Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Everybody saw this coming.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The lights are all blinking red.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

We will not go back.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Evening Open Thread

Wednesday Evening Open Thread

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Yes, I am going to be spending my Thanksgiving with a bunch of engineering geeks, why do you ask?

***********

Apart from holiday prep, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Major Major Major Major

    On nights like this, when it’s dark and cold and my husband is out of town, and I don’t have work, I sometimes think of this song.

    Mona’s become a child of the night
    When she goes out
    It’s only for bare necessities
    She says she’s had it up to here with light
    While the city sleeps
    That’s when she comes alive

    Yes, the night belongs to Mona
    When she’s dancing all alone
    Forty floors above the city
    CDs spinnin’
    AC hummin’
    Feelin’ pretty

  2. 2.

    Origuy

    My Scottish country dance class is having a party tonight; it’s kind of a tradition. We’ve got real musicians instead of a recording and a potluck after. I always pick up samosas from the Indian bakery. No matter how many I get, I never have leftovers.

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Origuy:

    My Scottish country dance class is having a party tonight

    Come, now, step it along,
    Foot it bravely, heel and toe,
    Fill the air with happy song,
    To the clippin’ on we go!

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    Ladies and gentlemen, I have found a new hobbyhorse that I will be riding into the ground for the next few weeks at least: we all need to become precinct captains for our local Democratic Party. This essay from 2015 explains why.

    And if your local party sucks ass and is useless, that’s an even bigger reason to do it. Your country needs you to kick their asses and shape the fuck up. It’s important.

  12. 12.

    Loneoak

    As someone from Grand Rapids, MI, let me tell y’all that Trump appointing Betsy DeVos is the effing worst thing that has happened to public education in this country. Seriously, Ben Carson would have been a million times better. At least kids would have learned about pyramids instead of pyramid schemes.

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    @Origuy:

    Since I’m working on a novel set in Regency England, I may be going to an English country dance class on Friday night that replicates dances from the Napoleonic era. I’m just waiting for confirmation that it’s still on despite the holiday.

  16. 16.

    satby

    The thread downstairs is too long ?
    Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m staying home, I was invited to three different places (one was D-i-L ‘s family) and though I appreciated the gestures, I’m tired and a bit burned out. So the dogs, cats, and I are hanging out together tomorrow.

    I’m going to be looking for homes for at least two of the dogs, little Bubba who I petblegged several weeks ago, and Rosa, the boxer mix who has decided she needs to be an only dog. Both are great pets, very loving. Bubba gets along with both dogs and cats. Rosa did well at the kennel she was boarded at, but she needs to be an only fur child.

  19. 19.

    PIGL

    I wish a Happy and Peaceful Thanksgiving to all my American friends.

    (as much as can be expected under the circumstances)

  20. 20.

    Origuy

    @Mnemosyne: English and Scottish country dancing have similar figures, but the footwork is different. English uses a walking step, while Scottish uses either a skipping step or the unique Strathspey step. Both derive a lot from French courtly dances.

  23. 23.

    trollhattan

    @PIGL:
    Best wishes/condolences gladly accepted. Here’s wishing back we don’t drag the rest of y’all down with is. Stay sane, we need examples.

  36. 36.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: IIRC, Blaire was the vacuous blonde; her cousin, ask Corner Stone. I gave up Tweety for new years and gave up the rest of them before the election.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I just read Charles M Blow’s column at the NYT, and I swear to gods I need a cigarette. Yeah, I know it’s the Times, and I don’t care. Do yourself a solid and just go read it.

    Here.

  38. 38.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Calouste:

    Stein’s recount fundraising just passed $1 million.

    What’s the fee for her to convert it from rubles to dollars, or did she find a new source of funding?

  39. 39.

    mkro

    Whenever I read post-mortem stories or blogs about how the MSM did not cover Trump’s conflicts of interests, failed businesses or affairs enough, I’m amazed each time at how little credit everyone is giving Julian Assange.

    This was the brilliance of the Assange campaign to elect Trump was that he held back their stolen emails and only released a small enough amount each day so that the US MSM could read through them and report on new goodies & nuggets found in her stolen emails.

    Because they had to report on her emails each day when new emails dropped, there was no room or air left to report on Trump’s disasters.

    Assange deserves more credit than he’s been afforded so far for electing Trump.

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Loneoak: It could have been Falwell Jr. That would have been worse. Not suggesting it is good, but it could have been much worse.

  48. 48.

    satby

    @schrodinger’s cat: The trip was challenging due to the currency crisis. I never travel with a lot of cash, I get off the plane and get the local currency at the airport or an ATM. But there wasn’t one with cash I could get to the entire trip, so I literally did Delhi on $25 for the entire week, plus my debit card for the car service at my hotel. I had something going on every evening between the wedding, another friend’s new baby, and meeting a former co-worker, so it was really fun.

    Yes, we danced at one of the events, but I wasn’t able to wear my sari. It was prestitched, and in the two years I’ve owned it I gained too much weight. But I wore an anarkali suit, as did most of the younger women, so I fit right in.

    I love India!
    Edited to fix suit name

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    Evidently we have not reached peak English.

    Planning a Department Q (mini) watch-a-thon Thursday. Already watched the first one, two more to go. Figured out who the villain of the first one was about 20 minutes in, but still enjoyed the remainder of the production.

    @Mnemosyne

    Take care, saddle sores are tres painful.     ;)

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steve in the ATL: When I lived in Scotland my girlfriend was both a distance runner and a very good competitive highland country dancer. Gumby was not that flexible!!! ?

  60. 60.

    satby

    @satby: I should mention that people were really delighted that the three Americans made the effort to dress in Indian attire. It’s considered a mark of respect for the culture, not appropriation.

  62. 62.

    cmorenc

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I just read Charles M Blow’s column at the NYT, and I swear to gods I need a cigarette. Yeah, I know it’s the Times, and I don’t care. Do yourself a solid and just go read it.
    .

    Word!

  71. 71.

    Adam L Silverman

    @satby: And that’s a good point, it depends who you are dealing with and where. For instance, when I was awarded my Fulbright to Indonesia, which I was unable to take because my father had just died and I had family obligations that wouldn’t permit me to be abroad for a year, I was given instructions, in no uncertain terms, that as soon as I got there, got into my lodgings, and before I did much else, I was to go, and would be escorted by the staffer at US Embassy Jakarta that coordinates the Fulbright folks in country, and have several high end batiks made. Because it would be expected that I would wear these for social functions with the important Indonesians as part of my Fulbright responsibilities.

  72. 72.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne: At contra dances in the Midwest, depending on how well you liked your partner, there were all sorts of arm positions – my favorite, with men who could really dance, being the arms around, hands on each other’ shoulder blades. You could really pivot fast and gracefully that way – and it brought you very, VERY close… ; )

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike J: If you want, email me offline and tell me where you’re located at. We should be able to coordinate Balloon Juice holiday support for you, so you and your family can at least get some decent holiday food. I’m sure most here, front pagers, commenters, and lurkers would respond positively to that kind of request if they’re in your area.

  78. 78.

    schrodinger's cat

    @satby: Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Thinking of going to husband kitteh’s nephew’s wedding this spring. Its a Tamil Iyer wedding, so no dancing but it will good to see everyone. I also want to do some research for the book I am working on and talk to some of older members of my extended family.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I think every culture’s wedding celebrations get pretty bawdy. The American tradition of throwing the garter is a remnant of the days when the wedding party would march the bride and groom upstairs, strip them both naked, and put them in bed together!

    ETA: That was mostly in the Middle Ages, but I’ve never seen a good date for when the custom finally died out. It was still pretty prevalent in Elizabethan times.

  84. 84.

    Origuy

    @Mnemosyne: Lucy Worsley did a three-episode series on the history of dancing for BBC. I think it got yanked off of YouTube; I used Hola to watch it online.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Yep. And here’s my real worry, and one I’ve tried to figure out should even be a front page post, because while its logical and internally consistent, but its speculation is that the Russians didn’t just hack the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, and John Podesta. Rather they also hacked the RNC, RSCC, RCCC, and other elite and notable Republican elected and appointed officials – Priebus, some of the other 16 primary candidates (which includes senators and governors) and their campaigns/senior campaign personnel, GOP Congressmen and Senators (remember: members of Congress are not required to, and often do not, use official government email, which is why Congressman Chaffetz has a gmail for his official Congressional email address). And they were told they were hacked. In other words this was the real kompromat side of the operation. The Democratic side hacks were in pursuit of the influence operation within the campaign. So all that stuff was provided to Wikileaks and then dribbled out to maintain a steady stream of concerning, though ultimately completely BS, information about the Democrats and the Clinton campaign and Secretary Clinton that would help to feed the narrative that she was untrustworthy, mired in scandal, and therefore keep her unfavorables high. This was coupled with the fake news sites and stories pushed out, which was also part of the influence operations. Using Wikileaks, as well as a bunch of 20 somethings in Macedonia for the fake news and tweets, was the maskirovka part of the influence operations. But having stuff to hold over the Republicans, to threaten them with, so that they’d fall in line and stay in line, that’s the real kompromat side of the influence operations.

    I think this makes logical sense and is internally coherent and makes sense given what we actually know the Russians were doing. But I have no way to prove it. Its just speculation.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: A much more subdued, given the concerns with modesty – especially for women, version continues among Orthodox Jews and devout Muslims.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @Origuy:

    That’s where that clip is from. Episode 2 seems to be totally unavailable due to a music copyright issue, but I was able to watch Episode 1 on YouTube. Still need to sit down and watch Episode 3.

  95. 95.

    seaboogie

    @SiubhanDuinne: @Josie:

    Righteous rant.

    I didn’t read this, because my psyche cannot entertain a rant right now, no matter how righteous. In the spirit of self-care and healing, I read this instead – and it is very on point for those in ‘mixed’ company during the Thanksgiving holiday, and just generally helpful for grounding oneself and building the skills needed to go forward.

  100. 100.

    schrodinger's cat

    @satby: I am certainly leaning that way! I have never attended a Tamil wedding before, so it will be a learning experience too. Hindu wedding customs have some commonalities but there is a lot of regional variation.

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @satby:
    @schrodinger’s cat:

    When I was in elementary school, we sometimes had guests come in to address the class. I know it happened with some frequency, but I only remember two with any clarity. One was a guy from Illinois Bell who brought in a few dummy phones and taught us all how to place and receive calls, and the basics of phone etiquette. The other was a middle-aged woman from India who demonstrated the art of folding and wrapping a sari. No nappy pins! Just this astonishingly long piece of beautiful fabric (a vibrant turquoise shot through with silver, if I recall correctly from roughly 65 years ago). The woman’s fingers were astonishing, the way she pleated and tucked and wrapped and draped, all in one beautiful, smooth, obviously well-rehearsed motion. I have no idea who she was or what she was doing in Oak Park, Illinois in the early 1950s, but I’ve never forgotten her or her sari demonstration.

  105. 105.

    Taylor

    @Adam L Silverman: I find it incredible that Russia (Russia, for God’s sake) can so profoundly influence the US political system and our counter-intel community is apparently MIA.

    And what are we to make of the resignation of DNI Clapper, which he said “felt pretty good”? Does he feel pretty good about the most catastrophic counter-intel failure possibly in the history of the state?

    How sure are we that Russia had anything to do with this? I find the level of apparent complacency astonishing.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Taylor: So there’s two separate things here. The first is that there is an ongoing counterintelligence investigation going on. We know this because DNI Clapper, as the head of the entire US intel community, issued a statement in October that Russia did the hacking. This is the result of that CI investigation. These folks do not leak, they work quietly.

    The second is DNI Clapper’s resignation. Clapper is the one who fired Flynn, so having to report to the President through him was, I’m sure, not something he was looking forward to. And its important to remember that his appointment as DNI was about to come up for reappointment/appointment in short order. So his resigning isn’t surprising. I’m sure he realized that given who the National Security Advisor was going to be – a former subordinate that he fired – that he would not be reappointed.

    The DNI and the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) are not like the FBI Director – they don’t serve one, non renewable 10 year term.

  107. 107.

    schrodinger's cat

    @SiubhanDuinne: You don’t really need the pins, they are like insurance. I have some really beautiful silk saris but unfortunately I don’t wear them much. A peacock blue Paithani and an orange Kanjeevaram, and an abstract design in ochre and black silk are my favorites.

  108. 108.

    dance around in your bones

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I used to try to wear a sari in India. Getting out of a rickshaw I would invariably step on the front hem and unravel a good portion of the sari, to my chagrin. I also was in a bathroom once, struggling to rewrap my sari when a kind Indian woman helped me. She blanched a bit when she saw the string around my waist to hold the tucked up fabric but her mouth fell open when she saw I was not wearing underwear at all. Hey, it was the late 60’s! I was a 16 yr old hippie traveling on rock bottom dinero! And it was hot as hell.

    I gave up on the saris.

  111. 111.

    Taylor

    @Taylor: I think I will watch All The President’s Men again. Perhaps this is like 1972 and we have to wait for the wheel to turn. But back in the 1970s there were at least political forces willing to respond to and investigate the allegations that came out. Today, I see no such chokeholds, and our corrupt fourth estate of stenographers is just hopeless, less than useless.

  112. 112.

    dance around in your bones

    @schrodinger’s cat: She was very kind and discreet. She may have told her daughters when she got home, though!
    I think special occasion saris are perfect. I had no prior cultural knowledge of how to wear a sari, and it defeated my clumsy attempts. I was always kind of envious of the flowing beauty and grace of the women I saw as I humped along in my ratty blue jeans and backpack ;)

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: I always do. I apply the Terry Dobson Sensei theory of aikido: “I’m bigger than you, so its my line of attack, you get off it!”
    (I am a paying member and senior yudansha at Bond Street Dojo. I never met Terry though. I was fortunate enough to train with Kang Sensei for a year before he died.)

  115. 115.

    Lizzy L

    @Adam L Silverman: I met and trained with Terry a few times in California. The last time was at a seminar at Berkeley Aikikai, which was my home dojo for many years. Not sure of the year.

  117. 117.

    satby

    @dance around in your bones: I think the fact that huge percentages of the tourists in India dress more like they’re cleaning garages might factor into why people there appreciate a tourist trying to dress a bit more nicely. Indian everyday dress is just nicer and better looking than scruffy jeans or shorts and Ts.

  118. 118.

    lurker dean

    not sure what to make of this. it’s a new twitter account so be wary, but it does appear to cite at least a MI statute that requires an “aggrieved” party to have standing for a recount, presumably meaning it made a difference to whether the party won or lost.

    Opening Arguments ‏@openargs 5h5 hours ago
    Opening Arguments Retweeted Pink Freud
    Jill Stein does not have standing to request recounts and any money she’s collecting is a scam.

    Opening Arguments ‏@openargs 5h5 hours ago
    No. You must be an “aggrieved party,” i.e., it must make a difference whether you won or lost. https://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(dho1ds45nhb4jt452rgcli45))/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-116-1954-XXXIII.pdf

    Opening Arguments ‏@openargs 4h4 hours ago
    ? Dude, listen to the podcast. Read our tweets. We’re liberals. We don’t want Trump. But this is a TOTAL SCAM. Buy at your own risk.

  119. 119.

    schrodinger's cat

    @satby: Too true. Indians are much more formal in their dress. I frequently tend to be under dressed. I had an opportunity to dine at CCI (Cricket Club of India) last time I was in India and they actually had a dress code.

  122. 122.

    SWMBO

    @Mike J: So sorry to hear this. Please keep us posted. Peace and comfort to you and your family and here’s hoping for a happy outcome.

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