Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I was promised a recession.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

The new temporary speaker of the house is a spiteful little shit.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Let’s finish the job.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Not all heroes wear capes.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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Open Thread

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Was on the road today, and on my way home, caught this really weird sunset as I was driving through scenic West Virginia:

sunset

I don’t know if you can make it out, but they sky was brilliant reddish-orange, and in the center was what appeared to be a tube of light reaching up to the skies. Really cool.

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  3. 3.

    Violet

    @Baud: Heh. Timing. She had to take down her post when Richard posted at the same time earlier. Now Cole has bigfooted her.

  4. 4.

    Cassidy

    And now the NSA has another picture of a sunset. They can pry my pictures out of my cold, dead hands. WOLVERINES!

  7. 7.

    mclaren

    That’s not a tube of light, John.

    It’s a shaft.

    The perfect symbol for a new year in Shithole America: a vast shaft reaching into the sky…

  12. 12.

    ranchandsyrup

    Did another blawg post about my adventures in the supermarket. This one has 100% more middle aged skateboarding and embarrassment.

    Also, a conversation I had today with a regulatory entity:

    Me: So with your new interpretation, how do we comply?

    Regulator: You do X.

    Me: Here is a notice of violation from your office for doing X.

    Regulator: Hmmm, that’s interesting. I still say you should do X.

    Me: Will you provide an opinion letter with your advice?

    Regulator: No, we can’t do that.

    Me: Am I on one of those hidden camera reality shows right now?

    Regulator: Why are you so hostile?

    Me: Have you ever read Catch-22?

    Regualtor: Is that about Emmit Smith?

    END SCENE

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Also, a conversation I had today with a regulatory entity:

    I’ve had those conversations before, but the Emmitt Smith kicker was cool. It at least makes for an amusing story rather then a pure head-desk moment.

  14. 14.

    beltane

    When I woke up this morning it was -8 F and the dog just had to go out right away. Usually she waits for me to have a cup of coffee but not today.

  20. 20.

    Violet

    That’s a cool photo, John.

    My Yahoo Mail seems to be back working somewhat. There are a bunch of missing emails from December 1 to December 10. I know what some of them were, and if I search for them they show up in the search list but the emails themselves won’t load. Weird. I couldn’t access my email for 2-3 days or so.

    The whole thing has been a PR disaster for Yahoo. They handled it really poorly. Communication from them was misleading and sparse. The message people got when trying to access their email was “scheduled maintenance” and it was so old it had a copyright date of 2008 on the bottom. They handled it really poorly. And a lot of people affected are paying customers–people who pay for their paid email service and small business customers. A terrible time to lose email access for them–during the Christmas season. If they’d handled it better it might not be such a big deal, but their response was a giant gaping hole where info should be. I wonder what affect it’s going to have on Yahoo as a company. They do not have their act together.

  23. 23.

    Comrade Jake

    My nephew (12) was interviewing recently at a private school in NH.

    Nephew: I really like history.

    Admissions officer: that’s great. What’s your favorite time period?

    Nephew: probably mid-morning

  24. 24.

    max

    I don’t know if you can make it out, but they sky was brilliant reddish-orange, and in the center was what appeared to be a tube of light reaching up to the skies. Really cool.

    That’s what it’ll look like when somebody nukes Columbus.

    max
    [‘They’ll do it to improve the view.’]

  27. 27.

    Violet

    @lamh36: Most people I know seem to go to Maui. Depends what you want to do. The Volcanoes National Park is on the Big Island–if the lava is flowing, it’s amazing. Pearl Harbor memorial is on Oahu. Kauai is slightly less visited than the others and has the spectacular Waimea Canyon and the jaw-dropping Na Pali coast. Depending on how much time you have, you can fit in more than one island and just island-hop by plane.

  28. 28.

    RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual

    First day of vacation. Got a haircut, re-arranged my Macs to attain a dual-monitor setup, and helped install a toilet. The toilet was an “impulse” purchase by my dad and he *had* to install it today. Being on vacation, I really really really didn’t want to help, but I helped anyway. Bleh.

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36: My parents recently came back from a bounce around the islands trip. Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, Kauai, and one or two others. They said the islands are very different.

  31. 31.

    JMG

    Dear Mr. Cole: You seem so much happier lately. This makes me, a distant Internet follower, very pleased.

  35. 35.

    PhoenixRising

    @lamh36: We did a fambly trip (my family, sister’s family & mom for Grandma’s large-multiple-of-10 birthday) last fall: SJC to Maui to Kona (Hawai’i) back to San Jose was a cheap, cheap fare including the 3 flights.

    I would go back to Maui if we could afford it for the Mrs’ upcoming large-multiple-of-10 birthday, if we were leaving our teen in CA at nana’s place. If a family trip (for the 3 of us), Big Island for all the snorkel you can stand.

    As I will never again agree to shared housing with my adult siblings for more than 7 days, I can’t recommend HI if it’s a multigenerational group–it was too far for anyone to give up & drive home early.

  36. 36.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    So, it’s a picture of the tube that is the Internet, on the Internet.

    Mind. Blown.

  37. 37.

    Karen in GA

    @ranchandsyrup: Ugh. I admire your ability to keep a sense of humor.

    I find that as I get older I have less and less patience for stupidity. A cousin posted a picture on Le Livre Visage with a caption like “Oh, you’re offended by ‘Merry Christmas’? Well, here it is again: Merry Christmas!” So I commented, “Wow — amazing how Merry Christmas can sound like “Fuck you.” How very Christian. :)” Yeah, a smiley. Plausible deniability.

    She said she was “hurt” because I “made it personal.” And she said I “took it out of context.” I said something conciliatory (essentially, “I found the hostility funny. I was joking about it. I”m sorry.”).

    But I couldn’t help it. I had to follow the apology with “Quick question — what was the context?”

    And she unfriended me.

    So yeah, I hurt the feelings of the delicate flower who shares things from the “White History Week” Facebook page.

    So here’s who I’ve pissed off so far — my White History Week cousin, my blackface-defending sister, and the nephew that thinks the Sandy Hook massacre was faked. At this rate, my “family” is going to be made of up of my husband and my pets. And maybe a fourth cousin twice removed somewhere, only until I get to know the bastard and cut him off because he’ll probably be just as stupid as the rest of them.

    Gonna go pet my dog.

  38. 38.

    LT

    Super cool. Thos tubular ray things are a regular feature here – but of sun rises – over the Tasman Sea. Regularly stunning.

  45. 45.

    raven

    @lamh36: We were on Maui for a week and could have spent three more exploring. My advice is quality time there and save the other islands for a different trip. Here is the cloud bank on the Mt Haleakalā. You have to leave around 3am to get there and get a place for the sunrise but you’ll be so trashed from the time diff it won’t matter. It ca be REALLY cold up there so take everything you can. There is a shelter but it’s crowded and you can’t see as well. And then there is the fishing!

  46. 46.

    raven

    @Karen in GA: I have severed all contact with my half-brother over that kind of shit. I will send xmas and birthday gifts but that’s it.

    eta You should catch the artists market at Big City Bread tomorrow night.

  48. 48.

    raven

    @Mike in NC: I went there 20+ years ago (stopped there for an hour on the way to Nam too). There is certainly plenty to see and do but the urbanization wasn’t all that great. Big swell coming to the pipeline this weekend I hear.

  49. 49.

    scav

    @Karen in GA: So the Christian defended her snide hostility on the basis of it being a generalized hatred and ill-will instead of personal, because making things personal is the indefensible part. Quite the Christian and quite the season to pick too. She possibly gave you the greatest gift possible: her absence. It’s only marginally more shared DNA, not a life sentence.

  50. 50.

    Rosalita

    nephew that thinks the Sandy Hook massacre was faked.

    say what? a conspiracy? send his stupid ass on up here, maybe the candle memorials on all the street corners will change his mind.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    but they [sic] sky was brilliant reddish-orange

    Wait a goldurned minute, what are you trying to pull?

    The sunset is white.

    /FOX fantasies

  53. 53.

    Karen in GA

    @ranchandsyrup: Thanks. I post confrontational stuff sometimes too, but I don’t cry when people argue with me.

    @raven: I’ll have to look that up. I have to get up early Saturday, though — heading to Augusta to visit a relative I don’t want to strangle.

    @scav: What you said.

  57. 57.

    Karen in GA

    @Rosalita: I suggested that, in fact. He was posting a conspiracy YouTube video that was making the rounds earlier this year, so I told him that since he wasn’t going to let some media outlet tell him what to think, he should go there, ask around, and find out for himself what really happened. I made a serious offer to pay for his plane ticket, lodging and expenses. All I wanted in return was for him to video everyone’s responses to him so we could have that on YouTube as well.

    Silence.

    ETA: I know that as heart-wrenching as it is, for most of us, Sandy Hook is just something sad that we saw on TV. (Not to minimize the horror of it — it’s just that most of us didn’t personally know anyone involved.) But still, defending people who just didn’t give a fuck about everyone who WAS directly affected? Doubling down when called on it? There’s just something missing in a person like that.

  60. 60.

    raven

    @NotMax: The mediocre rating for Maui deep sea fishing must be related to the distance one has to go. I guess on the Big Island you are right there.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    @raven

    May also be that there are just fewer deep-sea fishing charters, as opposed, say, to a gazillion whale watching and/or snorkeling boats (plus a submarine and a world-class aquarium/ocean center). Just a guess.

  66. 66.

    raven

    @NotMax:

    Which is the best island to fish from?

    It’s purely subjective. While all the Kona boats will tell you Kona is the place to fish, the Kauai guys will tell you their island is the best. The truth is, the total number of fish caught in Kona where the majority of the boats are is the highest because there are more boats operating there. And the reason the boats operate from there is because the seas are calmer. Many claim the North Shore of Molokai would be Hawaii’s great fishery if the predominant weather pattern was from the South. But as it is, coming from the Northeast, Kona has all the wind shadow from Mauna Kea making the waters nicer to work with every day.

    Lahaina boats have some of the best scenery, and that fishery has produced the only double grander in a single tournament. Large Marlin come into Lahaina all the time, but with only 10 percent of the boats that Kona has, of course there will be fewer total fish brought in. The same holds true for Oahu and Kauai. The bottom line is that Hawaii is the best place in the world to fish, because we have the opportunity to catch everything from a 10 pound Mahimahi to a thousand pound Pacific Blue Marlin every single day of the year, and do it within plain sight of land. No other fishery in the world can claim this, and history speaks for itself.

  67. 67.

    Mandalay

    @mclaren:

    The perfect symbol for a new year in Shithole America: a vast shaft reaching into the sky…

    I think you have it backwards. The shaft is coming down from the sky. We aren’t shafting. We are getting shafted. Big difference. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Even still today, can see locals net fishing for dinner most every day of the week.

    @lamh36

    Any other questions, give a holler. IMHO, Maui has the best mix of both variety and accessibility of activities and sights, but then again, I live here.

    One thing one does need to know is that beaches in the state are public. No matter how upper crust and frou-frou the resort, they must by law have some parking spaces reserved for non-guests and provide beach access.

  70. 70.

    currants

    @Karen in GA: Ah, but THEN you get to spend time with your chosen family–the people you care about who share similar values, have a sense of humor, and who actually like you. It’s the BEST.

  73. 73.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    Sigh….

    I really have to keep reminding myself that things aren’t as bad as they seem. I have to keep reminding myself that polls are trending away from the GOP, I really have to keep reminding myself that things aren’t as politically fucked as they seem.

    Because it seems like everything around me says the exact opposite, with seemingly everyone around me outside of family going either full wingnut or full Third Way, the only uniting thing amongst them being just how truly horrible disastery Obama and the entirety of the Dems are. Especially with Politifact deciding that Obama yet again got their “lie of the year’, leading to more “SEE, SEE, OBAMA IS TRULY THE SUPER MEGA HEALTH CARE DESTROYING PIECE OF SHIT WE ALL KNEW HE WAS!!” And I just feel fucking helpless because the more I try to correct this shit, the more people just end up hating me and whatever I supporting and I just end up setting everything back even worse.

    Maybe I’m just that fucking awful and distasteful as an advocate. Maybe I’m just fucking wrong and the country really does just want full GOP control. Christ, I know it’s anecdotal evidence, but it’s hard to feel like you’re getting anywhere when personal experience just says you’re driving everyone away from your beliefs instead.

  76. 76.

    Karen in GA

    @ruemara: Iggy, my Mini Schnauzer, was in the all-dogs run at the dog park once — once. A huge friendly dog came bounding up to him wanting to play — this beast must have been 80 pounds. Iggy tried to play, but 5 seconds later he gave up and ducked under a bench. Iggy’s smart enough to know when he’s outmatched.

    @currants: Funny enough, I’m adopted. The relative I’m visiting Saturday is my biological father. I found the bio-relatives when I was 24, and we’re friends. But you know that whole “nature vs. nurture” argument? I’m the poster child for “nature.”

    My adopted family, as fucked up as it is, is still my family. But I’m glad I know the bio-relatives. And the hubby and pets.

  77. 77.

    Karen in GA

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Careful now — don’t lose perspective. It’s impossible to advocate your position with some people. I mean, you’re talking to people who think that everyone having health coverage is a bad thing. Reasoning with them is impossible.

    Did you ever feel discouraged in 2008 or 2012, convinced McCain or Romney might pull off an upset victory? I did, and I know others who did too. But they lost.

    Hang in there.

  79. 79.

    burnspbesq

    @LT:

    Yeah, but it sucks American Balls, the greatest balls the world has ever known!

    Speaking of sucking balls, shouldn’t you be watching Australia pound the crap out of the Poms and retake the Ashes?

  80. 80.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Karen in GA:

    I’m keeping enough perspective to vow to vote and keep up on things. But it’s kind of hard to do anything past that when you get convinced that you’re doing your own cause harm just by trying.

  84. 84.

    dmbeaster

    @lamh36: Been on all and they differ a lot. Kauai and Maui are my favorites. Oahu is the least interesting for natural splendor. The Big Island is unique.

  85. 85.

    Pogonip

    @Karen in GA: We had the “Merry Christmas” debate where I work. I said I didn’t think snarling “Merry Christmas” at somebody who didn’t want to hear it was quite in keeping with the spirit of the season, and the Foxites looked thoughtful. Your Foxite must be meaner.

  88. 88.

    LT

    @burnspbesq: “Speaking of sucking balls, shouldn’t you be watching Australia pound the crap out of the Poms and retake the Ashes?”

    I AM.

    Not a great start, but they’re settling down now. It’s been fun to watch Piers Morgan melt down on Twitter the last 2 tests, too.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Karen in GA: I lived in Newtown for a few years. The daughter of a friend of mine from then drew the design for one of the sticker/bumperstickers used for fund raising. It was real and real people will live with it for the rest of their lives. (I know that you know that.)

  92. 92.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne: I am a late night person. It often works to my detriment. If I don’t go to bed and get to sleep by 10:30pm my time, I get a second wind and am likely to be up until 2-3am. Then I am tired as hell the next day.

  94. 94.

    burnspbesq

    @LT:

    The run-rate was close to five per over, which is good even for Perth, but you would have liked to not give up three wickets.

    Slow play, though. Only 24 overs before lunch. Probably explained by the temperature, at least in part.

  97. 97.

    Karen in GA

    @Pogonip: Yeah — if there’s a mean side to an issue, you’ll find my family on it.

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t have kids, I never wanted kids, I grew up hearing that kids ruin grownups’ lives and having them is a mistake — I know, that’s the fault of the adults in my family, not the kids, but you can’t help but internalize “kids = life wreckers” and wonder what all the fuss over them is about. (Not actively disliking them, or wanting to see them hurt — just indifferent to them.)

    But Newtown? Even I could feel how wrong it was on a primal level. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the people who have to carry it with them.

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Karen in GA:

    But Newtown? Even I could feel how wrong it was on a primal level. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the people who have to carry it with them.

    My mother and my younger brother – who attended one of the other Newtown elementary schools – could not tear themselves away from the coverage. OTOH, I couldn’t watch any of it. I was scared that I would see someone with whom I had gone to middle school who had lost a child. It is quite likely that I did. I still don’t want actually to know.

  101. 101.

    Bruce Webb

    @lamh36:

    When planning a trip to Hawaii most first timers go to Oahu. Sightseers go to the Big Island (Hawaii). Laid back and/or stoners go to Maui. And I guess honey mooners would chose depending on whether they wanted to have ‘authentic’ experiences or spend the one or two weeks having extravagent sex on a remote beach. In which latter case maybe they would snag reservations on Molokai.

    I lived twice in Hawaii, once from the age of 6 weeks to 3 years (don’t remember much, i.e. nothing) and again from 6 to 8. And even then knew that for such a small area as defined in acreage Hawaii is huge in effect. You could have a great time never getting more than ten or so miles from Waikiki Beach and that only to visit the Polynesian Village and Punchbowl (despite its name a moving military cemetary). Or you could decide that you wouldn’t be caught dead on Oahu (think Waikiki/Honolulu/Pearl Harbor) and fly direct to the Big Island (Hawaii itself) or one of the others.

    In a twisted sense Hawaii is like Manhatten. You could visit NYC three dozen times and never quite have the same experience. Though chances are the first time you would visit Times Square just like you would Waikiki. Because all the gaudy tourist trap/crap shit you would find in either place there is still some sense that those places really ARE NYC and Hawaii. And you would find yourself oddly shortchanged not seeing the profile of Diamond Head as seen from Waikiki Beach or the lights of Times Square even though you had seen both from sixty bazillion New Years or episodes of the Brady Bunch, Happy Days and Pele Knows Hawaii Five-0..

    I live in the SF Bay Area and generally advise first timers to do the tourist thing. Maybe without Fisherman’s Whorf but taking it the rest of it: Cable Cars, Chinatown, Cliff House, Golden Gate Park. But like Waikiki and Times Square and Key West just understand that you don’t have to spend a dime on cheap souvenirs to have fun. (Admittedly in retrospect cheesy fun, but not that you would forget it).

  106. 106.

    LT

    @burnspbesq: Let me note that I’m in my third year of watching cricket – so I am still a relative newbie. But I am learning, and enjoying that learning – I understand the pace, I think, now, although I would have had no idea that 24 overs before lunch was slow. But oh wells – I’m enjoying it – and so learned something else.

    And I do think it was the temp. Announcers asid it went up to 43° C, for a while. That’s 109° F. 109° Fuuhck.

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