Tax day musings
I did my own taxes by hand for years, burning the midnight oil night after night, filing at the last minute. Then I tried TurboTax, but for whatever reason it seemed to make things even more complicated. And so I … Continue reading →
neo
Open thread 4/15/2026
Day one of CENTCOM’s action at the Strait of Hormuz …
… seems to be going well so far: CENTCOM’s update stated, “More than 10,000 U.S. Sailors, Marines, and Airmen along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian … Continue reading →
DC Circuit Court of Appeals rules against Boasberg
The ruling was 2-1: The J.G.G. v. Trump case has already made its way up to the Supreme Court once, and while the case is still working its way through the courts on the merits, there’s been a contemporaneous contempt … Continue reading →
Swalwell quits the House; Gonzales quits the House
Swelwell saves House members the trouble of having to expel him from the House or defend him; he quits: Swalwell announced his resignation in a statement posted to his X account, while still denying some of the allegations made against … Continue reading →
The Pope versus Trump; Trump versus the Pope
I’m not Catholic and I’m not even Christian, and so I don’t ordinarily pay much attention to the Pope. But of course I follow any big news of the Pope and general trends, and the trend with the last two … Continue reading →
Open thread 4/14/2026
How the NY Times presents the negotiations with Iran
If you can get access to the Times, you can find the original here. If not, you can find a copy here. The headline is “In Pakistan Talks, Iran Saw a U.S. Trying to Dictate, Not Negotiate.” The paper seems … Continue reading →
News roundup
(1) Swalwell quits the race for governor. Let me just say that when the Democrats want you out, they don’t pull their punches. Do they have this volume of opposition research prepared on everyone, just in case? Is one of … Continue reading →
Orban out, Magyar in
I can’t say I’ve followed Hungarian politics all that much. I knew that Orban had been in power for ages and what his general policies have been, and that J. D. Vance visited that country recently to support him in … Continue reading →
Open thread 4/13/2026
The crocuses have arrived:
Continue reading →Women and men, men and women – short and tall, tall and short
I am not a tall woman. I’m medium-sized, so very medium-sized that at 5’4″ I fall very close to the “average” in the mathematical sense: The average height for women in the U.S. aged 20 years and older is 5 … Continue reading →