it’s way to soon to say anything else about it. Mostly, I just cleaned out my inbox and committed knitting. I have three projects going, which is rare for me – usually I just work on one till it’s finished.

This doesn’t sound like good news rom the headline. You need to read the story. Then it’s good news.

Veterans. And kids. If you get newsletters from “Read the Smile” and saw this, you might have guessed I would share it.

I am not in the least worried about the birth rate – well, maybe that it’s too high – but this is just sweet.

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Open Thread January 21 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 212026
 

Yesterday, I slept quite late, but also took in a grocery order – a huge one – which I might not have had the strength to cope with otherwise. As it is, I didn’t get it all put away – just the perishables – and was rxhausted.

This is from Sunday’s Politizoom newsletter. but I don’t think it has lost any of its humor over those three days.

Currently, 96¢ of every dollar the government receives in tariffs is being paid either by us, or by businesses which are able (for now) to suck it up to avoid loss of custom (same source, different article). I suppose the only reason no one ever thought of this before is that no one figured out how to do it. After all, billionaires also have to eat, use the bathroom, and wear clothes just like the rest of us. But Zucman appears to have a plan which might work.

I’ve never expected anything good – or anything true – to come out of Davos. All those billionaires together – who but another billionaire would expect anything good? But – apparently – Canada is the adult in the room of the western hemisphere. I never mind if people skip things – but I hope no one will skip this.

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Open Thread January 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 202026
 

Yesterday, Robert Reich had this to say. It has zero to do with Dr. King, and it’s not even really funny because it’s too real. But it is definitely clever. This from Andy, on the other hand, is funny – sort of – an appealing idea but not really able to be implemented. And then there’s this – from Sunday, so we knew about it. But this is in their own words.

Since the Mango Moron does not understand cause and effect any better than he understands anything else, he would not recognize a consequence if it came to the door and showed RealID. And those of us not in the military or veterans, and even some veterans, have no experience of the signs of impending war, and would not recognize them either. But Malcolm Nance does know about them, and wrote this to give us knowledge to interpret what is happening as it happens.

You may have seen this news – I saw a reference to Laura’s story somewhere else, but it was very incomplete. (And Democracy Now is not on my radar) Mary Trump has all the details.

https://wolvesandsheep.substack.com/p/the-three-reasons-donald-trump-backs
This by Chris Bowers is a thoughtful piece. I’m not sure we have enough information to generalize from, nor how much the information we do have applies to the Saffron Sauron and how much applies to his handlers. Nor how much we can actually bring about. But it’s worth thinking about.

I don’t know how many episodes of this Richardson has planned – this is episode three = but I expect there will be more.

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