Open Thread May 13 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 132026
 

Yesterday, I expected to have lab work again. My previous PCP wanted me to do that every three months. Over the winter, my PCP moved, and I tranferred to another provider at the same facility in a phone call. At least that was easy. But – because he hasn’t actually seen me yet (that will happen next week). the lab had no order on file. So that was a wasted trip. Not something one wants to do when gas is about to go up again, and we could run out of our reserve and not be able to get any at all. Today’s political video is longer than Belle’s are, but shorter than Glenn Kirschner’s are. I am trying to keep them down.

Sometimes I get frustrated looking for articles to feature. The ones with the most (and newest) news are too long, and/or too repetetive, either in themselves or of other articles, or just wrong. Then I trip over a history piece which is relevant to what we are now going hrough (not always in an obvious way, but in some way.) idt Steve Schmidt may not be a professional historian like Heather Cox Richardson, but he has a knack of finding and sharing historical events which feel extremely relevant. Here is one. (The General Butler mentioned cannot be Smedley, who was not born until the last year of the Hayes Presidency. My guess is that it was General Benjamin F. Butler, who was, in 1879, running for governor of Massachusetts [he lost] after failing to win re-election to Congress, so he was at least alive at the time and had the right connections.)

I don’t – not intentionally – subscribe to Political Voices Network – not because the folks are not factual )they are both factual and good), but because there are too many of them and I just don’t have the time. But this came into my inbox, and it has some solid facts and some very good questions. If health insurance CEOs are murderers – why aren’t Republicans who consistently vote against Medicare for all, who strengthen private health insurance providers, murderers too? I can’t help thinking of Wendell Potter and his first book, “Deadly Spin.”

This is a few days old, but I thought it could wait – I didn’t see the MSM covering it under this regime. And it’s good news, as far as it goes. I hope it gets past SCROTUS still standing.

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Open Thread May 4 2026

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

Yesterday, I was fairly stressed, and my body responded by sleeping for 12 hours. Apparently, I needed to. After midnight, I emailed Virgil’s facility to schedule a visit for next Sunday (and emailed Trinette to let her know, since ordinarily she would come here that day.)

Apparently, there are 42 Democrats in the House who think the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a good idea. I don’t, and this article nails why I don’t.

Robert Reich writes about different incarnations of capitalism, which one we need to have, and why. I’m pretty sure, of all of them, it’s the one farthest to the left – and this is a discussion in which speaking of left vs. right is appropriate.

Andy Borowitz isn’t always funny. That’s often true on Sundays, when he does interviews, which can only be accessed by paid subscribers. But last Sunday, he decided his topic (essentially the First Amendment) was too important to limit his audience. This is unusual enough for me to want to share it. the video portion is just over a half hour, and there is a transcript. As usual on Substack, you will need to unmute it if you choose to watch. It’s about a documentary – but it isn’t itself the documentary. (A short digression – if we did have over a thousand members of the House of Representatives – maybe they could meet in the ballroom and remodel the House floor for state occasions.)

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Open Thread September 25 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Sep 252025
 

Yesterday, The Resistance PAC and Win Without War were circulating a petition to use the 25th Amendment, but also to hold the Orange Oligarch accountable for treason. The suggested basis was his putting troops into American cities. As I assume we all know by now, the Constitution limits the definition of treason to making war on the US, or providing aid and comfort to anyone making war on the US. I think his putting the military into US cities is iffy, especially since apparently Jan 6 didn’t qualify – but at least it’s not totally unreasonable under the definition (and his working on changing “Defense” to “War” adds a little plausibility.) So i went ahead and signed this one. Not that it will go anywhere, nor am I recommending anyone else to sign it. Just explaining my reasoning. Also, Adelita Grijalva has won handily the special election for the House seat of her late father Raul in Arizona (she got 71% of the vote.) And I don’t want to hear a word about nepo babies. Yes, her highest elected office previously was for County Supervisor, but she’s not totally without experience. And then – there’s this. (Don’t click with liquid in your mouth.)

Wonkette discusses the Poopypants Pasha’s plans to profit from immigration. Is everything about money with him, or is everything just about him? Or can he tell the difference?

I suppose I could bring back the Furies, or chat with Themis, on this. But I think most of us already know the general outlines of the history of the FBI, as shared by The Conversation. The devil, however, is in the details – literally.

And I’m adding this from NBC News with the caveat that we have very little knowledge yet because I expect to se a lot of misinformation and want us to be prepared.

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Open Thread September 20 2025

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

Yesterday, it occurred to me that I might be able to hear the radio opera from my laptop. But it also might not. This will post hours before the broadcast starts, so I’ll have to update you in tomorrow’s OT Also, yesterday was “Talk Like a Pirate” Day, and I completely forgot.  I apologize.

Yesterday, I mentioned being speechless more and more often. And this from Wonkette is a good example. If I spelled out what I think about it, that would only make it more of a gut punch than it already is (and would also be NSFW.) I don’t need or want to do that. But I don’t want to downplay it either.

The regime has removed from wherever it was in the network of federal websites the study showing that “right wing” violence is vastly more common, and more severe, than “left-wing” violence. So, unless you saved it before they did that, it’s no longer available. However, this from The Conversation is available, and is also well-researched. I put left and right wing into quotes because in my opinion left and right has nothing to do with it – the divide in violence is between authoritarian and egalitarian. Left and right refer to economic theories. I grant that with the apparent polarization in our nation, right has become pretty well correlated with authoritarian and left with egalitarian – but that wasn’t always the case, and we may hope it may not always be. Although, without soind civics education, it probably will. And then there’s this. (popup is not a paywall. Just close it.

This from Vanity Fair analyzes the murder of Charlie Kirk from the aspect of how it is affecting MAGA and the rest of the fascist party. That could be important. You can read it at the original source if you’re a subscriber, or in the archive if you are not.

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Open Thread September 19 2025

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

Yesterday, I still didn’t have all my electrics and electronics working, which made progress slow. Addition after scheduling: Rolling Stone has more on the decision to “suspend” Kimmel. It’s not pretty.

When you get good political news from Louisiana, you pay attention. Nancy Landry doesn’t appear to be any relation to Jeff (the governor) or Mitch (former mayor of New Orleans, who also spelled it “Landrieu,” probably the original spelling) – it’s just a prominent New Orleans name for so long that any relationships are too distant to trace. In any case, the statistics she provides are consistent with the Brennan Center’s own numbers, and I trust the Brennan Center.

From The F* News. I just don’t know what to say about this. I’m speechless. Being speechless is happening more often for me because so much that is happening is just inconceivable (and I do know what that means. I even looked it up.)

I don’t know of anyone who is always right. In fact, that would almost certainly be impossible. But given Malcolm Nance‘s experience and expertise, I take any warning from him seriously.

Belle – I still couldn’t hear this, had to follow the CC, but it did give me a smile.

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Open Thread July 1 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 012025
 

Yesterday, I went through a little more than two days of emails – I had not had the energy to tackle Sunday’s on Sunday. But Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead” from Sunday really shouldn’t be missed, both for the analysis and for the hope. Harry Litman addressed the same case – not the verdict itself but apparently even lawyers can’t agree on how awful it is.) Also yesterday – remember the Pearl Street bombing in Boulder, CO on June 1? Well, one more victim has died, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. She was 82 years old. Finally, USA Today has a pretty detailed account of the shooting in Idaho. I won’t claim is the best – I didn’t check everywhere – but it’s pretty solid. No paywall.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-

This is a few days old – but I think still interesting to anyone who is still wondering just how effed up the knuckle-draggers working in the current regime can get. I would put this somewhere in the territory of FUBB and FUBAR.

John Pavlovitz was inspired (as was I) by Joe Biden’s presence and demeanor at the funeral of the Hortmans (Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert). This is what he had to say about it – and I can agree with just about every word. I did know what we had, and you may recall, was so crushed when he dropped out of the race that I had to take a week off to collect myself. I wish I had a way to forward this to President Joe. He deserves to know how much he is loved and missed.

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