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Wednesday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Wed Mar 18, 2026 at 12:52:37 PM EST
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Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

The "war" in Iran continues. Israel is picking off Iranian leaders, one by one. Iran continues its drone attacks, and the number of wounded American service people grows.

Social security is going to run out of funds at least a year ahead of schedule. Why? I think it's because of the mass immigrant detentions, and the voluntary and forced deportations. Immigrants, whether here lawfully or not, work using a real or fake social security number. Their employers pay into social security for each one of them on the payroll. The reduction in the immigrant labor force means the amount paid into Social Security is less.

In less than a year, the second Trump Administration stripped 1.6 million immigrants of their legal status, upending the lives of immigrants who came into the United States “the right way,” severely damaging our economy and national security, and only growing the undocumented population in pursuit of its anti-immigrant agenda.

[More...]

Don't buy into Trump's twisted (mis)representations. It's pointless even to listen to him because he either doesn't know what he's talking about or he just lies with impunity.

Our stagnant Congress is a travesty. But a worse travesty would be giving Republicans another seat in the front row of history either this November or in November, 2028.

As to fired Kristi Noem, she's already a has-been, a grain of sand -- Democrats should not repeat the mistakes of Trump and his cronies by using the criminal justice system to exact revenge on an opponent. There are too many bigger fish to fry, like coming up with a feasible plan to avoid a reduction in our social social security benefits.

On a lighter note, Donald Trump doesn't seem as angry over Melania not winning an Oscar for her "supersized-me" documentary bankrolled by Amazon, as he was when he did not win a Nobel prize. Who thinks Melania will stay in the marriage until his term ends?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

< Tuesday Night Open Thread: War and Regime Change by Remote Control

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    In response to a query by the New York Times, ... (none / 0) (#1)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Mar 18, 2026 at 01:49:22 PM EST
    ... the iconic labor leader Dolores Huerta has broken her longstanding silence to allege that she was twice sexually assaulted by the late and renowned United Farm Workers president Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and further, that she had become pregnant and bore two children as a result of the unwanted encounters.

    The Times was following up with Ms. Huerta, who was a longtime professional associate of Chavez, for any comments she may have regarding a story it was planning to publish alleging that the UFW president had abused numerous young women and girls and had fathered four children out of wedlock with three different women. Instead, she offered her own bombshell about Chavez to the Times.

    This explains why the UFW had abruptly canceled events this week honoring Chavez, citing only "recent and troubling allegations" concerning its late president (who had co-sounded the union with Ms. Huerta) but otherwise providing no further details.

    To put it mildly, these are just stunning revelations, which are certain to rock the labor movement in California, where Cesar Chavez is a towering (albeit increasingly controversial) figure and the state legislature had fairly recently declared his birthday a state holiday. Dolores Huerta, who's now 95, is an equally beloved figure in her own right in that same movement, and there is absolutely no reason to believe she made this story up.

    Fasten your seat belts.

    They're going to have to.. (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Wed Mar 18, 2026 at 03:09:42 PM EST
    rename a lot of streets and elementary schools.

    Parent
    Don't start counting your chickens (none / 0) (#3)
    by jmacWA on Wed Mar 18, 2026 at 03:25:14 PM EST
    Melania was not released in time for the 2025 Oscars... so TRUMP has a full year to gear up the machine to ensure she wins the Oscar next year.

    Thanks for bringing up the Social Security debacle (none / 0) (#4)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Mar 18, 2026 at 03:46:39 PM EST
    The fact that "illegal" immigrants pay millions, if not billions, into Social Security and never collect a dime is a fact I have a told people for years. They don't drain the system, never have. They also have millions taken out as income tax withholding and rarely file returns seeking refunds. They have essentially helped prop up the systems for years. And they're gone.

    Question about the SAVE Act. If this thing passes, does that mean everyone in the country has to re-register to vote? Or does it only apply to new registrants? I vote by mail because I have mobility and breathing issues. I am not about to schlep downtown to show some government schmuck my passport. I'll never make it up the stairs in front of county Admin bldg.

    The right has always hated (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by jondee on Wed Mar 18, 2026 at 04:21:18 PM EST
    SS since it was instituted. If the elderly and infirm are reduced to begging in the streets, Well Sir, are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? If people are dying, then they'd better hurry up and do it and decrease the surplus population!

    It's part and parcel of their deranged paranoia about 'big government programs' being a slippery slope toward some god awful something or other.

    Parent

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