Open Thread January 17 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 172026
 

Yesterday, I added a comment to yesterday’s open thread because by now it’s already late to register for Saturday. There’s still time for Sunday as this goes up. I was drowning in emails and was full when saw the one from Axios that said “Iran’s exiled crown prince implores Trump to strike regime.” Royals may stick together, but since he’s not a real royal (and never will be – a dictator maybe, a royal never), who knows what he’ll do. Also, a little more snow melted in the back yard. The Conversation newsletter had a story about a drunken raccoon.

I could not agree more with Mary Trump if I tried with both hands for a week. Spending $30 billion on ICE is like spending $30 Billion to till every veterans’ cemetery in the US – it’s not just a waste, it’s a violent attack on something which once made us great. And, no, veterans are not perfect, and neither are immigrants. But we certainly don’t become great by trashing either. We now live in the Incredible Shrinking USA.

Asha Rangappa analyzes seven critical actions by the shooter of Renee Good which reveal whether or not he was in fact in fear for his life or those of his colleagues. This analysis so impressed Harry Litman (of Talking Feds) that he made a Substack video with her to go through it. It’s 33 minutes, so I won’t link to it, but if you read this article, there’s a link on the home page.

This has been a bastard of a week, which made it possible to fill multiple Open Threads in advance – but also had me hoping some short takes – like this one from Common Dreams – would not be obsolete by the time they were posted, because the worst had happened.

Cat

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Open Thread January 15 2025

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Blog News, Personal, Religion
Jan 152026
 

Yesterday, the remaining snow got down to under an inch where it remained, but my back yard still looked blanketed. Today is supposed to be the warmest day of the week and sunny, and I really wasn’t expecting it to be gone before today anyway. I can’t keep my fingers crossed because it’s too hard to type that way, but I’m hoping. Also, I apologize to Dr. Keith Knight for including only the last third of his cartoon. But I do feel it stands alone just fine. Finally, I have managed to find a poem by Renee Nicole Good which won a prize. Here’s the link.

The Root newsletter was really hot yesterday. I bumped one until tomorrow. This one is most remarkable for the amount of truth revealed to Pastor Callaghan (who has the kind of courage every decent person should have.) This is far more revealing than their constant, and utterly transparent, lies. It probably won’t get the attention it deserves because no blood was spilled – but everyone in the US should know it.

Robert Reich is not in Minneapolis, but he quotes in full a letter from a former student who is. Don’t write Minneapolis off. There are too many people there who have “miles and miles and miles of heart” (quote from the musical Damn Yankees.)

I might refer to adding insult to injury – but this – from The New Republic – is bigger than that. It’s more like “We might not be able to take your life, but we can definitely ruin it.”

Granted that this is 17 minutes long. But it should be seen by every American over the age of 18 – and maybe younger (And there are more where this came from.)

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Open Thread January 14 2025

 Posted by at 1:56 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 142026
 

Yesterday, Adam Klasfeld along with Vicki Ward did a live broadcast and saved it as a video which can be seen here. I’m not telling you to watch it, because it’s a full hour, and I know not everyone can. But it covers everything. They start with the Mangione cases (did you know there were two, a federal one and a state one in Pennsylvania? I didn’t), and also discuss the Maduro case and the murder in Minnesota, and Lindsey Halligan (whose deadline to explain to the judge is today) and Jerome Powell, and Judge Hellerstein, and I’m probably leaving something out. That is a lot to cover in an hour. (P.S. Here‘s the follow-up on Halligan)

Archived from the Washington Post, referred by Talking points Memo, here is an overview of all the ways the Saffron Sauron is looking to ratfuck the midterms. I have no idea how this got past Bezos, but apparently, it did. And I’m citing it – all of it (and it has chapters, sort of.) Perhaps every state (and territory, if applicable) should assign their own National Guard right now to monitor elections in November. I would suggest calling in UN observers, but ICE would probably deport them.

Mary Trump discusses how to navigate the floods of discouraging and increasing overreach from the Executive Branch and how to avoid giving them what they want

Matt Kerbel (who, along with Chris Bowers, comprises Bowers News Network) discusses “Consent of the Governed.” and why, despite havin won the election (by a sliver) this “President” doesn’t have it.

Dogs

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Open Thread January 9 2025

 Posted by at 12:56 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 092026
 

Yesterday, I didn’t see any news big enough to supersede the killing of Renee Nicole Good (although the fact that the House passed Jeffries’s discharge petition on ACA subsidies – and then passed the bill – deserves a mention. Now it goes back to the Senate – which today advanced a war powers resolution.) I did watch what I could of a Substack video with Malcolm Nance, Michael Cohen, and JoJo from Jerz (and isn’t that a lineup!) which kept locking up. But what I could see and hear was cathartic. I do want to share something about this death which bothers me. Renee’s six-year-old was born from her first marriage to a soldier who died. She was now married again, to a woman. Her late husband’s father is, I gather, on his way to Minneapolis to collect the child. I am concerned that a custody battle, if it becomes a battle, or if it doesn’t, just taking him away from the only parent he knows could harm him as much or more than the loss of his biological mother. Heather Cox Richardson‘s remarks on what happened are well worth listening to if you can spare the time.

Archived from The Washington Post (referred by The Daily Beast), it is IMO a good sign that someone else – particularly someone who has been making money from the regime, is finally fed up. I might add that it required a whole lot of ordinary people to push Avelo to this point. So we do have a voice – at least some of the time.

A Pro Publica investigation found that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is producing enough debris to seriously endanger commercial flights of conventional aircraft. Is anyone surprised?

The top image for this article from The Conversation was (For me) reduced to a miniscule line of type, with the top half cur off. But by right clicking on that line, I was able to open the image in a new tab, and refreshing the page also worked. This, frankly, scares me as much as and maybe more than ICE.

Dog

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Open Thread January 8 2025

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 082026
 

Yesterday, as I am pretty sure everyone knows, an ICE agent shot a woman in the back of the head three times while she was in her car, attempting to get away/out of the way. She died instantly. The car continued to move (Malcolm Nance described this as “Dead Woman Driving”) and crashed into some other vehicles. The air bag inflated and was covered with blood. I can now confirm she was a US citizen. The Root shared her name and a link to a very moving obituary, as well as a slow-motion video with labels of what happened when. Nameless saw this before I did, and posted a comment with three NSFW headlines quoting the mayor of Minneapolis on yesterday’s OT to which I responded with everything I knew at the time. Tim Walz has now given a statement on public safety, together with the Director of Public Safety and the Colonel of the Minnesota National Guard.

This from The 19th reminded me that fairly recently I saw that someone (I assume a male MAGA) was complaining that anyone who says “toxic masculinity” is really saying that all masculinity is toxic. I thought “Yeah, right – just like saying “counterfeit money” is saying that all money is counterfeit.” I suppose that not even all male ICE agents enjoy toxic masculinity, but there surely seem to be a lot of them.

From Common Dreams. The nerve of Stephen Miller saying that we have to act like thugs in order to support “the free world.” The U.S. can’t support the free world in any way when we aren’t even a part of it any more.

 

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Open Thread December 26 2025

 Posted by at 10:14 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 252025
 

Yesterday, of course, was Christmas Day. I hope yours was exactly what you wanted it to be. I had a dinner which was special and different without being complicated – and almost finished another sweater (I should easily finish today – and start another.) I’m expecting a package or two – both too large for the mailbox but small enough to bring in easily. But – we’ll see.

From The Lever News. This quote pretty much says it all: “Trump workplace regulators say jobs in entertainment, sports, and other fields are too dangerous to be covered by safety protections.” Of course, there are always derails.

From The Conversation. The story of rapamycin is fascinating. Treating the subjects like objects (grammatical pun intended) was 100% typical of the time frame, and sadly, probably still happens.

Archived from The Intercept. If you thought all those ICE bounties were going to individual disreputable MAGA insurrectionist bounty hunters – which would certainly be bad enough – think again. It’s worse than that.

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Open Thread December 12 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 122025
 

Yesterday, yet another Grand Jury refused to indict Letitia James. A (probably “the”) Democratic Congressman from Rhode Island, in a Hearing, confronted Kristi Noem over a deported veteran. Al Green introduced new Articles in the House to impeach the President. And then there’s this. Also, kudos to Missouri.

It’s no news that the Orange Ogre likes to kick people when they are down (it’s easier that way.) But sometimes we need to take a hard look at just what that looks like.

Archived from The New Yorker. No longer can one get even one free article per month. For those of us who believe in the Constitution and don’t want to, or can’t, leave the US, this is anything but good news. Not the obstacles to leaving, but the numbers of people who are in fact leaving, and therefore will not be here to vote.

Jasmine Crockett made a public apology to immigrants (and citizens kidnapped by ICE) for the government. I expect “the government (the Executive Branch) could not care less if they tried with both hands for a week, but it’s good to see someone speaking out. There’s a video at the link.

This has to be one of the best campaign announcements I have ever seen – maybe the best. I wish him a solid victory.

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Open Thread December 6 2025

 Posted by at 5:56 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 062025
 

Yesterday, I received two Axios alerts about the courts – one that SCROTUS will hear Metanucillini’s birthright citizenship case, and the other that a Federal judge has ordered Epstein’s grand jury transcripts unsealed. Also, The Root had an update on Baby Chance – you’ll remember the case. And the New York Times (are you sitting down?) actually did something in favor of freedom of the press.

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/a-2-1-panel-of-the-dc-circuit-makes
from Joyce Vance – “The case is styled as Harris v.o Bessent, although there are numerous parties involved and the order directly impacts the president’s ability to fire at will.”

Colorado Public Radio addresses my Secretary of State’s refusal to turn sensitive voter information over to the DOJ. I knew that was the case but it’s good to also have her legal reasons. I might also point out the request is unconstitutional – the conversation gives the states sole authority to run elections. There have been times I wished that wasn’t the case – but now is not one of those times.

This is essentially one story from Senator Hickenlooper – and it’s a story comparable to Abrego Garcia’s. Hick and his staff are doing everything they can think of and are getting stonewalled at every step.

Yes, I realize this is almost an hour long, and yes, there are some ums and aws in it. That’s why I put it in Saturday when it’s from Thursday. There is a transcript if that’s better for you (I didn’t vet it so it may have some creative spelling in it.) The first 16¼ minutes are an overview of history starting in the 1920s and then explaining how we got here from the 1980s. I lived through a lot of it, and I expect you did too. After that she goes into how we got here from 1980, including the “Some people are better than others” fallacy (of course some people are smarter and/or more competent than others, but the idea that skin color or gender has anything to do with that is such an obvious fallacy that one really has to have a mind which is out of shape to fall for it.) She explains how the unitary executive theory was proposed and is being used to make some people worth less in law. She touches on a principle that if you take a random 10 people, 2 will have actual opinions on government and 8 just want things to go smoothly and predictably so they don’t have to think about it – and just want to get along with people, and how to use that knowledge to get through to many people on whom reason and logic don’t work. She mentioned that she put so much effort into this video that she might not do a Thursday night letter (turns out she did, but it didn’t post until after 3 am her time). If you choose not to watch it or read the transcript, that’s fine. It’s your decision.

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