{"id":58016,"date":"2025-11-18T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=58016"},"modified":"2025-11-17T19:48:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:48:04","slug":"open-thread-november-18-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2025\/11\/18\/open-thread-november-18-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread November 18 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, along with the rest of the world, why Michelle Obama<\/a> will not run for President. And apparently she has been singing my song – or I have been singing hers – except this is the first time she has said it publicly: \u201cAs we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain\u2019t ready. That\u2019s why I\u2019m like, don\u2019t even look at me about running because you all are lying. You\u2019re not ready for a woman. You are not. So don\u2019t waste my time.\u201d She could have added “And don’t kill any career I do want.” And she is absolutely right. We ain’t ready – we aren’t going to be in my lifetime and quite possibly not in the lifetime of anyone who is alive today. Because this societal change has to start with parents – and the parents ain’t ready for the lesson: “If you don’t want your sons to be lonely, stop raising them to be misogynistic assholes.” (quote from John Pavlovitz) Also, I slept late (normal for a Monday) – in addition to normal catching up, I had stayed up to stream the first episode of “The American Revolution” (Passport allows me to stream it through my local station.) I was surprised by how much I already knew – but even more surprised at how much the current GOP is acting like George III’s cabinet “You’ll do what we tell you.” We know what those people want and we can second guess and outsmart them (didn’t work.) “We’ll tell you what you want.” “We’re sending in the troops.” And that’s just the first episode. (And this probably means nothing, but more than a few women were quoted using modern women’s voices, and every single time Abigail Adams was quoted, I knew it was she before the name was shown. That was also true for Phillis Wheatley, but that was only one quote and impossible to miss.) Also yesterday, the Evil Emperor claimed<\/strong> he had changed his mind on releasing the Epstein files. I have a theory as to why, but as yet no evidence.<\/p>\n

To me, this Huff Post<\/a> article is super good news. More Progressives running. They won’t all win their primaries, But at the very least some who do will win the general. And that will be good for all Americans – including the ones too dumb to know it.<\/p>\n

Chris Bowers<\/a> has a point here – but I think it’s also possible to underestimate the Apricot Antichrist, and that we have been doing so for ten tears now – since he first came down the escalator, in fact. Granted his body count for this regime is so far much lower than the body count from the first one (which I don’t think we should forget, nor allow others to forget), it is also far more violent – it is being achieved through direct and despicable action, rather than through inaction.<\/p>\n

The only excuse to call this news is that it’s from a newsletter. We all knew it from the instant the election was called – just not the exact names and faces. But this from Common Dreams<\/a> does have receipts.<\/p>\n