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Saturday Open Thread - 6/20/26: Odds and Ends

Good morning, good people! Hope you are all in fine fettle, enjoying your weekend!

This is a PSA. Disclaimer: I am licensed in Texas to practice law, so I am prohibited from giving legal advice to anyone in any other state. All I am allowed to say is to get a consultation with a licensed attorney in your state for any legal issues. PLEASE.

The one legal issue I wish to talk about is what to do with a will when the testator dies.

When I attended law school in the early 80s, it was taught that the Texas probate code (now the Estates Code) was the dominant model for most of the US because Texas got this One Thing right. Amazing, huh?

A will should be probated within 4 years from date of death in Texas and, if not, could be rendered un-probatable and void. (Probate is filing an application to the court to examine a will and find it valid, govern the distribution of the estate to the named beneficiaries after debts of the decedent are paid.)

I am gonna tell you some stories. I got a will approved after 13 years from date of death because several prominent businessmen convinced the judge my client was in intense cancer treatment, day away from dying, for 13 years. He was not negligent, not in default. Another will was offered up 25 year after this man died. His wife kept it in her bedroom. When she died, her daughter entered her home, found the will, promptly hired me to probate it. The client was not negligent, and not in default.

So, This widow with 2 estranged step-daughter told me over the phone that she didn't know she was supposed to do anything, and that she wished to sell her $600,000 home, and the title company said Hell no! I refused the case. Then, she came to my office, did a brief consultation and I told her those 2 stories described above, and sent her to get a second opinion, that I could not go to court with that will in good conscience and honoring my rules of professional responsibility. I told these stories to basically stop her from bitching.

Does anyone here doubt she will lie like hell to any attorney she consults in the future?

Until any of us are facing that event, let's enjoy what we have in our lives, whether it is watching the doe snack on the yard fence vines you didn't have the time to clip, and now, would rather see her eat them than to deprive her of her "special treat", or if it is cutting down a dead tree, catching a fish, paying off a credit card bill, getting a great lab test results from your dr., or spending time with your family and friends. We have members learning new skills, trying new recipes, traveling to new places, reading new books.

Life after all, is an adventure!

Well, friends, this is an Open Thread where all of you can post whatever you wish to share with your friends here.

So, let's see what sanity/insanity is floating around today!

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Comments

If you aren't enjoying yourselves, be more imaginative, ok?
Open thread, of course, so...
Let 'er rip!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

Just home from Trade Day. Bought plenty of produce today, including a small water melon, peaches, and my usual avocados. Tomatoes are starting to come in from the garden. Also have a nice crop of onion and garlic harvested and drying on the porch. So plenty to do.

Might crank up the grill today or tomorrow. Not sure what we'll BBQ for the fourth.

Hope the retirement is going well, and life gets easy for y'all. Thanks for the OT!

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8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout I haven't eaten a truly delicious peach since I grew them a decade ago. I am envious, friend.
Have you ever grilled watermelon? That's a "thing" around here.
We will be out of town on the 4th, and this 3 night stay is shaping up to be a dining out adventure. We will have a full kitchen and can prepare all our meals, but because of concerts starting at the time we normally eat, we will just dine at the venues. More costly, but less to pack and unpack.
Israel has killed quite a few Lebanese, probably some Palestinians and Gazans.
"Cease fire" is surprisingly subject to interpretation.
Enjoy your weekend, LO!

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8 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

traces timelines of Zionist infiltration of TPUSA. Lots of coincidences...hmmm...one wonders...
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/06/18/israeli-foreign-agent-charlie-kirk-show/

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7 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp I was just thinking this morning about how Trump has turned from being seemingly “as one” with Israel to, in their view, turning against them. And then was wondering how much longer he’ll be allowed to live given that Israel’s reputation vies with the Clintons’ in this regard.

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Anya

@Anya Mossad knows where Trump is, all day, all night. I don't know if he has doubled his security guards, and doubt that would help him much.
Charlie Kirk didn't last long when he turned on Zionists, nor did JFK.
Still, 58 suicides committed by Clinton close associates is quite a remarkable achievement. Wasn't it Foster who killed himself by shooting himself in the back of his head with a perfect 90 deg. angle? Try holding a water pistol at the back of your head and see where the water winds up. And don't get me started on Seth Rich's robbery/murder that was so bungled that no robbery occurred.
I read some meme that said Israel has a pre-programmed nuke set and aimed at the US. Not Iran.
I am sort of tying to keep up with war news, but by the time some agreement is announced, it falls apart. Reminds me when the tour guide in Ireland explained that it is either raining, or will be raining soon.
Enjoy your weekend, chica!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Pluto's Republic's picture

@on the cusp

Has Charlie Kirk been in the news? Funny that we all come up with the same topic, out of nowhere..

Actually, I'm not looking at his death, or the Israel connection. I know the trial is this week, but it doesn't make enough sense to be interesting. (Although I did get a big dose of open source intelligence the day he was shot, pertaining to Israel — but I looked no further.)

However, yesterday I stumbled upon a video excerpt of a spontaneous debate between a man on stage, and members of a Gen-Z audience. The topic was illegal immigration. There were many strange twists and turns in the debate — and for the first time, ever, it occurred to me that my parents were probably both illegal immigrants. (They met and married in the US.) This brand new thought is OT, however. There was something about the video that was strange and different. The logic wasn't working and the information coming through was disorientating. Who were these people? What link did I click to get here?

Much to my surprise, I finally figured out that the man on the stage was Charlie Kirk. I had never seen him alive before; never really listened to his thoughts. I never analyzed why so many people (and nations) were unusually attracted to him. If I had done so, I would have been shocked at how alien he is. Very alien. He did a very good job of impersonating a human being. Not only that, but I instinctively liked him a lot.

No wonder he was such an incredibility valuable asset to all the billionaires around the world who were investing heavily in him. (Is everyone else familiar with him?) What I am saying is there is something unmistakably weird about his death (and how the laws of physics had to go completely haywire if we are to believe the current gov explanation.

It has that spooky, slippery feeling that accompanies so many US federal investigations.

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@Pluto's Republic or TPUSA, or known he and Trump were besties. I am not interested in Christian groups or Zionist Christian groups, until they exert influence to get us into a genocide, or some such.
To me, he may have been authentic, but his wife is an associate of Epstein, and she and her Mom likely operated a child sex trafficking operation out of Romania, iirc. He had no idea? hmmm...
Let us know what you find about this, ok?
Enjoy your weekend, chica!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Pluto's Republic's picture

@on the cusp

I had never heard of him, or TPUSA, or known he and Trump were besties

....I am so relieved to hear this.

There are a number of strange things happening ... and I am not noticing their significance until much later. For example, Trump's trip to China. There were many unusual things about it. Like Trump bringing his billionaire friends to China. Some of them would never be invited to attend a diplomatic meeting in Beijing , were they not traveling with the US President. Others in Trump's entourage, such as Anthony Blinken and Marco Rubio, are barred from entering China at all. It is unlikely that they left their hotels at all until it was time to fly home to the US. It didn't occur to me until weeks later that Xi denied Trump's request to use his close relationship with Iran to end the stand-off in the Hormuz Strait. It would have been the simplest thing in the world. Xi is forever writing Peace Plans to resolve global conflicts. He has written at least two Plans to de-escalate the Russia-Ukraine war. But Xi said "no" to Trump. He would not intercede in the War on Iran.

I believe that the impact of the war will be massive, and it will be felt in the US this summer. There will be books written about this. From the Confucian point of view, you cannot bring order to the Iran conflict until you bring order to the real cause of the conflict. I think China's calculation for a stronger Iran is much more defensive than the world realizes. Iran is just another perch in Israel's Grand Strategy: Once Iran finally accepts its limitations and submits to its inevitable designation as a gas station, the path East is wide open for Israel and the UK all the way to China — with the US Golem in the West ready to wrap up the entire Eastern Hemisphere. Actually, that's how it has always looked to me..

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@Pluto's Republic I avoid religious groups, or religion-based movements.
Whereas you go to Confucian, I go to Socrates.
What are the issues? If you resolve the main issue, does that encompass the other issues? Does it cause even more issues? If you resolve the Big Issue, are you prepared to resolve the little ones without totally undermining the Big Issue?
Whereas, most people focus on the oil reserve problem, I think of the lack of fertilizer that was stopped by the Strait of Hormuz that didn't get to planting season. No matter what happens to oil strategic storage, crops usually planted this season were truncated, and it is too late to do a damn thing about it. We will see food shortages, higher food prices, no matter what happens in the next few weeks. The fallout will be closures of all kinds of businesses, from restaurants to motels to feed stores to auto repair shops. The people will be spending everything they have on feeding their families and basic transportation, not buying cars, going to the movies, getting their nails done, and on and on.
No fertilizer is a bomb dropped by another name.
It is deadly.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

comment thread today. I will be checking it often as the day goes by.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/06/war-on-iran-trump-it-really-probab...

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

orlbucfan's picture

ended. Hubster had some of the Obama library opening in his office yesterday. I skipped it. otc, I live with Capt. Hi-Tech (now retired) in a small house. Man, we have the setup in terms of hi-tech communication. Smile

Stevie Wonder was one of the guest artists. Not into voting for the DNC like the Obamas, but YT had the Stevie Wonder "Higher Ground" performance as a separate edit. It was killer. I posted the original cos it's better. It sounds like you are easing into retirement. Good. You and JtC stay safe. Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

@orlbucfan The storm going on right now is 13 miles away, completely missing us, so we will get to grill burgers after all!
I skipped all the Obama recreation center hoopla. By his second term, I had come to despise him, and still do. This center contains no Presidential Library documents. The construction company that built it has somehow not been fully paid and are headed for bankruptcy.
I love Stevie Wonder, though, and glad his song is on youtube live.
JtC has the equipment to set up a sound system that could be heard miles away. It would rattle the walls in the house, which is rather small.
I closed out 3 more cases this week, have about a dozen to go. Gettin' there on this retirement thingie!
Glad you aren't in a storm or flood, chica! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

QMS's picture

.

Unpacked the truck at the cabin in Maine. Looking for the loons
on the lake. A week of R & R will be enjoyed. No big plans so far.
Just escape the madness.

Thanks for the OT!

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Zionism is a social disease

@QMS of some looney tunes, Cap'n!
Man, a week in the woods and a lake!
When I finish up with my last probate cases and last family law cases, I will be free for the first time in 40 years from having to give courts and clerks and attorneys notice that I am unavailable for court on specific days.
Many counties require you set your year's vacation schedule in January, limited to 15 days per 6 month periods, or else they will set a trial date while you are gone to somewhere around the world. Holidays, such as Christmas, when no court in the country is open, counts as a vacation day.
I got longer vacations working for corporations as a draftsman than I get for myself whle self=emplyed!
Relax, enjoy the quiet and fresh air, friend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

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@humphrey @humphrey Cenk, a man I have not liked or agreed with in years, is absolutely correct.
He must not be a citizen, or maybe he is a dual citizen, but his visa was denied in England. American citizens aren't required to get visas for travel to GB. Or did that change recently?
I am beginning to believe Israel does, indeed, run the world. They are 1 false flag here or somewhere in Europe from kick starting WWIII.
I haven't forgiven Israel for their attack on the USS Liberty, and never will.
Keep us informed of all the cool stuff on X, my friend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

usefewersyllables's picture

@on the cusp

Trump pissed off the Brits badly enough that a visa of sorts (an Electronic Travel Authorization) is now required for US citizens. It is easy, and cheap, and can be done online- but it is just another unforeseen who-could-have-predicted side effect of his misrule.

https://www.ukvisaportal.com

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables I have posted comments here, plus private emails, that are highly critical of GB, Zionists, crazy immigration stuff, as well as cell phone chats and text messages that the Brits could either deny me entry or arrest me when I landed at Heathrow. And for all I know, they may require some vax documentation.
My foreign travels are over for the foreseeable future, likely forever.
Glad I got to see most of the countries on my wish list.
I missed Egypt, Jamaica, Namibia, Scotland, Oman, and Norway. I got 76 or so and am very fortunate to have had the experiences. Most of those countries would be too dangerous to visit anyway, what with civil unrest and wars looming.
Funny how opinions keep out tourist money. I am sure they thought this through in GB.
I hope you are making headway on your journey to good health and normal eyesight, my friend.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

The rest of the world can plainly see that it is Israel is trying to scuttle the ceasefire and it is up to the US to get them to stop!

The rest of the tweet:

It is a demand that Washington fulfill the commitments it already signed under the MoU.

Baghaei pointed to Article 13: implementation of the key obligations must begin BEFORE talks on a final agreement can start. Iran says those conditions have NOT been met.

He accused Washington of failing to force the Zionist regime into a ceasefire in Lebanon, a clear VIOLATION. The MoU is a package deal, and a breach of any major provision puts the ENTIRE agreement at risk.

"If they do not fulfill their commitments, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take the necessary reciprocal actions."

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If we don't stop funding and arming them, and stop this nonsense about merging the IDF with our military, we are gonna be in a depression that makes The Great Depression seem like a boom time.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

recommended this as a revealing discussion about Iran's next move.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

QMS's picture

.
Glenn Diesen and Alex Krainer from his substack.

The west's political legitimacy crises ...
(about 1 hour)

https://open.substack.com/pub/glenndiesen/p/alex-krainer-the-wests-polit...

also Alastair Crooke
(1 hour)

https://open.substack.com/pub/glenndiesen/p/alastair-crooke-a-new-middle...

and Yanis Varoufakis
(47 min)

https://open.substack.com/pub/glenndiesen/p/yanis-varoufakis-us-surrende...

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Zionism is a social disease

@QMS I and others much appreciate it!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

the same as it is in English.

From Aljezeera:

Israeli media is reporting that the Israeli prime minister and his minister of defense have instructed the army to stay put in occupied Lebanese territory, but to hold fire, excluding the battles that continue to rage in that hill [Ali al-Taher Hill] near Nabatiyeh, where Israeli soldiers were killed and injured over the past 48 hours.

The battles in that strategic location are reportedly scheduled to continue on track, but Israel considers this an implementation of the ceasefire and says that unless Hezbollah fires at its occupying forces, it will not be attacking Lebanon.

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