Open Thread May 24 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 242026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot.” It was his last opera – and it’s not a pretty story. It has a happy ebding, in that the tenor and the lead soprano end up in love against all odds. But the road to that ending is covered with blood, and I have trouble with that. The big aria, which all tenors love, and which is often associated with Pavarotti (although every tenor who has ever recorded anything has recorded it – even Sarah Brightman recorded it, replacing “la principessa” with “il principe”) is “Nessun dorma” – None shall sleep – which makes sense in context, though out of context, not so much. Also – I can answer Randy’s quesiion. Congress is completely dominated by Republicans who are so terrified of the Saffron Sauron that they wouldn’t vote their conscience (those who have one) even if the sky fell. Let’s put a Democratic majority into the House and Senate and see what happens. We have a lot of people running who are real fighters, not DINOs, but many still need to win their primaries.

This from ABC news (ours) is on loop, but you will likely  need to unmute it. It’s still a work in progress, but, even so far, it’s pretty amazing.

From the Associated Press – This is good news for two states. Now we need the same for 48 more, two territories, and one district.

I assume Lona is well aware of this (from Good News Network), but thought the rest of us might also like to hear about it.

Also from our ABC News, Malcolm Nance often says “Coincidence takes a lot of planning.” (He calls that “Nance’s Law.”) And so do surprises.

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Open Thread May 22 2026

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 222026
 

Yesterday, for the third day in a row, I had to go to the clinic – this time because something I should have dropped off yesterday. No one to blame but myself for that. Still, it’s frustrating.

This is a video post, but there is a transcript. Scroll down below the screen, and about the middle between left and right, directly above the orange block labeled “Get the app,” click on “Transcript.” Besides the three topics mentioned in the title, including the Arc de Trompe, the San Diego Mosque shooting and its back story, and a prosecution of a prosecutor who has displeased the regime’s DOJ. And I may even be forgetting one or two.

Colorado Public Radio IMO has done an excellent job of reporting on this. Some of the quotes will give you a good sense of why I didn’t know Colorado’s elected Democrats had it in them (but I’m sure glad they did.)

It’s no surpeise, I’m sure, that trolling can be used for good as well as for evil ourposes. Here is a sample from Allison Gill (who identifies herself thoroughly so I don’t have to.

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Open Thread May 21 2026

 Posted by at 6:10 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 212026
 

Does anyone else find it ironic that a Broadway musical did a better job of encapsulating our Fouders’ intentions (the good ones and also the not-so-good ones) than our current regime can provide? I hope it gets a lot of air time on multiple channels during July – and maybe the last week of June too. I might have it – if so, probably on VCR.

No, I didn’t choose this from POGO to match the next one. Though similar, they involve different agencies but the same principle: let peons die – it’s cheaper than getting medical care for them.

It shouldn’t be surpriing that Kegsbreath killed at least one military member by omission. But it can still be, and should be, appalling.

Common Dreams also had an article featuring Jeff Bezos as a Bond Villain, which was tempting. But I think this is more consequential.What was it again that Zuckerberg called people who trust him? Oh, yes. “Dumb fucks.” If I may digress (or as HCR calls it, “go down a rabbit hole”), “Zucker” is the German word for sugar, and “berg” – with an e – means “mountain” (with a “u”, it means “city”). Rock candy is made with white sugar and water, but the water is removed in the process of crystalization, so what’s left is just sugar. With a little stretch, you could say Zuckerberg” means “Rock Candy Mountain.”

This video is a “short.” The speaker, Morris Pearl, is himself a millionaire, and a member of Patriotic Millionaires.

Cat

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Open Thread May 18 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 182026
 

Yesterday, I wore for the first time my third experiment in knitting pants. Myfirst try was a disastr – but not such a disaster that I can’t rip out one leg, knit it back to match the other. and wear it. On my second try I adjusted the pattern to correct everything that went wrong on the first try, and it was a pretty good fit, just a bit loose and long. For the third try, I decided not to change anything about the stitch or row counts, but instead to use smaller needles. and it’s anout as close to perfect as an imperfect human can do. I could wear them to go see Virgil. And comfortable – as comfortable as the yarn, which for this pair is all cotton, except the cuffs, which are bamboo. In including contrast cuffs, I was thinking of sweat pants, but with more fitted legs.

Robert Reich has some suggestions for non-constitutional words to describe unconstitutional things about our current elected officials. I’m ahead of him on “regime” – I’ve not used any other word for it since day one – but all of his suggestions are appropriate

From ProPublica. Yes. this happens all the time. But if we don’t get reminded of it from time to time, we may forget.

From Common Dreams. One of Axios’s reporters is named “Barak Ravid.” Malcolm Nance calls him “The Mouth of Trump**.” I get “Alerts” from Axios, and yes, his often begin with “Trump** says” or the like. But it made me think – y’all know I often refer to our regime leader as “the Saffron Sauron,” and there is a character in The Lord of the Rings” who introduces himself as “The Mouth of Sauron.” They’re not at all the same – Ravid does not present what our regime leader says as truth – he just quotes him and identifies it as a quote, so readers can disbelieve it. But it appears to be a coincidence.

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Open Thread May 17 2026

 Posted by at 5:50 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 172026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Don Carlo” in an archival recording from 1950. Most of the characters in it were real people, although they weren’t much like the way they they are portrayed in it. It’s true that the real Carlos was opposed to the Pope and the Inquisition, and sympathetic to the Protestants in Flanders which was then under Spanish rule, and that his father, King Philip, felt the opposite. It’s also true that Elizabeth of Valois was engaged to Carlos before the politics changed and she married his father instead, And his father may have wanted to kill him, but instead just locked him up. It is almost certainly not true that he and Elzabeth were in love – that was not a thing in royal marriages – and he was physically and mentally deformed – he was one of the last Habsburgs – the most inbred royals since ancient Egypt. The one character who was made up (not by Verdi, but by the playwright from whom Schiller borrowed for his plat “Don Karlos”) is Rodrigo – who gets the best music.

If you ever get a chance to attend one of these, don’t hesitate. Be there. Even just reding about one is revitalizing. Being there is a whole other level.

Even in Florida, there are still good people. (Even in law enforcement.)

And this is another reason why, though I no longer have any furbabies, I always look at Chewy first when I need something for myself that might be useful for an animal – like a white noise generator, or a broom that basically picks up hair, or a high powered laundry additive. Chewy is not your normal corporation. Chewy actually cares.

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Open Thread May 16 2026

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 162026
 

Yesterday, it seemed quiet for a Friday, although thqt might be just me – or it might be, at least in part, that everything is so awful that all news seems like a recap.

Yeah. Thanks for nothing, governor. Although she was not tried for it, she is violent – kicking a police officer attempting to arrest her with a warrant, attacking another inmate at the prison – we all saw the videos. Now I (along with every Coloradan) am less safe because of this clemency.

If anyone would like to watch the documentary film about Robert Reich’s last year teaching (for a salary) it’s now available to rent.

Read as much or as little of this as you want – but the one I don’t want y’all to miss is the second from the end – the one about AI entities having opinions.

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Open Thread May 15 2026

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

Yesterday, the “President” landed in China and unsurprisingly behaved like an idiot. There were moments when Xi was clearly struggling not to laugh. But if we laugh too, we should still be keeping in our minds who he took with him. Also, I took in a grocery delivery. Everything is as put away as it is going to get.

I think we’re all aware that whatever the Evil Emperor says, the opposite is true. This is no exception. Robert Reich spells it out.

From The Conversation. I know Colorado couldn’t suspend taxes on gas even if the Governor wanted to.Thanks mistly to TABOR, we currently have the worst budget deficits we’ve had for years.

Archived from The Atlantic – so I could read it. I almost wish I hadn’t – But it’s safer to know than not to know.

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Open Thread May 14 2026

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 142026
 

Yesterday, My inbox was packed with Substack videos. I didn’t watch every one, but I did watch more than usual. Besifes Malcolm Nance’s “warcast” (he’s back to calling it “warcast” since the “cease fire” has been broken, but it still contains a lot of geopolitics), there was a video from Vicky Ward Inveastigates with Adam Klasfeld with her part filned in the Epstein Files Museum which is currently in New York City but will be traveling throughout the nation. And the one from the Brennan Center with a NYU professor whose book on the Constitution was just released. It took up a lot of my time but I would have missed a lot if I had skipped any one of them.

This is just the first of five stories in a single email from Dean Blundell. It is the longest (sorry) and the most scary (sorry) of the five, and IMO the most consequential. It doesn’t necessarily require politicians and/or elected officials to bring about 1984. It can be done by private businesses.

From POGO. Everything with the Orange Oligarch is transactional – even if the only thing he gets out of it is screwing people. After all, that is near and dear to what in someone else would be a heart.

I can’t say I was surprised by this, although I didn’t know the actual numbers.

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