Please don't forget to vote. In addition to voting for President, there are votes for members of Congress, state officials, including legislators and judges, and local ordinances. All are important. Colorado's ballot was the longest I can remember. If I wasn't sure about a particular issue, I read the booklet the state sent with the pros and cons, and if I still wasn't sure, or I didn't care, I skipped that question. But on the big stuff, I voted.

Good luck Kamala, Good luck Diana DeGette, and good luck to Denver County Court Judge Kelly Cherry. You all deserve much more than votes. You have invested years of your lives to trying to make all of our lives better. You have given your hearts and souls to provide us with the best governance you can.

We get the government we elect. You snooze, you lose. As I say about Donald Trump every year: "It's time to scrape his sh*t right off our shoes". (Sweet Virginia, below) [more...]

Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one. All topics welcome.

I've mostly been following the arrests of El Mayo (Ismael Zambada-Garcia) and El Chapo's Son #3, Joaquin Guzman-Lopez. So far it seems the competing versions of how the pair came to end up in U.S. custody have some truthful details and some inconsistent or implausible details. Too many cooks spoil the broth. (Or, in this case, it's too many unidentified sous-chefs, most of whom are unnamed agents of non-identified government agencies and unnamed current or former cartel members, talking to their favorite journalists). The U.S. Government does not seem inclined at this point to deconstruct the mess for us.

Also of interest: The killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. [More...]

Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Run Lola Run is back in theaters Friday, on the 25th anniversary of its 1999 release. It has been restored and upgraded to 4k. If you still go to movie theaters, this is one to see there. As director/writer Tom Tykwer says during a recent interview in the linked article, the reaction of people watching the film has been a "sheer joy to watch". A very basic plot summary from the article:

In the film, Lola (Franka Potente) has 20 minutes to come up with enough money to get her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bliebtreu), out of debt with a gangster. The film portrays three attempts by Lola to find a solution on foot.

Every time she is unsuccessful, the film rewinds to the beginning and Lola tries again. The film's presentation of three different realities qualifies as an early depiction of the multiverse, where infinite universes exist simultaneously.

[More...]

I am not writing about the Israel-Hamas war, or as of yet, the protests on college campuses. But I know everyone has strong feelings about the protests. And many readers do want to discuss them. So here's an open thread for those of you who do want to discuss these topics.

Keep in mind TalkLeft is not the government and what you consider free speech may differ from my interpretation of acceptable speech. And since this is my site, my interpretation prevails. [More...]

For much of the world, this was not a good year.

In welcoming 2024, let's hope it brings peace to the Middle East and the Ukraine. And hope that we finally can put the corona-virus and all its mutations behind us.

And last but not least, can disaffected and marginalized Americans, as well the rest of the Republican party, please shake off their bitterness and discontent long enough to realize that Donald Trump is nothing more than a dulled and failed artifact of the past.

With that, TalkLeft wishes everyone everywhere a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Update: Our server was down for most of today and this evening. Thanks to Colin, our webmaster, for restoring it!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

If I had my choice of somewhere else to be this holiday season, I think it would be the Arctic Circle-- Finnish Lapland, maybe, home of Santa Village, to see the reindeer. Or on a cruise from the southernmost tip of Ushaia, Argentina, across the Drake Passage, to Antartica. Or maybe, to Tasmania, the Australian island that sits just below it. When I look at the photos of the ocean there, it seems like it is situated at the absolute edge of the world.

Those are pretty puzzling choices for me, since I hate winter and can't stand being cold. I think its because I want to be somewhere isolated and free from the opinions of under-informed, bitter, angry and marginalized Americans -- and especially from politics. [More..]

We get the Government we elect.

Happy Halloween to all of you who just love, love, love this holiday. If you costumed up as a real person or character, please let us know who you chose.

For any of you who went trick or treating, let us know if you got your favorite candy and what it is. And if you put a "no candy here" sign on your front door, let us know that, too.

I think it's good to put a little merriment in the air for one night -- we could all use a night's relief from the horrible suffering, cruelty and death we're watching and reading about 24/7 in the Middle East. May the war be over soon.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

It's time for a new open thread. In non-Trump news:

• Sen. Diane Feinstein has died at age 91.
• El Chapo's youngest son, Ovidio Guzman, has been extradited to Chicago, charged with many crimes, related to cocaine and meth. It's the same 2009 case that began with Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of El Mayo, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, who along with El Chapo, led the Sinaloa cartel for many years. Ovidio is charged in the 12th Superseding Indictment in the case. He's pleaded not guilty and is represented by Jeffrey Lichtman, the New York lawyer who was the lead lawyer for El Chapo at his trial, and who then represented El Chapo's wife Emma, who is already done with her prison sentence and back in Mexico with her daughters.
• The Washington Post reports Yiddish is making a comeback. I only know a few words, since no one in my household spoke it, but here's a phrase I never heard before: "zolst vaksn tzibbeles im pipik" which translates to: "You should grow onions in your belly button".
  It would make a great ending to any post about Donald Trump and his supporters.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

R.I.P. Robbie Robertson, who passed away today at the age of 80 after a long illness. What a great musician and songwriter he was.

If you haven't seen The Last Waltz, please do. Here is I Shall Be Released. Robbie looks so happy as he's playing, and don't miss his comments during an interview at the end of the song. Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Ringo, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Wood and more all sharing the stage to sing. It gives me the chills just watching all that talent at the same time.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Our last open thread is full. Here is a new one, all topics welcome.

I've really been busy with life in real-time, and haven't had enough free virtual time to write up my thoughts on the news.

Thank you to all of you who are commenting. I really do miss being able to contribute here on a daily basis, and I am looking forward to resuming my posts soon.