Subpoenas – Politics Plus

Open Thread December 29 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 1:24 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 292025

Yesterday, I visited Virgil and – you guessed it – we played cribbage. Most of last week snow had been predicted, but Saturday snow dropped off the chart, so I wasn’t expecting any – but in the morning, there it was. I have to say it wasn’t much, though there got to be more of it the closer I got to Pueblo, but it was certainly very dry. And very cold. By the time I needed to leave in order to get home by sunset, the sun had been working on it and it was pretty much gone – still cold, though. But the cribbage was fun – there’s always something weird, and today it was several cribs having double runs of three. Heck, a double run of three is tough enough to set up in one’s hand – having one pop up in the crib when each of us puts two in with totally different motives is quite rare – unless it isn’t. And yesterday, it wasn’t.

Joyce Vance has a great point here. His malicious xeet(s) accusing everyone but himself of being what he in fact is, if taken at face value, do make him look like he knows a lot about Epstein and should testify. And there’s neither law nor DOJ guidance which says Presidents cannot be subpoenaed to testify. I like it.

Robert Reich offers an end-of-the-year pep talk which is not overdone and may help morale. (And he doesn’t end with “You look great!”)

From Current Affairs, referred by Daily Dose of Democracy. I think the titles is probably an exaggeration – if we were to solve this problem, another would arise to take its place – but I do believe that, if Republicans would only allow us to regulate anything – anything at all – everyone’s (except scammers and grifters) lives would improve

Sarah Cooper

Open Thread for October 1, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:28 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 012021

Yesterday, I put everything physically in place to go quickly in the morning. I’m not expecting to need to take off my sweater then I leave. After tomorrow, it’s supposed to warm up some here, but not, for the next week, to ever break 80°F.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Hill – Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 11, including Pierson, other rally organizers
Quote – Each of the 11 individuals is identified by the committee as having been involved with the Women for America First-sponsored rally where Trump spoke on Jan. 6. “You assisted in organizing the rally held on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of then-President Trump and his allegation of election fraud. President Trump spoke at the January 6th rally shortly before the attack on the Capitol, urging the crowd to ‘fight much harder’ and to ‘stop the steal,’” the committee wrote in letters to each.
Click through for names. Note that the Congressinal select committee, while it has powers, does not have judicial powers. It can’t indict, or try, or convict, or sentence. The best it can do is to refer its findings to those who can do those other things.

Wonkette – Huzzay! We Shan’t Have A Government Shutdown Tonight! Probably!
Quote – This is where we reassure you that for years now, Congress has passed continuing resolutions to keep the government funded at current levels, often on the day a shutdown would otherwise kick in, and the only times there’s been an actual shutdown have been when the threat to force a shutdown was telegraphed well in advance. Then again, this is 2021, so we can’t completely rule out the possibility that once the CR is passed by the Senate, the entire House side of the US Capitol may be spirited away by Tralfamadorians in flying saucers, leaving President Joe Biden without a bill to sign. But that seems at least only a 30 percent possibility at the moment.
Click through for story. Every publication has its own house style (some more distinctive than others), and also individual writers’ treatments of the house style. This article is by Doktor Zoom. By the time you see this, you will know whether or not a CR has been passed.

Food for Thought –

Open Thread for August 6, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:37 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 062021

Yesterday it was still pretty cool but I know it won’t last. It’s been nice while it did, though.

Cartoon –

Short Takes

The Hill – Five big questions as Jan. 6 panel preps subpoenas
The Questions – 1. Will the panel hit roadblocks for subpoenaed documents?
2. Should lawmakers like McCarthy and Jordan be called to testify?
3. Could any Democratic witnesses offer testimony?
4. Will they go after former Trump officials?
5. Will there be an August hearing?
Click through for expanded speculation. Of course the first rule of lawyering is “never ask a question if you don’t know the answer,” and though this is not exactly a trial, it is a kind of court.

The New Yorker – New York State Weighs Ban on Male Governors
Quote – “If, at the end of fifty years, we have reason to believe that a male governor could behave in an appropriate manner, then the law would expire,” State Senator Carol Foyler, one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “If, however, it’s determined that New York could not tolerate a male governor at that time, there is a provision to extend the law for an additional fifty years.”
Click through – it’s short.

HuffPost – I’m An ICU Doctor And I Cannot Believe The Things Unvaccinated Patients Are Telling Me
Quote – I am angry that the tragic scenes of prior surges are being played out yet again, but now with ICUs primarily filled with patients who have chosen not to be vaccinated. I am angry that it takes me over an hour to explain to an anti-vaxxer full of misinformation that intubation isn’t what “kills patients” and that their wish for chest compressions without intubation in the event of a respiratory arrest makes no sense. I am angry at those who refuse to wear “muzzles” when grocery shopping for half an hour a week, as I have been so-called “muzzled” for much of the past 18 months.
Click through for full article.

Food for Thought (of course this doesn’t apply to anyone here!)

PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.