Racism – Politics Plus

Open Thread June 1 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 012026

Yesterday, I saw Virgil, and we played cribbage.He complained of being hungry, and I offered to stasrt arriving a half hour later so he could have lunch, but he said he’d rather see me than eat, so of course I’ll keep going from 10:30 to 3 when visiting closes. I am back n the calendar schedule, so I’ll now be going every two weeks unless something weird happens again. Or unless our strategic oil reserves run out, which they certainly might, particularly if the Mango Moron keeps selling them off to other countries, in which case there won’t be any gas at any price.

Stasight from The Root. So, a bunch of “pro-Israel” (which does not necessarily mean pro-genocide, but, given their behavior, I think it probably does for them) gathered around Gracie Mamsion to yell at Mamdani – because of course they did. He appears to have responded with notable grace.

Robert Reich on the judge who is doing her best to reopen the Saffron Sauron’s “lawsuit” against the IRS in order for it to be investigated and proven to be fraudulent. That of course is not how she worded it – no judge would prejudge guilt like that – but the rest of out here all know that is the case.

Dan Froomkin with Press Watch on the Delany Hall concentration camp in Newark, New Jersey, which has been maing headlines for all the wrong reasons – such as pepper sprayine Senator Andy Kim.

Open Thread May 18 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon 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.

Open Thread May 13 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon 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.

Open Thread April 8 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 082026

Yesterday – my “day off” – I was not writing or researching, but I really have to go through inboxes regardless. So, I do want to say – if we are all still here – I’ m grateful. If not – it was wonderful knowing all of you. (P.S. – I did manage to do some laundry – mostly after the letdown.)

On Monday, Malcolm Nance said on his “warcast” that “All of us are agreeing with Marjorie Taylor Greene.” And, dammit, he was right. This is what she posted (starting with a screenshot of POTUS’s post), and I agree 100%, and I’m confident y’all will too: “On Easter morning, this is what President Trump posted. Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness. I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.”

Wajeeh mentioned this during Malcolm’s and his “warcast” one day last week, and it launched Malcolm into a horror story about when he was working there and his wife was also working there (as a contractor) and they needed a maid (the Nances probably saved the poor girls life – they definitely saved her sanity and started her on a real career). Wajeeh promised to write an article on the system, and this is it.

From The Root. This really pisses me off. The CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) may be made up of public servants, but itself is just a club. The Congreaaional Back Caucus Foundation is not even a club, but a non-profit NGO, not a government entity. The scholarship program is “The CBC Spouses Education Scholarship” The spouses of the Caucus are not public servants, but private citizens. They are entitled to do what they effing want with their GD money. This is racism pure and simple.

I watched this conversation between Joyce Vance and an expert on Hungary (which is having an election Sunday), but there is a transcript if you prefer to read. It’s about 33 minutes – but I can’t think of any way you could get this much information without reading a book (or listening to an audiobook). It’s very scary – and the scariest part may well be how little of it we knew about.

By contrast, here’s a VERY short video from YouTube Shorts, which was sent by Evelyn to Loan and from her to me: https://youtube.com/shorts/Ac8ppjNsMQ8

Open Thread December 11 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon 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.

Open Thread November 12 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 122025

Yesterday, I observed Veterans Day in the traditional Marine Corps manner by sleeping in. Here’s how Barack Obama observed it, God bless him (cat goddesses, bless him too.)

Common Dreams recounts just one story of an ICE arrest – this one in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (but they are just about all alike.)

I’ve been waiting for a comprehensive article on NPSM-7 – so many people are raising the alarm and so few are at all addressing what is in it. I decided it was time to find something more substantial. Just scroll down m past the “Donate” section – I’m confident anyone who can afford to is already donating to them. Below that is the whole story.

https://www.theroot.com/former-white-racists-expose-secret-lingo-and-gestures-y-2000072520
I was aware of more then half of these listed, but I did learn a couple which were new to me – and I certainly didn’t know there was a “hate symbols database.” Not that it is surprising.

This Lawrence video is a bit over 18 minutes. So don’t watch all of it, unless you decide you really want to after watching the first three minutes. There is stuff in those first minutes that everyone really should know and you won’t find elsewhere.

Open Thread October 29 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 292025

Yesterday, Steve Schmidt’s Save America PAC announced three new one-minute ads to be run on Fox News. Of course they are requesting donations, but there no obligation to donate just to watch them. One is about “Trump’s Tariffs”, the second about Canada, and the third about immigration. All three are narrated by Ronald Reagan (probably how they got Fox to accept them, IMO). I needed to unmute the sound or enable CC or both. Also, Colorado Public Radio wrote “The Department of Energy said it was saving taxpayers $7.56 billion. The actual amount is much less,” Of course that’s correct, especially under this regime. But let’s suppose the government’s statement was accurate. That would come out to $22.oo per person. Not exactly life changing. I’d call that disingenuous.

I don’t want to be – I don’t want anyone to be – blinded by rose-colored glasses. But Robert Reich is looking at the same numbers and historical events that I am, and he says it a lot better then I could.

Wonkette‘s subhead: “There are contingency plans and the GOP is opting not to use them.” Y’all have probably heard the truth about SNAP so often that you know most of this. What I didn’t know was that Congress-approved contingency plans are not only existent, but are required by law to be used. Not, of course, that the law means anything to this regime other than a nuisance.

From The Root. In other news, water is wet. I wish I didn’t have to feel that way, but sadly, I still do. I also kind of wish I could live long enough to see it change – except that I really don’t want to live to be 500 or maybe more..

Open Thread October 17 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 172025

On Wednesday, after posting, I found this link to Newsweek with all kinds of background information on those who were in the Young Republicans group chat. Also Wednesday, Cleveland’s “Burning River Brigade” posted this. (Its manifesto is at the YouTube site, and is also worth reading.)

Dan Froomkin of Press Watch is definitely singing my song – although he left out one of the verses (the one on misogyny). But not knowing whether it’s more effective in the long run to get where we are going piecemeal or all at once – and suspecting that piecemeal may be more effective in the long run – I’m not really complaining, but just pointing that out.

Vanity Fair has an excerpt from Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir. It details her initial meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, and some of what happened next.

If you didn’t want to watch the video with Jack Smith I linked to yesterday, but are still curious about what Jack had to say, Harry Litman has written his reaction to it here at the Talking Feds Substack. He doesn’t shy away from admitting how painful it is to be reminded of how it used to be compared to how it is now.

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