Mar 052026
 

Yesterday, the Senate refused to take action to restrain the Degenerate Darth Vader’s illegal war in Iran. I, as you have probably noticed, an struggling this week to keep abreast of what day it is. I think that may be at least in part because the first was on Sunday, and, although I consciously know that the week is Sunday through Saturday, I, because school weeks and work weeks start in Monday, subconsciously still see Monday through Friday as one through five. Hopefully I’ll be more on track next week.

I had realized I missed the start of Ramadan, hence the image. It goes until roughly March 19 this year.  The ending date is not totally predictable because the moon has to be in the right position at the time, but Eid al Fitr is predicted for March 20.

Tuesday, this happened. I hope you’ll find it as satisfying as I did. Of course, it’s still just words, no action – but coming from one Rethuglican to another, it’s like music. (Also, Josh Hawley even toreinto her, but I don’t have that quote.)

The first story at this link is the one I am posting -but just about every one is worth at least a look (and they are short.)

I don’t think Joyce is correct about every state. But, sadly, she doesn’t have to be right about every state for there to be fatal chaos. I stopped doing it when it became to much for my mobility, but I did work elections for many years administering elections in Colorado, and that under both Democratic and Republican Secretaries of State and County Clerks, during periods when Colorado was red, and periods when it was blue. The attitude of “If people are entitled to vote, we want them to vote” never changed through the years -though Democrats and Republicans disagreed on almost everything else. But that was then and this is now, and red states (and maybe counties, which might be worse) will ratf*** if they can.

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Aug 232025
 

Yesterday, I noted that Wonkette is stoked that Mallory McMorrow is running to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate – to the point that the owner/editrix is holding a fund raiser for her on September 21st. It will be at her home, but can also be attended via Zoom. Well, I’m stoked too, and not just because I appreciate alliteration. McMorrow’s voice is fierce, and we need fierce voices in the Senate (and in the House.)

This is a Substack post by Dr. Shannon Fleck, who is (since April) the Executive Director of Faithful America. It points out that gerrymandering wasn’t enough for Texas – they had to get their sticky fingers into women’s health care as well, and tie their meddling to faith. I think this pretty well has gone under the radar, so I’m glad they had a link for us (they usually don’t.)

Yes, I know this from Wonkette is from Thursday. But it goes well with the other article. And the analysis may help explain why Evan calls his side project “The Moral High Ground.” I believe that “uncompromising” is incompatible with morality for humans (God or the universe or Karma may be able to stick to it, but the point is that they are supposed to be omniscient, whereas our human brains are not built to contain enough knowledge to never compromise.)

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Aug 222025
 

Yesterday, I noticed that, although one might think that when I’m moving slowly, time moves slowly, it’s actually just the opposite. I am moving slowly – but the days are flying by with much not accomplished. Sigh.

Another multipurpose article, this one from Amanda Marcotte. But if you want to read just the first section, I’ll be fine with that.

I assume everyone’s heard at least the bare bones of this travesty. But the bare bones cannot give one the feel of what is happening here. This article from the 19th, on the other hand, does.

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Aug 202025
 

Yesterday, I slept really late – like almost 4:00 pm. I was actually awakened by the refrigerator guy at the doorbell (I didn’t even know it could ring that loud.) But I needed it. I needed to use the TENs on my back at that spot I’ve been needing it off and on since TC was still with us – but my knees were so much better – not perfect, but I’m back in business. Also, we (Democrats) have a candidate opposing Susan Collins – but she is also getting primaried (or however that works in Maine – don’t they have ranked choice?) by a Republican – an oyster farmer (It’s silly, but somehow it nags on me that that should be an “oyster rancher.”) And one more news item – this one from Texas.

I apologize for the disgusting nature of this article from The 19th. Unfortunately, to get at the whole truth, it’s sometime necessary to face disgusting facts. And neither misogyny nor cryptocurrency is a fringe issue. Both are capable of being used (and are being used) to silence us and keep us down.

Mail-in ballots. Certainly, without them, my vote would not get counted. But I wouldn’t expect anything but disinformation from a person who lies like the rest of us breathe.

Political Primate” is a new YouTube channel (started 7/22/25) depicting an ape (I’m no primatologist, but I think maybe an orangutan) speaking political commentary in a beautiful bass voice. Whatever he is, he is clearly highly educated, and far more intelligent than our current regime.

I’m using a Robert Reich video today instead of Belle, essentially because he asked me to. There’s a lot in it that I can’t do – but I am doing what I can. (I got a smile out of noticing that Reich watches Farron.)

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Aug 152025
 

Yesterday, I tripped over this on Democratic Underground and found it fascinating.
Joyce Vance tackles a subject which requires a whole lot more analysis than I could ever hope to give it in this blog. World history is already full of non-factual “facts,” and don’t get me started on the interpretations of both real and fake facts – if I live to be a hundred, I would still not have enough time to do justice there. And explaining why it matters – to be very brief, if every human being has the right to be judged on the basis of actual fact, I believe that applies to the dead as well as to the living. But there’s more to it, including the harm done to living people sucj=ked it to admiring the evil and disdaining the good.

After that highly abstract article and analysis from Joyce Vance, Steve Schmidt gets very concrete and specific. How this government is making even us who did not vote for it complicit in murder.

Yes, a third article, this one from Wonkette, because we needed something on the lighter side, even though it’s not yet Sunday. (The content is serious but the tone is hilarious.)

Belle CA v TX

Lion

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Aug 082025
 

Yesterday, my inbox was even crazier than usual. I don’t know why. Federal News appeared to me to be the usual BS. I suppose there might be people who are just now catching on – but yu’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to be running even the tiniest news outlet and just now be catching on after more than six months of pure hell. in any case, I decided to go with a couple of off the wall stories, neither of which features the Orange Oligarch directly, though both are related to his policies (if you can call them policies and not fantasies – I think the jury is still out on that), along with one terrifying legal analysis, which includes guesswork, but some things are not that hard to guess. Also yesterday, this link was forwarded to me. I guess it’s no weirder that Scalia/Ginsburg = except that I would not be interested in an opera about it.

From The Conversation. Many of my sources from time to time refer to history as a help in understanding the present. This article appears to me to be particularly pertinent. And it happened within the lifetime of many of us, including me. The First Amendment is easy to approve, but not easy to discuss, and figuring out where to draw lines can be very touchy indeed. But I do believe the Warren Court got it right.

Certainly I knew that J. B. Pritzker was a Democratic governor who was working with other Democratic governors to protect citizens and residents from the Marigold Maelstrom. But that was all. this situation in Texas is getting coverage for more of his personality and Wonkette is there for it.

Well, this is scary. It’s not as if we weren’t anticipating it, of course, but I for one hoped it would take a little (or a lot) longer to get to it. But no – it’s here.

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Aug 062025
 

Yesterday, The Conversation featured this article. I think Aristotle was on to something. Among other things, it would explain why MAGA (and all “conservatives”) are such whiny bags. Also, Care2, AKA the Petition Site, has a petition up to the Mango Moron which includes straight up telling him he sucks. If you haven’t seen it, I thought you might enjoy it.

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In case you missed it – putting Bove onto a Court of Appeals puts him into a category from which be Supreme Court justices are selected, without needing to acquire the experience which is normally expected of a justice. Sure, the Mango Monster has been stacking the lower courts too – but this is something new.

The Brennan Center is a trustworthy watchdog – yet not a paranoid one. So this needs to be taken seriously (but you know that.) The link is to the home page, and in case another article has taken the to place, the title of the article is “The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election.”

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Aug 052025
 

Yesterday, Trinette and I went to the VA and got me registered as eligible for whatever services they can provide to those of us who didn’t stay long enough to retire and have no service-connected disability. Yeah, I have some, but all mine are age related or something else related which has nothing to do with my service. The booklet I will need to read to find out what is available is not as long as Reich’s book, but is also probably a lot more boring. It’ll be about ten days before I get my ID card, so I don’t need to know until then, and if I can finish it in ten days I’ll be pleased with myself. Anyway, afterwards, Trinette ans I went to a Mexican restaurant we used to love but had not been to since before the pandemic. The prices were up, but the food was as good as ever. They had even expanded the menu quite a bit. All in all, we accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.

Robert Reich reads from his new book, whose official publication date is today. I am just about 11 months older than he, so I lived through the same period. And I knew about some of what he writes about – but not all, not when it was happening. But then, he lived in New York, so much of what he recounts which turns out to have been relevant nationally all along, was merely local news at the time. He’s going to be on Colbert this week to talk about it.

Common Dreams has the story. It’s very sad that it has come to this. But kudos to those who recognize that it has, and have the guts to act on it.

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