Open Thread May 29 2026

 Posted by at 6:14 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 292026
 

Yesterday, Malcolm Nance reported that Israel wants to take away from Jordan of the Dome of the Rock and the the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and hold custody jointly with the United States. If this happens, there will be “holy war” across the entire middle east, with terrorism which will make Isis look like kid stuff. (his co-host Wajeeh Lion shared some of the stories/history which underlie Muslim theology.)

This from Robert Reich is admittedly a distraction. Bbut it’s kind of a sweet one.

From Talking Points Memo. One of the things that happened in the Abrego Garcia case was that the well-publicisied actions of the regime from the very beginning caused the judge to make a presumption of vindictive prosecution, which in turn put the burden of proof on the regime to prove that the prosecution was not vindictive nor selective (which of course they could not do, because it was as vindictive as hell.) I don’t know that the regime’s vindictiveness has been quite that egregious against Smartmatic or the SPLC (although anyne with two eyes and a brain jnows it exists), but I hope the respective judges will see it. James Comey has a better chance, I suspect, because the Evil Emperor has been shooting his mouth off about Comey for years – all the way back to 2017. But, as the article points out, the more defendants are successful with this approach, the more likely the courts are to seriously consider it. So I wish them all success.

From Talking Feds. Nothing about how the Saffron Sauron’s mind works is really news, nor will he ever learn his lesson.He just won’t. But its good to hear he is at least getting one.

250 to 250. There are a number of these videos already posted here, narrated by many different people for this project of Heather Cox Richardson’s. I am obviously not going to get to them all, but I’ll be leaning heavily on them. If you want more, they can be found at her YouTube channel here.

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Open Thread May 28 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 282026
 

Yesterday, I pretty well caught up on sleep. We’ll see how long that lasts. I am going to see Virgil again this weeken, buth to make up to him (and to me) for the pne I missed, and to get back on schedule.
And last week, Action Network introduced a new FAFO campaign – not what you’re thinking. This time, it stands for Fight Amazon, Fight Oligarchs.

I could have posted just tRobery Reich‘s video – especially since the message is something we all know. But his suggested responses are well worth reading – particularly the last one.

This is from Vote Vetes. The highest rank of General is four star (short of being the General of the Army) and that is what the title of the series alludes to punningly. I realize a lot of veterans are Republicans. But those who are not – like the Vindmans, Jason Crow, Mark Kelly, Tammy Duckworth, Mikie Sherrill,and others, really do make good legislators and governors – because they take their oath seriously.

Belle Jim Crow 2.0

Cat

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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 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 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 April 18 2026

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

Interesting opera scheduled for today – called “Innocence,” by a Finnish woman composer, conducted by a Finnish woman conductor, libretto in six or seven languages. Set at a wedding reception. The waitress there is a woman who lost a child in a school shooting. The groom turns out to be the brother of the shooter. No spoiler from me – I have not looked up where it goes from there. But it certainly sounds like something which would be powerful. Tomorrow I visit Virgil.

Robert Reich dismisses the 25th Amendment for one of the same reasons I do – getting the approval of the majority of this cabinet is just a fever dream. But now, I think we are both wrong on this point. The 25th Amendment strategy which the Democrats are now considering (which still needs to wait until we have majorities) is to appoint an independent commission – an alternative authorized by the 25th Amendment in lieu of the Cabinet. Kudos to those who wrote the Amendment.

Archived from The Military Times, which does not appear to have a paywall, but does want you to turn off your ad blocker. Referred by VoteVets, which now has a Substack (probably has for some time, but I only recently found it.) I have not seen this bit of information anywhere else, and it is an excellent illustration of why the DoD should be run by people who know what they are doing. not by people who can just do pushups and pullups.

This by Harry Litman could well be the headline any time a Republican is replaced with another Republican. Which is one reason why I am so lukewarm on impeaching or 25thing the Orange Ogre. I will say, if we had done it during his first term, it might have worked better than now. Then, there were a few adults in the Cabinet, even though they were Republicans. Now, there are none.

A bonus, because it’s good, for a change.  From Democracy Docket, referred by The Smile. A bit of political good news, though I must say it took long enough.

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Open Thread April 16 2026

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 162026
 

Yesterday, Malcolm Nance apologized for failing to do a scheduled Substack video – because he had had to do interviews on three BBC entities and on ABC (down under.) Apparently I am far from alone in respecting his experience and analysis (and also his choices of co-hosts – Jacob has been missing for three says because he was doing interviews, not just in Denmark, but all over Europe.) Fertilizer was in the spotlight. I am no chemist, but a huge component of fertilizer is urea which is a major (or the major) source of nitrogen for fertilizer. Aren’t we all running around every day full of urea, and flushing most of it? Is it time for someone who is a chemist to come up with some way to capture that and refine it? Or am I dreaming?

Harmeet Dillon’s name has not yet, as far as I know, come up from the White House as a potential AG. But if Robert Reich thinks it is a possibility, I’m confident it is a possibility

Jesse Wegman is part of the Brennan Center for Justice. He has some thoughts about the courts here, and at least one of those thoughts is colorful.

We may as well look at this. The devil, as they say, is in the details.

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Open Thread April 9 2026

 Posted by at 5:57 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 092026
 

Yesterday, I heard something that I had not heard for years – but tht I have heard more than once just in the past week. A pundit on a webcast said, “I don’t want to be a Pollyanna.” The implication is that Pollyanna was an unfailing optimist. She was not. (If you want a literary optimist, go to Doctor Pangloss in Candide (Voltaire.) Pollyanna was a clear-eyed realist. What she did do was use “one weird trick” to keep herself going – keep herself afloat – when faced with bad news or bad circumstances. That technique is simple, and easy to use, and it is psychologically sound. It is to find something, even something completely unrelated, that isn’t bad – that one can feel good about. And it works. This is why my email inbox – and probably yours – keeps getting emails saying things like “Last night (referring to Tuesday), Democrats held the State Supreme Court in Wisconsin, keeping the court’s majority.” That’s the Pollyanna tidbit to help us all keep going. And that is just one example. “Count your blessings – the phrase and the song – is another. Of course Pollyanna is a fictional character, but dammit, even a fictional character does not deserve to be turned into her exact opposite. (OK, end of rant. Although I’m getting to the point where I may do one on “decimate.” Or possibly “perverse.”) The featured image to the left was produced by Iran with a nod to the Evil Emperor’s Easter “truth.” And I did finally electronically file my federal and state tax returns. Federally, I owe notheing and will receive nothing.  State, I may or may not get $19.00.

You know, this from The Conversation would have been 100% predictable, had anyone thought about it in advance. It is also IMO 100% disgusting. But don’t take it from me. Y’all have perfectly good minds.

This from POGO is old – it was originally posted in 2025, but reposted last week for fairly obvious reasons. It’s still pertinent.

This by Wajeeh Lion is details on the rescue of the pilot which took the longest. It isn’t going to affect the war in general, but it’s quite a story and will give you an idea of the hazards, and maybe also of the terrain of Iran – which is a lot more mountainous than desert-y and  even has some mountains higher than ours in Colorado – a neat trick when a nation also has sea level and at that so close to those mountains.

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