Yesterday, Various people were still talking about Scott Pelley’s commencement speech at Wake Forest, mostly in glowing terms (although I’m sure MAGAts had other opinions.) Wonkette linked to a transcript of it, so you can judge for yourself. I think it’s worth the time. Also, the Nature Conservancy shared aome footage on the mating rituals of the greater prairie-chicken, including sound. It’s funny, because it’s kind of a little allegory of males of every species – or so it appeared to me and Trinette. You may not agree.
Yes, this from Joyce Vance is from Tuesday. She is concerned that it isn’t (or wasn’t then) getting much if any coverage, and she may still be correct about that.
John Pavlovitz would be the first to tell you that he struggles with major depression (and, yes he has sought and received treatment for it, with all that implies. If you’re not familiar with the concept of the wounded healer, you can look at him and get an idea.) So the current regime is terribly hard on him – as of course it is on us. But, as he points out, joyis not just feeling good – it is also a weapon- a defensive weapon, but still a weapon.
Not really news from the Brennan Center – at least, not to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. But not being news does not mean it isn’t still a problem, especially since we have a modern Roger Taney SCOTUS.
Yesterday, I picked up some Belle videos. She’s still posting four a day, and of course they are all of interest, but to different groups, so they are no means all of equal interest to PP readers. Sometimes the choices are tough. Also, I picked up some music parodies, including a Canadian parodist I was not familiar with. Tomorrow, I’ll post his praise for Australia – for Lona. Also, there is a new Pope (or in Latin, Habemus Papa) on only the second day of the conclave. His papal name is Leo XIV, and I don’t know much else about him, but he appears to be someone Francis himself might have chosen. He was born in Chicago, so (not all) American Catholics are going nuts over the first American Pope. In America we have so many – or maybe they aren’t that many, but they are loud – bishops and archbishops who are Nazis that I was worried. But I’m not sure he should be called an American Pope, except in the broadest sense – he was born in the US but has mostly worked in Peru and is a naturalized Peruvian citizen.
This Letter is about corruption in general, which includes tariffs along with many other grifts. If you want to know exactly how the Apricot Antichrist is grifting you (and the rest of the nation), this is the place to come. But wait – there’s more. The following day’s letter follows up on the first one.
I certainly don’t want to encourage complacency, but if Robert Hubbell is reading the room correctly, this is worth at the very least a sigh of relief.
Yesterday, I learned that 15 Democratic Senators had voted to confirm David Persue as the Mango Menace’s ambassador to China. I immediately searched to see whether either of mine was one of them, and they were not. I don’t know whether I scares them with my letter the last time they voted to confirm someone, or whether they received so much flak from so many constituents that it scared them, but I know one of them is scared – Benet thinks he can run for governor instead. I believe if he thinks he can beat Phil Weiser in the primary he has another think coming – heaven knows I hope that’s the case. I also learned that I need to get a new application on file – and I was supposed to so so by 2:30 today in order to visit on Sunday. I didn’t even find the email until after 2:30, so I clearly didn’t make the deadline. I sent Virgil an electronic note to call me ASAP. We have decisions to make.
I agree with Talking Points Memo that the most important part of this story is likely the order of magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, but I am sharing a non-paywall link to the NYT article as well. We were all introduced to the role of magistrate judges during the special counsel investigations of the Persimmon Palpitine, but a refresher: magistrate judges cannot preside over felony trials, but they can and do assist federal judges in such cases, including issuing orders to parties. The order issued by Judge Netburn in this case is 100% valid, even though it is also apparently 100% unprecedented. I’d say Judge Netburn has been paying attention. (BTW, there’s lots more in the TPM Memo than just this one story.)
Harry Litman takes a dive into the partnership between Trump** and Bukele, assisted by the New York Times. It’s very seldom I am the first to archive a story – in fact I believe this is the first time it has happened – which suggests to me that these details would be news to a whole lot of people. But I still have more faith in Litman that I do in the Times, so I read this first.
Yesterday, The Mango Moron accused Volodymyr Zelensky of “sabotaging [the] U.S. peace plan for Ukraine” because of course he did. And a disagreement between Elon Musk and Scott Bessent “erupted into [a] West Wing shouting match.”
There’s a reason why Dan Froomkin calls his Substack “Press Watch” – because it’s all about, not just truth, but how truth should be presented. In other words – it should be read by journalists so that we don’t have to read it. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening. This article is a case in point.
I’ve never been a “first let’s kill all the lawyers” person. I do appreciate the jokes, and I may just tell one (with a slight twist) – but the lawyers we see on YouTube such as Glenn Kirschner, Michael Popok, and Harry Litman are honest and dedicated defenders of how the rule of law is needed to – and needs to – define and maintain democracy. This from Harry Litman I’m going to call a full disclosure post. (And may I suggest that the signers are in general also lawyers who can be trusted.) OK, joke. A man goes into a curio shop (in a place like Galveston, Atlantic City, or San Francisco – you’ll see why) and is fascinated by a brass rat. The owner advises him the rat has mysterious properties and warns him the price is non-refundable. He buys it anyway and leaves and continues walking around the city. Soon he notices he is being followed by rats, and that the number is increasing. As he continues walking the number of rats continues to grow, and he starts to run. The rats also start running, and there continue to be more and more of them. He speeds up and runs to the beach. When he gets there, he throws the brass rat as far out into the ocean as he can. All the rates follow it and drown. He then returns tot he curio shop, where the owner says, “I told you no refunds.” The man says, “I don’t want a refund. I want to know if you have any brass Trump** voters.”
Yesterday, I watched the first ten minutes (the part that was free) of a video with Harry Litman who had Paul Krugman as his guest. Obviously, in ten minutes, they did not exhaust the subject, but they covered enough to make it worth watching IMO. I also want to note that so often we have remarked on how fast Presidents – real ones – age while in office. Well, Krugman is aging like a President. I was surprised, almost shocked, by how white his hair has become – all of it. I’m eight years older than he is and mine is not anywhere near that white.
This article is from The 19th, which, to quote their masthead, reports on “gender, politics, and policy.” I have to say that any Jewish Americans or LGBTQ+ Americans who are only now seeing echoes of history in the current regime need to fully wake up fast. And straight cis women should probably pay attention – if they can refuse to issue “X” passports, wat stops them from refusing “F” passports?
The F Team nails the regime – not surprising or even anything new. But cheer up. Axios cites an analyst who says we will likely not see the full impact of tariffs until June. so you still have some time to stock up on whatever you need to stock up on.
Yesterday, Meidas Touch Substack posted a (just over 20 minute) video of a conversation between Ben Meiselas and Gavin Newsom. If you have raised your eyebrows over a few remarks he’s made or things he’s done lately, this might be a good place to come for clarification (though you may still not agree). I didn’t find a transcript, but there is a text summary and a large load of comments.
Colorado Public Radio (although just about everyone has the story) provides evidence that bipartisanship may be on its last legs and gasping for breath, it’s not dead yet. And if it’s saved, it may well be women who save it.
This from Democratic Underground (originally from the Atlantic) has been around for a couple of months. It doesn’t appear to me to have aged at all, so I’m putting it out now.
This from DU, on the other hand, is new. It puts us, and particularly our government, to shame.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi. It was the second opera I ever owned on vinyl. It’s also the opera from which a scene got me my A grade in conducting class. It’s notoriously dark, it had trouble with censorship (which was routine when everywhere was governed by an absolute monarch, and they were all terrified of looking bad, even just by proxy, so to speak), and the music is exquisite (and in places heartbreaking.) Noteworthy was the tenor, who is the very first opera singer born in Samoa, in his Met debut. Hearing him, I suspect his delay in singing at the Met may have been due to his being so in demand elsewhere that they just couldn’t get him. But all the principals were impressive. It’s an opera which draws tears, and then they piled on by picking this week for the annual review of people we lost last year. Somehow I missed the deaths of Seiji Ozawa and Lucine Amara (among others.) But it’s Sunday, so I’ll stop here and share an Andy Borowitz take on more current events. And, if anyone is interested, Robert Hubbell has transcribed Judge Merchan’s complete remarks from the sentencing Friday. Not that the Canteloupe Caligula will hear, understand, or care. But he was pretty clear in distinguishing between the public office and the person who holds it.
well, this is something new. I know we have at least a few readers who ar into astronomy, and that light pollution is a problem for anyone who wants to watch the stars, planets, galaxies, etc. I would also warn anyone over 50 that the San Luis Valley is mostly more than 7500 feet above sea level, and if you have any heart or respiratory issues, you should consult your medical team before planning a trip (and it isn’t open yet anyway.) Living at 6500 feet as I do, it would almost certainly not bother me. But it isn’t, sadly, possible to make lenses which would allow me to aee what everyone else sees when they look at the sky, so it would be wasted on me. Still, I’m all for it. And Mosca is a good location. Roughly 15 miles north of Alamosa – a college (excuse me, now a university) town – close enough to get to easily and far enough to provide a good dark sky. And now I’m off to see Virgil, and will check in when I get home.
It’s telling that the only good news I noticed this week was from Colorado Public Radio (at least this week, CPR is cpr for the soul). And I’m well aware that people close to my age (and many of us are), old enough to remember “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, are going to be very skeptical. I was. But this treatment appears to be working very well for this young man, and the smile on his face in the accompanying photo is evidential. Especially compared to the second photo. I wish him and his family the best.
Yesterday, Colorado Public Radio newsletter sent this. A little late. I knew this existed, and the origin story, but there’s more detail in the article. Fortunately there are still enough people who have the Christmas Spirit to keep it going. And enough kids to enjoy it.
I find it difficult to believe that anyone at The F* News would believe in any kind of miracle – and this isn’t one IMO – the 46% he and The Conference Board refer to are all people who voted for Kamala, or would have had they voted. But it’s an eye-catching header. We can hope that it gets widely read and quoted.
Harry Litman of Talking Feds calls this a “change of pace” post, which is certainly an understatement. But I have no problem taking time to recognize that these people to whom we go for expertise and wisdom are also human, and have human likes and dislikes. And he also has a list of podcasts he has made and will be continuing to make, which “dive deep into seven critical areas where Trump will be looking to attack government as we know it.” Four have already aired, but are still available (and I assume transcripts are also. At least I hope so.) The next one, coming up Monday – well, I’m thrilled that he considers my state’s attorney general to be “pure gold.” I certainly do, but what do I know.
