Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

White supremacy is terrorism.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Let’s finish the job.

No one could have predicted…

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

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79Comments

  3. 3.

    geg6

    Have you seen my new profile pic and banner on my FB page? Maybe Thurston needs a sweater like Lovey. A Steeler or Pirates or Pens sweater would look stylish on him.

  5. 5.

    Mike J

    BTW John, if you’re reading this, I discovered why links without link text lead to automatic moderation. It’s your yoast seo plugin. It rewrites links to call google analytics (even when the user has the “do not track” flag set) and repeats the url enough times to trigger the three links in a comment trap.

    If you aren’t actually using the yoast thing, turning it off would help the end users. If you are, then you need to find another fix.

    Someone earlier today was also complaining about the gogardenclub bug associated with the sitemeter widget, but only on the mobile site. I’ve not seen it, but I keep javascript off.

  6. 6.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Mike J:

    I used to get the go garden club bug all the damn time on the previous site, but I haven’t been getting it since the changeover. I’m on iDevices and a Mac laptop.

    I think Steeplejack is the one saying he suddenly started getting the bug, and he’s on Android.

  8. 8.

    Mike in NC

    On Saturday it was 75 and I was raking leaves in shorts and a t-shirt. On Sunday it dropped 25 degrees.

    Today we had to drive to Raleigh to get a deal on flying to Boston for the holiday. Plane had several mechanical issues and needed to refuel so we finally landed at Logan three and a half hours behind schedule. Hoping the rest of the week won’t suck. Stocked up on provisions at a Quincy package store just for a cushion.

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Davebo: My brother’s dog seems to like them. My brother’s dog isn’t very bright. The dog I had as I was growing up would not have tolerated a sweater. He was wonderful, but, to be honest, he wasn’t very bright either.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    My dog doesn’t get cold. It’s freezing outside and she wants to keep walking. I’m going to have to buy some Arctic exploration gear.

    Am I crazy for considering adding another dog to the family? He is a seven month old hound dog with the sweetest face. The dogs met and got along but didn’t actually play. There were a lot of puppies and dogs at the rescue so it was a bit overwhelming.
    I’m hoping the two dogs would play and mine wouldn’t get so bored.

  13. 13.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @MomSense: I think two dogs are so much easier than one and as soon as we move, Bixby is getting a sister. So, no, I don’t think you’re crazy. I had far fewer behavior problems with my second rescue Dane after I got her brothers.

  16. 16.

    Ruckus

    @TaMara (BHF):
    This has always made sense to me, dogs are after all pack animals. And I’ve seen Danes and pugs be friends, size/breed doesn’t seem to be much of problem.

  17. 17.

    piratedan7

    it is a season of wonders…. first Betty links to SCOTS, then the MST3k kickstarter makes its first threshold and we get to see the GOP not just flirt with fascism, they’ve asked the poor girl for her number with a promise to call…

    hell, I may even be able to turn in my hired gun for a job with benefits… truly interesting times we live in.

  19. 19.

    max

    @Omnes Omnibus: The dog I had as I was growing up would not have tolerated a sweater. He was wonderful, but, to be honest, he wasn’t very bright either.

    And my main dog can be forced into wearing a sweater, but at the end, he doesn’t care. Rain, sleet or snow, he’s going outside and he just doesn’t care. THIS time, he’s finally going to get the chance to show that neighbor dog who’s the boss.

    Meantime, last night, I wore my new hoodie with the tricolor on it (I needed a new hoodie, saw it the night of the attacks, got one), and boy did I get some ugly stares at the upper-middle class grocery store in the teabagger town here. You’d have thought I was wearing the hammer and sickle. Or possibly they thought it had the Daesh flag printed across the front.

    max
    [‘Why, you’d think the wingers hadn’t loved the French for ever and ever and ever.’]

  20. 20.

    reality-based

    so have we all heard about the belgians – during the three-day lockdown – helping the police by flooding twitter with pictures of cats? Not going to risk moderation by posting a link – but a quick search of belgium cats twitter will bring up the stories. (and cats from all over europe are being tweeted in solidarity)

    tres cool.

    I realize that this has probably been posted already. ow well – kittehs rule.

  24. 24.

    ruemara

    @MomSense: If you’re thinking of another dog, I recommend you read this article on adding a new dog to the family.

    I’m basically those two dogs, but all by myself. Working on my pitch and I have a job interview tomorrow.

  25. 25.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    So, last week, one of the guards at the post I hate and said back in June that I wouldn’t work at anymore, since the guy who relieved me (also the site supervisor, just to make it better) was consistently a half hour late, quit giving 15 minutes notice. So I’ve been working a bunch of shifts there, including giving up a shift at the post I like to someone who isn’t trained at the post I don’t. I need the hours, but it almost isn’t worth it being there. Among other things, it’s one of those posts where the client expects you to spend the whole shift watching monitors on which nothing is happening. $14/hour isn’t enough compensation for that kind of boredom.

    But, hey, a new guy was supposed to start training today, so it would be for just another week. Except he no showed. And another full time guard quit the post today, too, also with no notice. I have no clue when I’m going to get out of that place.

    I better be earning a metric fuckton of brownie points from the central office.

  29. 29.

    TaMara (BHF)

    Oh my gosh, I was cleaning the kitchen and left the tv on, came back to find that Jimmy Kimmel has the cast of Star Wars on. Guess I’m staying up late tonight…

  30. 30.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @MomSense: Oh sure, blame me. :-D I’ve mixed dogs for 25+ years and it’s always been a good experience. Even my cantankerous Greyhound, who didn’t really want a sister after his beloved Dane died too soon, was happier with company. I won’t say he bonded well with her, but at least he had someone to run around with…he was pretty much the Greyhound version of Grumpy Cat.

  31. 31.

    MomSense

    @TaMara (BHF):

    Have you seen the Star Wars Campbell’s soup ad? It’s very sweet.

    I took some friends to an adoption clinic and met the pup there. It was a total love fest and I can’t stop thinking about him. I brought my dog to meet him and they were fine together. They didn’t really play much because there were so many puppies and dogs around that my dog was overstimulated. There was also a cat eho was walking on the beams over us just tormenting my dog.

  34. 34.

    Redshift

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    I think Steeplejack is the one saying he suddenly started getting the bug, and he’s on Android.

    I’ve started getting it again, also on Android. In addition, the “go back to the top of the page every time I refresh” is back. Sigh.

  35. 35.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @MomSense: The pay rate is set by contract with the various clients. As it is, I get paid more than the other guards at the account I don’t like, since my rate is set by the account I was hired for, which is the other one,

  37. 37.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @Mike J: Very true. On the other hand, the place that I like better also needs a higher quality of employee. They have hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the Department of Energy staring at them if one of us screws up a critical asset alarm. The shitty place just wants glorified receptionists.

  39. 39.

    RaflW

    Breaking news in f’kd up Minneapolis: 3 or 4 (AP saying 5) protesters who’ve been holding vigil at Minneapolis’ 4th Police Precinct were shot about 11:30pm CST, reportedly by white supremacists. Not life threatening injuries, but this shit is bad bad bad.

    I am pretty stunned (even as I am sadly also not surprised that idiot angry white people, whipped to a firm peak of dangerous froth by various Trump fascist/racist rants and spews, think it’s ok to just go full metal jackoff. Shit, man).

    ETA: http://live.mprnews.org/Event/Black_Lives_Matter_protests_in_Minneapolis_Fourth_Precinct

  40. 40.

    mclaren

    @piratedan7:

    hell, I may even be able to turn in my hired gun for a job with benefits…

    Is a job with benefits like a friend with benefits? As in: you’re constantly getting fucked, but don’t have a permanent arrangement?

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Collect that hound! He’s beguiling, and needs you and Korra and boys.

    Another reason to be grateful this week.

    I also think two dogs is easier than one. Only downside is two vet bills, but it makes for happier pups, IMHO.

  42. 42.

    Nate Dawg

    @redshirt: dude, just turn your fucking heat on. You remind me of my brother–a gluten-free vegan–imposing restrictions arbitrarily and then becoming obsessed with them. Every waking moment he spends planning his next meal. Same with you and the cold. I think perhaps you have a masochistic streak or something. ;-)

  43. 43.

    gwangung

    @RaflW:

    Breaking news in f’kd up Minneapolis: 3 or 4 (AP saying 5) protesters who’ve been holding vigil at Minneapolis’ 4th Police Precinct were shot about 11:30pm CST, reportedly by white supremacists. Not life threatening injuries, but this shit is bad bad bad.

    Even money that Trump and the rest of the clowns will blame it on the protestors.

  44. 44.

    RaflW

    Right now I don’t care about Trump. I want to know why 5 people were shot one block from the currently high-alert 4th Precinct. Just in the last 48 hours the chief of police was congratulating herself on how great all her cops are and how they are maintaining public safety.

    Yeah, total bullshit.

  47. 47.

    SWMBO

    In 2010 we adopted Pixie. We had other dogs in the house with her and all was well. Until the last dog died in December 2013. She went on a destructive tear. Nothing was safe from her. She would go potty in the house as well as chewing things to shreds. In May 2014 we adopted three 10 week old pups. Her behavior settled down and became civilized immediately. She needed doggie companionship as much as we need human companionship. A year and a half later, she is still a sweet, civilized dog. And the hellion pups have finally grown up enough they aren’t as destructive. So it is working out after all…

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym:

    Sounds like time to ask for (demand) a big pay raise. Or just tell them you’re done working with an a-hole in the same facility.

    Brownie points only count in the Brownie Scouts!

    It’s 23 here right now, but I live in the warmest part of West Virginia. It’s 17 in Hillsboro, WV where one of my friends grew up.

  51. 51.

    Sam Dobermann

    Morning. Turkey just shot down a Russian jet. Said it was in its airspace and had been warned multi times just before and in past days.

    Crap. Erdogan will now become big hero. Might even poll better than Trumpet.

    Sam

  52. 52.

    bemused

    @RaflW:

    Omg. Just yesterday I read about two of these armed white supremacists/nazis driving to protest to film and “see what’s going on” at Citypages site. Sorry I’ve never learned to link but easy to find and must see video there that these two scum of the earth made of them talking in the car. Just as horrifying as the video was that this happened last Thursday night and I have not read or seen any MN reporting on this at all!

  53. 53.

    J R in WV

    @RaflW:

    Trump is right! We do have a serious terrorism problem, and he’s a big part of it, along with the rest of the Religious-publican party. Killing doctors in church, blowing up medical facilities, shooting and beating up Democrats and everybody else who disagrees with them.

    How Christian! How American!! NOT!!!

    There’s millions of them too, and they aren’t wearing their “I’m a Hater” badges either! Arrest them all, and tell them we’re going to wait for Gawd to bail them out?

    Everyone who can’t prove they passed a class in American history AND Civics needs to get educated, starting with a slow reading out loud of the Constitution, including the whole set of amendments, a dictionary for the hard words, and a history book to explain the reasons for every clause!

    That would only help the educable, and lots of them can’t learn anything more complex than “Gimme a 6-pack and $5 worth of Lotto Tix, pronto!”

  54. 54.

    Sam Dobermann

    This wouldn’t let me edit. Details and good coverage on al Jezerra. One pilot captured. Not clear by whom.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Sam Dobermann: Now the GOP will just scream louder that we need more planes, ground forces, SOF, etc and it will never occur to them that we are slipping closer and closer to the precipice. Of what I don’t know but now is the time for cooler heads.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    Chris Christie now writes for the NYT

    Afterward, a stream of voters walked up to him, pledging their votes to an unexpected vessel for their newly heightened anxieties about security and terrorism.

    It is too early to tell how the Paris attacks will ultimately reshape the topsy-turvy Republican presidential race. But this much is clear: It has brought sudden intensity, attention and focus to the once-moribund candidacy of Mr. Christie.

  57. 57.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Yeah, good luck with that. Any chance of making supervisor? Seems like there are better paying jobs out there right now and they’re hiring because my job is an even lower hourly wage and even more stress and people are running out the door.

  61. 61.

    mike in dc

    While Russia is not a country to be trifled with, neither is Turkey. This will get resolved diplomatically between the two. But expect there to be even more pressure for more formal cooperation between all parties who happen to be bombing the crap out of somebody in Syria right now.

  62. 62.

    Keith G

    @J R in WV:

    Trump is right! We do have a serious terrorism problem, and he’s a big part of it, along with the rest of the Religious-publican party. Killing doctors in church, blowing up medical facilities, shooting and beating up Democrats and everybody else who disagrees with them.

    How Christian! How American!! NOT!!!

    Agreeing with this and going on to say…

    Although we liberals have had a good year and a glimpse ahead toward the possibility of some further favorable conditions, we must account for the certain backlash that seems to be growing. I do not know how big it will be as compared to other periods of backlash (such as the one that elected Nixon), but we are already witnessing the toll it is beginning to take – eg the shooting mentioned above.

    We tell ourselves comforting, snark-filled, bedtime stories of how stupid and incompetent “they” are, but the forces of black lash have several advantages. For one thing, the energy they can quickly generate belie their actual demographic size.

    Writers like Schooley and Pierce may do a disservice as they reduce these folks to caricature. Unlike caricature, these influence others, donate, vote, and can be armed.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    Some rationality may be returning to the world

    John Hoffman is the new boss of documentaries at the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and the Science Channel, and he wants you to know big changes are coming to the networks sometimes criticized for favoring overcooked “docu-tainment” over scientifically accurate programming.
    …..
    Documentary programming at the Discovery Channel—along with Animal Planet and Science Channel—is experiencing a “dramatic shift,” Hoffman said. “I’m also part of a group decision, throughout the company, to bring a lot more science. To elevate the scientists in the films.”
    ….
    In 2014, Discovery’s “Shark Week” aired Megalodon, a film that claimed the largest predatory shark that ever lived was still alive. (It’s not.) Infuriating wildlife advocates, last year’s Eaten Alive promised to show a man being swallowed whole by an anaconda. (He wasn’t.) Oh, and don’t forget 2012’s zombie “documentary,” either.

    By contrast, Hoffman is regarded as documentary aristocracy: a 17-year veteran of HBO with a record of meticulous science documentaries like The Alzheimer’s Project and The Weight of the Nation, on which he partnered with leading research and advocacy groups to present definitive pictures of Alzheimer’s disease and obesity, respectively. He’s won a Peabody Award and two duPont-Columbia awards.

  67. 67.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Keith G: I don’t see how it’s any different from Palinism. Republicans are hateful, armed, and aggressively ignorant. True now, true for decades.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: That’s why they need their guns everywhere they go. Just in case a day care lets loose the little hordes.

  70. 70.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Baud: That docu about the giant ancient snake was cool. They could do more like that. It had pythons, fossils, UF’s old (2nd) natural history museum courtyard (okay, maybe only the last one appealed to me and my wife).

    (the 1st was the Seagle bldg, the 3rd is the current building in cultural plaza)

  71. 71.

    Keith G

    @FlipYrWhig: Branches of the same tree.

    Some are stronger and stay on the tree longer.

    Some get bigger before they fall on a house crushing a family.

  72. 72.

    Another Holocene Human

    @bemused: Why does MPR not mention this once? The way they tell the story you’d be forgiven for thinking it was black blocers with guns. (Never heard of black bloc with guns, thought they carried truncheons and street fighting/burglary stuff for causing their favored forms of mayhem, but there’s a first for everything.)

  73. 73.

    bemused

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I was astounded when I happened to see the city pages piece yesterday and these guys were scoping out the area last Thurs night. I thought where the heck where have the other media outlets been on this. Seems a pretty big deal to me.

    I have questions. Video was found my BLM according to article. Did BLM give this info to police? And if so, what have the police been doing with that info? All I’ve heard/seen reported this morning is they are looking for 3 guys. Seems to me that the two in the video are not only hideous racists but really arrogantly stupid if they thought they could conceal their identities with their cute face coverings.

  74. 74.

    Another Holocene Human

    @bemused: On twitter BLM said they asked the police for assistance when the masked dudes showed up and were given the brush off.

    You know, the height of professionalism, yadda yadda.

  75. 75.

    Another Holocene Human

    Hey Minneso-da, when South Cackalacky handles police killings better than you do, yer doin’ it rong.

    Oh, and Southerners have a term for your “Minnesota Nice”: that’s not nice, that’s nice-nasty.

  77. 77.

    RaflW

    @Baud: But this much is clear: It has brought sudden intensity, attention and focus to the once-moribund candidacy of Mr. Christie.

    Yeah, sure, NYT. Because Christie is such a NatSec authority.
    Our press sucks donkey balls.

  78. 78.

    cmorenc

    @Davebo:

    @geg6: I miss my dog. But seriously, dog sweaters are cruelty.

    My Italian Greyhound “Florence” would strongly disagree with you on that. The only way this cold-adverse breed will happily go out for a walk on a crisp, somewhat chilly day is with a dog-sweater on.

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