Russia – Politics Plus

Open Thread May 14 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 142026

Yesterday, My inbox was packed with Substack videos. I didn’t watch every one, but I did watch more than usual. Besifes Malcolm Nance’s “warcast” (he’s back to calling it “warcast” since the “cease fire” has been broken, but it still contains a lot of geopolitics), there was a video from Vicky Ward Inveastigates with Adam Klasfeld with her part filned in the Epstein Files Museum which is currently in New York City but will be traveling throughout the nation. And the one from the Brennan Center with a NYU professor whose book on the Constitution was just released. It took up a lot of my time but I would have missed a lot if I had skipped any one of them.

This is just the first of five stories in a single email from Dean Blundell. It is the longest (sorry) and the most scary (sorry) of the five, and IMO the most consequential. It doesn’t necessarily require politicians and/or elected officials to bring about 1984. It can be done by private businesses.

From POGO. Everything with the Orange Oligarch is transactional – even if the only thing he gets out of it is screwing people. After all, that is near and dear to what in someone else would be a heart.

I can’t say I was surprised by this, although I didn’t know the actual numbers.

Open Thread March 10 2026

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

Mar 102026

Yesterday, unsurprisingly, I slept late – but nowhere near the latest I have ever slept. I watched a Substack video about the Halkbank case – a scandal likely to go under the radar, since it pales in comparison to Epstein, but which is, as Adam puts it, “not irrelevant to” the Iran war. There will be more news on Wednesday. And today is the special election to replace MTG. And I received my first Ukrinform newsletter. I’d love to share more than the following tidbit, but (I suspect on account of the time difference) I’m not finding the ones in the newsletter that I’d love to share on line. But this is a bombshell for us Americans who can’t or don’t follow European politics much: on April 12, there is an election in Hungary – and Germany expects Orban to lose big time.

I hardly even know what to say about this. Regardless whether this is out of malice or just boneheaded stupidity (my money’s on malice, but some stupidity seems almost inevitable) there should be massive numbers of Courts Martial on account of it. It’s My Lai on steroids.

So many deaths, so much wrongful detention, it’s easy to forget that there are other ways that fascist governments can abuse their people, whether citizens or not. Joyce Vance writes about some judges who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore about federal “law enforcement” failing to return personal belongings of wrongly detained people. At least one points out that when those belongings include form of identification, they are made vulnerable to more wrongful detention. How long have I been saying that sure, carry papers, but don’t carry originals, carry copies – certified and/or notarized copies, but copies. I’m Joanne Dixon, not Jeane Dixon, but you don’t need supernatural powers to have seen this coming.

Not every one of the protest photos here shows a sign so good it could be a meme – but some do, and a few have more than one. Since March 28 is coming up, I thought I’d share.

Open Thread March 7 2026

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

Mar 072026

Yesterday, it snowed here. It was predicted – for about a fifth of an inch – it looks more like a half inch to me – but that’s just looking out the window. I didn’t measure it. The video today is long – about 48 minutes – but the subject is so huge, I don’t know how it could have been much shorter I won’t get upset if people choose to skip it. Just keep the title in the back of your mind.

This is a supplement to the daily “Chalet of the Two Spies” video update on the war in Iran. It’s no surprise to me. I don’t personally remember World War II (I was born before VJ Day, but only by days), but I remember Korea, and Vietnam, and Desert Storm, and I think it’s safe to say that all wars are subject to Hofstadter’s law (“Everything takes longer than you think it will, even after you have considered Hofstadter’s law.”) Doug and I went to the same high school – I graduated just before he moved to town when his father became a professor at Stanford. But I did meet him at the high school bridge club, which I kept attending because I was not good enough at it to play by tournament rules, which the university club required. (I never got terribly good.) I only have something like 3/8 of a master point.)

I can’t believe that there is anyone who reads here who has not noticed this happening. But Robert Reich says “All this has happened so suddenly that most Americans still haven’t noticed,” and he’s sadly probably correct, which means there are a lot of people who need to learn this. Please share it if you can.

Oh, good grief. WTF next? Will Ukraine ever catch a break? Certainly not from our country in the clutches of the Mango Monster. Ukrinform is on Substack, so I subscribed to it. One more new email every day, but we’ll never learn stuff like this from American media.

BREAKING: Sheldon Whitehouse Details Report On Alleged Ties Between Epstein, Trump, And Russia

Cat

Open Thread December 5 2025

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

Dec 052025

Yesterday, another grand jury declined to indict Tish James. And in Colorado, a train derailed Wednesday night. All survived. Also – WRT thr cartoon – or whatever you want to call it – it is based on the phrase “Elf on the shelf” only different.

Heaven only knows how this will work out (and no one there will tell me). But I am glad the discussion is happening. (I have read recently that there is something in tattoo ink which gets into the bloodstream and does damage. Even if that includes brain damage – I haven’t gone beyond the headlines – that would be no excuse for Petey.)

This from Democratic Underground IMO demonstrates far more than just PTSD. There is deep resentment of betrayal here. The Russian Army is being run in ways we have never run our military, and Ukraine still doesn’t. I’m sure they think it makes soldiers “tougher.” In one way it probably does – but not in the way they think.

There are other sources for this story on the arrest of the alleged pipe bomber. I looked for the story at Law & Crime, even searched there, but they don’t yet have it (do not look there if you are prone to nausea). I just picked Joyce Vance for legal information, particularly in view of “this Justice Department.” I got that, and also some speculation on the length of time it took and the spin put on it. I am willing to believe that there may have been one or a group of agents in the FBI who deliberately sat on it, against the wishes of the rest of the bureau and of the administration. I am not willing to believe that the administration sat on it.

Open Thread September 23 2025

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

Sep 232025

Yesterday was reasonably calm and quiet. I still don’t have speakers, but they are on order, and the videos I need to watch to choose from for here all have CC, and I know they are on the way and that I will get emails on their progress. I still don’t have full lighting in the kitchen, but I have an appointment for an electrician to come Thursday, and that’s OK. If they didn’t have an appointment before then, they are booked up, which probably means people like and/or trust them. I made some progress on a sweater I’ve been working on what seems like forever – I think I’ve mentioned it – the one with the yoke and sleeves using ladder yarn. But I’m down to the bottom ribbing, which is the finishing.

Completely off all topics, but too funny not to share. Wonkette had a story about the rapture (apparently many cultists believe it will happen today In a comment, a reader referred to a quote from someone’s supposed vision “I saw Jesus on his throne.” The response was, “So many times I have heard, ‘Jesus Christ, close the door when you are taking a shit.’ I had no idea.”

IIRC, Denis Elliott of Politizoom is a veteran of longer service and higher rank and a MOS closer to battle than I had. So, though I don’t always agree with him, I take this thesis seriously. And I think we should all be aware.

Democracy Docket is not a publication I subscribe to. But when I got this news in an email from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, a link to the news was not included (they are amicus curiae and requesting donations to help), I did a search and found one. And I didn’t want to wait until Sunday.

This from The Root breaks my heart. Because it is so true. I have written before, though it must be a bunch of years ago, about how even in majority black/all black nations, colorism is so strong that snake oil producers can make a living selling heaven-knows-what’s-in-them” medications” “guaranteed” to lighten the skin of a baby while it is in the womb. And in the same newsletter as this article, there was one about the first international beauty pageant for trans women, and how it was won by an American, and how she is being shunned and dissed by all the other contestants.

Belle NATO

Cat nanny

Open Thread September 2 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:58 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 022025

Yesterday, Trinette didn’t feel she was safe to come over, but is pretty sure she will by Wednesday evening. I sent her a Jacquie Lawson card with a recipe for chicken soup. I did get a little knitting done – not a whole lot, but enough to get me finished with a yarn that was dragging me down (a ladder yarn to be precise). I’ll be finishing the garment with a normal worsted yarn which is mostly recycled fibers (I am guessing mostly acrylic.)

As Robert Reich points out, nothing here is any reason for complacency. But they are reasons for hanging in there and fighting as much as we individually can.

There are several topics in this The F* News article, but the main one, the first one, is public health – and those of us who live in blue states can all be grateful for the news here. Those of us in red states … your nearest blue state may be a good place to look for vaccines.

I threw this in as a sort of extra, because it made me so angry. The Mango Moron is not smart enough to know about the 30-day minimum himself – so some veteran must have broken his (or her) oath and told him.

Open Thread August 26 2025

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

Aug 262025

Yesterday, I got my usual weekly email from RBG’s son Jim, the record producer, about the week’s featured release. Among other things, it includes a new or newish piece which contains a musical reflection on what “home” means. This reminded me of Robert Frost’s famous quote “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in,” which seems timely in the context of the regime’s lust for deportation. It has always bothered me because it seems so cold. And it is cold. But I don’t think it was what Frost believed. He was using it in a character study of a very cold person (possibly a MAGAt long before his time.) Although today’s MAGAts are even colder – they won’t take you in, home or not. It comes from “The Death of the Hired Man.” I think Frost’s belief was closer to what the character’s wife answers – “I should have called it Something you somehow haven’t to deserve.” Also yesterday, the House Ethics Committee has had it with Republican crap and has instead sued the Epstein Estate (Axios).

You can, and maybe have, found this information elsewhere (Among others, Wonkette cites Mother Jones). But personally I find that their style makes one feel it as real, rather than just another news story. You may disagree.

Allow me to introduce this from the Contrarian, and why I’m posting it. When I had more free time than I do these days, I used to watch history videos from reliable sources from time to time. It’s “been a minute,” so I can’t now remember whether I got this information from two different videos or the same one, but here’s some information I learned about Russia and Ukraine. Back in the day when the Vikings pretty much owned the waterways, one of the places they raided was Russia. You probably have a mental image from British history and maybe other areas of people living in the invaded territory being killed off or at least fighting the invaders for their lives. Whatever territories that may have happened in, Russia apparently was not one of them – or at least not for long. The Russian people decided that the Vikings were highly organized and maybe even smart, so they invited the Vikings to stay and become their government. And enough did that for a goodly time (I can’t say how long since I didn’t follow it up – at the time I didn’t know how relevant it would be) the ruling class in Russia was composed of Vikings. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians were Cossacks (that’s still in their national anthem.) Cossacks were mercenary soldiers who worked for anyone who could and would pay them. But their agreements with these monarchs always included a clause that they were guaranteed self government. And I assume that means they never took an oath of fealty to any of them. And no, I don’t actually think that’s genetic – certainly not 100% or people like RFK Jr and Stephen Miller and Paul Gosar, whose families strongly reject their ideas, would all have to be adopted or illegitimate, and there’s no evidence for that at all. But if there is such a thing as national character, both nations have one which is eerily consistent with their centuries-old history.

This from The F* News is kind of connected to my introductory rant about what home means. You have probably seen the news, and I don’t suppose it takes much of either imagination or decent human feelings to see what is going on here. I believe Senator Van Hollen met in person again with Abrego Garcia over the weekend. The Uganda thing was not announced until Monday morning. Ketanji Brown Jackson brought up Calvinball in connection with the Court recently – but the regime is definitely playing it too.

Cat

Open Thread August 19 2025

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

Aug 192025

Yesterday, I learned that Mallory McMorrow (D-MI), the state senator who got national attention for being fierce, is running to represent Michigan in the US Senate. She joins Roy Cooper (D-NC) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), all candidates who accept no BS and are proven winners. This is exactly what we need (and could use a little more of.) Also yesterday, I woke up in more pain than usual (and the “usual” has been gradually worse for a while now.) I’m accustomed to my left knee flaring up and know how to deal with it. But when the right knee flares up too at the same time, that’s something I’m not used to dealing with. I iced the right knee and at the same time used the TENS on the right back and the left knee, and took an 80 mg aspirin (the largest I’m now allowed). The TENS helped. The ice, not so much, which didn’t totally surprise me, since the pain in the right knee feels different from he pain I get in the left one. I’m not even going to try to explain how. But anyway, I then put the TENS on the sides of the right knee. That didn’t help so I tried putting the pads n the front and back of the right knee. That helped some, but not enough to dispense with the walker. I think I’ll take one more aspirin.

I could wish that Ursula was wrong about this, but sadly, I think she has nailed it. Heck, I can even add an example – there was never even the slightest hint from the media during his presidency that JFK had Addison’s Disease.

John is actually 56 in calendar years. This makes me wonder just how tired I look at 80. No wonder I’m sleeping late so much. Please, everyone, get as much rest as you need.

I managed to squeeze a very brief note about this into yesterday’s OT, but of course I didn’t have the full story, which had not yet happened. Wonkette also covered it, but I think The F* News contains a bit more.

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