Open Thread February 4 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 042026
 

Yesterday, I learned that I am not the only person who has noticed that the names of the two ICE/CBP murder victims in Minnesota resemble the phrase “pretty good” Robert Reich’s caption contest, which I just got around to reading, includes several all usages in the previous week’s answers. And while we are on the subject of linguistics, I learned last week that “Elon” and Ilhan” are correctly pronounced exactly the same way. and just yesterday I noticed that only a small space separates “Redactions” from “Red actions.” Andy Borowitz was not long enough to call an article, but was pretty funny.

Robert Reich addresses the fact that, in suing the IRS, the Saffron Sauron is really suing himself. With our money. it’s presented lightly, not heavy-handedly, but it’s quite a serious step.

I know exactly how Le feels. I won’t belabor it here, but I would like to add that working in the same office with criminals doesn’t necessarily make you a criminal. But it does take a toll.

I 100% agree that black folks need to be aware of this – but, frankly – everyone else needs to be just as aware of it. Renee Good was not black. Alex Pretti was not black. The sad fact is that anyone, of any age or any color, who is on a street that ICE or CBP or even the National Guard is on needs to be equally aware and careful.

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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 December 24 2025

 Posted by at 1:31 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 242025
 

Yesterday, for a change, SCROTUS ruled against the Mango Monster 6-3 for a change in Trump v. Illinois – a case Harry Litman has been saying since it was filed would be its moment of truth. Because had it gone the other way, the Monster would have had free rein to act on any lies he could dream up. Harry Litman invited Leah Litman (mp relation) to discuss it with him on Substack Live. Both were so excited they were interrupting each other. I’ll provide the link anyway, difficult as it is to listen to (actually the video seems to be one and done, but the transcript is there), but a key factor was that one amicus brief was incredibly important. One amicus brief which was saying something no one else was saying, but which was right. So if you ever discounted the effect of amicus briefs – it’s time to rethink that.

CPR News referred me to this. Between this and a related story about Colorado losing FEMA funds which are now tied to immigration policy, I decided this one would affect a whole lot more people in a whole lot more places.

I’ve written previously about Lone Star ticks, and IIRC at that time there were already a few other ticks who carried this trait, but apparently, according to The Conversation, it’s getting worse. I don’t, thank the universe, have this particular food allergy, but I do have a couple which are almost equally crippling, such as wheat and soy, and frankly, you don’t want to have any food allergy ever, and especially when grocery prices are out of control.

I’m sure everyone is aware about how the short (for a documentary) documentary about CECOT had been scheduled to air on 60 minutes but was yanked by Bari Weiss. But she either forgot or didn’t know that 60 minutes also plays on Global TV in Canada. By the time she realized it, Canada had already seen about 13.5 minutes of it. That 13.5 (13.35 to be precise) was all over the internet. By yesterday, it had been taken down from most of those places. But it it viewable here. If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to watch it, if only because so many people worked so hard to prevent you from seeing it.

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Open Thread December 13 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 132025
 

Yesterday, the FDA announced a testosterone crisis (I would agree – Republican men have way too much). House Democrats released some photos from the Epstein estate.

The Slaughter case was heard on Monday, but at least as of yesterday, no verdict had been released, so Harry Litman‘s analysis is still timely – and we can still hope.

I know, “Why are you posting about dolls when there are people being physically harmed – killed, starved, kidnapped?” Well, there are a couple of reasons. One is that dolls have been used for so long to belittle women (think MAGA Barbie), but this shows that they can also be used to empower girls and women – to strengthen pride in their heritage. But also, this resonates with me because in my way I am doing the same things – character dolls representing powerful women. It’s slow, because I have real people to knit for, including myself. But I do have some finished. The most recent one was Nancy Pelosi (specifically on the day she left the White House having read the Apricot Antichrist the riot act. And I finally have a decent photo of that. Look, this country has s problem with misogyny which is holding us back from progress. Anything we can do, even if the action seems trivial, to combat that is worth doing.

Common Dreams reports on a new executive order which “instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems “onerous and excessive.” I suppose it’s a little related that Bluehost is pushing me to attend a webinar or something about using AI for this blog. Ain’t gonna do it. If Nameless wants to look into it when I’m gone, that’s fine.

Dog

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Open Thread December 11 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 112025
 

Yesterday, I found in my inbox and archived a Huff Post article on the civil suit that three Representatives have brought against the Apricot Antichrist. (I didn’t get all the money-asks out, but it is much easier to read than I found it. There is a good deal of white space and multiple photos. so it’s longish to scroll.) The lawsuit is not new, but it’s news to me that is it still ongoing. Generally, the websites of Representatives will not accept contact forms from non-constituents, and I have not checked to see whether any of these three is an exception to that. But if you are mailing Christmas (Hanukkah, Diwali, whatever) cards, and can spare three, this might be a good way to use the spares to send gratitude. Also, I saw the results on the special election in Georgia (we won) and the Miami mayoral election, not won by a Democrat in 28 years. One source said that we lost the most recent prior election by 9 points, but won this one by 67 points. That is quite a flip. I’ve seen different numbers since, but all the numbers show striking flips.

This from the 19th does make a kind of very ugly sense – “Wombs are essential to ethnic nationalist movements.” It’s a natural consequence of fear of immigrants to be worried about the birth rate. If they could only relax and allow (and empower) government to do what it is meant to do, like “promote the general welfare,” the birth rate would manage itself. Not everyone is competent to be a parent.

I am NOT recommending that anyone try this from The Root. As someone implied in a response, it needs “a special set of skills.” But it gave me a smile – even though I don’t trust “Mike” as far as I could throw Rhode Island.

This from The F* News, suggests to me that we need to work much harder to demonstrate that the modern Republican Party is actually a death cult. The lead story can be Exhibit A. When we run out of letters, which sadly won’t take long – we can start over with AA, and so on.

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Open Thread December 4 2025

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

Yesterday, Andy Borowitz headlined his Substack “Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award.” Considering what that would actually imply, would that it were true. Oh, well, I can dream. Also, yestersay was World Coati Day. Coatis, (or coatimundi, which was the name I learned as a kid, but I guess ispretty well limited to Brazil these days) are members of the raccoon family. They are somewhat rare jn the US, being limited to the Southwest, but more common in Central and South America, including Mexico. Oh, and also, it snowed – dirst of the season, about 3 inches and still on the ground at sunset. Unsurprisingly, it was cold.

This from The Independent was referred by Daily Dose of Democracy. I suppose it makes sense in a really, really warped kind of way. And we already knew that this regime is really, really warped. But good grief, what next?

Robert Reich tells us nothing here that we aren’t (probably) already aware of. But he does it so well – and offers possible solutions. Not easy solutions – I don’t think there are any of those – but possible. And he’s more than willing to hear about others from any reader who has any suggestions.

Harry Litman is not a veteran, but he knows a thing or two about military law, and First Amendment history, anyway. This is the second of a two-part analysis of the reaction to the veterans’ video regarding illegal orders. “I was just following orders” has not been a valid legal defense since the Nuremberg trials – almost my entire lifetime.

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Open Thread October 18 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 182025
 

Yesterday, Pro Publica added a third name to the list of people who are said to be the real President behind Metmucillini. Their pick is Russel Vought. I’m sure Stephen Miller and Larry Ellison are strong influencers in on way or the other. I don’t see the man-baby knowingly giving up that much power to any one person. If you want to see that Robert Reich thinks, his map is here. Tomorrow I go to see Virgil. will of course check in upon return.

Joyce Vance tells it like it is. I don’t know what else to say.

Joyce Vance also covered this story, and in more detail. I wanted to avoid using the same source twice in one day, so I went to Preet Bharara, since they often work together and his email had essentially the same subject line. He shares less detail than she does, but the same conclusion. If anyone wants details from the indictments, let me know and I’ll share Joyce’s link.

If this quote from the article at Wonkette intrigues you, feel free to click on the link. If it doesn’t, there’s no need to. There is a nice chart about trust at the very beginning.

Perhaps ironically, given Kennedy’s assertions here, men who get married and become fathers have, on average, lower testosterone levels than those who do not. This comports with a theory proposed by evolutionary biologists that testosterone has decreased as cooperation has become more important to survival than combat, and as women have purposely avoided selecting “hugely dominant, aggressive males” as mates. You know, because we don’t want them to murder us.”

Yes, four links in one day, but a couple of them are short. This one from The 19th is good news in the sense that it is a response to bad news, but I don’t know how much impact it will actually have. I’ll be glad if it has some, but it probably won’t have enough. Our homegrown fascists are not big on respecting court orders.

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Open Thread September 13 2025

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 132025
 

Yesterday, I got an email from No Kings via Move On (which is connected to Robert Reich) about their next demonstration scheduled for October 18. I’m pretty sure I already shared that date, but am repeating just in case. This (obviously) will be electoral politics related. And the climate related one, “Sun Day,” is still on for September 21st. I may not be able to go, but by golly, I can at least spread the word. Here’s the No Kings RSVP link. And yes, this is early. But they have a lot of events scheduled already, and they also have some training events scheduled

Thanks to the Mango Mussolini, everyone is scrambling for money these days. I suspect we should expect new paywalls where they have not previously been. Huff Post does not have a paywall, but they do have enough of a maze of asks that I archived this. You still need to scroll down – but that should be all. In view of the backlash just from a fine (two-term) President having brown skin, I think we need to take this seriously.

And this from The F* News was already under weigh before Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I do wish more people had paid attention. We did our best to warn them but so many did not believe us.

Another guest video – probably nothing you didn’t suspect, but it’s here now – it’s happening. At least it will all be out in the open – because discovery. Just under 12 minutes.

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