Open Thread
DL Open Thread Monday, Jan. 29, 2024
Did Hamas intend to set off a region-wide war with its Oct. 7 attack? It seems they did whether they meant to or not. Now three U.S. soldiers in Jordan have been killed in a drone strike. Biden has vowed retaliation “at a time of our choosing” against the Iranian-backed militia that took credit for […]
DL Open Thread: Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024
Arizona Rethugs Go Full MAGAt. Because it worked so well for them in 2020: Arizona Republicans chose a new party chair on Saturday, a move that tightened the grip on the state party hierarchy by far-right supporters of former President Donald J. Trump and that came days after a scandal that forced the last chairman […]
DL Open Thread: Sat., January 27, 2024
$83 Mill. With what could well be a $250 mill judgement against Trump by the end of next week. Sure he can appeal. However, he has to either pony up $83 mill in cash or, say, the deed to one of his properties, while the appeals take place. Interest accrues: Mr. Trump can pay the […]
DL Open Thread: Friday, January 26, 2024
Vince McMahon And Donald Trump–Separated At Birth? Two self-entitled males who play the role of WWE villains because, well, that’s what they are. And serial abusers, OK, rapists, of women. While Trump is about to lose bigly a second time for having made E. Jean Carroll’s life a living hell, McMahon has been accused of […]
DL Open Thread: Thurs., Jan. 25, 2024
AMERICAN OLIGARCHY: This could be the most important long-form piece of journalism you’ll read all year. Long-form as in book length, but broken down into easily-digestible chapters. I’ve only scratched the surface, but Delaware makes its first appearance here: Not only did Delaware’s legislature up the ante on enticements—exempting corporations from taxes and reimbursing their […]
DL Open Thread Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024
Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary, but in a way that allows any interpretation of the data you like. He got 54.6% to Nikki Haley’s 43.1%, which is far from a landslide. But the Northeastern state was probably Haley’s best chance at a victory. Or was it? Haley has vowed to stay in the […]
DL Open Thread Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024
The surest sign that Trump is off his termite-infested rocker: The months-long effort to portray Biden as senile, when of course it’s Trump whose feeble mind is splintering. Last night Trump gave a highly technical description of Israel’s anti-missile defense system: “And they calmly walk to us, and ding, ding, ding, ding, boom, whoosh, boom. […]
DL Open Thread: Sunday, January 21, 2024
Ohio Pastor Opens Church To Homeless. Gets Arrested. So much of what’s wrong with our state of affairs wrapped up in one story: While our society leaves far too many out in the cold, Rev. Chris Avell of Dad’s Place in tiny Bryan, Ohio in 53 miles southwest of Toledo finds himself in legal hot […]
DL Open Thread: Friday, January 19, 2024
Rethugs Bully, D’s Cower. The story of one progressive judge and his predictable fate: This country has no more devoted a public servant than Judge Todd Edelman of the D.C. Superior Court. While other law graduates joined white-shoe firms,Edelman, a friend of mine since college, spent years as a public defender, as a labor union […]
DL Open Thread Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024
I mentioned this the other day: The media is more interested in narrative than facts. The Iowa caucuses provide a perfect example. Donald Trump won. That’s news, but of the dog bites man sort – everyone knew he would. But that’s not a very compelling narrative, so political reporters gave us others, based mostly on […]
DL Open Thread Monday, Jan. 15, 2024
As the seige of Gaza reached 100 days over the weekend, Netanyahu said, “No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anyone else.” I wish Biden would take that as a challenge, because I know just how he could stop them. Meanwhile, the Houthis in Yemen launched an […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024
For most people the record-breaking heat of 2023 wasn’t surprising – only Republicans pretend not to know about global warming – but it was to scientists, because the increase was greater than known processes would allow for. Something else is going on, and climate scientists don’t know what it is or might be. If 2023 was […]
DL Open Thread Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024
It appears the Biden administration is hellbent on implementing the Saudi-Israeli agreements forged under the Trump administration through the efforts of one Brett McGurk (yes, I’m well aware that sounds like a name Dr. Seuss made up). McGurk is pushing a plan to reconstruct a post-war Gaza through a joint Saudi-Israeli effort that still wouldn’t […]
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