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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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We still have time to mess this up!

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Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

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

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Open Thread: Happy Hogmanay!

Late Night Open Thread: Happy Hogmanay!

by Anne Laurie|  December 31, 201511:45 pm| 125 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Daydream Believers

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… with apologies to those readers who’ve been in 2016 for the last many hours.

The year just ending had plenty challenges, and some most excellent bright spots also. Here’s hoping 2016 is more fun and less horrible for everyone, and that we all meet this time next year to celebrate the new incoming Democratic President’s immanent arrival…

new years hobart style trollhattan 2016

(Courtesy commentor Trollhattan)
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Previous Post: « A New Year’s Eve Snack: Tollhouse Cookies
Next Post: First Friday Morning 2016 Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  1. 1.

    redshirt

    December 31, 2015 at 11:54 pm

    Merry New Year!

  2. 2.

    Satby

    December 31, 2015 at 11:54 pm

    Happy New Year and best wishes for a wonderful 2016 to you all. Love you all, too!

  3. 3.

    PurpleGirl

    December 31, 2015 at 11:57 pm

    K. Happy New Year. It’s 11:55 by my computer’s clock. Waiting on NY1’s broadcast of the ball drop.

    Love the pictures of the fireworks in Hobart. Spectacular.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 31, 2015 at 11:58 pm

    I suspect you mean “imminent.” But, depending on the awesomeness of the newly-elected Democrat, “immanent” might work as well :-)

    /still a pedant

    The very happiest of New Years to you, AL, your fellow front-pagers, and Juicers everywhere!!

  5. 5.

    JPL

    December 31, 2015 at 11:59 pm

    I’m watching for the egg to crack on the google doodle..

    Odd bird but it definitely didn’t disappoint

  6. 6.

    mdblanche

    January 1, 2016 at 12:01 am

    Should auld acquaintance be forgot…

  7. 7.

    CaseyL

    January 1, 2016 at 12:02 am

    @JPL: it did! It hatched!… not quite sure what the hatchling is supposed to be. A dragon, or possibly an alligator… definitely not a bird.

  8. 8.

    Ohio Mom

    January 1, 2016 at 12:02 am

    @JPL: there are at least three different versions of the egg cracking.

  9. 9.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    January 1, 2016 at 12:03 am

    @JPL: There are at least 3 hatchling(s) variations.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    January 1, 2016 at 12:04 am

    @Ohio Mom: Jinx.

    :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    January 1, 2016 at 12:05 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: The turtles are cute.. Maybe it’s the year of the turtles..

  12. 12.

    mike in dc

    January 1, 2016 at 12:08 am

    Happy Presidential Election Year, Everyone!

  13. 13.

    Ohio Mom

    January 1, 2016 at 12:08 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Great minds…

  14. 14.

    JordanRules

    January 1, 2016 at 12:10 am

    Happy NY everyone!!!! Little under 2 hours until it’s official here in AZ.

  15. 15.

    mdblanche

    January 1, 2016 at 12:10 am

    @JPL: It’s the year of the turtles all the way down.

  16. 16.

    redshirt

    January 1, 2016 at 12:10 am

    @mike in dc: Only 11 more months!……. sigh….

  17. 17.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    January 1, 2016 at 12:12 am

    @JPL: It’s turtles all the way down!.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    SIA

    January 1, 2016 at 12:12 am

    Bonne annee all! Last year of President Barack Hussein Obama’s phenomenal presidency. It’ll never be the same. I started reading BJ in 2007. Heady days.

  19. 19.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    January 1, 2016 at 12:12 am

    @mdblanche: Jinx!

    :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    PurpleGirl

    January 1, 2016 at 12:13 am

    Finally looked at the Google doodle. It is cute. I like their animations.

    NY1 is just panning the crowd now, with some shots from a building top. Ghod, Times Square and Broadway is just packed. Now for all those people to leave and get home…. hoo boy, I’m happy to be home and not worrying about getting home.

  21. 21.

    FlyingToaster

    January 1, 2016 at 12:15 am

    Well, WarriorGirl insisted upon watching the TV shows (“I’m gonna Dance!”), and is now crying in despair.

    It was all talking, no music. Sad, horrible, boring talking. Bleccch.

    Now she knows; and will stop asking to stay up until midnight.

  22. 22.

    JPL

    January 1, 2016 at 12:15 am

    Happy New Year and good night.

  23. 23.

    SIA

    January 1, 2016 at 12:16 am

    My poor terrier mix HATES firecrackers and they’ve been going on for hours. At least he has his thunder jacket.

  24. 24.

    redshirt

    January 1, 2016 at 12:16 am

    @SIA: That makes me sad. A year from now and some change, Barack Hussein Obama will no longer be President of the USA.

    What an amazing accomplishment. We really did it.

  25. 25.

    JCJ

    January 1, 2016 at 12:17 am

    @JPL:

    I was, like you, waiting for the egg to hatch on the google doodle. I liked how it had different results when I checked – an alligator, then turtles, then a duck! Now I can sleep. That was too much excitement for me for one night!

  26. 26.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    January 1, 2016 at 12:18 am

    Best to all for the night. Had to wake up someone for the countdown who had fallen asleep a bit after 11pm sitting up on the couch.

  27. 27.

    PurpleGirl

    January 1, 2016 at 12:19 am

    @FlyingToaster: I’m sorry Warrior Girl was disappointed. Warrior Girl should have been in NYC, or at least someplace that gets NY1. A few minutes before the ball drop the station announcers stop talking and go to Times Square alone and focus on the ball drop.

    ETA: And the Empire State Building its own light show with changing colors on the top floors and the spire. Neat.

  28. 28.

    SIA

    January 1, 2016 at 12:20 am

    @redshirt: it makes me sad too. It was the first time I ever worked on a campaign. He is extraordinary. Wish he’d declare martial law and set himself up as prez for life like some of the wingnuts predicted.

  29. 29.

    Royston Vasey

    January 1, 2016 at 12:26 am

    Happy New Year from New Zealand. Though it’s almost done for the day (being 6:26pm)

    RV in NZ

  30. 30.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 12:34 am

    My New Years’ Special Spoiler is up for my fish story, shameless plug :D

    I’ll try to take photos of the fireworks in Puerto Vallarta in… 26 minutes, and post ’em if they’re good

  31. 31.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 12:37 am

    @efgoldman: P’shaw, he’s already deported or else I would :)

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    January 1, 2016 at 12:37 am

    G finally didn’t have to work on New Year’s Eve (what with being laid off and all) but we couldn’t think of anything to do other than our tradition of eating pizza and watching “CQ.” Still barely 9:30 here on the Left Coast.

  33. 33.

    PurpleGirl

    January 1, 2016 at 12:38 am

    @efgoldman: Lots of reasons why I like NY1 and the way they do things. ABC should have changed the format of their New Year’s Eve show a long time ago. Dick Clark was irrelevant for a long time.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 12:42 am

    Thick sirloin steak along with leftover red wine sauce from the Xmas dinner. Buubly in the freezer.

    Neighbors have a tent set up in their yard, along with about 45 chairs. Only 7:40, so still (relatively) quite.

  35. 35.

    KS in MA

    January 1, 2016 at 12:49 am

    Happy New Year, everyone!

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 12:49 am

    @NotMax: How can one have leftover red wine sauce? Isn’t that the purpose of the baguette?

  37. 37.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 12:54 am

    Yeah, I’m resolving to wing it and see what happens

  38. 38.

    dogwood

    January 1, 2016 at 12:55 am

    @redshirt:
    Politics aside, it’s always hard for me to imagine a new president. It usually takes me a few months to transition from viewing the new one as candidate, to seeing him (or maybe her) as the actual president.

  39. 39.

    realbtl

    January 1, 2016 at 12:56 am

    Happy New Year all. I just got back from 1st Night Kalispell. Good food, great music and rather warm – 17 – for NW MT. No wind so all was good.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    January 1, 2016 at 1:00 am

    “Drunk History” marathon. Apparently the show’s producers beat me to the idea of casting Olivia Spencer as Harriet Tubman. (You haven’t missed it, it’s the episode that’s on next.)

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:01 am

    Happy New Year from my part of the the world to all you shitheels, bastards, assholes, and completely decent people. You can choose.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 1:03 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Serendipity.

    Xmas meal lasted all the way through Tuesday dinner. Made a vatful of the sauce, planning to freeze some.

  43. 43.

    max

    January 1, 2016 at 1:04 am

    @efgoldman: I don’t know whether it was stupid, sad, or humorous that ABC kept promoting it as “Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve.”
    I mean, poor old Dick had an aging picture in his attic, I’m sure, but he’s long since shuffled off….

    Obvs, it should be Zombie Dick Clark’s New Years Rotten Eve.

    max
    [‘It’s always Halloween when ol’ Dick’s around now!’]

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:06 am

    @NotMax: Sounds dubious. I demand samples on dry ice sent to me. Or recipes.

  45. 45.

    benw

    January 1, 2016 at 1:08 am

    Happy new year, everyone! May you all live long, and prosper.

  46. 46.

    F

    January 1, 2016 at 1:17 am

    “I can play amateur politics at home with my 9-year-old, I don’t need to do it at the professional level.”

    Ben Carson’s ex-campaign manager.

  47. 47.

    Redshift

    January 1, 2016 at 1:20 am

    Happy New Year! May it be better in every way, and especially in electoral outcomes.

  48. 48.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 1:26 am

    @SIA: yeah you right, & thanks for reminding us

  49. 49.

    FlyingToaster

    January 1, 2016 at 1:26 am

    @max:

    Obvs, it should be Zombie Dick Clark’s New Years Rotten Eve.

    That would have been an improvement.

    I was hoping some music channel would have, oh, music, with a 5 minute break for the ball drop.

    And WTF is having Sinatra sing NYNY instead of everybody singing Auld Lang Syne (out of tune, not knowing the words, and drunk)?

    Truly, abysmally pitiful.

  50. 50.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 1:28 am

    @redshirt: Yes we did. Damn.

  51. 51.

    GregB

    January 1, 2016 at 1:28 am

    Happy New Year all.

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:28 am

    @FlyingToaster: No respect for tradition.

  53. 53.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 1:31 am

    @F: for reals ? Hahahahaha

  54. 54.

    FlyingToaster

    January 1, 2016 at 1:31 am

    @PurpleGirl: 8-year-olds from greater Boston are NOT going to Times Square for NYE. She can wait until grad school for that.

  55. 55.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 1:32 am

    @redshirt:

    A year from now and some change, Barack Hussein Obama will no longer be President of the USA.

    He better be, his term doesn’t end until Jan. 20, 2017.

  56. 56.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 1:34 am

    @FlyingToaster: I do prefer The Parting Glass

  57. 57.

    FlyingToaster

    January 1, 2016 at 1:34 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No respect for tradition.

    Tradition!

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:35 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    A year from now and some change,

    That translates as a year and some days, yes? Thus accurate, also yes?

  59. 59.

    FlyingToaster

    January 1, 2016 at 1:37 am

    @Major Major Major Major: The Parting Glass would work, as well, but probably too many people know it now.

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:39 am

    @FlyingToaster: This, I have in my life. A person who loves this movie because of her past. It passes me by, but, for her, I am trying.

  61. 61.

    fuckwit

    January 1, 2016 at 1:40 am

    And the arrival of a DEMOCRATIC majority in the Senate and a DEMOCRATIC majority in the House, the return of Speaker Pelosi, and at last having a competent government.

  62. 62.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 1:41 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: A year from now would be December 31, 2016.

    ETA: Point taken.

  63. 63.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:42 am

    The Parting Glass.

  64. 64.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 1:42 am

    @FlyingToaster: The Clancy Brothers were way better before they sold out :(

  65. 65.

    mclaren

    January 1, 2016 at 1:43 am

    While Mayhew churns out feel-good bullshit designed to convince the gullible dupes in the Balloon-Juice commentariat that all is for the best in the best of all possible American health care worlds, the reality is of course drastically different.

    Here are my favorite health care stories from 2015:

    “Fifty hospitals in the United States are charging uninsured consumers more than 10 times the actual cost of patient care, according to research published Monday,” The Washington Post, 8 June 2015.

    All but one of the facilities are owned by for-profit entities and the largest number of hospitals — 20 — are in Florida. For the most part, researchers said, the hospitals with the highest markups are not in pricey neighborhoods or big cities, where the market might explain the higher prices.
    Topping the list is North Okaloosa Medical Center, a 110-bed facility in the Florida Panhandle about an hour outside of Pensacola. Uninsured patients are charged 12.6 times the actual cost of patient care.
    Community Health Systems operates 25 of the hospitals on the list. Hospital Corporation of America operates 14 others.
    “They are price-gouging because they can,” said Gerard Anderson, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-author of the study in Health Affairs. “They are marking up the prices because no one is telling them they can’t.”
    He added: “These are the hospitals that have the highest markup of all 5,000 hospitals in the United States. This means when it costs the hospital $100, they are going to charge you, on average, $1,000.”

  66. 66.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 1:43 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: This is my favorite Pogues cover (Dirty Old Town by The Mountain Goats)

  67. 67.

    mclaren

    January 1, 2016 at 1:44 am

    And here are some more of my favorite health care stories of 2015:

    “She has health insurance, but can’t pay her medical bills. She’s not alone,” scpr.org, 8 April 2015.

    Like more and more Americans, Celisa Flores, 34, recently obtained a high-deductible health plan through her employer. The plan, through Anthem Blue Cross, covered her and her son, and she thought it carried a $5,000 deductible.
    At the time, the deductible “didn’t seem like a huge deal to me, because we never go to the doctor,” says Flores, of Costa Mesa.
    Even after her car was totaled in a hit-and-run in July 2014, she avoided going to the doctor. Flores visited a chiropractor for several months, until the pain drove her to seek more care.
    That’s when her financial nightmare began.
    An MRI revealed that Flores’ femur had detached from her hip in the accident, and she needed surgery.
    She says she paid $3,000 upfront for the surgery. But after that, the bills kept coming – separate ones for the anesthesia, more MRI’s, and x-rays.
    “Every time I think I’ve got them all now, here comes another one,” says Flores.
    Then came the unpleasant surprise: She discovered that under her family plan, her deductible wasn’t $5,000, it was $10,000. (Confused about health insurance terms? Check out KPCC’s glossary.)
    To make matters worse, she discovered that the physical therapist she was seeing – at a cost of $300 per week – was out of network.

    “Why Most Americans Do Not Understand Their Medical Bills,” cheatsheet.com, 8 July 2015

    Medical providers typically use various codes on billing statements, such as CPT, HCPCS, or ICD-9 codes. This is simply the information required by insurers, so it is not intended to be patient-friendly. When Elisabeth Rosenthal, who frequently reports on America’s health care woes, called a laboratory billing office seeking an explanation for her bill, she was told that revealing the meaning of the codes would violate patient privacy. Rosenthal explained that she was the patient in question, but it made no difference. The response: “I’m sorry, this is what I’m told, and I don’t want to lose my job.”

    “Texans Charged More Than 650% The Going Rate Of Medicare For ER Services: New Study Reveals Out-of-Network Charges In Texas for Life Threatening Emergencies Among The Highest In The Nation,” Texas Association of health Plans, 7 October 2015.

    “‘America’s Bitter Pill’ Makes Case For Why Health Care Law ‘Won’t Work’,” NPR radio report, 5 January 2015.

    “Even insured consumers get hit with surprisingly large medical bills,” CNN Money, 19 February 2015.

    After Pam Durocher was diagnosed with breast cancer, she searched her health insurer’s website for a participating surgeon to do the reconstructive surgery.
    Having done her homework, she was stunned to get a $10,000 bill from the surgeon.
    “I panicked when I got that bill,” said the 60-year-old retired civil servant who lives near Roseville, Calif.
    Like Durocher, many consumers who take pains to research which doctors and hospitals participate in their health insurance plans can still end up with huge bills.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:45 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: “Plus change” usually means at bit more. In this context, a few more days.

  69. 69.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 1:45 am

    @mclaren:

    While Mayhew churns out feel-good bullshit designed to convince the gullible dupes in the Balloon-Juice commentariat that all is for the best in the best of all possible American health care worlds

    If that’s all you’ve gotten out of Richard’s posts, you’ve either not read them, or failed to understand them.

  70. 70.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 1:46 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I amended my motion(see, ETA).

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:51 am

    @Major Major Major Major: “Dirty Old Town” wasn’t a Pogues original. It is by Ewan MacColl. His daughter, Kirsty, recorded a couple of songs with the Pogues including the sublime Fairytale of New York.

  72. 72.

    mclaren

    January 1, 2016 at 1:52 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    If that’s all you’ve gotten out of Richard’s posts, you’ve either not read them, or failed to understand them.

    Of course — I’m stupid or ignorant or unable to read. And the Washington Post and the Boston Globe and NPR and The New York Times are all just making shit up. Mayhew is right that the ACA is working beautifully and medical costs are dropping, while all the major news outlets are lying, all the medical experts are getting it wrong, and all the health care newsletters are reporting complete nonsense.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of the gullible ignorant dupes Mayhew has been scamming — Bill in Glendale. Thank you for showing us all the stunning level of self-delusion and ignorance in which liberals who cheer about the current state of America’s medical-industrial complex live.

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:53 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Cheers.

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 1:53 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Touche. Didn’t know that. Thanks!

  75. 75.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 1:53 am

    @mclaren: I think you just proved my point, Happy New Year.

    ETA: I should note that my preferred health care system would be single payer.

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    January 1, 2016 at 1:56 am

    @mclaren:
    May the new year bring you many opportunities to scold people from the left and piss in their cornflakes.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 1:57 am

    @Amir Khalid: You are a remarkably nice person.

  78. 78.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 1:58 am

    @mclaren: Please eat shit. “Obamacare” saved my life, and the lives of 3 friends who were also refused insurance due to “pre-existing conditions” (ie, pregnancy. Just, wow). So sorry that we didn’t just go die quietly while waiting for single payer in the USA. Oh yeah – happy fuckin’ new year to you and your purity pony.

  79. 79.

    mtraven

    January 1, 2016 at 2:00 am

    This is the Shane McGowan song (post-Pogues) for the New Year.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 2:01 am

    @Major Major Major Major: You were playing on my ice. Outside of professional knowledge, this is my wheelhouse.

  81. 81.

    mclaren

    January 1, 2016 at 2:02 am

    And here are yet more of my favorite article about U.S. health care in 2015…articles Richard Mayhew will never mention, and does not want you to see:

    “Stunning” Rise in Death Rate, Pain Levels for Middle-Aged, Less Educated Whites, 3 November 2015.

    “The Scourge of Managerialism” – Generic Management, the Manager’s Coup D’Etat, Mission-Hostile Management Rolled Up, as Described by Some Men from Down Under, 29 October 2015.

    “Dilemma over deductibles: Costs crippling middle class — Rather Than Pay So Much Out-Of-Pocket, Many Skip Checkups, Scrimp On Care,” USA Today, 1 January 2015.

    “Many people with health coverage can’t afford to use it,” Newscut.com, 22 September 2015.

    “Lifesavers or kickbacks? Critics say patient-assistance programs help keep drug prices high,” Modern Healthcare site, 7 March 2015.

    “Beware of Drive By Doctoring Fraud,” Consumers Digest, March 2015.

    As one of the above articles remarks about the greedy corrupt CEO of a medical devicemaker forced to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for selling grossly defective equipment, Richard Mayhew’s

    …immensely positive spin suggests that he, like many other health care oragnizational leaders, live in some sort of bubble into which no negative karma is allowed to penetrate. Thus convinced of their own innate goodness, they can provide no check on continuing manifestations of corporate greed, most likely with the solace of the own fortunes they build up.

  82. 82.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 2:03 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I meant it when I said thanks :)

    If life isn’t for learning I don’t know what it’s for, other than the Vonnegut quote, approximating “to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is”

  83. 83.

    JordanRules

    January 1, 2016 at 2:04 am

    @SarahT: Thank you and I’m so happy you are here, alive to share your stories. Real world represent!

  84. 84.

    chopper

    January 1, 2016 at 2:04 am

    happy new year, you ornery-ass motherfuckers.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 2:09 am

    @Major Major Major Major: You are welcome.

  86. 86.

    Amir Khalid

    January 1, 2016 at 2:10 am

    @efgoldman:
    I find the company intellectually stimulating.

  87. 87.

    mclaren

    January 1, 2016 at 2:10 am

    @SarahT:

    I’m glad the ACA saved your life and the lives of your friends. Wouldn’t it be great if more people could use the insurance they get through the ACA because they wouldn’t lose their life savings due to sky-high deductibles and co-pays?

    By all means scream and howl at me for criticizing America’s broken for-profit medical-industrial complex. When the limitlessly increasing premiums you’re forced to pay for your shitty for-profit health insurance under the ACA become too high for you to afford, don’t come whining to me…you’ve already told me and everyone else who is critical of that grotesque scam to “please eat shit.”

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 2:13 am

    @mclaren: No one here has ever claimed that our health care is perfect. RM has only offered people technical insight into how our system currently works. If that I beyond your understanding, it is on you.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    January 1, 2016 at 2:15 am

    @SarahT:

    mclaren has many interesting opinions about how all cancer patients should roll over and die rather than undergo treatment, including my 51-year-old brother who died of lung cancer this summer. So, yes, mclaren can go fuck himself with a rusty pitchfork.

  90. 90.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 2:24 am

    @JordanRules: Right back atcha, honey ! And a happy, HEALTHY 2016 to all intelligent, sensible, compassionate, and truly human beings on this site & around the world. And thank you, john cole + infinity, for making this place !

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    January 1, 2016 at 2:27 am

    Happy New Year, or happy 12:24 AM, from the Nation’s Litterbox.

    Spawn the Elder is having a friend sleep over, so Mr. Suzanne and I are watching “The Man in the High Castle”. I enjoy this far more than being around drunks.

    My resolution for this year is to go paperless! My printer was broken, so we bought one with a document scanner. So let’s see how this goes.

  92. 92.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 2:28 am

    @Suzanne: Get a big shredder.

  93. 93.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 2:28 am

    @mclaren: don’t you get it ? Without insurance we WOULD have lost everything, including our LIVES ! GAH – done with your trolling. Piss up a rope.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 2:32 am

    @SarahT: STOP GETTING IN THE WAY OF THE REVOLUTION. WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT YOU, WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE?

    /mclaren

  95. 95.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 1, 2016 at 2:33 am

    out b4 flame war night guys

  96. 96.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 2:33 am

    @Mnemosyne: Thank you ! And I stupidly (ok, drunkenly) replied, despite it all, duh. New Year’s resolution : Do NOT waste time responding to morons on my fave blog. Happy 2016 to you !

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 1, 2016 at 2:34 am

    @SarahT: Sleep well.

  98. 98.

    Suzanne

    January 1, 2016 at 2:35 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve got one. I am going to work on it this weekend. I hate paper! I hate clutter! Aaaahhhhhhh.

    @SarahT: Don’t get too upset. Maclaren occasionally says something helpful and interesting, but she buries it under heaps of histrionics and condescension and generalized douchieness. And I am a mega-douche, and she makes me look like a sweet pea in comparison.

  99. 99.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 2:36 am

    @Mnemosyne: Meant to add that I’m so sorry about your brother. Losing a brother sucks – I know. Here’s to better days.

  100. 100.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 2:38 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: hahahahaha !

  101. 101.

    SarahT

    January 1, 2016 at 2:41 am

    @Suzanne: aw, I bet you are a sweet pea – definitely a smart pea…

  102. 102.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 2:44 am

    @Suzanne: I hope your trash collection is more shredder friendly than here, we have to put it in paper bags. We don’t get paper bags at the market anymore.

  103. 103.

    Suzanne

    January 1, 2016 at 2:49 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: We have to plastic-bag them, I think. We can’t put them in the commingled recycling.

  104. 104.

    PurpleGirl

    January 1, 2016 at 3:17 am

    @FlyingToaster: I didn’t mean WarriorGirl should come to NY for the ball drop but find a place where you get NewYork1 — the Time Warner news channel — and watch it on NY1. Their tradition, such as it is, is to have the announcers stop talking several minutes before the ball drop and after it. (Ihad turned off the computer and then come back online.)

  105. 105.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 3:17 am

    Happy New Year from the left coast!

  106. 106.

    Anoniminous

    January 1, 2016 at 3:18 am

    Happy New Year everyone.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 3:19 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Plastic bags illegal here, but even before that happened the markets still kept a stock of paper bags for those who requested them.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 3:24 am

    Geeze Louise, sounds like downtown Falluja outside.

  109. 109.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 3:26 am

    @NotMax: Plastic are illegal here as well, but you have to pay 10 cents for any bag you don’t bring.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    January 1, 2016 at 3:30 am

    @SarahT:
    Special!

    Rusty chainsaws for sale!

    Custom built guillotines!

  111. 111.

    Ruckus

    January 1, 2016 at 3:37 am

    @Suzanne:
    I can recall once that mclaren said something useful. Once. And trying to find that one bit of something is like looking in acre of manure and seeing what looks like the virgin mary. Very, very rare and even then it still stinks.

  112. 112.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 3:47 am

    @Ruckus: So true, Happy New Year bud.

  113. 113.

    ruemara

    January 1, 2016 at 3:54 am

    Y’all. Happy New Year people..

  114. 114.

    dogwood

    January 1, 2016 at 4:16 am

    Feliz ano nuevo! We need to attract more Latinos to this blog.

  115. 115.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 4:19 am

    @dogwood

    Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!

  116. 116.

    dogwood

    January 1, 2016 at 4:23 am

    @NotMax:
    Mahalo

  117. 117.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    January 1, 2016 at 4:41 am

    And a happy Hogswatch to us all.

  118. 118.

    Origuy

    January 1, 2016 at 5:00 am

    с новым годыи to you all.

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 5:03 am

    Midnight. Can actually hear things falling onto the metal roof from the fireworks.

  120. 120.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 1, 2016 at 5:04 am

    @NotMax: I’m kinda surprised about the lack of fireworks here this year.

    ETA: This makes Nikki a happy dog.

    ETA2: Happy New Year, NotMax!

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    January 1, 2016 at 5:35 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Swear that after aerials were outlawed here that the amount being set off has at least quintupled.

  122. 122.

    VFX Lurker

    January 1, 2016 at 7:45 am

    @SarahT:

    “Obamacare” saved my life, and the lives of 3 friends who were also refused insurance due to “pre-existing conditions” (ie, pregnancy. Just, wow).

    I am sincerely happy than the Affordable Care Act saved your life and those of your friends.

    Me, I’m a cancer survivor. No chemo required, fully covered by my parents’ insurance, and asymptomatic for years. Despite my good health since the cancer, I received my first rejection letter for private individual coverage in 2006. Another insurer accepted my application, but charged me three times what a normal person would have been charged. I accepted their offer, because I did not want to be uninsured. I received two more rejection letters from two other insurers in 2007 and 2010.

    In 2010, I formed a general partnership with my own spouse to apply for guaranteed-issue group coverage. If either of us had died, the survivor would have lost coverage.

    I am grateful for the Affordable Care Act. I have a Canadian spouse, and he does prefer the health care system in Canada. However, neither of us want to move to Canada solely for health coverage reasons. Our best career opportunities and our home are here in Los Angeles. The Affordable Care Act means we get to live where we want.

    The Affordable Care Act even offers a “Waiver for State Innovation,” allowing states to implement single-payer in 2017. Vermont killed its single-payer plan for 2017, but there’s 49 other states who might try single-payer. You’d think someone on this thread would appreciate that, but I get the impression that this person is more interested in trolling than actually implementing single-payer.

    I’m going to see if I can get Troll-B-Gone working again. Wishing everyone a great 2016!

  123. 123.

    Zinsky

    January 1, 2016 at 8:30 am

    Happy New Year everyone! Let’s work hard this year to elect Democrats, send Donald Trump into retirement and make America less stupid!

  124. 124.

    debbie

    January 1, 2016 at 8:41 am

    @FlyingToaster:

    It was all talking, no music. Sad, horrible, boring talking. Bleccch.

    Almost made me miss Dick Clark.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    January 1, 2016 at 8:44 am

    @FlyingToaster:

    Despite myself, I love that movie!

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