Oct 162026
 

Yesterday, I filled out my ballot, which had arrived last week, but which I had not yet opened because the booklet on the Amendments and propositions was the size of a small town telephone book. It turned out to be easier for just othan I expected -many of them had clearly been written by MAGAts.  For just one example, there were two anti-trans propositions.

Robert Reich spells it out. Y’all probably don’t need it spelled out – but you probably know someone who does.

Michael Sellers calls his Substack “A Deeper Look,” and from this post alone – you can see why. He doesn’t mention that some or all of this decision is likely related to the attempt to destroy empathy (which so many in that camp consider to be our worst weakness) – but I do think that needs mentioning. I have seen films of staged (fake) executions by firing sqauds – it is how the tenor character in “Tosca” dies. The camera never focuses on it, but usually on Tosca watching (believing it fake.) I would never watch a real one of my own volition. BTW, the Orange Ogre  told Axios last week that this execution would not be atreamed.

Not what anyone wanted to hear. I note the shooter, now dead, was only 16. Clearly one doesn’t have to have reached any particular age to become infected by toxic masculinity. Not that this should surprise anyone.

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Oct 152026
 

Yesterday, we learned that Elon Musk has turned off Starlink to Ukraine – which essentially paralyzes their ability to fully defend themselves. No civilian entity should have the capability to do that. Constitution of the United States, Article 3, Section 3. Not that there will be any prosecution or other consequences under this administration.

This article is too (sardonically) laughable to miss. And I don’t believe for an instant the PAC’s claim that it was a vendor’s error for which they were reimbursed.

Hopefully this link will take you to the article without mention subscribing; but if it doesn’t there shuld be an option to “read without subscribing.” That’s how I got in. It’s [rpbably more than you wanted to know – but it may not be more than you needed to know.

This person claims to have earned a JD from Pepperdine (a school which has never, that I know of, had a reputation among academics which was other than “shady”). We all thought Leavitt was dumb – but I literally have Barbie dolls who are smarter than Zacharia.

This scared the whatnot out of me when I first saw it – but it appears they caught it early – and hopefully got it all. 🤞


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Oct 142026
 

On Monday, I was thinking about what would be better if the Orange Julius dropped dead, or if he were impeached, or Article 25ed. Y’all know by now I’m worried about this – fearing we would be jumping out ofthe frying pan into the fire. After listening to Malcolm (and co-hosts) today, I’m thinking we would be better off if Putin were to be taken out – somehow. Andyes, I know he would be replaced. But whoever replaced him would not have a years-long relationship with Donald, or be immediately worshiped by him. Building a harness like that takes at least some time, during which he would be figuratively in free fall, and we might be able to accomplish something. Also on Monday, DHS raided the home of Ilhan Omar. And- besides that, Ukraine has taken out some (I think the number is 2 out of 6 total.) IF and when they finish that job, the direction of news coverage is going to change world wide.
(28 minutes well spent, filled with details the American press won’t tell you.)

I’ll bet y’all will easily guess how this story makes me feel. But I promise not to take it out on any of you. (1500 years older than Stonehenge, and 4,000 years older than the Nazca Lines. Grrrrr.)

I don’t know – I doubt anyone knows, least of all the Apricot Antichrist himself, whether he made this up out of thein air, saw it in a dream (Virgil is 3 years older, and from time to time dreams something and then believes it really happened), or whether it’s a post-hypnotic suggestion from Putin. It’s definitely not fact based. But if Zelenskyy caan get something out of it that’s worth getting, he likely will. On the other hand, hose Russian data centers are the hardware Russia has been using to interfere with elections (not just ours) for years – maybe decades – and I’d love to see them eliminated.

[alternate link]  This almost – but not quite – makes up for the bad news. One point which kind of frosts the cake is that Fresno is the partof California which Devin Nunes represented when he was in Congress. Trespassing, at least two counts of assault and one of battery – I’m guessing they can hold him for a while.

2fer

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Oct 122026
 

Yesterday, Trinette was by. Next weekend shewill be in California for a baby shower – and I wil be visiting Virgil, which works out nicely. My cold is mostlt gone 0 I;m still making more phlegm than usual, but it isn’t requiring heroic coughing to get it up and out, and my lightheadedness is also better. I still need to watch my balance – but that was true before it started. I got a Hallowe’en e-card from my “frosted sister.” I believe she’s always been a Democrat, but has always stayed out of politics (except for voting herself). This year she is writing letters and postcards and making neighborhood visits – everything except phone calls (which she won’t do because she hates receiving them and doesn’t want to make anyone else suffer, and boy, do I get that. Jacquie Lawson has a new Hallowe’enhcasr with Littke Red Riding Hood…and the three bears – which made me chuckle.

Stephen Miller has been keeping as low a profile as he can… which is in itself suspect. As deputy Chief of staff, one would expect his dealings to carry more of the public interest. And it would appear that they do. And that there are some other issues.

For once – the weekend was boring enough for me to be able to post “The Week Ahead.” on a Monday And today is a hiliday! (I celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day myself.) And this Saturday isthe next No Kings protest.

File under “No shit, Sherlock.” The Orange owner may think he has Putin in his pocket – but it’s been clear to anyone with two eyes and two brain cells to rub together since 2015 that it’s the other way around.

I did the best I could at the time putting together information on plague, but this video, goes into what we don’t know, and is made by a doctor I have   have come to trust, is somewhat more reassuring. It’s longer than my usual videos, but only about 12 minutes total.

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Oct 112026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Traviata,” one of my favorites. It was recorded in China (normal for this time of the year) and all the singers were Chinese except the title character, who was born in Russia but now lives in Italy. That casting sits well with me – it reminds me of the “little red dress” production designed by Willy Decker, which was so controversial and which I didn’t expect to like, but fell in love with. Both productions make visible how much of an outsider Violetta is – and accordingly, how doomed she is – from the very first note. This one does so more subtly. The “little red dress” production hit the audience in the face with it, and never stopped hitting. That was about ten years ago, and many critics are still ranting about what a disaster they thought it was. I beg to differ. But yesterday’s production was vocally perfect – as almost all productions are, despite the difficulty of the music. I’ve only ever heard one that wasn’t, and that was only in one scene, but it was an important one, and even then, it wasn’t that either of the singers was bad, only that the blend between their voices wasn’t there. But I digress. Here are the good news:

Juliett

Kilo

Lima

Mike

November

Oscar

 

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Oct 102026
 

Yesterday, since I know zilch about Flock (except that I gather it involves cameras), I did a search and found a description at Mashable. Of course that’s the company’s position – I looked in the first place because of a negative article sent to me in an email.

This came out yesterday morning from Robert Reich. Yes, public executions were medieval. But they didn’t stop because of more or less general improvement in the morality of large populations. Now if they stop because people with a professional interest in preventing crime learned that public executions do not defer anyone still living from committing the same crime(s) – although that is certainly true. No, they stopped because the they stopped because the only dramatic entertainment in the Middle Ages was the Mystery (religious) plays – and there were only so many of those – and they were pious. It was only as the Renaissance was coming in that there began to be secular staged plays coming in – and they had plots, and they quickly developed production values – all of which made them far more interesting to watch than a real execution (and the theaters had sections which charged very low prices for admission.) Why would anyone today want to watch an execution by firing squad when he (or she) could be watching a Freddie Kruger movie? Yes, some will watch. But I’m pretty sure they will be disappointed.

This from Adam Klasfeld includes (but is not limited to) a 20-minute video which covers this development, what OCME is, as well as its included agency, ODIHR (pronounced “Oh dear”), how they work, what they have encountered in past elections, and so on. Since it is (comparatively) short, and the issue is so critical, and has been so far under the national radar that I’m leaving out the normal political video out today to make room for this.

(I may have posted this before)

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Oct 092026
 

Yesterday, I had to admit to myself that I have caught Virgil’s cold. I will, of course, get over it, but it’s still annoying.

This is from Heather Cox Richardson. Malcolm Nance likes to say that (with our current Executive branch) we have mental illness posing as foreign policy. (And I would add, also cosplaying as domestic policy.)

This from The New Yorker is neither bad news nor good news – but it is completely off topic from politics, and there is a kind of poetic justice in it.

Maybe it’s just me – but I’ve run across a number of debates in my lifetime about what is big and what is small. (Generally it depends.) This from The 19th is going to affect hugely the people who are having the rug pulled out from under them – not to mention their families and friends. But I couldn’t begin to describe how terribly petty it is. Centuries ago, the attitude behind it passed for normal. But that – at least among civilized people – has not been true for at least a century. Except for those whose minds are still locked into the Middle Ages.

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Oct 082026
 

Yesterday, I set my alarm early enough to get up early enough to call to mahe a medical appointment at a facility that closes on he early side – and I still almost missed it. The soonest available was for December 11th – and I took it.

The point in this ruling by a Federal Judge in Florida, of all places, is not that non-citizens can legally vote – because they (mostly) can’t. The point is that the issue is none of the Federal Government’s business – because the Constitution explicitly gives that job to the states.

Some of the opinions (and practices) referenced here are simply insane.

Robert Reich: “The most basic function of government is to protect people from harm” – something that our current regime is both unwilling and unablle to understand- let alone work toward. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible – but it does mean we need regime change in order to put it baxk in place. And that means, in the first place, voting – and, in the second place, nagging the elected relentlessly to do the right thing.

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