Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

I was promised a recession.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

After roe, women are no longer free.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

He really is that stupid.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

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Open Thread

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The house is now at maximum capacity- Seth dropped off Ellie and his two cats (Speak and Whisper), so this is now a three dog, three cat household for the holidays. Seth is taking Boghan with him to the house my parents rented in South Carolina for Christmas. They decided to rent a house this year so dad does not kill himself decorating and cooking for everyone, and I decided not to go for a number of reasons. First of all was that for years I had to travel home for Christmas, now I move down the street and they move Christmas several states away. I’m still kind of pissed about that. I suppose I should take a hint.

In other news, SWTOR was everything I had hoped it would be, except i just haven’t had enough time to play it yet. My only complaint would be the clunky UI, which I’m assuming they will realize is terribad and allow some customization and some mods. Back later with a Steelers open thread.

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    You’ll probably get used to the UI. Not everyone can have the smooth ergonomic commonsensicality of those Blizz guys.

  2. 2.

    PurpleGirl

    Okay, your parents and your brother are going someplace else for Christmas. (Is your sister also going with them?)

    You really like hanging out and have parties with your family. No wonder you’ve been in a Christmas funk. You’re not having the Christmas that you look forward to… time for a funk.

  4. 4.

    Comrade Mary

    I’m having an unfamily Christmas too, although with no critters in the house. I’m off to an old friend’s place Christmas proper, then catching up with my sister, her husband and her in-laws after Boxing Day. (She’s run Christmas for several years, but is taking a break.)

    You may not be free to run off and do volunteery stuff with the menagerie in the house, but maybe you can make your house a refuge for a bunch of your friends at intervals throughout the day.

  5. 5.

    Suffern ACE

    Cat puts baby to sleep. h/t Towleroad

    My cat would wake the baby up, increasing the probability that I would get off my butt and feed him.

  6. 6.

    R-Jud

    @PurpleGirl: Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. I’m in a similar funk, because I dislike spending Christmas 5 time zones away from my parents and siblings, and this Christmas is the last one they’ll be spending at my Grandmother’s house before they have to sell it to keep her in her assisted living facility. I set foot in that house for the last time ever without knowing it. I would have liked to say goodbye.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    @PurpleGirl:
    Yeah, exactly. No wonder you’re in a funk. Everyone’s deserted you for Christmas. And isn’t your dad just going to go overboard cooking for everyone in an unfamiliar kitchen? Doesn’t sound very relaxing.

  14. 14.

    Wiesman

    Oh JC, you made my day.

    As I mentioned before (but hardly expect anyone to remember), I’m an engineer at a video game studio working on a premium MMO title. My area of expertise is customizable UI and I’ve been working on our UI engine for our game for quite some time. It simply amazes me how many supposedly premium MMO’s completely whiff on this feature. WoW proved that users really really care about this, and the numbers of WoW players who install at least one Addon is over 90%. You simply cannot hope to compete with that game (imo) without this feature, and adding it post-launch is too late (again, imo).

    I sent your post to all the internal UI dev guys here for a pre-Christmas pick me up. Thanks.

  18. 18.

    Silver

    @Wiesman:

    Half of the fun of wow is getting your interface set up. I think I’m down to under 70 addons now that I did some housecleaning…

  20. 20.

    lamh35

    this time tomorrow, I’ll be on my way to NOLA for my NOLA Christmas VayKay.

    Get to see the new baby (who almost 1 now) and the rest of my fam.

    Woot Woot.

  22. 22.

    Quicksand

    Wait, some people are bothered by NOT spending Christmastime with family?

    I’m distressed because I AM spending Christmastime with family!

  23. 23.

    Hill Dweller

    @Comrade Mary: I didn’t see it, but apparently Uygur was on G4(?) telling people the President was going to lock them up indefinitely, and voting for Ron Paul was the only way to save ourselves.

  24. 24.

    PurpleGirl

    @cathyx: Granted that Cole’s parents may already have plans involving their families, as an extended member (being the godparent for Cole gets JC some status), he can and should make some plans to either have them at his place or to see them at theirs.

    And JC can play at being silly with Cole. Babies that young are great for silly play.

  27. 27.

    Suffern ACE

    @Hill Dweller:

    I didn’t see it, but apparently Uygur was on G4(?) telling people the President was going to lock them up indefinitely, and voting for Ron Paul was the only way to save ourselves.

    On what grounds? It would take an incredible leap and a rather steep slippery slope to get from “terror suspects” to “Viewers of Attack the Show”

  28. 28.

    smintheus

    Ugh. We really settled Iraq’s political problems with that surge and left it a model of stability, didn’t we?

    Iraq’s Shiite Muslim-dominated government ordered the arrest Monday night of Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, after televising the reputed confessions of three bodyguards that implicated him in a string of assassinations of leading Shiite military and government officials.
    The arrest warrant and the broadcast, both of which appeared to be initiated by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, intensified the political and sectarian crisis that erupted over the weekend just as the last U.S. forces rolled south to Kuwait, ending the nearly nine-year American military presence here.
    Massoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, warned that the escalating tensions threatened Iraq’s multiparty coalition government. Without serious effort to bring about a broad political accord, it could lead to the “collapse of the political process,” Barzani said.

    The situation is already much worse than yesterday, when Maliki was threatening to arrest al-Hashimi’s bodyguards. He is moving very quickly to establish semi-dictatorial powers and to marginalize/arrest a large number of Sunni leaders. This does not look it is going to end well…and it was entirely predictable…in fact, some of us did predict it.

  29. 29.

    MikeJ

    @Stooleo: From your puppy link:

    Hi Everyone, I live in Michigan with my husband and 3 kids. I only have about 1 litter every year and a half.

  30. 30.

    dmsilev

    Can’t you train the dogs to be your companions in SW:TOR? I’d suggest doing the same for the cats, but I think we all know that cats are Sith Lords at heart.

  33. 33.

    quannlace

    And isn’t your dad just going to go overboard cooking for everyone in an unfamiliar kitchen?

    I was wondering that myself. Does the rented house come ready-decorated and with a live-in cook? Otherwise, why did he bother?

  34. 34.

    Hill Dweller

    @Suffern ACE: Again, this is a second-hand paraphrase from a friend, so take it FWIW. He said Uygur was making the slippery slope argument, and claiming the government could call drug users terrorists to rationalize indefinite detention of US citizens.

  38. 38.

    Nellcote

    Hey JC, why don’t you go volunteer at a shelter/food pantry/soup kitchen? Or bake a gazillion holiday cookies for same if you don’t want to leave your house.

  42. 42.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Hill Dweller: Well, remember, Cenk Uygur wasn’t run off MSNBC because he was just another guy in a suit with a fat head yelling about something… it was because he was a strong voice that had to be silenced before anyone else could find their way back out of the Matrix. I mean, that’s just self-evident.

  44. 44.

    suzanne

    John, I feel you. that would piss me off, too.
    My personal Christmas angst stems from the fact that my mothers and I have repeatedly spent the time and money to travel back to New York to visit her sister (my aunt) and her family, both at the holidays and other times. And yet they never come out here. I know that a large reason for that is that my cousin (my aunt’s oldest daughter) is one of those total fuckups in life, and along with her husband and two kids, is almost forty and is still being supported by her parents. So I know money is tight. but FFS.
    I suppose I shouldn’t be bitter but should just feel proud of myself for not being such a lowlife, but it pisses me off.

  45. 45.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    I went out for a while today, and when I got home there was a message on my answering machine. It was a robocall from some group of ratfuckers going on about how we’d be better off if Hillary Clinton was the President. I should have taken down the name of the group, but I deleted the message.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @suzanne:

    I think you haven’t spent enough time calling them on below zero days in New York to tell them, “Oh, yeah, it’s 75 here right now. We’re going to barbeque for dinner and sit out on the patio.”

    Hell, gloating about the weather in wintertime is half the fun of living in the southwest.

  51. 51.

    Phylllis

    Where in SC are they? Just the general area; not interested in stalking them or anything. Might be able to make some tourist/restaurant recommendations.

  54. 54.

    Nancy

    John,
    I think I get your feeling about family. The parents have these rules, many times unspoken, that everyone must be “home,” their home, for the holidays. Then they change the rules.
    That said, my Dad’s been gone almost 30 years and my Mom for 10. She changed the rules a lot in the 20 years that she lived without him. I had a sense of mild betrayal. Finally came to terms with it, luckily for me in time to be generally OK with her and our relationship.
    This is not intended as one of those “I know how you feel” things, because I don’t claim to, only you know, and it is not meant as an “appreciate them now before they’re gone” message. Just meant as families are complex and your feelings are right because they are what you feel.

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