National

DL Open Thread Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Filed in International, National, Open Thread by on April 16, 2024 5 Comments

And so the torch is passed. Just days after O.J. Simpson, defendant in last century’s Trial of the Century, hurdled off this mortal coil, Donald J. Trump donned the mantle of rich womanizing defendant for what the infotainment industry hopes will be a similar ratings bonanza. The big story on Day 1: Trump fell asleep. […]

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Song of the Day 4/15: Cheap Trick, “Taxman, Mr. Thief”

Filed in National by on April 15, 2024 0 Comments

Today’s the deadline for mailing their 2023 federal tax return for most people. If you live in Massachusetts or Maine you get a break because of the Patriot’s Day holiday, and if you live in a disaster area you get until June, because you have bigger problems. “Taxman, Mr. Thief” appeared on Cheap Trick’s 1977 […]

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Song of the Day 4/13: Paula Cole, “I Don’t Want to Wait”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, National by on April 13, 2024 1 Comment

Yet another Trump stunt to delay his hush-money trial got rejected yesterday, so it’s almost certain to start Monday. Almost certain. The title of this song sums up my feelings on the matter. Paula Cole burned briefly but brightly in 1997, when two singles from “This Fire,” her self-produced second album, scaled the Billboard charts. […]

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DL Open Thread Saturday, April 13, 2024

Filed in International, National, Open Thread by on April 13, 2024 4 Comments

People who thought Ron DeSantis might stop acting like a tinhorn dictator after his presidential-race embarrassment can abandon that hope. He signed a bill that turns police oversight boards over to the police. In what’s now a running gag, Truth Social’s stock price fell again. It would make a better reality show than the one […]

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DL Open Thread Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Filed in National, Open Thread by on April 10, 2024 1 Comment

The day after Trump pretended he’d let the states make their own decisions about abortion, the Arizona Supreme Court gave away the game by reinstating an 1864 ban on the procedure, notable because Arizona wasn’t even a state back then. The result: Republicans rushed to pretend they had nothing to do with it. The White […]

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‘State’s Rights’ On Abortion Comes Home To Roost In Arizona

Filed in Featured, National by on April 9, 2024 2 Comments

I think you can cross Arizona off your list of competitive states for November.  Check this out from the NY Times: Arizona’s highest court on Tuesday upheld an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions, a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for women’s health care and election-year politics in a critical battleground state. The […]

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Song of the Day 4/9: Clarence “Frogman” Henry, “Ain’t Got No Home”

Filed in National by on April 9, 2024 4 Comments

You don’t have to check, puck. Singer and pianist Clarence “Frogman” Henry died Sunday in his native New Orleans, age 87. His ability to sing in a frog’s croak, a skill he said he developed to scare the girls at school, gave him both his nickname and his most enduring hit. Henry was just 18 […]

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DL Open Thread Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Filed in International, National, Open Thread by on April 9, 2024 2 Comments

The news, apparently spooked by yesterday’s eclipse, went into hiding, so the media, as always, fell back on Trump. After a big buildup teasing his position on abortion – can you name another candidate who, eight years after entering the White House, still hadn’t formulated one? – only to chicken out and say the decision […]

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DL Open Thread Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Filed in International, National, Open Thread by on April 3, 2024 7 Comments

Just when you thought that Israel couldn’t sink any lower, they drone-bombed a World Central Kitchen vehicle, killing seven people working to bring food to famine-stricken Gaza – despite having cleared the trip with Israel’s defense department ahead of time. Which demonstrates that this regime isn’t just evil, it’s also incompetent. RFK Jr. tried to […]

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A Double-Edged Abortion Ruling If Ever There Was One

Filed in Featured, National by on April 1, 2024 0 Comments

BREAKING:  From The NY Times: The Florida Supreme Court overturned decades of legal precedent on Monday in ruling that the State Constitution’s privacy protections do not extend to abortion, effectively allowing Florida to ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. But in a separate decision released at the same time, the justices allowed Florida […]

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DL Open Thread Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Filed in National, Open Thread by on March 27, 2024 6 Comments

Six members of a construction crew are missing and presumed dead in the Baltimore bridge collapse, but it could have been a lot worse. Alex Jones and his ilk spun lots of conspiracy theories, and that’s before they knew the workers who died were immigrants from Central America and Mexico. Ever since the Supreme Court’s […]

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DL Open Thread Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Filed in National, Open Thread by on March 26, 2024 11 Comments

Move over, Donald. The top story on cable news today will be the rescue efforts at Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed after a cargo ship rammed it about 1:30 this morning. It’s being treated as a mass casualty event; nobody is sure how many workers and vehicles were on the steel structure. Another […]

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DL Open Thread Monday, March 25, 2024

Filed in International, National, Open Thread by on March 25, 2024 9 Comments

Today’s the deadline for Trump to come up with the cash or equivalent in New York, but he took time last night to go to his West Palm Beach golf club to celebrate his victory in – here, I’ll let him tell it: “THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY & THE SENIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY.I WON BOTH!” […]

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