Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

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

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

This really is a full service blog.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Friday Night Open Thread

Friday Night Open Thread

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This is the coolest license plate display thingy I’ve ever seen: The mister and I are taking a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary. If our marriage were a person, it would be old enough to join the military or buy cigarettes now. 

It would still not be allowed to purchase booze. That hasn’t stopped us though!

Please feel free to discuss whatever — open thread!

PS: Please see the thread below to learn about a sweet boxer doggie in need, and click here to help.

 

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  2. 2.

    Belafon

    My son made a similar joke about our anniversary on my wife’s facebook page: it’s now old enough to drink.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    @efgoldman: We have that game on in the background. We’re not big hockey fans, but it seems like the civic thing to do.

  5. 5.

    OldDave

    Sadly, the cable is out at my MIL’s house – Eastern Conference final, game 7, and we can’t watch. Argh.

  8. 8.

    Tokyokie

    Damn Betty, sounds like you were married the same week as the spousal unit and me. Congrats.

  10. 10.

    srv

    Enjoy your anniversary. Given all your metal/wine wrapper skillz, you should go into the license plate map business.

    I am sad for Marty O’Malley though. What’s a poor Irishman going to do tomorrow when all the liberals are still lathered in a froth over ‘ole Denny?

  12. 12.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    Coincidentally, the traditional 18th anniversary gift is license plate artwork.

  13. 13.

    Anne Laurie

    Congratulations to you & the Mister, Betty!

    Our 22nd anniversary is still a couple months away… but the Spousal Unit & I had been, as they say, dating for 15 years before we made it official.

    (And we lived together — as housemates in a multiperson post-college group — for a year before we started dating.)

  14. 14.

    raven

    We hit 16 tomorrow. She said to lay off the gifts in favor of lavish spending on stuff for the house. I snuck out an got her a bag of fresh butterbeans and she loves them so that’s what she gets!

  16. 16.

    BruceFromOhio

    Nicely done, BC. Matrimony ain’t for everybody, those that last do seem to enjoy it.

    Agenda? Don’t need no stinking agenda! Yard’s done, rain is on the way, it’s the weekend, and the leftover Indian takeout is heating up. Time to put in a movie and drink heavily until fatigue wipes us out. Or the laundry gets sorted. Whichever comes first. Yay, feel the excitement.

  20. 20.

    srv

    Well, all the Democrats are onboard for the Patriot Act:

    https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2015/s194

    Obama pinned responsibility directly on the Senate if something were to go awry.

    “I don’t want us to be in a situation in which for a certain period of time those authorities go away and suddenly we are dark,” he said. “And heaven forbid we’ve got a problem where we could have prevented a terrorist attack or apprehended someone who is engaged in dangerous activity but we didn’t do so simply because of inaction in the Senate.”

    Damn those Republicans.

  23. 23.

    Mike in NC

    DMV horror story: had a 9 AM appointment to renew my license at an office 10 minutes from home. Walked in and waited exactly 5 seconds before they called my number. Passed the vision test, did the paperwork, handed them a check, and was out of there in just a few minutes.

    Yet I’m old enough to remember when a trip to the DMV was as welcome as a root canal and could take hours to suffer through.

  26. 26.

    satby

    And Betty up top: Congrats on your anniversary. Best wishes for many more happy years together!

    Same to raven and his princess!

  28. 28.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Too true, the portrait is just the second most amazing thing. I wonder what the person who did the greenlighting thought he was doing. Or the person who came up with it for that matter.

    @raven: and congrats to you too!

  32. 32.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Mike in NC: That’s the result of shifting expiration dates to the birthdate of the holder, rather than the last day of the month. Changed everything.

    I walked into the local DMV, and other than the three extremely nice people behind the counter, I was the only one there. It was … like a Stephen King short story.

  34. 34.

    Ajabu

    My lovely wife and I are currently 24 years on the way to forever together.
    It’s pretty amazing how she still gets asked for ID when we go out for a drink and I look like her grandaddy at this point.
    As I told her, it’s nothing she did. She just hit the genetic lottery and I didn’t.
    (Kind of like my Kickstarter attempt recently.)
    Stay tuned re: that. It’s not dead, just being reevaluated.
    Happy Anniversary, Betty! (and Mr. Cracker, too…)

  43. 43.

    skerry

    I had a most excellent day. Youngest daughter graduated from high school, ending my 25 year PTA membership status.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    @srv: Then I need to thank good old Pat and the Teabaggers in Raleigh for slashing several months of my unemployment insurance. Such a deal.

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: Wisconsin has been quite efficient. I am sure Scotty is working on fucking up that as well. Have I mentioned that I viscerally hate that asshole? Because, if not, I should.

  49. 49.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: Not working for me. Don’t know if it’s the TV or the cable. I *do* get NBC.

    And, it looks like I’ve won the monogamy longevity for this evening, at least among those who’ve posted a number. (We got married young, as was the fashion at the time.)

  53. 53.

    opiejeanne

    @BruceFromOhio: congrats to all celebrating. We’ve been married 45 years but our anniversary is Dec 27.

    The agenda this evening is to watch the Angels/Tigers game.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    The Phoenix Fox station is covering the anti- Muslim rally and it appears that more appeared in support of the rally. Jon Ritzheimer said he is going into hiding because his free speech is being taken away. He’s the new victim.

    Now the local fox station is just going on and on about terrorism.. so I can’t listen anymore but the rally is over.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JPL: Did any governmental entity prevent him from speaking? No? Then his First Amendment rights were not violated. I am about as close to a First Amendment absolutist as one can be and I feel zero sympathy for him.

    ETA: Did police fail to keep a mob from threatening him? No? Again, no violation.

  58. 58.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No no I am 100% sure not watching that movie was a very good call. The Claudette Colbert character was like nails on chalkboard to me (though I have liked her in other things).

    Now about you listening to Johnny Hallyday, why would that be tres bizarre?
    I loved that video, specially the dancers at the beguining being off beat with each other.
    Just recently I saw his movie Man on the Train which I enjoyed a lot, deliciously French.

    You could be even weirder if you were listening to some of the italian or spanish singers I listen to :)

  59. 59.

    Kropadope

    @srv: Those Republicans certainly want to renew the Patriot Act, but only if it can be done in total, without stripping the power of government agencies to abuse their power. The USA PATRIOT Act, as originally written, serves the dual Republican imperative of eroding faith in government and keeping down the little people. They’d sooner get rid of all our terrorism-fighting programs than require that the NSA etc. behave responsibly and respect the Constitution.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: Have you seen The Good Thief? It is a well-done remake of Bob le Flambeur with a wonderful soundtrack – French rap, Johnny Hallyday, Leonard Cohen…. Highly recommended by me.

  62. 62.

    fuckwit

    I have to say, New York has the ugliest fucking license plates in the country,

    Take a nice car, put a NY plate on it, and it instantly looks like a peice of shit.

  63. 63.

    Mike in NC

    @efgoldman: Lived for about five years in America’s smallest state, yet never checked out places like Woonsocket or Smithfieid. Knew lots of people in Providence and Pawtucket. Needed to get out more. Same goes for a dozen other states I’ve lived in.

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: I can’t. I am a ‘Hawks fan. Also too, a ‘Hawks owner’s daughter went to college with me and dated a good friend (who has since gone over the top Libertarian, but that’s not the point). She was a lovely young woman and utterly devoid of Romney-ness. She also was a good sport and would drive our drunk asses to restaurants that were open all night.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: Well, I never found the game, but to my very great surprise I stumbled across three channels of *very* explicit pr0n that I’d never seen before. They don’t seem to show up in my Cox channel listing.

  68. 68.

    KithKanan

    These must be a thing now. I saw one almost exactly like that in the waiting area of a motel/restaurant in Aptos, CA on Mothers’ Day and I’m guessing that’s not where you are, Betty. :)

  72. 72.

    Kropadope

    @David Koch: Do you mean aside from lack of oversight over the overseers? How about that prison full of people in Guantanamo who’s rights were so trampled that we can’t even bring charges against them? How about the reams of telephone metadata they collect without any connection to terrorist activities?

  74. 74.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think you will really like this film. They made an american version that didn’t quite gel (ok, I’ll say it, it sucked)

    I have liked Fiennes a lot in roles where he plays against the grain like that. He was amazing in In Bruges. Nothing like he was in his romantic hero days of The English Patient.

    @efgoldman: though he has played cold calculating bastards a lot more in the last few years, his roles are usually romantic leads, or hail back to his days in British Theater. As @Omnes Omnibus: says he can play a mean cool thug with lots of flare.

  75. 75.

    Renie

    Spouse and I hit 33 years together. Tomorrow driving from NYC down to Washington DC to drop off the youngest who has a summer internship with the State Dept. Feeling anxious since this will be the longest she’s away from home. Funny how you know they will be okay but you still worry. Luckily the Acela is only 2 and 1/2 hour ride away.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    @skerry: Wow, congrats! That’s a huge deal.

    @Omnes Omnibus: I hate his rotten guts too. I don’t like to make fun of appearances, but that is one defective-looking motherfucker. Even if you didn’t know he was an evil prick, you’d sense it, just by looking at his stupid face.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    When I was a kid, they were almost indistinguishable from PA.
    The old black on tan NJ plates are no prize, either.

    NY was amber on black*, PA was amber on blue.

    *Fleet vehicles and some other specific categories were black on amber.

    Seem to vaguely recall that NY alternated the background and the lettering colors every X years at one time, forcing everyone to go in and exchange their plates.

    Agree on the unattractiveness of the NJ plates, except would describe them as black on beige.

  80. 80.

    opiejeanne

    @skerry: I beat you by only a year. 26 years in the PTA. A bit over 13 years between the oldest and youngest.

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: Well, it probably comes down to their type of evil. One tortured animals as a child and the other sold tickets to it

  83. 83.

    RobertDSC-iPad Mini

    @efgoldman: Glen Sather needs to be fired. Tonight. His poor personnel decisions have cost the Rangers too much. Can his ass.

  84. 84.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Though I haven’t been to Belgium I also thought it was brilliant. I was never much impressed with Colin Farrell and found him to be quite good in this.

    Did you like it, Bruges (the place)?

    And for the record: I have never been to Wisconsin and cannot stand Walker.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: It is a place where, if you drop your camera, it will take a beautiful picture. OTOH, I went through the line at the Basilica of the Holy Blood to see the vial of Jesus’s blood. I barely managed a respectful nod. Most people bowed to it or kissed it. My ex-wife, who was Eastern Orthodox, kissed it. I started eying it for its potential for the state. I am an unabashed Protestant despite my agnostic status.

    The beer and food in Bruges was quite good. Lovely town. Sorry for the Protestant rant.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    Hell, the first movie I remember him from by name was Schindler’s List, where he was a Nazi psycho. I think that predates all his romantic stuff.

  87. 87.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No need to apologize for the rant. I had no idea that Bruges had a holy relic. In spite of not being a Protestant I have had very similar reactions (I had to restrain myself from running out of a monastery in Jericho while everyone else was quietly revering a mummified saint)

  88. 88.

    David Koch

    @Kropadope: yeah, but how does telephone metadata keep Peter Dinklage or anyone down?

    can you provide any actual examples on how PA or meta data is “keeping down the little people”?

    as to gitmo, it’s basis is under AUMF, not PA

  89. 89.

    Valdivia

    @Steeplejack:

    Oh my, this is so true. I think I just erased that role from my mind. Probably the cognitive dissonance of a ‘nice jewish girl’ thinking the nazi psycho was kind of magnetically sexy.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: It was his first big time role. He showed early that he could play bad. It doesn’t mean that most of his roles since then haven’t been things with Jennifer Lopez and shit. Nonetheless, he was quite good in his small part in the movie I mentioned.

  92. 92.

    PaulW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    There should not be ice hockey in Tampa.

    And yet it moves.

    Attendance is solid, the fanbase is solid, they’ve won a Stanley Cup before and the universe did not end.

    It’s just that hockey should not be in Atlanta. And that’s been proven. TWICE.

  95. 95.

    David Koch

    @Kropadope: can you provide any kind of example on how metadata is keeping anyone down?

    there are alternate arguments to make against PA but there is no need to engage in arguments unsupported by fact.

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kropadope: Dude, I tend to find you a silly person, but why are you responding to a single purpose troll? I really mean no offense.

  98. 98.

    ruemara

    I’ve heard about this marriage thing. I’m still hedging about whether I should get a pet. Congrats on the big commitment working out for you guys. And many more years to come.

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    @Mike in NC:

    had to renew my license a couple of months ago.

    there is a facility in the basement of the building where I work. they open a half hour before regular work time. was in line 15 minutes before they open and out 15 minutes after they opened. made it to work on time.

    I think computer technology has helped a great deal in shutting down the times for new licenses.

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @ruemara: My Cocker died just after I turned 20. I still miss him and couldn’t have another. I do loyalty differently than many others do. He was my love as a pet – and I doubt I shall ever get over him.

  103. 103.

    Amir Khalid

    I saw this Salon story about a movie called Aloha. The writer is griping about all-white Emma Stone playing a character who’s a quarter Chinese and a quarter Hawaiian. If the remaining half of the character’s ancestry is white, as I suspect it is, there is really no problem here.

    That said, the most face-palm worthy act of racial miscasting I’ve ever seen was by Baz Luhrmann is his The Great Gatsby: the very brown Amitabh Bachchan playing the white Jewish gangster Meyer Wolfsheim.

  106. 106.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Just noting my vestigial reaction that whenever I see him in a tailcoat and puffy blouse I want to yell at Jennifer Lopez or whomever, “Run! Run! He’s a Nazi psycho!” That first appearance left an imprint.

    Actually, looking at his IMDB entry, I see he’s got other memorable psycho/evil stuff on his résumé, e.g., the tattooed serial killer in Red Dragon and of course Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies. And I vaguely remember him as being evil or at least grumpy in the Clash of the Titans remake(s). But I’m not denying your point about the floofy Ralph Fiennes.

    And, yes, The Good Thief is a very good movie. Especially good cinematography by Chris Menges. I note for future viewing consideration that Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978) is an excellent but underrated Nick Nolte movie. (Wretched trailer here.) The novel it was based on, Robert Stone’s Dog Soldiers, was very good at the time, but it’s on my “Will it be dated if I reread it?” watch list.

    ETA: Seriously, that trailer makes me not want to watch the movie, and I’ve already seen it and know it’s good. Christ.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    @fuckwit:

    That Supercompressor site is a nonstarter for me because you have to sign up/sign in before you can see anything. Just sayin’.

  113. 113.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    Also sheepishly grinning that my reaction was the opposite :)

    It’s movie viewer Stockholm syndrome.

    “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you, commandant?”

    (Voice in background: “Run, Valdivia, run!”)

  115. 115.

    opiejeanne

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I answered your question in that thread, but it’s dead now.

    No, I never visited that park in Thousand Oaks but I remember the ads. We lived in the San Gabriel Valley and it would have been a bit of a haul for us, but it’s possible that my younger sister went there with an aunt who lived in Redondo Beach. They took her to POP, another place I never got to visit.

  119. 119.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    Actually, have you seen Red Dragon? Fiennes’s character is touchingly gentle with the blind woman played by Emily Watson—even though you suspect/know that he’s a homicidal monster. Really crosses the streams. Ngrr!

  120. 120.

    Valdivia

    @Steeplejack:
    Yes I saw that and I thought the gentleness contrasted with the simmering danger is done perfectly. He manages to make it alluring somehow.

  121. 121.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    “He’s just so misunderstood! If someone (like me!) loved him he would definitely quit killing and dismembering people.”

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    Congrats to Betty, raven, and all the other couples! Mr. Suzanne and I are on five-and-a-half, and I love it. I was married for a year to my college boyfriend, and that flamed out in disaster and I was miserable. But it’s awesome when it’s awesome.

  127. 127.

    Zinsky

    Happy Anniversary! My wife and I celebrate our 30th this summer. Smartest move I ever made. I would have probably died at age 35 of cirrhosis of the liver, the way I was going.

    BTW – I like the license plate collage. Very cool!

  128. 128.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    The lady and I just passed 20 years wedded, many of them happy.
    (hat tip to superstar Al Franken)

  129. 129.

    shell

    I want to donate to help that poor boxer, but this has happened before…why the heck don’t they accept Paypal?

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