Open Thread June 19 2026

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 192026
 

Happy Juneteenth, y’all! Yesterday, from a comment on Malcolm’s show: “Trump [sic] didn’t get his HEU (highly enriched uranium) but he did get HEI (highly enriched Iranians).” Jim Acosta, on the other hand, called the signing foreign policy flatulence – the fart (maybe even the shart) of the deal.

Robert Reich – is singing my song. Well, except that no one is trying to tell me to slow down, because no one sees the actual work, which mostly consists of goinf through hundreds of emails daily in order to select a few topics – and minimize the explainer part – and minimizing is harder than it looks. But if anyone did say something – I’d have basically the same response.

To quote Nina Simone – “Mississippi God Damn.” Yes, I do know there are good people in Mississippi – that’s proven right in this story by the witneses who are coming forward to dispute the police account. But still.

Glad to learn that someone is taking Tommy Potatohead to court over where he actually lived – as opposed to just owns the houae.

This is a little bonus for today – because it officially opens today – because of course it does – although the big party was yesterday.

SocSecur

Cat

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Open Thread June 13 2026

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

Yesterday, Malcolm’s show was called the Taco Warcast. Jacob Kaarsbo (Danish intelligence Middle east) pointed out “it tells you all you need to know about Trump and US credibility at the moment. when you have to wait for announcements to be confirmed by Tasnim” (Tasmin is the IRGC media in Iran.) Also, Judge Brinkema in Alexandris, VA turned her temporary injunction against the “weaponization” slush fund into a preliminary injunction which is essentially permanent. She will not let the matter go unless she receives a statement signed by Todd Blnch AND the Secretary of the Treasury, under penalty of perjury, that the fund is dead and will not be resurrected. Finally, Frank Figliuzzi remarked that, unser the currect regime, a total of 1600 people have been allowed into the US (which seems a very small number to me to begin with), and that 1300 of them have been white South Africans.

I bumped this a day so as not to double up on Robert Reich. His analysis is IMO sound, and I don’t think it’s too soon to have it. What if a new Congress makes inpeachment ot the 25th viable? Or what if Dear Leader dies in office?

I hope this from The Conversation isn’t too depressing. How do sane people counter this kind of mentality? If only we knew.

And this from The Lever is also kind of depressing, and for the same reason. How do we counter the irrational? (I do feel any theory which does not address racism and/or misogyny is at best incomplete.)

Grift Certificate

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Open Thread June 8 2026

 Posted by at 5:58 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 082026
 

Yesterday, after saying it was a slow day, Malcolm had to come back and make an emerbency sequel when Iran attacked Israel. To steal one of his expressions – “not healthy.” As I type, Ihave noclue what will be happening today.

Remember what I said last week about Graham Platner’s tattoos a while ago, based on my experience with young male Marines? This quote, from a former Marine who served with him and got tattoos with him, says the same thing, only blunter: “No, we did not purposely get hateful fucking shit because we’re racist people,” he said. “We got matching tattoos because we were in our 20s, drunk in Croatia, and that’s it. That’s all that fucking happened.” I had to laugh. It really took me back to the day.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/whos-most-responsible-for-the-monopolization
This from Robert Reich is history. But it’s history I don’t think is terribly widely known, even if you know the players. I admit it surprised me.

https://thefrankfigliuzzi.substack.com/p/i-see-dead-people-and-the-friday
This Frank Figliuzzi video is from Friday, and I assume most won’t watch the whole thing, or maybe any of it, but there is a full transcript. Scroll down to the line below Frank’s picture on the left, and the last opyion before the three dots is “Transcript.” Frank’s presentations re like a whole newspaper (a real one, back in the day), so skim through it, and you are likely to find at least one thing no one else has covered. Plus there is good news at the end.

https://www.theroot.com/13-organized-plots-against-black-america-that-are-worki-2000109731
This, straight from The Root, is also from Friday, and is also history

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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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