Open Thread June 7 2025

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 072025
 

Yesterday, Andy Borowitz “reported” that Zelenskyy offered to broker peace between Trump**(*) and Musk. Axios reported that Abrego Garcia is coming back but will be charged with smuggling undocumenteds in to the US.

I did watch this video with Joyce Vance and Dahlia Lithwick, which is about 35 minutes. The CC is mostly pretty good, though some specialized terms are amusingly rendered (like “Seacott”), and there is a transcript. I think there are some insights in it which may not have occurred to us.

This is from The Lever News – one of many sites I somehow got subscribed to (probably through signing a petition) and have not yet unsubscribed. This is the first thing from them I have seen which I thought was worthy of sharing, and which no one else has yet published that I have seen. I’ll be very interested in what our medical professionals have to say about it. I will say I would imagine this side effect is one of the very last things one would think of, considering what the medication is prescribed for, and even if it happened in the study group, may not have been reported for that reason. I was recently prescribed Alendronate sodium for osteoporossis myself (it comes in various strengths, depending in part on whether it is administered daily or weekly – mine is weekly) and I joked that I didn’t expect it to come with an encyclopedia. But it did come with a piece of paper about 3 feet long and 18 inches wide, printed on both sides in very small print, with thorough instructions, thorough information on possible side effects, even some graphs and charts which I found very impressive. I’d be surprised if the FDA is habitually careless – at least under a sane administration. But unlikely things do happen sometimes.

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Open Thread May 27 2025

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 272025
 

Yesterday, as I was starting to check email, my radio station played a piece by Chopin, and when it was over and the DJ back announced it, she said “Frederic Chopin,” but what I thought I heard was “President Chopin.” There’s nothing wrong with her pronunciation, nor with my hearing – but apparently my brain is over-fixated. Sigh. Also yesterday – I don’t know whether this will actually work for anyone else, but I kind of got slapped in the face by my white privilege. One of the websites at which I found a birthday card last year was having a sale, and I had so much difficulty then, I thought I’d look now for birthday cards for Trinette’s two sons. We’re talking about young black men, in their twenties, whom I would probably recognize if I saw them on the street but we’re not close the way I am to their mother. So I did a search there for “birthday card black man.” I got a result of 106 pages and managed to get through 17 or 18 of those pages, despite constantly second guessing myself – “that’s gorgeous, but I don’t know whether they care much about history or African heritage – will it look like I’m talking down?” or “that’s funny, but will it look like I’m laughing at them instead of with them?” I finally managed to find 10 cards, although one is for Virgil (it says “Happy Birthday from the best decision you ever made” – he will know I’m laughing with him because he tells me that – a lot) to get a quantity discount on top of the sale prices. But it took a lot of time and a lot of self-examination. Also yesterday – ironically on Memorial Day, Korean War veteran and long time (but now retired) Congressman Charlie Rangel (in his day known as “the lion of Lenox Avenue”) died at age 94. May he rest in power.

Since yesterday was a holiday, I thought The Week Ahead from Joyce Vance would be appropriate for today. And there’s a lot of it to digest.

Robert Reich has pretty much seen it all. If he says something is “truly horrifying,” it must actually be so – at least. Possibly worse.

I guess Roberts hasn’t learned anything yet. I’m still hoping he’s capable – the other Republicans, with the exception of Barrett (surprising though that may be, it seems to be true) are incapable of learning anything.

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Open Thread May 23 2025

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 232025
 

Yesterday, I got an email from Faithful America that SCOTUS deadlocked on the OK charter school case so the lower court ruling that giving the charter school government dollars in unconstitutional will stand. For now. (I’m not sure whether this is the same case where there were four recusals so they didn’t have a quorum, or whether that was a different case. Sorry, I’m finding it difficult to keep track.)

Jen Rubin of The Contrarian has been travelling in Europe, and is sharing some historical insight from there, specifically from Spain.

This from Wonkette may be relatively minor, compared to, say, the deaths that will result from gutting Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. However it pisses me off (all racism does), and goes along with the next post.

Press Watch has what might be good news if it only went far enough. I suppose it’s a start.

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Open Thread May 18 2025

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 182025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Strauss’s “Salome” which is not based directly on the Biblical story, but on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. Richard was no relation to the Johanns – his father was a French horn player. His life was a bit later than the waltz royal family, and I don’t know whether he was influenced by Freud, but it’s a good bet that Wilde was – the libretto and score reek of it. If that sounds depressing, yes, it could be, but I have always found it helpful when feeling down – it gives me the feeling that, yes, I’m down, but I’m not that down, and it helps me snap out (and, if I’m not down, the music, although even today it sounds very avant-garde, is beautiful in its way.) This production is part of the “Live in HD” and thus has been recorded and was shown in theaters around the world. I doubt I’ll seek it out – I don’t feel that it needed quite as much visual dysfunction as they added to it – I think it’s better stripped down – but that didn’t impair hearing it on the radio. Off to visit Virgil now – I’ll check in upon return.

This is not news, but it is a pretty good anecdote, and not a shaggy dog story – it has a punch line.

Not to imply anyone’s death (well maybe a few) is good news. On the other hand, the life of a good person is worth recognizing, even celebrating, especially when we have so few just now in the right positions. Harry Litman eulogizes David Souter.

Cat

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Open Thread May 17 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 172025
 

Yesterday, an email I received from a PAC supporting Social Security informed me that “Musk claimed that millions of dead people were collecting Social Security benefits, and that 40% of all phone calls to Social Security’s 800 number were scams. Musk’s DOGE implemented a new system to catch this fraud, and now, the results are in. Out of over 110,000 new claims made by phone, TWO were found to be likely fraudulent. That’s not 40%. That’s 0.0018%. What’s worse is, Musk’s system slowed down each of those new claims by about 25%.” I am not surprised, and neither are you. But it’s nice to have numbers. Also yesterday, the trailer about the documentary about Robert Reich was released. And finally, the Supreme Court said to the regime (to paraphrase The Contrarian) stop trying to circumvent the system and start following the law. Seven to two. We shall see.

I saw this elsewhere first, but Joyce Vance, as a former Federal prosecutor is more knowledgeable than the other article. They did go to the trouble of a grand jury, which I would have expected them to attempt to skip. I don’t actually think it’s a good sign.

This was also published elsewhere … but Harry Litman saw it in the Atlantic, so that (the archived version with no paywall) is what I am linking to. It’s by J. Michale Luttig, who is one of the last of the generation of Republicans who were wrong about economics but still had honor. We saw him testify to the January 6 committee, and we’ve seen him a few times since also. You won’t be able tolisten to it here if you prefer listening – if you subscrive to the Atlantic, you can listen to it there. I hope it reaxhes at least some of the audience for whom it is meant, which isn’t really us. But it’s factual and well written.

 

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Open Thread May 16 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 162025
 

Yesterday, I had a bit more paperwork to do for the prison. It took longer than I wished – but it was a bit easier than the first two because instead of having to go the the website ands turn a pdf into a jpg so I could type into it, the prison emailed me a blank word document. Obviously I have saved copies of everything. I’m pretty sure that’s the last one.

I don’t remember subscribing to The Intercept – I presume it happened because I signed something- but I have not seen this lede story anywhere else, and I don’t think it should be ignored, so I’m sharing. Feel free to browse down, and if you go to another page, browse down it also. They have a lot of information.

Harry Litman at Talking Feds on a story that is definitely not getting ignored – so much is being discussed I thought I’d bring an actual Constitutional lawyer to address it.

And if you want to listen to another lawyer, here’s a  Michael Popok (Legal AF, Meidas Touch) a variety of legal issues. You can also see it on YouTube, but if, like me, you aren’t paying YouTube, this is a way to skip the ads, even if you aren’t paying Meidas either..

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Open Thread April 25 2025

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

Yesterday, Andy Borowitz was “reporting straight news” again. I won’t say it made me smile, because it didn’t, but maybe it will someone. (And I can’t respond to his question. Free subscribers cannot comment at Substack unless the owner opens the comments to us, and the only one I’ve found so far that foes consistently is Wonkette. But, if I could answer, I’d say Kash Patel. Those eyes – he really looks the part.) Also yesterday, apparently DHS has posted Kilmar Abrego Garcia‘s home address in Maryland, forcing his wife and kids to go into hiding.

It took me a couple of days to get this posted. If anyone knows someone, or knows someone who knows someone else who is an illegally fired Federal Civil Servant, There is a nonprofit called “Work For America” which has set up a program to help them find new jobs. Since this program is new, it’s difficult to check its bona fides. I would start by checking out the list of partners on their home page, none of which I recognize – but then I haven’t been looking for work since I retired either. I grant it sounds too good to be real, and I certainly wouldn’t send them any money without knowing more, but if it is legit it could be a needed lifeline for some very deserving people.

https://19thnews.org/2025/04/supreme-court-children-books-lgbtq-censorship/
This article from the 19th is a few days old – but the issue is not going away any time soon.0

This article at Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse contains a video which was originally on the other guy’s site – which is why it sounds like Joyce is the guest – because she is. It’s not quite 40 minutes. I found it very listenable. There is stuff in it about their respective religious traditions, and it occurred to me I don’t think I have done this rant here before because I never thought it was needed, and it may not be needed here. So I’ll make it as brief as I can. At many liberal sites, especially those which encourage commenting, I see people all the time pontificating that “religion is the problem.” But, just as alcohol is not the problem in alcoholism, it is not religion which is the problem. It is the abuse and/or misuse of religion which is the problem. (For some specialists in allergy and intolerance, alcoholism has been described as an “addictive allergy,” but I won’t push that metaphor now.) If you can tolerate them discussing what is good in their respective religious traditions, there’s a lot of good advice in the discussion. If not, there’s a short article to read.

And this, also from Joyce Vance, is bad news which we cannot afford to ignore. I’m not saying thet the Civil Rights Division eliminated the stacking of the deck against the most vulnerable, because that would have been impossible. But over the years it has done a great deal to alleviate that deck-stacking, and without it we will be in big trouble.

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Open Thread April 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 202025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “L’Assedio di Corinto” by Rossini. This is the first opera Beverly Sills sang at the Met – and in fact we heard a recording of that debut on April 19th of 1975, exactly fifty years earlier. Fifty years. I wasn’t there, but I had heard Ms. Sills a few years earlier, at the Kennedy Center, in recital, on the tour, which was famous at the time, when she was so ill she requested no encores, but people demanded them anyway, unable to believe that anyone could sing like that but have something wrong with her voice. It wasn’t until she asked the audience in her own speaking voice to refrain from requesting encores that she was believed and her request respected. I have this opera on vinyl with her and also with Norman Treigle, who is not in this performance (Justino Diaz is.) But that’s OK – Shirley Verrett is in this performance but was not on the vinyl. The opera is not really about Corinth (which has been through some sieges) but about Missolonghi which was under siege in 1826 by Turkey. I’m pretty sure none of the main plot (about a love triangle, a domineering father, and mistaken identity) happened at either siege. or at any siege ever), but it’s Rossini, so it’s listenable, even without the shining stars of this production. Sigh. I remember some opera opera lovers and I used occasionally to refer to Sills as “Silverly Bells” – a Spoonerism, but it intended as a tribute to that voice. Now I’m feeling old. But it was worth it. Also yesterday, Wonkette reported that Barbara Lee has won her special election to be the Mayor of Oakland, CA. I don’t believe it’s been officially announced, but the numbers are clear. I can only compare what that will be like for Oakland to South Bend, IN, who had Mayor Pete for 8 years. I certainly hope they keep her in office as long as they legally can. Now, let’s help make Kasie Porter Governor of California, and I’ll think about forgiving Adam Schiff. And one more thing – At 1:00 AM EDT yesterday, the Supreme Court issued an opinion – and it was a good one. This video from the Contrarian is almost 45 minutes. But it took me less than 10 minutes before my jaw dropped. If you already know about it, fine, but if you don’t you need to.  Off to see Virgil now, will comment upon return.

And this in, of all places, Tennessee. And Dolly Parton wasn’t even there.

Colorado Public Radio published this on Good Friday, so I can share it on actual Easter. Nice not to be late, for once.

Wonkette doesn’t mention this, but I would like to point out, if you made phone calls or sent postcards or did anything at all to help keep the Supreme Court election in Wisconsin fair and prevent Republicans from getting the vote overturned in favor of the Republican candidate, give yourself a big pat on the back (just don’t break your arm.) Because you did this. Your work helped make it possible for the cOurt to rule this way. And this is an example of why I try to bring attention to special elections, recall elections, or any disputed or might-be-disputed, no matter where.

Founders

Dog

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