I thought this one could be interesting for us to read here.

Also, all of us has a state legislature, and, well, they need our attention.

As Kansas legislators jollily jostle into Statehouse, a low-budget Harry Potter film begins

Clay Wirestone

Members of the Kansas House of Representatives are sworn in on Jan. 13, 2025. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

Watching senators and representatives traipse merrily into the Statehouse on Monday morning was like watching the beginning of a knockoff Harry Potter movie, one in which lawmakers returned to their majestic chambers full of excitement for the year to come.

Of course, Harry Potter movies feature fewer magical tax cuts for corporations, fantastical abortion messaging bills and terrifying anti-trans legislation.

I felt excitement in the air, as freshly elected supermajority Republicans licked at their lips at the prospect of enacting their agenda without having to pay pesky Democrats the slightest notice. House GOP members were heading out to a caucus meeting across the street — one closed to journalists — and hellos and backslaps echoed throughout the entrance.

It’s going to be a long three months. But don’t worry. I’ll be here writing this weekly roundup to collect bits and bobs that we didn’t get to over the week.

Think of me as Topeka’s own J.K. Rowling, only not transphobic.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins stands before his chamber on the opening day of session, Jan. 13, 2025. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

Press restrictions

I’ll have more about this Monday, but despite embarrassed protestations from some Republican House members, leadership indeed banned reporters from the chamber’s floor. Either have the decency to own the fact (it’s spelled out on a document sent to journalists) or voice your opposition, but don’t lie.

In the meantime, word of the new restrictions spread across the state and nation.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker covered the situation here: Kansas House bans reporting from floor, mirroring move in Senate. Reflector editor Sherman Smith appeared on KCUR’s Up to Date on Tuesday to talk about the situation. TV stations KSNT out of Topeka and KWCH from Wichita also wrote about the changes.

The Kansas Department of Revenue said state income and sales tax revenue during August surpassed expectations by $11 million to record the 25th consecutive month in which revenue topped the official projection. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector) — Kansas lawmakers will see their base pay double during the 2025 session. Nice work if you can get it. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Making money moves

Senators and representative have a good reason for the positive attitudes I saw Monday: They’re making a lot more money.

Thanks to a convoluted process involving an independent commission and its binding recommendations, rank-and-file lawmakers’ base pay more than doubled, from $21,000 to $43,000, for the session. If you include per diem reimbursements, that brings the average salary to $57,000. Leadership in both chambers saw their pay increase as well.

I’m on the record praising this idea. Given the aging demographics of our Legislature, these heftier salaries could attract younger talent. Hopefully, they will also cultivate a more professional attitude toward doing the people’s work. We shall see.

Americans for Prosperity lobbyists and enthusiasts, June 17, 2024 — Americans for Prosperity lobbyists and enthusiasts pack a Statehouse hearing room on June 17, 2024 (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Conservative check-ins

We can’t ignore the various conservative lobbying groups that often have lawmakers’ ears, so today let’s check in with Americans for Prosperity and the National Federation of Independent Business.

AFP this week touted a new campaign calling on legislators in Washington, D.C., to renew former and future President Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts. The group claims in a news release that it will spend $20 million across 50 states to spread the word.

“If Congress fails to renew the TCJA, Kansans will be left paying $2,228 more in taxes,” claimed AFP-Kansas director Elizabeth Patton. “Along with increasing the burden of inflation on working families, the expiration of these tax cuts would cripple local businesses with a $988 tax increase and ultimately cost over 6,760 jobs.”

Meanwhile, the NFIB surveyed Kansas members and revealed the results, which mysteriously track with Topeka Republicans’ priorities.

The group writes in its own news release that more than 88% want state property taxes lowered. It also notes that 86% “believe Kansas should require the disclosure of third parties with financial interest in litigation,” and that 62% “support waiving fines and penalties for first-time regulatory errors.”

Robert Blaemire, author of a book about former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana, moderated a discussion with former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector) — Robert Blaemire, author of a book about former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana, moderated a discussion with former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas in 2022. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)

Kassebaum addendum

In my Monday column about former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal, I noted that other state news organizations had only skimmed the surface in reporting on the honor.

Right on time, Marion County Record reporter Finn Hartnett popped up Wednesday with a lovely profile of Kassebaum at home. Read and enjoy.

Keyboard glows purple against a hazy yellow background. — The Kansas Reflector opinion section is always looking for fresh perspectives and new writers. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Calling contributors

With a new year and new legislative session comes a new call from yours truly for contributors to the opinion section. We have a page of guidelines about what we’re looking for, but the short version is this: If you want to write about Kansas, and you live in Kansas, please drop me a line.

We don’t run traditional letters to the editor (he said politely, so please don’t send them), but I would love to see pieces in the 650-850 word range about the Sunflower State and its extraordinary residents. Take a look at our opinion section to see more.

Who knows, perhaps you can be the next non-transphobic J.K. Rowling along with me.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

Friday Links

Last night, it got to be bedtime and I didn’t even realize I’d set nothing up for today, until I got up this morning. Scottie’s posted some important news here already, and I don’t want to knock it off the top, so instead of the posts I thought I’d make, I’m just gonna link ’em, and readers can just read whatever they like and still not miss those posts of Scottie’s.

Peace & Justice History for 1/17

The Way of Water: On the Quiet Power of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Activism

Explore the Newly-Launched Public Domain Image Archive with 10,000+ Free Historical Images

SCOTUS Takes Up Case Challenging the ACA’s No-Cost Coverage of PrEP

A Quick One

First, I was almost not here on the blog at all Sunday, but after supper, I felt like setting up a couple of morning posts, so I read up to stay caught up. I figure I ought to say something.

Somewhere, somehow, I caught a cold. It is only a cold, but it is miserable to the point that I don’t recall having a cold that wore me out the way this one has. I suppose it was working on me for a few days, but it really only hit yesterday. By the time I figured out what was happening, it was a full-blown cold. I did feel better this morning, but I know me, so I’ve tried to take it easier so I can get rid of the danged thing sooner rather than later, or relapsing. I haven’t been ill since before COVID in 2019, and it has been great! I wish we all still wore masks as they do in Japan during cold-flu season. Anyway, eating nutritiously, taking my zinc lozenges, using a decongestant when I need to (and they do too work!), and getting to bed earlier are what I’m doing to get better. Last night I was in bed before 10! It’s usually 11. So, that’s what’s up with me; I just have been taking it easier. TTYL, and everyone stay warm or cool as you need, and safe. 💖 🌞

Here’s To A Comfortable and Peaceful Tuesday and Wednesday to You, However You May Observe Them!

I’ve been looking, between chores and getting other stuff done, for some sort of “card” to post to Scottie’s Playtime. I just got this Substack from Nancy Beiman, who is far more concise than I am, and says all I want to say. I appreciate everyone who reads and posts here!

Out with the Old by Nancy Beiman

and in with the new year Read on Substack

Hello everyone,

I wish you all a merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2025. I don’t usually send ‘year end letters’ but this year’s Canada Post strike meant that I could only send digital cards, and I mailed no original cards for the first time in 43 years.

Thees letters customarily describe what happened to the sender during the past year. 2024 was a year of sorrow for me and many of my friends.

Rather than put a damper on your own celebrations, I will instead list what I wish for all of us in 2025.

This wish list doesn’t need a magical being or genie to make them happen. People will have to change their behaviour. That is a wish that can only be granted by humans.

It’s a very tall order but wishes sometimes are granted.

Here goes:

I wish for:

1. Tolerance of people with different views and ways of living.

2. The restoration of civil discourse in private and public life. An end to toxicity.

3. The ending of all current wars and a joining of nations together in common cause to save our planet. Monies currently wasted on war will be used to build housing, repair infrastructure, feed the hungry, restore damaged areas of the natural world and preserve it.

4. Recognition that non human beings share the planet with us and that we are totally dependent on them. They provide air, food, and clean water.

5. The end of money worship. Money may talk, but it doesn’t think. No person or nation may be ‘first’ in everything.

It seems as if we are revisiting many of the negative events from the last century. So my last wish will be that humanity actually learns something from past mistakes.

I can dream, can’t I?

Happy 2025,

Nancy Beiman

Thanks for reading FurBabies (formerly Animation Anarchy)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

So I said I would, maybe,

make a post about the noshies. I have a few minutes, so lets see if I can do it.

The other day, I exchanged treats with another good friend-we’ve been exchanging gifts family to family for 31 years. Sometimes crafty things, sometimes foodstuff treats, sometimes seasonal decorations, whatever. We don’t decide ahead of time, we just do what we feel. The past few years, we are older, of course, and it’s been foodstuffs because it’s easy to just make extra of what we’re making for our own households, then give it away. This year, I made up the afore-mentioned peppermint bark and snickerdoodles, and did up some candy-cane-dusted chocolate covered pretzels. I took photos:

The one on the left hand side is what we received, and holycowthisisaddictive. The photo on the right shows our gift with the lid on, and the snickerdoodles I shared; we have a few left over. Our gifts to give are packed up in boxes similar to the one we received. I’m sorry about no bark photo; every morsel of it is given away. It was dark chocolate, crushed candycanes, white “chocolate” layered on top, with more candy cane dust. Pretzels are pretzels.

OK, so. Yesterday I mentioned I ate a donut. The day before, I put a hurt (for me, anyway,) on the snack mix we received. I’m a nosher, and usually keep fresh veggies around so that when I’ve got enough calories, I can still nosh. I read the best thing in Yoga Journal one time: vegetables do not make a person fat. It’s the truth. Better for us raw, but even cooked, if it’s only veggies-no dip, cheese, butter, etc.-you can eat what you like, and they don’t make you fat. And as to dip, salsa is permissible, because, again, it’s vegetables. Raw carrots are delicious dipped in salsa, but likely as I did, you’ll have to find out by trying it, because I didn’t believe it, either. Anyway, I’m not including potatoes or corn as veggies; I mean veggies a person would eat raw. The thing is, they have lots of water along with all the wonderful nutrients, and even if a person eats a whole bag of carrots or bell peppers or turnips or celery, etc., it won’t make them fat. It would also take a long, long time. I read all this back then in a magazine I trust. Most people won’t eat that much at a time, and will lose their naughty craving well before they’ve polished off all the little carrots.

Well, I needed a nosh, went for the carrots and saw I’d picked up a package of a blend of various lettuces and spinach, and thought, cool! Chips. So, I spread out a cup (1 serving is a cup, fwiw. It fits on my sheet) and sprinkled a bit of water, then seasoned the leaves while I was waiting for the oven to heat to 375.

The photo on the right hand shows the raw leaves, and the seasoning I used. I like salt-free seasoning; veggies have flavor on their own that I enjoy plus plenty of sodium, but chips need a little oomph. This time it was Florida Hope Seasoned Pepper (which really needs to be in everything savory,) and a garlic salt called Justice that has shallots, garlic, onion, green peppercorns, chives, and green onion, but No Salt. It has the salty texture, though. It’s awesome on popcorn.

The photo on the lefthand is of the chips when I took them out of the oven (375 degrees, 15 minutes. Ovens will vary.) They are light, crispy, will not dip, but really solve that chips craving a person might get. And even with the water roasted out, you can eat as many of these as you can, and not get fat.

Well, time to see how this looks, and get it put up. I hope everyone has some fun exploring what they like to do to avoid overeating the delicious rich treats we have this time of year. And I hope Scottie maybe finds this a way he can get a little more nutrition in when he loses his appetite!

I need a tagline, the way Julia and Lidia have taglines. But I can’t steal those, of course. So, here’s to a great afternoon. Also, to anyone who’s made kale chips: this mixture does not contain kale, so the aroma kale produces turning into chips will not be present. Yay!

Some News about Being the Loyal Opposition

from Adam Parkhomeno and Sam Youngman, so NSFW, of course. Following the snippet, a message from me for tomorrow, with thanks to Janet.

====================================

Pardon us? by Adam Parkhomenko Read on Substack

It’s Monday. There are 700 days until the midterm elections. The FBI is about to get way scarier, a warning from a monster’s mommy and Dark Brandon goes Dark Daddy.

Be advised: This newsletter uses profanity. And it’s been saving that shit up for like a week.

Note: Sexy Patriots! Holy shit we sure missed your hot asses. How the hell are you?! How was your Thanksgiving? Does Uncle Trump Trash have third-degree burns on his crotch thanks to an “accidental” gravy boat spill? Oh that’s a shame. Well we sure are glad to be back with you, and we’re damn grateful to you for letting us take some time off to recharge. Lots of scary fucked up shit happened while we were away. But right now we need to talk about this…

Um… We don’t really know what to say here. There’s weird, there’s fuck-a-couch weird and then there’s whatever the hell that is. We kinda like that Jello Diddler (JD) Vance has gone missing, but when he pops up just to do shit like this it really freaks us the eff out. It’s like there’s a roomful of horrifying serial killers but the one you really gotta worry about is the guy who keeps disappearing. We like to think Trump traded him out for Elon Leon or he’s just off defiling a sofa, but we all know he’s probably up to something stupid and evil. Whatever it is, dude, it ain’t worth it if you’re posting shit like that on Thanksgiving. Yikes. Y’all have a blessed day.

Note two: We’d just like to take a second to congratulate all the dumbshit mainstream media reporters who bought Trump’s bullshit denials about Project 2025. More: AP News

Note three: Jamie Raskin is making a move to replace Nadler on the House Judiciary Committee. Nadler is a nice man, but this needs to happen. We need warriors in key places, and few people fight like Raskin does. More: Axios

Note four: Ex-convict Charles Kushner, who was pardoned by his son’s father-in-law, will be our next ambassador to France because the only thing Trump loves more than criminals is nepotism. More: AP News

Note five: We like y’all too much to show you the clip of RFK Jr. in the shower while Cheryl Hines sells her crap. So here’s the story without the video. You’re welcome.

Note six: We understand there are people who wish Biden hadn’t done what he did for Hunter (more in the news section), but watching Colorado Gov. Jared Polis try to cozy up to the right every chance he gets is really pissing us off. Go ahead and run for president, asshole. More: The Hill

Note seven: You’re not gonna believe this but pardoned criminal Dinesh D’Souza is totally full of shit. Ok so you will believe it. This weekend Dinesh apologized for the lies in his movie, 2,000 Mules, which was about voter fraud in the 2020 election. He should have kept lying. He might have gotten elected president. More: Independent

Note eight: Did y’all watch “A Man on the Inside” over the break? Isn’t it wonderful?

Note nine: Elon Leon Musk has like 50 kids of his own, but he spent Thanksgiving with Baron Trump. How fucking weird is that? More: CNN

Note 10: Politico and other kiss-asses just don’t understand why normal decent people are leaving Elon Leon’s nazi playground Twitter for Bluesky. (snip-MORE)

==================

OK. Now for the message from Ali. Can you tell I watched a lot of PBS this weekend, with the interruption of a perfectly good and funny bit of work to remind people that democracy and freedom are not free? I feel like I’m doing that.

The thing is better and more succinctly explained here, but very briefly, tomorrow the US legislature opens a session, and we want to meet them with the message that “LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back.” And neither are your allies-we aren’t going back, but we are going with you wherever you need us to, and many of us have free mom hugs to go along with that. After you wash your hands. Anyway, my bit, which I’m working on and is saved in drafts, will be to encourage all of us to write to our Congress critters, and any other Congress critters to whom we’re moved to write. I’m likely to do the Congress critters writing tonight, so they see it in the morning first thing. As the draft post here will be.

https://www.senate.gov/ https://www.house.gov/

We can fight like Jamie Raskin! (See above; Parkhomenko has that bit of great news up there. It could be a great idea to write to him, and encourage him to make the move.)

A Photo of my Fairy Village this 12/1 Evening.

We deserve it. This evening’s national and world news is unbearable. I don’t mean the Trump crap; I mean the real-people-doing-real-people things like trying to live in tents in the Carolinas, people stuck on highways in 23 degree temps, or people trying to help other people survive in the Middle East and Ukraine, Sudan, etc.-that is unbearable. So, the fairies decorated today while I decorated. I sometimes see them flitting around (the white lights,) but they decorated their big trees! Enjoy some beauty because we are fortunate to be able to do so.

Sunshine, no butterflies

it’s too cold here for butterflies. As it should be, in November.

Oooookay. I’ve got little to offer right now. We lost, we seem to have lost by not much numbers-wise, but big as to our government. So there are likely to be changes coming. I’ve got very little because while most of the ones who won lie constantly, sometimes they don’t lie. It’s easy to take all the very bad things they’ve said and decide they weren’t telling lies then, but they were otherwise. But, one could choose to take the opposite outlook, as well, deciding that they said the very bad stuff to get the ugly vote, but didn’t mean it. Or, we can just take care of ourselves now and for the future instead of worrying about changes that aren’t here yet. I hope we decide to retain our power to put ourselves in good positions to withstand any adversities that might be on the way.

Good morning!

I’ve gotten nothing done in regard to setting up posts for you to read this morning. I went to bed early after studiously avoiding election news. We finally get a sunny day today, so I can charge my solar lantern, and I’m happy for that. We do need the rain we’ve gotten, and the rain we will get, but I really like that lantern, so I’m happy I can charge it and it can be in the front yard in the evening.

I’ll be back at it soon!