War Powers – Politics Plus

Open Thread April 9 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 092026

Yesterday, I heard something that I had not heard for years – but tht I have heard more than once just in the past week. A pundit on a webcast said, “I don’t want to be a Pollyanna.” The implication is that Pollyanna was an unfailing optimist. She was not. (If you want a literary optimist, go to Doctor Pangloss in Candide (Voltaire.) Pollyanna was a clear-eyed realist. What she did do was use “one weird trick” to keep herself going – keep herself afloat – when faced with bad news or bad circumstances. That technique is simple, and easy to use, and it is psychologically sound. It is to find something, even something completely unrelated, that isn’t bad – that one can feel good about. And it works. This is why my email inbox – and probably yours – keeps getting emails saying things like “Last night (referring to Tuesday), Democrats held the State Supreme Court in Wisconsin, keeping the court’s majority.” That’s the Pollyanna tidbit to help us all keep going. And that is just one example. “Count your blessings – the phrase and the song – is another. Of course Pollyanna is a fictional character, but dammit, even a fictional character does not deserve to be turned into her exact opposite. (OK, end of rant. Although I’m getting to the point where I may do one on “decimate.” Or possibly “perverse.”) The featured image to the left was produced by Iran with a nod to the Evil Emperor’s Easter “truth.” And I did finally electronically file my federal and state tax returns. Federally, I owe notheing and will receive nothing. State, I may or may not get $19.00.

You know, this from The Conversation would have been 100% predictable, had anyone thought about it in advance. It is also IMO 100% disgusting. But don’t take it from me. Y’all have perfectly good minds.

This from POGO is old – it was originally posted in 2025, but reposted last week for fairly obvious reasons. It’s still pertinent.

This by Wajeeh Lion is details on the rescue of the pilot which took the longest. It isn’t going to affect the war in general, but it’s quite a story and will give you an idea of the hazards, and maybe also of the terrain of Iran – which is a lot more mountainous than desert-y and even has some mountains higher than ours in Colorado – a neat trick when a nation also has sea level and at that so close to those mountains.

Open Thread January 10 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 102026

Yesterday, I put this into a comment on yesterday’s OT. But there were already two comments so I’m not sure it will be seen. Since there’s a second day of it tomorrow, I’ll repeat the information here:
People For the American Way is partnering with our allies to mobilize communities nationwide for the “ICE Out For Good” Weekend of Action on Saturday, January 10, and Sunday, January 11. These actions are a direct response to violence and abuse of power, and a demand that federal immigration enforcement be held accountable for the harm it causes.
These events are community led, nonviolent, and lawful, and they are a direct demand for accountability in the face of ongoing federal violence. They make visible the real human cost of unchecked enforcement and apply public pressure where oversight has failed. Showing up together is a way to insist that lives cannot be treated as collateral damage.

On Thursday, you probably know that the Senate passed a War Powers bill to stop the God-Emperor from destroying Venezuela any more than he already has, and five Republicans joined Democrats to pass it. Which five may surprise you. From Heather Cox Richardson, here are the names: Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Todd Young of Indiana.

It would seem to me that, since Congress (or at least the Senate) has to ratify treaties fir them to be in force, that Congress, or at least the Senate, would have to authorize pulling out of them. Common Dreams implies that but doesn’t say it outright.

The Root is calling this an opinion piece – but, sadly, it’s a fact. I realize on the surface it appears incompatible with misogyny, but it really is part of misogyny – like the old saying that men put women on a pedestal – so they can’t move without hurting themselves. It isn’t women as human beings which are so “precious” – it’s women as objects.

Archived from The Hill, referred by The Smile. I’m not putting it on Sunday because Yosemite Sam Barbie* has “testified before Congress before, and she doesn’t answer questions, she just babbles. IIRC, the last time she was there she sneaked out. A Congressman from IIRC Indiana has announced he is working on articles to impeach her – but it’s a long way from announcing to introducing, and introducing doesn’t guarantee impeaching, and impeachment doesn’t guarantee convicting and removing.
*(stolen from Malcolm Nance)

There’s always a lot in The Morning Memo, but I’m focusing on the “cover up.” I put that in quotes because there is so much photographic evidence before the the public already, video and still, that they won’t be able to cover up what happened. Spin it, yes. Change the narrative, that they can do. Protect the killer – almost certainly. Cover it up – not so much. We even know the ICEhole’s name.

SpyKat posted yesterday that ICE also shot 2 people in Portland. I hadn’t seen it – but found it in the New York Times, whose paywall is fierce, so I went to archive – it had already been archived, so that was fast.

In lieu of a political video today, I want to share this letter to the Minneapolis area newspaper from Renee Good’s widow Becca, Because it is really to all of us who care.

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.