Dec 242025
 

Yesterday, for a change, SCROTUS ruled against the Mango Monster 6-3 for a change in Trump v. Illinois – a case Harry Litman has been saying since it was filed would be its moment of truth. Because had it gone the other way, the Monster would have had free rein to act on any lies he could dream up. Harry Litman invited Leah Litman (mp relation) to discuss it with him on Substack Live. Both were so excited they were interrupting each other. I’ll provide the link anyway, difficult as it is to listen to (actually the video seems to be one and done, but the transcript is there), but a key factor was that one amicus brief was incredibly important. One amicus brief which was saying something no one else was saying, but which was right. So if you ever discounted the effect of amicus briefs – it’s time to rethink that.

CPR News referred me to this. Between this and a related story about Colorado losing FEMA funds which are now tied to immigration policy, I decided this one would affect a whole lot more people in a whole lot more places.

I’ve written previously about Lone Star ticks, and IIRC at that time there were already a few other ticks who carried this trait, but apparently, according to The Conversation, it’s getting worse. I don’t, thank the universe, have this particular food allergy, but I do have a couple which are almost equally crippling, such as wheat and soy, and frankly, you don’t want to have any food allergy ever, and especially when grocery prices are out of control.

I’m sure everyone is aware about how the short (for a documentary) documentary about CECOT had been scheduled to air on 60 minutes but was yanked by Bari Weiss. But she either forgot or didn’t know that 60 minutes also plays on Global TV in Canada. By the time she realized it, Canada had already seen about 13.5 minutes of it. That 13.5 (13.35 to be precise) was all over the internet. By yesterday, it had been taken down from most of those places. But it it viewable here. If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to watch it, if only because so many people worked so hard to prevent you from seeing it.

Share
Dec 192025
 

Yesterday, Steve Schmidt called the Mango Monster’s Wednesday night speech a “Norma Desmond imitation.” I didn’t watch it. Was he ready for his close-up? Also, I keep forgetting to mention this before it’s gone. PBS has a video of “Twelfth Night” from a few of years back “Free Shakespeare in the Park,” and they are streaming it, but only through December 31 (I really think they ought to at least go through Jan 6, since that is actually 12th Night, but what do I know.) Lupita Nyong’o plays Viola, and her real life brother Justin plays Sebastian. He’s a bit taller and of course their voices don’t match, but otherwise, I’ve never seen a better match. And Malvolio is played by Peter Dinklage, who appears to be having a wonderful time doing it. You can stream it here. I don’t think you have to have Passport, but since I do, I can’t be sure. They did not ask me for credentials to see it, but I hadn’t cleared my cache for a while. When I looked it was the second show down, but priorities change, so you may have to scroll farther. (They are also still streaming “Ann” about Ann Richards. I don’t know how long that will last.) And if those aren’t your thing, something else might be.

The Brennan Center for Justice takes another look at Bush v. Gore and how it has affected the makeup of the Supreme Court as well as its reputation.

From Mediaite, referred by Dose of Democracy. I didn’t watch or listen – I’m sorry, but my health won’t take it. Having to read about it is bad enough.

This from The F* News SO pisses me off. Look, I was assigned female at birth and the assignment in my case was accurate. I also turned out to be straight. And I don’t have the kind of imagination to write fantasy novels, science fiction or otherwise. But I do have enough imagination to picture how terrible it must be to be attracted to people of the same sex and to be thereby considered by society as a horrible person or a sick person who needs curing. Or, even worse, to be a male person who was born into a female body, or the reverse, and to know that there are medical solutions that could help me by carefully making changes to my body so it could match who I am, but people who are terrified, or terrible, and almost certainly, on some level, both, have passed laws against doctors helping me. It’s no effing wonder that so many LGBTQIA+ teens kill themselves. The teen years are a time when everything already looks like the end of the world.

link for Lona 

Cat

Share
Dec 132025
 

Yesterday, the FDA announced a testosterone crisis (I would agree – Republican men have way too much). House Democrats released some photos from the Epstein estate.

The Slaughter case was heard on Monday, but at least as of yesterday, no verdict had been released, so Harry Litman‘s analysis is still timely – and we can still hope.

I know, “Why are you posting about dolls when there are people being physically harmed – killed, starved, kidnapped?” Well, there are a couple of reasons. One is that dolls have been used for so long to belittle women (think MAGA Barbie), but this shows that they can also be used to empower girls and women – to strengthen pride in their heritage. But also, this resonates with me because in my way I am doing the same things – character dolls representing powerful women. It’s slow, because I have real people to knit for, including myself. But I do have some finished. The most recent one was Nancy Pelosi (specifically on the day she left the White House having read the Apricot Antichrist the riot act. And I finally have a decent photo of that. Look, this country has s problem with misogyny which is holding us back from progress. Anything we can do, even if the action seems trivial, to combat that is worth doing.

Common Dreams reports on a new executive order which “instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems “onerous and excessive.” I suppose it’s a little related that Bluehost is pushing me to attend a webinar or something about using AI for this blog. Ain’t gonna do it. If Nameless wants to look into it when I’m gone, that’s fine.

Dog

Share
Nov 042025
 

Yesterday, I opened my email, and it looks like I’m going to be doing more knitting this week and next. PBS Great Performances will be streaming “The Barber of Seville”. Cedille Records (RBG’s son) will be releasing a new CD and streaming from another, both with only composers killed or exiled during the Holocaust (good thing I just ordered and received 4 boxes of tissues).

This Intercept article didn’t pop up a subscription pitch for me – possibly because it’s the first of the month? Anyway, I have held this for a bit in the chaos, but it does need to be known.

Heather Cox Richardson from last Friday is worth reading if only for the Gatsby quotation, in which Nick specified that he was speaking of “Tom and Daisy [Buchanan]’, but which Richardson rightly extends to the whole MAGA party. It’s sad but true. (Totally off topic, but I just realized that she and I have the same surname – mine just uses the nickname instead of the full first name, and has condensed the spelling.)

I posted last week a preview of the Supreme Court season, but this “The Week Ahead” specifically looks at a Nectarine Napoleon’s tariff case (one of them) and analyzes what exactly he is trying to accomplish,

HCR videos generally run at least 20 minutes and usually considerably more. So I thought I’d better grab this six minute one while it was still current.

Share
Jul 022025
 

On Monday, I finally remembered to re-add images like Lona’s hedgehog and Freya’s angry cat to the media library late enough in the day that the should be the last thing added in June, to make them more convenient to find. Speaking of Freya, has anyone heard from her? It’s been a very long time, not just since she posted here, but since I (and also Evelyn, who is also concerned) got a newsletter from her. If you know anything, please put it into a comment or email me. Then yesterday, I got the news that Jimmy Swaggart has died. I won’t speak ill of the dead, and I assume everyone knows what that is code for.

There have been lively debates in comment sections about this case – which is now over – the baby, a boy named “Chance” was removed by C-section (and while the case it over for the courts, it’s not over for him, poor thing.) But this from The Conversation is about as complete an analysis of the ethics of the case as you are likely to find.

This is from The Brennan Center for Justice on the topic of the Supreme Court. I know in the past some have had issues getting to that site, so here is an archive link in case anyone needs it.

Here is an extra video which left me literally speechless:

Share
Jul 012025
 

Yesterday, I went through a little more than two days of emails – I had not had the energy to tackle Sunday’s on Sunday. But Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead” from Sunday really shouldn’t be missed, both for the analysis and for the hope. Harry Litman addressed the same case – not the verdict itself but apparently even lawyers can’t agree on how awful it is.) Also yesterday – remember the Pearl Street bombing in Boulder, CO on June 1? Well, one more victim has died, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. She was 82 years old. Finally, USA Today has a pretty detailed account of the shooting in Idaho. I won’t claim is the best – I didn’t check everywhere – but it’s pretty solid. No paywall.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-

This is a few days old – but I think still interesting to anyone who is still wondering just how effed up the knuckle-draggers working in the current regime can get. I would put this somewhere in the territory of FUBB and FUBAR.

John Pavlovitz was inspired (as was I) by Joe Biden’s presence and demeanor at the funeral of the Hortmans (Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert). This is what he had to say about it – and I can agree with just about every word. I did know what we had, and you may recall, was so crushed when he dropped out of the race that I had to take a week off to collect myself. I wish I had a way to forward this to President Joe. He deserves to know how much he is loved and missed.

Share
Jun 282025
 

Yesterday, the Supreme Court gave us a decision dump. It’s a dump in all senses. And there’s a good deal of coverage all over the net, so I’ll just add that my heart goes out to Justuce Sotomayor, who must be in licking-her-wounds mode big time. Also, I learned that a No-Secret-Police Act has been introduced in Congress. Civic Shout has a petition to applaud it.

Many, maybe most, of Meidas Touch Substacks posts are videos. I literally cannot watch them. If I try, my brain starts wandering and my stomach tightens. This does not mean Meidas is bad – in fact, it’s more likely to mean it’s very good indeed – since that happens to me with some of the best speakers. But it does happen, and I won’t post anything I cannot evaluate. Fortunately, this post is not a video (it is from a video, and it contains a short video of Mrs. Abrego Garcia), and it addresses something that no one else is, as far as I can tell. If they are, they are leaving out the human side. And without empathy, our work is – not worthless, but worth less.

Others are spreading this news, but I thought I’d post it straight from the source which did the investigating – Project on Government Oversight (POGO)

One more thing from Pete Buttigieg. He does manage to find things that others miss.

Share
Mar 202025
 

Yesterday, The new (to me) PC is here now and I was able to get it connected to everything and running much faster then I’ll be able to get everything organized on it. But it’s looking a lot more feasible. And I did find out my games are going to work now, except for the ones which depended on Adobe Flash (Sadly, there’s no workaround for that – I asked about that some time ago, and instead of a workaround they gave me a free game coupon to get something else.) Oh, and happy Spring Equinox to those who celebrate.

Jim Stewartson has a background in entertainment, including videogames. When he realized that technology he had helped develop was being used in far-right propaganda and psyops, he founded the organization Antifascist USUA to help deprogram victims. So, though not academically trained in psyops, he has been on the frontlines for a while. I am taking this seriously. This link is to his own website, but he is also on Substack now.

Robert Hubbell has retired from lawyering, but he doesn’t appear to have forgotten much. The post is from this week, but before John Roberts released his social media post about impeachment, with which Hubbell clearly disagrees, at least in part. (Off topic, but as I was typing I typoed “media: as “mefia.” And it occurred to me that all that needs is an “a” in the second position to be all too accurate.)

Share