Open Thread February 21 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Politics
Feb 212025
 

Yesterday, sadly, I learned that a long time friend had died. I knew this was coming, but that never makes it easier. He was an announcer at my classical radio station, and was considered a personal friend by everyone he met, I believe, and even by hundreds of people who only “met” him over the radio. Fred was a member of the local Freethinkers group, a practicing atheist, and possibly the most generous person I’ve ever met – certainly that was true for many years, though now I’d need to put SoINeedAName right up there with him. The station is being very protective of his personal information (which is laudable) so I don’t know exactly when it happened, but it must have been very recent – there’s no obituary in the local paper yet (not that that’s conclusive, as he always considered it a Nazi rag.) I dreaded telling Virgil – which I however did when he called – because it’s part of my job – and he was indeed very upset. But he also admitted he’d rather know than not know.

Michael Waldman, writing for the Brennan Center for Justice, discusses the Unitary Executive Theory – what it is, why it’s “fringe” (IMO that means a tactful way to say BS), how its influence shows up in Project 2025, executive orders, and general Republican attitude, as well as coming court battles.

Harry Litman of Talking Feds references George Orwell on the subject of Memory Holes and discusses the implications of the destruction of (supposedly) permanent records. I’m sure this is also why people are suggesting that everyone who is receiving Social Security, and everyone who is currently or ever has been employed in s job where they paid into Social Security, go log in to The Social Security website right now and download all the informaion on you stored there. The same with the IRS, and any other government body which might have any stored information about you (I always keep a copy of my tax returns, and have them for a lot longer than the seven years normally recommended). Especially if you have already established an account with LogIn dot gov, it’s a lot easier than freezing your credit. At least it is now. Don’t wait too long.

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Open Thread February 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 202025
 

Yesterday, again acting on advice from a Democratic Underground member, I went to the Social Security website and downloaded or printed my essential information – lifetime record os earnings, verification of benefits letter, and my Social Decurity statement. They are not on my hard drive, but on my portable hard drive; I have two of those, so I’ll be copying the information to the other one. Paranoid, sure. Except that we have something to be paranoid about. If Dork Vader’s random comments and the antics of his crew don’t make you even a little bit nervous, maybe you should check your pulse. Also, Andy Borowitz was getting serious.

I don’t know what the answer is to something which bugs me about this otherwise excellent Pro Publica article, which is well researched and factual. It’s the tone. It sounds so surprised that a Mange Menace appointee appointed a deputy who is an obvious criminal. Because, of course he did. That’s what this administration does. I don’t want to normalize this behavior, but I also don’t want, for myself or anyone on my side, to sound like an idiot surprised that the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west daily. There has to be some kind of middle way to address these predictable but horrible events.

 

I’ve added a “sarcasm” tag to this from the F* News, not because every word is sarcastic, but because the author is affecting naivete, requiring the reader to pay more than normal attention to determine what’s being said. But the fact remains, whoever or whatever is driving this administrations policies and actions, the fact remains that all the policies are gawdawful

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Open Thread February 19 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 192025
 

Yesterday, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported that a cybersecurity firm with substantial government contracts has hired a lobbyist (TSF affiliated) for “assistance in navigating DOGE.” So much for “honor among thieves” not that most people ever believed that anyway. And speaking of DOGE, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it needs a little more history and a little rant. The word “doge,” pronounced “doje” or occasionally “dozhe.” refers to an official of the late Medieval and early Renaissance (Renascence) times. In Italy, at that time, long before it was (finally re-)united in the 19th century, government was by city-states, and most city states had a Doge, or absolute ruler. The name derives from the Latin word “dux,” which means “leader,” and it also means “leader.” As does “Il Duce” (Mussolini) and “Der Führer” (Hitler). In Russia, Stalin held several titles, one of which was “Great Leader.” Are you seeing a pattern here? Dork Vader may be an idiot, but he is an educated idiot and I’m sure he knows every bit of this, and chose it to taunt us – telling us exactly who he is in a way he thinks we won’t understand. People who think that the acronym DOGE has anything to do with canines are simply not taking is seriously enough. Also yesterday I finally finished freezing my credit with all three bureaus. Experian was the hardest for me because, although they claim they will “text or call” for verification, they will not accept a landline number, so I had to phone them. But that’s done now. Finally, I imagine everyone knows the GOP majority in the House is only 3 votes, and that there are 3 special elections coming up to replace three R’s who accepted executive appointments. Dems are working their derrieres off trying to win all three, and what with buyer’s remorse, we might be able to do so. I am always forgetting the districts, which are FL-01, FL-06, and NY-21. The first one happens in April. Funds are being raised for all three of them here.

In this situation we can hope that the Reich on the left is wrong. He hopes so himself. Unfortunately, it is what it is.

This is the kind of civics that, even if you learn it somewhere between K and 12, unless you go to law school, or become a long-term Federal civil servant, you probably forget it. It’s another link in the chain of checks and balances, all of which affect us all in the long run, directly or indirectly, buy for most of us this one is pretty indirect. Even so, it matters. But it’s not sexy, so I doubt you’ll see much, if anything, in the mainstream media. Joyce Vance explains.

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Open Thread February 18 2025

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

Yesterday, I scrambled around the internet looking for a replacement for a charging cord I had managed to break (don’t ask). I wouldn’t call that a complete waste of time, but it did certainly take a lot. Shopping on the internet, unless you know in advance exactly who you want to deal with, is very time consuming.  In any search engine, if you just type in what ou are looking for, you are hit with Amazon, Amazon, Walmart, Amazon, Walmart, Amazon. At least I was caught up on my email, and it being a holiday, I managed to stay caught up. I don’t expect that to be true every day.

Harry Litman is not one to get excited over nothing, nor to jump to conclusions about how certain events will lead to other events when they well may not. So when Harry does a rant like this I think it’s worth sharing. It’s fairly long despite his efforts to keep it as short as possible, but every word is carefully chosen. And it’s covering material he wrote about when it was brand new (and he includes the link to that) and is now revisiting because he has had time to collect his thoughts.

This story at The F* News is scary AF. But we certainly need to know. For one thing we all need to get with and behind all the Democrats who are seriously working on (as oppose to mouthing off) Citizens United. And we need to do it yesterday. George Soros isn’t going to live forever – and in any case, he’s just one against all the rest.

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Open Thread February 17 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 172025
 

Yesterday, Trinette was by and helped me with the stuff I either cannot do, or cannot do without wearing myself out, or am nervous about doing any given week. And then we chatted for a while. She is not only a great friend, she is also a lot of fun. Also, Axios, which I mostly subscribe to for the breaking news alerts, came out with a story on which states give the Federal government more then they receive from it, and vice versa. We all know the ones that give more are mostly blue states, but it’s handy to have the names, the figures, and the color-coded maps.

This sounds from the headline as if it ought to be a good news story, but it isn’t, because the things which divide us, not being fact based, are extremely difficult to debunk. When your platform is based on “owning the libs,” who are supposed to believe in killing and raping children (project much?), it’s tough to get past that.

If there was ever a week to post Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead” column, this would be it. I expect everyone has heard of the “SAVE Act” and y’all probably have a pretty good idea of what is in it, but this makes it pellucidly clear. And that’s just the start. There are other things going on – so many other things that I’m having trouble coping, and I’m sure you are too. Hopefully a little clarity, even if it doesn’t help all that much, can’t hurt.

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Open Thread February 14 2025

 Posted by at 5:55 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 142025
 

Yesterday, having gotten my Windows 8.1 back on the internet Tuesday with the help of a technician (I knew it was an ethernet cable that wasn’t plugged in, and I even knew which cable but I had no idea where it should go), I went to the 8.1 first to deal with emails. I had 99, and in under an hour I got it down to 44, and that included not just deleting, but unsubscribing where appropriate and signing all petitions – and even adding back in a couple of thanks for signing emails. It is so much faster than the Win10 – and my browser there doesn’t keep bumping me out of the Net. There are a few things I like about 10, like being able to make the mouse pointer both large enough for me to see it and changing to contrasting colors so it jumps out. And there are some things it can do that the 8.1 can’t. But it is so slow. The technician couldn’t get my second and third phone handsets working, but he did explain why (essentially my phone lines are inside the walls) and what I can do about it – several options – and I went with the cheapest and easiest, ordering some new equipment, even though that means I have to wait a bit. It will give me more and better control in the long run. In other news, Josh Hawley said something which was not only intelligent,  but Constitutional, and even moral. To reach it at this link you need to scroll down past the second Aaron Ruper Xeet five paragraphs – the one with the quote begins with “This culminated in…” I think you’ll find it worth it. Hawley said it in a Xeet of his own, and I won’t go there, nor make you go there. Finally, for Valentine’s day, the Holocaust Museum has love stories to share. Here’s one.
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/the-last-guardrail

This from The F* News is more about Musk than Trump** – and possibly more scary, although that’s close to a toss-up. This certainly lays out the grounds for calling Musk “Dork Vader.” The cartoon below is from Steve Schmidt – I don’t know whether he made it, but he owns it, since he is not just allowing but encouraging anyone who sees it to spread it widely.

Doktor Zoom at Wonkette takes on the confirmation of RFK Jr sardonically, as is to be expected. In a separate Substack, Andy Borowitz advises that the NAFD (National Alliance of Funeral Directors) publicly applauded the confirmation. I don’t know about them (assuming they exist, which, Andy being Andy, is not terribly likely), but I do know and am embarrassed to say that the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) is happy with the confirmation (I unsubscribed when they wanted me to ask my Senators to vote to confirm Bobby. ANH has some good ideas, but also some terrible ones, and don’t know – and clearly a lot of member don’t know – where to draw the line.

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Open Thread February 11 2025

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 112025
 

Yesterday, I started the day with only 80 emails (of course more same in, but gradually.) A lot were responses from petition recipients – including 5 from just one Senator (I expect my other one will catch up eventually.) There was also one good laugh in there – Andy Borowitz’s news that Yambo has declared himself the Principal Ballerina of the Kennedy Center, purging most existing ones and blaming DEI for so many being women. I got the total down to 36 pretty quickly, and that included a few from Sunday.

Straight from The Root, a story from Black History which oddly is about a white woman.  Weird, I know. But true.

Joyce Vance goes over a lot of what is happening and bring us closer to Autocracy (or Leucandrocracy). She encourages us all to stay strong, and ends with a little quote I had not heard before, but which I like so much I have put into today’s cartoon. Kudos if you knew it. Double Kudos (or Kudoi, which is the plural) if you also knew who first said it. In a separate email, she reported that The Democracy Index has been launched. I figured it would take some time from the planning stage.

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Open Thread February 10 2025

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 102025
 

Yesterday was the first day this year that the sun waited until 5:30 to set. So I stayed with Virgil till closing. I checked out there at 3:26 and made it home before 5 pm (20 minutes before, to be precise.) That does include putting the wheelchair into the back of the car, putting my car key back on its keychain, grabbing something for dry mouth, putting the driver’s license away, starting the usb sound player, switching glasses and grabbing sunglasses, etc., before leaving the parking lot, as well as stoplights and fire trucks along the way, and changing glasses again at home. Yes, I know trifocals exist, but I loathe them almost as much as I loathe contacts. We had an unusual day with cribbage today – all the best hands were in the cribs. That started with Virgil getting two double runs of three in the crib on the first hand he dealt, and just continued. It wasn’t every deal, but often enough to defy the odds, and pretty evenly distributed between us. Virgil’s pretty good but was having some back pain. He plans to see a medical person about it when that is possible. He says hi to all. I forgot to take out my home-frozen meal from the freezer yesterday or even this morning, so I had to thaw it in the microwave before I could heat it in the microwave. (When people get older, they start thinking more about the hereafter. I often go into a room and ask myself “Now, what am I here after?”) Also I should mention that I saw some advice for all of us to freeze our credit with all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) unless we are currently applying for any kind of a loan, secured (mortgage or car loan) or unsecured. It is free at all three, but Equifax is the easiest one to do it with – the other two tend to route you to paid subscription signups when you are looking for the free one – so Experian is the only one I have completed. I may need to use a different browser on the others, but I will get it done.

The Contrarian is already so much of a brain trust that I seldom know whether a given post is written by someone who is a staff member or by a guest expert. Regardless, Michael Podhorzer has a great point here. Labor unions – “civilian” (i.e. non-government workers) labor unions in particular, but also the ones for government employees and for people who are somewhat in between, such as public school teachers and nurses. He goes into detail which I won’t, but I do want to say, let’s not cross any picket lines – including virtual ones. Let’s punish Amazon for firing duly elected union leaders. Let’s penalize Starbucks for their egregious anti-union pushing (they ought to change their name to Ahabs – since that’s who they are more acting like.) King Soopers (which is Kroger) in Colorado has actual picket lines right now. I was willing to cut them some slack because Albertson’s frivolously sued them for deal breaking when the proposed merger failed – I say frivolously because it was the courts which really stopped the merger, as well they should have. But I’m not about to cross a picket line for them. If anyone knows of some I didn’t mention (I know they exist), please share in a comment.

I apologize for this being a video. I first saw it quoted, with a link to BlueSky, which I saved, but which now does not have the transcript of the letter. YouTube at least has that. And the video is not quite three minutes.

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