Friday Potpourri: 28 March 2025
Things making me smile this week
First and foremost, on Tuesday, here in Pennsylvania, there was a pair of special elections. Democrat Dan Goughnour won the 35th House District seat, vacated when Matthew Gergely passed away. He won with close to 65% of the vote, which was expected. It means that control of the Pennsylvania State Assembly is back to 102 - 101, and in our hands.
Moreover, East Petersburg Mayor James Malone flipped State Senate District 36 from red to blue. He followed, and expanded on, the model used by Mike Zimmer in a January special election, wherein he flipped a state senate seat in Iowa. In both cases, the Orange Menace won by a lot last November.
Both hammered home the wrongs of the fascist regime, although, let’s be honest, Jim had a lot more to work with. But the telling turn came when each offered to debate his opponent, and the Rethuglican didn’t show up.
This bears repeating, and for anyone out there who is a candidate - TAKE NOTE. Huge swaths of what I call “political non-combatants1” are suddenly paying attention, and they want to hear and be heard. This is the year for debates at all levels.
On Monday, the Supremes turned down a review of The New York Times vs. Sullivan. This really thrilled me, along with another SCOTUS decision that I’ll get to. The original case set the bar for when public figures could sue, and win, a libel suit at “actual malice”. The far right has been trying to get this rolled back since the case was originally decided in 1964 - and the Supremes have said “NO” a number of times since. Understand that the right wants to be able to shut down any and all media they don’t like, because it enables them to spread their lies and hate as “the message”. Thankfully, this will not be a tool in their arsenal.
In addition, in a 7-2 vote (the two were Clarence “I work for vacations and other bribes” Thomas, and Sam “most overturned appellate judge in the history of the US” Alito) the Supremes upheld the federal government’s ban on so-called ghost guns, leaving enforcement to ATF which includes ATF’s ability to both regulate and ban ghost gun kits. Decision here. Lives will be saved.
Next up, more problems for Elmo Muskrat. Have you ever heard of BYD? It stands for “Build Your Dreams”, and it’s an EV car manufacturer in China. BYD builds cars that are better than Tesla, cost a fraction of what a Tesla costs2, and most recently released chargers that can get their most recent model to go 250 miles on a FIVE MINUTE CHARGE!
Moreover, worldwide, BYD sells more cars than Tesla. For fun, read this link and see how Tesla sales are tanking, while everyone else’s EVs are on the rise.
Anything that hurts Elmo and his Musketeers is happy for me. (And I bet you feel that way, too!)
On to Greenland.
Originally, Usha Vance (and “Usha” relates to “daughter of the demon king” - not making this up) was supposed to be going on a “cultural” trip of Greenland. But hubby decided to join her, and everything but a trip to a military base was canceled.
A Greenlander named Aannguak Reimer-Johanson designed this hat:
Buzzfeed has all the deets about the hat, and reaction, including this:
Before JD “Not his Real Name” Vance decided to join the demon king daughter, protests were planned.
Big Grin…
Der Spiegel (a German newspaper) decided to find out how much info on the Signal chat roster was available. They found phone numbers, email addresses and even passwords. As usual, not making this up.
And finally, I found the optical illusion shown below. I find it fascinating. Once you flip the plates, close your eyes, return, and they’re face down again. Like magic.
Political non-combatants generally vote in even year elections, less frequently primaries and odd-year elections, and normally always in presidential contests, but they don’t pay a lot of attention until a couple weeks before a general election. Even then, they don’t really KNOW a lot about candidates and issues, they make their best guess.
Today is my Birthday. I had hoped for better times to celebrate but the new MAGA hat from Greenland and the plate illusion makes for more cheerful surroundings.